Tag: Line »

Some of the most successful gaming properties in history were born in Japan. That is why we immediately jump and take notice when, of all people, Disney announced that they were expanding the launch of the extremely successful Japanese puzzle title Line: Disney Tsum Tsum, globally. The game quickly climbed to #1 on the Japanese puzzle charts shortly after launch, and the game's publisher LINE, are no doubt hoping that it now does the same worldwide.

In tandem with the launch of the game, the Disney Store is pleased to announce that they are now stocking a series of plush, Tsum Tsum characters.

The adorable LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum is available now on the App Store for free.

Adobe is making a few announcements today. Announcements like making their Creative Cloud Photography plan a permanent plan ($9.99/month for Photoshop CC, Lightroom, and more - an excellent deal) and further moves into mobile.

First up is Lightroom for iPhone. Earlier this year Adobe released Lightroom for iPad a companion app that allows quick edits when on the go. Today Adobe is releasing a separate app for use on the smaller iOS device. The iPhone maintains the same features as Lightroom for iPad, but some of the controls are optimized for the iPhone.

Next up, Photoshop Mix. It’s a whole new iPad application that brings some of the advanced features of Photoshop to the mobile world for the first time. This includes content-aware fill, layer support, cloud import/save, and more.

Adobe Line and Sketch allow more specific functions for mobile artists and designers. Sketch takes a mobile sketch book and adds collaboration features. While Line is a precision drawing and drafting app.

All of the mobile apps including Lightroom and Photoshop Mix, Adobe Line, and Adobe Sketch are available free. Some features will only work with a Creative Cloud subscription (like the CC Photography one mentioned above).

Everyone has probably been fascinated by neon at some point in his or her life. There’s just something about the seemingly impossibly vibrant colors twisting and turning through a series of tubes to form all manner of images that’s quite pleasing to the eye. While I imagine creating real neon signage isn’t all that glamorous, creating fake neon signage in a virtual environment through Neon Blitz is quite glamorous indeed.

Neon Blitz is fundamentally a line-tracing game. Each component of a given neon puzzle has a distinct beginning, indicated by a star. It’s up to the player to drag that star across its assigned track and complete a specific piece of neon, then do the same to the others as quickly and accurately as possible. Consecutive successes without any screw-ups build combos and make the neon glow brighter, while dragging too far off track or failing to complete a given piece restarts the combo counter. I’d say it’s best to take it slow and steady but each puzzle jumps right into the next as soon as it’s finished, and there’s a session timer that’s always counting down to Game Over. Temporary boosts can be activated before starting a game using stars earned through play, but they’re no substitute for actual skill.

While Neon Blitz is obviously a fairly straightforward and simple game, that simplicity is what makes it hard to put down. Each session is randomized so it’s rare to encounter the same puzzle all that often, and there’s always the allure of trying to best the previous run. And of course it all looks wonderful in a Technicolor Dream sort of way. Especially when a big combo is in progress.

The only real downside to all the glamour of Neon Blitz is that it never really leads anywhere. All the daily challenges and special bonus game rules are great and everything, but completing them merely earns more stars that are simply used to purchase temporary power-ups. Nothing is really unlocked and there’s no real progression aside from high scores, and a multitude of unlockables is something many iOS gamers have started to grow accustomed to.

It’s a great simple game to kill time, but it’s not the kind of thing I could picture most iOS users draining their batteries over. Although it is fun, and sometimes people just want to have fun without a bunch of thinking or rules to hinder their enjoyment. In which case they should look to Neon Blitz.

Fish are always cool. Know what's cooler than fish? Robot fish. So it stands to reason that Robot Fish from Liger Games gets automatic cool points. They also deserve some cool points for making a game that involves drawing lines that doesn't quite adhere to the norms of most line-drawing games.

Rather than tracing a path to an exit or preventing collisions, players will seemingly have to plan their route through each level in one go. The kicker is that they can use all manner of fruit to acquire special abilities (i.e. bashing through hazards, duplication, etc...). It's hard to fully picture it with screen shots, but the videos on the developer's blog should help. Looks pretty nifty, huh? I can only imagine how much planning and practice it takes to blow through levels that fast, and most of the time they're barely earning "C" ranks!

Robot Fish should be hitting the App Store soon. Within the next couple of weeks, assuming it makes it through Apple's approval process in a timely manner. No word yet on a price, though.