Hangman Free

Developer: Optime Software, Inc.
Genre: Word Game
Rating: 4+

Remember playing hangman in school? On the bus? At the library? Do you realize how many hangman apps there are out there? Holy cripes! It may be a good idea for you to stay away from that search, just in case the sheer volume of it blows your mind! Now, I can’t speak for all those other versions, but I can tell you that if you’re looking for a good representation of the classic, this is a very good place to start. From the warm tones of the chalk writing on the board, to the celebratory ding of the winning player, the sounds of the game are great. Visually, there is vibrant color chalk used for the letters and the hangman drawing, the letters are clearly visible, and the red that marks off the letters which have already been chosen is very distinct. No tutorial needed. This game is intuitive and nostalgic.

Pros: Lots of word categories to choose from.
Cons: You can’t add a million details to try to secure the victory.
Verdict: If you ever liked hangman, this is a good app to have.

DoodleBuddy

Developer: Pinger, Inc.
Genre: Drawing
Rating: 4+

This game was introduced to me by a buddy of mine. He loves to draw. I, however, suck at anything art related. That being said, this really is a great app for anyone who loves to doodle. DoodleBuddy is reminiscent of Window’s Paint program. You have stamps (each of which make their own sound when you use them), pens of different sizes and colors, a smear option, differing backgrounds (or use your own), etc. The coolest thing about this app, though, is the option to simultaneously doodle with a buddy. Simply send them an invite, and, should they deem you worthy, you can draw with them. There is a chat as well, in case you decide to talk while you doodle. It’s as simple as that! Either doodle by yourself, or with a friend. This is better than productivity.

Pros: Can doodle with a buddy (hence the name) with tons of tools to use.
Cons: You have to click an email link to accept the doodle invite.
Verdict: This is a great app to have when you need to kill time, or you’re feeling creative.

Whiteboard Free

Developer: Raizlabs Corporation
Genre: Productivity
Rating: 4+

As we all know, chalk boards make a lot of noise. And I’m not just talking about that horrific nails thing . Chalk breaks, erasers are dusty, you catch my drift. So, along came the whiteboard. This cute little markers that erased so easily (unless you accidentally used permanent marker), the wide variety of colors, the ghosts left on the board after they’d been erased… Those were the days. Well, this app is a very good representation of that whiteboard. There is a pen (red is the only color you get with this version), an eraser, a trash bin, and a save option (to save that physics break through). It’s simple. Almost too simple. The use is simple, the pictures are very detailed (the marker and eraser), but if you’re needing a whiteboard app, this may be TOO simple for you.

Pros: A bluetooth option allows for sharing and collaboration.
Cons: One color only for the free version
Verdict: There are probably other apps that will serve this particular purpose with more panache.

Developer/Publisher: id Software
Genre: FPS/RPG
Price: $3.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: A  fun RPG-lite experience that won’t deter Doom/FPS fans from enjoying this
Pros: Great length; great blend of RPG and FPS elements; game’s storyline is light and satirical of RPG conventions
Cons: Crashes galore…save often.

Doom 2 RPG is the RPG for the rest of us. It’s the RPG for people who hate the standard RPG format, for those who like first-person shooters with a sprinkling of RPG flavor and plenty of demons to kill.

Doom 2 RPG’s story is far less intensive than most other RPGs – someone went and opened themselves up a portal to hell, and you’re the sucker tasked to save the day. You pick one of three characters with different strengths and weaknesses, and then you’re trotting the solar system and portals to hell, slaying demons when appropriate. And here in Doom 2 RPG, it is always appropriate to slay demons, and the occasional rogue AI that’s found a way to metastasisize between the digital and ‘real’ worlds. Typical everyday problems.

Doom 2 RPG is, at its core, a turn-based RPG – every action you take, from moving to shooting to item use, takes up a ‘turn’, which only really becomes important when enemies are in play – you’ll need to be careful of the actions you take, as you’ll often have huge packs of enemies trying to murder you, so you’ll want to be selective of your weapon type; certain weapons like the Holy Water Pistol will stun certain enemy types and cause them to scurry away for a few turns,or some energy weapons will be stronger against enemies than bullet-type weapons. You’ll also want to use your Nano Drinks, which bestow temporary abilities on you – the Super Quench is a huge boon against enemies that can burn you, as it not only can cure the burn effect, but can make you immune to those attacks, for example.

Yes, the game is a turn-based RPG at its core, but everything else screams “Doom” at you. The first-person perspective, environments, enemies, weapons – this is a Doom game, just in turn-based form. And that’s why it’s so enjoyable – you don’t think you’re playing an RPG, you think you’re playing Doom. The RPG elements are so lightly implemented that even someone like me who grows tiresome of RPGs, Doom 2 RPG had me hooked. In fact, the only thing that kicked me out of the experience were the crashes – it would frequently happen when travelling between levels, and occasionally at random moments; it’s not a gamebreaker, but is annoying. Save often.

There’s at least 4 or 5 hours of gameplay if not more for you on the initial playthrough – and the game is very fun. I’ve read that Doom 2 RPG is a throwback to classic PC first-person dungeon hacks,  and Doom 2 RPG certainly has me thinking I should be investigating this genre a bit more, if they’re anywhere as fun as Doom 2 RPG was.

Developer/Publisher: Traplight Games/Chillingo
Genre: Action
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: A solid and at times addictive action game.
Pros: Fantastic graphics; you get to play as a superhero! Great Crystal integration as well
Cons: Flying controls can be wonky at times, and picking up enough velocity to properly hurt your enemies is challenging sometimes.

The Hero is an entry into a genre that really hasn’t seen a lot of entries into it – games where you play as an invincible superhuman character (some kind of “super man” perhaps?) trying to defeat villains out to hurt the innocent. Traplight Games have answered the call with resounding success.

The story of The Hero is that you’re the eponymous superhero, who is out to save the planet from the evil Dr. Hubbub. Along the way to the big climactic fight, you’ll fight such enemies as zombies, swarms of bees, ninjas, soliders, tanks, helicopters, UFOs, and satellites with giant frakkin’ lasers. You’ll also have to save falling babies, and try to intercept falling meteors as well. The life of a hero is fraught with danger, as well as lazy cops and voluptuous reporters who are totally crushing on you.

As an invincible super hero, you cannot be killed; no, you can only run out of fame. By taking damage and allowing dangers to persist unchecked by your mighty powers, your fame bar diminishes. To restore it to its former glory, you must destroy the threats (or save the babies; destroying them by letting them fall to the ground is just mean, dude), or high-five the citizens hanging out of their window, wanting only the recognition by a superhuman being to shine a little light on their weary lives. As well, their kudos will have the advantage filling up your special powers meter, which allows you to freeze, explode, and electrocute your enemies as it progressively fills up.  These are your only weapons besides the original superpower: velocity.

As an invincible superhero, you can’t be felled by a hard knock to the head. The Hero thusly deals death to his foes by ramming into them at high velocities. You don’t have any punch or kick attacks, so when attacking enemies, you need to make sure you have momentum, so you’ll need to fly around to pick up some speed to do damage to some of the stronger enemies, as otherwise you’re just pushing them around. You have a turbo boost that you can use to help pick up some speed in a jiffy or to fly around the cities more quickly.

The Hero’s missions have you flying around cities, dealing with dangers as they spawn into the levels – you must take care of all the threats in a level without running out of fame in order to complete the levels. The earlier levels feature the smaller threats like the bees and zombies, and the later levels feature tanks, helicopters, UFOs, and satellites a-plenty, until a near-final level that throws everything but the kitchen sink at you, including threats you haven’t had to deal with since very early on in the game, and a final boss where your fame bar does serve as a more traditional health bar, as increasing your fame is nearly impossible in this level. The Campaign mode has 15 levels, along with 4 Survival mode levels that you unlock through playing the Campaign mode, which took me a little above 3 hours to beat on the default difficulty, which I mostly accomplished in extended sit-downs with the game as I had trouble putting it down at times. Flying around being a superhero is exceptionally fun.

Also exceptional? The graphics. The Hero’s in-game graphics look just like the concept art that’s surrounded it, and the game runs very smoothly on the iPhone 3G. There’s even a higher framerate option available for those iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3rd Gen owners who have beefier hardware, but you don’t seem to be missing much if you don’t have those devices. This isn’t putting down the game in any way; it’s a testament as to just how well the game runs on the 3G. The controls work fairly well; the on-screen d-pad is serviceable, but it can be challenging to turn around quickly, but this was a minor complaint that I was able to work around. There’s plenty of replay value with Crystal high score leaderboards and achievements (including some interesting ones, like trying to lift a tank into outer space), the Hard difficulty, and the 4 survival levels.

The Hero was fun; I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s an essential game, but it’s a top to bottom well-done package with plenty of elements to hook you to it. Not a lot of bad things to say beyond issues with turning and velocity, and those are minor at best. The Hero is, dare I say, a heroic effort from Traplight Games.

Do you remember that Shape O Ball you played with as a kid? That’s what LetsTans reminds me of. Hours upon hours of trying to put the right shape in the right hole; isn’t that what life is all about? I’m not sure I liked that as a child and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this game as an adult. In fact, I laughed upon opening the app for the first time. Not because the game itself looked bad; quite the contrary, actually; I just knew I would be in for some kind of mind blowing experience either way. Given the concept and how crusty my brain feels lately, it was inevitable.

LetsTans is a tangram puzzler with 210 unique levels to master in three different modes. In Classic mode you deal with a white background and seven shapes to fit into the puzzle. Sometimes this comes easy and sometimes it’s an hour long journey. Luckily, they have a hint feature to help you if you are stuck. In Replica mode, things are switched up and instead of a white backgroun,d you are staring at a screen filled with the pieces and only one white open spot. You have to figure out which seven pieces will fit there. Finally, there’s the crazy Arcade mode. In the background all of the tans are preset and grayed out. You have a square box that is in color and you drag it around the screen until you find the right set that will fit perfectly in that box. Talk about insane! For something so simple it sure makes you work for your reward.

A game that I had no intention of thinking about after playing for this review has turned the tide; I think about it constantly, to the point where I’m having Tetris syndrome and seeing shapes with my eyes closed. It’s a game I never in a million years would have purchased based on the concept. For the non-believers out there they have given you a chance to try the game for free with LetsTans Lite. And why not? The interface is amazing, the puzzles are hand crafted, and the developers have won awards for their puzzle mastery. Could you ask for anything more?

Tinkerbell.  Puck.  Wanda.  Faeries have long played a part in the popular culture.  From the days of The Bard, right through to today’s Nickelodeon generation, there’s something about those flying folk that capture the imagination and fill us with wonder.  Is it any surprise, then, that this latest iPhone outing embraces its winged roots ?

Bella Boo is just a simple girl.  With wings.  And claws.  Like any good faerie, she can be found floating through the forest canopy looking for some good natured mischief.  Unlike the lighthearted Disney bunch, Ms. Boo is ready to thrown down with the nastiest ghouls in the dark, dark wood.

As Bella, you must zip around the screen, encircling villains of all kind.  When your pixie trail completely encircles the bad guys, they are dispatched and sent back from whence they came.  But these guys aren’t pushovers.  From flaming skulls to laser eyeballs to floating zombies, the dark forces are all out to do in Bella Boo.  Its hard enough trying to round up two or three of these guys to maximize your bonus, but they are firing back.  More than once, I was trying to tighten my circle when an errant fireball singed my wings.

The zombies also try to finish off Bella Boo by grabbing her.  When this happens, you need to shake your iPhone to free yourself from their clammy grasp.  I could never quite tell how long I was supposed to shake.  It’s a clever idea to make full use of the device, I’m just not sure how well is executed in Bella Boo.

I’m kind of torn about my time with this scary faerie.  There are three separate control schemes for Bella Boo.  The virtual joystick, touch and drag, and tilt methods of steering give players a nice variety of navigation.  None of them really quite gelled with me.  I think if the virtual joystick had been to the right of the screen, rather than the left, it might have been closer to a good match for me.  But I’m still not sure it would have been a hit, as I often found my thumb sliding off the stick area.

I did try the alternate methods of controlling Bella Boo as she took flight.  The point and drag method often found me covering a crucial part of the screen.  The accelerometer seemed a bit mushy.  The game drew me in, the control scheme pushed me away.

The Bella Boo soundtrack definitely has a dark tone to it, completely appropriate to the mood of the game.  I found that it complimented the color scheme nicely.  Generally, I’m not a big fan of the ‘circle and ensnare’ games, but this one really brought a lot of key elements together to win me over.

Once again, we see OpenFeint pulling gamers together.  As you round up the baddies and earn achievements, you can share your joy with fellow on-the-go gamers.  For just $0.99, gamers who enjoy the genre might want to take flight with Bella Boo in her quest to clean house.

Developer/Publisher: One Man Left Studios
Genre: Arcade/Twin-Stick Shooter…sort of
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: Frantic, fun, polished. Stellar.
Pros: It’s Geometry Wars’ Pacifism on the iPhone! Tilt controls are fantastic; great graphical look; tons of achievements
Cons: Game uses AGON instead of OpenFeint, which is kind of a shame considering how achievement-based it is.

Why Geometry Wars isn’t on the iPhone yet baffles me. The twin-stick genre has certainly flourished without it, from the genre itself being replicated with great success (and often financially successful) to the look of the game adopted by various other games, often not even in the twin-stick shooter genre. But I digress; one element of a Geometry Wars game has yet to be duplicated on the iPhone. What would that be? Why, that would be Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2’s Pacifism mode, where you had no guns, just endless streams of enemies to avoid, one life in play, and the only way to get rid of enemies was to fly through gates that would detonate enemies; it was crazy addictive, yes it was. Sadly, there’s nothing like it on the iPhone. Our lives are devoid of such joy and addictiveness. We’ll just have to learn to live without. Sigh.

Oh, hi there, Tilt to Live. What? You’re a game where you control a little ship amongst a series of evil red dots that you can’t shoot. All you have at your disposal are a variety of powerups that you pick up to protect yourself and to destroy those who oppose you.

Sorry, Geometry Wars, we don’t need you any more.

Tilt to Live is indeed a game where you control using the accelerometer – no on-screen joysticks here! You might think that this is a bad thing, but honestly, developers One Man Left Studios wrote a check with the title Tilt to Live that the game does indeed cash. The tilt controls are BRILLIANT, and exceptionally accurate, which is a must in a game where you’ll have to slip through tight holes in enemy formations often. There are 3 default calibrations, pictured below, and the ability to easily calibrate the controls to what’s comfortable for you.

Tilt to Live is very stylish, and everything is presented with great graphical flair. The player ship and enemy designs are very basic, but there are a ton of graphical effects, with detailed backgrounds and weapon effects, and the game never slowed down on my iPhone 3G. Even the achievements are presented with a little bit of snark and humor. The game uses AGON for its high scores and achievements, which isn’t bad, but as an OpenFeint fan, I’d love to see a game like this use that, but it’s a very minor complaint.

There’s really not a lot of bad to say about Tilt to Live – having a joystick wouldn’t be a bad idea, but the game makes it work in a great way, even when the game gets absolutely crazy; the game is a visual assault on the senses, but I never felt like I got lost even with all the effects in play. It’s just flying around, trying to keep your head while about all others are losing theirs. Your powerups in play vary more than Pacifism in Geometry Wars did – you have a nuke that blows up all enemies in range, a laser that takes out all enemies in its shooting range (this weapon has a very short charge-up time, so be quick about where you’re pointing once you’ve picked it up), a vortex, a bubble shield (hint: die within 5 seconds the first time you play the game; you’ll thank me later), and 4 other powerups that you can unlock through unlocking certain achievements. This is a game for high score fiends and for achievement lovers, not completionists; but boy is the quest for achivements ever so fun. The game also reminds you of the achievements you pick up that you’ve already unlocked as you play, so you know exactly what you’re doing, and how close you are to getting to where you want to go with the next achievement. There are also plenty of achievements centered around playing the game a specific way, to mix things up.

Tilt to Live is an example of what happens when a developer takes a fantastic concept, absolutely fine-tunes the game’s controls, and makes the game visually pleasing. Tilt to Live? Tilt to Love, I say. Actually, that sounds dirty. Tilt to Be Awesome. $1.99 for Tilt to Live is a pittance for this brilliance.

Developer/Publisher: Freeverse, Inc.
Genre: Cannon Shooter
Price: $0.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: A good effort, but falls short.
Pros: UPGRADES!
Cons: Difficult tilt controls, barely navigable obstacles, mediocre graphics

Zombie Cannon Carnage, by Freeverse, Inc., is a cannon shooting game in the same vein as the classic flash game, Kitten Cannon. The basic premise is to shoot a zombie from a cannon and see how far he will go, causing as much destruction as possible along the way. Kitten Cannon became an instant classic thanks to its ludicrous concept; does Zombie Cannon Carnage follow in its footsteps?

Zombie Cannon Carnage has all of the expected elements, and a few more too boot. At the start of each stage a zombie is loaded into a cannon. In order to fire him out of it, you set the trajectory. Unfortunately there is no option to set the power here. Once you have found your sweet spot, you press a red button to fire, and off he goes. There are two main objectives during your flight: 1) Cause damage to the environment, and 2) Eat people who are trapped on buildings and such. This proves harder than it sounds. First of all, there are way too many obstacles in the environment, giving this game a difficultly level that was potentially unnecessary. Secondly, you somewhat have control of your free fall via the accelerometer, but the tilt controls are picky. Additionally, if you fly too high (above the skyscrapers), the Air Force has a nice missile waiting for you, and it’s game over.

There are a few things in your arsenal that do help you cause extra carnage. Firstly, you have a thruster that can get you out of a free fall for a limited amount of time and help you gain altitude, but again, it is hard to control with the tilt controls. Secondly, you can self destruct once you feel you are out of options, taking out anyone or anything in your small blast range. Furthermore, between each round, providing you have earned enough points, you can upgrade your cannon and purchase weapons, which add to the destruction.

The graphics and sound are lackluster. Graphically, Zombie Cannon Carnage attempts a comic-book style look, but instead it comes across looking amateurish. I do have to say that the fire effects are very well done, but that is the only thing that impressed me. There is no music in Zombie Cannon Carnage, which was disappointing, and the sound effects are basic city effects (horns honking, car tires screeching, etc.).

I spent a number of hours with Zombie Cannon Carnage, and unless I really just suck at this game, I only ever played one level. The same level, over and over again. I can see this game appealing to some people; some gamers will buy anything with zombies in it. Nevertheless, Zombie Cannon Carnage was a mediocre game in a pond full of other mediocre games.

Tune Runner:
Developer: Appy
Genre: Song based
Rating:4+

This game is super cool. I love it. The colors are bright, the music is amazing (of course, I AM a bit partial to my playlists), there is just the right amount of challenge in with the mindless ease. It will stay on my iPod forever. Now, the detail: there is a jogging robot. He’s jogging to your music (uploaded into the game directly from the music loaded on your device). While he runs, shapes appear in the road. In order to street run around/over/through them, you have to recreate the shape by drawing it on the screen. There are only 4 shapes, each just as easy as the next. You have to be fairly accurate on the shape if you want the credit though. If you miss, a frowny face taunts you from above the shape, and poor cute jogging robot guy runs right into it, losing some of his health. Lose all your health, fail the song. Every shape you get right replenishes that health, btw. There is a multiplayer option on this game, though you have to have email set up on your device if you want to invite or challenge anyone. Hits are included, and the tutorial is very helpful and (thankfully) short.

Pros: the graphics, music (duh), game play. Everything. It’s a great game.
Cons: I am SO bad at that stupid upside down v!
Verdict: Own, love, and breathe this game. It’s super great.

smackBOTS Free:
Developer: LeftRight Studios
Genre: Old Skool Fighting
Rating:4+

Every year I go to Vegas for a convention. My husband’s favorite place to head for some good, old fashioned snarkiness, is The New York New York Hotel. Inside, you’ll find one of my favorite places, the ESPN hang out. And just outside that? HUGE, larger than life snackBOTS. OLD SKOOL! What does this have to do with an iPod/iPhone game? Read the title of the game! Sheesh! This game is great. There is a TON to do. The tutorial is great for helping you learn beginning combos, how to block, how to use your berserk, and more. Once you win a fight, you get dough (i.e., cash) to spend on new techniques, robot shapes, and colors. Simply tap your thumbs on either side of the screen to punch and do combos, tilt your device to move your robot, and hold both thumbs down to block. Multiplayer options are available as well. Piece of cake! Best two out of three wins the attention of all the lady robots in the house.

Pros: Great, easy spin on the classic.
Cons: Technique is a slightly repetitive.
Verdict: A good, clean fighting game for the kids, or the grownups.

DoubleTake!:
Developer: Retro Dreamer Studios
Genre: Memory Match
Rating: 4+
written by Carter Dotson

DoubleTake is a new, shall I say, TAKE, on the memory matching genre. The basic rules are the same – you flip over cards to try and match 2 of the same design, memorizing the locations of your mismatches. DoubleTake mixes things up by adding snazzy graphical effects, an active board that is constantly moving with pieces disappearing, and powerups to help you out. You also get bonus points for making consecutive matches, although this can be a challenge because the card layouts are random. There are 4 different modes to play – Sprint, which gives you one minute to make as many matches as you can; Timed, where you have to keep making matches to increase the timer; Survival, where you have to keep making matches to restore health to your health bar, which is diminished by mismatches; and Basic, where you’re just trying to get rid of all the pieces on the board as quickly and as in as few moves as possible. There’s OpenFeint for high scores, with multiple appropriate leaderboards for each mode. DoubleTake is ‘just’ a memory game, but there’s a lot going on to make it more than your typical memory match game, with all that great Retro Dreamer polish. This is one of the finer free games on the App Store.

Pros: OpenFeint, geoSpark-esque graphical effects, multiple game modes
Cons: Some high scores are achievable only through pure randomness
Verdict: Fill my eyes with double vision, and your iDevice with DoubleTake.

Developer/Publisher: NimbleBit
Genre: Platformer
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: One of the most addicting games I have played.
Pros: Simple, yet addicting, gameplay, serene graphics and sound, social gaming features.
Cons: Only one location setting.

Dizzypad, by NimbleBit, is probably the most addicting game I have played in years. It is also the one of the simplest games I have played in years. You control a frog, making him jump from lilly pad to lilly pad. You earn points with each jump. Additionally, you earn flowers for each lilly pad you jump over in a jump. These flowers are you lives. Honestly, that’s all there is to it. That’s the entire game. When I realized that, I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind. Now, I cannot stop playing Dizzypad.

Another draw to Dizzypad is the use of both achievements and the social gaming network, Plus+. The achievements are fun and challenging, such as jumping onto a lilly pad that is off screen, and the Plus+ network allows me to compare progress to that of other players. I was hooked on this when, in one session, I earned 15 flowers and realized that (at the time) the top player worldwide had only earned 23 flowers. I felt so close to being number one.

The graphics and sound are very serene. As you hop along in the game, you can see koi swimming beneath the water, while dragonflies buzz around you. The ability to unlock extra frog skins was a great graphical bonus. I was a bit disappointed by the fact that there is only one setting. Even the same swamp at dusk would have been nice. The sound is a softer version of banjo swamp music. It is entertaining, but never gets annoying.

In my opinion, Dizzypad is a must have. It is not a story game that will carry you for hours, nor is it a boring game that you’ll put down after one round. It is simply addicting.

Title: Circus Marcus
Developer: Neowiz Entertainment
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Promo Code Supplied by Developer
Written and Recorded by: Michelle Lopez