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Archive of "IPhone" Category
Dark Nebula: Episode One is Free
Dark Nebula: Episode One is free this week! Episode Two’s price is halved to the standard App price of .99 – and it’s just as worth picking up as its predecessor. So it’s sort of get one for free and buy the second half price deal? I recommend them.
What game should I play next…
Have you ever posted a forum thread like this? Do you have trouble deciding which socks to wear or when to blink? Penny Arcade’s Decide-o-tron is on its way – and will help you with at least one of those things.
The gist: build a library of games “you like and own” and then it tells you what you should play next. You may never have to assume responsibility for anything ever again.
Here’s hoping it works better than those Amazon suggestions, which seem to work like, “You just bought underpants? You, sir, are a connoisseur of underpants! You must want to buy MORE UNDERPANTS! Here is a virtual blizzard of underpants for you to choose from!!”*
*Note from my Sense of Feminine Pride: I borrowed this example from my husband. I have never bought underpants on Amazon.
App Sanction: Colorbind
Even when in the thick of app review turnaround, it was nigh impossible to keep up with cream of the crop. That’s the excuse, anyway, for why it wasn’t until running into Colorbind‘s developer Daniel Lutz at GDC 2011 that I downloaded the IGF winner.
While at a PlayStation meet-up I bump into this guy, he tells me he’s traveled to San Francisco from far away Switzerland because his game is an IGF finalist, and I hit “Buy” (open bar makes a $2.99 app a steal, after all).
Any way I hear about an app that’s standing out from the crowd, it’s a win – and now, having finally cleared all the “Easy” levels (hey, that #25 boggled my mind) I’m telling you all it’s a worthwhile addition to your Puzzlers folder. Next mission: to check out Monospace.
Desktop Dungeons at E3
The IndieCade booth had lots on offer – like Desktop Dungeons! Read my preview, fall in love, then play the Alpha build for free. If that doesn’t have you clicking “pre-order”, you’re hopeless.
Photo evidence
Reviewing Free [to Play]
Back at GDC over lunch with Christine Yeo from Perfect World Ent the notion of reviewing free games came up. This is something a bit of brain space has been devoted to, so now comes the waxing speculative.
Largely with the dawn of iPhone app reviews (and apps), the decision of whether or not to review free apps came up. With an inbox full of review requests for paid apps, time management was an issue and the answer was clear: No thank you. A free app costs only as much as the player’s time, and there was little value to be added to the equation by reviewing such an app – while simultaneously trying to quantify the value of time versus the app. Nope, the math was just not working out.
Free-to-play MMOs, however, are increasing their presence in the Western world and so the question comes up again – is it relevant to review what is free? Here the answer is yes. Where time commitment on a free app runs something like 20 minutes maximum before determining if the player wishes to continue, the time likely to be invested in an MMO before its worth can be sussed out tends to run higher. Certainly, some just won’t run or are broken beyond reviewing comprehension, and in those cases the less WPM spent on the debacle the better (as with any lame app). Without reviews, doesn’t the MMO player find themselves adrift in a sea of time-eating possibility?
While LOTRO may or may not make your butt look big, finding the right free-to-play MMO seems a lot like trying to find a good pair of jeans – you want back-up.
White iPhone 4 by End of April
So, I’ve been waiting to upgrade my 3GS to an iPhone 4 with the excuse that I’m waiting on the white one – which I, honestly, was beginning to think was right up there with flying pigs and icy hell. Bloomberg says otherwise.
The new version will be available from AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless by the end of April, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. The release was stalled as Apple resolved manufacturing challenges, including paint that peeled under heat, one person said.
Now that my white iPhone may actually be attainable, I have to be honest: I haven’t bought an iPhone 4 because I’m a phone dropper. No matter that my iPhone is a precious gift from the heavens, I drop it all the time. Sometimes, I practically throw it, sending it skidding across the sidewalk, other times it sort of just falls out of my hand in a way eerily reminiscent of how your glass inexplicably drifts floor-ward when you’ve overindulged.* I have big decisions to make.
*No, I don’t want to put a bumper, case or similar device on my phone
Babel Rising Review
As a freshly minted deity, it’s easy to fall in love with Babel Rising. How can I not have a soft spot for a game that prompted me to exclaim, “Ooh, I just made their bones crackle!”? Genesis weaves the tale of the people of Babel, heaven-bent on constructing a skyward tower. While Babel Rising doesn’t give you the power of tongues, or imbue you with any other language skills, you do have seven deadly powers to use against wayward mankind. Which is really OK, because in video game format cursing a people with language just doesn’t translate.
The Screetch Review
Coming all the way from Moscow, Russia, The Screetch proves that vodka-fueled development may be a successful model. Gameplay is addictive – the sort of addictive that aids in my procrastination of writing not just this review, but at least two others – and the style is distinctly eye-catching. The Screetch has effectively oozed its inky blackness right into my soul, and I won’t give it up.
Dark Nebula Episode Two Review
When an app comes along for review I entertain feelings of reward and punishment. I want you to reward the development team of Dark Nebula: Episode 2 with your dollar, I want them to experience the positive affirmation of your purchase. I want this app to sell well, so that they can go forth and create more awesome. Now hop to it.
Dead Runner Hands-On
Distinctive Developments brought me one of my favorite line drawing games, Heli Rescue, and the surprisingly mesmerizing Pool Ninja, among a handful of other app delights. Notably different from other Distinctive Developments apps on tap, Dead Runner is eerie, really eerie. There’s no cute hopping imperiled civilians in need of rescue, no austere Japanese pool room, instead you are dropped in the middle of the worst part of a horror film: the run from imminent peril.
Just Half Review
Reviewing Apps and assigning scores is a tricky thing. There are gross volumes of apps with an amazing variety of price points, development efforts, game types and goals. Settling on a strength of recommendation for an App is a game in itself, and Just Half makes it a little bit easier at 5/10. Of course, in Just Half that comes out perfect.
Looking for a Pub to watch the World Cup? There’s an app for that!
Drinksin would hate for you to go thirsty. Their latest app, Footy Pubs 2010, will help you find the nearest pub that will not only fill your pint it will help you watch the World Cup, too.The app allows you to search for nearby pubs based on your location that are showing that day’s matches. If that’s just too darn spontaneous for you, use the Match Planner, select a city and a match, then peruse the available pubs. Directions are provided for the geographically challenged.
Unfortunately for those inclined to call the sport “soccer”, the app only works in the UK. Discrimination!
Remember, friends don’t let friends watch football alone. Or sober.
Apps like this tend to make me die a little inside. Why? Because if you use this app in your hometown you are effectively saying, “I don’t have friends to watch the game with.” Or, I suppose you could be saying, “I’m such an unbelievable drunk everyone in my life gave up on me long ago. Actually, I got so pissed over breakfast I purchased this app accidentally.”
(Available for Nokia and iPhone)
Pool Ninja Review
A single-player pool game, Pool Ninja is comprised of challenges that, among other things, teach you cool lingo like “pot”. Yeah, I didn’t know that one, which gives you a fair idea of my vast pool hall experience. Therefore, it’s most notable that Pool Ninja creates the compelling ilusion that I can play pool. (more…)
More Zombies?! Review
Do you find yourself in need of more zombies? Has Pocket Monkey Games got the survival shooter for you. In the cunningly titled More Zombies?! you play as Bob, a.k.a. Bullet Delivery Man, the guy who brings the hurt.
Replay: Aqua Globs
Almost half a year has passed since I reviewed the first version of Aqua Globs. A straightforward line-drawing game with one level and three units, all the addictive little time waster was lacking was, well, more. More levels, more units and more online integration. Now, with more features and many initial complaints addressed by the developer the little title that could is getting a replay. (more…)
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