iPhone App Reviews

Mortal Skies

Michael E. | Jan 31, 2010 Games

User rating: (22 votes, average: 3.05 out of 5)

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Have you ever continued to do something you knew was probably not good for you?  I have.  Recently, in fact.

Mortal Skies is a perfect example.  I love this game- even though my hand gets so tired it starts to cramp up after a mission or two.  But I keep playing.  So the obvious questions are what is Mortal Skies and what makes it so good? 

The year is 1944 and it’s World War II. You’re a flyboy (or girl).  Your orders are to stop a hostile invasion force from taking over the world.  You up to the task?

Mortal Skies, from Erwin Jansen, is a shoot ‘em up that reminds me of the arcade game 1942 from Capcom that I used to play way back in the day.  Video game graphics have come a long way since 1984, though, and this one looks great. 

Mortal Skies consists of 7 levels, or missions, in which the player engages enemy planes, bombers, tanks, and choppers.   By shooting and blowing things up, players earn extra planes and open a bonus level based on their achievements.  At the end of each mission is an endboss that must be defeated in a one-on-however-many-they-choose-to-throw-at-you dogfight.  

Along the way, players can receive gun upgrades, reflective shields, increase health, unlock planes, and earn gold, bronze, and silver cups.       

I enjoyed playing Mortal Skies.  It’s a straightforward shooter game that requires a minimum of strategy.  Yes, the enemies you’re fighting have different abilities you must adapt to in order to beat them, but if you’ve acquired enough weapon upgrades, you can last a while in a straight-up dogfight.  If you haven’t the weapons, it’s nearly impossible to defeat the endbosses at the tail end of each mission.

That brings up another point: the game’s difficulty.  Players can control their plane using either touch controls or the accelerometer and can adjust the difficulty setting to make it easier.  However, it’s still very tough even on the easiest slider setting.  A pending update (1.1) will make it easier to play, however, and should also lighten the plane so it doesn’t drag to the degree it currently does.

I would definitely recommend Mortal Skies: the gameplay is solid, graphics are superb, and it’s quite a challenge.

But one of those nifty carpal tunnel hand casts is almost certainly in my future.

Mortal Skies

Version 1.0

Tested on iPod Touch 3.1.2

Tags: $1.99, Games

GO! GO! Rangers!

James | Jan 31, 2010 Games

User rating: (7 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Right off the bat, if you have any interest in turn based strategy games, this review is worth your time. If not, read the review anyway, because everyone should be interested in turn based strategy games. When you read the title, GO! GO! Rangers!, the first thing to pop in your head might be the mid-ninety’s children’s television show, the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. Well, that really has nothing to do with this game. When you see the graphics for the game, the first thing to pop in your head might be the mid-ninety’s video game/TV show franchise, Pokemon. Well, that is a bit closer to the truth. Kind of… Both of those were popular after I was out of their target age group, but that won’t stop me from enjoying this fun little game.

GO! GO! Rangers! is a game about battling a bunch of heroes against a big boss monster. All of the heroes have different abilities that change the course of the battle constantly. It is an extremely deep strategy game that requires a bit of homework on your part to figure everything out. Luckily, I’ve done a fair amount of your homework for you. (you’re welcome)

You play on a 3×4 grid and you move your ranger heroes around this board. There are basically two phases to the game, the tactical phase and the battle phase. During the tactical phase, you can move your heroes one square up, down, left or right that is not already occupied. Their position on this board determines which action ability they will use. Then comes the battle phase. This is just the execution of the heroes abilities followed by an attack from the boss monster. An interesting aspect is that the heroes will not preform their abilities if they moved during the tactical phase, only if they were stationary. You have to constantly weigh the pros and cons of moving heroes out of the monster’s attack range or being able to use their ability. Pretty fun stuff.

I’ll admit. What drew me to this app was the crazy ass Japanese to English translations. They are pretty much hilarious. They do make it hard to figure certain aspects of the game out, but worth it in my opinion. One thing I wanted to see in GO! GO! Rangers! was the ability to level up my heroes. I generally like to go back to old battles and level up my characters to make them stronger. You do get new heroes almost constantly, though, so that’s not really a problem either. If you think you might like to try GO! GO! Rangers! out, IMAGIO Co. has put out a lite version. Check it out and get your turn based strategy fix.

iTunes Link – GO! GO! Rangers!
Version 2.0
Reviewed on iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.2

Tags: $.99, Games

Moronoid

Michael E. | Jan 31, 2010 Games

User rating: (9 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Are you a moron?  No?  What about your friends?  Your brothers or sisters?  Boyfriend or girlfriend?  Kids?  Are you sure?  There is one way you can find out: Moronoid.

Bogdan Andresyuk’s Moronoid is part of the wave of games that tell you whether or not you’re stupid.  Or a moron.  Or not as smart as a fifth grader. 

This one, Moronoid, has a series of questions that test your ability to follow instructions, keep your wits about you, and think fast. If you miss one question- any one question- you fail and the game tells you that you’re a moron.  You must then start over from the very beginning.  If you answer all the questions without making a single mistake, you’ll be able to safely say you’re not a moron.

But I’m willing to bet you won’t be able to answer every single question correctly the first time around. I sure wasn’t.

Moronoid requires a knowledge of geography, counting, memory, spelling, and various other skills you’ve been using all your life.  As far as gameplay goes, it’s not bad at all; it’s fun, a great diversion, and highly addictive.  Once you get started, you’ll probably want to keep going until you’re able to get every single question right.  Be forewarned, though: it might take a little while.

And after you’ve mastered the game, have someone you know play it.  Feel free to give them a hard time while they’re playing.  Taunt them, tease them, laugh at them.  It’s fun that way, too. 

If I were to recommend any improvements to Moronoid, I would say that the game could use more questions.  A lot more.  And a randomizer so that questions aren’t always presented in the same order.  That would definitely keep players on their toes.

I’ll bet I know what you’re thinking: I can beat Moronoid.  I know I can.  There hasn’t been a game created yet that can beat me. 

Good luck.

Moronoid

Version 1.0

Tested on iPod Touch 3.1.2

Tags: $.99, Games

myTtuner

Michael E. | Jan 30, 2010 Music

User rating: (5 votes, average: 2.40 out of 5)

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In the days before Pandora, Sirius, and Napster, radio ruled the world.  If you didn’t own the album, CD, or cassette, the only way to hear your favorite tunes was the radio.  Your yearning for the latest from Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers or U2 could only be satisfied by a radio DJ.    

Sometimes you might flip on the radio and catch your favorite song halfway through.  That wasn’t so bad.  Sometimes you only caught the last few seconds of it.  That was bad.

Every now and then, if you were lucky- really lucky- you’d enter a kind of musical zone.  In the zone, you could flip on the radio, catch your favorite song as it was starting and listen to it all the way through.  If you were really in the zone, you could change stations after the song had ended and catch it again, right at the very beginning.

Good times.  I don’t miss them one bit.

Gianluca Falasca’s MyTtuner- The Ultimate Radio operates under the principle that somewhere on the world’s wide web, an internet station is playing a song or an artist you like.  With MyTtuner, you tell it who or what you want to hear (you can enter up to 6 choices) and when the app finds that song or artist, it will let you know (as long as you’re still in the app, of course).  Then, just tap your screen and enjoy on-demand music old school style, minus those pesky subscription fees.  If you really like a station, you can select it as a favorite and listen to it whenever you want.  Do you have favorite artists or groups?  Great!   Save them and the next time the app is opened, you can quickly search for their music.

MyTtuner will also generate a listing of every artist being played at the moment and  update every 60 seconds. 

Sweet, right?  Unfortunately, MyTtuner initially had some serious issues with stability; it crashed every time I used it, even after an update designed to eliminate them.  Each crash would erase my saved searches, my saved webcast stations, and music history.  As you can imagine, that was a pretty big disappointment, especially for an app with a $2.99 sale price. 

These past couple days though, it seems to be running better.  When it works, it’s great.  When it works, I start to think about terminating my Rhapsody subscription.  But when it doesn’t, it’s quite frustrating.

My only suggestion for improvement- beyond stability- would be MyTtuner’s appearance.  It’s a little dull and could benefit from a colorful makeover.

With a couple more updates and a bigger pool of internet stations to find the music and artists I like, I might just stop feeding my money to Rhapsody and use those monthly fees to buy more apps…

myTtuner

Version 1.1.1

Reviewed on iPod Touch 3.1.2

Tags: $2.99, Music, radio

GQ | Feb 2010

Brad H | Jan 30, 2010 Entertainment

User rating: (8 votes, average: 2.25 out of 5)

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With the announcement of the iPad comes all the speculation on how we will consume media like newspapers, magazines, and books. As far as books go the format is pretty much fleshed out with digital versions of books available on many devices. Magazines on the other hand are few and far between. Condé Nast Digital has brought GQ magazine to the iPhone and iPod touch. I personally love a good magazine but no longer subscribe to any because I find it to be a lot of hassle in the digital world we live in today. My biggest question has been ” The magazine is made on a computer then printed onto paper so why cant I just get a digital copy page for page on my computer or mobile device.”

The GQ app doesn’t go so far as to deliver a magazine that I can flip through page by page but its a great start. All the content from the magazine is present; Cover page, articles, and pictures it’s all there. The main app menu is split up into sections of relevant articles. The articles are easy to read and have a font re-sizer to adjust the text to be bigger or smaller. If the article has pictures that go along with it, and pretty much all of them do, there is a button you can push to view the media as a slide show.Some of the articles are on the web site but with the app purchase you are given full access to all the articles as well as app only pictures that aren’t on the site. Here’s to you Miranda Kerr, nice photo set.

As far as who is this app for, I would say the casual reader of GQ. If your buying your magazine off the rack your going to save $1.50 by getting the app. If your a subscriber of GQ your going to spend three times as much for the app after a year. If you are a first time reader the app does give you a link to subscribe to the print magazine for a year at a dollar a piece.

With all that said, here are some things I would hope for the future not only with Condé Nast but all publications. I want the actual magazine on my device just as it is in print. I also would like to see a digital subscription, and don’t get me wrong I’m sure things on Apples side need to change for this to happen. All in all I am excited for the future of magazines in digital form and for the GQ app blazing the trail in this open frontier.

EDIT: It has come to my attention that when you go into landscape mode you get the page for page magazine to flip through, ads and all, just what I wanted.

iTunes Link – GQ | Feb 2010

Version 1.0

Reviewed on iPhone 3G OS 3.1.2

Tags: $2.99, Entertainment

Treasure Fleet

James | Jan 29, 2010 Games

User rating: (208 votes, average: 3.11 out of 5)

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Ahoy, Landlubbers! Treasure Fleet is a game of bloodthirsty pirates fighting against each other for Spanish treasure ships. That may sound like an out-of-control action game but I assure you, it isn’t. Treasure Fleet is a card game. It’s actually based on a real card game made by the same developer, Ship of Fools Games. In it, the pirates use cards to bid and bluff each other into winning the ships. There is a crazy amount of strategy involved here.

So everyone starts off with the same number of attack cards that vary in strength. The player decides which treasure ship to use their attack cards on, but after you use them, they’re gone forever. Whoever spent the most attack cards on any particular ship, wins the amount of treasure on that ship. You play through several rounds of this and whoever gets the most treasure, wins! It sounds pretty straightforward but there are several things that throw a wrench in your plans. For instance, everyone has a boarding party card which automatically beats all others. If two pirates board the same ship at the same time, though, nobody gets the treasure. Also at the end of the rounds, the card you have left determines if you capture the governor, who is worth a substantial amount of points. Get out your thinking caps people. Or maybe I should say “pirate” thinking caps! Arrr!

Currently, you can only play against computer opponents. This is a bit lame, but it looks like they will be implementing multilayer options at some point. Don’t get me wrong, the computer opponents are pretty difficult to beat. I was playing on the “Cabin Boy” setting and they were still shivering me timbers. The graphics are very well done and the sound effects are decent. It’s the music that really stands out, though. It’s great! Makes you feel like you’re sailing the high seas searching for booty.

Ship of Fools Games has done an outstanding job with Treasure Fleet. If you are looking for a strategy card game with an awesome pirate theme, then look no further.

iTunes Link – Treasure Fleet
Version 1
Reviewed on iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.2

Tags: $.99, Games

Music Catch

Tony Mei | Jan 28, 2010 App Sale Alert, Games

User rating: (6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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Edit: It would seem Music Catch is on sale for free. Better get it quick, if you’re interested.

The Good: Music Catch is a fantastic, zen-like game made by Reflexive Entertainment. The game was an absolute favorite of mine on the computer (http://www.reflexive.com/index.php?PAGE=WebGamePlay&WGID=94), and I was super excited stumble upon it on the app store.  Game play is wonderfully calming: just move your fingers to collect shapes while beautiful ambient music plays in the background. Things like bonus multipliers and point-collecting vacuum cleaners add a bit of spice to the game play.  Frankly, enough apps are made about slashing enemies or shooting others, and it’s nice to wind down a hard day of violent gaming with a bit of Music Catch.

The Bad: Those seeking a more active game will get bored easily by the zen-like feel. I was hoping for some sort of online leaderboard or stat tracking – OpenFeint and the like. The replay value is inherently low (the game has four songs that each take a few minutes), but I did find myself drifting back to the game, even after I thought I was sick of it. After the first few rounds, Music Catch will only end up catching your attention for a few minutes before drifting away.

The Ugly: To be honest, I couldn’t find any glaring negative qualities about Music Catch. Again, this game would benefit from more development. Things like online integration, leader boards and more songs would make this already good app pretty darn great.

Tags: casual, free, game, Music, relax, sale

App Sale: Classics

Tony Mei | Jan 27, 2010 App Sale Alert, Books

User rating: (5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)

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Classics is on sale for free – normally $2.99

Classics is an extremely impressive book library for your iPod Touch and iPhone.

Classics is streamlined, quick, and doesn’t lag, unlike many other book apps. The library to choose from is pretty unique, ranging from The Call of the Wild to The Art of War, and the selection is pretty beefy, clocking in about 20 full-length works.

The books are a joy to flip through, and the app has a set of rather neat features (bookmarks, reading multiple books at once) that set it apart from other mobile bookshelves.

Andrew Kaz and Phill Ryu created an impressive app that’s already a favorite in the app store, and is a fantastic deal right now.

Edit: Almost forgot this link again, but I caught myself. I’m learning.

iTunes Link – Classics

Tags: book, free, sale

Q&F: IMDb

Brad H | Jan 26, 2010 Entertainment, Quick & Free

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

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“Remember that one movie with that one guy?” This actually came out of my mouth once. I like movies as much as the next guy but I just can’t remember important things like names and titles. Then there is the whole “He looks familiar what movie do I recognize him from?” No longer will these questions haunt me now that there is an IMDb app. Not only can you search IMDb you can check local show times, find out what movies are coming out soon, box office results, top 250 movies, a TV guide,  recaps of TV shows spoilers included, what stars were born that day, and more. So if your like me and your not a movie encyclopedia, do yourself a favor and get the IMDb app.

iTunes Link – IMDb

Version 1.0

Reiviewd on iPhone 3G OS3.1.2

Tags: Entertainment, free

Momento

Michael E. | Jan 25, 2010 Lifestyle

User rating: (7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)

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If you’ve ever thought about starting a journal or diary, but failed to because you just didn’t have the time, I have got the perfect app for you:  d3i’s Momento.  Do you have a FaceBook account?  Do you tweet?  Listen to Last.fm?  Upload pictures to Flickr?  Even better!  Momento will import your FaceBook and Twitter updates, any Last.fm tracks you choose to favorite (I know I violated a grammar rule or two just then), and Flickr pics into its daily logs so that you have a nice, on-the-go mobile journal or diary without doing anything more than what you’re probably already doing.

Of course, if you’re feeling a little more wordy, your journal or diary does not have to be limited to online status updates or tweets.  You can write more lengthy entries with Momento.  And you can rate your entries, create tags and mark moments, people and places as memorable so that you can quickly search and browse through them later.

Momento is an ingenious app and you can clearly tell that the developers put a great deal of time and thought into its details.  It looks great and works beautifully.  If you don’t want to import one or more of your online personas into the app, you do not have to.  For example, though I have a Flickr account, I’m not much of a photo guy.  If I were, the ability to import my pics through Flickr would be a valuable ability, one that would bring color and variety to my entries. 

d3i says that there will be some exciting updates in the near future.  I can’t wait to see what they are and begin using them.  There isn’t much I could think to add to this brilliant app, but a few enhancements do come to mind.  For example, the ability to write entries in landscape mode, ability to choose font size, or to import either links to or full texts of personal blogs would make this an even more outstanding app.

2010 is a brand new year and the beginning of a whole new decade.  Why not begin to record those special moments as they unfold with Momento?

Momento

Version 1.0.2

Reviewed on iPod Touch 3.1.2

Tags: $2.99, journal/diary writing, Lifestyle

App Crate

Michael E. | Jan 24, 2010 Utilities

User rating: (5 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)

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The Boy Scouts of America have a motto nearly every adult male knows by heart.  The motto?  Be prepared.  Although I was never more than a Cub Scout myself, I’ve always admired that motto and, whenever possible, tried to live my life according to it.

One of the easiest ways to be prepared in life is to own a Swiss Army knife.  There’s just something about a Swiss Army knife and its many uses that I find comforting.  An iPhone or iPod Touch with its many various applications is a kind of technological Swiss Army knife capable of performing a number of different functions.

But is there a multi-function knife for the iPhone or iPod Touch?  Actually, there is, and it would have to be Ryan Bertrand’s App Crate.  This one app houses 33 different applications, any one of which you could find in the App Store listed at a price similar to or much higher than the current sale price of this one.  Think about that: over $30 worth (if not much, much more) of applications available to you for less than a dollar.

I know what you’re thinking: what exactly would I be getting for .99 cents? 

Facebook and Twitter updaters, Notes, Voice Memo, Fake Call, Fake SMS, RSS Reader, Flashlight, FullScreen Private Web Browser, Battery, Multi-function Camera, Battery, Random Number Generator, Bubble Level, Light Strobe, Tip Calculator, Password Generator, Altimeter, Metronome, BMI Calculator, Emoji Enabler, Task Timer, Parking Spot Locator, Periodic Elements Listing, and 8 other applications.  Granted, a few of them will only work on the iPhone and not the iPod Touch (e.g, Camera, Walk-N-Text, Teslameter, etc.), but even taking those  into account, I found myself very impressed with the extensiveness of offerings.

And at its current .99 cent price tag, App Crate is irresistible.  The applications worked well for me and I didn’t experience a single crash.  So if you’re in the market for the Swiss Army Knife of iTunes Apps, App Crate will definitely give you the most bang for your buck. 

AppCrate 

Version 1.1

Reviewed on iPod Touch 3.1.2

Tags: $.99, Utilities

NineGaps

Brad H | Jan 24, 2010 Games

User rating: (4 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Let me take you back to 2006, when sudoku is all the craze and I was caught up in it. I had the books, I had a solving method, and I despised when people called it suduko. Fast forward a bit and I had lost the drive to solve the puzzles. It just wasn’t challenging enough so I retired my pencil. Smash cut to now. Enter Quadion Technologies with NineGaps and I am pulled right back in.

NineGaps isn’t your Dads sudoku. Cut out one 9 square section throw in some plus, minus, multiplication, and division symbols between the squares.  Place sum totals after each column horizontal and vertical. Then you have to figure out where the 1-9 numbers go on the board so all the totals match up. There are five levels of difficulty to choose from. Novice starts you out with four numbers placed on the board, Medium three, Advanced two, Expert one, and finally Master where you have to figure out where all nine numbers go. As if solving the puzzle isn’t hard enough you also get to race the clock. Your best time for each level of difficulty is saved. NineGaps uses Open Feint for Leaderboards and Achievements.

The art is simple but works well. Everything in the game is a different piece of paper. The main menu is page ripped from a spiral notebook, the difficulty menu is a coffee stained napkin, and the game is played on a piece of graph paper. The game play is easy to pick up and hard to put down. With so many different variations of sums you’ll almost never play the same game twice. The only thing I could suggest would be to have a penalty when your column doesn’t equal the right number.

$.99 is the perfect price for a good brain exercise that’s challenging and fun.

iTunes Link – NineGaps

Reviewed on iPhone 3G OS 3.1.2

Version 1.2

Tags: $.99, Games, puzzle