08
Jun
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[Review] Stellar Escape Shows Us How To Frustrate Users With Artificial Difficulty

Posted by in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

You know what's more frustrating than a beautiful-looking game whose controls don't work?

A beautiful-looking game that requires you to use those controls to react to events in a split-second.

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Alright, perhaps that was being a little harsh. Stellar Escape is a new game that comes to us on the Android Market from a small dev team called Orange Agenda. In the game, you play as an interstellar courier who has delivered a package that could power a planet-destroying death ray. having a moment of conscience, he grabs the power source and sprints away from his client, becoming the most wanted man in the galaxy at the same time.

08
Jun
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[Review] Age Of Zombies Achieves Impossible: Comes With Virtual Joysticks That Don't Inspire Suicide

Posted by in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Call me a stickler, but I think games should play well before looking pretty. I think they should be functional, polished and most of all, not frustrating. This seems to elude most developers who insist on using on-screen joysticks for their products, as more often than not they're a buggy, non-responsive mess.

From having poorly-defined boundaries to not reacting to multi-touch well, the system seems to be a bit flawed.

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However, Halfbrick studios (the developers of the wildly-successful Fruit Ninja) have finally managed to code some joysticks that work straight out of the box, no tweaking required. Their newest game, Age of Zombies, relies quite heavily on them, so I'm both glad and relieved that they've decided to make sure people can actually play their game before they've released it to the wild.

06
Jun
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[Review] X-Men: The Arcade Game - Classic Arcade Nostalgia, Bad Translations Included

Posted by in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

X-Men: The Arcade Game is a throwback to the days before X-Men: The Animated Series. That show, known for it's amazing title track and some pretty laughable moments, gave us the "traditional" X-Men lineup most of us know today. However, before that aired, there was a one-off pilot called X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. In it, Wolverine had an Australian accent.

It was pretty horrible.

Pryde of the X-Men served as X-Men: The Arcade Game's inspiration; inside, you play as the X-Men that were present in the cartoon, and face the villains they faced, as well. The original game stood out in arcades for a few reasons: it was a two-monitor, six-player cabinet, much larger than most other games, and actually quite fun to play.

06
Jun
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[Hands On] Happy Vikings Is A Mix Of Pleasant Puzzle Mechanics, But Does It Shine By Its Own Merits?

Posted by in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Sometimes, you have to go with what works. It's no secret that some mechanics are tried-and-true, and will allow you to please gamers while adding in your own twists. Sometimes, though, it's evident when a game borrows a bit too much and doesn't give enough back.

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Happy Vikings mixes gameplay from a number of different classic puzzle titles, including a lifting-and-matching mechanic from an NES game called Wario's Woods. Instead of just flipping tiles with a cursor, you actually have a sprite in the puzzle area which you can use to manipulate tiles. This is the titular "happy Viking." Our Viking (let's call him "Olaf") can lift and push treasure, booze, and food to form shapes beginning with three tiles.

06
Jun
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[Hands On] Mr. Mixit Turns Memory Matching On Its Head With A Surprisingly Good Soundtrack

Posted by in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Mr. Mixit puts a spin on the classic "memory match" formula by adding a turntable motif and some decent tunes. As Mr. Mixit, you drag shapes down from the monitors behind you to the turntable game area. After choosing two you think will match, you spin the turntables and try to get the image to overlap.

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Doing this quickly gives you multipliers to score, which forms the core gameplay of Mr. Mixit; scores are saved in a "top 10" format as opposed to using online leaderboards, like OpenFeint. As levels progress, more symbol possibilities are added, and the multiplier meter decreases at a faster rate.

02
Jun
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[Review] Apparatus Wows Us With Little Big Planet-Like Gameplay And Creativity

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

 

Apparatus will remind players of Playstation game Little Big Planet. The objective: get the silver ball into the blue bucket. You're given a number of pieces to play around with, like boards to fasten to each other or weights to create catapults. Pieces can be placed on one of three layers, allowing fasteners to work their magic.

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Fastening pieces comes in one of two varieties: nails are "hard" connectors, giving a rigid connection. Screws, however, allow pieces to rotate independently of what they're connected to. Combining screws, circular plates and the game's engine capabilities, you can make pistons, engines and whatever else your mind comes up with.

02
Jun
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[Review] Nano Panda Shrinks Down the Science-Based Physics Fun

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Let's say you've got a problem of a scientific nature: you've got a group of rogue atoms wreaking havoc in your petri dish, and you need to get rid of them. They've managed to convert certain structures into deadly traps, and are content to just hang around like a college grad who just won't move out. Who do you send in to fix this problem?

If you answered "Pandas", I'd like you to get your head checked. But first, check out this game.

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Nano Panda comes at us from developer Unit9 Apps, who've put together a fun little puzzling game that's managed to capture a certain...

01
Jun
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[Review] Riptide GP Proves What Tegra 2, And Android, Are Capable of Doing

Posted by in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Riptide GP emerged from the Tegra zone late in May, touting amazing graphics that the Android system is now capable of pulling off. However, is it all flash and no substance?

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Riptide GP comes to us from Vector Unit, the developer of Hydro Thunder Hurricane for the Xbox Live Arcade. While that game features a number of souped-up racing boats with weapon attachments, Riptide GP returns to the water for a comparatively tuned-down affair. Instead of boats with Gatling cannons, you race jet skis against AI opponents; you can pull off tricks in order to fill a boost meter, which can then be used to further a lead or recover from a costly spill.

30
May
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[Quick Look] Refraction Tests Your Brain With Over 120 Levels of Reflection Madness

Posted by in Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

I'm a big fan of puzzle games on my Android. They tend to work well in a touch-controlled medium because their concepts are usually simple enough to pick up and play. Refraction is no different, and challenges players with over 120 levels of color-matching, light-bending goodness that will have even the smartest of you scratching your head for awhile.

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Like every good puzzle game, Refraction starts out with a simple concept: use mirrors to guide beams of light to their corresponding beacons. It then adds another element in prisms, which allows for the splitting and combination of colors. Combining a yellow and red beam in a prism will produce orange, and running that beam back through a prism will break it back into its original components.

30
May
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[Review] Chalk Ball Uses Your Art Skills In A Classic Game Of Keep-Up

Posted by in Game Reviews, Games, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

It's often the case that a game does not necessarily have to be complicated in order to achieve success, and this point is proven in Chalk Ball. The premise is simple: keep a bouncing ball aloft by drawing lines on a chalk board, all while earning points towards a high score. Drawing shapes depletes your chalk meter, which is required to be able to scribble further.

In order to replenish this meter (and your drawing abilities), you're required to hit white balls on the board which spawn at random. Hitting a ball with an already-full meter adds a white line along the bottom of the screen, giving you a free bounce if your efforts fail.

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