Osmos Review

I had no interest in picking up Osmos when it first rocketed to the top of the iPad charts. Having only seen screenshots and read the game’s description, it did not sound like anything I wanted to play. However, the strong buzz and sale price a few weeks ago of $0.99 made it hard to refuse. When I first played the game, I was totally turned off by the game’s simple concept and initially awkward controls. But then…it clicked.
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Bit.Trip Beat HD Review

(iTunes)

If you’ve never played this game, seen video of it or had someone explain it to you, it can be hard to comprehend what the heck is going on in the image above. For over a year now, I’ve heard the gaming press talk about how amazing this Wii Ware release is, but just by looking at images of it, I couldn’t comprehend what this was or why it was so cool.

Since it’s on sale right now for both iPhone and iPad, I decided to give the iPad version a go. If you’re interested in finding out what this game is all about, read on.

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Pick Up Post: Believe The Hype?

Over the last few months, I haven’t done too much in the way of iPod Touch/iPhone gaming. Most of my gaming time of late has been dedicated to my PlayStation 3 when I’ve have time to spare. However, my car recently broke down, which meant I’ve spent a lot more time on public transportation over the last few days. It’s been a great opportunity to catch up on Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night, which is worth grabbing at regular price, but is on sale right now for a limited time.

Speaking of sales, iTunes has a bunch of games on sale right now. I grabbed a few games that have gotten a lot of positive buzz. Here’s what I got:
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Impressions on Predators for the iPhone and iPad

Predators is a universal iDevice game that I’ve actually had for a couple of weeks now. I’m sort of a fan of the Predator franchise, and judging by what I had seen in trailers, I thought it looked pretty good. It also didn’t hurt that it was a $3 game that worked with both the iPhone and iPad. I just past half way through the main campaign, so I don’t feel comfortable enough to pass final judgment on it. But I have played enough to at least share some thoughts on my experiences so far.
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Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition Can Roll Off a Cliff

The first Super Monkey Ball caught everyone by surprise when it was ported to the Gamecube from the arcade. This evolution of Marble Madness was simple to learn, hard to master and featured a fun to play campaign mode and mini games. Thanks to the success of that first game, Super Monkey Ball has grown into a profitable franchise for Sega. However, the steady flow of sales has not led to a steady improvement in quality. In fact, I would go as far as saying that none of the Monkey Ball games since the original have surpassed the quality of the first. Some of the entries in the series are flat-out bad.

Prior to my impulsive purchase of Sakura Edition on the iPad, I had been burned twice by Super Monkey Ball sequels. I caved on the iPad version because I was still starved for new iPad-specific games and it was on sale for $5. Is this the game that brings the series back into top form?
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Risk for iPhone Review

I’ve been waiting a long time for Risk to hit the iPhone. During my childhood, one of my best friends used to always get board games from garage sales, which we would then play on his picnic table throughout the summer. One of those games was Risk. For weeks, we were generals, battling over control of the world through the strategic placement and movement of troops as well as a few lucky dice rolls.

This latest release may be a bit late on the iPhone, especially for those who have dabbled in other, arguably better, dice-rolling strategy games. I can’t speak to its competitors, as I haven’t tried any of them. However, I have put in a number of hours into Risk since it came out a few days ago, and I’m more than happy to share my thoughts on the game with you.

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Love Post of Objections, Spiky Hair and Adventure Game Awesomeness

As much as I love video games, there aren’t many games I truly geek out about. I like Gears of War, but it’s not a game that has any lasting effects on me when I’m not playing it. When it comes to games I truly geek out about, such as the Street Fighter IV, I constantly talk about it, thoroughly analyze it and evangelize it as much as I can. You don’t need to dig very deep into my blog to realize that I am a huge Street Fighter IV junkie.

While I have not said much about the Phoenix Wright series on my blog, that first game is one of those I truly geek out about. It’s not a perfect, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t leave a huge impression on me.
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Pick Up Post: Capcom Takes My Mobile Money

Capcom is one of my all-time favourite developers and publishers. I have fond memories of playing a bunch of Capcom games outside of their obvious choices, such as Street Fighter and Megaman. This week, they followed Gameloft’s lead and put a bunch of their iDevice games on sale. I highlight a few that I picked up and one you should avoid.

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Pick Up Post: Gameloft Dollarama and an iPad Adventure

I have to hand it to Gameloft and their iDevice pricing strategy. Their aggressive $1 sales have won a lot of good will with me, which I have returned by buying almost a dozen of their games. I have generally found their games to be of relatively good quality for mobile, and their games on sale for $1 are much more in-depth and content-rich than the majority of $1 games available on iTunes.

Hit the break to see what two Gameloft games (and one non-Gameloft adventure) I just picked up. From what I know about these three games, they’re all good buys at regular price, but really are a steal at their sale price.

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My iPhone/iPad Pile of Shame

My video game hoarding ways have recently transcended the console space and into my iPhone/iPad life. Over the last few weeks, I’ve picked up a number of games at discounted prices mainly because they were cheap. Some of the games I have written about of late are the games I’ve put at least some time into. However, the following pile of games are currently taking up space on my iDevices and I’m not exactly sure when I’m going to get around to them.
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