Developer: Scienpix Inc
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
I’m sitting in a house surrounded by snow, ice and freezing cold temperatures. So it makes perfect sense to be reviewing Ray Marching, a game that’s all about controlling the rays of the sun.
Your job is to save flowers by directing the sun photons at the targets and, presumably, saving plantkind. To do this is simple, at least at first it is. Using your finger, you position the trajectory of the rays towards the targets. The problem is you can only do this in a straight line. The addition of arrows and other items makes for an easier task but the strategy lies in figuring out how to get to the target. While the game starts out very simply, you’ll quickly be stumped.
Points are scored for succeeding but also accuracy. The best scores come from hitting the bullseye of each target but sometimes this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Slightly oversensitive controls also contribute to this making it a little fiddly to be pinpoint accurate. Although at least this doesn’t affect the general enjoyment that Ray Marching brings.
It’s a formula that’s been used to similar effect many times before but Ray Marching is good fun. There’s 60 stages in all as well as achievements to gain, although sadly they’re not achievements linked to GameCenter or OpenFeint.
Ray Marching won’t set the world alight with its originality. It’s all business as usual really but it is an enjoyable experience and it’s very cute and charming. The opening levels provide an ideal introductory sequence so that you’re gradually guided through what can be done. Many later puzzles are challenging though and are bound to stump you for a while, providing plenty of longevity at a low price.
Developer: ELECTRONIC ARTS
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Device Reviewed On: iPhone
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.44 out of 5 stars
Pictureka! is one loud app. I mean loud. Loud in every sense of the word (hence the exclamation point in the title). It’s easily the noisiest game I’ve ever played on the iPhone. There’s a sound effect for every action that takes place on the screen, so buyer beware if you intend to play this game in public. You’re sure to get some odd looks from those wondering where all of the springy, sprockety blips and twangs are coming from.
If you’re at all familiar with the board game of the same name, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Pictureka! You’re given a time limit to locate a pre-established number of particular objects from a scrollable screen of many, many items. Find them, and you move on to the next round or level. If you don’t….you crash and burn. It’s fun, simple and very basic, which may explain why the designers felt the need to pep up the proceedings with so many audio fireworks and quirky visuals. In the end, it seems unnecessary, as Pictureka! is a good, solid, though unoriginal find-an-object game.
Kids are sure to enjoy the game with all of its oddball sounds and strange characters, but adults may find the game more than a bit grating. Given that another find-an-object game such as Little Things has such a zen-like, calming effect during gameplay, it seems unlikely that many adults would gravitate to the more jarring sensory overload of Pictureka!
The game is identical on both the iPhone and the iPad, but there’s a $3.00 difference in price between the two versions. This is a continuing insult to iPhone and iPad users, since the game could have easily been designed as a universal app. If there were significant differences in content I might understand a price difference, but this is just money grubbing, plain and simple. If this is a game you’re interested in, I recommend just purchasing the $1.99 iPhone version since you get the same content. A bigger screen and HD visuals just aren’t going to make a huge difference in a game like this.
Carter and Whitaker discuss his first full-fledged game soundtrack with the upcoming Super Stick Golf and other projects, including the new track in the upcoming Tilt to Live Update. As well, they discuss his recent efforts at jumping into iOS game development for himself, starting from scratch.
Developer: BIG BAD BRUSH
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.35 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars
It’s the Christmas season, so there are inevitably going to be a number of Christmas themed games and updates that will hit over the next few weeks, but very few will match the bizarreness of Big Bad Brush’s new app, Kung Fu Santa.
Like any good Santa based action game (what?), Kung Fu Santa starts with a simple note, telling you (Santa) that ninjas have stolen all the Christmas presents. The game then starts with you in an endless high score game trying to recover your missing presents while killing the evil ninjas that are trying to ruin Christmas.
The gameplay in Kung Fu Santa feels like strange play on Ninjump, except that there are three poles to jump between instead of the sides of two buildings. As the game progresses, presents fall down the poles while evil ninjas, gaps in the poles, and poison goop all try to stop your quest. In the end, there’s no way for Santa to ‘win”, as gaining a new high score is the only satisfaction you’ll get.
What really sets Kung Fu Santa apart from Ninjump are the controls, but not in a good way. Instead of simply tapping the screen to jump across, you have to watch for your position on the polls. For example, if you are hanging from the right side of the center pole, you have to tap the screen twice to get to the left pole, once to hang off the left side and another to jump over. With things falling from the sky at random intervals, the inclusion of body placement does add some difficulty, but it comes off as slightly annoying. Killing the enemies is also a bit of a struggle. To kill an enemy in Kung Fu Santa, you either have to jump into him of slide down on his head. On paper this sounds fine, but at times you’ll jump across to kick a ninja off, only to unexpectedly die for no reason. All I can come up with is that the ninja was hanging off the far side of the pole and was unhittable at the time, but there really isn’t a good way of telling which side of the pole the ninjas are on. As a rule, I just did my best to avoid the ninjas, which destroyed my plans of defeating the evil ninja thieves.
In fact, after a few minutes of play the whole game seems fairly pointless. Unlike Ninjump, the closest competition to Kung Fu Santa, the controls are frustrating, the concept of jumping on to and from poles is a bit boring, and there’s really nothing to keep you playing time and time again. Sure, the graphics and the sound are alright, but the game is definitely lacking in the likability department. In a game with a great set up plot, more should’ve been done to cultivate the ninjas vs. Santa story.
Mobile broadband is extremely important to consumers now a days due to its heavy use. Not only are folks checking email, keeping tabs on Facebook and playing online games but they are also conducting business – all on the go. That’s why when something as big as, say, Verizon’s 3G network goes down nation wide, it is a catastrophe.
And I’m not just using that as an example, reports have surfaced that say Verizon’s 3G network has in fact gone down nationwide with users everywhere being left in the dark. Luckily, contrasting reports have also risen that say it has begun to go back up so if you’re an unlucky subscriber who has found their mobile has been denied mobile broadband access, sit tight as it should be remedied quite soon.
Have you found that your Verizon-powered device’s 3G service has gone down? Let us know in the comments.
Your job is to save flowers by directing the sun photons at the targets and, presumably, saving plantkind. To do this is simple, at least at first it is. Using your finger, you position the trajectory of the rays towards the targets. The problem is you can only do this in a straight line. The addition of arrows and other items makes for an easier task but the strategy lies in figuring out how to get to the target. While the game starts out very simply, you’ll quickly be stumped. 
Pictureka! is one loud app. I mean loud. Loud in every sense of the word (hence the exclamation point in the title). It’s easily the noisiest game I’ve ever played on the iPhone. There’s a sound effect for every action that takes place on the screen, so buyer beware if you intend to play this game in public. You’re sure to get some odd looks from those wondering where all of the springy, sprockety blips and twangs are coming from.
The game is identical on both the iPhone and the iPad, but there’s a $3.00 difference in price between the two versions. This is a continuing insult to iPhone and iPad users, since the game could have easily been designed as a universal app. If there were significant differences in content I might understand a price difference, but this is just money grubbing, plain and simple. If this is a game you’re interested in, I recommend just purchasing the $1.99 iPhone version since you get the same content. A bigger screen and HD visuals just aren’t going to make a huge difference in a game like this.
:: RIDICULOUSLY ADDICTIVE
:: IMMENSELY ADDICTIVE
Like any good Santa based action game (what?), Kung Fu Santa starts with a simple note, telling you (Santa) that ninjas have stolen all the Christmas presents. The game then starts with you in an endless high score game trying to recover your missing presents while killing the evil ninjas that are trying to ruin Christmas.
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