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penkSo I realize I'm playing a lot of little games, and maybe this can be something I can whip up reviews on. So, in went Semagic, and off we go...
I'm a sucker for the 'quick and dirty' game. Something I can sit down, play for 15 minutes, then get up and leave. Something I can even flip in and out of to check on IRC or mail or other goodies. The trick has been to find Java or Shockwave games that are worthwhile playing more than once or twice.
Honestly, the first of these I pulled off of Popcap Games a year or two ago, that being Bejeweled (which is now 'Diamond Mine' - I'm assuming they sold it to someone) was a true masterpiece. Everyone knows what a timesucking life-sucker that game is, so I shan't pursue it here.
I played Typer Shark a little, and that's sort of fun if you want to figure out how fast you type (the gist is typing letters on sharks heading toward you. If you type the word (or random characters) that are on the shark, the shark gets 'zapped' and floats away. Very fast typing, a lot of fun, but doesn't have long-term staying power)
A couple weeks ago I decided to dig into what other 'online' games there were. Yahoo! Games has a bunch, which I'll talk about later, then I wandered over to Shockwave.com and lo and behold, there's a lot of cool games there!
Gutterball 3d
For some reason I've gotten hooked on 'Bowling' type games. There's one on my Nokia phone, and it's sort of fun to play. This Shockwave version takes advantage of some 3d rendering that is a lot of fun. There's a set of voices that comment on your bowling style - in a very 'hey, we're all out here having fun!' sort of way. I turn them off eventually, but they're not as annoying as I expected. A fun game, with one caveat... Who decided that it was okay to enable STEERING the ball with the mouse? Man if I could do that in my real game, I'd have no problems. This flaw really removes a lot of the skill of the game, and just makes it a 'steer the ball toward some pins and knock 'em down' game, rather than "throw the ball in a way that it'll score points".
Dinomite
I originally saw this game on popcap a year or so ago, and sat playing it with my son Zach a bunch. It's relatively harmelss, in the vein of Snood (shoot the balls up to make patterns), but FAR more polished. The gist is little baby dinosaurs are playing with a slingshot, shooting mama's eggs up into patterns. Match up the green eggs in 3 or more, then break and... well, you get the idea. The game is VERY well written, polished, clean, and a load of fun to play. I'm having a hard time getting a decent high score on it though, racking up about 18,000 or so on the 'Medium' puzzle. Anyway, well worth the try.
Rocket Mania
You're an up and coming Fireworks fiend, learning your trade in China. Twist the layout of fuses until you make a path between the matches and the rockets, and off they go! The more rockets you launch, the more money the audience gives you, which lets you upgrade your rockets. But! There's only so much night time, so you need to launch all your rockets before the dawn.
That's the basic premise of Rocket Mania, and the beginning of my addiction. This game is so well written, so beautifully rendered, it's a joy to play. The gameplay is consistently good, well put together, and just plain fun. If you like the interactive puzzle type games, this one is a joy. You can play with or without a timer, if you like puzzling over the best arrangement of tiles to launch all 10 rockets all at once (I haven't done this yet).
Rocket Mania and Dinomite are now part of a 'group' purchase on shockwave.com, that'll give you a local license. $39.95 is a good price to pay for both these games (and Bookworm, which I tried but wasn't all that flabbergasted with).
So this is my first foray into games reviews. Should I keep going? Should I do this in LJ? Does anyone care? :)
I'm a sucker for the 'quick and dirty' game. Something I can sit down, play for 15 minutes, then get up and leave. Something I can even flip in and out of to check on IRC or mail or other goodies. The trick has been to find Java or Shockwave games that are worthwhile playing more than once or twice.
Honestly, the first of these I pulled off of Popcap Games a year or two ago, that being Bejeweled (which is now 'Diamond Mine' - I'm assuming they sold it to someone) was a true masterpiece. Everyone knows what a timesucking life-sucker that game is, so I shan't pursue it here.
I played Typer Shark a little, and that's sort of fun if you want to figure out how fast you type (the gist is typing letters on sharks heading toward you. If you type the word (or random characters) that are on the shark, the shark gets 'zapped' and floats away. Very fast typing, a lot of fun, but doesn't have long-term staying power)
A couple weeks ago I decided to dig into what other 'online' games there were. Yahoo! Games has a bunch, which I'll talk about later, then I wandered over to Shockwave.com and lo and behold, there's a lot of cool games there!
Gutterball 3d
For some reason I've gotten hooked on 'Bowling' type games. There's one on my Nokia phone, and it's sort of fun to play. This Shockwave version takes advantage of some 3d rendering that is a lot of fun. There's a set of voices that comment on your bowling style - in a very 'hey, we're all out here having fun!' sort of way. I turn them off eventually, but they're not as annoying as I expected. A fun game, with one caveat... Who decided that it was okay to enable STEERING the ball with the mouse? Man if I could do that in my real game, I'd have no problems. This flaw really removes a lot of the skill of the game, and just makes it a 'steer the ball toward some pins and knock 'em down' game, rather than "throw the ball in a way that it'll score points".
Dinomite
I originally saw this game on popcap a year or so ago, and sat playing it with my son Zach a bunch. It's relatively harmelss, in the vein of Snood (shoot the balls up to make patterns), but FAR more polished. The gist is little baby dinosaurs are playing with a slingshot, shooting mama's eggs up into patterns. Match up the green eggs in 3 or more, then break and... well, you get the idea. The game is VERY well written, polished, clean, and a load of fun to play. I'm having a hard time getting a decent high score on it though, racking up about 18,000 or so on the 'Medium' puzzle. Anyway, well worth the try.
Rocket Mania
You're an up and coming Fireworks fiend, learning your trade in China. Twist the layout of fuses until you make a path between the matches and the rockets, and off they go! The more rockets you launch, the more money the audience gives you, which lets you upgrade your rockets. But! There's only so much night time, so you need to launch all your rockets before the dawn.
That's the basic premise of Rocket Mania, and the beginning of my addiction. This game is so well written, so beautifully rendered, it's a joy to play. The gameplay is consistently good, well put together, and just plain fun. If you like the interactive puzzle type games, this one is a joy. You can play with or without a timer, if you like puzzling over the best arrangement of tiles to launch all 10 rockets all at once (I haven't done this yet).
Rocket Mania and Dinomite are now part of a 'group' purchase on shockwave.com, that'll give you a local license. $39.95 is a good price to pay for both these games (and Bookworm, which I tried but wasn't all that flabbergasted with).
So this is my first foray into games reviews. Should I keep going? Should I do this in LJ? Does anyone care? :)
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-30 04:34 pm (UTC)Keep posting reviews. Maybe I'll find something new to play.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-31 12:41 am (UTC)