Topic: Games you've recently beat

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A couple.

Lara Croft: GO (Android), which I finally managed to finish after they updated it, fixing the glitch I had encountered.

• In terms of gameplay, it's a turn based puzzle game, and each level consists of 1-4 dioramic screen sized rooms you must work your way through by solving the environmental puzzles along the way. They manage to keep things fresh by constantly introducing new elements, like traps (cracked tiles, saws, boulders, etc.), enemies (snakes, giant spiders, & monitor lizards), and interactive objects (levers, spears, movable platforms, pillars, etc.). While the main game isn't too difficult, the post game tomb will test your knowledge of all the game's elements to the max (I believe it's actually available from the start, just with a difficulty warning). Despite all the surprising depth & variety, it's perfectly built for mobile, with everything just needing a simple swipe or tap. Also, as an optional objective, there are vases hidden in the background environment that contain relics & gems, which you can collect with a tap. In total I think there are around 50 levels? (never actually counted them out)
• Graphically, it features a simple polygonal look that recalls the series' origins, it's quite colorful, and runs smoothly on my 3 year old tablet (in high quality, according to the settings page). Also, there are maybe about a dozen unlockable costumes you can earn by collecting all the relics & gems in an area (these costumes are purely cosmetic).
• In terms of sound, it has an ambient sountrack that fits the theme, and sounds nice (especially with headphones).

Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse (Android), a mobile remake of the 16-bit classic that I played while waiting for SE to update the above game.

• In terms of gameplay, this remake is actually reminiscent of N64/PS1 era platformers rather than the 16-bit original, with a hub castle that you can run around in a 3D space, and it contains 5 worlds & the main boss' lair. Each world consists of 3 levels, the first two of each are sidescrolling in a 2.5D space (though there's usually at least one segment in each that takes place in a 3D space), while the third is that world's boss (two of them take place in sidescrolling arenas, but the rest take place in a 3D arena, including the final boss). In order to unlock the next world, you must not only defeat the previous world's boss, but also collect enough diamonds scattered throughout the world's previous two levels (a bit of a callback to the collectathon era, though I always had more than enough). The only issue, and a pretty big one at that, as why in the heck they made it a mobile exclusive (unless it's on Steam?), as it's clearly the kind of game that would work better with traditional controls, and it shows (while it's usually not too bad, there are a few segments that are infuriating because of the controls, such as a segment that recalls the Crash Bandicoot boulder levels, where a giant apple is rolling down towards you in the same manner). As a bonus, there are also playing cards & chilli peppers hidden in the levels as collectables.
• Graphically, it generally looks pretty fantastic, and it forgoes the generic fire, water, desert level world motifs in favor of much more imaginative designs such as an enchanted forest, toy world, library world, etc. (they work water segments & the like into the levels in an organic manner). In fact, the levels in a world can wildly vary in look (The Library world for example, doesn't just have segments jumping around enormous books, but also junk food world segments, as well as swimming segments where you're working your way through a cup of tea, manoeuvreing around sugar cubes). The collectables I mentioned in the gameplay segment unlock different costumes for Mickey (accessed from a magic mirror in the castle's second floor), as well as concept art (cleverly hung around the castle's walls as paintings), and statues of the game's characters (these also decorate the castle grounds, and act as character bios). In terms of bad, the framerate takes a dip with a lot going on, and there's some graphical glitching (a couple of the bosses looked like they were covered in little holes, and this even happened once to a level's environment). This issue's may have something to do with my tablet's age, but I wanted to bring them up, just in case.

Sound: The soundtrack is peppy, and there's a narrator that makes the preceedings charming. Oh, there's also some spoken lines by Mickey himself, as well as the big bad.

Both titles are currently on sale for $1 I believe (as well as Hitman: GO, which I'm currently playing), so now would be the time to pounce. I'd say Lara Croft: GO is must play for anyone interested in mobile gaming at any price (so it's a steal), and despite it's issues, there's some fun in CoI.