Android – Iphone – Applications

Interactive pixel hunters have been very hit or miss over the course of gaming history. Some of the most popular games of all time have been pixel hunters, but lately the gaming community has been moving away from the genre because of its lack of playability. As much as people like figuring out puzzles and completing stories, they like blowing things up with Rambo-like inventories more. This isn’t to say that pixel hunters are bad, but I will go as far as saying that they need to be exceptional for the gaming community to take notice.

Cop – The Case of the Cloned Beauty Queen is unfortunately not in the exceptional category. The problem lies with the control system, as it was definitely not made for the iPhone. Exhibit A is the mouse cursor that you must use to interact with items in the game. Say you want to search through a trash can, instead of just touching it, you have to drag the cursor over to it and then touch the screen like it is a mouse click. Nothin in the world annoys me more than fake mouse cursors on my beautiful retina display.

Past the obvious control issue, the game feels like a cross between Leisure Suit Larry and the Pink Panther. You play a doting cop who “brought no skills to the station but the flu.” Because you are the last cop available, you are assigned to the case of the cloned beauty queen. Throughout the game you travel through 50 settings and interact with numerous characters. The characters are all vibrant and rich, but they all have sub 65 IQ’s. If you don’t like slapstick dialogue, this game definitely isn’t for you.

At the end of the day, Cop seems like a low to middling budget point and click adventure that is deeply scarred by a miserable control system. If you are a huge fan of the genre you’ll probably get a kick out of the acceptably tedious puzzles, but the rest of the gamers should probably just stay home. Spend the few hours that you’d be playing Cop paying attention to your friends and family; you’ll be happier.

[ Cop Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by zulu \\ tags: Application, cop, drag-the-cursor, Iphone, over-the-course, overall-rating, phone-exhibit, pixel-hunters, price

Solitaire is (probably) as old as time. It’s seemingly been on every PC ever and I suspect more hours have been pumped into it than any other game, even scary big MMOs. So just how do you mix it up to make it new and exciting once more? Simple. Add a word game to it.

Word Solitaire: Aurora does exactly that. Following the traditional solitaire route, instead of matching up relevant cards, instead you have to create words. Each card offers a letter and it’s down to you to make the best words from the selection. Using a similar scoring system to Scrabble, the ‘harder’ letters like J and X offer more points so it’s in your interest to create more complex words than simple three or four letter combos. At times it really makes your brain tick and it’s a refreshing change of pace from the usual solitaire game.

A campaign mode offers 250 levels each of which gradually increasing in difficulty. Amongst these levels are Milestone levels which focus on specific letters of the alphabet and offer a varied challenge. There’s also a quick play mode with a wealth of options if you prefer just diving in briefly. More intriguingly is the daily puzzle mode whereby you can compete with other people across a global leaderboard. This is the mode you’ll find yourself returning to regularly. After all, who can resist that moment of fame, topping the leaderboard?

In my case I suck at creating words and am distinctly mediocre at all word games, but I do enjoy it. Word Solitaire: Aurora is certainly great fun providing a great twist on the solitaire format. Including so many great social tools such as the daily puzzle, leaderboards and achievements just makes for icing on the cake. It’s the kind of game that you’ll find yourself playing obsessively at first, but even after the initial excitement has gone, you’ll still be returning to it daily for the next challenge.

[ Word Solitaire: Aurora Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by Mike \\ tags: $0.99, aurora, aurora-review, daily, device-reviewed, from-the-usual, Games, Iphone, iphone apps and games, price, rating, scrabble, solitaire, traditional, word game

There’s a reason why Match three titles are so prevalent on the app store: they’re addictive. They’re simple of course, very simple, but that’s what hooks you. It’s easy to drop into for how ever long you want to be gaming, making it a ideal genre for a casual or portable gamer. Puzzle Quest revolutionised this genre though by adding more depth to proceedings and including RPG elements. Dungeon Raid does something very similar. It’s not as deep, lacking a storyline to tie everything together, but it is rather good fun.

The game starts throwing you immediately into battle. In order to hit your enemy, you have to string together various gems. It’s very much like a Match three game but the difference is that you can match as many of one gem as you like. This is done by dragging your finger across adjoining gems and letting go. It’s all very easy to get to grips with, at least once you get over the fact that you can clear more than three gems at a time. Each gem correlates to something of use. Skulls and daggers for example damage your foe, while gold helps you buy new items and upgrade existing ones. Experience can be gained with new skills unlocked as you level up and potions restore your health.

The game is never-ending really. You just keep going, trying to last as long as possible while taking on new monsters. The monsters level up with you so the fight gets increasingly trickier adding a much needed dose of strategy to proceedings. The steady stream of upgrades encourages you to keep playing with a sense of gratification throughout. Ultimately though, you’re doing it for the sake of having the best high score which – if worthy enough – features on OpenFeint and Game Center.

All these features makes Dungeon Raid an ideal game to play whenever you get a spare 10 minutes, but also an ideal game to play for extended sessions. It is a little overpriced sadly at $2.99 but then it is also excellent fun. If it had a story mode, it’d be a must buy but even without that, it’s still an excellent purchase to make for Puzzle Quest fans.

[ Dungeon Raid Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by Robertm \\ tags: Games, health, iphone apps and games, price, puzzle, rating, review, rpg

Let it be known that you can never have too many Role Playing Games (RPGs). Especially not ridiculously cute yet deceptively borderline deep ones such as Battleheart. It’s a little rough around the edges but it’s got huge potential to be one of the greats.

Playing the game is simple. Starting out as a knight called Shepherd, you’re guided through the basic moves in this part action RPG/part RTS. Moving is a case of dragging your finger around the screen. Tapping where you want to go by might have been a little easier but dragging still works reasonably well and ties in fine with the RTS side of things. Combat is a simple case of moving your characters within range of the wandering enemies and sometimes tapping on the special power button too.

The storyline is admittedly wafer thin but the rest of it is pretty detailed with only a few gaps. For one thing, there’s a certain level of strategy involved in simply knowing what class of characters to use in battles. You can recruit new party members if you’ve got sufficient money, and a balanced team is often essential for success. Typical RPG elements such as being able to buy items and equipment are also in effect and a levelling up system exists too. This also enables you to acquire new skills and powers as you progress. A wider range of statistics would have been nice for the RPG geek in all of us but it’s still all quite functional and no doubt makes it more accessible for RPG newbies.

The campaign mode is pretty extensive with 30 levels in all and if a storyline had been attached to it, Battleheart could have been something amazing. It’s still great to play though with plenty to do here though. There’s also a survival type arena mode to keep you playing even more. Plus it’s positively charming to look at.

There have been reports of Battleheart being prone to crashing but I didn’t have any problems with it running on an iPhone 4 so I assume I was either one of the lucky ones or this is only a problem with the iPhone 3GS.

Regardless of any of these slight problems, Battleheart is well worth a purchase. It’s charming throughout and very easy to get into, while not sacrificing depth too much. Here’s hoping for an update or two offering Game Center support, new items and other delights.

[ Battleheart Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by clamshell \\ tags: battleheart, device-reviewed, ipad apps and games, Iphone, mika mobile, mobile, overall-rating, price, review, rpg

Boom Boat is really quite topical. It’s about the player’s plight to stop oil gushing out into the sea. In order to stop it, a fairly unorthodox approach is used – you have to drop bombs on the gushes. It works in Boom Boat but I’m suspicious of just how well this would actually work. Still, it makes for a fun game.

Controls are tilt based with a tap of the screen to release a bomb. You must direct the boat to above the oil gush then release the bomb. It’s often a careful matter of keeping steady while lining up your shot as the tilt controls are very sensitive. This is made harder by the fact that often there are various objects in the way of your goal. Things turn a bit like Angry Birds here as physics plays an important role in clearing the various crates and poles in the way of the oil gushing. As you progress, more things to help you out are unlocked which help mix things up a bit.

There’s also a nod to Angry Birds with the scoring system whereby you gain up to three stars for great success. Stars come from making a direct hit, clearing all the crates in the level, having 2 bombs left after finishing, the usual sort of things that you’d expect a friendly virtual pat on the back. A series of Game Center based achievements and a leaderboard are also on hand to keep you interested.

There are 30 levels in all which doesn’t sound a huge amount but when you factor in the urge to 3* star them all, it’s a much more attractive proposition.

Boom Boat is a fun little game all in all. The controls are a little sensitive at times so it’d be nice if you could adjust the tilt sensitivity. Other than this though, it’s attractive fun and its star system will scratch an itch that completing Angry Birds left behind.

[ Boom Boat Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by Mike \\ tags: $0.99, Application, boom boat, direct-the-boat, overall-rating, physics, price, puzzle, replay-value, review, robert-foor, tilt, various-objects