When it was announced that square was releasing Final Fantasy 1 on the iPhone I was skeptical, now to be honest the only version I’ve ever played was for the NES when I was like 8 years old but I loved the game. I decided to break down and spend the 9 bucks on a 20 year old game. But I’m here to say if you haven’t had the opportunity to play this in 20 years you barely remember the story and it is fun to relive the memories. I of course named all the characters after my family and the boys would watch me play. the updated graphics is a plesant upgrade and it seem there are few dungeons added that weren’t there in the original. My only complaint echos several of the reviews on the iPhone the movement controls or dpad is a little “wonky” I’m really hoping they fix it in an upgrade. Suggestion to anyone looking at this for a purchase, I love the game I don’t love the price, paying 9 bucks for a game just seems a bit like highway robbery on the iPhone. So pick it up on sale.
In a brief text message exchange my brother put it rather mildly, what is it with all the zombie games. Now not being much of a horror buff, it has kind of put me outta the loop when it comes to zombie, and I have ventured into a few more mild ones.
After burning a few hours on the game Zombieville, on my iPhone, I realize it could be a fairly addicting game, you can come at it from a few different ways, either you kill as many zombies as you can to upgrade all your weapons or you just run through trying to get to the highest level you can. My suggestion try it one way then the other, you quickly learn strategies to push them back and manage the mobs.
On a More G Rated level I recently downloaded Zombie Vs Plants for my Mac, now this game is published by the company that brings us so so addicting games as Bejeweled, PopCap, as soon as I saw the name I became slightly worried because I now what kind of time vampire PopCap games can become. Being a giant fan of tower defense games it was fairly easy to catch on, basically you have plants with all kinds of special abilities, by collecting sun you can “build” new plants to defend your house from the zombie attack. After spending a couple hours with this game, I have to say its is well worth the 20 bucks, just try it out they offer a 60 minute demo that will give you a good feel for the progression of the game.
So Wii Sports Resort came out fairly recently released by Nintendo and I managed to pick it up locally and try out the new Nintendo technology the Wii Motion Plus accessory. First may I say that consoles in this generation are getting pounded with accessories. Which could be a good, or a bad thing.
As a whole when playing through Wii Sports Resort I personally thought the game was great. The Wii Motion Plus does do it’s job the controller reacts beautifully, Whether your fencing, wakeboarding or whatever it may be. My family thought it a funny sight to see me in the couch and randomly flinging myself back in the couch while playing wakeboarding or when I really got into it while fencing specifically the onslaught of fighting lots of guys at the same time, or when I sat in the couch completely focused on getting a good score in archery, what the game lacks in graphics is definately made up in fun game play. While the game has no story the different games or mini games whatever you would like to call them definately are fun to just relax for a moment and let the stress of the day just wash off in some easy yet somewhat deep, and relaxing play. It works as a way to just tone down your stress in between high intensity games and is just overall a simple fun experience. My only complaint may be that games like the airplane flying may be a little over simplified to the point it can be frustrating. Its not a game that you go play for hours and hours either for the most part usually for half hour periods at most.
I am happy the way things turned out with Wii Sports Resort I have had really high hopes for it for a while and was very worried that it might flop but suprisingly enough the motions translate from real life to the screen very well and no lag time involved in the eqaution.
Who should buy: Practically everyone just looking for a game that’s a dang good time will enjoy this game while it’s not any super deep game with a long twisting storyline it is what it is, a fun enjoyable game.
Who shouldnt buy: Those who are looking specifically for a deep game with lots of twists and turns this game is very what you see is what you get.
Overall Score: A strong 8.3 definatelly a great game to keep on the shelves and get out every once and a while.
Being an avid reader of comics I’m always looking for new ways to get my comic book fix. I’ve been playing around on the iPhone app store with several either comic book applications or comic book readers and recently stumbled across probably the most promising of them all and thought I would share.
Though this app is a purchase app and it could potentially cost you a lot of dough, but it does come with 30 free comics to wet your appetite, I found this app enjoyable to navigate and as the frames moved around it brought the books to life almost as if you were reading a full sized book. After reading my 5th comic on the application I can say this is an app worth investing in to get your fix of comic book literature.
First we need to apologize that our posts have been a little slower this week. We are having a family stay-cation which means we are setting up fun activities for almost everyday. That being said I am playing a lot of iTouch games in the few minutes in the car and such so I should have another review later this week. Now let’s get on to the review:
There are a very few games that will always stand out in my mind as my all time favorites. On of these is the game Earthbound. It has a quirky humor as you did all sorts of things to go ahead and save the world from Gigas. I remember Paula using Frying Pans as her weapons and Ness with all of his baseball bats. It was one that I will have fond memories of forever. I then remember the excitement when I was told there would be Earthbound 64 and then my disappointment as it was canceled. Then there was a sequel on the GBA which was released in Japan, but it never saw the light of day in North America. I still hope that one day it does, and I will be one of the first to buy it. However the people at www.starmen.net have done us all a huge a service. They have done a fan translation patch. The have promised to take it down if it is every released here and they don’t offer you the rom. You have to go out and find that for yourself. But if you find the rom, apply the patch and have a decent GBA emulator you can enjoy the ever so amazing sequel.
The quirky humor is still present!
There are 8 chapters in the game and at first you are following around individual characters until your full team comes together. You live the peaceful town of Tazmily and some strange beings are taking over making cyborgs out of animals and combining the strangest creatures. Your main character eventually is Lucas (of Super Smash Brothers Brawl fame) the quiet crybaby boy who obviously has to grow up to shoulder the challenge that has been placed upon him. Alright so the story is a little cliche but just know it is wacky enough to stay fun. You can make your characters eat dog biscuits and it is great for restoring health to the dog but everyone else gets like 5 life back. Just an example of the some of the strange but fun things in the game.
It plays out like a typical RPG. You level up your team as you wander around with the occasional boss battle that is extremely fun. The art style looks just like the original which for me is a great thing. It is bright a vivid. The few things I would have to say against this game are relatively minor. First they didn’t do much that wasn’t already in the first game. Second, when I play RPG’s I would really like more side quests that I can go and find super power stuff. Maybe they did exist but I didn’t run across them and they weren’t clearly defined. This might be a side effect of not having a full localization team so I can’t be sure.
Overall, if you love Earthbound, do the work and play this game. It is very enjoyable and then you can go order something that is licensed like Pig Masks or something. The game will take about 30 hours to complete which is good since sometimes emulators can be a bit harder to play. If you haven’t ever played with the series go find an old copy of Earthbound and play if first after you dust off your SNES.
Every once in a while one just really wants to dig for buried treasure. California Gold Rush by Digital Chocolate allows you to do that. I know it seems like recently I have reviewed quite a few games for Digital Chocolate but I have not received anything from them. Maybe I just need to lay off them for a little while. Even though I have Tornado Mania! too and I just haven’t have the time yet to play it and get a feel for it. Anyway back to what we were talking about the game California Gold Rush.
So basically you play the role of a Miner who is participating in the California Gold Rush. You have the opportunity to play through more the 30 mines and you have essentially 4 obstacles taht are rearranged in different orders to give variety to the game. First we have mines that collapse, next are lava rocks that spread out until you get them to touch ice, then there are the bedrocks that give it a maze-like effect and finally bats that pop up in the caves. There are also lots of items to buy and use to help you face these and the basic idea is pretty simple. You have to collect the required amount of gold on each level in order to move on to the next.
It is pretty simple and you just have to manage inventories as you explore as well as keeping track of you stamina. You can’t actually die but if the cave collapses on you the shopkeeper always comes to you aid though it will cost you money. The music definitely gets old but it interfaces well so that you can listen to your own music and only have the sound effects from the game going. Like the other Digital Chocolate games I have reviewed it is quite simplistic, and while on most of the others that is a strength I would have liked to see a little more variation in this one. There is a decent amount of play time but if you leave th egame without saving you have to start the mine over again which isn’t fun though you do know exactly where to go.
Overall, I would say this game is a solid experience and a fun one to dig around in for a little while. There are a few problems, but I haven’t been extremely impressed with their support so I don’t expect them to get fixed. So pick up the Free version and pay the $2.99 if you really like it. It is pretty good, just know that it will probably take you 5 or so hours to finish the challanges and it won’t be one that draws you back in.
Who Should Buy:
Big fans of hunting for treasure games
Players who don’t mind paying a bit more for a relatively short title
Who Should Pass:
Players looking for a complex game or experience
Those who are tight on cash because there are many great $.99 games.
Overall: 7.0/10
Recently I have had the opportunity to work on a few websites and I was looking for applications for my mac to get this done, about a year ago I stumbled upon this software called Coda. I have always coded my sites is raw html versus using a tool such as Dreamweaver to layout the site. Basically Coda is a package of HTML goodness, it allows you to code and check you code as you go with a great preview window. Also it comes along with a CSS editor that makes creating CSS tags a breeze. After using for almost 2 weeks I’m not sure I have ever seen a better editor out there.
The two Patapon games were a huge factor in my decision to finally buy a PSP. I really want to play the second one but I decided that I needed to play the first one so I had some perspective when I got to the second one. I am very glad I did because I found it to be a very enjoyable experience.
Patapon at its core is a rhythm game where you have to play drums in certain orders with certain rhythms to make your little eyeball characters do different things and win different battles. You eventually get 5 songs (Attack, forward march, run away, power up, and defend) along with the miracle one. Getting 10 in a row will get you FEVER! mode which makes you quite a bit stronger. You then have to maintain the rhythm to keep the Fever going.
Here is a hunt, this is hard to do in clear weather!
The story is just a bit silly you are trying to see IT. I am not going to tell you what IT is but you have to fight through legions of bad guys to get there. Every so often there are big bosses that you have to fight which you receive a new song or the memory of a new Patapon that you can then create. You can then go back and fight the bosses again (though they get slightly harder each time) for much stronger weapons and materials to create greate Rarepons whcih are stronger Patapons in different colors. You can also redo missions for hunting missions to grind your team up.
The sound of the game is wonderful. There is a flashing screen but it is impossible to do well at this game in my opinion without the sound playing. It seems like the music would get old with the same rhythms, but for me it didn’t. The visuals are simple, but really seem to work for the style of the game. The difficulty is slightly high and it seems kind of a little too often I had to go back and grind my team up a little by fighting as many bosses as I could and getting cash from the hunting levels. That was definitely a downside in my opinion, it would have been nice to have it a bit more scalable.
Here a boss battle! Watch out!
Overall, I really enjoyed this game. I am looking forward to playing the sequel but I promise I won’t review it for a month so we don’t get sick of the series. I would recommend anyone with a PSP to play this game. It will be one of the classics of the system. However there are a few things that need to be refined like the difficulty level and I would like to see a bit more customization of my army. It would be nice to upgrade Patapons without killing and creating a new one. Give it a shot and you will probably be addicted.
Who should play:
Anyone with a PSP and a remote interest in a rhythm game.
Who should pass:
Someone completely without rhythm because this will expose you.
Overall: 9.0/10
Over the years there are a few simple games designs that have been copied over and over with varying success. StoneLoops is a copy of one of thos designs. In this case the line of stones is progressing towards a skull and if they get there you lose. You eliminate them by firing other stones into the advancing column and matching three. That being said, this copy is actually pretty good.
There are two play modes in StoneLoops, first Classic Mode which means you keep getting new ones firing. In addition, if they are about to finish you off you get only the colors that are about to advance. This is usually good except on those levels where you do not have access to fire at the end of the path and have to content yourself with what is in front of you. The second mode is Grab ‘n Shoot Mode in which you choose which stone you take out of the advancing column and then shoot it somewhere else in the line. The second tends to be quite a bit easier in my opinion because you can take out stones and create matches and fire and create another match.
There are some pretty cool power ups that you get in the course of the game. One fires lightning, and take out a vertical swath of the map, or there is a fireball, meteor showers, or spears all which take out different groups of stones. These are handed out often along with jewels that come falling whenever you eliminate an advancing column and you then have to catch it at the bottom of the screen.
The stones go marching one by one, hurah!
Each mode has 5 worlds each with 15 levels for a total of 150 stages which means it lasts quite a while at a cost of only $.99. In fact I think most will get a little sick of the game before it ends. I know it is was tough to push through at the end so I could have it beat for the review. I acheived all but two trophies in the game which also makes it kind of fun as you chase those down. Each world has a house that you upgrade as you pass levels and I will be honest to me that was stupid and felt like a gimmick.
Overall I would have to recommend this game. It is good for a couple minutes of quick fun and the saving features are great. Give it a shot, it is a nice low price. There is also a free version to try out but it is probably worth the upgrade to support the developer on this one. Let me know what you think!
Who Should Buy:
Fans of casual pick up for a few minutes and play games
Luxor Fans looking for their hit on the iPhone/iPod Touch
Who Should Pass:
People who hate the free version
Over the last week or so I have been doing a little geocaching with my iPhone. First off the initial price is a little steep for an iPhone app and I struggled on whether to take the plunge on the purchase. I finally downloaded and then started to search, using the search for caches near me I found several within a one mile radius and it seemed to work flawlessly, getting me within just a few feet of the cache. Over an extended period of use I have found a few things that could be of some concern, or in the needs improvement category.
Before you begin using this program realize that the GPS running non stop on the iPhone will drain your batteries. I had two experiences with a dead battery. When the iPhone reaches below 20% of battery, the GPS really starts to go wonky. Some of the issues happen when my altitude is way off like I’m standing on the top of a 25 story building, there is no way to input altitude. Also when doing a multicache there is no where to input the new coordinates into the app, I had to go to google maps and put it in.
Overall the experience has been enjoyable and I’ve been able to cache almost everyday this last week. If you are on the fence about it, I would have to say the application probably is worth the 10 bucks just because of the ease of use, I just wouldn’t rely on it for all your harder finds.