A RIEview on Life and games

For the last part on the 'Surviving Overseas' series, this post focuses on part-time or casual work. While 'part-time' and 'casual' sound like two words that are interchangeable in meanings, they are seen different in the New Zealand workplace. For part-time, you have an agreement with your boss and he/she will give you work on the set days that you are available; for casual, you only have to inform your boss your availability and you will only work on your available days should your boss need you. In terms of contract, you do have to sign an employment contract if you are a part-timer, but you don't have to if you are only a casual worker.  With that said, you may be curious as to why did I decide to include this topic as the final entry to this series. You see, whether you are an international or domestic student, most of us are not born with a golden spoon. And now that we have to live away from home, it becomes our responsibility to pay our bills and exp...

Color Pieceout, by AXEL GAME Entertainment Inc., is one of the several games that I've downloaded during the lockdown. I was attracted by the colourful art style seen in the screenshots off the Play Store, so I gave in and downloaded it. Firstly, it's a match-3 puzzle game, but with a mystery and adventure plot. I would compare it to the likes of Matchington Mansion and other match-3 puzzle games, except that Color Pieceout stands out because of its unique (and fresh!) plot that has nothing to do with renovation. Read on for the full review! Game Plot The plot revolves around Lily, who embarked into New York in search of her missing father. On her way to get help from Poirrot Detective Agency, she gets herself entangled with a case. Little did she knew that that would be the first of many, as she becomes an intern herself at Poirrot Detective Agency. So from the get-go, I already love the incorporation of case-solving in a match-3 puzzle that usually (for some reason) involves ...

A3!, also known as "Act! Addict! Actors!", is an otome anime game that I found out when I came across another blog where the author was at an American anime expo where Cybird had set up a booth for this game. Unfortunately I couldn't find the post so I'm not able to drop the link here. When the game was finally released, I immediately went ahead and download it.  A quick heads-up: because I posted Ayakashi: Romance Reborn first, I will occasionally compare A3! with Ayakashi: Romance Reborn in this review. There are similarities, but also subtle differences between the two games. At the end of this review I will also include which game I preferred more and why, so read on till the end!  Game Plot  You play as Tachibana Izumi (first name Izumi is changeable) who got herself involved with Mankai Company, a theatre where her father used to work as the director before he went missing which resulted in the spiralling downfall of the company. So in honour of her missing fath...