Magic Bowling

Last week I tried Doodle Bowling out on my Android and it didn't do much for me. It wasn't bad, but as I've stated countless times before... it's hard to do justice to a 'sport' in video game format. The Wii was able to pull it off for bowling with it's new fangled controller and outstanding physics, but with a touch screen... I don't know. So I decided to give Magic Bowling a chance today.

I suspect that the goal of Magic Bowling is to try and do something above and beyond a basic bowling game. I only think this instead of knowing it because there are no instructions with this game. The main screen features a 'New Game' button, 'Free Play' mode, the standard 'Options' button, and a 'Hi Score' button. The latter three are pretty clear as to what they do. 'Free Play' lets you bowl a game against one of the in game opponents that you have unlocked. 'Options' allows you to make minor adjustments to sound, controls ...etc. And 'Hi Score' lets you view high scores. 'New Game', however, starts a story mode in which you head down to the local bowling alley, run into some girl, and are then challenged to a game. If you lose you have to lick her shoes. The game does not actually make you do that so it's an empty threat. If you win then she gives you what you need to master Magic Bowling. It turns out this is a map to an island and so on...

The game's graphics are decent and the sound works. It has a cycling audio track that sounds like it came from a real bowling alley. The graphics aren't without fault, though. There are times when my pin appears visually stuck in the floor or the ball never visually makes contact with a pin, yet said pin goes flying. The physics aren't very good either. They way the pins knock into one another based on the angles in which they are hit just feels a bit off. I could live with this if the controls worked consistently, but they don't. When bowling you can drag the ball to adjust the start position of your bowler and then you are supposed to swipe down the alley. I can tell you right now that swiping straight up doesn't mean you are throwing the ball in a straight line unless you happen to be in the very center of the alley. Again, I have to make guesses as to how it's all supposed to work. The game advertises that it supports spin on the ball. Indeed it does, but this is nullified by other issues. I can't tell you how many times I've touched the ball and done a quick, seemingly accurate swipe and nothing happens. Nada! The controls in this game are poor on many fronts and given that that's 99% of bowling that's a bad sign.

The game gets cute after you move onto the second bowling alley. There's a little directional indicator at the top of the screen along with a strength indicator. I presume, given that the alley is now outdoors and on an island, that this is supposed to be wind strength. Given the weight of a bowling ball and how much effect it has on the ball I'd have to say it's a typhoon. Once wind strength gets over 1 (which is most of the time) it doesn't seem to matter what I do... gutter ball. Fortunately, the AI is SO strong that it bowls an equally poor game in all of the wind. Final Score: 21-18, which is laughable for bowling.

Obviously I can't and don't recommend this game. What's sad is that this isn't an amateur hour title. Many aspects are professionally done, but the controls ruin the game. And if it wasn't for the controls then the physics would probably have hampered the game. If you want bowling on your Android then I'd recommend getting the free Doodle Bowling. It played quite well for a bowling game. As for Magic Bowling, I can only give it 2.5/5 stars for a game that isn't a strike or even a spare. There is a free demo version available in the Market if you'd like to give it a whirl yourself.

Fishin' 2 Go

Let me start this review by saying that I'm not into fishing. I don't view it as much of a sport. I see people by the river spending their day fishing and just can grasp the thrill of doing so. I just don't get why someone would choose to spend their time fishing unless, of course, they desperately need the food. And I say this not to belittle those that enjoy fishing as I know that there's no shortage of people that would think the activities I enjoy are equally boring, but rather to give you context for my review.

Fishin' 2 Go isn't as much of a game as it is a simulation. I've asked for flight simulators in the past. Simulators can be fun, but the central point of such software is to focus less on the fun and more on being an accurate model of a real world activity. So, upon loading Fishin' 2 Go, the first thing I can appreciate is the fact that there are instructions along with some basic information on fishing. This is information that I didn't know and is nice because it means the 'game' could also be educational to someone that is not into fishing and wanting to learn. Next, I figure that I should probably take the time to actually catch a fish so I try. The neat thing here is your mobile phone becomes a bit like a WiiMote in bowling. You hold down an on screen button, pull your phone back, flick it forward with your wrist as if casting a real fishing line, and release the button to let go of the line. Plunk! You then see the line drop into the water. Before doing this you can choose different lures and gears from a wide selection of choices, but not knowing anything about this stuff I figured it wouldn't matter to me. You then wind your reel by touching and dragging on the screen in a clockwise motion and repeat until you get a catch.

Eventually you'll get a catch. I did, after letting a few get away and then consulting the instructions once again, so I can safely guarantee you will. At that point there are two meters at the top of the screen. One shows how taught your fishing line is. You need to make sure it stays out of the red. Then there's the fish's energy level. You need to tire the fish out and then bring it home. The game then shows you what kind of fish you caught and gives you the option of tossing it back or keeping it.

The game offers several locations to choose from for fishing and each is nice looking with ripples in the water and some nice background scenery. It provides the tranquility of a real fishing experience, or so I am told, until the fly shows up and starts to be a nuisance. The sound effects are in line with a fishing experience. The control are all touch screen and accelerometer based. My only issue with the controls is that of the 72 clockwise rotations that my finger has to do to bring my line back in. There is an 'auto' button for that, but from what I understand I want the fish to see the lure moving through the water in order to catch them.

So, what does this non-fisherman think? This is a very well done fishing simulation that fits in the palm of your hand. If going fishing sounds like a good time to you and moving that experience to Android still sounds appealing then this is going to be a dream come true. If you're like me and can't understand why anyone would spend their time engaging in this activity then you won't like it just as I have no personal interest in playing this ever again. And if you're borderline then try the free demo version. All in all, I can recognize the work that this game took, see that a good job was done, and also see that the developer is reasonably active in supporting and improving their product. 4/5 stars.

A Few Sales...

Camel Games (all games are $1 off after their little debacle this week)

Papa Stacker - $0.99
Flight Director - $0.99
Space Physics - $1.99
Super Tumble - $1.99
Blow Up - $1.99
Hyper Jump - $1.99
Shoot U! - $1.99


NCIS: The TV Game - $2.99 from $4.99
My Paper Plane 2 (3D) - $2.99 from $3.99
P.O.D. - 0.79 euros from 1 euro
Mahjong Madness - 1.49 pound from 1.99 pound

and

Crazy Taxi (not to be confused with the arcade game) is now free

MiniSquadron!

MiniSquadron! is among the cluster of games that support Open Feint that were released last week. It is a port of an iPhone game that has received much acclaim in which you control a plane in a 2D horizontal scrolling environment. Your goal? To shoot down anything and everything that comes your way. Upon starting a game you get to choose a plane from 56 choices. Of course, 55 of them are locked away initially, but over time you earn the right to use them. You then fly onto the screen, shoot down some geese to get acquainted with the controls and then in come the enemies.

The graphics are colorful and attractive and the sound consists of a nice background soundtrack along with appropriate sound effects for crashing, gun fire, ...etc. The background sound track does eventually get old, but it can easily be turned off from the Options screen. Controls are primarily touch screen based with an on screen directional pad that allows you to simply point where you want your plane to go and a fire button. The game also supports multiplayer although only over local Wi-Fi.

One thing that's really nice is that the directional pad makes it easy to fly where you want to. Sure, it takes some time to get used to. But after a while you'll be enjoying the satisfaction of not only shooting down an enemy, but being able to tail them and shoot them down with consecutive shots. That's one of my favorite rushes that I can get from a plane game. In addition to enemies, there are also bonus stars to collect that will yield special abilities such as 'ghost' which temporarily makes your plane invisible while you continue to pump lead into your adversaries.

In this game the air space is limited so it's possible to not only fly too high (and stall), but also too far to the left or right. If you do that then your plane will automatically turn around and head back in the other direction. As for issues with the game, my biggest is the lack of any support for my hardware DPad/keyboard. I really wish more companies would take note of this facility on some Android devices. It can't be that hard to support. I am pleased to say that App2SD support is present which is nice given that this is a sizable game. Oh, and this game also reminds me that Android owners need a good 'flight simulator' game.

Summary? The presentation is great, the game plays smooth, and the controls are even good enough for me to play for an extended session of game play. The in game bonus stars and the armada of available planes provide a reason to keep playing beyond the simple fact that this game is lots of fun. 5/5 stars. A game play video is available below and there is a lite version in the Market to try out.

Slitherlink

There have been many games trying to create a tie in to Sudoku. So far I haven't seen one that succeeds with respect to such a tie in. Here's a game that doesn't try to make such a claim when it probably should. Slitherlink is a puzzle game that relies on similar logical deductions as a game like Sudoku while offering a very different play experience.

First, what is this game about? In Slitherlink you have a board of squares or hexes and you're going to try and create a loop using the edges of these spaces. Some of these spaces are blank and some have a number in. Numbers in spaces indicate how many sides must be included in this loop. When I first played I had an inclination that this was a logic puzzle like Sudoku, but it felt different. It took me about 5 minutes to solve my first small, hex puzzle on easy mode. So why is it different?

Let's look at Sudoku. In Sudoku the difficulty levels are more varied without doing things like doubling the size of the puzzle. Some cells have simple logical relationships to solve them where just two elements combine to provide a square's number and others can be quite complex. Slitherlink doesn't have that same range of difficulty. There are logical relationships and after solving several puzzles I think the 0's are the most valuable spaces as they provide the most information (followed by spaces with numbers in on the edge of the puzzle). I'm also relatively new to this so don't take that to the bank. Yet, Slitherlink is both interesting and mind bending for similar and different reasons. I could yap and yap about it, but the bottom line is that you need to try this game and feel your own brain churn in order to understand what I'm getting at. At the same time, don't be disillusioned when it's not the same as Sudoku.

Problems? The only real issue I have is that on larger puzzles there's a lot of scrolling back and forth as the entire puzzle doesn't fit on screen at a decent size. I'm not sure it's really practical to bother with those on a mobile screen. But the Android tablets are coming, right? It also gets a bit tight tapping on edges even on the small puzzles. However, as you can easily undo and correct any errors that's really not a problem.

If you don't like Sudoku then I think it's a safe bet that you won't like this. It's a puzzle game and it requires a fair amount of brain burning (or a LOT of trial and error) to solve. If you've got that kind of mind then this will be a real treat for you and if not then it will be torture. Please note that there are SEVERAL games in the Market called SlitherLink and that this (Ejelta's version) does have a demo. 4/5 stars.