GAME REVIEW – FRUIT NINJA HD

Overall: 7.5 out of 10

Introduction

Fruit ninja is a free arcade game which available for both mobile and console platforms such as Android, Xbox 360 etc. It was published and developed by Halfbrick Studios  in 2010. Also, it is known as fruit ninja HD on the ipad devices. It also has the multiplayer mode for ipad and kinect for Xbox 360 which allows the users to keep on track with their scores and leaderboard. In this review, I will be reviewing the Fruit Ninja HD for ipad platform.

Story

The story of the game is simple and laid out well. All you have to do is to chop the fruits. The player is a ninja who have to slide their finger across the touch screen to slice the fruit before it falls out of your view. If you slice the bomb then you will out. There are up to three strikes and if you miss that, then the game is over. The more you slice, the higher your score will be. The game doesn't have cut scenes and missions. However, it will be easy to recognize the character correctly.

Gameplay

The gameplay is good and fun; it offers range of different play styles. The controls are easy. The game offers the user to play in three different modes such as Arcade, Classic and Zen mode. The Zen mode is designed for user who wants to play without bombs and lives, just to slice fruits within 90 second. The classic mode has three sticks and if you hit the bomb, then you will out. In the Arcade mode, the bomb costs points and you have to slice fruits within 90 seconds. It offers some bonus points and power-ups to increase you points before the time runs out.

In Dojo option, you will able to earn rewards based on your points. It allows you to unlock blades, backgrounds and achievement. Also, you can post your points to the online leaderboard by using Openfeint or even posts on social networking sites e.g. twitter.

Graphics

The graphic of the game is good however the graphics is not detailed as it has the same storyline of the PC game called Fruit Slasher. There are lots of graphics in the game have used frequently such as backgrounds, fruits or icons etc. The game looks fine when you play or navigate through the game. The texture is good to play the game and the backgrounds are eye catching.

Sound

The sound helps the success of the game and it makes you want to hear the sound forever. It can really help the player to get into the real gaming environment and takes them to a new level of experience. For example, when, the fruit makes a whooshing sound. Each fruit makes different sound such as thud, squish and so on. In the background, you’ll hear the birds chipping and surf lapping. In some cases, the sounds can also be a deterrent especially when you slice the bombs; it produces a hiss sound.

Multiplayer

It has a multiplayer option which is compatible on IOS devices. It allows the user to keep track on their achievements on leaderboards.  The multiplayer mode is effective and it feels fine when you play the multiplayer for one sitting. Also, it motivates them to beat scores each other and share their scores online. It has more competitive gameplay; it has enhanced graphics features and supports both online and local multiplayer. Also, it gives adequate spaces for both players to play the game like a Half of the screen.

This is how it looks when two players play against each other on classic multiplayer. 

Conclusion

Overall, the game is fun and simple. However, the graphics of the game is not detailed. It is one of the best games to have fun and play against each other. It is an addictive game and it gives an amazing experience to play against each other on the multiplayer mode to play against both online and offline users. The sound of the game is awesome when you slice the fruits and the background sound. It offers range of options in order to increase the gaming experience and want user to play not making them bored such as backgrounds, leaderboard and blades.

Summary

Pros: It is fun and free. It is a simple game and addictive.

Cons: The graphics is not detailed and there is no option to increase the difficulty curve of the game.

Fruit Ninja - Westy

Fruit ninja is a first person game where you slice as many fruits as you can to get the highest score.  There is no story line to it and it is not a game where you follow a story line neither.  The controls for the game are not complicated to slice the fruit all you have to do is to slide your finger over the screen where the position of the fruit is and slice the fruit.

The game uses really good graphics; the background uses one shade of colour focusing more on more of a brown wooden effect which ten allows the gamer to focus on what they are slicing as the background is not distracting. The fruits are very colourful and come in all shapes, sizes and colours and when you slice a fruit the colour of the juice from the inside of the fruit spurts out onto to the background and from this we can gather that it is a very visual game which makes it very appealing for the gamer to look and play. The game is laid out so that the fruit being thrown are in the middle of the screen and the score is in one corner and the option to pause the game is in another corner.

The game also has a count of you top score which is where the challenge lies, to see if you can beat it however along the way there also extra challenges which will allow unlocking of extras to enhance the game for example, one of the challenges on Fruit Ninja are if you slice 50 pineapples you get a new blade. There are many other challenges like this where you can unlock other blades and unlock other backgrounds as well which gives the gamer more targets to aim for within the game. As well as this, you can also collect points which will allow you to buy other extras such as super strawberries and bomb deflects, super strawberries giving you 5 points and the bomb deflects allow you to flick the bombs away. This also gives the gamer more targets to aim for as the more points they get the stuff they can buy from the shop, meaning the more further they can get in the game. a final extra on Fruit Ninja would be the super fruit which when sliced gives you the chance to score multiple points one just one fruit making the game more interesting to play for the gamer.

The sound effects are very effective in Fruit Ninja; there are both sound effects and background music to the game which you have the chance to switch on and off. The sound effects work really well with the game for example when you slice a fruit you will hear the sound of the fruit being sliced and when a bomb has been thrown you hear the hissing sound of the bomb and even when you slice you can hear the blade swooping and this enhances the game play as it makes the gamer think that they are actually holding the blade and slicing the fruit.

In conclusion, Fruit Ninja is a very successful game as it has been turned from a boring simple game into an interesting game through effective extras to challenge the gamer and through good use of graphics, colour and sound which gives the game the most realistic appearance which makes it very appealing to gamers.

Limbo - Westy

Limbo is a platform strategy game where you are playing a young boy who is trying to make their way out of the forest, encountering many challenges along the way. There is no background story to how you got into the forest and why you have to escape which could have been added to make the game more understandable and more enjoyable however the game is quite easy to grasp and can be easily played. The gameplay, 2D platform strategy, suits the game really well because it is appealable to the gamer in the way that it is easy to play due to its basic dimensions and the basic colours and environments used.

The controls are not complicated however at the beginning of the game it is not clear on what to do and how to do it e.g. there was a part of the game where I had to pull a train cart out which enabled to jump onto another platform to continue the game, however this took multiple attempts to figure out and what something that could improve this would be a tutorial resembling instruction that tells you what to do when you first play the game. However the game controls are generally easy to use as the movement of the character is controlled by the arrow keys, the space bar makes the character jump and the control button makes the character hold onto things. This layout provides a simple but effective way for playing the game as the controls aren’t squashed together and they are not confusing to use.

The style of the game is very basic, as previously mentioned, the game uses a two dimensional environment and has basic colours to it e.g. balck, grey and white. At first this does not look appealing to a gamer in the aspect that the colours are very boring however this works well with the game because it draws the attention of the gamer towards what is actually happening in the game which works for a very effective game play. There are some sound effects to the game for example, if a tree snaps you will hear a snapping sound and if the character has jumped you will the character landing however it is a very quiet game and there could have been more sound effects and some background music to improve the game play.

This game does not have any extra which puts the game at a disadvantage because some gamers might get bored with Limbo because there are no rewards throughout the game and because there are no extras the game is put to a more at a basic level. If the game were to have extras in it maybe one of the extras could be objects to find whilst in the forest to help enhance the game.

In conclusion, Limbo is a very basic game which uses good graphics and dull environments to optimise the actual game play. The game is very easy to play and has a simple structure to it, however there could be more sound effects and background music to add to the game play and there could also be extras such as trophies to improve the game play.

Quake - Westy

Quake is a shoot ‘em up game in which you have to escape your way out of each level whilst defeating all the monsters within each level. Each level is made a more difficult through having different missions to complete which allow you to access the next level and by having different enemies to kill which have more degrees of difficulty to defeat them.

The game is a first person play style that is based upon a horror environment, similarly to doom; the game is set in post-nuclear war type of environment and had lots of extras along the way such as new weapons more armour and health and the chance to gain more bullets for your weapon.

 The game does not have a story which could have been added to make the gaming experience more enjoyable for example the story could have explained why there are monsters or how you got into the position of escaping etc. The gameplay suits the style of the game to a good degree as the gamer would not want to see the character that they are controlling thus allowing the gamer to put themselves into the characters position improving the gaming experience. The controls are easy to use as they have a simple layout that isn’t squished together on the keyboard. The controls to move are the arrow keys, to shoot is the control button and the jump button is the space button spacing out the hands on the keyboard to maximise the easiness of the game. The textures of the game are very basic; the style of game tends to make the environments in the game a dark element. Most of the colours are pixelated and this can be seen in the game for example the different parts of the wall are made of different coloured pixels. There is no background music to the game however there are sound effects for the monster when they have been encountered and also sound effects when the guns is being shot and when you jump in the game there is a sound effect for the character. The sound effects are only basic and maybe if there we some for when a door opens in the game, or a sound effect for when the character has picked up some bullets there should be a gun being loaded for example, these sound effects could improve the gameplay. Background music in a game like this would not be necessity however it could be used to build up the tension of the player when playing the game.

In conclusion I think that quake is a good game in the aspect that the game has a clear structure to it and can be easily played. The graphics and sounds are very basic, the graphics are fit for purpose as they do not have to overly complicated however the game could be suited for some more sound effects and simple background music just to maximise the gameplay. Overall the game keeps the player entertained all the way through as the levels get bigger and there more missions to complete and more enemies to defeat which, along with extras i.e. different guns, more bullets etc. makes the game more interesting and keeps the player satisfied as it is not the same all the time. 

Limbo Review:

Limbo is a type of game which is a strategy type of game; it’s where the user of the game is trying to complete the mission which is played by a young boy. The game is played by the user who trying to find ways of completing the game and story. There is no background to the story of the game you just have to play the game trying to figure out how to complete the game.

The style of the game is basic meaning that there is no such thing as instruction at the beginning of the game. The user has to figure out the game by playing the game this should showed that it wasn't clear.

The game controls were easy to use the reason why is that the movement of the character was controlled by arrow keys, space bar all these function made the character jump and the control button makes the character hold onto items, this is a part of the game.

The game play is very intense the user has to pay attention to minor details within the game. The graphics of the game is 2D platform strategy which makes the game easy to play the reason why is it has a basic dimension and the graphics gives the user basic feel. The colour graphics used in the game was black and white and also grey. To some of the user the colour choose isn't as appealing compare to other games. However for this game I think that the colour has been used correctly because it gives off that mystery kind of environment. In the game Limbo the use of the sound effects has been kept to a minimum but there are some sound effects such as when the character is jumping.

In the game Limbo there are many features within it which makes this game not engaging. The reason why is there are no types of rewards within the game it is a type of game which you just have to play. The game play can be frustrating with the user not knowing what is going on and knowing what they need to do. However the game showed a simple puzzle which has loads of different obstacles which needed to be completed in a logical manner.

 

In conclusion the game is unique even though the game is full of mystery and the user feels like they have entered a lost world with a young boy. The game is a type of game which you want to complete to find out what the story of the game is about. It is a mystery adventure game from the beginning to the end.

Overall limbo is mystery game which creates different types of experience.