iPhone App Reviews

Sentinel

Chris J. | Mar 5, 2009 Games

User rating: (9 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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It’s always a pleasure reviewing an app that has the time and money invested to make it a truly quality game. Sentinel is a tower defense game that rises to the top with spectacular graphics, great sound, and intuitive controls. Origin8 Technologies Limited has put a lot into developing this app, and it shows.

If you’re not familiar with the tower defense game genre, here’s a short primer. You are guarding your base from the hordes of enemy who will follow a convoluted path of attack. Place towers to fire on the enemy and hopefully stop them from reaching your base.

The controls are simple and easily learned. Drag and drop to create towers, and tap existing towers to either upgrade or sell.  Use two fingers and spread apart to zoom in for a better look at any area then scroll around the battlefield with one finger.

There are three different maps of increasing difficulty. Beating a map unlocks the next map. One interesting feature on the maps in Sentinel was multiple entry points for enemies. The second and third maps both had more than one path enemies could take to get to the base, making the defense more challenging.

Included on the maps are barriers. These are blockades on the path which enemies must destroy to pass. If kept intact, the barriers will add to your score and possibly make defense of your base a little easier.

For the most part Sentinel is a lot like most other traditional tower defense games out there, which is its main weakness. The tower choices are your basic weak and fast attack tower, cannon-type tower, slow enemies tower, strong and slow attack tower, and sniper tower. Enemies also fall into the usual types: slow walkers, fast swarmers, flying, and boss.

One addition is the ability to have up to three repair robots. These robots will repair damages to the base or barriers. When not repairing, they will mine resources to add to your money.

I admit that I am not the best at tower defense games, but I had hoped to make it all the way through on Easy mode. On the third map I was destroyed just I made it to Wave 100 (out of 120). It is a little frustrating to make it that far then have to start over from the beginning. It would also be nice to have a checkpoint or two along the way considering how long it takes to get that far.

At $4.99 this is one of the higher-priced games out there. Looking at the app, it is easy to see the reason for the price tag. Development of a quality app costs money, and Sentinel is definitely a high-quality app. If you enjoy tower defense games, Sentinel will certainly not leave you disappointed.

Tags: $4.99, Chris J., strategy

20 Questions

Chrisa | Mar 5, 2009 Games

User rating: (6 votes, average: 2.83 out of 5)

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Here’s a snapshot of a day in my life:

“Mom, where’s my coat?”

“Honey, am I supposed to pick up the dry cleaning?”

“Have you read my memo on search engine optimization?”

“Mom, why do I have to shower EVERY day?”

So you might wonder if I’m insane or just conditioned to play a game of 20 Questions.  I like to think it’s the latter, but several friends, at least one family member, and a licensed member of the state medical board say it’s the former.   And not just for playing 20 questions.  But, as usual, I digress.

20 Questions is a cute little game from inZania, the same folks that brought us Study Arcade and Mad Libs, both of which I find a ton of fun.  And 20 Questions is fun too.  I don’t have to explain how the game is played…do I?  Really?  Fine – it’s the same game you’ve played in the car with your parents on road trips, and the little electronic version that you may have seen.  You think of something, and the game tries to read your mind, and has 20 questions to ask before guessing the answer.

This game asks all the questions you’d expect (like, is it animal, vegetable, or mineral as question 1), and continues to ask questions until it has to guess.  If the game guesses at question 20 and gets it wrong, it gives the player the option to continue for another 5-10 questions to try and guess and learn.  If the game guesses wrong, it asks you to type in the correct answer so it can learn from its mistakes.  The game needs an internet connection because it uses a “brain” on the ‘net to not only figure out what the next question should be, but also to learn what the right answer should have been.

The graphics of the little Magic 8 Ball (that’s what I call him) are clever, and change expression along with his guesses and the game results.  For a simple game, it is engaging, and I think the Magic 8 Ball guy they created helped to draw me in and keep me entertained.  I played for 30 minutes straight yesterday while waiting for and appointment with the vet, and my kids played it last night and thought it was a fun way to pass the time. 

I will say that it only guessed right about 40% of the time, but this is a new game, and if it is truly learning, then I expect the accuracy rating to go up.  The $2.99 pricetag may be a little steep for a game that is so simplistic, but it’s a game that doesn’t have levels that you conquer and then get bored with, and it’s a different game every time you play it, assuming you don’t always think of the same object.  With as much time as I spend waiting for delayed airplanes, I think 20 Questions will help make that time more bearable.

Tags: $2.99, Entertainment, Games

iBurps – Classic

Michael (Admin) | Mar 5, 2009 Entertainment

User rating: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Uhhh… is there a support group for people who are inexplicably drawn to iPhone apps that digitize bodily functions? If there is, they should make me their president! iBurps – Classic is another in a long line of disgusting noisemakers that most of the human race regards as crass and obnoxious, but at least this one has a small surprise built into it that makes it more fun than some of the other apps in the genre.

The first thing any belching fan should know about iBurps is that it has a pretty good selection of burps in it… 16 in all, including such gems as Room Shaker, The Alphabet, Excuse Me-eeeee, Wake Up the Kids, and World Record Holder. Even though a lot of them sound kind of similar (it’s belching, after all), some of these gaseous eruptions are actually pretty amazing for their sheer intensity! If Randy Jackson from American Idol were judging the belcher, he’d definitely be saying that was hot baby, yeeeeah dog.

The suprise that NextStream Media put into iBurps is the ability to record your own burp. Truth is you could record pretty much anything you want, but if you’re playing with this app chances are you’re eager to test your, uh, “skillz”, against the app’s resident burping pro. You only get one recording slot, though, so if you capture a big one you’d better be sure your next belch will beat it before hitting Record again.

It’s hard to demand much from apps that burp and fart and puke and all that, but the one thing this app needs to fix is the sound quality. Lack of volume isn’t the issue here… it’s that the belches are so powerful that it sounds like a little bit of distortion got recorded as well. I did turn my iPhone volume down in hopes that would smooth things out, but it didn’t so that’s a fairly clear sign that the recordings themselves need some adjustment.

If the sound quality issue can be addressed, this could possibly be the funniest – and most disgusting – collection of belches ever assembled (a distinction to be proud of if there ever was one!). Even as it is right now, though, there’s still some very inappropriate fun to be had if that’s what you’re into.

I normally put the video before the screenshots, but this one’s just a little bonus to show that anything boys can do, cute teenage tomboy girls can probably do better:

A classic clip from America’s Got (no) Talent

Tags: $.99, funny

BellyButton

Michael (Admin) | Mar 4, 2009 Entertainment

User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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I once read an article about how some girl had a running competition with her co-workers to see who could show off the weirdest iPhone app at every meeting, so before heading over to the conference room she would go to the App Store and find the strangest app possible to out-weird the competition. I don’t know if this is a common practice, but if you have similar contests in your workplace try arming yourself with BellyButton! Chances are you’ll walk away a champ.

BellyButton is kind of like Wooo Button… it’s pointless, bizarre, and strangely amusing. You get to choose from seven different navels, one of which is an orange (!), and match them up with five different voices. Each bellybutton type defaults to a particular voice, like the hula belly is paired with the voice of Female 2, and when you tap or tickle the belly it jiggles and laughs! Yep. It jiggles. And it laughs.

You can change the laughter if you’re more entertained by the thought of a girl with a huge beer gut or some other odd combo, and there’s a Roulette Mode that will throw in a fart here and there which makes the giggling just that much funnier.

What I’d like to see in future updates are more bellies and more variety in the laugh tracks. How about a pregnant belly? One with tattoos, maybe? And the available laughter is kind of funny, but more is always better.

ch-apps did a decent job on BellyButton, but I think even they would have to admit that this is definitely a “niche” kind of app… some people will roll their eyes at it and go “omg wtf”, while others will think it’s the funniest app ever made. Does that mean it’s worth a buck? Well… if you’re in the running to win some kind of screwy office pool, definitely! And if not, then you’ll just have to decide for yourself what an occasional chuckle is worth to you.

Tags: $.99, funny, pointless

Kex

Chris J. | Mar 2, 2009 Games

User rating: (2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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When I encountered Kex, I was intrigued by the YouTube video of a character leaping, shooting, and dodging his way around a single glass tower. In fact, the whole of Kex is much like you might find in a boss battle of a platforming title.

You control a super-hero character who circles a glass tower. Dodge missiles, bombs and other devices while trying to shoot at the windows that are green. All the while the timer counts down. Take a hit and you lose time, but if you hit a green window you gain time. The game is over when the timer reaches zero.

While not as refined as some of the more expensive games out there, Kex makes a good impression. The game design is simple yet functional, and the character animation is smooth. Whether running, leaping or taking a hit, the character is well-designed and the animation looks great.

For me, the most frustrating aspect of Kex is the controls. In a fast-paced game like this controls need to be fluid and intuitive. The intuitive part is mostly there, but they are not fluid as fluid as I would have liked. For instance, sliding your finger left and right to run is simple and transitioning is quick, but if you want to jump you cannot simply slide your finger upward. You must first lift your finger before sliding it up to jump. The double tap for shooting was often frustrating for me. I just couldn’t jump then quickly tap twice in the same spot and actually hit what I was aiming for. With some practice I am improving, but it is still imperfect at best (see update below).

With the multi-touch capability of the iPhone, it would be nice to see that integrated into controls. It would be simpler to simply use a second finger simultaneously to jump or double-tap rather than to have to use only one finger at a time.

With the lack of backstory on Kex, I decided to fill in some of the gaps myself. Find out more about this mysterious warrior and his enemy  in the gallery captions below (not endorsed by Flying Sickle Studios).

Update 3/15/09: Kex has been updated to address some of the issues with controls. Now included is a “Fire” button at the bottom of the screen, although you can still double-tap if you prefer. Also, jumping no longer requires that you lift your finger between movements. I gave it a try and on the first time out nearly doubled my previous high score! Props to Flying Sickle Studios for listening to suggestions and updating the app to improve the users’ experience.

Tags: $0.99, Chris J.

FCTasks by FranklinCovey

Lee | Mar 2, 2009 Productivity

User rating: (23 votes, average: 2.52 out of 5)

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FranklinCovey is a giant in the organization/personal productivity arena. Do you remember the famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Before digital PDAs, I carried around the hardcopy Franklin binder system, following the A-B-C priority philosophy espoused by this book. Boy, have we come a long way from pencil and paper to floating electrons. I can remember writing and re-writing whole to-do lists from page to page, day after day, to keep abreast of a busy schedule. Now, swipe-of-finger and touch interface rule the day. When I saw FranklinCovey had produced an iPhone app, FCTasks, it was a no-brainer to want to get it, use it and review it. 

I’ll have to be frank up front, FCTasks is a mixed bag in my opinion… a disappointment actually.

Functionally, you can get things done with this app. At it’s core you simply list your to-dos or reminders. However, If you are new to the FranklinCovey way of personal workflow, this app may not be for you. It does not come with any on-board help features, nor are they laid out on the website. It assumes you already understand the methodology (i.e. A-B-C, 1-2-3 priority system, delegate/forward/completed/in-process etc.).  This should be no problem for followers, but if you’re not one, then you will have to either get it intuitively or be willing to expend the energy learning it via the book.

Some odd things:

- “Attachments” is a funny name for pictures. Normally, we think of attachments as documents attached to the task,
- The “Forward” button is inactive. Perhaps this is a feature for a future update?
- The “Sort” button performs the edit function; a different way of saying this from most other iPhone/Touch apps, 
- “Master List” seems weirdly titled as it only holds actions that are not time specific. Wouldn’t it make more sense to call it “Undated Actions?”

Aesthetically, the app is attractive. The color schemes are beautiful and coordinated. The design encourages you to work in the app and feel comfortable, undistracted. But, there’s really something missing, a feeling of incompleteness, unfinished business. I took a look at the FranklinCovey website. Pictures of other operating systems, of other software offerings for other mobiles boast of features like team, tasks, schedule, blogposts and goal tracking. Those phones and PDAs are able to synchronize to a desktop or laptop computer and/or the web. Yep! that’s it, that’s what’s missing in this app for the iPhone/Touch. There’s no comparable desktop and/or web-based application to synchronize with. Most of the major productivity apps today synchronize somewhere, extending your capabilities; especially when there’s large amounts of data that cry for a desk or laptop interface. 

Another questionable area for me is pricing. I hate to complain about AppStore pricing. I am personally willing (and have in the past) to pay more money for applications that are worthwhile, but this app seems overpriced at $5.99 in light of it’s competitors (In fact, a quick look at some of the comments in the App store express regrets for paying so much for so little). Perhaps this first attempt should have been priced as free, 99 cents or, at most, $1.99 as an introduction. Maybe this should be called FCTasks Lite. It really seems as if more is planned and more is needed for this application.

At the end of the day, personal productivity apps or organizers are decidedly a personal choice… like a good pair of jeans. Everyone has their own opinion about a good fit. I cannot commend this app for a hard core get-it-done person. I even hesitate if you are actively looking for an application because you don’t currently have one or are not happy with your existing system. The $5.99 price tag makes trying this on for size too expensive. I will give this application an above average for potential but a below average for usability. I have just come to expect more from personal productivity apps, especially from a noted name as FranklinCovey. Maybe this will change with an update.

UPDATE 3/2/09: As I was posting this review, I checked the website one more time to ensure the accuracy of my information. I cannot find FCTasks on the FranklinCovey website, nor any reference to the iPhone/Touch. It’s still for sale in the AppStore though. Curious!

Tags: $5.99, Productivity

FlightTrack Pro

Chrisa | Mar 2, 2009 Travel, Utilities, Weather

User rating: (3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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So – I know the burning question in your mind, fair reader, is where the hell has Chrisa been??  Well, as it turns out, I was traveling.  I travel quite a bit for work (shameless plug – www.sceneexchange.com), but I also got in a leisure trip – I went to the Academy Awards.  Before you ask how I got my no-name behind into the Oscars and get this post COMPLETELY off track, let me just say, if you really want to know, leave me a comment, and I’ll fill you in on all the details.  Oh – and yes, Brad and Angelina ARE that gorgeous in person, thanks for asking.

Being that I travel so much, I thought I’d try out FlightTrack Pro.  I’ve tried a few of the cheap (read: free) flight tracking apps, so I really wanted to see what $9.99 would buy me.  I am notoriously cheap, so I really expected a crapload of features for this kind of price tag.  FlightTrack Pro delivers….99%. 

How does it deliver?  It’s really easy to track your travel.  This version of the app is integrated with TripIt, an extremely handy and free feature where you email your itinerary to TripIt, and your flights automatically show up and are tracked in FlightTrack Pro.  By far, the coolest feature there is.  When I book a flight, all the airline websites let me email a copy to a bunch of addresses – I just type in the TripIt address, and it shows up in the app.  There’s also integrated weather for your destination(s), email itineraries directly from the application, and it supports both domestic and international flights.  Very, very, cool.   It even has a fun feature where, if you’re super bored or not traveling this week, you can shake your iPhone and get a random flight.

But, even this cool of an app has a drawback.  There’s a nice feature that lets you see a map of exactly where a flight is in the air, but unless you’re on one of the very few airlines that has Wi-Fi in route, you can’t see any maps.   Seems a bit pointless, unless you’re an administrative assistant or secretary.  And, since my admin assistant is a thumbless canine (I’ll wait while you process that………), not that useful for her.  But, honestly, that’s the only drawback – if you want to call it that – that this application has.  

If you travel a lot, go and get this application now.  Seriously – stop reading this post and download it.  Now.  If I’m telling you it’s worth ten bucks, trust me, it really is.  If you aren’t a road warrior, there is a lighter version, FlightTrack, for $4.99.  Not as feature rich, of course, but worth it if you travel a few times a year.

Tags: $9.99, Travel

IQ Test

Chrisa | Mar 2, 2009 Entertainment, Lifestyle, Uncategorized

User rating: (6 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)

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I like to think of myself as intelligent.  I can read and write in more than one language, and my checkbook is balanced, after all.   I’m pretty sure I’m smarter than a 5th grader, but I don’t know if I’m as smart as Geena Davis.   So IQ Test by Max Voloshin gave me the opportunity to gauge just how smart I really am, versus just how smart I think I am. 

This IQ test is different from others I’ve seen, in that it is based mainly on patterns, and the user’s ability to pick the next logical item to continue the pattern from a list of choices.  According to the developer, it is based on Professor Hans Eysenck’s work and, since I’m not familiar with Prof. Eysenck, I looked him up on Wikipedia.  After I read up, I realized anyone who’s taken Psych 101 is at least somewhat familiar with his work.  Prof. Eysenck was a British psychologist who argued the genetics of intelligence and personality – and got famously punched in the nose debating this point.  Gotta love a guy who’ll take it on the schnozz for his beliefs. 

Whether this IQ test conforms to the good professor’s test or not, I can’t say.  I can say that this test is timed – you get 40 minutes to complete the test, and I suggest you be sure you have 40 minutes to do it before you start, because you can’t start and stop and start from where you left off.   I can also say that the graphics are well done, and you can have more than one person take the test and compare your scores. 

If you’re interested in an IQ test, for $0.99, this isn’t a bad one.  And I’m not just saying that because it pegged my IQ at 137.  After all, according to the scoring scale, that makes me not as smart as Sharon Stone.  At least I’m smarter than Mike Tyson.

Tags: $0.99, Entertainment, Lifestyle

Hooters Calendar Girls Crazy Eights

Michael (Admin) | Mar 2, 2009 Games

User rating: (7 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)

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I’m too old and too jaded to get all giddy over pics of girls in bikinis… don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t mind them! …but when Oasys Mobile posted their demo video on iPhone App Index, I knew I had to give it a try. I’ve reviewed apps that fart, vomit, and pop zits, so there’s no way my inner adolescent would let me get away with NOT reviewing this one. :P

My memories of playing Crazy Eights when I was little are pretty vague so it was nice to see that this app comes with instructions on how the game is played. It’s not rocket science, but even with simple card games it’s always helpful to have some idea of what you’re supposed to do. The basic idea of the game is to get rid of your cards before other players do, and you get rid of them by laying down cards that match the rank or suit of whatever’s on top of the pile of cards in the middle, and of course eights are Crazy and can be laid down anytime. First one to dump all of his cards is awarded points equal to the total of the other players’ cards, and in traditional gameplay you keep going until someone hits 200.

Hooters Crazy Eights is easy to play… to drop a card in the middle, just swipe your finger upwards and the card flies onto the stack. Each card has a different Hooters Girl on it, and if you haven’t already committed each of the oiled-up, surgically-enhanced ladies to memory, you can tap the card in the middle to get a good, close look at her in all her near-naked glory. This can be done regardless of whether the last card was laid down by you or your computerized opponents.

If you’re short on time there are a couple of game variants called Quick Play and Time Attack to help move things along, and there’s also a card options screen where you can mix things up by changing a few of the rules.

Overall this is a pretty slick app and it’s clear that Oasys Mobile takes their craft seriously. The graphics and sound quality are both really good, card animation is smooth, and generally speaking Hooters is a complete package. And yes, the girls featured on the cards are mostly hot! The majority seem to be blonde cheerleader-types and nearly all of them look like they’re sporting plastic floatation devices where their boobs used to be, but if you’re like most guys and don’t give a crap then the models definitely won’t disappoint.

As usual, though, I do have a few minor grievances to air. For starters, the high score board is local only. I know Crazy Eights isn’t exactly the stuff that global competitions are made of, but I’ve come to believe that nearly every iPhone game should have a global scoreboard. Also, the in-game scoreboard… the one that tells you how many points each player has scored in between rounds… is a little hard to decipher, meaning that if you’re not paying close attention you may not know which score is yours and how far you are from being crowned Crazy Eights Champ.

Two-player or multi-player ability would also be nice to see, but if you’re playing solely for the purpose of enjoying the company of some Hooters Girls you probably won’t care about competing with other humans. The app also crashed on me twice during my three or four games… it was nice enough to let me resume where I left off, but the folks at Oasys might want to look into that.

So is $2.99 a fair asking price? Ehh… I’d say it’s pretty close. Apps that come with this kind of gloss usually don’t sell for a buck, and in most respects it really is a well-done card game. Aforementioned gripes aside, my other Big Idea for Oasys to consider is the release of a man-meat version for the ladies! See that, girls? I’m not just here to ogle. I’m looking out for you, too.

BTW… I know the YouTube videos overlap on the new javascript image galleries. Don’t worry, you can just scroll the video out of the way! The images will stay in place while the rest of the page moves.

Tags: $2.99, card games, mature, traditional

First Contact

Lee | Mar 1, 2009 Games

User rating: (9 votes, average: 4.44 out of 5)

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Tags: $2.99, Games