Mobile

Usually the story in a video game uses the same techniques found in other mediums. Epic adventures that have clear beginnings and ends. No matter what sort of free-roaming choices there might be along the way, games tend to follow a linear series of events that lead the protagonist to The End.

What happens when you take a beloved cult series and bastardize it until it suits mass appeal? What happens when you add just enough reference to the original series that fans are interested enough to check it out, so interested that some might even open their wallet to see what surprises are hiding behind a paywall? These are no longer questions that need answering: in releasing Dungeon Keeper for iOS, EA have done us all a favour, showing exactly how not to revive something so well-loved.

Mice like cheese and anybody who's seen an episode of Tom and Jerry knows the lengths they'll go to get some. They don't mind disfiguring cats, using the dark arts, blackmailing relatives... so long as their bellies are full at the end of a long day, they odn't mind who they have to step on to get at them. World of Cheese is a puzzle game, spliced with a lot of hidden object for good measure. The only objective: get that cheese!

Excalibur is a 2D mobile action MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online game) developed by R2Games for iOS and Android devices. The game allows player to choose from 3 unique character classes and send them on a medieval adventure alone or with friends, battling Knights, Goblins and Dragons in order to retrieve the legendary sword of heroes, Excalibur.

Dennis is having a bit of a bad day. The world has been frozen over, he's all alone, he has nothing but a creaky bicycle to make his way through the frozen hellscape and, on top of all that, some video game player keeps dressing him up in silly clothes. Dennis is the unfortunate fellow who stars in Icycle: On Thin Ice, and over the course of the game he will be crushed, impaled, exploded, and forced to suffer the indignities of being treated like a Barbie doll by a cruel, unsympathetic player.

There's a problem with iOS sequels: the phrase "more of the same thing" would be an understatement in describing the 'changes' most games make before attaching a numeral. There are a few bright spots here and there (Fieldrunners 2, Infinity Blade 2, Mikey Hooks), but for the most part, new gameplay mechanics, modes, and improvements (other than graphical) are few and far between. Unfortunately, EPOCH 2 isn't one of these innovative sequels - but despite a few frustrating shortcomings, retains the break-neck gameplay pace and fantastic touch control scheme of ...

Karting games, once only really the dominion of Mario and friends, are starting to get better. If you were going to make a racing game for your franchise, the chances were that it'd end up more South Park and less Crash Bandicoot. But as time has gone by, racing tie-ins have generally got better. Sonic's All Star outings are the perfect example of that.

The problem with Dungeons & Dragons was that it could only be played with a group. Desktop PCs in the 80s had a few text adventure games that mimicked the D&D experience as a single-player adventure, but PC's were rare and pricey back then. A cheap, portable alternative were Gamebooks that used printed text and images to replace a live dungeon master. They also had simplified D&D style rules to govern variable and give players choice over how their adventure played out.

MyGPTeam is a Grand Prix title with a difference. Available on the Google Play store via Android mobile devices, it gives you the chance to win races against people from all over the world without needing to hold your phone like a steering wheel or get used to any complicated controls. It's an online casual free-to-play driving title that challenges you to keep up with your opponents, and in terms of gameplay, it does it very well.

It’s hard to judge a sequel without comparing it to the original. Broken Sword: Director’s Cut set the standard for the series, which I praised in my review. Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered is a decent game, however, it simply does not measure up to the original in most categories.