Author: Dexter Johnson

Draw Something’s gameplay remains largely unchanged for the most part: the object is to build a winning streak by getting the other player to guess what you have drawn, and vice versa. On your turn, you will have to pick one of three words to draw or choose to see a new trio of words if you don’t like (or can’t draw) the ones given to you. In Draw Something 2, you now have a wider selection of categories to choose from or, if you are feeling lazy, you can even pick a picture already drawn from your collection and send it to the player in lieu of creating a new one.

This game also features a new Daily Draw challenge, where you are given a randomly selected picture previously drawn by another player. Guessing correctly earns you bonus coins that can go toward new drawing tools or extra letter hints in your games if you get stumped on a drawing. As you continue to play, you will earn achievements for milestones such as attaining a certain number of correct guesses in a row, purchasing drawing tools or earning 100 coins. Unlike the XBOX achievements, with every one you earn, you will be awarded with useful virtual currency, which include stars as well.

The sequel to the hit, drawing guessing game, initially developed by OMGPOP,  has gotten a serious makeover since last year. Draw Something 2 is now catered more toward the future Michelangelos and Picassos of the virtual art world through its new interface. The Zynga-developed game has been transformed into more of a social media app, complete with a news feed featuring works created by “artists” you can follow, your very own profile displaying your latest drawings and a Free Draw mode where you can create your own portraits without playing a game. Think of Draw Something 2 as a Pictionary version of Instagram.

This is my first time seeing anything like what Zynga has done to Draw Something, turning a normal gaming application into a dual-role program converging the game with all of the elements of a social media website. This is a very innovate and brilliant idea considering how many detailed and exceptional masterpieces have went viral and have been drawn by users on the original version. In addition to Draw Something’s new outlook, the game also features new drawing tools including the Pixel Pencil to give your pictures a classic retro, 8-bit appeal and the Pattern Pencil to make your pictures stand out with a variety of colorful patterns.

Overall, I am very pleased and do not have a lot of complaints about Draw Something 2.  The only issues I believe people would have with this game are spending money to purchase more colors vital to draw some words correctly and Internet connectivity problems. Zynga did a fantastic job upgrading this app and leaves me wondering what will Draw Something 3 look like, if they were to develop it. This is the perfect app for talented artists who can show off their creations without playing the game, while keeping the same format for people who may not be as artistic and just want to look for a casual game. Draw Something 2 is free to download and the ad-free version is $2.99.

App Name: Draw Something 2

Developer: Zynga

Cost: Free ($2.99 for Ad-Free Version)

Market: Google Play, iTunes

Quizboard is an interesting and challenging mixture of Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. On each turn, you are given seven category tiles and can only use a maximum of five per turn. Every time you choose a category tile and place it on the board, you will have 30 seconds to answer a multiple-choice question. Correct answers will win you points, while wrong ones earn you nothing. It would be wise to pick your strongest categories in order to build a streak of correct answers and earn extra points. If you are looking for more opportunities to score, you can create bonus multiplier questions by combining two questions of the same color or by landing on bonus squares on the board. You may opt to switch out up to five questions for 100 points each at any time if you don’t like the categories given to you. Once a player reaches the star at the center of the board, the player with the most points will be the winner.

Quizboard is a decent, generic quiz game for trivia lovers. It is game is good test of strategy and general knowledge. The game has more than enough questions so you won’t run into repeats frequently and the rules are simple and straightforward. Like with most social games, this one also enables you to compete against Facebook friends. The two major concerns I have with this game are the questions and its appearance.

While some require some thought, some of the seemingly challenging difficult questions are a cakewalk to answer due to the poor question writing. For instance, one question that was asked in a game was “What’s the correct name of the famous Victorian amateur detective: Sherlock Flats, Sherlock Bungalows, Sherlock Holmes or Sherlock Cabins?” Just about anyone would answer this question correctly with the given options.  The question could have been better phrased: “What’s the correct name of the famous Victorian amateur detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle: C. Auguste Dupin, Sergeant Cuff, Inspector Bucket or Sherlock Holmes?” This would have been a little more challenging than the previous question.

While the gameplay is solid, the general look of the app itself leaves much to be desired. The graphics are bland and generic and there are barely any original sound effects used as well. The difference between Words With Friends and Scrabble is a prime example of how important sound effects and graphics are in a game. What makes Words With Friends more appealing to play than Scrabble is that the Words With Friends board is more colorful, uses rounded corners for its tiles and squares and its own array of glitzy sound effects to make the game stand out. Quizboard could use those improvements to make the game look more interesting to play, even though the app will give you more board arrangements to choose from if you buy the Premium version for $1.99.

Aside from the problems I have mentioned, Quizboard is not a bad trivia game for what it is. The game is easy to pick up, takes up very little room on your phone and allows you to create your own profile and password-protect it to track your progress. Quizboard is only 15MB and is free to download in the Google Play app store.

App Name: Quiz Board

Developer: Planento AB

Cost: Free ($1.99 for Premium Version)

Market: Google Play, iTunes

This “puzzling” word game creatively puts a spin (no pun intended) on the classic format of Wheel of Fortune with unique categories and power-ups. What’s The Phrase has similar attributes to Zynga’s Scramble With Friends such as the same three-round setup and the accumulation of bonuses with each additional round. In the game, each player on their turn will have an opportunity to take three spins on the wheel, place up to three letters on the puzzle board and have the option to solve or pass it to the other player. If you are having trouble with a puzzle, you can purchase vowels, extra spins, free letters or even place point-penalty booby traps on your opponent’s keyboard with your coins.

But, be cautious! While they are not present in the first round, with each turn you take, you are endangering yourself of either losing a spin or losing your points to the game’s villainous, monochromatic mascot, the “Blist”. Its role is similar to the Whammy on Press Your Luck or the Devil on The Joker’s Wild. The good news is that once you land on one of the penalty spaces on your turn, it disappears until your next turn. I like the developers’ originality of creating a mascot for the app; although, I am curious as to how they came to a consensus on the character’s name and appearance.

One problem I did run into while playing this game is that this app would have tendencies to open itself without warning, even if you force quit the app in the task manager. If you ever come across this issue, don’t panic and simply uninstall and reinstall the application.  While doing this, you will not lose your progress of any of your games in session. Other than the weird aforementioned glitch, the only other improvement that needs to be made is to tweak the bonus round by adding a bonus puzzle and spin, instead of mundane present one, where you have to select a bonus from one of three safes.

Overall, this is another fun and impressive word game created by Zynga. As a bonus (for a small coin payment), you can even create your own puzzles to pass along to your friends and other opponents. Of its roster of “With Friends” mobile games, this would definitely be in my Top 3 Zynga games to download. Like on every other Zynga game, you can login by using your Facebook account, play against Facebook friends and play against random opponents if none of your friends are up for the challenge. What’s The Phrase is a mere 24MB to install and free to download. If you want the app-free version, it will cost you only $1.99 USD.

App Name: What’s The Phrase?

Developer: Zynga

Market: Google Play

Tetris Blitz takes the classic precision puzzle game to a whole new level. With its own jazzy, dub-step theme and fast-paced gameplay, Tetris Blitz will keep you engaged for hours. One observation I have noticed while playing this game is that Tetris Blitz is aimed to help you get the highest score possible with elements like the new hard-drop outline feature and the Frenzy Meter, which enables the lines worth double the points when filled. I have also noticed that this app shows some similarities to PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz with Last Hurrahs, a two-minute time limit, and special power-ups. This brings me to one of my favorite aspects of the game: the special Tetriminos.

Using these special pieces will definitely increase your score. Of the four, default power-up options you are given, I would advise using the Quake, Lasers, and Time Shift boosts for the best, high-scoring results. Every week, the game will also display a “Power-Up of the Week”, which gives you the option to test it for free for one game and the option to buy it by using your game coins instead of money. If you are running low on coins for power-ups, your best bets are to grab coins and free goodies by taking spins on the Press Your Luck-inspired Bonus Board Blitz and to complete free offers, found in the game’s store.

The only factor that will put Tetris Blitz over the top is if it added a multiplayer, duel mode to play against friends. Having the leaderboard to keep tabs over how you are doing against your Facebook Friends and other users is fine. However, adding a two-player mode (like on Tetris Friends) would be an amazing and exciting feature for this game.

Overall, Tetris Blitz is an excellent, fast-paced, strategy game that is just as challenging as its original predecessor from whence it came. If you really want to boost your game and become a pro at this game, you can purchase Bonus Board Spins, Upgrades, Power-Ups and more coins to buy Finishers and even remove the ads in the app. But, it is not necessary, as you will have just as much fun playing the app without making additional purchases. Tetris Blitz is 50MB large, free to download and worth the download as well.

App Name: Tetris Blitz

Developer: EA Games

Market: Google Play

Jelly Jiggle, developed by Hangar 18, is another puzzle app where strategy and speed is key to play well in this game. In this adventure, you are Jay Jello, a blue jelly cube, whose mission is to move cubes to their home base before time runs out. But, you are not alone− if you are struggling with any part of any level, you can use the Smart-Bombs and Portal power-ups and backtrack on any mistakes you make by clicking the Undo button. This game features 54 levels spanned across three worlds: Countryside, North Pole and Wild West.

Although there are not a vast amount of levels to play, the game is just as challenging as any other puzzle game, especially when get to Level 7 and beyond. That is where the game’s difficulty begins to pick up and can be frustrating if you don’t have a Portal power-up readily available.  There are a few disadvantages to this app such as its limited use of the game’s central character and its subpar user-friendly capabilities.

First, Jelly Jiggle is not as user-friendly as it could be with its D-pad configuration. This game does not have the traditional North-South-East-West oriented directional pad. Instead, it uses an awkward NW-SW-NE-SE orientation that is difficult to handle at first. The app’s diagonal top-down view doesn’t do the game much justice either, even though you have the ability to rotate the map within each level.

Second, I have also noticed that this game does not fully utilize its main character, Jay Jello. You will see this gelatinous, jolly cube guide you through the cutscene tutorial stills during the first three levels.  After that, the character seems to disappear during the actual game play. It’s like featuring the birds during the cutscenes in Angry Birds and playing with vague, colored shapes instead. If you’re going to write characters into the game, then they should be used throughout the game’s entire plot line, but I digress.

Jelly Jiggle is available to download for free in the Google Play store. However, if you are a big fan of the game, you can play Jelly Jiggle Pro for $3.55 USD. At this price, you will have access to every level in the game, find more hidden items, and get more power-ups. Aside from the issues I have mentioned, Jelly Jiggle will put your brain to work with its timed gameplay and tricky levels.

App Name: Jelly Jiggle

Developer: Hanger18

Market:  Google Play

From the same creators who brought you Family Feud and Friends and The Price Is Right comes the Vegas-styled slot machine game based on the hit long-running CBS game show. The Price Is Right Slots transforms some of your favorite pricing games into multi-line slot machines. Like the Facebook version of the game, The Price Is Right Slots gives the player a chance to spin and win thousands of chips, play pricing games for bonus chips and unlock more slot machines every five levels.

Ludia has been doing a solid job of creating multi-platform, social games based on classic game shows, and this game is no different. The mobile version of this game maintains the same games and bells, whistles and sirens as seen and heard on the show itself, although some of the graphic elements deviate from the original version. What makes this game fun to play over and over again are the hundreds of levels of gameplay, the anticipation of playing the contestant’s row and pricing game mini games (especially Plinko and Let ‘Em Roll) as you play the slots and having the opportunity to preview various locked slots on a weekly basis.

One improvement that did stand out in the mobile version is the Big Wheel Bonus. On the Facebook version, in order to spin the Big (Multiplier) Wheel, you would have to spin at least three of the Big Wheel icons in one turn anywhere on the reel to get a minimum of three spins on the Wheel. On the mobile version, once you fill the Big Wheel meter, the game will transform itself into an exciting, high scoring bonanza, where you are given 30 seconds to spin the special slots and multiply your winnings by either 1x, 2x, 3x or 10x. The only drawback is that it takes several spins (and a lot of patience) to fill the meter.

This game does not have many downsides, but can be improved in some areas. Aside from the lengthy loading time when first opening the game, two improvements that could be made are syncing the user’s Facebook account with the mobile version’s account and add the new Vintage slot games to this version. If you have been playing the game recently, the Facebook version of The Price Is Right Slots debuted slot machine versions of forgotten, retired pricing games such as Super Ball, Gallery Game and Hurdles. Even though these games have been running for a few months now, maybe we will see the Vintage mode on a future update.

If you are already a fan of and a regular user of The Price Is Right Slots on Facebook, making the transition to the mobile platform version will be an easy one. The app is free to download and only takes up 22MB of space on your phone, although I would advise you to download it using a Wi-Fi signal because of all the extra features and assets needed to play.

App Name: The Price Is Right Slots

Developer: Ludia

Market: Google Play

App Name: The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Developer: EA Games

Cost: Free

Market: Google Play

The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a fun, fantasy, SimCity-type of game where you can build Springfield to your likeness. Playing The Simpsons: Tapped Out is like watching an episode of the show on television with inclusions of iconic places from the series such as Lard Lad Donuts and Krustyland. The game breaks down the fourth wall with the characters’ dialogue the characters being aware of the fact that they are in the game.

Tapped Out is filled with multiple missions and objectives created to upgrade your city, earn more cash, donuts and experience points to level up and buy more special items and buildings. You are awarded cash and points by doing mundane tasks from building a house to getting Lisa to sit and read. The game play is very slow at first with what seems to be an endless number of tutorials, but once you play through level 5, you will be off and running.

From time-to-time (beginning in level 5), you might want to check your “Conform-O-Meter”. The Conform-O-Meter is essentially your town’s overall rating based on eight factors: indolence, consumerism, tree-hugging, vanity, obedience, gluttony, righteousness and socialism. This is a very useful feature in the game to check on the state of your town and to give you hints and tips on how to improve and what you can add to Springfield. Loyal players can benefit more from this game and can gain more money by earning daily progressive rewards.

My issues with the game lie within the app’s reliance on data signal and/or Wi-Fi usage. Sadly, there is no offline mode for this game and the only way you can play is if you have Internet access on your mobile device. This might pose an issue for people who may have used up their data plan for the month or simply don’t have it. In this game, playing online should be an option and not a voluntary feature. The app is only 53MB large; however, with the added updates, it’s over 246MB and you need a Wi-Fi to download it to preserve your data plan. It will also take a while for the game to download all of the updates when first opening the app.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out requires a lot of in-game maintenance and a lot of work like any other open-ended, city building game, game always keeps you busy with endless tasks. As I have previously stated, the only improvements I would make is created an offline mode to accompany the online mode and make it more of a social game by having the ability to visit other players’ maps, similar to the World’s Biggest PAC-MAN Website. The HD graphics run smoothly and there is no limit to how large you can make Springfield.