This week, we’re taking a look at See The Light, a puzzle game from a new developer by the name of The Animal Farm Creations.  In See The Light, the aim of the game is to direct different coloured lights to their respectively coloured goals.  This is achieved through strategically placing mirrors and other objects on the game grid to redirect the light beams.  Here’s the description from the official Android Market:-

A puzzle game set in deep space, See the Light challenges you to manipulate light using mirrors, lenses, energizers, absorbers, and other tools to solve 80 levels.  See if you can overcome increasingly tricky puzzles while unlocking every award!

As mentioned, gameplay in See The Light revolves around guiding beams of light towards goals by dropping objects which have differing effects on the light beams on to the game grid.  There are 9 different objects in all; mirrors, which reflect light at a 90 degree angle; lenses, which er, deflect light through them at a 90 degree angle; mirror balls, which send beams of light reflecting off in multiple directions at once, prisms, which can deflect light at different angles depending on their orientation and the colour of light that hits them; black holes which suck light in, preventing it from travelling any further; two destructive ‘energizers’ which destroy objects in the path of the beam of light and two rotaters which shift an object  clockwise or counter-clockwise by 90 degrees.  The game is controlled via the touchscreen, you just drag the object you want to place from the sidebar and it snaps to the invisible game grid.  You can then tap on the object to rotate it until you’re happy with it’s angle, where you can then tap a little green tick that appears next to the object to confirm it’s placement.  These controls were a little inaccurate at times, particularly in the bottom right hand corner of the touchscreen, but the developer has confirmed to us that this is to be fixed with an upcoming update.

Graphically, the game is pretty simple.  The objects are nothing startling to look at, but they don’t need to be for a puzzle game like this.   They are crisp, clear and easy to make out against the starry background though.  There is a mellow feeling soundtrack to the game, which, even after playing the game for a good while, I never found annoying – to my mind that’s about as close to a compliment as you can get.

Gameplay in See The Light is engaging and I caught myself on a few occasions simply staring at levels for a few minutes at a time, trying to plan out my next move.  Gameplay isn’t forgiving.  If you fail at any given level, you ahave to reset the level.  I’d like to see an “undo last” type button in there as there were a few times I placed an object only to realise I’d set it at the wrong angle – which is a little grating when you’re at the end of an elaborate set of object placements.  That’s a minor criticism though, and probably more indicative of my ham-fistedness at times than any failings in game design.  One thing that is glaringly missing from the game though, is the opportunity to skip a level and come back to it later: some of the 80 levels are fiendishly difficult to crack, taking a lot of experimentation before reaching that eureka moment.  Add to this the fact that even some of the earlier levels are real head-scratchers and I can see a lot of people being put off before they’ve even finished a quarter of the levels due to frustration.  It’s worth persevering with though, as those moments when you nail a level you’ve been staring at impotently for the past 15 minutes are their own reward.

Overall, I’m reasonably impressed with this as a first effort.  The progression of difficulty could possibly be tweaked a little as some levels which I felt were very difficult were often followed by levels that were completed on the first attempt, within seconds.  A level editor would also be a great addition to a game like this and would help keep interest up.  The inability to skip levels will undoubtedly see some frustrated folks reaching for the refund button within the first 24 hours, but die-hard puzzlers will find they’re kept busy and will certainly enjoy the challenge.  The game is currently available on the Android Market for $0.99, but this is apparently a limited time half price offer which ends on July 2nd, when the price reverts to it’s usual $2.00.

Brick Annoyed is classic arcade game.  You have to destroy all balloons on the screen to advance to the next level.

Gadgets will fall from some balloons and help you finishing the level or even get you an extra ball.

Global geoscore: http://www.party-ville.com/ba

Gameplay, like in all Breakout clones, revolves around trying to clear all of the bricks (or as is the case here, brick-shaped balloons) from each level using a bat and ball. The ball flies towards the bricks, damaging them and eventually bounces back towards the ground/space/thin air, you need to position the bat so as to prevent the ball landing/being lost/disappearing (if this format is completely alien to you, then you should probably avoid downloading any games for any device. Ever.). The game is controlled by one of two methods – you can either use your device’s accelerometer, or you can swipe across the touchscreen to change direction. The controls (both accelerometer and touchscreen) seemed just ever-so-slightly sluggish in the response to me, but otherwise worked fine.

There are two different game modes: Ball, in which you follow the standard Breakout format of smashing the balloons with your bat and ball, and Clock, in which you follow the standard Breakout format of smashing the balloons with your bat and ball…against the clock.  There’s little noticeable difference between the two game modes, except that the Clock mode gets much more difficult to progress in as you increment through the levels.  Graphically, whilst the game isn’t going to win any awards, it’s simple, bright, easy on the eye and has a polished, cartoony feel to it.

The gameplay is pretty much what you’d expect from a Breakout clone-  you’re not going to come across many surprises here, but it’s well put together and instantly playable, which I suppose is all you can ask of a free casual game.  I did find that, in addition to the slightly sluggish response I mentioned above, that the game occasionally lagged a little, but I tested it on a Hero, so it will presumably fare better on current generation Android devices.

Overall, I can’t think of too much that’s wrong with Brick Annoyed.  It’s a solid, straightforward Breakout clone that does exactly what it says on the tin.  But at the same time, that’s what holds games like Brick Annoyed back – in a Market that’s filled to bursting with clones of classic games, it would be nice to see a novel approach to an old format to make a title really stand out from the rest.  However, it would be unfair to use this criticism as a negative mark against Brick Annoyed.  It’s well put together, I noticed no bugs and it’s definitely an above average example of it’s genre.  Add to that the fact that Brick Annoyed is free and I’d say it’s well worth a look.

Some selected comments from users of Brick Annoyed:-

“Great! Totally worth downloading.” – (5 out of 5 stars)

“Yea this is an above average paddle game.  Good work the shifting background is a nice touch” – (4 out of 5 stars)

“The game has the ability to improve, however lag and lack of response for the Cliq is the reason for the uninstall” – (3 out of 5 stars)

We enjoyed Polarbit’s Armageddon Squadron immensely when it was first released, so we were a little sceptical when a very similar looking game, Winds of Steel, by DeckEleven Entertainment popped up in the Android Market.  Winds of Steel is, like Armageddon Squadron, a 3D air combat game set in World War II.  Unlike Armageddon Squadron, this game attempts to inject some small element of realism to proceedings by letting you take part in some  famous historical battles (albeit almost exclusively ones that took place over the Pacific).  Here’s the game’s official description from the Android Market:-

Experience World War II’s most epic and legendary air battles in Asia and Pacific theaters on your Android mobile phone.From the attack on Pearl Harbor, and all the way to the bombing of Tokyo, take command of 12 famous Pacific fighters and bombers in a challenging 3D game.

Graphically, this game is pretty good.  It’s 3D gameworld is very similar in it’s look to Armageddon Squadron, and is, arguably, better in some places, paritcularly during some of the cutscenes.  The level designs are, for the most part, well thought out and often very busy with aircraft, ships and trucks, which adds a little realistic chaos to proceedings.  The sound is also well implemented, between levels you are treated to a little period swing music, and, in game, the engine thrums away, rising in pitch as you dive and dropping as you climb, and the machine gun fire is suitably “dakka-dakka”.

The game is controlled via the phone’s accelerometer.  Tilting left or right makes your aircraft turn in that direction, and tilting forward or back makes the plane dive or climb.  There are also a few virtual buttons: a fire button, a change weapon button and a couple of buttons that only appear in certain contexts.  The two contextual buttons are used to roll the plane or do a loop.  If you steer hard to the left or right, the roll button appears, if you pull up hard, the loop button appears.  This works pretty well and, as you play more, you start to instinctively roll or loop away from incoming fire, often giving you an edge in a dogfight.  The main criticism we have for the game’s controls is the lack of any method for controlling your speed, which, whilst not essential to the gameplay, would be nice as another addition to your dogfight armoury.

It’s in the gameplay that this game comes in to it’s own though.  In the case of Armageddon Squadron, the main criticism levelled at it was that it was a little too arcade-like in it’s feel.  Winds of Steel, whilst still undoubtedly light years away from being a proper flight sim, does feel a couple of steps closer than Armageddon Squadron.  Impacts with the ground or sea in Winds of Steel don’t just add damage to your plane, they blow it up.  Battleships begin to smoke as you bomb them, and enemy aircraft buzzing around the skies do their best to menace and harass you as you make bomb runs.

Overall, we were pretty impressed with Winds of Steel.  It’s a very well designed game with a lot of polish and character.  We’d have liked some sort of throttle control method, but in truth it doesn’t detract from the game that much.  We actually prefer this game to Armageddon Squadron, which we praised pretty highly back when we reviewed it.  It’s well worth the €2.99.

This review is a little later in coming than we’d intended, seeing as Zenonia was released a few weeks back, but better late than never we always say.  Zenonia is a multi award winning action-oriented RPG for the iPhone by developers Gamevil, which has recently been ported to Android.  It was a hugely popular title on the iPhone Apps Market and is expected to be just as popular on Android.  It’s style is very reminiscent of old-school classic, top-down RPGs such as Zelda and Final Fantasy.  Zenonia sees you playing a young man going by the unfortunate name of Regret (nice way to give your child a feeling of being unwanted Mum and Dad) who is trying to piece together what happened to his father and what it is that makes he himself so special.  It’s an undeniably cheesy and cliched plot, but I guess this isn’t Planescape: Torment, it’s an action RPG.  Here’s the official description from the Android Market:-

THE RETURN OF CLASSIC ACTION RPG

AWARDS
Best Adventure/RPG Game from The Pocket Gamer Awards 2010
Best RPG Game of 2009 by IGN
Best RPG 2009 by TouchGen

FEATURES
Numerous quests following an epic storyline
Create your own character
Hundreds of items
Stunning effects and graphics
Innovative real life system

Veteran players of RPGs such as the early incarnations of Zelda will find they settle comfortably in to the gameplay mechanics of Zenonia.  It’s got all the ingredients for a trip down gaming memory lane, right down to some laughable dialogue sections between NPCs, carrying on the meme-inspiring tradition of all good games translated from the original Japanese/Korean.  The game is controlled via a virtual D-pad and on screen buttons.  Judging from the Market comments, a lot of users have found that they had issues with the controls being either a bit hit or miss, or downright unusable.. This reviewer found, for the most part, that the controls were adequate, but a little over-sensitive at times.  Gamevil claim the game has some 40 hours of gameplay, which is no mean feat for a mobile title, and, I daresay, probably makes it fairly unique among Android games.  Given the nature of the RPG, I daresay you could spend longer than the suggested 40 hours purely through grinding.  There are also a good number of sidequests for a bit of variation from the main plot.

Combat in Zenonia, rather than being turn-based,  is handled in real time.  You tap the attack button to take a swipe with your chosen weapon.  Additional attacks and skills can also be picked up as you progress through the levels, which helps keep combat interesting.  I was pleasantly surprised at how intuitive the combat actually was, although, occasionally, I’d have prefered to be able to choose my target, rather than rely on the auto-targeting.

There is a full day and night cycle in the game which influences more than just the generation of a lighter or darker area: as time passes, Regret needs to eat to keep himself in tip-top condition (which was an occasionally annoying distraction), and weapons and armour degrade as the days go by, requiring replacement or repairs

Graphically, Zenonia looks great.  The animations (particularly for some of the magical attacks), visual effects and colouring all look carefully thought out and very polished.  It’s a gorgeous looking game in fact.  The audio for the game is also pretty good with a well-scored soundtrack and evocative sound effects, although they can get a little repetitive after you’ve put in a few hours of game time.

Fans of the action RPG genre will find plenty to love here, with perhaps only the pointless requirement to keep Regret well-fed as a negative.  More casual gamers though, may be put off by the sheer scope of this game as well as the amount of grinding that is required from time to time just to level up enough to progress through to the next dungeon or area.  You need to invest time in Zenonia to get the most out of it, 5 minute dips here and there probably won’t do it justice.  Also, as mentioned, don’t go in to this expecting a particularly engaging plot, or great characterisation; this is an action RPG with a hackneyed and predictable story, littered with the odd (and often hilarious) post-translation grammatical error, so hardcore RPGers, who like their heroes angsty and their plots original, may prefer to wait for something a little more highbrow.

Overall, this is a superb addition to the Android Market.  It’s professional, polished, full of personality, occasionally humourous and is far and away the best RPG we’ve seen for the Android OS.  It’s not without it’s flaws, but, as part of the overall package, those flaws are forgiveable.  It’s also a little pricier than a lot of the market at $5.99, but considering you get 40+ hours of gameplay, that’s a bloody bargain.

Zenonia is available now on the Android Market for $5.99

Some selected user comments:-

“Plays perfectly on moment.  More games like this please ” – (5 out o5 stars)

“Reminds me of WoW.  also, I find some of the dialogue amusing.  Definitely the best game available on the market as of yet” - (5 out of 5 stars)

“Controls are pretty bad, writing is poor, first 10 mins are reading cutscenes – get me playing already!” – (2 out of 5 stars)

AndAppStoreHQ rating:-

Android apps at AppStoreHQ

The folks at MobileFun.co.uk asked us if we’d be interested in reviewing an item they sell called the DeskGenie.  Having checked it out online, we were intrigued enough to accept the offer.  So, for the last few days, I’ve been taking it for a test drive.  The DeskGenie is a universal charging stand which can hold pretty much any phone-sized device you care to put on it.  It connects to a USB port on your PC (or to a separate mains power adapter if you have one) and comes with a number of different power connector heads which can be used to charge your phone or mp3 player, etc…  In addition to the charging functionality, the DeskGenie also comes with 2 USB ports and an 8 in 1 card reader. Here’s it’s official description:-

Desk Genie Non-Slip This holder is designed to hold any device in position. It holds using a special material which grips the device. It is even designed so if your phone is vibrating frantically it will still stay in place. The holder is able to do such a feat thanks to the special surface which is made from a high tech rubber material. Your phone is held so firmly you’ll think it has been glued down – but there is no sticky residue on the phone or on the Genie. The Desk Genie can hold your phone in optimum viewing positions to read emails, watch videos and play games. Features:

• Designed with a non-slip material
• Holds your mobile phone or accessories firmly
• Fully compliant with USB 2.0 specification
• Backwards compatible with USB 1.1
• Plug and play
• Supports Windows 2000/XP/ Vista, Mac OSX and Linux
• Dimensions: 59 x 102 x 106mm (approx)
• Weight: 95g

Connectors:

• iPhone/iPod
• Nokia 2mm (works with 5800, N95, 6700 and more)
• Nokia 3.5mm (works with 3310, 6680, 6230 and more)
• MicroUSB (for Nokia N97/BlackBerry 8900/Samsung Omnia II and more)
• Mini USB (for BlackBerry 8300 /HTC Hero/MP3)
• LG (works with all LG phones)
• Samsung Tip1 (works with D900, U600, D800 and more)
• Samsung Tip2 (works with Omnia, Pixon, Tocco Lite and more)
• Sony Ericsson Fast Port (works with all Sony Ericsson phones)

What’s in the box:

• 1 x Non-slip Holder 2 USB Ports
• 1 x 90cm Mini USB Cable
• 1 x Charger Output Cable
• 9 x Mobile Phone Connectors
• 1 x User Manual

My first impression upon opening up the device’s packaging was that, to my surprise, the DeskGenie looked well made.  Before we received the DeskGenie, I’d had images of a rather cheap and ugly looking device that I’d be embarrassed to leave in plain sight on my desk, but it’s actually quite easy on the eye.  The only complaint I have about it’s look is that the short charging cable that goes from the DeskGenie to your phone has to loop round the unit from the back, where perhaps a cable management feed running underneath the unit would have been tidier, but this really is just nitpicking as the cable running round the back isn’t exactly hideously messy. I was a little sceptical about the “high tech rubber” non-slip pad that the DeskGenie uses to hold the phone in place, but found that it actually really does work well, even when I attached my Hero in landscape mode, it held fast.  I did find that, after a few days’ worth of use (and, no doubt, a number of thorough and grubby fingerings by curious children when Daddy wasn’t looking), the pad wasn’t quite as ‘sticky’ as it had been, but, as the instructions point out, wiping the pad with a damp cloth restores it’s grip as good as new. The performance of the 8-in-1 card reader was comparable to any other reader I’ve ever used; all of the cards I tried were detected quickly and data transfers were completed at a reasonable speed.  The USB slots both seemed to work perfectly well too.  As a charger, the DeskGenie succeeded in charging both my HTC Hero and my mp3 player, but it didn’t seem to want to charge my wife’s Samsung Jet for some reason, although the website does claim it is a compatible device (in fairness, my wife’s Jet has been through the washing at least once, so there’s a distinct chance that something in it is faulty). Overall, I’m quite impressed with the DeskGenie.  So much so that I’m actually considering buying another one so that I have one at the office and one at home.  It doesn’t look out of place on a desk, it charges things well and has the added bonus of the 8 in 1 card reader and USB ports.  I don’t know about you, but free USB ports are like gold-dust in my house, so those additional ports were a welcome addition to my computer desk.  There is, however, one large drawback to the DeskGenie that is worth bearing in mind, as I suspect it will put a lot of people off: the DeskGenie will only charge your device, you can’t use it to sync with, or connect to, your phone from your computer.  If you need to access your phone from the computer, you can connect a USB cable to one of the DeskGenie’s ports and sync or interface with it that way.  All things considered, I’m happy to say I’d recommend that DeskGenie.  It’s nice looking, it does what it claims to and at only £14.99, it’s better value than many gadgets I’ve paid double that for. The DeskGenie is available for £14.99 as part of the HTC desk chargers range from MobileFun.co.uk.

Among our wishlist of apps we’d love to see on Android is a game called Canabalt by Adam “Atomic” Saltsman, so, when we heard that a game inspired by Canabalt had been released to the Android Market, we had to give it a go.  Parkour: Roof Riders, developed by Blyts, is, like Canabalt, a game where the object is to survive for as long as possible whilst jumping across ever-scrolling rooftops.  Here’s the not-exactly-verbose official description from the Market:-

“Become a professional Parkourist!
Run over the city’s roofs, but be careful! You may fall in the attempt…”

The game is controlled by tapping the screen to make the little parkourist jump.  With a longer press making him jump farther than a short press.  The scenery scrolls along at a quickening pace and you have to time your jumps just right as you progress further.  In addition to having to jump between rooftops, you also have to try and avoid obstacles such as crates and other objects or items dropped from planes which can slow you up or cause you to have a nasty accident.

Given that Parkour: Roof Riders is such an obvious tribute to Canabalt, we would be remiss in our duties as reviewers if we didn’t compare the two games, so, to that end, we’ll sprinkle the review with comparisons to Canabalt.

Graphically, the game is bright and colourful, and is reasonably animated, but it lacks the character of the original Canabalt, with it’s dark monotone feel.  The parkourist running animation doesn’t sit quite right with the speed that the scenery scrolls at at times, but it’s not enough to distract.  The soundtrack to the game is a somewhat cheesy dancey affair, but it’s inoffensive, however, in Canabalt, the custom soundtrack is one of the game’s main strengths.  The song (RUN, by Danny B) really adds a sense of urgency to proceedings and it drives you to struggle on just a little further.

Gameplay is straightforward, as you’d expect from a one-button game.  It’s easy to get frustrated as you play and find yourself falling just short of the goal because you jumped early to avoid a crate, meaning you didn’t have the time to avoid the gap between two buildings.  But, it’s a good frustration, pushing you to try again and concentrate harder.

Overall, this isn’t a bad effort.  It’s reasonably well polished and there are no glaring bugs or performance issues in the game, but it is a pale imitation of what is a classic game.  We had high hopes for Parkour: Roof Riders, and, whilst it’s a commendable attempt, we can’t get over how similar Parkour: Roof Riders is to Canabalt, whilst being so far away from it’s quality.

Parkour: Roof Riders is available now on the Android Market for $1.49.  There is also a free trial version for those of you who like to take apps for a spin before purchase.

Today we turn our attention to Infection by CodeChimps.  The aim of the game is to remove from each level a growing number of spawning blobs, representing infection.  To get rid of the blobs, you need to roll over them with your nanobots.  The nanobots are controlled by dragging your finger across the touchscreen.  The nanobot is placed at the location you first touch and then moves in the horizontal or vertical direction you dragged your finger.  Mulitple nanobots can placed at any one time, limited to 3 to begin with, but you can buy additional nanobots, as well as a few other upgrades, between levels.

“Can you battle your way through 25 increasingly difficult levels packed with spawning enemies?

Upgrade your units to deal with the growing infections.

See how long you can last in the never ending survival mode.”

Gameplay isn’t too bad.  As you progress in levels the infection blobs get tougher and spawn quicker and the harder levels see you frantically swiping away at your screen in an effort to stem the tide.  Which leads me to my first criticism, all too often, I found that my screen swipes were completely mis-interpreted, or occasionally, even completely ignored.  Admittedly, this may be partly down to ham-fisted user input on my part, but it happened pretty often to me.  Given that you’re only able to deploy so many nanobots at one time, it can be hugely frustrating to see all of your bots merrily ploughing along an entirely different path to the one you intended.  Perhaps the touch controls will become more robust with any future updates that CodeChimps release.

As you progress in levels, different types of infection start to appear.  These different infection types have different effects on your nanobots, with some, for example, slowing them right down.  Others contain upgrades you can collect in battle.  This variation of infection types keeps things interesting, but doesn’t necessarily affect tactic choice:  I found myself targeting a line with the most infection blobs on it, regardless of their type.

Graphically, the game is ok, but it’s not going to win any prizes for beauty with it’s pretty basic looks and animations.  It certainly shouldn’t trouble even first generation Android devices.  The only real criticism I have over the game’s look is a very minor one: the screen is laid out in a grid over a background of what looks like red blood cells, and I found staring at the same old background got a bit repetitive as I neared the end of my playthrough.

Overall, Infection, whilst not ground breaking, is a decent enough effort.  There’s a healthy dose of frantic tension in the game’s later levels and the ability to buy upgrades between each level is a welcome addition.  The erratic touchscreen controls, however, can grate on the nerves a little.  If you like casual games that you can dip in and out of without too much involvement, then this one may be worth a look.  Infection is currently priced at £0.99, which is probably about the right level, I’d say.  There’s a free, 6 level demo version available if you’d prefer to try before you buy.

Camel Games (interviewed here) are one of our favourite Android developers.  They’re the team responsible for some of the most popular Android games on the market.  Titles such as Space Physics and Flight Director have been downloaded tens of thousands of times and are rated highly by the community.  Because of this, we were looking forward to trying out their latest offering, physics puzzler Blow Up.

Official Android Market description:-

“Blow it up! Flatten buildings with limited bombs is your task. With this fantastic game, you will get bombs in different sizes; set the bombs to function at different times; see the building sway and fall with real physics; even more, blow the panda up…
More levels are coming. Stay tuned!

was developed for Android by Camel Games.

The premise is pretty straightforward.  You must collapse a building by placing explosive charges at various points on it’s structure.  If you flatten the building so that none of it’s constituent parts poke above a pre-set goal line, you win the level.  To add a little interest, each building also contains a little ragdoll panda which you have to try to both avoid blowing up and steer towards a star which will also be placed somewhere in the building.  Bonus points can be had should the panda touch the star as the building collapses.

Graphically, the game looks decent enough, ceratinly nothing spectacular, but it’s a simple puzzle game, it doesn’t need stunning 3D graphics.  Camel Games have yet again demonstrated a good handle on the physics side of things, and the ragdoll panda flopping around inside the building works well.  The only complaint I can level at the game’s look is occasionally the animations felt a little sluggish.  In fairness, this may have been a deliberate ploy to allow you to keep track of how any given building is collapsing so that you can further refine your charge placements if need be, but I suspect not.

Gameplay is enjoyable, and the fact you can replay any level you are on, or even skip past any given level by choosing a later one from the main menu, means it’s pretty forgiving too.  The difficulty progresses nicely too, with early levels being pretty straightforward and graduating up to the extremely devious later levels.  The physics engine does occasionally introduce an element of luck in to proceedings.  I felt that I solved some levels purely through a lucky twist of a plank and other levels I was denied from completing because a rogue beam had just not shifted far enough.  This doesn’t in any way detract from the game, but hardcore puzzlers may prefer not to rely on chance to get through.  Any given level can be replayed if desired though, so if you’re a stickler for getting things done just so, you can replay until you achieve demolitions perfection.

Overall, I’d say this is yet another solid addition to Camel Games’ catalogue of games.  It’s nothing particularly original, just an Android version of a theme that’s been used in a number of online Flash games in the past, but it’s well implemented and I didn’t come across any frustrations at all.  The game has 70 levels, each of which can be played on Easy, Medium or Hard settings, but, as it doesn’t necessarily take very long to get through each level, some folks may find they complete the game pretty quickly.  Hopefully Camel Games will release additional levels, or even an editor in the future, given their record with Space Physics, I’d imagine this is a distinct possibility.

Some selected user reviews from the Android Market:-

“So much fun, great app.” – (5 out of 5 stars)

“Very cool! Fun blowing stuff up! the physics are cool! Tons of levels.  Works well!” – (5 out of 5 stars)

“Ehh.  Not my kind of game.  But it seems 2 work ok, and the panda is hilarious.” – (4 out of 5 stars)

App Store HQ rating:-
Android apps at AppStoreHQ

i-Play have been a big player in the mobile games industry for a while now, but, whilst they have released some Android titles, until now, Android didn’t really seem to be one of their main focuses.  That is set to change this year with i-Play planning to ramp up production of Android titles.  As part of this strategy, i-Play yesterday announced the release of Paradise Quest, a match the shape puzzle game.

Here’s the description of the game from i-Play’s press release:-

The revolutionary Match-3 puzzle adventure that has captivated 5 million online players is now available with exclusive features for your Android phone!

A PUZZLE WITH A REVOLUTIONARY TWIST! An exciting take on the ever-popular Match-3 puzzle genre: each match you make moves you smoothly across the puzzle board. Explore the map to find special items and complete your mission through dozens of addicting levels!

AN EXCITING TROPICAL ADVENTURE Play as renowned ecologist Dr Evan Finch to restore the majestic island of Isabela to its former beauty. Collect natural resources to revive lush vegetation, restore a mighty animal kingdom, and uncover the ancient artifacts of a lost Galapagos civilization.

TOP-NOTCH PRODUCTION VALUES Marvel at the lush beauty of tropical environments and wonderful creatures of the Galapagos. Enjoy brilliantly colorful graphics, enchanting sound effects and dazzling animations!

Paradise Quest revolves around a series of patterned tiles laid out on a board of varying shapes and sizes.  Any given patterned tile can be swapped with it’s immediate neighbour horizontally or vertically and tiles are removed by creating rows of 3 or more matching tiles.  The overall objective is to free some objects which are surrounded by stone.  The stone sections are broken by matching the tiles which sit on top of them, when all of the surrounding stone is gone, the object is freed.  When all of the objects are freed, you complete the level.  It’s definitely not a new idea, but i-Play have introduced a couple of novel twists.  To begin with, the various tiles on the board represent different resources, such as fruit, wood etc.  You collect these resources as you play and can use them to purchase upgrades.  There are also a number of power ups and surprise objects hidden under certain tiles, some of which (for example, a raft) are needed to bypass specific barriers on the board.  These all add an interesting and welcome twist on what is otherwise an all too common shape matching theme.

Graphically, the game looks great.  It’s a polished and professional looking game with bright, colourful screens and plenty of eye candy.  There’s also a suitably adventurous theme drumming away in the background.  Performance-wise, I did find that the game lagged a little on occasion during play, but not often enough to spoil things.

Gameplay was straight-forward enough.  If you’ve played any of the countless thousands of colour or pattern matching games before, you should get to grips with play pretty quickly.  If, however, you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, you’ll be happy to note that there are in-game tutorial tips which pop up as you play (you can turn them off via the options if they begin to grate on your nerves).  The only real criticism I have of the game is a bit of a personal bugbear of mine and has nothing at all to do with the game, and that is – the plot.  Why is there one?  This is a match the shape game, why do I need an obviously shoe-horned in plot?  It’s not as if it’s going to add any realism to the game, I don’t recall the last time I had to match shapes to acheive anything in my day to day life, so why pretend that Professor Whatsisface needs to do so to help save the environment?  Who actually considers the plot whilst they’re playing a puzzle game?  Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Overall, this is a pretty decent casual game.  If you’re the sort of person who really digs relaxed puzzle games, then this will be right up your street.  Whilst I can’t pretend that this game is my cup of tea, I can see that it has a lot going for it that would appeal to the casual gamer.

Paradise Quest is available for $1.99 in two formats an SD one for users of devices which have a screen size of 240 x 320 (such as the Tattoo), or an HD version which is for devices with screens of 320 x 480 or greater (such as the G1, Hero, Nexus One, DROID, etc).  Unusually for a paid title, there doesn’t seem to be a trial or lite version of the game.

Back when I was at university, I spent rather longer than I probably should have playing Pang! in the local student bar.  I don’t think I ever did beat it, but I had a blast trying.  So, when I heard about Spheremare, an Android Pang! clone by the modestly titled Awesome Software, I downloaded and installed it straight away, although I did have a little trepidation as to what I’d find.

Here’s the official blurb from the game’s Android Market entry:-

Spheremare a game in the likes of Pang. Take your gun and go shoot some spheres. Collect bonuses and coins, do combos, buy and improve your weapons and skills.

Game features:

- 45 levels
- Survival mode
- 4 bonus levels
- Online high scores
- Weapon shop
- 2 characters
- 3 difficulty levels

ADC2 Top 20 (Arcade/Action)

Spheremare is an unashamed Pang! clone, it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.  To this end, you control your character (male or female, specified at the start of play) using a set of virtual buttons displayed on the touchscreen.  The aim is to pop all of the balloons which bounce around the play area by firing a harpoon or grappling hook at them.  When you hit a balloon it bursts, revealing two smaller balloons.  Pop those, and they again split, revealing two even smaller balloons.  All the while you have to try and avoid being hit by the balloons as they bounce around the screen.  Occasionally, the balloons will drop coins and power-ups.  The coins can be used between levels to purchase upgrades, and the power-ups, such as timestop or dynamite, can be used straight away to improve your chance.  There are also some negative drops (power-downs?) too, such as a drop that reverses your left and right controls.  These all add a little bit of spice to the proceedings.

The game’s graphics are cartoony, with a similar feel to the original Pang! game’s look: in fact, the game wouldn’t have looked out of place in an amusement arcade back in the 90′s, but I have to confess to finding the game’s look a little soulless, as if it was missing that spark of character the original Pang! had.  The controls are responsive enough, I had no real issues controlling my character, save for the lack of multitouch, which meant I couldn’t walk and shoot at the same time.  A minor gripe, but a gripe nonetheless.  Those folks with a hardware keyboard will be pleased to note that there is an option to use it as a controller rather than the virtual buttons on the touchscreen.

Gameplay is pretty close to how I remember Pang! felt.  I found I quickly got a feel for how best to use the various weapons and power-ups I had at my disposal.  Anyone who has played the original Pang! will find themselves slipping back in to the swing of things pretty naturally.  The only real negative I found in the gameplay was that the play area seemed a little cramped to me: it just felt like there wasn’t much room to move around in any given level, this became particularly noticeable as the game went on and more platforms and ladders began to appear in the play area.  Again, this is a minor criticism though, and on reflection it’s an understandable design choice considering the game has to be played on a mobile phone’s small screen.

Overall, this is an admirable attempt to clone an arcade classic.  It captures a lot of what made the original Pang! such a classic, but falls short of emulating it’s charisma.  If you liked Pang! back in the day, you’ll probably find you enjoy Spheremare.

Spheremare is available now on the Android Market for €1.99.  A free demo version is also available if you’d like to take it for a spin.

Some selected user comments from the Android Market:-

“Awesome game! Great graphics.  Love it!” – (5 out of 5 stars)

“Very nice on Dream.  This game is better than Pang!” – (5 out of 5 stars)

“The poor controls cause more frustration than the game itself does fun.  Uninstall and refund on this one.  Could be very fun with better controls.” – (1 out of 5 stars)

App Store HQ Rating:-
Android apps at AppStoreHQ