The iPhone/iPod Touch’s built-in accelerometer can be used for a myriad of different things, but it’s mostly made use of by game developers to add motion control to their games. Whether its tilting, turning, or even the occasional shimmy and shake some games often have such controls unwillingly grafted onto perfectly fine mechanics, while others practically beg for this type of control scheme. While it may not be any kind of fabulous, Shark’s Treasure: The Quest of the Mermaids is a pleasant little diversion for Apple’s platform that makes the most of the unit’s inherent controls and offers tremendous value for its guppy-like asking price.
Archive for October, 2009
Impressions: Tornado Outbreak
Move over, Prince – there’s a brand new Katamari blowing into town. Or at least something like it. We’re not talking about Namco’s clump-collecting classic per se, actually. Just Konami’s new Tornado Outbreak, a fascinating release that offers many of the very same elements that we love about the Katamari franchise, coupled with solid controls and a look and feel that’s uniquely its own. Don’t be fooled by the game’s otherwise intimidating name, as this was a definitely a nice surprise that meteorologists didn’t see coming.
Impressions: Fun Booth
The iPhone and iPod Touch are platforms that you can always expect to see plenty of fun little apps that you probably wouldn’t see anywhere else, except for maybe Nintendo’s DSi, but that’s another story. One of these particular apps is Fun Booth, the expanded webcam software sequel from Spoonjuice for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s not actually a game, but of course with the right images and the right sense of humor, you can have quite a bit of fun with it.
Review: The Warriors: Street Brawl
In 2005 Rockstar Games released a very different version of The Warriors, an adaptation of the classic 70s film that enjoys a cult following. For some strange reason, Paramount Digital Entertainment felt as if reviving the franchise one more time for a lackluster brawler of an arcade game was a good idea. Then again, these people were the same people responsible for Star Trek D-A-C, so it’s really no wonder that The Warriors: Street Brawl misses the mark entirely both as a game and both as a piece of entertainment drawing correctly from superb source material.
Review: Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3: Commander’s Challenge
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, the latest installment of EA’s popular franchise, featured a quirky storyline that set it apart from the horde of other RTS games released in recent years. Events unfolded in an alternate reality where the atomic bomb was never created. A few misdirected deeds caused a separate universe to be born, one in which chaos and wacky inventions run rampant. Now the Soviet Union, the Japanese and the Allies are vying for world domination. While that may seem like an inane premise for an RTS game, it actually worked quite well and injected a sense of humor into what would otherwise have been a bland adventure.