Are you sick of matching cubes, popping bubbles, and spinning gems? Do logic puzzles get you all frisky? Then boy do we have a treat for you.

Brain Shock is on a different level than many of the puzzle games littering the App Store. Instead of matching colors, pushing blocks, or trying to explode bubbles, you have to make blocks. It is as simple as that, just add or remove walls until you have some squares made. I would so be bluffing if it were simply that easy. Each level will present you a new setup that you must finagle out of a 3

Gobliiins is rather difficult to remember how to spell. It’s also an iPhone conversion of a point and click adventure game from the early 1990s. Who’d have thought one day that a game that required a huge lumbering PC, could one day be played on a phone? Regardless of this brief dose of nostalgia, Gobliiins makes for a quite sound purchase, even if it is occasionally a little confusing as to what you need to do next.

You control three goblins who have set out to find a cure for the mad king. Ultimately you probably won’t be too bothered about what the plotline is. It’s not really that important in the grand scheme of things. What’s more important is solving each puzzle that comes your way.

Each of the goblins has their own unique abilities. One goblin is a technician so can pick up and use items, while the second goblin is a warrior who can punch and climb, and the third is a magician who can cast spells. Each of these skills come in handy to solve the variety of puzzles that you’ll come across in the 22 different levels. The puzzles themselves are for the most pat interesting with some requiring you to escape the screen while others needing you to collect a certain hidden object. The flaw lies in the fact that many of them aren’t as obviously solved as you’d think.

Point and click games from the 1990s were notoriously obtuse and this time it’s no different. Fortunately, there is a very handy hint system which helps you throughout the game but it does slightly ruin the point when you find yourself relying on it because you have simply no idea what you’re meant to do next. I found this particularly noticeable when it came to certain puzzles that required very precise timing – these felt more like a matter of trial and error than anything else.

Despite this though, I had a lot of fun with Gobliiins. The characters are charming thanks to the hand drawn visuals and it was satisfying to progress through the game. Unlike a title such as Broken Sword: The Director’s Cut, I felt no urge to keep playing for the sake of the storyline – I just liked having a new puzzle to solve. It’s not brilliant but it is fun at times.

[ Gobliiins review is a post from 148Apps ]

Gobliiins is rather difficult to remember how to spell. It’s also an iPhone conversion of a point and click adventure game from the early 1990s. Who’d have thought one day that a game that required a huge lumbering PC, could one day be played on a phone? Regardless of this brief dose of nostalgia, Gobliiins makes for a quite sound purchase, even if it is occasionally a little confusing as to what you need to do next.

You control three goblins who have set out to find a cure for the mad king. Ultimately you probably won’t be too bothered about what the plotline is. It’s not really that important in the grand scheme of things. What’s more important is solving each puzzle that comes your way.

Each of the goblins has their own unique abilities. One goblin is a technician so can pick up and use items, while the second goblin is a warrior who can punch and climb, and the third is a magician who can cast spells. Each of these skills come in handy to solve the variety of puzzles that you’ll come across in the 22 different levels. The puzzles themselves are for the most pat interesting with some requiring you to escape the screen while others needing you to collect a certain hidden object. The flaw lies in the fact that many of them aren’t as obviously solved as you’d think.

Point and click games from the 1990s were notoriously obtuse and this time it’s no different. Fortunately, there is a very handy hint system which helps you throughout the game but it does slightly ruin the point when you find yourself relying on it because you have simply no idea what you’re meant to do next. I found this particularly noticeable when it came to certain puzzles that required very precise timing – these felt more like a matter of trial and error than anything else.

Despite this though, I had a lot of fun with Gobliiins. The characters are charming thanks to the hand drawn visuals and it was satisfying to progress through the game. Unlike a title such as Broken Sword: The Director’s Cut, I felt no urge to keep playing for the sake of the storyline – I just liked having a new puzzle to solve. It’s not brilliant but it is fun at times.

[ Gobliiins review is a post from 148Apps ]

Cartolina is a simple novelty app that lets you send illustrated messages to your friends via text or email. It comes stocked with nine lovely cartograms, and while it’s extremely simple, there’s something to be said for messages that just look pretty. Just don’t expect it to do anything truly useful.

Cartolina’s interface is as simple as they come. Thumbnails of the nine available cartograms appear on the screen—pretty illustrations with room for three lines of text apiece. Pick one, add your text, and send it off using email or MMS (texting)—Cartolina handles everything. The nine illustrations are all nice, though they have a very feminine feel.

An included calendar tab lets you check birthdays and other dates you’ve entered into the iPhone’s default Calendar app, which is handy. Cartolina can also send you reminders ahead of friends’ birthdays by utilizing this features combined with your Contacts app.

The app works splendidly—but is it useful? That ultimately comes down to personal taste. Cartolina certainly delivers on its simple tagline of “Send something pretty!” You can send a cartogram for someone’s birthday, a holiday, as an invitation…sure, the possibilities are endless, but only if you think a pretty email sufficiently replaces a traditional card. Personally? I like Cartolina a lot better than most e-cards, but I still think that I’ll stick with pen-and-paper rather than remembering “Oh, yeah, I have this app.” I’d also like to see more than nine designs; though they’re nice, the app could definitely benefit from variety.

But if you do want to send something pretty? Cartolina does exactly that, and the cartograms are well-illustrated and cute, so go for it!

[ Cartolina Review is a post from 148Apps ]

Robot Unicorn Attack was magical. The addictive gameplay required twitch reactions, the art style was perfection and the sound effects made it legendary. The title racked up over one million plays during its first week as a web game on Adult Swim’s website. It’s become an internet icon.

Attribute all of that success to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the experience. The rainbow-tailed unicorn, the randomly jumping dolphins, the crystal stars and the poignant background music came together to create something ridiculous and amazing.

Then it hit the iPhone, went mobile and spread further than hopes and dreams could have intended. Now, enter a spin-off that may not be worth your money or time.

The Heavy Metal version of Robot Unicorn Attack is the exact same game with a fresh coat of paint and a new set of sound effects. Dreams have become nightmares, rainbows have become metal imagery and the background music has gone all thrash-y.

Sure, $.99 is dirt cheap. But the fact of the matter is that Adult Swim released, essentially, an entire app that could have simply been a new skin in the old game. Other, much smaller developers do it, so why not the folks from Cartoon Network? This could actually be the definition of milking a good thing. Robot Unicorn Attack was a legend born out of tongue-in-cheek humor, the Heavy Metal edition is a cash-in born out of want. Hardly the same.

There is a special appeal here for metal fans. Certainly, those among us with a love for all that is dark and chainmail-ish will love Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal Edition. The game will make you smile. And, showing it off to your metal friends will make them smile. But is that worth $.99? If you never purchased the original, then maybe. But, face it, the song in the first was better.

The reduced score is based around the fact that this is simply an overpriced skin. The gameplay is still exactly the same as it is in the original. It’s addicting, but it ain’t perfect. That still holds true here. So the major dings come from the fact that this is just a skinning — a nice looking skin, but a skin nevertheless.

[ Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal Edition is a post from 148Apps ]