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TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Touchgrind BMX
Illusion Labs' Touchgrind was one of the first iPhone games I ever saw in action. Honestly, it wasn't very successful as a full game, but using the iPhone's multi-touch screen to control a fingerboard was fun. Now, Illusion Labs is bringing the brand back with Touchgrind BMX, a game that changes your mode of transportation to BMX bikes, and opens up the view a bit. One of the big issues with Touchgrind was that, because the camera was top down, you had a hard time seeing exactly where you were going. Illusion has fixed this in Touchgrind BMX by moving to a more from-behind view, and setting the bike along a path rather than letting you freely explore. But you still control the bike with two fingers, flipping the handlebars around with one, and spinning the bike's body with the other. It still takes quite a bit of getting used to, but it's much friendlier than the original Touchgrind interface. There are plenty of extras to find and explore, including goals and scoring medals and challenges, along with a nice replay mode that even lets you send videos off to YouTube and Facebook. There's no Game Center integration, strangely, which would have been nice for leaderboards and achievements. But if you're interested, the app is now available for US$4.99 on the iPhone.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: MetalStorm Online
Z2Live is the Seattle-based developer behind the popular freemium Trade Nations title for iOS, and the company's latest release is another freemium app called MetalStorm Online. As you can see from the picture above, it's a combat flight simulator, which has you piloting a series of jets through the air and trying to take down enemies both real and computer-controlled. It's relatively simple, so flight buffs will be disappointed with how superficial the game is, but as an arcade flight simulator, I liked it. The plane is controlled by tilting your iPhone and tapping or swiping on the screen to fire or perform flight maneuvers, making for a simple but satisfying combat game. It's all freemium, so you can earn coins by playing (or buy them with in-app purchases), and then use those to upgrade your plane or its various components. You can play a versus match online with friends or strangers, and it worked surprisingly well for me when I played with a random person over Wi-Fi. You can also try single player against waves of enemies, or play co-op with a friend. Yes, the in-app purchase notices are annoying, but there's a fun flight shooter here even without spending a dime. MetalStorm Online is free in the App Store right now.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Chromanoids
Chromanoids is Hothead Games' second title for the App Store. The first was Bunny the Zombie Slayer, and it's done pretty well (even though most of the studio's previous work was for PC). This one's a more retro affair -- it's basically Missile Command, though obviously with the touchscreen rather than the traditional wheel. But the twist here is that the action is color based -- you need to not only line up shots against invading ships, but you need to match shot colors with ship colors, which means red ammo takes down red ships, and so on. Things do get more complex as the game moves on, with ships that use colored shields and even ships that change color as they fly, but despite those changes, this still isn't much more than Missile Command -- you're still just lining up shots with ships and hoping to hit home before they hit you. That said, Missile Command is plenty of fun, and if you like that game, you'll like this one as well. Chromanoids is US$0.99 for a universal version, and there are in-app payments for credits, which allow you to buy things like power-ups (though they aren't really needed to enjoy the game). Game Center integration is a nice bonus, and there are a few different modes to check out as well. For the price, this is a great sophomore title from Hothead Games, though I'm a little surprised it's coming so soon after the first one. We'll have to see what else the studio has in store.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Piclings
Piclings is an interesting one. It's a platformer, which means you guide a little character named Picazzo around a series of levels, picking up various coins and power-ups. It's cute enough, but the real draw is that Piclings lets you create your own levels by taking a picture with your iPhone's camera or using a picture you've already taken. You can use a level editor to design maps or let the app convert the image automatically, so even if you're not a great designer, any picture you've taken works. It's pretty intriguing. Obviously, it doesn't work perfectly all of the time, but that's kind of the game -- to see just how the app converts a picture that you take. Unfortunately, the controls are kind of hinky (you float around according to a meter rather than jumping like a normal platformer), but navigating is easy enough. There's also no real overall goal. You can earn achievements and collect things in the levels, but there's very little pushing you through the game as a whole. Game Center integration extends the gameplay a bit, and you can even "share" levels by passing your pictures around. Piclings is a good idea, and while it's not quite the best implementation, it's definitely worth a look for US0$.99 as a universal app, especially if you're interested in seeing how the picture levels work.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Samurai Girl
Samurai Girl is a 2D Korean RPG on iOS that's surprisingly deep. The combat is pretty traditional 2D stuff, but this game has all of the features that you'd expect in a full RPG, including over 50 quests and various skills to earn, a full collectibles and crafting system and even a pet system, which the game claims is the first ever seen in an action RPG (I'll argue that Torchlight has pets, but whatever). Unfortunately, the game suffers from a pretty cluttered UI, so while the controls are responsive, it might take a little getting used to all of the buttons and seeing around them. But the action is pretty fast and furious, and while the game's Korean heritage doesn't do it any favors (it can be a little confusing knowing where to go and what to do), the RPG elements are surprisingly deep and make for a nice big experience. Plus, the game's on sale for just a buck this weekend, so if you have any interest in playing this one at all, it's more than worth a try.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Hype Machine Radio
Streaming music is really impressive on the iPhone. For example, I've been using my Pandora app for workouts almost exclusively. I'm also a big fan of Hype Machine, a site that takes the best free MP3s from around the Internet's best music blogs and puts them all together in one place for your listening enjoyment. And now, you can stream all of that music straight from your iPhone with Hype Machine's new radio app. You can choose from great music blogs, like Stereogum and Gorilla vs. Bear, or just let the app mix new music for you so that you can discover what's out there. It's a great and easy way to hear new music quickly, and while it's not quite as full-featured as Pandora, Hype Machine Radio is a good way to introduce some new sounds into your listening. The app is US$2.99, which is higher than I'd expect -- I'd almost rather see some ads in the mix just to make the app free to download. But still, $3 is a small price to pay for what's basically an endless, customizable radio station. If you're a Hype Machine fan already, or if you just want something new to listen to while on your iPhone, give it a look.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Pulse: Volume One
Cipher Prime is the developer behind the former Daily iOS App choice Auditorium, and the company has returned to the platform with Pulse: Volume One, an iPad game that has you playing with both rhythm and sound. The idea starts off simple -- hit the notes on the screen as the radiating circular pulse hits them from the center. But as with most music games, things start slow and build up quickly until you're frantically trying to tag all of the notes in their wacky patterns to match up with the song as it plays. When the game works well, it does feel like you're "playing" the notes as they go by, but when things get really hard, it can be confusing to keep up. Unfortunately, the game only has eight songs to play through. While the songs are good, that's not a lot of content. There's no Game Center integration or other modes to play with, either. With the lack of extras, it might be tough to justify the US$4.99 iPad price -- the game's not available on the iPhone yet. This might be one to wait for a sale on. Still, if you like the feel of a good music game, Pulse will likely get yours going. Update: While there are only eight tracks in the original version of the app, Cipher Prime emails to tell us that more are being added, at the rate of four new tracks a month over the next six months. All of the updates will be free, we're told, so that's a pretty excellent deal right there.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Magic Piano
Smule has brought its popular iPad app, Magic Piano, over to the iPhone and iPod touch this week, and one of the best things about it is that it's completely free. It still features all of the various music modes that the original app offers, including that one cats like so much, and the mode that allows you to play any number of famous songs just by tapping the screen on your own rhythm and time. This is a great app, which isn't a surprise from the fine folks at Smule, and it's good to finally have it available on the smaller iOS devices. The company is making its money through in-app purchases. While there are quite a few songs available when you download the app, you can buy more in packs, and there are even more coming out every single week. But it's nice to have the main app as a free download anyway. Whether you have enjoyed the app on iPad or haven't been able to see it yet, Magic Piano is a great one to pick up for free. It's a little bit of a shame that this wasn't made into a universal version, just to keep things a little more organized in iTunes' apps section, but the price should quiet any complaints about that. Go grab it right now.
TUAW's Daily App: Third Blade
Com2Us is a Korean publisher that's produced some quality iPhone titles, and its latest release, Third Blade, keeps that trend going. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of original iPhone gameplay here (it's a traditional beat-em-up, though there are some nice RPG elements as you go), but while the actual game style is pretty well traveled, the action is well-done anyway. With an on-screen analog control and three different blade types that you can use to hack and slash through the well-rendered enemies, there's plenty of fun to be had, especially if you're up for a relatively hardcore action experience. Each of the three blades that you can use (a faster dual wield, a stronger one-hand sword and a huge, but slow, two-hand "buster sword") also levels up, and as the game goes along, there are also abilities to uncover and use against the enemies you meet. The enemies themselves are kind of repetitive (though I find most action games repetitive in this way -- it's more about the moves you can pull off rather than the variety of bad guys you come across, I think), but the graphics look great, and the hack-and-slash action is satisfying. There are a few modes to play with, Game Center is integrated, and Com2Us says that more content will be available in the app soon. Third Blade is a more hardcore experience than your standard casual iOS action game, but for those looking for a little bit tougher action experience, it's worth the US$2.99 to download and play.
TUAW's Daily App: Super Stickman Golf
Super Stickman Golf is a golf game, and a pretty good one at that. But it's not like any golf game you've ever played before. For one thing, it's played in 2D. Like Worms, you line up a shot, hit an energy meter right where you want it to go, then send your ball across a variety of 2D stages. But this is a wacky game of golf -- some of the stages have floating islands and other obstacles in them, and some of your shots can either get hit or roll off at weird angles. Fortunately, you have some help in the form of ball power-ups, so your golf balls can stick to the walls, freeze in midair or otherwise careen around the stages. It's a lot of fun; it's still golf, but it's more of a wacky arcade sport than the "good walk ruined." The presentation is great, with solid controls and good music to back up the proceedings. There's an amazing amount of content, with six clubs, over 250 holes to play, multiplayer and Game Center leaderboards and more content on the way. At just US$0.99 during a current sale, Super Stickman Golf is a bargain. If you're still not sold, there's a free version to check out as well.
TUAW's Daily App: Starfront Collision
Gameloft has earned a reputation for, ahem, "borrowing" some game ideas for the App Store. A lot of the company's (very popular) games are more or less copies of popular titles on other platforms. One of Gameloft's latest games, Starfront Collision, is no different; it's basically a clone of StarCraft. But here's the thing: Who cares? Blizzard hasn't actually put out a version of StarCraft for iOS, and to be honest, the RTS options are pretty limited. So if Gameloft wants to "borrow" the genre and even some of its various factions and units, that doesn't bother us one bit. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite have the polish of StarCraft (what does?), but it's a working RTS, built from the ground up for the iPhone. While it would be nice to see some official Blizzard games on iOS, we don't have those yet. In the meantime, fans of the genre and Blizzard's classic can check out Starfront Collision, either as a free version with in-app purchases for content, or by buying the app at US$2.99.
TUAW's Daily App: Bunny the Zombie Slayer
Hothead Games, the developer behind DeathSpank, Swarm and the Penny Arcade series of PC and console games, just released Bunny the Zombie Slayer, its first title on iOS. Just in time for Easter, the game has you playing as a bunny fighting zombies by lobbing Easter eggs at them, taking them down by lining up your shots and using special eggs with various functions. The game's reminiscent of Pro Zombie Soccer as you take down shambling hordes with a very arcade-style weapon. It's fun, and Hothead's great art direction and design keep things fresh every time you load it up. The game's low on features, with no Game Center integration or multiplayer, but it's still a nice deal at US$0.99 for a universal version on iPhone or iPad. Bunny the Zombie Slayer is a nice debut for the iPhone from the increasingly impressive Hothead, and hopefully we'll see more from them on iOS in the future.
TUAW's Daily App: NBA JAM
Yes, the classic NBA JAM title has been released by EA for iOS, and it's got everything you remember from the old console version: the crazy announcers, the quick games and even some kooky special characters. The iPhone version was released a little while ago for US$4.99, but this week EA has added a free version to try out as well as an iPad version for $9.99. The UI is a little clunky with virtual buttons just laid over the screen in the iPhone version, but it works well enough, and the graphics look as good as the modern version on the Wii. There is local multiplayer via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but there's no Game Center integration or online play, which is too bad. Still, it's a quality port of the recent console title, and as I said, all of the fun stuff you remember about the old game, including the over-the-top dunks and announcer Tim Kitzrow. If you missed out on this one when it came to consoles, it's probably worth picking up for iOS.
TUAW's Daily App: Streets of Rage 2
Yes, the classic beat-em-up joined Sega's iOS library a little while back, and you can get in on the fun for US$2.99. The second iteration in the very famous 2D fighting series features Skate, Axel, Blaze and Max going to war against Mr. X and his army through all eight levels of the original game. Unfortunately, this version is short on extras. There's no Game Center integration. There is local Bluetooth multiplayer, but that's about it. The controls, as you can see above, aren't much more than serviceable, either. In other words, this is more a straight port than anything else. You can actually play the original version in Japanese, but you have to switch your device's language to Japanese, and even then, the differences aren't that big a deal. Still, Streets of Rage 2 is a solid beat-em-up title, and you might have fond memories of this one on your Sega Genesis or Sega Game Gear. If the price is too high, just hang on -- Sega routinely puts its titles on sale, and this one is likely to drop in the future.
TUAW's Daily App: Circus Pain
Circus Pain is a physics puzzler in the vein of Angry Birds and Ragdoll Blaster. The goal across each of the game's 55 levels is to toss a little circus performer into an on-screen basket while trying to hit as many obstacles as possible along the way. It's a pretty standard affair for the touchscreen at this point, but the excellent premise and art style of Circus Pain make it stand out from other App Store titles. The game is sometimes tough, but still very interesting, and you can move at your own pace as you navigate through the game's four worlds. Plus, at a price of just 99 cents for a universal version, it's tough to turn this one down. If you're not willing to invest the buck right away, there's a lite version to try as well. But if you like tossing ragdolls around for a little bit of physics-based gameplay, Circus Pain is an enjoyable romp.
TUAW's Daily App: GemCraft
You may have played GemCraft before -- it's a pretty popular Flash game that's been available for a while now. It's a tower defense game, though the new layer here is that your towers are actually powered by gems, which allows you to do things like move them around for various monster waves and combine and upgrade gems as you go. You can also use those gems to cast spells and abilities, which will slow monsters, attack them directly, or power up your defenses in other ways. The iPhone version has 32 levels to play through, graphics updated for Retina Display, and full Game Center integration. GemCraft is well-balanced, colorful, and a lot of fun, even for the somewhat well-traveled Tower Defense genre. You can play it for free in Flash form at the link above, play a free iOS version, or download the full game for just US$1.99.
TUAW's Daily App: You Don't Know Jack
Stop whatever you're doing right now and go download You Don't Know Jack for iPhone or iPad, or in the free lite version if you want. I don't know of any game that, throughout the years that it's been available on various platforms, is more consistently enjoyable by anyone, from the most hardcore of gamers to non-techie trivia buffs. You Don't Know Jack is one of the most solid gaming experiences around, and the brand new iOS version doesn't skimp at all. It's got hilarious iOS-specific audio (Host Cookie jokes early on that he's "glad to be hosting an app that's not a ripoff of Scrabble") and questions, all of the old mini-games (like Dis or Dat and the Jack Attack), and it even has the backstage talk and fake commercials that the main console versions have. Great game -- I can't recommend this one more. OK, if I'm going to nitpick, I'll say that the graphics are just slightly pixelated on the SD version. And even the iPad version is one-player only -- the game recommends if you want to play with more people, you should buy one of the other versions. But there is Game Center integration, and with 20 full episodes available in the app (and even more promised to be coming soon), this is a terrific experience that won't disappoint anyone with a taste for trivia and/or a sense of humor. Great game, and well worth the US$2.99 on the iPhone or $4.99 on the iPad.
TUAW's Daily App: World of Goo
Let's be honest here, ... you probably already know all about World of Goo. You know it's an excellent little physics puzzler from 2D Boy, and honestly, you probably already bought it, considering that it sold better on the iPad than any other platform and has even been seen in the Humble Indie Bundle. Even if you haven't purchased it, you have probably heard from friends how inventive it is, and how building wacky towers of goo with little blobs to try and get them out of levels and into pipes is fun, funny and well worth the experience. But there's one thing you may not have heard about World of Goo, and that's that it's now out and available on the iPhone. For US$0.99, you can now play this terrific, highly recommended (currently the best-rated iOS game on Metacritic) title on Apple's handheld smartphone. We probably don't even need to sell you on it -- you know if you want to go get it or not. One word of warning, though: 2D Boy has also kindly updated the iPad version to work universally, so if you've already bought it on the iPad, you don't need to buy it again in order to play it on your iPhone. Hopefully that info will get out there and save some people from buying it on a second device. Or a third, or a fourth, or however many times they've bought this much-loved game before.
TUAW's Daily App: Look Again!
Many games on the App Store seem to emphasize gaming expertise more than anything else. Either you need to know the genre of the game you're playing, or your fingers just need to be fast enough to win. Look Again! is an interesting contrast to either of those scenarios because it challenges your brain's pattern recognition skills more than anything else. You're given a graphic consisting of two design elements, and it's up to you to figure out which two elements make up the graphic. Like all good puzzlers, things start simple but get increasingly more complicated, even as your brain trains itself to better recognize what's going on. The presentation's not incredible (the colors are a little weird), but it serves its purpose. There are over 250 levels, full Game Center integration, and the app was recently updated to work on both the iPhone and the iPad. Look Again! is currently available for US$1.99 on the App Store. If you want an iPhone game that runs at a different speed, check it out.
TUAW's Daily App: Notability
We've looked at a few good note-taking applications for the iPad before, but I don't think we've mentioned Notability yet. Notability is a simple yet powerful note-taking app for iPad that allows you to jot down notes in lectures or meetings, outline certain ideas and plans, or just collect your thoughts in an organized format. It's a piece of cake to punch in text in a certain font or layout, then add all kinds of media, from web clips to diagrams. You can link up audio to your notes, even connecting text to sound with a clickable link. When your notes are saved, you can sync them off to Dropbox or iDisk, or you can email them off to another computer to work on elsewhere. We've recommended Simplenote in the past (and its free price tag is probably one reason for its popularity), but I like the look of Notability as well. At its current iPad 2 launch sale price of just US$0.99, it's definitely worth a download if you're looking for another option for note-taking on Apple's tablet.
