All Entries Tagged With: "rating-kiss"

Gardenscapes HD in Review – Second Time’s Still A Charm

Not too long ago when my mom was really into playing games on her computer she’d often tell me how she was finishing a game for the second or third time.  I never really got that, because between beta testing and reviewing I’m lucky if I get through a game once, let alone multiple times.  There are rare occasions where I get caught up in something I know I shouldn’t, though, and such is the case with Gardenscapes HD.  I’ve already finished the game on my PC, yet I find myself almost to the end of it on my iPad now.  It’s possible that I’ve even enjoyed it more this time around as well.

The Tiny Bang Story HD in Review – Incredible Game That’s Over Too Soon

There’s something about the world of Tiny Planet that captured my attention from the very first game screen.  The Tiny Bang Story HD is not your typical hidden object game; it’s a bit light on story, and it assumes that you don’t need any handholding.  It can also get frustrating at times, even with something as simple as figuring out what to do next.  Through it all, though, I found myself hardly able to put the game down.  That’s even after playing the first chapter 3 times (once on my PC and twice on the iPad).  There were only two significant letdowns to the game – it ended too quickly, and the end was actually a bit anti-climactic.

Kingdom Rush in Review – I’ll Take My Time To Enjoy This One

The tower defense genre is one that has always eluded me.  Sure you have to construct towers (or some sort of defense) and possibly upgrade them during a level, but a bulk of each round is spent simply watching as hordes of monsters parade along a route and your equipment picks them off.  Thankfully, though, over the course of time there have been a few that have bucked this trend, Kingdom Rush being one of them.  Between constant interaction, interesting level design and a ranking system that allows you to buy permanent upgrades to your defenses, Kingdom Rush takes enough simple steps forward to push it ahead of the crowd.

Greedy Penguins in Review – Sometimes something fishy is good

Sometimes I fear that a particular genre will start to get old, especially when the App Store gets littered with games from that genre.  The physics puzzler is one such genre that comes to mind, but thankfully Greedy Penguins isn’t the game to make that fear come true.  This cute puzzle game about feeding some hungry aquatic birds can be challenging, but it is also satisfying and often quite entertaining.  Control is a bit troublesome, which I have a feeling is due to the small iPod Touch screen, but overall the playing experience has been top notch.

Snapseed in Review – Moving mountains for online photographers

If you needed better encouragement to buy Snapseed than an enthusiastic TouchMyApps review, I can think of no better endorsement than Apple’s own knighting of Nik Software’s Snapseed as iPad app of the year 2011.

But if you need a second opinion – and after a long time with Snapseed, I feel that my opinion is valid – mine is simple. Buy it. That’s it. Snapseed is the perfect companion app for frequent Facebook and frantic Flickr photographers. The reason for this isn’t the very decent uploading interface, but its ergonomic input system.

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World (Full) in Review – An old style point-and-tap from the kings of Hidden Object

As I noted pretty recently, G5 Entertainment can safely be called the reigning kings of both Hidden Object and Time Management genres. You can imagine my surprise then when shortly before Christmas, I received an invitation from them to review Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World (Full) – a traditional point-and-tap adventure that feels like it’s plucked right out from the golden age of the genre. Still expecting that something’s amiss, I dove into the game.

Super Crate Box in Review – Just One More Time, Please…

There’s no question Super Crate Box is a silly game.  You basically run around one of three levels collecting crates and killing monsters to stay alive.  It’s like a side view FPS with no fancy graphics and no point.  The funny thing is that it is also one of the most addictive games I’ve played in quite a while, and that says a lot since I’ve spent almost every day for the past week playing Treasures of Montezuma 3.  There’s something about the simplicity of the game combined with the retro pixel graphics that to me makes it a whole lot more interesting than the previously released Muffin Knight, a game clearly inspired by this one.  All I know is I’m glad to be part of the crate collecting revolution.

Super Crossfire HD in Review – Who Needs Scrolling?

Long before there were glorious multi-screen scrolling shooters, games like Space Invaders and Asteroids blazed a trail of their own by making single screen shooters with simple mechanics addictive.  From time to time modern developers have tried to recapture that magic with varying degrees of success, but for me none have really done the concept justice.  That is, of course, until Super Crossfire HD came around.  The mechanics and visuals are old school, but things like particle effects and adjustable stats give it a modern flare.  Even if you resigned yourself to believing that there is no going back once you tasted the “freedom” of a scrolling shooter, you need to give this one screen wonder a try.

Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space in Review – Unlock the mysteries of the universe in 30 minutes or less

Have you wondered what’s out there in the great beyond? Are you a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars or Babylon 5? Have you ever dreamt of exploring new worlds, discovering ancient artifacts and meeting aliens? Well, settle in my dear friend, as now you can do all of that in the comfort of your own living room! Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and the creativity of some indie devs, the full experience has essentially been recreated in Weird Worlds: Return To Infinite Space.

Back to the Future HD in Review – The legendary series is back in the future!

The Back to the Future trilogy is my favourite movie franchise of all time. Unfortunately as far as game-implementations go, it’s has never had much luck. The late 80′s and early 90′s console and PC adaptations were boring, virtually unplayable arcade games. But when developer Telltale announced that they were going to be revisiting the franchise in my favourite genre of adventure games – I was beside myself with anticipation. And what better platform to experience a Back to the Future game than on the futuristic iPad in Back to the Future HD!