Badland: Atmospheric side-scroller in an industrial wasteland

Features & Use

Badland takes place in a beautiful and ambient space, reminiscent of a mixture of jungle and industrial wasteland. At the beginning, all kinds of debris is flushed out from an old drain pipe and in the middle of it all: a little winged creature, also known as the "Clone", that you will control throughout the game. Although the little fellow cannot really fly properly, he flaps and flops and bounces his way around the obstacles. You control him with just a tap on the screen to flap his little wings and the screen scrolls endlessly sideways as the level progresses.

Rolls, wobbles, bounces, flaps and flops: that's our hero, the "clone". / © AndroidPIT

In this side-scroller you must always be one step ahead. The game world around you moves on its own and if you do nothing, the world will move on without you and your little guy will meet a premature end. Fortunately though, you don’t have to then start again from scratch, but simply from a very recent point in the game.

The path through the industrial jungle is not easy by any means. While this game has the shortest learning curve ever – you only have to do one thing to control the action – the various obstacles awaiting you, including dead-ends, dangerous rotors and rotten pipes that collapse without warning, will put your skills to the test.

Sometimes tubes are your friends, sometimes they fall on you. / © AndroidPIT

And the only control you have is held in the tip of one finger. Sometimes the environment will collapse around you, at other times your little bird will swell up or shrink, making his passage through cracks (or forcing your way through an area) either easy or impossible. There are also various bottlenecks that are only bested with a lot of tact. Sometimes speed is of the essence, sometimes hanging back, and sometimes you’re just getting bashed along by cogs or rotors and hoping for the best. As long as you don’t fall victim to crushing rocks or spinning blades you’re usually ok.

Every now and then there are small power-ups that will make your little hero big, or make him even tinier. Or even better: the little birdie will be cloned and suddenly you’ll be controlling a whole flock of birdies through the grinding thicket. This is where things get interesting, because sometimes you have to sacrifice some of the flock for the rest to move on, or split the group in two, or rearrange which one you’re focusing your attention on.

As your flock size increases, manoeuvring them all becomes harder. / © AndroidPIT

In the single-player campaign, there’s 80 levels waiting for you (40 levels without the premium pack). A multiplayer mode is also on board. On a tablet, you can mix it up in Badland with up to four people on one screen. In this mode, everyone gets their own piece of screen to control. So far in multiplayer mode, four levels are available (21 in the Premium version), but more are soon to follow with the next updates.

Play together with friends in multiplayer mode on a tablet. / © AndroidPIT

At the end of each level another industrial pipe lies in wait, ready to suck the small clone in and transport him (and whatever other Clones remain alive) to the next level. Along the way nice little “breathing spaces” are inserted amidst the chaos that allow you to simply take in the stunning backdrops for a couple of seconds.

Screen & Controls

Badland is one of the few games available right now that supports the full-screen immersive mode made possible by Android 4.4 KitKat. The game experience is accordingly terrific. Anyone who needs to get out of the game (but why would you want to?) or into the menu again, simply needs to swipe the top of the screen downwards once to bring the soft buttons back on screen.

The different environments simply makes you want more. / © AndroidPIT

The one-touch control is really well done and works perfectly. Background sounds with birdsong and nondescript industrial sounds are matched well with the graphics and build an incredibly atmospheric picture. The overview displays how many clones you have brought to safety, and on what level you are currently on. But as far as gameplay goes, it’s all screen.

You can also save your score in the cloud via the Google Play Games service, which can be used if you sign in with your Google account. You'll also be rewarded for completed missions if you choose this option. The statistics of the game also reveal some interesting information, such as how often you touched the screen or how many clones you’ve lost along the way.

The level overview of single player mode. / © AndroidPIT

Speed & Stability

Badland ran the test period smoothly and without crashes the whole time. The game world moves at a reasonable pace, but over time of course, it speeds up. Nevertheless, there was never any stuttering or other bugs.

Price/Performance Ratio

Badland is available free and offers quite a lot of levels for many hours of gameplay in single player mode. Although the free version is ad-supported, during the test not a single advertising insertion appeared. However, the occasional upgrade offer pops up, which provides options for an ad-free version ($0.99), multiplayer mode with additional levels or Day II pack with 40 new levels (both $1.99). There’s also the Premium option which includes the previous three, for $2.99.

By purchasing the premium package you also support the indie developers who are responsible for porting this addictive title to the Android platform in such good fashion.

Final Verdict

Badland is an impressive, physics-based, adventure side-scroller that makes for really great fun, especially on a tablet. From the sound to the graphics to the many little extras and details, the app is well thought out and adds up to an instantly addictive game. The free version offers a good look in, and if you want more, you can chip in a small fee and receive many more levels. Badland is also not boring: the traps and obstacles change from level to level, and there are always more difficulties involved in overcoming them. Overall, Badland is a very successful app, and is well worth a download if only to see for yourself what the fuss is all about. You may just find it impossible to put down though.

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Dream: Hidden Adventure – a fantastic, atmospheric Dream World

Features & Use

When you first start Dream: Hidden Adventure, you'll be introduced to the characters and settings through a tutorial with a little blue guy called Whiff. He sets the scene for the various magical Cloud Folk you'll encounter on your adventure and also for the kind of tasks you'll be required to perform in order to assist your new friends as they live in fear of being swallowed up by the Fearglade Sorcerer's black hole. The Dream World in which the game is located consists of various floating 'islands' in which your adventures will take place. Each island has its own peculiarities and characters.

One of the Cloud Folk, Whiff, will introduce you to the plot and environment. / © Renatus Media

As you explore each island you'll encounter new characters that require your help with a specific task that involves you collecting objects for them. Of course, all of these interactions and the dream visions in which the hidden objects are placed, all occur while you are asleep (hence the title of the game). Rather than energy, like in most games, here you need Drowsiness to be able to stay sleep and continue. Each of the environments, with great, evocative names like The Enchanted Forest, Egg Colony, The Fearglade, Mirror Labyrinth and Candy Cabin, are beautifully illustrated still images in which a variety of objects are craftily hidden. It is your task to locate them all in a given period of time.

The Dream World 3D map overview screen. / © Renatus Media

Clues will be given to help you find the objects – either written descriptions or silhouettes – and if you wake up before you find them all you can extend the time with a quick trip to the Store where you can pick up all sorts of great stuff, from sleep elixirs, to charms to weapons, chests and more. You'll find yourself being pushed to the Store repeatedly throughout your adventure, but in-app purchases are not required to progress. All you need to do is cash in your accumulated coins and pearls to properly equip yourself for the upcoming task. Along the way you'll collect various Artifacts and build Collections of objects that can either be valuable or just pretty to look at.

The dream scenes in which the objects are hidden are beautifully illustrated. / © Renatus Media

Each time you complete a task you'll be directed to a character interaction or the Store, and at various intervals you'll level up and be able to unlock new areas of each island. Fortunately, you are not restricted to completing an island before moving on: you can switch from island to island to get a better feel for the Dream World. Island navigation is managed through a 3D map overview of the various islands in the Dream World. Your character interactions occur from here as well. On this screen you'll also have access to your Inventory, Collections, scores and timelines, Rewards, Store and sharing options for social networks.

Instead of life bars or energy, you'll need to stay drowsy to play this game. / © Renatus Media

Screen & Controls

The layout of Dream: Hidden Adventure is pretty spectacular, with gorgeous visuals and easily navigated areas, despite the very intricate and detailed setup. The tutorial and prescribed nature of your progress through the game will also tend to make it easy to know where to go next and what you need to do, buy or equip. Most interactions are handled with simple swipes, taps or touchscreen button presses. The actual Dream scenes and hidden object tasks are nicely done and responsive. The screen can sometimes seem a little cluttered though, so this game might be better played on a tablet.

You'll meet a variety of different characters. And do a lot of readng. / © Renatus Media

Speed & Stability

During the testing period Dream: Hidden Adventure was always responsive and smooth. There were no crashes, although an occasional but temporary freeze occurred when accessing your pull-down notifications menu when receiving messages, for example. The game is very polished and highly detailed but managed to perform seamlessly on every occasion, although there is a very short loading time at start up. Strangely, the Play Store comments report crashes, freezes on the lock screen, bugs and more, but I suffered from none of these problems.

It seems there's always something that requires you to visit the Store. / © Renatus Media

Price/Performance Ratio

Dream: Hidden Adventure is free to download and does not require any in-app purchases to proceed in the game. You'll get the occasional ad popup, but for an incredibly involving game that is a small price to pay and I never had the actual gameplay interrupted by ads. As far as free hidden object games go, this one is a keeper. It's a pretty large install though at just over 300 MB.

Final Verdict

If you're a fan of hidden object games, Dream: Hidden Object will keep you happy. The tasks can be quite tricky, although once you're used to the objects it gets a lot easier. The storyline that accompanies the gameplay is very detailed, engaging and atmospheric and makes the game infinitely more enjoyable. It's free, light on ads, requires no in-app purchases and is highly replayable as you complete the many different environments and tasks, unlocking more as you go. It can be a little ''commerce-heavy'' at times, with very frequent trips to the Store to equip, buy or increase levels, but it all adds to the richness of the game's storyline. I experienced no crashes or bugs, but a lot of other users seem to have found them. It's definitely worth a try though.

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