Underwater The Game
Swain Valasek | Jan 30, 2009 Games
User rating: 
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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Underwater The Game is published by GameEra Inc but apparently developed by a Russian team. Mikhail Solovyev is the named seller in the app store but there aren’t any credits in the app itself and the only website linked from iTunes is game-era.com which doesn’t (as of this review) have a listing for it at all.
The gameplay combines elements of Tetris and Bejeweled with an underwater motif. ‘Blocks’ of colored jellyfish (3 per) float down the screen at a set pace and it’s your task to line up 3 or more of the same color jellies vertically, horizontally or diagonally, at which point they pleasantly pop off the screen, everything shifts down to fill the space and you rack up some points. Your interaction with the blocks consists of moving them left to right and changing the color order. Quite familiar stuff to be certain so let’s see what else it offers.
Loosely wrapped around the above gameplay is an underwater theme where as each level progresses, a hi-res and quite beautiful ocean scene is revealed. Once you complete the level you can enjoy the scene, along with lots of animated bubbles and a relaxing ambient music track, for as long as you like before moving on. This is a very nice touch and adds an element of relaxation to the game. Heck they should probably cross-market this app in the Entertainment category. Anyway my gripe with this is if you play through without stopping, each new underwater scene is something of a reward for finishing the level. Sweet. However if you stop and pick up where you left off later which describes oh, everyone, the game previews the full scene prior to starting the level! So at that point you’re just popping jellyfish with no surprise hiding at the bottom of the cracker jack box. Another gripe is that there’s a ‘bloom’ effect on the jellyfish that, while fancy, also makes it difficult to tell colors apart and gets to be a major eyestrain in general; would be great to have an option to disable this particular graphic flair. Also an odd bug encountered is that sometimes the onscreen ’menu’ button would go missing so if I wanted to quit back to the main menu I had no choice but to wait for myself to lose or exit the app entirely.
The controls get an A for effort as there are 3 unique schemes to choose from but read on as it’s not all aces. First up is using the accelerometer to move the blocks left and right, tap the screen to change color order and I never could figure out how to make it fall rapidly. This mode proved basically unplayable as the constant tilting wasted too much time and just isn’t accurate. Next method is swipe gestures where you swipe left/right to move the blocks, swipe up to change color order and swipe down to fall rapidly. This would seem a great option but ultimately wasn’t as again time got wasted with repeated or misinterpreted swipes (though still FAR better than the first mode). Finally there’s a screen tap option where you tap the extreme left and right sides of the screen to move the block, the extreme top to change color order and the extreme bottom to make it fall rapidly. This mode proved to be the best and most comfortable way to play.
What’s missing that would really elevate this to one of the premier casual puzzlers is the addition of some creative powerups to keep things interesting. So what you get is an average but still engaging puzzler with above-average artwork and music, definitely good for that ‘kill a few minutes’ experience. Worth noting is the game seems a bit shy on length for the money if you go by the number of scenes included which is 18. Bottom line, if you’re new to this genre and/or like your gaming a little downbeat and Zen then you would definitely enjoy adding Underwater The Game to your library. Seasoned vets however won’t find enough variety here compared to the leading apps in this category.
Version reviewed – 1.0
Global scoreboard – no, local only
iTunes music supported – no
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- Typical gameplay, you can see the bloom effect and the scene slowly unfolding in the background
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- At this point you can go into a deep trance until you run out of qi, grasshoppa
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- Some fine underwater scenery
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- Not cool, a full preview of what you're supposedly playing to uncover!
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- A bit harsh, take it easy man, it's just a game
Tags: $2.99, Games, match 3, Swain Valasek, underwater the game
iAmbigram Lite
Chrisa | Jan 30, 2009 Entertainment, Utilities, Wallpapers
User rating: (3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5) Loading ...
Ambigram. Noun. A design that may be read as the same word or phrase – or sometimes as two different words or phrases – oriented in two different ways. That is, more or less, the definition of an ambigram, according to Webster’s Dictionary.
I like ambigrams, always have. I have an ambigram as a tattoo. So when I found iAmbigram Lite, I was pretty happy to give it a spin, pun intended. It’s an inexpensive little application, and, I am told, a lighter version of a full iAmbigram to come. The lite version lacks the ability to upload the ambigram you create and purchase it on clothing or other items. And I can live without that.
It works pretty easily – enter two words, and it will create an ambigram of them. If you want just one word that rotates on itself, enter the same word on both lines. They app then uploads to the “ambigram server,” or so it says, and returns your ambigram for you to rotate and spin over and over and over. If you don’t know what words to use, there are suggestions in several categories, like opposites, family, etc. Once you create your ambigram, you can try spinning it and inverting it to see how it looks. When you’re happy, click “accept” and see your ambigram on one of three different backgrounds. The “i’nformation icon in the upper corner brings up a menu that lets you save your ambigram in the photo gallery, change the background, or start over.
But – there’s a catch. iAmbigram Lite only allows you to create two ambigrams for your $0.99. That’s all. So if you’re someone like me, you’ll have used up the app after about three minutes of playing around with it. A suggestion for the developer – make it free while it has its limitations, then charge for it when it’s the full version. Hook ‘em, THEN charge ‘em, man, like heroin.
So, iAmbigram Lite was fun, but short-lived fun. I’d suggest you save your dollar and wait for the full version.
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- Easy to read directions.
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- Suggestions, if you don't know what to ambi.
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- Turn your monitor over - you'll see love turn into pain.
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- What I can do with my ambigram.
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- WTF?
Tags: $0.99, Entertainment, Utilities, Wallpapers
Flik
cskimbrell | Jan 30, 2009 Games
User rating: 
(No Ratings Yet)
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Flik by myCodeStudio, LLC takes the game “Breakout” or “Bricks” or “Half-Pong” (Yea I made that last one up.. meh :P) and stands it on its head, which is a good thing. I’ve been playing this game the past few days and can say that is something that I’ve ben enjoying in my spare time. After loading the game the first time, I figured I was going to be playing a Breakout clone, but I quickly found out that the game controlled a bit different.
At the bottom of the screen you control a device (Gun) that can be moved left or right. You can choose from your arsenal of weapons (Bubbles, Bouncy Balls, Rockets, Etc.) along the bottom of the screen then with a flick of your finger you fire off a shot in the direction you flicked. If your weapon strikes a block or target, the object will disappear from the screen, although some blocks take multiple hits before they will vanish from the screen. As you destroy blocks some of them will grant you with more ammo, or more time to complete the level with. Ultimately, the object of each level is to destroy all the targets before the time runs out. Bubbles pop upon impact, Bouncy balls continue to fly around the screen until they finally fall off, and rockets blast through everything in their path. The game seems simple, but with varying difficulty modes and 30 levels it may take you some time to reach the final board.
If I had to find some flaws in the game, it would be that sometimes you’ll send a large chunk of your time playing waiting on a bouncy ball to fall off the screen or disappear. Also, if you are not careful you can flick too lightly and your ball will move very very slowly across the screen. With time being such an issue, you can easily lose a level due to these small details. Also, There are three difficulty levels, but they are the same 30 levels repeated. As you choose a higher difficulty, you just get less ammo and time to complete each level. Id love to see more levels, and possibly a game mode where you don’t have to start over after 3 lives. Unlimited Play?
There really isn’t much to say about Flik, but to tell you to try it out. Its an enjoyable game that is easy to play in quick bursts and fun at the same time. For those that want to try it out, there is a Flik Lite version on the app store for free and is definitely worth checking out!
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- Flik! A Game of Fliking!
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- Title Screen - Nice and Spacey
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- Ready? I was BORN ready!
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- This screen was nearly empty 3 flik's later!
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- Must Destroy Targets!
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- Crafty... *nods*
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- And Alas, it is over.
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- $$
Tags: $0.99, cskimbrell, Games
Knot Guide
Swain Valasek | Jan 30, 2009 Utilities
User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
My inner Boy Scout was excited to get Knot Guide from Winkpass Creations onto my iPhone. Since I’ve barely tied my shoelaces in the last decade, much less fancy knots, surely this would bring back the mojo of my youth. I found that this app pulls no punches and exactly as the name implies, it’s a streamlined, step-by-step guide to tying every knot from the Apline Butterfly to the Zeppelin Loop. Featured are 66 knots in 13 categories, 40 of which are unique.
My usual outdoor activities aren’t quite in season so I didn’t test any knots in real-world settings; instead I employed my highly advanced alternate scientific method: a ball of string, some pencils and my favorite deadly-sharp scissors. Don’t laugh, this actually worked better than I expected, plus my goal was to test the ability to tie knots following this guide, not stress-test them in the field. So then, upon loading the app you’re presented with a popup warning about knot safety (which you can subsequently disable as desired) and then it’s down to business. The first thing you see are the knot categories such as Bends (for securing 2 separate lengths of rope) and Lashes (for securing sticks or poles together). Next, drill down to the desired knot and select ’Tie the Knot!’ for detailed instructions; simple and fast. The knot-tying instructions are presented with actual photographs enhanced with drawn arrows and other overlay data which I found uniformly clear and easy to follow across the board. Each category and knot has a little blurb describing the most common application and any extra warnings plus there’s a ‘knot lingo’ page that explains common terminology. You can also mark your favorite knots for easy recall, a feature just added in the 1.7 release so kudos to the developer for supporting their app!
After checking out approximately half the knots covered here, it’s clear to me this app could save your butt someday. It will help you hang a simple drying line with easy-release hitch knots or lash a raft together after your Fedex jet crashes into the ocean and leaves you stranded on a desert isle with a volleyball. Perhaps best of all, it will help you tie the correct knot for the application at hand (instead of the same knot for everything and you know who you are) and get this, you will actually learn a valuable skill, imagine that!
- My single beef is that the 1.6 version kept the buttons at the bottom ‘hot’ so you could always back out to the logical beginning no matter how far you were into a knot. 1.7 gave us favorites but also took away this ‘hot button’ behavior which IMO unstreamlined the app a bit. I emailed the developer about it (who have been great and very responsive all around) and it looks like they agree! So we might see this functionality returned in a nearby update.
Sure, you could do some Google searching and put together your own knot-tying reference but look, Winkpass Creations has already done it for you with a streamlined interface, the mobility of the iPhone and an extremely affordable price. This app is great; I’m now going out of my way to find applications for some of these knots around the house and yard. If you never thought tying knots could be fun, think again!
Consider Knot Guide a highly recommended app with tons of utility value…and that’s a wrap.
Version reviewed – 1.7
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- The gist of it (note you can disable this popup)
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- Being a knot-n00b I found it easier to start with categories and drill down
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- Example of clearly drawn instructions overlayed on a photograph
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- Go ahead, make it a favorite, who doesn't love the sheepshank?
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- Cool, even decorative knots are included
Tags: $3.99, knot guide, knots, Sports, Swain Valasek
KamiCrazy
Swain Valasek | Jan 29, 2009 Games
User rating: (17 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
(17 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5) Loading ...
From the get-go, KamiCrazy from Fluid Pixel Limited was being called ‘Lemmings for the iPhone’. Best as I can recall, that can only be a compliment considering Lemmings has sold around 15,000,000 copies (if Wikipedia is telling me the truth) in various formats since its auspicious debut on the Amiga (ah, the Amiga) in 1991. Enough about that though, let’s take a look at this game on its own merit and set comparisons aside.
Starting the game for the first time, you’re presented with a nifty stylized cartoon intro depicting a helicopter crash landing in the jungle and from the wreckage emerge the KamiCrazies (KC’s from here on out). That’s about it for backstory which is a shame as it would’ve been good to see at least a simple plot evolve as you churn through the 40 levels. The core gameplay involves a set number of KC’s per level needing your guidance to maneuver dangerous obstacles and safely reach the exit so you can do it all again on the next (progressively challenging) level. Said obstacles include spike traps, deadly slime pools, arrow-chucking tiki heads and lava, all with either a funny death animation or sound effect if you let the KC’s wander into harm’s way. Sometimes you can jump over obstacles but other times you have to manipulate multiple levers and switches to clear a safe path. You also frequently get to manipulate environmental items like fans, trampolines and bombs for a nice change of pace. The KC’s are dropped onto the playing field in an interval that’s out of your control and they never stop moving so once a KC enters the board he keeps moving until he dies or exits safely. You use 2 motions to control them: swipe left or right to change direction and upwards to jump. The game always gives you more KC’s than are needed so you have some room for error (good thing, that) and in some cases a KC simply has to take one for the team. Semper Fi. I found the game difficulty to be just about right as you can get through the first 30 levels without too much sweat, the next 5 with some sweat and the last 5 will have you wringing out your T-shirt (I’m unable to pass L37 at present so can only imagine 38-40).
Neat stuff:
- When you don’t have enough KC’s to finish the level, the game doesn’t force you to quit (though you can always restart from the pause menu). I like this as it lets you get in some extra practice to try and master the controls (more on controls later) before having another go.
- Excellent ‘toon-shaded’ graphics, sound fx and animations. The background music track is very catchy but not well-suited to the jungle theme; a ’jungly’ track or 2 added to the mix would be welcome.
- You can go back at any time and play a level previously beaten so if you’re stuck on oh, L37, you can still get your gaming fix in by replaying some easier levels.
Problems encountered:
- Strange, infrequent bug where upon failing to complete a level it would throw up the summary screen but take me back to the level (but with no KamiCrazies so nothing to do) instead of letting me restart. Only way out was to exit and restart the app as a double-tap wouldn’t bring up the pause menu. I also experienced a level failing to load a few times, needing a full exit and restart to get going again. Seems like a little extra stability could be achieved in a future release perhaps.
- Controls controls controls. Later levels become maddeningly frustrating due to poor responsiveness to input, to the point where I knew the solution after the first couple runs but had to restart innumerable times after struggles with the controls left me in an unwinnable situation. I often found myself having to viciously swipe to get my KC’s to switch direction or jump, often only to see my input ignored as they proceeded to ambulate directly into the nearest death trap. A side effect of this mad swiping is it would often cause the pause menu to come up (at the most inopportune times). Then the game would refuse to recognize that I was pushing (and subsequently repeatedly mashing) continue to get back to the action. It was also often difficult to move entities (fans & trampolines) as the game sometimes just wouldn’t register that my finger was firmly planted on it. It almost seemed like the more KC’s onscreen at once the less responsive the controls. The developer noted the controls were already improved once in a prior version and while I still found them to be an issue, not enough so to ruin the fun factor, which is very high indeed.
Good things coming. The developer’s support page mentions the following features that should see the light of day in a future release:
- More levels (planned), always a good thing in a game like this!
- A settings menu (under review). I’m down with that, would be nice to have at least music & sound on or off toggles from within the game.
- A global high score table (started). Currently the game does not keep any type of score which oddly enough, I didn’t even notice until it was pointed out.
- Game credits on the website (under review).
All said, this game is fun, addictive, takes good advantage of the iPhone’s strengths and is definitely worth the purchase price. It’s another ’perfect for iPhone’ game as you can play in short satisfying bursts and later return to where you left off. The developer is obviously devoted to ongoing improvement of the game so that only sweetens the deal further. Even with the noted control issues it’s still two thumbs up for KamiCrazy!
Version reviewed – 1.8
Lite (demo) version available – yes (8 levels)
iTunes Music supported – yes
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- Crazy indeed
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- You can form your plan as long as you like before starting a level
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- Fly, robin, fly!
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- You really can't have a jungle theme w/o rope swinging
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- That cute little skeleton means 1 less Kamicrazy
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- The other primary graphic theme, some kinda lava caves
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- Yep, only 2 KC's left and 5 needed to win, gonna have to restart
Tags: $3.99, Games, kamicrazy, lemmings, Swain Valasek
Peeps
Chrisa | Jan 29, 2009 Utilities
User rating: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
I’m not all that down with the hip lingo the kids are using today, so when I first saw the name of this application, I had no freakin’ idea what it was for. Hey - not to get too off topic, but - why do I always point out how old I am? I mean, I’m really NOT that old. It’s not like I can collect social security or anything. Sure my hair is getting a bit gray and I have to wear underwire now, but BoyScouts don’t help me cross the street or anything.
But I digress.
Peeps, it turns out, is a little app to help you keep track of all your contacts. “But Chrisa,” you say, “there is already a contact manager in iPhone. Why would I need to buy Peeps?” Good question, fair reader! It turns out, if you’re under 25 or so, and your iPhone is full of contacts that you met at the mall, in class, online, and you take pictures of them all, then Peeps from Plausible Labs is for you. If you have the name of your shrink, your boss, and the gals in the carpool instead, you probably don’t need it.
The application is fine – it takes your contacts and puts them all into a nice list with the pictures visible. If you view it vertically, it’s a table. If you turn your iPhone and view it horizontally, it’s a flip list, like the iTunes album covers flip list. Nice if you can’t remember the name of your Facebook booty call from last night, but not so great if you have 468 business contacts, none with pictures, like I do. When I use peeps, I pretty much get a flip list of a zillion little owls, and that’s not really all that helpful.
The application also has a group manager feature, so if you want to put the girls you’ve already “tapped” (my teenager tells me this is a legitimate verb) in one list, and girls you haven’t in another, you can. It’s definitely an app with an audience, but for someone like me, it’s not worth the $1.99.
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- Names and faces have been changed to protect my contacts. The whole name does show, usually.
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- Yeah - boring, unless you snap a pic of all your contacts. This is my address book.
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- Horizontal "flip" mode. Again, I blanked out the name and the face a bit to protect, well, my boss, actually.
Prohibition 3: Candy Wars
Michael (Admin) | Jan 29, 2009 Games
User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5) Loading ...
Up until tonight I hadn’t posted any reviews myself in several days and that’s because I was (and still am) completely hooked on Prohibition 3: Candy Wars!
Candy Wars is an App Store-friendly rework of the old classic DopeWars (aka DrugWars) which has been around in various forms on various platforms since 1984. It is, and always has been, a text-based game where your goal is to make as much cash as possible by peddling your wares and taking advantage of crazy price fluctuations that result from random market conditions that crop up.
Catamount Software clearly wasn’t gonna get this past the iTunes censors if it had drug dealers running around New York City while they peddle heroine and buy guns to shoot Officer Hardass in the face, so everything has been very cleverly translated into a world where the Food & Drug Adminstration (FDA) has banned sweets because Americans are just too damn fat. Yeah I know, it’s art imitating life. In this new reality, if people want a sugar fix they’ll have to get it from you, the seedy drug — I mean candy – dealer who can hook ‘em up with everything from chocolate to jelly beans to sugar sticks. You’re no longer packing heat but you can buy Pixie Dust and if you manage to “charm” (ie: kill) enough FDA agents they’ll leave you be, but if you get busted then chances are they’ll confiscate your stash and half your bankroll which is a major buzzkill.
There are other aspects of the game which take a little getting used to, but the single most important thing you need to figure out as a “dealer” is what the candy economy is like. Is $250 too much to pay for Raw Sugar? YES, that’s a total hosejob!! Is $5000 for Lollipops a huge ripoff? NO, that’s an awesome price. There are eight different types of candy, but if you spend some time poking around you’ll get the hang of it pretty fast.
Being that this is a text game you’ll find yourself constantly flipping back and forth between drug, I mean, candy prices and various stops on the New York subway system. Switching subway stations takes a day off your calendar, so you really need to maximize your profits wherever you can to build that bank and get on the global scoreboard. Once your 30 (or 60 or 90) days are up, it’s game over!
Candy Wars just recently underwent an upgrade and still has a couple of small bugs here and there, but it’s nothing that really disrupts gameplay. The graphic menus are also kind of *blah* and the scoreboards are a little hard to read, but if you’ve played DopeWars or DrugWars in the past and loved it, you can still expect to have a ton of fun with this app. If you’ve never played this old classic and are assuming that text-based games just suck the big one by virtue of being all text, take a moment to consider how many sucky games are floating around the iTunes App Store right now… and then consider that there just might be a reason that this particular game has survived for 25 years!
I’d probably like this game a little more at $.99, but for $1.99 it should still provide plenty of entertainment for just about anyone who tries it. And if you play the game and get bored fast, try this for motivation: BEAT MY HIGH SCORES!! I currently hold the #1 high scores for the 30-day and 60-day games, and about 30 seconds ago some douchebag named Csmiff just bumped me to #2 in the 90-day game… time to go remedy that!
P.S. Just kidding Csmiff, nice job on breaking $2 billion! :cool:
Q & F: Bible (YouVersion)
Chris J. | Jan 29, 2009 Reference
User rating: (4 votes, average: 2.75 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 2.75 out of 5) Loading ...
Like may of the other Bible apps, LifeChurch.tv’s Bible app has both strengths and weaknesses. The biggest strength of YouVersion is the numerous Bible translations available for free. Copyrighted translations (such as NIV) require web access to be used and cannot be downloaded to you iPhone. Older translations (such as KJV) can be downloaded onto your iPhone so that it can be accessed even if you don’t have internet available.
In addition to the Bible itself, YouVersion has some nice additional functions. If you are trying to read through the Bible in a year, there is a daily reading schedule included. Bookmarking favorite verses is quick and simple, all you have to do is tap the verse. You can also email verses to friends if you want.
One feature that is unique to YouVersion is the Contribs. Other users from around the world can contribute notes or even YouTube videos that are connected to particular verses. By tapping on the verse you can connect to those notes and videos and see what others think about a particular verse. Unfortunately some of the downloaded Bibles do not seem compatible with this feature.
YouVersion does have a few shortcomings, however. While most programs allow you to change the aspect to landscape view, YouVersion locks you into the portrait view. It is also unfortunate that while you can see other people’s notes on a verse, there is no way to type in notes yourself.
In speaking to the average Bible reader, if you are only going to download one Bible app, I recommend this one. While other Bible programs have some positive features, this one is most likely to have what you need while being simple enough for anyone to use.
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- A startup screen is like a first date, you want to make a good impression.
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- I find it simplest to start at the beginning.
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- Jumping to a chapter is simple, but does take time.
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- Bookmarking is simple: Tap the verse then the option pops up.
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- Twenty-eight versions to dowload, many in other languages.
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- Forty more translations available when you have internet.
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- Seen "Annual Bible 1.0" app for $0.99? Here's the same thing for free.
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- Contribs are numerous, who knows what you'll find.
iVomit Mobile
Michael (Admin) | Jan 29, 2009 Entertainment
User rating: (No Ratings Yet)
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Fart apps have been running rampant in the iTunes App Store for a little over a month now, and just when you thought iPhone software just couldn’t get any classier… iVomit Mobile comes along to crash the party!
It comes equipped with 20 sound effects that all sound pretty genuine but, surprisingly, that’s not really the highlight of this app. Nooooo, iVomit’s entertainment value isn’t in what you hear, it’s in what you see. Don’t get me wrong, it’s funny to listen to… not quite as funny as listening to a sputtering asscrack, mind you… but still funny nonetheless. It’s also every bit as disgusting and, thanks to the sick ingenuity of the folks at Magnificent Library, pressing the “Hurl Now!” button also results in various types of puke getting splattered across your iPhone screen!! Press it five or six times and your precious phone will be completely covered in virtual chunks! Pretty sweet.
That’s pretty much all this app does, but if bodily functions make you giggle like a schoolgirl then iVomit Mobile is a must-have. $.99 doesn’t seem too outrageous for an app of this quality and, like I said earlier, it’s more about what gets splattered on your screen than what’s coming out of the speaker. Just be glad InfoMedia’s iFart Mobile doesn’t do the same thing.
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- This is as clean as your iVomit screen gets, so that should tell you something right off the bat
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- And so it begins!
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- Did you have a burrito for lunch?
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- Ok this is starting to get out of hand
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- Starting to feel a little nauseous for real...
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- Time to break out the Sham-Wow
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- Fear not, all it takes is a quick shake to clean up this disgusting mess
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- Just in case you're new to the Bodily Function family of iPhone apps
MyDecider
Lee | Jan 26, 2009 Productivity
User rating: (3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5) Loading ...
I don’t like losing sleep thinking about problems that need a decision. Lately, I’ve been contemplating my car. It’s getting up there in age and mileage (it’s a ’97). My wife and I noted our hefty expense bill this past year on a couple of fixes I had to have done. The dilemma: when is it time to let an older model car go? When I saw MyDecider by EdibleApps, I was intrigued by it’s concept: a tool to help you input criteria and weight it towards a decision. Hmmmm, this was appealing.
I like this app. It gets all the perplexing thoughts out of your head and on to a place where you can see things more clearly. The process is pretty straight forward. Here’s how it works. First, what’s the decision to be made? You enter on the first screen a question. This is the question you are trying to answer.
Next, at the bottom of the page, what are the criteria you need and value to make this decision? Cool! List them out. How important is money to the decision? What about gas mileage? What will future mechanic bills look like? etc.
As you are entering the criteria, each one has its own page where you can enter its importance to you on a scale from one to ten, ten being most important. Then, at the bottom of this page, each of your option choices are listed. You reorder the list according to how you rank each criteria. You work your way through each criteria and the app determines a percentage for every ranking you’ve made. Oila, you now have a decision.
Based on my input, it is time to move on to another vehicle. It is just too costly in parts and labor to justify the current value of the car. Hard pill to swallow. However, I realize this will be the right move. The MyDecider app helped me reach a good decision.
This type of approach is not for everyone. There are many different tools you can use to make a decision. If you tend to be a little anal like me, this can be a very thorough approach. Edible Apps has made a very good and useful tool with their MyDecider app. I think it’s worth a look-see.
Oh, by the way, MyDecider taught me two things: I need a new car and my wife is a very good and quick decider in her own right, without an iPhone app. We were in North Carolina recently, shopping for new bedroom furniture. We saw about twenty different sets. We narrowed it down to about three we were interested in. I proceeded to lay out all the options in MyDecider, trying to show off. My wife just chose. Bless her heart, she patiently waited as I sat for about five minutes inputting the options and our criteria. Yep! she was right. Moral of the story: some people won’t need this app; for the rest of us, there’s MyDecider.
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- Okay, time to get serious about this decision.
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- This is the issue at hand.
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- Hmmm... so much to think about.
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- Gas is important. How am I gonna' lick this thing?
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- Well, walking IS an option... NOT!
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- Reasonable
Tags: $2.99, Productivity
WordJong Daily Challenge
Lindeisha | Jan 26, 2009 Games
User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(6 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
What do you get when you mix Mahjong, Scrabble and Kung Fu Panda? WordJong! Word Gamers like me will love this creation from Gameblend Studios, especially if you understand the Mahjong strategy of carefully eliminating tiles in layers so that there are none overlapping or unusable at the end. It has a cutesy feel to it with cartoon animals, flowers on the calendar where you’ve won, and even an Awards page with butterfly “trophies” to show your various word mastery accomplishments.
When you open the game, you are greeted with a serene Asian illustrated landscape and music that includes nature sounds (birds and a gentle waterfall. However, this music is on a very short loop, and has an obvious skip before it begins the loop again For me this is more like “Chinese water torture” and I like to adjust the music setting down before playing.
As a word game, WordJong is challenging enough. The characters in the game (Dragon, Rabbit, Stork, Fox, Panda, Boor and Monkey) challenge you to beat their daily score. When you begin play, you see the current month’s calendar with today’s date highlighted. On the side is a “WordJong master” challenging you to beat their high score. For example, the wise old dragon says, “My score is perfect.” His score tends to be the highest. You can keep playing the current day’s game, but cannot play the next day’s game. You can, however, scroll back on the calendar and try the previous days’ challenges.
The puzzle itself shows wooden-like letter tiles piled in a symmetrical arrangement. At the bottom is a letter rack. The first 4 spaces are clear. As you touch each letter you hear a chime and the letters go into the rack. If you make a word with 5 letters, you win a bomb. The bomb is saved for later and can be used to eliminate regular letter tiles to free the letter beneath it or to get rid of that pesky tile left over at the end. If you make words that are 6 to 9 letters long, you win a gold coin for each additional letter. Coins 6 through 8 earn 5 extra points each. The 9th coin earns 10 extra points. Plus (as in Scrabble) some letters have more value than others. Some tiles are “wild” and some are “ice” that break when you submit a word. Fortunately, it is very easy to undo your letters and start over for each turn – one letter at a time or by clearing the rack.
On my first try, I was able to use all the letters on the board and win a flower on the calendar. Each game, though, wasn’t so easy. If you have any leftover letters and no bombs to get rid of them, you have to use your Zen-like patience to start all over again.
For such a cutesy looking game, it provides a real challenge because you have to rely both on your ability to draw on a wide vocabulary of words that are more than 4 letters long (fake words are not accepted) and a sense of strategy to use the available letters in each layer until every single letter is used to make a word (unless you have that handy bomb).
They say the brain is your biggest muscle. And what better way to practice your kung-fu skills than to exercise a combination of word-mastery, strategy and patience. Good luck, young grasshopper.
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- Welcome, young grasshopper!
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- Do you dare to challenge these WordJong masters?
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- Can you guess this word? Clue: It only happened to me once during this game.
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- Ha ha! I beat the panda and grew a flower
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- My longest word and the some challenging letters remaining
R.I.P.
Chris J. | Jan 26, 2009 Games
User rating: (2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
(2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5) Loading ...
When I first laid eyes on the description for R.I.P. I knew I would have to try it. Quinn Genzel, the creator, describes it as being similar to “total 3d immersion virtual reality”. Tilting your iPhone up gives you a look at the sky, and tilting it down gives you a view of the ground. You can also look left or right by tilting your iPhone to either side. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to test this game out for myself
The game delivers what it promises: a fully three dimensional world. You can look and move in any direction and the controls are fairly smooth and intuitive. Movement is simple: touch the top of the screen to move forward, the bottom to move back, and the sides to move left or right.
The object of the games is to find a particular gravestone in the graveyard as quickly as you can. You can have arrows point the way or try to find it on your own. Your character is a ghost and will float right through solid objects.
There is one other ghost floating randomly about the graveyard, moaning along the way. With headphones on you will hear him as he crosses from one side of your screen to the other, making the 3d environment just a little more realistic.
What is not promised and is sorely lacking is an engaging reason to explore this 3d world. Without the 3d environment and innovative controls, there would be very little reason to play this game at all. Since you cannot interact with anything, you are limited to just floating around to find that one headstone among the many that fill the graveyard. This is another game that may fascinate those gamers who love trying to beat their own best score.
There are a couple of options missing from the game as well. One notably missing option was the ability to type your name in the high score box. All your high scores simply read “user name”. Another missing element is the ability to start from a landscape view rather than portrait.
Personally, I would love to see what could be done with similar controls in a Myst-type exploring and puzzle game. Interaction with the environment would add a lot of replay value to the game as well.
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- Is that Inky or Blinky? I can't tell them apart.
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- Everyone knows that a ghost must find his grave, right?
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- Take that, George Washington!
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- If you live in the Central Valley of CA, you'll feel right at home.
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- After you've looked down once, you probably won't feel the need to do it again.
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- Seeing the top of a dead tree is the only reason to look up.
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- Controls are simple, a little like me.
