Headphones Review Round Up [Hardware]: SIVGA SV021, VR500, UX3000, and VR2000
By Simon Reed
Update: SIVGA SV021 tested and rated!Boulies Elite Max Chair [Hardware] Review – Assemble, Adjust, Relax
By Adele Wilson
What do we think of the Boulies Elite Max Chair?Red Magic 9S Pro [Hardware] Review – The New Standard For Mobile Gaming?
By Sho Roberts
My Red Magic 9S Pro Review puts this incredible bit of tech through its paces to determine whether it's worth your money.
Category: Reviews
Dracula 5: The Blood Legacy Review
By John Anthony
The fifth game in Microids' Dracula adventure series, Dracula 5: The Blood Legacy picks up right where Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon left off. Ellen thinks she's found the 16th painting in the Vambery collection, the one rumored to be a portrait of Dracula himself. Are the nightmares she's having part of her worsening illness, or is this painting more than just oil on canvas?Dracula 5: The Blood Legacy employs the exact same interface as previous games in the series. Click and hold the mouse button to look at your surroundings, turning in any direction with the free-moving point of view. When you see something worth investigating, simply click on it. Movement from area to area works in the same fashion, with the cursor changing to indicate when you can travel. To use items, click the menu button tucked away in the bottom corner of the screen, double click the item, and then click where you want to use it. Conversations take place with simple dialogue trees, offering just the right number of choices to make you curious without overkilling on the interactivity."At first glance, some of the puzzle solutions might seem a bit obtuse in Dracula 5: The Blood Legacy, especially if you're coming from a casual gaming background. They require you to think logically and experiment with everything at your disposal. No hint meters or talking clue companions to help you out, just old-fashioned detective work. In addition to combining inventory items and exploring your environment for objects to use, Dracula 5 features a handful of mini-game puzzles to work through. Nothing too out of the ordinary - just some panel buttons to organize and codes to crack.Ski Safari: Adventure Time Review
By Joe Jasko
Mathematical! Defiant Development has taken their mobile endless skier game Ski Safari and given it the full Adventure Time treatment this week! But while Ski Safari: Adventure Time feels right at home in the wide range of quirky canon that accompanies the cult-favorite Cartoon Network TV show, does it also have that addictive blend of endless gameplay to match, and to give it that much needed lasting appeal? Or does it simply find itself caught in a candy-encrusted avalanche that stops any fun to be had in its tracks?In the game, players take control of Adventure Time series hero Finn, as the boy gets abruptly woken up from a slumber and is immediately sent on a careening ski adventure down some never-ending natural hills throughout the Land of Ooo. Simply tapping on the screen causes Finn to leap through the air, while holding down on the screen will execute some awesome in-air flips for a seriously algebraic score bonus. You'll also have the help from numerous other Adventure Time characters along the way, like Jake, Marceline, and Princess Bubblegum, who can all be utilized in different ways by Finn to keep him skiing (and sometimes even flying) in the utmost of style."The biggest strength of Ski Safari: Adventure Time is in Defiant Development's extremely close representation of the original source material, right down to the bouncing soundtrack and Finn's accompanying shriek of "Ski Safari!" at the start of the app. Everything from the colorful illustrations to the actual animations look like something straight out of an episode of the quirky TV show, and Adventure Time fans will definitely find a lot to love here, although sometimes the screen can move so fast that trying to key-in on a few of the finer visual details results in an unwanted dizzying effect. You'll start the game out by skiing through the cottony pink Candy Kingdom, but the Ice Kingdom and Mystery Mountains can also be purchased by racking up those coins on your skis.Assassin’s Creed Pirates Review
By Steven Strom
To be a pirate is to value freedom above all else. If you plunder enough gold, instill enough fear, and get out before the world tears you down, you can be the most free man or woman in the world. At least that's Assassin's Creed's take on those maligned malingerers of yesteryear. Don't expect anything more historical than that in Assassin's Creed: Pirates, the latest mobile take on Ubisoft's blockbuster franchise.If you decide to take the plunge on this pay-for-it-once affair, you'll find yourself free to rebel against monarchy, liberate slaves, and blow away galleons - all without having to leave the comfort of your own ship's wheel. One of the most popular features of the last two console Assassin's Creed games has been naval combat. Like any good privateers, the developers of Pirates seized on that goodwill and ran with it, creating an entire game around the concept."Most of the game plays out in one-on-one ship battles broken into stages of offense and defense. While on the offensive, you wield a number of cooldown-based armaments ranging from time-delayed mortars to good old-fashioned broadsides. Once the enemy's own timer fills it's time to dodge incoming fire with a tap to either the left or right, depending on the angle. Five consecutive dodges earns you a chance to interrupt and start shooting back early.Combat isn't particular complex, or even that difficult. But when the gorgeously rendered waves start to churn and the music starts to swell it is quite thrilling - for a time. Actually, let's talk about the music. The soundtrack features the same swashbuckling, rope-swinging, rapier-rapping tunes as Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag on consoles, which is to say that it's fantastic. There's just far less of it.Endless Boss Fight Review
By David Oxford
For some, it's not about the journey, but the destination. To wit, for some gamers, they could care less about venturing through one of many stages: they just want to get to the boss and throw down.Endless Boss Fight lives up to its name by pitting the player, who takes on the guise of a small robot with boxing gloves, against a large and ever-evolving Boss Robot. Duck in, out, and around Boss's volley of various missile types to deliver a series of powerful body blows, then back out to gather coins and power-ups. Or, with the right timing, you can even punch Boss's warheads to reveal more coins, or to send his own ordnance right back at him."Rather than one long, endless encounter, the fights are more or less broken up into sequential rounds. Beat the Boss, and he'll duck out for a moment before coming back, sometimes with a new trick up his sleeve. Perhaps you were able to handle his coin-dropping and deflectable missiles, but can you stand up to his new electrified projectiles?Maybe, but then again, maybe not. Endless Boss Fight is a fun concept hampered by a critical flaw, and it's that the controls just aren't as reliable as you're going to need to truly go the distance. It's the same old song and dance that goes with touchscreen controls, and while Endless Boss Fight offers up three different ways to move around - a floating thumb stick, a stationary D-pad (our preference), and just moving your thumb across the screen freestyle - each one still manages to feel a bit sticky in one way or another.Angry Birds Go! Review
By Jim Squires
Angry Birds helped us fall in love with the physics of speed all over again. Bad Piggies taught us how much fun could be had with pigs on wheels. With titles like these in the series past, I suppose an Angry Birds kart racer was inevitable.But while thematically a fit, Angry Birds Go! is a pretty big break from what Rovio has brought us in the past. It's their first game with 3D modelling. It's their first game in an established genre that the console crowd would get eager about. It is, as much as can be for one of the biggest names in mobile gaming, something of a gamble. And while I've been having a lot of fun with it, I don't think it quite hits the high mark that Rovio might have hoped. At the start of every race, players will pull back on their slingshot (a nice nod to the original game) and shoot their racer onto the track. From there the game becomes an exercise in overly-simplified design. Player don't need to worry about braking or accelerating. Drifting isn't (much of) a thing. There are no item boxes to break, and in many of the game's challenges, not even other racers to compete against. In all honesty, the game could have been called Angry Birds: Steering isn't too much for you, is it? If so, we're really sorry and will take it out in a future update.Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse – Episode 1 Review
By Nadia Oxford
If the holiday gaming season has left you feeling a bit bloated, now's a great time to deflate with some indie fare that recalls a simpler time in the pastime's history. A time when solving problems meant clicking on every square inch of the screen with your mouse, or taking abuse from a goat.Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse - Episode 1 should make old-school adventure game fans crack a smile, though that merriment will give way to a frown of concentration in no time. The title, funded by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, reunites old friends George Stobbart and Nicole (Nico) Collard, and gives them a fresh new conspiracy to dive into. While the Templars took the spotlight in previous games, Nico and George now find themselves tangled up in a plot involving the Gnostic Gospels and a stolen painting that gives off unsettling, almost blasphemous, vibes."As is the case in previously-released Broken Sword games, getting ahead in The Serpent's Curse is all about interacting with your environment. Either Nico or George walks from scene to scene (the story flips between the two viewpoints) and investigates curiosities by putting their virtual hands all over them. On occasion, they may find an item that can be collected and used elsewhere. Is there a shiny object of interest just beyond the grille of an air conditioner vent? That would be a perfect time to use that paperclip you happened to pick up earlier, don't you think?Space Hulk Review
By Matt Thrower
Sci-fi tactical combat affair Space Hulk is widely acclaimed as one of the most atmospheric board games ever made. It's also commonly recognized as begging for the video game treatment, and yet in the 25 years since its release, all we had were some live-action titles and fan homages. The latest developer to tackle the licence is Full Control, and after a buggy PC release, the game has come to mobile.The action is set amongst the tight corridors and tiny rooms of a derelict spacecraft, where heavily armed Space Marines square off against limitless hordes of slavering alien horrors called Genestealers. There's a series of missions with varied objectives like retrieving data collection devices or burning strategically important terrain points."Mechanically, it's mostly classic turn-by-turn, action point based tactics: nothing inspirational there. But there are two features that catapult the game into classic status.First, a breathtakingly simple double whammy of hidden information: the Genestealers are never sure how many action points the Marines have, and the Marines are never sure how many Genestealers are on the map.Second is the twisty, claustrophobic nature of the maps. Rather than the open worlds smattered with scenery typical of the genre, Space Hulk takes place in spidery networks of tiny rooms interconnected with one-space wide corridors, dismal with choke points and ambush sites.KingHunt Review
By Joe Jasko
Billed as "The Next Generation Slicing Game," KingHunt is here to serve as a fitting reminder of why Halfbrick's Fruit Ninja was such a huge hit, and to give us some food for thought on what a deeper "slicing" experience could really be like in 2013. The evil Chef has taken off across the kingdom, wreaking havoc on the world as only evil chefs can do, and you've been tasked to travel in his footsteps and stop him. In each level, hoards of enemies, items, and even food products will be tossed up in front of you, and it's your job to swipe on the screen and cut them all into tiny little pieces.Anyone who has ever played Fruit Ninja before will immediately feel right at home here in KingHunt, and it will only take newcomers to the genre a few seconds to get accustomed to the game too, for that matter; all you have to do is swipe your finger on the screen to slice stuff up, and away you go! In addition to the addictive slicing gameplay, KingHunt also benefits from paying close attention to the smaller details, like the different aftereffects of the enemies and objects you'll be chopping up: fruits will explode in delicious bouts of juice and seeds, while birds will burst in a giant cloud of feathers. But be careful though: there will also be plenty of bombs thrown into the mix, and later enemies can even slice back at you, which will deplete your health meter in a real hurry."The graphics in KingHunt are just as much a highlight as the pitch-perfect gameplay and simple slicing controls. Everything you can slice in the game is positively bursting with color and flavor, from the mouthwatering 3D fruits, cakes, and veggies, to the adorable little villains and quirky boss fights (which are an insanely awesome touch, by the way). The different environments that you'll move through are wonderfully vast and unique, and each one has their own respective enemies and items that adhere to its fun and refreshing theme: from deserts and swamplands, to snowy castles and caves, I was constantly surprised to see how many new and exciting levels continued to pop up on the vibrant world map during my pursuit of the ever-evasive Chef.