I feel haunted by single-sentence impressions of last week’s releases…
Amniotic
I feel like I could PowerUp Forever. 80 Points.
Arkedo Series – 02 SWAP!
Slick presentation, but such simple color matching I’m not sure you should call it a puzzle game. 240 Points.
Astro Match3
A match-3 game with fully original gameplay, like all the others. 240 Points.
Banana Split
Nice over-all, but why pair a double jump and a useless normal jump? 240 Points.
Boring Space Shooter
Not as bad as it makes out, but nothing outstanding, either. 80 Points.
Carcophony
Seems like more busywork than brain work, but I may be doing it wrong. 400 Points.
Crate Expectations
Competitive crate sliding maze navigation. 240 Points.
Crosstown
Classic 8-bit Arcade-style game with modern screen-usage problem – it is so small! 400 Points.
Epiphany in Spaaace!
A Choose Your Own Adventure style adventure story – in spaaaace! 80 Points.
Echoes+
Asteroids + steroids = …ow, my kneecaps! 240 Points.
Halloween 360
50 themed piczzzzzzzzz…. 80 Points.
Halloween HD
Fireplace – fire + Halloween. 80 Points.
HuntersLunch
Another push blocks, fill holes, block enemies, grid-based puzzle action game from Alpha Secret Base (not a bad thing). 80 Points.
Krisotron
Silly Smash TV-like which informed me I am 3080% Awesome. 80 Points.
LOL Runner
Crudely assembled meme themed button-mashing button matching. 80 Points.
Night Of Doom
Animation-free arena FPS with zombies in it. 80 Points.
Poker Blinds
This space intentionally left blank because I don’t even know what this app is for, aside from being Poker related. 240 Points.
Pumpkin Chop
This is actually a cool little app – once you figure out to draw anticlockwise! 80 Points.
Run Away!
Fun and funny obstacle course. 80 Points.
Speed Factory
I really like the tug-o-war rhythm game idea, but if it can’t stay on beat on the Trial’s slow song… 80 Points.
Very Hungry Pumpkin
Kiddie Trick-or-Treat dodge and collect action game. 80 Points.
yOm
I can’t figure it out – it has a stick and EIGHT buttons and seems like a ridiculously complex Pac-Man. 400 Points.
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Thanks for your weekly roundup. At the beginning of community games I tried most of the games myself but now i do not have the time and fun playing shitty demos. So your overview is the perfect solution to get updated.
However I think SWAP! deserves a more detailed review. I don’t agree with the game mechanics being too simple. At least if you are playing for highscore the concept is very satisfying. Looking forwards to the next Arcedo games.
I’m glad you find the Weekly Round Ups useful, that is exactly what they are intended for.
We endeavor to review every title, but there are so many releases each week that we are nearly 300 titles behind at this point, which is the other reason we created the Round Ups.
Just wanted to let you know, the single jump in Banana Split comes into play later in the game where it’s needed for really hard platforming sections
I’m enjoying SWAP!. The style is gorgeous, and it isn’t too demanding which coupled with the music makes it just extremely pleasant to play. I wouldn’t say the puzzling is overly simplified; there’s a lot of freedom in movement but creating combos/chains and swapping stuff around smoothly is the challenge.
There are a couple of niggles that I would have liked to see ironed out. Sometimes blocks appearing at the bottom of the screen will match with existing blocks, making part of the playing field fall down, killing any combos you were lining up. When moving a block off a ledge, sometimes the cursor will follow the block down and sometimes it won’t, can’t figure out why it does or doesn’t. That one’s a small niggle though.
Overall can’t complain for 240MSP, I had a lot of fun.
I agree, it is not really simple color matching. I’m thoroughly enjoying it and think it is well worth the $3. I’ve not noticed the cursor issues Craig described but it will complete a chain if one of the blocks coming onscreen makes the 4th. I figured that was by design and since I don’t make a lot of combos I’m always happy to see more blocks gone. I’m looking forward to seeing what Arkedo releases next.
I’m also digging some of the modes in Echoes+. I don’t play a lot of 2 stick shooters so some of the modes that are new to me might not be to everyone else.
I wasn’t amazingly taken by Swap! – it’s a nice enough game, but something of a letdown after Jump!
If you’re looking for a nice, casual block-matching experience with nice graphics, then it fits the bill perfectly – but there’s dozens of similar titles which do exactly the same.
Unlike Run Away, which is far, far too short but amazingly fun while it lasts