App Review: Haunted Dorm

Think about all the tropes you've ever seen in Asian horror and even movies like the A Nightmare On Elm Street series and It. Think of all the times the characters triumphed over evil by virtue of their imaginations and teamwork.

And then download this game - Haunted Dorm, by China game company Mihuan, for a fun time.

This is a Tower Defense game with a single goal - to defeat the monster lurking the hallways before it comes for you. To that emd, you'll have all the classic tools for a Tower Defense; namely, missile weapons and resource generating items. The difference is that there is one main enemy to defeat. Sometimes there are multiple enemies, but only the demise of that one monster will win the game.

The Premise

The dorm is being haunted by a monster. You play as one kid in a group of children, going to a room and sleeping to gain enough resources. These resources will build your defences to hold off the monster's attacks, and eventually destroy it.

Once the monster breaks through the door of the room you choose, you're as good as dead and the game ends.

The Aesthetics

Haunted Dorm is rendered in what one would call "kiddy graphics". Everything looks hand-drawn and crude, like toddlers made this. It's a bold stylistic choice, though sometimes comes off as clunky.

The Experience

It's definitely a spooky experience, especially the first few days you play it. The atmosphere is haunting. The graphics are kiddy and this could end up either being comical or adding to the spookiness.

But there's also that sense of solidarity as you, the player, team up with other computer-controlled players to take down the monster.

The Interface

Drag your finger over the screen to move the avatar. Tap on buttons to perform actions. Select items to be built from menus.

It's not exactly complicated, though the execution feels clumsy.

There are also some items, like the machine gun, that you will need to tap and hold, and drag, in order to use. It's awesome, but not terribly intuitive.

What I liked

The music. It adds so much to the atmosphere, I can't rave enough about it.

Dream Hunter Mode. You get to play as the monster instead of the kids... and lemme tell you that this feature is fucking insane. Whereas in Normal Mode you had the aid of computer-controlled allies, in this mode it's the opposite - all these are working against you now. Still, what a feature!

Seven Monsters Mode. More interesting levels where you can't purchase Special Objects. This was pretty challenging.

Story Map Mode. Different rooms with different rules of engagement.

Ghost And Angels Mode. This is another mode where any allies who die, become a ghost as well. Good, chaotic fun!

The comments made when you steal stuff from other players, are amusing. Especially the awkward English translations of what was obviously Chinese text to begin with.

This solar beam is awesome beyond belief. Not only does it pinpoint the Monster's location, it deals damage and earns coins! And you can even upgrade it for bonus damage. Talk about overkill.

The entire game was ridiculously easy to play. Even with comically bad English translation, it was a breeze to just tap my way around and try shit out.

What I didn't

Unless you have the Trampoline, there really does not seem to be any way to escape what I call the Ghost Hole attack, or just spam-filling every square inch of the room, which can be super-tedious if you chose a large room.

The menu tends to go out of the screen sometimes depending on where you tapped the button. It's a layout issue and annoying AF. Do better!

Amy Can't Die Mode seemed like a waste of time. You basically sleep in one room with a bunch of other kids and you use your combined powers to hold of wave after wave of hostiles until you finally assemble a weapon strong enough to kill the Boss. It was an interesting concept, but the execution was so weak.

When there are objects appearing around the corridor, it's always a crapshoot as to what you'll end up grabbing before the others do. There's just so little time to react. At least give players and option to pick something else other than what they initially picked up!

I don't understand this game's obsession with frogs and toads. At all. It can be a little off-putting.

Conclusion

Haunted Dorm is simultaneously campy and goofy, and deliciously creepy. I found Normal Mode quite addictive and all the other features combined should provide great replayability. This is a game that doesn't take itself at all seriously, always a plus. One definitely could do worse than give Haunted Dorm a shot.

My Rating

6.5 / 10

Not spooktacular, but damn solid!
T___T

App Review: Duolingo

Today, I want to review an app that I've been using for the past couple years. Duolingo is a language-learning app that provides lessons on reading, writing, pronounciation and grammar, for over forty different languages.

For the past year, I have been regularly using Duolingo to work on my Japanese. As with most other activities, prolonged use comes with diminishing returns. However, Duolingo still represents significant value for me, and I'd like to examine it in some detail.

The Premise

When you sign up for an account, Duolingo tests you in that language to assess how far along you are in your learning journey. From there, it places you either right at the beginning, or somewhere further along the path.

From there, you complete modules that have been grouped into two basic groups - reading and writing, and grammar.

In the case of Japanese, reading and writing is further sub-categorized into Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. This will take the form of character recognition, and actual writing.

For grammar, it's more along the lines of forming sentences, learning new words and concepts, and translating from Japanese to English. And recently, they even added speaking lessons!

Duolingo is partially gamified. As the users learn, they gain XP which can be used for extra challenges and unlocking features like Personalized Planning. Users are also placed in Leagues - Copper, Silver, Gold, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, Pearl, Obsidian, Diamond - and even a sort of Elite-level league within the Diamond League.

The Aesthetics

The layouts are clean and straightforward, with a cutesey bent. Check out the art on these medals!

The animations are pretty cute, especially at the end of each lesson.

The Experience

Even just exploring the app for the first time, I navigated it with ease. I managed to find extra information by clicking on stuff during exercises, such as explanatory text.

Also, there were charts and wordy descriptions hidden away, accessible by clicking the correct screen elements to open them up. They were almost a bit too well hidden, because I only really discovered them half a year into using Duolingo.

All in all, this did not require a huge learning curve to use.

The Interface

The user tends to be clicking buttons on most of the screens. It's mostly arranging words to form sentences or multiple-choice questions.

In the case of writing exercises, there's a drawing component.

For speaking exercises, tap the mic and read the text provided. It's all pretty simple, hard to go wrong.

What I liked

This app keeps getting revised as the creators refine their teaching techniques, adding new question types every now and then.

I love this particular puzzle. It's mad (just like its name), yet so addictive.

This timed challenge isn't bad either.

This avatar maker seems totally superfluous if I'm being honest, but I totally love it!

I like the fact that Listening and Speaking exercises are totally optional and can be turned off when encountered.

While I'm not wild about the concept of Hearts (you need at least 1 Heart to do the lessons), there's at least a practice option that can be used without Hearts, to earn Hearts. I understand why it is the way it is, because Duolingo is ultimately a business and users need to be encouraged to use the Pro version. Doesn't stop it from being annoying on occasion!

Friend Quests are great. Nothing like teaming up with someone else once a week, to meet some objective or other. This is so cool!

Gems. While I think they're kind of superfluous, I can't seem to stop obsessively collecting them by doing challenges, completing Quests, watching ads, and so on. I tend to console myself that at least with all this ad watching, I'm making up for the fact that I haven't yet spent a cent on this app.

I live for Duolingo telling me I've extended my streak!

The concept of Super is nice. It adds considerable value to users who have money to spare.

Just the entire concept of Duolingo, to be honest. It's hard to have negative thoughts about an app whose intention is to educate. The intention is to be lauded, both in terms of intent and scope. Over forty languages is nothing to sniff at.

What I didn't

Some of the voices are extremely annoying. The voices of the kids - and this may be just my opinion - are high, shrill, and somehow louder.

I like encouraging my friends and all, but having a list of different emojis to do it with, feels like overkill.

Having a listening Daily Quest seems a little insensitive towards the deaf.

One main limitation of Duolingo is that it uses English almost exclusively as a base. If you are trying to learn English, then yes, you can use one of the other languages as a base. However, you can't, for example, learn Japanese using Mandarin.

Sometimes there are glitches in the interface. Mostly layout problems, probably easily fixed.

I think the concept of using English to type in romanization for sounds, is more than a little annoying when you factor in Autocorrect. Plus, I really don't think it adds much to the education.

Just the general gamification of the experience seems a little off, somehow. I suspect the app would be better with its exclusion. In particular, I detest the Leaderboard.

The entire concept of XP also gives me the eye-rolls. This goes for related functionality like Legendary, Saturday XP Bonus Hour,  and so on. A guy just wants to study Japanese, why do I need this? Why does anyone need this? It's a distraction, nothing more.

There's also an issue with Duolingo that has been making the rounds on Social Media a while now. And that's the inclusion of LGBT themes in the training material. Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I think inclusivity is a wonderful thing, and I certainly won't criticize it on a platform that I'm not even paying for. However, the heavy-handed way Duolingo goes about it, is problematic.

Take the above screenshot, for instance. It's that of a butch-looking woman (with a woman's voice) telling us about her wife. Now, butch lesbians exist because LGBT is a fact of life regardless of legality. Muslim users can complain all they like; it is what it is. But I do object to sentences such as "My older brother's husband is Canadian.".

You see, same-sex marriage has not been recognized in Japan as of now. That is also a fact of life. And to act like it's mainstream in Japan via means of the training sentences, strikes me as supremely disrespectful of another country's right to determine their own laws without outside interference. The makers of Duolingo are not Japanese, are not natively familiar with the culture, and have no business trying to impose their ideals here no matter how noble their stated intentions seem. As of last June, they've already gotten into trouble with Russia about this. 

Conclusion

This app is great for learning a new language. It won't give you native-level fluency, but it will absolutely take you from zero to some significant level of proficiency provided one uses it diligently and consistently. Duolingo is probably excellent as a supplementary means of learning. Or even a main means of learning if, like me, you're just a casual.

Great as the concept is, however, there remain several implementation problems that, in all fairness, are ironed out with regularity. With the regular addition of new features, inevitably, there will other implementation issues, but hey, it won't get stagnant. That's a huge plus!

Regardless of what I think about Duolingo's attempt at incorporating progressive politics (and make no mistake, I think it's misguided at best), Duolingo remains one of the most recognized language-learning aids today. And if they sensibly keep those politics as a feature rather than the feature, this should not change anytime soon.

My Rating

7.5 / 10

This app speaks to me!
T___T

App Review: Two Dots

Today, I want to review a game that I started playing at the beginning of this year. Its title is Two Dots and in addition to being extremely engaging, it is fun and well-crafted. This game was created by Playdots, Inc, and huge kudos to the creative team!

Two Dots is a puzzle game that doesn't require quick fingers or uncanny reflexes - just patience and perhaps a bit of luck. I had great fun obsessively playing it and trying out all the features. In the process, I took a whole bunch of screenshots and will gladly spam you with them in a bit.

The Premise

Two Dots is played as a board with several differently colored dots in a grid. There may be features on the board that react when something happens, and special dots that require a specific event to happen before activating.

You play by connecting dots of the same color. Connecting a closed loop of dots results in a special explosion which may in turn trigger some other effect.

Each game has targets to meet. You may need to accumulate a certain number of dots in a certain color, fill up an entire screen with water tiles or eliminate all fire tiles. Or any other number of criteria, in any combination.

In every game, you have a certain number of moves to use, and once you run out of moves, the game is over.

There are hundreds of levels, and it will be a long time before you run out of stuff to play.

The Aesthetics

Two Dots is both an adorable and beautiful game - there's no better way to put it. It's cartoony, colorful, and the animations are both awesome and very addictive. If it's one thing that Two Dots does not lack, it's aesthetics. For sure.

The Experience

I could spend hours just making stuff explode and zip and pop in there, and spoiler alert, I have! Calling it "fun" can be a bit of an understatement.

This game is not ultra-sexy in that sense, but that's what is amazing about it. A child could play it, an adult could play it, and both would still have fun.

The Interface

It's basically tap, drag and release, to connect dots. And once in a while, you may use special bonuses and apply them to any dot on the board. That takes an extra tap or two, but other than that, that's it! Beautifully simple!

Connecting a closed loop of dots (they call it "forming squares", which isn't geometrically accurate) causes all dots in that color on the board, to "explode".

What I liked

No time-based requirement. You can take the entire day to make a move, and there would be no penalty for your indecision. That said, that kind of defeats the entire purpose of playing this game. It's not a chess match. Suffice to say, there's no pressure to make a move right away, which is great. Less on the reflexes, more on the thinking.  

Color-blind features. This is very considerate. I approve!

Preview feature. Sometimes you just need to see the possible ramifications of your moves, and this game obligingly provides that. You just try the intended move without lifting your finger at the end, and the app lets you see the immediate outcomes.

The achievements in this game are pretty creative. I got quite a kick out of seeing these.

Treasure Hunt is nice, though a bit simplistic.

The Flip is great. I really like the concept. You complete a row or column, and you get bonuses. You complete an entire grid, and you get cool prizes!

While most of the special tiles are pretty cool, there are some that are my absolute favorites. The crystals, for one - the sound effects when they get activated are so awesome.

The water tile stages rank among my favorite.

The flower tiles are really beautiful once you activate them. Look at the way the petals burst! So poetic!

Mushroom tiles are so random and chaotic and I utterly love them.

The bird tiles are cute and make nice sound effects.

Meteors have a special place in my heart. You let them touch the bottom row, and they clear the entire column!

Sunstrike tiles are very useful and fun to play. Absolutely love the stages that feature them. Once you build them, you release them at a spot and kaboom!

What I didn't

Sometimes when an event expires while you were in the middle of playing it, and you turn off the game and come back, the game attempts to resume where you left off. That's certainly useful, except that when the event has expired, a glitch occurs. Probably a simple thing to fix.

Arcade mode. It's cute, that's for sure, but it gets old real fast having to replay from Stage 1 after failing a stage.

The music was charming at first, but quickly got annoying. Thankfully there was an option to turn it off.

Crabs and monkeys. I hate the damn things. Not in real life - I adore crabs (as food) and monkeys are lovable, but in this game, they are such a nuisance.

Fire tiles can be annoying too. They just spread and you can waste a lot of precious moves putting them out.

And the circuit tiles... they're a mixed bag. Sometimes they're easy and sometimes they are hellishly hard and not in a fun way.

Conclusion

Two Dots is not edgy. In fact, it's almost painfully kid-friendly. But the cool thing about it is that it doesn't need to be edgy. It's got a solid gaming mechanism and the graphics to back it up. And ultimately, that's pretty much all it needs.

My Rating

9.5 / 10

Two good to miss!
T___T