Tired of the Tower Defense Genre?  Come back!!!

iDreams make some of the most beautiful apps, and I got to see and play a preview of their new Tower Defense entry, Jelly Defence, which is coming soon.  So gorgeous and has great challenge, this will get you back into the Tower Defense genre quite quickly.  I was getting sick of the whole genre until I played this.  Well done!  Bravo.  Check out the preview teaser video and the press release.

Must Buy Board Game!

I mentioned it last week, I was thrilled at the arrival of Ticket To Ride from Days of Wonder who are the makers of the actual hit board game.  Now that I’ve played a few rounds, and actually won a game, I’m ready to recommend it to the world.  In terms of board games, we all know from Monopoly, Scrabble etc., well, those aside, there’s a new level of board games many don’t know about.  I had a co-worker who is a die hard board gamer, he gave me a copy of the Ticket To Ride card game, and I loved it.  I then learned the actual board game and I was hooked.  Basic premise is you get travel tickets with two destinations, and throughout a series of moves you need to complete your start to endpoint on your tickets using train tracks and laying down your supplied train pieces.  How you do it effects other players and you have a limited number of color routes available, as well as a limited number of trains to use.  There’s a ton of strategy to be learned for such a simple concept.  Should you get sick of the US map, there’s other map expansions, which are also available on the iPad version.

Would like a little more direction in this menu but it looks great

The iPad version plays and feels alot like the real game, and the graphics, and tutorials are well detailed and quite helpful to the new player.  Playing online vs. other players is welcomed and can be played vs. Mac PC or iPad players (to be honest I haven’t tried it yet because I’m not ready to play against skilled players and fear of being slaughtered has kept me back, soon, I will test that).  I found the starting interface a touch non intuitive as there’s just as series of symbols to tap and see where it takes you, but after you find where you need to go, it helps.  Some more menu wording would be welcomed but it may take away from the beautiful visual qualities that are well done.

This is not a real quick pick up and play type game so if you need that look elsewhere, but if you’re looking for a new board game experience that is relatively easy to learn and tough to master, this is the best you can get.  Some things I would love to see is player vs. player on the same iPad, because, the board game itself has tons of little pieces and to be able to bring an iPad on a trip and to the kitchen table is much easier than all those train pieces, I sure hope they update this app to include player vs. player.  Another thing I would love to see is something similar to the words with friends model where you can play vs. a friend, do a move, come back later and after your friend has moved you get to go, it may take forever that way to play but it’s a neat idea.  Again I need to play vs. someone I know online and see how the experience is.  I really love this game and hope my friends can spend the $6.99 to get this app so they can play with me.  Believe it or not, its worth more than that.

Expansions, yessir!

You can play vs. the computer up to 4 players and the AI is pretty well versed in the game.  It’s a good challenge if you’re looking for a solo outing, it took me a few times to win a game but I also chose easy routes to place my trains and playing a conservative less risky approach I got lucky enough to beat one computer AI opponent.  I’m sure I won’t be able to win with 3 computer AI opponents.

So if you need more ways for me to recommend this game let me know because its time to stop playing monopoly or scrapple and come to the other side of board gaming, and open your eyes to the new generation of classic board games, this is destined to be a classic, and if you don’t have it in your board game closet, you should at least try it on the iPad, you may end up running out to a specialty game store and getting the actual board game for some family fun.  Nuf said, I got a train to route.  I’ve got a ticket to ride….and you should care!

Very Unique Multi-Player Experience

I first watched the video below about this app and while intrigued, I was not inspired to play this, even though it was a very different idea and a game idea I’ve never seen before.  Intrigued enough to learn how this game is played, I gave it a shot, I must say I’m very impressed at this has a great amount of silly fun not found in multiplayer games, and even the vs. computer option is fun.  It’s clever and different from any other games, we look for this stuff but don’t find it often.  Check out the vid, but you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

The premise is rather simple, take the spotlight and keep the spotlight as an opera singer. We all want the spotlight, even in real life. So here’s your chance. The problem is the other playing opera singers are stumbling for your spotlight and they want to knock you off the stage. It wasn’t until this moment when I went back and read the iTunes description that it’s essentially King of the Mountain, the game I played on many snowbanks on the East Coast growing up. Aside from the fundamental similarity to King of the Mountain, its dressed up in a clever way that’s full of humor. I can’t wait to get 3 other friends around my iPad and have a knockdown Opera battle with this game, I see it getting some time at a party. Good stuff. It also has a nice bit of challenge in mastering how to move your opera singer across the screen.

King of Opera can be found here and is universal, and at .99 cents, a no-brainer must grab.

Keep Em’ Busy and Your Screen Dirty!

I have a 3 year old and he loves to grab my iPad and just play on it.  It always involves more fingerprints than the average adult.  All that aside, it’s fun to watch my son integrate himself with the latest technology and learn something in the process.  The closest I came to this when I was little was a record player that I stuck a filmstrip in.  That said, there’s some amazing apps for kids out there at a few bucks each that is cheaper than any afternoon at Chuck E Cheese and far less headaches and bad food.

Finding Nemo: My Puzzle Book

Finding Nemo: My Puzzle Book is a great children’s style read along book that just has many bonuses along the way.  For $.99 you cannot say no, because kids books that do half as much stuff in the iBooks store are 10x the cost sometimes.  My son is still a big fan of the Pixar film so this doesn’t get old, even though the movie came out years ago.  Simple controls that don’t need much parental guidance, a simple story is read where kids can tap on random bits along the way to make them feel like they’re collecting things and that sense of pride and accomplishment is reached.  Some light animation and nice audio to help drive the story along is welcomed as well, holds the child’s short attention span quite well.  Every 4 pages or so is a simple jigsaw puzzle to help break things up and get the kids mind and puzzle skills working.  The interface for the puzzle section is quite fluid and even better than some dedicated jigsaw puzzle apps, with a touch of assist when the puzzle pieces snap into their proper places when they’re ever so close.  I like that.

The story won’t take more than 15 minutes or so unless there’s too much diversion and difficulty at the puzzle stage, generally my son can breeze through the puzzles but still takes some time to do so, I love to see analytic thinking this early in life.  Another welcome feature is the read & record feature which allows the parent or babysitter or whomever record their own voice reading the story, so when the kid fires it up perhaps when said parent or guardian is away they get the comfort of the familiar voice.  I haven’t tried it yet but it’s so nice to know it’s there.

This app is a must buy if you qualify for 2 things; 1-Own an iPad, and 2-Have a child.  Great stuff from Disney Digital Books.  It’s also a universal app so if you’re at that restaurant and can’t keep the kid quiet, bust out your iPhone and make sure you have this app on there for the portable fix.

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Lightning Was Here: My Puzzle Book

Another great addition from Disney Digital Books is Lightning Was Here: My Puzzle Book which pays homage to another great Pixar Flick, Cars.  It’s a bit harder to find by searching ‘Cars’ in the app store but use the link above.  If you have a male child, chances are they’re way into cars, and the movie Cars.  This is similar in every way to the Nemo app above and again, for $.99, it’s another must own app for your iPad/iPhone.  This one includes a sticker collection task along the way which my son really got into, had a gotta collect ‘em all thing going, and kept going back to grab the stickers he missed.  The puzzles in this app are a little more difficult than the Nemo one but not that difficult in terms of 12 large piece jigsaw puzzles, still lots of fun.  Another welcome distraction along the way in the interactive storybook which follows the Cars characters through an adventure.  There seems to be a little less animation in this one than the Nemo one but this one came out months before the Nemo one, not a big deal either way.  There are alot of these Disney books popping up in the AppStore so you can really find some good ones for your kids interests, and they’re all really well done and worth the value.  The Cars app has the read and record feature as well.

Really well done stuff Disney, always catering to the children and continuing to do so on the latest technology, at a fraction of the cost of those Leapfrog device add ons too.