Putting aside the issue of Skulls of the Shogun being an oasis in a drought of new Xbox Live releases, 17-Bit's strategy game is a wonderful and accomplished title on the Windows Phone platform (which is where this review is focusing, even though it's also on Surface RT and Windows 8). It takes the simple question of 'what happens to all the shoguns who die?' and answers it with 'they never stopped fighting'. Now all you need to do is help them to victory.
Just before Christmas, we posted news about 'Starcrossed' from Kajak Games Osk, one of the winners of the 2012 Dare to be Digital contest run by a number of Scottish Universities. Since then I've been dipping into this title frequently, and it's about time this arcade puzzler had a full review.
Following on from our review of Nokia's DT-900 wireless charging plate, we now turn our attention to the DT-910, which takes the charging plate design and turns it into a desk stand for your Qi enabled phone. Before you read either review, you should check out our discussion on how wireless charging and the Qi standard actually works. Read on to see whether a desk stand that wirelessly charges your phone is worth the hefty price tag.
The eternal experiment in how best to case one's expensive smartphone - the Lumia 920 is a little on the slippery side, plus it's quite wide (and thus you can't get your fingers and thumb round it to grasp it securely). I've already reviewed the Case-Mate Barely There sleeve, but the Noreve one opts to also cover the front, courtesy of a padded fold-down flap. See below for photos and my thoughts on the Tradition Leather.
When the team behind the second James Bond film 'From Russia With Love' settled on a marketing message, they went for the simple idea of a 'bigger, better, Bond'. Firemint have gone for the same approach with their sequel to the genre defining line drawing game Flight Control. Released as an Xbox Live exclusive title by Nokia, Flight Control Rocket moves the action into space, and asks you, once more, to marshall the approaching craft into a safe landing.
You probably saw our review of HDR Photo Camera a few weeks ago? It's fair to say that David's test shots were limited more by him not using a tripod than the software itself. And now, just like London buses, you want one HDR application and then two come along at once. This time it's Tequnique's HDR Camera and I tried it both with and without a tripod. In summary, images can look spectacular if you're careful, though purists will rightly point out that real life colours can't match up to this HDR version of reality.
Robotek is an unlikely mix of cuteness, post-apocalyptic futures and fruit machine gameplay. See, told you it was unlikely. Not only that though, it throws in a dash of strategy too, forcing you to use your grey matter rather than just how well you can time stopping the spinning symbols to activate your various activities. Besides the fun factor of Robotek, it's also a title that shows signs of the future of the Windows Phone ecosystem, as this game was recently released on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, which, of course, is the promise of the common kernel between Microsoft's desktop and mobile operating systems.
So my Mum asks me what time the next train back to Edinburgh is. Rather than hit Internet Explorer, go to a website, choose my station, and navigate the timetables, I head to the Windows Store instead to download the Scotrail application. As I mentioned in yesterday's look at my live tiles, I've been travelling around Scotland by rail in the last month or so, but this was the first time I was planning a trip 'on the fly'. And I'd argue that in today's 'app economy', the browser is no longer the first place to look.
I would hazard a guess that for many smartphone users, reading the news on the smaller screen is high up on their list of things they do with their phone. I'm a big fan of using the web browser for this, but there are a lot of applications out there that will help you as well. Newser is one of them, and thanks to some smart design decisions, it delivers the news and just enough interactivity to help you engage with the story while on the move.
Nokia's Xbox Live exclusive title Blobster is an example of a game that looks great on paper, and has all the elements that should make for a good game - but fails to deliver. It's not easy to put my finger on why Blobster doesn't make the grade, but let's give it a go.
