(Posted by: Alex Deckard)
The latest App from Sky Parlor Studios, Fire and Dice, didn't hook me the second I started playing. It's just not that direct. But what it DID do is somehow manage to keep me playing long after the initial novelty had worn off. I can't really explain it, but the game is just fun.
The premise is that you live in a particularly flammable city, and you run the fire department. However, for whatever reason, you have to roll dice for your supplies. Gas for movement, ladders to rescue people, water to put out fires and fire trucks to give you more fire trucks. You roll five dice, lock down the dice you want to keep, and keep rolling until you lock down all five. But you have to lock down at least one each roll. Then you select your truck and use your supplies. It doesn't sound like much, but it is one hell of a time killer. Personally, I haven't been this hooked on an app since Game Dev Story. Will it be the next Angry Birds? Maybe not. But we don't want to PLAY another Angry Birds. We want new, original ideas from creative people. Sky Parlor Studios are definitely out there making these things happen. It's $1.99 on the iOS App Store and Android Marketplace, but there is a free trial version available. DEFINITELY worth a look. Plus, there's an online leaderboard where people have been getting some RIDICULOUS scores. Can you beat them? Maybe. Will you have fun trying to? I certainly think so.
Now, I wouldn't be a reviewer unless I pointed out some negatives. Once you learn the game, that's really it. There's not a lot of variety as far as gameplay. Granted, this isn't the kind of game that really needs it, but with an attention span as short as mine, variety is pretty great. I would have liked to see a greater variety of maps, but the rectangular shape of the town is undoubtedly due to the shape of the devices it is used on. Frankly, all of my gripes can be explained away with "technical limitations". But it would be interesting to see how this would play out on a larger scale. The other issue is that there have been some reported problems with getting the app to run. Usually, it seems those issues can be remedied with a simple restart, or trying over and over again to get it working. However, it should be noted that it does NOT run on iPhone or iPod Touch 2G or earlier. So if that's what you're working with, you're out of luck. Sorry. But if you can run it, I'd suggest giving it a try. 8.5/10
The premise is that you live in a particularly flammable city, and you run the fire department. However, for whatever reason, you have to roll dice for your supplies. Gas for movement, ladders to rescue people, water to put out fires and fire trucks to give you more fire trucks. You roll five dice, lock down the dice you want to keep, and keep rolling until you lock down all five. But you have to lock down at least one each roll. Then you select your truck and use your supplies. It doesn't sound like much, but it is one hell of a time killer. Personally, I haven't been this hooked on an app since Game Dev Story. Will it be the next Angry Birds? Maybe not. But we don't want to PLAY another Angry Birds. We want new, original ideas from creative people. Sky Parlor Studios are definitely out there making these things happen. It's $1.99 on the iOS App Store and Android Marketplace, but there is a free trial version available. DEFINITELY worth a look. Plus, there's an online leaderboard where people have been getting some RIDICULOUS scores. Can you beat them? Maybe. Will you have fun trying to? I certainly think so.
Now, I wouldn't be a reviewer unless I pointed out some negatives. Once you learn the game, that's really it. There's not a lot of variety as far as gameplay. Granted, this isn't the kind of game that really needs it, but with an attention span as short as mine, variety is pretty great. I would have liked to see a greater variety of maps, but the rectangular shape of the town is undoubtedly due to the shape of the devices it is used on. Frankly, all of my gripes can be explained away with "technical limitations". But it would be interesting to see how this would play out on a larger scale. The other issue is that there have been some reported problems with getting the app to run. Usually, it seems those issues can be remedied with a simple restart, or trying over and over again to get it working. However, it should be noted that it does NOT run on iPhone or iPod Touch 2G or earlier. So if that's what you're working with, you're out of luck. Sorry. But if you can run it, I'd suggest giving it a try. 8.5/10
