Death Knight - [iPhone]

Death Knight is a free hack and slash game by Triniti Interactive. As the title suggests the concept is ripped off of WoW and so are some of the graphics and abilities. The game is a fairly mindless hack and slash affair in which you kill monsters in order to get more gold and upgrade your armour, shield and weapons. As you level up your weapons as well as getting more powerful they gain abilities. I recommend levelling up the first weapon you get, as quickly as you can, as it has all the abilities you will ever need. They are, a heal ability and a shield ability that makes you invulnerable for a few seconds. Having said that it is cool to use those abilities in conjunction with other weapon's powers, especially the incredibly powerful Giant Sword.

As you can see in the above picture the interface takes up most of the screen space. By the time you add your fingers to the mix there is little viewing room for the onscreen action. The ability buttons are also a little too small and can be hard to press at times. I know that this game is not the only culprit of this and it is something that is a "feature" of iPhone games yet some games have come up with more elegant solutions.

The gameplay mostly consists of running (or rolling using the defence button) about the screen and lining your enemies up on one side of you so you may hack them apart. Being squashed in the middle of a group of enemies is devastating as attacks constantly barrage you. Of course none of this matters if you are using the divine shield or other abilities but these only last so long. The aim is to hack apart forty enemies in each level. Why forty? Great question I wish I knew the answer. Why not forty-two? I guess we'll never know.

Despite all it's problems the game is still fun to play. The graphics are nice and clean, your weapons make chunky sounds as you slice through your foes and the music has a pleasant if some what typical fantasy sort of sound. Unlocking new weapons and armour is always fun and I have included the abilities of each of the weapons below after the jump, just incase you wish to remain surprised as you play. It is the sort of game you will want to play when you are looking for something violent and mind-numbing 7/10.

Included after the jump is a list of all the weapons abilities.

One Sentence Reviews

Minecraft (Beta) [Mac OSX/Windows/Linux] - A game in which you work hard to find minerals, build amazing things, then watch as all your hard work is destroyed by Creepers. 10/10

Company of Heroes Online (Beta) [Windows] - A whole host of great new features like hero units balanced out with a host of terrible new features like having to "recharge" your hero units after you use them make this about as good as it ever was. 8/10

Forge World Releases

Forge World has released three new Nurgle models aimed at Warhammer fantasy battles. Plague Toads, and Bile Trolls include experimental rules for Daemons and Warriors collectors whilst the Plague Ogres have no rules currently available. It is a shame that Beastmen players don't get any rules here but it was announced that the upcoming expansion book Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos will include rules to make Chaos armies featuring all three branches of the dark gods! Also seen on the page is an upcoming model of Tamurkhan riding his plague beast and some art of a bearded centaur. This begs the question, will we see Chaos Dwarves included in this new series of Forge World Warhammer Fantasy releases? I'm betting on yes.

[iPhone/iPad/Windows Phone 7] - Babylonian Twins Review

Babylonian Twins was originally planned to be released on the Commodore Amiga and although it has undergone many changes to be released on the mobile device platform it's origins can still be seen.

You play as the twin princes Nasir and Blasir, one with a sword and shield the other with a mace. The mace ability allows you to smash open jars which can contain palm fronds, points, or sometimes a snake or scorpion. It is impossible to avoid the snake and this trick is used OFTEN. I guess it is all about learning the level by heart but I find traps like this annoying especially when it is repeated so many times. This type of thing was very common for games of the Commodore Amiga day and whilst to some it may be annoying it does give it that retro feel. I reviewed this on the iPhone 4 and I found some of the enemies to be quite hard to see as they are so small. This problem is probably alleviated on the iPad due to it's larger screen. Also in a throw back to the retro days, some enemies can only be stunned, not destroyed which gets a bit annoying as you go over a level trying to figure out what to do next.

One of your characters can smash through walls, whilst the other can smash through floors and these abilities form a major part of the puzzle solving. When your other character is not in use he will turn to stone and this can aid you in jumping to higher platforms. I forget who is who, but the character with the sword can jump much higher than the character with the mace, so you will be made to constantly switch back and forth just to get your mace friend up into an area. This seemed cool at first but it got a little too repetitive for my liking.

The game seems to feature many bugs and is in need of a patch. It crashed on loading the third level though all it took was a restart. At one point I could not use the control pad at all, then I could use it but only whilst jumping. This issue managed to resolve itself but the developers obviously have their work cut out for them in terms of squashing bugs. At other times I experienced huge amounts of slow down for no good reason and the sound occasionally cut out.

Yet despite these problems it is very rewarding when you finally do finish a level. Finishing a level requires focus and I find it is best done in one sitting, as you need to remember the layout of the level. Unfortunately this isn't exactly what you want from a game on your phone, as the distractions of it being your phone, such as receiving a call, can take you away from the all important completion of the level. 6.5/10

Free Games!

Here are a couple of free games available for mac and pc. The first is Super Crate Box, an old school platform shooter. The aim of the game is to collect as many crates as possible whilst blasting away all the monsters. The monsters appear from the top of the screen and drop down slowly toward a fire pit. If you let them fall in the fire pit they will not die but come back from the top of the screen angrier and faster than ever!

The game allegedly has support for controllers but in Mac OS I could not get my Logitech controller to work and this is the kind of game that needs the precision of a controller. Playing this game using my keyboard frustrates me greatly yet there are a few compelling features to keep one playing even after the frustration sets in. As you go along you unlock new weapons such as the flamethrower (my personal favourite) or the disc shooter, which bounces off walls and can potentially slice you in half. You also unlock new levels, characters and game modes.

The next game is JCloisterZone which is a free way to play Carcassone and it's expansions. You can play with friends or bots which makes it easy to find a game and there is even online multiplayer. The game doesn't teach you how to play the game though, so a working knowledge of how to play is needed or you could just try and pick it up as you go. It includes a whole range of expansions but ones marked with an asterisk cannot be play by AI. It is constantly being worked on by it's creator so there may be plenty more exciting updates on the way.

Warhammer Errata Updated

The Warhammer Errata or FAQ as they like to call it (they aren't fooling anyone) has been updated and is available here. There is also something about a new Grey Knights codex and models but that is boring. Where are the new Orc and Goblin releases I hear so many rumours about!!!?!?

Edit: Warhammer 40 Errata's have also been updated they are here.

[iPhone] - Epic Win Review

Epic Win borders between being a game and an interactive chore list. You enter the chore or "quest" you have to do, how many points it is worth and when it is due. Through completing these quests you gain experience to one of five abilities and you progress along a track that unlocks new items. It lets you choose between five different characters and as you level them up their appearance will change.


At first the idea and the funny styling of Epic Win really sucked me in. However it quickly becomes repetitive and the writers aren't as funny as they seem to think they are. The game quickly becomes a grindfest with 300 points being the maximum. It really requires something like a 1000 point allowance to pop-up at times to make the game seem fresh and keep your interest. Still the game achieves what it sets out to do and I find it quite a handy tool for repeating reminders.

For such a simple concept the game has been plagued by bugs such as a completed quest staying in the quest area.  In it's defence though it has been regularly updated and user feedback has actually been listened to. The date and quest repeating system was updated and now is quite well set up with plenty of options.

It is a useful tool and the fact that it is being updated so often gives me the confidence to say it will only get better. At AU$3.99 it isn't to badly priced, there are just a few things that let it down. 7/10