I dont think this is how this works.

Warning: This game is addictive! I have spent way too many hours playing it instead of doing important stuff!

That being said, let us start with the review.
Today I would like to talk about Digital Upgrade. I am told that this game is like "Doctor Mario", which I never played but I am just going to go with that comparison, since I can not argue against it. Digital Upgrade was created by Illuvas, Argentin & Redmoon Deejay and published by MaxGames. In it you have to build a computer virus by combining certain elements that drop from above to ones of a higher power.

All in order. Note the bar on the left side, it shows the order in which the elements evolve

 I am not a programmer myself but I am pretty sure
 that is not how you make a computer virus. I am also pretty sure that you can not make a cd simply by combining three floppies.
The elements appear above the playfield and you may control where and how they drop. The catch is that you always get two elements and they mostly don't have the same type, so you have some arranging and sorting to do if you don't want to drown in low-level parts.
Once the top of the playfield is reached it begins to blink red. You may not place any element above it or you loose.
Pretty simple, eh?
Yeah. That is also what makes this game so addictive. Once you understood how to arrange the elements for combos and stuff you cant stop. You simply cant. I played until I saw the elements in my sleep, arranged in lines, disappearing in bright flashes and spawning higher elements.
The only thing that really destroys the experience is the music. I dont know why, but I find it absolutely terrible.

Aw balls.

Well that is all there is to be said about this game, I suppose you better check it out yourself, it is worth it, if you can afford getting hooked to it.

Guess who's back

Yes, my minions, I have returned from the cold, black hiatus that swallowed me.
I came to present to you: EFFING WORMS by Effing Games. This game does so many things so very right, it is just perfect for a lunch break or the short periods between two assignments.

Doesnt this scream "AWESOME!"?

If you are like me and enjoy cheesy horror flicks then you will enjoy this game just as much as I did.
In a nutshell you are a worm and you want to eat. Humans, Cows, Dogs, Tanks, Choppers, Mechs, Hovertanks... all that good stuff. And that is all you do. Inbetween levels, you get to upgrade your worm and get neat features, like spikes or a different type of skin.

Today's weather: Sunshine with a ninety percent chance of angry worm.

The problem? You can only choose one of two upgrades and you can make that choice only once. So you always have to think: "Do I want a fast worm, or do I want more health?"
However you decide, you grow in size and abilities until you become a massive monster and destroy everything that dares to walk around above ground.
The easy controls make this a blast. The worm steers sort of like a car in a racing game (see Freeway Fury), except that you will be drawn down by gravity if you are above ground. However, jumping out of the ground to snatch some choppers out of mid air is just more fun this way.

All of this is topped off with a nice icing of witty comments and the little elements, like protestors holding peace signs and commentatory to your upgrades.
I also really enjoyed the punk-rock soundtrack that is cranked up every time you come above ground, especially because it is quite cheesy.
Unfortunately this game is not perfect. It is very short and very easy, after level 5 or so you will not find any enemies that could pose a real threat to you and two levels later you find yourself in sandbox mode, where you are killing people aimlessly just to see that little score number on the bottom right corner rise.
Which is probably why Notdoppler gave this game a 13+ rating, because it degrades human life.
...
Not like I care. OM NOM NOM!

Bubbles and other things.

Allright, first things first. I decided I will from now on update this blog every monday. For one because I have too much real life stuff going on for daily updates but on the other hand, I want to give you guys something to read here on a realistic, regular basis. That's why I chose monday: once a week is just enough and it gives you something new to kill your time in the office or at school with for the week.

In other related "news": I hope you already know this but you can download GTA I and II on the Rockstar Games page! Like, the actual real games! Especially GTA 2 is a lot of fun (I dont know if I am just saying this because I grew up with these games) and you can even play it in multiplayer (though there is noone, who is able to beat me) which rocks. So if you can install shit on your computer, you oughta do that.

But now to the game I wanted to review today:

Pew Pew, Am I right?

 Today I am letting you take a look at a game called Bubble Shooter.  At the first look it is just one of these games where you shoot bubbles at a mass of bubbles while new ones are generated at the top of the screen. This is true, but there is more to it. For example, the new ones on top are generated whenever you run out of bubbles to shoot (see the bottom left side of the screenshot), which makes you think twice or three times about where to shoot once you are in a serious situation.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaw balls.

This adds a strategic element and actually... makes this game pretty addictive. Not THAT addictive, but still, you will play it for a while once you started.

Allright, that's it for today. One more thing though: I am having trouble with my adsense. For some reason my account is still being checked even though I applied for that stuff about a month ago... Someone else having trouble with this?

My driving instructor would pat me on the back and then slap me across the face.

If you are like me, then you like driving. But if you are even more like me you always imagine controlling a giant laser cannon on the roof, when riding shotgun. But if you are even more like me you played a little too much GTA I and II when you were way too young for this kind of game and now have quite a quick driving style (when no one's looking). (However, it would be kinda scary if we were so much alike) A couple of weeks ago I found a new way to get rid of my road rage... or to feed it even more, I don't know how these things work. Anyhow, I present to you Freeway Fury.

It is imperative that you keep the sound on in this game. Because it is awesome.

The idea behind this game is pretty easy: driving one car sucks, driving all the cars on the freeway rules. So instead of just being part of the daily steel snail that slurps its way across the landscape you get to jump out through your windshield, stand on the hood of your car and (at estimated 65 miles an hour) jump onto another one. This requires only four buttons and is an insane amount of fun.

I kind of misjudged the distance to the next car...

 Some factors make this simple concept even better. Like the fact that you get points for crushing cars, driving on the wrong side, jumping long distance, combo-jumping and so on. Also: the game's narrator is fucking awesome, so leave the sound on for christ's sake! There's nothing better than his mocking "YOOOOUUUU'RE DEEEAAAAAAD!" once you died. Hillarious.

This game is not set in England, btw.

There is just a little thing I'd like to point out in this game that does not really go well. And I do this because I feel bad for praising without giving any negative points, and finding this negative point was hard work. The car handling is kind of weird. Yes, it is nice that your car will always be pointed up and will get back in the upward direction whenever you steer onto another lane. But that doesn't feel... real enough, ya kno? I also dont like that you can't break and have (except for the nitro that apparently every car has) no control whatsoever over the acceleration. As I said though, that's just a minor point and didn't really destroy the gaming experience for me. In the pictures you can see my top score of 292500. Tell me once you beat it.

Sort of like a metaphor for the modern work-environment.

Imagine this: you are an eraser-like looking object in a two dimensional world that hast to flee from lava coming from the ground while avoiding bricks that look like condom wrappers. Picture this with repetetive electro music and you get "Avalanche!".
The concept, as I just told you is ridicolously simple: bricks rain out of the sky (I wonder what meteorologists would say to that) while the screen gets filled with a red, transparent liquid through a pipe in the ground. A game description titled this liquid as "lava", though I fail to see lava being transparent. And having a flat surface. But whatever, this is not the point.

Am I the only one who thinks that the bricks look a little like condom wrappers?

The point afterall, is entertainment. And back in the day it just took a yellow circle eating white dots while being chased by blobs in 4 colours for that. And now we have more than 16 colours and don't have to use midi anymore. Which brings me to the only aspect of the game that really annoys me: the music. Yes, it is neat to hear the soundtrack "Dreams From Above" by "Maze Master" once. Or twice. Maybe a third time is fine, too. But after that it just gets annoying. And there is no way to turn it off. Dear game designers: don't do that. Some of us got our own music to listen to and would love to carry on listening.
Whatever. I wasn't done talking about the game. Because jumping up isn't enough. You can also jump from the SIDES of the blocks. And you can jump on blocks that are still in the air. But don't get excited just yet, because it becomes a necessity once the lava rises too quick to stay on the blocks that already landed.

Aw balls.

Your goal is simply to survive, which can be quite difficult considering that the lava burns you and the blocks crush you. And sometimes you just get trapped. Which is especially annoying if you already reached 260 ft.
And can someone tell me why exactly the blocks would have a hole in the middle? Did the game designers want to save money on material? Is there some subliminal message involved? Where the blocks too heavy before and wouldn't fall slow enough? Does it have something to do with aerodynamics?
No one knows.
Anyhow, I really recommend you check out Avalanche and try to beat my 520 ft. I didn't include a screenshot, because I forgot. You'll just have to believe me on this one.