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TUAW's Daily App: Gravity Hook HD
Semi Secret Software (the same folks behind the amazing Canabalt game for the iPhone) has released its second game for the iOS platform, Gravity Hook HD. I actually heard about this one way back in March, and it was made even before Canabalt was. But this iPhone and iPad release has been updated for HD, and it's kind of fun. To play, you tap on various hook points in order to send your little guy skyward; you do this while fighting gravity and trying to keep from falling off the bottom of the screen. I can't say it's as fun or as simple as Canabalt, but it is colorful and addictive for sure. You don't believe me? Go play the free Flash version on the website. If it hooks you (get it? Hooks?), you can pick up the universal app for iPhone or iPad for US $2.99.
TUAW's Daily App: Squareball
Squareball is a weird one; it's probably best described as a platforming game, except that you move the platforms rather than the jumper. The main character is a little white ball (or square in this case -- the game has a retro blocky pixel aesthetic) that constantly floats from top to bottom on the screen, and you can slide (or tilt, according to whatever option you choose) the actual stage around the ball, moving it through various nooks and crannies while trying to "collect" colored blocks. The concept is tough to explain, but once you see it in action, you'll understand right away. The goal is to move the stage at the right time in order to keep the ball bouncing around where you want it. It's actually really fun, despite the simplicity, and over the 20 various stages, there are some pretty clever puzzles. The game also has OpenFeint integration, and the 8-bit music is pretty catchy as well. It's a good deal for only 99 cents. There's also a lite version to try out if you just want to see how it works. I can't see anyone really disliking the game, but it is fairly simple. Still, at just a buck, it's worth a purchase just to have it to pick up and play when you need a mindless little reflex game.
TUAW's Daily App: The Ultimate Alphabet
Today's app is going to blow your mind. Back in 1986, artist Mike Wilks published a book called The Ultimate Alphabet, which featured 26 different paintings, each filled with items that corresponded to the letters of the alphabet; the letter A painting contains airplanes, ants, an apple tree, and so on. There are more than 7,777 words represented in the book, with lots more little secrets hidden in the paintings; there are letters encoded in Morse code or semaphore, obscure symbolism, and visual gags. The book was part of a competition with a big cash prize, which was solved in 1988, when Wilks published The Annotated Ultimate Alphabet; it included descriptions and clues for each of the items hidden in the extremely detailed paintings. Now, a company named Toytek has begun to bring the book to the iPad, and it allows you to interactively explore some of Wilks' paintings and their extremely deep complexity. As you can see above, it's wild; you tap on an item, enter the actual name, and then the book will tell you whether it's right or provide clues for the word you're looking for. The app is free to try, though it's prohibitively expensive if you want to purchase everything. You can buy the letters in bundles, and the full purchase price eventually comes out to around US $45 in total. That's pricey, although it's the same cost as the printed book, and you get the interactivity for free. Still, it's a great idea, and there is a free trial if you want to check it out. Update: We're told that due to user input, the free version has been changed from a timed trial to simply having the entire letter A be completely free to play all the way through. Enjoy!
TUAW's Daily App: Expenditure
Expenditure is another great-looking app found via the excellent Well-Placed Pixels blog. It's an expense tracker -- you can add transactions into the app with just a few taps (and even attach a photo, note, or category to each debit or credit), and then browse your collected budget. Obviously, you could use it to just see how much you're spending each month, but it can also be used for things like traveling (the app will automatically calculate currencies for you) or keeping track of business expenses. It's not a super full-featured business application, but it will do the basics smoothly and beautifully. You can find it on the App Store for US$1.99, and as an iTunes commenter points out, using it will probably save you the $2 you spend on it. There is a lite version that only allows eight transactions (enough to see the app in action, though not enough to actually put it to use), so if you're not sure about spending a couple of bucks, you can check it out that way as well. Excellent app -- the functionality is a little limited (by design -- the developers just wanted a simple expense tracker), but the great aesthetic and design elements make up for the simplicity.
TUAW's Daily App: Super Badminton 2010
I can say, without a doubt, that Super Badminton 2010 is the best badminton video game I've ever played. Then again, it's the only badminton video game I've ever played. Still, Indian developer Rolocule has done a pretty excellent job on the game. I don't know how much it actually relates to the real life game (I don't think I've ever played a whole real life game before), but the controls are responsive, the graphics are just about right for the iPhone, and the back and forth tennis-like gameplay is a lot of fun. There's an awful lot of game here, too, with multiple players and modes to choose from. It's pretty easy to master; just move your player where the shuttlecock is headed and time your hits. Added features (like a tilt function to aim shots and a really powerful smash that requires expert timing) give some nice depth to the gameplay, and multiple tournaments to play through will put your skills to the test. I only wish the app had a free version available; while I'm sure that the game is worth US $4.99 to those who are in the right mood for it, a trial version with a game or two to play would help potential customers figure that out quickly. If you're on the fence about this one, it's probably best to wait for a trial or a sale. However, if you've been craving a good game of badminton (for some unforeseeable reason), Super Badminton 2010 is a nicely done App Store title.
TUAW's Daily App: Dungeon Hunter
Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter is probably the best Diablo-esque action RPG on the App Store right now -- it looks great, and plays just about as well as any touchscreen controlled action game can. As a Warrior, Mage, or Rogue, you can hack and slash your way through a fantasy world, picking up armor, earning XP and exploring a serviceable (if not particularly gripping) story. The save system is a little annoying, and the inventory can be a bit overwhelming, but the presentation does justice to the genre on Apple's small screen. In accordance with an ongoing sale, Gameloft has the title priced at just 99 cents. For cheap action gaming thrills on the iPhone, things don't get much better than that. There's no word on exactly how long the game will be so cheap, but if the idea of a portable Diablo clone appeals to you, open this treasure chest right away.
TUAW's Daily App: Articles
We've talked about Articles here on the site before. Out of all of the apps that won Apple Design Awards this year, I would say it's probably the most underrated and most useful. It's a Wikipedia reader, which doesn't sound like much since the mobile version of Wikipedia is pretty good already. Having a dedicated app for the open source encyclopedia makes a surprising difference, though, and it allows you to consume all of that content in a really focused way. There are integrated maps and photos and lots of different ways to browse information, including shaking the iPhone to see a random page. The new update doesn't hurt either; version 1.3 adds a language picker, a new Table of Contents sheet, and an orientation lock that even works on the iPhone (a previous update already made the app all ready for iOS 4.0 and the Retina Display). Articles is US$2.99, which might seem pricey to browse content that you can already read for free. However, if you've participated in a few marathon Wikipedia sessions just by following a few random reference links, it's well worth the purchase.
TUAW's Daily App: Sketch Nation Shooter
Sketch Nation Shooter actually came out a little while ago, and it's not so much a game as it is a game engine; it allows anyone with a pen and paper to create enemies and turn them into shoot 'em up video games. I was duly impressed with the title at release, but the latest update has really upped the ante; it allows anyone to download and browse the hottest in-app games without requiring a Facebook login. Additionally, the imaging system has been updated, which means the graphics should look better than ever, and a few other bugs got fixed and tweaked. Sketch Nation Shooter is just 99 cents on the App Store, and it's definitely worth seeing if you like this game genre. What Engineous Games has created here is really impressive. It's also good to see that there are updates coming out that answer to issues fans have had with the game. In-app purchasing allows you to buy packs of graphics to use in your own games, but you don't really need them. Just draw a picture, use the camera, and start shooting.
TUAW's Daily App: Qrank
Qrank is the kind of game that I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more of in the near future; it's a social quiz game that is fully powered by a connection to Facebook, Twitter, and its own in-game friend service. It's a free download off the App Store, and once you create an account (and connect it to any social services that you'd like), you get 20 brand new questions every day to try and answer for as many points as possible. Something like this is complicated and painful if not done right, but Qrank (or QRANK, if you want to shout about it) has it just about dead-on. The login process is kind of a pain, but once things are set up, the quizzes move fast, and the questions are an interesting mix of history, pop culture, and general knowledge. The constant updates are a huge bonus as well; with a lot of quiz games, questions tend to repeat themselves, but the flow of new information means that there are new questions to answer every day. I'm not 100% sure of the business model; there are ads, and I had a few questions that seemed branded (they made explicit mention of actual products). That leads me to believe that there are probably a few ways that Ricochet Labs is making money from players, and not all of them are completely clear. That may not bother you, though. If you've got a few friends to match scores with every day, Qrank seems like a fun, daily diversion into trivialand. Technology is making social, quickly updated games like this one much easier, and I think we'll end up seeing quite a few more of these in the future.
TUAW's Daily App: Helsing's Fire
Helsing's Fire is an interesting little title with a pretty original gameplay premise. The idea is that you place torches in an area full of objects and walls, and you have to target or hide certain creatures with that light. The backstory of the game is about the adventurer Van Helsing and his fight against the undead, but it's more of a strategy title; the idea is to line up the light and shadows in just the right way in order to conquer various monsters on the playing field. While it doesn't start out very tough, more gameplay features slowly get added (eventually you have to match color attacks with certain colored monsters, and you only get a set number of attacks per stage, so you have to plan things out pretty carefully). And while the backstory is really just a frame for the gameplay, it's got a fun edge to it; it's a nice satirical spin on the old "fighting Dracula" theme, and there are a few fun celebratory fist bumps in between stages with Helsing and his assistant. For 99 cents, Helsing's Fire offers up a good bit of original gameplay that spans 90 different levels. A survival mode and full Crystal integration add some extra fun as well, so the game is well worth the buck.
TUAW's Daily App: Pokerbot
We posted about another poker app back at WWDC, and the developer of Pokerbot got in touch with us to show off his app as well. Pokerbot is a little bit different than your standard hold'em poker game. It's a straight up one-on-one battle, so the game is really built for learning how to play poker well; it doesn't drag out games or rely on graphical flair. The game started out as a poker training program, and the developer of the game's AI is a real poker player who has played more than a few good hands. That said, this probably isn't the app you want to get if you just want to enjoy playing at a full table; Pokerbot is meant for poker buffs or people who want to try to get to that level. There are little game touches that might turn hardcore players off (you can cheat with a feature called "Onetime" if you want, and there's a full achievements system thanks to OpenFeint). Most of the non-traditional touches are included in order to enhance the feel of the game, though; they aren't meant to make the poker action more casual. Pokerbot is US $1.99. If you've never played poker before, it's probably a little bit much for you, and you're better off going with something like Apple's official game. However, if you know your antes, straights, and flushes, and you want a game that will present a nice challenge while teaching you to play better, Pokerbot will help.
TUAW's Daily App: Grokion
Grokion came out a little over a month ago, but it's worth checking out if you haven't seen it yet. The game provides an interesting mix of Mega Man-esque 2D platforming action and Metroid-style exploration, and while Grokion doesn't quite live up to the polish of either of those games, it's an excellent iPhone-based indie title. The controls are probably the game's best feature; they are super responsive, so both platforming and shooting (after you're able to reach your first weapon) are easy to do. Level design follows the Metroid plan of allowing you to reach certain areas only after you've obtained a certain ability or finished an objective, and it's very well-done. The story is somewhat vague (you play as a robot tasked with saving a "biosphere"), but it's told in a fairly clear and interesting way. The game is only 99 cents, and the developers have said that future episodes will be released for free to current owners. With that in mind, you're probably getting even more game than you're bargaining for. If you're interested in the action/adventure genre at all, definitely pick it up and give it a play-through. If the rest of the episodes have as much effort put into them as this one, Grokion could turn out to be a real standout series on the iPhone.
TUAW's Daily App: Nimble Strong: Bartender in Training
This app comes highly reviewed from my colleague Justin McElroy over at Joystiq. Nimble Strong: Bartender in Training isn't just a fun bartending game; it actually teaches you to make drinks. It plays out like a Pheonix Wright game, so as bartender wannabe Nimble Strong, you'll be faced with a little bit of hardship, and then you'll have to pull yourself up from the bottom of the 'tending game, learning how to pour drinks along the way. The app is very, very well done. The touch controls are a great metaphor for filling the cups, and there's just the right amount of repetition and practice to actually teach you the finer points of pouring drinks and tending bar (the game's script was co-written by an actual cocktail journalist). And completely outside of the core gameplay, the story and characters are hilarious, and the art and music create the perfect mood of being behind a counter and dealing with waitresses and regulars. Nimble Strong is quite a gem, and if you're leery about jumping in on the full US $4.99 version, there's a free version to try as well. Playing the free version for just a few minutes will probably sell you on the real thing, though. With drink recipes available as you unlock them, it's like taking a bartending class, without the spilt booze all over the place.
TUAW's Daily App: Corkbin
I've been trying (pretty unsuccessfully) to become a smarter wine drinker for a while now, and Corkbin might just push me over the top. This elegantly designed app is set up to help you track and chart the wines that you drink, learn how to classify them, and share reviews with friends and fellow iPhone users around you. The idea is that every time you try a new wine, you snap a picture of the label and leave a short note about what you had it with, how it tasted, or where you got it. Then, later on, at the liquor store or when out at a restaurant, you can pull up "that wine we tried last week," and you'll know exactly what it was. It's simple, but it's perfect for people like me who aren't wine experts and need a little help remembering exactly what that last bottle was called. Unfortunately, the app isn't perfect; I don't like that you must log in on startup, and there are quite a few features (like a wine database or the ability to browse friends' wines rather than just "nearby" check-ins) that seem like they would be awesome but are still missing from the app. The basic functionality of tracking your own wines is well worth the 99 cent price, though. Maybe this will finally give me the method I need to start developing a more refined wine palate.
TUAW's Daily App: Archetype
Well now, this one's interesting. Archetype is a brand new title on the App Store that's aiming to put what seems like a big budget experience on Apple's small screen. The game is made by MunkyFun (a company led by ex-LucasArts developer Nick Pavis) and published by Villian, "an independent producer and publisher of portable game titles" that seems to have a history in mobile gaming, but not much of a website. Basically, Archetype is purporting to be Eliminate without Ngmoco -- a full-featured multiplayer FPS without any of the microtransactions or other nonsense. And it lives up to the hype. The controls will take some getting used to, even if you're a WASD veteran. In just 30 seconds on Wi-Fi, I was loaded up and playing a 5v5 deathmatch FPS game. Even on an Edge connection, I was able to play smoothly, and even pull off a kill -- I don't know what kind of code witchery makes that possible, but it works. The graphics don't really compare to modern console shooters, but I think the multiplayer gameplay easily beats Metroid: Prime Hunters and the current crop of iPhone shooters. Of course, the game still has to deal with the issues of the genre -- if you're not a twitch gamer, you'll likely get murdered very quickly, and while there are plenty of high-ping people to play with now, it's not clear what will happen if the servers get overloaded or, conversely, if the crowd thins out. You're still playing a FPS on an iPhone, and I'd much rather play a shooter on my PC or a console than this. But given the limitations of the genre and the device, Archetype is certainly an impressive title. You're still kind of going in blind at US$2.99 -- Archetype doesn't have a free version to try yet. But if you can expect to put three bucks of your time into playing this surprisingly solid multiplayer FPS, by all means, jump on in.
TUAW's Daily App: HexaLex
HexaLex is a new title from developer Nathan Gray that offers up an interesting twist on the online Scrabble phenomenon. HexaLex has the same basic rules as most other word games (Words with Friends being probably the most popular iPhone title so far), with one big change: instead of squares, you use hexes to mark out the words. That creates a few interesting gameplay effects, including that you get a "bye" of two nonsense words per turn. If you can use the hexes to spell out multiple words, though, you can build up your score that way, too. Other than that, things aren't too different; you have a number of tiles to choose from, you can shuffle or exchange them as needed, and there's a full online complement to the game, complete with push notifications and nice options to brag or send messages back and forth. Unfortunately, the online service requires an account, which is something that probably would have been an obstacle for me if I was just checking out the game on my own. That's the main issue with a game like this -- if all of your friends are already playing Words with Friends, you'll be hard pressed to get them all to switch. Still, if you're a big wordsmith or if you have a few fellow players who are ready for a new variation on word games, HexaLex is worth a look. You can check the game out for US $2.99.
TUAW's Daily App: Zombie Wonderland
Zombie Wonderland was a game I didn't get to see at E3 a little while back when I met up with Chillingo, but I recently checked it out, and it's an interesting little zombie fightin' title. The undead action is somewhat removed -- instead of directly shooting the shambling brain-eaters, you're simply directing a little dude named Chuck around, trying to defend all sides of a house being attacked. The gameplay can be busy but isn't always compelling -- you're also tasked with cleaning up the floors in a pretty bizarre mechanic that seems meant to add a little excitement to the festivities, but even when Chuck is racing around, things never get to a real fever pitch. That's ok, though -- the polish of the models (there's a Minigore aesthetic going on), the smoothness of the animation and the feeling that you really are defending a homestead from the onrushing zombie horde all make the experience quite fun despite the simple gameplay. And since the game is on sale for just 99 cents, it's definitely worth a look. For the last day of this year's Independence Weekend, try declaring your brains off-limits to the walking dead.
TUAW's Daily App: Abundante!
Abundante! is an excellent little original puzzle title. The main mechanic reminds me of the great Critter Crunch, but it's not exactly the same. Instead of feeding animals that match up, you're lifting and placing gems of various colors; you line up a certain number of gems together, and they'll all fall down into your basket. What you get is a colorful and rewarding little puzzler with well-polished graphics and relaxing gameplay. There's quite a lot of that gameplay, too; there are over 100 story levels to play through and three different modes to check out. Abundante! started as a PC game, I believe (and you can also download it for Mac), but it's available on the App Store right now for US$2.99.
TUAW's Daily App: Diacarta
Diacarta is a to-do app like you've never seen. I saw it on the excellent Well-Placed Pixels blog, and the design of the thing is really interesting. Basically, to add items to the to-do list, you just add icons to the image of the clock. Once items have been added, you can see a visual representation of what your day is like. I'm not so much concerned about keeping a strict calendar as I am about just having a list of my various tasks during the day, so for someone like me, Diacarta is a new and interesting way to look at how my tasks line up. Unfortunately, it's probably a bit more style than substance for serious calendar users; it doesn't sync up with other calendars at all (so you have to put everything into the app yourself), and it won't send notifications or let you know when something you plan is actually happening. That means it's probably not a satisfactory replacement if you already regularly use some kind of calendar. However, as a simple visual representation of a day full of errands or various tasks, Diacarta looks great and works just as well. If that's something you're interested in, consider ponying up the US$1.99 price.
TUAW's Daily App: Pix'n Love Rush
I first heard about Pix'n Love Rush about a month ago from my colleague, JC.Fletcher, who described it as "a short, nervous, ristretto version of a platformer ... a sort of crossover between Mario and WarioWare, with a pinch of Galaxian and a hint of Game & Watch." And now that it's out on the App Store to play, I can say that's exactly what it is; it's a weird little mini platform game, with an art aesthetic that might turn off those not versed in gaming history. The basic idea is that you play as a cat-like creature, and you bounce around a randomized series of 125 various 2D platforming stages, collecting good icons and staying away from bad ones. The gameplay is frenetic but forgiving. There are big bonuses to be had if you can pull things off perfectly (the colors and graphics flip through various designs), but even if you miss a few icons, the game will let you run through some quick platforming pleasures in a few modes. If your taste in games begins and ends with FarmVille, this one's probably not for you. But if you're interested in experimental and art games, or if you just want to spend a quick 99 cents to see what this crazy, original gaming experience is like, give Pix'n Love Rush a try. It's definitely not a traditional title, but if you want to take a few steps off the beaten path in terms of gaming, there's a lot of fun to find.
