android games Archives – The Motley Geek https://themotleygeek.com/tag/android-games/ Thu, 08 Jun 2017 16:39:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://themotleygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Profile-Picture-100x100.jpg android games Archives – The Motley Geek https://themotleygeek.com/tag/android-games/ 32 32 “Don’t Starve” Or Die A Lot Video Game Review https://themotleygeek.com/dont-starve-video-game-review/ Wed, 31 May 2017 09:10:47 +0000 http://themotleygeek.com/?p=835 Dying is just par for the course in Don’t Starve, where there isn’t any hand-holding, tutorials, or making things easy. Instead, Klei Entertainment built an in-depth world of magic, science and survival, where every night you stay alive is a night you want to pat yourself on the back. That is what you sign up for when you play a game that throws you to the wolves – or hounds in this case. Art-wise, Don’t […]

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]]> Dying is just par for the course in Don’t Starve, where there isn’t any hand-holding, tutorials, or making things easy. Instead, Klei Entertainment built an in-depth world of magic, science and survival, where every night you stay alive is a night you want to pat yourself on the back. That is what you sign up for when you play a game that throws you to the wolves – or hounds in this case.

Art-wise, Don’t Starve has a just-right feel about it. Nothing looks too complicated, and yet everything is interesting. Every screen speaks to a Tim Burton-esque creepiness (he did not draw this – but wouldn’t a movie be great?). The music in the trailer above? That’s what you hear in game. The graphics mixed with the music and the sound effects (is someone out there?!), create an atmosphere of dark humour, mockery and heart-thumping goodness. And since the map and resources are randomly generated, it doesn’t get boring.

Furthermore, adding in the Don’t Starve: Reign of Giants expansion, expands the art to include the weather. Just watching the rain patter down while your little person complains and thanks trees, fleshes out the theme tremendously. And if you get rained on in the dark, expect your insanity meter to start dropping like mad.

Yep, that’s a door.

Don’t Starve doesn’t tell you what you’re supposed to discover. Player set objectives are central to the experience, as you set your own goals (burn trees for charcoal, mine for gold – get a crock pot before day 5 for meatballs) rather than having an interface tell you what you need to not starve. It is refreshing to figure everything out on your own, and gives this sense of accomplishment that you will treasure for days afterwards – if you’re still alive. It is a balancing game between reward, frustration and a slew of challenges.

As a sandbox survival game, there isn’t much of a pre-built story to Don’t Starve. At least, that is what it seems like in your first 20 or so days where you work through the night on survival (don’t sleep, it is a waste of time). But a turning point comes at some point, where instead of survival, you start thriving. This gives you the luxury to begin wondering, what does that weird evil flower circle do? What about all the holes in the ground? Is that a freestanding door? Am I brave enough to explore holes with teeth? And if you are, be prepared. Point is, bring a spear.

Death by spider is very common at the beginning.

The battle system for Don’t Starve is a simple hack and run. Most of the enemies have fairly predictable attack movements, and so anticipating when to strike before running away can become second nature. But that will take time. To begin with, I suggest running. Or find something that will kill your enemies for you. There is no experience to gain from killing, and death comes quick and easy.

My advice? Get yourself a stock of Buttermuffins to heal up by 20 health. Best way to do this is to plant a Butterfly Farm next to a Beefalo Herd. Just remember to collect your wings before they rot. This will all make sense once you start.

The best part? You can also play Don’t Starve with your friends and complete strangers. Don’t Starve Together is only available through Steam, and is an amazing multiplayer experience. I don’t often like multiplayer games, but this takes the cake. Mainly because you can all die together.

Wes is unlocked through the story. Is he worth it though…
Conclusion:

If you have gotten tired over the years of games that are dumbed down clones of each other, you will probably appreciate that Don’t Starve does not pander to that. Klei Entertainment are a rare breed of developers that care about the customer experience, as they constantly add things to the game for free. They even created an entirely new game – Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked – labelled it a DLC (Downloadable Content) and are selling it at DLC prices. Even their ports to mobile are a treat, and so far bug free.

This game won’t appeal to you if you don’t enjoy losing EVERYTHING very often. The most you get for dying is unlocking new characters, but there aren’t all that many to unlock. On the other hand, if you love a challenge that will reward you the better you get, Don’t Starve is for you.

Don’t Starve Internet Memes.
Don’t Starve Links:

         

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]]> 835 Is “Pokemon Go” past its Best Before Date? https://themotleygeek.com/pokemon-go-best-before-date/ Tue, 16 May 2017 17:52:17 +0000 http://themotleygeek.com/?p=260   Ten months ago I was enthusiastically Go-ing with all the other wannabe Pokemon Trainers in the world. But in the last 5 months, I’ve clicked on it, felt frustrated and swiped it off. So, is Pokemon Go past its Best Before Date? Pokemon Go Stats: The meteoric rise of Pokemon Go last year had everyone going wild, with the world claiming it as the “health app” of the year and the cure to the sedentary geek lifestyle.  But […]

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Ten months ago I was enthusiastically Go-ing with all the other wannabe Pokemon Trainers in the world. But in the last 5 months, I’ve clicked on it, felt frustrated and swiped it off. So, is Pokemon Go past its Best Before Date?

Pokemon Go Stats:

The meteoric rise of Pokemon Go last year had everyone going wild, with the world claiming it as the “health app” of the year and the cure to the sedentary geek lifestyle.  But of the 650 million downloads of the app, 65 million people still use the app on a monthly basis and 5 million on a daily basis.

These numbers are still huge. Niantic has raked in an estimated $1 billion to date, averaging about $2 million every day. But, these numbers are steadily dropping and have been doing so for the last 6 months.

Pokemon Go Statistics
Pokemon Go Statistics

Pokemon Go Pros:

What was it that attracted us to Pokemon Go to begin with? For some, it was to catch ’em all. For others, a lot of nostalgia was mixed into the game, reminding us of days gone by when we wished that our parents would let us leave home at the age of 12 to catch dangerous animals and force them to fight each other in an arena. Then there is the gym battling, something that isn’t particularly fun or rewarding, but addictive nonetheless. And many more people played for the social adventure, the treasure (pokemon) hunting aspect of Go.

Niantic also continues to introduce new features and content. They have come out with a wearable device, launched the apple watch app, provided 80 more Pokemon and a buddy feature. All these enticed many of us to play, and came with the benefit of us walking more than our allotted 10,000 steps a day, often in the company of our friends, our family, our community.

My First Jigglypuff
My First Jigglypuff
Pokemon Go Cons:

Every game naturally loses customers after the initial hype, retention is hard, guys. But then came the bad. On the extreme scale, people died.  14 people to date  have died in Pokemon Go-related incidents, and 54 more have been injured. The ripples these events sent through the world started a spike of negative feelings. Was Pokemon Go putting people at risk? #dontpokemongoanddrive and #pokemongomademe started trending soon after.

These safety concerns on their own wouldn’t have been enough to topple the giant that Pokemon Go had become. What really started to spell out its end was the game itself. Or rather, the lack of game.

Pokemon Go at its core was nothing more than walk, click, swipe, catch and gym battles. For a game that marketed itself as “become the real-life Pokemon Trainer you always wanted to be”, there were little to no actual role-playing or story elements to the game. Many other light mobile games offsets this weakness with daily quests, not so with Pokemon Go.

Furthermore, Niantic didn’t simply not implement sought after content and features, they took it a step further. They removed Pokemon Go’s most popular feature ‘Pokemon Tracking’, and cut off the ability of third parties to fix this for gamers. Then, Niantic placed a ban on legitimate users because of their phones’ capacity to geo-spoof the game (pretend they are walking when they aren’t). Finally, they signed their own DNR (do-not-resuscitate) with silence. By ignoring the community and simply “doing what they thought was best”, Niantic managed to alienate a large majority of the Pokemon Go gaming community.

Pokevision Down
Pokevision Down
So, can Pokemon Go come back?

Can it stabilise? Or is it well and truly past that best before date? There are options for Pokemon Go to come back, such as by socialising with the community and/or implementing real-time battling. But whether Niantic will be able to do this before losing everyone, we will just have to wait and see.

 

Need something else to play now that the hype has gone? Check out my Top 7 Mobile Tabletop games. Or maybe you still want to play Pokemon Go? I’m thinking of giving it a 14th chance to get back in my good graces too. So here, take these Pokemon Go download links.

   

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]]> 260 7 Best Mobile Tabletop Game Apps https://themotleygeek.com/7-best-mobile-tabletop-games/ Tue, 09 May 2017 08:16:38 +0000 http://themotleygeek.com/?p=97 For when you can’t find someone who will game with you, here’s my list of the 7 Best Mobile Tabletop Game apps to date, in price order. These apps make it semi-okay when your friends refuse to play Pandemic with you again. 7 Best Mobile Tabletop Games: 1. Coup – Free It actually works. You wouldn’t think that a game based on calling other people’s bluffs would work online, but it does. It’s good enough and free […]

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]]> For when you can’t find someone who will game with you, here’s my list of the 7 Best Mobile Tabletop Game apps to date, in price order. These apps make it semi-okay when your friends refuse to play Pandemic with you again.

7 Best Mobile Tabletop Games:

1. Coup – Free

It actually works. You wouldn’t think that a game based on calling other people’s bluffs would work online, but it does. It’s good enough and free enough for me to ignore the couple of crashes I’ve had. Tabletop episode.

Coup on the App Store   Coup on the Play Store

2. Ticket To Ride – USD 1.99

Ticket to Ride is a modern classic about building the longest train route. Solo mode works great, but there are some multiplayer glitches. It is such a great way to get non-gamers addicted, it has been featured on Tabletop twice.

Ticket to Ride on the App Store   Ticket to Ride on the Play Store

3. Splendor – USD 1.99

Splendor is a game of who is going to get famous first. Famous in this case is 15 prestige points. No dull moments as players only get 1 action out of 3 possible actions on their turn (collect a gem, buy a card or reserve a card). The app can be glitchy, but looks great.

Splendor on the App Store   Splendor on the Play Store

4. Catan – USD 3.99

Some people hate the robber. Personally, I think he’s the best defense against hoarders ever. This is one of the most true to life adaptations that I’ve played yet. Tabletop episode.

Catan on the App Store   Splendor on the Play Store

5. Lords of Waterdeep – USD 6.99

The design of the app is fantastic. Probably the least glitchy I’ve tried. Keeps you rulebook accountable, while you rule Waterdeep as one of its Lords.  Tabletop episode. This one has Felicia Day! Just leave me to my fangirling.

Lords of Waterdeep on the App Store

6. Stone Age – USD 6.99

Great resource gathering worker placement game that I personally felt was worth the price tag. It looks a  bit different to the IRL game, but for me this meant “better”.  Tabletop episode.

7. Carcassonne – USD 9.99

Build your medieval world, tile by tile. Well yours and every other player. I mean just look at that city. Who builds a uterus city? Only in Carcassone. The expansions are so reasonably priced, it almost makes you forget that you forked out $10 to begin with. Tabletop episode.

Carcassonne on the App Store   Carcassonne on the Play Store

And that’s my top 7. Well the 7 I keep playing and haven’t stopped playing anyway. 🙂 There are many more games that I love that didn’t make my list for one reason or another (personal preference, glitches, price etc.). And since I wouldn’t want them to go without some love, here are 67 games for iOS and 55 for Android.

68 More Great Mobile Tabletop Games for iOS:

56 More Great Mobile Tabletop Games for Android:

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