Of late, there's been a resurgence of solitaire-based games, both in the casual and social game arenas and through it, some interesting variants of the classic card game have emerged. With Legends of Solitaire: The Lost Cards, developer The Revills Games obviously hoped to add to the growing list of cool new solitaire titles. Sadly, the company's slap-dash adventure/solitaire game just isn't that much fun.
When I booted up Arizona Rose and the Pirates' Riddles, I wasn't expecting a lot. And I say that in the nicest way possible. Buoyed up by the introduction's lilting, seaworthy tunes and kitschy story (you're the "world's best treasure hunter!"), I was willing to give myself over to some hunting, finding, and light puzzling inside an over-the-top story that served as a break from the genre's moody tendencies. So when I say this game under delivers on even those expectations, you'll have an idea of what you're in for.
Despite how much we celebrate the technological leaps in gaming, there's always room for a nice nostalgia boost. Sometimes we want to play games in their simplest forms, without all the fancy trimmings brought on by modern consoles and PC games. Oz Orwell and the Crawling Chaos is a shining example of this, providing players with a horror adventure that, flaws and all, feels straight out of the 90s.
Historical landmarks are vanishing across the globe: everything from the pyramids in Egypt to the Statue of Liberty in New York... all in a maverick magician's attempt to reign supreme. You're employed in Shattered Minds: Encore to save the monuments and unmask the magician. And allthough the magician may be able to hide behind a magical mask, the gameplay can't. As the plot points and cinematics are revealed, you'll wonder if you're playing a remake of a variety of other popular hidden-object puzzle-adventure games.
When a popular carnival magician goes missing, you'll be called in to investigate the scene using your sixth sense of clairvoyance. In Clairvoyant: The Magician Mystery, you'll interact with sideshow acts, clowns, puppets and more as you try and track down the magician and determine if he's safe. Did he voluntarily disappear after a fight with his mistress, or was he silenced after overhearing something he shouldn't have? The story in Clairvoyant is a good one, but you'll need to suffer through some poor gameplay to experience it.
The tower defense gaming space baffles me a little. While the underlying concept has been around for decades, it's only really taken off properly over the last few years, with all sorts of variations and takes on the theme. The bit that gets me all befuddled is why, after so many years of iteration, there are still so many TD titles released today that are the spitting, age-old image of those from so many years ago.
Sometimes games can be a little too demanding for their own good, like a car with a standard transmission. Sure it can be fun switching gears, hitting fourth at just the right second, but sometimes it's just a pain. Wouldn't it be nice to simply press the gas pedal and go? Well, this is my feeble analogy for Coins. It is the antithesis of the standard transmission. It is the uber-automatic. Coins is so undemanding, that, if I were to extend my feeble analogy further yet, I might even equate it to taking a taxi. You just sort of sit back and enjoy the ride.
As Americans, the pursuit of happiness is a theme near and dear to our hearts and that makes Boolat Games' cute new strategy title, The Promised Land, right up our alley. Casting us as ambitious pioneers, it allows us to follow in the footsteps of our forefathers by traveling to a new world to build a new society. More importantly however, it invites casual players to enjoy what can often be an intimidating and overcomplicated genre.