Assaulter Review (Android)

Taking a closer look at mobile games

The underlying reason mobile games are so appealing to the millions and millions that download them via Apple's Appstore or Google's Playstore (which can be done with HTML5 as well) is that these games are accessed and stored all via their cell phone. These people literally carry their phones with them almost all day, EVERY day. That means there will be times when user sessions will need to be bite sized. For a game to be bite sized it usually needs to accessible, unless a developer can manage to put in mechanics that are fun enough to keep playing even though you're losing. Which is why it's on the list below.

The List:

• Presentation-Nowadays mobile games must look good, it can sink your ship if it doesn't.
• Gameplay-Interesting twist now that games have their inputs coming from phones
• Sound-Video games with sound are the best games
• Accessibility-Easy to get into? How good is your freemium?

Assaulter Review

Assaulter is an older game developed by CWA (China Wireless Arts) Games that when you look at it's trailer you instantly realize that if you're about to make happen what you just saw on the screen happen that you'll be in for a grand experience. This brings me to the first item on the list.

Presentation

Assaulter looks every bit like an action shooter should look like. The art embodies that "retro" feel without feeling dated. The animations are smooth with lots of action, bullets, explosions and action. There are even boss fights where you can fight guys raining on you from helicopters and firefights on wave racers. That trailer is totally awesome.

Gameplay

This is where the game falters a bit. It's not that you can't have fun with the game, it's that the shooting is done automatically for you. It's still fun as it has a slide maneuver that is useful for getting yourself out of a pickle. It also have lots of equipment options with the 3 different characters specializing in different weapons.

Sound

The game has a good score of war like tunes that is fitting for an action shooter. The same goes for the sounds effects. The games production is as good as I've seen for mobile, especially since the game was released in October of 2011.

Accessibility

Assaulter's controls are easy enough. The only thing that I found myself having a little trouble with at first was the jump ability. Sliding is done smoothly and swiftly. While the shooting is pretty much automatic, it works, not really putting you in a position where you would go "Grr...if only they didn't do the shooting for me!" The freemium model here is full of time meters and grinding to continue, not the best freemium model.

Conclusion

While a number in no way determines how much fun you can have with a video game, it can however be used a gauge on how complete the experience felt when you finally reach that stopping point of your play session. Assaulter gets a lot of things right and you can still walk away with the overall experience being fun while only faltering slightly due to its "grind to advance" freemium model. All around good.

Assaulter can be downloaded for Android from the Google Playstore here.

What's the Big Deal About HTML5?

The significance of HTML5

If you take a look at HTML5 without the "5" all you have is HTML. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. HTML is the core language that is responsible for how information is generated and consumed through services like Google, Facebook, and all the other high profile sites millions of people utilize on a daily basis. The very foundation of the background code systems responsible for displaying information through the web is receiving an upgrade (and has been for a couple years now). 

This is where the 5 comes in

Coming from the 4th iteration of the language and going into the 5th, some might ask why is number 5 so magical? With this new standard new features exciting features come into play that required the use of plugins and applets before. Do you remember those times when you go to log into either a school computer, or just any public computer due to some unforeseen yet fatal event and you come across "You need flashplayer installed" in order to view the content you requested? Well with the implementation of this new 5th revision here situations like that will decrease drastically given that functions and features such as handling video media will be built in right out of the box.These include (but are certainly not limited to) hardware acceleration (for high quality games and videos), access to device specific features (given so many different devices connect to the web now), and offline functionality. This brings me to next point.

These features change the way EVERYONE uses the web

There are two kinds of people who handle software, developers an consumers (developers nowadays probably develop AND consume). Consumers use the software for what it is they see any use for it at the time, whether it be to post a status, read a status, watch a video, play a game, read an article, or just simply  fulfill their boredom. Whatever use they find for the software they sure will attempt and use it for that very purpose. Developers on the other hand PROVIDE the software to the consumers (while probably being consumers themselves be it for development or entertainment or whatever).  If you are a provider there, is one other thing you must do besides simply obtaining whatever it is you are providing. Whether you are creating it yourself or getting it from somewhere else, you must get the service or product to whoever it is you find has the most use for what it is you dedicated your time to obtain.

No other software in the world is used more than the World Wide Web with HTML being the primary means by which information is generated and consumed. It is what connects the whole globe and took every populated continent as well as orbital devices to build.

The most important part of what the inclusion of some of these new features is that it changes the WAY developers can get their software to the end consumer. The developers write the code for said game or service with "share with the world" innately in the code's base functions. When there are less barriers between that of the provider and consumer, costs (mostly developmental) to simply get your software to reach more people will decrease dramatically.

A lot also has to do with convenience on the consumer's end. Instead of the having to install certain plugins or take other steps to achieve the same experience they are used to enjoying when they access the web, they get on with the functionality right into the browser itself be it on a computer or cell phone.

This advancement shifts both ends of the equation at the largest scale

But even given all all that is said here, HTML5 still hasn't completely took root yet. This is for various reasons but mostly for browsers yet complying to the new standard (for reasons of their own I'm sure). This leads to particular obstacles that must be handled correctly by developers in order to take advantage of the potential massive reach HTML5 brings being able to run on both mobile devices and personal computers. As with everything, there is always an adoption curve with different phases of the adoption period being more useful for different people at different times with adoption already happening at an alarming rate.

HTML5Boom is Still Booming

Sometimes life gives you lemons...

...and sometimes lemonade don't cut it. Sometimes things happen where you have to to think outside of the box because life puts you in situations that force you to stop and think. Things like computer crashes, and/or some resource somewhere falling short.

Starting up is one of the best and worst times to fail.

On the one side, failure of any kind usually causes a person to quit. This could be short term failure, long term failure, failure on your end to uphold a bargain, or failure from another to uphold their end of the bargain, most people see it as a some magical sign or reason that they should quit.

On the other side, those with the resilience to push through the failures brought on to them and take them as gifts in the form of lessons instead of taking them as their que to close the curtains on their wants and dreams. With each and every result comes information with it that you can receive and utilize for your next endeavor and nothing comes with more information on how to improve than failing.

It is all just a matter of how you perceive the information that is given back to you for your efforts.

My experiences with failure have helped me: 

• Appreciate my tools more
• Seek more wisdom
• Make money online through marketing

Even with all of my failings and shortcomings I never gave up on anything. I have stepped back for short periods yes, but I still love games and software as much as I ever did if not more and I can't wait to share my many experiences with some of the things that kept me this whole time.