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Podgamer Recommended
by Craig Grannell (November 22nd, 2010 at 3:00 pm)
Vrrrmmmmm! MONSTER TRUCKS! Actually, I’m not Am-er-i-can, and since US import Grayson isn’t within earshot, I cannot ask what the appeal of BIG TRUCKS is, bar when you’re a kid and use them to run over next door’s cat. (That never happened, by the way, if you’re reading, Mr Griffiths of number 5. TIDDLES RAN AWAY.) What I can say is that they make for a pretty fun game, at least when they’re part of Monster Trucks Nitro. VRRRRRRMMMMMM!
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News
by Craig Grannell (November 20th, 2010 at 2:58 pm)
Often, the best games are those that strip a genre back to basics, leaving it in its purist form. In this modern age of hugely complex 3D shooting games, Westbang has long been a breeze of fresh air, battling against the stench of shit that emanates from the bulk of iOS shooters.
Westbang cunningly eschews mid-1990s (and on) fare, instead drawing influence from Sega classic Bank Panic (or, as Suv points out on the comments, Gremlin’s blatant 1986 rip-off Westbank). You’re in a sheriff in a suspiciously busy bank. Doors randomly open. If it’s a customer, don’t shoot; if it’s a bandit, shoot—but only after they draw (because you’re one of the good guys).
An accurate representation of what happens when Western governments allow the banking sector to be destroyed by idiots. OHO! SATIRE! (Sort of.)
Over the game’s 25 levels, things speed up and 21 different characters are introduced. The basic tap controls are first-rate and the game looks, sounds and plays great. For 59p/€0,79/99¢, it was a massive bargain, but it’s currently free, do download it now.
Universal Review Podgamer Recommended
by Craig Grannell (November 18th, 2010 at 5:23 pm)
Magical Drop is great. Magical Drop for iOS is a pile of steaming shit. As a huge Magical Drop fan, the combination of the previous two statements has resulted in HULK SMASH anger for me since iOS gaming took hold; but now Linkoidz is here to save the day, providing similar dynamics to Data East’s title, but without controls that make you want to take a baseball bat to your device.
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Review Podgamer Recommended
by J Nash (November 18th, 2010 at 9:33 am)
J NASH, YOU BLOCKHEAD.
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Review
by Craig Grannell (November 15th, 2010 at 3:31 pm)
Unlike Podgamer’s resident poker fiend RevStu, I’m not a card shark, nor even a card goldfish. I am rubbish at poker. Also, I don’t like poker. Strangely, though, when poker is smashed into another game with a hammer, I find it quite compelling, such as with weirdo ten-pin/shuffleboard/poker hybrid 10 Pin Shuffle and freebie Poker Race, which is what this review is about. Mum mum mum maaah.
Mum mum mum mum mum mum mum mum mum mum mum maaah!
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Review Podgamer Recommended
by RevStu (November 12th, 2010 at 3:25 pm)
Oh, this is wrong. It’s so, SO wrong. It’s ultra-wrong. It’s the wrongest thing ever. It’s Naughty Bear.
The bears of Perfection Island are having a party, with yummy cupcakes for all. But they haven’t invited Naughty Bear. This makes Naughty Bear sad. And when Naughty Bear is sad, things happen. Bad things.
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Universal Review Podgamer Recommended
by J Nash (November 9th, 2010 at 11:21 pm)
One of splendid outer space deflection puzzler No, Human’s finest elements is the atmospherically perfect soundtrack of uncluttered, slightly melancholy classical piano pieces. Once again exhibiting the grasp and sensitivity that made Thief the Musical a byword for unscalped tickets, three unemployed louts from Exmouth have transformed the new game’s 80 zen levels of hypnotically replayable high score asteroid flinging into a rock opera that’s already enjoyed very nearly a run in very nearly a theatre.
We contractually present an excerpt of what leading critic Preddington Quatt is already calling in sick to avoid. Continue reading this post…
News Podgamer Recommended
by RevStu (November 6th, 2010 at 10:07 pm)
This is a real favourite of mine. I used to play chess when I was a wee laddie back home in Scotchland, but in this fast-moving modern world I don’t know anyone who has the attention span/mental discipline for it any more. Speed Chess (or Chess – The Speedgame, as it appears to have clumsily renamed itself), currently selling for the bargain price of 0p ($0.00/€0,00) is the perfect solution.
The picture tells the story, really. The rules are the same as normal chess, but you only have five pawns and one of everything else. You can play against another human or three levels of CPU opponent, and it took me about 40 games to beat it even at “Student” (the lowest). The move clock can be set to 20 seconds (the default), 60 seconds or off, which somewhat defeats the point. Apart from the fact that it says “Times up” if you let the clock run out, it’s excellently presented and generally lovely.
I can think of literally nothing else to tell you about Speed Chess. Bye!
Review Podgamer Essential
by RevStu (November 6th, 2010 at 10:45 am)
Here’s one for those of you joining us late, and because this game still hasn’t sold enough copies.
Anyone who’s been reading anything I’ve written for any amount of time will probably already have noticed that I have very little time for videogames that want to tell stories. There are plenty of fields of culture available already for people who want to be told stories. Books, films, comics, TV, theatre and even music are all ideally suited to story-telling, and frequently do a brilliant job of it. You wouldn’t hire a footballer to come round and do your plumbing, so why would you look to videogames for storytelling?
What I’d like to draw your attention to instead is a glorious example of the art (dang!) of a videogame being a videogame. The unwieldily-titled Pix’n Love Rush (59p/€0,79/99¢), in fact, goes beyond being a videogame – it’s a metagame. That is to say, it’s a videogame that’s about being a videogame.
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Review Podgamer Essential
by Craig Grannell (November 5th, 2010 at 1:00 pm)
Despite offering no tactile controls, iThings are fab for Whac-a-Mole games. The ability to frantically tap the screen, rather than using some kind of analogue ‘stick’ or ‘rodent’ to move a ‘hand’ shows that, yes, iOS works far better than other systems for some types of games. This is one of them.
In fact, Bubble Pets is the best of ‘them’ and by ‘them’, we mean ‘Whac-a-Mole games’. (Weren’t you paying attention? We’re only on the intro.) This is largely because instead of aping a fairground game or having you beat to death cartoon moles with a shovel, Bubble Pets instead tasks you with rapidly tapping on pixelated cartoon animals of all kinds, living in vibrant pixelated cartoon worlds.
No dogs allowed in Pixel Park. Monkeys are fine, though. And stars MUST BE ON A LEAD.
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