[Game review] Pixels Defense (Android) (2015)

This game was tested on a Lenovo A10 tablet.

A gameplay video of Pixels Defense. (TouchArcade / Bandai Namco)

Pixels Defense is a short and easy Tower Defense game which is loosely based on the movie Pixels.

In the game, you help the protagonists from the movie (Sam Brenner, President Will Cooper, Ludlow Lamonsoff, Toru Iwatani and Lady Lisa) protect the cities New York, London, Paris and Sydney from the invading aliens (which have taken the forms of various video game characters from classic arcade games of the 80s).

Despite the fact that the game only had 12 levels, the dialogues sometimes came in wrong places, and it was sometimes difficult to control the protagonists, I enjoyed the game as much as I enjoyed watching Pixels.

In fact, Pixels Defense has become my favourite game developed by Bandai Namco!

Unfortunately, the game can't be played on either iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus.

Score:

[Game review] Sonic Runners (Android) (2015)

The game (version 1.1.1.) is tested on Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus.

Sonic Runners Teaser Trailer (SEGA)

Taking place after Sonic Colors, Dr. Eggman (known in the first games as Dr. Robotnik) has once again started to kidnap innocent animals (a plot similar to earlier Sonic-games). Sonic and his friends must go and rescue their friends and defeat Dr. Eggman - one more time.

What do I think of the game?

I'm a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan and I love playing Sonic Dash - a free-to-play endless runner game - on my iPad 2. So when I learned that Sonic Runners would be another endless runner, I was very astonished. But there are (big) differences between these two games.

While Sonic Dash (developed by Hardlight) is a 3D (sort of 'third person') endless runner similar to Temple Run, Sonic Runners (developed by Sonic Team) is an endless side-scroller.

Sonic Runners can't be played offline (which is a huge disadvantage) and unfortunately, this is not the game's only problem. It takes too long for the game to connect to its servers, and the loading times are too long.

When I played Sonic Runners the first time and had to type in a username, for some reason it took time (too long!) to open up the virtual keyboard. This made me think the game had frozen.

It was possible to play the tutorial missions (although with some lags) but afterwards, it was impossible to play the game. Because of the many 'pop-up' advertisements, the game suffered from constant crashes.

So on a Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus, the game isn't playable at all!

Otherwise, Sonic Runners would have been a great mobile game title if everything worked. The animated characters (based on the post-Sonic Adventures era) look great as usual and the game is a nostalgia trip back to first Sonic-games developed by Sonic Team. I'm not too fond of the modern Sonic-music - I still prefer the classics such as the theme for Green Hill Zone (found in the first game for Sega Mega Drive in 1991).

There's one good thing with the game though. Since you're forced to register in order to play the game, it's possible to 'transfer' your progress to other devices. So hopefully you'll find one device where Sonic Runners is fully playable.

But for now - if you own a Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus - avoid this game until it gets fixed (if Sonic Team decides to fix it at all).

Score:

(To know how I rate mobile games and movies, please read about it here.)

How I rate mobile games and movies

(Please note that the content of this post may be revised in the future.)

(To understand why I prefer to write reviews on my blog instead of directly on Google Play, please read about it here.)

To make it simple, I'll use the universal 5-star rating system:

5*: Excellent

4*: Very good

3*: Average

2*: Bad

1*: Should be avoided at all costs

I'll also apply half stars if needed.

How do I rate mobile games?

I play with either an Apple iPad 2 or a Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus (GT-S7580). I rate mobile games after:

1. The possibility to play the game offline

Let's face it. If the game requires a constant Internet connection, it's impossible to play it unless you have access to free Wi-Fi or are ready to pay for a data plan.

Personally I think games should be able to be played offline no matter where you are - if you're in a tunnel while riding a train, camping in the woods or simply spending your time at a location with bad Internet connection.

One acceptable exception would be if a daily present/gift requires an online connection.

2. Controls

Self-explanatory. Is it easy to control the character and access the menus?

3. The Plot

An important part of my game experience. Is the plot interesting enough to make me want to play this game until the end?

4. Graphics

It's quite obvious: Whether a game uses 2D sprites or 3D models, it must be good to be looking at.

But I won't comment so much if the textures are good or bad. I'm rating mobile games after all, and we should expect that mobile games can't be as beautiful as their console or PC counterparts. And we can't expect all of the 3D characters to be able to move their jaws in a realistic way, can we?

5. Sound and music

Another obvious fact: Not only a game needs to look good, we must bear with the sounds and background music, don't you agree?

Classic java games for old cellphones can't play sounds and background music together at the same time, but games for modern (smart)phones can.

5. Multiplayer experience

In case I play a game where multiplayer exists. I'll rate it as well. I'll comment if the multiplayer session works, if it's balanced or unfair and if the game lags or not.

6. The possibility to share savefiles between platforms

If you get a new device, is it possible to transfer the savefiles from the old one to the new one? Or do you have to restart the game from the beginning?

7. The possibility to record a gameplay session

I bet that many of you want to record yourselves playing a game and developers sometimes include this feature in their apps, but not always.

Is this feature worth your time or not? That's the question.

8. My overall experience

The most important part of the review. Is the gameplay good or bad, despite the game having an interesting plot, great graphics, music and multiplayer experience?

How do I rate movies?

My movie reviews will be easier (and perhaps shorter) than my mobile game reviews.

In my movie reviews I'll give you my overall experience based on

1. the choice of actors (appearance and how they act their roles)
2. music (if it fits the setting)
3. the plot (if I think it's logical or not)
4. the 3D experience (if applicable; will I get a real 3D experience with my 3D glasses, or is just a gimmick?)

Why don't I rate a 'real' console game or PC game? 

That's because I'm too busy nowadays. I haven't touched any of them for a long time. If I play a PC game, it usually will be Champions Online (a free-to-play massive multiplayer online superhero roleplaying game by Cryptic Studios) since I rarely buy new games.

But mobile games however, that's another story. I can play them anywhere. Sometimes I think a mobile game title can as good as its bigger counterparts.

But I won't leave out the console and PC games completely: If there are news about them on other gaming websites which I find interesting, I'll share my thoughts with you on my blog.

Will you write reviews of every mobile game?

Actually, I won't because I don't have time and because I can't afford to buy every title. Instead I'll only focus on free-to-play mobile games which belong to or are spin-offs of famous franchises.

Why do I only rate movies shown at cinemas?

I don't have time to watch movies often, I'm afraid. And I don't think you're interested in my opinions of older movies which you (may) already have watched.

Why I've decided to write reviews on my blog instead of directly on Google Play

The famous
Google Play badge

One of the reasons I started this blog (besides running my YouTube-channel Stormtrooper Sverige) is to share with you my thoughts of (mobile) games and movies I've watched. At the moment I'll only cover movies still being shown at cinemas.

I've written a few reviews of mobile games found on Google Play in the past. While it's possible to write how much you want in a Google Play-review of an app or a movie, I don't think the space offered by Google is good enough because of two things:

1. Formatting is impossible

As you may have discovered, I'm not fond of too much text without spaces. It looks like a forest of words and it makes the whole text difficult for me to read. I prefer texts divided in sections with some space between them.

This is impossible to do in a Google Play-review: No matter how hard I try, Google Play always puts all of the sentences behind each other.

2. Only the first sentences in a long review will appear (on a handheld device)

I experienced this when I wrote a long text about why I dislike Spider-Man Unlimited. This is a huge problem since other Google Play-users won't be able to read my full reviews on their handheld Android-devices. At the moment, it's only possible to read full texts if you're browsing through Google Play with a personal computer.

Please note that this isn't 'just another entertainment-blog' written by a private person for the Internet. And it won't be a blog where I speculate rumours (e.g. possible plots) about movies and (mobile) games. It's simply a blog about me and my daily experiences, either online or offline.

Although I've just started this blog recently, I hope you've enjoyed following it so far. If you like my blog and my YouTube-channel, please subscribe to them and comment on my videos and blog posts. It means a lot to me and encourages me to continue sharing things with you.

(If you're new to the blog and don't know why I dislike Spider-Man Unlimited, you may read it here.)