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+

Wedding Escape

Wedding Escape
     If you are looking for an interesting and challenging puzzle game with a funny theme, this is the app for you.  Each stage is a different location as you flee your bride or groom after dashing from the alter on your wedding day!  Run from police, bride's maids and everyone else as you solve puzzles in the great wedding escape.

     Now the app store is not exactly in want of puzzle games but I rather enjoyed this one as it has a different style from most colour matching gem style puzzle games.  You can move several gems per move by sliding your finger from one to the next along an adjacent path.  The moves are very limited though so each turn you need to get as many matches of 3 or more as possible to remove the required amount of gems or coins and escape whomever happens to be chasing you.

     Each stage gets harder and harder and if I am honest, I don't feel like I've made it very far before getting caught.  I've only made it to level 9, which is the Hyperloop stage.

     If you play enough and want to make the play through a bit easier you can purchase upgrades when you aren't in the middle of escaping (IE before or after your game).

      The upgrades cost the money you acquire while playing the game.  For every move left by the end of a stage, you get 25 coins.  Save up your coins after each game to buy your upgrades.

     Each upgrade can be purchased multiple times.  For instance, if you buy the Multiple Selection upgrade, you can select one more adjacent gem or coin per turn.  If you buy it again, you can get one more per turn, and so on.  Each upgrade also has a max amount of times it can be purchased.  The upgrades available are as follows...

• Multiple Selection (+1 Tile) 10 Available
• Price Deflation 7 Available
• Shuffle Board 5 Available
• More Slot Tokens 5 Available
• More Slot Coins 2 Available
• More Slot Hearts 2 Available
• Level Skipper (Skips 1 Level at start) 16 Available

     Players can also choose to purchase the in game currency if they want to.  The prices are 2.99USD for 5000, 9.99USD for 25000 or 29.99USD for 100000.  The coin bundles also have cute images associated with them.  They are spoofs of Mr Burns from Simpsons, Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmatians and Scrooge McDuck from Ducktales.

    In fact, this game has tons of pop culture references built in.  Players can choose the character they play from the character selection menu.  The more you play, the more options get unlocked.  Characters can also be purchased for 0.99USD.  The app features 100 playable characters!  Everything from Dorothy and Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz to Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Jetsons to the band KISS.  Even YouTube spoof characters and celebrity knock offs are in the app.

     There is one more optional purchase in the game and it is a bit of an important option to have available.  Whenever you fail to complete a stage the game ends.  Because this means you failed to escape your wedding, you have to divorce to go back to the beginning of the game.  This divorce will cost you half of all the money your earned from your play through.  But if you choose to purchase a lawyer for 4.99USD this won't affect you because you will get double money from every play through.

     There is a way to get double money without a lawyer, but it requires users to watch a 30 second ad video at the end of the game, every time.  This can get tedious so the lawyer option is there to avoid that.

     There is one more part of this app and that also comes at the end of your play through.  When the game ends you get a little slot machine pop up.  You get one slot play by default, but the upgrades can earn you more plays.  The slot machine can give you an extra move to go back and try not to lose the game, or it can give you more money, more slot plays or a new character unlocked.  It feels like the more slot plays you get the greater the chance to fail though.  When I had one spin I always won something.  I bought an upgrade to get another slot spin each time and I usually only won once.  I bought another so I had 3 total spins after each game and I still only won about once.  Sometimes I get extra spins from the slot wins and these almost always fail as well... I'm not sure the slot upgrades are really worth it unless you upgraded everything else.

     The graphics are good and the theme is funny.  I love the amount of characters and how challenging the levels can be.  I think it's a good, well made application and definitely worth a download.

Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Seller: Rafael Lima
• Category: Games
• Size: 74 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © 2015 Firebirdgames.net

Rated 9+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes and Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence

Sherlock: The Network

Sherlock: The Network
     If you're a big fan of BBC's Sherlock, or just the actors in general (Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, etc), you are going to love this app.  It allows you to be part of Sherlock's homeless network.  You have the opportunity to help Sherlock Holmes solve his latest mysteries!
     The app is free to download.  It has video and audio scenes filmed and recorded by the original cast specifically for this app.  However, some of the cases need to be purchased.  If you wan to unlock them all, you will need to put down a little cash.  You will only get 2 for free, with your download.  This is a downside.
     A while back, when I got the app (2014), there was a promo special that allowed you to get all of the cases for free (The ones available at that time).  This is how I was able to play so much of this.  I certainly wouldn't have had the cash to spend to unlock the cases.  Which is why I am not covering screen shots from the newest case release.  Because I do not have it.
     Let's talk about game play.  Once you start your first case you go straight in and get to meet Sherlock himself.  You are part of his secret network of homeless people.  He will comment on your failings in basic hygiene, give you a phone, some money, and give you a task.  Each case requires you to solve various puzzles.  Even traveling about the city often required simple puzzle solving.  Not to mention you have to balance your time (You do not have unlimited time) and your money (Taking the train or a car will cost you).
     Your main screen (While playing a case) is going to be the city map.  You can find money while traversing the map.  But be weary of going too far out of your way.  The extra time could cost you the case.  You can also find fun little bits of information about the filming shot at specific locations (TV Trivia).
     The train is faster than walking (Obviously).  The cab is the fastest way of travelling, but costs the most.  As you get further into the cases, you'll find you have a lot of money saved up.  However, you can choose to spend this money on items that may better assist you.  Such as a nice pair of shoes that will cause you to walk faster.
     Sherlock will call you on your phone from time to time.  You will hear an audio message from the actor when you check your voicemail.  He will keep you updated on new information and new places to visit.  Check these messages as soon as you can.
     The puzzles in each case vary.  Some are as simple as lining up various images to get a complete picture, to decoding an audio recording.  Speeding it up, slowing it down, reversing it, etc.  You also have to look around rooms and find clues.  Not everything you find will be relevant, of course.
     Once you get to the end of the case, you have solved all of your puzzles and gathered your clues, you will need to solve the case.  You will see Sherlock's clue cloud (His mind palace via floating text).  You will need to choose the correct clues that result in the answer to the mystery.  If you get it correct, you finish the case, and sometimes you get a nice praising from Mr Holmes.  Well, as much praise as you could expect from him.
     The puzzles are fun and can be challenging.  The game play is fun... But, let's be honest, it's the footage that really makes this app amazing.  Being able to interact with the cast of Sherlock is so much fun.  I will post some screen shots from some of the video footage in the app, below.  Click the images to see them larger.

      Once you complete your cases, you can go back to play them again, if you like.  Though, once you know the answers to all of the puzzles, they are a lot less fun.  Why play again?  Because there is a leader board.  If you want to get the highest scores, you'll have to play as quickly and efficiently as possible.  This could take many tries.  Personally, I only played the cases once.  I'm not really one for leader boards.
     You can look through all of the TV trivia from the menu as well.  You can browse cases, leader board scores.  You can also change your profile image.
     If you are wondering about pricing for additional cases:
8 Case multi-pack 3-10: 2.99USD
A Race & A Case (One case): 0.99USD (This is the new one)
     If you get cases for free with promos (As I did), note that they do not count as purchases.  This is important to know, because it means that if you remove the app from your phone (or iPad), and add it back later, you will not get the free cases back.  You will only have the first 2 cases, and any cases you actually paid for.  If I remove this app from my phone, I lose all my cases (Besides the first 2).  So it has been on my phone for a year now.
      My end opinion?  An amazing app.  Well made.  Challenging, fun, interactive...  I wish you didn't have to pay 99 cents per case (Or the 2.99 for cases 3-10).  However, I can understand why they did it that way.  After all, they have to pay the actors, cameramen, etc.  They also use the same sets as the television program.

      If you're a big Sherlock fan, you can't pass this up.  Even if you only play the first 2 cases, it's worth the download.  I recommend it.

 Rating: 4.5/5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Updated: Mar 04, 2015
• Version: 1.9.1
• Size: 283 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: The Digital Development Factory Pty Ltd
• © 2015

Rated 12+ for the following:

• Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
• Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
• Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence

LINE Play 101: How To Earn Gems

LINE Play
     This is part of the LINE Play 101 series of updates.  Each update covers a specific section of the LINE Play app.  Please read the LINE Play review for more information about this app, before reading this post.
   
     One thing many users have trouble with is earning gems.  Gems are actually not difficult to earn.  I am going to help you learn every way there is to earn gems on LINE Play.

Buying Gems:  Though I would recommend not wasting your real world money on gems, this is the fastest way to earn gems.  They often have sales and discounts on buying gems.  However, the normal price is :
01.99USD for 2,000 gems
05.99USD for 6,300 gems
11.99USD for 13,200 gems
22.99USD for 27,600 gems
46.99USD for 57,600 gems
89.99USD for 128,800 gems
     There is a bonus for first time buyers.  a 400% bonus will allow you to get 10,000 gems for 1.99USD.  This can only be used once.

Gem Pass:  Another pay option, the Gem Pass gives a user 20,000 gems instantly and 3,000 gems a day for 30 days (Only on days you log in).  It costs 19.99USD.

Daily Quests:  There are 6 quests that reset every day.  Each quest gives you 300 bonus gems.  You also obtain gems while working on these quests.  If you complete every daily quest you will earn 1800 Bonus gems plus 1200 individual gems, totaling 3000 gems every day for completing the daily quest.
Read more about Daily Quests here.

Fishing at Treasure Island:  There are 3 ways of fishing for gems.
     First is to fish up trash.  Every time you fish up trash you get 10 gems.  This is unlimited.  Every piece of trash you fish up, you get 10 gems for.
     Second is to complete a collection.  If you click the collection icon at the top of the page in Treasure Island (Found in squares), you will see several pages of fish collections.  Whenever you catch one of the fish on any of the pages, you unlock that fish.  Once you collect all of the fish on any particular page, you get the reward.  The reward for the first 7 pages is 5,000 gems.  Pages 8-13 is 10,000 gems, 14-18 has a reward of 30,000 gems.  Obviously the higher numbered pages have fish that are more rare, so they will be harder to complete.
     The last way is by fishing up a treasure chest.  These chests may obtain items, but they may also obtain gems.  Treasure chests can randomly appear while fishing.  You never know when you may fish one up!

Monthly Gift Log:  Every month you will receive a daily gift for the first 25 days that you log in.  This will usually be made up of 5 items and 20 days of gem gifts.  Gem gifts range from 500 gems per day to 5,000 gems per day.  So log in every day to get the most out of it.

Mini Game Quests: LINE Play has 4 mini games right now.  Fruit Monsters, GOLD RUSH, DropDrop and TapTap.
     GOLD RUSH has no daily quests.  However, the other games do.  Every day you can complete these quests for gems.  The next day they reset, and you can complete them for more gems.
     Fruit Monsters - There are 3 daily quests for 300 gems each.  This totals 900 gems, if you complete all of the quests.
Quest 1: Play Ten Times (The easiest)
Quest 2: Collect 20 Stars (You can get 3 stars per play.  You can replay the same levels and still be awarded the stars you win for additional plays)
Quest 3: Create 200 Special Blocks (Any time you create a 4, 5 or 6 single colour monster block during a game, this counts as a "special block".  The amount of these blocks you can make per game is unlimited.)
     DropDrop - This game has 2 daily quests and 2 repeat quests.  The repeat quests can be achieved over and over with no limit.  Every time they will gain you the reward listed.  The daily quests each give 500 gems.  This means that if you complete the 2 daily quests for this game, you will earn 1,000 gems.
Quest 1: Get 10 Million Points (The points you earn every time you lay add up.  Once the collective score equals 10 million, you win the reward.  Each game usually gains you between 300,000 to 1,300,000 on average, depending on you skil (Though you can earn less or more).  So earning this amount in a day is not difficult.
Quest 2: Get 300 Combo (Whenever you stack your blocks very close to straight you will get a combo until you either drop a block, drop a bomb on your blocks or stack a block too crooked.  Then the combo starts over.  Once your collective combos equals 300, you get this reward.)
[REPEAT] Quest 1: Play 5 Times (The reward is a free 2 plays)
[REPEAT] Quest 2: Stack 500 Blocks (You usually stack between 50 and 80 blocks per game.  Once the collective number from your games comes to 500, you will get a chest.  A chest can have gems, in DropDrop game items to use while you play or special avatar items you can only get from the DropDrop chests.  The gem amounts vary.)
     TapTap - There are four quests here.  3 are daily quests and one is a repeat quest that you can complete unlimited times.  The daily quests give out 300, 300 and 400 gems.  Which means you get 1,000 gems if you complete all of the daily quests.
Quest 1: Clear 50 Specials (The tapping boxes come to you in strings.  At the end of each string of boxes is a special box that you can use either side to tap.  Once you clear 50 of these total, throughout your games, you complete this quest and earn 300 gems)
Quest 2: Get 2,000 Combos (As long as you don't tap the wrong side, you'll be getting a combo.  Once you make a mistake, your combo starts over.  So tap carefully!  Once your total tapping combo reaches 2,000 you earn 300 gems!)
Quest 3: Get 20 Million Points  (You can easily earn over 1,000,000 points per game so you should be able to earn this in around 20 games or so.)
[REPEAT] Quest 1: Clear 1,500 Blocks (Once you pass that many blocks you get a TapTap chest.  This can happen an unlimited amount of times, and happens pretty frequently.  The chests can have gems in them, special TapTap game items or special items for your character that can only be obtained from these chests.)

Mini Game Chests: As I explained in some notes in the mini game quests section, the chests you obtain from TapTap and DropDrop can have gems in them.  The amount of gems vary but are usually under 100 gems per chest.  However, if you get chests frequently (And as they ar
e attached to repeat quests, you can), these gems add up!  There is no limit to how many you can get.

Invitation Codes:  Every user gets their own unique invitation code.  When you enter someone else's code, you get 1,000 gems.  You can do this 10 times.  This totals 10,000 gems.  20 people can enter your code, which also gains you 1,000 gems er time.  This totals 20,000 gems.  So once you have entered the max amount of codes, and the max amount of people have entered your code, you will have 30,000 gems.
     If you are curious about where your invitation code can be found, or where you can enter other people's codes, they are located in the same place.  Go to "More" and click either Profile or Settings/Profile.  From there you can click "Invitation Code".  That page will give you your code to copy, show you who has entered your code, allow you to enter other people's codes ans show you all the users who you have entered the codes of.

Inviting Friends:  This is separate from the invitation code section.  You will find this area in the same place you go to add friends.  You may invite friends from this area.  It sends the invite directly to the users you indicate.  I hear this can be used to invite Facebook friends, but as my account is connected through LINE, I can only cover how this part works.
     You will see a list of all the friends on your list who do not currently have a LINE Play account linked to their LINE account.  There will be an invite button next to it.  For every user you invite you get 1,000 gems.  You can do this up to 100 times.  that's 100,000 gems total!

Events:  Every so often LINE Play will have an event.  Some of these events will have gem prizes that you can win.  They usually range from 3,000 gems to 70,000 gems a win.  However, it usually costs 3,000 gems for each play.  There is no guarantee you will win a gem prize.  You may get a house item, avatar item, hearts or occasionally cash.  Keep an eye on the events section to watch out for these events.

Hearts:  Every time you give someone a heart you get 10 gems.  Every time someone gives you a heart you earn 10 gems.  Though the amount of hearts you have are limited, the amount you can receive is not.  If you give out 20 hearts per day, that's 200 gems.  If all of those 20 users give you a heart back, that's another 200 gems.  That is a total of 400 gems per day.  You could get more if you get extra hearts to give out or if more people heart you.  Also, you will get 50 bonus hearts (60 total) when you heart an official avatar that is currently being promoted.  You will be able to tell if you see a yellow shine in their heart bubble. (See image to the right for example)

Recycling:  Sometimes you get clothing you don't want from the gacha or events... Sometimes you get duplicates (Duplicates can not be worn at the same time, and are thus useless).  When this happens, you can recycle these items to earn gems back.
     The gems are small, but if you recycle a rare or super rare, you will get a significant amount of gems.
     Mondays are bonus days for recycling.  So do all of your recycling on Mondays to get the most gems back for your items.
     Keep in mind that not all items will give you gems when you recycle them.  You can see how many gems each item will be recycled for on the recycle screen.  So be careful, and keep track.

Baths, sit downs and Food:  Sometimes when you enter a room (Your own, another users or an official avatar's) your avatar will have a bubble over their head.  There are 3 bubbles.  Look for the item in the room that matches that bubble.  A soap bubble indicates they want a bath.  A chair bubble indicates they wish to sit.  A fork indicates they wish to eat.  However, you can't just sit anywhere or eat anything.  You have to tap the specific item that has the bubble that matches the one over your avatar's head.
     Some houses won't have a bath or food.  If you enter a room and you see a bubble over your avatar, but can not find the corresponding item in the room, don't panic.  That bubble will remain until you find a room where there is an item that matches the bubble.  So just try another room.

Rina's Slide Puzzle

Rina's Slide Puzzle App for iPhone
     I remember when slide puzzles were popular.  You'd get them in the bottom of cereal boxes or as gifts for doing well in class.  The idea is that a picture is drawn onto a piece of plastic, within a frame.  It is divided into many smaller squares, with one square removed.  Sometimes a ring would be placed in the empty spot so that the picture would not slide about when you aren't playing.  You would remove the ring and slide the pieces around, switching them out with the empty space, one at a time.  You would continue this process until the image was complete (Not scrambled up).  Then you'd scramble it again, and try to fix it.  This app is a digital version of the "Slide Puzzle" concept.
     The artwork is really colourful and soft.  It's clean and attractive.  I really like the cute style they used for the characters.  I am sure that it will appeal to many people.
     Upon launching the application, you'll see the "Game Start" button as well as buttons below for "Help" and "Info".
     Help: Gives you a brief explanation of the game.  It is written in both Japanese and English.  Extra points to the application creators for this.
     Info:  Gives you the company name as well as a short list of other applications they provide.
     Game Start:  This is (clearly) where you go to play the actual game.  There are multiple stages with several character puzzles per stage.
     The screen capture to the left shows the main screen for stage one.  Clicking "Back" will take you back the the launch screen.  Clicking "Profiles" will take you to a page where you can learn more about the many characters you will see in the puzzles.  this is a cute and fun extra feature to have.
     As you can see there are two characters available for stage one.  Pressing the arrow next to the "STAGE 1" words will take you to stage two.  You must complete the puzzles in Stage One before proceeding to complete the puzzles in Stage Two.  there are three stages in total.  Each with 2 character puzzles.

     Above you can see two samples from the puzzles.  As you can see the later stages have more squares to maneuver.  If at any time you feel that you can not complete the puzzle, and would like to start over or try a different puzzle, click the "Retire" button at the top of the puzzle.
     When you complete a puzzle you'll get the "CLEAR" words on the screen.  It will then show you the full image, without the puzzle squares in the way.  You're goal is to unlock all of these pictures.  Are you up to the challenge?
     Before I finish up with this review... All of the profiles are in Japanese.  If you do not read Japanese, you will have trouble reading them.  So I thought I would provide some translations for you.
     Characters in order they are shown in the app, from left to right, top to bottom.

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     RINA AMANO:  You're there already, but (Something)...  Toro, that's not everything!  What are you doing?!  I'm going as fast as I can!  (Amano Rina) Rina, sister of Chizuru Amano.  It's not that I hate them, they're nice.  I put up with their surliness. (Rough translation)
     MIYAGAWA YUKI:  Miyagawa Yuki wont play today?  He has a good reason to refuse.  Mr Draper's eldest son, and heir to the long established and time honoured drapery shoppe.  Very informed and sharp as a whip. (Rough translation)
     NYAKUOJI AOI:  It's Nyakuoji Aoi (Not Aoi Nakuoju).  Please don't call her by her family name.  She has a quiet demeanor and enjoys reading books in the park.  She seems to have a complex about her surname.
     CHIZURU AMANO:  It's-Because-I'm-Playing with Chi-Chan today!  Rina's Sister.  Appears to be lively.  She loves her sister.  She has a straight-forward personality and doesn't hide the truth.
     RICO (LI CO):  Whew, OK.  I will take a delicious torte today.  She is useful and lives in the shadowy mansion, Mel De.  Her graceful manner and cake making talent is lost on that house.
     KIRISHIMA NAO:  What, she's a girl, isn't she?  It's a secret.  She appears to be a girl that lives in the mansion.  The son of a beautiful woman.  He is influenced by his mother, after her early demise. (Rough translation)

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     This is a small and simple application that can provide a fun challenge for puzzle fans.  if you like cute child-like characters and puzzles, this game may be quite enjoyable for you.  Though I did enjoy the art and have fond memories of slide puzzles... I don't often find myself wanting to partake in slide puzzle play very often nowadays.  I couldn't really relate to the characters personally.  But that is just from my perspective.  I am sure other people will have different views.
Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Games
• Updated: Jan 24, 2012
• Version: 1.04
• Size: 6.4 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese
• Seller: P.R.O. Corporation
• © P.R.O Corp

Rated 4+

Bearable

Bearable App for iPhone
     It's almost Halloween!  We all know you can't have Halloween without candy or bears, right?... What?  You can have Halloween without bears?  I don't believe you!
     There are 4 game play modes, as you can see in the picture to the right.  Story mode, Speed play, Timed mode and 2 player mode.
     Story Mode: You play a little panda bear that lives in an enchanted forest.  One day he realizes that something sinister has happened!  All of his friends have been transformed into delicious food!  Who would do such a thing!?  Help him find out by journeying on toward the answer.
     You will move along a path.  Each large icon represents a cut scene.  The small dots are progress toward the next scene.  You must play and win the puzzle stages 3 times to go from one cut scene to the next.
     The scenes have audio dialog as well as text to read along under the images.  It's a very cheesy story, as is the voice acting.  but somehow it just adds to the joy of the game.  It's the strangest thing.  You think yourself a fool for continuing through the story when it makes no sense.  At the same time you can't stop yourself from wondering what could possibly happen next.
     Below are some screens of cut scenes.  The art isn't spectacular but it gets the job done.  It's very colourful and eye catching.

     For some reason, my favourite part is that the bear finds a Pringles can (As you can see in the image above, to the left).  The Pringles can has a silly voice and calls the bear "Son" at the end of every level you beat.

     During the puzzle mode you will see many colourful shapes and panda heads on the screen.  Switch two to make a row or column of at least 3 of the same colour.  They have to be in a line.  Simple touching wont do.  Also, diagonal does not count.

     During the levels you can click the small button on the bottom left.  This is the "Hint" function.  It will let you know where you can switch some pieces to make matches.  This can come in handy when there's only one or two matches available on the board.
     If you do run out of matches the screen will reshuffle.  Also, just before the level end you might get a special event where all of the touching colours on the screen explode for one final extra point blast.  But you can't play any more after this happens.  If it's not enough points to beat the level, you'll lose and have to start that level over again
     Each level has a goal for how many points you need to earn to beat the level.  Sometimes you can acquire this quickly.  other times you can't.  It's all in the luck of the draw.
     To get a better score you want to get combos.  Find matches very quickly.  You'll know you're doing well based on the sounds the app makes after each match.  If they get higher and higher you're starting your combo.  If it goes back to the regular sound, you've taken too long.  You'll know you have a max combo when it goes from a high itched noise to a more 'exciting' sound.
     Winning levels will gain you points that you can spend on bonuses you can use at the beginning of a level.  You can see them on the screen to the right.  Buy them before playing the next level to get through more easily.  However, don't waste them.  You'll want to save up until the end of the story mode, when it gets harder.  You will also get 10000 bonus points after completing story mode.
     Speed Play:   This mode has a timer at the top.  Once the timer runs down, it's game over.  It keeps track of your best score.  This mode is for when you only have a small amount of time to waste.
     Time Play:  This mode will have a timer that slowly runs down at the top.  Gain as many points as you can before it runs out.  When you beat a stage it will replenish some of the time, based on how well you did (Combos get you extra seconds). This will continue to happen until you run out of time.  It will keep track of your best score.  Try to beat it!
     2P Mode: is for when you want to play with friends.  Se the phone between you on a solid surface.  One puzzle will be on each side.  One upside down, one right side up.  Each of you can make as many sets as possible.  A meter on the side will let you know who is winning.  You do not have access to hints during this game mode.
     I thought this was a fun and quirky little game.  Appropriate for all ages.  If you're no good at puzzles, I wouldn't worry too much.  The point goals in story mode tend to be low.  I think anyone could easily play this game.  Plus you can beat it in under an hour.
     This game will game you going around saying silly things like "The secret ingredient is real bear juice!" and other such nonsense.  it's just too silly not to give a try.
Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Games
• Updated: Sep 12, 2012
• Version: 1.1
• Size: 12.4 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: Mooff Games Ltd
• © Mooff Games Ltd

Rated 4+