It is no coincidence that Big Pixel Studios is one of Nineoverten.com’s favourite indie developers on the iOS platform. It’s very hard not to be impressed by their string of hits such as Land-a-Panda, Off the Leash and Meow Meow Happy Fight. They are now back with Bottle Cap Blitz which will be released worldwide on the iTunes App Store on the 11th of April 2013.

Set around a beach bar on a beautiful tropical island, where an easy-going barman loves to show off his impressive bottle cap flicking skills. Players take control of the barman, and over a period of sixty seconds must smash as many ice cubes as possible by flicking bottle caps at them! Designed with a simple tap-to-shoot interface, a single tap on the screen will flick a bottle cap in that direction.

As players progress through the game and reach higher levels, they can unlock a wealth of new features and content including combos, combo chains, game boosts, and an array of extraordinary frozen fruit power-ups! Smashing the watermelon slows down time for a short period, hitting the cherry sets off an explosive bomb, bursting the strawberry activates rapid fire mode, and many many more!

At the end of a game a collection of bonuses are awarded based on the players overall performance, and their score can then be entered into the weekly tournament leaderboards on Game Center. “Bottle Cap Blitz is designed to be extremely easy to play, but with a lot of depth hidden beneath the surface,” said Paul Virapen, Big Pixel Studios Managing Director. “With simple one-handed touch controls and short play sessions, players can come back whenever they have a spare moment to try and beat their own or their friends’ high scores.”

Stay tuned to Nineoverten.com for news of the release and most possibly a review of the game!

Phew, there are not many moments available these days where I can blitz through a real-time strategy title but today was one of those days. I made the most of it by finally finishing StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. It was the final push having made it to the Korhal missions after purchasing and downloading the game a day after launch date.

I paused the game several times though and my wife, being the curious angel that she is decided to tinker around had a go (well, 2 minutes of it) on the mission where you are supposed to destroy the force shield. Needless to say, if I were to left her to her own devices, Kerrigan and gang would be dead before I finish my french toast.

My thoughts on the game? It has been a really fun romp. The enhancements to the controls and UI introduced right before the expansion felt really good and the single player experience from Heart of the Swarm proofed to be different from Wings of Liberty. The gameplay had more in common with that of MOBA titles where hero units ruled. In this case, it was the bad-assed Queen of Blades, re-zerged and pissed like hell. Kerrigan gets an almost RPG-like points system which enhances her HP and upon hitting certain thresholds, unlocks new abilities .

As such, it pays dividends to finish bonus mission objectives as the points offered help unlock her abilities earlier. And here’s the cool part, players get to choose which skills that she gets to carry into each level and since she plays an integral part of each level she’s in, this practically guarantees a different experience each time you start up a level.

The backdrop of Heart of the Swarm is still a romance story (between the star-crossed lovers Jim and Kerrigan), and of revenge. Cliched dialogue make up most part of the conversations but hey, don’t hope too much for a video game storyline. The CGI work stands out as usual and the cut-scenes done using in-game engine are pretty brilliant as well.

Aside from one technical issue (the level loads can be ridiculously long even on an Core i5 MacBook Pro), Heart of the Swarm manages to not feel like a tacked-on expansion, and instead it feels just short of a full game (it is no Brood War, that’s for sure). Not only that, it pushes the typical single player StarCraft experience to parts that have not been well-explored, mirroring Kerrigan’s story into the unknown.

Nineoverten.com rates StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm at a 4.5 out of 5. Review rig: MacBook Pro Core i5, HD 4000 graphics, 8GB of RAM.

MADFINGER Games, the independent mobile games developer responsible for hits such as SHADOWGUN and DEAD TRIGGER, has released a new update for its multiplayer first person action shooter, SHADOWGUN: DeadZone. Update 2.0 offers new game features which promise to extend the current borders of mobile multiplayer game progression. The game is available on both App Store and Google Play.

MADFINGER Games has again heeded to the requests of its fans. The largest update since the release of the game in November 2012 brings new maps, weapons and game content, which was sourced directly from player feedback, including, among others, the “friends” feature. “Now players can invite their friends to Zone Control mode or monitor their game stats, “said Marek Rabas, CEO at MADFINGER Games of the new “friends” feature.

Rookies can look forward to a Special Tutorial mode. The update offers optimizations, bug fixes, as well as support for new gamepads.  In addition, SHADOWGUN: DeadZone Update 2.0 incorporates Boosters (Speed, Armor, Damage, Accuracy, Invisibility), which enable players to experience an entirely new dimension of gameplay.

Finally, Update 2.0 introduces localization for eight new languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese). “We worked hard and strived to improve the game across the board. We have always adhered to the principle that our games must first and foremost, entertain us as players. We also pay honest attention to the feedback we receive from our players. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to pack it all into the game,“ explains Marek Rabas.

Moreover, this Friday, April 5th, MADFINGER Games will launch a new website, www.shadowgun-deadzone.com, dedicated to SHADOWGUN: DeadZone.

Hmm… This game is bloody difficult and what the heck am I supposed to do now. Those thoughts came into my mind while I was playing Master of Alchemy: Vengeance Front and getting stuck at…level 3 of this oddball of a physics game. The problem was solved when I realized that I needed to scroll down to see the rest of the level.

It still didn't detract the fact that the game is tough. The nearest comparison I have to MoA:VF, would be Disney's Where's My Water series but instead of just dealing with water particles, you'll need to transmute other types of particles as well, with one type that floats up instead of flowing down. Players drag and drop platforms as well as rotate them in order to get the particles to flow to the destination that they want them to go.

The platforms are a finite resource, so placement is paramount and this alone makes MoA:VF a thinking person's casual game. Aside from the title that obviously suffers from the “Japanese-syndrome-for-throwing-random-words-in-game-titles” (I alway imagine it must be a very liberating exercise for a video game marketer), MoA: VF has plenty going for it.

50 levels with beautiful steampunk graphics and a really smooth physics engine to boot, there's plenty to like about this title. It wouldn't hurt though to make the game a little user friendly; an in-game tutorial would be nice, as well as some visual cues on what to do or use. Nineoverten.com rates Master of Alchemy: Vengeance Front at a 4 out of 5.

The game is available on the iTunes App Store for USD 1.99, check it out over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/master-alchemy-vengeance-front/id560080981. A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.

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MMORPGs are a dime a dozen these days but it remains one of the most dynamic genres out there, catering for a wide spectrum of players. Hardcore players will always have their World of WarCraft or their Eve Online. Players who do not want a subscription model have their Guild Wars 2 and don’t get me started on the licensed stuff such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings that have fans of the movies/books playing out their favourite roles in those respective universes.

But with so many MMORPGs out in the market, competition is stiff for players’ dollars, time and commitment. And the main thing that acts as a hook to players is the community. Having a nice and friendly community is always a good thing, and such an example would be the community at Soulsplit.com. Soulsplit is a RuneScape Private Server, established since 2008. For those who are not familiar with RuneScape, it’s a browser-based MMORPG and according to Wikipedia it is the world’s largest free MMORPG and the most updated game.

Soulsplit is a market leader in the RSPS arena, with 4,000 players simultaneously on peak time and still rising, and the management has just told us just what makes them the highest quality RSPS out there. The folks behind Soulsplit have worked hard in fixing up the in-game wilderness and at the same time gave players a great platform to form clans. For the player, Soulsplit has different game modes, namely an oldschool mode and enhanced graphics mode for newer players who prefer bells and whistles.

There are also different varieties of XP modes, that can vary from 5,000 XP per hit or 10 XP per hit, so if you are either a player out for a challenge or simply one that enjoys entering Soulsplit’s highly populated wilderness, this is the game for you. With maximum entertainment in mind, this is one MMORPG that deserves your attention. Check out the website right over here: Soulsplit.com

If you are living in the States or Canada and in the market for photobooks and you have an iPad, you may want to consider the Printzel iPad App. Created by a New York company of the same name and recognized as a Friends of eBay company, this app is a showcase of the Printzel API & SDK which enables developers to build apps that allow users to create fully customizable, professionally printed photo books directly in­-app.

The masterstroke would be Printzel will handle the printing, shipping and billing portions of the business, allowing developers to focus on doing what they do best, creating awesome apps tapping on the Printzel API & SDK. Developers can subscribe to Printzel’s e-mail list to receive notification on the open enrollment.

For more information on the SDK, head over here: https://printzel.it/developer. To see the API & SDK in action in the Printzel iPad App, download it for FREE from the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/printzel-app-powered-printing/id620028937?mt=8

Linden Lab’s highly acclaimed and extremely popular iOS app, Creatorverse has gone the freemium route. Described by Kotaku as “One of the coolest things you can do on the iPad”, the app, which allows users to create all kinds of stuff, is now free with basic tools for users to start creating. Additional tools are available via in-app purchases. Check out the press release below for details.

Linden Lab, the makers of shared creative spaces including Second Life®, PatternsTM, and dioTM, today announced that CreatorverseTM for iOS is now available for free. Previously, Linden Lab had offered Creatorverse for iOS for $4.99, and Creatorverse Lite for free, but now Creatorverse is available for iOS as a single, free app. Creatorverse for Android and for Kindle Fire will soon follow the same model.

With the new, free app, users can access all of the thousands of creations that other users have made with Creatorverse (on any platform) and shared to the cloud – from animated animals, sports simulations, vibrant vehicles, interactive art, intricate puzzles, mini-games, crane contraptions, pinball machines, dancing robots, and more. The free app includes the basic tools to remix those creations or to make your own from scratch and share them to the entire Creatorverse universe.

For more complex creations, packs of advanced tools like teleporters and motors, are now available for purchase within the app. In addition, a new capability for Creatorverse, thrusters, are now available in the RocketPack, which will allow users to easily add rockets, jetpacks, and more to their Creatorverse designs.

Anyone who purchased Creatorverse for iOS prior to today’s change will automatically receive the Advanced Creator Pack (normally $4.99), which includes all of the advanced creation tools they enjoyed prior to today’s change.

“With thousands of creations already shared in the Creatorverse galaxy, there’s something for everyone to enjoy,” said Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab. “But so much of the fun of Creatorverse is in remixing those creations to make them your own, or building your own design from scratch, so we’re happy to make the basic creative tools free for everyone and looking forward to seeing what they’ll make.”

Head over here to download the app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/creatorverse/id563088306?mt=8

Plenty of interesting revelations in this week’s batch of comics, so you can expect that this week’s review of books to be SPOILER-FILLED. Are you ready? Out from the ashes of the Court of the Owls storyline, a new hero emerges in the form of ex-Talon, Calvin Rose. Now he’s out for the remainder of the Court, but it turns out, the rich benefactor that he is working for is none other than the former leader of the Court, Sebastian Clark! The Talon books have been interesting so far and issue #3 introduces the twist. Don’t mind the Bat-signal on the cover though, it’s a red herring. 4 out of 5.

Age of Ultron #3 introduces a very big twist at the very last page. But before that if you are wondering why Doc Ock as Spidey is so…err…friendly to his fellow Avengers in the AoU books, you can check out Superior Spider-Man #6. Ok, back to AoU #3, the survivors hatch a plan to send in a trojan horse when parlaying with Ultron, but surprise, surprise they are dealing with….wait for it….Vision! The fact that the AoU books take place some time after the current timeline, make me even more curious on how things came about. 4 out of 5.

Class is still commencing in the Savage Land with Wolverine and the X-Men #27 and the teacher in-charge this time is….DOG?! Wolverine is preoccupied and Dog is on a mission to proof that he is a better man than the ol’ Canuck, bringing the students of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning into combat against a whole bunch of time-displaced foes.

The last panel is worth the total price of admission and given that we’ve already got plenty of spoilers, I leave it to you to get the book. 4.5 out of 5.

The folks at Mexican digital agency Grupo W have a pretty interesting iOS gem of a game in the form of Metal Junk. The game is their take on a game genre that has been made popular on iOS devices and it is a genre that can count Temple Run as one of its luminaries. Yup, Metal Junk is one of those endless running game, but a good one at that.

Unlike most endless running titles where you would play as an Indiana Jones rip-off, a ninja or Barry Steakfries, Metal Junk will have you play as a self-aware robot names Ascii out to save his sorry, metal hide from being chomped on a conveyor belt from hell.

Now, you literally have to get pass a whole bunch of (metal) junk to put some decent distance between Ascii and the chomper. This is easier said than done as there's plenty of heavy stuff lying around, and some of these junk are a danger to Ascii, with some discharging electricity to temporary stun him or exploding and blocking your screen with the resulting debris.

There are some power ups that can help you negotiate the maze of junk, and collecting batteries allows Ascii to unleash an attack that destroys surrounding junk. The developers have done an amazing job welding together great looking graphics with a smooth gameplay experience. I particularly like the startup sequence where the robot gets thrown onto the conveyor belt after it was discovered to be self-aware (poor thing), and keep an eye out on what constitute junk in the game, such tongue-in-cheek humor, LOL.

Players who have done well in the initial Survival Mode can unlock the Frenzy Mode after achieving a certain number of points in the former. There's an added element of social competition with the inclusion of Game Center online leaderboards.

Nineoverten.com rates Metal Junk at a 4.5 out of 5 for providing a beautiful and fun challenge (who would have thought that there's beauty in junk) for fans of the endless running genre. The game is currently available on the iTunes App Store for iPad 2 or better at a price tag of USD 0.99, check it out over here: http://bit.ly/WnOKfV

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

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Just last month I reviewed Train Empire, an iOS title inspired by table top train sets. This month, I have the opportunity to review Belight Software's latest iOS title Rails, which at first glance seems to be similar with Train Empire. Several play-throughs later yielded a different, but ultimately good conclusion that Rails is a different kettle of fish.

First up, Rails requires players to construct the tracks to hook up the train stations in any given level. The placement of the stations are randomized every time you start a level ensuring that you get something different with each and every play-through. Now, this includes building the intersections and deciding where trains can switch tracks.

Proper placement of tracks would make it easier for you to direct the trains, which sometimes, if you are not careful may intersect which each other, causing a collision. Fortunately you can still deal with the aftermath of collisions (more on that later), but there is no excuse in not manipulating the signal lights along the track that you've placed. This will indicate to a particular train on whether can it proceed, stop or go back to where it came from.

The game time in each level can span hundreds of years, from the 1800s right up to the 21st century. Power-ups can be used to speed up trains, clear debris (as a result from collisions) among other things and they can be pretty useful in a pinch. The earnings are tracked in each level and players will need to balance between spending money to build new tracks and delivering trains to their respective destinations in an efficient manner.

Rails features a really polished interface along with beautiful isometric in-game graphics. The game is easily one of the prettiest games of its genre and really stand out. To top it off, Rails comes with a Trainopedia, containing information and trivia about the trains available in the game.

There's plenty to like about Rails, with the fun of building tracks and directing trains along with the oh so sweet graphics. Nineoverten.com rates Rails at a 4.5 out of 5 and its definitely worth checking out. The game is available on the iTunes App Store for $ 1.99. Check it out over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rails/id556517203?mt=8

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

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