androidgamesreviews: August 2013

Saturday

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 1-16

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 1
Brooklyn Zoo

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 2
Dear Mama

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 3
Stem

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 4
Red Right Hand

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 5
Pink Triangle

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 6
Dinosaur Act

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 7
Machine Gun

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 8
Obstacle 1

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 9
The Light

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 10
Cuts You Up

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 11
Sunday

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 12
Gravity Grave

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 13
Spring Rain

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 14
First Time

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 15
Ballerina Girl

4 Pics 1 Song Cheats, Answers & Solutions: Level 50 16
Heartlight

Interference

Have a look at this intriguing little side-scrolling puzzle game from a solo indie developer. The game is currently named Interference and is gathering quite a positive response from anyone who has seen it.
In essence and on the surface, Interference is a 2D stealth platformer. However, the environment can be manipulated to gain an advantage over the enemies and sneak past them undetected. It is actually a really cool idea, almost similar to Dwarven Delve, but more challenging. The game looks to control well on touchscreen devices as you move around using directional buttons and manipulate the environment by tapping to move tiles around.

Interference

At the moment, the graphics looks simple but very pretty. As you can imagine, the game will be set in a futuristic metropolis. The developer claims that there will be over 30 levels to sneak around with narrative elements inside and outside.
According to a post by the developer, the game is targeting a release on Android, iOS, Windows and OSX. No date is given though, but the developer has stated that he did not want to spend much time working on the game. I don't know if that bodes well for the quality, but if it looks like it is now and lives up to its claims, then there should not be any reason to doubt that this will be fun head-scratcher.

GameStick Release date

According to Gamestop and Amazon, the GameStick is set to be released 29th September. The simple portable console was set to be released in June, but that obviously did not happen, and in August, their plan was to release it in September. And now, the release date might be officially set.

If you don't know what the GameStick is, it is a portable console, that you just plug into the TV's HDMI port and start playing. The little "stick" is the console, crazy right? It looks just like a little USB stick. And yes, the GameStick does remind me of the OUYA, but I'm not going to dig deeper in that discussion. You can pre-order it for only 79,99$ and that is 20$ cheaper than the OUYA which costs 99,99$
Some of the specs:
OS: Android
CPU: ARM CORTEX – A9 CPU
GPU: MALI – 400 GPU
Storage: 8GB and 32GB Micro SD Card Support
Connection: 802.11 b/g/n Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0
1080p Video Playback
The next-gen consoles are not too far away, but this looks pretty cool to be honest. If this is just another useless device in your living room, we don't know that yet. But I have high hopes for this and I really want this to get even more and better games.
Their official site: http://gamestick.tv/

Link The Slug iPhone Review

Link The Slug might seem like a very simple game at first, but it doesn't take long before the real meat of the challenge becomes apparent. On each of the game's many levels, you're presented with a series of cartoonish slugs of different colors, along with a handful of stars. Your job is to tap on two of the same color slugs in succession, creating a pathway between them, and ultimately eliminating them from the board.

Like we said, it sounds simple. The thing is, those pathways can only travel in one of two ways - as a straight line, or as a pair of perpendicular lines. Those lines can't pass through any other objects either, whether that's through another slug, or one of the deviously placed obstacles sprinkled around each level. To really cap the challenge off, there are three stars to be found in each stage, and if you want to walk away with top honors you'll need to find a way of passing your lines through each one. Phew.
It's fun at first, but there's a frighteningly erratic difficulty curve at play here. There are three sets of 25 levels available in the game, and each set introduces a new special power, obstacle or slug type. That's all well and good, but while the first half of each set unfolds naturally and with a sensibly increasing level of difficulty, the tendency is for the game to then throw up a massive brick wall of more complex interactions and puzzle combinations around the half-way point.

The end result is to leave you feeling more frustrated than anything else, and while you can usually find a way of fudging the answer without getting all three stars, it's not very fun to do so. There's a fine line between satisfying challenge and frustration, after all, and Link the Slug fails to walk that line far too often for it to be accidental. Perhaps that's why there's a hint system for this free-to-play game, a system where the first few walkthroughs are free, but the rest will cost you money in the in-app purchase store.
Link The Slug's real problem, then, is that it's fun to a degree but also very often simply too clever for its own good. For those who crave only the most dastardly of challenges, there's much that's appealing about the game, so don't write it off entirely if you fall into that category. Even then, progress too often feels like a question of trial and error, rather than a satisfying demonstration of intellect.

What's Hot:A fascinating and refreshing puzzle idea, and at least half the levels make for a fair and fun challenge.
What's Not:There's a very erratic difficulty curve that you can't help but feel has something to do with the IAP hint system.

3.0/5