Amped Gaming » iPhone/Mobile

Skyburger (app) review

sweatyapple — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:11:59 +0000

If your game has graphics involving bacon, cupcakes, french fries or almost any type of food, I’m most likely going to buy it. I saw Sky Burger, by Nimblebit on the app store and decided to download it. Super simple concept. Stack the burger with the required ingredients to win. There’s meat, cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles, tomatoes and the top bun. Money is deducted from your tip if you add incorrect ingredients or if you allow ingredients you need to pass by. You’ll fail the mission if you allow a top bun to complete the burger before you’re done. There are also bonus rounds that allow you to stack whatever you want, as high as you want, just be careful of the excess top buns that rain out of the sky and seem to be extra drawn to your burger (probably my imagination).

The game defaults to tilt control, which is how I choose to play. You have the option of switching to touch control, but it feels like cheating. But after looking at some of the achievements, like “Stack a Burger to the Moon” I might have to rethink my strategy. The physics of the stack work nicely, so the higher it gets, the more it sways and the more difficult it becomes to control. The graphics are simple, clean and nicely designed. The only addition I would have liked to see would be some variety in the ingredients, or maybe bonus ingredients, but otherwise, no complaints here.

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Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies on iPhone/iPod Touch is a Reality!

Arsen Nazaryan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:22:37 +0000

You’re not blind, you read me right! Treyarch–with the help of Vivendi Games–released Call of Duty: World at War: Nazi Zombies on the iPhone/iPod Touch, complete with an online four player experience (over Internet or simply over Wi-Fi). Perhaps what is most severely mindblowing is that the graphics of the game are fantastic!

You can find it on the iTunes store for $9.99, and Vivendi has promised more maps in the near future but sadly, at an additional price. But let’s face it, that’s Activision. They’ll squeeze as much out of their customers as possible! Although for the time being, check out a video of how great the title truly looks on the iPhone.

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Super KO Boxing 2

Jim Chaliz — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:02:54 +0000

Does anyone remember the days of being really frustrated by Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. Yet you couldn’t pull yourself away because of sheer irritation and the desperate need to knock him out. Well those days are back again, but in a totally different game.
The developers at GLU have brought us Super KO Boxing 2 for the iPhone. Where you’re placed in the gloves of the K.O Kid against a variety of ridiculous competitors and have the simple task of knocking them out. Ah, but if it were that easy.The competitors vary from the electrified gloved Dynamo to a guy very reminiscent of Sho’nuff from the movie The Last Dragon called Shogun.

Like I said before the task is simple. Knock the other guy out. In the true style of punch out every character has their specific weakness and timing. Figuring it out can take some time and is challenging but extremely rewarding when you do. Believe me because I’ve gotten some weird looks when I’m caught talking smack to my phone on the subway. The touch screen is used creatively especially when knocked down. Similar to Fight night you have to maneuver two reluctant circles to the center of the screen before time runs out.
The controls are laid out in a nice simple way on each side of the screen. Two buttons to move, one to block on the left and hi/low attacks on the right. Plus options for variations of the controls which use the accelerometer. They work well but as I’ve noticed sometimes the sensitivity can be a little off which can add to some frustration in the game. The graphics and animations are amazing especially for an iPhone game and can easily give you the feeling that you’re playing on a console system.
Overall it’s a great call back to the classic arcade style boxing game and an honest homage to the best of them all Punch Out, but with that said the game does stand on it’s own. With it’s own flair and hilarious opponents. You can pick it up on the app store for 4.99 or get the free demo version. Either way it’s a good time.

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Dexter the Game now $2 cheaper

Arsen Nazaryan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:21:57 +0000

If you were waiting for an opportune time to pick up Dexter the Game off of the App Store, your best option is now. The price has been lowered by 2 dollars to $3.99. The game, based on the TV show Dexter, throws you into the playing field as a serial killer hired by the police. It has received rave reviews for an iPhone game of its magnitude and should be worth checking it out.

Since it doesn’t seem that the price will be lowered to only $0.99, I might even pick this up myself!

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Wordweaver App Review

sweatyapple — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:52:29 +0000

Mini Monster Media’s puzzle word game is a nice twist for people who enjoy the likes of Boggle and Bookworm. You’re able to choose from a 4×4 or a 5×5 board and play either Quick or Career mode (30 levels). You create words by dragging over the letters and letting go to submit the word. Dragging diagonally works as well, which I didn’t realize for the first few games and made word creation a whole lot easier. If you get stumped, or just need a rearrangement of letters, you can mix things up horizontally or vertically per row/column. The twist is that the board is treated like a woven mat, so letters are hidden or revealed depending how much scrolling you do. There are of course, letter bonuses (fire rings, golden coins, snake gems, sacrificial blade & wooden stakes) so you might want to scroll around to find those as well. If you get completely stumped, take your frustration out by shaking your ipod/itouch and you’ll get a whole new set of letters to work with. If you feel you’re score is worthy of posting to the internet, you can connect to Twitter or Facebook. Sadly, my achivements haven’t been glorious enough to post, but maybe one day.

I needed a new word puzzle game and I think this hit the spot. It’s simple to play, with a nice clear interface that’s uncluttered and easy to navigate. Overall it’s nice to see some design work go into something as simple as a puzzle game. I’m getting a little tired of the handdrawn look that a lot of ipod games have these days.

Available on the app store for $1.99

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Dexter: The Game (App Store)

sweatyapple — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:47:35 +0000

Everyone’s loveable serial killer is now a video game character. Michael C. Hall, the star of the Showtime series, performs the voice for Dexter. And for even more authenticity, the scriptwriter for the show wrote the storyline. If you haven’t watched this series, I highly recommend it. So far each season of the show has been just as good as the last.

“You play as Dexter Morgan, a serial killer who must maintain his average-guy façade. During the day he is a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department, but at night he unleashes his own brand of justice on criminals who deserve to die. In fully realized 3D environments, you will control Dexter, analyzing crime scenes, uncovering evidence and using stealth tactics to stalk your prey. The outcome of every choice and action revolves around the Code of Harry: only kill the guilty, maintain the “mask”, and above all, don’t get caught!”

Multiple controls are available, featuring tilt, dual and single “thumbsticks” and multi-touch.

An additional incentive to buy the game, which costs $5.99, is the automatic entry to win DVDs, T-shirts, or lunch with one of the show’s writers. No offense to the writers, but lunch with Michael C. Hall would be a little more exciting.

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Doom: Resurrection impresses greatly

Arsen Nazaryan — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:12:24 +0000

The key to making a successful game on the iPhone is innovation, wholly because the iPhone was built on innovation. That being said, the platform is perfect for independent video game companies to explore. Numerous archives of games have already been released, with even some very recognizable titles such as Metal Gear Solid Touch, Wolverine RPG, Resident Evil, and more notably Doom: Resurrection.

To tell you the truth, I was never a huge fan of Doom 3; the game was remarkably dark and did not provide much satisfaction in my mind. Needless to say, when purchasing Doom: Resurrection for my 3GS I was hesitant, but for only $2.99 I felt the game could easily sway my opinion of the entire franchise that I had loved so much as a youth. Mark my words: this is damn fun!

At first, I was turned off by the mechanics of the game: it uses the accelerometer and does not allow you to make movement around the level but rather just to aim such as in a rail shooter. As the game progressed, even in the first level, I grew to enjoy the gameplay. The environments are designed incredibly well for an iPhone game. There is no doubt in my mind that it may be the best graphics on the iPhone yet, save MGS Touch and Resident Evil 4. Resurrection runs smoothly and provides more than enough levels for its price tag. In addition to the story mode, id provides us with “Free Play” and the recent DLC type update Challenge mode. Free Play allows you to select any of the 8 missions you’ve already cleared and redo it in case you’ve missed any secrets or wish to do it on a different difficulty level (4 in total). Challenge mode, which was an update that baffled me, gives you 40 challenges to complete and although the levels may be the same, the gameplay is still as fun as ever and gives a nice quickplay feel without having to progress through the story repeatedly.

The music, wherever it is included, is sufficient and sounds exciting. I’ve yet to hear any music in the levels themselves, but rather in the menu screen; however, the sound effects of enemies are done well and stay true to the creepy vibe of the Doom series. The lack of music in story mode adds eeriness to a game already full of it, yet I can’t help but feel it is also empty.

Gameplay: 4/5, the only downside is that it is a rail shooter, but certainly this also adds to the enjoyment of the game. The “calibrate” option is a godsend and I commend id for including it.

Graphics: 4/5, for the iPhone the graphics are spectacular. I’m sure we’ll see better graphics in the future, but id truly does show off in this one. Maybe more enemy types next time? Although there are quite a number here, it just felt as if many of them looked alike or identical.

Sound: 3/5, wherever there is music, it’s good, but that’s not saying much. Sound effects are great but game feels empty through story levels.

Presentation: 4.5/5, easy to use, easy to master.

Overall: 4/5, for 2.99, the game is more than worth it and should be in every iPhone owners App library.

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Must.Eat.Birds. review

sweatyapple — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:06:38 +0000

Nom nom nom. Cake! You are a nom monster and you must protect your cake from pesky birds who come parachuting down to feast on your sweet treats! You launch yourself from a sling shot and devour the birds out of the sky. Eat yourself and get nice and big and round, all the better to eat with. Nine misson stages, 4 challenge stages and indivdual achievements.

I was intrigued by the title and was sold the moment I saw the graphics. These kinds of games were made for me. Bright colors, happy monsters, Japanese writing I can’t understand and food…the perfect game to cheer me up on the way to and from work.

Available for the iPhone and iTouch from the App Store for $1 (it says for a limited time on their website, so I don’t know how much it will be later, or when they’ll change it).

Also, get this: In celebration of the success of the game, Mediatonic is having a contest, where the grand prize is a year’s supply of Battenburg cakes. Contestants must send in a photo of themselves eating cake, with bonus points for referencing the game, or birds somewhere in the picture. For full details, visit the official site. The contest starts today, July 20th – Aug 31st.

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Mafia Wars gets whacked on iPhone

mr. gameface — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:40:56 +0000

The popular social networking game Mafia Wars is now available on the iPhone. The company behind it, Zynga, is the largest social gaming company and has produced other games for Facebook and Myspace. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of Mafia Wars, the name says it all. You start as a mob thug and work your way to the top pulling jobs and taking out rivals. These tasks earn you the cash and street cred to up your power and influence until you command a whole gang of loyal goombas. The game mechanic is liken to an updated text-based adventure, where you don’t actively “play” the game, but rather pick your tasks and see the outcome. Your character has stats for things like stamina and energy which are used up by pulling jobs and replenish over time.

This is another “time waster game” that people seem to get into from social networking sites. That is not to say that all games aren’t a waste of time, but it’s easy for any person who has ADD and an internet connection and/or time to kill at work. It requires virtually no skill, is easy to learn, and keeps the player steadily advancing. This probably isn’t a game for the genuine gamer, but for those random professionals that really like to “kick back” and let loose once in a while…or entertain themselves during a company meeting. Have fun becoming your own Tony Soprano.

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ngmoco Raises Huge Capital

Ghathaway — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:48:58 +0000

Neil Young, no not that one, this one, started a small iPhone developer, ngmoco, thinking he could make some cash. Ten million dollars of investments later, I think the guy is onto something. With super popular releases like Topple and Rolando, the small developer has gotten a ton of press and fame for fun, innovative games. I personally have played many of their releases like Dr. Awesome (see our review) along with Wordfu and Rolando, which are all innovative, fun and cheap games. I am glad to see their dedication to the player is paying off in a huge way. Congratulations to Neil and the guys/gals of ngmoco, these investments are well deserved. Now that there are over 6,000 games on the app store, it will take companies like this to get the good games to stand out. Keep up the good work!

Source: Edge-Online

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