Use
When you open Things for the first time you’re presented with a list showing where everything is kept. Inbox is where every new task goes by default. Today is for tasks that are happening or due today. Next is for items that are due. Scheduled is for tasks that have been scheduled. Someday is your stuff that’s not urgent, but you just want to keep it handy. Projects is a folder for batches of tasks that pertain to well… your projects. Finally Logbook is where completed tasks live for your review until deletion.

Things for iPhone works best with its Mac app counterpart. Wireless syncing is easy to set up and offers a huge advantage when it comes to managing several tasks. But even if you don’t have a Mac or don’t want to shell out the $49.95 for the main app, you’ll still have a lot of power and flexibility available in the iPhone version alone.

Features
There are lots of nice little touches Culture Code has added to Things to make it handy for everyday use. There are little buttons you can push in the list views which induce new functionality and sorting power. These allow you to organize new tasks quickly and sort by due dates, key words, and importance. It’s also really easy to move tasks between lists and projects.

The instructions for using Things are on Cultured Code’s website. You should also watch the QT video and you’ll see how easy this app is to use. As I reviewed the webpage and video while writing this, I realized how painfully inept I am at using Things to its full capacity. Yet the simplicity of use is what makes it so good. I’m not forced to use it a certain way. Though I’ll get a lot more out of it by using all of its features, it’s working just the way I want it to, and this makes me very happy. It’s a friendly little app.

Day-to-Day Use
It’s really easy to tap something in quickly and not having to worry about forgetting it anymore. I’m no stranger to the library, and one of my favorite uses for the Things is having a Project labeled Library where I can enter all the books I have checked out and their due dates. I have each book with a due date and a reminder to come up one day before then so that I’ll either take back the book or check it out for another three weeks from my library’s website.

Things is a really stable app. I’ve never had any problems with it and I’ve been using it for a long time. Cultured Code has also been quite regular about updating it with increased functionality. This is especially true when it comes to bug fixes—I’m certain it takes longer for Apple to approve the updates than it does for CC to write the code and submit it.

Finally, there’s a lot of attention to detail that I like here. The flexibility of managing your tasks is astounding. I also really enjoy being able to customize my tags without using the desktop app. I don’t know why this appeals to me so much as I’ve only used this a couple of times, but it’s just kind of soothing to me knowing I have this much control. Muuaahh haaa haaa. If you sync with the desktop app, the syncing screen is really well done too, but this is purely aesthetic, and there’s no practical value to this… other than the fact that nice aesthetics are pretty to look at.

Negatives
I would like to see the email function built into the app so that when you send the email you don’t have to restart Things. I recently downloaded another iPhone app that has this feature, and think it is something available to developers under the 3.0 OS (though I reserve the right to be wrong on this). Other than that, if you’re looking for just a simple task manager, Things might be a bit of overkill for you at $10. Otherwise, the worst case scenario I can think of is a slight case of buyer’s remorse, or getting in trouble with your spouse for spending $10 on an iPhone app. (Man, I hope my wife doesn’t read this.)

Conclusion
As I said above, I’ve been using Things for a long time and am well satisfied with it. Even when I hit times that I don’t use it often, it has earned a permanent spot on my iPod Touch. Simple users (like me) won’t be disappointed and power users will be able to do whatever they want to organize their personal and business lives. Things is a great product and I’m certain will only continue to get better. Go buy it. Now.

Crazy Hotdogs is in the same style as the popular cooking / selling / trading games. You have a product to make, and customers to sell to. You have to make up the correct orders and serve the correct people before they get too angry, or leave (or similar to that). Unfortunately this game just doesn’t seem to be as good as the other ones out there.

About Crazy Hotdogs… The initial opening screen is really wonderful, great animation and music to get you into the excitement of selling these hotdogs. (Can that be exciting?) When you are past that, and into the game you have the options of Game Start, Records, Settings, Instruction, More Games and About. Settings are just the typical sound options so not much to see there. The Instructions area is broken into the different tasks and how to do things. It is all just text info and I’m not sure there is any need to ever refer to this. Besides that, I have played so many of these types of games (and you may find yourself in the same situation) that you just don’t want to waste time on instructions for what should be a straightforward game.

So, once it is launched you can choose to read the game instructions. I choose not to because after a while you pretty much understand the game play, cook something and serve it right? Well, when you launch the game you are taken through a tutorial. I really think this is a mistake of the game. It was so slow and boring that it really put me off the game right away.

I wanted to just get into the game and start playing, not be made to serve a pathetic amount of hot dogs and wait for the next day to begin zzzzzzz. This is the initial ‘mission mode’ that must be completed. Please developers, do not make us sit through boring levels we don’t need to. Let us jump straight in!

Unfortunately, I really did not like the game play in terms of the grill area and customer service screen. You are basically looking at a huge grill area and then you see these circles for heads (which get angry and complain far too fast and too often). You then click them and your grill disappears and the hotdogs are on plates which you serve from. Then you have to click back on the game to cook more. It was awkward and confusing. <--- this probably doesn't make sense, have a look at the image below for a better view of what I am trying to describe.

It’s just plain awkward.

I played the entire first level, which you must complete before you can do Free mode. Once you have unlocked Free Mode the game is much better. In free mode you get a lot of customers and have to serve pretty fast. It is much more exciting and the game play gets miles better. I wish we could just start in free mode. Also, I couldn’t find a way to get rid of any raw or burnt hotdogs, most games have a garbage near by that you can get rid of them. Because there isn’t a way it means that you serve them to customers and your rating goes down.

Also, where is the ketchup and mustard? Fries? Drinks…. the game seems to be a bit too one dimensional at the moment, but the way the screen is set out there really is no where to add this stuff.

If you can get past the first level tutorial I think it is a fun game overall, as long as you get used of the screen. Try the free one and see for yourself before you buy it would be my best advice for you. There are other ‘lite’ versions of similar games that are worth your time.

Be aware that the video from them below, features very little of the actual game play, only a few seconds worth in the middle.

Overall I would give this a miss in all honesty. For this style of game there are now so many out there and so many fantastic ones that you really have to step up your game in order to make a mark. I’m afraid this one misses it.

Most people reviewing an app like TweetDeck are going to be twitter users who have run the gauntlet of various applications and iPhone apps in order to utilize twitter. I started on the iPhone with Twinkle for its nearby tweets, moved onto Twitterfon when Twinkle mostly showed me local male amateur pornography via various twitpics, and finally downloaded TweetDeck earlier this week. I’ve been using TweetDeck on my desktop for a while and like it better than anything else that is available.

TweetDeck for the iPhone is definitely designed to be a companion to the desktop, everything feels similar and the usability comes easy because of the similarity. I had a really difficult time figuring out how to sync the columns from my desktop to the phone app, but a little bit of exploring lead me to the “more” block along the bottom menu. Setting up column syncing and the quick follow button next to it were features I found incredibly useful, even more so if I actually used them. Typically I find other users from searching or from friends, so a quick follow button is somewhat lost on me. As well, inside the New Tweet window, I’m still not sure what the “link” button does. I understand the map and photo buttons, which has a nice link to map feature I haven’t seen in other clients, but am unsure what a link button needs to be present for—mobile users typically aren’t working heavily with URLs unless they’ve already copied and pasted it in iPhone 3.0. Lacking from the New Tweet window is an easy way to include someone you’re following into an @reply. Also missing is a landscape mode for composing tweets.

Power users will find it useful to have their API calls and time to refresh listed in the main window, the ability to use multiple accounts and having the option to use either twitpic or yfrog for mobile picture uploads. These same power users may also find it hard to swallow the recommendation of only carrying six to eight columns during sync versus the ten column limit in the desktop version. I’m also left wondering if push notifications could out do the notification bars.

Besides these minor complaints, TweetDeck for the iPhone is a solid entry into the vast field of twitter applications. Handy notifications pop up when you receive new tweets and a breakdown of the new tweets can be found from the update icon. Columns can be zoomed for a more full-screen viewing effect which also hides the settings icon on the corner of each column. Flipping between columns is easy and very reminiscent of the design used on the iPhone’s home screen providing good usability for novice users. The compose button is large and easy to locate. The updates icon lists the number of updates and touching it shows a more detailed breakdown of where those updates came from.

Overall TweetDeck iPhone will give most TweetDeck users a familiar environment, but it comes with limitations. Some users will find just what they are looking for in TweetDeck iPhone while others will want to stick with apps like Twinkle, Tweetie, or TwitterFon Pro. Being a free app without any advertisements might give it the edge against TwitterFon, but the lack of landscape makes me quietly contemplating dropping some cash on TwitterFon Pro.

The App Store has its first killer franchise, and it’s Rolando. With new gameplay elements and a fresh 2.5 graphics engine, there is really no reason why anyone should not buy Rolando 2.

It seems that an adventurous Rolando has returned from a far off land, but with him he has brought the dreaded Kilgorean flu. He accidently infects the revered sages, and Rolando-land goes into a panic. The only known cure is the fabled Golden Orchid, and just like that the Rolandos are off on a journey to a mysterious island to find the cure. To obtain the Golden Orchid, they’ll have to make their way through over 45 levels spread throughout five different worlds. Levels are arranged in a roughly open world layout, so you can choose which level to play next.

To complete levels, you’ll have to get the required amount of Rolandos to the exit. Standing in your way are malevolent natives, walls, levers, switches, and more. Some switches can only be activated by the Rolandos, and some platforms and other elements can be moved by you, the omnipotent “Finger.” There are a variety of Rolandos with unique abilities to help you reach the exit, and, new in this version, vehicles for the Rolandos. There are heavy Rolandos that sink in water, spikey commando Rolandos that can stick to walls, and the new native Rolandos that can float after consuming chilis. And of course, there are the royal Rolandos. The princess will roll back and forth on her own, and the king and queen are always asleep, so you’ll have to use other Rolandos to push them along. In addition to the normal levels, there are bonus levels with only King Rolandos where you can affect gravity 360 degrees.

One huge improvement over the first iteration of the first Rolando is the level design. While the first Rolando was tedious at times, the levels in the sequel are a perfect blend of puzzle and action. The levels play out like puzzles on a huge scale, as you have to approach a level correctly to succeed. In addition, there is a strong dose of action, and levels like the one in which you have to run from a momentous boulder are pure exhilaration. New gameplay elements like vehicles, the floating Rolandos, and arrows that can kill baddies further add to the game.

Each level has three obtainable medals: saving all Rolandos, collecting all crystals, which are spread throughout each level, and finishing under the challenge time. These add significant replayability, as it is quite tough to get all the medals for all the levels, particularly the challenge time. There also a bevy of unlockable achievements. Rolando 2 comes full integrated with ngmoco’s Xbox Live-esque Plus+ network, which allows you to directly challenge your friends’ scores via push notifications.

Controls, as in the first Rolando, are simple and intuitive. Tilt to roll the Rolandos, and swipe anywhere to jump. To select multiple Rolandos, simply draw a selection box. To deselect or navigate throughout the level, you use two fingers. Considering Rolando 2 is much less annoyingly technically than its predecessor, the controls work much better. The only thing lacking, which should really be a requirement for any games using accelerometer control, is a sensitivity adjustment option. To activate things such as spring launchers, you simply drag with your finger.

The new 2.5D graphics engine is very impressive. Besides the added (half) dimension, the graphics are done in mostly the same style, but the added perspective really adds pizzaz. The in-game music, composed by Mr. Scruff, is really fantastic, and is among the best I’ve heard from an App Store game. Sound effects are top-notch as well.

Mystique: Chapter 1 is the first game to come to the iPhone platform after making its debut on Android (I think). The developer, when telling us about the game, talks about iPhone developers putting their iPhone apps onto the Android platform and having success. Because of this cross platform success, they decided that they would like to try the reverse, having their Android game brought to the iPhone. There were some interesting struggles coming this direction though. While they were working it out the transition out, they did come against and mentioned that there is no trackball on the iPhone (of course not, iPhone rocks and is minimal bliss) and so the way the game functioned had to be completely changed.

The game itself is an immersive 3d experience. You wake in a (locked) room and the idea is that it’s creepy and mysterious. You then search the room to solve the puzzles and move on to the next space.

The thing I liked most about the game wasn’t really about the game at all. I liked that this game was different to the types of games we are currently seeing in the app store. With the success of games like Flight Control and Toki Tori, there is an abundance of “happy jumpy” platform, time management, and retro games going around all our devices. So this was a bit of a different take and I was keen to try it.

Also in its favor was the great sound accompanying it. This is one saving factor on the game. The music does help you feel the mood, enjoy the chills and really improves the game a lot.

Before playing it, I had read some of the buyer reviews. I read that it was really scary, so I was pretty excited to give it a try. I waited until it was very late at night, dark outside and very dark inside. Then I got ready to be scared completely by the game…. couldn’t wait!

Disappointed. Well… Ok. I don’t know who is writing those reviews, saying that it is as scary as some other popular horror genre games, but… I just didn’t find it scary. It just didn’t do it for me. I think my problem was the graphics are just not smooth enough. It all looked really ‘choppy’ so I was reminded that it was a device rendering some pictures. Also, after spending ages finding all the tools and items, I unintentionally managed to turn off my only light source in the room.

Now, playing a game in a dark room, where the image is only a dark room = hardly anything to see, is a perfect recipe for both frustration and headaches. In the end I did just give up.

For me, iPhone apps need to mimic the iPhone aesthetic, the wonderful buttons, the ease of navigation, smooth edges… I don’t have experience with the Android platform, but I’m not sure the applications can so easily be ‘adjusted’ to ‘fit’ the iPhone. The iPhone is a unique device that when designing a game / application for, should be taken into account.

I just found the in-game buttons too unstyled, and the actual furnishings of the room too “un-rendered” looking.

Good effort to want to bring it to the iPhone platform and I hope the styling will get better, but this one is just not for me.

This is a time management game that is up there with the best of them. If you like the pressures of trying to satisfy all your customers and make a profit then this is a great game to play. And NO it is not just for girls, maybe you aren’t up for the challenge~

Sally has been on our devices before in the previous hit Sally’s Salon. That game earned her a deserved following. In addition to that, because the game was on other platforms, notably the DS, (but you can also play it on your computer) she seems unstoppable, which I’m happy about!

So, some good things about Sally’s Salon…
First look at the game you can see how games like these, from big developers, are so polished with their graphics. It is a slick interface, with very user intuitive controls. Sally herself is a real cutie and it was fun to be her in the salon.

The placement of the items in the game, with the waiting chairs at the back and then you move around the screen in an anti-clockwise way really makes great use of the screen size. The game packs a lot of things into that little screen yet manages to not look cramped or disorganized. A real credit to the developers.

The game has a lot of features, from the traveling around the world to set up new spas, to the goals set so you can achieve stars and hearts to better your score. As with all games though, features or no features, the important thing is, do you go back for more? I can honestly say I did not want to put this game down until I had conquered the entire world! That is always sign of a top game for me.

Features as listed on their site are:

* Drag & slide your customers to spa stations
* Use your finger to play micro-games like Hot Stones, Bath Bombs & much more!
* Shop for better upgrades/products for your sales shelf
* Use your power-ups to make customers happy
* Many personalities from busy moms to male models.
* Travel around the world to high-end spas.

There are a good variety of customers which is great, especially when you get the couples who don’t want to be separated so you must be sure to have 2 places everywhere or they won’t go. There is also a good range of upgrades to buy, from hiring staff, to better chairs & facilities. Also special ‘fragrant candles’ that you can get which do different things from calming the customers down to getting them to tip a little higher.

Also after each level is completed you get to restock the items she has for sale for the customers, and you get new products as you sell more and more. This is a nice extra earner.

You can play with different accounts, so the whole family can play which is nice.

The main thing that I don’t like about the game is I’ve finished it. I don’t understand why there isn’t an open-ended version, so I can just play Spa until I am filthy rich. Well, I do understand, I guess they worry they won’t then sell more of their games. Maybe they could release a slightly more expensive version that is unlimited play, or you could pay a small fee to buy upgrades or similar. I really was disappointed when it was over, and didn’t play it again, there was no point. This was why I awarded it such a low score for the replay value. Although you will be playing it from start to finish I’m sure, I just don’t think once you have completed it that you will then pick it up and play it all again. I have spoken to others who have played the game and have said the same.

Overall at the low price of $0.99 there is enough scope and addiction to satisfy, but I really think they have to add some kind of ’survival mode’, because once you have finished it there isn’t a lot to do. I did totally love playing it though, I wanted to play for longer!

Harbor Master is in the style of (once again) Flight Control. We all know that when a game becomes that popular, there are sure to be clones and others who try to walk the same line. Usually they are poor imitations, or substandard games pushed out to try to get on the bandwagon. Also, many are just not fun, trying to capture an ‘essence’ of a popular game is just a difficult thing to do. There can be so many factors contributing to its success, and a set formulae can be hard to define.

Well this game is actually the best competitor I have seen. It has officially taken me away from the ‘highscores hell’ that has become Flight Control and I am now trying to be the best Harbor Master in the universe!

This app is essentially a game of trying to unload the containers (cargo) on different types of ships. You guide the ship to the port, wait for it to unload the cargo, then have to take it back out of the port, and guide another in.

This game is good is because of that extra dimension of having to unload… it really adds to the pace of the game. Your concentration levels really have to be sharp so you safely divert one out as other ships wait for a free port. Also, there are 2 color ships, blue and orange, and the colors have to be docked at the correct color docks. There are 3 levels to unlock, unlocking though was actually a bit too simple and I did it on my first or second go, this could have been slightly harder challenge, but is a minor point.

The three maps are:

Map 1 Cyclone Island. This is a central docking station with chances for a cyclone to hit any where any time during game play. This is a nice map to play because it really is a chance that at any time it could all go wrong with that ‘oh so dangerous’ cyclone threat.

Map 2 Fishing Bay. This is a typical shore situation. There are two docks, one for each color ship and you guide them in and out quite easily. This is a great level to practice on.

Lastly, Map 3 Sturgeon Creek. I love this level. A lot. This map is basically double of what we play on map 2, fishing bay. You have docks on both sides and again you have 2 colored cargo ships to dock. This level is where I have been living the last few days of my life. Ironically I have only achieved a high score of 122 (so far) even after hours of game play. Surprisingly having not been able to better my score, I still haven’t felt bored or frustrated as you can on some games where you seem to not be able to top a high score.

Each map screen when you select it, has some basic stats for you which is nice. It shows your skill level for that map, best shift, how many shifts worked, and the number of cargo received.

Sound on the game really needs to be on as you play to be more successful. There are sound clues when there are two ships too close to each other, you are notified by a proximity beep alert. Also the sound of diverting off the screen or to successful docking are good so you know you have set the course for that ship and can get on with other ships. And liked the big horn noise of the large container ships as they were coming into port, it was really fun! Also the general in game music was sweet and I liked it being on.

You can pause in game if needed (again a feature every game should have), and from the pause screen you can go to a different map too which I thought was great. (Oh- but if you do go to a different map, you lose that game you were playing!)

Only negatives really would be maybe to add another ship type, there are 3 types of ships with varying amounts of cargo (so longer cargo loading times). This really isn’t a negative of the game, just maybe if you manage to unload 100 ships maybe you get another type or something.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game and it is a keeper on my device. I have had a play every day just to see if I can better my score, and although I haven’t yet, it didn’t even matter, it was just a nice fun to play game. I salut you Captain Imangi for making a top game!

Should you buy this app at $0.99? Heck yes!! Why haven’t you already?!

Overview
Impress is an app that’s easy to use. After installing it on my iPod Touch I quickly grabbed a picture (iPhone users have the option to shoot a picture too) and started painting. I was impressed with how easy it is to change the brushes, and the variety that these adjustments give the user.

When you’re painting you can zoom in and move around the picture with the pinch control. There are about 6 brushes or so which can be adjusted by moving the crosshairs around the screen. The settings are such that you can get almost any kind of effect you want out of a brush. If you make a mistake there’s an erase mode available too.

Pros
It was really easy to start painting with this app. I grabbed a picture of my night stand from my iPod and started working on it. Don’t ask me why I grabbed this one, I’ve just always liked this picture for some strange reason. The way the app chooses the colors automatically is nice. I like not having to worry about that. I also worked on a picture of the old Transformer Jetfire (not the new one) that I found. This was cool too, but I didn’t post it here because wasn’t patient enough for all of the details.

Cons
There are a couple of things I would like to see added as Impress develops. It would be nice to add layers, and the ability to add text. I think these things can be done without ruining the simplicity of the app. Maybe revising the way zoom and painting are handled would be recommended too. Oftentimes I accidentally painted when zooming or moving the picture around, which then required me to move to Erase mode.

Conclusion
Impress, for what it’s designed to do, is quite impressive. It’s no Brushes, but it’s not trying to be. It’s made so that anyone can make a nice looking painting with just a little bit of time and patience. Impress’s aim is simplicity and it hits the mark. It’s a great app and you can’t go wrong for only $0.99.

Impress Gallery: http://marioguimaraes.com/impress/Gallery.html

Id software basically invented the modern first person shooter. So why would they create a new DOOM for the iPhone and make it an on-rails shooter, not even a true FPS. Well, it turns out they actually made a pretty good decision.

The UAC, the largest defense contractor in the universe, located on Mars, has been authorized to conduct controversial experiments. Then, predictably, something goes horribly wrong. A troop of elite marines is sent in to investigate, when again, something goes horribly wrong and you are left as the only marine alive. What starts off as a simple escape mission evolves into something that holds the fate of the world in balance. The story is decent enough, but a little generic. Throughout the game, the story is advanced by dialogue and cut-scenes. For the most part these are fine, but there is no way to skip the cut-scenes, which gets a bit irritating, especially on the second play through.

The game contains eight levels, for a total approximate 2-3 hours (or more, if like me, you stink). This is my main complaint for the game. Making this game a 20 level saga would be a mistake, but two more levels would be a welcome addition. For replayablilty, there are four difficulty levels and a letter-grading system with a full statistical breakdown for each level. In addition, after completing a level in the game, you play that level directly from the main menu.

In each level, your character moves automatically, so all you have to do is worry about shooting zombies and other nefarious creatures… which there are plenty of. Besides the “normal” zombies that simply rush at you and attack you, there are a variety a monsters that require special game mechanics. There are fat zombies that will attempt to eat you, making you have to shake your phone to stave them off, and there are both monsters who will shoot machine guns at you and those that will hurl fire balls at you. The machine gun-wielding monsters start off shooting at a low accuracy, then will hone in on you, signified by a shrinking hexagon that will eventually turn red, meaning the zombies are certain to hit you. At that point, you must duck for cover. For the projectile hurling zombies, you must dodge at the right time to avoid the fire balls. Dodge too early or too late, and you’re dead meat. To either take cover or dodge, depending on the situation, you press a button in the lower left of the screen. These mechanics work well enough, though they are annoyingly overused in later levels.

Luckily, you have a bevy of weapons to fend off monsters. In addition to your trusty default assault rifle, which has unlimited ammo, at different times during game, you will have access to cool weapons such the chainsaw, plasma rifle, and of course, the legendary BFG. All the weapons are really well done and truly distinctive, so you will have to choose a weapon carefully depending on the situation. Cycling through weapons is accomplished by tapping a button in the upper left of the screen, and you can manually reload by tapping a button in the top left. The best control mechanic in the game is the shooting. To aim the small reticule on your screen, you use the accelerometer, and you fire by tapping a button in the lower right corner. The accelerometer is automatically calibrated at the start of each level, and you can re-calibrate at any time from the pause menu. The only option lacking is sensitivity adjustment, though I found the accelerometer to be perfectly responsive. The accelerometer controls are fantastic, and they make the game infinitely more fun than a simple tap-to-shoot. There are also health and ammo packs scattered throughout levels, some hidden inside breakable boxes, and you pick them up by simply tapping on them.

The graphics in DOOM are virtually unparalleled on the App Store. Everything is incredibly detailed, and the zombie illustrations are fantastic. The 3D graphics are all done with a very depressed color palette that creates a creepy ambience, and the lighting is impressive. Creepy ambience sounds and sound effects further add to the aura.

Don’t judge DOOM Resurrection simply because it’s “on-rails.” It’s actually an incredibly engaging and fun game that was truly made specifically for the iPhone. Yes, at $9.99 it’s a bit pricy, but that’s a worthy price to pay for one of the iPhone’s best games.

Ragdoll Blaster is simple game, with simple tenets. In fact the word simplicity sums up its graphics too - that’s not a criticism - they suit the game, and are charming in an L.S. Lowry kinda way. This is the sort of game that could have been planned out on the back of a beer mat - but it clearly has been crafted with skill and cunning.

The premise of this game is this: you are required to aim the eponymous ragdoll at a red circle. The moment your doll comes into contact with the red circle the level is completed. Sounds simple? Well, it starts out that way. But pretty soon more and more obstacles are put in the way of your little man. Blocks, pulleys, see-saws, springs - all combine to hinder or help you to attain your goal.

What makes this game interesting is, firstly, discovering how to complete a level - quite often through trial and error - and secondly, the rag doll physics that the game’s name implies. The stick figures move - all flailing limbs - as you would expect a real doll to move. They have an effect on the whatever object they may land or crash into. Couple this knowledge with a control system that allows you to fling your matchstick man with finely judged strength, and you have a concept that makes for some challenging levels.

For example, you may have a triangle in your way and you may have to hurl your ragdoll with just enough power to just clear the top of the triangle, but still land near the base of the far side of the triangle. Other levels require more brute force: a pile of blocks are in the way - you need to use your ragdolls as cannonballs, blasting clear the obstruction.

Quite often the solution to a level isn’t immediately obvious. Blocks on pivots, rotating contraptions, spring loaded platforms - all need your brain to be turned up to 10. That said, you can just blast off a few ragdolls and see what happens… that’s how I solved some levels.

Some may scoff at the graphics in Ragdoll Blaster. But what do you need? Fancy 3D, fully textured, bump mapped, ray traced graphics would be grossly unnecessary. In fact, this kind of game probably prides itself on its graphical style. In my opinion, the graphics suit the concept perfectly.

There is very little to criticize Ragdoll Blaster about. But one slight downer is that once you complete the levels, you won’t be gagging to play them again. There are, though, 70+ levels, and Backflip Studios promise a further 30+ levels in a future update. This addition will aid the game’s longevity, but I don’t see Ragdoll Blaster being a game you come back to repeatedly.

Ragdoll Blaster is good unfussy fun, and is the kind of game you can play for five minutes without losing any impetus - you’re not going to have any trouble remembering where you were in a game like this. Just pick up and play.

For $1.99 you can’t really go wrong - Ragdoll Blaster is worth that. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Gridlocked: Rush Hour is a casual strategy game where you have you have to control the lights in intersections to be sure the traffic moves smoothly. There are six intersections and, like real life, they quickly get packed with cars. In addition to normal cars, just to make things difficult, there are also emergency cars that you must get through before 15 seconds, creating a monster of a task when you find you have more cars then there is room for!

Gridlocked takes what is becoming a popular format of games of strategy lately: time management. This means you are controlling the organization of the items, in this case cars. The idea is executed quite well in terms of styling. The simple grid layout is really great because you get to see the play area and can guide the traffic through with only a simple click of the intersection.

I have to admit… I kind of really like the mundane-ness of directing the flow of traffic, heck I was a buyer of Rush Hour for Sim City and took it to a whole new level. There is something therapeutic about directing a smooth flow of traffic. I would almost would like to see the developer give us a level where it was management but in a really simple way, so we could just spend endless hours changing the lights, then have the hardcore levels for the folks who really want it to get difficult. I always feel sad when the game ends and I have achieved so little!

One thing that I found a bit annoying about this game though was that the traffic back ups tend to happen off the screen so it’s hard to tell where the traffic is backed up. The cars come in off screen but the light just turns amber to tell you that there is a traffic jam, but it is really difficult to know when it’s happening off the game play area. I think it would be really great if it did a similar thing to other styles of games where after a period of really busy activity (lots of cars) then there is a slight lull so you can catch up with it all and clear the space a little bit. If the entire screen is covered in cars, the game quickly becomes tedious. If it gave you a slight clearing time then back to intense it would be great.

Also future updates of course would be more types of cars (thou I like how they are now anyway) and maybe a few other types of roads / intersections. A highscore area could be popular, but I’m not sure how high the scores are going to be

Overall, for the price of this game, and the potential it has, it is worth it. It’s a nice simple game that you can pick up and play and pause when you need to, making it a nice time waster without commitment. You may want to turn off the sound effects thou, all those traffic sounds makes me angry grrrrrr.

What is Pano?
A simple application, Pano for iPhone and iPod touch allows you to create seamless panoramic views (or photos), right on your device - or so Debacle claims. I took the app for a test drive, on the new iPhone 3GS (with auto focus) and here’s my experience.

What is a Panoramic View?

“In its most general sense, a panorama is any wide-angle view of a physical space. It has also come to refer to a wide-angle representation of such a view, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model.”

Using Pano
Opening the app, you’ll be presented with the normal ‘camera’ view, ready to take a photo. Pano numbers your photos from 1 to 16, with 16 being the limit of photos you can physically take with the application, to create any one pano. Just like you would on the normal camera application, to take a photo with pano you simply hit the camera button bottom center. The app starts you off in portrait mode, and this is especially good if you want to take a panoramic view of say for example, a waterfall.

However, there will be times when you need to switch landscape, to capture that perfect moment. To do this simply hit the ‘Cancel’ button in the bottom left of the ‘camera’ screen. From here Pano will throw up two further options; Switch to landscape mode, and Resume shooting. Hitting resume shooting is pretty self-explatatory, and the app will continue to let you shoot your pano in portrait. Tapping ‘Switch to Landscape’ does just as it says. The app will swicth modes and instead of taking photos in portrait, will allow you to take them in landscape. This is handy if your taking for example, a panoramic view of a sunset, or skyline.

Once your done with creating your pano, simply hit that ‘Cancel’ button again, and select ‘Create my Pano now!’. The app will then stitch your photos together. The pano I took consisted of 6 photos, and took about 20 seconds to process. While the app processes your photo, you’ll see a progress bar which states ‘Merging’. Every panoramic view created by Pano is automatically saved into your iPhone camera roll, or in the iPod touch’s case, your Photo roll. Once you connect your device to your Mac, your pano is then available via iPhoto, for import - and I have to say, the quality is pretty great.

Here’s one I took earlier:

Aligning
As mentioned before, the app can be quite hard to align the photos manually - especially if you haven’t got the most of steady hands, like me. But, it does help you along. Taking the first photo with Pano will result in the app switching to the second photo view. When it does this, it also overlays (very faintly) the last piece of photo 01. To a degree, this helps in allowing you to perfectly align your photos, for that seamless look - and I’m sure, if you do have steady hands, you probably will get a perfect panoramic, but so far, I’m yet to create one without noticeable photo overlap.

Overall

Overall, what can I say? Pano is a great tool for panoramic shots. Although not perfect, as advertised, Pano’s output quality and easy of use shines through. If you’re a keen photographer, and want to be able to capture a full scene on the move, Pano is for you.

Magnetic Joe debuted in February as a free game, though from the beginning HD Publishing promised that a paid version would later be released; it was well-received, but its simplicity justified the nonexistent price tag. The developers have held true to their promise, and Magnetic Joe 2 was released in the beginning of this month for $1.99. It’s clear that the game has evolved since then, and Magnetic Joe 2 is an innovative little title and a pretty good arcade-puzzler. It has its flaws, sure, and it still doesn’t offer too much complexity, but it’s a good game.

Everything in Magnetic Joe 2 revolves around, unsurprisingly, magnetism. Joe is a delicate little ball who has the ability to magnetize with a touch of your finger. Magnets are scattered around each stage, and when Joe is magnetized, they propel him—the only catch is that each magnet has a direction associated with it, and you have to time Joe so that he doesn’t end up impaling himself on spikes or running into an enemy. If he does, he’ll shatter into a rain of pixels!

Levels are puzzle-like and require various maneuvers to ensure Joe’s safety, but they all boil down to one objective: go from point A to point B. There are other things to take into consideration, too. Each completed level earns you a gold star, but beating the “developer’s time” will earn you an extra one. Stars can be used to unlock special unlockable abilities:

• Cloak: Joe becomes invisible, making the levels even more challenging
• Bad: Makes Joe stronger, letting him destroy walls more easily
• Rerverse: Reverses the controls. Now you have to demagnetize Joe
• Josephine: She is light and floats better
• Bot: Makes Joe immune to robots
• Fire: Makes Joe immune to fires
• Hood: Makes Joe immune to spike balls and green monsters

Additionally, there are four (really three) different game modes. Tutorial is a 10-stage introduction to the mechanics of Magnetic Joe, while Classic consists of 30 levels focused around timed completion. In the 30-level Collect mode, you still have to try and minimize your time…but you also have to collect all of the little baby Joe’s on your way out. And in Enemy mode (again, there are 30 levels) you have to make it to the end in as little time as possible, but this time there are tons of “deadly foes” including spiders robots. Oh my!

All in all, Magnetic Joe has a decent amount of variety, and if you like the basic gameplay, 100 levels (90 not counting the tutorial) should keep you occupied for a little while. Most of the level designs are fairly straightforward, but they’re still fun to play through, and quite a few are challenging.

On a more technical note, the game’s controls are pleasantly simple. All you have to do is tap anywhere on the screen to magnetize Joe. That’s it. There are menus, of course, but the control scheme is just about the simplest one in the world.

Sadly, the graphics are also simple…painfully so, at times. Everything is rather pixelated and not exactly pretty to look at. It’s all functional, sure, but don’t expect much in the way of eye candy. Jagged edges are prime stars in this little play. On the bright side, the audio isn’t anything new, but it is reminiscent of an old arcade game. While that’s nice and all, the sound effects and the music both get on your nerves after extended listening.

Magnetic Joe 2’s gameplay is supplemented by some solid features. You can, for example, choose from portrait or landscape orientation, with screen lock as an option; download your friend’s high scores (my nickname is simply “bonnie”); play your own music; and those extra, unlockable abilities that I mentioned earlier. However, there’s also a built-in ad for Magnetic Joe (the original), and it’s advertised as free. Not so: the original game is now priced at $0.99, presumably so as to not cannibalize sales.

You know, besides the lackluster graphics, I really don’t have many specific things complain about with Magnetic Joe 2. For me, the gameplay wasn’t overly compelling, and the originality of the magnet mechanic wore thin pretty quickly; your mileage will vary. The false advertising of Magnetic Joe as “free” definitely needs to stop, too. I suppose my final conclusion is that Magnetic Joe 2 is simply an ordinary game: a good one, and a solid offering, but nothing extraordinary. There’s nothing wrong with being simply “good;” you won’t be wasting your money if you do buy. “Joe” falls short of demanding the label “must-have,” but it’s still an entertaining, simple arcade puzzle game that will be much appreciated by fans of the previous version and newcomers alike.

TowerMadness is just one of those games that does a lot of things well, but nothing exceptionally. With the high volume of tower defense games in the App Store, TowerMadness doesn’t really do anything to stand out.

Most tower defense games involve some sort of epic story line that involves saving the world or something, but TowerMadness has you saving sheep from aliens. That’s about as far in depth as the game goes story-wise, and even though the story is very strange, it’s fine, because this is a tower defense game.

As with all tower defense games, you set towers in various places to blast those creeps to bits. TowerMadness, at least the main part, is open-field, so your placement of the towers affects the path the aliens follow. If aliens make it to the end, they abduct a sheep; if they abduct all ten sheep, the game is over. The game has four main maps, each increasingly difficult. The main difference in each map is the number of entry points for the aliens. Completing one map unlocks the next. Earlier maps are very restrictive in what towers you can use, but in total there are nine towers. The towers are not terribly distinctive though, and none are extremely creative, just genre standards. There are 16 different types of enemies, including flying ones, and different ones are resistant to different towers. While there is a “fast-forward” button, this simply sends the next wave in early, and I would like to see something that actually speeds up the action. In addition, difficulty settings for each map are lacking.

One distinctive thing about TowerMadness is the online component. By connecting to the towermadness.com server, you can download free additional maps. There are three maps available right now, one of these is even a fixed-path map, which is nice for those seeking some variety. In addition, there are online leader boards, and you can even replay the games of the leaders to see their solutions.

Controls are simple. Tap on an area, and it brings up a circle with options for three categories of towers. Tapping one brings up a choice of three towers, and tapping one of those builds the tower. Tapping on a built tower brings up the option to upgrade or sell the tower. Each tower has five available upgrades. Pinching the screen zooms in.

The graphics, while they are 3D, are actually pretty mediocre. I appreciate the option to view the game up-close in 3D, it’s really just fluff, and doesn’t add anything to the gameplay. 3D aside, the graphics are very rough and lacking in detail, though visual tower upgrades are a plus. Music is decent, though the sound effects are a little high-pitched for me.

In the App Store nowadays, it is tough to make a tower defense game stand out. TowerMadness does have a lot of towers and enemies, and is pretty fun, but ultimately, it does nothing to rise above the rest.

Gameloft has put out some great games, from the Oregon Trail to Let’s Golf, and they’ve become one of the major players in the App Store. Unfortunately, not all of their titles are so well-done. Rise of Lost Empires has a cliched storyline, annoying controls, lag issues, and “heroes” who repeat the same irritating phrases twenty times in an average battle. This is one to avoid.

And yet, despite that, Rise of Lost Empires manages to look promising. Just don’t be fooled by the eye candy or the exciting-looking screenshots.

When you begin your quest, you’ll play from the “good” perspective, first as a human knight and then later with other heroes, including an elven archer and a sorcerer. This is the Empire campaign, and your enemies are Orcs. After completing a few “chapters” (battles, in other words), the Raider campaign unlocks and you can fight from the Orc’s point of view.

Each chapter has a varying set of goals, and not all of them are revealed in the beginning. Some goals are optional, but most are mandatory; some must be completed before others. Most are pretty straightforward: Keep your hero alive, defend the gate, kill the Orcs, etc. Others are slightly more complex: Earning the trust of the Orc tribes, for example, requires you to complete the demands of the tribes’ leaders.

The game is really focused on heroes, though. Each “hero” is, as their name suggests, a powerhouse with quite some bite to back up their bark. They can cast spells, have extra health and strength, and lead your units into battle. Better yet, you can have multiple heroes in one chapter, and you control them all at once. Each hero’s portrait appears in the top-left corner of the screen—and, yes, the portraits do serve a purpose. Tapping on your hero’s portrait will select either him alone or him and his forces as well (it alternates with each tap). This is a good shortcut, but it’s not always sufficient, especially because it can get confusing whose forces are whose when you have multiple heroes in play at once.

To some extent, your hero and his or her surrounding forces will attack on their own, but you really do have to control and micromanage; your archers, for example, aren’t smart enough to attack from a distance all of the time, and they won’t retreat on their own (or quickly enough when you order them, for that matter). And sometimes, when you’re attempting a two- or three- pronged attack, for example, this is where the pain really begins.

This is where the game’s controls really fall flat on their face. To select a unit, you tap it and then tap on empty space to direct it to move or on an enemy to order an attack. However, I often ended up selecting another unit by accident or ordering a unit to move instead of selecting a different unit. Also, there’s no easy way to move around the screen. Sure, you can tap your heroes’ portraits to snap to their location, but what if I just send a pack of foot soldiers on a side attack? The “pinch” gesture is used to select multiple units at once (talk about awkward, especially in the heat of battle), which rules it out as zooming control. Zooming is instead handled by a tiny scrollbar in the corner and quick movement requires the use of an equally tiny minimap. Yeah, you can use the swipe gesture to pan around the screen (it’s slower), but there’s a significant drawback: the view stubbornly returns to your hero. Oy. The game’s camera is pretty much chained to your hero, which makes it devilishly difficult to plan ahead or move quickly through the area, especially in single-hero chapters; it always snaps back to your slow-moving hero.

What makes combat most miserable, however, is simply lag. I didn’t make it past the third chapter before my characters started lagging, and it’s frustrating to try and select a unit only to realize that the game isn’t responding properly. Note that I’ve been playing this on an iPod Touch 2G, too—the fastest of the iPhone OS family, save for the iPhone 3GS. I’d hate to see this run on an original-gen device.

Now, I’ve detailed a lot of flaws so far, and trust me: they are significant. But Gameloft could have had a hit on their hands, and that’s what’s so maddening. True, the storyline isn’t anything special, but there are some good, classic bones here. Real-time combat is entertaining when it works, and there are some (though not too many) opportunities to actually use strategy. Buildings can be created whenever you “capture a flag” (no lie!) ranging from farms (gold bonus, provide food to create more troops) and barracks (train soldiers) to forges (upgrade your troops) and outposts (defensive structures). The building aspect is handled nicely, even if the interface suffers from the same lag and abruptness as the rest of the game. There’s a decent variety amongst units and heroes add spice to the mix with their unique spells.

But, honestly, Rise of Lost Empires is just a bloated mess. It was fun at first, sure, but then I began to feel like I was stuck in a quagmire of miserable controls and idiotic soldiers. (Yes, the AI is really that bad.) Hardcore fans of the RTS genre might find something to salvage here, but for me, the headache of managing each individual unit was too much to bear. I’d much rather be able to group, say, nine soldiers into one permanent graphic with a little “9″ hovering over its head, but instead Rise of Lost Empires forces you to take care of every little detail. It’s a shame, too, because it looked so pretty and promising, but in this case Gameloft has dropped the ball.

Blog readers may have spotted the application ‘Wunder Radio’ being mentioned in Glenn Head’s A Day In The Life. This was actually the application that I reviewed that worked towards my acceptance into the 148 writer team, but it was put to the bottom of my mailbox and long forgotten. When I spotted Glenn’s post, I found the mail and formatted it ready for an official 148 review. Sit back - because this is a good one.

Wunder Radio is an internet radio application that streams live radio from the internet directly to your iPhone. It can do this through Wi-Fi, 3G and in some cases EDGE - meaning that whenever you’re on the go and have a connection, you can listen to radio that’s playing (quite literally) on the other side of the world.

On the outside, it has a simple yet effective design that takes full use of the generous iPhone screen. It is very similar to the contacts tab within the ‘Phone’ application (see screenshots 1 and 2) - which is perhaps why it is so easy to navigate and find your way around. There’s no need to fiddle around with advanced settings, and if you really want to dig deep it has its own section within the ‘Settings’ application. Opening this will offer you the option to change the theme, MP3 buffer time and default bit rate (see screenshot 3).

The user has the option to browse for radio channels via category (sports / music etc), genre (type of music) and location. Each of these categories has sub-categories to make for easy navigation. Sport is divided into sections such as “NBA”, “NASCAR” and “Major League Baseball” to name a few. Music genre divides all stations into 18 genres, ranging from “Oldies” to “Alternative Rock”. Finally, location is split into continents and main locations, eg. “Africa”, “North America” and “Antarctica” (I never knew that there were stations in the arctic!).

Once you have found your way through to the correct type of radio that you’ve gone through the categories and sub-categories to the radio that you want to listen to, you’ll be offered a generous choice of stations to choose from - each with their own bitrate and symbol stating how it can be streamed (Wi-Fi and 3G for all, EDGE for some) (screenshot 4). When you are in a station, you then have the chance to edit a few more settings if you wish (Buffer Time, Preferred Bit Rate etc - with explanations telling you which option will do which {lower bit rate more reliable, higher bit rate better sound etc}).

I’ve made this sound like a rather long drawn process, but it isn’t at all. As soon as you click on a station it will start to buffer and play, connecting seamlessly and as long as you’re connection is strong enough then, unless the web stream goes down, you’ll stay connected and listening. It can play when the iPhone’s screen is off, too.

One feature I’d like to take note of is the ability to add ‘favourite’ radio stations. This means that at the touch of a button, you’ll have access to all the stations that you have chosen to be a favourite - handy, as it stops you having to go through the categories again. Of course, there is a search option to reduce time wasting also.

But what sets this above other applications of the same category? There are plenty of radio applications out there, some cheaper than this. Well, apart from its seamless integration with the phone, you are not just limited to radio. You have access to scanners (monitor police bands, air traffic control) and other station directories such as the Internet Archive and Icecast Directory. Everything just works - there’s no messing about and no hassle.

You could call it a real ‘Apple’ application. Wunderful.

Note: many carriers, including 02 and AT&T will charge for excessive data usage and in some cases forbid it. Be gentle. Enjoy radio.

If it wasn’t for the near complete lack of replay value, I would say Bed Bugs is one of the best games out in the App Store. Though, it’s lack of replay value doesn’t mean it wasn’t one of the most unique iPhone games I’ve played yet.

I may have compared Bed Bugs to Devil May Cry or Jade Empire, but don’t expect an adventure-fighting game. What the similarity is between the games is the frantic smashing of buttons (or touch screens) in order to kill bad guys and progress to the end of the level. Obviously unlike Devil May Cry or Jade Empire, this game is 2D instead of 3D, you also don’t control your character walking - all of your attention goes to the killing of the different monsters (or protecting of fairies).

What’s unique about Bed Bugs is that as you progress through each level it adds more monsters for you to kill - each monster must be killed differently. Your goal is, first of all, to identify the correct way to kill the monster and then defend your sleepwalking character from attacks by these monsters. The first few monsters can simply be killed by tapping them, they just attack in different ways. I refuse to explain how to kill any of the others because I feel like figuring out how to kill each one is half of the fun. The graphics and sounds of each monster are unique and slightly childish. The monsters look like something a young kid would draw, which kind of adds to the whole nightmare theme.

The game contains 28 levels, 4 of which are bonus (meaning that the level keeps going until your “dream bar” goes down to 0). After you are finished playing these 28 levels there isn’t much incentive to replay them, which is my problem with the replay value. I beat the game in somewhere between an hour or two and had no motive to go back and replay any of the levels. The only reward you get from repeating a level is that you get a gold star in the corner of the level for completing it perfectly.

Problems, Wishes, and Misses
Problems. The only problem I had was with the lack of replay value. Everything else in the game was basically perfect.

Wishes. My suggestion in fixing the replay value problem is to add a survival mode. Where randomly generated monsters constantly attack you until your character takes too many hits - similar to the bonus rounds but the randomly generated monsters part is important. The difficulty of the survival mode should be selectable, the hardest including every monster in the game. Throw in the ability to post my high score in survival mode online and you’ve got yourselves a perfect game.

Misses. I thought the bonus rounds were a miss because the only thing that they do is boost your overall score, something that doesn’t matter much.

Even though the game will only give you a few hours of gameplay, those few hours are well worth the $1.99. Check it out.

If you’re like me and have a lot of conversations with people about movies and TV shows, you NEED Movie Genie. I’m constantly waiting for the long load times of IMDB on my iPhone to check who played in what, what year it came out, etc. IMDB hasn’t come out with an iPhone app yet, nor has it been nice enough to create a mobile site for people who want a little more speed on their phones. Movie Genie is a quick interface with IMDB, has a simple user interface, and a few cool features.

When you open Movie Genie, the app immediately opens the search screen - this is the kind of thing that I applaud developers for, it’s the simple things that help with speed that makes the great apps great. So right on opening the app you type in the movie your searching for, pick it from the list of search results, and start checking out the interface to IMDB. Instead of everything being in one long list, Movie Genie separates the movie details into “Details” and “Cast & Crew”. The “Details” section contains the usual quick stuff: release date, genre, plot, etc. Also certain things are able to be clicked, like Trivia and Goofs, so that you can go to a longer page for each of these features. “Cast & Crew” is obviously where you would find the director, screenwriter, other people important to the film, and the cast.

Not only can you access the movies on IMDB but also the actor/actress pages, also with a simple and speedy interface. For the actor/actress pages, instead of “Details” and “Cast & Crew”, “Filmography” replaces “Cast & Crew”. I love the idea of splitting the pages into two. Having the cast and an actor’s filmography at easy access at the top of the pages just helps to further increase the speed of the two most sought after details of a movie. When I jump on IMDB, the two most common things that I am looking for are who plays someone in a movie or what other movies someone played in.

Other than search, at the bottom are two other features that I think are great ideas: history and favorites. Each movie and actor has a star next the the IMDB logo on their pages. If you click these they add them to your favorites list (they add to the list REALLY fast). That way if there is a certain movie or actor that you’re constantly looking up, you have them on a list for easy access (thinking about speed again, applause). The history feature is self-explanatory, you can check out pages previously viewed - most recent on top.

Problems, Wishes, and Misses

Problems. Not a single bug or problem was found when I used this app.

Wishes. A lot of my wishes are promised in upcoming updates, see the list below. My favorites include trailers for the movies and landscape use. Here’s a small feature suggestion: save favorites to the iPhone so that they load even faster, I’m sure the amount of space this would take wouldn’t be much.

Misses. Everything in the app was fairly useful, nothing was without a point.

If you check out the app on iTunes, you can see that the developer is promising quite a few cool features in the update: display photos related to a title or person, better TV series support, trailers, full awards list, user reviews (Rotten Tomatoes, etc), and landscape use.

If you use IMDB a lot then this app is well worth $1.99. I’m going to start using it even when I’m already browsing the internet on my computer, the app is faster than going to the IMDB website.

The fate of the human race is at stake; alien terrorists are plotting to wipe humanity from the face of the galaxy with a deadly biological agent. You assume the role of Jacob Taylor; a biotic-powered super soldier who must intervene in order to preserve mankind’s right to exist.

As the game begins Jacob is vacationing on the luxury cruiser the Arcturian Jade. Suddenly, an attack is launched on the cruiser and our hero learns of the devious plot. Will Jacob reluctantly join the fight, or hear the call of duty and move to save humankind? Through dialogue choices and the ensuing conversation, we learn some detail of our hero’s backstory and of the impending terrorist attack. To simplify the process of making dialogue choices and at the same time help to avoid fat fingered dialogue faux pas, all dialogue is controlled through a radial menu on the right hand portion of the screen. When making dialogue choices the player will roll which snippet of dialogue they choose into the bottom position and click to confirm it. Each choice has an icon next to it giving the player an idea of the tone of the selection, helping to avoid misinterpretations of what is written on screen - the player usually has the choice of making a “smart alec” response, a good-natured response, an evil response, or an aggressive response. As was the case in the console predecessor to Mass Effect Galaxy, dialogue plays an important role in the game. Together with the dialogue, the cutscenes help to bridge the gap between Mass Effect 1 and the upcoming Mass Effect 2. As you play through, Galaxy will essentially alternate between dialogue, cutscenes, and combat. Each cutscene is done in such a way that it feels as if you are watching the pages of a graphic novel come to life. The main characters in Mass Effect Galaxy are said to hold leading roles in Mass Effect 2 alongside of Commander Shepherd. As a story telling device, the dialogue and cutscenes make Mass Effect Galaxy a win.

Combat in Mass Effect Galaxy is done from a top-down third person shooter vantage point. Using tilt controls, the player will move our hero around on screen while the character remains “auto-locked” on target and will auto-fire as long as he has a free line of sight, leaving the player free to worry about taking cover and using special attacks. The cover mechanic isn’t complex; ample cover is provided by crates and room dividers the player can hide behind. When the opportunity strikes, the player can run out from cover and unleash one of his special attacks, freezing the enemy in place, destroying their shields, or blowing them up with rockets. A number of droppable items are available which can heal Jacob, regenerate his shields, and boost his firepower.

As an iPhone exclusive game, BioWare made the decision to make Mass Effect Galaxy as iPhone-friendly as possible. In order to make the game more appealing to the iPhone user base, they decided to eliminate some of the more “hardcore” RPG elements and focus making the controls as unobtrusive to the screen space as possible. In making the aforementioned changes, some of the “Mass Effect” feeling is lost. Character customization is non-existent in Galaxy; the player is unable to modify anything such as character class, skills, or traits. Taking into account that the game has about 2 hours of playtime, it is difficult to say whether if any customization would truly have time to show its impact or not, though some feeling of customization would make the game appeal even more to Mass Effect’s player base while still appealing to new players. In order for Galaxy to be a viable iPhone game, some dilution had to occur when it came to dialogue as well. Rather than long, highly detailed dialogue trees, conversations had to be stinted in order to fit within the context of the game - this results in a feeling that the dialogue may not truly have a tremendous impact on the game outside of maybe inciting or avoiding a fight here and there. You could almost call Galaxy a departure from the RPG genre in favor of becoming exclusively an action game - ultimately this was a purposeful departure, but one which feels as if it could have been done to less of an extent and still accomplished the same iPhone-friendly effect.

For continuing players of the franchise, Mass Effect Galaxy is a great way to get your fill of story from the Mass Effect universe. Galaxy will help bridge the gap between M.E. 1 and M.E. 2 and give a back story to some of the leading characters of the upcoming game. BioWare has said that like the books, Mass Effect Galaxy wont be absolutely necessary to follow along with Mass Effect 2. For new players to the franchise, Mass Effect Galaxy will be a great preview of the world of Mass Effect, albeit somewhat different than the original game in genre and style it will hopefully attract new players into the franchise. For existing and new users alike, Galaxy, even with its few blemishes, is a great addition to the game library and will provide a few hours of entertainment for the price.

As a short parting note, comments about the game’s performance on different generations of the device would be appreciated. At times, as a 1st Generation iPhone user, I experienced some setbacks with drops in frames per second as well as load times. Sometimes levels would load and action would start while I did not have access to some of my special attacks due to the game still loading. That said, the game at all points was playable, after all, I was able to complete it from start to finish. From talking to a few other people, iPhone 3G users were able to play the game with no reported performance issues, that said, 3GS performance should follow as excellent.

Intro
SmackBOTS is a fast-paced game easy enough to pick up and start playing with just enough details to make it something you may want to learn how to play better. Just like my son, I just want to start hitting things. This is also a good thing.

Gameplay
The game introduces you to a couple of robots gone wild in a secret base. It’s your job to defeat the evil robot. To do this you punch it. You punch by tapping on the right side and left side of the screen. Simple.

Though gameplay is simple I found it to be surprisingly difficult after the second level. I guess this is where the combo moves would come in. These moves are pretty tough to figure out, and I’m a bit handicapped in this area as I’ve never been patient enough to learn secret moves. Those that like learning those things will have a blast.

Going into ‘berserk’ mode allows you to assault your enemy, unleashing a maelstrom of fury. As you progress through the levels you have options of changing your robot’s appearance through selecting different styles and colors. The simple story line which accompanies the story is simple and amusing to follow between the mindless poundings you deliver to your enemies.

Likes
I love games that don’t have buttons. The developer takes advantage of the touch screen and uses this wisely. This makes it a great game for a child because they only have to know how to tap. Even my three-year-old can play this.

Being that this is an entertaining game for kids, this is a plus for parents that need that coveted quiet time now and again. They’re not going to come to you asking you how to play. Though they may ask you to help beat a level.

Dislikes
I don’t have major complaints about the game. I did find it a bit too challenging for a simple punch game once you get past the second level. It’s robots punching… how hard can this be? I eventually discovered a strategy that helped me; lots of right punches. I’m not really sure why this took me so long to figure out.

Being as there are combo secrets to be discovered, it would be great to have the ability to move my robot away from my opponent. I think this would allow the player more room to develop strategy and have some space for learning those combos.

Conclusion
All in all, this is a good game. It’s simplicity and mild sense of amusement make it a great game for those occasional waits we all experience throughout the day. At .99 you’re not going to lose any sleep over buyer’s remorse. At an undisclosed date in the future it will go up to $1.99, so I’d definitely grab it before the price goes up.

Too often, gamers think that only massively complicated story-based games can be considered “great.” Baseball Slugger: Home Run Race 3d is a welcome reminder that a simple but well executed game mechanic can make a game “great,” even if on the surface it’s just a basic arcade game.

As its name would suggest, Baseball Slugger is a home run derby, and it contains three main game modes: classic, arcade, and online matchup. Classic is for those baseball purists; only home runs count, and any other hits, strikes, or foul balls are outs. The goal is to hit as many home run as possible before getting ten outs. There is one difference between classic mode and such traditional affairs as the MLB All-Star Home Run Derby: the pitcher doesn’t just lob melons waiting to be jacked, they actually pitch things such curve balls, change ups, and sliders. Without this the game would be way too easy and this adds a nice challenge. Arcade mode is much more unique. In arcade mode, only strikes and foul balls count as outs. For regular hits, you get a score based on the distance of the hit. For home runs, you get a score based on distance plus a bonus home run score that increases as you rack up more consecutive home runs. There are also score bonuses for hitting a scoreboard or a pole. In addition, poles divide the stands into three zones. Hitting home runs in each of the zones gives you a nice bonus, and you enter into “called shot” mode. You will be told which zone to hit a home run to, and if you manage to aim right, you’ll get a hefty bonus. This continues until you miss. In addition to regular pitches the pitcher throws, they will also throw seven different types of special pitches. Some are extremely hard to hit, and some will give you some type of score boost. As in classic mode, the game ends after ten outs. Both classic and arcade mode have online scoreboards. While both classic and arcade mode are fun, the best part of Baseball Slugger is the online matchup.

Matchup works much like arcade mode, except that at the top of the screen there are two score bars, one for you, and one for your opponent. Hitting home runs and earning bonuses and such fills your bar. Whoever fills their bar first wins. There is also an inset of your opponent hitting at the top right of the screen. There is an extensive ranking system, and you the number of points you gain or lose is based on the difference in rank between you and your opponent. There are four channels to play in, one is a free channel that anyone can play in, and three are exclusive based on rank. The channels have pitchers of different difficulties based on required rank. You have the option of being automatically matched up with the next available opponent or specifically playing someone. The automatic matchup is usually very quick, but in case it isn’t, you have the option of playing in arcade mode while you wait, a nice touch, and when you are matched up, your arcade progress is automatically saved. I do wish however, that there was more of a lobby so that you can select from a list of available opponents, because even with the channels, it is possible to be matched up with someone much worse than you rankings-wise, which means risking a lot of points. Because the opponent inset is “faked” to certain degree, only very small packets of data are sent over the connection, making it possible to play over Wifi, 3g, or even Edge with virtually no lag.

There is also an extensive equipment system. There are many upgrade categories for purchase, such as items that affect your power or control (your hitting radius) like bats and gloves or things that are purely aesthetic like facial hair. These items are all purchased using golden balls. Periodically, in every game mode, you will be pitched golden balls, and if you hit these balls for a home run, you get to keep them. The most golden balls can be earned through online matchup. In addition, there are 50 possible achievements, and completing them will give you anywhere from 10-200 golden balls.

The controls really make the game a blast to play. Before swinging, you are shown a silhouette of where your bat will swing. You can control this silhouette goes using the accelerometer, and you swing by tapping the screen. The accelerometer controls felt nice and well-calibrated, but unfortunately there is no sensitivity option or custom calibration. In addition, oddly enough, sometimes taps do not register, which can be extremely frustrating. However, overall, the controls work extremely well, and they make the game easy to learn but hard to master.

The 3d graphics are nice for the most part, and about comparable to those on the Wii, although the players are a little blocky. There are also a variety of stadiums, although they are basically the same thing with different color schemes. Some of the home run animations, triggered when you make an especially solid hit, are very cool. There are a few graphical glitches however, such as balls hitting the wall but still counting as home runs. The classic ballpark music is good, and definitely lends itself to the arcade nature of the game. In addition, Baseball Sluggers allows you to access your music from directly in the game and create a custom playlist.

You don’t have to be a baseball fan to appreciate Baseball Slugger, because it really has very little to do with real baseball. It is, simply, an extremely fun game with a deceptive amount of depth and an exceptional online component. If you don’t mind a game that lacks a large amount of intricacy, Baseball Slugger is a must-buy.

How many times have you forgotten to send an attachment to someone, start a download queue or sign out of your computer whenever you’ve left the house or office? If you’ve answered “at least once” to one of those, great. If you haven’t, think of something - anything - that you’ve forgotten to do that you can only do from your mac or PC. It’s a real nuisance. And it almost always ends up sticking to the top of your mind. It’s here that you’ll remember why you bought LogMeIn Ignition for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

The idea of Ignition is simple - connect remotely to your mac or PC and control it just like you would if you were in front of it. And the best thing about Ignition is - it works just the way it should do. Seamlessly. Simply.

LogMeIn was formed in 2003 and is now a global giant for remote computing. LMI claim that “over 70 million devices [are] connected worldwide” - an impressive number by any means. Consumer or business, it’s available for everyone to use at every time of the day. All that you need to do to ensure access to a computer is make sure that you have the (free) software installed on it, and the computer is running. Once it is attached to your LMI account (also free - there is a premium version too) you’re ready to go.

Upon downloading LogMeIn Ignition, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was amazed at the technological advancement of our times (being able to remotely control a computer from a phone sounds like something that only James Bond could ever pull off), but on the other I was concerned that the iPhone might just not be powerful enough - even though it is one of the most powerful mobile devices out there to the consumer market at an affordable price.

Once logged in to my account, my MacBook showed up and I was ready to connect. More security checks later (this time - the computer’s credentials), and I was brought to a “Hints” screen - telling me exactly how to control the computer from the iPhone. This was a nice touch - and will certainly put to rest most questions. Once passed the hints screen, there was my MacBook - updating in live time - ready for me to control. “Hang on,” you might be thinking, “how do you remotely control a computer if your thumb is bigger than the mouse?” It is here where you see how the LMI developers thought outside the box. The mouse is static in the centre of the screen. By moving your thumb, your screen moves but your mouse stays still - meaning that you can always see where your mouse is pointing. At first this seemed a bit confusing, but the more its used the more I realize that this is a superior alternative to the standard “move finger to move mouse” method (which - by the way - there is an option to turn on). To click you tap, to double click you double tap. Simple. To zoom in and out - you pinch just like you do in every other application.

You also have a keyboard at your fingertips, so that you can type and execute commands remotely. Everything from F keys to arrow keys - the integration is well-thought and impressively built. Among other features, you can change which monitor you are viewing if you have more than one; you can blank the screen; lock the computer’s keyboard; and even change the colour quality for faster loading. Some advanced features, including the ability to change the screen resolution, add to the application’s appeal.

However, the application is not flawless. Ignition has tried to implement a new keyboard interface which, in its own right is fine, but switching between two types of keyboard interfaces adds confusion. For instance, whenever switching to “.?123″ mode - Apple’s keyboard allows you to tap one digit and then you are reverted back to ABC. Ignition keeps you on the 123 mode. On top of this, the shift key has gone all caps lock - you have to manually turn it off. Whilst these features may sound smarter than Apple’s integration, a standardized keyboard on the iPhone is something most will prefer.

The main drawback of this application is its price. At $29.99 (£18.99), it weighs in at one of the most expensive applications to buy for your device. Can it be justified? That’s down to each and every user of it. To those who have used the desktop service and have become LogMeIn users, it may well be an app that you can afford not to buy. To those who haven’t - I’d recommend that you check out the desktop service (www.logmein.com) before the purchase and get a feel for LogMeIn as a whole.

What Ignition has set out to do was fill the gap between accessing computers. You can do it between any desktop computer - and now from your mobile device. They’ve done it, and have made it with one idea in mind: simplicity. Their motto “Simply Connected” holds true to this application. Which is exactly what it should do.

There are a large quantity of “tap-to-shoot” games on the App Store, and they all have something in common: they’re mindless, dull affairs. But Galactic Gunner does something extraordinary; it’s challenging, story-based, and most of all, fun.

The game places you in the role of a futuristic gunner for the human forces. After a few training exercises, you are forced into the middle of an epic war between the humans and an alien race known as the Trepidoids. Your captain will do all the steering, so your only role is to take out enemy fighters, turrets, and shields. Luckily, you are rather good at aiming, so whenever you touch the screen your lasers fire in that precise place. Unfortunately for you, it’s not that easy. Your captain will have perform numerous flying stunts to avoid the Trepidoids, so your view is constantly changing. In addition, your wingman (which are supposedly there to help you but more often simply get in the way) constantly block your view and you have to avoid gunning them down. There are also targets that require more than one hit, making fast fingers a must.

Unfortunately, Galactic Gunner only contains six levels, the first two of which are training exercises (but still fun nonetheless). However, these levels are all fairly long. Failing a level (taking too much damage) is fairly hard to do, but to unlock the next level, you need to achieve a certain score, which is based on both targets destroyed and accuracy (making screen mashing impossible). For the later levels, the score benchmarks are fairly high, so you will probably have to play through most levels more than once. By achieving a certain score on the last level, you can unlock survival mode. However, survival mode simply doesn’t hold the magic of the other levels, and I would rather replay those instead. There are also fifteen medals or ranks to achieve that are based on your lifetime score. An online scoreboard would be a welcome addition and would perhaps add more replayability, but it i by no means a glaring omission.

Galactic Gunner truly shines in the graphics and sounds department. Spectacularly cinematic levels are truly immersive, and one short cut scene at the end of the last level was so intense that I found myself on the edge of my seat. The background music perfectly suits the game, and sound effects are nice. The game is rather dependent on voice acting, and Galactic Gunner actually delivers in this regard. The voice acting proves that Galactic Gunner doesn’t take itself too seriously and adds a welcome element of humor to the game. The commander, who does most of the talking, has an Australian accent and uses Australian slang, which I found pretty funny. The Trepidoids have their share of funny moments as well. I actually laughed out loud when they said in a robotic voice:”Is that all you’ve got” and “Trepidoids are the greatest.”

While it lasts, Galactic Gunner is a supremely enjoyable game. It is short at only six levels, but with its cinematic breathtaking action, Galactic Gunner is a great buy at only $.99.

Finally, the day has arrived! Lexulous is in the App Store. Lexulous is an online reincarnation of Scrabble playable on both a dedicated site and through Facebook; it was originally called “Scrabulous,” but lawyers took issue with that and a name-change was mandated. Surprisingly, the Lexulous Facebook app trumps the official Scrabble app in terms of both finesse and popularity, with over 500,000 daily users and, in my opinion at least, a far better interface than the official Facebook version of Scrabble. Until recently, however, you couldn’t take your Lexulous games with you on the go, which is the iPhone Scrabble app’s killer feature. [Read my review of EA's Scrabble app here.]

As a longtime Lexulous fan, I was immensely excited to see its appearance in the App Store. Unfortunately, for me, the initial release back in May was a huge letdown, lacking basic features like friend-to-friend challenges. Is it better now? Definitely. Is it up to par with the official Scrabble app? Unfortunately, the answer for the moment is still “no,” but it’s still a good app in its own right, especially if you’re tied to the online version of Lexulous. As with the Scrabble app, if you manage multiple games on Lexulous, you’ll have access to all of them at the touch of a finger thanks to Facebook Connect.

Before I continue, here’s a quick overview of how the app works. For newcomers, it’s important to note that Lexulous is a different game than Scrabble, despite the obvious resemblance. You play with hands of 8 tiles, bingoes can be made with either 7 or 8 tiles, it’s a 15×15 grid, and bonus word squares are placed in different spots. Despite that, it’s largely the same Scrabble game that everyone knows and loves.

When you first start, you’ll have to log in with Facebook Connect; if you don’t have an account, you can create one in-app. From there, you can view your current games; challenge a friend; join a game; or host a table of your own. And, of course, you can play Scrabble…er, Lexulous. Sorry.

The in-game screen is much has you would expect. You can see your hand; place tiles; see the current score; and so on. Double-tapping zooms in on the board (it automatically switches to this zoomed view when you try to place a tile). There are buttons to swap your tiles, play the word you’ve set down, and to pass your turn located beneath your hand. There are also buttons for refreshing, shuffling your tiles, and for recalling all of your tiles on the board. By tapping the “Next” button in the top-right corner, you can jump to your next active game. (If you have no turns pending, you’ll go back to the main “My Games” screen.)

Some of the other features are harder to find. For example, to access the player-to-player chat, you have to tap on the bar with your names. Also, there’s no move list. And to access the dictionary, you have to go to a separate screen, unlike the official Scrabble app, which has a button on the main game screen. The two-letter word list requires you to go to a separate screen, and then click on the list.

Lexulous’ greatest strength is, quite simply, that it’s a fun game. After all, Scrabble is the most celebrated of word games; Lexulous just adds a few extra dimensions with its 8-tile hands and slightly varied rules, and it’s still as great a game as ever. Also, Lexulous has one definite benefit over Scrabble: its user pool. There are far more Lexulous users than Scrabble users, it seems, so it’s easier to start a game. You can also start international games, if you happen to be multilingual!

All’s not perfect, though. I love Lexulous online because it’s better than all of the other Scrabble alternatives, and it has a degree of polish and ease of use that just makes me a dedicated fan. However…

Problems.
The first time I opened the Lexulous app after the recent update, I ran into a few problems immediately. I was trying, you see, to play the word “JOE.” (Yes, “JOE” is a valid word.) “JOE” also involved the words “ER” and “OE,” both of which are valid. And then I hit “Play,” and received the bizarre message: “One or more of your words is invalid. Please try again.”

Talk about frustrating! Fortunately, restarting the app allowed me to place the word. That’s the only actual problem I’ve had, thank goodness! Lexulous is apparently crash-free and runs perfectly fine with minimal (if any) lag.

Annoyances.
Sadly, Lexulous doesn’t fair so well when it comes to the little things. There’s no animation, for example, when you transition from zoomed-out to zoomed-in; the result is that it feels choppy and disjointed, especially for an iPhone app where appearances are paramount. I hate having the dictionary a page away, where I can’t see my tiles or the board, and the same goes for the two-letter word list. Accessing the chat is completely unintuitive. Perhaps most baffling is the omission of a moves list for your current game. Its complete absence is nothing short of shameful. And one awesome feature online is the ability to write yourself “notes” so that you can remember words for later. I also miss the progress graph.

It should be noted that Lexulous was originally released without a dictionary, the ability to send challenges to your friends, and so on. The new update addresses a lot of previous problems and makes it decently functional, but the implementation feels simply unfriendly to power users like myself, and I can’t help but feel that the team initially released an unfinished product and is fixing it as they go. I also miss things like Scrabble’s unique “Teacher” feature, which reveals the highest-point word to you after your turn was over.

Lexulous online distinguishes itself because of its clean, accessible interface that makes intense play sessions easy and quick. The iPhone app, however, lacks that ephemeral quality that I keep calling “polish.”

Decision Time
So, is Lexulous a worthwhile buy? For the moment, at least, I’m torn. It’s a mediocre implementation of an amazing online version, while the official Scrabble app is a great game crippled by a mediocre online interface. For many Scrabble lovers, the decision will boil down to Lexulous versus Scrabble; from the days of Scrabulous, such has been the battle.

And, unfortunately, this is where Scrabble wins. You see, Scrabble has “Pass ‘n’ Play” (one iPhone, multiplayer), ordinary multiplayer (multiple iPhones, local), Facebook Connect multiplayer, Solitaire mode (you-vs-nobody), and a Computer VS mode with three difficulty levels. Lexulous, sadly, only has Facebook Connect. Why can’t we at least have LEX the robot, the AI which allows for single-player games on the online side of things?

I am still a firm fan of Lexulous, and if you’re a heavy user of the online version, investing in the app is probably the way to go. Diehard Scrabble fans will probably want both. But if Lexulous wants to truly compete with EA’s giant as the only Scrabble app you’ll need, they’re going to need to pour a lot more effort into the mobile version. It feels incomplete as-is, and I really don’t see why the team can’t fix basic interface annoyances. Lexulous has the potential to be a Scrabble-killer; it’s already proven that online. I’m just hoping that RJ Softwares decides to continue with their updates.

As of today, though, Lexulous is also half the price of Scrabble. (It’s on sale for $1.99.) At that price, any user of Lexulous online can afford to give this one a go. Really, it allows you to play the game that we all know and love—and while Lexulous-for-the-iPhone is far from perfect, it still manages to accomplish that basic goal.

Westbang, by Rake in Grass was, well, a bit boring for my taste. The game is basically like a day in the life of Wyatt Earp, but not nearly as cool. Westbang will really only appeal to you if you have fantasies of living in 1860’s Texas and love playing Wac-A-Mole, because that’s what this game is.

A normal game goes like this….you are in front of 3 doors, and you shoot the bandits and not the customers. BAM that’s the game. No really that’s it. It’s really as simple as it sounds. Yes, there some showdowns with some big bandits (no they are not boss battles), but otherwise it’s Wac a Mole in Texas.

There isn’t much more to say about the in-game play Westbang. The graphics are all 2D cell shaded western, the drawings are not bad, nor is the music and sound. The time based attack (i.e. don’t shoot one of the bandits until he draws on you) is interesting, but nothing spectacular. The game has 3 “modes” but they are really three levels of difficulty. There is money in the game, but there is no real way to use it. Apparently one can buy lives, but I have yet to find a “store” to buy more lives.

Here’s my major gripe about the gameplay… there is no save or continue in anything but the beginner’s mode. So if you die, that’s it. It becomes a real chore just to get back to a certain level, and considering the fact that the scenery doesn’t change too often, the game becomes rather stale. There is really only so much Wac-a-mole a guy can stand before he goes crazy.

Controls, well it’s a tap game. If the tapping doesn’t work, it might be your iPhone.

The one saving grace of the game, in my opinion, has to be the narrated cutscenes. Stylistically, these cutscenes are unmatched by just about any other game out there. Their mix of great sound, nice, cell-shaded graphics, and a slight bit of comedy make for cutscene gold. Because of the cutscenes, I really wanted to love Westbang, but the repetition of playing western wac-a-mole just made me die inside.

Overall, I would not suggest buying this game unless you REALLY enjoy the game wac-a-mole. Good news for those of you on the fence, there’s a lite version available.