J: What was the initial inspiration in taking Connect 4 go into the 3D realm?

M: My wife Helen gave me the idea of combining a classic Tic Tac Toe game with connect 4 when we were talking about famous puzzle games and how one could improve them.

I just thought “Wow, that is a good idea. It would be even better with 4 levels – in 3D“. From the first moment I was fascinated by the concept that started to develop rapidly in my mind. I knew immediately how the game should look like, but wasn’t so shure about the gameplay. Therefore we build a realistic model made of plastic. We kept playing for hours and even friends, visiting us, had a lot of fun playing it. The new strategie that evolved out of the new dimension made the gameplay completely adictive. So I decided to develop “4 IN A 3D ROW“ for iOS, Android and Mac. A good friend of mine, Marco Nowara, was so enthusiastic about the game, that he finally decided to program the AI. This way he became the programmer and I am very thankful for his job because he made the game the way it is now.

J: Are there any other board games that you would like to reinvent? I personally would love to see a Hungry Hungry Hippos adaption!

M: That could be a possible game idea. I have to admit that I only develop that kind of games which captivate me right away. At the moment there are a few board games I could imagine to reinvent and Hungry Hungry Hippos is probably one of them, but I am not fully committed to any of them. But if me or my wife should ever have an idea for another reinvention of a board game, that carries me away at the first glance, I will shurely implement it.

J: What got you into wanting to make games for the mobile platform?

M: That is easy to answer. I am and always have been a passionate player, which brought me directly to my job; I am a graphic designer and have been working in the game industry for half of my life. I have been part of small and big studios and a lot of interesting projects. But at some point I had so many ideas I wanted to put into reality but no time for doing so, that I decided to open my own company. „NEONFIVE STUDIO“ is my startup company and I always wanted to develop games for mobile devices because of the fantastic new Input possibilities they offer.

J: Something we mentioned in our review for the game was that unlike other developers, you haven’t forced the player to register through a bunch of loop holes just to get to the actual game. You have the login screen if you wish to have an online persona or you can just play as a guest. What do you think of the current trend for having gamers register to services just to play the games they love?

M: Personally I don’t like being forced to register somewhere to be able to play a game. In my opinion a registration should alway be only a bonus and no necessity. With “4 IN A 3D ROW“ the registration is a bonus which enables you to be part of a worldwide ranking system, which is not directly linked to the device. All registerd players of “4 IN A 3D ROW“ are part of that ranking system, no matter if they play iOS, Android or Mac. It is a great feature, which is connected to the registration. That is excactly the way a registration should be like and not for collecting data as some companies do.

J: I’m sure you have had hundreds of your own epic moments in the multiplayer portion of the game. Are there any matches you can remember that just took you by surprise?

M: I am thinking of one of the first multiplayer test games we did. I wanted the multiplayer game to work everywhere around the world with any kind of internet connection. Therefore I sent my brother, who was in the Australian Outback at that time, a testbuild and we opened our first multiplayer game within a distance of 16000 km. The response time was incredible and even the gameplay had a good perfomance. After we had a couple of multiplayer games my brother called me and he was fascinated by the gameplay. That was my epic moment, because since that moment I knew that one could play the game against each other from anywhere around the world.

J: Could we see 4 in a Row 3D hit other platforms like the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360?

M: That is hard to tell, because “4 IN A 3D ROW“ is originally developed for mobile devices. I don’t think that PS3 and XBOX360 offer a big market for puzzle games; they are rather dominated by blockbuster titles.

J: What have you learnt from the community feedback for the game?

M: The community is extremely important for us. Therefore we try to respond to every idea or improvement from the players. There are good suggestions among them. Thanks for that. We also try to solve every problem immediately.

J: Can current fans expect any expansions or differently themed versions of the current game?

M: There will be an Update soon. All the small bugs will be finally solved, but there won’t be a different themed version yet. I still think that the game design matches the look of the smartphones perfectly . But I am always open to new ideas, and if there is one improving the game I will implement it.

J: If you had any advice to give aspiring game designers, what would you say?

M: Live your dream. If you are really persuaded of an idea you should realize it, come what may. Develop your own ideas. It is a great feeling to present your games to the world and see other people like what you have created. The only thing that matters is that you are committed to it for 100%.

J: Finally are there any future projects that you would like to give a shout out for?

M: As I said before I have a bunch of ideas and right now I try to decide on my next project with NEONFIVE STUDIO. It will definitly not be a puzzle game again but rather an Arcade/Casual game. Either some kind of jungle game with monkeys or a western shooter. Stay excited, because NEONFIVE STUDIO intends to produce only high quality games that we are really committed to.

4 IN A 3D ROW is Available now for the Apple iPad and iPhone via the App Store now!

Einfo Games said in their  4 IN A 3D ROW Review “Overall you will get a great gaming experience for the price you are willing to fork over. “

Resident Evil 6 begins as Leon Kennedy, the gritty cop from Raccoon City, wakes up in the middle of what looks to be the apocalypse. Buildings are falling around him and zombies are everywhere. Sounds great so far right? Flash forward ten minutes and our hero is now running like a seasoned athlete over burning cars as a wall of fire chases him. Ok, this is getting a little worrying. No fear dear readers for Leon then jumps for his dear life to a circling chopper while battling an ankle hungry zombie in a grumbling quick time event.

I don’t know about you but this isn’t the way Resident Evil was supposed to end up in my opinion. Even though its lacking predecessor was sloping on uneven ground of franchise loyalty, it was still able to offer gamers something quite solid and enjoyable. Resident Evil 6 though suffers from a really bad case of unsure identity. It is kind of like a man is looking into a mirror and wondering “Am I gay, or am I straight?”

This is based on the fact that Resident Evil 6 attempts to cater to multiple audiences through a selection of different, lengthy campaigns. Sure each individual character story is a near ten hours long, but it is the complete spiralling difference in narrative that just makes the quantity seem incredibly unappealing and forgettable.

These campaigns come in the form of different character perspectives that players must adventure through to understand the full outcome of the story. First you have Leon’s two cents on the outbreak that tries to give fans something that they have long being missing in survival horror. Instead though you end up with an experience that gives too little of what fans wanted to begin with, while also borrowing from other franchise successes but completely forgets why they were good in the first place.

The developers were probably all sat around a big table with three different games on the drawing board. The tough thing for them though was that they all just couldn’t agree on a final decision and so just shoved them all into the same game. Though the intention of this was good, it is saddening to see the plot suffer because of this and especially the game’s ultimate villain. Resident Evil 5 fans will know that series regular Albert Wesker has been finally defeated, the funny thing is though that because of his death the devs all of a sudden ran out of good ideas for bad guys. I seriously got to the final boss fight for each campaign and just thought “Who are you again?”

Umbrella, the company behind the whole virus thing has been gone for a while and it is a shame to see Capcom spend most of their time trying to copy other games and completely forget about their own franchise lore. Not only that but because the actual story suffers, so does the sense in existence for its constant stream of dim witted enemies. I truly don’t understand why the enemies transform into multiple forms of insect, or animal and it is never actually explained either. On one instance I fought a boss that transformed into a saber toothed tiger, tyrannosaurus rex and finally a spider/fly. In another I ended up fighting a huge man eating snake that never quite got given a reason to exist.

The game just throws these things at you and expects you to accept them, but you just can’t. Not only that but the main cast just aren’t that likeable either. Most of the characters you play as have for some reason turned into unrelatable jerk faces. Chris Redfield and his little chum Piers are the main criminals in this act of douche baggery, and it is not until you get your controller on series newcomer and Terminator Salvation inspired mercenary called Jake that it truely comes apparent. He seriously has some personality issues to deal with and I feel that if Capcom had not tried to make him Resident Evil’s attempt at Dante then I probably would have accepted him as a series regular for the on-going series.

Gameplay wise things kind of go a little hit and miss too. Fans have been screaming for the ability to walk and shoot for years upon years and finally Capcom have given them what they have been craving. Sadly this comes with a few hiccups along the way. I don’t really understand why the developer decided to put the vault, action and cover crouch action all on the same button, but they did. This means that you will be spending a lot of your time trying to hide behind tablets, sand bags and boxes only to see yourself climb over them and take a machine gun to the face. Sure it is manageable if you take it slow but for a game that is trying to appease more to the action crowd, this kind of things needs to be executed with a thought of mistake. In some ways it is best to take your steps slowly though because more than once I have found that the game would like nothing more than to kill you with its own scripted environmental changes. At one point I was running down a spiral staircase only to be crushed without warning by ninja-like falling debry that crunched me from out of no where. In another campaign I was blasted off a bridge from an enemy tank just because I was on the wrong side of the scripted event. Yeah thank you right there narrative progression.

I really hated that the game ran along a path of very scripted events. Unlike the popular Dead Space games that did it right. You will always come across a number of idol bodies during your journey. Sure you might think to double tap them in the head but sadly you will find that your wasted bullets will only go through their lifeless bodies. Upon walking up to them though, you will soon discover that those thought to be dead lumps of flesh are actually there for scripted cheap scares and attempts at chipping your health away. There is no way around it but to just accept it and move on. It doesn’t even help that it contributes to the fact that your health will be low for the majority of the game.

One thing I really liked about Resident Evil 5 was the ability to upgrade your weaponry, but this feature has ultimately been dropped in 6 in favour of a skill based system that lets you pick from a list of different abilities, such as increased weapon damage to larger enemy drop rates. It is a welcome change I guess but it is a shame that the fun micro management of dumping cash into your favourite guns has all but gone.

Combat itself though has improved a lot this time around. Gone have the days of hoping that a bullet won’t ding off an enemy’s head like a plastic dud and finally bullets feel like they make an impact when colliding the a victims squishy skull. Shooting enemies will generally blow chunks off their body and seeing them crawl towards you in blood filled anger gives a rather good sense of awesomeness when popping the final bullet in the enemy’s eye socket.

Unusually though the game tries to keep its classic feel of resource management but completely forgets that it chose the action game route. There will be times where you will run out of every kind of ammo and all you will be able to do is sit back and let your AI partner farm some boxes of shells for you. This might be because the game tries to make you use the completely revamped melee system more over weapons, but to be honest I would rather be shooting enemies than round house kicking them across the screen like Chuck Norris.

On the note of the AI though I have to say that my reaction it is was one of surprise and then disappointment. The AI partner is A LOT better this time around but don’t let their now added invulnerability and skill at headshots fool you. At times I have noticed my partner shooting walls, leaving me to die and in some instances standing idolally by as I scream at them to help move a team environment object.

You can play all of this through the game’s added multiplayer feature but really why would you want to suffer all these problems again and with a human partner is could be potentially dumber than your AI counterpart. Other additional modes have been added like the classic Mercenaries mode, but I found myself losing interest fast as I realised that the tiny time limit and fact you can only kill up to 150 enemies before a game over became a very unappealing factor.

Capcom have also attempted to copy a feature From Software’s popular Dark Souls game got famous by. This mode comes in the form of a separate option called Agent Hunt where you can invade other player’s campaigns and try and kill them for the fun giggle of it. Sadly the infected characters you play as are all so different in damage output and health that sometimes you might be stuck playing as something that won’t give you that tiniest bit of advantage.

Finally I come to the visuals. What is surprising with this one is that the overall aesthetic quality has shot down a tad bit since the beautiful HD outing of RE5. The animation is still top quality for the most part but I don’t really understand the drop in its graphical presentation. The console versions especially suffer from a case of rough edges and blurry textures. It may be a better idea to buy the game for the PC if you do decide to give it a shot.

Resident Evil 6 is available now for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC!

For more information on Resident Evil 6, click here.

For a while now I have looked at the games industry from a rather long distance away when it comes to their business practices. Slowly we have begun to […]

Sound Shapes shows what happens when you make genius minds collaborate on one project. Developed by up and coming developer Queasy games and designed by composing electronic powerhouses Jonathan Mak and Shaw-Han Liem, Sound Shapes proves that Sony’s handheld won’t go down with a fight.

The game plays like your everyday platformer but with a twist. While random observers may look at the game as a blob travelling through inspiring 2d worlds, you the player will see that the game is your canvas and you are the paint. The best way to explain it is if you imagine the 2D levels as a blank interactive music sheet. With this music sheet, you are given the opportunity to put all sorts of unusual objects onto it, each with their own unique sounds and properties. Through the placement of these platforms and objects you are ultimately creating your own electronic soundtrack that you can not only listen to but also interact with through your blob like persona as you bounce and roll over the many musical obstacles set in your way.

While Media Molecule’s Little Big Planet proved to gamers that it is easy to learn a level creator but hard to master it, Sound Shapes gives players an incredibly accessible set of tools that anyone can have fun with from the get go. This is all supported by an easy to use palette of motion controls that will have you tapping your screen and back panel like a crazy futuristic composer as you passionately attempt to create the perfect musical level.

To delve deeper into the level creator I will first like to tip my hat to the developer for bringing so much charm in its included objects and sequencers. The fact that within a matter of five minutes you could have a catchy beat through just tapping around a screen and hoping for the best is something that really suprised me. Each catagory of object or shape presents its own unique use and it is great to see that the such a simplisitic mode can be such a time sink.

Not only that but the game also consists of a large number of shipped levels all created by the team at Queasy Games that are not only excellently designed, but also shows to the gamer what is possible if they put their own mind into the level creator. These premade levels also come with a stream of supporting artists, all with their own levels based on a combination of music such as Deadmau5, Beck and many more. This is all selected through a side ways selection of different album covers which gives me hope that Queasy Games will eventually support the game with future DLC. This isn’t much of a problem though because of the massive amount of potential in its level creator.

Each album finds you “bopping” your way through in involves an individual theme and tone. The second album, and my personally favourite called ‘Corpereal’ consists of your gooey self traversing the pixellated exaggeration of everyday office life. In another you will be rolling and climbing for your dear life as ice-like platforms slowly begin to crack and shatter beneath your slimey feet.

The interesting thing about these levels is that all the happenings and perils are actually part of the level’s musical theme. While Corpereal will have its on-screen desk workers sipping hot coffee to the techno vibe, ‘Hello, World’ the games tutorial album will have you crawling up yawning clouds that each compliment to the current beat. To make things a little more interesting for the player, a number of circular orbs are placed around each area for you to collect. By collecting these orbs you are adding additional notes to the level’s tune. You can ignore these sometimes hard to get notes if you like, but where is the fun in that?

The levels also come with their fair share of dangers and enemies too. By referencing Corperal again, those happy little desk jockeys will sometimes fire their hot coco with an insta killing beam of red. In others you will be hopping on sneezing bugs or learning the pattern of miniture lava shooting volcanoes. This adds to the ever growing challenge and while the game gladly holds your hand in the early stages of your adventure, it is all too happy to drop kick you into defeat at times.

Players who find themselves wanting more out of the short campaign can look forward to a batch of Super Meat Boy style challenges called ‘Death Mode’ levels that not only reward you with much deserved trophies but will also have you coming back again and again to shave off seconds in your favourite toe tapping levels. As I mentioned the game will get harder the further you get into it, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself spending a cluster of hours trying to figure out a certain level or just wanting to raise your time in the leaderboards.

This is all brought together by a manageable community system that will allow you to upload your completion times and levels to thousands of other Shapers and even download their own creations too.
The only question now is, will we one day see a potential expansion where we can add our own favourite songs from current bands and see them brought to life through the already impressive creation system?

Sound Shapes is available now for Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita.

For more information, click here.

Lollipop Chainsaw follows the short but sweet tale of Juliet Starling, a charismatic, modern age depiction of the American cheerleader stereotype. The thing about Juliet though is that she has a secret, a secret that runs down her entire family tree to this day. Juliet is a zombie hunter. Things get “totally” uncool for Juliet though when the zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out at her quiet, Sunnydale-esque high school and only Juliet has the tools to fix it.

The first thing to put forward is that Lollipop Chainsaw is a very fun game. While many gamers love a game that they can sink their brain into, Lollipop wants you to put that large lump of meat on the couch next to you and just laugh away at what you’re experiencing. The game doesn’t want to be serious and it also doesn’t want you to be serious when playing it. These is presented best through the game’s unusual take on hack and slash gameplay that uses the standard tools of the trade formula of light and heavy attacks but with an interesting aesthetic difference.

See Juliet doesn’t use a cheap sword or gun, this blonde badass comes equipped with a fistful of pom pom brutality and a custom chainsaw to dish out the finishing blows. Like other games that have come before it Lollipop gives the player a fun, freestyle fighting system that allows them to mix up moves and look the part of the rather flexible cheerleader through light attacks that initially weaken your undead enemies and then allowing you to add the pre-mentioned finishing touch with her trusty chainsaw heavy attacks. If you feel you are getting your butt spanked a little too much you also have a dodge button on hand to get you out of the thick of things. The cool thing about this as well is that even dodging can be used as an offensive ability by using mid air attacks, which backs up my original statement about being able to freestyle in the way you fight your enemies.

To fans of that kind of formula it is incredibly easy to get into and rather pleasing to watch. The combat can be taken further too with the ability to allow more experienced gamers to purchase additional combo moves and abilities. The thing is that the game never forces you to buy these additional move sets and is more than happy to let the player go on their merry way with the already given move set. You may think to yourself that things could get a little boring after a while but seeing as Lollipop has such a short length, you never find much issue to it in the end.

Juliet also has her wisecracking, care bear boyfriend with her, but not in the way you might think. You see Nick had been bitten during the opening segment of the game, which ultimately forced Juliet to save his life…or what was left to be saved. This resulted in Juliet cutting off his head and putting a magical spell on him to keep him in the world of the living. You may think that is a little excessive for a girlfriend to turn her boyfriend into a fashion accessory but I actually found that Juliet and Nick were a pretty well written team and it is great to see writer James Gunn not ignore the fact the Nick has to live with his new found “disability”. This leaves you having fun with their playful bubblegum banter but at the same time caring about if Juliet and her unlucky squeeze will make it to the end.

Luckily for the player and Juliet, Nick comes with a ton of useful abilities even though just looking like a talking paperweight. Later on in the game Juliet will unlock special abilities for Nick that serve as last stand moves that can be used on the fly. These range from instant stun abilities like swinging Nick like a whip to shaking his head like a bulging piggy bank and getting rare items and game currency for purchases. The currency in the game is also a major part of the game and how you upgrade Juliet and her abilities. As I mentioned new comers to the Japanese hack and slash genre won’t have to worry about buying more combos, but other affordable unlockables are also there for the player to work towards with the cash they make. These come in the forms of unlockable costumes, health and damage upgrades, etc.

All this cash can only be accumulated by killing zombies and this is something you will be doing a lot. The formula basically works like this: stun enemies with light attacks and then lop off their dizzy heads for coins. It is a simple thing to follow and it is always a joy to see the multi kill bonus rainbow pop over your victim’s headless corpses as you get a “Sparkle Hunting Combo”. If players want to take their coin collecting even further then they can also use Juliet’s “berserk” mode in the form of a gleeful one hit kill murder fest that is accompanied by the highly entertaining track ‘Lollipop’ that is performed by ‘The Chordettes’. As I mentioned the game doesn’t take itself seriously and everything you do in this game will be in some way making fun of itself, even down to its soundtrack.

This soundtrack is also supported by a stellar voice cast with the likes of Tara Strong from such fame as Harley Quinn from the Batman cartoons and Arkham games. The voice actors obviously had fun making this game and it is great to be able to feel that energy that the cast must have been omitting in the recording studio through the game.
Sadly those looking for an attractive game probably won’t find it here. Lollipop does look a little dated but this is all made up for with the great character designs of Juliet and her countless undead rivals. This doesn’t save the rather ugly environments though and you never feel like you are ever in a memorable location. To be honest you probably won’t even remember half the locations you visited after completing the game.

For more information, click here.

The Dark Knight Rises iOS starts off about half way through the film with Batman investigating a lead on the cat burglar Selina Kyle. Developer Gameloft have tried their best here to keep additional plot devices out of the game and only focusing on key plot points for players to take part in. This is probably because of the overall lack of Batman throughout certain portions of the story and because of this, you may start out a little confused with what is going on in the story if you haven’t seen the movie.

For what it included though, it is a pretty good digital adaption for people wanting to get a little more out of the Nolan trilogy as you take on the open world environment of Gotham City. Players are cast as the brooding Dark Knight as he goes on a personal mission to defeat Bane and stop his plans to destroy Gotham city. As mentioned the plot can be a little confusing to new comers. You won’t know who a select number of the new characters are without taking a trip down to your local cinema but thankfully the game keeps the story skipping along with additional plot as to give your time as Batman a little more duration. For people who have seen the movie, you will find that half of the stuff you do while playing never actually happened in the film, such as an extended escape from a Mexican prison that was obviously designed to give the level more than just 4 minutes in length. Apart from that you could say that the story while dressed as the caped crusader was actually happening between the scenes that you never saw during the movie. This does bring a little bit of contradiction to the overall plot though as Batman was in a little bit of a hurry during the final moments of the film which I won’t spoil but in the game he is given all the time he needs to defeat Bane. This can make the story drag a little as you never feel the tension that the film portrayed when Batman take the fight to Bane at that final part in the movie.

As mentioned, the game adds its own extra bits of plot to add length to the game and to not spoil anything for unaware gamers. This will consist of grapple gunning, driving and punching your way through the entirety of Gotham City in missions and side quests that allow Batman to disrupt Bane and his lackies plans. I would probably say thought that this is one story you won’t be sitting on the edge of your seat on sadly.
Not only that but the game looks great too with a sharply modelled Batman that looks like a spitting image of his original movie version. The detail on the bat suit itself is textured wonderfully and when the game places rain into the environment, you won’t be able to help drooling over the addition of seeing the rainfall run down the kevlar vest. Gotham looks great too but doesn’t add much variety in terms of buildings additional environments. Everything fits well enough together and is pretty close to what you might expect from a preview era PS2 game like Max Payne2: Fall of Max Payne with the added shine. Sadly other characters including the villainous Bane are given less love with their visual rendering as all attention seems to have been put on Batman himself.

The gameplay is actually the star of the show here. Taking many inspirations from Rocksteady’s Arkham franchise, Dark Knight Rises gives you full control of Batman in the palm of your hand. Controlling the caped crusader is done with the usual use of virtual analog sticks and they actually work really well. Additional actions are provided with buttons mapped on the right side of the screen that allow you to punch, jump counter and use your grapple gun and batarangs. Surprisingly all these buttons don’t get in the way of the action or your thumbs you so will be bringing justice to baddies as soon as you pick up the IPhone/ iPad with the really accessible controls.

To traverse around the city Batman can use two different abilities to journey between the connecting rooftops with the use of a grapple gun and cape. The grapple gun works a lot like the Arkham’s grapple gun or Team Ninja’s Tenchu as you freely aim your reticule at the corners of ledges and fire away freely to make it to the tops of platforms. When you need to travel a great distance you simply just press jump button and Batman will open his cape and soar gracefully across the city. All this is controllable too which means you will be able to duck and weave between the many buildings as your make your way to the next objective. Not only this but during other missions you will be given control of the popular Bat-pod motorcycle or the film’s newly introduced aerial Bat vehicle. These all work great within the games tiny interface with simple controls like turning, accelerating and reverse. I will say though that it was a shame that when turning in the Bat-pod that you don’t get to experience the cool aesthetic of the films on Bat cycle in which the wheels roll sideways when turning corners. It is only a nit-pick though and is probably just based on the limitations of the game and its hardware.

Taking on thugs is easy to do too with continuous button presses on the screen. To mix things up the enemies will occasionally fight back from behind to which forces you to mix up the fighting with well-timed counter attacks or block breaking somersaults over enemy heads. It all feels fantastically fluid and each fight looks and feels great as well. Combat goes that one step further with additional gadgets to use too such as flashbangs, batarangs, and the already mentioned grappling hook which allows you to pull unsuspecting enemies towards you for a quick knockout. These gadgets can be improved on through the course of the game too by using earned credits and XP from defeating enemies to upgrade and unlock other gadgets. Some of these gadgets include softening your footsteps so that you can perform stealthy take downs and making your cape become a nano enhanced cloak so that you can hunt your enemies by air without being detected. This is all greatly welcomed and brings in a lot of replay value as you battle to unlock more and more gadgets and content. Puzzle fans can get some fun out of the game too which the in-game hacking feature which allows you to unlock hidden areas and gadget boxes through the use of a pipe mania type mini game. Tapping the little icons to line up the lights to the goal is all easy to do and just as tense as the combat as you battle against time to gain entry to hidden hostages or mystery prizes.

While the gameplay is great, the sound design can be a little bit of a mixed bag. Sadly none of the movie’s cast members return to portray their respective roles and are instead replaced with voice actors that try their best with the talents they possess. While Bruce Wayne may sound a little different, their lead VA for Batman is a great interpretation of the gruff, sore throated super hero. Alfred also gets a nice little bit of attention with a solid voice actor; while Bane leaves with a ultimately disappointing portrayal with no deep, threatening evil touches to his accent like the super talented Tom Hardy gave us in the movie.

The score is kept epic throughout though with some borrowing of the great DKR soundtrack. This helps the combat segments a lot in adding that instrumental touch to the overall feel of continuous battle. I felt though that the free roaming segments in between could have used with some louder music though as gliding through the air as Batman feels a little empty at times without something closer to DKR’s main theme music that is used in the film. All in all it can feel like the background music is a little too quiet at times or just missing in places.

For more information, click here.

4 in a 3D Row boasts an unusual visual style that will have your eyes seduced by its initial beauty. The game takes the retro 4 in a row formula and takes it up a notch or two with an all new cube grid interface.

It is a simple, yet attractive design with a shining gleam of neon green focused colour palette which I will admit had me saying “wow” at first sight. I am a sucker for futuristic looking interfaces especially those that give you a ‘Tron’ vibe. NeonFive’s 4 in a 3D Row presents a new aspect to the competitive coin dropping past time in which the grid is given multiple sides and layers to it so that a player can take an alternate route to victory. The game’s visuals allow for a simple understanding of this layout and the learning curve to getting used to the new layout is easy to catch on with. Your eyes won’t be intimidated by the proclaimed 3D feature either as it basically is just stating that the game is played on a cube grid as I mentioned.

4 in a Row 3D is also very easy to interact with too, even on an iPhone or iPad. To place a token on the grid, the player just simply taps the screen and then their coloured piece is placed. It is a simple as that. Not only that but because the grid is multi layered, it will also require the player to turn the cube and place more pieces on different parts. This is taken care of by just pressing your finger down on the screen and dragging your finger in whatever direction you would like the cube to turn. Easy, no?

The game sports two modes for players to have a go with which consist of single player AI battles or provoking multiplayer contests. If you are simply looking for a quick 1 player match against the games CPU then you can with a selection of different difficulty modes. I found a problem with the AI though especially on easy in which the sneaky CPU will curve in difficulty from time to time. Sometimes it will go on an all-out onslaught to make sure you are defeated while other times it will just place randomly scattered pieces on the board while you make a 4 in a row without much effort. This makes the AI a little unpredictable and not in a fun way. While initially trying to get used to the game, the easy mode AI would destroy me over and over again until suddenly it just became a blind drunk and started playing completely recklessly.

This can be put to one side though with the ability to play with actually intelligent human opponents. The multiplayer is a great addition to the overall package and is supported with a lag free experience that will have you determined to conquer the leaderboards for weeks to come. While the game does require registering to its servers, the process is effortless and doesn’t want you to give away your email address either which makes a great change from being spammed by the general streams of emails from acts of registration.

4 in a 3D Row is available now on the ITunes store.

For more information, click here.

Being a Dead Space fan is like being an unusual breed of gamer. On the one hand you have two amazing games to currently experience in the […]

This role playing game starts off with your transparent-self waking up in the aftermath of what probably was the par […]