STG's

Hitman:Sniper is a new version, mobile version of the pre-sale game for Hitman:Absolution. In both, the plot is very simple - you are Agent 47, carrying out an assignment, sniping from a distance. You get challenges - headshots, number of guard kills, kills that look like an accident and so on. The game is pretty fun, but it can feel a little repetitive because you only get the one level. You can also unlock new weapons as the missions go by. The game has an unwelcome pay-to-win component as you can buy some of the better weapons outright. They aren't cheap either - US$9,99 for the best one. Personally, I feel the interface is acceptable, given the mobile possibilities. Shooting felt much more precise and fast when using a mouse, though. Maybe they will release a PC version as the pre-sell of the next Hitman game... Overall, pretty good, but a little too repetitive.

Puzzle Craft is mostly a match-3 game. But there are some clever RPG and very minor city building elements too. First of all, the match 3 action - it takes place either on the mines or the farm. Here is the mine (there are more tile types later in the game). The match-3 scheme is based on choosing a type, and dragging your finger across matching tiles. You can also use diagonals, which makes a huge difference. Both farm and mine are limited by number of moves, and you can get upgrades that give you more moves. The farm has several upgrades that allow some tiles to be extracted for free. Using tool don't count as a move. Some tiles give you bonus elements. For example, matching a certain number of coals will make a diamond appear on the tile grid. You can also note on the top row of the previous screenshot some of the tools. There are plenty of tools - tools to grab all of an elements, transmute elements, remove dirt, etc, etc. These are very useful and can almost always ...

Plants vs Zombies is pretty old, and I played through the whole game in the PC a long time ago. It is also old on the iPad, but I finally got around to playing it there, so I will do a quick review. Plants vs Zombies is pretty much identical to the PC version. I hear there are some (minor) differences on the graphics on the Retina screens, but I have an iPad 2. Either way, the graphics look even better in the small iPad screen compared to the PC version. Gameplay is fun, albeit slow at times (I really miss the regular Tower Defense genre speedup button). There are extra modes, such as one where you send zombies to attack plants, a gem twist with plants (for some reason, I don't like the twist action match-3 style), an aquarium, portal (very annoying when suddenly a portal moves and zombies pop in your plants) and more. Some are good, most are not much fun. Either way, they decided to use the new monetize style to sell coins so that you can buy extra modes, plants and tool...

Eufloria is a Galcon clone. That means that basically, you have planets with differing production capabilities, and you move your ships (in this case, seedlings) around to attack and take over enemy planets. Eufloria on the iPad has great graphics, and a mildly annoying soundtrack. I've also played it on the PC and on an Android smartphone (Galaxy SIII). The graphics detail is much better, and I didn't feel the problems I usually had with the Android version (trying to select a planet and getting a laser pod or flower). If that is because of the larger screen on touchscreen sensitivity, I don't know. Eufloria starts slow but gets much better over time. You get to change each planets power (terraforming), auto-moving new units to another planet, creating laser pods and enhanced seedlings using flowers, and more.  I didn't like the game much at first but after playing for a while I ended up really enjoying it. Strongly recommend.

I was just looking around a local store when I saw the iPad Smart Case. I didn't get the Smart Cover before because it didn't protect anything else - just the glass surface. I never used it, but I keep hearing that a common problem is people trying to hold it by the cover and dropping their iPad. The case fully encloses the iPad so I imagine it should do better. One thing I was a bit impressed is that the case's case :-)  is very easy to open. Just remove a label and push a tab, and the front opens. Then just press the iPad inside the case. Overall just 20 seconds from closed case to it working. Turning the iPad on and off with the cover is surprisingly pleasant, too. I imagine the folding action is good if you use your iPad on the side. Then the cover can hold it slightly tilted or full upright (on a hard surface, such as a table). I don't use much this way myself, though. It comes on a bunch of colors. I got the one that matches my iPad best - light gray. ...

I have recently reviewed Infinity Blade II . After playing for a while I was curious to check out the original game. It is almost exactly like the sequel, except for the keys (which are mostly annoying), gems (which quite frankly I'm not sure are necessary). There is a little difference that I found a major improvement, however - in the middle of the battles, on both games you have little cut-scenes at certain damage levels on your enemies. Then they jump back, fall back, or just fall. In the first game, it doesn't matter if you just started hitting - the cut-scene starts. That  means that instead of getting in 4-6 hits and a combo, you get a tiny amount of damage. That is quite annoying, and it was fixed on Infinity Blade II. Overall, pretty good, albeit quite repetitive. The system whereas you keep beginning again (in the first game, you are supposed to be the son of the last warrior who died, continuously. Why you get all his stuff AND experience? No idea) is a great ...

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.