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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Age of Monsters Review

By Jason Wadsworth on October 19th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: SIMPLE YET SATISFYING
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Players challenge their friends to massive battles where epic monsters compete in rock, paper, scissors matches.

Developer: Massive Joe Studios

Price: PRICE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 3GS

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Whether it’s deciding who gets to ride shotgun, or who gets the last piece of pizza, rock paper scissors plays in integral part in most friendships. Still, in our age of social media and digital connections, why bother using hands and fingers to play? Why even be in the same room (or ZIP code, for that matter)? Age of Monsters is a game where friends can challenge each other to asynchronous rock, paper, scissors battles from their iOS devices whenever they want. Each battle is also depicted as an epic face-off between two monsters selected by the players.

Everyone has played rock paper scissors and the rules are fairly clear so we won’t waste any time here explaining them. Age of Monsters puts a horrific, monster-filled veneer on the well known “game”, making it a bit more interesting to watch through fully animated monster avatars and unique actions and reactions for every monster. The game also offers players the ability to play asynchronously meaning players can choose their moves and wait for their opponent to choose their moves before seeing the result. Much like the popular word game, Words With Friends. Players are alerted when they are challenged or when an opponent has made their move.

To play, a player must either challenge an opponent or receive a challenge. Currently opponents can only be chosen from the player’s Game Center or Open Feint friends lists, and there is no option to select a random opponent. Once a match is set up between the opponents each player chooses a monster and then selects three choices of rock, paper, or scissors; one for each of the match’s rounds. Once both players have selected the results show and the best out of three wins. There is no need for both players to make selections at the same time either, when the last player has set their choices the other player is alerted and can watch the results play out. Matches are played out with the animated monsters showing their hands and reacting to each round’s result.

The animations are amazing and easily the best part of the game. Watching how all the different monsters act and react is very entertaining. The lack of an option to play a match with a random opponent severely limits the game’s playability though so players should make sure to share the game with their friends if they plan on playing it much. The game looks great, it’s simple, and the matches are satisfying. This game is worth a look for a few minutes of fun here and there.

Age of Monsters - Rock Paper Scissors

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: FREE

Our Rating:

:: SIMPLE YET SATISFYING
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2011-10-18 :: Category: Games

Apps mentioned in this post: Age of Monsters - Rock Paper Scissors, Words With Friends

About: Age of Monsters Review is a post from 148Apps

Jason Wadsworth 19 Oct, 2011

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Source: http://www.148apps.com/reviews/age-monsters-review/
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Warm Gun Review

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Warm Gun Review

By Jacob Siegal on October 19th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: PISTOL WHIP
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

A futuristic wild west shooter providing an experience that is flawed, but beautiful. The lack of variety and graphical hiccups mar this potentially impressive FPS.

Developer: Emotional Robots, Inc.

Price: $4.99
Version: 1.04
App Reviewed on: iPad 2, iPhone 4

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Overall Overall Rating: 3.13 out of 5 stars

Warm Gun is an Unreal Engine 3 FPS for the iPhone and iPad, and despite its amazing looks, it doesn’t quite measure up to some of the best shooters the App Store has to offer. The first-person shooter genre has never quite been able to grasp me on iOS, typically by failing to control well enough to play for any extended period of time or extreme issues with lagging online. The developers at Emotional Robots seem to have tried to work around both of these issues, but unfortunately the controls, while not terrible, just don’t do the game justice. On top of that, the online experience worked relatively well for me on the iPad 2, but the game was unplayable on the iPhone 4.

Warm Gun takes a few elements of the competitive console FPS and throws out all the rest, an issue which might not have been so negative if the one mode the game offered was a bit more polished. There is only one mode: deathmatch (online and offline). There are four character classes to choose from, each with three distinct weapons of their own: pistols, machine guns, grenades, and instant-kill melee weapons, to name a few. Shooting from a distance is very tricky, especially opponents are on the move, but the levels are do size up rather nicely to make sure everyone stays within a reasonable range of each other. Once close enough, your character locks on to the nearest enemy, ensuring that getting a jump on others will give you an advantage. Were there more to do with this fairly wide variety of characters and weapons, Warm Gun might have risen above its numerous problems. Unfortunately, that’s just not the case.

The levels are gorgeous. I am not sure when the shock of Unreal Engine graphics on the iOS platform will wear off, but it’s certainly not today. The steampunk-western environments are fleshed out and beautifully detailed. Each of the five levels has its own distinct style, giving life to this war-torn world. Sadly, the stuttering issues on the iPhone 4 caused the game to come to a standstill often enough to detract from the experience.

Like any twin-stick iOS shooter, the controls are not perfect. I certainly got comfortable with them after about an hour with the game, but running around corners or swinging around 180 degrees to confront foes just isn’t as easy as it could be.

If you are in the market for a new portable FPS, Warm Gun isn’t your best choice. Each character class has its own strengths and weaknesses, each level has a host of hidden contraptions with which to cause chaos, and every weapon packs a powerful punch, but the control issues – coupled with the graphical stuttering and lack of gameplay variety – just don’t equate to much replay value.

Warm Gun

Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: $4.99

Our Rating:

:: PISTOL WHIP
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2011-10-11 :: Category: Games

Apps mentioned in this post: Warm Gun

About: Warm Gun Review is a post from 148Apps

Jacob Siegal 19 Oct, 2011

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Source: http://www.148apps.com/reviews/warm-gun-review/
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The Portable Podcast, Episode 107

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Whale, whale, whale, what do we have here?

On This Episode:

Carter speaks with ustwo’s mills, a British design firm and developer who are about to release their first game, Whale Trail. Carter and mills discuss the trials and tribulations that have gone into the game’s development, what testing has brought to the final experience, why the game is a premium app in a world of free to play titles, and the risk that ustwo is taking in releasing this big budget game.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: mills, ustwo

Music:

“Beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)” by The Eternal – Download on iTunes here:

“Nanocarp” by The Eternal

How to Listen:

Click Here to Subscribe in iTunes:

Click Here to Subscribe via RSS.

Listen Here:

About: The Portable Podcast, Episode 107 is a post from 148Apps

Carter Dotson 19 Oct, 2011
enclosure: audio/mpeg

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Source: http://www.148apps.com/news/portable-podcast-episode-107/
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Top 3 App Deals for 10/19/11

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Here we have it, folks – three fresh new deals to keep your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad in the best apps for the best prices. Sure, you could stalk your way through the price drop lists here on 148Apps, and we of course suggest you do, but here are the top three deals we found for today:

Snake HD – Was $1.99, now FREE
The first game out of the developers responsible for SuperMegaWorm, Snake HD re-envisions the classic gameplay on the iPad, and now is a free download. SSSuper!

C25k (Couch to 5K) – Was $2.99, now $0.99
This runner’s training program adds new features like turning off GPS, run tracking (or not, if on the treadmill), and easier music management. For one third the original price, it might be worth running out to get.

GPlayer – Was $2.99, now FREE
Boy, we sure all do miss VLC on the iPad. If you’re not one of the lucky ones who never rid themselves of the multi-format video player, give GPlayer a try. It’s free for a limited time!

About: Top 3 App Deals for 10/19/11 is a post from 148Apps

Rob LeFebvre 19 Oct, 2011

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Source: http://www.148apps.com/news/top-3-app-deals-101911/
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BookBuddy Review

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BookBuddy Review

By Jennifer Allen on October 19th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: USEFUL
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

BookBuddy offers a great way to manage a book collection, but does miss a couple of useful features.

Developer: Kimico
Price: $4.99 (LITE version available)
Version Reviewed: 3.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4

iPhone Integration Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.58 out of 5 stars

I’ve got a house full of books, to the point that one room has so many boxes of books, I can hardly walk around it. Before my love of technology, I had a great love for reading. I still do, with my trusty iPad providing much of the focus thanks to iBooks. BookBuddy is an app that aims to help its users keep track of the many, many books they may own. It does a pretty good job of it too.

When owning numerous items within a collection, it’s all too easy to lose track of what’s there and what isn’t. BookBuddy is set up to offer most commonly used categories such as books currently being read, books that have been read and books lent out to friends and family. Other categories can then be added so that users can arrange their collections however they want, such as according to genre or type of mood that works well with the book. The pre-defined categories should cover most interests, however.

Entering information for each book is pretty simple. Users can either add all the information manually or by searching Google Books for ISBN numbers, book titles or the author’s name. Without barcode scanning functionality, it does take slightly longer but it’s quite easy to enter the first few letters of a title. Users can then add a rating out of 5 for the title and set a status for it, such as if it’s been lent out to someone. Unfortunately, there’s also no way of setting where the book is located such as which room it’s in or whether it’s an eBook.

Backup functionality via Dropbox is there, keeping the plethora of useful information safe. Users also get the option to share information via Facebook, Twitter or email. This is particularly useful when wanting to share present ideas although it does only seem to be possible to implement with individual entries rather than a list en masse.

BookBuddy is a pretty useful idea but missing out a few minor but useful features like wishlist sharing and being able to scan barcodes means it’s not quite as essential as it potentially could have been. However, for the book fan this is a worthy starting place, especially for those who swap titles with friends frequently.