Games Cheats and Reviews

Game: Chime
Publisher: One Big Game
Developer: Zoë Mode
Genre: Puzzle
Pro: Relaxing play style, Great Music, nice twist on the usual Tetris/Lumines style puzzle, Charity = Good feeling
Con: Not much meat, takes a bit to get used to

How often do you get to purchase a game AND get to feel good about the money you spent? Not very often, I am guessing. Fortunately, with Chime you can slap down your money and know that you are actually paying for something good. For the 400msp (or$5) that will you spend for this game, you are also helping less fortunate children around the world. As One Big Game’s motto goes, “Play, so others can.” You can not only feel good about spending the $5 for the game, but you have an excuse to tell your significant other/parent/guardian that you aren’t just buying a game, you are giving to charity. It’s really a win win situation.

So, what are you getting for your charitable donation of $5? For one, you are getting a new and interesting spin on the time-tested Tetris/Lumines formula. Chime is a block puzzle game, to be sure, but not what you may be used to. It combines just about every relative puzzler out there and meshes them into a very relaxing time in front of your TV. As the description for Chime goes, “Place blocks, build quads, get coverage, make music” and it’s really just that simple.

The gameplay board is mostly set up like any other puzzler, consisting of a wide open grid, ready for you to drop your block and make “quads.” There are many different pieces of varying length and shapes for you to fill the space. Right off the bat the first thing you may notice is that pieces don’t “drop” in the style of Tetris or Lumines. You can hold a piece in one spot indefinitely, then take your time and think out your course of action. Once blocks are placed on the board, you will notice that as the “beat line” (a la Lumines) passes over the block you just placed, it plays a certain musical riff. For each block you place, you get more and more music. As you build your blocks into quads, you will also be building a song. The more the board is covered the more the songs really start to come alive and it’s almost as though you literally are making the music.

Speaking of Music, all of the songs contained in the game from artists Moby, Philip Glass, Paul Hartnoll, and Fred Deakin. Every track was donated toward this very worthy cause. Everything about this game is charitable. The soundtrack is very mellow and creates more of a feeling of relaxation than the usual tension found in other puzzle games.

The thing that took me the longest to get used to was the fact that once your “quads” are built and the beat line sweeps them away so to speak, you can place more blocks in the same place. For example, a beatline moves across the grid in time with the music, playing different musical riffs as it goes. Quads are created by laying pieces in blocks of 3×3 or more. When a quad is completed and the beat line passes over it, different musical samples are played depending on the quads shape. The bigger the quad, the higher the score, with multipliers being achieved by having several quads on the screen at once. Once the beatline passes over a completed quad, it is swept away, leaving only a kind of shadow on the  grid, and earning the player coverage.  This took a second for me to grasp, as I kept trying not to get blocks in the same places, thinking that would some how end my game. Once I grasped the fact that it didn’t matter, I really was able to get the point of the game. It’s all about coverage. You need to make as many quads as possible, in order to cover the board. The more coverage, the more points, and really the only way to move along in the game from stage to stage.

There are two different game modes that are both fairly self explanatory: a “Timed Mode” and “Free Mode.” The only way to unlock the different levels/songs in Free Mode is to complete the challenge in Timed Mode. Not all that hard of a task really, which is kinda nice considering how some puzzle games (and other game types for that matter) have a way of being stingy with their unlocks.

All in all, the game is a little light on the content, but given the fact it’s for a good cause, I think it can be easily overlooked. Should the developer support this game for a while, it would be very easy to keep offering DLC. All you would really need is couple a songs, maybe a few new backgrounds. It really wouldn’t be all that hard. I for one, hope they keep them coming. I enjoy playing this game simply because in “Free Mode” there is no pressure, just sit back and enjoy the game on your own time. Not many games out there offer that kind of interaction.

Scott 3SMOVRadio.com

Sharing: It’s Win/Win

Chris over at PSNStores did some comment digging today on the Playstation Blog. It seems we finally know the reason why the minis version of Tetris won’t work on PS3. The PSP European Product Manager Adam Grant said that: "EA is currently working on a PS3 version of Tetris that will take full advantage of the capabilities of the PS3 and provide the best experience."

Like Tetris, but wish it came with a slice of discombobulation? The Internet has you covered.

Robots, alcohol and video games make one tantalizing combination to put on distant-future Christmas lists. Now geek boozers are in luck: the one-man Nonpolynomial Labs has developed interactive versions of Mario and Tetris that incorporate a robotic bartender to mix up drinks during real-time play.

The interactive games come courtesy of Kyle Machulis, a self-described "mild-mannered engineer" who tackles some decidedly unorthodox garage projects that have included a "Moaning Lisa" sensor-feedback mannequin and a "LifeCycle" that uses an exercise bike to drive virtual vehicles in Second Life. He created "Adult Mario" and "Bartris" to showcase in the upcoming Roboexotica event held in Vienna, Austria, where robots display their cocktail mixing skills.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Japan’s influence in the video game market in past times has been paramount. From the classic titles found in arcades to the quirky yet fun console games they produced, gamers of all ages have enjoyed some fantastic games. From Mario to Solid Snake, Tetris to Street Fighter, everyone knows of the great games developed by this little gem of a country. The Japanese influence on gamers was at one stage absolute, and to say Japan ruled the video game market, seemed to some, an absolute fact.

GrE writes, "There are games out there that just aren’t possible to finish or "beat." There are games out there that you never WANT to finish. Then there are the games that you play over and over again, never getting any further than the play before, and for no reason.

First, games like Tetris, Lumines, and puzzle games of the like aren’t really games that you finish. These are games of dexterity and skill more than completion. You play these games to show your friends (and enemies) that you are better than them and can stay literally in the game longer than they can. It’s hard to count out games like these simply because pretty much everyone and their Grandmother has played at least one session of Tetris at some point. However given their style of play these are more for one-upsmanship than anything else…"

MPs don’t get a fair shake of the stick when it comes to videogames. They’re all beyond the age of the typical gamer, the 33 year old male, and when they think of games, they tend to think about Pong, Tetris and Space Invaders. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule: Keith Vaz, long due for a re-education on the industry as a whole, still blames Manhunt as a murder blueprint (despite the police saying otherwise), and calls for a three year-old game to be banned despite it already contravening a law that the current government pushed through. Then there’s Nick Gibb, thinking that school children should be searched for violent videogames.

However, we have beacons of light, Ed Vaizey, who believes a Videogames Council should be formed.  He also suggests that we should push through tax breaks for the industry that has been lagging behind the film industry for this very reason, despite how it is now a more lucrative business than the silver screen. Now it looks like another has stepped up to help: John Whittingdale.

He appears to have actually done research when it came to chatting with Edge Online over the medium, and spoke of the educational component to the industry: teaching skills, as well as making the game itself, serve a purpose other than blowing things up and killing people. The best part of all, is that he acknowledges MPs’ ignorance on the matter, saying:

My guess would be that very few ministers in the government spend a great deal of time playing computer games, whereas they do go to the cinema, they do watch television, and they do listen to the radio… there may be ministers who rush home to play GTA all night, but it’s unlikely…

Given the age of most MPs, they’re probably thinking back to Space Invaders and Atari consoles. The other thing is that there’s a lot of negativity around, a lot of concern that young people who spend their hours gaming are missing out on educational activities. The case that gaming can bring benefits is something we need to promote, and then there’s always been the fear that somehow certain games may be damaging because of the violent content, and there’s a lot of mythology around that…

He has done his homework, and despite how few people will read the interview in it’s entirety (I highly recommend you do, by the way), he steps back onto old ground: protection of the youth from purchasing/playing these. Fortunately for us, he actually has a level head when he speaks about it.

A game like Manhunt 2… we need to impose controls to ensure that children cannot purchase them. But then there’s the hysteria over something like the suicide bomber web game Kaboom, which everyone got very worked up about. When I went online and tried it out, the idea that this was going to turn the nation into suicide bombers was clearly absurd…

Why can’t more MPs actually have their heads screwed on like this man?

TPG writes, "Loading up Word Tower, I felt a little uncertain. It looked like a curious mess of Boggle and Tetris, with a hint of Scrabble. All excellent games in their own right, I just wasn’t sure how well they would combine. Fortunately, Word Tower turned out to be good fun and the ideal distraction for five minutes, as well as a game that could keep you playing for hours if you so wish."

Cat writes: When I was asked to review Geomex it was described to me as "Tetris+Bejewled+Awesome" and many hours later I can safely say that yes, yes it is. From indie developer Caffeine Monster the $1.99 app has you matching shapes of different colors to clear them from the board in a fight to score big while the clock runs down. The simple concept packs a lot of variety with fives different game modes: Arcade, Chain, Mono, Puzzle, and Clear!.