Android – Iphone – Applications

Arkanoid was part of an era. The late 80s saw a nation brimming with arcades as home consoles were slowly but surely overtaking their mall food court counterparts. Taito initially released Arkanoid in 1986. The title was Taito’s take on a genre launched by Atari’s Breakout during the 70s. Since 1986, Arkanoid has seen ports on practically every platform ever available, and it’s done so with success.

Arkanoid was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch last year, but now it’s available on the iPad. Fair warning: this is a port of the previous version. But, one saving grace is that it’s being sold for the exact same price on both platforms. For those on the fence about a version, the iPad’s take is gorgeous and large.

Taito’s done a marvelous job here by releasing a classic with outstanding graphics, quality sound and gameplay that’s addictive as it’s always been — yes, even compared to when you had it running on your TI-83+ in middle school. Math class was amazing.

The original formula has been retained: use your paddle to break bricks, collect power-ups and fight solid bosses. The first hang-up comes from the control scheme, however. The title does not take advantage of the potential tilt controls, and players are left to moving the paddle by sliding a slider with their fingertip. This works just fine until you’ve gone on an Arkanoid HD bender. This is a fault of the platform, not the title, but your finger gets a little too warm and damp and the paddle starts sticking in place. Right before you take on the massive boss on level 33, your finger decides it doesn’t want to slide as gracefully as it once did. It would have been nice to see some tilt functionality tossed onto the pile here. Better yet, an option to do either/or.

Arkanoid HD is a wonderful rendition of its birthright. Both the retro and contemporary backgrounds look great, the on screen effects are solid and the soundtrack is fantastic (especially during multiplayer). The menus are a bit clunky as swiping spins options around in a circle. The selection is far from fluid and you’ll sometimes wind up diving into modes you had no intention of visiting.

This retro revisit is well worth its price of admission. Players will be able to play around 100 different levels across a standard story and two extra stories. Two players will also be able to play from opposing sides of the iPad as Arkanoid becomes a crazy version of Breakout Pong with power-ups and enemies. And, finally, who can forget the return of the ridiculous storyline? Yes, everything is intact.

Taito has done well for fans old and new.

[ Arkanoid HD Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by Robertm \\ tags: $4.99, arkanoid, ipad, ipad games, Iphone, paddle, price, rating, retro, review

In the realm of product reviews, there is no better brand name than Consumer Reports. Many people wouldn’t be caught dead buying a vacuum cleaner or the like without making sure that it gets a “best buy” or a “recommended” Consumer Reports badge. As good as their reviews are, though, their mobile app lives and dies on two things: ease of use and organization.

As far as app navigation goes, Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper is a real winner. Its home screen is neatly organized into three panels. There is a large button for barcode scanning (provided by the popular Big In Japan), a scrollable category guide complete with snappy little pictures, and a search bar at the bottom.

Your success with the app really hinges on how you plan on using it. If you are simply going to a store to find the best vacuum cleaner that is on sale, the barcode scanner/ search feature will give you just what you need. After scanning an item, the app sends you straight to a separate page that shows you the Consumer Reports score, as well as a local/ online price quote and a link to other products in the brand line.

Where the app falls short is in the organization department. Let’s say that you aren’t simply scanning or searching for a particular model, but want to know what the highest rated vacuum cleaner of all is. Well now, that is a bit more difficult. After navigating through a handful of menus, (Appliances > Laundry & cleaning > Vacuum Cleaners > Vacuum Cleaner subcategory) you are presented with a list of items that are ranked by score. The highest scores don’t necessarily translate to “recommended” badges though, as they seem to be given at random. I know from personal experience that the ratings are given in price ranges, but that is in no way represented by the app. A simple 1-4 dollar sign rating next to the product would work wonders.

Fans of Consumer Reports ratings will certainly enjoy the mobile app translation, as well as the inclusion of the easy to use barcode scanner. The app really is perfect for people who want to buy the best of what is available at a particular store, and want their information from a trusted source. With the rise of free sites like Consumer Search, however, it’s hard for me to gulp down the $10 asking price, but the Consumer Reports brand does lend a sense of credibility that not many can match.

[ Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by iieevvn \\ tags: consumer-search, Iphone, iphone apps and games, mobile, overall-rating, price, rating, ratings, shopper, utilities, vacuum-cleaner, vacuum-cleaners

I am a sucker for photo effects apps. I’ve been using several in the last few months, and seriously cannot get enough of random effects, or ‘vintage style’ camera apps. Infinicam offers a combination of prebuilt ‘Camera Styles,’ which are effectively effects presets, as well as a random generation components that all come together as a decent photo effects app.

It’s super useful that the moment you start up the app it starts giving you the instructions on how to use it. However, even with these hints, it took me several minutes and several mistakes to figure how this app works exactly. While the menu at the top of the app gives a clear idea on what to do with your effects-created photos, it is the process of creating those photos that got me stumped.

Here’s how it works: take or import your photo. From here you can sideswipe through your ‘Favorite Cameras’ (which, I will probably explain about forty times in this review, is what Inificam calls its Effects sets). There are several pre-built favorite options to get you started. If you’re not happy with these effects, press the ‘New Camera’ button to create a new one. Keep pressing this button for new effects – if you skip over one that you liked, you can check it out in the ‘History,’ but tap on the photo itself to do that. If you sideswipe (as you might be inclined to do) you’ll just end up back in your Favorites again.

To edit the border on the pic, you’ll want to vertical-swipe through the options (or select one of the borders by tapping on the photo itself). These are, contrary to the app name, finite – there are 18 to choose from.

The random effects created are generally good – they’re not as high quality as the effects in some of the other apps I’ve used – rely heavily on Sepia/Contrast shifts and lots of them turn out grainy. That might be exactly what you’re looking for a vintage style, but not so much for clean, artistic color and lighting effects.

I’d say there is still room for improvement, such as offering several photo preview of different random ‘Camera’ effects to make the process quicker, or by offering a ‘Share on Facebook/Twitter’ ability for each photo instead of just the Save or Email options. I’m very much looking forward to any updates that come for this app, as I suspect it’ll rise in popularity in the Photography section quite a bit.

[ Infinicam Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by pietro842 \\ tags: $1.99, camera-styles, edit-the-border, effects, facebook, instructions, iphone apps and games, photo, photo effects, photography, price, process, rating, review, vintage

Buy low, sell high. It’s a mantra that’s formed the basis of so many success stories within business. It’s also caused a few downfalls over the years when – much like gambling on the wrong horse – you buy the wrong product and it all goes bad from there. The concept makes for an intriguing simulation game, though, and one which has admittedly been done before in a variety of guises such as the Lemonade Stand game, and my personal favourite – Dope Wars.

Trade Giant carries on with that trend with some success. It feels a little limited in terms of features but what is there is solid fun and an inexpensive pleasure.

It’s bizarre really. It’s a terribly unattractive looking game. Which is understandable, really, considering you’re basically spending numbers to make more numbers. It was never going to look revolutionary. The fun is in the way in which it draws you in. It’s a basic game but one that hooks you regardless of that part of your brain muttering how it’s bordering on pointless.

The story mode offers you the chance to complete various scenarios within a set time limit, so as to move onto the next stage. Each stage offers you new items in which you can trade. You start out with relatively basic items such as green tea and velvet. As you work your way up, you’re trading in expensive cars and Swiss watches. Ultimately it’s the same tactic throughout: buy low, sell high. Every now and then, a random event can occur which affects prices or your ability to travel. There’s not a huge level of strategy to it further than that. It’s still oddly compelling, though.

Maybe as a poor struggling writer, I appreciate the fact that it’s nice to profiteer in something, even if it is just a game. It was rather annoying, however, that if you fail an objective, you go right back to the beginning. I’d have much preferred for there to be save points to return to.

Challenge mode is much the same with the added impetus of Open-Feint based leaderboards to keep you keen. I found myself preferring the story mode with its objectives at the start of each stage however as it felt like there was more of a point.

That’s all there is to Trade Giant, so it is an extremely simple game. However, as a one time fan of Dope Wars, this fits the gap perfectly. Sure there’s no great purpose here but it’s a fun distraction, and for only 99c, what more can you ask for?

[ Trade Giant review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by zulu \\ tags: $0.99, device-reviewed, Games, iphone apps and games, lemonade, rating, replay-value, simulation, strategy, swiss, trading, uwingame

There aren’t many genres in the App Store that are as crowded as the physics puzzle genre. No matter what kind of game you want, it exists in the App Store.

Rescue Pine lies squarely in the “remove something to cause an action” sub-genre. The game revolves you reuniting Porcupa, the father porcupine, with Pine, the son, before pine hits the ground. The story, which the game never really gets into, is that Pine keeps getting stuck way up in the trees and needs help from his doting father.

The game is set up to where Pine is usually trapped in some collection of tree-like blocks, and Porcupa is somewhere on the other side of the screen. To win, you have to select blocks (trees) to disappear in such a way that Pine land on top of Porcupa. If Pine hits the ground, even from the smallest height, you lose the level.

While the puzzles are all fairly challenging, there really isn’t much different from one level to another. I’m not trying to say that the levels all look the same, I’m just saying that there is no real diversity in level design across the game. The game offers no powerups, no jump platforms, and most disturbing of all, very few of the blocks seem to adhere to the rules of gravity. For example, brown logs and some blocks all fall like they should on Earth, but the green blocks are all static, as if they are somehow parts of invisible trees.

As far as physics puzzles go, Rescue Pine is a good, but unspectacular entry into the genre. It is as bright and happy as it should be, but there really isn’t enough going on to warrant “must buy” status.

[ Rescue Pine Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by [email protected] \\ tags: Game, Games, ground, hits-the-ground, price, rating, replay-value, rescue pine, review, should-on-earth