Endless Migration

Game Link = Endless Migration

Game Description
This game is about geese. You control your head of the flock with your cursor. The goal is to survive the gauntlet of airplanes, blimps, and U.F.O.’s for as long as possible, while maintaining a decent flock size by picking up stray geese. The size of your flock acts as a multiplier for your score, which is earned by staying alive. The geese in your flock try to maintain a V formation behind the flock leader, making it difficult to keep them all alive. The stray geese randomly spawn at the top of the screen, and if you do not retrieve them, they will gradually sink down through the bottom of the screen. There are two kinds of strays, Canadian geese and swans. Geese can fly as fast as your flock leader and can follow him rather quickly, while Swans don’t fly as fast, but they give you a better bonus to score. Doing well in the game gives you upgrade points, which you can use to buy abilities and upgrades for your birds in a tech tree style upgrade screen. Various achievements can also be done to gain upgrade points.

Jake:
I don’t really like geese. They break things and are somewhat aggressive. They are only around during certain times in the year but when they are in my area, I try to avoid them. once I got over the fun of smashing my goose into blimps and planes, I found that the game was pretty well made. The Upgrades page gave me the feeling of progress that I like in a game, and the Achievements menu gave me something to complete. However, once I maxed out my upgrades and did all the achievements, I quickly became bored. If there were a high score page somewhere, I think I would still be playing the game. All said, I think the game can burn a good 45 minutes before you get bored.

Dave:
Life is hard for geese, at least in this game. Life is even harder for people trying to play this game. I don’t like this game and I don’t recommend it. The game felt – well, endless. A game that is endless would not be bad if the game was fun. Take Tetris for example, it can go on forever but it’s fun so we don’t mind. This game is endless, pointless, and not fun. It got so bad I actually wanted the geese to die so the game would end.

Recommendation:
Jake – Play
Dave – Don’t Play

Plants vs. Zombies

Game Link = Plants Vs Zombies

Screen Shot

Game description:
Protect your home from zombie invasion by planting a variety of defensive plants in your yard. It’s a cute game with zombies lots of variety in the types of defensive plants and lots of upgrades with progressive levels. At it’s base it is a “protect your home” game but it also has “guns or butter” as you have to plant resource plants as well as defense plants in the same yard. Plants Vs Zombies can be purchased in stores or online for between $10 and $20.

Dave
This game was recommended to us by one of our readers so we put it on our “To do” list. I really thought the plants didn’t stand a chance but these are not the zombies of Hollywood. During the one hour of free play offered by the free download (time bomb ware) the zombies never really posed a threat to my home as they stumbled across my yard and were shot at by pea shooters during the day and mushrooms by night. I suspect that later levels would pose more of a challenge.

The game was faced paced, easy to learn and it introduced new things on each level to keep me interested. I don’t think this game is worth $20 but if you can find it on sale somewhere for around $10 then it feels like a good value.

Jake
I thought that a variety of things combined to make it funny.

• First, The name sounded good.
• Second, the zombie variations were entertaining, as some would wear traffic cones on their heads for increased protection, or pole vaulting zombies that launch themselves over any first line plants you have.
• Third, If you survive about three rounds a guy named Crazy Dave (not Dave the game reviewer for CGR) will come talk to you and start special events (Zombie Bowling) give you game advice on basic game play, or simply give you objectives to the effect of ‘collect ____ many coins and I’ll sell you something cool’

I like zombies. I like funny games. I don’t think its worth twenty dollars, but I found a deal and am going to buy it for $10. Even so, this funny game about zombies is very well done, and whether or not you like your steaks as such, I think it’s the best kind of game.

Recommendation
Jake – Play (at least the free hour)
Dave – Play

Duck – Think Outside The Flock

Game Link – Duck – Think Outside the Flock

Description:
Use your mouse and figure out what you are suppose to do with the plastic ducks. Each time you figure out the puzzle a new puzzle involving ducks is presented to you. There are no instructions and no error messages. You progress to the next level only when the puzzle you are on is solved.

Screen Shot:

Dave:
It’s a little like “This Is The Only Level” only more fun. They do not re-assign your keys on each puzzle. The puzzles are interesting but not captivating. The game merits a few minutes play but not a whole hour. It’s the kind of game you can add to your browser favorites and whittle away a few minutes while waiting for coffee to brew, or your girl friend to stop talking, or maybe during a commercial break. Since they save where you left off (the save will not work if you move from computer to computer) you can keep progressing levels even after you quit.

Jake:
I thought this game was funny, though I may simply be partial to plastic ducks. The combination of ducks, silly puzzles, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker music combine to make me smile the entire time I played it. The challenges range from memory games to find which one is different to tic tac toe. This game held my attention the entire time I played, but it has no replay value. I could not stand playing through the puzzles again, mostly because I knew exactly how to do it. If you play the game, like it, and recommend it to a friend, don’t tell him much more than I told you, or you will have killed the game for him.

Recommendations:
Jake – Play
Dave – Play

Epic War 3

Game Link = Epic War 3

 Game Description:

A sideways scrolling real time strategy game where the objective is to fight your way through the opponents army and destroy his castle.

 The game begins by selecting a hero. You are presented with a map and you have control of a few of the castles on the map. Through a series of battles, some defensive and some offensive you will conquer the world. Each time a castle is conquered you control a little bit more of the map, you make money and your hero becomes more powerful.

 Unit types are represented by cards which you equip before battle, this give you control over what types of units you have during battle. The units can be upgraded. Units are the standard Dungeons and Dragons type creatures. There are also skill cards, things like healing or a lightning bolt which are not units but also appear in the game. The skill cards can also be upgraded. After you beat one game, the expanded version is unlocked. This includes the aptly named Cave of Trials, where you attempt to unlock a super card such as the “Funky Disko Demon”.

 At the end of each fight, you get to see your scorecard, which tells you how much money and hero experience you earned from killing enemies. Its also possible to earn a bonus to both if your hero stays alive throughout the fight.

 Screen Shot:

Dave:
I hated this game at first. It started too easy, I was rolling over enemies, taking down castles and controlling territory on the map with ease. The side scrolling graphics allow very little strategy. You can advance and retreat and that is the extent of maneuverability.

After several battles, and several upgrades, things started to get hard and I started to lose a few battles. It became clear to me that I was missing something in the strategy of the game. When in doubt read the help screens. It turns out that you can control which characters fall back and which ones advance. In particular, keeping the hero alive is critical, sometimes he needs to fall back and heal up.

I almost quit on this game but I wanted to give it a fair review so I kept at it and found it to be an OK game. This is the kind of game you can play for an hour, maybe two, be done with it for a few days and then come back to it. If you don’t expect much you won’t be disappointed.

Jake:
As the name indicates, this game is the sequel of a sequel. The first epic war game was very long winded and extremely frustrating. The second one was much better. I expected more of the same from this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. The third is faster still, and it has some very critical differences. The castle archer was banished, and the cost to create units was reduced to a spawn time. The storyline was entirely ditched in favor of a skirmish set up. A hero was also added. For most of the game, the most powerful unit is your hero. This is until you first get a game breaking epic unit as described in the introduction.

            I liked this game because it jumped straight into the action, it had no storyline, and it only has one line to attack down. In other online RTS games, you may have to manage as many as five fights at the same time. In Epic War 3, the battle as a whole is rather easily managed, and it allows you to customize your unit mix. I disliked the hero survival bonus, because the hero is a hard guy to keep alive. He’s always charging ahead, challenging great monsters, and doing heroically suicidal things.

Recommendation:
Dave – Play
Jake – Play

Somersault

Game Link  = Somersault

Game Description:
Finishing in second place in the 2008 European Innovative Games Award Somersault involves drawing a line, or paddle, across the screen along the trajectory of a bouncing creature to move it from one place to another gathering points and achieving objectives. Quick thinking and quick reflexes are needed to maximize your score.

Screen Shot

Dave
It was a 108 MB download. My first impression was “This is going to be a little too cute for me”. It’s a rough job but someone has to do it so I played it anyway. The first level was a well crafted tutorial, it told me everything I needed to know as I needed it. The second level demonstrated the game designers have a little bit of a dark side when an alien was unleashed on the cute tree dwellers world and I had to bounce my way out or get caught. Took me two tries to escape but I made it. Now I’m ready to really enjoy the game.
That’s when I hit the wall. Pay $15 to play the rest of the levels. I’m not above paying $15 for a game, but not this game. I didn’t see enough to make me want to give them money.

Jake
It was extremely cute. Little trajectory rainbows show up when the little thing ( I think It’s a squirrel)  is in motion, and if you draw your paddle in the trajectory, it shows you where the guy is going to go. I enjoyed the game, but found the sample levels extremely short and rather easy, too much so. I don’t want to pay them fifteen dollars for more of the same.

Recommendation
Dave – Don’t Play
Jake – Don’t Play

Pinch Hitter 2

Link to Game = Pinch Hitter 2

Game Description:
Pinch Hitter is a game where you are supposed to hit a ball in a manner that achieves certain objectives. To swing, you click your mouse. To aim where you are going to swing, you move your mouse. In the screenshot, the objective for that session was to hit back to back home runs. After four successful games in the sandlot, you move on to the little league. After four successful games in the little league, you move on to the Major league. The pitcher throws only strikes, but he puts every ball in a different place. It is possible to see where the ball will come in the half second before you have to swing, but it’s very tricky.

Screen Shot

Jake:
I don’t consider myself a sports fan, but I did enjoy this game. As I played the game, I noticed that whenever missed the ball or it was caught out, my character said something along the lines of ‘Oh No!’ or ‘Darn It!’ The voice is like an Alvin and the Chipmunks thing, all high pitched, and I laughed out loud when I figured out what my guy was saying. I tried for at least fifteen minutes to break the window shown in the screenshot, but I couldn’t ever quite hit the glass. I could only get to the fourth level, the last Sandlot game, but I don’t think that its impossible to beat the game.

Dave:
I feel very inadequate. It took around 25 tries over two days to get through the second level on this game. Getting ten hits in a row with no strikes or caught balls seemed like an insurmountable barrier to me. Would I ever get out of the sandlot? Would I ever get to the Little League? You’ll be proud to know that I did get to the Little League. The field is much nicer than the sandlot and the pitches were much faster.

I like this game. There are lots of little interesting touches like the fan fare of hitting a home run and the sound of the ball hitting a brick wall or a fence, the sound of the bat hitting the ball, and the batter makes little event appropriate comments. The game has the distinct feel that if you watch the ball and swing at the right time in the right place you really can place the ball.

Recommendation:
Jake – Play
Dave – Play

This Is The Only Level

Link = This Is The Only Level

 Description
Your mission is to move the elephant from one side of the screen to the other. There are traps on the way and if you touch them your elephant will die instantly. There is only one map but the creative mind of the developer has devised an amazing number of ways to move through that one map.

 Screen Shot

Dave:
They say there is only one level and I guess that is true in a way. There is only one map to navigate your elephant through. Each time you get the elephant from point A to point B the rules on how he moves changes. So, rather than changing the map they change the rules for gravity and the elephant falls faster or slower. They change the rules for how the arrow keys work. Sometimes you can use your mouse to move the elephant and sometimes you can’t. It’s like having checkers and a checker board and having 50 different ways you can play checkers.

All this is pretty creative right? This is where personal taste kicks in. If you like games where you have to discover what the rules are (because they don’t tell you what the rules are each time they change) then you will love this game. I do not like to discover the rules. Pressing keys, watching the screen, and trying to understand what you are doing over and over again frustrates me.

Jake:
I hated this game. I played all thirty levels, (they really are levels I don’t care what they say) figured out every thing within twenty seconds, and still, I hated it. The designer has ridiculous requirements, such as going to the credits page to unlock a certain level (not stage) and requiring you to refresh the page and continue the game in order to get the little door up.

Recommendation
Dave – Don’t Play
Jake – DON’T PLAY

Icicle Climb

Icicle Climb

Game Description
Your mission is to bounce on a trampoline and throw icicles into an ice wall. You need to throw each icicle so that the penguin next to the wall can climb up on the icicle and climb the wall like a ladder. The trick is to space the icicles out far enough to cover a good distance without being so high the penguin can’t jump up to the next step.

Screen Shot

Dave
Easy controls and excellent graphics combine to make this free game fun and interesting. This is one of many Yetisports games, all of them are good but some of them are great. This one isn’t great but it’s better than good.

It’s strange but it’s fun to be in control of a Yeti hurling icicles at a wall while bouncing on a trampoline. The icicles make a satisfying thump as they hit the wall and there are other little details through out the game that make it worth playing.

Jake:
I find the game very simple, yet deceptively hard. It is almost impossible to hit that exact right spot. The Yeti frequently jump different distances, making precise aim difficult. It’s so easy to look at it and say ‘That is so lame, can you get it right?’ but once you are the guy playing, you figure out how hard it really is.

Recommendation:
Dave – PLAY
Jake – PLAY

I Hate Traffic

Link = I Hate Traffic

Game Description
Your mission is to drive a vehicle in such a way as to meet the given objective for the level. For example, you may be asked to cause up to three but no more than four wrecks. A game that teaches puzzle solving skills while encouraging reckless driving. I Hate Traffic will make you remember why you hate to drive cars on a computer using arrow keys.

Screen Shot 

Reviews
Dave
The goal of the introduction is to write a description that does not give away what the reviewers think of the game. I admit, I wrote the intro and I could not write it neutral. I hate the game. Don’t get me wrong, wrecking cars in a computer game can be a lot of fun*. Wrecking cars in creative ways can be even more fun. This game had a lot going for it and failed because the cars are hard to control and the missions are frequently difficult to understand. I don’t mind failing a mission because I can’t get the task completed but when I have to crash six times just to understand what the mission was I draw the line.

*NOTE: We here at Cheap Game Review do not endorse any kind of dangerous driving in the real world. We believe that all reckless driving should be done on computers and not with real cars.

Jake:
I enjoyed the game a great deal. I thought that the situations that were given were at once challenging and funny. Dave also did not play the full game. There is an excellent map editor in the game that lets you create extremely tricky maps that only you can solve, or you can just create a huge mess of bumper cars on ice with some explosives randomly thrown in.
Yet another thing that Dave did not see was a list of possible achievements, which range from creating a wreck that involves 200+ collisions to driving a traffic cone. My biggest annoyance with the game is the extremely short looped music. It is decent acoustic guitar music, but the loop is only 7 seconds in length. I find this fact insignificant as you can turn it off if it gets annoying.

Recommendation
Dave – Don’t Play
Jake  – Play

Vector Conflict The Siege

Link = Vector Conflict The Siege
Screens

Tutorial:

One of the vehicles that will try to destroy you.

Shop:

Upgrade or Repair Your Base

Fight:

Jake
Vector Conflict has a minimal storyline, but the gameplay is rather good. The graphics are simple line drawings. If you aren’t careful, you can find yourself overwhelmed by little blue suicide bots and other outlines. At the end of each level, you are given access to an upgrades menu. The available upgrades range from more missiles to resource upgrades. The key feature is the swivel turret. You will be attacked from all four sides, and you will need to use the “a” and “d” keys to help you target and eliminate enemies.

Pros:

• The difficulty increases steadily as you go through levels.
• The gameplay makes enough sense that it becomes natural to turn and fire your turret
• Simple concept: kill these robots before they kill you.

Cons:

• Graphics amount to outlines with red, blue or green lines.
• On any harder level than easy, the stealth tanks are also invisible on your screen.

Dave
Vector Conflict is like other base defense games going all the way back to Space Invaders (click Here to play). There are two nice additions to the genre:
The ability to rotate the gun 360 degrees (like Incoming without the good graphics)
In between waves of attackers you can purchase repairs and upgrades.

The line drawn graphics get the job done, the tutorials are actually helpful, the music is droning and repetitive. Over all this game is a first rate time waster.

Rating (on a “play” or “don’t play” scale)
Jake – PLAY
Dave – PLAY