Last month I posted a review for Appxplore’s sliding puzzler: Alien Hive. Last week, Appxplore announced a new mode for the game called “Blitz Mode”, in which the player has only 60 seconds to attain as large a score as possible. This update is free (for both iOS and Android), and is an even more addictive version of a game that I was already playing far too much for my own good.
If you want to know just how much people like games modeled after the inventions of Rube Goldberg, you need not look further than Mouse Trap (the board game), or This Too Shall Pass (a music video by OK Go). I cannot explain why the human mind is fascinated with these devices – but man, for such inconvenient ways to solve problems, they certainly are cool things to watch. Enter Crazy Machines Golden Gears from Viva Media; a game in which the most efficient solution is definitely not the most entertaining one!
Sporos is a simple time-dissolver by Appxplore that is very easy to pick up and play. The game’s no-nonsense approach to puzzling is all about efficiency, both in concept and presentation; and I found that I enjoyed the game quite a lot because of that.
Late last summer, I backed a Kickstarter project by the name of Ouya. For those who aren’t aware, Ouya was introduced to the world as an affordable video game console for the masses built on Google’s Android ICS (now upgraded to Jellybean) OS. Ouya’s original Kickstarter goal was to raise $950K. The Ouya Kickstarter project took that goal and destroyed it, with funding topping $8.5M when it closed on August 9th, 2012.
Last year, I was at a media event, chatting with Steve Tilley about Draw Something. During one part of our discussion, we talked about how some people were able to draw such amazingly detailed pictures. I marveled at this, and expressed my admiration for these artists. I told Steve that drawings like that must have been done on an iPad, which gives those users a bit of an advantage over those using an iPhone or iPod Touch (due to screen real estate); but Steve told me that a lot of those detailed drawings were created with a stylus.
So, I bought a stylus, and used it for a little while, but it was a little bulky for my pocket. The short version of the stylus (it came in a two-pack: one long and one short) felt like holding chalk, which was good enough – but at times became uncomfortable. Woodees sent us the iPic Multi Purpose Pick Stylus to try out; and I have to say that it pays to be “picky”.
Click the pic to see the full graphic.
Last year was a pretty crazy year for hand-held technology: the Playstation Vita was released, Apple earned the ire of consumers by releasing their next tablet far too soon (in two flavours), and Android climbed the ladder like Mario avoiding flaming barrels. Why, even one of our resident cynics fell in love with an Android phone! Check out the infographic above from MBA Online, which tells a very interesting tale about the cute green robot.
Frocket is the latest mobile game from Canadian toy company Ganz, who are known for their kid-friendly Webkinz empire. I recently spoke with lead game designer, Brad Keys, at Ganz about Frocket and his team’s labour of love project. Ganz may be a kid-centric company, but Frocket is decidedly a bit more “adult-children” friendly. The official description of Frocket from Ganz is: “an arcade-style game for all ages, where the player controls a dopey swamp creature strapped to a malfunctioning jetpack. His mission is to find and eat every delicious cupcake he can”. The game’s core mechanic is inspired by Donkey Kong Country‘s barrel shooting style. They have taken this further by incorporating obstacles, power-ups, physics, and timed challenges.
