gabehabe Cool blog, bro.

26Sep/091

Google Android: Games by Square Enix

At the time of writing this article, there are currently three apps on the android market by Square Enix. I’ve just bought, and tested, each one, just to write about them here, for you. So I hope you appreciate it. :)

The three games that I’m going to discuss in this article are:
Arkanoid – A clone of the original
Space Invaders – If you don’t remember this, you’re most likely incapable of reading this entry anyway.
And a third, which is very different. I’ll reserve any information until the end of this entry, but just know that it’s called Puzzle Bobble, and I like it a lot.

To start off, I’ll summarise Arkanoid and Space Invaders together: crap. Honestly, I would’ve expected great things, especially after Square-Enix released Space Invaders Extreme a little while back. (Screenshot borrowed from IGN.)

Square-Enix Space Invaders Extreme - PSP

But no such luck. :( They’re literally exact clones of the original games, complete with the terrible graphics. Granted, it’s nice to reminisce, but I’d rather reminisce in front of a ROM on an emulator than playing in a tiny window with a huge border, and paying a few quid to do it. The exact same goes for Arkanoid. A couple of quick screenshots,

Square-Enix Arkanoid on Android
Square-Enix Space Invaders on Android

Pretty disappointing, huh? :(

Now, it’s not all so bad. I’ve been playing Puzzle Bobble a bit, and it’s quite a nice game. Completely different to the Arkanoid and Space Invaders clones, frankly I find it hard to even believe that they were written by Square Enix. :(

But, onto the positive. While it’s the most expensive game that Square Enix currently offer on the Android market, it’s a great one. The graphics are nice, and it’s actually really cute ^__^ (similar style to Yosumin, which is completely unrelated to this post, but just to give you an idea!)

The idea is similar to a game I used to play on Sky games about a decade ago, with bees. I forget the name, so this isn’t really going to help you to get an idea of what the game is. It’s one of those games where you have bubbles at the top, and you have to shoot differently coloured bubbles to match them. If you get 3 or more in a row, they will chain and fall, dropping anything which is attached to them. Screenshots are more descriptive.

Square-Enix Puzzle Bobble on Android
Square-Enix Puzzle Bobble on Android