Vector Mobile App Review

Download Vector for free on Android or iTunes
Developed by Nekki
Genre: Action/Distance
MobileMush Reviews Rating: 8.5/10

Distance endless running games are extremely popular but it seems they exploded in popularity for the mobile market. I blame Temple Run for the popularity boost on mobile although I suppose Canabalt is to blame for the genre starting. My point being is that the mobile market for these endless runner games is over saturated and it is hard to really be unique. It is this very reason why most endless runner games you find on the new and upcoming mobile lists are either sequels of already popular games such as Temple Run 2 or clones of popular ones (mainly Temple Run clones). But sometimes a game and developer come along that does make something interesting, hence today's review on Vector.

Now of course at its core Vector does have the foundation of an endless runner mobile game, but it also differs greatly. The main difference is that there is a pseudo storyline (over controlling government, one man escapes and is now being pursued) which leads to a level based running game. So I suppose you really can't call Vector an "endless" runner, just a running action game as you really are just trying to get from the start to finish without your pursuer catching you.

This is where the game gets very interesting though. Right from the beginning Vector mentions that it is heavily influenced by Parkour which is that freestyle running movement where you jump over things in crazy ways. So that is how you play Vector, although all the Parkour stunts are done for you. To play Vector you just swipe up to jump over obstacles and down to slide under things, however at certain points if you have special parkour stunts unlocked then your character does those stunts as well as generally hops over tables and obstacles in a parkour-ish way anyways.

The fluidity of the parkour stunts is the impressive part to Vector as depending on timing your character will do different stunts/hops over obstacles for the same level. This gives the whole game a new depth and level of detail that games such as Canabalt and Temple Run do not have. So if you want to play an episodic running game like the original endless runner front runners but with some spice in it then try out Vector.

Pixel People Mobile App Review

Download Pixel People for iOS
Developed by Chillingo
Genre: Action/Management
MobileMush Reviews Rating: 7.5/10

If you know me you'll know I love pixel art and subsequently play a lot of pixel based games such as Pixel Dungeon. So today's review is on another pixel based game aptly titled Pixel People.

Pixel People has the same cute pixel art style that Tiny Tower and Pocket Planes has but well...its city based. Although Pixel People reminds me of Tiny Tower in other ways than just graphics. Basically, though, the idea behind Pixel People is you are making a city and therefore you need houses to hold people and have to assign them jobs. And as you get jobs for them you get buildings to place. Now the big theme is you need to genetically splice people into their jobs. So you start out with a blank slate of a person and by splicing together different jobs you create a new job for that person. There are tons of combinations and the main source of fun for Pixel People.

However the splicing aspect as interesting an idea it is gets old quick for a few reasons. The first is that Pixel People has slight freemium tendencies where you have to succumb to time penalties or use special in game money to skip the time periods and can buy more using real money. The other reason is that the splicing process is pretty much me just randomly pairing things up until it says it works. I suppose the combinations make sense for the most part but it doesn't have that trial and error puzzle feel like Little Inferno has. Overall I did find Pixel People to be a good time waster for a while until I got fed up with the time restrictions but if those don't bother you this could be a great city simulator mobile game.

Candy Crush Saga Mobile App Review

Download Candy Crush Saga for Android, iOS or play on Facebook.
Developed by King.com
Genre: Puzzle
MobileMush Reviews Rating: 7.5/10

One of the most popular video game gameplay themes is that of the match three Bejeweled type gameplay. It seems I talk a lot about all these mobile apps that feature this style of gameplay such as the case with Zookeeper and Witch Wars. There are so many of these types of games probably because they are really easy to play on touch screen devices and are very easy to make. Well, today's review is on Candy Crush Saga which is yet another Bejeweled type mobile app.

I would, however, call Candy Crush Saga a Bejeweled strategy type game. Meaning that in normal Bejeweled you are just matching gems or whatever by three over and over. In Candy Crush Saga though you have specific goals. This could be to get a certain amount of points, a timed level, or the big missions are to drop various fruit to the bottom and to clear "jelly" which means make matches on these jelly blocks to make them disappear. These missions and the loose "strategy" aspect is what makes Candy Crush Saga worth playing and addicting. If you look at the straight gameplay aspect of it you'll see that it is fairly generic.

Candy Crush Saga does employ various powerups like some of these Bejeweled type games which is perhaps the most interesting idea to come of it. These include line clearer powerups when you match four pieces in a row, bombs when you match pieces in a T or L shape and a powerup which destroys all candies of a specific type when you match five pieces in a row. That part is fairly standard but you can combine the powerups to make super powerups which is really fun to watch and pretty cool.

As you probably saw, you can play Candy Crush Saga on Facebook and that makes this one of those freemium type games that I don't really like. It is unfortunate that this is the case although for the most part you do not need to pay for special powerups to help you in the game unless you absolutely want to. Which is good because I think the prices are ridiculous. It is also unfortunate that at certain points you are forced to bug your friends to help you progress to new level sets. Although I will give credit to Candy Crush Saga for having over 200 levels and if you don't mind bugging your friends every so often (and hoping your friends actually play this game) then you will be set for awhile. Overall, Candy Crush Saga is a fairly basic Bejeweled-esque mobile game that has tons of levels and some interesting mission and powerup based ideas.