For the Emperor! I got to admit, my first real exposure to the epic Warhammer 40K universe wasn’t through the miniatures but through the RTS game for the PC, Dawn of War. Since then, almost any Warhammer 40K game would pique my interest, and Danish developer Full Control’s upcoming title based on the Warhammer 40K universe, Space Hulk, is no different.

The game is set to be released in Fall 2013 for iOS, PC and Mac and is based on the board game of the same title. Full Control has just released some new screenshots today from their alpha build of the game, so be sure to check them out in this very post. According to the developer, Space Hulk is a 3D digital turn based strategy game that recreates the classic claustrophobic board game experience for single player and multiplayer cross-platform play between PC, Mac and iOS.

Set in the isolated corridors and tomb-like chambers of an ancient vessel lost in the graveyard of space, players lead a small army of fearless Space Marine Terminators to battle in a ferocious fight for survival against hordes of predatory alien Genestealers. Based on the “Sin of Damnation” campaign from the 3rd edition board game, Space Hulk includes a robust 12-mission single-player and co-operative campaign.

Recreating the tense battles of the board game, multiplayer mode will allow players to go head-to-head as one player controls the Space Marines and their opponent, the Genestealers, in the ultimate fight for domination. Cross platform functionality in multiplayer mode allows players to compete against friends whether they play on PC, Mac or mobile. The Space Hulk level editor will enable players to design their own levels, share them with others online and in a central hub explore creations of the community.

For more news on Space Hulk, be sure to stay tuned to Nineoverten.com

I read somewhere that Snoop Dogg goes by the name Snoop Lion these days, and that he has gone Rastafarian. No matter how religiously convicted (or probably he’s just high or something) the dude is, there’s nothing stopping him from lending his canine moniker (yup, instead of his new, feline one), to a brand new iOS title, a brawler to be exact (with shades of Ouendan thrown in for good measure), called Way of the Dogg.

The game is now available on the iTunes App Store for USD 2.99. Check out the synopsis: Way of the Dogg for iOS combines Snoop Dogg’s passion for old school Kung Fu movies and his chart-topping songs with Echo Peak’s expertise in music gaming to create a truly unique rhythm-action, beat-matching combat experience. Each level is a fresh fight against a different style of character, in a new location, defined by a Snoop Dogg track that drives the beat of the combat.

Play as AJ and fight your way through 14 levels, each choreographed beat-matched fight is set to Snoop’s music, including “Who am I?”, “Gz and Hustlas” and “10 Lil Crips” to name a few.  Go head-to head with friends in multiplayer rhythm battles and follow Snoop’s lead in the Temple Tutorials. Train with Snoop, pick a side, take your chances and find the way: The Way of the Dogg.

Head over here for the game: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/way-of-the-dogg/id635451623?mt=8

Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim movie has plenty of hype to live up to, and one way to add fuel to the fire would be to have a comic-book tie-in, a prequel of sorts, to flash out the movie’s universe which features humankind fighting for survival against what used to be a Japanese monster movie staple: giant monsters otherwise known as Kaiju.

I had high hopes for the comic book prequel, titled Pacific Rim: Tales From Year Zero, and I must say, the book doesn’t disappoint. Published by Legendary Comics, it is written by Travis Beacham, the same guy who wrote the treatment for the movie, and featuring art from Sean Chen (Bloodshot, Nova), Yvel Guichet and Pericles Junior. The awesome cover art is done by none other than the awesome Alex Ross.

As the title implies, the book revisits the first Kaiju attack on August 10th 2013, to the development of counterweapons known as Jaegars a year later. It answers the question why two pilots are needed in a single Jaegar unit. It also sets the tone for the movie, in which after 10 years since the first attack humankind has sort of given up on the Jaegar initiative and instead have resigned themselves to building “The Wall”, conceding half the world to the monsters.

Characters that you’ve seen on the trailers (the black guy who goes “we are cancelling the apocalypse”, and the Japanese pilot, well, kid, in the prequel) are given plenty of exposition in the book, including what looks to be the hero Jaeger which gets junked early in the book. With just less that a month to go, I can’t wait for the movie to hit theaters and this prequel gets a 4 out of 5.

World War Z. I saw several copies of the book at a bookstore in Kota Kinabalu a couple of years back. I didn’t pick it up even though interest was high in the title, considering that a movie was being made with Brad Pitt headlining it. The movie’s out now (and I heard it’s pretty decent), and like most blockbusters these days, there is a video game tie-in with the movie.

The game shares the same title as the movie and was developed by Phosphor Games using Unreal Engine for iOS devices. It starts off impressively, with a plane full of zombies crashing into the bar where your character is having a drink in. Normally this would be the premise of an all-out-first-person-shooter but the game eschews traditional virtual thumbsticks for movement, and instead borrows from the adventure genre where you tap on the screen in order for your character (the generically named Doug, or was it Rob…blame the late night studying for my temporary lack-of-recall) to move to that location.

As for shooting the undead (the game’s lore, available through reading emails off PCs, labels the zombies as being afflicted by some strain of rabies), World War Z borrows from games such as House of the Dead, in which you just need to move the target cursor to the particular zombie and Doug automatically starts shooting (kinda like point a gun). I can’t recall why Doug comes packing at the start of the game, but what I do know is that a. unlike Resident Evil, there’s plenty of ammo lying around waiting to be picked up (always useful in a zombie apocalypse), and b. Doug has a 24-7 supply store on call!

Since this is a full-priced game on the iOS App Store, there’s not so much of IAP shenanigans (you can still buy gold though), and you can earn XP used in the aforementioned supply store through various means in the game, including checking out dead bodies (yuck!) and….reading books, among other things. Weapons can be purchased and upgraded through the store so it’s good that you spend some time in between zombie waves to hunt down them books (be sure to look into trash cans and car boots).

If you’ve seen the trailer to World War Z, you would have noticed that the zombies are swarm like and capable of forming literally, a tsunami wave of undead bodies reaching up to a helicopter. In the game, you get to see a huge wave of zombies crashing against shop lots in pursuit of a runaway truck with your character at the back. Watching this unfold on the iPad, I can’t help but think that a decade ago, PCs were struggling to put that many bodies (virtually warm or otherwise) on screen via in-game engines. Having said that, the game looks awesome.

World War Z is a fun romp on the iPad, crazy cut-scenes and while you may be faced with hordes of zombies, the controls (and the abundance of ammo and weaponry, with no pay-to-win IAP bullshit) should get you out smelling like rotten roses. Nineoverten.com rates World War Z at a 4.5 out of 5. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and you don’t need to watch the movie to play the game.

The game is available on the iTunes App Store for USD 0.99 (Father’s Day Special price, usually it’s USD 3.99): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/world-war-z/id635750965?mt=8. A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.

Avengers Alliance has taken up pretty much all of my gaming time on the iPad for the past few days. Facebook gamers should recognise this title as it was previously released on the social network’s app platform (as Marvel: Avengers Alliance) before being ported over to iOS. The game features turn-based combat, with a heavy dose of social features.

Players take on the role of a rookie S.H.I.E.L.D agent moving up the ranks and teaming up with various superheroes (there’s an impressive cast of over 40 heroes, many of which you’ll need to unlock), to battle 180 super villains and their honchos. As the story goes, a galaxy-wide disaster known as the Pulse leaves Manhattan exposed to attacks from those super villains. Winning battles and completing remote missions (which take place worldwide but you won’t be directly involved) allow you to gain experience points, earn different virtual currencies and obtain gear/supplies.

The game’s social features involve recruiting allies from your GameCenter pals, Facebooks friends and even other Avengers Alliance players. Unlike some hare-brained, tacked-on social implementation seen in other games, Avengers Alliance’s actually makes sense. You get to recruit your allies to staff your jets (for remote missions), provide you additional distress calls during battles (handy in a pinch) or simply ask them to gift you stuff (which you can reciprocate as well).

While the upgradeable superheroes (and not to mention your S.H.I.E.L.D agenet) and purchase-able inventory items are pretty much par-of-the-course, the combat portion of the game deserves praise as different types of units (infiltrator, tactician, etc…there are all together 5 types) react in a rock,paper,scissors to each other as the turn-base action unfurls on screen. So if you have a large stable of characters, be sure to analyse the enemy team and shuffle your combat team accordingly to deal with those threats.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance is a pretty cool time waster, and if there’s one gripe it would that it could really use some slickness on the interface. It’s a little clunky with the submenus, and I would certainly look forward to updates that will address this. Nineoverten.com rates Marvel: Avenger Alliance a solid 4 out of 5. Highly Recommended.

The game is available for free on the iTunes App Store, check it out over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/avengers-alliance/id603628470?mt=8. A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.

Released in Alpha on 26th September 2012, Prison Architect is the world’s latest (and best Prison Management sim. Taking its inspiration from Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper and Dwarf Fortress, the game is a top down construction and management simulation where the player takes control of the running and building of a maximum security prison. Players are responsible for managing various aspects of their prison including staff, building new cells, finance, and keeping their inmates happy.

The player’s role is of both architect and governor with sandbox micromanagement themes such as choosing where to put lights, drains and how they connect together. Introversion are really keen for the participants in the Alpha to engage with them about the game and players are able to submit suggestions and bugs via their wiki site. The game is currently on version 10 and new versions are released every few weeks providing new features and bug fixes.

Inspired by Kickstarter and Crowd-sourcing Prison Architect is available to purchase over a number of different tiers ranging from a $30 contribution to $500. The extra content in the higher tiers include limited edition goodies, having a character named after you in the game and even having your face immortalised as a prisoner in the game.

On launch day there was a $1000 tier which allowed users to customise their own wardens but this sold out within a few hours! All participants in the Alpha, regardless of tier, will be given access to Windows, Mac, Linux, Steam and Vanilla versions as well as a copy of the finished game on it’s release. On March 20th Prison Architect became one of the first ‘Early Access’ games to be released on Steam. Check it out over here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/233450/?snr=1_7_15__13

Leading independent racing game developer Eutechnyx today announced that they are expanding their NASCAR partnership with two new videogames; NASCAR® The Game™ 2013 for Windows PC and NASCAR®: Redline™ for mobile devices. With the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season off to a great start, both NASCAR® The Game™ 2013 and NASCAR®: Redline™ are the perfect companions for any NASCAR fan, as they put gamers right into the driver’s seat of America’s favorite motorsport.

“NASCAR has been an amazing company to work with, and we hope that we’re able to share the passion and love we have for the sport with the legions of fans across the globe,” said Dave Thompson, Development Director at Eutechnyx. “We’ve spent a lot of time developing new and compelling ways for racing fans to get involved and experience what it’s like to be part of NASCAR nation, from getting your car race ready to doing 500 miles around Daytona International Speedway.”

NASCAR® The Game™ 2013 lets players take to the tracks and redefine races using the new Gen 6 model cars. Supporting an updated and enhanced paint booth tool, players can customize their Gen 6 paint schemes and import them into the games multiple race modes to show the world their design skills. Supporting the new 2013 roster with all the team and driver changes, players can take their own shot at being crowned the Sprint Cup Series Champion by starting a competitive season as a rookie and racing against their favorite drivers in career mode, or race online with friends.

The game also features Inside Line Highlights – scenarios from actual NASCAR races (2011, 2012 seasons) that have been recreated from the actual race telemetry data, which allow players to recreate, relive and rewrite the most exciting NASCAR moments. Additionally, and a first for any sport based videogame, the current 2013 season is being supported by weekly downloadable Inside Line Highlights being available shortly after racing events take place. The package is made complete with commentary provided courtesy of Fox Sports’ Darrell Waltrip and Mike Joy, while the player’s crew is voiced by spotter Ty Norris and crew chief Ray Evernham.

NASCAR®: Redline™ marks the first officially licensed by NASCAR videogame to be available for mobile devices. This is the first videogame of its kind as it delivers an official NASCAR racing experience that puts players into the seat of their own personal stock car. NASCAR®: Redline™ combines touch-reaction racing action with management tools, allowing you to control the way you race. Manage your team, land new sponsorship deals, and outthink your opponent on the track; players of all ages can compete to cross the finish line first against rival racers.

Offering two game modes, Career and Season, Career mode places players at the start of their rookie season and pushes them to progress their way through the Sprint Cup ranks and take on their favorite NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers. Whereas in Season mode, racing fans assume the role of their favorite driver and share each victory as they come.

Blake Davidson, NASCAR Vice President of Licensing & Consumer Products and board member of NASCAR Team Properties, said, “Eutechnyx has proven to be a great partner and we’re thrilled to be working with them on bringing more videogames to more platforms. It will be very exciting to have a mobile title and we think fans will be excited when they see how it offers more than just your typical driving experience.”

NASCAR® The Game™ 2013 will be available as pre-purchase with beta access via Steam starting soon with a full release planned later in the Summer for Windows PC. NASCAR®: Redline™ will be available for mobile devices later this summer. For more information, please visit www.NASCARTheGame.com, or follow along on Twitter @NASCARTheGame and Facebook facebook.com/NASCARTheGame. You can also join in the discussion on The NASCAR Redline forum at http://forums.eutechnyx.com/forums/237-NASCAR-Redline.

“The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!” LOL, that’s part of a song that I sometimes sing to my daughter which had my wife going…”You’re singing about…ANTS?!“. Well those are pretty cool insects and they are even subjects of a well-received strategy game on iOS and Android devices, Ant Raid which was released back in 2011.

Developers HeroCraft have now come up with a free version of the game on Google Play. Titled Ant Raid Free, the game allows players to experience the first two episodes for free and if you have not played Ant Raid yet, this is a good opportunity to find out for yourself how fun and challenging it is to command your very own army of ants. Additional episodes can be unlocked via in-app purchases.

Check out the game over here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herocraft.game.freemium.antraidgame

Talk about thinking outside the box. Zing Games is having an interesting promo in which they’ll select 1,000 gamers who purchase their newly updated iOS title, Mr. Runner 2: The Masks and they’ll get a $0.99 app of their choice for FREE. To be eligible, participants must Mr. Runner 2 between midnight PST June 15, 2013 and midnight PST June 16, 2013.  After launching the game, contestants simply input their email in the contest popup screen. It’s that simple.

“Launching Mr. Runner 2 was a major milestone for us as a small indie studio and the fan and critical reception meant a lot to us,” Ding Ye, Founder and Creative Director, Zing Games, explains. “We are now moving to tackle the biggest challenge every indie has to face – user acquisition.  We have to do it in a smart, innovative, and cost effective way (we are an indie studio without a deep pocket), which means we have to think of methods that have not been tried before.”

The main character in Mr. Runner 2: The Masks awakens to find his face locked away behind a steel mask.  Unable to remember who he is, the character must pursue an enigmatic figure through a weird and wonderful dream world populated by figments of his subconscious. In Mr. Runner 2: The Masks players must constantly keep moving forward.  Obstacles can only be avoided by slowing down or speeding.  This minimalist design makes the game easy to learn but players abilities will be pushed to the limit as hazards come fast and furious in later levels.

Check out the game on the iOS App Store and remember to hold purchases until between midnight PST June 15, 2013 and midnight PST June 16, 2013: https://itunes.apple.com/app/mr.-runner-2-the-masks/id577923748. Additional details can be found here: http://www.zinggames.net/mrrunner2/BOGOFREE.html

When it comes to shmups on iOS devices, I actually prefer those that feature colourful graphics, fun & frantic gameplay, and intuitive controls. Tinker Games‘ latest iOS title INHeritage: Boundary of Existence scored highly in these areas, but one, perhaps, ill-advised decision created additional issues which pulled the game’s rating southward. For the life of me, I can’t understand the addition of a sad, mundane AND long-winded anime-inspired plot to a shmup that can be up there with the best of them just on technical merit alone.

Cutscenes! In a shmup! Goodness gracious me; I actually spent more time tapping through the cutscenes than in the levels!

Such a plot would require the inclusion of cutscenes and voiceovers and these are reasons why INHeritage’s file size weighs in at near 400 MB (!), another oddity for a shmup. It doesn’t make the game look cheap, but why would the developers spend money on giving players things that they will not appreciate in the first place? Anyways, with all of that off my chest, the game’s character design looks really solid, exuding a Hayao Miyazaki kind of feel. I especially liked how the bosses looked. The graphics are actually so sharp that the game looks great even when running at 2x mode on the iPad (it’s an iPhone game).

Instead of a virtual d-pad, players move their ship, well, actually it’s the game’s female protagonist and a white tiger playing the role of ship and add-on respectively, by placing and dragging their finger anywhere on the screen. It’s a little unorthodox for an iPhone game, considering the screen is rather small and you’ll only have one hand to hold the device, but it works darn well on a stationary iPad.

The Indonesian developers tapped into their country’s rich culture and folklore; even the cities and regions are used as backdrops to the levels which number 12 in total. The game features 3 difficulty modes and isn’t a pushover even at lower levels. Hardcore shmup fans would definitely love its bullet-hell approach to things. As such, I’m a little conflicted at rating INHeritage; as a shmup, it’s almost perfect, but unfortunately due to the whole lot of fluffy crap in the game, it gets a 3.5 out of 5.

The game is available on the iOS App Store for USD 1.99 at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inheritage-boundary-existence/id636344466?mt=8. Thanks to the large size, you can’t get it off from the App Store immediately, you’ll need to enable WiFi on your device or sync with iTunes to do so.

A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.