ThumbGods in 2009

In 2009, I reviewed indie games like Funky Farm 2, A Case Of The Crabs, Rotoadventures Momo’sQuest, Slayer of Dragon,  Democracy 2,  Electric Box,  Faerie Solitaire, and CyberWord. I plan to keep focusing on creative, indie games next year. I also played major mainstream titles, like Cartoon Network’s new MMO Fusionfall, and James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club:  Games of Passion for the DS. ThumbGods reviewed the match-3 Atlantis, Totem Tribe, National Geographic’s Mystery of Cleopatra, Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, Sims 2 on the DS, and Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger! Major misses  this year were  My Boyfriend,  Create-a-Mall,  the disappointing Build-a-lot 3, and Jack in Lost in Blue 2. (Not all of LiB2. Just Jack.)

I tried to branch out a bit from reviews, and started writing some hints, including a guide to solving MyTribe mysteries and hints for Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger! I’ll probably keep doing this whenever I’m really proud of solving a puzzle and want to help out.

Thumb Gods had a great guest post when when Lexton Collins reviewed Runes Of Magic. I guest posted reviews of Cake Mania 3 and Ciao Bella, over on Casual Gamer Chick, Crayon Physics Deluxe review on Angry Gamers, Travians: Asterix Meets The Sims on SeeJaneGame, and contributed to several issues of Indie Game Mag.

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Game Review: Cake Mania 3

I have a new review of Cake Mania 3 up over at Casual Gamer Chick.

Cake Mania 3 is an adorable time-management game for the Nintendo DS. Jill, our heroine from Sandlot Games’ PC versions of the Cake Mania imprint, is cheerfully preparing for her wedding day when she accidentally breaks a time-bender (I suppose it was wedding decor), and sends herself and her loved ones off through space and time, only to be saved through extensive cake baking! Jill must rescue her displaced friends and family, repair the time-bender and make it back for her wedding – all by making and decorating cakes.

Once Jill lands in a new location and sets up her bakery (“Oh look,“ Jill notices, “My oven works in ancient China! That’s not weird at all!”), the top screen is used for progress stats, like time spent and money earned, and icons of waiting customers. The bottom screen is Jill’s bakery. Players send Jill rushing from oven to customer with a tap of the stylus. A checkmark appears over the future actions in Jill’s queue so you can easily keep track of what she’s doing. Tap the checkmark to remove a planned action from Jill’s to-do list.

Read the rest of my Cake Mania 3 review over on Casual Gamer Chick.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Helping You Waste Time

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently. I’ve got a review coming out in the next Indie Games Mag, and I have some DS reviews in the works, but in the meantime, here are some other game sites I like to help you you smiling at work.

Angry Gamers (I love these guys but foul language warning!)
Big Red Potion
Casual Gamer Chick
Eat – Sleep – Game
Gamasutra
Gamers With Jobs
GamerTell
Killer Betties
See Jane Game
Simpson’s Paradox
Talking Orange
Tiny Subversions
Two Bit News
WomenGamers.com

Popularity: 14% [?]

January and February on ThumbGods

I’ve heard about that post-Christmas slump for games, but on ThumbGods, this was a great time for reviews. I reviewed Funky Farm 2, the match-3 Atlantis, A Case Of The Crabs, Totem Tribe, Rotoadventures Momo’sQuest, Slayer of Dragon, the underwhelming Build-a-lot 3,  Democracy 2,  Electric Box, and Cartoon Network’s Fusionfall here on ThumbGods, and Ciao Bella, over on Casual Gamer Chick. Sheihk Chandio reviewed GTA: Liberty City, Pokemon Diamond,  Gran Turismo 4,  Dragonball Z:Infinite World and FF7. Lexton Collins reviewed the upcoming Runes Of Magic.

We recently discovered AngryGamers, a new site for gaming rants and reviews (with some NSFW language). We also posted about a cool boardgames craft project, and I wrote my first walkthrough, a guide to solving MyTribe mysteries.

Don’t forget, we’re also on Twitter! You can follow ThumbGods on Twitter for instant updates whenever we post!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Disney To Launch Online World This Summer

Looks like Disney will be following Cartoon Network’s lead with Fusionfall and creating a kid-friendly MMO world. Disney’s new virtual world will be based on the cute movie Cars. From their press release, as quoted on Casual Gamer Chick:

This summer, Disney Online will launch World of Cars Online, a 3D online world based on the hit movie CARS. Players will be able to take an amazing ride into a wacky world full of fun and adventure by designing their own car, becoming a racing legend, making new friends, and playing mini-games with Lightning McQueen and the rest of the cast.

Read the full press release, and more commentary, over on Disney to Launch an MMO/Virtual World | Casual Gamer Chick.

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Ciao Bella

Ciao Bella is one of many casual sims reviewed on Casual Gamer Chick. It’s available to download as a free trial or a full-game purchase from the always-awesome Big Fish Games.

Ciao Bella is a life sim, based on management of resources and time. Elena must handle all the crises that pop up in her extended family, keep her meters full in the areas of health, culture, family, work and harmony, and still improve her relationship with her boyfriend, Elio. The challenge is keeping Elena’s meters full, getting enough sleep and making enough money, while meeting Elena’s goals by the deadline. When I wasn’t actively working on a mission, my Elena existed on a steady schedule of reading and yoga, which is good for health, culture and harmony, but not so good for work and family, or for Elena’s finances.

Read the rest at Ciao Bella Review | Casual Gamer Chick

Popularity: 9% [?]

Bio

I’ve been a contributing writer to ThumbGods team since 2005, and in early 2009 I took over as the dedicated blogger. My gaming-related articles  have been featured in Bleech Magazine and in Indie Game Mag. I’ve also contributed articles to WomenGamers.com, Casual Gamer Chick, CNReviews, Azeroth World News, Angry Gamers and SeeJaneGame.

I started my gaming life as a little girl playing Frogger on my dad’s computer. Right now, I play strategy games, sims of all sorts, puzzle games, and standard RPGs. I’m getting more and more into independent games, because it seems like smaller studios take more risks and come up with creative storylines and mechanics.  I don’t like shooters or racing games, at all. Please feel free to recommend a new game for me by leaving a comment or emailing editor@thumbgods.com, and don’t feel shy about telling me about your own game!

My personal blog is at SimpsonsParadox.com, come by and say hello!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Links

Angry Gamers is an uncensored video game website dedicated to offering unbiased and uncensored content. Angry Gamers contains the latest game news, game previews, original game articles and the latest game reviews for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintentdo Wii and indie games.

Big Red Potion
Casual Gamer Chick
Eat – Sleep – Game
Flash Games Den
Gamasutra
Gamers With Jobs
GameTalk
GamerTell
GameSpy.com
Indie Game Magazine
Killer Betties
Kotaku
My Geek Life
See Jane Game
Simpson’s Paradox
Talking Orange
Tiny Subversions
Two Bit News
WomenGamers.com

Do you know of a good one we missed? Let us know!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Chicks On The Loose!

Casual Gamer Chick reviews the new iPhone game Chicks On The Loose:

Chicks on the Loose is an arcade style game for the iPod Touch and iPhone. The goal of the game is to reunite the baby chickens with their Moms. Players know which chick belongs to which mother by the color of the chick. The chick needs to be reunited with the same color mother. Players reunite the babies and their mothers by dragging the baby chicks to their mothers.

So cute! It’s making me want an iPhone even more!

Via Chicks on the Loose Review | Casual Gamer Chick

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Retro iPhone App Coming Soon!

Thanks to Jennifer of Casual Gamer Chick for this press release about Big Head Games new iPhone toy:

BHG are today pleased to announce the submission of iPhone game Retro to the Apple store.

Grabbing the best bits of retro gaming and wrapping them in glorious visuals BHG have produced the perfect game for the iPhone platform.

True to the traditions of classic Sci-fi, Retro is set in the near future, our experiments to harvest the Sun´s energy is about to send it super nova, your mission is to rescue scientists stranded on orbiting planets.

Retro takes you on 23 missions deep below the surface of orbiting planets, the super smooth control system allows you to tilt the iPhone to turn the craft, tapping the screen to apply thrust, gliding through the tightest caves to find stranded scientists, keeping one eye on the fuel and shield and the other on the rocky outcrops.

23 missions with gameplay that includes laser gates and teleporters.

Retro will be in the store during the Christmas holidays.

I’m currently playing through a backlog of games like Ancient Secrets, MyTribe and the awesome new Princess Bride Game (not to mention the awful Tropical Dream disaster). Plus, with the holidays and all, my family wanted me to get off the computer and spend time with them. Can you imagine!?!?

Anyway, let me know if you get a chance to play the new Retro!

Via New Sci-fi Game for iPhone | Casual Gamer Chick

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