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Fliplomacy ($1.99) by Shobhit Samaria is a unique puzzle game where you must restore peace to the board by convincing certain tiles to change sides. If you enjoyed recent titles like Dissembler or Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle, then you'll get a kick out of Fliplomacy.

Puzzles are my saving grace lately, with all of the different things in my life that are stressing me out. After a long day, I just want to sit down with my fiancé and just relax with some games on my iPhone. While it feels like I've gone through most of the puzzle games on the App Store, I just can't help myself: I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for new ones. And when I saw Fliplomacy on the App Store, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Needless to say, this one doesn't disappoint.

$2.99

Dissembler

Ian MacLarty

Free

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle

Blue Wizard Digital LP

The visual style in Fliplomacy is distinctive and carries a minimalistic aesthetic to it. While the game looks like it could have just been done in flat, 2D drawings, it's more of an isometric 3D appearance due to the angled top-down perspective that's fairly popular these days. The tiles on the board also have a bit of depth to them, so they pop out against the soothing color gradient backgrounds. The default Diplomat character in the starting theme is a voxel-style humanoid, and the flags are simple and basic, like what you'd expect on a golf course. Animations are smooth and fluid, with no lag or choppy frame rates on my iPhone 8 Plus. The atmospheric and ambient soundtrack is soothing, which is perfect for unwinding with after a long day.

When you start Fliplomacy, there's only the main theme, which is a pink-to-lavender backdrop, and your Diplomat is in pink, who must change purple flags to pink. As you complete a certain number of puzzles, more themes become available for you to use. These themes change your Diplomat's appearance, as well as the flags, and the symbols on the squares to represent special tiles. I love the other themes, and seeing how awesome the red blue theme with playing cards looks definitely keeps me motivated to keep going until I unlock it.

Like many other puzzle games, Fliplomacy is level-based. There are 150 puzzles that are split up over five chapters, so there are 30 stages in each. Unlike most puzzle games though, everything is unlocked from the start, so you can play the game in any order you want. So if you get stuck, don't worry! Just go try a different puzzle and go back to the other one later. The freedom of playing however you want is definitely fantastic, and alleviates any frustrations you may have.

So what's the goal in Fliplomacy? It's pretty simple: as ace Diplomat, you must convince the squares on the board that have changed sides, with flags that are the opposite color as you. To do this, you must jump over these squares to make them change color. Just swipe your finger in the direction you want to move in, and the Diplomat moves one space at at time, unless it's a flag, which you jump over.

There's a bit of variety in the puzzles and their objectives. Some of them just require you to get all of the flags the same color, and the fewer moves you do it in, the more stars you earn (up to three). Others have a limited amount of moves, so you have to think carefully about how to solve the puzzle. Eventually, later puzzles also need you to reach the "done deal" square to finalize everything, or you need to collect all of the briefcases before it's complete. The various goals spice up the game, and are much appreciated.

The game starts out simple enough, but as you progress, new mechanics are introduced as well. The game likes to handhold you through these new elements though, as there's always a tutorial pop-up that appears whenever there's something new. Unfortunately, if you make a mistake and restart when there's a new mechanic, then you have to go through the tutorial boxes again, which is rather annoying.

If you're wondering what mechanics are added as you go, there will be squares that can change the color of all flags in a row, column, or the entire board, disappearing squares (so you can't go back), warping points, and more. As these get shown to you, you'll have to think carefully about your plan to reach all the flags and change their sides. Using your head here is part of the fun, as the game is inspired by classics like Othello and Checkers.

Fliplomacy is a fantastic puzzle game that is sure to delight fans of the genre.

The Good

Fliplomacy is a fantastic puzzle game that is sure to delight fans of the genre. The graphics are nice, clean, and minimalistic but with enough oomph to appeal to everyone. The sound is calming and tranquil, so it is great for helping you forget about reality for a bit and focusing on the challenging puzzles at hand.

For a game that is only two bucks and has 150 puzzles that you can solve in any order, there's a lot of value for your money. Controls are responsive and intuitive, so it's a great choice for anyone in the family.

The Bad

While Fliplomacy is great, there is one issue I can see and that's the fact that there are no hints. Even though you can just move on to another puzzle and come back to the one you're stuck on at a different time, sometimes you'll just want to solve it right away. I think that Fliplomacy could benefit from having a hint system, and since there are no in-app purchases, more could be earned by completing puzzles. It's not a huge deal, but just something I hope the developer considers adding in the future.

The verdict

If you're a fan of challenging puzzle games that make you use your head, then Fliplomacy is an excellent addition. I love the kitschy visuals, and the various themes that you can unlock keep you motivated to play. I enjoy ambient music, so the soundtrack is delightful. On top of it all, the ability to play the game as you please in any order you want is great, and honestly, I wish more games allowed you to do that. It's just not much fun being stuck and frustrated on a level with no other options.

Fliplomacy is a must for any puzzle lovers. It's available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

9.1

OVERALL

Replayability 9

Game Controls 9

Graphics 9

Sound/Music 9.3

Gameplay 9

$2.99

Fliplomacy

Shobhit Samaria

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Old Man's Guilt ($0.99) by Yugeun Song is a puzzle platformer about an old man who had only one particular reason for coming to a deserted island. If you enjoyed other games like Umiro and Old Man's Journey, then you may like Old Man's Guilt. No, it's not related to Old Man's Journey, so don't get them confused.

These days, I feel like things are just moving way too fast for me to handle. When you have a lot of things going on, this is just natural. That's why I just want to take some time to myself and unwind with some games on my iPhone, as it helps me forget about my worries. I'm a fan of puzzles that keep my mind stimulated, and I also love platformers since I grew up with them. So of course, these two put together are the perfect kind of game, right? When I saw Old Man's Guilt on the App Store, I was intrigued, as I love puzzle platformers.

$4.99

Old Man's Journey

Broken Rules Interactive Media GmbH

$2.99

Umiro

GHI Media, LLC

Visually, Old Man's Guilt carries a retro aesthetic, thanks to the 16-bit graphics that are reminiscent of titles like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery. The backdrops are pretty simple, with transitional layers to make objects appear farther off in the distance, and the foreground is pretty detailed and textured, even with the pixelated style. The colors in the game are mostly muted earthy tones with some darker hues as you progress in the story. It sets the overall tone and theme of the game, which I thought was nice. However, I noticed some of the text appears fuzzy and not crisp on my iPhone 8 Plus's Retina HD screen, which irked me. There's also a rather slow transition animation for dialogue text that you can't speed up or skip, which is also annoying. There's not much of a soundtrack to the game, but it's full of sound effects to mimic the feeling of being on a remote island, which is relaxing and nice to hear.

Even though Old Man's Guilt is a puzzle platformer, it's not really a game where you pick and choose which stages you want to play, and there are no stars to earn. Instead, players go on a narrative journey to discover the reason behind the old man's presence on the island. He first arrived on the island in a much younger state, but he grew old and now needs help to get to his destination. That's where you come in. Players must help guide the old man through a series of puzzles and avoid traps and dangers, all to discover his reason for being there.

Controls in Old Man's Guilt are simple and work out alright, but could be more responsive. In the bottom left are two directional buttons for having the old man move left and right. The bottom right corner has a button for jumping, and another for interacting with environmental objects like ladders, switches, and more.

My biggest issue with Old Man's Guilt is the fact that the old man is, well, super slow. I suppose this is due to the fact that he's an old man and doesn't move like he used to, but for a game, I consider slow movement a hindrance. It feels like forever for him to get a running start, and I end up worrying about whether or not I'm going to make the tiny jump over a spike in the ground or not. It probably goes against the whole premise of the game, but I wish the old man would move just a tad faster.

It gets a bit tiresome when you're still trying to figure out the game and end up dying, only to have to try again from the beginning. And when you move that slow, it just feels like forever. I think a checkpoint system would also help, at the very least.

Since the game is more of a narrative experience, there isn't a way to go back to previous levels and replay them. This makes sense though, since you don't get anything for finishing stages anyway, so there's little reason to go back. But if you get stuck, there are also no hints or a way to skip a level, so you'll just have to keep trying until you get it.

A pixel art based puzzle platformer.

The Good

Old Man's Guilt is an interesting game, as the story behind the old man is the hook. The graphics are pretty decent, and the sound is realistic and relaxing. The controls are basic and do a decent enough job, and the puzzles can be rather challenging.

The Bad

There are a few issues with Old Man's Guilt that I'm having with the game in its current state. For one, the fuzzy text needs to be fixed, as it's quite painful to see these days when everything is optimized for Retina HD and Super Retina screens. I would also like to be able to make the dialogue text transition faster, or skip it entirely.

And while I understand that the main character is an old man, the slow movement speed doesn't translate that well to a puzzle platformer, at least in my opinion. It ends up being more frustrating than anything, even more so when you die and have to start over. The game could use some checkpoints, at least, to help ease the pain of one small mistake.

The verdict

I wanted to like Old Man's Guilt, but with the current issues I'm having with the game, it's more frustrating than anything. I hope to see improvements made in future updates, but for the time being, this one is going on the back burner.

If you think you'd have better luck with the game, you can find Old Man's Guilt on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $0.99.

7.0

OVERALL

Sound/Music 8

Game Controls 7

Graphics 7.5

Gameplay 7.5

Replayability 5

$0.99

Old Man's Guilt

YUGEUN SONG

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews