Puzzle games are one of my favorite things to kill time with and half the time it is not hard to find one I like, but very few times can I find one that combines different types of puzzles and keeps a balance that well makes you want to keep playing in order to keep the story and encounters going forward.
G5 Entertainment has managed to bring together a game that uses hidden objects puzzling and Myst style interactive world into the iOS, the story is simple a scientist creates a machine that takes him to a different world and his daughter chases after him, you now find yourself in an alien world and you have to find useful items in order to open new paths into the game world, also finding what items work in what situations on top of trying to find randomly hidden items in plain sight.
The game is a lot of fun and I will be honest I have not been following the story much at all, if anything I have been so entertained by the game play so much that I skim through it just to get my shot at the next section of puzzles. I can say that I highly recommend this app if you are a fan of puzzle games with a fantasy world layer on it.
The phenomenon continues, Angry Birds comes back to us in Angry Birds Space, a whole new take on the incredibly popular franchise.
As I write this I look back to when the original game was released I immediately jumped on it and fell in love, so much so that when I lost my iPhone and switched to and Android phone me and my friends counted down the days for the official release on that platform. When it did we all cheered and revered the game for the addictive and ingenious formula the game offered.
And here I sit playing the newly released version of the game in my Angry Birds pajama bottoms… I do not deny my love for the franchise, in fact I love the merchandising that this series has taken on. Not since Pac-Man fever has a video game franchise been this big and simply all over the place, with clothing, toys, board games, YouTube cartoons, stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes, candy, and in some countries like Mexico they are re-launching the craze of Pogs (small cardboard disk that are used in a slamming motion game) and with previous titles like Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio (Movie Tie-in). So with that in mind, the previous 2 “sequels” did not really chance much in the franchise other than adding the massive red bird and a change in scenery.
Angry Birds Space sets out to change it all, and they succeed with flying colored birds. Much like Super Mario Galaxy they took all the things that made the original franchise successful and then added planetary gravity and with that came orbital pulls. And that’s what changes the game mechanics completely, it’s not a simple aim and fire anymore, with the birds special abilities also slightly changed and with a whole new bird the game is FUN AGAIN!
The birds are now themed in super hero motif, red bird, black bird, blue bird, and the large red bird are still the same in basic concept with simple new looks and a color themed stardust track that follows them when launched, the former yellow bird now purple bird changed his ability by adding a homing ability by pressing on the screen the bird will launch himself at full speed and attempt to destroy any obstacles in his way. The newest member of the flock is the ice-bird, shaped like an ice cube he aids with his explosive frozen ability, when launched he will hit an obstacle freeze it and then moments later he will explode in a larger freeze explosion. And the mighty eagle makes a return as the Space Eagle, same concept as before launch the can of tuna but this time you can make explode and open the black hole where the eagle will emerge from.
Now the orbital pulls and gravity play a larger part in how you will solve the newest challenges, they orbits are exactly how they sound, you will launch and in some levels you need to ride the different overlapping orbits in order to around the back of the pigs base, in other cases you will have large obstacles blocking your path straight ahead and you will use the orbits to go around it. The planet gravity plays out much in the same way, but instead things will pull into the center, some gravity pulls will have planets and in some they will simply float in the middle of an orbit.
The game has changed and it has made it brought a new playing field, the game has improved greatly and it’s worth downloading this version over the previous ones. The iPad version looks incredible and the level of addiction the game has will keep you playing for hours and hours, the only issue is that you only get 2 maps of levels an if you would like more you would have to purchase them, so be ready to keep dropping a little more cash for added levels and experience.
Attention! You have been recruited to fight the good fight, to defend the rights of men and women all over these good old United States of America… or just sit in settled base and defend point until the enemy runs out of targets for us to destroy. Other way welcome to the Hills of Glory!
That’s right folks I got a chance to check out Hills of Glory for the iPhone/iPod and it is FANTASTIC! I mean I love Tower Defense games of all kinds and usually the skin of the interface means nothing to gameplay, for example the South Park Tower Defense game on Xbox Live Arcade or the World of Warcraft one you can play on your browser. None of those skins make a difference on the strategy or difficulty of the game for the most part, in Hills of Glory you have a set of 3 soldiers with 2 weapons they specialize in.
But what makes the game a unique experience is the way you execute the commands to your troops, for example your shooter starts with a rifle and a chain gun attack to execute these you can point at the soldiers to shoot them and to attack with the chain gun you slide your finger down in a straight line in the area you want to attack.
And really this makes all the difference when playing the game because the enemies will swarm in and start making their way towards you and the fight will be frantic and all over the place with you swiping the screen like a music conductor, one of the better parts of the game is the replay value it offers you will end up winning cash and experience needed to unlock maps and characters in the game that will make a huge difference in both strategy and experience on the field.
Hills of Glory is truly an experience that every Tower Defense player should have and people who love WW2 games could fall for this app as much as I have, so check out the trailer below and go get the app. Until next time soldier you are our last line of defense!
We have another App from publisher BulkyPix, The M is a basic puzzler both rotating pieces and sliding pieces. But does the simple game play hold up to modern day gaming standards even for mobile Apps?
Well the game play is basic you have a few pieces on the board and you either slide them if you are playing Slider Mode or you pick them up and rotate them in Puzzle mode.
It comes with 3 levels of difficulty for both modes and they do show a significant challenge for anyone who dares give it a try, but I did find one issue that stopped me from fully enjoying the App. During my first play through I tried the easy mode for Puzzles and I noticed that the pieces would slip away from my finger and actually cut into my time in solving the puzzle.
With that in mind it is a little bit of a pain when you can solve the challenge quickly but the mechanics of the game itself can hold you back, and with time being a big part of your score it can be very difficult to get a great score during your early games. Overall the game works well and for people who enjoy basic puzzles will find the app to be enjoyable, I would say that if the slipping mechanic can be fixed it would make the app even better. Well kids if you like to rack your brain with some puzzles and have to get that fix regularly then BulkyPix might have some pieces for you.
Well we have another rendition of Angry Birds in connection to the upcoming film Rio, now does this just have a something new to offer or does it just skin it to win it?
Rio an upcoming film from the creators of Ice Age is the story of a house broken macaw who finds himself in a crazy adventure with another bird by the name Jewel in Rio de Janairo, Angry Brids on the other hand is a cultural phenomenom both as #1 app in the world to affecting pop culture as a whole. Now we have a combination of both worlds in “Angry Birds Rio”.
The same basic mechanics come back in this game but with a little polish and some much needed changes on what the main objective is, now instead of destroying the pig for stealing your eggs you must help free other birds from their cages in order to escape the wharehouse level. After that you are faced with having to defeat monkeys in the jungle and as of the creation of this article the rest of the game was not availble for review till later this year. But so far the game did get a graphical push which now gives it some depth and the targets themselves are more interactive with bouncing inner tubes to monkeys who panic when they are about to be tipped over with the rest of the tower.
Granted this is mostly another version of Angry Birds with some new skins but the fact that they did improve on graphics and some of the puzzles have obstacles that are not obvious till you run into them makes for some more trial and error gameplay which is what we all have loved about Angry Birds to begin with. The new soundtrack is catchy and the way the score is tallied up is nice and flashy to give it some new life, overall I would say that if you have not purchased the app as of yet then I would not worry to much but if you need a fix for some more challenging levels like I did and you hope that Rio turns out to be an awesome film then go get it and enjoy it. Until next time Disciplined1’s join the Angry Birds Carnival!
Monday, June 11, 2012 at 10:12PM 
Puzzle games are one of my favorite things to kill time with and half the time it is not hard to find one I like, but very few times can I find one that combines different types of puzzles and keeps a balance that well makes you want to keep playing in order to keep the story and encounters going forward.
