Matt Demers

Matt Demers is a Toronto writer that deals primarily in the area of Android, comics and other nerdy pursuits. You can find his work on Twitter and sites across the Internet.

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Aug

[New Game Review] Sprinkle HD Looks To Drench Lesser Puzzle Games With Its Awesome Water Physics

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

Some of my favorite mobile games for the mobile platform are of the puzzle genre, because it tends to lend itself well to the array of controls that are provided. A new THD game that just landed in the Market today, however, combines simple controls and some quirky physics to give you a unique puzzling experience.

In Sprinkle, you are put in charge of a small village's fire department, who are in turn in charge of extinguishing fires that are caused by falling meteorites. Since the citizens of this village live in thatched-room huts (despite having the technology for a high-powered hose), you can imaging that fire is pretty bad for them.

Aug

Google TV To Be Added To The Next Update of The Android SDK; Developers, Start Your Engines!

Posted by Matt Demers in Google TV, News

Google TV users will be happy to know that support for the platform is finally coming soon to the Android SDK. This will allow developers to unleash their apps on all Google TVs on the market, which in turn could help manufacturers eventually push more units given the renewed interest.

Since the Google TV Market announcement at Google I/O, the platform has had a lot of road bumps in both TV network and user adoption. However, since the SDK update will provide new APIs (such as channel line-ups),developers will have a wider array of tools to use while crafting applications.

Aug

Apparatus Finally Leaves Beta, Unveils A Bunch Of New Features (Including Rockets!)

Posted by Matt Demers in Games, News

I feel a little bit of an attachment to Apparatus - we were one of the first blogs to review the game, which was a nice discovery while browsing Reddit one day. I've seen the app grow and add a whole boatload of interesting features; it truly is one of the Android platform's best games.

So when we got word today that it was finally leaving beta and stepping into the world of "finished" products, I couldn't help but smile a little bit. It's good to see games go through an entire development cycle and remain interesting and relatively bug-free all the way through.

Aug

[First Look] GameLoft Releases A 'Cowboys & Aliens' Game To The Android Market - Let's Hope It Was Better Than The Movie

Posted by Matt Demers in Games, News

On paper, it seemed like a winning formula: take a bunch of cowboys, pit them against invading aliens, and see who comes out of it alive. Hot on the heels of a major theatrical release, GameLoft is releasing a Cowboys & Aliens game to the Market.

However, instead of the star-studded film (which, if you figure the $89 million earnings and $160 budget, was a huge flop), this game chooses to focus on the comic they used as source material.

Gameloft seems to have taken the title of "tie-in" developer, as they have experience releasing apps featuring properties like Shrek, Assassin's Creed, Fast 5, Avatar, and Spider-Man.

Aug

[Review] ApzOrb: Funny Spelling, But A New Skin For An Old Snake

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

Not all classics need to be updated. Sometimes, an adherence to simplistic (yet addictive) game design will win out over flashy graphics any day.

The Pitch

ApzOrb is an update of the traditional "Snake" game that most of us have played on monochrome cellphone screens. However, instead of entertaining us with different shades of grey, this game has made color a vital part of how the game plays.

Instead of having to eat apples to extend the length of your block-snake, you seek out squares of similar colors. When consumed, your snake assumes that color; if you're navy and consume a sky-blue block, your color will shift accordingly.

Aug

[Review] 'Zorro: Shadow of Vengeance' Brings Us An Interesting Take On The Masked Fencer, But Is It Too Ambitious?

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

Zorro is a fictional character with a long and storied history. I mean, the character was created in 1919, spawned countless adaptations and inspired Batman, for god's sake: the man in black is frequently associated with the fierce swordplay and the volatile colonial era of Spanish California.

The Pitch

Zorro: Shadow of Vengeance is a side-scrolling adventure in which you play as an anime-styled version of the classic Mexican hero, Zorro. Zorro's design is one part Japan and one part Assassin's Creed; Antonia Banderas he's not. Using an array of touch controls, you'll jump, whip, sword-fight and roll through a number of levels as you look to bring a corrupt army captain to justice.

Aug

[New Game Review] Glu's Eternity Warriors: They Should Have Just Called It 'Sword Bros'

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

While developer Glu Mobile has had a lot of success with its gun-wielding, bravado-toting title, Gun Bros, it seems to be unsatisfied with the mark left on the genre. I mean, why else would they release Eternity Warriors this week?

The Disappointment

In a sentence, Eternity Warriors is Gun Bros with swords. I wish I was kidding.

Usually, I might give this a pass, but Glu Mobile just released a game called Star Blitz which is essentially Gun Bros in space. I'm all for getting more mileage out of work (I am a freelancer, after all) but at this point, it's become a bit insulting.

Aug

[Review] Chop Chop Looks To Cut Down Note-Taking Competitors

Posted by Matt Demers in App Reviews, Applications

As I'm not one to enjoy doing large amount of typing on my mobile phone, I have a number of applications that make the job easier. These apps are usually employed to make quick, short notes that I can index and access later, therefore saving me a lot of trouble.

Coming to us from Singaporean developer 2nd Class Citizen, that's exactly what Chop Chop looks to do, only with some unique features the differentiate it from the rest.

Chop Chop gives you four categories of input from which you can make your note: numbers, words, checklists and pairs. Each is sorted into a separate tab, which in turn lists everything that you've created.

Aug

[Review] If Facebook Messenger Can Keep Sync Instant And Reliable, It Is Worth Your Time

Posted by Matt Demers in App Reviews, Applications

A while ago, I had a chance to review an app called Beluga. At first, it looked like it could be a cross-platform answer to BBM, the popular instant message service that comes standard with all Blackberrys. As a cross-platform solution, it worked well.

However, one of the problems with Beluga was that even though it was good in theory, there wasn't the user base to keep it afloat. You either had to convince your friends to use an untested product, or go back to SMS.

So when Beluga was bought by Facebook earlier this year, all signs pointed to the social networking company moving into Blackberry and Apple's messaging market.

Aug

[Review] Greedy Spiders Doesn't Need Any Fancy Physics, Prefers To Puzzle You The Old-Fashioned Way

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

App developers, I think it's time we put a moratorium on the titling of games with "(Adjective) (Animal)", don't you think? It's getting a bit tired, and trying to emulate Angry Birds doesn't really do you any favors.

Anyway, on to the review.

Greedy Spiders is a turn-based puzzle game in which you are looking to save flies from their grisly demise at the hands of the aforementioned Greedy Spiders. I believe the fact that the spiders are greedy has to be highlighted, because otherwise you are just preventing them from eating.

You free the insects by chopping off spokes of a spider web one at a time; the spider will then take its turn and move down a strand, shifting play back to you.