Catan
Catan is a turn based development strategy game for the iPhone similar to the Civilization series. The player’s goal is to set up and establish buildings, roads and collect resources on a small island. By building new structures and creating roads, you’ll earn development points, and ... Read More
Lost Cities Review
Reiner Knizia is no small fish in the world of board games. Titles such as the Lord of the Rings and Ingenious are enjoyed world wide, while Lost Cities, a 2-player 60-card game has even proven to be popular enough to warrant an XBLA remake. Having previously converted Carcassonne to the iOS platform, The Coding Monkeys have taken it upon themselves to restore Lost Cities to its original design, bolstering it with individually scaling AI opponents and multiple asynchronous online games. ...
Outwitters Review
It's been a while since we've seen a release from One Man Left Studios. Years ago they released the fantastic Tilt to Live, and aside from updating that game with new modes and features, nothing else has surfaced... until now that is. Outwitters is a turn based strategy game that pits you against the rest of the internet in either 1v1 or 2v2 match-ups. You can play league games which pit you against players of the same skill level as you rank up; you can play against random opponents;...
Zombie Quest - Mastermind ... Review
We've seen a lot of games involving zombies in our tenure as reviewers, and most of them are pretty much the same. After all, the zombie is a great opponent in an action game. They're slow, there's a lot of them, and most importantly, they're not human. It's been a while since there's been a unique take on zombies in the app store, but Zombie Quest – Mastermind the Hexes most definitely fits that description. More a monster game than a zombie game, but what we have here is a strategic b...
Reiner Knizia's City of Se... Review
Reiner Knizia's City of Secrets Pipes is certainly an odd title for a game. The setting falls along the same lines. Moles, an engineer on a royal flying vessel unwittingly crashes the majestic airship and now through his engineering prowess has to remodel all the pipes to fix his mistake. Pipes plays like a new spin on the classic Pipe Dream formula, only without the fear of the ever-present encroaching goo hurrying you along. No, each level here is part puzzle, part high ...
Scotland Yard Review
I've made it abundantly clear in the past that I love board games. While video games are obviously a passion of mine, their roots are embedded deeply in the social past-time of gathering around a table and vying for supremacy via cards, dice, tokens or just your mind Scotland Yard is almost 30 years old now and a true classic, but also one that may have left many a child frustrated by its obvious weaknesses as a board game, so how does it shape up as a video game? The game sup...
PrismaPix Review
There's a reason why we at AppSpy recently reviewed Kris Pixton's latest release in the Pathpix series - it was to act as a refresher or reminder of the developer's particular puzzling style. Ultimately it acts as a perfect introduction to an entirely new (relatively speaking) puzzling experience in the form of PrismaPix, and while it may feature the same core goals of PathPix, the gameplay itself is fresh and utterly engrossing. Mixing elements of games such as Minesweeper, Fill-a-Pi...
PathPix Joy Review
Pathpix Joy is the fourth game in the Pathpix series. What is Pathpix you ask? Well we could tell you to go check out our reviews of the original, but we're going to be nice and tell you here. Pathpix is a favorite amongst puzzle games here at AppSpy. Andrew has made his way through the multiple offerings while all these years later, I'm still playing the original. It's elegant, doesn't require too much straining of your brainy lobes, and upon completion of a level, offers not only the pictur...
Hero Academy Review
If you've spent any time gaming on the PC or even major consoles it's hard not to have come across Orcs Must Die, Robot Entertainment's third-person take on tower defense gameplay. Now iOS gamers can experience a taste of the developer's whimsical sense of fun thanks to their free-to-download tactical title, Hero Academy. Part card game, part turn-based strategy, players pit themselves against opponents from around the world in asynchronous matches. As such you can take part in multip...
W.E.L.D.E.R. Review
Being a welder of words admittedly sounds rather poncy. However, there's no better explanation for the task set upon you in... 'W.E.L.D.E.R.'. Luckily swapping tiles to create words is a lot of fun, and thanks to some interesting little gameplay additions, a rather unique experience among word and puzzle games is to be had. The core of the game is a mix of Bejeweled and Scrabble. Tiles can be swapped horizontally, vertically, and diagonally to create words of four letters or more. The...
Elder Sign: Omens Review
It's hard to be a fan of board games and not be aware of US based publisher Fantasy Flight Games; not only have they worked with some of geekdom's most treasured franchises, but they've delved in to the dark depths that is the Lovecraftian Mythos and produced some truly chilling games. One of their latest is a standalone card game dubbed 'Elder Sign' and iOS gamers can now get their hands on a digital version tweaked for the platform under Elder Sign: Omens. The premise is a simple on...
Janryumon PLUS (Mahjong) Review
Janryumon by NCSoft is simultaneously the most amazing and the most frustrating game I've played on an iOS device and this includes games I've either praised like a gibbering fan-boy or scalded for mistakes that go beyond basic flaws. This is because Janryumon is a client to play Reach Mahjong online against other players around the world, but more importantly the gameplay behind Mahjong is so rich - is so complex - that unless you are practiced in the game already, you WILL fail and fail oft...
Mr.Fang Review
Mr. Fang is a puzzle game that will keep your fingers tapping the screen as you combo up four blocks of the same color. Classic mode has you completing objectives to fill up your bar before time runs out, puzzle mode has you clearing the screen, and time attack mode has you vying for rankings on a world leaderboard. But is it fun? The concept behind Mr. Fang is to create a giant square out of four blocks of the same color. Once this square is created, you can tap on it to get a huge p...
Danger Alliance: Battles Review
It's not as though we haven't seen developers attempt to bring tactical turn-based titles to the App Store before, though they've generally made a critical mistake or two preventing the often overlooked genre from seeing a sort of revival. Danger Alliance: Battles by TOME Studios keeps things simple, but if you think this means the combat is any less intense for its simplicity you'd be wrong. At the beginning of each match you are able to select a squad from a mix of six unique classe...
Globulos Mania Review
How far can you stretch a premise? Oh wait, we've already used that opening line here at AppSpy and it was for a game reviewed quite recently too. A shame cause Globulos Mania is all about the stretching. If turn based stretching is your thing, you'll find all you want and more right here. Let's explore further. Globulos Mania is a series of mini games, all of which can either be played against the computer or online against other players. The rules of the game are varied, but the mec...
Qvoid Review
Some of best puzzle games base themselves around a simple concept that, when restricted in subtle ways, presents a whole new challenge to test your reasoning and logic. Qvoid by Gavina Games is one of these types of puzzles and while the idea of rolling a cube around and matching colors may seem easy enough, something as small as a 3x3 grid can turn in to a serious mind-bender. On each of the 96 currently available stages your aim is to smoosh all the colored squares on the level toge...
Kard Combat ™ Review
Editor Note (Nov 9, 2011): One of the major weaknesses of Kard Combat when it was released was its lack of customization - something further exascerbated by only having a handful of mages to play with, limiting the overall amount of unique cards to try out. Instead of adding in deck manipulation, Hothead Games has opted to add more mages (albeit at a cost) while also adding in local hotseat (a boon for friends who don't own iDevices). We still feel the lack of customization makes it har...
Ascension: Chronicle of th... Review
On the one hand, the recent influx (if you can call it that) of Collectable Card Games (CCGs) and their related game-types is a boon to fans of card based gaming and those after something to play and pass around with friends. On the other hand (and this is more of a personal note) playing these sorts of games can become a bit of an obsession. Who better than tournament champions from Magic The Gathering to understand my woe and to help design Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer by Playdeck ...
The Heist Review
The App Store is no stranger to puzzle collections; it's an easy way to output content without a lot of effort. So when you come across a game like The Heist by tap tap tap, it's difficult to remain cynical as you realize you've jumped down the rabbit hole and you're enjoying every minute of its maddening puzzles. What makes this game so intriguing is how quickly it manages to invest players in something as obtuse as solving puzzles to crack open a safe. You're given little motivation...
Wizards War Review
It's not easy for a lot of independent developer to come up with the next big 'it' game for the App Store, but dedication, skill and passion is almost always evident regardless of the final outcome. Wizards War by solo developer Pedro Morales is a neat, simple up-to-four-player board game that pits wizards and their summoned minions against each other in a duel to the death. The first and most important thing to remember is that your wizard is the only thing keeping you, as a player, ...
Mahjongg Dimensions Review
Mahjong, or more specifically 'Mahjong solitaire' has been a computer game staple for a long time now though it has remained relatively unchanged throughout its history, developing a few minor variations involving the pattern that's used. Some may already be familiar with Mahjongg Dimensions (sic) and its attempt at breaking out of the usual '2D' layout thanks to Facebook, but Backflip Studios has brought the game to the App Store, giving you a chance to play this classic game with a twist wh...