Android and Me » game review

Kitten Cannon: Not PETA Approved

Guest Blogger — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:46:46 +0000

Kitten Cannon is a simple game produced by Hands-On Mobile and sold on the Android Market for $0.99. The goal of Kitten Cannon is to launch a kitten, puppy, or baby monkey out of a cannon the longest distance you can by any means possible. After launching your animal of choice, you will notice small TNT packages, trampolines, Venus fly traps, and death spikes. TNT and trampolines propel your animal longer distance while death spikes and Venus fly traps stop you in your tracks.

The cannon has a power meter that goes up and down. The more “full” it is, the further your initial shot goes. You also pick the level of the cannon for your shot as well. Of course the large part of the game is to hit the TNT and trampolines which are randomly placed along the trajectory of your cannon. For added difficulty, they are not placed in same spot every shot, meaning that no two shots are the same. This adds a great re-playability to the game, as you cannot simply find a certain power and angle to shoot to get the best distance. Instead, you must experiment and have a bit of luck to succeed.

Pros:

Added Facebook and Twitter support for posting scores.
Scoreboard
$.99 price
More than one option for projectile

Cons:

Currently the only sound effects are for the Kitten. For a game as polished and well known as this, I would expect to have sound effects for all options, not just one.
No Baby Seal choice

Final Verdict

Like many games for your cellphone, you want something quick and fun that will keep you occupied and keep you interested. With the recent update slowing the power meter to a more reasonable speed and the addition of Facebook and Twitter support, this game has been taken to a new level. If support is added for better sound effects and more animals, this game would be a solid 10. Until then, rest assured that it is well worth the $.99 and will keep you, your friends, and/or kids well occupied.

Note: This review was submitted by Adam Litke as part of our app review contest.

Soccer Multiplayer: The paperless paper soccer

Guest Blogger — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:05:08 +0000

Wandering through the market looking for something new and interesting one day, I was immediately captivated by a game called ‘Soccer Multiplayer.’ The developers took a real gamble not actually naming the game and won. Soccer. Multiplayer. It’s a game. Jackpot! I like all three of those things, and with it being free and only 513kb I couldn’t pass it up.

The actual game is easy to learn, but hard to master. It has a local mode for taking turns on your phone playing against friends, and also an online multiplayer option. The game play is just like paper soccer only digital, and it’s a ten minute battle to the first score. The outcome of the game immediately reflects in your record and ranking, helping keep the competitive drive alive.

Another plus for the game is the chat and friend features. While playing you can open chats and befriend those you’ve competed against. The game developer has also mentioned that the ability to search for friends is an update being worked on.

For all the positive that can be said for this game’s simple, direct execution, it also can leave you wanting more. Soccer Multiplayer is sorely missing any sounds or music and is truly underwhelming graphically. While it was kind of the developers to give you the option of customizing your colors and field, it just isn’t enough to convince me that the developers were concerned with anything besides the game being compact and functional.

The Goods

Chat option is always great to have
Being able to save friends is awesome
Small file size and quick game play

Needs Improvement

Group chat outside of games would be greatest
Single player mode so you can practice on your owners
Music or sounds listening to the vibrations gets annoying

Final Verdict

This game is addictive and doesn’t tax your phone’s memory. It brings back fond memories of paper football, paper soccer, dots, and tic-tac-toe. Soccer Multiplayer is definitely worth a download.

Note: This review was submitted by Darius Bazemore as part of our app review contest.

World War: A nuclear war breaks out on Android

Guest Blogger — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:00:02 +0000

World War was originally developed for the iPhone, but recently came to Android. The company who makes it, Storm8, brags that they are, “the creator of the #1 Role Playing Games on the iPhone and iPod Touch.”

The game itself is a role playing game which means you do missions and battles to gain experience which will cause you to grow levels. At higher levels you can purchase better buildings and units to make you stronger in battle. Buildings boost defense, restore energy (which is used to complete missions), and increase cash flow. Units are used to win battles and complete missions.

The Android version of World War is identical to the iPhone version except for several aspects. The first difference is the navigation – instead of having permanently docked navigation buttons at the bottom, the controls can be accessed by pressing the menu button from any screen. Second, Storm8 does not offer honor points like they promote on Apple’s App Store. Honor points can be cashed in for money, allies, loot, and other rewards. If you run out of honor points you can also buy some from their website.

The missions (player versus computer) and battles (player versus other players) have no fancy graphics. Just simply click attack and are told the outcome. The battle system of the game happens continuously between all players of the game (even when you aren’t playing you can be attacked). You can also form alliances with other players in order to make you more powerful when fighting.

There is also currently no way to transfer an account from an iPhone or iPod Touch to the Android version. There are already many people asking for this on their forums, so hopefully it will come soon.

The goods:

Grow levels to unlock new buildings and combat units
Form an alliance with other players around the world
Five different countries offer unique bonuses to the players who fight for them

Needs improvement:

Currently there is no way to transfer and account from the iPhone or iPod Touch
Promotions giving free honor points are not yet offered on the Android Market
The back button doesn’t bring you to previous screens, but rather exits the game from any screen.

Final Verdict

If you like modern combat role playing games this will be fun for you. Those who prefer more general RPGs should check out the other games Storm8 makes. Be warned; you may get addicted.

Note: This review was submitted by Kevin Jones as part of our app review contest.

Two Minute Drill – Flight Director

Clark Wimberly — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:00:48 +0000

Taylor gives us the Two Minute Drill on Flight Director, a click and drag plane controlling arcade romp from Camel Games. The game play is pretty simple, planes and helicopters fly onto the screen and it’s up to you to land them. Each aircraft can land in different zones on the map making the action is quick and frantic.

The game features multiple difficulty settings and levels with maps taken from various satellite imagery. Each map and difficulty has a high score table where players can compete for the top score online.

Battle for Mars. Android Game Review.

Alex Byrnes — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:42:55 +0000

Battle for Mars is one of the more expensive games you’ll find on the Android market, but it’s well worth it. The character art is funny and unique, it works well with the controls on the G1, and, best of all, it’s based on one of the best video games ever made, Advance Wars.

The basic premise is the same as other turn-based strategy games. You create units of various kinds (Soldier, Elite Soldier, SniperBot, TransBot, BombBot, MegaBot, RocketBot etc. as well as sea and air units eventually). Each has a different cost and unique abilities. The opposing side, or sides, have the same types of units and usually about the same ability to produce them. Depending on the terrain and factory/city layout of a particular map, different strategies will need to be used.

Usually, the map is not symmetrical and you’ll have to use a different strategy from the one the computer is using. This is what makes these games fun. It’s a little Bad News Bears against the computer the first couple of times you play a map before you get the hang of it. If you’re like me, you’ll try to “break” the game a few times to see if you can. All SniperBots. Nope. Save up for a Doom Boat and then take them all out. Nope. A war of attrition with footsoldiers, a.k.a. the fire ant strategy. Nope. Good games don’t “break,” and this one won’t either (although the computer is not smart enough to keep you from occupying its one factory and preventing it from creating new units, but usually the game is about over by then anyway).

Different Units You Can Build

You’ll have to develop good strategies using the whole variety of unit types and they’ll be used roughly the way they were intended. Doing a long press on a unit will give you a breakdown of its abilities, and show you the extent of an enemy’s range in the case of projectile bots. Yes, when the maps get tough, you’ll be figuring out where the blind spot is amongst three or four RocketBots, and counting how many turns it’s going to take for an Attack Boat to reach your Gun Boat, but it’s all worth it in the end. Advance Wars afficionatos will be familiar. Usually the bug strikes hard.

I’m sure I’m not doing the developers any favors by saying this game is almost an exact clone of Advance Wars, but it is. If the game is not licensed, we may be looking at a Scrabulous type situation. The units are basically the same with the same strengths and weaknesses, number of squares they can move over different terrain, range etc. Even the little battle animations are almost identical. One side shoots — pause — a few units on the other side blow up, the other side shots… It’s the same thing. The different typs of terrain are the same and the function of each type is the same. Basically, it stomps all over any intellectual property rights the original developers had in whatever country they had them in. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know what those rights may be, but, as with Scrabulous, the winner is… you.

The developers have picked up the ball where Advance Wars left it and squashed it right into our cellphones. And let’s face it, it’s not acceptable to carry around a GameBoy Advance anymore. Plus, they’ve taken away one of Advance War’s more onerous features, the multi-turn capture of cities. This would often make your games stretch into the two hour area for no good reason. For instance, if you only had one unit at the end, you’d be capturing that last city for ten turns.

A Battle Animation

In video games, clones work. There isn’t a lot of development time spent making the game balanced and fun. There isn’t a lot of time spent on the game part of the game, period. What’s involved is adapting to a new platform and putting a new face and new features on the old guts. Battle for Mars has done a good job of that and they started with great guts.

If you like turn-based strategy games, you will like Battle for Mars. If you don’t like turn-based strategy games, you will still probably like Battle for Mars. If you turn your nose up at people playing Stratego in the back of comic book stores, you will still probably like this game. It’s pure Mars-themed fun.

For more strategy tips, see the Larva Labs blog.

Battle for Mars
Version: 1.0.6
Developed by: Larva Labs Ltd.
Price: $4.99
File Size: 1.24 MB

DroidGear Sega Emulator for Android Video Review

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:00:37 +0000

[YouTube Link]

Just a few days ago shinowan23 showed us Kidd GBC and now he is back with DroidGear. This app is a Sega Game Gear emulator for Android. Like the other released emulators, the performace is lacking and no sound is included. Hopefully we will see improvements as the developers learn to take advantage of the hardware accelleration. If you want to check out DroidGear, make sure you have OI File Manager installed to load the roms.

DroidGear is a port of JavaGear which is a java emulator for other cell phones. Phones with half the speed of the G1 can run the emulator at playable speeds so keep an eye on DroidGear after it is optimized. Now where is my Quake port? We know this phone can do more. Someone remind Google to flip the switch.

Three Android Games You Might Want To Download

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:03:43 +0000

Every day there are more games on the Android market and it can be hard to keep up with all of them. A lot of games are still junk, but we are starting to see more quality titles since paid applications were released. Quite a few games are priced as low as a dollar and I like that price point. I’m willing to start paying more as the quality increases. It took awhile for the triple A titles to make their way to iPhone, but we are seeing those same developers port their games to Android. Hopefully as we get closer to 2012 that will change.

Can you escape the room?

Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus

Developer: Bendroid
Price: Free for a limited time

Download it for: Innovating control and 3d graphics. Only first person game I have seen.

Looking forward to: Once you beat the game, there is no replay value. Bendroid should create a time trial mode so you can compete against your best time. The tone of the game was spooky, but it could be improved with scripted vibrations. I can’t wait for Chapter 2 and I hope they keep the series going. I see a lot of potential in Bendroid.

Look at me spell

WordUp!

Developer:Anthrological
Price: $1.99

Download it for: Fun word game that keeps improving. The developer has released several updates that all included new features. I like games that get updated.

Looking forward to: I want different game modes from the one available. Release notes say mutilplayer and high scores are coming soon. I would also like to see sound effects added. You could do some really awesome two player modes using a single phone. I’d like to see a version where the blocks change as well. Time challenge mode along with high scores will really increase the replay value.

Really wish it was 3d

Tower Bloxx

Developer: Digital Chocolate
Price: $5.99 or Free Demo

Download it for: Unique twitch gameplay with added sim options. Lots of replay value with increasing difficulty. Fun building your own city.

Looking forward to: Improved Graphics. I’ve seen videos of the iPhone version and it looks ten times better. If my G1 can run Quake at 30fps I expect to see more. Price is a little steep as well. One of the most expensive games after Guitar Hero.

Has anyone else found any sleeper hits in the Android market?

Retro Defense: Android Game Video Review

Admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:30:48 +0000

Another video review from Logan. This time he shows us the most popular game on Android Market: Retro Defense from Larva Labs Ltd. I’m not a big fan of tower defense games, but I appear to be in the minority. Currently 3 of the top 10 selling games are tower defense based. The game does appear to be polished though with nice graphics and sound effects. There is a lite version available in the market for anyone wishing to demo the game.