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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KooFish: Break’em Out for iPhone and iPad is a slingshot puzzle game like Angry Birds. Using the wildly successful platform that Angry Birds made famous, KooFish takes to the water in this slingshot puzzle extravaganza. The puzzles are elaborate and there are a lot of them.
KooFish is a very simple game unless you are one of the few people are there who haven’t played Angry Birds. It employs the same gameplay and similar physics. You slingshot conch shells at blocks of ice that contain fish. Using your surroundings you have to break out the fish that are trapped in the cubes while using as few shells as possible, sound familiar? The characters and levels are very nice and fairly polished. This game looks great.
The fish are “cute” in the words of my wife and with 150 unique puzzles that are strategically laid out, there is plenty to keep you busy here. The game also has Game Center integration which is a must these days to compete with friends. Who doesn’t have office wide game challenges like my company?
This game is for both the iPad and the iPhone and looks great on both. I enjoyed the game very much, though I must admit, I haven’t played Angry Birds in quite a while.
Angry Birds fanatics will surely have their rips about this game not being quite the same and being incredibly similar. I say why not let someone use the same base game and have their own spin on it. It worked for Battlefield and Call of Duty. That being said, the similarities and the price made me go with 3 stars on this one.
I like the game but the audio isn’t that great, it is very similar to Angry Birds and at the 3 dollar price, its tough to go any higher. That being said if you can’t get enough of the Angry Birds style play and want a new atmosphere, this is the game for you.
[rating: 3/5]What we like
What to know
AT&T is reportedly planning to launch a blocking service that will allow users to report stolen phones and tablets, a service which of course, includes the iPhone as well. On Friday, The Verge reported based on a source that AT&T is in fact, looking to launch this blocking service on Tuesday, July 10th.
According to our source, AT&T “will have no directory of blocked phones,” but it is not yet clear what this means in practice. AT&T’s guidance states that “only the person who originated a block may request block removal,” a rule which suggests that the company will keep a central list of blocked phones matched to customers.
Apple already offers Find my iPhone for its users to help track iPhones, iPads, and Macs and allows them to remote wipe all of the data, including a tracking service via iCloud that pinpoints the location of the phone on a map. The blocking service by AT&T does something similar, but also blocks the voice, data, and messaging plans.
Perhaps, AT&T’s plan with this new service would block all services, and would shut off the SIM card, as opposed to a customer reporting it themselves. U.S Carriers already have a directory of lost and stolen cellphones, but this new service will likely allow the users to control when and how their data would be protected by using the new service.
According to the report, the same user who initiates the block can only request a block removal. It is unclear exactly how AT&T plans to incorporate the service into their current plans and already existing technology, but will likely explain in a press release on the assumed launch date of July 10th.
{via iMore — Image Credit: The Verge}
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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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What to know:
Rolling Kongs Review: A new puzzle game for iPhone and iPad brought to the App Store by Ntreev Soft Co., Ltd. and if you are quick you’ll be able to grab it for just 99 cents. The question is though, should you?
The game starts with a brief back story which concerns a couple of Ape like creatures having their stash of banana’s stolen only for them to head off travelling from planet to planet to recover their lost loot. While this story is continued throughout the game it’s not necessary to follow it to enjoy the game.
There are 24 planets for your furry friends to travel through each with 12 levels, so on numbers alone Rolling Kongs has a lot to offer. The premise of each level is to clear the blocks from the screen by joining them into 2 by 2 squares and then touch them to make them disappear.
You achieve this by twisting the playing area either to the left or to the right to change the way the blocks fall against each other. Get to to connect into the required minimum 2 by 2 block and you can make them disappear.
Things are kept simple to begin with and the first few levels will even guide you through the process of clearing the screen. Things obviously get much more difficult as things progress and soon you’ll find yourself making use of the undo button to get yourself out of dead end situations.
You start each level with 5 stars but as you struggle to clear the screen the stars will gradually disappear. You can repeat each level however should you want to go back on your previous high scores.
Rolling Kongs {$0.99} is not only a fun puzzle game but it looks and sounds good to, I would have liked to have seen more than just the 9 achievements with the Game Center integration but perhaps more will be added with a future update.
If you like puzzle games you can’t go too far wrong with Rolling Kongs, it should keep you entertained and puzzled for a good few hours.
What we like:
What to know:
[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.
What to know:
What to know:
[rating: 5/5]
Tomb Slider Review: A block-moving puzzle game that gives your brain a workout! I love the quality of this game. There are similar block puzzle games, but Tomb Slider has stepped it up a notch.
The premise of the game is to move the large stones blocking your path to the exit. Sometimes this is simple; sometimes you scratch your head and figure it out by chance. The puzzles get progressively more difficult and you are racing the clock to get the best score. There is an option for “Relax Mode” lets you play without worrying about the clock, if that suits you. And there are 360 puzzle variations and strategies to go along with them to keep it fresh, and more on the way.
This is definitely a game that will have you saying “just one more” until you totally lose track of time.
Tomb Slider is Game Center enabled so you can compete with friends through achievements (in-game trophies) and leaderboards. And taking a cue from Angry Birds, you can try for perfection by clearing each puzzle with a three-star effort.
The graphics for this game are stunning. They are bright, cute, and clear. Animations are an extra bonus and add a nice touch of whimsy along with added quality and attention to detail. The music is fittingly heavy on flutes and drums.
There is a free version of the game which allows you to “try before you buy” and it gives you a fair portion of the game from which to decide. And while I initially balked at the $2.99 price tag, it didn’t take five minutes of play to realize it was well worth it.
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[rating: 5/5]
BLOCKADO Desert Review: A puzzle-solving game in the tradition of the toy puzzle-square games, but with lots of digital twists.
Set in a desert archeological dig environment, this game asks you to move obstacles out of the way so that the treasure chests can reach the exits. Simple enough. Except the obstacles only move lengthwise. And other obstacles block them. Some obstacles are obvious, but some literally pop up and have to be solved before moving ahead. And the obstacles come in different varieties and each has its own characteristics such as spring or magnetic action.
It takes a bit to slide the objects around to make way for the treasure chests. If you get stuck, there is a help that you can access to see the solution. But of course, you will lose credit for solving that puzzle if you do. There are also some extra-hard puzzles with no solution help if you want to up the challenge a bit.
Each level consists of a treasure map that requires you to solve several puzzles along the way, each getting more difficult. When you’ve completed the map you unearth a fossil or other treasure before continuing on to the next challenge. There’s a bit of interesting information about these treasures that’s worth the pause to read.
The graphics are 3-D to allow you to see the obstacles and there’s enough color and contrast to help you identify the various parts of the game pieces. The music is majestic and the sound effects provide feedback as you move the pieces. Both support the desert theme and give the game an exotic feel.
There are scores of puzzles to be solved in BLOCKADO Desert. (There is also a free version, but it’s limited to 9 puzzles.) If you’re looking for something just a bit different there are Jungle, Mountain, and Deep Sea BLOCKADO games too. And if you’re looking for some additional puzzles, you can add levels by scanning QR codes from the developers website. New codes are added weekly. There’s even a BLOCKADO EDITOR available for download so you can build your own games and scan them in, which allows you to share them with others.
BLOCKADO Desert is an addictive game that will work your brain for a long time to come. The number and complexity of puzzles will keep you coming back for more.
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Group all the coloured blocks to clear the screen and move on to the next level in Blockees for iPhone 4 developed by Runloop Ltd. The game adds a fun twist to the popular puzzle genre. It might sound like a match three type of game but it is not.
In each level you are greeted with colourful little blocks with eyes watching your every move. The way to play is to slide the blocks by swiping in what ever direction you want them to go. One swipe moves them all. When the blocks that are the same colour touch side by side they are cleared off the screen. You have to keep moving until they are all matched and to try do it in a set amount of moves .
There are three colours to match up red, blue and yellow. Mixed in with those blocks are also grey blockees. These blocks don’t want to play though so they just hang around and get in your way making your job a whole lot harder. Then you have rainbow blockees which will group together with any colour of block so those ones are always good to have! Then last thing you have are bombs. These stun your little blockees but totally destroy the grey blocks.
As you progress the levels get quite hard, infact almost from the start they are quite difficult. There is though always three uncompleted levels to play giving you the option to go back to a level later. A feature that at times came in rather handy. You can if need be get hints to help you along the way. You earn these by collecting gold stars. The stars can then be spent on getting a hint for a level you are stuck on.
There are 75 levels to complete separated into 3 with 25 in each. If that isn’t enough for you though there is also a puzzle editor section. This is where you can create your own puzzle to play. It is also the same editor the developers used to create the actual game levels.
You can also share your puzzles with other players. You can create a Puzzle Pack Generator of a selection of puzzles that others have created and play them too. So there is a huge amount of possible levels.
To top it off Blockees also is integrated with Game Center with 14 achievements to complete. This game will keep you busy for a very long time!
Pros
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$0.99
Category: Games
Updated: Apr 27, 2011
Current Version: 2.0.2
2.0.2
Size: 6.9 MB
Language: English
Seller: Runloop Ltd
© 2011 Runloop Ltd
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
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There are a plethora of match three type games in the App Store, this one however is a little different, as instead of being a match 3 game it’s a match any number game and this makes it uniquely different. Throw in a handful of tetris and you will somewhere near to an understanding of what Push Panic actually is.
The game is pretty simple in it’s premise, blocks of a variety of colors fall from the top of the screen and start to fill the screen. Just like tetris should your screen completely fill it’s game over. So how do you prevent this from happening?
Tapping any block will mark it as selected and you can continue to click on as many of the same color as you can, once you have enough selected you can tap any of the already selected pieces and they will all clear from the screen. The more you have selected at any one time the more points you can get.
As you progress through the game you will get 2x and 4x blocks that will act as multipliers as well as other special blocks that help you clear the screen. These include bombs to clear multiple blocks, pieces that will select all of a given color and my favorite the chain block that will allow you to join together to sets of different color blocks.
While the game concept is very simple it has been well spread over 4 different game modes. The first game mode is classic, in this mode there are 50 levels to complete a set challenge and it is scored based on your total score through bronze, silver and gold and more than ever this is where the previously mentioned special blocks can be the difference between winning and losing.
Score mode challenges you to score as many points as possible before your screen fills up and as you progress things get faster and faster. Color mode sets a similar task but this time with the added difficulty of only allowing a maximum of 8 blocks of any one color at any one time. A count of the colors is listed along the bottom of the screen so quick eyes are needed as well as quick fingers.
The final mode is Timed and as the name suggests you have a set time of 180 seconds to score as many points as possible.
Through all these games modes you live score and ranking are displayed based on the Open Feint integration and this certainly keeps you going and wanting more. There’s never a time that you aren’t aware of how you compare with the best players in the world. The game also integrates with Apple’s own Game Center so integration is there even if you don’t susbcribe to Open Feint you can still track your successes.
Push Panic is a frantic puzzle game that will keep you on the edge of your seat again and again.
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Updated: Dec 18, 2010
Current Version: 1.1.1
1.1.1
18.6 MB
Language: English
Seller: Appular
© 2010 Barry Kostjens
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later
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