"If there is an app for that"

Google Text Adventure Easter Egg is a Blast From the Distant Past

October 01, 2018 by RSS Feed

Way back in the day (I’m talking ’70’s, early ’80’s) there weren’t many computer games that existed and even fewer that anyone had access to. However, if you were lucky enough to have access to a “mini computer”, and even luckier to have extended access, then you could get lost in a text-based adventure game.

These games generally were accessed by typing the name of the program, Adventure, into your ASR33 teletype console and then by using text commands you could move around the space, find objects, pick up objects, and use objects to find more objects (such as keys to open doors to find treasure).

There were no graphics, just bare-bones descriptions and lots of imagination. Oh, and also strategies for not looping in circles (leave breadcrumbs of objects you didn’t think you needed) and figuring out where you were and what the space looked like (drawing maps).

Those days are long gone (for better for worse) and now not only do all computer/phone games have graphics but the graphics are quickly getting to a level of quality and sophistication that gets them ever closer to being indistinguishable from reality.

But I digress. While there are some excellent text adventure games on both Android and iOS (I’m looking at you “A Dark Room” and “Lifeline”) Google has made one available via your browser if you know how to find it. It’s simply called Text Adventure. Here’s the secret; open a compatible browser (Chrome or Firefox. From Chrome click View/Developer/JavaScript Console. From Firefox click Tools/Web Developer/Web Console).

Once the console opens you’ll get some warnings not to copy and pasted anything into the console and then you’re asked if you would like to play a game. Type “yes” and you’re on your way. You’ll see a list of the commands available (north, south, east, west, up, down, grab, why, inventory, use, help, exits, map, and friends) and the initial setting for the adventure:

Enjoy!

Text Adventure requires a compatible browser.

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2018/10/google-text-adventure-game/

Rise of Civilizations Review

September 24, 2018 by RSS Feed

We’ve gained a little more respect for Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan since we started playing Rise of Civilizations. It turns out that running an empire is a serious multitasking exercise.

Not only do you have to keep expanding your interests, wiping out barbarian tribes and overcoming well organised enemies, but you have to keep the home front ticking over too.

Rise of Civilizations sees you taking the reins of a burgeoning empire, giving you the choice of Germany, Britain, Spain, Japan, China, Thailand, France, and Rome.

You start with a modest walled city with very little in it, but as you upgrade your City Hall and the buildings around it you unlock more building types. Upgrading these lets you upgrade your City Hall in turn, making more building types available, and so on.

Eventually you’ll have a farm, an archery range, a workshop, a barracks, a lumber mill, an academy, and many more buildings besides. Between them they keep your people sheltered, fed, trained, educated, armed, healthy, safe, and prosperous.

Upgrading buildings takes time, but you can speed up the process with consumable cards. You have to exercise a little bit of restraint with these, since you don’t have an unlimited supply, but you have enough that you can expedite a few building, training, and research periods per session, allowing you to get some good progress out of a quick game.

Of course, this just covers the very basics of attending to your own city. Zoom out and you’ll discover a staggeringly huge game world. Your city is just a tiny dot in a vast region, which itself just one of nine regions, separated by mountain ranges and accessible through pathways that you need to find with your scouts.

What’s more, the vast majority of this map is shrouded in fog, so there’s a huge amount to discover. We dread to think how long it would take you to clear every wisp of fog, but every time you send out a scout you uncover new stuff to befriend, explore, conquer, plunder, or kill.

Naturally, killing stuff is a big part of being an emperor. To this end,​ you have troops, which you recruit and train in your city, but you also have commanders. These are based on real historical figures like Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan, and you can level them up with their own individual skill trees, RPG-style.

You can have multiple commanders, too, giving you even more to think about when assigning skill points, as well as allowing you to fight on multiple fronts.

The Good

Rise of Civilizations also has its own exhaustive alliance system, complete with messaging. Joining an alliance gives you access to communal assets such as research, alliance gifts, and earnings from resources. It also lets you call on alliance members for assistance in completing research, building, and training projects in your city.

Naturally, you can help the alliance too, by pledging your troops in wars, contributing to research costs, and so on.

Believe it or not, we haven’t really scratched the surface of Rise of Civilizations. There’s so much to do, and so many ways to do it, and so much room to do it in, that it would take you days to get to grips with the game’s subtle intricacies.

It would risk becoming overwhelming if not for the inexhaustible supply of missions and tasks. The best way to progress, certainly at first, is to just go to the missions screen and keep taking them on.

For example, accepting a barbarian hunting mission will take you straight to the search function, where you can search for barbarians, among other things, at whatever level you like. Once you’ve found a squad of barbarians it’s just a matter of a couple of taps before you’re wiping them out with swords, arrows, and siege weapons.

As a result of accepting this mission,​ you’ll learn how the search function works, level your troops up, and earn some resources. There are many different mission types, all of them productive and profitable, so it makes sense to stay on this path until you’re ready to face the big bad world without training wheels.

The Bad

The slight downside of Rise of Civilization’s huge scope is that it can look a little plain. The graphics are polished and slick, but there’s only so much character a developer can squeeze into an ant-sized sprite. The interface can become cluttered, too, and it’s not uncommon to tap on the wrong building while working in your city.

But these are minor issues, and a small price to pay for the sheer detail and abundance that Rise of Civilizations contains.

The Verdict

If you have any interest in the genre, you ought to check Rise of Civilizations out. You can download it via the App Store and Google Play.

8.3

OVERALL

Replayability 8.8

Game Controls 8.6

Gameplay 8.5

Graphics 7.8

Sound/Music 7.9

FREE

Rise of Civilizations

Lilith Games

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

One Hour One Life Review

August 21, 2018 by RSS Feed

You can get a lot done in an hour. You can bake a cake, watch almost three episodes of The Simpsons, or -- if you really concentrate -- remove a new USB stick from its packaging. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even live an entire lifetime.

That’s the premise of One Hour One Life, a mobile version of Jason Rohrer’s acclaimed PC game in which each minute of gameplay translates to one year of virtual existence.

It’s an ingenious concept, but the real joy of the game is in the multiplayer experience. While you can only ever live for 60 minutes at a time, you can do things that have a lasting effect on the world you leave behind for others.

Objects that you make in One Hour One Life stay behind after your life is over. Your children, as well as other players, are free to play with these objects, just as you’ll end up playing with other players’ creations when you get reincarnated as their children.

This system encourages you to treat others fairly and make a positive contribution. Because you’re bound to be reincarnated, it makes sense to create a world that’s worth being reincarnated into.

That said, if you’re an inveterate troublemaker there’s nothing to stop you running wild.

The Good

One Hour One Life’s simple presentational style belies an incredible level of richness and detail. You’ll encounter stones, animals, plants, and innumerable other items on your travels through the game. Everything you pick up can be broken down to its core elements, which in turn can be used to create new items, such as tools and supplies.

It’s crafting, but not as you know it. Because each game only lasts an hour, there’s no time for cumbersome details like recipes and crafting tables. To create a new item you just have to hold a finger down on an object to see all of the ways you can turn it into another object.

This slick interface makes it terrifyingly easy to vanish down a rabbit hole as you explore the many branches of the tech tree in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, there’s always an alert to refocus your attention, generally reminding you to eat.

One of the most intriguing things about One Hour One Life is the way it handles communication with other players. There’s chat, but you can only express yourself properly once you reach adulthood. During the early stages of each life you’re limited to a few characters, just like a real human infant.

This eccentric novelty underlines the developer’s determination to create an authentic experience that encourages real social behaviour.

And it works. If you take the time to observe how other players carry on, you’ll see that they generally cooperate with activities like looking after children until conditions become more difficult, at which point they become insular and self-centred.

The Bad

Unfortunately, a couple of minor flaws rob One Hour One Life of its perfect sheen. While the controls are generally intuitive, but some moves can be a bit tricky to pull off at first. There is a tutorial, but it’s still something that irks when you start off.

You’ll get the hang of it over time though, and it doesn’t really affect your progress since all you’re aiming to accomplish with every life is to learn a few more things, make some stuff, and leave the world a better place. The basic aesthetics may also put off some players.

The Verdict

One Hour One Life isn’t your typical mobile game. In fact, it’s completely unique, and it contains a profound message about how to spend the time you have. You should spend some of it playing this. You can download it now on the App Store (and Google Play).

8.4

OVERALL

Replayability 9

Game Controls 8.5

Sound/Music 8.1

Gameplay 8.7

Graphics 7.8

$4.99

One Hour One Life for Mobile

Wereviz

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Google Translate for iOS is Your Bestie for International Travel

July 25, 2018 by RSS Feed

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2018/07/google-translate-for-ios-is-your-bestie-for-international-travel/

Google Translate for iOS is Your Bae for International Travel

July 25, 2018 by RSS Feed

Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2018/07/google-translate-for-ios-is-your-bae-for-international-travel/