Bang! Is an old school arcade game that has a lot of explosions and some pretty funky graphics. Bombs fall from the sky at an unstoppable pace and your job is to make sure you blow them right out of the sky. Be sure to get any planes, trains or automobiles that might drop in too.
Bang! may seem like a pretty easy game to play but it becomes increasingly difficult as you play it. A barrage of bombs float all over the screen and your mission is to make sure that you get all of them. If three of them float past you it’s game over.
Go for an airplane and you’ll have to be quick to make up the time. It takes ten taps of an airplane in order to blow it up. It’s nearly impossible to blow an airplane without losing some bombs. This challenge alone is enough to frustrate the average player into trying to beat this game.
Bang! is pretty simple looking. It has standard cartoon graphics that are very reminiscent of 1970’s arcade games and cartoon games. The sounds are okay. The explosions don’t sound as much like explosions as they do fire crackers. The game over music is definitely sad and indicative of loss.
Bang! is a game of speed and skill. What it lacks are levels that give the player a break and allow them to assess how they’ve done. It would be nice to have a simple stat bar that displays the level you’ve cleared, how many explosions you’ve gotten or how accurate you’ve been with the targets. This makes the player feel more like a victor than a drone. It also makes you feel like you’re building up towards some big goal.
The challenge isn’t bad for casual gamers, but serious iPhone gamers may be left wanting a little more bang for their bucks.
- app_name: Bang!
- price: $1.99
- rating: 6/10
The Seafood Guide iPhone app based on the Seafood Watch educational service from Monterey Bay Aquarium is a seafood guide designed to help you make sustainable seafood choices quickly and easily. Seafood Guide allows you the convenience of access to an enormous amount of information right from your iPhone.
Many of us, in our efforts to live with as minimal an impact on the environment as possible, have taken measures towards living green by incorporating more choices that increase sustainability. Doing so requires making selections that assure we’re not negatively impacting a species into extinction. Further to live healthier we must feel confident that we are not consuming a product that contains high levels of hazardous chemicals such as mercury.
Seafood Guide provides us with the assurances we need when making a decision on the purchase of seafood at our favorite market, restaurant, or sushi bar. In the past I’ve had cards that I picked up with similar information and carried them with me until they were frayed and unreadable. I’ve had previous success using similar seafood watch services that utilized texting. I’d text a type of the seafood and quickly receive sustainability and health information back via a text message.
I found Seafood Guide to be a superior option. Using Seafood Guide, I simply selected my region and scrolled through a list of seafood. The ability to have so much information was remarkable, but the depth of the information was the single most important factor in finding the Seafood Guide more desirable than the texting option by leaps and bounds. I immediately had hundreds of choices and detailed research right in front of me. With the texting option I would obtain a lot less information and only one text at a time.
When using Seafood Watch you select a seafood and you’ll notice a section along the left column. For instance I’ve selected Arctic Char (Farmed). Along the left is a shaded green area that states Best Choice. After tapping on Arctic Char, I’m taken to an additional page that has a picture of an Arctic Char on the top and below the picture three sections — Rating, Consumer Notes, and Summary.
I learn from the Rating section that farmed-raised Artic Char is rated Best Choice because it’s farmed in an ecological manner. Under Consumer Notes I’m informed that Artic Char is fished both commercially and recreationally but most sold in the U.S. is farmed. I also learn that when sold as sushi it is called Iwana. Finally, under Summary, I learn what farming procedures are used, and why those methods create only a low risk of pollution. Also explained were the factors taken into account that resulted in the recommendation provided.
Seafood Guide is a wonderful app to incorporate into your lifestyle. It’s handy, easier than carrying a bunch of cards around and far more efficient than the texting option. This is one app that I plan on using a lot. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has done an excellent job of making sure that their Seafood Watch research is accessible and convenient to use.
- app_name: Seafood Watch
- price: Free
- rating: 9/10
To be honest, I’m sitting on the fence where iCatchall: 16+ Apps in One is concerned. Brought to you by Headlight Software Inc., the makers of wifi disk and other utility/productivity tools, iCatchall: 16+ Apps in One is exactly as the name implies — 16 different apps in one with the + presumably indicating more to come. Basically, it’s a compilation of some of the more popular free utility and miscellaneous apps as well as a few others randomly thrown in for fun.
What you get are a variety of apps categorized as Tools and Utilities, Fun Stuff, and Sound Effects. Tools and Utilities features a flashlight, tip calculator, level, file storage, ruler, hourglass timer, and a tap counter — which I totally don’t get. There is also an app that lets you “remember 1 thing” by entering whatever “thing” you want to remember with the onscreen keyboard.
The Fun Stuff page features tap dancing, the Rock, Paper, Scissors game, Flaming Balls of Fire, and virtual poker chips to shuffle around. Rounding out the initial 16 included apps is the Sound Effects page, which includes sound effects for a cheering studio audience, “huh?” and of course a fart. Want to get rickrolled? The final Sound Effects app is a music video which takes you to YouTube to watch Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video.
I don’t deny that the concept of having several apps compressed into one is clever. Yes, it saves space on your main menu, but then you basically just end up with a duplicate menu of multiple pages. I suppose categorizing the included apps simplifies things, but it’s only saving a tap here or a swipe there. You could easily exchange your current flashlight, fart, and level apps (if you have them) for this one app and unclutter your main menu by a few icons, but the question is, do you care?
For the most part, I’d say that the individual apps are pretty pointless. Sure there are a few instances where I would deem a tip calculator or a timer or even the flashlight useful, so why not store them all in one app? The biggest problem I see is that unless you were lucky enough to catch iCatchall on its free day, you are paying for a conglomeration of apps that are otherwise available for free with little variation.
For iCatchall to really catch on, I think it should include more useful additions, such as a full-function calculator, a link to national headlines rather than a single video clip that could be straight out of VH-1’s “I Love the 80’s,” or fun stuff that actually is fun. Even if “Remember 1 Thing” could be changed to “Remember Several Things,” I would be more impressed.
That’s not to say that the concept of an all-in-one is poor, in fact it might be smart and these guys have cranked out useful stuff before. Perhaps the value will come in the + aspect down the road as other stuff is added.
- app_name: iCatchall: 16+ Apps in One
- price: $0.99
- rating: 6/10
Rocky Artue - There is much mystery surrounding this side-scrolling platform adventure game for iPhone/iPod touch released earlier this month by Imaginuity New Media Inc. starting with the title. In the iTunes Store, it’s just Rocky Artue. The title screen of the actual app says it’s Rocky Artue in the Devil’s Belly, and the developer’s website says it’s The Misadventures of Rocky Artue and The Devil’s Belly. Well, OK the title isn’t that important and many games are released under different working titles in different parts of the world, but the mystery doesn’t end there.
The story line of this game is a bit mysterious too, if not bizarre. Rocky Artue is apparently a prototype rocket ship created in Roswell, New Mexico by a French scientist named Dr. Artue. Rocky Artue has “grown up” in area 51 and taken on characteristics of the aliens kept there. Dr. Artue, whom Rocky considers to be his father, has been kidnapped and Rocky ventures into an abandoned mine shaft to rescue him.
After this bizarre story unfolds and the game begins, Rocky Artue navigates the mine riding in a cart along the tracks. Players control Rocky’s cart by titling their device to the right for forward and the left for back. There are power ups and gems to be collected along the way and he must also avoid the bad guys, which include weird skeletal versions of snakes and birds as well as centipedes. Power ups give Rocky the ability to perform jumps, a skill increasingly required to complete each level. Rocky has three lives for each level and can earn extras by collecting all the gems in each one.
The tilt action of Rocky Artue is an ideal design for the iPhone/iPod touch and the tilt controls are fairly smooth once you get the hang of it. Jumping is accomplished by tapping the screen, but mine carts obviously weren’t meant to jump easily and nailing the timing is tricky and awkward. While essentially the individual controls are fairly responsive, combining them to move, jump, avoid baddies and collect all the gems becomes an exercise in frustration. Rocky only has three lives, which are sapped from him if an enemy touches him and when all are lost the level restarts.
Besides the semi-quirky controls, another feature that would have helped to reduce frustration would have been the ability to earn extra lives based on a minimum number of collected gems, rather than to collect them all. You can sometimes move backwards to collect gems you miss, but again, the controls start to become daunting and prohibitive in the midst of also trying to avoid the critters. It would also be less frustrating if lives remaining carried over to the next level, but alas, you always begin with three, unless you collected all the gems in the prior level, in which case you’ll get four.
On the plus side, the title screen music, which also plays between levels, is rather epic and the sound effects within game play are decent, if minimal. The graphics in Rockt Artue are actually quite impressive and are comprised of crisp animation. The cartoon feel of the game will certainly appeal to kids and the first level of the game does a nice job of setting up and explaining game play. However, until you play a level enough times to memorize the track and coordinate your jumps, Rocky Artue is aggravating and left me wishing I could find a stick of dynamite somewhere in the mine and blow him up. Which is sad. I wanted to like him, I really did.
- app_name: Rocky Artue
- price: $2.99
- rating: 6/10
Developers GrubHub and CityMint have introduced apps of the same names that make it possible for you to order meals from nearby restaurants and have your food ready for you to pick up or for delivery, when that service is available.
Each app features online restaurant menus in proximity to you. You select your items just as you do with any order system and then check out. You can also locate restaurants on a map and find contact and other information.
Here’s how they differ: First, GrubHub is free and CityMint costs $2.99.
GrubHub focuses mainly on restaurants that deliver meals in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and New York. You can order just about everything from pizza to health-conscious salads. The interface is lean, straightforward, intuitive and easy to use.
Enter your current location (GrubHub is not location-aware) or search by address. Choose a restaurant from the list, based on your food preference or the customer ratings, and drill down and you’ll have the option to order by phone or order online, from restaurants that offer the service.
You can also search and order from the GrubHub’s Web site and there’s no need to register, although you have that option.
I was able to find plenty of places that would put a feed bag on me using GrubHub.
CityMint attempts to be more ambitious. It offers users the option of choosing between restaurants that provide pickup service and delivery in the same cities as GrubHub, plus Seattle and Los Angeles. CityMint is location-aware and it’s interface is more polished than GrubHub’s. It also seems to list a better-grade of eateries, at least in the Boston area, where I live.
To use CityMint, you first enter account information (name, email, primary address, Zip, delivery instructions etc.) into your iPhone. I find typing on the iPhone tedious and thought it would be easier to enter that information into CityMint’s Web site. Unfortunately, that option isn’t available, even though you are required to login using the ID and password you entered into the app if you choose to use the site.
From an address in downtown Boston at 1:45PM, I searched for nearby restaurants and pulled up a list. I found there weren’t any restaurants in the area that delivered, and none of the restaurants that provide online ordering and pickup service came online until 5:00PM. So much for eating a late lunch. Later in the day, I was able to step through CityMint with ease, stopping just short of placing an actual order.
If you think you might like to try either of these apps, go to the company’s Web site to see its list of participating restaurants in your city. GrubHub’s list was far more comprehensive than CityMint’s in Boston. It may be true in your city too.
Getting lost in anonymous conversations or just expressing random thoughts is the premise behind the entertainment app Distant Shore.
Brought to us courtesy of The Blimp Pilots, the developers behind Koi Pond, Distant Shore puts a new spin on social networking. This app places a shoreline on your iPhone/iPod touch that you are free to wander about and while wandering, you can find bottles washed up on shore containing messages written by other users. Collect enough sea shells while walking the shore and you can send your own messages out to sea.
The concept behind Distant Shore is clever and the graphics are high quality. Ambient sounds of seagulls and rolling waves are the perfect accompaniment to the general scenery and are seamlessly blended in, serving as a background noise rather than a distraction. By tapping the screen, you can direct your footprints to wander the shore as you pass by random beach balls, lounge chairs, and other objects. Just as you begin to feel alone on your abandoned virtual beach, you happen upon a bottle. Each bottle contains a random message from someone else in the world.
Obviously, with Distant Shore you get all kinds of messages — from the random pick up line to the random proverb to the casual introduction or question. If you choose, you can reply to a message and engage in a conversation with a complete stranger — in complete anonymity.
Along with the ability to find bottles, you will also find seashells. When you’ve collected five, you are awarded an empty bottle of your own. The empty bottles are stored in your beach bag inventory and by tapping the beach bag icon in the lower left of the screen, you can write your own message and launch it to sea where it will wash up on someone else’s Distant Shore.
Replies to your own messages are received by a tiny turtle hanging out behind your beach hut. In Distant Shore there is a beach hut icon in the lower right hand corner of your screen that will display a star when you have received a reply. Tapping the icon takes you directly back to your beach hut where you can retrieve it. Reply messages can go back and forth for as long as each party participates.
There is said to be a correlation between the number of messages you send and the number of bottles you will find. With having only sent a few at a time, it’s difficult to say how closely linked one is with the other, but within the first 15 or 20 minutes of wandering my own beach, I did find a few bottles had washed up.
If you send out random questions, for instance, “Red Wine, or White?” or “Dark or Light Chocolate?” chances are a good natured recipient will reply. Replies are surprisingly quick, but it can become a bit daunting to manage your inventory as you only have eight spaces for storing messages. An increase in the number of spaces is said to be forthcoming, but it is easy to delete existing messages and make room for more. (Simply drag the message from the inventory screen out into the ocean or into a nearby bon fire.)
While the whole point to Distant Shore is to send and receive anonymous messages, it would be pretty cool to be able to interact with other objects, like the beach balls or to be able to change views to see the horizon. Yet for the price, Distant Shore provides a unique experience for iPhone users who like simple, social entertainment. An iPod touch will require a wifi connection to use Distant Shore.
- app_name: Distant Shore
- price: $0.99
- rating: 9/10
Health Cubby is a social fitness app from App Cubby. Health Cubby allows you to set your fitness goals on your iPhone and follow your own progress as well as the progress of your friends. This app does not support the tedious task of calorie counting, which is fine by me.
Health Cubby is not particularly inspiring by itself. Yes, you can track goals for how much exercise you plan to do, how many pounds or inches you want to lose and how many vices you would like to indulge in per week.
It seems that the inspiration and encouragement is meant to come mostly from your friends, assuming they also use Health Cubby. Because this program syncs to an online database, you can see how up to seven friends are doing in achieving their own goals, for example, who skipped another workout or who had too many cookies this week.
For an app with such a simple premise, the interface is extremely complicated. Though I referenced the extensive online user manual, I had difficulty navigating between the pages and figuring out what I was supposed to input where for who. Even after using Health Cubby for a few days, I still struggled to find my way around it. There are a few nice touches to the program: one is a weight loss graph. If you are competitive, you can track your friends on the graph as well. You can also export data via email into Excel.
I am not convinced that the Health Cubby app keeps track of anything that I do not already track in my own head. Maybe it would be fun to use in conjunction with friends, if you can get them to spend $9.99. You can try Health Cubby before you buy it: Health Cubby Lite is free and it lets you input up to ten records.
- app_name: Health Cubby
- price: $9.99
- rating: 6/10
The objective of Vase Craze, created by Mehware, is to move a basket around a warehouse floor and catch vases before they fall off the end of conveyor belts.
It’s a concept, which reminds me a lot about Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times or an episode from I Love Lucy, both which played off the crushing tediousness of factory work. One of the best-looking iterations of this game genre in the App Store is Digital Chocolate’s Chocolate’s Frenzy, which I like quite a bit.
Vase Craze, unfortunately, doesn’t advance the genre.
Launch Vase Craze from the main menu and choose a level: newb, tolerable or hardcore mode. The more difficult modes have more conveyor belts and require a more sophisticated game plan to catch as many vases as possible before they crash to the floor.
Each conveyor belt turns from black to yellow whenever a vase appears. Tapping on the belt, sends the basket to that belt. Each level allows five crashes.
Tap the far wall and you’ll go back to the main menu.
I experienced several problems with Vase Craze (it was glitchy) and I eventually contacted the developer, Matthew Harris, to clarify a few things for me.
The problem is Vase Craze has a number of bugs. Yesterday, I wasn’t able to scroll the help menu bar. Today, it worked. The first time around, I couldn’t figure out how to move the basket. I tried to finger drag the basket and slide it using motion control. Neither worked. It didn’t occur to me to tap the conveyor belts. I can be dense sometimes when I don’t have a help menu to guide me.
Vase Craze crashed on me four or five times in my first look at the app. I restarted my iPhone to make sure that wasn’t the problem. The next day, it seemed to run fine, so I don’t know what to make of any of that.
Here’s what I know for certain: This game could win the top prize in an ugly dog contest. The graphics are rudimentary. The basket moves and then stops, or doesn’t move at all, even when tapping vigorously on the conveyor belt. Even when Vase Craze worked reasonably well, I didn’t find the game engaging enough to hold my attention for more than a few minutes, even on the most difficult level.
Vase Craze is $1.99, which isn’t so bad, but I recommend waiting for the next update or two.
- app_name: Vase Craze
- price: $1.99
- rating: 5/10
I have a thing for chickens. I admit it. Word games make me a little crazy, but chickens? I love them. Chicktionary has some room for improvement, but this is easily overlooked in the company of such darn cute cartoon chickens who cluck, flap their wings, toss feathers and make encouraging chicken noises as you play this iPhone game.
Chicktionary from Blockdot won “Best Word Game App” at the Best App Ever Awards Show, and I can see why. Like Text Twist or Word Warp, the object of Chicktionary is to make as many words as you can out of the seven letters, er, eggs. There are 300 levels, compared to 12 on Chicktionary Lite. You can strive for special eggchievements like Hot Wings (complete the puzzle in three minutes) or the Egg-cessive (play the game for 100 hours). You can also put your scores online and compare eggchievements with players around the world.
The only significant issue with Chicktionary is that the app does not let you see the words you missed. I find this frustrating, but, hey, I’m the girl who looks up answers to crossword puzzles after only five minutes. Having an answer key is critical to a sense of game completion. If I do not know the word “kismat” today, I am most likely not going to figure it out tomorrow. A couple of hints are available if you get stuck: Beak Sneak gives you a letter in each word, and Free Bird gives you one entire word.
The only other complaint I have heard from Chicktionary players is that they cannot turn off the sound on the game. If you do not like to hear a cluck every time you pick a letter, you will just have to lower the volume on your iPhone.
Blockdot will reportedly soon have an update for Chicktionary that will let you give up and see the words you missed. Once that update is available, I highly recommend Chicktionary.
- app_name: Chicktionary
- price: $1.99
- rating: 7/10
If 22nd Century Software’s Speechify speaks, will anyone listen? I’m not sure.
Speechify is an app for the iPhone and iTouch that translates text into speech. Its voice quality is not quite as good as say, one of those talking greeting cards. It’s old-school, retro robotic, in other words.
I don’t know what to do with Speechify. You can type as much as you would like into Speechify and it will repeat what you’ve written word-for-word. That is, when it works.
It took me several tries to activate it by tapping the Speak button. I tapped and pressed several times; entered and re-entered text; shut down and restarted my iPhone and it still didn’t work. And when it finally spoke, it was in a voice so low I could barely hear it, even with the volume control on my iPhone maxed out.
It speechifies, when it works, but what now? It’s really not all that useful as far as I can see. The app doesn’t give you the option to save your text, either.
Speechify is free, thank goodness, given its quirks and limited use. It’s ad-supported, which wouldn’t bother me all that much if I could make use of this app.
22nd Century Software says in its app description that if this version of Speechify is “successful,” it will introduce a Pro version with more voices and without ad support. It’s not clear what the measure of success is.
Right now, Speechify is gimmicky rather than useful. That’s about all I’m going to say about it.
- app_name: Speechify
- price: Free
- rating: 3/10
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