Monday, February 27, 2012

Glorious Time Wasters: Godville

Who it's for:  Anyone
Rating:  Five REEEEALY weird stars

GODVILLE

I'm.. not sure whose time this android game is actually wasting, because technically it's not wasting your time.  This is an RPG game for android devices that you DON'T play.  It's sort of a social media thing with sort of guilds as well.  And actually, it's a little stranger than that, even.  It's a parody life, the universe, and  MMO games -- and best of all, you don't play it.



That's right.  You DON'T play this one.  It plays itself.

This is a text ...err... game -- or, rather, the diary of a luckless wannabe that YOU are godling over.  You create yourself a deity and a hero suddenly decides to find you.  Your godlike powers aren't terribly awesome -- but that's okay, because your hero isn't that awesome.  You can send your hero messages and encourage them (sometimes this means raining flower petals on them.)  You can also punish them and attempt to turn them to the Dark Side or become an outstanding do-gooder. 

Your hero does all sorts of things while you're not watching (which gives you a new perspective on how deities might see YOU.)  For instance, they will join a guild without your intervention.  This is a nice thing for those of you who deal with guilds on MMOs.  Less guild drama, more fun.


"Thought about writing in my diary, but then I changed my mind."

"Upon close inspection, this road seems to be paved with good intentions.  Huh.  I wonder where it leads.

"You know, Exalted One, I would have won that fight with the Wounder Man if that tree hadn't jumped out in front of me."

"Bunnies in burrows suddenly got suspiciously fussy."  (Yes you read that right.)

"Avoiding mudholes, monsters, and mimes"

If you get the game, DO make an account on the GodVille site.
http://godvillegame.com/

It's free.  Check it out at the link below:

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Glorious Little Apps: Relax And Sleep

There's an app for just about anything these days -- but this "Relax and Sleep" (a favorite free Android app of mine) is one I've recommended to friends who travel and find it hard to get to sleep when they're away from home.  Think of it as your own personal, free, environmental ambiance generator -- and so much more. 

Need a free white noise generator to help you doze off?  Yes, "Relax and Sleep" has an assortment of white noise type generators, inclluding "fan" and "washing machine."  I prefer to combine several sounds together (my favorite is rain and a cat purring, along with cricket frogs) to create a lovely soundscape as I drift off to sleep.  However, you can also use it to create a work-friendly soundscape to help you focus your attention and minimize distractions from the rest of your workspace.

Here's the link to the free version for the Android operating system -- BUT -- it's such a lovely little app that
I recommend paying the $3.00 and getting the paid version.

And happy napping!
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mizusoft.relaxandsleep&hl=en

Monday, February 13, 2012

Glorious Time Wasters: Glu's Bonsai Blast Android Game

Initial review:  Five stars -- Nice little twist on a target shooting game
Game category:  Physics games
Game type: Arcade
Recommended device size:  any device
Who'd enjoy it?  For everyone, really.
http://www.glu.com/game/bonsai-blast

It's hard to come up with new concepts in a "shoot the target" game, but Glu has managed to create a very pleasant, simple, and playable game for all Android devices.  You're presented a screen with a path and a little "snake" of marbles that start moving along the path to another hole.  The object is to add colored marbles to a section until you match three of the same color, and that section of the line explodes and the marble "snake" shrinks.  Once you've mastered the basics of this game, you can start to get fancy by ricocheting your marbles off walls, using chutes to guide marbles, and swapping from one shooting spot to the next with a touch of your finger.  Each level brings some extra bonuses and treasures.

The game graphics are beautiful, and the play is smooth.  Although this doesn't involve chess-like strategy, it does require some quick thinking to place the marbles properly.  Best of all, for those with poorer eyesight, you touch the part of the marble snake where you want your next marble to land and it goes there -- no wild blasting all over the screen trying to get the game under control.

Great fun, great quick time waster, great stress buster.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Not so glorious time wasters -- A Knights Dawn

Android game: A Knight's Dawn

I tried hard to like this one because it had so much going for it --  a hybrid gamethat's a cross between a steampunkish roleplaying game and an arcade shooter.  It comes complete with a storyline that weaves through the levels and ties the scenarios together neatly.  It allowed flexibility with character choice, and once you figure out the mechanics (where to place ranged fighters (musketeers) and melee fighters (knights, axemen, etc)) it wasn't that hard to successfully complete a level.

But where it really went wrong for me was in the persistent microtransactions where you pay through Paypal or a credit card for equipment upgrades.  Yes, you can earn enough points to upgrade ONE of your characters -- if you play six rounds at one level.  It was far too easy to hit on one of the "download this and get THIS much XP" ads, and the constant commercials (along the lines of "just upgrade with XP and you won't LOSE this level!") were a total turnoff.  I don't mind ads and I do understand that developers need to be recompensed.  But I prefer the "upgrade payment" or "free but you've got ads" model to the "buy your way to heroics."

The best gaming experience for A Knight's Dawn is on larger tablets.  It was almost impossible to get through the first level on my phone, and the darkness of the graphics made it hard to locate my heroes on the 7 inch tablet.  Load time of the game itself was quite long -- I thought my machines had frozen.

And I just hate the constant microtransactions (pay money for gear) -- did I mention that?  Yeah.  I thought so.