Tag: review

Review: Space Marshals 2 – If The Hat Fits, Wear It

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I’ve been sitting here for way too long trying to think of the perfect, hat-related subtitle for this review, because it’s the little details that are important. The bow around the gift, if you will. It’s a philosophy that studio Pixelbite seems to have taken with the development of Space Marshals 2, as it has a lot of those little details, the sorts of things that make a good game great.

Take hats for example. The hidden, collectible hats in Pixelbite’s shooter don’t add +1 attack, or +3 dexterity or anything of the sort, they’re purely cosmetic. But damn me if I didn’t have a small, quiet celebration every time I discovered a new one. And I bet you I smiled every single time.

Mission accomplished Pixelbite.

Hit page 2 to read on and find out what makes Space Marshals 2 a great fit for your Apple TV.

Review: Smash Club: Streets of Shmeenis – KO!

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Mooff Games have done a great job over the years of building a recognisable brand across its games, with a bankable list of ingredients being baked into each, regardless of the genre. Saturday-morning-cartoon aesthetic? Check. Geek-culture references? Check. Or more specifically – Star Wars references? Check. Recognisable classic gaming genre? Check. Benevolent free-to-play model? Check. And always, without fail, the element of joy seems to be a top priority. Silly, childish joy. From having played many of the studio’s titles – Blackmoor, Super Boys, Maximus, Toon Shooters 2 –  it’s easy to get the impression that making games at Mooff Games is just as much fun as it is work.

Mooff’s latest offering – Smash Club: Streets of Shmeenis – is no exception to the above formula. Although when I write formula, it’s easy to read that as meaning predictable. But Mooff’s titles also always come with surprises – little twists on old ideas that’ll keep you guessing, interested, and smiling.

Smash the page 2 button below to find out why Smash Club is worth your time and megabytes.

Review: Xenowerk – Did Someone Move the Furniture?

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With the release of Space Marshals 2 on Apple TV at the end of last week, now seems like a great  time to take a look back at developer Pixelbite’s other ATV shooter – Xenowerk.

As a gamer, after setting up my shiny new fourth generation Apple TV in late 2015, the first thing I did was to scour the ATV’s App Store for games to play. At the time pickings were slim on the brand new platform, and Xenowerk stood out as an easy choice.

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.

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.

Review: Atomic Super Lander – Elon Musk’s SpaceX meets Bruce Willis’s Armageddon

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Many reviewers have spied the now ancient Lunar Lander within the DNA of developer bitWeird’s Atomic Super Lander, with the studio even referencing it within its promotional material.

It’s a great jumping off point, but I’d like to propose a much more modern reference, that of Elon Musk’s reusable rocket program. Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has pioneered the space age equivalent of reverse parking, and you’ll need to master the technique in order to succeed within Atomic Super Lander’s wonderfully fun gameplay loop.

After touching down on an extinction-level meteor, action then switches to 2D platforming with a very specific focus – blow shit up, get the hell out of Dodge, rinse and repeat.

It’s a simple concept that bitWeird have executed with style and humour.

Review: Dan The Man – Halfbrick Goes Large

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The concept behind Halfbrick’s excellent Dan The Man is something you could easily imagine being born from within a cloud of smoke shared between two stoners at opposite ends of a couch: A seven part animated web series inspired by classic video game tropes, with the eighth part – the series climax – playing out within an actual video game.