Wild Blood Teaser Released – Gameloft And Unreal Engine Steal The Spotlight

 

Epic’s Unreal Engine powers hit titles such as Dark Meadow and Infinity Blade 2, both of which tout some of the most impressive mobile graphics to date. Likewise, Gameloft‘s games, while never truly praised for their graphics, have been exalted for their wide variety of genres and strong gameplay. It was only natural that the two would eventually come together to truly shake up the gaming world.

That time has come. Last week Gameloft announced that they were almost ready to unveil their first game powered by the Unreal Engine, but at the time, had little more than a single picture to show us. Fans played the inevitable guessing game with the consensus being either a God of War or Infinity Blade copy, as Gameloft is infamous for their frequent ripping off of other companies’ intellectual property. However, this morning Gameloft finally posted the trailer for the upcoming titled, which is entitled Wild Blood.
Immediately, the trailer gives off this other-worldly feel, saying “Be prepared to relive history.” As you continue watching the trailer, it shows off floating islands, incredible statues and 19th century cathedral type building. There are also a vast array of weapon-wielding monsters, which are guaranteed to be more fun to kill than monsters without weapons. The styling of the game puts an Infinity Blade knock off out of the question, but doesn’t immediately rule out a God of War-esque game. It also appears that there are no references to any specific past culture (as God of War did with the Greek Gods), although they do say we will be reliving history. It’s also worth noting that Gameloft already made a game ‘inspired’ by God of War, entitled Hero of Sparta, but the game failed to impress and was not as large a success as Gameloft‘s other titles.
Despite all the mystery surrounding the title, Gameloft has been kind enough to respond to a user who commented on the trailer on YouTube inquiring about the premium or ‘freemium’ nature of the game, confirming that Wild Blood would be a premium game. However, aside from confirming availability on both iOS and Android, Gameloft has provided no other details at this point in time concerning price or an expected release date.
In the meanwhile, check out the trailer for Wild Blood, embedded below. Be sure to let us know in the comments what you expect from Gameloft’s upcoming game! Does anyone think Gameloft might actually have made an original game this time around? Finally, if you really want to find out more about the game, you can visit Gameloft‘s Facebook page and vote to unlock Wild Blood‘s artwork next.

Zynga’s Ico, Shadow of the Colossus inspired “Horn” Arriving This Month

Gear up for Zynga and Phosphor Game’s (of Dark Meadow fame) upcoming action adventure, Horn which will see the light of day this month. First teased at Google I/O 2012, Horn follows the the story of a  boy as he journeys to save a cursed land. The press release divulges further insight to the plot:

Based loosely on the Old English tales of King Horn, you play as a young blacksmith’s apprentice who wakes up to find his village overrun by fantastic, and sometimes humorous, monsters. On your incredible adventure, you carry the loud-mouthed head of one such creature with you — a somewhat uncooperative, ill-tempered, grudgingly helpful sidekick. Along with the help of this new companion, you must use your sword, crossbow, trusty musical horn, and wits to explore the lands, defeat the enemies, and solve puzzles in your quest to undo the curse that engulfs your homeland.

This week also saw the Horn‘s first debut trailer:
Judging the the trailers gameplay, the developers behind “Horn” have taken major inspirations from Team Ico’s “Shadow of the Colossus” and“ICO”, complete with gigantic sprawling bosses, cinematic combat, and signature horned helmet.

No exact date of release or retail price (or possibility of free to play), though we won’t have to wait long as the game will drop this month.

 

Empire VS Orcs Makes Orc Impalement Gratifying

Almost everyone who has played Plants vs. Zombies has wondered, “what if my plants had legs and were armed with swords.” Empire VS Orcs is a game which does just that, well, apart from the plants and zombies portion though. Developed by Ezjoy, the company behind the enjoyable free title, Marble Blast 2, Empire VS Orcs lets you take part in an epic battle between righteous humans and savage orcs.
The game can be categorized as a strategic battle game with the emphasis on unit production. The game is a 2D title that plays like a side scrolling brawler. Much like Plants VS Zombies, you are presented with a level. But unlike the aforementioned game, Empire VS Orcs involves dynamic levels instead of static ones. There are two “bases” in a level, one is for the empire, which is on the left side, and the other is for the orcs. Your main objective is to defend your own base while sending waves of troops to destroy the enemy’s one.

To aid you in your quest, numerous units are at your disposal. Knights, horse riders, archers and shield bearing paladins just to name a few. You deploy a gold mine to obtain a steady amount of gold. The gold is then used for the deployment of troops into the battlefield and it can be obtained via a mine or by defeating enemy units. There are also multiple spells at your disposal with different elemental effects like slowing down opponents from ice or damaging them using fire. Spell casting requires mana, hence mana wells can be made to supplement your magic needs. The units are also upgradeable and the upgrades not only enhance the stats but also the visual appearance of the units.

The units and troops of both, the empire and orcs are fully realized, as they are presented in crisp 2D glory. The animations are adequate and the graphics are fine. The colors are rich and bright, the backdrops also exhibit liveliness. The orcs also have multiple types of units, bear-like rapid attackers, rangers and strong bosses all want to destroy the Empire.

Empire VS Orcs is a cheerful and fun game to play. The battles are hectic and engaging. The resource management and unit arrangements add a strategic angle to the orc slaying. If you liked Plants VS Zombies then you are going to love this game, which is an obvious evolution to that particular gameplay formula. Sharpen your blades mighty warrior and be ready to thrust thy sword in the name of the empire!

	Empire VS Orcs
		Requires: 2.2 and up

3 More Free Games To Boost Your Brain Fitness [Android]

In a few weeks, summer will fade into autumn, bringing school and classes back into the lives of many of us netizens, who might be students. Academia will be taking over our lives before we know it so in order to set our brains back to heavy thinking and studying mode, what better than some fun games to boost brain fitness? There are many websites that have fun games with puzzles and test your memory.
Today, however, we’re reviewing mobile games for Android that will also help you exercise your grey cells during this lazy summertime. Simon has already discussed 3 brain teaser games in the past, so I bring you a few more games to add to your collection up next. The ones I’m listing here address different skills.

Who Becomes Rich (Trivia Quiz) [Android 1.6+]

Who is it for? For those that want to learn random facts and/or test their knowledge of random facts.
Interesting fact: This app has complaint buttons in case you are dissatisfied with the difficulty (or lack thereof) of the questions, the content or the spelling of the words. You can even submit your own questions for developer review, after which they could be added to the question database.
Catch: Ad-supported (unobtrusive banner at the bottom of the screen), but honestly, you barely notice it’s there.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars, averaged from 80,000+ reviews
Size: 3.3M
If you are a frequent MakeUseOf reader, you are probably knowledgeable on a lot of tech subjects (or are at least an enthusiastic learner). Do you want to test your knowledge on other subjects or do you wish to learn more general knowledge facts? This app will be a fun game for you and a pal to try to test which of you can answer the most questions on random facts, or can guess the highest number of correct answers.

If you don’t get the question right, you can submit your name for a score table. The lowest amount of money you can “win” is $100, which you should be able to since the questions in the beginning are very elementary. I have made it to $3 million, a level which of course contains some very obscure questions.

One Touch Drawing [Android 2.2+]

Who is it for? For those that are up for some visual and logic challenges/riddles.
Interesting fact: The app has a survival mode which means you cannot make mistakes. If you do make just one mistake, it’s game over for you. Survival mode could be fun for challenges with friends, or if you’re confident enough of your skills.
Catch: Like Who Becomes Rich, this app is ad-supported, with an unobtrusive banner at the top of the screen, which really is not that big of a deal at all.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars, averaged from 18,000+ reviews
Size: 2.7M
If you like riddles and to figure out problems, you might like this game. You basically need to figure out how to draw the shape shown in the screen without lifting your finger. Sounds simple, right? If only it was in practice. There are 160 levels for you to truly give your grey cells a workout. With that many levels, you might be either extremely excited or somewhat intimidated, but it’s definitely a great game to try.
There are hints after 10 missed attempts at each drawing so even if you’re stuck in any single level, there is hope! I have gotten to level 7, which is not high considering there are 100 in the blue world. I’m guessing the rest of the levels are in the green world while the developers are still working on the levels of the next world (red).

Brain Age Game [Android 1.5+]

Who is it for? For those that want to test or improve their visual memory skills.
Interesting fact: The app notes that if you’re not happy with your initial brain age results, you can notice improvements in your brain memory age if you continue using the app for 10 minutes every day. Also, it allows you to choose an audio track to play while you complete the games.
Catch: There are some ads in the app, but you can remove them by downloading sponsoring apps and earning rewards.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars, averaged from 73,000+ reviews
Size: 2.1M
Do you think you got a pretty good memory or can memorize strings of numbers well? You can find out for sure with this app. This has one type of game where you are shown a few numbers scrambled all over the screen for a few seconds, after which you’re supposed to tap the parts of the screen where the numbers were shown in the right order from memory. After you have completed some levels, you can get a report based on your performance of how old your brain is. Even though this game doesn’t sound that hard, in reality, the challenges get significantly harder quickly.

10 Best iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone games this week

Pitfall! returns for iPhone and iPad

This new, weekly post will be a roundup of the best mobile and tablet games from the past seven days. Starting with this week's selection (in no particular order):

Pitfall!

Activision has revived its classic Pitfall! brand in a game that, as the blogosphere has been quick to note, bears a distinct resemblance to Temple Run. Less considered platforming, then, and more adrenalin-fuelled endless-running (and leaping, sliding...)
iPhone / iPad

Michael Jackson: The Experience

Ubisoft has ported its Michael Jackson music game from console to iOS, getting players to draw shapes on-screen to match dance moves. Four songs are included, with others available as in-app purchases. The link above is for iPhone, but there's a separate version for iPad.
iPhone / iPad

Happy Street

Happy Street dangles the prospect of "a lively world where everybody was happy" (ie a bit like London during the Olympic Games). In this case, that world is populated by animals making friends, catching fish, collecting resources, and generally feeling like an inventive mobile take on Animal Crossing.
Android / iPhone / iPad

Kingdoms & Lords

Mobile publisher Gameloft has been shifting its focus towards freemium games, with Kingdoms & Lords the latest example. It straddles two genres: FarmVille-style resource management to build your village, and strategic combat when you send your army into battle.
iPhone / iPad

Freekick Battle

It's been on iOS a while, but Gamevil's casual football game – slogan: "Do you suffer from an uncontrollable desire to kick balls?" – has been released for Android. It's a freemium free-kicks game with lots of customisation and upgrading, as well as online multiplayer matches.
Android

Townsmen

HandyGames' Townsmen is actually one of the longest-established mobile game franchises, stretching back to pre-smartphone days. Its new version for Android is the biggest yet: a city-building strategy game featuring as much farming, mining and resource management as you can handle.
Android

Sally's Spa

The latest Xbox Live-enabled game to be released for Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, Sally's Spa is a long-established spa-management game from the Diner Dash genre, where you have to keep customers happy while building up your virtual spa.
Windows Phone

Gasketball

"The only game better than basketball" according to its blurb, this is a quirky sports-puzzler from developer Mikengreg that takes basketball mini-game H.O.R.S.E. as its starting point, then gets you to create shots to challenge friends with – either online or on the same iPad.
iPad

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom – Big Star Fun

Less for adults, this is a game for children who are fans of the Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom TV show – their first official iOS game from publisher P2 Games. It includes four mini-games, and multiple difficulty levels to suit different ages and abilities.
iPhone / iPad

Einstein Brain Trainer HD

Already available for iPhone and Android smartphones, this brain-training title from BBG Entertainment has now been upsized for Android tablets – good timing given the recent release of Google's Nexus 7. Daily tests aim to improve and measure your brain fitness, with 30 different exercises.
Android
What have you been playing on a smartphone or tablet this week? Make your recommendations in the comments section.

Oh Yeah! Ouya Raises Big Money for Open Source Game Console

Open source hardware startup Ouya looked to kickstart funding of its Android-based game console, and the effort has resulted in more than nine times the amount it sought.

Ouya had asked to backers to pledge US$950,000 through the Kickstarter website, and the total climbed to nearly $8.6 million as of Thursday, the day the campaign was scheduled to end.

In addition to individual pledges, the company has gotten support from large game publishers including Square Enix, the developer of the "Final Fantasy" series, and Namco Bandai, the developer of the "Soul Calibur" franchise. Last month, Ouya also announced a partnership to provide content from the OnLive game streaming service.
With the money all but in the bank, Ouya reportedly plans to launch the console in April of next year, and has begun taking pre-orders via its website.
The system could also change what has been the traditional dynamic for video games since the days of the Atari in the late 1970s.
"The TV/Console combination is a closed platform," said Mark Baldwin, video game analyst at Baldwin Consulting, "and in that understanding, [Ouya] are creating an open TV/Console platform."
"They certainly are planning on competing with those closed platforms," added Baldwin. "Open platforms have advantages and disadvantages, but Android and PC do show that the strengths of Open are valuable. That's why we are seeing complaints from development companies about Windows 8; it is taking some steps towards a closed platform."
Ouya did not respond to our request for further details.

Bubble Shoot by Runner Games Preview

Bubble Shoot by Runner Games Game Preview (Android)

[ARCADE] Rocket Racket - Challenging Rocket Rampage

Rocket Racket offers hectic rocket spewing action. It's basically a cross breed of Missile Command and any side scroller. A pretty simple concept, but it gets very intense, very fast. Learn how to use the different rockets, and stack up huge multikills. Try it out and tell me what you think!




Click here to view the original image of 800x480px.

Click here to view the original image of 800x480px.

Should work on most devices, there are options for letterboxing and GFX-quality in the menu.


Rocket Racket - Trial on Google Play
market://details?id=com.anio.rocketracket_trial

Most Wanted Sequels For iOS And Android

While normally we'd agree that variety is the spice of life, and mobile gaming does it better than most platforms, there are a few sequels to longtime favorites we’d love to see. With the recent release of the outstanding Fieldrunners 2, it's the perfect time to gaze over our back-catalog to pick games that most deserve a follow-up.

Temple Run

We've seen a few new takes on this classic endless-runner, such as the excellent Disney Brave tie-in, but we'd like nothing more than to get a fully expanded, new jungle adventure to set out on. What would we like to see from a sequel? Well, more variation in maze layouts, a few different environments, and some fresh upgrades would definitely make this a worthwhile endeavor.
Download Temple Run (iOS)
Download Temple Run (Android)
Plants vs Zombies

The original game has had more than its fair share of updates, and the end result is a monstrously huge mobile experience. But we'd really like to see the developers take a stab at something new. How about a change to the lane layout, or some kind of multiplayer mode? Even if we could just take on the role of the undead in a single player campaign, we'd be anxious to sink our teeth into a sequel for this monster-selling title.
Download Plants vs Zombies (iPhone)
Download Plants vs Zombies HD (iPad)
Download Plants vs Zombies (Android)
Kingdom Rush

Developer Ironhide Game Studios did a fantastic job squeezing the previously iPad-only Kingdom Rush onto iPhones. Here's hoping it's been a successful release, as we'd like nothing more than to see a sequel to the game on both platforms. Kingdom Rush is one of the slickest tower-defense games we've played in recent months, with a fantastic upgrade system and some outstandingly designed battlefields. Fingers crossed this won't be the last we'll see of the series.
Download Kingdom Rush (iPhone)
Download Kingdom Rush HD (iPad)
Dead Trigger

Dead Trigger's development studio, Madfinger Games, has had a torrid time with piracy on both iOS and Android, but we hope the experience hasn't dented its enthusiasm. The release of the first game marked a turning-point for mobile graphics, and we're still not so sick of zombies that we wouldn't say yes to another installment of this grisly but beautiful shooter. Any improvements? Sure, a little more variety in the map layouts and missions would make all the difference.
Download Dead Trigger (iOS)
Download Dead Trigger (Android)
100 Floors

The developer's still building the last couple of floors to complete this mobile puzzling masterpiece, but we hope there are plenty of ideas left over for a sequel. This wonderful WarioWare-like puzzler makes use of every element of our mobiles to offer up some mind-bending puzzles, and comes highly recommended to any gamer. Some of the puzzles are just a little too obscure, and we'd appreciate a bit of refinement in the way clues are handled.
Download 100 Floors (iPhone)
Download 100 Floors (Android)
realMyst

We were blown away with the work Cyan Worlds did to turn the previously static map screens of Myst into a fully explorable 3D world. We know that the developer is currently working on a straight port of the follow-up game, Riven, but what we really want to see them do is turn that incredible puzzle adventure into another fully fleshed out world. We can only hope sales of realMyst will allow them to take on this technical challenge.
Download realMyst (iPad)
Plague Inc.

This fascinating (and slightly horrifying) plague simulator took everyone by surprise when it came out earlier this year. As the world fights to find a cure for your devilish creation, you'll need to adapt the nature, symptoms, and means of transmission of your disease so you can destroy humanity before it can destroy you. A very guilty gaming pleasure, and we'd like to see more of it.
Download Plague Inc. (iOS)

5 More Android Games That Give Mario A Run For His Money

A bit ago, we told you about five lesser-known Android games we absolutely loved. The selection was difficult since Google Play is full of potentially amazing games. Today, we're highlighting five more games with which we're absolutely obsessed. From a fire-shooting sorcerer to a gun-slinging cowboy, these creative, inventive and totally addictive character-based games are more than mere distractions; they're immersive worlds that provide hours of satisfying gameplay.

Gunman Clive

Gunman Clive transports us into the Wild Wild West of the nineteenth century. Clive, a fast-slinging cowboy who's always got his fingers wrapped around his pistol, is going after a group of bandits who kidnapped the daughter of Mayor Johnson. We especially like the graphic pencil rendering and the unique humor of the game, which you can get a sense of in the trailer below. 16 levels await you, filled with big scary bosses hiding everywhere. If the game is running slow, we recommend you change modes or reduce the size of the screen.

Chronos & Cash

In Chronos & Cash, a thief and a robot trabel through time to plunder the estates of the wicked. Each level consists of a single screen, arcade-style. You've got to avoid villians on narrow platforms in order to achieve your objectives. Collect bags full of money and disguises along the way. We like the unlikely alliance of a thief and a robot traveling through time, as well as the ultra-retro pixelated graphics.

Babylonian Twins

Dive into Mesopotamia in 576 BCE  and solve some of the world's oldest puzzles with the Babylonian Twins. You'll uncover treasers hidden throughout the city. Both an interactive puzzle and a platform game, Babylonian Twins is highly addictive and wonderfully-made. It's also nice that the game lovingly recreates such emblematic places as the Tower of Babel, Gates of Babylon and the Hanging Gardens. We love!

Stellar Escape

From Mesopotamia, you can travel to space by playing Stellar Escape. You are Elliot Black, a courirer in the Beta sector. But after a frightful mistake, you are forced to flee from your spaceship. You must travel through the space stattion to get back to your spaceship and get back home. The free version of the game has 4 levels, but the full version has 15 and costs just $.99. Stellar Escape won me over with its undeniably cool graphics and simple, yet satisfying, controls.

Magic Portals HD

Magic Portals HD brings together elements of a classic 2D platform with complex puzzles. Dressed like Micky Mouse in Fantasia, only slightly more sinister, your character uses sorceryto create teleporting portals, send fire into the faces of baddies and collect jewels. The game includes a whopping 90 levels with plenty of puzzles to solve and bad guys to fight. We love the 16-bit style.