In Spellsword, you play a young adventurer fighting his way through various missions. There’s some attempt at story here, but it’s all mostly incidental. Actual gameplay takes place in one of (currently) three environments, and each environment is small and static, with waves of enemies coming at you until you achieve the mission goal (collect a certain number of items, defeat a certain number of enemies, etc.). Actual play time for each mission is about a minute. It’s fast and hectic and something of a button-masher. It’s fun in the moment, though it’s also easy to lose track of the action in the chaos.

There’s a fun and heavy RPG element to Spellsword. As you play, you earn coins (“rupees” in the Zelda vein), better equipment, and stronger weapons to help you advance in the game. There’s no strict leveling system, but clearly the more you play, the stronger you will be able to make your character. There are also in-game power-ups, modeled as cards, that are absolutely vital to completing missions. In fact, there are times where the game really feels like “chase the next card” is your primary objective. [Actually, a few times, it literally is.]

As fun as the missions can be, I actually found myself enjoying the Endless Mode more. In Endless Mode, there’s no goal; just wave after wave of enemies. This endurance run not only leads to a longer game, allowing you to practice your play and find your rhythm, but it’s the perfect grinding tool for earning treasure.

In terms of style, Spellsword is really retro, and that’s part of what makes it fun. It’s got a 16-bit style that feels like an old side-scroller and a chipset soundtrack that, while repetetive, will certainly get stuck in your head. While younger players may not fully appreciate the style, I do as a child of the old console era.

All that said, there are a few things about Spellsword that I’d like to see addressed in future updates. The biggest one to me is a lack of iCloud syncing. Like many people, I have both an iPhone and an iPad, and a Universal game like Spellsword is something I’m going to play on both. It should be a standard move nowadays for devs to build iCloud game syncing into any Universal app. It just makes sense.

Also, I really hope that, like other puzzle-style games, future updates bring new settings. It’s not like in a game such as Angry Birds, where the setting retains a theme but the specifics change each time. The levels don’t change for the entire zone. There are times when the completely unchanging levels of Spellsword get repetive; and that, coupled with the limited number of enemies in any given zone, can really lead to a sense of sameness sometimes.

Warts aside, there’s a whole lot of goodness packed into this little 99-cent gem. It’s an easy recommendation for fans of fast and fun iOS games.

Our Score: 4 out of 5.

Spellsword Review: Old School Grind is Quick and Dirty Fun is a post by App Chronicles

But first…

The setting places you in a dark forest world that is in need of sunlight. Five creatures—or CreaVures—are tasked with bringing back the sun, but they’ll have to work their way through an onslaught of puzzles and adventures with your help in order to make that happen. The way to success is by finding the random bits of particles of light hidden throughout the darkness and collecting them. At the end of each chapter, there is a battle with a boss character that you must endure in order to move on.

You’ll start the game as Bitey, a little creature who has the ability to jump and move to an astounding degree. From there, you’ll move on to Pokey, Rolly, Zappy, and Glidey, all of who’s abilities can generally be surmised to a certain degree just by looking at their names. Each of the five CreaVures has a specific and unique ability that you can utilize to aid in the quest, so it’s all about working as a team in order to be successful. From time to time, you can utilize two characters at once instead of swapping them out, so you’ll have to keep track of each character and which of their abilities would be best appropriate to use in specific situations, and how to best proceed further with each other.

While the game is billed as a puzzle-based platformer, I didn’t find the puzzles to be too difficult in the grand scheme of things. Sure, they were challenging here and there, but overall, I expected a little more difficulty than what I was given. This isn’t to say though, that the game is by any means easy and simple to use, but I’ll get to that later.

I want to first address the game’s biggest selling points, and those are the graphics. They’re amazing, to put it simply. The world is an incredibly fleshed out bioluminescent mixture of color and imagination, and it’s sure to amaze gamers upon first playing. Colors seemingly pop off of the screen as you move along while your characters dart from here to there. Which brings me to my next point: the game is rather smooth in terms of animation and rendering. I never once encountered any issues or lagging, and the scrolling animation appeared to move with the swiftness and grace of a Hollywood style steady cam.

This is where I begin to diverge from giving out compliments, though, as the controls were—at least for me—incredibly frustrating. You’re given a virtual D pad, but also the ability to utilize swipes for certain moves and techniques. This all seems pretty straight forward, but I had a lot of issues with the game assuming I was playing one move, when I was actually playing an entirely different one. I don’t know if I just wasn’t clear enough in my controlling (hard to figure out how to be any more clear), but I would frequently command the CreaVures to do something, yet they’d instead do another.

I also have to say that while the game is incredibly stunning in a visual sense, it was lacking in the way of variety. Puzzles were repeated in various forms throughout, and it got a little repetitive. At a certain point, it was easy for me to assume which challenge I’d be met with right around the corner, and I was often right on the money.

While I really want to give this game a high score due to its gorgeous art and visual experience, the physical control deficiencies were just too much for me to overlook. I found myself getting frustrated more with the game than my actual play, and it took away from what would have been an otherwise wonderful visual adventure.

The game sells for $.99, and if Chillingo is able to find out a way to fix the controlling issues (I found on a number of forums that I wasn’t the only one experiencing these frustrations), then I’d give it a solid score.

But for now…

Our score: 3 out of 5.

Creavures Review: A Gorgeously Rendered Game with Unfortunate Controller Deficiencies is a post by App Chronicles

For the uninitiated, the game is a 2D fighting game in the style of Capcom’s classic Street Fighter. In fact, many Street Fighter characters are in this game, along with many characters from Capcom games of the 1980s and 1990s. [My personal favorite is Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, who can send flaming zombies at her opponents.] There’s also a lot of Marvel Comics characters dressed in their 1990s incarnations — so Jim Lee’s X-Men, a McFarlaine-esque Spider-Man & Venom, and forgettable characters like Marrow. They throw down for 3-on-3 tag-team matches, and much gonzo action ensues.

The game feels just like I remember it. It’s clearly an authentic port of the game, probably via the console versions, with all the bright colors, pixilated graphics, cheesy soundtrack of the original. The characters fill the screen to an almost comical degree, and it’s not at all unusual for special abilities to fill the screen with epilepsy-inducing animations. There’s not a moment where this video-game-characters vs. comic-book-characters takes itself even remotely seriously, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so great as a game.

Also, the computer AI is ridiculously hard, even in Easy mode. Which wouldn’t be such a big deal if the controls worked better. But to be honest, this game controls poorly. I’ve played many fighting game ports on my iPhone and iPad, and have experienced varying degrees of successful controls. These fall on the less successful side. And they take up so much of the screen that, especially on the iPhone, my thumbs routinely get in the way of actually seeing what’s going on on-screen. [There is a "compact" mode that shrinks the screen, but I found this to be unappealing visually.]

The game is very faithful to the original, to the point where Capcom has resisted things like alternative iPhone modes or IAPs. If you want to unlock characters beyond the starting 24, you need to play the game. A lot. In fact, the bar for unlocking new characters is almost too high, requiring dozens of playthroughs to earn enough coins.

In fact, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is too straight a port in some ways. The controls feel too literally like virtual versions of the arcade game (even though they’re not), and the video and graphics are too faithfully transplanted from the original. There wasn’t enough concession made, I think, to the differences that a touch screen and a small screen bring to such a game.  The app store is full of old school ports better adapted to the medium … including Capcom’s own Street Fighter! They need to apply some of those lessons here and make this a more broadly playable game, instead of a niche game for those of us nostalgic for the original.

With future updates addressing some of these issues, and hopefully bringing the game more in line with iOS expectations and a little more away from a pure port, this game could begin to shine. As it is now, I can only partially recommend Marvel vs. Capcom 2, especially if you’re on an iPhone. For iPad 2 and new iPad owners, this game is the best bet, as the controls are easier to manage when they’re larger and your thumbs are less likely to block the action.

If you’re a fan of the old game and have faith that Capcom will improve the issues with updates, now is the right time to grab the game. It’s on sale for $2.99, but Capcom has said the price will go up to $4.99 in the future.

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Review: Classic Port Comes To iOS, But Needs Tweaking is a post by App Chronicles

One such app that we’re going to look at today is built on that very premise of making things easier for you the user. It’s called Voice Assistant, and it works on both the iPhone and the iPad.

Voice Assistant is a dictation app that will turn your spoken words into electronic ones to be used in a number of ways. It’s kind of like having your own personal secretary following you around all day, taking dictation for you because you can’t be bothered to do it yourself. There are a number of uses for this kind of app, so let’s start with where Voice Assistant really works best.

One of the great things about this app is that even though it only does one thing, it does it very well. It takes away the hassle of having to type your text, and instead lets you just speak it while it recording your voice and then creates text based on the words you say. It’s kind of like Siri, without all of the other search functions and snarky feedback that you would get in return. All you have to do with Voice Assistant is open the app, tap the Siri-like recording microphone, speak your words, and then voila, you have text. There is a nifty little option to allow the app to detect the end of your speech, or you can just push the record button again when you’re finished speaking. For long bits of text, I go with the end of speech detection turned off since it would automatically close the recording session otherwise, but other than that, it’s almost always on for me. If you’re concerned about punctuation, the app offers a helpful list of ways to speak commonly used punctuations, which is wonderful and informative.

From there, it’s up to you what to do with said text. You can send it in a text message, email, post to Twitter and Facebook, copy the text, or even open it with any apps on your device that are compatible (Dropbox, Docs2Go, Evernote, Pages, to name a few). Beyond that, there’s nothing else for you to do with the app, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

With Voice Assistant, the developers claim that using the app is 5 times faster than actually typing text, which I would believe. The way I have been using it the most is when I’m in the middle of doing something like grocery shopping or walking somewhere. Being bothered to stop and look down at my phone may seem like a bit of a snobbish mindset, but if you think about it, it can get annoying when you have to make frequent stops to stick your nose and eyes to the screen. The app definitely made it easier for me to multitask, and that’s exactly what a smartphone is supposed to do. I also know that a lot of people have said this kind of app is great for cutting back on texting and driving, but we at App Chronicles have to give a healthy warning: please don’t. You’d still have to operate the app and look at the phone, so the potential for disaster is still quite real.

*steps off of soapbox*

Now, where does Voice Assistant come up short? In all honesty, I had very few qualms with it. At first, a lot of my speech to text translation was off. This probably had a lot to do with how I was pronouncing my words, but it was still a bit annoying. In time though, the speech recognition teaches itself to accommodate your voice and improves exponentially. Now I rarely have an issue. You won’t be able to use the app without a WiFi/Data connection, so that could be seen as a limitation by some, but that’s rarely a situation you’ll find yourself in.

Overall, I give Voice Assistant a pretty high recommendation, and at only $1, it’s very worth it.

Our score: 4.5 out of 5.

Voice Assistant Review: A Wonderful Speech-to-Text app that makes your Life a Little Bit Easier is a post by App Chronicles

Crow is billed as a story-driven, action/adventure game, but approaching it with any of your normal expectations will definitely lead to confusion. The game unfolds in “faraway lands,” where we’re told that an ancient battle is unfolding. And that’s about all you know before you’ll find yourself flying high above a beautiful landscape where there’s lots to discover.

You can approach each world a few different ways—either spend time flying around and taking in the sites while you collect trinkets, or confront the enemies and advance the story as quickly as possible. After going through the game, I’d have to recommend going the exploratory route and letting the story happen on its own. Crow’s main strength is its visuals, and rushing through the worlds in a hurry would be a major waste, especially since the bits of actual gameplay that separate the segments of the game are pretty clunky.

The controls of Crow could be split into two categories—freestyle flying and then a sort of on-the-rails combat system that takes over when you’re in a confrontation… When you’re simply exploring, you control your Crow by tapping where you want to fly, and that’s as deep as it goes. When you enter a confrontation, you gain control over more depth-of-field and control your bird in a virtual-stick style. Attacking is done by slashing your enemies at just the right times… If it sounds limited and frustrating, that’s because it often is, especially since the controls can be unresponsive, leading to short battles that have to be restarted until you get lucky.

Seeing as Crow’s gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, I’d love to say that the story makes up for it—but that’s not the case. It seems like Crow was made to be a meta story that centered on the creation of an atmosphere where “your choices will forever alter the course of this world.” But the whole thing is incredibly vague and bogged down by flowery language that never advances any actual story. Instead, we move from environment to environment, meeting interesting-looking characters and seeing gorgeous sights, but never really feeling like it gets tied together by any epic storyline.

But maybe I’m expecting too much on top of the impressive landscapes that exist in Crow . If that’s the case, it’s only because Sunside leads us to expect big things… When it comes down to it, Crow works in one regard—and that’s as an exploratory experience that lets you see an incredible, shifting world from the vantage point of the sky. It’s a worthwhile experience, but it lacks the breath-taking moments of action that you get the feeling Sunside was going for… Even so, this is quite an introduction of the developer’s in-house game platform called Radiance. Hopefully it will act as an effective warmup and the developer can give us something more well-rounded in the near future. If nothing else, they’ve at least earned that chance.

Our Score: 3 Out of 5

Crow Review: Unlike Anything You’ve Played Before is a post by App Chronicles

Dark Legends, the new vampire-themed massively multiplayer game from Spacetime Studios, recently released as a two-week exclusive to Google’s Play and Chrome app markets. While it will make its way to iOS eventually, I was eager to try it; so I loaded it up in Chrome to take a look.

I was not impressed. In fact, playing the game posed a question, one that I’m still not certain I know the answer to: Is Dark Legends really an MMORPG?

It seems like an odd question, I know. After all, it bills itself as an MMORPG, it’s from a company known for its MMORPGs, and there’s definitely MMORPG in its DNA. But having played it, I’m not quite sure that it is.

Dark Legends plays as a hybrid of Spacetime’s prior Legends games (Pocket Legends, Star Legends) and the the Facebook time-waster Vampire Wars, part of the Zynga stable. You play a vampire in a city full of other bloodsuckers and play through a series of linear missions, powering up your undead hero and collecting treasures. It’s got a high schlock factor, a quick pace, and a design sense straight out of the Blade movies. Sounds fun, right? And it is, kind of.

Club Sanctuary, part of the Vampire District

The character you create is a vampire. Not a vampire warrior or a vampire rogue or a vampire necromancer; just a vampire. As your vampire gains levels there are no stats to tweak nor talents to learn; only a dozen or so pre-determined vampire powers that you can select from (and reset for IAP currency). About the only thing you have complete control over is your toon’s equipment — weapons and a variety of stat-boosing gems — and their clothing, all of which is vanity.

To gain levels, you complete a linear series of missions which must more or less be completed in story order. You don’t select missions from a quest-giver; they’re just there, on a map, waiting for you to click them. Some of these missions aren’t even playable, but instead are animatedcut-scenes. That’s right — your character gets to gain treasure and experience from missions you don’t even interact with. And any mission can be bypassed for the cost of IAP currency.

Furthermore, the game features some elements very reminiscent of casual social games like Vampire Wars. The most blatant is the energy bar. Want to grind the night away in Dark Legends? Good luck. Everything you do in Dark Legends comes with an energy cost. You get 25 energy, max; this does not go up as you level. While your 25 max energy never increases, the cost of missions do — they begin at 1, 2, or 3 energy, but by the time you reach even 10th level they begin to cost 7, 8 and even 10 energy or more. And many of them feature wait-timers, another staple of the Zynga playbook.

So, we have a game with limited character customization, linear quest lines featuring non-interactive events, energy bars that limit play time, and timers that impede play. Can you see why question Dark Legends’s status as  an MMORPG?

At this point we should probably ask “What is an MMORPG”? There’s no single, official definition out there, though that bastion of modern consensus, Wikipedia, defines it thus:

“A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world.

“As in all RPGs, players assume the role of a character (often in a fantasy world) and take control over many of that character’s actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player RPGs by the number of players, and by the game’s persistent world (usually hosted by the game’s publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game.”

That seems like a fair place to start. And if we unpack it a bit, we get two major components that an MMORPG should satisfy: (1) An MMORPG features a persistent online experience played by many people [the MMO]; and (2) an MMORPG has the features of a role-playing game [the RPG].

Blood, magic, and dead people.

Dark Legends easily satisfies the first requirement; it’s a perpetual online experience centered on the Vampire District, which is a persistent world area where many people come and go. While missions can be completed solo, it’s much easier to play them in a group, the same way you would an instance in World of Warcraft. Dark Legends is an MMO.

But what about the RPG part? I come out of a heavy RPG background, and not just videogame RPGs; I am a longtime player of the graddaddy of them all, tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, the game that invented the genre. I’ve even published game scenarios for that franchise. So I’d like to think I know a thing or two about RPGs.

The focus of an RPG is in taking on a role; you play a character that has powers and abilities, and those powers and abilites are different from other characters, and you develop those powers and abilities as you progress through the game, usually via some variation on “experience points” (XP) and “leveling”.

An amusing little billboard in-game.

While I have a toon in Dark legends, and while she does earn XP and gain levels, she’s not really a unique character. I can give my vampire a name (in my case Alimac, my standard first character in any MMO) and a unique look via vanity costumes; but she has no identifiable class, no unique skillset, no controllable stats. I can’t min-max her abilities, can barely devise a unique build, and I lack any real ability to differentiate her from everyone else except through a limited assigning of Power points. She’s a cipher for the game interface, not a unique character.

Also, she has no role. Tank? Healer? DPS? Those are meaningless here. The vampire is a jack of all trades — she can dish it out, she can take a hit, she can heal herself when she’s weak. Putting together a party doesn’t mean assembling a team of diverse talents needed to survive a difficult encounter; it just means having a lot of vampires killing things a lot faster. I look at Dark Legends and I barely see an RPG.

And then there’s the game’s energy mechanic and mission timers. What purpose do these features serve in terms of game play? None. They force you to come back later. It’s a habit-building mechanic meant first to train you — get you logging in every couple hours — and second, to annoy you so that you spend money to bypass it. It is the very antithesis of “open world” or “open play,” two things I expect in an MMORPG.

I literally have MORE THAN AN HOUR to wait before I can progress further.

So, is Dark Legends an MMORPG? If it is, it’s only barely one, existing in an uncomfortable space at the fringes of the definition. Sure, I’m playing with others, but I’m not playing a role. There are times when I’m barely playing a game, and I can skip those parts if I have deep enough pockets.

Further, I hate what Dark Legends represents for the broader genre. If we accept it as an MMORPG, then we are accepting this insane, Zynga-fied freemium model as the future of pocket-sized MMORPGs — a future where the gameplay is light, wait times are long, and the IAPs are in yor face at every turn. And that’s not what I want to see MMORPGs become.

I’m not here to tell Spacetime Studios what sort of games to make; if they want to embrace the freemium social-play model for their games going forward, more power to them. But they should not be calling their games MMORPGs.

***

Want more discussion? Tune into Massively Portable, the weekly podcast about pocket-sized MMORPGs.

Is Dark Legends an MMORPG? I Hope Not is a post by App Chronicles

In Skylanders Cloud Patrol, you take on the role of gun-toting Trigger Happy, one of the 30+ Skylanders characters. Riding in a cannon turret on an airship, your job is to clear floating islands of evil troll invaders. Along the way, you must collect coins, dodge bombs and projectiles, shoot some sheep, gather presents, and complete achievements that help you level up. The further you get, the more rewards you collect; and then you use those rewards to purchase in-game items and even more Skylanders.

It’s a fairly simple game presented in a fairly straightforward way. There’s no plot or side missions; it’s purely a shooting gallery where you move from one island to the next.  The progression of areas is broken up by things like bonus areas and “Hideouts” where trolls appear whack-a-mole style, and generally the game moves at a fast enough pace that it does not get monotonous. It’s also a fairly quick game to play, especially since one mistake — shoot a bomb or get hit by a projectile — is all it takes to end the game. There are no extra lives in Skylanders Cloud Patrol!

The game is also definitely a Skylanders game, not just a generic game retrofitted with some Skylanders skins. Shooting galleries pop up all through the console game, and it’s a good idea to leverage them into their own little pocket player. In addition, all of the Skylanders are represented here, as are several of the objects from the game. Power-ups come in recognizable forms and work in ways that make sense in the game, even when they’re different from the console versions.

Graphically, too, everything is bright and colorful and recognizably Skylanders, though things can look awfully polygon-shaped sometimes (such as the balloon on the airship). But as the game’s constantly shuffling you along to the next area, you never get a chance to linger on these graphical hiccups. And the Skylanders themselves all look authentic to the console game, so kids won’t notice the other flaws.

And really, kids are the target demographic here. For kids, Skylanders Cloud Patrol is not only fun, but offers the added benefit of being able to “portal” their toys into the game via the toy codes that come with each figure. That’s assuming your kids have kept them; my son had lost most of his, though we were able to quickly get a Terrafin and a Stealth Elf via card codes.

I’m not sure that many adults will pick this game up.  It’s not that this game can’t be a challenging little guilty pleasure; it’s just that you’ll feel a little silly playing it in public. This one’s really for the kids, especially kids who own the console game. It’s something that they’ll want on their iPod Touch, or their mom’s iPad. And for a good game at the low price of 99 cents, it’s something that’s easy to treat a kid to.

Our Score: 4 out of 5

Skylanders Cloud Patrol Review: Kid-Friendly Gallery Shooter is a post by App Chronicles

It’s clear right away when you launch the Wonders of the Universe that you’re in for a self-guided trip full of amazing sights and facts. After reading a brief introduction and going through a few navigation demonstrations, the app pretty much leaves you to it… So what do you do when you’re staring at the entire universe on a 9-inch screen? Well, pinch to zoom of course… You could spend a lot of time free styling through the stars as you tap to drag and move in and out, but that would be to ignore a whole lot of information that’s served up by Cox in quite an engaging way. For that reason, it’s definitely worth pulling up the menus and bringing a bit of structure to your exploration.

I could try and recap the information presented in Wonders of the Universe, but I have a feeling you have other things to do in the next few years. Cox and his team have gone to great lengths to use text, photos, and videos to teach us the most stimulating and educational tidbits culled from the sub-atomic level to a universal scale. Whether it’s the Milky Way you’re investigating or the complexity of black holes, you can bet that Cox’s time as a BBC presenter has made him more than qualified to act as your instructor… The information itself interacts seamlessly with the deep-space background. Occupying just the center of the screen, text moves from bottom to top and is interspersed with photos and videos. Whenever an image gallery or video clip comes up, you can navigate by swiping right or left, and then move on by continuing to scroll up. It’s a great system that never gets in the way of your continued travels through space. Even so, I recommend not getting bogged down for too long, cause there’s just too much to see here.

While Wonders does an incredible job of confirming how mind-bendingly big the universe is and delivering salient facts along the way, there are just a few hiccups. Whenever Wonders leaves the rails, it’s usually because of slightly clunky navigational commands. The pinch-to-zoom control is adequate, as are the menus for calling up specific sections or levels of space, but you’re always just a few taps away from getting completely disoriented and turned around–or maybe it’s just me and my lack of base knowledge to begin with.

Another possible area of improvement for Wonders would be a bit more of a hand-holding for people like me. There are two “tours” available in the app, and that’s an area I’d definitely like to see expanded in the future. In addition, some quiz material would be great for sending us off on quests through the cosmos that are less aimless when you don’t know what to do next.

But these are small complaints. You can purchase Wonders of the Universe knowing that Cox will adequately blow your mind with what’s inside. For all the success he’s had in television and other mediums, Cox didn’t phone this one in, and it’s not a half-baked tie-in project for anything else he’s got going on. Instead, Wonders stands as a marvelous example of how the iPad can be used as an educational tool. Long gone are the days of staring at astronomy textbooks (or they should be long gone, anyway). This is an immensely entertaining way to flit through space, and yeah, you can expect to learn a ton along the way.

Our Score: 4.5 Out of 5

Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe Review: A Fresh Look at the Cosmos is a post by App Chronicles

Minecraft Pocket Edition brings the same open-ended, achievement-free building game to iOS that many folks have enjoyed on their desktop PCs. You generate your own little world full of destructible polygon blocks and then proceed to reshape the world to your liking. In Creative Mode, everything is a blank slate and you’re free to create; in Survival Mode, you create in a living world with a day/night cycle, shambling zombies, a life meter, and the need to seek out some of the materials you need for creating. It’s all created using the same graphics and sounds as regular Minecraft, and so it all looks and feels authentic to the desktop game.

In the moment of the game, it’s fun to play. In Creative Mode, you get this burst of inventiveness where you attempt to create your first structure, and you’re learning about the different blocks and what looks good, and you’re having fun. The controls are quickly learned, and soon you begin tunneling, finding natural caverns, carving out torch-lit rooms. It’s almost Zen in its own way, and the appeal of Minecraft is evident.

But then you realize that the fixed perspective on a small screen means you can’t just zoom out to look over your whole creation. Also, there’s no discovering or importing new blocks, items, or textures — it’s just a limited set of blocks. And when you DO finish your project, you realize that there’s no one to share it with because these aren’t public servers. You can only share your creations with people on the same WiFi connection as you are on.

In Survival Mode, there’s a little more to do. Day and night can impede your ability to build and navigate, and zombies harass your efforts. You have to mine for stone and some other blocks. But you’re given an unlimited amount of a fair number of other blocks, such that you don’t really have to mine for much. The zombies don’t seem to have the destructive abilities they do in the desktop version. And you never need to kill to eat or craft torches to see. Essentially, Survival Mode isn’t much more than Creative Mode but with the hassle of darkness and occasional zombies (the Creeper is nowhere to be seen) and the limitation of a few blocks you don’t have unlimited numbers of. And it is also limited to local WiFi.

So, in short: the Creative Mode doesn’t offer the creative scope or social element that the desktop version does; the Survival Mode doesn’t offer gameplay as robust or interesting as the desktop version does; and in both modes your creations are limited to WiFi so they can’t be shared the way the desktop version can. Basically, that’s three strikes against Minecraft Pocket Edition that are hard to overlook.

There’s one redeeming feature here: This game is still technically in Alpha. Yes, Alpha. The version is 0.2.0, and until it earns a 1.0, this game is a work in progress. There’s every chance it will get much better as time goes on. When it first released last year, there wasn’t even a Survival Mode, and pigs just came in the latest update, and announced future updates promise actual crafting and worldwide multiplayer. So there’s plenty of opportunity for Minecraft Pocket Edition to become more than it is, and it probably will. It’s just not there yet.

For now, if you’ve never played Mincraft before, this is probably a poor introduction to the game. It will leave you with a real “What the heck’s the big deal?” feeling, and it needs to be a lot more like its desktop sibling before I can recommend it to new players.  For people who know Minecraft and just want to practice their building chops, this is an easier recommendation, especially with its presumed future updates bringing the game in line with what you’d expect. Just don’t expect your money’s worth today.

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 [Though we will definitely revisit the game in the future]

Minecraft Pocket Edition Review: Bite Sized, Limited Work in Progress is a post by App Chronicles

I first realized my need for a tool like Notability after taking a new job. My first 
few weeks were spent studying for certification exams, with all the necessary 
information being provided to me in the form of long PDF documents. Staring at
 a computer screen for hours on end looked daunting, especially when I knew I
 was going to be needing to re-read and do some extensive noting and
 highlighting… Enter Notability: the app is perfectly suited for creating new notes
 and annotating PDFs, which made it the ideal candidate for making my studies just
 a bit more pleasurable.

Though the note creation of Notability is incredibly useful (and blows the built-in 
Notes app out of the water), let’s start by talking about the annotation features.
 Once you get a document imported into the app–which can be easily 
accomplished using Dropbox or the “open in” feature–you’re all set to start making colorful 
notes and highlights, or even adding sections of typed text. All the icons are
 located in a toolbar at the top of the screen (which can be hidden to maximize 
document visibility), and changing the width or color of your writing implements 
is accomplished with a double tap. When a writing tool is selected, navigating the
PDF document is done by scrolling with two fingers or opening up the page view 
represented by the stack of papers on the right side of the screen… For the most 
part, the process is intuitive and easy to navigate, though you’ll probably find that
 your efficiency won’t meet it’s potential till the navigation becomes second nature 
and you stop accidentally marking up the document.

With the ability to annotate tucked in your back pocket, it’s time to turn to the
 creation of new notes. At the risk of getting preachy, I’ll share another firsthand 
example of how Notability can be used… I’m writing this review from inside the 
app, and let’s say I want to insert a hand drawn figure (such as a graph or a funny 
illustration). All it takes is a few taps before I’m taken to a blank slate. After the 
drawing is done, I’m taken back here to the text where I can tap to insert (Side note: stylus or not, making marks is fluid and accurate).
 Notability offers great options for resizing such hand-drawn objects, and the text wrap works 

wonderfully… Similarly easy processes are used for inserting things like web clips 
or photos. With the basics under your belt, you can blow the roof off your
 productivity by getting familiar with more advanced features like audio recordings
 and the zoom feature… While the potential for creativity and variation in your notes is endless, the app doesn’t position itself as a pure text creation tool–meaning it’s more useful for dynamic note-taking that can change direction at any moment (with the end result being packaged as a PDF).

Now that you’re aware of what Notability can do, it’s time to offer a word of 
warning: Don’t be turned away by the app’s lack of flair…Yes, it’s pretty plain and
 doesn’t boast any of the appeal or style of an Apple app, but that has no bearing 
on how it can expand your productivity once you get through the slight learning
 curve. Notability is one of those App Store gems that is worth your investment of 
time and money even though it doesn’t get much time in the spotlight. Pick it up 
now and discover a great example of what you COULD be doing with your iPad in the classroom or 
workplace.

Our Score: 4 Out of 5

Notability Review: An Excellent Note-Taking, PDF Annotation Tool is a post by App Chronicles

If you’re unfamiliar with versions of Clear Vision from days gone by, then think of it as Grand Theft Auto on a budget. While this sniping game isn’t even in the same realm as the visually-rich, variety-filled GTA, it does contain the same sense of humor and story-driven thrust… The saga of Tyler the stickman begins with his getting sacked from his job at a grocery store. After being let go by his unjust supervisor, what recourse does Tyler have but to take up arms and become a hitman? That’s what he does; however, the rest of Tyler’s story isn’t filled with wealth and security, because his new lifestyle is fraught with the consequences of his choices…

While the cutscenes, newspaper clippings, notes, and emails make up a big part of Clear Vision’s story, the heart of the game is found in the assignments, which invariably send Tyler out on the streets to take someone down. When this happens, you’ll find yourself staring through the scope of a sniper (of which there are five models in the game). Sometimes making the shot is as simple as tapping the screen and moving the crosshairs onto the head of the unlucky stick figure before firing. But Clear Vision follows a nice progression of increasing difficulty by forcing you to factor in wind and distance. The calculations are never overly complicated, but they do make for a more rewarding shot.

Speaking of the “rewards” to be found in Clear Vision, it should be said that the game definitely earns its “17+” disclaimer. FDG Mobile might be making a conscious effort to cater to more mature gamers, but the blood splatters and animations that accompany a well-placed shot are always good for a laugh or a gasp, as are the situations brought to your attention by clients. This is the business of killing, and everyone Tyler comes into contact with is entirely unapologetic about that fact.

As Tyler grows his “business,” there’s need to spend money on more advanced rifles. One way to get more money faster is to take your earnings to the underground boxing ring. It’s here that you can bet on red or blue and then watch an amusing stickman fight that ends in someone getting brutally bashed.

It’s difficult to say what makes all this nasty business so much fun… Surely, the humor is part of it. But there’s also a compelling story that ends with a cliffhanger and the promise of more to come. Is it simplistic and shallow? Absolutely, but aren’t those traits acceptable for a guilty pleasure such as this? Clear Vision is in an entirely different category than the 3D productions of some major studios. Let’s call it retro, for lack of a better word… But the ultimate test for an iOS game is whether or not we care when an update is released–one that brings new content and more challenges… When it comes to Tyler and the hole he has dug for himself, I can honestly say I’m interested in what happens, and I want to be staring through the scope as it unfolds. That’s enough for me to call this minimalistic effort a big success.

Our Score: 4.5 Out of 5

Clear Vision (17+) Review: Everyone’s Favorite Stick-man Got a New Job as a Hitman is a post by App Chronicles

In terms of plot, Swordigo is very standard fantasy fare. There’s a young hero; a supernatural evil out to destroy everything; a kingdom in trouble; a magic sword to assemble. It’s a straightforward set-up that lets the game exist, and it’s clear that no one at Touch Foo thought too deeply about it. But that’s okay, because you’re not playing Swordigo for the story. You’re playing it for the hours of hack-n-slash genre goodness.

In this regard, Swordigo delivers in spades. You make your way, side-scroll style, through enemy-infested areas — a forest, a cave, a castle, an icy plain — swinging your sword and slinging spells. Every kill earns you experience points, which levels you up and makes you stronger; you also improve your weapons and armor, of course. It’s all the things you’d expect, and it’s all done incredibly well. It’s a fun game to play, one that scratched my RPG itch quite well.

Swordigo also challenged me, because it’s pretty hard in spots. Some areas are cleverly designed and just frustrating enough to make it fun; and some of the game’s boss battles are teeth-grittingly difficult. Yet the game is still designed with a more casual iOS gamer in mind — it has a forgiving redo system in place for when you die, it offers ample checkpoints for when you actually die, and each segment of the world is small enough to be negotiated in a few minutes.  This balance of real challenge and casual sensibility is incredibly well struck.

Great game play and design are accompanied by a finely tuned control scheme. Touch controls are always going to be a limitation of the mobile gaming genre, but games like Swordigo and the recently released League of Evil 2 show that they can be really, really well done. You’ll rarely be frustrated by these virtual buttons.

The game play in Swordigo is so incredibly good that I’m almost depressed about the story and graphics. There’s not a lick of originality in the generic setting, story, and graphical presentation. In fact, as a big Legend of Zelda fan, I couldn’t quite overlook how much of that franchise is in Swordigo’s DNA. They really don’t try to disguise it; some of the enemies, items, and graphical elements seem lifted straight from that franchise. And the cartoon, almost plastic graphics sometimes jarred with the high-fantasy adventure feel of the game play.

But this game isn’t good because it’s original; it’s good because of the way it has used those familiar elements, like a DJ mixing samples of familiar songs into something you want to keep listening to. I can’t quite bring myself to give Swordigo five stars; but I just enjoyed it too much not to recommend it. I only hope that Swordigo 2, if and when it hits, tries to forge into less familiar territory.

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5

Swordigo Review: A Fantastic Action RPG with Familiar Plot, but Stellar Execution is a post by App Chronicles

Players of the two previous games in the series, Chaos Rings and Chaos Rings Omega, will be immediately familiar with the structure of Chaos Rings II. You play a pair of characters who move between set scenes and grind their way through various world-levels in turn-based combat. The story is set aboard the massive and mysterious Ark Arena, and before the end of the story, most of the main characters will be scheduled to die. Piu-Piu will dance in the corner with his cardboard ladies and sell you upgraded weapons and armor. The music will be pretty good. Yes, this is familiar territory for the Chaos Rings series.

Having said that, it is the best executed of the three games. The characters are more interesting, and you get to know them all a little better. The plot has more … well, plot to it, and the Ark Arena (and its handlers) have been recast into something more interesting and textured. The graphics are stunners, with everything from the character designs to the pre-rendered backgrounds impressing. And unlike Chaos Rings Omega, Chaos Rings II doesn’t just recycle level and enemy assets; the setting and monsters are new and better-looking than before.

Like its predecessors, Chaos Rings II isn’t an open-ended RPG, but a linear story that you guide the characters through. Unlike the previous entries, here you aren’t following one pair through most or all of the game. Characters are constantly switching off, and through the life of the game (and it’s LONG life, with many hours of gameplay to be had) you’ll take control of at least six different characters. This could be seen as a bad thing, since it means sometimes having to redo levels just to level new characters to the same level as the ones you were previously playing; but the benefits are variety, story, and drama. I consider that a fair trade.

In every conceivable way, Chaos Rings II is better than either of its predecessors, except in the one way that perhaps matters most: core game play. It’s still stuck in a single linear dimension: grind wandering monster mobs (almost all of which require nothing more than straight face-beating) to reach bosses (where things like character abilities and items become relevant). I liked the original game enough to play through this one, but boy did I find myself wishing for some sort of change to the combat routine. Especially since the game entices you to replay and grind higher to develop the many characters and to unlock more story elements.

The other potential turn-off for this game is the price. It is not cheap, at $17.99 for the iPhone and $19.99 for the iPad. In the App Store, that’s a premium price to pay. If you like RPGs and liked the precious games in the series, it’s definitely worth it; but still … ouch!

All in all, I love and appreciate Square Enix’s approach to big, dramatic RPG opera storytelling, and I enjoyed my time with it in Chaos Rings II. But the edges are wearing thin on the Chaos Rings formula a bit, and I can only hope that they take some cues from their more famous franchise in the future. Chaos Rings III needs to open up the gameplay options a bit, and perhaps expand the story beyond the Ark Arena. I’d hate to see the franchise go stale.

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5.

Chaos Rings II Review: Better Story, Better Graphics, Same Gameplay is a post by App Chronicles

While the game may not always be the most realistic (some physics based laws can be broken here and there), it still serves up an incredibly detailed and realistic experience. Sky Gamblers is incredibly fast paced and full of action, all taking place in that great equalizer: the sky. Fly through the heavens at break neck speeds; twist, turn, and dive with pinpoint precision; and shoot, attack, and defend against enemies that would do wrong against you.

With varying difficulty settings, you can determine how you want to play, but even some of the lowest difficulty settings still give you a ridiculous amount of control. The higher difficulty settings allow you to play with accelerometer control, which is great, but be warned: it can get incredibly touchy and difficult to perform your maneuvers and simple flight tricks due to the fact that you might get so engrossed in the experience that you aren’t paying attention to how you’re holding the device.

Regardless of which setting you choose, everything pretty much happens within the palm of your hands. Tilting the device up, down, left, or to the right will drive your aircraft in that direction. With advanced controls, such as swiping the screen up/down and many others, you can perform an array of tricks and maneuvers that might even make some of the most seasoned pilots a little queasy. Increase or decrease your speed with the touch of a finger, command your wingmen, and so much more with intuitive gesture based controlling. While it can get a little overwhelming at first, I was able to pick up the tricks of the trade, so to speak, in a matter of time. Once I had the hang of it, I felt like there was very little anyone could do to stop me. If you’re a stickler for advanced gaming control, you’ll definitely find Sky Gamblers to be appealing, as it would take me writing a post much longer than this one to detail all of the possibilities in controls.

While the story mode might not be the most unique (hey, how many variations of flight combat stories can one really come up with, anyway?), the campaign modes are still excellent and challenging. But that’s not all. You can take part in dogfight missions, multiplayer modes, as well as deathmatch, capture the flag, and base defense. No matter what your preferences, I think it’s safe to say that Sky Gamblers might have you covered in every area of entertainment possibilities for a game like this.

The graphics are really a thing to behold, especially on the iPad’s new display. Colors pop and animations are wonderfully smooth, with a few choice moments bringing me to an almost giddy giggle. Almost, I said. For a game as technologically intensive as this one, I was surprised to find that I rarely had an issue with crashes or stuttering. I encountered perhaps a few moments like that, but I was able to quickly pick up where I left off and I didn’t even think about it. There is one gripe about the graphics, though. They can be a bit inconsistent. While breathtaking in one moment up in the air, visuals can get rather underwhelming the closer to the ground you are. There isn’t a lot of detail there, and I suppose you would expect as much, since this is a game that’s all about…well, the sky. But it created a stark contrast for me.

While the game can be a bit of a difficult pick up right off the bat, Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy more than holds its own in not just the mobile gaming platform, but the flight simulator genre as well. All of the planes are incredibly detailed, and the artwork is top notch, not to mention the game play. With only a few minor quibbles, it’s safe to say that Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy is quite the win for Namco Bandai, the developer.

While it might cost a bit more than your average gaming app at $4.99, Sky Gamblers is worth the price, if you ask me. Since it’s a universal app, I’ve played it on both my iPhone and new iPad, and it’s the exact same experience on each device.

Our score: 5 out of 5.

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy Review: Gorgeous Graphics, Fast Paced Action, And an Intense Experience is a post by App Chronicles

There was a time when it seemed questionable if the iPad’s touch interface was suitable for real work, but as I mentioned earlier, I think we’ve moved on… Once you launch your first project in iMovie, you’re met with a screen that’s segmented into three parts (in landscape mode, anyway). You’ve got your iPad video clips in the upper left, with the “My Project” viewing pane positioned right beside that. Below is where you’ll drag video clips, photos, and songs as you arrange the final product… And working with these materials has been made incredibly simple by Apple. Adjusting video length is accomplished by sliding on the ends of the clip, and it can be done either before you’ve sent the content to the timeline or after. The rest of the processes are a combination of drag-and-drop and multi-touch gestures. One thing is for sure, you won’t find yourself in many situations where the solution to your problem can’t be easily figured out through some experimentation.

A couple of the special new features added through recent updates are the ability to swipe down on the playhead to split a clip, or swipe up to freeze a frame. These missing features were on my list of “cons” until I visited the app’s iTunes page and saw them advertised in the description. Such “advanced” features would be worth mentioning in a tutorial, but none is made available inside the iMovie app. Other things you might not figure out on your own would be pinching horizontally to zoom the timeline, or pinching vertically to open the precision editor… Cool tricks, but not very well explained unless you do the research.

With any $4.99 mobile video editor, you have to expect that there will be some things you can’t do, and that’s certainly the case with iMovie. As much of an amateur as I am, I occasionally come up with ideas that seem to be out of the reach of the simple software. So if you’ve got any experience whatsoever (that freshman year video production class counts, as I discovered), you’d do well to limit your expectations with iMovie, or maybe look elsewhere. The themes and trailers (which are fun for a few minutes, and entertaining for the kids) are all heavily pre-formatted, meaning that you’ll have to be willing to fit your creativity into Apple’s presets to find satisfaction.

Another annoyance to mention—which could easily be stripped from the app in an update—is iMovie’s insistence on adding a cross-fade transition after each clip you drop into the timeline. If you want to avoid the soft look that goes along with 40 cross-fades in a five-minute movie, you’ve got to tap-and-hold and delete each one.

… But again, when you consider the market for iMovie and what’s it’s supposed to accomplish, there’s no denying that Apple hit the mark. Not only is it incredibly easy to throw together a handful of clips and then post the product online, there’s even enough here to improve your skills and get more out of the app as you go… Professional tool this is not, but for all other purposes, its worth five bucks.

Our Score: 4 Out of 5

iMovie for iPad Review: Great for Casual Filmmaking is a post by App Chronicles

There’s a lot to be happy with, and really only one complaint. The unfortunate thing, though, is that the one complaint is quite annoying, but we’ll get to that soon enough.

Like its predecessor, Flight Control Rocket is an air traffic control game where you do your best to avoid, or minimize any damage and accidents in space. Where this iteration stands out is its difficulty when compared to the first. You have to contend with larger ships, weird flight patterns, and heavier flight traffic, adding a level of difficulty that the first didn’t possess.

Each ship has a color coordinating with its port, and your job is to direct that ship’s path into the ports set in various places within the giant “mothership”. Instead of just landing the ships, you have to actually plan ahead the flight patterns to avoid collisions with any other ships that they might come in contact with. If you take your eye away for too long, a ship might come into view and a possible collision with one you’ve already set a path for, thus forcing you to reroute the previous ship. Another added difficulty is that some ships come with a whole squadron of other ships of the same type. So instead of directing just one ship’s path, you have to take into account that five or ten more ships will be following closely behind the first one. Every type of ship has a varying speed, so pay close attention and soon enough you will have the ship types, formations, and speeds down.  Otherwise you’ll be starting the level over much quicker than you’d hoped for.

If you’re wondering how the game looks on the new iPad’s Retina Display, it’s freaking fantastic; although, that could probably be said about any app that utilizes the new screen. The graphics are crisp and colorful, as nearly every design element pops and shines while an array of multicolored ships zoom across your screen. The animations are also done quite well, being that they’re smooth and purposeful, giving a very fluid visual experience. Never once has the app crashed or skipped a beat on me, and that’s saying a lot when you account for the considerable amount of technical things happening behind the Retina Display.

You aren’t on your own in Flight Control Rocket. No, you’re given help from a robot that will aid you in maximizing your scores, but this is where things get annoying, and in my opinion, the game takes a drastic dive. The one free robot is great and all, but you’ll soon find EA constantly asking if you’d like to purchase another robot within the app in order to aid with the increasing difficulty. For every new challenge you encounter, you can bet your sweet bippy that there’s a robot for that, as long as you’re willing to part with some coinage. This wouldn’t be a huge annoyance if the game itself were free, but that’s obviously not the case. In app purchase solicitation is annoying enough for me, but when I’ve already paid for a game, I don’t want to be pestered more and more to buy something else in order to make playing the game fun and more simple.

Flight Control Rocket can get pretty challenging pretty quick, and it’s obvious EA made it this way so that you would be even more tempted to drop a few dollars in order to keep progressing at a consistent rate. If you have enough skill and patience, you could definitely save up your points and coins you earn as the game goes on, but that would honestly take a long, long time. Again, EA isn’t forcing you to buy them, but the constant solicitation starts to rub you the wrong way the more and more it happens, detracting from the escapism the game is supposed to give.

Overall, Flight Rocket Control is a highly entertaining game that you could easily immerse yourself into for quite awhile, and a bargain at only $0.99. It’s safe for every member of the whole family, and gameplay is dead simple, making it easy for kids to get the hang of; while still being enough of a challenge for adults to be entertained by.

Our score: 4 out of 5

Flight Control Rocket Review: A Beautifully Designed app that Builds on its Predecessor is a post by App Chronicles

Chances are you came across this title in the App Store after being introduced to the board game. If that’s the case, then you already know the gist of Ticket to Ride: Build railroads across various maps as you connect destinations and gather points. Along the way, you’ll want to employ some sort of strategy to prevent your opponents from amassing more points than yourself, and maybe you’ll also consider taking a shot at longest railroad, which is good for a bonus at the end.

I’ll spare you from a detailed outline of the rules, since the game does a great job of laying everything out in a brief video tutorial with a voiceover. There is also a turn-by-turn, in-game tutorial that will ensure new players know what they’re doing… The iTunes page claims that Ticket to Ride takes “3 minutes to learn,” and that’s mostly true. Like any board game worth its salt, there are some technicalities that will take time, but for the most part you can start laying tracks and having fun in no time.

The controls of Ticket to Ride are quite seamless. You pick up destination tickets and rail cars by tapping where you wish, and sections of railroad are placed by tapping, dragging, and releasing. It’s all easy enough that your attention can remain focused on figuring out how you’re going to get from A to B (and beyond) while stopping your opponent along the way.

It’s safe to say that Ticket to Ride in the App Store is more full-featured that any box you could buy in stores. After all, the app allows for pass-and-play amongst friends, local network games with other devices, and online support for matches through Game Center or Days of Wonder. You can also play against AI opponents to sharpen your skills, and expansion packs are available via in-app purchase once you wear out the included USA map… If you still can’t get enough, there’s Grand Central Station, where developer Days of Wonder provides you with a “fully-animated, colorful experience” as you discover the world of Ticket to Ride.

As this review nears the end of its journey, we’re left with no ‘cons’ that are worth mentioning about Ticket to Ride… Maybe you enjoyed the physical version of this game at a friend’s house, and then looked for Ticket to Ride in stores only to discover that it’s tough to find the game for a price under $40. Too rich for your blood? That’s what the $6.99 app is for, and luckily this one is of 5-star quality.

Ticket to Ride Review: iPad Owners get on Board for this Faithful Adaptation of the Classic Board Game is a post by App Chronicles

After rolling through the first few levels of Tank Hero, you’ll quickly catch on to the game’s structure. The original release boasted 120 levels that were split into three worlds. Levels are unlocked in the campaign mode by destroying all the other tanks present and earning a gold, silver, or bronze medal (depending on your time and the damage you suffered). As you might expect, things get harder as you go, with more complicated layouts and enemy tanks that are more difficult to destroy… Besides the campaign mode, you can also dabble in Survival or Time Trial.

Throughout your explosive adventure, you should expect to find six different kinds of AI tanks, and you’ll get access to an equal number of weapons with which to combat them. Clapfoot keeps it pretty traditional by strapping your tank with such projectiles as grenades, howitzers, heat seekers, and cannons… Along with your choice of weapons, you’re given different methods of controlling your tank. You can choose to utilize virtual d-pads, swipes, and taps for getting around and shooting. All are viable options, and it will just take some experimenting to determine your preference. I find that the easiest method is whichever allows you to not cover your tank with your thumb.

With all of those tanks, weapons, and control schemes, it would seem that all the pieces are in place for Tank Hero to be an absolute blast. For the most part, that’s the case… The OpenGL 3D graphics means the game looks wonderful, and all the effort that Clapfoot must have put into providing the control methods really pays off. All things considered, the multitude of levels provide plenty of thrills and challenges to make Tank Hero well-worth your dollar.

… But I wouldn’t feel like everything has been laid on the table without noting that this is a game in sore need of multiplayer. And without it, Tank Hero won’t live up to what it could be. There’s just no better time to team up with a friend than when trying to blow up opposing tanks. Alternatively, there’s no more purer form of competition that lining up on the opposite side of an arena and trying to eliminate your friend.

Perhaps multiplayer has been scheduled for an upcoming update, but if so, Clapfoot hasn’t mentioned it on the app’s iTunes page. And with the last update to the game coming in July of 2011, we’re left to assume that Tank Hero might be left in its current form for good… Even if that’s the case, I’m still not complaining about what this dollar bought me. There’s more than enough joyful destruction and narrow escapes to be found here, and you’ll find it difficult to not keep coming back for more.

Our Score: 4 Out of 5

Tank Hero Review: Fast-Paced and Explosive is a post by App Chronicles

With iPhoto for iOS, users have the ability to take full  advantage of an intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate and create gorgeous, lightly edited photos, with minimal work. It’s a photo storing and editing software that virtually anyone can get the hang of, not just those familiar with the Mac version.

It should be stated that iPhoto isn’t here to replace the native photo library on your device. Instead, what it is here to do is provide you with more functionality and to work in tandem with your library to provide enhancement tools that help you edit your photos just right in order to look a little better. While it is by no means an end all be all editing program, it provides just enough power, tools, and options to give you the ability to get the job done.

The moment you launch iPhoto, you’re given four functional tabs to choose from: Albums, Photos, Events, and Journal. Albums, Photos, and Events are exactly what they are on the Mac iPhoto counterpart, with Journal being the only new addition here. Journal is a wonderful little feature that lets you create an album of your choice photos for sharing. You can add a background and border to your photos for that more finished look. Create a Journal name, and fine tune all of the other aspects, and then you’re ready to share your Journal via iCloud, Slideshow, or iTunes. It’s a great way to show people where you’ve been, as well as store some of your memories, and it adds a bit of a more refined touch and feel that the Album function lacks.

Now, it’s probably the editing features you’re wondering about most. Let’s be certain, iPhoto is going to give you the feature rich experience and power of Photoshop, and it might not even be as good of a photo editor as other iOS apps, such as Snapseed and Camera+. But what it might lack in power, it surely makes up for in ease of use. The editing toolbar at the bottom is where you’ll find all of the necessary tools to get the job done; such as crop and straighten, exposure, color, brushes, and effects.

Most of the features are easy enough to figure out for yourself by name only, and the gestures necessary to perform such functions are as simple as anything can be on the iPad or iPhone. The standard pinch and rotating gestures are there, along with functions that take advantage of the device’s gyro in order to move the effects to our liking to get the desired result.

With the exposure setting, you’re given a liner adjustment tool that enables you to customize certain things like shadows, highlights, contrast, and brightness. Next, on over to the color tool. This feature works almost exactly like the exposure tool does, and you’re even given the ability to long-press certain areas in the image you wish to make your changes to, which gives you even more focus and ability in certain areas of the photo. Let’s talk about the Brushes feature, as it’s pretty awesome. Click the icon to bring up 8 different brushes that contain the ability to repair, fix red eye, saturate, desaturate, lighten, darken, sharpen, and soften. Activate the detect edges option to keep yourself from worrying about staying within the boundaries of your editing area, and you’re good to go. The brushes features, when used right, can give us a litany of options, such as removing blemishes or spots on photo subjects and background objects. Finally, there’s the effects tool, which allows you to apply a predetermined look and feel to your photo, with choices ranging between warm/cool, duotone, black/white, aura, vintage, and artistic. This feature is great for the user who may not quite understand how to utilize the previous features very well yet, and just wants to add a better looking veneer to their photo without getting too deep.

Having used the iPhone version for nearly a week and a half now, and the iPad version for a couple of days, it’s safe to say that I was able to figure out how to use almost every feature the application gives me in a pretty successful manner. While the iPad version gives you plenty of screen real estate to work with, the iPhone version can be a bit of a chore to edit on, but that’s a given considering its relative small screen size. What’s great about both versions, though, is that iPhoto is a universal app, so you’re given complete and equal functionality on each device. There’s no fear of missing out if you’re just in the market for the iPhone version.

Overall, iPhoto is exactly what it sets out to be: an easy to use photo organizing and editing suite. As I said before, it’s not going to replace any of those major editing apps you might already have, but that’s not what it’s trying to do. With iPhoto, you get a one stop location for all your photo albums and edits, as well as the ability to sync via iCloud, which is perhaps one of its greatest aspects. At $4.99, it runs a little bit more than the average editing app, but considering its functionality and ability to sync with your Mac’s counterpart app, that’s a bargain.

Our score: 5 out of 5 stars.

iPhoto for iOS Review: A Dead Simple and Powerful way to Edit your Photos on the Go is a post by App Chronicles

After just getting underway with the career mode, returning racers will realize something right away. Polarbit has left behind some of the characteristics that made the original what it was. Instead of countrified characters with southern drawls and ugly cars, we’re treated with a long list of beautiful courses (dirt and tarmac), and an equally long list of vehicles, all upgradeable… You get the feeling that—sometime after making the original game—the developers realized what they had on their hands, and that’s a racing game that shouldn’t be taken lightly. So they went with it, and we’re glad they did.

Along with giving a major facelift to the “feel” of the game, Polarbit delivers by offering a complete career mode, as well as arcade, single-event, and multiplayer… You’ll probably find yourself dabbling in each mode, but the career is a great place to get started. Earning money means winning circuits, but don’t expect that to happen right away, because these courses are just as treacherous as you might remember, and power-sliding around turns and making dangerous passes has never felt more reckless. Take heart, though, because now you can compliment your practice efforts by upgrading your car to match your style (handling, tires, rims, colors). Just figure out your strategy, and then determine whether you’ll spend money on parts, or opt to save up for a pricey new car.

One of the most important factors to enjoying Reckless Racing 2 is to make sure that you don’t get so caught up in the competition that you ignore what’s going on around you. Polarbit did an amazing job polishing these dirt/cement tracks, whether it’s a brick path running around a beachfront castle or a dirt road marked by pylons, everything is luscious and fully-realized. I don’t claim to know how they did it, but the game’s iTunes page touts its “shader based game engine with normal maps, reflections, specularity, shadows, particles and more.” All I know is—it works.

A main thing to be aware of before dropping $4.99 on Reckless Racing 2 is the high difficulty level. Let’s just say, it’s not a game that can be handed off to a small child and expected to provide hours of entertainment. It’s incredibly easy to find yourself sliding off the road at every corner or doing accidental donuts on a straightaway, and winning a race requires restraint and quick decision-making. You’ll also want to test out the different control schemes, as each makes for quite a different ride. I’m partial to tank mode, in which your vehicle automatically accelerates, with turn arrows on the sides of the screen and a brake button in the middle.

While the investment of time it takes to get good at Reckless Racing is respectable, the rewards of sliding off a dirt road and onto a paved straightaway to overtake the first-place car are worth it every time. By not taking itself too seriously, Polarbit has managed to keep everything fun while also challenging you beyond what you might have expected. It’s not for kids, nor is it for anyone just looking for a casual, one-off racer, but Reckless Racing 2 has a ton to offer for those interested in a quirky, exhilarating new perspective on the iOS racing genre.

Reckless Racing 2 Review: Hillbilly Racing just got Sophisticated, in a Good Way is a post by App Chronicles