Author Archives: Kevin Pennyfeather

Polara: an atmospheric, quick fingered brain twister that’s got plenty of longevity

In a swamped mobile games market, it can be difficult for games labelled as “just ok” to stand out. Hope This Works Games’ Polara raises the bar for mobile titles that require quick thinking and intense focus high enough to merit its recent price increase And it does so under the pretext of a mostly compelling narrative.

When the mechanics of an endless-runner and Ikaruga’s (or more recently Outland’s) colour-switching get thrown together in the same sentence, there are many who would ravenously start hunting around for the source of the rumouring, But while the allure of a game that combines the two elements is extremely tempting, the number of ways that the game design could go wrong is enough to make me avoid premature excitement.

Polara 1

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Locked-In: an engaging sprint to the truth behind an afflicted executive woman’s life

When it comes to visual novels, there are a few critical pieces beyond stellar writing that need to be in place if you want a player to remain invested in your story. And Lucky Special Games’ Locked-In does a fantastic job of gathering assets to do just that.

It shouldn’t feel like a chore to watch the words crawl across the screen while a static image representing a character delivers their lines. The game has to engage the player and give them a reason to invest their time; there are many who might typically prefer to just read a book.

But I would find it difficult to believe that a player could run through a couple of Locked-In’s eight endings and still think they could get the same experience elsewhere. The combination of its eerie silhouettes with a dash of colour on an accessory to represent each, surprisingly, well-developed character really goes a long way to quickly make you care about their motivations.

Locked-In 1

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Jetpack Joyride: the juggernaut of pick-up and play iOS games

When I first purchased my iPhone 4S in 2011, I did what any deprived mobile gamer would do after getting a shiny piece of hardware they’ve drooled over for years: I downloaded every free app and game that caught my eye.

Yet, out of the hundreds of free-to-play stinkers, and even the pay-to-play gems that I sunk hours into before completing their self contained experiences and removing them from my phone to free up space, Jetpack Joyride is the only 20 mb bundle of digital joy that has stood the test of time and remained on my iOS device.

Jetpack Joy Ride

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The woes of online journalism and the challenges of ad-blocker

I’ve never used an ad-blocker.

They’re something I didn’t even know existed until about a year ago, and even if I did know of their existence sooner, I never would have set foot near one.

I’ve understood for a long time that nothing in this world is free, and that goes for the content I consume on the internet as well. I’ve consciously looked at the ads that I see on my favourite websites as a good thing. When I see an ad, the people who create the content get paid. So when I discovered just how large the majority of my friends – and apparently the rest of the tech-savvy world – is that uses an ad-blocker I was shocked.

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EA Sports’ NHL 14 feature list includes drastic changes for veteran hockey gamers

EA announced the next instalment to one of their annual sport-sim franchises on Friday, NHL 14, and the iterations that it’s expected to include are a big deal.

Along with a new screenshot (that looks exactly like every other NHL screenshot released in the last 16 months), EA also recounted the “innovation” they’ve infused into hockey games throughout the years. Then, on Monday they revealed some of the new features we can expect to see on September 10, when NHL 14 is expected to hit North American stores.

Dione Phaneuf delivers a hit to Thomas Plekanec
in this new NHL 14 screenshot

As a gigantic hockey fan, and as a gamer who has put over 4,000 cumulative hours into the popular line of hockey games throughout my life, every minute change that’s made to the core gameplay experience usually means that I’ll have to make some alterations to the way I compete on the digital ice.

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