So after 24 hours and 6 Xbox crashes I’ve completed my first play through of Fable Anniversary and I must say I was not disappointed. Hardware issues aside I loved playing this game. If you played the original back in 2008 like myself then going to back to where this fantastic series of games began and seeing that small farm boy once more will dump a huge dose of nostalgia into your system. If you joined at Fable II or III then it is a fantastic way to look at the humble beginnings of the heroes from those games and it allows you to see how much Albion has changed throughout the series.

For me though I was excited to see how the first game I ever played on an Xbox would look in HD compared to what I remember it looking like, which at the time was a very good looking game. I was not disappointed in HD this game is absolutely gorgeous really pulling me into the game just like it did before. Not only that but the soundtrack is one that sticks with you and is instantly recognisable adding to the nostalgia of the game, should you have played the original. As well as Jack’s creepy voice, which somehow manages to scare me more in this re-master than I remember it ever doing when I played the original.

Some of my favourite things about this HD remastering are that it comes with all the Fable: lost chapters DLC, which if you never played it really ties the story up nicely and adds an extra twist or two. Also the multiple choice achievements are another thing I love about this game, as it means you can play the game however you want to and not have to worry about achievements being unobtainable. However a word of warning comes with these multiple choices, because depending on which option you choose to obtain them you will get a different symbol achievement. This means that if you choose the easy way to get them all your friends will know you copped out, if such things concern you. Finally the fact that it gives you the option from the start to choose whether to play with the traditional controls or the controls from Fable II and III, meaning that no matter where you joined the series you can use whatever feels comfortable to you or if you played the original go for the full nostalgia factor.

There were only a couple of issues that I could personally find with this game. The first being that the running feels odd almost laggy to begin with but, it’s actually just that the running is a bit angular like in the original. The other issue I found was that on a couple of occasions (having failed a quest) when I skipped a previously watched cut scene the game would freeze causing me to have to dashboard. However this appears to be a rarity without it only happening twice throughout my entire playthrough.

So whether you’ve been with the series since the original or you joined at II or III, I could not recommend picking this up more if you’re a fan of the game. Now I would also definitely recommend this to people who haven’t played the series before. However if you don’t own any of the games but are interested in playing the series rather than buying each of the games singularly, there is a better way to do so because with the launch of this game there was also the launch of the Fable Trilogy onto the Xbox market place giving you Fable Anniversary, Fable II and Fable III for £45 which is a great price for this series of games. So there you have it if you don’t have this game already go get it or if you want to start your hero career go buy the trilogy. As for me I’m off to get those last few pesky achievements, have fun and don’t forget to kick those chickens.

Overall I would give Fable Anniversary a score of: Avo! (9.5/10)

“A Chunder has entered your dungeon!” Eagerly, I scroll over to my dungeon’s portal and watch the somewhat portly monster waddle off in search of new living quarters. It’s then that I realize I’ve lost the last hour of my life to the spell of War For The Overworld.

Pressing concerns like lunch and the wrath of my wife loom large in my mind.

For all of about five seconds…

Then, it’s right back to building my masterfully planned hero deathtrap.

Such is the magic of the spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper. The anti RTS, a game that tasks you with being the evil overlord and ruthlessly crushing any do-gooder that dares enter your twisted lair. All while revelling in the sheer pleasure of being evil.

Dropping today, the team over at Subterranean games have given us a rather substantial patch for the Bedrock Beta of this wonderful game. Among the stand outs from the patch notes:

• Spell: Recall- Benevolent Underlords may now rescue their foolish minions from outside their own dominion.
• Units will now work more reliably
• Units will now need to sleep less often
• Units will now need to eat more often
• Units that spawn will now far more accurately reflect the rooms that you have in your Dungeon
• New death and idle visual effects for some units

And a whole host more, including other visual updates, texture and bug fixes. All in all, it adds up to a rather nice chunk of work from the guys over at Subterranean. Some of these seemingly minor tweaks and fixes actually have a significant impact on the way you play the game. The new tweaks to hunger, units also get hungrier faster when fighting, force you to make sure you have enough slaughter pens to feed your slavering army.

And the game plays fantastically. The Recall spell in particular is a nice new tool for saving those foolish imps that think it’s a good idea to claim enemy dungeon space while a towering behemoth of a hero is flailing at them with an axe bigger than they are. While the game may still be in beta, it’s looking more and more polished all the time. I would encourage you to go jump into the beta right now, but honestly if you haven’t, you need to check your pulse.

You can also check out War For The Overworld here: https://wftogame.com/

And follow them on Facebook and Twitter

War for the Overworld is currently available to buy on STEAM here

Tap! Tap! Tap! DING! Tip! SMACK! Game over!

Such was my experience with Flappy Bird, the surprise smartphone hit. This addictive little game is equally cruel, irritating and rewarding.

And… it’s going away.

Thats right. In a surprise move, Vietnam based Flappy Bird creator Dong Nyugen told the games fans “I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore. It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore. I also don’t sell ‘Flappy Bird’, please don’t ask. And I still make games.”

This comes as he has suggested that his life has become overrun with the success of the game. A simplistic game at best, Flappy Bird sees the player tapping the screen to guide the titular bird character through a series of mario-esque pipes. Bring Flappy Bird into contact with the pipes, and he immediately dies. It’s a simple premise, and one that is maddeningly addictive.

The aforementioned legal issues that Nyugen references may be in regards to the graphics of the games. The pipes that comprise the levels only obstacles bear more than a passing resemblance to the same pipes that Nintendo’s famous mascot has been traveling through and jumping over for 25 years. The Japanese giant is famously protective of it’s intellectual property, leading many to speculate that Nyugen is cashing out before Nintendo can bring a lawsuit against him.

And cashing out would be the right word. Despite being a free app on Android and iOS, it is estimated by some that Flappy Bird was raking in approximately $50,000 USD a day from in app ads.

I find it interesting that Nyugen is insisting that this game has ruined his life and that he now hates it, despite the masses of money he undoubtedly made from the game. It’s been around since May of 2013, but only recently became a smash success. Flying under the radar early in it’s life may indeed have led it to escape the notice of the Big N, which is certainly not going to miss the inspiration for the design of those green pipes Flappy tries to avoid. My money, what little there is, is on the idea that Nyugen saw the writing on the wall and is getting out while he can.

And if that is the case, and if Flappy Bird was making even close to what analysts suggest, then he’s laughing all the way to the bank. If $50,000 a day is what it takes to ruin someone’s life, I’ll gladly have mine ruined for about three weeks…

I was browsing through the App Store (as you do) looking for my next great mobile game, when I stumbled across Dungeon Keeper (well stumbled upon maybe somewhat of an exaggeration as at the time of writing it is currently ‘the editors choice’) needless to say my heart started pounding and my mouth started salivating at the prospect of one of my favourite childhood games going mobile, even better was that it’s free!.. FREE! and that’s an offer I simply could not refuse, a quick tap and a couple of keystrokes later my game was downloading.

While downloading I noticed that the EA logo now stands where Bullfrog used to, let’s see how EA have adapted the game for the mobile market.

Where any game that is free to download and doesn’t use advertisements to reclaim the revenue will almost certainly offer in app purchases and Dungeon Keeper is no different.

Those looking for the original 1997 game may be disappointed, the “twisted take on the original” as EA put it, lacks the depth, charisma and involvement of the original and I know comparing a mobile game to the full PC version is somewhat unfair, I just feel more could have been done to imitate it. For example you can’t queue your imps work, you have to wait for them to demolish one wall before starting another, minions cannot be plucked from the ground and tossed into other rooms and as yet none of my minions have started a fight with one another.

Although this was the bane of any keepers dungeon management it was a vital element into what made Dungeon Keeper stand out from the rest, instead my minions just tend to stay in their own prospective room. No one ventures to go and eat a chicken from the hatchery or go for a walk and get a fire ball up the arse from a warlock whose research had been disturbed by the noise generated by this stroll.

Not only that when you’re introduced to the game via the short tutorial the horned reaper (or horny to his friends… Friends? Wtf!) is just too nice! Should the reaper from the original meet this new one he would immediately dispatch this imposter and laugh while doing so. The minions themselves have also been modified and in some cases look cartoonish and again just too… Well, nice! Skeletons, trolls, warlocks, bile demons, ghosts, vampires, mistresses and dragons are selectable once their requirements have been met, but I want them all. What happened to my flies and hell hounds! I want my dragon spawns to develop into dragons after hours of vigorous training and I want to be able to claim heroes through means of foul torture methods so brutal that even mighty samurai become sympathetic to my cause.

That being said five days in and I’m really enjoying the game, a lot of the original elements of the game still exist, giving your imps a good slap speeds up your productivity and the new interface makes slapping multiple imps easier without taking any meaning out of the gesture.

The game itself is quite simple, build an army of minions using gold to go and conquer other players, or the built in campaign missions and whilst you are summoning your army from your dungeon heart you can build rooms using rock or gold to entice more creatures to serve you, some minions are room specific. Warlocks seek the dark library, bile demons yearn for a hatchery (although sadly you no longer get to see them feast) and necromancers demand a training room.

Rooms also serve other purposes for example trolls can be summoned once you have a workshop which is also used to build traps, the training room is used to train your creatures to higher levels and the dark library is used to generate not only spells but also the mana used to cast said spells.

Some rooms can also attack intruders in your dungeon, the workshop hurls circular saws, bolts of lightning shock any enemy foolish enough to step within zapping range and to my delight the training room slices into would be invaders although the animation in this room has a lot to be desired.

As previously mentioned traps are also accessible whilst you’re waiting to summon your chosen minion(s) to serve as your primary defence as other keepers attacks you. Sadly pvp attacks are no longer in real time and happen only whilst you’re not in game so the strategic layout of your dungeon pathways and trap lay out is more important than ever, a personal favourite of mine consists of securing a pathway by two doors with a reasonable space between, about 3 spike traps laid on the ground and a freeze trap embedded into a separate cut out of wall to maximize the damage done by the spikes.

As well as gold and rock, gems can also be obtained, And a few are generated at random when you excavate a gem vein. At this point we have to say hi to the in app purchase, EA have made the most valuable commodity in the game chargeable (although this does to be the trend with this style game) and quite a charge it is too. At present 500 gems cost £2.99 and represents the entry level spend (£69.99 for 14,000 is the maximum) where as I’m more used to 69p for around 100 gems from similar games, you can use gems to speed up jobs get more stone and rock and summon additional imps your first additional imp will cost 800 gems.

After the tutorial section pending on your gem spend (and horny really tries to get you to spend as much as possible) you’re left with around 500 and I would recommend saving as much as possible for your third imp, production can be somewhat slow with the average rock excavation taking 4 hours, the toughest rock can take up to a whopping 24hrs to excavate, although with careful planning most of this type of rock can be avoided till later in the game.

Basic rock only takes a matter of seconds but most of this is used in the tutorial so again dungeon planning is key to success.

The keepers voice is still present and I can’t help but feel nostalgic every time I’m told “a wise decision keeper” or “I smell the stench of another keeper in your dungeon”. Ok so the phrases may have been somewhat modified but the voice itself is quite true to the original and the game definitely would not have been the same without it.

Whilst out of game you get notifications in the keepers voice of “upgrade complete” when a room has finished upgrading, “your minions are ready for battle” which is pretty self explanatory and a personal favourite is the standard notification (when your productivity has slowed and your imps need another slap for example) which is the sound of imps claiming new territory/laying pathway in the original game all of which are impressive, just make sure you mute your phone if you don’t want the odd eyebrow raise at the local library.

In short the new version is well worth a play, the basic elements of Dungeon Keeper remain enough to bring back found memories as well as provide amusement and a new perspective on the genre to those unacquainted with the original. Setting up defences around your dungeon with cannons, spikes and flame traps as well as excavating rock and forming new rooms provides as much entertainment as going on raids to pillage every last gold coin and grain of rock from your fallen foes and if nothing else at least you can still give those imps a good hard slap!

Dungeon Keeper for iOs gets: 6.5/10

Yesterday Mojang released the latest snapshot to demonstrate things we could expect from Minecraft’s 1.8 update, and it adds even more functions for the use of mapmakers.

Snapshot 14w06a was released and updated later with a b version to fix some more common bugs. It brought very little to the survival side of the game but added ever more commands for the use of mapmakers in the game to use, adding an optional ‘outline players’ function for spectators, making it so certain types of blocks can only be placed upon other types of blocks in Adventure Mode, a command to prevent item entities from being picked up for a set amount of time and another to stop them from despawning entirely.

However the one survival change talks about a lot of changes being made to the mod AI, which “should mean nothing, but may actually mean something”. To repeat their advice, remember: don’t sit on slimes.

Full snapshot notes are here.