iTalk Magazine » Games

Drop7 – Perfect for Tetris and Sodoku Lovers!

jeshyr — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:48:06 +0000

Drop7 is a game that’s a little like what would happen if you crossed Tetris and Sodoku, and I have been playing it a lot recently!

I discovered a flash version of the game first, named Chain Factor and got a bit addicted to it so I went looking for a version I could play on my iPod Touch and iPad. Drop7 is what I found, and I’m really enjoying it.

In this game, you drop single blocks one by one into a grid of seven by seven blocks. Unlike Tetris-like games, you have an unlimited amount of time to choose where to drop each block, and they’re dropped simply by touching the column you want to drop the block into.

Here you can see three of the 5 blocks in the process of exploding, as I just dropped the hidden block on top of them to make a column five blocks tall. The grey blocks in the bottom row are because I have just advanced to level three.

Each block has a digit 1-7 written on it, and if the digit on a block matches the number of adjacent blocks in its row or column, any blocks with that digit on them will explode and the blocks above it will “fall” to fill in the gaps. So if you drop three blocks so they’re all touching in a row, and one or more of those blocks has the digit “3″ on it, the blocks with the “3″ will explode, and so on. You score points for every block which explodes.

If the blocks dropping to fill the gaps after an explosion creates another valid move, the explosions repeat – this is called a chain. Scores for blocks exploding in a chain are much higher than scores for blocks that explode all at the same time:

Initial round of blocks: 7 points per block.
Second step of a chain: 39 points per block.
Third step of a chain: 109 points per block.

I can’t tell you the values after that, but they keep increasing rapidly. I once (accidentally, I must admit) created a chain that was eleven moves long and scored a phenomenal amount of points with it. Setting up chains that will explode one by one like dominoes is a challenge made harder by the fact that some blocks initially have “hidden” values and will only reveal their digits after two adjacent blocks have exploded to “break them open”. After a certain number of blocks are dropped, you move up a level which introduces a row of hidden blocks at the bottom of the screen.

It’s a difficult game to describe because it doesn’t sound interesting but it’s really both interesting and one of those games that stays interesting the longer you play. I also really like that there’s an unlimited amount of time to drop each block because I really hate games that just get faster and faster until my fingers can’t keep up! I was skeptical at first because at US$2.99 it’s more than most simple games I buy, but it’s definitely been worth the price. Drop7 is a universal app which works on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

I highly recommend Drop7 to anybody who likes number or shape based logic games.

- Ricky

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New from Tap Tap: Riddim Ribbon!

jeshyr — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:08:13 +0000

Riddim Ribbon, a brand new iPod Touch/iPhone game from Tapulous – the masterminds behind Tap Tap Revenge – is now available on the iTunes App Store! This isn’t just another differently-branded version of the “Tap Tap” style. Here’s their own description of the game’s action:

Welcome to the world of RIDDIM RIBBON, where you guide a spinning ball as it races and rushes down a twisting, turning ribbon that’s floating in a dynamic digital space. With the beats of The Black Eyed Peas (and downloadable levels from Tiësto, Benny Benassi and, soon, others) pumping in your ears, use the iPhone / iPod Touch’s ultra-sensitive tilt controls to stay in the groove.

Each fork in the ribbon presents a new direction for you to take the mix of the song. Jump the ramps to reach upper levels, where wild audio effects kick in and the sound becomes more uniquely yours. Roll over pebbles and hit targets to maintain your speed through the checkpoints, but watch out for beat-dropping obstacles – you’ll need to flick your phone to jump over them! If you veer off the target line too long, instruments start fading, the music slows down, and the track falls apart. Then you’ll certainly lose the crowd, which is a DJ’s worst nightmare. The better you play the game, the better the song sounds!

The game comes with three different Black Eyed Peas songs (Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling, and Meet Me Halfway) and, like the Tap Tap series, has in-game purchases from other artists, avatars, and online scoring.

There’s three skill levels for each song and (I like this bit best) there’s multiple ways to get successfully to the finish line for each skill level. So if you’re bad at games like me, you aren’t stuck with just one thing to do at the easiest level! On the other hand if you’re really good at games, check out the Riddim Ribbon Launch Contest: Every day for 30 days, one Riddim Ribbon player wins the entire Black Eyed Peas catalog, which includes Behind the Front, Bridging the Gap, Elephunk, Monkey Business, and The E.N.D.! Then, one grand prize winner gets a pair of Beats By Dre Headphones! You win by posting the highest score (on any set) is the winner for that day. For more details, check out the Tapulous blog.

Here’s another screen shot for you:

More Riddim Ribbon playing action

So, who’s playing Riddim Ribbon and how’s it going for you?

- Jeshyr

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TapTap Revenge 2 for iPhone

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:49:10 +0000

It’s great news folks: TapTap Revenge 2 arrives tonight for the iPhone. I for one will be hitting up the link as soon as I can. TapTap Revenge 2 sounds like it’s a complete rebuild with a new game engine, over 150 free songs and new ways for you to play with friends.

We could tell you more, or we could hit you up with a video:

TapTap Revenge 2 for iPhone

~~The download link is not active (at time of writing) but here is a link to Tapulous’ download page where the link will become available~~Grab your own copy of Tap Tap Revenge 2 here.

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Slotz – slot car racing for iPhone

Mr K — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:53:35 +0000

There are a growing number of car racing style games appearing in the iTunes store. You have 4×4, offroad, street racing, drifting and many many more styles. This is great for a petrol head like me (although a tad hard on the wallet), as I love cars, love racing (see some of my recent pics from the Taupo leg of the A1GP ). I quite enjoy taking 5 or 10 mins out of my day to sit and race a virtual car around a track.

Then there is Slotz – a racing game that takes me for a trip down memory lane. I must admit I’m not sure how many are around now, but as a kid growing up slot cars were hugely popular. There were race arcades set up you could take your car down, they’d have huge tracks set up and you’d race.

Slotz Loading Screen

Bought to us by the guys & girls from Freeverse this game is well thought out, well created and hugely addictive.

Main Menu

The main menu presents you with 4 base options, from which you can select Race , Edit Tracks, Options & Trophies.

Race: there are 3 types of race options quick race, single player (championship) and multiplayer (up to 4 player).

Edit Tracks: this is a great feature of this game, you can build your own 2 or 4 lane tracks right on the iPhone.

Options: the customisation that is available in this game is huge. All your usuals are here, sound, music etc, then you have grip type and more.

Trophies: go on, gloat

Game Play Screen

Playing this game couldn’t be easier. You have a simple control in the lower right of the screen. Press it to go, lift off to stop – just like the trigger on the original slot car racers. You pretty much can nail it around many of the tracks, however you have to watch it or your car will flip off the track as you go.

The computer players can be a bit – meh … but still, with the options being so flexible you can tweak your car to make it harder.

The championship is huge, I’ve still not completed it as the races get longer and longer and harder. Some are purely time/lap based and some have the added fun of pit stops – you gotta watch that fuel gauge or you’ll end up running out 1/4 of the way into a lap.

When playing in multi player each player controls a corner of the iPhone & the race view is top down only. This makes it quite fun for 4 folks (or two controlling two cars) on a Friday afternoon with a beer or two.

Cons

There are a couple of strange things, on some tracks as you race through the start/finish line you’ll swap lanes. This can be good as taking the corners from different lanes makes them harder/easier, however it can also put you on the track with a slower car in front. When you hit them, you get thrown off the track. Kinda annoying.

The graphics are good and pretty smooth, but I think there is room for refinement here. I also found doing 20+ laps of some tracks in the championship a tad boring.

Summary

In a world of same-same car racing games Slotz is a breath of fresh air and is at one time simple, yet complex enough to generally keep it entertaining. The sounds are great, graphics are solid, and game play reminds me a lot of the original slot car games.

Overall, it’s a fun way to enjoy your iPhone.

Prey – FPS for the iPhone

Israel Torres — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:04:48 +0000

Over at ING they have just broken cover on the fact that the first person shooter Prey is coming to an iPhone near you. Prey which is developed by Machine Works is already popular a PC and Xbox tile and we imagine is soon to be a popular iPhone title. The plot is simple with you (Tommy) awakening to find himself on an unfamiliar planet with your girlfriend Jenny being held captive by aliens. This situation only leads to one course of action, smash and blow away as many aliens as you can on your way to rescue your beloved.

Prey for the iPhone

ING reports that Machine woks have created and innovative set of controls for prey, Using a series of four bars, you control Tommy’s movement and looking with your thumbs. The controls are responsive and after a couple moments of play, I grew pretty accustomed to the bars. However, if the bars are not placed to your liking, you can actually move them anywhere on screen you like.

Prey Controls

There are all the usual puzzle work and dizzying array of weapons, but as Prey players would be happy to note ING reports, the wall-walking, where you tramp up gravity-defying paths that spiral around rooms is still in iPhone Version.

Prey will be available in a few weeks, once we know for sure when it is coming out we will let you know.

[Source ING]

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Falling Balls for iPhone

admin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:58:06 +0000

Games don’t come much simpler than this, I mean it’s a very simple looking and simple to play game. You have a stick figure (you) and the object of the game is to squash him .. oh hang on, you mean that’s NOT the object?

Oh, so you are supposed to move him so the balls miss him. Oh well in that case …

What you have here is a highly difficult game, demanding a huge amount of attention, steady hands and a lot of time on your hands.

Run little man run

The game begins with your character standing in the middle of the screen, a ball or two will begin to fall from the top of the screen. Balls are different sizes and fall at different speeds.

Oh, crap ..

To move your character you simply tilt your phone to the left or the right & he’ll run in that direction. Make a mistake and the black and white game screen is disrupted by a nasty red patch. Just like reality there are no 2nd or 3rd lives and no health packs. You get one shot to post the biggest score you can, oh and points don’t increase until they’ve passed off the right side of the screen – die with 10 balls on the screen and sorry, you don’t get those 10 points.

Splat - oh dear

It’s free – so go get it now and get squashed

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Crayon Physics

admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:01:06 +0000

This is one of those WOW games, you know the sort? Okay well if you don’t simply watch this video below.

The physics engine in this game looks amazing & the play seems highly addictive. I say Looks & Seems because sadly this app is NOT in the NZ App Store (yet?) and so I can’t grab it.

But you can (I think) right here … well not here, I mean you have to follow this link -> Crayon Physics in App Store or find out full details from Do The Hudson

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Topple

Israel Torres — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:30:39 +0000

Topple is one of those addictive games that once you start its hard to stop. The basics of the game is to stack pieces has high as you can without it toppling over, one of the sweet thing is that you can use the accelerometer and tip you iPhone to balance the stack as you go.

Topples interaction is a simple tap and drag interface that is easy to use and understand, but mixed with the accelerometer to keep the stack balanced makes it a challenging and interesting game.

View Topple in action:

[Ed: Topple 2 is available too now, with new modes like balance and invert gravity as well as the ability to play against a friend.]

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SimCity on iPhone and iPod Touch

Mr K — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:43:13 +0000

There are few games that almost everyone has played on computers: the really classic games. SimCity has to be one of these games. Really, who hasn’t wasted hours and hours sitting building up their city to perfection, only to set loose a monster or fire and watch it burn?

Now there is SimCity for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is no ‘DS’ or ‘lite’ version of the game, this is the real SimCIty full and large. You can build huge cities, and it runs really well. It’s smooth, with a very simple interface for control.

I couldn’t find the cheats to ramp up my dollars as you could on the PC, but still, sitting on the bus building a sitting is just great fun.

At US$9.99 not it’s the most expensive game in the iTunes store, but it’s also not the cheapest. I enjoy it and it’s so easy, I can see it residing on my phone for a while. [Ed: You'll be pleased to know that EA have now reduced the price to US$2.99! I'd say that it's definitely worth that much.]

You know you want to, so go buy SimCity today. You can treat yourself for Christmas!

[Ed: If you're outside the USA, you'll have to buy SimCity (International) instead. It appears to be the identical game, and EA just produced a different version for international customers so they could vary the price on the USA version without varying it internationally, which is the iTunes store's default.]

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Labyrinth, a game of skill

admin — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:06:58 +0000

Most people I know have installed Labyrinth the free version on their iPhones as it’s a quick fun game and a great way to show off to people about the ability of the iPhone.

However, many don’t know there is a paid version that is so awesome. With over 500 levels this version of the app makes wasting time just that much easier. With the addition of the level editor you can build your own levels & share them with the world.

Check out this video from Illusion Labs – makers of TouchGrind.

Get the Free version of Labyrinth here
Get the Full version of Labyrinth here

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iTalk Magazine » Games

Drop7 – Perfect for Tetris and Sodoku Lovers!

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New from Tap Tap: Riddim Ribbon!

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TapTap Revenge 2 for iPhone

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Slotz – slot car racing for iPhone

Cons

Summary

Links

Bonus Video!

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Prey – FPS for the iPhone

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Falling Balls for iPhone

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Crayon Physics

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Topple

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SimCity on iPhone and iPod Touch

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Labyrinth, a game of skill

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