Candy In The Media

All this month on the Candy In The Media segment of the Candy Critic blog we're going to look at candy themed games for tablets.  All of the games will be tested on my Nexus 7 tablet running Android Kit Kat.  Keep in mind that I'm not really a gamer, so my past experience is pretty minimal.  I'll mainly be focusing on how easy it is to play, how it incorporates candy, and any tech issues that may come up.  We welcome your suggestions for games you think we should try out on future posts.

I can't say that I have a great deal of experience playing games on my tablet, I have a few games that I like to play either alone or with Allison.  I also have a few games that I've played, but since taken off my tablet because I was either bored of them, or I finished them.  I can say that all of the games I've ever played on my tablet would probably amount to less than 30.  Even with such a small amount of video game playing, I can tell you that I don't think I'll ever see a game that I hate more than Candy Maker.

I played this game once, and then thinking that there's no way that this is the game and I must of missed something, I played it again.  I couldn't believe how boring, and of poor quality this game was.  I tried to tell myself that maybe this game is designed for children, so that's why it's so simple.  Then I realized that if you're a child and you are able to hold a tablet, than this game is way beneath you.  The basic principle of this game is that ingredients fly in over the pot, and you tap on them to add them into the pot.  There are several ingredients, some that I'm pretty sure don't actually belong in hard candy.  After all of the ingredients are added (and there is no "wrong" ingredients you just add them all) a spoon appears and you stir the ingredients.  This is the most complicated part of the game, and it's remarkably simple.

After your mixture is prepared you pick a colour to add, then you poor your mixture into a mold that you selected when the game started.  You can see that the graphics of this game are really simple, and the animation is simply fades, and basic graphics.  There's nothing really entertaining at all.  It doesn't even represent a realistic view of how to make candy.  There are ingredients that don't belong, like large quantities of oil, and there's no thought towards tempering or heating properly.

 

At the end of the game your lollipop appears and you can decorate it.  You can pick one of 9 backgrounds and one of 9 stick colours.  Then you can add graphics to your lollipop, which consist of 9 random candy like images.  The thing is, once you've selected an image, you can't take it off.  You can move the graphics around, and you can add more, but you can't take them off.  Finally you have the chance to eat your lollipop, which consists of a shrinking/fading graphic that I learned in first year animation school. Maybe I am missing something about this game, maybe there's a detail that I didn't come across, and in that case I'm the biggest idiot.  But if this game is simply what I described, you're much better off just going out and buying yourself some candy.

CC