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App Review

App Review: Bubble Defence

Bubble defence is a tower defence game.  There are several of these available on the Market and this is one of the simplest looking, if no less addictive for it.
The basic concept is to build up defence towers along a path to try to defeat wave after wave of increasingly armoured bubbles which follow that path.
There are four different kinds of towers:
The Basic Tower – shoots a single shot
The Six Barrel Tower – shoots 6 equally spaced shots at once
The Flame Tower – melts ice balloons
The Transporter – transports balloons back to the beginning of the track
The variety of enemies isn’t huge but it’s an elegant solution.  Shooting each enemy removes 1 “layer” of protection until you finally get down to the last layer and destro them
You earn money foe every hit but, unlike many of these games there’s no interest to be earned by saving your cash
These towers are used to defeat the 7 different kinds of enemy.  Most of these are basi
There are 7 different path layouts and Five levels of difficulty.
Bubble defence is available as a free ad-supported version or as a full version for 1.99.  One thing that annoyed me after buying the full version, and is something I’ve seen in several upgrades of that kind, is that your history of high scores isn’t imported to the full version.  It might be a bit of extra work but it would be rewarding for those of us who’d played enough of the free version to cough up the cash.
Battling the Bubbles on the Icy Road
Battling the Bubbles on the Icy Road

Bubble Defense is a tower defense game.  There are several of these available on the Market and this is one of the simplest looking, if no less addictive for it.

The basic concept is to build up defense towers along a path to try to defeat wave after wave of increasingly armoured bubbles which follow that path.

There are four different kinds of towers:

  • The Basic Tower – shoots a single shot
  • The Six Barrel Tower – shoots 6 equally spaced shots at once
  • The Flame Tower – melts ice balloons
  • The Transporter – transports balloons back to the beginning of the track

These towers are used to defeat the 7 different kinds of enemy.  Most of these are basically the same, with different colours and speeds, all nested in one another.  Shooting each enemy removes 1 “layer” of protection until you finally get down to the last layer and destroy them.  The most difficult enemy shoots back though, so be careful

Some maps have more than one entrance for bubbles
Some maps have more than one entrance for bubbles

You earn money for every hit but, unlike many similar games there’s no interest to be earned by saving your cash, so feel free to splash out.

There are 7 different path layouts and 5levels of difficulty, leaving quite a lot of variety and replay value.

Bubble defense is available as a free ad-supported version or as a full version for 99 cents.  One thing that annoyed me after buying the full version, and is something I’ve seen in several upgrades of that kind, is that your history of high scores isn’t imported to the full version.  It might be a bit of extra work but it would be rewarding for those of us who’d played enough of the free version to cough up the cash.

Bubble Defense Free
Bubble Defense Free
Bubble Defense Ad-Free
Categories
App Review

App Review: Kingdoms Live

Kingdoms Live Logo
Kingdoms Live Logo

Kingdoms Live was one of the first games I downloaded from the App store and it’s one that I still play a couple of times a day.

It’s an MMORPG which follows a medieval theme. You choose your character type and their strengths then work to build them up using quests, battles and upgrades.

The first game of this type which I saw was the Facebook game “MobWars”  which I played for a few weeks before getting bored of it.

Mobwars on Facebook had 2 major problems:

  1. You could only add actual Facebook friends as “army” members, so recruitment was slow
  2. The barriers in certain parts of the game were ridiculous (having to upgrade 100 levels to acquire new property types)
Level Up
Level Up

Neither of these problems exist in Kingdoms Live.  You can easily add people and there’s no downside or privacy issue.  You can easily trawl other peoples comments looking for “friend codes” and grow your army to the necessary size.

The only problem I have with Kingdoms live is that it can only be played online – perfect if you have an iPhone, not so great if you’re reliant on WiFi, as I am.

It’s a familiar concept, and one that’s been duplicated by the company themselves several times, with rockstars, vampires and space traders all getting the same treatment.  Personally I couldn’t play more than one of these games but I like this one and I’ll be sticking with it (My army code is 4VRSU).

  • Price: Free
  • Rating: 8 shields
Categories
App Review

App Review: AirportMania

Airport Mania Screenshot
Airport Mania Screenshot

My name’s Brian and I’m an addict.  I can’t seem to stop playing Airport Mania. It’s a fairly simple game concept but it’s beautifully executed and highly addictive.

You are the controller of an airport and you have to land planes, disembark passengers, repair and refuel aircraft and send them on their way again.

You guide the aircraft around by touching their destinations in order.  In that way it’s possible to set up a series of movements, waypoints if you like. IT sounds very simple, and it is, but there’s a definite art to it and the scoring system encourages you to reach for airport handling perfection.

You can upgrade the airport, adding runways, gates and other facilities.  This makes life easier but every 6 levels or so  you move airports, which means starting from scratch, or close to it.

There are around 50 levels to play, and there is the challenge of re-playing difficult levels to aim for the “supreme score”. I’m on my second play through, trying to work win all of the trophies and awards, and trying to complete every level with the highest score level.

The graphics and sounds are perfect and make the gameplay so much more entertaining.

I bought  AirportMania on a whim, and I’m glad I did.  I hadn’t realised that there was a lite version which you can get to try it out.  This has fewer levels but will give a good taste of what is in the full version.

  • Price: 59p
  • Rating: 9/10 Shields