Godus - Time is precious

One of the best computer games I've ever played in the late 80s/early 90s was Populous by Peter Molyneux, a genre breaking app which spawned a whole industry of "god" games, so it was with great excitement that i saw Godus by 22Cans on the App Store, designed by Peter himself, and widely regarded as the spiritual successor to Populous.

The price tag rang warning bells in my head though: it was free (with in-app purchases). "But it's Populous for iOS," I thought. I had to give it a try.

Battleheart Legacy Review

When the mostly text-based Wizardry was released in September 1981 for the Apple II, it sparked a revolution in computer role-playing games (RPG), not because it was the first to cover this genre but because its complexity coupled with ease of use, and highly versatile adventure, sparked the imagination of hundreds of thousands of players.

Fast forward to January 2011 and a host of imitators and innovators later, Mika Mobile released their own interpretation of an RPG for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, Battleheart. Again, they weren't the first to market, not by a long shot, but their lovely cartoon-like environment, original animation, and easy to master yet engrossing combat, made that game a highly enjoyable experience, well geared for mobile gaming.

Puppet Pals - Interview with Polished Play

Stop motion animation can be a lot of fun; there’s always something magical about seeing inanimate objects move seemingly by themselves. But there’s one major inherent problem with this creative endeavour: it’s a painfully slow process - assuming you work in PAL, you must move your objects and characters a little bit at a time, recording the process twenty-five time just to produce one second of video. The results are often worth it, of course, but it’s definitely an exercise in patience. This is where Lance Harris and Heber Sheffield, the founders of Polished Play come in; they created a set of apps for iPad to turn this process upside down and enable anyone to create animated scenes in minutes, rather than days.

Leo's Fortune - Interview with 1337 & Senri

Leo's gold has gone missing. The thief has left a trail of coins like breadcrumbs to tease him into finding his hoard again, and thus begins the premise of this original game from 1337 & Senri.

Leo himself is a beautifully rendered ball of blue/green fur - with a large moustache and an Eastern European accent. You make him move to the left and right by dragging your finger on the left side of the screen, while the right side controls his up and down movement. Like a puffer fish, Leo can make himself bigger, which enables him to float and avoid obstacles, or slow down his fall. All of this is extremely well demonstrated in the tutorial.

Axl and Tuna - Interview with Game Collage

It's been two and a half years since Bobo leapt onto the scene and delighted numerous iPad owners and their children with its wonderful educational adventures and charmingly quirky personality, effortlessly teaching kids all about the mysteries of light.

But Game Collage haven't been idle since: they've been working on a game which they're releasing today called Axl and Tuna and I spoke to Juraj Hlaváč, developer of the two-man team that created this latest endless runner.

Monument Valley - Interview with Ustwo

We keep hearing bleak news when it comes to the App Store; what was once a thriving and exciting revolution is giving way to "me too" apps, poor clones of successful games and a cataclysmic avalanche of "freemium" games based on grabbing as much money out of you or your children as possible through the highly deceptive use of in-app purchases.

But every now and again, something surprises and delights you, and reminds you that games are meant to give players pleasure, not frustration. Monument Valley does exactly that.

Oceanhorn - Interview with Cornfox & Bros

Creating a game is no easy task; Forge Reply for instance, had a team of fifteen working on the excellent Joe Dever's Lone Wolf, so it's pretty remarkable that three people set about creating and designing a vast, ambitious game of adventure and exploration for iOS called "Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas".

MacLife Review - Journeys of Invention

Ever wanted to visit the amazing Science Museum in London but either didn't have the time or lived in the wrong part of the planet? Well now you can explore and manipulate 81 objects that are either on display there or in its repository, thanks to Journeys of Invention, a new iPad app from TouchPress. Read more about it by reading my review in MacLife.

Gravity Makes Me Sick

I've always had a problem watching those early 3D movies, those that necessitated wearing special glasses fitted with a separate red and blue filter. Something about them didn't feel right at all. I got nauseous and disorientated watching them, but Angel and I were keen to see Gravity, and in my neck of the woods, you couldn't get to watch it in 2D unless you were open to missing work or the school run, or both.

MacLife Review - Elements in Action

There's a new education app in town called Elements in Action, which you can use either on its own or as a companion to the excellent The Elements: A Visual Exploration. I've reviewed it for MacLife.

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf - Interview

Back in the early 80s, personal computing was still in its infancy, games were amazing for the time, yet primitive by today's standards and couldn't hope to match what we could imagine in our own heads. Perhaps because of this, a type of book became incredibly popular, one where you could choose how he story developed by making decisions for the protagonist as you read. Those decisions led you to read certain paragraphs and not others, making the story unfold differently, depending on those choices. Many series were created, but one of the most successful was based on the character of Lone Wolf, with its riveting ongoing narrative that linked all the books together, while the character developed and progressed throughout the saga. You played Lone Wolf, last of the Kai - warrior monks sworn to protect their homeland, Sommerlund, against the armies of the Dark Lords.

Clumsy Ninja - Review

I don't generally go for this sort of game because it is, for all intents and purposes, a freemium game which means that it's free to play but the deeper you get into it, the more likely you'll have to pay - and pay a lot - in order to achieve a new level or purchase a new item.

Solar Flux Pocket - Review

In addition to infinite runner and jumper games, another firm favourite among mobile games are physics-based puzzles, like the insanely popular Angry Birds or Cut the Rope franchises. One of the latest addition to this lineup is Solar Flux Pocket, a game which you'll be able to play on your iPhone and iPod touch. iPad owner will have to cope with scaled up graphics or buy the dedicated iPad app, Solar Flux HD, which is actually a different game, offering different levels.

The objective of Solar Flux is to save the galaxy: its suns are dying, and you must collect and deliver the needed plasma to revive each one.

Ooga Jump - Review

Back in January 2009, a two-man team released a game on the App Store. Calling it a game was actually beyond generous - there was nothing you could really do with the six little pygmies on a tropical island. But promises of regular updates were made and before long, new features were added, mini games were included and Pocket God became a mobile game phenomenon. After 47 updates, it's still one of the most original and highly imaginative games for iOS, even though its graphics have never been updated for the Retina Displays.

MacWorld UK Review - iMovie 2 for iOS

iMovie for iOS was updated and I was there, reviewing it for MacWorld UK. Was it good? A worthy upgrade? Something to avoid? Find out by reading my review on their site...

MacWorld Review - iMovie 10 for Mac

I've reviewed the latest version of iMovie for MacWorld UK. See what I thought of it by visiting their site...

MacLife Review - Screens 3

Screens 3 is an add designed to allow you to connect to your computer and control it from your iOS device. See if this latest version is worth upgrading for by reading my review on MacLife's site...

MacLife Review - Flavours

Fancy customising the look of your Mac, then check out if Flavours is up to the task in my review on MacLife's site...

XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Interview

Arthur C Clarke once said, "two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying". In fact, that very quote appears during the introduction to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a game that explores the terrifying prospect that we are under attack from forces we do not understand nor hope to defeat, at least with our current level of technology.

MacLife Review - Pagico

Check out what I thought of the professional organiser Pagico.

It's all in my review on MacLife's site...