iOS Universal – Page 3

Review: Lightning: D-Day

July 27, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 4

iOS, Android • Dave has given me the impression that HexWar are the Lucy van Pelt to our Charlie Brown, repeatedly advertising wonderful games and delivering troubled ones once we get our hopes up. I assume that, once the running gag had been established, the challenge for Charles Schultz was to find a way to create interest in a joke with a predictable ending. With Lightning: D-Day, HexWar did it by translating to app from a well-regarded, unusually simple WWII card game famous for its poorly-written rules. I had hoped that the combination of a lower degree of difficulty than their ambitious past games mixed with an easily addressed problem in the cardboard version made this a superb candidate for an unqualified HexWar success. Then again, we all know how this joke ends.

Review: Friday – by Friedemann Friese

July 10, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 8

iOS, Android • I’ve heard people mention three web-based boardgaming sites often: Brettspielwelt, Yucata, and, um, Bootyjew (that’s what I’ve always heard it called, and I am proud of myself for finding a link despite that). BSW has always sounded the strongest, but it wasn’t enough for them–now they’re coming for our mobile devices, as well. Their first foray: Friedemann Friese’s Friday, a sterling choice. It’s a well-regarded solo game with complexity just a bit above Onirim‘s, so they avoided the twin bottomless pits of development effort: AI and multiplayer, like Pitfall Harry. I looked it up–that’s actually the name of the character from Pitfall! I’m not excited about it, it just seemed like a waste of punctuation to end a sentence with “Pitfall!.”

The Further Adventures of Pathfinder

July 5, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 6

iOS, Android, PC/Mac • This will be Stately Play‘s ninth article mentioning Pathfinder Adventures. If you’re not into PA, our apologies. Dave’s the guy who stands in my way when I propose something terrible, but our affections overlap enough that it’s not an ideal example of checks and balances. But political commentary is an even worse idea than a ninth PA article, so let’s proceed to check out the differences between the mobile and PC/Mac versions!

Missile Cards launches on iOS

June 28, 2017 David Neumann 0

iOS Universal, PC • We’ve talked about it, we’ve reviewed it, and today’s the day it finally arrived on the App Store. We’re talking about Missile Cards, which landed on the App Store last night and joined a handful of other card games that are trying their best to make 2017 the best year ever for mobile gaming.

Missile Cards making its App Store debut next week

June 21, 2017 David Neumann 4

iOS Universal, PC • We’ve talked a lot about the currently PC-only Missile Cards the past few months, starting with Nick’s glowing review. The big news was that developer, Nathan Meunier, was trying to bring the game to iOS at some point. That point is next week, apparently, as we can expect it on our phones on the 28th of June.

FRAMED 2 has been out for a week and I’ve been ignoring it

June 21, 2017 David Neumann 4

iOS Universal • Last week saw the release of FRAMED 2 on the App Store and, yes, I’ve been aware of its existence. I’ve been actively ignoring it because, in my rapidly declining memory, I remembered Kelsey hating the first one when we covered it back at Pocket Tactics and didn’t see the need to cover the sequel to a game we actively disliked back in 2014. Went back and looked today and he didn’t hate it. In fact, he kind of loved it. So, I’m an idiot and now we should talk about FRAMED 2.

Open-world adventure, forma.8, comes to mobile

June 16, 2017 David Neumann 22

iOS Universal, PC/Mac • Being old and lazy, I hadn’t heard of forma.8 until yesterday. It’s been on Steam since February, but that’s Alex’s domain, and I hate stepping on his toes. Plus, did I mention I’m lazy? Searching Steam for new games just isn’t my bag. Luckily, forma.8 has arrived on what is exactly my bag: the App Store. Retitled forma.8 GO, it brings the open-world exploration and action to our small screens. Oh, and it’s on sale.

Terra Mystica lands on Steam for PC/Mac

June 9, 2017 David Neumann 3

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • When Terra Mystica was released for iOS and Android back in April, I had hoped to get a review up about a week or so after release. Surely, one week would be enough time to get a few games in and form an opinion. You would think so, but then Race for the Galaxy happened and the rest is history. Luckily for me, this week I can give Terra Mystica a go on my Mac instead of my iPad, meaning I can play it without RftG softly whispering my name.

Review: Monument Valley 2

June 8, 2017 Kelsey Rinella 2

iOS • Format plays much the same role in modern writing that fate played for the ancient Greeks. Monument Valley 2 is exactly what that title suggests, and the original was so popular that there’s little need for reviews. But I’m a game reviewer, and to resist describing it would invite the intervention of displeased gods. So: Monument Valley took the inspiration for its puzzles from M.C. Escher, its visual style from Helvetica and sunsets, and its lightly-presented narrative from maturing, regret, and making amends (and how distinct are those, really?). It was the sort of gem which made people feel like there was still something they could use to show off the potential of touchscreen devices to jaded onlookers. MV2 refines that success very gently.

Asmodee Digital has lost their minds, Onirim is still free

May 31, 2017 David Neumann 4

iOS Universal, Android • Being of an unstable mind myself, I usually try to not diagnose the mental health of others on the internet. Regardless of how off-the-rails their comment or post might be, you’re only getting a small sliver of the person behind the keyboard. That said, I think we might need to send help to Asmodee Digital and make sure they’re okay. Over the weekend, they put their hit card game, Onirim, on sale and, for some reason, it’s still on sale. Oh, and when I say “on sale” I mean free.