1. Jetpack Joyride: The Incredibly Fun Way To Lose A Day
In a lot of ways a game like Jetpack Joyride is like the high-grade sleeping pills doctors give some insomniacs: no matter where I am, no matter what I’m doing, if I start playing I need to make sure I’m in a comfortable place. Why? Because I’m probably not going to be going anywhere for a few hours once I get going.
Jetpack Joyride Halfbrick Studios
Arcade & Action Free Download
2. Dead Crossing: Maybe the Zombies Would Like It.
In the name of disclosure, I’ll go ahead and admit zombie games have to try a little harder to impress me, no matter what the genre. This wasn’t always the case. I’m not trying to go all hipster with the zombie thing and say I was into it way before it blew up… but I was totally way into it before it blew up. My mom was cool enough to rent me a VHS copy of Dawn of the Dead after months of begging when I was a kid (read: close to when it was actually released – I’m that old), and it was over from there.
Dead Crossing
FT Games
Arcade & Action Free Download
Star Traders RPG Elite Cory Trese
Arcade & Action $ 2.99 Download
Arcade & Action Free Download
3. The Highly Polished Sheen of League of Evil
I really resent the fact that video game villains in games like League of Evil are the only people capable of raising armies.
4. Beat Hazard Ultra – Very Near Perfection
I
spent quite a bit of time deciding whether I was qualified to write
this article or not. Even when I’m only reviewing a mobile game, I
always have to question my objectivity when simply reading the description makes me squeal – literally squeal, like a Beiberite catching a glimpse of the singer after waiting hours in an alley for the privilege - and scramble to download it so I can start playing now.
5. Temple Run 2 – Just Run-Of-The-Mill
Though
the supply of endless runners in the Google Play store seems only
slightly less infinite than the action the genre promises, I often find
myself excited over the discovery of a new game in this category
nonetheless. I’m not really into bragging about high scores or honing my
skills for near-perfect timing, but I have been intrigued enough by the
high speed fun of some of these games to spend hours and hours using
all manner of vehicle to traverse a variety of randomly generated
terrain. Temple Run 2, the follow-up to one of the most popular on-rails
platformers, is filled with fire, zip-lines, minecarts, crumbling
architecture and a very angry monkey creature, but it doesn’t do anything that hooks me in, despite the quality of the iteration.
6. Sprinkle – a gushing review
7. Line Runner 2: The Story of Meh
Line
Runner 2 is one of those games that just screams “almost.” In some
cases, this is an okay thing: The graphics, for instance, are almost
good for the platform. In others – namely the gameplay, which sits somewhere between almost fun and a few shades worse than that – it’s a dealbreaker.
8. Penny-Arcade’s On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 3
1994 was a simpler time,
or perhaps its just that everyone’s childhood seems like a “simpler
time,” but this sentiment is undoubtedly true in the world of video
games. For one, Controllers were simple, four buttons, a D-Pad and a new
innovative thing invented by Nintendo that everyone called “shoulder
buttons.” Graphics were rudimentary compared to today’s games, but like
reading a good book, our imaginations filled in the rest.
9. Star Traders RPG – Redefining the Genre
The
term Role Playing Game has been applied to pretty much every
interactive experience with even an iota of strategy and customization,
and more recently even to games that have no story and no real character
depth. Thankfully games like Star Traders RPG exist, which are
single handedly able to rejuvenate a genre flooded with generic ‘tap to
level up’ games and provide a deep, immersive, open, customizable experience that is capable of hundreds of hours of entertainment.
Star Traders RPG Elite Cory Trese
Arcade & Action $ 2.99 Download
10. Rise of the Blobs – Not The Fast-paced Puzzle Game You’re Looking For
When I find a new puzzle game I like, I tend to get obsessed.
Every loose minute of my day found between working on other tasks is
spent on the short-term goal of the new puzzle. When I discovered Rise
of the Blobs, the part of my brain that used to purr when I’d clear out yet another line of blocks in Tetris started to giggle in excitement.
Getting rid of a rising tide of colored blobs by dropping
similarly-colored fruit on them should scratch that itch, right?
Though the game touts a unique and goofy premise in the endless puzzle genre, the frenetic fruit dropping isn’t as rewarding as I’d hoped.
Rise of the Blobs
Robot Invader
Brain & Puzzle Free Download
Brain & Puzzle Free Download
11. Review: Little Commanders WWII TD — Solid, but Unimaginative.
The Tower Defense genre is incredibly crowded on the Google Play marketplace. Little
Commander: WWII TD is another in a long list of Free2Play tower defense
games that fails to innovate in any meaningful way and is further
hampered by a distinct lack of progression. Despite these significant
flaws, Little Commander does provide some value by providing a solid, if unimaginative, tower defense experience combined with a non intrusive pay system that is completely optional.
12. Fieldrunners HD: Simple Tower Defense that your wallet will love
You
can search through the Google Play marketplace and find a zillion
different tower defense games, but not all are created equal. If
you peruse through your games you currently own, you may just realize
you may have multiple tower defense games in your collection. That
being the case, Fieldrunners, on face value, may appear to be just
another tower defense game; plop some turrets and guns, don’t let the
baddies get past you, rinse, repeat. To some extent, those same ideas
apply to Fieldrunners. You are setting up various guns and weapons to
prevent enemies from getting to their final destination. So why would
you want to download yet another boring old tower defense game?
13. Puzzle and Dragons: Pokemon Meets Bejeweled
There
are a lot of variations of the same simple idea, and then there are
unique ways to combine those simple ideas into something even better.
Imagine if you will, a game where the worlds of Digimon / Pokemon meet
those of Bejeweled; creature collecting and battling meets match 3
jewels style games. Intrigued by this idea? Then Puzzle and Dragons
will be your kind of game. While it has gathered some steam in Asia,
Puzzle and Dragons has yet to catch on in North America. Surprising,
given the popularity of both genres this game combines.
14. Dungelot – A Lot More Than Meets the Eye
There’s a lot going on in Dungelot- a lot more than I initially saw, anyway. The promise of a roguelike-Minesweeper hybrid gave me a certain expectation and, at
first, I was not ready to give up my ideas of what this mix of puzzle
and RPG should look like. I was initially disappointed with Red Winter
Software’s puzzler of a dungeon crawler, but revealing its tactical depth eventually won me over.
15. Rescue Roby HD: This Robot Is Not a Clone (Or a Bird)
In the world of game development, aping popular titles is standard practice. Unless a dev outright copies their source of inspiration, nobody bats an eye, especially in the mobile market.
16. Dungeon Quest: You Beta Beware
Is it fair to review a game that’s still in beta?
Most of the core game mechanics will be in place by the time a title
reaches beta, and if the devs have any plans to significantly change the
graphical appearance, they’d really better get a move on. We can be
pretty sure that what we’re looking at is an approximation of the final
appearance. The beta release is traditionally a near complete product,
with only a few bugs that need ironing out, some nicer menus and perhaps
issues of gameplay balance to be addressed. Overall you should be able
to get a good idea of what the final product is going to be (I spent
hours in the Tribes:Ascend Beta and forgot it wasn’t even a full
release). That said, publishers and game designers themselves want their
baby to be seen in the best possible light, without those niggling
unfinished elements, skewing the player’s perception of what the game
should really be, and it might be that last minute tweak that really
pushes the game up a level to greatness. On the other hand if the game
is released for download, with a IAPs and intrusive ads in place,
doesn’t it warrant being held against the same standard as one that is
fully featured? If the game’s out there and is making money from the end
user, shouldn’t it be considered more than just a beta but a legitimate
release?
17. No Zombies Allowed, I’m Too Busy To Fight.
Given
the whole zombie thing, perhaps it’s appropriate that No Zombies
Allowed features what could best be described as a shotgun spread-style
approach to gameplay. Overwrought first lines aside, however, it’s
probably best put another way: This is a game that, for all its potential, tries to do way too much.
18. Review: Duncan and Katy Short but Definitely Not Sweet
Once
in a while a game comes along that goes beyond being “just” bad. When a
game’s flaws are deeper than just a lack of execution, and a complete
lack of pride, professionalism and artistic vision combine to make a
truly horrendous game, it actually gives you the feeling of being
swindled out of your hard earned cash. “Duncan and Katy” is such a game. That it manages to make you feel so ripped off, despite the game’s 99cent price point, is in some twisted way its greatest achievement. The game’s best feature, and I’m not being factitious for effect here, is that it is incredibly short. So short in fact that I would have felt even more ripped off when it ended if it were not for the joyful release I felt knowing that finishing the game meant I could do something else, anything else, other than play that god forsaken game for a second longer.
There are no redeeming features that can be pointed to, even its best
feature, the game’s graphics, are mediocre at best and are constricted
to extremely small levels. Its boss battles, the only moment of
variety, wouldn’t have been out of place as a mini boss in a mediocre
Nintendo 64 platformer. There is simply no reason to purchase this game.
19. Royal Revolt – King of its Genre, Whichever That Is
Everyone knows the Google Play Store is packed to the rafters with tower defense games.
The genre is well suited to the mobile platform, providing intense
action with controls perfectly suited for setting up a battlefield and
watching the struggle play out. When the role of the player is flipped,
though, and the stronghold must be attacked, do touch controls still
reign supreme? The sub-genre of reverse tower defense is not yet
established enough to say, but developer Flaregames clearly wants to set
precedent and steal the crown with Royal Revolt. The thing is, this
game’s got a secret- It’s not really even about towers. Though I’m not sure it actually fits into the reverse tower defense category, it’s good enough to stand out no matter what other Android games you’d group it with.
20. Zen Pinball THD – Xbox Live/ PSN favorite Makes it Way on Your Tablet
I’ll fully admit, if there is a Pinball machine anywhere in my vicinity, I’m going to play it.
I’ve been that way since I was tall enough to see a Pinball table in
order to play it. Even when my wife and I go to the Minnesota State
Fair, I always reserve about $5 – $10 to play Pinball in the arcade.
Naturally, when Zen Studios put out their Pinball game back in 2007 for
Xbox live, I was instantly on it. Zen Studios did not disappoint
either, fully exploring the possibilities with console Pinball machines
that allowed for moving 3D models, amazing unique artwork, superb
physics and the best game play ever from a console based Pinball game.
No comments:
Post a Comment