Released on May 5, 2009, Plants vs. Zombies puts the player in the shoes of Crazy Dave and his neighbour in the role of defending their house from a continuous onslaught of zombie attacks. Zombies attack the front yard, back yard, swimming pool, and even the rooftop of the player’s house non-stop, day and night. The only way you can defeat the massive hoard is by planting a variety of offensive and defensive plants and fungi around the house that help fend off these evil, nocturnal creatures.
Hilariously-named weapons like Potato Mines, Peashooters, Hypno-shrooms, and Cabbage-pults provide attack and defence capabilities you and Crazy Dave need to prevent the entire neighbourhood from having its residents’ brains eaten by the zombies.
As a tower defence game, Plants vs Zombies divides the playing field into a number of tracks the zombies use to move towards your house. You use seed packs to sow the plants needed to provide your offense and defence. These seed packs require sunlight either from sunlight-generating plants or natural sunlight offered during the daylight hours. Night-time defence is generally provided by fungi that require less light (i.e., mushrooms).
These random seed packs are designed to make the player work out how to best make use of them to survive. The game offers a few one-shot “power” moves like a lawn mower or pool cleaner to completely obliterate all zombies should they get too close to your house. This feature is only usable once per level. Some levels give the player a random seed pack that requires no sunlight at all. Read more... (491 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)
Games
Game, Plants, Review, ZOMBIES
The main objective in Zuma’s Revenge! is to clear sets of rolling balls by matching three or more of the same colour. The player achieves this by controlling overly-energetic if not mildly spastic-looking frog who spits multi-coloured balls. The frog must shoot these balls towards the incoming balls rolling onto the screen. These balls are cleared from the screen when three or more are matched together in a row.
The player can score extra points by shooting through newly-formed gaps between the balls when matches are cleared. Fruit bonuses appear occasionally which can be hit for extra points if the player can manage to shoot a ball between these gaps. The gaps are closed if balls at both ends are the same colour. This can lead to chain reaction ball clearing that result in additional points.
There are plenty of little extras to add to the mix. The fruit bonuses not only give you additional points, they also help slow down the incoming balls. Some of the incoming balls contain various power-ups that can help you clear the current level much easier. A slow power-up exists to make the balls roll much slower than normal. A laser sight helps improve your aim’s accuracy. Tri-shot power-ups give the frog a shotgun-like blast. Laser power-ups let you destroy single ball. Bomb power-ups take out multiple balls in one go. The lightning power-up is probably the best one in the game, as it is capable of eliminating all balls on the screen of one colour. Read more... (609 words, 1 image, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)
Games
Game, Revenge, Review, Zuma's
FIFA Soccer 11 is Electronic Arts’ latest release in its world-renowned series of video soccer games. Developed by EA Canada, it is set for worldwide release during September and October 2010.
Electronic Arts plans to showcase a wide variety of new features never seen before.
The “FIFA Theatre” feature allows players to create their own personalised soundtracks. By importing music into the game, players for the first time in the EA Sports FIFA series can create soundtracks, customised chants, and club anthems that may be played during key times during gameplay. Players, for example, can set custom soundtracks and chants for play during introductions, halftime, after scoring goals, and at the end of matches. Players can even set their avatar’s name to be cheered by the crowd!
FIFA Soccer 11 is also set to show off additional features only available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. Features like Personality+, Pro Passing, Career Mode, and Creation Centre are bound to keep new and loyal FIFA fans alike engaged for a long time.
Personality+ takes advantage of a database with 36 attributes and 57 traits for each player. This feature uses advanced gaming technology to better reflect individual players’ abilities in the game. Gamers will definitely see the unique styles and differences between each football player as a result. Read more... (455 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)
Games
FIFA, Games, Review, Soccer
The goal of this game is exactly that of the original, namely to develop a virtual aquarium. This is accomplished just as one would do in real life. Players simply buy fish, accessories, and various creature comforts for the tank. The keyword here is “buy” as players need cash in order to buy all of this stuff. Cash is earned by completing match-3 levels before time runs out. In these game levels, players must match three identical pieces in a row by clicking on two adjacent pieces to swap them around. A swap is only successful if it creates a match. Tiles contain various pieces like ghosts, pumpkins, wizard hats, starfish, crabs, and even seashells.
Some of these pieces sit atop golden tiles. Every level contains a specific amount of these golden tiles that the player must collect in order to proceed to the next level. The level ends once the player collects all the golden tiles or runs out of time. In some levels, these special tiles are silver and not gold. These tiles must be matched twice in order to clear them. Some tiles are locked, meaning their corresponding pieces can only be freed by matching them with other tiles. Various power-ups like bombs, dynamite charges, warheads, and lightning bolts are offered throughout the levels. These items can destroy multiple pieces in one go. Read more... (517 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)
Games
Fishdom, Game, Review, Splash, Spooky
One interesting feature about Royal Envoy is that it is not centred around winning and losing, but is a game more or less allowing the player to just relax and build up their empire. Royal Envoy always keeps you busy with things to do. You simply find open lots, build structures on them, upgrade them, and build again. Workers take care of building and creating materials while taxers take care of collecting revenue to keep your empire running.
Although houses are the games basic bread and butter, the player has access to a multitude of buildings, each with a specific purpose. Sawmills, for example, produce wood for construction. Bridges help gain access to otherwise unreachable areas, while markets provide you with full-blow trading facilities. Banks can improve your empire’s cash-flow, while home upgrades can not only increase tax revenue but improve their durability as well. All work and no play makes an empire without flair, however, so you should also build gardens and flower beds to keep the general population happy.
Royal Envoy has side missions as well. You can pay off bandits to keep them from trashing your developments. You can also send workers on treasure-digging adventures. New things are always being introduced as the game progresses, helping prevent it from getting boring
The game may sound boring at first but each new level steps up the pace significantly. Read more... (431 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)
Games
Envoy, Game, Review, Royal
