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.

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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

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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

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Tesla Wars HD review

Title: Tesla Wars HD
Genre: Action

Released: Recent update December 14th, 2012

Price: iphone $0.99 - ipad $5.99

I have had a thing for tesla coils ever since command and conquer: red alert introduced them as base defenses.  So when i ran across this title i was excited to say the least.  When you start the game you are in the middle of a dessert/field with a gate and 1 tesla coil in the middle.  After a few seconds or so evil stick figures will start to storm the gates.  You gain cash for upgrades by rounds and per enemies you electrocute to their death.  Ofcourse there is also the option to purchase ingame cash online if you do not want to wait.  With the cash you acquire you can upgrade your defenses as well as buy special weapons that you can deploy when needed and they are also rechargeable. After each round you will need to heal the gate and recharge the stored electricity to keep your tesla going.  If you run out of juice then you have to wait for the tesla to replenish energy while you play.  Trust me its not going to work out in your favor.  Overall the game is a fast paced touch the screen to kill.  Me personally i got bored with the game after about 10 minutes.  I was hoping it was going to be more of a tower defense game.  

Overall i would give the game a 1.5 out 5 it just wasn't enough to keep me entertained.  Also after the most recent update the game is having some bugs after a couple rounds.

david

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