Thanks to loyal fans, a strong player base, and a steady stream of content, MiHoYo’s free-to-play mobile title, Genshin Impact took home the largest prize during Steel Media’s fourth annual Pocket Gamer Mobile Awards 2021 show.
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In celebration of summer having started, Square Enix has officially announced their summer promotions for both MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY and DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY OPERA OMNIA. Let’s take a look at the details. Continue reading
The latest entry in the Tales of series will be headed to mobile devices in 2019 as a free-to-play title called Tales of Crestoria.
Today, EA Mobile and Popcap games have announced that their critically-acclaimed tower defense title, Plants vs. Zombies 2 has received its very first PvP mode called Battlez.
There’s no secret that Square Enix had a lot riding on Final Fantasy XV before it launched. It was a game that premiered as a successor to Final Fantasy XII under its elusive named Final Fantasy XIII -Versus- when it first hit the press. For over fifteen years fans patiently waited for their new experience, which was met with some opposition as it took on the Kingdom Hearts approach to gameplay and the Final Fantasy story telling elements.
Karazhan, one of the most famed raids in Warcraft history, has gotten some Hearthstone love with it becoming the next single-player adventure adventures within the title. This adventure explores the nostalgia-filled fan-favourite dungeon starting on August 11th. This adventure release date will allow fans to explore the first one of the adventure on August 11th, with new wings opening up over the course of the month. Much like how they have released the previous adventures within the game.
The expansion will feature 45 new cards, new characters, and familiar settings that players will recall from the legacy raid, such as the Opera Event, Enchanted Chessboard, and more when the adventure launches. Additionally Blizzard Entertainment has announced that they will bring in a heroic mode for a card back after completing it. This card back will be unlocked as each card is unlocked.
One Night In Karazhan will launch August 11th, allowing players to take to the new adventures prologue mission, which will reward two new cards, while the entire experience can be purchased for $19.99 when it launches. Each wing will be sold for $6.99 each.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
I’ve reported a few times about my passion for free-to-play games, how to save money, and even what to do if you just don’t have the money in general. Today I’ve decided to take a look at one of my passion’s that some of the hardcore of the hardcore don’t consider a part of the gaming genre; tablet gaming on Android and iOS. This passion of mine has come around recently as it has become easily accessible to almost anyone. By anyone I mean literally almost everyone that has a smart phone or a tablet. Heck even Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 have implemented a decent amount of mobile games to their operating systems.
A few of the games that we’re going to talk about might be free-to-play or even come at a small cost. There’s even a few that cost almost the same price as their console or PC counterparts, but they’re still worth a go if you’d rather have them on the go. Granted the tablet versions may not just cut it in the end. Luckily for us, tablet gaming is rather inexpensive and easily enjoyable by anyone.
When looking at tablet gaming there’s always the question about App Permissions, memory use, and well performance as tablets are beginning to get the power treatment for gaming and usability. For many of the games listed the tablet used was a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2. As mentioned in our review, the Tab S2 is a powerful, powerful tablet, but it’s not anywhere near the Nvidia Shield, which is something we’ve been tempting to get our hands on for several years now. One of these days we will if we’re lucky enough to hear from Nvidia or even get a chance to have one that we come across in the wild. Till then bare with us as the S2 is a powerhouse and does quite well.
On the first of the list is Vainglory. For many MOBA fans, the title brings an interesting aspect to the well known genre. One that has offered a unique blind of both touch and the subtly of high paced action. With characters ranging from Guardian, Assassin, Jungler, Support, and Warrior, the game offers a unique blend of familiar mechanics on a one lane map with objectives off to the sides. Luckily the game offers out some unique twists at every corner as all characters can be earned by simple gameplay. For those wanting a character that’s not accessible instantly, a few dollars (around 7 USD a character) can purchase a single character. While this alternative is there, it’s advised to save this for unique skins that get posted from time to time or even Early Access characters that may fit your preferred play style.
Next up on the list is a tower defense game I’ve found myself enjoying quite a bit when on the go. It has worked great on both my HTC One M9 as well as the Galaxy Tab S2. The game is called Epic War TD 2. TD standing for Tower Defense. The game idea is simple. A war has broken out. Your objective is to play turrets in a precise fashion in order to keep enemy forces at bay so you can defend your territory, but all this is not as easy as it sounds. The game requires patience, a quick mind, and the ability to swap out turrets faster than they can be placed. This means tactical thinking is a must for those wanting to spend a decent .99 cents or rather 1 USD. The game is gorgeous for being a tablet game and stands with a very simple and streamlined HUD for those looking to play. The game can be found on iOS and Android much like the previously mentioned Vainglory.
Next up on the list is Implosion – Never Lose Hope. The unique thing about this game isn’t that it’s just beautiful, but it plays extremely well for being on a tablet. With a rather chunky analog stick and a nice implementation of action command buttons, Implosion – Never Lose Hope is a game that does what most haven’t done on tablets quite well. It’s unique blend of high action AAA like graphics and mechanics keep it alive even though maps can get rather repetitive, but not enough to make you want to quit. Instead its blend of in-app purchases to gameplay don’t take away from the overall experience. While it’d been nice to see the game come to life on say the PlayStation Vita or Nintendo 3DS we can’t be disappointed at what the game has to offer. The boss fights are unique, tough, and will ground players down in the post-apocalyptic setting the game has aimed for. However, it’s not quite like our next game that’ll rip at the hearts of fans as it has already been doing on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One for quite some time now.
This War of Mine is a breathtaking experience. For 4.99 USD on Google Play or 3.99 on the Apple App Store, we’ve been able to play this game for some time on both console and PC. This War of Mine takes place in the fictional city of Pogoren, Graznavia where a group of survivors find themselves hiding together in order to survive the ongoing war. With a ceasefire seeming to be no where in sight, fans must take to this strategically challenging survival game by building up their house, going out at night to find supplies, and somehow managing their survival so that their characters don’t die. This includes making use of limited supplies, surviving break-in’s that will cause loss of food, and even surviving hostile enemies when going out at night. Here character traits do matter as does the characters back-packs as these will determine the supplies they can carry back on their adventure outside of the house. If that doesn’t sound like fun, the next title we have coming up might seem all-to-familiar to some while others may find themselves scratching their heads.
Blizzard Entertainment has been known for their massively successful franchises such as Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm, their Upcoming title named Overwatch, but also their famed card game by the name of Hearthstone. Originally launched a few years back on P.C., Hearthstone has taken the world by storm since it allows a TCG like experience on mobile platform and PC. Luckily the game allows fans to go from PC to handheld quite easily as the account that you use will be your Battle.net account so that you can migrate your progress seamlessly without any hassle. Much like any free-to-play, Hearthstone does have in-app purchases that allow players to buy the raids at full cost with real money or save up gold via playing in order to unlock them. This also goes for booster packs as well, which means the free-to-play portion may take newcomers a bit longer to build up to the builds that veteran players have.
Now we do have a few MOBA’s on here, but there is another worthwhile mentioning as it is quite fun, but at the same time different from my favored go-to mobile MOBA Vianglory. This one is called Ace of Arenas. Ace of Arenas uses the well known hack-‘n-slash mechanics we’ve gotten used to with many Android and iOS based RPG’s and Shooter genres. What this game does differently, however, is take the idea and has gone MOBA with it. With graphics being slightly lower that of games like Vainglory or even Implosion, the game still offers a wide array of characters and player matches allowing for a fun if-not challenging time. The game does feature a free-rotation as well as a unique use of a gem system, which many may seem slightly familiar with thanks to MOBA’s like League of Legends.
While it’s hard to say there aren’t other games out there, there is a hard-time finding games that we know a majority of you will like since there are other genres out there. We’ve seen Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, and a numerous amount of other games out there. We’ve played so many of them to even bring this article it’s been hard to choose what ones we know would be best for gaming on a budget. Because a majority of games on Android are free-to-play, we decided to grab a few of the hardcore games out there just to show you what is there, and what you can enjoy for free or at a cheap cost, and on-the-go.
Till next week, here’s your Cheap @$$ Gaming article.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.
Pros:
+Beautiful and bright AMOLED screen offering vibrant pictures and color depth
+Absurdly slim and chic for a tablet
+Batteries last quite a while even while streaming or gaming
+Upgraded memory up to 128GB via Micro SD card
+Lightning fast processing power
Cons:
-iPad Air is almost as cheap
-Comes suited with Microsoft Apps
-Plastic-ish build, going away from any form of metal
-Two speakers on bottom inhibit movie watching or gaming all together
-Headphones required to truly enjoy for media with sound
When it comes to tablets we are familiar with the fact that Apple has taken that side of the market by storm. They have created some of the cheapest, most powerful, and fastest tablets on the Earth at an affordable cost. They have also offered up free OS upgrades to owners of older devices, while ensuring that performance gains to those older devices would be plausible with how the devices access apps, and even memory. Much like ACER preparing to enter the ring with their Predator performance line, we see Samsung once more entering the ring, but this time, they’re ready to yank the red carpet right from underneath everyone else and take it for their own.
Entering the ring is Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2, which launched last year, and remains fairly relative in the terms of technology performance and upgrades. This competitor comes packed with Android offering up Google Services and even a bit of Microsoft’s own apps to allow those needing instant access to their Microsoft accounts the ease of doing so. If you have Office 365 and One Drive? Much like Google your apps are at your finger tips and at your disposal if needed be. But how does this thing compare to the market that’s becoming over-saturated with devices claiming to be performance ones? The 8 inch version, which is the one we are reviewing is extremely light, weighing in at roughly .5 to .6 pounds, the device is extremely light weight, meaning that users don’t have to worry about weight being an issue unlike former iPad devices. For those that are familiar with the iPad Air, you already know the device is light for the 10 inch version, weighing in at roughly 1lb, which makes the device alone for a metal one, feathery in weight, but still with a bit of a draw in the sense of being a strain to hold. However, this doesn’t fix the issue that fans will be slight disappointed with the devices quality in the terms of sound.
For many that are familiar with sound quality, HTC has been dominating the market with their Boom Sound technology, which adheres to the need of quality for both multimedia and even gaming. Unlike HTC’s newer line of phones and tablets, Samsung finds itself staggering a bit. With both of the speakers being right at the bottom of the device near the USB, the sound suffers a bit when trying to hold it from the sides to enjoy films or even games. This little bit of trouble will lead to upcoming owners to needing a pair of headphones to really enjoy what they are doing without any trouble or annoyances. Much like the speakers and the USB, the audio jack is housed near the speakers, but also the USB port, making this device struggle a bit in the terms of enjoyability since cords will get in the way depending on what owners are doing. If a Skype call or even a vine? The audio situation won’t be much trouble, but as stated. For those preparing for a binging session, don’t get too comfy, you’ll want to find your headset first, which means don’t plan on sharing with others.
But even with that minor nuance, the Tab S2 is a powerful device, offering up a unique security that Apple users have been enjoying, which allows for fingerprint recognition so that the tablet can’t be unlocked by anyone, but you via the home button. The downside? Your fingerprint is stored and if someone really wanted it? It’s there for the taking. For those wondering though, the fingerprint recognition setup is rather easy, and takes only a few minutes while the S6 was a bit more of a hassle to do. Don’t want kids accessing the tablet or someone accessing work files? You can easily lock it down via the fingerprint security and make it so that it’s yours and yours only. However, when looking at the device? We aren’t looking at just the devices security, but also its overall performance.
When looking at the Tab S2 via performance, this is where the tablet itself truly shines, and for my use? I stress tested it with games, and lots of them. The most demanding one of the lot? This War of Mine, which many fans have become familiar with on consoles and steam, but for me? It was time to take on the Tablet twist to it. Like many games it and Vainglory are rather demanding games, both of them suiting themselves with heavy particle effects, and even animations. This means that Samsung has gone all out with ensuring the Exynos octacore processor would be doing the job. To achieve this they combined both a quad-core chip at 1.9GHz with a second one sitting around 1.3GHz quad-core chip. With that ontop of it they packed the LTE or Wi-Fi versions both with 3GB’s of RAM, which is perfect to get the job done and this was perfectly exhibited while playing both This War of Mine and Vainglory as load times were quick, frames remained smooth, and both games acted just fine throughout my time with them to date.
But what Samsung does do right is packing this thing with an SD card slot so that 32GB’s doesn’t get quickly eaten by video’s, photo’s or even apps that can go on the SD card. If you’ve owned an Apple device, you know this becomes a problem, and quite quickly due to download sizes. All the while users can enjoy some built-in apps thanks to Samsung’s little bit of apps that they include, which is a popular and favorite one: Milk Music. This app allows users to customize radio stations based on their preference. For the test we decided to make a station that combined both EDM (Electronic Dance Music) with Chill, which included laid back EDM style music for those seeking to relax. For those that want a mix of say indie and techno? Have at it, this app makes just that possible. This is rather nice for those looking to have some music while playing their tablet based games or surfing the web. For a device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is powerful, beautiful, and offers up a lot of capabilities, but the price could be a bit steep for some.
For a tablet that is powerful, beautiful, and extremely light weight, the Galaxy Tab S2 is by far one of the best ones I have used to date. It offers a good bit of flexibility, a nice warranty, and a bang for its buck. For those wondering what the prices are. Samsung has the devices sitting at 400 USD for the 8-inch model, and 500 USD for the 9.7-inch model. While looking at one, it is suggested to check around as both Best Buy and Amazon have been having some reasonable sales on them. Both having them promotional wise between 350-400 USD depending on the screen size. If you are looking for for a device that is sleek, light-weight, and easy for on the go? This device is the best on the market and it shows through the work done here on Blast Away the Game Review. After hours of testing, the device has earned its stay for the long haul and one that’ll be here for quite some time. Sorry Apple, you got bested this time around.
Our review is based upon the hardware we purchased ourselves. For information about our ethics policy please click here.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.