* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

Flysoft’s rating: 9.0
IAR’s rating: 7.0

Russian developer Flysoft arrives in the Nick of time (see what I did there?) with a nifty little holiday messaging app called SMS-BOX Christmas Time!  Does it send visions of sugar plums dancing through your head or give you a case of the humbugs?  Flysoft is pretty confident it’s the former so let’s see what they have to say first then I’ll try to confirm or deny with plenty of opinions along the way. 

Flysoft’s summary:

What SMS-BOX Christmas Time! does:

The following option might be added – integration to contact list, so that user can see whom he had already congratulted, whom – not.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

- increasing the number of texts and cards

IAR’s take:

In a nutshell this app lets you send either text-based (via SMS) holiday messages or quite artfully created greeting cards (via MMS).  Oh you can use email too but texting is so much more fun isn’t it?  Yes, we know the Apple SDK prohibits 3rd party apps from talking directly to the ’Messages’ app but hey, they can still talk INdirectly right?  As a workaround the app copies your message/card to the clipboard then closes itself down and launches the Messages app where you simply paste and send.  Not elegant of course but it gets the job done and works just fine (not to mention there’s no other choice anyway).

Having someone else do the thinking for you is nice sometimes so the wide variety of text greetings is a good thing.  In fact, they’ve got them organized into the following categories: Wishes For, Happy New Year, Toasts, Jokes, Short Poems, Invitations and X-mas.  A few problems do exist however.  The grammar and syntax are not always accurate and there are several duplicated entries in the Toasts section so a little QA/QC wouldn’t hurt.  Fortunately, you can edit/change every greeting within the Messages app before tapping send.  Also, and this is of course just my opinion, many of the messages are kinda sappy/silly and it would be hard for me to find situations where I’d use them as opposed to just composing my own text messages to friends and family.

Fortunately however, the real highlight of this app is the greeting cards.  It should be noted that unless I’m seriously missing something, the paid app has 39 cards, not 50 (perhaps the Lite has 11 others?).  Anyway the cards are illustrated quite skillfully and make for good holiday eye-candy.  Each one comes with a default caption but as with the text greetings, they are often grammatically incorrect or just simply make no sense (probably just yer basic translation issues going from Russian to English).  Fortunately, you can edit/change these as well before you send which is great and adds a lot of value.  Useful hint: you can easily turn a text greeting into a card caption without leaving the app by just pasting it in.

Note the paid app (not sure about Lite) is not for kids as it contains some adult humor and subject matter.  Oddly, I didn’t receive the standard Apple warning about this when downloading the app although Flysoft does represent this fact adequately in the iTunes description.

My biggest suggestion to make this app better is to add more content to the greeting cards as in my usage this was the exclusive reason to load it up (and as mentioned whoever did the art for them is quite good).  Also, I’d love to see landscape support added to make typing captions for the greeting cards easier for the more fat-fingered among us.

Hold on to your sleighbells folks, the developer was kind enough to provide 10 promo codes for us to publish so head on over to the comments section!

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

mPassport Paris is on sale for free – normally $2.99

HTH Worldwide’s rating: 9.0
IAR’s rating: 9.0

I’ve done some traveling in my day, and when you don’t speak the local language it can be pretty hard to get what you need! Luckily I’ve only needed food, bars, and bathrooms for the most part so the language barrier wasn’t really a huge concern, but I imagine I’d be singing a different tune if I needed to be inspected by a doctor or locate some drugs of the legal variety.

mPassport Paris is designed for exactly that situation… whether you need a dentist, a shrink, a pharmacy, or pretty much any other medical service, this app will find it for you if you’re in The City of Light or, as most Americans know it,  The City of Hot Lovin’.

HTH Worldwide’s summary:

What mPassport Paris does:

The app features detailed profiles of nearly 100 carefully selected, English-speaking, Paris-based physicians and dentists as well as an appointment scheduling concierge function that helps travelers arrange office visits with these providers on short notice. The application makes full use of the iPhone’s mapping and GPS tools to help visitors to Paris find the shortest route to convenient care.  It even allows users to choose a Paris landmark or neighborhood as their  point of departure; this feature  allows users to  plan ahead when reviewing their options.

mPassport Paris also maps and profiles the local notable hospitals and pharmacies and provides brand name equivalents for over 350 common prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Built-in translation tools allow users to play audio of hundreds of key medical terms and phrases in French.

What this app does right:

Everything is easy to find and use.  Convenient features such as auto-saving recently viewed items, and  manual-saving for repeat viewing are built-in.  All of the information is downloaded onto your iPhone or iPod touch so that it works even without an Internet connection.  Of course, using the mapping features and Google Maps for walking or driving directions as well as sending an appointment request require a connection.

Where this app needs to improve:

There are a few things that will be fixed in the next update.  The pushpins colors used for your location and the location of the doctor, hospital or pharmacy you are viewing get switched when you jump to Google Maps (red and green to green and red, respectively).  Also, when working with locations, it would be helpful to be able to see all of the Paris landmarks on the map at once.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

Right now, other cities are only available through our mobile website at http://www.mpassport.com. Keep an eye out for additional destination-based iPhone apps in the near future!

IAR’s take:

Most of these POV posts follow a very distinct pattern in the ratings department: the developer gives their app a nice high score, and we give it a lower score because the app usually isn’t quite as good as the maker thinks it is.

mPassport Paris is definitely an exception to that rule. HTH Worldwide gave themselves a score of 9.0 which indicates that they think the app is REALLY good but still has some room for improvement, and I have to agree with them!

My travels so far haven’t included Paris, but I’ve been to Korea and Thailand and, if I wanna really stretch it, Windsor, Canada and Tijuana, Mexico. Ok, so I haven’t truly visited Canada or Mexico but I’d feel a whole lot better about going nuts in Tijuana if I had a Tijuana-centered app like mPassport Paris in my pocket.

If you’re going to Paris anytime soon and are reading this right now, consider yourself lucky because (a) the app is currently free, and (b) it really is as good as HTH says it is. It contains phone numbers and mapping for a whole bunch of doctors that do everything from general practice to dentistry to pediatrics to obstetrics to cardiology to urology to… well, you get the point. Everything is, as HTH says, easy to find, but the features that impress me most are the built-in English/French translations for a ton of medical terms and the drug equivalency guide which tells you what your drugs are called locally and/or on the generic market. Chances are a legitimate doctor will know what to prescribe without you having to refer to the drug guide, but the peace of mind this kind of thing could bring is potentially huge since language barriers and prescription drugs can make for a very bad combination.

The medical translations section is especially nice because it’s really thorough and includes a search function. You can browse by category such as allergies, body parts, medical history, etc. or you can just look at All English Phrases and search for a keyword that describes your ailment. Each translation includes a spoken French recording and, like all other items in this app, they can be saved to a list for quick access.

As for improvements, HTH refers to the pushpin colors being reversed when you access the in-app map for a doctor or other location. The colors of the pushpins don’t really bother me, but the thing I’m surprised this app doesn’t do is either give directions or provide a link to the native Google Maps app to help you get from Point A to Point B. Currently, when you look at a map in mPassport it will show you your current location or a preselected landmark location, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to get step-by-step directions. Granted, I’m not in Paris so it’s possible that directions might actually appear when using Current Location, but when I designate a landmark such as Champs-Élysées the directions aren’t part of the app. Sure, I could write down the address, exit the app, and manually enter it in the Google Map app, but I was kind of hoping mPassport would make that process easier.

Another thing I’d like to see this app do is allow reordering of the Recents and Saved screens. It’s cool that mPassport saves every item you view under Recents and the Saved thing is also handy, but when you go to edit those screens all you can do is delete. Changing the order isn’t an option.

Overall, this app is really good at doing its job. Even the in-app appointment setting function works as advertised… I submitted a request for an appointment and, 90 minutes later, got an email from an HTH staff member! Nice. If I were planning to head to Paris and had health issues I’d pay good money for this app because asking Parisian strangers for medical help doesn’t really sound all that fun! And even if you’re just a Be Prepared type of traveler it would still be good to have this angle covered in case something comes up.

Since the app is free, grab it even if you think you *might* visit Paris at any point during your lifetime. It’ll give you a good idea of what the app is like, and if HTH Worldwide releases versions for other cities that you’re actually going to visit then you’ll know what you’re buying when the time comes.

iTunes Link – mPassport Paris
Version 1.0
Tested on iPhone 3G OS3.1.2

* POV is sponsored by the developer

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

TipCat Mobile’s rating: 8.0
IAR’s rating: 8.0

TipCat Mobile (a CWC company) has certainly made a splash with their first action game for the iPhone called Cell War.  It’s an arcade shooter, a horizontal shmup to be exact (and we’re all about exact here at IAR).  There’s no shortage of these babies in the app store so does it carve out a niche or simply step to the back of the line?  TipCat tells us it’s the former and I tend to agree…read on for their capsule review followed by the comments of yours truly in the name of all that’s honest and fair.

TipCat Mobile’s summary:

What Cell War is about:

Where this app needs to improve:

We aren’t satisfied with the art style which we implemented in the game.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

More levels if players like the game.

IAR’s take:

Cell War takes me back to the glorious 16-bit days of the Amiga for which some of the finest shmup’s ever were released…it would have been right at home on that lovely machine.  Getting back on track, the backstory here is that you’ve been shrunk to micro-scale and must wage bio-war against viruses inside some random human.  That’s all I can say about the story because quite frankly that’s all there is to it and even that mere morsel was only learned from the app store description; the game itself makes no mention at all.  I guess what I’m saying here is there’s no story so…movin’ on.  The controls are done quite well and that’s a relief since controls are truly a ‘make or break’ situation in an iPhone shooter.  You tilt to move your ship (which autofires), tap enemies to launch missiles and touch the lower corners of the screen to detonate a smart bomb which wipes out all (or at least most) enemies onscreen and also serves as a bullet shield in boss fights.  A really nice feature is that you can pause at any time and recalibrate the accelerometer.

Music, sound, graphics, tutorial - agree, all very nice.  Not spectacular or mindblowing by current standards but…quite pleasant.  The graphics are crisp and colorful if a wee bit lacking in overall detail, the sound fx never get dull or annoying and the music is a nifty bit of ambient electronica, even a little spooky actually.  The tutorial is interactive and effective; wouldn’t change a thing there.

The gameplay is laid out in classic fashion with 9 stages consisting of lots of stuff to shoot, weapon upgrades to snap up, mini-bosses interspersed and the de facto big boss at the end of each level.  All the shmup fans out there won’t be disappointed here as the ‘bomb carpet’ we know and love is alive and well in the boss fights.  Powerups are gained by killing certain groupings of baddies or sometimes just sitting in out of the way locations which result in cool stuff like an extra life or smart bomb, health boost and of course more powerful guns (and lasers!).  I really like the gameplay elements presented and I get the feeling of ever so slight homages to classics like Scramble and Vanguard (the game does actually go semi-vertical in some stages) and the missile implementation reminds me of Space Deadbeef, one of the first shmups ever for the iPhone.  What I mean is this game certainly stands alone perfectly well but I do welcome the familiar elements.  I’m not sure what’s meant by ‘arcade modes’ unless once you beat the game you unlock new ones; certainly at the onset there is just 1 mode.  That’s a nice segue into the fact that even on easy this game is a serious challenge so I wasn’t able to beat it all the way through for the review.

Rarely at a loss for gripes am I and so it is with this game as well.

• The presentation has almost nothing to do with the supposed backstory about cellular warfare beyond some red-heavy (aka blood) background colors.  The dev mentions as much above and I definitely agree; a different art direction emphasizing the feeling of being inside a human body would have gone a long way to giving the game more character and identity.
• MAJOR PET PEEVE –  if you attempt to exit (what you would think is) gracefully using the ingame pause menu you LOSE ALL PROGRESS and have to restart from square one next time you play.  It appears you literally have to exit with the home button to be able to resume your game at the currently achieved stage.

The production quality on this game is top shelf and for that reason alone it deserves some attention.  Fortunately, the game’s a real blast to play as well.  With games like SkySmash 1918 just released for a dollar, is this game priced a bit high?  Some would say so of course but the point is, if you’re the picky type that only wants a few games of each genre on their iDevice, you would not go wrong with Cell War for those times when you need a pure dose of action (just don’t expect a story!).

 

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

Space Lama’s rating: 8.0
IAR’s rating: 6.5

If you’ve ever been in a place where you can’t understand a word the locals are saying, then you probably know the pain of trying to pantomime whatever it is that you’re after… a memory card for your camera, a safety pin for that broken bra strap, a doctor to take a look at your massive head wound… and that’s what PixTalk is all about. It basically a collection of photos that are grouped and categorized for quick reference while you’re on the road, just in case the person you’re trying to “talk” to isn’t getting your drift.

Space Lama’s summary:

What PixTalk does:

PixTalk is the photo communication tool that could overcome language barriers especially for travelers.

PixTalk carefully selected 100 pictures that could almost tell everything needed when traveling. What the users have to do is just pointing at the pictures and showing!

What this app does right:

The sentence “One picture is worth a thousand words.” presents the core value as well as the most interesting point for PixTalk.  In stead of using translator apps to get imprecise messages, communications could be easier and more convenient by using PixTalk!

Moreover, in an effort to differentiate with other photo communication apps, PixTalk has the unique “2 photos mode” to make combination of the photo language.  It also has pen tool feature to circle and paint the items needed.

Where this app needs to improve:

PixTalk will be richer with more pictures.  In addition, we are also looking for the solutions to let users find their desired pictured easier.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

For PixTalk v1.1, we will fix several bugs including,

- takes less time (0.5 second) to hide and show the color wheel.
- in edit mode, the pen or hand icon in the bottom tool bar is highlighted according to the status.
- draw lines every 5-move-points, instead of 10 to reduce lag in drawing.
- more tries to disable scrolling when pen is selected, since scrolling in action over-rides the setting.

We are also planning to provide more pictures and add a “favorite” category to let users save their most frequent using picture in the near future.

IAR’s take:

This is pretty rare, but I think Space Lama is selling itself a little short in saying that PixTalk features 100 photos! It features around 100 photos alright, but each of those photos contains a whole bunch of items… I counted 22 items alone in the photo that shows winter clothes, so the total number of items included is probably well into the hundreds.

I like the concept of using photos to get your message across and PixTalk does a pretty decent job of providing the tools to do just that. At first I didn’t quite get the “2 photos mode”, but after playing around with it I suppose it makes sense. The only problem is that most of the photos depict nouns, as in tangible objects, and I know this probably sounds a little nuts but if you’re going to string photos together to convey an idea you might want to be able to choose from some verbs or other concepts as well. What kinds of verbs and concepts? Umm… what if your child is lost? Or your child will die if he eats a peanut? Or maybe “hurry up” because you’re about to miss your flight? Language is a pretty broad thing so there are a million ideas you may want to convey depending on your situation.

PixTalk also includes a drawing pad so you can free-form your thoughts with a very basic pen tool on a blank sheet of “paper” or on any other photo in the collection. Including this feature is a great idea and it’s functional enough, but even though the app is already on version 1.1 (see Features and Improvements above) the pen tool still lags and seems to draw a lot slower than your finger. And I know this isn’t really a drawing app, but some other tools such as undo and pen thickness would also help.

I like that you can zoom in on all of the photos and, even though Space Lama is planning to improve the way photos are navigated I think that’s already pretty good. It’s basically a three-tiered screen with top-level categories at the bottom (personal items, transportation, dining, accommodations, places, miscellaneous, and smileys) and, when you tap on something, the photos you want will appear right above that. Tap a photo and it appears in the big area at the top of the screen.

The addition of a favorites section sounds useful, but the thing I’d like to see most is the ability to add your own photos to the collection. I guess you could just use your camera roll if you want to show someone a pic of your dog, but if you’re going to be using this app to help you communicate then throwing in some photos of your own seems like a natural progression.

Space Lama is right in that it needs more photos but it’s off to a very good start, and even though it won’t do all the talking for you it could come in handy if you’re really having a hard time communicating with people you come across in your travels. If PixTalk can save you 5 minutes of aggravation in a foreign country, it’ll be worth the $1.99 price tag.

iTunes Link – PixTalk
Space Lama website
Version 1.1
Tested on iPhone 3G OS3.1.2

* POV is sponsored by the developer

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

Zenux Lab’s rating: 8.0
IAR’s rating: 6.0

iChowdown from Zenux Lab is the third effort in the Mr. Dumb Series, all games of which feature the same hand-drawn art style, characters, and purposely low-brow humor.  Worth noting that EP1 was reviewed by me here and EP2 is somewhat stillborn, likely in ‘Apple approval process limbo’.  EP1 turned out to be a rather charming game so let’s see what the developer has to say about EP3 and I’ll provide the IAR point of view afterwards to see how iChowdown stacks up. 

Zenux Lab’s summary:

What iChowdown is about:

Where this app needs to improve:

More mini-games.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

- More food choice will be added
- More mini games will be added
- Dual Combat mode (Eating contest with your friend) will be added

IAR’s take:

Mr. Dumb and his friends are back and this time they’ve stumbled into a cheesy buffet restaurant in Somewhere USA where it’s all you can eat, cheap.  Stuff Mr. Dumb’s face through a series of mini-games and go on a world tour, conquering lousy buffets across the globe!  Basically you start with just a few foods but as you complete ‘missions’ you accrue bonus points with which to buy new foods and this is the only way to complete the deeper levels of the game.  As mentioned, the game is really a timed series of mini-games:

• Chewing – drag up to open Mr. Dumb’s mouth, drop in some food and swipe up/down to chew.  A sub-mini-game occurs when spicy foods are eaten and you have to put out little fires in his mouth with a touch.
• Swallowing – once your food is sufficiently broken down into slimy bits, trace several patterns in succession to allow Mr. Dumb to swallow which is the only way to gain hunger points towards completion of a mission
• Gagging – too much food for sure but some foods just in general tend to cause Mr. Dumb to gag, in which case you have to swipe/push the icky bits towards the center of his gullet to restore masticular function.  If you swipe too madly here he pukes it all up and you score no points.  A sub-mini-game occurs when Mr. Dumb passes out after recovering from the gagging and you have to swipe left/right repeatedly to slap him silly until he recovers.
• Drinking – sometimes Mr. Dumb needs to drink soda after swallowing so this mini-game consists of popping numbered carbonation bubbles in descending order.

• minor and doesn’t detract from the game but a little spell/grammar check (especially in the tutorial) of the game text would be good
• strange bug I couldn’t reproduce but ran into several times where Mr. Dumb’s mouth just wouldn’t open and several critical seconds were lost madly swiping and tapping until finally his maw opened up.
• gagging mini-game is just too frustrating (and hard on the index finger) and if I had to point a finger at 1 major turn-off in the game this is it.  I would love to see this toned down a little or provide some kind of powerup(s) in the game, for example to reduce or provide temporary pardon from the gag reflex.
• better sense of which foods do what aka which are spicy and how many hunger points each are worth.  As it is right now it’s understood that you need to upgrade to new foods asap but you don’t really get a sense of why or when to choose 1 food over another.

* POV is sponsored by the developer

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

MediaBrand’s rating: 8.0
IAR’s rating: 7.0

Women tend to run away screaming when I approach and that makes it hard for me to reproduce, so in order to test drive MonsterABC I recruited the help of Ella, a sassy little four-year-old whose parents I’ve known since my first day of college back in the stone ages.

MediaBrand‘s app is a colorful learning tool that provides alphabet practice for toddlers by providing a word and an illustration for each letter as well as each word’s spoken pronunciation, plus there’s a fill-in-the-blank section where the child picks the missing letter in words like “kite” and “umbrella”. The spoken parts sound like they’re voiced by a child (good move!) and the artwork is top-notch, so I think it’s fair to say that MonsterABC has a lot going for it. It’s simple, it’s glossy, and it was able to hold Ella’s attention for waaaay longer than I was predicting.

There is, however, one major part of MonsterABC that Ella’s parents weren’t at all crazy about…

MediaBrand’s summary:

What MonsterABC does:

MonsterABC is more than just another flash card application. It’s the latest in childhood development tools, built specifically for the iPhone.

What this app does right:

This game features beautiful illustrations that keep kids interested throughout their tour of the alphabet.

Where this app needs to improve:

Need to improve user interaction when the game first opens – can be difficult to understand for some. Need to add more words.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

Additional words, free pc/mac version with every purchase

IAR’s take:

At startup, you can tell immediately that a lot of care went into the visual design of MonsterABC. MediaBrand is right… it has beautiful illustrations that keep kids interested. The startup screen is very basic with the only instruction being “choose!”, and this is another area where I’m in agreement with the developer’s take… it may not be difficult for geniuses like me, but if you’re just a year or two out of diapers it could be hard to figure out what “choose!” is referring to (letters or words). It’s good to see that MediaBrand is already aware of that.

I’m not around four-year-old children very often (phew!) but even I know that they’re famous for having ridiculously short attention spans. Ella picked up MonsterABC and spent a solid 10 minutes or so tapping around and listening to the pronunciations of all the words and looking at the funny green monster who sort of plays “host” to the whole experience. I heard her repeating what the app said, and for a while it seemed like she was fairly into it. The thing that drove all the grownups in the room crazy, though, was how the words get pronounced. Each word’s first syllable gets repeated several times, probably as some kind of phonics lesson, like this:

(illustration) Apple
(pronunciation) A-a-a-a-a-apple

Ella didn’t seem to mind this at all and, in fact, she was actually saying “a-a-a-apple” out loud which earned some scowls from Mom. Mom’s objection wasn’t that a phonics thing was being incorporated, it was the lack of choice that kind of got her wound up. We talked about it briefly and concluded that there should be some kind of “phonics toggle” that allows the grownup to choose the repetitive pronunciation or just hear the recorded kid say “apple” right off the bat.

Another thing on the phonic repetition that Mom wasn’t a fan of was in the Word section where the missing letter might be “L”, but the recorded voice was still stressing the first syllable, like uh-uh-uh-uh-umbrella. On the plus side, the fill-in-the-letter word thing is intelligent enough to vary the missing letters; play it now and you might get UMBREL_A, and the next time you play it might be UM_RELLA.

Overall this is a quality kids’ app, and the $1 price tag isn’t asking a whole lot by any stretch. I asked Ella if she was going to play with MonsterABC again later and she gave a moderately enthusiastic Yes, so that right there is a victory. Building in more words and offering a free desktop version are great ideas and when those improvements are rolled out they’ll add a ton to MonsterABC’s value… but, as evidenced by my test run, the current teaching m-m-m-method may not jive with all parents and that’s something I’d suggest taking a good look at. If this can be addressed successfully, I think I’d up my rating to match the developer’s 8.0.

iTunes Link – MonsterABC
MediaBrand website
Version 1.0
Tested on iPhone 3G OS3.0.1

* POV is sponsored by the developer

  

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

Zenux Lab’s rating: 9.0
IAR’s rating: 5.0

Bomb Shot Recipes from Zenux Lab is a fun little app to help you get smashed drinking bomb shots with your friends (or alone if that’s how you roll).  If you’ve been out of the loop on this term, a bomb shot is very simple in concept.  You take a shot glass full of hard liquor and drop it into a glass filled partway with something neutral like cola, fruit juice or an energy drink (called the ‘wash’).  Some bomb shots are meant to be imbibed ‘clean’ wherein the shot glass contents are left intact when dropped into the glass while others are ‘dirty’ where the shot glass contents get partially mixed with the wash or even poured directly into it.  As you can imagine, people have gotten insanely creative about bomb shots over the years.  Bomb Shot Recipes aims to corral this favored pastime right onto your iPhone so let’s see what the developer has to say followed by the opinions of yours truly.

Zenux Lab’s summary:

What Bomb Shot Recipes does:

Do you like parties? Are you sick and tired of boring parties and looking for something funny?
Then, here is the application you must have!

Bomb Shot Recipes is a very original application which introduces you to the new world of drink.
You must be amazed to see how exciting and funny your drinking can be.
With just a few basic ingredients (beer, whiskey, vodka, coke, and vitamin drink)
you can make more than 20 kinds of bomb shots. When buzzed, please don’t be bothered to read
the recipes since very vivid videos for most of bomb shots are provided. Plus, the exciting popping game
helps you to decide who to drink.

With Bomb Shot Recipes in your iPhone and iPod touch, there is no boring party for you anymore!

What this app does right:

-Easy and clear recipes
-Filters to narrow down available bomb shots
-Vivid and high-quality videos to show how to make fantastic bomb shots

Where this app needs to improve:

More videos and recipes.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

We plan to add 20 more bomb shot recipes.

IAR’s take:

There’s a slight irony involved with apps that help you get drunk by passing around your expensive iPhone like a beer coaster.  Nevertheless, if you’re ok with a little Heineken on your iPhone I could see this app being a lot of fun with a group of friends at a favorite watering hole.  The color scheme used throughout the app is festive and sets the right mood, the videos are as good as advertised and the developer obviously had a good time making it.  There are a total of 6 ingredients included in the release version: vodka, whiskey, beer, cola, energy drink (think Red Bull) and believe it or not a raw egg.  With these 6 ingredients the app provides recipes for 18 drinks (not over 20 as mentioned above).  The recipes are easy and clear as noted, with one caveat: English isn’t the first language of the developer so you’ll have to forgive a number of spelling, semantic and grammar errors throughout.  It doesn’t detract too much from the fun of the app (some might say it adds to it!) but it would be great to see it polished up a little.  Most of the drinks include a video, the exceptions being Diamond which refers you to the vid for Swirl Shot, Hydrogen Bomb which refers you to the vid for Atomic Bomb and Chain Bomb which just has no video period (on purpose apparently).  As you browse the drinks you can mark favorites (nice), filter recipes by ingredient, pull up a random shot (when you just have no time to fiddle about) and play a simple drinking game.  The Dynamic Bomb maybe shouldn’t have a video as it’s the one using the raw egg, nassssssty.  In the game feature you’re presented with 6, 12 or 20 bottles and the intention is to pass the phone around and each person ‘opens’ a bottle by touching it.  If a beer bottle is picked a humorous foamy animation is displayed and you just keep passing until someone gets the bomb bottle at which point they have to down whatever shot was prepared for the loser.  It’s not incredibly exciting and won’t supplant ‘quarters’ or any other favorite drinking game but its inclusion here is welcome.

There’s no question this app needs more recipes and videos.  Not only are there literally hundreds of bomb shots in existence but this app doesn’t even include the most famous one in the world, the Jager Bomb.  Popular ones like the Irish Car Bomb and Cherry Bomb are also missing; basically this app is just a starter kit.  That said, what’s here is nicely done and if the same quality is upheld while adding as many new shots to the library as possible, this app could be a great source for bomb shot aficionados.  20 more recipes are planned and that will be a huge boost to the amount of content at present so hopefully that’s already in the works.

No real props and flops section this time, just 1 big, honking flop.  Basically, every time I watch videos in 1 section, say Favorites, if I then switch to any other section, videos will not play.  This is just about a deal-breaker and the main reason for the low rating.  Not much point whipping out this app at the bar when you have to constantly futz around and/or restart it just to get the videos to play.  The rating would go up markedly with this bug being addressed and the addition of more recipes.

So there you have it, a fun drinking app held back to some degree by a lack of content and to a freakin’ large degree by the aforementioned issue with video playback.

Head to the comments section for a chance to score a promo code, offered up gratis by the generous developer!

* POV is sponsored by the developer

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

Zenux Lab’s rating: 9.0
IAR’s rating: 7.0

Mr. Dumb – Go Down from Zenux Lab is actually Epsiode 1 of an ongoing series of games featuring the same characters (currently Ep. 2 called ‘Mr. Dumb – Toilet’ is in development with a preview posted here).  The developer is keying on the blatant silliness, apparent homage to Beavis & Butthead and pickup and play simplicity of these games to win over some fans.  The gameplay in Go Down is reminiscent of Papijump or Doodlejump but in the opposite direction so you’re trying to go down as far as you can.  Let’s first have a look at what the developer has to say then I’ll provide an IAR angle for comparison.

Zenux Lab’s summary:

What Mr. Dumb – Go Down is about:

It is simple & Funny game.

Mr. Dumb visits National Park with his friends to find something funny.
As he was greedy to take a beehive high up on the tree, he put himself in trouble.
Now, your mission is to get him down the tree avoiding the bees’ attack.
Watch out the thornbushes, the rotten branches and especially the beehives!

Tips for the Game:
This game is so simple. At first, you may find it too slow. However, as you keep falling off, it’ll be faster and faster. Eventually, you’ll find this game very thrilling and addictive!!

What this app does right:

Features
- Very funny, ugly dumb characters
- Realistic sounds and vivid graphics
- 3 kinds of control provided.

Where this app needs to improve:

We need more modes & options.
The graphic & sound impact should be improved.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

We plan to put more options and modes in the near future.
In addition, we plan to add more funny characters.

IAR’s take:

You play Mr. Dumb or 1 of his 2 dumb (and nameless) friends and start at the top of an infinitely tall tree (yes that’s a paradox but go with it).  You’ve disturbed a huge nest of honeybees and now need to hightail it down to escape their stingy wrath.  The way down consists of dropping from branch to branch while avoiding (or simply dealing with) obstacles.  Control couldn’t be simpler for this game, just touch the left side of the screen to move left and vice versa to move right.  Gravity is thwarted somewhat by each character humorously flapping their arms in freefall.  There’s no timer but even so you don’t have the luxury of planning a lengthy strategy as an impenetrable wall of angry bees is constantly marching down the screen, forcing you to descend or be stung repeatedly (in the face no less!).  There are only 2 ways to lose: run out of health or fall too far without landing on a branch.  In a nice touch, the game keeps a running tally of total meters descended and beehives destroyed across all games played.  The obstacles in the game are thus:

• branches - no penalty whatsoever
• branches with thorny vines - inflict 1-time damage
• branches with heavy vegetation – slow you to half-speed
• dead branches – snap after a couple seconds
• branches with beehives – not only will you fall right through these, you also release 2 bees that will attempt to sting you, avoid!

• The single music track is excellent and perfectly suited to this type of game but just isn’t long enough and I became all too aware when it ended and looped back to the beginning.  The game does support iTunes music but I personally prefer game-supplied tracks.  A couple extra songs and a more seamless transition from end to beginning would be welcome.
• The sound effects are very good but when playing with the music off I was surprised how ‘silent’ the game became.  What’s really missing to me is a simple (but not irritating!) ’buzz’ for the wall of bees and a ‘flap’ sound when your character is falling.  Further, the same male sounds are used for each character, even though 1 is female.  This is a huge opportunity missed as the only reason I would even want to play the other characters would be for the unique personality given to each.
• The controls could use a little fine-tuning for better usability.  As is, there’s a slightly translucent border at the bottom of the screen with score and other vitals but the area behind it represents playable real estate which is a bit confusing.  I’d much prefer this to be completely opaque and exclusive of the playfield.  I’d also really like to see the option of an onscreen control pad at the bottom as touching the playfield to move definitely obscures my view of the action.
• Where is the global high score table?  A game like this can certainly get old quickly without the world to compete against.
• Building on the prior, there’s no method to fast forward past the ‘easy part’ as once you get good at this game the first few hundred meters of descent can be quite droll.  Perhaps a system of checkpoints or levels, add a ‘hard’ mode or just ramp up the action a little faster overall.  For example, the game changes pace at specific levels of descent (when you hit 20m, 150m etc) so a hard mode would seem quite easy to add by simpling bumping these internal markers up a little.
• Powerups and unlockables – where are they?  This game would really shine with powerups to pick up along the way such as temporary invincibility, ‘light feet’ where dead branches don’t break and nuts or some other food item that quickly restores your health, just to name a few ideas.  Unlockables would be fun too (but secondary to powerups) such as new graphic backgrounds and new characters.
• More stats would be great.  I’d like to see stuff like how many branches I’ve broken, how many birds I’ve kicked and how may thorny branches I’ve landed on (can never have enough stats).  That reminds me, there’s a whole unique animation for kicking birds off branches but it serves no purpose to the gameplay.  This is a missed opportunity as well as the birds should have a function; maybe to possibly peck you off the branch if you aren’t careful or benevolently attack any bees you’ve stirred up.
• Finally just a few minor corrections and such.  In the stats section ‘total height’ should be ‘total descent’.  Every game ends with the statement ‘your record’ even if you didn’t actually beat your high score.  It should just say ‘your score’ unless you actually did beat your record.  The beehives in this game actually look far more like wasp nests.  I encountered a very minor bug which I couldn’t reproduce where during one game my onscreen portrait disappeared and didn’t return until I started a new game.

Version reviewed – 1.0.0
Reviewed on – iPhone 3GS OS 3.0.1
iTunes Link – Mr. Dumb – Go Down

* POV is sponsored by the developer

* “POV” (Point of View) is a new feature that we’re testing out *

Generic Software’s rating: 8.0
IAR’s rating: 6.5

In the words of Generic Software, Volunteer-O-Matic “takes the hassle out of everyday decisions by providing a convenient way to randomly pick a name, chore, or any other entry from user-created lists.”

There are already way too many “who’s paying” apps so Generic Software is taking that idea a step further by letting the user decide whether the question is who’s paying or who’s gonna clean the cat’s litter box or whatever the big conundrum of the day might be.

It’s a really simple concept that I could see being useful in Brady Bunch households and office break rooms, and so far this app is off to a pretty good start. There are some things missing from the app that Generic Software acknowledges and is already working on, but there are also a couple of other features that I think could extend this app’s usefulness even further.

Generic Software’s summary:

What Volunteer-O-Matic does:

The intuitive and easy-to-use interface of Volunteer-O-Matic takes the hassle out of everyday decisions by providing a convenient way to randomly pick a name, chore, or any other entry from user-created lists.

For lists containing numbers, the application provides a convenient slider interface for instantly generating up to 99 numbers. For names, chores, or other items, Volunteer-O-Matic lets users type in freeform text or select contacts from the iPhone’s built-in Address Book.

What this app does right:

In two words: usability and stability.

I believe that Volunteer-O-Matic really shines in the usability department. Little touches throughout the application make the creation and use of lists very smooth.  While setting up lists, Volunteer-O-Matic checks for duplicate entries in both the list manager and within individual lists. Adding entries from your iPhone’s address book is a one-click operation. The main screen allows users to temporarily remove entries from the next spin to make sure everyone in the list gets their turn.

Where this app needs to improve:

Currently, there is no “Save As” feature for existing lists. Also, due to the iPhone Address Book native interface, users can only select one Address Book entry at a time.

Features and improvements planned for the future:

“Save As” for cloning lists.

Accelerometer support for spinning wheels on the main screen.

IAR’s take:

For the most part I agree with Generic Software about Volunteer-O-Matic’s usability because it really is easy to figure out, plus I like that it checks for duplicate entries, and adding names from the address book is a great way to speed things up. All those parts are good and I’m glad to hear that “save as” is on the slate.

For those unclear on the concept, what the developer means by “save as for cloning lists” is that currently you have to re-enter names for every list you make, and list cloning would eliminate that chore. So, for example, you’re Carol Brady and you’ve got six different tasks to allocate to all the brats living in your house. Instead of recreating the same list of Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter, Bobby six times, list cloning would allow you to make the list once and reuse it. Yay for cloning! It’ll be a very welcome improvement.

There are still three things that I would love for Volunteer-O-Matic to do that it currently doesn’t:

1. I can remove a list that I’ve created, but I want to be able to edit the list name.

I really wish I could edit the list name! This might even be faster than the Save As cloning deal that’s currently in development.

2. It will let you “remove entry from next spin” which is great, but it needs an option to remember who was removed if you exit the app and come back to it later.

I think a common use for an app like this would be in office break rooms where people may take turns cleaning splattered food out of the microwave or buying a new bottle of Irish whiskey to spike the morning coffee.

Right now Volunteer-O-Matic is great for assigning tasks in a single sitting, but it doesn’t work for stuff that’s more long term. If you have a list called “Buy booze” and you eliminate someone from that list, that person will magically return to the list if you exit the app and restart it the next day when you need more liquor. It’s gotta remember who was eliminated last time!

3. It will only spin one reel at a time, but there are times when spinning two reels may be what you want

Let’s trot out the Brady Bunch again for this one. If poor Carol has one task and six unwilling souls, Volunteer-O-Matic is perfect because it’ll provide a truly random way to choose who gets stuck with the dirty work. But what if she actually has six tasks and wants to randomly allocate them to the young ‘uns? Spinning one reel won’t cut it because she’ll have six tasks and six names.

There are other bells & whistles that Generic Software could try to squeeze into Volunteer-O-Matic (maybe selection history?), but the app is fairly new and I’m guessing the highest priority for any developer would be to build out the app’s core now and get to the “nice but optional” list later on.

If you’re in a position where stuff needs to be randomly delegated, or if your whole life somehow revolves around random selection, paying a dollar for Volunteer-O-Matic shouldn’t be too hard of a decision. I think it has the potential to live up to the developer’s self-rating of 8, but for me personally it still has a little ways to go before gaining that high of a mark.

iTunes Link – Volunteer-O-Matic
Generic Software website
Version 1.0
Tested on iPhone 3G OS3.0.1

* POV is sponsored by the developer