Games

Block Puzzle AR

Developer – Gamma Play Limited

Price – Free

I recently reviewed the Push & Pop game hoping to find a bit of a Tetris style puzzle app, but they just missed the mark. On the other hand Block Puzzle AR hit the throwback addicting, but simple style of Tetris.  Think of the game as reverse Jenga.  Instead of pulling the pieces, you are trying to build the tower.  The basic game play is to drop varying blocks of different shapes and sizes to create an even 4 x 4 grid with no holes.  When this is accomplished that level of the tower is deleted, and your tower is decreased by a level.  Any holes in the tower will allow it to continue to grow similar to the Tetris style which took the 1980’s by storm.  Unlike Tetris, the game does not have a time limit to drop a block or automatically drop the piece, but the tower grows from the bottom and the speed continues to increase as you pass levels, so time is a factor.  The game does show you your next piece giving you the ability to think ahead and try to make the best move.

While I don’t think anything will replace the compulsive nature Tetris encouraged, this game is a fun, free puzzle game that keeps you thinking and wanting to play more.  I have been playing every chance I get. I played it in the grocery line and mostly, while I sit on the couch all weekend much to the dismay of my wife. If you need to pause the game(to acknowledge your wife), simply push the back button to your home screen, and your game will automatically pause.  I will continue to play this one for some time, and I may be posting a picture of my high score when it is respectable enough.

Gamma Play did a great job with this one.  The advertising exposure is minimal, and most of the time you don’t even realize it because the ads are inconspicuous and located at the bottom of the start screen. Give this app a try. You won’t be disappointed.

High Score Challenge (Completed)

First person to beat my high score of 1356 (pictured to the left) gets 25 bucks and a Reviewthisapp T-shirt.  Start trying now because I am going to keep working on my high score and will update when I break it.  Utilize our “Contact Us” page on our website and email us a screenshot and picture of your score with some verification (take a picture with the phone sitting in front of the daily Reviewthisapp article) and we will update the post showing the high score and your gamer name (if you choose). We will send the money via PayPal, mail, or another method you may prefer. (Your email will not be used for any purpose other than to get a proof of your high score).

Congratulations do Bigtime Gamer 84 who just beat my record with a score of 1368!

Developer: Etermax

Rating: Everyone 10+

Price: Free download with optional, in-app purchases

The makers of the original fan favorite Trivia Crack gaming app have now blessed us with Trivia Crack Heroes. THANK YOUUUU! This new gaming app has evolved into a strategic, battle venue versus the original, but still contains the trivia element and characters.  This game is technically unreleased, but the current version can still be downloaded for play from Google Play.

You initially start the game with a default set of characters. Each character has demographics such as hit points, range, crew size, target priority, speed, and attack cooldown. Think of the characters like Pokémon cards. I wasn’t an avid Pokémon collector, but I knew this much. Each character can also get stronger by leveling up. You will need to earn e-coins to do this, though. You will be given a certain amount of e-coins to start. Like any app, you can purchase e-coins ranging from $.99 up to $14.99. You can also earn e-coins and discover new e-coins by unlocking medal boxes. You also will be given a medal box when you start the game and rewarded with another one after you complete the training. Here again, you can purchase medal boxes with e-coins or buy the Aureus box for $24.99. I have noticed it takes a while to earn e-coins and medal boxes after you initially start playing so bucking up a $1 here and there isn’t too bad to remain competitive.

HOW TO PLAY

I recommend you complete the training to get accustomed to game play. Once your training regimen is complete, you are able to play in the stadium. Press the stadium icon at the bottom of the screen to begin. The app will decide an equal and compatible online opponent for you. The object of the game is similar to capture the flag using special characters while answering trivia questions. It gets pretty intense. The object is to protect your “gem” while trying to capture your opponents “gem.” Drag and drop your characters onto the arena surface for battle. There are two halves to the arena so be prudent where you drop your characters. You will need to learn your characters strong and weak characteristics in order to pair up and try to dominate your opponent and capture their “gem.” As I mentioned earlier, you are also answering trivia questions during the battle. The sensory stimulation of this game makes for pure entertainment.

It is a game of adaptation and strategy by which I have become moderately addicted to. Between this game and the Family Guy game, my free time is becoming less available. I was actually yelled at during dinner last night by my wife since my face was stuck facing my phone. My daughter soon became jealous and looked in iTunes for the game. Bad news…it is not available for the iPhone, YET. As I mentioned in my introduction, this app is still in its incubation phase so I am playing an unofficial and unreleased version as the developer fine tunes the app. It will be only a matter of time before you will be able to experience the fun this gaming app has to offer. Keep this app on your radar for official release.

Developer – Michael Le

Size – 64.02 MB

Price – $.99

LYNK Game Overview

You remember mazes from grade school, right? Think of LYNK as a maze game on steroids.  This puzzle game play is really simple and easy to pick up: use your finger to connect two dots.  Easy enough, right?  Not so fast. The game will throw in a series of obstacles, color dots and green squares adding new elements of difficulty as the game proceeds.  In the example pictured to the left, you have to maneuver your line between the two large blue dots while crossing through each green square and keeping the purple and orange dots on separate sides of the line, ultimately connecting the two blue dots.  This was level thirty and took me a couple minutes of scratching the old noodle and a total of eight or nine attempts to figure it out.  There are a total of one hundred and thirty levels (They just added 10 more so download the new version if you happened to make it through all 130), so you can only imagine if the difficultly continues to rise, this little app will chew up some time.  I am currently on level forty-five and have been playing off and on for two days.

[bctt tweet=”Let Your Friends Know About This Great Game”]

LYNK Recommendation

This is a cool take on mazes and is a different style of puzzle game which provides quick entertainment and makes you utilize a little brain power. It is really straighforward to play, but offers enough unique challenges to provide a decent amount of game plan while reinventing itself right before you start to get bored with it.  This gaming app isn’t a going to provide fifty or one hundred hours of game play, but for .99 cents it’s a great value and is available offline.  My recommendation is to wait until your next flight and play it during the dreaded “airplane mode only” announcement from your airplane pilot, who hopefully isn’t thinking the same thing.

Developer – Six Waves Inc

Size – 211 MB

Price – Free with in game upgrades

Warship Rising – The Goods

Warship Rising, to my knowledge, is the first true real-time multiple player online app. The games are short enough that you can catch a quick game while waiting for a prescription to get filled or waiting for a sandwich at lunch.  The game is 5- on-5 real-time shooter featuring many different warships and upgrades that keeps you wanting to play.  You operate either a cruiser, destroyer, submarine or battleship on a team of five.  There are two types of gameplay, Occupation in which the goal is to occupy a zone the longest while sinking the most ships, and Team Death Match, with the team scoring the most by sinking ships wins.  The graphics are great for a mobile game, and the team options allow you to invite friends to play together.  The game offers easy controls, which are picked up rather quickly during a quick tutorial phase and many different ships that you unlock as you collect silver and gold.  Each ship also has many individual upgrades to improve the ships speed, handling defense, and fire power.  The easy gameplay, quick maps, and tons of upgrades makes the game an addicting game.  I was late for dinner trying to squeeze in just one more game.

Warship Rising – The Bad, and The Purchase Gimmick

Like most free games, gameplay is limited unless you buy upgrades. Silver is earned at a quick rate through normal game play and silver can be used for upgrades and some new ships.  Gold on the other hand is the purchase gimmick in this app.  Gold can only be bought and is needed to upgrade to the best ships, plus it is used to purchase oil (oil is the metric used to start matches and limit the amount of games that can be played per day).  Purchasing gold to continue gameplay is fairly cheap starting at $3.99.  Expect to play about 8 or 9 matches a day without having to purchase any of the add on options.  The game plan while fun, lacks true team cooperation.  The strategy is minimal with the winner usually being the team with the most upgraded ships.  I find skill and experience to be somewhat irrelevant in the game outcome.  While the game offers a ton of grades, the upgrade system is confusing and hard to figure out what needs to be accomplished in order to unlock ships or buy upgrades.  The speed of the game is also slow lacking that quick gameplay we are used to after great fast games like call of duty.  The health of the ships are high making it time consuming to get a kill.

Conclusion and Impact to the Mobile Gaming World

While the gameplay is kind of slow and lacks any real strategy or game experience, the graphics and multiplayer option are really entertaining and definitely worth your time. In the internet app world, this game is receiving a lot of good reviews and hype.  I am most excited to watch and see how the live multiplayer internet gameplay might start to change the gaming apps, similar to how SOCOM for the PlayStation 2 in the early 2000’s changed how we played console games and basically, started the internet, online gaming boom.  I hope to see many more team oriented online games in the future and can’t wait to explore what comes out in the next year.

Developer – Rocky Hong

Price – Free

Push & Pop took inspiration from Tetris and tried to turn it on its side hoping to get the same addicting gameplay, but missed the mark badly. The game is simple and takes place on a five by five grid with blocks that regenerate.  The goal is to use your game icon to move blocks horizontally and vertically to create rows of five.  When a row of five blocks is completed, the blocks explode giving you points.  The game continues at a slow pace until enough blocks generate and you can’t move your icon, knowing your game is over is relief and actually, was the most rewarding part of this bust.  As the game proceeds some blocks become fixed in place adding a little more strategy to a game that doesn’t already require much thought.  Blocks don’t regenerate on a fixed time but rather when you move your icon twice. This takes away the quick reaction time required by similar games, and lacks the excitement and the “rush” as  experienced in games like Dr. Mario or Tetris.  Furthermore, making a mistake just doesn’t have the consequences.  We all remember a mistake in Tetris resulted in a quick cascading of blocks that would ultimately end with the iconic “Game Over”. Making the perfect move doesn’t provide a big advantage in the game as you have to wait for enough blocks to regenerate to make another opportunity.

Final Thoughts

Being a big puzzle and strategy  game fan, I was naturally interested in the simplistic style of the game, but Push & Pop was really disappointing. The slow pace and lack of real strategy makes the game boring and screams “Don’t play me anymore!”.  I wouldn’t play this game even if I was waiting in line at the DMV.  Skip the download and use that extra time playing a true puzzle game, The Guides Axiom.