Saturday, March 10, 2012

Glorious Time Wasters: Magma Mobile's "Galaxy"

Glorious Time Wasters:  Galaxy


Initial review:  Five stars -- deceptively easy for the first rounds.

Game category:  Puzzle games

Game type: Puzzle and timed puzzle

Recommended device size:  any device

Who'd enjoy it?  For everyone, really.

My tablet chimed softly as the game screen loaded.  My husband eyed the first screen:  run your finger over three lines to connect 3 stars in a triangle.  "Tough, huh?" he joked.  I gritted my teeth.  "I'm reviewing Android games for kids.  Parents always like to have recommendations for little free Android games suitable for children so that they can keep the young ones amused while they're waiting somewhere," I said as the screen flashed "good job." 

A four sided figure appeared.  "It's a Mom thing," I said.

He looked at me, amused. 

"It's supposed to be easy," I swooshed through the figure in two seconds.  "Good job!" the screen read.

More stars appeared, connected by lines.  The next diagram was no problem for an adult but might be challenging for a four year old learning to play connect the dots games.  However, by the time the game had gotten up to level 8, the difficulty level had crept up.  There were some "one way" connections and if you tried to go over a line a second time, it would erase the line.   By the time I hit level 13, it was taking longer than 3 seconds to get through and I was having to think about which moves would work best. 

That's typical of a lot of the Magma Mobile games.
They're charming and the deceptive simplicity of the first screens lulls you into thinking you can solve all hundred levels in five minutes.  By the time you hit level 20, you have to pause to think out the geometry and it's not unusual to take three or four (or six!) tries to finally hit the right solution.  There is a "time attack" mode where you have a time limit (and different screens than the normal one) as well as an arcade option.  There's also a "no music, please" setting (thank you, Magma Mobile) as well as a vibration mode.

It's a great little mind exericse and a perfect game to play while wating in the grocery line or at the bus stop.

Free to play -- check it out at the link below!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.magmamobile.game.Galaxy

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