Reviewing Game Apps for the IPHONE Part 1
By MocBucket62 1 Comments
Hey not to long ago, I got an IPHONE as a birthday gift and have been having a blast with the device. I've enjoyed doing the usual business with the device, from surfing the Internet to making bullshit requests to the IPHONE Voice Navigation. But I have also been playing around with a few games and made me think I could do some quick reviews for some of the games for the IPHONE and see if its recommended or not. I'm only starting with two games and soon try to review more games by others' suggestions. Here we go, let's get to the first review out of the way.
Angry Birds Space
To be honest, I have not been a frequent Angry Birds player like most Americans have ended up being. I've only played most of the first Angry Birds from a friend's IPAD and enjoyed it for the most part. Once I saw the Space version of Angry Birds available on the App Store, I thought I' give it a try. THe game takes place in space where the birds are defending their planet's egg shaped asteroids from their Egg-Saturn looking planet. Then the pigs use ufo devices to harness the asteroids and its up to the flock to stop the pigs. I'll give my honest opinion on it listing the pros and cons of the app.
Pros: The game is actually different to how normal Angry Birds is played, as the developers really use the space concept to apply to the game. For instance, Pigs could be in air bubbles while floating in space and you can use wither a bird to launch into the bubble or launch a bird into a building that can have a part pop that bubble for the pig to freeze and soon be eliminated. You can also find a way to get the birds to cause a space building to crash into a planet. You can do this by pushing a pig and its building into the gravitational orbit of a planet, causing the pig to fall into the planet and die. The planet's gravity can come in handy for aiming the birds into strategic positions to eliminate the pigs even if they're on the planet. If launched into gravity, the birds will start to circle around the planet until they are lowered into a pigs, a building piece or the planet itself. I thought this was actually pretty clever to elevate the Angry birds gameplay by having the birds use the gravity as a strategical point to kill the pigs, whether the pigs where on the planets or not.
As for the birds and what kinds you have at your disposal, you really get four old birds from past games back, the standard red bird, the multiplying blue bird, the bomb bird and the giant bird. Of course these birds use the same abilities from the first game, but cosmetically they look different to fit the sci-fi feeling the game aims to capture. A couple birds are either new or have changed their abilities. The triangular bird now tries to cosplay as Cyclops from the X-Men. He can also use homing attacks wherever you touch the screen instead of just speeding up from the first game. For instance, if you want him to hit a TNT, just touch the TNT and the triangular bird will get it done. I found this bird and the bomb bird to be my favorites in attacking the pigs. The new bird you get in this comes in the second chapter of the story, the ice cube bird. Its abilities is to freeze any pig or building structure it touches, though you have to wait 2 seconds for it to explode and freeze anything its close to after it touches something. Pigs frozen from the ice bird don't die, but will stay there for other birds to take it out and any frozen structure becomes as vulnerable as glass, making it very vulnerable.
Another thing I enjoyed about the game was the introduction of boss fights. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I never saw any boss fights in the first game and I'm not sure if its new in Space or has been used in other Angry Birds iterations. I really enjoyed this because it was a break from destroying buildings to kill pigs and instead you had to kill pigs in space themed vehicles. The first fight features the King Pig in a giant space tank spouting bubbled vegetables or space rocks. Aim for the space rocks and hope the rocks land on the tank to cause damage on the pig or blow it up with the bomb birds.
Cons: While I enjoyed some aspects of the game, I had some issues with the game. My first problem was the unnecessarily long wait to see your score after you completed a level. I swear anytime you completed a level and once the last bird pops, I waited in between 5-8 seconds for the game to load up my score and rating for that level. Why wait this long? The original Angry birds didn't have this issue at all? I could of eaten a mini Reese Cup candy faster than the time it takes to load up the score!
Another problem I had with the game was that I felt underwelmed with the amount of levels and being forced to buy more. You get a total of 70 levels in the package containing 30 in the first and second worlds, and 10 in the final world. You also get some bonus levels where you have to search for a hidden pigs with a scarce amount of birds, but they are not very fun. There is already DLC to buy a set of new levels called the Danger Zone, which is a giant space mine field the pigs built. You are given one free demo level, but immediately afterwards the game urges you to buy the other levels. I understand that in today's gaming economy, no one can escape from DLC, and even if it won't cost much money to buy the extra levels, I'm just not the kind of guy that likes paid DLC in anything and I really don't care for this Danger Zone DLC. There will be free DLC featuring levels that are suppose to have a donut theme to them.
My final complaint is that while I enjoyed the boss battles, you only get two in the entire game. I described the first one above, but the second one has the King Pig in an UFO trying to keep himself from hitting rocks or being pushed into the planet. Afterwards I'm introduced to the Moon level, or the 10 level world, and I honestly didn't think the 10th level on this world was the last. In this level, you have to destroy pigs in a building like what you've done in past levels. You get no boss and that really pissed me off, this told me that the developers got lazy with the end and didn't want to give the player one last boss fight before he or she has to download new levels for the future.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10 I really liked what they did with the Angry Birds franchise using the concepts of outer space and gravity to play a big role in how the game would be played. It just things like not having enough levels unless you download more and a lackluster amount of fun boss fights put me off from scoring this any higher than I did.
Bejeweled
Now don't be fooled with the title. This is not the original game that came out in 2001, for its practically Bejeweled 3 Lite. It takes 3's art style and a few of its game modes to be ported onto the IPHONE for what has to be the most addicting experience I have on my IPHONE. I never played a Bejeweled title before, but I played Zoo Keeper for the DS and that played similar to this.
Pros: Man I have so much praise for this, I never understood why people said this was one of the most addicting games ever made until now. I did watch the Bejeweled 3 quick look and thought it looked fun, but it never got me to want to play it. I then got Bejeweled on the App Store after playing the free Bejeweled Blitz app, and damn its the crack of mobile games, at least for me. There are 5 different modes you play in the game. The first is Classic, which of course is the original gameplay for Bejeweled fanatics. You line up as many jewels in rows of 3 or up until you can't line up anymore jewels. You can choose to stop playing the game and go back to it anytime, much like Bejeweled 3, which is great if you want to take a break from trying to top your highest score. Zen Mode is the mode the Jeff Green and Ryan mocked in the quick look, but I actually admire this mode a lot (Come at me Davis!). You can choice which background sounds you want ranging from coastal (typical beach sounds) to forest (listening to woodpeckers and tree branches flowing in the air. You may also choice which Mantras you want in the game and a breathing modulation to help you relax as you play the game. It is pretty silly by concept, but hey, it helps me calm down when I get stressed. Blitz Mode is another mode that has been around as a separate Bejeweled game, as you line up as many jewels within a minute. But this comes in as a mode for the IPHONE version and this is the anti-Zen mode, for you are going as fast as possible to get this done, but I still enjoy this mode. You can also choose one power up before you play the game to help score more points, like giving yourself 5 more seconds. Diamond Mine is the next mode where you have to line up the gems near this soil to lower the soil to a low enough plane to advance to the next round. Once you complete a round, you are given a 25 second bonus so the game gives you more time to keep digging deeper into a hole (each round is based on how low you've dug, like you start at 0m and the next round is 20m deep). You are given 90 seconds to start, but can get more than that time if you are fast enough to reach the next round. My favorite mode, yet I begrudgingly type this in, is Buterflies. For those who remember the quick look, Butterflies was one of the quest mini games that can be unlocked as a game mode in Bejeweled 3. Here you get it from the get go and I can't stop playing this mode. You pretty much line up the jewels with dumb, insect versions of the jewels to free them before a diamond shaped spider eats them at the very top of the Bejeweled chart. The more butterflies you free, the higher the score, and one time I reached 766,000 points for saving over 200 butterflies! Before I go into the cons, I just to note a few other good things about the game, the narrator is awesome and hearing him get more and more stoked over your combos is great, the music sounds nice and the achievement badges are a nice touch to show how a player progresses in skill in the game.
Cons: I really can't think of much to fault the for mistakes. It seems like a great match 3 game with a couple of issues. One is that sometimes your moves can be misread for trying to take on jewel to somewhere else. One time I tried to line up a blue jewel with 3 others to its right, but I must of dragged into the lower right, causing the jewel to go down. The only other issue I have with the game is that other modes from Bejeweled 3 would be fun to have. I'd like to see how Poker mode would of been played on the IPHONE version, or see how the mode is played. I'd like to see how other modes would be brought into the game, but honestly, I'm happy with the modes I have.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10. Seriously this is the most fun I've had with the IPHONE so far. Great job PopCap for this awesome port! Now we need that Bejeweled movie to actually happen with Russell Brand and Robert De Niro. I also request to get Nicolas Gage as the orange jewel and Owen Wilson as the yellow jewel!
Okay Duders, I'm wondering, do you like my reviews of IPHONE games and do you want me to review more? Is there anything you want me to do differently with the reviews? Give me suggestions of what to review and I'll put it up when I have the time. Thanks for reading!
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