Search Results for “label/Casual/index.html” – Page 3

Number of Results: 23

Goop – 0.99 (Fine & Dandy Games)

Goop is a new casual arcade game from Fine & Dandy Games. In it, you will try and save the Eeeps by getting them from one side of the screen to the other without letting them get hit by the dripping goop. There’s 4 different environments in which you can try and save the Eeeps in, each with different goop set-ups. Four different characters, each with different mechanics and ways of moving helps add a bit of strategy to the game as well.

The graphics in Goop are great, nice, polished, and presented in Retina Display. The four environments are each wonderfully colored, and are extremely varied. Each one of the Eeeps are different colors, pink, bright green, dull green, and purple, making it easy to tell which Eeeps you are dealing with, and needing to get across the screen. The controls are good and responsive, you touch the Eeeps to make them jump forward, and tap, hold, and drag them left to pull them backwards a bit.

Goop is definitely a nice pick-up-and-play game, easy to waste a few minutes on whenever you’ve got a couple minutes to spare. It’s easy enough to be accessible for kids, but challenging enough to keep even adults entertained.

There are 4 different leader boards on GameCenter, along with 22 achievements, adding quite a bit to the replay value. There is, however, no mode select, or difficulty change options, though the difficulty does go up as you play, changing the rate and timing of the goop drips. Having different modes made for a game like Goop would have been a great idea. The game seems to be set up perfectly for a Challenge Mode, or something of that sort. A Story Mode would have also been a great idea for the game, finding out why they’re away from their home, or why they need to get back would have made the game more entertaining.

With the 4 different environments, there’s not much content in the way of gameplay. Each world is the size of the screen, and does not scroll. Most games with one-screen levels give us way more than 4 levels, so seeing this was kind of disappointing.

What really does stand out are they graphics, easy playability, the climbing difficulty, and the scoring system. Once you get a certain number of Eeeps across the screen, you’ll enter bonus modes, increasing your score quite a bit, and driving you to get more and more Eeeps across the screen. The climbing difficulty helps keep the game entertaining to hardened gamers, and the leader boards and achievements add that extra challenge.

In the end, Goop is a cute casual game that’s great for kids as well as adults, and casual to hardcore gamers. It could just use a bit more content and gameplay. But for $0.99, it’s a great buy, as it’s a game that could potentially stay on your device for a long, long time. Fine & Dandy Games have shown that they know what makes a game accessible to everyone, and I’m excited to see what they’re next offering to the AppStore will be. I do hope to see more done with Goop, but it’s worth buying as is now, as it’ll give you more entertainment than 4 quarters spent at the arcade.

Goop is getting a score of 7 out of 10.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goop/id426940636?mt=8

Posted in: 0.99, Arcade, Casual, Syntheticvoid

app August 30, 2011 UncategorizedPosted in: 0 Read more >

Star Galaxy – 0.99 (Douglas Kim)

Star Galaxy has been pulled from the AppStore so that it can be re-released. When asked why, the publisher responded with;

“The developer thought that the game was not getting attention, and

the exposure he wanted, so the developer asked us to re-release the title.”

Interpret that how you like, but the bottom line is that anyone who bought the version that was pulled will not be getting future updates, and their money was essentially used to fund the re-release of the exact same game. Developers and publishers that do this have no respect for their customers. In turn, reviews from developers that pull their apps, or put ads into their paid apps, will have their reviews removed. The App Shack will not support this.

Posted in: 0.99, Arcade, Casual, Syntheticvoid, Tap

app August 30, 2011 UncategorizedPosted in: 0 Read more >

Dust Those Bunnies – 0.99 (Gamers Rejoice)

Dust Those Bunnies is a new swiping arcade game from Gamers Rejoice. In it, you’ll be sweeping as many dust bunnies into a dust pan as you can in a certain amount of time while trying to avoid bomber bunnies and using power-ups. I should mention that this game was made using GameSalad. But it is one of only a couple GameSalad games that actually runs well on my 4th Gen Touch. In fact, I didn’t even know it was made using GameSalad until I read it on the Touch Arcade Forums. The load times are not bad at all, and the controls are nice, tight and responsive.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Dust Those Bunnies is the graphics. They’re black and white and look like a classic old film. They are done very well, and this decision to look like an old movie adds quite a bit to the polish of the game. The music sounds great, and with no sound effects, it adds even more to the feel of old silent films. There’s also a hidden sepia toned look for the game. We’re given two different game modes, one called Wage War, in which you’re given power-ups and 1:45 to get as many dust bunnies into the dust pan as you can. The other mode is called Commando, in this mode you’re given 1 minute with no power-ups to get as many dust bunnies into the dust pan as you can. Both modes are pretty challenging as you’ll need to keep an eye out for bomber bunnies that don’t look too different from the regular bunnies you’ll be sweeping up; one of their ears is a wick, and they have a different facial expression. You’re aloud to get of the bombers bunnies into the dust pan before they blow it up, and each one you do get into the pan takes away 25 points. If you manage to sweep them to the side of the pan, you’ll get 8 points.

The scoring system is pretty nice. You get one point for each small bunny you can swipe into the dust pan, two for medium bunnies, and 4 for big bunnies. If you sweep more than one bunny into the pan at a time, you’ll get an extra point for each bunny. For instance, if you sweep 4 bunnies into the pan at once, you’ll get 4 points, one for each, plus 4 points for the combo bonus, totaling 8 points. In Wage War Mode, there’s power-ups that will help you a lot with scoring, but that are clearly harder to get into the dust pan than the bunnies, being heavier and disappearing after a short time. There’s a disco ball, with which you’ll get 10 points for every bunny you sweet into the pan, plus the regular bonus points for sweeping more than one bunny in at a time. There’s also a dust buster power-up which will pick up every bunny you drag your finger over, including the bomber bunnies. Micro fiber cloths will help you out by making all the bunnies follow your finger, and a pocket watch will add 15 seconds to the timer. There’s also various items which will give you 10, 15, and 50 points.

Sweeping the bunnies into the dust pan isn’t as easy as it sounds. You need to get the speed just right. Going too fast will leave bunnies behind your finger, and going too slow will cause them to go in all sorts of different directions. In the loading screen before playing it says “This is sweeping, slow and steady sweeps will win the war.“, and it couldn’t be more true.

There are unlockables in the game as well. You can get new brooms, which unlock depending on how many total sweeps you’ve made, and each make it easier to sweep more bunnies into the dust pan. New enemies, each with a different maneuvering mechanic, are unlocked when you get a certain amount of total bunnies into the pan, and then there’s new areas to sweep on, each with different textures, and are unlocked based on how many total games you’ve played. You’ll also be able to unlock new music tracks as you progress through the game, and there’s in-game medals to try and snag as well. All of this adds a lot to the replay value of the game, as do the GameCenter leaderboards, One for both of the game modes.

With all of the content in Dust Those Bunnies, it’s a great game to get for $0.99. This is the introductory price, and I’m guessing the regular price will be $1.99. It hasn’t been said when the price will go up, but I’m guessing it will be like most introductory prices and go up about one week from the release date, which was August 25. It’s a pretty original game, which is something we don’t see too often in the AppStore these days, and it’s presented in a very professional manner. Given that it was made with GameSalad makes it even slightly more impressive. If casual arcade games that can be played by hardcore gamers as well is something you’re into, Dust Those Bunnies will be a great game to pick up. For me, it’s joining the ranks of Tiny Wings, Kosmo Spin, and other great casual games that bring along quite a hefty challenge. The only things I would love to see in the future is maybe another game mode, something like Endless Mode, mixing all of the different types of bunnies, the in-game achievements moved to GameCenter, and some more obstacles blocking your sweeping paths in the different environments you can unlock. Other than that, there’s not much room for improvement with this quality title from Gamers Rejoice.