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Wreck-it Ralph iOS Review

November 10, 2012

Wreck-it Ralph
Developer: Sarbakan
Publisher: Disney Mobile
Format: iOS (Reviewed), Android
Release Date: November 1, 2012
Price: $0.99 – Download Here

Overview

Disney’s Wreck-it Ralph mobile app includes 3 arcade games – Fix-it Felix Jr., the Sugar Rush Sweet Climber and Hero’s Duty (with more to come) – that are based within the world of their latest animated film of the same name. The comedy sees Wreck-it Ralph, the villain of the arcade title Fix It Felix Jr., jump across the various games of Litwak’s Arcade in an attempt to shed his villainous reputation and prove himself a hero to the other characters. The mobile game promises to provide the same visual continuity and charm as the film, but is it a Hero’s Duty to buy this app?

Gameplay

Fix-it Felix Jr. has you climb the side of the Niceland apartment building, on a 2D plane, as you attempt to fix all the broken windows that have been smashed by the evil Wreck-it Ralph. As you jump between windows using the virtual joystick, Ralph will attempt to knock you down by throwing bricks from above. These bricks will also occasionally break windows themselves. You have 3 lives and are also being timed, although the timer should rarely be an issue for you. However, the time you have left when having completed a level will add bonus points to your score. Running out of time means you lose that potential bonus, and also one life.

As the stages progress, additional obstacles will be introduced, such as path-obstructing flowerbeds on window-sills and open shutters, and what appear to be flying geese – which will damage you if touched. Ralph also speeds up in his brick throwing. These additions to the gameplay make a dramatic difference as you think more carefully about timing and movement, hoping not to get trapped in the process. As an advantage, a hot pie will periodically be placed on a window sill, that when picked up will grant Felx Jr. invincibility and double points for every window he fixes for a short period of time.

The Sugar Rush Sweet Climber is an infinite climbing game where you must tilt your iDevice to control Wreck-it Ralph and ensure he does not miss a candy stalk as he will fall and the game will be over. Ralph will collect coloured jelly-beans, among other candies, each with differing point values as you manoeuvre him as high up as you can go. Soda bottles can also be collected, and will add to your speed boost meter at the top of the screen. A speed boost can be engaged by tapping anywhere on the screen. There are also items that will give you a special ability for a limited time, such as the marshmallow, will will allow you to float upwards as you hold on for dear life. But, you must watch out for weak branches, which will disintegrate after just one bounce. I learned the hard way, also, that Ralph will not connect with candy canes really low on the screen, which is a minor annoyance.

Lastly, Hero’s Duty is a top-down shooter, utilising two virtual thumbsticks; one for movement and one for aim/shooting. You must destroy all the glowing green Cy-Bugs in any given wave to progress. As the levels rise, so does the number of enemies and enemy types. Barriers – which block your bullets’s trajectory -and bug-laid traps (they look like a patch of lava?!) are introduced among other nasty combat elements. However, you will discover 6 unique pick-ups that will drop from your decimated enemies, which will lend a big hand in your survival of these progressively harder waves. Some of these include a health boost and a grenade launcher or flame-thrower weapon upgrade. These power-ups run out of ammo, which your regular gun does not. So use them effectively and at the most opportunistic moments!

All-in-all, the three games offer very different gameplay experiences, although none are unfamiliar to us. If I had to nitpick, there were moments where I thought that the difficulty had all-of-a-sudden jumped up significantly instead of incrementally getting more challenging, but it did not bother me; it just challenged me further. Each game preserves the charm of the source, whilst providing a fun, and likely addictive, time at the arcade. As a time waster, it is perfect. It should be mentioned that you can pause the games at any time, and can also rank your leader-board score locally, globally or against your Facebook friends’. Also, there are Game Center achievements for each game, which can be viewed, traditionally, through the Game Center app, or via pressing the trophy icon to the right of the play button for each respective game.

Visual

The main menu (dubbed Game Central Station) for the app consists of four pages that you can swipe between. Each pages houses one of the aforementioned games, with the fourth page reserved for a racing game called TurboTime, which will be available with the next update. The menu, although not adopting an arcade machine façade, does remind you of the arcade nature of the app, with a scoreboard placed at the top of each page for its respective games. There is a Disney logo on the bottom right which takes you to a page displaying all of Disney Mobile’s apps, available for you to browse and download. On the bottom left is the recognisable gear icon that will take you to your settings menu, where you may adjust the sound effects and music volumes, as well as view the credits and log into your Facebook profile – which at this juncture, does not want to work for me!

All 3 games have their expected, bright and colourful visual design elements, although each game has a different color scheme and feel. Fix-it Felix Jr. adopts the ever-nostalgic 8-Bit graphics we love with earthier tones, while Sweet Climber is much more vibrant with a more modern, yet cartoon-like, graphics quality. Hero’s Duty, on the other hand, is much darker, and is the only title to play with true depth and 3D space. Even though the 3 look radically different from each other, they still feel a part of the same universe. Having not watched the film myself, but recognising Wreck-it Ralph’s visual inspiration, I can appreciate it all the same.

Audio

When at Game Central Station, you will hear the bustle and hustle akin to people rushing to catch their trains. Some funny dialogue plays over the station’s speaker system, and the Surge Protector character will pop up after a bout of inactivity to tease you about being “slow” (in the least offensive way, of course) or make other humorous quips. Each character standing in front of their respective games will also speak a line of dialogue once you tap on them. For example, Felix Jr. aptly and excitedly exclaims “I can fix it!”

Wreck-it Ralph’s background music is, at times, very reminiscent of the sort of chip-tunes that were being made and utilised in old 80s arcade titles, with lots of beeps and buzzes, and simulated baselines. It definitely ties together the whole concept of the arcade homage. Some of the sound effects, especially in Fix-it Felix Jr., also have these distinctly arcade-generation qualities about them. I couldn’t help but think that there were missed opportunities for taking sound-bites from the film and including that dialogue in appropriate places during the gameplay itself.

Overall

The Wreck-it Ralph app is only $0.99, and I find it hard to fault a game (let alone 3-in-1!) when they are so cheap. Looking back, maybe the difficulty spikes a little bit too heavily, in Fix-it Felix Jr. and Hero’s Duty particularly, and maybe more film dialogue could have been adapted and featured in-game, but these are very minor points to make. Again, for $0.99, you can grab yourself three great time wasters that may actually have you addicted to climbing that leader-board much like a candy-cane stalk! Don’t be cheap, just buy it!

Borderlands 2 for Mac Coming Soon

Roger Ma

November 10, 2012

Gaming on a Mac can be rather quite at times, but now one of the biggest games of 2012 is coming to Mac sooner than you think. Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 is receiving a Mac port thanks to Aspyr Media.

The Mac port of Borderlands 2 will join the other 5 million units sold (so far) on November 20. Mac gamers can expect all the features from the other versions such as drop-in/drop-out co-op, all-new characters, skills, and billions of weapons and lets not forget about the loot. Yes, there will be plenty of loot.

Borderlands 2 for Mac will be available for both digital download via Steam and your regular retail boxed format. No price has been announced so far, though it’s expected that it will retail for $59.99 the same price as it’s PC counterpart.

Check out our review of Borderlands 2 for Xbox 360 and PC.

Bethesda “Close” To Bringing Skyrim DLC For Playstation 3

Roger Ma

November 10, 2012

Bethesda’s epic RPG Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has received two impressive DLC packs Dawnguard and Hearthfire, with a third add-on pack Dragonborn hotly anticipated for release on December 4th…that is if you’re a Xbox 360 user.

Yes as you may know Skyrim on Playstation 3 has been notorious to say the least with “performance issues” delaying DLC for the console. Yet in a recent tweet by Bethesda Game Studios this may all change:

To update: we’re also close on new Skyrim content for PS3 and PC.
— Bethesda Game Studios (@BethesdaStudios) November 7, 2012

Referring to the upcoming Dragonborn DLC, this good news for both PC and PS3 players, the latter who have missed out on all that post-release gaming goodness. No date has been give for a PC or PS3 release.

The Dragonborn DLC will be available on Xbox 360 on December 4th for 1600 Microsoft Points.

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation Review

Joshua Spudic

November 10, 2012

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
Developer: Ubisoft Sofia
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: Playstation Vita
Release Date: 31/10/2012
Price: $39.96 (Available Here)

Overview
Assassin’s Creed III Liberation is the first for the series for a few reasons. It is the first title on the Playstation Vita. It is the first to offer a female playable assassin who is not Desmond’s ancestor. It introduces new mechanics that provide a love/hate relationship. With a console counterpart looming over it, is Assassin’s Creed III Liberation good enough to bring those players to the Playstation Vita? In short, yes it will.

Story
The story of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation follows Aveline de Grandpré during the years of 1765 to 1780, spanning from the end of the French and Indian Wars and ending in the middle of the American Revolution. The story is meant to be a product of Abstengo, the masterminds behind the Animus and Templar allies. From the get go, the player will notice that there is no Desmond involved in this, meaning Aveline is not an ancestor. Instead this is a separate plot to Conner’s story in Assassin’s Creed III. Without spoiling it for any potential players, the story is engaging and interesting with Aveline’s character helping deliver a great story.

Aveline de Grandpré is the first female assassin in the series and she is a great character. As a daughter to a French aristocrat and a slave woman, Aveline is shown to be in two different worlds: that of her father’s and that of her missing mother. She is a very confident, courageous woman, a femme fatale as she would be called. The only real problem of her story is right at the beginning. Unlike other Assassin’s Creed games, Aveline’s induction into the Assassins is overlooked. One moment the game focuses on Aveline and her mother’s separation and the next is her putting her gear on, already an assassin. It does parallel another iconic character in the modern world, doesn’t it.

Gameplay
Assassin’s Creed III Liberation offers similar gameplay content that is on offer in the console counterparts. Players can free roam an open area, whether it is on the ground with the people or it is using the rooftops of New Orleans. Liberation takes it a step further with running amongst the trees in the bayou, further expanding this open world. Combat does not differ from the console series. Aveline has access to various weapons, but what she can use will be restricted to what persona she is in. Aveline can use both melee and ranged weapons, as well as parry and counter attack. She is also given the ability to conduct multiple kills with groups of enemies.

Missions flow quite well and do help the pace of the story. No mission repeats twice in a row and they all have a secondary, optional objective that helps achieve 100% synchronisation. Multiplayer is also present in Liberation, but there is not much to say about it. It is quite tacked on and really shouldn’t be part of the game. It is similar to Risk, a board game where you control areas of the world.

In a new addition to the Assassin’s Creed series, Aveline is able to change clothing known as personas. There are three available: Assassin, Slave and Lady. The assassin persona is self-explanatory but the slave and lady persona opens up different strategies for the player to utilise. The Lady persona, based on the aristocratic world of her father, uses the ability to charm men to do her bidding, as well as enter any unfriendly areas without being detected. This is at the expense of any free movement and combat, which is the core to the series, although you can still assassinate with the Lady persona.

The slave persona is weak at combat, but does have the ability to blend in with other slaves and is able to freely move around the environments. The idea is interesting, but it could have been executed better. The amount of times one must change into another persona is too much; it should have been kept for story purposes. With that said, giving each persona a notoriety level instead of an overall level is a good idea.

With controls that are close to the console counterpart, one would expect them to be excellent. Assassin’s Creed III Liberation does fit the bill of having excellent controls. The analogue sticks are the core to this experience and it is nice to have the left for movement and the right for camera control. The controls don’t feel stiff at all. Liberation also features a plethora of touch control capabilities throughout the game. Some of them are quite useful. An example of this is the weapon wheel, which is activated by touching the weapon icon on the bottom right corner of the screen. It is easy and smooth to choose which weapon would be suitable for the situation.

With that said, if no weapons are chosen, the player will have to go into the weapon selection screen twice to choose both a melee and range weapon. There are times where touch controls could have been left out, but there are a low number of touch only segments in the game. Most segments that offer touch controls do offer a physical control scheme as an alternative.

Visuals & Audio
The Playstation Vita does have the ability to display excellent visuals for a handheld and Assassin’s Creed III Liberation presents astonishing visuals in the world of the colonised America. The environments, whether it is the city of New Orleans or the swamps of the Louisiana Bayou, are breathtaking. The character models are well detailed. Colours in the game are also quite vibrant. Menus are clean and simple and can be used with the touch screen. It does have a few issues with draw distance, but it isn’t noticeable enough to have a major impact on the game. As for the sound design and music, it is quite enjoyable. Aveline has a French accent, which would be from her father’s side. It is executed well, as are other character voice. The soundtrack is nice to listen to. The environments have their own character thanks to the sound design of the game.

Overall
While it would unnatural not to draw comparisons with the console counterparts, Assassin’s Creed III Liberation is still the best serving of assassin action on any handheld system out there. The story is great as it will engage with the player. The character of Aveline helps the story immensely. The gameplay is fun and exciting, with excellent transition of core gameplay mechanics as well as new mechanics that do add to the experience. The visuals are one of the best on the Playstation Vita, rivaling those from other equally impressing titles and the sound design brings the game to life. All in all, this is an excellent game and will quench your assassin thirst wherever you are.

Hitman Absolution – Ultimate Assassin Trailer

Brad Webster

November 10, 2012

Hitman Absolution – Ultimate Assassin Trailer

In just 10 days gamers will be able to get their hands on the final big stealth title of the year, Hitman Absolution. In Hitman, players take on the role of Agent 47 as he is assigned a target and given a plethora of options to take them down. Each level is a playground of opportunities and it is all up to the individual on how he ultimately carries out the contract.

In the final part of the developer “Introducing” series, a collection of videos that prepare the player for their time in Hitman’s world, we closely examine the abilities and traits of the “Ultimate Assassin”. Can you match up to the perfect Agent 47? Taking out targets tactically and silently? Or will you go in guns blazing seeking only the rush of the chase and kill?

All will be revealed on November 20th when the game releases on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Microsoft and Windows PC. Developed by IO Interactive and running on the new Glacier 2 engine, Hitman Absolution certainly looks set to impress.

MasterAbbott’s iOS Game Suggestions #40

Philip Federico

November 10, 2012

Welcome back for this week’s iOS Game Suggestions. If you missed or are new to the suggestions, click on the link below and check what cool games you should be picking up for your iOS along with the introduction and disclaimer on how the suggestions work. (suggestions 1 has the disclaimer and how it all works)

MasterAbbott’s iOS Game Suggestions

A great week on iTunes, as always it started slow and but ended with a bang! As always there certainly is a few must buy games this week in all departments, FREE, 99c and over 99c. This week i’ve suggested a total of 28 great quality titles. Make sure you check them all especially Madden NFL 13 Social, Monster Crew, Angry Birds Star Wars, Knights of Pen & Paper, Wraithborne just to name a few.

Break down below :

16 – FREE Games

4 – $0.99c Games

8 – Over $0.99c Games

As always for this week’s suggestions are all new titles that you should take a look at and consider spending your hard earned iTunes cash / time on. Well the Free games just below certainly should all be given a shot as they won’t cost you anything!

For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES

	MASTERABBOTT’S FREE GAME PICK OF THE WEEK! Madden NFL 13 Social – Price : FREE – Publisher –EA Mobile (PLAY THE ULTIMATE OFFENSIVE SHOOTOUT! For the first time ever – get a complete MADDEN NFL experience for FREE. Call the plays, go deep, and score big. MADDEN NFL 13 Social brings you spontaneous, fast-paced action wherever you are. BOOM!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	World at Arms – Wage war for your nation! – Price : FREE – Publisher –Gameloft (LOCK AND LOAD! Our nation is under attack from an evil alliance of highly trained forces known as the KRA. As the leader of the free world, YOU have to stand and fight. Build your military base, train your army, and battle against or ally with players from all over the world online in order to defeat the enemy for good!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Panic Flight – Price : FREE – Publisher –Bulkypix (Panic Flight takes you on an endless adventure where your reflexes are put to the ultimate test! As Captain of the AMA Airlines fleet, fly as far as possible and transport your passengers safely to their destination. But be careful! Natural disasters such as tornados, pirate planes, and even UFOs with destructive desires will do everything in their power to stop you.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Skylanders Lost Islands – Price : FREE – Publisher –Activision (Embark on an amazing adventure to the Lost Islands and help rebuild the once proud lands of the Mabu in this all-new Skylander experience that you can play for FREE on your iPad! Skylanders Lost Islands fully supports Skylanders action figures in the game! Unlock your favorite characters in the game once and add them to your collection, then use them to explore the world on amazing adventures!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Reflect Beat + – Price : FREE – Publisher –KONAMI (REFLEC BEAT + is a new experience of battele rhythm game. Touch the object in-time with the music, and compete with the opponent and score! Gaining points by touching the gauge line at the moment the moving object colliding with it. When the song is finished, the player who has gained a higher points will win!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Knightly Adventure – Price : FREE – Publisher –Pangalore (Discover an enchanting world of medieval fantasy and addicting adventure! Glorious animated graphics rush you into wild, uncharted lands where mystery and magic abound. This pioneering simulation and action RPG hybrid is a magical world that continues to spin from your mobile to the web, breaking boundaries in every realm!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Word Smack – Price : FREE – Publisher –EA Mobile (GUESS THE WORDS. BEAT YOUR FRIENDS! Throw down in Word Smack — the addictive 2-player word guessing game you can play for free! Take a whack. Talk some smack. Show ‘em all who’s the wizard of words.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	The Hobbit: Kingdoms Of Middle-earth – Price : FREE – Publisher –Kabam (The battle for Middle-earth has just begun! PLAY FOR FREE and join thousands worldwide to drive the Goblin hordes from the lands beyond the Misty Mountains in The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Chip Chain – Price : FREE – Publisher –AppAbove Games (Chip Chain is FREE, fun, easy to learn with a casual feel, but challenging and strategic. Place and match 3 or more identical poker chips to earn a more valuable chip, then chain together matches for huge bonuses! Play power-up cards to make combos, extend chains, and maximize your score. The dealer tosses random chips to get in your way, but if you play smart and think ahead, you can turn the tables and use them to your advantage!) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Curiosity – What’s inside the cube – Price : FREE – Publisher – 22Cans (Deep in the centre of the Cube is something life-changingly amazing, but only the first person to reach the centre will discover what’s inside. Even after the amazing discovery has been uncovered by one lucky individual, there is still more on the Cube to be revealed to the world.) on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Sushi Mushi – Price : FREE – Publisher –Aspyr Media (Your monster needs sushi—and fast! Create sushi rolls by matching colors and shapes as swiftly as possible. Gather more sushi rolls for your monster than your opponent before the timer strikes zero and win. Sushi Mushi is a fun, fast-paced, multiplayer game where you have one goal: feed your monster as much sushi as you can! Players must quickly match sushi bites by color or shape to create the sushi rolls their monster craves. The longer the sushi roll created, the more points and bonuses you’ll receive. Be on the lookout for Surprises and Take-Out boxes on the game board that can either bring you good or bad fortune.) runs on iPad & iPhone. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Battleband – Price : FREE – Publisher – Kuuluu Interactive Entertainment (Your band has landed a huge music contract, it’s just too bad you partied too hard and missed the start of your first big gig. To add insult to injury your band is replaced by a bunch of impostors! Let’s show’em how real rock stars do it…) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic – Price : FREE – Publisher – Gameloft (Saddle up for adventure with Twilight Sparkle & friends! After being locked away in the moon for centuries, Nightmare Moon is set free and spreading night across Ponyville! Only Twilight Sparkle and her friends can free Ponyville from her grasp and bring light and friendship back to the land. Help them rebuild the town and reach their dreams in exciting quests!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Monster Crew – Price : FREE – Publisher – BonusXP (Monster Crew is an endless platformer with exciting, one-touch combat. Smash everything in sight as you build a deck of powerful bonus cards to upgrade your character and solve mysteries. You play Frankie, a young lad who’s lost his precious Monster Crew Cards. Embarking on odyssey to recover his beloved Cards, Frankie ventures into a creepy castle and gets mysteriously zapped into his favorite monster, Frankenstein. After that, Frankie’s off to find his Cards and solve the mystery.) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	Lucky’s Escape – Price : FREE – Publisher – Lemon Games (Focus Lucky’s newly acquired telekinetic abilities to activate numerous gadgets and navigate through obstacle courses scientists have set up to test his skills. Manipulate his world by having him blasted out of cannons, blown by fans, attracted to magnets, swung from rubbery toy sticky hands, and launched from sling shots all controlled by his mind… with the help of a secret formula and an experimental brainwave helmet.) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
	My Dragon – Price : FREE – Publisher – Glu Games (As the newest Royal Dragon Keeper of Dragonia your job is to care for the Kingdom’s most captivating dragons! It’s your task to ensure that they’re happy and healthy. Accomplish this feat by feeding, petting, playing with their favorite toys or even dressing them up in numerous costumes! Earn Dragon Scales by performing tasks around the Kingdom then use these to expand your stable and adopt new dragons!) on iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE

For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games

	Angry Birds Star Wars – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Rovio Entertainment (A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… a group of desperate rebel birds faced off against a galactic menace: the Empire’s evil Pigtroopers! Rebel birds, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Imperial Pigs. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the PIG STAR, and are racing to deliver the plans to the Rebel Birds. Now they need your help!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	Storm The Train – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Chillingo (A one-way ticket to side-scrolling mayhem! Send three gun-toting agents aboard a locomotive packed with zombies, robots, ninjas and relentless boss battles. Get trigger-happy with an arsenal of upgradable guns, drones and gadgets to complete missions and cause as much carnage as possible to rack up a high score.) runs on iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
	Word Wonders: The Tower Of Babel – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – dreamfab (Prove yourself in challenging word duels against mythical creatures while exploring the arcane Tower of Babel! Nobody likes it when bullies throw words at you… especially when they are monsters! Have no fear though, cause now you can throw words back at them! In “Word Wonders: The Tower of Babel” you will be teaching the toughest of monsters what you’re made of in this fun word puzzle RPG!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	DreamWorks Dash n Drop – Price : $0.99 – Publisher – PikPok (There’s trouble at the North Pole and the presents have been scattered everywhere! Collect and deliver presents to children around the world as you dash through the evening sky in the Guardians’ magical sleigh. Be sure to grab some elves and coins along the way, but watch out for evil Nightmare creatures who will try to stop you!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW

For The Millionaires – All games over $0.99

	MasterAbbott’s over 99c Pick Of The Week! Knights of Pen & Paper – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Behold Studios Jogos Electronicos (Knights of Pen&Paper is an indie turn-based retro style pixel-art RPG. Inspired by the great titles of the 90’s, play this game feels like you are playing a traditional pen and paper RPG. The player gets to control the playing characters AND the dungeon master, and you choose what battles to fight. Put together a bunch of monsters to make it a challenging fight and your rewards will be equally great!) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	Wraithborne – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Crescent Moon Games (When magic returned to the world, everything changed in an instant. All that remains of the past are the crumbling ruins of the fallen Age of Humanity. The old legends – wraiths, goblins and werewolves – stalk the lands. Now, one born of their greatest fear will claim the power of the Runes and protect what remains of humanity. He is Wraithborne) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	7 Wonders: Ancient Alient Makeover HD – Price : $5.49 – Publisher – Mumbo Jumbo Games (You’ve always wondered if aliens played a part in the construction of those ancient wonders. In 7 Wonders: Ancient Alien Makeover, first contact with aliens not only manifests some phenomenal structures, but also provides Workers Guild 7 the ability to build their own futuristic village. In exchange for gold and precious gems to repair their craft, ancient aliens share their technology and expertise in architectural construction. But building these megalithic structures takes the workers away from their families for far too long, so the aliens agreed to designate a village plateau for workers’ families and transport it from Wonder to Wonder.) runs on iPad. BUY NOW
	TNNS – Price : $1.99 – Publisher – Rabbx (TNNS (pronounced “Tennis”) is a game about bouncing and bending balls. It’s a game about keeping your eyes on balls. Sometimes there are a lot of balls. Too bad you only have two eyes. Your psychic paddle zips to your finger. Wiggle to bend ball paths once (or twice) to make tricky shots in two hot modes) runs iPad & iPhone. BUY NOW
	Plunder! HD – Price : $5.49 – Publisher – Big Fish Games (The pirate arcade action game is back and better than ever with more mines, more peg-legs, and more Plunder! Join 6 pirate Captains on their search for booty. Explode mines to sink enemy ships and collect their valuable treasures. But beware, a menacing monster lurks in the treacherous seas ahead. It’s up to you to join forces with your new pirate allies to save everyone’s favorite plucky parrot, Cap’n Mac Macaw! Are ye ready to set sail for an explosive adventure on the high seas?) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	Crazy Cars – Hit The Road HD – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Microids (Rediscover the sheer thrill of arcade gaming with Crazy Cars. The cult racing series created in 1988 by Titus Interactive is back with a brand new version faster than ever before! Rediscover the sheer thrill of arcade gaming with this amazing racing game, taking bends at max speed or massive jumps that can go hundreds of meters high.You’ll be right in the middle of all the action, racing some of the best rides out there. Criss-cross different states of the USA at over 200 mph! Just make sure the cops don’t catch you.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	Creatorverse – Price : $5.49 – Publisher – Linden Research (Become an inventor as you design unique creations and then set them in motion. You’ll never know what to expect as you watch your creations bounce, roll, tilt or even accelerate on the screen. Let your creations come to life as you play with different joints, forces, motors, teleporters, and inputs then watch what happens next. From the simplest bouncing ball to an elaborate pinball machine, the possibilities for tinkering are endless on Creatorverse.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
	Totem Tribe Gold HD – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – G5 Entertainment. (On a beautiful chain of islands, life used to be peaceful until a comet fell from the sky. Now, tribes and creatures that once lived in harmony are fighting each other. Help reestablish balance by exploring the islands, gathering sacred Totems and returning them to their home – the Cradle of the North. To end the war once and for all, develop your villages, warriors and weapons by building huts, training grounds, archery ranges, scout lodges and barracks. Bring prosperity back to this struggling planet by enhancing the Hawk tribe’s skills and equipment.) runs on iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW

There you have it folks, these games should keep you busy for quite some time, well till next week at least. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if anyone would also like to suggest their own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below or in the iOS forum section on the site here.

Remember kids, Play Hard Or Don’t Play At All!

Sharkoon Unveils X-Tatic Pro and X-Tatic AIR Headsets

Jamie Laike Tsui

November 10, 2012

Sharkoon Unveils X-Tatic Pro and X-Tatic AIR Headsets

Sharkoon announced two new gaming headphones for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii. First is the wired native 5.1 headset the X-Tatic Pro. The headset comes with a decoder box that can decode Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, and Dolby Digital Pro Logic II and has inputs for 3.5mm jack, coaxial, and optical S/PDIF plug. The headset sports a quick detach microphone that is compatible with both Xbox Live and Playstation Network chat. Check them out here.

Next is a 2.4GhZ headset called the X-Tatic AIR. Capable of transmitting a signal up to ten meters away from the base station with a clear line of sight, the X-Tatic AIR has a ten hour battery life on AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries and a noise canceling microphone. The base station doubles as a quick charger to charge devices like the Playstation 3 controllers that draw power from a USB port and the headset’s AAA batteries but is also able to charge the AA batteries used by Xbox 360 controllers. Check out the X-Tatic AIR here.

StarCraft RISK – Now on Sale

Joshua Moris

November 10, 2012

Zerg rushing retail stores near you is a Sci-Fi twist of the classic game RISK. Activision Blizzard is pleased to announce that RISK: StarCraft Collector’s Edition is now on sale to ignite a galactic war.

The contents of the box holds a total of 333 game pieces. Here is what you can expect to receive when purchasing the board game:

2 Terran Armies
2 Protoss Armies
2 Zerg Armies
6 Leaders
6 Custom Bases
15 Custom Mineral Fields
42 Faction/Territory Card
Custom Game Board
7 Dice

Additional to the custom game pieces, players will have several ways to attempt to play the board game. Available variations of gameplay are as follows:

Basic Training – a quick and easy mode for beginners

Command Room – a fast-paced, yet strategic take on RISK, using StarCraft heroes and abilities

Total Domination – an updated version of the classic game

Team Play – 2 v 2 and 3 v 3 game-modes

To grab this great collection piece, you can find it directly at the Blizzard Store or try Amazon.com for a great deal. Look at the unique collection of cards that are part of the game’s contents below!

Need For Speed: Most Wanted Review

Luke Halliday

November 9, 2012

Need For Speed: Most Wanted
Developer: Criterion Games
Publisher: EA
Platform: Playstation 3 (Reviewed), Xbox 360 and PC
Release Date: 1st November, 2012
Price: $44.99 – Available Here

Overview:
What does it mean to be the ‘Most Wanted’? Is it about fame? Is it about fear? Is it about being the best? Well it’s really a question that Need For Speed: Most Wanted never true asks, but it does answer it. This is in fact a game about being the best. Everything about this game lives and breathes ‘being the best’. It’s a game so positively obsessed with the notion of ‘being the best’ that it almost entirely forgets to try and do that itself. It’s evocative of the times really, the notion transcends the reality – the notion is everything.

Gameplay:
Need For Speed: Most Wanted is set up to be something special for the franchise, a new path for it to take moving forward. It’s been 7 years since the Most Wanted IP was used, after 2005’s moderately successful racing game of the same name. So what’s different with this game? Well a fair bit, but unfortunately it’s not all for the better.

Like the 2005 game, this take on Most Wanted is set within an open-world (although a much more immense world at that) and tasks players with taking down the 10 Most Wanted drivers. Only they aren’t so much drivers as they are just cars for you to unlock. There is no personality behind the wheel, it’s simply a vehicle to slay and take for yourself. Now this in itself isn’t too bad, but it does leave a lot to be desired. The game features no story whatsoever or characters to speak of, leaving the large portion of the game simply based around racing and unlocking cars until you can’t anymore. It’s all trivial and doesn’t give much motivation or satisfaction to players in regards to taking down these Most Wanted cars. The only real reason to progress forward is unlock more races as most vehicles are limited to a certain number of races for that car type at any given time.

The single-player experience is fairly lacking in general. Although the open-world is quite vast, it provides very little enjoyment in terms of exploration. In most open-world games, exploring the open-world is fun in and of itself, however in Most Wanted there is no necessity to explore the world of Fairhaven. You will slowly progress throughout the world but there is no reason to go and explore the sights, because quite frankly it’s an overall bland attempt at an open-world. There is very little about Fairhaven that would engage or interest players outside of the occasional secret path or jump. It feels very routine and as such leaves a lot to be desired in terms of creative flair. It is just not a very fun place to venture through and with many repeated sights and similar looking locations spread closely through-out it is difficult to maintain any significant interest in Fairhaven for an extended period of time.

When it comes to progressing through the single-player mode, there is some fun to be had as the races themselves are quite enjoyable despite some problems with the games mechanics. It is just a shame that you couldn’t use your favorite vehicle for every single race in the game, instead you are forced to change in order to play other races. When it comes to race mechanics there are some issues with collision detection. The game does not appear to follow any clear structure of what level of collision will cause a ‘Crashed’ sequence which halts the race similar to the ‘Totaled’ sequences from Burnout. Unlike Burnout, Most Wanted often detects minor scrapes as major crashes and will frequently engage the ‘Crashed’ sequences which can ultimately cost you a race. There are times when it genuinely registers a major collision as a ‘Crashed’ sequence correctly, but it is the minor collisions being registered a major ones that really messes things up. The fact that it’s almost random as to what it will register as a ‘Crash’ really feels like the player is being punished for driving fast. This is a big mistake as in a game like this it depends heavily upon the adrenaline pumping action that comes hand in hand with putting the pedal to the metal. Unfortunately the game makes you feel safer driver slower than faster, which is a major mistake on the part of Criterion Games.

The other main facet of the single-player is of course the Speed Points which can allow to unlock a variety of different things and progress through the rankings of the top 10 Most Wanted cars as well as leaderboards with both your friends and the rest of the world. The speed points are part of the aforementioned notion of ‘being the best’. Those who have the most speed points will undoubtedly have the best vehicles are parts. Gaining speed points however feels besides the point for the most part unless you are a high score junkie trying to earn the most points. Of course like most things in this game, collecting speed points grows tiresome very quickly. Which is a shame because this component could have been far better used had speed points been more heavily emphasised other than just being a number attached to a task or an item.

One other problem the game suffers is that it does not feature a simple race mode. There is no simple option to just do a race, instead single-player is simply restricted to being thrown into the open-world. There is no selecting a track and just racing, you are forced into the open-world to find a race to partake in. This is a misstep as it eliminates casual single-play from the table. To make matters worse, there is no split-screen multi-player (another point towards the death of couch multi-player?) which is troublesome to say the very least.

Thankfully the racing in itself, despite some collision issues, is a lot of fun. The races are inventive and push the somewhat bland locale to its utmost limits in terms of creativity. It’s sure to provide some enjoyment but it’s clear this game was designed with bigger things in mind, namely the online multi-player.

This may just be the first online-multiplayer game that I have seen on a console which places players in an open-world together free of any significant lag. It’s a strange feeling sharing the open-world with other players, and it’s very clear very quickly that it’s not exactly the greatest of ideas although it is quite enjoyable.

The online multi-player places a number of players together in the open-world of Fairhaven and gives them a number of tasks, the trouble is, the game also rewards the players for destroying each others cars, so it more often then not ends up being complete utter chaos instead of you know a race or whatever else you are supposed to be doing. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue provided that the game would provide incentives to actually do the different tasks, but instead it spends too much time glorifying the destruction of your opponents to actually allow multi-player games to progress at a reasonable pace. In one instance it took 10 minutes for us to get a race going because other players wouldn’t stop crashing into one another mindlessly as it gave them speed points. This is simply too much of a side-track from the main objective of multi-player and while it is silly fun it does make multi-player far too chaotic and experience to truly be appreciated.

From top to bottom, Need For Speed: Most Wanted is an inconsistent gameplay venture to say the very least. There are some portions that are heavily lacking in content and there is no real focus on any aspect of the game in any meaning way. It is all a collection of half-baked ideas that are never fully-realised due to the over-bearing yet simultaneously benign speed points and autolog system. There is fun to be had though if you can overlook the faults present.

Visuals and Audio:
For most gamers, Need For Speed is remembered for it’s ‘gangster’ style of previous games like Underground and the original Most Wanted. With this incarnation of Most Wanted, Criterion Games have brought the slick and fast look of their Burnout franchise and given this game a distinctive yet familiar appearance. Visually, it is impressive and quite a sight to behold, but there are a fair share of graphical glitches that damage the image of slick sophisticated street racing that Criterion has crafted. The worst graphical glitches are tearing and glitched shadow effects which flash about at a rapid pace at times.

The open-world of Fairhaven is well conceived and despite being fairly routine aesthetically, it does a well enough job at providing a realistic appearing location for the games events to take place in. Unfortunately it is relatively bland and is haunted by a feel of familiarity which is most likely brought on by the overwhelming shades of Burnout in the game.

With the game’s soundtrack, I have to say that Criterion could have put in more effort in order to make the tracks more suitable and better timed. The game also could do with a radio feature, but sadly it does not have one. Although individually the tracks are solid, they don’t mesh too well at times with the gameplay and can be either distracting or completely unnoticeable. It’s really a mixed bag for a soundtrack and shows that very little effort was put into selecting the different songs for the game.

Overall:
At the end of the day, this is definitely a case of the notion transcending reality. There is a lot that could be improved upon in Most Wanted, a game which feels very much like a mix between addictive arcade racing with a tacked on open-world with very little to do and it ultimately results in nothing less than a chaotic mess. There is some fun to be had, but there are a lot of issues that will need to be over-looked in order to be able to extract that enjoyment from Most Wanted. While it is a messy product overall, there should be enough here to entertain fans of the series, but it could be so much better than it is. This is regrettably not what we ‘most wanted’.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here

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