1st Impressions

In celebration of the recent release of Eggbot’s Irish Adventure, we are having a contest.  The first person to purchase it from iTunes, post a review of it in the App Store that links to the review here, and emails your App Store name (so we can verify the post was from you), will receive a promo code for a free copy of TileStorm.  Again, here are the rules

1. Purchase Eggbot’s Irish Adventure

2. Write a review on the App Store that also links to the review here

3. Email me your App Store ID (you know, that part that says “By Your Name – Version 1.0 – Mar 13, 2010 at the top of your review)

Eggbot’s Irish Adventure, another TileStorm game, has just hit the iTunes store and, with St. Patrick’s day just around the corner, it is not a day too soon.

Developed by Andrew Cakebread, one of the nicest developers I have had the pleasure of dealing with ( even if he is English…LOL), Eggbot’s latest adventure takes him to Ireland where he strives to make his way through all 32 counties in Ireland. Along the way you need to help him attempt to earn his fortune by gathering all 1,000 gold coins, each of which is worth an Open Feint achievement point as well.

While this sequel only has 32 levels vs. the 100 levels in TileStorm, the difference is that many of these levels contain multiple puzzles as well as multiple types of puzzles.

The graphics are nothing to sneeze at either. Not only are they in colorful 3D but residents, fans, or even previous vacationers to Ireland will recognize many of the lankmarks portrayed in various counties including the Blarny Castle, thr Spire of Dublin, and the Giants Causeway in County Antrim.

After spending some time with the game about the only suggestion I can make that might make the game more playable (especially for old folks like me with poor eyesight) would be to make the moveable tiles a little more distinguishable from the surrounding landscape so that they are more easily discernible from the landscape around it.

Eggbot’s Irish Adventure is available in iTunes for only $0.99. If you like it as much as I do than you won’t hesitate to grab a copy of TileStorm at the same price as well.

Every once in a while there are games that I run across in the iTunes store that I just have to review – even if I have to, due in many cases to a lack of patience , purchase it myself instead of waiting on a developer to marketing company to provide me with a promo code.

Such is the case when it came to TileStorm.  Due to other puzzle games that I have recently reviewed, the Genius feature on my iPhone recommended  TileStorm and I am glad it did.

With over a hundred levels, TileStorm by Andrew Cakebread (it is amazing that a game of this quality was released by an individual instead of one of the top iPhone developers…) is at its heart a sliding tile type puzzle game with a twist.  You see, as you progress in the game, you encounter not only the need to reuse some of the tiles but encounter tiles with special properties such as them being stuck to another tile (requiring you to remove two at a time) or other special features such as jumping from one tile to another.   If I could make one suggestion on the game it would be the ability to pan, zoom, and rotate the puzzles so that you could get a better perspective on them.

The 3D graphics are really amazing to the point that it makes it into my “eye candy” game category.  You have to complete all the games in one of the four worlds before you can advance to the next.  While the graphics in the first level were kinda basic, the screenshots I have seen of the three worlds are absolutely amazing.  Here are a list of some of the game’s other features:

- 100 challenging maps of generally increasing difficulty..
- 4 beautiful themes including Industrial, Egypt, Medieval and Jungle
- 5 great tunes – classic game tracks for each theme and the menus
- Intuitive and responsive controls
- Fast fully 3D graphics engine; TileStorm looks great on any iPod or iPhone, but runs fantastically well on a 3gs
- Extremely fast launch time
- Automatic game save on exit
- Full player statistics stored under options menu including combined paying time and number of screen presses
- Individual level times stored.. go back any time and try to beat your fastest time
- Factory reset option available
- Automatic ’screen flip’ for inverted use
- Fully functional audio mute; listen to your own music whilst playing TileStorm
- TileStorm can be downloaded straight to your phone over a 3G or Edge connection

If you would like to see a video of the game in action, showcasing levels from all four of the worlds,  check it out here.  Afterwards I am sure that you, like me, will rush over to the iTunes store and purchase it for yourself.  For $1.99 you will receive hours and hours of puzzle solving pleasure. One of the best features of the game is that, if you get stuck, the developer promises to help you get past that level so that you can progress in the game.  This is the first puzzle game that I have played that has come with that kinda offer.  So many times in the past I have gotten stuck for hours on a certain puzzle and ended up just putting the game down, thereby wasting the rest of the levels.

Last night I was watching a Nighteline special in which they were filming hybrid animals. They had thus absolutely huge (and beautiful) liger (a cross between a tiger and a lion) as well several other species.  It was while watching that segment that it dawned on me that The Wars by Deluxware is exactly that – a hybrid between a tower defense game and a strategic game like Civilization because you have to balance your strategy between fighting against your opponent and upgrading your civilization through 6 different periods of time. The advantage is that each of them have their own unique weapons and other game elements and so upgrading from one era to the next.( You gradually make your way from the cave man era all the way into the nuclear age. )

For example, the game starts out in the cave man era and you begin my pitting your cave man against your opponent. You can gradually upgrade your cave man and even get wooly mammoths to ride, making you even more stronger. Before realizing the second component to the game I spent all my recourses on upgrading my cave men until I had several wooly mammoths and were killing my opponents as soon as they stepped out their door.

Imagine my surprise when my opponent’s cave turned into a castle and the cave men were replaced with knights in armor and carrying swords.  Before I knew what was going on they had killed all my men, my mammoths, and were destroying my base before I knew what was happening.

One of the interesting things about the game is the “secret weapon” that is available periodically.  Imagine my surprise when I tapped on it in the cave man era and say a cave man in a rudimentary wooden helicopter fly over and drop rocks on everybody.  In other levels the secret weapon might be a bomber or even a UFO.

The Wars is available in the iTunes store for the very reasonable price of $0.99 and worth every dollar.

The unfortunate fact is that, when anyone in Hollywood wants to release a sequel to summer blockbuster, they know that the sequel has to much better than the original (more explosions, gore, or special effects depending on the type movie) in order for the fans of the original to perceive it as even being “as good” much less “better than” the prequel.

Astraware has released Tradewinds 2 for the iPhone and I would like to take a moment and look at it both as a stand-alone game as well as comparing it to the original.

Traadewinds 2 by Sandlot Games is designed around you playing the part of a pirate as you attempt to build your fortune.  You do this by going from port to port (in the Caribbean vs. the Far East)  and picking up jobs (such as rescuing someone or simply delivering goods from one port to another) and/or fighting other pirates and, claiming their booty for your own. There are several captains, each with their own different story line, to choose from (although some will only be unlocked if you complete the game as one of the available ones) and about 20 different ports that you can ultimately visit. There is even a character generator that can be used once you finish the game as an existing choice of captains.

Once you reach port you can gain valuable intel by buying drinks for the locals at the bar or head straight to the local governing body to pick up an assignment.  While in port be sure to take time to have your ship repaired or upgraded at the shipyard.

Tradewinds 2 is great as a standalone game but I was actually disappointed when I began comparing it to the original. My son, who has spent hours with this version and more hours than I can count with the original, wrote up this list of pros and cons when he compared it to the original:

Pros:

• Many more cities to unlock and then visit than the original TW
• Four (instead of three) starting captains, with two (instead of one) unlock-able ones, each with their own unique ship bonus

Cons:

• The economic tips only refer to one city, depending on which captain you choose
• Instead of having X ships battling against X number of ships simultaneously, you only one ONE ship against X number of enemy ships…. You can upgrade your ship and # of cannons, but you still end up with ALL them shooting at just you
• The music is annoyingly low-quality, and unique per city (Note: you can choose to listen to music from your iPhone library if you wish…)

Conclusion: if you are a fan of strategy games then you will find this game quite appealing.  If you are a fan of the original and are looking for vast improvements in the sequel then you will enjoy it but might be disappointed with it as well.  Available for $3.99 in the iTunes store, I think it might be slightly overpriced but fans will enjoy it all the same.

This article is not a review of the perfect alarm clock but rather a “wish list” if you will about what I wish I could fine in one single application.

Since first acquiring my iPhone about 2.5 years ago I have purchased numerous alarm clock or apps designed to soothe you to sleep with relaxing music or sounds.  While it would be ideal to have both kinds of apps combines into one (and some developers have tried with varying degrees of success), I would like to focus this article on what I think would be the ideal alarm clock application.

Before getting into those features, let me explain how I typically use my iPhone at night.

• First of all, I have a hard time sleeping much of the time so I enjoy listening to soothing music or playlists full or babbling brooks or rain showers accompanied by binaural tones designed to help you sleep.
• Next I have to dim the brightness of my iPhone so that the brightness of the clock don’t keep me awake.
• I then have to make sure that my jail-broken phone has the correct profile running (I wouldn’t need to jail-break it if Apple would release apps like that…) to block all pop-ups by turning off WIFI and placing the phone into airplane mode. (It doesn’t do any good to have a clock running during the night if a pop-up blocks the display….)
• If I need to get up at a specific time I then need to turn on an alarm in the default clock application so that, regardless of the volume level I have my soft music playing, the alarm will go off loud enough to wake me.
• Finally I can start the night-stand type clock application I use and place my phone in a charging dock for the night.

So, what would an ideal alarm clock application need to have in order to make me happy?

1.       Provide me with sleep timer during which it will fade in and then fade out music of my choice or built in “go to sleep” music or sounds

2.       Access the camera for the first few minutes to adjust the brightness of the clock as you prepare for bed and get the lights turned out

3.       Provide the option to either block all pop-up notifications or, at least, remove them from the screen after a pre-determined time period

4.       Allow for separate volume levels for the music that is playing and the alarm that is set from within the app

SO… are those four things too much to ask for in a single application? You tell me. Better yet, if you know of an application that comes close to offering those features, leave a comment and let me know.  I would love to check it out.

Several years ago I remember an automobile commercial (I think it was for Oldsmobile) that used the catch phrase, “This Is not your father’s Oldsmobile…” The purpose was to emphasize the differences between the old model and the new one.

Well, I would like to borrow that phrase and say to the folks that were fans of the original Ragdoll Blaster, “This is not your father’s Ragdoll Blaster!!” You see, to compare the new one to the old one would be like comparing the new Ford hybrid to the old Model T. It would be like comparing a Rembrandt or Picasso to a cave man’s drawing. It would be like comparing my wife to…… well, I better not go there but you get the idea.

The game play itself is basically the same but the game has been totally revamped. The graphics are far better (utilizing numerous colorful backgrounds as well as much better graphics for the game elements) and the entire gaming experience has been improved to the point that it is like listening to a band on an old cassette tape versus hearing them in person.

There have been many changes to the game including almost 50% more levels (150 or more), replacing a dashed blue “sight line” with a red laser sight, and adding many more physics elements including secondary cannons, portals, gravity wells, and such.

As I have said in previous reviews, I love physics based games and Ragdoll Blaster 2 has just jumped to the top of my Must Have application list. While there is a lite version available for trial purposes, don’t waste your time. Ragdoll Blaster is available for only $2.99 from iTunes and is worth every bit of that and more.

The only thing I didn’t like about the game was its use of Plus+ to keep track of high scores instead of Open Feint which I think is beginning to become the standard in the online leader board contest. Of course the ability to imagine that the ragdolls are family or co-workers when you fire then into walls is a bonus so I guess the two balance each other out… LOL

I love physics based games.  I guess the love for building things or figuring out how things work can be traced back to all the time spent with Tinker Toys as a child (building a hammer to beat my brother over the head with) and even stealing my own kid’s Legos to build things.  When physics based games first came to the PC I can remember spending hours and hours playing The Incredible Machine.  Now, with the processor speed and graphics capabilities (and accelerometer) of the iPhone, I can keep games like these in my pocket and play them whenever I want.

The latest of this genre that I have installed and spent time with is FunkyBall Worlds.  Unlike games like Ragdoll Blaster, Enigmo, or Crazy Machines, three entirely different kinds of physics based games in that same genre, FunkyBall Worlds utilizes the accelerometer as well as touch controls of the iPhone to control a ball and try to get it from one end of the level to the other. Along the way you “jump” the ball from one floating platform to another, all of them at different levels, angles, and sometimes even moving.  If that weren’t difficult enough, the levels get more and more difficult by adding things such as mortars, mines, lasers, and even worse.  You are not only playing against the clock but try to collect additional points by collecting stars along the way.  The final scores are not only available within the game but, like many other Astraware games, can be posted online and compared to your friends scores utilizing Open Feint.

The graphics in the game are just what you would expect from anything Astraware releases and that is absolutely beautiful.  The things that impressed me the most about the game is the ease in which you control the game as well as the fact that, after playing just a few levels, you begin to get addicted to it to the point that I can’t even put it down while trying to watch the NASCAR race in Atlanta.

FunkyBall Worlds comes with three different worlds with 24 levels per world. If you want to take it for a test drive, there is a Lite version which gives you a good taste by providing the same three worlds with but only 3-4 levels in each.  FunkyBall Worlds is available in iTunes for $2.99.  If you want to check out a YouTube video of the game, you can watch it here.

Create A Mall is a $3.99 game in the App Store.  It reminds me of a cross between Sim City and a Tower Defense game.  The premise is that you have to build a successful mall.  Starting out with small shopping centers as a 3-level  tutorial, you build, and then upgrade, different types of stores in order to balance revenue with popularity.  It is this upgrade option that reminds me of upgrading towers in a TD game.  You can also destroy a store so that you can put something new in its place.

The game is going to offer the casual gamer a lot of play time.  There are a total of 30 different “levels” in six different cities.  As you complete each level, you are awarded money that you can use to upgrade or build stores as well as spend in the stores that you create.  You are also given trophies for meeting different goals.  These can be displayed in your office.

The unfortunate part of this game is that it seems to be geared solely to female players.  Doesn’t matter if you give your player name as “Daniel”, you will be referred to in the game as “Kelly” and playing as a girl for girly things.  When it comes time to purchase things, it seems geared towards women’s jewelry, women’s shoes, women’s blouses, and so forth.  Makes it kind of hard for a guy to get excited about.

I like the concept of the game though.  Although I’ve never played Sim Tower, I’d think that the game would appeal to more of that type of audience if it was either gender-neutral, or offered playing as a male character with sporting goods stores, electronics stores, hunting/fishing stores, and so forth.  If it added this, I could really see justifying a $3.99 price point.  As it is though, I’d only recommend it to those that really like things like Diner Dash or other girl-friendly time management games.

This review is probably different than any other that I have written in that my opinion of the game (or multiple games as in this case) changes as the review goes on so pay attention and see if you can follow my train of thought.

Handmark and Astraware have become world leaders when it comes to games for the smart phone and the graphics capabilities of the iPhone really allowed they to create some great games that are beautiful as well.  I have purchased several of them for my iPhone (many more than I would admit to my wife… LOL)  and found them to be some of the favorite games I have on my iPhone.

With all that being the case, I have to admit that I was initially a little disappointed with the implementation of the games that were included in Astraware Board Games. I felt like Randy Jackson when, while judging contestants in American Idol, he begins by saying, “You know I like you, Dog, but I have to keep this real.  That song just didn’t do it for me.”  By that I mean that I am a great fan of Astraware and have reviewed their games for years but this one in particular just didn’t impress me as much as I had hoped the first time I spent much time with it. If forced to, I would have initially given it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. It isn’t because of anything glaringly wrong with any aspect of the game (graphics or game play) but, after giving it some thought, I think the issue is probably more to do with the games included than anything else.  I would have probably paid double or triple the price if the board games included were a little more complex such as Monopoly, Scrabble, The Game of  Life, or other very popular board games. Of course licensing for those games would probably be an issue that would prevent that.

With nine different games available to play, each providing not only instructions but also hints if needed, the game does indeed offer a lot of variety and the graphics are indeed very good in each game (even the more simple ones such as Tic Tac Toe) but in my opinion they just didn’t seem to quite reach the same level as other board games I have such as Monopoly of Scrabble.  Of course those games can easily cost $5.99 each so I guess getting 9 games for under $3.00 is actually a pretty good deal.

The nine different games available are Chess, Backgammon, Ludo, Checkers, Reversi, Nine Men’s Morris, Snakes and Ladders, and Tic Tac Toe.  While I was initially only familiar with five of these, the instructions and hints available with the games easily provided me enough help to play the others as well. Another advantage is that you can play each of these games against the computer or with other family members.

Astraware Board Games is available via iTunes for $2.99.  When you think about it, that is actually a great deal ($0.33 per game) and, for the price, is actually a great deal.  I can think of one situation in particular where this game would really come in handy and that is to occupy your kids in the back seat of a long road trip.  They could spend hours occupying themselves individually or playing together.  How many parents wouldn’t pay a lot more than $3.00 to keep their kids occupied while you drive? LOL