Gemmed

January 24, 2009
Posted by Jeff.D

Gemmed iPhone Game App Review
When I look at my iPhone and the near 144 applications that reside on it, very few (less than 10) are games. I know, I know, games are the hottest selling segment for the iPhone. But at my age, a game has to have something special to hold and keep my interest. Gemmed by Wasted Pixel holds promise in earning a permanent spot on my iPhone.

The game downloaded quickly (7.5MB) and loaded with no problems. A quick reboot for preventative measure and I was ready to start. The main screen loads quickly and you’re presented with four options, Play, High Scores, Options and ?, presumably the help section. The music was a bit load for my taste, however my son who later played the game seemed to find the volume level fine. Pressing Options gives you 3 choices. You can turn on and off game play tips, I left them on and recommend doing so the first few rounds. The last two options allow you to turn music and sound FX on and off. I left all the options on and X’d out the screen.

The ? button is indeed the help section. I highly recommend reviewing this section as Gemmed has some interesting twists and turns as you go from level to level. The 14 help screens have nice graphics and are very concise and informative. High Scores has two options. One where you can track your personal scores, player by player and another section to compare your scores to other game players across the country. A nice touch. The basics took only a minute or two and now it’s time to play.

Gemmed iPhone Game App
Tapping play and I’m shown another screen with my current level, 1 of 50, and the choice of new game or resume saved games. The option to turn off Tips is presented again. Time to play. The premise is to match at least 3 gems of the same color. In game terms I’m told it’s called Match 3 Gameplay. However, there are many twists and turns. There are Monsters, just one at first, but progressive levels will have increasingly more. You may ask, “what do I do with Monster’s?” The goal is to rescue all the monsters on each level. Monsters come in various colors and eat the same color gems and automatically move towards their color exit. Rescue more same colored monsters (or match same colored gems) and the power bar, located at the bottom of the game play screen, increases. When the bar reaches it’s limit a “Power Up” is placed on the board. Power Ups will remove multiple gems with a nice visual effect and helps the monsters move more quickly towards their exit. On about level 4 or 5 white gems and the Angel Monster appears. When her Power Up is complete they self activate and help save the monsters. A level or 2 later the Evil Monster appears as does black gems. When the Evil Monster’s Power Up is complete, it self activates and moves your monster farther from their colored exit.

There are other rewards such as Wild Gems, earned when matches of 5 same colored gems occur. Wormhole gems appear at certain point levels and instantly saves a monster. The faster you save your monsters the bigger the bonus you get at the end of the level. The really big point bonus’ are achieved by very fast rescues of your monsters. If you can’t make a match of at least three gems, the game is over. However, you can earn Replay options (the game starts with one replay) which enable the level to be played again.

The various Power Ups are carried over to the next level. Hints on moves are shown after 15 seconds, but with all the Power Ups, Monsters etc. match plays come fairly easy. In several hours of play, I only had to use a replay once.

The game play is smooth and has nice graphics for the various effects. The sound track is OK and songs change at various levels. I got tired of the music and turned the volume off after about 10 minutes. Hopefully, the sound track will be improved in future releases. The various Power Ups add some excitement and twists to each level. I played the game for about an hour, unusually long for me, and had completed about 30 levels and earned well over 2,000,000 points. Not bad for an old guy.

I then turned the game over to my 15 year old son, Myles, for a review. He quickly mastered the play and passed multiple levels. Hum, how do kids do that without reading the tips and tricks? After about a half hour of play I asked for his impressions. He liked the graphics as well, thought the game should have been more challenging and the music was lame. I often play Bejeweled, even had it on my Palm Treo, and thought Gemmed was equally fun to play. The game is easy to learn and will provide hours of fun. The music is easily it’s weakest point, but that’s minor. Gemmed probably isn’t for most older teens, not enough action. Game playing adults and pre-teens will most likely find hours of enjoyment playing Gemmed. I did, and Gemmed has earned a place on my iPhone. At least for several months. Four Stars.

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Arcade Bowling

January 20, 2009
Posted by Jeff.D

Arcade Bowling iPhone Game App Review
I down loaded Arcade Bowling and fired it right up. You’re instantly presented with a choice of two games, Classic and Progressive. A quick look over the screen and I found the “i” (info) button in the lower left corner. A touch to the “i” brought several options, all sound related. There are two soundtrack choices and two volume controls. The volume controls were preset to max and a quick adjust to 1/2 volume brought the sounds to a good home level. There is also a 1/2 dozen or so bullet points on how to play the games and scoring. Everything was brief and to the point. Now it’s time to play.

I selected Classic and the game screen flashed up in an instant. Waves of memories flood my mind. I was taken back 40 years to the Penny Arcades at Cedar Point. Arcade Bowling is just like the old arcade games. Several concentric rings surrounding holes in the slanted back stop provide the scoring opportunities. Single holes for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 points. Two 100 point holes at each back corner are the real challenges.

Would this game prove worthy of all those memories? A quick flick of the index finger and my ball flew down the lane, past the holes and bounced off the backstop before falling into the 10 point score. Hum, a bit more technique will be required. I steadied my finger and took aim. I flicked about half speed and the ball raced down the board. Again 10 points. A slower flick and I added 20 points to my score. I think I got the hang of it. Flick, 40 points, flick 40 points, flick 30 points, flick 20 points. Nine balls and a final score of 210 points. Not bad for a first time out.

Arcade Bowling iPhone Game App
The end of the game brought the opportunity to enter my name. The directions seemed simple, “Touch to enter name.” A touch of the screen brought nothing. I touched again, nothing. Another touch and a long wait. After 6 to 8 seconds a keyboard slid up from the bottom and I could enter my name and a press of the “Done” button brought up a list of top 10 scores. I’d made the list. Not bad for a first attempt. I pressed the Arcade Bowling button at the top of the screen and was instantly transported to the game choices screen. After a few more games and a first place score of 260 and it was time to play Progressive.

Progressive presents you with the same game board but assigns a point goal for each game. Make the goal and you play again, but with a slightly higher goal. Flashing holes allow you to score 5x their normal point value. I played along and scored a total of 1050 points in 4 levels of play. Not enough for a top ten score. Another game and I cracked the top ten. This game is a little more challenging trying to drop the ball into the flashing holes. Tilting the iPhone allows you to guide the ball towards the flashing holes, but not guarantee of an easy score.

Arcade Bowling has earned a place on my game screen along with 15 other favorite games. The play and scoring is straight forward, but challenging enough to keep your interest. The minor glitch entering my name seemed to get better with time. The usual tricks of restarting the phone to free up memory seemed to have no effect, so maybe it was user error. The game is challenging enough to keep you wanting more, yet is over quick enough that game doesn’t get tedious. Four Stars for a fun game, that will keep you entertained for hours, or minutes, your choice. When I think about all the pennies and nickels I spent in my youth playing this game, at $1.99 this game is a steal.

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Done Drinking

January 17, 2009
Posted by WilliamL

Done Drinking iPhone Game App Review
This app reminded me of one of those lessons in sobriety you get in high school. You know; if you drink, your motor skills will be impaired. Luckily, the character in this game, dubbed “Tipsy” is only walking down an alley and is not behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

The object for the iPhone user is to keep this sloppy guy, with his unbuttoned shirt, untucked tie and final bottle of booze, from falling down and going to sleep in the road before he makes it home. You do this by tilting the phone left and right to compensate for his leaning or by touching the right and left arrows with your thumbs accordingly. The app measures how long you keep Tipsy upright, with the highest scores going on the appropriately named “Walk of Fame.”

Done Drinking iPhone Game App
What I liked best about this app was actually the menu page. The logo for the game sways when you move your iPhone while you’re browsing to make a selection. There are a couple of preferences available. You can turn the music and sound on or off and you can change Tipsy’s walking distance from feet to meters if you’d like him to be drunk outside of the U.S.

The graphics on this game are good, even providing our fearless walker with fire hydrants and pieces of trash to stumble over. However, after about five minutes of watching a drunk cartoon man sway as I tried to steady my hands I began to feel a bit tipsy myself.

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Space Deadbeef

January 12, 2009
Posted by WilliamL

Space Deadbeef iPhone Game App
This app is a lot like R-Type on the NES. You navigate your airship through fields of enemies while the screen constantly scrolls. The further you advance in a level, the harder and faster the other ships get and at the end you have to beat a powerful level boss.
Space Deadbeef iPhone App

There are three different weapons you can use to shoot your enemies: regular bullets, which you use by touching the screen with your left thumb, more powerful bullets you get if you hold that left thumb down until the power gauge on the top left runs down all the way and targeted missiles. To use the targeted missiles, you have to touch your targets with your right thumb until they have a blue circle around them. Some enemies cannot be killed with a single shot alone, so it’s important to plan your attacks accordingly or at least shoot off a lot of bullets in a short period of time.

At first I thought this game would be pretty dull, with its unchanging cloud background and frankly irritating sound of high pitched gun noises. However, I found it to be pretty addictive. Not only do you have to shoot your enemies, but you have to dodge them, and their guns, at the same time. I found beating the first boss, which looked like a cross between a caterpillar and a snake, to be pretty exciting. And I love that it has a continue feature so you don’t have to start all over every time you play, though you can only save one game at a time though. Be careful when you play this game as it can be engrossing.

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The Prices Right

December 24, 2008
Posted by WilliamL

The Prices Right Game App
My mom used to watch the Price Is Right every afternoon when I was growing up, so this app was a true blast from the past. All that’s missing is Bob Barker. When you start playing you can pick from two modes. There’s classic, which is exactly like the show. You have six chances to advance from contestant’s row by getting closest to the price of the product displayed without going over. It’s harder than you might think, since the computer players can be pretty crafty. Once you’ve gotten past that hurdle, you advance to a random pricing game, such as Plinko or Range Game.

Whether you win or lose that game, you still make it to the Big Wheel. There you spin against the computer players to see who gets the highest roll, up to one dollar. (Unfortunately the computer players have a penchant of getting a perfect spin.) Finally, you go to the Showcase Showdown, where you bid on a package of several related prizes. Again, you try to get the closest price without overbidding.
The Prices Right iPhone App

If you have trouble getting past contestant’s row and are ready to give up on the game altogether, don’t. Just switch to three strikes mode. You keep going until you lose three games in a row, such as the row, the pricing game and the wheel.

The app also has a party mode where you can challenge up to three other players while sharing the same iPhone. This works fine until you reach the Showcase Showdown. It can be hard to look off of one phone when it comes time to view the products and bid. There’s also an option to unlock pricing games individually for practice by completing specific “challenges” like getting certain scores during regular play.

My favorite thing about this app was the campiness. It has a faux cheery vibe reminiscent of most 1980s game shows. The videos of actual products also gave a vein of realism to it, although the descriptions could run long. Since there’s a lot going on in this app, it does tend to lock up. Hopefully this glitch can be fixed in the next upgrade.

The Prices Right iPhone App Screen Shots

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Flying Aces

December 24, 2008
Posted by WilliamL

Flying Aces Game App
This app is a flight simulator that puts you in the cockpit. Your iPhone serves as your windshield, with your tilts controlling the speed and direction of your flight. Your task is to look for enemy plans, which will show up both through your window view and in the radar on the bottom right of the screen. Get them before they get you or they will shoot you and crash your plane. If you get enough points, you can make it on the list of ranked aces you can check at the end of your game.

To get started you choose the desert or the ocean, both of which are meant to simulate different sections of the area around the Persian Gulf. (The game play is basically the same regardless of which one you choose.) Then get ready to fly, shooting enemies when they come in range and trying your best to duck and dodge them.
Flying Aces iPhone App

When you use this app, it’s important that you sit up straight. If you lounge back, your plane can go in unintended directions, which left me with mine upside down a lot of the time. Also, do not crash your plane into the ground like I did when I was admiring the detailed ocean graphics. Unlike many games with well-developed graphics, this one did not sacrifice load time, which was a definite plus.

Anyone who likes dog fighting games that use realistic physics will enjoy this game. It will definitely take some time to master to get up there on the high score board.

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Paradise: The Beginning

December 21, 2008
Posted by WilliamL

Paradise The Beginning Game App
If you really love blowing stuff up, you will like this app. The object is to navigate your tank through a maze and shoot things before they shoot you. That’s pretty much all there is to it.

What sets it apart is the method of navigation. It’s one the more ingenious ones out there. You control your tank with your thumbs, no turning or tilting involved. You use the circles on the right and left sides of your screen as “thumb sticks” similar to how you would a console controller. Use your left thumb to control the direction you move and your right thumb to shoot and aim your shots. The radar at the top of the screen lets you know when enemies are near so you can hunt them down.
Paradise The Beginning iPhone App

The graphics on the game are pretty good, with the board looking fairly three dimensional. Your tank and the enemy vehicles are not especially detailed, but they’re just going to get blown up anyway. I really enjoyed the music, which reminded me a lot of an instrumental version of Paradise City by Guns and Roses. I also liked the kind of offbeat text. I got killed very early on in my first game and I got a pop up that said, “You died pretty quickly that time.” Sometimes it is best to be blunt.

The first time you play, pick tutorial from the home screen. It provides a brief but helpful lesson on how to navigate the tank. There are no prizes to win or levels to beat. You’re solely working on getting a high score. Pick up power ups and shields as you go and watch your life meter on the top left.

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Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

December 19, 2008
Posted by WilliamL

The app is actually quite similar to the TV show. “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.” It has the same music and very similar graphics. To get started, you touch start game. After your greeting by Meredith, you get a list of categories your questions are going to be in, with the $100 question on the bottom and the $1 million question on the top. Touch the screen again to get your first question. You have the option to pick an answer or use one of your lifelines to get a little help. Once you answer you can say it’s your final answer, change it or walk away entirely.

The first lifeline offered are phone a friend, which brings up three names from your contacts list and asks you to choose one. At first I thought the app was actually going to call them (which worried me since I was using the app at 1:00 a.m., but it just provided simulated answers. The second is ask the audience, which creates a fake poll and presents it to you as a graph. I have to say both my friends and the audience have not let me down yet.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire iPhone App

Third, there is double dip, which is different than the 50/50 lifeline on the show. If choose this option before you answer the question you get a second chance if you get it wrong. However, if you get it right on the first try you’re totally wasting your lifeline here. The last one is ask the expert. If you touch about the experts from the app’s home screen you can see their bios. Once you reach the $1,000 mark you can choose this option but you don’t get to pick the expert you get.

The options on the app are somewhat lacking, limited to turning the sound off and choosing whether or not to see the correct answer when you get a question wrong. But what I was really disappointed in was the lack of a high score board or multiplayer version. I won a million bucks and nobody noticed.

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Ride It Out Poker

December 16, 2008
Posted by WilliamL

Ride It Out Poker Game App
This app demonstrates a popular casino version of poker where you place an ante and two bets on the table before the cards are dealt. Then, after you see the first community card, you can decide whether you want to pull back either one or both of your bets. If you pull back, you only lose your ante, but if you ride it out you can either lose or win big depending on whether your cards bet the dealer’s.

To start, you choose your wagers by touching one of five numbers from five to 100 to raise your bid by that amount, up to a max of $1000. Then you touch deal to see your three cards and can choose either pull bet or ride. You have two opportunities to do this: once before the first community card is flipped over and another time after. These cards can help to complete your hand by allowing you to make pairs and raise your score.
Ride It Out Poker iPhone App

There is no sound and graphics are basic at best – similar to what you would see on a basic solitaire game. If you don’t know how to play Ride it Out, you’re pretty much out of luck too, since the app doesn’t offer any instructions.

It can be fun to win money, especially since you can add your name to an international hall of fame after you cash out. However, I got bored of this app fairly quickly. There’s only enough to it to keep an avid poker player’s interest.

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ACME Lie Detector

December 13, 2008
Posted by Udiggity

ACME Lie Detector Game App
Trying to get a friend to spill secrets or just want to find out what happened to your favorite blue jacket? Bust out the Acme Lie Detector app. The user places a thumb in the designated circle on the screen and the app will let you know if he or she is telling the truth. If yes, a green light “lights up” and you hear a satisfied ding. If not, the red light shines and a buzzer goes off.

You may wonder how the iPhone would know what secrets lie in the hearts of men, or women. Well, there actually is some shady business going on. Before you hand the phone to the person in question, you hold your finger on the reset button and tilt the phone to the left (towards true) or the right (towards false). This directs the app to display that answer when the user takes the challenge.
ACME Lie Detector iPhone App

Either ask your friends questions that you know the answers to to amaze them with your iPhone’s psychic abilities or use it to try to find out confidential information. It is totally up to you. Just don’t let them in on the secret.

My favorite part of this app is the graphics. It has a realistic needle that moves from left to right after the user puts his or her thumb down. It takes a few seconds to move back and forth between true and false for added authenticity.

Though it’s doubtful this app will ever be used by the FBI, it’s definitely fun to play with.

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iPhone App Reviews – Games, Entertainment, Music

Category Archives: Games

Gemmed

Arcade Bowling

Done Drinking

Space Deadbeef

The Prices Right

Flying Aces

Paradise: The Beginning

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

Ride It Out Poker

ACME Lie Detector