Angry Birds: App Review

What is all the hype about “Angry Birds”? It seems to be phenomenal the rate of success this game has achieved. The objective of the game is to crush the enemy (in this case pigs were want to eat the birds eggs, making them “angry”), through game play that is physics based and requires logic, skill and force. Maybe it is the concept, or the fluid graphics and game play that propelled it into success or it might have been the marketing and the timing, whatever the case its success cannot be disputed with merchandise appearing as well and it being made available for PCs and Macs.

Having been one of the most popular games on the Apple market (iPhone/iPod/iPad), it has finally made its way to the Android market. Basically, you get to hurl the angry birds at loosely made defensive forts made from glass, wood, and stone with pigs inside, and the aim is to destroy all the pigs at each level with as little moves possible. You get more points if you achieve destroying the pigs with as little moves as possible, destroy as much structure as you can, and have remaining birds that have not been used.

There are different birds with different abilities: to name a few, the default red bird has no special properties, while the blue bird splits into three with a second touch, or the black bird which explodes when tapped...Read More>>

Sally's Spa: App Review

Time management games are plenty on the Apple App store, and Sally’s Spa is just one of those games that is actually entertaining and enjoyable. Similar to Diner Dash in concept: you are running a salon (helping Sally) and have to serve the customers as best and as fast as you can. And yes, you guessed it, it is one of the games that I actually bought and so here are my thoughts on it. There is also a lite version available.

There are different locations, scenarios, customers, and upgrades of the spa’s equipment (e.g. Sauna, nail station, spa, massage table, and hair station). As you advance, you can also hire staff to speed up the process. The objective of the game is to get all the customers that come through your spa to complete the various treatments and leave with a smile on their faces and a huge tip for you. You are also able to sell various products to earn extra money. There is a chart that tells you what products customers’ would be interested in buying that day, and an indication of how well the items might sell...Read more>>

Amazing Sudoku: App Review

With the many available Sudoku games made available on the Apple App Store, there are various designs and graphics that offer different game play experience, most of them plain and unappealing. I happened to chance upon Amazing Sudoku, which is currently available for $1.99 for the full version, when it was offered free for download one fine day (lucky me). There is also the free version, which limits the difficulty.

Some people may deem the colorful background and graphics too distracting, but I think that it adds a nice touch to an otherwise “boring” game of Sudoku. Within Amazing Sudoku, there are two modes of game play: Classic and Magic, each with 3 difficulty settings...Read more>>

Cut The Rope: App Review

“Cut the Rope” is one of the games that I bought from the Apple App Store, costing USD$0.99. The objective of the game is to feed the green cute looking creature with the sweets that you are supposed to navigate to the little create by cutting ropes, all the while collecting stars to advance to the next stage / box. You do so by cutting the ropes loose, in a way that the sweet will land up in the little green creature’s hungry mouth and collecting stars at the same time. Recently this app has also been made available on the Android Market as well...Read more>>

The Sims 3: Traits Guide

The Sims 3 traits enable your Sims to have personalities that are unique and diverse, which can be interesting as well as entertaining. Sims in the game can have a maximum of 5 traits, which are further divided into 4 categories: mental, physical, social and lifestyle. There are 7 stages in a Sims life: baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adults and elder.

When your Sim is in a good mood while pregnant, you can select 1 trait for the baby when it is born, else it is selected randomly. As babies, toddlers, children and teens grow; they will be given traits based on their happiness (if they are happy enough you will be able to choose the trait for them, else the traits are most likely to be randomly assigned). However, when you are creating a young adult, adult or senior Sim in the create Sim mode, you have the opportunity to give them the traits you prefer before starting the game.

There is a wide range of traits that you can choose for your Sims: to be brave, cowards, heavy sleepers or slobs. Each of the traits will impact your Sims in regards to their lives, socialization, happiness, choices, skills and careers. There are metal traits like artistic, genius, green thumb and neurotic, or physical traits like heavy sleepers or slobs. Traits determine/affect how quickly your Sims skills develop, what they enjoy and how they relate to other Sims, greatly impacting their social interactions. There are also social traits like charismatic, dislikes children, good sense of humour and no sense of humour.

It would be good to note that a Sim cannot have opposing traits (e.g. great sense of humour and no sense of humour). Hence, choosing one trait could render its opposite obsolete. There are also traits that deal with lifestyle such as angler, frugal, kleptomaniac and vegetarian.

Each trait opens up different social interactions for your Sim and will affect the speed and success of learning a skill. For example, a Sim who is a workaholic will be very upset if they miss work, while a loner can last longer than Sims without any socialization. A flirtish Sim would be able to use different romantic interactions far sooner into a relationship than other Sims, and their flirting will usually be well-received. And an artistic Sim can paint and play the guitar much better than others.

Finally, the traits that a Sim’s has will help determine their lifetime wish. A Sim may want to grow the perfect garden if he/she has a green thumb, or raise a big family if family-orientated. In addition to selecting traits for you Sims, you are also able to select your Sim’s favourite food, colour and music. Voices of your Sims can also be adjusting via pitch to further enhance your Sim, making it a unique and interesting character.

Here is a list with descriptions of some personality traits:

• Absent-Minded: Often get lost in their own thoughts and forget what they are doing or where they are going.
• Ambitious: like that name suggests.
• Angler: Enjoy fishing and will be more successful at getting more... Read more>>
  

Cute Knight Kingdom (Review)

Rating: 3/5

Cute Knight Kingdom is a somewhat static role-playing and time management combined into one. In the game, you get to decide who you want to be, hero, princess or villain? You could be anyone you want to be, with dozens of endings depending on the choices you make.

Cute Knight Kingdom is a sequel to Cute Knight, and would definitely appeal to those who like role-playing games where pretty magical princesses grow up to marry handsome princes; with multiple marriage options. You get to choose your own outfits, travel the kingdom, meet new friends, find treasure and even encounter monsters! You can take classes to improve skills which play an important part in your success.

The game’s story unfolds when your character (of mysterious origins) finds out on her eighteen birthday that a fairy entrusted her to her (adopted) parents, and learns that she has three years to discover her destiny. So in order to discoverer destiny, she leaves home on her eighteenth birthday, with you guiding her through the choices she makes and adventures she encounters. Opportunities abound with classes to take, or jobs to earn money in areas of magic, fighting, defense and much more… Read more>>

Cute Knight

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Rating: 3/5

Hero, princess or villain? You get to decide who you want to be! With its unique blend of role-playing and time management, this sequel to Cute Knight would definitely appeal to those who like role-playing games where pretty magical princesses grow up to marry handsome princes. You get to choose your own outfits, travel the kingdom, meet new friends, find treasure and even encounter monsters! Take classes to improve your skills necessary for your success. You could be anyone you want to be, with dozens of endings depending on the choices you make.


Story
The story unfolds when your character (of mysterious origins) has three years to discover her destiny. So she leaves home on her eighteenth birthday to find her destiny, with you guiding her through the choices she makes and adventures she encounters. Opportunities abound with classes to take, or jobs to earn money in areas of magic, fighting, defense and much more...

Game Play
The game starts off with you naming your character, and selecting from a set of twelve types of characteristics. Each character type determines the abilities your character would have. Interactivity revolves around story-driven dialogues, working, learning, and battle. Skills that are developed, achievements accomplished and your general game play will result in one of its many possible endings. With its multiple endings, playing this game more than once can be entertaining and addictive.

Graphics
Being a little rough around the edges, the game loses some points in the graphics department. The constant traveling becomes slightly cumbersome after some time. Despite that, the graphics are still adorable enough to appeal to those who like good old role-playing with lots of character customization.

Sound
Music is clear and enchanting, matching the theme of the game well.

Creativity and Innovation
By incorporating role-playing and time management, Cute Knight is innovative and creative. Its complex skill system sets it apart from similar titles; though I would have preferred being able to continue playing after those three years. While the game can be addictive and full of surprises, it might end up repetitive for some players after several plays.

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Dream Chronicles ™ 2: The Eternal Maze

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Rating: 4.5/5

Adventure, mystery, puzzles and fairies! This game sets your brain thinking and is simply entertaining with its breathtakingly smooth graphics and apt music. In this second installation of the Dream Chronicles series, you have to help Faye save her family from the evil Fairy Queen, Lilith. The storyline, together with the game play makes it an alluring sequel.



Story
The evil Fairy queen, Lilith, wants Faye's husband all to herself as he was promised to her long ago. As a result, Lilith curses Faye's daughter and imprisons her within the Ancient Place. To save her family Faye needs to escape from her prison by navigating through magical landscapes and solve intricate and challenging puzzles; with the guidance of her mother-in-law.


Game Play
This game is definitely more than just your usual hidden game object. Its adventure styled game play and mesmerizing graphics makes it more fun. With its smooth game play, and the freedom to play at your own speed, finding hidden dream jewels to unravel secrets that would help in the quest and unlocking secret doors is challenging. The game starts off in an easy to follow story mode, continuing off from the first installment; with the story getting more intriguing as you play.

Graphics
The graphics are simply beautiful, drawing players into the breath taking world of fairies with intriguing and believable drawn sets.

Sound
Music used in the game adds to the ambiance of the game. It makes the game more fun to play, and it is easy on the ears; making game play an enjoyable experience.

Creativity and Innovation
Compared to the puzzles in its prequel, puzzles in The Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze is definitely more challenging. Unlike usual hidden object games, the way in which The Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze incorporates the storyline with the hidden object theme, and solving puzzles is seamless and engaging. It is definitely innovative and creative, and worth playing.

YOU SHOULD BUY THE DREAM CHRONICLES: THE ETERNAL MAZE IF
- You loved playing its prequel The Dream Chronicles: The Chosen One.
- You like playing challenging and fun puzzle games that are engaging, and yet not frustrating.
- You are looking for a game other than the usual hidden object/puzzle games with a twist, with beautiful graphics, smooth game play and an interesting storyline.

YOU SHOULD NOT BUY THE DREAM CHRONICLES: THE ETERNAL MAZE IF
- The storyline of the Dream Chronicles or things about fairies does not appeal to you.
- You are looking for a fast paced adventure game.
- You have not played the first installment The Dream Chronicles: The Chosen One

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Luxor Adventures

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Rating: 3.5/5

Time travel, Egyptian mythology, and archeology all within a hidden object game infused with puzzles and mini-games! It even has a good storyline to boot. Being a hidden game game, there bound to be similarities with existing with hidden object games. However, Luxor Adventures is still entertaining, extremely challenging and full of surprises.



Story
An ancient port has become unstable, with objects from the future turning up in places of the past. In a bid to restore history and prevent the villain from attempting to alter history, the heroes travel through time in an attempt to save the world from the wrath of Osiris by finding hidden objects (from the future in places of the past) and solving puzzles.

Game Play
As with most hidden object games, you have to scour a cluttered environment for items that are listed on the bottom of the screen while racing against the clock per level. At each level, you have to find two orbs and two Ankhs. Once you have collected all eight orbs, you will be able to play Luxor, a color ball-blasting game. Finding two Ankhs at each level allows you to unlock more game modes from the main menu. Objects hidden in this game can be very well-hidden (small and/or well camouflaged) and hard to spot, making it slightly frustrating. Luckily there is a Hint button to reveal those hard-to spot objects.

Graphics
The graphics are aptly drawn and beautiful, reflecting Luxor Adventure's Egyptian theme well.

Sound
Music used in the game adds to the ambiance of the game, drawing players into the ancient Egyptian world and the excitement of saving the world.


Creativity and Innovation
Being able to infuse the hidden game genre together with an interesting story, and bonus games to boot certainly makes this game unique. To add to its innovativeness and creativity, some items have to be completed by combining them, such as inserting batteries into a flashlight. The game also has a high replay value, because each time you play a particular level you will be asked to find different objects.


YOU SHOULD BUY LUXOR ADVENTURES IF
- You are looking for something different from the usual hidden object games.
- You like challenging hidden object games (objects can be very hard to find).
- You love the storyline and enjoy finding hidden objects while saving the world.

YOU SHOULD NOT BUY LUXOR ADVENTURES IF
- Not being able to spot some very cleverly camouflaged (and possibly small) objects frustrate you.
- You prefer playing the usual untainted hidden games.
- You did not like the trial version.

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