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Triple Town by Spry Fox is a unique puzzle game with incredibly cute animation. The objective of the game is to create a town from the ground up, beginning with patches of grass and ending with houses. The game might require a little patience at first, but once the player develops a rhythm the game becomes quite addicting. The game begins with a step-by-step tutorial on how to build the town. The player must match three of a kind of either grass, bush, or a tree. Once the matches are made,... Read More

Triple Town by Spry Fox is a unique puzzle game with incredibly cute animation. The objective of the game is to create a town from the ground up, beginning with patches of grass and ending with houses. The game might require a little patience at first, but once the player develops a rhythm the game becomes quite addicting. The game begins with a step-by-step tutorial on how to build the town. The player must match three of a kind of either grass, bush, or a tree. Once the matches are made, the objects upgrade to a different object. For example if the player matches three patches of grass it will upgrade to one bush. Once three bushes are matched it will update to a tree, and three trees will form into a house. As the town grows points are rewarded, giving the player an incentive to keep on building. To offer more of a challenge little evil bears are placed in the town blocking any potential matches to be made. However these bears may be eliminated and turned into gravestone by trapping them into a restricted area. With three gravestones, a church is formed. The game may seem easy once you have a full understanding how to build, but reaching the goal of desired points listed creates a challenge. Also the player must be aware of where to match up items since the upgrade may create small patches of open land where only one item may be placed. Furthermore this game involves visualizing in advance giving the player the role of an architect. Playing your cards right is essential for Triple Town because most times the land will consist of random patches of grass or bushes that may not be matched. By strategizing, visualizing and maintaining  patience the game can become more exciting. As far as animation and design go, Triple Town is family friendly, especially with its small and adorable patrons walking about the community. They pop out of their homes smiling and enjoying life but the evil bears’ roars cause patrons to gasp with fear and run to their homes.  The giant evil bears are square shaped with red, ferocious eyes keeping the town from prospering. Although they were designed to be the enemy, I could not help but find them cute and amusing. The developers definitely wanted Triple Town to be playful yet a challenging game and succeed on both accounts. Check out Triple Town and build your own empire! But be warned for this game is addicting, fun and cute. Close

Posted February 27, 2012

One Epic Game (created by Grip Digital and published by Chillingo) is what you would get if you combined all of the biggest clichés in gaming. The game openly mocks itself for including so many of the ubiquitous elements of modern video games. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, the enemies in the game include aliens, zombies, and Nazis. The main character, Alpha Dog, even acknowledges how absurd everything is in dialogue and occasionally takes shots at game designers. Once you get... Read More

One Epic Game (created by Grip Digital and published by Chillingo) is what you would get if you combined all of the biggest clichés in gaming. The game openly mocks itself for including so many of the ubiquitous elements of modern video games. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, the enemies in the game include aliens, zombies, and Nazis. The main character, Alpha Dog, even acknowledges how absurd everything is in dialogue and occasionally takes shots at game designers. Once you get over how strange the premise of the game is and actually begin to play the story mode, it turns out to be very similar to other popular games in the App Store. Many of the comments in iTunes express it is a subpar copy of the popular Monster Dash. The game is also reminiscent of Jet Pack Joyride and Canabalt. The game play is simple yet fun. You tap the left side of the screen to jump and the right side to shoot your weapon. There are 7 weapons in total and a jet pack power-up. The app requires precise timing and quick decision-making. To change things up, some levels will have different restraints, like making it to the end without killing an enemy or only being given one life. The levels are randomly generated, which is a nice touch, but has a major downside. Sometimes the levels are made incredibly hard and at points you will wonder if it is even possible to beat the level. Fortunately, you can retry a level as many times as you want, which helps alleviate some of the frustration. The graphics are solid and there are different appropriate sounds tracks for each stage. I personally found the storyline to be cheesy and dumb and didn’t like how Alpha Dog mocks the game, but I can see how some people will find it amusing. There are 5 different worlds in the story mode and a free run mode. The app also includes challenges for you to unlock and integrates with Crystal. Beneath the self-deprecating storyline is a solid game. If you don’t mind the absurdity of the game and enjoyed some of the above-referenced similar games, then be sure to check it out. Close

Posted February 27, 2012

Paper Monsters is an interactive adventure game produced by Crescent Moon Games, where the player is a miniature robot-esque character created out of cardboard and paper.  Although he looks plain to begin with, you can visit the Dressing Room and select various add-ons to your character, from sunglasses to hats to headphones.  Items are redeemed through the collection and earning of gold buttons, which can also be purchased from the Button Store for a fee.  This way, you can tailor the main... Read More

Paper Monsters is an interactive adventure game produced by Crescent Moon Games, where the player is a miniature robot-esque character created out of cardboard and paper.  Although he looks plain to begin with, you can visit the Dressing Room and select various add-ons to your character, from sunglasses to hats to headphones.  Items are redeemed through the collection and earning of gold buttons, which can also be purchased from the Button Store for a fee.  This way, you can tailor the main character towards your personality. You can either start the game, or play Dash Mode, where your character is constantly moving in a forward motion through an ongoing level, and the object is to defeat as many enemies (by jumping on them) and collecting as many silver buttons as possible. In the main chapters of the game, your objective is to collect as many silver and gold buttons as possible while defeating enemies using warp pipes, collecting gold paper clips (of which there are 3 hidden ones per level), and defeating a boss at the end of each chapter.  Fifty silver buttons equal one gold button, and the gold buttons can be redeemed in the Dressing Room. Play throughout the game is very animated. For example, presents open, checkpoints are pinwheels, and enemies burst into shreds of paper after you jump on them.  Additionally, flowers and mushrooms are constantly blooming along your path through the level.  The graphics are very cutesy and colorful, and all characters look as though they are constructed from paper (hence the ‘Paper Monsters’ title). Your left thumb controls the movement of your character, while the right thumb performs the jump/double jump feature.  This can lead to some frustration during game play, however, as the movement option is very touchy. Beyond the simple moving and jumping options, the game is limited. Although the graphics are first class, the game lacks depth. Paper Monsters would have been more enjoyable had the creators added some extra features and character capabilities but as it stands this game is still worth picking up. Close

Posted February 27, 2012

Frontline Commando by Glu Games is a third-person shooter in which players battle the evil crime lord Khan and his legions of goons. Unfortunately, unlike other shooters, Frontline Commando does not offer freedom of movement. Instead, players are restricted to moving between a limited number of cover points, like an arcade game. Frontline offers the usual array of sniper rifles, machine guns, and explosives. In addition to gunmen, you’ll go up against helicopters, trucks, and rocket... Read More

Frontline Commando by Glu Games is a third-person shooter in which players battle the evil crime lord Khan and his legions of goons. Unfortunately, unlike other shooters, Frontline Commando does not offer freedom of movement. Instead, players are restricted to moving between a limited number of cover points, like an arcade game. Frontline offers the usual array of sniper rifles, machine guns, and explosives. In addition to gunmen, you’ll go up against helicopters, trucks, and rocket launchers. The game has highly realistic graphics, but your commando cannot move around freely to enjoy them. You fire from a few cover points, between which you move by tapping the arrow to the left and right. One of those cover points has your ammo box. If you run out of ammo, you need to return to that cover point to reload. Fortunately, that box has unlimited ammo. One interesting aspect of the game—that makes it more challenging—is the fact your few cover points can be destroyed by enough enemy fire. As soon as that happens, the clock is ticking, even though not all missions are officially timed. You have to aim, shoot, and take cover quickly to avoid getting hit. Enemy fighters also shoot from cover, and they’re fast. If an enemy sees you aiming at him, he will take cover almost immediately. Despite the disadvantage the lack of movement presents, Frontline Commando is surprisingly challenging and therefore more enjoyable than it might be otherwise. Close

Posted February 27, 2012

If Puzzlejuice was a drink … no, no. That won’t do. Puzzlejuice is a mixer of … no, that doesn’t sound right either. Take Tetris, toss in a crossword puzzle, add some power-ups and players have the recipe for Puzzlejuice, a puzzle game from Colaboratory unlike any other on the App Store. Puzzlejuice’s presentation is a fusion of modern and retro graphics and sounds that aid the game’s concept of being a mixture of traditional puzzle and word games with a modern game twist. I don’t commend... Read More

If Puzzlejuice was a drink … no, no. That won’t do. Puzzlejuice is a mixer of … no, that doesn’t sound right either. Take Tetris, toss in a crossword puzzle, add some power-ups and players have the recipe for Puzzlejuice, a puzzle game from Colaboratory unlike any other on the App Store. Puzzlejuice’s presentation is a fusion of modern and retro graphics and sounds that aid the game’s concept of being a mixture of traditional puzzle and word games with a modern game twist. I don’t commend user interface often, but Puzzlejuice’s ability to make screen selections interactive by swiping is enjoyable. From the moment players start up Puzzlejuice to selecting options, the menu interface is responsive and a nice foreshadow to the constant swiping players will be doing in-game. The controls seem simple but in the heat of a game become a complex order. Similar to Tetris, falling blocks must be placed to fill a complete row at the bottom of the screen. A list of letters appears in a completed row, and players must create a word within the completed rows of letters in order to clear space. Words can be devised from multiple angles such as diagonally, horizontally, vertically, etc. The tutorial is helpful place to start and has plenty of pointers. There are two main modes in Puzzlejuice, Core Mode and Zen Mode Extreme. Core Mode features two games, Hard Mode and Euro Extreme Mode. Hard Mode is the standard Puzzlejuice game while in Euro Extreme Mode, spelling words shorter than five letters won’t destroy blocks. Zen Mode Extreme gives players 90 seconds to get a high score. The blocks don’t drop over time, so players must be quick in placing blocks. Each game has a set of objectives to accomplish that unlock power-ups. Power-ups are a fun, helpful addition to the flow of the game. Land a kabomb and nearly every tile explodes. If there’s a huge section building up, a Driller will bore into tiles and letters, clearing space. Pause the game to spell out a word with Freeze. Once a game is finished, the Game Over screen shows a final score, highest combo, sweetest word and a list of words found in-game. Double tap on either the sweetest word or a word from the list and a dictionary definition pops up. Leaderboards track game scores and players can see how they rank up globally through the Gamecenter. Word selection can be interesting, to say the least. In my neurotic way of forming partial words, I noticed the game took words I thought weren’t words at all. The game has an eclectic database, as it took words like Jedi and fap but not Lego or noob. Go figure. At any rate, Puzzlejuice is in a class by itself, blending the best aspects of puzzle and word games into a fast paced, addictive experience. Close

Posted February 27, 2012