Monday 17 December 2012

Kingdom Rush - Finally, A Tower Defence Game Worth Playing.



Kingdom rush is a flashy cartoon tower defence game by some awesome developers at Ironhide Game Studios, and published by Armour Games, a much loved gaming website.
 These two great studios have brought forth this amazing game, Kingdom Rush.

This game is simple but intriguing, the cushy graphics and voice acting mixed with enjoyable game play allow hours and hours of tower defence fun.

Game play consists of four basic towers, which can be than upgraded to create more powerful and specialized structures as you defend you kingdom against evil baddies. Whilst being orientated towards strategy, the game still appeals to the average gamer with its easy learning curve. 


 Here's a quick run-down of the towers and their specific uses.


Its effortless and intuitive controls allow easy playing that will keep you hooked much longer than you could anticipate. Challenging, great looking and fun filled this could quiet possibly be the best flash game ever.

Its about 99c on the app store, so get it now and start saving the kingdom!







Rating: 39/40
Graphics-10
Enjoyment-9
Content-10
Controls-10




Link Dump -

Guides to individual levels - http://www.kingdomrush.com/strategy.php

Community forum (Help, Guides, ect.) - http://www.ironhidegames.com/forums/

Plenty of guides on this youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/WyvStudios/videos?view=0

Sunday 16 December 2012

Osmos - Absorb Or Be Absorbed

//Needs to be fine tuned but formatting was annoying so another time perhaps.




“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” – Welcome to the world of Osmos, absorb, or be absorbed in the world of motes as you embark on an enthralling odyssey. Offering 8 styles of game play, an ‘adventure’ like mode and multiplayer, Osmos is your first stop when looking to fill up the day and relax yourself.

Categorizing Osmos is a difficult job, it has some fast action moments, but there is a component of strategy and you simply can’t leave out the overwhelming sense of discovery and adventure. Osmos is all of these things, which is why it fetched Ipad Game Of The Year 2010. 

The game mechanics of Osmos open up a whole new style of gameplay, after grasping the concept of energy and physics you can fine tune your play style to match your personality. Are you an agressive player, absorbing at a fast pace, or are you patient, always calculating the angle of attack? Each play style has its own advantages and disadvantages, aggressively absorbing what you can will shrink you fast but you will absorb much faster. But playing carefully will test the patience of even the most tolerant players.


Style Of Game play -
Osmos includes various individual style in which the game can be played, here is a list of them and brief description.



Ambient -
In ambient, all other particles are simply floating around, making easy targets to absorb.





Antimatter -
Antimatter levels have special types of 'antimatter' particles, if you try to absorb these you shrink. Literal anti particles.








Impasse -
Impasse involves all other particles tightly packed and static; until you start moving them of course.




Repulsor -
Repulsor levels have a particle(s) that repel you and everything else, these particles can be tricky to absorb.






Sentient -
Sentient levels include another, special particle. This particle is like you, sentient and moving. Kind of like an osmos version of a 1 v 1 face off.





Solar -
These levels involve a new force, gravitational pull. You and all the other particles are being pushed around in a big circle around the large object in the middle. This can make movement tricky.





Warped chaos -
These levels are chaotic. Multiple particles with gravitational pull are in the game, and they mess with everything you had been taught about Osmos up to this point




Epicycles -
 This is yet another strange mission, the pull of the various objects causes bizarre loops in your course and sends you in all directions. It took a long time for me to master this one.




The Final Judgement


Rating:37 /40
Graphics-10
Enjoyment-9
Content-8
Controls-10



Monday 30 July 2012

Ski Safari, Jump, Flip and Ride away from the avalanche!



  Ski Safari, a great, popular game available on the app store for 99c. Like many other popular games it is extremely addicting and is a good game to twiddle your thumbs on. Defiant Development's amazing graphics and enjoyable playstyle create a great  experience that allows you to compete with your friends for bragging rights. There are many options to choose from to personalize your experience with different clothes and gadgets. The basics of the game is like any other downhill skier, touch the screen to jump and hold to backflip, points are awarded for completing backflips and interacting with the various parts of the Ski Safari environment. The further you go the faster the avalanche gets and eventually the game becomes very tedious.
iPhone Screenshot 5
A man riding a penguin chasing a yeti. Totally normal.
Our deep sleeping hero has to stay ahead of a relentless avalanche that threatens the local mountainsides. Sven, as we like to call him, can use animals to aid his escape from an icey end. Each of the hillside animals have different attributes to make a speedier escape. Penguins glide further, Yetis are tougher, Eagles soar to great heights, each of these can provide useful advantage for Sven. Sometimes on the slopes Sven can find fast Snowmobiles which can ferry multiple animals a maintain a very high top speed.

As stated, each different animal has different attributes which are crucial to gameplay, but in the end snowmobiles are the only thing that can maintain a speed faster than the avalanche and must be used.
Wolves can also be taken advantage of on the slope howling hills, they are replacements for the snowmobile in an attempt to add more content. The ability to ride animals and vehicles has created something new and a little different from you average downhill skier.

Top iPad game apps:  Ski Safari  topples  Angry Birds Space
Tri - Penguin force!
Another feature of the game is the achievement system, it involves many different missions that actually have half-decent awards. These missions might involve completing several backflips on a yeti or smashing through a cabin. These missions add up to unlock new slopes, allow for bigger combos (and bigger boosts), new starting animals and some extra cash. The coins you collect can be put towards purchasing gadgets and clothing. Like many other games there is the option to connect and compare scores with others using the game.

It's really not that hard.
There are several costumes and upgrades within the game, here's a rundown of them and how to use them -
Second Chance Jetpack-
Helps to get you back on your feet if you fall victim to the avalanche.
Coin magnet-
Useful to get those few extra coins to buy a new item, but be careful as it removes coin boosts.
Rockets-
Upgrades launchpads with rockets that can propel you far down the slope. (Only use this on howling hills!)
Cabins Boosters-
Gives a general pick me up and boost when you pass through a glowing cabin.



Costumes are only really useful for some extra missions to help you level up, but the 3 different costumes can give you some variety to the game.

Thanks Defiant Dev!
Ski Safari is readily available on the app store for only 99c,
make sure to check it out =D

Rating: 36/40
Graphics-9

Enjoyment-9
Content-8
Controls-10



Sunday 29 July 2012

Save The Titanic, can you escape the iceberg in time?




Screenshot
(Sorry that everything is white highlighted, bit of a glitch)


 Save The Titanic, a game createdby Dustin Adair and voiced by Ed Mace, (Who work under the name Scary Robot Productions) is a simple but challenging game on the app store that shows many great qualitys of these sorts of simulation games. Its play dough like graphics and fitting sound and voice effects all add to the great nature of the game. Be warned, don't expect a fully fledged action game with sfx and amazing features. This is a simple game and nothing more. 
Previously, it was almost impossible to "save the titanic" as it was exceedingly hard, after a recent update it is now possible to win the game and get your score on the leader boards. (Through game centre.)


Screenshot-1
Much of the game is explained through its official description so I'll paste it here -
If you could go back in time to that fateful night and change history, would you? Well, here's your chance to "Save the Titanic!" Take command and rewrite history. Climb aboard! Step onto the bridge and take destiny by the... wheel. This is your moment to become the hero that saves them all. Or maybe you just feel like aiming for that overgrown ice cube. Go ahead!

The creator obviously has a great sense of humour and sarcasm that adds to the feeling of the game. It would be great if the game had more of these side pieces as shown here-

Screenshot-2
Shown: The game at its greatest.
Seriously, sharks with freakin' laser beams.
Only a few of these are found within the game which is saddening as things like this can bring the game to its full potential. 

The game is also connected with game centres achievement system (More info on Apples game centre.) and allows for 14 fun achievements like aiming directly for the centre of the iceberg, saving all but one person and waiting before turning the wheel and succeeding. These add more content and was a smart move on the creators behalf.

Screenshot-3
Thanks lots.


The few reviews for the game have been half decent, but popular view is that the game bores people fast, but is fine for the occasional bit of fun.

"For some reason I quickly fell in love with this game I beat easy medium and hard and I still love it!"
"At first I was kinda fun but after the fourth time it got really boring."

Being a small game there is little else to talk about, but Save The Titanic is a must try game. ( Especially as its free on the app store!)


Rating: 24/40
Graphics-8
Enjoyment-5
Content-3
Controls-8

 
 















Sunday 4 March 2012

Trenches 1, addicting, but pathetically easy.

Trenches 1 is an addicting game available on the Appstore, it is a trench based warefare game set in WW1. It has recieved very good reviews and scores due to its fun and addictive nature. Recent updates have allowed Player vs Player mode and co-oprative mode allowing players to work together or fight it out on the battlefield. It also includes and campaign mode, a series of missions for either the british or Germans. Sadly, the campaign is extremely short and boring. It may as well be skirmish mode with a few differences. Also, battles turn out to be a huge massing of riflemen in your single trench, who than charge and easily win the game 100% of the time.

I win?
Even in multiplayer mode, when the opponents actually has a chance, losing 2-3 men at the start means your ultimate destruction.
In other modes, like pygmy horde and zombie horde, the gameplay gets alot more interesting as massing troops does not allow you tin easily own the enemy, you have to create a mixed combination of troops to equeal out the incoming zombies. These troops include: Rifleman, engineer, machine gunner, sniper, mortar, Bomb drop and Gas drop. Gas and bomb drop can be placed anywhere on the field and are very useful to clear out some enemy troops before a charge.
Steamwork's boast that the AI is "adaptive" If at all, this is a very unrecognizable feature, no matter how many times you beat it, it just tries to blow you up and work you down, 1 rifleman at a time.
I have to admit, the voice acting is really good and funny, the graphics are not to bad and it certainly is addicting. The multiplayer mode is fairly exciting when you play with your friends as well. But the AI combat is pathetically easy due to the easiest tactic in the game, and the campaign in just a cover for slightly different skirmishes. Overall it is well worth what you pay for it, enjoyable and addictive!
(Trenches 2 is now available!)

Rating: 31.5/50
Graphics-7.5

Plot and storyline-3
Enjoyment-7
Length-5
Controls-9

Saturday 3 March 2012

Zenonia 4 - A tactic, an overpowered class and a broken PVP.


Heard of Zenonia 4? It's an extremely popular game that is now available on the appstore. Its creators, Gamevil boast an amazing 40 hours of gameplay; allowing you to embark on an epic adventure to save the world from an evil force. Included in the game are several features, one of these are PvP, a game mode enabling you to combat in a single or team battle against randoms or your friends. You enter pvp mode with your character exactly as it would be in single player, with the exception of health potions. This results in players facing opponents higher levels, obviously, the fight lasts a few secounds and they get owned. This is O.K, theres not always going to be an equal fight available all the time, but is extremely annoying and turns players away from the feature. Several people i have talked to eventually completely abandond it. But once you start to reach level 35 things turn bad, anyone facing a "blader" class are owned because of the mysterious shadow skill. (A video showcasing the skill). This skill creates several versions of the player which enable a quick an easy kill, even if the actual player dies, they have to kill ALL of the fake versions to win the game. So your probably thinking, well theres not that big of a chance you will face one of these people, but think again. Due people hacking the game, (Which in incredibly easy, check this out for example!) there are lvl 10's, who would normally have vaugly 200-300 attack, ending up with thousands of attack point's! This completely ruins the PvP system, with hackers winning all thier battles and fair players losing.
But i must admit, when you get a fair, good game it is enjoyable and fun.
To single player: Single player contains a fun, but sometimes confusing storyline. You can choose your class and upgrade your character as you level up and defeat monsters. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire single player experience. One thing i did find, was that with 99% of boss battles, you can simply run around in circles, waiting till the boss engages in an attack, dodge it and fit in a quick attack. This is mainly applicable to meele classes such as blader or slayer, but druid and ranger classes may use this tactic as well. Slowly working down the enemy in this way allows you to safely defeat your foe. I used this tactic thorough most of the game and it helped ALOT. (I will upload a video about this soon!)
Overall, i found this a great game with a few flaws that ruin certain features, but overall it created a great gaming experience.
Rating: 40/50
Graphics-9
Plot and storyline-7.5
Enjoyment-8
Length-8
Controls-7.5

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