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Battle of Toys: A Guide for (literally) the Most Kick-Ass Toy Collection Ever

Posted by Lee Hamlet on January 28th, 2015

Calling all toy collectors:
Want to know if Battle of Toys is the toy themed fighter for you? Check out our Battle of Toys review!

Battle of Toys is a fighting game involving dozens of collectible toys of various stature, power and style. One thing they all share, however, is the ability to kick the fluff out of each other. To get the best out of your growing collection and the team of up to 6 that you send into battle, we've compiled something of a beginner's guide to get you started.


Rock 'em 'n' Sock 'em

  • Upping the difficulty can swing you more rewards when you win, but obviously it makes opponents much tougher as well, particularly their defensive and offensive capabilities, making defeating them within the time limit tough.

  • Bear in mind however, that you only have to finish the 30 seconds with MORE health than your opponents overall. Actually finishing them off doesn't matter most of the time, so with some boosts equipped, the higher difficulties need not be so daunting. At the very least, the second difficulty tier is always worth an attempt.

  • The trickiest special attack mini-game is the crosshair targeting system, simply because the accuracy isn't always exactly spot on. As a rule, wait for each axis to go red before tapping to stop.

  • Once you have more than one toy, swapping them out regularly during a fight is a good tactic. At best, you'll dodge an enemy attack, at worst you'll even out the health lost during the fight, and that's important, because what they don't tell you is that the toy that you win the match with will have its health replenished free of charge. Therefore tagging in a damaged toy to finish off an opponent is a good tactical move.

  • Upgrading your toys and applying at least one special attack or boost to each of your team members is a wise move to make before heading into a fight. It saves wasting energy and having to fix up battered toys.

  • Alternatively, rather than upgrading the existing toys in your collection, getting by with characters with lower stats and preserving money for another toy will be advantageous in the long run. A second toy is automatically unlocked after the fourth round anyway, so just continue building your collection naturally.

Fistful of Dollars

  • Use the lucky dip machine regularly, but hold off on using crystals to skip the cooling off period, because although coins, powerups and the odd crystal come fairly often, toys are extremely rare. Resist the urge to keep on spinning and wait the rather short cooling off period of 12 minutes instead.

  • Coins, diamonds and energy will be dropped by opponents during fights, but will have to be picked up manually, so act fast or they'll be gone for good once they exit the game screen as the toys continue to dash about.

  • If you have Facebook, linking your account will grant you 10 diamonds and a costume with a handy stat increase to one of your toys. The 10 diamonds are then best spent on coins (8 for 15,000), with the remaining 2 saved for replenishing energy or later in exchange for more coins. Furthermore, when you level up, you will presented with a choice between 1 diamond or 5,000 coins for sharing on Facebook. Combine this with the diamonds that can be attained via other social networking incentives and the game is quite generous with its rewards.

  • Coins are best saved for the purchase of the more realistically-priced toys or on upgrades, particularly on new costumes which yield larger upgrade potential than upgrading single parts at a time. Once you have a few toys in your team, you can then use the costumes strategically for a more balanced squad.

We hope these few tips and hints will help you keep your toys away from the yard sale and at the top of the toy box.

SimCity Buildit - Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for a City that Works

Posted by Nadia Oxford on December 23rd, 2014

Hello, Budding Mayors
Want to know what we made of all this upgrading and inevitable waiting? Check out our SimCity BuildIt review!

SimCity BuildIt is a city-building game from EA. Your job as mayor is to build houses for people to live in, industry and utilities to serve them, and to try and make sure the good people of your city don't get mixed up in their own sewage.

SimCity BuildIt is straightforward for the most part, but that doesn't mean running a city is always smooth sailing. Here are a few tips to keep your city happy and well-oiled.



Basic Building


  • More citizens means more taxes - When all is said and done, your goal in SimCity BuildIt is to attract new citizens and keep them happy so they don't move out. More citizens means more tax money for beautification projects.

  • You're not charged for paving streets or moving buildings, so go nuts - Moving stuff around in SimCity BuildIt doesn't cost you anything, nor does laying down roads. You can organize and re-organize your city without fear of going broke, so go for it.

  • Visit neighbors' trading posts for cheap goods - Make friends with other players, then visit their cities once a day to access their trading posts. It's a great way to get materials quickly and cheaply. Every player is assigned to a fully-developed neighboring city, so don't worry if you lack friends.

Elune Saga: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Being the Finest Fighter

Posted by Jennifer Allen on December 11th, 2014

Hey There, Card Sharks:
If you'd like to see how much we enjoyed (to a point) all this card-collecting and fighting, check out our Elune Saga review!

So, you liked the look of card collecting/RPG mash-up Elune Saga and you've gone and downloaded it. Now you don’t know what to do next or how best to save the world? Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with some helpful tips and tricks on how best to handle everything. They should ensure you’ll be the finest fighter out there in no time.



General Advice


  • You’ll soon see that friends are important. You can recruit another player to help you out in battle, which is particularly handy when you haven’t got a full complement of 4 heroes yet.

  • Add new friends often. The game recommends some fighters and you should definitely add them. They’ll come in handy.

  • Save the best fighters for boss battles and anything else that’s going to challenge you. You can only use them once every few hours, so make it count.

  • You’ll soon end up with plenty of souls/cards. Don’t bother keeping those with only one star. Instead, use them to upgrade your better souls, especially the rare ones. After a time you’ll find yourself doing this with two star souls, too.

  • Equip your best characters with these highest star quality cards for the best results.

  • Gold is partially gained through completing achievements. Pursue these achievements. They rarely involve going out of your way anyway, and gold is useful.

  • Save up Soulstones. They come at a reasonably steady rate, which is convenient as 30 buys you a new soul/card. Save them up till you’ve got enough for two. Buy two in a row and the second one only costs 27 Soulstones. The 3 stone savings adds up!

  • The arena unlocks fairly early on but that doesn’t mean you should try it. Wait a while until you have a full 4 character squad, build it up, then consider checking out the arena. It’s tough!

  • Also tough but rewarding are the time-sensitive quests that come with the dungeon unlocking at level 8. Do these often but bear in mind that you need to be well equipped to stand much chance of success.

  • Replay earlier missions. They’re great for easy experience and gold. You can set the game to auto and set aside your iOS device to do all the work for you.

Combat


  • Positioning can make all the difference between success and failure. Put your low health units and healers at the back while the stronger units go to the front. Most of the time, the units at the front will take the most damage.

  • Target enemies that can stun you first. If they stun you, you can’t move for a few turns, which instantly reduces your firepower. Don’t let that happen!

Kingdom Rush Origins HD: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies For Being a Successful Leader

Posted by Jennifer Allen on December 2nd, 2014

Calling All Kingdoms:
Want to know why we're calling it "one of the better tower defense games in recent times?" Check out our Kingdom Rush Origins review.

Easily one of the better tower defense games in recent times, Kingdom Rush Origins HD is a very enjoyable experience. While you might feel like an old hand at it, this might also be your first foray into the series. Either way, we’ve got some helpful tips and tricks to hopefully ensure that your success.


Duking it Out



A lot of the strategy behind winning at Kingdom Rush Origins HD is knowing how to use choke points.
  • Every level has one or more choke point - an area where the enemy is funneled through and is more open to attack, usually because of the environment around them. Figure each of them out and focus on using it to your advantage.

  • One good way of using a choke point to your advantage is to create a blockade of an archer tower along with a melee tower.

  • Archers are good at dishing out the damage but they’re too easy to get away from on their own. Combine them with a melee tower, however, and the ground troops slow the enemy down, enabling your archers to pick them off.

Mark of the Dragon - Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Leading Your Dragons to Glory

Posted by Nadia Oxford on November 24th, 2014

Calling All Dragon Riders:
Want to know what we liked (and didn't like) about all this fantasy fighting? Check out our Mark of the Dragon review!

Mark of the Dragon from Gamevil is a strategy/battle game that plays similarly to Clash of Clans. There's one twist, however: you can breed dragons and raise them to be rideable war machines. Not surprisingly, this small gameplay tweak is pretty cool.

But fighting isn't easy - even when you're commanding things from the back of a giant lizard. Here are some tips and tricks to help you succeed in the dragon war.


Keep the Home Base Safe and Stocked



  • Guard your eggs - Dragon eggs are arguably your most valuable resource in Mark of the Dragon. They take time and effort to breed and hatch, and the resulting offspring forms the backbone of your assault force. Other players can steal eggs during a raid, so defend them accordingly. Build walls around your nest, and put weapons nearby.

  • Upgrade your resource depots ASAP - Upgrading the most important structures in your base, like your headquarters, requires a lot of resources - more than you can hold when you first begin playing the game. It's extremely important to upgrade your resource depots whenever possible so you can amass the iron and wood necessary for major building projects.

  • Raids provide tons of resources - Low on wood or iron? Mark of the Dragon's single-player campaign provides opportunities to score tons of resources. Get out there!

Agents of Storm: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies to be the Strongest Out There

Posted by Jennifer Allen on October 30th, 2014

Calling all agents:
Would you like to see what we thought of this rather pretty base builder? Check out our Agents of Storm review!

Have you downloaded Agents of Storm, been bowled over by the graphics, and aren't quite sure what to do next? Never fear, for we’re here with some handy tips and tricks to help any beginner get started!

Diamonds Are Your Best Friend


  • Diamonds don’t come easily in this game, which is a shame because they’re very useful. For that reason, don’t use them early on. Encouraging you to do exactly that is a common thing with games like this, but resist. There’s just no point using them up to save you a minute of time, when later on they’ll be far more useful.
  • To boost your diamond supply, work towards the achievements that Agents of Storm likes you to complete. You’ll earn a few diamonds here and there for completing some fairly straightforward tasks.
  • You can watch videos for free diamonds, too. It’s a bit tedious, but it's handy when trying to earn more. You could always leave the video playing while doing something else away from your phone for those few seconds!

  • Put those diamonds towards the many enhancements in the shop. These can make all the difference. The Build Module reduces the cool down time between buildings, while Pagoda gives you experience just for being there. Waterfall gives you more gold from every attack you complete.
  • Focus on upgrading your resource gathering buildings for that very reason. Gold is particularly useful as it’s needed for attacking islands. As island attacks are your main source of progressing anywhere in the game, you want to focus on this.

Kitty Powers' Matchmaker - Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for the Lonely Heart

Posted by Nadia Oxford on September 22nd, 2014
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: KITTEN LOVE :: Read Review »

Hey There, Kittens:
How did we rank on Kitty Powers' scale of success? Check out our Kitty Powers' Matchmaker review to find out!

Finding your own true love is never easy, let alone finding it for other people. Kitty Powers' Matchmaker makes matchmaking fun, though. You get to send couples out on dates, coach them through small talk, and mark them with Cupid's arrow - sometimes literally. If everything goes well, you'll get a wedding invite. If things go badly - well, there are other fishies in the sea, right?

Here are a few tips that will help you help others get lucky in love.



Starting Out


  • When you unlock the salon, tap on the question mark to get Kitty's opinion on outfits, etc - Once you learn a bit about the art of matchmaking, you unlock the salon. Here you can change your clients' clothes, hairstyle, and other features to make them more desirable. Tap the question mark block to get Kitty to tell you what personality types are attracted to a particular set of clothing or a certain hairstyle.
  • Use profile tabs to shuffle between general info, likes, and personality - When a lovelorn client shows up on your doorstep, make sure to read their profile thoroughly. That means combing through all the tabs on file: their general information, what they like, and their personality traits.
  • As you level-up, you learn more about clients' personalities - Occasionally, leveling-up rewards you with the ability to perceive clients' personality traits. In other words, the more you play, the easier it becomes to match up lovebirds.

Etherlords: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Gaining the Best Team Out There

Posted by Jennifer Allen on September 9th, 2014

Calling All Etherlords:
Want to know what we think of all this monster-mashing and world building? Check out our Etherlords review!

Etherlords is quite an enjoyable mixture of card collecting, battling, and world building, but it doesn’t do a great job of teaching you everything you need to know. That’s where we come into it, offering you some handy tips and tricks to ensure that you’ve got a great head start on being successful.


Fighting It Out

  • Combat is reasonably straightforward, being mostly automated. You can leave the game to complete the basic moves, but it’s down to you to pick out special attacks every 10 seconds or so.
  • Always pick the special move that does the most damage. Whether that happens to be to an individual or to a group.
  • If you’re up against a strong threesome, use area attacks like Earthquake to weaken them all.
  • When duking it out with a boss though, you might be better off using a more powerful singular attack.
  • Don’t forget to heal and buff up, too. You can’t inflict more damage if you’ve already been knocked out because you forgot to heal up!
  • For that reason, keep a healer in your team whenever possible.
  • About half way through Chapter 3, you learn the ability to switch where fighters are during a battle. Use this to your advantage in order to target specific enemies, such as a boss. It’s a handy way to still have some control over a fairly hands-off situation.
  • Glyphs will occasionally appear and you can match these to your creature’s race in order to inflict more damage. This can work the other way too, so keep an eye out for an enemy gearing up to unleash a massive amount of damage.

Space Colors - Tips, Tricks, Strategies, and Cheats for the Rookie Pilot

Posted by Nadia Oxford on August 20th, 2014
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: FAR OUT :: Read Review »

Hello Cadets:
Want to know what we thought about this hectic space combat/roguelike? Check out our Space Colors review!

Space Colors is a cool shooter/roguelike from Team Chaos. You travel from planet to planet across a huge galaxy and complete a variety of missions. One day, you may pick up a benign space crate. On another day, you may be asked to get serious about roasting alien slime.

Space is cold, harsh, and unfriendly (regardless of how colorful it is), so here are a few tips for keeping yourself alive for as long as possible.

Tap Sports Baseball - Tips, Tricks, and Strategies to Be the Best Batter

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Jennifer Allen on August 20th, 2014
Our rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar ::
Just downloaded Tap Sports Baseball and in need of some advice? We've got you covered.
Read The Full Review »

Godus - Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Being the Finest of Gods

Posted by Jennifer Allen on August 13th, 2014

Hello gods in training:
Curious to see what we thought of 22Cans' whacky-looking god sim? Check out our Godus review!

Enjoying the delights of Godus but could do with a helping hand? We're here to give you some simple tips and tricks to get you started and on your way to being a great God.


You Gotta Believe

  • There's going to be a lot of sculpting ahead of you, especially early on. Try to plan ahead. Belief fades fast and you don't want to run out midway through creating a flatter plain ready for developing on. Don't just clear land for the sake of it. Think it through before you begin.

  • The same goes for building structures. You want to keep people together for maximum efficiency and don't forget that early on, only nearby workers can get to work on building a new settlement. Later on, you'll be able to entice them further afield but you're quite restricted at the start.

  • Make sure there's room to place trees near the settlements. More belief is gained that way, which is always a good thing.

  • Remove rocks that are nearby such dwellings, as they'll decrease your belief gains.

  • Removing rocks, as well as surplus trees, is also handy because it provides you with some easy belief. Do it. Often.

  • Belief isn't used up if you're sculpting land from beneath the sea so if you're desperate for space and low on belief, drag out the beaches.

  • In other games, collecting all that belief would be irritatingly tedious, but Godus simplifies matters. You can just hold a finger down and drag it around to collect belief up en masse.

  • A similar process can be used to 'leash' followers but you want to use that ability sparingly as it uses up belief.



Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

  • Keep building and steadily expanding. The more followers the better as it'll unlock new cards and generally provide the whole point of the game. It's a slow process, but worth it.

  • Make room for farms and mines to be near settlements. You need plenty of both and clustering will soon be essential to your success.

  • Work towards the beacons scattered around the land. They're Godus's way of encouraging you to follow a certain path but they're pretty handy for unlocking new areas.

  • When you're worried about your followers' and their eating habits, cast Rain of Purity on Crop Fields. Wheat grows much quicker this way than waiting it out. It can make all the difference.

  • Unlock cards as quickly as possible but don't necessarily use them all. Some are more hassle than they're worth so be wise with what you upgrade via stickers.

  • Speaking of stickers, these can be gained through completing Journeys but also through discovering treasure chests littered around the world. Look out for differences in the land, such as a sparkly section, and start digging to retrieve anything from diamonds to stickers.


All in the Journey

  • Regualarly going on Journeys is essential to progression, as well as having more fun with Godus. Do so frequently.

  • When you first start a Journey, plan what you're going to do carefully. The time limits are often tight, especially when you're fighting with poor path-finding. Those followers really aren't very bright at all.

  • Don't bother sending more followers than you need to. It'll just be a waste if you fail the level.

  • Treat the followers like Lemmings. They're dimwitted and really need to be dealt with like mindless drones. Because that's exactly what they are.

  • Because of that, make sure you block paths to stop them from either going the wrong way or walking into danger. The Journeys are often simple enough. The tricky part is in keeping those followers safe from their own stupidity.

  • You'll be infuriated at times, either by your followers' inability to think or just the slow pace of the game. Be a kind God. Using negative God powers only tends to cause trouble in the long term and you want to keep your people happy through any means necessary.

  • Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. It's going to take a while to get in your stride and truly see significant improvements. Accept it and enjoy.

Great Battles Medieval Review

iPad App - Designed for iPad
By Rob Rich on July 3rd, 2013
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: AIMLESS KNIGHTS
Guiding soldiers around the field can be a pain, but aside from that Great Battles Medieval is pretty sweet.
Read The Full Review »

Warhammer Quest Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Rob Rich on May 30th, 2013
Our rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar :: HAMMER TIME
Rodeo Games has supplied iOS gamers with yet another excellent strategy RPG. Possibly their best yet.
Read The Full Review »

Frozen Synapse Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Rob Rich on May 20th, 2013
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: A GOOD DUST-UP
The slightly weird PC strategy game has crept onto the iPad and made itself right at home.
Read The Full Review »

Pixel Kingdom Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Rob Rich on April 12th, 2013
Our rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar :: LANE CHANGER
It's not necessarily the most complex or grueling lane-defense strategy game but Pixel Kingdom does fun really, really well.
Read The Full Review »