Fury Of The Gods iOS Review

Originally posted on PixelBedlam

I can’t precisely remember which Tower Defense style game I played first but I can remember the one that sapped many hours out of my youth when flash based browser gaming was becoming huge. Bloons is that culprit. A time waster like no other, the possibilities for air filled carnage were endless and it was a constant battle to beat my friends scores. It’s fair to say that I will probably judge any game that classifies itself as tower defense squarely against the joy I once gleamed from the lost time of yester-year.

Enter Fury of the Gods on iOS platforms, from Chillingo and developed by Spectral Games. Billed as ‘tower defense on a godly scale’ I have to admit to being initially skeptical as my brain took me back to the days of paragraph one. But this is not subjectivegaming.com/badreviews, this is PixelBedlam so off comes the Shroud of Nostalgia and on goes the Objective Cowl of Truth +1 lightning damage.

The opening video shows a series of events that lead to the gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades all pissing off their subjects. The humans have had enough of the gods bullshit and decided to do something about it, namely tearing down the temple of their respective deity. Obviously, the all-powerful immortals aren't going sit back and watch this insolence take place, which means its up to you to use a decent array of divine powers to smite any hapless peasants who deem their lives unfair.

The gameplay takes place in level form around the temple of whichever god you are playing. Each level has several paths by which creepers can get to your temple and start the destruction. Whilst the camera angle is isometric, the entire level can be navigated with ease with a standard pinch zoom that almost everyone is familiar with by now. In traditional TD games, the player would place towers of differing abilities around a set course and either have a wave countdown or a start wave button. Fury takes a more arcade route to gameplay, whereby you don't actually place many units at all. Most of the peasant smiting is done by either your default attack (the Almighty Finger, where you deal damage just by touching enemies) or the several unlockable special attacks (which range from lightning bolts to meteors and even whirlwinds). As you progress through each level, you can spend acquired points to buy some special creatures, like the cyclops, to stand in a particular spot and deal damage to any folk dumb enough to wander into its path. This can be a bit of a pain due to the multiple paths creepers can take, but I guess that’s part of the replay value. When not in play, there are several options to spend your silver on including upgrades to your finger as well as several god-specific powers that require leveling up separately.

Graphically, Fury performs well enough. Everything is in decent 3D and movements are smooth to prevent any issues with gameplay, though it is impossible to say it’s top notch when compared with the graphical prowess of Real Racing 3 for instance. Each god has his own themed stages with the relevant effects you might expect from their mythologies. Sound wise, it’s all what you might expect from a game based around Greek gods with dramatic title music and suitable noises to go with your powers in game.

My only real issue with the game was how you play. The nature of the game requires you have one hand free for tapping at all times. I tried several different ways to interface with the game. The most preferable of which was placing my iPad on a table to free up both hands, but that isn't always possible. Holding the device with one hand and tapping with the other soon game some wrist ache. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but Fury’s constant action in the later stages requires several minutes of concentration at a time. This problem is somewhat alleviated by the iPhone edition, though in that case the smaller screen poses problems of its own.

Score 7/10

Gameplay

+ Fun, fast action

- Uncomfortable after prolonged play

Graphics

+ Smooth 3D effect stages

+ Good element effects

Sound

+ Apt music and sound

Diary Of A Wimpy Vin Pt2

Day one was a bit a slog for me and I will admit to aching a little bit the next day. My personal Fuel Print shows quite clearly that I lack in both fitness and athleticism (a fact it loves to point out by comparing me to the few friends I have with Nike+ as well as the prints of the two personal trainers). Thankfully, the folks at Nike aren't in this to poke fun at fatties and cripples. The software has preselected which exercises it thinks I would most benefit from and it has allowed me to select precisely which days I can fit my new program in to. Unfortunately for me, my next session was the very next day.

Week One

The sign up and fitness test don’t truly count as your first week, so ‘week one’ starts on your next session (I signed up on the Tuesday, with my first session on Wednesday) and in my personal program I went for three days a week. This input spat out two strength and one cardio session a week for the next four weeks. Each session starts with a good range of warm up exercises and motions that seem to be tailored to get the muscles you’ll be using up to temperature for the upcoming drills. It’s pretty much the same as the fitness tests. The trainer will describe to you what is expected of you, you get into position and complete either the targeted reps or time limit. What’s clever here is the game constantly analyses your movements to try to give tips on how you can improve and get more out of the drill.

My first proper session is a strength workout so once I’m warmed up (read: knackered) it’s straight into my prescribed drills. Nike makes a habit of informing you that strength training is different from weight training in that it’s designed to increase your ‘explosiveness’ (whatever the hell that means) and should keep you burning calories even after you've finished working out. The drills basically boil down to a series of long, slow and determined movements such as push-ups, lunges and squats. Keeping in time is key, too fast or too slow will result in sub-par rep and a sound bite from the trainer.

After the 25 minute workout, I’m given the option to do another round of exercises if I felt particular in the zone (I didn't, and nor did I fancy accepting a challenge in my current state). There are some achievements related to this but I pretty much dying so maybe next time. Then there’s a brief cool-down section to stretch out and bring the workout to close.

Cardio sessions are a little different in that they are all about movement, constant and quick movement, to really get your blood pumping and get a decent sweat on. These sessions are really about proper calorie burning in real time. The drills have a really good mix from bog standard stuff like jogging on the spot to mini game style drill that have you dodging balls or trying to fit through gaps in a glass wall.

After my first week, I’d managed to burn around 400 calories (that’s two pints of lager!) and gained something in the region of 900 Nike fuel points (more on those in a future article). I feel pretty good that I’m actually doing some exercise and I only really had one day of muscle ache while my body got used to the new movements. I did feel like shit straight after one or two of the sessions but I can already feel them getting easier, just.

Next up…Getting used to the routine in week 2!

Diary Of A Wimpy Vin Pt1

Originally posted on PixelBedlam Going to the gym has never inspired me. I join up and go solidly for a few weeks then something breaks my routine (be it illness or car troubles) and I remember how easy it was to NOT go. I severely doubt I’m the only one with this lack of commitment to exercise, especially amongst us gamer types. What can be done with us? How about attaching achievements to it? Enter Nike+ Kinect Training, the latest in a line of kinect based exercise software. Yes, I hear the Internets collective groan of apathy at the slightest mention of motion technology but bare with me as I take you on a journey through my prescribed four week program! DAY ONE That’s right kids, day one is so huge it needs its own article! First things first, make sure your KinectID is set up properly as this will aid your experience no end. Once you put the disc in, it will guide you straight to the set up where you can enter critical info like height, weight and age. This, of course, is not compulsory but let face it, now is not the time to be getting all shy about your weight when your standing in your living room in your pants prancing about in front of your TV. After all, the point is to track your progress accurately. Right, we’re all set up. The next step is brief assessment of your capabilities. In my opinion, this is where the software shines above its direct competitors. Using a few basic movements, the pixelised on-screen trainer will be able to tell if you have balance issues, one stronger leg, problems keeping your back straight and that’s just the problems I had! Think of this as a calibration for your future experience. Straight after this is without a doubt the hardest Nike+ Session you will have. The fitness test. My god am I unfit. By this time, you will have selected which trainer you prefer (obviously I picked the woman, who wants to stare at a bloke the whole time?!) and your personal aim you desire from the program. ‘Get Strong’ focuses on slow, methodical exercises to build up power, ‘Get Lean’ is mostly cardio and ‘Get Toned’ is a decent mixture of the two. I digress, the fitness test is a series of quick movements designed to test your fitness and athleticism, the result of which gives you your Nike+ ‘Fuel Print’. The main idea behind this is to run the test at the beginning and end of your program (or whenever you want) to gauge any improvement and progress. After your test, the software will ask you to choose which days of the week you want to commit to (yes, that right. The dreaded word) and will build an exercise regime based around your goals, strengths and weaknesses by selecting relevant moves from a huge matrix. That’s day one over for now. If you’re feeling brave, or not as dead as I felt, you can jump straight into some unprogrammed sessions or challenges. Personally, I went straight to the shower. I mentioned before about the difficulty of the fitness test. This isn't necessarily about being unfit. I’m not overweight and I have a reasonably active job. The problem is, with life in general, your body is a machine of repetition. Nike+ Kinect will challenge muscles in your body that you never knew you had. Some of the exercises feel really difficult and my body protested at this new strain for the next 24 hours. Next up, the rest of week one!

Warner Bros Blogger Event*

*Originally posted on 7bitarcade.com

Entertainment giants Warner Brothers recently opened their London studio doors to a select group of bloggers and budding gaming journalists to showcase their latest games, movies and apps. 7Bit sent me down from the lofty heights of our Midlands Division to have a peek and report back on my findings.

Apps

Brought to you via Apple's AppStore, Warner have produced several apps based on their recent and upcoming films. Showcased on an iPad 2, I was shown the app for the Harry Potter films. Essentially, the freemium app is a bunch of bonus content with the likes of behind-the-scenes videos and photos as well as some trivia. There was also extra paid-for-content that, rather surprisingly, wasn’t unlocked for me to view.

I was allowed to play about with the app for a bit, but I found loading times on the videos and even photos quite lengthy and the content quite lacklustre. It’s the kind of stuff I would expect to see on a special features disc. There were some other branded apps on show, but these were carbon copies of the Harry Potter app and very little extra to talk about.

Movies

I think the most surprising element of the event was the selection of films on show, of which there was only one of note, Yogi Bear. We were allowed to watch a segment approximately five minutes long from the start of the film. It seemed your typical child friendly affair, lots of slapstick humour and some good CGI-FMV integration. I didn’t see enough of the film to review it, but adult fans of the original cartoon will probably want to give it a miss. The actors don’t seem to be have been trained on acting with characters who aren’t really there and deliver quite a poor experience, while the humour is aimed directly at kids with little or no adult fun included. On the plus side, the active 3D glasses and TV it was shown on looked fantastic.

Gaming

On show for the gaming side of things we had Batman: Arkham City, Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 and Lord of the Rings War in the North (all of which are now in shops and ready for purchase)

Batman: Arkham City

Rocksteady’s sequel to the massive success that was Batman: Arkham Asylum, B:AC sees the B-Man entering a newly cordoned off section of Gotham. The premise is simple, all the supervillians and their idiot cronies (plus a few political prisoners) have been banged up and Batman has to keep the peace. Fans of the first game, and Batman in general, are going to LOVE this game. Absolutely everything you liked about B:AA has been improved upon in some way or another.

Top of that list is the Riddler trophies, of which there are now 400. Each one could be simple to solve or require some pinpoint control to obtain the reward. There’s also a reason to finish them this time (bar gamerscore) as Nigma has kidnapped civilians and will kill them unless Bats gets his detective on.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7

I have been a fan of the Lego games since Lego Star Wars and have played almost every iteration released since then. It’s fair to say I know my way around the Travellers Tales franchise quite well. So much so that I managed to sneak the preview code into ‘free play’ mode (rather than the story mode everyone else was getting shown) without alarm bells being triggered. All the regular functions return with the same button set up that is tried and true. There are a few new powers introduced to show the progression in the young students skills and a few new characters from the books but the rest is largely unchanged. Indeed, even the old problems still exist. One major downfall of the series has been the inability of player two being able to unlock progression achievements/trophies with player one. Fans of the series will like it, everyone else won’t. But I think Warner Bros and Travellers Tales know that already.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Previous LotR games have been fairly poor. While setting an interactive experience in a world as rich as Tolkiens’ Middle Earth is always an attractive proposition - in reality its been quite difficult for the developers that have had the cojones to try.

For this iteration, Snowblind Studios have the reins (which is quite exciting for me as I was a massive Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance fan)and have decided to opt for a completely non-canon story. The first thing you notice is the age rating, receiving a 15 from the BBFC. That makes it the most adult themed LotR game to date, a fact that is translated to the screen from the off with bloody battle effects.

Gameplay sees you controlling one of three protagonists (a human, a dwarf or an elf) either offline with AI or online with two others. I think this will be the key to the enjoyment of a game that is otherwise another one button hack em up. The combination of skills across the roles should provide some tactical elements against particular foes.

The problem with the latter two games is they won’t be able to hold their own against the mass of heavyweight titles being released in the run up to Christmas. Still, at least they’ll be cheap in the January sales.

The drop in event came to an end for me around two after arrival, as by then I felt I had seen everything on offer. It’s a shame there wasn’t more there. Even so - in the gaming world anyway - there is some great stuff coming out of Warner in Q4 this year.