What's App

What's App
Version: 2.6.4
Compatible: iPhone - iOS 3.1
Price: $1

I’m not a very social person even with my plethora of communique methods I rarely keep in touch with more than a handful of people on a constant basis. With the looming iOS 5.0 update later this year I look forward to an improvement onto the current messaging system in place on the iPhone because I’m not a huge fan of it despite texting being my first and foremost method of reaching out. Had I known better I wouldn’t have wasted good money on WhatsApp.

Maybe I’m just being harsh on it. It’s quite clever though I certainly agree. It’s like a ticket of admission that grants special access to a party and everyones invited as long as they have the ticket. WhatsApp is available on the Android and Blackberry platforms and the service communicates across its own network with ease using data rather than texts to send messages quickly and efficiently.

The problem with this is that it still has a ways to go to reach out. When I started it up I only had one friend who was set up with the service. If I want to communicate with the people I frequently talk to they have to pay the price of admission and I find it a little rude to make the request. It may only be a dollar but its getting dolled up for the show thats the real price if you catch my drift.

The way the App looks, works and feels is all satisfactory when I did use it. Information is sent immediately and I’m alerted when the message is read as well as when another message is being typed. You can send pics and such and its all very delightful.

Maybe you’re a convincing SOB and don’t mind dragging the people you know and love through the dirt to get them to climb aboard. Or maybe you already have a bunch of friends that already use it. Or maybe you’ll get together face to face and start a little fun club and make the set up work. If you do manage it, the service will do you good I can say without hesitation. Without communication to set up you won’t know however how many of your friends even have WhatsApp let alone use it.

Luckily and most safely, it’s only a dollar. It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t meet your expectations.

Quickie Game Appstravaganza

There are a ton of quick, simple and essentially limited games that I find difficult to use more than a paragraph to describe since they are essentially throwaways. That’s not to say that these guys aren’t worth the money, time or enjoyment. It’s just they are shallow and difficult to go into strenuous detail. I’m repeating myself, so I’d better get stuck in with the August Appstravaganza dedicated to good old fashioned fun.

Canabalt
Version: 1.6
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.1.3
Price: $3

All the Hipsters out there reading this will claim that they played, beat and got over this game before it ever touched the App Store since it is a popular Flash game online. Highly stylized, beautiful sound and simplistic controls bring it together to be a satisfying game to play around with but you won’t stay for very long. You play the role of a tiny man running from a crumbling world, your only means of control is timing his jumps perfectly to protect him from an untimely demise. There’s no real goal to strive for except a high score and when it gets old there’s not much to keep you here. However wait when it goes on sale otherwise the price isn’t ever justifiable unless you’re a diehard.


The Hero / The Hero HD
Version: 1.1 (iPhone/iPod/iPad) - 1.2 (iPad)
Compatible: iPhone/iPod/iPad - iOS 3.0 iPad - iOS 3.2
Price: $1

I played the iPad version though I believe the small screen cousin will most likely not be any different than my experience. Once again one of my first games for the iPad and I was excited first to play but it dropped off my radar after about two days. You play a superhero saving a city by flying to danger and defeating it with your superpowers. The good? The in-game art is good to look at. Half of it I mean, the characters when talking look absolutely atrocious but then again maybe it’s just not my thing. Anymore good things? I don’t have fond memories of this game I’ll just say because the controls are clunky, the screen is way too busy, the myriad of abilities or superpowers aren’t fun because it feels like you’re not doing anything (despite enemies flashing red) and a time limit of death wiped away whatever attention span I tried to muster before getting bored.




*Yawn* NEXT!






Kosmo Spin
Version: 1.4
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.1.3
Price: $1

I’ll finish this on a good note. Kosmo Spin is beautiful to look at, simple to play, cheap, unique, expansive and has me yelling at you with two thumbs up. I suppose you want elaboration? You play a little alien who spins on a planet gathering sweets for points while a UFO flies above your head ominously dropping balls or using his tractor beam. There are two ways to get play essentially. Either you gather the sweets in succession and initiate the bonus stage where the faster you flick, the more sweets (points) you get. The alternative is to head the balls the UFO drops, if you head them in a row, you double the points obtained from doing so. However some balls have different gravity pull and characteristics. Standard mode is never ending until you get sucked up by the UFO tractor beam but there is a scenario mode which goes a long way offering numerous objectives. Gather points in a certain amount of time, head the ball in a row 10 times that sort of thing. Its a complete package all for the minimal price. It doesn’t even take that much hard disk space.










So ends another Appstravaganza. More disappointment than I thought I had set up but whatcha gonna do? But the review of Kosmo Spin was well worth it all to make it up. Maybe it was the gem you didn’t know existed and you had to sit and watch up til the end of the movie to see the wicked-ass ending with exposions and what not.

Awesome Note (+Todo)

Awesome Note (+Todo)
Version: 5.03
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.0
Price: $4

In the days before iPhones and touch screens I never went anywhere without a notepad. Whether it was to remember something to do later, an idea or just any general thought to keep handy, I had to make a note of it. Gradually I required to preserve such creative thoughts because you never know when it’ll come in handy but having many notepads and sheets of paper becomes annoying. In an increasingly paperless world, I choose to find my own way to keep it all in one place at my own convenience. Enter Awesome Note.

Before I used SimpleNote. Before that I just had numerous typed .txt files on my computer. SimpleNote left an element of dependancy on a cloud based server somewhere far away and I’m a control freak with my information access. Awesome Note is perfect for people like me because I can set up all my notes with a myriad of options.

For starters you can setup folders to categorize notes in a manor that suits you best. These folders can have notes take a certain theme (colour, background, text size, font.) You can even add tags to each of them for increased accessibility.

I say I like this App best because of the options it gives me. I prefer control over specific back up and files such as these, to me it’s a one way road that doesn’t need to be accessed through my MacBook or iPad but I like having the option. Sending information from Awesome Note can be done in a number of ways. You can text, e-mail or print if you wish. And if you do want to back it up to the cloud it is compatible with Evernote and Google.

Personally I like to save it and remove the back up file during my weekly iTunes sync session that way if the worst somehow happens I’ll only be bad for 6 days worth of data.

Notes take a certain number of shapes too. It can be a diary entry, to do list or an event listing. To put it bluntly how much I love, use and cherish said App right now, it’s permanently placed on my iPhone Dock so you can imagine that I’m quite biased in its favour. On the negative scale I can’t really see anything wrong with a note taking App. There’s nothing really that was screwed up here. If I really had to say something it would be that the screen is convoluted but it does so with elegance. Everything on the screen is necessary.

In the end if you have a need to take down little tidbits and such and require control or access to this information I highly recommend Awesome Note. It brings accessibility and simplicity to something I’ve been doing since High School. The way I see it is I no longer buy small notepads anymore so the one time fee of $4 is more than welcome the more I use it.

Game Dev Story

Game Dev Story

Version: 1.1.1

Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.1

Price: $4

Pried myself away from my phone to write this review and I’m not freaking kidding. I decided it was time to say good bye to my money when I played through the Lite version five times and dreaded the invisible wall that blocked my game company’s progress from infinite greatness.

Synopsis? Okay, you take control of a small game company at first, starting off hiring talent and making small games and with increasing profits make even bigger games. You increase your staffs talents and abilities the better you do which makes your games even better. It’s a fun sim game where you don’t dread each and every decision ala sim city. The art style is charming, the presentation is amazing and the gameplay absolutely compelling.

How good can this game possibly be? I missed a bus stop because of it. I went way over my break because I had to see a game through to the end of development. I woke up extremely groggy because I needed to purchase the license for the next big console. If you can’t handle addiction stay away from this game. If you want to be pulled in Plants vs. Zombies style, be thankful you can take this to the john with you. 

Absolutely amazing.

Tilt To Live

Tilt To Live

Version: 1.7.3 (1.5.2 HD)
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.0 (iPad - iOS 3.2 HD)
Price: Lite Version Reviewed - $3 ($5 HD)

Tilt to Live is an oddity on my iOS gaming deck. It’s something I can safely play for a few minutes a month and be content yet somehow wonder what differs between the Lite and the Soul-Suck Version. It’s entertaining and addictive but when I forget its there I hardly touch it.

Skip to the synopsis! It’s a game where you control an arrow and move said arrow with gyroscopic movements with the device. Namely, tilt the iPad/iPhone/iPod to avoid red dots of death and use power-ups to fight back for massive damage. The name of the game is survival and a High Score.

Fun for the whole family! Well made and certainly a testament to the hardware. But I’ll be honest, I’ve been getting on fine with the Lite version and keep wondering how the full can enrich my life. When the moneys plopped down I have this expectation bar that rises and it can’t be good for a laugh anymore, it HAS to be good for a laugh. Call me cheap but bang for the buck for the consumer is the element to this review.

A dollar or two seems reasonable but the admission price for the full show is quite steep and it’s not even a one size fits all. How much better can it get beyond what I’m seeing? Apparently 4 more game modes, several power-ups, wireless multiplayer and more achievements. I’m having fun now, so why congest it with more weight?

For now I’ll sit with content with what I’ve got and merely toy with the idea of crossing that line into the green.