9 Star Ratings | iPhone App Reviews by iPhone App Reviewer | Games and App Store Reviews

Metal Gear Solid Touch iPhone Game App Review

Posted on 20. Aug, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

4

Metal Gear Solid Touch: The phenom game becomes an addictive rail shooter mobile game!

Our Rating: 8.7/10

Version Reviewed: 2.1.0
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment [iTunes Link]
Price as of Review: $5.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4/5
Size: 138MB
Lite Version: [iTunes Link]

Yes, we were all excited when the game that was on pretty much all upscale platforms hit the iPhone and iPod Touch. Hell, we still are; the people who’ve gotten their hands on this jewel have not been disappointed either. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Metal Gear Solid Touch is a railgun shooter where you control our hero Snake across battlefields (less across, more so hiding behind walls) shooting and sniping out enemies. To continue fan warship, as you go about the 20 different missions you’ll unlock 50 wallpapers to put on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Nothing says addict more than wallpapers.

The gameplay involves aiming and firing with your finger, tap to shoot, release to hide. Snake will always “cower,” behind enemy gunfire on command (although who wouldn’t, he’s shooting at freaking armoured, walking, robots). Failure to hide will result in a swift sniper shot or machine gun round to your face, even swifter are the rate of decreasing health. Luckily you can take cover and gain health. This may make the gameplay seem boring but trust me, after going through a few different missions, hiding only results in more enemies hiding – you have to take out a certain amount to complete the mission. Once they’re all piled up for ya, just look up to shoot and watch your back. If there were blood effects, there would be a lot (hey! Konami! Where’s the blood, surely Snake is human?).

About the graphics, oh man; absolutely stunning. Nothing beats the crisp gunfire animations, and of course the satisfying sound of a bullet to the head. The only thing that brings this game down is the lack of actual movement, if only Snake had controllable legs. Even just horizontal movement to dodge bullets would be nice (ok maybe that’s too much, I mean Snake isn’t Neo). Now that the iPhone 3.0 firmware has been released, it’d be nice to see a bluetooth multiplayer mode – that would be freaking awesome. All in all – if you enjoy great graphics and addicting gameplay, and of course sniping bad guys, pick this up immediately. $6.99 might be a little steep considering there’s no freeplay mode but maybe we’ll get some updates!

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8.7/10 – A railshooter style FPS is generally limited but Konami does a great job.

Enjoyment: 9.5/10 – Loved it.

Graphics: 9.5/10 – Definitely some of the best I’ve seen on the iPhone.

Sound: 8.8/10 – Could be more of a variety of sound effects, but the one’s it has are pretty awesome.

Technology: 7.5/10 – Great stability but unfortunately only touch control. FPS’ should have some accelerometer action…

Replay Value: 8.2/10 – A great pick up and play style game, but only 20 missions.

Overall Rating: 8.7/10

Further Improvements: (Note to the developer!)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi multiplayer mode
Create an ambiance with sound!
More missions of course
Ability to buy weapons

More screenshots on our Flickr page!

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Wacky Worlds Mini Golf Game App Review

Posted on 15. Aug, 2009 by thetraynor.

2

Wacky Worlds Mini Golf: Just one Wack away from being on Par!

Our Rating: 9/10 – Thumbs Up! [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.0
Developer: Glu Mobile Inc.
Price as of Review: $2.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4.5/5

Okay, so Wacky Worlds Mini Golf. Intriguing game that takes your average mini golf to a whole new level. With stunning graphics (for an iPhone at least) that are eye catching and a control system that is simple and captivating this game will keep you entertained for hours on end without you even knowing it. The simple yet amazingly effective touch controls allow you to control every aspect of your putting, to a tee (lets see how many people will get the golf puns).

Lets talk fun here. This game is fun, for someone who loves golf or someone who doesn’t even play golf. It’s got awesome little animations that keep you intrigued and some very cool holes along the courses. The best part is after 9 awesome holes on some of the coolest and most captivating digital courses you’ve ever seen, you’ll just want more.

My one and only problem with this app, and trust me its not something to worry about, is that every time you start it up it asks you what language you want to play in. Now this is awesome for people who can speak any of the other languages offered (assuming that the majority of players will be speaking English), but for those who don’t, there should be an option to save your choice..

How to shoot par next round: (Further Improvements)

-Make it so you can save your language
-When you choose just to play is defaults as the woman (and I’m not sexist) but the ability to choose or create your own character from there would be a cool idea

This apps to good to point out whats wrong with it…

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 9.5/10 – Total awesomesauce, addicting, fun, I love it

Enjoyment: 9.9/10 – I still keep coming back, totally beats any game I’ve played

Graphics: 8.9/10 – Great graphics, simple, looks amazing

Sound: 9/10 – I can turn it off, I’m happy (not that the music is bad)

Technology: 6/10 – All touch based, but this doesn’t affect my over all rating

Replay Value: 9.9/10 – Love it, I play AT LEAST daily

Overall Rating: 9/10

That’s all from me for today,

-thetraynor

Follow me on twitter @thetraynor

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Need for Speed Undercover iPhone Game Review

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

7

Need for Speed Undercover: Simply the best racing game I’ve ever played on the iPhone.

Our Rating: 9.1/10 [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.2
Developer: Electronic Arts
Price as of Review: $6.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4.5/5

Need for Speed Undercover is a racing game concocted by one of video gaming legend’s, Electronic Arts. Although this is probably one of fifty racing games on the iPhone, iPhone App Reviewer could not resist reviewing it. It’s outstanding graphics and gameplay make it shatter the competition. With multiple gameplay modes and enough storyline and challenges to let you play for days, Need for Speed Underground is an addicting pleasure. Not only are the graphics outstanding, but there’s tons of cars and maps to choose from, and all cars have a certain level of customization.

Although I could stop the review right here, there’s more to go. The graphics are entirely 3D, even the menu has a 3D model car (your current tricked out ride) in the background. Unfortunately the graphics and high detail considerably affect stability, specifically on loading the game. Before version 1.2, you’d generally have to try quite a few times just to get the app started (even after fresh restart).

Once you get playing it shouldn’t be a problem, except for the unfortunate parts where you’re facing off against multiple cars at very high speeds. Even with the customizable cars, the game lacks settings, I’ve yet to see a racing game with customizable environment settings such as friction, drift ease, wind resistance and so on. Not to mention that there’s only a few basic car customizations. After that, just appearance.

If you’re looking for a single player racing game that will last for hours on end, look absolutely no further. Unfortunately, iPhone App Reviewer has found a few down falls to an otherwise perfect racing game, just scraping it away from that perfect 10 rating. Maybe later they’ll add more maps and multiplayer modes…perhaps… (EA has a history for not updating their games features much).

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 9.2/10 – Everyone loves a good racing game, Need for Speed Underground has multiple gameplay modes and an awesome amount of maps.

Enjoyment: 9.8/10 – Without doubt it’s in the top 10 games on iPhone App Reviewer’s list.

Graphics: 9.5/10 – Just at the level where it won’t slow down the game entirely, perfectly detailed and high res. Just anti alias a little more.

Sound: 8.5/10 – Love the sound track, unfortunately it can be a bit distracting and not of a majority of the users taste.

Technology: 8.5/10 – Just improve performance a tad, luckily the 1.2 update fixed several errors…keep it up Electronic Arts.

Replay Value: 9/10 – A huge storyline mode that as mentioned above, will leave lots to play.

Final Rating: 9.1/10

Further Improvements:

Multiplayer Mode
Environment Settings
Performance Enhancement

More screenshots here.

Other Reviews on Need for Speed Undercover for iPhone and iPod Touch:

Why does iPhone App Reviewer link to other reviewing sites? Because if you’re not 100% satisfied with the quality of our review, then we encourage you to go elsewhere. The point of iPhone App Reviewer is to give you an honest, open opinion of the application.

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Numerus iPhone Utilities App Review

Posted on 13. Jun, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

2

Numerus: An amazing scientific calculator right on your iPhone

Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Developer: Balazs Faludi
Price as of Review: $1.99
Current iTunes Rating: 4.5/5

Numerus is exactly the app we need on the iPhone, it’s the best utility application I have ever used (and I use it almost every day). Although the iPhone has a calculator it’s features are limited and even in landscape mode it doesn’t compare to a real scientific calculator. Numerus can handle advanced equations and packs a large variety of features and functions in it’s small package. The app allows you to save all your previous calculations as well as email them. You can store variable data and call them in all the mathematical functions it provides (just look at the screenshots here). It’s highly stable and the calculations are always correct, I haven’t found a flaw in any of the functions, and have never had a crashing issue or glitches.

The user interface performs just like a real calculator, and there’s plenty of room to view your calculation, not to mention a great advantage of Numerus’ view area is that you can compute large numbers (over 10 digits) with ease. It provides a 2nd function button which unlocks a whole host of new abilities. Unfortunately it cannot rotate into landscape mode, a lot of people I’ve demoed the app to have noted and disliked the lack of mulitple viewing angles. Even if you’re not going to use advanced functions Numerus still beats the iPhone’s default calculator by far, it allows you do to long calculations with brackets, exponenents, and all standard operations (*/+-).

All in all Numerus is a great application to have on hand and should be on every student’s iPhone. I won’t leave to school without it!

Final Ratings:

Usefulness: 9.6/10 – The perfect scientific calculator, a few more feautres like graphing and it could replace an entire set of non-iPhone mathematical tools.

User Interface: 8/10 – Flawless but unfortunately does not have a landscape mode!

Price: 8/10 – Absolutely cannot argue with the two dollar price, obviously beats a real scientific calculators cost too

Technology: 8.5/10 – I haven’t experienced a single glitch or mathematical flaw, again though, no landscape mode.

Execution of Concept: 9.8/10 – You couldn’t expect any more from the developer, it’s an absolute programming masterpiece

Overall Rating: 9.3/10 – Average is 8.8 but I’m giving a 0.5 bonus point!

Further Improvements:

Landscape Mode
Quick access feature allowing simple quick equations
Expression/Equation simplyfing ability

More screenshots here

Other Reviews on Numerus for iPhone and iPod Touch:

Numerus Review by Apple iPhone School

Why does iPhone App Reviewer link to other reviewing sites? Because if you’re not 100% satisfied with the quality of our review, then we encourage you to go elsewhere. The point of iPhone App Reviewer is to give you an honest, open opinion of the application.

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PHP Cheat Sheet iPhone Reference App Review

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

3

php Cheat Sheet: Making web developers around the world wanting the iPhone even more…

Version Reviewed: 1.0
Developer: Concentric Sky
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3/5

Before I start, know that this is actually a mixed review, I’ll be reviewing most of the Cheat Sheet by Concentric Sky series, this includes CSS, PHP, and jQuery cheat sheet apps. If you’re a web developer who’s looking for a portable offline reference to various web coding topics then you’ll definitely want to take a look at Concentric Sky’s apps, well, you pretty much have no choice either as these applications are one of a kind in the app store.

As a web developer myself I was quite excited when I found out about php cheat sheet, and ecstatic to find out there was even more. Now I always keep these applications handy when doing web work, even on iPhone App Reviewer itself. The apps are quite simple, they allow you to browse through different categories and subsections about the language, going over markup and functions. Although still very useful (especially for a buck) these cheat sheets only have limited information. Some main complaints from myself are the lack of depth in explanation of functions. A lot of the php function references do not include example or syntax code, simply the function name and a short description. Nonetheless, it’s still useful to have around, especially with the search feature. Let’s say you want to know an array function, you remember what it does but can’t remember the function name. With php cheat sheet you can simply use it’s search feature to find it, and then look up the function at php.net.

The CSS cheatsheet however is great and covers almost every element and attribute there is to know all with a list of values, syntax, description, and example! I absolutely love it, it’s almost better than my Visibone cheat sheets (not an iPhone app)! Everything is categorized nicely just like the PHP version. Lastly we have the jQuery cheatsheet app which covers tons of jQuery library functions and goes in depth for all of them. If only the PHP version was just as good… The one thing that CSS and jQuery lacked was the category menu that PHP had.

CSS Cheatsheet: 9/10
PHP Cheatsheet: 6/10
jQuery Cheatsheet: 9/10

Normal Rating System:

Usefulness: 9/10 – Would honestly get a 10/10 but we have to dock a point for some lacking in the application

User Interface: 9/10 – Clean as a whistle

Price: 9.5/10 – Cannot complain, a buck!

Technology: 6/10 – It works offline but an online mode would be nice too, how about using the tilt controls for a <shake to switch category>?

Execution of Concept: 7/10 – There’s more that could be done….

Overall Rating: 8.1/10

Recommended For:

Web Developers

Further Improvements:

More in-depth information for some functions, markup, styles, etc…
Have each reference page link to the corresponding page about the function, style (or whatever) on php.net or w3schools.com
An online mode which fetches the most recent data about the functions, then downloads the information for offline reading
Cover flow mode or a more visual/quicker way of going through functions and categories
For CSS, a tag category, examples on styling most HTML tags

More screenshots here

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Doodle Jump iPhone Game Review

Posted on 20. Apr, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer.

2

Doodle Jump: Addictive heart pounding jumping action.

Version Reviewed: 1.0.3
Developer: Lima Sky
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5

This is another one of those meant-for-mobile games that fit the iPhone’s casual gaming paradigm near perfectly. Doodle Jump is a colourful well-sketched vertical slide game in which you must control a four legged doodled creature to go as high as the sky! Along the way you’ll have to shoot and dodge your way past enemy monsters and obstacles. One fun little feature is a being able to see other users scores while in the game (they’re marked on the right side of the screen). Doodle Jump is challenging enough to have you yelling out when you miss that high score by a completely close proximity.

Although jumping and missing/hitting blocks along the way might seem a little boring eventually, the developer of Doodle Jump as added some extra stuff to make the game interesting. Most notably is the dozens of sketched monsters that you must dodge or tap to shoot at. A slight defect to the game is the lack of an ammo counter or limited amount of bullets, without this the user can continuously tap the screen shooting an endless stream of bullets. Luckily there’s not only multiple monsters, but different types of landing pads. Some are moving, some static, and some few even break under your feet (be prepared for swift movement!). You can also give yourself an extra propulsion by hitting one of the springs which are found on the landing pads.

There are some common annoyances with Doodle Jump, the developer is missing some key features. Fear not however as Doodle Jump is in it’s early versions just being added to the app store. Lack of instructions can be a huge defect as some people might not find out about some of the features until later in the game after a few hours of play. There aren’t any settings (i.e. accelerometer or touch control, currently just accelerometer) and although the game pauses if you put the iPod in sleep or get an incoming call, there’s no manual pause.

As for graphics, the name says it all, it’s basically like a student’s doodling placed into an animated game. An although it’s a sketch like graphics set, it looks fantastic and runs smooth as a whistle. There isn’t any background music and it will pause your iPod music on load (although you can double click home and play) yet it comes with some cool sound effects that in my surprised opinion, don’t get annoying.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8/10 – Although not much to it, it follows the iPhone gaming paradigm

Enjoyment: 8/10 – The enjoyment level does start to teter once you’ve mastered the game or just can’t get into it.

Graphics: 8/10 – Simple but smooth and easy on the eyes, user interface is fantastic including an animated menu

Sound: 7/10 – Nothing to say here…

Technology: 7.8/10 – The game runs very smoothly and no glitching in the tilt controls. However some multi touch action to control your character with touch control as well as shooting by tapping would be nice.

Replay Value: 8.3/10 – If you’re a fan of the game, you’re hooked.

Overall Rating: 7.9/10

Recommended For:

Casual gaming fanatics
Parents who want to entertain their kids for a few minutes or even extended length of time in a family-friendly way
Fans of Scoops, Sky Burger, Papi Jump, Sheepstacker [iTunes Links]
Fans of accelerometer controlled stack em up or live jumping games
People who love paying a buck for a darn good game

Further Improvements: (note to the developer)