It is all mainly tap and drag controls. Once you have purchased a building for example you tap to start constructing it. Then you wait until it completes or hurry it along if you can. All this is done by tapping the icons around or above it. When you first place a creature or building you can choose where it goes in your park. Then you wait for it to earn your coins. If you tap it, it will tell you how long it will be until the coins are ready for collection. All this is done in real time, so if it says you have eight minutes to go, you have that long to wait.
 
You then start building up your land by placing different attractions and creatures for people to visit. The more you build you earn coins and you can then use it to decorate your safari park with more and more magical things. You can also pet your animals to earn extra gifts and abilities and to do this you just do a small swipe of the screen over your creature. They even make noises to show you they are enjoying it!

 
You will have to place wardens in your park as they are there just to keep the safari park running smoothly. Just like how you would need them in a real park. There are more than 40 creatures to place so you can build a huge magical place. You can also go visiting your neighbours to see what their park looks like and get a few ideas.
 
The animals are bright and colourful and all giving a great magical feel to the game. It is certainly nothing different to the usual FarmVille style games but the beautiful scenary certainly make up for that. The game would definitely appeal to a younger player but there are enough things to do and play to be suitable for any age. The music is a little repetitive after a while but that can be turned off. The sound effects are magical and very suited to the game.

 
There are also in-app purchases should you wish to speed the game up instead of waiting for jewels and coins but it is possible to play without any of these. You will just have to wait it out and keep coming back into the game.
 
At the moment there is no Game Center integretion which is a shame as this is what most users seem to prefer now to manage their achievements and high scores. If you do want to share with neighbours, see what other games they are playing and find more games you can do a quick sign up to Crystal for all that information.
 
What we like:

• 40 creatures to collect and build a huge park how ever you like.
• Great UI and sounds

What to know:

• No Game Center integration
• Some in-app purchases needed if you want to speed the game up.

Dudu Rush Deluxe Review: Dudu the cute little elf and his friends are off to explore the world. Dudu along with his best friend Nunu and his little sister Ruru have set off on their journey while avoiding the enemy along the way.

Dudu Rush Deluxe {Free} by Infiworks is a fun adventure game with four different worlds and 40 levels. Controlling little Dudu is easy. You have a jump button on the left and the fire button on the right. Dudu runs automatically along the platform and you just control his jump and firing. When you approach a ledge you need to jump over it. If you fall down it, you will die. When you approach the enemy then you use the fire button to shoot at them.

You can monitor your progress to see how far you are until the end of the level by looking at the progress bar at the bottom for the screen. When you make your way along the platform there are also gold coins to collect and you need to collect as many of these as you can.

The coins you collect can help you buy props to enable you to play better within the game. There is Protection which protects you from getting hurt, airscrew which enables Dudu to fly in the air and Jump shoes which enables him to jump twice. If you don’t have enough coins you can buy a coin pack as an in-app purchase.

The game is easy to play and has really good graphics and cute sound effects. This makes it very suitable for all ages. I felt though the in-app purchases were very off putting and spoilt the game a lot. If it wasn’t for the in-app pop ups throughout the game it would be quite good fun and enjoyable to play.

What we like:

• Game Center integration.
• A game that is suitable for all ages.

What to know:

• Constant in-app pop ups.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review: The iPhone game is everything you’d expect from a Transformers game. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Decepticons – they’re all there for you to relive the movie action.

As Optimus Prime, your job, of course, is to battle Decepticons. While the tutorial takes place on the moon, the game begins at the nuclear disaster site Chernobyl. An intelligence report suggests that there could be energon in the area. You need to get there and collect it before the Decepticons do. The old Soviet town presents lots of obstacles and places for enemies to hide.

Even the easiest levels throw a good challenge. There are several controls to master. And of course you’ll need to determine when it’s best to transform between robot and vehicle modes. Enemies come at you fast and furious and offer up several forms of resistance, from hand-to-hand fighting to bombs.

Your fighting will involve mastering the use of several buttons, including change weapon, change form, roll maneuver, and special attack. Mastering those buttons and the strategies they control takes a bit of practice. So does the movement when in vehicle mode, which I found to be touchy at times.

The game is visually appealing for a nuclear disaster area. The colors and contrast make it easy to tell things apart. The music is expectedly epic and techno/mechanical. It all comes together to make the game seem bigger than the small screen.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a fun way to keep the action going when the movie ends. It’s a good action-based game that plays into the familiar story line well. There is also an iPad version available for $4.99, which may aid some of the difficulties playing on an iPhone-sized screen. But there’s enough game here to justify the price if you enjoy the Transformer universe.

Pros:

• Holds true to the Transformer franchise
• Great visuals
• Three levels to keep the game appropriate and fun
• Nice tutorial that introduces controls one at a time

Cons:

• Occasionally tricky to control maneuvers
• Some screens go by too quickly to read them
• Text on the iPhone can be small

Gallery

Pocket Warriors Review: Pocket Warriors for iPhone is a cute game reminiscent of Sonic and Tails. Your characters fight side by side to take on monsters and protect the village.

The game begins with two characters, which I suppose could be considered a boy and a girl. You can name them or just accept the default Gavin and Kelly. You begin by heading to the village to meet the people who can help you, such as traders and blacksmiths. You pick up your first weapons and then head out to battle your first monsters.

Each mission you successfully complete rewards you in coins that you will need to upgrade your weapons so you can take on the next level of monsters. Each monster has a weak spot, which you only uncover once you’ve defeated them. But that information helps you as you progress and move on to battle other monsters.

You have to work as a team during the battles. When one character is taking the brunt of the attack the other needs to step in and protect them in order to defeat the monster. Both characters fight even when your focus is on only one, so switching back and forth gives you a different perspective of the battle.

The graphics are simple and cute and the colors are bright and cheerful. The background music tends toward medieval with some birds, cows, and other ambient noise thrown in. All in all it feels a bit like a renaissance festival, especially when in the village.

This game seems a bit overpriced when compared to others. It’s a solid, basic game, but there’s not much in complexity or that anything special that sets it apart from the rest. Still, it’s a fun game with an easy to use interface. Give it a try and test your teamwork against the monsters.

Pros:

• Play either character, but you eventually need to play both
• You can see the list of missions you will be sent on
• Simple graphics keeps the information displayed on the screen clear

Cons:

• Movement a bit clunky
• Needs a bit more complexity and/or storyline

Gallery

Emberwind Review: A beautiful, challenging game, but perhaps not for the uninitiated. Your mission as Kindle the gnome is to save the world from the evil gremlins. You have the help of your trusty snow owl to assist you. Armed with just a staff, you set out to take on all that cross your path. Through difficult terrain including hills, caves, villages, forests, and snow fields, you battle on to defeat the enemy.

This is an amazingly alluring, Mario-style game, but I had a bugger of a time controlling the character, Kindle. The small control area on the screen just wasn’t responsive enough to keep the poor guy moving properly. And when I wanted to go right, I would find myself going left. I can’t imagine the troubles folks with “fat fingers” would have. There were places I would get stuck and it took a frustratingly long time to get myself out. (If I weren’t writing a review, I would have given up on the game at that point.) It did get better (or I got better) as I played on, but it was a rough start for too long. And it never got to the point where it was completely subconscious. (There is an iPad version of the game available – Emberwind HD for $1.99 – and I wonder if the difficulties with the controls in the game are more manageable in that version.)

The adventure required Kindle to traverse some pretty difficult terrain right from the start. The initial instructions/help screens were perplexing. They showed what action needed to be done, but I couldn’t decipher how to do it. After much trial and error, the controls became a bit easier and moving through the stages became enjoyable. Taking on the enemies, opening treasures, and collecting acorns became routine, if still challenging.

The story itself is rather fun. Move through the stage to rescue the villagers from the invasion of gremlins. Frequent encounters keep you jumping, often literally. Plus the difficult and varied terrain makes for it’s own trials.

The images are amazingly detailed, but can be a bit difficult to discern, as many items are quite small. The music is fun and adds to the fantasy of the game. It pleasantly stays in the background and doesn’t overwhelm the sound effects that provide useful feedback on your successes.

Emberwind is a game that seasoned gamers may enjoy. However, it could prove too frustrating for those new to the genre. If you’re a veteran Mario-type game player, this could be a fun, fantasy-based challenge for you.

Pros:

• Beautiful, highly detailed graphic style
• Challenging play that will tax your skills
• Fun characters and story line

Cons:

• Maneuvering button is not intuitive and often difficult to control
• Help is not helpful
• Might be better played on an iPad

Gallery

Trailer

Snowball Run Review

The premise is straightforward. You are a Yeti (a.k.a. an abominable snowman) that is running from a killer snowball rolling toward you. Your job is to avoid, or not, the obstacles your path. Some of the items you encounter will hurt you; some will help you. You use tilt control to adjust your running path and tap or swipe on the screen to remove obstacles.

There’s not much more to the game than that. But being simple to explain does not mean it’s easy. Like Tap Tap Revenge, the challenge is the eye-hand coordination, object recognition, and quick decision-making skills. As the game progresses, new objects are added to increase the complexity, and they come faster and in greater quantity to test your dexterity.

The visual appeal is simple, and the color contrast for game elements makes it easy to play in almost any lighting environment. I don’t know how you’d make snowball or Yeti music, so the music is appropriately neutral.

Snowball Run ($.99) is just plain old fun. The animations are funny, the instructions simple, and the game play demanding. Perfect mix of elements for coming back again and again to play this game.

Pros:

• Game builds in difficultly at a manageable pace.
• Tutorials are simple and clear. One new feature added at a time.
• Hilarious premise to the game. (Watch the introduction to find out what it is.)

Cons:

• None

Brought to you by Chillingo and CobraMobile ‘Storm In A Teacup‘ [$.99] is all about a little boy called Storm. The boy has a brother called Cloud who created a wonderful world for him to explore in a little teacup full of magic.

It is a sweet platformer and sure to appeal to all ages. You control Storm around the world using left and right controls that you simply tap. His little magical teacup also can fly! To the right is a boost button to help. Tap and hold and he will fly up until his boosting powers run out or tap several times to keep him flying up. To see when his boost is running out, there is a bar at the top left which shows it going down when in use.

You need to help Storm make his way through each level of this colourful world. During the travel he needs to collect sugar cubes as he goes. The more he collects the higher the score he will achieve at the end of each level.

Each level is full of platforms to jump on and obstacles to avoid. There might be a dark cloud firing at you or spinning blades that will try slice you out of the way. Make your way past them flying and jumping where needed.

What I liked about each level is you are given a little challenge in each. You might have to reach a key to move further through the world or move a boulder off a seesaw to block an obstacle from firing at you. Some take a few attempts and luckily there is a check-point in each level so you don’t have to restart from the beginning.

When you first start each level you can’t see everything that is around you. You can only see it when you are moving along and flying high. So you might find that when you first set off you are bumping into blades and getting caught by the clouds. In some parts you will most likely have to retry several times.

There are 40 levels altogether to complete and collect the sugar cubes. You can retry a level if you want to get a good score and try and collect all the cubes. So once you have completed all the levels there is still good replay playing it this way.

I loved the cute little animations and magical sounds. The world is certainly colourful and very appealing to the eye. The sound effects and music are great. Storm In A Teacup for iPhone is enabled with Game Center and Crystal and offering 15 achievements to complete. It also supports multi-tasking and has full retina display.

Pros

• Great animation and sound effects.
• Game Center and Crystal support.
• 40 Challenging levels.

Cons

• More levels would be great

Gallery

Cause of Death for iPhone 4 is the second text based adventure game from EA Mobile in the same style as their previous text based adventure game Surviving High School.

When I say text based I don’t mean that there are no graphics, in fact the menu’s, multiple environments and characters are beautiful in their style and detail, but all of the story is told in the form of speech bubbles and all your actions are from a list of multiple choice options and while this may sound boring, and for some it will be, the storyline is an engaging and entertaining page turner.

You take the role of Detective Mal Fallon, a smooth, edge of the seat detective who is given a career lifeline in the form of hunting down the Maskmaker, a serial killer who makes masks of his victims before killing them. You are helped on your way by help from the FBI in the form of the glamorous Natasha Williams who has a good rapport with you.

The game starts though with the Maskmaker claiming his third victim and you take the victims role and it sets the scene well and immediately hooks you in to the storyline especially given that you have direct contact with the killer.

As you progress through the game decisions have to be made which affect the storyline and affect your detective points which is how the game is scored and determines whether or not you unlock the additional bonus scenes. Some of these decision can be made at your leisure, however some critical decisions have a countdown on them so you will need to think on your feet and think fast.

For a game that is text based the action comes thick and fast and the story keeps you engaged right until the end. Not that you will find out who the killer is at the end of episode 1, for that you will need to keep downloading the episodes and keep following the story.

If you keep up with each episode and download them each week as they become ‘Now Airing’ you won’t have to pay a penny for the episodes, if however you want to play the episode before the ‘official’ release or miss it while it’s ‘Now Airing’ each episode will cost you 99 cents. In other words, play an episode a week and get it for free!

I thoroughly enjoyed playing ‘Cause of Death’ and I’m already hooked and waiting for the next episode to be released. If the standard stays this high I can’t wait to engross myself in this great detective drama.

Pros

• Engaging storyline
• High quality graphics
• Great value for money

Cons

• Getting episodes can be a little confusing

$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Dec 16, 2010
Version: 1.3.3
1.3.3
19.8 MB
Language: English
Seller: Electronic Arts
© 2010 Electronic Arts Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

Gallery

Last year we took a look at Dr. Nano – 3D Adventure in the Human Body and while it entertained for a while we weren’t overly impressed with it. Now there is a sequel in the form of Dr. Nano X: Incredible Voyage Inside The Body, so have things improved?

Certain things certainly have improved. There are definitely higher production values with improvements to both the back story and pre-game visuals. However once the game starts the game is still plagued with the same issues as the original Dr. Nano game, in fact it’s as if the developers are trying to put so much in to the game that while a lot of it is OK none of it is great.

The game sees you taking the role of the shrunken down to size Dr Nano as you travel through various parts of the human body to clear it up from infections, infestations and other nasties. Two thumb-sticks control your movement, aim and direction while the edition of virtual A button allows you to jump around.

The addition of a multi-player mode over local wi-fi and Game Center integration does make this better value for money than the original and this is very much welcomed.

As I said before though while things have improved from the original Dr. Nano game but the gaming world has moved on a lot further, while Dr Nano X may keep some entertained for a while the lack lustre graphics and tricky control system will end up frustrating most.

$1.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Updated: Dec 11, 2010
Current Version: 1.0.1
1.0.1
176 MB
Language: English
Seller: Mission Critical Studios
© 2009- 2010 MissionCriticalStudios
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

If you’ve ever played whack-a-mole then you will feel perfectly at home with Crazy Critters for iPhone which takes the basic premise of that game and takes it up a notch by adding extra animals and techniques to catch them.

The graphics are bright and colorful and would certainly attract younger players to the game but once inside and after the initial levels if it is a youngster playing the game I hope they have fast reactions as catching the animals will require some fast finger work.

After rescuing the moles you’ll move through to baby chicks, ducks, sheep, pigs, cows and eventually horses and with each new animal you will be given a weapon to add to you arsenal to aid you in catching the crazy critters. However, once you are done at the farm there are some more exotic animals for you to contend with.

Once in you possession you can enable them by selecting them from the bottom of the screen and they will be active for a limited time. Depending on your success you will earn gold to buy more weapons and be rated on a scale out of three, both of which add some replay value to the game.

The game is fun if a little repetitive, it would certainly appeal to players at the younger end of the market.

LambdaMu games, the developers of Crazy Critters, have sent us two promo codes for giveaway and you win this game for free by Retweeting this post.

Crazy Critters: The Adventure Begins! For iPhone and iPod Touch

$1.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Updated: 02 December 2010
Current Version: 1.1
1.1 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
17.9 MB
Language: English
Developer: Lambda Mu Pte Ltd
© 2010 LambdaMu Games Pte Ltd
Rated 4+
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.

Dino Rush

Dino Rush [rating: 4/5]

Dino Rush or Dino Rush Dundy’s Adventure to give it its full name is a fun prehistoric adventure where little Dundy is tasked with eating as much fruit as possible in order to get as far as possible before running out of energy.

The controls are simple with a single tap of the screen launching Dundy into a short jump while a longer press or repeated presses will launch him further into the sky.  However as mentioned previously Dundy onl has a certain amount of energy and the more time spen in the air uses up this energy.  Run out of energy and it’s game over!

Fruit is Dundy’s life force though and there is plenty around for Dundy to chow down on by simply running, jumping or flying into it and this replenishes your energy.  There are many enemies in the way though to hinder you progress and hitting any of the pre-historic enemies will decrease your energy.

Dino Rush iPhone

Eating fruit also boosts your speed from 1x, 2x, 3x and the fastest 4x and this is not only important from a speed perspective but also to complete one of the four missions that complete the first part of the game.  These four challenges are eating 100 fruit, achieving level 4x speed, reaching Volcano Land and the final one reaching the Ice Land.

Although completing these foru missions appears to complete the game there are multiple additional achievements to unlock and keep you coming back for more.  These achievements are all cumulative too and can be tracked via the Scores and Achievements screen.

These Scores and Achievements screen is on low point in Dino Rush as it appears on top of the main game screen and looks a little out of place and not in keeping with the rest of the style, this is small point though and doesn’t distract from the fun game-play.

Each time you complete the game you are rewarded coins that can be spent purchasing a variety of power-ups that normally appear random during normal game-play.  The power-ups that you purchase however are available to initiate at any point during the level, but are single use only so must be used wisely.

Dino Rush iPhone Game

The coins can also be used to unlock a secondary character in the form of Dodo but at 1500 coins it may take a while to unlock him especially if you purchase the power-ups at 200 coins a piece.

A hint at a future update is also included in the game with a greyed out game option called Free Move with Coming Soon written across it. Hopefully this will be available very soon as more options would definitely add additional value.

Dino Rush is simply addictive and is well worth a look when it is released into the App Store later today.

Pros

• Simple controls
• Addictive game play
• Cute character
• Fun for all ages

Cons

• Some menu conflicts
• Only one game mode at launch

Reviewed on an iPhone 4

Trawling the North Sea for fish to feed an irate Viking Queen is not necessarily the standard fare when it comes to gaming story lines but that’s the story in Hungry Helga HD and it works surprisingly well.

The game is bright and colorful and looks great on the iPad’s screen. It plays in portrait mode which splits the screen in approximately in half with Helga upon her Viking ship on the top half and large schools of fish swimming in the sea beneath.

The game is simple to pick up and play and after a brief tutorial you’ll be thrown into the action. You control both the bombing of the fish and the collection of them as they float dead on the surface.

Hungry Helga HD

Touch the iPad screen will determine the location of where the bomb will explode. However, the fish are progressively more and more active so you will have to predict where the fish are going to be when the bomb explodes as this will be a split second after you have touched the screen.

The dead fish will float to the surface and then tilting the device will move your ship with Helga on board towards them allowing the first mate, Gunkel, can collect them and feed Helga.

Scoring is based on the speed and accuracy of your work so it’s important to work as quickly as possible to feed Helga all of the fish that are available as once all the fish are dead you only have a limited amount of time to get them all to her.

As you progress through the levels you will find additional challenges in your attempts to keep Helga well fed. Icebergs block path of your vessel to parts of the screen meaning that any dead fish beyond the iceberg remain inaccessible, while sharks will eat from the same school of fish that you are fishing from. These additional challenges adds extra fun to the game.

Luckily help is on hand from none other than Hungry Helga herself who when well fed will offer up a power-up that will stun or kill a large amount of fish for you to grab hold of much more easily.

The game is linear in nature, this means that you will always find yourself starting at level one once the game is over. Your games are recorded to local leaderboard allowing you to compare your scores with other players on your iPad.

The sound effects and in game music are nice and certainly don’t get to annoying despite the loop that the music is on. You can always listen to your iPod tracks should you wish too though.

Hungry Helga HD is an enjoyable game which will entertain both young and old alike. It’s not immensely challenging but you enjoy it while it lasts.

Pros

• Additively fishy fun
• Sparkling graphics
• Enjoyable game play

Cons

• Always have to start from the beginning
• Local leaderboards only

Reviewed on an Apple iPad

$2.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Oct 22, 2010
Version: 1.0
1.0
17.3 MB
Language: English
Seller: Wade Lutgen
© 2010 Grid Monsters
Rated 4+
Requirements:Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Fly Effect Real 3D HD [rating: 3.5/5]

“Fly Effect Real 3D HD” is quite a mouthful for an app name! But it describes the game very well. We’re flying in a Steam Punk World, down tunnels, viewing everything on a nice big “HD” screen on an iPad, and we can if we wish wear blue and red 3D glasses to see our flight path, and objects we need to dodge past, all come whizzing towards us in 3D.

In many ways Fly Effect is simply a tunnel flying game. But on the surface, at least, a fair amount of original work seems to have gone into the idea to freshen it up.

The first thing I really wanted to see is if the 3D worked or not. It is worth noting that the tint of all old style cardboard and plastic 3D glasses are not the same. Luckily, for reasons I will not bore you with, I have a few sets kicking round my house. Obviously you need to find yourself some 3D glasses if you want to play this game in 3D on the iPad! Unfortunately neither Apple or Advanced Global Solution AGS S.p.a. provide them as a downloadable option in the App Store, or offer options on where you might buy them from. The only place I know that they turn up from time to time is on the odd 3D magazine special cover as a freebie! But perhaps eBay has someone selling them?

There is always going to be a problem with 3D on any screen other than huge curved IMAX cinemas. The problem is that the effect is ruined whenever an object that needs to appear as if it is coming out of the screen gets close to, or crosses the edge of the display. And that is no exception in Fly Effect. Having said that, if you want to experience the 3D effect, and are happy to hold the screen close enough to you to minimise that problem, and you really work to get immersed in it, then you can. It’s a great concept, and it is fun. Bearing in mind how ridiculously cheap all iDevice games are these days, at $2.99 Fly Effect is worth the download just to play with such a cool concept.

Fly Effect also plays in straight 2D. So what we should also be asking is, is it a good game without the gimmick? The short answer is yes. But there is a slightly longer one I’ll give you too…

Fly Effects controls are smooth and responsive, and the effect of piloting your craft down tunnels avoiding obstacles, flying over, under and through things is fun. The accelerometer controls all work nicely to control your flight. Frame updates are smooth. So all around it’s a fairly slick and fun game to play.

There are 10 different levels, which are all described as “Earth Worlds”. Air and Water worlds are coming in future packs. Which will be charged for. Unfortunately all the levels that come with the game, while offering different colours, variety in the textures and differences in tunnel models, do not really feel that much different from one another. It would have perhaps been a better idea if the developer had mixed in a few different levels from each of the planned worlds in the basic game.

Obviously aware of that themselves the developers are offering “for a limited time” that anyone who downloads the version 1.0 edition of the app will get the next two worlds of level packs for free. Great news if they extend that to all 1.0 users. Not so good if they don’t. But at $2.99 the app still stands on its own two feet.

You get to choose to play any of the 10 existing levels at 4 different speeds. But honestly I found even the extreme speed fairly mundane. I’d rather have lost the “Slow” option and had a “Super Extreme”.

I almost forgot to mention that when flying through tunnels you can pick up fuel and repair tokens, which keep you going and repair damage respectively. But I did not find that I was depending on these items much of the time. With the speed options all on the low side, and an abundance of stuff to pick up, it seems that perhaps in a future version the developers could offer some options for people like me, who are obviously ace 3D pilots!

However, even with those niggles and a ridiculously long name, “Fly Effect Real 3D HD” is a fun and polished distraction. What’s more it’s certainly something cool to show to your friends while lending them a pair of 3D glasses.

All the usual integrations with a social gaming services are there with OpenFeint and Facebook sharing.

Fly Effect is certainly worth a try. Even if just for the 3D implementation of a solid, if now overly familiar, game concept.

Fly Effect Real 3D – Trailer

Pros

• Nice control and feel to app.
• It’s a fun game in 2D.
• 3D is a fun twist.

Cons

• Levels very similar.
• Music not great.
• 3D is no for everyone.

$1.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Sep 08, 2010
Version: 1.0
1.0
37.6 MB
Language: English
Seller: Advanced Global Solution AGS S.p.a.
© 2010 AGS S.p.a.
Rated 4+
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

Tower Assault: Curse of Zombie Island [rating: 4.5/5]

Tower Assault: Curse of Zombie Island is brought to you by Rogue Pirate Ninja. In the land of pirates you must free your crew and defeat the evil witch doctor.

After many days of sailing the sea with your crew, you make a quick stop for supplies. As soon as your back is turned an evil witch doctor appears and turns your crew into zombies and steals your loot. Your crew can no longer be controlled, or maybe they can!

Many zombies as you may know enjoy feasting off organ parts and tasty humans. Your zombie crew are no different. Using this to your advantage you plot a cunning plan. Along the way you have found a cannon and a bag of brains. Don’t ask me where they came from as I have no idea but you have them and that’s all that matters!

Using your great skills your plan looks set to work. To get your crew doing as you want simple fire a brain in the cannon where you want them to go. Your hungry, zombie crew will follow like a donkey with a carrot.

There are over forty levels to conquer and all needing different skills and tactics to be used. At first you may need to raid a small village, burn down the villagers little house and then eat them. All to get you to the next level. Soon you will be taking down towers and fighting soldiers.

To move your zombies to the houses you move your cannon and aim for them. When the brains land there the zombies start moving to that spot. You have to fight your way through traps and taking down towers and homes as you go. After completing each level you are taken to a map. From there you can either move on to the next level or go back and do another one again to improve your score.

To control the game you simply touch the screen and drag where you want to aim, when you have it in place you release and it fires. At the bottom of the screen is where you need to keep checking to see how many towers you have to bring down or how many zombies you have left. To gain more zombies simple eat a few more villagers on your travels.

The graphics are good and detailed. The zombies and villagers are quite tiny but still easy to control. The music is well suited to the game and plays well in the background. The levels start off quite basic but I think that is more so you get an idea of how the game is played. When you progress further it becomes challenging and quite addictive especially if you like zombie games.

Tower assault is an addictive game with great challenges that will keep you coming back to play.

Pros

• Great graphics and music.
• Good challenging levels.

Cons

• Repetitive

$2.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Nov 01, 2010
Version: 1.0
1.0
39.5 MB
Language: English
Seller: Rogue Pirate Ninja Interactive, LLC
© (C) 2010, Rogue Pirate Ninja Interactive, LLC
Rated 12+ for the following:
Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.2 or later

Spider-Man: Total Mayhem [rating: 4.5/5]

My relationship to comic books has only been with the old school form of British comics in the form of Whizzer & Chips and Buster while for the super hero’s of comics in the form of Superman, X-men, Batman and Spider-Man my relationship with them has been through the form of the big blockbuster American movies, where, for the most part I’ve enjoyed them.

However Spider-Man: Total Mayhem takes us back to the comic books days of Spider-Man and it’s been beautifully recreated on the iPhone/iPod Touch to bring the fun and enjoyment of the spidey action to your hand-held device.

As you would expect with a title from Gameloft the game has great production values, from the excellent cut scenes and atmospheric music to the menu system that appears to have been lifted straight from the comic book itself the game oozes quality.

On starting the game you’ll need to select one of four difficulty levels between easy, normal, hard and ultimate with the latter only becoming available after completing the earlier difficulties. Each level is preceded with a some scene setting and the obligatory headline from none other than the Daily Bugle before you are launched into action.

Action is the key word here too as there is never a moment to rest as you rush through the city defeating endless hoodlums and of course the multiple bosses in all their colorful larger than life glory.

The controls work well, a virtual d-pad controls your movement while three action buttons allow you to punch, use your web skills and jump/swing. All these controls respond very quickly to your touch which makes the fights between you and the bad guys very enjoyable with every punch and kick seeming to land perfectly. Combo’s work here too and with quick fingers you can quickly put many bad guys to the sword. Ultimately when your power gauge is full you can also activate the Ultimate Web Combo which brings ultimate destruction to all around you.

Your enemies aren’t defenseless of course and that’s where you’re spider-sense comes in handy, using this at the appropriate time will enable you to either avoid an enemy attack or even perform a counter attack.

There is more to do than just beat up on the enemies as you roam through the city which in itself looks great. You’ll find yourself swinging between tall buildings, climbing walls, rescuing hostages and finding comic books as you save the city from destruction.

Success in the game, from defeating enemies to progressing through the game itself is rewarded with both with health to stop you from losing a life and skill which you can use to upgrade your skills. Your skills are split between strength, defense and speciality and it’s well worth paying attention to them as when the going gets tough in the later levels you’ll need more than just your spider-senses to help you!

The game is spread over 12 levels that are filled with action replay value too as on top of the four difficulty levels there are 150 pieces of artwork to be collected that any Spider-Man fan will very much enjoy and a 2nd game mode called Boss Russ where you can beat all the unlocked bosses against the clock.

If you are a fan of Spider-Man or comic books in general then you will probably love this game and for non-Spider-Man fans the game is just as good. Despite it’s linear nature I never grew tired of beating down the endless supply of baddies and the mix of fighting along with navigating the city make Spider-Man: Total Mayhem and great addition to your gaming collection, even at $6.99!

Pros

• Looks and sounds great
• Perfect movement and combat controls
• Beating up baddies has never felt so good

Cons

• No multi-player
• Linear game-play

Reviewed on an iPhone 4

Price: $6.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released:Sep 01, 2010
Reviewed Version:1.0.0
Size: 467 MB
Languages:English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish
Seller:Gameloft S.A.
Software © 2010 Gameloft. All Rights Reserved. Gameloft and the Gameloft logo are trademarks of Gameloft in the US and/or other countries. Marvel, Spider-Man and all related character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Entertainment, LLC and its subsidiaries and are used with permission. Copyright © 2010 Marvel Entertainment, LLC and its subsidiaries. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. www.marvel.com. All rights reserved.
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Doodle Jump has been one of the major hits of the App Store and there have been many similar games that have attempted to follow in it’s footsteps. Heights for iPhone is another such title although it seems to be more like Doodle Jump of Prozac with it’s laid back approach and storyline that follows a seed that was born to sleep yet dreams of flight!

As with similar games in the genre the many task to the game is to climb as high as you can using a jumping technique. The controls see you manoeuvring the seed using a single tap on the screen to jump, press and hold to make a bigger jump, double tap to double-jump and finally holding your finger down on the screen to enable hoover mode where your seed will slowly float down rather than dropping like stone.

A short tutorial takes you through these three basic moves but they are pretty straight forward and you’ll be ready to test your skills on the full game in next to no time. You may want to make use of the practise mode however. This gives you access to all 3248 feet of playing area to test your jumping skills without the worry achieving a high score. In practise mode you can also scroll to any part of the playing area to practise on.

On to the game though and it’s simple enough. As mentioned previously your task is to simply climb as high as you can by jumping on the various platforms and missing the obstacles on your way.

Most of the platforms are clouds which will disintegrate and send you falling through if you hang around too long while some of the clouds are more permanent allowing you to rest and gather your thoughts. Don’t rest too long though as your climb up the screen is against the clock.

There are clocks along the journey that will add 15 seconds to your time so it’s worth while grabbing these while you can, but you’ll also need to avoid the spikes that will send you falling back down the screen should you hit them.

Even with the clock counting down there is no sense of urgency to the game play and instead of feeling a sense of urgency to climb as high as possible or an eagerness to try again the overall feeling is one of irrelevance!

The game is pretty simple although having to rely on the movement of the platforms to move your character left and right on the screen rather than having any direct control left and right certainly adds an additional challenge to the game play.

The games graphics and sound are not going to offend you but are also not going to wow you either, much like the game itself which while fun for a while doesn’t provide the same level of addictiveness of similar titles.

The game is OpenFeint enabled which enables global leader boards and achievements of which there are 11 ranging from completing the game to hitting 15 spikes which adds a little to the longevity of the app.

If you like this type of game then the price point of 99 cents isn’t going to prevent you from giving it a go, however it also doesn’t offer the amount of options that it’s big brother, Doodle Jump has to offer for the same price!

Pros

• New twist on the vertical platform genre
• Achievements and leader boards via OpenFeint

Cons

• No left or right movement
• Not enough variety
• Too laid back

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store)
Category: Games
Updated: Jul 02, 2010
Current Version: 1.1
Size: 12.2 MB
Language: English
Seller: Alebrije Estudios
© Alebrije Estudios
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 2.2.1 or later.

One of my favorite bands is a cover band named Dread Zeppelin. They play Led Zeppelin songs in a reggae style and with RastaFun you get another cover version, this time it’s a cover version of the game Doodle Jump, again with a reggae style!

So I have to assume that everyone reading this know’s what Doodle Jump is, if you don’t you may as well stop reading now to be honest, it’s one of the most simple, addictive and popular games in the App Store and as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Doodle Jump is obviously very well loved.

With RastaFun you take control of a little pixelated Rastafarian as he attempts to climb as high as he can leaping from cloud to cloud up the iPhone/iPod Touch screen using the accelerometer to direct him.

Just as in Doodle Jump there are numerous objects that you can pick up on your way up high, from muffins and coffee beans to pepper pots and Rastafarian colored balloons they all help you fly higher and higher to reach your highest score.

There are also VooDoo Dolls that you’ll need to avoid otherwise they will render your game over immediately should you hit them so it’s important to keep alert regardless of how high you get.

While you play the game you are entertained by some cool reggae grooves and the this along with the relatively simple graphics do create a fun reggae theme to the game.

While there are no leader boards either locally or online your best score is tracked so you’ll always know what you have to try to beat. And while RastaFun’s inspiration offers you the ability to show off and compare your high scores via Facebook and Twitter all you can do via RastaFun is send your friends an email with a link to the game.

Ultimately RastaFun is not going to replace as your regular Doodle Jump fix, however at just 99 cents it’s an entertaining distraction and is fun while it lasts.

Pros

• Reggae themed fun
• More jumping, less doodling

Cons

• One dimensional
• No leader boards
• Email challenges only

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store)
Category: Games
Released: Jun 10, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0
Size: 5.1 MB
Language: English
Seller: Sanjin Celeski
© 2010. Sanjin Celeski
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Black Tie Adventure [rating: 2.5/5]

There are times when you have to presume that some higher power is attempting to tell you something. For example, if on your wedding day as you are all dressed up to the nines in your black tie, your bride to be and your guest suddenly disappear then you may start to get suspicious. If you also find out that your bride and guests have been kidnapped by serpents and hidden around the place in gift boxes you may begin to think that getting married was not such a good idea after all!

Well, it’s this bizarre premise that is the back story for Black Tie Adventure, is 2D sideways scrolling platform game in the style of Super Mario, just without the style!

The game is a little retro in it’s style, graphics and gameplay and while that can sometimes be a good thing especially when it’s been created with that in mind in this case it doesn’t and you end up feeling like you are playing a game that is devoid of any originality.

As I mentioned previously your task is to find your bride and guests that have been hidden around the levels in gift boxes. To do this you run and jump around the environment as you would expect from any similar platform game.

The controls are straight forward enough and even younger less experienced players will be able to pick up the controls relatively quickly. 2 virtual buttons on the left control your characters left and right while a jump and an action button allow you to leap up, over and onto platforms and, believe it or not, kill the aforementioned serpents with a swish of your bouquet of flowers!

It all works well enough, it just feels pretty uninspired. The levels aren’t too long and so while your death at any point results in you having to start the level again it’s not too much trouble. The enemies too in the shape of serpents are predictable in their movement and method of attack meaning that avoiding them or killing them is pretty easy too.

There are levels to add a bit of mix to them by offering portals to get to hard to reach areas as well as vertical climbs into the sky to rescue some of the more remotely hidden guests. It’s all pretty obvious stuff with no limits of platform games being pushed to where the game may actually offer some reward.

Collecting all the hearts along the way of each level results in a higher grade of score but it offers little replay value. There are 32 levels in total spread across 4 unique environments and a future update promises OpenFeint integration that can only be a good thing so at 99 cents Black Tie Adventures could offer some value for money especially for the younger gamer who is after a simple platform game that won’t cause them too much frustration.

Pros

• 32 levels across 4 worlds
• Easy controls

Cons

• Nothing new here, seen it all before
• Too easy
• Uninspiring graphics and style

Black Tie Adventure Trailer

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store)
Category: Games
Updated: Jun 05, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.1
Size: 18.1 MB
Language: English
Seller: Glen Poon
© 7th Playground
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Phoenix Spirit [rating: 4/5]

Phoenix Spirit has been developed by Spearheadgames and it a game all about exploring the forest environment. Mother Tree is ill and it is your duty to find out what is causing the disease and save her.

The game uses the built-in accelerometer to control a flying squirrel. You guide the squirrel along the beautiful forest areas, a lot like a flying shooter game except in this game you are just guiding him and flying where ever you wish to go. Along the way are check points and power ups. The game play is to find all these hidden powers to help you fight the illness and unlock different areas within the game. The main thing is to explore the huge forest and there is lots to look at, you could be playing this game for a long while!

The controls took a while for me to get used to. You just need to tilt your device but at first it was quite fiddly. After a few attempts though I picked it up and was able to start exploring along. There are also buttons on the screen for speed and jumping, you can increase speed by diving but every time I did this I lost control for a short time and went futher than I wanted to.

Luckily there are check points along the way to save you starting again and when you leave the game you can save and exit and go back where you left off.

The game features some really good artwork and graphics. It is accompanied with relaxing soothing music and makes the game have a very enchanted feel to it. The background is quite dark and at times I struggled to see my surroundings clearly. Also at times it was hard to make some things out, this might be slightly different playing on an iPad as I was playing on iPhone 3GS so wondered whether it could just be down to the device itself. Either way though it still has great graphics.

The game is throughly enjoyable and you do want to keep playing it and exploring along the forest. It is probably one of the few unique games that will keep you entertained on the edge of your seat and yet relaxing at the same time.

The Good

• Amazing graphics
• Music is relaxing and soothing

The Not So Good

• Controls are a bit fiddly at times.
• Background might seem a bit dark.

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store)
Released: May 17, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0.1
Size: 28.7 MB
Language: English
Seller: Spearhead Entertainment AB
© 2010 Spearhead Entertainment
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Jimmy Pataya [rating: 3/5]

If jumping out of an airplane, falling down and avoiding obstacles sounds like your idea of fun then Jimmy Pataya by PaladinStudios is for you.

Jimmy Pataya is apparently an extreme sports addict who loves to sky dive. His main hobby at the moment his jumping out of an airplane into what is called the Grinder. The Grinder is a huge obstacle course he needs to avoid or else he will die. His aim is to see how far he can go dodging everything in his path.

When you first launch the application you are greeted with the main menu and all you do is press start. There are no instructions to read, you are just shown a picture of your device tilting and that is basically all the controls you need. Jimmy jumps out of his plane and you then guide him with your device from left to right. As he falls the Grinder starts to appear. Its like a huge wooden fan with parts missing, you make sure Jimmy falls where the parts are missing. Each time you do he falls further down to another grinder and you keep doing that through out the game seeing how long you last. The game gets faster then slows down again depending on the pattern of the grinder. Once you hit the object that is it the game is over and on your screen is your score and also the highest score you have gained so far since playing. Each time you achieve a high score it is also displayed on your screen.

The 3D graphics are quite good and full of colour. There are some nice sound effects as well, Jimmy shouts a few comments depending how well you are doing. At one point I was ‘awesome’! The music in the background is incredibly annoying and distracting. You can mute it if you like but if you do, it mutes the sounds that Jimmy makes too. It would be nice if the developers gave an option to keep the sound effects but turn off the music in the background.

You can tweet your high score via Twitter but thats about as competitive as it gets. There is no online leaderboard to achieve high scores and trophies on it. This style of scoring game where there is just one level and you see how high you can score would normally be used with OpenFeint for example giving you a reason to carry on and play over and over beating your friends. At the moment there is nothing like that so I can see people getting bored of it quite easily.

The Good

• Good 3D Graphics
• Nice comments from Jimmy

The Not So Good

• Music is very distracting
• Limited replay value
• No online leaderboard

Jimmy Pataya Trailer

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store Preview)
Updated: Apr 09, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0.1
1.0.1 (iPhone OS 3.0 Tested)
Size: 17.3 MB
Language: English
Seller: Paladin Studios
© 2010 Paladin Studios
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later.

Sherlock Holmes Mysteries for iPad [rating: 4/5]

An Entertaining Short Adventure Set in Olde London Town

Much of the success in the world is not necessarily about how good something is but more about timing and so on the back of the recent release of the Hollywood version of Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. Warner Bros have released Sherlock Holmes Mysteries for iPad. So it certainly meets the criteria for success on the timing, how does it stand up on the quality issue?

The game is an adventure game that see’s you take the role of Sherlock Holmes in a point and click style adventure. There are two separate mysteries to solve in the game and in addition the iPad version comes with a mini game called Puzzle Boxing Tourney where you are challenged to fight your way through 12 different boxers to become the boxing champion. The style of the boxing mini-game is a simple multi-touch game where you need to touch the different bubbles as they appear on the screen. It’s a simple game and getting through the 12 different fighters is going to be based on the speed of your reactions. Too slow and your opponent will land punches on you before you can retaliate and you’ll soon find yourself counting the birds as they fly around your head.

The mini-game is not going to be the reason you buy this game, it’s very repetitive and is relatively unexciting so let’s get back to the investigations themselves.

As mentioned previously there are two mysteries to solve, The Missing Memento & Case of the Innocent Man and both are independent of each other and can be played at any time.

The game is obviously set in Victorian London and the graphics and sound reflect that pretty well. The graphics are good and help to set the Olde London Scene pretty well as do the sound effects and incidental sounds.

You start the game in a bar, a place where many a good mystery starts, and you are introduced to the basics of the control mechanism and interacting with the various characters. You can look around each of the locations by simply dragging your finger across the screen and any characters that you can interact with are high-lighted and you can click on the interact button on the top of the screen.

The conversations between the characters are well written and engaging but it’s a shame that they are all text based and that no vocal acting has been used through out the game as that would definitely made the game more enjoyable.

As you would expect speaking to the various characters will lead you the clues you need to solve prevent an innocent man from being convicted of murder.

As you move around the various locations which you can do via the map you will need to solve a variety of puzzles. These will include a hidden object style game where you search the screen for clues, a lock picking game reminiscent of the classic lock picking game and the foot chase where you need to out-maneuver those attempting to catch you.

The puzzles offer a nice variety but there is no penalty for failing any of them meaning that you can simple repeat them until you are successful which reduces the enjoyment of the game as you know that you can just keep trying until you succeed.

The game is very linear too. There are limited options to take different paths through the game and you simply have to follow the flow of the game.

The first of the two mysteries is pretty short and you’ll have the mystery solved relatively quickly. The 2nd mystery though is more involved and you will find yourself getting drawn into the story more offering a much more satisfying game.

It would be nice if additional mysteries are provided via additional updates but even without them at just $2.99 Sherlock Holmes Mysteries for iPad is an entertaining game all be it a short one.

The Good

• Atmospheric Olde London Style
• Creative, intriguing storyline
• Additional boxing mini game

The Not So Good

• Too Linear
• Only two mysteries to solve
• No real voices

Price: $2.99 (iTunes Store Preview)
Released: Apr 01, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0
Size: 55.9 MB
Language: English
Seller: Warner Bros. Entertainment
WB™ & © and Frogwares™ (S10)
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.2 or later.

In December last year we reported details about EA Mobile’s upcoming game for iPhone called Mirror’s Edge which was scheduled for launch in January 2010. The game however ran into unexpected delays and is still not available for the iPhone.

There have been various rumors about  Apple giving select developers early access to the iPad for development purpose and the iPad App Store adopting premium price model. The apps and games that will be available for the iPad on the ‘grand opening’ are now appearing in the iTunes store and if you search for ‘Mirror’s Edge’ you’ll find EA Mobile’s ‘Mirror’s Edge for iPad’

Mirror’s Edge Backstory

In a city where information is heavily monitored, agile couriers called Runners transport sensitive data away from prying eyes. In this seemingly utopian paradise, a crime has been committed and now you are being hunted. You are a Runner called Faith – and this innovative first-person action-adventure is your story.

Mirror’s Edge™ delivers you straight into the shoes of this unique heroine as she traverses the vertigo-inducing cityscape, engaging in intense combat and fast paced chases. With a never before seen sense of movement and perspective, you will be drawn into Faith’s world. A world that is visceral, immediate, and very dangerous. Live or die? Soar or plummet? One thing is certain, in this city, you will learn how to run.

The rumors we reported earlier now make complete sense and it can be believed that EA Mobile might have intentionally delayed the iPhone version to work on the iPad version. The game is priced at $14.99 (iTunes Store Preview) and this is certainly one of the most expensive games in the App Store. The game description is not very different from what we reported back in December except for multiplayer features made just for the iPad.

EA Mobile has proved to be one of the most successful game publishers for the iPhone platform and it will be interesting to see if other iPad game developers and publishers will charge a premium for their games.

Will you be buying Mirror’s Edge for iPad? Do you approve ‘premium price’ model for iPad games?

Mirror’s Edge for iPhone (Trailer)

Games with movie tie-ins have not really been massively successful on any platform and the same applies to the iPhone/iPod Touch. If anyone is going to buck that trend though you would expect it to be Glu who have just released How to Train Your Dragon: Flight of the Night Fury from the movie of the same name which will be released on March 26th. If you want to get a jump on the movie read on to find out whether it’s worth your hard earned cash.

You take the role of Hiccup, yes you heard me Hiccup, a Viking warrior in training and after befriending dragon, and in the game your task is to fly your dragon around the 3 worlds collecting everything in your site. If this sounds familiar to you then you’ve probably played either Glyder or Glyder 2 also by Glu as this is pretty much the same title with a new skin. The new skin does look good however and the cut scenes are all pulled directly from the movie itself including the characters and backdrops.

In game though the graphics are very similar just with a new coat of paint and while the islands are relatively simple by design, some may say even boring, they do look good as you fly around them and the simplicity of the design helps you pick out the collectable items as they don’t become blended in with details backdrops.

If you’ve played Glyder or Glyder 2 before you will be perfectly at home with both the controls and the game play of How to Train Your Dragon. The aim of the game is to fly your dragon around the 3 islands collecting items. You do this via the use of the accelerometer, tilting left and right will steer your dragon in those directions while tilting back or toward you will control your dragons height. This is one major difference between How to Train Your Dragon and the Glyder games in that you don’t have to be worried about thermals to gain height or worry about stalling and therefore makes this game more accessible to younger players.

At first I found that controlling the dragons flight was a little tricky and he was not as responsive as I’d hoped. However on completion of the first task, flying from point a to point b through a variety of hoop check-points all was to be revealed as you can enhance your ride by collecting different artefacts around the island. That being said the controls are simple enough that you can even fly your beast single handedly if required.

Before setting off any of your flights you can survey the island by dragging your finger across the screen, this is helpful in planning your journey and should prevent too much pointless flying around as you search for any of the 190 Collectables that are situated across the 3 worlds.

While there is still a need to fly around looking for the various collectables the game offers including Blaze Beetles and Fire Moths there is also a storyline to follow to that will take you all around the islands helping you build your dragon into the ultimate flying & fighting machine. Although it has to be said that if you are expecting battles as in the movie you will be disappointed.

How to Train Your Dragon is a sedate game, easy to control and somewhat relaxing too. If you are looking for a challenge with lots of action and adventure you’ve come to the wrong place but that’s no bad thing. As you travel seamlessly between the 3 islands completing your challenges and unlocking the 27 achievements you’ll we be surprised as to where the time goes.

You’ll find plenty to do across the three islands and while the game comprises of flying to check points or collecting various objects I found that it never became boring and was a nice distractions from the frantic action of some of the other games I’ve been playing recently.

If you’re looking for something a little bit different then How to Train Your Dragon may be just the game for you and if you liked Glyder and Glyder 2 the additional features in How to Train Your Dragon should keep you going until Glyder 3 comes out!

The Good

• Simple relaxing game-play
• Almost 200 collectable items
• Simple, intuitive controls

The Not So Good

• Not much of a challenge
• Limited variety of tasks

Gameplay

Price: $2.99 (iTunes Store Preview)
Released: Mar 10, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0.0
1.0.0 (iPhone OS 3.0 Tested)
Size: 21.9 MB
Languages: English
Seller: Glu Games Inc
© 2010 Glu mobile.
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 2.2 or later.

One of the biggest successes of the App Store was and still is Doodle Jump, a simply addictive game where you have to jump from platform to platform up the screen for as long as you could. Well Frong appears to most defiantly have been inspired by Doodle Jump but does it reach the same heights?

The story behind Frong is that you are a small frog with a dream to make it out of the bog and reach for the skies. To do this Frong will slingshot himself out of the bog by grabbing onto wooden platforms and, rather bizzarely, caterpillars avoiding bees, tree “hands” and the deadly “tree hallow” that spells instant death.

The cartoon style graphics and more functional than eye grabbing but as your frog swings speedily up the tree to freedom the graphics become’s pretty much a blur anyway and doesn’t really detract from the gameplay which is both fun and addictive.

You start with your frog, Frong, sitting in his bog with the first thing offering for him to use to launch his bid for freedom is being the previously mentioned caterpillar. Grabbing hold of a caterpillar with your frog’s tongue will give you an extra boost as you leap up the tree and because if the added boost they only appear occasionally. Frongs bread and butter for escaping the bog will be the multitude of wooden platforms spread across the screen.

Grabbing these platforms is as simple as touch them, however, don’t get to carried away as along with the safe wooden platforms there are also icy and sticky platforms that will award your frog with instant death rather than additional distance up and away.

While instant death can become easily found with the icy and sticky platforms there are additional threats too. The “dark hallow” is a mysterious creature that hides in the trunk of the tree and will grab Frong as soon as it flies over him and then there are the numerous bee’s and “tree hands” that while not causing instant death but will reduce your health by one each time you hit them. You can build your health back up again though with the hearts that randomly place on random platforms.

While Frong is a single player game only the addition of Open Feint integration enables you to compare your scores with players from all over the world and your friends. There are also 17 achievements to unlock in order to become the ultimate Frong champion.

Frong, is simple and fun and while it may not have quite the quality and simple sophistication of Doodle Jump it comes a very close second and if you are hooked on Doodle Jump then Frong could be an enjoyable alternative.

The Good

• Simply addictive
• Nice Doodle Jump alternative
• Simple controls

The Not So Good

• Graphics could be better

Reviewed By: Craig Willis

Frong Gameplay

Price: $0.99 (iTunes Store Preview)
Updated Feb 22, 2010
Reviewed Version: 2.2
Size: 9.3 MB
Languages: English
Seller: Aleksej Kuznetsov
© 2009 Gorodohan
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later.

Many years ago, too many to mention to be honest, I used to play the Choose You Own Adventure books where on each page you would have a few options as to what your character should do and you move to the page for that option. It made the book interactive and also re-readable as there would be multiple paths and multiple endings.

Well in this day and electronic age times have changed but in An Assassin in Orlandes you have the chance to re-live the choose your own adventure style books in electronic form and for first and old gamers alike it’s a lot of fun.

In ‘An Assassin in Orlandes’ you find yourself on a mission to find the assassin of the Grand Duke of Orlandes family who are being systematically killed off. The reason you are trying to find the assassin is because after witnessing one of the murders the assassin kidnaps your ex-girlfriend in an effort to keep you quiet.

Just like the books I read all those years ago An Assassin in Orlandes is well written and the multiple side stories twist and turn as you hunt the assassin. Some of the paths are dead-ends but that’s kind of the point, if all the paths led to the same result it would be pretty boring, and because of this there is plenty of replay value that will make you want to read through the game multiple times.

Before I go any further I most warn readers that reading is what you will be doing in this game a lot, that’s not a bad thing but if you are looking for action in the physical form you may need to look for your next app elsewhere as this is all about reading the story and making decision on the clues that are left for you.

Because this is an iPhone app rather than a book some nice additions have been added to mix things up a bit. Your character has four measures that also impact your success, Offense and Defense control how well you succeed in battles while your Vitality and Fitness also contribute to your overall success. The measures are initially set by the rolling of virtual dice and the virtual dice are used again throughout the game in your numerous battles where both you and your enemy will duel things out in a Dungeons and Dragon’s style battle to the death.

The battles can be quite confusing and can go on for quite a while. Also the number of dice and the number of sides that they have are not always equal and it can be very difficult to succeed in those battles.

The re-playability is increased by the inclusion of 40 achievements that you will find through out the game and while the game play is text based the illustrations throughout the ‘book’ are strong and help you set the scene of the various environments that you find yourself in. The is a lot of back story and additional detail provided in the game too that while isn’t needed to complete the game does add to the overall feel of the story and so it’s well worth spending the time going through the maps and the history of Orlandes as provided in “Orlandes uncovered”.

A game like this doesn’t live or die based on it’s audio and that’s probably a good thing as the background music is very repetitive and I often found myself muting the audio instead. I also found the app crash a couple of times but not enough to spoil my overall enjoyment of the game.

Overall An Assassin in Orlandes is a great first attempt at this type of game and for anyone who has read these types of books before and for someone who is looking for a different type of game this would be a great place to start.

The Good

• Strong Story Line
• Nice Scene Setting
• Multiple Possible Endings

The Not So Good

• Repetitive audio
• A Few Crashes

Reviewed By: Craig Willis

Price: $4.99 (iTunes Store)
Updated Feb 16, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.2
1.2 (iPhone OS 3.0 Tested)
Size: 40.1 MB
Languages: English
Seller: Tin Man Games Pty Ltd
© 2010 Tin Man Games Pty Ltd
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later.