Burning Treehouse -- It's all about the games

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City Update

2008-06-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

First I'd like to say that this post may contain some game spoilers, but I'll try to keep those to the bare minimum. That said, I think if you haven't played the game at all yet, read this after you've played a bit, but before your village population is over ten people including infants. Same goes in my opinion, for the official guide at www.ldwforums.com which is the address to the forum community at Last Day of Work, the makers of this game. I'd give you a hot link to it, but their linking policy is a little complicated. Spoilers start below.

I'm glad to say I was able to purchase the game through Big Fish several days ago, after find at the LDW forums that Big Dish was indeed going to be getting the game soon. As I understand it, this version of the game is still a bit of a work in progress, with additional tweaking to be released at a later date. I'm very much enjoying this game. and now that my Villagers are no longer on the verge of starvation I can relax and move back into a more casual playing mode. One vital piece of information that is in the official guide is that until the Villagers can fish, the available food sources can support a maximum of 12-15 people. I read this after my population was at 17, and spent quite a bit of touch and go time staving off starvation with mushroom harvests. It's ideal to have at least two children at all times with this game, as unlike earlier Virtual Villagers games, there are often several collectibles and/or mushrooms appearing at the same time. Which is really nice actually, as it keeps you busy.

I'm saddened to say, I did have to read the walk-through section on the fishing puzzle in order to get my Villagers on the right track, I really wanted to solve it without cheating, but I didn't know I had exceeded my max population on current food sources until it was obviously too late. Thankfully, I was able to pull them through once I did get them working on the right track. No one has died as yet. And, with the information from the walk-through, I was able to focus all their labor on the solution, where up until that point I had them working on less important areas, unknowingly. If you keep your population below the max level you should be able to work out the puzzle, without cheating, at your leisure.

I'm looking forward to solving the rest of the puzzles on my own, barring an attack of sheer frustration.

So, I'd recommend getting this game, exploring a little first and then maybe checking out the guide, it's nicely organized into basic information first, and clearly warns the reader before they get to the actual puzzle solutions and other such spoilers.

Virtual Villagers 3: The Secret City

2008-05-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to play a demo of Virtual Villagers 3 and it looks great! The new layout is kinda of startling at first as much of the space is vertical, however either due to this new format, or to some tinkering in the coding, moving your point of view throughout the area is much faster. Which is a great improvement over earlier editions in which, especially for objects the kids can gather by the time you find an object and get a kid to it, sometimes it disappears just as you drop the kid on it.

The only flaw in the vertical layout that I found so far, is that occasionally dropping a villager on what looks like the edge of an upper level, means they fall through to a lower level, so ther is a bit of an adjustment period on learning the exact spot to place villagers occasionally.

As with other versions of the game, finding food sources for your villagers looks to be tricky. The only advice I have at this point concerns a new feature in the game, called "factions."
It is somewhat confusing, as the description implies the possibility of an immediate increase in food supplies if you choose the "Nature" faction, but I did not find this to be the case in the limited play time that I had. So, I'd advise waiting to choose (and spend tech points to do so) until after there are several constant food supplies available. The faction feature appears to be designed to increase the variety of playing options, in that once you do choose a faction, your players are committed to that "lifestyle," as it were, for the remainder of the game. Exactly what sort of differences in the Villagers experiences either faction will create is still a mystery (at least to me.) But the fact that Last Day of Work seems to be trying to increase the repeatable playing factor in the game bodes well.

Last Day of Work specializes in games that run in real time, that is, unless you pause the game, life continues forward for whatever characters or creatures in your game, which means if you forget to check on them frequently, they often die. On the other hand, it also means you don't have to have the game running, or even have your computer on, in order for fish or plants to mature, or Villagers to earn tech points. Finding the balance of speed of game play, frequency of needed check points, and just getting bored while waiting for something to happen is part of the challenge of their games. I do agree with one reviewer, that suggested the games need an even faster rate of time, for when you want to be hands on, but are tending towards boredom. Currently, there is paused, half speed, normal and fast, which appears to be about double. A times four speed option would be ideal.

The same reviewer also mentioned a zoom option would be nice in the Virtual Villagers games. I agree, especially for when a new game such as this one comes out, as there appear to be some items hidden in nooks here and there. And although the game doesn't actively need it, being able to rotate ones view point would be a nice touch as well, though I imagine both addition are left out because the coding for them would slow game play, increase game size and possibly create problems on older graphic systems. One of the nice features of these games is that the currently don't require vast resources to run. I'd hate for that to change.

I am looking forward to being able to own this game and learn all it secrets. I tried to find out when (or if) Big Fish Games will be offering it and ran into a road block as they have a company policy of not revealing release dates, apparently because all such dates are tentative. I'm a bit annoyed that they were not even willing to say whether or not they are going to be able to offer it, ever. My concern is, that to date, the only places I have seen it offered, actually link back to Last Day of Work itself, for the download, so I am wondering if Last Day wishes to keep this game exclusive. Which means a $20.00 or so investment, rather than my Big Fish game club rate of $6.99. Sigh. I live on a very limited income through SSI, as I have always been too disabled to work a "regular" job, so $20.00 is a rather significant chunk. I'll do it if my patience runs out before I can find it someplace else.

In the meantime, I am revisiting Virtual Villagers 2: the Lost Children and playing it in hard difficulty level. I have found that the Villagers require near constant attention in that mode, especially when it comes to harvesting and replanting efficiently. I use the pause feature a lot, and have managed to keep all but one of them alive despite frequently having no food, those magic stews are a lifesaver.

Well, I'm off to see if I can track down a bargain on Virtual Villagers 3, wish me luck, and happy gaming! If I find a bargain I will post an update here.

Empires & Dungeons

2008-05-05T13:37:00.001-07:00

A dungeon and dragons style game. Actually fairly enjoyable if somewhat simple. Lots of slashing and fighting. Find jewels and other treasures in the dungeons while doing battle with all sorts of nasty beasties. Watch out for the Dire Witch...she was the death of me several times, fortunately I revived. Use resources to build up you army and castle in order to defeat the enemy army and their lord. This game is somewhat tricker than I expected it to be at first, so I did not get very far in the hour demo, but that is good news since it means the game has staying power.

I found the fighting rather repetitive and noisy, but it's still a game I may buy at some point. Sometimes you just need to do some slashing and invading.

Farm 51

2008-05-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

I am really thrilled with the latest additions and improvements to the Farm 51 game on Big Fish's Online Game Community. They've added a new skill, with new items to trade for and buy in order to train it. A new animal is available from the aliens. And they revamped the recipe making screen to be easier to use, it can still be rather slow at times when you have a lot of things to make, but there is now a "make all" button which makes things much simpler.

I'm still hoping there are more changes coming such as an even bigger storage solution and a faster recipe maker, both as trade items with the aliens preferably. And my roommate suggested they add a x2 or x4 button to make the waiting for crops and the like to grow go by faster.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the game, it is a farming game that happens to take place in an area frequented by aliens and "men in black" types. The aliens can be helpful or annoying depending on their mood, and once you can afford to establish a crop circle they are potential trade partners. The government types drop buy occasionally to raid your farm and steal your hard earned alien technology. There is a lot more to the game and it is both fun and addictive. It also can earn you a lot of tokens which can be redeemed for tickets in a Lottery type game.

It's one of my favorite of a large variety of games available as a part of the Big Fish game community. They also have an affiliate program called "My Game Space" which I joined (here's my page) , so the links I have to their sites can potentially earn me rewards.

In addition to the online game community, which has chat room based game play where tokens can be earned (sometimes even for the whole group), Big Fish Games also has an online game area, which allows for single player games, and of course downloadable full and demo games. If you like to own games for playing off-line, I recommend signing up for their game club at the annual membership level all game are available for purchase at $6.99 which is the best deal I've found. I can even afford them with my well below poverty level fixed income. Another bonus is if you wish to buy more than one game a month, you can simply purchase more credits at the same price.

They also appear to have more games available then most game sites, in part because they add a new one each day. About the only negative issue with Big Fish is that they have a no-return policy, figuring that the demo should tell you whether the game is one you'll want to keep or not. Personally, I've found that not always to be the case, but since they are so good about everything else I can put up with an occasional bad purchase.

Game Show Based Games

2008-04-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

So far I haven't found a game show based game that I really like. My guess is most of these games are aimed at people who are huge fans of TV game shows, and I'm at most mildly interest in game shows, rather than a ravenous fan. Here's some of the PC versions I've tried out:

Jeopardy! 2: A fairly decent version of the game show, though answers are multiple choice rather than fill in the blank. I found the multi-player mode worth while, and it allows you to choose the strength of your computer opponents. As far as I could tell, you do not actually compete for buzzing in first, which was a little odd. I actually found this PC version much easier than the real life version, probably as a result of the multiple choice based answering format.

Family Feud III: Dream Home: This was the game I enjoyed most in this genre to date. It allows you to purchase furniture and decorate a "dream home" with the points you earn through game play. Some improvements it could use are a computer opponent option in multi-player mode and the ability to actually arrange the furniture in the home rather than simply pick which room some items go in. The single player mode was actually fairly enjoyable in my opinion.

The Price is Right: Not being a huge consumer in general is a bit of a handicap for playing this one. I found the three strikes and you are out annoying, and the prices, at least on grocery type items seemed to be set unreasonably low, although that might be do to today's inflation rate for the most part. Nothing about this game stood out to me as a potential redeeming feature.

Wheel of Fortune 2: Fairly exact mirror of the game show. Main problem I had with it is due to currently being prone to vertigo, the game play itself wasn't so bad, since there are usually other things to look at then the wheel, but the main background in all the menus is a spinning wheel. I'd love an option to turn that off. That said if you are a fan of the show you should really enjoy this version. I do wonder if version one includes the buying prizes while the camera zooms around among them, when I used to watch it as a kid (I had a parent who was a fan) that was my favorite part, and I think the show should bring it back. True to the current version of the show, the puzzles range from fairly obvious to completely obscure. Fans should be happy with the level of fidelity to the show.

The Hidden Object Show: Not actually based on a game show, this is a hidden object game with the added element of a game show type format. I found it really, really annoying. Every click is applauded or booed depending on whether it is a correct one or not, and the talk show host seemed designed for maximum annoyance and smarminess. The various bonus play modes do have some potential for fun, but the whole thing would benefit from being played on mute. Or jettisoning the game show format. Which kind of defeats the whole point. To allow some credit, it is a fresh concept, or at least a fresh hybrid of older concepts, and the version I played was still in development. Perhaps a less annoying version will appear.

For me, I have yet to find a game show format game that I'd wish to own, let alone buy. I guess part of the problem is that all the prizes are virtual. Perhaps if the prizes did something... unlocked mini- games, screen savers or the like I might find the games more intriguing. But then again, I'm not a game show addict, so they may be worth getting if you happen to be one.

Some Useful Hints and Tips Sites

2008-04-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of simple and useful hint sites I've found:

Big Fish Gamer

I particularly liked that hints that might be considered outright cheats (such as answers to riddles or trivia questions) were accessible through links rather than visible as part of a main post. It's nice to have the option of -Not- cheating outright.

BadgeHungry!

Created by the same people who run Big Fish Gamer, this site provides the ability to sign up for a free badge and game progress tracking service as well as current events. It doesn't seem to have tips for game play as much as articles that provide links to help files and the like on Pogo itself.

If I were still a paying member at Pogo. com, I'd find the game progress tracker very helpful and well worth the sign up, since discovering how much further until the next game badge unlocks, can be a tricky and frustrating experience on Pogo itself.

Big Fish Gamer is still rather low on content in comparison to BadgeHungry!, since it just came into being about two months ago, but it does look very promising. To date the hints are limited to the newest games on Big Fish Game Community, and I'm not sure whether the owners of the site plan to work their way back through the older games, or simply go forward from this point. I hope they do add tips on older games, in case I'm missing out on added fun.

Spandex Force

2008-03-30T04:07:00.000-07:00

I purchased the game Spandex Force partly because it was so very silly. It's actually a good value as games go, different calamities require different mini-games in order to build up your powers and fight evil or rescue hapless individuals.

The game allows for (somewhat limited) customization of your character's look, which is always a plus in my book. The money you earn during game play allows you to buy better powers and equipment as well as upgrading your operation center. One of the challenges of the game is figuring out what to buy when, as well as which powers to keep and which to replace as one can only have a few at a time. With equipment, there is a similar issue, only one of each type can be owned at once (i.e. a diadem or a helmet, not both) however, the items all help in different ways, some even have several benefits, but those will be more expensive.

All in all it's a pretty fun (and funny) game with every variation of match 3 (or more) type games I know of incorporated into the game play. Plus a few additional surprises. Battle mode is my favorite. Good game, worth trying or buying.

Game Let Down

2008-03-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

I was disappointed with my latest purchase from Big Fish games. I bought:

Natalie Brooks: Secrets of Treasure House

I played it immediately, continuing a game I had started during the hour demo period. And within another hour or so the game was over. I tried playing it again and found that it's one of those unfortunate games that plays through exactly the same each time. Another annoying feature has to do with the picture elements that are hidden in each game segment, once you finish the segment there appears to be no way to go back to prior areas and collect any of the pieces you left behind. In fact the only thing one can do to backtrack is start the whole game over.

The game developers appear to be Alawar and Fridays Games. I do wish games like these, that are "play once", with unvarying puzzles (and short story lines at that) came with a label stating such. And ideally, I wish they were not created in the first place. Basically, this game has all the issues that I heard many people complaining about in the first "Dream Chronicles" game. Which is to say, limited, once through game play, and the inability to go back and collect items missed. At the very least, finishing these sorts of games needs to unlock a chapter by chapter play mode so missing bits can be collected after the fact.

The only mode that this game had, which appeared to have any variation was the object search mode, which gave additional hints. In my case how ever, on the first play through I only needed one additional hint. And even this mode appeared to be affected by the "you can't go back" factor. In that, each chapter had this mode available only for the areas currently in use in that chapter.

It was all very annoying. And a waste of a $6.99 game credit. I'd ask for my money back, or rather another credit, but unfortunately Big Fish has a no return policy. Justified apparently in their minds by the fact that you should figure out during demo play mode whether the game is good or not. In this case, not something so easily predicted.

This game gets a big thumbs down. Not worth buying, possibly if you find it offered free somewhere, pick it up, play it through and unless you have a truly huge amount of memory, clean it out and make room for something with staying power.

WebkinzTM

2008-01-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

The newest obsession in the household is Webkinz^TM. I had bought a frog stuffed animal for my roommate who has a frog collection. I hadn't realized it at the time, but it was a Webkinz^TM. Which meant that it had a whole world waiting online for it to play in. After my roommate adopted it, it became a Webkinz^TM free for all. Between the two of us we probably have a couple of dozen already, plus charms, cards, and bookmarks, etc.

It is actually a fun place for those who either are children, or are young at heart. The practice of having to buy a new animal in order to renew the account after a year's time bothered me at first, along with the advertising of special codes in their other products that unlock bonus items and features. But,then I realized that there is absolutely no outside advertising allowed on the entire site. A feature I appreciate and, I imagine parents find even more important. So the additional merchandise supports the site.

There are many games to play, including a multi-age level quiz area that allows the owner of the pet to earn the "cash" one needs to feed, cloth and lavish fun furniture, toys, and decorations on the pets. There are different activities available each day that earn rewards such as the token economy money, food, and other prizes.

When we first joined, there were a lot of bugs, ranging from small annoyances to being entirely unable to log in. But, that turned out to be due to a huge influx of new accounts, apparently well beyond what was expected over the holidays. They are now resolving those issues, and offering generous compensation for those who were affected.

All together, I've found it to be a very safe and happy place, with a range of educational activities. The stuffed animals are adorable, and we've found that even those that are the same breed have, at least to our eyes, a range of expressions that makes buying them in person, rather than over the web, a necessity.

Apparently we are not alone in our obsession, as a check of e-bay listings revealed retired animals selling for appallingly high prices. It was really quite an eye opener. If I ever could bring myself to buy some simply to resell after they retired I could apparently make a small fortune. But that whole idea bothers me to the core.

Most likely, this particular obsession will have a long run. There are still alot of Webkinz^TM related stuff the roommate and I dearly desire. Fortunately, it does appear to be slowing down a bit, as neither of us has a large amount of extra cash in any given month. So, Webkinz^TM earns a big thumbs up and five stars.

Here is a link to their website: Webkinz^TM

I recommend the FAQ, and parents area for any questions you may have. Happy playing!

Game Giveaway of the Day

2007-12-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to point out the link to Game Giveaway of the Day, and review it a bit. Game Giveaway of the Day is just what it sounds like, each day there is a new free game available for that 24 hour period of time only. You do have to download, unzip, and install them completely within that time frame.

They often come with links to more game offers from the publishers, but if it's a good game, it's not that big a deal. The games seem to have a huge range of quality, from ones that make me think, "No wonder it's free!" to others that were actually on my "to buy" list and are fairly mainstream.

Really, that vast range adds to the fun, since you never know what will be offered, so it's a little daily surprise. My advice is to try any that sound even slightly interesting to you, as they can be un-installed later if they turn out to not be one you like. If nothing else, you will have tried a game you might never have even heard existed before. It also seems that many retro, or retro style games show up there, which is great for gaming history buffs. I'd recommend adding it to your daily links and signing up for the news letter. They also have another site that gives out non-gaming software each day, which may also interest you.

So, Game Giveaway of the Day gets four stars, since even when a game turns out not to be fun, it's completely free. And tomorrow's game may be on your "must have" list, you never know until you look!

Farm Frenzy: Game Review

2007-12-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

Farm Frenzy is the latest game that the roommates and I are enjoying. It's a farming, time-management style game. The player buys livestock that eat grass and produce raw materials such as eggs, wool, and milk. Then these products can be converted into more profitable items through various machine stations. By completing stages you earn stars that allow you to purchase upgrades for everything from the well, truck, and storage, to machine upgrades.

You can even upgrade the bear cages, yes I said bears...Steven Colbert would be appalled. Bears do invade your farm fairly often, however there is a plus to this, catch them quickly and they become a source of money. However, if you let them wander loose they will throw your animals right off the farm.

The game quickly progresses from easy to challenging, with quirky trophies to be earned along the way. It's a lot of fun and has upbeat music. I'd give it five stars.

Here is a link to a fairly helpful tips and tricks thread:

Farm Frenzy Tips and Tricks at Gamezebo

And here's where we bought it:

Farm Frenzy at Big Fish Games