Joe Dever's Lone Wolf comes so terribly close to getting it right. And not just right, but perfect. When I first started playing I thought I'd discovered a new pinnacle in beautiful, exciting and interactive gamebooks. And then it all fell apart, and by the time it was over I was glad to see it done.If you like gamebooks (and probably even if you don't), the opening of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf will blow you away. It hits you right from the get-go with a gorgeous, subtly animated pen-and-ink style of illustration and a rich, urgent orchestral soundtrack. And choice! Lone Wolf is a well-established character with 28 gamebooks to his credit (the analog, dead-tree kind of gamebook, of course) but before the action begins you can customize your version of him to a surprising degree. Are you the stealthy type, or do you prefer a stand-up fight? Do you pay close attention to you surroundings with every step you take, or do you prefer to rely on intuition to see you through? You can build Lone Wolf into just about any kind of character you want, from a brain-smashing tank to a quiet, thoughtful diplomat.The game shows off a remarkable degree of interactivity once the action starts. Multiple choices need to be made (as with any gamebook), but skill in the form of manual dexterity is also vital. Picking locks, for instance, isn't simply a matter of looking at a stat and rolling some virtual dice; you'll have to use a lockpicking tool and a small dagger to work the lock open, and if you break all your tools, it's tough luck for you.
3D endless runner-type games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, so it takes something extra and/or special—perhaps even "extra special," if you will—to stand out from the rest. With the Phineas and Ferb license to use the exploits of Agent P (aka Perry the Platypus) versus Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and all of the hijinks that entails, that might have been enough to do the job, at least for fans of the show (such as ourselves).Unfortunately, Agent P DoofenDASH just comes up short overall by missing a few key fundamentals, and of course, exploiting the free-to-play model. The graphics are great, despite being 3D (translating characters from the 2D hand-drawn Phineas and Ferb cartoons into full 3D models always tends to be a hit-or-miss proposition, but this does it well), and the voices and tunes almost make it feel like you're involved in another episode of the show. They even switch things up a bit by occasionally allowing you to switch over to a hang glider segment which operates much the same way as the running portions.In our experience, the controls are simply a bit lacking. Swiping left and right moves Perry in the corresponding direction, while swiping up has him jump, and swiping down makes him roll. At least, that's how it works in theory—too often, we found that we would swipe in a given direction, only to have Perry do something else, with the worst instance being swiping down to have him roll and instead seeing him jump right into the obstacle we were trying to avoid. As is often the case with these games, it only takes one small slip-up before you have to start all over, so there is no forgiveness here.Incidentally, the tutorial is a little lacking as well. Granted, there's not a whole lot to take in here, and fortunately, as noted, the glider portions operate much in the same way as the running. What the tutorial doesn't cover, however, is cornering and whether or not turning is automatic. Turns out that it isn't—back to the start, and rather quickly after just beginning the game, too. Not a great first impression.
A longtime classic gaming genre is that of the bullet hell shooter: games which typically put the player in a massive crossfire of tons upon tons of flying onscreen ordnance which appears to be impossibly overwhelming, yet allows players to really strut their stuff as they take down the foes responsible. But what if the one responsible for putting all those bullets on screen… was you?That is basically the premise behind Don't Shoot Yourself!, a bullet hell game in which you must always keep moving, and as you're moving, you're always firing. Eventually, the screen is filled with a bullet hell of your own making, where your own firepower is your greatest enemy as you attempt to simply survive until the time runs out.And, in truth, there really isn't much more to the game than that. The rest comes through in the 50 different levels provided, which each have their own shapes and quirks to add and change up the challenge each time you go in. Narrow walls, odd shapes, and even portals through which your bullets pass in order to come back to haunt you keep things interesting.Graphically, the game doesn't do much—no roving soldiers on a battlefield, no starships blasting through alien armadas or asteroid fields. It's all very simple and basic, yet pleasant. The only problem we really had is that it seemed that some of our bullets weren't hurting us upon contact while others were, and determining which is which proves to be a bit tricky with so many all around you. On the other hand, it could just be a hitbox-detection thing, which is common enough—and exploitable, in the right hands—in these types of games.
The Lord of the Rings brand has become an almost sacred property. So beloved are the books and movies that expectations have grown to proportions nearly as epic as the journey the nine must make to Mordor to destroy the one ring. So how can familiar and exceptional stories be reworked into the video game medium while maintaining the elements that breed popularity while expanding the universe and reaching innovation? Throw LEGOs into the mix. Boom. This is LEGO Lord of the Rings, and you need it.Tolkien's massive tale of power, corruption, love, adventure, and orcs transitions into the LEGO universe with ease. That said, the iOS version is definitely smaller than previous releases. LEGO Lord of the Rings will be especially familiar to those who played last year's handheld or PC/Mac versions of the title, but whether through platform limitations or conscious choice for mobile style of play, everything has been diluted."Encounters and boss battles play out a bit differently, which in and of itself isn't a bad thing. It is, however, something to be aware of for those who are curious. In other words, there are more expanded iterations of this game floating around and just about all unnecessary mechanics have been cut, so should LOTR fans wish to experience a deeper adventure they might be better off playing the more expensive bigger brother versions.Mobile or not, there is no denying that Warner Bros. have executed a fantastic game. The LEGO gaming brand has long been known to infuse subtly humorous moments into not-so-humorous properties, and these spoofs fit with LOTR surprisingly well. For example, the opening moments—Cate Blanchett/Galadriel's speech from The Fellowship of the Ring film transposed over LEGO versions of the same events—provides a moment where one of the kings of men drops his newly-gifted ring.
Meltdown is one of the most unique experiences I've had playing a mobile game. Like a confused college student, it has a few ideas on what it wants to be, but it gets lost in its own search for an identity. On paper, that identity is easily understandable. In practice, there are two experiences that are nearly identical. The single difference between the two is enough to shake the game's foundation.Upon first glance, it'll seem like Meltdown is a lot like Bastion, which is a fair assumption. The birds-eye camera view and the 360-degree motion result in this game controlling much like Supergiant's indie hit. Your character carries two guns and a melee weapon. Each gun can be purchased and upgraded by spending coins and upgrade cards dropped by enemies.Customization is one of Meltdown's strong points. Projectile weapons and your character all have individual skill trees. When a gun has been upgraded nine times—it's maximum—a new one will appear in the shop. Your character's skill tree is similar, but lacks the hard limit. You can choose to obtain skill boosts in damage, health, and weaponry. You can ultimately fill it out completely, so there's not much risk in selecting the wrong path. Regardless of skills and which two weapons you equip, you'll play the game the same way, only ammo types and meter regeneration changes.Meltdown's level-based gameplay is the bulk of what the game offers. The default controls are annoying, at best. I found myself trying to adapt to the touch-heavy controls, only to become frustrated and quickly go digging in the options menu. Fortunately, there's an excellent control scheme that mimics a game pad. This setup lets you move with a virtual thumb stick and press virtual buttons for shooting, dashing, and using a melee strike. There's also controller support for those with a compatible pad.
There has always been a certain feel that sets arcade games apart from their console and PC brethren. Their unique sights and sounds have fallen alongside the arcade in western culture. Once in a while, a brand new game releases and successfully captures the unique feel of classic arcade games while mixing in modern elements. Big Action Mega Fight! from Execution Labs is a wonderful example.Big Action Mega Fight! takes inspiration from old-school beat 'em up titles like Final Fight and Streets of Rage. Players take control of Brick, a rough and tough gentleman with an amazing mustache. Like those other games, Brick will venture through a ton of stages. Each stage is made up of multiple screens and Brick will need to wipe out each enemy on screen before the "GO!" message allows him to move on. Brick's combat ability is a simple method of tapping and swiping, allowing him to punch, uppercut, and throw enemies. The controls suffer from occasional confusion, such as uppercutting instead of throwing. This doesn't hurt the overall experience too much, but accidentally punching a chicken bomb can be frustrating.Combat reeks of old beat 'em ups. A lot of the enemies' designs are nothing more than palette swaps with each other. Meanwhile, destroyable objects litter the stages, allowing players to throw enemies into soda machines or piles of tires. Everything drops cash or food, as well. Collecting food is the easy way to replenish your health during a fight. Cash is where the game's modern features start to show off in a huge way.After you complete a stage, you'll collect all the coins you picked up during the level, as well as earn a bonus for your performance. Coins and gold teeth (the premium currency) fund Big Action Mega Fight!'s upgrade shop. Between battles, there are three upgrades on which you can use coins. Players can boost their overall level of health and/or damage output, which makes later stages much easier. There's also a menu for unlockable specials. Only one special can be set at any time. These range from temporarily turning Brick into a tornado, to making chicken bombs rain from the heavens. Some specials are much more powerful than others, but there is something that caters to everyone's play style.
Remember Combat for the Atari? No, I suppose not. Well, it was essentially a game where two player-controlled tanks faced-off in an arena while trying to decimate each other for points. Tank Battles is sort of a modernization of the original; only now with nicer visuals, online play, and a bunch of ways for players to upgrade their performance. Unfortunately, the emphasis on premium currency makes it feel a little too modern.The single player in Tank Battles involves a series of increasingly difficult missions for players to complete. Each one has a total of three stars that can be earned by completing specific objectives (i.e. destroy everything, finish in under X seconds, etc.), and those stars will unlock even more missions or access to new gear in the shop. The general idea is to not get blown up while blowing up everything else, but sometimes the objectives will throw players a curveball and mix things up a bit. The basic controls will have players guiding the tank around a small arena using a virtual stick in the bottom-left corner of the screen, while tapping anywhere else to fire in that direction. A set of three item buttons is also preset at the bottom of the screen, and will activate whatever is equipped with a tap."Multiplayer is mechanically similar - what with the control scheme, wanton destruction, and small arenas - but in many ways feels more like a traditional deathmatch. Up to four players square-off and try to annihilate each other in order to get the highest score, while also keeping an eye out for random power-up drops like health and damage boosts. It doesn't earn stars like the solo mode, but it does allow players to compete for leaderboard status (and rewards), as well as some extra coins.
As we have all learned from cartoons, one can easily float into the air by blowing a really big bubble with some extra sticky bubblegum. The hero of AdvenChewers uses this to his advantage to float and fly across stage after stage of endless running action. Collect coins, rescue birds, and save your father before he's forced to serve the evil General!AdvenChewers features a shoestring storyline that involves a lot of steampunk machinations, an evil General bent on world domination or some such thing, and armadas of airships floating through the skies. It mostly serves as a convenient backdrop to put you in the shoes of an adventurer out to save the world. Bubblegum is the real star of the show, and it functions as the main gimmick keeping AdvenChewers entertaining."Tap the screen to jump, holding down for slightly longer leaps. While airborne, tap again to blow a bubble, holding the screen to float even higher. You can bobble up and down by keeping a good tapping rhythm going, but your bubble will eventually burst if you inflate it too far. Even bubblegum has its limits, you know.Each level in AdvenChewers features three missions you can complete to earn extra coins. For example, collect five mega coins, use special gum powers, or pick up hidden phoenix feathers that give you a temporary ride on the back of an invincible bird. Level design really encourages you to play, replay, and explore. Stages have multiple paths to check out, so it's not just jumping over holes and rescuing fowls. Look for coins hidden just off-screen, and don't be afraid to fly into the air to look for secrets. Phoenix feathers, mega coins, and other surprises often await the eager adventurer. Ahem, AdvenChewer.