Tag: review

Space Marshals 3: Chapter One – Needs More Cow Bell

In 2020, players with an Apple TV HD and an Apple Arcade subscription have been spoiled with quality releases. Games such as Warp Drive, The Pathless, South of the Circle, Samurai Jack and Little Orpheus are just a very small sample of titles that have justified the Apple TV as a gaming console.

Outside of Apple Arcade however, quality Apple TV game releases have been few and far between this year. The occasional titles that trickle onto the platform such as Interloper, The Curse of Issyos, Hyper Light Drifter and Oddmar, are exceptions that highlight the rule.

Thankfully, as Apple TV continues to elude mainstream recognition as a gaming platform outside of Apple Arcade, studio Pixelbite continues to back the little black box with its Space Marshals series.

Releasing only a few short weeks ago, it turns out I actually got a few things wrong in my initial excitement after viewing the trailer for the first time.

Having managed to complete my initial run through of Chapter One’s 10 levels, it’s time to right those wrongs, and pose the question – does Pixelbite’s third Space Marshals entry deserve a number three in the title?

Continue reading “Space Marshals 3: Chapter One – Needs More Cow Bell” →

Review: Ammo Pigs: Armed & Delicious – Vegan Friendly

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I was tempted to go with:

Review: Ammo Pigs: Armed & Delicious – See How The Sausage Is Made.

But brevity is king when it comes to headlines, so here we are.

While working on its bigger, meatier title – Moon Raider – Cascadia Games started tweeting earlier this year about the possibility of an Ammo Pigs reboot. Floating the idea out into cyberspace – the modern equivalent of thinking out loud – interest was gauged and the decision was made: A new version of the 2015 iOS title was on the way.

Fast forward to a few short months later, and judging from the tweets Cascadia’s owner and founder Chris Jorgensen has been making post-release, sales of the Ammo Pigs remake have added up to time well spent.

What about from a gamer’s perspective though? Is it worth your hard-earned?

ATVG thinks so.

Continue reading “Review: Ammo Pigs: Armed & Delicious – Vegan Friendly” →

Review: Evoland 2 – It’s Evolution, Baby

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There is a world of difference between simply borrowing from classic games and genres, and paying homage, and everything that Evoland 2 does, falls confidently into the latter category.

While developer Shiro Games  has built an entire game around the idea of paying homage to predecessors, it has still somehow managed to forge an experience out of that melting pot that identifies as its own.

It’s an impressive high-wire act that deserves high praise.

Hit the page 2 button below for more.

Review: Morphite – On Its Own Two Feet

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In one of our earlier preview pieces on Morphite, we listed off a few of the classics that inspired collaborators Crescent Moon Games and Blow Fish Studios, such as Metroid Prime and Zelda. Crescent Moon Games’ official site for Morphite reels off even more beloved franchises – Ratchet and Clank, and Turok.

Inspirations and influences are inevitable, but committing them to words on screens for an upcoming game is bold, especially with such legendary names being thrown about. The danger is two-fold – setting expectations beyond the achievable, and releasing a product that’s merely a sum of its inspirations, with nothing to distinguish it as its own game.

How about Morphite then? Does it manage to climb off the shoulders of the giants that inspired it, and stand on its own?

Hit page 2 for more.

Review: Framed 2 – Stay for the End Credits

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In the lead up to the release of Framed 2, the original Framed was featured as Apple’s Free App of the Week. It was a nice way to create some awareness for the sequel (which is actually a prequel), and a great way to get up to speed for those who hadn’t enjoyed the original yet.

But how does Loveshack’s much anticipated follow-up stack up? If we were to compare it to film versions of origin stories, would it be a Phantom Menace, or a Batman Begins?

Step on through to page 2 to find out.

Review: Subdivision Infinity – Trigger Happy

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With a name like Subdivision Infinity, you could be forgiven for thinking that Mistfly Games have created a Maths Edutainment title for the education system. Thankfully, the only maths you’ll encounter in this excellent 3D space combat shoot-em-up, involves watching your stats increase as you acquire new and better ships with which to blow stuff up.

The emphasis here is on arcade action, but Mistfly’s release (published by Crescent Moon Games)  also has enough depth to keep players interested right through to when the credits roll.

Hit that page 2 button below for more.

Review: Burly Men at Sea – The Horizon has Many Stories to Tell

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The touchscreens of our tablets and mobiles have turned out to be the perfect input device for point-and-click adventures, bypassing completely the mouse and keyboard middle man. So much so that the decades-old genre has seen something of a renaissance in recent years, with both new additions to the catalogue and many remasters resurfacing to make hay.

Consoles on the other hand haven’t fared so well – traditional gamepads are not the most intuitive devices for translating point-and-click input mechanics. Apple TV’s Siri Remote however, with its touch interface and minimal complexity, while not ideal for traditional video gaming, has turned out to be an ideal solution for point-and-click.

But providing the ideal interface for this style of storytelling on our lounge room TVs is only half of the solution – the other half is finding a decent game to play.

Enter studio Brain&Brain’s Burly Men at Sea – a beautiful, quiet adventure.

Hit page 2 for more.

Review: Quantum Revenge – A Work in Progress Comes Good

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For Quantum Revenge, version 1.0.12 was the charm. The previous 11 versions simply didn’t work. And it’s such a pity, as even from version 1.0 it was evident there was a high quality twin-stick shoot-em-up buried beneath the game breaking bugs. But studio Realtech VR worked hard hunting and squashing until finally, thankfully, its product could be played from start to finish in all its glory.

Was the end result worth the wait for early adopters, or those that held off waiting for the game to come good, or even those who’ve yet to discover it?

Hit that page 2 button for our verdict.

Review – MouseBot: Escape from CatLab

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On gaming consoles in the second half of the ‘90s, 3D platform games reigned. Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot were just a few of the mascots showcasing the third dimension. Gamers were now being drawn into the screen, rather than merely traversing left, right, up, or down across its surface.

As fictional character Rust Cohle said in True Detective, “Time is a circle,” and much the same as pixel art is often used to conjure nostalgia for the ‘80s, polygons and 3D platform games are currently showing millennials what they just missed out on with modern tributes such as Yooka-Laylee.

Vector Unit have jumped into the fray, taking elements from the studio’s racing efforts Beach Buggy Racing and the Riptide series (one of which we reviewed here), and mixing them with classic late 90’s gameplay.

It’s an interesting combo, but does it work? Is it peanut butter and jelly, or oil and water? Turn the page to find out.

Review: Riptide GP: Renegade – Physics Has Never Been So Much Fun

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Momentum. Inertia. Gravity. The study of the movement of liquids. If Newton and Einstein had jet-skis, they probably would have come to the same conclusions, but they would have had a hell of a lot more fun doing it.

It must have been tough for developer Vector Unit to bring all of the above physics elements together successfully in a video game – but with Riptide GP: Renegade – the studio has pulled off an impressive stunt indeed.

Vector Unit has implemented some of the best liquid modelling you’ll experience not just on Apple TV, but on any console. Sure, it might look better on PS4 and Xbox One, but the physics and the feeling of the water’s movement and its effect on your watercraft in Riptide on ATV remains first-class.

Wrap that core element within a fun arcade racer, and the result is an easy recommendation for your Apple TV.

Hit page 2 for more.