Tag: PAX East »

Shenandoah Studio has become one of the go-to developers for war games on iOS, with Battle of the Bulge and Drive on Moscow both being extremely well received so far. And now we've got Desert Fox: The Battle of El Alamein to look forward to.

Desert Fox takes the fight to the (mostly) desserts of North Africa, with players needing to guide their troops through fields of wire and mines while also deciding whether to go on the offensive or hang back and refit. Go offensive and you might get the drop on the opposing side, but a refit could allow you to bolster your numbers and take advantage of faction-specific perks.

Shenandoah's Desert Fox: The Battle of El Alamein will be arriving on the App Store this Spring.

I think it's fair to say that Dungeon of the Endless has been getting a bit of attention as of late. I mean it's a great-looking game, and from what I played over the weekend it's quite fun and challenging as well. Too bad it's only going to be released for home computers... or is it?

Now before getting too excited, you need to know that nothing is set in stone yet. However, I was informed that the team at Amplitude Studios has actually been looking in to bringing their game to tablets. I mean it would make sense, really. The interface seems like it would be a perfect fit for the iPad. Of course a lot can happen in the course of trying to release a game on a new platform.

We'll be sure to keep you updated if/when Dungeon of the Endless for the iPad is officially confirmed/shot down.

Yeti. Sasquatch. Wendigo. The Abominable Snowman. Bigfoot. Call them whatever you want, but they’re awfully elusive creatures. At least they were. Soon you’ll be able to track these misunderstood beasts down on your own personal photo safari thanks to Bigfoot Hunter.

Bigfoot and all his fuzzy friends are all out there in the world somewhere, going about their woodsy business and being all camera shy. It’s up to you to track them down and take their picture with your iOS device. Of course it’s not quite as simple as spinning around with your iPhone and clicking the shutter at the right time. Each stage will give you three shots to snap a worthwhile photo of your target, but it has to be in a specific pose for the images to be worth anything. Bonus points are also available if you can keep things in focus and framed well (which is a lot tougher than it sounds). A swipe is included as well, for those moments where you just don’t have the room to whip the top half of your body around all the time.

Bigfoot Hunter will be declaring open season (for snapshots) soon.

Wizards of the Coast’s latest (and by association, also the greatest) digital CCG, Magic 2015: Duels of the Planeswalkers is just around the corner. Singleplayer is back in this latest edition, as well as full multiplayer support across all versions (iPad, PC, etc). So no more staring longingly at PC features! There’s also an improved tutorial that should make it a bit easier for new players to figure out what they’re doing.

However the biggest change, and perhaps the one that will please and excite fans the most, is the new and vastly-improved deck manager. Now players will be able to build, customize, and otherwise manage a total of up to 30 different decks. The management itself has also been heavily tweaked, with a heck of a lot more sorting options, automatic suggestions based on your current deck’s strengths, and the ability to customize your land cards if you so desire. It even analyzes and displays your deck’s “stats,” so new players can get a better idea of its overall power, speed, and so on.

Magic 2015: Duels of the Planeswalkers will be releasing on iOS soon for free.

Godfire: Rise of Prometheus is one gorgeous-looking action/adventure game that’s just about ready to storm the App Store.

You’ll be guiding Prometheus through seven different acts and three possible difficulties, hacking up bad guys the whole way. He’ll also be collecting lots of gear, which is all upgradable and usually includes some sort of special ability such as causing poison damage. It’s not exactly a new idea, but I did think it as pretty cool how the armor sets will actually start to look different as you upgrade them.

I’m also curious to see how players take to the leaderboards. Normally I’m not much of a high score buff, but the leaderboards for Godfire are actually split across all versions of the game. So it’ll be interesting to see how the competition pans out - and will no doubt spark more physical vs. virtual control debates. To which I say “Bring it on!”

Godfire: Rise of Prometheus should be releasing on the App Store in the second Quarter of this year, and it’ll be a premium title.

Do you have a ghost problem? Are the spooks making it difficult to sleep at night? Sounds like you should call Cecil Sparks, "Agent for the Dead" and hero of Rocket 5 Studios' upcoming The Phantom P.I. Mission Apparition.

The Phantom P.I. involves a somewhat jumpy goofball of a protagonist sporting one humdinger of a mustache, as well as tracking down ghosts, but that's pretty much where the similarities I just know some of you are trying to draw end. Navigation is more akin to point-and-click, as are the puzzles you're going to have to solve in order to reach and capture each levels' ghosts. Once you manage to find the little booers you'll have to tap and hold the screen to grab them, then drag them over a number of gems and back to Cecil before they escape.

The emphasis here seems to be on exploring each of the levels and solving puzzles, while watching Cecil jump and shadows along the way of course. It's a focus I can definitely get behind, and I'm excited to see how it all comes together once the game releases.

Keep an eye out for The Phantom P.I. Mission Apparition when it comes to the App Store later this Spring.

Oh Finn, when will you learn not to punch random things? Probably never, which is why Adventure Time Presents: Time Tangle is happening.

Time Tangle puts Finn in the awkward position of having to fix time after unwittingly screwing everything up by punching something he shouldn't have. So he sets out to repair time by punching more stuff. I suppose a hero's work is never done.

The game plays similarly to other third-person runners, however levels aren't endless. Rather, they have specific goals such as carrying familiar characters around or chasing down banana guards as they carry off Lumpy Space Princess (as seen in the video below). You'll be able to control Finn by tilting the screen to move side-to-side, tapping the left side to jump, and tapping the right side to punch. Or you could use the touch control options if you'd prefer to avoid tilting. Either way, it looks (and plays) quite well.

Adventure Time Presents: Time Tangle will be coming to the App Store "soon" as a premium release.

Particle Mace is an odd game, but one that I found to be right up my alley. It's basically a top-down shooter, not unlike Asteroids in many ways, but you don't get to shoot. Instead, you drag a mass of particles behind your ship that can be flung towards floating debris and enemies. It's like the universe's most deadly tetherball. There are also several ships to choose from, each with their own particulars. The "Psychic" ship is probably the most fidgety as its particles swarm around it rather than cluster in an easy-to-aim group.

From what I've played the physics feel great, and the virtual stick feels even better. You can probably hear a little bit about the virtual stick in the video but seriously, it's fantastic. It honestly felt more accurate and responsive than the physical controllers that were being used to demo the PC build. Regardless, this is one to watch out for.

Particle Mace isn't available on the App Store just yet, unfortunately, but it should be popping-up as a premium release within the next few months.

One of the bigger surprises for me coming out of PAX East this year was definitely A Druid's Duel. It looks like a fairly simple and cartoony strategy game, and it is, but it can also be incredibly complex and fun.

The basic idea is that players are fighting over territory. Every time one of their druids moves over a tile they lay claim to it, and it generates Mana on their next turn. Mana is required to summon more druids and to use druid special abilities, so it's kind of important. Each druid can move and/or attack each turn, as well as use their abilities if there's enough Mana to go around, and that's pretty much it. However, it's the interplay of all these elements - and the constant push and pull between players - that makes it so much more complex. It's kind of like Chess, if all the pieces could transform into animals and cast magic spells.

A Druid's Duel should be hitting the App Store this summer.

I was a pretty big fan of the original Spider: the Secret of Bryce Manor back when I had just started delving into the world of iOS games. It still holds up quite well, actually. Of course now we have the all-new Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon to look forward to.

Tiger Style has really upped the ante for the sequel. The game's visuals look great, there's an all new house to explore (complete with a new backstory to uncover), more types of bugs are around to make totally clearing each environment even more of a challenge, and you can even admire your bug collection between levels.

However I think the most interesting change has to be the weather and time of day tracking. Rite of the Shrouded Moon can actually retrieve local time and weather conditions as you play - so when you start up a game on a bright and sunny day the environments will reflect the same, and if it's a rainy evening things will be darker and wetter. That in itself is all well and good, but weather conditions actually affect what you'll be able to reach in some areas.

Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon will be creeping onto the App Store this spring as a premium release.

This week I was able to get a look at Travian Games’ Epic Arena, and it looks pretty cool. It’s an asynchronous hex-based tactical arena combat game with multiple factions to control and several arenas to fight in. There are also some new gameplay modes that are being added to the current Facebook version, which include a faster Blitz mode (each player has only 60 seconds to decide what to do on their turn, and there are ELO rankings) and solo Challenges (players are given a predetermined scenario and must figure out how to complete it), that will also be available once it releases on iOS.

The core mechanics involve using five actions per turn to make the most of the units you have available while attempting to either decimate the opposition or destroy their artifacts. Different factions (and their units) play differently, of course, and it’s also possible to use special one-off Power Cards that can do all sorts of different things - and come in different rarities.

Epic Arena should be releasing in the US in about a month or so as a freemium title, and will support cross-platform play.

I don’t know about you, but I honestly thought Revolution 60 had gone the way of most other promising-looking games that just sort of fade into obscurity and never see a release. Then I go to PAX East and spend some hands-on time with the demo. I’m very glad I was mistaken.

Revolution 60 is still very much alive and well. But what exactly is it? Well, what I played was a smattering of some rather less than typical quick-time events (tracing shapes, tapping and holding different parts of the screen, etc - all while on a timer), dialogue choices that call to mind the adventures of one Commander Shepard, and an interesting combat system than involves tapping different parts of the screen to move and dodge, as well as positioning to attack an enemy and triggering special attacks.

The story in Revolution 60 will certainly branch (based on choices made earlier and so on), however there are no random encounters and no open world to explore - though there will be some opportunities to explore less expansive areas. Instead, character progression, and even some story development, is tied to how well you perform in combat. If this sounds too restrictive, don’t worry too much; Holiday (protagonist and all around badass action-heroine) will be able to access a number of different skills as she levels-up, which can both give her an edge in combat and help tailor her abilities to your preferred style of play.

Revolution 60 will be coming to iOS within the next two to three months. No price has been set at the moment, but it’s definitely not going to be free or free-to-play.

Despite the fact that Hearthstone seems tailor-made for tablets, there were some challenges in bringing it to the iPad. Namely getting Battle.net to function and needing to tweak the interface a bit. But make it to tablets it did, and it’s coming to the US App Store “Soon™.”

In about a week US iPad players will be able to get their hands on Blizzard’s most desirous card game, but of course there’s more to it than that. Also on the “Soon™” List are Adventures, which are self-contained challenges where players square off against the AI and attempt to defeat special boss characters to win more cards. The first Adventure coming out of the gate (sometime in the hopefully near future, but no specific dates have been given) is the ‘Curse of Naxxramas.’ World of Warcraft players will probably recognize the name, seeing as it’s a fairly well-known raid dungeon.

Last but certainly not least (well, for me anyway) was the news that Hearthstone will also eventually be making its way to the iPhone. It’s going to be separate from the iPad version (so not Universal), but the fact that it’s in the works is enough for me!

Of course if you do have an iPad you can just grab Hearthstone once it releases on the App Store in about a week.

I’m sure plenty of people were a bit dubious when Hitman GO was announced for iOS. I’ll even admit that I had my doubts. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I managed to see it in action.

Hitman GO is certainly not your typical Hitman game. It’s also not the kind of Hitman game I think most of us were expecting. It’s actually a puzzle game in which players must figure out how to move Agent 47 so that he can avoid guards and either exit the level or take out his targets. The entire game has this spectacular diorama/board game aesthetic, too.

The really interesting thing is how Square Enix Montréal has managed to incorporate so many of the series’ most notable mechanics (stealth, disguises, dual pistols, etc) into such a drastically different setting. And it all looks like it works surprisingly well. If that weren’t enough, there’s also going to be a special unlockable level designed around one of Bloody Money’s most memorable missions: Curtains Down.

Hitman GO will be releasing on the App Store this Thursday, April 17, for $4.99.