The game presents you with icons and blank spaces to fill out the words. To make your life a bit easier there are jumbled alphabets to choose from to help you guess the meaning of the icons. If you get stuck you can choose to either post the trivia to your Facebook wall and have your friends help you out or use hints available within the game. Each correct answer earns you $1 (virtual game currency) and can be used to purchase hints. If you run out of the in-game currency, but still want to use a hint you can always use in-app purchase to get more $$$.
Visually the game is very minimalistic in its design and goes well with the iOS 7 flat theme. The user interface is intuitive and mostly gesture based. Flow studio, the developers behind ‘Iconic – Guess The Name Quiz From Picture Icons’ (available for FREE) have included more than 200 hand-drawn icons in the game. The cryptic nature of these icons vary from representing the exact word to giving subtle hints to form the basis of your thinking to solve the puzzle.
The game requires you to have decent knowledge about movies, music, and famous people. For example, if you haven’t watched the movie Dancing with Wolves or heard about the rock band Alice in Chains, it may take you a while to crack the puzzle. The developers have promised more categories in the future. After solving each puzzle you are presented with a short excerpt from Wikipedia which includes information about the movie, music or person you just guessed.
If you get stuck on a certain puzzle and run out of available hints and don’t want to buy coins, the only option left is to wait for your Facebook friends to help out or try being creative while searching on Google. There is no skip option. This sometimes can have a negative impact on the player. Being able to skip a puzzle and then coming back to it later could encourage the player to continue playing and then come back to the unsolved ones. The current version lacks this feature.
The game comes with a single player mode. There is no timer mode, no multiplayer and no achievements to unlock. It is unclear if the developers are working on these features. Adding different modes and achievements will further enhance the gaming experience and give the game a longer shelf life.
Once you start filling out the blank spaces with the available alphabets there is no way to rearrange them. You have to resort to tapping on the incorrectly placed alphabet and then replacing it. It would’ve been nice if the developers allowed the player to just drag and change the position of the alphabets.
Overall, Iconic for iPhone is a fun and challenging trivia game that successfully manages to ignite that ‘Ah! ha!’ expression.
Touch Reviews [rating: 3.5/5]
by All in a Days Play
iOS (Universal)
Iconic challenges you to translate icons into words. Test your knowledge of visual language and pop culture in a ridiculously fun trivia game!
If you enjoyed Draw Something and Heads Up!, then you are bound to enjoy what Iconic has to offer. - AppAdvice
Iconic is very, very sleek. It's head and shoulders more attractive than any other guess-the-phrase game I've seen out there. - AppsZoom
If you’re fond of music, movies, history and wish knowing even more, Iconic is your app - 4.5/5, AppsRumors
We’re surrounded by icons, emoticons, smilies, and other symbols. The meaning behind them is universal: Stop, Go, Play, Shop, Smile, Like, Share. What if the names of your favorite bands, movies, and celebrities are displayed as clever icons?
Crack the visual code and combine clues with your icon smarts to impress your friends and fill your day with priceless “a ha” moments.
Features:
- 250 hand-drawn icons
- Categories include Movies, Music, and People (with more categories to come)
- Share any quiz on Facebook if you need help from friends
- Every solved puzzle includes a Wikipedia excerpt
Iconic is all about clear icons and beautiful, minimalistic design. Nothing stands between fun puzzles and your amazing trivia-solving skills :)
If you enjoy playing Iconic, please take a minute to leave a nice review, it really helps!
FOLLOW US: twitter.com/iconicquiz
LIKE US: facebook.com/allinadaysplay
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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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Having the ability to take a good photo is one thing, being able to present it in an interesting way is a whole other thing, especially when you have lots of pictures that you want to display. This is where Mixel for iPhone comes in.
If you recognise the name then you may have used Mixel when it was available as a social collaging app on the iPad. However, as that app died, this app has cropped up and is already flying high in the App Store charts.
The social aspect of Mixel is still there, in fact you can’t even create a collage without first signing in either with your Facebook or Twitter account, if you don’t have either of those then you can stop right here!
Once you have signed in you can select to follow or invite your friends and choose other users to users to follow too. This provides an Instagram style photo stream of Mixels that the people that you follow have created. This adds additional functionality to your Mixels as you can add to your friends Mixels.
The first thing you’ll want to do is create your own Mixel, this is easy to do, click the large plus in the middle of the task bar and you’ll be ready to start getting creative. Your first job is to select some pictures. If you’ve linked your Facebook and Instagram accounts you’ll be able to select pictures that you’ve posted to both of them as well as from your camera roll and photo stream if you have one.
Once you’ve selected your pictures they will be automatically imported into a collage and at that point you may decide that you are finished. However, if you want to you can start tweaking the design by shuffling the placement, zooming and moving the individual pictures.
You can also choose between 6 different styles. These styles controls the borders and and overall theme of the collection and can add a whole new perspective to your work. The results can be pretty impressive too regardless of whether you decide to just go with the default selections or micro-manage each individual picture.
Completing your Mixel will post it to your Mixel timeline so that your followers can view your creativity, once there you can choose to share it via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook as well as your Photo Stream.
Mixel’s from people that you follow can be expanded on. If you all go to the same event or place, or just a shared theme of pictures you can extend someone else Mixel by adding to the existing one. This is especially fun if you have a bunch of friends all using Mixel.
For style and ease of use Mixel rates highly as do the results. The reliance on social media integration and the fact that you have to post your work to your Mixel timeline to complete your work seems a little over the top.
That being said if you don’t mind the social media integration then Mixel for iPhone is a great way to add a new perspective to your pictures and is Free.
[rating: 3.5/5]
Bastion is a game that has flown under the radar for me. A game that has been winning rave reviews since it was released on the Xbox and PC is now available on the iPad for $4.99. It’s a role playing game that see’s you take the role of young boy alone in what remains of the Bastion.
The game starts as it means to go on for as you wake the boy from his sleeps you’ll notice a couple of distinctive things happening. First is the way that the environment builds itself around you as you move through it. The second is the fact that all of your actions are narrated to you which makes you feel like you are in a movie.
Obviously if you’ve played Bastion before on either of the other platforms then you will know all this, however, if you are picking this up for the first time then both of these features are extremely engaging and set this aside from other similar games you may have played.
Your environment is full of weird and wonderful creatures that you must defeat that and for that purpose you have a range of weapons for you to use and upgrade. You’ll be taken through the process of how to use your weapons as well as navigate your environment across the first few minutes of the game that act as a tutorial as well.
You have a choice of controls too. One set will certainly lend itself to those who prefer a joystick as a virtual one is provided to move your character around, while the uses a control method designed specifically for the iPad as simply touching the screen will move your character to that locations. I used both controls and found them both good but ended up using the ‘classic’ controls most of the time.
You’re overall goal is to re-build the Bastion which was destroyed by an incident that goes by the name of the Calamity. The full story only reveals itself as you progress through the game, and much of this comes from the narrator.
The hand-painted environments look great and clearly a lot of detail has been put into them. That being said the you don’t get too long to pay attention to them as there is a focus on action in this role playing game that will see you fighting, running and avoiding for much of your time in this world.
Upgrading your weapons is key to survival and progression and while you can only have 2 weapons active at any one time you can switch between them at will. Although attack will get you so far you also have to be quick on your feet to defend too. Defending can be done using your shield but also by dashing out of the way.
Of course running and dashing around on a suspended world brings its own risks as you would find yourself falling of the edge of the Bastion. Luckily falling off the Bastion only results in a slight loss of health before you find yourself back in the heat of the action again.
Bastion may not have the complexity of some RPG games, but don’t let that stop you from picking up what is a wonderful title for what it lacks in complexity it makes up for in depth and enjoyment.
For added fun and additional replay value a ‘Plus’ mode is opened up for you once you’ve completed the game and the Game Center integration with leaderboards and 20 plus achievements will keep you going for bragging rights with your friends.
Bastion is a great introduction to RPG’s and yet stands on it’s own too, so if you’re new to RPG’s, new to Bastion or an avid player of RPG’s in general then dig out that $5 and splash it out on Bastion today, as long as you don’t have the original iPad which it won’t work on.
[rating: 5/5]
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]
Lost Cities is based on a board game of the same name by a leading name in the board game industry, one Reiner Knizia. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of him either but after a little research I found that unbeknownst to me I had played one of his games before, a board game based on The Lord of the Rings.
I’d enjoyed that game many times and another good thing going for this iPhone app was the fact that it’s made by TheCodingMonkeys that made one of my favorite iOS games, Carcassonne. With that said, Lost Cities has a lot to live up to for me.
Lost Cities is part board game, part card game where you play either against a computer or GameCenter opponent to score as many points as you can by discarding your cards along 5 color coded lanes.
You start with 8 cards of various colors and you can place any of them down on a corresponding colored lane and then it’s your opponents turn to do the same on their side of the table. On your next turn you can either add to your existing card or start a new lane.
You earn points for every card you play based on it’s face value but before you start any lane you can play a coin card which will double the value of any cards that you play after it. The dilemma though is that starting each lane reduces your score by 20 points and playing a coin card on it will double that 20 point deduction to 40 points. You can do this up to 3 times on any lane and so the decision to be made is do you have the cards to make up for the negative points.
Make sense? It’s ok if it doesn’t as there is an in game tutorial where one of the AI opponents will talk you through the rules and gameplay. But once you get the basics whether you are playing against the AI, a friend or a random GameCenter opponent the challenge keeps on coming and it’s easy to play multiple games at once as you are notified both in game and via the iPhone Notification Center whenever it’s your next turn.
I was initially concerned due to the fact that my color blindness caused problems when attempting to differentiate between the five sets of cards, however the latest update took care of this and now High Contrast Mode can be enabled from the settings menu to make the cards more distinctive for people like me.
The controls are straightforward and intuitive and there are plenty of stats to keep track of your progress, from leveling up my completing certain achievements to the Game Center integration that includes Leaderboards and a little under 100 achievements.
If you are a card game fan then Lost Cities is a must have title for you iPhone, and if you love quality games too then that’s another reason to grab it. At $3.99 it’s not the cheapest card in the App Store but quality sometimes cost money and in the case of Lost Cities it’s worth every penny.
[rating: 5/5]
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Earlier this year we reviewed .vs Racing and thoroughly enjoyed it, the only flaw being the lack of online multiplayer and Game Center integration. Now though VS. Racing 2 has been released promising to address some of those issues and a lot more.
VS. Racing 2 is a top down arcade racer where you race your tiny car around 36 different tracks. Your car can, and will need to be, upgraded based on the coins that you earn competing in races. Don’t worry if you don’t like to have to tinker with your car though as all you can tweak is your speed, acceleration and off-road capabilities.
There are three modes to the racing, first up is the standard single player fare where you unlock tracks as you progress through winning races. Online multiplayer has also been addressed although this is not real time racing. Instead you get to set a time around the track and then challenge a friend to beat your ghost time. It’s an improvement on the original but still no replacement for full online multiplayer racing.
Finally there is local multiplayer racing and this time there is the addition power-ups that you can pick up on track and unleash on your opponents including mines, oil and speed boosts to name but a few. This is a nice addition should you have the occasion where you have a group of friends available to play locally.
Once again the controls work well with three options available for you to pick from, these are virtual buttons, virtual steering wheel and the accelerometer. All of these are work well and it will really be down to personal preference as to which one works for you. What would be nice if it was possible to control the sensitivity of these controls too.
While the controls work well within the game the same can’t be said for the navigation menu’s which are sluggish. Sluggishness is also a problem in the loading of each level which considering the racing tracks are so small take a long time to load.
The tracks do look nice though, they show a good level of detail around the tracks should you ever find the time to look at it as you race around the track at speed. There are also multiple surfaces which directly affect how the car handles which you will have to take into consideration unless you want to go from 1st to 4th in a single corner.
With the addition of Game Center achievements as well as the ghost online racing this is certainly an improvement on .vs Racing, however the sluggish navigation and long load times let it down.
If you want to give it a try then VS. Racing 2 is available in the App Store for $0.99.
[rating: 3.5/5]
Even in this electronic age board games have never gone out of fashion, the only difference being that where as many of these games were once played on literal boards they are now often being played on virtual boards on iPhones, iPads and other such devices.
And that is certainly the case of the award winning Whoowasit? HD which is now available on the iPad for $4.99 from the App Store.
Whoowasit? HD is like a cross between the classic board games of Clue and Guess Who and is a team based where instead of players competing against each the players are encouraged to work together to solve the puzzles and find the thief who has stolen the ring.
Set in medieval times the game is set in the rooms of a castle and by rolling the dice players take it in turns to move their character from room to room looking for clues to who could have stolen the ring.
The board is beautifully drawn with lots of detail and small animations. Each room contains a different animal and they will have clues to help you finger the thief. However, they won’t give up they’re information for nothing and need to be encouraged to spill the beans by giving them food which can also be found in the rooms.
As it’s a team game everyone gets to see the clues that are presented and can use them themselves. You may think that as everyone is working together that catching the thief would be easy. However, you are up against the clock and failure to find the thief in the allotted time will result in the game being over.
You will also have to avoid the ghost that moves from room to room as being in the same room will see you banished back to the nursery to start your hunt again.
The thief, clues and food that the animals require are changed each time that you play the game too ensuring that no too games are ever the same which makes repeat plays of the game more attractive.
The game also provides additional features for those players that own the board game version of Whoowasit? HD as it includes an interactive chest that becomes part of the board game.
Whoowasit? HD provides is an enjoyable experience and provides a more relaxed gaming experience compared to some of the other titles that are available on the iPad. While some people may be put off by the $4.99 price tag they should remember that this is a game that the whole family can play together and is considerably cheaper than purchasing a board game in a store.
[rating: 4.5/5]What we like
What to know
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks then let me introduce you to Bad Piggies for iPhone, the new spin off game from the mega franchise Angry Birds.
If you’ve played any of the Angry Birds games then you will feel perfectly at home in Bad Piggies which especially from a graphical point of view where environments for each level look like they’ve just been lifted off one of the Angry Birds games.
While Bad Piggies is certainly part of the Angry Birds franchise don’t expect to see any of your colorful feathered friends as this is hog territory only. While it’s also a physics puzzler there are no sling-shots in sight, while there are three stars to be collected on each level this time it’s not based on your high score but instead 3 separate achievements.
In Bad Piggies for iPhone your task is to build a vehicle on which to transport your hogs to a finish-line somewhere on the level. You can zoom around the environment to find where your destination is and then view the the three star requirements set for the level.
These stars requirements range from reaching the finish line, not using certain vehicle part, complete the level under a certain time and many others which change from level to level. You’ll also rarely be able to complete all the stars in one go and will have to change your plans within each level just to complete each objective.
Because of this the game is certainly takes more thought and planning than most of the Angry Birds games and because of this younger players may get frustrated with the subtleties required to complete the levels.
Of course help can be brought in if you are struggling with any of the levels by calling on a mechanic to suggest the best approach to take, which of course can be purchased via in-app purchase and if you insist on completing each level with 3 stars that may very well be required.
Instructions for the 90+ levels are provided via a little in game book which give pictorial guidance on what you need to do on each level. The 90 levels are split over 3 worlds and my favorite of the 3 is the 2nd world where you transport your pig on balloons!
While much of Bad Piggies is good, including the Game Centre integration with 33 Achievements it’s still disappointing that it’s that Rovio continue to not release the game as a universal app and have no progress syncing between devices.
It also appears that the release of the iPhone 5 came a little too quickly for them as it’s still currently ‘letterboxed’ on the iPhone 5.
Overall Bad Piggies is a fun and challenging game and takes the challenge of Angry Birds to the next level.
[rating: 4.5/5]
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It’s that time of year again when EA Sports come out with their annual upgrade to their FIFA franchise and this year is no difference as they release FIFA 13, their 13th iteration of the world wide soccer game. (Yes I’m calling it soccer, the whole world plays the game now and it’s just easier this way).
While previous versions of the FIFA franchise on iOS have sometimes seen minimal improvements outside of improved graphics and/or new features FIFA 13 has brought something to their iOS offering that people have been asking for for a long time and that’s the ability to play against other players over the Internet and not just those based locally.
While the old rivalries will continue to rage between the FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer fans, you generally either love or hate one or the other, the competition is clearly good for the players of each as they continue to push and innovate the graphics, gameplay and features and this continues to be the case.
Graphics ones again receive a boost that defies the size of the devices that you can play these games on. Player likenesses improve as FIFA continues to enjoy fully licensed players, teams and leagues from all around the world and the smoothness of the gameplay remains unaffected especially on the iPhone 5 that this was reviewed on and which is fully supported in full screen mode.
Controls have been tweaked in this release quite significantly however the new features don’t affect the core controls and instead the add and enhance what is an already well established control system.
A virtual d-pad on the left of the screen continues to provide directional control of your players while action buttons on the right side of the screen control the specific action that your chosen player will attempt, (I say attempt as based on your your skill and timing they don’t always come off), to complete.
It’s these action buttons that now include new features, firstly the ‘skill move’ button has been improved to provide more skill moves using a nine point grid around the button. Tapping the skill button and then making gestures up, down, left, right and around the skill move button will produce a variety of skill moves. And based on how you make the gesture will control whether you complete the skill to the left or two the right of the oncoming player.
While most players will be happy just to jump in a test the controls for themselves I would highly recommend reviewing the inbuilt help videos that will show you what all the gestures are and how they are activated to make the full benefit of them.
You can also control you whole teams gameplay via in game gestures too, want to make your team play more defensively? Then swipe two fingers towards the end you are defending. Want to play a more attacking style? Then swipe two fingers toward the goal you are attacking. The ability to do this without having to stop the game and make the selections in the options menu makes for a much more fluid gaming experience.
Another new feature is the ability to call in a 2nd defender when we feel that you need it. While holding down the tackle button will automatically make your selected player attempted to tackle the opposing player pressing the ‘call 2nd defender’ button will automatically bring over additional help should you find yourself trying to defend Messi, Ronaldo or any other tricky player.
These additional features add confirm able depth to the playing options for players to take advantage of while still ensuring that the game is easy to pickup and play for the newcomer to the franchise. And it needs to be said again that there are two many of these options to list here and you should view the in game help to learn them all.
The four game modes are still present, you can jump into a quick match, complete a league or cup from around the world in tournament mode, test your hand at club management in manager mode or play online.
Tournament mode continues to provide great value with even lower leagues from around the world being available, so if you want to play as lowly Southend United in the nPower League 2 in England you can. In total there are 67 trophies to be won in tournament mode and so to get a full trophy cabinet you’re going to have to play a lot of games.
Manager Mode adds additional depth to the game as you now have the ability to not only control the players but manager the whole club. From players contracts and club finances to keeping the board and supporters happy you are going to be juggling a lot of balls.
While this level of depth isn’t for everyone it does work well and provides a valid alternative to the management style games of Football Manager while providing the ability it take control of matters on the pitch too.
It also has to be said that EA have provided the ability to sync both Manager and Tournament modes using iCloud. This means that if you have this universal app running on multiple devices you can pick up on one device where you left off on another, that’s awesome.
We then come to the newly added online mode which has the potential of providing endless hours of game-play if done right. There are two ways to play online, 1 is in a quick match against a random opponent, the other is in a friendly against one of your friends.
Game-play is the same for both but if you play against a friend you win, draw, loss stats will be recorded against them so that you can prove who has the bragging rights.
I’ve played numerous times online and for the most part it’s been a great experience. I’ve never failed to be matched up with an opponent which suggests that there are a lot of people playing the game and while there have been a couple of disconnected games there is no way of telling whether that’s due to my opponent, network issues or a problem with the game itself.
The graphics appear a little toned down when playing online but it’s not something you notice in the thick of the action and games can be decided based on both players agreeing on the outcome. For example, it the game ends in a tie then you get to choose between ending the game in tie, extra-time or going straight to penalties.
Many hours could be lost in this mode especially if you have lots of friends who play the game too. It would be nice to have online leagues or tournaments to compete in but at this point that’s not available.
Both on and offline games provide a whole plethora of achievements, 79 to be exact, and they range from receiving no bookings during a match and scoring from long range to scoring a goal with your goal keeper and having a player score both an own goal and a goal in the correct goal!
While it’s great to have this number of achievements in the game it’s disappointing that EA continue not to link to Apples Game Centre achievements, continuing it use their own Origin network instead. Other games offer the option to link to both their own social gaming network as well as Game Centre and it would be nice to see EA do the same.
The daily challenges are a nice addition though were you get the opportunity to relive real matches, earn XP points to climb the social leader-boards.
FIFA 13 also enables you to share your greatest moments of skill and goals with the world via in-game integration with YouTube. Anytime you view a replay you will also get the opportunity to upload it to YouTube and given that the video is limited to just 9 seconds once you’ve authenticated your account once the sharing happens really quickly.
While some people may balk at the $6.99/4.99 price, this monster franchise continues to set the standard that other titles must aspire too and it’s worth every penny.
[rating: 4.5/5]
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Disney recently released the classic story of Dumbo as an interactive app for the iPhone and iPad. For children young and old the story of Dumbo is an endearing classic and while this interactive story book to the original story and artwork it also and features such as coloring pages, puzzles and a musical instrument in the form of a Calliope straight from the pages of the book.
The story itself is beautifully recreated in its electronic form and has well delivered audio to so that your child can listen to the story as well as read it. The pages come to life with animated action too which brings the story to life even more.
One if the most impressive features though is the ability to record your own audio of each individual page. You can do this one page at a time and when turned on the narration will be you voice and not the origami voice. This will be awesome if for any reason your going to be away from your child as this can be one way to stay close.
The three additional features are fun too. Playing the Calliope is fun and sounds very authentic. You can either freestyle or follow the tutorial to play along with the tune. The puzzle provides 3 virtual jigsaw puzzles for you to put together and each has 3 difficulty levels which increases the number of pieces in the puzzle.
Also pulling from the pictures in the book are the coloring pages. In these pages you have a paint brush, pencil and a palette of colors to color in the picture. You can save your handiwork if you want to come back to it later or email your completed masterpiece.
A nice added feature is the ability to personalize the splash screen of the app, not only with your child’s photograph but also their name which you can either type in or write in using your finger or stylus.
It’s no surprise that Disney would produce such a great app but it’s good to see it come to fruition.
This universal app cost $1.99 and is available in the App Store now, whether you are wanting to relive the story from your childhood or enjoy it with your child or grand children this app is a great way to do it.
[rating: 5/5]What we like
What to know
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
Coming up with original ideas must be a problem for an App Store that is flooded with original content. That being said Lipasto Games have done just that in the form of Billy the Painter HD for iPad.
The painting in question in this app is the floor of an old factory and the top down view provides you with a view of the different levels and how much of the floor still needs to be painted by you.
Painting the floor couldn’t be easier, simply tap the screen and paint will begin to radiate from the touch point until it touches any area that has been already painted.
This is where the challenge comes in as each puzzle has a different shaped floor that needs to be painted and so as the paint radiates out it can quickly stop if not placed appropriately and this can cause you to lose a life if you don’t reach the required percentage.
The trick to progress through the levels is to use multiple touch points as sources of the radiating paint and in combination with that the timing of these touch points.
While paint % is the overall dictator of your success you can improve your points score by painting of spots of old paint that are randomly placed on each level.
The whole style of the game is beautifully presented throughout and while the only graphical variety in the levels is the blue paint that is used in the bonus round that comes every 10 games this is not a distraction from a great looking game.
Sound effects are minimal but the music is appropriate to the game and is not annoying either and I didn’t find myself having to mute it at any time which is always nice.
The gameplay doesn’t allow you to pick specific levels that you want to play, instead you start each game at the beginning and progress through the levels until your 3 lives are lost. At this point your score is added to the local leaderboard. Why both options of game-play aren’t available I’m not sure.
As mentioned previously the game’s leaderboards are only local and there are no achievements to unlock via GameCenter integration either.
Billy the Painter HD is a beautiful, playable, challenging but ultimately limited due to it’s limited options. Perhaps some of these will be addressed in a future update.
[rating: 3/5]What we like
What to know
Normally when a game starts I will attempt to skip through the numerous splash screens which detail the variety of parties involved in the production of the game, (much to their annoyance I’m sure). However, every now and again one splash screen will appear which fills your heart with hope that you are about to embark on gaming greatness.
In my case that splash screen is the one that displays the fact that the game is built using the Unreal Engine. A platform which has introduced us to some of the most rich and rewarding gaming experiences across all major devices has another hit to its armory in Horn.
If you’ve experienced the Unreal world before you know what to expect. Horn for iPhone and iPad is played in a expansive, rich and detailed environment that fools you into believing that you’re not on a handheld device but on a console instead.
This beautiful environment is the backdrop of the story of Horn, a young boy who finds himself in a world where all but a few humans have been turned into giant rock creatures called Golems. Horns task is to return these creatures back into humans.
Unlike some other titles where the environments are so rich that your character has limited interaction with them with Horn you are able to go where you wish, within reason of course, by simply tapping on the screen. This makes movement very easy although not always 100% accurately.
Combat makes up a large part of the game as you attempt to take down the many monstrous creatures. The combat system is similar to the Infinity Blade titles where timing is the key to avoid your enemies attacks and take advantage of their weaknesses. It works impressively well and I took great satisfaction in defeating each on the monstrosities that I came across.
Horn is not just another hack ‘n’ slash game though. For as many battles that you’ll encounter there are as many puzzles to be solved and this balance keeps things interesting and entertaining as you uncover the secrets of the world that you have found yourself in.
Even more depth is added to the game thanks to the various weapons and magic that you get to work with and upgrade as you progress through the game.
The game’s beauty is enhanced by the wonderful voice acting that accompany the story telling parts of the game and the orchestral score provides a wonderful backdrop to this engrossing game.
Zynga is a game company that some people either love or hate and if you are on the hate side of the argument then Horn could be the that changes your mind. For everyone else, just go out and by this game and be ready to lose yourself in a wonderful world of mystery, combat, puzzles and entertainment.
The only problem I’ve had with the game is the fact that even as a universal application there is no ability to sync your progress between multiple devices which would be nice.
[rating: 5/5]What we like
What to know
At first glance it appears that despite his name Captain Antarctica is not your usual game hero. However, it’s soon apparent that with a plethora of upgrades and gadgets Captain Antarctica is no ordinary penguin and is ready to take on the task of rescuing his family and friends.
You responsibility in this task is to steer Captain Antarctica though underwater caverns to defeat the multiple bosses across 6 initial chapters, (chapter 7 is listed as “Coming Soon”). While 6 chapters may not seem like a lot of value for the $1.99 price tag each chapter is full of challenges.
The ultimate objective of each chapter is to negotiate your way through the dangerous underwater caverns and all the dangers they hold. From a variety of dangerous sea creatures to more volatile dangers such as mines and torpedoes there are dangers around every corner to hinder your progress.
Controlling Captain Antarctica through these dangers is done either via the accelerometer or via the touch screen, personally the most successful control system is the accelerometer but it’s nice to have the choice.
Each of the chapters include multiple Experiments (challenges), this means that you’ll need to repeat the chapters multiple times to complete them, the early chapters contain single digit challenges, however by the time you reach the final chapters will be double digit experiments for you to complete.
You are aided in these challenges by the option to purchase power-ups and upgrades to your existing skills. You have magnets, shields and jets and of course extra lives at your disposal and they can be purchased by coins.
You earn coins by completing the experiments in each level, but you can also purchase coins via in-app purchase. The balance between gaining coins in game and having to buy them to progress is fairly balanced so if you don’t want to buy them you don’t have to.
GameCenter integration is hit and miss, sure there are 32 achievements to unlock but rather than having leaderboards for each chapter there are just two for total coins and total distance traveled.
The game is great looking game to with bright, colorful two dimensional graphics which despite their 2 dimensionality provide great depth to the game and the jaunty music is well pitch to the game.
Captain Antarctica HD is a fun arcade game which has that vital ingredient of convincing you to need just one more try before you put it down and will appeal to players young and old alike.
[rating: 4.5/5]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
Back in 1961 Mad Magazine published the first in a hugely popular cartoon strip going by the title Spy vs Spy. 23 years later after they were used in a variety of media and advertisements the Spy vs Spy video game was released to much critical acclaim. And now First Star Software have brought it to iOS for a whole new generation to enjoy the classic title.
The aim in Spy vs Spy is to hunt down the 4 special objects in the form of your passport, money, a key and the secret plans place them all in your suitcase and escape to your plane before you adversary does the same, it’s just that simple, get to the plane before your opponent will win you the level.
There are 24 levels in total, with many of them new to this version of the game, and each of the levels are based in progressively larger embassy’s that eventually become a rabbit warren of rooms and countless doors for you to hunt through.
People who know the Spy vs Spy cartoon strip will feel perfectly at home in the game, it’s perfectly recreated and whether you play it in the 8 bit retro version or the modern retina display the graphics look great. The style doesn’t lend itself to eye-popping graphics but they look great and sell the game expertly.
While you are hunting through the cabinets, cupboards, hat-stands, tv’s and other pieces of furniture you will often bump into your Spy opponent and when you do you have the option to fight him or to run away. If you beat the other spy you will get the opportunity to grab whatever he was carrying at the time. Choose your battles based on what you have to lose, and gain!
Hunting for the 4 artifacts is not just a game of hide-n-seek though, there are booby traps throughout the various embassy’s and unless you have the correct item to defeat the booby trap you will be killed, only to re-spawn later with any objects that you previously had, lost.
The single player game is fun in itself, it’s when you play the multi-player option though either locally via wi-fi/bluetooth or globally via the Game Center integration is where the real fun begins as defeating a ‘real’ spy is much more satisfying the defeating a cpu one.
The only flaw is the controls, while I like the idea of a floating d-pad to control your Spy, meaning that you can touch the screen anywhere to move your Spy, it’s not as responsive as I would like and sometimes getting the alignment of your character right so that you can search an item of furniture or get through a door can sometimes be a little frustrating.
Spy vs Spy is a universal app and is currently only 99 cents in the App Store, whether you are new to Spy vs Spy of want to revisit a classic game from yesterday year Spy vs Spy will be a dollar well spent.
[rating: 4.5/5]What we like
What to know
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
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
A game that’s been floating around the top of the charts for a while now is Ski Safari so we thought it was about time that we took a look at what’s making this 99 cent universal app so popular.
In Ski Safari you are faced with controlling Sven down a steep snow covered mountain side in a desperate attempt to avoid being swallowed up by the avalanche that is tearing down behind him.
From a controls point of view this task is easy, tapping the screen will cause sven to jump while tapping and holding either side of the screen will enable sven to perform forward and backward somersaults. The actions are all helpful for avoiding obstacles such as piles of rocks but also to help boost your speed by grabbing and riding with penguins, birds and the odd abominable snowman!
The action comes at you very fast as your speed down the mountain side attempting to keep out of the clutches of the foreboding avalanche that is chasing you, so quick reactions are a must if you are going to keep yourself alive.
If you are familiar with games like Jetpack Joyride and Subway Surfers you’ll also be familiar with the process of having mini goals set each time you take to the slopes. This can range from performing a double backflip or picking up 3 penguins to flying with a bird for X distance to tumbling for a given amount of time.
All this adds to the basic game premise of travelling as far as you can before you get swallowed up in a cloud of snow. These goals keep the game interesting and while all this is going on you also pick up coins which you can then spend on purchasing items such as coin magnets, costumes and rockets which will boost the distance you travel.
The key to a successful run is using the variety of animals that frequent the mountain side to boost the distance you travel and your ability to survive hitting the obstacles. If you manage to fly with the the bird, ride the abominable snowman and tame the wild wolves you should be on to a good score and even open.
The cartoon graphics lend themselves well to the snowy environment and even though you won’t have time to appreciate it as you speed down the slope the background detail of having other mountains with animals running down them is a nice detail.
If you haven’t joined the Ski Safari party {$.99, App Store} yet then there is no time like the present. It’s a fun game which you can use as a quick pick up and play title when you have a spare five minutes only to find that 3 hours later you are still playing it!
[rating: 5/5]What we like
What to know
Everybody loves lists right, to a greater or lesser extent, the same can be said for movies. So how about an app that combines both! ToDo Movies for iPhone does just that in a single app the enables you to keep a simple list of all the movies that you want to watch.
Because this app has a single purpose the interface is very easy to use with a simple search feature to find you movies and then two lists, To Watch and Watched.
The search results are comprehensive and I’ve yet to be beaten in finding movies, even some obscure movies from my youth are listed thanks to the apps integration with the themoviedb.org which even provides a snapshot of information about each movie.
Once you’ve added a movie to your To Watch list you can share it via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email and, once you’ve watched the movie move it to your watched list. You can even choose to show badges for the movies on your To Watch list so you have a constant reminder of how many movies you have still to watch.
The simplicity of the app makes it very easy to use and movies can be added and moved between lists with a couple of clicks. While the lists can be sorted based on release date, alphabetically and the order in which they were added it would be nice to be able to edit the order manually so that you could prioritize the order in which you want to watch them.
For movies that are yet to be released at the movie theatre yet you can also choose to be notified via push notification when it does happen.
There are apps out there that offer more functionality than ToDo Movies but if you want to keep things simple then you could download this app by spending 99 cents.
[rating: 3/5]What we like
What to know
