ZvP - Aluminati vs Lobo

Ultimate Showdown (of ZvP Destiny)

Please don't ask where the hell this came from. Sung to the tune of The Ultimate Showdown.

HuK's scouting probe was floatin' around
FOX_Moon's base like a big playground
When suddenly HuK himself burst from the shade
And hit FOX_Moon with a 4-warpgate
FOX_Moon got pissed and tried to defend
But didn't expect to get forcefield-bent
And proceeded to open up a can of QQ
As HuK vs Moon went into game two
HuK started throwing down a quick third base
Following his cheese with a macro game chase
But before he could make it into the lategame
FOX_Moon's forces popped out of their cave
And took a mid game attack out of under thin air
And blew HuK's third base into pure despair
HuK ran out of sentries and was forced to GG
As the series went on to include game three

This is the Ultimate Showdown... of ZvP Destiny
Sentries and forcefields and roaches... as far as the eye can see
And only one will survive, will it end up as 2-3?
This is the Ultimate Showdown of ZvP Destiny

Crossfire was the setting for the next big fight
As HuK's probe harassment came to light
And then Moon came back with a nine min attack
But force fields came out to hold him back
And LiquidHuK managed to hold off the push
Surviving the follow-up zergling rush
But he fell to Moon's pro aggressive play
And was set back another game that monday

Then he saw Game 4 sneaking up on the screen
And he kept his cool like a lone marine
'Cause Moon expanded and he scouted and he missed
Starting to defend against an all-in
But FOX_Moon cancelled and began to go in
Not expecting HuK to defend
And he fell behind to expand again
But his early mistake just cost him the game

This is the Ultimate Showdown... of ZvP Destiny
Sentries and forcefields and roaches... as far as the eye can see
And only one will survive, will it end up as 2-3?
This is the Ultimate Showdown of ZvP Destiny

Game 5 came around... a 6-pool about
But into Moon's base... came HuK's lucky scout
And delivered a kick which could shatter dreams
Into the viewers of Day9's stream
Who rose to the task, cheering for HuK
As Moon's zerglings faced a cannon fuck
And HuK defended the cheesy attack
As WeMadeFOX_Moon was forced to fall back

Then BoxeR and Alicia and MMA
And the internet from MLG Dallas' fray
And vileSpanshwa and MarineKingPrime
Early game attacks, a dozen for a dime
iNcontrol, MC, Bomber, EG,
MoMan, Kerrigan, 47 sentries
TSL_Trickster and Michael Z. Grackson
40,000 pretty baller nerds with huge chaps on
All came out of nowhere lightning fast
And they kicked FOX_Moon in his creep-covered ass
It was the zerg asskicking of the century
With IdrA looking on from behind a GG

The battle raged on for an hour or three
Many lings were slain, but eventually
The champion stood, and death came to Moon:
Chris Loranger with a zerg-stained spoon

This is the Ultimate Showdown... of ZvP Destiny
Sentries and forcefields and roaches... as far as the eye can see
And only one will survive, I guess it ended 2-3
This is the Ultimate Showdown...
This is the Ultimate Showdown...
This is the Ultimate Showdown...
Of ZvP Destiny


In honor of DreamHuK, Apollo[9] and eSports. Don't hate, appreciate!

An update, an apology, and an announcement

I'm back!

I want to take the time to say sorry to the people who enjoy my videos - as said earlier, I've been forced to take time off making videos to study for my exams etc.

But those are done now! (yes, indeed) And that means I'll be back to making as many videos and as much content for you guys as I can.

After extensive talks involving stabbings, a waterhose and a very large ferret, I've also come back to Team Firelight. They're an open SC2 team and they're a great community (I strongly encourage you to check them out over at http://www.teamfl.net), where I'll be doing casting etc (and hopefully some events too).

I'm also going to focus more heavily on SC2 content. DLYS is on hiatus for now as I'm reworking the series, but you're going to like what's (hopefully) coming of it.

Thanks for reading. It's 02:24 AM in central europe and I'm hella tired. Video tomorrow!

iKill

GamingTheOS reviews Laser Dolphin!

A look at MetalStorm Online!

No videos. Sunday.

Day off. :P

(Don't take it as that I won't bring out anything on sundays, just don't assume that I guarantee it, because I don't.)

Damn Ladder, U Scary! - Episode 2

This game is LONG! Almost 30 minutes. Split it into 3 parts to allow easier uploading.

Disclaimer: I will NOT space out the 3 parts as one part per day (at least not on purpose). This is ONE video! I will do my best to bring out all 3 parts today, although they take ages to encode and upload so it may not happen.

Blackbird Vs FaiTh

A wild SC2 cast appears!



Please give feedback. :)

Software problems

No videos coming out tonight as I'm having issues getting the sound working properly on my videos. Sorry. :(

Damn Ladder, U Scary! - Episode 1

As promised, an SC2 video! Again, I NEED FEEDBACK. PLEASE.
There's some audio drops in there, but please don't watch it on full volume. It'll hurt your ears. Sorry for the weird black borders, will attempt to fix that for tomorrow's video. Thanks for watching!

As promised: Frisbee Forever

Today, videos!

This is an entirely experimental new format. I'd really, really like to know what you think. Please post feedback in the comments below as well as to iKill.eu@gmail.com! If the reception is positive, I will keep doing these in the future.

Tomorrow, I will be bringing you some SC2 content as well as another app store game review, most likely in a video format as well. Stay tuned!

News, an update and future plans

Hello there!

I'd like to apologize for the lack of content.. IRL troubles as well as internet problems have kept me from giving you an update these last few days. Rest assured that I am back now and will strive to give you updates more often - every few days, if not once a day.

I also want to spend a bit of time talking about future content and so on. Let me start off by saying that I really like putting out reviews for you guys! I know that not a lot of people read this blog, but I'm looking to change that, and part of that plan involves putting out content appealing to a broader audience than simply iOS games.

In that vein, I'm going to be putting out some more general gaming content alongside the app store reviews. This is more to fill in holes than it's to skip over fences - it turns out that decent / deep iOS games are few and far between. This isn't a question of me not wanting to review bad games - rather, it's the fact that many games on the app store, good or bad, don't have a lot to talk about!

This "general gaming content" will include news as well as some personally produced videos (yes, videos!) involving such things as Starcraft II, indie games, etc. I would also really, really like to put out video reviews for app store games, but that'll have to wait a bit. I hope to be able to do that fairly soon.

Among the Starcraft-related things are some improvement casts (watching / commentating a mid-level replay and analyzing what could be improved, what to change etc), a series about non-standard play on the ladder, etc. I AM an avid gamer on the side, and though I am by no means a professional caster, there should be plenty to talk about. (Hey, I'm not a professional writer either.)

I also want to put out some audio blogs as well, mostly because a lot of people enjoy listening more than reading. Not sure why, but there you go!

With that, I'll leave you with a tentative schedule for tomorrow: I've got a review to show you of a new game on the app store called Frisbee Forever, produced by Kiloo Games. You can look forward to that one 'till tomorrow afternoon, EU time.

Regards;
iKill

Katapeltis - Angry Birds clones are afoot

First off, sorry for the long absence!

Second off, today I'll be talking about a game on the app store called Katapeltis (according to the developer, this is greek for catapult). It revolves around firing cannonballs at enemies standing on platforms. Sounds familiar? It should, because it's basically angry birds without the touch-and-drag mechanics and different graphics. I know we're all aware that shovelware is abound on the appstore, but really, guys.

The game is... alright. Sure, to someone who has never played a catapult game on the iOS before, it might be entertaining, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume we all have. Priced at $0.99, it's not expensive, but it's not really worth it either considering what you can pick up for that price on the app store. The music is vaguely charming, but it gets old really fast.

My verdict? It's eh. I won't say "at all costs", because it's certainly an alright game, but it brings no innovation to the table.

Just a heads-up...

I'm down with a flu so I'll be cancelling posts until monday or so. Hope everyone's OK with this.

Cellfense - tower defense gone puzzle?

Cellfense is a new game on the app store, having been released only yesterday. It's a tower defense game, and the pretense is simple - defend your phone from the evil viruses! The graphic style is neat, if uneventful, and overall the game is pretty average - however, it has one (in my opinion) large flaw.

It's not the particle effects.

You see, usually the idea of tower defense games is that you have to be creative with tower placement in order to find a positioning that works. Cellfense is a little different - here, you have to find THE positioning that works, because far too often, it feels like there's really only one solution to each level. There are several reasons for this:

• Too few & too strong enemies.
• Too little leeway (one enemy with 5% hp slip past you? Game over.)
• Limited numbers of turrets (!!!)

Boom!

I don't mean the last one as "Oh, you can't just fill out the entire level with turrets". The game gives you a number of enemies visible at the start of each level and the bare minimum of turrets needed to take them down, and then it's up to you to place them properly. This is done through the energy system - you have limited energy that you can choose to spend on towers or powerups (there's a vastly unreliable slow and a fairly useful "berserk" effect available from the start). Because of this tightness, you have to be fairly spot on to the developers' logic in order to beat each level. 

Don't get me wrong. I like the game, but I feel that it's too hard from the start, and not in the "challenge is fun" sense. I don't know if the problems mentioned above are balance issues or intended, but if it's the former, then they really need to be addressed.

WHYYYYY

The game is $0.99 on the app store for the full version. There's a lite version for free that gives slightly less content than the full. I wouldn't recommend the game now, but if the issues described in this review are addressed, I promise to go back and give it a second look.

Sword & Sworcery - taking it to the next level

There's one app I absolutely need to tell you about. It goes by the name of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP(Or S:S&SE for short), and it's currently the Featured Game on the app store. It used to be an iPad exclusive, but luckily for us handheld users, it was recently made universal to iPod/iPhones as well. It is an odd mix of a 2D point & click game and quicktime events, and boy, does it work.

You control a character known as "The Scythian", navigating a mystical realm on your quest. Along the way, you retrieve such objects as the Megatome (not kidding!) and the Golden Trigon. You must utilize sworcery (which, I am told, is a kind of magic) to unlock the secrets of the land.

The game's main forte lies in its graphics. The developers call it an audiovisual experience, and I'm hard pressed to find a better way to describe it. The visuals are expansive, yet retro-styled amazingly well. The audio is incredibly immersive. The game's humor is extremely charming - it doesn't take itself too seriously (something far too many games tend to do), either ("Logfella had the feeling that it was a time of miracles & he wondered if maybe something awesome was about to happen." "We got The Gold Trigon. We are so awesome.").

One of the best parts of the game, though, is the combat system. Remember when I said quicktime events? They shine. So very, very much. It takes away from the dullness of traditional turn-based encounters masterfully - in fact, my only complaint about this game is that there's not a lot of combat in the early parts of it. Even the way you are able to shift freely between combat mode and movement mode by flipping your device 90 degrees is masterful (at one point, you are required to enter combat mode in order to threaten a rainbow). It does take a little while for the game to get started, but honestly - you owe this game at least playing through the first chapter (there are 6, currently).

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is $2.99 on the app store. Get it. Right away. Hell, you should've been installing it while you read this.

Deathfall HD - shiny graphics are a selling point

Today, I'd like to talk about a game that has been out on the app store for some time - namely, Deathfall. It was released mid-January '11, however, today it received an update in the form of a HD version. Which is, in my opinion, completely valid. (Please note that the resolution doesn't carry over on screenshots, and that the graphics are far better ingame than they appear to be here.)

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

Why? Because the graphical experience is all it has going for it. Don't get me wrong - the audio is great as well, and it complements the visuals nicely. But the game just isn't fun in a gaming sort of sense. For the first 5 minutes or so, the game is oddly charming, in a "Well, this is kind of entertaining" sense. Then again, that's about how long it takes you to realize that what you've already seen is everything you'll get, gameplay-wise. Sure, it has an appeal in the form of score addiction, but even that wasn't enough to keep me playing for very long at a time. It's an arcade title at its finest.

The game is a typical falldown-style game. You tilt the level left or right, and the skull follows the tilts, falling down the level. Your task is to collect as many artifacts as possible to score points, and to add to the completionism sense, there's a reward for collecting all the artifacts in a sequence (which is about 20-30 artifacts). Wanna know what the reward is? Your skull glows orange. For roughly 5 seconds, in which you receive extra points.

At least the backgrounds are neat.

To add to that, the tilt graphics feel irritating and clunky most of the time. There's no option to increase sensitivity or invert the controls. In fact, there are no options at all, not even to turn off the audio (not that you'd want to - it's very good for a 0.99$ game).

It also has achievements.

I didn't say they were fun achievements.

My verdict? If you're really a fan of falldown arcade games, get it. The audiovisual experience makes it better than most of its peers in that category, but I wouldn't call it fun. At $0.99, nobody's going to blame you for buying it - however, there are far better games out there at the same price.

______________________________________________________

Also, on a slightly unrelated note - if you have a suggestion for a review, or a tip, or would like your game reviewed, please feel free to email me at ikill.eu@gmail.com!

Percepto - Breaking the Z axis

Percepto is a new, interesting gem in the app store. It's featured by Apple this week, and carries with it a new iteration of an often-seen concept in iOS games (Shift, Gravity Guy) - game field manipulation.

The game is a 2D puzzle that involves sliding a character across a room into a door. The interesting part comes in when you tap the room into 3D mode, allowing you to flip it and re-tap it into 2D to move around obstacles.

While it's certainly an interesting concept, I wish I could call the game wildly entertaining, but... it just isn't. New mechanics are few and far between, keeping the gameplay largely repetitive throughout the game. While the shine of the 3D/2D switch will keep most people enthralled for the first few minutes, after that, it becomes a struggle to stay positive.

The game does have a certain OCD factor, as it records time spent and moves spent, but that's the only real incentive to play the game. In my opinion, a game doesn't warrant being a paid app if the only thing it has going for it is its gimmick.

Get it if you're bored and a puzzle maniac - otherwise, avoid this app.

Air Penguin - and you thought Super Meat Boy was hard

Someone told me once that everything is better with birds. Looking at iPhone gaming, I'm inclined to believe this.

LOOK AT ALL THESE BIRDS

Case in point: Air Penguin. It's a newcomer on the app store, having been released only a week ago (April 14th). And yet, it's already reached the #1 paid app spot in several countries, including Denmark, Austria, Germany and Russia. Why?

Let's start with a basic look: The game has you jump through linear levels using platforms and tilt controls in The Floor Is Made Of Lava a la iPhone. Sounds easy? It is... To start with. But once the game introduces advanced mechanics - broken platforms that will have you start over on touch, sharks, swordfish, seals - the complexity grows, at which point you'll quickly find yourself trapped in an addictive rage machine.

Because it's really freaking hard.

But - and credit where it's due - unlike many other iOS games, it's not hard because the controls are gimped, it's hard because of the amazing level design put into the game. The platform spacing and mechanics both contribute to this. You don't sit there feeling frustrated that the game is playing against you - rather, the rage turns into addiction. 

That brings me onto my next point - it's really freaking long! The game has over 100 stages, plus a survival mode. That's far more than most paid apps.  And don't be tricked into thinking that long = repetitive - sure, it's not a game to play for 8 hours straight, but it's obvious that the level designer had a blast using the mechanics creatively. 

Those damn whales.

I don't have much criticism on this game. The graphic style is endearing as hell, lending to the light-hearted atmosphere of the game, which the music matches up to perfectly. At $0.99, this game is well worth the price.   If you're looking for a new game to pass those lunchbreaks with, get this.

Now.