Tag Archive: iOS


Hands-On: Batman: Arkham Origins Mobile

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
October 29, 2013

More convenient than Bat-Shark Repellent

Much of the current Batman buzz may surround the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins console game, but at New York Comic Con 2013, Warner Bros. wanted to make it clear that they haven’t forgotten about the iOS and Android platforms, either. The mobile incarnation was unveiled at the show—it’s scheduled to be available sometime around its console brethren’s October 25th release date—and I was able to get some solid hands-on time with this free-to-play Bat-brawler.

The mobile version’s being developed by NetherRealm Studios—the folks behind Injustice: Gods Among Us—and fans will quickly see parallels between that game’s mobile tie-in and this experience. Much of the core gameplay still revolves around tapping on your enemies to chain together punches and kicks to take them down in succession, and after dispatching a variety of thugs, you’ll earn a chance to beat down one of the eight assassins after the huge bounty on Batman’s head. The Caped Crusader has a stamina meter, however, and he can only pick so many fights in a row before he needs a break to recharge his batteries.

The concept may sound simple enough, but there’s a far deeper experience here than you might expect if you were to give the game a cursory glance. Sure, you won’t get the dialogue or story that you’d get from a Batman console game, but there’s more than enough action to give Bat-fans their fix on the bus or a plane before getting home to their consoles to continue their proper pursuit of Black Mask.

The overall layout breaks up Gotham City into four sections, and Batman must methodically work his way through them all to clean up the streets. While the game will launch with only four of the eight assassins, Warner Bros. promises that— much like the Injustice mobile tie-in—there’ll be plenty of continued support down the line.

The game also includes an RPG-like element; Batman can level up by earning experience after every battle or by using the in-game currency he earns (which can also be purchased for a fee in the game’s store) to unlock a variety of special moves and new costumes that provide natural buffs. Batsuits like the one worn on Earth-Two will provide more health, while the Batman Beyond suit can provide a nice all-around boost.

The combat’s also deeper in that Batman can pull off six or seven moves in a row—unlike the three or four that players were limited to in Injustice. Plus, the variety of special moves is far larger. You can only bring four moves at a time into battle, though, so you’ll have to switch some in and out on the customization screen as you unlock more.

You can also bring medkits to heal yourself—or maybe the Shock Gauntlets, which then switches the game to a first-person perspective as you try to pound your foe’s face into paste. Or there’s always my personal favorite: throwing dual Batarangs for huge damage and then calling in a swarm of bats to slow the enemy down.

But Batman’s combat isn’t the only element to see an overhaul in this mobile version. His would-be assassins also have special maneuvers that require players to master mini-games in order to block or counter opponents’ signature moves. When I fought Deadshot, for example, I had to quickly tap all the bullets he was firing at me in order to dodge them, Matrix-style.

The user interface is also much clearer now, with all your special moves easily clickable down on the bottom of the screen—and if you wish to use your second hand, a block button is available for faster reactions. Of course, if you find the HUD bothersome or think it clutters up the screen, there’s an option now to turn it off altogether.

Clearly, this isn’t the same experience that you’d get on a console. But if you’re on the go and feel like letting out some pent-up aggression on Bane or Copperhead, this looks to be shaping up as a quality mobile tie-in that’ll be great for killing a little time during your commute.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
September 5, 2013

Gotta get back in time

When you consider the phenomenon that the first Plants vs. Zombies became—being ported countless times to every system available and inspiring every piece of merchandise imaginable—it’s no wonder that the folks at PopCap would, at some point, get around to making a sequel. Instead of resting on their laurels and riding the massive wave of success generated by the first game to an easy payday, however, Plants vs. Zombies 2 erects a wondrous monument on the foundation of its predecessor that has the potential to consume every free second you have—if you let it.

Building a bit on the story of the first game, PvZ 2 sees your neighbor, good ol’ Crazy Dave, construct a talking time machine out of his car. After eating the most delicious taco ever assembled, Dave gets the idea of using his time machine to travel several minutes back in time to consume this hallowed taco once more. Being in the vicinity of the car, you’re pulled back with Dave, but instead of several minutes, you’re sent back several thousand years. Now, you must battle zombie hordes with the help of Dave and his sentient automobile, traveling through time as you try to get back home.

The biggest change that most players will notice is that, unlike its predecessor, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is free-to-play (not to mention starting out as an exclusive on iOS devices). Fans needn’t worry about free-to-play becoming pay-to-win, or about any story content being gated, though. The entire game can be played without you having to pay a dime, and only one of the new plant types is locked by a purchase. Plus, the extra good news is that PopCap has promised continual content updates to the game through this system.

Despite the switch to a free-to-play model, both the core tower-defense gameplay and cheesy humor that made Plants vs. Zombies so great return here in droves. The obvious additions are dozens of new plants, like the fire-breathing Snapdragon or kung-fu-proficient Bop Choy, and new zombies, like the sun-stealing Ra Zombie. Along with these new characters comes a bevy of powers that you can utilize at any time.

Some of these powers come from supercharged plant food that you acquire by defeating special green-tinted zombies. By utilizing it at the right time, you can turn the tide of any battle, and each plant has its own appropriate special attacks. Old standbys like Pea Pods will shoot a continuous stream of pellets, perfect for wearing down shielded zombies, while Bop Choy will deliver furious roundhouse kicks and swinging haymakers that allow it to attack not only directly in front of it, but in adjacent lanes as well.

Utilizing the touchscreen feature of the iOS devices, PvZ 2 can also give the player special powers that you can purchase either with in-game currency earned by playing well, or by dropping some real-world cash via the in-game store. These powers can serve as a Hail Mary for some more troublesome maps. For a few seconds, one power grants you the ability to electrocute any zombie onscreen and turn them to ash. Another allows you to pinch zombie heads off their bodies, instantly killing them. And the final power allows you to flick zombies off the screen and into an unknown abyss from whence they will never return. When you combine the new plant food feature with these powers, you have countless new strategies that can potentially open up.

Outside of the action on each main level, there are plenty of side activities as well, providing some much-appreciated gameplay variety in the form of minigames and challenge maps. Whether it’s using only a certain number of total plants in the match or starting with plants already on the field that you can’t let die, the challenge maps add a ton of replayability.

There is, however, a fine line between replayability and grinding. The one negative in PvZ 2 is that in order to advance from ancient Egypt to the pirate world and finally to the Wild West, you need to collect a certain number of stars—and these stars usually will require you to do the same story levels over and over again, collecting them one at a time. Although it’s enjoyable at first, after a while, it feels needless to constantly backtrack and retread ground, like some infuriating JRPG.

Putting that aside, though, there’s no way I can’t recommend Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time if you have an iOS device. It doesn’t cost you a single cent to play, it maintains the same addictive strategy elements of the first game, and it adds a ton of new gameplay variety. If the first Plants vs. Zombies was a sensation, Plants vs. Zombies 2 may turn the franchise into a way of life.

Developer: PopCap Games • Publisher: Electronic Arts • ESRB: N/A • Release Date: 08.15.2013
9.0

PopCap maintains the addictive tower-defense gameplay and cheesy humor that made the first Plants vs. Zombies such a phenomenon, while adding a plethora of new features that ensure this game will consume every free second you have—if you let it.
The Good A near-unbelievable amount of enjoyable additions.
The Bad Can become a bit of a grind when forced to replay a lot of levels before advancing to the next world.
The Ugly Fire-breathing flowers and highly combustible zombie flesh.
Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time is currently an iOS exclusive. 
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Defenders of Ardania

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
April 16, 2012

None Shall Pass!

High fantasy seems to be the soup de jour in the games industry nowadays with games like Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Game of Thrones, Kingdoms of Amalur, etc., etc., either having just been released or are just beyond the horizon. But something that hasn’t been beaten to death is the Tower Defense genre and since high fantasy lends itself to that discipline rather naturally (think castles and stone forts), enter now Defenders of Ardania ready and willing to fill the gap. This isn’t your typical Tower Defense title though as it interestingly mixes in some RTS elements that encourage you to think both offensively and defensively as well.

As the ruler of a prosperous fantasy kingdom, your wealth and resources has obviously attracted a horde of malcontents who wish to raze you for every last coin you may have. But by implementing some serious strategy, you can weather the storm of both human and demonic foes. To ensure your victory though, you must also march your army down the enemy’s throat with wave after wave of your own soldiers.

The ideas that Defenders of Ardania throws out there are all well and good, but like so many games that try to cross-breed game play types, a failed marriage between two or more elements can lead to a bigger disaster than had a single game play style been used and failed. The Tower Defense base works fine as you place ballista, spearmen, archers, and various other well equipped fortifications around the battlefield map. Even the magic spells in your inventory work to help even the odds as space runs out quickly on the field for you to place your towers. But the RTS element is woefully under-developed as each wave you create of soldiers must walk a clear path towards your enemy’s castle and they are as mindless as the towers you place. You let them go and forget about them. So although there is some strategy there as you must pick what units to send and what paths for them to take, you can mostly forget about them after you create them and hope they carry out their pre-ordained mission.

The worst part of this is that once you create a sound enough defense, as the old sports adage of “defense wins championships” was taken to heart it seems in the game design, your enemy has typically done the same and you can’t muster the proper offense you need to win as your mindless drones march to their doom over and over again, often resulting in long drawn out matches on even the easiest difficulty settings as you try to force your way past a virtual stalemate. One nice thing about the game though is the multiplayer as when you insert human error into the equation, there is a better chance for a match to progress at a decent pace, or if a stalemate does occur, for one player to get tired and give up.

The sound is irritating as well as your narrator and chief advisor sounds like an awful Sean Connery impersonator and he may be the best of the voice actors you come across as you move through the levels. The visuals are at least bright and vibrant enough to offer some distraction from this, but there are a lot of pretty games out there I’d rather devote my thinking power to.

When all is said and done, Defenders of Ardania was a nice concept, but poorly balanced execution and a tired, unoriginal story keep this from being anything special aside for maybe some Tower Defense diehards who have been waiting for something to come along in the genre.

SUMMARY: The marriage of RTS elements with a Tower Defense base fails to work as smoothly as necessary for this game to be anything memorable.

  • THE GOOD: Beautiful, stylized high fantasy setting
  • THE BAD: RTS and Tower Defense elements don’t blend as smoothly as necessary
  • THE UGLY: Bad Sean Connery impersonator serves as narrator

SCORE: 5.0

Defenders of Ardania is available on Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN), PC, and iOS. Primary version reviewed was on Xbox 360.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Mass Effect: Infiltrator

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
March 16, 2012

Rebel with a Cause

While Commander Shepard is taking on the Reaper threat head-on, there are many individual stories happening in the galaxy about the struggle and strife of the galaxy’s citizens, both within themselves and with outside threats. Mass Effect: Infiltrator explores one of those stories. You play as Randall Enzo, a Cerberus agent who will fulfill his masters’ wishes at any cost. As long as it’s non-human, Enzo has no remorse in taking it down, whether heartless Geth or Turian Raiders. He is a soldier through and through…until Cerberus goes too far and uses his best friend, Inali, in one of their twisted experiments. Now, pushed to the edge, Randall looks to take revenge the only way he knows how…by putting a bullet in his problems.

Fans of the Mass Effect universe will the see the immediate appeal of this game as you get to get behind an assault rifle and use some biotics to take on both familiar and new enemies specific to the game in a portable form for only seven dollars. The controls are a bit difficult to get used to at first as you obviously lack joysticks, but you will soon be mimicking the patterns of the console basis for this game as your left thumb moves you around and your right serves to aim, and remember this is easier, of course, on a larger iPad screen than a pint-sized iPhone.

You get plenty of practice to get used to this mechanic though no matter your iOS format as the game has an arcade on-rails shooter feeling as you move from area to area picking off your enemies one by one as they slowly march towards your position and you duck behind a conveniently placed piece of cover. This can get boring quickly and only the thought of enjoying a decently developed spin-off story in the Mass Effect universe will drive the more hardcore players forward in many cases as the casual Mass Effect fans may fall to the wayside.

Something else that might push people to finish this game though is the fact that Infiltrator can link to Mass Effect 3’s “Galaxy at War” feature. A cheap gimmick to help sell the game, I know, but if you’re determined to avoid the ME3 multiplayer for various reasons, this might be another way to help your galaxy readiness and for you to get the best ending if you’re willing to shell out more cash. I would have loved to have uploaded my specific Randall at the end of the game though instead of just the special Cerberus intel I collected. All in all though, Infiltrator looks and sounds great and is a solid purchase for diehard Mass Effect fans as it gives you about 4-5 hours worth of original content that might give fans flashbacks of Mass Effect 2 as you look at things again from the other side. Newcomers and casual fans of the series will likely want to steer clear though as this is definitely not the best way to experience the Mass Effect universe overall.

SUMMARY: An interesting spin-off to the main Mass Effect universe, only the most hardcore of fans will look past the repetitive on-rails game play and iffy controls.

  • THE GOOD: Unique adventure that ties in nicely with the Mass Effect universe
  • THE BAD: Repetitive on-rails game play, hit or miss touch controls
  • THE UGLY: Randall Enzo’s biotics infused face

SCORE: 7.5

Mass Effect: Infiltrator is exclusive to the iOS format.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Dungeon Hunter: Alliance

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

Crawling Away From This Dungeon

Based on the PSN game of the same name that was inspired by the popular Dungeon Hunter iOS series, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance has you play as a wise and benevolent king who falls apart at the sudden death of his beloved queen. Not willing to accept this, he dabbles in the dark arts to resurrect his wife, but changing one’s fate can have consequences and the queen carries within her now a dark presence. Upon her reanimation she betrays her king and stabs him to death. Now 25 years have past and the king has been resurrected by fairy magic in order to free his kingdom that has suffered for long enough under the oppressive thumb of his former bride.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is done in the classic dungeon crawler style akin to games like Gauntlet Legends, but has a lot more side quests and a central hub that help the game from becoming as linear as those arcade action styled games of old. There is also the positive of being able to play with up to three of your friends as you choose from your typical classes of Warriors, Rogues, and Mages. The hack ‘n’ slash game play is everything you’ve come to expect from the genre and adding in the portability and multiplayer compatibility of the Vita are nice, but this game is far from perfect.

Although fun to play at first, the action does get repetitive quickly and the item system is sloppy at best as there is no easy way to organize the many items you pick up along the way in your adventure. The graphics also aren’t anything particularly special as even though the characters seem to have been done in great detail, they exist in a bland and generic world that will have you get turned more than once as every dungeon and town you visit look exactly the same as the last.

The biggest negative for the game though probably lies in the price point. The only difference you’re getting between this $40 game and the $15 PSN version that has had numerous sales and promotions for it since it became available last April is the fact that the game is now obviously portable. And if you played the $5 iOS games that are a part of this series, then you’ll know exactly what to expect as well as the formula hasn’t changed at all from there either. So although the game had a few bright spots, it’s hard to recommend a game in the already flooded list of launch titles for the Vita when you can get the same game for less than half the price via another means of distribution.

SUMMARY: Solid dungeon crawler action is held back by monotonous game play and a cluttered loot system, but most of all a price point at $40 that is more than double the PSN price for virtually the same game.

  • THE GOOD: Classic dungeon crawler action
  • THE BAD: Cluttered item system and generic game play
  • THE UGLY: Another example of a barely upgraded iOS game that is clearly overpriced on the Vita

SCORE: 5.0

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is a PS Vita exclusive.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

Word Game Reveals Curious XBLA Word Filter

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
February 14, 2012

THE BUZZ: The popular iOS game Quarrel that was ported to XBLA last week has revealed a curious feature in the Xbox Live Arcade that no one was privy to before.

EGM’S TAKE: The feature in question is a word filter for all Xbox Live games that really comes into play with Quarrel as the entire game revolves around using words to conquer territories a la Risk.

I personally had taken note of this phenomenon in my review of the game, which you can see here, when I was wondering why the word “SATURN” had been denied me, especially since I had the family filter off and was able to use some more crude words later on in the game dealing with human anatomy (if the family filter is on, those words are removed as well). I had chalked it up possibly to human error somehow or that maybe just being a proper noun was enough to get it tossed, but I really didn’t see a problem with the sixth planet from the sun being used.

But it seems that I wasn’t alone as gamers have been complaining on the game’s forums since its release that words like “dice”, “start”, “help”, and “train” are among the many other common, harmless words strangely omitted from the game’s vocabulary. In an official statement, Gary Penn who works for Quarrel developer Denki mentioned “Microsoft has an additional filter in place for all Xbox Live games, which we have to support.”

This statement alludes to many reports we’ve heard over recent months of some of the ridiculous hoops developers sometimes have to jump through to get their game onto the Xbox Live Arcade, but a word filter like this for a word game seems particularly ludicrous. Maybe someone at Microsoft can “help” me understand this better, but they have yet to make a statement regarding the matter so until then fellow Quarrel fans, just take note when attempting “word domination”.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

EGM Review: Quarrel

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment
January 26, 2012

Become a Vocabulary Assassin

Remember all those vocabulary tests and SAT Prep courses in high school that attempted to expand your language skills? Me neither. But if I did, they sure would probably come in handy with Quarrel. Originally for iOS, the XBLA port of Quarrel maintains the original’s Words with Friends wordplay addictiveness and its Risk style strategy. Now, though, the game has four single-player modes, including 12 different boards, a variety of difficult board-based challenges and match stipulations, and nine distinct AI opponents, to go along with its 2-4 player online versus mode. Not to mention the inclusion of your Xbox Avatar into your game icon.

The purpose of Quarrel is to eliminate your opponents and conquer the entire game board. At the start of the game, depending on the number of players, the board is divided up evenly, with each space being occupied by 4-6 of your troops. In order to conquer a territory, you must attack a neighboring space to one of your already occupied spots. In order to conquer this space though, you must form a word in a limited time worth a higher score than the word your opponent forms when revealed eight semi-random letters. Depending on how many troops you are attacking/defending with, determines how many letters you can use, with no more than eight and no fewer than two ever being available at a time. There are so many more nuances to the game though that strategy truly does reign supreme as you get further into the game. You can take prisoners, call in reinforcements just before a battle, or even earn more points towards reinforcements when other players are battling and you are on the sidelines.

There are a couple of minor drawbacks to the game though. Some words are not recognized by the game, including some interesting proper nouns. Like I tried to use the word “SATURN” and found out the hard way that the sixth planet from the sun would not be accepted. A minor inconvenience to be sure, but now that the game is using the joystick or d-pad to select and de-select letters, it can be a bit more time consuming when trying to fix a misspelled or unacceptable word in the time limit, compared to when you could use the iOS touch screen before.

The game also starts to lose its luster a bit when playing against the computer constantly, especially in the earlier matches of each mode so if you can’t get a couple of your friends hooked on this game it might be something that slowly drifts to the backburner of your gaming priorities.

Despite this though, the game for the most part is very fun. The cute little critters who serve as your troops and bash your opponents into oblivion with their letter cards when you win are very enjoyable and I love the fact that with each word you and your opponents makes, you see the definition come across the bottom of the screen telling you what it means. I had no idea that a “KO” was a New Zealand gardening tool similar to a hoe until I played Quarrel. If only I had this game around back when I was studying for those SATs, I might have actually retained some knowledge. On top of this, it also gives you the 8-letter anagram each random assortment of letters can make, really doing its best to trick you into expanding your vocabulary while you play the game.

The best and most surprising part about Quarrel though may be its price. Coming in at only 400 MSP (about five dollars), if you are a fan of word games, strategy games, or board games, Quarrel is a fantastic bargain if you’re looking for that next great product in any of those genres. I was really pleasantly surprised at the tremendous amount of content I was able to get for such a small price and even more pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had with it. If you’re looking for something to workout your mental muscles and don’t want the commitment of a plot driven game, then I can’t more highly recommend Quarrel.

SUMMARY: Quarrel is an addictive and fun strategy game that might actually trick you into learning a few things as you attempt to go for “Word Domination”.

  • THE GOOD: The addictiveness of Words with Friends with the strategy of Risk
  • THE BAD: Can lose its luster if you don’t have friends who play the game as well
  • THE UGLY: The look on your face after realizing the computer is smarter than you

SCORE: 9.0

Quarrel is available on Xbox 360 (XBLA) and iOS at the time of this review. Primary version reviewed was on Xbox 360.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment