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Nick Tylwalk enjoys writing about video games, comic books, pro wrestling and other things where people are often punching each other, regaardless of what that says about him. He prefers MMOs, RPGs, strategy and sports games but can be talked into playing just about anything.
  • Scribblenauts Unmasked Review
    Reviews
    • PC
    Scribblenauts Unmasked Review

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    In the ultimate example of the pen, or rather pencil, being mightier than the sword, Maxwell has used his magic notebook to entertain plenty of gamers in the Scribblenauts games. But even the most successful series need a spark to re-energize them at times, and Maxwell gets a literally super powered one in the form of the thousands of characters who come to life in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. It's an awesome if sometimes uneven combination of imagination and adventure that's sure to excite the comic geek in just about anyone.If you're a longtime DC fan, you no doubt know that Barry Allen was inspired to become The Flash because he read about Jay Garrick in comic books as a kid. See, meta was cool all the way back in the 50s! They eventually made comics history by crossing over with each other, and a similar setup is used to combine the powers of Maxwell and his sister Lily to get them to the DC universe. There's just one big problem: Lily's globe shatters upon arrival, scattering the Starites inside and forcing the siblings to team up with their four-color idols to get them back before they fall into the wrong hands.Your quest will take you to various famous locales, including Gotham City, Metropolis, and Oa, home planet of the Green Lantern Corps. Each place has a main mission that involves helping a famous DC hero defeat one of his or her arch-enemies, who have the assistance of Maxwell's Doppleganger. In-between the storyline bits, there are plenty of random citizens, heroes, and villains you can assist to earn reputation points. Those are needed to unlock new locations and costumes that grant Maxwell the powers of some iconic characters - also Aztek, who doesn't quite qualify as iconic.
  • FIFA 14 Review
    Reviews
    • Android
    • iOS
    FIFA 14 Review

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    When it comes to gigantic companies like EA making mobile versions of their popular console games, the process is clearly a work in progress. There hasn't yet been a truly definitive version of Madden for smartphones and tablets, yet the newest foray into soccer, FIFA 14, is a surprisingly great way to play some football - and better yet, it's mostly free.One of the best things FIFA 14 has going for it is touch controls that actually work. Passing is especially slick, as a simple tap on a teammate will direct a pass toward him, with the game figuring out what kind of pass is needed based on how far away you are at the moment. You can also pass to space simply by tapping on a specific spot on the pitch, and the whole system is very effective."Shots, punts by the goalkeeper, and long clearance attempts are pulled off by drawing an arc on the screen with your finger, and if anything, shooting might be a little too easy in some cases. There's a little less precision on defense, though you can call for your men to pressure the current possessor of the ball with just a tap and go for slide tackles with a well-timed swipe. An option is in place to revert to a virtual thumbstick and buttons, but it's doubtful you'll want to go that route once you see what EA has done with touch.
  • Gaining insight into Game Insight: A conversation with CEO Alisa Chumachenko
    News
    • Android
    • iOS
    • PC
    Gaining insight into Game Insight: A conversation with CEO Alisa Chumachenko

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    It's a tale everyone has heard before: woman plays a lot of MMOs, joins a gaming start-up with some of the members of her guild, and eventually leaves to head up her own multinational mobile/social gaming company.Actually, maybe the story of Alisa Chumachenko isn't a very common one. But while the CEO and founder of Game Insight may not have taken the usual route to the executive level of the industry, that doesn't mean she has any less insight (no pun intended) into where mobile and social games are headed.In fact she might have more than most people because of the way Game Insight has had to shift focus in its three years of existence. Though its original aim was to create casual titles like city builders and hidden object games online, the state of social gaming during the company's infancy forced it to switch gears quickly to tackle the mobile market.
  • School of Dragons Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    • PC
    School of Dragons Review

    By

    With all the hand-wringing that goes on about schools to educate our kids, at least we don't have to worry about a proper place to send our winged reptilian friends. That's because JumpStart's free-to-play, browser-based MMO School of Dragons has that covered, immersing players in the How to Train Your Dragon universe while also dropping some knowledge on them at the same time.Just in case you haven't seen the well-regarded animated flick it's based on, School of Dragons is set on the island of Berk, a place where Vikings and Dragons coexist - though not without some challenges, to be sure. Your character is a young Viking who gets the opportunity to raise and bond with a dragon, essentially growing up together."As virtual worlds go, Berk isn't a gigantic place, though it still has its fair share of interesting places to see. There's the titular school, the village where the locals live, a beach, and some surrounding wilderness areas. The early gameplay will have your Viking undertaking various quests that mostly involve gathering or delivering items while you find out more about dragons and their history with humans.Fans of the movie are in for a treat, as the main characters from the film are prominently involved as quest-givers, accompanied by their trademark dragons. Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout and the gang have a fair amount of voice-acted dialogue, and they're instantly recognizable since the game's art style matches its source material to a tee.
  • Card Hunter Review
    Reviews
    • PC
    Card Hunter Review

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    Time is precious. Especially gaming time, which means video games, collectible card games, and tabletop games are all vying against each other for yours. Happily, Blue Manchu has a solution to this modern dilemma. Card Hunter manages to combine elements from all three into one fun package that also happens to be free-to-play and run right in your browser window. Sound too good to be true? Then read on adventurer - your new favorite game awaits.In classic meta fashion, Card Hunter is not only the game you play, but also the game within the game, administered to you by an eager but relatively novice GM named Gary. He manages to use big brother Melvin's card set to teach you some of the basics of battling and questing in the land of, ahem, Cardhuntria, before he's discovered and you have to start over with just one lowly Level 1 Warrior. You'll eventually form a party of three from pretty basic archetypes: Warrior, Wizard and Priest, all of whom can be Elf for greater movement, Dwarf for more durability or Human for a happy medium.That simplicity is alright though, because there's a lot more to absorb. Every adventure - which look like old school D&D modules, down to the retro art style and flavor text - contains two or more battles. That's where the magic happens, figuratively and somewhat literally, as each battle takes place on a unique board with a square-shaped grid. The board is 2D but has artwork that depicts terrain, structures and other obstacles, whereas your characters and any enemies are represented by 3D figures.
  • Hit It Rich! Casino Slots Review
    Reviews
    • Android
    • iOS
    Hit It Rich! Casino Slots Review

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    Like Janet Van Dyne or Ray Palmer, Zynga has been shrinking furiously as of late. But amid office closings and layoffs, the company did snag Spooky Cool Labs during the summer. Even as Zynga has backed away from pursuing real money gaming, its new acquisition has been working on Hit It Rich! Casino Slots for Facebook. So naturally, the result is an online slots experience good enough that people would probably play it for real money. Ironic, no?
  • Monster Legends Review
    Reviews
    Monster Legends Review

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    Some reviews are almost impossible to do without making direct references to other games. Monster Legends is one of those, as the free-to-play Facebook game owes more than a little debt of gratitude to a certain Nintendo-backed IP that starts with a 'P.' The difference is you'll be breeding your own monsters instead of catching them, and while it's not the kind of game that's going to have mass appeal, it's enjoyable enough for what it is.
  • Madden NFL 25 Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Madden NFL 25 Review

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    Console gamers occasionally complain that the Madden NFL games don't change that much between the years, but the same thing can't be said for EA's mobile football efforts. Last year gave us Madden NFL Social, across-platform effort that was exactly what it said it was. For the series' silver anniversary, Madden NFL 25 on mobile devices switches gears to be closer to the console experience, but it's mostly just a free-to-play, watered down version of Ultimate Team mode.