Game Diary

Image courtesy of TechShout So I have written about the announcement of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (GTA:CW fro now on) arriving on the App Store, and of the issues running it on the first-gen iPod Touch. Now I’ve played it, and am ready to review it and let you know how it plays!

I have begun to like playing puzzle games, especially word games.   Maybe I am getting old, but games that require thought have become more fun for me.  I have reviewed many different types of puzzle games, including several word games but iAchieve has turned out to be not only fun and addictive but very unique.  One of my Sophomore students showed me iAchieve Lite and told me I must try it because she thought I would love it.  She was correct!  I was instantly addicted.

Attention Farmville and FarmTown fans!  Many of us spend way too much time on Facebook.  If much of that time is spent on one of these farm simulation games, do I have an app for you!  This summer I did fall into the Farm Town trap and spent (wasted) a lot of time harvesting and planting crops in hopes to buy more stuff and a larger piece of land.  Yes, there is no point, but for some reason it is extremely addicting.  So, how about taking this addicting waste of time mobile!?! iFarm will give you the chance!

My gaming tastes are either changing, or I have become a simple person in my older age.  It seems the flurry of simple puzzle games not only entertain me, but also keep me addicted to the small bursts of gaming time I have.  Orba is a simple screen clearing game.  The premise is simple and has been seen in several games.  Tap chains of three or more orbs in an attempt to clear the board.

Before deciding this is not an interesting gaming option because it is the Lite version, read this review.  You may be surprised on what you find!  I have to admit I am usually not a fan of lite versions of paid apps, but this game is different.  One reason is Firemint has teamed up with Volkswagen to bring this game as an introduction of the new 2010 GTI.  Yes, the game is basically a commercial for the new GTI, but this also means it is a really nice version of the $4.99 Real Racing game for free!

Sudoku is a terribly addictive number puzzle game.  The object is to fill in 9×9 grid using numbers 1 through 9 as well as filling them into a 3×3 region with no numbers repeating in rows or columns.  Before the iPhone days, I was hooked on sudoku playing the puzzles on with pencil and paper.  I even used to carry around a little sudoku puzzle book in my bag so I could play when there was a spare moment.  My sudoku play tends to attempt to work quickly and I rarely stop before finishing a puzzle.  The iPhone has changed…

I recently took my oldest son and a few of his buddies to Incredible Pizza in San Antonio for his 5th birthday.  We started with the pizza of course, but the boys could hardly contain themselves just staring into the game room.  Once I let them hit the games, we headed straight for the skee-ball.  They decided tickets were what they were after so they could get some wax lips and parachute men, you know the good stuff.  I can think of no better way to earn tickets in a game room than play skee-ball.  The game has been one…

I recently reviewed Nano Rally for the Blue Plate Special.  The game showed promise with great graphics and a cute idea.  There were a few things that I thought could be improved upon.  The controls and camera view were not very intuitive and took a lot of practice to master.  This turned me off to the game because my frustration level advanced faster than my driving skills.  I also wanted other cars on the track to  chase and race.  Well, the developers at Sauce Digital seemed to have listened to their users and recently updated the game. Here is a…

Puzzle games have become a staple in the app store lately.  Creating something that is new, challenging and fun has become more difficult.  Connected steps in as a contender in the puzzle game category. The idea of Connected is simple.  Take the pipe pieces and connect the start and finish pieces.  Sounds easy right? From the developer: Connected is simple idea, each of the 40 puzzles contains a number of pipe pieces.  At the edge of the board are some start and end points.  You just have to move the pieces to create a continuous pipe from start to finish, oh and you…

How many of you miss those days of pumping quarter after quarter into a pinball machine chasing the high score?  Granted, I did come from the era of crazy new style pinball games, but many of my quarters skipped the video games and found a home in the pinball machines.  Wild West Pinball just became free to celebrate a new pinball game from OOO Gameprom. Once the game is loaded a nice 3D video provides a tour of the scoring and special areas.  Before playing you might check this out so you know where to aim or shots.  The graphics…