January 20, 2023 by RSS Feed
Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free
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January 19, 2023 by RSS Feed
Pine Tar Poker is a simple poker variant that injects some folksy charm by setting itself in a country tavern with a chatty barkeep. All seems fine, normal, and perhaps even a bit boring, and that's right when the game starts to pull the rug out from under you. It's an interesting idea that gets some help through some unique challenges and upgrades, though it does feel like Pine Tar Poker saunters along a bit slower than it needs to.
Come on down and play a hand or two
At its core, Pine Tar Poker is a modified version of poker where players try to make certain hands out of five face-up cards through the simple process of flipping cards off the top of the deck. Before each flip, you can choose any number of cards to hold onto, and after a preset number of flips you have to try and score. If no scoring options are available when you run out of actions, your point total is scored and you get a payout.
After the first hand or two, you sort of get it. There's a lot of luck involved and you just have to play a bunch if you want things to fall in your favor for a high score. Just as you start thinking that, though, your jovial barkeeper offers some items you can buy with your earnings. These things start to give you ways to control your luck to a certain degree, and also indicate that maybe there's more to Pine Tar Poker than meets the eye.
Making deals, but with who?
From here on out in the review, it's going to be kind of hard to talk about why Pine Tar Poker is compelling. Things certainly happen and they are easy to describe, but the reason they are compelling is because you don't expect them and don't know what the next one will be. Let's just say the game takes a turn in a somewhat supernatural direction and leave it at that.
All along the way, your barkeep keeps chatting you up to explain how certain things work as they get unveiled. He doesn't act surprised, nor is ever vexed by what is going on. The resulting effect transforms the way you might view him. The man who seemed like a welcoming, friendly, and unassuming host has been clearly hiding things from you, but to what end? And why? You must play on to find out.
Creeping along
Each layer you peel back of Pine Tar Poker's innocent facade creates a more intriguing mystery while also adding some mechanical depth to the card game. My only problem with this progression is that it feels a little too slow. There's no moment where things transform in an instant or you make some sudden realization. It's a very slow burn on a game that already feels like it sort of plods along.
Part of this could have to do with the fact that Pine Tar Poker is a landscape-only title. This could just be a "me" thing but games in that orientation I work through a bit slower because I can't necessarily dip in and out of them as easily as a portrait mode game. I also don't see why Pine Tar Poker can't be a portrait-mode title, which is slightly annoying. In any case, the pace doesn't ruin the game at all, but it can create times where you feel like you're just trying to string together enough points to get to the next reveal.
The bottom line
I never thought I'd say that a poker game's worldbuilding is a key part of what makes it successful, but that is absolutely the case with Pine Tar Poker. Things aren't what they seem, and it's fun to get surprised with sinister-feeling events for playing what is otherwise a competent and fairly unsurprising card game.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/pine-tar-poker-review/
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January 19, 2023 by RSS Feed
Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free
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January 18, 2023 by RSS Feed
At first glance, Wavecade looks like a mobile knock-off of Geometry Wars. And--while you do indeed pilot a little geometric ship and shoot at little geometric enemies in a neon, spaceage environment--Wavecade is most definitely its own kind of game. It's a very strange game and I'm not sure I understand the reasoning for some of its design choices, but I sure as heck enjoy playing it.
Shoot to survive
Wavecade is a wave-based survival game where you have to shoot your way through increasingly fast and dangerous waves of blocks that threaten to destroy your ship if they happen to touch it. To destroy these blocks, you have a few tools, including an auto-firing laser, charge attacks, "nades" that can clear the screen, and a special ability of your choosing that can be anything from a shield to a cloning device that copies your ship and its abilities.
Wave after wave your goal is to simply stay alive, though every mode of Wavecade also has a leaderboard you'll more than likely be looking to climb. For most modes, the challenge in Wavecade is less about the amount of enemies or their movement patterns and more about how you have to put yourself in dangerous positions to chain together large combos that net you a lot of points.
Lord over space and time
As you progress through waves in Wavecade, you'll get access to powerups that make you a more formidable fighter. All of these upgrades are fairly expected and conventional, from a spreadshot to a time freeze. All of these bonuses are time limited, but with some skill and speed you can chain together lots of powerups which can be very useful to keep you churning through waves and upping your score.
Each run ends when you run out of lives, and each time you lose a life any powerups you had are stripped from you. This can put you in a pretty precarious situation, especially if you are pretty deep into a run, which is where one of Wavecade's stranger mechanics can possibly help you out. For some reason, forward and backward movement in this game speeds up and slows down game speed respectively (in addition to changing the position of your ship). You can take advantage of this to cower at the bottom of your screen as enemies and bullets crawl along at a glacial pace or you can race to the top of the screen to have things whiz along into your path of destruction.
Upgrades, custom modes, multiplayer, oh my
When you complete a run of Wavecade, you earn experience that unlocks things like new ship designs, sound effects, ship trails, perks, and more. You can mix and match all of these to your liking before diving back in and taking on any of the game's variety of modes, though most of them are somewhat minor variations on the default "survive as long as you can" mode.
If none of these modes speak to you, you can make your own custom game mode or even team up with a friend to play co-op. No matter what you do, though, you can be almost guaranteed to be treated to a visual spectacle of bright neon explosions and lots of great arcade noises. The visual chaos can also become a factor in the challenge as well, but seeing all the explosions and other particle effects popping off is a big part of what makes the whole thing satisfying.
The bottom line
Wavecade is a pretty wild arcade game with some unique mechanics and a lot of variety to give you reasons to keep coming back to it. It may look like some games you have seen and played before, but nothing quite plays like this, and--in the case of Wavecade--this is a very good thing.
Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/wavecade-review/
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January 18, 2023 by RSS Feed
Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free
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