23 Mobile Things #20: Games

I am not much of a gamer -- never did own an XBox or a Wii or anything similar.  Being close to OTD, I use to play the DOS version of Doom (didn't care for all of the shooting, but loved the exploring and finding all the hidden treasure).  I also use to play Myst and Tomb Raider -- without joysticks (just the up/down left/right arrows and space bar).  With the internet, I usually do card games (solitare) and got addicted for a while for a word game called "letter garden."  I have also played versions of candy crush -- Jewel Quest is the most common.  I like games with some brain challenge, so of the games listed in this thing, the ones I enjoyed trying out the most were WordCollapse and WordWarp (Word Warp is very similar to Letter Garden).  Temple Run, in a word, is exhausting.  I think I killed myself at least 10 - 15 times before I finally figured out the finger sweep that kept me on the causeway.  I also found it made a good deal of difference once I turned the tutorial function on -- killed myself left frequently and got farther into the game.

I do play games as a way to relax from what I am currently doing, and I play crossword puzzles first thing in the morning to get my brain in gear for the day.  For me games that involve some thinking (not too much or it would be work instead of a game), are more fun.  For instance, Temple Run as a game would be more appealing to me if it involved trying to find hidden treasure, rather than just running and jumping and sliding and smashing into coins to gather them.  That doesn't mean that I won't end up playing it more just to see if I can master the whole running, jumping, sliding and whatever else is in store the farther you get into the game.

There are limits to the free versions of some of the games, where you can play them to a certain point and then need to pay for the upgrade in order to continue on.  This is going to be the issue with WordCollapse.  I have been sweeping through the categories quickly and will soon use up my free sections.  Also, for some of the free apps, it is annoying to have pop-ups all the time asking you to download yet another free game -- but, I guess , if you go free, that is what you "pay" for.