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Marvel Snap review: A brilliant, fun, and strategic card game
Forget what you know about CCGs. Marvel Snap offers a fresh new take on the genre
Collectible card games are rarely based on an original IP. From Hearthstone to GWENT to the Elder Scrolls: Legends, they're usually a way to capitalize on existing interest in a brand. Success varies, but they've often suffered from the same issues of bloat and an inaccessible meta. Marvel Snap aims to capitalize on the interest of Marvel fans, but unlike its competitors, it offers a streamlined, competitive game that's easily accessible to beginners.
Hands on with Immortals Fenyx Rising, a new open world RPG best played with the voiceover turned off
Ubisoft’s new IP is beautiful, fun, and completely overshadowed by its nonsensical narrators
Hands on with Crayta, an ambitious Stadia exclusive that will certainly die without a strong creator community
If you build it, they must come
Crayta, the latest exclusive title for Stadia, is perhaps the most ambitious project to hit Google's cloud gaming service since it launched in late 2019. Instead of being guided by a central storyline or rigid set of mechanics, Crayta is an “anything goes” online platform where players can both play and build their own unique games. Like any good multiplayer experience, Crayta needs a strong player base right out of the gate for it to succeed, a stake that's raised even higher amid this title's launch-day limitations. I've been playing Crayta for a full a week, and here are my thoughts.
Fire Emblem and I go way back. I have played many of them, but the one I most fondly remember is Path of Radiance on the Gamecube (the one that introduced Ike). The series is known for its turn-based tactical gameplay with anime-styled characters and common JRPG story elements. Nintendo has done a good job at promoting the series throughout its lifetime, especially when it comes to the 3DS releases, and inspiring loyal fans to pick up the latest title. I am not ashamed to note that I am in that demographic. So when Fire Emblem Heroes was announced, you can bet that I got damn excited.
Following a surprisingly fun couple of mobile titles, Deus Ex GO takes Square Enix's formula for adapting its popular AAA series to handheld devices and brings it to the delightful Deus Ex Universe. This turn-based “point-and-click” style board game shares precious little with its cyberpunk dystopian source material (which happens to be one of my favorite franchises). However, that is not to say it is a bad thing, as the fanboy in me screams to claim. It is actually a fun, rewarding, and decidedly challenging experience that fits in nicely with the Deus Ex library.
The term “old school” gets thrown around a lot in gaming these days, but Touch Foo’s Swordigo seems to positively invite comparison to classics like Ghosts & Goblins and Zelda. With 2D platforming on the surface and an action RPG underneath, Swordigo might be confused for a Super NES game if it weren’t for the 3D graphics. And while it doesn’t reach the lofty heights of the classic franchises it imitates, it’s a challenging and worthy game if you’re in for the long haul.
Star Command is one of my most-anticipated games for Android. Or at least it was, two years ago when it was scheduled to be released, and then again when it was released for iOS five months ago. An unreasonably long development cycle and some dodgy developer antics have made waiting for this game an exercise in frustration, and it's impossible to give it a full review without at least some bitterness hanging on in the back of my mind.
Gameloft has released eight games in the Asphalt series in just under nine years. If practice makes perfect, then Asphalt 8 should be nothing less than the greatest racing game ever made. It doesn't quite live up to that lofty goal, but as a top-tier Android game and an impressive arcade-style racer in its own right, it's worth your attention even if you're only casually interested in racing games.
Dateline: 1999. A 12-year-old Jeremiah Rice spends every cent of his allowance at the local Pizza Hut's dingy game room, trying to perfect an S-Class run on the brand new Crazy Taxi arcade unit. Another fourteen years have passed, and SEGA's ode to irresponsible driving isn't exactly the technical marvel it once was, but it's every bit as fun. And a single fiver will let you play as much as you want on Android.
Magic 2014 is the new and updated version of the less headline-friendly Magic: The Gathering: Duels Of The Planeswalkers, gracing Android for the first time. It's a digital translation of the uber-popular Magic: The Gathering card game, a staple of schoolyards and table gaming for the last two decades. Magic 2014 is a free download (though it needs a massive 1.2GB of space), but requires a $10 in-app purchase to unlock the full game. The free demo features the first 25% or so of the campaign mode.
[New Game] Quadropus Rampage Review: A Bit Shallow, But Oceans Of Fun
In Quadropus Rampage, you are (predictably) a quadropus. I am not entirely sure what a quadropus is, and it’s not adequately explained in the game. All
In Quadropus Rampage, you are (predictably) a quadropus. I am not entirely sure what a quadropus is, and it’s not adequately explained in the game. All I know is that it has four limbs, looks kind of like an octopus, and it will mess you up if you don't stop staring at it like that. From the first frame, Quadropus Rampage is a torrent of non-stop button mashing carnage. Does this brand spanking new game have staying power, or does it come and go like the tides?
Arma Tactics THD Review: Like Chess With Guns... And Frustration, And Confusion, And Swearing
PC gamers know the ARMA series as wickedly difficult, painstakingly accurate military shooters - the thinking man's (or possibly masochist's) alternative
PC gamers know the ARMA series as wickedly difficult, painstakingly accurate military shooters - the thinking man's (or possibly masochist's) alternative to the likes of Call of Duty. For its first full mobile game, ARMA is eschewing the first person shooter genre in favor of a tactical game: a top-down, turn-based combat system where strategy wins over speed and reflexes. It's a good choice for touchscreens, and an understandable one given ARMA's current fanbase. It's just too bad that the execution didn't pan out.
Just two days ago I decried the relative lack of innovation in mobile gaming, and after climbing EPOCH's surprisingly steep difficulty curve, I get to eat humble pie. This cover-based shooter from Android newcomer Uppercut Games blew me away with its original control scheme and immersive graphics. It's not flawless, but its combination of mobile-friendly gameplay and and impressive presentation should make every action gamer (and developer) sit up and take notice.
Real Boxing has garnered quite a bit of success on iOS, and with a little help from NVIDIA, it's grabbed headlines on its way to Android as well. Though the game was first spotted running on the Shield hardware, it's now available on other Tegra devices. With a title as pretty as this, it would be a shame to run it on anything less than the most advanced hardware out there - too bad we'll have to settle for a Tegra 3 for the time being.
My fondest memories of the original Star Wars films were the starfighter dogfights. The first time you see the assault run on the Death Star, or the ill-fated attack on the second before it was finished, it's really cool to watch a bunch of fighter craft flying around, blowing the heck out of each other. Every once in a while, you can get the same sense of scale and calamity in a game - usually of the real-time strategy variety.
It's safe to say that while point-and-click adventure games have a very niche market, there's a select few mediums where they work well. Touch devices and PCs have always been prime candidates, as their interfaces lend themselves to a control scheme that isn't overly complicated: click to move, click to interact, click to do everything.
I first played Cipher Prime's Splice when it was part of a recent fourth Humble Bundle, and it still enjoys a place in my Installed Games list on Steam. It's a puzzle game that involves taking different strains of bacteria and "splicing" them, moving around cells in order to fit an provided outline. Of course, you have a set amount of moves, and added "mutation" cells will change the game in different ways: for instance, one mutation will cause each cell attached to it to grow, or split identically. The trick is to plan ahead and think strategically in order to finish each level and move on.
Twenty years ago you had to pump quarters into an arcade machine to enjoy the punishing shooter known as Raiden. The game was so successful that multiple sequels followed. Now you can play four Raiden arcade games on your mobile device for a one-time fee. This is a retro gaming experience that tries to preserve the feel of the original game, and still make it work on a touch screen. So is Raiden still awesome? Let's see.