Game of the Week: Monsu
If Rovio had done Angry Birds Transformers correctly, this would be it! Monsu is a great side scrolling platformer/endless runner.
You control Monsu, a green ogre who is chasing some gnomes who carry a chest full of gold. Along the way, you will pass a large number of defenses and try to not fall to your death. As you progress, you find that this is actually a Deck Building game! You collect cards to earn companions and special powers on the battlefield. This game is immediately playable and has a great tutorial to familiarize you with the controls. Even though it is easy to get started, the challenges and leveling becomes increasingly difficult, keeping you engaged and working to progress.
This is a great game, and it will certainly last a long time on my iPad before I move on to other games in a similar vein.
read moreGame of the Week: Angry Birds Transformers
This app, despite all of the hype, transformed into a flop.
I have been a big fan of the Rovio games, and enjoyed the starwars subset tremendously. The most recent venture into the side scrolling Transformers, makes me a bit confused and annoyed. The game is entirely different, and is now a “Click to win” game rather than involving any skill or strategy.
Transformers has you run across the field (from left to right) and fire on the Decepti-pigs. You get points for killing them and having blocks fall and kill them. When you win you progress through the standard “Angry Birds” 3 star campaign system unlocking more perks along the way.
In my book, Angry Birds Transformers is a disappointment, and a game that I will promptly remove from my iPad.
read moreGame Review: The Survivor
The Survivor is a fun, but somewhat limited Crafting Survival Game.
You start off with your hand and a rock. Like a crazy person, you bang that rock against other rocks and against tress to collect resources so that you can survive. As a word of caution, like most Survival Games, the worst mobs come out at night, so make sure that you have some light, a weapon, and some shelter to protect you when the sun goes down (basically just chop down a bunch of trees with you rock at the beginning of the game).
read moreGame of the Week: Rebuild
Rebuild is a fantastic app! The premise is to develop a post-apocalyptic town and make it safe for all of the inhabitants. You do this by recruiting additional helpers, finding weapons, searching for food, and completing quests. As you build your town, you will discover quests that ask you to find several locations on the map ore recruit certain numbers of followers.
I played the Rebuild game on a 6 hour flight. I started it, and I thought “This will keep me entertained for a few hours.” After six hours of solid play, I had the game figured out, and completed the majority of the quests. It is a great game, and has a great amount of gameplay packed into a small price tag. This would be a fantastic purchase for anyone who is a fan of zombies and strategy games.
read moreGame of the Week: Cthulhu Saves the World
Platform: iOS Cost: $1.99 My current game of the week is Cthulhu Saves the World by TinkerHouse Games. If you can imagine crossing witty humor with our favorite squid god in an edgy 8-bit RPG, you would understand why Cthulhu Saves the World is a great addition to an iOS device. As a rabid fan of RPG’s (going back the the original NES Zelda) I latched on to the game as soon as I saw it in the App Store. After the small investment, I was off and playing the game. The commentary that TinkerHouse uses is both engaging and funny, while only increasing the feel of the RPG. This is a...
read more