The Codec Moments Podcast

Cost of a Coffee - Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

This week’s Cost of a Coffee game is Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, which was universally panned upon release.  However seeing it for £2.99 at our local GAME store, we purchased it in lieu of our usual caffeinated pick-me-up.  It’s the game that everyone thought IO Interactive shouldn’t have wasted their time developing.  When I heard this was getting development time rather than a new Hitman game, I was more disappointed than the time that six tonnes of leaking liquid helium damaged some 50 superconducting magnets and contaminated the proton tube with soot at the Large Hadron Collider.  Things didn’t start well when the install corrupted before the menu had even loaded.  Not good.  Deleting and restarting fixed the problem and we were treated to possibly one of the prettiest menu screens I’ve ever seen, which consist of handycam images of scenes from Shanghai.  They are very nicely detailed and some of them are difficult to differentiate from real footage.  This aesthetic flows through to the game itself with all the areas you visit having a nice level of detail to the environments, which we’d expect from the pedigree of the developer.  Unfortunately that’s about the best of it.

Cost of a Coffee - Hero of Sparta

Every day in the United Kingdom, we spend approximately 2.5 million pounds on coffee.  I, like many others, think nothing of walking into a high street coffee shop and spending three pounds on my Massimo, Double Shot, Skinny Gingerbread Latte; so why do people baulk at the idea of paying that for a mobile game?  I’m Professor Kelvin Harris, Codec Moments’ resident scientist.  I am on a mission to document interesting games that cost less than your cappuccino, which might entertain you at home, on your way to work, or even during your coffee break.  This week’s game for the ‘Cost of a Coffee’ is Gameloft’s Hero of Sparta which we played on the PS Vita in PS Minis format.

Cost of a Coffee - Puzzlejuice

After playing Sirvo LLC’s other game Threes! last week, I was so impressed that I decided to try out their other iOS title, Puzzlejuice.

Puzzlejuice is quite possibly the simplest, most complicated game you will ever play.  Please be warned, as you launch the tutorial it proudly exclaims that “Puzzlejuice is a game that will punch your brain in the face.”  It’s not joking.  Imagine if Tetris and Bookworm had an illicit affair that resulted in a child, this is that child and it suffers from attention deficit disorder.

Cost of a Coffee - Threes!

As another week lurches into view, it’s time for Codec Moments to tell you about an exciting game you can buy for the Cost of a Coffee!  This week we’re looking at Threes! on iOS.

Threes! is a puzzle game from Sirvo LLC which you can learn in seconds, but play all day without blinking; to say that it’s as addictive as the caffeine we’ve substituted it for is, an understatement.  The premise is simple, you have a board of twelve squares which contains numbers that you combine; you can match 1s and 2s to make 3s and after that you have to combine pairs of numbers, which will leave you one card of double the value.

Cost of a Coffee - Bridge Constructor

Another week rolls around and Codec Moments continue our mission to test out games that might be interesting and entertaining, whilst costing you less than your cappuccino.  This week we’re looking at Bridge Constructor and Bridge Constructor Playground from Headup Games.

Cost of a Coffee - Carmageddon

It’s Monday again and as we reach for our favourite caffeine drink, we at Codec Moments think:  “Is there a way to get a quality game, for the same price as our cup of java?”

This week’s game for the ‘Cost of a Coffee’ is Carmageddon on iOS and Android. Carmageddon is a racing game with a difference, as the clock starts ticking down when you start and it’s game over when it reaches zero; you can add more time by passing checkpoints, smashing up opponents, or ploughing through pedestrians with bonus points awarded for style!