1st Impressions

This is a brand new game in the iTunes store. The description that it is a cross between a sniper game and Where’s Waldo is spot on. The object of the game us to locate and “take out” the bad dude pictured for you. The cartoonish characters are identified by clothing and hair style and color. In other words, something like blue shorts, green t-shirt, brown beard. Each bad guy comes with a reward. This reward is lowered with each missed shot. Hitting the wrong person also penalizes you. Do it too often and the game ends.

The game really isn’t a violent one. No blood or exploding heads. They don’t even fall down when hit. I can understand the need for something child-friendly, but there is more graphic violence in Road Runner than in this game. Made me wish it was a bit more realistic.

The targets are a challenge to hit. The people walk at different speeds and you have to take distance into account in your timing.. As the levels progress, you get larger, thicker crowds and more obsticles. The soundtrack is nice, but I would have preferred to be able to turn down the music while leaving the sound effects alone. Maybe that could be added in a future update.

I also found it odd that the game only seemed to depict white men of the middle-aged overweight variety. Adding different genders and nationalities into the mix may not be politically correct, but I would still love to see that. This W.A.S.P. for one is weary if always being the default bad guy.

Distant Assassin is normally $1.99, but is 50% off right now as an intruductory price. I personally enjoy relaxed puzzles and card games more than fast-paced arcade ones, but the game is definately worth a buck.

G-Maps US for the iPhone is such a large and complex/complete application that a short review posted from my iPhone would not do it justice.  When I say large, I’m talking about 585MB in size.  It’s HUGE!  And that is just the Eastern states.  But it’s also hugely useful.  Sometimes big things need big packages, and that is the case with G-Maps US.

I have to be honest here before I get started.  I don’t have (and have never really used) a GPS turn-by-turn direction system before.  Never needed one.  Back when I still drove, they were out of my price range.  Now that I’m disabled and don’t go anywhere, I don’t need one.  But the nice folks at G-Maps US were very prompt in responding to a request for a review copy, so I really want to do this fine piece of software some justice.

As I said, there is a lot to this app.  And as sparce as this overview is going to be, there is a TON of documentation, case studies, FAQ, Quick-start Guide, and so forth on the  G-Maps US web site.  If you want to skip my opinion and go straight there, you may be better off.

My first impression of this piece of software, once I deleted enough test/review apps to install it, was one of amazement.  I’d played with the iPhone GPS before, as well as the built-in Maps application, and was not overly impressed in it’s precision and detail.  The iPhone generally located me fairly close to where I was (usually indoors), but the maps didn’t even show my street.  To my amazement, G-Maps US not only had my street and address, but located me there with a precision of feet instead of miles.  Turn-by-turn directions without this level of precision was going to be an issue if the app didn’t pass this test, but it did so with flying colors.

G-Maps US answers some critical questions for the traveler…Where am I, How do I get there, and Where can I find X.  I’ve already mentioned the precision of “where am I”.  Searching for some destination could not be easier.  You can give it a city, search for a point of interest, give it a specific address, or just about anything you can think of.  You can even search by putting in the phone numbers of some businesses.  You can find local banks, ATMs, food, fuel, and so forth under the Emergency category of destinations.  Police and Hospital options are also available. Under general points of interest, you will find everything from attractions, grocery stores, restaurants by category, truck stops, and everything from Vets to Realtors.  I could find everything I could possibly think of except for one thing.  If I could add one suggestion in this area, it would be to also search for the closest free Wi-Fi.  There are so many options and categories there that I may have missed it, but if it is not included, I would think that it would be very helpful to have.

Once you locate your destination, the route info is where this application really shines.  You can follow along on the map as it tracks your progress (zooming in or out to the level of detail that you wish to see), , or even “play” the route in configurable speeds to watch how to get somewhere.  3D views of junctions in major cities are also available.  Routes can be saved and reversed as needed.  The app even calculates approximate travel times based on time of day, traffic or no traffic, and route preferences like avoiding toll roads or dirt roads or whatever.  There is even a “game” built into the app where a random local destination is chosen and you have to try to find it.  The app doesn’t talk to you yet, but that is expected to be added as soon as firmware 3.0 comes out this summer.

Other than adding Wi-Fi hotspots, my one major suggestion would be the ability to delete states that you don’t need.  I rarely travel more than 30 minutes from my home near Atlanta.  Having detialed maps of Detroit and all the businesses and points of interest of Chicago is just more than I need.  I’d love for there to be a way to delete states that you don’t need in order to free up space.  I’d also love to be able to see the directions printed out on the screen and the ability to email them.  Finally, if Apple allows it, I would love for there to be an option in the app to never lock the screen or to never lock it if the iPhone is being powered.

G-Maps US is available in a US-East and US-West version from the iTunes store.  It is $24.99, which sounds like a lot when compared to the $0.99 fart apps, but is a whole lot cheaper than having to purchase a separate GPS unit.  All in all, considering what you get, I believe it is a fair price and something that every traveler should consider.

This program does a great job of tracking illnesses and doctor visits for the specified person. You can enter pain level and temp for each day, but in this world of micro-managed medicice, I am not sure if this is frequent enough. And while there is a note field for each day, I think it really needs more when it comes to the patients overall medical condition prior to the current illness and how the curremt illness is impacting that. In other words, I see limited benefit for those with complex medical issues. I guess to me it send like overkill for those with rare things to track, but not complex enough for those documenting lots of issues that impact each other. It’s a great first start for those needing more complex medical event documentation though.

Like the cruise app I just reviewed, this app finds some of the cheapest airline fairs from your local aiport to different areas of the world. If you choose a port city, it would be nice to incorporate that in with cruise availability as well. Overall though, the app does a great job at what it does. Perhaps they could do something similar showing open seats on planes for those that travel stand-by and/or work for the airlines.

This app is perfect for finding the great cruise vacation at a great price. Tell it your party info, date of vacation, desired ports of call, days at sea, and so forth and it finds all the best deals from you. Adding in the functionality of acsuster app that does cheap airline tickets from your designatedvairpirt and you’d be all set. As you can see with thevexamples I posted, it wouldvtakeva lotmore rrffott to come to these fimdgs
Online without a lot of on-hold time with an agent whould findbyou the safe fairs. The nenefitbi see to this app isvrhat youncam call the travel agent and spend a lotbless time on them. I would love the ability to compare particular findings and have that sent by email. Overall though, the app does a very google job at delivering just what it promises

I have just deleted the other maze games off my iPhone. Why? Because the endless supply of generated first-person 3D levels of this game makes those others seem like something I could play on my Atari 25-years ago. It is just that good. When you start a level, you can select the size of the maze in which you will find yourself. They range from 5×5x5 to some obscene number like 10×10x25. Controls remind me of Doom or something similar. You can look up and down, turn around 360-degrees, and move forward and back. Moving forward while looking up or down a ladder takes you to a different level of the maze. Tilt controls can also be used, but I prefer the touch controls. Your progress is timed, and you can optionally add a compass and/or breadcrumbs to your screen, but it impacts your time. On the larger levels though, it is probably a necessity. RealMaze3D is a new $0.99 release in the iTunes store and is definately worth the buck. One word of warning though…don’t play this in a moving car without some dramamine.

This 40-level 3D version of those box-pushing games is a real piece of eye-candy. It may not have as many levels (yet) as some competing games in that genre, but the graphics make up for that. The zooming in and out is a really nice touch. And the puzzles are complex enough to last you for quite a while. If you are into the highest quality games of a particular type, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. This one is a keeper in my book.

Other than the background graphic, these two apps are virtually identical. Enter the baby name and due date, or the couple name and wedding date (and hopefully those dates are not the same), and it does a countdown for you. These are pretty significant and are difficult to forget, but I guess the countdown could be usefull if neither you or your partner were keeping track in your head. For me though, the app was too focused on a single event. I would have preferred a single app that kept track of birth dates, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and other events with appropriate backgrounds or user selected photos and titles. The ability to use the next event as your wallpaper would be a nice addition as well.

If you ever wished you could play “Dear Abby” or wanted answers to critical problems from total strangers with unknown worldviews, then this app is for you. It wasn’t really my cup of tea. Based on a lot if the questions asked, the app seems to have a concentration of young users. Not really the pool of wisdom that I would normally turn to if I needed advice. On the other hand, maybe some adult advice to questions like the example I posted might just help. I would suggest the ability to request advice from specified genders and age brackets might make it a but more relevent. I already know what people me think. Being able to specify a target group to get advice from would give this app much more power.

As much as I like the app, Religion is a case of a party that just doesn’t quite get started. It is basically a religion oriented chat room. It is wonderfully executed, but without a lot of activity, it has limited use. It’s a shame really. I’ll pass for now, but will likely revisit this app later to see if it has more interaction.