Our Rating: 8.5/10

[Screenshots]

Version Reviewed: 1.00.00
Developer: Handmark Inc
Price as of Review: $4.99
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Lite Version: [iTunes Link]

Phaze is [*sigh* yes, another one] racing game, yet probably one of the most addicting ones I’ve ever played on the iPhone.  The setting is different than most, we take a step into the future, racing with jet powered hover cars going at high speeds.  The game requires great reflex skills as all the tracks have bends and turns – failure to dodge these will result in loss of health.  Once you run out of health your vehicle will explode and you’ll definitely fall behind.

Phaze has several different maps and tons of vehicles – each with their own statistics, unfortunately you aren’t able to customize or buy additional parts for any of them.  Either way though there’s so many new things to unlock, you can play this game for days (trust me, it’s pretty darn addicting).  You can play in quick play mode to practice and beat your lap times or you can test your skills (and unlock new vehicles/maps) by playing Championship mode.  On four different difficulty levels the competition can get fierce, always dropping bombs and launching missiles.

The user interface is a simple menu, absolutely nothing fancy, just allows you to get into the game.  Although something like a cover flow mode to browse through available vehicles would be cool.  The controls are all based on the accelerometer, no touch controls are available.  Luckily you can calibrate and set the sensitivity of the accelerometer to your personal needs.  There are some unfortunate glitches and annoyances, in earlier versions even some stability issues.  Most have been fixed and you just need to figure out a comfortable spot to play.  The graphics set the perfect theme and don’t wear down the app’s performance; the sound is just as good.

All in all Phaze is a phenomenal racing game, probably the most addicting racing game I’ve played on the iPhone.  After getting past a few annoyances, $4.99 is a great price and all racing lovers should pick this one up.  Bravo, Handmark Inc.

Final Ratings:

Gameplay: 8.9/10 – Great racing Artificial Intelligence, power-ups during racing, and to top it off – unlockable vehicles and maps

Enjoyment: 9.5/10 – Absolutely – could hardly put it down.

Graphics: 8/10  – Double S – Suitable and Satisfactory

Sound: 8.1/10 – Bursting sound effects that enhance the racing experience.

Technology: 6.5/10  – A lot of annoyances, able to set accelerometers sensitivity but the relative angle has some serious problems.

Replay Value: 9.8/10 – Seriously addicting and for bonuses you can go through all the championships on four difficulty levels.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

More screenshots here.

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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:

• Need for Speed Undercover Review on IGN
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on PocketGamer
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on VideoGamer
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on Slide To Play
• Need for Speed Undercover Review on AppVee

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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• Red Bull Air Race
• Ace Hunter
• Puzzle Quiz
• The Magic Blackboard

Red Bull Air Race [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $2.99
Category: Games
Developer: Artificial Life Inc.
Current iTunes Rating: 2.5/5
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Lite Version: iTunes Link

Red Bull Air Race is another flight styled game for the iPhone (see Laminar Research’s page for other flight games), this app however is based off a popular recent event called,iPhone App Reviews by iPhone App Reviewer › Edit Post — WordPress well, Red Bull Air Race.  This app features several locations to race with your Red Bull aircraft, using the accelerometer and touch controls to weave through an over-water fast speed race, doing full vertical turns and knifing through pylons.  The user interface and graphics are simply beautiful and will have you wishing every app would use the capabilities of the iPhone like Red Bull Air Race does.

Air Race is packed with features, including quick flight, tournament/season mode and even a custom flight mode where you can create racing maps and even share them with friends.  It includes an excellent tutorial to get you started but unfortunately the controls will take quite a bit of time to get used to as they can be a little buggy.  Luckily it includes accelerometer sensitivity adjustment and calibration so you can perfect it to your liking.  Definitely check out Red Bull Air Race for any racing, flying, or Red Bull fan.

Final Rating: 8.5/10

Ace Hunter [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $0.99
Category: Games
Developer: Coresoft Inc.
Current iTunes Rating: 2.5/5
Version Reviewed: 1.5

Ace Hunter is yet another point, aim, shoot game, this app doesn’t bring anything new.  Using either the shaky uncalibrated accelerometer controls or the touch controls, you must point your crosshair at a deer hidden in a forestry camping background and fire.  The graphics are mediocre leaving you unattached to the game, not to mention that the setting theme never changes so you’re always staring at that same background.  The online score board might be enough to keep you playing but don’t count on it.

Final Rating: 4.9/10

Puzzle Quiz [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $0.99
Category: Games
Developer: Digital Fun
Current iTunes Rating: 4.5/5
Version Reviewed: 1.1.3
Lite Version: iTunes Link

Puzzle Quiz is a unique puzzle game in which you must shift around pieces to form the original picture.  Puzzle Quiz is highly polished and one of the best jigsaw puzzle type games I’ve played on the iPhone.  For bonus time, Puzzle Quiz gives you a historical trivia question too.  It has a pretty cool interface and even an online leaderboard.  With three difficulty levels and tons of puzzles made form world class photos, puzzle quiz can keep you entertained for quite a while.  Plus when you get bored of the standard levels, it allows you to use your own photos to create a scrambled puzzle (still with multiple difficulty levels).  Unfortunately you cannot upload your custom puzzles to the Internet.  Nor can you challenge or email people your scores, the online features of Puzzle Quiz are limited to just a high score board.  Which is too bad because this sort of addicting gameplay would be even better if you could face others in real time, fastest to solve the puzzle wins.  All in all if you’re looking for an addictive pick up and play jigsaw game, Puzzle Quiz is for you.  Enjoy!

Final Rating: 7.9/10

The Magic Blackboard [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $0.99
Developer: Alpha72 Games
Current iTunes Rating: 4/5
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1

This is just another warped breakout style game.  Unfortunately The Magic Blackboard fails to be an entertaining game and all the flashy graphics make for an annoying session of play.  Not ot mention the very glitchy control scheme (at least you can use tilt or touch….  The Magic Blackboard needs some serious work before I can consider keeping i on my iPod.  This application was quickly deleted off my iPod after several people I tested it with gave it two thumbs down.

Final Rating: 3/10

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• Westward
• Personality
• The Fast and Furious: Pink Slip
• aMAZEing

Westward [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $4.99
Category: Games
Developer: Handmark
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Version Reviewed: 1.05

Synopsis: A very large game themed in the wild west in which you must control characters around a map to create settlements and battle.  Although I’m a fan of similar games like Civilization for PC, and other multi-unit strategy games, Westward bored me to tears to say the least.  There’s a whole multitude of controls and lots to do, and the graphics are quite nice for a mobile game yet still, it feels like a drag to play.

The Good:

• Quite large, lots of stuff to do
• Great starting tutorial
• Very stable
• Feels like a game you’d find on a real gaming system

The Bad:

• Huge drag to play
• I could hardly get past the tutorial before I was bored
• A few annoyances in the controls

Conclusion: If you want to give a game like this a try go for it, but I’m going to note that the five dollar price tag is quite steep.

Final Rating: 5.5/10

Personality [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $1.99
Category: Lifestyle
Developer: Signal Patterns
Current iTunes Rating: 2.5/5
Version Reviewed: 1.1

Synopsis:  Personality is an application that thoroughly tests your personality and gives hard studied results.  Not only is it a one-time test that you will only even use once and pass on, it’s also a whole resource on personality tests and psychology.  Besides the test it features a science page and a results page which explains all the different traits with text and video.

The Good:

• Tons of features, this isn’t one of those lifestyle apps that you’ll just use once
• A great science page
• One of the best personality tests I’ve ever seen (not just on the iPhone)
• Clean user interface
• In-app video’s rather than exiting to YouTube or Safari

The Bad:

• Unable to email results to others or yourself (or any other export way)

Conclusion: This is a fun app that is simply a steal for $1.99.  It’s great fun and quite accurate.

Final Rating: 8.9/10

Fast and Furious: Pink Slip [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $2.99
Category: Games
Developer: I-play
Current iTunes Rating: 3.5/5
Version Reviewed: 0.1.3

Synopsis: Yet another racing game for the iPhone, this one with the movie trademark attached to it.  Fast and Furious Pink Slip  is a very challenging racing game with great graphics and a unique feel to it.  There are multiple gameplay modes including a multiplayer session although some of the modes are quite useless.

The Good:

• Pretty good graphics
• Multiplayer mode
• Several different cars

The Bad:

• No real tutorial
• The “Quick Race” mode is actually called a Drag Race in which you do not control the cars steering, just it’s shifter

Conclusion: A decent racing game with a satisfactory price of $2.99.  They’re better racing games available though…

Final Rating: 7/10

aMAZEing [iTunes Link] – [Screenshots]

Current Price: $0.99
Category: Games
Developer: f-gap
Current iTunes Rating: 2.5/5
Version Reviewed: 1.2

Synopsis: aMAZEing is a maze solving game in a pure 3D environment.  Similar to Windows 98’s 3D maze screensaver but you get to control the point of view.  The objective is to find the amount of gems that you specify at the start in a maze (you choose size).

The Good:

• Able to slightly customize the maze at the start of the game
• Greatly demonstrates how the iPhone can be used to real platform gaming! (Tip of the hat to the developer!)
• Awesome control scheme

The Bad:

• Get’s boring fast
• Only one objective

Synopsis:  This is the start to what could be a very great game, in the mean time, search elsewhere…

Final Rating: 5/10

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