As a person that works on a computer for a living, I will have to cop to sometimes lacking a smidgen in the social norms and common sense department. Though I am no social ignoramus, there comes a time when a person that you are conversing with is harder to read than a left turn sign from the cockpit of a race car. It is moments like this that having a app to do the heaving lifting for you might be a handy aid. Thus, the Mind Scan Camera was born.
Never again will you be left scratching your head over confusing body language, because the development team over at BlueFinger, Inc. has developed an innovative emotion analysis technology. With recognition for up to ten different emotions, all you need to do is import an image into this handy little app and it does all of the rest. In another awesome perk of the software, they even added in a beta version of their real-time scanning software for no additional cost! Here is a video that promotes some of the key features:
Okay, I am going to level with you, this may not be the most cutting edge piece of software that ever graced the App Store, but it sure is neat. Impressive as the tech may be, it is pretty evident that the functionality will be gimmicky at best. That said, there is quite a bit of fun that could be had at another person’s expense, using a entertaining toy like this.
If nothing else, Mind Scan Camera could make one heck of a conversation piece at a party. “Why hello there beautiful lady. What seems to be troubling you? How did I know that? Let me show you this neat app.” The rest is history, just be sure that you name your beautiful nerd/supermodel hybrid children after me.
Give the app a download. Who knows? It might just change your life!
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.
Developer: Zhou Yang
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.75 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 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.44 out of 5 stars
I’m going to skirt around all my liberal animal rights based opinions here and get right to the point – Angry Bulls is actually rather good fun and provides some excellent stress relief on the commute home after a long day.
Angry Bulls allows you to play the role of the bull and the fighter. Bull mode is the most entertaining of the three modes on offer. It allows you to control the bull on its rampage down the streets and into the bullring. Your aim? To knock over as many runners as possible within the designated time limit. Along the way, you accrue power ups through knocking down the red shirt wearing runners. These boost your strength and power. One particularly bizarre power up enables the bull to quickly run round in a circle destroying everything in its wake. It’s all fun in short doses and provides the most satisfaction.
The Brave mode enables you to control a runner escaping from the bull. It’s noticeably harder, as you’d expect really. More points are acquired by staying as close as possible to the bull’s horns. This is obviously a hard task to succeed at without dying quickly and fast reactions are vital here. It’s fun but perhaps a little too one sided to be worth pursuing for any great length unless you’re a masochist.
Bullring mode thrusts you straight into the bullring that features at the end of Bull mode. Again, the aim is to knock down as many runners as possible. Think of it as like a bull version of Carmageddon. If only Angry Bulls had OpenFeint or GameCenter support so you could compete with friends and their high scores.
Angry Bulls is good fun, even if it is terribly politically incorrect. It’s immensely satisfying knocking down runners in particular and the game is clearly biased towards the bull’s plight but that’s exactly how I like it. The virtual d-pad works just how you would expect and it makes Angry Bulls an ideal game to drop into for short bursts.
Developer: APPY ENTERTAINMENT
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPad
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.38 out of 5 stars
Can a copy be better than the original? My standard answer to that admittedly generic question is a clear-cut no, but games like Trucks & Skulls HD challenge my own prejudices against direct copies.
Let’s be clear about this: Trucks & Skulls HD is a top-down, re-themed version of Angry Birds HD. And, amazingly, it’s just as addictive, if not more so.
I was completely primed to dislike Trucks & Skulls HD from the moment it loaded on my iPad. Similar premise, similar load screens, similar level structure and design – what is new here to like? Strangely, more than you might think. Yes, the two games are very, very similar: launch objects with varying properties and powers at structures in an attempt to destroy “enemies” (pigs in Angry Birds, skulls in Trucks & Skulls), but the key factor in the success of both games seems to be in the theme more than the mechanics.
Where Angry Birds features a cutesy, cartoony cast of animals, Trucks & Skulls HD uses an ultra-machismo, hyped-up-80s-hair-band aesthetic, replete with wailing guitar licks throughout. The only thing missing is the obligatory “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” announcer. But in some way this theme resonates and works with the mechanics of the game, maybe even better than the oddball “pigs and birds” motif of its predecessor. Plus, its over the top approach just makes it plain funny.
Trucks & Skulls HD also ups the ante on Angry Birds by offering a full-on level editor – the same editor, in fact, used by the game’s designers. Creating and saving levels is a breeze, and you can share these new creations via a built-in email sharing feature. This latter feature is clunky – you have to open the email, and click the level in order to load it into the game – but it will no doubt get enhanced as the developers continue to refine the game. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt the game that it’s currently $1.99, a full $3 cheaper than its angry competitor.
The moral of the story, then, dear children, is, “Don’t let your prejudices against copycats keep you from trying a very good game.” You might be surprised by your reaction.
Developer: Violet Rhino
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.2
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Scrabble and Words with Friends have both been huge phenomena in recent times. Scrabble has taken Facebook by storm while Words with Friends has done the same with iOS devices. It’s not surprising, really. It’s such a ridiculously simple game to play, plus you have the added satisfaction of feeling intelligent amongst your friends. If, however, you’re struggling to hold your own in every game, there is a solution: Words Winner.
It feels rather morally dubious cheating against friends but if you feel like doing so then Words Winner is pretty useful. It helps you pick the best words to use. It’s not necessarily the quickest of apps to use as you have to enter the data from each game yourself due to app constraints, making it much easier to use with Scrabble on Facebook as you don’t have to keep switching between apps. However, once set up, it does work well.
You can enter what rack tiles you have available and it comes up with every single variant that can possibly be used as well as the score you can achieve in each case. Words Winner also keeps track of what letters must be left to come up further on in the game which is rather useful if you’re a player who likes to plan many moves ahead. You can even adjust the scoring between Scrabble or Words With Friends as they both offer subtle changes that can make all the difference. It’s all very handy really even if it does feel morally dubious.
Words Winner is a pretty unbeatable way of winning at Words With Friends or Scrabble. It offers everything you could possibly need to convincingly win against your opponent. If you’re that way inclined and don’t mind cheating, this is an ideal app. Personally though, my conscience can’t allow me to use it. Unless of course I discover that my friend is using it!
As a person that works on a computer for a living, I will have to cop to sometimes lacking a smidgen in the social norms and common sense department. Though I am no social ignoramus, there comes a time when a person that you are conversing with is harder to read than a left turn sign from the cockpit of a race car. It is moments like this that having a app to do the heaving lifting for you might be a handy aid. Thus, the Mind Scan Camera was born.
Okay, I am going to level with you, this may not be the most cutting edge piece of software that ever graced the App Store, but it sure is neat. Impressive as the tech may be, it is pretty evident that the functionality will be gimmicky at best. That said, there is quite a bit of fun that could be had at another person’s expense, using a entertaining toy like this.
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.
Angry Bulls allows you to play the role of the bull and the fighter. Bull mode is the most entertaining of the three modes on offer. It allows you to control the bull on its rampage down the streets and into the bullring. Your aim? To knock over as many runners as possible within the designated time limit. Along the way, you accrue power ups through knocking down the red shirt wearing runners. These boost your strength and power. One particularly bizarre power up enables the bull to quickly run round in a circle destroying everything in its wake. It’s all fun in short doses and provides the most satisfaction.
Can a copy be better than the original? My standard answer to that admittedly generic question is a clear-cut no, but games like Trucks & Skulls HD challenge my own prejudices against direct copies. 
Where Angry Birds features a cutesy, cartoony cast of animals, Trucks & Skulls HD uses an ultra-machismo, hyped-up-80s-hair-band aesthetic, replete with wailing guitar licks throughout. The only thing missing is the obligatory “Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!” announcer. But in some way this theme resonates and works with the mechanics of the game, maybe even better than the oddball “pigs and birds” motif of its predecessor. Plus, its over the top approach just makes it plain funny. 
It feels rather morally dubious cheating against friends but if you feel like doing so then Words Winner is pretty useful. It helps you pick the best words to use. It’s not necessarily the quickest of apps to use as you have to enter the data from each game yourself due to app constraints, making it much easier to use with Scrabble on Facebook as you don’t have to keep switching between apps. However, once set up, it does work well. 
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