Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Badland game: Explore the secrets of Jungle

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You have seen the movie Avatar and you know how director James Cameron superbly shown Pandora, its lush green jungle, the never seen before creatures and the secrets hidden in the jungle and you feel like you are actually in that place. Similarly, at times we come across few games, which are so different and mystical in nature, be it their graphics, the setup or the game play. 

This time I am covering one such game, Badland, presented by frogmind. Badland is a game with absolutely stunning graphics and has a jungle setup shown in it which is so mysterious but at the same time dangerous. The jungle looks really beautiful and the background sounds complete the experience of roaming around in a strange jungle.


Badland is a side scrolling game in which you control and play an unusual looking flying character. The idea is to cross the jungle which is full of unusual dangers without getting killed. Badland can be played in single player as well as multiplayer mode, I have not tried the multiplayer mode yet but I am sure it is also equally challenging.


Badland game: Launch screen
Badland game: Launch screen
The game loads surprisingly very quickly, the game levels are divided across two days. The days are divided into four parts (isn't that obvious) namely: Dawn, Noon, Dusk and Night, and further each part has 10 levels (so, in all 80 levels). Each level has its own objectives and depending on the objectives you achieve you get eggs as your prize.

The controls are very easy, actually there is just one control, you just need to touch the screen and the character flaps enabling it to fly, you can touch the screen repeatedly to flap repeatedly or just keep your finger on the screen to achieve the same result.



Badland game: Level selection
Badland game: Level selection
As the level starts, the character (alas, no name given to it) is resting on the ground, and as it flaps it starts flying and move forward, because it's a physics based game, once it stops flapping it drops on the ground. As soon as the character started moving ahead there is no stopping, it should keep on moving forward because if it stops and goes out of the screen window the level ends immediately. Therefore, that's the first thing to keep in mind.


Badland game: I cloned myself
Badland game: I cloned myself
While moving forward, it acquires some abilities that are needed to cross the hurdles, as it can get bigger and heavier by touching the fruits on the way so that it can push heavier objects out of its way. Similarly it can again get in shape or even shrink in size by touching those fruits.


Badland game: Get bigger or smaller at will
Badland game: Get bigger or smaller at will
Then there are powers by which it can clone itself and get a single or multiple companions. This also helps it to move forward because to cross some hurdles it needs to perform some tasks simultaneously and for that, it needs companions. 


Badland game: It's my army
Badland game: It's my army
It's not just powers which can be picked, there are some I should say "weakness" which also has to be picked by the character which can slow it down and make its journey more difficult like it can pick a sticky weakness which makes it extremely sticky causing it to stick to anything it touches. Similarly, a bouncy weakness if acquired make the character excessively bouncy and it keeps on bouncing here and there instead of moving forward.

Badland game: It's sticky and deadly
Badland game: It's sticky and deadly
Also, there are sharp rotating saws, pointed needles which can instantly kill the character and few time based traps which if not crossed within a short time can block the character and your game will be over.

Badland game: Trapped to dead
Badland game: Trapped to dead
I strongly suggest you to install this game to actually get the feel of this stunning and highly addictive game, you will surely not regret.

Wish you happy holidays and a very Happy New Year!

How much it costs you: Not a single penny for Day 1 levels, then if you like you can buy the remaining and additional levels.

If you like this post or know any other app / game in the same category, let me know via comments section.
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See also:
Other posts in this series:

1. Manuganu: fantastic running game with difference
2. Beach Buggy Blitz : A fantastic racing game which will transport you toa stunning island, that too for free
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Monday, December 9, 2013

Vacations: Refreshing Las Vegas, a different ball game

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This is happening for the first time on this blog that I am posting an off-topic post. As you might have noticed that I have not posted anything new on this blog for last three weeks, and there is a reason behind that. I was away travelling to the US of A for few official meetings and then went to Vegas for vacations :). This was my first time to Vegas so I was very excited and yes, Vegas did not disappoint me at all.

So here I am with this post, it does not cover any new Android app or game but its a trip report of Las Vegas.


Vegas trip was full of adventures and it started from the flight itself. We were at airport well on time and were eagerly waiting to board the flight but there was something unusual happening in Vegas at this time of the year, it was raining. And then the ground staff announced that the flight was delayed by more than 3 hours :(, it was the last thing we wanted to hear. Anyways, after the long wait they got the green signal and we boarded the flight. I was sitting near the window and it was evening time, when we were near to our destination, I could see it was all dark on the ground and just one road lit by vehicle's headlights heading to a place excessively lit by colorful lights. Well that's Las Vegas, a lively place in a barren dessert.

We reached our Hotel at around 11:30 PM and all we could see was, the place was heavily crowded with people all geared up for party and fun, that place was MGM Grand.

We were there for three days, our plan was to spend two days in Vegas and one day for a day tour to the Grand Canyon's West rim. So as per the plan we boarded the tour bus to Grand Canyon. The journey started at 6:30 in the morning and took around 3 hours to reach the first stop, the eagle point.


It was a cloudy day so we were not able to see the valley and the shape of an eagle as told by our guide Jerry. So we headed to our next stop that is the West rim sky walk. The sky opened up by that time and we could see the vast and simply awesome view of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river. Grand Canyon is really "Grand" and at the same time mesmerizing. We spent around 2 hours at that point and we were served with lunch prepared by the native Hualapai people. The food was good and it was quite an experience of having lunch by the side of Grand Canyon. We really enjoyed it.


Grand Canyon: Breathtaking view of the canyon and Colorado river
Grand Canyon: Breathtaking view of the canyon and Colorado river
Once Grand Canyon was done, we concentrated our energy to explore the Las Vegas. Walking was not an option as it is very easy to get tired especially if you are staying in MGM Grand, that place is really big. So we bought the "Deuce" bus ticket with unlimited rides for 24 hours, which is one of the most convenient and affordable option at 8 USD. We boarded the bus and then got down at all the major attractions on the Las Vegas strip. Some of the stops were: Stratosphere, Venetian, Aria, Bellagio etc. The good thing here in Vegas is you can simply walk in any Hotel or Casino and explore it, there is no restriction on the visitors.

Las Vegas: The Stratosphere tower
Las Vegas: The Stratosphere tower
We particularly liked Venetian for its Venice like theme, they have emulated the canals of Venice and also there are gondolas with singing gondolier which is really a nice touch. The roof is painted like sky with clouds and due to the awesome lighting it really looks like a real sky.


Las Vegas: The Christmas decoration at Venetian
Las Vegas: The Christmas decoration at Venetian


Las Vegas: The Venice canals at Venetian
Las Vegas: The Venice canals at Venetian
We spent our day exploring all the places. Took some rest and by the evening time we were ready to go out again on the strip. The strip looks really different at night time, every place is illuminated with bright colorful lights and huge display screens. We headed straight to the Bellagio to watch the famous fountains show. And I must tell you it was awesome, everything was so synchronized the lights the music and the fountains. It was very difficult for us to leave that place, we watched 3 shows back to back and then boarded the Deuce for the Fremont Street experience.

Las Vegas: The famous fountains of Bellagio
Las Vegas: The famous fountains of Bellagio
Fremont Street is a comparatively new area which is being promoted as the next Vegas strip. And they have added some unique attractions to this place. The first thing you will notice is the roof covering the entire street, the complete roof is a giant screen and it keeps playing music videos or some random graphics, it's really an experience of the life time. There you can find lots of interesting people and performers on the street playing live band, some artists, painters and all other sort of entertainment. There are casinos, restaurants, souvenir shops too to keep you engaged.  


Las Vegas: Fremont street experience
Las Vegas: Fremont street experience

Las Vegas: It was time to bid adieu
Las Vegas: It was time to bid adieu
And then the time came to say goodbye to Las Vegas and return back to our abode. Las Vegas experience was one of its kind and quite different from the places I visited earlier. 

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