Meanwhile, in a mysterious hidden facility – known only as Center 7 – a man is having his memory wiped by a staff of mysterious physicians in response to his recent attempts to escape. Subject Delta Six – referred to the other patients simply as Charlie – awakens to find himself being told that his gun training is a part of his rehabilitation, and that he will be released back into society just as soon as he completes his final exam. With Charlie’s only means of earning meals being the completion of these tests, he has very little time left to discover what is going on around him – unless he wishes to straight up starve – before the facility’s Director completes his ominous plans for the amnesiac man.

Players of Gemini Rue (out now, $4.99) will have to play through both of these intertwined tales if they are to learn the truth of what has been going on in the Gemini system, and the answers are not what you might at first expect. Wadjet Eye Games’ recently released iOS port of Joshua Nuernberger’s critically acclaimed Graphic Adventure title has survived the platform change nearly issue free (more on this shortly). The end result is a Sci-Fi Noir mystery adventure that is heavily recommendable both to fans of the Graphic Adventure genre, as well as those interested in well crafted science fiction yarns.

Definitely aiding in Gemini Rue making a successful transition to the iOS’s purely touch screen driven interface is the fact that the original PC release was controlled almost entirely via a single mouse button. All players have to do is tap on a part of the scenery, and then which reaction type – or inventory object – they wish to use in response to the area of the screen they have just selected. For the most part this works without any hitches, although people on smaller screened devices will sometimes find it a tad difficult to get the game to successfully recognize taps on the smaller bits of scenery. Thankfully the developers have wisely chosen to aid in this process by labeling which objects can actually be interacted with if you hold down on the screen for a few seconds straight.

Although Gemini Rue plays with a standard point-and-click interface, much the same as virtually any other entry in the Graphic Adventure genre, it is worth noting that the puzzles found within are miles removed from its contemporaries. Where as most of its brethren will feature situations that are solved with convoluted applications of objects, to the point that even MacGyver would be jealous of the results, the solutions to most situations in Gemini Rue are rather logically low-key. For example: at various points throughout the tale our detective will break in through windows/doors by either kicking them in, or shooting their locks off, rather than taking any actions one might expect of Guybrush Threepwood.

While Gemini Rue’s asking price tag may seem a touch high compared to the usual going rate found on the App Store, I can assure all of you that this title has spared no expenses as far as presentation is concerned. For starters, every last line of dialogue found within this game – of which there is a hefty amount – is fully delivered via a diverse and talented stable of voice actors (although optional subtitles are also present for the hearing impaired). Those playing Gemini Rue in public places will assuredly want to avail themselves of any headsets they might have on hand so as not to miss any of the impressive acting found therein.

Accompanying this is a beautifully detailed array of fantastical pixel art imagery – powerfully invoking breathtaking gaseous nebulas, grime filled urban streets, cold medical testing chambers, and more – all paying homage to the low res VGA days that were easily the Graphic Adventure genre’s golden era. I don’t know why, but this is all currently presented through the unfortunate blur filter that seems to always accompany any and all pixel based games ported to the iOS operating system. If there is any justice in this world then hopefully Wadjet Eye Games will release an update in the near future that gives players the ability to turn this off, so that the finer details of the Gemini System can be more fully appreciated by mobile players.

iFanzine Verdict: Gemini Rue is an impressively delivered Graphic Adventure experience, albeit one that definitely leans far harder on the story telling aspect of the genre – rather than the puzzle solving side – when compared to most of its brethren. Thankfully – considering the puzzle lite focus – the story is a suitably gripping tale of sci-fi noir, immediately grabbing the player from the moment they first step onto the rain drenched streets of Barracus. Accompanying the excellent writing – as yet another perk – is a full-voicing, with every last bit of dialogue being delivered entirely by a diverse and talented stable of actors. The graphics that furthermore pay tribute to the VGA visuals seen in most titles of the Graphic Adventure genre’s glory days is yet another amazing touch, I just wish there wasn’t an annoying blur filter present mucking up the finer details present. For the most part the controls have made the transition the iOS platform fully unscathed, although users on iDevices with smaller screens will sometimes find it difficult to successfully tap on certain objects.

This aid strangely comes in the form of a hero riding a pink elephant, and you’ve got to toss berries to fix the broken paths in the forest. What makes this different from the usual catapult game is you’ve got to flick while moving. In addition, the Lifelings come in different colors and you’ve got hit the broken paths with a similar-colored berry (or a special rainbow berry). Sometimes, you can also pick up bombs to toss.

Yam Yam: Puzzle Guardians starts off simple and leisurely, but as you progress up the levels various obstacles will block you from striking with a straight trajectory. Such challenges are most welcome, unfortunately, the game controls don’t allow for precise aiming. You can control the height and force of your toss by the speed of your flicking, but lobbing your berry in the right arc involves a whole lot of trial and error. This is made worse by the fact that you don’t have all that much time to experiment since your target will eventually move out of range. And of course, your supply of berries is limited.

Though you aren’t severely penalized for missing your targets (i.e. you can still progress to the next level as long as you fix one broken path), the poor controls spoil the game. This is indeed disappointing for a game that starts off fresh and charming. Moreover, the overall gameplay starts to feel repetitive after a while.

iFanzine Verdict: Yam Yam: Puzzle Guardians offers a unique take on the typical catapult-styled game, but despite this freshness, the iffy controls are a letdown. The game may perhaps appeal more to kids and casual players, but it doesn’t appear addictive enough to hook more avid gamers.

Happy Monday, giveaway lovers! This week we’ve teamed up with a trio of amazingly generous indie developers to give you guys the chance to win an extra-large line-up of prizes. Games and goodies up for grabs include a copy of smash-hit Frozen Synapse, ten copies of Tasty Tadpoles, three copies of Eyes – the Horror Game, and three promo codes that allow you to unlock all the premium content in Nikko RC Racer for free!

Read on for more info on all of these amazing games, or simply skip to the end of the article for full entry details.

Frozen Synapse (out now, $6.99): Mode 7 Games’ multi-award winning turn-based strategy game Frozen Synapse finally makes the jump from Mac/PC to iPad. This full-featured port comes packing a 55-mission single player campaign, 5 intense multiplayer modes, eye-popping neon-hued graphics, and a widely acclaimed soundtrack. We’re giving away one copy! *Please note Frozen Synapse is an iPad-only game.*

Tasty Tadpoles (out now, $0.99): Former Firemint graphic designer Mark White‘s debut solo effort Tasty Tadpoles is a delightfully addictive action/puzzle game that’s made quite a splash with critics and iGamers alike thanks to its intuitive controls, cute characters and gorgeous cartoon-y graphics. Thanks to Mark’s generosity, we’ve got not one, not two, but ten Tasty Tadpoles promo codes up for grabs!

Eyes – the horror game (out now, $0.99): Paulina Pabis‘ Eyes is an ambitious first-person survival horror game that will scare the pants off even the most hardened genre fan thanks to its genuinely unnerving atmosphere, impressive visuals and creepy sound design. Paulina has very kindly provided us with three promo codes for Eyes to give away!

Nikko RC Racer (out now, Free): Paladin Studios (Momonga Pinball Adventures) return to the App Store with Nikko RC Racer, a fun, free game that lets you race 10 actual Nikko vehicles around 9 crazy offroad tracks. Thanks to our good pals at Paladin, we’ve got three codes to give away that unlock all the premium cars in the game for free!

As always, entering is simply a matter of…

A) Make sure you’re following iFanzine on Twitter and/or Facebook.

B) Re-tweet this post as many times as possible all this week! (or share it on Facebook, Google+ etc).

C) Let us know you’ve completed the above steps by dropping a quick message in the comments section below. (N.B. If your Disqus profile isn’t hooked up to your e-mail account, please include a valid e-mail address along with your comment).

We’ll select the winners at random one week from the publication date of this post.

Stargate fans pining for their beloved television series can now jump right into action with Colonel Jack O’Neill and his team in Stargate SG-1: Unleashed Ep 1 (out now, $4.99). This iOS adventure game gives you the chance to play as various members of SG-1 to shoot dangerous foes, solve problems, and explore alien territory.

Stargate SG-1: Unleashed Ep 1 offers a huge amount of story since the game is generously interspersed with breathtakingly gorgeous cut scenes. Fans are in for a special treat. Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge reprise their roles by respectively voicing Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal’c. In addition, the game was scripted by Sally Malcolm, author of several Stargate novels. All this lends an incredible level of authenticity to the game.

In Episode 1, the story begins when a Russian archaeologist opens an Egyptian canopic jar. Out springs Sekhmet, an ancient Goa’uld who immediately occupies the archaeologist’s body, while making a bloody mess. That is the first in a chain of disastrous events.

You’ll start off in the shoes of Colonel Jack O’Neill. Stargate Command has been overrun by Jaffa (alien Goa’uld hosts), and you’ve got to shoot your way to safety, along with Dr. Daniel Jackson, the team archeologist and linguist.

Following a stargate time jump, you’ll get to play as other members of their team from time to time. Shooting enemies is pretty simple. Press one button on the left to leave your covered position and tap directly on the enemy to shoot. By releasing the button, you’ll drop back into cover as well as reload. You’ve also got several weapons to select from.

This isn’t solely a third-person shooter, however. The game includes plenty of interactive elements, such as dialogue sequences that resemble a choose-your-own-adventure story, though your choice may or may not change the eventual outcome. Sometimes, you’ll also have to slide your finger in the direction of moving arrows, and you’ve got to time it right or your character may falter and perhaps die.

Stargate SG-1: Unleashed Ep 1 takes you right into the thick of the action. With the frantic pace of events, you can almost imagine yourself in an actual episode of the series, making decisions with the Colonel and his crew, and working to save their butts. The stunning visuals, coupled with the superb voiceovers and soundtrack, make this a rich Stargate experience.

This just in: Paramount Digital Entertainment have tapped the award-winning Phosphor Game Studio (Dark Meadow, Horn™) to produce a First-Person Shooter based on one of this summer’s biggest upcoming blockbusters — the Brad Pitt-starring zombie movie World War Z.

According to a press release we received from Paramount, the official World War Z game is set to hit iOS and select Android devices on May 30th and will feature 28 visceral levels, intense combat, engaging puzzles, upgradable weapons and armor, as well as an unlimited challenge mode.

Phosphor Games Studio Director Chip Sineni had the following to say about the upcoming game:

We were excited to be able to use the cutting-edge Unreal Engine 3 to bring World War Z to life. Our goal was to build Paramount a AAA game, and with that came all our favorite bells and whistles, like ambient occlusion lighting, multipass blended textures, and hordes of enemies to fight.

All of which is showcased in this action-packed new trailer:

The game begins with Emilly in a dusky forest. After she is shot in the head by an assassin, she arrives in a shadowy realm that straddles life and death. Emilly has to find her way through a maze scattered with deadly traps and ghouls that will feed on her if given the chance. Of course, since she has already lost her life, she’ll get resurrected at the last checkpoint if she dies. Sometimes she meets others like her, and from them she slowly learns more about this mysterious world.

You’ll control Emilly’s movements with a virtual joystick and attack enemies by tapping two buttons labeled A and B. Instead of bullets, you’ll be shooting demons and ghouls with Emilly’s blood and gaining experience points while you’re at it. Since her blood is limited in supply you’ll want to be careful with how you use it, though it regenerates over time. You can also occasionally find packets of blood. Later, Emilly will learn new skills, such as to lay traps in the form of magic symbols. Aside from staying alive, your goal is get past various locked doors, so you’ll have to search for the key to let you through.

Emilly in Darkness may be hard on the eyes, but the blackness and stylistic graphics all add to the atmosphere. Despite your ability to down demons, this is not so much an action game than an adventure with a mysterious story to draw you in.

iFanzine Verdict: Emilly in Darkness will appeal to those who enjoy an adventure story filled with intrigue and mystery. If you’re more keen on fast-paced action, this may not be the perfect game for you, though you can ramp up the difficulty level if you wish.

It has been said that wherever there is a will there is also a way, or at the very least that whenever a product is successful that its profitability will open windows to new opportunities. By getting in contact with Django Media, whom in turn put White Wolf Games in touch with up-and-coming fantasy writer: Greg Moller, a plan slowly hatched to create an actual trilogy of novels based upon God of Blades’ mountains of unused backstory material. Considering that the well-reviewed game was already supposed to be an homage to a fictional series of fantasy novels that had been forgotten over time, bringing new classically inspired Sword and Sorcery books to life is easily the next obvious step for such a tribute.

To be certain, Greg Moller was definitely up to the task of whisking gamers away to a distant planet – filled with its own cultures and wildlife – where God of Blades takes place. While merely creating a compelling narrative would be considered a massive success for most product based literature, Greg Moller has stepped up and approached this material with an exacting A-Game. After all, what is a tribute to Sword and Sorcery classics – such as Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian – if the end product isn’t itself going to read like a story from the now past literary era?

Before you clench your teeth in abject horror by conjuring up in your head visions of awkwardly written purple prose designed to sound like a bad parody of the original King James Bible, take comfort in knowing that Greg Moller took no part in any such tomfoolery. While Hand of the Sable King (out now, $2.99) otherwise follows perfectly modern grammatical structure, the author has managed to lend the story an aged feel by employing a plethora of perfectly valid words that are otherwise in disuse these days. This means that the novel will be a source of absolute bliss for those of you who love learning deprecated terms, but could easily end in hair pulling frustration for any who don’t want to keep a dictionary on hand (assuming they aren’t in a place where they could just use wiktionary.com).

Hand of the Sable King begins long before the game its based upon, back when God of Blades’ legendary Nameless King was someone who was both still alive and had a name he was known by. In this tale the origins and motivations of the Sable King are revealed, explaining both how and why he beckoned the Void Dwellers to journey to his planet from the place known only as the Hidden Star. Also revealed is much of the history – religion – and former hierarchy of the world upon which God of Blades is set; all before it became lost to the passage of time, leaving only the ruins and relics glimpsed at it in the critically acclaimed game.

There is an unfortunate problem that comes up when trying to review books, and that’s the fact that it’s more or less impossible to meaningfully discuss something that is only plot without also providing spoilers to the experience in the process. I will therefore now be delving into a truncated synopsis of the book’s plot that will be chock full of spoilers, as otherwise this entire review would be little more than meaningless gear spinning. For those of you who would rather finish reading my review without having any facets of the plots ruined for you in advance, please skip forward past the next three paragraphs without perusing them.

The book’s plot begins with four members of the Bright Hundred – the elite warriors of the Temple Guard – concerned with rumors that have been running throughout the capital about a Sable King, and the Cult of the Hidden Star that he allegedly commands. Although the warriors quickly chide themselves for giving into the jumptales of commoners, the fact of the matter is that the Sable King – as well as the Hidden Star he proclaims to draw power from – are both all too real. Worse yet than the fact that he exists is that the Priest Kings and Queens of the religious hierarchy that leads the empire – having lost touch with reality, as a result of always been cloistered away from the normal pabulum of life – are too busy bickering amongst themselves to take precautions against this dangerous foe, at least not until it’s far too late to preemptively to halt his sorcerous machinations.

When the trap springs it becomes up to the temple hierarchy to stop bickering in time to unite under a single solution before the Sable King, already having gained a foothold in claiming the most important of all temples: The Star in the Center of the Earth, advances his plans forward to absolute destruction of the entire empire. It certainly doesn’t help things when some of the Bright Hundred – as well as many members of the temple staff – have become so fed up with the empire’s rote status quo that they’re considering defecting to the side of the Sable King, all merely because he is planning to shake everything up. After all, wouldn’t the Earth Gods have stopped the Sable King from ever getting this far unless they had – as the cult leader has frequently claimed – already long ago abandoned this world (assuming they ever existed to begin with)?

In particular I loved how Hand of the Sable King really goes into great depth on the path that led the now sorcerous cult leader to where he currently stands, making each step of the journey feel all too human. In a sort of Greek Tragedy sense you really get the feeling that if things had gone differently – and he hadn’t discovered the power of the Hidden Star – that you might have actually been able to champion his initial cause, but certainly not where he ended up. Those who hate fantasy stories dealing with moral gray areas – where neither side is right or wrong – will not need to worry about the content within Hand of the Sable King, for the great cult leader – and all of his followers – have forever been corrupted by the dark void powers of the Hidden Star.

(Thus ends my spoilers)

Anyways, the plot of heroism – religious politics – and forbidden dark sorcery readily gel together in a way that is the perfect tribute to the various Sword and Sorcery classics that used to rule the now dead era of pulp fiction. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay to this tale is that knowledge of anything that happened in God of Blades is entirely unnecessary to enjoying the final product, and thus Hand of the Sable King can easily be enjoyed by anyone who never played the game (although it will certainly add much meaning to the various locales the Nameless King must charge through). The most sobering warning I must give is that the book – the first of a planned prequel trilogy – ends on a massive cliffhanger, one that may never be resolved if enough copies aren’t sold (not that serialized Sword and Sorcery classics of the Pulp Fiction era were ever exactly a stranger to sometimes being left utterly unresolved).

With my general happiness for the book now out of the way, I would like to take a moment – because that is unfortunately all that will be needed – to discuss the video documentaries that were promised to be included. While there are three videos to be found at the back of Hand of the Sable King, each and every last one of them has been up on White Wolf Games’ YouTube page for ages at this point. These include a short three minute interview with the project’s lead artist, a short three minute interview with the game’s main programmer, and the not-exactly-a-documentary-at-all launch trailer for God of Blades. While this aspect of Hand of the Sable King has proven to be utterly disappointing, the bulk of the book itself – even if one must often stop to look up words at times – is otherwise still stellar.

Oh, yes, and there is one last thing to mention: for those of you who are already playing God of Blades, the game has since been updated with a new blade – the almighty Hallow – that can only be unlocked by answering a riddle based on events from the book itself.

iFanzine Verdict: From writing style, to language choice, to world details, to savagery of combat, Hand of the Sable King is a perfectly wrought tribute to the Sword and Sorcery classics of yesteryear. It is even easier to recommend when – unlike most other books based on video games – the material contained within stands up entirely on its own, rather than merely being subservient to the product it is spawned off of. The downside is that for some the constant need to look up the often deprecated words can at times murder the book’s pacing, and there is also the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger which – depending on how well Greg Moller’s product sells – may never be continued onwards into a glorious sequel.

To bring your water to hand, you’ll have to trace out a semi-circle, which calls forth a flower-shaped ring of “petals”, some filled with water droplets, and some empty. From there, you can place droplets at strategic points. Once the seed falls onto a water droplet, it will be propelled in whichever direction you set for the droplet. You can also control the magnitude of the propulsion. Through the use of several droplets, you can guide the seed toward the patch of greenery.

Since this is a physics-based game, the water droplets also adhere to the laws of gravity. Sometimes you’ll need to place one or more droplets at a higher level—on a slope or positioned for a vertical fall—so they’ll tumble down to give the seed a secondary splash in mid-air. As you progress through the levels you will encounter different obstacles, including wind, which may either help or hinder you.

Solving the puzzles is partly an explorative process. You may not get it right on the first try, but luckily, you’re not made to start all over again. You can keep tweaking the position of your water droplets, as well as their propulsion strength and angle, until you get the seed planted. Often there may be multiple solutions, although you’ll want to drive the seed to the green as fast as possible for a better timing.

The Seed currently offers 28 well-thought-out levels. That is quite brief, but Little Bit Games promises more levels in a future update.

iFanzine Verdict: The Seed is a challenging physics-based game that thrives on its simplicity. Unlike many other similar games, The Seed gives you only one tool (water droplets), but this is in no way limiting. The one downside to this game is its brevity, but at just $0.99 and with more levels promised, it’s well worth buying.

When we last covered Sonic Dash (our review) it was mentioned that it was truly an impressive entry in the Endless Runner genre, even if it did have some issues of compatibility for lower end iDevices. Since then Sega has dutifully updated the game multiple times to ensure ever smoother performance on the oft overlooked iPod Touch 4, a lonely device some other publishers are more than willing to never support (even if their games’ pages say otherwise). At this point the difference on lower end devices is pure night and day, and they’ve even thrown in optional high resolution textures for those of you out there lucky enough to have a top-of-the-line iPad 3 or 4.

They have furthermore honed, and then rehoned again, the random obstacle generation routines so that Sonic Dash is now far less likely to throw unwinnable situations at you that can only be survived by losing your rings currently on hand. On top of that they have added far more ways for players to legitimately acquire the special Red Rings that are needed to unlock the alternative playable heroes – other than simply buying them – such that the game is now, at least for the skilled, infinitely far less IAP greedy than it was at launch. This is especially impressive considering that Sonic Dash has just gone from a pay up front title to an absolute free to download IAP driven release, not the sort of thing one normally expects to see bundled with such a colossal decrease in IAP greed.

Between the improvements to both stability and random obstacle fairness being tacked on top of an already great game, coupled with the fact that it can now be had for the absolutely unbeatable price of free – with vastly diminished IAP greed, to boot – the only reason you could possibly have for not downloading Sonic Dash at this point would be if you somehow harbor a deep seated hated of blue hedgehogs.

We’ve got some absolutely stellar iOS games up for grabs yet again this week! Prizes include Star Command, Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte! and not one, not two, but three promo codes for BADLAND, thanks to the generosity of the folks at Frogmind Games! Read on for more info on all of these amazing games, or simply skip to the end of the article for full entry details.

Star Command (out now, $2.99): Following two successful Kickstarter campaigns, War Balloon Games‘ Star Command has finally beamed onto the App Store! Build your own ship, hire your crew, explore the universe, battle alien civilizations across the galaxy, and much, much more in this superb sci-fi themed strategy game. We’re giving away one copy!

Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte! (out now, $2.99): iFanzine’s Daven Gomes gave Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte! from High Voltage Software (Le Vamp) a glowing review earlier this week, praising this strategy title’s addictive gameplay and cartoony graphics. We’ve got one copy of this must-have game up for grabs!

BADLAND (out now, $3.99): We recently added our own 5-star review to the heap of critical accolades and awards BADLAND has received since it was released last month. And now thanks to Frogmind, we’ve got three promo codes for this breathtakingly brilliant action platformer to give away! 

As always, entering is simply a matter of…

A) Make sure you’re following iFanzine on Twitter and/or Facebook.

B) Re-tweet this post as many times as possible all this week! (or share it on Facebook, Google+ etc).

C) Let us know you’ve completed the above steps by dropping a quick message in the comments section below. (N.B. If your Disqus profile isn’t hooked up to your e-mail account, please include a valid e-mail address along with your comment).

We’ll select the winners at random one week from the publication date of this post.