Tumblr iPhone App Reviews

Card Deck (Evopoint): Interesting idea, so-so execution

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:00:00 +0200

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

The idea for this app is great. Forgot to bring a deck of cards? Use this app instead. It enforces no rules, instead letting you deal, shuffle and manage stacks like you would if you just had a dumb, physical deck.

Card Deck has an interesting twist to let this app work for local multiplayer up to 4 players. When the phone lies flat on the table, all cards in the player areas are hidden. Every player has an edge each. When the player picks the phone up and tilts it toward them, their and only their cards are revealed, and the other players’ cards can’t be touched. That is, if the feature had worked. I couldn’t get anything to happen when I tilted, so that didn’t really work… You *can* double-tap each card to turn them over for each turn, but I’m sure that’d get tedious fast.

The other major problem is that each player’s hand region is too small. If you want to play a game with hands bigger than six cards, you’re simply screwed; they won’t fit. The game could do with some sort of “hand” concept apart from that holding region, or a much larger playing board that you could pan and zoom.

Finally, I’m having a bit of a hard time envisioning the scenario when you go somewhere you’d want to play cards, but forgot to bring a deck. Sure, it’s possible, especially for a single player game like solitaire. However, the killer feature here would be online multiplayer, where it’d really make sense with an app like this.

I’m keeping my hopes up for this app. This could be really good if given some additional polish. ~~nevyn

Hexy (Fifth Ace Productions): Everything Overload wants to be

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:32:00 +0200

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

(I’m posting this to iphone-reviews instead of Overooped because it’s an iPhone game review, although it mentions my own game and quite a bit biased. If anyone feels this is inappropriate I’ll just move the post to my own blog.)

Hexy is an abstract, tile- and turn-based strategy game with variable board size, for the iPhone. With all those similarities to a certain other game, I had to give it a try. And you know what? Hexy is everything I ever wanted Overload to be.

It follows iPhone interface guidelines, while customizing them to go with the game’s theme AND look stunningly beautiful. It has a conceptual theme going (bee hive; with the complimentary joke that any nerd will appreciate), but without going all the way there; it’s not a yellow-orange cartoon bee hive that one might expect from a flash or j2me game, but rather just enough subtle cues (sounds, names of things) to take it far enough while keeping the graphical design simple, unique and beautiful.

There’s a tutorial on first play that’s succinct and nicely done like everything else. There’s just no excuse for not having one in my game…

There’s local versus AI play, and local two player gaming, that’s simple enough. Further, though, there’s wifi play, and match-making online multiplayer. I haven’t seen that much, which is why I’m so anxious to get it into my own game as well. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be that many online players in Europe; the match maker didn’t find anyone for me to play with so I didn’t get to judge that experience. In Overload, I hope to make that situation better with push notification game invitation, friend lists and an in-game community, but that’s a very big step.

Most importantly though, is that Hexy is both challenging, allows for complex strategy, and a great deal of fun, while keeping games short enough for a play when waiting in queue with your phone; in short, the perfect mobile casual game. So get it! ~~nevyn

Glypha (Kent Sutherland): A winning comeback

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:32:00 +0200

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

Glypha is an old Joust clone, originally for the classic black-and-white Macs. It’s basically the same as Joust but simpler, with another theme and slightly different physics. John Calhoun’s retro classic has now been ported over to the iPhone by Kent Sutherland, and it works really, really well on this platform. The game loads quick and starts quick, no tedious loading screens, tutorials or annoying popups, and it’s fast-paced and short-gamed, just what you want on a phone.

The downsides are no multiplayer, and slightly difficult controls. The screen is divided into three segments for the three buttons (left, right, flap wings), and on-screen non-tactile buttons with fast-paced action means you’re dead if you slip outside the button zones and miss a tap. Not much to do about that until we get haptic feedback, though.

It’s free AND fun, so you have no excuse; go get it. ~~nevyn

Pyramid Solitaire (Seahorse Software): Adding to thirteen has never been so fun

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:03:00 +0200

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

Seahorse Software’s Pyramid Solitaire is a game that is definitely easy to learn but tough to master. Within a few games strategies will start popping into your head as to how to rack up the most amount of pairs of cards that add to 13.

Pyramid Solitaire is easy but once you dive into the settings the game’s luck and chance elements will start to show their ugly heads as losing comes much easier.

The lite version has considerably less options than the $3 version. The paid version allows users to select from single or double pyramids, overlap matching, the number of re-deals and more.

Pyramid Solitaire is a fun pyramid solitaire game for the iPhone. It’s sturdily built and fun. If card games are your thing, this one comes highly recommended!

Tric-Trac (Seahorse Software): Roll The Dice, Pick Some Numbers, Do It Again

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:11:42 +0100

★✩✩✩✩ (iTMS)

I’m not exactly sure what Tric-Trac is trying to accomplish. You roll the dice and pick numbers that add up to the number rolled until you can’t do it anymore.

The game is neither addictive nor captivating. You can shake the iPhone to roll the dice or you can press the “roll” button but there are no pretty animations found in other dice games, just a few still-pictures strung together as an animation.

When you finish a game, the new game button isn’t flush with the rest of the screen making the game feel very unfinished and unpolished.

Sure for $0.99 you don’t expect the next Rolando but this isn’t even worth that dollar. Free games are more stable than this, sadly.

Tric-Trac needs work.

BlackJack Run (Seahorse Software): Fast-Paced, New-Style BlackJack Is Refreshing

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:44:55 +0100

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

Seahorse Software presents BlackJack Run, a refreshing take on BlackJack, to the iPhone.

The objective of BlackJack run is to rack up as many points in consecutive rounds by getting 21 (or as close as you can get) in each of the five rows. Each round is timed, giving players 30 seconds to try to hit Blackjack or 21.

In each round players must meet the minimum point amount of 95 to move on which is not hard to do if players get the right cards.

Blackjack Run features leader boards and the ability to make the game harder if players feel that they’re dominating the game. After a while though the cards will catch up and players’ fire will be lost, causing them to start over.

BlackJack Run comes in two versions, the full version and the lite version. The full version is a little pricey for what you get at $4.99. The free version has all of the fun of the full version without the ability to make the game harder as well as limited access to the leader boards.

Allover, BlackJack Run is an addictive and fun game. It’s a great new take on Blackjack that hasn’t yet been explored on the iPhone. BlackJack Run is stable and plays well. Not a must-have like other games reviewed here but definitely a worthy pick up for a card game-lover’s iPhone

5 Free Copies of Lexic Right Now!

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:09:58 +0100

Go to ShutUpInternet.com to get them while they last.

Free Copy of BlackJack Run!

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:28:32 +0100

Today head over to ShutUpInternet.com at 12 (noon) Mountain Time where 1 free promo code for Seahorse Software’s BlackJack Run will be available!

Enso•Dot/Enso•Dot Zen (Kieffer Bros.): Wow My Brain Hurts

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:10:33 +0100

Enso•Dot - ★★★★✩ (iTMS) $2.99

Enso•Dot Zen - ★★★★✩ (iTMS) $0.99

Enso•Dot’s premise is straightforward while executing that premise isn’t so easy. The challenge is to connect the dots given the specified pattern at the top of the screen. By the time the 8x8 and 12x12 grids come around, you’ll think you’re a pro, but you’re not. “This one’s gonna take a while,” You’ll say to yourself.

There are multiple ways to complete any puzzle depending on where the puzzle is started, each of them difficult in its own way.

Enso•Dot and Enso•Dot Zen are reviewed together because they’re essentially the same game. Enso•Dot Zen comes with 25 puzzles while Enso•Dot comes with 60. As past updates have shown, new levels are on the way so those numbers may not be quite accurate depending on the time that you read this.

Enso•Dot is one of the few iPhone games I’ve come across that makes users really think before they execute, develop a plan for attack and then go connecting the dots. This game does not go fast. It’s brilliantly designed to dig in deep onto your iPhone and begs to stay around.

Enso•Dot is challenging and you definitely won’t be breezing through it in a weekend. As I said before, it begs to stay around and will keep users and their friends guessing on fun and challenging puzzles for months to come.

Blocked (Joel Rosenberg): Rush Hour Comes To The iPhone

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:27:38 +0100

★★★★★ (iTMS)

On top of coffee tables everywhere sat the vehicular puzzle game Rush Hour, a game centered around freeing the red car from the surrounding traffic jam. Blocked takes that lovable game and transports it to the iPhone in the form of Blocked.

This game is fantastically addictive. It will keep players guessing through all 100 levels.

The learning curve in Blocked is perfect. There isn’t that one standout level in the middle of the Medium difficulty that’s absolutely impossible like in other puzzle games. Easy is just that, so is medium and hard. Every level seems to fit in exactly with the difficulty setting that looms over the puzzle.

If there was a list of iPhone games that were must-haves, Blocked would make the top five games in that list.

Hopefully future updates will bring more levels but for now, and for only $0.99, you would be crazy not to have this game on your iPhone.

Snazoo (Kieffer Bros): Bop It iPhone-style

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:39:54 +0100

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

Remember a few years ago when those weirdly shaped sticks with a few buttons and a thing to pull were all over TV? Chances are you or someone you knew had a Bop It and chances are one of you, at one point or another, got angry and threw that awkward piece of plastic across the room with fury and rage coursing through your veins.

Snazoo isn’t awkward or infuriating, it’s actually pretty fun and surprisingly easier to pick up than that stupid hunk of un-funness that MTV and Nickelodeon used to market.

Maybe it’s because I’m good at it that I’ve never once wanted to chuck my iPhone across the room, maybe it’s because the Kieffer Brothers made this thing well. I couldn’t tell you but I can’t put it down.

The premise is simple: follow directions. When the light is green, obey the game. If the light is red, don’t do a thing. Pretty soon you’ll be fully emersed with the tempo speeding up and your iPhone barking directions at you faster and faster until you slip up and have to start all over.

Snazoo comes with two modes, Play and Friend Play, three different beats and four different voices to tell you what to do. And for $0.99, Snazoo is a concentration game to come back to over and over again.

Disclaimer: Tumblr iPhone App Reviews is not responsible for anything that may happen to your phone after purchasing this app (ie throwing, breaking, cracking the glass, damaged relationships, or sadness)

Lexic (Kieffer Bros): An iPhone Must Have Word-Game

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:05:45 +0100

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

I review a lot of word games for the iPhone because in terms of mobile games they have long lives. I’m also a huge fan of them which makes them a pleasure to explore and review.

Lexic is one of those pleasures. It’s an iPhone gem, a must-have word game.

It comes with two different modes, Cascade and Blackout, which put different spins on clearing letters from the screen.

Cascade is a timed game. Spell the most amount of words with two or more letters in the allotted time and shoot for a high score.

Blackout is an elimination-based game type with no time limit. When a word is created, the letters go away. Tilting the iPhone shifts letters from the left side of the screen to the right allowing for the consolidation of letters when gaps start to appear as the letters go.

Both games are incredibly fun and a joy to come back to again and again.

The only thing missing is the ability to unlock new tile sets. Lexic comes with 12 different looks for the tiles but the ability to unlock more feels missing. Achievements would also be a worthy addition to Lexic. If you spell an eight letter word, you should get something more than a bunch of points, maybe a new tile set or something.

Lexic costs $1.99 and is an absolute steal. It’s a superb iPhone game that is fun to pick up for two minutes or two hours. Buy this game.

Create A Valentine (Ryan Stubblefield): Valentine's Day Cards On The iPhone

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:52:21 +0100

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and you haven’t bought a card, why not make one on your iPhone with Create A Valentine?

Create A Valentine is a simple, free app that lets users create a Valentine’s Day message and save it using different frames and backgrounds. The messages save to the iPhone’s Photo Album for quick and easy emailing to friends and loved ones.

Create A Valentine is simple and easy to use and while it won’t warm Mom’s heart like sending an actual card, it’s not a bad backup plan.

Easycontact (Tapinoma): Business Cards Go Digital

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:23:54 +0100

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

Tapinoma’s Easycontact iPhone app lets users select a contact from their address book and quickly creates a business card complete with their name, picture, email and phone number (all depending on what’s stored as that contact’s information). Easycontact also allows for you to send that to other Easycontact users through email, Wi-Fi and audio linking.

The interface is smooth but confusing. If you want to create a card for yourself, you have to add yourself as a contact and fill out all of the information that you’ll never need again outside of Easycontact.

I’m a college student so I can’t judge this application as fairly as I would like because I have no use for it and no one to use it with. I suppose if you have to send your contact information to someone, then Easycontact would be an efficient way to do it but for me text messages do just fine.

Juggler (MetaCreature Games): Keep 'Em Up!

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:44:30 +0100

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

MetaCreature Games’ Juggler is fun and simple. A section of the bottom of separated so you can touch the falling juggling balls and send them back up into the air. Just don’t let one fall!

The game is straight-forward, fun and easy to pick up. The settings allow you to select to juggle anywhere from three to ten balls with your choice of three designs. Juggler also supports a leaderboard system so you can compete with fellow jugglers around the world.

Juggler comes in free and paid versions ($0.99) with no real difference other than the appearance of ads in the former. It’s a solid pickup.

Jetset (Persusive Games LLC): Filed Under Things That Are Kind of Fun On a Phone But Not In Real Life

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:36:23 +0100

★★✩✩✩ (iTMS)

Jetset: A Game For Airports is probably not exactly that. Possibly the last thing you want to do after checking through security and taking your shoes off is load up your iPhone game about doing what you just did.

The name of the game is airport security as the line continues to grow and the list of things that people can’t bring on the plane is ever-changing. As the game goes on, the line gets longer and the people come faster. You’ll have to make them check clothing and confiscate belongings from their suitcases.

Large fingers are Jetset’s enemy as you’ll be fumbling to take the person’s prohibited shoes off and instead strip them of their pants.

Jetset also promises unlockables if you play the game in an airport. This gimmick alone almost makes it worth keeping on your iPhone somewhere just to flick it on in Denver International, Dulles or wherever you may be. But not for $5.

The steep price makes this game hard to recommend. There’s simply not enough there to justify a $5 purchase. I played the game a few times and got tired of it because nothing new happens. I’m not a fan of airport security and I don’t want to do it on my phone either.

Fast Tap Camera (Rogobete Christian): Missing Camera Functionality Is Here!

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 20:50:34 +0100

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

As a photographer I love interesting iPhone camera applications. The one major flaw in the built-in Camera application is the small button you have to press to take the picture. Why not just tap the screen to close the shutter? That’s where Rogobete Christian’s Fast Tap Camera comes in.

Fast Tap Camera is a a simple application that lets photographers press anywhere on the iPhone’s screen to capture a moment. It also comes with a 3X mode, giving users the chance to take three shots before saving them to their camera roll.

The application works only a little slower than the built-in Camera application and, from my experiences, there is little reason to choose Camera over Fast Tap Camera.

For only $0.99 you can purchase a missing piece of the iPhone. It adds a well-needed, overlooked feature of the original Camera application. Fast Tap Camera is an application that every iPhone user should have, tired of the pesky shutter button or not.

QuadCamera (Takayuki Fukatsu): Four Pictures, Kind of Confusing

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:00:00 +0100

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

(Photo Courtesy: Takayuki Fukatsu)

Japanese developer Takayuki Fukatsu brings an interesting new camera app to the iPhone. QuadCamera, as the name suggests, takes four pictures in succession and creates one image out of the four.

It’s a fun toy but nothing too practical. The created image is a 320 by 480 pixel, the same as the regular camera outputs with each photo being a quarter of the whole image.

The only problem I had with QuadCamera was that without the sound on there’s no way to tell that it’s taking more than one picture. With the sound on however, you can hear four shutters as the pictures are quickly taken.

QuadCamera puts a nice effect on the output picture making for images you won’t find on every iPhone’s camera album. Playing around with the settings allow for other dimensions other than 2x2 and the ability to take black and white QuadPhotos.

For $1.99 you’ll get a fun camera toy that puts a new spin on iPhone photography. While it’s nothing too practical, it does what a fish-eye lens does for a real camera: ads fun with limited functionality

WordsWorth (99 Games): Scrabble Meets Boggle On The iPhone

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:54:00 +0100

★★★★✩ (iTMS)

(Photo Courtesy: 99 Games)

For any fan of Boggle or Scrabble, WordsWorth is an iPhone-gaming must. The objective is to connect as many letters as possible to form words of three letters or longer. Certain letters are worth points while some aren’t worth anything; some tiles give a blank for use in any word or bonus points for incorporation.

Buzzwords appear at the bottom and offer large rewards if you can finagle your letters in order to spell them. Timed tiles threaten to end your game if you don’t clear them within the time allotted. In addition, you can scramble and shuffle letters, racking up the points as the game’s difficulty increases.

As a fan of Boggle when I was younger and Scrabble now, when 99 Games sent me WordsWorth I was eager to play. Since then I’ve found myself wasting hours away playing their addictive game.

For $1.99, WordsWorth is well worth it’s price tag. It will give fans or word games hours of enjoyment as well as, in the later levels, a significant mental challenge.

Lux DLX (Sillysoft Games): Risk Gets Better On The iPhone

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:55:20 +0100

★★★✩✩ (iTMS)

A few months ago I reviewed the free version of Lux Touch for the iPhone. I was pretty pleased with its result. Though it had only one map and one type of AI, the game was fun and solid. Lux DLX however is a little different.

Added in the full version ($7.99) is the ability to introduce a learning curve by adding easy, medium, hard and random AI into the mix. It’s also possible to play against your friends. Lux DLX comes with five maps but, like its OS X counterpart, you can download user-created maps for free.

The game fundamentally is solid as was the free version but when you introduce more AI types all with varying difficulties, the game starts to slow down. Animations begin to chug and the experience just isn’t as great as the free version. Obviously with the complexity of all that’s going on behind the scenes the iPhone is truly pushed to its processing limit.

Future updates should alleviate some processor strain and make Lux DLX run smoothly. The current version of Lux DLX however, I can’t outstandingly recommend like I could it’s free version.