Minor Tablet Reviews : TeamLava`s Story Franchise

Be it as much I love cafe Sims, the Sims of TeamLava are short term low key easily cranked out cloner games with short term appeal, and no permanent place in my collection.

I reviewed a grand total of 3 TeamLava games. Two being Cafe World clones (Restaurant and Bakery Story) and a different clone where you run a nightclub (Nightclub Story). The games are ok but lack a severe amount of depth and content. All the games do their job, they fulfill that need to run a diner or nightclub, but only at the most basic level. Where games like Cafe World excels, in that your options and possibilities grow as you play, this game quickly stagnates and falls apart.

Besides the minimal graphics you find almost from go your grinding hard with little e reward for all your efforts. Working hard to keep counters filled, and diners happy, it takes a long time to level up, much less unlock New machineslike ovens, stoves, drink makers and do on so you can grind out more and more recipes at a time. Worst, certain devices suck in terms of quick recipes that only take a few minutes making it longer waits to keep your counters stacked, which is made worst by the inability to stack recipe items to keep certain foods stocked on your counters. The idea of one cook item per counter is counter productive, but TeamLava went there not just in early releases but seemingly in every release. Why they went there, especially when Glu got it right with Tavern Quest, boggles the mind.

But wait, that is not all. Besides hard level progression it's hard to keep your counters stocked. Not only because of the one cooked item per counter limit, but also because the diner ai (underwhelming forgettable ai) eat like animals, quickly depleting your recipes. Also? Restaurant Story has an unforgivable very early task (2nd or 3rd) which cannot be completed no matter how long you play, tasking you to cook an item none of the cooking devices prepare. What a quick and early fail!

And if that is not enough, and Lord knows it should be, but the game is heavily dependent on three broken facts.

- One. The games are heavily dependent on premium currency in order to progress as a few later missions can't be completed or skipped without it.

- Two. The games are heavily dependent on making friends on either Facebook or the game site TeamLava uses. And you know what a pain that is especially since a few of these company owned things (looking at you GameLoft) are impossible to work with.

- Three. The games have too many long term items that take too long to finish, and not in so called game time mind you as most of the games we will be looking at play in realtime, and having far too much time heavy recipes to wade through (especially to complete early tasks) is such a pain.

Combine all that with lackluster gameplay and graphics and TeamLava really need to go back to the drawing board, and instead of grinding out 100 sad inferior games work on making 10 games, and making them well. Otherwise these games barely meet your needs, but will ultimately disappoint. A 2 out of 5 times 3.

The Village Idiot : Gameloft`s Ice Age Village

When it comes to tablet gaming a lot of the reviews in these early days will be casual games. Yeah, I got The Bard`s Tale to review sure, but for the most part a big chunk of reviews is in the category of casual. Specifically Cafe World clones, Farmville clones, and the on the go quick gaming experience here and there... and the occasional T for Teen content Adults Only game. Seriously have we become so sensitive that games that used to easily get a T rating is considered too Adult even if said game has ZERO adult content? Boggles the mind.

But this is The Village Idiot, and as you guessed the name of the game is village building Sims and what better way to start then to take a trip to the marketing tool of DreamWorks Animation and Ice Age Village... actually there are far better trips we could be taking, I wad bring sarcastic.

Released by Gameloft and set in the world of Ice Age, but not tied to any particular movie or plot, you build a village... and that is that. There is no attempt to even create a story here, but then again even the best of these Sims lack a real narrative so cest la vie. Your progress is not hampered by limited energy that measures out how much progress you make each day, but you really don't discovery satisfied with progress you make either. You go through the motions, you build a village, and that is that.

The highlight of the game, if I dare call it that, is an unlockable theater that runs promotional trailers and clips of Ice Age Continential Drift, aka Ice Age 4. It's nice and all, even if a bit dated given how long ago that movie came out, but that gimmick is just not enough to recommend this... almost. If I am to recommend this one it would be to young children or for the casual gamer looking for a lite bite of village SIM without the grinding needed to play a good village SIM. It is a taste, but not a burden to grind through so it gives you the experience without the constant working at the game to progress. Some people thrive in games like that yes, but for those who don't you have Ice Age Village, a 3 out of 5.

Next time...

The first of two going native island Castaway Sims that had promise, but fell short somewhere along the way. First off we look at Pixonic`s Robinson, a slow grind of a game where true progress is hard to achieve, and the most difficult thing to unlock is human companionship on both the virtual and real sense.

Next time. Stay tuned.

Summer 2013 Day Zero : Starting Off

Well as my summer begins I begin working on summer content... even as Microsoft works on its own summer project, which seems to consist of digging their own grave. Seriously could a new console reveal be greeted with anymore revile and hatred than that which greeted the reveal of the badly named third generation XBox One? I kinda doubt it... maybe this would be a good time to completely bail out of reviewing Microsoft once and for all.

So handhelds are the focus of reviews this summer. Covering the 3DS from Nintendo, as well as tablet gaming, we have a bit to cover during the summer... sadly the whole thing about whether I am doing work in the Fall is still up in the air so I am going to be browsing job search sites and look for reviewing work during the summer. Hopefully once I am all set working wise I can refresh my PSP tech down the road. Updates coming soon.

Well more to come as the summer begins so watch the blogs as summer kicks off.

Tablet Update 5/14

If you are an Android user you probably got your free 500 coins yesterday from Amazon promoting their new coin system (you use real money to buy coins which can be used to buy apps, games and stuff from the app store). Yesterday I used up most of my coins to buy two titles for review as well as pick up a few free titles.

I bought Plants vs Zombies (my second time reviewing it) and The Bard`s Tale (loved the PS2 version... too bad this IS the PS2 version). Free we are looking at Fantasy Defense, the much beloved tower defense game in Asia... because who doesn't like brief glimpses of women with Tohru Nishimaki (Blue Eyes) sized breasts, and enemy female chibi characters with breast bounce animation mechanics... I kid you not.

Order Up has a tablet version... looking at that... too bad it's the 3DS version with changes made to encourage free to play micro transactions... ugh. Also looking at Robinson, yet another SIM city builder with flavors of Sims Castaway.

Reviews coming soon, stay tuned.

WIPN : Jurassic Park Builder

WIPN, or "Work In Progress Notes", covers notes on games I am presently reviewing,both good and bad.

I was going to call this "Reviews In Progress Notes", but that would have been RIPN for short and it sounded like I was dissing the game already... which I am about to do by the way.

In this case the game seems to have a sometime failure to auto save when you leave. Usually as these are casual games you can pop in for a few minutes and pop out, the game auto saving as you leave. However the last two times I popped in I had to repeat two actions over that I finished off with last play. Thankfully your money reappears if your last act was doing a purchase or clearing land or doing research, and that is good as making money in this game takes FOREVER!

Just a few of my numerous complaints I will have in the full review coming soon.

Waiting To Recharge 5/12

Soo... gimmick, gimmick, who got the gimmick? Guess I do.

In this case the recharge we are waiting for is virtual in nature as Game On becomes the blog for Antisocial Gamer. Subsequently we will talk about tablet gaming, and later Facebook games as well once that laptop comes in.

I will start off by covering games I rejected, and why I don't recommend these titles to you. After that games I am playing right now like...

Bakery/Restaurant Story

Not much of a Cafe Worldesque SIM but it's a freebie and OK... if you remember a fee things about the game that limits its full potential.

Kingdom and Lords

Damn underwhelming Age of Empires lite social game... but I needed a review item that was not Spielberg or ponies so... here you go.

Jurassic Park Builder

My first thought was that line from Jeff Goldblum from the first Jurassic Park about marketing and selling without any real thought put into it... there, I said something about you that didn't involve me kicking you Goldblum! Happy?!?

Tavern Quest

A surprisingly good mix of Cafe World SIM and low key RPG. Good work, Glu!

My Little Pony

Yes, pony city building SIM. A game that requires lots of patience in order to keep from spending money on rechargeable and premium currency gems. Too bad Hasbro marketed this to kids with zero patience. Fun... in small manageable doses... hide your credit card!

So stay tuned!

Getting back on track

Well lots to do if I am going to get back on track, sorry things were so slow for so long.

Let's see...

First off what to cover? (the topic of upgrades won't come up until I know if I am returning for another year at my present job, stay tuned)
Console - Wii
Handheld - 3DS, GB/GBC/GBA, PAP
Tablet (NEW)

Podcasting wise I am presently halted while I trade for a used laptop to help get that back on track again full speed ahead. Hope to get that resolved soon. Casts coming soon for this blog? 3DS Addict, Antisocial Gamer and Pocket Gamer. Working on upgrading to the PSVita, stay tuned.

So next step? See about posting daily here so stay tuned for content.