The game responsible for giving a new meaning to the word “impossible” was Flappy Bird. The developer behind the hugely popular game ultimately removed the game from the App Store citing reasons of the game being too “addictive”. However, this time the developer is back with yet another frustratingly impossible game called Swing Copters.
If Flappy Bird wasn’t high enough on the scale of difficulty, with Swing Copters the developer is all set to achieve a new record. The concept of the game is similar to its predecessor. You control a bird wearing a “copter” hat by tapping on the screen to change its direction. As you attempt to climb vertically there are obstacles in place to kill the birds dream to fly in an instant. Each time you fail and retry the background of the game changes slightly, and that’s exactly what you get in this game.
Attempting to get high score and testing your patience before you are tempted to throw your iPhone seem to be the only two objectives of this game. There is not much variety in the gameplay. The success of this game can be credited to its ruthless difficulty level which has become a point of reference in proving ones gaming prowess or just settling an argument in the favour of the one who has higher score!
I have to admit I’ve never been inclined towards such simple impossible games. However, Swing Copters successfully manages to ignite that feeling of giving it a ‘one more try’.
We have just one advise for the developer, if possible please have some mercy and at least let us reach 10 points, at the time of writing this review I had to settle with just 2 points.
What’s your high score in Swing Copters for iPhone and iPad? Have you discovered any tips or tricks to gain high score? Let us know what you think about the game in the comments below.
Our [rating: 3/5]
by Dong Nguyen
iOS (Universal)
Flying with a propeller hat is not as easy as it looks.
[HOW TO PLAY]
• Tap to change direction.
• Get 4 medals to unlock more characters.
Enjoy the game.
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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.
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Back in 1996 I played the original Playstation game, Resident Evil. It was the first game that actually had me on the edge of my seat and literally jump out of it at times too. Ever since then I’ve been hunting for a game to re-create the same atmosphere. Despite valiant attempts however by such games as F.E.A.R. and Condemend, I’ve never found one that quite hits the mark in the same way. That is until now.
Walking Dead: The Game, to give it its full title is a point and click adventure game that follows the storyline of the Walking Dead comic book series. If you are more familiar with the TV series you’ll still know what’s going on even though the TV show used some ‘creative license’ when bringing it so successfully to the big screen.
The cell shaded comic book style graphics do a great service to the comic book series and along with the awesome atmospheric soundtrack and possibly some of the best voice acting in an iOS game, if not any game, that I’ve seen Walking Dead: The Game sucks you in from the moment you start it. (The game recommends that you use headphones to play the game and I couldn’t agree more.)
You take the role of Lee Everett while be transported in the back of a police car you manage to find yourself free after the car hits a walker. From this point on it’s you and a collection of other non-walkers that you get introduced to along the way against the ever growing numbers of undead that walk the earth.
The interactions with the walkers is impressively done to ensure maximum shock value and excitement as they attempt to take your life and that of the people that you band together with.
The game moves along at a good pace and this is helped by the way that the storyline and the action sequences where you control the action are intertwined. The controls are easy to pick up, move Lee around the screen to investigate the environment is a simple case of dragging your finger across the screen while objects that can be interacted with are highlighted.
This may initially appear to make the game seem rather linear, however, thanks to the short time limits that you are given to make your decisions and how these decisions affect the gameplay that’s certainly not the case.
The characters interactions are expertly done and as mentioned before the voice acting is so good you sometimes forget that you are playing a game and not watching a movie. Decisions of how to interact with the other characters and what to say to them are given as a set of choices and making the wrong one, in the allotted time could have catastrophic ramifications.
The game is a universal app but unfortunately there is no syncing of your progress so you can’t jump between playing on the two devices which would have been nice. Some people may baulk at the price too as not only is the app a cent shy of $5 that will only get you the first episode, subsequent 4 episodes will set you back an additional $4.99 each, or $14.99 if you buy them all at the same time.
Personally the price doesn’t put me off and therefore I would highly recommend that your shell out the initial $4.99 for episode one, enjoy a thoroughly engrossing and atmospheric game and then decide whether you want to purchase the additional episodes.
Some, but not all, people are reporting issues with performance especially on older devices, I reviewed Walking Dead: The Game on both an iPad 3 and an iPhone 4S with no such issues.
[rating: 4.5/5]What we like
What to know
There are times when two things that you hold dear collide and instead of becoming even greater than the sum of their parts they become a monster. Take my love of all things deep fat fried and Cadbury Creme Eggs, put them together and it becomes a sickly sweet mess. But then you can take miniature things and ponies and you get miniature ponies which are simply delightful.
Therefore when I saw that Lego had brought out a game that included physical Lego blocks and an iPhone app I was hoping that it would fall under the latter category rather than the former. The iPhone / Lego combination has come together in ‘Life of George’ a $30 Lego set that works with a free iPhone app with the same name.
George is a frequent flyer and on his travels he takes a lot of pictures of the things that he encounters and he presents these things via the Life of George app in the form of photo albums. Each set of pages consists of 10 hidden items and by tapping on any of the 10 blank pictures reveals the image that you have to build out of the real Lego bricks that come as part of the set.
You are up against the clock and things can get a little tricky especially with the smaller pieces and in your hurry you can often find that what you are building falling apart. As soon as you have built your matching creation you can tap the screen, place the creation on the supplied display board and snap a picture.
You need to make sure that the board is positioned correctly and that there is no glare on the picture to ensure that the app can compare it correctly, but given that you’ve done that then you are scored based on speed and accuracy.
With 13 different locations and 10 creations per page there is a lot of building to be done and that’s before you include the 30 levels that have been added with the Christmas update and 50 spaces that are made available for you to create you on creations to play with. These My Life creations are great fun and really bring out the creativity in the ‘child’. The only tricky part is getting the lighting right when taking the photograph to add your creation to album. The accuracy is pretty great but if there is any glare in the picture it can be seen as there being no block there at all.
Of course all the creations are flat 2D creations, and while I would love it to be possible to include 3 dimensional creations to build I don’t see how an app would be able to record the accuracy of that!
There is also a two player option where you can go head to head on a single device on 5 randomly selected creations taking it in turns to see who has the overall best speed and accuracy. It would be nice if you could share your own creations with other players either via a code or uploading them a website as would GameCentre integration to compare your high-scores with other players around the world.
If you are a fan of Lego and have an iPhone or iPod Touch then Life of George is an excellent combination of the two and well worth the $30 price point. Life of George is available at all good Lego stores and re-sellers and via the Lego Website.
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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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[rating: 3/5]
Space Tap Review: A game of traffic control where you steer ships clear of each other while trying to land at spaceports.
This game gets right to it. There’s no tutorial, orientation, or help screen to get you going. You start right in with a planet with a spaceport right in the middle of the screen and soon ships start moving in from the edges. It is not clear at all what you are supposed to do. Drag your finger across the screen and you draw a path that a ship will follow, but follow where? It took a trip to the developer’s website to have any clue at all what was going on.
Once the few facts available regarding the game were found, it became a little clearer that the main reason to “steer” the ships was to keep them from crashing into each other. They seem to find the docks themselves, although you can accelerate that by steering them that direction. Your objective is to get as many ships as possible safely into the docks before ships crash on the approach.
With the basics down, finally, the game strategy becomes more reactive. Watch the ships and anticipate when they may cross paths with another and change their course to avoid crashing. Simple enough, but it gets strenuous when there’s a screen full of ships with no clear path to safety.
The game has a bit of a simplistic feel to it, some of which comes from the uncluttered graphics. The spacey music and crash sounds also seem a bit simplistic, but set the right tone for the game. The colors are a bit muted, not the common primary color scheme, which almost gives it a bit of a retro feel.
If you like line-drawing games, Space Tap {$0.99} is a decent challenge. If you’re new to them, you may be a bit lost and may want to try another from the genre first. This game could be much improved with just a few screens of introduction to get players off on the right foot.
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[rating: 4.5/5]
Blosics Review: A new game in the Angry Birds style that has you flinging balls at the blocks to knock them out of the picture. The slingshot action is a familiar game interface, but Blosics does it up just a little differently.
You have a bubble that you can place your ball within, choosing the location that you think will have the most impact. As you pull back on your ball, arrows appear that help you aim. Those arrows can prove to be very useful, especially when you miss by just a little bit. The arrows and flight path fade away slowly, so you can make adjustments if you’re quick.
The targets are small blocks, with emoticon faces, that are stacked in a variety of patterns and in a variety of places. The challenge is to knock them all off the screen in the fewest flings. The blocks come in different sizes and eventually transform to make the challenge more difficult. In return, you can acquire different balls with different properties to deploy against the more demanding arrangements.
The game has a cheerful feel with bright graphics, spacey music, and snarky sound effects. The blocks maintain a running commentary of amusing utterances. The leveling screens feel like a party. It’s just fun around every corner.
Blosics is a great game that provides a neat twist on the slingshot theme. If you’ve beaten, grown tired of, or just really like Angry Birds, Blosics is the game to provide a new means to have destructive fun.
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[rating: 4/5]
Super Sheep Tap Review: The game has you counting sheep, but you certainly won’t be falling asleep while doing so!
Super Sheep Tap [$.99, App Store] is a simple rhythm game in the tradition of Tap Tap Revenge. The premise is to tap the screen when a sheep jumps over the fence. One finger for one sheep. Multiple fingers for multiple sheep. And don’t tap for black sheep. That’s about it. Simple enough, right? Ha!
The challenge in this game comes from the quantity and speed of sheep that need to be “tagged.” What starts out as a manageable number soon turns into a stampede that keeps your eyes focused and your finger(s) dancing.
There are two modes to this game: Classic and Arcade. Classic is the more laid-back of the two and operates by the “three strikes and your out” principle. Arcade gives you a set amount of time to rack up as many points as possible and gets pretty intense pretty quickly.
This game has fun, cartoonish graphics and nursery rhyme style music. It’s certainly simple enough for younger children. It’s got an enjoyable, light-hearted feel to it.
Super Sheep Tap would be a great option for when you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep. But only if you have no intention of falling back asleep any time soon.
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[rating: 4/5]
Honey Tribe: Colony Collapse Review: A familiar feeling, arcade-style game that aims to be a bit more than child’s play.
As far as the game goes, Honey Tribe: Colony Collapse ($.99) makes you a worker bee in the colony with the task of collecting nectar from flowers in order to feed the young bees in the brood. Of course there are predators to be avoided and weather to be endured along the way making this no simple task.
You fly through the fields in the common left-to-right pattern going more swiftly as you collect nectar and slowing down, or dying, as you encounter predators and other obstacles. The controls are mainly a tap on the screen to make you fly higher or release to drop closer to the ground. This interface is simple enough, and responsive enough, to make navigation more about focusing on upcoming obstacles than on fussing with the controls.
But the brilliance of this game is that it raises awareness of a real-world problem. It subtly introduces the problem of honeybee colony collapse and the environment of the colonies. You collect nectar from a variety of flowers, becoming familiar with them along the way. The same is true of predators. And they are introduced slowly which aids in making them memorable. You’re actually learning a bit about honeybees as you play the game.
The graphics are colored pencil drawings, which somehow also adds to the approachability of the game. The audio is sounds of nature rather than music, which again reinforces its educational value. The combination of the two keep the game focused on the important elements of the game play and of the real-world issue.
This is a good game that’s also doing some good.
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[rating: 4.5/5]
Magnetic Baby Review: It seems that the 3 star rating system for completing levels in games is the way to go and I guess as the saying goes if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The latest to use that method in its game is Magnetic Baby.
The baby in this game is a small spherical character whose task it is to rescue the girl by navigating the 63 levels across three worlds by using the magnetic field of the various worlds to throw yourself around the levels avoiding various obstacles, collecting stars and reaching the girl.
A nice feature of the game is the fact that there are three control methods. You can either use the accelerometer, a virtual pad and jump button or a drag option where you your character will follow your finger around the screen. You can change these controls on the fly to until you find the one that works for you and for me that was the combination of the virtual pad and jump button.
The game has a great distinctive look about it and this flows through the navigation menu’s and the game itself. The only problem is that some of the navigation buttons are tricky to hit and can take multiple attempts before you succeed!
After selecting the first world you get to play the first level. Access to subsequent levels is gained by completing each of the previous ones so getting stuck on a level is going to hold you up. Luckily completing the levels is not too difficult, however completing each level with 3 stars is going to be more of a challenge especially on later levels. This method keeps things interesting as while you can complete the game by just reaching your girl on each level you have something to go back for with the collection of the 3 stars on each level.
You roll around the worlds by moving your character left and right and then you can use the jump button to avoid obstacles, jump between worlds and collect stars. The game could equally be called Gravity Baby as when you jump off of the worlds you will find your self in a sling shot motion around the world, this is especially the case the more speed you have!
As well as jumping between worlds certain worlds contain portals which you can travel through and as you progress through the levels you will also find spinning spikes, spiked gates and lasers that will instantly kill you.
While completing the game with 3 stars on each level may seem like the end of the game you can still go back and try and beat your fastest time so there is a lot of value to this game and that’s even before you count the Achivements and Leaderboards provided by the OpenFeint integration.
Overall Magnetic Baby is a fun and challenging platformer with a lot of depth. At just 99 cents this is a game that would be a welcome addition to anyone’s game catalogue.
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[rating: 3/5]
FishStar Review: Located in a colourful marine world shoot the passing fish to score points and unlock new challenges.
To play the game you shoot at the fish to score points. You do this by tapping the screen where you want your shooter to hit. When you see a fish if you tap on or near the fish it will shoot in that spot. You need to remember though that if the fish is a fast swimmer it may have moved by the time you hit it. So you need to plan slightly where you think it might be heading and aim the shooter accordingly.
You can then use your fishing score points to play Wheel Of Fortune. When playing you might win more coins or get a challenge to win coins. These challenges can be mermaids or bubbles. For the mermaid challenge there are different mermaids with different awards and obstacles. Lucy who you can just shoot at, Medea who is protected by a shell wall which you need to break and Lucia who needs protection from an evil shark. Achieve all these and you earn more coins to play with.
If you get the bubble challenge it is a mixture of bubbles and coins to shoot at. Using the thornback fish if you shoot and pop the bubbles there are bonus coins inside to win. All of these adding up to your normal scoring points and giving you more coins to play with.
You get 100 coins to play, each coin lets you shoot once. When you have used all your coins up you then have to either make sure you hit and score more coins, wait until the next free coins are available or you can buy additional coins in packs of 300, 1000 or 2000 all at different price range. The coins don’t actually last that long though so you do need to make sure you earn the extra coins if you don’t want to stop playing or pay for any more.
The marine world and fish are all very colourful and eye catching. Although the game is suitable for any age it is sure to please a child and is easy enough for them to play on their own.
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Brought to you by DieselPuppet Jump And Fly is a fun pick up and play jumping game. The game follows the style of Doodle Jump and in many ways is very similar.
On screen is a bouncing, jumping character. Using tilt control on your device you have to guide him from platform to platform jumping as high as you can. Miss a platform you will fall and lose your life and will have to start all over again.
All the platforms are varied including some normal non moving ones. Then you have different kinds of platforms to make your jumping difficult. There are clouds that once you have jumped on disappear, trampolines that help you bounce extra high and rotating fans that blow you higher and higher. You may also find some platforms will explode after 3 seconds if you have jumped on them. All needing quick thinking and planning before your next jump.
Along the way there are also stars to collect and power ups. If you pick up a pair of wings when you use them he will fly up with no need to jump on the platforms. There are also a few monsters waiting for you as you get higher. Stay out of the way and you won’t lose you life. Although you won’t come across many at first so you will be off to an easy start.
The game is very much like Doodle Jump and it is hard to see what this game offers over it to make it better. The one thing it does have is the power ups but that’s about it really. The graphics are good but again nothing above and similar to what Doodle Jump offers. If you’ve never played Doodle Jump then you will certainly love this game but if you have you could be a little put off just because it is so similar and offers nothing new.
Jump and Fly is suitable for all ages and is great just to pick up and play when you have a few minutes to spare. The game is also integrated with Game Center with leader boards and acheivements great if you enjoy competing with your friends.
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[rating: 3/5]
‘Stuntjump Tumbler‘ is a physics-based game that challenges you to maneuver through obstacle fields to collect coins and reach the flag to advance to the next level.
The game is a bit like Mario adapted for the accelerometer and touch screen. You are a round, rolling face that can be made to go faster or slower based on the tilt of the device. You touch the screen to gather yourself in, which makes you smaller – important in navigating some obstacles – then let go to jump over or on to objects in your path. Coins appear along your path to encourage you to navigate the obstacles in a specific way.
The graphics appear as hand-drawn sketches on old-school graph paper, different than the usual computer-generated look. At times it’s a little plain to look at, but it doesn’t interfere with the game play.
The responsiveness of the bouncy, rolling head seems a little sluggish, but it does add to the challenge of the game. Because you can’t roll backwards, there are places you can get stuck and have to restart the level you are on.
There is a free version of the game, which includes only 18 levels, or a paid version for $0.99, which has 60 levels to challenge you.
Overall, the game seemed a bit slow and frustrating. It would be easy to get to a rough spot and put the game down rather than try again. I’d give the free version a try and if you’re still playing at level 18, spring for the paid version to continue on. A small change in the game mechanics could make a big difference; so keeping up with updates may pay off.
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If you’ve ever spun a pencil or drumsticks in your hand, this game is for you. If you haven’t it’s still a fun skill to try. Your spin technique is what it’s all about.
You have three choices of challenge: time, spin, or distance. Time measures how many spins you can do in a fixed amount of time. Spin is just the opposite. It measures how long it takes you to do a fixed number of spins. And I’m not sure how distance is measured, but this is the endurance event of the challenges.
It’s got a fun industrial style with music to match. The graphics are fairly simple but provide feedback as to the challenge you are on, the time/distance/spins, and just some funky animations to let you know when you’ve completed a rotation. However, it can be hard, if not impossible, to read this information while also trying to spin your device, so it helps that there’s also tactile feedback for each spin.
This is a game that could be quite addictive for those who like to go one up on their previous score or on the scores of their friends through Game Center. You’ll be able to tell the addicts by the size of their forearm. This game takes a certain amount of physical skill and effort! It’s one that may be best played in short bursts.
To get the best scores, it’s probably best to spin your device on your finger or in your hand, if you’re comfortable doing that. If your not, consider placing it on a flat surface (a mouse pad for instance) and spinning it there. You’ll still want to use a bit of caution, as it would be pretty easy for it to go flying. But the more you do it, the more confident and in control you’ll be.
This is a really fun game that anyone, perhaps with a bit of caution, can do. It’s simplicity and game play makes it one that will always provide a challenge whether you play it frequently or not. But I think it’s one that you’ll keep coming back to.
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Monsterz’ Revenge is a game that pits you and the rest of monster-kind against fast food chains that are taking over the monster graveyard. This game is a food fight between the humans and the monsters and you’re on the side of the monsters. You can play mini-games and it also features Farmville style customization of your graveyard.
Monsterz Revenge is extremely simple to pick up and play despite its several different methods of play. Whether you are tricking out your hideout where you serve your food, playing mini-games or battling the human restaurants with your battle car, the controls are simple. This is largely a menu based game but the mini games require tap style gameplay. Timing seemed to be the central theme in the mini-games I played. The shock game that I played tasked you with a selected icon like the one that popped up in a certain window. This was a read and react style game that required some quick thumbs. The battles with other restaurants were almost all about timing. A power meter goes up and down and selecting it at its highest point causes the most damage. These dead simple methods of control make this game easy to pick up and get right to the fun.
The three core game types help change up the game play throughout the game. The part of the game where you serve customers and deck out your hideout really reminded me of Farmville style of play. Buying new tables and burners to cook with reminded me of buying new tractors and things from the hugely popular farming game. The mini-games, like in all games, is a great way of varying up the game play and changing the pace from time to time while giving the player a way to earn more money and points. The battle car is the most crucial part of the game as the entire point is to compete with the human restaurants that are invading your turf and send them packing. The battle car is what much of the game revolves around as you are steadily trying to earn money to purchase upgrades for your car. This is the way you beat the other fast food joints so this is crucial and kind of fun. Essentially you are juicing up a huge battering ram and it looks awesome. The three different game-types change the pace and do a great job of complimenting one another.
The presentation was very impressive. I was impressed with the overall visual aspects of the game. They really focused on putting some detail in a game I didn’t expect it from. There are nine different characters and always pesky humans wondering into your hideout that you must do away with.
The different game-types have their own independent look and while they follow a central theme, they are different from one another. The audio is also very impressive and the sound effects are great. You also have the option to visit friends’ graveyards, view their car garage and even send them gifts. Sound familiar?
I really enjoyed this game and I definitely think it was a great idea pulling some ideas from the popular ‘freemium’ games. Overall the game offers a lot of content and it comes at a great price… free! Check it out!
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Free
Category: Games
Released: May 04, 2011
Version: 1.01
1.01
Size: 36.5 MB
Language: English
Seller: Astro Ape Studios, LLC
© Astro Ape Studios
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
If you have ever played Cut The Rope or enjoy a good physics based puzzle game then Spider Jack developed by Chillingo’s Clickgamer is certainly worth checking out.
Spider Jack [$.99] is clearly inspired by the gameplay of Cut The Rope, in this new addictive game its all about helping the spider catch the flies to satisfy his hunger. He swings from his web and you then need to cut a web so he can reach the fly.
First of all you start out in the Barn room, there is also a bathroom and laboratory room but you have to collect a set amount of stars before you can enter them. So once you are in the room you work your way through each level.
When the game begins you have to tap a button for the web to appear. When you do your friendly Spider Jack attaches himself to it and starts moving along it. Depending how the web is postioned will determine where Jack is going to go. You may find he swings from left to right or just tangles down. You have to use your skills to drop him to the fly by cutting the web with your finger. You need to do this when he is positioned over the fly. Once that is done you have completed the level.
Like Angry Birds and Cut The Rope there is also the chance to collect stars as you go. The more stars you collect the more points you achieve and as I mentioned earlier you will then unlock the other rooms.
The levels start off fairly easy and then as you progress obstacles are put in your way. Things like hairdryers to blow you the wrong way or electricity to zap and fry you! When you get further into the game you will also need to use two webs. You will then have to work them together to swing Jack where he needs to go. It is all about timing and a precise cut of the rope web.
There are 75 levels to complete and the developers have promised that there are more to come. It is a great idea having the stars to collect as well. This is popular in the other games and gives extended game play if you want to redo levels and collect all stars.
I really enjoyed the cutesy graphics and sound effects. Spider Jack makes some cute and funny noises. It had me giggling when he was puffing and panting climbing up a web! The animated graphics are colourful and fun and very entertaining at times.
Spider Jack also has Game Center support so you can compete on the leader board and try and get all the achievements. Again it is offering more reason for you to come back and keep playing. It is a fun game that all ages will enjoy.
Pros
Cons
$0.99
Category: Games
Released: May 05, 2011
Version: 1.0
1.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 16.7 MB
Languages: English, Russian
Seller: Clickgamer Technologies Ltd
© MaxNick
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
The object of the game is to help spider jack catch insects to fill its appetite while collecting all the stars to achieve a perfect score. The spider swings around on its thread and there are various objects scattered around the environment which will either help you or prevent you from reaching your goal.
We played the game for a bit and were impressed with the cutesy graphics, level design, good physics and animation. If you loved casual games like Cut the Rope or Burn The Rope then you will certainly enjoy Spider Jack too.
With more than 70 levels, retina display, Game Center integration and free updates with new levels on the way this game is definitely worth checking out. If you’ve already bought the game, let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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PoiPoi In Stump is a type of match three game where the tree stump is filled to the brim with a 7 by 7 grid of colored PoiPoi’s. In this version of the game you can drag and drop the PoiPoi’s anywhere on the screen, no just swapping with neighboring PoiPoi’s, you can drag them as far as you like!
This makes making matches much easier, however as soon as you have 3 or more PoiPoi’s of the same color aligned a countdown will start to their destruction so you’ll need to be swift if you want to add more PoiPoi’s to your group and increase your combo.
The game has four game modes Original, Survival, Time-attack and Combo-Combo mode’s, all of which add a slight twist on the original game.
The graphics aren’t going to blow you away but they do the job, what is a little odd though is some of the menu’s that seem be have been created using a different style sheet all together!
OpenFeint integration provides leader boards for all 4 game modes and 10 achievements too. For just 99 cents the game has fair amount to offer, although that being said there are better match 3 type games out there for the same price.
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Updated: Jan 25, 2011
Current Version: 1.01
1.01
Size: 9.9 MB
Language: English
Seller: jaeho choi
© Copyright 2010~2011 Team Hidden-Card. All rights reserved.
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later
If you take Doodle Jump and turn it on it’s side you won’t be far off from what to expect when you play Clumsy Bob, the latest release into the App Store by Clickgamer.
The Bob in question is a Dumbo like elephant who bounces up on a variety of platforms and floats down thanks to his over large ears. Rather than jumping up the screen as so many people have done playing Doodle Jump, Bob leaps from the left of the screen to the right over a range of platforms that along with the standard platforms will also disappear, launch you high up in the air, float side to side or even up or down.
This variety of platforms ensures that you are required to keep maximum concentration at all times as without this one false move could see you plummeting beyond the platforms and for the game to come to a premature end.
The platforms aren’t your only cause for concern as you’ll find certain platforms occupied with rats and snakes and despite his size Clumsy Bob is not a fan of reptiles or rodents and so landing on them will also bring and early conclusion to the game.
Your success isn’t measured purely on the distance you travel, at numerous occasions throughout the game coins will be placed and picking one of these up will add 500 points to your score. Some of the coins are also attached to birds that are flying overhead and while these can be tricky to collect they still only reward you 500 points.
The one downside of Clumsy Bob over Doodle Jump is that there is only one theme so as long as you like bright colors, clouds and rainbows you should be good to go!
A major plus point for Clumsy Bob though is it’s integration with the social gaming network Crystal which enables achievements, global, national and local leader boards and challenges. And it’s the Challenges that I really liked as they allow you to challenge individual friends or other people to beat your score that you set once you’ve sent the challenge.
You start off with 1,000 challenge points and based on your success, or lack of it, your score will go up and down and subsequently up and down the leader boards.
For just 99 cents Clumsy Bob will be a fun addition to your iPhone and one hopes that with future updates it will make this already fun game even better!
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Jan 06, 2011
Version: 1.0
1.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 14.1 MB
Language: English
Seller: Clickgamer Technologies Ltd
© Flygames
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
There aren’t many games on the iPhone that I’ve played in real life, I’ve never thrown a range of birds at some pigs, I’ve never jumped up on numerous platforms to reach as high as I can but I have played cubicle golf! It was a long time ago and I would never do it now but I also never thought I’d see it on an iPhone.
For those of you that have never played it before it’s pretty simple, you decide on a course around your office and then using your legs to propel yourself to see how many times it takes you to reach the pre-agreed destination.
Well now all this fun has been brought to the iPhone with Cubicle Golf and the representation is pretty good. The graphics are great representation of your typical office environment and the commentary throughout the game is entertaining if a little repetitive.
Each of the 18 holes is based in a different office with different obstacles and your manager to try to avoid. There are 3, plus 1 bonus, “clubs” to choose from that take the form of different employees which represent three club types, a driver, iron and a putter which each adds to the power of the shot.
The controls are easy to pick up, simply pull an arrow with represents the power and direction of you shot form the employee and release. It will take a few attempts to get the sensitivity right but one you do you shouldn’t find things to difficult.
The 18 holes offer a decent variety of obstacles including the manager who you’ll find wandering around the office, hitting him will put you back to the start and suffer a penalty stroke.
The major downside to this game is the replay value which is limited thanks to the lack of multiple courses and online leader boards that would at least add some competitive edge to the game.
At $2 Cubicle Golf is a fun but relatively expensive option for your iPhone, for me it gained a little momentum due to the fact that I could relate it to real life, so perhaps you should try Cubicle Golf for real first!
$1.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Jan 01, 2011
Version: 1.0
1.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 18.9 MB
Language: English
Seller: Plow Digital
© Cubicle Golf
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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Sometimes it’s the simplest of games that have that addictive hook that just keeps you coming back for more. Many years ago, more than I would like to imagine, it was the range of Yeti games that stopped me from doing what I was supposed to be doing, now though I fear it will be Gravity Guy.
All you need to play Gravity Guy is a single finger, you use that finger to tap the screen and that interaction between your finger and the screen will reverse the gravity of the game and subsequently where your Guy will run. Hence the name, Gravity Guy.
The game is like a sideways scrolling platform game but with the annoyances of bouncing on mushrooms and rescuing Princesses removed, your simple task is to get Gravity Guy as far to the right of the screen as possible without falling out of the screen or being caught by your nemesis who is chasing you.
You’ll start on the left side of the screen and as you start to automatically run along the bottom of the screen you’ll soon find your progress blocked by a wall, a step up in the platform or the platform disappearing altogether. To overcome this you can reverse the gravity of Gravity Guy and have him running along the ceiling instead. This is then repeated again and again with a variety of different of obstacles and structures for you to negotiate.
There are 30 levels to complete but while you are playing the game you won’t notice them as they show as check points so it just feels like one continuous level without interruption which keeps the fun coming.
The graphics look good and vary through the levels including some Tron looking levels and some set in the darkness of night. Interestingly the initial download doesn’t include graphics for the Retina display of the iPhone 4 but instead they can be downloaded for free separately in the game itself.
The action gets faster and faster especially with the introduction of conveyor belts which speeds Gravity Guy up and your reactions will need to be as gassy as possible. There is also no concept of lives within the game so if you do get caught or fall off of the screen you’ll simply start again at the last checkpoint.
Once you have completed a few levels you can access them via Practice mode which allows you to play all the unlocked levels without being chased.
The game as it is in a single player mode would keep me entertained for hour, however when you add in the Multiplayer option I could see that many hours could be lost to competing against up to 3 friends on a single iPhone!
Because of the blur between up and down in Gravity Guy this allow up to four Gravity Guy’s to be on the screen at the same time and with a half, or corner of the screen allocated to each player it’s easy to have everyone play on a single device all at the same time. In this mode the task is to stay alive the longest and that is done by not falling off the back of the screen.
Each players score is tracked between levels so it’s easy to keep track of who’s winning overall. It would be nice to be able to set the criteria of the number of wins required so that an overall winner is announced, instead it just continues to add the number of win adfinitum.
The game is also Game Center enabled and so you can track your progress on the global leader boards and complete the achievements including my favorite ever achievement, Moon Walk, which tracks the distance your Gravity Guy has walked between the Earth and the Moon.
Gravity Guy is on sale for 99 cents in the App Store and there is an HD version available for the iPad.
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Updated: Dec 20, 2010
Current Version: 1.0.2
1.0.2
17.3 MB
Language: English
Seller: Miniclip SA
© Miniclip SA
Rated 9+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Another addition to the range of games with doodle in the title, this time in the form of Doodle Invasion for iPhone. The invasion in this game is of aliens onto a beach and it’s your task to defend the beach from the onslaught.
Your primary method of defense is your breaker which you can draw across the screen to prevent the aliens from reaching the beach, you can then move the breaker up or down the screen into your ships that hover them. You can only have one breaker on the screen at anyone time though so if you start drawing a new one the other one will disappear and set loose any aliens it contains.
So far so good, you hover the aliens and stop them reaching the beach, however they’ll keep on coming from the mothership at the top of the screen that produces stream after stream of them.
So you have a balance to make, suspend as many aliens as you can while destroying the mothership by launching rockets from your ships that are hovering up your aliens.
So far so good, as you progress though the aliens start getting more aggressive both in number and their actions. Some will chew through your breaker, some will swim under it and then they will start attacking people who are using the beach and see for their own pleasure.
Water-skiers will get eaten and surf-boarders will be jumped upon, you can defend your human counterparts though with a quick tap and while this won’t defend the beach, or help destroy the mothership it will increase your score.
This is all done on a beautifully plain paper back drop and the animations look great. The sound effects are clear and simple too and if it wasn’t for the explosions and death you could close your eyes and imagine you were on a beach somewhere, especially if you turn off the sound effects.
As you progress through the levels you will get helicopters that you can use to help destroy the mothership but then there will be UFO’s that aim to repair the mothership if you don’t tap it quickly enough to destroy it.
I can’t quite put my finger on it but Doodle Invasion has an addictive quality that I’m not quite sure that it deserves, somewhere in the mess of creatures and doodles it works though and I find myself going back to it again and again!
Crystal integration is also included and this enables global, local and national leaderboards and 9 achievements which helps you coming back again for more.
Doodle Invasion is just 99 cents and is available in the App Store right now or test out the lite version if you want to try before you buy!
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released: Nov 25, 2010
Version: 1.0
1.0
18.9 MB
Languages: English, Russian
Seller: Clickgamer Technologies Ltd
© MaxNick
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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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.
$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.