Universal Movie Tycoon, developed by Fuse Powered Inc. and available on both the iPhone and iPod touch, is very similar to other city building games such as the classic SimCity. What makes Universal Movie Tycoon different is that, rather than develop a city, you are developing a movie studio. From a humble beginning with only one movie set and a script for Uncle Buck, your goal is to create a sprawling movie juggernaut in the vein of Universal Studios. Gameplay is simple; select the type of movie set you want to build, select a director and an actor and, once the movie is completed, you reap the rewards in terms of experience and coins. You are also in charge of decorating the studio and building new sets all from a touch based interface. For the most part, the game controls well; however, when it comes to precision controls used to place small items, such as a bed of flowers, the controls start to falter a bit as it becomes difficult to pinpoint the exact location to place your item. There are two types of currency available in Universal Movie Tycoon: coins and Movie Magic. Coins are used to hire directors and actors and build a small number of sets and decorations. The second currency, Movie Magic, is where the game starts to fall apart. Movie Magic is used to build most of the sets you will need and speed up development of a movie or construction project; with some movies and projects taking 24 hours in real time to build, Movie Magic is invaluable. You are given 80 Movie Magic at the beginning of the app and, with a tutorial that actively encourages you to use your Movie Magic, you are quickly left with zero. Very early on, Movie Magic is Read More
LEGO Ninjago: Rise of the Snakes, developed by Lego Systems Inc. and released on the iPhone and iPod touch, is based on the 2012 lineup of Ninjago LEGO toys. Rather than focus on the building aspect of LEGO toys, Rise of the Snakes focuses more on the battle aspect; in the line of toys, the figures fight one another by using a technique known as Spinjitzu. When you start Rise of the Snakes, you will be prompted to create your character. The character creation is diverse, with over 50 weapons to choose from and over 70 characters to select, guaranteeing that there is a favorite character and weapon combination for everyone. After creating a character, you must choose one out of three opponents to battle; each day, three new opponents are selected and the previous ones are discarded. Defeating an opponent allows you to use that character, gain special abilities or gain coins, providing a reason to play the game every day. However, chances are you won’t want to play this game at all after experiencing your first battle. Once the battle begins, both you and your opponent are placed into an arena and begin automatically spinning. The objective is to spin into your opponent, which damages him, or send him off a cliff for maximum damage. When your opponent’s health bar is empty, you are victorious, and vice versa. To control your character, you must tilt your device in the direction you want him to spin in. Chances are, your character will not spin where you want him to go or move too quickly, causing him to fly off the edge of the arena. While there are special abilities you can use during battle, sadly none of them give you better control; chances are good you will be defeated before Read More
Abrawordabra is not at all like any word game you’ve played before. This iPhone app developed by Total Arkade Software combines elements of traditional word games with elements of action games. When I played it on the iPhone 4, I found a few kinks that still needed to be worked out, but it’s overall an enjoyable and surprisingly beautiful gaming experience. When I opened the application to review it, I found a richly detailed menu screen showing the backstage area of a magic show. The general feeling is rather theatrical, with curtains opening and closing on each level and an evil magician making an occasional appearance. There’s an easy-to-find “play” button on the menu screen which takes you to the four different modes: Mizz Spell, U Genius, Fill the Gap, and Float On. Selecting any of these modes will take you to a tutorial and then on to the first level. I found the tutorial to be helpful, since the game’s controls were easy to learn but not intuitive, but I did have one complaint. The application modes are all quite similar, using the same controls and almost the same layout, so it was annoying to have to re-do the tutorial for each mode. An option to skip the tutorials would be helpful. In each mode, the player maneuvers letter tiles through a maze by swiping holes in the floor, stacking the tiles, and tapping various powerups to gain points. At the end of the maze, the letters become available for use in the word-oriented part of the level. The letters must be floated to the top of the screen to correct words in Mizz Spell, to create new words from scratch in U Genius, and to fill in missing letters in Fill the Gap. The only mode I found lacking Read More
My Status strives to change the way iOS users receive and decline communications with their contacts. My Status lets you update your status on your iPhone or iPod touch to indicate what you are currently doing: busy, free, not available, in a meeting, can’t talk now, watching TV, etc. When your contacts-who also use My Status-seek to communicate with you, they are alerted of your current status. Upon opening this application, My Status shows your current status. Beneath that is the button to “Update Status.” Pressing this button takes you to a screen with many status options including general status, feelings, activities and places. My Status contains a bottom toolbar for navigating the menus. The first icon (Status) shows your status. The second icon “Contacts” shows your iOS device contacts and your “My Status Contacts.” Next to that is the “Favorites” icon which shows your favorite statuses. The Settings icon lets you change your status color and language. My Status also integrates with Facebook and Twitter to auto-post your status updates to your social media network of choice. The More button lets you rate the app, provide feedback, change your phone number and share the app with your friends. My Status by My Status costs $0.99 USD to download from the iTunes Store. They also provide a free My Status version which is ad-supported. The ads display along the bottom of the program above the bottom toolbar. My Status’ functionality remains entirely dependent on your personal contacts. When you have no contacts who use My Status, this program is worthless to you. It does not function as a communications program if you have no one in your network to use it in conjunction with. I didn’t enjoy using this iPhone app. I think the developers have an intriguing concept with their Read More
Looking up at the night’s sky often fills us with wonder and amazement. If you’d like help identifying the stars above, iCandi’s Night Sky iPhone and iPad app is an affordable way to understand just what’s up there. Looking Up The idea behind this iPhone product is nothing new. There is a similar application for Android and a few other platforms. The Star Walk app for iPhone also has similar functionality, which we’ll get into later in this review. Basically, you aim your phone at the sky and the stars are overlaid with astronomical data such as constellation diagrams and star names. I used this on my iPod touch by standing outside while picking up the Wi-Fi from inside my house. Its pretty cool to see the sky above augmented with constellation names and stars. I was able to identify major points of light in the sky. This iPhone app would be a great learning tool for those with children. Comparisons With Other Products Unfortunately, Night Sky doesn’t really measure up to its competition. It does what it claims to do, but suffers from lack of a few key features that make other apps like Star Walk truly amazing. The augmented graphics is what makes other apps so impressive. Looking up and seeing astronomical data overlaid with what you’re actually seeing made you feel like you were in some kind of science fiction film. Night Sky’s uninspiring artificial horizon just can’t compete. There are some performance issues as well. The program doesn’t track as good as its competition. You can’t get any more info by clicking on the data in the sky. Night Sky is solid and performs well enough to actually identify stars. That is what it’s supposed to do in the end. Night Sky can help you identify stars Read More
The DMV Genius iOS app brings form, function, and fun to the dreadful task of studying for your driver’s license exam. The DMV Genius app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad takes its permit practice tests straight from your state’s driver’s licensing manual, so you can practice confidently. The DMV Genius iOS app brings straightforward testing to your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The absence of bells and whistles does not diminish the quality of the content and the intention of the DMV Genius iOS app. You want a driver’s license, and one of the hoops is passing the test. The DMV Genius driver prep app is a free download, but a $2.99 in-app purchase is required to maximize your study. The free version only allows you to change your state three times, and you have only one test with 20 questions. The $2.99 upgrade gets you four more tests with 40 questions each for multiple states. You can also buy DMV Genius Premium Upgrade Pack (4 Permit Practice Tests) for a single state via in-app purchases for $1.99 each. The DMV Genius iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app has a simple test interface to guide you in your study. The question fills the upper portion of the screen, and the multiple choice answers are listed in the lower portion of the screen. A menu bar at the bottom of the screen allows you to go back or forward, as well as request a hint or an explanation. When you choose an answer for a question, a green check indicates success. If you do not make the correct selection, a pop-up explains the correct choice. If you need a hint or an explanation prior to making the wrong choice, you simply touch the appropriate word at the bottom of the screen. Read More
I’ve gotta stop starting review with “people keep criticising the iPad as being merely a device for content consumption and XYZ app proves them otherwise.” Although first people have to stop saying it. The DM1 iPad app from Fingerlab is a top notch drum machine that does a great job of “getting out of your way”. There are many many great music making apps for the iPad (just look through my past reviews) but some are far too complex, requiring too steep a learning curve to let you sit back and create without first requiring the acquisition of a complex set of skills. On the other hand some are far too simple (Propellerheads Figure I looking at you with eyes full of disappointment). DM1 manages to strike a pretty perfect balance of powerful yet intuitive design. I opened the app and laid down a beat in minutes, without ever once having to resort to the inbuilt help (which is a simple overlay on buttons so hardly complex). The DM1 comes with an interesting array of kits. All the usual suspects are here, with classic beatboxes of yesteryear sitting side by side with analogue kits and a few percussion kits. Where things get a bit more interesting is with the inclusion of some custom kit – Glitch, 8 bit, Pong, and more. There are also a few melodic instruments loaded so you can experiment but the DM1 is first and foremost a drum machine. There are two ways to make beats with the app – pads and step sequencing. Both should be familiar to anyone who has ever use a drum machine, but even to the uninitiated there’s a really simple spirit of pick up and play captured here. The step sequence enables you to visualise the track and see exactly where Read More
You will no longer dread the task of taking minutes at meetings with the incredible help of the MinuteTaker iPad app. The intuitive, clean interface of this well-crafted iPad productivity app not only helps you create and share thorough minutes and action items, but it also provides a cohesive picture of projects with successful integration of Dropbox and photo files. The MinuteTaker iPad app gives you and your team a fantastic blueprint for effective team work and coordination. The MinuteTaker iPad app starts with a solid home screen containing a tutorial in the MinuteTaker format to jump start your next conference call. The excellent tutorial clearly and succinctly covers the functionality. You start a new set of minutes by pressing the plus from the home screen. You title the meeting, and you can use location services to identify location. You may also choose from recent places or contact addresses. You add attendees by typing names into the search bar. The MinuteTaker iPad app pulls up attendees from your contacts. You also select the minute taker by touching the screen. Once these items are complete, you start to create your minutes. The MinuteTaker iPad app expands in columns as you create your meeting’s minutes. The far left column allows you to access previously saved meeting minutes with a touch. The middle column is the list of items discussed. The right column allows you to create an item and add detailed information. The interface is efficient, and it makes for quick movement back and forth. Invariably, twenty minutes later, you may want to expand in greater detail on a previously discussed item. You simply touch the item in the middle column, and you can update details in the right column. The MinuteTaker iPad app will certainly work best, if you have a bluetooth Read More
The FaceVault iPhone app combines facial recognition and photo album security. With a refreshing easy to use and intuitive interface, you can quickly set-up the FaceVault facial recognition app and make it more difficult for sneaky eyes to immerse themselves in your iPhone and iPod Touch photography. The problem with the app is that it is very limited in terms of what it can protect. The app can’t serve as security against the use of your iPhone, but only limits access to files inside the app itself. It also does not prevent access to the native iPhone Photos app. The FaceVault iPhone app requires an internet connection and location services to operate properly. You must allow both of these permissions to maximize the features of this shockingly simple iOS app. In order to activate the facial recognition functionality, you take a photo in an environment with ample light. You hold the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad and place your face in the area specified. After a few moments, your photo is saved to face.com. Per the assurances of the developer Robert Paul Neagu, your photo is only saved on the face.com server and cannot be viewed anywhere else online. Your photo is also saved to your login photos within the FaceVault iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app. In order to make the FaceVault facial recognition iOS app operate in low-light situations, you are also instructed to create a pattern by linking dots on a grid. This pattern is quickly created and saved via gestures on the screen. The graphic vibe of the pattern recognition interface for the FaceVault iPhone app is straightforward and uncomplicated. The simplicity doesn’t reflect the intensity of the technical work of this facial recognition iOS app. Once you have created your secure connection, you can add multiple Read More
Ever accidentally record a video instead of taking a picture on your iPhone? StillShot is an incredible new iPhone photography app released today, May 14, 2012, by Macadamia Apps, the same team behind GroupShot. StillShot’s iPhone app extracts photos from your videos that can be saved and shared with a simple, intuitive interface. StillShot is designed for those moments when your iPhone camera is inadvertently set on video mode. You no longer miss those precious moments. And, more importantly, you’re able to edit out your expletive-filled reaction when you do realize your iPhone is in video mode. You also capture great reactions and unique perspectives in video. It’s really cool to have StillShot’s iPhone app capabilities to capture a great shot that doesn’t have a play mode arrow in the middle of the frame. The StillShot iPhone photography app has a similar interface to GroupShot. The home screen has a clean, modern feel with clear direction via icons and text prompts. With StillShot’s iPhone app, your videos from your libraries are available to convert into photos. The processing time is surprisingly quick considering the complicated task at hand. I experimented with short and long videos, and I found excellent speed and agility in processing for both scenarios. StillShot’s iPhone app incorporates different ways to scroll and select photos. The gesture control for navigating through your photos is responsive and accurate. Once you have selected your photo, the one-touch sharing to Facebook and Twitter operates with great ease. There is an understated simplicity in StillShot and GroupShot that brings elegance and grace to the Photography section of the iTunes app store. The StillShot app, like GroupShot, solves problems with beautiful functionality. Let’s hope Yair Bar-On and the Macadamia Apps team continue to produce quality iPhone apps to help us preserve cherished memories Read More
