Author Archive for ChiffaN
A project manager in a major telecommunications supplier, an iPhone junkie and lately - a TMA editor. Love long walks on the beach and my wife, who is the most beautiful girl on the face of this planet. You can also follow me on twitter for all things iPhone and project management (and some personal stuff as well): http://twitter.com/ChiffaNe
GPlayer in Review – Dual-core video power to the masses
Devoid of decent multimedia players for the longest time, the iOS saw a tidal wave of such apps hit the App Store with the release of the iPad and iPhone 4. With the hardware finally up to the task of managing the real-time decoding of the wide array of video formats available today, we’ve seen everything from UPnP streaming AirPlayer to the short-lived incarnation of the crossplatform legend VLC, to the jailbreak-only XBMC. But one thing still out of reach has been smooth HD playback, especially for MKV encoded video. Until GPlayer hit the scene that is.
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON in Review – Freedom is the right of all sentient beings
The recent reboot of the Transformers franchise left me with mixed feelings. On one hand I definitely enjoy the new look and feel of the robots themselves. On the other, while the first movie was at least half-decent, it pretty much went downhill thereafter. And what to expect from the licensed game accompanying the latest movie -TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON – was a mystery for me.
The 7th Guest: Infection in Review – Kids, don’t try this at home!
The re-release of the classic adventure The 7th Guest (TMA Review) pleasantly surprised me about half-a-year ago, heralding the rebirth of Trilobyte Games. True to the minutest detail, the port nevertheless missed one of the most challenging puzzles due to the difficulty of adapting it to the small screen of the iPhone. Showered by fan requests however the developers decided instead to recreate the famous microscope puzzle from scratch and recently released it as a separate game for the iPad – The 7th Guest: Infection.
Starfront – Collision in Review – Craft-ing the Star of portable RTS
Every once in a while, a game comes along and literally tears down a genre and builds it anew, usually with a bar that is almost impossible to attain. In the genre of RTS that game was Starcraft, released by Blizzard in 1998 and still regarded as one the best strategy games of all time. Sadly, the great Blizzard has not yet graced the iOS with their attention, leaving the gap wide open for would-be upstarts to claim the Starcraft-shaped piece of pie. And unsurprisingly, the first one at it is the prolific Gameloft with Starfront – Collision™.
A Knights Dawn in Review – The dusk of side-scrolling Tower Defense
A few years back when the Tower Defense genre had just only started to make its first baby steps on the App Store, a game took the Crown by storm. Still regarded as one of the best Tower Defense titles of all time, Defender Chronicles – Legend of The Desert King gave birth to the side-scrolling TD genre, additionally offering a compelling story and deep RPG elements. Now, sometime later a wannabe successor – A Knights Dawn – strives to overtake the bar set by the famous ancestor.
The Cartographer in Review – Old-style maps on your space age iDevice
Travelling abroad with an iPhone, one thing I always miss the most is cell data. While theoretically I could turn on roaming, I would have to mortgage my house to do so. And this also means that unless I find a Wi-Fi hotspot I’m stuck without the lovely Google Maps that I, as many others, have grown so accustomed to. And with my wife making extensive use of the handy My Maps feature of Google’s to plan our trip, this is even more depressing. And then I learned about The Cartographer by Tasty Pixel.
Orions 2 in Review – The deck masters are back with a vengeance!
Back in my university days, I used to be a huge fan of Magic The Gathering, probably the most well-known and successful Collectable Card Game ever. It always provided an excellent way to pass the time during those boring lectures and it was something to do in-between them as well. I have abandoned it since, unfortunately, mainly because of lack of time. But it seems the iOS is likely to change that, with some superb CCG type games appearing on the platform the last few months. The most recent of which is actually a sequel to a rather successful iOS release from a couple of years ago — Orions: Legend Of Wizards (TMA Review) — and is rather unimaginably titled Orions 2.
Wrapping up on Apple’s iOS 5 and iCloud announcement
The WWDC keynote has come and gone and while there was no announcement of the iPhone 5, there was still plenty of Mac OS X and iOS news to digest, including the upcoming iOS update and long rumored iCloud service. Let’s take a closer look at some of the things we learned about iOS 5 and iCloud, both of which can’t come a day too soon if you’re an owner of an iDevice.
Sacred Odyssey – Rise of Ayden in Review – The air smells strongly of Zelda
Devoid of a console for most of my life, one of the franchises I never had the chance to truly dive into was the (pardon the pun) legendary Legend of Zelda. As one of the grandfathers of the Action RPG genre, it has always been renowned for the perfect blending of Action, Adventure, light puzzle-solving and even lighter RPG elements. Considering this classic series has still not graced the App Store, it’s not much of a surprise that Gameloft has attempted to fill the void by releasing Sacred Odyssey – Rise of Ayden, a title almost bursting with a certain Z-quality.
Vampire Rush in Review – Tower Defense up close and personal
It seems in the last few years the genre of Tower Defense has been milked for almost all it’s worth. From the traditional ports of well known Flash titles on the App Store to some quite interesting and original ones developed specifically for the platform, you can find almost anything out there. The latest addition to jump into the fray is Vampire Rush – an original blend of Hero and TD gameplays.
