Q&F: MasterCard Priceless Picks
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 19, 2009 Utilities
User rating: 
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
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I felt bad that the last review I just posted, I only had one free promo code to give away. For this app, I have tons of free copies to give away. By that I mean, the app is free for everybody. But hey, it’s the thought that counts.
MasterCard just launched a new free app called Priceless Picks. It is a great concept, with great execution. I just wonder if Cinderella is arriving late to the ball.
FingerBeat
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 19, 2009 Music
User rating: (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
I have the music talent of William Hung. And frankly I might be insulting William Hung with that comparison. But the Elionze Group have put together a music app simple enough for even me to make music, yet powerful enough to put together some great loops, exactly how you want them.
I’m talking about FingerBeat. At first I was expecting a fairly simple finger drum app. With some apps I download and play with from the App Store, I have to lower my expectations when it comes to features. I have to remind myself that this is a cheap app often made by a single developer, or a small team in a short period of time. FingerBeat is one of the rare apps I’ve downloaded over the past few weeks that really exceeded my expectations when it came to features.
Tags: $3.99, Entertainment, Music, T. J. Brumfield
Woxel – Updated with more promo codes!
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 17, 2009 Games
User rating: (7 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)
(7 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5) Loading ...
I’m deleting Scramble from my iPhone. I know, I know. Zynga makes great games. Scramble in particular is great. But you have to understand. I just downloaded Woxel from Half Fast Games. Woxel is a 2D game that is displayed in 3D with some shabby textures. It doesn’t look as clean as Scramble. It doesn’t have the multiplayer that Scramble has. And yet, I am deleting Scramble none the less.
Why would I delete a great game for one that doesn’t offer multiplayer? I’m glad you asked. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t have much of a review to write. Woxel takes a familiar letter-combination game and adds unique twists to it. In the end, the game is better and I enjoy playing it more.
Tags: $0.99, Games, puzzle, T. J. Brumfield, Word
Paint Studio
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 17, 2009 Entertainment
User rating: (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
There are some amazing iPhone artists out there. Some were even featured in the New York Times. I’m not one of them. In fact I butcher and do great disservice to stick figures. That being said, Marie wanted a review on Paint Studio. So Marie is getting a review of Paint Studio.
Impetus has put together a simple paint program that is very easy to use. It doesn’t have complex brush types such as Brushes (the app that was featured in New York times, and used to draw a cover for The New Yorker) but it does have a few unique features. It also costs 40% of what Brushes costs.
Tags: $1.99, Entertainment, paint, T. J. Brumfield
The Mood Setter
Michael (Admin) | Jul 17, 2009 Lifestyle
User rating: (57 votes, average: 3.19 out of 5)
(57 votes, average: 3.19 out of 5) Loading ...
There are a lot of things I suck at, and scoring with chicks is definitely one of them! So is The Mood Setter gonna improve my batting average? Well… I suppose it could if the lady happens to be a gigantic geek who can appreciate gadget-based jokes.
Notice that I said JOKES… I mean come on, this is an iPhone app! If you’re actually relying on a piece of mobile software to get your date horny then you should probably just go back to playing with your lightsaber. The Mood Setter is basically two looping video clips that show either a roaring fire or glowing candlelight, and to aid you in your quest to get laid you can add one of four original looping music clips to set the mood.
Tags: $.99
Leaf Bound
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 17, 2009 Games
User rating: (4 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5) Loading ...
Not many people know, but Mario was originally called Jumpman in Donkey Kong. Later he became the Italian plumber we all know and love. There was another classic game called Jumpman back in 1983. Well, Leaf Bound is here with a girl named Yuri who would like to inherent the Jumpman crown. All Yuri does is jump. She jumps when she breathes. She jumps when she sleeps. And when she wants to jump, she jumps some more.
I think you get the point. In this game, you don’t even have to do anything to jump. Jumping is a given. It is inherent, and intrinsic law of the Leaf Bound universe. All you do is swipe your finger from left to right to control the direction Yuri is jumping in. Along the way there are Mecha-Monkeys. And if there are Mecha-Monkeys, it is also inherent that there will be Mecha-Monkey Mayhem. You learn to expect such behavior from robotic primates.
Tags: $0.99, arcade, Games, T. J. Brumfield
Flit
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 17, 2009 Social Networking
User rating: (4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5) Loading ...
OpusApps has put together their second offering called Flit. Flit is a new social networking concept with an interesting proposition. You have something to say, but you don’t have an audience. You’re not Ashton Kutcher, and you don’t have a million Twitter followers. Maybe you are Ashton Kutcher and you’re looking to take over every social network on the planet. Frankly, who is going to stop him?
Flit’s concept is that messages are simply thrown in the cloud for anyone to see. Except in this case, messages are pretty butterflies. Each butterfly has a color which denotes the category of the message. If I want to view a message, I tap the butterfly. Upon reading the flit, I am prompted to vote the flit up or down. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: $1.99, social networking, T. J. Brumfield
Pipe Mania
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 16, 2009 Games
User rating: (3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...
Razorwork’s last title ever produced was Pipe Mania for the iPhone. Unfortunately Razorworks disbanded last year after completing the project. It is especially unfortunate given how solid this port is. Robosoft now owns and sells the title.
Pipe Mania is a classic title that as been around 1989. The first version I played was called Pipe Dream. I assumed Pipe Mania was a remake/clone of Pipe Dream. I didn’t realize that Pipe Mania was actually the original title for the franchise. For those who aren’t familiar with the basic concept, You have a game board, which in this case is 10×8 squares. On each of these squares, you can place a piece of pipe. There is a queue of pipes on the left and you must place them in the order they appear randomly. The pipes must go together in one contiguous piece.
Tags: $4.99, arcade, Games, puzzle, T. J. Brumfield
Nintaii – Updated with more promo codes!
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 16, 2009 Games, Uncategorized
User rating: (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
Edit: This app is on sale, 50% off until July 26th. That explains the lower price than what I’ve seen previously.
This may be my new favorite game on the iPhone, edging out Stoneloops! of Jurassica (which Swain also loved). Time will tell how well it holds up. Simply put, Concrete Software’s Nintaii is brilliant in its simplicity. So many games I play are rehashes of gameplay I’ve seen somewhere else. I’m shocked that I’ve never played a puzzle game exactly like this before.
The Japanese term ‘nintai’ means patience, perseverance, or endurance. Reading other’s peoples reviews and comments, I half expected the game to frustrate me with its difficulty. In reality, the calm colors and music seem to sooth me even as I attempt to unravel difficult puzzles. Gameplay consists solely of flipping a block around a level to its destination. The block itself is two squares long, or tall depending how it is flipped.
Tags: $1.99, Games, logic, puzzle, T. J. Brumfield
Balloon Animals
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 15, 2009 Games
User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...
I just got done spending time blowing up cop cars, and brooding with fellow undead, so the logical next move was to play with balloon animals. I’m glad you’re following me here. In all seriousness, I have a wonderful three-year old daughter. While I’m a little reticent about letting her play with the phone, I do enjoy finding apps I can play with her.
For the sake of comparison, while evaluating Balloon Animals from UFO Interactive Games, I also checked the free version of Balloonimals from IDEO Toy Lab. In short, I thought Balloon Animals was a much nicer app all around.
Tags: $0.99, Games, kids, T. J. Brumfield
High Speed Chase 2.0
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 15, 2009 Games
User rating: (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5) Loading ...
I kept playing this game all day long. I didn’t keep playing it because it was addictive. I kept playing it because I was convinced there was more here to see. I really wanted to like this game. I assumed perhaps that under various layers of onion there was something else besides another layer of onion. What I discovered is that I was playing a 99 cent app. This game isn’t terrible. Far from it. I just felt like somewhere there was a five dollar app hiding in here. I see massive potential. Instead there is a very simple, very repetitive game.
The first time I fired it up, I selected a mission and began to play. Or I attempted to play. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to do because the game made no effort to tell me. As I ran over orange power-ups, they said to swipe cars. So I did. I ran into cars, quickly died and started over. I did this a few times until I realized that swipe didn’t not mean swipe with my car. I can swipe the other car with my finger and move it out of the way when I get one of those power-ups. They are the only power-up in the game.
Tags: $0.99, Games, racing, T. J. Brumfield
4 Degrees – The Arc of Trivia
T.J. Brumfield | Jul 15, 2009 Games
User rating: (7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)
(7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5) Loading ...
Admittedly, before I even downloaded ZAPiT Game’s “4 Degrees – The Arc of Trivia”, I was already a fan. I own their Game Wave console. 4 Degrees is my favorite game for that console.
ZAPiT Games is a small gaming company that has been struggling to hit it big time. It hasn’t been for lack of good products. The Game Wave is a simplistic console that hardware-wise is little more than a DVD player with six remotes. But the games are all designed to allow up to six players to play at once without having to wait and take turns. 4 Degrees is a sharp-looking game that I really enjoy playing with friends. I’ve been hoping word would get out, and someday ZAPiT would hit it big time. The Game Wave console itself has yet to be a big hit, so now the company is branching out with online gaming, and iPhone games. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: $3.99, Games, T. J. Brumfield, trivia
