(Credit:
CNET)
Back in March I wrote about a skee-ball-type game called 10-balls 7 cups that was surprisingly fun. It had great sounds and graphics, and the gameplay consisted of a flick of your finger to send the ball down the alley and a tilt of your iPhone to redirect the ball into the cups. I said at the time that the only problem I had with this simple yet fun game was that the silly prizes you could buy at the end with your points didn't have pictures.
I just received word that longtime Mac gaming publisher Freeverse has gotten onboard with this unique title (and apparently worked out the licensing) to publish an upgraded version, appropriately named Skee-Ball (99 cents). Some flashier graphics have been added, but for the most part the gameplay remains the same with a couple of notable changes. You can now buy custom balls with your points; challenge friends and view score tracking, achievements, and leader-boards on the Plus network; and they've added an entirely new prize system with (you guessed it) pictures of every prize in a nice-looking loot room. Though not as involved as some of the other games I review here, this latest version of Skee-Ball is a great casual game to kill time and collect funny prizes.
This week's apps include a new image capture app and a 2D survival shooter with all the right stuff to keep you playing for a long time.
Use the level aid to make sure your shot is lined up correctly.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Snapture ($1.99) offers a unique way to take pictures with your iPhone with some added features to make sure you get the perfect shot. Instead of a button at the bottom of the interface like the iPhone's regular camera, you can simply touch anywhere onscreen to take a shot. An onscreen level aid helps you make sure your shot is perfectly level. You can choose between four image sizes (800x600, 1,280x960, 1,600x1,200, or 2,048x1,536) before you take your picture. The zooming feature lets you reverse-pinch to zoom up to 5x. You can also toggle between single shot or multiple shots so you can take three consecutive pictures with only one touch of the screen. When you're done, you can quickly send your picture to a friend with an integrated e-mail option or just save the picture to your photo library; images are only saved when you're happy with the shot.
I think part of the charm of Snapture is the unique interface. Once you take a photo (or multiple photos) the last four shots show up as thumbnails on the left side of the screen. You can touch and hold a thumbnail to make it zoom to its original size (with a smooth animation) or you can slide the image across the screen to bring up options for e-mailing or deleting the image. The zooming feature is also a nice touch, letting you pinch or reverse-pinch to zoom to just the amount you need. Overall, Snapture might be a little too precise for regular picture taking, but if you really want to perfect specific shots, this app has some nice features to help you make it happen.
You'll need to switch weapons quickly to handle the onslaught of meteors.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Meteor Blitz ($1.99) is a challenging 2D survival shooter arcade game with smooth graphics, tons of cool power-ups, and great gameplay. Like many games of this type on the iPhone, Meteor Blitz uses dual onscreen joysticks, with the left one to move your ship and the right to fire your weapons. A double tap on the left joystick gives you a momentary burst of speed to help you get out of particularly sticky situations. Just over the right joystick is a button to switch between three weapon types: regular cannons, a flame thrower, and ice bullets--all of which can be upgraded by spending rings you collect in the game. Each weapon type is more effective against specific enemies (ice bullets for red meteors, flame thrower for ice meteors, etc.) so knowing how to quickly switch between them becomes part of the challenge as well.
Meteor Blitz has two game types. An arcade mode challenges you to fight your way through several levels of mayhem with a boss at the end of each level. In Survival mode your mission (obviously) is to stay alive as long as possible as more and more aliens and meteors try to take you out. But in addition to the incredibly intense gameplay of both game types, I really liked that I could watch my global ranking rise as I played the game. Knowing where you are in the global high-score list as you play gives you even more incentive to survive the endless onslaught of aliens and different types of meteors. Overall, Meteor Blitz is an excellent game for fans of this classic arcade genre with plenty of power-ups unique enemies to keep you coming back for more.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you like the simple, but challenging gameplay of Skee-Ball? Is Snapture the photo-taking app you've been looking for? How high in the global rankings have you gotten in Meteor Blitz? Let me know in the comments!
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CNET)
How long does it take you to sync your iPhone? I have the 16GB 3G, about 9GB of music, almost 2GB of apps, and about 60 photos. My "Other" category shows up as more than 2GB (!) in iTunes, but that might be worthy of a separate post. In any case, from start to finish, syncing my iPhone on my Windows PC (it's where my music library is) takes almost an hour. A lot of that time is spent backing up or transferring purchases, but it just doesn't seem right that it should take that long.
A friend of mine uses his Mac for syncing his iPhone and he says it takes less than 10 minutes. Please let me know in the comments how long it takes you to sync your iPhone and what type of system you're using. Any tips for speeding up the process would be greatly appreciated by me and anyone else who suffers the same problem. Now, on to this week's apps!
This week's apps include a new (to me) news feed aggregator and a brand-new game from Freeverse that's on sale for a limited time.
Headlines and descriptions make it easy to find the stories you want to read.
(Credit: CNET)Fluent News (free) is a recent discovery for me and well worth the download if you're looking for a better way to get your news. Fluent News grabs exclusively mobile news content from all the top news sources including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and CNN. Unfortunately, the app is primarily U.S.-centric so international users won't get the news they're looking for. But among the news apps available for iPhone, this one just might be the best I have seen yet.
The interface is easy to use, with tabs across the bottom for Top News stories and sections organized by category. But the layout is what makes Fluent News a standout app. Each story has the headline, which source the news came from, related stories, and a brief description of the story (like many desktop RSS readers). Even better, all the news stories are in mobile format so they're easy to read in the app's included browser. If you find a story you want to share, you can easily post the link to Twitter or Facebook, once you connect to your accounts in the settings menu. Overall, Fluent News is the best free newsreader I've found so far, and it's definitely worth a free download.
Hitting an ammo dump with a grenade or rocket launcher results in impressive explosions.
(Credit: CNET)Warpack Grunts (99 cents for a limited time) lets you command a squad of four tiny soldiers for shoot-'em-up action in a top-down perspective. Touch the screen to move your squad around the map and double tap to fire your weapons. A few early tutorial missions help you get accustomed to the control system and the different weapons you'll find in the game. As you progress through missions, the game gets harder with more enemy squads to battle and other dangers like snipers and mounted machine guns. As an added bonus, you can play this game in landscape or portrait mode--Warpack Grunts easily switches views on the fly.
Warpack Grunts, like many titles from Freeverse, offers comedy relief with funny voices and sounds to keep the game lighthearted while remaining challenging. There are several items to find in the game like rocket launchers and sniper rifles, along with items that replace downed units (to bring your squad back to four) and increase your health. The missions are quite difficult later in the game and offer unique challenges to keep the game interesting. You can also choose the Zombie Survival gametype to blow away wave after wave of shambling undead. With a ton of missions to explore and the extra game type, Warpack Grunts is definitely worth more than the introductory price, so grab this one while it's still cheap.
What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you have a better newsreader than Fluent News? How long can you last in Zombie Survival mode? Got a secret way to make iPhone syncing faster? Let me know in the comments!
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Note: The iPhone 2.2 firmware update is now available. Connect to iTunes to get all the details. My app update issue is fixed!
One of the great things about my job writing about iPhone apps is I sometimes get to look at what's coming up in the future for the iPhone. I was invited to a small gathering of developers and reviewers this week to see the latest games and apps from premiere software companies. The future of iPhone apps looks great.
While many of the apps were must-haves, one of the best of the bunch was a game called Rolando, from ngmoco (view the trailer here). The first rumors and teaser trailers of this unique platformer hit the Web in July and, while I was impressed, it wasn't until I actually sat down and played the game this week that I realized they were really onto something great. The game combines all the unique features of the iPhone, including the touch screen to draw platforms and move objects and the accelerometer to move your Rolandos to the goal. With challenging puzzles, excellent graphics, and an exclusive soundtrack designed just for the game, Rolando is a something that anyone who likes platform games can look forward to. I'm told the game will go for $9.99 at the iTunes app store and should be available in time for the holidays.
While we wait for what promises to be an exciting season for iPhone apps, check out this week's iPhone app picks.
SnapTell keeps your searches so you can pull it out at the store when you're ready to buy.
(Credit: CNET Networks)SnapTell is a fascinating free app that lets you find out about CDs, DVDs, video games, and books simply by taking a picture with your iPhone. Let's say a friend recommends a great book or DVD. Simply touch the camera icon and use your iPhone to take a picture of the product. SnapTell quickly matches your picture with its database and returns an image of the actual product complete with links to IMDb, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Wikipedia, along with prices and availability so you can either buy the product or get more information. Every book I tried, SnapTell was able to find a match and I was even able to hold up a DVD disc and Snaptell quickly found the product. You also can save your matches if you want to do your shopping later. Even if you can't find the product right away, you can use the application settings menu to set up more thorough searches, though they take a little longer to return results.
Keep an eye on your line tension as you slowly reel in your fish
(Credit: CNET Networks)Flick Fishing ($0.99) from our old friends at Freeverse software is a fun and challenging fishing game that will appeal to just about anyone. Choose from several locations from a beginner fishing hole to deep sea environments and make sure to open your tackle box to pick the right bait for the job. When you're ready, flick your iPhone to cast your line. Beautiful living environments set the perfect scene as you wait to get a bite. Once a fish takes the bait, reel it in slowly--you need to watch your line-tension meter so you don't snap the line. You can fish casually at several locations or you can participate in tournaments. You also can play against your friends on the same network. With several locations, dozens of varieties of fish, and numerous types of bait, this game offers great replay value. Complete with fun music and excellent sound effects, Flick Fishing is a lot of fun and one of the best games so far for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
What's your latest iPhone app? Do you find SnapTell useful? What's the biggest fish you have caught? Let me know in the comments!
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
It's extremely rare for me to talk about games two weeks in a row for the Mac Daily Download, but a recent release from our friends at Freeverse Software is too good to pass up. When I heard the makers of great Mac games like Kill Monty, WingNuts 2, and Burning Monkey Solitaire were making a new twist on the online hit Desktop Tower Defense, I was immediately interested. As with most everything that comes from the folks at Freeverse, I wasn't disappointed.
Zooming in on the action lets you see how your defense is working against the angry horde
(Credit: CNET Networks)Hordes of Orcs puts a new spin on Desktop Tower Defense games with smooth 3D graphics and more features than you'll find in online versions. Different towers deal different types of damage, which becomes important the further you get into the game because some Orcs are resistant to specific damage types. The ability to cast spells adds a new wrinkle to the game by letting you do things like slow down the onslaught of Orcs; send bosses back to the beginning to face your towers all over again; and one called "Bait," which attracts Orcs to a certain part of the screen so they'll take more damage. When you want a close-up view of the carnage, you can use the zoom button to see the action in smooth 3D graphics. Though the full version will cost you $24.95, this game is definitely worth the registration fee for more Orc-killing carnage.
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