This morning (June 18th) Rainbow Dash finally turned into Fluttershy, meaning the newest update was available, which promptly loaded coming in at over 100mb... then it promptly crashed loading. Not a severe Paradise Cove crash, and maybe it was because I had just finished a sit down with Mystery Manor and its repeating music was still cluttering one of the audio channels (there is a report on that and other glitches of the Week over at the Game On Max blog, click the link to the right to check it out.
Ok, once I get past that new updates to come (New ponies, and the theater for earning gems watching ads).
Update - Ok, the game is now loading slowly and you have to wait a few minutes for it to start. Hopefully that is fixed quickly.
Octavia is in your inventory in Canterlot, complete with a new house (you'llyou're see why shortly). Set it up and Octavia arrives... of course this assumes you already bought her in Ponyvilleat, which I did, otherwise she's a new pony to buy in Canterlot.
Now buy Beauty Brass and Frederich... and realize this is an incomplete gathering of Octavia' s ensemble (seen in The Best Night Ever, but not seen in Sweet and Elite as Octavia is playing with a different ensemble... they also appear in the Midnight Magic audio drama The Vinyl Scratch Tapes episode 4) moving into Octavia' s, only missing pony being Harpo.
The only ponies with new houses is the priest pony for the Royal wedding and Sunset Shimmer... weird, this is supposed to be a Equestria Girls update but most of the update seems to link to the Royal Wedding... Oh, then there is the theater.
Considering this isn't GameLoft's first go with an ad playing theater (Ice Age Village, Epic) you'd think this would be at least as effective as the ad player in Order Up To Go, but it isn't.
Next Update - The Ad Theater and its one failing that must be fixed.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Inappropriate NPC Theater Presents : Randomly Inappropriate
Randomly inappropriate, one village game at a time.
The cat in the tornado disaster from Oregon Trail American Settler
Ok, when I first saw the intro animation for tornado disaster I didn't think much of it... until the upgrade when the disasters actually spawn in your town and linger until fixed. Burning building, buildings surrounded by running bulls, storm cloud eclipsed buildings... and tornadoes with a wee cat animation spinning around and around and around and... whoa, dizzy.
Title card titillation from Tribez
Is it just me or... why does it look like most of the characters are glaring at the games one token female? It's creepy enough by far to have only male characters in this village SIM do far, the only female being this one narrator character who hands out half of your quests, it's worst that she seems to be fixated on by these three on the game title card.
We have the other world scientist, occasional story mode presence, who seems be using his cell phone comm to take pictures of her backside. We have the idol with the glowing sphere fixated on her butt. Best is the dino to her left, your right, drooling over her chest.
So when does this game feature some female villagers!
Pirate Batman clone from Paradise Cove
For some reason you have a long grinding 8 part mission with an obvious Batman/Zorro pirate hybrid character... if the costume isn't enough clue, or his dark stallion or archnemesis in the Clown, he lives in Bruce Mansion, and the eighth mission unlocks a giant ship with huge bat motif sails.
I'm guessing this game released around the time The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters.
Well that's Inappropriate NPC Theater for this one. Next time? Back to Oregon Trail and the story mode unique female in the overalls... and seemingly nothing else. See you soon!
The cat in the tornado disaster from Oregon Trail American Settler
Ok, when I first saw the intro animation for tornado disaster I didn't think much of it... until the upgrade when the disasters actually spawn in your town and linger until fixed. Burning building, buildings surrounded by running bulls, storm cloud eclipsed buildings... and tornadoes with a wee cat animation spinning around and around and around and... whoa, dizzy.
Title card titillation from Tribez
Is it just me or... why does it look like most of the characters are glaring at the games one token female? It's creepy enough by far to have only male characters in this village SIM do far, the only female being this one narrator character who hands out half of your quests, it's worst that she seems to be fixated on by these three on the game title card.
We have the other world scientist, occasional story mode presence, who seems be using his cell phone comm to take pictures of her backside. We have the idol with the glowing sphere fixated on her butt. Best is the dino to her left, your right, drooling over her chest.
So when does this game feature some female villagers!
Pirate Batman clone from Paradise Cove
For some reason you have a long grinding 8 part mission with an obvious Batman/Zorro pirate hybrid character... if the costume isn't enough clue, or his dark stallion or archnemesis in the Clown, he lives in Bruce Mansion, and the eighth mission unlocks a giant ship with huge bat motif sails.
I'm guessing this game released around the time The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters.
Well that's Inappropriate NPC Theater for this one. Next time? Back to Oregon Trail and the story mode unique female in the overalls... and seemingly nothing else. See you soon!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Level Grinder update June 15th
I don't have many on my play list right now, but here is what village Sims I am reviewing now.
GameLoft/Learning Center' Oregon Trail American Settler
The longest village SIM I have been grinding, now reaching towards Level 80, I kinda wish I reviewed it prior to the last update, especially since it added elements that disappointed me greatly. Still play it, still recommend it, but now with warnings and lower final score included.
GameLoft' Cosmic Colony
A bit innovative, but also a so so grind. Not Paradise Cove level slow but at times you will be grinding for coins, resources and levels fairly hard. Should score rather well... speaking of Paradise Cove...
Pocket Gems Paradise Cove
Yes, reviewing now. Somewhat interesting, a slow long term grind all about... and presently featuring a bizarre pirate Batman character fighting the Joker... review coming soon.
Game Insight' Tribez
Pretty animation, solid gameplay and just the right amount of difficulty. As long as it doesn't go the way of Oregon Trail American Settler it should review well.
GameLoft/Hasbro' My Little Pony
Even with the new Equestria Girls inspired update, whenever GameLoft finally launches it, I will tell you why only Pony fans should apply for this one.
Handy-Games' Townsmen
Just started reviewing it, but I have a good feeling about this one.
Full reviews coming soon, stay tuned.
GameLoft/Learning Center' Oregon Trail American Settler
The longest village SIM I have been grinding, now reaching towards Level 80, I kinda wish I reviewed it prior to the last update, especially since it added elements that disappointed me greatly. Still play it, still recommend it, but now with warnings and lower final score included.
GameLoft' Cosmic Colony
A bit innovative, but also a so so grind. Not Paradise Cove level slow but at times you will be grinding for coins, resources and levels fairly hard. Should score rather well... speaking of Paradise Cove...
Pocket Gems Paradise Cove
Yes, reviewing now. Somewhat interesting, a slow long term grind all about... and presently featuring a bizarre pirate Batman character fighting the Joker... review coming soon.
Game Insight' Tribez
Pretty animation, solid gameplay and just the right amount of difficulty. As long as it doesn't go the way of Oregon Trail American Settler it should review well.
GameLoft/Hasbro' My Little Pony
Even with the new Equestria Girls inspired update, whenever GameLoft finally launches it, I will tell you why only Pony fans should apply for this one.
Handy-Games' Townsmen
Just started reviewing it, but I have a good feeling about this one.
Full reviews coming soon, stay tuned.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Summer 2013 Day 20 - Raise This Pageview Count...
One of the goals of working continuously on these blogs is as an active reference source to send Editors to showing off my work. To that end I need to push up page views, and presently this blog has the lowest view count so I am working on this first to bring its count up. So working on making sure to post at least once daily to hopefully build up page views, and hopefully followers. Stay tuned, next review is middle ages level slash coin grinder Lords and Castles so check it out coming shortly!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Tablet Reviews : GameLoft's Fantasy Town
While there are some ideas in this village dim that work, there are alot more that fail. Apparently the story is humans used to live alongside elves, dwarves, fairies and so forth until some great evil attacked and scattered everyone. So your rebuilding a world... or village in any case... where everyone lives together. Unlock land, build and stuff... and almost from the word go we already run into trouble.
A lot of this game's tasks all revolve around building. Building houses, building shops and specialty buildings, building decorations, building building building. Subsequently you will quickly run out of space and have to expand... only expansion quickly becomes expensive, and that would be OK if not for the fact your buildings only rarely yield anything above mediocre returns. So you end up grinding alot just to expand, then grinding alot to buy specific buildings to complete specific tasks. Yes, that compels you to buy Premium currency with real money, lest you have to patiently spend hours grinding to make any progress.
Speaking of tasks this is one of those games that insists NPC characters walk around with voice bubbles detailing a quest on your task list. Usually I find that annoying but mostly harmless, except in this game practically all your villagers are walking about with task voice bubbles, and due to the limited space they prove to be an annoying blockade to gathering funds and experience from your buildings. Annoying as all heck, even moreso than in most games that use this gimmick, I wish game developers just stick to leaving tasks in their individual button or assign one NPC apiece per task. One. NPC. Per. Task.
There are a few unique tasks, like raising baby creatures and a few interesting mini games, but even this becomes time grinding tasks that compels you to spend real cash to speed things up. Also while the idea of using specialty species for tasks (fairies for farming for instance) that means you must buy enough of a species for the job, which again runs afoul of the whole lack of building space problem.
Ultimately this game is a long, slow grinding slough that tries to innovate but ultimately becomes a shallow lackluster dull grind. There are better village makers from GameLoft, Cosmic Colony and Oregon Trail American Settler on my recommend list, go try those. Fantasy Town, however, gets a meager 2 day laborer fairies out of 5.
A lot of this game's tasks all revolve around building. Building houses, building shops and specialty buildings, building decorations, building building building. Subsequently you will quickly run out of space and have to expand... only expansion quickly becomes expensive, and that would be OK if not for the fact your buildings only rarely yield anything above mediocre returns. So you end up grinding alot just to expand, then grinding alot to buy specific buildings to complete specific tasks. Yes, that compels you to buy Premium currency with real money, lest you have to patiently spend hours grinding to make any progress.
Speaking of tasks this is one of those games that insists NPC characters walk around with voice bubbles detailing a quest on your task list. Usually I find that annoying but mostly harmless, except in this game practically all your villagers are walking about with task voice bubbles, and due to the limited space they prove to be an annoying blockade to gathering funds and experience from your buildings. Annoying as all heck, even moreso than in most games that use this gimmick, I wish game developers just stick to leaving tasks in their individual button or assign one NPC apiece per task. One. NPC. Per. Task.
There are a few unique tasks, like raising baby creatures and a few interesting mini games, but even this becomes time grinding tasks that compels you to spend real cash to speed things up. Also while the idea of using specialty species for tasks (fairies for farming for instance) that means you must buy enough of a species for the job, which again runs afoul of the whole lack of building space problem.
Ultimately this game is a long, slow grinding slough that tries to innovate but ultimately becomes a shallow lackluster dull grind. There are better village makers from GameLoft, Cosmic Colony and Oregon Trail American Settler on my recommend list, go try those. Fantasy Town, however, gets a meager 2 day laborer fairies out of 5.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Tablet Review : Ludia's Jurassic Park Builder
It's now 100 years old if not a bit older by now, and Jurassic Park? Not nearly so old, 20 I think if I remember right. So how to celebrate two such mutual events? Apparently you do that by derailing work on Jurassic Park 4.
Oh well. At least you have Builder.
Ok, not so much a village builder (unless you call building a theme park of enslaved dinosaurs a village) as a tycoon game, Jurassic Park Builder gives you your own little South American island to meddle with the natural order all you wish, building a giant mega park of dinosaurs, support shops and decor... yeah, that is kinda limited compared to other theme park building games, but it is par for the course as the game revolves around the cycle of dinosaur creation akin to a simplified version from the first movie. Oh, and unlike the movies (unless it's a gimmick of Jurassic Park 4) this game features an underwater version of Jurassic Park, unlocked once you reach Level 10.
You start with a few dinosaurs, but the rest has to be made, that means finding amber (or ice chunks with aquatic parasites in the underwater version). Amber is scattered across the island, found as you clear away the jungle creating park space one section at a time... how the heck is that possible considering they had to find amber in mines in the first movie... ahh, too much thought. Unlike that, however, finding aquatic samples means sending expedition subs out every 9 hours looking for samples. There is a free option for this, and if your patient you can find all your samples just on free trips but you can expend a few Premium currency dollars on these trips if you can spare it for a greater yield on returns.
After that it's research time, on which you will grind thousands of dollars in order to unlock New dinosaurs, grinding even more just to buy them or to clear land to expand your park or fulfill missions by buying stuff or feeding animals or shipping food... that in s nutshell I'd the game, grinding endlessly to build the park up. This is slow going, especially since level progression is really really slow going. Still putting effort into the game is rewarding as your dinosaurs become more and more profitable as you build up dinosaurs levels and evolve them (they gain a star with each evolution up to 4 or 5 stars), making money grinding easier as time goes on, which is good since dinosaur research and buying becomes more and more expensive as you go. So... actually that is a bit of a vicious cycle, yeah, but still good all the same.
Missions are handed out by a few characters from the movies, which I suppose ihs the logical choices representing each movie... kinda.
From the original most of the characters come from, but for simplicity sake let's say Santa Claus... I mean Hammond and Asian Research Guy represent Jurassic Park 1.
Creepy stuttering guy... I mean Jeff Goldblum and his mysterious Gymkata daughter are here representing Lost World... why the creepy Gymkata daughter is here other than to push the youtube video series theme missions boggles my mind... Oh, yes, there is a batch of stories stringing all these missions together, too bad these stories are just filler to move you from one level to another and progress gameplay, easily forgettable in its own right.
Finally, though he is from the first movie representing Jurassic Park 3 is married with recreational vehicle dead Red October commander guy... I mean Dr. Grant.
The only downside is zero voice acting, but I can live with that all things considered.
The most important thing to know is that you can play this just fine without ever spending real money on this game. Yes, event and holiday dinosaurs suck as they're specifically geared to require spending real money to acquire. Also the game is long slow slogging if you grind nonstop for cash, but ultimately fulfilling for all your hard work. Pith the game doesn't support an online community or the ability to visit other players parks, especially since this is one of those you must be online to play games (so you might want to pass if you don't have a reliable wireless internet connection), but all in all I am rather fond of this tycoon game, and its not often I am pleased with a tycoon game. A 4 out of 5.
Oh well. At least you have Builder.
Ok, not so much a village builder (unless you call building a theme park of enslaved dinosaurs a village) as a tycoon game, Jurassic Park Builder gives you your own little South American island to meddle with the natural order all you wish, building a giant mega park of dinosaurs, support shops and decor... yeah, that is kinda limited compared to other theme park building games, but it is par for the course as the game revolves around the cycle of dinosaur creation akin to a simplified version from the first movie. Oh, and unlike the movies (unless it's a gimmick of Jurassic Park 4) this game features an underwater version of Jurassic Park, unlocked once you reach Level 10.
You start with a few dinosaurs, but the rest has to be made, that means finding amber (or ice chunks with aquatic parasites in the underwater version). Amber is scattered across the island, found as you clear away the jungle creating park space one section at a time... how the heck is that possible considering they had to find amber in mines in the first movie... ahh, too much thought. Unlike that, however, finding aquatic samples means sending expedition subs out every 9 hours looking for samples. There is a free option for this, and if your patient you can find all your samples just on free trips but you can expend a few Premium currency dollars on these trips if you can spare it for a greater yield on returns.
After that it's research time, on which you will grind thousands of dollars in order to unlock New dinosaurs, grinding even more just to buy them or to clear land to expand your park or fulfill missions by buying stuff or feeding animals or shipping food... that in s nutshell I'd the game, grinding endlessly to build the park up. This is slow going, especially since level progression is really really slow going. Still putting effort into the game is rewarding as your dinosaurs become more and more profitable as you build up dinosaurs levels and evolve them (they gain a star with each evolution up to 4 or 5 stars), making money grinding easier as time goes on, which is good since dinosaur research and buying becomes more and more expensive as you go. So... actually that is a bit of a vicious cycle, yeah, but still good all the same.
Missions are handed out by a few characters from the movies, which I suppose ihs the logical choices representing each movie... kinda.
From the original most of the characters come from, but for simplicity sake let's say Santa Claus... I mean Hammond and Asian Research Guy represent Jurassic Park 1.
Creepy stuttering guy... I mean Jeff Goldblum and his mysterious Gymkata daughter are here representing Lost World... why the creepy Gymkata daughter is here other than to push the youtube video series theme missions boggles my mind... Oh, yes, there is a batch of stories stringing all these missions together, too bad these stories are just filler to move you from one level to another and progress gameplay, easily forgettable in its own right.
Finally, though he is from the first movie representing Jurassic Park 3 is married with recreational vehicle dead Red October commander guy... I mean Dr. Grant.
The only downside is zero voice acting, but I can live with that all things considered.
The most important thing to know is that you can play this just fine without ever spending real money on this game. Yes, event and holiday dinosaurs suck as they're specifically geared to require spending real money to acquire. Also the game is long slow slogging if you grind nonstop for cash, but ultimately fulfilling for all your hard work. Pith the game doesn't support an online community or the ability to visit other players parks, especially since this is one of those you must be online to play games (so you might want to pass if you don't have a reliable wireless internet connection), but all in all I am rather fond of this tycoon game, and its not often I am pleased with a tycoon game. A 4 out of 5.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Upcoming Reviews : What villages am I raising (GameLoft edition)?
Much like how Zynga seems to dominate Facebook social gaming, GameLoft (aka that cloner company) dominates the Android app store.
Oregon Trail : American Settler
When I first started reviewing this I thought Gameloft actually did something right for a change... but they soon updated it and down the slippery slope of wrong it went.
Cosmic Colony
The newest thing I am reviewing. Presently has potential but kinda lacks the personality and charm of Oregon Trail American Settler... also lacks the new pitfalls too so I am still hyped about this review.
FOX/Blue Sky' Epic
Another game slapped together to shill another movie. I didn't come into this review with much expectations, so I wasn't too disappointed with the results.
Fantasy Town
Short stack of repetative grinding for coins and levels with little payoff... joy.
Jurassic Park Builder
Jurassic Park 4 may presently be getting no love, but I am going to tell you why Jurassic Park Builder is worth your time and effort. It's not perfect, but it is good.
My Little Pony
To be honest? I am most conflicted on this one. I like me my pony, but honestly it's the Brony in me talking so... how will you like the game if ponies ain't your thing? Let's find out.
And that is my present GameLoft village SIM checklist. Though it's shorter next time we'll look st upcoming Pocket Gems reviews.
Oregon Trail : American Settler
When I first started reviewing this I thought Gameloft actually did something right for a change... but they soon updated it and down the slippery slope of wrong it went.
Cosmic Colony
The newest thing I am reviewing. Presently has potential but kinda lacks the personality and charm of Oregon Trail American Settler... also lacks the new pitfalls too so I am still hyped about this review.
FOX/Blue Sky' Epic
Another game slapped together to shill another movie. I didn't come into this review with much expectations, so I wasn't too disappointed with the results.
Fantasy Town
Short stack of repetative grinding for coins and levels with little payoff... joy.
Jurassic Park Builder
Jurassic Park 4 may presently be getting no love, but I am going to tell you why Jurassic Park Builder is worth your time and effort. It's not perfect, but it is good.
My Little Pony
To be honest? I am most conflicted on this one. I like me my pony, but honestly it's the Brony in me talking so... how will you like the game if ponies ain't your thing? Let's find out.
And that is my present GameLoft village SIM checklist. Though it's shorter next time we'll look st upcoming Pocket Gems reviews.
Inappropriate NPC Theater Presents : The Little Girl NPC from Oregon Trail American Settler
Sometimes NPCs are just plain wrong. And no I don't mean like the Sorceress character from Dragon's Crown wrong... but I got a few like that coming up in a Game On blog post. No, sometimes NPC are just animated wrong. Case in point, the little girl NPC from GameLoft' s Oregon Trail American Settler.
In this village SIM your Oregon frontier town of the 19th Century is filled with four generic types of people as well as story specific characters, each of the generic townspeople can move about (something story specific characters cannot do) each with their own walk animation, sickness animation, and standing still animation. And for the most part that is all rather straight forward and simple enough... until we examine the standing still animation of the generic little girl character.
Her standing still animation has her rocking back and forth, almost as if she can barely stand still so full of youthful energy. This would be alright and all... except the animators put way too much hip thrust in her animation. She should look like a bundle of energy, rocking back and forth ready to take off anew... only... let me put it to you this way... look at it carefully, her standing still animation... now move her to stand very suggestively behind a sheep or miniature horse... ok really, do you not see yet how completely inappropriate her standing cycle is yet?!? Come on!!
And yes, I do have something to say about that story character young teen female who looks as if she's wearing overalls... and nothing else. Inappropriate NPC part 2 coming soon!
In this village SIM your Oregon frontier town of the 19th Century is filled with four generic types of people as well as story specific characters, each of the generic townspeople can move about (something story specific characters cannot do) each with their own walk animation, sickness animation, and standing still animation. And for the most part that is all rather straight forward and simple enough... until we examine the standing still animation of the generic little girl character.
Her standing still animation has her rocking back and forth, almost as if she can barely stand still so full of youthful energy. This would be alright and all... except the animators put way too much hip thrust in her animation. She should look like a bundle of energy, rocking back and forth ready to take off anew... only... let me put it to you this way... look at it carefully, her standing still animation... now move her to stand very suggestively behind a sheep or miniature horse... ok really, do you not see yet how completely inappropriate her standing cycle is yet?!? Come on!!
And yes, I do have something to say about that story character young teen female who looks as if she's wearing overalls... and nothing else. Inappropriate NPC part 2 coming soon!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Raise This Village (a new direction and name)
Now that I advanced my tech, and added new reviews, we're looking at casual games anew. Featuring content for tablets (Android), Nintendo's 3DS, and more as time goes on. So, changing the info and getting to work.
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