One of the main issues of playing online with friends is the organising. Here at Midlife Gamer we have the forum, but what if someone doesn’t frequent it? Texts are great but pretty useless for group communication. Twitter and Facebook are handy but not everyone wants to have social networking tools grasp it’s fingers around their lives.

A solution for this issue could be in the form of a recently launched smartphone app, WEWANA:PLAY. This ingenious little application takes the hassle out of trying to coordinate across various methods of communication and tries to put it all under one roof.

After downloading the app and registering your account you can start adding your friends. There’s handy buttons to invite folks that you think would interested too, you can do this via text message or on Facebook.

When you want to organise a session you hit the ‘Create Event’ button. This allows you to choose the game you want to play, plus set the day and time. Once you’ve done this select ‘Invite Friends’ and pick those who you want to play with.

Doing this sends out a push notification to all those you’ve invited and they have a choice of accepting or rejecting your invitation and their decision is sent as a notification back to organiser. There’s also a comment wall for any discussion (or trash talk) and, again, all invited will get notified of anything posted on there. The app will also let everyone know of any changes to the event, for example if it’s been put back an hour due to some unplanned real-life event.

In my opinion the push notifications are what sells the app. While others have tried to integrate the social side of your gaming network with your mobile handset, for example Xbox Smartglass, there’s always been a lack of instant updates for things like messages and the much touted Beacon feature is pretty much next to useless. WEWANA:PLAY takes the idea of these two features, adds in more and makes it all work instantly.

It’s very early days for WEWANA:PLAY, and it’s still in a beta phase, but there’s certainly a huge amount of promise in this app. In the few weeks I’ve had it installed on my Android phone there’s been several updates, all of which have brought new features or refinements. The developers have big plans for the future and have announcements lined up to push it to a bigger stage and I’m really excited to see how it matures in time. Next up in their plans is to push Steam integration to the app and testing is already going on so expect this feature to launch soon.

WEWANA:PLAY is currently available on Android and iOS, with Windows Phone, Blackberry and a web based client on the way.

It’s a free to play game with micro-transactions and I’ve spent more than a few days with my 6 year old daughter playing it. She certainly liked it a lot more than I did and she certainly seemed to understand what was going on a lot more than I did.

Gnome Homes sees you initially digging a burrow to house Hairy after his Mother announces that it is time for him to leave home. It’s tough being a gnome. The lengthy tutorial stage walks you through the steps needed to set up a home with a couple of rooms, a chair and a bed. Add more beds and you can invite other Gnomes to move in with you. You’ll also have to manage resources such as water and plants and leaves and pets and mushrooms and oh does the list go on.

Like a 2D version of those Facebook ‘Ville games, you earn different types of currencies. The one you want to earn is acorns. You’ll never have enough of those. You’ll earn a few for completing missions, like collecting water from the well, or picking the leaves off dandelions. Tap on the well when it’s ready to give you a drop of water and with an excited “I’ll get that!” Hairy will very slowly trundle off from wherever he is to fetch a drop of water.

The games looped soundtrack consists of a twee mandolin tune that probably sounds like a Mumford and Sons B side, if I’d ever heard a Mumford and Sons B side; and if there was still such a thing as a B side. You can of course turn it down, or better still turn it off. The fact that Hairy’s voice is more Joe Pasquale than Brian Blessed will also have you reaching for that mute button.

A lot of time is spent waiting for things to grow before you can move on. There are little timer bars showing you that there are 4 real time minutes left until a mushroom grows for example. As with the majority of these games, this is where that in-game currency comes in as you can spend them to complete the mushroom growing, or any other tasks that you are too impatient to wait for, instantly. If I am honest some of the timings for the tasks are a little long in comparison to other games in the freemium market

As I mentioned earlier, there are in game micro-transactions that allow you to purchase more acorns. One hundred will cost you about 70p, 1200 will cost you around £7. So not hugely expensive, it’s all down to how much you enjoy playing or how much time you have available to play it. As with all games that follow this model, as the player, you are either time rich or money rich and it’s up to you how you want to play it. It’s not cheating to pay for acorns, there are no advantages other than the game is quicker to progress.

After a while you start seeing the benefits of playing this title on the iPad. As you gain more and more tasks to complete the screen on the iPhone quickly becomes cluttered and less responsive. This makes the time to complete a task even longer and in frustration I was very tempted to purchase more acorns just so I could finish building that bed for my new flatmate.

In conclusion it’s not a terrible game, and with the exception of a little bit of lag it’s perfectly stable, it’s never actually crashed and my daughter really likes it. Personally I think that that my daughter is the target market but for me, it is a boring game, one that purposely drags its heels, only too keen to speed up if you shell out for some acorns.

With so many freemium titles on the market where the flow and speed of the game isn’t affected by not purchasing in game currency, a game that feels like that it deliberately handicaps itself in this way until you hand over cold hard cash leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Or it’s all those dandelion leaves.

MLG Rating: 4/10 Platform: iOS Release Date: 31/10/2012

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of Gnome Homes for review purposes. The title was reviewed over the course of 2 weeks on an iPhone. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Before I begin I have a call to arms for you, the Midlife Gamer Community. If you have spotted something great that costs nothing, think we have missed something or have a recommendation for the Classic Freebie section then why give me your suggestion at simon@midlifegamer.net

Now that is out the way, what a week we have for you this week. We go back to one of my first loves, guess the song in our classic of the week, get tricky and, thanks to Uncle Fista, welcome you to my new crack like addiction. But first up, how about some old-school pinball.

You all remember pinball, no not the flashy stand up units that will have Uncle Fista and Godd Todd waxing lyrical but the old old-school ones. The ones with a spring launcher and 4mm pin nails hammered into them. Thanks to Pinball Kid you can recreate your youth as they bring the digital form of the original pinball machine to iOS.

It’s a simple concept, a set number of balls wait in the queue before dropping down to the launch chute where you ping them into the main gaming “arena” Tap and hold to build up power and release to launch. The goal is simple, launch each ball into one of the cups and build up your score.

Pinball Kid looks and plays like a retro pinball game and with the amazing board titles of Rocktopus, Antroid and Zombeaver it’s hard not to love this game.

Occasionally whilst trawling through the App Store I pick up a game and fall in love with it instantly (see Puzzle Craft for details). Other times people recommend them to me. What I have learned over the last 12 months is if I get an email from Uncle Fista with “recommendation” in the subject field it means we have the latest Tiny Tower-esque crack addiction on our hands.

And indeed we do. Allow me to introduce Candy Crack Saga. Sorry I mean Candy Crush Saga.

There is an abundance of match 3 games on various format all clamouring for your attention but none are more engaging and, at times, infuriating than Candy Crush Saga. It bombards you with cute graphics, its sickly sweet with its colours and characters. But, it is so testing it will keep you entertained and occupied for ages – I even passed up on an evening with Saints Row 3 this week just to attempt to find the solution to the level I was stuck on.

The first few levels are simple enough and help you get used to the various dynamics and powers involved in the game but that is only to lull you into a false sense of security and infuriate you even more when you get stuck, and you will get stuck.

First up you have lives, five of them to be exact and if you fail at a level you lose one. At which point they start regenerating at a rate of one every 30 minutes. So even you get really stuck and lose all your lives another one will be along shortly.

Secondly, the placement of the candies at the start of each level is completely random so you never know if you will be dealt a good board or an absolute nightmare. Match three of the candies and they will explode allowing the screen to fill up with new ones but that’s not all.

Match four to generate a sugary bomb that will detonate a full line either horizontally or vertically, while five will create a sweet with apparent sherbet fizz which zaps all of one selected colour off the board.

Making T-shapes and L-shapes will generate an explosive candy bomb that destroys a three by three grid twice over. Whilst combining these special sweeties will give various massive effects – which is essential to beating some levels.

Levels are arranged into various types, some much harder than others. Simple point scoring levels are mixed nicely with ingredient collecting levels and jelly popping stages. Just to be extra tough each level has its own specific number of moves. Some can be completed with loads of moves spare, which instigates the “Sugar Crush” finale, while later in the game you’ll be wondering why there isn’t one extra move available.

Patience and lots of luck all play a part in Candy Crush Saga, now if you would excuse me I have just gained a life and I’m going to have another go at that level I have been stuck on for three days now.

Godamn stupid sweetie game, ok sorry, I’m back. Where was I? Oh yes.

Tricky Shot is an entertaining but casual game that allows you to go back to a time when you used to play headers and volleys with your mates against a brick wall. More specifically the showboating aspect. Using your finger to flick a virtual soccer ball at specific targets, such as glass bottles, signs, and items hanging from clotheslines you will build up your score before progressing to the next stage and an even trickier shot. Obviously, accuracy is important, but most scenarios allow you to continue kicking and flicking the ball as much as necessary until it comes to a stop. With whacky sound effects and Year of Shamer Jayce Stokes sitting at the top of the High Score table, just waiting to be knocked off, can you really afford to not download this entertaining little game?

When I was looking for a title I had in mind for the Midlife Gamer Guess The Cover Forum Thread I came across an excellent like app for your PC.

C64 Forever has been released for a while but it had never crossed my path, until now. At first glance it looks like a collection of games with an emulator or front end GUI but there is much more to it.

If you are new to the C64 or emulation then C64 Forever is the perfect way to dip your toe into the water. The interface makes getting a game up and running as easy as playing an MP3.

The free “express” edition comes with over 20 games from my childhood such as Split Personalities, Manic Miner, Big Mac and Falcon Pursuit to name but four and if you wish to lay your hard earned cash to the developer they will furnish you with a collection of over 100 games.

If you have held back from emulation in the past due to concerns over copyright issues, you’ll be happy to know that the developer not only has the rights to use the Commodore BIOS files for emulation, but also the permission to distribute all of the included games that come with their software. While the collection of 100+ games and utilities included in C64 Forever are by no means comprehensive, it is large enough to keep you entertained for a long time.

The Classic

This week’s classic is Song Pop. A simple, multiple choice music quiz game that challenged everyone to prove who had the best song identification skills. Available on iOS, Android and Facebook all three versions are able to compete against each other thanks to Facebook connectivity or the SongPop username system.

When starting a new challenge, players choose a playlist of songs which their questions will be based on, and are then played five song clips during which they must identify either the title or the artist as quickly as possible. Points are scored if the answer was correct, with bonus points being awarded if the player was quick to respond as well as if they correctly answer several questions in a row. As the player scores points, they earn progress towards five “stars” in a playlist, with new songs in the playlist unlocking when each star is filled.

Once the player has answered the five questions, the challenge is then sent to the other player at which point they answer the very same questions with the goal of outscoring their opponent. After all is said and done, the scores are totalled and a winner is declared. The winner is then awarded three coins whilst the loser is given a consolation of a single coin.

These coins can be saved up to purchase “power-up” items such as shuffling their playlist choices or removing two songs. The most popular use of these coins is to purchase new playlists.

Song Pop is a simple idea that is implemented very well. “Name That Tune”-style games are easy enough for anyone to understand, and the musical styles covered in the various playlists provide a wide variety of material suitable for all ages.

That’s it for this week folks, Stay tuned to Midlife Gamer next week for more gratis gaming.

Whoever came up with the saying “you get what you pay for” obviously never made it to Midlife Gamer on a Friday.

So what do we have this week? We take on a carnival side stall, die a lot, revisit a classic freebie and watch some TV.

But first up, we have another reason to join PlayStation Plus.

Almost every edition of Freebie Friday seems to mention Sony at some point recently and when they announced that the following game would be one of Februarys additions to the Instant Game Collection it was a given that they would be mentioned again this week.

Coming in at number nine in the Midlife Gamer Community Awards 2012, Sleeping Dogs was the sleeper hit of 2012.

Taking you deep into the violent criminal underworld of the neon lit Hong Kong, you take on the role of an undercover cop looking to take down the triads from within. Taking part in criminal activities from drug deals to cock fighting you have to prove yourself as you make a name for yourself in the criminal organisation. All the while making sure that you don’t blow your cover.

Secondly, we have all the fun of the fair with Can Knockdown on iOS.

The idea is a simple one, throw balls at a stack of cans on a shelf with the aim of knocking them all down. Actually managing to knock all of the cans off the shelf in one throw is where the challenge lies.

Starting off with 5 balls, the task is made gradually harder by the addition of cans and the fact that you lose every ball you use that does not clear the level. When you are on your final ball you are praying that the next level either has a free ball can or an exploding can so that you can prolong your eventual failure.

However each time you do clear the level in a single throw you are granted an ever increasing multiplier for the next level to aid you in your attempt to hit the ridiculous scores achieved by Foxhounder and Discobeaver (2,441 & 1,419 respectively).

Have a few minutes spare? The why not go on a dungeon crawl?

Dungelot takes the main aspect of a rogue-like and slots them neatly into a fun and enjoyable toilet sitting time killer.

At the start of each delve into the dungeon world you select your character, all with a variety of perks to aid them in the exploration of the dungeons. Tapping on the tiles that make up the dungeon in a minesweeper fashion you could reveal an empty space, treasure, stat boosting items or a monster. How you tackle your findings is completely up to you but as you delve deeper and deeper into the dungeons then the complexity increases.

Dungelot understands the mindset of a superb roguelike and therefore death is still death, When you die – after you receive your congratulations for doing so from the game – you lose everything you have earned bar a few pieces of gold, which you can then use to power up your hero for his next run.

The addiction of getting a little deeper on each run and the agony of making the wrong choice only to die before you get there will keep you coming back for more .

The Classic

About 12 months, Painjunkie, Uncle Fista and I were addicted to a simple app that is still going strong today. That App was Magic Piano.

Now available on both iOS and Android. Magic Piano is a simple game, with notes dropping down from the top of the screen for you to “tap” them once they reach the play bar in the centre of the screen ensuring both your positioning and timing of hitting the notes makes this title a fun little challenge and is a perfect app for fans of rhythm games

You start off with a handful on songs but there are hundreds that you can purchase for the in game currency Smoola. Smoola can be obtained by either levelling up thoughout the game, making a purchase of Smoola from the App store or, if you are a fan of TapJoy, by downloading other apps.

Our final recommendation this week was alluded to briefly in our recent review for the Eye TV Mobile adapter; TVCatchUp is a streaming service that brings live free-to-air to your web connected device of choice.

Whether there is some breaking news you want the full details on or just want to watch your favourite programme whilst your bus is stuck in rush hour traffic, few apps stream a live picture as well as TVCatchUp.

The app also works well if you need to do things away from the TV. Need to cook dinner? Just boot up the app, take your device to the kitchen and carry on watching your programme without interruption.

That’s all for this week folks. If you have spotted something great that costs nothing, think we have missed something or have a recommendation for the Classic Freebie section then why not get in touch via the Forum messaging system

Each level presents you with an isometric viewpoint of your surroundings which is made up of different building structures and busy roads with cars and lorries going about their daily business. These unsuspecting motorists and their vehicles are about to help you complete your missions.

You’ll do this by making the cars career off their set paths and smash into the various structures. You have a selection of tools to aid you in this task, for example oil slicks that make vehicles slide, glue that pulls cars in a particular direction or cows that, well, explode.

The physics aspect comes into play as the buildings have no pre-set animation routines. How, and if, it falls depends on where you hit it and from what angle. Take out just one corner and you’ll see it wobble away. Smash through the entire side of the ground floor and it’ll soon start tumbling down into a satisfying heap. You’ll quickly realise that it’s possible to set off chain reactions to get through the levels; a car smashes into a building which falls onto an exploding cow which in turn detonates a conveniently placed gas tank and, in a cascade of demolition, brings down another building.

Graphically there’s a distinct ‘last gen’ feel to it, especially in how the buildings textures turn into a murky mess while they fall. The bright and cartoony style does cover the shortcomings somewhat and I wouldn’t describe the graphics as unpleasant, unlike the sound. Throughout the levels a very short and repetitive score plays and within 20 minutes it was driving me absolutely insane.

Demolition Inc. isn’t a particularly long or difficult game. While a few levels may take a couple of goes, you get the hang of the vehicle patterns quite quickly, the majority of the game can be breezed through with ease. While the Rampage mode may add a degree of longevity, it’s not going to be something that repeatedly pulls you back into the game.

While Demolition Inc. is a fun game I feel like it’s much better suited to a mobile or tablet device than it is to the TV screen, and indeed there are versions available for Android and iPhone. This kind of short level length pick up and play gameplay is perfect to jump into when you have a few spare minutes, not so much when you have to commandeer the family TV.

There’s also an issue of price point. The Android currently retails at £1.59 while the PS3 version would set you back £7.99. While there are a few more levels and the graphics are somewhat improved, that’s quite a considerable leap.

As a result I’d say by all means pick up Demolition Inc. for a bit of destructive fun, especially if you’re a fan of demolition games, but stick with the mobile version if possible.

MLG Rating: 6/10 Platform: PSN / PC / iOS / Android Release Date: 12/12/12

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of Demolition Inc for review purposes by the promoter. The title was reviewed over the course of one week on a PlayStation 3. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

I like pinball. No,  I love pinball. My deep affection for the silver ball spans both real tables (I own one) and virtual ones (I own many). So when I was given the opportunity to review a gizmo that could potentially bridge the gap between the two, I jumped at the chance.

Enter Discovery Bay Games latest addition to their “Duo” series with their Duo Pinball “appcessory” (their words, not mine) for iOS in partnership with Gameprom, creators of the Pinball HD series. Their product is pitched as a pinball controller designed to deliver a more tactile pinball experience. So let’s take a look.

First up we have the obligatory promo video, featuring a young man enjoying his Duo Pinball experience with gusto, accompanied by gasps of amazement and even an “air grab”. All this goes on under the watchful eye of  an accompanying young woman. Her relationship with the young man is unclear. While she doesn’t get any hands on experience herself, it would appear that she shares his over-enthusiasm, and one can only guess at what magical things happened once the camera stopped rolling. Oh Marketing!

So let’s get down to it and see if my experience matches that of our lovely couple.

What’s in the box?

Inside the packaging is the Duo Pinball controller featuring a recess for an iPad, two flipper buttons and a plunger. Three AA batteries and an instruction manual are also included to get you started right out of the box.

Setup

A surprisingly simple process. Throw in the batteries and a small blue light indicates that the Duo Pinball is on and ready to go. It’s worth noting that the Duo Pinball has no On/Off button or switch. It powers down after 5 minutes of inactivity and can be awoken with the press of either flipper button or a tug on the plunger. Delving into my iPad settings I switched on the Bluetooth and paired the two together in less than a minute. If not already done so this is as good a time as any to download Pinball HD Collection from the App Store. This weighs in at 340MB and features 10 tables, which can be unlocked via in-app purchase.

According to the blurb in the manual the act of pairing the Duo Pinball via Bluetooth automatically unlocks five of the tables, Wild West, The Deep, Jungle Style, Snow Pinball and DaVinci, to play for free. I had already purchased these tables prior to reviewing this product so I can’t speak to how the magic happens. The process of attaching the iPad was equally painless, with adjustable tabs on the left and right side designed to hold your device securely in place. The Duo Pinball also pairs with the iPad mini, iPhone and iPod Touch, but lacks the ability to hold the devices in place. Maybe an adaptor could have been developed and included to accommodate the rest of the Apple family, but that’s just an observation and maybe wishful thinking on my part.

The Experience

Build quality is decent, although a little plasticky compared to the luscious iPad it cradles. Once seated the iPad feels very secure and the rubber feet ensure that there’s little danger of the assembled franken-pinball table sliding about. It’s primarily designed for table-top use but can be seated comfortably in your lap or even held in your hands, although prolonged play may make the latter option uncomfortable at some point.

My first observation on launching my first ball of my first game is that there is an amount of input lag with the plunger. Not a deal breaker by any means but I was a little disappointed by this. I was far more impressed by the flipper response, with little or no input lag as the on screen flippers danced in time with my fingers. While the flipper buttons are not identical to real ones, they’re a good representation with enough travel on them to have you immersed in the experience in no time. Even a quick light tap would “feather” the flipper as it would on a real table, but the game’s engine doesn’t currently appear to be able to discern this when flinging your ball around the virtual table. Regardless this was a welcomed discovery and certainly scored an authenticity point.

The act of nudging is handled by an on-screen tap, which I felt was adequate enough, given that nudging is something that touch screen pinball games always seem to struggle to get right. I was even able to perform the controversial but immensely gratifying  “Death Save”  (bringing the ball back into play from an outlane drain) with far more control and frequency than I’ve experienced with Pinball HD before. I even found that I was surpassing my previous high scores on many tables with ease, although you could argue that I was just getting better acquainted with the tables. As I continued to play it occurred to me that the immersive experience promised appeared to be holding true. I won’t lie to you. I wasn’t expecting to have as much fun with the Duo Pinball as I did, but a fun and engaging time I had nonetheless.

The Rub

Here it is. There are a few things that I’m struggling with where the Duo Pinball is concerned. Firstly, the price. With an RRP of £49.95 you’d be hard pushed to justify this kind of money on what boils down to a Bluetooth cradle with a few buttons that converts your iPad into something more like a mini pinball table, and even with that immersive step up, your mileage may vary depending on your expectations. If this was priced at £20 less, you’d have less of a hard time justifying a purchase, but as it stands it rests firmly in the “extravagance” space, as some would argue is the same position the iPad it is designed to work with sits.

What’s more bemusing is the fact that the Duo Pinball only works exclusively with one App with a handful of tables. And while Pinball HD is a decent virtual pinball game there are better pinball games on the App Store, such as The Pinball Arcade and Zen Pinball. Looking at other products in the “Duo” series it’s clear that Discovery Bay Games follow a business model around app exclusivity. The reason for this is only known to them. Maybe Apple have some say in the matter. Who knows? One thing is clear though. Marketing and selling a premium priced product, for a single App in an already niche genre is going to be an uphill struggle for any company.

With these factors considered I find it hard to recommend the Duo Pinball to anybody but die-hard pinball fanatics with a desire for a more authentic experience, who are willing to pay the premium and accept the incomprehensible compatibility limitations. For everyone else? Enjoy your broader catalogue of perfectly acceptable and in some cases superior pinball games with a touch screen as intended, and keep an eye on the bargain bins for your chance to pick up your very own “air grab” moment.

MLG Rating: 6/10 Platform: iOS Release Date: 21/11/2012

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a Duo Pinball for review purposes by the promoter. The product was reviewed over the course of one week using a 3rd Gen iPad. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Upon starting the game, you are treated to a charming little comic strip that tells the tortilla thin tale of a bull-headed (literally) beefcake wrestler who is mysteriously and magically grabbed in to a bag of gummy bears and made to grapple with a monster jawbreaker for the amusement of a baying crowd of gelatinous ursines.

Deciding that he wishes to control his own fate, our hero takes it upon himself to slingshot out of the wrestling ring, using the gummies he crashes into on the way for momentum.

A spinning meter determines the strength of the shot you launch our unfortunate bison, and you press the spinner at the time you think is best.  A bonus section of the wheel, which launches bison into the afore-mentioned jawbreaker, gives a significant boost to speed and power.

Money is earned by distance travelled and gummies bounced upon. Crucially, you spend this money on a variety of unlocks and upgrades which lends the game its central addictive feature, giving the player a feeling of levelling up subsequent runs.  These purchases can be made in order to aid the quality of your launch and unlockable boosts such as more money earned per gummies trounced, increased strength of slingshot and further opportunities to use a rocket bounce mechanic. You also unlock the appearance of gummies which when hit give you beneficial power –ups. Amongst these are orange gummies on pogos, from which you can steal the sticks for a bouncing boost, and pink hang gliding ones that you take the flight-aiding wings from, giving you much further to travel.

These upgrades start off very cheap, but are levelled and become increasingly expensive as you progress. Coin packs are available and thankfully unobtrusive and unnecessary throughout. At 69p to 6.99, it seems fair to throw a little money the developer’s way, and certainly justifies the amount of time I played the game, and paying up certainly seems like more of a shortcut than a necessity.

A couple of negatives seemingly restrictive to the launching genre in particular, hold the game back. There is an element of randomness to the gummies you encounter, and sometimes there is the feeling that progress is out of your control, leading to a little frustration. Also, there appears to only be the one level to sling bison into the air, and whilst the background changes to signify how far you have travelled, the lack of variety is noticeable after a while.

Despite this, Burrito Bison is fun launching game with a bright, colourful and cartoony art-style and a catchy mariachi style soundtrack throughout which doesn’t seem to grate despite it repetition. It is certainly a fun time waster, with a little more character than most, and a varied upgrade system to encourage an oddly addictive loop of wanting to see how far you can get Bison with further unlocks. Definitely worth checking out.

MLG Rating: 7/10 Platform: iOS  Release Date: Out Now

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer obtained a copy of Burrito Bison for free from the App Store . The title was reviewed over the course of 2 days on an iOS device. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

What we aim to bring to you is the very best in zero cost gaming whether this be a free smartphone game, free dlc or a game related app.  If it’s free and we’ve been playing it you will more than likely find it here.

First up is Extreme Road Trip 2.

If you haven’t heard your iOS device go mental this week with people posting their scores then you have probably lost it. Based on my device I think the world and their dog have been playing this game.

The concept is a simple one; you’re in a car and you are continually travelling in a forward direction.  In front of you is an endless path of hills and valleys.  You have to control your vehicle until you either a) run out of fuel or b) land without your wheels touching some part of the ground.

The controls are simple: as you launch into the air from reaching the peak of a hill or by hitting a mine you perform tricks and stunts by utilising a right and left button which makes your car flip clockwise or anticlockwise respectively.

When you successfully complete a trick you are rewarded with a small nitro boost, the size of which is dependent on the complexity of the trick you performed. Whilst you are travelling on the nitro boost you are not using your limited fuel tank and this is the main social aspect of Extreme Road Trip 2 – travel as far as possible on a single tank of fuel in the car you have chosen. The competitive aspect is driven home by ghost cars of everyone that is on your game centre that has played the game.

Along the way there are various pickups such as additional fuel and coins which can be used for upgrades or even a new car.

Here is what the Midlife Gamer Community had to say about the game

“I’ve never encountered a game that is as thoroughly addictive and fun to play. The controls are absolutely spot on, and there’s something sublime about racing alongside Game Centre friends doing crazy flips. The best way to drain your device’s battery right now!” – The creator of the addiction, Uncle Fista

“Better than Curiosity.” – Uninterested in tapping, Type40Dashboxer

“It’s Tiny Wings with a nitrous injection, coupled with a very rewarding progression system. “ – Year of Shamer, JayceStokes

“16bit gaming recreated in iOS form, it’s simple, addictive and most importantly it’s FUN!” – Top of the charts, Welsh Benno

“…my IPhone rings like a Xmas tree” – Driving on the wrong side, Oli

“What do you get if you cross Trials HD with Moon Buggy and add into the mix a range of collectibles, a levelling system and multiple leader boards courtesy of Gamer Centre, with a just one more go hook? Only the best god darned 69p you’re likely to spend on an iOS game!” – So impressed he wants to pay for it, Lethal G Man

“You know it’s a good iOS title when it makes me go and turn off Game Centre notifications”- Enemy of Spam, Mantis Matt

Extreme Road Trip 2 is one of those games that has the “just one more go” hook completely nailed and is perfect for both commuting and toilet gaming; just don’t blame us if you miss your stop or fall over because of a lack of circulation in your legs.

Honourable Mentions

Our first honourable mention this Friday goes to Puzzle Craft.  Recently reviewed here at Midlife Gamer, this title has been reduced to a free title for an unspecified, limited period.

When Puzzle Craft was reviewed last month we said that it was a genuine contender for iOS game of the year so go check it out.

Finally our second honourable mention is for Dragon Island Blue. To celebrate the development of Hunter Island on Facebook; ZigZaGames are making Dragon Island Blue a free title for a limited period from the 17th November.

The game is a cross between Pokemon and Shining Force and is quickly establishing itself as a firm favourite amongst RPG fans.

You play as Harry, who has an obsession with candy. Rumours of a city lost in time, where each house contains an abundance of sweets, but is protected by an assortment of villians, such as a vampire lord, ghosts, werewolves and witches. You are tasked with guiding Harry through this town, to gather as much candy as possible and get away with his loot.

This game has a very simple mechanic that works exceptionally well. Touching a point on the screen will make Harry move automatically to that point. You have to guide Harry through multiple floors of the house, utilising doors between each floor, collecting the candy while avoiding the line of sight of the enemies in the game.

The enemies are simplistic, moving from left to right and back again, and they can also travel to other floors via the doors on each level. The enemies have a good deal of variety, with each having a different speed at which they move, and with special abilities such as the ability to change their speed, the ability to transfer levels without utilising the doors, or even the ability to change direction instantaneously. As such, this is an easy game to play, and even to complete, but to get the three candy score on each level will require a good deal of skill and luck, and can offer up a good deal of replayability.

Intervening levels, just to add some variance, are also set out as a Match game, requiring you to match candies and monsters hidden behind a series of doors.

The difficulty levels ramp up in various ways, with more floors being added, more enemies per level, and even changing the standard set up of the doors, where initially the doors are colour coded so you know on which floor you will arrive, the doors in later levels are identical, requiring you to memorise the door exit locations to ensure you are not caught.

Spooky treats is a simple, entertaining game, which although does not attempt to reinvent the wheel, does a satsifactory job of keeping you amused.

This is a family friendly game, and is clearly aimed at kids of all ages. If you have been looking for a simple puzzler to whittle away a few hours, I would highly recommend picking up this nice little title.

MLG Rating: 7/10 Platform: iOS Release Date: 31/10/2012

Disclosure: Midlife Gamer were provided a digital copy of Spooky Treats for review purposes. The title was reviewed over the course of 5 day on an iPod Touch. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

Now how can you describe Puzzle Craft, well it’s basically a love affair between a match three puzzler and a town building sim with the unexpected pregnancy of a few RPG elements thrown in as well.

Your main goal in Puzzle Craft is to build up your small tiny Hamlet into the kingdom of all kingdoms through the two main types of manual labour – mining and farming.  Every couple of hours your “Main Hall” building collects taxes from the area which you then use to pay workers to either mine or farm.

When you farm you have to harvest Wheat, Grass, Pigs, Chickens, Trees and Carrots using a tracing method made popular in Dungeon Raid.  You are given 24  turns (2 for every month of the year) in which you have to harvest as much of everything as you possibly can.

With the items you harvest you can make tools such as rakes, and compost and axes which are basically power ups for the following farming year which can be used to collect certain items dependant on the tool.  For example Rakes will collect all grass that is on the screen.

Farming also allows you to generate food, which you can then use to purchase turns in the mines.  In the mines the same trace to match game occurs but instead of wheat and grass, you have dirt, rock and iron which allow you to build even better and bigger tools as well as allow you to create silver and gold.

Both games are simple to begin with but as you level up more and more challenges are put in your path. Rats that eat your grass and wolfs that attack your chickens in the farming area and the risk of letting too much gas accumulate in the mines which causes a cave in and limits the number of workable squares you have due to the rubble it leaves behind.

If that wasn’t addictive enough for the toilet gamers amongst us then Puzzle Craft takes the “just one more go” aspect one step further and introduces the town building aspect of the game.  With enough food and iron you can build a cottage.  With a cottage you can hire some more workers.  When you hire workers you get a reduction in how many tiles you need to collect to make a set. Less tiles needed = a more bountiful harvest which means more food and tools that you can take to the mines.  This means you come out of the mines with a lot more materials which means you can build bigger buildings which means……well I guess you get the idea.

Even though the option to make in-game purchases is available, I never once felt that I had to make that purchase as the game trundled along at a good steady pace.  I never once felt that I had to stop in order for my money to build up before I could continue.  In fact I lost an entire evening to this game a couple of days ago and I have lost the circulation in my legs from sitting on the toilet too long on more than five occasions this week.

The fun of Puzzle Crack, sorry I mean Puzzle Craft is empathised  in the presentation. The hand drawn characters have an amazing amount of detail in them.  The background music is nothing short of catchy and I dare you not to want to buy more workers after they arrive in your bustling area with a George Takei style “Hellllllllllllooooooooooooo”.

Puzzle Craft is not only one of the most addictive, fun and entertaining puzzle games I have played in a very long time, it is also great value for money at 69p and even though it is a late entry it is still very much a contender for my iOS Game of The Year.

MLG Rating: 9/10 Platform: iOS Release Date: Out Now

Disclosure: Puzzle Craft was purchased by SiStevens. The title was reviewed over the course of a week on an iPhone. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.