Normally when a game starts I will attempt to skip through the numerous splash screens which detail the variety of parties involved in the production of the game, (much to their annoyance I’m sure). However, every now and again one splash screen will appear which fills your heart with hope that you are about to embark on gaming greatness.
In my case that splash screen is the one that displays the fact that the game is built using the Unreal Engine. A platform which has introduced us to some of the most rich and rewarding gaming experiences across all major devices has another hit to its armory in Horn.
If you’ve experienced the Unreal world before you know what to expect. Horn for iPhone and iPad is played in a expansive, rich and detailed environment that fools you into believing that you’re not on a handheld device but on a console instead.
This beautiful environment is the backdrop of the story of Horn, a young boy who finds himself in a world where all but a few humans have been turned into giant rock creatures called Golems. Horns task is to return these creatures back into humans.
Unlike some other titles where the environments are so rich that your character has limited interaction with them with Horn you are able to go where you wish, within reason of course, by simply tapping on the screen. This makes movement very easy although not always 100% accurately.
Combat makes up a large part of the game as you attempt to take down the many monstrous creatures. The combat system is similar to the Infinity Blade titles where timing is the key to avoid your enemies attacks and take advantage of their weaknesses. It works impressively well and I took great satisfaction in defeating each on the monstrosities that I came across.
Horn is not just another hack ‘n’ slash game though. For as many battles that you’ll encounter there are as many puzzles to be solved and this balance keeps things interesting and entertaining as you uncover the secrets of the world that you have found yourself in.
Even more depth is added to the game thanks to the various weapons and magic that you get to work with and upgrade as you progress through the game.
The game’s beauty is enhanced by the wonderful voice acting that accompany the story telling parts of the game and the orchestral score provides a wonderful backdrop to this engrossing game.
Zynga is a game company that some people either love or hate and if you are on the hate side of the argument then Horn could be the that changes your mind. For everyone else, just go out and by this game and be ready to lose yourself in a wonderful world of mystery, combat, puzzles and entertainment.
The only problem I’ve had with the game is the fact that even as a universal application there is no ability to sync your progress between multiple devices which would be nice.
[rating: 5/5]What we like
What to know
A morning does not start off well without my daughter starting the day with 20 minutes of Mickey Mouse Club House so when I received Minnie Bow Maker to review I knew that I had the perfect person to help me review it.
The premise of Minnie Bow Maker was ideal too, my daughter already enjoys building cookies, cupcakes, popsicle and many other items on her iPod touch so making bows should be just what mouse ordered!
The first thing to be noted is that Minnie Bow Maker is much more than just a bow making app, it’s also a storybook, fashion show and photography app and they all compliment each other beautifully.
Beautiful is how the app looks too, the full Disney polish has been applied to this app with high quality graphics, all the appropriate voice acting and music that children know and love. They will feel perfectly at home in Minnie Bow Maker and that’s even before they’ve started!
The first of three options is Story Mode where you can join either Daisy, Millie and Melody or Cuckoo-Loca along with Minnie and help design a bow for the disney characters. You can read along with the sub-titles or just listened to the voice acted dialog as you have to make a bow for the different characters for a special event.
The story mode doesn’t take long to play though but it’s a nice compliment to the main bow making part of the game and it also lends itself to the Big Bow Show part of the game as its the creations that you’ve created during story mode that can be viewed during the Bow Show.
Making the bows themselves is a three step process, first you choose your material, then the color and then a pattern before finally choosing the style of bow that you wish to make. At that point you get to drag the material to the bow making machine before turning the handle to see your creation drop out.
You then get a chance to select who should wear your bow, you can choose Minnie of course and place the bow atop her head which is cute, however it’s more fun to add the bow to a photo of someone by either selecting a picture from your camera roll or by taking a picture. You can then resize and position the bow to display on the picture. Both options allow you to output the results to either your camera roll or out via email for all to see!
The only downside to the app, although only noticed by me and not my children, was the sluggishness of the app which was running on my iPhone 4S.
If you’ve got a young daughter who’s into her cartoon Disney characters then she’ll certainly enjoy this, although even though it’s a universal app the $3.99 price tag puts it on the expensive side compared to other iOS apps that could entertain your children.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
Back in 1996 I played the original Playstation game, Resident Evil. It was the first game that actually had me on the edge of my seat and literally jump out of it at times too. Ever since then I’ve been hunting for a game to re-create the same atmosphere. Despite valiant attempts however by such games as F.E.A.R. and Condemend, I’ve never found one that quite hits the mark in the same way. That is until now.
Walking Dead: The Game, to give it its full title is a point and click adventure game that follows the storyline of the Walking Dead comic book series. If you are more familiar with the TV series you’ll still know what’s going on even though the TV show used some ‘creative license’ when bringing it so successfully to the big screen.
The cell shaded comic book style graphics do a great service to the comic book series and along with the awesome atmospheric soundtrack and possibly some of the best voice acting in an iOS game, if not any game, that I’ve seen Walking Dead: The Game sucks you in from the moment you start it. (The game recommends that you use headphones to play the game and I couldn’t agree more.)
You take the role of Lee Everett while be transported in the back of a police car you manage to find yourself free after the car hits a walker. From this point on it’s you and a collection of other non-walkers that you get introduced to along the way against the ever growing numbers of undead that walk the earth.
The interactions with the walkers is impressively done to ensure maximum shock value and excitement as they attempt to take your life and that of the people that you band together with.
The game moves along at a good pace and this is helped by the way that the storyline and the action sequences where you control the action are intertwined. The controls are easy to pick up, move Lee around the screen to investigate the environment is a simple case of dragging your finger across the screen while objects that can be interacted with are highlighted.
This may initially appear to make the game seem rather linear, however, thanks to the short time limits that you are given to make your decisions and how these decisions affect the gameplay that’s certainly not the case.
The characters interactions are expertly done and as mentioned before the voice acting is so good you sometimes forget that you are playing a game and not watching a movie. Decisions of how to interact with the other characters and what to say to them are given as a set of choices and making the wrong one, in the allotted time could have catastrophic ramifications.
The game is a universal app but unfortunately there is no syncing of your progress so you can’t jump between playing on the two devices which would have been nice. Some people may baulk at the price too as not only is the app a cent shy of $5 that will only get you the first episode, subsequent 4 episodes will set you back an additional $4.99 each, or $14.99 if you buy them all at the same time.
Personally the price doesn’t put me off and therefore I would highly recommend that your shell out the initial $4.99 for episode one, enjoy a thoroughly engrossing and atmospheric game and then decide whether you want to purchase the additional episodes.
Some, but not all, people are reporting issues with performance especially on older devices, I reviewed Walking Dead: The Game on both an iPad 3 and an iPhone 4S with no such issues.
[rating: 4.5/5]What we like
What to know
Gameloft have been churning out mobile games for a while now and for the most part they’ve been pushing the mobile gaming envelope especially when it comes to the graphics and N.O.V.A. 3 is no different. Does the gameplay match the beautiful and rich environments though?
N.O.V.A. 3 as the name suggests is the third in the the first person shooter series which follows the explosive exploits of Kal Wardin as he fights for no lesser prize than humankind itself. If you haven’t played either of the previous N.O.V.A. that’s not a problem, (although you may go back to them after playing this), as the game stands on its own and the short intro will soon get you up to speed.
As previously mentioned the whole look of N.O.V.A. 3 is completely immersive as the rich, massive, interactive environments are a pleasure to behold. Starting in and around the derelict buildings of San Francisco, through alien spacecraft and an explosive fire and ice wasteland the worlds look incredible.
As we’ve all come to learn though, games require more than just graphics to be a success and N.O.V.A. 3 is more than just eye-candy, in fact it’s one of the closest experiences to having a console in your pocket that I’ve ever played on a mobile device.
The audio helps this with the overall experience too, from powerful gun-shots and explosions to great voice acting and background music the aural experiences is excellent, especially if you listen with headphones.
The action comes fast and furious, right from the start and you will need fast fingers to keep yourself alive. These fast fingers have to be balanced with the amount of ammunition you have as supplies are limited especially if you don’t want to if you don’t want to increase the cost of the game by stumping up more of your hard earned money to upgrade your weapons and abilities.
The downside of the scarce ammunition though is exacerbated by some less than perfect controls. There’s nothing substantially different in N.O.V.A. 3 from other first person shooters but they feel unpolished and the limited customization ensures that we will have to spend quite a while with them before you feel at ease.
Spending time with N.O.V.A. 3 though is something you will want to do though as the rewards are worth it. A compelling, if short, campaign mode is great to play but the addition of not only a local wi-fi multiplayer but also an online version, via Gameloft LIVE, is going to have you hooked for months.
Six different multiplayer game modes as well as weekly tournaments keeps things interesting and as long as you put in the time to learn your skills so that you aren’t re-spawning every 30 seconds the online modes ultimately make N.O.V.A. 3 {$6.99} a very rewarding experience.
All this comes at a price, not the $7 that it’ll cost you in the App Store, that’s a bargain, but the 1.5 GB of storage space that it will take up on your iOS device. You may need to manage some space before installing this monster!
There are games that push the limit of mobile gaming and make other companies step up, N.O.V.A. 3 is one of those games and you don’t want to miss the bandwagon.
What we like:
What to know:
[rating: 4/5]
Dream:scape is described by the developer as an interactive narrative experience and that is certainly how you should take it. Entering into Dream:scape for iPhone and iPad expecting a full-on gaming experience will leave you disappointed.
Yes, Dream:scape uses the Unreal engine to generate it’s sumptuous graphics and environments. In Dream:scape you find your self in the shoes of Wilson, who is caught in limbo between life and death, in a dream world where he is tasked to find the truth of his journey through his life and more specifically to the truth of his relationship with his childhood sweetheart Amelia.
As mentioned previously the game looks great, the world that you get to roam around has been beautifully crafted and has a lot of detail, all be it a little sterile in that there is not much that you can interact with. The only people you’ll run into are those featured in the diary that you’ll complete as you move through the 12 chapters of the game.
As the story is told you will make you way through a variety of locations with clues being passed onto you via the diary and the vocal narrative that helps move the story along. You will have to listen carefully at some points though as the clues can be quite subtle and if you miss them you could find yourself walking aimlessly around searching for the answers.
This brings me onto the controls. Two virtual pads control your movement as one controls your sight and direction while the other controls your movement. This is all well and good and it does work well, however with so much walking around and back-tracking to be done the game would really benefit from a run option.
Another annoyance is the diary that is used both as a reference to the story and includes a map to help you navigate the Dream:scape. Unfortunately, there are two issues with the diary, firstly the map is not interactive even missing a “you are here” option and when the diary is updated with the latest details of a completed chapter it doesn’t open to that page meaning that you have to page through multiple pages each time.
The story ticks along nicely and with quality voice acting adding to the overall atmosphere. The ‘game’ isn’t that long however and if you resolve the clues quickly you’ll find yourself completing it in just a few hours.
There are a few action sequences to mix things up a bit but they aren’t going to be enough to keep you entertained if you are looking for more of an action title.
At the end of the experience as it’s better to call it that than a game, I found that I had been sucked into the story and the twist at the end which is well worth waiting for. As long as you head into this unique title with the correct expectations you’ll find yourself suitably entertained.
Pros
Cons
Gallery
]]>
https://touchreviews.net/dreamscape-review/feed/ 0