I've never really thought that mobile gaming would catch on, at least when it is related to the hardcore crowd. I have been playing RPG's since the days of the original NES, and I never was impressed by games that are known as casual games, such as Zuma or DoodleJump. I just want more out of a game than endless pointless tapping, you know? If you are of the same mindset as me in this regard, I think that Zenonia is a great game for you.
Zenonia is made in the tradition of the classic Zelda and Secret of Mana games, with an overhead view of the character and his surrounding area, and the world itself is vibrant and colorful. You are able to fight your way through numerous enemies, and the system allows you to auto-target, so you won't have to worry about finicky touch controls. If you have a phone with a hardware keyboard, you can use your keyboard to control your character. Your character responds to either control method very quickly, and it can be a little difficult to control his movement until you get used to the speed.
The storyline in the demo gets you started by letting you know that your character is a child of mysterious and portentous origins, and sets the stage for your adventure to start. You are able to select what class of character that you wish to control, with the Paladin being a spell caster, the Assassin having high power, and the Warrior being a well-balanced fighter. What class you select will have no impact on the storyline, but the choices that you make during the game will. You have a meter which indicates whether your alignment is good or evil, and this affects certain aspects of the game, such as which boss you will face.
In Zenonia you are also able to combine weapons, and each class of character has a skill tree containing unique passive and active skills. Each time that you go up a level you are given three stat points and one skill point to divide as you see fit.
While Zenonia is no Fallout 3 or Final Fantasy XIII, it is a great game for your Android phone, and I highly recommend that you at least try the free version, which contains the beginning of the story, and the first town. The full version, while a little pricey at $5.99, contains over forty hours of gameplay, and, for that reason alone, is well worth the expense. So, go check it out, and please let me know what you think!
Please note that Zenonia is also available for the iPhone.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Parallel Kingdom - Location Based Game
If you have had your Android for any amount of time, you've probably downloaded a game or two to play when you're bored. You can only play so many Bust a Move knock-offs and word games before the whole phone game thing starts to seem a bit lame, which it certainly had started to seem to me, but there are a few games out there that have some very interesting mechanics.
One such game, which I have been playing recently, is Parallel Kingdom. Parallel Kingdom is actually a rather simplistic role-playing game, with nothing incredible in the way of graphics or storyline, but it does have a saving grace. Parallel Kingdom is played in an alternate world that overlays our own. That is to say, the game uses your Android phones GPS to determine your location, and overlays the game on a map of the world.
You start the game in your location on the map, and you can move your character within a game-defined radius. When you go to the gas station you can choose to travel to your current location in the game and fight monsters or explore. You can also travel by building flags and using them as waypoints, or by using the dog that is provided to you by the game to "hunt", or explore new areas.
The graphics are actually rather reminiscent of a shareware game that I played on windows around fifteen years ago, at least in the appearance of your character and the enemy characters as unanimated sprites moving on a very plain background, and there are a few server issues that I have experienced in the two weeks that I have played it, but I have still enjoyed expanding my territory.
As I stated before, Parallel Kingdom is not going to win any awards based on its artwork or storyline, but it is strangely addicting to plant flags in remote areas and attempt to build your kingdom, or, of course, try to destroy your neighbors kingdom. Check it out if you have the time, and let me know what you think!
One such game, which I have been playing recently, is Parallel Kingdom. Parallel Kingdom is actually a rather simplistic role-playing game, with nothing incredible in the way of graphics or storyline, but it does have a saving grace. Parallel Kingdom is played in an alternate world that overlays our own. That is to say, the game uses your Android phones GPS to determine your location, and overlays the game on a map of the world.
You start the game in your location on the map, and you can move your character within a game-defined radius. When you go to the gas station you can choose to travel to your current location in the game and fight monsters or explore. You can also travel by building flags and using them as waypoints, or by using the dog that is provided to you by the game to "hunt", or explore new areas.
The graphics are actually rather reminiscent of a shareware game that I played on windows around fifteen years ago, at least in the appearance of your character and the enemy characters as unanimated sprites moving on a very plain background, and there are a few server issues that I have experienced in the two weeks that I have played it, but I have still enjoyed expanding my territory.
As I stated before, Parallel Kingdom is not going to win any awards based on its artwork or storyline, but it is strangely addicting to plant flags in remote areas and attempt to build your kingdom, or, of course, try to destroy your neighbors kingdom. Check it out if you have the time, and let me know what you think!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Explore the Web From Your Phone...Any Way You Want To.
As I have stated in previous posts, one of the greatest things about the Android OS is the level of customization that is available. You can change anything from the keyboard on your screen to the calender that you use, or the way that your homescreen is set up.
One of the ways that you may want to customize your Android experience is in which browser that you use. The Android phone comes with a built-in browser that does fine, but does not allow you to all of the things that you web addicts may need to do. Since there are several different browsers available on the Android Market, I'm just going to list a few of them and give you a little bit of an idea of their capabilities, but I will come back and do individual reviews on these apps at a later point.
Steel
The Steel browser is a basic tool with a delightfully simple interface. All of your buttons and tools are hidden until you want to access them, and the long press menu is a thing of beauty. I personally played with it for a good fifteen minutes just zooming in and out...But, then, I am very easily entertained. If you want to try the Steel browser though, you may want to hurry, as they have recently been purchased by...
SkyFire
SkyFire is a browser for the Android device that allows you to play Flash videos in a separate page when they are available on the web page that you are browsing. This browser comes with a little tutorial to let you know how to use it, and also has the toolbars that you can hide. Like Opera Mini, SkyFire actually routes all of your page requests through their own servers in order to compress the page and allow you to load it faster. I personally would like it better if it had the long press menu that I loved so much in Steel, but it is still a good way to browse your favorite Flash-laden pages.
Opera Mini 5
Opera Mini is a decent little browser, and is at this point in sort of a beta stage. Your page requests are routed through their browsers in order to compress the page for your phone first, and you have a speed-dial homepage. The Opera browser has some advantages over the stock browser, but SkyFire beats it with it's flash video support. It's a decent little browser though, and more polished versions should be on their way.
Dolphin
This app was for a time the most popular browser on the Android OS, but it has fallen from grace somewhat, partly because of Opera's introduction of their app to the Android Market. The gestures on Dolphin certainly have their use, but, for the most part, I would rather use one of the other browsers. Dolphin also seems to be a lot slower than most of the other options.
So now you know of some of the browsers that are available to you on the Android OS. Go and check a few of them out, and, by all means, let me know what you think!
One of the ways that you may want to customize your Android experience is in which browser that you use. The Android phone comes with a built-in browser that does fine, but does not allow you to all of the things that you web addicts may need to do. Since there are several different browsers available on the Android Market, I'm just going to list a few of them and give you a little bit of an idea of their capabilities, but I will come back and do individual reviews on these apps at a later point.
Steel
The Steel browser is a basic tool with a delightfully simple interface. All of your buttons and tools are hidden until you want to access them, and the long press menu is a thing of beauty. I personally played with it for a good fifteen minutes just zooming in and out...But, then, I am very easily entertained. If you want to try the Steel browser though, you may want to hurry, as they have recently been purchased by...
SkyFire
SkyFire is a browser for the Android device that allows you to play Flash videos in a separate page when they are available on the web page that you are browsing. This browser comes with a little tutorial to let you know how to use it, and also has the toolbars that you can hide. Like Opera Mini, SkyFire actually routes all of your page requests through their own servers in order to compress the page and allow you to load it faster. I personally would like it better if it had the long press menu that I loved so much in Steel, but it is still a good way to browse your favorite Flash-laden pages.
Opera Mini 5
Opera Mini is a decent little browser, and is at this point in sort of a beta stage. Your page requests are routed through their browsers in order to compress the page for your phone first, and you have a speed-dial homepage. The Opera browser has some advantages over the stock browser, but SkyFire beats it with it's flash video support. It's a decent little browser though, and more polished versions should be on their way.
Dolphin
This app was for a time the most popular browser on the Android OS, but it has fallen from grace somewhat, partly because of Opera's introduction of their app to the Android Market. The gestures on Dolphin certainly have their use, but, for the most part, I would rather use one of the other browsers. Dolphin also seems to be a lot slower than most of the other options.
So now you know of some of the browsers that are available to you on the Android OS. Go and check a few of them out, and, by all means, let me know what you think!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
DoubleTwist - Sync Your Android
This post is part of a series of articles that expand on a list of suggested applications that I suggested recently. Check out the main article while your here!
I love music. There is just no getting around it. I love to listen to music while I am out on foot, while I am at home, and while I am in my vehicle. When I was a child, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to listen to the radio, cassette tapes, or, though they were rare by that time, vinyl records. The means of delivering media to the masses have, of course, evolved. These days we can carry hundreds of songs around with us on various devices such as MP3 players, and, yes, our Android phones.
Have you used the Amazon music store function on your phone? I have, and, especially with a Wi-Fi connection, it works well enough, but what about all of those MP3s that you've already downloaded to your computer? How are you going to get those on your phone?
Well, you could just connect your device to your computer and drag the files over manually, but I think that the best means of getting music and other media on your device is to download doubleTwist. DoubleTwist is available here for download, and is free to anyone.
Once you have downloaded doubleTwist, you will need to place your device in the correct mode. What you will need to do is connect your device to your computer using the USB connector that you recieved with your phone. Once you have done this, you will notice a USB symbol in your phones notification area. Drag down the Notification menu, and select the "USB Connected" notification. You will then be able to choose to mount your microSD card
.
Once you have mounted your microSD card, doubleTwist will automatically pull up a screen that will allow you to select what sorts of media to sync to your device. For music, videos, and pictures you will have to create a playlist, and then sync the playlist with your phone. There is also a section titled Subscriptions which will allow you to sync podcasts with your device, and doubleTwist has a built in podcast subscription element to allow you to find your favorite pods.
If you get to this point, and you find that you do not have any media that you actually need to sync to your device, now may be a good time to get some more and doubleTwist accomplishes this task very well.
DoubleTwist has a very good integration with the Amazon Music Store, where you will be able to purchase all of the songs and albums that your little heart desires. DoubleTwist also has a good podcast search function so that you can find all of the podcast that you may need. I myself have a subscription to NPR's Car Talk and This American Life, as well as the Daily App Show - Android phones.
So, if you find that you need a smooth interface between your desktop computer and your Android device, give doubleTwist a shot. I use it myself, and I make good use of this desktop application. Let me know what you think!
I love music. There is just no getting around it. I love to listen to music while I am out on foot, while I am at home, and while I am in my vehicle. When I was a child, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to listen to the radio, cassette tapes, or, though they were rare by that time, vinyl records. The means of delivering media to the masses have, of course, evolved. These days we can carry hundreds of songs around with us on various devices such as MP3 players, and, yes, our Android phones.
Have you used the Amazon music store function on your phone? I have, and, especially with a Wi-Fi connection, it works well enough, but what about all of those MP3s that you've already downloaded to your computer? How are you going to get those on your phone?
Well, you could just connect your device to your computer and drag the files over manually, but I think that the best means of getting music and other media on your device is to download doubleTwist. DoubleTwist is available here for download, and is free to anyone.
Once you have downloaded doubleTwist, you will need to place your device in the correct mode. What you will need to do is connect your device to your computer using the USB connector that you recieved with your phone. Once you have done this, you will notice a USB symbol in your phones notification area. Drag down the Notification menu, and select the "USB Connected" notification. You will then be able to choose to mount your microSD card
.Once you have mounted your microSD card, doubleTwist will automatically pull up a screen that will allow you to select what sorts of media to sync to your device. For music, videos, and pictures you will have to create a playlist, and then sync the playlist with your phone. There is also a section titled Subscriptions which will allow you to sync podcasts with your device, and doubleTwist has a built in podcast subscription element to allow you to find your favorite pods.
If you get to this point, and you find that you do not have any media that you actually need to sync to your device, now may be a good time to get some more and doubleTwist accomplishes this task very well.
DoubleTwist has a very good integration with the Amazon Music Store, where you will be able to purchase all of the songs and albums that your little heart desires. DoubleTwist also has a good podcast search function so that you can find all of the podcast that you may need. I myself have a subscription to NPR's Car Talk and This American Life, as well as the Daily App Show - Android phones.
So, if you find that you need a smooth interface between your desktop computer and your Android device, give doubleTwist a shot. I use it myself, and I make good use of this desktop application. Let me know what you think!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Just Like Reality, Except Better
When you run the app, a screen will come up allowing you to chose what effect that you would like to apply to your photo, but, before you select this option, let's go look at the settings. Press your menu button, and, from the menu that pops up, select Config.
Config
From this screen you will be able to set how your application acts, and also modify the filters that are applied to your pictures. There is a pull down menu at the top right-hand portion of your screen that allows you to select exactly what it is that you will be adjusting the settings for. For right now we are concentrating on the Common Settings.
In the first box under Common Settings, you will be able to decide whether your FX Camera pictures will save under their own directory, or will save with the system default photos.
The second box in settings allows you to set the action of your Trackball in the application. You can either have it set to auto-focus when you press, and snap a picture when you release, or have it simply take the picture when you press it, with no focusing at all.
The last box allows you to change your camera flash settings, which are of course dependent on the phone that you have, as not every Android phone has a flash. The options that you can chose from are Auto, Always On, and Always Off.
Filters
ToyCam
The toy camera function allows you to take pictures that that apply such filters as high contrast, both colored and mono, Vivid Red or Green, and Cross-process emulation. There is also a Warm setting, and even a setting that randomly picks what filter to apply. You can also apply vignetting or a hard pinhole look to the picture, or select the random choice on this as well.
Polandroid
This filter allows you to apply a Polaroid effect to your pictures. You simply have to press the Config button to change the shape of the filter from rectangle to square, or to set the filter to either faded or mono.
Fisheye
This lens effect is the beta stage, and the only Config options here are to apply the Fisheye effect to the whole picture, or to have the effect applied to a circle in the middle of the frame.
SymmetriCam
The SymmetriCam is a very interesting effect to apply to your pictures. It allows you to take a picture of something in one portion of your screen and have that mirrored in the remaining area of your screen to make a complete picture. The mirroring effect can be applied in Landscape mode, portrait mode, and can even be applied to the corner of your shot, and mirrored three times. You also have the option of applying a mono, sepia, negative, posterization, or solarization effect to your photo. This effect is definitely a lot of fun to play around with, and actually took up a good bit of my time while I was writing my review.
Warhol - Andy Warholizer
This effect is named after the well known pop artist Andy Warhol, and allows you to take a picture and apply an effect to it that is reminiscent of some of the artwork that he is famous for. This is also a beta offering, and does not have any elements that can be changed in the configuration.
Normal
This selection allows you to use FX Camera just as you would your system camera. You are also able to apply filters to the pictures that you take by tapping the Config button while you are in the this mode. The Filters that you can use are Mono/black-white,Sepia, Negative, Posterize, and Solarize. The filters that you will be able to use varies according to what phone that you have. My Samsung Moment
is able to use all of them except Posterize and Solarize, while my wife's Nexus One is able to access all of them.This application is free on the Android Market, and is a lot of fun to play with, and is definitely worth the space that it will take up on your phone. Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it. Snap some pictures!
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