Kiss My Lips
Michael (Admin) | Feb 13, 2009 Entertainment
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I love my iPhone! I take it to the movies, I take it out to dinner, I take it on long walks along the beach… I sleep with it… uhhh, this is starting to get creepy. But I have one last confession: I just kissed it four times. The first kiss was a simple peck, but by the fourth kiss I was practically licking the docking port! Ok, I made that last part up… mostly.
Kiss My Lips is an app that will get you to kiss your iPhone like an idiot. The iTunes description promises “sizzling kissing sensations” (read: vibrates when you kiss the screen) and that it’ll “make the world jealous” because you get to “kiss” Mr. Casanova, Sexy Lady, Serial Kisser, Dusky Beauty, and a whole bunch more imaginary personas that come with the app.
The whole thing is obviously ridiculous, but even so… it would be nice if the artwork for the different kissees weren’t limited to thumbails on the menu screen. You get all these nicely illustrated thumbnails of these people you’d totally nail if you were also living in a cartoon world, but when you tap on any of them you get the same lip-print screen for your big smooch! Bummer.
That’s pretty much all there is to Kiss My Lips. Unless your emotional issues are epic in scale and you feel that cold glass on your lips is better than nothing at all, this app isn’t gonna give you any sizzling sensations. Dammit!! BUT… it does have potential value in goofing on your iPhone-hating (or iPhone-jealous?) friends.
When you crack open your first beers of the night, make a bet that you’ll have your pal kissing your iPhone by the time they crawl home. Nine beers later, pull out Kiss My Lips and you’ll be gloating over your victory for weeks to come! If you think you can pull off this stunt with success, blow the $.99 for this app. Otherwise, your dollar is probably better spent elsewhere.
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- There's no rule that says Hallmark is the only one who gets to cash in on this manufactured "holiday"!
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- Ooooohhh Sexy Lady... the things I'd do to you if you weren't just a clump of pixels...
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- Cool Dude gets 4 "sexy" hearts and Spicy Babe only gets 3? How unfair
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- Have fun kissing your iPhone! Just ignore all those people staring at you in disbelief
Tags: $.99, valentine's day
Duelo
Chris J. | Feb 13, 2009 Games
User rating: 
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5) Loading ...
If you’ve watched a few too many spaghetti westerns, then you will probably enjoy Duelo. Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a dusty street in a western town. You scowl at your opponent, facing you from the opposite end of the street. A tumbleweed drifts across the street. Draw! You whip out your shooter and blast the varmint to kingdom come.
Duelo is simple to play and stylishly designed. Hold your iPhone at the ready, pointing downward. When you hear the rattlesnake, whip it up as quick as you can. Win, and your opponent will eat hot lead. Lose, and you will be the one pushing up daisies. The visuals are simple images rather than video but are well-designed.
Playing against a computer opponent is easy enough, and the interest fades quickly. That is why 2 player mode is available via wi-fi. Face off against your friend (if you have one that also has an iPhone/iPod touch). This will be the main draw for most users, as beating a computer opponent is a lot less satisfying than beating a friend.
As simply designed as the app is, I would have liked to see more variety in the opponents, as well as the win or lose screens. The simple addition of a few more images would build more variety into the game. Additionally, customization of your character and weapon would also help add more depth to the game even if the gameplay itself remains the same.
Of course the biggest issue with games that make use of the accelerometer is holding onto your iPhone. Waving around an expensive piece of technology would make just about anyone nervous. Fortunately there really isn’t need for too much movement as a simple tilt will suffice. While not as cool as the “quick draw” motion, it is a lot less risky.
One last issue: At the moment this app won’t work on the older iPod Touch, so if you were one of those that got an iPod Touch early on, sorry. Hopefully that will change in a future update.
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- You're a daisy if you do!
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- Even with the typo, the directions are easy.
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- Your character looks like a badass version of Yul Brynner.
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- You're no daisy! You're no daisy at all. Poor soul, you were just too high strung.
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- I'd like to see a different opponent each level, just to mix it up.
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- The visuals have a nice style, unfortunately what you see here is most of them.
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- Sooner or later, everyone ends up taking a dirt nap.
Q&F: RepairPal
Chrisa | Feb 12, 2009 Quick & Free, Utilities
User rating: (8 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
(8 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5) Loading ...
(Ahem)…before I begin this review, allow me to shamelessly plug MY website www.sceneexchange.com. Go take a look at it, I’ll wait.
So now you know why I chose to review RepairPal, a nice little, totally free application that will not only give you a ballpark range on what your auto repair will cost, based on what’s wrong, but show you a list of shops in close proximity that can do the repair. It will even find you the closest tow truck or dealership if you’re broke down on the side of the road somewhere.
This, my friends, is what the iPhone application is meant to be – useful in a jam, totally free, and pretty darn comprehensive. If I could improve upon it, I’d have it refer you to www.sceneexchange.com for collision repair(shameless plug #2), and I’d have it give possible diagnoses for car trouble based on symptoms, but other than that, I’d swear this app was made by AAA.
Can't get any easier than that.
Tags: quick and free, Utilities
Antivirus
Swain Valasek | Feb 11, 2009 Games
User rating: (7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)
(7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5) Loading ...
The genre known as ‘tower defense’ has been enjoying great success on the iPhone. Just have a look at Mote-M, Tap Defense, 7 Cities TD, The Creeps or the absolutely essential Fieldrunners if you need proof. For the unfamiliar, classic TD gameplay in a nutshell starts with a static playing field and a pathway. Enemies enter the screen at a set point, follow the path and try to exit. Some variations let the player create this path with the defenses themselves, add multiple pathways and spawn points and so on. So then, if enough of them exit, you lose. Since you don’t want that, your job is to strategically place defenses to prevent the bad guys from exiting. The addictive hook comes from trying to find that perfect strategy that gets you into a position of supreme power where you can cruise into the deeper levels of the game and onward to ultimate victory. Where the various TD games differentiate themselves is in the production values, themes and how wildly creative they can make the defenses. The latest entry into this category is Antivirus from Dead Rat Games.
Antivirus (AV hereafter) wraps this core gameplay around a cyber-attack theme where you have to protect your CPU from miscreants like malware, spyware and ‘phish’ (10 total enemy types). The game’s currency is units of battery power and this allows you to ‘purchase’ the various defenses. AV introduces a play mechanic I’ve not yet seen where the invading enemies can actually attack, disable and even destroy your defenses. The game begins with a simple map and 1 pathway (2 other maps are available on the harder difficulty settings). Baddies enter at the top and try to exit at the bottom. As long as you have units of battery power you will survive but each enemy that exits slurps 1 battery unit and once you hit zero the next exit is your last. You only generate 1 new battery unit per wave so you have to be very frugal until you can build up a supply of backup batteries which boost your unit production by 1 apiece (every 5th turn). Defenses at your disposal are the familiar gamut of lasers, rockets and long-range snipers (10 defenses total). Another cool feature is 2 defense types can be placed directly in the path of enemies to slow them down or cause damage. All defenses have computer-jargon names in keeping with the theme of cyberspace attacks and all are upgradeable in key stats like damage, range and fire rate. Another thoughtful feature is the ability to tell certain defenses to target the lead or nearest enemy. The game’s UI is easy to navigate and works quite well.
Before moving to gripes and suggestions, it’s important to note this is the 1.0 release of a game from a small indie developer so some slack is in order if it’s a little rough around the edges (which I’ve tried to do through numerous rewrites of this review) while remaining as objective as possible. I emailed most of the stuff below to the dev and he was very cool and responsive to everything and expects to have fixes and new features in the 1.1 release due very soon. So without further adieu…
A personal gripe is the enemies often look more biological than cyber to the point where if the game told me to ’keep the nasty virus cells from invading the patient’s lung’ I’d probably have bought the story. I guess what I’m saying is I’d like to see the cyberattack theme fleshed out in more detail overall. The sound fx are decent and gfx crisp (though bland for the defenses) but there is no animation. I don’t need a Pixar render farm mind you but I’d like to at least see enemies (the ones that have a discernible front anyway) rotate to point in the cardinal direction they’re moving. Second gripe is the ingame documentation is inadequate as you’re given no info on how any of the defenses work and only the briefest overview of everything else. There is an ingame help system in the form of popups (which can be disabled) at the beginning of each wave but the irony here is the only way to get to successive levels to see this info is to understand how to play the game in the first place. The DRG website does have a tips page describing what the defenses do but even this is a bit lacking. It still took a good bit of trial and error to figure stuff out (especially how the whole battery thing works). The upside here is the dev informed me that a 2nd page of instructions will be added soon. Also in the review version you can’t save your game and if a call comes in the app resets. Further, there’s no onscreen indication of the ugpraded status of your defenses nor a graphic change. On a lesser note, the game didn’t crash though graphic anomalies flashed very briefly and infrequently; nothing game-impacting though.
The release version has a few bugs (or semi-bugs):
- It’s possible to wallpaper the map with non-functional defenses under a certain condition. Fortunately it’s a cosmetic bug and gameplay isn’t impacted (should be fixed in 1.1)
- You can tap the top of the screen to bring up your iPhone status bar (which is a cool feature yay) but I could never get it to go away again, boo (should be tweaked in 1.1).
Not a bug but a bad feature IMO is if you have zero battery units you can’t look at any defense’s upgrade menu, even just to view stats or change the fire mode, which should always be available. This is intentional per the dev but it’s definitely counter-intuitive and not very logical. I hope this is changed in a future release.
The DRG website mentions the main features of the coming 1.1 release:
- Savegame
- Scoreboard
- Performance tweaks for better framerates
- Couple more maps
So what we have here is a very playable tower defense game with a good twist and comfortable interface that captures the spirit of TD and is fun and addictive, all at a good price. Interestingly though, the DRG website states they intend to raise the price after an introductory period. Based on what’s planned in the next release, v1.1 will go a long way toward adding value to this game but if the price indeed rises out of the impulse buy range, it would be great to see a lite version so people can try it out first.
Version reviewed – 1.0
Global scoreboard – no
iTunes music supported – no
Lite version available – no
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Update 3/23/2009 – Since this review came out the developer has stayed true to their word and released 1.1 and just today 1.2. I feel an update is warranted as a vast amount of polish and content has been added to this game and the price has so far remained the same, keeping it very competitive in the app store. Folks this is no Fieldrunners/Sentinel/7 Cities TD but it’s absolutely worth a look for what is now a very solid, polished, full-featured tower defense game. Very notably still missing however is save/resume (though incoming calls are now handled properly) so that stands out as a major feature that needs to happen before you’d call this game done.
Here’s the list of updates in 1.1:
- 3 more maps, 6 total
- all maps playable at all difficulty levels
- 2 new virus (enemy) types
- defense range indicators added
- graphics optimization for overall improved performance
- new upgrades for batteries
- re-targeting possible all the time (yay)
- more instructions added
- minor bugfixes and typos corrected
Here’s the goods in 1.2:
- graphics overhaul including animated enemies!
- high score table and new scoring system (scoreboard not global however)
- new endgame screens
- even better instructions
- improved upgrade menu
- higher fidelity sound
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- That's one mean green main menu
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- Good luck needed for sure as this is your only morsel of instruction
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- For a second here I thought I was playing lite-brite (this is a bug)
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- The upgrade menu is nicely laid out
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- Ok, less meaty...wait huh?
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- Dead on level 30 but is that a computer virus or snot explosion?
Tags: $1.99, antivirus, Games, Swain Valasek, tower defense
Countdown to V-Day
Michael (Admin) | Feb 11, 2009 Website Stuff
User rating: (No Ratings Yet)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Hey Romeo… Valentine’s Day is this Saturday… you know that right?! If you haven’t made reservations at a swanky restaurant by now, you and your main squeeze are probably headed for the salad bar at TGI Friday’s. Way to go, big spender!
No matter what you’ve got planned (or not planned) for February 14th, your better half would probably like to get some Love C@rds from you. The app costs $2, less than a mushy Hallmark card that will eventually make its way to a landfill, and you can keep on emailing new cards over and over and over until your special whoever tells you to knock it off.
If you don’t have $2, there’s still a way to get a free copy. See, I just did my first app giveaway on Facebook and it turns out a bunch of the winners don’t have U.S. iTunes accounts… so if you do, there’s still a chance you can get Love C@rds for free. Here’s what you do:
- Join the Facebook group
- Post a comment here saying why you want the app
If there are more comments than free apps to give out, I’ll choose the most creative answers! The two who have already posted comments have already gotten the app, and that leaves three more to be given away.
If you just got dumped and would have more fun putting mustaches on your ex’s face, just post your comment on my mStache review. Got a couple of those left, too.
But you gotta join the Facebook group first… that’s how I keep track of who wins and when, and this will help to make future giveaways more fair for people who haven’t won anything yet!
ATC 4.0
Michael (Admin) | Feb 11, 2009 Games
User rating: (33 votes, average: 3.03 out of 5)
(33 votes, average: 3.03 out of 5) Loading ...
Control the whole sky! Direct air traffic and enjoy the beautiful scenery! Satisfy your God Complex!
When I read these words in C3 Software’s ATC 4.0 posting on iPhone App Index.com I knew I had to take this app for a test drive. God complex? I have a HUGE God complex!
ATC 4.0 puts you in the role of Air Traffic Controller and your job is to safely direct a whole mess of airplanes to their destinations. Most simply need to fly off the screen at any one of four exit points, but some need to land on airstrips which is trickier because they’re so damn small from your top-down aerial point of view. Just like in real life ATC towers, screwing up means that planes crash & burn which ends your game.
The “main” game in ATC has you directing flight traffic under all kinds of less-than-ideal conditions ranging from night time to hurricane winds to blizzards, and if you play long enough you’ll eventually see ATC’s computer crash which really screws you over in a big way. You’ll also get different types of aircraft flying around which messes up your timing… jumbo jets, fighter planes, and small prop planes all travel at different speeds just to screw with your head.
The thing I like most is the Survival game where you simply need to clear as many planes as you can before the inevitable mid-air collision ruins your day in the tower. ATC 4.0 has a really nice global scoreboard which, for me, is a major plus because I’m such a shameless attention whore.
C3 Software did an awesome job on ATC 4.0. The graphics are nice, the sound is good and will respect your iPod and the iPhone’s silent switch, and the whole package feels very much like a premium-quality app. A tutorial is provided to help you get used to controlling the planes by tapping waypoints for the little tiny pilots to navigate to, but it’s really not all that hard once you get the hang of it.
My one caution to would-be Air Traffic Controllers is that this is definitely NOT a game for fat fingers! The planes are small and the airspace gets crowded pretty fast, so if your fingers look like sausage links you should be prepared for a lot of on-the-job misery.
Of course not everyone is going to love ATC, but I feel pretty good in saying this app is totally worth $2.99. It’s different, it’s engaging, the production quality is way up there, and most people should be able to get three bucks worth of fun out of it in short order.
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- Unfortunately you don't get to land any planes in the Hudson River
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- New Game is how you bone up for the true test that is Survival mode
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- If tutorials scare you, don't worry - the controls aren't hard to get used to
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- Even during the day things can get a little hairy
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- Yay, I didn't kill anyone in that round
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- ATC Geek is secretly listening to Slayer on those headphones
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- Night makes things a little more interesting
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- If one of your planes flies offscreen at the wrong place it's Game Over, Man
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- (insert Windows Vista joke here)
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- I've GOTTA get on this scoreboard... only problem is I'm a crappy ATC
Tags: $2.99
ToyCamera
Michael (Admin) | Feb 10, 2009 Photo & Video
User rating: (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
After having my fun with QuadCamera for a while I really wanted to see what Takayuki Fukatsu’s ToyCamera could do, and it’s just as kickass as Quad even though it only shoots one pic at a time! It simulates the optical quirkiness found in “toy cameras” that, waaaaaay back in the day, were built to be as cheap as humany possible. The irony is that the toy camera’s imperfections made for some really cool photography, and that’s what this app helps you create.
ToyCamera isn’t just about photo filters… it’s also about photo surprises, much like the cheap plastic cameras this app tries to emulate. Behind the “info” icon is a bunch of effects that can be toggled on and off, things like sepia tone, vintage warm tone, yellow, green, black and white, and several others. By default all of these filters are set to On, and when you take a picture with the app’s built-in camera you get a surprise! A filter is randomly applied to your pic, and if you love what just happened you can share it with the world by uploading it to a free app called Big Canvas PhotoShare by Big Canvas, Inc.
If you prefer to know what filter will be applied to your photos you can turn off everything but the effect you want, or select just a few if you like surprises of a limited variety. Unfortunately these filters can’t be applied to existing photos on your camera roll which I find tragic… imagine how cool it would be to go back to your fav pics and make them look like they were shot 30 years ago, or at least by someone with just a tiny bit of talent? The filter effects in ToyCamera are great and can make even the dumbest photo look halfway interesting, so I’m really hoping this feature will come around in a future update.
Another feature that would be super-handy would be showing the cropping lines in camera view if you have cropping turned on. Right now you just have to mentally chop off the top and bottom of your iPhone screen while you snap photos in this mode because it seems that’s how ToyCamera crops things.
My feature wishlist aside, I love what this app does. QuadCamera is fun although sort of a novelty, but ToyCamera could legitimately replace your iPhone’s default camera because every photo you take with this app gets saved to your camera roll automatically as a single frame. $1.99 seems like a fair price, and if the usefulness of the filters could be expanded it may even be worth a buck or two more.
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- Say cheese, dammit
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- Without the vintage green effect, this would be just another picture of my damn dog
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- ToyCamera can crop your photos down to a square if rectangles piss you off
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- Looks like Terry the Dog's been working out
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- A sepia-toned view of all the reasons my body repulses women
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- Who knew my $30 IKEA lamp could look so avant-garde
QuadCamera – Multi Shot Cam
Michael (Admin) | Feb 10, 2009 Photo & Video
User rating: (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
You know those photo booths where you sit there while it pops flashes in your face and then spits out a strip of photos of you making an ass of yourself? That’s what QuadCamera does! Kind of. It obviously won’t spit anything out for you to stick to the fridge, but it does produce a series of images that get strung together and saved to your camera roll.
QuadCamera is pretty sweet… you can set it to take four photos or eight, you get to choose whether the images are arranged in a row or tiled in two columns, there’s an option to shoot in black & white for you artsy types, and you can even adjust the length of delay in between photos to go as long as 3 seconds. The fun part comes when you snap the pic and your iPhone makes the camera noise on each photo snap, just like those fashion and sports photographers with their big expensive cameras that shoot several frames at a time.
The iPhone’s camera is notoriously bad at capturing anything but a very, very still photo so unfortunately you’re still screwed if your subject is moving around, but I’m sure there are times when a little motion can make your photo series look that much cooler. QuadCamera also applies ToyCamera‘s retro vignette effect to photos where the corners look a little darker than the rest of the image. I think it looks pretty cool and it’s definitely not a bad thing, but it’s something you should be ready for just in case you’re not a fan of this kind of photography.
If Takayuki Fukatsu could figure out a way to make QuadCamera save each image individually (instead of as a single-image series) this app would be a total must-have. I don’t know if that’s even possible but, as it stands right now, it’s mostly just a fun toy that does exactly what it promises and it does it well. $1.99 seems fair enough, but according to the App Store description the price will be rising to $2.99 after some user-generated improvements are implemented in a future update.
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- That's a goofy lookin' camera alright
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- As if there aren't enough photos of my dog on this site, now you're getting them four at a time
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- 4-in-a-row is a nice format for QuadCamera
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- The vignette effect makes everything look so old-timey
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- Playing around with some camera movement during my 8 snaps
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- Name that movie trailer!
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- Use your finger to slide the frame delay (timer) bar at the top
Sushipedia
Swain Valasek | Feb 8, 2009 Lifestyle, Uncategorized
User rating: (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
I can remember a time when a sushi bar (literally a bar, no tables) was a niche destination (in my neck of the woods anyway) where the upscale and generally alternative crowd hung out. Nowadays of course, sushi is everywhere, from buffets to food courts to supermarkets and on everyone’s radar; it’s completely ubiquitous. However, despite this dilution into American culture, there has always been the ever-loving faithful who insist on doing sushi right.
Enter Sushipedia from Hussein Khalil. First of all, what this app is not: a list of Americanized sushi which is all rolls, mostly cooked or fried then drowned in soy sauce and wasabi (not saying that isn’t delicious mind you but it would offend the crap out of a real Japanese sushi chef). Thanfkully this is included to some degree (we Americans do love our sushi) but rather the focus here is on bringing you a guide to authentic sushi such as gooey sea urchin (uni), strips of raw fish (sashimi) and even the posionous puffer fish (fugu). The app lets you look for sushi by scanning a full index, by keyword search, by attribute search (raw, cooked etc) and by type (nigiri, temaki etc). Once you find the sushi you’re looking for you can enjoy an informative text description and a very detailed photograph. If you’re feeling brave, you can just tap ‘I’m feeling lucky’ and order whatever the app randomly chooses. A cool thing about the app is it sprinkles lots of interesting sushi lore and knowledge all around, including a ticker at the bottom of the main menu that will tell you cool things like ‘itamae’ is the proper word for a sushi chef and ‘sushi’ does not mean fish but instead refers to the traditional vinegared rice often served with it. Clearly a lot of time was put into this app as it’s big on content and personal touches.
On to the gripes then which are all about interface consistency and usability. First, a convention set forth at the onset is the ability to touch and hold any particular button to get help on it. This is quite necessary for those unfamiliar with the terms yet this feature is inconsistent throughout the app and in fact only works on the main menu and contents page. On top of that, touching and holding doesn’t just give you the blurb but whisks you off to that option automatically when all you want to do is read the blurb. Also, some (but inexplicably not all) definitions of categories are contained within the category listing itself which is very unintuitive and really should follow the already-established help convention above. I’d love to see more time spent cleaning up the help system and streamlining the interface in general. Also, if you drill down to say, the sashimi category, you’re presented with authentic names such as amaebi and hirame (along with japanese) which is great but you’d have no idea this is shrimp and flounder until you bring up the full listing. A simple convention of adding a simple english word as well would go a long way to making this app easier for us gringos to use. Not to totally nit-pick but all text should be run through a spell-checker as well. Also, worth noting is this app requires you to have the 2.2.1 iPhone update but I have no idea why. I had no intention of installing 2.2.1 and meant to jump straight to the next release and there are probably others just like me. Anyway I took 1 for the team to get this review out there for you all so you’re welcome! 
As far as suggestions, it might be neat to have an email function within the app so you could send someone a picture or description of a particluar sushi or just to cutely plant a bug in someone’s ear about what you want to do for dinner tonight. Also it would be great to have even more cool sushi info nuggets such as knives a real chef uses, what a ‘sushi bar’ in Japan is like and just general info about the traditions and origin of sushi.
So in summary I’d say what’s offered up here will help and educate you about sushi and that’s certainly the point. I’m also compelled to say Sushipedia feels a bit overpriced in its current state but with some polish and shine would definitely rise in value.
Version reviewed – 1.0
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- Consistent graphic theme throughout
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- All the ways you can pick your poison (literally if you're a fugu fan)
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- I found by category to be the most effective search method
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- Toro toro toro!!!
Tags: $2.99, food, Lifestyle, sushi, sushipedia, Swain Valasek
Pocket God
Chris J. | Feb 8, 2009 Entertainment
User rating: (165 votes, average: 3.32 out of 5)
(165 votes, average: 3.32 out of 5) Loading ...
Let’s face it, who hasn’t imagined playing god now and then? Maybe you want to fry someone with a lightening bolt or just fling them into the atmosphere. For the less vengeful, perhaps you just want to toy with the laws of physics a little. Now Bolt Creative gives you a little island of cute, big-eyed islanders to spare or destroy (mostly destroy) at your whim.
Pocket God is an entertaining app that lets you explore multiple ways of tormenting your cute little islanders. Toss a couple in the volcano, fry one with a bolt of lightening, or tilt your iPhone and watch them slide right into the ocean. If you run out of islanders, simply add some more and continue at will.
Tossing islanders in the volcano can be a little challenging at times, which is probably where most people will find the replay value for the time being. If you manage to toss three islanders in the volcano, you are rewarded with an eruption that will rain molten lava onto the remaining inhabitants of the island. You can watch the islanders run around and leap into the ocean where they promptly drown. Sure it’s sadistic, and yet strangely cute.
Admittedly, this app may quickly become tiresome for some users. This is where the promised updates of Bolt Interactive become a tempting part of the lure of this app. The creators promise in the description on iTunes: “We aim to update every week for the next few updates.” If they hold themselves on this schedule, this should go a long way towards making this a much more appealing app over the long run.
Pocket God is entertaining, but as it is, it falls short in the long run. There simply is not enough to the app to keep my attention for an extended period of time. While really entertaining for a few minutes, the joy of destroying islanders fades quickly.
There are really only a few ways of making the islander’s lives miserable, and no ways of making their lives better. The application description on iTunes asks whether you will be a benevolent or vengeful god, but unfortunately you are really not given the choice at this point. The developers have claimed that the next update will allow you to give the islanders rest (not sure what that means), but unfortunately I can’t review it if I haven’t seen it. I must admit I’m intrigued enough that I’m looking forward to that update.
Additional powers will of course enhance the app substantially. I also like to have some feeling of lasting accomplishment. It would be entertaining to see your islander’s mood change depending on the type of god you are. Would they fear you? Love you? Hate you? The choice of good or evil is much more satisfying when it comes with some sort of consequence.
The question on everyone’s mind is always, “Should I buy it?” The answer lies mainly on whether you believe the developers will continue to provide updates as promised. Some updates (ability to fry islanders with lightening) have already been added, so it does look promising. In the end, this app will be something of a gamble depending on how long the updates continue and how good they are. Personally, I think it is worth a buck to see just how far this app can go.
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- Judging by the load screen, the islanders are in for a bad day.
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- You think a guy living on a tiny island would know how to swim.
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- I am very displeased. Let the smiting begin!
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- The islanders are fine for the moment, except the two I tossed into the volcano.
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- Feed the volcano three islanders, and lava will rain from the sky.
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- The laws of gravity are mine to bend at whim.
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- So much for bending the laws of gravity, now I'm just breaking them.
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- When smiting islanders, it's the personal touch that makes it all the more satisfying.
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- Instructions are simple and clear.
Quadrum:colors
Swain Valasek | Feb 7, 2009 Games
User rating: (3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...
How many times can you fold a piece of paper until it’s no longer physically possible? Arguably 7. The Mythbusters achieved more but regardless, the point is it’s finite. So it seems with the multitude of derivations on the Bejeweled theme. How many more can the iPhone sustain before the game concept implodes upon itself and winks out of existence? Apparently at least 1 more because Quadrum:colors from Kirill Bulatsev of iChromo hits the right buttons.
Basic concept of matching colored tiles which are then removed and you score points? Sure, yes of course. Slide rows and columns in the cardinal directions and turn the phone to change the direction of gravity? Certainly. Quadrum:colors seems to run headon into the concrete wall of Bejeweled me-too’s but at the last minute veers hard to the left and comes out unscathed. What sets it apart is the new twist of multi-colored tiles which allow you to ‘chain’ unique groups of matching tiles together for big bonus points. This is a cool feature which adds a new dimension of challenge to the game (as long as you’re playing for a high score that is). Encountered later are oversize blocks that further the challenge by limiting how you can slide tiles. So the goal of the game then is to match as many colored tiles as you can (at least 4 per group), horizontally or vertically, chaining whenever possible for the highest point total. Later you can also match tiles in 2×2 blocks which is helpful. There are 3 total game modes, each with 4 progressively unlockable difficulty levels. The first is what’s described above, called Puzzle mode. The second, called Color Rush, pits you against regularly regenerating tiles in a race to clear the board. The third, called Zen Colors, is an open-ended, penalty-free mode where the only way to remove tiles is through color chains.
The tile graphics are nicely drawn and very pleasant to the eye. The sound fx are nothing fancy but well-suited to the game. The interface is easy to navigate and plenty of help is provided if you need it. You can also mute the sound from within the game so that’s always a welcome feature.
My first gripe is that quite often while playing I inadvertently brought up the pause menu as it’s just a hot button at the bottom of the screen like 1 mm from the active playfield.
My second gripe is there are no Trism-like powerups to keep the gameplay from getting stale too fast so hopefully the developer will add something like that in a future update.
Quadrum:colors is polished, stable and well worth the asking price. Don’t expect the world but do expect a refreshing update to a familiar gameplay mechanic that definitely entertains.
Version reviewed – 1.1
Global scoreboard – no
iTunes music supported – yes
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- So...pretty and...shiny
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- Example of the different tile sizes
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- A basic color chain using a multicolor tile
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- Here I have a chain using a few multicolor tiles
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- Yet another chain but using both a larger tile and a 2x2 group
Tags: $0.99, Games, match 3, quadrum:colors, Swain Valasek
Q&F: Buzzillions Mobile
Swain Valasek | Feb 7, 2009 Lifestyle
User rating: (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
Buzzillions Mobile from Power Reviews Inc has made the leap to the iPhone and I definitely like it. This app allows you to enter in keywords pertaining to a retail item and returns reviews to help you decide whether to lay down the jack for that fancy new brickabrack. It’s not perfect of course as reviews are culled from only a certain number of sources so you aren’t going to find everything. However, the site claims to have 2300 partner sites and the fortunate end result is you will find a LOT. 3G and Wifi are preferred of course but it’s such a streamlined interface it’s even usable over 2G for the most part (and how many apps can make that claim). I was able to find the relatively obscure LG universal holster I have for my iPhone as well as the Dirt Devil Detailer on my desk…not bad. My single gripe is interface-related. The app really needs a 1-touch way to cancel what’s in the search box so you can quickly enter new items; as it is now you have to backspace manually.
Power Reviews Inc makes some interesting statements about the service, check them out when you get a moment. They aren’t trying to sell you anything and they take steps to make their reviews better than the sites they pull from so they aren’t just regurgitating but trying to add value. This is a good thing for us consumers, no doubt.
For anybody who shops online or at a store (is that broad enough for ya), a review aggregator like this is a godsend and especially when it’s never any further away than your iPhone. Ya, you definitely want this app.
Version reviewed 1.01
Simple and efficient interface
Tags: buzzillions mobile, free, Lifestyle, reviews, Swain Valasek
