Pocket full of megabytes is awesome! I find the interviews very unique and I like the fact that they often feature indie titles in their games of the week, and talk to the Devs.
I seem to find most of the reviews in various podcasts: touchofgaming.com, slidetoplay.com, padvance.com There are tons of reviews on youtube.com, but appspy, appvee, IGN, LOTS of "independant" reviewers. Crazymikesapps. Actual sites... toucharcade.com (of course),slidetoplay.com, padvance.com,touchgen (podcasts too) And of course I read (skim) the reviews in itunes metacritic also now has ios review
Personally, having spent the best part of 3 years now reading reviews and buying games based on those reviews, I have to say that my favourite iOS review site is TouchGen. There's several reasons for this, but the main 1 is that their opinion of the games tend to align with my own (i.e. if they dislike a game, there's a good chance I will too). Another major reason is that they normally leave the review until they have completed the game, which the vast majority of iOS review sites don't do. And on the "big" games, they aren't afraid to criticise and give them low scores if they feel thats what they deserve. I sometimes feel TA, STP etc are way too easy on games on the app store, particularly those by Gameloft.
Toucharcade is one of the few iOS review sites that I trust consistently, if not all the time. Touchgen reviews (especially those by Nigel Wood) also provide some informed insight at times. Most of the reviews from Pocketgamer, IGN, and several others are worthless to me, even if only for the apparent gaming ineptitude of the reviewers (e.g. Tracy Erickson and Levi Buchannan, apparent lightweights who bemoaned the long levels in Bit.Trip Beat) who tend to slam the controls or difficulty of games I master easily - at least by their standards.
Well, I personally like the reviews of IGN and TA the most. Of course I read on other sites too, most of them being mentioned. One could add No DPAD or Modojo, for example, too. And don't forget: we always can use Metacritic to have a nice overview.
By order of importance.********** 1. Touch Arcade (literally the best site with developer discussion) 2. PocketGamer/UK (their podcast and website is the best the UK has to offer) 3. Appspy (brilliant and short video reviews) 4. TouchGen (just like 148 apps with a nicer layout) 5. 148apps (decent site with sales and reviews) 6. Appera (Despite the lack of articles, it reminds us of free games to try everyday, and I've saved a lot of potential purchases by frequently visiting this site) 7. Slide to Play (UK website dedicated to iOS/android gaming) 9. FAAD (free app a day - nothing else to say)
APPSPY!!!!!!! is the best, but I also check TA daily for a great community, TouchGen or Pocket Gamer when I want a critical review, Slide to Play for a second (or third) opinion, 148 Apps for a breakdown of graphics, replay value, etc., Metacritic for an overview, and IGN for a good laugh Appspy- always agree TA- always agree TouchGen and Pocket Gamer- too rough sometimes Slide to Play- they say it's a "Must Have" if it's any good 148 Apps- agree 90% of the time Metacritic- good way to collect reviews in one place, but it's just starting up IGN- they gave Shadow Guardian an 8.5 and Battleheart a 6. Jeez...
Perhaps a majority of these review sites started honestly but now receive compensation for favorable reviews. I've suspected this for a while now. It's just another weapon used for app-store domination. Remember that companies in the past have used such devious tactics before and many review sites for various products are created directly by the sellers themselves. I got ripped on Splinter Cell iOS. Reviews said it was sooooo awesome, and I think we can all agree that it sucked.
I don't know if thats the case - but I hope not. What I think is the problem is that most of the sites are over forgiving of games that try to emulate a console experience. Its like that is somehow an excuse for sloppy controls, poor AI, terrible stories, scripts and acting, poor animation, and worst of all, bland/boring gameplay. Then again, maybe i've just got past that "wow this is on my phone" stage?
It's not really an idevice review site, but kotaku.com has an "igamingappoftheday" section where they usually pick games that are either great console like experiences on the iphone, or they do a great indie title that is usually overlooked. It's not a real review site, but all the games they pick tend to be worth looking at.
Perfect example!!! I like you because you do research which is a lost art. Thanks for the excellent example!!
What about sites that review apps other than gaming ones. Business,travel,educational etc... Anyone have any favorites for those?
The only non-game ipod touch apps I own are rhapsody, pulse, netflix, pandora and some game review apps. Most of my utility apps are for my android phone and i depend on user reviews but will frequently hear about new apps from sites such as Cnet and engadget.
