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Play to Cure: Genes in Space lets you fly spaceships and aid in cancer research at the same time
Like most people, I enjoy video games and hate cancer, but seldom does the opportunity arise to combine those two feelings. Thankfully, Play to Cure: Genes in Space has flown onto our galactic radar, bringing with it simple space combat that actually helps the cause of cancer research. Yes. You get to help cancer research and blow things up at the same time. The iOS app is the brainchild of Cancer Research UK, and is the product of months of collaboration between scientists and game developers. On its face, Play to Cure is a simple space shooter where players zoom around the galaxy shooting asteroids and navigating through a series of rings. Players chart their own path through the galaxy by plotting the best route through the provided maps. Here's where the game becomes genius. The maps are actually real DNA microarrays. While you're plotting your next route, the game is actually using your map to spot patterns in the genetic information of thousands of tumors. The more you play, the more information it crunches. Here's what Microarray data looks like. But when you're playing it will look like this. With each passing level, you gain experience points that can be used to customize your ship and buy new weapons and upgrades. The game plays better with the gyroscopic control option than it does with the touch screen, but either one works. Levels usually only last about a minute, so this is the perfect way to pass time and make the world a better place while you do it. You can check out the launch video below, or head over to Cancer Research UK to read more. Play to Cure: Genes in Space is available as a free download right now in the App Store.
Here's how to download Facebook Paper even if you don't live in the US
Last week we told you about Paper, Facebook's standalone newsreader/storytelling app. Today Paper launched as an iOS-exclusive app. But beyond being iOS-exclusive, the app is also apparently US-exclusive. Our sister site TechCrunch has offered up a handy workaround that will allow you to download the app if you're locked out based on something as silly as where you live. This trick only works because it's a free app, so keep your eye on the prize and don't go trying to download paid apps that aren't available in your country. Go to the App Store. Go to "Apple ID:" Log in with your password as you normally would. Once you've logged in, go to your settings, find "country," then "change country or region" and change your country to "United States." Click "none" when it asks you for payment information. Search for Paper, download it, then change your country back to wherever you're from. Voila! You've got Paper, at least until Facebook updates the app with a region lock. We'll have a review of Paper up soon. In the meantime, let us know what you think of the app in the comments below once you've gotten a chance to give it a spin.
PhotoScope: Explore your iPhoto and Aperture libraries from your iPhone or iPad
It's always refreshing to see something new for photo aficionados and PhotoScope (US$4.99) certainly meets that criteria. PhotoScope gives you complete access to your Aperture and iPhoto libraries from any iOS hardware as long as all your devices are on the same WiFi network. To get things up and running, you download and run a free helper app for your Mac. Next, launch PhotoScope from iOS, and with a tap to select either iPhoto or Aperture libraries, you'll see your pictures arranged as they are on your Mac. All the albums and projects are named, and the metadata is also available to you. Photos can be emailed in large or small versions as well as copied, saved to your iOS camera roll, printed or tweeted. Images can also be copied and then pasted into other apps. PhotoScope supports flags and ratings, so you can remotely tag your photos (Aperture only) from your iPhone or iPad. Neither iPhoto nor Aperture needs to be running on your Mac for you to be able to browse photos. If you tag or modify image information, iPhoto or Aperture will launch as needed. Photos can be pinched and double-tapped to zoom in or out, and the app supports full resolution. PhotoScope is pretty handy, and unique in terms of its functions. I'd love to see the app support remote access and be able to talk to my Adobe Lightroom content. David Ritchie, the app developer, says remote access is being worked on, and requests for Lightroom compatibility and other features will certainly be considered. PhotoScope is a worthwhile app that will please many people who want the features the app offers. I actually found browsing my photos on my iPad to be faster and more enjoyable than sitting at my Mac. PhotoScope requires iOS 7 or later, and works fine on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Quick Fit is a seven-minute workout app with room for expansion
If you're into the trendy seven-minute workout concept, Quick Fit is a new US$0.99 app that breaks down these exercises into easily digestible bites. While there are free apps featuring this brief, but intensive workout, this one stands out from the rest with its clean design and its opportunity for expansion. Via in-app purchases, Quick Fit offers the chance to expand the exercise selection to target different parts of your body, such as your abs. One of the things I really like about this app is that there are clear demonstrations of the exercises being done as you're going through the steps. Otherwise, it's similar to other seven-minute workout apps out there. You can keep track of basic workout achievements, workout log and your weight. Despite the variety of free apps out there, Quick Fit's design and expansions make it worth the $1 entry fee.
Flappy Bird is the cheapest digital drug on the App Store
Flappy Bird is currently the most popular free app on the App Store, besting the likes of Snapchat, Beats Music and Clash of Clans. That's a pretty big accomplishment for a game that can be played with a single finger. So why is it so popular? Well, that's actually a bit hard to explain. There's only one thing you ever do in Flappy Bird: Guide your tiny avian -- who happens to look a bit like a fish -- in between a series of pipes. Hitting a pipe or crashing into the ground ends the game. Tapping on the screen causes your bird to flap its wings and remain aloft. For each set of pipes you pass through, you gain a single point. Yep, that's the entire game. This simplicity is remarkably addicting, and as soon as you fail, you're going to want to give it another go. The game's difficulty is shockingly steep right from the beginning, and making it through a few sets of pipes isn't nearly as easy as it might sound. After hours of play, your longest run will still likely be in the 30-point range. Flappy Bird is free, but it is ad-supported. Unfortunately, these ads aren't exactly the most subtle. They appear as popup banners on the top and bottom of the screen and sometimes block the edges of the pipes themselves. It can sometimes feel like you're actively battling the ads just to proceed, which isn't ideal. Thankfully, Flappy Bird's addictive properties make these ad issues worth overlooking, at least for a while. You may eventually get fed up, but you should definitely take the game for a spin, if for no other reason than to see what the buzz is about.
Tomb Raider, a reboot game that also reboots Mac gaming
The iconic Lara Croft got a franchise reboot last year with the new Tomb Raider game was released for Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Now, Feral Interactive has brought Tomb Raider to the Mac and, after only a week of playing it, I'm certain it will be be the 2014 Mac Game of the Year. Here's a little background on Tomb Raider. This edition takes everything you know about Croft and throws it out of the window. Tomb Raider is a complete reboot of the series. Similar to how Batman Begins replaced the film Batman with a gritty, stark realism, so too does Tomb Raider. Gamers play a young (late teens) Croft on her first solo outing. This isn't the same rich brat from earlier versions of the game, flirting with danger for kicks. Instead, young Croft is insecure, weak and very, very afraid of the situation she's gotten herself in to. The game begins with Croft on the Endurance, a boat carrying a crew of archaeologists trying to discover the lost kingdom of the Sun Queen on the island of Yamatai, and island that is part of the Dragon's Triangle near Japan. The boat is shipwrecked during a storm and things go from bad to worse. Almost immediately she is abducted and wakes up hanging upside-down from a cave's ceiling among several dead bodies. During her escape, she falls, is badly wounded and scared as hell. Unlike in previous Tomb Raider titles, she's not yet a world-class acrobat, nor is she any kind of fighter. It's the writers and animators of Tomb Raider that deserve the praise for conveying just how scared Lara is when she begins her adventure. And now let's talk about that adventure. Tomb Raider is a great mix of stealth, puzzles and first-person shooter. But unlike past editions, the puzzles are integrated into the story well, and don't come off as being set up by an ancient civilization whose favorite past time was apparently making puzzles for future adventurers. The tone of the story appears to be heavily influenced by Lost (stranded on a mysterious island with weird stuff going on) and a psychological horror movie. Without ruining anything, the game's makers do an incredible job of explaining why all these murderous cult members who are trying to kill you are insane murders -- you learn, in one of the creepiest parts of the game -- why they are so messed up. Another nice thing about this Tomb Raider is it's not entirely Croft's show. Refreshingly, the other members of the Endurance have survived the crash and they are as much as part of the story as she is, with Croft meeting up with various crew members throughout the game. Graphics-wise, this is the most beautiful game I've ever played on my Mac. I was running it on the latest MacBook Pro with Retina display at full resolution and the game didn't have so much as a hiccup. And those graphics -- I could hardly tell where a cut scene ended and gameplay began; the graphics are that good. Everything from the environmental effects to blood dripping from her body was as lifelike as anything I've ever seen on a Mac. Gameplay was also easy enough with the keyboard and trackpad, although I see why Feral advises users to use a gamepad. The one thing I do wish Feral would have done is give a few more cues earlier on in the game on how to perform a movement. When the cues first appear, they only show once and are so brief, I, at first, found myself getting frustrated trying to figure out how to do stuff. The game also has a few, limited bugs. One time the game froze and navigating the main menu system appears to lag sometimes when you are selecting submenus, but overall those bugs are minor and infrequent and can easily be fixed in a minor update. A game that is as graphically rich as Tomb Raider understandably has some hefty system requirements, so be sure you check to make sure that your Mac can handle it before you buy. The minimum system requirements are a Mac with a 2.0 GHz Intel processor, 4 GB RAM, 512 MB graphics and 14 GB of free space. However, Feral recommends a 2.4 GHz Intel processor, 6 GB RAM, 1 GB graphics and 14 GB of free space for best performance. Also note that the following graphics cards are NOT supported: ATI X1xxx series, ATI HD2xxx series, Intel GMA series, Intel HD3000, NVIDIA 3xx series, NVIDIA 7xxx series, NVIDIA 8xxx series and NVIDIA 9xxx series. At US$49.99, Tomb Raider isn't a cheap game, but it's the best one you'll buy on the Mac this year. Tomb Raider was meant to reboot an aging franchise, which it's done successfully, but in the process, thanks to the porting by Feral Interactive, it's also rebooted gaming on the Mac and set a new standard for Mac games yet to come. Tomb Raider is available on the Mac App Store.
The game is on with Sherlock: The Network
I am a huge fan of BBC's Sherlock, and I immensely enjoyed the new series that completed its run on BBC One a couple of weeks ago, and is currently airing on PBS in the states. Coinciding with series 3, an official app was released featuring exclusive video footage of stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Mark Gatiss as Sherlock Holmes, John Watson and Mycroft Holmes, respectively. That app, Sherlock: The Network, makes its US debut today. Sherlock: The Network has 10 cases that need solving, and you become one of the members of Sherlock's Homeless Network to assist him and John. There are a number of mini-games, a "Mind Palace" just for you, communication with key members of Sherlock's team including Lestrade and Molly and much more. If you are a fan of the quirky nature of the series, Sherlock: The Network will delight you from the first launch. Don't skip the introductory video, else you'll miss a key opportunity to be recruited and berated all at the same time. Unlike the other videos, it can't be replayed at this time, though developers are working to address this. The cases navigate you through London, and most fans of the series will be familiar with the use of pounds and London's tube system. Sherlock and John provide a guiding hand throughout via text and voicemail messages. The voicemails have transcripts in case you're unable to listen to the audio. You want to solve the case as quickly as possible, but hold onto to your money, so you'll get pretty familiar with the tube mini-game. The touch sensitivity isn't quite what I like. It was a bit hard to maneuver the bits of the tube tunnels into place, and I had to tap several times to get parts to move. I really like how this game grounds itself in as much reality as possible, from the London tube stations to voicemails being tied into the local date and time on your phone. The cases are actually pretty tough, which loyal fans will appreciate. If the case proves too difficult, you can either forfeit your points by having Sherlock solve it for you or you can wait and see subtle hints appear to guide you to the correct answer. Sherlock: The Network fits in the series' world in every way and doesn't dumb down its content to appeal to a broader audience. Granted, Sherlock wouldn't stand for such a thing. Even if you're not a Sherlock fan, if you enjoy the Phoenix Wright or Professor Layton games, then you'll like this one. The game is US$4.99, and there are no in-app purchases. The Project Factory made a smart move here to have all the content available from the start. However, I would love to see new cases eventually be available through in-app purchases. Buying the HD version for the iPad requires a second $4.99 purchase. The Project Factory's Andy Skinner explained that separating the iPhone and iPad versions kept the download size the games down. The iPad version, which features larger pictures, clocks in at 433 MB and the iPhone version is 260 MB. The content on both versions is the same. Those worried about spoilers will find some cheeky references to series 2, but no spoilers for anything past series 1. If you're a Sherlock fan, the $4.99 is worth it just for the extra content featuring Sherlock, John and Mycroft alone. The immersion into Sherlock's world is top-notch, and you'll find yourself awaiting more cases just as eagerly as you'll await series 4.
Real Estate by Estately brings its beautiful house listings to your iPhone and iPad
Estately is an up-and-coming real estate brokerage based in Seattle that is bringing its business to the web and mobile devices. The service is known for having the best user interface in the business, beating out the bigger guys like Zillow and Refdin, which pack ads and featured agents into their home listings. Estately released an iOS companion to its web service and we were able to take it for a spin. The Real Estate by Estately app has a search-driven UI that allows you to find houses in your area. It includes filters so you can limit the size, price and other factors in the houses that it displays in the search results. The app conveniently shows nearby listings on a map. Clicking on a listing pulls up an image and some basic details on the house without obscuring the map. This is very useful as you can see the house location on a map and the housing details at the same time. Tapping on the house details will bring up a full-screen view that shows all the details on the house. Details include a slideshow of images, price, house information and description, listing history, realtor contact, a map and school information. The layout is so attractive that it makes even the most unsightly house look beautiful. If you want to follow up on a listing, you can contact the real estate agent who is selling the house. You can also favorite it, if you are signed into your Estately account. One of the most useful features in Estately is the "Saved Search" alerts. These alerts notify you when a new house is listed that meets your criteria, or when a current house on your search list either drops in price or is sold. Estately updates its listings several times a day, allowing you to get the jump on a new or discounted house. Though you browse listings without signing into any service, this alert service requires an Estately account. You can create one online or through the app. When you find a house in which you are interested, you can use the service to direct you to an agent. Estately works with select real estate brokerages in most states and doesn't offer up your information to the highest bidder. Estately is nationwide and provides MLS listing in 30 states, so not everyone can take advantage of the service. It is available in Washington, California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, New Jersey, Vermont, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Massachusetts, Ohio, Minnesota and New Hampshire. The Real Estate by Estately app is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Daily App: Paint it Back brings its painting challenge to the Mac
Paint it Back from Casual Labs debuted last year for iOS and was an instant hit in the Puzzle game category. The app challenges you to use your paintbrush to solve each puzzle and restore the missing paintings from the art gallery. Paint it Back has a unique gameplay that uses a grid and numbers to tell you where to paint. It's a paint-by-numbers game with a whole new twist. At the top of each row and column of the grid is a number that tells you how many squares need to be painted in the grid. It's easy to figure out which squares to paint when the number tells you to paint 5 out of the 5 squares. It's much more of a challenge when there is only one square that needs to be painted, and you need to figure out which one. The app discourages you from guessing and encourages you to solve the puzzle by using the logical side of your brain to fill in the blanks using the numbers for other columns. There are 140 paintings to solve and 14 rooms to unlock. Each room gets increasingly difficult as the puzzles get larger and the patterns that you paint more complex. The app supports up to six profiles, allowing each member of a household to play at their own pace. The Mac version also uses iCloud sync to save game progress so you can start a game on a Mac and end it on your iPad. The Mac version appears to be a straight port from the iOS version, which brings with it some advantages and some disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that it is easy to sync games across devices. This makes the game even more enjoyable, as you can finish off a painting on your Mac while you wait for a file to download. The biggest disadvantage I found was with the controls -- the app was originally built for touchscreen gameplay and the controls did not carry over well to the cursor-driven interaction on the Mac. I repeatedly had difficulty selecting squares to color on my Mac (2013 MacBook Air). I would use two-fingers to fill a square and then move to the next square. If I didn't remove my fingers right away, the app would fill in the next square as I hovered over it. I also noticed that if I moved my cursor over a square for too long, the game would fill it in without me clicking on it. This made it frustrating to play as I was frequently painting squares and unpainting squares every time I deliberately or accidentally touched my trackpad with two fingers. Paint it Back is a fun and addictive puzzler. I highly recommend the iOS version and cautiously recommend the Mac version for those who already own the iOS version and want to extend their gameplay to the Mac. Personally, I' m going to put the Mac version away and wait for a few revisions to tweak the controls. Once the controls are in place, it'll be an enjoyable puzzler to play across platforms. Paint it Back is available from the Mac App Store for US$4.99. The iOS version is available for free and includes in-app purchases to unlock content.
The Phoenix Photo Editor is a quick and powerful app for iPhone
The Phoenix Photo Editor joins a crowded field of photo editors for iOS, but it's free and has a wide selection of features. Of course the app has the usual filters and tools for cropping and saturation. It also adds high-end features like lighting effects, vignettes, selective blur and a nice variety of frames. One sign of a good app is not needing help when first exploring it, and the Phoenix Photo Editor lets you get right to work without needing pages and pages of explanations. Many photo editors skimp on undo features, and this app lets you go all the way back to where you started, a step at a time. Metadata is preserved when images are edited, but you can elect to add or edit geolocation information, which is nice. Images do not save in full resolution. On the iPhone 5s, which has a resolution of 3,264 x 2,448, images save at 3,000 x 3,000. Anything with a higher resolution will save at that size. Although the app is free, there are 10 in-app purchase packs at US$0.99 each. I didn't find any of them absolutely necessary, but I thought some of the lens flare effects might be worth it for some photographers. I felt I could do a good job of editing any photo from the free version. I especially liked the color splash tool, which lets you selectively add or subtract color from an image. The effect can and has been overdone, but when used artistically, it can really make a photo quite striking. There are plenty of ways to share photos, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr and Google+. Of course you can save to your camera roll and go anywhere from there. I'm still partial to Snapseed (free) for photo editing on my iPhone and iPad, but the Phoenix Photo Editor brings quite a few tools Snapseed does not offer. Still, Snapseed has more powerful color- and contrast-enhancing tools. The combination of the Phoenix Photo Editor and Snapseed would be a powerful one, and might be all the serious iPhone photographer needs, but everyone has their likes and dislikes, and there are hundreds of worthy editors being offered. The Phoenix Photo Editor is not a universal app, which is a shame, but the developer tells me the iPad version is ready and awaiting Apple approval. The app requires iOS 6 or greater, and it's optimized for the iPhone 5.
Fly through Umoove Experience, an addictive iOS game that uses face and eye tracking
This is very, very cool. Umoove Experience is a free, universal iOS game that lets you fly through a 3D environment and control your motions by moving your head and eyes. The game is more a technology demonstration than a full-blown game, but it's sure to give game developers some good ideas. When you start the game, it activates the front-facing camera. You are asked to move your head in four directions, and the app records your profile and movements. The game begins as you fly above a 3D-rendered village, and you change your course trying to grab purple magic potions, which extend your lifetime and let you explore the village environment. Once you get used to it, which doesn't take long, the game really is a pleasure to use. While flying around could get old after awhile, the fact that you are interacting with your hardware and the 3D game with slight movements feels quite liberating. The developer, Umoove Ltd. is offering an SDK for other companies to latch onto the technology, and I expect many others will integrate this into driving, flying or sports games. So Umoove Experience is a taste of what's to come, and it really is interesting. Since the game is free, give it a quick download and let it stimulate your imagination. The game requires at least iOS 5 and runs on the iPhone 4s and later, plus the iPad 2 and later.
Jet Car Stunts 2 isn't flashy, but it sure is fun
The original Jet Car Stunts for iOS was an App Store darling. Its simple graphics and insane tracks made it easily accessible, and it ran great on just about every device. The sequel, Jet Car Stunts 2, is now available, and while it retains the aesthetic and fun formula of its popular predecessor, it's refusal to grow along with the devices it calls home leaves something to be desired. Jet Car Stunts 2 is broken up into more than 100 different levels with varying difficulties. Each track has a special car needed to complete it, so if you have a track with a huge gap in the middle, you'll be given a vehicle capable of cruising for long distances. The tracks are typically short and can be completed in less than 30 seconds, and your final rating depends on how many times you mess up before finally making your way to the finish line. When playing on the iPhone 5s, the game runs smoothly and the ultra-simple graphics look fine. The game could certainly look better though, and just a bit more detail on the tracks, shadows or vehicles would have been a welcome change. As it stands, it's just average in terms of visual flair, which is a bit of a disappointment. The challenges themselves are great, and there's no shortage of variety. High-bank turns, gaps in the road, huge open spaces and massive loops are just a few of the things you'll need to deal with on your road to the finish, and most tracks are a lot of fun. In addition to the included levels, you can also buy the ability to save and share user-created levels, which adds a ton of replay value. There's a good deal of emphasis on in-app purchases for bonus packs and added features, but the core game is free, so it's worth a shot even if you don't feel like spending a dime. If you're willing to drop a few bucks, you'll get a much more robust experience, of course.
Horizon is a new video-recording app that'll eliminate portrait recording forever
Horizon is a new video-recording app from Evil Window Dog that shoots your video in horizontal mode, regardless of how you hold your phone. It's a lifesaver for those spur-of-the-moment shots when you accidentally pick up the camera and start recording in the wrong orientation. Horizon uses a neat trick to always record in horizontal mode. The app has a rectangular indicator that always stays in the center of screen. It's within this viewport that the Horizon app is capturing. No matter how you rotate the device, this box stays centered on the screen. When you start shooting in portrait mode, for example, all you will capture is the horizontal content within the viewport. The viewport box does tilt as you rotate your phone, so you want to avoid rotating while recording. If you tilt while you shoot, the area that is being captured will adjust in response to your movement. As a result, your video's field of view will expand and contract as you move. Horizon is best suited for filming with your phone in one orientation per clip. Options within the app are plentiful, but not overwhelming. You can toggle between the front and rear camera as well as turn the flash on and off right from the main screen. You can change the size of the viewport from a smaller, fixed frame to an extended frame that takes up most of the screen. If you want to shoot in portrait mode for effect, you can even disable the horizontal lock. Within the settings, you can also change the resolution of the video with values that range from the maximum 1080p to the lowest 480 x 480. Last but not least, there are filters that you can apply in real time. The quality of the video that I recorded was very good, as good as the iOS Camera app in most circumstances. The only problem I noticed was that, when compared to the iOS camera, some videos from Horizon had a noticeable amount of shake. I saw it primarily on close-up shots -- for example, when I was filming my favorite coffee cup to see how the app captured colors and maintained focus. The shake was not noticeable when I was filming my kids playing outside. I believe the shake was the result of my filming technique, but it's something you should be aware of. When filming, I discovered that I focused on the viewport box instead of the phone. The viewport box moves slightly as you move, and I was always trying to keep the box straight. I believe I was inadvertently moving the phone enough to introduce some shake into the video. This didn't happen in the iOS Camera app as I focused on the whole frame of the video and didn't move the phone as much. Horizon is available for US$0.99 from the App Store. It's a universal app that supports the iPhone 4s or newer, the iPod touch fifth generation, the iPad 2 or newer and iPad mini or newer.
Daily App: Plan & Buy keeps track of how much you've purchased from your list
Shopping list apps are a dime a dozen in the iOS App Store, but sometimes you find one that stands out in one way or another. Plan & Buy from Aleksandr Zdorovets is one of those apps. In comparison to some of the shopping list heavyweights, like Grocery Gadget and Grocery IQ, Plan & Buy is a fairly basic shopping list app. It allows you to enter the items you need to buy, along with their price, quantity, units and category. Be sure to enter the quantity in this edit screen as there is no other way to increase or decrease the quantity of what you need to buy. You can edit it again to change the quantity, but it's easier if you get it right on the first try. Plan & Buy requires you to enter a category when enter a new item. The categories cover most of your grocery purchases, but the category list is fixed and cannot be changed to suit your needs. This is inconvenient if you want to use the app for shopping for something else, like clothes. There is no support for coupons, aisles or stores, which also are major drawbacks to the app. The big benefit to using Plan & Buy is how it tracks your purchases. The app has a progress bar that displays the percentage of goods that are marked off as having been purchased. You also can view at a glance the percentage of purchased items with a price (labeled in green) and those without a price (labeled in orange). Though it may seem like a little feature, I found the progress bar to be incredibly useful, especially with shopping lists that contain items that you buy over time. I used it to track a list of items that I needed for a birthday party. It was an eye-opener when I looked at the list a few days before the party and realized I only had bought 30 percent of the stuff that I needed for the shindig. Plan & Buy isn't robust by current shopping list standards, but it's useful for folks who have longer lists that require multiple shopping trips over time. Though the categories are food-oriented, you can still use the app for any list as long as you don't mind using "Other" for the categories. Plan & Buy isn't as polished as other competitors in its field, but it has promise. It won't find a permanent place on my phone just yet, but it's on my radar to see if it improves in subsequent versions. Plan & Buy is available in the iOS App Store for US$0.99. It's compatible with the iPhone and the iPad. There are no ads or in-app purchases.
Double Dragon Trilogy is a throwback to addictively frustrating gameplay and early in-app purchases
The Double Dragon series is incredibly important to video game history. As one of the pioneering titles in the "beat-em-up" genre, it introduced millions of quarter-pumping arcade junkies to street brawls augmented with throwing knives and whips. The first time I remember swearing in front of my parents was while playing Double Dragon, which made asking for another quarter to keep playing incredibly awkward. Over the years, I've probably spent several hundred dollars playing Double Dragon I, II and III, so it was a no-brainer to plunk down US$2.99 of my own money for the chance to have these classic titles on my iPhone. This mobile update brings with it a few new tricks and one glaringly harsh reality; you will probably never beat Double Dragon with "one quarter." Double Dragon Trilogy is a faithful port of all three arcade versions of Billy and Jimmy's adventures. There are a few new gameplay modes which mostly consist of scaling the difficulty from the original arcade game's "swearing in front of your mother for the first time" level to a less frustrating mobile difficulty, which will still probably have you swearing under your breath. For the truly masochistic, there is an expert level. Every Double Dragon game is hard. They're throwbacks to an era where a game's difficulty was just as much about profit as it was fun. If you think Candy Crush asking you to wait 30 minutes or pay a dollar to keep playing is obnoxious, you would have committed ritual suicide in an '80s arcade. In keeping with tradition Double Dragon Trilogy is a frustratingly difficult game. The learning curve of this title is already steep, but when you factor in the virtual controls of the iPhone, it sort of becomes like learning to ride a bike again. Its controls are responsive, but it takes a bit of time to make the transition from joystick to virtual thumb pad. Just stick with it; you have a girlfriend to rescue/avenge! Once you get the hang of the controls and stop swearing, you'll notice the unsung hero of Double Dragon Trilogy -- the wonderfully remixed music. These games have always had wonderfully epic, slightly cheesy soundtracks, and the remix job by Developer DotEmu sounds massive even on your tiny iPhone speakers. Double Dragon II in particular shines in the sound design department. Each punch crunches and I'm regularly finding myself humming its tunes in the shower. Multiplayer is possible via local Bluetooth support, so be prepared to have your partner sitting close to you if you want to fullly experience the double in Double Dragon. Over Bluetooth, the game runs smoothly with no hiccups or lag that might lead to your player taking a random cheap punch. People have spent 26 years playing two-player Double Dragon shoulder to shoulder with a friend. While the lack of online multiplayer is a disappointment, at least we get a two-player mode. The collection's one major weakness however is Double Dragon III, which is ironically crippled due to the original title's in-game purchases. Yes, even in 1990, games were being ruined by in-game purchases. Double Dragon III features weapons shops where gamers could buy new moves, characters, weapons and power ups for a quarter. You'll notice I said "could." DotEmu has unfortunately not included the ability to simulate feeding DD3 quarters, meaning you can go into the shops you'll find throughout the game only to be mocked with the reality that you can't fully experience the title. While I respect DotEmu for not seizing the opportunity to add in-app purchases for their $2.99 title, it's frustrating to not be able to play as any of the other playable characters. Hopefully they'll update the title at some point to include the full game. Still it isn't the greatest loss. While Double Dragon III is an interesting part of the series' history, it was originally rushed into development to meet the release of a movie that ended up not coming out in 1990. Accordingly the gameplay doesn't feel as smooth as that found in its siblings, meaning you'll probably find yourself spending most of your time with the first two games. How much enjoyment you get out of Double Dragon Trilogy will depend entirely on your tolerance of the title's incredible difficulty. Old-school gamers throw around the phrase "Nintendo hard" a lot these days, but dear lord NES had nothing on arcade games. Once you get used to the virtual controls, and ignore that a big part of Double Dragon III is unplayable, you're left with a wonderful burst of classic arcade action. For such a seemingly simple series, Double Dragon always had an extra layer of depth for people who took the time to learn the secret special moves and tactics of the enemies. On a bright day in 1987, you probably would have spent $3 playing Double Dragon without getting to the end of the game. It's nice to know that 27 years later, for the cost of one afternoon at the arcade, you can have an infinite number of chances to save Billy's and Jimmy's significant others. Maybe with enough practice I'll finally make it to the end of the game this time.
Castle Doombad is a tower defense game with an evil, vertical twist
There are already too many tower defense games on the App Store. There are great ones, good ones, OK ones and bad ones, and there are plenty of each category. Castle Doombad -- the latest from the always solid Adult Swim Games -- proves it deserves to exist two reasons: First, rather than adopting the familiar top-down viewpoint that most tower defense games utilize, it's presented in a two-dimensional castle with multiple floors going up. And second, you play as the villain. Awesome. Each level of Castle Doombad revolves around a captured princess, and it's up to you to make sure she remains captive. She produces "screams" at regular intervals which act as in-game currency to buy traps and barriers. You place these obstacles wherever you think they'll best be able to hold off the heroes who are attempting to rescue the damsel. These mechanics are the same as many games in the genre, but they are presented in a fresh and fun way. The 2D nature of the levels presents unique challenges as well, such as heroes who use ladders to skip entire floors of your castle. Don't expect to load the first floor of your fortress with traps and relax; you'll need to build traps and spawn minions almost everywhere to ensure the princess remains under lock and key. There's a surprising amount of depth to the game, and you can try out various strategies to see which works the best for you. For example, sometimes it's best to pick off each hero as they enter your castle, while other times it pays off to place a barrier and build up a huge group of them before wiping out the crowd with a single trap. Regardless of your approach, it's quite satisfying to watch the tiny knights and other rescuers meet their demise at your hand. Adult Swim Games hits another home run with Castle Doombad, and whether you're new to the tower defense genre or a seasoned veteran, it's definitely worth the US$2.99 price of entry. You don't get many chances to play as the villain these days, and even rarer is it this much fun.
Find My Place allows you to share your location with others
Find my place is small navigation app that does one thing -- it allows you to send your GPS coordinates to someone via SMS. It's a unitasker that could be useful when you are lost and want someone to find you. When the app launches, it pinpoints your location on a map, shows the Longitude and Latitude and the GPS accuracy at that point in time. At the bottom, there are two buttons. The bottom button will send an SMS with a link to the "Find My Place" app. Though this button generated an SMS, the iTunes link was malformed and said only "iTunes%20link." The top button is the hub of the app. Clicking on it will generate an SMS that contains a link with your GPS coordinates. When the recipient clicks on the link, your location will open in Google Maps, if it is installed. If Google Maps is not on the recipient's device, the location will open in a web browser. Find my place does what it promises to do -- it quickly and easily sends your location off to someone via SMS. The app needs some polish, though, as the UI is bland and one of the buttons doesn't work. Though it's free, you have to ask yourself whether you want a dedicated app just for sending your location. You can accomplish the same task using Apple Maps or Google Maps. Just tap your location on the map and select share from the options. It takes a few extra steps in these other mapping apps, but it may be worth a few extra minutes to not have another app installed on your phone. If you and your friends and family are on iOS, you can use Apple's Find My Friends app to share your location as well. Find My Place is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Command-C: A clever clipboard-sharing tool for your Mac and iOS device
Command-C is a new clipboard utility for the Mac and iOS from Danilo Torrisi that allows you to share text snippets and images between the devices. It uses a local WiFi connection so your data doesn't leave your internal network and leverages iOS 7's background notification system to make the sharing drop-dead easy. Before you can start sharing content between the devices, you have to connect your Mac and iOS devices. The only requirement is that all the devices have to be on the same WiFi network as the app uses local sharing to shuttle your clipboard contents between the devices. Just open both the Mac app and the iOS app to link the devices. The iOS app steps you through the pairing, and it was extremely easy as the iOS app finds your Mac for you. All you have to do is tap to pair on your iOS device and then accept that connection on your Mac. Once the devices are paired, they remain paired as long as they are on the same network. Command-C allows you to share text, URLs and images between the two devices. On the Mac side, just copy something to your clipboard and open Command-C in the menu bar. Click your iOS device in the Command-C Mac app, hit enter and the data will be sent to the clipboard on your iOS device. If your iOS device is on, you can use the item sent from your Mac immediately. If your iPhone or iPad is sleeping, you can tap on the notification to transfer the clipboard item from your Mac and use it once you've logged into your iOS device. Once the item is in your iOS clipboard, you can paste text into your favorite text editor or paste an image into a photo-editing app or an email. URLs can be pasted into mobile Safari, and there's even an option to open a URL automatically upon transfer, if you prefer. It's a similar process on the iOS side. Just copy the item you want to send to your Mac by tapping and holding the item on your iPhone or iPad. Once the item is copied to your clipboard, fire up the Command-C iOS app and select your Mac from the list of devices. The clipboard item then will be sent to your Mac, along with an alert. To use the item on your Mac, just hit Command-V to paste it into any document. Though text and URLs stay the same, you should be aware that images sent to the Mac are converted to TIFF. Command-C is an extremely easy way to send snippets between iOS and OS X devices that reside on the same WiFi network. Performance was very good -- sharing was almost immediate and the connection between the two devices was almost always on. I say "almost" as a few times I did have to restart the iOS app when an item from my Mac wouldn't show up on my iPhone. I assume this had to do with the background notifications on iOS. The app supports the most common items you would want to share -- text, URLs and images. Power users will appreciate the ability to share URL Schemes and Bookmarklets, which will automate Command-C and connect it to other apps. Torrisi has a set of tutorials that'll walk you through using URL schemes and Bookmarklets with his app. Overall, Command-C is a great utility for folks who want to share quick text snippets, URLS and images across devices. It's an excellent, more modern replacement for Pastebot. You can download the Command-C app from the iOS App Store for US$3.99. The OS X version is available from the Mac App Store for free.
Review: A high-speed trip down memory lane with Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is one of those games that's on every conceivable platform, from the Wii U to the Vita to Mac and now iOS. Oftentimes, games that are spread across so many devices suffer in the transition to a small screen, but Sega's familiarity with the iPhone means that its character-based racing game completely avoids that fate. Transformed is a cartoonish racing title in the vein of Mario Kart and the previous Sonic & All Stars Racing title, with characters from a variety of games converging on racetracks pulled from Sega's IPs. You can play as Sonic and race on a track from Super Monkey Ball, or play as Ulala from Space Channel 5 and race on a track inspired by Panzer Dragoon, for example. There's a ton of variety, and you're guaranteed to find a character and track that give you a pleasant dose of nostalgia. As the title points to, the races are given a bit of a twist with transforming vehicles. Each of the characters' vehicles can shapeshift from a traditional road racer to both a boat and a plane. The tracks make good use of these changes, with flooded areas and long gaps that require flight. The controls -- which allow you to steer with either tilt controls or the touchscreen -- are responsive and smooth, but the real treat here is the iOS 7 controller support. Using the Moga Ace Power or SteelSeries Stratus offers dual-analog stick control that feels fantastic. If you have the option, this is the way to play it. There are a ton of different options for how to approach the races. You can play in single-player tournaments, take on tracks in a specific order, compete in daily challenges or play local and online multiplayer. In short, there's a lot here to keep you busy. The only drawback of the iOS iteration of Transformed is its heavy emphasis on in-app purchases. You can skip just about every requirement, from paying race entry fees to unlocking new characters, simply by buying your way. You don't have to, of course, but when you're racing online against players who very clearly bought every racer in the game, it feels kind of cheap. For US$4.99, I would have liked to see less in-game economy and more of an emphasis on the actual racing itself, but there's no denying that the high-speed battles are a ton of fun. If you're looking for a completely unrealistic racing experience -- and especially if you have an iOS 7 game controller -- this one is an easy recommendation.
Review: Simian.Interface lands on iOS with its primate-stumping puzzles
Simian.interface has been around for a while as a browser-based Flash game created by Vested Interest. Thanks to some hard work by the developers at Bullseye Studio and the publishing prowess of Chillingo, the title is now available for iPhone and iPod touch owners. Just like the web title, Simian.interface for iOS has you taking the role of a primate that is challenged to solve spatial puzzles. The interface has an 8-bit look and feel with a bleep-blop soundtrack to match. In the game, you start off by moving sets of squares so they fit into each other. As you progress, the patterns get more challenging to solve. Get your brain fired up as there are no hints or pointers to help you out. You will be confused and flounder at times, but that is part of the challenge! Simian.interface is a perfect fit for the iPhone, and many people will be happy to see the title ported to the mobile platform. For those who are used to playing the game on the web with a mouse, the app has a touch control option that allows you move shapes with your fingers. There's also a tilt control that allows you to tilt your phone to move the shapes on the screen. The tilting adds a new dimension to the game and is my preferred mode of play. My only critique of Simian.interface is that it is a short game. Don't expect hours and hours of gameplay. And once you've completed a puzzle, there's little replay value because the challenge to figure it out is gone. That being said, I think Simian.interface is worth the buck that it costs. It's a fun puzzler that'll fill your free moments with some unique challenges. My advice is to spread the puzzles out. Don't download the game and blow through all the puzzles in 30 minutes of frenzied play. Do a puzzle here and there and enjoy the challenges... one puzzle at a time. You can download Simian.interface for US$0.99 from the iOS App Store. It's compatible with the iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 5.0 or later. There are no ads and no in-app purchases.
