AppReviewToday- All

Hi, my name is Kristina and I work as the office manager of Mid Atlantic Consulting. We are a Macintosh Support, Service, and Consulting Company. I will review one iPhone app every day coming from a non-tech like me. Add your comments and I will try to reply.

  • Match to Build a Village and Survive the Night in Super Gridland

    ByRSS Feed

    Super Gridland ($1.99) by doublespeak games is a new match-three kingdom-building RPG that will put your strategic matching skills to the test. If you enjoyed games like You Must Build A Boat, 10000000, and Hero Emblems, then you will love what Super Gridland has to offer.

    Even though a lot of my gaming is being done on my PS4 these days, I still love to turn to my iPhone for those rare moments of downtime between work and classes. On the mobile platform, one of my favorite game genres is puzzle, with the majority falling under the match-three category. However, with most match-threes being the same thing with a different skin, I am even more intrigued by the match-three RPGs because they add an entire new layer over a tried-and-true genre. While I’ve gone through my fair share of them, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of them and am always looking out for new ones to try out. So naturally, when I saw Super Gridland on the App Store over the weekend, I knew that I had to try it out. It probably goes without saying, but I am not disappointed with Super Gridland.

    Visually speaking, Super Gridland features a nice retro aesthetic with the pixelated art style. If you grew up with the old-school consoles back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, such as the SNES and Genesis, then you will feel right at home with the graphics in Super Gridland. And while the game sports the pixelated look, everything in the game is still fairly detailed, from the buildings that your character ends up creating to the enemies that come out at night for you. I do wish that the character sprites for your character and enemies were a little bigger, as it can be hard to see compared to everything else. The game has a nice variety for the color palette, as it features bright and vibrant hues during the day and dark, creepy tones at night. Animations are smooth and fluid, and there was no lag on my iPhone 7. Super Gridland also features a fantastic chiptune soundtrack that is a joy to listen to in the background, and the sound effects are top notch. It goes without saying that the developers have done a great job with Super Gridland in terms of the visual and audio department, though I still think that the character sprites could be a tad larger.

    So what is Super Gridland, exactly? While it’s a match-three RPG game like YMBAB, it’s slightly different from what you may be used to, because it’s more of a turn-based strategy game than frantic match-three combo-fest. The game supports three save files so you can have multiple adventures going at once, but each slot will have it’s own player progression. In Super Gridland, you will help your nameless protagonist collect resources during the day in order to build up a village. But as time passes, night will come, and bloodthirsty monsters will begin to come in and attack you and your small village. As each day passes, new resources get introduced and night combat gets more difficult, but when you die, you’ll just pick up on the day that you left off on.

    The gameplay of Super Gridland is simple enough: make matches of three or more in a vertical or horizontal line in order to collect resources or survive in battle (attack, shield, heal, or even bring out more monsters). Like all match-three type games, it’s best to create bigger matches, as they can also lead to chain combos. As you make progress in the days, your character will grow stronger, and you’ll eventually end up with more hearts so survival becomes a bit easier, though you still have to think about your moves carefully.

    Controls in Super Gridland are simple and straightforward enough, especially if you’ve played these types of games before. Each game consists of a grid that has a random assortment of resource (day) and combat (night) tiles. In order to make a match of three or more, you’ll have to select the tile you want to swap, and then swipe it in the direction that you want it to move to, or just tap on an adjacent tile to switch them with each other. While the control scheme works alright, I did find that it was a bit clunky at times, where my swipes and taps weren’t being registered. Hopefully the developers can optimize the controls a bit in a future update to make it more streamlined, but still, it works if you’re just a bit careful with where you tap and swipe.

    As a big fan of games like YMBAB, I just had to try Super Gridland. I’m pretty happy that the gameplay elements are slightly different from YMBAB, because in that game, it was all about being fast with the matches you were making, whereas Super Gridland requires a bit more thought and patience. It definitely takes a bit of getting used to, and if you like the mechanics of YMBAB and play Super Gridland the same way, chances are you will die fairly quickly when nightfall comes. I had to play a few rounds before I finally got the hang of things, but I can assure you that the result is worth the time required you need for some practice. The only problem is due to the size of the sprites, it can be hard to notice when you’re in danger of dying, especially since the game doesn’t give you any kind of audible warning when your hearts (located at the top of the screen) are about to be depleted.

    Still, with the awesome graphics and fun music, Super Gridland is definitely one game I’ll continue playing for a while. I just hope to see larger character sprites and some kind of visual or audible warning regarding critical health levels. Another thing to note is the fact that the game kind of just throws you into the middle of things without any explanation, so it’s up to you to figure things out on your own. While this doesn’t bother me too much, it may be a bit more problematic for newbies to the match-three RPG genre, so perhaps the developer should add an optional tutorial mode.

    I recommend giving Super Gridland a try if you are in the mood for a challenging turn-based match-three kingdom-building RPG. You can find Super Gridland on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $1.99. There are no in-app purchases.

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

  • Rebuild the Solar System With the Puzzling Arcade Action of Lunaform

    ByRSS Feed

    Lunaform ($0.99) by Chronobit Studios is a puzzle arcade game that is similar to the classic Breakout gameplay, except in reverse. So instead of breaking the cells, you’re trying to fill them up with color. If you enjoyed games like ZenDots and Gray Cubes, then you will like what Lunaform offers.

    Lately, most of my gaming is done on my PlayStation 4, but when I’m on-the-go, I turn to my trusty iPhone 7 for my gaming needs because it’s always with me (sorry 3DS). If you’ve followed my work here at AppAdvice for the past few years, then you’ll know that I love a good puzzle game on my iPhone, because I find them challenging and stimulating while also being relaxing. Another genre that I enjoy are arcade games, because how can I resist the satisfaction of beating my own high scores? Naturally, when you combine puzzle and arcade together, I’m all over it, and that’s just the case with Lunaform.

    Visually, Lunaform carries a rather simple and minimalistic design that is clean and pleasant to look at. It also has a bit of the low-poly aesthetic when you are choosing which planet (aka chapter) to play, and I thought it goes well with the overall minimalistic look. The game features a pitch black background to represent space, and the bright and vibrant colors of the planets, hexes, stars, and other game visuals provide a nice, stark contrast so that everything is easily recognizable. Animations in Lunaform are pretty smooth and fluid, so I had no issues with lag on my iPhone 7. The ambient soundtrack is fairly soothing as well, so it’s nice to listen to and helps you concentrate on the puzzles in front of you. Needless to say, I think Chronobit did a good job in terms of the simplistic style and feel of Lunaform.

    Like many other puzzle arcade games before it, Lunaform is level-based and players must complete each available stage in order to gain access to the next one. Once all of the levels are complete on a chapter, then the next planet gets unlocked. At the moment, the game has 36 levels that are split up across five planets, and there is one hidden planet that you’ll have to find on your own. Every stage has up to three stars that can be earned, and the final result depends on how well you managed to do before clearing the puzzle. While Lunaform starts out easy enough with the tutorial and first few levels, players will find much more intricate and complex puzzles as they go on and unlock the later planets. The goal of Lunaform is straightforward: fill up each hex shape on the grid with the incoming stars of the same color until all of them are filled. But watch out — if a hex is hit with a different color star, then it takes damage instead. It starts off slow enough, but the pace picks up gradually and the game becomes much more challenging.

    Controls in Lunaform are intuitive and responsive. Each stage will consist of a grid of colored hex outlines, and you’ll see colored stars coming in from the edges of the screen. In order to get the hexes filled, they need to be hit by same-colored stars, and sometimes reposition is necessary. To do this, just tap on a hex piece and then tap on the one you want to swap it with (it doesn’t have to be adjacent). When the more complicated star patterns begin to come in, you’ll have to think fast and swap the hexes around quicker in order to make sure that the stars hit the right targets. In the game, it takes three star hits to fill up a hex completely, and five to destroy it. If the movement of the stars is too slow for you, just do a long-press on the screen to speed things up. When you have acquired some power-up items to use, a button appears in the bottom center of the screen — just tap on it to activate, but be aware that each power-up needs to recharge before it can be used again.

    The power-ups that you acquire as you progress in Lunaform can make a big difference in the gameplay. Right now there are six upgrades available, and you can purchase them from the upgrade shop with the hex coins that you acquire from completing stages — the better you do (earn three stars by finishing quickly and as few swaps as possible), the more coins you get. When you’ve acquired a few upgrades, you’ll have to pick-and-choose up to three of them to take with you when you play, and you can swap them out at any time from the shop.

    To keep the game interesting, there are also various types of hexes that are available on the grids as well. The beginning will feature just basic hexes, but soon you’ll find Bumper Hexes (change direction of stars), Locked Hexes (can’t be swapped), and Core Hexes that must be protected and can’t be destroyed or else you’ve failed. Different types of stars introduce themselves as you go too, such as Nova Stars that explode when they hit a hex so that they fill or damage hexes in the blast radius, Suns that have two normal stars orbiting it, and even Arc Stars that move unpredictably. When all of these different game mechanics are introduced, it adds a new layer of depth to the game and certainly keeps things fresh and fascinating — there’s never a dull moment.

    I’ve only started to play Lunaform recently, but so far, as a fan of puzzle arcade games, I’m enjoying it. The minimal design with bright colors is pleasant to look at, the music is fun and whimsical, and the gameplay is unique and challenging. The controls are effortless so anyone can learn how to play, but it will take time and practice to master when it comes to the more intricate puzzles.

    I recommend giving Lunaform a try if you’re into puzzle arcade games and need something new to pass the time with. You can find Lunaform on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $0.99. There are no in-app purchases.

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