Press Release: Can Knockdown by Infinite Dreams Hits the Android Market

Infinite Dreams proved that 24 hour projects can successfully compete against other games on the market. iDreams previous quick app – Plasma Globe – has been downloaded over one million times in just seven days! Now “Can Knockdown” will try to copy this huge success on the Android Market.

Gliwice, Poland - Infinite Dreams, award-winning mobile games publisher informed today about the release of its new project for the Android Market (iPhone version coming soon). "Can Knockdown!" is an addictive and 100% FREE game which gives players the possibility to become cold blood snipers while aiming at and knocking down piles and pyramids of cans! Start playing and you just won't put down this marvelous title till you drain your battery empty!

"Can Knockdown!" includes many astonishing features which will amaze your friends and make you come back for more! Online leaderboards (coming with OpenFeint update), absolutely gorgeous high-res graphics, unique and realistic physics engine, multipliers, explosive action and so much more! Can Knockdown is like a miraculous carnival fun fair - only better!

Press Release: Casino Crime from HandyGames

Giebelstadt/Germany, 7th of December 2010. Build your own gambling empire! With the release of Casino Crime, HandyGames™, the leading German publisher of mobile games, is starting a new era of casino games on the Android platform and places the power of “La Familia” firmly in the hands if its fans.

 

"Games like Casino Crime are a rarity in the Android Market! Casino Crime offers many hours of gaming entertainment for all fans of complex tycoon-type sims and casino games.", comments Markus Kassulke, CEO of HandyGames™.

 

Start your criminal career in the glamorous world of gambling! Help luck along a little in your own casino and take your guests to the cleaners! Whether it's easy pick pocketing or elaborate card tricks: the only good guest is a fleeced guest! With your foot on the brake of the roulette wheel and an ace up your sleeve, you're ready for anything. Welcome to the family!

 

Casino Crime is now available for free in the Android Market for all Android devices.

 

Features of Casino Crime:

• Exciting casino manager game with Mafia connections
• Slot machines, Blackjack and Roulette
• Use dirty tricks to cheat your punters
• Pick pockets to earn some quick money
• Unscrupulous croupiers with a talent for crime
• Gambling addicts with their individual needs

Features may vary depending on the device

 

Spot the Difference

When I was a wee lad, I used to really dig those puzzles in Highlights magazine when there was a line drawing and you had to find all of the objects hidden in the picture. Since then it's become more common to see puzzles with two images where you have to find the differences. Nowadays they're showing up in the magazines my children read, but with Spot the Difference I have more such puzzles than I could possibly need.

Spot the Difference turns this experience digital on Android and shows you two colorful photos that are ever so slightly different and adds the pressure of a timer to the challenge. You will frantically search the images for the five differences. Not to be cliché, but this is another ideal mobile game... quick, simple, and fun (or maybe torture to the visually imperceptive). In the graphics and sound department there's really nothing to say. The color photos are nice and there isn't anything much in the way of sound that would even be necessary. Sure, they could have added annoying timer sounds or something, but fortunately they did not. When you find a difference you just touch the screen wherever said difference is noticed. If you're wrong then you suffer a penalty and are buzzed, but if you're right a friendly, green circle appears and one of the five notches in the upper right is filled in.

What this game feeds on, though, are the puzzles and the interface for adding and managing puzzle packs is quite nice. You can view available packs and download them from within the game. Furthermore, you can disable them if you're sick of solving fish puzzles and even delete them to free up space so that you don't have to have all of the artwork ever created for this game stored on your phone. The game also offers leader boards so that you can become the best of the best when it comes to being observant.

About the only thing I didn't like was that some of the puzzles seem quite hard... I'd find three or four of the difference, but just not be able to find the last one. The timer would run out and it would quickly flash where the difference was, but not give me enough time to really see it before returning to the menu. It would have been nice had I been given control to decide when I'm done looking at the solution.

There are other puzzles of this kind and even one with the same name. I haven't tried them all, but I can say that this is a quality job and a game I'd recommend to those that like this kind of game. 4.5/5 stars.

Office Rush

Office Rush is a cute little game that isn't going to cower in the face of political correctness. In Office Rush it's your job to climb the corporate ladder and advance to the position of CEO. Only then will you be able to stick it to the little guy and make far more than one person should ever be paid. No, this game isn't really about economics. It's actually got more of a puzzle slant to it than anything else.

When Office Rush first loads you'll be greeted by a title screen and some nice music. Then you'll get an error that tells you your license isn't valid and it'll close even though you just purchased it. Hopefully that's just me, but that's what did happen and I strive for accurate reporting. So I eventually reload, go through the tutorial which explains that your starting role with the firm is that of a security guard. And what's the biggest problem security guards in corporate America face today? Yes, indeed... ninjas! So you have to kill the ninja and get back to your office (and by 'kill the ninja' I mean 'touch the ninja'). So, on each screen there are some obstacles and you have to run and jump around to get over to the ninja and then back to your place, but wait there's more... each level is actually made up of several tiled screens that can be shifted around like a slide puzzle. You can only travel between these screens if you have them connected correctly (which seems to mean that connected edges look the same). This actually turns out to be a good recipe for a neat little puzzle game that will stop to make you think for a second or two, but, while I have not finished the game, hasn't really left me hanging for any length of time.

Eventually you graduate and make it to secretary. And what do secretaries do? Yes, indeed... they make coffee. So next you'll be getting water (and by 'getting water' I mean 'touching the water cooler') to make coffee and then delivering it to the boss on your knees begging for his approval. No, joke! And, naturally, the secretary is clearly female. Whether you're offended by that or think it's funny one thing is certain: it really wasn't necessary as the central concept of 'touch point A and go to point B' remains the same.

The graphics are basic, and while there a nice little bit of intro music, there really isn't much to the audio for this game. Controls work well and are responsive. Just press the on-screen left or right buttons to move and while moving press the other button to jump. Actually that's a pretty clever control scheme that keeps the on-screen buttons to a minimum. The only control issue I had was with the title screen and I just this moment figured it out. You have to slide to play and/or select a level and not just touch/press the arrows. That was driving me nuts!

Office Rush is a nice little game and is just $0.99 in the Android Market. If you like puzzle style games with a little bit of arcade action thrown in then this is a perfect fit. I'm wondering if later levels will have more than a 2 x 2 slide puzzle, because that would make for a series of much more challenging puzzles. As is, even if I don't see a solution I can easily play trial and error to find one. 4/5 stars for a game that really gets down to business.

Scooter Hero

Scooter Hero bills itself as "one of the most addicting games on the Android Market" and you all know that I'm a sucker for such claims. After all, if your Mom loves your game that much then it HAS to be good doesn't it? The premise is simple. You're controlling a scooter that apparently has the engine of a small delivery truck (based on how it sounds when you crank up the engine). Off you go then along a series of platforms while tapping the screen to jump. You can perform stunts or perhaps that should be singular as in 'a stunt' as the only thing I could find was landing with just my front wheel kind of drags me along under the platform.
The graphics are decent with a somewhat cartoony looking scooter and some background artwork although it probably would have been more impressive if the background scrolled instead of being a still image. Audio, likewise, is decent with the occasional 'great!' when I do something great. Controls are simple and responsive. Just touch the screen to jump or touch and hold to jump higher. You can also touch once while in midair to get a little extra boost.

When all is said and done this game really comes down to being a clone of those SFCave type games where you're moving through a cave and touch to rise and release to fall. It's got better graphics and a better theme than that game and even adds some extras like power ups such a bubble that turns this into an exact clone of the aforementioned game for a short while (i.e. you ride in the bubble and no longer need worry about falling off of the platforms). This game also features three modes of play: 1) You can collect medals, or 2) you can to collect fuel and must make sure you don't run out, or 3) you can deal with obstacles like orange traffic cones.

This is one of those simple games that needs to be in everyone's collection is some form or another. OrangePixel has a good one in their Mini Plane, and, if graphics aren't your thing, SFCave is another free alternative. Scooter Hero, likewise, does a good job of representing this style of game, but with the outrageous 'addiction' claim I had to poke fun at it in the beginning of this review. While I'm at it I also find it funny that the main picture on the developer's website is empty and instead of showing an actual screenshot of the game's play in the Android Market they show the title and instruction screens. That's not what people want to see, guys!? Fortunately there's a freebie demo available. 3.5/5 stars for an above average job.