Tag: Monsters »

Everyone's gaga for catching and training monsters. It's a shockingly popular genre, which makes its overall lack of representation on the App Store all the more odd. That's not so say that no one's ever tried, but there just aren't that many choices at the moment. Greyhound Games, with help from ZigZaGame, is looking to do their part by releasing Dragon Island.

The overall concept of Dragon Island is as expected: capture monsters, level-up monsters, evolve and combine monsters to create new monsters and fight other monsters with said monsters. What sets it apart from the scant few other games in the genre on iOS is the use of actual time instead of energy or mana, setting a specific lineup for monsters (think "batting order"), a sprawling map full of places to explore and dungeons. The dungeons are of particular note because they're not only randomly-generated, but can also contain special monsters, treasures, their own towns and even other dungeons.

Currently the game is about 75% complete (according to the developer), and they're looking to the community to take it well beyond the 100% mark. They've set up a Kickstarter page to raise funds so that they can include more of, well, everything. More monsters, more dungeons, more items and more game in general.

What's there is already looking really good (placeholder graphics notwithstanding). I'm particularly fond of the monster illustrations. And the thought of Roguelike dungeons in a monster-collecting rpg has me salivating something fierce. If anyone echoes my sentiment, then I urge them to look into Dragon Island. Don't forget to take a gander at the handful of monster images (20+ out of 200) in the gallery below, either. Also, "LOL" at Unhappy Bird.

When I reviewed Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting earlier this year, I enjoyed it but it was a bit shortlived. With only 12 monsters to defeat, the experience ended way too quickly for my liking. A shame given the enjoyment gained from the title. Fortunately, someone must have been listening as four new monsters and a new weapon, Gunlance, have been added to the title, bolstering the enemy battles up to a not too shabby 16.

The new monsters: Diablos, Azure Rathalos, Kirin and Lunastra, are set to offer a sound challenge to fans of the game, and I'll be sure to not spoil the experience with any extra details.

Besides the extra monsters and the new weapon, Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting has also benefited from a new Replay Function. For those players who manage to clear the quest without needing to continue, they can now record their entire playthrough from a variety of different camera angles. Twitter functionality has also been added so that fans can tweet the results of their battles and exchange questions and information on the game.

Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting is available now, priced at $4.99. Existing owners get the update for free.

Daily Monster, by Daily Monster.com, has had an update in time for Halloween that lets users make monsters in the vein of Stefan G Bucher’s DAILY MONSTER® with added seasonal touches.

Blow ink with a finger to create the basic shape and then add up to 200 elements like creepy eyes, mouths and body parts made exclusively for this app.

Send the creepy-funny creations to your friends from within the app or via Twitter and Facebook. The app allows users to add speech bubbles for added customization and the update is available to download in time for Halloween on the App Store.

Aside from Halloween elements this update is iOS 5 tested, has more parts in all categories, not just Halloween, contains more ink blots to work with and extra insta-monsters. The GUI is super simple and the creatures created have the unique Bucher flair. Feel free to send us your thoughts on the app, as well as pictures of your creations, on our Facebook page.

“Monster Memory for iPad” is a matching game that uses a combination of monster drawings and sight words to make this app both fun and educational. This app begins with the screen full of cards. Tap to flip each card over and try to remember what monster or word is on the other side, in the interest of making pairs.

I am really pleased with the educational nature of this app. Half the cards to be turned over contain sight words, being some of the most commonly used words in the English language that most school children are expected to learn. The other half are fun monsters to keep the game light and entertaining.

Read the entire review on Giggle Apps!

I was both excited and nervous about reviewing this application. I have played quite a few games that follow this trend: Take a successful game with an avid and loyal following from years ago, and bring it to the iPhone. Yeah, winning formula right? Well, plenty have gotten it wrong, and miss the mark by a mile. I can't put my finger on it, but Sonic delights me!

Here are some of the great things about Sonic:

When you click the icon to launch the game - it does exactly that! You pretty much go straight into the game play, you just need to click the screen. Really quick loading. I love that in a game, especially if you are just stealing a few moments to play it.

Also, the music is true to the original and just as cute & perky as always. Let me ask you, is there anything more satisfying than the little jingle ring sound that it makes as you collect them? I think not.

Although the controls of the game do not take into consideration the iPhones accelerometer I didn't mind that. It seemed really natural to play by using the control pad on the left and the jump button on the right. There is the option to play in arcade mode, which essentially gives the game the arcade look. However, this means a smaller screen and larger control area. I can not think why they have or who would use it. Apologies if you do but I don't want a smaller screen when I'm gaming.

The controls are very responsive, more so then what I have used in other games which makes this really playable and takes away the frustration of delayed moves / actions.

The game play is fast, as it should be. At times it did leave me wondering if I actually only moved my little sonic forwards and did nothing else, would I still succeed. It seems that you can. So don't try it.

The graphics are crisp and colourful and there is a nice range of monsters. There are ones you need to avoid on the ground, flying ones, ones that are still and drop down on you, shooting ones and bosses to name a few. There are also a great variety of loops, springs, spikes, platforms, bridges and other areas to negotiate to keep it interesting. (Oh and some totally fun swirly tunnel things where he really picks up speed!)

I played on it until I felt car sick (I wasn't driving) and in the end I did find a few things frustrating.

When all my lives were gone and I had to start again, I wasn't able to continue where I left off. I realize a lot of games are like this but I think maybe for the iPhone platform where game play seems to be more 'dipping in for a play', that this is becoming essential feature in a game. You can continue at the same place if you have to pause or come out of the game so that's good.

There are seven zones for you to play. You get green hill as your first and others include labyrinth. There are also bosses to fight, which I will admit I found a bit disproportionately difficult compared to the journey of getting to the boss.

The game is called Sonic 1 when you have the icon on your device. I am curious to find out if this means that we will be given several incarnations of the game. Will these be as updates, or as separate games to download & pay for? Note on the icon is that it is nice although I would like to see of a bit more iphone'd up. (I want a shiny Sonic.)

Be aware also of the amount of battery life this little cutie chews through. If you're going to be sneaking at work or meetings, be sure you have an extra source of charging with you.

I also feel like Mr Sega corporation should give us all a break and charge us a bit less for it. So many new & upcoming devs are giving us free or low cost apps and I wish the corporates would show us some love too.

Overall I really liked this but there's no one really hardcore selling point other than "Hey - it's Sonic". I guess this might be the true test of a games standing within the universe, that porting it to other platforms and other generations and it still works like magic. It's fast and fun. I like having it on my phone, and in some ways I feel it justifies my geekiness.