Weekly Gaming: It’s Quiz Time (Xbox One)
It’s been a while since I last played a quiz game, especially one that I can play with family and friends. In fact, it’s thanks to my friends that It’s Quiz Time even come on my radar at all. After a great catch up around their house they proceeded to ask me if I enjoy quiz games and whether I’d be interested in playing one on the xbox, with my iPhone as the controller. Intrigued I jumped at the idea, and proceeded to have a great time answering questions and losing terribly, all in the name of catching up with old friends and having a good time. Fast forward a few weeks and another set of friends were wondering what we could do at a meet up. Thinking back, I recalled it’s quiz time, and how it’d be really useful at this encounter due to it’s control scheme of using…
Weekly Gaming: A good Snowman is Hard to Build (iOS)
Like clockwork, it’s another friday, so that means another game to review! This week I take a look at A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, a game I bought when it was on sale due to a snow day here in the UK. So without further ado, here’s my thoughts on the game. First up, AGSIHTB grabs your attention from the offset due to it’s absolutely charming design, and sweet animation. No matter how long you play the game, you’ll consistently be surprised at how cute the game is, especially given how few assets are on display here. Each snowman/woman you successfully create has its own unique look, leading you to believe they have their own personalities, despite them being technically inanimate objects. It’s charming, and down right amazing in your entire time with the game. So, I should probably at this point talk about the game’s core loop.…
Weekly Gaming: Super Mario Run (iOS)
Nintendo’s first foray into mobile gaming may have been a massive hit (Pokemon Go) but their first premium game is certainly a mixed bag of weirdness. Super Mario Run costs the grand old price of £7.99, not an extravagant price when comparing it to the traditional games market, but certainly pricey on mobile platforms. So what do you get for your money? Let’s find out. First up, Super Mario Run is a running platofrmer, but because you can’t control a phone as easily as you would a traditional console and controller, the game is a forever runner – Mario himself moves forward regardless as to whether you actually press anything or not. This is a massive break from previous mario games, with their precise controls, but is understandable due to the constraints of mobile phone’s designs. Nintendo made a big point of advertising the fact you control Mario with only…
Weekly Gaming: Monument Valley 2 (iOS)
It’s been almost 3 years to the day since I reviewed Monument Valley; the fantastically gorgeous mobile indie game that absolutely blew me away, and made me look at mobile games in a whole new light. A year after that, I took on the game’s DLC, and found it evoking the same kind of feelings as the original, albeit at a much reduced price. This year I finally got my hands on the game’s secret sequel: Monument Valley 2. To be honest, the announcement of the sequel was something of a surprise. There I was just watching Apple’s WWDC keynote, and suddenly, the app store section was showing Monument Valley 2. Rushing to the app store, I found it by searching, and immediately gave Apple (and the developers at ustwo games) four whole pounds and 99 pennies for the pleasure of owning this great game. So first up, what is…
Weekly Gaming: The Room Three (iOS)
It’s been a mighty long time since I played The Room Two, and since (from what I can recall) I remember thoroughly enjoying the game I decided to give the latest instalment a download. From the offset I can say that The Room three’s price tag certainly helps in making that purchasing decision quick and painless. At a measly price of £3.99, I was stumped at how cheap it was considering how expensive indie games are getting these days on other platforms. Fireproof Games should be commended for keeping such a low price point when others in the industry are deciding to charge through the nose for the latest and greatest. Anyway, onto the game itself. Fans of the series should note that nothings really changed from the previous two games’ formula. You’re in a weird world where puzzles are hidden within puzzles, and must find your way between rooms…
Weekly Gaming: 1010 (iOS)
I’ve been going around my friends house a lot lately and watching Fairy Tail with him and his sister. On one of these days, his sister happened to be playing a game that looked like Tetris on her iPad at the corner of my eye. Seeing her pic this intriguing game up now and then to give it another go piqued my interest, so I asked her what game it was and set about downloading it. That game in question is 1010!, a puzzle/strategy game where the only obstacle is yourself. The game starts off simple enough: you have a blank grid taking up theist majority of the screen, with three tetriminos at the bottom. It’s your task to put these tertiminos anywhere you would like on the screen, trying to make lines (either horizontally or vertically) to destroy them. Should you not be able to put a tetrimino on the grid…
Weekly Gaming: Desert Golf (iOS)
I never imagined, in my wildest dreams, that I would be writing about an endless procedurally generated golf game. Even writing that last sentence feels weird. And yet, here I am, writing about a game I’ve become obsessed with. Like my first sentence alluded to, Desert Golf revolves around plain, 2D course, where holding your finger on the screen, moving it in a direction and releasing whacks the golf ball in a specific direction. The course is procedural, so you’ll get random geometry sticking out here and there, and once you’ve potted you ball, you’ll then proceed to the next stage, which simply encompasses the viewable screen moving to the right a certain distance and pushing your ball out of the hole to try again on the next course. That’s the entire game. I’m not even joking. The entire game encompasses what I described above ad nauseam. There’s no music…
Weekly Gaming: Back to Bed (iOS)
Hi all, So last week I reviewed a copy of Back to Bed that I managed to get on iOS. It was a nifty game, one that constantly reminded me of Monument Valley, a game I absolutely adored. To read the review, click the link below: http://www.gamrreview.com/review/91914/back-to-bed-ios This week I’ve been working on changing the main menu colours of my game to ensure that users on mobile can actually see the text. To say that grey text on a black background doesn’t work on mobiles in an understatement. Thanks again for all of your support! Dan
Weekly Gaming: Year Walk (iOS)
Having had Year Walk on my iPad for over a year, I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about with this adventure/puzzle game many were saying was both revolutionary for the iPad/iPhone, but also scary as fuck. You start the game out like most indie titles and games nowadays – without no context on where you are, what you’re doing, and what you should be doing. This turns out (as I’ve said many times before) to be an extremely successful method in getting users entranced and involved with your game, with players touching the screen and experimenting with the game, causing them to in turn become more hooked as they play on. Year Walk is no different, and since it’s also a puzzle game you’ll be needing your notepad ready, as anything you come across in the game could be classed as a clue to…
Weekly Gaming: Unpossible (iOS, Android)
Given the nature of the game I’m currently developing, I decided it was time to delve into the mobile app market to see what competition is in the market, and what innovative/original ideas were out there. Whilst browsing, I came across a nifty little app that I liked the trailer of called Unpossible, an obstacle avoider game, similar to my own, which had a unique sound track and slightly different course structure in that you’re on a never ending tube that generates obstacles on the outside. Usually, tubing games stick you on the inside, so this definitely made the game stick out for me. The game starts you off on a tube where you’re constantly moving forwards, throwing obstacles at you which you need to avoid by strafing left and right around the tube. You’re stuck to the outside, so you don’t have much room to navigate, but it’s enough…
Weekly Gaming: Rayman Fiesta Run (iOS)
I loved Rayman Jungle Run when it was first released on iOS last year. I felt that the mechanics of a platformer translated perfectly to a touchscreen phone/tablet when you made sure the player was always moving on your behalf. Rayman Fiesta Run was released last fall, and along with it came a new urge within me to play this game to completion like I did the original. Does Fiesta Run manage to maintain Raymans recent high surge in production value? or does lightning really not strike twice? You start Rayman Fiesta run with only the ability to jump, just to ensure newbies are introduced to the game slowly and can get used to it before the levels get harder. Although this is easy, and does get boring, there’s at least something for more hardcore players in the collectibles on each level, with lums hiding in mysterious places out of…
Weekly Gaming: The Room 2 (iOS)
The Room One was a fantastic experience from Fireproof Studios, a newly formed company that comes from Guildford and where most staff members have had previous experience working on Little Big Planet’s content. It was a fantastically intrinsic puzzle game which seemingly come out of nowhere and managed to sell by the bucket load for its intuitive controls and mind bending puzzles. The sequel has a lot to live up to, with Fireproof games now having reputation rather than being a upcoming indie team, can they succeed in bringing a second hit? You start the room two like you did the original: being shown a box in the middle of a room which you must solve. What’s different this time, is your ability to go between two boxes within the same room, meaning that some puzzles are no longer related to the one item you see before you, and some…
Weekly Gaming: Little Inferno (iOS + PC)
If you’d had given the pitch of a game where you can set things on fire, watch as items burn slowly and give coins after they demise, to a boardroom ten years ago, the executives in there would laugh you out of the room, claiming you were crazy and that it’d never make any money in a million years. Little Inferno is just that, but has been released in a time where it can be truly appreciated with the current indie renaissance. It’s a premise so crazy, you’d be surprised that Tomorrow Corporation could even make a game out of it, yet alone one with an intriguing and cute story. You start off as the game means to go on: in front of a fire place called little inferno, sold to you by the Tomorrow Corporation (an in-game company that makes products of all shapes and sizes). Using coins collected…
Indie Spotlight: Clobbr (iOS)
With Clobbr’s imminent release on Apple’s App Store, I managed to get a review copy from Czarcade, as I felt this lovely mobile game from a fellow indie studio would definitely be worth a look. The trailer looked quirky, and the screenshots certainly looked great in the time I’ve been following Czarcade on Twitter, so I had to jump head first into Clobbr, and bathe in this fellow indie’s beautifully polished game. As you start Clobbr, you’re introduced to your three main protagonists that will stay with you throughout the duration of the main 5 worlds. These are Clobbr (the blue gentleman at the top of the screen), the three mice, and the orange kitty. The main characters have a Tom & Jerry vibe going on, with each level pitting them in a similar situation: the kitty never learning from it’s mistakes, and Clobbr himself coming to the rescue of…
Gaming Week 9: The Room (iOS)
The Room started off as a interest at first for me. After hearing Brad Shoemaker talk about it on the Giant Bombcast, I thought I’d give the iPhone game a go. I’m a firm believer that iPhone/portable games should be centred around challenges, and not be a cinematic experience that you can get on consoles. (Something I even researched and presented at my final year of uni.) The Room doesn’t break any ground in my thinking, but does offer a very entertaining experience for people of all backgrounds. The Room is a puzzle game for iOS devices. For iPhone you get the first chapter for free (then have to pay £1.49 to continue) and for the iPad you have to pay £1.49 up front. For a game of it’s length (about 2 hours) this is a fair price, but from the sounds of things, there’ll be more content in coming…