Flunkie said:
When Braid came out, few games (if any) had captured the atmosphere and lonliness in a purely simple and easy way. The art style helped everything mesh together perfectly, creating a game that was as equally satisfying as it was engaging. There was also the element of mystery and obscurity with the story, putting a spin on the basic idea of "save the princess". The game's (arguably) underlying tones were built behind what was, at it's core, a platformer with a neat focus on time-based puzzles. Basically, everything about Braid flowed together nicely, creating a unique game that was still accessible to all and could enjoy it for what it was, or dig deeper and make a greater experience out of it. I still think it's one of the greatest games ever made, but as my opinion about the game is strong, the next person could dislike it just as much on the opposite side of the spectrum.
Thanks for that. I'm going to put it on my radar, nevertheless. It's not on special, and there are tons of games on my backlog.
foob said:
Thanks, dude. Looks like Deep Green is what I'm gonna go with, I just wish it had online play
Now I have Deep Green. I kind of purchase more on form rather than function -IF the basic function is there. Deep green has a bare bones approach to Chess. I don't know if it's challenging or not, because I'm crap, but enough features to play a game. It's presented fantastically, however. It's also one of the more expensive. It suits me and I love it, but I find it hard to recommend.
In other news, Have been playing Snood for the past hour. I'm addicted again. This version plays really well. I can feel the fever already. As I'm typing this, I keep feeling like the wall of text is getting too low and have to type faster.
What sets this game apart from Puzzle Bobble (again I haven't played all that much Puzzle Bobble) is the danger meter. Every Snood you fire raises the danger meter. When it reaches the end, the play area drops down one. There's no time limit, so it's kind of a relaxed pacing as you decide where to place your snood, but a sense of urgency. The unique (I think) strategy comes from the fact that when extraneous snoods fall off due to clearing a set of 3 (for example, a bunch of snoods were only held by two green snoods, and you clear the green), then the danger meter recedes. The strategy is in balancing clearing the board with the danger meter. Sometimes it is actually better to place a wrong coloured snood on others or to NOT clear some snoods just so more are cleared away at once when the right one comes along.
The only complaints I have so far are:
- Oddly, the menu select screen is in Landscape, while all play is in portrait. Not so much a complaint as just an oddity.
- The controls are very good, but sometimes I find myself swiping right to move the aimer left (you know, as if there were a lever under the pivot point, and I'm pulling that). I'll get used to it, but would nice to have the option to invert controls. I'm tossing up whether I'd prefer a tap-anywhere to fire. At the moment, it's only when you tap on the aimer. I know when it's tap-anywhere, this increases the likelihood of a false fire, so maybe it's better this way. It's at least swipe anywhere, and this works pretty well.
- The puzzle mode doesn't seem to have a large enough penalty for continuing after failure. If I remember right, the version I used to play would halve your score if you chose to continue. So it balanced the need to register your high score or to continue finishing puzzles. This version seems to just knock it back a little. I'll have to see how scoring goes as I play more.
At the very least, know that this is a very solid version, and I know this'll be a game I'll keep on my iPhone forever.
