Incredible Jack review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Classic 2D platformer. 37 levels. Permanent upgrades. Boss fights. Game Center.

10 word review: Slick, derivative fun. Extremely pretty, entertaining levels, great controls. Recommended.

3rd gen Touch screen

You will like this if you enjoy: Super Mario / Donkey Kong Country / Sonic the Hedgehog. Classic platform games.

The good news: Consistently high performance, even on 3rd gen Touch. Never crashed once in entire play-through. Responsive, reliable, well positioned controls. Very nice graphics. Sounds aren’t annoying. Solid level designs with a great variety of enemies and environmental hazards. Difficult in places but never overly frustrating. IAPs are completely unnecessary and can be ignored. This game is a lot of fun. iCloud sync of progress, including coins collected.

The bad news: It’s really hard to find fault with this. Arguably, everything here has been done before but the end result is a lot more than just a bunch of cobbled together platform game cliches.

Arcadelife verdict: I played this right through to the end, thoroughly enjoying it. It’s still installed on my iPad and 4th gen Touch and I often go back and replay a level or two just for fun. I was very surprised that it ran flawlessly on my old 3rd gen Touch!

Another 3rd gen Touch screen

Overall, this is loads of fun and should particularly appeal to anyone still hoping for a full-featured Mario style game on iOS.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9.5/10
Visuals – 9/10
Controls – 9.5/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 9/10

INCREDIBLE (YEAH, OK, SORRY)

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0

Chillingo / Incredible Jack website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
3rd gen iPod Touch (iOS 5.1.1)
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
1st gen iPad (iOS 5.1.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)

9th Dawn review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: 2D open world single player RPG. 3 classes. Loot. Leveling.

10 word review: Visually retro. Decent controls, engrossing exploration and lots of action.

You will like this if you enjoy: Ultima, Diablo, old school RPGs, action RPGs, questing ‘n’ leveling.

The good news: Large free-roaming map with dungeons. Loads of loot to find. Great feeling of freedom. Very good controls and comprehensive touch screen interface. Screen layout, control placement, map and inventory screens are very good on iPad. Limited hand-holding makes exploration and discovery very satisfying. Full control over attribute distribution when leveling up. No IAPs. Hotbars (skill & items) work very well.

The bad news: Graphics are distinctively retro, possibly a detraction if you’re not a fan of the pixel art style. Newcomers to this genre could feel that they’ve been dropped in at the deep end with little clue about what to do or how to do it. On the smaller (iPhone / Touch) screen, the mini-map is not much use, nowhere near as effective as on the iPad. Night is very dark, not particularly entertaining; an option to have permanent daylight would be nice.

Arcadelife verdict: This is a lot of fun. Anyone who wants a straightforward single-player open world RPG (with a traditional western feel rather than yet another JRPG) will probably love this. The graphics do present a small initial hurdle to overcome, at least as far as total enjoyment of the game is concerned, but I soon found myself appreciating them for what they were rather than imagining how great this game would be with graphics similar to Warhammer Quest. Maybe one day…

The open world works well, encouraging and rewarding exploration while also not holding back on a quick, decisive beating and a trip to your last spawn point if you wander too far into an area of higher level enemies.

Overall, very good. A full, satisfying RPG that works well on touch screen devices and has no IAPs. Flashier graphics would be very nice, but 9th Dawn doesn’t need them in order to succeed at what it does.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 8/10
Visuals – 7/10
Controls – 9/10
Content – 9.5/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 8.5/10

REALLY RATHER GOOD

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0.0

Valorware website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.1.3)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.1)

Warhammer Quest review – iOS / Universal

10 word description: Top-down dungeon adventures in the Warhammer world. iCloud support. Game Center.

10 word review: Very pretty turn-based dungeon crawling. Mostly a fun time.

You will like this if you enjoy: Warhammer. Turn based RPG combat. Standard (Tank/Damage/Healer) party builds. Elves and Dwarves.

The good news: Attractive presentation and graphics – the town book is completely over the top! – proven and virtually flawless control system, rousing soundtrack. Plenty of loot to find and buy. Combat basics are simple enough for anyone to pick up. Three difficulty settings. Three separate save slots. iCloud sync works.

The bad news: Text seems a bit small, particularly on the iPhone/iPod Touch size screen. A lot of the content is available only as additional IAPs. The random events (basically just a text notification) that you have no control over can leave party members with handicaps for the entirety of the next dungeon – this does not add anything to the fun of the game. If you’re in the wrong frame of mind, the dungeons and combat can feel very repetitive. Rotating the device to access the inventory is a bit of a gimmick and quickly becomes mildly irritating.

Arcadelife verdict: Overall this is a fun and very polished game. I expect Warhammer fans (I’ve never been into it) will either get a lot more out of this or will be more likely to spot things that are missing than normal people (no offence). I don’t like the random events that occur when you’re in town and select the level up option. The game randomly decide to hit you with an out of control cart or some other pop-up text box and one or more of your party can be afflicted with injuries or disease for the whole of the next dungeon. I don’t know if this is pure Warhammer tradition, but it certainly doesn’t make the game any more fun.

Apart from that, and the generally repetitious nature of the game – which I don’t actually mind – there’s a lot of turn-based axe-swinging and Orc-smashing fun here.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 10/10
Visuals – 8.5/10
Controls – 9.5/10
Content – 7.5/10
Fun – 8/10

Final rating – 8.5/10

PRETTY GOOD

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.02

Rodeo Games website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)

iOOTP Baseball 2013 review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Baseball management simulation. Real 2013 rosters. Redesigned interface. Game Center.

10 word review: Detailed, deep and entertaining – even for me (not a baseball fan).

You will like this if you enjoy: Baseball. Sports management simulations.

The good news: Crazy amount of detail; truly impressive. Very realistic, much like Championship Manager, at least as far as a series of spreadsheets and lists of stats can create that impression of realism. The real players and historical accuracy will (I assume) make baseball fans very happy. Good performance on 4th gen touch. Clear and well presented screens. Addictive, once I started to figure out what the heck I was doing.

The bad news: I know bog all about baseball so I can’t really pick holes in this sim. It seems to do a great job of simulating a sport I know nothing about. Pedantic fans may be able to find things they don’t like, but then they will be getting a lot more out of this than me anyway.

Arcadelife verdict: The big difference between a simulation of a real sport and, say, a turn-based strategy game set in a completely fictional universe, is that the developers of the fictional game don’t assume that you have any previous knowledge of their game’s content. Coming into this game with no practical knowledge of baseball (ok, I have heard of Babe Ruth and I know about hitting the ball and running from watching Charlie Brown cartoons) I did initially find it overwhelming and a tad impenetrable. However, and this is a big complement so stick with me for a few more seconds, after reading some of the excellent online tutorial – linked from within the game – and experimenting with some random strategy changes, I started to become hooked on it.

From what I can tell, after playing through a season and messing about with this game on both my 4g Touch and iPad,  iOOTP 2013 is pretty much an essential acquisition for any baseball fan who fancies playing a pure management sim of their favourite sport. The presentation is great; I liked getting personal emails from players, either whining that they’re being overlooked or haggling to get their contract renewed. It does feel very realistic and it managed to hold my interest and make me want to learn more about the game and keep playing.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9/10
Visuals – 8.5/10
Controls – 9/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 8/10
Final rating – 8.5/10

HOME RUN

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.01

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)

Danmaku Unlimited 2 review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Bullet Hell shoot-em-up. 5 stages, 2 modes, 4 difficulties. Game Center.

10 word review: Trippy, trance-inducing visual overload. Extreme fun for genre fans.

You will like this if you enjoy: Bullet Hell shooters, e.g. the Cave games on iOS.

The good news: Performance is excellent, notably on 4th gen Touch. Visual style and graphical effects are very impressive; music and sounds are cool and well worth wearing earphones for. Relative touch control works flawlessly and the swipe to change firing mode is hard to fault as an alternative to buttons. Gameplay, once you begin to master the bullet grazing at least, is compulsive and strangely relaxing. I really like the menus and overall level of presentation. Lots of adjustments in the options – music and effects have separate volume controls, for example. Permanent, progressive upgrade system adds extra depth and a compulsion to keep playing, leveling up and earning upgrade points. No IAPs. There’s also a free (demo) version available.

The bad news: This is not a criticism of this game, or the Bullet Hell genre in general, but Danmaku Unlimited 2 is not likely to win over anyone who has already decided that Bullet Hell shooters are not for them, and that’s a shame. Try the free version anyway. Who knows, you might even fall in love with the beautifully orchestrated chaos.

Arcadelife verdict: This is a spectacular game that takes the emphasis off scoring complexity and includes a variety of difficulty settings to ease players into the tough but rewarding gameplay of the higher difficulties. The easiest setting makes learning how to graze bullets a very enjoyable experience, although you’re soon going to be cranking it up to Hard just to see those crazy bullet patterns filling the screen. Overall, this is a hugely impressive, immensely enjoyable, fully featured Bullet Hell shooter that I would recommend to fans and also suggest as a good game introduction to the genre for anyone wishing to find out what all the fuss is about.

If you want to play a game in public that will make you look super cool rather than a friendless geek … sorry, I can’t help you, but at least with this one you will be having so much fun you won’t hear them giggling behind your back.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 10/10
Visuals – 10/10 (Actually 11)
Controls – 10/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 10/10

BEAUTIFUL

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.1

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)

The House of the Dead: Overkill™­- The Lost Reels review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: On-rails first person shooter. 2 chapters + 1 via IAP. Various weapons.

10 word review: Wonderfully gratuitous action. Fantastic controls. Feels short, but definitely fun.

You will like this if you enjoy: House of the Dead games. On-rails shooters, e.g. Time Crisis or, on iOS, Rage.

The good news: The controls, by which a game like this succeeds or fails, are extremely good. The default virtual pad to aim is responsive, reliable and never lets you down. The tap-to-shoot option, unlocked when you complete the initial two chapters, is so good it feels like a cheat. The action is relentless and a hell of a lot of fun. There are loads of weapons and they can all be extensively upgraded at a cost that is balanced well enough to make you want to work for it without feeling like an IAP pay-wall. Performs well on older devices – e.g. 4th gen Touch.

The bad news: The fact that the third chapter and two of the 4 playable characters in a fairly short game are only available as an IAP is rather irritating. An option to acquire it all with a large amount of in-game cash would at least reduce the negative feelings this creates. The swearing in the cut-scene dialogue is rather too gratuitous and unnecessary. Boss fights are anticlimactic and don’t match the visceral entertainment of the rest of the levels.

Arcadelife verdict: I really like this game, not just because it surprised me by being so much better than I expected but because it is really such a lot of fun. It has its shortcomings, for example being short, and the IAP for the third chapter is just taking the piss. The gameplay, most of it anyway, is a finely distilled bloodbath that has you switching from satisfying long distance headshots to jump-scare close-up panic shooting from one second to the next. The secret areas, power-ups, large shop of weapons, upgrades and score-boosters, high-score chasing and quest for a perfect run on every level keep you coming back for more and more.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9/10
Visuals – 8.5/10
Controls – 10/10
Content – 7/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 9/10

GROOVY

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.00

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)

They Need To Be Fed 2 review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: 360 degree action/puzzle gravity platformer sequel. 50+ levels. 2 Modes.

10 word review: Clean visuals, atmospheric sounds, compelling gameplay, great controls, fun game.

You will like this if you enjoy: Original TNTBF, Soosiz, action/puzzle platformers with an emphasis on skillful control and timing.

The good news: Distinctive, clean visual style with subtle, effective animations and convincing but fun physics. Audio is atmospheric and appropriate. Controls are very good, although custom button placement (particularly on iPad) would be nice to have. Gameplay is splendidly designed with a continually escalating challenge and a variety of game elements that work really well together. Plenty of content with an Epic mode that unlocks after collecting all the crystals in normal mode (including the X levels). No IAPs.

The bad news: My 4th gen iPod Touch overheated while playing this, to the point where I got a full screen warning telling me to wait until it cooled down before using it. Admittedly I was in the car, parked in direct sunshine, on the hottest day of the year so far which, being in Britain, probably was not that hot.

Arcadelife verdict: I never really got into the original TNTBF, which is my loss I suppose, but I’m really enjoying this sequel. The combination of short-yet-satisfying levels (with considerate checkpoints in normal mode), responsive and reliable controls, clean, clear graphics, and the wonderfully unrestricted feeling of the 360 degree gravity is a triumph of touch-screen gaming.

Unlike the majority of iOS platform games, a genre that TNTBF2 definitely fits into, this is not a game that is “only for platform fans” and I’m confident that I can recommend it without caveats to anyone who wants a good-looking, challenging skill-based game.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9/10
Visuals – 9/10
Controls – 9/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 9/10

ANOTHER EXCELLENT GAME!

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.1

Bit Ate Bit website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)
1st gen iPad

Plasma Sky review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Old school vertical arcade space shoot-em-up. 80 levels.

10 word review: Addictive, fun game with great looks and perfect touch controls.

You will like this if you enjoy: Galaga, Starforce / Megaforce. Retro style vertical shooters.

The good news: Performs well on older devices (4th gen Touch. 1st gen iPad). Very attractive neon/plasma graphical style with some great effects. Multiple control options but you will only need the perfect relative touch control. Solid, entertaining high-score chasing gameplay. Varied enemies and boss fights. Great sounds. No IAPs.

The bad news: I can’t really find anything wrong with this one, although it obviously won’t appeal to anyone who doesn’t like arcade space shooter games.

Arcadelife verdict: If you’re looking for a new arcade shooter that looks lovely, plays wonderfully, performs well on older devices, is a very small install, is FUN and has no IAPs – get Plasma Sky now. I’m loving it on my iPad 4, also spending plenty of time playing it on my 4th gen Touch. The main mode (Conquest – 80 levels) is excellent, but there are two additional modes – Survival and Hardcore, which are equally entertaining.

Overall – very highly recommended.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9/10
Visuals – 9/10
Controls – 10/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 9/10
Final rating – 9/10

EXCELLENT

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 2.5

Plasma Sky website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)
1st gen iPad

Heavy Sword review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Retro style coin-collecting, monster-bashing platformer. With a sword.

10 word review: Pure platforming joy with some irritating technical issues to overcome.

You will like this if you enjoy: The idea of a Super Mario style platform game with upgradeable melee weapons.

The good news: Gameplay, graphics, level design, enemies, weapons and power-ups. All of those elements are individually very good and packaged together as a strikingly entertaining and enjoyable game. Controls are ok, but the behaviour of the direction buttons could be improved. The shop (no IAPs) adds a depth and purpose to the coin collecting. There are only a few upgrades to buy but they are useful and worth saving up for. Mini games and secret areas are the icing on a very enjoyable platform gaming cake.

The bad news: Left/Right buttons don’t allow for sliding your finger from one button to the other. For example, if you press the left button, then slide onto the right button, your character keeps moving left until you take your finger off the right button and press it again. It takes some getting used to and is an unnecessary distraction. I played this game on 4th gen iPod Touch, 1st gen iPad and 4th gen iPad. On the latest iPad, it runs perfectly and has not crashed in several hours of gameplay but on the earlier devices it is  generally sluggish with slow load times and frequent random crashes.

Arcadelife verdict: I gave up trying to play this on my 4th gen iPod Touch because the frequent crashes were too annoying to make me want to persevere. Same story on the 1st gen iPad. However, on a 4th gen iPad, Heavy Sword is a genuinely joyful game, even with its less than intuitive directional buttons. It’s not original by any means, even with its engaging Mario with a sword theme, but it has all the charm and playability of the games it pays homage to, plus some topical genre additions of its own, which is no small achievement.

Ultimately, I can only recommend this on recent devices due to the instability and poor performance on my 4th gen Touch and 1st gen iPad. Otherwise, if you’re a fan of Mario style platform games – and you have a device that can run this without frequently crashing – I can’t think of any reason not to get this one.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 7/10
Visuals – 8.5/10
Controls – 6/10
Content – 9/10
Fun – 9.5/10
Final rating – 8/10

VERY GOOD

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 0.0.1

Heavy Sword on Facebook – website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)
1st gen iPad.

Alcatrapz review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Endless vertical side-to-side jumper. Avoid hazards, collect coins.

10 word review: Considerable challenge. Falls short of standard set by stablemate jtpck.

You will like this if you enjoy: Endless vertical games that are more “die every 10 seconds” than actually endless. This game is similar in concept to Mechanic Panic.

The good news: One-touch control is hard to fault. Surprisingly high difficulty, right from the start, makes a nice change from the typically casual feel of many endless games. Despite the difficulty, there is plenty of one-more-go appeal.

The bad news: The one-shot consumable upgrades seem way too expensive to me. The positioning of hazards often feels unfair and unavoidable, which could deter less masochistic gamers. I’m not sure if this is intentional or a flaw in the random generation of the environment.

Arcadelife verdict: The previous game from this developer – jtpck – set a very high standard for one-touch endless games, that Alcatrapz struggles to attain. There are moments when the game elements come together and the experience rises well above average, but those moments are too few and the general impression is that the hazards are there purely to end your fun prematurely rather than to give you the satisfaction of avoiding them.

A few tweaks to the difficulty, specifically around the sequencing and placement of hazards, and Alcatrapz would be an easy recommendation.

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 6/10
Visuals – 6/10
Controls – 9/10
Content – 7/10
Fun – 6/10
Final rating – 6/10

OK

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0.1

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)