Ever thought chewing gum and adventure could make a deadly combination? If not, try AdvenChewers for iPhone and iPad from Warner Bros. to get a feel of a fast paced game where chewing bubble gum might just save your life.
You take on an adventurous trip to save your father from an evil general who obviously has evil plans. The back story plays very little role in the actual gameplay. Once you get started with the game your objective is to simply fly through the different environments while dodging obstacles.
The controls are very simple and the initial levels are slow-paced to help you get used to them. Your character chews on a bubble gum that gives it flying abilities. The ‘advenchewer’ keeps running continuously, you tap to make it jump or tap again and hold to inflate the bubble gum and fly. Your flying capability is limited to how big a bubble you inflate, hold for too long and the bubble will pop sending you down to the ground.
The continuous action of deciding to jump, flying or gliding as you dodge various obstacles makes the game quite challenging. In each level you need to find a maximum of three birds that also act as three extra lives. You lose a bird in the case of a failed attempt as you respawn back into the game. Summon a Phoenix by finding its feather and you can fly on its back as you become invincible.
As you continue your journey to find the evil general you will cross environments in different terrains. You start with a city view with high rise buildings and then progress to volcano, ice mountains and more. Flying goo and monkey robots act as obstacles in your path.
The complexity of levels will force you to equip yourself with special bubble gums. Use an electric gum to destroy anything that comes in your path, freeze gum to render everything powerless or soap gum to clean up the goo. There are many more special gums available in the game that manage to give you that extra edge in completing the levels.
Scoring is based on number of coins collected, obstacles smashed, birds remaining and powerups used. There are many achievements to unlock in the game that can keep you coming back for more.
The game comes with a single career mode. I was able to complete 5 game worlds in less than two days. Even though one could play the levels again to collect all three birds to boost score however, more game modes could have been added.
An endless mode where you keep flying as obstacles came in faster would have been a perfect fit. Online mode where you race against your friends ghost would have also been a great value addition. With just a single career mode the game has limited replay value.
In addition to special bubble gums you can also buy gadgets to give you an edge in the game. These gadgets are costlier than the gums. This is where in-app purchases come in. You can buy extra coins in order to buy these gadgets or buy any number of special gums to aid you in clearing the levels.
AdvenChewers takes on a classic genre and bundles it with unique twists to create an addictive game. However, with limited modes it manages to burst its own bubble rather quickly.
[rating: 4/5] Click to view slideshow. ]]> https://touchreviews.net/advenchewers-review/feed/ 0
IllusionLabs aren’t strangers to App Store success, with TouchGrind and Labyrinth just two of their titles that have been big hits they now attempt again with their new title Blast A Way. Blast A Way for iPhone and iPad is a colorful physics puzzler where your task is to rescue the 3 Boxies that have been left strewn across all 5 worlds and 80 levels.
So how do achieve this task? Its quite simple really, the answer is bombs! 6 different types of bombs to be exact that will blow things up, transport you, change colors and even rebuild previously exploded blocks. All of these actions will enable you to move around the levels and collect the previously mentioned Boxies who are stranded and are waiting for you to pick them up.
The physics of the game are pitch perfect. You navigate the levels with a variety of touch controls which allow you to zoom, rotate and focus on any area of the beautifully designed levels. You can then move your character by drawing a path for them to walk along and final you can throw a bomb by touching where you want it to land and choosing the angle to throw it.
Bomb placement is where the real skill is required, direction, angle and power will all influence the final location of the bomb and where the bomb lands will influence the effect that the bomb has on the Boxies, the environment and even you, especially if you are standing too close to the bomb when it explodes.
It’s nice that you aren’t restricted in the number of bombs that you have at your disposal especially as on some levels getting the bomb to where you need it to land can be pretty tricky.
The 5 worlds are themed on different materials including wood, metal, plastic and fabric and while the structure of the worlds are similar being all made out of a variety of geometric shapes the different materials make them look great. This is certainly the case on the retina displays of the iPhone 4S and the new iPad where they pop off the screen.
It’s frustrating that as a universal app there is no progression synchronization between devices and while there is Game Center integration the 7 achievements are a little disappointing and it would have been nice to see a little more creativity here.
Blast A Way is a wonderful new physics puzzler, at $4.99 it’s a little on the pricey side but you can always try 20 levels for free via Blast A Way Free to see if you like it before you buy it.
[rating: 4/5]
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Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel is the rather long title for a new universal app from PBS Kids for preschoolers. As a father with a two year old daughter this app was a perfect excuse to spend some time with the two things I love, my daughter and my iPad.
My daughter loves my iPad and so getting her to take a look at a new app wasn’t difficult and while she hasn’t seen the original Daniel Tiger show before she was instantly engaged with the app as it launched.
The app is split into four distinct areas and accessing them is via four large buttons with images of the four areas on them for easy identification. There is the Doctor, Bedtime, Bathroom and Sticker Book all with there own set of activities and interactions for your child to interact with.
When playing as the doctor with Daniel as the patient you’ll get to interact with Daniel as you give him a jab, check his heartbeat and check out his tongue by dragging the instruments to him from the side of the screen. You can even give him a sticker to show what a good tiger he’s been!
On in the bathroom you can help Daniel brush his teeth, wash his hands and flush the toilet while in the bedroom you can walk through the steps to help Daniel go to sleep including giving him his blanket & teddy, turning off the light and signing him a lullaby. All of which can be done by simply tapping on the screen.
This is the one complaint that I have about Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and that is there is a combination of controls, some just require a tap, while others need a tap and drag and this inconsistency can prove a little frustrating at times.
The final location is the Sticker Book where your child can interact with the four environments and create their own stories by placing virtual stickers all over the screen. These stickers include all of Daniels’ friends, furniture, artifacts, animals and other items from Daniel Tigers world.
Sticker placement is remembered as you navigate between the various scenes but the only option you have if you want to redo something is to erase everything and start again.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel is a fun and engaging title for your younger children to play with. It’s easy for them to navigate and to control and what’s even better is that the audio isn’t going to drive you as the parent around the bend!
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel is a universal app and is available for $1.99 in the app store now.
[rating: 4/5]
VS. Racing for iPhone is the first game from Maciek Drejak Labs and is a top down racer which reminds me of the old school classic Super Sprint.
The game gives you a top down view of the racing track with you and your opponents taking up just a handful of pixels as you race around a variety of tracks that twist and turn around the screen.
The tracks are to scale with the miniature cars but despite their size they provide lots of detail, tricky corners, fast straights and various surfaces that affect the handling of the cars.
The game has a narrative in the single player mode where you play the role of Ryan, a rookie racing driver who you have to bring up through the ranks of five championships on your way to the World Championship Finals.
While the narrative is fun it’s pretty irrelevant to the racing and luckily it doesn’t get in the way of it either. In fact you can move from race to race pretty quickly which means the action keeps coming thick and fast.
You have a choice of controls for your car which includes both touch and accelerometer controls. My weapon of choice was the touch controls which I found very responsive. You only need to worry about steering as acceleration is automatic.
Included with the auto-acceleration is a speed boost which helps you catch up if you are running behind the leader, however this is a double edge sword as this speed boost also applies to your opponents so large leads can be eaten into pretty quickly.
This is no bad thing though as it keeps all of the races exciting right up until the last corner and while this may be a little frustration the speed in which you can replay the race means that you can get your revenge very quickly.
The multi-player options are local bluetooth & wifi and Facebook leaderboards which includes a Ghost Mode so that you can races against your friends ghost cars. These are fun alternatives to the single player mode but GameCenter integration and online multi-player would be nice additions.
If you enjoy racing games of all descriptions you won’t be disappointed with VS. Racing especially if you can grab it while it’s still free. With future free updates also promised this could be a real bargain.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
The iPad was introduced by Apple as not only a consumption device but also a creation device and there are many apps that certainly provide that functionality. However none do it with quite the ease and impressive results that Echograph for iPad achieves.
Echograph is part photograph, part video and it gives you the ability to manually control which part of the image is still and which stays in motion by simply touching the screen with your finger.
Each new project starts with a video, you can capture this using the iPad camera or use one that is already on your camera roll, this means that while Echograph is not a universal app you can still use movies captured on your iPhone by transferring it to your iPad.
After grabbing your video you are limited to using a maximum 4 second snippet and so your next task is to confirm which 4 second section you wish to use. Again this is very easy and is completed using 2 slider controls along the bottom of the screen.
Next up you need to select a still image from the video that will act as the canvas for your creation, again this is easily completed by using the slider control.
Finally you are ready to animate the areas of the picture you wish to have motion. This is down by simply rubbing your finger across the screen to bring that portion of the image to life. You can control the size of your brush by pinch the screen so that you can be as accurate or as broad as you like.
The image that you are working with will dictate how much brushing you’ll need to do but with the brush size control it’s never going to take too long. However having multiple brush shapes or the ability to draw and cut sections out of the image would provide greater accuracy.
The resulting image then has to be produced and you can do this either in high or low definition depending on the quality of the results you require. You can then share your results via Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, or submit it to Echograph, (registration is required).
You can view both your results, and those picked by the Echograph staff and some pretty impressive results can be seen here to enjoy and inspire.
At $3.99 it’s not the cheapest photography app in the App Store but with impressive results it’s certainly worth it if you enjoy getting creative with your photography and animation.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
While car racing games dominate the App Store racing market there are those that prefer 2 wheeled transport and for those people there’s a new ride in town in the form of Rock(s) Rider, a new universal game that’s available in the App Store right now.
Rock(s) Rider is a trials based motorcycle game where your opponents are both a variety of obstacles and the clock and is based in a DaftPunk style warehouse full of ramps, jumps, loops and fireworks, yes fireworks!
If you’ve played Bike Baron before then you’ll have the basic idea of what you are in for here, however while Bike Baron is cartoon style arcade game, Rock(s) Racer is more of a simulator, with a few bells and whistles added for good measure.
The graphics look great, from the line-drawn design on the I game navigation to the industrial graphics of the levels themselves you aren’t going to be disappointed and the pleasure is matched in the audio department too where a pumping soundtrack and great sounding audio effects create an environment which you’ll want to keep coming back to.
Despite the claustrophobic confines of the warehouse each level is packed with action and controlling your two wheeled chariot over and through these obstacles is fun, challenging and at times frustrating.
These frustrations come from some of the level designs which can often leave your motorcycle trapped in a position that it can’t get out of. Sure you can go back to your last check point but the fact that you can even get stuck is, as I mentioned before, frustrating.
That frustration aside the game is a lot of fun, the controls are accurate and have multiple configurations so that you can choose between virtual buttons and touch controls but a combination of them both too, add to that the ability to control the sensitivity of them means that you have no excuse to control your bike with skill and accuracy!
And the bike responds well to these controls to and after a few rides you should be able to get the bike to do pretty much as you please. Of course that may sound like the challenge to the game is over at that point, you’d be wrong though as the real challenge comes not only from control the bike but from anticipating the tracks, collecting the relevant objects and finding the hidden objects too.
All of this takes place across 24 progressively difficult levels, bonus levels and additional levels promised at a later stage too, as you progress you will unlock features for your bike and character as well as a 3 wheeled bike that you can use on the bonus levels. Once you think you’ve mastered the various tracks though you’ll find yourself racing side by side with the bosses who are out to prevent you taking their crown.
Leaderboards and 40 achievements are provided via GameCenter integration which provide additional challenge to the game and while it’s a Universal app there is no synchronization of your progress between devices.
Rock(s) Rider, despite its frustrations, is a fun and challenging game, if you like you racing action on two wheels then this could be $2.99 well spent.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
A morning does not start off well without my daughter starting the day with 20 minutes of Mickey Mouse Club House so when I received Minnie Bow Maker to review I knew that I had the perfect person to help me review it.
The premise of Minnie Bow Maker was ideal too, my daughter already enjoys building cookies, cupcakes, popsicle and many other items on her iPod touch so making bows should be just what mouse ordered!
The first thing to be noted is that Minnie Bow Maker is much more than just a bow making app, it’s also a storybook, fashion show and photography app and they all compliment each other beautifully.
Beautiful is how the app looks too, the full Disney polish has been applied to this app with high quality graphics, all the appropriate voice acting and music that children know and love. They will feel perfectly at home in Minnie Bow Maker and that’s even before they’ve started!
The first of three options is Story Mode where you can join either Daisy, Millie and Melody or Cuckoo-Loca along with Minnie and help design a bow for the disney characters. You can read along with the sub-titles or just listened to the voice acted dialog as you have to make a bow for the different characters for a special event.
The story mode doesn’t take long to play though but it’s a nice compliment to the main bow making part of the game and it also lends itself to the Big Bow Show part of the game as its the creations that you’ve created during story mode that can be viewed during the Bow Show.
Making the bows themselves is a three step process, first you choose your material, then the color and then a pattern before finally choosing the style of bow that you wish to make. At that point you get to drag the material to the bow making machine before turning the handle to see your creation drop out.
You then get a chance to select who should wear your bow, you can choose Minnie of course and place the bow atop her head which is cute, however it’s more fun to add the bow to a photo of someone by either selecting a picture from your camera roll or by taking a picture. You can then resize and position the bow to display on the picture. Both options allow you to output the results to either your camera roll or out via email for all to see!
The only downside to the app, although only noticed by me and not my children, was the sluggishness of the app which was running on my iPhone 4S.
If you’ve got a young daughter who’s into her cartoon Disney characters then she’ll certainly enjoy this, although even though it’s a universal app the $3.99 price tag puts it on the expensive side compared to other iOS apps that could entertain your children.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
If you’ve been watching the Olympics which just recently finished you may be familiar to the excitement that took place on the BMX track. If so then Mad Skills BMX could be just the game you are looking for as it recreates the experience on your iPhone or iPad in a universal app that is available in the App Store right now for just 99 cents.
If you’ve already played turborilla’s other title Mad Skills Motocross then you will be pretty familiar with the game-play here although it’s a slimmed down version, both in the fact that you are using pedal power and in some of the features.
The game includes 40 different tracks and the first 11 will provide you with all you need to know about how to power and control your BMX. Controls are simple touch screen controls which you control using just two fingers via the left and right side of the screen.
With these controls you get to manage the pedalling and the positioning on the bike which will enable you to wheelie, flip and ride the bumps at the fastest pace you can, and speed is of the essence as each race is against another competitor and it’s winner takes all.
The tracks are set across a variety of environments including the concrete of inner city, the desert and the forest and while the graphics are good it’s the physics of the game-play which really makes this game what it is.
I can’t begin to imagine what it takes to translate the physics of riding a bike in real life to the small screen and it’s obviously not easy as many have tried and failed, however, whatever it is Turborilla have found it as it feels great to ride and even crash in Mad Skills BMX.
The art to winning the game is to keep your momentum up, hit the jump to early, or too late will result in giving your opponent all they need to take advantage and disappear off of the side scrolling screen. If you take a considerable lead over your opponent or find yourself behind you can see how far you are in-front or behind them via the gauge in the top left corner. You’ll have to respond quickly though if you are going to catch up.
Completing tracks will ultimately unlock the subsequent Intermediate, Expert and Pro levels through the single player mode of the game, you can upload your scores to compare them against your Facebook friends and post your scores to Twitter also. The Facebook leaderboards do add a degree of competitiveness but the promised GameCenter integration with the next update should improve that even further.
If you are looking for the tournament features that are available in this games big brother title Mad Skills Motocross then you are going to be disappointed as they haven’t found there way into this title yet but that doesn’t take away from the fun that can be had playing with yourself!
More tracks are promised via future updates and if you don’t want to have to win your way through the existing tracks to unlock them you can unlock them via inapp purchase. You can also purchase custom bikes and riders should it take your fancy.
Mad Skills BMX {App Store, $.99} is an enjoyable game and while the addition of ghost riders to compete against would make the game even more addictive it’s still pretty addictive without it.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
AppCubby have a range of handy apps available and they have released an update to one of these in the form of Launch Center Pro. While I use the word update this is not in the sense of an update as you may expect from an iPhone app as this is a completely new app so if you already own Launch Center you’ll need to purchase Launch Center Pro again. (You can read the Developers reasoning here.)
With that controversial point out of the way lets move on to the app itself which provides a start menu like interface for all the activities that you do frequently from launching apps, texting, calling, emailing, searching the web and more, you can set all of these actions up and customize them to meet your specific requirements.
One significant change with the pro version of Launch Center is how it looks which sees a significant improvement from its previous incarnation. From the polish of the app icon to the new grid layout the whole application looks like it’s just come out of a car showroom as it glints and gleams as you drill down through the activities that you want to launch.
When you first launch the app it will already be setup with default actions which include the ability to turn on the camera flash as a flashlight, toggle the brightness, search google and dial a contact to name but a few. It’s in the configuration of the app where you can personalize your requirements is where Launch Center Pro starts earning its stripes.
The first thing you’ll want to take advantage of when you start customizing Launch Center Pro is the use of Groups for while the initial grid is set to 4 x 3 squares to set to your own actions the use of Groups open up an additional 12 actions spots for each of the initial 12. Now that adds up to a lot of shortcuts which may defeat the purpose of the app in the first place but it’s a nice option to have!
Setting up your actions is easy, after going into edit mode, (there’s no wiggle here!), you can either edit an existing action by clicking on it or tap an empty one to create a new one. From here, after selecting to create an action you can choose from one of the common or installed actions before getting the option to customize them even further.
The level customization will depend on the action, for example if you have Tweetbot installed you’ll be able to choose from launching the app, tweeting, tweeting a specific username, launching a profile or searching, while choosing the Music app only provides the ability to launch it. This is not a limitation of Launch Center Pro however but more how any given app allows it to integrate.
Not only can you set a multitude of actions but you can also set the color of the icon and select one of a plethora of images to identify your icon, similar to the images you can have if you have Emoji enabled for your txt messages.
With your shortcuts all setup you can start using Launch Center Pro for what it was intended for, launching actions. Once you launch LCP you simply tap any shortcut and the associated action will launched, while accessing shortcuts that are part of a group requires you to tap and hold and then drag your finger to the shortcut you wish to launch.
There is also the ability to schedule actions which works more as a reminder than anything, rather than actually launching the requested action they launch an alert that will enable you to launch the action, kind of scheduling lite! This limit appears to be more of a limit of the Apple approval process than anything else however.
Once you’ve been using LCP {$2.99} for a few days consistently you’ll wonder how you’ve lived so long without it, even more so if you are a heavy user of the iPhone with a lot of apps as Launch Center Pro will do away with your need to remember where all your apps are.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
The digital era has signaled the end of many companies, newspapers are the ones bearing the major upheaval as people change the way they consume their news but another industry that is having to re-structure is the paper diary and planning industry as the number of people who have diaries and paper calendars continues to reduce.
One company that is looking to adapt to the changing market is Parker Planners who not only continue to sell the paper variety of planners but have now launched an iPhone version of their planner and for a paper company moving into the technology space they’ve done a pretty good job.
The default view of Parker Planner when you launch it displays not only the day’s calendar but also your todo list and a notes section to jot down ideas that come to you during the day. This is a lot of information to fit onto an iPhone but it works well and gives you instant access to all your key daily information.
The navigation bar across the bottom of the screen give you quick access to 5 different views of your information, you can see your calendar in week and month view as well as the default day view, while there are also links to page views of all of your tasks and notes.
Navigation needs to be easy and intuitive with any calendar app and Parker Planner certainly meets those requirements. Swiping left and right across the top of the screen will jump a day forward and back, while taps of the screen will enable to to edit existing items or add new tasks, notes and meetings.
The week and month views are possible the weakest part of Parker Planner but then again considering the constraints of the limited real estate it’s never easy to get a week or month’s worth of data on to it.
Both these views do give you easy ability to navigate and view large amounts of time/data though and at any time a quick tap of any date will bring up the day view that will show all the data that you need. From all screen though you can quickly jump back to today or any given day using the Today and Jump To buttons.
The calendar integrates seamlessly with your iPhone’s calendars and if you sync your iPhone calendar with your Google calendar or Outlook it will automatically sync with Parker Planner in both directions.
Tasks and notes don’t synchronise with any desktop view though which would have been nice, there is also no iPad version of the app yet and it would be great to see what they could achieve with the additional real estate that the iPad offers.
One of the best things about Parker Planner though is the price point. At $2.99 it’s clearly cheaper than many of the alternatives and works great as a single place to manage your life.
[rating: 4/5]What we like
What to know
If you are one of the millions of players who downloaded and lost hours of their lives playing Jetpack Joyride then I may have a new game to break that addiction.
Madcoaster from App Store dominators Chillingo is a new universal game where you control a roller coaster train on a never ending journey through multiple lands in order to collect as many coins and travel as far as you can with all your lives intact.
The game has a great cartoon look to it and the multiple lands look great as you speed through them. The game starts with just a few ‘themes’ enabled which you travel through for 1,000 meters at a time. Should you complete 1,000 meters you will continue on through another ‘theme’ until you run out of lives.
The themes are based on different events and locations, so one moment you may find yourself zooming past panda’s in a Japanese themed environment and the next past pumpkins in a Halloween inspired theme. Additional themes can also be unlocked via in app purchase or by reaching 10,000 meters in the game. The in-app purchases are nicely positioned meaning that you don’t have to keep on buying them.
Your roller coaster carts have no speed control but things get pretty crazy straight out of the traps and you’ll need fast fingers as you leap gaps, loop the loop, and move up and down tracks.
As you fly along the rails you can pick up coins and smash though a variety of animals, the only thing that can kill you is falling off the track though, in fact smashing through the animals that are standing on the tracks or hitting birds that are flying past the tracks earn you rewards rather than hinder you.
All these things contribute to the variety of objectives that are set for you on each run and clearing these objectives will provide upgraded carts for you to ride. Not that these carts have any additional features, instead they just look different to prior carts, it would be nice to have power ups to make your cart faster or jump higher.
The game has that addictive quality that makes you want to try one more time to beat your current high-score or complete one more of the 30 achievements that are available via Chillingo’s social gaming network Crystal, or the GameCenter integration.
Madcoaster is a Universal app and is available from the App Store for just 99c so grab it while you can.
[rating: 4/5]What to know:
We’ve all see wooden iPhone 4S cases before, maybe not in person but certainly in magazines and on gadget shows. They make seem great in theory but are they really practical or should they just remain a novelty item?
Well about 10 days ago I recieved a wooden iPhone 4S case from Photojojo, a company more renowned for its camera accessories than its iPhone cases, and I’ve been using it ever since.
The twist with this case that enables it to fit in with the other items sold at Photojojo is the fact that the case is modeled to look like a camera.
The case comes in two parts, the top half slides down over the top of the phone while the bottom slides up and interlocks with the top piece. It’s a snug fit and the lining on the inside of the case ensures that the case doesn’t easily slide off.
The finish is smooth and the whole case is lighter than I expected to be and if you’re worried that you may get a splinter I don’t think you have anything to worry about.
The case provides easy access to all the ports and buttons including the camera lens. The camera design on the back acts as iPhone camouflage when taking pictures making it look like, from some angle at least, like you are using an old school camera.
If you’re concerned about the environment then there is no need to be as the trees used in these cases come from sustainable forests and while at $42 it may not be the cheapest case you can get its certainly eye-catching and unique. You can purchase the case from here plus they’ll throw in a free screen protector too!
The wooden iPhone 4 / 4S camera case from Photojojo is both quirky, unique and practical in equal measure making it an easy decision to purchase if you want to stand out from the crowd, especially if you have a passion for photography.
[rating: 4/5]What we like:
What to know:
Commit is a simple app that helps you with committing to something. Features are not what this app is about. Its about committing to something and tracking it to provide motivation. The idea is to keep track of how well you are doing on your commitment.
The simple interface of Commit for iPhone is what makes it so appealing to me. When I think about committing to something, the trouble I have is staying motivated. Commit aids in this process by tracking just how many days you’ve done what you’ve committed to.
Commit’s alerting system reminds you to track or do the task that you have committed to do which is great. The process is as simple as typing in what you want to commit to and you have the option to set up a reminder. Commit will ask you if you have done what it is that you have committed to and if you have you click “Yes”, the end. This is clutch in that when you’re 
committing to do something everyday, you don’t want to have to commit to a multi-step task to track that you did it. You need something as quick as putting a check mark on a sheet which is what Commit does.
As I mentioned before, this app is not going to wow you with the features. It is going to seem dead simple and that’s the idea. Commit will give you an app to check commitments that is easy to pop in and pop out of without getting distracted. I have committed to things like writing a review a day and changing at least one of my newborn son’s diapers a day.
[rating: 4/5]
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Brought to you by Qubic Games My Little Garden is a fun garden simulator for your iPhone. Plant and grow flowers in your magical garden completing tasks and achievements along the way.
You are in control of the little garden fairy. Help her plant flowers and vegetables that she can sell or use in tasks to earn coins. To start with you are given a small piece of the garden. In this area start planting flowers to sell.
When you have a flower starting to grow then you have to start looking after it. You do this by giving it water, light and fertilizer. When you tap on the plant you are growing it will display icons for you to choose what action you want to do. Tap on the one you need and the little fairy will help.
You then look after the plant keeping it happy until it is fully grown. When it is ready you then have the option to sell the plant or if you have accepted a task, use it for that. You do not have to do tasks but they will earn you coins which you can use to expnad your garden and buy more items. So for example one of the tasks I had was from a visiting hamster who needed some carrots to be delivered. So once you have accepted this task you then need to start growing that product and be ready to give him his order. Once you do you will be rewarded for it and also unlock more plants.
The coins you earn can be used to buy from the range of 18 different plants. You can also choose to decorate your garden with stones and ornaments like gnomes and a magic bench. There are many to select and all costing different amounts. There are also pets that you can purchase. These are all very friendly and helpful in their own unique way. The cat helps increase the water, light and fertilizer a plant has and then there are other pets like frogs who will sprinkle the plants with water for you. You can also use magic on your plants which speeds up the growing process. Magic rain, Magic sun and Murky mist.
All the meus for each section are kept on a side bar to the right and it is very easy to use and follow. If you do need some help or forget a task then there is a diary. There you will find a help section and a reminder of the current task you are doing. You can also use this menu section to purchase more coins, gold or hearts via in-app purchases.
The game is suitable for all ages. The animals and plants are animated and make great cheery, happy noises. It would definitely appeal to a young person. You can design the garden as big or as small as you like. So how challenging you make it is up to you. It is a great game to play that is a refreshing change from the usual farmville type of games currently available. There is no need to be popping in and out of the game constantly to see if your plant is growing. You can play it at your own pace.
The only thing that I could see players requesting is the ability to visit friends and their gardens. This could be done by adding Game Center integration and then tasks and achievements could be added in there to compete with your friends.
Touch Reviews [rating: 4/5]
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ParkBuddy Review: Who hasn’t gone somewhere, whether it be a concert, sporting event or to a mall to shop and forgot where they parked? ParkBuddy is an app that looks to remedy this problem with an easy to use interface.
ParkBuddy keeps things very simple while providing all of the necessary features that one might want when trying to remember where they parked. When I used to go shopping with my mom, she would always forget where we parked and I’d have to intervene and remind her. I often thought, what would happen if i wasn’t here, this is where ParkBuddy saves the day.
The true beauty of ParkBuddy is in the simplicity. You launch the application. You are greated by a few choices: select mode of transportation, if you’d like to take a picture, take notes and finally “Park”. I selected “Car”, took a picture of my parking spot, wrote down the parking spot number and then hit “Park”. When I hit “Park” it takes my latitude and longitude and stores them for when I return. You’ll then see the “Current Parking” screen which allows you see all of the things you have input into the app for your current parking spot.
When you select “Return”, you will see a map that shows where you are in relation to your parking spot. Two options appear that allow you to “Navigate To My Vehicle” or delete this parking instance. Selecting the navigate option will take you to the Maps app and give you directions on how to get back to your vehicle and all of the optional routes. I thought this was very nice especially for those who live in metro areas. As you can tell, the app give you three main options on how to track where you park but I think its the only three you might need and they are all rolled up into one app.
I used the app today at a local park and it was great. It was dark so the picture I took was not very useful and the parking spot doesn’t have numbered parking slots so the mapping feature was my saving grace but the same could be said for the other two features in other situations.
I am going to be gifting this application to my mom and my wife as an early Christmas present so I don’t have to worry about them getting lost when they go to the mall anymore.
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[rating: 4/5]
Island Wars Review: The game is brought to you by Movisol and it is their first game on the app store. The Penguin and the Tortoise are at war. The North Pole penguin wants to take over the beautiful island and build his dream seaside resort. The tortoise who currently happily lives there is now having to defend is home from the pesky penguin.
If you have ever tried Angry Birds then you will be familiar with this style of slingshot game play. The idea is you must sink the opponents island. To do this you need to destroy the cork that is used to stop it from sinking. The cork will be protected by stones, cubes and logs and it is your job to destroy them to get to it.
There are several modes to play in Islands Wars for iPhone. Story mode which is the one player classic game. There is a story to begin with to explain what is happening and then you just aim your tortoise at the penguin and try destroying the cork to sink the island and win. You keep doing this and work your way through the levels.
The next mode is Online challenge. Within this mode you can play turn-based with your friends. You can challenge any of your Game Center friends for a match. The online mode is different to the story mode. Both parties will have a slingshot to fire and aim and the idea is you must sink the island faster than your opponent sinks yours. There is also a chat section within the app to talk to the person you are playing, maybe even brag a little when doing well.
The final mode is using the same device and pass and play playing the same way you do in the online mode by seeing who can destroy the island the fastest.
It is very easy to control and play just use your finger to pull back the sling and then let go when you have your aim correct. If you need to see where the penguin is you can swipe the screen first. The game has some super cute sound effects. The little tortoise getting flung in the air screeches like tarzan in the jungle. There is also some catchy music playing to set the island scene. It is all very bright and colourful and the characters are sure to appeal to all ages.
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[rating: 4/5]
Fara Review: A beautiful, and beautifully done, fantasy role-playing game for iPhone. It is well suited to the small screen and brings all the best features of the genre without overdoing it.
Fara {$2.99} is a fantasy tale of finding yourself on an island stuck in medieval times. You are washed up on a shore to be greeted by a Viking-esque famous swordsman. You get no answers as to what has happened, but do get some instructions on how to proceed. Not having a lot of options, you follow the instructions and set off on your first quest.
RPGs involve large maps to explore and Fara handles this motion quite well. You move to the edge of the screen, and the screen slides to reveal what is beyond. There’s no interruption in play to wait for a new screen to be rendered as in some other games. For the iOS environment, this is quite good, and makes for natural movement through the environment.
Like all good RPG titles, quests introduce you to new environments, new dangers, new skills, and new characters. There is variety in these adventures and a certain amount of choice, so completing the quests and moving on to the next one is compelling.
Fara isn’t the most polished game as far as visual quality is concerned. But it is adequate for the task and doesn’t detract from the game play. The music is unique and has that epic feel that is expected from fantasy titles. The sound effects add to the game as feedback and just general environmental noise. They help with the illusion that you are really in the role.
If you like RPG games, Fara is one to try. It strikes a nice balance between not pushing the iOS platform too far, yet including all the best features of the genre to make for great game play.
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DebtMinder Review: A simple app that that gives you a clear view of your debts and a plan or two to pay them off.
Sometimes the simplest approach is the best and this is what DebtMinder {$1.99} excels at. It asks you to enter basic information for each of your debts: balance, interest rate, starting date, and minimum payment. By doing that for all of your debts, you are then ready to start developing a payoff plan. Decide on a total monthly payment and choose between two strategies; highest interest rate or lowest balance.
Once you’ve set your plan in place, the app will split your monthly payment among your debts and determine when each of them will be paid off. DebtMinder also displays the total interest you will save by sticking to the plan. It tracks your progress over time and helps you see that you’re making a difference.
DebtMinder works in conjunction with another app developed by return7, Bill Minder. A common account will allow information to be shared between the two apps. Data from DebtMinder can also be exported as a CSV file or backed up using email.
This app is not for financial professionals; there’s not a lot of fine-tuning possible. But that might be the best part of DebtMinder. It takes virtually no time to set it up (if you have the information together) and the limited choices keep you from playing mind games with the plan. Set it up and stick to it. Always a good plan when it comes to finances.
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[rating: 4/5]
ZombiePanic Review: A carnival-style, Whack-a-Mole® type of game where zombies are all around and it’s your job to take them out while sparing the other survivors of the apocalypse.
You’re just an average Joe when the apocalypse hits, and suddenly everything around you changes. People most of all. What used to be just a salary man or a cheer girl are now zombies ready to attack you from all sides. You find yourself on a street lined with doors and manholes where either survivors or zombies could pop out at any moment. Your job is to negotiate the doors, looking for ones with exclamation points especially, and be ready to take out the zombies when the doors open. Of course, you don’t want to harm any innocents; so knee-jerk reflexes must be tempered with a moment of discernment.
Zombies can also be behind boarded up doors or in wooden crates or pop up from the manholes. Basically, if something moves, chances are you’ll need to kill it. Just don’t jump too quickly. You take out the zombies using your skills and weapon, both of which can be upgraded over time. Just tapping on a zombie’s head pretty much does the job, although you may have to tap more than once. And to keep it interesting survivors can turn to zombies right before your eyes. But don’t shoot before they’re fully lost. That’s the same as taking out an innocent.
On occasion you stumble into a zombie rush where you don’t have to go looking for the zombies because they’re coming after you. In this rapid-fire game mode you pretty much shoot anything that moves and hope you can hold the hordes off.
The feel of the games is a bit dark, but not depressing. The zombies lean more towards the comic than the gory. The music is more suited to an action movie than a horror flick, but some sound effects lean towards spooky. You can also choose from easy, normal, insane, and unlimited game modes to suit your ability and preferences.
ZombiePanic {$.99} is a fun, quick-thinking, reflex-testing game. It’s probably best played in short spurts, which can be defined as anything from a few minutes to a few hours. The challenge is simple, but good. It’s an excellent way to prepare for the coming apocalypse.
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VidRhythm Review: A great music app to create mashups of your own voice and video using some preset themes and music selection. With a group of friends this could be a whole lot of fun.
VidRhythm {$1.99} is actually pretty simple in concept. You choose a piece of music and then a theme. The app then asks you to record both your voice and some video simultaneously. There are prompts to tell you what sound or word you should record. It’s really slick in that it automatically stops recording after a second or so, you don’t have to push the button. It usually asks for a handful of recordings, so it doesn’t take long to get those entered. You can re-record if you need more than one take.
When you’re ready, press the “Make Video Music!” button and the magic happens. Your sounds and images are treated to a techno-DJ mashup. It’s not a simple playback of your recordings. The audio is set to the rhythm and the video dances along too. Video windows open, divide, grow, rearrange, etc. like any good music video. You have to see it in motion to appreciate it. Each of the themes has a background that the video resides on that keeps it pulled together.
While it was easy to take video of the dog and say the letters D-O-G-S for the dog theme, there’s nothing stopping you from substituting your own ideas. Where it asks you to say D-O-G-S, you could say G-A-M-E if it suited you and you could shoot video of the football team instead (especially if they’re having a losing season).
This would be a great app to use with a gathering of friends. They could each provide one of the audio/video clips to be mashed together. It would be a group project. Or you could each individually make a video and share it amongst the group as the app can automatically upload to YouTube or Facebook. Or, if you prefer, you can simply save it to your camera roll to keep for yourself.
If you want to make short, simple mashups quickly, this could be your ticket. VidRhythm for iPhone and iPad is an app that will spark your creativity. By the time your video is done playing you’ll have ideas for the next one you want to do.
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[rating: 4/5]
Pocket RPG iPhone Edition Review: The game is just that – a pocket-sized role-playing game that has all the elements that make the genre fun.
Choose between a Dark Ranger, Blade Master, or Battle Mage for your character; each has a different style of play. The Dark Ranger, for instance, is an archer that begins his quest in an icy land just outside the ruins of castle that appears to have been freshly destroyed. The defeated guards warn you of the creatures nearby and it doesn’t take long to encounter slimy opponents with which to learn your skills.
The difficulty grows throughout the game and requires strategy as well as brute force. There are plenty of looting opportunities to help your progression when not engaged in battle. You will need to have gold to buy better equipment and train in new skills if you want to continue to progress. The opponents get bigger, badder, and quicker, and so must you. Learning how to engage your opponents, which weapon to choose, and deploying them effectively takes expertise that only comes through experience.
The on-screen joystick controls take a bit to master. They seem a bit touchy and easy to get confounded with. A bit of practice and the control gets better, but with the small size of the iPhone screen, it seemed to remain a problem. My fingers always seemed to slide their way off the control area. Switching to the iPad made it much easier. This game is not designed for the iPad (there’s another version that is), and at 2x the graphics were not at their best (but not bad), but the text was much easier to read and the joysticks much easier to control.
The music is appropriately epic and majestic for this type of game. And the graphics are nice and crisp, and pleasantly medieval. Some of the cut scene 3D animations are quite impressive. More of those would be nice. From time to time, the viewing angle can be awkward depending on the setting, but in general it provides a good panorama.
If you enjoy role-playing games, Pocket RPG for the iPhone {$.99} has all the elements you’re familiar with. It holds true to the genre in setting, lore, and interface. This one seems more of a challenge than most, which can make it just the game to sink hours and hours into.
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[rating: 4/5]
Wingmen: World War Review: Brought to you by Labu Games Wingmen World War is a strategy game where you are the General in charge of squadrons of fighter planes. Aliens are invading Earth and it is up to you to command your squadrons and defeat the enemy.
The main idea in Wingmen: World War for iPhone is to launch your missiles at the enemy and activate the power ups when the aliens are in sight. There are six planes altogether to fight with and each one offers different features. You start with a basic fighter plane which is low in armor and the ability to be damaged. To improve your plane and get one with new weapons and better armor you need to purchase them with XP. You earn XP in the game when you damage and destroy your enemy. Obviously the better the plane the more XP it will cost you.
Other items you can purchase with your XP are upgrades like Anti-aircraft missiles and shields. You can also purchase Airstrike which will then bombard the sky with missiles. Great when you need to destroy a large amount of enemy aliens. The more you purchase the more powerful your plane is going to be and the less likely to be destroyed quickly.
It is a quick paced game and one where you will have to constantly watch where your enemy is flying. Simply use the buttons on the left to launch your fighter plane and when you are ready tap again for your weapons. You have to make sure you aim well as the enemy do move rather fast. You may find at first it takes you a few attempts. It is also worth noting that the weapons are on a timer and once you tap the button to use them, when you want to use again you have to wait for it to reload.
To progress further in the game you do need to keep improving your plane as the enemy will destroy your armor very quickly so it is best to increase your protection as soon as you are able to.
The interface is very easy to use when managing your plane and purchasing the upgrades. There is a tutorial at first to show you the ropes and how to launch your team. Once thats done you are on your own and ready to play.
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[rating: 4/5]
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.
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[rating: 4/5]
Exitium: Saviors of Vardonia Review: Exitium is a full-featured RPG brought to the small screen.
This is no casual game. This is a nearly full-blown RPG game in the tradition of World of Warcraft and Ragnarok. This is a game you could pull out on a long car or plane trip because it could keep you occupied for several hours. You can certainly play in shorter bursts, but unlike many games it can also hold your attention.
You have a choice of four characters to play: Berserker, Paladin, Priestess, or Mage. There’s no customizing these folks at the outset, but they do have characteristics that can be managed and improved as the game moves on.
Holding true to the RPG genre, there are quests to fulfill, battles to fight, and coins to earn. I started as Kiron Asha, the Beserker, and after my farm was burned down and family killed (that explains the “berserker” part), I became a mercenary for the Arkanians in battle against Abylon. The early assignments had me operating from a base camp and setting off on quests to prove my worth, while picking up coins and potions as I took out hostile creatures along the way.
Later on in the game, the intensity picks up. Creatures and opponents get more difficult and more numerous. You will need to improve your gear (such as armor and swords), gather more potions, and earn more coins to be able to compete against these more demanding trials.
Each character has lots of quests, inventory, skills, fame, and coins to manage. There are plenty of ways to develop a personality for your character even though you started with a standard issue. And with Game Center integration, you’ll be able to see how your choices are stacking up against your friends or against the world of other players.
The game has all the familiar RPG UI elements: mini-map, character and enemy info, items, and skills. Plus, one addition for the iOS platform is a D-control area in the corner mimicking the action of joystick controls. That can be a lot of information for a small screen. Some folks could find the game more enjoyable on an iPad than on an iPhone, although the D-control area is a bit more awkward on the iPad.
One thing I did find a bit disconcerting, was that rather than just seamlessly moving through the map, you moved from one square on the map to another square on the map through “gates.” Perhaps this is necessary for the iOS platform, but it does interrupt the game play a bit as you wait for a new area to appear.
The graphics are cute in an old-school style from console games a couple of generations back. With a sort of medieval feel to the game, the music is a blend of electronica, drums, and strummed instruments, which somehow works well. And it gives the game an urgent feel that keeps the pace moving along. Some of the character renderings are quite stunning and detailed. And the information screens have a great old-world, parchment style that also serves to improve their readability.
I will admit to having had a bit of difficulty with the controls when I first began playing. The action button just didn’t want to work correctly for me. It wasn’t just me either. I asked an “expert” and they had the same difficulty. Eventually, it came around and everything was fine. It may have just been operator error, but it was a bit of a rough start.
Exitium might not be for folks new to RPG games. But if you are familiar with the typical RPG user interface, understand the stats associated with characters and items, have experience with the game play of quests, battles, and markets, you will probably enjoy Exitium as a way to take the RPG experience with you in your pocket. There’s a lot here to love.
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Wooords Review: If you were a kid, and you know you were, you probably had some of those magnetic letters to help you learn to read and spell. Wooords {$.99} for iPhone assumes you’ve mastered those skills, but that you still might enjoy pushing those little letters around.
Wooords is a different sort of word game that challenges you to create as many words as possible from a given set of letters. There are three modes, which let you test your skills in different ways.
Classic mode gives you nine letters and asks you to make as many words from them as possible. Your proficiency unlocks the next level, and earns you stars and points if you want to compete on the GameCenter leaderboards.
Daily Words gives you a new set of letters each day and you do your best to get the maximum amount of points. You can compete against your friends or against Wooords players around the world.
Word Jam is where the goal is to reach a certain score within a given amount of time. You really need to keep the letters moving to be successful in this mode.
The calliope-style music adds to the childlike atmosphere of the game. But this is no kids’ game. While kids might have fun playing with it, they’re not likely to be very successful, depending on their age and language ability. But players of any age will improve their skills just by playing.
Wooords is a fun game with a different approach to word skills. It’s available in the app for just $0.99, an introductory, half-off, price. Get this while it’s hot, because it’s going to be hot.
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