The iPhone App Review : iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad App News & Reviews

Price: $2.99     Score: 8/10     By A. Papachristos

When you are on the go, you don’t necessarily have the time to dive into a complicated, in-depth game.  But, with Morris by Continental Laboratories, users will find a fun, quick strategy game that requires little time, making it a great mobile companion.

Based on the classic medieval board game, 9, 11, and 12 Men’s Morris promises to be a quicker alternative to Chess or Checkers.  The numbers (9, 11, 12) indicate the number of pieces you will begin with, which you may choose on the game’s main screen.  With 10 high-resolution themes and 10 levels of difficulty to choose from, Morris will entertain gamers of all ages.

Your goal is to capture all of your opponent’s pieces or block them from making any more moves.  The game will begin with a clear board, which you will proceed to cover with your pieces.  To ruin your opponent’s chances, you must create mills, which means lining up three of your pieces in a row.  Creating such a line will capture one of your opponent’s pieces.  Once each player has placed all their pieces on the board, each will take turns moving their pieces around the board in hope of creating more mills or blocking the other from moving anywhere.  The first player to be blocked or only have two pieces left will automatically lose the game.

For more on how to play, including game tips and variations, users will find the Instructions extremely beneficial, for once you have mastered the concept, success is inevitable.  You may catch on as you play along, but taking just a few moments to read the rules will make Morris infinitely more fun.

Morris [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.1.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $1.99     Score: 7/10     By A. Papachristos

When you are a monkey depending on the durability of your leafy wings and the good graces of the wind to help you soar through the sky, much skill is needed to complete the task at hand, especially when your goal is to collect as many wind clouds as possible.  With MiniMonos Flight by A Little BC, users put take on the role of the monkey, developing skills and techniques that will help them gather those elusive clouds.

To begin, simply tap the main screen and you will be taken to the interim screen that explains the controls, such as pushing the up button helps you flap your wings, while tilting left or right helps you snatch up as many clouds as you can, but avoiding the gray pollution clouds that will ultimately have you tumbling back to Earth.

However, these instructions make the game sound easier than it is.  You see, when working with such a small device, it isn’t always easy to be precise, making skill games a bit more difficult to maneuver.  To start flying, you must tap the ‘Up’ button in the bottom right corner.  Using the ‘Up’ button uses a good amount of your energy, hence why you are advised to tilt left and right as much as possible, but the status bar at the top of the screen will keep you updated on how much energy remains.  Yet, once you take off, staying in the air remains an issue.

Upon take-off, there is the chance you will grab one or two clouds until you begin your imminent decent to the dreaded ground.  Remaining in the air is a task all on its own, however.  Tapping the ‘Up’ button once you begin to fall does not seem to help, only on initial take off does it actually make your monkey fly upward.  Instead, to launch yourself back into the air, you must land on one of the many trampolines on the ground.  Perfecting an accurate landing so you get the best bounce takes much practice, for landing on the ground will quickly zap your energy and end the game.  Perhaps I lack the necessary skill to master such a game, but I can’t help but think the controls should be a tad bit easier to manage.

MiniMonos Flight claims to offer fun and addictive game play, which is accurate to an extent.  The game can be fun when you manage to get just a bit further than your last attempt, and the addiction truly sets in when you become determined to figure out the secret to succeeding.  But sometimes the game can also be quite infuriating and discouraging, though evoking so many different emotions could also be considered exciting as it is quite and up and down adventure as well.

MiniMonos Flight [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Three sales are going on courtesy of EA games, reducing the price of many of their top games.

The Labor Day “No Work No Play” sale sets the price of many of EA’s casual iPhone and iPod Touch titles to $.99 including Monopoly Classic, Monopoly Here & Now, The Game of Life, Boggle, and Yahtzee Adventures. You can also get get SCRABBLE or RISK for just $1.99.

The Back to School Sales Event takes up to 80% off some of EA’s most popular titles on the app store including Sim City, Skate It, and Rock Band.

Finally, the Red White & Blue Sales Event puts Battleship, FIFA 10, FIFA World Cup, BOGGLE, Connect 4, Skate It, and Mass Effect Galaxy up to 70% off.

All these sales are ending very soon, so get these quality titles on the cheap while you still can!

Price: $.99     Score: 8/10     By A. Papachristos

Everyday life throws a million things your way, but you’ve got to learn what to catch and what to avoid in order to succeed.  But with Flying Discs by Legal Radiation Team, knowing what to grab and what to evade is the only key to your survival.  Flying Discs requires users to strategically and carefully catch the good colored discs, avoiding the hostile colors to remain alive and continue leveling up.

When you begin, Flying Discs will, of course, ask you to enable OpenFeint, which is an online leaderboard that tracks your scores and achievements as compare to all other players around the globe.  You will be able to connect with other gamers and share your scores via Facebook or Twitter, though you can opt out of creating an account or connecting with your existing account if you really would like.

After a few initial credits, you will finally arrive at the main screen, which allows you to choose Standard playing mode, Preschool mode, or view the tutorial.  There are three convenient tutorials available at your disposal: Fast tutorial, Video tutorial and Exhaustive tutorial.  For those who want to get a quick overview of the game, the Fast tutorial covers quite a bit in a very succinct, written manner.  The Video tutorial is ideal for anyone who learns best by seeing, while the Exhaustive tutorial is great for those who learn by doing, mastering the skills as they are presented.

Under Standard mode, users may choose from three different levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium and Hard.  For those new to the game, I highly recommend honing your skills on Easy mode first.  (And, for children ages 4-6, there’s even a Preschool mode, which is even enjoyable for beginners and the occasional lazy gamer.)

The object of the game is to collect the good discs (white, orange and red), while avoiding the hostile discs (black and yellow, like spinning hazard signs).  Users must keep the hostile discs from colliding with the good discs in order to preserve life.  Tapping the screen will create a disc collector that changes from white to orange to red, though it must be the same color of the disc it is intended to catch at the time the two collide.  Collecting white discs is quite easy for you only need to tap the disc, though orange and red take a little more thought and planning.  But beware, red discs that collide with anything else will explode and cause you to lose one of your four lives.

Every time a disc is caught, players will earn points.  Users will also have the opportunity to collect bonuses along the way that will provide another life or additional points.  Each level will conclude with a challenge that players must simply survive in order to proceed.  But with such a fast-paced, strategic style of game play, users will truly get the brain workout Flying Disc’s App Store description so accurately promises.

Flying Discs [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: Free     Score: 7/10     By A. Papachristos

For expectant mothers, being prepared for the day they give birth instills a peace of mind that makes the actual day less stressful and more memorable.  But when the day arrives, there is no guarantee you’ll be in the right place or with the right person the moment your water breaks.  However, with BabyDay by Optimized Telecom Inc, mothers have access to an alternative way to contact the people closest to them, allowing them to send a collective message to those who may be concerned.

When you begin, BabyDay will first ask to sync with your current location, then have you enter your personal data, including name and telephone number.  On the next page, users will be asked to enter contact information for their partner, including their name, email address and telephone number.  You may pick from your contacts list to make input even easier.  At the bottom of the screen, you will find a pre-programmed message that will be sent to your partner when the baby is about to be born.  You may edit this message to suit the specifics of your circumstance.

The next page allows users to add as many friends and family members as they want to notify about the big day as well.  Once all the contact information has been set, users will be taken to the main screen, which displays buttons that will quickly email or call those you’ll need most.  This message will send each contact your pre-programmed message, as well as how you are doing, where you’re going, where you are and a map thanks to BabyDay’s automatic GPS location.  Users may edit their partner’s details and any of their family’s details by using the Settings button under the ‘Call My Partner’ button.  The Settings button also leads to the very detailed Help button, which explains how to use BabyDay step-by-step.

However, besides using the last tab in the bottom navigation bar, which allows you to send announcements once the baby is actually born, users will find themselves locked out of every other feature BabyDay has to offer.  To access all the other functions, users must download the Pro version for $1.99.

With BabyDay Pro, users can then access the ability to run the due date clock, collect photos of their pregnancy in the provided gallery, keep a dated journal of all their pregnancy thoughts and experiences, and call emergency medical services right within the application itself.  However, the free version provides none of these attractive functions, reminding you they are not available every time you tap one of the buttons, asking you if you’d like to buy the complete version with each tap.

Unfortunately, the free version only provides you with the slightly less practical aspect of the entire BabyDay concept in general.  While it may seem ideal to alert your partner and entire family with the press of a single button, there remains the fact that you probably won’t be thinking about emailing every single person you know.  A mother’s main concern would be to contact her partner and get to the hospital as quickly as possible, neglecting their iPhone except to call their partner directly.  To get the most out of BabyDay, mothers-to-be are probably going to find the full version much more worthwhile, which seems to have been the plan all along considering they do nothing but dangle the additional functions in front of your face every step of the way.

BabyDay [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 4.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $.99     Score: 9/10     By A. Papachristos

All iPhone and iPod Touch devices play music, but what if you could literally play music with your gadget instead of simply listening along?

With Drums! by iFantastic, users can do just that!  Designed by industry professionals to replicate the actual experience of playing with a real drum kit, Drums! provides an extremely fun, intuitive interface that hardly takes any getting used to – just start up and go.

Users can choose from three different drum kits: Acoustic, Standard and Groove.  Each set of drums and cymbals come labeled, simplifying accurate play with a 2D interface.  Every drum and cymbal combines with such realistic sounds, you would honestly swear a real drum set was right in the very same room with you.

With the drum kit automatically set to landscape, users will see an icon at the top of the screen between the Splash and Crash cymbals that resembles a fast-forward icon.  Tapping said icon will reveal the hidden buttons that help you get even more from your drum kit.  For instance, tapping the ‘i’ in the top left corner will reveal what every other buttons indicates.

In the bottom left corner, users can sift through the three available drum kits, choosing whichever they like most.  Whatever name is displayed will indicate which drum you have picked.  Next to that are eighth note icons, which allow you to access one of Drums! most interesting features.  The note icon to the right, which is also marked by a plus sign, allows users to create a song list using music directly from your iPod.  You can add songs to your list, allowing you to play along with your favorite tunes.  The icon to the left displays the songs on your current list.  Up above, users will also find the typical iPod controls, allowing them to rewind, pause and fast-forward to more desirable tracks.

Drums! also boasts that the drums have rather low lag times, providing a accurate, responsive performance that rarely falters.  And though I did notice a few instances where the sound would lag during faster beats, with the drums then all clashing at once, Drums! certainly does make good on their promise of providing the most realistic fake drum experience one could ever hope for on such a small scale.

Drums! [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

With thanks to The Discovery Channel, The iPhone App Review is happy to give away 15 free copies of their $1.99 app WhizzBall!

WhizzBall is the ultimate is the ultimate community 3D puzzle game. Use a combination of drop funnels, rollers, springs, tubes, boxing gloves, catapults and UFO’s to get the ball to its final destination. Let the world solve and rate puzzles that you create! The promo codes below are redeemable on the US App Store only. First in best dressed, but as always, please do the right thing and leave a comment on the post to let other readers know which code you take. Enjoy!

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WhizzBall! is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and requires iOS 3.0 or later.

Price: $0.99     Score: 4/10     By M. Schusterman

Due to a lack of information in English about this app online, I have to confess I’m having a difficult time figuring out SoftAirKombatTeam by Giovanni Romano. I believe I understand the purpose; a GPS mapping app that allows you to create personalized maps to help you find places, remember spots for later, etc.

The actual design and look of the app is nice, and appears to have had some thought put into it. But I’m just not sure if the problem I’m having is that there’s a lack of instruction and clarity in how to actually use the app, or if the app itself is not working.

It opens to a screen where you are supposed to enter an “Identifier” (the name of the map) and a “Description” (details of the map). I did so, then hit “Create.” The app did find my longitude and latitude after a few seconds, but next to “Altitude,” it simply said “Wait….” And wait I did.

I didn’t move (as per the app’s suggestion) but the altitude was never recorded. I tried tapping “Fix” beneath it (the only option to tap at that point) and it just brought me to a search screen that said something about “Select Custom Miniature.”

I returned to the main menu and selected my “map” (although I never actually saw a map) and tapped “Nav.” (for navigate, I’m assuming). I was greeted with a green compass and the instruction to “Wait….” Which I did, again, to no avail.

Again, I’m not sure if the app simply wasn’t working or if the lack of instruction on how to set up a map meant I missed a step somewhere. Either way, I can’t say this app is easy to use, and seeing as the support page isn’t helpful to English speakers, I can’t recommend it.

SoftAirKombatTeam (iTunes Link) requires iPhone OS 4.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $0.99     Score: 7/10     By M. Schusterman

Maze and puzzle games tend to be my favorites in the category of iPhone games, particularly when they are well thought out and unique. What PoiPoi in Maze, an app designed by John Choi, seems to offer is dozens of mazes that are all quite similar, with the challenge being that the player can’t actually see all of the maze around them.

In other words, the maze is set up exactly like the type of maze you used a pencil to figure out on the back of your kiddie menu while Mom and Dad ordered. But you’re zoomed in, and therefore can’t strategize. You have to pick a direction and make guesses, then retrace your steps when you’ve finally moved around the maze enough to see the goal and the path you need to take to get there. For what it’s worth, I can see some players enjoying this type of challenge. For me, it was a little irritating – I just wanted to see the whole maze.

PoiPoi in Maze does offer a lot of extras for a game of this price. 42 stages, each with three levels (and every one of those available open or with a time limit) is impressive. The first of the three levels simply puts your character in a maze, and you must touch a PoiPoi leaf to win. The second has a friend you must first find, then lead to the leaf. The third adds a villain that chases you during your efforts, but he (rather amusingly) falls asleep every so often. There are also items you can pick up to make you invincible, faster, or to trap the villain.

The entire screen is the portion of the maze you are viewing, where you can see your character. In the bottom left is a large version of your character, which you touch and move up, down, left and right to control the character in the maze.

For $0.99, there’s quite a lot of hours worth of game play in this one. The limited view of the maze was an issue for me, but may not be for everyone, so this game may be worth checking out.

PoiPoi in Maze (iTunes Link) requires iPhone OS 4.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Knight’s Rush, a sequel to the popular tower defense type game, Knight’s OnRush, has been released on the app store today. Knight’s Rush, although a sequel, does not have tower defense elements. Instead, the game is more like the promo game launched for Knight’s OnRush, A Quest for Knights Onrush, which is an action adventure game. The game lets you choose from three different heroes with three different play-styles in a quest to find a powerful artifact.

The game’s features include:

• Over 40 levels across 8 unique worlds
• A choice of 3 different heroes with 3 distinct play styles
• Earn new weapons, abilities and Crystal achievements throughout your adventure
• Beautiful graphics optimized for the iPhone 4

Check out Knight’s Rush on the app store for $2.99.

Knight’s Rush is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and requires iOS 3.0 or later.