daily iphone app
Latest
Daily iPhone App: Keep your eyes on the sky with CloudSpotter
Do you ever find yourself under a shady tree gazing up at the sky and looking at the clouds as they float by? I'm sure you can pick out familiar shapes like a dog or a cat, but can you recall the scientific names that describe these beautiful cloud formations? If not, you should check out CloudSpotter, a new app that helps you spot, photograph and identify clouds. CloudSpotter covers 40 different types of clouds and pulls its information from Gavin Pretor-Pinney's Cloud Collector's Handbook. Besides the cloud itself, each listing also contains information on commonly confused clouds and clouds that are often seen together. When you spot a cloud, you can capture a photo and send it to the CloudSpotter network. A team of experts will confirm the cloud, so you know whether you identified the cloud correctly. This geotagged and confirmed cloud information is also shared with NASA, which will use the data to calibrate their their CERES cloud-observing satellite instruments. Not only do you get to learn about clouds, but you also get to help our planet. Yay! Sharing a cloud earns you points so you can unlock achievements and climb up the CloudSpotter ranking boards. Shared photos also appear on CloudStream, a live feed of photographs submitted by other cloud watchers. It's a very cool cloud network. CloudSpotter is available for US$2.99 from the iOS App Store.
Daily iPhone App: Leaping Legends is a snarky endless runner from Everplay
You may remember (or, like me, still be playing) Ninjump, the vertical endless runner from Backflip Studios. Kris Jones of Everplay Interactive (who we've covered here before) is also a big fan and has borrowed the idea for Everplay's latest title, Leaping Legend. In fact, Everplay has borrowed a lot for this one -- not only does the gameplay innovate on Ninjump's core idea, but there are all kinds of wacky in-jokes and references hidden in Leaping Legend and its various mechanics. You play a knight who constantly runs up two walls by jumping back and forth. There are various powerups to grab along the way (like a shield or sword to defend or attack as you go), and you can move up or down the screen to dodge obstacles. I found this game tough, but then again, I didn't use any of the plentiful boosts that you need to buy with collected coins. There are also skins to buy, and items to help your progress as you conquer various goals and achievements. One minor issue I have is with restarting the game. There's a button clearly labeled "replay" which actually sends you back to the main menu, and its placement is awkward. My finger often opened up Game Center or turned the sound off instead of restarting the game as I wanted. A minor tweak would take care of it, but in a game like this where you're meant to go back to the beginning over and over, it was more of a frustration than it needed to be. Other than that, Leaping Legend is a fun title, with some solid core gameplay and references to everything from Zelda to Skyrim. I'm still looking forward to Everplay's Ace of Blades, but until then, this will do just fine.
Daily iPhone App: ProCollage is an easy and powerful photo utility for iOS
ProCollage (US$1.99) is a very nicely done app for creating photo collages on any iOS device. After you grant access to your camera roll, PhotoCollage lets you select multiple images and use pre-defined templates. Don't care for those templates? No problem, it lets you use a free-form approach as well. Images can be moved within a frame, resized or rotated. Frame colors are almost unlimited, and there is a selection of multiple backgrounds for your images. Happily, the app doesn't make you purchase anything else to make it all work. This latest version adds the ability to apply text to a collage, and there are 14 different styles. Putting the app to a test today, I found it easy to create a variety of nice looking sets of images. There is help built in, but I really didn't need it. One thing lacking is that the app does not work in landscape view. If it did, some wide-aspect-ratio images would be larger on screen, allowing for more precise placement. ProCollage is not alone in the iOS world. I've also used, and praised Diptic, which is still excellent. I've also enjoyed using GoodTimes for Mac OS, which makes some very striking collages. ProCollage seemed well behaved under the iOS 7 beta, and currently requires iOS 5 or greater. It has been optimized for the iPhone 5. %Gallery-191844%
Daily iPhone App: Dirac HD Player can improve the Apple headphone and EarPod experience
Thinking of buying new headphones for listening to music on your iPhone or iPod touch? You might want to try the Dirac HD Player or the Lite version instead to see if it can improve the sound from the headphones that came with your iOS music player. Dirac is a Swedish company that does all kinds of high-end electronic equalization for the auto and electronics industry. You can hear their work in BMW, Rolls-Royce or Bentley autos, not that I get into too many Bentleys or other high-end cars... Dirac has applied its sonic expertise to fixing some of the audio issues with Apple's headsets. The app is not designed for any other headset, as the EQ is quite specific to Apple's original iPhone and iPod touch headphones or EarPods. The Lite version is free, and doesn't allow you to create or modify playlists, but the audio quality for the free and paid version (US$2.99) is the same. I gave the app a listen on a variety of rock, jazz and classical tunes I had on my iPhone, and overall I would say the sound improved. My tests were with the Apple EarPods that came with my iPhone 5. The midrange seemed to be boosted, the edge was taken off strings and there was a bit more distinctness to the bass lines. Sometimes I felt the sound was different, not necessarily better, but in most cases I liked the improvement. There are no adjustments to make, other than to decide if you are listening on Apple headphones or EarPods. A couple of caveats. You can only listen to music from your iTunes library. It won't work on other audio sources, like streaming radio. iTunes Match and iTunes in the Cloud aren't supported yet either, but they are coming. If you are interested, I would suggest trying the free version to see if you like the sound improvement. If so, you might want to spring for the paid version for the extra flexibility. I've listened to some other audio enhancers like the SRS iWow app and hardware solution. The results are more dramatic than the Dirac app, but the SRS app requires a hardware clip-on. However, it does work with any headphones and has many more adjustments. The Dirac HD Players are optimized for the iPhone 5, and require iOS 5.1 or better. %Gallery-191721%
Daily iPad App: Agricola is Playdek's great adaptation of the board game
Agricola is one of the most popular board games around these days -- it's sort of a farming simulation game, where you can take two turns every round, and then periodically get rewards paid off in a harvest. Playdek is an up-and-coming iOS developer that's mostly done card games so far -- they're behind the Penny Arcade card game, as well as the excellent Ascension and a more complicated one I really like called Nightfall. Now, Playdek has teamed up with the creators of Agricola and Lookout Games to produce this iOS adaptation, available right now on the App Store for US$6.99. The way the game works is that every round, you send out a family member to perform some task for you, including growing crops, bringing in resources or building fences for animals. During the game, you can add more members to your family, which means you'll have more chances to bring in resources, but you'll also have more people to feed when the harvest comes around. The game is complex, but the core idea (of building up your farm bit by bit) is strong, so after playing through the tutorial and seeing the process for a while, it's easy to start building your own strategies and plans. Just as with the rest of their titles, Playdek has done a great job here in the presentation -- the game's stark but beautiful music goes well with the theme of fighting just to have enough, and all of the title's various processes and features are clearly displayed with charming and iconic touches. The game uses a top-down 2D drawn style, which might not have been quite as impressive as a full 3D farm environment, but works very well in getting all of the information you need across clearly. Plus, in addition to four gameplay modes, there's online or offline multiplayer, including a pass-and-play mode which is always a nice. Playdek knows well how to translate card games over to iOS, and this title proves they've been able to bring that expertise to board games as well. Agricola might be a bit pricey for those unfamiliar (or uninterested) in the original, but if you're looking for a full-featured, well-made adaptation of the popular board game, this is definitely it.
Daily iPhone App: Solstice Arena is Zynga's shot at multiplayer online battle arenas
I first got to see Solstice Arena, Zynga's latest iOS entry, at GDC earlier this year, and then had a short meeting again last week with the publisher at E3. But you no longer have to take my word on what it's like: The game arrived on iOS worldwide last week, so you can grab the free-to-download title at your leisure. And I recommend you do. Zynga has a reputation for pushy freemium elements in goofy casual titles, but I can confirm this game has none of that. This is a true mobile MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) title, similar to League of Legends, but very iOS-centric in its delivery. The game has been simplified in a lot of very smart ways, producing a high-quality title that's very impressive. In my own play, I've found some minor balance issues (the healer character, for example, seems awfully overpowered, especially when teamed up with a burly bruiser), but I am sure those will get evened out as the game gets periodic updates and tweaks. And while yes, this is a freemium title, that part is also done very intelligently. The freemium elements are mostly confined to customization and convenience. Just like League of Legends, the game opens up a number of free heroes to play every week, so there's ongoing variety even if you never spend a dime. And if you do, real money can only buy you custom skins for the heroes you own, or can pay for boosts in your own XP, so spending money doesn't affect the gameplay at all. Prices are a bit high (which is something else I expect will likely be tweaked in a future update), but all in all, the freemium elements almost never get in the way of the gameplay, which is very respectable on Zynga's part. In short, Solstice Arena is exactly the kind of game Zynga needs to help cleanse its reputation as a money-grabbing casual publisher. I would hesitate to call it truly hardcore (I think the game needs about double the heroes and maybe another map or mode to really start comparing its depth to a standard PC MOBA), but it's definitely a "mid-core" experience that delivers a lot of fun. If you're a MOBA fan or just want to see what Zynga is doing right lately, give it a download and a try on iPhone or iPad.
Daily iPhone App: Elevatr helps you build a booming startup
People with an entrepreneurial streak should run with Elevatr on their phone so they don't miss those moments of inspiration. Elevatr is a free-form note-taking app with a business plan focus. The app lets you create a note with fields for your business idea, the target market, product details, business model and execution. Each field has sub-fields that help you organize your ideas. For example, the section for defining your market includes fields for you to add details on the target market, the competition and your idea's competitive advantage. Elevatr can store your ideas locally, or you can sign up for an account to store them in the cloud and share them with others. The app now is a single-user productivity tool, but the company has plans to add collaboration to the app. With its slick look and feel, Elevatr is definitely worth the storage space on your iPhone. Elevatr is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Daily iPhone App: Plant Nanny lets you water plants and yourself at the same time
Plant Nanny is fun, little app that combines the process of growing plants with the healthy habit of drinking water. It's an unusual combination, but the app pulls it off wonderfully. Plant Nanny lets you pick a cartoon seedling and plant it in a pot on your virtual window sill. As you drink water throughout the day, you add those glasses to the app and water your plant. The more water you give your plant, the faster it will grow. When it is fully grown, you can move it outside and start over with a new seedling. The app encourages you to keep drinking by rewarding you with seeds from your fully grown (and watered) plants. These seeds can be used to buy more exotic plants besides the dandelion that is free with the app. Plant Nanny also supports notifications, which can be setup to remind you to drink your water at a regular interval. Plant Nanny is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Daily iPhone App: Scurvy Scallywags is great fun for landlubbers or first mates
Ron Gilbert is the great game designer mind behind popular series like Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and the recent Deathspank games. His latest project is called Scurvy Scallywags, and arrived on iOS last week. The game is great -- it's a match-3 title that makes use of some excellent RPG and combat mechanics. While it's not the most polished thing on the App Store, there's a whole lot of piratey fun to be had. Gilbert (and his fellow developers) are obviously big pirate fans -- you may remember the great shanty scene from Monkey Island -- and this game has no lack of nice piratey touches, including hats, faces, and clothing to unlock, ships to build through a crafting system, and a whole lot of great music. The main goal of your match three adventures is to re-discover a lost pirate shanty. Whenever you come across a new verse, the gang of scabby buccaneers will happily sing it for you. There's also a fun twist in moving your pirate around the board. Whenever you match pieces, new ones will come in from the direction that you moved to match. Your pirate and enemy pirates are all in tile spots on the board, which means that with some nimble matching, you can keep your pirate away from the bad guys until you're ready to throw down in each stage. Scurvy Scallywags is great fun. I do wish the game was a little more full-featured -- most of the pieces you'll be matching are actually meaningless garbage pieces, and it would have been nice to give those some kind of function. But otherwise, the design is great, and the game has an excellent "just one more stage" feeling to keep you playing for a long time. Scurvy Scallywags is available on the App Store now for just 99 cents.
Daily iPhone App: Dead Ahead races through a stylish zombieland
Dead Ahead is a game released by Chillingo a few weeks ago, and it's been huge in the App Store charts lately. It's an endless running game where you're actually on a moped (or, later, a motorcycle), racing through a zombie-ridden apocalypse. The game's controls are excellently simple (you move your finger up and down the screen to steer, and then there are two buttons to race forward or shoot backwards), but the biggest draw here is the game's aesthetic, which uses a very stylistic look to add a little bit of whimsy to a pretty spooky zombie setting. The game is relatively gory, as the zombies are you can either be crashed into cars (or shot apart) in very bloody ways. But for all of the gore, the zombies are also cool, and the various types you'll encounter (including big, hulking zombie bosses) mix up the gameplay quite a bit. As you drive along, you'll pick up coins and earn points, which then let you upgrade your bike, your gun, or unlock various powerups and other fun tweaks. Dead Ahead is a great title -- it's an endless runner and doesn't really break open the conventions of the genre, but it does perform its few features very well. You can download the game right now for free, and (not surprisingly) there are plenty of in-app purchases to make if you so choose.
Daily iPhone App: Made brings scrumptous sweets right to your front door
Would you like to sample goodies from some of the best independent bakers in the US? Treats so fine they will make your mouth water just by looking at them. If you are driven by a sweet tooth, then you should fire up the App Store and download the new Made app from Helpies. Made lets you browse through a large and lovely catalog of desserts from local bakers, bakeries, chocolatiers and candy makers. The list includes high-profile companies like Ovenly and Made By Melissa. The Made app is driven by visuals, and I must say that the photos of the desserts are stunning -- literally mouth-watering. Made is more than a picture book, though. It's also a shopping tool that lets you order these delicious sweets and have them delivered directly to your front door. Made includes information about the baker, a description of the dessert and order details like preparation time and shipping cost. Ordering a dessert requires an account and you can sign up within the app. You also have to enter your shipping and payment details, which are saved for future purchases. Made is available for free from the iOS App Store. It's worth a download, even just to browse through the treats and learn more about some of the top local bakers in the US.
Daily iPhone App: SlamBots crashes into some surprisingly deep action
SlamBots is the latest title from Retro Dreamer, a company that's been taking the one game a month idea very seriously this year. This title is based on a game Retro Dreamer put out back in February of this year, which took an endless jumping game and turned it into more of an arena-style beatdown, where you could jump on the heads of various monsters, touching down on the screen to "slam" them. Retro Dreamer took that idea and ran with it, converting it into a robot-style theme and adding a few more progression and monetization elements, and the result is this US$1.99 app in the App Store right now. The result is a very interesting title -- it's casual, but offers up a whole lot of depth if you're looking to go and find it. The basics are clear: You tilt your iPhone back and forth to control your slambot, bouncing off of platforms and enemies and collecting coins as best you can. But as you start to figure out the game's mechanics, there's actually a lot of complexity, and if you can land a few slams in a row, your scores can get sky high. See this players' guide by developer Matt Rix for more -- there's actually a lot of really deep, criss-crossing elements present in this game. Some of you might not be convinced at the price of $1.99, and that's fine: Retro Dreamer says there's a free, ad-supported version on the way soon, and I definitely recommend that one when it appears. But this is a really interesting title, and especially if you've been following Retro Dreamer's path through the App Store. It shows very well how app ideas can evolve forward into something really special.
Daily iPhone App: Warhammer Quest combines Rodeo Games' talent with the Warhammer setting
Warhammer Quest was originally announced way back in August last year, and now it's finally arrived on the iOS App Store, for a price of US$4.99. The game is indeed based on the old board game (set in the great and goofy British Warhammer universe), but it's also made by Rodeo Games, most famous for creating the popular Hunters series on iOS. Rodeo knows how to make turn-based strategy both interesting and easy to control on the iOS touchscreen, and that's exactly what they've done here, essentially translating their top-down, grid layout strategy title into the Warhammer universe. In Warhammer Quest, you pilot a crew of various fantasy-based heroes (warrior, mage, archer and shieldbearer are the core classes, though a few more are available via in-app purchase) through dungeons, clobbering orcs, goblins and any other baddies who happen to step in your way. Each hero has their own set of movement stats and abilities, and you pick up items and extra loot as you play, earning more and more options in battle. Just like the Hunters series, the interface is clean and clear, and it's very easy to navigate your heroes around the dungeon. It's not quite as easy to use spells and abilities (most of them are, strangely, buried in an interface rather than easily accessible), but still, the setup makes sense once you play with it a bit. There's an excellent meta-game as well, where you can travel to a town to train up your heroes and experience various random, lore-supported events. There are also lots of side quests to follow, offering all of the challenge and content that you'd like. There's even an expansion already ready to go via IAP, and I'm guessing (given what we've seen with the Hunters series so far), that we'll see lots more content for this game in the future. If you're a Warhammer fan, this is a must-buy, and if you like turn-based strategy at all, this is a prime example of a talented developer working side-by-side with a great property. This game is definitely worth $4.99, though Hunters seems to go on sale with some regularity, so you may want to wait and see if the price drops if you're willing to be patient. Given the size of the game and the quality of the content, however, Warhammer Quest is easily recommended.
Daily iPhone App: Mansion Run through some spooky pixels
Underground Pixel is a retro game developer that's put out a few iOS titles already, and their latest release is called Mansion Run, now available on the App Store for just US$0.99. Mansion Run is simple by design -- in fact, it's almost too simple. The idea is that you're a skeleton named Boney Wellington (nice) who has to run through a house full of poltergeisted furniture. There are four levels to run on, and the whole game is that you simply swipe up or down to switch levels, dodging furniture for as long as you can. That's it -- all of the furniture is essentially the same, and none of it ever moves. Just run and dodge. That simplicity may sound a bit off-putting, and it is -- Mansion Run doesn't put any of its complexity up front. There are some minigames to mix things up (including a quick-time event where you need to swipe the screen in a certain pattern), and extra rooms to find, but honestly, even after about 10 or 15 runs, I was never able to find or pull off either of those. There are also various characters to unlock and powerups to use, but these don't really seem to affect the game all that much. Still, Mansion Run is charming, due to the great pixel graphics and the excellent soundtrack. The game's vibe is very fun, and it's the kind of game that you can get immensely good at over time -- you can slide through very small spaces in the furniture, so if your twitch muscles are well-tuned, you can pull off some nice runs. It's hardly a deep game, but it is well-made and provides plenty of entertainment for the price. If you want a cheap, fun and simple runner to add a little joy to your iPhone gaming time, give Mansion Run a try.
Daily iPhone App: Solara stands out from the clash of clones
Clash of Clans is one of the freemium sim titles making lots of money on the App Store, and so it's no surprise that the market has been flooded with clones lately; games where you build up a town Farmville-style, and then send troops from that town out into the world to complete quests. Solara is one of these: You use gold earned by building shops in town to create more buildings and unlock heroes, and then you can use those heroes to defeat monsters and earn more gold. But what sets Solara off from the rest of games like this on the App Store is its design and charm. This isn't just a generic freemium title. First time iOS developer Esper Labs has put plenty of heart into the different facilities you build and the heroes you level up, and that extra effort makes the game's familiar cycle shine. Unfortunately, Solara still leans a bit too much towards the casual side for some hardcore fans -- personally, I'd like a little more action in the battles. As it is now, they essentially just play out without any input from the player, which can be frustrating when you've made a mistake lining up your team. Most of the depth comes from choosing your heroes to fight, which all have different skills and strengths. But it'd be nice to see a developer try to really make the periodic fights in these games actual tests of skill or game knowledge, rather than just animations (which are skippable, even) playing out as they go. Still, Esper Labs is looking for that huge Clash of Clans audience, and that audience is completely fine with just letting the game play itself. If you haven't tried one of these games yet, or maybe have gotten tired of just playing CoC all the time, Solara's worth a look. It's a well-made game with a cycle that's just as addictive as always, and of course it's free to play. I do wish, however, that instead of just adding its design talent to the standard formula, Esper Labs had tried to add a little bit more.
Daily iPhone App: Guitar! by Smule plays a familiar tune
Smule is the company behind a lot of excellent music apps, and its latest release is called, simply, Guitar! by Smule. Just like much of Smule's other work, the app is designed to let you "play" a guitar via your iPhone, tapping and strumming various notes that run across the screen. That in itself is not all that innovative, but Smule's tie in to its other apps and the company's substantial licensed music library is. With Guitar!, you get access to some really great guitar pop songs, and the team has also connected this app up to the Sing! karaoke app, which means that the singers putting in their voices to match your guitar are just fans playing along as well. That makes this app a little more special than just a standard music game. Still, despite that extra connection, there's not much else to make this one stick out -- you only get two songs for free, and then you'll either need to pay for a few more songs, or earn a whole lot of points to purchase others to play. It's nice that Smule has provided the app for free, and if you like these games they've made, this one is worth a download. But Smule is definitely starting to follow a formula here, successful as it may be so far, rather than inventing something really brand new.
Daily iPhone App: Combo Crew does beat-em-up on a touchscreen
Combo Crew is an interesting experiment that just showed up this week on iOS. Beat-em-ups and fighting games are great on consoles, where you've got plenty of buttons and d-pads to pull off various moves with. But while they've appeared on iOS a few times (Capcom's Street Fighter IV has done fairly well on the App Store), usually these games on a touchscreen tend to just fall back on virtual buttons, which are generally way more clunky and less precise than physical moving parts. Combo Crew, however, is an attempt to make a beat-em-up redesigned from scratch for the iOS touchscreen. It's a game made by the Game Bakers, a really excellent team based in France that's done a great job with the Squids turn-based combat series. Combo Crew has everything you'd want a beat-em-up game to have, including multiple characters, combination-based and counter attacks, and lots of cool super moves and punches. But the difference here is in the controls. Instead of pressing buttons, you swipe across the screen to perform your moves in sequence: Swipe once to attack, swipe and hold to charge up, swipe two fingers for a combo attack or tap the screen for a counter. It works -- mostly. Just like a traditional beat-em-up game, Combo Crew's moveset gets more complicated over time, so that once mastered, you're able to keep combos going for a long time, scoring tons of points and taking down the bad guys with ease. Unfortunately, the biggest issue is that you're swiping right across the screen you're playing on, so sometimes it can be hard to see where you need to go. Thus, precision isn't always exactly where you want it to be. If you swipe the screen, you will do an attack, but there's no way to move around the screen independently, and as a result, you don't always attack the exact enemy you want, which can be a problem at higher levels. Combo Crew is still a lot of fun, however, and The Game Bakers deserve a lot of credit for taking on such a tough genre to do on a touchscreen in such a creative way. There's even a co-op mode, and an endless-scoring game with plenty of various progression items to unlock and earn. If you like beat-em-ups and want something to enjoy on your iPhone, this one is a must-play for sure, just to see how it all works. The game is currently just $1.99, too, so if you're interested at all, give this one a download.
Daily iPhone App: Las Vegas! brings Ravensburger's dice game to the iPad
Las Vegas! is a popular dice game that Ravensburger put together last year. It's not exactly the most complicated board game on the block (you roll dice, and then can place them into certain numbered slots that represent stakes in money-making casinos), but it's fun for families especially, and provides a nice relatively casual mix of luck and skill. Perhaps because the game is so approachable, the German company Ravensburger has elected to bring an iOS version out to iPhone and iPad, and you can now pick it up on the App Store for US$2.99. Just like the real-world game, the iOS version is fun but simple -- you select your players (or you can play online via Game Center), you roll the dice and then you try to lay them out in casinos wherever you think they'll earn you the most money. Play goes on like this for four rounds, at which point the player with the most money wins. There's also a more complicated variant where you get a number of neutral dice that you can use to block other players, and Ravensburger has smartly included that option here, which provides some extra replayability, especially for gamers seeking some more challenging strategy. The game's well-presented (I did have one small bug when starting a game, but a quick reset of the app fixed it anyway), with plenty of Vegas-style sounds and some nice casino architecture. There's also the ability to earn money from game-to-game, though I'm not sure what that's used for just yet -- maybe Ravensburger plans to put in more themes and casinos as time goes on. Currently, there are no in-app purchases at all, and I appreciate that. What you see for your $2.99 is what you get, and the game that's there is worth the price if you're interested.
Daily iPhone App: Blendoku has you lining up colors to match
Blendoku is based on a crazy idea, made even crazier by the fact that it works. I am just plain terrible at colors. When I was working retail, I spent an entire day learning to lay out merchandise according to color. I was so bad at it, the trainer sent me right back to customer service. That's the very skill set that Blendoku tests, yet I still enjoy playing it. You're presented with several different colors which must be sorted by shade, lightness or various other qualities. Some levels are simple, with just a strip of various colors going back and forth, but some are very complicated, with multiple colors mixing up in different ways. The game works well. Moving the colors around is intuitive, and the fun, simple aesthetic allows you to focus on the puzzle. Blendoku was a surprise. If someone asked me if I'd like a game about lining up color combinations, I don't think I would have said yes. But this is a fun one, and it might give you a new look on how various visual colors go together (needless to say, you probably can't be color blind and play this). The game is free, with a few in-app purchases to help you solve puzzles or get rid of the ads.
Daily iPhone App -- Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte is cute, arcade fun
Zoombies is a fascinating little game. It's made by a company called High Voltage that is probably best known for the Conduit shooter series, though they've been making licensed games for years (I remember visiting the studio for a tour back when I lived in Chicago -- they were based out in the Hoffman Estates suburb back then). Zoombies is a title that's been in development there for a while -- it was first considered for the Wii, then possibly for Xbox Live Arcade and finally has seen release on Apple's iOS. It's easy to see why High Voltage was trying to make this game as a motion control title -- the idea is that you're a kid trying to fight an army of invading undead zoo animals ("Zoo-mbies," get it?), and you are armed with a weapon that you can toss according to a line you've drawn on the screen. Control on the Wii or Xbox would probably have been more direct, but on the iOS touchscreen it means you swipe your finger around, and then the weapon will follow your path. This creates some interesting timing issues -- you want to throw where an animal will be, not where they are. And once you've thrown your weapon, you can't throw it again until it finishes the path, which requires you to keep things as compact as possible. Zoombies' real charm, however, is in the tone and the art style. The whole game, as you can tell by the subtitle, is done in a joyous sort of Mexican mariachi style, and it just oozes fun. The animals are menacingly cute, the kids are great and every level has plenty of "skull goals," which are super satisfying to complete. Even if you don't like that core line-drawing mechanic, this game is totally charming anyway. Clearly, this was a labor of love for High Voltage, and you can tell they had a lot of fun making the game. Zoombies is available for US$2.99 on the App Store now, though there are a lot of in-app purchases included, so I wouldn't be surprised to see that price come down sooner if not later. Still, $3 is cheap, so if Zoombies interests you, you might as well grab it right away.
