Solitaire Home Design

Solitaire Home Design (Android)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It's a fun idea having a card game instead of the usual match 3 combined with the design aspects for a story line like Ava's Manor or Word Villas. Unfortunately, it becomes very clear very quickly that unless you want to buy power ups, don't expect to get the right cards from the deck to complete a level. Makes for a very aggravating freemium style of game as in theory a card hand should be random and have the same number of cards in the deck, so it should be solvable, but it most often is not. 

Ava's Manor

Ava's Manor (Android)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


If there is one game this is most similar to, it is probably a similar design Word Villas, though only in that it takes the design and story elements of a more RPG style game and combines it with another game to earn the points and materials needed to continue to story. In this game, it is various forms of solitaire or other card variants of the game. While this is a nice change of pace from the more common match 3 types of games, the levels very quickly get to the point where you need power ups to complete them, and if you don't have enough coins from previous levels, you may end up stuck unless you are willing to buy power ups and materials. Would be fantastic if there were easier ways to earn the power ups and assistance needed, especially for the timed events for the holidays.

Redecor

Redecor (Android)

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The previews would have you believe that you're updating something, but in reality this is very similar to Design Home, except the previews and clicking on where things to go are more difficult. It also provided a handful of push alerts shortly after playing for the first time despite attempts to disable, so it won't be staying on the potential play list.

Disney Getaway Blast!

Disney Getaway Blast! (Android)

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


The design seems to take an almost chibi-style version of the Disney cast, and places them an island. You must complete various match levels similar to games like Frozen Adventures or Frozen: Free Fall and use the progress earned from beating these levels to complete quests and tasks within the game, unlocking more characters along the way. Personally, I really don't need another match and build type game, but the kids absolutely love being able to play this on their tablets in between digital class time now that school is all remote for the remainder of this school year.

Frozen Adventures

Frozen Adventures (Android)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This game merges the idea of Frozen: Free Fall with the blast style game with the design mode of games like Word Villas or Homescapes to walk through the world of Frozen 2. Seems to be missing a game sync option, which means transferring devices will lose your game data. Otherwise, it seems to walk through design options for different areas of Arendelle as the sisters get ready for a party in their kingdom. Expect to see the rest of the cast come in as needed to walk through the adventure, though it seems like Anna, Elsa, or Olaf will be the ones who will end up as character power-ups, or so it seems from the early portion of the game.

Design Home

Design Home (Android)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is an interesting take on the freemium game play. Instead of playing puzzles to choose from a set of 3-5 items for your design, you can earn money and diamonds to buy various items to complete your designs. Completed designs are submitted for voting and those votes can additionally earn you items to design with. Likewise, design markers earn additional items and bonuses for your projects. As with most freemium games, there are items and packages you can buy as well, but those cost real money. Something you'll want to keep an eye on to avoid if you want to play solely for free, which may limit some of the challenges you can enter as some of the items can get rather pricey to finish the designs.

Word Villas

Word Villas (Android)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've been pleasantly surprised with this game. It does have some of the standard freemium play-by-play you come to expect, but you aren't locked into them like in many other games if you really want to advance. The word spin is a refreshing changing of space from the blaster/match-3 puzzles. There are also several special events run throughout the time line for events (like the Super Bowl) and holidays (like Chinese New Year or Christmas). There are a variety of decor items to choose from as well, and the choices can be changed later on.... so long as you have the coins to pay for it - though they aren't nearly as difficult to com by in this game than in many others I've tried over time. It also has daily rewards you can save up if you need/want the hint helpers for the puzzles at any given time.

Merge Magic

Merge Magic (Android)

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is similar to Merge Dragons in the play style only with different magical creatures and items instead of just dragons. It's also another freemium game, with a lot less levels than similar games currently have. The saving grace is that you can re-play levels for additional items, scores, and treasure chests or creatures. Otherwise, even playing free only, you'll quickly run out of additional side quests and just have the garden harvesting left.... at least until a new update comes out expanding the current levels.

Hatchimals Colleggtibles

Hatchimals Colleggtibles (Android)

My rating: 1.5 of 5 stars


Of course I ended up with my daughter begging to check out this game after her friends at school got her hooked on Hatchimals and she managed to beg a couple of them from Nana on day trips. The game play itself is overly sensitive and a little difficult for small hands, especially if they are overly excited about playing and not really paying attention to the details of what they should do to control the screen. The idea is cute though, and they definitely have a solid lure with kids loving the toys. I've yet to see if/when it will ask for money for the app, but it won't be approved if it does.

Merge Dragons

Merge Dragons (Android)

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


After several videos of his, I decided to try it as an alternative to Titan Uprising given my kid's current love for dragons. While it is different, they quickly get annoyed with trying to drag things around or the timed challenges. Ultimately they'll finally decide on what they want to do and all the dragons will be sleeping again, requiring either watching a video to get one lone dragon back, or waiting until they all wake up, which inevitably means they've changed their minds on their task priorities. As with most freemiums games, I refuse to pay for anything, so they are stuck with waiting to accomplish anything, which makes them lose interest much sooner than many of the others with the puzzles.

Township

Township (Android)

My rating: 1.5 of 5 stars


This is reminiscent of the old FarmVille games on Facebook, just expanded to building a town instead of just a farm and tasks expanding to those areas as well. It quickly becomes apparent that either you'll cave to buy materials you are missing to continue progress or be stuck in one place for indefinite periods of time. While you are waiting for tasks allowing you to finish your required builds, you will run out of storage room, which will mean you either make a judgment call on what you can sell or cave to buy more, and receive a never ending stream of notifications asking you to come back to the game even when you have notifications turned off. All of this combined to annoy me rather quickly. While I liked the initial game play and idea of it, the way it rolled out and forced things left me very displeased and quickly losing interest.

Neopets

Neopets (1999)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Originally started playing this game late high school/early college days. Stepped away from it for several years until recently. I've found that it's expanded game collection gives something for everyone - if you want something easy or hard, a short or long game. Naturally, some events are more challenging than others. The option of customizing your pets and gaming experience is highly appealing, and the "pet" foundation is an easy hook for any child or animal lover. It's a good way to take a quick break and reset before tackling the next event of the day. Far cry better than any of the Facebook pet games flooding the internet.

Pet Society

Pet Society (PC for Facebook)

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This game was very simplistic and focused largely on real life. You are responsible for feeding, grooming, petting, playing with, and cleaning the litter box of your virtual pet. There are a few pieces of furniture you can buy and mostly just more pets to adopt. If I want to do those things, I'll go do more of them for my own real cats, not virtual ones. Too basic with not enough interest to make it a game worth playing.

Treasure Isle

Treasure Isle (PC for Facebook)

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I lasted for maybe a little over a week on this game and could not really get into it. Another Zynga game that I tried because many of my friends were playing it. Similar to FarmVille in the fact that you plant things on your island. You can also steal crops from your friend's islands and find random animals. Overall didn't have much challenge or anything you could do yourself without other players contributing, so I lost interest in it quickly.

PetVille

PetVille (PC for Facebook)

My rating: 1.5 of 5 stars


The first of the Zynga games that I played on Facebook, this one focuses on caring for a pet and building their house. I quit playing the game after I maxed out on levels and lost interest in all the house cleaning and nothing to do besides changing clothes or furniture. Like with other Zynga games, you can earn things by playing the game or paying for it in cash. There are also items exclusive only to the iPhone application that Facebook only or android users cannot access. A cute idea, but too monotonous and not enough challenge for any attention span long term.

FarmVille

FarmVille (PC for Facebook)

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This game is played via Facebook profiles or on farmville.com. It requires help from your "friends" on the network to complete building projects and collect animals or items for your farming needs. The game itself is not very difficult except for the fact that it relies on other players who often do nothing even when asked to help. It falls into the category of "mindless entertainment" - a series of repetitive clicks each day at the appropriate time intervals for whatever you're growing and you continue on to the next level. Their newest addition is the launch of the sister English farm that can be played separately or simultaneously to the original farm. Every time I think I'll quit this game, they add something else and you think, "maybe after I finish that challenge," so it keeps on going. There are some items that are only available on the iPhone or by paying "farm cash" which you can either earn by playing the game or pay for with real cash. Personally, I would never fork out real money for this game. It's not worth it and is only a matter of time before I decide it's so mindless and monotonous that even the simple entertainment value it has now is not worth the time it takes to load the game, let alone play it.