Manual de servicio

With the puzzle games market seemingly filled to the brim with cartoon animals, improbable projectiles, dodgy physics engines and revamps of classics, you may find yourselves wanting a slightly calmer, simpler choice.


If so, you’ll be happy to know that the premise of Flow Free couldn’t get much simpler. Fill your grid by joining together dots of the same colour using a single path. Overlapping paths will cause them to break unless you carefully utilize the bridge in the position given to you.

The two modes provided are Free Play and Time Trial, both self-explanatory. In all likelihood, you will probably spend more time using the latter, seeing that Free Play gets rather homogeneous quickly once you get the hang of doing levels.

I get the impression that much effort has been put into tweaking the little things to improve the overall product. The graphic design is crisp and attractive, avoiding any unnecessary frills which would distract from the gameplay, which is itself as smooth and as slick as you’d like it to be. No buzzing, no annoying vibrations when you draw a path, no aliens or kung-fu masters which pop-up to congratulate you upon completing a level. Minimalist, efficient and effective.

The speed of the game varies with the grid size, with 5×5 to 7×7 ones offering a quickfire approach while larger grids require a good deal of forethought before execution, a more old-fashioned type of puzzle solving perhaps. Of course, whichever style you find more appealing is purely down to you, and this is credit to the subtle variety of the game.

I’ve always thought that the sign of a good puzzle game is that nothing feels wasted. The level design is intricate yet concise and clean, and completing it feels satisfying because of that. Like all puzzle games of course, the idea either clicks with you or it doesn’t, but with Flow Free having such a simple and accessible concept, I see no reason not to install it and give it a quick try.

Rating: 4/5

Tilt, tap and flip your way past bumps, ramps and loops, to cross the finish line as quick as you can in one piece.


For the most part, the physics engine is solid, apart from how your bike is seemingly made from springs, spraying all parts plus driver miles around when you get hit. The rather understated cry of “Ugh” from the poor guy adds further to the bizarreness.
At its best, the game can be addictive and thrilling (or at least as thrilling as you could realistically expect a portable device game to be), requiring careful timing, as well as some occasional patience. It would have been a nice touch to include a Make Your Own Level mode, which would of course have improved the longevity of the game by a huge amount, though the replay value as it stands is still reasonable, with that familiar 3-star system rewarding you for finishing quickly, encouraging shrewd use of nitro and taking advantage of shortcuts. That, on top of the 180 levels and numerous achievements, would keep you for a while.


However, and this is something that is immediately apparent, the game suffers greatly from that dreaded full-screen ad disease, the fatal strain that flares up often and without warning, leading to a frequent opening and closing of web windows that becomes so very infuriating. I can never understand why developers would sabotage their own hard work with something that is an instant write-off for many, and which leaves a badly damaged product for the rest. Clearly, it’s difficult to get addicted to and fully enjoy a game that gets so frequently and obnoxiously interrupted and it goes a long way to highlight flaws that users may otherwise forgive or overlook.


Some of these include the inconvenient position of the controls, with “accelerate” being placed in the top right hand area, often blocking what’s coming on a smaller screen. This cannot be modified. The stylish, neon-lit menu screens are a poor indication of what visuals you get when you start playing, consisting purely of an outer-space-y background and simple white lines as the tracks. Take the background away and it would look disparagingly similar to Line-Rider. Now, anyone who has played Line-Rider will appreciate that it is trickier than it looks to create a single good track, let alone 180 of them. However, some of these levels are nothing more than just some squiggles and haphazardly placed geometric shapes, summed up by one level which looks like the heart-rate monitor display of an erratic and probably critically ill patient. Perhaps he played too much Neon Motocross.

Of course, there are a couple of decent levels, but too few and far between. If the developers emphasize quality over quantity for future levels, it would do the product a world of good. If you can stomach the ads or bear turning your connection off, Neon Motocross is worth a look.

Rating: 3.5/5 without ads, 2/5 with

The simple things in life are the most enjoyable, and especially the ones which remind you of your childhood.  Do you remember when you were young and you had to connect the dots to create the pictures? Dotbuster has that initial vibe about it… except that its amped up on steroids.


Small green circles appear on the screen and a simple swipe of the finger will connect the points together.  Once you connect all the way back to the starting point then your polygon will be complete and the circles will disappear.  Its very intuitive and actually if there’s nothing else on the screen then you’re naturally going to press on the green dots like childsplay.  Quite literally there doesn’t appear to be much else that appears on the screen because of the minimalist stylisation.

You may find on initial gameplays that you’re tempted to connect to all the points that appear on the screen in order, much like a whack-a-mole type game (except its connect-a-snake instead).  But actually this isn’t allowed because as soon as you cross your own path then you’ll cancel the polygon you were drawing and you’ll have to start again.  If instead you leave the dots, then you may find yourself asking which dots to connect first – there’s no numbers like those old skool connect the dot travel companions.  But after you retrain your thoughts then you’re ready to rock and roll with the other specialities in the game.


Leaving the dots is a no-no because they’ll swell up and turn amber in preparation to explode and drain your energy.  This life gauge is the competition element which prevents you from continuing forever.  But don’t worry there are boosters which appear as vibrant pink dots with hearts in them.  If you encircle these within your shapes then you’ll collect them.  Unfortunately if the red skulls viruses are encapsulated too then you’ll find yourself poisoning yourself.


Death is inevitable with these survival games and as you progress then you’ll find that more red dots appear and your greens turn amber much faster.  No sooner than you started then you’ll find yourself weighing up whether you’ll lose more from letting the dots pop, or if enveloping the skulls would reduce your energy less.
Luckily there are some cogs which will clear the screen so you’re reset back to zero.  Otherwise if you’ve collected enough stars then you can trigger a big bang which will obliterate everything on the screen.

I have to be honest, first impressions of this game can easily lose people’s attention.  Perhaps the biggest question that pops up is… why play this?  It took me a long time to figure out why there was this niggling feeling in the back of my mind.  But I realised that my problem was that this had deep connotations with my childhood of scribbling on random bits of paper.  Indeed that’s a waste of time, but as long as I gave this game a chance then I realised that this game could be a winner.  At the moment it’s a bit unforgiving for the newbies, but if players stick it out and start feeling that competition spirit then they’ll enjoy playing the game more.

The verdict is that this is a coarse jewel waiting to be polished so that the facets are cleaner and shinier.  With a little bit more pattern play and slightly less randomness I’m sure people will start  craving for more Dotbuster.  Don’t let the Google+ logins and In app purchasing put you off – the game can be fun but it just needs some decent sessions where you give it a chance.

Rating: 3.5 /5

As a fan of round objects this game definitely gave me a positive impression and only until I play this game did I find that it’s full of it! With wheels and barrels to watermelons and eggs! (Eggs are oval, but they’re still considered round right?)

The Main Concept

This is a physic engine based game where you as the player will control a selection of round object to accelerate left or right in a 2D platform map to reach to the designated exit whilst going through challenging obstacles. The score on completing the level is represented by 3 stars you get each for completing each specific criteria of that level.

Your selection of round objects is your primary and only variable at your disposal. Knowing the different properties or each is the key to finding your way around the 2D platform map; which I personally really loved. Furthermore when they introduced edible items such as Watermelons and eggplants I absolutely adored the fact that they will break on impact giving the game that extra bit of realism.


You get a selection of 3 different types of round objects for you to use, and within the time limit you must reach the green exit, changing between different round objects happens instantly with a puff of smoke (reminded me of ninjas transforming into a log.) and during this transaction you lose the properties of the previous object in return for the properties of the new object. One of the tricks is when you try to land on small platforms where you accelerate fast with a wheel then switch to a beach ball where there is more air resistant due to a larger surface area that makes it easier to control during a leap.

4/5 Rating: It’s satisfying

It is one of those light weight puzzle games that brings a satisfactory grin to your face once you complete one of the 45 levels of the game, and there is certainly more to come! For a free game not only do you play with virtual food you also fiddle with the properties of different objects including a wheel, barrel, bowling ball, beach ball, bouncy ball and possibly plenty more to come and it’s not fraustrating when you don’t complete a level since the level simply restarts instantly the moment you are no longer able to continue, no constant pressing of replay button every time you die which I prefer. With clean simple graphics and being well polished I can’t flaw this game, but it isn’t the best one I’ve experienced in the category of physic engine puzzles so I’ll deduct a single point.

If you commute by a bus then rolling objects in a game might make your morning a little more enjoyable. So try it!

Rovio has launched Angry Birds Go, a downhill soapbox racer game featuring all the characters from the popular game series.

Bag It!: Top notch grocery packing tetris game which morphs into bagging mayhem!


Usually when you think of doing the groceries, the packing part is a bit of a chore… in fact… come to think of it, I like those supermarkets where someone does the bagging for you.  But this game converts this mundane task into a skill and artform!  Check out some of the good points below…

Gameplay

On the screen your cute shopping items shuffle along the conveyor belt and you put them into your brown bags.  But you have to be careful not to crush Sir Eggward and his other friends!  Real life logic applies here because when you bag the items, you want your heavy items at the bottom and your weaker items at the top.  The aim is literally to pack your bag with the different shaped items… kind of like Tetris with more special rules.

So that’s the main gameplay.  Each level has its own pass criteria as well as a special bonus medal, but the general rule of thumb is that you want to pack everything in a low number of bags and in as quick a time as possible.  Speaking of bonuses, this where this game excels because there’s loads of hidden extras: special combos; unlockable games; extra bonus levels.  In short, Bag It! has way more gameplay than one could believe!  This game has taken its core and twisted it into several refined variations much like how Train Conductor has maxed itself out.  You’re given crushing levels and endless rampages – I won’t go on as the unlocking aspect is part of the surprise of this game.

Fab parts

The artwork here is really cool and sweet.  The cartoony images bring a lot of character to the game and the animations really bring everything to life.  Most importantly for me though, my girlfriend found this game to be an absolute laugh and I’d say the swish cutesy graphics definitely had a contributing factor.  Music and sound effects compliment the artwork perfectly and enhance the fun and love!

Rating: 5/5  A top notch puzzle game which will bring a smile to your face.  It’s quick and easy enough for causal gamers to enjoy and yet also intricate and detailed enough for the pro gamers out there.  Although I’d like to go into more detail about the various different levels, I actually think that would spoil the game for you.  Why?  Well because over half this game is about the surprise elements and unlocking the special stages.
How can I vouch for this game?  Well because my partner went nuts showing me how to pack groceries *properly*…. Yeah who would have thought eh?

My only quarm in this game is that I think some of the objects and physics make no sense… I mean: have you even seen a melon smash itself or get crushed by other melons?  But hey it’s just a game – so don’t be too serious!  Go download it and give it a try!

Bag It! Tips and Tricks:

Some general knowledge will help you to think about what order things should go in, but don’t treat the game too realistically.  You may have to do things which you’d normally consider unthinkable – e.g. turning the egg box on its side… (do people really do that in real life??)… or placing a melon on egg boxes momentarily…

If you’re finding that some of those sub challenges seem totally impossible, then try the following:

• Rotate some of the items which you usually leave upright – this may use up some of those gaps.
• Put the same type of banana inverted on top of each other because it usually maximises space usage.
• The order which you put things in is crucial because you can accidentally block yourself with big items.  So notice that you can still pick up an item even if only a glimmer of it appears on the screen.
• You can learn the order which items appear to maximise your bagging solution.
• Sometimes you do need to crush some items to fit everything in.  (We’re not totally sure, but some of the medals seem to be exclusive from the level pass requirements).

Physics-engine based bike game: get from start to finish as quickly as possible without crashing and get your time gauged with the three star system. You’ve probably seen it all before, so what more does this game offer?


Immediately you notice how slick the display is; the screen zooms out gradually as you go faster, giving you a fighting chance of reacting to a ramp, edge or pile of rocks before the otherwise inevitable explosion of bike parts. Of course, the system isn’t infallible, but you can be sure that the vast majority of levels will feel fair and can be done without any trial and error. To help the cause, the developers place Slow Down signs with varying degrees of urgency which you’ll do best to follow as accurately as possible lest you suffer an untimely demise.

Surprisingly, there is a good deal of variety through all the levels, and you need not be wary of simple A to B stages across a bumpy plain again and again and again. Some will test your patience as you race against the clock, requiring some careful timing and use of brakes while others will examine your reactions as you anticipate the terrain at breakneck speed.

With 70 reasonably long levels, gradually rising in difficulty, the game should keep you busy for a fair amount of time. As you may expect, completing levels gives you access to a range of bikes, which not only vary in looks and speeds but also provide some options for emphasis in robustness, handling, braking and weight to match your own style. The game does require you to Like on Facebook to unlock certain bikes, but even without those ones, there are plenty to choose between.

In contrast to what you may expect from a game called Stickman Downhill, there’s a satisfying range of well-designed and attractive settings which offer not just a change in background image, but also subtle differences in the styles of track.

Fortunately, while there are full-screen ads, they are infrequent and fairly unobtrusive, only appearing while the game is loading and without the risk of you touching them accidentally and triggering a web page to open.
Considering the enjoyment factor, replay value and technical strength, Stickman Downhill is among the best in its genre and is worth a try even if you’ve been frustrated by other games in a similar vein.
 
Rating: 4.5/5

Luminus: Original puzzle gaming which will enlighten you!

If you’re looking for fun, challenging and free games, then Luminus is one to add to the list.  The Endless Cat developers have laid out a series of puzzles which will have you flexing your brain cells.

Gameplay

Colored crystals emit beams of light and you need to reflect them into detectors.  Each level has a range of objects on the table and you need to place and orientate the mirrors correctly in order to get the light path correct.  So this is almost like those old Physics lessons where you’re learning about light… but this is way more colorful (… and there’s no annoying lab coat man ordering you about!).

Of course just controlling the path of light isn’t enough to make this a difficult game, so the detectors will only charge up if the correct color of light is exposed to it.  The primary colors are given to you first and as you progress through the levels you’ll need to use the filters and mixers to make the blend you need.  Don’t worry if you can’t remember your colorwheel… this isn’t an art test and it’s always in the top left hand corner for you to refer to!  Once the detectors are charged up then the level is complete and you’ll get scored.

Scoring is a huge part in this game

For every pivot of your objects it’ll cost you 10 points, and every cell movement will cost you 100 points. Only if you can complete the rounds with particular scores will you be able to earn the prestigious three star/flash awards.  This feature is very important because playing each level with trial and error is actually pretty easy, but to do it such that you get the maximum marks will really get you thinking and test your ability.

Original gameplay

These Endless Cat developers have really surprised me with this app.  It’s truly unique and it’s almost as though some Physics geeks had so much fun in the lab with their light projects that they decided to turn it into a game.  As well as applying well grounded normal Physics, it also goes beyond the realms of reality because there are black beams which will absorb your light paths. There are even more gizmos in the game but we’ll leave this for you to find out…

Gut feel

This is definitely one game to keep on the phone.  There’s a huge amount of free content which is unlockable if you can three star the rounds.  I’m a puzzle elitist freak that likes to play with Rubix cubes, so Lumius is definitely up my alley… and I’ll try to three star each round right at the beginning.  The only negative I could point out is that the gentle music becomes tedious very fast!

Rating: 4/5 Superb and original puzzle game which will make your brain exercise.  The logic tests are fun and the tricky puzzles will give you the satisfaction when you solve them.

Dracoo the Dragon: Use your super handling powers to guide Dracoo to freedom! 

Ever seen a dragon in superman colors? … no?… well now you can if you play Dracoo the Dragon!  Ok ok, its definitely not the new age Man of Steel tones, but Dracoo’s wings definitely remind me of the classic superman.  Speaking of superpowers, you’ll probably need something like that when playing this game.


Upon launching into an adventure with Dracoo you’ll instantly understand the 2D side scrolling game style.
The on screen buttons are intuitive and relatively easy to use.  Up, down, left and right are clearly indicated and the buttons are also sized to be correct for those with fat fingers.  The initial menu screen of multiple levels and the level distance guage in the top right hand corner gives you the idea that this levels are a series of fixed distances (as opposed to unlimited runner stages).

Chances are that you’ll send Dracoo to his doom very quickly in the first few tries (it’s ok, he comes back to life again ;) ).   From this suicidal practice you’ll educate yourself into understanding that you can get crushed if you don’t keep up with the screen scrolling pace.  You’ll also die if you fly into lava or critters.  Bizarrely enough eating chillis are great for Dracoo because after doing this then you can spit fireballs and you increase the number of times you can take damage… it’s a bit like collecting the power flower in Super Mario Brothers.

Killing Dracoo should become a common occurrence for many players.  Even whilst we play tested the three free levels in the two different zones we died several times.  Half the time because we were just trying to get to the end and then the other times were because we were trying to get a score high enough to be awarded with three eggs.

At some points I really wondered if I was getting rusty and if I was just some spasticated numbskull who couldn’t adapt to the game.  But then I realised that the buttons aren’t perfectly positioned and this alone is enough to cause problems if you’re manually shooting the fireballs.  (Solution here is to goto the menu and set auto-fire).  Then I read some of the reviews of the game and it became obvious that I wasn’t the only person to complain.  Other people found the game difficult, stressful and frustrating… especially with the dead end routes.

I rarely admit to defeat… its just not my style, and if you’re the same then you’ll see this game as competitive and challenging.  Admittedly the Physics are bizarrely flawed because you seem to slow down even if you fly up or down into an obstruction, but overall it is a fun game.  There is eye pleasing artwork and hopefully the third level pack will be just as cute as the others.

A slight downer is that you can easily be fooled into pressing the ads.  But the developers need to make their money somewhere right?

Rating: 3/5 Dracoo is a fun and simple little package which is perfect for those people who are out for a challenge.  Even the free levels are enough to keep players entertained.

I suggest you at least give the free game a try, and if you enjoy this type of game then consider buying the level packs.  Even if you don’t buy, the free levels provide enough of a challenge anyway!

Nowadays the game market is saturated with heaps of top title games, so it’s rare to find genuinely unique games out there.  But Plague Inc is one of those anomalies which is 100% different and special.  Not only is the strategy element of the game amazing, but it also has a weird underlying message hidden within it.


Before I scare any readers of a sensitive disposition… this game has strong ties to its name.  That means it’s about viruses and there is illness and death within it.  Please stop reading if this all sounds too morbid for you.  Disclaimer aside, yes this game is all about infecting the world’s population and trying to exterminate everyone on the planet.

You start off infecting one country and then you manipulate your plague cell’s characteristics to increase its infectivity and alter its severity and lethality.  As you infect more people you’re awarded more DNA points and you need to strategically select your upgrades to maximise on your spread.  For instance if you’re in an urban country then perhaps you want to make rats hosts of your pathogen.


A lot of this game simulation is set on the world so you spend a lot of time looking at the world map.  From there you can see the flight and shipping routes which will allow you to plan some of your infection route.  So you need to think of your way to spread via air, sea or adjacent landmasses.  Just to be clear about the routes – they’re animated by planes or ships… and they’re about the most animation there is in this game!


Ok, I lie, the random bubbles which pop up are also animated.  These can be DNA bubbles, new infection indicators or they can be research flasks.  But ultimately, there’s not much in the way of fancy graphics here.  Instead this game is heavily focused on strategy.  There are also random news headlines which provide some hilarious reads… one of my personal favourites is: “Goldman Stanley encountered an error in their random number generator”… so true… so true…

When you start off initially, you’ll probably just dive in and try any old upgrade options you see which are available.  But once you understand the potential methods and strategies, then you’ll spend a bit more time looking at the infected countries and the infection rates.  A lot of this game is about being patient and understanding critical mass.  Once you have enough people contaminated then your infection will snowball out of control and spread amongst the masses.

There’s a fair amount of complexity in this game, but for any strategist out there it should be relatively easy to pick up.  More importantly, this is a “must have” for any keen puzzle game player out there.  Even if you’re not a hardcore strategist it’s still worth your time to play the game.  The reason for this is because it spreads the message about germs, viruses and other pathogens.  Once a killer infection gains momentum it can spread like wildfire, and unless people are educated about the potential doomsday scenarios then they won’t understand the difficulty of implementing procedures to limit the spread of these infections.

Rating: 4.5/5 Plague Inc is a supreme strategy game which is also quite morbid, but it’s addictive for the brain and puzzle market fans out there.  Hopefully it can also serve an educational purpose in case we ever face a pandemic in real life.

Plague Tips and Tricks

• Remember that the aim is to exterminate everyone on the planet.  This means that you need infect all the countries AND all the people within the countries before you’ve killed off all the infected people.  I’ve had scenarios where I hadn’t finished infecting all the countries and the lethality of my virus caused the remaining countries to close their borders… thus preventing me from being able to infect them… and hence forcing me to restart the game.  I’ve also seen scenarios where I’ve killed all the infected people, but the infection hadn’t spread to everyone yet so there were still healthy people left on Earth.
• In your early games you’ll find that if you get detected too early, then you’ll be rushed to increase the lethality of your disease.  In doing so your rate of killing may exceed your rate of infecting.  To avoid this, you can de-evolve your pathogen from having any illnesses then you can stay hidden from the researchers forever.  As long as there is no illness then you won’t be detected.
• After a few games, you’ll realise that there are some countries which are particularly hard to infect due to their island nature.  Personally I’ve found that starting your infections in these countries can help towards letting you win easier.

Fresh reports are claiming that the forthcoming BlackBerry A10 will come with an unexpected focus on gaming, and that itll resemble a Samsung Galaxy S4.


Echoing what an industry insider informed us last month, multiple trusted sources of BGRs have claimed that the forthcoming BlackBerry A10 smartphone is going to be the most capable, powerful BlackBerry yet with a media-friendly 5-inch Super AMOLED display.

More interestingly, the BlackBerry A10 will come with "a huge focus on gaming."

Despite being geared towards "power and gaming," the A10 will only come with a dual-core processor. Apparently, BlackBerry has been unable to make the jump to a quad-core architecture - either due to concerns over battery life or because of difficulties optimising BlackBerry 10 for a quad-core setup.

Still, this dual-core CPU will reportedly be backed by a healthy 2GB of RAM, and the BlackBerry A10 will apparently adopt the same silicon as the iPhone, with separate CPU and GPU processors. In the iPhones case, this has certainly resulted in a string of highly capable gaming smartphones.

The report also has something to say about the BlackBerry A10s design. Itll apparently closely resemble the Samsung Galaxy S4, though if anything itll be larger. Its also described as being "more rounded and less aggressive-looking" than the BlackBerry Z10.

Its claimed that we can expect to see the BlackBerry A10 launching some time this autumn.

Set in the distant future against the backdrop of drifting galaxies and luminous planets, your job is to move a variety of renewable energy cells into brightly coloured wormholes where they are sent to Earth to be used as an energy source. With the clock ticking, you aim to move as many as possible, avoiding obstacles and floating asteroids along the way and gaining bonus points for trickier manoeuvres.


At first glance, you may think: how thrilling could sweeping things into a hole possibly be? Is this just some kind of franticmini-golf set in space? Happily, Space Keeper’s seemingly one-dimensional gameplay style is deceptive.

The early levels subtly introduce different ways of scoring more points, such as joining cells into a lattice or bouncing them off multipliers but it is key to note that none of these techniques are mandatory. You could pass through all the levels in under an hour by doing little more than simply dragging the cells into the wormholes and if so, you would not notice much of a change in difficulty throughout. One of the main strengths of the game is that you are able to determine your own style of playing that is equally valid to any other. If you wish to chill out, then you can play at a slow, relaxed and uncomplicated pace, wallowing in the swirling colours and serene ambient soundtrack. Stubborn completionist? Then the game will put your timing, precision and co-ordination (You may need both hands!) to the test.

Space Keeper uses the familiar three-star point system, providing a genuine challenge if you want to grab all three stars in a level. Since doing this often allows little room for error, you will need to develop a strategy for each level, especially towards the latter stages.  For example, you may choose to neglect joining cells together to make use of the multipliers or maybe manoeuvre cells with one hand while fending off asteroids with the other. It is this need for creativity that keeps the game fresh and makes success very satisfying. Even when you fail, it rarely feels as if the game has been unfair. Any frustration will be directed at yourself, for perhaps missing a shot or getting your tactics wrong.

With such a compelling gameplay infrastructure, it then seems a shame that it ends rather quickly. Sure, it may take some time to get every star, but there is clearly potential for more ideas and levels to be added on. On the other hand, it may be for the best that the game does not risk getting stale and leaves us wanting more.
Labelling Space Keeper as “just sweeping” is like calling Temple Run “just swiping”. Praise must be given to the developers for creating a product that is simple and attractive yet rewarding. This is a game that gives back to you the amount that you put into it.

Rating: 4/5

Draw Wars: Real-time strategy in bite-sized chunks

With Draw Wars, we have a unique and ambitious blend of puzzle and real-time strategy, combining the well-trodden ground of wartime tactics with the freedom of touchscreen manoeuvres.


In a sense, the name of the game says it all. Each level sets you on a terrain with a certain limited amount of resources (Tanks, infantry, planes e.t.c.) to attack the enemy’s base while defending your own. You do this by drawing paths for your vehicles to follow, destroying enemy vehicles and the enemy base to complete the level. Once you’ve decided your initial plans, everything goes into real-time and your tactics will require timing as well as cunning. Upon completion, the familiar three-star system rewards you for how well you did, as well as giving you cash to upgrade and buy items like mines and artillery.

Considering all the hurdles which could’ve led Draw Wars horribly astray, the developers have pulled this game off remarkably well. Once the tutorial levels are completed and you are settled in, the gameplay develops a rhythm and sucks you in, gradually introducing new vehicles and elements to keep its momentum. The freedom of how you approach each level makes completing them satisfying but enough effort is put into their design to make sure you (mostly) have to face a challenge to get there.

I do however have a problem with how your vehicles automatically stop, lock on to enemies and start shooting, even if you don’t want them to. While I understand how this feature may be sometimes convenient (for you and the developers), it is more often than not a real annoyance. Furthermore, I’m not a big fan of the vehicle upgrade system, which puts grinding into the equation and takes some of the puzzle elements out. If a sequel is ever made, it would be great to see the developers do something about these aspects.

o complement the gameplay, the graphics and sound design are very impressive, doing a good job of setting the tone and immersing you into the game. Due to this high quality, it is perhaps unsurprising that Draw Wars suffers from the dreaded Full Screen Ads Syndrome, sometimes even initiating them in the middle of gameplay. At this point, they become worse than simply inconvenient and detract from an otherwise excellent game. (Note: they only appear if you are connected to the internet)

Being a good all-round package, I don’t hesitate in recommending Draw Wars. These developers have shown that ambition, coupled with some innovation and attention to detail, can lead to success in the games market. Hopefully, there’s more to come!

Rating: 4/5