Clouds & Sheep (Android)

Device: Samsung Sidekick 4G

 

Quick Glance

Have your CV's ready for updating because Clouds & Sheep will have you taking on the roles of multiple occupations. Doctor, weatherman and even cupid are just a few of the titles you will self-proclaim whilst taking care of a very emotional herd of sheep. This review will see if its clear skies or, a lot of dark clouds up ahead for this android title.

Released onto the market during mid-summer, Clouds & Sheep burst onto the scene at a perfect time to display its vibrant and playful artwork. Handy Games aims to have the player reaching for the stars (literally) in an attempt to find a new feel for farming games across the market.

Background

Backed with a total of 22 games under their belt, will this game be the 'black sheep' stand out from the competition or, will this bundle of wool simply muddle in with the rest?

Design

Starting the game I was taken through a rather lengthy tutorial which failed to offer a skip button. It was surprising considering that the general tutorial content can be viewed before the start of the game by clicking on the help button located on the Main Menu. Nevertheless now that I was a whiz kid in sheep care 101 it was time to get stuck in and manage my very own herd.

Stationed in the centre of the screen is your very own patch of land where your emotionally crazy sheep may graze, sleep, play, fall in love, introduce new-borns, fall ill and possibly die. It is also on this part of land sign posts, animated with red exclamation marks, located at the bottom of the screen appear to issue tasks.

 

Clouds & Sheep adopts a 'baby-step' approach when it comes to assigning tasks. This means with no difficulty setting, the game delivers easy challenges to begin with then slowly increases to a challenging level.

 

I believe this has been done to ease players into the game and keep them constantly feeling a sense of achievement when accomplishing a challenge. However, users seeking an instant challenge may not feel fully content with the wool on offer.

 

Completing tasks will generate stars, once enough have been collected they can be used to purchase items from the in-game shop. Another way in which to grab some stars is to ensure that your individual sheep are happy. Sound easy? It would be if you didn't have to play as a psychiatrist! These emotionally crazy sheep will have you catering to their every need to ensure there is a smile of their face.

 

By incorporating an element of emotions it gives the game a stand out factor to its competition. I spent a good amount of time trying to find a balance for maintaining a happy herd. Nevertheless when all else fails I was able to throw my sheep up in the sky a number of times which will put a smile back on their faces. Comical at first but can feel repetitive when you constantly see the same distress calls coming from the herd.

 

By incorporating two different types of sheep it gives the game an edge. When a heart floats up and hits a white cloud a normal sheep is born. However, if the heart hits a thunder cloud then a black sheep is born and has the ability to let off bursts of lightning harming all the beloved sheep around it.

 

This feature of new-born creation enjoyment was countered by frustration. There were numerous occasions when a perfectly still cloud would suddenly move towards the heart in the sky. Now to have a mass of normal sheep is one thing, but when this happens and causes multiple lightning sheep to be created, then just like the sheep my emotions fell.

 

With a shopping option I was able to enhance my level of play time with the sheep and the customization of the patch of land. The feature that I found the best was the ability to brand your sheep giving them names. I used this to name just one or two of my sheep and it can give a more personal feel for the game besides, wasn't a baby lamb on your list as a pet for Christmas?

 

Gameplay

The game relies on the cloud system to ensure that the sheep stay warm, water the ground to allow grass to grow, create puddles for the sheep to drink or, if in a thunder cloud ignite a camp fire. The feature works well allowing me to group multiple clouds together to form a rain cloud simply by dragging them close.

 

Unfortunately this didn't always work so well having me swiping at the screen constantly until the game recognised two clouds together and merged them. Alternatively the clouds are able to be separated by holding your finger on top and moving left to right.

 

With the seemingly never ending requests for food and drink from the herd, it was nice to know that if I needed a few extra clouds I could simply use the sheers from the shop, tap on a sheep and watch their wool float into the sky to form a cloud.

 

The life cycle of the sheep is one out of the norm but is definitely worth a mention. They are made from clouds, fall to the land and when they die they will then return to clouds in the sky. It’s a nice outlook on life allowing the game to be enjoyed by the younger audience.

 

One downfall was with the placement of some objects, after being placed on the floor they were unable to be moved. No matter how many times I tried to tap, hold and drag nothing was moving. This became a problem and unfortunately resulted in death for one sheep because it was stuck in a corner.

 

Luckily it was a branded sheep which meant that rather than forming a cloud a tomb stone is placed just outside my patch of land in respects. It also meant I was able to revive this particular sheep again increasing the bond factor a player could possibly have with a sheep.

 

My biggest upset however came from the over extended usage of advertisement. This unfortunately played a heavy role in making me put the game down and stop playing after a while. There was times where in the game it would countdown for the advert to appear on the screen. Other situations I clicked on the in-game shop to purchase some flower seeds and was then shown a VIDEO ADVERTISEMENT!

 

Presentation

I was pleased with the way that Clouds & Sheep had displayed the objects in the patch of land. With a subtle outline but a distinguishing border they are clear to see over colours that could possibly make it difficult. The entire game flows with regards to presentation, there are no sections which would make you think why is this here.

 

The music used is a joyful beat and had me humming along after just a few plays. The in-game sound effects play justice to the actions being performed, all is of a 'cartoony' nature and had me laughing and smiling when certain actions took place.

 

I liked the layout of the HUD system, it is very minimal and easy to understand allowing the main focus to stay situated on the sheep. The simple tap and use feature for the items selected from the shop played a role in making the game run at a steady pace. The animations used for either displaying sheepish affections or even simply motoring their mouths away at grass makes the game stand out to any other animal management game on the market.

 

Conclusion

Handy Games offers the option to either pay to remove adverts or a free way which will include you downloading another game. I understand that advertisements are a part of games these days, I am not disputing that, I just hope they reduce the amount they use.

 

Other than that it would be nice to see some other elements incorporated into the game that could possibly allow the player to take particular sheep out to complete one on one tasks such as jumping fences, bouncing on clouds etc just to break up the repetitive motion.

 

All in all this is a game that I found to be pleasing for a brief period but not something I could see myself hanging on to for the long run. It is better suited to people who perhaps want to relax and tap away after a long day at work with a cup of tea. As for more frequent gamers I would recommend a different animal management game that could offer a bit more of a challenge.

 

Game Rating 7.6

Design 8.0

Gameplay 6.6

Presentation 8.3

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Big Win Football (Android)

Device: Samsung Sidekick 4G

Quick Glance

Big Win Football is a fresh 1^st down in a free American football game market that is close to going 3 and out! In this game review we will look at if Hothead has managed to go long for a touchdown or have pulled up short with inches to grasp.

Background Check

Hothead has published an American football game in the same style as some of their other well-known titles. Big Win Baseball, Big Win Soccer and Big Win Hockey are the other names that have already made their mark with the same ‘card-team-build’ method of play. However, is it worth the 10 yards?

Released in mid-autumn of this month Big Win Football came at a prime time due to its conjunction with the NFL kicking off. This meant that users hoping to play an American football simulated game were able to be hands on and take to the field early into the season.

Design

The game begins with a tutorial that enables the user to get comfortable with the game as soon as it starts. This takes the user through the fundamentals of what will be needed in order to work their way through the game in order to build a team and compete for a trophy.

The cards feature if this game is essential and is used to build your squad. You will need to use coins or notes your team obtains and purchase either players, contracts, special abilities (big impact) or skills (big boosts). The cards used in the game will often have a value of bronze, silver, gold or platinum.

This is a nice twist to having a standard simulation football game. By incorporating this feature it means the user will have to be playing financial analyst trying to determine a suitable spending spree that will benefit the team to victory.

However, I found that there was a fair amount of time purchasing cards in order to get a player who is prebuilt with a skill that is balanced. It was apparent that I found numerous linemen with mainly speed when I would need ‘strength’ to block or, a kicker who is stacked with ‘foot power’ but no room for a ‘vision’ skill to allow him to hit the target.

Nevertheless eventually you will have different cards collected and they can be put into play by selecting on the My Team button. Here you will see a complete line-up of your squad, offensive, defensive and special teams. This gives you the chance to make substitutions, uniform changes, give additional skills to players of your choice, and check player stats and team history.

Unfortunately once applied you cannot remove the skill which means that choices will have to be made with care. I found this feature to be a fun tactical feature to begin with but became tired of holding out to pick up an ‘agility’ skill card.

With your line up established and abilities set you can go ahead and chose from three game options; Daily Big Bowl, Friends Big Bowl and Quick Game. The name says it for itself, a Quick Game will match you up with a random opponent also connected into the game. Before kicking off you have the option to applying three big impact cards.

These impact cards are used to try and tip the game in your favor and for the most part it will lead to an exciting battle between both teams when you see your special ability being put into use. However I played some games where even playing three gold standard impact cards I would be losing to an opponent not playing any cards.

Another enjoyable feature is the ability to play against friends. It did not take me long at all to configure this part of the game however if you are the type of person who likes playing with strong opponents they met online, good luck!

There is no friends list or anything along these lines meaning there is no way to communicate with potential future opponents. So unless you have friends that are willing to download the game you will not be using this Friends Big Bowl feature very often.

The final feature is the Daily Big Bowl, here you will compete in 12 games and gain the best record in order to make it to the top to win a daily trophy. I discovered that it takes 3 games to qualify into a league then the other opponents will appear with their W-L-D records.

I continued to play people that were not in the same league but this is not really much problem because landing top of the table is the main priority.

Gameplay

The main focus of Big Win Football is the match ups and I felt that they were executed to some degree of satisfaction. I have played other Big Win games and have noticed in the past I would be competing against players two or three levels above or below my own. This is not a factor in Big Win Football, the game does a good job at keeping the level differential minimal between opponents.

I felt that the game was constructed to give a perspective of a coach. I was able to manipulate my team to a way in which I wanted but then had to hope for the best as I have no actual control over the players. Therefore in my opinion this game is not for gamers who are seeking the next free version of EA Madden Mobile.

Unfortunately I found a number of times that there would be a ‘Big Win Error’ where connectivity has been lost even though I am in perfect coverage. This doesn't happen enough to put you fully off the game but it happened to me enough to take a break and come back to it later.

I was able to do so because the Daily Big Bowl once integrated gives the user approx. 12 hours in order to complete all 12 games which is more than enough time.

The game has a nice smooth running and there is no delay between each play. The A.I of the players in your roster is surprisingly high I found. There clock management skill is good however, I found my team 3^rd and inches, 4^th quatar, down by 3, 30 seconds on the clock and they decide to punt…….. Enough said!

Regardless of some bad moments the game makes for an enjoyable play. I found myself glued to the screen cheering, shouting and gasping most times as I immersed into the game.

Presentation

I am pleased to say that this is a well-polished game. It shows that a strong level of effort and determination to deliver a high quality game has gone into the production for Big Win Football. Even though there is a strong resemblance to Wii avatars Hothead games manage to tear away from the other free American football games and holds their head high and proud with the artwork and user interface layout.

As for the audio used I found myself humming the background music for many days since playing the game. I liked the blend of brief in-game music between plays and the brief and enthusiastic comments when a first down, touchdown, fumble etc. is made.

Conclusion

I would say that Big Win Football checks all the boxes for a user who wants to take control of an American football team, customise the players’ names, skillset and play like a coach. There is the added bonus of getting uniforms that pose a strikingly strong resembles to NFL teams which only adds to the excitement. 

The game gives the user to play as intense or laid back as they wish by giving daily rewards and the opportunity to generate more notes to buy cards by purchasing using real money. Therefore I would say this game does in fact get the touchdown and should be downloaded.

Game Rating 7.7
Design 7.8
Gameplay 7.0
Presentation 8.5

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