[Review] Hero Academy (iOS)

I, like many of you other on-the-go gamers, became addicted to Words With Friends, Hanging With Friends, and all the other turn-based word games. But I also soon became saturated by notifications because I was playing around 20 games at a time. Maybe it's just me, but the point where games become a chore is approximately the point where they are no longer fun. Though these types of games are great on cell phones, I think that playing games with words might just be a bit too leapster learning for me. I wanted a turn-based game with more... action. And Hero Academy was just what I asked for.

After installing Hero Academy, you're prompted to set up an account and then you're ready for action. When you have to set up an account for anything app related, it is usually a turn off for me. Hero Academy would benefit from instant Game Center connectivity. This is one of the features I feel it is lacking the most. Regardless, I was fairly excited for this game so I sucked it up and submitted my email and was ready to go. There is a simple tutorial that covers basic gameplay but it all feels too conceptual. It doesn't become real until you really get into a couple games. To start a game you can either choose a random opponent, find a friend through Facebook connect, or send a tweet to your followers and challenge them. Again, Game Center would be great here but Facebook Connect is a huge plus. Another feature I'd like to see is maybe a simplified AI mode where you could play against a computer and not have to wait for strangers or  friends to take their turn.

There are two different races to choose from: council and dark elves. The council is your basic team, containing characters like knights, archers, wizards and ninjas (yeah... I kinda had a hard time wrapping my head around how a knight and a ninja decided to team up, but I digress). The dark elves team has similar characters but in evil elfish forms. It does cost 99 cents to unlock them, but you get the added bonus of making the game ad free. Each character has unique abilities and along with them advantages and disadvantages. Some characters have strong melee attacks, while others have long range capabilities; some can inflict splash damage, and others can heal units. Your goal is to attack your opponent's jewels while at the same time protecting your own jewels (giggle). On each turn, you have five moves to do it. Your moves range from moving a unit, attacking, equipping power ups or swapping units. Once you finish your five turns you submit your move and impatiently await your opponent's turn. At that point, any units or items that you've equipped from your hand are replaced as if they're scrabble tiles.

Characters are highly animated from them moving to attacking or being attacked. There is also a chat option where you can have some back and forth with your opponent. Random geek out warning, but the chat has the best default font I've ever seen in an instant message medium. I'm not a font nazi (minus over the overuse of comic sans) but the font really compliments the game. So thank you, sir who chose the font. The developers are also great with communication through their message boards as well as frequent bug updates. During my short time with the game, I've received a game update as well as notifications as to when they will be conducting server maintenance.

Hero Academy is pretty much scrabble... for men. Testosterone filled turn-based combat delivered in a very elegant package. Unlike the tedious nature of word-based games, this game has me anxiously awaiting and planning my next move. Though there has been a couple of downsides, there really isn't much more I can ask from a free game. So do yourself a favor: check it out and challenge JhonnyC if you dare.

Available on: iOS; Publisher: Robot Entertainment; Developer: Robot Entertainment; Players: 1 - 2; Released: January 11, 2012; Official Site

Note: A promotional code was provided to Denkiphile for review purposes by the publisher.

[Denki For Listening] Episode 2: Apple(-)Eating Android

Jhonny and Davis discusstheir recent games, but not without a quick jab or two from both sides fortheir favorite phone OS. Android or Apple, neither are safe! No matter whatthough, it seems that casual gaming is definitely in the air as the two not onlytalk about hardcore games like Cave Story 3D and Battlefield but also Muffin Knight and the newiOS5 update details.

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[Casual Friday] Tiny Tower

One of the biggest problems with the iPhone to date has been the battery life. Battery management has become a daily task that is as important as eating lunch - especially for those of us that our juggling several different games. But what if there was one game that you could become full engulfed with that can almost promise minimal battery drain? Boy, is Tiny Tower for you. However, readers beware: after twenty minutes into it, you will become a mindless slave and you won't even know why.

Graphically speaking, this is no gem, resembling the purer days of 8-bit gaming. Although it doesn't make for the most visually appealing game by any means, its simplicity compliments the gameplay very well. The premise is simple: you are in charge of a tiny (wait for it...) tower, where you build residential floors and various shops. Your residents also serve as the employees in the shops. Each of your residents or "Bitzens" are given different rankings in different job categories (food, service, creative, retail, etc.) as well as a dream job.

You earn money by stocking your shops with various items and selling them. This is where the game turns 'farmville-esq' because you must time the completion of your items to make sure your floors are fully stocked at all times to ensure that you are always earning money. Where this game really gets addicting is the push notifications every time a floor is ready to get restocked. That's like a drug dealer giving you a call every time you run out, and you're thinking "HOW DID HE KNOW?" immediately followed by a "YES GIVE ME MORE." These notifications come rather frequently too because some floors take only five minutes to stock and when you start having 30 plus floors, there is always something to do. There were times when I would finish making my rounds and turn off my phone to give it a break. Instantly, I got a notification that my pizza place was ready to be restocked. It wasn't long before that when I finally turned off push notifications.

The social intergration is pretty cool too. Tiny Tower has Game Center integration where you can see your friends' towers and scan through their floors as well aka stalker view. In the menu you'll also see a button that says Bitbook, which strangely resembles Facebook. When you enter Bitbook you can actually see status updates from your Bitzens and other Bitzens can 'like' their statuses, which are entertaining in their own right.

Overall, Tiny Tower offers an extremely addicting gameplay experience with catchy music too! If there is anything it can improve, it would be more social interaction with others. Maybe trading Bitzens or getting bonuses for visiting your friends. On the bright side, it does get updated fairly regularly, which could be potentially dangerous. If this gets any more addicting, then I'll never see the light of day again.