A small Italian game developer, Tiny Colossus, needs help funding UFHO2, a strategy game for computers, iOS and Android devices.

Tiny Colossus is holding a campaign on Kickstarter. There, you can donate money toward the development of the game. The money is only taken from donators if Tiny Colossus meets its goal of $10,000 by Feb. 11.

The developer has raised $3,191 so far, only about 30 percent of its goal. For donating money,  people can receive the game UFHO2, t-shirts, or even a visit from the developers — if you provide a huge percentage of the total needed!

UFHO2 is a strategy game, which takes place on a UFO. Each player has an avatar in each of the rooms on the board. The goal is to collect the blue gems by twisting either an entire room or the nave your character is sitting in.  In this turn-based game, players must decide whether to move themselves or to move their opponent to elicit the best outcome.

The game currently only supports local multiplayer, but Ciro Continisio, a developer for the game, says that will change.

“We wanted to start smaller. Local, since it is turn-based you can switch the mouse or iPad,” said Continisio. “Later we will think about online.”

It is good to always see projects and developers succeed, but Tiny Colossus needs gamers’ help!

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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!

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Armed with fast paced action and cute graphics, we’ll be sure to check out this Apple Apps Store exclusive!

Grab your favorite rope and a few handy grenades, Worms 2: Armageddon is XBL Arcade’s Deal of the Week. If you’ve never played any Worms title, Armageddon 2 is the perfect way to dive in. The critically acclaimed game has been a staple for many since it was originally released for PC back in 1994, and despite having a bit of a fallout in between, it has made a fantastic comeback with a new single-player mode, new weapons and new levels — there’s even a training mode for those of us that have made the mistake of joining an online game completely oblivious, not to name any names.

If you’re looking for a title with a lot of replay value, is family-friendly and features adorable voices saying hilarious things, Worms 2: Armageddon is a great choice. For those of you who prefer their strategy games on PC, Worms developer Team17 is currently working on a Steam release of Armageddon 2.

And these enemies will later decide to befriend you just so they can play this game and kick your puny attack score repeatedly out of revenge or retribution.

Players: 3-10, depending on how many expansion/theme decks are in your possession, and whether or not you have enough recreational leave available from your employer.
Ages: 12+
Genre: Strategy/RPG
Playing Time: 30 minutes minimum.
Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games

BUY

While it has been available since 2001, Munchkin has long been considered a required staple in any game library, simply because there aren’t that many games that will have such a profound effect on players without a console and television acting as a conduit. Munchkin manages to inspire the best and worst out of all of us with a very simple premise: “kill the monsters, steal the treasure, stab your buddy.”

This card game is an ingenious spinoff of the RPG genre, recreating the elements of dungeon-crawling that are synonymous with Dungeons and Dragons. For those who have been brought up on D&D or even any RPG game developed by Bioware or Blizzard, you will recognise a lot of those elements in here (picking a class, a race, and levelling up after killing monsters). However, many of these role playing elements are left to chance, with the cards deciding if you will be an orcish bard or a half-elf thief. Leaving this up to chance may be detrimental to the player’s ability to successfully apply traditional strategy techniques, but it also contributes to this game running for an hour on average, although some people have claimed to have had a game that has continued for eight hours.

It is far too easy to make your friends fight your battles for you...

When you have your turn, you’ll kick down a door (draw a Door card) in order to explore a “room”. Most times, you will find a monster that you have to choose to fight or run away from. However, this door card might be a character class, a race card, or even a curse that makes you lose your armour or allows another player to take an item. If you have the good fortune to pick a monster, the fighting mechanics are simple: add up your level with your bonuses (armour, class, etc.), and see if this total outranks the level of your monster. If it does, you win, the monster dies, and you get to “loot the body”, which allows you to draw a number of Treasure cards. You also get to go up a level, which is the primary goal of the game – the first to reach level 10 wins the game.

Of course, if you lose, you die, and your fellow players can loot your body.

This is where the ability to stab your friends right royally in the behind comes into play, and it is no secret that your fellow players will be happy to help you in order to further hinder your efforts to reach level 10. They can help you to defeat any monster or curse (after negotiating for a share of the treasure, of course) or they can play whatever curses are in their hand to make the monster more difficult for you to beat.

Munchkin can be considered quite an illogical, random game where the inability to plan for the long term can be a turn-off. However, the jokes make up for it, and a fast-paced game where you have a limitless potential to cause your friends misery far outweighs the lack of careful game play.

And, of course, the primary reason I can think of is that this game gains its audience by its own self-deprecating humour, which somehow makes it accessible to a wide demographic. With many alternate themes of the original card game now available (including Munckin Fu, Space Munckin and Munchkin Booty) as well as a plethora of expansions for the original Munchkin deck, it is hard to foresee anyone being genuinely bored with this game.

Players: 3-6
Ages: 10+ (I recommend 12+)
Genre: Strategy
Playing Time: 20-60 minutes, depending on luck
Manufacturer: Cheapass Games

BUY

In order to play this game, you will also need enough money (paper or real, though I do not condone or suggest playing for realsies!) to give each player $2000 in denominations no smaller than $50. Monopoly and all of its alternate forms have money perfect for this, as do most little kids’ play cash registers. A d6 or standard 6-sided die is also needed.

The description from the Starlit Citadel website reads as follows: “In Unexploded Cow, you’re part of a mine clearing industry in France. Except to clear these mines and free the cities of France, you’re using some Mad Cows from England. They’ve got to be used for something right?” The theme and basis of this game is you are moving your herd of cows throughout France, hoping to take over the towns.

I do have to warn you that the rules are, at some points, poorly written and a little confusing. It’s best to talk these complicated parts through with whomever you’re playing with to see what the general consensus is about the reading of the rules. Essentially, there are three phases of a turn: draw, play, roll. You draw three cards at the start of the game, and two at the start of each turn. After you draw, you can play as many cards as you want. If you have four cows and an event card and want to play it all, you can! Each card, either a cow or an event, will have a price. You pay the price to the pot (explained below), and then put the card into play.

Cow cards are placed in front of you and this is your field. If you want to be really mean, you can put a cow in front of someone else (into their field) and make them pay the price of it. Granted you lose ownership of the cow, but you don’t have to pay for it. Event cards are played then discarded. The instructions for the events are written right on them, so it’s simple enough.

After you’ve played as many cards as you want, you take what’s called a “bomb roll.” To do this, you roll the d6 and, starting with the cow in the furthest right spot on your field, you count up until you get the number. You can only count each cow once so it there isn’t enough cows, then no bomb is found. If a bomb is found by a cow, that cow explodes and its owner (whomever has the cow in front of them) collects the amount of money on them. There are some specific special cows, but those are best to see for yourself. Let’s just say things can get really, really hectic, but a lot of fun!

One nice thing, though it can get complicated if you’re not careful, is the money system. This game has a “closed bank” system which means that there is no bank and all money paid will be won by another player. There is an ante at the beginning of the game that goes into a “bank” that doesn’t change amount, and then there is a “pot” where players pay money and get money from. So with a group of four people, there will be $200 tucked aside and the other $7800 will always be either with a player or in the pot.

I played this with a few friends, and we all agreed that it was a very fun game and worth buying. At first we were all a little confused, but after a few turns each and a couple games, we picked up on it. We were laughing hysterically, much to the distress of the two puppies that were jumping in and out of our laps, and had a blast. This is a great game for older kids because of the complexity and teenagers, but adults enjoy it, too. If you feel like random silliness and a good strategy game, then pick this up. It goes for about $10 and totally worth it!

Review product provided by Starlit Citadel and does not affect the outcome of this review.