Jelly Defense / iPad Review

As a new happy iPad user I was searching the AppStore for my first game - something in a reasonably price (under 3€), good-looking (HD version a must!), with positive user feedback. Some friends recommended Angry Birds - but it would be to obviuos :)

Looking through recommended games, I came across this simple, nice looking icon with a one-eyed red monster, titled Jelly Defense. A Tower Defense game? Cool graphics? Some positive reviews? Ok jellies, show me what you've got!

Few minutes into the game - and I was addicted to this crazy music. I still often humm those jelly melodies.. 

The gameplay is standard - you place red, blue, or red and blue 'turrets' along a path. Red towers are firing at red jellies, blue at blue, and two color towers shoot at both kinds of jellies with less power then color-specific turrets. Simple, isn't it?

The coolest thing you notice is that everything in this game is moving, swinging a bit from side to side - like a tall jelly that can't stand still. Every jelly-monster, every turret, even some details in the background - they are all fun to watch. If you succeed killing the final boss - the animation of him dying is the most hilarious I've seen in years. Sometimes when you misslick a tree - it will start like a rocket and fly of the screen. When laser hits monster - there's a little comic baloon with POK!, when a cannonball hits with a splash - there's a little BOOM! balloon. Everywhere you look there are those silly details. 

After some (fifteen? twenty?) more fun-packed hours and having gone through all the levels in the game - I still want to play it. I need to collect 27 more gems to complete Jelly Defense in 100%. It will probably took some time, but.. The game just won't let you be bored. Each time you kill a jelly monster there's a chance some coins fall out, and if you don't swipe your finger fast enough - those coin can fell of the cliff, drawn in a pond, or just disappear after few seconds. I don't need to say that in later levels you can't afford losing more than 1-2 coins..? Placing and upgrading towers, collecting coins, using tilting to control special powers (like a little nasty hurricane, which anihilates all monsters it runs into; special powers also fall out of killed jellies) - it all forces you to act, and then think. There's no time for boredom playing Jelly Defense.

Summing up - beatiful and silly graphics, hilarious animations, addictive music and gameplay - IMHO it's a must for every humor loving player :)

Graphics - 5 

Sound - 5

Gameplay - 5

Overall - 5 (go get it!)

Neuroshima Hex / iPad Review

Neuroshima Hex - an addictive tactic board game - isn't for everyone.
If you like to think a lot on your next move trying to go with the best scenario possible, or you were a school chessmaster - then for sure you should try it. If you liked playing any of the panzer-general-like turn-based strategies, and sci-fi background won't annoy you - you should also go try it :)

If you don't like thinking and planning your next move, or if you prefer running and gunning - then try the board version at your friends house first.

If you don't belong to any of the groups - continue reading :)

There is a story in the background, but all you should know is you're in a post-apocalyptic world, in which humans, machines, and mutants fight for territory. There are four armies (in the standard version): Moloch (red) - cruel machines, Borgo (blue) - mutants created by machines, which gone their own way, Hegemony (yellow) - human gangs, and the Outpost - the last real army of humankind.

Each of these armies has different set of units and special tiles, and needs a different playing style.
Moloch units can shoot pretty well, or attack in several direction, but most of them can't move or rotate.
Borgo has units with high initiave, so they attack fast. Hegemony units can do massive damage at close range, and Outpost units move a lot and shoot a lot (like a reall guerillas).

At the start of the game each of players places his HeadQuarters tile - HQ have uniqe buffs for their tiles surrounding them, increasing initiavie (Borgo), shooting damage (Moloch), hand-to-hand damage (Hegemony) and adding an extra attack (Outpost). Additionally, HQs attack all enemies surrounding them in the last phase of a battle. After you place your HQs, in every turn you get 3 random tiles. One of them you have to dispose of, and the remaining two you can place in any free hex on the map. If you get a 'battle' tile - then you can play it to call a battle. If anyone plays the battle - it starts automatically after placing a tile on the last free hex.

..ok, so it looks really complicated, but it's not. After one or two rounds You will hate it or love it. After my first session with NH - I ended up in my bed thinking 'what could i do better next time?'.

AppStore version of NH has a really helpful tutorial, a wiki - which describes all the armies, their story and thier units. You can even learn by heart all the tiles counts, so you could be more prepared during the battle :)

Graphics aren't nothing special - they're just the way they should be. There's no cool blast effects or nothing - the game is really focused only on tactics. But if you are looking for a good strategy, which won't let you forget about it for a long time - Neuroshima Hex will be a good choice.

BTW - you can also play multiplayer with up to four friends sitting next to you ;)

Graphics - 3

Sound - 3

Gameplay - 5

Overall - 5 for strategy lovers, 3 for everyone else.