portabliss
Latest
Portabliss: Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Ascension. Though digital versions of card games are certainly convenient, their most attractive quality may just be secrecy. The secretary may or may not have been playing Solitaire until the exact moment you arrived at her desk, but thanks to the miracle of the desktop personal computer, you'll never know the difference. Or to use a more relevant example: I'm relishing the iOS version of Ascension, because if I ever audibly said "I'm going to use the Yggdrasil Staff's ability to transform four runes into three honor points" I'd fire myself from my own life and replace me with someone more palatable.
Portabliss: Baby Monkey Going Backwards on a Pig (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Baby Monkey! As Robot Unicorn Attack has proven, some games just can't be separated from their music. What point is there in galloping across a star-strewn road if Andy Bell isn't serenading your rhythmic majesty? If you ever get tired of the game, it's because you finally gave up on the song. In the case of Baby Monkey Going Backwards on a Pig, you're dealing with a Youtube-derived Parry Gripp ditty. Oh no! That's a worst-case scenario, in which the eventual, hateful intolerance is further away than you'd like to admit. Even once you've killed it, the chalk outline will stay on your brain pavement for a month. So, simply as a cute animated music video, Baby Monkey asks a fair price at $1. The fact that it's a fun, effervescent jumping game feels like a bonus.
Portabliss: Jukebeat (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Jukebeat! If you're done with Groove Coaster and wondering what's next in your iPhone musical repertoire, prepare to be kind of rewarded, and kind of punished for your interest. Konami's Jukebeat threatens to make me pass out from stress whenever I play it ... but I keep playing it. And so now I'm going to inflict it on you, and you're going to get totally stressed out trying to keep up with the Contra theme song. Jukebeat is a mobile adaptation of Konami's touchscreen arcade game Jubeat, in which you tap one of sixteen squares on a giant touch screen in time with the music. The iPhone version works the same way, except with sixteen squares on your little screen instead of a giant space cube. It's pretty rudimentary in theory; you just tap squares as they light up, to the tune of the music. Except you get very little warning before you're supposed to tap, and you're often asked to tap two or four squares simultaneously. The only way to avoid failure is to practice, recognizing the patterns and memorizing as much as you can. And even that's not a guaranteed method for avoiding failure, if my own history is any indication. The free app comes pre-loaded with three Konami remixes -- one each from Contra, Frogger, and Lethal Enforcers (!) A few other song packs are available for $3.99 each, but ... I'm still working on these. I haven't even ventured into the harder difficulty settings. Jukebeat is available from the iOS App Store for free as a universal App. We're always looking for new distractions. Want to submit your game for Portabliss consideration? You can reach us at portabliss aat joystiq dawt com.
Portabliss: Siege Hero (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Siege Hero! Some of the most important video games have the power to, through their mechanics, illuminate something specific about the human condition. Siege Hero for iOS is just such a game. For this little diversion hangs its hat on a very primal pleasure, perhaps as old as man himself -- the eternal, unreproducible thrill of knocking down some shit that another dude made. In early 2010, I profiled a game called Crush the Castle, where players used a catapult to launch massive rocks across a screen laying siege to enemy structures. Siege Hero is its spiritual successor, only it has eschewed the two-dimensional, Angry Birds-esque perspective for first person boulder hurling. Just tap the exact spot on the screen you want the boulder to fly, watch as wood and stone splinter and then wait breathless as you pray you took out the keystone that's going to reduce the place to rubble. Though physics still play a big part in how and why the castles fall, the first-person shift brings with it a precision that makes Siege Hero feel more like a puzzle game, like a slightly more mean-spirited Boom Blox. When levels begin to task you with finding the exact spot to toss a boulder that will not only bring down the structure but preserve certain people inside, the destructive thrill becomes decidedly cerebral. It's like watching Ozzy Osbourne do a sudoku, only, you know, not depressing.%Gallery-130195% Siege Hero is available from the iOS App Store for .99. We're always looking for new distractions. Want to submit your game for Portabliss consideration? You can reach us at portabliss aat joystiq dawt com.
Portabliss: Cut the Rope: Experiments
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Cut the Rope: Experiments! Cut the Rope: Experiments is one of the most aptly-named apps ever released on the iOS platform. Though it largely focuses on the tether-slicing, physics-manipulating puzzles that made the franchise's first, subtitleless iteration so delightful, it includes two bold new mechanics that completely change the face of the game. (And what an adorable face it is!) It's the success of these two new aspects that alleviated my hesitance about this standalone title: It's functionally the same as the free updates to the original Cut the Rope, only significantly less free.
Portabliss: ASYNC Corp. (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: ASYNC Corp.! Putting a little face on a puzzle game piece has a magical effect. Compile knew it when it turned colored blobs into Puyos; World of Goo feels less like a series of engineering challenges and more like a world because your building materials are semi-sentient and have lil' eyes. I won't go so far as to say putting faces on the squares in ASYNC Corp. was the smartest decision Powerhead Games made in the game, but ... they're really cute faces! Sometimes they sneeze. They react when blocks are dropped on them. They're just so charming. The rest of the game is great too, but those smiling blocks are what stay in my mind after playing.
Portabliss: Groove Coaster (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Groove Coaster! Groove Coaster takes the flashy style of Space Invaders Infinity Gene, a game that turned music into shmup stages, and applies it to a straight-up rhythm game that takes no time to learn and, perhaps, too long to bring myself to stop playing. It's really fun! And, before I go any further, it's temporarily 99 cents, so go buy it. OK, now back to the game. Groove Coaster takes its name from roller coaster-like lines, dotted with, well, dots that indicate when to tap the screen. When your avatar crosses one of these dots, you tap anywhere, or occasionally swipe to the side, hold, or "scratch," corresponding to the beat. It's pretty easy to understand! And, at first, it's pretty easy to play.%Gallery-129422%
Portabliss: Continuity 2 (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Continuity 2! If student-developed Flash game Continuity's unique blend of tile-puzzle swapping and platforming was too much for your brain to process, you might want to go explore some other corner of the internet for a while. Look! Here is a video of a duck. Isn't that nice? Continuity 2: The Continuation stacks so many other components on top of the already-confusing formula that even its most cerebral players will likely suffer a meltdown during one of its 50 levels. Switching panels to make a path between points A and B might not be the most taxing exercise -- but doing so while also manipulating gravity and building mechanical circuits is a lot for one measly brain to handle.
Portabliss: Connectrode (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Connectrode! Connectrode has become my zone-out game of choice recently, allowing me to spend a few minutes at a time in an oasis of entirely stress-free puzzle gameplay. Two aspects of the game lend themselves to this sublime mellowness: There's no timer, and no falling blocks. You can take as long between turns as you want to. Even if you have no idea how to correctly complete a stage, you can force your way through it These two principles combine to make a game that I can look at whenever I have a second to play, and which is guaranteed to give me a feeling of accomplishment even if I haven't done a particularly good job. Connectrode tasks the player with using "connector" blocks to connect two same-colored (and cute-faced) "circuits," being careful not to block the path to other circuits. So you put one green piece down between two other greens, and all of them disappear, or you build a chain of red pieces to connect two distant red blocks. There seems to be a right "strategy" for clearing a stage -- a proper order in which to clear blocks, in order to make the best path to clear the stage in the fewest moves -- but I haven't really concerned myself with that. I'm content to brute-force my way through each stage, something the game acknowledges by giving you the option to auto-complete the last move instead of tediously placing connectors between the last two (potentially distant) blocks. Eventually, the strategies will "click" for me and I'll discover a new level of play -- but I can spend my time playing Connectrode until that happens. When it does happen, the game offers four difficulty levels with more blocks and more challenging arrangements. Connectrode is available from the iOS App Store for .99. We're always looking for new distractions. Want to submit your game for Portabliss consideration? You can reach us at portabliss aat joystiq dawt com.
Portabliss: Kona's Crate (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Kona's Crate! The contents of Kona's crate are left up to your imagination. Given the inelegant mechanism with which you're meant to deliver it, and the celerity with which you'll catapult it into walls, you're best off imagining the crate full of teddy bears, hair extensions and French designer duvets -- nothing that can break. Thinking of it as a vital supply of fruits and vegetables for a remote village will put you on a sad path, straight to some famished children, licking at the disgusting smoothie seeping out of a wooden container. Kona's Crate is a test of patience that you will routinely fail. You need to keep your jet-propelled delivery platform level by independently igniting a pair of rockets on the bottom, and tapping either side of the iPhone's screen to adjust your balance. Veer too much from a horizontal position and you'll head in the wrong direction, or get stuck in a loop of overcorrection as you try to keep the crate from sliding off. With just a little bit of patience and consideration, you might be able to gently tilt the platform and levitate your cargo all the way through each hazardous maze. But you won't, because there's a timer and it's easier to just feel out the physics, improvising as you go. If you've played Trials HD, you're already familiar with the kind of failure foresight that comes with these balancing games. Your brain will recognize an imminent disaster a split-second before it truly happens, and you'll hit a button for an instantaneous retry. It's that kind of game. You'll repeatedly rush to the end, spin out of control and idiotically pin the crate to the floor with your rockets. The process of getting this vehicle under control is equally hilarious and frustrating, but never off-putting. The only thing I'd advise against (for sanity's sake) is trying to get three stars for every delivery. By the time I'd gotten halfway through the game's sixty levels, it sufficed to just fling that stupid crate at the waiting Tiki chief and consider it a job well done. He's got other things to worry about anyway, like which of those sixty crates holds the crowbar he ordered.
Portabliss: Quest Runner (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Quest Runner! Of all the genres mobile platforms handle well, you wouldn't think "MMO-inspired action RPG" would be among them. How then, I wonder, is Quest Runner pulling it off? Most importantly, I suppose, is how well the irreverent iOS release manages to reduce its influence, cooking off the non-essential trappings and leaving only the most essential ingredients. The "open world" is just a linear 2D chain of environments. The combat is as simple as tapping the screen to attack. Missions are never more complicated than "go kill these things." The real draw in Trident3D's release is the collection of more strength, better skills and and a wide variety of armor and weapons. With a minimum of character, narrative or even real compelling gameplay to get in the way, you can really focus on how neat your hero looks in his new platinum armor. Your lead even takes up a surprisingly large amount of the screen, presumably for you to better vainly ogle whatever new bauble he's just picked up. As much as I wish there was more real "game" here, I can't deny that its peculiar siren song of virtual progress has hooked me for hours. You don't have to take my word for it, but if you can't trust a guy who looks this good in strength-boosting ruby-encrusted greaves, who can you trust?
Portabliss: Mighty Flip Champs DX (PSP Minis)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. Three times a week, our new Portabliss column will tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Mighty Flip Champs DX! We didn't have a periodic column about portable downloadable games when WayForward unleashed the bookish puzzle game Mighty Flip Champs upon DSiWare. WayForward graciously ported the game to PSP and released it as a Mini last week, affording us the opportunity to treat it as a new release once again and write about it here. Thanks, WayForward!
Portabliss: Age of Zombies (Android)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. Three times a week, our new Portabliss column will tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Age of Zombies! The only way to survive the zombie apocalypse is through constant, preemptive preparation and a cache of military grade weapons – thankfully for all the procrastinators out there, Halfbrick has found a way to make one half of that as easy as making a phone call. Age of Zombies is a straightforward, zombie-slaughtering top-down shooter featuring our time-traveling hero, Barry Steakfries, because you never know when the next phone booth you step into will be a time machine covered in the t-virus. Barry travels through five eras of undead history, including the age of decomposing dinosaurs, mummies, the American mafia, ninjas and a cyborg future. Professor Brains, evil genius, infests each era with hordes of zombies, which Barry has to mow down with a variety of weapons and his supply of snarky witticisms.
Portabliss: Kard Combat (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in. Three times a week, our new Portabliss column will tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Kard Combat! Considering the microtransactional crossover between traditional trading card games and iOS apps, it's astonishing the two haven't blown up into their own, obscenely lucrative industry. Not that I'm complaining -- my wallet can't afford to be gripped by the plaguing addiction of another Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon TCG. Perhaps that's why I enjoy Kard Combat as much as I do; not only is it an excellent, compelling game, but it also won't send you into an inescapable spiral of bankruptcy, which is awfully nice of it. This mercy is surprising, considering the involvement of Magic creator Richard Garfield, whose influence can be seen in Kard Combat's every mechanic. The game actually plays like a smartly boiled-down version of Wizards of the Coast's TCG: two players summon creatures using mana to attack the opposing team's roster or, with luck, the other player themselves.%Gallery-126811%
Portabliss: Tiny Tower (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in. Three times a week, our new Portabliss column will tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Tiny Tower! Tiny Tower is fundamentally vertical Farmville with retro styling, and I'm not embarrassed to say that I love it. Well, no, I am embarassed, but I was tasked with kicking off our new mobile feature, Portabliss, and this is what I'm playing. So here we are.As the proprietor of an ever-growing tower, you'll choose which businesses to add to your skyscraper (depending on the desires of the "bitizens" that inhabit it). Then it's your job to watch over the businesses, keeping the shelves stocked and the stores staffed. As products are sold over time, you'll earn coins that can be applied to a new floor of your building and the terrifying cycle continues.
