Too busy to devote 12+ hours a day to your gaming habit? Here's a review that's sensitive to your needs: Short and focused on just the things that a busy gamer like you really needs to know.
Reviewed On: iPhone. Also plays on iPod Touch and iPad.
In a Nutshell: Solitaire with a militaristic touch. There are three card games included: Pyramid, Siege Mode and the creatively named Mini Game. The Siege and Pyramid games both focus on removing cards, or "enemies," from a pre-set board. The Mini Game is a tapping game that asks players to hit falling grenades before they blow up. (It bored me to tears.)
But back to the good games. In both Pyramid and Siege, players start with a stack of cards, one card facing up. You may remove any adjacent card from the board, regardless of suit. If you miss a move, the enemy "attacks," depleting your health. The enemy also attacks periodically, just for the helluva it. It is war, after all.
Learning Curve: Even with directions, it still took me some time to figure out Solitaire Siege. After a bit of trial and error (a lot of error!), I figured out both the moves and the strategy. As an experienced Pyramid player, it was easy to pick up - but I'm still bewildered by how, exactly, it's deciding if I win or lose a level. A little more work in the support area would be beneficial.
The Save Game: This threw me for a loop. The game saves your progress when you exit (or when it crashes, which has happened to me a lot). It never says that it's saving, however - nor is there a save option. Also, it just saves the level you've reached, not your game in progress. This is particularly frustrating because the game does crash - and it's usually when I'm doing particularly well. When you boot the game, it will ask if you want to proceed with your game in progress or start fresh. There doesn't seem to be an option C, leave and play something else. (Or is that the square button on the bottom of my iPhone?) So once you're in a game, you're in it.
Family Factor: Mild. Certain power-ups will create very small explosions that consist mostly of dust. The sounds, including gunshots and screaming, are comical, but could also be disturbing to small kids.
Buy or Skip? It's a fun little game, but the tendency to crash every so often should be factored in to your decision. Then again, Gamewatcher may not have updated this app for me. Regardless, I found it engaging enough to move to my second screen, and have been playing it nightly for a couple weeks now. It's only $1, and there's a free Lite version so you can try before you buy.
On a Personal This has been on my iPhone forever, in the very last screen with other stuff that I never looked at. A few weeks ago, I decide to go allll thhheee wwaaayyy dooowwnnn to the last screen and just play with EVERYTHING long enough to decide if it stays or goes. Out of 12 apps, this was the sole survivor.
The Pyramid cards, or "enemies," are presented in rows resembling the traditional Pyramid solitaire game. Your goal is to eliminate as enemies as possible, working your way up the board. I've won sieges with a few cards on the board, and lost with fewer cards - I still haven't figured out what the magic number is, or if it's based on hit points. And yes, I did RTFM. I have since abandoned it for Siege Mode, which is quite engaging and - dare I say it - fun.
Siege boards vary from level to level, but are basically different riffs on the horizontal solitaire layout. It's the same basic remove cards game, but with militaristic touches. Barrier cards ranging from a forest to a solid cement wall randomly block your progress, but can be blown up with specialty cards such as grenades and fire. Those are also randomly placed in the deck. The barriers add a level of strategy to the game, as some targets are more vulnerable than others (Hint: Don't use your grenade on ANYTHING but the wall. Trust me.)
The game uses sound effects, including guns and explosions, to enhance the war theme. Attacking a face card will result in an appropriate screech - the Queen's death rattle is particularly disturbing. The little victory song at the end of the level is, however, kinda groovy. Plus you get stats and rankings (military stars) and level up after each successful siege. Once you get your groove, you can keep leveling up for a good long time.
More Busy Gamer Reviews:
Comments (1)
Hello,
Thanks for the review and I’m glad you liked the game.
I think you are using the old version of the game (going by how often it crashed for you) as we spent ages stopping it from crashing. The update also has another free little mini game added to it based on Black Jack.
The way you can tell if you win or not is based on the enemy moral (bottom left of the screen), which relates to the value of the cards left on the table so theres a bit of strategy to it (should you go for the higher value cards or clear the other cards hoping for a longer run). There’s also lots of other little bonuses hidden in the game for the player to work out(such as how you can sometimes get big bonus points for removing some cards and best way to use the special cards).
Thanks again for the review and I’m always happy to hear back from players (good or bad comments welcome).
All the best,
Mike Moore.
www.badbumble.com
www.twitter.com/badbumble
Posted by BadBumble | April 8, 2010 1:32 PM
Posted on April 8, 2010 13:32