Lazy Review #1

Bennu
Bennu is a physics-based puzzler with a bit of Bionic Commando thrown in. The story/intro was certainly... puzzling, but I do appreciate the attempt at a theme.

Basically you swing your orb around (which apparently is a bird that was transformed, and you use it's beak like a grappling hook or something?) and make contact with bricks of the same color to break them. You can touch colored flames to change the color of your orb.

It actually looks pretty nice and is conceptually strong, if not entirely unique. For me personally, the controls just made me frustrated. I could not make the orb go where I wanted. It felt very floaty and sporadic. With the entire game resting on the controls and physics, I just couldn't get over that. True puzzler fans might have more luck and fun.

Shield Defense
Shield Defense has you controlling a very immobile tank with a very powerful shield that reflects attacks. It's sort of like a tower defense game, where you are the lone tower. Only you're a tank, got it?

The reflection mechanic is pretty fun. It's entertaining to use your enemy's attacks against themselves. As you take down foes, you get money and can upgrade your tank in a number of ways.

It looks solid with cartoony tank graphics and lots of enemies. I have this nagging feeling that I can play something very similar for free with a quick google search - it's just not a very deep experience. And again, the core mechanic (in this case reflecting attacks) just doesn't feel tight or satisfying enough. It was very frustrating when you only had a couple enemies left to beat and it's nearly impossible to reflect the bullets in the direction you want. As the end of each level approaches is actually gets more boring, which is weird.

Actually worth a trial though. It's addicting in the same way that Tower Defense games can be.

Gallery: Landscapes
Yes that's the screenshot. A lake with some mountains. This is yet another screensaver/clock application. I am mostly doing this in order to call out a very worthy and applauded developer, Binary Tweed, who released the well received "Clover" early this year. This is his follow up I guess.

I can only hope this is some sort of twisted experiment. One of the good guys has been bitten. Infected, and spewing puss, he is the walking dead.

We're now at the point where the system is being broken on purpose. People download these apps (out of curiosity, or because they tell all their friends?) and then they appear on both the New Releases and the Most Popular lists. Shitter's full.