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What the heck is Blek?
There are some fantastic puzzle games on iOS, but the vast majority could be replicated on a different, non-touch device without too many issues. Blek is a rare breed in that it absolutely could not be played without a touchscreen, since your ability to draw on the screen is essentially what the game is all about. Your singular goal in Blek is to eliminate colored spheres from the screen. You accomplish this by drawing a line on the screen which then endlessly repeats until it either runs off the top or bottom of the screen, or runs into a black sphere. You can draw your line long or short and make it as complicated or simple as you want. Wherever your line drawing ends is where the next one will start, which means you usually can't just scribble a quick line and let it go, or you'll risk a misguided shot. The first dozen or so levels are very straightforward, but the difficulty quickly ramps up with levels that are downright sinister. You'll go from drawing short lines to ridiculously complex patterns in the hopes of touching all the colored blobs on your screen, and you'll retry later levels dozens of times before getting it right. The entire experience is very zen-like in that there are no text instructions, prompts, or needless menus. You can instantly recover from a failure by drawing a new line with zero waiting, which makes your inevitable mess-ups sting a little bit less. When you complete a level, a new level appears within seconds, turning a 5-minute time killer into a 45-minute marathon session before you know it. The best part is that there's really no penalty for failure here. You won't see a counter of the number of times you've fallen short, and the game doesn't antagonize you whatsoever. Losing means you get to try again until you get it right, which is a refreshing twist to what would otherwise be a very evil puzzle game. Blek has an entire trophy case of awards already, and it definitely deserves all the attention it has been getting. For US$2.99, you can't ask for a more engrossing, yet relaxing experience. The core game features 60 levels which will take you a good while to complete, and the developers note that there are more on the way soon. It's definitely worth the price of admission.
Red Herring: A terrific little game from 7 Little Words creator
Last night, my daughters and I spent several hours working our way through the first levels of Red Herring (free, with in-app purchases), a twistedly difficult new game from the creator of 7 Little Words and Moxie. The game presents you with 16 phrases at a time, which you categorize into 3 meaningful groups of 4, plus a "red herrings" column for the extras. If you're playing the most difficult level -- and the game isn't nearly as much fun unless you are -- it's a true challenge to sort out the meaningful groupings from the red herrings. Like 7 Little Words, you get the initial puzzle pack for free. In Red Herring, this consists of 50 challenging puzzles to start with. Once hooked, you pay for additional packs. The puzzles can be fiendish, especially if you choose to work without the built-in categories or partial solutions offered by the easy and medium levels. 10 gateway hints are offered for free. After that you pay US$1.99 for unlimited hints. My family had a ball with this -- it was tons of fun and involved lots of brainstorming. Throw the display over to a TV via Air Play and it's the perfect party game as well. We really liked it. Recommended.
Daily iPhone App: Give A Smile helps you spread some cheer
Give a Smile from Nobilebits is a charming little app with a noble intention -- to spread love and happiness by sharing as many smiles as possible. The app is not an emoji library, rather it uses the familiar smiley face that we all know and love. Give a Smile is easy to use. Just pull down on the ribbon to enter the "Smile Maker" mode and start customizing your smile. You can change the color and add personalized text with a handful of different fonts that allow you to spruce up your smile. When you are done, you can share your happiness on social networks as well as via email or messaging. The Give a Smile app is available for free from the iOS App Store. It is compatible with the iPhone and requires iOS 7. There are advertisements that stay at the bottom of the screen and go fullscreen after you send a smile.
Daily App: Duet challenges you to stay alive while you dodge walls
Duet from Kumobius takes a simple action of spinning two dots in a circle and turns it into a challenge by adding some upbeat, yet eerie electronic music along with a impending sense of failure that hangs over your every move. In Duet, you use your thumbs to control two circles that are placed on the opposite sides of a ring. The ring is there for visual purposes and serves only as a reminder of the track that the circles spin on. The circles interact with walls that fall down the screen, and your challenge is to spin the circles to avoid the walls. If you hit a wall, you die and are tossed back to the beginning of the level. The wall that you hit also is stained with the "blood" of your circle and these blood stains increase every time you fail. The game admonishes you to "keep calm and avoid everything," and that is sage advice, even if it is difficult to follow. It's only through a carefully choreographed series of movements that you will be able to survive a level. With the background music and the graceful back and forth movements of the circles, the game has a dance-like feel -- a dance that you inevitably die in, but a dance nonetheless. Duet provides a curious mix of simplistic gameplay, panic-inducing impending failure, and coordinated controls that when combined is surprisingly pleasing. Duet is available in the iOS App Store for US$2.99. It is a universal app, compatible with both the iPhone and iPad.
Daily App: Spheres for iOS is a new way to share photos with family and friends
Spheres is a clever take on photo sharing from iOS devices. Open the app and take a picture, or load one from your camera roll. The picture goes to the cloud, and people that you assign to a group -- called a 'Sphere' -- will receive the photos without having to do anything if they are also running the app. Other individuals can be contacted via email or text message, and they receive a link to view the photos in a browser. Photos can also be shared with social networks including Facebook and Twitter. Spheres has some similarities with Apple's iCloud Photo Sharing service. Apple doesn't use a special app, but shared photos alert anyone you wish to notify, and viewers can comment on or 'like' your photos. Apple also allows others to post photos or videos to your stream from any iOS device, Mac or PC. The Apple service creates web pages for universal sharing and also integrates nicely with Apple TV for viewing streams on large screen displays. Spheres is more automatic. Snap some photos using the camera app built into Spheres, and everyone in your Sphere is notified and receives the new images. A message with a link also is sent so people in the Sphere can view photos on the Web from any device without the app. The app does not currently support iOS notifications, but that feature is coming soon. No account is needed to view images, but Sphere accounts are required for adding pictures. The accounts are free, and you can create a login or use your Facebook credentials. Comparing Spheres to Apple's iCloud offerings, Spheres developer Adam Peterson says "We are trying to create an easier way to privately share Spheres with users in the same geolocation. Anyone can add photos to the Sphere as long as they are invited by the creator." He provides this example of how it can be used. "For example, I create a sphere for my Son's 7th birthday party and we invite all his friends from his class. I know his friends parents are going to be taking a lot of photos at that event and I'm not necessarily close enough friends with them to have phone number or email. This is a way for all attendees at this event to share photos privately with all attendees. This is similar to paying a professional photographer to take photos of the kids at the event but it is free and everyone that is at the event gets all photos instantly." The app is easy to use and works as expected. The only risk is if the developer drops support for the app, because the photos you take with the app are not saved to your camera roll but to Spheres' servers (there is an option to manually save to your camera roll). Spheres maintains its own servers, and has no limits on the amount of photo postings. I think the longevity of your photos would be assured if the app saved your photos to the camera roll automatically. Spheres has a privacy policy similar to many other photo-sharing apps. Your pictures remain your property and can't be exploited by third parties, but the company reserves the right to delete offensive materials if there is a complaint. Spheres is not a universal app. It requires iOS 6.0 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Start your own mosh pit with the Metalcore Breakdown Composer
Out in the sea of odd samplers and drum machines on the iOS platform there's one understandable blind spot for music apps; metalcore. Birthed out the hardcore punk and death metal scenes the sub-genre started promisingly before becoming incredibly repetitive. Depending on your tastes Metalcore Breakdown Composer is either a obnoxious parody of modern extreme music or a fun toy to pass time on your iOS device. Utilizing a soundboard of various drums, guitar tones, and vocals players can tap together breakdowns -- essentially the bridge of a metalcore song -- for your listening pleasure. Whether you're making fun of a friend whose a fan or you just want to create your own simple breakdowns this app is for you. Currently MBC lacks the ability to record or export the sounds you make which is the kind of oversight that keeps it from being easily recommended as a keeper. Still it's a funny idea that could provide the right open minded parent an afternoon full of bonding time with their metalhead child. You can watch Metalcore Breakdown Composer's delightfully surreal video below to get a taste of just how tongue in cheek the product in question actually is. You can pick up the Metalcore Breakdown Composer for free right now in the app store. Perhaps you can bring the whole family together by starting mosh pits of love in the living room.
Daily App: Dance Machine turns your videos into funky dance moves
Dance Machine-The Fun Editor is a new app that lets you take a video clip and turn it into a dance video in just a few minutes. The app falls into photo & video category, but when you pair the right video with some upbeat music, there is a healthy dose of entertainment built right into the app. When it launches, Dance Machine prompts you to import a video from your Camera Roll. Once you select a video to import, you can select a section of it for your dance clip. The app applies a reverse filter, allowing you to pick a motion that will be repeated in time with the music. You can add multiple video clips if you wish to create a longer compilation. Once you haven chosen your slice of video, you then can add music from the apps built-in library or from your own music library. Using your own music is a paid option that requires an in-app purchase of US$1.99. The app ships with six music tracks that span a variety of music categories. You also can change the speed of the video and the number of repetitions you wish to include. You can preview the video and either go back into the editor to make tweaks or save the clip for sharing. The dance video is automatically saved to your Camera Roll and you also can share it via Message, email, Facebook or Vimeo. Dance Machine is free and watermarks each video you compile, but you can remove the watermark via a $1.99 in-app purchase. This purchase also unlocks your iTunes music library and allows you to import your own music for your dance video clips. Dance Machine is a quick and easy way to add music to your video, and you can produce some fun results. The over experience is positive, but there are a few features that could use some polishing. Selecting the correct start and end points of a video is a challenge as the controls don't zoom into the clip like they do when you trim video in iOS. You'd be better off editing the clip in iOS and then importing into the Dance Machine app. Also, I could not trim the audio to select my favorite section and was forced to use the song from its opening notes. Dance Machine-The Fun Editor is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Daily App: Tipcognito is a tip calculator masquerading as an email client
Let's face it, many people are horrible at calculating a tip. Not only is the math sometimes challenging, there also is the added pressure of trying to quickly calculate 18 percent of $17.23 while your dinner party stare you down because everyone but you is ready to pay the check. Don't sweat it the next time you go out to dinner, come prepared with Tipcognito, a handy tip calculator that is disguised as an email app. Tipcognito has the visual appearance of an iPhone app but cleverly uses the search field, navigation buttons and fake email entries to display the tip and the total amount you should pay. To use Tipcognito, just enter in the bill amount in the search field and use the "+" and "-" buttons to adjust the tip percentage. The tip amount and your total payment (bill + tip) will replace the date and time stamp in a normal email. Tipcognito is a wonderful app for those times when you want to calculate a tip quickly and discretely. It is available in the iOS App Store as a free app with advertisements or a paid app without ads (US$0.99). It is compatible with the iPhone and requires iOS 6 or later.
Blue Sky for iOS lets you visualize clearer air
Blue Sky is a free iOS app coming out of China, where skies are often gray and air pollution is often out of control. Of course, China isn't alone with that problem. Blue Sky is sponsored by the World Wildlife Federation and an advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather, based in New York and Shanghai. Since it's Earth Day, I thought it might be appropriate to point out this little app. It's simple in concept and execution -- you take a photo or select one from your camera roll. With your finger, paint in a bluer sky on the photo you've loaded. It's easier if you have a pretty flat horizon. The app doesn't let you magnify your photo to work in tight places, and there is one and only one brush size. The app simply serves as an environmental reminder to let you visualize cleaner and clearer skies. The app also lets you add your signature to a petition to state your preference about 'bringing back the blue'. Although the app was designed for a Chinese audience, it works just fine everywhere else. Doug Schiff, Executive Creative Director of OgilvyOne China, said, "Many in China feel only the government can improve the worsening air conditions, but WWF wanted to encourage individuals to think up and support individual initiatives, and this app is a step in that direction." Blue Sky isn't a sophisticated photo editor by any means. But it packs a little message, and you can certainly do some simple editing to improve your images of cloudy or polluted skies. The app is not universal, and requires iOS 6.1 or later. It is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Hitman GO is really killing it
If you've ever played a Hitman game, your eyebrow probably immediately raised at the prospect of a new Hitman game for iOS. The stealth action titles for PC and consoles focus on picking off guards and taking out assassination targets, and in that way Hitman GO stays true to the franchise. Everything else about the game, however, is completely different. Hitman GO is a board game of sorts, with turn-based puzzles taking the place of actual sneaking and hiding. You control your character piece, the titular assassin Agent 47, on a board where your movements are restricted to pre-determined grids. Each level has its own layout, with guards who either stand still or patrol, and either an assassination target or an exit slot you must travel to in order to proceed to the next level. You can trick guards with noise generating items like cans and rocks, and either make your way around them or take them out in order to clear your path. The puzzles range from very simply early on to mind-bendingly challenging, forcing you to memorize guard patterns and use the rare pieces of cover to your advantage. Besting a level is very satisfying, especially when you take out your primary assassination target -- who are always dressed in red -- with Ave Maria playing in the background, and GO manages to feel like a real Hitman title despite a complete change in format. The most striking thing about the presentation of GO is how gorgeous the faux board game looks on a Retina display. You feel like you're actually moving pieces around the board, and the ability to tweak your viewing angle adds to this greatly. Hitman GO is available for US$4.99, and the only in-app purchases on offer are in the form of hint packs, walkthroughs, and early level unlocks, but each board is so much fun to play and beat that you'll have little reason to consider it.
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition reigns supreme on Mac
The SimCity reboot on OS X came with a whole host of launch day problems, and longtime fans of the series cried foul at the streamlined nature and much more modest city sizes. If you happened to be in that camp, SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition is exactly what you've been dreaming of, and now it's finally available on the Mac App Store. If you've somehow managed to avoid the addictive pull of the SimCity franchise, I'll lay it out for you: You play as the all-seeing mayor of your own metropolis, and must build it up from a barren piece of land. It's the ultimate micromanagement experience, and you'll zone pieces of land for residential buildings, commercial properties, as well industrial purposes. As the mayor, the life of every citizen is in your hands, and you must provide for their basic needs such as utilities, education, emergency management, mass transit, and a host of services. Your city never sleeps, and you're never truly done doing your job. New problems will pop up constantly and your team of advisors will always have a suggestion for how you could better your burg. The sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing your city thrive is countered by the inevitable failure of many of your plans. A freak fire or riot can quickly change your approach, and no two play sessions are ever the same. You might be short on cash and need to tweak the city's taxes, but even the slightest nudge can topple the local economy and send residents fleeing from your town -- the balances are that fragile. As you expand, your once quiet town will burst into a bustling city, and before you know it you'll be scrolling over dozens of city blocks to spot unrest, add a hospital, or investigate a traffic issue. If for some reason you manage to craft a utopia -- and that isn't likely to happen until you've spent dozens or even hundreds of hours learning the game's nuances -- you can increase the difficulty by prompting a natural disaster like a tornado, volcano, or meteor. Handled by seasoned Mac publisher Aspyr Games, there was little doubt that the game would enjoy a seamless transition, and the company has once again delivered on that promise. Technically speaking, the game is the true SimCity experience with zero compromises, and the game runs well on even modest systems thanks to plenty of graphics options. The Deluxe Edition includes both the base game and the Rush Hour expansion pack, which adds a whole list of new mass transit options for your citizens. It's the ultimate SimCity experience, and anyone put off by the recent series reboot will almost certainly find this version to be far superior in terms of options, size, and scope. At US$19.99, it's the cost of a couple of movie tickets, but will give you hundreds of hours of enjoyment with little issue.
Daily App: GoodGuide helps you find green, healthy and socially responsible products
GoodGuide is your guide to all things that are good for you and good for the environment. The guide is available on the web and in a pocketable version that you can carry on your iPhone. The GoodGuide app for iOS contains ratings for over 210,000 products in a variety of categories, including food, health and beauty aids, pet food, baby care and more. Each item is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 based on its social, health and environmental impact. You can quickly view an item's overall rating as well as detailed ratings for health, safety and environment. One of the most useful features of GoodGuide is its scanner tool that allows you to scan product barcodes to find out more about the items that you are about to purchase. The app lists information about the brand that makes the product, its ingredients and alternative products that you may be interested in buying. GoodGuide's biggest drawback is that its product catalog includes only those items that are commercially available in the US. You can use the app outside the US, but the product information will be limited to those items that are available in the US. GoodGuide is available for free and is compatible with the iPhone. It requires iOS 7.
Find Tinder too ambiguous? Heavenly Sinful is here to help.
People use apps like Tinder presumably to find love, whether just for one night or forever. The problem is, you never know a user's motives until you've met up. Your date goes wonderfully, laughs are had, hands are held, smooches are exchanged, and (redacted: this is a family website). A lovely time is had, but when you go to call for a rematch there's no response on the other line. What if there was a way to know if someone is just online for a hookup and not a lifelong love connection? Thanks to Heavenly Sinful, there is. Much like its rival Tinder, Heavenly Sinful allows you to search for singles in your area with one major difference. When you activate the app if asks you to either swipe up for Heavenly or down for Sinful. Heavenly users are looking for a more serious relationship, perhaps the kind of person who wants breakfast in the morning. Sinful swipers are folks who have less emotionally-invested interests in mind. Once you've made up your mind, the app will match you with nearby singles who you can chat and presumably hookup with. In-app purchases have now even made their way into your dating apps -- Heavenly Sinful allows you to send video messages to other users in exchange for credits, priced 100 for $0.99 or 1000 for $4.99. Sure, you could always exchange Skype information, but that's private information. Here's one situation where I understand the benefit of in-app purchases. Modern dating is already a difficult minefield of ambiguous motives. At bare minimum, this app may help some users get the difficult "are you looking for more than a night of fun" conversation out of the way without every having to actually have it. The only drawback we can see is that by creating a status quo for "Sinful" folks who just want to hook up. the "Heavenly" side of the dating sphere might be underserved. Still, if the subtle complexities of navigating Tinder's emotional landscape are too difficult for you, Heavenly Sinful may just help you cut out the hard part and get to the point.
You can't play Goat Simulator on Mac (yet), but you can play Goat Rampage on iOS
Goat Simulator is an amazing game. In Goat Simulator, you control a goat and destroy a small town by running into everything in sight. The game is indeed headed for OS X, but it's not there yet, which is a total bummer. However, a new iOS game has snuck in to capitalize on the goat hype, and while it's not quite as fantastic as the original, it's still a lot of fun. It's called Goat Rampage. To call Goat Rampage a "game" might be a bit of an overstatement. It's more of a physics sandbox where you control the movement of a goat. You can run and jump, but that's about it. There's no real objective, aside from wrecking everything in sight, and the game only really ends when you decide to stop playing. But while things like plot are ignored, guiding your awkward little farm animal around the large stages is somehow hypnotic and satisfying. You'll topple stacks of boxes, knock barrels flying, and even take out massive objects and animals like military tanks and elephants. Each time you hit an object you get a specific number of points, and those points are tallied towards your high score. Getting zero points offers the same reward as getting 5,000, so don't feel too bad if your point total is modest. The point here is to make your own fun. The game is US$0.99, and it's hard to deny how strangely enjoyable it is. It's not Goat Simulator, but at the moment, it's the next best thing on an Apple device.
Daily App: Union is a powerful image blending tool for iOS
Union (U.S. $1.99) is a very well thought out tool that brings Photoshop-type power to your iPad or iPhone. It's the most impressive image blending app I've used, and it works wonders to help you create unique and compelling images. When using the app, you first load in a background image, for example a landscape photo. Then, you add a foreground image that you want to transplant on top of the background. In the next step, you enter the mask layer by choosing the Magic Wand tool, which allows you to easily remove everything but the person. The tool removes parts of the image based on similarity in backgrounds and luminance, so it is a lot easier if the background behind the person is more solid in color rather than patterned. If the Magic Wand tool doesn't do the trick, you can manually draw out the parts that don't automatically go away. Union allows you to let your imagination run wild as you are not limited to only superimposing images. You can make the layers transparent, create double exposures, and more. The app also has extensive undo-redo commands, so you can just step backwards if you don't like what you've created. The app contains tutorial videos, which are much nicer than static help pages. Photos can be exported to your camera roll, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or via email. While excellent, the app suffers from a problem that is common among this type of app -- when removing the background, your finger covers the drawing tool, making it tricky to accurately remove an element. Some apps offset the tool from where your finger meets the screen, making the job a lot easier. Despite this limitation, I was able to manage with the removal tool and created some great shots with little effort. Union is a universal app. It requires iOS 7 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5. Give it a try if you want to create some unique and eye-catching compositions.
Apps We Actually Use: NotesTab Pro lets me sync notes from Mac to iPad
I often find that I need to record snippets of information -- the link to this new app, the name of that updated app and so on. These are small items that I need for a specific purpose and usually only for a short amount of time. I often try to remember these notes, but that fails as I forget them as soon as something else grabs my attention. To store these snippets, I have been using NotesTab Pro from FipLab. The app sits in your OS X menu bar and allows you add, delete and edit notes quickly and easily. It lacks the advanced organizational features of an app like Evernote, but I don't need something that complex just to store these transient pieces of information that I come across each day. It's the menu bar integration that sets NotesTab Pro apart from OS X's default Notes. I already have too many apps in my dock and I find it easier to access apps I use a lot when they are located in the menu bar. NotesTab Pro allows me to create notes for the major tasks I do each day -- my Daily Deals post, my Today in the App Store post and my Daily App post. I can drop links, app names, developer names and more into these notes so I can review them later in the day. The app has a handful of useful features such as an option to "star" a note and highlight it as being important, a search box to help you find notes and support for text formatting like bold and italics. The best part about NotesTab Pro is that it stores your data in its own realtime cloud sync service, creating a backup copy in the cloud. This has saved me numerous times when I restored OS X on my Mac and forgot to back up my notes. The cloud option also supports syncing, allowing you to share this information to the companion iPhone and iPad apps. This syncing is extremely helpful as I can browse the App Store or web on my iPad and add important information to my notes without having to open my Mac. When I finally switch over to my MacBook Air to start writing, all the new information is available to me with a quick click on my menu bar. NotesTab Pro is available from the Mac App Store for $4.99, while the universal iOS version is available for 99-cents.
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft arrives on iPad with zero compromises
When new games make the trip from PC to mobile it's usually a dumbed-down affair, but Blizzard's fantastic Warcraft-inspired collectable card game is anything but dumb in its iPad debut. In short, it's just as addictive, gorgeous, and slick as the version we played many months ago on Mac. You begin a game of Hearthstone by choosing a hero. This choice will dictate your overall strategy, letting you rely on your character's magic, weapons, or loyal minions to take out your adversary. Early on, your matches are chosen for you, sending you through a lengthy tutorial and story mode that pits you against many different styles of opponent. Matches play out on a single screen where your cards go up against those of your foe. Your hero has a set amount of life, and the cards your opponents play against you can harm either your hero or the minion cards you have previously played, depending on their strategy and any "Taunt" cards you have on the board (which must be attacked first). You'll grasp the rules and play style after just a game or two, but your long-term strategy will be ever evolving. At the heart of the strategy is your deck of cards, which can be customized to suit your battle plan. You can unlock card packs either by purchasing them or by earning gold through battle victories. A good strategy matched with a solid deck is crucial to besting the real-world opponents you will be matched with in the Arena mode, and you'll see an endless number of play styles as you gain experience. Hearthstone on iPad is just as good, if not better than its PC counterpart, and if you're an iPad owner who is already in love with the desktop version, you're going to adore it on a touchscreen. Dragging and dropping your cards onto the play field feels even better with your finger than it does with a mouse, and even novice players will have a blast. Hearthstone is free on the App Store and even if you don't want to toss in a few bucks for additional card packs, there's still dozens of hours of good fun to be had. Give it a shot, and you won't be disappointed.
Daily App: Xtrapop adds pop culture to your photos as long as you pay up
Xtrapop is a whimsical app that allows you to add some flair to your photos in just a few minutes. It's not a serious image editor like VSCO Cam or Aviary, but a light-hearted app to make someone ROFL when you send them an image. Xtrapop focuses on stickers, filters and frames, which you add to the photo in steps. The app is easy to use -- just select a sticker, drag it into place, and then use gestures to resize and rotate it to fit the scene. Stickers are selectable, allowing you to delete and readjust them. The app also supports layers so you can move stickers to the front and background to get your desired effect. Frames and filters can be added next, and they, too, can be removed and changed as needed. When you are done, you can export the final image to social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You also can save it to your camera roll or send it via messages or email. Xtrapop ships with a small amount of stock content that you can add for free. It's enough to get you started with the app, but you will quickly want more if you end up using Xtrapop on a regular basis. Extra stickers, frames and filters are available in 99-cent packs that can purchased within the app. Free and paid content are labeled appropriately, which eliminates the frustration of picking just the right sticker for your photo and then finding out it is not free. Xtrapop works well for adding some fun to your photos, but some may be turned off by the amount of paid content within the app. Xtrapop is free from the iOS App Store. It is available for the iPhone and requires iOS 7.
Daily App: Help Me Fly challenges you to solve snap circuit-like puzzles
With its cartoonish graphics, Help Me Fly looks like a children's game, but the title bridges across generations with its challenging circuit based puzzles that even the most dedicated puzzle fan will enjoy. The premise of Help Me Fly is simple. You are the pilot of a plane that has run of out of power. You must build circuits to connect batteries to your plane in order for it to take off. The circuits start off easy with straight blocks that connect to your plane in a line. As with any good puzzles, the solutions get progressively harder when the game introduces circuit pieces that rotate, switches, and electrical fields that block your connections. Each circuit-driven puzzle includes stars that you can collect by including them in your circuit, but it often is not easy to build a successful connection and clear each star from the board. That's part of the challenge -- deciding how to best build your circuit so your plane can fly. Though you can leave out a few stars here and there, you can't completely ignore them as they are needed in later levels to unlock content. With its abundant puzzles and cool scientific theme, Help Me Fly will provide hours of entertainment. The challenge level is perfect -- the game's early levels are enjoyably easy, while the upper levels have obscure solutions that force you to think about your circuit design. Normally US$1.99, Help Me Fly is available now for free in the iOS App Store for a limited time. There are no ads, but the app does include in-app purchases to purchase hints and unlock new worlds with even more puzzles to solve.
Power Grounds is punishing and playful
I love mobile games that present a streamlined way to play while not sacrificing the difficulty or nature of the experience. Power Grounds is a role-playing game that you can control with a single finger, with a roguelike one-death difficulty curve that makes it both punishing and charming at the same time. The story behind Power Grounds -- which you'll only know if you read the app description, as there is no backstory offered in the game itself -- is that you are trapped in a temple. Monsters lurk around every corner and in order to defeat them you need to activate powered tiles on the floor. The game screen ends up looking a bit like a chess board, but you'll catch on to the game's nuances within minutes of trying it out. You start each level on one side of the screen and need to navigate to the exit without dying in between. Each time you move from one square to the next on the game's grid-like playfield, the enemies take their turn as well. If you end up right next to an enemy, chances are you're going to take damage from an attack, unless you manage to activate a magical tile first. Power-ups range from offensive weapons like electricity blasts and sword swings to freeze traps that keep the enemies from moving for a specific number of turns. It's a deceptively simple system that makes you feel totally in control, until you're surrounded by enemies and die in a matter of seconds. Each grid is randomly generated, which helps to ramp up the replayability, and you can play it as slow or as fast as you desire. Once you best the ramped-up difficulty of the later levels you can try your luck in the Arena mode where you're tasked with surviving as long as possible. Power Grounds is priced at US$0.99, and there are no in-app purchases or pay-to-win bonuses to be found. It's one of those iOS games that is both accessible and demonically difficult at the same time, which makes it an easy recommendation for anyone who wants a challenge.
