Bad grammar throughout the tutorials

Magic Ludo is based upon a classic board game simply called Ludo.  There are two modes of play in Magic Ludo.  There’s challenge mode and casual mode.   Challenge mode embarks you on game play through 13 levels of competition against the CPU.  Level 1 of Challenge mode is a tutorial that teaches you the traditional Classic rules of Ludo on the classic board.  As you progress through the levels you’ll be introduced to the Chinese and African variants as well.  You’ll play through tutorials to learn the rules of these variants as well as being introduced to 2 new game boards.  As you progress through the levels you’ll encounter different challenges, which means the object of the game isn’t always to get your entire team of pawns home first.  Sometimes you just need to get a certain amount of kills to your opponent players (land on the same square your opponent occupies) or perform certain actions that are based upon the rules of the game.

More Bad grammar throughout the tutorials

Casual play offers you the option to choose Classic, Chinese or African based game variants and which board you’d like to play them on (Classic, Chinese, and Tower).  Casual mode offers you several missions within each of these game types that you must complete in order to unlock new missions.

The rules of Ludo are simple.  Each player gets their turn at rolling the die in a clockwise fashion.  A player can only move a player out of start with the roll of a 6.  Rolling a 6 also affords you a free roll of the die thereafter.  In Classic mode when you land on a space already being occupied, you kill that opponent and send them back to start.  You can also jump opponent pieces in your way to play out your turn.  Your main objective in Classic mode is to get your entire team of pawns home.  For instance in Chinese mode, you can stack, or group if you will, your pawns together if you land on the same spot another one of your pawns occupies.  This makes you more invulnerable as you cannot be jumped or killed by a lesser amount of pawns.  So, if you stack 3 pawns together, you cannot be killed or jumped by an opponent with a group of 2.  African mode is similar to Chinese mode as far as stacking your pawns.  The difference is that you can kill a stack of 2 or 3 pawns, but you sacrifice yourself back to start.  If you kill a stack of 2 with your single pawn, your pawn gets sent back to start and they lose one pawn as well.  Another difference is that stacks move slower throughout the board.  If you roll a 6 you can only move 3 spaces.  Basically, you divide what you rolled by 2 and round up.

After 100 rounds and I'm stuck at start with no pieces at home! Grrrr!

Magic Ludo is a great if you like fast-paced casual gaming.  What you will discover is how annoyed you will get by the cheap moves of your CPU opponents.  If an opponent is behind you, expect to have your piece killed and sent home 99.9% of the time.  Expect that it make take 20+ rolls of the die before you even can get a pawn out of start.  Some of the challenges are difficult to achieve and it just takes repeated attempt after repeated attempt to complete.  You’ll constantly find yourself feeling cheated over and over again, but that’s just bad programming practice if you ask me.

There’s also no music to soothe your nerves when the game is getting you down.  And believe me it will.  You’ll also notice the bad grammar during the tutorial levels.  I was fortunate enough to still understand the gist of what’s going on.  Another feature that would’ve made the experience cooler would’ve been the ability to roll the die by shaking the iPhone/iPod Touch.  I guess you can’t have it all, right?

The plus side of Magic Ludo is that it’s free from the App Store.  This is achieved by the rolling in-game ads, but they do not hinder your experience at all.  There’s no other version to purchase that doesn’t encompass ads so, deal with it.  Another plus to Magic Ludo is the ability to expand your game play experience.  For those that can’t absolutely get enough of Magic Ludo – you can download bonus levels beyond the original 13.  You can also opt to purchase an “unlocking” of all the locked levels, so that you don’t have to endure certain challenges.  Having access and download extra content from within the app itself is a plus.

Magic Ludo is available for free and how can you go wrong with that?  Give it a shot and you may find that you’ll actually pass hours away while engaged in completing the challenges that await.

By TeLeKiNeSiS

Remember the wooden game Labyrinth?  Where you guided the small steel marble through the maze by tilting the board?  Well, if you’re old enough to remember – Balloon In a Box will have you going through the same motions.  You assume the role of a, you guessed it, helium filled balloon inside of a crazed maze full of obstacles to overcome.  What you may notice upon loading of the game is the Unity splash screen.  Unity is a game engine that’s capable of creating not only iPhone games, but 360 and PC games as well.  FYI, there’s a free version of this engine available if you’re aspiring to create your own games.

Balloon In a Box offers two unique modes of gameplay.  First is “Box” mode, which offers ten increasingly difficult levels per skill level.  The next mode is “Maze” and it’s simply just randomly created mazes with an option to select from small, medium, and large.  There are no obstacles in this mode, just make your way to the finish as fast as you can.  I began my BIAB journey with “Box” mode at the easy skill level.  You’ll have to work your way through 10 levels before you can unlock medium and the same goes for unlocking the hard.  You will effortlessly make your way through the first few levels with no problem at all.  I was thinking to myself that these mazes are a piece of cake! That was until they threw the obstacles into play.  In the latter levels of BIAB you’ll encounter fans that blow you off course, shooting arrows that want to prick and pop you, along with spiky nail walls to impede your progress.  The good news is that Balloon In a Box makes excellent use of the iPhone’s accelerometer, so the controls are very responsive and pretty accurate.  The more you tilt your iPhone, the faster you go in that direction.  If you level your device out, you’ll slow down the balloon and can even completely halt movement.  This comes in handy when you have to time your movements just right to ease by walls of nails and arrow riddled hallways.

Balloon In a Box is great for the casual gamer who wants to pick up and play right away.  On the other hand, it can be very frustrating when you encounter a difficult puzzle.  In addition to the many obstacles that hinder your progress you also have button switches that open and close different paths.  You never know if you’re opening or closing the correct path to the finish.  This makes it even more challenging because you may not have explored that area just yet.  Any area of a maze that you haven’t explored remains dark until you travel that path.  This can be annoying at times because some of the panels that make the wall of the maze are black and you can mistake it for a dead end.  No need to panic because BIAB offers a tantalizing classical musical score that seems to soothe your gaming woes.  It reminds me of a song that could’ve been part of the play The Nutcracker.  Even with such a great score to play to, I’ve come to learn that the best practice for repeatedly failed attempts at a level is to take a break from the game and try again later.  You’ll be glad you did.

Another thing you’ll notice about BIAB is that it isn’t the most polished iPhone game available.  That’s quite alright because Balloon In a Box makes up for it with casual and simplistic fun gameplay.  It’s a great way to kill time on a bus, train, or while traveling on a plane.  If you want a quick gaming fix that won’t require a great deal of time then Balloon In a Box is great for that.  Not to mention the game is great for those of all ages.  The concepts are easy to pickup and learn in just a short period of time.  I know quite a few people that allow their children to take advantage of their iPhone or iPod Touch and this game is sure to please.

Balloon In a Box at first glance may not be that appealing to the masses, but it’s worth a go.  It’s only $0.99 in the App Store and that’s definitely worth the enjoyment that you’ll receive trying to conquer all the levels.  If you’re into puzzle games and you’re the casual gamer that likes a quick fix then Balloon In a Box should satisfy your craving!

By TeLeKiNeSiS