Archive for December, 2008

Review: Ancient Tripeaks


h1 Saturday, December 20th, 2008

Ancient Tripeaks is a card game from Toybox Games. In practice it’s a collection of solitaire games, so if you’re in love with that kind of card games, you surely can’t miss this product.

The extremely cheap price of $9.95 makes it even more attractive. But how is the game execution? On my mac it ran flawlessly, and since I am not a real expert of solitaire games, I had to use the in-game tutorials, which were very well done and let me learn the various game rules quickly and easily.

The art and sounds enhance the experience, but in its core this is a good collection of solitaire games: it’s that kind of game that you’ll play when you’re too stressed or tired to play some more challenging title.

Perfect to find something to do during your free time.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review: New Star Soccer 4


h1 Sunday, December 7th, 2008

It’s been a while I wanted to play the NSS series on my mac! Indeed, until this latest release, the popular shareware soccer series of games was Pc only. Now finally, even mac users can try this awesome game, that initially seems only a soccer game, but there’s much more behind it! You’ll see it for yourself once you start playing it: the game simulates the life of a soccer player, similarly to what happens in recent commercial AAA games like Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 or Fifa 2009.

Differently from those games though, this one REALLY simulates the life of a player. Not just the field and the training: but everything else, from your girlfriend to your car, and your free time. There are many sub-games, so really it’s like playing lots of games in one.

The minigames really help the game atmosphere, it’s really like if you’re living the life of a soccer player, not just playing the match, like most other games. You’ll have to manage your relationship with friends, media, girlfriend and more, if your personal life suffers so will your performance on the field.

That’s really what makes me unsure what genre this game exactly fit. Sure, is a sport game, but not “just a sport game”. It’s also a life simulation, a sort of Kudos Soccer! that’s what really makes this game stand out from the group.

This latest version features a full 3d soccer field, and while the game control might seem a bit hard in the beginning, once you’re used to it you’ll be able to control exactly what kind of shot/passes you want to make.

Download the game demo

Rating: ★★★★★