It has been ten years of Harry Potter, and it all comes to an end with Deathly Hallows, Part 2. One of the biggest movie franchise of all-time has seen its ups and downs with video games, and EA Bright Light looks to go out with a bang. Can the boy wizard, Harry Potter, save the video game franchise from the horrid mess that was Deathly Hallows, Part 1? READ MORE
The iOS platform is full of free games, but there’s usually a catch. Are there in-app purchases? Or is is just a “lite” version? We generally frown upon this stuff. Sometimes, though, you find games that are legitimately there for you to just download and enjoy. (And not for just a day, either.) We’re looking at two of those this week: Allied Star Police and Imaginary Range.
Allied Star Police (Universal): PopCap’s 4th and Battery label has released a few completely-free iOS games now, and they’re usually great fun, if a little evanescent in scope. This one’s no different, except the design was done by a Make-a-Wish child, Owain Weinert. Don’t get us wrong: kid’s got skills. READ MORE
This week, we take a look at Hydro Thunder Go, the racing game with boats, water and terrific visuals, as well as the mobile version of Full House Poker.
Hydro Thunder Go: Tilt control is the main control scheme in Go, and it’s utilized very nicely. Never do you feel as if the boat is out of control. There are two available modes: Championship is your standard campaign mode, and Time Trial allows you to download ghost of your friends’ best times to try to beat. Both give you bronze, silver, and gold trophies, but finishing in the top three unlocks more tracks and boats. (We appreciate that it’s forgiving like that.) READ MORE
The Rune Factory series has always managed to balance a kind of “RPG-lite” dungeon crawler with the farming simulation gameplay of its progenitor. Changes to the formula are generally small and slow to happen. Imagine our surprise when we realized that Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny takes this formula and plays Yahtzee with it. READ MORE
The Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games titles are an interesting phenomenon. As Sega’s chance at selling a game at Nintendo numbers, it gets a lot of the company’s attention, but as an installment in a sports game series, it just doesn’t get much critical attention or passion from fans and developers alike. The last title, released to coincide with the ’10 Winter Games in Vancouver, swapped the original’s waggle-fest formula for one that made some interesting co-op activities and focused on making the games more game-like. M&S 2012 continues that effort. READ MORE
