Gamezebo Archives - December 2011

While it’s been around for almost as long as Apple’s App Store, the Android Market really came into its own in 2011. This is the year when Android gaming went from “it’s all iOS ports and crap games no one wants” to “it’s all iOS ports and... hey, some of these are actually pretty good!” It’s also the year that we started covering Android gaming here at Gamezebo, so you know that has to mean something special.

Just like its Facebook counterpart, the mobile version of MinoMonsters is simply a Pokemon game that isn’t developed by Nintendo. Actually, simple is a good way to describe the game, as much of the complexity that Nintendo’s series is known for has been stripped away. The story, game world, and even much of the strategy is gone. What you’re left with is an admittedly very pretty game, but one that’s ultimately unsatisfying.

When Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer made a splash in the world of iOS card games earlier this year, it seemed inevitable that the pseudo-sequel Return of the Fallen would eventually make its way to the App Store one day. Now, nearly six months after Ascension iOS debut, that day has come.

Space exploration appeals to the human soul. There is something about the frontier nature of the cosmos that speaks to all of us. In Space Frontier, you’ll be an architect of space colonization, building housing and air supply in the distant expanses of the universe. Temper your expectations that this will be SimCity in space; instead, you’ll be given menial quests in place of a larger, more expansive game. But while this is disappointing, what is on offer in Space Frontier isn’t completely without value.

The latest incarnation of TeamLava’s “Story” franchise has released onto iOS in the form of Pet Shop Story. Having already visited the business simulation realms of restaurants, zoos, and bakeries, now it’s time to give cute little puppies and kitties a whirl. Centered around the same formulaic design as its predecessors, the new release offers nothing dramatically new to the genre or even the franchise itself. Nevertheless, its system has worked in the past and Pet Shop Story does improve on the relatively iterative series.

Who would've thought the holidays would be so busy? This week at Gamezebo we continued to chug along with our end-of-the-year Best of 2011 awards, highlighting everything from the best game on Facebook to the top hidden object games of the year. We also had several fun giveaways and, of course, published plenty of guides and reviews of the latest games. But we also kept busy with a week full of news. So in case you happened to miss anything, here's what went down in gaming this past week.

At first, there was only the farming simulation type of social game on Facebook. But in the past few years the city-builder has also risen to insane popularity. As such yet another is making an appearance in the form of Skyscraper City. Hosting most of the core elements that make the genre what it is, the new application does attempt to change things up rather drastically with the inclusion of amusing events and an almost LEGO-style manner of construction.

Pickersis a hidden object game where searching through random piles of junk actually makes perfect sense! Your shop, Rusted Gold, has shelves to fill, auctions to run, and money to make - and you can only do that with the best finds!

As I write this, it’s a Friday afternoon. But I can’t help but feel like it’s Saturday morning. Why? Because today seems to be all about cartoons! First Zynga debuted A Very FarmVille Christmas. Then I received a very friendly reminder that the Where’s My Water cartoon will be debuting online in early 2012, And NOW, ZeptoLab has just unleashed the first animated short featuring lovable little Om Nom from Cut the Rope.

Companies buying other companies. It’s the way the world works, and it’s a big part of the games industry. This year saw a number of huge acquisitions in the games space; huge not just in terms of how much money changed hands, but also in terms of how surprising some of the announcements were and what kind of impact they might have going forward. Here are the five biggest of 2011.

It is the Middle Ages, people are starving, and previously glorious cities and villages lie in ruins. That is the simple but endearing premise of Be A King: Golden Empire, the newest part of a series by developer Rake In Grass. This series is definitely improving, but still misses the mark in a few respects.

The Golden Age of adventure games is long past, but those of us who love them keep searching for games made in that old-school style. Ironcode Gaming's Pahelika: Revelations is one such game, which in an era dominated by social, casual and “lite adventure,” is both good and bad. On one hand, it offers a deeper story and more challenging puzzles than those other genres; on the other, its high skill expectation takes it beyond the reach of many of today's new gamers.

Bedtime Stories: The Lost Dreams is a hidden object adventure from Absolutist that explores the pasts of four different family members who are all suffering from a common complaint: because of mistakes made in their pasts, and goals left unfulfilled, none of them are able to lead the lives they really want to live. Your goal is to help them make things right.

Unstoppable Gorg is an upcoming tower defense game that's unique for a couple of reasons: First, there's the over-the-top B-movie theme, which is designed to pay homage to vintage sci-fi films of the 1950's as you defend Earth against invading by sending satellites into orbit. Then there's the gameplay, which lets you move your towers in real-time by rotating the orbits that surround planets in order to gain the upper hand.

Okay, so House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets is a hidden object adventure about a haunted house. But after spending some hands-on time with an early preview build of the game sent to us by Alawar, we feel pretty confident in saying that House of 1000 Doors is good enough to hold its own among all of the other haunted house-themed offerings in today's HOG marketplace.

You can already celebrate the holidays in FarmVille with the new Winter Wonderland expansion and with the newly released FarmVille plushies, but now there's another way, as Zynga has released its very first animated short for the game.

Poor Pluto. Not only must the weather there make Nunavut feel like Egypt, they also have to contend with upstart scientists from Earth who contend that their little hunk of rock isn't even a planet. And now, with a little help from SyFy, they're up in arms and they're not going to take it anymore. That's good news for us, because their tank battles against the unsuspecting inhabitants of Earth in Pluto Attacks represent some of the best 2D turned-based combat available on Facebook.

Google's Chrome web store is becoming an increasingly prominent game platform, and now Spacetime Studios, the developer behind mobile online role playing games Pocket Legends and Star Legends, has announced that both games are now playable through Google's browser.

Makers of the puzzle game Tidalis and the AI War series of strategy games, Arcen Games are working on a new side-scrolling platformer called A Valley Without Wind. The game is "procedurally generaetd," meaning the world that you get to explore will never be the same way twice, leading to near-infinite replay value. The beta is now available for pre-order on Gamersgate.

Smartphones have essentially supplanted traditional gaming handhelds for all intents and purposes. Why carry around multiple devices when one will suffice? Sadly though, the complexity we used to enjoy on those platforms hasn’t totally made the jump, and we’ve been left with mostly simple, albeit excellent, bite sized games. Spectral Souls bucks that trend for sure, but is it good enough to stand apart and make itself known?