Fantasy Friday 10/31

Welcome to the special Halloween edition of Fantasy Friday!  We normally do something game-related, but 1) it's Halloween and 2) we do what we want.  So, without further ado, we just need you to solve this puzzle box...

Image from the Hellraiser Wiki

...and now we can talk about who has two thumbs and damns people to Hell in the most excruciating way possible?

Image from Comic Vine

This guy!

Hellraiser is a series of nine films by Clive Barker that combine the genres of horror and fantasy (see?  It's still fantasy).  Originally a novella called The Hellbound Heart, it became a series of nine movies called Hellraiser, with the main antagonist the above pictured Pinhead.  Pinhead is a special kind of demon called a Cenobite, who, as you can tell from the leather and chains, has a serious BDSM vibe (emphasis on the "M").  He is summoned by the puzzle box pictured above, called the Lament Configuration, which hurls the user into a parallel dimension that combines the real world with his world.

Although pure evil, Pinhead (originally simply called "Lead Cenobite" in the credits of the first film) was once a human being.  It may be this fact that sometimes allows the people he attacks to sometimes barter with him, as well as he occasionally showing a just side, and not merely adhering to a strict set of rules about who he does or does not damn to Hell.

His human side is seen the most in the first two films; like any horror genre, the series begins to lose what makes it different so that it can appear like your typical slasher fair.  That said, the series does a great job of turning what could have been a Freddy Kruger clone and gone a whole different direction.  The victims are not just random high schoolers; they are people who have allowed themselves to be deranged, who have grown bored of all the pleasures of life, becoming unfulfilled from even murdering others.  The Lament Configuration calls to those who seek otherworldly pleasures, and unfortunately, they are obliged.

If you need a different kind of horror series to watch tonight, give Hellraiser a shot.  Last time I checked, all nine movies are on Netflix streaming.

Zombie Evil 2

Since it's Halloween, it seemed appropriate to review a game that involved zombies.

Image from mob.org

Zombie Evil 2 by FT Games is a castle defense game centered around your character having an enormous machine gun turret thing that mows down hordes of zombies and infected animals.  Each level throws waves of the unruly undead at you, and you have to gun them all down before they attack and deplete your health bar.  To aid in your campaign you can purchase defenses, such as extra walls and turrets, as well as new weapons.  Both can be upgraded to serve you better at surviving.

Image from Game Hub

At your base, you can choose which missions to go on, what defenses to upgrade, as well as purchase weapons and buy items.  Luckily it forwent having you build a town or whatever, as it just simply would not have fit the bill.  You can place defenses on the game grid before each match, but you're not planting crops or raising livestock or doing favors for NPCs.  Speaking of, the game is odd in terms of being a badass zombie mower, since all of the human characters are stylized chibis, but of course sexier for the female ones.  Because nothing is more arousing than a sexy soldier woman who looks like she's eight.  In contrast, dead zombies explode in a pool of blood and guts.  It's an interesting art direction, but it does allow the game to not be taken too seriously.

The gameplay itself is quite simple.  On the game grid, simply hold your finger down and drag to where you want the spray of bullets to fire.  You can switch to an alternate weapon by tapping it, and then controlling it the same way.  It could not be easier to hold off the demon spawn.

For an interesting take on the zombie genre, Zombie Evil 2 is simple and easy to pick up.  If you like castle defense games, or a male viewer of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, give this one a try.

Throwback Thursday 10/30

This week's Throwback is for everyone's favorite yellow orb eating...man?...Pac-Man!

Image from Garotas Geeks

Pac-Man is a game where the titular character navigates a game grid eating pellets while avoiding the four ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde (I can only remember which one is Pinky).  Why the ghosts are after Pac-Man is beyond me (and the grave) but despite having seemingly random patterns, they actually have different styles of movement (revealed on page 4); understanding the style of each ghost is what makes the game challenging.  

To fight back, the four large pellets give Pac-Man temporary invulnerability.  The ghosts will flash blue and white and will run away from Pac-Man.  In this state, he can actually eat them for points, and they will be sent back to their pen and respawn.

Each level has a unique bonus food which appears temporarily.  Consuming it give an added point bonus.  Each stage increases in difficulty.  With every new stage the ghosts move faster, and the time given for invulnerability decreases.

As to why his name is Pac-Man, I don't think anyone explains it better than Scott Pilgrim.

Ice 10/30

Image from mob.org

I refuse to apologize for this.

Ice by developer ice cold muffin (I could not find a site for them, but believe me, that is their name) is a simpler take on the RTS genre.  You play as...ships?  Like the ship from Asteroid I think?  After choosing your team color you are brought to the game field, where it is you versus several other teams that are fighting to the pixelated death.  

Image from PCMag.com

Everyone captures the NPC white bases, then tries to eliminate the other teams by taking over their bases.  Bases, both white and otherwise, are captured by hovering inside the circular area and having your ships fire at the box inside, until the circular area becomes your color.  Once that happens, the base is now yours and ships will begin to spawn from it.  The only catch is you can only attack bases that are connected to the current one (represented by the colored dashed lines).  

As your ships kill other ships, experience points are earned, filling a gauge at the top of the screen.  Once "leveled up" you can spend a point to boost your ships' attack, health, or speed.  The game ends when there is only one color left, which generally becomes very easy or a long war of attrition as it comes down to you and one other team. 

The game features one touch controls, as ships are moved to wherever you tap.  In Alternative Mode, ships can be sent to two different locations, but this isn't nearly as useful as it seems; instead of dividing and conquering, you are spreading yourself too thin.

Simple gameplay with a kill or be killed motif. Is it commentary on foreign occupation?  An evolved form of the RTS genre?  Or just an old school style time waster that is easy to pick up?  It's certainly different and interesting, and it's worth at least a try.

Woman Crush Wednesday 10/29

Since Marvel just gave us a new Age of Ultron trailer, it felt appropriate (and it always does) to crush on Scarlett Johansson this week.

Image from Picky Wallpapers

From Russian assassins to Mermaid princesses to Bill Murray dramas about being stuck in Tokyo, Scarlett does it all, does it well, and looks amazing while she does it.

Why the hell Ryan Reynolds couldn't have made this work (other than possibly Marvel vs. DC debates) is beyond me.

Gods Rush 10/29

Image from IGG.com

Gods Rush is a side scrolling RPG featuring Greek Gods by IGG.com.  Your party of Greek heroes and gods go through levels, each of which consist of you fighting through three waves of enemies per stage, the third wave consisting of the level's boss.  Rewards are collected from the boss and are used to upgrade party members.  Once you've upgraded a party member enough they can evolve to next class.

And that's it. That's the game in a nutshell.  The game does nothing to offer any further explanation to anything else.  You have no idea who you're fighting or why other than they are Dark doppelgangers of the very same character you're playing.  The game starts with an intro cutscene of Zeus telling Pandora to get her box, but it's honestly very confusing.  You're then thrusted into your first match, but you basically watch it until the "Rage" meters of the characters are full, allowing them to use their special ability.  

Both party members and the Team level up.  How does the Team level up?  I have no idea.  There is no where tell you what events or how many experience points are needed.  I couldn't even find what the "Rage" meter was called until I came across an item whose description was that it shortened the time to fill it.  You are pretty much all on your own to figure out how the game works.

Controls are incredibly simple as it is watch your party hit and be hit until the "Rage" meter fills, then tap them.  And then tap the "Next" arrow when the wave has been defeated to go on to the next one.  While I'm not looking for complicated controls, it makes it feel like I'm watching a weird cartoon than playing a game.

Image from Google Play

There are Daily Missions with certain tasks to complete to give you some sort of direction, which is nice.  On the main menu is a slew of different game modes to try such as unlimited enemies and PvP matches in the Arena.  ...if they were actually available, but they all say "Coming Soon" at the time of this post.

The game has a unique premise, but lack of clear understanding and highly repetitive game play makes Gods Rush become boring very fast.  Especially if you replay a level you have already cleared to get a certain item, as there is a "fast forward" option to put the party on auto pilot, making it even more hands off than it already is.  Right now there is not enough content or replay value for Gods Rush to be fun.  Maybe once all the content has been released, but Greeks gods hitting each other over and over again with no clarification doesn't do it for me.

Temple Tuesday 10/28

It's Temple Tuesday again!  This week, another water dungeon, but with a different group of heroes.

Image from Das GS-Archiv

Welcome to the Mercury Lighthouse from Golden Sun.  In Golden Sun, a small group of villagers who can use special powers that are hidden from the rest of the world must stop a group trying to unleash the full power of that magic onto the world.  One of the temples you must traverse through is the Mercury Lighthouse, which is filled with Water energy.

Image from the Golden Sun Wiki

Armed only with your wits, you must solve the water-based puzzles and try to stop them from igniting the Lighthouse and unleashing the full power of Water unto the world!

Bubble Bee Shooter 10/28

Today we're reviewing another bubble shooter game, and to be quite honest, it is identical to Bubble Shooter Galaxy that we reviewed last week.  

Image from Google Play

I don't know who made the game first, whether this one by ELT Games or KIMSOONgames' Bubble Shooter Galaxy, but it feels like some real infringement is going on.  The only differences are you're some weird bee man popping bubbles instead of a weird alien thing.  Your character is trying to shoot down honeycombs (which I would not recommend doing) instead of spaceships.  Oh, and when you finish a level, a sad looking bear in homemade airplane flies by FOR NO REASON.   Why is he sad?  How did he build an airplane in the woods?  How does he know to fly it?  What sort of fuel does it run on?  Dear God what is happening?

Besides that, this is the exact same game with same tutorials and same design.  Even the boosters are the same, and you even have to use one per level, just like with Bubble Shooter Galaxy.  So really, it comes down to your choice of if you want to be a bee man or an alien.  Either way it doesn't keep my attention for long, and it really looses points in terms of creativity.  Again, if bubble shooter games are your thing, maybe give it a try.  Otherwise, I would pass.

Man Crush Monday 10/28

Yes.  We are aware it is Tuesday.  But we missed Man Crush Monday yesterday (we're moving and WiFi is in short supply) but we did not want to disappoint the ladies.

Image from Death Star PR

 Last week we covered one of our favorite smugglers, and this week is our other favorite scruffy looking nerf herder, Han Solo.  He's the captain of the Millennium Falcon.  He's did the Kessle Run in less than twelve parsecs (and for the math nerds who know that that is a unit of distance and not speed, here is the explanation).  He's best friends with a walking carpet known as Chewbacca, and he was able to go toe to toe with the galaxy's most dangerous bounty hunter Boba Fett.  And for those who want to hear the man, myth, and the legend immortalized like carbonite in song, here's mc chris' Han Solo.

Clash of clans

Image by Clash of Clans Android

Clash of Clans by Supercell is "that one game I keep seeing tv ads for".  It is a Real Time Strategy game, meaning you build up your village and collect resources to fund upgrades.  You collect Gold for defense upgrades, such as better cannons, as well as upgrading your Elixir.  Elixir is used for upgrading troops and Gold collection.  

Image by Supercell

As you upgrade your troops, you unlock new warrior classes that do specific tasks, such as attack from a distance, focus on cannon and mortar fire, and blow up walls used for defense.  There are two main modes that you use your troops in, Campaign and Player vs. Player.  In the Campaign mode you travel through different levels which are Non-Playable Character villages - "The Goblins", AKA the bad guys who attacked your village first during the tutorial.  Stars are earned based on damage dealt to these villages, and a level is not considered "Cleared" until you earn one star, gained at dealing at least 50% damage to that village.  PvP matches are exactly the same, but they can actually attack you back later.

Clash of Clans offers very fluid game play.  The animations are smooth and things happen easily for the player.  All RTS games are based on purchasing and upgrading, and this game didn't feel unrealistic in terms of pricing or time for those purchases.  I like that the game launches you right in, wasting no time to show you the ropes.  As a result, the game is easy to pick up.  

The few issues I had were the other players and repetition.  If you go on the global chat, which I wouldn't recommend, it seems like median age is 12.  There's nothing wrong with that if you want to see complete strangers have penis envy regarding each other's villages, clans, levels, etc.  And the big downside to that is that Supercell gives you a limited number of reports in one day, making it harder to give them the safe environment they are supposedly working towards. The repitious aspect refers to you the player being limited to just attacking NPC villages and user villages, and really nothing else to do while you sit and wait for upgrades to happen (which could take literally 12 hours).  And like all RTS games, the really cool stuff is going to be out of your price range

While the emphasis is on PvP matches, Clash of Clans still has a rewarding campaign mode.  This game definetly lives up to the hype, and is highly recommended to all RTS fans.

Fantasy Friday 10/24/2014

For this week's Fantasy Friday, we're talking about Final Fantasy's Red Mage Class.

Image from the Final Fantasy Wiki

Red Mages are really unique.  In Final Fantasy, White Mages mainly have healing spells that cure party members of ailments or recover health.  Black Mages generally use element-based magic such as Thunder, Blizzard, and Fire to attack.  Red Mages are the best of both worlds.  They combine Black and White magic, only instead of Gandalf the Grey you get the Red Mage.

The best part about wielding Red Mages is that they aren't limited to just Red Magic; they also have White and Black spells at their disposal.  The downside is that they are in no way experts at Black or White magic, so don't expect your Red Mage to absolutely be the Valedictorian at Hogwarts.  Red Mages supplement your team by giving you a magical edge by being part wizard, part warrior.  So...actually a lot like Gandalf the Grey.

Bike Rivals 10/24/2014

Image from Google Play

Bike Rivals comes to use from Miniclip and Profusion Studios.  The game is  a physics based motocross  game where the player touches the right side of the screen for "Gas" to make the bike rider move, and the left side to "Brake", obviously keep the bike from moving.  Steering is done from tilting the mobile device backwards or forwards, which does not have too much to do with the bike rider until he is in the air or on a hill.  Each stage is scored by stars, each one with a time requirement, i.e. a player earns three stars for the stage for completing it in 25 seconds.

Image from 148Apps

Once the player's bike has become airborne, tilting the device can make him lean backwards or forwards, allowing him to perform a "trick", such as a backflip. Performing tricks is not necessary, but does earn the player nitro that can be used for a temporary speed boost.

The levels play like they were designed by a disgruntled Angry Birds designer, having steep hills, giant boulders, and exploding barrels litter the path, making it more and more difficult to get to the finish line.  While these are really cool features, it does contribute to the game's biggest annoying feature: death.

If you die and have to start over from either one of the very few and far between checkpoints or from the beginning of the level.  You die from the bike rider's body touching anything that is not his bike.  Did you pop a wheelie on a hill and now the rider's head has gingerly caressed the hill in front of him? Death.  Were you doing a backflip and his head grazed the ceiling?  Death.  Did you ever so slowly tip your bike backwards and the rider has now decided to try to take a nap?  Death.  Dying is understandable when your several hundred pound bike has sunken into the ocean or the rider has plowed straight through an exploding barrel.  However, there will be plenty of times where you will scratch your head and yell "REALLY?!?" at your phone.

Additional bikes that have different stats can be purchased, or unlocked from certain tasks, as well as linking yet one more game to your Facebook account.  It is not having an alternative to real money, so I will give credit where credit is deserved.  There is also a multiplayer mode to unlock, which does break up the monotony of pleasedon'tdiepleasedon'tdiepleasedon'tdieIdied.

If you enjoy physics games and/or racing games, this will be a good fit.  It has a lot of stages and many different bikes to unlock which does give it some replay value.  If you don't mind a few frustrating stages designed seemingly specifically to make you curse, give this a try.  It's classic Miniclip and a unique alternative to other games on the Play Store.

Throwback Thursday 10/23/2014

Image from Arcade Retro Lounge

For this week's Throwback Thursday, we'd like to talk about one of Mario's oldest nemesis, Donkey Kong.  That's right: IT'S OFFICIALLY ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

Some of you may only know of Kong from his 2D or 3D outings, or possibly as fighting with/against him in Super Smash Bros.  But Donkey and Mario have a long history.

Image from tvtropes

A lot of people may not remember, since he is as old as he is, that the Mario Bros. are not originally from the Mushroom Kingdom.  They are actually from Brooklyn, New York.  A lot of people may also not realize that back in the day, the story behind video games would be vague at best.  The story of Donkey Kong is that Mario's girlfriend at the time, Paulina (NOT Peach) was an unwilling volunteer in a reenactment of King Kong by her capture, the giant ape Donkey Kong.  Mario gave chase to a construction site, where Donkey Kong tried to fight him off by tossing barrels at him, having bouncing bouncing pads (you read that right), and flames that give chase to keep him from reaching his beloved.  Barrels could be lept over, but could not be touched unless Mario had grabbed a hammer, which allowed him to smash through barrels and kill the flame enemies for a short period of time.

After a few rounds, Mario would go head to head in the final match with Donkey.  After besting him, the game would repeat all over again, but at a faster pace, much like other arcade games at the time like Pac Man.

This game is a great slice of nostalgia, and if you don't believe that it's serious business, please watch the documentary Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

Diner Dash 2015 10/23/2014

Image from The Cheater Bay

If you have an Internet connection, then you probably have played some incarnation of Diner Dash.  Flo works/owns a diner, you feed patrons, and buy upgrades.  It's been a very popular franchise, having multiple versions available for mobile and Facebook.

The 2015 edition, however, is not like the Facebook game at all, which emphasized upgrading your restaurant and unlocking new items.  Diner Dash 2015 still has the core elements of the restaurant sim in place, but the action is far more fast paced.

Image from Pocket Gamer

Coins are still used to upgrade restaurant, from purchasing newer furnishings to new kitchen gadgets.  Flo is given a variety of actions to do, usually all at once.  The frantic action takes place over a large amount of stages - four worlds total, each with several missions to complete.  Like with most mobile games, the level is ranked by a three star system determined by points earned by the satisfaction of your customers.

Speaking of the customers, the game features a very interesting group of customer types, from easy going to very impatient, to some that just want coffee to competitive eaters who just can't get enough food.  Customers still feature a color coding system, where if they are seated at a chair that matches their clothes color, the user gets a boost.  You know.  Just like in a real restaurant.

The faster pace and increase in mission tasks really boosted the difficulty level.  Around level 8 I was really starting to see just how difficult it was.  This is refreshing, considering how casual the series has been, but that may come as a shock to those who have played other versions of the game.

If you are looking for a fast paced game that still has cute charm to it, Playfirst Inc.'s new Diner Dash is for you.  They've managed to keep core components that fans have learned and loved, and given it a new spin.  This is definitely worth checking out.

Age of Ultron Trailer 10/22/2014

Marvel has released the Avengers 2 trailer!

Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" - Teaser Trail…: http://youtu.be/tmeOjFno6Do

Woman Crush Wednesday 10/22/2014

Since our Man Crush Monday this week was our favorite smuggler, it felt appropriate that our favorite Ambassador would be our Woman Crush Wednesday.

Image from The Firefly and Serenity Database

Meet Inara.  She's an Ambassador, which as the onboard reverend learned quickly, does not mean she works for the United Nations.  Nor does it mean she's a run-of-the-mill hooker as Mal tries to convince others, or maybe just himself.  She is well trained in seduction, self-defense, the arts, tea serving, foot bathing, and high society.  Why would someone like her rent a shuttle from a bunch of space crooks?  Her clearance and access to a tax bracket far out of the captain's reach gets them access to places and people they wouldn't normally have.  Plus, believe it or not, someone of her occupation actually gives them a boost in legitimacy.

Bubble Shooter Galaxy 10/22/2014

Image from mob.org

Bubble Galaxy Shooter is a simple color match bubble game.  It is straightforward and no frills, getting you straight into the game.  The first few levels serve as a tutorial, telling you how the game is played.  If you've played any bubble shooter game, you already know how this is going to work: aim the launcher, fire the colored orb into a group of at least two of the same color, and clear it.

Image from mob.org

The stages have a set number of moves (seen in the bottom left of the above image) in which the player has to "free" all the spaceships (the blue, red, and yellow orbs sandwiched in the colored orbs).  As you progress, boosts are earned which can do things such as make the orb being launched match any color, or giving you a aiming line that bounces off of the wall, making it easier to aim.  And if you're worried about progressing too quickly, the game offers a little over 200 stages.

You earn stars based on performance, but there is no criteria given as to how your score is calculated.  You also earn coins, but are given no real explanation as to how they're spent.  I'm assuming on boosts.  The boosts, in my opinion, would have been better unlocked in level, by either filling up a gauge or by popping certain bubbles.  The game is also a little ad heavy; this doesn't bother me as I understand that they have to make money.  However, you're hit with one as soon as the game launches, as well as in between each level.  This isn't overwhelming, but most of my matches lasted about a minute; after a while it felt like I was hit with a lot of ads.  It would have been less oppressive if they went with ads at the top or bottom of the game screen.

The game is solid for what it is.  It doesn't require a great amount of skill, and doesn't exactly revolutionize the genre.  It is colorful, cute, and fun.  The best part is it does not require any sort of Internet connection, which seems to be a dying trend in mobile gaming.  If you enjoy bubble shooter games, you'll probably enjoy this.

Temple Tuesday 10/21/2014

Today is Temple Tuesday, where we showcase a temple or dungeon from a game.  As it's our first, we thought we'd start with everyone's favorite/most hated: the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time.

Image from Destructoid

What makes this level so frustrating?  First off, as you can tell from the name, it's freaking underwater.  It's old school Mario underwater.  And you're a boy, not a fish or a hydrodynamic plumber.  This makes traveling through more than a little arduous.  Especially as you're trying to swim around and enemies attack you.

The temple is full of switches and counter switches, enemies and mini bosses, and also has a map that looks like:

Image from It's Dangerous to go Alone

Taking this layout, now picture backtracking across what feels like every single room.  After a couple of hours, it feels like Link has accidentally entered a warp zone and landed into a completely separate game, possibly one about a prison that sank.

The Water Temple is long and brutal and has stood the tests of time, much to the chagrin and/or delight of Legend of Zelda enthusiasts everywhere.

Kill Shot 10/21/2014

Image from Get Android Stuff

Hothead Games's Kill Shot is, as you might imagine, a sniper game for the mobile platform.  Your character selects which mission to go on, either the main sniper mission, where you must snipe a certain type of enemy or amount of them, or the "Support" missions which feature assault weapon play.  There is also the "Black Ops" missions where you have to take out a top level terrorist before he reaches his car, and daily missions.  

The game offers an interesting mix of game play, as well as upgrades for your weapon.  Many missions actually require you to upgrade your weapon to a certain stat, so upgrading becomes a main component.

The game has very detailed 3-D game environments for the levels.  Upon first play it was impressive to see.
The game menus are well done, and for being a free game it overall looks very high quality.  Each time a mission is completed, the level ends with a bullet time finisher, where the camera follows the bullet from the weapon to the target.  With the variety of missions, it also gives the player a lot to do.

There are a few cons to the game.  For one, the enemies are way too fast.  Once you miss or the mission requires multiple targets, they sprint to the level exit.  And when I mean sprint, I mean Kenyan marathon runner sprinter.  There is a boost that allows the game to slow down, but boosts are expensive.  This leads to the next issue, there is too great an emphasis on items.  The game play seems to be built around making you use boosts in order to make you purchase more.  Also, as one might expect, the game gets repetitive too fast; you can only look through cross-hairs for so many minutes at a time.  Finally, the controls are just not tight enough.  There were multiple times where I pressed the "fire" button, only to see the target bolting away unscathed.

Kill Shot is okay game to play.  If you are a fan of sniper games, you will definitely enjoy this.  If you're not a huge fan of this genre, you may want to look for a different game to play.

Man Crush Monday 10/20/2014

This week's Man Crush Monday is Captain Tightpants himself, Mal Reynolds!

For those who have been without the Internet for like 10 years, Cap'n Malcolm leads a ragtag group of mercenaries onboard his beloved Firefly class ship, Serenity.  Mal is known for his quick thinking, wit, survival instincts, and having that darkness he hides from everyone (probably from being on the losing side of the galactic Civil War).

Fox may have cancelled the show years ago, but us loyal Broncoats would follow our captain to hell and back.

World Statistics Day 10/20/2014

Today is World Statistics Day!

Image from Portal Quase Tudo

What's your best character's Stats?

Cars: Fast as Lightning 10/20/2014

I'm going to be honest.  I did not have much merit in Cars: Fast as Lightning.  It's not Game Loft's fault; Disney has yet to impress me with a mobile offering that either wasn't completely unplayable due to bugs or didn't get incredibly boring after half an hour.

Image from Android Blog

However, Cars: Fast as Lightning is actually pretty fun.  For those outside the demographic to be interested in the Cars films, Cars centers around Lightning McQueen, a race car who, naturally, races, and winds up being stuck and then enamored with the small town of Radiator Springs, based off of Route 66.  The game seems to pick up between Cars and Cars 2, as Lightning is now in the business of everyone being able to design their own race tracks and ultimately visiting Radiator Springs themselves.  

Game Loft has taken what would have been another run-of-mill mobile racing game and combined with town simulator aspects.  The user unlocks both new features for the race track, as well as buildings and decorations for Radiator Springs, the town from the movie Cars.  You get to race as pretty much every character featured in the films, which is an impressive roster.  On top of a large amount of characters, customizable track and city, there are also two different unlockable paint jobs for each character.

Each car has a base speed, seen just before each match.  Eventually you will face off against an opponent that you simply can not beat.  This is part of the game, and requires you to go to the garage in town for a "tune up" which boosts your speed.

Each upgrade takes an increasing amount of coins and time.  Coins are earned through buildings built in Radiator Springs.  There is also premium currency that can be purchased or earned which can speed up the process.

Image from Windows Phone Central

The game has really well done cutscenes.  I was impressed by the level of effort put into to not just the key components of the game, but the cutscenes before each race, as well as during story moments.  The controls are very easy, and do not include turning your phone sideways.  There is a gas pedal in the bottom right corner during races.  Simply hold it on straightaways and briefly release it on turns.  To perform tricks, an onscreen prompt appears telling you to swipe the screen in a certain direction.  Easy peasy.

The game took a potentially boring game and gave the user lots of things to do at once.  The player has missions to complete, which include building certain tricks for their race tracks, having certain buildings in town, and receiving certain upgrades.  When on the Radiator Springs screen, the townspeople will want to visit certain buildings for quick cash, albeit not a lot of it.  The game has the actual voices of Mater and Lightning, Larry the Cable Guy and Owen Wilson respectively.  This makes the game actually feel like a short between the two films.

The downside of the game is it is a little repetitive, as racing and town sims usually are.  The stickers side quest is a bit annoying as in order to earn stickers, which unlock new paint jobs, you have to race each individual racer on each track.  Reracing the same character does not earn new stickers, you have to beat each and every one.  Every single time.  Like all Disney games I have played thus far, the game is a little buggy, but not to the point where it is unbearable.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this, and if Disney was smart they would let Game Loft make more of their content.

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Developers to get Android 5.0, Lollipop

According to tech blog BGR, Google will be releasing Android 5.0, called Lollipop, to developers today.  As the update is distributed, it will be hitting devices.  Tech Radar's Beavis and McCann have found that the official release date for consumers, unfortunately, is a cryptic "in the coming weeks".  According to Time.com, Nexus will be the first devices to get the update in November; everyone else will be within an 18 month period.

Image from Android Central

The official Android site is touting improvements for the system, battery life, security features, better response times, and customized notifications.

An animated preview of the update can be found over at the good folks of Android Central.

The New Words with Friends 10/17/14

Today's review is for the New Words with Friends by Zynga.    You know, the game that is not Scrabble.

Image from Vulture Beat

In case your aunt hasn't started a game with you yet, Words with Friends is almost identical to the classic board game Scrabble.  Zynga, the company that got you hooked building virtual farms, is responsible for this game which allows you to challenge other people you have added on Facebook when one of you is using the bathroom.

Image from AppScout

                        
The game has two players, you and presumably a relative (my opponent is usually my mom) take turns creating words with a random set of seven lettered tiles.  As the game progresses, the "pool" will run out of replenishable letters, and the player who plays all of their tiles first ends the game.  Whoever has the highest score, wins.  Some spaces on the board allow for bonuses, such as extra points to the letter landing on the space, or additional points for the word itself (which is awesome if you can land a word on multiple "Double Word" spaces).

If you are using the old app, you're going to be prompted to "Update" to the new one.  This is a misnomer, as the New Words with Friends is an entirely different app.  It's a little cumbersome downloading the new one and uninstalling the old one just to continue playing against that one friend who is totally using a cheat app, because let's face it, Becky that sat behind you in Economics cannot spell hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia on her own.

So what's different about the "New" Words with Friends?  The app runs a lot better than the old version.  The old version with hang and freeze and crash incessantly.  So far, after two weeks of playing it, I haven't had any issues.  Second, new Google Play Achievements, because human beings need positive reinforcement for wasting time!  Third, there are a lot of new features, such as the ability to look up the definition of a played word and new random challenge matches.  This is a great upgrade, and it is still offered as a free download.  If you haven't upgraded yet, I would recommend doing so!

Fantasy Friday 10/17/14

Welcome to our first Fantasy Friday!  This week, we're talking about the 20 Sided Die!

Image from Uncle's Games

The 20 sided die is what makes table top games possible.  And while everyone would hate you if you used it in Monopoly, it asks as the Random Number Generator in old school pen-and-paper RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons.  And while it is a great source of nostalgia, it can also be a great source of frustration and/or sexual harassment against your enemies.  Ah, the 20 sided die.  Making you the hero or comic relief for the whole party!

Bosses Day 2014

Today is Bosses Day (people celebrate that?) and since we featured Super Mario Bros. as our #tbt this week, it felt appropriate to showcase the original boss of living room temper tantrums, King Koopa!

Image from Piq

For those too young to know, King Koopa was later renamed Bowser in later Mario games.  King Koopa, as his name suggested, was the King of the Koopas.  He appeared in several castles, but almost always as an underling disguised as him.  He is impervious to all of the bros. attacks, save for Fire Flower fireballs.  His attacks include jumping on top of you with his very large scaly body and firing projectile flames.  If you did not have a Fire Flower upgrade, the only way to defeat him was to make it behind him and destroy the bridge you were fighting on with the Golden Axe, which in hindsight, was probably a terrible place to keep that.  Doing so would force King Koopa, real or imposter, to fall into the lake of lava beneath you and allow you to save the fungus man/princess of your dreams!

Throwback Thursday 10/16/14

Today's Throwback Thursday (the day of the week where you voluntarily make yourself feel old) puts the game that started home gaming, Super Mario Bros.!

Image from Games Database

The original 8-bit classic wasn't Mario's first rodeo, but it is his most beloved.  Having an impressive soundtrack of, what, five songs?  And a controller that had such buttons as Start, A, and B, the game followed everyone's favorite plumber (and Luigi if you had a younger sibling) across 8 different worlds in an attempt to save Princess Peach from Bowser (who at the time was called King Koopa because...well, he was the king of the Koopas).

Woman Crush Wednesday 10/15/14

It's that time of the week where fan boys get to drool over their favorite girl crush of the week!  Ours is Felicity Smoak from Arrow!

Photo from My Disguises

Felicity is the intelligent assistant and friend to superhero the Arrow.  She can hack, track, and trace anything, and is incredibly nervous and/or terrible at basic social interactions.

Arrow airs on the CW on Wednesdays at 8/7C.

Terra Battle

Logo from Gamezebo

The first game I'd like to review is called Terra Battle, an RPG made by Mistwalker, the studio behind Final Fantasy.  And you can certainly see the Final Fantasy influence in both the art style and music.  For being a free game, Terra Battle has great production value with both.  It is refreshing to see something in the Play Store that has a veteran touch.  I love supporting the new guys, but one can only play so many stick figure tower defense games before craving an honest-to-God game on their phone.  But I digress.

The game is a strategy RPG played by dragging characters across the game grid:

Image from Game Informer

It's that simple.  And yet, it's not.  Every character has different attributes and abilities, or lack thereof.  In order to attack an enemy, two party member must surround them.  Combos and special attacks are then activated depending on the alignment of other party members to the attacking group.  Believe me, it sounds much more complicated than it is.  To make matters better, they include an interactive tutorial as the first batch of missions.

You start off with about half a dozen characters as your party, but you can add more characters as well.  The easiest being through purchasing more team mates, either with premium currency ("Energy") or through regular currency ("Coins").  You can also occasionally add defeated monsters as team mates after battles.

Characters are classed as one of four different warrior classes (Swordsman, Lancer, Archer, or Mage).  They can also have an element type, although most characters do not.  Swords beat Arrows, which in turn beat Lances.  Lances are strong against Swords.  This creates a strategic cycle to think about when attacking.  Element types also play a factor, as Light attacks are strong against Dark types and Fire is strong against Ice.  

Some characters can unlock different Job classes, which leads to new unlockable skills.  Each Job class levels up separately, but the best part is that you can copy-paste a skill from an existing Job class, provided you have an open Skill spot. 

That is really the meat and potatoes of Terra Battle.  As of right now, there is no PVP mode, although the app states it will be added later.  There is also no way to equip, purchase, or forge weaponry.  What the character has is what you get.

The game play, as any smartphone game, is a little repetitive, but the game does a great job of keeping things interesting.  Each match is comprised of between three and five rounds, and each enemy has its own attack pattern, moves, and element types.

I highly recommend playing Terra Battle.  Great game play, great artwork, great music, and addicting RPG action on a platform that is sorely lacking in the RPG department.  Give it a download and enjoy!