I got a surprise the other day when checking out one of the newer features of Facebook. While playing one game, I looked over at my games feed and saw someone who usually sticks to PopCap Facebook games had started playing a game called “Pig Up.” Intrigued, I searched it, and what I found was pretty awesome…

Right now on Facebook, there is a preview available of a new PopCap creation called Pig Up. Finally, the long time dream of pigs to take to the skies is coming to reality. Launch your pig from the pickup truck cannon with his little makeshift wooden wings and flap to cover major distance and earn some pig pence. Of course it’s not a game without a challenge, so bring in the mean bees. Bees hover with their stingers out and then charge, taking away precious flaps. But, eat some apples along the way to gain them back. Click over now to see how far you can go!

Little Cave Hero is a sort of throwback to pixellated games of my youth with a twist of sociality. Your town has been ravaged by monsters and it’s up to you to put it back together and build it back up to help make the mayor look good again. The games starts players out getting used to mining the caves for treasure, completing missions for the mayor, and rebuilding the necessary components to start the town running and pump up population. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the exaggerated pixelation of the game, but before too long, it grew on me. Now when I play, I find it endearing and nostalgic.

The beginning of the game feels good. The character of the mayor is humerous, and spouts some witty remarks. The missions come fast and are completable in a reasonable amount of time, which adds to a sense of accomplishment. Jean’s town, which is the stable, even if you have no friends who play, you have this friend and this friend has been playing since inception so the world is inspiring sort of town, gives a glimpse of possibilities of what’s to come and the different things that can be done when rebuilding and repopulating.

Like many games, especially in the Facebook arena, leveling up in the beginning happens quickly enough to keep playing a little longer (as energy gets replenished when leveling up). Once that starts to slow down, the familiar feeling of the Facebook limits sets in. Without many friends to visit to collect additional energy, playtime is occasionally disappointing, especially because it takes sometimes a lot of energy to finish caves or challenges. But paying attention to the XP bar helps keep strategy in line to level up and be able to play longer. Building the town up, fortunately, and redecorating or moving things around, getting production of wood, refining ores, etc. are things that don’t take up energy. However, they don’t add too much play time because the production takes time, and often one thing needs producing before others can be produced. If there are more friends added to your population, however, the building/producing time decreases, which would help quite a bit.

The game is entirely click and play. Click where the hero should go, what the hero should break through, monsters the hero should attack. This makes it simple and accessible for multiple connections and gadgets. Sometimes the towns become mazes and there are characters and creatures that get in the way. So little hero just stops. If this happens in the hero’s own town, though, anything, even critters and characters can be moved anywhere in the town with the handy editing tool. The editing feature not only helps get heroes unstuck, but also organizes and reorganizes the town, enables selling and rotating of items to get the look just right.

There are a few other ways to help make each hero’s town unique, from purchasable decorations, fencing, roads, and even animals, to the edit feature which allows just about anything in the town to be moved, rotated one of two ways, or even sold. But the thing that allows for the most individuality is the design studio. In the design studio, players can make and customize decorations such as an apple, snail, lion, bookshelf, bed, or anything they can build. This, I believe, is the thing that adds the most time possibility if more time in the game is desired. These items are also savable and can be placed in the town at any time.

The social aspect of the game includes the ability to share gifts with friends, which initially seems possible only when the game first loads, but now I see a little gift icon on the side of the screen while playing, which does open up the option. Also, visiting friends and talking to their icons gives some xp, coins, and energy. Once energy is full, though, it doesn’t add more and the “visit” is wasted. There are some maintenance actions that can be done to earn more coins and xp in friends’ towns as well. Presently, I have only friends who seem to play the game very occasionally, so the social aspect is not incredibly high.

All in all, I like playing Little Cave Hero. Though it does have a similar feeling and premise to other social games, the variety of activities keeps it interesting. It is, however, an easy game to let fall by the wayside as sometimes it takes more effort to keep up with than the reward feeling of playing it. It’s cute, entertaining at times, and has potential. I would say give it a shot, especially if you have friends that already play, or would be willing to play. Note that the game is still in Beta. It will be interesting to see

Uno always reminds me of good times in college on the park bench with our beach umbrella and lawn chairs. So, when I found Uno Boost on Facebook, naturally it drew me in. Basically the difference between Uno and Uno Boost is that, when there are no playable cards in hand, it’s possible to choose from a selection of special cards from a panel to keep the turn going. Of course, the number of Boosts available is limited, which I actually appreciate it. Once I ran out, I felt like I got in the groove of playing with strategy. Playing and winning more hands earns coins which can be used to buy more Boost cards.

In Uno Boost for Facebook, players play Uno against coaches, cavemen, sea creatures, aliens, and other interesting characters of varying difficulty levels that react to winning, losing, and changes in the luck of the draw realistically, however repetitively. The social aspect includes leaderboards for winning streaks and score both as part of the weekly tournament and all time. Also, like many other Facebook games, there is a daily bonus which increases with each consecutive day of play. Unlike most Facebook games I have played lately, however, I am not seeing a limiting factor as of yet. I can play and play until I am ready to stop, not until I run out of energy or episodes, or until it was no fun without paid content.

Don’t forget, as is the case with all shapes and forms of Uno, don’t forget to say (in this case, click), “Uno,” before placing the second to last card. It’s a computer, they will always catch you, and put two additional cards in your hand. Play it now! And share a favorite Uno memory of your own below.

I remember also playing Uno on an airplane to Japan with my Danceguard Team in High School on our way to World Championships with a few players from a soccer team. Stay tuned… I might have a picture of that somewhere…

Enjoy!

Now you can be lord of your own hamlet in a new social adaptation of the Starz original series, Camelot. Learn how to maximize resources like gold, ore, and wood, build an army, upgrade your own hamlet, and complete quests to contribute to the grandeur of Camelot.

“Fans of social gaming, the ‘Camelot’ original series, and the successful ‘Spartacus’ Facebook game, are sure to love ‘Camelot: The Game,” said Marc DeBevoise, senior vice president, digital media, business development and strategy for Starz Media. “The action, adventure, and challenge of this game is unmatched in the marketplace today and is a beautiful complement and extension of the Starz Original series.”

The quests within the game provide challenging and unique strategy pursuits in turn-based battles, using different soldier types, upgrades, and special items. The free to play game also puts players in the middle of plotlines from the show, and new content will be added on an ongoing basis to keep the game interesting.

As with many other free to play Facebook games, there will also be upgrades available for purchase using gold which can be loaded using Facebook credits. And the more friends you bring to your council table, the more bonuses you earn, and friends can assist each other in battle all for the good of Camelot.

“Camelot” fans who register on Facebook and enter the password ”Merlin” will be eligible to play the sneak preview.

This week’s Featured Facebook game is a fresh face for the fans of match-3 type games. In Feevo, players swap pieces to match bundles of four or more in a move-controlled rather than time-controlled setting. That means that, instead of making as many moves and scoring as many points as possible in one minute, it’s okay to take time, strategize, and maximize points per move in order to move up the level ladder and continue playing.

I like the fact that this concept changes the approach to the game and slows things down in our lightning fast world. Don’t get me wrong, I am as blitzed out and love the speed challenge as much if not more than the next guy, Feevo just rounds out my mental game quite nicely. The music in Feevo also has quite the calming effect. It reminds me of something one might hear at a spa… or shopping in a store that sells expensive bath products. Wither way, it calms me.

Each move made sets off a bonus ball along the sides of the game board, which, depending on how they fall, also add little boosts of points to keep going. Of course there are bonus power pieces for making bundles of five or more. And there is an even bigger – almost game saving – mega piece for matching power pieces in groups of five or more. If the pieces fall in the right way to match 7 or more, an extra action is awarded. *strategy tip – save mega pieces for a final move. It’s an almost guarantee level boost, which keeps the game going.
Lastly, with Feevo being a social game, having more friends who play also puts players at an advantave both in unlocking boosts and meeting weekly team goals for more in-game prizes. Join my team!

Play Feevo now and start racking in the power!

In case it’s not apparent, I have a thing for TV game shows new and old turned Facebook games. The Dating Game is no exception. In an interesting adaptation, players have both a male and a female avatar they can host or play games with. Like most Facebook games, the more people playing it, the more fun it is. There are two types of games; one that’s finished within 30 minutes, and one that’s finished within 7 days (for the more patient of us). When hosting a game, the choice is available as to which type of game to play. With the quick game, panelists are assigned, and the game begins. With the longer game, the host chooses options such as what gender avatar, player, and whether or not people who aren’t “friends” on Facebook can play. It seems as though when becoming a panelist, players don’t choose the type of game to play. There is the possibility to choose the type of host, however, when searching for a game to play. Keep in mind that it’s only possible to be a panelist on 3 games at a time.

Now on to the contest! In tribute to the number of celebrities that appeared on The Dating Game throughout its television days, 3G Studios announced today the “Celebrity Look-Alike Avatar Contest” for players of The a href=”http://www.datinggame.com/” target=”_new”>Dating Game across all its social platforms. Players have the chance to earn in-game prizes of points and hearts by creating – and voting on – avatars in The Dating Game that closely resemble some of the famous celebrities that appeared on the TV series, such as Farrah Fawcett, Tom Selleck, Michael Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many more.

Here’s how it works:
“Once players are satisfied with the appearance of their celebrity avatar, they must post the avatar to The Dating Game fan page on the social networking site that they frequent. After doing so, other players can vote on the best avatars by trying to guess which celebrity the avatar depicts. Players who guess correctly will be rewarded in-game points that can be used to host games, win “dates” by giving more sensational gifts and snazz up their own avatars. A Grand Prize of 10 hearts, (premium currency of The Dating Game), and 1500 points will be awarded to the best celebrity look-alike avatar. Additionally, only on Facebook, the avatar that receives the most “likes” will win five hearts and 750 points.”

Play The Dating game on Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, Bebo, and MySpace!

Joining the ranks of TV game shows turned Facebook games is america’s favorite trivia game, Jeopardy! Powered by GSN Digital, this incarnation of Jeopardy! takes players through three rounds of knowledge testing trivia by way of categories that have either been on the game show or very well could be. Unlike the TV show, however, once the decision is made to answer the question, players are presented with 4 possible answers, allowing for the development of educated guessing skills as well.

Working very much like the game show, the game starts out in the first Jeopardy round, where players are presented with 6 categories and 5 dollar amounts ranging from 200 – 1000. Start the round by choosing one category and one dollar amount, knowing each can only be used once. One of the categories will turn out to be the Daily Double for that round, in which players can risk up to their full amount or the maximum amount available on the board, whichever is higher. Double Jeopardy round is just like it sounds, the same only with double the money! Both of the initial Jeopardy! rounds offer “boosts” including Pass, in which players can opt out of a question once the question is revealed (akin to simply not buzzing in) and Double, which is a good option for when the answer is jumping out of the brain before the multiple choices are visible, allowing double the money to be wagered. These are not available in Daily Doubles or Final Jeopardy. Final Jeopardy is similar to a Daily Double in that the player is shown a category and can wager up to the full amount they have and then is asked the final answer.

I like the well roundedness of the trivia categories, the appropriate difficulty of the questions based on the dollar amount chosen, and the trueness they accomplished based on the show that I know I have been watching since I was pretty small. I also appreciate that they didn’t “cheap out” and skip a round. The rounds have a satisfying number of questions, and plenty of opportunity to catch up from mistakes. The only thing missing is Alex.

Play Jeopaedy! on Facebook now, and see how your trivia busting skills match up to your friends.

“Jeopardy! is considered a benchmark of ultimate knowledge. We’re thrilled that GSN Digital has created an interactive game for Facebook that makes learning fun,” said Harry Friedman, executive producer of Jeopardy!

What other game shows do you think would make a fun or interesting social game? I would like to see Name That Tune, or the Match Game. I wonder what they would do with those. Post your ideas below!

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Since we are celebrating Earth Day this week, let’s take a look at Oceanopolis, a recycling game from Greenopolis, a company dedicated to raise awareness and provide information to “Help you to recycle easily, help to save our natural resources for our children’s children, track conservation through recycling and re-use, and educate and reward conservation.”

The game Oceanopolis itself places players on their own island for which they are responsible, collecting recyclables, rescuing troubled animals, watering trees, cleaning, and decorating. Cans, plastic and glass bottles appear constantly which need to be collected and recycled (islands come complete with Dream Machines for recycling). Animals with bottle caps stuck in blow holes, or with plastic bottles on their feet also drop by to be examined, rescued, and returned to the wild. The level of difficulty here isn’t very high, just pointing and clicking to pick items up and recycle them. There are missions to be completed, but this makes the game appropriate for the whole family. And there is something satisfying about cleaning up the planet, real and virtual.

Of course it’s a bonus to have other friends playing for help and gifts. Everyone wins when we all take care of each other!
So head on over to your own private island and lets raise some recycling and conservation awareness this Earth Day! Play Oceanopolis!

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Oh my, zombies just keep on coming in all shapes and forms. In Zombie Lane, the main objective is to fight zombies and keep them out of the neighborhood… which needs to be continually rebuilt from the damage they do. This game has a lot going on, which I thought initially would discourage me from returning to it, but the hints, easy start, and tutorial aspects help quite a bit without constantly interfering. I love the customizable avatar, for some reason, that is usually pretty important to me. There, of course, could be more clothing and such to choose from, but being able to have one that looks how I want her to look is aces.
Fighting most of the zombies comes easy armed with just a shovel, allowing players to collect helpful items to rebuild their homes, craft stronger weapons, share with friends, and advance through the game. So far, and maybe this is because another of my friends started playing a while before I did and sent me a bunch of donuts, the free aspect of the game is sufficient to be challenged and amused for long enough for the average procrastinator (okay, or zombie killing enthusiast), but having friends to share with and help out helps quite a bit. Plus visiting friends gives both an opportunity to fight without using up energy and yields more helpful goodies.
So, add me and let’s neighbor up and fight the zombies together! Enter strategies below for balancing zombie killing with neighborhood rebuilding… maybe I’ll send you some goodies in the game!