Tag: Games »

Know your foes. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. And there are probably some other cliches that would apply to your perilous spot on the throne in Reigns as well.

We can do you one better than that. If you've already absorbed our one vital point for beginners, we're here to help give you the lowdown on the denizens of your kingdom. We won't give details on all the characters in the game, because that would spoil some of the fun of discovery, but some hints on the various people, animals, and um, other things with which you'll be interacting certainly can't hurt.

When Square Enix Montreal first hit us with Hitman GO,it was seen as a clever board game twist on a property that you wouldn't normally think would fit that kind of format. Lara Croft GOexpanded things even further while keeping some of the same core gameplay elements, and now Deus Ex GO has taken the whole thing and gone sci-fi.

For fans of the previous games, much will feel familiar this time around, yet there will still be plenty to discover by trial and error -- probably the biggest unifying element throughout this multi-IP series. Added to that are the brand new goodies the developers have cooked up, and there are a number of them in what is the most intricate GO title to date.

That being the case, it doesn't hurt to have some help on your side. We're not talking about cool tech and hacking skills, though those certainly don't hurt. No, we simply mean someone to show you the ropes, and that's what we're happy to do with these Deus Ex GO tips, tricks, and hints.

One of the best ideas that EA ever had for its mobile games was to stop putting out different versions of its sports titles on an annual basis and just stick with a single title per sport that receives annual updates. Madden NFL Mobile has definitely been better off for it, and has kept this writer playing longer than ever would have been possible under the old system as a result.

While the actual NFL season is still several weeks away, Madden season is upon us now. The first thing you'll notice is that the game has a new cover athlete (though that term doesn't actually make much sense for a mobile game, really). Odell Beckham Jr. is out. Rob Gronkowski is in. Gronk on.

The hard work of building up a top team also starts all over again -- or nearly all over, as we'll discuss -- with teams being reset for all users. This happened in 2015, and EA has been very upfront about it throughout, so there should be a minimum of gnashing of teeth from gamers. Your team from last year remains in your own personal hall of fame, and can be dusted off for certain Legacy Live Events.

Rest assured, though, that Madden NFL Mobile is bringing more to the party that just updated rosters. Here's what you can expect as you get back to football.

No matter how good you are at football management games, no one is ever going to let you take the reins at Manchester United or Chelsea. It's simply not in the cards for us mere mortals.

The next best thing, other than screaming at your television and participating in all the #WengerMustGo hashtags, is to take a stab at being a skipper in the virtual realm. On mobile, the latest option is Championship Manager 17 from Square Enix.

While it's not quite as packed with features as similar sims on the PC, it's as close to a full management experience as possible in the sense that you must juggle a roster on a budget, keep an eye out for transfers that will strengthen your team, take control of strategic decisions during matches, and handle player morale and negotiations, all while trying to win glory and avoid being sacked.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, we've got some good news. We can help you take your first steps toward becoming the next Sir Alex (as if) with our Championship Manager 17 guide for beginners. Read on for the equivalent of that scene in The Matrix, except instead of Keanu Reeves saying, "I know kung fu," it'll be you saying, "I know football."

Some mobile games offer simple gameplay but surprise you to the upside with how difficult they are to stop playing. Reigns fits that description perfectly, as it turns the act of ruling a medieval country into a card game where you only have two choices (and sometimes not even that) per card.

Before you make each decision in Reigns, you'll be able to see whether or not your choice will affect the land's church, people, army, and treasury. The tricky part is that common sense can sometimes tell you whether swiping that direction will be good or bad in those areas, but you never really know for sure until you do it.

Over time, you'll see some cards appear enough times that you'll know exactly what to expect from both decisions on them. But that still doesn't mean you'll escape from the precarious balancing act required to extend your time on the throne. Seeing any one of the four facets of the kingdom fall all the way to nothing means instant death.

Yet there's another important thing to keep in mind, the biggest secret to success in Reigns by far. We'll share it, but it's worth a spoiler warning here if you'd rather uncover all of the delights of the game on your own.

If you've been playing CSR Racing 2 since launch, you've probably got yourself a pretty nice garage by now. Just reaching and participating in Tier 5 races means you've been privileged to drive one of the premier supercars in existence, vehicles sporting prestigious names like Lamborghini or Ferrari.

Still, if you really want to be at the wheel of the freshest thing on four wheels, you'll need to aim even higher. We're talking about the Bugatti Chiron, a car so luxurious and exclusive that you have to be rich (the price tag is over $2.5 million) and know someone (less than 500 came from the factory in the initial production run) to own one.

And yet real car enthusiasts could if they would. The Chiron boasts an insane 1,500 HP engine, capable of sending the car from 0-60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds. It's so powerful that the car actually has an engine limiter said to keep its top speed at 261 mph. Yes, you read that right.

So how can you get your hands on one in CSR Racing 2? There are two ways to nab one within the next few weeks.

I know what you're thinking. "Another match-3 RPG? We've seen these before."

That's certainly true. Match-3 has proven to be a very popular mechanic for RPGs of all types, and even the trappings of Hibernum's Saber's Edge -- a crew of pirates that has a flying ship -- may seem familiar.

Still, spending a little time with this one suggests that it's selling the game short to simply lump it in with what's come before. Not only does Saber's Edge have an intriguing story that plays out gradually after each completed quest, but it offers a deeper RPG experience than you might first suspect.

CSR Racing 2 was already plenty good. With stunning graphics, enough different game modes to keep people coming back, and actual multiplayer races, Naturalmotion gave gearheads something that was worth the wait.

Could it be even better, though? Most mobile games can be, and the developers have been up to more than just adding new cars to the game -- though there's been some of that too. The latest update for CSR Racing 2tinkers with the gameplay in a couple of areas and even may affect what's in your garage. We opened up the throttle to take a look.

You've been able to race just about everything in Real Racing 3 since it first hit mobile three years ago. Yet Firemonkeys and EA keep managing to get more vehicles in the game, finding new ways to keep drivers coming back for more.

The game's latest update is called Evolution of Jaguar, and as the name suggests, it explores the rich history of one of the automotive industry's most iconic luxury car manufacturers. It brings with it not just a chance to win Jaguar vehicles to drive in the game -- though you certainly can do that, with a chance to win three different models -- but three other new cars from the likes of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Dodge as well.

A three-part Jaguar Legacy Quest is interspersed with three other limited time events that start now and run through September 18. Let's break them down:

What do critics know, anyway? TheSuicide Squadmovie may have taken a critical drubbingjust like its predecessor Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but it's proven a hit so far with moviegoers. It demolished the August record for an opening weekend in the U.S., and it appears poised to end up as one of the top handful of movies for 2016.

(Although there is a new Star Wars movie coming later this year. Just saying ... )

Naturally, that kind of success has people anxious to experience more of DC's bad guys reluctantly doing good things. You can find the Suicide Squad in a pair of free mobile games, provided you know where to look. Let's start with the official game of the movie ...

When it comes to authentic Final Fantasy flavor, it's easy to find in Mobius Final Fantasy. The cryptic story and graphical style hit you right from the start, and you don't have to play for too long before you run into a Moogle, Cactuars, and plenty of other instantly familiar touches.

There's a lot that is new as well. One aspect of the gameplay that stands out as something that series veterans may not grasp but that mobile gamers in general should find comfortable is the card-based system that specifies what abilities you bring into combat and how generally tough your character is as well.

It's not a super complicated system, but neither is it immediately obvious how one goes about acquiring better cards to have your character fully prepared for the challenges that are waiting down the road (pretty literally, in the case of this particular game). With that in mind, we thought we'd lay out all the ways you have to improve your cards in Mobius Final Fantasy, the better to have the best possible deck.

It's hard to remember one aspect of a popular mobile game that's caused as much hand-wringing as the 'Nearby' tab in Pokemon GO. Just in case you're one of the (very) few people who hasn't played the game or followed its coverage, the tab was supposed to offer a way for players to have an easy reference for which Pokemon were nearby and approximately how far away they were.

The phrase "supposed to" is the key there. It never functioned as intended thanks to what gamers dubbed the "three-step glitch," causing all the Pokemon to appear as if they were an equal distance from the player. Instead of fixing it, Niantic deactivated the feature altogether in one of the game's first updates, causing a predictable overreaction from some of the more passionate Pokemon GO enthusiasts.

The thing is, they had a bit of a point, in the sense that when paired with Niantic cutting off support for third-party tracking apps, gamers were left without a way to even know which Pokemon were around, much less hunt them down. The latest Pokemon GO update doesn't offer a fix, but it does provide a roadmap for how the developers might proceed.

It took some time, but mobile devices are finally starting to get their own Final Fantasy games. Mobius Final Fantasy is one of those, complete with lush graphics, mysterious characters, and plenty of the expected trappings.

Even better, it's free to play, breaking away from the series' console ports, which were pretty expensive for mobile titles. With turn-based gameplay, it's not hard to pick up, though there are some details that may not be obvious even after going through the very thorough tutorial.

Happily, those kinds of details are our stock and trade here at 148apps. Take a journey through our Mobius Final Fantasy guide for beginners and you'll be more than a Blank before you know it.

There's been a lot of buzz going through the Pokemon GO community this week after the game received several small updates in the span of a few days. Most of the attention focused on the fact that Niantic removed the infamous three-step tracking feature that was supposed to tell players how close Pokemon were -- but didn't, as it never worked right.

While the debate over that change will likely continue to rage on, something else may have been slipped into the game without quite as many people noticing. Namely, it might now be harder to catch 'em all because it's harder to catch them at all.

Big Bang Racing isn't your average racing game. For one thing, you don't even start the game able to race.

You're also not trying to beat anyone by going fast in a straight line. Anything but, actually, as you learn to make your way through physics-defying courses of every kind that can send you backwards, upside-down, and through all manners of strange obstacles before you get to the finish.

Oh, and did we mention that the courses were designed by other players?

It can be a little tough getting your bearings in a game like this, but that's why we're here. Take a ride through out Big Bang Racing guide and we'll give you all the tips, tricks, and hints you need to have the basics down pat.