148Apps Main |
- Editorial: Firemint is Great for EA; EA is Horrible for Firemint
- Remembary Connected Diary
- EA Acquires “Flight Control” and “Real Racing” Developer Firemint
- Global Warming Awareness on iOS with Al Gore’s Our Choice
- Freefall Defender Review
- Master Quilting With Art Quilting Daily
- Read What You Want To Read Thanks to Zite
- Nano Panda Review
- Learn To See With Your Ears Courtesy Of The Nightjar
- A.I.R. Defense Review
- The Portable Podcast, Episode 83
- Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. Review
- Music Hunter
- The Onion Christens The iPad
| Editorial: Firemint is Great for EA; EA is Horrible for Firemint Posted: 03 May 2011 05:01 PM PDT Earlier today it was announced that EA intends to acquire the superstar Melbourne iOS development house Firemint. At the time I first read this, I was outraged. I have never seen an acquisition work well, other than monetarily, for the acquired company. With rarely an example in the other direction, the members are eventually reassigned in the company and the founders exit within 2-3 years. Let’s hope EA won’t put out the fire in Firemint. For once, I holstered my temper and restrained myself from posting a passionate knee-jerk reactionary rant, though I wrote three of them this morning. What held me back is that I am a huge admirer of Firemint the studio, the people involved, and their games. And I don’t want to see the creative and original games go away. I feel that while this may be good for Firemint and the founders in the short run, only EA will profit from it in the long run. And we, as gamers, will most certainly lose. Let me explain.
This acquisition will likely mark the beginning of the end of one of the most interesting indie studios developing games for the iOS platform. Why do I say that? When was the last time you saw an acquired company thrive when purchased by a huge company like EA? It may work out in the short run as Firemint will get an influx of cash to keep doing what they are doing. But in the long run, meeting the schedule and bottom line of EA and the shareholders will be the undoing of the way Firemint works and what makes their games special. For example, at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year, Firemint introduced their latest game, Agent Squeak. This combo route / maze game has been in development for well over a year. I’m guessing that during the acquisition talks EA praised Firemint for their dedication to getting the game out when it was right, not out quickly. But once it’s EA’s bottom line begins getting impacted by a 20 month development cycle for a casual game, the dedication to a quality over speed may not be as strong. There’s no doubt as to why EA wants to acquire Firemint. EA has failed to show any real creativity in mobile games. They half-heartedly tried with 8 Lb. Gorilla, an internal studio for quick, casual games. That group was to produce a game per month. They disappeared after just 1 game. During decades in the video games business, EA has built a huge portfolio of franchise IP — John Madden, Need for Speed, Tiger Woods. That has lead to a plethora of franchise games and console companion apps, but we have seen a real lack of creativity when it comes to mobile focused games from EA. On the other hand, Firemint has produced 3 amazing games – all well thought out and designed from the ground up for mobile platforms, not franchise IP squeezed onto a 3.7″ screen. I can’t remember a single EA game that has given me 1% of the awe at the originality and creativity that Flight Control gave me on first play. I mean, come on, Coconut Dodge? Looks and plays like a feature phone game reject. In all fairness, EA is just publishing that game, but still, really? So what will happen? In the best case nothing will change, Firemint will be left to do their thing and EA will publish the games. In the worst case, Firemint will be absorbed into EAMobile and we’ll see Flight Control 2 and 3 rushed to market with guest appearances by a silly coconut catching crab. The real answer is probably somewhere in between. But anything past the first scenario and we, as iOS gamers, will lose. Perhaps some of the vitriol I have comes from being part of a company acquired by the hapless Yahoo!. A group that was then wasted, split up, and then forced out. Even so, stories of acquisitions going well for those acquired are few and far between in the valley. For their sake, and they are truly nice people, I hope it goes well for Firemint and everything I said above is completely wrong. [ Editorial: Firemint is Great for EA; EA is Horrible for Firemint is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Coconut Dodge |
| Posted: 03 May 2011 01:04 PM PDT  Remembary Connected DiaryBy Kevin Stout on May 3rd, 2011Our Rating:   :: MANLYiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Remembary is the app to beat for new diary, err, journaling apps.
Developer: Shindig Digital Constructions, Inc. Price: $3.99 Version Reviewed: 1.3.5 Device Reviewed On: iPad iPad Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.08 out of 5 stars While us manly men don't normally write diaries, when I saw Remembary one particular feature caught my eye: "automatically fetches your tweets, Facebook statuses, and up to 5 RSS feeds." Immediately I was sold.
There may be other journaling apps available, but what needs to be focused on for Remembary is the social networking feature. The box in the top-right corner of each entry (with the four arrows) collects all of the tweets, Facebook statuses, and any of five RSS entries inputted into the app. When creating online content, even something as small as a status update, I worry that I'm just launching valuable content into the abyss and am not saving it for future. Not only does it collect information starting when the app is downloaded, but it can download a tweet history (up to 3500 tweets) and past The features of the journal itself are what's expected in an app like this. The template can be changed, though the one it starts with is my favorite. Probably the most important feature is the ability to export the journal as a text file. At the moment, I'm not a fan of the process; to get the file the user has to connect the iPad to it's computer. But the developer's website assures us that more functionality is on the way, "Upcoming versions of Remembary will include options for exporting only a specific day, week, month, or year, emailing your diary, or syncing it to DropBox or MobileMe." Just give me DropBox and I'll be happy. While there's nothing noticeable in terms of flaws for Remembary, there are features I'd like to see. It may be strange, but I'd like to be able to quote my own tweets and statuses in the entry itself. Certain days I may not feel like actually writing an entry but just showcasing some of my favorite content that day. Also, something as simple as adding a picture or a web clip isn't possible. The interface is nice, but something should be done about the email-esque list of entries that turns up on the left in landscape mode; it ruins the visual appeal of the journal. Remembary is the app to beat for new diary…journal apps. [ Remembary Connected Diary is a post from 148Apps ]  Remembary Connected DiaryiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Buy Now: $3.99 Our Rating: Released: 2010-10-17 :: Category: Lifestyle :: MANLYRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Remembary Connected Diary |
| EA Acquires “Flight Control” and “Real Racing” Developer Firemint Posted: 03 May 2011 12:30 PM PDT
What this move does for EA is that it brings a pair of successful yet disparate franchises into their tent, and that may have been what made Firemint such an appealing acquisition target. Flight Control is a popular casual game that at one point was possibly the most popular game on iOS around when it was released, and is a progenitor of path management games to this day. Meanwhile, Real Racing is a graphics-intensive game, showcasing some of the best graphics and racing gameplay on iOS. As such, it has always sold at a premium price point, but this hasn’t kept the franchise from gaining popularity of its own, based on the number of downloads it too has gotten. This move could be based on bringing Flight Control and Real Racing, along with any other future Firemint projects, to other platforms. Firemint has partnered with Namco to publish Flight Control on Android and Windows Phone 7, along with a PC version available on Intel AppUp, but we have yet to see Real Racing leave iOS yet. EA has also recently acquired Mobile Post Production, who have largely worked on cross-platform mobile projects, including the porting of games across various smartphone OSes. This could mean that Real Racing might be popping up on non-iOS platforms at some point, but this is all speculation at this point. While it’s unknown what will come of this move by EA, it’s another example of them making a big splash in the mobile gaming market. [ EA Acquires “Flight Control” and “Real Racing” Developer Firemint is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Flight Control, Real Racing |
| Global Warming Awareness on iOS with Al Gore’s Our Choice Posted: 03 May 2011 12:15 PM PDT The Our Choice app is Al Gore's book on global warming converted to an interactive app. The book examines causes of global warming and solutions in the works to stop it. Gore touches on subjects like solar power, nuclear power, wind power, biomass energy, deforestation, and more. The physical book itself is #1 in books on climatology on Amazon.com and #10 in public policy.
Basically anything in the app can be "picked up" and uses multi-touch in some way: pictures can flip over or fold out, one can zoom out to the visual table of contents, finding the location of a picture can be done by tapping a globe, etc. Push Pop Press, the developers of the app, call it "the next generation of digital books." On the Push Pop Press website, names, information, and pictures of each chapter are available. Take a quick scan through what the app consists of before taking the plunge to buy it. The app is selling for $4.99 and is available for both the iPhone and iPad. With the paperback on sale for about $15, it seems a steal to get the book plus all of these extra features for only $5. Al Gore describes the app in the video below. [ Global Warming Awareness on iOS with Al Gore’s Our Choice is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Our Choice |
| Posted: 03 May 2011 12:04 PM PDT  Freefall Defender ReviewBy Jennifer Allen on May 3rd, 2011Our Rating:  :: SIMPLE BUT FUNiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Simple but with some charm, Freefall Defender is all about juggling objects crashing from the sky
Developer: Stone Monkey Studios Price: $0.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0.1 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4 Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.56 out of 5 stars Ever wonder what to do when a cow or monkey falls from the sky? Yeah, me neither. Freefall Defender might well prepare you for when that eventual day comes though. It’s a simplistic casual game, ideal for playing in short bursts, that’s all about protecting the poor pedestrians from falling objects.
Points are accrued for the longer you keep the pedestrians safe, and a series of Game Center achievements reward you for lasting as long as possible. Freefall Defender offers 6 different backdrops to play the game according to. They encompass city landscapes, the farmyard, a forest scene and a junkyard as well as a bizarre cog themed scene and a Land of the Giants style huge lounge background. The items that fall correspond to the scene you’ve selected so that the farmyard you’ll find yourself facing falling cows, the forest invokes flying monkeys and the city scape offers pianos. It’s an entertaining enough move although I found myself preferring the farmyard and city scape the most as they appeared most clearly. All scenes also provide nuclear bombs which cause a particularly large bang if they land but otherwise require the same tactics. A further nice touch is that there appears to be a simple physics engine going on here with objects bouncing appropriately. That’s all there is to it. Freefall Defender is extremely simple but it’s also kind of fun. It doesn’t set the world on fire but it passes the time nicely enough. Give it a shot if you’re in the mood for quirky simplicity. Don’t expect depth though! [ Freefall Defender Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Freefall DefenderiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-28 :: Category: Games / Arcade :: SIMPLE BUT FUNRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Freefall Defender |
| Master Quilting With Art Quilting Daily Posted: 03 May 2011 11:45 AM PDT
Art Quilting Daily is an app that provides quilting fans with quilting project ideas, tips and instructions, a glossary of terms and more than 100 video tutorials, all for free. The videos are probably going to be the big attraction here. Fortunately they’re excellent quality with exclusive clips from Quilting expert Pokey Bolton, TV host and founder of Quilting Arts Magazine. New videos and blogs are added each week to ensure that content continues to be fresh. Quilting and crafts fans would be very wise to download Art Quilting Daily for all their Quilting needs. It certainly looks comprehensive and there’s no need to worry about subscriptions as all updated content is free. It’s available now for all iOS devices.  [ Master Quilting With Art Quilting Daily is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Art Quilting Daily |
| Read What You Want To Read Thanks to Zite Posted: 03 May 2011 11:30 AM PDT Zite is an iPad only app that reminds me just how desperately I need an iPad in my life. It’s not the only app that offers a personalised magazine style interface but it does offer some pretty cool looking features for the grand price of nothing.
An auto-suggest tool intelligently recommends some great ideas, customising things to your interests. Plus there’s the near obligatory ability to share content via Twitter, Facebook and email. Always handy if you want to let a friend know about something you’ve just read about. Zite looks like a clean and useful app. One that’ll keep up to date with your ever changing interests and needs. The ability to simply tap if you want to see more about a certain genre, or to ‘like’ the particular article so Zite remembers in future is a great and simple touch. Zite is available now for the iPad. [ Read What You Want To Read Thanks to Zite is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Zite |
| Posted: 03 May 2011 11:04 AM PDT  Nano Panda ReviewBy Rob Rich on May 3rd, 2011Our Rating: :: ATTRACTIVEiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Atom-smashing has never been so cute and fuzzy.
Developer: unit9 Price: $0.99 Version: 1.0 App Reviewed on: iPhone Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Game Controls Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Gameplay Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.44 out of 5 stars
Despite being (very loosely) based on atomic physics, Nano Panda is simple to learn. Each level has at least one panda-dispenser, and releasing the beyond-diminutive creature is just a matter of tapping it. Of course, things never stay simple for long in games like this and players will soon have to come to grips with using the magnetic power of two or more pandas in order to grab all the stars and destroy all the atoms in a level.The difficulty increases even further as new obstacles and objects are introduced that will attract your pandas, bounce them around the stage and more.
The very thing that makes Nano Panda stand out among physics-based puzzle games is the same aspect that makes it irritating at times: magnetism. Games that require dropping, flinging and cutting involve ideas that we’re more familiar with, whereas magnetism between atomic particles is… well… slightly less common to us laypeople. While unit9 did a great job simplifying the concept, results often feel random and tougher stages tend to boil down to a series of trial-and-error runs to see what works. It’s easy to recommend Nano Panda because it fits comfortably into that “Top Five Games” formula every successful title on the App Store seems to have been following for months. It’s what I’d call a “safe” game. It doesn’t try anything completely unique but it has a clean look, does what it does very well and offers up plenty of increasingly complex fun. Fun that one randomly-selected commenter can have for themselves when they win a free copy of the game just for telling us what they think. COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER TO WIN A FREE COPY OF THE GAME! [ Nano Panda Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Nano PandaBuy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-05-02 :: Category: Games :: ATTRACTIVERead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Nano Panda |
| Learn To See With Your Ears Courtesy Of The Nightjar Posted: 03 May 2011 10:18 AM PDT Promotional apps are frequently a rather mixed bunch. Maybe I’m a cynic but I always expect them to focus more on what they’re selling than a great experience. However The Nightjar, part of the Wrigley’s 5 Experience campaign, is a pretty impressive looking sensory experience.
The Nightjar is a fascinating app simply put. It’s from the makers of Papa Sangre, another audio only experience, and the expertise shows, offering a great sensory experience. It’s vital that you use headphones while playing to get the full sensation of hearing sounds from all directions, and it’s something you’d do well to play in a room by yourself, but it is very intriguing. The Wrigley’s 5 Experience project will encompass more big names in its apps across the year, each focusing on a different experience, so it’ll be great to see what they come up with next. For now though, give The Nightjar a whirl. It’s free and a pretty special idea. It’s also downright unnerving at times! It’s amazing how vulnerable you feel, reliant solely on your hearing to get by. Unfortunately, hopefully only for now, it’s only available on the UK App Store but do take a look at the YouTube video of it to see what it’s like.  [ Learn To See With Your Ears Courtesy Of The Nightjar is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: |
| Posted: 03 May 2011 10:04 AM PDT  A.I.R. Defense ReviewBy Carter Dotson on May 3rd, 2011Our Rating: :: GET AIRBORNEiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad A.I.R Defense is a hybrid of tower defense and path management games that has you drawing paths to attack enemies trying to attack your base.
Developer: Chillingo Price: $0.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0 Device Reviewed On: iPod touch 4G Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.88 out of 5 stars
Your goal is to protect your base from invading enemies, by way of building air units to take out the invading forces. Your have a variety of units to use to accomplish this task. You have planes and helicopters that can take out units with their limited amount of ammo before having to return to base to reload. You also get units that can lay down mines, fire a straight line of fire at enemies in the way, and ones that can reveal enemy position. The game comes with 5 campaign levels with a limited number of waves you have to survive, and then defeating these levels unlocks them for endless play in Survival mode.
The game does a mediocre job at describing what exactly units do, sometimes – the spy plane is introduced before you would need it, and so it’s just kind of confusing when you start playing with it. On the iPhone/iPod touch version, it happened at least once where my menu where unit selection on a base was partially obscured by the menu buttons in the lower left corner. As well, the game has a lot of spelling errors strewn throughout. AIR Defense is a visually unique twist on a couple of familiar iOS genres. While the game is sometimes rough around the edges, there’s some compelling elements here for those who enjoy defense games. [ A.I.R. Defense Review is a post from 148Apps ]  A.I.R DefenseBuy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-05-03 :: Category: Games :: GET AIRBORNERead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: , A.I.R Defense |
| The Portable Podcast, Episode 83 Posted: 03 May 2011 09:38 AM PDT
On This Episode: Who We Are: Contact The Show: Email | Twitter Music:  How to Listen: Apps Mentioned in this Episode:   Everyday LooperUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Buy Now: $5.99 Released: 2009-10-23 :: Category: Music [ The Portable Podcast, Episode 83 is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: , Everyday Looper This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. Review Posted: 03 May 2011 08:03 AM PDT  Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. ReviewBy Rob Rich on May 3rd, 2011Our Rating: :: PULL THE TRIGGERiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Capcom has managed to shrink down Resident Evil’s multiplayer mode with very few compromises.
Developer: Capcom Price: $2.99 Version: 1.00.00 App Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.13 out of 5 stars
For the unfamiliar, Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. is all about scoring through killing. Four players compete against the clock, hostile enemies and each other as they attempt to out-shoot (and just plain shoot) each other, netting bonus points for streaks and combos. As of this writing there are three series favorites to choose as playable characters, each with their own weapon load-outs: Chris Redfield, who sports a pistol and shotgun for a good mix of range and close-quarters combat, Jill Valentine, who uses a pistol and a TMP machine gun, and finally Albert Wesker, with his pistol, magnum and triple-barrel (you read that right) shotgun. It’s a little disappointing to have such a small pool to choose from, but Capcom is planning to offer up additional characters via in-app purchase in the future. Fingers crossed for my personal favorite, the gas mask-wearing Umbrella Corporation soldier Hunk. Even without the fan-favorite character, there’s still plenty for Resident Evil (and iOS Device owners in general) to enjoy here. Capcom may not be using the Unreal Engine, but Mercenaries VS. is still a pretty good-looking game. Especially the models for the player characters. More importantly, it’s also a lot of fun. Even when offline it’s easy to lose track of time while playing. Matches only last a few minutes, so once they’re over it’s all too easy to simply hit “Rematch” and try for a better score. It was also a pleasant surprise to find that there wasn’t any lag in the online matches. At least not that I could see.
Capcom has done exactly what they set out to do: make a hand-held version of Resident Evil‘s popular Mercenaries mode. It’s lacking more than a few characters and the controls take some getting used to, but the overall experience is definitely a positive one. Especially for series veterans and third-person shooter fans. [ Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Resident Evil Mercenaries VS.Buy Now: $2.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-05-02 :: Category: Games :: PULL THE TRIGGERRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. |
| Posted: 03 May 2011 07:03 AM PDT  Music HunterBy Kevin Stout on May 3rd, 2011Our Rating: :: A MUSIC DISCOVERY EXPERIENCEiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Music Hunter makes music discovery an enjoyable, interactive experience.
Developer: Hunted Media Price: $0.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0 Device Reviewed On: iPad iPad Integration Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.67 out of 5 stars With millions of songs available at our fingertips (especially with services like Rdio and MOG), it can be tough to sift through it all. There are some awesome radio solutions, like Pandora and Last.FM, to help with music discovery. But what if we want an experience that’s more interactive? Let’s take a look at Music Hunter. When I first read the app description, I was immediately turned off when I noticed that it plays music samples. If you’re expecting something like Pandora, this isn’t the app for you. After I used the app for a while, I realized that samples are all that’s really necessary.
Genre and type aren’t the only ways to go about finding new music. After hitting the gear, a tab appears labeled Search. Type in an artist and receive recommendations for similar music (Pandora-esque). Both options work great but I found songs that best fit my own taste when using the artist search system. If an enjoyable song is found, click the circular arrow button at the bottom and the app refreshes with music similar to that band. The experience was similar to going from artist to artist with the “Listeners Also Bought” feature on iTunes. While similar, the Music Hunter experience was much quicker and presented more artists at once.
Music Hunter will be my go to app for finding new music in the future. Music Hunter is NOT a radio app and should not be treated as such. It’s a visually pleasing, interactive music discovery app. And for that particular niche, it excels. [ Music Hunter is a post from 148Apps ]  Music HunterBuy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-05-02 :: Category: Music :: A MUSIC DISCOVERY EXPERIENCERead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Music Hunter |
| Posted: 03 May 2011 06:03 AM PDT
Using the full real estate on screen that the iPad has to offer, stories are delivered to you in the optimal fashion as to best tickle your funny bone. Everything from their stellar writing to their back library of witty videos will be at your full disposal, without ever having to enter a web browser. Heck, this sure beats having to keep up with your chuckles via an RSS feeder.  The Onion TabletiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Buy Now: FREE Released: 2011-04-01 :: Category: News [ The Onion Christens The iPad is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: The Onion Tablet |
Before I get started with actually reviewing the application, I have to give a quick golf clap to the developers of Remembary for coming up with such a creative way to present in instructions on how to use the app. The first "journal entry" (I refuse to call it a diary) is actually instructions on how to use the app written completely in first person.
Facebook statuses are automatically downloaded as well. My only complaint about the social networking feature is that wall posts from Facebook don't show who posted them.
EA is trying to set themselves up as the dominant player in the mobile and iOS markets, 
The app is packed with features. Al Gore's commentary, read by Gore himself, is available throughout the app. Pictures and videos pop out and are occasionally accompanied by commentary. Info-graphics are sprinkled throughout the app with various data about global warming and related topics. The app also includes over an hour of documentary footage.
Playing it is easy enough: simply tap the screen to fling the objects back up a short way. Keep tapping them until they reach the top of the screen and are destroyed. Not just one object will fall at any one time though. Multi touch comes into play here as you find yourself juggling the objects forever upwards and away from the pedestrians wandering along helplessly at the bottom of the screen. 
Quilting has been around for nearly as long as human beings have been around, so how can a modern technology like an iOS device help quilters? Quite simply actually. By providing plenty of advice in the palm of your hand!
Using a variety of different sources, both mainstream and niche, Zite collects everything up and provides a truly personalised experience for your reading needs. An added bonus is that you can sync both Twitter and Google Reader with Zite to give you even more to consult. 
Were devious atoms to get into my laboratory I’m not sure what I’d do. I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t involve shrinking pandas down to the atomic level in order to fight the tiny scourge, but that’s exactly what players will be doing in Nano Panda. Yessir, fighting unruly atomic particles with endangered bears. For science.
Like most “cute” physics-based puzzle games before it, Nano Panda hits all the right notes. It has a cartoony visual style, cute characters (even the badguys), a catchy soundtrack and plenty of replay value if players want to grab every last star. Completing a hard stage is especially satisfying as it wipes the smiles off of those smug atom faces. Seriously, they laughed at me while I was attempting to destroy them. Jerks! There’s even at least one more collection of levels blocked off and labeled as “Coming Soon,” so there’s little danger of running out of panda-flinging action in the future.
It’s an app that’s all about focusing on sounds and our reliance on being able to hear. You’re stranded on a failing spaceship that’s inhabitated by all manners of nasty aliens. You’re reliant on the voices, one of which played by Benedict Cumberbatch. This name should be familiar to many in the UK thanks to his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in BBC’s Sherlock. He’s got an ideal voice for this kind of thing with a smooth upper class inflection, immediately sounding like your commanding officer should. 
There’s no such thing as a standard tower defense game or path management game nowadays on the App Store. This is a good thing – the best entries in these genres are no worse for wear even years after their original release. This means developers can’t just rehash the concepts thinking that they’re going to be fresh after a certain amount of time. So, we start to see hybrids of genres, and A.I.R Defense is what would happen if a tower defense game collided with a path management game, in sea of green colors. 
Vive le français! And vive le Google Translate!
It took them a couple tries, but Capcom finally managed to make an entertaining Resident Evil multiplayer experience when they created their Mercenaries mini-game. Now they’ve brought the experience to iOS devices in the form of Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. It’s pretty much what series fans would expect, but it does have its limitations.
Though it is a lot of fun to play I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of the controls at first. Each character felt clunky and unresponsive, even when compared to the earlier console games in the series. This is exactly what the single player Training and Coin Shoot modes are for. After spending a few rounds taking potshots at AI opponents and hunting down tiny blue coins on a time limit the controls feel much less restricting. They’re still a little robotic, but it’s easy enough to work with them. A far bigger issue is the fact that alerts can and will disrupt an online match. Phone calls I can understand, but even a simple text message to the host will cancel the entire match.
To start, pick a genre and type. I started with Alternative/Low Energy. Immediately, I was blown away by the interface. It’s not often that an app that focuses on audio is so visually pleasing. The buttons at the bottom are simple and perfectly sized to avoid tapping the wrong one. The screen isn’t cluttered: a gear to change settings and music, simple buttons in the bottom-right corner, artist and song in the bottom-left, which all allows for the majority of the screen to be taken up by album art of the suggested music.
Sharing discovered songs, on Facebook and Twitter, is done by clicking the speech bubble button. While I would like to see more options, sharing is snappy and easy. And, something important to me, the sharing allows you to edit the tweet/status. Tagging the songs as favorites is also as quick and simple as tapping the star button. My problem with the favorites is that it doesn’t seem to allow deleting just one of your favorites from the list. There’s a clear all favorites option, but no option for each individual song. While this would only be a problem if someone accidentally favorites a song, which I did, it should and probably will be fixed in a future release.
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