KMGR of Avatar (the mobile game)

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Gameloft turned Avatar game into a mobile game. Unfortunately, what this really is is Super Mario with a few bits of 1942 thrown in. It's really not that interesting, and the gimmicks isn't that involving. All in all, it's not that good.

In Avatar (mobile), you play the game two ways: a regular 2D side-on platformer (i.e. Super Mario) where you control JakeSulley, the Na'vi avatar, and in a few levels, you control a banshee and the game turns into a top-down 1942-like game where you dodge islands and enemy fire as you shoot back against enemy gunships.

In the platformer, you jump, run, slide, climb, and so on among the various levels. Instead of collecting coins, you collect "wood sprites", which you can later trade for additional levels which will give you special attacks or skills in any of the six areas, such as staff, bow, life, and so on. Every 100 points you collect is worth one level in one of the skills. You need to dodge natural enemies such as panthers, sticky-tongue beasts (like the barnacle in Half-Life!) and jump properly and don't fall to your death. You have limited in the number of "continues". Later, you get the bow, which allows you to shoot enemies from longer distances.

KMGR of Doom 2 RPG

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Doom 2 RPG is both MOTS (more of the same), and yet it is a lot more. You get to play through this game now with THREE viewpoints: major, scientist, or sarge. While they go through the same levels, the tactics will be slightly different. There are more cinematic "cutscenes", presenting more of a story. There are now sentry drones, which you can control to fight or explore. There is also a bit about UAC's evil experiments, and how they have unleashed the "hell" onto Earth by actually trying to harness the forces they have unleashed on Mars. All in all, it is a masterpiece of mobile gaming.

When I say "more of the same", I mean this is the same mechanics. The rooms are actually square grids, and you can face in only 4 directions. The game plays with that illusion by adding a bit of up/down looking and a bit of 2D displacement to add ladders, ramps, and so on to give an illusion of 3D. Combat is actually turn-based. You choose among the various weapons you have, and shoot at enemies, and they shoot at you, of course. You can use your turn to use medic pack, or eat some snack. You can use "nano drinks" (Doom-speak for "potions", which gives you special bonuses), and you find them as loot, or buy them from vending machines. Different enemies are more vulnerable or even immune from certain attacks.

January Previews!

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More previews of upcoming reviews...

Doom 2 RPG: Is second time even better than the first time?

Avatar the mobile game: the movie is a definite WOW. But how about the game?

Field Runners: another defense tower game... how well does this run?

Sherlock Holmes the mobile game: is this movie tie-in passable, or just lousy?

Harvest Moon Frantic Farming: can this cute puzzler make you like farming?

KMGR of Commandos

Commandos is an old EIDOS 2D game that basically is a combat-oriented puzzle. The mobile version did not change much. The idea is command a team of different special operations soldiers in WW2 in enemy territory, performing various missions of sabotage, assassination, espionage, and such. The problem with this game is that the missions are too long, and lack of mid-mission save, makes the game WAY TOO frustrating, and the complexity is a turn off.

KMGR of Tricky Tracks

Image by railsr4me via Flickr

Tricky Tracks is basically a puzzle where you have to "rotate" the different pieces of tracks to form a route for the train to go. The complication comes in that you may have to perform changes on the track WHILE the train is still moving (on a different part of the track)! What's more, there are also "switches" to play with as you try to manipulate the route of the train by diverting it onto a different track. Add a time limit, multiple levels of success, and you got yourself one tricky puzzler.

KMGR of Saboteur

Image by Colony of Gamers via Flickr

Saboteur is a WW2 game where you play one of the resistance fighters taking the fight to the Nazis with your fists and some know-how with explosives and such. You will NOT be wielding guns (until the finale), as this is NOT a shooter. This is like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear, but in WW2. There are also console and PC version of this game. If you play the mobile version, you can unlock special hints and tips for the other versions. While the graphics is a bit on the primitive side, the action is fine and the tension is pretty high. Overall, it's a pretty fun little game.

KMGR of Blademaster

Image by J0nB0n via Flickr

Blademaster is a new "action RPG" from MinorAxis, a South Korean developer that is doing very good work adapting games for their market to American markets. These games are full-fledged RPGs with large maps, plenty of quests, lots of items, TONS of monsters to kill left and right, and three classes of weapons to master (slayer [big sword], regular sword, dagger) plus special "magic moves", plenty of enhancements, even "intensify" your items... This can be sold for $15-20 if it is a computer game, so it's a bargain at less than $5 for a month! You're talking about 30-40 hours of play time PLUS "extra tough" hero mode... Only Minor Axis RPGs give you that much play time.

KMGR of "Conspiracy Theory: Area 51"

While the title sounds like fun, the game is actually a "hidden objects" game pretending to be an adventure game. The game makes a joke of FBI, as these FBI agents break laws left and right, even overseas, and basically behaving like a couple idiotic criminals. The writing is lame, the scenario is lame, and the game itself is also lame. If you want hidden objects, you can do better than this.

KMGR of "Cooking Mama"

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Taito's Cooking Mama is one of the first "cooking sims" which basically have you repeat a bunch of keypresses, meant to simulate cooking on a console. It has since spawned multiple clones on the mobile, but also made its own way to mobile. Is it any good? Not really.

KMGR of Tony Hawk's VERT

Tony Hawk's VERT is a cartoony skateboarding stunt arcade game, combined with a "photo shoot" minigame. It is a pretty good game giving you a taste of the skateboarding scene using the "standard" U-shaped ramp, but presented in a cartoony way.

You start with just one venue, each venue has different events. The first event you have is the tutorial, which is pretty much 'follow the instructions', and you're introduced to the different stunts... the ramp lip moves, and the flying moves, then the advanced moves, which requires a lot more "air". So the idea basically is do as many different moves, go as "high" and get as much air as possible, and do as many moves as you can.

One of the minigames is to snap shots of another skateboarder. If you got the advanced moves, and the guy is centered in the frame, you get good points. If you're off center, or got the lame moves, you get like 1 or 2 points. You need to score X points within Y shots.

Each "event" has two levels of success... regular, and expert. Expert has additional stipulations. For example, finish the tutorial in 90 seconds, or complete the 2nd event without falling once, or fly high enough to hit the train 3 times, and so on.