If you like to play poker and have a mac it can be kinda frustrating when
Mayday, Mayday all hands on deck. Were going down I repeat were going down! The aim of Lifeboat is to save as many passengers on board your ship as possible before your ship sinks. This is accomplished by using the iPhone and iTouches accelerometer and swiping controls to tilt the boat and steering the passengers into the awaiting waiting lifeboats and surroundsing waters. It all comes together and makes for an entertaining experience.
The popular console shooter Prey is now available on your very own iDevice! Hands on Mobile decided to create a sequel with Prey Invasion instead of just porting it over.
Once again you play as Tommy Hawk who is a Cherokee Indian posessing skills such as spirit walking and shooting his spirit bow. Some of the original elements from the console version reappear, such as
Immediately I noticed the well done graphics in Prey Invasion. There is little lag in the game, and the visuals are well detailed. The textures are very well done and some of the weapons are pretty memorable.
The environment is pretty varied, which is nice, and overall it’s very well done. The creatures truly do look fearsome and there are lots of little details such as your weapon crackling as it shoots that make Prey great to look at.
On the other hand, the sound in Prey Invasion is a real downer. The music just doesn’t flow, and it hurts your ears to listen to. The audio effects are the same way. They don’t sound “real” and rather seem very synthetic and rough. For a game which looks so great, Prey really does not sound pleasant.
Now onto the actual gameplay and story! There are 2 ways to control Tommy in Prey; digital and analog controls. You either get a cross hair on the screen, or you have a tap and shoot control method.
I personally did not enjoy either of the controls schemes at all. I had a very hard time doing what I actually wanted to do in the game and aiming was kind of a chore. It took quite a while to get used to controlling my character, and I’m suprised there was no smoother option implemented.
There are a few elements such as the spirit walk when you die, which keep the game pretty interesting. Instead of ending the game, you get transported to a mystical world where you try to regain health by killing enemies.
The more enemies you shoot, the more health you’ll spawn with. Some people may think this is a cop out but it’s creative. As far as replay value goes once you beat the campaign which lasts a few hours, there really isn’t that much to go back to. The story is straightforward and there’s nothing that would make you go back for another run.
Prey Invasion is a game that while pretty, it’s basically just a cookie cutter first person shooter which fails to blow the consumer away. It’s brand name helps and some elements are great, but in the end Prey is a one time go and it doesn’t last too long while you’re at it.
For $3, you’re not wasting money by purchasing Prey, but there are lots of other games out there which offer much more for the same price. So if you’re into shooters and a huge fan of Prey, go ahead, but otherwise this is just a pretty average app.
The Good
Graphics are wonderful
Some features are nice
Animations are very smoothThe Bad
Sound is horrid
Very short campaign
Nothing to draw me back in
Controls aren’t the best
The original version of the Russian game Color Lines is now available on your iDevice. The purpose of the game is to score more points than the King has. You gain points by moving the dots around and lining up 5 or more of the same colored balls horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
Just by looking at the icon of Color Lines, I knew that this game would have a retro feel to it. When I opened it, I wa
s right, as Color lines uses old fashioned graphics you’d expect to find on an old PC or arcade system. The colors are nice and bold, with bright greens, solid reds, cool blues, and more. Even though this game is supposed to be more old school, it just ends up feeling unpolished, as the graphics are very pixilated and not that appealing. The animations present are ok; they’re jumpy and not the smoothest.
The sounds are simple as well. They don’t add much to the gameplay, and they don’t take much away from it either. Once again it just feels like not enough attention to detail was given in Color Lines.
Gameplay wise Color Lines isn’t complicated at all. As stated earlier, the goal is to line up 5 or more dots of color in a row in any direction, and this is done by tapping one dot, then tapping another empty space to line up the colors. The dots can move anywhere on the screen as long as the path to the space isn’t blocked. At first there are only a few dots, but each turn that goes by without creating a line results in more dots being put on the screen. So near the end of the game, the screen becomes really cramped and thinking ahead is a must.
The touch interface actually works pretty well, as there were not problems selecting the correct squares.
Basically
that’s it in Color Lines. There’s that one game mode, and it’s not bad, but it does become dry after a while. There is a high scores list so you can try to aim as high as possible but really, there’s not much to do because a lot of the game relies on luck and after a while it just felt as if I was doing the same thing over and over again. If more game elements were somehow included, or a global high scores list, then Color Lines might actually stay on my iPod.
If you are a true die-hard puzzle fan than I’d say give Color Lines a go. Otherwise pass, because at $2, there are many apps that have more time spent in their production and offer much more than Color Lines. This game does not do anything to put itself as a must buy app, and while it was fun for a few minutes, it probably isn’t something people will really look forward to.
The Good
Nice colors
Simple to understand
Nice strategy involvedThe Bad
Unimpressive graphics and sounds
Gameplay quickly becomes stale
Just overall an average app
Price isn’t worth it
Behold, the mighty dragon! A fearsome beast, he will eat men alive, striking fear in all those around! That’s the typical image you get when thinking about dragons right? Well in Dragon Panic, they’re actually really cute! Help Bernie and Blaze, adorable green and pink dragons, from falling victim to the endless attacks dropped on them.
I can honestly say that I’ve never played a game exactly like Kryzer Prologue before. It’s not a horizontal shooter, it’s not a vertical shooter; instead it’s a rotational shooter!
Instead of traditional levels, Kryzer focuses on a circular playing field. Your ship rotates clockwise around the center auto firing and accelerating. Your only movement is to control how far away your ship is from the center of the circle, shown by the + and – buttons. As far as controls go that’s it and they’re really smooth, although sometimes I found myself moving in the opposite direction which made for some frustrating moments. Once I got the hang of it, everything was all good.
Enemies will randomly spawn around the circle, with each type having its own properties, be it movement, toughness, and if it’ll shoot at you or not. Some enemies will spiral around, others will take many more shots than usual to take down, and some even try to take you out.
Your life in Kryzer Prologue is measured by how much time you have left. Each time you destroy an enemy, you can pick up a star that give you different time bonuses, such as 5 or 15 seconds. Your timer will slowly tick down and when that reaches 0, you lose. If you get hit by an enemy bullet or run into one, then that’s 30 seconds off for you. It’s a nice way to play a
s anything can happen with a simple mistake where you repeatedly run into a string of ships or if you’re able to pick up the bonuses really quickly.
Your ship starts off kind of slow, with bullets not even able to go around halfway before disappearing. If you progress without hitting anything, your speed increases greatly and your bullets are able to reach all the way around. Every time you’re hit with a penalty your speed decreases, and so does the score you get for beating an enemy. So the faster you go, the more points you get for destroying enemies.
Gameplay is great in Kryzer. The unique movement and play field, plus the simplicity shows that it has the potential to become an instant hit. There are 3 difficulty levels, easy, medium, and hard. They do a good job of allowing players of all skill sets to play the game. The one game mode is solid, even though more would be nice.
What’s more is that Kryzer is great to look at. The slick 2D graphics and wonderful effects all make this game engaging and enjoyable. They’re sleek, well done, and add lots to the 
appeal of this game. The soundtrack is a nice electronic funk and I enjoyed listening to that as well.
The online leaderboards make it so you can always try to one up yourself and others around the world. The coolest thing is on medium, every week the top scorer is awarded a promo code for the next Kryzer game once it releases. The only main drawbacks of this game are that sometimes it feels like the game ramps up the difficulty too early, and the battery drains unreasonably fast, which limits how much I can play at a time when I’m out, and that’s too bad as you’ll want to squeeze in another round!
One can argue that the reason Kryzer is so addicting is that it is not overly complex. There’s no need to worry about shields, different weapons, or specific controls. Just one weapon, one ship, and the time left. At just 99 cents Kryzer Prologue is a steal, and as its name suggests, this is just the first in a series, but if the upcoming Kryzer 3D is anything like Prologue, then FDG Entertainment has created a classic series.
The Good
Innovative gameplay
Simple and addicting
Lots of attention to detailThe Bad
Battery life is horrible
Difficulty goes up a bit fast
Controls take a bit to get used to
Hyrdotilt is all about precision, timing, and control! In this new puzzler, you guide a water droplet through environments containing ramps, platforms, and more, in order to safely reach the end of the level.
Gems galore! As the name suggests, Gem Panic is loaded in, who would’ve known, gems! This well polished puzzler is simple yet engaging, providing people of all ages a worthwhile experience.
At first glance, Gem Panic does not seem overly impressive. Open up the application however, and you’ll find out that the game shows much more.
The graphics are extremely crisp, from the menus to the actual game. Each gem is well detailed; much more than I thought would be in a simple puzzle game.
The in game music is also really cool, giving a sort of eerie tone to the game, but there’s always the option to listen to your own if you wish. The visual and audio aspects really make Gem Panic much more enjoyable.
You need to eliminate the gems on the playing field by matching gems of the same kind next to each other. This means that you can match two or three gems at a time.
However, if one is left alone unable to be paired, then you’ve got to restart the level. You can either use the accelerometer or the touch screen to control the game, and each method works pretty well. You’ve got to beat each level in the allotted time limit, so plan ahead and act quickly or else!
What makes Gem Panic deeper than most other puzzlers is that it’s not only all cut and dry. There are moving platforms that will affect the way the puzzles are solved, and many times your reflexes will come in play as certain levels require the perfect timing to be solved.
You start off with the simple green puzzles, and the strategy map unlocks more levels as you progress through the game. The difficulty goes up as indicated by the colors, with yellow being medium and the red ones the most challenging.
There are different themes throughout the 90 levels, and bonus ones are also included. Each level has a time limit of a few minutes, but later on they will take longer than that to solve. I really had to think creatively in order to solve some of the puzzles, and even some of the green puzzles will take quite a while to be solved.
Actually playing the puzzles is really fun, and I can honestly say Gem Panic exceeded my expectations. Some things could be worked on, like replay value after beating all of the puzzles, say an option to try and redo previous levels in order to beat the time limit or something like that.
The 5 profile slots make it so many people can have their own game going at once, which is nice.
In the end Gem Panic is a beautifully rendered game that features challenging gameplay that is fun. The ability to save your progress in the middle of a puzzle when you exit a level would be nice, but the puzzles are pretty short anyways so it’s not a huge factor.
If you’re looking for a unique puzzler to pass of short periods of time, then Gem Panic is recommended, especially at the current price of just a buck.
The Good
Excellent visuals and sound quality
Puzzles are fun to solve
Simple yet challenging at the same time
Great for short game sessionsThe Bad
Not much after beating the game
No way to save in the middle of a puzzle
Can’t go back to previous levels
Have you ever wanted to be a true Spartan warrior? Have you wondered how awesome it would be to be a god of war? Being a Spartan is no easy job, but sometimes it can kick some serious butt.
In Pocket Monkey Games’ new game Sparta, you take on the role of a Spartan soldier in protecting the lands from the aggressive invaders. A 2-D sidescroller, Sparta is a 
hack and slash game; think Zombieville USA with swords instead of guns and angry bandits instead of zombies!
You start up as a recruit against the local peasants, and then you slowly move up the ranks advance to taking on more difficult enemies such as invading Persian forces. Each level starts off with a short little intro, and you get 3 lives the entire game. Your health is represented by a sword in the upper left corner which I thought was a creative.
Controls are easy to use, with left and right movement buttons on the left, and the shield, kick, and sword buttons on the right. The movement works well enough, but switching from the shield and kick/sword can be a bit awkward. I didn’t really find a use for the kick which does stun the enemies, but its range is so short the sword was much more useful.
However, the smoothness of the controls could use a bit of touching up. One annoying thing was when moving and then blocking, it was necessary to tap the move button again after releasing block before moving again. Ideally, I’d like to hold the move buttons, block, release block, and continue moving. The other minor gripe I have is when the attack and move buttons are pressed at the same time; the character would continue moving in the same direction. These issues are to be fixed in an immediate update though.
I really dig the graphics which are crisp and detailed, and the animations are seamless as well. The way the enemies die can be pretty gruesome (that’s a good thing!), with each of the enemy types unique in their own way. Your own Spartan warrior surely looks impressive, but the only things is that hit detection can be off from what’s displayed on the screen and it’d be nice to know when you damage is taken instead of having to glance at the health.
The backgrounds use slightly different drawing technique so the characters occasionally look out of place and sometimes “glide” along. The scenery could be varied a bit and more locales would be nice, but Sparta’s current visuals are otherwise top notch.
The music is one of the strongest parts of the game. It’s epic for sure, with a great soundtrack that really is powerful. The sound effects aren’t bad either, with great death sounds (sadistic, isn’t it?), and the accompanying noises for the weapons work well too.
As of now, Sparta only has the main game mode, which takes you up a level every 20 kills. However, there is no save function! You can pause by tapping a
blank area of the screen, but if I accidentally hit the home button or whatnot my progress would be lost. There’s the high scores list to aim your sights for which is good. Replay value wise Sparta is one of those games where you just want to one up your previous score, but gameplay can become stale after a while. Ensuing updates are sure to resolve this situation with new content however.
Sparta is definitely worth picking up for anybody who’s a fan of side scrolling action games, especially at the tasty sale price of just 4 chicken McNuggets! (that’s $1 people). Even at the regular price I would say Sparta is worth the money as multiple updates are already planned which call for additional weaponry, added levels, a story mode, and different enemies, plus even online multiplayer! Sparta: Lords of War is a charming game which shows true potential and I see great things for it in the future.
The Good
Fantastic art style
Easy to pick up and play
Music is EPIC
No shortage of actionThe Bad
No way to save progress
Additional options needed!
Controls a bit awkward
A couple bugs
(Note that many of the issues addressed in this review have already been acknowledged by the developer and are currently being worked on right now)
You are Keith T. Maxwell, an elite pilot as a mercenary for hire after fighting in the Vossk Wars. In a huge galaxy of hundreds of planets and space stations, you must take on the alien Vossk.
Are you a thrill seeker, into extreme sports? Have you dreamed of jumping out of a perfectly functional airplane, just for fun? If that idea sounds appealing in any way, then you should take a look at Blazing Lizard’s new game iSkydive.
As the title suggests, you go skydiving in iSkyDive. Who would have known, right? The goal of the game is to land at a target located somewhere at each lev
el. The closer you land to the middle of the target, the more points you get, and your time is tracked as well. You’ll need to accumulate a certain number of points to move onto the next location. For some other missions, you forgo the parachute entirely and just divebomb the target *Gulp!*
Controls are simple. You use the accelerometer to control your character while they are freefalling, and when the time is right, you give your iDevice a quick shake to deploy the parachute. You continue guiding your character by turning the accelerometer and all you have to do from there is to land at the target.
iSkyDive is a crisp looking game. The 3D graphics are nice to view, with lots of polish and details such as a shadow on the ground that gets larger as you approach closer to the target. Every level is well done, with a wide range of colors and the locales are unique, from an Egyptian oasis to an American farm. The sense of speed is well displayed, but the only time the graphics falter a bit is when you’re about to land iSkyDive is prettier higher up than it is close up.
The sounds and music also fit pretty well into the game. The soundtrack is not bad to listen at actually and the effects add to the skydiving experience. The aesthetic aspects of iSkyDive are well done and help its overall value.
As far as gameplay is concerned, iSkyDive works well, with the parachuting and divebombing missions. However, there isn’t a lot of variety to the game. Sure, some levels get harder as the target moves around, and you have to compensate for wind, but it ends up feeling like you’re just doing the same thing over and over. Even with the different environments nothing really changes and the replayablity isn’t that great.
As of now iSkyDive is somewhat linear and needs a bit more to keep from becoming an average title, but the developer is planning new updates including additional characters, new gameplay features, and the ability to do aerial tricks. With this in mind iSkyDive has a good chance to fulfill its potential. Nonetheless for just 99 cents iSkyDive cannot be faulted as being too pricey, and is actually worthy of that dollar. For a different type of game and a fun little adventure, iSkyDive is one to be recommended.
The Good
3D visuals are awesome
Really feels like you’re going fast
Each stage is unique
Easy to pick up and playThe Bad
Repetitive missions
More gameplay features needed
Maybe things like a high scores list
I’ll be one to admit it. I have destroyed anthills before and taken pleasure in doing so. Sure, I felt a little guilty inside, but it was fun! I’m sure many of you out there have done the exact same thing. Now though, you have a whole new alternative to doing so. With Ant Hill, smash, burn, and torture the ants to your will!
Ant Hill seems pretty similar to games like Pocket God, or Malevolent, where you play the all-controlling power. However, the number of things you can actually do to 
the ants is quite limited, and becomes repetitive after a period of time.
There are a few things you can do in Ant Hill. First off is frying the ants with a magnifying glass. The ants burst in flames, and scatter in all directions. You can also drop rocks on the ants, which will then try to move them away off the screen. You can be nice though, which means providing the ants with strawberries to eat. It’s even possible to move around the anthill, and draw paths for the ants to go around, which you can use to lure them into traps! Last of all is the accelerometer, which can be enabled to slide everything on the screen around.
If you’re feeling up to it, you can even have aggressive “ant fights”. These involve races where the red and black ants try to push the rocks off the screen, or competing over food resources, which in this case are the strawberries. These always end up into deathmatches where the two ant colors will usually fight it out to the death, and it can be pretty entertaining to watch.
You can enable the options you want in the game, like the number of ants, and when you crank it up all the way, the swarm of insects just makes me tingle! Howe
ver, there isn’t that much to be added to, as what I’ve described is basically all there is to do.
The red ants help with the replay value, but their appearance is irregular, and it would be cooler if you could fight wars with opposing mounds. A zoom in and zoom out function would also be a nice feature, to view the action close up, or cause mayhem and destruction on a wider scale.
The graphics are pretty well done though, with great animations that will make you chuckle a bit inside, and the sound clips are accurate, but they aren’t that varied so you’ll end up hearing the same thing over and over. If more sounds were added so it didn’t get so annoying, it would add that layer of polish on which would be ncie to see.
As of now, Ant Hill shows lots of potential. If the developers were constantly adding updates à la Pocket God, I would definitely go back to it. Unfortunately the lifespan of this game is a bit limited, but I can see great things happening with it in the future. At its low price of just 99 cents, you won’t be feeling ripped off, but more options and maybe strategical elements would make this game really worthwhile.
The Good
Brings back those memories…
Well done animations and graphics
Is great for that destructive urgeThe Bad
Gets repetitive after a while
Sound clips can get annoying
Needs more options
Won’t hold your attention too long
Defender Chronicles is set in a fantasy medieval world. The capital city of men, Londrom has fallen to the Orc Hordes. As a warlord, you must defend the Empire from the invasion of the Orc Hordes and the rising Undead.
As Spencer Cornith, be ready to take on a mission to uncover the secrets of your father’s death. Run, jump, and slash your way to the truth in this story of betrayal and vengeance.
Blade of Betrayal is a 2-dimensional side scrolling action platformer, where players will have to fight their way to the truth. Like similar games of this genre, players have to discover the exit location of each level, and battle bosses along the way. Gameplay is great, with many unlockables such as different weapons, while health and the special attack meter can be replenished. The classic gameplay is a joy to play with, and there’s always lots of on-screen action. Not overly complex, but not too simple either, Blade of Betrayal is a breath of fresh air as this retro side scroller just brings back the memories.
However, Blade of Betrayal has a steep learning curve. While it’s a good thing so players won’t just blow through the game, there are moments which bring out much frustration. Different difficulty levels could help starters ease into the game a bit, with a harder option available for more experienced players. Still, once the basic rhythm is grasped, Blade of Betrayal doesn’t become as hard anymore.
Each of the 9 stag
es are led in by an introduction where illustrated story scenes give more background on the plot and current events. These are well polished, and really add to the game. The story is intriguing, and there are twists and turns that make for an engaging time.
For replay value, there are many unlockables that are hidden around the levels, such as other weapons, some which are essential to discovering even more items, and increases to the overall health and special attack meters. So if you’re having trouble beating a particular level, it’s often a good idea to search through previous ones in order to make your journey easier. Also adding to the challenge of the game are specific requirements for in-game medals, such as defeating a boss by only using standard attacks.
Controlling Spencer is really simple too. On screen icons are pressed with A for Attack, J for Jump, G for Grenades, and a set rotating dial for movement. Tapping down once crouches, while tapping twice makes the character lay on the ground and crawl. Going up and down ladders is easy with the controls too, and your direction can be adjusted when jumping in the air. The controls are seamless and seem like second nature soon enough. The touch controls are responsive and well placed, so even with my large hands, the game never felt cramped and I never had problems locating the correct icon.
The graphics and backgrounds are also well polished. Just by starting up the game, it’s evident a lot of time was spent on Blade of Betrayal. Players will traverse a varied terrain, battling atop buildings, in prisons, and even laboratories. The many locales keep the visuals fresh, and are well detailed. The animations are a bit stiff though, with more variety in actions needed, and the main character looks like a chubby little boy at times. If the animations were made more natural, then the game would look better than it already is. Otherwise Blade of Betrayal is great to look at and play.
The custom soundtrack is also very well done. The music isn’t generic or cheesy, and is very clear. Each level’s is a bit different, but the music adds onto the experience and is of a high quality. The sound effects are also great, and while fighting all of the baddies, the effects and accompanying music make for a high production value in Blade of Betrayal.
If you’re looking for a good retro styled game, then Blade of Betrayal fits the bill. There is much to do in this platformer, and will give experienced gamers a good run for their money. Well polished, Blade of Betrayal has tons of action and a great story line. Some aspects could be tweaked, and $5.99 is a high asking point, but if you’re interested, go for it. Otherwise, definitely get this if there’s a future price drop.
The Good
Fast paced action
Good attention to detail
Great story and cut scenes
Lots of polishThe Bad
Difficulty is high
$5.99 a bit much
A few minor changes needed
What’s the name of the game where you spin a wheel, and then guess letters to solve an unknown phrase? It’s not that show you always see on TV, in this case it’s Lucky Wheel.
Lucky Wheel is based off of Wheel Of Fortune, where players spin a wheel to determine the score given, and then choosing a letter to try and solve the sentence or phrase available. If you’re correct, then you spin again, and choose another letter, otherwise the next person in line goes. If you know the answer ,you can always try and take a guess, but if you’re wrong in Lucky Wheel, you lose all of your points, but if you’re correct, you get 150 bonus points. At the beginning of each game, it’s possible to choose the amount of players, and the number of rounds taken to win.
Lucky Wheel is simple. Flick the wheel to determine the amount of points awarded, and the harder you flick it, the more the wheel will spin. Then, you have 20 seconds to decide what letter to choose. Keep guessing until the puzzle is solved, or you think you know what the answer is. That’s basically it. Beware of the “sit out” symbol, and the “bankrupt” symbol, as those will cause you to miss a turn and lose all your points, respectively.
There are many phrases to solve for, but some things just cut down on the fun. First of all, there’s no penalties for buying vowels, so people who start first have a way slanted advantage. Also, the graphics are unimpressive and just boring. The wheel isn’t very polished, and the rest of the game is just plain and a bit cheesy; nothing stands out. The sounds are good though, with realistic “tick sounds”, even though there’s no actual thing that would cause them, as the wheel is completely smooth. 
The sounds for correct and incorrect selections are fitting and not bad. There’s no music though, and when you want to listen to your own songs, there’s no way to turn of the in game effects.
Worst of all though, has to be that there’s now way to play against the computer. You either play by yourself for some extremely boring games, or you have to find people next to you to play with. It’s just not fun to play alone, and there’s not always people willing to play, when they’d rather play other choices available on my iDevice. There’s also the annoying habit of having to re-enter the player names every time, and gameplay is cut down so there’s nothing other than the standard “solve the phrase” mode. Last of all, the instructions are sprinkled with errors, such as having ,,Start New Game’ ‘ with quotation marks in the wrong place and direction, and other grammatical glitches. You’d expect a released game to have been fully checked for mistakes first, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
It does say in the app description that there are phrases and sentences in many other languages, such as French and German, so that could extend longevity and provide an alternative for players wanting to get a hang of other languages, but that’s not even explained in the instructions, and requires going into the iDevice settings and adjusting the actual language of the entire iPod, not just that of the app. At $2 this is a cheaper alternative to the official Wheel of Fortune game. So if you have a huge desire for these types of games, you could try out the Lite version first.
The Good
Many languages to choose from
Easy to playThe Bad
Nowhere near Wheel of Fortune
Errors throughout the game
No CPU play
Ready to use your brain in a numbers face off? Num Fight is a puzzle game where you must compete against the computer or another player to clear the board while scoring maximum 
points. You do so by strategically collecting green boxes to add to your score, and by forcing your opponent to take red boxes thus reducing their score.
It’s not all about taking the bigger numbers though, as there’s actually strategy involved. Not only do players have to plan ahead, but there’s also things like sign switchers which flip all the red and green tiles on the board, score multipliers, extra move pieces, and mystery blocks. These all add to the unpredictability and the strategy required to play Num Fight.
Controls are really simple, players switch off turns, and pieces are selected just by tapping the ones which are in the row or column that is currently highlighted. At the start of each round, a randomly generated game board is created. Also chosen at random is the starting player and the initial bar position. After a game object is selected, the bar rotates around the object 90 degrees, and the game then moves onto the next player.
There are 3 ways to play Num Fight. The first is Battle Normal, where players switch off every turn. The next is Battle Double move, where each player moves twice in a row, instead of just once. Last of all is Battle Memory, where the numbers are hidden by a question mark, so even though players know which boxes will add or subtract to the score, they don’t know the values of the numbers. These 3 game modes add to a lot of variety to Num Fight, so there’s always another way to play if you’re bored of one.
The game isn’t the prettiest one out there, with only plain backgrounds, some pixelated images, and non-spectacular images. In this section Num Fight could improve, as currently, some visuals in the game just aren’t that great, especially the menu, which is bland and doesn’t seem very well polished. It would be nice if an improvement were made to the graphics, which are a pretty week area. The sounds on the other hand, are just simple flipping and sliding effects, which do help with getting into the game a bit more.
If you’re up for a good strategy game which requires foresight and thinking, then Num Fight is for you. It’s a great strategy game, which while it doesn’t look the best, has solid gameplay. On sale for 99 cents, it would be a good buy, and the original price at 2 dollars isn’t bad either. A lite version is always available to try out first. Num Fight is recommended for anybody who wants a good brain exercise, and needs a nice change from other thinking games.
The Good
New engaging gameplay
Lots of different modes
Great thinking gameThe Bad
Graphics aren’t too hot
Could use that extra layer of polish
Love puzzles, but don’t always like the images presented, or you just usually blow right past them? Then DIY Puzzle is for you! DIY Puzzle allows you to create your own unique puzzles using the photos stored on your iPhone. Family photos, travel scenes, pictures of your dog or mother-in-law: the possibilities are endless!
You can select the difficulty of the puzzle based on the number of pieces– 4×4, 8×8, and more –as well as the color of the lines. The title page will change according to the puzzles you create. The images are pulled from your iDevice, taken from images you’ve saved, or screenshots that are taken. To take a screenshot, press the sleep and home buttons simultaneously. The screen will flash white, and a screenshot will be saved into your photos. This creates a limitless option for photos, as any pictures found from searching the web, or random pictures can be used in DIY Puzzle.
DIY Puzzle is played by tapping one square, and then tapping another picture on the grid. Those two sections then switch positions, so the goal of the game is to move all of the pieces back into their original places. The controls are easy to use, and if you’ve selected a wrong piece, tapping it again de-selects it. Every time a puzzle is completed, a notice pops up listing the amount of time it took to complete it. The time is always recorded in the menu, so it’s fun to try and finish each picture as fast as possible.
Different difficulty levels will help appeal to everyone, from the most basic 4×4 images setup, to the much more complex 10×10 setup. DIY Puzzle does not distort the images, so no resolution is lost, and images in landscape mode will be played that way. For an enjoyable and good thinking game, DIY Puzzle is a great buy. The interface and menus are extremely smooth, and while there’s no sound effects, it would be such a minimal part of the game, and it’s always possible to listen to your own music.
The only part of the game I’d like to see changed would be a way to edit already existing puzzles, instead of having to recreate it again. Also, one more game mode that would fit in well would be the option where there’s one piece taken out, and players have to slide the pieces around, instead of just swapping squares. Still, this is a great puzzle game for what it is.
If you’re looking for an excellent puzzler, DIY Puzzle is for you. It’s on sale for 99 cents right now, but even the original price of $1.99 is a great buy. This is recommended for everyone of all ages, as kids will love arranging the pieces, and more experienced players will have a great challenge with the more difficult levels.
The Good
Endless Possibilities
Smooth Gameplay
Looks Great, Works GreatThe Bad
Editing Old Puzzles Isn’t Possible
