Games Archives - Page 4 of 8

Paint Blobs On A Smartphone

February 7, 2014 TechyDad Games, Smartphone/Tablet Apps, Smartphones/Tablets

Last month, I wrote about a fun Smartphone game called Buttons and Scissors by KyWorks. A couple of days ago, another of their games, Color Oil, was Amazon’s free app of the day. I downloaded it and have been hooked ever since.

Like Buttons and Scissors, you need to use your brain to match colors and beat levels. Unlike Buttons and Scissors, though, you don’t deal with buttons on denim, but with drops of oil paint on a canvas. The paint only joins up with blobs of same colored paint. Luckily, you can change the color of your main blob. As you do so, it will join with any adjacent, similar colored paint. As your blob grows, it can join with more and more paint until all of the paint is joined.

Sounds easy, right? Well, there’s a twist. You only have a certain amount of turns to complete each level. For example, you might have five different colors on the board and only six turns. This gives you a mere one move before you need to start eliminating colors. If you go over the allotted number of turns, you start losing stars. Lose all three and you’ll need to start all over again.

The levels begin easy but ramp up in complexity. This game is not one that is won by quickly tapping the screen. Instead, it forces you to think about your next move, the one after that, and the ones after that one. Only by planning out your moves in advance will you have any hope of finishing the board in the required number of steps.

This is definitely another fun game from KYWorks. It’s sure to give both me and my boys hours of fun while also challenging our minds.

Links to Color Oil for Android, iOS, and Blackberry are available from KyWorks’ website.

NOTE: I obtained Color Oil as Amazon’s Free App Of The Day, I wasn’t required to write about the app, though. I did that because I liked it. All opinions above are my own.

Smartphone Fun Cutting Button

January 13, 2014 TechyDad Games, Smartphone/Tablet Apps

When you think of fun smartphone or tablet games, you think about launching ill-tempered birds or slicing ropes to feed candy to monsters. What you don’t usually think about is taking a pair of scissors and cutting some buttons off of a piece of fabric. So when I saw a game called Buttons and Scissors listed as Amazon’s Free App of the Day, I was skeptical. By all rights, this should be one of the most boring games around. However, it not only works, but is fun, challenging, and highly addictive.

The basic premise is that there are a series of buttons in various colors on a piece of fabric (as I said before). As you match up two or more buttons horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, a pair of scissors appears to cut them off. You can’t match up buttons in a string if other buttons, of different colors, are blocking the path. As you clear some buttons, other possible button clearances emerge.

You need to be careful, though. To win each round, you need to clear all of the buttons. One wrong move can easily lead you with buttons remaining and no way to clear them out. This means that the obvious clearing might not be the one you have to take. The game forces you to think out every move.

Don’t worry about getting bored with the game either. Each game package includes 100 levels and there are 16 packages. That’s 1,600 different levels to puzzle out. More than enough to keep you cutting off buttons for a long time to come.

After trying this game out, I found it so much fun that I gave it to my kids as well on their Galaxy tablets. They loved it too. Finally, B tried it and, before she knew it, she was addicted to cutting buttons off of a simple piece of fabric.

This is a wonderfully addicting game that challenges players of all ages to think out each move. I definitely recommend it. Buttons and Scissors is free from Amazon and Google Play. There’s also a pro version available from Amazon for $1.99.

NOTE: I received Buttons and Scissors as part of Amazon’s Free App of the Day program. There was no requirement to blog about it. I simply wanted to share a game that I loved playing.

Introduction To Catan

January 8, 2014 TechyDad Games

On Saturday, NHL and JSL got some delayed Chanukah presents from family members that had come into town. While JSL got a Monsters University playset, I was much more excited over NHL’s gift: Settlers of Catan.

I’ve wanted to get NHL into gaming for a long time now. We played a couple of games of Nuclear War last year, but never got to play much more after that. This was the perfect opportunity. NHL began a game with his Aunt M and Uncle I, but Uncle I had to bow out of the game at one point so I took over his spot. NHL, Aunt M, and I played over the next two days. Both NHL and I quickly learned the rules and had a blast building roads, trading bricks for wood or sheep, and gaining victory points.

In case you don’t know how to play, the hexagon shaped tiles are laid out in the game area and the number tokens are placed on top. The arrangement of these can vary from game to game so player’s strategy can shift from game to game. You place settlements, cities, and roads along the edges of the hexagons. When the dice are rolled, the tiles below the tokens with the matching number produce resources (wood, sheep, wheat, ore, or brick) for all settlements or cities bordering them. Resources can be traded or used to produce more roads, settlements, or cities. They can also be used to collect development cards which produce different effects.

As you build roads, make new settlement, upgrade to cities, and/or collect various development cards, you gain victory points. The first person to get 10 victory points wins.

At one point, Aunt M thought she had won but came up short. Then, NHL played a few masterful rounds and seized victory. He had not only played his first game of Settlers of Catan, but won and boy was he happy. Now, I think he might be hooked. I believe we might need to have weekly Catan gaming nights.

What games do you play with your kids?

To Disney Infinity and Beyond

December 6, 2013 TechyDad Disney, Games, Video Games

When Disney Infinity was released, we were conflicted. On one hand, we are fans of all things Disney. On the other hand, though, buying figure after figure seemed like an expense we didn’t need to add. For the longest time, we resisted the lure. Last week, though, an amazing deal came up that we just couldn’t pass by. Then, we had another deal that convinced us a few more Disney Infinity figures. I’ve got to admit, as much as I resisted investing in it, I’m loving Disney Infinity as much as the boys.

The basic set gets you Sully, Mr. Incredible, and Jack Sparrow. In addition, we’ve bought Mike Wazowski, Jack Skellington, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie. The boys will also be getting Syndrome, Dash, Randall (from Monsters University), and Francesco Bernoulli (from Cars 2) soon as late Chanukah gifts.

The basic set comes with the Monsters University world, the Incredibles world, and the world of Pirates of the Caribbean. Buzz and Jessie came with the Toy Story world. In each world, you get to complete tasks, obtain weapons and vehicles, and generally explore. However, the worlds are not even the best part of Disney Infinity. That is the Toy Box.

Within the Toy Box, you get to create your own world. As you complete tasks (either in the Toy Box or in the various other worlds), you get "spins" which randomly give you items to use in the Toy Box. The more spins you get, the more items you get, and the more varied your Toy Box world becomes.

There are even elements in the Toy Box that can be programmed. You can have fireworks and music triggered if you step on a certain element. Put enough of these elements together and you can make your own games. I assembled one for my boys that required them to jump over chasms, climb floating mountains, and wind their way to a trigger that resulted in fireworks/celebratory music.

It’s official: The boys and I are hooked on Disney Infinity. We just can’t get enough of playing our favorite characters, seeing familiar (and new) Disney scenes, designing our own areas, and fighting Disney enemies. This is one game that is sure to be playable for a long time to come (and is sure to keep me up late many, many nights as I just finish one more section).

Like Bow Ties, Doctor Who Legacy Is Cool

December 4, 2013 TechyDad Doctor Who, Games, Smartphone/Tablet Apps

What do you get when you combine Doctor Who, a gem matching game, and a role playing game? If you package it all into a cool mobile app with nicely drawn images of the Doctors and his various companions, you get Doctor Who: Legacy.

The story is simple. The Doctor is taking a trip with Madame Vastra (a reptile-lady from a species that pre-dated humans on Earth) when they meet up with some Sontarans (a clone race of warriors that bear a striking resemblance to potato-men). You help the Doctor and Vastra fight them off, but the bigger problem is that the Sontarans shouldn’t be there. They’ve figured out time travel and are messing around with history – trying to make every war a Sontaran victory. The Doctor sets off to stop the Sontarans by visiting points along his timeline in reverse order.

As each battle unfolds, you assist the Doctor and his companions by matching three or more gems of the same color. These enable the Doctor and his companions to attack their enemies to heal from attacks they suffered from. Sometimes, your matches will cause more gems to match which will enable more characters to join the fight. Along the way, you can collect "time crystals" which can be used to buy new characters or upgrade existing ones,

The best part of the game, though, are the graphics and layout. The games levels ("episodes") go in reverse order from more recent Doctor Who episodes to less recent ones – with a few additional confrontations tossed in for good measure. Fans of the series will be treated to familiar scenes as whole episodes are reenacted in a turn-based RPG/puzzle game format. Daleks from Asylum Of The Daleks must be fought against in "human-turned-into-Dalek-zombie" form, "broken down insane Dalek" form, and fully functioning Dalek form. Cybermen from Nightmare in Silver appear in "Chess playing Cyberman", Cyberman, Cyber-mite, and even Cyberman-Doctor (aka "Mr. Clever") forms.

Many enemies will have unique attacks such as locking out gems (preventing you from moving them for a few turns), altering gem colors, or stealing all gems of a certain color. Enemies also attack at different rates. Some will attack every turn, others every two or three turns. In addition, different companions can be more or less effective against certain enemies. This leads to certain strategies as to which gems to match up and when or which companions to add to or remove from your party depending on the enemies you will be facing.

So far only seasons 7 and 6 of the new Doctor Who are included. However, there are still many levels to play, many enemies to battle, many companions to collect, and even many different costumes for the companions and the Doctor to unlock. (For example, I now have Doctor eleven in a Stetson because Stetsons are cool. I can’t wait to unlock the fez, though.) The developers have stated that they won’t be satisfied until they release a level for An Unearthly Child (the first Doctor Who episode that aired 50 years ago). This means that there should be plenty of levels coming up.

Given the amount of new levels there are (either included in the game now or promised for later) and the fact that old levels can be replayed again and again (to help level up new characters or just to relive favorite battles), I don’t see this game getting old anytime soon. This is a must-play for any Doctor Who fan, especially when the next episode seems oh so far away.

Doctor Who: Legacy is made by Tiny Rebel Games and is available for free on Android or iOS. It is released under a freemium model: It is free to play, but you can purchase time crystals using real money instead of waiting for them to randomly drop during battle. One last tip: Be sure to visit the Doctor Who: Legacy Facebook Page for some promo codes that unlock new characters and costumes.

NOTE: I did not receive compensation for this review. In fact, I was not asked in any way to review this game. I only reviewed this as a Doctor Who fan who loved playing the game.

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