BitLife

BitLife
     Ever wanted to play SIMS but without all the graphics?  Ever miss the days of text based games like Legend of the Red Dragon?  This incredibly fun and addictive game allows you to take control of lives immediately after birth and make all of their important life decisions leading up to their inevitable death.  Rinse and repeat...

     I'm not entirely sure why I downloaded this initially.  I'd never heard anything about it but when I saw it in the app store the idea of a text based game intrigued me.  I used to love text based games back in the 1990s.  I certainly was not let down with this one.

     The app has actually been updated a couple times since about a month ago when I first downloaded it, so a few of these screen shots are already out of date!  the app developers are sure on top of their game.  I really enjoy loading it up and seeing what new options they've added in.

     The app is really simple.  Users press the New Life button to begin a new journey and boom!  Instant origin story.  The app gives you a random set of parents (Or sometimes a single parent), a place of birth, a gender, siblings (Or sometimes no siblings) etc.  Your parents and siblings have their own characteristics such as how religious or generous they are, how much money they earn, their occupation, etc.  The app even tells you exactly how you were conceived which can often be quite funny.

     Every year you can make several choices and interact with your family (And later with people you enter a relationship with), but the first few years have very limited choice making as you are still a baby.  I would very much encourage you to avoid fighting anyone before age 10 if possible.  The amount of times I have died in my youth by engaging in simple squabbling with my siblings, I can not even tell you.  I even got murdered at age 7 by my two year old brother... Murdered by a two year old!  this game really throws some curve balls...

     Your character can get sick from time to time which means you should take them to the doctor.  this is free until you are no longer under the care of your parents (IE graduate).  After this point you have to foot the bill so you might want to try saving up for emergencies.

     You have to abide by the laws of your country of origin unless you move.  Sometimes this means not being able to buy a car or drive until later years or not being allowed to date people of the same sex.  One character I decided to make a homosexual woman but I was born into a country where I could not marry the same gender so I and my girlfriend emigrated to France so we could get married.  In another life I was a gay man and I kept being arrested and put in jail for dating other men, even years after we had broken up.  I was in and out of jail a lot in that life.

     Speaking of jail... avoid it if you intend to try earning a lot of money.  Once you go to jail, for any reason or no matter how short the sentence, you will automatically not be allowed to get hired for a ton of different occupations.  You'll either have to do really low wage jobs that aren't really interesting or you'll have to lead a life of crime... I generally turn to the life of crime.  It's just more fun.

     Characters can begin a life of petty crime at a fairly young age, even before they can drive sometimes.  Stealing cars, pick pocketing and even murder are on the table.  Recently they added burglarising a house to the options.  This one requires you to play a short mini game to determine what you steal and whether or not you get caught.  As for the others, it's random but i find the more you do crime the less a chance you run of getting caught.  this could just have been my luck though.

     Stealing cars can save money and you can always sell them on the black market to earn money.  Just remember any crime you commit runs the chance of you going to jail.

     A fun story was one life I had where I lived a fairly uneventful life aside from stealing over 60 cars over my lifetime.  However, as I got closer to age 100 years I decided that for my 100th Birthday I would celebrate by committing murder.  Age 100 came and I went out to murder a random rabbi.  I tried pushing him down the stairs but he didn't die and called the police.  I bought the best lawyers and was found not guilty... No jail for me.  But I did say i would celebrate my 100th Birthday by committing murder... so I went out again and tried to murder my ex.  He fought back and beat me up pretty bad... He escaped.  Third time's the charm!  I tried to kill another ex of mine and I succeeded!  Finally finishing celebrating my murderous Birthday I went to jail.  I got an 80 year sentence.  I didn't feel like trying to escape (Which you can do when you go to jail), so I just aged up.  Year 101 of my life I died peacefully in my sleep.  Life well lived.

     Users can lead great lives, successful lives, horrible lives, etc.  I once lived a life where I had almost 20 children and we all lived together in a 1 bedroom trailer.

     Users can purchase houses and cars, go on holidays to other countries or on cruises.  There are tons of occupations to choose from as well.  You can emigrate, get plastic surgery (Even a sex change), go to the spa, sign up for a dating app, go to the gym, donate sperm, go to the club, gamble at casinos and horse tracks, play the lottery, etc.  there are so many options available you just have to keep playing to see how many combinations you can get.

     The game has achievements you can earn as well as special ribbons awarded at the end of a life on the tombstone.  the ribbons are related to the type of life lived, 'Jailbird', 'Geriatric', 'Mediocre' and 'Unlucky' are just a few ribbons users can get.  It is fun to try to collect them all.

     Find your real life boring?  This application allows you to live hundreds of more interesting lives.  I find myself really enjoying this and laughing at some of the silly things that end up happening.  I love sharing my stories with other people who play the app. and comparing my lives to theirs.  I highly recommend this app.  I even paid to remove the ads.  The ads are a minor inconvenience and don't hinder the play at all.  They aren't excessive like some apps.  I paid to remove them purely because I enjoyed the app and wanted to support the creators.
Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Seller: Candywriter, LLC
• Category: Games
• Size: 67.3 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © 2018 Candywriter, LLC

You must be at least 17 years old to download this app. Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity

A Girl Adrift

A Girl Adrift
     This is a beautiful, peaceful and relaxing game that anyone can play.  The world has flooded and you are a girl adrift in the waters of the world.  You catch fish and make trades at the occasional island such as what was once Mount Everest.  You travel around the globe completing quests, upgrading your equipment and fishing.  All the while listening to the soft sounds of the water.

     The app is pretty straight forward and doesn't shove too many things at you all at once which is great.  Sometimes learning a new app game can be stressful and confusing if there are too many things to do and remember to fully utilise all the features.  Even if you don't utilise every feature of this app, you can still enjoy playing.

     The map starts off with only a few places to visit.  More places unlock as you complete more quests.  However, you can take as long as you like to complete the quests and play at your own pace.

     The world map is at the top of your screen.  From this you can see where any active quests are.  Here you can see the islands where you can get quests or trade, as well as everyplace you have unlocked.  You can also see where any special catches are.

     A yield sign on the map means a special fish can be caught there.  Special fish are harder to catch but also drop items that can be traded at island bases.  A skull means a boss fish is there.  Bosses only appear if you have a quest relating to them currently active.  An anchor is an island base.  There are also extra areas like the roulette and the whack a mole game which give you free goodies.

     While at a base you'll likely gain or turn in quests.  However, you can also sell things fish have dropped to earn pearls.  You can use this to purchase skins.  Each island trader has a different supply of skins that relate to the country they exist in.  There are skins for your hair, costume, hat, fishing rod, boat, etc.  Each skin has a small skill that benefits you as well.

     All active quests can be seen on the left side of your app screen, though it can be hidden and revealed by tapping the plus or minus above the list.  The quests are easy.  They usually tell you to go to a certain location, catch a certain number of a specific type of fish or beat a boss fish.

     The only thing you need to do in this game is travel and fish.  You will gain more tools and skills to help you to perform these actions as you gain levels and complete quests.  You can upgrade your fishing rod, harpoon, canon, machine gun, etc to assist you in catching fish faster and doing more damage to take down bigger fish.  You can use little fire coin looking things to give you temporary boosts such as increased navigation speed or growth acceleration which boosts how much experience you get.

     The app features soft colours, white noise and day/night graphics so you know how much time has passed in the world.  The fish you encounter are fun and creative.  If you ever have trouble catching a fish just go back to an area with easier fish to catch (The later areas are harder than the earlier areas).

     There are lots of little features in the game I won't cover since this isn't a tutorial, but I think this application can be enjoyed by casual gamers without needing to learn every detail.  It isn't a competitive game, with no friends list or high score board.  It is just you and the ocean... and the fish.

     There is a shop in the app that allows you to spend money if you'd like to.  This is not needed to play or enjoy the game though.  Users can choose to purchase pearls, diamonds, potions, or mastery points to get more stuff earlier on in the game without having to gain it from quests and such.  The shop also features special skins that can only be purchased there with diamonds.  These skins change every few hours.

     I think this is a great casual game that is fun and relaxing.  It is visually attractive as well as audibly.  I love the lack of competition or recharging hearts or points or growing something that has to be checked on in a certain amount of hours.  Players can play whenever they want, for as long as they want.  The game is not constantly nagging them to come back.  I have also experienced no ads in this game at all, which is great.  I absolutely recommend this.

Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Seller: DAERI SOFT
• Category: Games
• Size: 303.8 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
• Copyright: © TeamTapas

Rated 4+

Days of Van Meowogh

Days of Van Meowogh
     Are you a fan of classical art?  Famous painters?  Do you like cats and puzzle games and adorable stories?  This is a great app for you then.  Honestly, this is one of my favourite app games that I tried in 2018.

     First things first-- the title... Clearly it is a combination of Van Gogh and the sound a cat makes (Meow).  However, as some people have trouble pronouncing Van Gogh's name, the title of this app may be a bit complicated.  I have attached a link to an article that explains how to pronounce Van Gogh's name here.  Hopefully that shall help clear up any confusion.

     One of the immediate points of the game that a new user might find appealing is the art.  Upon opening the app you get an adorable claymation intro scene.  This scene was created by Lunch Box Studios.  The intro scene can be viewed in the video below. (Not my video)



     The art within the game is equally as charming.  The soft colours add to the calming and cozy nature of the game.

     You play as Van Meowogh, a cat living alone in his former master's home with his mouse friend.  The house is in disarray and has fallen apart since the loss of Van Meowogh's master.  The bills have come due and Van Meowogh has to make ends meet while also fixing up the home to match its former glory.  How does he do this?  By painting of course.  On his journey he will meet many friends and learn many new things.

     In order to create a new painting you have to perform several puzzle levels.  Each level will serve as a piece to the full painting concept.  Once all of the pieces are in place, the painting will be completed and sold to an art dealer.  This is how you earn money in the game.

     Each puzzle is different from the last.  There are many different strategies and puzzle types to play.  Though the idea is the same.  Matching three or more of the same type of gem will create a set and take them off the board.  Though some levels require you to break blocks by matching things near them or to move objects from the top to the bottom of the puzzle board by matching things below them.

     Before you begin a level you will be told if the level is particularly challenging.  You will also have the opportunity to use any items you have gained to help you in the puzzle.  Paintbrush items and Paint bottles help you clear large amounts of gems without matching.  The cheese gives you extra moves to complete the puzzle.  Each item serves a purpose.  You can choose to purchase items with real money but if you are trying to play for free like me, use these items sparingly because you don't accumulate them very quickly.

     There is a separate set of items you can acquire that automatically is available to you within every puzzle you play on the far right side of the screen.  However, these are harder to gain than the other items so be careful not to overuse them.

        At the end of each successfully completed puzzle level you get a chance to purchase an item set.  It will add one new item to the set, based on how well you did on the last puzzle.  The maximum item types is 3.  You can choose to spend money to purchase this set, wait until your set includes better items or just ignore it entirely, as I did.

     If you fail to complete a level you can either use a heart to retry or spend cat food to gain a few more moves and go back to where you left off to see if you can beat the level.  This can come in handy if you were very close to beating the level, however, don't use this tactic frivolously.  It is best to only do this is you are facing a challenging level you have been trying to beat for several attempts or if you are playing during a Splash competition where winning several puzzles in a row gives you special benefits that make the next level you play easier.  Losing your streak during this event will take you back to the beginning with no benefits at all.  While having a streak of 3 wins or more will give you a really nice boost and make levels much easier to manage.

     The app has many events and contests fairly regularly.  There is usually one going on at any particular time.  Sometimes there are more than one happening at once.  Finishing in the top during any of these contests can gain you some really nice rewards.  Usually the top three players get a special avatar, the top ten receive clothing for Van Meowogh that they can choose to put on him.  Everyone who participates gets something though.  It also often results in new story lines to follow.

     The characters and story are a really big part of this application.  I have found myself smiling and laughing along while I read the interactions that take place.  Plus any individual who has studied art history will find themselves especially interested as many artists (in cat form) appear in this story.  I find myself especially fond of Dali the cat.  Though the interactions between Van meowogh and his mouse companion also really amuse me.

     The story takes place in chapters and new chapters are being added over time.  Many of these chapters revolve around completely renovating a room in your house.  The rooms starts out all grey with rubbish and holes and dust everywhere.  Tapping on different things within the room is fun because Van Meowogh will comment on that item.  Purchasing new things for the room has the same affect.  The cat will comment on how much he likes certain items and what reminds him of his master.  Tapping the cat himself will result in other phrases.  These usually revolve around your current place in the story.  Friends coming to visit the room can be tapped as well.

     I will briefly go over the different areas of the main screen.  

     The top left is your heart count.  5 is the maximum amount of hearts.  You can play as many levels as you want.  hearts are only used when you lose a level and wish to replay it.

     Your cat food is next to the hearts and can be used to purchase goods  in the shop which is the icon next to the cat food.  taping the cat food itself will take you to a place to purchase more cat food with real money.  However, completing a level results in 50-100 cat food per level, so this should not be necessary.

     Top right is where your coins are displayed.  Coins are used to complete parts of the story line.  You can not purchase more coins.  You must gain them through playing the game.

     Beside the coins are the settings.  Tapping this opens the settings panel.  Here you can connect your Facebook or email, change your username, toggle the notifications or language settings or view the credits.  You can also turn the sound effects and music on or off from here.

     Within the settings panel one can also view the recent news feed, access the help section, or save the QR code to share.

     Below the settings button on the main page you will see 3 more buttons.  One has a mouse on it which allows you to purchase the three special items package I mentioned earlier.  The next has an envelope.  This is your mail section which includes friend requests, any items sent to you and hearts sent to you from friends.  if you run out of hearts you can come here to get more (Provided you have friends who send you hearts).

     The third button is your friends section.  It has the list of your current friends as well as a way to search for new friends, invite or request.  You can send hearts to all of your friends through this panel as well.  The second tab in this section has suggestions if you wish to add more friends.  Lastly the profile is located here where you can change your avatar, edit your name, copy your user ID or connect your Facebook account.

     Any currently active contests/events are on the left side of the main screen.  Tapping these will help you access them.  Different events have different rules.

     On the bottom of the main screen you can access the story.  You pay a fee for each section from the coins you earned through play.  From there you read through the interactions and the story progresses.  You can view past chapters, paintings you have completed, friends you have made and anything you collected from special events through the story panel.

     The only buttons left on the main screen are a hanger which you use to wear any new clothing you have gained.  You can change this up any time you like.  It has no affect on anything and is purely just aesthetic. And the far right bottom tab shows you what level you are on and allows you to play that level by clicking it.

     This game is adorable and can be quite addictive.  I found myself playing it a lot.  I loved reading the story, meeting new characters and doing the puzzles.  The competition aspect also really felt like a reason to keep playing as well.  Though I found during this that fewer people seem to be playing than I would have imagined.  This app has been out for a year and I found it very easy to get into the top 10 of any event.  This application needs more love!  I highly recommend it.  I honestly found absolutely no faults in it.

Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Seller: Cocone Corporation
• Category: Games
• Size: 181.5 MB
• Languages: English, French, German, Japanese, korean, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese
• Copyright: © Cocone

Rated 4+

Zombies, Run!

Zombies, Run!
     Have you ever wanted to start a morning jogging routine but you just can't seem to work up the motivation?  Well, nothing motivates more than a horde of zombies chasing you!
     Zombies, Run is a fun app game that helps you get that motivation to work out while also entertaining you with a fun radio play style story line where you are 'Runner 5' in Abel township and it is your job to help collect supplies and keep the zombies away from the home base.
     I have been playing with this app for a few months now and I really enjoy it.  Nothing is more dull than walking in complete silence, and music can get dull for me after a while.  I have to walk to school or to the market often enough so this app can really motivate me.  Especially since each time you play you collect supplies for expanding your base.  This means the more you play, the more improvements you can make.  You don't always have to play story mode either.  There are many ways to play.
     You can choose to pay for a membership which gives you access to every story mission right away.  However, I find that playing for free is fine as well.  I have to wait for time to pass before I can unlock new missions but so long as you unlock right away, even if you don't intend to play the mission right away, you can start stacking them up so they are ready when you need them.
     The story missions allow you to listen to music from another app or from your phone's music list.  The audio from the story will come and go as needed through out each mission.  When the characters are speaking it will quiet your music a bit until they are done.  You can also adjust the volume of the audio both for your background music and for the characters speaking.
     The story missions last for roughly a half hour each (If you exceed the mission time you can still keep going and the Abel township radio DJs will just come on and talk to you while you continue your run).  They will tell you directions to run and you can choose to go that way, but as this may not always be possible for you, you don't actually have to turn when they say to.  It will not affect the game, regardless of what direction you go.
     You can use GPS, the step counter or just tell it to not track your distance and play it with no tracking.  The GPS tracking is useful to me because I like to know how far I've gone as well as I have a habit of getting lost.  Because it tracks you on a map, if you get lost you can see what rout you used to get where you are and backtrack.
     There is also a feature called Zombie Chases.  You can turn it on or off.  I like to turn it on if I am walking on a trail but turn it off if I am walking to a shoppe.  I don't want to seem like a mad person if I am close to the store and suddenly start running like mad because I think there is a horde of zombies on my tail.  The way this feature works is that randomly through out your mission there will be chances for a zombie chase.  Sometimes it happens multiple times per mission and other times a mission will pass with no chases.  When zombies are nearby you will get a notification letting you know how close they are.  You will have to increase your speed (This does not work with tracking off) to outrun the zombies.  If they catch you they will steal some of the supplies you have gathered.  They have only caught me once.  I assume that if you have no supplies they may give you a game over, but I really don't know.  Once you have run far enough from the zombies you will get another notification to let you know that it is safe to slow your speed again.
     There are training plans for training for marathons as well.  I have not used these, personally.  I am not a great runner as I have asthma.
     Airdrop is a feature that can only be used if you pay.  It will show you some place on the map where you can obtain supplies for your town.  You will need to make your way to that location (Tracking must be on).
     Supply missions are fun little missions that you can do when you are waiting for story missions to unlock or if you don't want to do a timed mission.  Supply missions are endless and will continue until you stop them.  This is a great way to get extra goodies to upgrade your home base.
     Interval training is another membership only feature.  It allows you to create a plan that includes running, sprinting and walking to get the best workout.
     The app also has races ranging from 5k to 20k.  As I stated earlier, I am not a great runner so I did not take advantage of this option.  It has hidden story scenes that can only be experienced through these missions though.
     The last mission section is Abel radio.  It is the same thing you hear if you exceed your time on story missions, but without the story mission first.  It is fun to listen to the DJs banter about what parts of the area have a lot of zombies today and what politics are going on between different townships.

     You may notice I keep discussing the base and collecting supplies.  You are in charge of upgrading the base using supplies you have gathered.  You can build farms, houses, schools and such.  You can expand the township or upgrade what it has.  You can even add aesthetic features just to keep the population happy.  You need to keep a balance of population, happiness and defence in order to maintain your town, so build carefully.
     Codex is a way to view any artifacts you have obtained through your missions as well and the supplies you have gathered.  Oh the amount of socks and underwear packs I have collected...  You can also view your achievements.  Because who doesn't like achievements?  There are currently 6 possible achievements.  They are as follows:
And So it Begins: Complete the first story mission.
Baby Steps: Complete 5 missions.
Give Me Your Tired: 100 Population in your township/base.
So, That happened: Complete season 1.
...Your Poor...: 350 population in your township/base.
Speed Racer: Complete all race missions.
    The more option lets you look at your account, purchase a membership (Monthly 2.99 USD, Yearly 19.99 USD), check your running statistics (Only with membership), view your run logs, browse your settings and view your downloads (And delete missions you downloaded, but already cleared, so long as you don't want to go back and do them again).
     There are sometimes live events that you can sign up for (You have to pay but they are worth it).  I have never done them but I always sort of want to.  You get to run a marathon with lots of other people at the same time and listen to the story live.  You also get a bunch of goodies shipped to you like a running shirt and a medal for competing.
     CONCLUSION:  The common complaints I have heard are that people don't like the acting in the story and that they can not get zombie chases to work.  This is my response to those concerns.  On Zombie Chases, people need to make sure their tracking is on and know that zombie chases are random.  They may not always happen in every mission.  As for the acting, I thought it was fine.  There is a 'baby' that is slightly annoying but it rarely shows up and it doesn't ruin the entire app just because every now and then an obnoxious baby can be heard.  I really like some of the actors and though it is kind of campy... zombies and campy work for me.
     I really enjoy this app and use it regularly.  I plan to keep using it.  I would recommend it to any fan of zombies or anyone who likes radio plays, books on tape or anyone who needs motivation to get out and move!
Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Updated: May 03, 2016
• Version: 5.0
• Size: 250 MB
• Apple Watch: Yes
• Language: English
• Seller: Six to Start
• © Six to Start

Rated 12+ for the following:

• Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
• Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
• Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
• Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity
• Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

Zombiegal Kawaii

Zombiegal Kawaii
     Have you ever wanted to shoot, slash and punch a horde of zombies in the face?  Have you ever wanted to do that while dressed as an adorable school girl, maid or bunny?  Of course you have.
    This is a really well made shooter game that is absolutely free to lay.  Great graphics, lots of stages, bosses, challenges, leveling, an arsenal of weapons to choose from, and even a small wardrobe to dress up your character.
     I feel like this game used to have an intro... Though it apparently doesn't now.  I played this game a few years back (2013).  I recently (Today) started playing it again.  I may just remember that wrong.
     For me, the cons to this are that even though you can multiplayer play this app, there rarely seems to be anyone else on who is playing multiplayer.  So good luck teaming up...  Also, everyone gets the same character.  Sure, you can change her attire if you've saved enough coins... But her hair and face never change.  I'd like a little more variety, personally.  Otherwise?  I love this game.
     The graphics are great, as are the voice and music elements.  You can even change the voices in the settings (Small gear icon in the bottom left corner).  You can actually change quite a few things here.  You can switch from casual to hardcore (And back again), turn the sound on and off, turn the background music on and off... and then the voice settings.
     The voice settings are as follows:
CV (^.^*) : This voice is in Japanese.  She is slightly more excitable than the default CV JP voice.
CV Off : Pretty self explanatory...
CN CV : Chinese voiced character.  She says things so matter of factly that it seems like fighting zombies is such a bothersome bore to her.
CV JP : The default voice.  Japanese, high pitched, female.
     Perhaps one day they will expand their languages for voices.  I would love to hear the character voiced in English, French or even German.

     Clicking the Arsenal button from the main screen takes you to where you can choose your weapon and attire.  You can purchase ones you don't have with the gold you get from battling zombies.  You can also power up your weapons with upgrades.  

     There are currently 29 weapons in the game.  They range from an RPG-13 to a Mac738 Chainsaw, a Napalm Bomb to a ZS-01 Dummy, and a Samurai Sword to a Baseball Bat.  You really do have some variety.  You can unlock up to 3 weapon slots.  All equip weapons can be used during battle.

  There are also 17 power skills (Such as Life Tap, Fast Escape, etc).  These skills will make the game play easier.  However, like the weapons, only 3 can be equip at once.

     There are 36 fashion accessories to choose for your character.  They serve no purpose besides aesthetics.  However, they are incredibly expensive (Most of them).  So you'll be saving up for a long time.  Alternatively, any item that you can buy with gold can also be purchased with cash.

     Cash can be purchased in the shoppe (Under arsenal, choose the shopping trolley icon.  You must be connected to the internet).  In game cash is called "Medals".  You can get one free every day from the shoppe.  You can purchase 30 for 99 cents or up to 2700 for 59.99USD.  You can also purchase coins for 99 cents for 3000 or up to 270000 for 59.99USD.

     You get a log in bonus every day.  The more days in a row that you log in, the better your bonus.

     Let's discuss the actual game play (As seen above).  The circle to the left is for your thumb.  Use it as you would an analog stick.  Taping the weapons at the bottom left shoots them.  Be careful, you have limited ammo.  You can keep track of your ammunition at the top of the screen.  You life bar is top left.  If you run out of life, it's game over (Unless you have a resurrection.  You can get them free as login bonuses, otherwise it will cost you medals).  You can pause the game with the button at the top right.

     You have to line up with the zombies to shoot them.  Otherwise your bullets may fly right past them.  If you have a bat, sword, or other close range item, you will of course need to be quite close to do damage.  Though the accuracy will be better.

     There are many kinds of zombies in the game.  The red ones that look like suicide bombers will explode if they touch you, taking a lot of your HP.  Don't let them get close!  The archery zombies can hit you from across the screen, so you need to dodge their arrows.  They can't shoot you if they are taking damage though.  There are zombies with shields.  The shields need to be destroyed before the zombie will take damage.  There are many other types of zombies as well, including mini boss zombies and boss zombies.  You can tell it's a mini boss because it will be glowing purple.  The bosses will be obvious.

     If you see someone running past you while carrying a brown sack, attack!  Those sacks are full of loot.  You can get coins, ammo and health by attacking these characters.  You can also get these things by attacking cardboard boxes, rubbish bin, traffic cones and other such objects.

     When you see a glowing rainbow target on the ground, that is the end of the level.  Stand on the circle to finish the level and claim your reward.

     If you want to play the multiplayer version, click the Co-Op button at the bottom of the main screen.  You can quick play or create a game.  This is a great way to get help clearing levels that you may be having a tough time clearing on your own.  However, I suggest you convince your friends to download the app and make sure they are on when you want to co-op.  Otherwise you could be sitting there for hours, waiting for someone to play with you.

     All in all, this is a really great game.  The fact that it's free makes it ten times better.  If you like shooters, zombies or just like cute apps, give this one a go.  I think you will really enjoy it.

 Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Games
• Released: Jun 20, 2013
• Version: 1.5.5
• Size: 76.5 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: YANSHU SUN
• © miHoYo Co., Ltd.

You must be at least 17 years old to download this app.

• Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
• Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
• Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes

I Love Coffee

I Love Coffee
     If you have ever dreamed of designing and running your own chain of coffee shoppes, now you can!... Sort of...  I Love Coffee is a digital game where your grandfather has given you a coffee shoppe to run.  You can decorate it, choose the menus, hire the staff and even create additional branches!

     I have been playing this app for years.  For me, that's a long time.  I rarely use an app for more than a month.  Especially if it's a game.  I love the creative design element to the game.  I like dressing up my employees and decorating my cafes.  If that's your cuppa tea (Or coffee) then you might want to give this app a try.
     In the beginning your cafe is quite small, and you must serve the costumers yourself, as you can't afford employees.  Though this caterpillar stage of the game doesn't last long.  You'll be designing and employing before you know it.

     The game employs an experience earning system which in turn gains you levels.  The higher your level the more items you have access to in the shoppe (Where you purchase furnishings, equipment, decor, wallpaper, etc).  The clothing, face and hair does not require any articular levels to obtain anything, however.  The only disadvantage is that much of the clothing, hair and eyes cost real cash.  Less than half can be obtained through in game free currency.  This is a draw back.  In fact, there are also a good deal of furnishings that cost real money too.  Though you will never truly need to purchase these things.  Also, cash has been easier to gain through special events.  So you can actually save up your free event cash, rather than spending money on it.  It will just take longer.

      You may be wondering how to gain experience.  Most things you do gain you experience.  However, the big points come from performing quests.  As you get to higher levels you will obtain new quests.  Finishing a quest gets you experience, money and sometimes beans or special items.  In fact, some items can only be obtained by completing a quest.

     Once you reach level 21 you will have access to the "Daily Quest".  It changes every day.  It will give you 3 random things to do.  Once you have performed these 3 tasks, you complete the quest.  Aside from the quest finish gold and experience, you also get a special stamp.  Once you have collected enough stamps you get a special lucky box.  The lucky box acts as a gacha, giving you one random item from a set the box has access to.  Many of these items can only be obtained through this lucky box.
     The game also have different lucky boxes that can be bought either with real cash, cherries (A social free in game currency, obtained by performing social tasks), or gold.  many boxes are limited or seasonal, so get them while you can!
     If you have friends who play the game, you can visit their cafe as well.  You can even help them out by clicking up to 4 things in their cafe (Such as employees, roasters, coffee makers, ovens, display cases, etc).  When you do this, you get cherries.  The cherries are the free social currency.  Saving them up allows you to buy special lucky boxes, increase the size of your roof top cafe (All cafe buildings can be expanded, but roof tops require a combination of cherries and gold to expand), and complete management tasks.

     If you don't know anyone who lays, that is alright too.  You can add people in the game as friends.  Then you can help one another with social activity and quests!
     The management task system (Certif) is relatively new.  There are several sections.  Each section has a different list of tasks.  Complete the tasks at all of their stages and obtain rewards and special items!
     You can also obtain special items from your "Regular Customers".  this is a special set of NPCs that can frequent your cafe.  Level up their happiness to get a chance to get a timed item (An item that can only be used for 30 days) or max out their level to get their special item (Permanently).  If they have a bubble above their head, be sure to click it.  They like to chat and order special coffee that you have to make especially for them.
     Aside from the NPCs you can talk to anyone in your cafe by tapping on them.  You can also perform "Street Charm" which requires you to chat with people passing by your cafe.  To be successful you must correctly respond to them 3/3 times.  Doing so will gain you some extra coins.  This task is often required for completing quests.  Plus it's fun because they say many funny things.  Some mention pop culture things.  Memorize which responses suit which characters.  If you find it too hard, you can find the correct responses for each character type here.  Special street charm with Special Guests here.
     With so much to do, it isn't any wonder why I still play this game.  Not to mention the constant addition of new content, special events and more.  I could go on and on about the other features of the game, but you should really try it out for yourself.
     There is ability to purchase in game items, but the game is free, and you never truly have to make any real purchases.  Also, the easy ability to earn and save up "cash' is a plus for me.  The ability to customize various cafes, characters and even your car and scenery is also a plus.  I love customization!  Plus the artwork is adorable and there is a lot of style variety.  From over the top cutesy to antique; to jazz motif; to modern and high tech.  All in all, I think this is a great app.  I recommend it.  I love apps that you can play for a few minutes here and there, but don't need to set aside a huge amount of time for.  If you do too, give this one a try!
Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Games
• Updated: Dec 10, 2014
• Version: 1.1.0
• Size: 66.1 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
• Seller: LINE Corporation
• © LINE Corporation

Rated 4+