Alex Reviews Apps

Review: GemsXXL2

2012-11-13T16:08:00.001-08:00

This title screen is far more exciting than the actual game.

Match three or more jewels to score some points. Hm... I think I've played a game like this before.

Graphics:
Pretty good. The gems look appropriately gem-like, and the backgrounds and interface are all pretty good. I especially like the lightning bolt effect when you complete a match.

Sound:
A few effects and a single musical sting. The fidelity is fine, but the light tinkles you get when you match a set don't mix well with the sharp interface noises. It's best to play with the sound off, which, thankfully, it gives you the option to do.

Gameplay:
It's Bejewelled, but with a couple twists. Every time you match a set of three jewels, a gem appears on the board, and then you can match sets of three or more gems. The object of each level is to remove a certain number of gems in progressively fewer and fewer moves.

Match the jewels? Where have I seen that before?

If you remove more than 10 gems/jewels from the board with a single move, you'll be given a 10x gems, and one of 35 collectible gems for your trophy case. They don't do anything, though, so there's no reason to collect them.

What I liked:
-Tries to add a twist to the classic match-3 formula.
-A couple of the visual effects are pretty good.

I like how the edges turn red when you're running out of moves.

What I hated:
-Lets you know that Jesus is Love. I'm sure all the non-Christians out there are tired of hearing that.
-Doesn't cycle the ads enough. I'm fine with looking at ads if that's how you pay the bills, but you've gotta mix it up a little bit.
-Only lets you restart on a higher level if you reached that level on your previous play through. So, if you want some gems from level one, you'd better collect them after you get all the ones you want from level 26.
-When selling gems in the gem market, you have to tap the gem, wait for the screen to switch, tap 'Sell', wait for the screen to switch again, tap 'Yes, I'm sure', then wait for the screen to switch one more time. It takes way too long, especially if you're selling more than one.
-Only one game mode. At this point, we've been matching three things for over than a decade, so you've gotta give us more.
-Some graphical glitches.

I have no idea what's going on here.

Final Verdict:
It's a competent gem-matching game with a minor twist, but it has some odd design choices, and only one game mode, so there's no real reason to download it; you've played this game before.

GemsXXL2 is ad-supported and available for free from Lunagames on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 2.0

Review: Emily and the Magic Maze

2012-11-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

Emily is out Trick-or-Treating when she wanders across a haunted house. A magical black cat inside mistakes her for a real witch and turns her costume broom into a real flying witch's broom. Now she has to escape from the house before the evil witch who lives there catches her.

Graphics:
Excellent. The characters are well drawn, and although it's a tile-based game, there's enough variety in the tiles that it's not too noticeable.

All the animated characters move fluidly, and their idle animations loop seamlessly.

The menus are well drawn, but the interface elements don't give a lot of feedback, unfortunately. They seem to respond to input too quickly and the game jumps to the next screen before the interface animation has time to complete. But, that's a minor quibble.

That's one of the prettier interfaces I've seen recently.

Sound:
The effects work well, and the music is both appropriately spooky and bouncy.

Both the music and effects can be disabled at any time, and the audio levels are very good, which is something that a lot of developers seem to overlook. I can't count the number of times I've nearly had my ears blown out by an overly loud effect.

Gameplay:
The object of each level is to fly Emily around a room, pick up a key and exit through the door. It's relatively straightforward, except, since she's only just learning to fly, Emily can't stop herself and will fly forward in a direction until she hits an obstacle. Therein lies the puzzle.

Now you're thinking with portals.

Things start off simply enough, but soon there are multiple enemies and obstacle types, and picking up all the optional treasure (candy, naturally) before reaching the exit can get a bit tricky. You'll breeze right through the first two levels, but once you hit about level 15, even veteran puzzle gamers will find at least some small challenge.

There are five achievements to earn, but you'll grab most of them without even trying.

I got this one without even doing anything.

What I liked:
-Brief interludes between the levels add a little levity and explain the game mechanics. The English isn't perfect, but it's passable.
-Puzzles get more complex as the game progresses.
-Sounds work well and fit in with the game's aesthetic.

Before levels, the cat gives you advice. Always take advice from animals. They know what's up.

What I hated:
-One terrible bug.
-There aren't more levels available. This is the kind of thing I could play for a while.

Final Verdict:
If not for one, simple but important bug, this would have been my first 5-star review. Unfortunately, the game failed to save my progress when I quit. I'd only put about half an hour into it, and I could probably complete the whole thing in a single sitting, but that's still unforgivable. It doesn't occur in all situations, but I was able to reproduce it.

Emily and the Magic Maze is available for free from Lilium on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0.1

Review: Combinations

2012-10-30T18:14:00.001-07:00

Combinations is the one of the latest group of Android apps to be spammed onto App World by Handster Inc. In general, everything Handster puts out is either garbage or broken. However, while it's not great by any means, Combinations is at least functional and somewhat novel.

Graphics:
Nothing terribly impressive. Mainly simple geometric shapes. The background is suitably understated.

The rockets don't seem to line up quite right.

Sound:
Two sound effects and two music clips from what I could tell. The music is fine, if a bit short, but the effects are a bit loud and kinda jarring.

There's a button to turn off the effects and music, but it doesn't seem to work quite properly.

Gameplay:
You're start with a triangle that's subdivided into 16 smaller triangles. Along each side are four images, and each of the smaller triangles corresponds to an intersection point. When the level starts you'll be shown an image that's made up of three of the smaller images, one from each side of the large triangle. Double-tap the corresponding intersection point and you'll get some points and a little extra time on the clock. When time runs out, it's game over.

Can you beat my high score? Probably.

What I liked:
-A game type I haven't seen before. That's pretty rare.
-Integration with a number of services including Scoreloop. I'm not big on it, but it's nice that it's there.
-Rewards success, and punishes failure, but not too much.
-Replayability. If you're the kind of person who constantly wants to be your high score, this could be for you.
-Decent amount of variety in the image types. I saw clowns, rocket ships, cars, and about ten other things.

The are the least creepy clowns I've seen in a while.

What I hated:
-Sound effects are pretty bad.
-Music loops are way too short and aren't seamless.
-Bugs.
-Seems a little slow to respond to taps sometimes.

Final Verdict:
It's okay, not great. I'm unlikely to play it again, but it's designed in a way where you always think you can do a little bit better the next time, so someone else might get some decent use out of it. They'll probably want to turn the sound off, though.

Combinations is ad-supported and available for free from Balofo games on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.2

Review: Fantasy Game HD Free

2012-10-25T19:17:00.001-07:00

Fantasy Game HD Free is the latest piece of Android garbage spam to be crapped out on App World.

Graphics:
Drawings of anime characters. They're good, but I'm fairly certain they're all stolen.

Better get this one fast before the copyright holders find it.

Sound:
One horrible sound effect. There's an option to turn music on and off, but it only affected the sound effect.

Gameplay:
A large picture of an anime character (girls mostly, but not really scantily clad or anything like that) is covered by a bunch of smaller pictures of anime girls... and some guys, I think, but it's really hard to tell. Tap a pair of matching pictures and they'll disappear. When all the small pictures are gone, you win. If time runs out, you lose.

I won! But then the game locked up.

The one minor element that makes gameplay sort of difficult is that the pictures you tap must be able to connect via some kind of path. I was never able to figure out exactly what the pathfinding rules are, but if a picture is totally blocked off, you won't be able to make a match.

What I liked:
-The gameplay has a little bit of strategy.
-The instructions are in bad English, which I find delightful.

"If the players will reach 2 pikachu eat it." Makes sense to me.

What I hated:
-The sound is bad.
-The UI buttons are too small to be of use.
-Plenty of bugs.
-Barely a game.

There's a button in the top right. Good luck getting it to work regularly.

Final Verdict:
When the Playbook finally got the ability to run Android apps, I was hopeful that it would bring a flood of awesome apps to App World. Instead, we got crap like Fantasy Game HD Free.

Fantasy Game HD Free is ad-supported and available for free from Truong531.developer Inc on Blackberry App World
Reviewed version 4.0

Review: Underwater Invasion

2012-10-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Underwater Invasion is barely a game.

Graphics:
Not bad. They're done in a cartoony style that works well. The interface buttons fit into the aesthetic quite nicely, too.

There are some minor graphical hiccups on the menu screens, but nothing too bad.

The graphics are actually pretty good.

Sound:
The music is light and bouncy. When you finish a level, you get a nice, happy melody.

The one sound effect is crap.

Gameplay:
Terrible. There are three creatures floating in the sea, you earn points by tapping on them. After about 30 seconds, a timer runs out, and the level is over. At least I think that's how it works, there are no actual instructions explaining how to play.

This is as close as the game gets to instructions. Notice that it doesn't tell you how to play.

There are three levels. The first two are exactly the same except they feature different sea creatures. The third is a boss level, but I couldn't get to it because you need to reach specific high scores in the first two levels to unlock it, and after my first run through, the game wouldn't update my scores.

What I liked:
-Cartoony characters are cute.

The first two levels look different, but feature exactly the same kind of non-gameplay.

What I hated:
-Gameplay is way too simple.
-Bugs prevent updating your high score, so you'd better win the first time through.
-No music while you're actually playing a level.
-Some frame rate hiccups. Which is weird, because there is not a lot going on.

Despite my high scores, I was unable to progress, due to bugs.

Final Verdict:
It's technically Underwater Invasion Beta, but with gameplay this bad, I can't imagine the full version would be any fun.

Underwater Invasion is available for free from Gordon College CCS on Blackberry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Slyon Ball

2012-10-18T18:40:00.001-07:00

Slyon Ball is an isometric 3D block-breaking game in the vein of Arkanoid. It's also a pay-to-win game, but it's relatively simple, and not very good, so you're unlikely to buy anything.

Graphics:
There are six or so 3D-rendered animal characters, and they actually look pretty good. They're suitably smooth, and their animations are fluid. You can toggle between high quality/low quality/no shadows, which looks about how you'd expect. High quality has anti-aliasing, and low quality is blocky. I didn't notice any difference in gameplay speed, but it's possible that if you're running multiple apps at once, the shadows could cause slowdown.

The gameplay backgrounds are pre-rendered, and look terrible for the most part. Well, I'm assuming they're pre-rendered. There's no reason for them not to be, but if they're not, then at least that would explain why they're so sparse and unattractive.

Who thought that hideous grass was a good idea?

The blocks you need to break look like garbage, too.

The fonts on the buttons and so forth look okay, but for some reason they're not centred vertically. It just looks sloppy.

More care should have been taken with font placement.

Sound:
The effects are decent. Blocks explode with a suitable boom, and the animal noises are cute.

The music, on the other hand, is junk. It's grating, and not at all appropriate to the level design. It seems like they more or less picked some songs at random.

The music and sound effects can both be turned off individually.

Gameplay:
If you've played any block-breaking game, then you've played Slyon Ball. There's almost nothing unique about it. Slyon the lion kicks the ball, it breaks blocks and bounces back. Some blocks take more than one hit, some blocks are indestructible, and some blocks have power-ups. Only one of which is actually useful.

Multi-ball is the only useful power-up.

You move back and forth by tapping to the sides. For some reason, they decided that Slyon should move more slowly, the closer he is to where you tap, so you just have to tap as far away as possible and let go when he gets where you want.

The only thing that's sort of unique is the ability to call upon a pal to break some blocks for you. There are four different pals, but as far as I can tell, they all do exactly the same thing. They run on the screen and randomly break one block, or possibly a stack of blocks if you've upgraded your pal in the shop. You see, some blocks will give you coins, which you can use to unlock more pals, whistles which allow you to call on your pals, and upgrades for your pals. You can buy coins for real money in various amounts ranging from 120 for 99 cents to 3000 for $19.99. It's really not necessary, though. The game's simple enough that you'll barely need your pals.

There are four 'pals' but they all do the same thing.

Oh, and there's a monkey that will occasionally run out and toss an additional block for you to break. It's mostly fairly benign, but on one level I found that it just kept stacking them in the same spot. A spot I found quite difficult to hit, so eventually it built a tower that wasn't entirely visible on the screen. I restarted the level.

What I liked:
-Lots of levels. I think there are 6 groups of 15, for a total of 90.
-3D characters are cute.
-Multiple ball styles. They all do the same thing, but at least you can switch it up a bit.

Ten balls. They all do the same thing.

What I hated:
-The monkey. Oh, how I hated the monkey.
-No pause button. It'll pause if you change focus or minimize it, but it would still be nice to have a discrete button.
-The font is fine, but anything with words on it looks weird.
-If you have exactly the number of coins needed to make a purchase in the store, it won't go through.

No matter how many times I tapped, I couldn't buy those 100 whistles.

-Because it's in isometric 3D, even if the ball is bouncing straight backwards, it moves like it's on an angle. The whole movement effect is pretty lousy in general.
-Slyon's hit radius is such that he can kick the ball multiple times before it starts heading back up the screen.
-The game isn't multi-touch, but your hands are, and if you hit with more than one finger, it can lose track of things. Several times I wound up running to the left even though I was tapping on the right.
-The ball's hit box isn't always set right, so it won't actually reach the sides of the play area, and it'll bounce off nothing.
-On the first group of levels, as the ball moves back the shadow moves away, so it looks like it's flying or something.

Check out the top right corner of the play area.

-Sometimes the ball will clip through blocks.
-The pals come in and break blocks. Sometimes they'll break otherwise unbreakable blocks that you don't need to destroy. Sometimes they'll glitch and won't break anything.
-Scrolling the level select screen is harder than it should be. You have to drag it a fair distance before it'll cycle to the next level.
-The music is terrible.
-One power-up makes the ball move slightly faster (I think) and another makes it larger, but doesn't appear to have any gameplay effects. Both last for around five seconds, and are essentially useless.
-Occasional graphic hiccups.

Note the top block in the centre is hovering. It's not supposed to do that.

Final Verdict:
Slyon Ball has cute characters, but overall it's a poorly-executed mess. There are just too many bugs and glitches, and too much else wrong with it for me to recommend even downloading it for free.

Slyon Ball is available for free with in-app purchases from Slyon Studios LLC on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.1

Review: Jam!

2012-10-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

It looks like strawberry, rather than blackberry.

Jam! is the latest in the line of 'keep the thing from hitting the ground' games. You know it's an exciting addition because it has an exclamation point at the end.
Graphics:
Fairly minimal, but well-drawn and appropriate to the genre. The designs it uses for the glass and wood blocks are pretty much standard at this point.

The lone background fits in fairly well with the whole falling jam jar aesthetic, and the colour scheme is very light and grandmotherly. I think the best word to describe it is 'pleasant'. It's a pleasant game to look at.

Even the instructions are pleasant.

Sound:
Again, fairly minimal. The effects consist of a button click and the sound of breaking glass. Both are understated and calm. Seriously, it's the calmest glass break you'll ever hear. The music is a single track on an infinite loop. It's appropriately light and jovial, and I didn't get tired of it in the time it took me to finish the game. However, it is a tad loud.

Both the music and sound effects can be turned off independently, which is always a plus.

Gameplay:
You've probably played similar games before. A thing (in this case a jam jar, but I've also seen balls, boxes, and a piece of cheese) is sitting on a tower of blocks. Some of those blocks can be destroyed with a tap. The object of each level is to destroy all the destructible blocks and keep the jam jar off the ground. The jar is oblong rather than perfectly symmetrical, but it doesn't seem to affect its movement much.

Sometimes the levels aren't static when you begin, so reproducing your exact steps from a previous attempt can be tricky. Overall, there doesn't seem to be as much of a puzzle element to Jam! as there is to other games of this type. It seems to be less about skill and brain power, and more about luck.

There might be a way to think your way through this, but I couldn't do it.

What I liked:
-Simple gameplay.
-Blocks seem to respond relatively well to taps.

I finished all 16 levels. Go me!

What I hated:
-Short. More levels are coming soon, though.
-Only one music track. It was nice, but I would've liked a bit more variety.
-A couple bugs.

The glass block on the left wouldn't respond to taps, but it didn't stop me from completing the level.

Final Verdict:
Jam! isn't particularly innovative, but it's a fine example of its genre. It's a bit on the short side (I finished all 16 levels in about 20 minutes), and like most games of this type it relies a bit too much on luck. But, if you enjoy this sort of game, and it comes out with a 50-level upgrade, I can't see why you wouldn't drop a dollar on it.

Jam! is available for free (with paid upgrades coming soon!) from Oleksii Kulagin on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Gold Nuggets

2012-10-11T19:12:00.005-07:00

Gold Nuggets is a claw game. If you love those arcade games where you try to pick up prizes with a slow, inaccurate claw, then you'll find a lot to like about it.

Graphics:
Very well done. The gold glistens, the coal is black, but not too black, and the miner is appropriately dwarf-like. Clearly, a good amount of talent went into creating the art for this game.

Sound:
None.

Nugget placement seems random, and can result in unbeatable levels.

Gameplay:
Below your mine cart, a claw swings in an arc. Tap the screen and it flies out to try to grab something. If you get some gold, you'll earn points and a few extra seconds on the clock. If you get coal, you lose time. Clear out all the gold and you'll move on. When the timer runs out, it's game over.

The claw's really slow, and the hit detection is kinda fuzzy, so you'll miss a few things you should get and get a few things you should've missed. And it will take forever. This game would reward a slow and methodical player if the timer weren't so short. As it is, there's entirely too much luck involved, to the point that some levels are literally impossible.

What I liked:
-The graphics are very nice.

What I hated:
-The gameplay is way too simplistic.
-No sound.
-In some levels, the coal and gold are stacked on top of each other, so it can be literally impossible to win.
-It has the same jarring cut to black when you finish a level that's in other games from DS Effects.
-The claw moves way too slowly.

Final Verdict:
It's all the excitement of waiting for a claw game to slowly deliver your prize, but with none of the payoff.

The artist is doing a great job on these, but they're barely games.

Gold Nuggets is available for free from DS Effects on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 3.0

Review: Cake Shop

2012-10-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Cake Shop is a game where you can experience all the fun and excitement of being a cashier at a cake shop. It's fun and exciting.

Graphics:
Cute and cartoony. Everything's appropriately bright and happy for a sweet shop. The characters could use a few more frames for their animations, though.

Sound:
None.

That's a lot of sugar for one person. No wonder diabetes is so rampant these days.

Gameplay:
Ridiculously simple. A patron will walk in and request some items. Tap the items in the proper order and they'll leave happy. Take too long, or screw up too much and it's game over.

Unless the time limit shortens considerably later in the game, there's absolutely no challenge. You can't really see the buttons and the prompts at the same time, but it makes things more annoying than difficult.

What I liked:
-I'm a fan of the graphical style.
-You can upload your score to an online leaderboard if that's your thing.

What I hated:
-Only difficulty comes from the fact that my hands are large and opaque.
-There's no warning when you complete a level. The screen just goes black for a few seconds.
-No sound.

Final Verdict:
It looks good and it succeeds at what it's trying to do, but what Cake Shop's trying to do is barely a game, and isn't much fun at all.

Cake Shop is available for free from DS Effects on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 5.0

Review: BubbleTrouble

2012-10-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

BubbleTrouble is yet another dodge the circles game. It's free, and that's the best thing I can say about it.

Graphics:
Coloured circles of various sizes. You play as the blue circle while trying to dodge the red circles. When you move, your circle leaves a little trail, so at least that's something.

Sound:
None.

This is about as exciting as it gets.

Gameplay:
Dodge the falling red circles by tapping or dragging. Every now and then a tiny green circle will fall. If you collect it, you'll gain a shield that lets you destroy the red circles. They appear far too infrequently and are generally way too far away for you to get to them in time.

What I liked:
-The title/instruction screen looks okay.
-You can tap or drag to move.

What I hated:
-Dodging things is hard when you can't see your circle underneath your finger.
-Shield power-ups are way too hard to get.

Final Verdict:
It's basically a port of a bad Flash game from the mid-1990s. Don't bother.

BubbleTrouble is available for free from WilliamSnell on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Imperial Hockey

2012-10-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Imperial Hockey is more of a tech demo than a game.

Created with a cross-platform development tool called CatHide, Imperial Hockey is less a game and more a demo of just exactly what CatHide can do. Which is a shame, because apparently what it can do, it doesn't do well.

This is what you'll see the first time you start a game.

Graphics:
Not good. Two paddles, a puck, and a background, all of which look like they took a grand total of 20 minutes to whip up.

There's something weird about the text. I'm not sure if it's the font selection, but a lot of letters appear to have been cropped by a pixel so part of the outline is missing. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and say it was intentional, but I still don't like it.

Sound:
Four or five hockey buzzer and paddle click type sounds. They're appropriate to the game, and the fidelity is pretty good, which makes the sound the best part of Imperial Hockey.

Gameplay:
It's pong, only with worse controls and fewer options. You control your paddle by tapping it and dragging, but its hitbox is too small, so you're bound to miss it every now and then when you let it go.

There's only one version of the game, which appears to be the standard tennis version, even though it's played on a hockey rink. You can set your opponent to multiple difficulty levels, but controlling your paddle is so imprecise that the real opponent is the sloppy game design. And there's no way to win against that.

Technically, I won, but in Imperial Hockey, there are no winners.

What I liked:
-Sounds are okay.
-Multiple difficulty levels give at least some variation to the game.

What I hated:
-Bugs.
-Poor paddle control.
-Hit detection is sloppy.
-To "serve" the puck, you have to tap the screen, which means you lose track of your paddle and have to grab it again before the puck gets to you.

Final Verdict:
If this was supposed to encourage people to buy the CatHide development software, then it's going to fail.

Imperial Hockey is available for free from Imperial Penguin on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0.1

Review: Wild'n Poker Free

2012-10-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

The wildest title screen ever.

Wild'n Poker Free is a take on the classic video poker system. It tries to give you all the fun of a casino without the associated broken thumbs and busted kneecaps. It fails.

Everything about this game is slow. It's just dealing cards (and there's not even an animation for that), so there's absolutely no excuse for how badly it runs.

It also comes with a built-in chat program courtesy of Villo, but I can't imagine why you'd want to use it, and I refuse to sign up for their service to test it out.

Graphics:
Somewhat limited. The faces of the cards are reasonably well done, and the fonts work well. That's not exactly high praise, but you've got to play the cards you're dealt, so to speak.

You're given a choice between dozens of deck styles, but as far as I can tell you never see the backs of the cards, so it doesn't really matter. You also get a large number of backgrounds to choose from. Some of the graphical styles (including the compulsory sexy lady deck) are only available in the upgraded version, but there are enough available in the free version that you'll probably find something you like.

Sound:
No music, and just three or four effects (that you can thankfully disable in the options menu). They sound okay, but they lag, so I can't say they're particularly effective. I wound up just turning them off.

I won!

Gameplay:
Relatively simple. Video poker isn't exactly rocket science, but these days it's a lot snazzier than just the basic game. In Wild'n Poker Free, you're dealt five cards, you choose which to hold and which to discard, then you deal again. Anything better than a pair of jacks wins, with varying payouts depending on how high your hand is. It'd be okay if it weren't so dang slow. Everything lags. Button presses, the score counter, dealing the cards... everything. It's astonishing, since there's so little going on.

The full version supposedly gives you access to a more advanced game, but the upgrade button is broken, so even if you want to, there's no way to check it out.

What I liked:
-Lots of deck styles and background images to choose from.

What I hated:
-Laggy.
-Too many load screens.
-Can't change bet amount without backing out to a menu screen.

Final Verdict:
It's buggy, laggy, and ultimately, Wild'n Poker Free isn't wild in any sense of the word. Stay away.

Wild'n Poker is available for Free from Bryan Leasot on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: CreaVures

2012-10-01T21:06:00.002-07:00

CreaVures is a puzzle platformer in the vein of Lost Vikings where you guide your creavures through the forest collecting things. The beginning's relatively simple, but the game quickly becomes more complex as your various creavures' powers are revealed, and you learn to use them in interesting ways.

Rhino beetles would be terrifying if they were really big enough to ride.

Graphics:
Excellently rendered, if a bit weird. The creavures blend in well with the background... perhaps a little too well, as it can be a tad hard to see exactly what's going on sometimes.

The creavures themselves are cute, and the enemies are decent enough, if somewhat benign-looking.

Multiple planes of 3D graphics scroll by as your creavures run through the forest. It's an impressive display of what the PlayBook hardware can do. The planes aren't differentiated enough, though, and I frequently found myself confused as to which parts of the level I could actually interact with.

Overall, I'm not a big fan of the game's style. It's way too dark, and things just sort of blend together.

Sound:
Subdued, but appropriate. The music doesn't get in the way or get annoying, and the sound effects work well.

I knew a guy in high school who could do that.

Gameplay:
It's a puzzle platformer, so there are puzzles and there are platforms.

The puzzles work relatively well. Each creavure comes with a set of powers that can help you move around obstacles in different ways. Pokey can climb certain walls, Bitey has a tail the other creavures can swing on, Zappy can jump well in water, and so on. While they were never particularly difficult, I found that the puzzles became more interesting as my team gained more creavures and I progressed through the game. Shocking a bird with Zappy while swinging on Bitey's tail is very satisfying.

The platforming is just bad. You control the characters with a virtual analog stick and a jump button. Movement is far too imprecise, jumping is way too floaty, and sometimes button presses just plain aren't recognized. I understand it's a limitation of the hardware, but I'm sure the controls could've been fine tuned at least a little bit more. It's rare, but when you have to restart a puzzle for the third time because you missed a jump that you should've made easily, the game can be really frustrating. Fortunately, checkpoints are plentiful, so it never gets too egregious.

Swapping between characters is handled with a simple tap of a virtual button, and once you get more than two, you can swap one out at any checkpoint. It all works well, and I never had a problem with it.

Three creavures are better than one.

What I liked:
-Cute characters.
-Interesting puzzles.
-Epic boss battles. Well, not epic, but suitably grand.

What I hated:
-Floaty controls.
-Bad platforming segments.
-Difficulty discerning foreground and background from playable part of the level.
-Levels are way too dark.
-Occasional crashes.

Final Verdict:
CreaVures is good, but the poor controls and floaty movement keep it from being great.

CreaVures is available for free (courtesy of RIM) from Union on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: QMplayer for BlackBerry PlayBook

2012-10-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

QMplayer is a version of Mplayer for the PlayBook. As the name suggests, it plays things. In this case, video files. It can play most formats you have on your tablet, or it can stream stuff from the internet. Unfortunately, it's a time-limited trial, and the upgrade is $6.

It features a host of control options that allow you to skip forward or adjust the way your video plays, and you can access the controls through gestures, or via the keyboard. Unfortunately, neither of those methods is well implemented or well thought out.

UI
Hideous. Ugly design, ugly colours. Most of the functions can be accessed through gestures, but if you want to actually do things, you're going to need to use the keyboard.

Usefulness:
Plays a few files and file types that the built-in video player can't handle. That's somewhat, useful, but it's not $6 useful.

Reusability:
As long as you have videos to watch, you can use it over and over again. For two weeks. Then you've gotta pay.

What I Liked
-Plays lots of file types.
-Interesting functions like the ability to play things on fast forward or delay the audio track.

What I Hated
-Gesture controls are hard to use properly.
-Keyboard controls seem to have been designed for a full keyboard, rather than the mobile version on the PlayBook.
-If you hit "Stop" you have to reload the video.
-Ain't got no alibi.

Final Verdict:
QMplayer is a decent video player, but its hideous UI and lacklustre control scheme mean I'll be sticking with the basic built-in player for now.

QMplayer is available as a free two-week trial from EXECUSE on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0.8

Review: Groovy Beats

2012-09-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Groovy Beats is a DJ loop creator that'll let you create phat beats to drop on the kids or something. I'm not a big music guy, so I'm not really up on the lingo. However, I'll try to explain things as best I can.

Groovy Beats gives you eight tracks 16, 32, 48, or 64 beats in length depending on how much space you need. You pick a sound for each track like a percussive sound, or a single piano tone, choose the beats where you want the sounds to play, then let 'er rip. You'll be left with a music loop of around 1 1/2 to 17 seconds, depending on the tempo you choose.

UI
Clean, and nice to look at. By necessity, there's a lot of stuff on the screen at once, though, so if you have fat fingers like I do, you may end up with the occasional mis-tap. Also, it can lag a bit every now and then. Overall, it's a very effective setup.

Usefulness:
It's not the deepest or most robust loop creator out there, but it gets the job done. Unfortunately, the free version doesn't give you any way to save your work, so that costs it a fairly large chunk of its usefulness.

Reusability:
Near infinite. If you ever need a music loop for a project, or even if you just like making them, Groovy Beats will have you coming back over and over again. The free version comes with over 100 sounds to choose from, and you can purchase hundreds more.

What I Liked
-Plenty of sounds to choose from.
-Easily-adjustable tempo and volume controls.

What I Hated
-Fat fingers can cause a few mis-taps.
-No auto-save.
-No way to mute a single track.
-The save feature isn't free.

Final Verdict:
Groovy Beats will certainly let you create some groovy beats, but it has a few quirks, and you need to lay down a buck if you want it to be really useful.

Groovy Beats is available for free with in-app purchases from XLabz Technologies Pvt Ltd on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Stick Tennis

2012-09-25T18:48:00.001-07:00

Stick Tennis is perhaps the best tennis game for mobile devices that don't end in DS or SP, but is it actually any good?

Graphics:
The UI is very well done. It's slick, it's clean, and it's shiny.

The characters are similarly well done, and the animation is smooth for the most part. There's some slight jerkiness when moving between running and swinging the racket, but I'm not expecting incredible motion interpolation from a 2D mobile game, and the speed of the action hides it pretty well.

The backgrounds, and the courts all seem to be built out of the same basic parts. They look good, but they're not overly impressive.

Sound:
No music that I could find. There's a little bit of cheering and groaning from the crowd, and the umpire is suitably cold and impartial. The few grunts you hear from the women get a little annoying after a while, and there only seems to be one racket swing and one ball hit, both of which get old really fast. The fidelity is fine, and overall the umpire's sounds make up for the lack of variation in everything else.

Gameplay:
This is where Stick Tennis really falters. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the platform, there's only so much you can do. You can tap, and you can swipe. In this case, you tap to toss the ball up on a serve, and you swipe to hit it. Changing the direction of your swipe has a moderate affect on where the ball goes, but sometimes it doesn't seem to make much difference. You have no control over the movement of your player, or the power of your shot; both are automatic. I found myself getting incredibly frustrated at my player's inability to put the ball where I wanted it, or to even get to the ball.

The timing on returns is very harsh. You have a very, very small window in which to hit the ball, and since you have no way of controlling when your player will (or even if they will) be near the ball, there's far more guesswork involved than I'd like. With a little practice, I was able to return the ball with some regularity, but I still experienced far more missed swipes of the racket than I was comfortable with.

There are seven ways to play: Four tournaments, a daily challenge, practice mode, and world domination, where you take on some of the all-time greats to prove your worth. They all seem to be more or less the same, though. The ball may move a little bit faster on grass courts than on clay, but I couldn't really tell the difference. All the opponents seem to play pretty much the same, too. Then men serve faster, and overall, the higher-ranked players seem to hit the ball faster, but there doesn't seem to be any discernible difference between their ability to get to the ball when it's on their side of the court. Having a lot of options is nice, but you're mainly choosing between playing on a blue background or a green one.

The free version gives you access to the first round of each tournament, and you can pay $2.99 to unlock the rest. But, I fail to see how games in the second round would be any different from those in the first.

What I liked:
-The UI is excellent.
-The animation is more than sufficient.
-The umpire is a cold, unfeeling bastard. Just as he should be.

What I hated:
-When playing in a tournament, you have to wait a few seconds for the game to calculate the results of the other brackets before you can get to the action. Seems unnecessary.
-Most rounds feel exactly the same.
-Window in which to return the ball is very small.
-Incredibly limited controls make for frustrating gameplay.

Final Verdict:
Stick Tennis is a slick production with a lot of time and effort behind it, but the limited controls and lack of variation in the gameplay mean the game just plain isn't much fun. Tablets and phones just aren't the place for a tennis game, unfortunately.

Stick Tennis is available with in-app purchases for free from Stick Sports Ltd on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.1.1

Review: Space Worm

2012-09-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

There's a worm in space! A space worm! It needs space fruit, and it's your job to help it get some.

Graphics:
Nice backgrounds showing the majesty that is outer space. The space worm itself is nicely drawn, and the skulls are appropriately skully.

Sound:
None.

Gameplay:
Tap or drag on the screen to collect fruit(and onions for some reason) while avoiding skulls. Very limited. Very repetitive. Over very quickly, if you want to get in a quick round of something.

What I liked:
-You can submit your scores to a high score list. I don't do that sort of thing, but it's nice to have the option.

What I hated:
-When you reach certain scores(I think) the screen will inexplicably turn black.
-The space worm moves slowly, and eventually the game becomes entirely based on luck.

Final Verdict:
Space Worm's graphics far outweigh any of its other qualities.

Space Worm is available for free from DS Effects on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 2.0

Review: Optical Illusions Free

2012-09-24T15:50:00.003-07:00

You want optical illusions? You got 'em! Well, you got five of 'em.

UI
Surprisingly well done. The buttons are large enough to use easily, and very responsive.

Usefulness:
Not at all useful. Shows you five optical illusion images, and that's it.

Reusability:
Once you've seen the five illusions it has, you're probably not going to want to use it again.

What I Liked
-Each illusion comes with an explanation of how it works.

What I Hated
-Buttons I thought were for emailing or tweeting the illusion are really just to email or tweet about the app.

Final Verdict:
Well done, but very limited. If you like illusions you might want to upgrade, but it's nothing you can't get for free on 100 websites.

Optical Illusions Free is available for free from ADDENDUM SOLUTIONS on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Over10Levels

2012-09-24T15:46:00.002-07:00

Over10Levels has more than ten levels. How many does it have? You won't care because they're all the same, and they're all terrible.

Graphics:
Terrible backgrounds fronted by coloured circles with numbers in them. The numbers aren't even centred.

Sound:
None.

Gameplay:
Tap the circles with the highest number you can find, I think. The instructions weren't exactly clear.

What I liked:
-Nothing

What I hated:
-The graphics are lousy.
-Even with minimal graphics and no sound, it still has a 59mb install size somehow.
-Instructions were very poor. They seem to have been written by someone for whom English is a second language. While I don't expect everyone to speak English, I at least expect their translations to make some sense.

Final Verdict:
Over10Levels is one more piece of Android garbage. Stay away from it.

Over10Levels is available for free from Apportunity on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: WordStone

2012-09-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

WordStone is a game of swapping. Swapping stones to make words. Hence the name: WordSwap... wait, that's not right.

Graphics:
They've gone for a kind of ancient civilization motif, which I like, although it doesn't lend itself to a lot of colour in this case. In general, the graphics aren't terribly impressive, but that's not really necessary for a game of this type.

Sound:
One looping music track and a few effects. Everything seems to fit within the ancient civilization theme, and while they're limited, the effects work relatively well. The music and effects have independent volume controls, which I always appreciate.

Gameplay:
Swap letters around to form words and remove tiles while the board slowly builds, line-by-line towards the bottom. There are a few random tiles like bombs and immovable letters that mix things up a bit, but overall the gameplay's pretty simple. As you proceed, things speed up, and it takes more words to clear the board. Pretty standard.

What I liked:
-The dictionary appears to be reasonably comprehensive.
-The game design has a theme. It's a bit cliche and overused, but a theme is a theme.
-Multiple ways to swap letters.
-Comprehensive instructions. Never underestimate the importance of instructions.

What I hated:
-Instructions contain rules for the PC version as well. Would it have been so tough to make two builds
-No unlimited mode. I could be using those precious seconds that it takes me to start a new round to play!
-Sometimes it's just impossible to make a word. I had a situation where there was nothing I could do but quit or wait for the level to end. That's always a bummer.
-I think I found a few bugs.

Final Verdict:
A few refinements, and this would be an excellent way to pass the time.

WordStone is available for free from Ocean Breeze Games Inc. on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Word Fury

2012-09-23T17:15:00.003-07:00

Word Fury is a furious word game. Furious in terms of speed and excitement, not anger.

It features support for RIM's Scoreloop score-tracking thingy, but I'm not into that.

Graphics:
Simplistic, but appropriate. The letter tiles are of sufficient size to be hit without difficulty, and the backgrounds do not furiously detract from the overall experience.

Sound:
One looping music track and a few sound effects. Both the music and effects can be turned on and off independendtly, which should be standard practice by now, but isn't for some reason. This makes me very angry. Furious, you might say.

Gameplay:
Fairly repetitive. You tap the letters to spell words, and earn points based on how long the words are. As a twist, you can only use letter tiles whose colour corresponds to the tile colour in your word bar at the top of the screen. Sometimes the letters will be worth more than one point, and sometimes you'll enter "Double Point Mode", but this seems to be random.

What I liked:
-The dictionary seems to be fairly large.
-A lot of replayability.
-Fury!

What I hated:
-The letters you can't use don't fade out quite enough, so it's difficult to tell what you can and cannot use.
-Difficulty doesn't seem to increase as you proceed. Level 21 was no more difficult than level 1, it just took longer.
-No unlimited mode. Sometimes a guy just wants to play without limits.
-Sound effects and music seemed to cut out randomly. I wasn't able to reproduce this consistently, though, so it's just a minor quibble.
-Asks you to accept or reject the Scoreloop TOS at every launch (at least if you don't accept it), and crashes out if you don't respond quickly enough.

Final Verdict:
A fun time-waster with a few quirks that keep it from being truly great. Unleash the fury!

Word Fury is available for free from Fakehalo on BlackBerry App World
Reviewed version 2.1.0.2

Review: Fire Engines Lite

2012-09-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Fire Engines Lite promises you fire engines, and that's what it delivers. No more, no less.

Graphics:
There really isn't much to say about the graphics. The start screen is white with three words and a photo of a fire engine. The only other screen is black with flames at the bottom and consists mainly of fifteen small photos and images of fire engines, one of which is actually a duplicate of an earlier image with the drop shadow erased.

Sound:
Three fire engine sounds, each about two seconds long. They're of relatively good quality, although I did hear a few pops in one, and another sounds as if it was cut off at the end.

Gameplay:
No real gameplay to speak of. Although this was placed under the games section, I'm not sure how it qualifies. You tap on the small pictures of fire engines. Those on the left will spin, those in the middle will fade out then fade back in, and the ones on the right will move off screen to the left and then move back. That's it. Oh, and some of them will play a sound when you tap. Some, not all.

What I liked:
-It's free.

What I hated:
-The UI (such as it is) is unresponsive.
-The graphics are mainly terrible.
-There are only three sounds, despite the existence of 15 different fire engines.

Final Verdict:
Fire Engines Lite is yet another piece of awful Android port garbage. You should avoid it unless you really, really like fire engines. Like a lot. Like in a way you don't want your parents to find out about.

Fire Engines Lite is ad-supported and available for free from Riverside Studios on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.1

Review: Tabla

2012-09-20T20:17:00.002-07:00

The tabla is an Indian percussion instrument, and Tabla gives you one on your PlayBook. Sort of.

Graphics:
Three images: A small tabla and two backgrounds. One of which appears to be an out of focus photo of a rug. Also an icon in the top right that gives you a little info.

Sound:
Three different tabla sounds. Not sounds from three different tabla. Three sounds total. They're of decent fidelity, though.

Gameplay:
None to speak of. You tap the tabla and it plays one of three sounds, depending on where you tapped it. That's it. Another miscategorized app.

What I liked:
-Different background depending on the orientation of your tablet.

What I hated:
-Instrument is tiny and it's therefore difficult to play the tone you want.
-After 32 taps, the instrument becomes unresponsive.
-Only three sounds. How the heck am I supposed to play MacArthur Park with only three sounds?

Final Verdict:
The info box claims updates will be coming soon, but as it stands, this is just one more piece of useless Android port trash. Go out and buy a second-hand tabla for a few bucks and learn to play it instead of downloading this app.

Tabla is available for free from SOLVER LOFT GPS MAPS on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: The Thinkers

2012-09-20T20:14:00.004-07:00

The Thinkers is a Canadian political comic strip by Lore Santos, and now you can get it on your BlackBerry PlayBook. Aren't you lucky.

Each strip features one or more bookends in the shape of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker, and associated speech bubbles.

UI
No buttons to speak of, just text on the top and bottom that you can click. Regardless of orientation, the whole app won't fit on your screen, so you have to scroll around to get to things.

Usefulness:
It lets you read what I assume are all the comics. That's fairly useful if you're into The Thinkers.

Reusability:
Although it was released in March (but only popped up on the new releases list today), the latest comic is from August 2011. While more are promised, with only around 30 comics included, you'll burn through things pretty quickly.

What I Liked
-Someone else is interested in Canadian politics. I thought I was the only one.

What I Hated
-Many of the comics have typos. I'm sure I make them all the time as well, but I'm not a fan either way.
-The comics aren't resized to fit the screen, so you have to scroll the image to see everything. That's just inexcusable.

Final Verdict:
This one needs a little bit of work and a lot more content before it's worth your time.

The Thinkers is available for free from swcrusade on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0

Review: Modern Postcard

2012-09-20T20:10:00.001-07:00

Modern Postcard is an Android port that allows you to design fancy postcards or greeting cards to send to your friends and family. Or your enemies and strangers if that's your thing.

You begin by choosing one of dozens of colourful backgrounds, then you can add text and clip art, and email it to whoever you want.

UI
Seven large, bright icons on the bottom of the screen make up the UI. They're responsive, although they don't give you any indication that you've successfully clicked them. As an Android port, it requires you to click the soft Back button that the PlayBook lacks, which can be a bit annoying.

When you add text, there are buttons to enlarge and shrink the font, and you can change the text box size with a multi-touch gesture.

Scrolling through the list of backgrounds and images is relatively smooth, but can take a long time since there are quite a few.

Usefulness:
The postcards it creates are fairly nice, and there are dozens of options to choose from, so if you're into making cards, or if you need to bang something out quickly for a friend whose birthday you forgot, then this app is perfect.

Reusability:
With backgrounds for a variety of holidays and occasions, you'll be able to use Modern Postcard over and over again.

What I Liked
-Plenty of variety to the backgrounds and clip art.
-Ads are fairly unobtrusive.
-Direct way to send your work to the recipient.

What I Hated
-The list of clip art images isn't organized for quick and easy access.
-Resizing the text boxes requires a two-finger touch, and regardless of positioning, the second finger resizes the box from the bottom left corner.
-There doesn't seem to be a way to change the font.
-One of the icons doesn't seem to actually do anything, and another just gives you a slightly smaller view of the card you just created.
-No clear way to save your work.
-Only works in portrait orientation, when most postcards tend to be in landscape.

Final Verdict:
It's far from perfect, but Modern Postcard is a pretty good way to make a quick card when you need one.

Modern Postcard is ad-supported and available for free from kidgames on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0.0.1