iPhone App Reviews by iPhone App Reviewer | Games and App Store Reviews » iphone app reviewer

100th Post Celebration: 5 Free Apps!

iPhone App Reviewer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:34:49 +0000

Hi everyone! We’re giving you guys and gals a chance to win some free applications! We’re giving away five copies of RunMate [iTunes Link]. To enter follow the instructions below:

Point your favourite browser to http://iphoneappreviewer.com/register.php
Read the terms and conditions of the contest, and the register page on how to enter.
Enter your email address in the form and hit Submit!
It will generate you a URL that will look something like this: http://iphoneappreviewer.com/refer.php?refer=abc@example.com&id=12345
Share the URL with friends and family!
When 15 people have visited our site via your referral link, we’ll notify the administrator at iPhone App Reviewer.
If you’re one of the 1st five people to refer 15 others, you’ll win a copy of RunMate. Sweet huh? Enjoy!

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iPhone App Reviewer Awesome Links August 12th to August 19th 2009

iPhone App Reviewer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:28:53 +0000

Hi there folks! As an app reviewer I browse through the Internet and see what my “competition,” is up to, see what other iPhone blogging sites are up to. During these trips around the immense database of resources, that is the Interwebs, I find lots of awesome articles and reviews. I always post what I find on iPhone App Reviewer’s Delicious Page, but I think they deserve to be posted here. The following is what I’ve collected from August 12th to August 19th 2009. Enjoy!

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iPhone App Reviewer Mini Reviews and Updates

iPhone App Reviewer — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:00:00 +0000

For those who do not know – robotics is my first passion and this post by Gizmodo makes my heart skip a beat http://bit.ly/qaJNO #

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Developer Interview: X2 Games

iPhone App Reviewer — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:08:30 +0000

While my reviewing iPod is in repair – we’re going to have some interesting, alternate content, and see how it goes. Anyways, being a software reviewer and running this website, you get lots of contacts, and meet lots of interesting people. As a programmer myself, I like to know what goes behind the scenes with other developers. Therefore I present to you today an interview we’ve done with Exient (better known in the iPhone world as X2 Games).

Exient is a software development company that’s been around since the time of the gameboy. Although they publish iPhone games under the pseudonym X2 Games [iTunes Link]. The questions are being answered by Charles Chapman and David Hawkins.

iPhone App Reviewer: Given the success of the App Store it’s quite obvious why you’d get into iPhone development, but how easy was it to get started?

X2 Games: Getting going with our first project was pretty easy – we’re professional game developers and have spent the last decade getting to grips with the demands of handhelds across just about every portable format that exists, so we’re used to working with new hardware and adapting our workflow to it. The only difference with iPhone was that we were working with Macs a lot more!

iPhone App Reviewer: We all want to know, how much profit can you actually make out of app development?

X2 Games: How long actually is a piece of string? I’d say that entirely depends on your approach. There’s one angle, where you fire small, cheap games onto the store and hope one sticks or virally becomes a friend-shared phenomenon, delivering a good return in the process. This is pretty close to the current browser-based Flash gaming model and as a result, you’ll see one successful game design iterated into almost infinite variations. This isn’t the market we’re in – we see the iPhone as a platform worthy of investment on the same level as traditional gaming platforms. We aim for console-level production values and approach the iPhone platform as a console developer first and foremost. This means costs are higher for us, but they’re not as high compared to home consoles and we believe that if the quality is there, we’ll get the sales and the returns to make it worthwhile. We’re in this for the long-term, and will be developing our IPs to be definite brands for the platform – brands that we believe customers will trust and keep returning to. In that sense, we’re looking to create a sustainable flow from iPhone, rather than rapidly firing out hit and miss titles.

iPhone App Reviewer: How many work hours are involved in creating a successful app?

X2 Games: A lot, if you want to do it properly! X2 Football had several thousand hours from various people across the team, but then we set out to make the definitive football game on the platform. Realising a goal like that demands considerable skill and resources across the board – coding, in-game assets, animation, game design, music and sound and so on. It also depends on what you class as ‘successful’ – I’m sure someone could develop a simple, but incredibly addictive, low-asset title in quite a short time, but then any truly ‘good’ game needs considerable playtesting to be worth its salt, which will again bump up the hours involved. Either way, you need to put in the time!

iPhone App Reviewer: Is the App Store approval process really as painful as a lot of people make it seem?

X2 Games: We had no problems whatsoever, though we’re well used to tough approval processes with console platform holders. This meant we put a lot of effort into making sure our submission candidate was up to standard as a matter of course.

iPhone App Reviewer: How detailed and highly rendered graphics can the iPhone handle? A lot of people complain about lack of graphics capabilties in apps but who’s fault is it really? The iPhone’s or the developers?

X2 Games: Like all platforms, there are good and bad ways to do things on the iPhone. It can take time to work out the best way to get the most from the hardware, but once you do, it’s a pretty good piece of kit. Sure, the iPhone could be better but that’s true of any hardware – it’s down to the developers to find out how to make their ideas work, really. A good workman never blames his tools…

iPhone App Reviewer: Are you using the 3.0 development SDK?

X2 Games: Yes, we’ve started using 3.0.

iPhone App Reviewer: What do you like in the new SDK? Is the transition simple?

X2 Games: True local multiplayer is probably the most exciting feature for us and we plan to implement it in an update for X2 Football 2009. There are other features in 3.0 that are really interesting, so we’ll be looking into best uses for them in our future projects.

iPhone App Reviewer: What goes into making a truly successful and creative application?

X2 Games: The iPhone’s game library is pretty broad now, so unless you can nail an original concept and deliver it, we think you need to be producing games that are markedly better than what’s already available – and offer a really good reason for people to buy into your version. In our case, we felt that football games could be improved across the board – animation, AI and most importantly, control method. These were our main goals when we started the X2 Football project and our various chart positions suggest that we’re definitely on the right path!

iPhone App Reviewer: Do developers pay much attention to using the application with the iPod Touch or is it primarily iPhone focused?

X2 Games: We want to address the widest audience we can, so we needed to make sure the app worked across the range. With this in mind, we develop using the whole range of iPhones and iPods. Quality Assurance is no different – we test rigorously on every variant the game’s compatible with.

iPhone App Reviewer: How much resources are available to developers? Is Apple’s documentation sufficient?

X2 Games: Apple’s support documentation is great. We’ve had no significant problems with Apple’s level of support.

iPhone App Reviewer: How heavy is the competition in the app store? Do you have lots of marketing to do in order to compete?

X2 Games: Marketing always helps but ultimately, the quality of the app is the most important thing if you really want to compete. With the App Store’s reviews and ratings system, products generally get the reviews they deserve, so if your app is good, it’ll always review well and get positive attention as a result. There’s only so much that marketing can do with a bad product on the App Store, as faults will always come out in the wash.

iPhone App Reviewer: To wrap up, how do you like being an iPhone app developer?

X2 Games: It’s a great platform to be working with and developing games for it is fun – partly because of the fresh challenge of developing on iPhone and being able to implement new ideas. There’s also the aspect of directly addressing a really sizeable audience.

Many thanks to the whole team over at Exient and their excellent PR staff. Check out Exient’s latest hit, X2 Football 2009 [iTunes Link].

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Monkey Flight iPhone Game App Review

thetraynor — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:27:22 +0000

Monkey Flight: A totally bomb pick up and play app!

Our Rating: 7.9/10 – Thumbs Up [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.12
Developer: Donut Games
Price as of Review: $0.99
Current iTunes Rating: N/A
Size: 2.4MB
Lite Version: [iTunes Link]

Monkey Flight is the simplest of pick up and play games available for the iPhone. Monkey Flight is a simple game where the controller has to launch a monkey into flight with a palm tree in order to collect an array of fruits and coconuts to gain points. The game can be played in 3 modes; Arcade, Challenges and Lite Play. The latter of which is the version available for free download to try out the game.

Now lets talk about the ‘Challenges’ mode in Monkey Flight. There’s 20 levels available for play (as of right now, keep your fingers crossed for more!). Each level has 3 goals to reach, though you only have to reach the lowest of the three to move onto the next. Now though there are some amusing levels that are going to keep you locked in for hours and hours playing, there’s the less amusing beat it in 2 seconds levels that make you wonder why your still playing.

Arcade mode on Monkey Flight offers you another amusing way of play; who can beat the top score? You’re given three monkey’s to send into flight down one of the longest maps in the game. I found this mode of Monkey Flight to be less amusing than the challenges but at the same time the challenges offer something different. The simplicity of the control system and game play make this game one of the best games I’ve played to date.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8/10 – Amusing and time consuming, always gets your attention

Enjoyment: 7/10 – Hard to lose interest, until you beat all the levels…

Graphics: 8/10 – Small, but very distinguished

Sound: 9/10 – Fits the game perfectly

Technology: 6/10 – only uses touch controls, but uses them to the max, no need for more

Replay Value: 7/10 – lower rating ONLY because after the 20 levels are done (can be accomplished within 2 – 3 hours total play) you don’t really have anything to come back to.

Overall Rating: 7.9/10

Monkey Flight is a great game and a great way to kill some time when your bored, but it needs to be beefed up a bit (though the step up from the lite version is significant) before I think it’s capable of a 10/10.

-thetraynor

The Ugly Truth, what needs to change:

Theres only 20 levels, I beat them all in 1 day
The banana boost came to me by surprise (after you launch your monkey, tap the screen up to 2 times per monkey for a boost)
There’s two many easy levels spread throughout the hard ones, they need to progress better

Follow me on twitter @thetraynor

More screenshots here.

Other Reviews on Monkey Flight 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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Readdledocs iPhone Business App Review

iPhone App Reviewer — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:55:28 +0000

Readdledocs: A mobile file organizing revolution.

Our Rating: 8.2/10 Thumbs Up! [Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.5.2
Developer: Readdle
Price as of Review: $4.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Size: 2.9MB

If you want to take your files to go with you on the iPhone, Readdledocs pretty much eliminates all other competition. With a large assorted variety of ways to sync files Readdledocs can manipulate and organize files on any platform, and anywhere. You’ll need an Internet connection to sync and even download files, but after that, your files will be on your iPhone’s harddrive wherever. Need to back them up? You can copy them to your computer just like you would with a normal folder (using the iPhone’s wi-fi disk feature) and even sync them to the 512MB storage space Readdle provides for free.

With Readdledoc’s abundance of settings, it’s sure to get the job done right. The files can be stored with a complete file hierarchy and any format can be saved (though not every format can be read). It can be used as a PDF reader and then email them to co-workers and friends. Readdledocs uses the standard way to read things, panning and pinching to scroll around the file. Unlike most apps, even when viewing a large file Readdledocs does not slow down, and even if it does crash, it’s saved for later!

Unfortunately this isn’t an all-in-one office app; it lacks the ability to edit and write to files. Basically the concept of Readdledocs is to retrieve files from anywhere, anyway, and to read them wherever. The execution of the concept was simply brilliant, the programmers over at Readdle are doing a fantastic job, really showing off the iPhone’s capabilities as a replacement to your Palm Handheld or Crackberry. The user interface is smooth and stable. Now we just have to wait for an update and hopefully they’ll add some new features – perhaps something with the 3.0 features? Only time will tell.

Final Ratings:

Usefulness: 8/10 – Until the concept is expanded to a complete documents app, it’s only good for reading files. Readdle will definitely do a great job on anything they expand the app to.

User Interface: 9/10 – I come across the odd glitch but the user interface is nearly as good as BeejiveIM

Price: 6/10 – Office apps are usually expensive, this one doesn’t break that paradigm, but it could…

Technology: 8.2/10 – Great so far but I can think of more features

Execution of Concept: 9.6/10 – Readdle’s developers are some of the best I’ve seen. Bravo.

Overall Rating: 8.2/10

Further Improvements: (Note to the developer!)

Background Running – How about an alert popup when a new file is ready to sync?
File editing!!
Basic image editing.
Fix some glitches – mainly performance with network drives.
Display settings for those reading an eBook or long documents.
Monospaced formatting for shared code.

More screenshots here!

Other reviews on Readdledocs for the iPhone and iPod Touch:

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Need for Speed Undercover iPhone Game Review

iPhone App Reviewer — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:12:03 +0000

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:

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iPhone App Reviewer Daily Updates

iPhone App Reviewer — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

new wordpress upgrade! 2.8 rocks, new code editor #
Kryzer Prologue is getting a little easy…nah. http://twitpic.com/75nki #

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Doodle Jump iPhone Game Review

iPhone App Reviewer — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:46:02 +0000

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)

In-game pause feature
Touch control as well as tilt, use multi-touch
Local as well as online leaderboard/high score
Information/Instructions page
Settings

More screenshots here

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