Duckie Deck is a collection of educational games for kids aged 2-5 years, and the popular app is now available on Windows Phone and Windows 8. This collection of preschool games focuses on supporting healthy habits and developing creativity, as well as solving some of the challenges of childhood.

The app aims to develop hand-eye coordination of the kids while they have fun while learning. The set of six games in his pack encourage picky eaters to sample different fruits and veggies, exercise kids’ imagination, teach how to take care of pets, help kids get used to darkness, show the value of keeping a tidy home, and practice visual matching skills. That’s quite a list if it manages to impress your kid!

The app has cute, colourful graphics and animations, and a fun background score. With lovable characters and vibrant colors, it would capture the attention of most toddlers. I quite liked the thing that the games are geared for the kids to play independently, and don’t require a narrative or tutorial. Also, the app does not feature any ads or in-app purchasing offers (unlike most games), so you can leave your phone with your kid without a worry.

While the app is $1.99 on Windows Store (7 day trial available), it is free for a limited time on Windows Phone Store (for Windows Phone 8 only). If you’ve got a young kid in the family, there's no reason you shouldn’t grab this. If you don’t, even if you like basic games, skip it since it isn’t for any other age group.

Thanks for the tip, Amit!
 

We’ve been following SongArc since the app entered beta. The music game is exclusive to Windows Phone and highly addicting to those who play just a few games. The app is currently the most popular music game app in the Windows Phone Store and features nearly 3,000 reviews with an average of 5 out of 5 stars for the rating. It’s also entering v2.0 in the beta. Here’s what you can look forward to with the next big release of SongArc.

Before we jump into the new features coming to SongArc, let’s talk about the success the app has seen so far on Windows Phone. It’s gathered over 400,000 downloads in just 5 weeks in the Store. It’s the sixth best rated game in the US store and kills it for the games category. The SongArc has created Sheets for more than 20,000 songs and collectively has spent seven years playing this game. Pretty wild right?

Here are the new features coming to SongArc and currently being tested in the beta:

• Native Windows Phone 8 support, including an extremely crisp 720p and 768p design!
• Search - find playable songs by artist or title quickly
• Song position indicator - your progress in a song is now shown on the bottom of the screen
• Even more premium quality Sheets by the SongArc Team!
• Continued support for Windows Phone 7
• A brand new Sheet Details screen that does a better job explaining that you need the Sheet and the Song together to play, with other usability enhancements
• Better indication and progress feedback on what is happening when the app starts and it is contacting the server
• A nicer way to enter sheet description

Those are changes in terms of features, but here are changes that help the SongArc team generate revenue for their currently free game. (Don’t forget to grab it while it’s still free)

• Free to play, coin-based system. Use coins to download Sheets from the store. Get 25 coins every day just by starting the app - or buy them in the Store. You can even double the daily coin bonuses by purchasing the “Doubler”
• Guaranteed quality Premium Sheets for just 20 coins
• On Windows Phone 7, in-app purchases are happening through PayPal (not working in the beta yet)

Quite a lot of changes coming to SongArc. Here’s hoping the beta testers get some good feedback to the team and help squash any bugs they encounter. We’ll have a hands-on with the beta shortly. And of course we’ll let you know when version 2.0 of the app goes live in the Store for the public.

In the SongArc beta? You’ll find the link and details in your inbox. Want the public release of SongArc? Grab it in the Windows Phone Store. 

My Talking Tom just launched worldwide on all platforms including Windows Phone 8. You might recognize the name because Talking Tom is part of the Talking Friends franchise that boasts 1.2 billion downloads to date. This new app lets users see Tom grow from kitten to adulthood, customizing his appearance as they go, with the introduction of animations powered in real-time 3D for the first time.

You can play games with him, feed him his favorite foods, and tuck him into bed. Poke, stroke and tickle him, and watch how he responds. There are 9 different stages and 50 levels to unlock. Watch the trailer after the break to see if this is for you.

Talking Tom has grown a huge fan base since launched three years ago. Will Tom’s fans love this app? My Talking Tom is a free download from the Windows Phone Store with available in-app purchases. Are you playing this game? Let us know in the comments!

Crumble Zone is a new arcade game for Windows Phone 8 that calls upon you to save a tiny planet from impending doom.  You play the role of a tiny green alien who must protect a planet from wave upon wave of asteroids.  You also have a variety of comets and meteoroids that presents a serious concern as well.

As you destroy the various dangers hurtling from space the explosions generate gems and diamonds that can be collected to unlock special weapons that will give you a slight edge in protecting the planet.

Crumble Zone is the first game from the developer, Rebel Twins, to land in the Windows Phone Store.  It makes a very good first impression and hopefully this won’t be the last we see from Rebel Twins.

Crumble Zone Main Menu

The main menu for Crumble Zone offers options to start a single player game or a multiplayer game as well as options to access the game’s settings (the “…” button) and view your achievements.  Settings cover sound and music levels, Facebook and Twitter links, and the option to view your gaming stats.

Crumble Zone Settings Menu

The two player game is a simple, timed game to see who can blast the most asteroids and collect the most gems and diamonds.  Each player controls an alien at opposite sides of the screen and you shoot into an asteroid field that is moving through the center of the screen. 

Crumble Zone Multiplayer Game

The alien will automatically move from side to side and all you need to do is tap your half of the screen.   It makes for somewhat cramped game play and the multiplayer game is probably better suited for a larger screen.  Unfortunately there isn't a Windows 8 version available to enjoy multiplayer game on a tablet.

The single player game is better suited for the smaller screens of our Windows Phone.  You are tasked with protecting a planet that sits center screen.  You control a tiny alien that orbits the planet and shoots missiles into space to blow up asteroids, comets and meteoroids before they can smash into the planet.

Crumble Zone Single Player Game

Game controls are positioned in the left and right corners of the game screen.  You can rotate the alien around the planet with directional arrows located in the left corner of the screen and your weapons controls rest in the right corner (one to fire your main weapon and another to fire any special weapons you may earn).

Asteroids are the smaller objects heading towards the planet with the comets and meteoroids being the larger targets.  Asteroids move at a slower pace while the comets and meteoroids move with a little more zip.  Comets and meteoroids also explode with a little more gusto that often takes out the smaller asteroids that are in the area.

Crumble Zone Meteoroid Explosion

Oh, and one shot doesn’t necessarily do the trick.  Game play reminds me of the classic arcade game Asteroids in that when you shoot a target it simply explodes into smaller targets you have to deal with.  Crumble Zone’s game play will definitely keep you busy shooting down dangers to your planet.

Crumble Zone Damaged Planet

As you take out the asteroids, comets and meteoroids the explosion may generate gems and diamonds that will fall to the planet.  You’ll need to move your alien around to collect these items for points and to unlock special weapons that will help you protect the planet.  You can also unlock a planetary shield that will assist your efforts as well.

There are levels of play that automatically advance as you successfully defend your planet.  As you progress through the levels, the pace of play increases adding to the challenge.  Overall, Crumble Zone is an entertaining, challenging, addictive game for Windows Phone 8.  Graphics are eye appealing, game play easy to pick up and the game is just a fun way to pass the time with.

There is a trial version available for Crumble Zone that allows you to play the single player version through the first three levels.  The full version will cost you $1.99 and you can find Crumble Zone here in the Windows Phone Store.

Save on Flight Control Rocket, An Alien with a Magnet, and Avirall Time Suite this week with Microsoft's Red Stripe Deal. 

With the appearance of Asphalt 8 as a non-Xbox title, some Windows Phone Xbox fans remain in shock. What better way to cure your ills than with an Xbox game that’s never gone on sale before? That’s exactly what we get with this week’s Xbox Red Stripe Deal: Flight Control Rocket from Electronic Arts. Not bad!

The non-Xbox Red Stripe Deals include indie game An Alien with a Magnet from Rejected Games and stopwatch/productivity app Avirall Time Suite from Pilcrow App Dev. Both cost 99 cents this week. Head past the break for descriptions and Store links!

Flight Control Rocket (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 41 MB Store Link

You’ve probably played the original Flight Control, but maybe you missed its mostly superior sequel. This one switches things to a retro sci-fi setting in which players must help incoming rockets land on a space-faring mothership safely. You do this by drawing paths from each ship to the appropriate runway, all while trying to avoid collisions.

Not only is FC Rocket way prettier than its forbear, it also offers a lot more gameplay. The three modes each mix the gameplay up in interesting ways, changing up the combo scoring system, bonus rounds, and even mixing in stranded astronauts to rescue. Players can also purchase and equip a variety of robot helpers to customize the gameplay a bit.

The only catch is that FC Rocket’s Achievements are horrendously grindy. The original iOS game allowed users to make IN-App Purchases that would speed them up, but there is no such option on Windows Phone. Still, as I say in our review, if you ignore Achievements this is the best line-drawing game in town.

An Alien with a Magnet (Windows Phone 8)

Regular price: $1.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 46 MB Store Link

Here’s a slick looking indie game for you. Play as a little alien who uses a magnet to move his ship from place to place, collecting stars and other items. It’s very colorful and features simple one touch controls. George Ponder liked it pretty well.

Features:

• The single touch gameplay will get you started instantly! It’s easy to control but hard to master! Don’t let the cute looks of our Alien fool you!
• The first exciting new genre, known as an action/arcade/puzzle/adventure/rotating-platformer! (a.k.a. AAPARP)
• Help our alien to get back to his home planet using the only tool he got working on his spaceship: a magnet.
• 45+ amazing handcrafted levels filled with an adventure you won’t forget.
• Fast, Faster, Fastest! Prove your speed in Time Attack! Play the Adventure mode with another mindset!
• Beautiful high resolution visuals and professional looking artwork throughout the game.
• Music composed by Waterflame. Known for his work for the critically acclaimed indie title Castle Crashers

Avirall Time Suite (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $3.49 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 3 MB Store Link

There’s no shortage of stopwatch apps for Windows Phone, which can make choosing a single app to use a hassle. Still, if you care about quality, Avirall Time Suite is a great choice. Windows Phone Central’s own Daniel Rubino highly recommends it.

Features:

• Tasks & profiles
• Mail sharing
• Multiple projects with multiple tasks, rates, earning, payments and summaries
• Alarm and notifications for timers
• Photo sharing
• Pin TaskTimer to Start screen for instant access
• Define millisecond precision for individual timekeepers
• Running timekeepers adjust with current time zone of the device
• Lots of settings to control app's behavior
• Image attachments in every timekeeper

Windows Phone Central App and Game Roundup: Zombies Games meet Weather Apps

Three categories of Windows Phone titles come to mind as having the strongest presence in the Windows Phone Store; Zombie games, Weather apps, and Photography apps.  These groups seem to multiply faster than bunnies or flashlight apps.  Fortunately, while some may see these categories as over saturated, it's crowded with quality titles.  Which is never a bad thing.

In this week's Windows Phone Central Roundup, we focus on two of these categories, Zombies and Weather titles (we'll pick on the photography apps on down the road).  The Zombie titles in the roundup are some of our favorite titles that have been covered through the years.  The weather apps aren't heavyweight apps like the Weather Channel or Accuweather but they do a good job of keeping us up to date with what Mother Nature has in store.

Weather Apps

Weather View (free): Weather View is one of those weather apps you love or you hate.  Don't get me wrong, Weather View is a sharp looking weather app but it's bare boned approach may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Weather View's Ten day, Three day and One Day forecast pages

The main pages for Weather View cover:

• A ten day forecast page with each day split into morning, afternoon and evening forecasts.  The forecast information is very brief with a weather icon illustrating the conditions and the expected temperature. 
• A settings page where you can view your favorite locations, view forecasts for all your locations at once, view the About page and access the app's settings. 
• The Group View presents the ten day forecast for each location, swiping left/right between the locations. 
• A three day forecast page that, again, breaks things down into morning, afternoon and evening forecasts.  Forecast information is a little more detailed covering the forecasted temperature, wind speed/direction, precipitation levels, air pressure and general feel. 
• A one day forecast that breaks things down every three hours detailing the forecasted temperature, rain fall and wind speed.

Weather View's Settings

Settings for Weather View are where you can add locations to your favorite places' list and sort the order of the locations.  The first location is where Weather View will open up to and you can switch locations from the settings page off the main view.  Additional settings include:

General: Here is where you set your language, temperature units, and units of measurement.  You can also set your start-up view and choose which forecast pages you would like to view.  Therefore, if you do not need the ten day forecast, you can uncheck the Long Forecast box and it will be removed from view.

Live Tile: Weather View has Live Tile support and here is where you can turn that feature on or off and choose a few display options such as displaying the forecast city's name on the Live Tile and turn off the backside of the tile.

Background: Weather View has ten background images you can choose from or if you prefer, go with your basic black background.

I will admit that I like how you can eliminate some of the repetition by removing some of the main forecast pages.  Weather View does lack any radar maps or weather alerts but does a decent job at being a basic weather forecast app.

Weather View is a free app that is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.  You find your copy of Weather View here in the Windows Phone Store.

Bing Weather (free): I'll admit it.  Bing Weather is one of my favorite Windows Phone weather apps.  It presents you with a healthy level of weather information in a very attractive package.

The main pages covers the current conditions and forecast for the day, a ten day forecast, an hourly forecast, a map page filled with weather maps and radar images, and your locations page.  You can pull up a detailed forecast from the ten day forecast page that will break the forecast down into day and evening portions.  I also found that some locations will have a Ski forecast page.

Bing Weather's Main Pages

Settings are accessible from up under the three-dot menu and cover the basics.  You can choose your units of measurements, which location you want Bing Weather to go to upon launch, turn on/off your Windows Phone location services, Live Tiles and minimize data usage by only updating the forecast information when you are on Wi-Fi.

Bing Weather does have Live Tile and lockscreen support.  Live Tile support offers all three sizes of tiles and may very well have the best wide tile background images around.  Bing Weather also offers weather alerts off the Live Tile and main page of the app.

Bing Weather's Ski Forecast and App Settings

The only downside to Bing Weather is the inability to use your own images as the lockscreen wallpaper.  If Microsoft ever gives Bing Weather this feature, it may very well replace Amazing Weather HD as my go to weather app.

Bing Weather is a free weather app and is available for Windows Phone 8.  You can find your copy of Bing Weather here in the Windows Phone Store.

Weather Flow (trial/$1.99):  Weather Flow has been around our Windows Phones for some time now and is one of the prettiest weather apps out there.  It presents everything in a bit of a minimalistic fashion with only two page views but flourishes with a wide assortment of Live Tile and lockscreen options.

Weather Flow's Rich and Metro Themes

The main page for Weather Flow can be toggled between two themes, a Metro Styled view or an animated view.  While you can set the theme in Weather Flow's settings you can also switch the views by swiping up or down on the main page.

The Metro Style theme has your current conditions at the top half of the screen, an hourly breakdown just below that and a five day forecast running along the bottom of the screen.

The animated or Rich theme has an animated weather scene moving along in the background.  Your current conditions are displayed at the top of the screen with the daily and hourly forecasts lining the bottom of the screen.  To switch between your forecast locations, regardless of the theme, just swipe left or right.  Your forest city's name will be displayed at the far top of the screen.

Weather Flow's Settings

Up under the three-dot menu you will find controls to pin a location to your Start Screen, refresh the weather information, and access the app's settings.  Setting for Weather Flow includes:

• Locations: Here is where you add or remove your forecast locations.  You do have the option to have your current location listed as a forecast city or manually enter the location by name.
• Display: This settings page covers your theme upon launch, choosing between a light or dark Metro style, turning on/off location services, choosing a time format, and your weather information refresh rate.
• Live Tiles: Weather Flow supports all three sizes of Live Tiles with options to go with a Metro or Rich background and five different display options.​
• Lockscreen: As well as Live Tile support, Weather Flow also offers you lockscreen support.  You have the option to use a weather image, Bing wallpaper, a custom image from your Pictures Hub or shuffle images from your Pictures Hub as the background.  Additionally there are three lockscreen layout options so you can choose how much or how little weather content is displayed.

While Weather Flow may not have radar images or weather alerts, it does offer an attractive way to quickly glance at the weather forecast from the app, the Live Tile or the lockscreen.

Weather Flow does have a trial version and is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.  You can find Weather Flow here in the Windows Phone Store.

Weather To Go (trial/$.99): This is the first opportunity to tinker with Weather To Go.  It comes across as a fairly basic weather app, much along the lines of Weather View.  I can see Weather To Go appealing to some but coming across as too basic for others.

Weather To Go's Forecast, Map and Weather Warning Pages

The main page for Weather To Go displays a five day forecast with your current conditions.  If you have more than one forecast location added to Weather To Go, each city will have a forecast page.  Just swipe left or right to move among the forecast cities.

The forecast information is fairly basic offering the expected temperature, wind, and precipitation levels along with an icon illustrating the conditions.  If you view the main pages in horizontal view, the forecast expands to include humidity levels, sunrise/sunset times and moon phase.

If you need more detail on a particular day, just tap the date while in portrait view to pull up an hourly forecast for that date.  You can also view a meteogram that will chart the weather forecast for that date.

Along the bottom of the page are four control buttons that allow you to add cities to your forecast locations, remove the currently viewed location, open up a map view, and access the app's settings.

The map view has options to go to your current location and display weather flags for the major cities on the map.  The weather flags will toggle between forecasted temperatures and wind/rain forecasts.  You also have the option to toggle between four map styles.

Weather To Go's Settings

Pulling up the three-dot menu reveals options to refresh the weather data, show the actual temperature, view any weather warnings, toggle the forecast location name (Home, Work or actual location name) and view the about screen.

Settings for Weather To Go covers:

• Live Tile Settings:  The Live Tile will display either the current conditions or forecast for today along with options for icon style, number of forecast days to display and the details included on the Live Tile.​
• Lockscreen: Options are similar to the Live Tile settings and cover what information you want to display for the current date, how many forecast days to display and the details included on the lockscreen overlay.
• Schedule: Here is where you set your refresh rate and turn on/off the Sleep Mode.  The Sleep Mode will pause updated during a set time period.  Set the Sleep Mode for when you’re asleep to save a little data usage.
• Background: Weather To Go has twenty-seven images you can choose from as your app background.  Additionally, you can pull up Bing Wallpapers, choose your own image from your Pictures Hub, a weather image that matches current conditions or randomize your background image.

While Weather To Go has a little meat on the bone, it lacks weather radar.  You do have weather alerts but lacks notifications that there is an alert present.  Weather To Go isn't a bad option to consider if you are looking for a basic weather app but it may be too basic for some.

Weather To Go has a trial version and is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.  The full version is currently running $.99 and you can find Weather To Go here in the Windows Phone Store.

Zombie Games

Dredd vs. Zombies (free): Dredd vs. Zombies is a Windows Phone 8 game that puts you in the shoes of the comic book hero Judge Dredd.  You are tasked with protecting Mega-City One from a zombie invasion.  Dredd vs. Zombies has fantastic graphic quality and is a fun arcade game to pass the time with.

Dredd vs. Zombies Gaming Modes

The game has three gaming modes; Story, Arenas, and PSI.  The Story mode has you traveling through the city, level by level, wiping out any Zombies you stumble upon.  Thirty levels, spread out across three episodes are included in the Story mode and are progressively unlocked.  The Arenas mode is where you take on endless hordes of Zombies to see how long you can survive.  Then you have the PSI mode where you visit the future to prevent crimes from happening.

Game play is fairly consistent regardless of the mode you choice in that you get to blast Zombies into the netherworld.  While your primary weapon is the Lawgiver pistol you also get to choose from a small collection of arms and armor to help you survive the Zombie onslaught.

Dredd vs. Zombies

The game screen for Dredd vs. Zombies has your vital statistics in the upper left corner of the screen with your score just below.  Any bonus items you may have will be displayed in the top center of the screen.  Movement controls rest in the bottom left corner and fire controls in the bottom right corner.  Just above the fire control button you’ll see your ammunition count and a reload button.  While aiming is fairly automatic with Judge Dredd, reloading is not.  If you get caught with your weapon dry, the Zombies will seize the opportunity and start munching on the Judge's brains.

As you defeat the Zombies and progress through the game, you earn credits that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor and purchase special equipment/bonus items.  If you need a jump on upgrades, you can purchase coins through in-app purchase or if you can’t wait to unlock all the levels in the Story mode, an in-app purchase is also available to unlock all levels.

Dredd vs. Zombies for Windows 8

The movement joystick takes a little time to get used to but overall, Dredd vs. Zombies is an excellent shoot ‘em up, action game.  Graphics are top notch, as is the animations and game play challenging enough to keep things interesting.

Dredd vs. Zombies is a free game for Windows Phone 8 and you can pick your copy up here in the Windows Phone Store.  If you are looking for a little more elbowroom for your Zombie annihilation, Dredd vs. Zombies is also available for Windows 8 devices.  You can find your free copy of Dredd vs. Zombies for Windows 8 here in the Windows Store.

Zombies Can't Jump (trial/$1.99):  Zombies Can’t Jump is more of a casual game for Windows Phone 8 than what you find with Dredd vs. Zombies.  The defensive game takes advantage of a little known weakness with Zombies.  They can’t jump.

You play the role of a father and daughter who run out of gas in a Zombie infested neck of the woods.  To survive, the game’s characters will build crates to stand upon, out of the deadly reach of the Zombies.  As the Zombies advance on your location, your characters will open fire on the Zombies in hopes of keeping them at bay.  Should the Zombies reach your location, they’ll begin to destroy your crated bringing the players closer to having their brains eaten.

Zombies Can't Jump Game Screen

Zombies Can’t Jump has two gaming modes; Story and Survival.  The Story mode has twenty levels of play that progressively become more difficult.  The Survival mode has two survival challenges where you must outlast endless waves of Zombies.  The game has a small selection of weapons to arm yourself with and a few defensive items to slow the Zombies down a little.  The further you progress in the game, the more items become available. 

Zombies Can't Jump Tutorial

Then there’s the Survival Rage mode that appears periodically (angry face icon) that will speed up your crate building skills and converts your weapons into Uzi sub-machine guns that mow down the Zombies rather nicely.  The Survival Rage mode will only last a few seconds but gives your characters a fighting chance of survival.

Zombies Can’t Jump is a fairly challenging game with quality, cartoon graphics.  Its main weak point is the short supply of levels in the Story mode.  The levels are re-playable and the developer has added achievements which helps the game’s staying power.   All things considered, Zombies Can’t Jump is a fun game worth trying.

There is a trial mode available for Zombies Can’t Jump with the full version running $1.99.  It is available for Windows Phone 8 and you can find Zombies Can’t Jump here in the Windows Phone Store. 

Care to do battle with the Zombies on the big screen?  Zombies Can’t Jump is also available for Windows 8 that is running $1.99 (trial version available).  You can find Zombies Can’t Jump here in the Windows Store. 

BBB: App-ocalypse (free):  BBB: App-ocalypse is a classic Windows Phone game that is the sequel to another popular Zombie game, ByeByeBrain.  The ByeByeBrain series of Windows Phone games are tower defense games on steroids where you must defend your city against wave after wave of zombie hordes.

BBB: App-ocalypse Game Setup Screen

BBB: App-ocalypse has three areas of your city to defend, three difficulty levels, and two game modes (story and endless).  The endless mode is just that, an endless supply of Zombies you have to defeat.  The story mode has you defending against set waves of Zombies.  Regardless of the mode, if twenty Zombies make it past your defenses and past the gates to your fortress, the game is over.

Game play is simple.  Position your defenders to take out the wave of undead and prevent them from crossing the screen and advancing on your stronghold.  Your defenders include a Frat Boy (the Spanker) armed with a paddle, a Fast Food Clerk (the Colonel) armed with a bucket of fried chicken, a Police Officer (the Fuzz) with gun, a chain-smoking lady (the Cleaner) armed with a cigarette and aerosol can, and a scientist (the Nerd) who has an electricity infatuation.  Each character can be upgraded and has their own unique skill set.

BBB: App-ocalypse Game Screen

The Spanker uses impact weapons (paddles, axes, etc.), the Colonel tosses out chicken legs to slow down the Zombies (they apparently can't resist fried chicken), the Fuzz uses firearms, the Cleaner torches the Zombies and the Nerd electrocutes them.  On top of all that, you can rotate your Windows Phone 180 degrees and join in on the action.

BBB: App-ocalypse Rooftop Vantage Point

You are positioned on the rooftop above what would be the gate to your fortress.  While your defenders are busy bashing the Zombies you can take them out with everything from a handgun to a Gatling gun.

As you take out the Zombies, you will earn cash that can be used to buy additional defenders, upgrade existing defenders or visit the Game Store to upgrade your weapon.

BBB: App-ocalypse Store

The game has fantastic graphics that let you zoom in or out of the action and tilting your Windows Phone changes your vantage point.  You can lay the Windows Phone flat for an overhead view or hold it upright for more of a 3D perspective.

BBB: App-ocalypse is a one of the more enjoyable Zombie games available for our Windows Phones.  The slower pace of a tower defense game may not appeal to everyone but if you get bored flip your Windows Phone around and join in on the action.

BBB: App-ocalypse is available for Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.  It is a free game and you can find BBB: App-ocalypse here in the Windows Phone Store.

Zombies!!! (trial/$3.99): Zombies!!! first hit the Windows Phone Store back in the days of Windows Phone 7 and the Zune Marketplace.  It originally hit the shelves as an Xbox Windows Phone title and would de-listed from the Store only to return as an independent title.  Oddly, the Windows 8 version of Zombies!!! is still available as an Xbox title.  Regardless, independent title or Xbox, Zombies!!! is a fun game to pass the time with. 

Zombies!!! is based on the board game that shares the same name.  Game play follows board game play very closely.  The object of the game is to safely work your way through the city to a heliport where you can escape the Zombie invasion.

Zombies!!! Game Setup

Zombies!!! supports up to five players (you and four human or computer players) and characters can be customized.  You have four game styles to choose from that includes:

• Standard Game that follows the board game rules. 
• Quick Play that follows the official rules but the helipad is closer. 
• Generated Town is a style where the city is in full view.  In the Standard Game, the city is generated as you progress through it. 
• Survival Horror is a style described as “Just you versus a town full of Zombies.  Can you survive?”

Once you jump into the game, a roll of the dice determines movement and the outcome of any battles you enter against Zombies.   At the end of each turn, if you survive, you will earn an Event Card that can be turned in for bonus moves/attributes.  Tutorials pop-up windows will appear as you first begin game play and there is an extensive help section available from the Zombies!!! main menu.

Zombies!!! Game Screen

While Zombies!!! game play follows the board game very closely, so does the game pace, which might appeal to everyone.  Zombies!!! is a nice choice if you’re looking for a strategy game that you can pass longer bits of time with.  If you only have time for a few minutes of Zombie slaying action, your game progress can be saved.  As far as a multi-player, pass-and-play game is concerned, the Windows 8 version played from a tablet might be the better choice.

Zombies!!! is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.  There is a trial version available with the full version running $3.99.  You can pick up Zombies!!! here in the Windows Phone Store.  The Windows 8, Xbox version of Zombies!!! also has a trial version with the full version running $4.99 and you can find it here at the Windows Store.

Overall Impressions  

With regards to weather apps for our Windows Phones there are plenty to choose from.  They range from the comprehensive offerings such as Accuweather to the minimal choices such as Just Weather.  Of the four weather apps in our roundup, I lean towards Bing Weather for its clean layout, balanced information and appealing looks (it just needs custom lockscreen images).  However, that does not mean the other three apps are chop liver.  Weather Flow is an attractive, reliable app to get a glimpse at what the weather is like.  Weather View and Weather To Go have their fair share of appeal as well.

The Zombie genre of games seems to fall in line with its subject matter.  They never seem to die.  Luckily we keep seeing quality, entertaining games from this genre appear in the Windows Phone Store.  Each of the four games in this week's roundup approaches taking out the undead from different angles, each with its own style of entertainment.  Judge Dredd has outstanding graphics and is a little more action packed, while Zombies Can't Jump is a fine choice for shorter gaming sessions.

Zombies!!! is an appealing board game that is well suited for longer gaming sessions or pass-and-play games amongst friends.  BBB: App-ocalypse is a fun tower defense game with RPG elements and even an opportunity for you to jump into the action.  Truth be told, there may not be a bad choice in the bunch.

And that can be said of both the Zombie genre games and weather apps in the Windows Phone Store.  Sure, there are going to be duds crop up from time to time but with plenty of choices available, there are plenty of quality apps and games to consider.  Some may argue there are too many but can you have too many?  The large selection gives us choices.  We all dance to a different drummer at times and having choices helps make our Windows Phones our own.

Let us know in the comments below which weather app or Zombie game is your favorite.

We reviewed the first Nightmares from the Deep game, Cursed Heart earlier this week. Funny how the timing works out – the sequel Nightmares from the Deep 2: The Siren’s Call has just launched on Windows Phone 8! That would be good news enough, but it has also arrived before the iOS and Android versions. It seems developer Artifex Mundi has a soft spot for mobile Windows platforms.

To celebrate the launch, the Windows Phone version of Siren’s Call is on sale for $2.99 (40 percent off its regular price of $4.99) and the Windows 8 and RT version is on sale for $4.99 ($6.99 regular price). Head past the break for screenshots, Store link, and our video interview with the developer!

The return of Davy Jones

You don’t need to have played The Cursed Heart to enjoy The Siren’s Call, but it turns out that the two games’ stories are related. The museum director protagonist from the first game – Sarah Hall – returns in the sequel.

Her previous experience with the pirate Captain Remington and the artifacts held within her museum soon get Sarah wrapped up in a brand new adventure. The story this time involves a village of fish people and mermaids. One member of the village seeks the protagonist’s help in curing their affliction, while other denizens have more sinister intentions…

Oh, and the mythical sea figure Davy Jones once again pulls the strings behind the game’s conflict.

Adventure time

Like its predecessor, The Siren’s Call is a hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA) game. Players will navigate a variety of well-illustrated environments, interacting with various objects to solve puzzles and move the story along. Some of these make good use of touch screen/mouse-style controls, such as early in the game when the player gets to drag a hose around to put out a fire.

At various intervals throughout the game, players will engage in hidden objects puzzles as well. You know how these work – you’ll have to find all of the objects from a list amidst a crowded scene. The Nightmares from the Deep games dole their hidden object scenes out less frequently than some games in the genre, probably due to their greater focus on narrative.

Players who don’t care for hidden objects should be pleased to know that Siren’s Call offers Mahjong Solitaire as an alternative. Matching mahjong tiles never gets old for me, so I’m not complaining.

Extras

Once again. The Siren’s Call offers several bonus features. Chief among these is ‘The Book of Davy Jones,’ a bonus adventure that unlocks after completing the main game. Other extras include concept art, re-watchable cut scenes, and re-playable hidden object scenes.

Wake up to the nightmare

Unlike The Cursed Heart, there are no separate free and paid versions of Siren’s Call. Just download the free version (which acts as a trial) and then buy from within the game if you like it. The game has a built in “restore purchase feature,” so don’t worry about losing your full game unlock if you switch devices.

We’ll have a full review of The Siren’s Call soon. In the meantime, check out our Cursed Heart review for more details on the series.

• Nightmares from the Deep 2: The Siren’s Call– Windows Phone 8 – 295 MB – $2.99 (Sale) – Store Link
• Nightmares from the Deep 2: The Siren’s Call– Windows 8 and RT – 564 MB – $4.99 (Sale) – Store Link

10tons Ltd, the developers behind such games as Trouserheart and Sparkle, are celebrating their company's tenth anniversary with a huge sale of their games across all platforms. Through this weekend, all 10tons games for Windows Phone, Android, iOS, Mac, Ouya and Blackberry 10 will be just $.99. Due to limitations of the Windows Store, games for Windows 8 will be $1.19.

10tons' games are known for their fun look and quirky nature. Many are matching puzzle games with beautiful environments and sweet soundtracks. Others are strategy-based battle games with zany storylines.  And with the serious discount to just $.99, they are definitely worth a try.

You can download their Windows Phone 8 offerings below:

Azkend: A mystical tile-matching puzzle game with an archeological twist.

Azkend 2: A sequel to the first with a new storyline, this time, in New York.  Here's our review.

Boom Brigade 2: Battle aliens in this strategic mission game.  You can catch our review of Boom Brigade 2 here.

Dragon Portals: More than 70 levels of color-matching puzzles.  Catch our review here.

Heroes Of Kalevala: Choose a hero and lead your tribe to prosperity.

Joining Hands: Hold hands with your fellow Peablins to keep the Bogeyman away.

Joining Hands 2: In this sequel, the Peablins investigate a meteor crash near their forest home.  Check out Sam Sabri's review of Joining Hands 2 here.

King Oddball: Rock the world as you battle humans to the bitter end.  King Oddball is a fun game and you can read our review here.

Sparkle: Bust up orbs to save the woods from destruction in this fast paced arcade game.

Sparkle 2: The orbs return in 90 new levels of fun. You can read a review by our very own George Ponder here.

Tennis In The Face: Like John McEnroe meets the John Rambo, Pete Pagassi launches balls to the wall to prevent the evil Explodz, Inc. corporation from destroying the city.  Catch our review of this unique Windows Phone game here.

Trouserheart: Hey, who took the king's pants? Find out in this award-winning battler. And check out our review here.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips!

Not long ago, we covered a Sega Genesis emulator for Windows Phone 8 called EmiGens Plus. The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive was a terrific console, but many gamers would still love to play newer console games on their phones. Thanks to EmiGens’ developer Andre Botelho, now they can!

After months in beta, Andre’s Playstation One emulator EmiPSX is now live on the Windows Phone Store. The emulator has fairly limited compatibility and can’t run games at full speed on current Windows Phone 8 hardware, but it’s still a very promising release for Playstation emulation fans. Head past the break for full review with video!

The first Sony console

The original Playstation debuted in 1994. First planned as a CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES, Nintendo made the biggest blunder in gaming history and broke ties with Sony. Thus Sony chose to release the Playstation as their first videogame console, starting down the road that leads to this week’s launch of the Playstation 4.

Display modes

Portrait display modes - Image at right is set to "Stretch."

EmiPSX supports both portrait and landscape configurations. As you’d expect, landscape is far more ideal because of the larger view it offers.

The only real video option to note is a choice between “Stretch” and “FullScreen” modes. In this case, Stretch actually runs games in their original 1:33 aspect ratio (or as close to it as possible), which video enthusiasts would usually refer to as full screen or pillarboxed.

The “FullScreen” option is the one that actually stretches the image to fit the entire phone’s display. This can look okay in landscape, but certainly not in portrait orientation. Since this mode is stretches the display and not the other way around, it would be more accurate for “FullScreen” to be called “Stretch.”

Controls

Like EmiGens Plus, EmiPSX allows users to reposition every single button anywhere on-screen in either orientation. That should make it easy to get them in a comfortable spot.

Beyond that, the controls show a marked improvement compared to Andre’s previous emulator. For one, the default buttons and d-pad actually look like those of a Playstation controller. Players can also toggle to a “Simple Skin” in which the on-screen controls become simple white outlines (pictured above). Either way, they just look so much better than EmiGens’ rough controls.

I haven’t played enough games to properly test this, but it even looks like EmiPSX’s d-pad is more responsive. In my short playtime with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, I didn’t notice the problem of the d-pad ceasing to work when my thumb exceeded the button graphic. Indeed, the Simple Skin shows a circular pattern around the directions, seemingly indicating that EmiPSX watches that entire space for input instead of just the main directions.

EmiPSX’s other big control improvement is MOGA Pro Controller Support! That makes this the fifth Windows Phone 8 game/app to work with the accessory, and the second emulator to do so (EMU7800 is the first). Again, we don’t have a controller to test the support, but it should make for a superior play experience compared to touch screen controls.

Game selection and in-game menu

EmiPSX’s game selection menu falls a few notches short of other developers’ emulators. Every time you launch the app you’ll have to select between SD Card and Internal storage before your Roms will actually show up. Really it should default to Internal storage (which everyone has) and just let users toggle to SD Card if they like.

The list itself does not support screenshots, which is a shame. It also clutters things up with letters used for alphabetical selection, so that you can only see two or three games at one time. Jumping to letters of the alphabet isn’t bad, but a little reorganizing could allow for 4-5 games to fit onscreen.

Pressing the Back button during a game brings up the in-game menu. From here, players can jump to the “Configure” menu (now listed in English!), save their current state, and load save states. Notably missing is the ability to take screenshots via the menu. Yeah, you can do that with the Windows Phone hardware buttons, but most emulators also let users take pictures using menu controls.

Unfortunately, it’s far too easy to exit the game you’re playing after viewing the menu. Should you back out of the game by mistake, there doesn’t seem to be any way to resume from exactly where you off. That can be a big deal when you’re 15 minutes into Symphony of the Night, haven’t saved yet, and press the wrong thing by mistake. Frankly, the only way to exit out of a game should be by choosing to do so from a menu.

Adding a game to your phone

EmiPSX supports two types of “Roms” - .BIN and .ISO files. Some sites store Playstation game images in another format, in which case you’d need to convert it to the proper format before the emulator could read it. Of course, you can’t legally play game images that you didn’t create yourself, so quit using them pesky websites, sonny.

You can put games on your phone via SkyDrive or SD Card. Note that adding large games via SkyDrive can be a hassle. In my experience, if my screen timed out while downloading a game then the download would fail. I had to turn off the screen time out via my phone’s settings before I could successfully import a game. If the same experience holds true for others, the app should mention the screen issue within its Help menu. (By the way, it has a pretty good Help menu.)

To BIOS or not BIOS?

The emulator supports playing games with or without a BIOS file. The BIOS is the core program of the Playstation and can’t be legally distributed with the app. If you do use a BIOS, it has to be named SCPH1001.BIN specifically, so don’t grab the wrong one.

As with EmiGens, the installed BIOS file shows up on the regular ROMs list. That’s a waste of space; its presence should be displayed in the settings menu and nowhere else.

The settings menu does allow users to enable or disable the BIOS file. You’d want to do this because some games aren’t compatible with the BIOS for whatever reason. In my own experience, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night simply wouldn’t accept button presses with the BIOS enabled. That probably shouldn’t happen.

Performance and compatibility

Ordinarily I would test several games when evaluating an emulator. Sadly, my phone is all but full so I had to settle for adding a single game: the aforementioned Symphony of the Night. Xbox Windows Phone gamers might remember that the underrated and overpriced Castlevania Puzzle is closely based on Symphony of the Night.

The Playstation is a relatively powerful 32-bit console and first-generation Windows Phone 8 devices aren’t all that beefy, so it might take a while for the developer to achieve perfect emulation. As it stands, Castlevania runs at a lower-than-normal but still playable frame rate. The sub-par FPS count would be less noticeable in Japanese Role-Playing Games, which is the genre that people tend to prefer when playing emulators on touch screens anyway.

Speaking of which, EmiPSX doesn’t have compatibility with all Playstation games yet. It does support a handful of big titles though, such as Final Fantasy VII and VIII and Gran Turismo 2. To view the full list and discuss compatibility findings, head to the official EmiPSX thread in our forums.

Promise for the future

EmiPSX has some rough UI edges, but it’s great to see improved touch screen controls and MOGA Pro Controller support in the emulator. Hopefully those improvements make it to EmiGens Plus soon as well.

The most important things with an emulator are accuracy and compatibility. I doubt that EmiPSX will reach 100 percent performance on current Windows Phone 8 hardware. But the Nokia Lumia 1520 (with a woeful 16 GB of internal storage) will soon debut, touting the much stronger Snapdragon 800 processor. Emulators like this one should run much better on Snapdragon 800 devices, so we can look forward to that.

As for increased compatibility, that can only come from extensive user testing and continued developer support. Let’s do our best to help and encourage Andre to keep getting more games running on the emulator!

• EmiPSX– Windows Phone 8 – 2 MB – $2.49 – Store Link

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star hit both the Windows Phone and Windows Store last week and is the result of a partnership between LucasArts and Nimblebit games.

The game, available for Windows Phone 8, plays much like Nimblebit'sTiny Tower just with a Star Wars twist. You're tasked with building a Death Star level by level, while maintaining economic stability, keeping your population happy and thwart the Rebel Alliance.

The retro styled graphics does have a certain level of appeal but the pace of the game may put some to sleep. However, if you like business simulation styled games Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is an attractive choice to consider.

When you first launch Star Wars: Tiny Death Star you'll be guided through a tutorial on the basic gaming strategy. The game will call on you to build various levels on the Death Star that includes residential, commercial, service and Imperial (used to defeat the Rebels) levels.  You'll need to build these levels while maintaining a certain level of economic stability.

As you build these levels, various Galactic Bitizens will be attracted to the Death Star where they will populate the residential levels and take up jobs in the commercial levels.

Tiny Death Star's Main View, Imperial Sub-levels, and Level Types

Day to day management includes producing and selling products, finding jobs for the Bitizens, and carting Bitizens around on the elevator. As Bitizens take up residence in the Residential Levels you can assign them to jobs, change their appearance or evict them. When working on the job, the Bitizens are tasked with placing orders for goods, stocking them and selling them to other Bitizens. As you do these tasks you earn credits that in turn can be used to build additional levels.

As you advance through the game you will be called upon to build Imperial Levels that are used to interrogate Rebel Scum and orchestrate efforts to defeat the Rebel Alliance.

All the activity within Star Wars: Tiny Death Star takes time. If you're the impatient type you can use Imperial Bux to speed along the process. You'll earn a few Bux as you play the game or you can get a jump on things and buy Bux via in-app purchases.

Tiny Death Star's Emperor's Missions, Resident's Listing and Bitizen Screens

Along with the day to day management and expansion of the Death Star, every now and then you'll be summoned by the Emperor to carry out missions. Missions can be as simple as producing/selling a certain amount of goods or building additional levels.

Game play makes you feel as though you're being bounced all over the place going from level to level, manning the elevator and visiting the Emperor at times.  It is more of a busy feel than a "fast pace".  To help you keep track of your tasks, icons will appear at the bottom of the screen and on the various levels to alert you that attention is needed.  

Tiny Death Star will save your progress should you need to leave the game.  When you return, you'll be welcomed back by the Emperor who lets you know how much credits were earned while you were away from Bitizen activity.

Tiny Death Star's Menu, Bitizen List and Settings

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star does have a menu screen that is accessible from the main gaming screen (the little green MENU button). The menu will offer access to:

• The game's settings that covers sound/music/tips/reminders on or off. You can also view the credits/about screens for the game. There is a help section but it is more for technical support than game play help.
• A listing of all your Bitizens that details their current job as well as their dream job. In tapping an individual Bitizen you can edit their appearance, job or evict them from the Death Star.
• A listing of all your Death Star levels along with the ability to purchase new levels with Imperial Bux.
• The Album menu option lists all the types of Bitizens you've unlocked, a listing of your Death Star levels and any scenes you've unlocked.
• The Store option on the menu allows you to purchase upgrades to your elevator, exchange Bux for credits, buy Bitizens characters, buy levels and unlock special Bitizen VIPs.
• Additional Menu options include buying Bux in-app, viewing your gaming inventory, view the current mission the Emperor has you tackling and view Holonet messages from Bitizens where they tell you what's on their mind.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star isn't an action packed game where you blast things to smithereens or battle foes with your trusty light saber. Which may hurt the appeal of the game.  Instead you have a multi-faceted business simulation where you have to not only manage the various commercial and residential levels but also keep your Bitizens happy, do the bidding of the Emperor, defeat the Rebel Alliance and all while not going broke.

Unless your willing to buy plenty of Imperial Bux to speed things up, game play with Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is more like a marathon where you have to pace yourself. 

I really can't find much to complain about with Star Wars: Tiny Death Star but it could use a help section that deals with game play.  While you will have tips pop-up from time to time during game play and the opening tutorial covers the basics rather nicely, a help section would come in handy for those moments you can remember what the tutorial or tips mentioned.

There is a Windows 8 version of Star Wars: Tiny Death Star but it is independent from the Windows Phone 8 version. It would be really nice if the two versions could be linked so you can leave one version and pick things up where you left off with the other version.

Taking everything into consideration, Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is a fun game for your Windows Phone but may have a narrowly focused appeal. I can see the game appealing to the fans of this gaming genre or the die-hard Star Wars fans who have patience with game play. It's not going to be a fast paced, action packed game full of Jedi moves, blasters and Wookies (look to Angry Birds Star Wars for that).  Then again, Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is a free game so you don't have much to lose in giving it a try.

Star Wars: Tiny Death Star is available for Windows Phone 8 that you can pick up here in the Windows Phone Store. You can find the free Windows 8 version here in the Windows Store.

Nothing beats some Goblin, Orc and Ogre bashing on your Windows Phone, especially when you don't have to pay for it. Dark Lands is an interesting game from the AppCampus program, the venture backed by Microsoft, Nokia and Aalto University. If you've not heard of the title prior this article, think of Dark Lands as an infinite runner with some RPG elements to it. 

Released to the store only a few days ago, the developer has contacted us to alert a free deal period. Lasting only a handful of days, you can download Dark Lands from the Windows Phone Store for free.

If you seek a Windows Phone game that will zap some time from your life, we strongly urge you to give this title a try. You can download Dark Lands from the Windows Phone Store for free over the next two days (usually $2.99). Available for both Windows Phone 7x and 8.

We’re entering the second half of the month now, which means it’s time for a new free game for Xbox Live Gold subscribers as part of the Games with Gold program. The first November game, A World of Keflings (from the makers of Fusion: Sentient) was a relaxing little city-building game. It was also an XBLA game. So how does Microsoft follow it up?

With a more challenging XBLA game. Iron Brigade (formerly known as Trenched) from Double Fine Productions is now free for all Xbox Live Gold members. Iron Brigade may not be a big retail release, but it’s a surprisingly deep and creative game with great cooperative multiplayer. Head past the break for more details and a download link!

Alternative history science fiction

The developers at Double Fine are known for their storytelling and creativity, with many having previously worked on classic LucasArts adventure games. That experience comes across in Iron Brigade’s story and premise.

Shortly after World War I, a mysterious alien radio message called The Broadcast reaches the Earth, causing most people who listen to it to die. Two military veterans survive the Broadcast and gain super intelligence from it. But one (Farnsworth) wants to spread the Broadcast to the rest of humanity while the other (Woodruff) wishes only to protect it. Thus the conflict is born.

Into the trenches

Woodruff’s solution to warding off the villainous Farnsworth’s alien technology-infused armies (called tubes) is to build mobile assault vehicles called trenches. You can think of them as steampunk mechs. As the player, your trench lumbers around like a walking tank would do and can fire weapons to destroy hostiles and defend itself.

Trenches can’t move all that quickly though, so you’ll need turrets (called emplacements here) to defend your base from the waves of alien robots that assault it. Yes, Iron Brigade combines third-person shooting with tower defense.

The way that emplacements appear is especially cool. Instead of just building them out of the ground, they actually plummet down from the sky. An emplacement can even land on a tube and destroy it.

Equipment and co-op

Iron Brigade offers a sizable number of levels – even more if you grab the DLC expansion. You’ll get even more mileage out of these levels thanks to a well-developed unlocking system. As you complete missions, your level goes up and new weapons, emplacements, and trench parts become available in the shop. Many more items can only be found as random drops from completing missions or playing Survival mode.

Online multiplayer also adds to the playtime. You can complete the main campaign by yourself, but probably not 3-star every level. Invite a few friends for 4-player co-op and suddenly even the stiffest challenges become more doable. A team is pretty much required for success in Survival mode and the DLC. Luckily it won’t be hard to assemble a group now that everyone gets the game for free!

From Earth to Mars

Iron Brigade’s sole DLC expansion is called “Rise of the Martian Bear.” It takes place on Mars and packs even more of the inventive story and witty dialogue found in the main campaign. You’ll also get a raised level cap, new equipment, and several new campaign and survival missions to play. If you enjoy the base game, the DLC is a must-buy.

Co-op fans, give Iron Brigade a try. Of all the shooter/tower defense hybrids out there, Double Fine’s take is easily the best.

• Iron Brigade– Xbox 360 (XBLA) – 1.43 GB – Free through 11/30/2013 (requires Xbox Live Gold) – Xbox.com Store Link
• “Rise of the Martian Bear” – XBLA add-on – 277 MB – $4.99 – Xbox.com Store Link

Console First-Person Shooter fans could be forgiven for having missed out on the Painkiller series thus far. The series’ last console appearance was Painkiller: Hell Wars for the original Xbox back in 2006. Otherwise the series primarily appears on PC.

Though the delivery method is somewhat unconventional, Xbox fans can finally play the latest Painkiller game. Nordic Games published the Xbox 360 version of Painkiller: Hell and Damnationat retail in Europe earlier this summer. In North America, the game recently popped up as a downloadable Games on Demand title for Xbox 360. The digital release does allow for a relatively low price of $29.99, and a downloadable version is certainly better than none at all.

We’ve played through Painkiller: Hell and Damnation and its downloadable expansions in order to bring you this detailed review.

Painkiller reloaded

Hell and Damnation is a pretty good place to jump in to the series. All of the levels are high-definition remakes of levels from past games. Maybe they’re old news to series veterans, but I bet many of us don’t fall into that category. The story itself is new and takes places after past games, making Hell and Damnation both a remake and sequel. You don’t see that every day.

Said story unfolds between the game’s four chapters - and I mean only between the chapters, not individual levels. It's sparse and confusing, and the cinematic character models show a terrible grasp of human anatomy. But you play this game for its old school sensibilities, not a gripping narrative.

Killing the pain

Painkiller’s closest gameplay equivalent would be the Serious Sam games. Like Serious Sam, the focus here is on killing hordes of brain-dead monsters rather than tactical gameplay. These beasties teleport into an area out of the blue, and the player must kill them all before moving on.

The way Hell and Damnation handles checkpoints and level progression is different from other titles I’ve played. Once monsters start appearing in an area, the paths into and out of the area generally gets walled off so that you’re confined to a small portion of the level.

Defeat the bad guys to make a red pentagram appear on the floor. Touching it counts as a checkpoint and opens a new path. I’m not crazy about the artificial nature of the paths opening and closing, but it does give things a very old-school feel.

The health and ammo mechanics also resemble the FPS games of yore. The protagonist’s health doesn’t regenerate by default, so you’ll often need to scour the environment for health packs in order to stay alive.

Enemies don’t drop weapons or ammunition; you’ll have to search those out too. I often ran out of ammo and had to switch to different weapons in order to keep fighting (even on the easiest difficulty). That was probably the developer’s intention, but it still feels stingy.

Guns, guns, and more guns

Painkiller’s selection of guns is far less anemic. You won’t find FPS mainstays like a sniper rifle and scoped aiming – sorry, sniper fans. Instead, the game offers a selection of unique and fairly creative guns. The stake gun nails enemies to walls. Another fires saw blades that take off opponents’ limbs.

As if that wasn’t enough, each weapon has a secondary firing function that works much differently than the primary fire. The shotgun’s secondary fire freezes enemies cold, enabling you to shatter them with a follow-up shot. One gun’s secondary shot sucks the life out of enemies, giving it to the player. Another can force enemies to fight on the player’s side – after sucking up enough souls first.

You can even hotkey any gun’s primary or secondary fire to the Y and B buttons to make mixing and matching shots easier. The only thing I don’t like is each gun’s secondary fire requires its own separate ammo. It would be far more intuitive if either shot used the same type of ammunition.

Soul stealer

Each enemy that dies leaves a glowing green soul behind. Pick up enough of them and your character Daniel goes into demon form for a short time. During this time, the world turns gray and enemies glow bright red. Every shot you fire will kill non-boss enemies instantly.

Demon mode makes the environment harder to navigate and you can’t really work on the weapon-specific Achievements while it’s active. For me, it became more of a nuisance than a blessing. Increased damage without the visual effects and different style of shots would’ve been more welcome.

You do need the souls for a few Achievements and secondary level goals, even if you don’t care about demon mode. But it takes several seconds for an enemy’s soul to show up after killing it. Waiting around for souls to appear slows the pace of the game for no good reason; they really should appear instantly.

Card collecting

Each campaign level has one or two optional objectives that players can view by pressing the Back button during gameplay. Completing these objectives sometimes gets you an Achievement, but it always unlocks a new tarot card.

Tarots cards act as gameplay modifiers. They enable affects like temporary unlimited health, increased damage, or slowing down time. Daniel can equip two active and three passive cards at a time. The active cards cost varying amounts of gold with each use.

Players earn gold primarily by destroying breakable objects, but also from enemies. Defeated monsters sometimes drop a few individual pieces of gold for you to swoop in and collect. Zig-zagging around for little scraps of gold feels inefficient, sort of like waiting for souls to appear. Couldn’t each enemy or object just drop a single stack of gold?

Multiplayer

Hell and Damnation offers both cooperative and competitive multiplayer. The entire campaign can be played in co-op either via split-screen or online. The second player controls a female character. While the game lacks any co-op specific mechanics, powering through a level with a friend is certainly more fun than going it alone. Unfortunately, most campaign Achievements can’t be earned in co-op, reducing the incentive to team up.

Online, players can team up for Survival mode (basically Horde mode that lasts for a set amount of time instead of waves) or competitive multiplayer. Either way, online is completely dead so these are practically non-features. You can meet up with a friend or two to play online, but don’t expect to find random opponents via matchmaking.

DLCs

Whereas the PC version of Hell and Damnation offers a whopping seven paid DLC expansions, the Xbox 360 version stops at three. The only essential one “The Clock Strikes Meat Night” includes three campaign stages (playable alone or co-op) and two Achievements worth a total of 100 GamerScore. It sells for $6.99, which is a good value for the gameplay on-hand.

The other two expansions only contain online multiplayer stages and an Achievement or two. They cost $3.99 each. Unless you have a friend to play them with or are an Achievement completionist, I wouldn’t bother with them.

Achievements

Every campaign level has one or two Achievements for completing a side goal, providing a nice incentive to complete them. Several weapons have their own Achievements too, the most time consuming of which will be killing 6667 enemies with the stake gun. There are also Achievements for beating the campaign on the two highest difficulties worth 100 and 200 GamerScore, respectively. Oh, and 5 online Achievements.

Hell and Damnation’s Achievements mostly do a great job at adding replay value to the game. I just hate that most of them require solo play instead of cooperative. Way to keep people from playing together, developer.

Overall Impression

Painkiller: Hell and Damnation provides a moody alternative to the lighter, more frantic Serious Sam games. The aesthetics here are strongly inspired by heavy metal album covers, and the music actually consists of some great heavy metal tunes.

Despite its obvious rough edges, Painkiller stands out by virtue of being so different from mainstream First-Person Shooters. I’m looking forward to going back for the side objectives and Achievements I missed my first time through. If you enjoy old-school FPS games, kill some time with Painkiller.

• Painkiller: Hell and Damnation– Xbox 360 (Games on Demand) – 2 GB – $29.99 – Xbox.com Store Link
• Painkiller: Hell and Damnation– UK retail version – Amazon.co.uk Product Page

Gameloft’s previous Xbox Windows Phone 8 release Six-Guns had so many different in-app purchases that we published a lengthy guide just to cover them all. Seriously, virtually every aspect of that game had an IAP component, with some feeling less optional than others. The purchase model diminished what would otherwise be one of the best action games on the platform (though I still enjoyed it).

Kingdoms & Lords takes a much different approach, as only one thing costs real money: diamonds. Players can earn the sparkly gems by leveling up and completing story battles against bosses, but that’s about it. Run out and you might be inclined to buy more. Just what should you spend them on, anyway? Read our latest In-App Purchase guide to find out!

Diamond Packages:

• A Handful of Diamonds –15 Diamonds – $1.99 (7.5 diamonds per dollar)
• A Bag of Diamonds – 40 Diamonds – $4.99 (8 diamonds per dollar)
• A Bucket of Diamonds – 85 Diamonds – $9.99 (8.5 diamonds per dollar)
• A Chest of Diamonds – 175 Diamonds – $19.99 (8.75 diamonds per dollar)
• A Handcart of Diamonds – 450 Diamonds – $49.99 (9 diamonds per dollar)
• A Tramcar of Diamonds – 1,000 Diamonds – $99.99 (10 diamonds per dollar)

Now let’s go over the many ways to spend diamonds and which ones are most productive.

Speeding up time-based process

Several aspects of the game require real-time to complete, including:

• buildings that produce gold on a timer
• crop growth
• resource production (wood, stones, and wool)
• unit production
• unit upgrade research

However, each of these is a poor use for diamonds. You’d burn through them so fast by using them for speed ups, and you wouldn’t be any better off than had you just waited.

Energy

Energy is a consumable resource that refills at a rate of 1 unit every two minutes and 30 seconds.

Many actions consume energy, such as: collecting gold from buildings, harvesting resources and crops, harvesting resources from the wild such as trees and animals, engaging in story battles, and attacking random opponents. It does not cost energy to plant crops or start resource production, “Revenge” attack a random opponent who attacked you first, or visit or invade someone from your friends list.

Energy can be purchased in the following quantities:

• 5 Energy Units – 5 Diamonds
• 10 Energy Units – 8 Diamonds
• 15 Energy Units – 10 Diamonds
• 25 Energy Units – 15 Diamonds

Like spending diamonds to speed up production, buying energy is wasteful. Your energy will fill up over time anyway, so don’t squander a precious resource just to save a few minutes.

Coins

Instead of selling coins as an In-App Purchase, coins just cost diamonds.

• 1,000 Coins – 10 Diamonds
• 2,000 Coins – 18 Diamonds
• 10,000 Coins – 80 Diamonds

The coin prices are – frankly – ridiculous. You’re so much better off just earning coins the old fashioned way.

How best to rake in the coins then? By farming crops! You’ll find Homestead buildings under Production, where they cost 400 coins each. You should purchase as many homesteads as possible – basically one or two for every unit of energy you can currently hold.

Plant crops constantly and collect the riches from them before they wilt, cutting into your profits. If you’ve planted more crops than you have energy to pick them with, either pick up a little extra energy by visiting friends or come back in an hour or two when your energy has refilled. Keep doing this throughout the course of the game and you should be able to afford one land expansion per day, if not more.

Magic Cards

Single-use magic cards are used in battle against CPU opponents or other players. They provide a variety of beneficial effects such as damaging the opponent’s team or healing your own. Sometimes they’ll make the difference between losing to a superior force and coming out on top.

Magic cards exclusively cost gems; you can’t buy them with coins. You could buy a few cards with gems, but they’re so temporary that you’re better off getting them another way. See, friends can gift magic cards to each other for free. If you and a few friends send magic back and forth to each other, you’ll seldom run short during those tricky battles. Players can also win a couple of spells from the free daily lottery.

Premium buildings

Several of the game’s buildings come in both regular and premium varieties, the latter costing gems. Players can choose between premium houses, production facilities, and even research facilities. Better houses pay more coins, better research facilities complete research faster, and production facilities both finish faster and pay out slightly more coins or resources.

Premium buildings are good, but they’re not really worth spending diamonds on. They do allow you to be more productive in a shorter time, but it’s not like anyone could afford to populate a whole kingdom with premium farms or something. You’re better off buying tons of homesteads and other facilities with coins instead.

Premium Heroes

After leveling up enough to purchase the Tavern, players gain access to heroes as military units. The selection of heroes is mostly comprised of the campaign’s bosses, who become available for purchase after being defeated.

Only a few heroes like the Evil Monk cost coins to unlock, though. The rest require massive quantities of diamonds to unlock. If you really get into the competitive aspect of the game, you might enjoy having one of those premium warriors on your team. But heroes have a cooldown period after every battle. You can’t use before the cooldown ends unless you pony up more diamonds – not a good idea.

Research

Surely there must be something worthwhile to spend those diamonds on, right? That something is research.

After purchasing a Training Field, players can research upgrades for any military unit in the game. To actually unlock the ability to upgrade a unit, you’ll first need to acquire sufficient quantities of four upgrade materials.

These materials can be bought outright with diamonds, but you can get them two other ways as well:

• Select the unit you want to upgrade from the Training Field and then request the necessary materials from your friends
• Visit and invade friends’ villages to earn stars. Those stars can be spent on upgrade materials in the black market of the store.

So Windows Phone gamers with friends can get around the need to unlock a unit for upgrading through social means. That unit’s upgrades can then be purchased with gold. However, each unit’s seventh and final upgrade can only be purchased with diamonds.

That’s what you should spend diamonds on; unlocking your units’ ultimate upgrades. But don’t do this with every single unit in your command. Early units will quickly be outclassed by units that unlock at high levels, even when upgraded. If you don’t want to spend diamonds on a unit that will eventually be retired, you should save them for the final iterations of each unit type.

Etcetera

Diamonds can be spent on a few more things like reviving fallen units after battle, decorations for your kingdom, land upgrades (which also sell for coins), or spare units. All of these things are frivolities – never spend diamonds on something that can be accomplished with gold or patience.

Kingdoms are a gamer’s best friend

The decision to buy diamonds or not comes down to how much you like Kingdoms & Lords’ battle system. If you love fighting other players, the advantages from premium heroes and fully upgraded units are hard to beat. The final boss is also quite tough, so you might want an edge there as well. Players who aren’t concerned about finishing the campaign or the competitive aspect can probably make do without spending.

Also, keep in mind that progress made in this version of the game will be shared with the Windows 8 version that releases later this year. And your progress is protected by a cloud save, so there's no danger of making a purchase and then losing it when you switch devices.

That wraps up our In-App Purchase guide. We’ll have our full Kingdoms & Lords review later this week!

• Kingdoms & Lords– Windows Phone 8 – 122 MB – Free – Store Link

The Viking's Revenge is an interesting Windows Phone battle game.  Instead of relying on combat sequences and action packed graphics, the game relies on your powers of concentration and speed.

The Viking's Revenge is a game of conquest where you are called upon to defeat your enemy strongholds and occupying all the islands on the gaming screen.  At the same time, your enemy is trying to do the same.

Battle is done solely by numbers in that you need more attacking forces than your enemy has defending forces.  Game play is rather simple but the pace of the game creates the challenge.  It may not be everyone's cup of tea but The Viking's Revenge makes a decent first impression and isn't a bad gaming option to consider.

The Viking's Revenge’s main menu presents you with three options; continue an existing campaign, start a new campaign and access the gaming options.  Gaming options are limited to muting the game’s music.

The Viking’s Revenge has twenty-one levels of play with the first level preceded by a series of tutorial screens.  The game screen has a series of islands (or planets) scattered about the screen.  You control the green islands, yellow islands are neutral and your enemy controls the brown islands.  Below each island is a number that represents troop strength.  Troops occupying neutral islands remain constant but your troops and your enemies’ troops will increase with time.

Game play is simple in that you tap the island you want to attack from then tap the island you want to attack.  A tiny helicopter will appear to transport half your troop force to attack the targeted island.  The number of attacking troops must outnumber the defending troops to be successful. 

If successful, the island color changes and you begin building troops at that location.  Along with attacking other islands, you can transfer troops between islands to bolster up your defenses.

The goal is to occupy all the islands on the screen.

What gives The Viking’s Revenge a degree of difficulty is that while you’re island hopping, conquering lands, so is your enemy.  The faster you defeat your enemy, the slower they can build up troops and counter attack your positions.  As you progress through the levels of play, the enemy gets a little more aggressive which picks up the pace of the game.

While The Viking’s Revenge is not a complicated game there is one annoying quirk hurts the game.  Screen sensitivity often made it difficult to highlight an attacking island or a target island.  With your enemy advancing smoothly, this quirk can become somewhat frustrating.

Otherwise, graphics are decent, game play challenging with a slight up-tempo pace and overall The Viking’s Revenge is an entertaining option for those looking for a Windows Phone game to pass the time with.  It is a free game available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices.

You can pick up your copy of The Viking's Revenge here in the Windows Phone Store.

Strata is a wonderfully drawn up, challenging Windows Phone 8 puzzle game.  Strata takes a very simplistic approach to puzzles where you have to weave colored ribbons to match a specific color pattern.

The game has hundreds of levels that vary in size and difficulty as you progress through the game.  Strata is an entertaining game that has an addictive quality to it, making it an attractive puzzle game for our Windows Phone 8 devices. 

Strata is divided into six chapters of puzzles, each having four sizes of grids that contain multiple puzzle levels within.  The first collection of puzzles in the first chapter will serve as a tutorial, walking you through game play.

The goal to Strata is to weave colored ribbons into layers so the top most ribbon matches the colored square at the base of the puzzle.  The available ribbon colors line the bottom of the screen and arrows rest outside the puzzle box to mark where the ribbons can be positioned.  Tap on the color of ribbon you want to use, then tap on the position arrow and hope you have thought the moves through correctly.

An undo label will appear on any ribbon placed to let you back out of a move if you goof up a move.  A perfect three star score can be achieved if you solve the puzzle without undoing any moves.

If you find yourself stumped and desperate for help, tap the question mark that sits at the top of the puzzle.  This will pull up your hint choices to either guide you in the right direction with respects to the color choice or ribbon sequence.  The downside to using the hints is that it will prevent you from having a perfect score for that level.

Strata is one of those puzzle games that is easy to play but hard to master.  It is drawn up in very clean, simple fashion with relaxing sounds to accompany your actions.  If you are looking for a Windows Phone puzzle game that will test you powers of observation, planning and strategy you need to try Strata.

Strata is available for Windows Phone 8 and has a trial version.  The full version of Strata is currently running $2.99 and you can pick your copy up here in the Windows Phone Store.

Thanks, Quinn, for the tip!

It took a while, but we’re finally getting it. The official Windows Phone companion app for Rockstar’sGrand Theft Auto V video game is available in the Store. We’ve gone over it before, but we’ll give you a brief overview again and the download link after the break. Let’s check out iFruit for Windows Phone 8.

Yeah, the app is called iFruit and is a dig at a certain company from Cupertino, California. It launched on iOS back when GTA V came out in September, but the Android and Windows Phone versions were listed as coming “later”. Today is that later day. The app consists of two main parts, Los Santos Customs and Chop the Dog. Here’s what they do in iFruit for Windows Phone 8:

Los Santos Customs

The Los Santos Customs app offers players the freedom to create their ultimate vehicle in Grand Theft Auto V from anywhere. At the bar, on the beach, on the toilet. This is the future, we’re almost sure of it.

You can even create and reserve custom license plates for both Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online – order your personalized plates before they’re gone! 

Chop the Dog

Depth of content, high production values, defecation. It’s the app that has it all. Because who doesn't love tending to a virtual pet? Chop is Franklin’s canine sidekick in Grand Theft Auto V. Look after him well in the “Chop the Dog” app and you will reap the benefits when playing as Franklin in Grand Theft Auto V. Pet him, feed and water him, play fetch and tug-of-war, teach him tricks. Too much or too little of an activity, however, will cause Chop to become unhappy, and nobody likes an unhappy Rottweiler. Take Chop on walks to give him a chance to work off last night’s steak and Piswasser and to mark his turf in the hood - defending his ladies, fending off gang members and even protecting the beach babes of Los Santos from unsightly tan lines by removing their bikinis.

We quickly loaded up iFruit on our Lumia 1020 and were pleasantly surprised. We had no issues with performance in the brief few minutes playing with it. What we’re really saying is that doesn’t appear to be a lazy port of an iOS app, something we’ve seen a little too often for our liking.

The app is a fun way to manage your GTA V experience when you’re away from your console and we’re glad it’s finally here for Windows Phone 8. Play GTA V? Download it and let us know what you think.

Want to get iFruit for Windows Phone? It’s a free app that you can get from the Windows Phone Store, by using the QR code below, or swiping to the right in our app. 

Thanks for the tip @wpscoops!

City-building games with timers are increasingly common on mobile platforms. Xbox Windows Phone has seen a few, including Gameloft’s own Ice Age Village. These games lure players in with their initially rapid progression and lots of loot to collect. But the longer one plays, the less new things there are to see and the more the feeling of sameness pulls in. Do we keep playing them for fun or out of habit?

So the question becomes how to make a city builder with real lasting appeal – one that keeps providing players a reason to play and maybe even spend some money. Electronic Arts found a clever way to do so by adding timers to its Sims franchise and calling it Sims FreePlay. Now Gameloft returns to the genre with Kingdoms & Lords. The hook: they’ve thrown strategic battles into the mix.

Kingdoms under fire

The game starts out with a light narrative involving a king’s assassination. This act thrusts the medieval world’s four kingdoms into chaos. As the player, you’ll need to set things right and find the evil force orchestrating the conflict.

NPCs will occasionally deliver tidbits of dialogue that embellish the premise, but the main way the story advances is via a series of boss battles. By reaching the proper experience level and completing required quests, players will unlock boss conflicts on the world map. Bosses must be defeated three times before admitting defeat and opening the way to the next opponent.

It bears mentioning that you don’t fight the actual boss in combat, just his or her flunkies. Since all the bosses can be unlocked as playable heroes, it makes little sense that they don’t show up in person for the story battles. But hey, at least the battles lend the game a structure other than just building things and collecting coins forever.

Simple strategy

This type of game is aimed at casual players, hence the battle system isn’t too complex. Both sides during a battle can have up to five units that take turns attacking each other. The speed rating of the unit affects the order of its turn, not unlike a role-playing game.

Units have several ratings including attack power, defense, hit points, miss rate (basically reverse accuracy), and critical hit chance. On top of that, every unit is strong against four other unit types and weak against the same number. Cavalry are better against the three infantry categories, for instance, while ranged units get attack bonuses against horse-riders.

Taking units’ strengths and weaknesses into account won’t win you the battle all on its own, however. Each category of units such as swordsmen, pikemen, etc. comes in several classes. A higher class unit usually holds a significant advantage over lower class units thanks to its increased attack, defense, and health ratings. The only way to unlock better units is by leveling up, so you might

­find yourself running up against bosses and opposing player teams that simply outclass your best team from time to time.

Players can also cast single-use magic spells during battle, upgrade units to make them more effective, and hire costly hero units to take into the fray. Our In-App Purchase Guide has more details on all three mechanics.

Quests

Beyond progression through the campaign’s boss battles, players can also work through a variety of quests. Many quests appear when you reach a certain level, while others unlock after completing previous quests.

Quests boil down to standard genre tropes like planting specific crops, placing decorations, expanding your kingdom, reaching population milestones, or performing social interactions with other players. Completing a quest rewards you with gold (the game’s soft currency) and experience.

As you finish quests in a chain, you’ll eventually run into quests that require diamonds – premium currency – to complete. Nothing to do about that but ignore the premium quest and move on; you need your diamonds for other things. There’s always a non-premium quest or two to work on instead, and quests aren’t the only way to gain gold and experience.

Resource gathering

One steady source of income comes from your citizen’s dwellings. Each house or windmill produces gold and experience at regular intervals ranging from a few minutes to several hours. Houses also contribute to population, a value that matters for population-based quests and nothing else. Perhaps population could have been better integrated into the game’s design.

The most important and flexible source of gold (and to a lesser extent, experience) comes from farms. Farms can plant various crops, with harvesting times ranging from a few minutes to a full day. Strangely, the payouts sort of level off after 12 hours; a 16 hour crop won’t pay significantly more gold than a 14 hour one.

You can build as many homesteads as will fit in your kingdom, with the only other limiting factor being how much energy it takes to harvest them. Yes, collecting from farms, houses, and other buildings actually depletes your energy meter. Run out and your range of actions will be limited until you get more. Luckily energy refills over time, so its limited nature won’t hamper progression too much.

Three additional resources: wood, stone, and wool require their own special buildings for production. These materials cost gold to produce, with increased payouts for longer production periods. Wood, stone, and wool are used almost exclusively to produce military units.

Social features

Xbox Windows Phone gamers haven’t had much exposure to social interaction in their city buildings games. The social features in Ice Age Village never worked properly and Electronic Arts annoyingly chose to omit Sims FreePlay’s social features entirely. Lucky for us, Kingdoms & Lords has a strong asynchronous multiplayer component that actually works the majority of the time.

By accessing the game’s social menu, players can choose to interact with their Xbox Live friends. There’s no Facebook support (despite mention on a loading screen), but that probably ends up for the best considering all the Facebook integration issues we’ve seen in Ice Age Village and Tetris Blitz.

Some friendly interactions are cooperative in nature; players can visit each others’ villages and harvest five resources or buildings and send gifts of magic spells (the best gift) or other items once per day. The other option is to invade a friend’s village, which pits you in a battle against your pal’s defense team. If you succeed in the invasion, your friend has the opportunity to repeal the invasion in a follow-up battle.

Attacking friends seems less than friendly, but invasions provide an important source of social stars. These can be spent on materials needed for unlocking unit upgrades. Counterintuitive as it is, players are best off getting their friends to choose deliberately weak defense units and just making invasion easy for everyone involved.

Of course, weak defenses won’t help you against attacks from random players. Fighting random players can be quite fun, but the matchmaking is terrible. Choose to engage in such a battle and you’re thrown into a fight against someone who could be much higher or lower level than you. It would be fairer to match players of similar levels or allow the player to choose between a few different opponents.

The game also suffers from connectivity issues in which it sometimes can’t connect to the server at all or drops a connection during battle. Dropped invasions of friends can be resumed but random battles can’t. These nuisances are still relatively minor compared to Ice Age Village’s severely broken multiplayer.

Achievements

Good news: all of Kingdoms & Lords’ Achievements can be unlocked! Bad news: some of the boss Achievements might fail to unlock. But there is a workaround. If you defeat a boss for the final time and his or her Achievement doesn’t pop, immediately exit the game. When you start up again, choose to load your cloud save instead of the file stored on your device. The cloud save should roll you back a bit and provide another chance at the Achievement. It worked for me!

Also note that two Achievements’ descriptions are vague or misleading. For ‘Demon’s Nightmare’ (Successfully resist invasion 100 times) you must resist invasion from friends, not random opponents. The invasion counter on the Achievement screen also seems a bit wonky. And ‘Good Luck Follows’ you requires players to win 50 battles with only one unit remaining on their team, which the description doesn’t spell out.

See our In-App Purchase Guide and Arsenic17’s Achievement Guide for more tips.

Overall Impression

Kingdoms & Lords doesn’t quite transcend the genre. If you’ve never cared for mobile city building games, this one won’t likely change your mind. But the addition of combat and player-versus-player battles does make for a more engaging experience than previous “village” games.

Compared to other Gameloft titles, this one has far better cloud save support since you can save to the cloud at any time. If the upcoming Windows 8 version shares the same save and Achievements, checking in from the device of your choosing should be a most convenient way to play.

• Kingdoms & Lords– Windows Phone 8 – 122 MB – Free – Store Link

The Xbox One launch is fast approaching, with many game publishers lined up to publish launch titles for the new console. One of those publishers is Electronic Arts, who have Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed: Rivals ready for Xbox One.

In celebration if the impending launch, EA invited us to their headquarters in Redwood City, CA to check out a couple of Xbox One exclusive titles they have coming in the months ahead. We can’t talk about those games just yet, but I can share my experiences and impressions of the gigantic publisher’s sprawling base of operations.

As the article headline indicates, it was raining up a storm when we visited the headquarters. Two buildings at EA face the street and parking lot, with several more buildings behind them. Their design is elegant and modern, but some external decorations related to the publisher's gaming properties would have been cool.

The lobby leads to the employee store, the upper floors, and a long horizontal hallway. As visitors pick up their badges, they can watch trailers for upcoming EA games such as The Sims 4 and Battlefield 4.

At the center of the hallway rests this beautiful 1993 Ducati Supersport Desmodue 900 bike. Notice the Team Road Rash helmet at its rear.

The Road Rash motorcycle racing/combat series was one of EA's most popular franchises during the days of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Many of us hope the series will return to glory someday. This 1993 bike would have been created between the releases of Road Rash 2 on the Genesis and the 32-bit 3DO Road Rash.

Displays lining the wall celebrate various periods of EA's history. On the left are several early home computer games. At the right, notice Road Rash for the relatively obscure 3DO console. I put so much time into that version of the game, which featured cheesy live-action story sequences and licensed music from bands like Soundgarten. Road Rash was later ported to the Playstation and Sega Saturn.

The display on the right celebrates the beginning of The Sims series as well as EA's strange Def Jam fighting games. Remember those?

Shortly after EA bought PopCap Games, zombies started to infest the place.

Both walls of his hallway are dedicated to EA games that have gone "Platinum" or above. That means they sold at least one million copies. Did you know that EA helped publish Final Fantasy X for the Playstation 2? It hangs on the middle of this wall.

Believe it or not, Electronic Arts really looks out for its employees. When the sky opens up, everyone grabs a free EA umbrella for protection. Beyond this door lies an outdoor playground for employee's children, a massive cafeteria, and a gym.

Here's your friendly neighborhood Games Editor with PopCap's Sylvain Dubrofsky (on left), the lead designer of Peggle 2. We'll have lots more to share about the Xbox One-exclusive Peggle 2 in December!

My visit concluded with a trip to the Electronic Arts employee store, where I picked up these games a few days ahead of the Xbox One console launch. The system itself goes on sale this Friday, November 22nd. You can look forward to our reviews of the Xbox One itself and many of its launch titles in the weeks ahead.

Anyone else planning on grabbing Battlefield 4 or Need for Speed: Rivals?

Ninja Jump is a simple, mildly challenging Windows Phone game that has you running up walls, dodging enemy ninjas and other dangers.  Consider it an infinity running game that has you running up the walls instead of across the landscape.  The higher you climb, the higher your score. 

Graphics are nice (although tiny), game pace quick and overall Ninja Jump is not a bad choice if you are looking for a casual game to help you pass the time with.

Ninja Jump is drawn up relatively simple.  The main menu has options to jump into the game, access the gaming options and visit the developer’s Facebook page.  Gaming options covers sound and music levels but the settings will not stick once you exit the game.  Having to mute the music and sounds every time you launch the game can be frustrating.

Game play is also drawn up on the simple side.  You have walls running along the sides of your Windows Phone.  You must guide your ninja up the walls, avoiding the various dangers by jumping from side to side.  Just tap the screen to initiate a jump.

Dangers range from explosive barricades to enemy ninjas who will hurl shuriken stars at you.   You also have birds and dragon like creatures that fly across the screen.  You can take the flying creatures out by striking them in mid jump.

If hit by any of the dangers, your ninja character will fall to his fate and the game is over.  To help you survive just a little longer there are protective bubbles scattered along the walls.  If you run into a bubble, it will protect you from one hit.

Game pace is quick and somewhat challenging and Ninja Jump does have a certain amount of appeal as a casual Windows Phone game.  However, Ninja Jump lacks that pull to keep the game from growing stale too quick.  On the plus side, the game is free so you will not be out much to give things a try.

Ninja Jump is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices and you can pick it up here at the Windows Phone Store.

Thanks, Nimesh, for the tip!