Currently Playing: November Mobile-5
The Battle of Polytopia
I love strategy and city-building games, but have more of a preference for the Tycoon Style than the more conquest oriented series such as Civ and Total War. Polytopia however, as a kind of Civ-light, is perfect for me. Bright & colourful, with a nicely varied tech-tree and numerous difficulty options AND Pass-N-Play, it’s staggering to believe it’s the work of one-man band, but it’s quickly become my go-to game. It could do with the attention of a copy-checker, but overall it’s an impressive little game.
WordBrain 2 It’s more WordBrain. That’s...all that can be said really. If you like WordBrain, you'll like Wordbrain 2. If, like me, you are of the opinion that it’s a highly polished but ultimately rather dull spelling exam pretending to be a game, then stick to Scrabble. The later levels will probably be more engaging, but the slog of four letter words to get there isn't worth it. Some sort of quiz/challenge mode to allow players to fast-track levels more suited to their ability is sorely needed.
Vector 2 Vector 2 is a really mixed bag. The animations are incredibly smooth, as your beefy free-runner glides over boxes and under lasers like a butch, leggy eel, but the communication to the player needs fairly serious attention. I can enjoy Vector 2 as a stylish runner, but I'm having big issues understanding both the story, and the strategic relationship between the game's many upgrades. I'm not sure why I'm being rewarded with certain items, which resources are most valuable or how they interact with one another for best effect.
Sudoku ME
I came across this game on /r/minimalism and I'm finding it surprisingly engaging. I (probably) have discalculia, so do number puzzles occasionally to avoid forgetting what numbers look like entirely. Coming at Sudoku ME from an accessibility perspective, I'm finding it pretty rewarding. I can colour-coordinate it to my preferences, and highlight rows and columns for ease of use. I've still got a horrible weak spot for confusing 2 & 3, but making my way through the Intermediate level puzzles in 10-15 mins, with between 1-3 mistakes on average, for me is an enormous accomplishment.
Age of 2042
To say I have mixed feelings about Age of 2048 would be the understatement of the century. I LOVED this game. It took something which my discalculia had prevented me from playing, and with a few nifty visual tweaks, Age of 2048 made it suddenly accessible and enjoyable to me. I played relentlessly, in bed, on the bus, whilst watching TV, and didn't even resent the 30 second ad breaks, because I thought the rewards given in exchange were fair and valuable. And then, I got to the end game. Except, there is no end. The final "winning" move will not take. I don't know whether it is bugged, or nobody bothered to program an end state, or what really. I tried to politely contact the developers, to no avail. And so, denied my victory, all the super positive emotions I had for Age of 2048 have been turned on their head. I walked away bitter and frustrated and went back to all the people I'd talked positively about the game to, to rescind my recommendation Games matter to the people who play them, and Age of 2048 left me feeling jilted and duped for having given it so much of my time.
