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.

ThumbGods in 2009 is a post from: Thumb Gods

The zaniness we love about the Sims arrives in Castaway once you’ve gotten a handle on sleeping and not-starving. Your Sim can build an SOS sign for Dharma initiative-style airdrops of random things, like a victrola or a candy bar.  As you collect island items, you can cook tasty dinners (your Sim was getting tired of bugs and raw fish), make new clothes, make tools or decorations, build a new house, make a canoe and just create all kind of island crafts. You can even make and play an ocarina! And, as you explore more, you’ll also befriend the other island refugees, and check out the ancient temple. All tropical islands have an ancient temple, don’t you know?

I’ve written such angry things about sparkly pink shopping games as “girls’ games”, that I hate to admit when I fall into a traditional girl pattern, but, well, I love pretend cooking. I like it in World of WarCraft, too, if that make me sound any less like an eight-year-old girl. I also like making Sim clothes and playing dress-up. Castaway avoids being an unappealingly feminine game by also having survival puzzles and mini-games about fish-catching and fire-building. Oh, and the game’s not pink, which is always good in my book.

Sims 2: Castaway seemed to make much better use of the DS interface than Sims 2. In the regular Sims 2, you’re forced to ignore the stylus, and use the clumsy buttons to navigate, but you can’t put the stylus away completely, because you need it to select menu options that really should be hotkeys or at least accessible by arrow keys. Sims 2: Castaway takes better advantage of the DS-specific interface, using either the stylus to move, and even creating minigames that require use of the microphone. The top screen is used to display the meters that are very familiar to Sims players.

One interface annoyance is the crafting book. When crafting, your Sim cannot create multiples of the same item. You need to select the crafting spot, tap Craft Things, then click the item you want to make,which leads to a screen showing you what materials will be reguired. On this screen, you must click Make. Then you’ll see a picture of what you’re making, and you must click OK. Then you see a picture of what you made, and you’re forced to click OK one more time. If you want to make a duplicate (or a second item), you’re back at the crafting book, and you need to do it all over again. And if your item is on the second or third page of the crafting book, it can be even longer. And if you need three of one item to make something special, well, seems like EA figured out how to most of the suck the fun from a crafting game.

I was a big fan of Sims 2 for the computer, so I expected to like Castaway. It was even better than I expected, with the exotic island theme, a zany but cohesive storyline, and all the adorably realistic animations we expect from the Sims.

Game Review: Sims 2: Castaway on the DS is a post from: Thumb Gods

You’re on your way from someplace much cooler to someplace much cooler when your car breaks down in Strangetown, and the Sims 2 game begins. A local yokel says he can fix that, but while you’re waiting (it goes without saying that the required part’s on backorder in Strangetown), you take over as manager of a creepy, rundown hotel, in this little town of odd events.

Almost everyone who’s played the Sims knows that the ghosts, alien abductions and general parmanormal silliness are the best part of the Sims, so the makers of Sims 2 for the DS toned down the time spent watching your Sim sleep or cook dinner, and increased the zany encounters.

You play as one Sim, not a household, and the story is much more linear than the PC versions.  It’s also no longer a sandbox game. Players have limited control over hotel guests, but important penthouse guests arrive, check in, and send players on unavoidable missions. I happened to like the penthouse missions, especially goth cultist Ava Cadarva, but it wasn’t the almost-unlimited sandbox play style we knew and loved in other Sims games.

Via Visiting Strangetown: Sims 2 on the DS on Simpson’s Paradox.

Game Review: Sims 2 on the DS is a post from: Thumb Gods

Have you noticed that as games get prettier, complaints about things “looking so fake” are more common? When playing a game with detailed graphics, something on the Unreal Tournament engine or similar, any awkward animation stands out. We notice a character’s arms held at a weird angle or the omnipresent mitten hands, and it seems like a glaring error when it’s in a pretty game.

The Sims 2 did a great job by keeping things cartoonish so it was easier to accept odd moments of animation (And some of the toddler animations were amazingly true to life!), but more importantly the game was also engaging and entertaining on other levels and didn’t rely entirely on pretty graphics. I guess game graphics are just like movie special effects. I won’t be turned off a solid, entertaining game just because the graphics aren’t cutting edge, and I’ll lose interest in a gorgeous game if it’s nothing but pretty.

Looks So Fake is a post from: Thumb Gods

The game opens with a message from your Travian’s uncle Horatio, asking you to come and help him with the ancestral estate. As he sends you on basic intro quests, it becomes apparent that Uncle Horatio has had a few drinks in his day, and that the ancestral estate is more of a run-down farmhouse. Uncle Horatio’s hiccups and rambling tales set the tone for the game, everyone in Travians is full of character. Some of the first NPCs you meet are a sheep-loving, Horatio-hating guard and a travel pig with memory issues.

As a sidenote, this review also contains my favorite screenshot, of boozy Horatio having yet another drink. I’m not that great with with screenshots, I usually get a capture about two seconds after the cool part ends, so I’m pretty pleased with this one!
Via Travians: Asterix meets The Sims | See Jane Game.

Game Review: Travians on SeeJaneGame is a post from: Thumb Gods

Today’s Positech newsletter says that Kudos 2 is now available on the Mac, so even people with a one-button mouse can play too! From the newsletter:

You can download the mac demo here:
http://www.redmarblegames.com/downloads/Kudos2Demo.dmg
And buy the game here:
http://store.esellerate.net/s.asp?s=STR807618070&Cmd=BUY&SKURefnum=SKU05843952168
As usual, the mac version is sold through, and ported by our partners at redmarblegames.com

if you don’t know about Kudos 2, it’s a turn-based life-simulation game where you get to control the choices someone makes in their life from age twenty to thirty. Think of it as a strategic version of the sims, without all the worrying about answering the door and going to the bathroom all the time.

Of course, Kudos 2 for PC is also available, and you can try out a free demo version.  Besides Kudos and Kudos 2, Positech also did the game Democracy.

Kudos 2 for the Mac is a post from: Thumb Gods

I’m still not sure if I’m going to get the Sims3. I haven’t seen anything in the Sims 3 that the Sims2 game doesn’t offer, and I already have Sims 2 expansions, like Nightlife. I’ll probably wait for the blog reviews to come in, and then see if there’s anything the third Sims has that the second doesn’t.  Are you going to get it?

Via EA Store (US) Online Store

Sims 3 Thumbdrive! is a post from: Thumb Gods

My Sims is a post from: Thumb Gods

Home Sweet Home is a casual game that challenges you to decorate the homes of your clients. You are given somewhat cryptic information as to what they are looking for. Then it’s time to buy the furnishings. Watch that budget because buying the furnishings is only half of the equation. Next comes the build where you help a crew create the room under budget and on time.

During the building phase, you can help your workers by giving them coffee or handing them a needed tool. You will also have to administer first aid if they get hurt. Any time a worker is away from a task they are assigned, their progress is slowly lost. This can really put you behind schedule so it’s best to meet their needs as soon as possible.

Home Sweet Home is a lot of fun especially for those who like the interior design aspect of The Sims mixed with time management. A demo version of the game is available at Big Fish Games.

Home Sweet Home is a post from: Thumb Gods

As the Sims travel they will get to interact and learn from both real and mythical locals like the wise old hermit or even Big Foot. You will be able to send your Sims on tourist rides like on a glass bottom boat or an adventure van tour. Like with all expansions, there will be plenty of new objects to buy and have your Sims interact with. Whatever your Sims learn on vacation like the hula dance lei they can teach their neighbors when they return home.

The The Sims 2 Bon Voyage will be a nice addition to the Sims, adding even more fun to this great franchise that is still going strong after seven years.

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage requires The Sims 2, The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition , The Sims 2 Holiday Edition or The Sims 2 Deluxe for PC to play. Look for this expansion to be released in September.

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage is a post from: Thumb Gods