Reckless Getaway (3 Stars)

You have just robbed a bank and are trying to make a getaway but the cops are on your tail!  Can you lose them and make off with your cash?  That is all the story this game has and that is all you need.  Mindless car chases with lots of destruction.  How could you go wrong?

Graphically the game is sharp with nice detail on the cars and environment.   You play from a top down perspective behind the vehicle view which works really well for this game. You can lots of destructible objects like other cars, signs and traffic cones.  The 3D effect of the vehicles is very nice and you see it in full detail as the cars spin through the air as they crash. 

Your controls consist of a left and right arrow and a jump button.  That is all you need for insane action.  There are jumps into shortcuts and all means of ways to take out the cops.  The best thing to do is to let the cops miss you and crash into a wall, taking themselves out.  The controls are tight and fluid and allows fine control of your car.

The game is fun for a while but then it just starts to drag on as all you do is escape, which gets fairly quickly.  Thankfully you have one other mode called Wreckless.  Here you try to do as much damage as you can, just like in Burnout 3.  This mode is a blast to play and you might find you spend more time playing this than the getaway mode.

This is another one of the games I purchased for just .10 when then promo was going on, but even at it's normal price it is worth every penny.  I only gave the game three out of five stars because it does become boring after playing it for a while.  Maybe a sequel will give us more in the way of content.

Earth And Legend (4 Stars)

Earth And Legend is a really good game and one that shows off the power of the Streak very well.  It is a spiritual sequel to Dvide Arts earlier entry Crusade of Destiny.  Earth And Legend plays very similar to Crusade of Destiny but with a lot of updates that make the game more enjoyable.

First thing you will notice are the graphics as they are very well done.  Lots of detail in the environment and character models.  I was surprised how well the facial graphics are.  It really reminds me of the original Everquest with the graphic updates introduced with the Shadows of Luclin expansion.  The frame rate is very high, I would guess in the 50s as everything is silky smooth. There is a full day/night cycle and weather effects which really add to the experience.  Only some quests or mobs are available at certain times of the day so the time of day is important to finishing quests.  When raining you can both see and hear how hard it is coming down which adds to the atmosphere.

The sound is top notch with great sound effects and a pleasant soundtrack.  There is no voice over which I am thankful for as I have seen many a game hurt themselves because of corny voice acting.  I would rather read the text and leave their voice to my imagination.

There are lots of quests and most just follow in the traditional "fetch" style but there are some that move the story along.  You will be doing a lot of grinding to get your level up so you can continue with the quest but that is the norm in a traditional RPG.  Luckily you have lots of fighting styles you are able to utilize from hand to hand, to archery to magic.  You also are able to train a pet to fight alongside you.

If you are into RPGs then you will enjoy Earth And Legend.  It is fantastic to play on the go and is constructed so you can get in and out quickly and actually make some progress.

Great Little War Game (5 Stars)

Great Little War Game could not possibly be more perfectly titled as this war game is fantastic.  Not since Herzog Zwei on the Sega Genesis have I played a game with simple resource management (take over oil wells to get more funds to spend on troops) that is so much fun.  Let's take a closer look at this fantastic game.

The basis for the game is simple, two generals are battling it out along many different maps.  The game is played in rounds where you can build your army (ground troops, tanks, ships, helicopters etc.), move them along the map and attack if the enemy is within range.  Each round starts with funds being collected from all the oil wells that you control.  There are friendly, neutral and enemy oil wells scattered along the map and utilizing the engineer troop you are able to capture these oil wells which adds extra funds at the beginning of each round.  This is similar to capturing bases in Herzog Zwei and whoever controls the most oil wells have the advantage.  Once you capture an oil well you need to defend it or the enemy will come and take it over from you.  Luckily you have many different options for protected what is yours.

You have four ground troops available to you, all with different fighting styles.  The most basic troop is the Grunt.  He has an attack range of 1 to 2 hexagons and can attack infantry and vehicles but does no damage to airborne or ships.  The next unit is the Bazooka troop who also can only attack for 1 to 2 hexagons but can not attack airborne.  The Engineer is defenseless so you must protect him while he makes his way to enemy or neutral buildings so he can capture them.  The last troop, and the best, is the Sniper.  He can attack up to 3 hexagons away and will "one shot" infantry.  

Using the map to your advantage is important.  On level ground two soldiers of the same class will attack each other for the same amount of damage.  Get your soldier to higher ground and the advantage is yours.  For the island maps soldiers can only exit a carrier in designated landing areas so if you populate all those hexagons with your soldiers then no enemy soldiers can get on your island.  There are many strategies you can use to help you win the maps and experimenting is half the fun.

The visuals in this game are crisp and clean and work great for this style of game.  You can easily identify each class of soldier by their graphics without having to click on them for a description.  The animation is fluid as it should be in a game without non-stop action.  The maps are simple but nicely drawn with weather effects like rain and snow.  When a battle begins in zooms in on the action which is a nice touch.

The sound is minimal but is well done.  Your soldiers will make a snide comment whenever they take out and enemy troop and there is the sound of gun fire when the attacks happen.  The music is decent but I found myself turning it off and just focusing on the battle.  

The controls are fantastic and it is these types of games that work like magic with touch interfaces.  Touch a troop will allow you to target a nearby enemy or show you the make hexagon moves you can make in this round.  Manipulating your troops is easy and intuitive. 

This little war game is great and that makes it the most accurate title in gaming history.  I picked this up for just ten cents when the Android Market was having their "Ten Days of Ten Cents" sale but it definitely worth  the $2.99 asking price.  This game will supply you with hours of battle fun!

Shadowgun Review (4 Stars)

This is my first game review for my new Dell Streak 7 and what better game to begin with than Shadowgun.

This game is amazing visually. I never played Gears of War but graphically they look similar which is amazing. I was blown away the first time I launched this game and had to convince myself that I was really playing it on a tablet. The frame rate never stutters and is sharp and clear with lots of detail. Character and environment graphics are terrific. Graphically this game does not disappoint.

The sound is just as amazing as the visuals. I was surprised that the character were voiced and they were done well, not cheesy like some of the games I had heard on other portable devices. The music and sound effects are top notch too. The visuals and audio of this game pass with flying colors.

The controls work but are less than desirable. You move your character around with the left side of the screen and you aim with a circle on the right. Below that circle is the fire circle. You have to aim at a moving enemy then quickly move to the fire button. Leaving your finger on the button will continuously fire and if you move your finger around on that fire button you will move your sight around so you can continuously fire at the several enemies you might encounter at once. This isn't ideal as you will just spare bullets all over the screen as you move from one enemy to the next unless you switch back to just the aiming circle then back to fire. I found once I found enemies I would hunker down and fight them before moving on so if I could aim with my right hand and fire with a button on my left hand I would have been way more accurate. Now this just be me and others might not have any issues but I would rather be able to set up the firing myself instead of having to go with the default setup.

Overall this is a fantastic game which really shows off the Dell Streak 7's nVidia graphics power. I picked it up for $4.99 and was definitely worth it but if you keep your eyes open you might find it on sale. I can't wait to see what the sequel will be like since the first outing was so good.