Tag: sports-games

Lego Hill Climb Adventures is cute version of Trials

Posted on by faz_business


I played three video games in college: Halo 3 with my friends, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter with my roommate and her dad, and Trials HD by myself. I have since opened my horizons to the possibilities of other video games. And when I want to feel nostalgic, there are plenty of games that give me the feeling of playing the multiplayer shooters of my youth — but nothing but Trials itself has ever compared. (Eventually, Trials Evolution set that bar even higher.) This week, I read a story on Pocket Tactics: “This iPhone Lego game is perfect for fans of Ubisoft’s Trials series.”

That game, which is actually available for free on iOS and Android devices, is Lego Hill Climb Adventures. Released at the end of May, Lego Hill Climb Adventures is a Lego version of the classic physics-based racing game Hill Climb Adventures, another game that’s been compared to Trials — but with cars. I never hit it off with Hill Climb Adventures, but the Lego reskin was too charming not to try. It’s not Trials, but it does give me a similar thrill in playing it. I can’t put it down.

There are a bunch of Lego cars to unlock and race through the adorable worlds, picking up new blueprints and meeting Minifigs as you go. You aren’t necessarily building your own Lego car, but there are a bunch of ways to customize the existing options. My favorite part about the aesthetic is the sound design: There’s just something so satisfying about the click of a Lego brick. (And something even more satisfying about ramming your car through a wall of Legos.)

Lego Hill Climb Adventures is a much more chill iteration of the physics racing game genre, so don’t come into it expecting a Trials HD difficulty level. But it does have levels that require knowing exactly when to swipe or tap your phone screen. Each of the different vehicles has a different feel, too, so there’s always something to mess around with. The majority of the levels require you to race or complete a course with obstacles like jumps, steep hills, or stuff to destroy. The game’s energy system — bottles of milk — means you can’t play these endlessly, though, unless you pay up or grind the exploration modes, which are basically the same courses but with no real objective besides gaining coins, levels, milk bottles, and bricks.

The monetization system is the biggest bummer of Lego Hill Climb Adventures, but it is a free mobile game. It’s entirely possible to play most of it without spending a cent, but you will have to grind. The thing is, though, that grinding is still fun — and there are plenty of ways to switch up the vehicle to create more variety.

EA College Football 25 has to change the option offense controls

Posted on by faz_business


Like many other sports gamers, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of EA Sports College Football 25 for what feels like decades. Now it’s finally here in early access, and I’m overjoyed. I’ve been loving my time with the game, in both Ultimate Team and Dynasty modes, but there’s one particular bone I have to pick with the option system that’s holding me back from being fully enamored with the new entry.

Option offenses are crucial to any good football video game, but especially at the collegiate level, where many teams run option-based offenses. For years, EA’s preferred controller input for a read option — where the quarterback makes a read on the defense to determine whether to hold on to the ball or hand it off — has been the same: Tap X (or A on Xbox) to hand it off, or do nothing to keep it.

For some reason, EA Sports College Football 25 has inverted this long-standing tradition. Instead, you tap X/A for the quarterback to pull the ball back and keep it, or press nothing to hand it off. I’m starting to get used to it, but this involves overcoming years of muscle memory in both this franchise and the Madden games. I’ve made dozens of mistakes in the option game already — keeping it when I meant to hand it off, or vice versa — and I would conservatively estimate that it’s cost me 45 yards, two touchdowns, and probably two gray hairs in an otherwise fantastic gameplay experience.

For me, it just makes more sense to press a button to give the ball rather than press a button to keep it. I can understand that, in theory, the action of pulling the ball back is more significant for the quarterback than giving it away. But in these games, you aren’t just playing the quarterback; you’re controlling the offense. And handing off the ball seems more like an action than not handing it off, making that the more fitting place for a button press. And at the end of the day, years of muscle memory will triumph, especially with a blitzing linebacker in your face.

College Football 25 has plenty of control optimization options already. You can change the new passing or kicking systems back to the old controls. Why not add a toggle to change the option controls? The game has lots of quality-of-life upgrades, like running out the clock instantly on quarterback kneels, when applicable. Let’s add one more and bring back the old option controls.