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  • Piano Tiles Game

    Piano Tiles Game Review

    I was searching the Google Play Store for a good game to play in the puzzle genre, since you know puzzle games are my all new favorite genre. A few days ago i reviewed the game Two Dots, one of the best puzzle games that i have played, and now i review a game, of which i am not really sure what to call it since on my launcher screen the name is Piano Tiles, while on the Google Play Store page the game is called Don’t Tap the White Tile and has been developed by Hu Wen Zeng. For making things easy let us call this game Piano Tiles Game.

    This gem of a game is seriously addictive and now i am actually in competition with one of my best friends and development partner in my company,  to who can hit the most tiles in the least amount of time. So far i am loosing, but i will never give up!!!! Your going down pal!!!!

    How Do You Play Piano Tiles?

    Piano Tiles Game is not exactly a puzzle game, but you can say it kind of falls into it, but not so much. In this game you have tiles of two colors, black and white, hence the name Piano Tiles.

    There are a number of modes in this game, ranging from trying to beat your lowest time, to amassing the most piano tiles. The player must also have really good hand/finger eye coordination as you have to tap the black tile and not hit the white tile at an cost or the game will be over.

    There have been times when i am going so fast, that i feel that my hand is moving on its own following the black tiles and tapping them out of existence. The first time this happened it was quite freaky, and i was like WOAH!!! , what did just happen here. Maybe it has something to do the brain controlling the hand movements, this is what i have come up with but i am not a medical student so i may be totally wrong here.

    As you tap the piano tiles you collect them and then when the game is over you can continue to play the game if you have enough piano tiles from where you left of.

    This continue feature is useful when you are playing the mode in which you collect the tiles and are not trying to beat the lowest time, as then the time just ads up because the time is not rest to zero when you continue.

    In the Arcade mode the screen also scrolls so the user has to keep up with the movement or the player will loose if a black tile is missed. In this mode there are different speeds at which you can play the game, and there is also a reverse mode where the screen is moved from top to bottom, which is a bit disorienting as we are more used to bottom to top games rather than top to bottom.

    My Recommendations

    The graphical art is pretty simple and two tone black and white color, but this game does not require high-fi art because the game play and style of the game are what makes the game really interesting, addictive and fun. Any more art will surely add hindrance to the player.

    I highly recommend this game, and this is one game you surely want to have with you to pass your time, and believe me that you will not even know where your time went.

    Update 4:03 am 9th December 2014: I have updated the link of the article and the content to improve SEO.

    • Piano Tiles Game Review
      Piano Tiles Game Review

    December 3, 2014 • Games • Views: 7050

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  • Shadow Fight 2 Fighting Game

    As far as fighting games go, nothing can beat the all ruling Tekken, but there is one game, which is just as good as Tekken was in its hay day. The game that i will be writing about is called Shadow Fight 2.

    What Is The Story Of The Character in Shadow Fight 2?

    In Shadow Fight 2 the character was once an invincible warrior, travelling the land searching for a worthy warrior. On his travels he finds a portal which he opens and releases demons out into the world. In the process the character is stripped of his human body and is left with a shadow of a body, hence the name Shadow Fight. The character now has to fight the demons that he has freed.

    What Are The Features Of The Game?

    The player has to build up his character and make him strong and worthy enough to fight against the demons and their cronies. The player can also purchase better clothing, equipment, spells (magic), head gear, learn new moves, and much much more.

    Furthermore, the player can earn money by either taking part in tournaments which pay more, but the opponents are stronger and more well trained, while the other way is to fight for survival where the player fights one round after the other against different opponents until he dies.

    The audio quality of the game is superb, with correctly timed sound effects and the music with Chinese and Japanese origins.

    The graphics have been well made and are in 2D as the game is essentially a 2D game.

    The game play is quite good, though on some Android smart phones/tables you may have to set the settings of the graphics level to low or the game will be slow to respond. I had to do this, and then the game played smoothly, while a friend of mine plays with high settings and he does not face any sluggish performance.

    Shadow Fight 2 employs the time out mechanism where after a number of fights you have to wait for your energy to regenerate. You can skip this by paying gems.

    The store in the game depends on what level you are and as you progress in the game are new items made available for purchase.

    My Recomendations

    Like all things this game can too be improved. On the game play side this game has everything down to an art form, and i find it to be perfect. The development team can add more to the story, maybe add some cut scenes which tell about the history of the user. To me if i am playing a game i want a good story line, or i will get bored. If a game does not have a strong story line then the game play has to be exceptionally well in order to keep the player keep playing.

    Even though there is a story line, but it is not visited as much as it should be. Like said earlier maybe the characters history and past can be told other than the cut scene shown in the opening of the game. I for one would like to see the character develop emotionally as well, even though all that is left of him is his shadow, but then as the shadow is learning to get stronger, we should be able to relate with him as well. Why is the shadow even trying to fight against the demons. Why does he not just leave them be? Does the shadow think that he will get back his human body once he defeats the demons? We can only find these out by playing the game which i highly recommend.

    Update 4:35 am 9th December 2014: I have updated the link of the article and the content to improve SEO.

     

    • Shadow Fight 2 Android Game Review
      Shadow Fight 2 Android Game Review

    November 29, 2014 • Games • Views: 8040

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  • Bird Ninja – Jungle Fever Flying Bird Game

    Bird Ninja for Android Game Review

    I like playing games and when i find an interesting game i tend to spend some time playing it. Usually in a game i look for a good story if it has one, good game play and there must be that x factor which makes me come back to the game again and again.

    We all heard of the famous game Flappy Bird flying bird game which earned the developer of the game a lot of hate by the players because the game was really difficult, but it really did well as well as i believe that game hit a personal chord of the players that how dare the game not let them win. This ego damaging aspect is quite interesting to see in games. I had that game installed on my Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but unfortunately the phone died on me and also the developer pulled the game off Google Play Store. I went looking for a game similar to Flappy Bird and found a game by the name of Bird Ninja -Jungle Fever  flying bird game.

    The game play is not as difficult as Flappy Bird, but it still demands the player’s full concentration as you have to take split second decisions to prevent the bird from crashing into oncoming objects such as planes, and other birds.

    Each level has a certain objective which the player has to achieve in order to complete the level. In this game it is collecting coins. I have not been able to find any other use case in this game where the coins are being used. I recommend that the developer incorporate a store which allows the player to buy upgrades which gives the bird special powers.

    I also noticed that in this game there is no time out feature where in a game that i regularly play and have also reviewed Two Dots in which you have a maximum of 5 lives and each life takes a set time to regenerate, so if you loose all of your lives then you have to wait for a minimum time as set by the game before you can actually play it.

    Psychology also helps us understand that giving the player breaks actually helps keep the game interesting and brings the player back for more, while games in which the player plays for a long time without any breaks then eventually the player will get burned out and will get bored of the game.

    I also suggest that the developer weave a story into the game, which can further make a game interesting.

    The graphics of the playing level are attractive and look well made. The animation is smooth and i did not find any jerks in animation which spoil the experience. However, the graphics for the menu screen and the pause menu can be further improved as at the moment they look too bland and dead.  Maybe if the developer adds some animation on the menu screen it will look good.

    To conclude, i like the game and would recommend other to play, and this game can definitely get better and more interesting if the developer follows our advice given above.

    Update 2:24 pm 9th December 2014: I have updated the link of the article and the content to improve SEO.

    • Bird Ninja for Android Game Review
      Bird Ninja for Android Game Review

    November 27, 2014 • Games • Views: 5730

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  • Sticher Radio for Podcasts Android App

    Sticher Podcast Reader Android App

    This post originally appeared on the blog Mustafa Neguib and has been reprinted here with permission.

    Introduction to Podcasting

    Podcasting is where people record their voices and then launch them into the internet hoping for someone to listen, and follow intently.
    Think of podcasting as the audio version of blogging. There are many benefits of being a podcast creator and a podcast listener. One of the biggest benefits that a podcast contains is feelings and emotions which just plain blogs do not contain and can not contain. A podcast is personal to the listener. The listener can load up his podcast and continue to what ever he does while listening to the podcast. I think these benefits have further encouraged people to start to listen to audio books.
    Being a podcast listener, i use an app which i dearly love.  Sticher is a podcast reader of sorts, where you can find a number of different podcasts available ranging from a number of different genres/categories.
    Via Sticher i found my all time favorite podcasts, Entrepreneur on Fire hosted by John Lee Dumas and Security Now by Steve Gibson. There are many other podcasts available as well as mentioned above.
    Following genres are from which the listener can follow:
    • Popular & Trending
    • New & Noteworthy
    • Comedy
    • Business & Industry
    • News & Politics
    • Education
    • Society & Culture
    • Entertainment
    • Games & Hobbies
    • Lifestyle & Health
    • Local
    • Music Commentary
    • Parenting, Kids & Family
    • Science & Medicine
    • Spirituality & Religion
    • Sports
    • Technology
    • International

    UX, Design and Ease of Use

    Sticher has been designed well, but it might be a bit too much for a beginner user of Android devices. The app does need a little bit of exploration to be done in order to find out what the features of the app are.

    Usefulness

    Sticher is essentially an on demand podcast service, where you can download the podcast that you want to when ever you want to. You can also add podcasts to listen later list after which the selected podcast will be downloaded to your device.

    This functionality is quite useful for those listeners who are in a hurry to reach their destination, but want to listen to podcasts on the way. Users can also add stations (a station is the source of podcasts where the podcast author publishes his podcasts) to the read later list, which will download podcasts from those stations as well.

    You can call Sticher is to podcasts as RSS readers are to websites and blogs. Sticher also provides with searching functionality where you can search for your favorite topics, stations, or podcast authors, etc…

    Sticher provides a number of different settings which allows you to personalize your experience. You can even set what to show on the start screen.

    You can also create multiple play lists into which you can add your favorite stations. Maybe you want to create playlist which will just contains technology related stations, while another playlist contains business related stations.

    Conclusion

    I highly recommend Sticher for podcast enthusiasts, as this app truly brings a great collection of stations and podcasts. I surely continue to use it in the future to listen to podcasts.

    • Sticher Podcast Reader Android App
      Sticher Podcast Reader Android App

    November 10, 2014 • Business Apps, Utility Apps • Views: 4888

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  • Horror Escape Hidden Object Game for Android

    Horror Escape Game Review

    This post originally appeared on the blog Mustafa Neguib and has been reprinted here with permission.

    What Is This Game About?

    I was checking out my friend’s Android smart phone, looking for any good apps or games that he has installed so that i could install on my smart phone.

    I came across this hidden object game by the name of Horror Escape where you have to find objects which have been hidden by an evil scientist. There are many other apps which follow the same style of hiding clues and then the user has to find them, but i found this game intriguing as it has a back story, and the ambiance of the game suites it quite well.

    What Is A Hidden Object Game?

    This type of games are in which you have to give an effort to find objects which are hidden from you. You have to act as if you are a detective and have to find clues in order to find the objects. Usually these games contain objective where on hidden object is usually a clue and is used to solve another clue in the game.

    How Do You Play This Game?

    From what i have found so far, is that there is an evil guy who has locked the character(you) in a building, and he has left clues for you to find in order to escape. When you find one clue it leads to the next clue. I like detective and hidden object games, where i have to solve a case, and i love Sherlock Holmes, one of the best detectives that i have read about (i am reading the stories of Sherlock Holmes at the moment).

    This game is constructed in such a way that there are levels, where each level is a room. There are a total of 15 levels in this game. One requires patience and needs to harness his collective powers of thinking in order to find the clues and eventually escape from the building.

    I myself am at level 6 and i am stuck at it. What i am really impressed is the way the clues are hidden in each level. One has to actually look for them, by pressing on everything hoping that some clue pops up. There is no animation, but the graphics are professional and realistic, which further helps bring the detective in you out to help your character to escape.

    If finding objects hidden from plain sight fancy you, then I highly recommend this game, but this is a good time kill for others as well.

    • Horror Escape Game Review
      Horror Escape Game Review

    November 8, 2014 • Games • Views: 4412

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