As the prodigal son returned, so do we to one of our favorite hobbies. Yes we vanished for a few months there (primarily due to graduating college and vacationing) but now we are back! So please if you have a game you would like us to check out, tweet us @pureplaayz and we will! We have missed you and know that there are a whole host of IOS games to review so onward!
For years people have been figuring out ways to relive classics on their phones. Iphone users have all been waiting for a decent emulator (Jailbreak free) to hit the market, and finally, we have one GBA4 Ios.
This is not an app store app, but instead something you can download from your safari browser.(which then creates an app icon on your phone) Be sure to change the date back to sometime in January. (specific instructions on the site) Once you have the emulator downloaded, it is really easy and streamlined to download the rom games. Upon opening there should be a list, in the top right corner hit the plus button which should take you to a rom site, and from there search the game you desire by letter. After that, check to see if there are anymore specific instructions (may have to roll the clock back again for some) then select download now. Don’t forget to go to menu, and save state when progressing through the game , not all games allow you to save in game.
This is a great emulator to come to the IOS market and I have had fun reliving some old time classics with GBA4ios. It is still hard to believe that I am now calling some of the greatest games that I grew up with, classics, but that’s the way getting old goes. Enjoy this emulator while it lasts (may not be around forever)
Throughout movies and lore, Honest Abe, Cleopatra, and Napoleon Bonaparte have been legends, or even further, immortalized. I loved learning about some of these icons in history, but I never thought that I would love to play with them in video games. However, Second Chance Heroes not only allows you to play with these characters, but they give a whole new name to the historical figures.
This game feels a lot like Diablo 2 while playing, probably due to the camera angle. You select a Hero (there are 2 at first but you can pay real money for more or unlock some of the cheaper legends) and then you follow the storyline into the mall. Each mission is a different area and you must reach specific objectives to progress throughout the game. There are a host of different achievements and side quests to accomplish which complements game well, due to the several Heroes you can unlock. The main objective though, is to slash your way through zombies. I have to say, I really enjoyed playing Abe Lincoln and watching him slash through the hordes with a chainsaw. There aren’t any weapons to collect at this point, but there are boosts like health or speed, and each Hero comes with a couple of special abilities. (It was so gratifying watching the masses of zombies fly everywhere after using an ability) The gameplay get’s spiced up a bit with boss battles and an online co-op mode. (really took me back to the lan-parties i used to have with Diablo 2)
If you are looking for an rpg element, there is one here, however it isn’t very deep. This game is more designed to give the player a fun arcade type of experience. Things like health and damage can be leveled once the player has collected the right amount of experience, but nothing much more than that.
I was surprised with the stableness of the online play. There at times could be a lot of things happening on screen, which never slowed my phone, but also I never experienced any objectivity issues with other players, the game ran smooth. Many might hesitate to play due to the virtual controls, but truthfully the dual virtual analog stick worked nicely, I never had an issue movement or attacking.
The graphics in game were decent, however it was far from the best. Due to the amount of things going on, onscreen it was understandable that things were not on the same level as Infinity Blade. (In fact, SCH probably excelled considering.) In app purchases are in the game. I can understand Heroes needing to be bought, to be unlocked, after all developers have to earn a living too.
Overall- ****Pure Genius****
For a dollar you can’t go wrong. This game is a tremendous amount of fun to play. I highly recommend it for people that are fans of the hack and slash games, or if you love history and want to have a little bit of fun. I am certainly glad I downloaded it, and can’t wait to keep slaying away!
(FlappyBird for the iphone, in case you forgot)
If you are having some deep regrets because you deleted Flappy Bird after it was taken off the shelves, then we might have something to help cure your addiction. Try out this game called Flapmmo, where you can compete side by side against others and test your skill. This game comes stocked with a server leader (who has made it the furthest), as well as how many you are competing with. You can even see where your openents fail, and feel better or worse about your score. Enjoy Flapmmo here: http://flapmmo.com/
For the longest time I have been hankering for a platforming game for the IOS that actually works. Add to the fact that I have always wanted to be the green power ranger, and I often found myself sad and unaccomplished. Low and behold, Shadow Blade graced me with it’s presence and hope once again lifted my soul! (man, I am a geek sometimes)
It is nice to finally play a game that is a platformer, but that isn’t an auto run game. I feel that lately developers have been cautious to do so because gestures and controls would be a hard thing to manage (and they are right it is) but also a hard thing for the players to grasp. Shadow Blade, while tricky at first, is a really great platforming game with controls that actually work. You can tell the developers for Shadow Blade put a lot of hard work in to this game and it certainly paid off. In Shadow Blade your job is to be a ninja, a freaking awesome ninja. You are on a journey to your sensei and must battle through hordes of enemies trying to stop you. Running and jumping is one part of the game, but killing your enemies, is a whole new aspect within this realm. Instead of jumping on enemies heads, you can use swipe motion gestures to slice enemies in half. On level 3, I started to truly feel like a ninja. Being able to jump and slice enemies in half and link brutal finishing moves together, was amazing. Swipe based gestures allowed more than one move to be performed as well. Arial attacks, stealth attacks, just plain old up the gut attacks, are all moves that you can master. This game is loaded with a ton of different levels that will keep you entertained. Each level comes packed with extra’s for the players to do. Collecting all the coins, killing all of the enemies, finding 2 different symbols per level, this game will keep you coming back for more.
Overall: ****Smart Play****
Fans of this genre of gaming should definitely go out and download it now. Beautiful artwork, peaceful music (which is interactive based on the coins you collect), and fun gameplay mechanics, make this game a no brainer for all of you “ninja” types out there.
For the longest time I have been waiting for a 3D multiplayer game to come out for the iphone. I remember a couple years ago playing some truly terrible games on my ipod touch. Well times have drastically changed, and here in early 2014, we might have the best multiplayer game for the rest of the year.
Bug Heroes 2, is an epic strategy game. This game has a mixture of League of Legends and the movie Bugs Life all rolled together in one. Honestly I never expected a game like this to hit the IOS market so soon. Strategy fiends will love this game. There are a few types of gameplay here, and our review will focus primarily on the main gameplay and the multiplayer aspects.
The main point of gameplay in BH2 is to protect your food source from being infiltrated by enemy bugs. Your food source will be guarded by turrets, and as you go along in the mission it will be important for you to upgrade the turrets to help you better fight against the “grubs” that are attacking you. As your Hero kills enemies you gain experience, gaining experience allows you to unlock skills to use in the midst of combat. You can choose any skills that you want and if you choose correctly, it can change the tide of battle. If one hero is to “boring” for your expertise, then you will enjoy knowing that the game allows you to take two Heroes out per battle. This is great if you enjoy mixing, healing and tanking together or want to try something “dangerous” and take double tanks to battle.
No need to worry about a limited selection of Heroes, this game has over 25! And just like LoL, you will need to learn about them all so that you can be truly dominant in this game. Also, each character can be unlocked without having to drop any cash. (Although patience is a must)
Moving to the multiplayer portion of the game. It is epic. You and your teammates can take on AI, and survive waves of enemies as well as capture and hold certain enemy points. The objective is to stay alive as long as possible, and offers the same rpg elements that the other mode does. You and your teammate will need to choose wisely though, this time around you can only choose one Hero to battle with (per person). You can also battle 1v1 or 2v2 (same game modes except against humans) if you would like. Toss in what is sure to be fun local wifi play, and you really cant ask for more. Foursaken has done a great job thus far with the servers, and they seem to be pretty stable, minus a couple of lag issues. (which is to be expected with any online game at launch)
Overall ****Pure Genius****
Look, at a $.99 price point this game is a must have. The rpg depth you get as well as the great strategy and stunning multiplayer gives you more than you will ever pay for. Not to mention the great graphics and pretty funny voice overs.
Are you over the age of 45? Do you still rock a mullet or wear parachute pants? Do you still toss in a couple of quarters every time you pass an arcade to play the Galaga/Pacman combo machine? Well great news. Raven Castle Studios has released the top down scroller known as Galaxy Conquerors (GC) and it is a ton of fun for all.
Upon first opening up the app, I was skeptical at what the app would offer. Top down scrollers were big at one point, but it being 2014 I thought that era of gaming was over. Well hours of gameplay later, I realized that I was very mistaken. Always stick to the age old adage that “one should never judge a book by its cover”. The first thing I noticed when actual gameplay begun was that the graphics look great. They aren’t mind blowing, but they certainly do a great job portraying all of the action that goes on on-screen. If you haven’t played a top down shooter you should know that your ship normally has an auto fire that constantly shoots. While shooting enemy ships, power ups will drop; these power ups are useful and sometimes necessary to complete the level. GC does a great job of adding a wide variety of enemies to defeat as well. Throw in missions that require you to transport ally ships and face intense bosses, and you have a marvelous game that will keep you busy for hours.
If your worried that this game might be to easy, don’t be. As you progress through the storyline and play various levels, you will need specific powerups and boosts, to get past the bosses. GC has a unique currency system that works well with the game. When defeating enemies it would be smart to collect any items that you can, some of these will be currency used to upgrade your ships weapons. It is a must to have these in the later levels of the game.
Motions and controls worked pretty well with the gameplay. Unfortunately there were a few times when I swiped my screen and my ship would not go far enough in the desired directions. This only happened a couple of times, and overall the gameplay was very smooth. Also if you are looking for a gripping story, this is not it. (Pretty stinkin’ corny)
Overall: ****Smart Play****
This is a great version of a modernized top down shooter. If you are having “nostalgic cravings” or are a young gun wanting to play old school, check this game out. It should make many people happy to know that this game does have game center support! This game will entertain for hours.
Locking your keys in your car. Watching Jersey Shore reruns. Spilling a pot of hot coffee on your crotch. We make mistakes as human beings, it is just what we do. In fact we are good at it. But one mistake you don’t have to make is playing Crazy Rambo. (Pure Playz to the rescue!)
I am very unsure about what the developers were thinking when they created this….atrocity. This game is not at all worth your time. Don’t waste your valuable phone storage on this game! I am telling you loud and clear, downloading a hundred pictures of cats sleeping, would be better than playing this game.
Upon opening up the game, (the play through was pretty unbearable) you will notice several different national flags. It is important (if for some reason you ignore this review and still play the game) that you select the English flag. (not that there is any commentary but instructions) After you do this you may select a “gun wielding”, no doubt steroid infused hero. Gameplay for the game is pretty simple, after selecting a difficulty and a character, you stand on a platform and shoot enemies that are trying to attack you. Let to many enemies attack you and you die. You are supposed to get points by killing enemies and collecting money that floats entirely to quickly. There. That’s it. I just explained the gameplay to you in one paragraph.
Controls to the game were suspect. I tapped an enemy several times and there wasn’t the slightest reaction. Jumping up to get the rewards never worked (and if it did you often times died) and the game crashed many times. The icing on the cake? The advertisements. I am not sure if there was process in which the ads were displayed on screen, but this game gets the “cake” for most annoying ad timing. Many times when an ad came up (it was a full screen pop up) the game froze. When it wasn’t frozen on screen, the “x” on the pop up screen was so far in the corner, that it is nearly impossible to close out the ads if you have a case on the phone. (most people do) Probably the worst offense of all, was the full screen ad that popped up in the middle of gameplay. No, the game doesn’t pause, you simply die if you are not quick enough to close it out.
This game….wow just….wow.
Overall: ****Disastrous Play****
Look if you have made mistakes before, that’s okay. I just want to help you avoid making more. And this would be a big one. This feels like one of those “cheap” run of the mill gimmick games. Developers hurt the gaming community when they put out games like this. Nothing screams cash grab louder than Crazy Rambo does. I would advise you to stay away. Some people just want to “watch the world burn”
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If there is one type of game that we would like to see more of on the mobile market it would be the turn based rpg. Golden Sun for Gameboy Advanced was our “jam” back in the day. It has been great to see some of the Final Fantasy games to hit the app store but we are were still looking for something completely new and “fresh” to sink our teeth into. If you are a gamer that share some of the same “cravings” that we do, then look no further, Juice Box Games has created an rpg that we can all enjoy.
Honorbound is deeper than one might think. Upon opening up the game you realize pretty quickly that Juiceboxs’ mobile offering is not paper thin (like some other apps). In fact this game is probably one of the deepest games we have played in a while.
Honorbound gives you the option of selecting what type of Hero you want to start with. All of the normal Heroes are offered but they also include a few renditions of their own. It is certainly nice to see game developers breaking the trend of the same 4 or 5 Heroes. (Don’t get me wrong, the warrior class will always have a special place in our hearts). You can also summon allies that are “captured” in battle, this adds a whole new level of depth to the game because you can customize them as well.(Its also cool seeing what other players use as allies in pvp mode) Once you have selected a Hero you go through a “tutorial level”. This level is great because it teaches you how to play, but also lays down the plot-line. That’s another great thing, you actually feel like your accomplishing something and moving forward throughout the game with an intriguing storyline, you aren’t just “grinding” your way to a final boss.
The combat in the game works the same as most other turn based strategy games, Heroes and allies, versus enemies and each side takes a turn using a skill or choosing an enemy to attack. This same type of combat system is used in pvp mode as well, except the opponents are stronger and more skilled than the regular AI. By defeating other players you can earn gold as well as xp. We did have our qualms with the matching system for pvp, it seemed that to often we would be matched up against players that were a higher level than us. (The game gives you an option of 3 different users that you can choose to battle and every time you back out of a battle lobby it uses an energy point which takes time to replenish.)
Wondering about skills and what not? Don’t worry, this game comes loaded with unique abilities to master and different skills to level up. Obviously you want your Hero trained for battles, but there are many other perks that should also be trained such as: more energy, a higher percentage gold, and the abilities to train your allies. You can train these abilities through researchers. The higher the level of skill that they are training the longer it will take to train them. (of course you can speed this up by using diamonds aka, in game currency) We won’t touch on everything here, so you should go download the game. (This game offers great variety)
Unfortunately the one area that we feel is held back is the energy system. Whenever you move across a map an energy point is used. Now we know developers have to make money, we just wished that it wasn’t in the form of IAP’s.(one price fits all) Great news is that your energy level can be increased by training, and you can earn “diamonds” by gaining achievements. (though there are few) Though this system isn’t ideal, it shouldn’t stop you from downloading the game.
Overall: ****Pure Genius****
Honorbound is an awesome game that offers a lot of depth and great story “freshness” to the rpg market. Fun battles, powerful Heroes and great pvp will keep you entertained. If you are craving an rpg that fits in your pocket, then you should check this game out!
Think you know it all? Well now you can put all of that so called knowledge to the test!
Quiz Up
Quiz-Up a new way to put that knowledge to the test!
Finally a game that allows you to do something with all of that pointless knowledge you have!!!!! Want to challenge all of your friends at a heart pumping fast paced quiz game??? Quiz up allows you to do all of that plus more! In this game players compete against one another and try to answer questions before time runs out. Player can choose from over 300 topics, ranging from various tv-shows, to things such as science or even math. As players compete they gain experience and level up, allowing the different titles to symbolize status and how much you know about the topic. Though Quiz Up will keep you coming back for hours and hours many may be turned off due to repetition of some of the questions during the quiz. Not to worry though, the creative minds at Quiz Up update the game regularly and allow players to create topics and information of their own.
Overall Score: **Smart** (4 out of 5)
A game boasting over 250 topics, Quiz Up will keep your mind challenged for a long time. Add to that, you are going up against your friends for bragging rights and you have a great play here, sure repetition occurs on occasion throughout the game but it is absolutely nothing that should keep you from downloading this awesome game, add to the fact that the current price is free, and you cant go wrong!
PurePlayz 