iPhone – Skyline: Test Your Knowledge Review

With close to 650,000 apps there is no doubt that Apple’s app store remains the leader in providing consumers with the most applications to download for their mobile and tablet devices.  However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that most are of any quality whatsoever and Skyline: Test Your Knowledge is one such app which makes the case for Apple to be more stringent in what they allow in their store.  To put it bluntly Skyline: Test Your Knowledge is an awful application that would still fail as a grade ten computer science project.  While the game concept seems like it could be novel and distinct from other quiz games by using silhouettes of various city skylines and tasking the player to correctly choose the right answer the entire project reeks of amateurishness from start to finish.

iPhone – Scarlett and The Spark of Life: Scarlett Adventures Episode 1 Review

Scarlett and The Spark of Life: Scarlett Adventures Episode 1 is the first part in a new series of 2D adventure games that, while incredibly short, has more than enough quirky humour to hold your interest especially since it feels like a spiritual successor to such Sierra On-Line games of old like King’s Quest or Lucasart’s Day of the Tentacle.  I realize that comparing anything contemporary to such classics might sound like heresy but such is the state of 2D adventure gaming that has been on life support for decades that a relatively brief game like Scarlett and The Spark of Life is enough to excite most jaded adventure gamers.

iPhone – Kung Fu Panda 2: Be The Master Review

If imitation is the highest form of flattery then it must follow that the developers of THQ’s Kung Fu Panda 2: Be The Master absolutely love Doodle Jump and Fruit Ninja as they have in essence copied those games so well that you would expect a team of lawyers to descend immediately on THQ’s head office.  Make no mistake, Kung Fu Panda 2: Be The Master is certainly a fun and enjoyable title but it in no way adds a modicum of originality outside of its glossy veneer and expensive movie license.

iPhone – Bad Girl: Dirty Dance Review

I am all for small independent studios thriving and making a buck but come on guys, Bad Girl: Dirty Dance is a title that should never have been released in its current state.  On the surface of it all a quasi-choose your own adventure is something I have always enjoyed and there are times that I wish more developers went down this route by providing a fully branching storyline with colourful characters and elaborate writing.  Unfortunately, Bad Girl: Dirty Dance feels as if it is a Grade 10 computer science project that has been constructed in a day.

iPad – Death Rally (2011) Review

With Death Rally Remedy Entertainment succeeds in crafting an incredibly intuitive and enjoyable automobile destruction romp that has both depth and longevity.  While the controls take a while to master they are more or less standard fair in what you find on Apple iOS devices.  However, the game has a great addictive quality to it that compels gamers to keep playing in order to unlock all the different cars and weaponry upgrades.

iPhone – Dojobreaker Review

Dojobreaker is a guilty pleasure.  No more no less.  It has only a very thin veneer of gameplay but it still managed to hold my attention due to the fact that it presents a RPG based mechanic of character grinding that I find addictive.  I fully admit that sometimes, especially during a RPG title that I am enjoying, that I like to basically spend hours mowing down monsters just to grind out more EXP and in turn make my party stronger.  At times this obsession with gaining power goes a bit too far as I approach the final boss and kick his behind so hard that it feels anticlimactic.

iPhone – Customs (2011) Review

Customs is a dreadful attempt at creating a hidden object game that fails on just about every level save one – the nice art of the altogether too curvaceous female customs officer you play.  When the best feature of the game revolves around a 2D piece of character ass…I mean art, you know that you’re in trouble.

iPhone – Star Trek Review

One of the side effects of a summer blockbuster movie is the incredible array of ancillary merchandising that accompanies such a release. From glass cups at Burger King to toys in Happy Meals to cereal boxes and even to bed spreads and undergarments, nothing is safe from the impending launch of a merchandising behemoth. Kids and diehard fans love this time of year although I have an inkling that most parents groan and get headaches just thinking about all the toys and props that have to be bought in order to satisfy their offspring.