Mobile gaming is becoming more and more commonplace but sorting through that junk is often pretty difficult. Writing full reviews for mobile games is often tedious and boring but we still want to be able to help you guys out when it comes to figuring out what is worth your time, so sorting through the crud is what Wandering Wednesdays is all about. Each week we’ll look through the app store and try out a few of the latest releases, letting you know if something is worthwhile or not. This week I shoot things, bet on trivia, program a droid, jump, get confused and Don plays a mobile game with a controller. ~Chris
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8 and 16-bit retro has become a style unto its own recently in the indie space. And while it may seem like a crutch to some, and in some cases it is, many others are utilizing their low end resources to create great gaming experiences. One such experience is Kid Tripp, a self running platformer that challenges players to quickly navigate each level, dying as few times as possible. The aesthetic and gameplay is a pure nostalgia trip and the levels themselves are thoroughly vexing in their difficulty, all of which combines for a tense platforming experience that consistently left me with my fingers throbbing.
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When I think of touch based games, I generally do not think of first person shooters. Scattered Entertainment, boasting developers that have worked on series such as Halo, Far Cry and Battlefield, wants that to change with their post apocalyptic FPS The Drowning. The first thing I noticed about The Drowning, besides that it looks phenomenal, was that it was a bit preachy with its rather overt dangers of oil messaging but that was quickly forgotten as it showed me how to shoot the oil monster-men things. The shooting felt good, if somewhat clunkier than I would like, but the real issue with the game lies in the repetitive two minute attack/defend missions that do little but change aesthetic. Its a great looking game and its free, so its a good start but to change the perception of shooters on touch devices, a little more meat on the bones is going to be needed. [/one_half_last]
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In the realm of cute puzzle platforming games, 9 Lives: Casey and Sphynx puts two unlikely characters together; a security guard and a stray cat. On my mobile phone, it was hard to really get lost in the game due to cramped screen real estate, but that is where the Atlas 2 controller and HDMI cable come into play. 9 Lives on the big screen is a wholly different experience, rich with vibrant colors and puzzles that my oldest son loved helping me with. There was a lot of switching back and forth between the two characters, and a few of the puzzles required me to restart the level, but besides that if you are an Atlas 2 owner, and especially if you have kids, 9 Lives is certainly a whimsical little game. ~Don Parsons – Communications Manager
A copy of the game was provided to us for this feature.
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Obstacle courses are a staple of gaming, nearly everyone who has played games has tried to deftly maneuver around killer traps and enemies in an effort to reach the safety of the exit. Droidscape: Basilica takes a different twist on the concept by taking direct control out of players hands, instead forcing them to program a droid to navigate the course for them. Used to being in direct control of my avatar, I first found Droidscape to be a frustrating experience but once I wrapped my head around the concept of planning out my route instead of reacting to it I found the game far more enjoyable and burned through a slew of levels (which the .99 cent price tag provides many of). Complimenting the fine gameplay is a relatively engaging story that kept me wanting to push forward with the puzzles to see what happens next.
A copy of the game was provided to us for this feature.
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I love rhythm games and so when I saw dropchord, the latest game from Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions, I was excited. Unfortunately, like many of Double Fine’s games I couldn’t get into it. The music is great and the touch controls work well but the game itself never clicked with me and maybe that’s because dropchord isn’t a rhythm game. What dropchord is, is a music-driven, score-based challenge game on touch devices and it works pretty well for that. Some of the challenges will have you twisting your fingers in knots attempting to hit the right spots but without the rhythm focus I lost interest very quickly.
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Everyone loves trivia games, especially ones where you can play against your own friends. Wits & Wagers is the latest in a long line of social media based trivia games. Games are short, seven question sessions with questions hitting a full range of different topics. What makes Wits & Wagers stand out from the pack is that in addition to having players pick their answer, it reveals everyone’s answers and gives the opportunity to place bets on if you think your answer or someone else’s is the correct one. This twist means, you don’t always need to be the smartest one at the table, just the one who knows who the smart people are. The one issue I ran into with the game though was that it needs to be connected to the internet to be playable making it unplayable for me on my wifi only iPad when not at a hotspot. [/one_half_last]
Are you you sampling any mobile titles this week? What are you playing? Let us know in the comments below.
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