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TUAW's Daily App: Powder
TUAW's Daily App spotlights one great App Store app, every single weekday. Powder probably isn't the most polished roguelike RPG experience on the App Store (Sword of Fargoal is generally considered to be among the best), but what it lacks in graphical quality, it makes up for in ease-of-use. The genre is sometimes tough to get into, but Powder, originally designed for the Game Boy Advance, uses easy buttons and icons to let you guide your turn-based RPG character through random dungeons, killing monsters, gaining XP, and drinking weird potions of various colors, all while trying to avoid cursed gear. It's still not easy (roguelikes are notoriously ruthless affairs, and permadeath is still the rule), but the controls are surprisingly intuitive, and the included tutorial makes an often steep learning curve much more gentle, even if you're new to the genre. Plus, Powder wins points from me for its flexible save state process; it's very easy to work your way through a dungeon floor, exit out to make a call or do something else on your iPhone, and then dive back in and pick up right where you left off. Best of all, it just recently went free; that makes sense, considering the other versions are free as well. If you still want to support programmer Jeff Lait, you can do so by donating on his Web site. Meanwhile, Powder is a free download in the App Store, and definitely worth checking out.
TUAW's Daily App: LaDiDa
LaDiDa is a strange little app that came out a while back. It's basically a "reverse karaoke app," in that, instead of playing music that you can sing along with, you sing, and it'll play the music back to you. The technology seems based on the same idea as Microsoft's MySong -- you hit record on the app and then sing whatever melody you want (or rap, or just play a tune on another musical instrument), and then the app quickly builds up the rest of the band around you. It works surprisingly well. I'll spare you the trauma of hearing me sing, but even when I just threw in a few nonsensical bars of an improv song, the app did an admirable job of backing up my tune with drums and chords. If you do hit on a worthwhile tune, you can save it on your iPhone, and there's even a "Discover" section in the app where you can hear what other users are recording and rating. The app allows you to create a full song without any musical talent at all. While it doesn't guarantee that you'll create anything worth listening to, if you've ever wanted to write a song but don't know your sharp from your flat, LaDiDa can help. The app is $2.99 for the iPhone in the App Store.
TUAW's Daily App: Homerun Battle 3D for iPad
One great app, every day -- that's TUAW's Daily App, every morning on TUAW. We're still seeking an official name for the daily app. If you suggest a killer name for this feature in the comments, we'll send you a t-shirt! There are quite a few baseball games on the store these days (including one from the MLB itself), but Homerun Battle 3D focuses on the best part of the game: hitting home runs. Com2uS released the iPhone version last year (and it's great -- it was recommended to me by the producer of Street Fighter for iPhone), but the iPad version just got released about a week ago and it's excellent as well. You control bat placement in the strike zone and swing by tapping the screen; that's basically it. The simplicity of the game really makes the fun shine, and extras like gold balls and multiplier pitches (every once in a while) make you feel like a real home run hero. The free version lets you hit a few balls around, but the full version allows for character customization, some online challenges, and even head-to-head multiplayer. In-app purchases kind of spread a shadow over the whole thing -- some of the customized gear and uniforms can run very expensive. That stuff is easy enough to avoid, though. The core gameplay is a lot of fun, and whenever you want a quick round of batting practice, it's there for you. Homerun Battle 3D is $4.99 on both the iPad and iPhone, with a trial available on the iPhone.
TUAW's Daily App: Sword and Poker
Note: We started up our new feature last week, titling it "App Of The Day" without recalling that our friend Jordan had already used that name for his site. So, we're renaming our "one great app, every day" feature. If you have a suggestion, share it in the comments below, and if we pick yours, we'll send you a t-shirt. Sword & Poker came out earlier this year, but if you missed it the first time, check it out now. It offers up an intriguing mix of game genres -- it's an RPG at heart, with your hero running through dungeons on a map and upgrading equipment, but the battle sequences are a mix of puzzle and poker gameplay. You lay down cards on a matrix trying to get the best poker hand you can, and then matching certain poker hands does damage to your enemy (or to you, if your enemy is able to assemble a three of a kind or even a royal flush). It's an intriguing mix of gameplay that's balanced very well -- battles have a very steady pace and even though a few different game genres are being juggled here, they all stay in the air together. The music is impressive, too, from the marching battle sequence to the RPG-style fanfare and excellent sound effects. Apparently the game also has a pass-and-play versus mode, but I never tried it -- there's more than enough depth in the singleplayer RPG. A free version is available to try out, and the full version is $3.99.
