Last Shelter: Eden Rising

It's been a day since Eden Rising has started.

When you enter Eden, you get transported to a new state (Storywise, it is a time in the past). Here, the player population comes from different states. This alone means that the power level discrepancies between players is vast. Players in the older states usually have a huge advantage over players in newer states so it is easier for these older advanced players to put younger players in a fallen state.

So, as a newbie, you probably don't want to start a tile grabbing war early unless the area you are in is filled with plenty of guild allies. Guilds are like alliances except that players come from different states. The ranks are still there (R5 down to R1). And I guess the R5 will determine who gets what rewards, assuming the Guild gets a good ranking at the end of the season. There's also an additional chat window - the guild chat - but it made my phone freeze a lot. This can be difficult if you're trying to find out what are the directions or instructions of your guild leaders.

Initially, your base is shielded when you enter Eden. But once you decide to occupy a tile that is already occupied by another player, you have to drop the shield. Perhaps a better strategy is to maximize the hours that the shield is initially active. Only occupy vacant tiles while in this state. (Probably easier said than done. Players only has a few hours edge over me, and some could already occupy a level 7 tile while I was only about to start. So sometimes, if most of the tiles in the area you find yourself in are already occupied, you are forced to attack a tile just to go through the usual tile levels. You can't occupy a higher level tile unless you've occupied the level before it. And you can't occupy a tile if you haven't developed the infection immunity level needed to surpass it.

A bunch of players attacked me the moment I was unshielded. (And because I occupied their guild's tiles). After the attack, I was in a "fallen state". While in this state, I cannot occupy other players' tiles. I also have to shell out a bunch of resources to get out of this state - resources, mind you, that I didn't even have because I just started in Eden. Maybe developers should pay attention to disadvantages like these that could set back the progress of other players. (I was at a point where I was thinking of boycotting Eden Rising). But the other good thing about having no contaminated resources yet was that when those players attacked me, they did not get any loot. I did suffer a lot of damage, being attacked by players with power levels of 100M and 50M while I was a mere 15M player. The 100M player even had maxed three sisters in his APC. In my mind, I was like - wtf dude, why are you even doing Eden Rising when you already have the prizes for it.

There are cities and gates. And you can just think of them as high level tiles that you need to attack as a group. The infection immunity levels you need to develop to attack them are high. (I think the starting gate is like a level 9 tile). And you can't just teleport to a gate like before. You have to tile near it. You have to occupy 4 tiles in a 2x2 formation so that you can create a teleportation platform on it. And you have to spend refined resources to teleport. So moving around in Eden needs some preparation and planning.

I still haven't been part of a group trying to take down a gate or city. Once I've experienced what it is like, maybe I'll be able to write about it. Till then, hope this serves as an early guide for those who are just starting out in Eden Rising.

Last Shelter: Survival Upgrading to Base Level 16

I downloaded Last Shelter: Survival on the Google Play store about a week ago. It reminds me a lot of Ikariam - except the setting is a modern world full of zombies instead of ancient times. But it still has the same elements of building up your base, joining alliances, and attacking other player bases.

Any game which keeps leveling up the base and buildings in it will reach a point where building time becomes a long waiting process. I'm starting to feel that now that I'm at base 15. (You actually start to feel it at around base 13.) The actual requirements to build a Level 16 base are:

• 70,000 population (which means that at 5 houses at this level, each house should be at around level 15)
• Money equal to 1.6 Million
• Wheat  equal to 1 Million (which means Granary II must be constructed) 
• Oil equal to 1 Million (which means Oil Storage Tank II must be constructed)
• Electricity equal to 300 thousand
• Wood equal to 2 Million (which means Lumber Warehouse II must be constructed)
• Iron equal to 1.5 Million (which means Iron Warehouse II must be constructed)
• Embassy Level 15
• Ration Truck Level 15

Although I was able to prepare for the Level 15 Embassy while the base was being upgraded to level 15, I did not pay too much attention to the 70,000 population which is now acting as the bottle neck to moving forward to Base Level 16.

Iron and wheat are also becoming bottle neck resources so having heroes who can help increase the production of these resources would make game play so much easier. Another help would be focusing on the City Development research tech tree. This helps in increasing resource production and gathering speed and in decreasing the amount of time in building structures.

I also think that base level 16 might be my last as a free-to-play player. The reason for that is because base level 17 requires a Garrison at level 17. But a Garrison requires Defensive Components - one of the rare resources that requires diamonds to purchase. And at this point in time, my Garrison is only at level 5. I only find the building aspect of the game enjoyable. So, unless I want to be stuck with a chore that could last for several months, just to get to the next base level, that might be the end of the game for me.

War Heroes on Android Review

Since my units on Clash Royale are mostly at level 11, and at this point, leveling up is a slow process, I tried looking for an alternative card battle game on Google Play. And that's when I chanced upon War Heroes - very similar to Clash Royale but the setting - instead of being in a medieval realm of knights, archers, and mages - is similar to what you might have in a World War II scenario - infantry soldiers, tanks, and snipers.

I haven't fully accessed all areas of the game, but from the game play I've experienced thus far, it's really Clash Royale with a army theme. You have cards which you level up with in-game money. You have crates which contains cards that you open within 3 or 8 hours or instantly using gems. If not for the alternate company name, I would have thought that Supercell was also behind this game. Maybe Supercell is still a parent company.

Perhaps the only novelty in this game is the idea of having Generals - cards that give a player some kind of field advantage over the other player (assuming the other player is using a different type of General). Some generals add an extra tower that needs to be destroyed. Others spawn troops when certain field conditions are met. Still, others add barbed wires on the field, impeding the progress of foot soldiers. Maybe the creative team behind Clash Royale will imitate this concept and integrate it into their game.

I'm not sure if War Heroes has a 2 vs 2 player mode. In terms of strategy - it seems as if Clash Royale is more mature in that there are different ways to win. In War Heroes, is seems like overwhelming the opponent with units is the only way to win. But again, I haven't reached the upper levels in the game yet, so that is what keeps it exciting and fresh for me. But I suspect that once you reach a very high level in the game, where progressing comes to a slow pace, it will also lose its appeal. Till then, I am waiting to get access to some choppers in the game. ;)

Final Fantasy Record Keeper

For people who grew up playing Final Fantasy games on their SNES, Final Fantasy Record Keeper will be a nostalgic experience. I remember when I first played Final Fantasy VI - where characters like Locke, Terra, Celes, Sabin, Edgar, Cyan, Gau, Mog, and Shadow became the topic of conversation among friends. It was this series, in my opinion, that made the FF franchise a gamer brand. And with the recent drought of FF games, perhaps Record Keeper is Square Enix's way of trying to prevent the brand from fading from gamer's minds.

Record Keeper brings back characters from FF IV, V, VI, VII, and X (so far - and although their ads show Squall from FF VIII, I've yet to encounter any characters from that game). Come to think of it, I haven't encountered a FF VI character either. The main character, Tyro, looks like Strago's granddaughter - Merle. He's  a hybrid between a warrior and a mage - which is what makes him special. Other characters are either warriors only or mage only. Aside from him, what I have right now are Cloud and Tifa of FF VII and Tidus and Wakka of FF X. Not really a fan of FF IV, and FF V characters are more of roles (Ranger, Bard, Warrior, etc). Some of these characters will become important in certain stages because of their abilities - for example, a stage in the Shinra building where I'm trying to acquire Sephiroth (yes, the FF VII bad guy) has a boss that can only be hit using range attacks. So Cloud and Tifa - the members of my party which I've been using most of the time, become useless for that stage, and I have to rely on Wakka, the Bard, and the Ranger for offense. The Priest becomes the only FF V character that is staple in my party since it is the only one with mass healing capabilities at the current level I am in. Game play is similar to FF VI - but limited in that you can only have two abilities or spells equipped during any battle. So you have to swap out abilities depending on the battle scenario - which means your party has to die and you'll have to repeat the process with the new abilities to win. From a developer standpoint - this is smart, since it ensures that players will be playing this game for a long time. (As if leveling up multiple characters wasn't enough of repeat playability).

FF Record Keeper is the only free FF game on Google Play. The intro was pretty awesome, but the lack of depth in the story line is uncharacteristic of an FF title. There isn't even a villain - or an explanation for the fading records (or paintings in this case) except maybe, that the gamers are forgetting about the FF titles due to an abundance of other great games out there.

So what will keep this game going? If you love collecting equipment and party members and leveling up characters, then those would be the reasons for you to keep on playing. But mission wise, you save all of the paintings in probably three days of continuous play. (And with most games having stamina as a way of limiting gamer play time - that really says a lot about the length of this game. I remember the 90 plus hours I invested in FF VI - now that was a really long game with all those quests). Square Enix developers should still invest in the story. I think that the stories of the characters were the reasons I wanted to collect them when I was playing FF VI.

Still, if you just want to reminisce and can't afford a PS4 for the latest FF game, then try out Record Keeper. At least you'll get to see Cid and Mog. Kupo!

Lionheart Tactics

If you enjoy games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Front Mission, then you will probably like Lionheart Tactics by Emerald City Games and Kongregate. You can download this game for free at the Google Play Store.

It is a lot similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. You form a party of fighters (from my experience, a maxium of 6 as of this writing), and battle through various points on the world map. Some of the points can even be re-visited. And you acquire allies along the way.

So far, I have been able to acquire an archer, a thief, a wizard, a priest, along with the hero and his trusty aide - a soldier in full metal armor. I really enjoy Captain Redd since he serves as the Tank of the team, and his skill allows you to redirect all damage received by another member to himself. The Hero, on the other hand, is really good at dishing out damage to his enemies, especially if the enemies are directly to his North, East, South, and West. He can perform his Whirlwind skill that hits all enemies in these locations.

I'm probably at a low level as of this point, since the ranged units are not as powerful. I probably like the priest character next because he keeps healing my units and keeps the team alive. Then the thief, cause it allows me to accumulate money necessary for spending on skill upgrades, armor, equipment, and stones necessary for promotions.

The wizard is useful if enemies are in a column formation, since his fireball can hit two enemies in a single shot. The archer is useful for long range hits, preventing the enemy from countering (unless the enemy is also an archer or has long range).

I like the game. The only problem is that at this point, I can only play the game once a day (unless I'm willing to pay for items that will allow me to heal my party). So after a match, I usually just upgrade my unit's skills - some may take a few minutes, others, a few hours, giving them time to heal.

But other than that, I would still recommend the game to other players.

Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans in my opinion is the best game on Android to date! It reminds me a lot about Ikariam and perhaps, this is what Ikariam would have looked like if it were a 3D game. Similar elements are present. You have to collect resources. You get to build different types of structures with different functions. You get to amass armies to fight other players.

But Clash of Clans is way better when it comes to the fights. Unlike Ikariam where the battle is left to the player's imagination, in Clash of Clans, you see the units fighting in real time. It's always funny when a unit is flung off the screen with a springboard defense, and exhilarating when you see your offensive troops break through a wall.

The game is also better when it comes to leveling up each structure or unit. I really look forward to the little changes in detail of a building per level. Ikariam used to do this for its buildings every five levels. Clash does it even for its army units.

And just like any other strategy game, the toughest part is reaching the higher levels where the time you have to wait to accumulate resources take like forever. And if you don't want to wait, you can always pay. No wonder, one of the news articles I read about this game reports that it rakes in about 2 million dollars a day just for in-app purchases. The developer states that if you build a good product, people won't mind paying for it.

The game is so good and it has replaced my allotted gaming time for other leisurely activities. Check it out!!! And hopefully, I'll battle with your troops soon!

ProjectY RTS

If you are looking for a game like Dune 2, Starcraft 2, or Command & Conquer: Generals for your tablet, then you will probably enjoy ProjectY RTS 3D Public Beta. It is available for free on the Google Play and you can check it out here.

The game requires Android 2.3 or higher and about 29 MB of space.

Like many RTS games, the goal is to conquer all territories in the entire map. Since this is a relatively young game, there are only a few maps free. This, by the way, is how developers will probably make money, by selling new maps.

There can be up to 4 multiplayers, but I haven't had the chance to test it with friends yet. Still, the single player customized campaign was good. There's also a tutorial campaign.

The main difference with this games and other RTS is you no longer create structures and harvest resources. Instead, the main resource are the robot brains, or pilots. These either drive vehicles or occupy structures like turrets and factories.

So, with prebuilt structures existing all over the map, the player (or AI) who can manufacture units and quickly occupy other territories will gain the long-run advantage in the game.

I find that once you have 3 rocket tanks (long range units) and a pair of repair tanks, you're good to go. Just support these with scorpion tanks for protection. The rocket tanks are your main offense. I hope that as the game progresses, The game gets more complicated rock-paper-scissor scenarios like Starcraft (still my favorite RTS of all time). But I think the reason why Starcraft had such variety was because it had 3 races. Maybe ProjectY could introduce a second race, maybe organic aliens.

Units have various types of upgrades like armor, health, range, etc. But there is an upgrade called automate upgrades which is what I go for since it can be a pain micro-managing on a tab. Although there are groupings of units, upgrades will still be done individually unless you automate it.

There are also specialized structures like an Air Control Tower which you can use to bomb areas in the map. But unless there are special buttons that can be assigned to structures, like what can be done to unit groups, then managing this is also challenging. I'm just thankful the factories have a rally point feature.

Overall, I give this game 5 stars. It is one of the best games I've played on a tablet, and I think it has a lot of potential. Hopefully, developers can come up with a story mode campaign, and air units, and more free maps. If your an RTS fan, you should give this game a try.