When Solomon's Keep was released earlier this year, many people were confused as to what the game was actually about. What they saw was something that rarely had been seen on the App Store and that was a cute mini-Diablo like experience wrapped up with the familiar dual-stick shooter scheme. The game was met with universal acclaim and was praised for it's simplicity, depth and fun. It even received 5 stars from us back in May. If you've never heard of it check out Solomon's Keep in the App Store here, and you can try out the lite here. (more...)

As soon as the iPad was announced on-stage by Steve Jobs at the keynote earlier this year, a billion ideas had popped into hundreds of developers' minds.  The huge, gorgeous display, the large multi-touch screen and the powerful A4 chip could all be implemented in a thousand different ways.  One of those ways is through Neon Battle HD, which the developers have kindly asked me to try out - and am I glad they did! (more...)

Gaming on an iOS AppleTV will be huge and Apple should focus on it. Using a controller that features a multitouch pad complete with gyroscope, compass and accelerometer that connects by Bluetooth to the TV will be the main form of input. An iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad could be used for even more precise control with a virtual joystick. (more...)

Although not officially announced by Gameloft, I was able to find on their website different pages for Fishing Kings HD and Assassins Creed HD. These iPad versions of the popular iPhone games will presumably be arriving very soon to the App Store with HD graphics and controls designed to fit the iPad. You can expect the gameplay and various other elements to remain the same if Gameloft continue their trend of up-scaling their famous iPhone titles. (more...)

The last I caught eye of Distinctive Developments was when they released their fully-fledged Hockey title Hockey Nations 2010.  That was a great, polished and fun game with enough content for it's price tag.  Since then they seem to be working on a few BADA games for other smartphones, alongside Dead Runner as a smaller iPhone project.  When I was first offered to get hands-on with Dead Runner, I didn't expect it to be so intense that I haven't been able to put it down till I beat my highscore - and when I do, I'll want to beat that. (more...)

We’ve had a chance to take a look at Owens Rodriguez’s upcoming game Alien Space, and let me tell you that we enjoyed what we saw. Alien Space is a dual stick shooter with a space theme. And honestly, we’ve seen that before, but not in this way. The game might not be visually stunning or have the most original idea, but focus on what no one has really done on the AppStore: difficulty. How does it manage to do that? For starters, this is not your normal spam fest. You have two types of weapons that you might change at the beginning of any mission; the heavy weapon uses ammo, the light one, energy which overheats after a while. What this means basically is that it forces you to mind where you shoot, and think before doing so, a strategy layer welcome in a genre that is each day becoming more and more popular. (more...)

Canabalt and Chop Chop Runner have definitely left their mark on the AppStore.  Hundreds upon hundreds of games have attempted to copy the unique style, but have clearly failed when it comes to the gameplay.   WeAreColin are one of these people, but rather than failing, it seems as though they've actually hit huge success with their upcoming retro runner.  After playing the first decade of levels I think I can make a safe verdict on how frustratingly addictive this game is. Sure, it's literally copied the two games by running across the levels and jumping over obstacles.  The one and only thing that makes is that much different however is the use of gravity.  This makes the game so much more fun and entertaining, forcing you to concentrate deeply into the upcoming obstacles and platforms. (more...)

Racing games are a popular breed on the AppStore, with hundreds popping up every week.  Whether they're top of the range like Real Racing, or completely different such as Cube Rally Racer, they've done justice for the iPhone.  I-Play have chipped in to the pile, recently releasing several The Fast and the Furious titles. (more...)

Another developer I had the chance to catch up with was one of the creators of N.Y.Zombies, a 3D first-person shooter than had impressed thousands of iPhone users worldwide.  They reached the top ten charts a number of times with it's gruesome graphics for the hordes of zombies introduced in the game.  Whilst the controls was a slight let-down for some players, everything else seemed to cover it up.

They're now creating another game and this time it's got nothing to with horror.  They're on a mission to complete a dual-stick shooter, Bug Heroes, which they also claim is a RPG-styled tie-in.  Some artwork can be found to the right of what the models should look like in-game.

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