Android – Iphone – Applications

By the end of the 90’s I was sure that the pixel hunter/puzzle genre was dead. Sure, there would be more that would come out, but gone were the days that Myst, The X-Files, and Blade Runner were the coolest things around. Who wanted to dig for pieces of puzzles when you could blow up masses of online gamers in Quake Tournament?

All of the whiz-bang explosions and fast paced action is nice, but many gamers longed for something slower, perhaps something less bloody. Selling a game devoid of all action on a console or the PC would be a waste but the iOS platform is absolutely perfect for a fun blast from the past.

The Secret of Grisly Manor really isn’t all that different from Myst, except for the fact that the puzzles aren’t quite as cumbersome and the scope of the game isn’t nearly as epic. Instead of wandering a world inside a book that is inhabited by red and blue pages, Grisly Manor is a simple mystery game in which you are trying to unravel the mystery of your missing grandfather.

The puzzles in the game range from obvious to fairly challenging, and the whole game will take around an hour to complete, assuming you don’t get hung up for too long. The overall feel of the game is a bit spookier than necessary (given the game’s ending), but the dim lighting and sinister sounds certainly add a sense of urgency. Because there are no real animations involved, the graphics all look quite nice, even if they are predictably static.

While the game won’t impress people that have become accustomed to crazy action and arsenals of weapons, fans of the old pixel hunting puzzle games will love the challenge. The game does go by quickly, but it is a fun ride while it lasts.

[ The Secret of Grisly Manor Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by husain \\ tags: $2.99, blade-runner, Game, Games, given-the-game, iphone apps and games, price, rating, review

Cubed Rally Racer HD, from nocanwin, is an iPad upscaling of the company’s popular iPhone racing game. While there’s some fun to be had here, this may be a case of a game that plays well on the iPhone, but is perhaps too little game for big brother iPad.

In each race, you take control of a cubish little car — blue by default, red and blue in two-player — and race to the finish of a randomly-generated track littered with trees, cows, and other obstacles. The whole thing plays out to a jaunty chipset soundtrack that gets a little repetitive after a few games.

The racing experience is fun enough, but it’s hurt by two problems: dull design and overly sensitive controls. In terms of design, the problem is this: the simple graphical nature of the game, which worked fairly well on the smaller iPhone, feels like too little game for the iPad’s expansive real estate. Colors are flat; obstacles are sparse; too much of the screen is empty.

In terms of control, well, there’s not enough of it. The car speeds up quickly, turns sharply, and has no means of reversing. It’s so very easy to drive yourself into a corner you can’t get out of except by going off the track or to simply oversteer to the same bad ending. There are no sensitivity adjustments to counter this. It can make the game frustrating instead of fun.

The best part of Cubed Rally Racer HD is its local 2-player mode, which lets two players sit across from one another and race to the finish. I’m a big fan of multiplayer on the iPad, so I was glad to see this feature, and my six-year-old son and I had some fun with it. But you’re still dealing with the so-so controls and plain level design.

If you were a fan of Cubed Racer Rally, you might enjoy having an HD version on your iPad. In general, fans of simple racing games might get a kick out of this game’s retro stylings and quick play, especially for the game’s low price. More serious iPad gamers will probably want to give this one a miss, however.

[ Cubed Rally Racer HD Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by pietro842 \\ tags: $1.99, Game, ipad, ipad apps and games, make-the-game, multiplayer, price, racing, replay-value

Folks who exercise a lot or teach aerobics classes know the importance of setting the right tone and maintaining intensity throughout their routine. For those who like to set their workouts to music, this can mean hours of finding just the right songs with perfect intensity and similar tempos. Tempo Magic attempts to circumvent this issue by allowing users to speed or slow the tempo of songs in a uniform manner, and at a base level it works. The downside is that a lack of options and a lot of technical shortcomings make the app mostly useless for all but the most devoted users.

The interface of Tempo Magic is extremely elegant, allowing you to add songs to your playlist with a couple of taps and control the BPM (beats per minute – a measure of tempo) of any song with a simple swipe of the slider in the middle of the screen. There are also options to lock all songs on the playlist at either the same BPM or the same percent speed increased or decreased. So If you want all your music played at 180 BPM that’s fine, or if you just want all your songs to be 8 percent faster the app can do that as well.

The big drawback comes in the fact that if the songs you choose to go in Tempo Magic don’t already share a similar speed then the resulting playback often turns into a mess. Setting a song that’s naturally 100 BPM to 160 or above often turns into a mash of undecipherable sound, while setting everything to be 5 percent faster than before means that slower songs will still be slow compared to more upbeat fare. This issue can be partially offset if you already have a workout mix or some other playlist of similarly paced songs, but if you don’t, then trying to find the right mix can be an exercise in trial-and-error. Another issue is the fact that the app doesn’t play well with some forms of DRM, so there’s no way of knowing which songs will work and which won’t until you try and add them and Tempo Magic tells you it can’t.

For exercise nuts, fitness instructors and even DJs, Tempo Magic is a neat app that might put a new spin on how they play their music. For more casual folks the app holds very little appeal and will likely be met with quizzical looks and a lot of misunderstanding. For these folks it’s a fun novelty, but not worth the $5 investment.

[ Tempo Magic Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by tmunzke \\ tags: control-the-bpm, dance, exercise, Iphone, playlist, price, rating, songs, tempo magic

As far as games go, Ninja Chicken 2 lands squarely in the realm of mediocrity. Nothing in the game will wow you with greatness, but it is crafted well enough to be a fun romp.

For comparisons sake, Ninja Chicken 2 is like a fixed, manual version of Plants vs. Zombies. Instead of building plants though, you are given a set number of cannons (either 1 or 6, depending on the game mode) to fend off the invading pigs that are coming to bust down your wall. All three game modes provide a different way of moving your cannon(s), but all have the simple goal of killing all the pigs on the screen. Once each wave is over, you can spend your collected money on short term weapon boosts, big one time use weapons, or wall repairs.

While killing the pigs is generally fun, the repetitive nature of the attacks becomes grating after a few waves. The problem is that there are only a handful of different attacking pig types and they only drop weapon boosts every so often. Ninja Chicken 2 is sorely lacking permanent weapon upgrades, as well as enough money per level to buy your own weapon upgrades. In its current form, you can buy huge amounts of money via in app purchase, but the game is entirely beatable without any extras. In all reality, the game would have to be harder, longer, have more upgrades/things to buy, and generally be more fun for me to even consider buying extra money.

There’s really not an overly compelling reason to recommend Ninja Chicken 2 over any other game in the App Store, but I can say that it is well made, has pretty solid graphics, and has responsive controls. Compared to Kongzhong’s first offering (Ninja Chicken), though, this one just seems a bit stale.

[ Ninja Chicken 2 Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by tanloc2t \\ tags: Application, Iphone, iphone apps and games, money-on-short, ninja chicken 2, ninja-chicken, pigs, plants, price, replay-value

UFO On Tape firmly roots itself into the “this would only work on an iPhone” genre, and while it only provides short spurts of gameplay, it is one of the more memorable iOS experiences.

Instead of bogging people down with stories and characters, UFO On Tape puts players directly in the fray. In the game, you are a passenger in a car filming a UFO with a digital video camera. Instead of giving you on-screen controls, all you have to do is follow the UFO as you would if you were recording the UFO on your iPhone. If the UFO leaves the screen for a period of time, your girlfriend (who I’m presuming is the driver) will say something like, “Oh, look higher!” or in her poutiest voice, “Don’t just sit there, move your camera, come on!” If it leaves the screen for too long, though, it’s game over.

An average game of UFO On Tape only lasts for a short period of time (my personal best is a shade under 2 minutes), but the game is all about the experience, not what actually happens. All of the in-game graphics look photo realistic (although the developer claims that there is no pre-recorded video), making the game seem more like a lifelike experience than any other game in the app store.

As much as I enjoyed playing UFO On Tape, I couldn’t help but feel that there just wasn’t enough. I would love for the UFO to do something other than just fly around. Maybe it could abduct some people or blow up some houses, I don’t know. For a dollar though, it’s not hard to recommend what may be the most unique app experience out there.

[ UFO On Tape Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by pietro842 \\ tags: Application, driver, Games, Iphone, iphone apps and games, making-the-game, overall-rating, personal, price, replay-value, ufo, ufo on tape