Though most of us have no love for the roaches, spiders, and ants that occasionally move into our kitchens and make themselves at home, Bug Heroes 2 by Foursaken Media would have us believe these creepy critters look up to us as gods and providers. The game reasons that, if not for our crumbs, refuse, and spills, bugs would have naught with which to wage war on each other.And if bugs didn't go to war, we'd be down one fantastic tower defense game. Bug Heroes 2 is charming, challenging, and stuffed full of cool ideas. Who knew it'd be so much fun to hang out with bugs?Except for house centipedes. They can just…go…far away.
Four score and seven million zombies ago, a high school teacher with a passion for history created a cloning machine in his garage to bring back some of the world's greatest heroes for a second chance at providing salvation. Or so the famous speech goes. But you see, things have changed quite a bit since Abraham Lincoln and Cleopatra first went down in the history books, but luckily their reincarnated clones have a few special advantages like deadly melee weapons or magic powers on their side. While Second Chance Heroes doesn't take itself too seriously in the story department, what it does take seriously are its fine-tuned gameplay and level designs, which work together to create one of the best mobile hack-n-slashers that we've seen in quite some time.At its core, Second Chance Heroes is a blend of RPG and hack-n-slash gameplay with online co-op elements in the same vein as Diablo or Marvel Heroes. The basic idea is to make you way through each environment and kill anything and everything that gets in your path. Players move their characters with a virtual dual joystick control scheme: the left one for movement, and the right one to attack in any direction. Smaller hotkeys surrounding each joystick let you pull off special attacks and other bonuses, like a quick burst of speed. You'll also be able to use one of the hotkeys to quickly switch between your two selected heroes at will, which I found to be an especially welcomed addition."You'll mostly be slaying zombies along your journey through this wacky apocalypse (who are rendered with funny and cartoonish lime-green skin), but it won't be long before creatures like vampires and werewolves start entering the battle. The environments themselves are just as fun and interesting to explore. One of my personal favorites was actually the very first set of levels, appropriately titled "Mandatory Fun Time," which finds players fighting through a blinking arcade, complete with breakable gumball machines and a massive disco floor. Each level also has a handful of optional challenges for you to complete, such as getting through an area without anyone dying or finding hidden collectables, and this gives the game a little more of a purpose than just blindly chopping things up.
Before I even knew what was happening, I had a magical sword in my possession and the bad guys were teleporting in to try and kill me. Naturally, I reacted as any magic sword-wielding hero would when facing down a horde of enemies: I paid $1.99 and froze them all with my newly purchased frost spell —but only after I had to put the fight on hold in order to decline rating my experience thus far.Only One is a fun game that is hampered by constant, tacky reminders that you can spend your money in the game to power-up your hero. While it would be silly of me to say that a developer has no right pointing the player in the direction of where the in-app purchases reside, I feel like it's counterproductive to stop the game every time a new pair of items in the store are available to purchase. Point the player in the store's direction the first time it becomes available; anything beyond that and it feels like a nagging merchant following you through the flea market, trying to get you to buy his stuff.Ignoring the bouncing arrows and pop-ups reminding the player to rate their experience, Only One is a relatively fun game. Developed by Ernest Szoka, Only One is a top-down sword fighting game where players battle atop a mystical battleground, high up in the clouds. Enemies teleport in as others are dispatched and they can all be killed with sword attacks or magical abilities that the player unlocks by spending the points they collect from slaying other enemies. Kill an enemy and they drop loot; knock an enemy off the side of the battleground and more points are awarded, but the majority of the loot will follow the doomed opponent off the edge.
From legendary action filmmaker John Woo, Chillingo's Bloodstroke serves as a fun-filled reminder of all that is brutal and beautiful in the world. While this isn't Woo's first ever video game (he also made Stranglehold for home consoles in 2007), Bloodstroke marks the filmmaker's first foray onto the mobile scene. And while the thirst for action soaked in blood is definitely the biggest selling point of this release, it's the loud story of betrayal and the breathtaking, painted visuals that truly elevate the game into a piece of art that action fans can't help but appreciate.The storyline is certainly simple as events unfold in comic book-style cutscenes in between the levels, but it still brings enough twists and turns to get the job done. As "Lotus," a newly recruited and trained security agent, you'll need to advance through locations such as Hong Kong and Beijing while protecting your client, Dr. Koorse, who is at constant risk of being killed by entire armadas of street thugs and soldiers. It's a fitting setup that's meant to lead right into Woo's trademark action world of violence and bloodshed.The entire art style of Bloodstroke looks as if someone painted over every screen with black and white watercolor paints. You can even see the watery brushstrokes sweeping across the moving environments, whether in an accent on the road or simply swirling off the tops of the trees. It's rare for a game that's so rooted in action and gory violence to evoke such feelings of art and candor, but that's exactly what Bloodstroke manages to achieve, and it's something that adds to the story's allure in a wonderful fashion.Of course, it's not all black and white in Bloodstroke, as the contrasting color of red plays a crucial role in the presentation. The only splashes of this color that you'll find in the game are the red trenchcoat that Lotus wears, and of course, the bright gushing blood that spews out of your enemies as you slay them up and down the streets. Another nice touch is that after an enemy's blood has been spilled, the red quickly fades to black and remains on the world's canvas: letting players essentially add to the living painting with more bloodshed.
There has always been a fine line between a bard and a barbarian. In fact, the two traditionally couldn't be any more different: one is a highly refined poet from medieval culture, while the other is a ruthless warrior who often wields a club. But much like its name, Bardbarian from BulkyPix and Treefortress not only manages to weave together these two vastly different ideas in flawless fashion, but it also strings together a number of tried and true gameplay mechanics to make for one enjoyable and long-lasting defensive-adventure: one that the mobile scribes of our time are sure to write about one day.Let's start out with the game's story and presentation, which do just enough to set the stage for the onslaught of awesomeness that is waiting just behind it. Bardbarian is wonderfully self-aware and just downright funny, from our hero Brad's growing annoyance at having to save his town from evil yet again (and also being "tired of grinding XP and saving useless NPCs"), to the ironically-named Tutorial Goblin who helps you get into the basics of play.There's an inherent musical theme that runs throughout the story and gameplay, with Brad combining his deadly axe and a lute to make a truly rockin' instrument that lets him pull off some pretty sweet and power-inducing solos. Seriously - the gameplay will stop for just a second as the player activates a special power, treating everyone to a quick animation of Brad wailing away on his axe with pure metal passion. The whole thing has a huge Brutal Legend vibe going on beneath the surface, but the beautiful 2D visuals and smooth animations give the game its own unique sense of charm entirely.
I'm a sucker for superhero games. If you follow my scribblings here at Gamezebo, you'll have probably figured that out already. So when I learned that Disney was bringing their Korean mobile hit Marvel Run Jump Smash! to the West, I was ready to welcome it with open arms.…but it's gameplay just didn't welcome me back.Marvel Run Jump Smash! is an endless runner that's trapped pretty firmly in the past. You'll have a selection of superheroes that you'll cycle through, but in the end it all plays out very much the same: you'll run, you'll jump, you'll smash. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Mega Jump 2 is a free-to-play endless jumping game where your goal is to jump as high as you can for as long as you can without falling to the ground. Rack up points and collect as many coins as you can! Gamezebo's quick-start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game."
Free-to-play mobile titles tend to make traditional game fans furious, and when you come across a hair-pulling experience like Namco Bandai's Tales of Phantasia, it admittedly becomes hard to defend the controversial formula. Tales of Phantasia is a 16-bit classic action / RPG that was a huge hit in Japan, but has had a limited Western release since its debut on the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo). The original game received a fan translation that takes some creative liberties with the story and its characters (think unwarranted profanity - lots of it), and a poor Game Boy Advance remake, but otherwise, English-speakingfans will have to make do with Tales of Phantasia for mobile. What a shame, then, that Namco considers this poorly-constructed adaptation a worthy ambassador for newcomers to the series.Tales of Phantasia is free to download, which should rightfully set off some warning bells. How does the free-to-play formula even work in this instance?"The answer: It doesn't work. This is a 16-bit RPG through-and-through, right down to the "orphaned hero" storyline. You grind enemies for experience, grow in levels, and buy better monster-slaying equipment. That's fine - except Namco Bandai has thrown in optional purchases like orbs that revive you when you die.The problem with making a title like Tales of Phantasia free-to-play is that you have no idea if the game is playing fair. The mobile iteration is apparently a port of a Japanese PSP re-release, and to hear the tittle-tattle from series fans on message boards and the App Store, the mobile port allegedly jacks up the difficulty, reduces item drops, and even removes save points to goad players into buying resurrection orbs and other boosters.