Charlie loves B-movies, and who can blame him? There's a level of camp and cheese that catapults poorly made cinema into the world of endearingly awful. So when our good ol' Charlie happens upon a drive-in boasting a classic B-movie marathon, he pulls in right away to partake in the terrible goodness. But all that flick-watchin' is serious business, and Charlie soon succumbs to sleep, whereupon he is whisked away into the very films he loves in the role of the hero. Armed with a trusty baseball bat, proximity traps, and any number of firearms, Charlie must make it through the benchmarks of less-than-mainstream film, lest he be Nightmare on Elm Street-ed (killed in his sleep) by the very cinematic villains and monsters he has come to love. Tragic.There's a cartoony style to Clash of Puppets that blends with a mostly linear take on classic 3D platformers. Putting elements like mechanics and gameplay aside for the moment, it's important to note that this is a good-looking game, especially for its light-hearted, kid-friendly style. No, it isn't the most beautifully developed experience in the history of mobile gaming, but there are enough subtle touches, clever lighting, and immersive additions (why is fog so spooky, anyway?) that you'll probably take note. Charlie is pretty damned cute, and as far as heroes go, he's likable."Really, he falls under the strong and silent type that developers seem to like so much, but there is a lot to be said for the star of the show being an everyman. Even if it isn't a major plot point and even if we are talking about a game where cute puppets beat up other cute puppets, there's something about an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary circumstances and rising to a challenge. On some level, no matter how small, we tend to see ourselves like this - to view the world of the character through our own eyes. Or maybe I'm just reading waaaay too much into it and it's little more than a silly distraction. Either way, the means to think this way is apparently something that can happen.
There have been a few attempts at creating Doctor Who games that didn't feel like glorified cash grabs, but mobile games have never been at the top of the list. Doctor Who: Legacy is a free-to-play effort that, while mired in the trappings of a match-3 gem puzzler, does a decent job of incorporating the lore and attitude of the popular sci-fi series.Rather than simply matching gems to earn a certain score, the game plays out in a "versus" manner, where you, the Doctor, and several companions face off against enemies that range from Weeping Angels to Cybermen; two popular villains from the show itself.Various types of gem matches are your only defense against the oncoming threats, and the Doctor (as well as each companion) has a special ability they can unleash against enemies. Some heal, some deal devastating damage, and others have other support techniques that are helpful in battle. Part of the fun lies in assembling a team that can play off of each other well, so as you progress and collect new team members, it's interesting to test out abilities as well.
Doctor Who: Legacy is a free-to-play match-3 gem puzzler that pits you against some of Doctor Who's most nefarious villains as you travel through time and space, gain new allies, and unlock new episodes from the series itself. Gamezebo's quick-start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game."
In Skull Legends, players are forced to stand their ground with nothing but a bow and arrow in their hands, and the knowledge of building various towers throughout the landscape as legions of evil skeleton monsters slowly shake their bones and grow closer and closer to their defensive position. Just another day on the job, right? While this might sound like typical tower defense gameplay fare at first, an immersive first-person perspective and deep elemental components make this one of the most refreshing surprises that the genre has to offer on a mobile device today.There's virtually no story to be found here in Skull Legends, other than the fact that there are hundreds of bad guys slowly walking to get you, and that you need to stop them at all costs with your trusty bow and arrow. It actually feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity at times, though, considering how everything else in the game is extremely spot-on. There's a nice medieval theme that's prevalent throughout the game's two-dozen or so levels, and fluid 3D character models and animations will take you through four diverse environments including the crypt, a snowy forest village, and a lava-filled canyon."The controls are fairly intuitive, with a simple tap and hold on the screen to draw your bow, and then dragging your finger to position the shot before releasing your hold to send the arrow off on its way to scoring a headshot. Of course, things can become a little less accurate when you're trying to snipe an enemy who's almost reached the bottom of the screen, and sometimes the frantic wait times needed for your character to regain his stamina after consecutive arrow shots can feel a little on the long side; but all in all, it's typically a breeze to wield your bow and arrow in Skull Legends, and you'll feel absolutely awesome doing it.
Demon Tribe is an ambitious attempt to combine collectible card battle games with MOBA-style action, and it works quite well - as long as you have the patience to figure out what's going on. I've played a lot of CCGs in my time - one of the hazards of the job - and I expected more of the same with Demon Tribe. It's not exactly a genre known for innovation and original gameplay, after all, and a quick, cursory glance offered little to suggest that this game would be any different. So it was a surprise to find that it boasts a far greater degree of complexity than I'd anticipated, and that my CCG autopilot would be of limited use.You begin Demon Tribe under rather hazy circumstances as the newly-chosen director of Omega Surveillance, a sort of secret, supernatural agency charged with monitoring the fragile border between the Waking and Dream worlds (or something like that - the introductory tutorial is pretty heavily loaded and blows by quickly); and long story short, the job of keeping our world from being overrun by demons is now in your hands.You don't defend the border directly, however. Instead, you direct a squad of agents into battle, controlling their actions in single-player "assault battles" as well as multiplayer co-operative battles and PvP brawls of up to six players. Each agent is a unique character and carries a "deck" of demon forms that they can assume during fights. This is where the CCG angle manifests: demons are "summoned" with gems that are acquired as you play and then added to your agents' repertoire. In a way, it's a bit like having multiple custom decks that can be used to handle different situations and combined for bigger battles.
Wargaming.net proved they could make a pretty mean free-to-play MMO with World of Tanks. But why stop with World War II-era combat on land when you can conquer land, air, and sea (insert evil cackle here)? World of Warplanes represents the second of the company's three stages of domination, and it's got everything it needs to equal its sibling in terms of popularity. Except for a catchy abbreviation, that is. I'm fairly certain "WoW' is already taken.As far as truth in names goes, World of Warplanes is right on target. It's all about 15-on-15 aerial battles, and except for a brief but necessary tutorial to get you acquainted with the basics of flying and firing weapons, it's all player-versus-player (PvP). If you're not fond of pitting your skills against other human opponents, this isn't the game for you."The controls are as simple to pick up as a flying game could possibly make them. There's no throttle (save for a boost button that can temporarily increase your speed), so all you need to worry about is your altitude and heading. Climbing slows your plane, and doing too much fancy stickwork headed away from the ground is a good way to stall the engine. Anecdotal evidence suggests the mouse is the preferred way to fly, but the game supports just about everything: keyboard, joystick, and PC-compatible gamepad all work.Like World of Tanks, the game features 10 tiers of vehicles from five different countries - the USA, Germany, Great Britain, the USSR and Japan this time, sorry France - that increase in power as you advance through the tiers. The matchmaking system is designed to get you into matches quickly with teams that are roughly equivalent and have planes from just two different tiers, and while it's possible to team with friends to ensure there's a familiar face on your side, most of your time spent early on will be battling alongside and against strangers.
In the post-apocalyptic game world of Tank Nation, the rising countries are all at war once again (I guess they didn't learn their lesson from destroying the world in the first place). But this time around, they've all come to an agreement to use tanks to solve their problems, as opposed to the old go-to, nuclear warfare. And so sets the stage for the vibrant and enjoyably explosive game that follows: as players hop in a tank and travel across the sprawling world landscape to compete in the Tank Nation Tournament, and you know, maybe blow a few things up along the way. It may be the first ever release from newly-formed studio Wormhole Games, but it's certainly an epic one.Tank Nation utilizes a number of quirky and familiar character types that players will be able to control and interact with throughout the course of the game, and their disparaging backgrounds, from Road Warrior to U.S. Military, add that extra edge of variety that is only accentuated by the wonderfully rich environments that these characters come from. The graphics, though stemmed from an overall cartoonish design, are unbelievably sharp, and the animations are amazingly smooth. Panning around the iPad's large screen and watching the multilayered backgrounds adjust to the angles is an especially nice touch, and everything in the distance has a painted, almost ethereal quality to it when compared to the bleak and destructive environments that you'll be blasting away in the foreground."But it's the actual gameplay that makes Tank Nation such a smashing success. On the surface, the game might seem like a simple turn-based strategy affair: your tank is placed on a 2D plane against various waves of enemy tanks of increasing difficulty, and you'll need to blow them all up in order to make the next batch of foes miraculously appear on the battlefield. What sets Tank Nation apart from other turn-based strategy games, however, is that you'll actually get to partake in the action yourself through simple and familiar touchscreen gestures. You'll draw and pull back on the screen with your finger to line up your shot and let the bullets fly, similar to the slingshot effect of Angry Birds. Moving your tank into position is as simple as dragging your finger to where you want your war machine to relocate, and away it goes.
Tank Nation is a 2D tank battle game created by Wormhole Games. You'll build and customize tanks, battle enemies, and take your tanks online against other players. Gamezebo's quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game."