STG's

I imagine I will grow sick of it eventually, but so far I really like WindowFX 5  . It has a bunch of clever functions you can see in the link above, but the silliest thing I really like is the animations. They are just adorable. The animations are set to random, and each time I close, open or minimize a window I get a different animation - rolling from various places, moving from the edge and wobbling after it reaches its place, doing a magic poof, and many more. You can get it as part of their Object Desktop package (which is how I got it - I wouldn't have paid US$10 for it alone).

Infinity Blade II had such great reviews that I had to try it. It is quite large - 1GB - and it was the largest app I have purchased on the iPad, but the download was quite fast - a bit surprising as the Popular Science issues aren't that much smaller and take a lot of time to download. The game graphics are very good, and it uses the Unreal Engine. The story seems a bit shallow (specially for someone who didn't play the first game), and the gameplay almost exclusively consists of battles. The battle system is interesting. You can swipe to strike, and have a block and dodge icons. You can also do parries by swiping on the direction of the incoming sword. You also have RPG elements, as well as an inventory. You seem to get items sometimes, but mostly you purchase with money that you get on battles, on treasures along the way, and on money bags that you can touch on the scenary. Overall I like it, but I can't help but feel that the control system is clunky compared ...

I have played all games in the Bejeweled series on the PC. I just got the iPad version, however - Bejeweled HD. The gameplay is a condensed version of Bejeweled 3 for PC, with the same graphics, music and sounds, but has several game modes less than the PC version. For those that are unfamiliar with the game, it is a match-3 game - you move gems to make sequences of 3 or more gems of the same color. There are a bunch of special moves that get you special gems (usually some form of explosive), such as matching 4 or 5 gems, doing crosses, and more. You get the classic mode, as well as mining (match gems on the bottom to continue digging before the timer goes off), butterflies (match them before they reach the top) and zen (no limits, options for relaxing items such as ambient sounds, breathing sounds or affirmations). The game is very well suited to the touch screen, given that all you do is move gems. Recommended to fans of match-3 games.

Spellbound: Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles, by Larry Correia is the sequel to Hard Magic, which I recently reviewed . Spellbound picks up a little while after the events of Hard Magic. The main focus here is the traditional mandatory government registration and camps (also used on the X-Men, which at some points Grimnoir Chronicles remind me of), and a phone call from the dead main enemy from the previous book. No, I'm not making this up. Clearly the subject of the phone call, while lightly touched on this volume, is going to be more in focus on the next volumes. This was almost as good as the first book, albeit much shorter. PS: You can get this as an e-book from Baen  for only US$6, with no DRM.

No Going Back, by Mark Van Name, is another book in the Jon and Lobo series. I have reviewed all of the previous books in the blog previously ( Overthrowing Heaven  , One Jump Ahead , Jump Gate Twist , Children No More , Slanted Jack ), and I have enjoyed reading all of them. To those that never read any of the book, Jon is a human that was both enhanced by his sister - a healer - as well as infused with nanobots in horrible experiments. After he escaped, he joined a merc group as a soldier. Lobo is his sentient ship - one of a kind, in which the whole ship body is a large computer network, and very heavily armed. On this particular book, after rescuing children from an auction, Jon is contacted by someone from his distant past for a job. We learn a bit more about Jon's past, and as usual, he gets into more trouble and makes more enemies, with an ending where he shows more of his capabilities than ever before. Overall, I really liked it. The only thing I don't like abo...

Dead Island is a zombie FPS in a island. Graphics are good, the intro music (and the intro) were horrible. I don't know exactly why, but I don't like the gameplay so far. The fights are mostly annoying and repetitive, and your weapons break really fast. Plus (and I find this very annoying on any sandbox game), everything respawns constantly. For example, I took one of the first tasks - to find bottles of alcohol. Not only this is silly, but the bottles respawn after a time in the exact same spots. Same for zombies - even a named one. Very disappointing so far.

I've read Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia just because I had finished Dead Six  (also by Larry Correia) recently, and really liked it. It is, of course, a completely different kind of fiction - fantasy instead of military fiction. In the world of Hard Magic, back in 19th century people started to get born with magical powers (the "magic returns" theme appears on several books, notably the ShadowRunner game and book series). Suddenly people could start fires, move objects, control the weather or gravity with their minds (and much more). There are some nice bits with historical characters' statements reflecting the changes that magic brought to this alternate history. When we come to the story, a very bad group of people are trying to control the world by getting a super-weapon. And the good guys, which of course have powers, will have to stop them. Overall, very good. I really enjoyed the book, and while the origin of the magic ...

Myth-Interpretations, by Robert Asprin, is a collection of short stories in the universe of Asprin's various series. There are a bunch of stories about Myth Inc. (which I had read a few books in the series) as well as his other series. Overall it was pretty good, even though I was not familiar with a few of the other series.

Dead Six, by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari , is a military fiction/thriller book. The story is told through a mercenary - Valentine and a thief - Lorenzo, both tied up on different sides through Dead Six - an anti-terrorist group. There are indications on a few points that the story is going through to fantasy or supernatural ground, but it actually never does. That was a bit surprising, but I guess that is going to show up on the rest of the series. Overall, pretty good if you like military fiction or thrillers.

  A Valley without Wind is an old school 2D platformer, with complex procedural worlds being generated as you go.   One of the most clever little aspects of the game is the wooden platforms. You can get bunches of these throughout the world, and you can just put them anywhere you right-click on. I imagine this solves a major problem with generated worlds - places that happen to be impossible to reach. This makes it easy. You have a few spells as you begin, but you can get more as you go on, using supplies that you get on the away. There are also minor RPG aspects (better health, attack, etc). Graphics are OK, but definitely on an old-school tendency. The same applies to the music, which tends to be very annoying after a while. This game is unusual enough that I'm not sure if I liked it or not. It is interesting, and I'm pretty sure I didn't grasp more than a fraction of some of the complex areas, but it is quite repetitive to me. Of course, I'm not a fan of pl...

Time, Gentleman, Please! is a cute indie old-style adventure. The story is quite absurd (which is ok by me), but the adventure part isn't that fun. Also, while I did like adventures in the old days, I think I've lost the patience for them over time. The long, silly text exchanges just annoyed me...

Chime is an interesting puzzle-music game. You fit pieces that might remind you of Tetris - but being oh so more complicated and hard to fit - trying to form quads. These quads have a short active time, during which you can expand them with more pieces. The goal is to maximize the coverage of the quads. During all of that, the music is playing and a beatline is passing across the blocks. As it does, the music is changed depending on the position of the pieces. That can sound very nice or a bit ennerving, depending on the music. Overall, a very interesting concept, and well worth checking out.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is a street racing game. A very big component of the game is the ability to destroy both parts of the city - offices, malls, clubs, as well as occasional parked explosive vehicles - as well as your opponents. I just played the demo. This doesn't happen in the classic Death Race (guns, mines, etc) or Carmaggedon (just hit your enemies) way - you accumulate Power by drifting, speeding, killing your enemies and more, and use it both as an speed boost as well as a tool for destruction. Graphics are pretty good, including the pieces of debris and cars falling to pieces after being hit. Sound is good enough, but the music is only nice for the very start - after that it starts to get very annoying. Overall, I've liked the game, and recommend you try the demo if it sounds like something you'd like. 3.5/5 Stars.