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A Gaming Diary
Star Defense Prelude (iPhone)
Oct 26th
This is the Lite version of Star Defense, basically, but I believe it acts as a prequel to the main game. It’s a fixed path tower defense game, with the twist being that the levels are set on small, spherical asteroids, so you have to rotate them around to see different parts of the level.
At first, this is exceptionally annoying and feels like a willful way to make the game harder simply by limiting your information, or maybe just an example of technology being given precedence over game design. After a few minutes, though, you get used to it and it starts to make sense. Yes, it does make the game harder than if you could flatten it out and see the whole level at once, but learning the path and rotating frantically to get where you need to be becomes part of the fun of it all.
It’s all pretty standard, with the normal selection of towers and creeps with the usual statistics and resistances, but it feels a lot more involving than many other games of its type. I didn’t often find myself sitting back after having set up my defenses and waiting for the creeps to get slaughtered. I was always spinning around, trying to find the optimum spot for new towers and making hard decisions about whether it was better to spend a lot of money on upgrades or small amounts on new low-power towers.
Basically, it works and after the bad first impressions I’ve become very fond of it. The full version of the game is currently 59p, but I won’t be playing it until I’ve beaten the single level included in this version on Medium difficulty. I can get to the final wave, but can’t quite hold on long enough to win.
Sentinel: Mars Defence (iPhone)
Oct 26th
I was in a very tower defense mood over the weekend and divided my time between three of them. The first I’m going to write about is Sentinel, which I’d played before and found very uninspiring, but completely functional. There didn’t seem anything that wrong with it, but it didn’t seem to elevate itself above the standard, either.
Further play this weekend cemented those impressions. I like a lot of what it does, but ninety waves per level seems a bit a much and when you first play a level it’s very, very hard to work out where the creeps will go and where you can build towers. Still, it’s obviously designed for multiple plays through each level. I just went through all four of them on easy mode, just to get a feel for them and to open them up. I’ll probably go back and play through them on medium before before starting the sequel which I bought because, yes, it was on sale for 59p.
It’s a thoroughly decent game with a couple of small problems, but it’s not something I can see myself ever falling in love with. And yet I keep coming back.
Lucky Coins (iPhone)
Oct 26th
The closest reference point might be Peggle. You fire a coin from the top of the screen, it collects stars, horseshoes, clovers, etc. on the way down. Get enough and you win the level.
It’s not epically great, or anything, but it was free. Not bad enough to feel like I wasted my time playing it, not good enough to make think I’d have paid for it. Closer to the latter than the former, though.
I really don’t have much to say about it and I’ve not played it since Friday, which feels like weeks ago. It’s hardly worth blogging about it at all, but I have my rules.
Geared (iPhone)
Oct 26th
It’s not a bad little game at all. After getting off level 45 – I got horribly stuck, left it for a few hours, the completed it straightaway, as often happens with these things – I’ve not got held up very long since.
I’m up into the sixties now and I like the game a lot, but I’m not quite loving it. I’m just not overly fond of the way too many puzzles rely on pixel-perfect positioning, rather than solving skills. Still, it’s 59p for a generous number of puzzles and and very nice interface, so you can’t really go wrong.
geoDefense Swarm (iPhone)
Oct 23rd
Yes! I completed that troublesome level on my second attempt at lunchtime. Look away now if you don’t want spoilers.
I was very chuffed with myself and decided to see how well I’d done on the global leaderboard for the level.
Oh.
Geared (iPhone)
Oct 23rd
I’m bit late to the party here, I know. Geared has been selling huge amounts over the summer, but I’ve only just got around to taking a look, prompted by the update that introduced forty more levels, bringing the total number of levels to one hundred and twenty, which seems good value for 59p.
Anyway, it’s all very simple in concept. You’ve got to connect a yellow gear to one or more blue gears using grey gears. It’s easy to understand and, at first, easy to do.
It wasn’t until somewhere in the thirties that I started having to do any sort of thinking and wasn’t until the forties that I got stuck. However, I am now very, very stuck on level forty-five.
I’m not allowed to put the centre of gears in the red area there and gravity means I can’t just have gears hanging in space. I’m nearly there, as you can see, but I just can’t quite reach. I’m not sure if my whole idea is wrong or if it’s just my execution.
I can’t decide if that’s a problem with the game or not. The gears don’t snap to a grid, so you have to be very careful about your positioning. Sometimes the solution to a level is obvious and the only problems come from trying to put the gears in exactly the right place. This either adds an extra layer to the puzzle or adds an unnecessary complication. I’ve not decided which, yet.
However, the fact that I started from the beginning and got up to level forty-five yesterday evening is a sign that the game might just be quite good.
33rd Division (iPhone)
Oct 23rd
Cor. Also: blimey. The second level is a bit of a tough one. First you have to get through a narrow pass under the gaze of a machine gun nest and then there’s a patrolling guard who always seems to be in the worst position possible.
I think that – for Time mode at least, which, as I said yesterday, is very much where it’s at – the only way to be successful is to have lots and lots of soldiers coming in and lots and lots of soldiers lying down on the ground waiting for a chance to move. However, multitasking that much is pretty much beyond me. I think my best score is about twenty-three, which is pitiful.
Now, don’t get the wrong impression. Just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s not. A stiff challenge can still be great fun – and is here.
geoDefense Swarm (iPhone)
Oct 23rd
I fancied some tower defense and I wasn’t feeling very well, so I didn’t want to play my iPhone in landscape mode. How that works, I don’t know, but I definitely wanted to keep it upright.
Anyway, I had a few tries of the second Medium level and died horribly each time.
I know I nearly had it last time I tried, but I can’t remember how I had everything set up. Sigh.
It’s a great game and all, but it hates me.
SkySmash 1918 (iPhone)
Oct 23rd
Gorgeous vertical shooter. Oddly, the best controls are off by default, but a quick dip into the options sorts that out.
I haven’t got off the first level yet – the boss keeps killing me despite not actually seeming to be very difficult – so I’m not comfortable offering any sort of verdict, but it seems good from a few quick goes.
33rd Division (iPhone)
Oct 22nd
Okay, I’ve had more time with this game now and am prepared to offer my verdict. Are you ready? My verdict is this: 33rd Division is an excellent little game and for 59p it’s an absolute bargain. It’s fast, frantic and heart-stoppingly tense at times – far more so than Sniper Vs Sniper, which isn’t any sort of slouch in the tension department itself.
This is especially true of Time mode. In Life mode, you have a set number of lives, in Time mode a set amount of time, which gets topped up every time a soldier reaches home. This may not sound like much of a difference, but the difference in the way the game plays is astonishing. In Life mode, you can deal with one soldier at a time, but in Time mode there’s no such luxury. Unless you constantly bring extra soldiers into play you will run out of time very, very quickly. This means that lying down to wait for enemies to look away becomes a necessity you can ill afford and you’re constantly dealing with two or three soldiers at once. It’s a much better way to play the game and I can’t see myself going back to Life mode – unless I’m feeling very lazy or I need to play it to unlock maps.
Also, I’ve got quite a good position on the scoreboard right now, which is nice.
