July previews!

Image via Wikipedia

Battleships PrizePlay -- play for prizes is a good hook, but can you really win something in this game? And it is any fun? (Puzzle/Trivia)

Up (mobile game) -- Up the movie is great. But is Up the game any good? (Action)

Great Legends: Vikings -- is the game all bark and no bite, or will you truly feel like a plundering Viking (Beat-em-up)

Verizon Racing Championship -- race cars around 26 tracks? Where have we seen this before? (Racing)

Flatout -- the game practically started the crash-racing genre on the PC, but is it any fun on a mobile? (Racing)

Cash Cab -- the Discovery channel show gets a mobile game. Is it fun, or is an also-ran? (Trivia)

Find out soon, as the reviews for these games are coming very soon!

KMGR of Sims 3 (mobile)

Image by brianjmatis via Flickr

Sims 3 for mobile is fun game by itself. It is only isometric, but it seems to have captured the Sims 3 spirit. You'll have a lot of interaction with other sims, and lots of minigames, from fishing to cooking to repairing. It's a lot of things to do, but then, that's life, isn't it?

Basically, you get to pick your avatar, with customization of hair, skin color, shirt, pants, and so on. Then you get to pick 5 traits, which will affect your interaction with the other sims. Once you're in the game, you have a house with some furniture, then randomly you'll get "wants", such as meet someone, fish, and so on. You can actually have up to three avatars (different everything) and they live independent lives.

As in all sims games, you have individual needs, like food, clean, bathroom, social, fun, and so on. Food is from fridge or oven, clean is from shower, and social is from other relationships. You get the idea. As time go on these parameters will fall, and you need to recharge them periodically with the proper activities.

You will also need a job, as you only have X amount of standing money, and you do eat quite a bit. Snacks are expensive, so sooner you get an oven and learn to cook the better. And in this game, you get 'skills' such as cooking and fishing and repairing by "doing", which means get the right tools, go to the right location(s), and play the minigames.

There are quite a few jobs in town. One at city hall, one at the cafe, and so on. Each develope different skills, and have different perks, different schedules, and so on. Don't be late, or you'll get fired!

As you walk about town, you will meet a lot of other inhabitants, and you can develop friendships or even more serious relations with most of the inhabitants. Depending on their traits and your traits different conversation techniques may be needed. Some prefer pointless chat, while others may prefer jokes, yet others may prefer planting or fishing talk, and so on. As you talk, you may get referals and additional "quests" such as "bring me a fish and I'll give you $50" and so on.

Interaction is not done once you're back at your house. You can call people on the phone and invite them over as in previous Sims games, and further interact with them, or just chat on the phone. Invite several people over and have a party, or just your "mate" over for a quiet cozy night, it's all up to you.

The problem with the game is you can only "lock" 4 wants at once, and most of them you can't act on at the beginning. Income level is low and consumption of food is high ($10 per SNACK? Come on!) so you will have to find a job very soon, and work for your money, and learn to cook pretty soon (or learn to fish, and sell the fish, but that means you need to buy fishing kit from the "hobby store") and lots more. Repair something means repair kit... you get the idea. But then, money ain't ever free, right?

Sims 3 mobile is a proper Sims game, and there are lots of things to do in this game. The wants can be ignored and they will expire of ignored for a while. Each day you have to manage your needs and wants, and balance them. And that is the whole point of the Sims 3, isn't it?

Overall rating: 8.5 out of 10 (hall of fame!)
Pros: Got the Sims vibe, outside-house interactions, more minigames and activities
Cons: A lot of wants can't be acted upon initially, money is tight in the game

KMGR of "Metal Gear Acid"

Image via Wikipedia

Metal Gear Acid is a weird game... It features Snake as normal, as it IS a Metal Gear game, but the game mechanics is TURN-based. Yes, you read right... turn-based, and is based on a deck of cards. Yes, cards. However, it does work, and the result is a turn-based tactical stealth game that is, well, very interesting.

At the beginning of the story, terrorists have hijacked a plane with some very important VIPs. They demand release of a secret project at a base nobody knew existed. Snake has been ordered to infiltrate the base that allegedly house this project and figure out what's going on.

Throughout the game, Snake will chat with his "handler" at regular trigger points to further expand the plot. I haven't gotten too far into the story (first 3 chapters) so I can't tell you too mcuh about it, but I expect the normal twists and turns.

You can choose to do the tutorial to familiarize yourself with the game concepts, and it's a novel one. Each turn has four phases... Your phase 1 and 2, then enemy phase 1 and 2. You have a deck of 30 cards. Inside are weapons, health / armor and such, special skills, and other items. Each card has a movement value. You start with 6 cards out of a deck of 30, randomly drawn. You play 1 card per phase. At the beginning of next turn, you drawn enough to go back to 6 cards, and the process repeats. If you ran out of cards, the deck is reshuffled and the process repeats.

(There are additional cards scattered throughout the level you can go after if you wish to)

Each card can be either used for its own purpose, or movement. Some "equipment" cards can be placed in the 2 equipment slots for later use. As the cards you draw are random, you must remain flexible with your plans. However, your "deck" remains fixed.

For example, say you want to move, then shoot the camera with your silenced pistol. You pick a card you don't really need to use its movement value (about 3, which means Snake can move 3 squares) as phase 1. Then in phase two, you use the Pistol-SD card, select a target (the camera), and choose "use" instead of "move", and you'll pop the camera. This of course assume you are in range, and the camera is within your line of sight.

And there are lots of options. You can change facing between phases. You can face the wall then flatten, which means you will automatically turn 180 and flatten against the wall, making you almost invisible. While flattened, you can "knock", which is a standard distraction ploy. Nearby guard will investigate, and you can use that momentary distraction to move past him. You can also crawl instead of regular "walk".

How you get through the level is up to you, but basically, the usual objective is to retrieve either a key or some sort of info, and make it to the exit square without attracting too much attention (none is preferred).

In your way are human guards, cameras, robot guard dogs, and more. Cameras can be shot. Guards can be killed or distracted. Robot guard dog can be avoided or fed a chaff grenade (which stuns it for 1 turn). There are nastier bad guys later. To plan your route, you can engage "camera mode", which shows you the viewing area of each and every camera or guard on the level. Again, avoid them if you can, quietly dispose of them if you can't.

On some levels, you can use a disguise, such as a box, which obviously, don't move under its own power. So as long as no guard or camera see your box move, they will ignore it.

All in all, Metal Gear Acid is a weird game. It manages to retain the flavor of Metal Gear series, but made it turn-based with a deck of cards serving as play mechanism. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the end result is one fun game that's almost perfectly suited for mobile market.

Score: 7.5 out of 10
Pros: still Snake and Metal Gear stuff
Cons: card-based combat resolution and play mechanism takes a bit of getting used to, turn-based may be too slow for some

KMGR of "Great Legends: The Minotaur"

Image via Wikipedia

While the description make it sound cool, the actual description will leave you severely disappointed.

GL:M is about the Minotaur, which is supposedly a beast that is so powerful and can't be killed, it was imprisoned in a maze. You get to penetrate the maze, avoid all the nasty stuff within, and save your girl, basically. In Ancient Greece, no less. While this sounds exciting, in reality this game is more closely related to Pac-Man (tm) than any adventure game.

You see, you get to run around this "maze", filled with deadly traps, nasties like Gorgons (which slows you down), and of course, the Minotaur himself. You need to collection 2 of the 4 keys scattered throughout the level. There are gold coins along the floor. Collect as many gold coins as you can, as well as the two out of four keys, and try to make it to the exit before Minotaur chases you down.

So what's the catch? You actually have unlimited lives, just a ticking clock. In other words, if you don't get to the exit in X seconds (a count-down is on screen) you get to restart the level. If you get hit for a trap, or struck down by minotaur, Daedalus will move you back to the closest revival point (a "blue lamp"). If you pass more blue lamps as you explore the maze (for more gold coins, of course) you will activate it, thus making it available should you need to be revived later.

There are also occasional "staircases" which act as "intra-level warp", taking you from one section of level to another.

Once you got two of the four available keys, the exit door opens, and minotaur appears, and he is fast, but he doesn't turn corners that well, so if you make turns quickly, you may stay ahead of it long enough to reach to exit and move onto the next level. However, that brings us to the biggest problem of the game... unresposive controls.

You see, in a game like this, responsive controls are a must. How else will you duck into the correct passageway without hitting the trap(s)? Yet this game's controls are laggy, and very painful to play. You see, your guy once he goes in one directlon, he doesn't stop. So if you press LEFT, he keeps running left until you give him some other input. Even Pac-Man (tm) doesn't do that. If you leave the stick untouched, Pac-Man doesn't move. This lousy control sceme makes doing precision moves all about the timing. One slight bit off, and you are toast. Why should a game be this intolerant of player?

There are occasional powerups like "super-speed", "invisible", and so on, but those are too little and too late. All in all, this game manage to ruin a good concept and turn it into something that's extremely derivative and fun-lacking.

Overall score: 3 out of 10 (lowest ever given!)
Pros: controls are simple, premise sounds cool
Cons: it's just dressed-up Pac-Man with lousy controls

More June Previews!

The Sims 3 -- Sims 3 comes to the mobile as well as consoles and PC. Is it a major improvement over the old one? Or is this another "me-too" product just to waste your money?

Great Legends: The Minotaur -- sounds like a cool fighting game, in reality a modern variant of Pac-Man, nothing more.

Metal Gear Acid -- Snake of Metal Gear meets... Collectible card deck combat? In a tactical stealth game? Yep, this game is that weird, and it actually works!

KMGR of "Red Faction: Guerilla" (mobile)

Image via Wikipedia

Red Faction: Guerilla (mobile) is an adaptation of the latest variant of Red Faction, a game where you blow up things big time (deformable terrain, breakable buildings, and so on). It is any fun on a mobile? Well... sort of, but in a completely different way.

You see, Red Faction: Guerilla (just RF from now on) on the mobile is a 2D shooter, that's closer in spirit to PC's Crusader series (Crusader: No Remorse is the first game), mixed in with a bit of rhythm matching disguised as a vehicle shoot sequence, and a bit of timing puzzle disguised as a "sniper" sequence. It's not bad, it's just... very different.

RF as a 2D game is well done. All the missions (9 in all) are sorta based on the first person mode. You start with an assault rifle, and a hammer. Hammer is used to break open crates, doors, and barrels for stuff like ammo, first-aid, and so on. The gun is auto-aim, but you can switch targets. If you move close to an obstacle you can crouch behind it and pop-up to return fire. You can also dodge sideways while running (and the character will do a realistic roll and tuck). Later you get advanced weaponry like rocket launcher and railgun (they get fancier names inside the game, but you know what they are). There are also plenty of exploding barrels you can detonate via gunfire, staple of any PC shooter.

In each mission there are multiple "secret" areas hidden on the map that are often merely "difficult" or "obscure" spots to get to filled with goodies (ammo, first-aid, etc.). Finding them gives you a better score.

There are also occasional spots there you need to drive a driller and break down a wall. That part is easy: hold down the ENTER key to move the driller up to the wall, then tap the enter key to keep the bar in the center of the gauge. Hold it too long and the bar moves right, leave it unpressed too long and it moves left. Keep it in the green range and the drill will eventually break thru.

One more variation is the tank. Occasionally, you get to drive a tank, and it has coax machine gun and a main cannon (and run over things). All in isometric 2D, of course. Keep the tank on the road, and kill the rocket soldiers quickly before they wipe out your tank.

Finally, occasionally, the mission comes upon an area where you have to play "sniper". Enemies will pop up from one of four locations. When they do, press the corresponding arrow key, wait for the crosshair (moving up and down rapidly) to move "up" to top of the 4 dots, then press OK to shoot the guy in the head. If you miss, the guy will shoot back, and you can only take four hits (TOTAL).

As you can imagine, as you go further into the game, the difficulty starts ramping up. Enemies gets more numerous, cover starts to get scarce, and enemy starts to get far better equipped, such as rail gun (capable of killing you in 2 shots) and rocket launcher.

Each mission has a primary and a secondary objective... usually blowing something up (walk up to the item and press OK to drop a demo charge). Though the final fight features a fight with a VERY big and mad boss.

In 2 of the levels you get to play "Mad Max", where you need to shoot various things on the road... Either debris ahead, enemy on the left, or enemy on the right. As I said, it's all about the timing, not aimming skill.

All in all, RF is a fun little mobile shooter with some good action and not TOO frustrating to play. However, it's barely related to the "real" Red Faction. Just keep that in mind, and you won't be too disappointed.

Score: 7. 5 out of 10
Pros: decent 2D shooter, some good animation moves, responsive
Cons: sniper and mad max sequence feel out of place

KMGR of "Monopoly Deal"

Image via Wikipedia

Monopoly Deal is based on Monopoly, but is in fact a "card game". It moves much faster than regular Monopoly, and is actually an authorized product. The mobile version can be played in "adventure mode", "single game", or even "pass the phone" multiplayer. The game itself seems to rely a lot on chance, but also quite a bit of your knowledge of Monopoly, and the extra cards and rules adds a fair bit of interaction not found in the regular game. Recommended for casual gamer.

Monopoly Deal can be described as sort of "gin rummy" meets Monopoly. Each player receives five cards to start (and depending on which level, some starting capital). Each card can be money, property, rent, or special actions.

Any money card must be banked. Money is used to pay rent and special actions that require payments. However, ANY card with a denomination, even property cards, rent cards, and special action cards (except super wild card which has no denomination/value) can be banked for its value. Thus, if you have a rent card you can't use, you may want to bank it for some cash. Or if you have a property you don't really need, but may potentially benefit another player as it could be stolen or forced exchange, it may be better to bank it for its value rather than play it and risk it being taken.

Properties are regular Monopoly properties, except they are on cards, still have their original colors. The properties that borders two colors are considered "wild cards", and have TWO colors. The object of the game is be the first to collect THREE full sets of properties. This is where the knowledge of the game comesin handy, as you need to remember which properties have 2, 3, or even 4 cards, and thus, which to keep and which to bank. Yes, property cards can be banked for their value instead of played. And yes, there are super wild cards that can stand-in for any color (they look like rainbow, so sometimes they are known as rainbow cards). And as a nod to traditional Monopoly, you can add house card and hotel card, if you got them, to a complete set, further increasing their value.

Rent cards are played to collect rent from other players. Each rent card has two colors, so you have to choose one to play as. There is also a "rent wild card", where you can choose any color, and it'll even tell you how much rent to expect per color, but it affects only one player. Regular rent affect all players, so one way to win is to accumulate enough properties to collect a lot of rent, thus force the other player to turn over their all their assets. On the top level of play, if you are out of money, you are out of the game.

There's also a double rent card (which is technically a special action card, but it goes here better)... Doubling the rent you collect from the rent card, but that counts as one of the three actions per turn. So the max rent you can collect is 4X... Two double rent cards, and the actual rent card. If you collect a max full set (4 properties, plus house and hotel), you can potentially collect a LOT of rent.

Also, there are a lot of different denomination cards for the money, and in this game no change is given for payment. So if the rent is $2M, and you only have $1M and $3M cards, you have to pay with the $3M, and you don't get the extra $1M back.

It's the special actions that really sets the game apart, and those special actions are really interesting.

If you have a "no" card, actions can be refused. For example, you can refuse to pay rent, pay "debt" or birthday gift, even counter cards that steal property or even property sets. And yes, the "no" card itself can be countered by a "no" card as well.

There are cards that forces an exchange of property with you (forced deal), steals one property (sly deal), steals a whole set (deal breaker), steals one random card in other player's hand (lawsuit), and so on. There are also plenty of other excuses to collect money from other players, such as birthday ($2M from everybody else), debt collection ($5M from one), luxury tax ($2M for every "wildcard" you have), and so on.

So while collecting money is important (without which, you can't pay rent and other payments, and you'll have to pay with property), the objective is to collect properties to make three full sets. It's the in-between that makes things interesting. Clearly, you want to prevent people from making sets as much as possible.

The mechanics are simple. Each player starts with 5 cards. The play goes around in a circle. When it's a player's turn, that player draws 2 cards, and can play up to 3 cards (3 actions). If you have no cards in your hand, you draw 5 cards instead of 2. You can hold maximum of 7 cards. One of the special action cards is "draw two cards", which is in addition to the two you get per turn.

Again, the objective is to collect three full sets of properties. It's knowing which cards to play that is important. Between actions, you can flip the cards that can be flipped (such as property wild cards, if you want to make them sort on a different set), change super wild card's color, view your hand's detail as well as the other three player's played cards (including their banked amount and their played properties).

As you can imagine, the action can be quite wild, as one person then another complete a set, then another steal a property to make their set, then sets are stolen from one then another. The AI is surprisingly adept in making serious moves, such as squeeze play that chains two or three money events together, squeezing you dry of any cash or assets. And surprisingly, chance plays a much greater role than skill in this game. But then, Monopoly has always been a game of chance (roll of the dice). In my final game where I beat the highest level, I got such good cards that I squeezed out two opponents in the first round (forced them into bankruptcy), and I was able to defeat the last AI opponent.

The "adventure mode" has you play four sets of opponents of increasing difficulty, from regular home game all the way to exclusive social club (where you need to win 2 games out of 5). Winning is very difficult and you will be playing plenty of games before you can even win something.

The single game is just that... play a single game of the setup you wish. You can even choose the specific player you wish to play as (you start with one, and unlock more later).

Pass the phone is just that... you pass the phone back and forth as multiplayer against 2 other AI opponents. It's NOT a team effort, so don't hold back.

There are also achievements you can do, such as double negative (use a "no" on a "no"), win each difficulty level, complete the game, double double (double the double rent), and so on. Those are recorded as well.

The graphics are regular sprites, nothing too serious, just semi-realistic characters on the table. The animations are well done enough, and events like "full set" or "property" [played] are animated as well. Sound... is pretty much nonexistent except for the music (which I usually turn off).

All in all, Monopoly Deal is a fun variant of the original game, that is fast paced (most games don't last more than 10 turns) and has a lot of surprising twists and turns due to all those special action cards. If you like casual card games like Uno, you should enjoy Monopoly Deal.

Score: 8 out of 10
Pros: surprisingly fun little casual card game with familiar Monopoly properties and conventions
Cons: way more dependent on chance than you first suspect, higher levels VERY difficult

KMGR of "Powerboat Challenge"

Image via Wikipedia

Powerboat Challenge is a fine looking title that offers a lot of play. There are four characters to play, several islands to unlock (each with multiple races), mutliple race types, and of course, lots of upgrades to the boat. Overall, it's a pretty good title. Not quite best ever, but certainly one of the better racing titles to come along in a while.

The initial load time is a bit long. You have to wait about 15 seconds to see the main menu on a LG enV (Vx9900). Then another few seconds after choosing "play game". You then choose among the 4 characters presented anime style. They are a black guy with big Afro, one Korean kid, one big Australian bruiser, and one Euro girl. Each has his or her own "home island" and often offer tart commentary like "this ain't no surf contest, go home" or "I hope you're a worthy opponent". You get the idea.

The race modes are pretty simple... a 2-lap 4-boat race, a time trial (race the clock), eliminator (last place of lap is eliminated), mini-tournament (4 pts for 1st place, max points in 3 laps win), time trial EX where you last as long as possible but the buoys switch sides periodically. And multi-race tournament (which can be composed of any other race types).

The race itself is relatively simple. You're supposed to go around the buoys. Go to the LEFT of red buoys, and RIGHT of green buoys. If you get REALLY close to the buoys (but still on the proper side) you get recharge of your "turbo". The closer you get, the more recharge you get, ranging from ok, to good, to perfect. And you will need to use those turbo boosts to get the best times. If you miss the buoy... you slow to a crawl, and you lose the turbo you've accumulated.

In the multi-boat races, the other boats can get really frisky, and it's better to keep your space rather than get in close and mix it up, as you can be pushed sideways and off the buoy. And you can only miss TWO buoys per race. Miss a third one, and you're disqualified (last place). Though the boats cannot be damaged, they slow down if you brush the shore, hit other boats, or even miss the buoys, and that's bad for your run. And you CAN get stuck on something, so there is a RESET button for the boat.

The upgrades all cost money... and there are four areas for improvements... engine, electronics, spoiler, and turbo. Spoiler enhances agility, while engine and electronics improve top speed and acceleration. Turbo enhances... turbo, of course. (improves boost duration). And the upgrade really do make a difference, especially the spoilers, which really enhances agility, and help you make those tight corners and get the best results. On the other hand, it's not clear which parts are cumulative and which parts are improvements (i.e. B is better than A, and replaces A, instead of having both A and B).

If a particular event is really beating you, you may want to go to a different island, win some events, earn some prize money, buy an upgrade or two, then come back to retry the event.

As each island has multiple events, each can earn bronze, silver, or gold, and there are multiple islands and multiple characters, this game does have a lot of replay value, as each race can turn out differently. However, replaying an event you've already won does not earn additional money.

Graphics are some of the best available on mobile phone. Game was reviewed on LG enV, not exactly a 3D powerhouse, but was able to do good 3D graphics in this case, powered by the Abyss Engine. All the objects have textures, and little details abound to convince you that you are on a 3D course. There are even options to turn off eye candy like lens flare and water reflections to further improve the frame rate.

However, the difficulty level seems to be a bit uneven. Even with the engine upgrades (3 out of 4), I get outpaced by AI boats at the third island. And I don't see how can I make enough money (another 2000) to afford the final engine upgrade in order to beat the AI. By comparison, the AI at first island is slower, and at 2nd island is an equal match in speed. So it's a rude surprise that the AI boats are actually faster.

All in all, this is one of the better racers out in recent days. If you can stand the odd difficulty level curves, you should get a kick out of this racer.

Score: 8 out of 10
Pros: nice graphics, full 3D, 4 playable characters and lots of race types
Cons: some boats are just NOT competitive, AI can be VERY hard to beat

Some more previews for June...

Red Faction: Guerilla -- mobile version is a 2D isometric shooter (somewhat reminiscent of Diablo or even Crusader) with some alternate game modes. But is it any good?

Monopoly Deal -- Monopoly turned into a fast-paced card game, with plenty of AI opponents. Is it better? Or just another variation of the same theme?

Powerboat Challenge -- race against boats or the clock at various exotic islands, and upgrade your boat to take on the ultimate tournament. Is it thrilling, or just gets you wet?

KMGR of "Civ 4: Defender of the Gates"

Image via Wikipedia

Technically, the full title is "Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Defender of the Gates". However, it's way too long. So it's just Civ 4: DotG, or just DotG from now on.

Despite the name, this game is only peripherally related to the CIV 4 franchise... as it really is a tower defense game. However, the eras, the units, and the techs, and the upgrades all are from Civ 4. You control one of four civilizations (America, England, Russia, or China). You must build defenses to protect your empire against 50 waves of attack from the Huns... who managed to kept pace with your empire. Can you keep your civilization from being conquered and trampled?

If you haven't played tower defense, this is the premise... Enemy units come through a fixed path, and do NOT shoot. You must place defense towers/turrets along their path to destroy the invaders. The problem is invaders gets stronger each wave. Each wave, the Hun leader will insult you, promise to crush you under their feet, and how their weapons are unstoppable. They start at a mere 10HP, and move "slow". By the end, they will have THOUSANDS of HP, and move at fast or better. However, for every invader you destroy, you are rewarded with certain amount of gold, with which you can purchase more towers, upgrade the towers and/or other abilities. The objective is to last as many waves as you can, preferably all 50. The waves will vary somewhat, as some waves have special abilities. They can send a lot of weaker units, or one super unit (a boss). They may even send units that fly (so only certain towers can engage them) or even units immune to some of your towers. Remember, let as few through as possible.

This game adds a few wrinkles. Each era also gives you certain tech points, with which you can unlock technologies similar to Civ 4's tech tree, and those technologies will enable certain upgrades and more powerful towers, or affect the cost of towers, and other effects, such as pay you X amount of gold per civilian killed. Each civ starts with a unique advantage (America gets 1 extra tech point at start, China gets 10 extra citizens, etc. ). Each invader that gets thru will kill 1 of your citizens though a boss unit may kill more (and some may even steal your gold) You start with only 20 citzens, except China, which gets 30. When you run out of citizens, the game is over. You can also buy a new gate, make the gate stronger, and so on. A gate will delay the enemy incursion by X seconds, enough to let you upgrade/add/sell towers. With the right tech, the gate itself can be made stronger.

The gameplay is fast but fun, as each wave will only last a few minutes at most, and it autosaves, so you will lose at most ONE wave of progress. And there is not a lot of button pushing. It's a bit like an experiment... You set it up, and watch the results. The problem is it's possible to dig yourself into a hole that's impossible to dig yourself out of. The difficulty at the final era goes WAY UP, so unless you've save up the money from earlier eras and let it earn interest so you have plenty of $$$ (like 1000 gold or more) to upgrade turrets for the final era, you will not last more than 5 waves in the final era. And that's a big problem. Yes, gold you did NOT spend actually earns INTEREST, and economy upgrades will increase those interest rates.

There really isn't much sound in the game, nor does it really need much. There is a bit of music, but only in the menus, and that can be turned off. The music is not annoying, believe it or not. Graphics are quite good as all units are unique and animated nicely. Each tower also looks different, from upgrade to upgrade. The terrain looks good, with the path, ground, and occasional trees. The only nitpick is when the towers are packed together it may be difficult to pick one out to upgrade and whatnot. The menu system is clear and concise.

All in all, this game is quite charming, if they can just fix those final levels so they aren't so darn difficult... It'd be hall of fame material. And the help file is lacking, as there's no list of turret capabilities. A lot was found by trial and error. And the top level tech is WAY too expensive. As it is, I can only give it an 8.

HINT: to survive the final 10 levels (more like 7, as the 41-43 are doable) you need to have a LOT of money (like 1000 gold) left over from earlier levels. Somehow, you need to figure out what's the MINIMUM amount of turrets needed to survive each level. And build ONLY THAT. The trick in accumulating money is by using the "interest". Remember, every piece of gold unused earns interest. So the objective is to leave the max amount of gold possible unused, so you earn max compound interest, yet still have enough firepower to destroy most of the enemies.

HINT: Get as much use out of EACH turret/tower as you can. Put them where they can attack the enemy MORE than once (like when the path crosses back on itself). This allows you to minimize the number of towers you need to place, thus saving you $$$. Second best spots for turrets are corners, but not just right at the corners, but maybe slightly back, depending on the range of the turret, so they cover the max amount of the path possible. Cover the path as much as possible. Nothing else matters.

HINT: Cold turrets, esp. when upgraded, slows enemy units down as well as hurting them. Put the cold turret(s) first when in groups, so the rest of the turrets have max time to use the slower speed of the enemy to do more damage.

HINT: The rock/boulder/powder/cannon series of towers will engage air type enemy, but they don't do as much damage as an anti-air tower. On the other hand, the stick/arrow/crossbow/gatling type tower do NOT engage air type enemy at all, except bosses.

HINT: It's better to have a "few" of the strongest turrets, than a lot of the weaker turrets. The final turret upgrades gives you gatling gun (beyond crossbow) and cannon (instead of powder), and air 3 (instead of air 2). However, those turrets are EXPENSIVE (gatling is 185, cannon is 280, and air 3... I think it's 380), and that's the UPGRADE price. That's why you want to save a LOT of money from early on. So you can afford these at the end. Believe me, you will need a LOT of max upgraded turrets by the end... all gatlings, all cannons. I ended up using at least two cold 3 towers, at least 2 flame turrets, and at least 4 air 3 turrets, in addition to all the gatling and cannon turrets that are already in place. There are BETTER upgrade beyond that, but they're not strictly necessary.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: tower defense melded with Civ 4 tech tree and upgrades! easy to learn, hard to master
Cons: bad difficulty progression at the end, only peripherally related to Civ 4, not enough info about the towers

ADDENDUM: as it turns out, the final level upgrade is absolute essential in surviving the final wave. You *could* do without them, but it makes the game that much harder. The final pulse tower puts out 800 damage every half second, and is effective against both ground AND air targets. Put up two of these, plus a missile turret, and nothing will get past, not even the final razorjets. Of course, one cost $900, and the other $1000. So you need $$$ saved up.

Forget about other tech upgrades. You just need stuff that gives you higher tech, and higher interest rates. Nothing else matters. Oh, and you'll need physics and chemistry to get cold turrets, which will get you to pulse and missile turrets.