Heartwild Solitaire Book 2 Review

Adventure, Cards, Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 28 2010

Heartwild Solitaire Book 2 like the first version is beautifully drawn and displayed. The storyline continues the romantic tale of an artist and his lover (this game is for mature audiences like the first). In this second story the current lover becomes jealous over the artist’s search for a perfect model to help inspire him.

The play is similar to mahjong solitaire where you match 2 identical cards to clear the board. At the bottom or side there is the draw pile and you must match cards that are higher or lower. If the draw card is an Ace, you can match a King or a 2 to clear the cards. The joker is wild and can be used with any card. There are other wild cards you can take over to the next level. The level is over when there are no more moves. Each card left on the board will be deducted points. If the total score is 0 or better, you go on to the next level. If the score is negative, you must retry the level.

The Bonus meter fills up when you remove cards. The faster you remove, more points you garner. The Long Sequence meter fills when you remove cards in a sequence. When filled, you’ll get extra points for each card. Restore cards helps you when you are stuck by restoring some of the cards back on the deck. Powerup cards will appear with special labels, remove them as usual to receive powerups such as undo, bonus fill, reveal, restore, and wildcard.

The bonus games will help increase your score. Once such game is to memorize the card pattern, it will scramble and you need to restore the original pattern. It’s timed but there’s plenty of time to restore by clicking on 2 cards to move their positions.

Heartwild Solitaire Book 2 is a relaxing and enjoyable game to play. The storyline is not as engaging as Book 1, but the tale is not intrusive since you only come across it every 10 levels or so. The memory game starts out easy, but does get harder in higher levels. This break in the solitaire play is nice since there are 280 levels and at times gets repetitive. The artwork is stunning with its intense color and background. The music is appropriate for the time period and conducive for a delightful play. If you enjoyed the first Heartwild Solitaire, you may like the sequel to that game. Try it out for a pleasant time playing cards.

Features of Heartwild Solitaire Book 2:
-280 Levels
-Powerups and Mini Games
-Romantic Story

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Smashing Tennis Review

Action, Sports | Posted by Meg
Aug 27 2010

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Practice, practice, practice, that was my tennis coach’s daily drill. I spent many hours hitting the ball against the wall, throwing it up to serve, and volleying back and forth with a partner. No one got better unless you put in the time. Smashing Tennis is the same for me. In tennis, I used 2 hands only for my backhand. I used my feet for running back and forth, not the arrow keys. So I practiced, practiced and practiced Smashing Tennis and got better.

Smashing Tennis with its simple 2D graphics and accurate sound effects is a challenging action game you must practice to have any fun with it, but once you hear the “pong” of the hit ball, you are hooked. To serve the ball you use the space bar once to throw the ball up and again to hit it. The Practice mode will show you when to hit the serve. The arrow keys moves your player around the court. For the beginner you can limit the arrows to the right and left ones moving the character side to side until you are comfortable with the play. When you are ready, you may choose the advanced mode using all the arrows for a multidirectional play.

Smashing Tennis2It is very important to choose the correct ability of yours and your opponent’s skill level. This must be done carefully or your play will not be fun. You can adjust the skill, speed, strength and precision of each player. In addition, you can choose different court surfaces (grass, clay and decoturf). I’ve played on grass (fast) and clay (slow) courts but I have Smashing Tennisnever come across a decoturf court in real life.

The different strokes were amazing. I could actually see the drop shot. How do they do that? At this posting I have not mastered the lob or hitting the ball hard so I’m waiting to see the visual on it. Also the 2 player mode is still in the future for me, but it will be intriguing to see how everything works with 2 people playing on 1 computer. The tournament challenge is still out of my reach but for all those advanced players it should be quite entertaining.

I guess there are 2 negatives for me regarding Smashing Tennis. One is that it is difficult for casual players (I’ve watched gamers pick it up and play right away) unless you practice, and also there are no girl tennis players represented. What about adding the Serena Williams, Dinara Safinas and Justine Henins of the tennis world? The simple graphics did not bother me since being an avid tennis player and fan concentrating on hitting the ball back is what captivates my attention. It would be fun to be able to design your players. I also am familiar with the thrill of hearing the ball hit the sweet spot and beating your opponent. You have all this with Smashing Tennis so try it out and don’t forget to practice.

Features of Smashing Tennis:
-For all ages
-1 or 2 player mode
-Difficulty Options
-Adjustable Skill Levels
-Tournament Play

Rating: ★★★½☆

Sushi To Go Express Review

Action, Adventure, Sim | Posted by Zeke
Aug 26 2010

Sushi to go Express 7

Tony Tortuga’s company went out of business like many companies now a days, and the administration did not help it out with a stimulus package. That means poor Tony the turtle is out of a job, but his wife always knew it was about time for Tony to start his own delivery service. He quickly gets orders from different sushi restaurants to deliver the food to their customers.

The play is your basic sim game to click on the restaurant with the type of sushi the client is ordering. After waiting, the sushi is ready to be delivered to the home. You click on the sushi then click on the house with the order and Tony will swim first to pick up the sushi and then to the home. In addition you have to supply the restaurants with fish from the factory when they run out of items. You know when to click on the factory for your fish order when you see the closed sign at the restaurant. Each level is timed but there is plenty of time to Sushi to go Express 5make the sushi and deliver it. Every few levels there are puzzle games to get more points. One such mini play is to go through a maze collecting bags of rice before the stingrays eat them. If you find the wasabi, Tony will swim faster for you.

I felt Sushi To Go Express is a game for kids. The graphics are simple and cute. The sushi is easily identifiable. I didn’t see much difference in the difficulty levels, but it could be because the game kept quitting on me. I have a Mac Book Pro with Mac OS X, version 10.5.8. I even made the screen smaller to see if it would help. It got me a little further in the game before quitting. I’ve talked to others Sushi to go Express 2who were able to play the game without any problems. The game is repetitive with not much action. I found after delivering sushi to one house that same home kept ordering more items. This makes figuring out who ordered when a little difficult, but it really makes no difference in the play. I guess that kept the game going without having different customers rotating through the screen like other sim restaurant or store games like Miriel The Magical Merchant. Another very annoying factor is the strange sound Tony makes when he gets paid. Even though I didn’t find this sim game exciting, I can see some kids and casual gamers enjoying it.

Features of Sushi To Go Express:
-50 Reef Levels
-Upgrades
-Mini Games

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Drip Drop Review

Puzzle | Posted by Meg
Aug 25 2010

What do you do when you hear the drip, drop noise? Call a plumber that’s what! Mac puzzle game Drip Drop is just that. I figured out why the characters except the girl all looked like they grew up on the Jersey Shore. It’s because they are plumbers. Just kidding, but the guys look like they have seen better days.

You will enjoy playing against one of these guys or the anime girl. However, be warned they are a tough bunch. They do not like to lose. If you opt for the 2 player mode, you can use different keys on your computer to operate 2 positions. Another player can use your computer at the same time to play against you. The other method is to play against the computer. In addition you can change the skin or background to whatever suits you.

There are 3 different games to play: Classic, Flood and Feed. Drip Drop like Tetris has items falling from above. In Classic you can maneuver the positions of the 2 items coming down the screen to your advantage by pressing the space bar and using the arrow keys. The next 2 items coming down will be displayed at the top center of the board. You can also control how many matches you will make in each game from 2 to 5 same items. Also there are 3 modes: Easy, Normal and Hard. In Flood you try to wash your opponent away by not reaching the top of the screen. It took me awhile before I realized that you do not match the similar objects in Feed. You match each animal with what they like to eat, thus the title, Feed.

Drip Drop has been around for awhile now, but it is one of the classic go to game you play whenever you can. Its playing power is ageless. You can control the difficulty level of your game to make it impossibly challenging or laid back relaxing. Whatever your decision, it is addictive. The bonus is the Jersey Shore gang with their comical looks. After thinking about it, the cute girl does not fit the bill for a gruff and grimy plumber. I give this game a 4 out of 5 for the number of different plays, pleasant, easy music and the plumbers.

Features of Drip Drop:
-Play Single or 2 Player
-3 Different Games
-3 Modes of Difficulty
-Choose Your Opponent

Rating: ★★★★☆

Sprouts Adventure Review

Action, Adventure, Sim | Posted by Meg
Aug 24 2010

Sprouts Adventure

Sprouts Adventure is a sim play where you are the one controlling the lives of young, small creatures called Sprouts. Darkness fell on the land of Sprouts leaving just a few Sprouts to survive on their own after a terrible storm. They are out of food and do not know what to do. You are there to guide the Sprouts back to their original prosperous life in this interesting Mac game.

The play is to meet the needs of the Sprouts, build their homes and buildings to make their lives easier, happier and healthier. The 5 Sprouts in your careSprouts Adventure 2 are called: Tulip, Basil, Rosa, Cypress and Pina. They will let you know what they need with the picture above their heads, and they will verbally let you know with their cute, squeaky voices. In order to feed them, you must click on a Sprout and drag him/her to a patch of dirt to till and work the ground. Afterwards you click on the rain button, drag it to the patch, then click on the sun, drag the sun to the patch, and the plants will grow. Click on any hungry Sprout, drag him/her to the patch to eat. Also dropping any Sprout on a flower will provide food for them.

In addition, you need to click, drag a Sprout to magic stones, butterflies, gems and weeds. This will increase their life attributes. All of which are important for the welfare of your group. In addition earning Karma points will open up various spells for your Sprouts. This can be done by the Sprouts’ offerings, fulfilling wishes from the well and by fishing. There is a day meter to display the time of day. This is important because some spells can only be done during certain times of the day or night. The map when you click on it will show the overview of the entire Sprouts’ world. This will allow you to view when the wild flowers, gems, magic stones and weeds are available. The weeds are important to click and drag a Sprout to remove them.

When a Sprout gets an idea, there will be a light bulb above his head, and by clicking on it you will be able to find out what kind of thought it is. If it is to erect a building since they will need a place to rest, sleep and work in, you drag the supplies to an available site. The first building takes many days to erect but is essential for the Sprouts to sleep in and rest so they will be able to work on all the projects. The more Sprouts you have working will get the job done faster.

The Sprouts will be better when they are happy, curious, nourished, motivated, and rested. In this state the Sprouts will do wonderful things for you. This Mac game is like Virtual Villagers and My Tribe except it is a little easier to play since you can accomplish many things Sprouts Adventure 3without killing your little Sprouts. This game will be appropriate for younger children to learn a sim play of this type. There are achievements and discoveries to collect and find. Since the area is confined to a small area, and with the overview, it is easy to collect all the items for increasing life’s attributes. In addition, spells are locked and open up slowly one at a time for you to incorporate it in the play. Increasing your population comes from the earned eggs. You click on the egg, drag it to an open area and wait.

Sprouts Adventure is an adorable sim play for children and casual gamers to have fun raising a group of Sprouts who will become a useful, lively and responsible citizen of their world. I think the sounds effects and artwork are appropriate assets to this game. The play is enjoyable, if not a little slow, and fun to establish new inhabitants in their own village.

Features of Sprouts Adventure:
-Be a Deity
-Earn Karma to Unlock Spells
-11 Structures
-Dozen Sprouts

Rating: ★★★½☆