Android – Iphone – Applications

When you see an RPG from Com2uS, you have to expect a certain amount of quality and addictiveness. The Inotia series in particular has been wildly successful on the iOS platform because the developers really understand the platform. People want simple controls, gameplay that can easily be picked up and put down, and enough depth to give people their moneys worth.

Inotia 3, when you boil away all the little quirks and nuances, is a simple little RPG game. You walk around going from quest to quest completing all sorts of little side quests along the way. This isn’t a Zelda game with little puzzles in each cave, Inotia 3 is extremely straightforward with its flow. The game even goes as far as highlighting where you need to go next on maps, just to make sure that you are not confused. Characters level up and gain all sorts of weapons and items, and all you have to do is make sure you know where all the buttons are.

The story in Inotia, like the rest of the game, flows in such a way that you would like to know what happens next, but not quite enough to meander off and perform all the side quests available in every city. Adding weapons and items, as well as getting fun level ups that let you boost your magic/skill tree is really the driving force here, and will certainly suck in any fan of birds-eye RPG’s.

In making Inotia 3 fun for a mobile audience and easy to pick up and play, though, I think that they removed a bit too much of the challenge. Maybe my countless hours playing iPhone games has made me a grizzled adventurer, or maybe it’s the fact that I did every side quest along the way, but I never really worried about dying in Inotia 3. I had to make sure that my health potions were stocked up and that I had at least one person with healing powers in my party (you can have up to three people in your party at a time, plus a summonable golem if you are a mage), but dying seemed like only a minor concern. It’s hard to say whether this is a bad thing or not, because the ever-progressing nature of the game (needing to reload is extremely rare) never let me get bored. I could just happily play all day and forget to do all sorts of real-world things, like eating and sleeping.

If you like old school RPG’s and don’t need flashy 3D effects or mind-numbing puzzles, Inotia 3 is just the game for you. It won’t challenge you too much, but you’ll be entertained by Inotia 3 far longer than the vast majority of the other games on the platform.

Note: The video below was made by Com2uS for Inotia 3. And yes, the high res music video shots do look silly next to the SNES quality graphics. Enjoy!

[ Inotia 3 Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by aldrintze \\ tags: effects-or-mind, health, inotia, party, price, rating, replay-value, well-as-getting

Cover Orange is taking the physics puzzle game to fun new levels. Not only do you have to figure out how to protect Florida’s best fruit, but also you have to deal with an abundance of physics inspired levels. It comes together for a great time that can be enjoyed in both quick sessions, or long lunch breaks.

The goal in this game is to get oranges under cover and protected from a raincloud that spews the black plague. To do this you will have to use the tools like oil drums and crates as well as the stage layouts themselves. You drag and drop your tools from the top of the screen and drop them in calculated precision. Bombs that explode, boards that move, and even swinging hammers all need to be accounted for. Each puzzle presents a unique challenge that ultimately feels fresh and unlike anything before it.

The presentation is one of childish fun. The backdrops are brightly colored settings that have an oil painted feel to them. Animations are fluid and pleasing. The audio fits well, though the repeating soundtrack does get a bit stale.

The downside to all this artistic fun is an inconsistent difficulty curve. You may be solving puzzles like crazy and then run into one that stumps you try after try. You skip it and move on to find several puzzles after are easily solved in one to two attempts. Compounding this is you can see what the real solution to the stage is, but you can clear the stage by simply getting lucky and abusing the physics of your tools. This inconsistency can be very off putting at times.

Cover Orange is a cute and fun puzzle game. There is a fair amount to do here, and more planned down the road. If you need a quick puzzle fix that is great for the lulls in your day, this fits the bill. There is even a free version that you can try before you buy.

[ Cover Orange Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by iieevvn \\ tags: Application, artistic, black, clear-the-stage, cover orange, fdg entertainment, Games, iphone apps and games, orange, overall-rating, physics, price, replay-value, spews-the-black

Mice maybe small little furballs that magically find their way into your food stores, but calling them smart maybe a bit of a stretch. The one thing these little rodents have going for them is persistence. Try as you may to stop them, they always seem to find a way to their beloved munchies. Smart Mouse may clue us into just how these varmints keep stealing our cheese.

Getting to some tasty cheese is the name of the game in Smart Mouse. You start with a mouse hidden away in a hole in the wall. Some cheese is very strategically placed somewhere in the stage. It is up to you, and a few tools, to get the mouse safely from their home to the cheddar on a platter. You must do this while avoiding several mouse traps and traversing many obstacles. You will need to place items like ramps, onions, and kettles to help guide the mouse through the levels in a limited amount of time.

Smart Mouse plays it safe in the presentation department. There is no music, and only a handful of sound effects. The kitchen stage does have some noise that resembles that of a busy restaurant kitchen, but that is about it. The colors come in a variety of pleasing, yet subtle pallet of blues and browns. A few new locations would benefit this game greatly.

There is a good baseline for a good game here. Unfortunately, that baseline never really is expanded on. The game currently consists of 20 levels spread across two settings (pantry and kitchen). The puzzles maybe good for the younger gamers, but seasoned players will not find much of a challenge here. In fact, the game takes maybe 10 – 15 minutes to complete in its current form. Hopefully the developer pushes out an update with more complicated puzzles.

At this point in time, there is not enough here to warrant the price tag. There are only 20 levels, and the challenge is lacking. Outside of trying to get three stars on every level, there just is not enough meat on this mouse. Save your loot until there is more to nibble on here.

[ Smart Mouse Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by jkpra999 \\ tags: $0.99, busy-restaurant, food, Game, overall-rating, rating, replay-value, smart, smart mouse, smart-mouse, stars-on-every

Wikipedia can be more than a giant repository of knowledge—though that’s certainly nothing to sneeze at, it can also function as a game. Yes, really; and 3 Degrees of Wikipedia is an excellent game at that.

In 3 Degrees of Wikipedia, you pick from a database of “problems,” some user-created, others built into the app. Each problem consists of two articles. The challenge? Start at one of them, and find a link to an article that will in turn provide you with a link to the end article. In other words, you’re hunting for a mystery article that connects the two.

This creates some interesting associations, which 3 Degrees of Wikipedia seems to delight in. Bananas to quantum theory, Nintendo to prostitution, science to slang, rabbits to the United Nations…Wikipedia is more interconnected than you might think. The different problems range from somewhat obvious (Einstein to Hertz, for example) to hilarious.

Additionally, you can create your own problems, which is a very simple process. The app then adds your problems to its database for other players to try and rate. The “Memories” tab lets you see problems you’ve completed. There are also achievements for things like solving your first problem, creating highly-ranked problems, or more whimsical things like solving a problem about the Unicorn article.

Overall, the app is a lot of fun. It helps you build associations and forces you to think creatively. Unfortunately, because there’s only one intervening article, you won’t find too many brain-stumpers in the database. Also, there’s no obvious way to see all of your created problems. Still, 3 Degrees of Wikipedia is a creative way to explore many different Wikipedia articles, learn a little bit, and have a quick bit of fun while you’re at it. What more could you ask for?

[ 3 Degrees of Wikipedia Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by clamshell \\ tags: degrees, Games, mystery-article, price, problems, rating, replay-value, start-at-one, unicorn, united, wikipedia

With a title only a mother could love, Zap Zap Bleat Bleat charges into the zombie/line puzzle genre (?) like a bull in a red tinted hall of mirrors.

Honestly, the whole concept of Zap Zap Bleat Bleat is a bit (extremely) odd. I’m not one to complain about an odd concept at all, but the whole package just might not work for some people. Here’s the premise, some evil corporation dumped nuclear waste, the waste turned into a virus, and now the sheep have turned into zombies. Somehow, the fate of the world rests on your shoulders as you seem to be the only one able to stop these sheep. Using your laser cannon and a collection of directional and multidirectional mirrors, you have to kill every sheep on the screen using just one shot. Why only one shot when the fate of humanity is at stake? Not too sure about that one.

Past the ridiculous premise, the game is really just so-so. For Sync Studio’s first game it’s definitely not a bad effort, but I would like to see a bit more going on before I could give it my ultimate stamp of approval. Maybe some different guns or some kind of upgradeable attack system would break up the monotony of the standard mirror placement and fire going on now.

Fans of puzzle game though may find themselves pretty happy with Zap Zap Bleat Bleat because the game does offer up a pretty hefty challenge. Once you get past a few of the easier levels, you’ll find yourself in maps that have tons of obstacles and strange sheep placements to trip you up. It doesn’t have all the sides and trimmings that some of the genre greats possess, but Zap Zap Bleat Bleat really is pretty nice for what it sets out to do.

[ Zap Zap Bleat Bleat Review is a post from 148Apps ]

written by elinepos \\ tags: bleat, Game, going-on-before, ipad games, price, replay-value, ridiculous, zombie sheep