August has come to a close, we take a look at some of the games that caught our attention last month. Here’s the round-up of what we’ve been playing on the go.
AlphaBear 2 (Spry Fox)
The first AlphaBear was a hit, earning itself a Google Play award in 2016 for Best Standout Indie title. We checked it out and it delivered on both cuteness and word game cleverness. Its 2 years now and the sequel is out and of course, we need to check out this new Spry Fox addition.
Alphabear 2 is fairly similar to its original. For those who don’t know. AlphaBear 2 is a word game. Where it differs is that the map itself is not a story mode as the bears go down a world map paths that take them to different levels. There are new bears to collect and some twists on pop culture stuff here as well. The gameplay is pretty much the same with it being making words out of tiles to expand the different bears on the board to create a gigantic bear if possible. Spry Fox did add in the ability to level up the bears and a Time Warp and little TV room to watch ads to gain free stuff for the bears also.
There’s definitely more than the first game here and it still has the same charm as it did before. With using the words to create this whimsical lines using the different bears that you can share and the different types of bears like Game Bear and Cassette Bear and more. Plus the first world map starts up in a volcanic dino-bear filled world. Yet, perhaps it is the leveling up or the added things that make a clever simple concept more complex than it really needs to be. Check out our review of AlphaBear HERE.
Asphalt 9 (Gameloft)
Asphalt 9: Legends is the next game in this arcade racing game series. Gameloft takes this one into a visually stunning experience with lots of cars to collect. It takes the path of racing through the career path to earn blueprints to get the cars while it makes it easy to navigate on mobile as the car generally drives itself however the player gets to choose which way to go when met with options of going for power-ups or ramps or the normal path, when to boost the speed with nitro and when to drift around the corners. This sequel includes an editor and for the first time lets you create your own online community in one of its features.
It’s tough to get racing games right on mobile. Having limited control makes the experience, particularly with extreme racing fans a rather lackluster experience. However, for casual racing game fans like myself who enjoy the fast speed and not so technical elements of an arcade racing game, Asphalt is a very enjoyable and satisfying experience. You can see the budget in its smoothness of the controls. It still doesn’t replace the satisfaction of full control like Need For Speed on consoles but being on mobile, it feels logical to take this route in theirs of control. If this interests you, you can also find this game on PC. We haven’t tried how it translates but it might be an interesting one to look up.
Solbot: Energy Rush (Freakout Games)
Call this the indie mobile game highlight of this month. Solbot: Energy Rush is a retro looking gaming experience about a robot collecting energy orbs and it educates the public about energy sustainability. The gameplay concept is fairly simple with a robot Solbot being sent to collect similar colored orbs with golden rings while navigate left and right precisely through an increasing amount of orbs that can kill you. Solbot:Energy Rush currently has 50 levels to play through and includes some different power-ups that gives a short amount of boost whether its a magnet or gun and cuts through the levels at times with laser avoiding levels and short conversations with an NPC to give the game some educating points and daily gifts that also give more info along with what is provided in the main menu for those wanting to learn more about energy sustainability.
Mobile games are for quick doses of fun and the best platform for simple gameplay. Solbot: Energy Rush fits all the mobile game criteria. In fact, the idea of playing a game and getting some social awareness education behind it is always a nice little perk. The levels here are not long and it gives you keys to collect that help you start back from where you blew up in the previous and if not, it restarts at the beginning of the level, either option isn’t a big deal. The goal of collecting a certain amount of orb in each level is also quite reasonable. There are rather challenging bits and it also fits in with the progressive change in difficulty.
Solbot: Energy Rush does look rough in some parts and while the conversation blurb is interesting, at times it feels rather unnecessary. However, the game itself works really well. It can be surprisingly addictive particularly in later levels to get through the challenging levels. The controls something lack a little responsiveness but it might just be the mobile lag that does happen every once in a while for every game. With the energy sustainability twist, it elevates this simple game.
Rullo (Akkad)
It sometimes feels like after Sudoku and Kakuro happened, not a whole lot of other numbers games feels like it ever gains a lot of popularity. One example is Calculator: The Game that we reviewed previously HERE. Its high time to revisit a numbers game. Rullo is a math puzzle game. The concept is simple but the method and solution might take a little bit to figure out.
Rullo has one goal: to make the sum of numbers in each row and column to equal to the number in the box. There’s this nudging feeling that we’ve probably done something like this in school for some math logic class or something. You press the numbers to simply erase them until everything sums up perfectly. There are some other nice perks to help. For example, you can press a number longer and it locks the number that you are sure is correct. If you are up for challenges, the board sizes range from 5×5 to 8×8 and also offers three modes of numbers 1 to 9, 1 to 19 and 2 to 4 in both Classic and Endless modes.
Rullo’s enjoyment comes in how much you enjoy math puzzle games. For us, this numbers game ticks a lot of boxes of having the difficulty level but also giving the players the option of when to level up into a higher board size as many times as needed. Its minimalist in its design and gives it a clearcut game concept and has the elements needed to help remember what we’ve assessed by erasing and locking numbers quickly. Simple concepts with challenging bits is what mobile game designs should essentially be and Rullo does a standout job to give quick dose of number game fun without over complicating the situation. It can even be a math logic tool for kids to play to build some math deduction skills.
Commute: Heavy Traffic (Kiary Games)
Commute: Heavy Traffic is a peculiar idea. It takes its players into everyone’s everyday commute dread: Traffic. Endless, sardine-packed roads filled with trucks, buses, cars, even limousines. Maybe it is this unexpected idea that gives us the urge to pick up the game that uses the everyday hated morning commute as your simple game concept.
Commute: Heavy Traffic is a game of moving precisely through traffic. You can stay in your lane and creep slowly following the cars in front, making sure to let go exactly at the right time to not hit the car in front. However, advancing too slow may cause your car to get rear-ended. There are daily challenges in the game and different levels gives you a certain number of missions, which are usually points of reference in the map that you need to get the car to. It helps collect points which doubles as in-game currency to start back at the point you crashed previously.
This is no doubt a simple concept. It has a one button concept to press and let go. The car can change lanes if the rare opportunity strikes. Everything on the book looks good. Unfortunately, for a game that requires high precision, it lacks the finesse of making it a satisfying game. The pressing and stopping as some leftover momentum and usually the inconsistency of this control makes our crashes whether into a car or rear-ended feel not entirely our fault but partially the fault of the design. Perhaps it tries to mimic the real world traffic but there is still some polish needed to make this a more addictive experience that it has the potential to be.
