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TUAW's Daily App: Civilization Revolution Lite
Apple has launched a new "Try Before You Buy" section in the App Store, and while it's a poor excuse for an "official" demo system (it's basically just a collection of free apps with full versions to purchase later), there is some good stuff to find in there, like this one. Today we're passing on the casual games for something a little deeper. Civilization Revolution is a somewhat pared-down version of the awesome strategy game, but it's still got the empire building, trading, and various battles that you'll find in the main series. This lite version is great -- all it does is keep you from saving, so if you have the time to run up a full campaign, you can. The app was popular when it first released, so you may already have it, but if you haven't tried it yet, now's the time to give it a look. It'd also be nice on the "Try Before You Buy" section to at least have links to the full apps -- you can usually find those by clicking on the "More iPhone apps by..." section of the App Store, but if Apple is specifically promoting demos, shouldn't they also promote the full apps. Anyway, the full version of Civ Rev is currently $6.99 on the App Store. That's much cheaper than the versions on any other system, so if you try the demo and really enjoy it, feel free to get the full app for the total experience. And if you like Civ Rev, do yourself a favor and head back to the main game -- Civ 4 is an excellent title as well, and the new version looks great, too.
MLB.com At Bat 2010 out now
Baseball season is almost here (Spring training starts this week), and with it comes a brand new version of Major League Baseball's great iPhone app. MLB.com At Bat 2010 is out now on the App Store, and for $14.99, you get the same great app you bought last year: live scores, streaming audio of all the games around the league, and available video of games via an in-app purchase. There's no lite version yet, but last year MLB released a free version sans audio and video, so if you just want the scores, you can wait and see when that one shows up. Meanwhile, if you want official baseball info beamed straight to your phone all year long, this app is the way to go. While there are definitely lots of other apps that will hook you up with scores and alerts for a much cheaper price, the MLB app is a quality way to get information straight from the league. Especially if you're going to be following baseball closely all year, the $15, while steep for an iPhone app, is definitely worth it. Personally, I can't wait for this season to start. Play ball!
Payback driving game for iPhone updated to version 1.1, lite version added
We've posted about Payback before -- it's a Grand Theft Auto clone that's playable (and pretty impressive) on the iPhone. Apex Designs, the company behind the app, sent us a note that they've updated to version 1.1, and with that update come a nice round of fixes and improvements. As you can see above, the camera angle has been tweaked to take a little more advantage of the 3D engine, the minimap has been beefed up, and the display now rotates as you tilt the iPhone. Looks very nice.And there's even better news: even if you're not willing to shell out the $5 required for the full app, there's a lite version just released to the App Store -- it lets you explore one of the eleven cities available in the full version. Payback was impressive when released, and only suffered from a few gameplay glitches, but it looks like Apex is committed to ironing those out. It has developed into an even better game than before.
