Currently Playing: August Mobile-5
Down The Mountain
Its weird that I'm so enjoying Down The Mountain, because I am really bad it. However, the reason I'm really bad at playing it is because it's actually, genuinely, non-hyperbolically, completely broken. The ads gate-crash the gameplay, requiring constant restarts, and worse, and if you get over 100 points, the game starts to flicker violently like lines on an oscilloscope. Its a crying shame, because its a fun little game. Mindless, infuriating, jumpy fun, with terrible, game-breaking bugs and cute fuzzy cows.
Klocki
Klocki is polished, slick and accomplished, design-lead and confident. It is also, unfortunately, rather boring (to me.) There's no competition, or challenge, - it sparks no emotion, either positive or negative. Down The Mountain sends me into fits of rage and inspires hours of compulsive playing. Klocki leaves me cold. Klocki is the kind of cool and effortless game I want to make, yet Down The Mountain is the kind of scruffy mess of a game I want to play.
Domino Drop
I'm currently in a massive sulk with this game, but only because my partner beat my high score and now I can't even get back close to the top of the leader-board again. It's a great little game, requiring a decent mixture of skill and luck to master. The presentation is sweet too, with a few touches here and there - the USB stick score counter and wall mounted play boxes - adding charm to the UI and making it one of my current favourites.
Capitals
I need to spend more time with this one. It's a two-player game, with an ugly interface, but quite a neat central concept. The idea is to make words from the letters available and to try to string letters together to capture your opponent's castle. The idea is really cool and original, but I'm not sure if it's completely balanced. I need to play it a bit more to find out, but it kept us entertained during our airport transfer and anything that's still keeping you awake after 4 hours in an airport is doing a damn good job!
Bears Vs Art
To my mind, there isn't much about this that really works. It's got really high production values, but it just doesn't make any sense. The whole game, from mechanics to story, is such ludicrous nonsense it falls on the "eh - what?" and then, more importantly "but why?!" side of the fence, rather than being zany and fun. Bears Vs Art is frenetic and unhinged, with an "everything but the kitchen sink" approach that leaves this player feeling overwhelmed and confused. Which in fairness is also how I feel in modern art galleries, so maybe I should go back and give it a second chance!
