Magnetic Joe 2
Swain Valasek | Jun 8, 2009 Games
User rating: 
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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If you’re looking for an arcade puzzler that’s truly off the beaten path, check out Magnetic Joe 2 from HD Publishing. Quick note, the original MJ is also available for a buck. This is an extremely easy to get into, 1-finger game based on ‘magnetizing’ Joe (a cute but fragile orb with eyes) when he’s near directional magnets to propel him towards the goal of the level. This goal varies by game type of which there are 3 (well 4 sorta):
- Tutorial – get the basics down (10 levels)
- Classic – get to the exit as fast as possible (30 levels)
- Collect – collect all the little Joe’s while getting to the exit as fast as possible (30 levels)
- Enemy – avoid all sorts of monsters like evil spiked balls, laser-shooting robots and fireballs…oh and yes while getting to the exit as fast as possible (30 levels)
Tags: $1.99, arcade puzzler, Swain Valasek
iPhone 3G S!
Michael (Admin) | Jun 8, 2009 News & Editorials
User rating: (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Well since the current vote tally is 38-28 in favor of non-review editorials , I suppose now is as good a time as any to start spewing nonsense…
So I was just over at TechCrunch reading about today’s iPhone 3G S announcement and I also soaked in everything I could from Apple’s site update. Here’s what you wanna know:
- U.S. release date: June 19
- Non-U.S. release date ~July 7
- Apps will run twice as fast
- 3 MP camera with autofocus!
- Video shooting & editing, currently only available on jailbreak apps
- Upload videos directly to YouTube or MobileMe
- Voice control similar to the “SYNC” system you see advertised in Ford car commercials, ie: “call the VD clinic” or “play a song by Wham!”
- Multimedia messaging (OS 3.0)
- Cut/copy/paste (OS 3.0)
- Built-in compass with map integration
- Improved battery life giving 9 hours of web surfing on WiFi vs. the current 6 hours
- 16 GB iPhone = $199
- 32 GB iPhone = $299
The article doesn’t say anything about contract requirements, but you can bet your broke ass that a two year contract is part of the deal. But hey, if you’re super poor like me you can now get the current iPhone 3G for $99! Yeah, you’re gonna run into another contract there as well. $99 is for the 8 GB model, and 16 GB will cost $149, or so I was just told less than a minute ago on the phone by some dude at a local AT&T store.
Tags: iPhone news
Comic Reader Mobi
Chris J. | Jun 8, 2009 Entertainment
User rating: 
(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5) Loading ...
Chances are if you are reading this you may have a few comic books stashed away for that future moment when the insanely rich decide they absolutely must have the limited edition, holographic cover of Spectacular Spider Man #189. I’ve got news for you, it will probably never happen (I’ll keep dreaming anyway), but at least comics are still fun to read.
Comic Reader Mobi is the latest in a genre of apps that allow you to read comic books in digital format. For those who are not already aware, comic book files can be found as comic book archive files in various sites around the internet. Most of these are Golden Age era comics that are no longer in copyright, although a few are licensed under Creative Commons.
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App Sale: Falling Gems
Michael (Admin) | Jun 8, 2009 App Sale Alert, Games, Quick & Free
User rating: (9 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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Rocha Software says that Falling Gems is “FREE for a few days only!” There are a ton of crappy games out there making the same claim as an ongoing sales gimmick, but in this case I kind of believe that the price may actually go up because this one has the makings of a pretty good match 3 app.
In Falling Gems you slide the gems one space at a time to try and get at least three like-colored gems to touch. Make that happen and they disappear which earns you more time on the clock, but more gems fall in to take their place. That’s all there is to this game, but if Rocha could fit in some flashy powerups, global scoring, and maybe some extra game modes (ie: time attack or at least easy/medium/hard) then this would easily be worth a buck or two.
For the time being, though, Falling Gems is a mind-numbingly simple game with nice shiny-looking graphics. You can’t beat the price and, who knows, some upgrades may eventually make this game a contender in the genre.
Creepy emo soundtrack not included!
Dark Hill
Swain Valasek | Jun 7, 2009 Games
User rating: (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
Stop…hey…what’s that sound…it’s Dark Hill from Nabil Chatbi of FBS Software (whose website is currently just a placeholder). Dark Hill is a horror-themed 3D FPS and this is notable in that FPS games have only rarely been pulled off in a playable and fun way on the iPhone. It’s made using the Unity game engine which has some decent credentials and is rather popular by the look of it. So the story goes that all the inhabitants of Dark Hill were devoured by monsters and you are the sole survivor; no surprise then that your main job is to get the hell outta Dodge. You start the game with a machine gun, a wee bit of ammo and your wits. From there you explore the town, kill (or avoid) monsters and try to stay alive as you search for freedom.
Tags: $1.99, fps, horror, Swain Valasek
Castle Conflict
Swain Valasek | Jun 4, 2009 Games
User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5) Loading ...
The popular ‘Castle Defense’ genre gets another entry, this time Castle Conflict from new developer Broken Kings. It’s apparently inspired by Medieval Clash if you’ve ever run across that little ditty before. The game features pleasant graphics and sound and a truly pickup and play presentation that barely needs instruction (which is great because there’s…barely any instruction!). Basically 2 castles sit on either end of the screen; you control the left and the AI controls the right. The goal is to send out gatherers who harvest wood which somehow lets you create everything from cavalry to cannons. All the while you duke it out with the AI until 1 castle or other is completely destroyed. Simple sure but there’s plenty’o'fun to be had in the overrunning.
Tags: $1.99, castle defense, Swain Valasek
Card Ninja
Michael (Admin) | Jun 4, 2009 Games
User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
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Boogers. Paper footballs. More boogers. If boredom has taught us nothing else, it’s that flicking stuff is fun! And that’s the premise behind Card Ninja: flick stuff, in this case cards. The app itself includes just one line of instruction: “Flick to matching targets” and that’s basically it… you flick cards at matching targets and try to keep up with the game’s ever-increasing quota.
Flicking properly isn’t quite as easy as it sounds because sometimes you have to match the card color (flick green to green, blue to blue, etc.) and sometimes you have to match the card faces to the little target icons. Card Ninja doesn’t tell you which to do, so it’s on you to figure it out.
Pint Sized Mobile is off to a good start with this pick-up-n-play time waster, but there’s definitely room for improvement. Right now there’s no scoreboard to speak of, iPod music isn’t supported, and there are zero game options for controlling sound, starting over, or anything of the sort.
Card Ninja is good for some quick, mindless fun, and I think the $.99 price is about right… just be ready for an app that lacks the bells & whistles you’re used to seeing in other games.
The levels shown in this video are pretty advanced! I haven’t reached them yet cuz I’m bad at flicking
Light Wars
Michael (Admin) | Jun 3, 2009 Games
User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
I’m SHMUP CRAZY!!!! At least it seems that way lately after writing about shoot ‘em ups iFighter, Glandarius Wing Strike, and now Light Wars.
Of the three, Light Wars is by far the simplest with its less-is-more vector graphics approach. It kind of feels like a variation on Asteroids with the glowing grid arena style of Tron, and everything gets tied together in a very Playstation-like way with left and right analog controls.
Edit: I’ve never played Geometry Wars, but according to reviewers in the App Store, Light Wars is just like it :P
Don’t be fooled by the outward simplicity, though… underneath the minimalistic skin of this game is a pretty kickass gaming experience complete with all kinds of powerups, enemies of varying strengths, and other shmup standards such as shields to keep you from dying and bombs for obliterating everything in sight.
Flashback
Swain Valasek | Jun 2, 2009 Games
User rating: (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
Flashback from Manomio LLC is a port of the much-beloved Amiga action platformer from 1992 by Delphine Software Int’l. Delphine created some of the greatest Amiga games ever including Future Wars, Cruise for a Corpse and most especially Another World (Out of this World in the US) but let me not get off track. The version of Flashback presented here is somewhat unique in that it’s not a port per se but a rebuild of the original executable using the REminiscence engine, compiled for the iPhone OS. The catch is that all the original art assets are needed to make the game work. Before you scream ‘copyright violation’ just relax; the developer contacted what what remains of Delphine and they expressed no desire to enforce ownership of the IP. Therefore the assets can be legally distributed as ‘abandonware’. Anyway the notable side effect of that is when you buy the game from the app store all you download is said executable; on first launch it goes out to one such abandonware site and downloads all the assets. Be aware that this can take a long time so be on WiFi when you run it for the first time. I didn’t get round to reviewing this game right away and because of that the 1.1 update was since released which is what I’m now reviewing. That’s a very notable thing as 1.0 was fairly universally panned for it’s poor presentation, control layout and actual game-stopping bug on the game’s 2nd level. The 1.1 update addresses all these things and more so kudos to the developer for taking the criticism constructively and trying to give the public the best product possible.
Tags: $4.99, amiga, platformer, retro, Swain Valasek
Tips & Tricks – iPhone Secrets
Michael (Admin) | Jun 2, 2009 Books
User rating: (9 votes, average: 3.11 out of 5)
(9 votes, average: 3.11 out of 5) Loading ...
I think I’m a pretty hardcore iPhone user – I mean, I run several iPhone-related websites for crying out loud! – so when flipping through this ebook I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything new. I figured it would tell you how to do a screenshot, how to save battery life by shutting off 3G, yadda yadda yadda. Tips & Tricks - iPhone Secrets does cover all of the most basic things that most of us already know, but I was pretty surprised to find several items that were genuinely new to me.
Truth is you could probably find all the info contained in this app by googling and reading your iPhone owner’s manual, but (a) you probably have better things to do with your life than spend hours to save $.99, and (b) you’ve probably lost or tossed your owner’s manual by now.
Q&F: Star Trek Phaser
Michael (Admin) | Jun 2, 2009 Entertainment, Quick & Free
User rating: (1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)
(1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5) Loading ...
If Leonard Nimoy were writing this review he’d say that releasing this piece of crap is highly illogical. I’ve seriously been more entertained by watching Captain Kirk’s Priceline.com commercials than firing the “phaser” in this sad excuse for a movie companion app.
There are other Star Trek apps out there, most notably the game from Electronic Arts which probably kicks ass because they always make good stuff, but Star Trek Phaser is a waste of space. In “freeplay” mode you just touch the screen to fire the phaser, and in “game” mode (and I use that term very loosely) you’re trying to hit a target that moves back and forth across the top of the screen. The phaser is stationary and you have to fire when the target is at dead center. Snore.
The phaser itself is nicely rendered, but I think you’d have to be a radically hardcore Trekkie to find any joy in this app. Come on Paramount! You can do better than this.
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- Turn the iPhone in freeplay mode to get a better look at the phaser
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- (cue Comic Book Guy) WORST. GAME. EVER!
Tags: free
