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App Review

App Review: Peggle

Busting some Peggle Moves
Busting some Peggle Moves

I heard about Peggle (buy Peggle on iTunes) several times before I actually tried it.  Being Scottish I can be a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to paying for apps.  There a re a good number of high quality apps available for free and the price (£2.99/$5) seemed quite high to me and ignored it.  I had even read about the Peggle pricing experiment, found it interesting but not the game itself.

Then I was in an electronics store waiting (quite a while)  for something to be brought out to me and they had Peggle running on a PC.  I played it without really knowing what it was and became addicted.  So i ponied up the money and bought it.

The aim is to knock out all of the orange pegs on the different boards. There are a majority of blue pegs which help your ball to have something to bounce off and the occasional purple score multiplying peg.

The most interesting pegs are the green ones, which offer new “special powers” depending on which level you are on and which of the 10 Peggle masters you are studying under.  Among the powers are:

  • Super Guide – showing you where your ball will go after its first bounce
  • Space Blast – lights up all nearby pegs
  • Fireball – blasts its way through pegs instead of bouncing off them.

There is a collector barrel moving from left to right on the bottom of the screen then you are able to re-use the ball (useful when you’re running out)

I’ve played it for hours since I downloaded it and am re-playing it.  It’s a great “quick” game, to play in spare minutes, but you could also play for prolonged periods and it’s well recommended.

It does behave very well when I’m listening to my own music, keeping the sound effects but dropping the music (although the “Handel’s Messiah” music when you finish the level is fabulous)

(8/10)

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App Review

App Review: Sentinel

Zapping the aliens on Mars
Zapping the aliens on Mars

I’m a big fan of Tower Defence games.  I’ve played quite a few over the years and I have to confess that Sentinel is one of the best I’ve played (buy Sentinel on iTunes.)

In a tower defence game you face waves of enemies, slowly increasing in difficulty while you build up your defences against each wave.  There are usually waves with different characteristics (i.e. some can fly so are immune to ground based weapons) and weapons to match lots of characteristics.  The idea is to build up a mixture of defences to defeat al enemies.

The premise here is that you are defending the Mars base from invading alien hordes.

One of the things which hits you immediately about Sentinel is the high quality visuals and sound effects. Of all of the games in this genre which I’ve played this is by far the best produced.  It’s also one of the most addictive.  There  are 4 separate layouts to defend, in either assault (90 waves of attack) or endurance (unlimited waves.)

Since the release of Sentinel 2 (review coming soon), Sentinel has been reduced to 99c – well worth the money.

My only bugbear with the game is that it stops whatever you’re listening to when it starts but you can get around that using the double-click trick.

(7.5/10)

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App Review

App Review: Eye Tricks

One of the illusions from Eyetricks

Eye tricks is one of those free apps which I downloaded ages ago and haven’t used much since.

There’s nothing wrong with it but it’s just not that exciting.

It consists of 30 different optical illusions, some animated, some not. The standard is pretty high’ and there are some classics in there, like the “is it a vase or is it 2 faces in profile.

It’s interesting but now that I’ve reviewed it I’ll be deleting it. There’s no real replay value.

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App Review Review

App Review: Flood It!

Me on an advanced level
Me on an advanced level

One of the first really good free puzzle games I found for the iPod was flood-it (free iTunes download).  It’s a simple concept.  Your aim is to make all of the board one colour by changing the colour of one segment.  For example if the first square is green, and the one next to it is red then you make the first square red and the blocks become a whole.  On your next colour change any squares of that colour directly next to your block are added to the whole and it grows and grows.

I may not have explained it very well but it works very well,  It’s also a good one handed “thumb” game.  the only section of the screen you use is the six coloured circles at the bottom, and there’s no real speed. you can play it while walking around, or sitting on the bus and not worry about jostles and other issues.

It was also one of the first games available when I got my new G1 phone, and it’s just as addictive there.  Some people have found it frustrating at higher levels but the easier levels are enough to keep me quiet.

The game is ad supported but there is a premium version available for the iPod for 79p (buy from iTunes), which I bought having spent so much time playing the free version.  The pay-for version allows you to undo a move, upload online scores, retry a board, etc.  Of all of these features I only really find the undo useful and it’s a pity that it doesn’t import the play history form the free version.

If you’re looking for a simple but deep strategy game to while away a couple of minutes (or even a couple of hours, then this comes highly recommend.

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App Review

App Review: Kingdoms Live

Kingdoms Live Logo
Kingdoms Live Logo

Kingdoms Live was one of the first games I downloaded from the App store and it’s one that I still play a couple of times a day.

It’s an MMORPG which follows a medieval theme. You choose your character type and their strengths then work to build them up using quests, battles and upgrades.

The first game of this type which I saw was the Facebook game “MobWars”  which I played for a few weeks before getting bored of it.

Mobwars on Facebook had 2 major problems:

  1. You could only add actual Facebook friends as “army” members, so recruitment was slow
  2. The barriers in certain parts of the game were ridiculous (having to upgrade 100 levels to acquire new property types)
Level Up
Level Up

Neither of these problems exist in Kingdoms Live.  You can easily add people and there’s no downside or privacy issue.  You can easily trawl other peoples comments looking for “friend codes” and grow your army to the necessary size.

The only problem I have with Kingdoms live is that it can only be played online – perfect if you have an iPhone, not so great if you’re reliant on WiFi, as I am.

It’s a familiar concept, and one that’s been duplicated by the company themselves several times, with rockstars, vampires and space traders all getting the same treatment.  Personally I couldn’t play more than one of these games but I like this one and I’ll be sticking with it (My army code is 4VRSU).

  • Price: Free
  • Rating: 8 shields
Categories
App Review

App Review: AirportMania

Airport Mania Screenshot
Airport Mania Screenshot

My name’s Brian and I’m an addict.  I can’t seem to stop playing Airport Mania. It’s a fairly simple game concept but it’s beautifully executed and highly addictive.

You are the controller of an airport and you have to land planes, disembark passengers, repair and refuel aircraft and send them on their way again.

You guide the aircraft around by touching their destinations in order.  In that way it’s possible to set up a series of movements, waypoints if you like. IT sounds very simple, and it is, but there’s a definite art to it and the scoring system encourages you to reach for airport handling perfection.

You can upgrade the airport, adding runways, gates and other facilities.  This makes life easier but every 6 levels or so  you move airports, which means starting from scratch, or close to it.

There are around 50 levels to play, and there is the challenge of re-playing difficult levels to aim for the “supreme score”. I’m on my second play through, trying to work win all of the trophies and awards, and trying to complete every level with the highest score level.

The graphics and sounds are perfect and make the gameplay so much more entertaining.

I bought  AirportMania on a whim, and I’m glad I did.  I hadn’t realised that there was a lite version which you can get to try it out.  This has fewer levels but will give a good taste of what is in the full version.

  • Price: 59p
  • Rating: 9/10 Shields