One Sentence Reviews

Lego Minifigures [iOS] - Teach your kids how to gamble in this unrewarding pokey game; for die hard Lego fans only 2/10.

Turbo Grafx [iOS] You can play the demos for free but they expect you to pay for the full untranslated versions -1.69/10

Dictionary! [iOS] Does what it says on the tin and is free but has ads, also unneccesary exlamation marks 7/10.

Blocks Mania Premium [iOS]

In Blocks Mania you play as a smiley faced block whose object is to make it to an x mark to finish the level. To complete a level to the one hundred percent mark you must also collect stars along the way and finish the level using the minimum number of moves. Along the way you will encounter monsters and gain abilities like fire to burn through blocks.

The game is fun enough but it just lacks that special something. It has your typical puzzles such as using a key to unlock a door and blocks that allow you to only go one way. The addition of warp tunnels makes it interesting to. However, at the end of the day from any position you are in you can only move in four directions, so it is fairly simple as to what you have to do. What it really needs is a game mechanic to make it seem more complex than it is. It's just too easy and you will complete it very quickly especially if you are a puzzle junkie.

 When I first "purchased" Blocks Mania Premium it was free, it has now gone up to $1.19 AUD.  There is still a free version available but it is very limited. It is definitely worth zero dollars but I find it hard to recommend it for even a dollar 6/10

Minecraft Beta Review [Mac OSX, Windows, Linux]

Minecraft may only be in beta but it is quickly becoming a huge phenomenon with over a million pre-release copies sold. It is currently selling for €14.95 which cost me $20.55 AUD and it will go up to €20 when it is fully released.

Minecraft is currently playable in two modes, creative where you have unlimited blocks as well as life which is available for free here and survival, what I consider to be the game proper.  In survival you begin with nothing but your hands your first order of business is to find the basics you need to build a shelter and survive the first night as it is at night time when all the monsters come out. You can waste hours in a mine searching for that elusive resource emerging only when you need a new tool or go off adventuring wielding a sword and wearing iron armour. What you do in the world is only limited by your imagination.

Or you can start a forest fire.

I have included pictures of the game but they really don't do it justice. Somehow it is one of the scariest games yet the monsters look like this,

and you are always happy with your handy work even if it looks like this,

the thing is you just get sucked into the world and you forget that these are just squares and blobs. As well as being scary the monsters can be quite devastating to your creations. I recommend watching Yahtzee's review which sums up the creepers perfectly.

It is hard not to get caught up in the excitement of what is yet to come in Minecraft. There are two new game modes planned, adventure which limits you to only using items no block destruction or creation and zombie siege of which little is known but I think the title gives away a lot. There is also a lot of potential for user created mods. A mod in the same vein as the upcoming adventure mode is available here. There are also heaps of skins and tilesets already available to change your character and world respectively.

More lava means more fun.

There is still a lot of work to be done on Minecraft however. Minecraft on Mac OSX doesn't let you paste IP addresses in multiplayer, nor can you quit using command q or even the drop down menu, only hitting the red circle will quit the game. You cannot enter the Nether world on any OS in multiplayer which is a weird thing to have missing.

The game is only in beta but the flesh of the game is already there and it is being sold so I think it is fair to review it. If you are the kind of person who loves open-ended games, where it is up to you what you do, there is no way you can go past this game. Ignoring the hype of what is yet to come for Minecraft I give it a 8/10.

Question

I am curious to see if anyone has any feedback on the design of my site. I am currently using a template that I quite like as it is simple and clean but I'm not sure if it is very readable. Does anyone have any troubles with it and what do you think of the links and things being grey? Thanks in advance for your feedback!

One Sentence Reviews

Pocket Frogs [iOS] - Perfect for those looking for a game in which you have indiscriminate, unprotected frog sex, then eat flies for the next half hour 1/10.

Minecraft Buddy [iOS] - This handy little program will get you up and running when you are new to the game, it can't compete with the pay versions but hey it's free 7.5/10.

Orcs and Goblins Advance Order

Nine new releases for Orcs and Goblins players have been announced including a new rulebook and this beast!

This thing is huge and probably a pain to put together but at least it is plastic. Head on over to the advanced orders section of the Games Workshop site to check it all out. With GW releasing beasts like this and Forge World releasing new books and models, will Warhammer Fantasy make the come back that GW hopes?

Infinity Blade [iOS]

Could it be that all of those last  few lame posts were really a build up to this review? Perhaps, perhaps. Infinity Blade, the tech demo of the Unreal Engine for iOS, is one of the most talked about games on any hand held device but does it live up to the hype?

Camelaonte [iOS] QWOP [PC, iOS]

Games exist that test all of our skills. Today I am going to look at games that focus on testing our patience, Camelaonte and QWOP. 

Camelaonte is a cutesy game where you play as a chamaeleon who eats apples. Collecting each different colour and spelling out Camelaonte will gain you bonus points. The higher up an apple is when you eat it the more points you will get as well. If you let an apple fall to the ground it will destroy the terrain beneath it rendering it impossible to cross. Eating a golden apple will return a square of ground.

Camelaonte is a simple game with only left and right controls and the eat button. The movement controls are a little small for my liking but one cannot fall of a ledge anyway. The only way to die in this game is to be hit by an apple and this is where the game tests your patience. It is basically impossible to die as you can always protect yourself with your tongue, which although it only shoots diagonally from your mouth can reach apples just above you. The only challenge in this game is how long can you play it for before it drives you mad.

QWOP seems like a great game to play if you watch this. In reality however it merely tests your patience. In QWOP the flash version, you control a runners thighs and calves with the keys q, w, o and p. You can work out a system and make it quite far. After a while I got to here,

before realising anything was better than crawling along in this game. The iOS version seems to have more control as well as offering five game modes but I refuse to pay $2.49 to play a game that will only infuriate me when I could receive that infuriation for free. If you are willing to donate to the full iOS review leave a comment below, otherwise happy awful gaming!

Quick Update

Games Workshop have released comprehensive rules for the 40k expansion Spearhead for free on their website here. You of course will have to sign in using your login.

The Magic the Gathering application Forge has recently been updated. It features new AI, a GUI overhaul and an updated deck editor, as well as many new cards. Unfortunately it runs slower than ever. It is of course available here.