8 Star Ratings | iPhone App Reviews by iPhone App Reviewer

Archive for '8 Star Ratings'

Match 3D Flick Puzzle iPhone Game App Review

Posted on 07. Sep, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

Match 3D Flick Puzzle: Adding dimensions to the classic match ‘em up game.

Our Rating: 8.3/10

Version Reviewed: 1.05.14
Developer: PlayScreen [iTunes Link]
Price as of Review: $3.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4.5/5
Size: 9.6MB
Lite Version: [iTunes Link]

Match 3D Flick Puzzle is a creative pick up and play game which adds a few new concepts to classics like Bejeweled [iTunes Link]. The objective remains the same, score as many points as possible by matching three of the same objects or more. To do this simply tap the first object and then an adjacent object, the two will swap and (hopefully) form a pair. Like word search puzzles you need a good eye and in the case of Match 3D, you need fast timing.

The quicker you scout for matches the longer you’ll last in the game, once the timer reaches the end in either Classic or Survival mode, the game is over. By racking higher combination’s and more matches at the same time, you’ll receive time bonuses. The unique and spectacular concept for Match 3D Flick Puzzle is the completely 3D gameplay. Rather then matching objects on a 2D surface, you have to match them on six faces of a cube. You can even select a specific part inside the cube and look for matches internally.

The entire interface uses full multi-touch controls that allow you to pinch to zoom, rotate, and swipe around the cube to manipulate your perspective view. Combination’s can be created from multiple planes making this a very intriguing game. The graphics are excellently rendered and don’t become pixelated when you zoom in all the way on the cube. The sound effects match the theme perfectly however a lot of people will find the background music annoying, you can easily play your own iPod music without stability problems. The only glitches I’ve been able to find are a few touch interface glitches (unresponsiveness, etc), all of which are pretty rare and shouldn’t affect gameplay.

All in all Match 3D Flick Puzzle is an amazing new perspective on the classic match ‘em up gameplay concept. For four dollars Match 3D can provide you with hours of fun – definitely check this one out. This app will not be deleted off my iPod for a long while.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 9.2/10 – A whole new gameplay concept.

Enjoyment: 7.8/10 – My judgement is a little biased here as I’ve played so many match ‘em up games, however Match 3D has trapped my attention.

Graphics: 8.5/10 – Excellently rendered and friendly on the eyes.

Sound: 6.4/10 – Not the greatest.

Technology: 9/10 – Excellent multi-touch interface.

Replay Value: 8.7/10 – Can be very addicting.

Overall Rating: 8.3/10

Further Improvements: (Note to the developer!)

Tilt controls to manipulate cube
Multiple background music tracks

Screenshots of Match 3D Flick Puzzle on the iPhone App Reviewer Flickr Page.

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PDF Expert iPhone Business App Review

Posted on 06. Sep, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

PDF Expert: The ultimate PDF reader on the iPhone.

Our Rating: 8.1/10

[Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.2.1
Developer: Readdle [iTunes Link]
Price as of Review: $4.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Size: 3.8MB

PDF Expert is a very professional PDF document reader though it mutli-functions as a small wireless harddrive, and other document readers. Unlike other PDF reading or eBook applications such as Stanza [iTunes Link], PDF Experts allows for nearly full support on PDF’s. This means that you can read a PDF and it will look almost exactly like it would on your computer, I mean, on a 3.5″ screen of course. Although you can pan, pinch to zoom in and double tap to focus using the iPhone’s multi-touch capabilities.

The interface is extraordinarly simple, but very effective. PDF Expert acts as a thumbdrive, you can place your PDF’s or other files on your iPhone via wi-fi or your free 512MB of storage on Readdle. When reading you can create bookmarks, search the document, read the entire table of contents, send the document to a friend and even rotate your device to landscape mode and read in a different orientation. If you get interrupted and leave the app it will save your reading progress and open the next time.

There’s a few glitches in the app that can make for an annoying experience, a few noteworthy ones as follows:

When double tapping to focus, it generally zooms too far and cuts off text.
No menu in landscape mode.
Crashing unexpectedly.

All in all PDF Expert is still an exceptional reading application, with the next update hopefully this business app will become a gem. This one will be staying on my device.

Final Ratings:

Usefulness: 7.9/10 – Being able to read PDF’s and other documents without Internet access is a great concept.

User Interface: 8.3/10 – Pretty awesome, some glitches that knock this down some points.

Price: 7.1/10 – $4.99 is suitable.

Technology: 8.5/10 – Great job on online syncing and of course the Wi-Fi access.

Execution of Concept: 8.7/10 – Pretty good job on Readdle’s part.

Overall Rating: 8.1/10

Further Improvements:

Fix noted glitches.
Quick access to Table of Contents when scrolling through documents
Ability to search titles and contents when scrolling through documents.
Access to popular online office web apps such as Google Docs and Zoho

Screenshots of PDF Expert on the iPhone App Reviewer Flickr Page.

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Must.Eat.Birds iPhone Game App Review

Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

Must.Eat.Birds: Addictive gameplay on great cartoon graphics.

Our Rating: 8.3/10

[Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.2
Developer: Mediatonic [iTunes Link]
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Size: 6.7MB

Must Eat Birds is a new game with a phenomenal pick up and play paradigm. The goal of the game is to defend your picnic from birds but launching cartoon monsters at them through a slingshot. In either Mission or Challenge mode this sounds incredibly stupid but it’s really incredibly good fun. Mediatonic did a great job on the theme of the app, I was expecting some awful stuff when I read the game description but the first impression and beyond really got to me.

The mission mode contains 18 levels, most of which will leave you incredibly frustrating and you’ll receive the “oh-so-close” addictiveness. An average level will take several tries and there’s enough gameplay material to have you playing for days. Unfortunately you don’t get any skip levels which means quite a few will throw away this game instantly, and I can’t blame them, although cheating it does restrict the gameplay to the players who just can’t beat certain levels.

Gameplay is a little bleak, pretty much you’re tapping and sliding, there’s a lot of angles and strategy. The rules go a little beyond just hitting birds. If you want to earn some serious points you’ll need to take advantage of the multipliers, the moment one of your monsters has missed it’s target(s) you lose your multipliers. This makes the gameplay very challenging, especially in some of the missions which limits the number of monster ammo you have.

Challenge mode is very freestyle but also very trivial, the goal is just to score as many points as possible before losing all four lives. Unfortunately it’s a tad pointless as playing in mission mode is pretty much the same thing but more rewarding. The graphics in Must Eat Birds are probably some of the greatest rendered cartoon graphics I’ve seen on the iPhone. Everything is smooth and colourful, the game is meant for Japanese viewers as well which means there’s some Japanese text around the game but it actually fuels the theme. Some people however may not like it (would recommend a Japanese or English option in settings).

All in all Must.Eat.Birds is a great game that’s considerably addicting and perfect to play anywhere. I’d highly recommend picking this one up – only a buck.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8.5/10 – Pick up and play with lots of concepts.

Enjoyment: 7.2/10 – I did enjoy it quite a bit but it’s no Trism.

Graphics: 8.6/10 – Great cartoon graphics.

Sound: 8/10 – Not very annoying and really fits the theme.

Technology: 9/10 – No stability problems or glitches. Open Feint support.

Replay Value: 8.7/10 – Addicting and 18 different missions.

Overall Rating: 8.3/10

Further Improvements:

Even more missions
More gameplay modes.

More screenshots of Must.Eat.Birds. on our Flickr Page.

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iSink U iPhone Game App Review

Posted on 30. Aug, 2009 by thetraynor.

iSink U: It’ll blow you out of the water!

Our Rating: 8/10

[Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
Developer: Artificial Life, Inc. [iTunes Link]
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4/5
Size: 34.2MB

iSink U is an intuitive and interactive battleship style game. It takes the classic game and puts a whole new spin on how things work, adding new features and cool weapons to make things just that much more exciting. From the loading screen you’ll get a sense of where this game is going to take you.

Once you choose your game you get to choose a map to play on. This doesn’t overly affect gameplay but offers a cool twist on normal gameplay. Once in gameplay you get to place you ships, this can be a little hard since the control system is really touchy and hard to use. The shooting menu is kind of touchy too and doesn’t always like to work (thats for me anyways) sometimes i find myself tapping 10 times before it realizes I’m tapping.

Now that being said this is a great game, and I would highly suggest for any Battleship fans out there. This offers some cool new features and an intriguing experience for newbies and veterans alike. At the least it’ll keep you amused for a few hours and will keep you coming back when all your other apps get boring.

I mean overall this app destroys other apps in the same genre *cough*ibattleships*cough* so it’s AOK in my books!

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8/10 – Very fun and intriguing, but the touch issue set me off

Enjoyment: 8/10 – I like blowing things up .. pretty simple there

Graphics: 8/10 – Great graphics, simple lines and colours, works perfectly

Sound: 8/10 – Cool effects, fit the game well.

Technology: 6/10 – Touch based, sensitivity drove me insane, hence low rating.

Replay Value: 8/10 – Great game, keeps you coming back when you need something not boring.

Overall Rating: 8/10

How to sink your opponents battleship:

-Fix the sensitivity issue with the tapping, or is it just my phone?
-An update with further maps woudl be really cool, or maybe the ability to upgrade ships .. newer cooler weaponry..

More screenshots on iPhone App Reviewer’s Flickr Page.

Thanks for listening,

-thetraynor

Folow me on Twitter @thetraynor

Wanna talk bad about me? Email Me

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Frogger iPhone Game App Review

Posted on 29. Aug, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

Frogger: A limited but super fun port of the Atari classic.

Our Rating: 7.8/10

[Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 2.0.0
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment [iTunes Link]
Price as of Review: $1.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3/5
Size: 2.7MB

Konami Entertainment has ported Atari’s classic game, Frogger, to the iPhone – yes that means even more nostalgia for the older gamers out there. For those of you who never got the chance to play Frogger while it was still around the game is about controlling a frog and guiding it to it’s destination. No this isn’t a puzzle game where you’ll have to logically figure out a path, instead you must have fast reflexes and timing to avoid all the obstacles that you will encounter.

The unfortunate part of this app is the immense lack of new environments, although there are several levels which each provide a new obstacle or two, it’s the same map over and over again. None the less, the gameplay is quite enjoyable and provides a great pick-up-and-play addiction. A game lasts from a mere few minutes to an hour (if you’re really good). Only a few people I’ve demoed it with have been able to get a score over 20,000 so this is a great challenge too! The environment can get pretty crazy with all the obstacles, making for an excellent immersing gameplay.

The graphics are quite friendly and smoothly rendered. I don’t think photo-realistic graphics would suit Frogger and therefore the current ones provide the perfect environment. Sound is a little dull but nothing annoying (which can be rare for an arcade game). Konami has done a near-perfect job on the control scheme, you can control the frog via three ways, tap (touch), slide (touch) or tilt (accelerometer). The touch control schemes are awesome – each have their own personal advantage so whatever suits you best. However the accelerometer controls are a pretty large bucket of fail.

All in all, Frogger is a highly enjoyable arcade game but won’t entertain for long and is very limited. For a couple of bucks though, definitely check this one out.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 6.9/10 – Frogger provides very immersing gameplay but lacks multiple environments

Enjoyment: 9/10 – Just utterly awesome

Graphics: 8.7/10 – Sets the perfect theme.

Sound: 7/10 – Nothing to complain about…

Technology: 8/10 – Excellent job on touch control schemes, great stability and the only glitch I’ve found is a very small irrelevant animation glitch.

Replay Value: 7.2/10 – This only gets a 7.2 due to the addictiveness, the only competition is a local score board – no online mode – no new maps.

Overall Rating: 7.8/10

Further Improvements: (Note to the developer!)

More. maps. Have a whole adventure for our frog!
Create a better accelerometer control scheme – anybody who’s played with it will know why this needs to be changed.

More screenshots for Frogger on iPhone App Reviewer’s Flickr Page.

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Chickie Dominos iPhone Game App Review

Posted on 28. Aug, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

Chickie Dominos: A classic domino game executed perfectly on your iPhone.

Our Rating: 8.4/10

[Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.1
Developer: Mindlube Games:
Price as of Review: $2.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4/5
Size: 17MB

Chickie Dominos is an iPhone version of the classic domino’s game “Chicken Foot.” I’ve had the lucky opportunity to play chicken foot before every seeing Chickie Domino’s, and let me say Mindlube Games have done an excellent job porting this to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The goal of the game is to use all your dominos before your opponent does, the rules can be complex however Chickie Dominos teaches you perfectly how to play. Now it’s just strategy on your part. For competition, you can play against a very well programmed computer opponent of three difficulty levels, or a hot-seat mode where you can pass your phone over to a friend and play.

The game overall is very enjoyable, the entire thing is on a multi-dimensional board with ability to pan, and zoom. Even though the board can get very cluttered, whenever you place a domino it will automatically adjust the board to fit. A game can last for around 20 minutes, each game consists of seven rounds and points are added to the loser every round. This scoring system can change the face of the game at anytime, Chickie Dominos is pretty hard to get bored of. Even if you do and want to come back a few days later, your last game will be saved for you to pick up off.

Chickie Dominos has a global score board for the best games to be uploaded to – it does this fast and quick; the entire app doesn’t seem to have any stability problems. The graphics are farmyard themed, a lot of people aren’t going to like this so secondary theme options would be nice. Nonetheless the graphics are all pretty smooth and render perfectly in the immersing environment. The background music is extremely annoying, luckily it can be turned off separate to the sound.

All in all, Chickie Dominos is one of the best domino games I’ve seen on the iPhone, and Mindlube Games has done an amazing job porting this to the iPhone. This app will not be deleted from my iPhone – how about you?

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 9.6/10 – Tons of gameplay, perfect rendition of Chicken Foot.

Enjoyment: 8.9/10 – I really enjoyed playing Chicken Foot in the non-digital world, Chickie Dominos has not disappointed.

Graphics: 7/10 – Could be improved just a tad, additional themes would be nice.

Sound: 5/10 – Sound effects are all right, background music is deplorable but luckily can be turned off.

Technology: 9/10 – Great job, perfect interface including pan and zoom multi-touch controls. No stability issues found.

Replay Value: 7.9/10 – A game can last quite a while (for iPhone app standards) so you won’t get bored of this for at least a few days. I’m still addicted anyways…

Overall Rating: 8.4/10 – 0.5 bonus points added.

Further Improvements (Note to the developer!)