Create on Facebook: This fun physics game forgot you have friends

Create in motion
Most Facebook games are littered with suggestions, pop ups and missions to guide you along in your progress, which certainly serve their purpose well. But not Create. The most recent Facebook game launch by EA, Create is a modified release of the puzzler with the same name currently available for all major consoles, PC and Mac. Tailored specifically for Facebook, this physics-based puzzle game provides players with the tools required to complete each level, but it's hands-off after that. While achieving real time physics on Facebook is certainly impressive, leaving the guesswork to the player soon becomes a double-edged sword.

Find more of our impressions of Create after the break.

Create Dashboard
Essentially, Create is a Rube Goldberg machine on Facebook. Your goal in each level is to, using the tools you're given, guide a soccer ball so that it hits its bulls eye target, making its way through hula hoops along the way for bonus points. However, getting into the meat of the game is rather confusing as Create will always load in sort of a hub world called the Dashboard. It's here that players can create as many soccer balls as they wish to play around with, check their best times and high scores and see how their friends are doing with their own creations. There is also a global list where creators can put others' balls through their own solutions to the game's puzzles. To start, you're given one ball, so just click "Go!" and choose any of the four puzzles.

This is where the fun begins... sort of. In each puzzle, there is a general path players will have to take to reach the target, but it is entirely up to them on how to approach it using the game's five tools. (In other words, this is a thinker.) These items include balloons, which will not float until an object, preferably the ball, make contact with its string. Players can also make use of orange bumpers which will repel any object that comes in contact with them at a high speed in the opposite direction. Suspended fans can also be used to propel the ball while boxes and see-saws serve of malleable platforms, though the see-saws somehow defy gravity. There's no limit to the amount of tools that can be used in any given puzzle, but clutter will be your worst enemy.

Create in motion again
Designed specifically to take advantage of Intel processors, the physics in Create are surprisingly smooth considering it's all happening in real time on Facebook. However, they can easily be broken. So far, I've found that certain items won't respond to gravity if placed in strange places, but who knows what other ways there are to break the system.

While the game's physics are certainly impressive--not to mention that it's refreshing to see a social game that requires critical thought--it's tough to call Create a social game. There seems to be little reason that this game is on Facebook other than the fact that it's a popular platform at the moment. Having friends in the game doesn't effect any portion of gameplay nor is there an incentive to continue logging in, which is something social games in their current state need to thrive. Though, it's doubtful that EA had that in mind to begin with when porting Create to the platform.

And perhaps I'm somewhat rusty when it comes to puzzle games, but Create doesn't exactly lend itself to the instantly gratifying gameplay of most social games. If your experience is anything like mine, you're going to be cracking at some puzzles for quite a while, which one could imagine the average social gamer just doesn't have time for on their lunch break. But if you have an extra minute, try something a little different than your average 'Ville and give that brain some exercise.

Sumon is Tetris-meets-math class on Facebook, Chrome and mobile

If there is one game genre that will likely survive them all, it's puzzlers. San Francisco-based Ludei claims to be one of the first social game developers to launch a game on Facebook, Chrome, HTML5, iOS and Android. The game is called Sumon, a puzzle game that evokes feelings of Tetris, but with math-centric gameplay that's said to serve well as a mind sharpening tool.

The game combines simple math problems through addition with spatial reasoning. Players are presented with a series of blocks, each with specific numbers on them, and a goal number. It's up to players to string blocks together to reach that goal number. Of course, the game sets players against the clock, adding numbered blocks until each level is cleared.

"Sumon is the first in a series of titles that is going to take advantage of bleeding edge innovation in mobile entertainment as we plan for a bigger footprint in the U.S. and worldwide," Ludei CEO Eneko Knorr said in a release. "By launching on HTML5, iOS and Android, we're able to bring Sumon to the largest possible audience, a sentiment that is often discussed but rarely executed-until now."

It's certainly a novel strategy in the social games world where the pressure to go multiplatform or go home is increasing. There are three modes of play in Sumon: classic, progressive and respawn. But generally, the more numbered blocks you use to reach a given goal number, the higher your score will go. But really, we're just digging the paper mache art style--so pretty.

Perfect Getaway on Facebook: Where your final destination is boredom

Playing this game begs the question: Is this how the crew of the Love Boat felt all the time? Welcome to Perfect Getaway, the cruise ship party game that never ends--literally. You'll never leave the boat, because you can't. Perfect World Entertainment's first entry into the social games arena throws you onto a cruise ship as its captain. It's your job to make sure everyone on the ship is as happy as possible. The game has a distinct anime art style that's undeniably cute, and its gameplay moves extremely fast, giving off the feeling of progression. However, it's not you that's going on the Perfect Getaway, it's your customers.

And despite this game's solid balance and incredibly fast flow, the fact that I personally will never get to go on any of these perfect getaways is tough to get over, given the game's title. Perfect Getaway plays a lot like business management sims that have come before it like Nightclub City and Diner Dash, though the fact that it may or may not have used those games as inspiration isn't the issue.

Perfect Getaway Set Sail
In order to keep patrons aboard your tiny vessel peachy keen, you have to placate them with activities to do, shops to spend money at and objects to interact with like pools. Most of these actions cost Energy, which you get very little of to start. So, using abilities like Whale Watching and Shopping Sprees to boost happiness should be used sparingly. However, the number one thing you can do to increase your customers' happiness is Set Sail.

Gallery: Perfect Getaway
This is essentially the crux of the game, sailing to new locations to constantly restore your patrons' happiness and earn coins from what they spend money on. Then, you must use those coins to buy new attractions. The process is largely cyclical, with the only thing changing being the scale of it all. Thankfully, your journey to creating the ultimate cruise ship is governed by quests, which fly by so quickly they create the illusion of you progressing.

Perfect Getaway Pool Party
But while are you are, in fact, leveling up and gaining new attractions and abilities to maintain your peoples' happiness, you're not really getting anywhere. You're still on the same old boat. Yes, it can be upgraded and customized to your hearts content, into something completely new from the last time you logged in, but it's still the same old boat.

While all the people paying up are seeing the best of what Cuba, the Bahamas Jamaica and more have to offer, you're stuck picking up their towels and boosting your Leisure points to pay your crew to keep the hot dogs coming. Perfect Getaway is one fine Facebook game, logistically speaking, but your actions in the game don't quite live up to its name.

The Godfather: Five Families takes an exclusive hit out on Google+

Google+ just made hardcore social gamers an offer they can't refuse. Kabam announced that its new ... family-oriented social game, The Godfather: Five Families, hits Google+ exclusively today, and it'll stay that way for the next 45 days. In fact, this is the first game to release exclusively on Google's games platform, meaning not both there and on Facebook, capiche?

The game, set in the Prohibition Era before the events of the first film, employs many of the same gameplay hooks found in existing Kabam games: build armies, sic armies against enemies or defend your friends asynchronously, repeat. However, this social take on the Oscar-winning franchise packs features that spice up the social strategy gaming formula, namely "Families".

Upon starting the game, players must choose to join one of five Families (get it?). The concept of "Families" introduces a level of tension to the alliances players make, because there can only be one Don. Perhaps it's thanks to features like this that Five Families is said to have enjoyed the most successful beta test in Kabam history.
Five Families in action
"The Godfather: Five Families has enjoyed the best ever beta period for a Kabam game," Kabam COO Chris Carvalho said in a release. "To support the exclusive launch on The Godfather: Five Families on Google+, Google will provide promotional support to maximize the game's visibility to Google+ users. This is our fourth title to launch on Google+ and they have repeatedly exceeded our expectations."

It's nice to hear that Google will somehow support Five Families, as the size of the network's audience could be a cause for concern, especially for a game launching exclusively on the platform. Then again, "hardcore" social gamers are said to be a dedicated bunch, and they'll certainly know where to find their next family.

Click here to play The Godfather: Five Families on Google+ Now >

Do you consider yourself "hardcore" social gamer? Do you plan on trying the game out on Google+, or will you wait until it hits Facebook?

Will the Ultima maker's new social game appeal to all forms of gamer?

That's sounds pretty ... ambitious (to say the least), but that seems to be what game designer Richard Garriott is going for. During a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Ultima creator Garriott somehow revealed his master plan for how he's going to change social gaming without revealing anything specific, really. While it's too early to make serious judgment calls, his idea sounds downright awesome.

At least on paper, it sounds as if players will be able to carve out their own role in a fantasy world that rewards several different types of play. Basically, members of a group of friends can each take on different roles--be it farmer, shop owner or even adventurer--and somehow contribute to the overall world both in real time and asynchronously.

"And allowing it to be asynchronous interaction as well as synchronous interaction," Garriott told IndustryGamers. "So if you're the farmer, and you're playing your FarmVille style of gameplay, and that's what you like, that's fine, and you can either sell it on your produce stand or come over to my cafe and sell it to me directly, but either way, if you're offline, me or my chef can come over to your farm stand or to you personally if you're online, and buy the produce we need, and in either case we're gonna sell meals to the adventurer that just came through and might be bringing back the special dragon egg to make the greatest omelet that's ever been made in the history of the world! I can now make it in my cafe based on the stuff the adventurer brought back."

In essence, Garriott's Lord British's New Britannia (working title) will somehow allow the FarmVille player, the Cafe World fan and the Skyrim fanatic to all play the same game in their own way and help one another. If developer Portalarium can live up to these ambitions, then count us in.

[Image Credit: CollectSpace]

Does this make you excited for the designer's first full social game? More importantly, can a game like this be what it takes to usurp the Zynga throne?

Turkeys go on Thanksgiving vacay in Island Paradise, or do they?

No, not really. (The poor saps.) Meteor Games has pushed a Thanksgiving update to Island Paradise, and while it looks like the bird most associated with food is finally getting a break, rewards like the "Turkey Oven" lead us to believe otherwise.

A new Turkey Day-themed mini game has arrived in Island Paradise, titled "Get Stuffed!" has 10 rewards for players to unlock. The mini game has players essentially switching five turkeys between "open wide" and "take cover" from delicious feed and stinky trash, respectively.

You have 60 seconds to gobble up as many good eats as possible, but accidentally munching on stinky foods leaves you with points lost. Reaching certain point milestones unlocks the 10 rewards, which include the both dreaded and delightful Turkey Oven, depending on which camp you sit in.

Players can also win a Wampanoag Log House, Thanksgiving campfire and a Mayflower for playing "Get Stuffed!" every 30 minutes. Of course, players can pay up in Facebook Credits to play again instantly. Meteor Games is also throwing its first-annual Cranberry Sauce Cook-Off a competition between players that runs from Nov. 23 through Nov. 25.
Island Paradise Get Stuffed
Other items featured in the game for our favorite day of food and football include a coconut tree that produces orange coconuts for new in-game recipes, a new themed cabin and a crepe turkey dish. (Now, that might be a Thanksgiving first.) Players can also give their Island Paradise avatars a hand turkey as a pet. Aw, it's just like we're in grade school again.

Check out the rest of our Thanksgiving themed coverage right here.

Are you still digging on Island Paradise? What other plans to do you have for Thanksgiving?