Another Week of Expert App Reviews
Â
At 148Apps , we help you sort through the great ocean of apps to find the ones we think youâll like and the ones youâll need. Our top picks become Editorâs Choice , our stamp of approval for apps with that little extra something special. Want to see what weâve been up to this week? Take a look below for a sampling of our latest reviews. And if you want more, be sure to hit our Reviews Archive .
Modern Combat 5: Blackout [1]
Â
Gameloft is responsible for bringing us some of the most polished and frenetic mobile shooters for the iOS platform in the form of Modern Combat. The latest entry, Modern Combat 5: Blackout , raises the bar even higher, despite still having some of its own setbacks. This fifth entry is certainly an improvement that demonstrates what can be done within the mobile genre. Players take up the role of Caydan Phoenix, an ex-marine who was deployed into Venice to tackle an uprising sweeping the area. After Phoenix is inevitably set up, he finds out that the international security agency who sent him in is up to no good â" in fact, itâs acting as a front for an international terror organization. Thatâs where you come in: righting all these wrongs and clearing his name; with guns. â" Brittany Vincent
The Order of Souls [2]
Â
The Order of Souls is a turn-based, free-to-play role playing game set in a fantastical world that melds science fiction and fantasy elements. Throughout the course of the game players can expect a surprising amount of interactive story elements, but most of that requires them to grind through a middling series of combat scenarios that really drag the whole game down. The Order of Soulsâ various elements include head-to-head multiplayer, crafting, singleplayer combat, party management, etc. Most of these systems and mechanics seem familiar to those that have played RPGs before, but the game does very little to do unique things with them. Itâs almost like the developers were more concerned with checking features off a list than they were thinking about how they might add a unique dimension or dynamic to the game. This is not to say that it has any seriously flawed mechanics, but t hey just arenât as interesting as they couldâve been. â" Campbell Bird
Revolution 60 [3]
Â
Revolution 60 has a lot of influences. It wants to be a sprawling sci-fi action RPG full of choices like Mass Effect. It spices up its numerous cutscenes with quick time events like Heavy Rain. Parts of its plot recall Metal Gear Solid, and its stylish 60s espionage vibe is probably the closest thing weâll ever get to another No One Lives Forever. However, instead of being derivative, Revolution 60 emerges as a fantastically fresh original vision and a great debut for developer Giant Spacekat. Starting Revolution 60 feels like stepping into a wholly realized sci-fi world. In fact, the lore can get so dense at times itâs hard to figure out exactly whatâs going on, but players will pick up enough. Plus they can purchase a separate guidebook explaining the universe, which fortunately seems interesting enough to warrant such a cost. Besides, the characters are what really matters, and Revolution 60âs cast is definitely worth getting invested in. â" Jordan Minor
Secret Files Tunguska [4]
Â
Previously a PC, Wii, and DS release, point-and-click adventure Secret Files Tunguska has made its way to iOS, and itâs quite enjoyable despite its dour tone. Veering away from the casual nature of many other titles in the genre, Secret Files Tunguska sticks to the traditional scenario of plenty of asking questions and combining items to create further useful tools. Set around the Tunguska event, a mysterious large explosion that occurred in 1908, the game delves into conspiracy theories that would make Mulder and Scully proud. You play a woman whose father, a scientist investigating the event, has gone missing, and soon enough various intelligence agencies are out to get you. â" Jennifer Allen
MTN [5]
Â
MTN is not a game. It is not highly interactive app. What it is, is a serene part of your day that will bring you a few minutes of amusement. The MTN app, by David OâReilly, opens by asking you to draw things based on 1-word prompts. According to David OâReilly, âThe drawings influence things like the shape of the mountain, the type of vegetation, the amount of vegetation, the length of your summers, the amount of snow youâre going to get, all sorts of different things.â After the prompts are answered the app generates a small, free-floating mountain in the middle of space. â" Jessica Fisher
Bio Inc [6]
Â
Mama, just killed a man. Pinched a vein inside his head. Pressed âOKâ and now heâs dead. Bio Inc is a âbiomedical simulatorâ from DryGin studios. While there are dozens of medical/surgical simulators available on PC, mobile platforms, and consoles, Bio Inc is a little different. Other medical-based games ask players to save patients in peril (even if said players may wind up removing the patientâs brain during a routine appendectomy, either accidentally or on purpose). Bio Inc, on the other hand, requires players to drag the Hippocratic Oath behind the hospital and shoot it. â" Nadia Oxford
Other 148Apps Network Sites
Â
If you are looking for the best reviews of Android apps, just head right over to AndroidRundown [7] . Here are just some of the reviews served up this week:
AndroidRundown
Ruzzle Adventure [8]
Â
What does a developer do when a game around forming words and multiplayer becomes a succes? It takes out fifty procent of that golden formula and turns it to a list of chores. Ruzzle Adventure [9] is a game where players need to form words on a grid full of letters. In the past, weâve seen dozens of iterations of this concept in the form of Boggle, Wordfeud or even an earlier published version of Ruzzle. In all those games the goal is the same: make as many words as possible, to get the highest score. By making bigger words and combining tougher letters to make words with, the score multiplier raises and so does oneâs score. Remember Scrabble? â" Wesley Akkerman [10]
Shurican [11]
Â
Man, developers still make flappy games? I thought that that hype was over, but judging by the game Shurican [12] , there still were some⦠I donât know what to call it⦠Innovations..? â¦left in the subgenre. Yeah, I was surprised as well. How much can different people do with one mechanic? And especially the flappy mechanic? By looking at the flappy games in Googleâs Play Store, not very much. Many of the flappy games are direct and shameless clones of the original and unintended successful original one, but sometimes a good one pops up and offers the same, but somewhat a different challenge. Shurican is one of those game, and not only because the game is played in widescreen mode. â"Wesley Akkerman [13]
Super Tank Arena Battles [14]
Â
In Super Tank Arena Battles [15] , we get the to see our favorite weapons (tanks) go head to head in our favorite fight environment (an arena). It just gets even more hyper from there. Itâs a simple looking game, but still manages to impress graphically, with the opening menu made up of cheery animations and pastels guiding the text. Here, amongst other options, we are presented with 5 game modes: Survival, Catch The Flag, One On One, Mines Rush and Hardcore Survival.The first is open, while the others need a threshold of some sort needed to unlock successive modes. â"Tre Lawrence [16]
And finally, this week Pocket Gamer [17] reviewed Modern Combat 5, created an expert guide for Hearthstoneâs Naxxramas DLC, picked some awesome seeds for Minecraft: Pocket Edition, found 5 games like Monument Valley, and asked Double Stallion whether turning Big Action Mega Fight into a paid game was a success or a huge mistake. Read all of this and more, at Pocket Gamer [18] .
Posted in: Blog , Weekly RoundupTagged with: 148apps , android , androidrundown , apps , Big Action Mega Fight! , Bio Inc , BLACKOUT! , brittany vincent , campbell bird , Games , Hearthstone , ios , jennifer allen , jessica after , jordan minor , minecraft , Modern Combat 5 , monument valley , MTN , nadia oxford , Naxxramas , Pocket Gamer , puzzle , Reviews , Revolution 60 , Secret Files Tunguska , shurican , super tank arena battles , The Order of Souls , true lawrence , wesley akkerman
Review disclosure: note that the product reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note that if the developer provides the product or not, this does not impact the review or score.
Links
- ^ Modern Combat 5: Blackout (148apps.com)
- ^ The Order of Souls (148apps.com)
- ^ Revolution 60 (148apps.com)
- ^ Secret Files Tunguska (148apps.com)
- ^ MTN (148apps.com)
- ^ Bio Inc (148apps.com)
- ^ AndroidRundown (androidrundown.com)
- ^ Ruzzle Adventure (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Ruzzle Adventure (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Wesley Akkerman (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Shurican (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Shurican (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Wesley Akkerman (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Super Tank Arena Battles (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Super Tank Arena Battles (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Tre Lawrence (www.androidrundown.com)
- ^ Pocket Gamer (www.pocketgamer.co.uk)
- ^ Pocket Gamer (www.pocketgamer.co.uk)
No comments:
Post a Comment