Category: Game Reviews

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    Hang tight while we put together the significantly updated website.

    We are working on a stack of updates behind the scenes. Although there is no compelling reason to tell you to bookmark us just yet…

     

  • Game Review – RPG – Eternium Vs KingsRoad

    Welcome to the the battle of the Role Playing Game review and comparison. In one corner we have Eternium (formerly called Mage and Minions) vs KingsRoad. Both are free/freemium to play RPGs that are based on the benchmark Diablo series of games and can be played on Android OS and Apple iPhones and tablets.

    Eternium is an RPG by Game Primer and MF Making Fun.
    Eternium is quick to load and runs well, it also works without connecting the internet and good to look at. There are 3 character classes the Mage, Bounty Hunter and Warrior.  The animations and graphics are pretty good and have gotten better over the years. However there are some problems, the 3rd person camera angle occasional block the view with the environment, while the graphics are very detailed it just doesn’t look natural enough. The controls are point and move and responsive, the game progression is clear and suitably progression of hardness. The story is quite basic with the levels described as ‘find the boss and kill it’. Lots of item drops and you can get in game helper characters that mercifully can get pretty powerful. It is definitely not a Diablo I, II or III in many ways.

    Name: Eternium (Mage and Minions)
    One of the oldest 3rd person RPGs available for phones and tablets.
    Playability: 9/10 (at time of review)
    Longveity: 7/10 (at time of review)
    Does it need the Internet data to play: No but required for saves and new items.
    How annoying is it without paying: Not annoying just grinding.
    Is buy in game stuff worth it: Yes but only for those who are impatient. There’s lots of grinding but lots of loot drops.
    Is it worth paying for: Only for certain in game items.
    Better on Tablet or Phone: Tablet or large screen phone.
    X-Factor: Ability craft and improve virtually any item and the ability to play without an internet connection.
    Platform: Android OS and Apple iOS

    KingsRoad is a RPG by RUMBLE.
    The first thing you notice about KingsRoad is that it is a slow loading game and it requires internet data to play and also a stable data transfer rate.These are the most annoying things of the game. In fact the first time I ran it almost gave up! Once up and running things get better. The are lots of things you can do to improve your character, however forging, fusing and evolving items, dragon companions in the game and it does get confusing.  Persevere and it’s a complex game. MMORPG element is pretty good dependent on who your companions are. The story is simplistic but better than Eternium but not by much. The associated NPCs are just like the ones in Diablo I,II and III likewise the character graphics and environment. It’s arguably the closest to being a Diablo clone and that’s a good thing. The biggest problem with KingsRoad and play-ability is the limited storage. You need storage to enhance your character and you need to pay for it and for us that’s a deal breaker. Gives us some special items that are worth paying for.  This is a pity because apart from that it is really good looking and playing RPG for you tablet or phone.

    Name: KingsRoad
    One of the oldest 3rd person RPGs available for phones and tablets.
    Playability: 7/10 (at time of review)
    Longveity: 8/10 (at time of review)
    Does it need the Internet data to play: No but required for saves and new items.
    How annoying is it without paying:  Quite annoying as you have so little storage to carry items.
    Is buy in game stuff worth it: Yes but only for those who are impatient and you need buy storage.
    Is it worth paying for: Only for certain in game items like storage.
    Better on Tablet or Phone: Tablet
    X-Factor: Confusing enhancement logic.
    Platform: Android OS and Apple iOS

  • Game review – Dawn of Titans by NationalMotion

    Dawn of Titans
    Welcome to the game review for Dawn of Titans. It's been a few years since our game review as there are plenty of them on the internet however we noticed an increasing lack of important details and vagueness in many top ranking reviews hence this post. We felt compelled to do a Dawn of Titans review as we've been enjoying the experience for the last month and sharing is caring as they say. Dawn of Titans is still in its early development, released in about December 2016 so do not expect a 'perfected' game at the time of this review. Dawn of Titans is a RPG and MMORPG game for Android or iPhones and their associated tablets. It's a game where you play the ruler of a kingdom and your initial quest is to defeat the bad dude described as a reborn Titan called Almarand. The story line is well though out but can be confusing due to the number of different stories you can start on. The walkthrough at the start is good and does cater for to those new to RPGs but also those who are familiar with RPG that involve resource gathering and army development. In case you're wondering Titans are essential hero characters you collect of the course of the game. In terms of graphics Dawn of Titans is one of the best out there but dependent on the hardware of your phone or tablet. Of course when playing close up some of the sprites are too similar. The Titans themselves are mostly unique and detailed. It's not a space environment but land and there are currently no flying units. It's pretty smooth all round. And yes, that is my castle in the image above at the time of this review. In terms of controls Dawn of Titans does play better on a tablet as during battles a larger screen is needed for strategy especially if you don't want to be out flanked. Your army units are clearly animated so you know if you've got archers, spearmen etc... In terms of difficulty the game mechanics, Dawn of Titans has easy to use controls and responsive. The resource harvesting, unit development are a little on the slow side but that is standard for this type of game. It takes ages to harvest enough resources - every 8 hours is probably the cycle. Once your kingdom is established adventure does become faster but not by much. Special item drops are nice but the items are not that great even at higher levels. You can upgrade your Titans with special items and upgrade Titans, weapons, buildings and army units. Overall easy to understand and access the gameplay. Dawn of Titans is also a MMORPG so you will get attacked by randoms which is annoying especially if they are at a higher level. There needs to be a much greater status reduction or deterrent for the attacking party if attacking a lower level player. The major flaw is the Clan or Alliance logic. It allows randoms to join and exit alliances without penalty. As a result you have the losers who join you clan attack other players and exit. Even with it's ability to close groups it prevents genuine players from joining your group. This factor alone makes it difficult to build a decent reputation and gain players that have the same gameplay ideology. Other things that need to be improved are certain graphical elements like when your power up titans by merging them the graphics are a pretty uninteresting and the same. Furthermore all the Titans bar one Erys the archer are pretty much the same even in looks. Virtual items you can buy in Dawn of Titans is not special enough. Not asking for a total wipe out item but an item that is genuinely worth paying for would be nice.  As it is now all you can buy ultimately is a reduction in time. That said buying gems is not necessary for most of the game which is great! It reminds us of Clash of Clans or even Star Wars Commander in terms of paying for stuff. Conclusion: Dawn of Titans is good a RPG and MMORPG in 2017. It's got nice graphics but not massively different from say Clash of Clans. It's a good looking and playable game with a story and Titans! Yes Dawn of Titans is worth a download to see if you like this sort of game. Playability: 10/10 (at time of review) Longveity: 6/10 (at time of review) Does it need the Internet data to play: Yes How annoying is it without paying: Not annoying Is buy in game stuff worth it: No  (at time of review) Is it worth paying for: Not yet Better on Tablet or Phone: Tablet X-Factor: Titans Platform: Android OS and Apple iOS

  • Game Review – Dastardly and Muttley

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    dastardlyandmuttley

    NAME: Dastardly and Muttley in their flying machines
    VERSION: 1.0
    COMPANY: Cobra mobile
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: TV based
    SIZE: 260KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500
    RATING: 8/10
    DEMO:


    Dastardly and Muttley in the Flying Machines game review.  The characters and images in the games are all based on the cartoon of the same name.  They also appear in the Wacky Racers cartoon series.  So the aim of the game the same shoot down the Yankee Doodle Pigeon.

    Gameplay is standard shoot-em down scroller with a good dose of cartoon like powerups like the punching fist and swirling cue ball.  It all works very well and dare we say one of the best ones out there.  Game speed and levels work perfectly on the phone.

    Graphics are 2D cartoon like but matches the games premise.  Nothing to complain about.  The music track is limited to 1 repeating track over and over – like 99% of of mobile phone games.

    This game is good!  It is challenging reasonably fast paced with a good dose of powerups. It is probably the best flying or shooter game we’ve tried for a long time.  Worth a purchase or download!  It was quite a surprise honestly.

  • Game Review – Guitar Hero 3

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    guitarhero3
    NAME: Guitar Hero III
    VERSION: 3
    COMPANY: Hand-On Mobile
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Platformer
    SIZE: 944 KB
    TEST PHONE: K800i
    RATING: 7/10
    DEMO: uk.guitarheromobile.com

    Welcome to the Guitar Hero III game review for JAVA capable mobile phones.

    There’s not much we can add as to the gameplay.  It’s like the Lava lava game but at the next level – so to speak. The graphics, sound and so forth are standard – good but not exceptional.

    Our version had quite a few different tracks still in MIDI but in the end it does not have the physicality of the xBox and PS3 versions.  So if you want a mobile version then go for it.

  • Game Review – Journey to the center of the Earth

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    centerearth
    NAME: Journey to the center of the Earth
    VERSION: 1.1
    COMPANY: Ig Fun
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Action
    SIZE: 550KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500
    RATING: 7/10
    DEMO:

    Welcome to the Journey to the center of the Earth game review for mobile phones.

    This is the first game that we’ve purchased from Ig Fun, their only other mainstream release so far is the mobile phone version of Bioshock.  We did not expect too much when we bought this one because its another move tie-in.  Thankfully we where pleasantly surprised!

    The game is basically a interactive version of the movie.  So you are the one guiding the actions of the characters as they head to and from the center of the Earth!

    Gameplay is easy enough since there key press indicators for quite a number of levels – which really really help!  It’s fast, smooth enough and easy to get into.  In game dialogue and levels are similar to the movie which helps continuity.

    Graphics are 2D and sort of cartoon like but it does look pretty good.  Music is standard MIDI.

    Overall we enjoyed the game if we had one comment it would be that the levels are a tad long.  However it is worth a download regardless of what sort of gamer you are.

  • Game Review – F22 Raptor

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    f22raptor
    NAME: F22 Raptor
    VERSION: 2.0
    COMPANY: EA Games
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Top scrolling shooter
    SIZE: 580KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500
    RATING: 5/10
    DEMO:

    Welcome to the F22 Raptor game review for mobile phones.

    We’ve reviewed a number of top down shooters and from recollection not many of them are memorable enough to play after a while except for Centipede which is not really a plane shooter but comes close.

    F22 Raptor follows the same path as the others with what we feel is a good control system but there are several things missing.  It is the power up system way too slow – and hence excitement.

    Gameplay, graphics, sound are all pretty much standard as won’t go into detail.  Dare we say there’s not much here to look at, play or write about.  If you collect shooter style games than you’d probably like it but for others it doesn’t have enough.  It technically works well but that’s it.

  • Game Review – Command & Conquer Red Alert (Mobile)

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    redalert2
    NAME: Command & Conquer Red Alert
    VERSION: 1.0
    COMPANY: EA Games
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: RPG Action
    SIZE: 800KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia E71
    RATING: 8/10
    DEMO:

    Welcome to the Command & Conquer Red Alert game review for mobile phones.

    The Command and Conquer C&C game franchise has been around for at least a decade on the PC.  We first experienced the original version on the 1St Gen Playstation all those years ago.  It’s a classic and genre defining game. The Red Alert version puts the player in an alternate universe to the regular tiberium story line.

    There are not many games that replicate the C&C gameplay and this official release of the C&C Red Alert for a mobile phone was something we where looking forward to!  So read on to see how they have changed the PC game play for the mobile phone and whether its really any good!

    Graphics for C&C red Alert are very good for a mobile phone games.  It is all in 2D like the original PC game but shruken and updated!  It looks better than the original PC game – and so it should.  The E71 we played this game for has more CPU and graphics power then PCs 10 years ago!  The menus and navigation all make the game feel well made and even close to the iPhone/iPod touch version.  The Natasha icon doing kung fu moves during any loading sequence is a nice touch!  We also like the Kirov’s.

    Music and sound effects are limited to the standard MIDI tracks.  You can play the game without sounds or music easily which helps in public places.

    Gameplay has substantial missing from the PC games.  The radar the buildings and units are all available and honestly do look good.  Even the story line adds to the overall playability.  There are some visual gags like snowmen which does help lighten the mood.  Game speed is very good although the environmental effects can be jerky – which looks intentional rather than a fault of the game.

    Changes from the PC version are substantial, missions and resource collection are simplified for the limited screen size on the phone. It all makes sense and works on the mobile phone platform.

    Overall Command & Conquer Red Alert is a pretty good game even if your not into the resource collection because the revisions have been made to appeal to a broader range of players.   We liked it overall but found the the missions take a tad long to be playable unless you’re at home.  This is the best of its type for the mobile platform we’ve seen to date.

  • Game Review – Lava Lava

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    NAME: Lava Lava
    VERSION: 1.0
    COMPANY: Fugu Mobile
    PLATFORM: JAVA
    GENRE: Shooting
    SIZE: 224KB
    TEST PHONE: Nokia 6500
    RATING: 7/10
    DEMO:

    Welcome to the Lava Lava game review. I couldn’t get a screen shot so its blank!

    If you’ve played Missile command before then Lava Lava will be vaguely familiar.  Instead of missiles you will be faced with shooting down lava lumps exploding from a near by volcano.  You start off at Mt Fuji then Mt Merapi th Mt Kilamanjaro and so forth.

    The gameplay is unique for me because I’ve never played a game with this system.  Essentially there are bits of lava you have to shoot down and they are represented by numbers on the keypad.  To destroy the lumps simply press the corresponding key.  Sounds simple but its not because the game speeds up dramatically!    You have to last for a predetermined time limit to progress.

    The game’s graphics are basic and likewise sound.  The graphic background changes according to the stage and there’s some background animation.  Despite the low end graphics the gameplay makes up for any complaints.

    Overall its an entertaining game but there’s not much to it.  You will get bored relatively quickly but some may be sucked in by the challenge of pressing the numbers as quickly as they can.