“We Farm” now available for iPhone and iPad!

Are you ready for another addictive social game from Ngmoco? First there was TouchPetsDogs, then we got We Rule, and then Godfinger. And now, Ngmoco launched the new We Farm worldwide, and it’s becoming a hit!

If you’re addicted to games like “We Rule,” you’ll enjoy the new We Farm game as well. It’s a great alternative to Farmville, especially if you have an iPad. The graphics are marvelous and the game play is pretty fun.

It’s similar to “We Rule” with the familiar graphics and game layout, but of course, you get to take care of a farm instead of a kingdom. Additional tasks include petting your animals to keep them happy. This turns them into prize-ribbon-winning animals!

Check out the game trailer:

Because games like these are popular, you may experience some server connection problems and downtime. Be aware of this before you start playing. Hopefully they have a fix for this soon.

The game is available for free for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. For more information, see their official website at Ngmoco.com A full review to come soon.

iPad+iPhone app review: We Rule

Love to build things? Now you can build your very own kingdom, one crop at a time. We Rule is a new social kingdom-building game for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and now iPad.

You start out with a small fort and some farm land. Plant crops to sell and get gold in return. Use the gold to purchase shops, more crops, trees, and decorations for your kingdom. The more you play, the more XP points you get. If the gameplay is not fast enough for you, you can use your magical bottle of mojo to speed things up. Mojo helps your crops grow faster as well as speed ups services from your shops. You get extra bottles of mojo every time you level, or you can purchase more via in-app purchases.

Your kingdom is alive. Add horse stables to your land and a horse will appear walking around. Add a pond, and a frog with a crown will hop around your land. Add a wizard tower, and you land will have wizards wandering around. It becomes a living and breathing kingdom that you get to rule and take care of…

The social aspect of the game happens when you visit your friends’ shops, and they visit yours. You can view all of your neighbor kingdoms and see what shops they have open. Click on their shops and order 20 Royal Ball gowns, or 10 science projects, or 1000 stone blocks, etc. You can purchase services and items from your friends, in return you get XP points.

We Rule uses the Plus+ gaming network to keep track of your friends, gold and XP count, awards, and achievements. Everything is saved on the servers, so if you were to delete the app, your content is still saved.

We Rule is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Since the game is graphic-intensive, it is not a universal app. Instead, a new iPad-only app is available. This app is different from the iPhone/iPod Touch version in that scrolling to see your kingdom is not necessary anymore. You can view your (or your friend’s) entire kingdom on the screen. You can also view your social map easily on the lower right instead of going to another screen. The new iPad app makes great use of the space available on the iPad.

Although the game is fun, creative and addicting, there are also some drawbacks. We Rule requires internet connection in order to play. There may also be some server downtime and some internet connection lost while you play. This happens now and then, but it’s not bad enough that you would want to stop playing.

All you need is a little dash of creativity, and you’ll find yourself checking your kingdom now and then to harvest your crops. Before you start, beware of how addicting We Rule could be!

We Rule is free and available in the iTunes App Store for the iPad. For more information on the game, see their official website.

iPad app review: GodFinger

Build, grow, and cultivate your own planet with the touch of your finger, literally. Godfinger has finally been released in the US, but not for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Instead, they launched on the iPad platform first.

You start out with a plain round planet and one follower. You also get to play God, well your finger does at least. Drag and drop your follower on the totem pole so he can worship you, generating mana and XP points.

As you collect XP points and level, more and more followers will be added to your planet. Make them happy by constructing buildings and shelter for them, giving them rain and sunshine, and a place to relax and energize.

Drag clouds over the planet, then press and drag down to make it rain. This will make your planet much greener, growing grass, trees, and shrubs everywhere. You can also do the same with the sun. Press and drag the sun down to bring sunlight to the planet as well as grow flowers.

The gameplay consists of these point systems:

Mana – needed to perform Wonders (like rain or sunshine) and regenerates over time. Followers can speed up mana production process by worshipping at the totem, or you can purchase mana boost in the Awe store.

Gold – your followers earn gold for your by doing activities on the planet like farming. Use the gold to purchase building material for your followers. You can also exchange Awe for gold in the Awe store.

Awe – these can be exchanged for goodies in the Awe store. If you need more Awe, you can purchase them with real money from $2.99 to $29.99 as in-app purchases.

Godfinger looks fabulous on the bit iPad screen. With this new device, small popup notes and menus can be easily displayed on the screen, making game play intuitive and fun.

Godfinger uses the Plus+ social gaming network to connect to your friends. Once you unlock the “Galaxy Map” goal, you can use your fingers in a ‘pinch in’ gesture to zoom out. Doing so will show your planet smaller and smaller, and allow you to view all of your friends planets as well. Tap on your friend’s planet to see its information. You even have an option to visit their planet to see how things are going.

The notifications in the game are a bit excessive and it seems like your planet may need a lot of attention. I would suggest turning “Alert Notifications” off once you get the hang of the game. To have a healthy planet, check back frequently on your followers and their activities.

Overall, this game for the iPad is gorgeous. The graphics are bright and colorful and the sounds and animations are quite enjoyable. The gameplay took a while to figure out because there were a lot of popup screens to read. But once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy. Best of all, it’s free, and there is only a minimal display of ads in the app. If you have an iPad, be sure to put this one your must-have list. An iPhone/iPad version is will available soon.

Godfinger is available in the US iTunes app store for free and you can read more about the game on their official website.

Video Trailer

‘We Rule’ Debuts in App Store

Ngmoco’s long awaited game, We Rule, finally hit the US iTunes app store today. It’s their new social game where you build your kingdom, make your own rules, and design it however you want. It’s a live kingdom with peasants and workers walking around, going on with their day to day routines. Create farms and be sure to harvest your crops, sell, and collect experience points. The best part of the game is probably visiting neighboring kingdoms for a dash of inspiration, or maybe compete on who has the better kingdom.

New items are unlocked as you gather experience points. Create businesses to earn extra income to expand your kingdom. Before you know it, your small village could turn into a massive and productive kingdom.

We Rule is available in the iTunes app store for free. For more information about the game, see their official website.

Look for a full review in an upcoming Beatweek issue!

App review: Touch Pets Dogs

New in iProng Magazine: hands-on with Touch Pets Dogs, the new app for iPhone and iPod touch……


Who can resist adopting a cute and cuddly virtual pet? Now you can have one right in your iPhone / iPod Touch with the Touch Pets Dogs app. With the power of the Plus Network, you can share your little puppy with all your friends too!

Touch Pets Dogs is a very well-written and polish iPhone app that’s enjoyable for the whole family. Adopt a puppy from one of 7 lovable breeds — Labrador, Portuguese Water Dog, West Highland Terrier, German Shepherd, Jack Russell, Dachshund, and even Robot Dog!

After you adopt your puppy, take good care of it by pampering it with clothes and showering it with plenty of accessories and toys. Don’t forget to train and educate your little pup as well. There are five career paths that your dog can take part in — Crimefighting, Rescue Dog, Scientist, Celebrity, and Politician. Be the ultimate dog and complete all 5!



You can also level your puppy in three categories: Caretaker Level, Trainer Level, and Social Level. To earn points in Caretaker level, take care of your puppy by feeding it, taking it out, and cleaning it daily. To earn points in Trainer category, be sure to play with your pup so it gets some exercise as well as teach it new tricks. For the social level, be sure to take it out on playdates to meet other dogs. Adopting another dog also helps with this as well. The maximum level for each category is 1000 and the higher the points you earn in each level, the more items you unlock that can be bought in the pet store.



Also earn puppy bucks by taking good care of your pup and keeping them happy.

These puppy bucks can be traded in the pet store for food, clothes, career items, etc.

The winning aspect of this game is the social connection using the Plus+ network. The ability to take your puppy on a playdate with a friend’s dog is just a lot of fun! Just like with people in real life, dogs can build relationships with other dogs over time. If you want two dogs to fall in love, take them on plenty of playdates and keep them happy on those dates. Dogs tend to fight if you don’t watch them closely, and some just want to be friends. Each dog comes with its own personality and you get to figure out what works best for each dog.

There are currently five versions of Touch Pets Dogs – Touch Pets Dogs (Free), Touch Pets Dogs 10 (Free, usually 99 cents), Touch Pets Dogs 20 ($1.99), Touch Pets Dogs 120 ($9.99), and Touch Pets Dogs 400 ($29.99). The difference between these versions is the price and the amount of food available for your puppy. Your last bowl of food will get recharged every 15 minutes, or 1/10th every one and a half minutes. The advantage of buying a more expensive app is earning puppy bucks faster. 15 Bowls of food is equal to 20,000 puppy bucks. So you get to decorate your puppy without having to play as long. Your best choice right now is to get “Touch Pets Dogs 10″ since it is free right now plus you get ten (plus eight) extra bowls of food. You can also purchase additional food later.

The game is near perfect, but it does have some small glitches. Sometimes, when training your pup with the agility ball, your dog will hop on it and get stuck in midair. You can remove the ball and the puppy would be floating. A way to clear this is by switching the environment.

Another drawback to the game is that you need internet connection in order to play. Your dog’s data and profiles are stored online so they can interact with other dogs on the Plus+ Network. I think a better way of doing this is to have some temporary data storage on the iPhone / iPod Touch for point keeping, and disable options like playdates when no internet connection is available. Maybe this can be added in a future release.

Also, when the game was first released, many complained that their dogs were always hungry and tired. This was quickly fixed and the food is recharged every 15 minutes now instead of 2 hours. Ngmoco Inc. did a great job listening to the community feedback.

*****

Touch Pets Dogs is currently available in the App Store.