Jetpack joyride Free Game (review)

Title: JetPack Joyride

Genre: Action

Release/update: November 20, 2012
Price: FREE!!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

After my last review I went out to find other games that were similar to canabalt.  I was pleasantly surprised when I ran across jetpack joyride.  I don't even know where to start with this game.  It is awesome from the beginning to the end in so many different ways.  Lets start with the best feature... Its FREE that's right totally free, and not one of those "lite" versions that let you get a taste of the game before you buy it.  This baby is free as can be.  In jetpack joyride you start off breaking into an experimental laboratory where they have a jetpack prototype.  The goal is to see how far you can get before you die from either running into an electric fence, or being shot with a random rocket, they even have freaking laser beams! (without sharks attached).  The controls are easy touch anywhere on the screen to activate your jetpack to fly up and untouch the screen to turn off the jetpack and go back to the ground where you can run.

Also in the game are power up vehicles that you can obtain and i'm not just talking about 1 or 2 they have 6 extra vehicles that can come into play (my favorite is the bad as hog).  From motorcycles to machines that teleport  all over the map as you play.  While you play you want to collect as many coins as you can because they can be used to purchase upgraded equipment, or to customize your character and unlock gadgets that will help you along the way.  These coins can of course be purchased for a small fee if you do not want to wait till you save up enough. Also while your playing the game you will notice flying tokens on the map.  You will want to try not to pass them up because they give you a spin on a slot machine at the end of the round. This slot machine has the power to bring you back to life, give extra coins, give head starts for the next round, and even blast your dead body further down the map to give you more distance. If some how you can possibly get bored with this awesomeness there are side challenges to complete during gameplay.  This game has so much to offer its mind blowing that its actually for free.  If you don't have it already I recommend you go download it now.

so far my personal best is 2,369m but I am not going to go out like that!

david

check out some of the in game captures below

Read more »

Cananbalt Review

Title: Canabalt

Genre: Action.Run

Release/update: December 20, 2011

Price: $2.99

Rating: 3 out of 5 

Have you ever wondered what would happen if we were attacked by aliens and you were at work?  What would be your escape route?  how would you survive the alien Apocalypse?!  If you have ever had thoughts like these then this might be the game for you.  In canabalt you see how far you can run before you meet your untimely death.  There are plenty of obstacles in your path to slow you down or just plain end your survival all together.  What i like about this game is that the level is always changing so you don't get bored.  The controls are as basic as basic can get.  Tap anywhere on the screen to jump, that's it. So the objective of the game is to run and run as far and fast as you can.  You lose by falling to your death.  So you first start off in an office building but quickly you are out the window and on to the roof tops.
There are boxes and trashcans that if you run into them they will slow you down a good amount.  If you are going to slow then you will not reach the next building when you jump.  Not only do you have to dodge miscellaneous objects but some of the buildings that you are running on begin to collapse as you are on top of them forcing you to try to jump to the next rooftop or fall with the building.  (falling with the building does not help at all fyi)  If that's not enough there are also random missiles that fall from the sky and crash in front of you blocking your path.  The developers of the game also put some well placed visual distractions as well.  At random times the screen will shake as another building collapses to the ground.  There are doves on the roof top that fly as you get close to them (it took me a minute but i was able to get a screen cap of them, i died afterwards... it was worth it) also in the background you can see giant robots destroying the city you once knew. I would like to mention the song that plays in the background as you play is awesome!! The song RUN by danny baranowsky really keeps you pumped up while your playing.  Most of the time one of the first things i do is turn of the background music because it tends to get repetitive or it is just plain horrible, but i have not yet to get tired of hearing this song while i'm playing.  The game is ok, but for a game that was made in 2 weeks $2.99 is a bit much.  This should be more of a 0.99 cent game at most.

david

 My best so far is 2,744m..... but i'm working on that still -_-
You can also play the game online for free on the developers website http://adamatomic.com/canabalt/
here are some more in game screen captures i took.

Read more »

Flow Paper Review

Title: Flow Paper

Genre: Drawing/Art

Release/update: November 15, 2012

Price: $0.99

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Have you ever caught your self in class or at work during a meeting just doodling in a notebook to pass time?  If so then this app might be right up your alley.  With flow paper you can doodle pretty much anything and make it look like art work.  The options tend to be a bit limited but with whats available you can make works of art in no time.  Honestly the picture i made at the end was made in 5 minutes with just messing around with the filter options.  There are about 4 different settings that you can adjust to get a different result.  One thing i don't agree with is after you buy the app there is another option that is available for an additional purchase at $0.99  Me personally i think this should be included if you are paying for the original app.  All in all this is a good app for the price its simple yet you can get lost in it for hours trying to create something exotic.  Honestly when i'm on this app i'm in my own personal zone kind of like a meditation state.  Below you can check out the transition from start to finish on the master piece i have titled. "Stick Red Boss" Enjoy

david

Read more »

Stickman Cliff Diving Review

Title: Stickman Cliff Diving

Genre: Action/strategy 

Release/update: December 21, 2012

Price: $0.99 

Rating: 3 out of 5

Have you ever played a game that seemed so simple and basic but was still challenging enough to aggravate you to keep playing because it became personal?!?  Well my friends do I have a treat for you although this game was released in June of 2010 (I swear it was on the front page of the app store or somewhere near it). With stick man cliff diving the point of the game is simple, You're given a dive to complete and you have 3 tries to complete it.  In order for you to pass the dive you will have to match or beat the points for the dive while doing the desired dive.  For example lets say the dive they want you to do is a double flip and you do an epic 5 flip dive and land it.  The judges will give you a great score but you will not make it to the next round because you did not do the requested dive.

If you accomplish the dive you move on to the next dive on a higher cliff but if you do not complete the dive in the 3 tries offered.  Then you will be forced to start back from the beginning (yes the first dive...) Unless you have earned enough gold coins along the way from your previous dives to bribe the judges to give you another shot or to skip the dive completely.  If you do not have enough gold to bribe the judges there is an option to actually buy more gold coins.  The controls are really simple: 1 button on the left to jump and 1 button on the right to control the spins of your diver.  This is a game that you can pick up and start playing right away, no loading no need for instructions or walk through, tutorials.  It would be nice to be able to pick up from the last highest level you were at versus having to start from the beginning again.  Also a free dive mode would be nice just to see what you could do and for practice.  Overall this game is an easy buy at 99 cents plus its stickfigures!

david

Read more »

Catapult king review

Title: Catapult King

Genre: Action/strategy 

Release/update: December 20, 2012 

Price: $0.99

Rating: 3 out of 5

When you first open catapult king you can tell that a lot of time and effort was put into the graphics alone.  This is your basic knock em down in 3 shots or less game.  It kind of reminds me of angry birds to a certain extent.  But instead of suicidal birds crashing into structures its giant stones of death.  Since this is based on medieval times one cannot rule out magic.  If you get bored of catapulting giant stones at your enemies and their forts.  You can switch it out for a number of different attacks.  From meteor showers to earthquakes and twisters.  This game is easy to play you literally can just pick it up and go.  You use your finger to slide back the catapult to the desired power and on the right they have a gear to adjust the angle you fire at.   To me this game was fun but it seems like it would be more suited to children to keep them pre-occupied. The graphics are awesome but are sure to take a chunk out of your battery life after a couple of rounds.  With a price of just $0.99 (for both iphone and ipad) its worth a try. Included are over 80+ levels which is a bonus if you want to keep your kids or little brother or sister quiet/occupied for some time.

david

Here are some more in game screen shots.

Read more »

Contre Jour HD review

Title: Contre Jour HD

Genre: Puzzle

Release/update: June 2nd, 2012

Price: $2.99 ipad / $0.99 iphone

Rating: 4 out of 5

This game was mentioned to me by a friend at work so I had to check it out to see what the hype was about.  In Contre Jour (French for 'against daylight' which explains the color scheme)  You are little circular character with one eye and what i assume is a cape. Your goal is to get the one eye'd crusader to the blue portal to make it to the next round.  You obtain bonus's when you collect all the glowing blue balls before you reach the end portal. What I really like about this game that makes it different then the rest is that you can control the elements.  Moving or reshaping the ground you are on and using the objects around you to obtain your goal.  



There are different elements that are available for you to use and as you progress through the levels new elements come into play. As you progress through the levels you unlock different worlds with new elements color schemes and backgrounds.  Don't let me fool you this game is by far not a simple puzzle game.  There are obstacles in the way that will prevent you from reaching the end and making you start over.   I played one level for over 30 minutes and had to go to a break and come back to it before i was able to figure it out. (which was actually a lot easier then what i was trying to do for 30 minutes -_-)  Overall this game is an easy buy just for its creativity alone.  It has 5 worlds with about 20 levels each,  which is more then enough to keep you entertained for quite some time.

david 

Here are some more in game pictures below.

Read more »

Wheel of fortune Review

Title: Wheel of Fortune

Genre: Game show puzzle

Release/Update: December 06, 2012

Price: $2.99

If you are a fan of wheel of fortune than this game will not disappoint you. When you open it up you can get into the game play right away.  There are different options on the title screen.  You have solo play where you take on 2 other players to see who can earn the most money and make it to the bonus round by solving the puzzles.  Pass and Play where you can actually play with others on a single device by taking turns.  You can also purchase more themes which include usually 100 more puzzles if you ever happen to solve the included 2000 that come with the original download.

       Even if you are not familiar with the game show and this is your first time playing the game, its very easy to pick up on that a tutorial is not needed.  Overall the game is just like it is on tv its challenging and has competitive A.I.  One thing that would make this game over the top would be including a multi-player option so you could play with random people or your friends online.  Hopefully this will be an option in the future.  Needless to say if you are a fan of the show than the game will not disappoint.  These rounds are not quick round either, I'm pretty sure it took about 15-20 just to beat one "show" as a contestant.  The only other thing i could think of that would make it a little better would be if they were able to get voices from the host and the contestants.  Currently its all text bubble based like in a comic book.  My rating for this game would be 4 out of 5 for staying true to the game play based on the show.

david

Read more »

Matrix defender review (tower defense)

Title: Matrix Defender

Genre: Tower Defense 

Price: $2.99

I am a big fan of tower defense games.  To say i was excited when i downloaded this app would be an understatement.  When you start up the game you are presented with three different options for game play.  Boot camp, normal and hell mode.  I know what you're thinking "this inst my first rodeo i know how tower defense games roll son"  I made the same mistake too and was taken out quickly in the first round on normal.  After picking my pride back up off of the floor i went back to the main menu and hit up the boot camp. With matrix defender you have 4 different pods/towers that you can deploy onto the map.  3 of these towers are for attacking the oncoming bots that are trying to make it to the end of the map.  The cool thing about these pods is that they can be upgraded and enhanced to different weapons of your choice.  For example the tower that starts off as a flame thrower can be upgraded to a laser beam that if positioned in the right place can hit more than one enemy at a time, which is good for strategy.  

There is a plethora of maps to choose from basic to expert.  What i noticed while playing is that its all how you position your towers and how quickly you can upgrade them.  The last pod is used to assist the towers in range are slow down or damage the shields of the enemies in range.  On normal mode you have a bit of time during each round to place and upgrade your towers before the next round started.  That is not the case in hell mode (which i assume is why it is called hell mode)  This game is challenging to say the least! even on normal mode i still have yet to make it out of the first map to get to the second map.  seriously i make it to the last round every time and get demolished.  One thing that i would have liked to see in this game is a sandbox level where i can have time to set everything up and see how long my towers can last.  Also it would be nice if you could control the speed of the game, slow it down or speed it up.  Its a bit pricey for a tower defense game but if this is a genre that you are interested in then it is worth the buy.  This will easily be hours of playtime on your ipad or iphone.  My overall rating for this title would be a 3.5 out of 5

David

Read more »

Respawnables Review

Title: The Respawnables

Genre: First Person Shooter

Price: Free

Hey guys David here,  This Review is for a new game that was just released recently called "The Respawnables"  Its a first person shooter that you can play online against others or on your device against the computer.  As you play you earn money that you can turn around and purchase new guns.  You can also customize your character with different items, some items will increase your characters stats as well.  The controls are basic and easy to pick up.  They use the onscreen joystick where the left side is for moving and the right side for shooting, you can also use the whole screen to swipe and look around.  There is a bit of an auto-aim that helps you when you engage an enemy but mainly its up to you to stay on target when firing.   

Now i did have some issues when trying to go online.  The first time it was just stuck in connecting and i had to go out and go back into the game.  That may be due to the fact that there were no active games.  When i did get online there were two options free for all and team death match.  I personally liked free for all but both were ok.  There was a bit of lag at time and it migrated hosts a lot.  The sniper rifle feels like it needs to be nerfed down a bit.  Also when upgrading, some guns and un-lockables could only be purchased with gold.  In order to get gold you have to buy online.  Which i assume why the game itself was free.  Its always good to have an option to buy gold/money online for the players that don't want to wait to earn it through game play.  But this kinda feels like you are being forced to buy the gold if you want some un-lockables..... or you could just play without them.

My thoughts on the game:

PROS:

• good graphics
• online multi player
• its free
• customization options for character

CONS:

• server issues online
• not enough players online if any
• some items can only be purchased
• aiming is difficult 

overall i would give this game a 2.5 out of 5.  Its free so its not going to cost you anything to try it out but you will probably play it once and move on.  There are more in game pictures below

david

Read more »