Ok, so the third Humble Bundle for Android is here, but you might be scratching your head and wondering “What the heck are those games”? Well, fear not, I felt the same too. I’ve heard a lot about Fieldrunners and a little on SpaceChem in passing reference before, but never played either.
The other three had their Android debuts via the Humble Bundle, but have found success elsewhere, be it on iOS (all of these games have been on iOS for a while) or PC. Anyway, I’ll take a quick look at all five of the games here.
Fieldrunners by Subatomic Studios
This game made its Android debut last year July and has been held in high regard by the gaming community, and is widely recognised as one of the better – if not best – tower defense game on Android. From what I’ve seen, I can comment that the graphics are nice, with a vibrant cartoonish touch to it and the gameplay itself smooth and fast-paced.
There are a few different environments that you can play in, with 3 difficulty settings and 3 different game modes to choose from. You’ve got to complete missions, following which you unlock the different game modes and environments. I’ve not played far, but I can tell that the enemies are varied and you have a decent number of towers to choose from.
Verdict: So far so good. Will play a little more and see if it can keep me interested.
SpaceChem by Zachtronics Industries
Maybe you might want to give this game a skip if you hated chemistry in school. Ok, I wasn’t serious there. First thing I realized before even starting the tutorial is that SpaceChem has a freaking epic soundtrack. Like really epic stuff (It’s a good thing they have the soundtrack up for download as well via Humble Bundle!).
Basically, I’d classify SpaceChem as a puzzle game. It requires you to program chemical reactions using a variety of tools at your disposal. I’m about three levels in, but I still haven’t quite grasped the concept yet as it seems a little complicated. The game is a niche but judging by an almost perfect Google Play rating, it’ll be well worth your time.
PS: The game has some technical issues. It crashes every second time on my Acer A510, and every time I exit and re-enter, it starts all over.
Verdict: Quite interesting. Will definitely keep this one on my tablet for a while and see how far I get.
Spirits by Spaces of Play
Spirits is a soothing game as it has a laid-back soundtrack and an appealing visual art-style. What you have to do is basically ferry souls (or well, spirits) to the portal. The spirits have four special powers, but each time you use one of those powers the spirit gets sacrificed. You also need to collect plants in certain levels.
The control scheme is unelaborate. To access the special powers, you just have to tap on the said spirit. Besides that, there’s pinch-to-zoom and you use your fingers to pan the camera. It’s officially labelled as a puzzle-platformer, but I’d say it’s more puzzle and less platform. There are 45+ levels that should keep you interested for a while and also a global leaderboard.
Verdict: Nice setting, but I found it a little too slow-moving, and dare I say boring.
Bit.Trip Beat by Gaijin Games
Featuring what is a decidedly retro-inspired game design, be it graphics or audio wise, Bit.Trip Beat is a rhythm game. What you need to do is slide the paddle around the screen and deflect the projectiles. Doing so creates the flow of the rhythm and makes the lights dance psychedelically. There are three different modes and difficulty levels to choose from as well.
However, the controls are pretty bad. By default, it utilizes your device’s accelerometer, but this is just awful as the calibration seemed wrong. The other option is to use your fingers, but this didn’t seem good to me as well. I also didn’t find the music to be particularly exciting. After getting a hang of the game, I played on for about 10 – 15 minutes with no end in sight.
Verdict: I didn’t dig it. Controls messed up big time here. But you might like it if you’re a rhythm- based game fan.
Uplink by Introversion Software
Uplink is kind of a hacker game, if you get what I mean. To be honest, with all the codes and what- not involved, I feel like a sucker at this game. I spent like 5 minutes re-entering and re-entering my username and password in one of the game’s screen, and you know what? That was my first assignment, and there I was trying to log in with my own password. I had to crack it!
Anyway, the game has a good setting. The text is rendered in code-font, the screen is mostly black and heck even the assignment descriptions are pretty real (and they give you tips just in case you’re a real-life hacker wannabe). If you handed the game over to an unassuming person, he’d probably think you’re a hacker for real.
Verdict: Seems fun, but not a game that’s up my alley. Hackers and coders will enjoy it though.
