Author: garrybalogh

Toon Shooters 2 Gets a Second Chapter on March 2nd

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If you’ve exhausted the content in side-scrolling shoot-em-up Toon Shooters 2, sit tight, as you’ve only got a couple of weeks to wait for Chapter 2 to land.

Mooff Games has squeezed an awful lot of fun into Toon Shooters 2, and for fans looking for this sort of old-school shooter with some modern polish I can’t recommend it enough. Even if this isn’t normally your bag, it’s a free-to-play download, meaning you’ll lose nothing by checking it out, and chances are good that you won’t regret it.

Leading up to the 2.0 update, Mooff Games currently have a 40% discount going on the premium upgrade, with the studio announcing on its blog that players who purchase the upgrade will receive future content also.

There are two new toons coming with the Chapter 2 content as well, so save some of those coins or get grinding, March 2 is just around the corner.

Here’s a sneak peak at Chapter 2:

Space Combat RPG Stellar Wanderer Coming to Apple TV Next Week

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Fight. Mine. Explore. Trade. Apple TV gamers looking to settle in and enjoy those four tenets of the 3D space combat genre have so far only had Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising to toy with. While the prologue to Galaxy on Fire 3 is good fun, it’s not a particularly deep experience, tasking players  with a fairly linear mission structure.

Stellar Wanderer on the other hand takes its RPG trappings a little more seriously, with Crescent Moon Games going so far as to label it a “Space Opera,” and promising over ten hours of gameplay in order to complete the main storyline. Throw in some side missions, mining and exploration, and Apple TV gamers should have a good few hours of gaming ahead of them.

These sorts of deeper, richer experiences are just what Apple TV is needing more of. As I described recently in my review of Red’s Kingdom, ports of simple one-touch iOS games are not what you sit down in front of your big screen for.

Crescent Moon Games have announced “next week” as the scheduled release for Stellar Wanderer on Apple TV, with it coming via a “massive update” to the iOS version which adds universal compatibility, and of course the “massive update” wording could also mean extra content, so fingers crossed on that front. I would expect it to hit Thursday or Friday, given that the studio (and prolific publisher) normally follows the established iOS release routine.

Good times ahead.

Review: Red’s Kingdom – Have You Seen My Nuts?

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One-touch puzzle games and auto-runners are not a good fit for consoles. They’re a great fit for your pocket or your work bag, to be played in between a day’s requirements as a break or an unplanned diversion. Console gaming on the other hand is a more focused affair that you’ll specifically set aside time for: Switch on the TV, fire up the sound system, wait for the console to come off standby, and finally settle yourself into the couch. Two different extremes of the gaming spectrum.

At first glance it would be easy to write Red’s Kingdom off as a simple, one-touch puzzle game. Essentially it’s a series of rooms that require players to find a solution in order to progress from door A to door B. But take a closer look and you’ll soon see why Red’s Kingdom deserves to graduate from small screen to large, from mobile to console. Beneath it’s simple mechanic of swiping towards one of four compass points players will discover a rich, hand-crafted experience that feels very at home on Apple’s digital-only gateway to your big screen.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day by Punching Teddy Bears with Halfbrick’s Dan The Man. Wait, WTF?!


Having just played this week’s first daily event, I think it’s safe to say that Dan is not a romantic. Hell, he’s so far on the other end of that scale that I’d guess either one of two scenarios is playing out: Either Dan has had his heart so unconditionally stomped on that he’s conducting some self-help therapy, or, scenario two, these teddy bears are the spawn of Satan. 
You’re welcome to hit ATVG up at the Facebook link up top if you can think of any other plausible scenarios for the anti-romance going on.

Either way, these weekly events are a great way to earn some coins, and kudos to Halfbrick for keeping them going with such variety and tongue-in-cheek mayhem. 
Check out ATVG’s full review of Dan The Man right here, and strap yourself in, it’s only one more sleep until February 14th. 

I’ve a feeling Dan’s week has only just begun.

Apple TV Gaming and the PlayStation Plus Factor

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Remember learning about Venn Diagrams in school? Those overlapping circles used to depict commonalities? Take a look at the following list of games, and as you do, consider what they might all have in common:

Road Not Taken (Spry Fox)
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (Lucid Games)
Chariot (Frima Studio)
Broken Age (Double Fine Productions)
Transistor (Supergiant Games)
Badland (Frogmind)

They all actually have two things in common: They’re all available on Apple TV, and at some point they’ve all been made available in Sony’s PlayStation Plus monthly game offerings. It’s an interesting overlap, and it helps me illustrate a point regarding the sorts of games that I’ve imagined being part of Apple TV’s catalogue since the platform’s release just over a year ago.

When I’ve thought to myself or been asked by others what sorts of games I envision being suitable to the Apple TV console, in my mind I have a very simple answer: PlayStation Plus games. I of course know what I mean when I think that, but if you mash the page 2 link below, I’ll see if I can cobble together an explanation for you as well, dear reader.

Upcoming JRPG Oceanhorn 2 is Aiming for Apple TV

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According to studio Cornfox & Bros., the original Oceanhorn sold over a “million copies on all platforms combined.” Not bad for a little indie game that started life on iOS. For an excellent exclusive feature on the making of Oceanhorn, check out Episode 2 of Grab It Magazine, which is also packed with loads of other reviews (a bunch of them by yours truly) and gaming goodness.

Last year’s announcement of a sequel – Oceanhorn 2: Knights of The Lost Realm – had fans of the original celebrating, and everything about the series looks to be cranked up to 11 for the second instalment.

Just two days ago Cornfox & Bros. released a bunch more information about the development of Oceanhorn 2, with confirmation that it was being developed using Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, and that the studio was targeting multiple platforms. So with that in mind, what about Apple TV?

The original is available on Apple’s digital-only console, so I reached out to the developer hoping for good news about the sequel. Mash the page 2 button below for more details on the very Zelda: Breath of The Wild-looking Oceanhorn 2, and for the response from the studio (which I’ve already spoilt in the headline).

Is There a Tekken or Street Fighter Style Game on Apple TV?

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Update: Since posting this story way back when, Apple Arcade has obviously arrived, bringing with it the excellent Punch Planet. Punch Planet is an infinitely better 2D fighter than Gods of Rome, so the below article really seems redundant nowadays, but an Internet search will still no doubt have lead you here. This newer article will scratch your itch. But hey, if you’re still keen, read on!

Original Story: Actually yes, there is, although I would say it’s very much a Tekken or Street Fighter Lite, but it’s still a good deal of fun. Gameloft ported its 2D fighter Gods of Rome from iOS to Apple TV earlier this month, and have thankfully put some real effort into updating the UI (user-interface) in order to make it a nice fit for the big screen.

Hit the page 2 button below for more details.

Review: Le Parker – Sous Chef Extraordinaire – Jawbreaker

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Studio Play Pretend’s 2D action platformer is a game of two halves. It’s hard, really hard. Some, including myself, might go so far as to say that it’s a little too hard. The thing is though, it’s also really good. Le Parker is one of those games that when you’re right on the edge of frustration, and you swear this is your last crack at a level before chucking the whole thing in, skills the game has forced you to learn finally click all at the right moments, and once again you’ll find yourself back at the level-select screen with a new challenge unlocked. And off you go again (although maybe after a cup of tea and a lie down).

The ingredients making up this punishing yet rewarding dichotomy are an interesting study in game design, and well worth a closer look.

I Had a Nintendo Switch Moment on Apple TV

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Last Sunday night at exactly 7.30pm, I stopped playing Toon Shooters 2: The Freelancers on Apple TV. A deal I’d made with my wife meant that the lounge room flatscreen was all hers, as Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori were about to face off in the final of the Brisbane International.

The thing is, I was really enjoying playing Toon Shooters 2. The side scrolling shooter from Mooff Games is a lovely throwback for fans of R-Type, but with a fun cartoon twist. There’s loads of new ships to be unlocked with different weapon load-outs, pets that add differing firepower abilities, and with Mooff Games you’re never too far away from Star Wars references. The picture above is an obvious one, and – spoiler alert – look out for the armada of Star Destroyers.

So at level 5, 7.30pm rolled around, and my time was up. But I wasn’t in the mood for tennis, I had work to do. Those aliens weren’t going to shoot themselves.

Hands-On with Atomic Super Lander’s v1.1 Update: It’s Actually a Game Changer

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Last night I divided my game time between Trials Frontier and Atomic Super Lander, and I have to say, if you’re looking for a fun night in I can highly recommend the combination.

Developer bitWeird released its 1.1 update for Atomic Super Lander earlier this week, and the additions add some very welcome meat to the bones of what was already a very fun arcade title. Mash the page 2 button below for my impressions.