Dead Trigger (Android): I got zombie in my front pocket for you.

So, the summer drought kicked my ass. I had nothing to review. Now we're are getting into the fall months and aside from one new title, I haven't had much to go on. And since I felt a blog post about the Library Science crap I am studying would not make for an interesting read, I thought I would talk about something that caught my eye.

If you are like me, you have been following the potential new system coming out called the Ouya. The open source android console. But in the video found on the Kickstarter and the Ouya site in the interface screen there is a option for something called Dead Trigger. I did a little digging and found that most of the options on that screen were just games currently on the android platform, and since I was clawing for something to do, a new zombie game seemed great. The screens shots seemed impressive but how would it hold up on my phone?

DEAD TRIGGER:(Android)

There's a story in the game. But to be honest, I haven't read a lick of it. Why would I? Who in this zombie pop culture world we live in would need me to recap the story in this one? I bet it goes something like this: "There was one zombie, now there is a lot of them. Now you have to shoot guns at them to survive, get supplies, and save people" We all caught up to speed? Great, because if on my phone and it's not an RPG, I really could give a damn less what the story is.

Dead Trigger is a first person shooter designed for the mobile phone platforms. It was primarily a Android game but I believe it is available for the Iphone now as well. This definitely lends to play easier on the larger phones such as my HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S3, or the Iderp 5. You can also play it on  tablets pretty well, although using my dad's 10 inch tablet it was somewhat hard to control even with my massive hulk hands.

The controls of the game were actually fairly responsive and intuitive. The left lower corner of the screen functions as an analog pad and allows your character to move and strafe with fairly regular FPS controls. On the right side there are a series of buttons: Fire, Reload, Iron Sight. All of them respond rather easily and fluidly to a level I got comfortable with them with ease. The blank area above these buttons you can use to turn the camera which allows you to strafe and circle enemies. What is also handy is while you are holding down the fire button, you can make subtle turns from there as well, allowing you to make adjustments to your shots as you fire.

The graphics in this game are VERY impressive for a game designed for a mobile platform. I'd go as far to say that the graphics look almost on par if not better than how games looked on the original PlayStation, Or possibly the PlayStation 2. Actually, I'd definitely say PS2, zombies in Dead Trigger were easily much more detailed than the zombies that were found in Resident Evil: Code Veronica, (I know that was on Dreamcast first, but I'm using it as a frame of reference. I played it on PS2 first anyways). 

The music is really nothing to write home about, but I don't really expect mobile games to have an incredible score. Which is kind of disappointing when I reflect upon it. I can think of a number of SNES games that have amazing soundtracks and they were incredibly fulfilling to the point that they are permanently ingrained in my head. I understand you can't put chiptunes sets into non sprite games these days, but I think if you went a little longer than some droning music loops that are featured in many mobile games, they might be a more satisfying experience. Sorry, I'm getting off track.

Generally, the missions have been broken down into three main categories: Hunt, Survive, Retrieve. Up to where I have played, the goals are simple and not usually much variety to the rules. All of them involve gunning down zombies, just sometimes you have a set number to kill, number of minutes to wait, or go to point A and back to B. I haven't been playing many of the story missions yet though so perhaps that will change. 

You can earn money by going to the casino or ranking well on the missions and that allows you to buy upgrades at the shop. Not all the upgrades or weapons are available though because there are two forms of currency. Money you earn during the course of the game. Gold you can win at the casino, but the real way to get it is to pay real money for it or sign up for promotions or surveys. I'll pass, thank you very much.

While there does seem to be a constantly changing blend of zombies, I have yet to come across any boss fights yet, which is a little disappointing because every good zombie game needs boss fights. Perhaps there will be some as do more of the story missions, but so far? No sign of em.

While I am not much of a first person shooter type of guy, I am really getting into this game. Its not frustrating to play and it the levels are the perfect length for the mobile platform. Its something you can whip out and play with for a few minutes and be able to come back to it. Yes some of the levels get a bit repetitive but as I said I haven't been playing the story mode so much so that could change. The best part about it the game is free to download on both IOS and Android so if you've got a newer smartphone that has the power to run it, I would suggest giving it a download.

Rage Quitter Omniderp: #1

Don't have much to write about lately, so I whipped up this vid for you. Enjoy

My Rebuilding Silent Hill article.

Kairosoft Simulations Part Deux (Iphone): I have a problem and need help, Why can't you people see that?!

So yeah, fuck Kairosoft. Months ago in the early stages of this blog, I wrote a review of a series of mobile simulation games, namely: Game Dev Story, Hot Springs Story, Pocket Academy, and Mega Mall Story. Those games were like 8-bit heroin to me an I couldn't stop it. Hours upon hours I would waste on these. But eventually was able to kick that habit and stop playing those games. But foolish, foolish me. I rcently checked the app store to find out that they released 4 more simulations titles and god damn it after an hour or two on one of the demo's, three of the four of these stupid games ended up on my phone... So here we go again...

GRAN PRIX STORY: (Iphone/Android)

Gran Prix Story is pretty much exactly like it sounds. You are the owner of a race team and you have to train and develop a driver and his team of mechanics to build yourself a car and research its parts to win races and earn more money to expand your facilities and team. This is the game that is most representative of the the original Kairosoft stimulation Game Dev Story.  There is no building simulation so all you need to focus on is the numbers that pop up for you. As you win races you earn prize money, and with that prize money it allows you to build new cars. As you build and race you can get research points to upgrade the gear you have to research to make new stuff. You also can get sponsors who pay you every year and will help you unlock more sponsors or new gear. As you win races you will get invited to a Gran Prix. Win a Gran Prix and it moves you up the next cycle. Its pretty simple and I really got hooked on this one.

Here is my pro tip for this one. The Protocar will be one of the fastest you can get early. Build car parts that best support handling. On long straights speed is good but on dirt or ice roads you are boned. I had a Protocar with Ice tread tires, a V12 Engine, and a Supercharger and that pretty much will carry you through most of the game. Its also is a good idea to higher mechanics with the best TECH score. It will help get more research points faster and when your racer gets an aura, use it for training or when you start building a car or installing parts for the best effects. Once you've maxed what you use, start leveling things to half to unlock new cars and parts.

POCKET LEAGUE: (Iphone/Android)

Pocket League is a soccer management simulation. You start off with a base team of scrubs and you train them at your facilities to booster up their stats. They can train on the practice field or use the facilities you build to earn more skill points. You can play in exhibition games to get some start up capital but you won't earn bigger bucks until you start winning some cup games. Defeat all the teams in the cup to win money and gather up high profile players in free agency. Try to max out their stats and crush your opponent. Its pretty cut and dry.  You can place new facilities as you expand which allow for different training or coaching options. I don't think I ever beat the world level of this game though. And music for this one was a bit more annoying than all the rest. It has smaller sprites too, perhaps to get the whole soccer field size right but eh, seemed less detailed to me.

My tips for this one is get yourself a Superstar player as soon as you can afford it. Probably some kind of Striker who can play FW and maybe a world class Goalie. Put your team in the 4-3-2-1 arrow formation and teams will find it difficult to reach your goal, and your striker will be able to outplay the opponent and score pretty much on a whim. Once you have that in place you can start fleshing out your team by working your way down the arrow hiring more superstars as you go and the cap will allow for it. Once you get three FW's just start training them to their max potential and you'll be winning games by double digits till the World League.

OH! EDO TOWNS: (Iphone/Android)

Oh! Edo Towns is true to its roots and is an actual civilization simulation game. You are the lord of a feudal domain and you are basically trying to raise a popular and prosperous city for your citizens. Starting off with simple farmers you make money and open up new plots for people to move in, as the economy grows you begin to build businesses for people to spend their money and earn skill points. As they attain more skills they can eventually change their professions to artisans, merchants, warriors, or eventually vassals. Like many of the other simulations they release placing certain buildings perform better when placed next to other compatible buildings. Your artisans can also create items that increase citizens or buildings yield, which ultimately brings more people to your village.

Unless you watch a lot of anime and have a pretty reasonable grasp of Japanese culture, you may not know what some of the building types are or what their use is, so it can be a little frustrating to figure out. This is the one I had the most trouble with getting grasp on. The one thing to remember is unlike some of the other sims, the people have limited move distances, so start off small. Build some homes together, build some shops nearby, and build some fields near by in the other direction. If you place shops or jobs too far away from citizens homes they wont work and won't earn you money. Eventually they will be able to get horses which let them travel farther, but build in blocks. Its the best way to go.

VENTURE TOWNS: (Iphone/Android)

Lastly, there is Ventue Towns. I haven't purchased this one yet because its boasting a rather steep 3.99 price tag in my opinion. From what I gather from the the reviews and app description, it appears to be a more westernized version of Oh! Edo Towns. I can tell myself that because it's nearly the same thing, I don't need to buy that one. But I give it about 10 days or so and I'll probably break down and play this one too.

Seriously people. Its an addiction and I can't stop. WHY is nobody helping me?! They should not be as addicting as they are. But for whatever reason, I continue to buy and waste time with these. And god damn it if I have to suffer, I want others to suffer with these too.... And want to know that I was responsible...

KairoSoft Sims (iphone): Crack addiciton in 1's and 0's.

During this dry spell when I have nothing coming out I went browsing around my Iphone to look for something new to do to fill the gap. That friend who suggested to me to try Infinity Blade earlier in the life of my Iphone contract introduced me to a Simulation game called Game Dev Story. I hate him to this day for that. I don’t know what it is about simulation games, by all definitions they should be boring as hell, but the second I get started with one I become physically unable to put them down. They become my sole focus in my existence. Maybe it’s the classic sprite animated charm or the simple midi sound track or the goofy parodies on the names in these games, but I don’t know why I keep falling for it.

KairoSoft Simulations: (Iphone/Android)

      

So out of curiosity I downloaded the game. The premise is fairly simple, you start a game development company and your objective is to make as much money as you can. The more you make, the more you can expand, hire new employees, purchase licenses to develop for consoles, and eventually create your own console.  The whole game is very menu driven and if you have happened to be a gamer in the past 20 years, you generally know what consoles will be successful despite the parody names. What made this game hilarious to me is the horribly offensive names I could think of for my game company and names I could come up with, most of which I am unable to provide for the sake of keeping this article PG. I don’t know why I found the game so entertaining, but I've played it through 3 times.

That was several months ago. The problem is when I was looking for something new to play, I found out that they produced three more simulation titles, and like the idiot I am I purchased all of them. Next up is Mega Mall Story, and much like the last game, the premise is pretty cut and dry. You want to try to become a five star mall, run the competition out of town and try to build up the surrounding community to raise your traffic. As people start to come to your mall, they give gifts and introduce ideas for new stores to bring in. You can hold sales to increase the amount of people to come in and placing the right stores next to each other raises their reputations.  You can hire floor associates and if they provide good customer service to people they give you hearts which you can use to upgrade store stock or quality. While some of the stores you earn are a little bizarre (my mall certainly doesn't have a casino or planetarium), this one was surprisingly addicting to play.

The one that I am currently playing is Pocket Academy. I have recently started playing it so forgive me if the review is a little narrower in description.  As you have already guessed, the objective to this game is to create a successful academy. You train your students and the more you do you can increase the level of learning to get more tuition money. That allows you to higher better staff, aside from teaching; the staff wander the halls and get you points to spend on new amenities for the university.  In addition to this your students can help in local events to earn money for your school as well as create relationships amongst the students, romantic or platonic. What makes this game different from the previous two is that you have a much more freedom in your construction of the academy.  Unlike Game Dev Story where you get no building at all and it’s all done for you or Mega Mall Story where basically place buildings in blocks of 1-4 spaces, Pocket Academy opens up the map for you to construct, much in a manner you would expect like in The Sims Series.  It’s still fairly early on in my play through so I’m sure there is more for me experience and unlock, but it’s looking to be just as addictive as the previous two.

Or if going back to school isn’t your thing, you can try your hand at Hot Springs Story.  I only have played the demo for this game, but it plays a lot like if not exactly like Pocket Academy does. You start off with a small spring you have to expand it. As you do you can add different amenities in the same way of the previous mentioned game and you can sway business depending on what clientele you advertise to. Like Mega Mall Story, you can you expand and invest in the surround community to try to bring more people to your spa. What I am noticing about this game and Pocket Academy is that in this one it forces you to plan your building more carefully as money is not as prevalent as the first two titles. That being said, they do open up a new dimension to the game. This is the next one I have on the chopping block.

You can pick any one of these you want. Their all about 2 or 3 bucks on the Iphone App Store or Android Marketplace and every single one of them should keep you distracted for a good number of hours. Plus, if you are like me and looking for more, Android users can download their newest title Grand Prix Story, with an Iphone release in the near future. 

Now they just need to make a Sim Game Rehab Story and I'll be all set.... Damn you KairoSoft... Damn you...