Wisp: Eira’s Tale Review

The game is simple enough, help Eira float around the maze like levels collecting 3 jewels as you find your way to the glowing exit. The controls aren’t challenging either, as a simple tap of the screen will help Eira float while letting go of the screen will let her fall back down again, while tilting your device to the left and right will move Eira in that direction.

Eira takes the form of a glowing orb and you will need to maneuver her not only through the maze but past objects too that aim to halt your progress.

There are also simple puzzles to be resolved as you will find your path blocked on many occasions and only changing Eira into one of the three elements placed around the maze will allow you to pass them. Fire will see you burn through spider webs, ice will help you freeze the black ooze that may block your path while turning Eira into a rock will allow you to smash though paths blocked by boulders.

There is a price to pay for changing into these elements as the rock will slow you down and the ice will speed you up meaning that if you hit a wall too fast you will smash yourself into a million pieces.

The levels can sometimes take a few attempts to complete but there are save points along the way so even if you do fail you don’t always have to go right back to the beginning of the level.

There are 30 levels in total and while you can progress through them all by simply getting to the end collecting the 3 jewels on each level will help you complete all the Game Center enabled achievements.

Completing the 30 levels won’t take you too long and once you have completed them there is little replay value. However while it lasts it’s an enjoyable game that can be played at a relaxed pace.

Pros

• Fun puzzle based levels
• Soft, good looking environments
• Simple controls

Cons

• Only 30 levels

Gallery

Gameplay

It’s pretty rare that a computer game can strike fear into you, the original Resident Evil was the first to make me physically jump while recently it was the eerily superb Fear that had me reaching for the cushion. However, no such iPhone /iPod Touch game has got the same reaction…..until now!

The premise of Soul is that you need to help the soul of a dead man reach Heaven rather than the dark depths of Hell. The game starts in what appears to be a dark, old, institutionalized hospital with a corpse laying motionless on table with a glowing, white ball hovering over it. The glowing, white ball is in fact the soul of the person lying dead on the table and it is in your hands.

You move the soul via the use of the accelerometer, tilting your iPhone or iPod Touch left, right, backwards and forwards will move your soul around the screen and as is becoming more common place you can re-calibrate the accelerometer at any time so that you can play the game in any position. You can also control the sensitivity of the movement too which certainly helps.

The view of the environment is a top down 2D view of the hospital and it’s a dark one too giving the whole game a level of tension that I’ve not felt before in a hand held game. Each stage/location in the game is a new maze where you have to navigate the narrow dark corridors to the exit on each level. The game is unforgiving and you will find yourself being sent back to the beginning of the level multiple times as you attempt to navigate the narrow passages.

While initially you are zoomed in on the Soul unable to view what’s ahead of you holding a finger on the screen will zoom out showing more information to decide on the appropriate route to take. This won’t help you on certain levels though as they are bathed in darkness with only the small amount of light emanating from your Soul acting as your guide.

The fearsome undercurrent in the game is extrapolated by the monsters, (resembling psychotic Killer Whales), that leap out from the darkness and the spooky young girl that mysteriously appears through the game. The cut scenes are also beautifully drawn and only add to the eerie undercurrent. If you’ve seen those YouTube video’s where a gruesome face will suddenly appear while you are watching an apparently sedate move of a car driving through the mountains then you will know exactly what to expect from this game.

I found myself gripping my iPod Touch tighter and tighter as I played through the levels, a combination of the tension from fear and the the frustration from the tricky levels that I often had to restart over and over again.

Somewhat annoyingly there is no auto-save function in the game so before switching the the game off you must remember to save the game otherwise all you progress will be lost. The game is also a single player game only so once you’ve completed it there will be little replay value. There are 3 difficulty levels through that will add extra challenges to the task in hand with the Hardcore level specifically making life difficult by adding a timer to each level.

The Good

• Great level of tension
• Atmospheric sound and graphics
• Finger numbingly addictive

The Not So Good

• No auto-save
• Limited re-play value

Reviewed By: Craig Willis

Soul Trailer (Xbox Live Indie Game)

Price: $1.99 (iTunes Store Preview)
Updated Mar 02, 2010
Reviewed Version: v1.1
Size: 19.8 MB
Languages: English
Seller: Kydos Studio
© 2010 Kydos Studio
Rated 12+ for the following:
Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

CatchMe! if you can from ODD1 is a classic arcade-style maze game in the same tradition of Pac-Man. As a thief, its your job to run around the maze and collect as much gold as possible before time expires and without getting caught.

Opposing you in each level are a set of guards. Whereas in most games capture means the end of the game, this game has a nice little twist. If you’re captured by a guard, you switch jobs and become the guard trying to catch the thief. If you catch a thief you switch back again. Although its a nice twist on the typical outcome of maze games, it is certainly in your best interest to not get caught. The timer does not reset when you switch back and forth between player types and since only the thief can collect the gold that advances you through levels, you must recapture the thief as quickly as possible if you are caught by a guard.

The interface is easy to pick up and use. Character movement is performed using a virtual directional pad. Anyone that’s ever held a classic NES controller in their hands will recognize its operation and appearance. I did find my hand would miss the controller occasionally. I don’t know if this is because of the screen layout or controller scheme. I did get used to it after a couple of games though.

In conjunction with movement around the screen, each character has a special ability they can access through an interface button. Thieves can jump over walls and each of the three guard types can either sprint faster, set a trap, or reveal the map. All special abilities are time limited but can be reused. Hold the ability button to make use of this special skill.

CatchMe! if you can provides a really nice variety in types of game play. There are two main modes of play; Story and Challenge. Story Mode is a linear, campaign style mode where you work through progressively harder levels. Collect the allotted amount of gold as a thief to unlock the next level and progress. You can also replay previously unlocked levels if you want. Select the level to start at when you enter Story Mode. Challenge Mode allows the player to access standalone levels. One standalone level is provided to begin with and others can be unlocked later.

One of the truly innovative features of CatchMe! if you can! though is the Band of Thieves mode. Most social gaming systems are centered around individual achievement and comparing that achievement with others. This game puts a different spin on that through cooperative social gaming. At the end of each level you have the chance to select the Send to Vault option. This takes you to the Band of Thieves screen where your treasure is added to the treasure all of the other players in the world have contributed to the pot. When the Current Treasure value reaches the indicated level, new content will be unlocked for all by ODD1. What a neat idea! By everyone contributing to a common goal, every one benefits. The Band of Thieves screen can also be accessed from the Main Menu to view the current progress.

CatchMe! if you can is a great game that takes an innovative view of social gaming. Let it steal the money out of your pocket to buy it today.

The Good:

• Classic arcade style maze game
• Easy to use interface
• Innovative social gaming system

The Not So Good:

• Control scheme does take a bit getting use to

Reviewed By: Erin Peterson

Gameplay Video

Price: $1.99 (iTunes Store) as of 21 Jan
Reviewed Version: 1.0
Size: 11.6 MB
Seller: ODD1

Just when you thought you were on the wagon…

Starball is an addictively simple pick-up-and-play style game which is fun for all ages and skill levels. Take advantage of our unique and amazingly responsive tilt controls to guide your ball around the play area collecting as many stars as possible.

…along comes another crazy, simple, and addictive game to get hooked on, here you have a wooden tray and a green ball and your job is to tilt your iPod touch to roll the ball around and collect stars. Your highest score is recorded locally and if that isn’t bragging rights enough for you, use the OpenFeint network to share your score with the world but those expecting to see achievements here will have to wait for the next version

As you collect stars, red balls start appearing that end your game if you hit them, but combating their increasing numbers are short lived random powerups. These can vary from pausing time or slowing it down, to all out invincibility as measured on a small meter in the bottom middle of the screen. The only thing extending the gameplay are the harder difficulties, starting off with Easy, Normal and the aptly named Insane but the controls are sharp enough make this a fun yet challenging game.

With a choice of 2 themes (and more on the way) graphics are great, with the default being the pre wooden tray and green ball and the other a cartoon doodle theme with your ball replaced by a fly and the stars replaced with the one thing all flies love best, the red balls are replaced by red bugs.

I personally prefer the cartoon doodle theme to the default one as it tweaks the gameplay a little, you can tell which direction the red bugs will go after say pausing your game or using a time freeze powerup and your fly moves faster than the original game piece letting you outrun the red bugs.

Completing the package are a couple of generic techno sound tracks (again more promised in future versions) should you need something to break the silence and a good set of sound effects make for decent addictive game fare but I would like to see more variation in music as not everyone likes techno. Should you not like to hear either of these things there are options to control their volume including all the way down to nothing.

What really needs work is the UI as most of the elements have been crammed into the middle of the screen without much regard for their size or positioning, making volume controls hard to adjust and the wrong button easy to press. QuantamSquid‘s splash screen could also benefit from a progress bar as it takes just long enough to make you think “has it crashed, hasn’t it? should I force quit?” and I would much prefer the theme loading screen should be combined with this too rather than have to wait for yet another loading screen.

Overall the game is great fun with only a few niggly issues,  at 99c it is just the right price if you’re looking to get into a quick game and pass some time.

Price: $0.99 as of 02/01/10 (iTunes Link)
Version reviewed 1.0.1

The Good

• Instant gameplay
• Online highscore network
• Sharp controls

The Not so Good

• GUI needs work
• Presently techno only soundtrack

Reviewed by: @TylerDurdan

Starball Gameplay Footage

]]> https://touchreviews.net/starball-iphone-game-review/feed/ 0 https://touchreviews.net/cross-fingers-iphone-game-puzzle-review/ https://touchreviews.net/cross-fingers-iphone-game-puzzle-review/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:05:28 +0000 https://touchreviews.net/?p=4120 Read More]]> Cross Fingers [rating: 4.5/5]

Playing with wooden blocks, no longer child’s play!

You will need to exercise your brain, imagination, your reflexes and dexterity to complete all 120 levels. For unlimited replay value, unlock the Arcade Mode, which puts you in the middle of a frenetic machine where the challenge is to survive and beat the top score.

Cross Fingers, the latest game from Mobigame for iPhone/iPod touch may look like a simple game of fit the block into the target but I assure you it isn’t, mix of shape making and block escape puzzle genres makes this game as fresh as it is fun to play. Your goal is to fill the target shape with smaller shapes dotted around the level, now what makes this tricky are the levels, some are mazes, some are cramped block management athons and others have red blocks that spring back to their original positions making for some wicked gameplay as you struggle to wrap your fingers around each other and move pieces around while keeping others in place. With 120 levels spread over 4 difficulties you won’t find yourself getting bored any time soon unless, like me, you get completely addicted and blitz through them which took me around 24 hours if I had played solidly.

Once you’ve cracked all the normal puzzles arcade mode is unlocked, while following the same premise of the puzzles, it has a single level and 4 gaps in the walls, though these gaps shapes are pushed through and you now have to use them to fill up the central square to make them disappear again earning points for the simple score board found before you start playing. Take too long about it and your screen starts filling up and shapes shaking under the strain until finally they break and it’s game over.

Everything is made of wood, looks like wood, sounds like wood with accurate wood colliding sounds that vary with the speed of your input, except the blocks glow when you touch them which isn’t particularly wood like unless you were say Gambit from X-Men. Even the non gaming interface is made of wood making an all round seamless and solid interface albeit a little on the quiet side with the level completing whoosh breaking up the sounds of wood colliding as there isn’t a soundtrack to speak of.

While this game’s use of multi touch is exemplary I find that it could do with tightening up as blocks sometimes track behind my finger and the app sometimes forgets that I have my finger on a block, particularly noticeable on the red blocks that keep moving back to their original positions, making for some frustrating gameplay on more complex levels. Minor niggles I have here is the target shape is rather dark, making it hard to see on a dark background in certain conditions and there’s no progress save so one ill timed call on your iPhone could blow your hard work away.

With lots of challenging and unique gameplay, making great use of multi touch at a fantastic price, what more could you want? Buy this game!

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Link) (free version, iTunes Link) as of 21/12/09
Version reviewed 1.0.1

The Good

• Unique gameplay
• Lots of levels
• Great use of multi touch…

The Not so Good

• …that needs work
• No auto save for level progress

Reviewed by: @TylerDurdan

Cross Fingers by Mobigame – iPhone Game

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