The game will feel familiar to those who have played the original Trenches, or any other title that features opposing sides meeting in the middle of a side-scrolling battlefield. This time, you get to choose to play as forces from the German, French, or British armies. Each country specializes in a different area, meaning your nationality will dictate your army’s strengths on the battlefield.

As looks go, Trenches 2 gets it right. The battlefields feature unique designs and a high level of polish, and the characters are cartoonish and humorous. The gore has been ramped up, as well, so when you call in an airstrike expect to see limbs flying and heads rolling, along with a healthy dose of spewing blood.

While the presentation is all there, it’s nearly impossible to enjoy the game to its full extent due to a number of issues with the controls/layout/instructions. The tutorial for Trenches 2 does a hasty job of introducing you to your army and how you control it. Mostly, you’ll be fending off enemies with low-priced infantry until you build up enough money to send in some heavy artillery and overtake the enemy’s base. It’s a simple concept, but it gets complicated when you’re thrown into a battle without knowing the purpose of the majority of your troops. In order to make progress, you’ll be forced to experiment… That would be fine if it weren’t for the clumsy controls that make the whole process a bit of a pain. Making matters a little easier is the unintelligent AI of your enemies, which regularly allows you to use a simple tactic to move past each stage.

Everything about this sequel is meant to be bigger than the original, and this is made clear right away when you’re introduced to the branching organization of the campaign. But the “bigness” of the game is forced upon each level with maps that are unnecessarily long. This means you have to scroll back and forth across the battlefield, which is an incredibly annoying thing to do when there’s a lot going on. Additionally, you can expect to experience difficulty when trying to select certain units or command an all-out attack, as the simple gestures and taps are not as responsive as they need to be.

If you loved the original Trenches and just can’t live without some more World War 1 on your iPhone, perhaps you can suffer through some of the downfalls of Trenches 2 and find some enjoyment. There’s definitely something to be said for the impressive scope of the campaign and the brilliant visuals it presents. It’s too bad that slogging through the battles is often a trying task that goes on far longer than it should… Bottom line, Trenches 2 isn’t worth the time it will take you to really dig in and figure out what you’re doing. You’re better off believing the adage that war is hell and seeing what else is in the App Store these days.

Trenches 2 Review: Bigger, but Definitely not Better is a post by App Chronicles

SoulCalibur has sauntered into the App Store arena in a big way, offering a beautiful 3D fighting experience that can really take you to another place. Having debuted on consoles with the Sega Dreamcast, the developers managed a pretty seamless transition in bringing it to the iPhone. That means we not only get a game that looks great, but also one that controls in such a way that it’s very easy to forget you’re using a touchscreen device with a screen size under four inches.

One of the biggest complaints arising from SoulCalibur’s early days in the App Store is the inexplicable absence of a multiplayer mode. But instead of harping on that point, let’s move on to what modes ARE available in this port. Whether or not you’re familiar with the franchise, I recommend starting with arcade mode. It’s here where you can pick a fighter and get comfortable with the control scheme. You’ll also be introduced to the rest of the cast as you tinker around (it’s pretty easy on the default difficulty), and from there you’ll have a better idea of which fighter to choose as you move on into modes like time attack, survival, extra survival, or just practice.

If you’ve played other iOS fighters, then you know what to expect when it comes to controls. A virtual stick is positioned in the lower left corner of the screen, while your attack/guard buttons are on the right. Some slight tweaks (positioning/transparency) can be made to this arrangement in the controller settings… While nothing about the controls is terribly innovative, it’s their responsiveness that earns high marks.

So you’ve picked a fighter and you know what you’re doing in the ring, now lets talk about where these fights will take place. SoulCalibur doesn’t just boast great-looking player models, but it also comes with a host of fully realized environments that are, in some cases, jaw dropping. Nothing is held back in terms of visuals, and I’m continually impressed with how smoothly the whole thing performs.

… But back to that unfortunate multiplayer issue. SoulCalibur is one of those games that is—without a doubt—best enjoyed with a friend. The fact that it’s linked in with Game Center and the developer has promised more game modes in the future makes it a near certainty that multiplayer is on the way, but paying $11.99 sans that option will be hard to swallow for some. Maybe look at this pre-multiplayer era as your time to train and prepare for the intense battles that are to come. That’s the best justification I can offer—because what’s here is too good to write off.

The only other detraction to note is in the user interface elements. While navigating menus and making selections, you’ll too often find that the type is too small and the distinctions between what you’re tapping are imperceptible. Maybe my fingers are getting fat, or maybe this is a pretty obvious flaw that somehow snuck past the developers in version 1.0.

If SoulCalibur hit the App Store a number of years ago, every iOS gamer would be paying $11.99 for this excellent 3D fighter, no questions asked.  But it’s 2012, and there are several great fighters already existence, some of which offer even more features than SoulCalibur—and at a far lower price… Be that as it may, this is a gorgeous game with fluid controls and a decent foundation of gameplay modes. That’s not bad at all. It will just take an update or two before we can encourage you to make the hefty purchase with no caveats whatsoever.

Our Score: 4 Out of 5

SoulCalibur Review: A Superb Port- Though Pricey and Limited is a post by App Chronicles

Now, I’m not exactly the most creative person when it comes to design elements and color schemes. I can’t design anything my mom would want to put up on the refrigerator, and I struggled to comprehend the wonders of MS Paint as a kid growing up. Thankfully, there are a litany of apps out there that help me overcome my creative shortcomings by allowing me to easily customize my iPhone’s home and lock screen with gorgeous photos, drawings, and designs.

Pimp Your Screen might be one of the best. This app offers a broad selection of well-designed wall papers for iOS devices of all sizes, making it easy to customize your new look.

First of all, take a gander through Pimp Your Screen’s arsenal of gorgeous retina display ready wallpapers and find which one suits you best. There are plenty of themes for all kind of occasions, including updated ones for whatever current holiday season you are celebrating. Once you’ve found the one you like best, simply tap SAVE, and the photo will be saved to your device’s camera roll. From there, hop on over to your camera roll, select said photo, then save it as either a wall paper or lock screen item, and you’re good to go. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

If you want more customization, you can customize the wall paper even further by using the Lock Screen and Home Screen Maker feature. This feature allows you to select your preferred wall paper, but also add on overlay shelves, icon skins, and other images over the original. It’s actually very easy to do and gives you even more options to customize your specific look.

Personally, being the OCD freak that I am, I rather enjoy the shelves feature. This theme will give an organized look to your screen by placing a shelf underneath all of the apps, thus making them appear to be resting upon a mantle of some sort. The shelving options are numerous, ranging from mahogany style to a futuristic industrial look. It’s also fun to try and see which shelves couple nicely with certain wall papers, and your customization options are virtually endless.

One thing I particularly liked about the app was that it gave me a preview feature. This feature overlays a set of app icons, or the lock screen, over the wall paper of your choosing so you can take a look at what the proposed job would look like when finished. This saves you the time and effort of going through all of the work yourself, only to get back to your home screen to find out that you don’t really like the look all that much anyway.

The images and previews load rather quickly, so you it doesn’t take a lot of time to get the look you want; that is if you’ve already found the perfect wall paper for whatever your tastes are in that moment, which I’ll talk more about below.

It’s great to have such a huge selection of wall papers, but this ultimately can prove to be a little bit of a problem. There really isn’t a simple, organized way to browse through all of your options. You’re basically left to just peruse through every picture, one by one, until you have found the one you like. But if you want to keep going to see more, you’ll have to keep searching through them in a linear manner, one by one, and do the same if you want to regress back to a previous photo. This disorganization is a minor problem, really, but it would certainly make things much easier if you could browse through via category and themes.

As far as home and lock screen customization apps go, Pimp Your Screen does its job quite nicely. There are already a healthy number of wall paper choices, with more being added on a frequent basis; so if you haven’t found many you’re particularly fond of right off the bat, you’re sure to stumble across one eventually. It’s simple, easy to use, and does its job nicely. What more can you ask for?

And at the price of a cheeseburger ($.99), it’s a more than justified purchase. Besides, we could all use one less cheeseburger.

Our Score: 4.5 Out of 5

Pimp Your Screen Review: It enables you to do just that… is a post by App Chronicles

In my initial review, I found that Keynote was, at its core, a good app for making nice presentations. The app features that Steve-Jobs-Introducing-The-Next-iPhone aesthetic, very different from PowerPoint’s look, and the app has a nice array of tools for creating motion, transitions, links, and other visual finery. None of that has changed, and in fact there are improvements in all those areas in the current version.

I also found the app limited in many ways, and a lot of those limitations remain. Clip art? You’ll have to use Google Images. Importing a custom slide template? Not in this app. Want more fonts? Keep wishing. In my initial review, I called Keynote “a PowerPoint app with Word -level design tools,” and at some level I still feel that way.

There are improvements, though, and those improvements have definitely earned the app another star.

First, the current version of Keynote is head and shoulders above its version 1.0 counterpart because PowerPoint compatibility has since been added. This one singular change — the ability to export files in PPT format — takes Keynote from a novelty app to a potentially functional part of your productivity. In my tests, the conversion in both directions — either porting from or to PPT — has been improved, as well. Don’t get too fancy, though, as conversion of complex animations and transitions is still lacking.

Second, the addition of iCloud in October, as well as added other cloud support (though still not full 3rd party support — Dropbox, Apple? Please?), finally places Keynote in the realm of “Apps that will actually help your productivity.” As in, there’s finally multiple ways to port and share files to the program.

Third, there’s the variety of little additions made since the app’s release. Things like support for presenter notes (which used to be deleted entirely if you ported into the app), object grouping, and PDF export are all welcome additions … though there’s still plenty missing.

Keynote is also now a Universal app. Honestly, though, Keynote does not work very well on the small screen. It’s not the app’s fault; it’s inherent to trying to work with slides on a 3.5 inch screen. Like the other iWork apps, this is still best on the iPad.

Keynote is a better app than it was when it released.  That said, Keynote also has the most potential for growth going forward. Imagine this, five years from now: You’re in a presentation room equipped with an Apple TV — like, and actual TV. You open your Keynote presentation on yout iPad 7, AirPlay it directly to the Apple TV, and control the slides from your device. PowerPoint bypassed completely. It’s a great vision for the future, and Keynote, and Apple TV, and corporate infrastructure, might get there someday.

For now, though, Keynote remains the app with the most limited appeal for productivity, the least of the three iWork apps, and the least likely to be useful to you. If you have the need and the infrastructure, and if you see a place for Keynote, then by all means, get it.  If your productivity centers around PowerPoint, however, you might want to stick with that program, for now. Portable PPT creation still has a ways to go.

Our Score: 3 out of 5.

Keynote (2011) Review: Getting Better is a post by App Chronicles

Everything I just said above applies to Venture Towns . In this case, it’s Kairosoft’s take of SimCity — build a town, watch the population grow, avoid disasters, invest in the future. It is another time and resource management sim done up with the cutesy 8-bit graphics that Kairosoft is so good at. You build town, attract citizens, and manage both to become a thriving metropolis. You’re being ranked and evaluated periodically, so growth is essential to success.

This game does seem more difficult than some of the other Kairosoft games. Maybe it’s just that town management is more difficult than managing a school or a racing team; but I found my first effort (and even my second effort) very quickly spiraling into failure before I began to figure out the formula for success. I haven’t failed at a Kairosoft game this hard since my first time through Game Dev Story. Once again, I found myself wishing that Kairosoft was a little better at building in a tutorial system, but I also liked the challenge.

On the one hand, it carries all the positives of the prior Kairosoft titles. Kairosoft games are inviting to play and fun to immerse yourselves in.Kairosoft titles are defined in part by their complex, layered success mechanics. Figuring out what buildings should go next to other buildings, which research items are best to invest in, which jobs are best for which citizens – this is what will take up your time in Venture Towns. Kairosoft games carry a heavy dose of puzzle and analytical thinking, at least until you unlock the formula for success.

On the other hand, the game suffers from a sameness issue. Like object-launching puzzle games in the App Store have all started to feel alike (and usually like Angry Birds),

Venture Towns suffers from one other deficit that the rest of the English-language Kairosoft stable does not: it’s too close in concept to another Kairosoft game, Oh! Edo Towns. Really, it feels like little more than an Americanized version of that very Japanese-flavored title. It’s a nice change for those of us who don’t relate so well to Japanese culture and history; but it means that the sameness factor of all Kairosoft games is enhanced here, and the play value a bit diminished.

I don’t think Venture Towns would be a good “first game” for Kairosoft newbies. It’s a good game in general, but not a great one. If you’re well into the Kairosoft library and looking for the next title, definitely pick this up. After all, you know what to expect! But don’t be surprised if you start to feel, just a little bit, that the formula is starting to wear thin.

Our Score: 3 out of 5.

Venture Towns Review: Kairosoft’s Edges Are Beginning to Show is a post by App Chronicles

In Amazing Breaker, you launch glowing, exploding baubles at colorful sculptures of ice. The goal is to blow up as much of the sculpture as possible; the more you blow up, the better your ranking, and if you don’t hit a destructive minimum you fail and have to start over. Helping you along the way are various kinds of bombs — chaining bombs, ghost bombs, bombs that split into threes — and you also have the ability to earn more bombs as you destroy (and figuring out how to get those extra bombs is necessary to defeat some levels).

In general, the game is very fun to play. Any game that roots itself in explosive destruction is a good one. Firing off bombs is fun, and creating chains of six, seven, even eight bombs to all explode in a row is both challenging and rewarding. Like any good puzzle game, this one offers that “one more try” element — if you fail, you want to do it just *one more time*, and if you succeed, there’s just *one more level* to play before you’re done.

The game’s interesting visuals help, too. Instead of bright, clean colors or a cartoony look, this game almost feels Victorian, with a steampunk flavoring to it. The “ice sculptures” that you destroy look great, generally, with some interesting color use and a sheen that almost feels like glass.

That’s not to say the game doesn’t suffer from some problems. Principal amongst these is that there’s simply not enough room at the bottom of the screen to aim and align your shot. The catapult is too close to the scoring bar, and so when you pull all the way back you can easily slip into the scoring zone and launch before you’re ready. This can get really frustrating!

There’s also some issues with difficulty. First, it’s one of those games that only awards you a full 3 stars with 100% destruction; so even if there’s a sliver of ice left, a handful of pixels so small you can barely see it … that’s 99% and you’re out one star. These kinds of games can definitely irritate.

Second, the game sometimes suffers from a bumpy difficulty progression. One board can seem ridiculously easy; but it can be followed by a board that makes you want to spit in frustration. Granted, all puzzle games suffer this to some degree. But the problem seemed especially acute at times in Amazing Breaker. I hope future levels even things out a bit.

While I don’t foresee Amazing Breaking joining the ranks of an Angry Birds or a Cut the Rope in the annals of all-time great puzzle games, it is a very solid title. With some update tweaks and some better managed update levels, it can certainly become one of those games you keep on your iPhone for a long time.

Our Score: 4 out of 5.

Amazing Breaker Review: Explosive Fun! is a post by App Chronicles

The Sonic CD port was done using the Retro Engine, a system developed independently by Christian Whitehead. Apparently, the process was a difficult one — for technical reasons, Sonic CD couldn’t be ported as easily as the other Sonic games.  But Whitehead’s achieved something nice here. The whole game is impressively ported. It looks good, it plays well, and it’s as complete as copyright will allow. It even includes the awesome opening animation!

In addition, the game comes with some neat extras, such as the option to use the Japanese or American soundtrack (it defaults to Japanese) and the original or Genesis spin dash. There are also Game Center achievements (a welcome nod to modern gaming),leader boards, and unlockable extras. All in all, there is a lot of Sonic gameplay here. It’s the most robust Sonic port we’ve seen, apart from Sonic Racing.

The one thing about the port I’m not particularly fond of is the limited d-pad. It’s trying to imitate a Sega controller, but it’s just … not good. This sort of thing doesn’t work well without the tactile feel of the d-pad. Personally, I’d prefer a floating virtual pad, as has become the standard in iOS gaming, or even the looser virtual stick from Sonic 4.

The game itself is more difficult to review, as we’re talking a classic of a bygone era. Sonic CD is generally well-loved by fans of the series. It takes it’s cues from the other Sonic 2D titles, so anyone who’s played the other iOS ports will recognize the green grass level, the water level, the casino level, etc.  Sonic CD did not forge new territory when it released.

Where the game got innovative was in its time travel mechanism. Sonic CD was one of the first games to use the “same level in past, present, and future” trick that we’ve seen many times since. This is both a blessing and a curse for the game. It can be very confusing for more casual players, like those who have only been introduced to Sonic via the iOS ports. For hardcore players willing to invest the time, though, figuring out when to go into the past, what future to use (Good or Bad futures exist in the game), and how to achieve maximum success can be a blast. If you’re a speed player, though, Sonic CD can get a little frustrating.

So, bottom line: Christian Whitehead did a phenomenal job porting this. If you like the Sonic franchise and have enjoyed Sega’s previous iOS ports, this is a no-brainer. Buy the game. If you’re new to the Sonic franchise, I’d say start somewhere else and work your way up to this one. Sonic CD is a great game, but it’s neither the purest nor the easiest entry into the franchise.

Our score: 4.5 out of 5.

Sonic CD Review: Powerful Port of a Classic Sequel is a post by App Chronicles

So what puts GTA miles ahead of the competition? Where to start… From top to bottom, Rockstar has brought the whole Liberty City atmosphere to the iPhone. That means the characters, the music, the dialogue, and the compelling missions are all represented—and with surprising execution. It’s interesting to notice how much these creative touches make a difference, because when you turn to the controls, we find that GTA III is not without it’s flaws.

For the most part, you can navigate around the city without much trouble. Walking, running, and driving are pleasurable experiences by and large. It’s when things get dicey that the mobile version of GTA starts to feel a little less polished. Gunplay in particular can be frustratingly inaccurate, relying on an auto-target system that can leave you shooting multiple pedestrians rather than the fleeing villain who owes your boss money. This troublesome shooting system can be lumped in with the turn arrows that dictate your vehicle’s direction. These elements are definite workarounds when compared to the precision that existed on the console version of GTA III, and they serve to make the mobile version much harder (which can be a turnoff at times). When working with a screen full of digital “buttons,” it’s all too easy for things to descend into frustration in a hurry.

But enough about the game’s flaws, because there are precious few others to mention… I’ve got to admit that some of the things making this a standout title in the App Store are intangibles. It’s far more possible to lose yourself in Liberty City than it is in any other open-world game available for iPhone. While Gameloft’s efforts might LOOK similar, they’re not as tightly-scripted and nowhere near as compelling. In GTA III, you’ll often find yourself replaying a mission until your eyes get tired of staring at the screen—never giving a second thought to the fact that you’re gunning down a bad guy while in a full-on police pursuit, and it’s all on your iPhone in full 3D… The quality of what goes on in Liberty City is good enough to make you forget this incredible feat and just focus on the downright good times to be had.

So whether you’re a veteran returning to your old haunts 10 years after the fact, or if this is your first time stepping foot in Liberty City, get ready for a wild ride. As was always the case, one of the great things about GTA III is that it can be played however you’d like. Just get behind the wheel of a sports car and cruise around if you feel like it, or get busy taking jobs if you want to pull in cash and purchase some nasty weapons. We’re glad to see this departure from Chinatown Wars (or this return to traditional gameplay), and we can only hope that the community response to this 10th anniversary edition of GTA will encourage Rockstar to get busy bringing something completely original to the App Store. This port is more than enough to ensure that iOS gamers all over would highly anticipate such a release.

Our Score: 4 Out of 5

Grand Theft Auto III Review: An Amazing Rendition of the Console Classic on the iOS is a post by App Chronicles

Enter Snapseed, from the folks at Nik Software.

Snapseed is a powerful photo editor for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, packaged in a dead simple way that minimizes the confusion and intimidation many amateur photographers experience.

In a lot of ways, Snapseed for iPhone and iPad is comparable to iPhoto, in that you are given easy to use tools to adjust your photos, including color, exposure, cropping, straightening, and tuning, as well as adjusting saturation, contrast, and white balance.

If these features are too much for you or a little intimidating and you’re not sure what to do with them, you can also add some vintage over-lays to your photos, á la Instagram. While there aren’t as many options as Instagram, these work just fine, in my opinion.

Here’s a great run down of Snapseed’s features:

Basic Adjustments

• Take Photos – Open photos from the Camera Roll or take new photos.

•Auto Correct – Automatically analyzes your photo and adjusts color and exposure to perfection.

• Selective Adjust – Make precise selections and enhancements to specific areas of your photos in seconds with Nik Software’s revolutionary U Point technology.

• Tune Image – Use Ambience to create depth and vibrancy that uniquely adapts to colors and textures. Adjust White Balance, Saturation, Contrast, more.

• Straighten & Rotate – Rotate 90° and/or straighten photos with simple gesture controls.

• Crop – Easily crop images to remove distracting parts of your photo, now with standard aspect ratios.

Enhancements

• Black & White – Get that classic Black and White look with this darkroom-inspired filter.

• Vintage Films – Make any photo look like a vintage color film photo from the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s.

• Drama – Add style with a custom effect specifically tailored to your photos, ranging from subtle textures to wildly artistic effects.

• Grunge – Give your photos a totally unique, hip, and dingy look.

• Tilt-Shift – Create a narrow in-focus area designed to simulate depth of field, common in a Miniature Scene look.

• Details – Enhance details with traditional sharpening or the unique Structure control found in the Nik Software professional products.

• Center Focus – Draw attention to the subject of your photo by blurring the surrounding background.

• Organic Frames – Add stylized borders to photos for the perfect finishing touch.

Sharing

• Email – Send images at original resolution.

• Social – Share on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter (using iOS5).

• Print – Print wirelessly using Apple’s AirPrint technology

Now I consider myself to be a novice when it comes to photography, so the Auto Correct feature is a life saver in my book. It allows me to easily adjust the photo’s color and contrast setting without having to worry about what effects this might have on other aspects of my photo.

With Selective adjustment, you have the ability to do exactly what its name implies: select an area (or areas) of a photo and adjust them manually. For instance, if I have a photo of myself and three of my friends, it’s quite possible that I can adjust the saturation, contrast, and brightness of all of our faces to varying degrees. This gives the user even more control over what they want to do with the photo, and that can never be a bad thing.

Most of the other features are straightforward and highly simple to use. All you have to do is swipe up/down to select the enhancement of your choosing, and then swipe left/right to adjust said enhancement. This provides an intuitive feel to the app’s capabilities, and allows you to see your adjustments in real time.

As for the enhancements, they’re just as simple to use. Want to apply a tilt-shift effect? Just tap the icon and adjust with two fingers how big you want the effect to be, where you want it on the photo, and voilá, you’re good to go.

One feature that is incredibly useful is the ability to dump RAW images from a camera via Apple’s Camera Connection Kit. The drawback to this, though, is that you need an iPad 2 or an iPhone 4/4S.

Nik also says that the app will work with images up to 16 megapixels on these devices, so you have the opportunity for some serious photo editing right on your mobile device. If you don’t have these most current devices, you are relegated to 6.25 megapixels or lower and RAW image processing will not be available to you.

While experimenting with it on my iPhone, it quickly became apparent to me that I was utilizing one of the most powerful photo editing apps on the market. The ease of use with which I was afforded by Snapseed made it a fun and worthwhile experience.

It comes with a fairly hefty price tag at $4.99, but there’s a reason why Apple labeled the Snapseed as its Rewind iPad App of the Year. You get an amazing amount of capability out of that 5 bucks, while on the flip side you might pay 6x’s that amount for other comparable editing software programs for the Mac. For all that you get for that kind of price, I’d be hard pressed to find another photo editing app as good as Snapseed.

Snapseed Review: Most powerful Photo editing app in the App Store? is a post by App Chronicles

I only feel comfortable nitpicking that great game because of what Chair Entertainment Group has done with the sequel. Infinity Blade 2 is everything you might have hoped. All the things we loved about the original have been expanded and most of the rough spots smoothed over. There’s simply not a better looking game in the App Store. Maybe I’ll regret saying it later, but with Infinity Blade 2, Chair has used the Unreal Engine to slash its way to near perfection.

You’ll get the sense that this is a serious sequel right from the beginning, when you’re met with a beautifully crafted prologue that walks you through some fights and sets up the story. It’s clear right away that the narrative is going deeper this time, as it gets more meta and allows itself to gain complexity over time. For all the atmospheric, creepy moods found in the original, its great fun to see that competent writers are behind Infinity Blade, and they’ll definitely keep you interested in between the swiping battles.

The gameplay tweaks don’t change the formula that made the first Infinity Blade so awesome, but they do serve to improve the experience. For example, the parry action is far more precise and usable—which is a good thing, because you can’t endlessly dodge anymore without getting fatigued and taking damage. Other factors that change the experience (for the better) include things like dual weapons and weapon gems (for bonus effects). None of these things overhaul the sort of fights return gamers rightfully expect, but they definitely take them to the next level.

Since Infinity Blade offers fights that are exclusively one-on-one, it’s worth noting the obvious effort that has been put into mixing up the strategies of your opponents. Their attacks come at you from a slew of new angles, requiring quick reactions and a sense of timing that sometimes takes a while to grasp… The size of these monsters, their weapons, their armor—everything offers something new to look at and a more difficult challenge to be faced on the battle floor.

Infinity Blade continues to be the franchise to track for any self-respecting iOS gamer. Unfortunately, it’s understandable if certain players didn’t feel that way after their first experiences with this sequel. Some widely-publicized bugs and glitches kept it from performing at its peak on slightly older devices like the iPhone 4, and this led some to assume that Chair had dropped the ball. But after a few short days the developer was back in the App Store with an update to address some of these issues, and while not everything might be worked out just yet, we feel confident that Chair isn’t going to leave anyone behind, and you can bet that you’ll definitely get $6.99 worth of entertainment out of Infinity Blade 2.

In all the coverage of this game since it’s release, not once have I seen anyone refer to it as a letdown compared to the original. That question won’t even be on your mind from the moment you launch the app and get swept into its world.

Our Score: 5 Out of 5

Infinity Blade 2 Review: Yes, it gets even Better! is a post by App Chronicles

Out of nowhere last week, Batman: Arkham City Lockdown appeared in the App Store. And it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Built with the Unreal Engine — the graphically gorgeous engine that’s given us such games as Infinity Blade, Dark Meadow, and Epoch — Batman: Arkham City Lockdown is a combat-heavy brawling game that delivers a gritty, fun bit of superhero action.

There’s good and bad at the heart of B:ACL. On the one hand, you’re going to be like, “OMG! I’m playing a totally awesome Batman game on my iPad!” And that’s very cool, especially as this one is tied to the recent Batman Arkham-themed console game. And yes, the thing looks gorgeous. The Unreal engine is quickly becoming the graphical king of iOS, and here it allows for a gritty, shadowy, urban decay look that definitely fits the Dark Knight. This game doesn’t quite reach the levels of beautiful that Infinity Blade 2 does, but it stands toe-to-toe graphically with apps like Dead Space.

On the other hand, the Unreal engine also brings with it that certain lack of open gameplay that all Unreal games have. You don’t get a world to navigate, can’t move freely or attack what you wish. Movement happens in cinematics and combat is a timed-swipe affair. Recently, the Unreal-fueled Dark Meadow successfully tied some real navigation and storytelling into things, but B:ACL strictly goes the Infinity Blade route: defeat an enemy, move forward, defeat the next enemy. It’s more Street Fighter than Batman: Arkham City.

As a result, the game can feel repetitive. Defeating enemies is generally a matter of blocking to daze, then punching repeatedly, then dodging rage-fueled attacks, then repeating the cycle. The game is also what you might call “grind-y”, something it shares with other Unreal games. It’s also somewhat short, with only four areas and four boss fights.

Still, the game is fun to play. While typical enemy fights get repetitive (you’ll get sick of hearing  ”I’m gonna kill you, Bat-freak!”), the boss fights do require more nuance, and even regular fights are sometimes broken up by tap-combo special finishing moves.  In addition, there are promised “Coming Soon!” bosses that virtually guarantee future updates and added gameplay, hopefully with a little opening up of the combat system.

One Unreal Engine element the game employs to good effect is a leveling system. By earning WayneTech points, you can improve Batman’s combat speed, health, armor, and other attributes, or buy gadgets like Smoke Bombs and a Bat Swarm.  These elements encourage you to keep playing, as you build up Batman’s prowess and bag of tricks. Honestly, if you want a quick shortcut to the first boss, purchase a dollar’s worth of WayneTech points (5000 of them) and upgrade each of your key abilities at least once, then purchase a gadget. Once you start leveling, the WayneTech points come fast enough that you’ll probably not want to purchase again.

This game has a good offering of extras. First and foremost are IAP skins that make Batman look like either the Animated Series version, the Dark Knight Returns version, or the Batman Beyond version. [Given the dark nature of the game, I couldn't resist old, fat Dark Knight Returns Batman.] There are also some free comic books to read, character biographies, wallpapers,  and Game Center integration with achievements (yay!).

In the end, I can forgive this game its flaws, because it’s just so much fun to pound thug face as Batman. Would I have enjoyed a little more story, a little more pacing? Sure, but I’m down with a brawler. If you enjoy Infinity Blade and the Unreal Engine experience, then you’ll want to play this, too.  While it’s a bit of a one-note play experience, but it’s a pretty good note, and at a fair price, too.

Our Score: 4 out of 5.

Batman Arkham City Lockdown Review: Dark, Gritty Fighting Game is a post by App Chronicles

Tiny Tower puts you in charge of a city high-rise, one that will get much higher under your care. As you play the game, you build a variety of retail and service oriented businesses, as well as private aprtments where “Bitizens” can live (and you need those Bitizens to run your stores). Your job is to assign the right Bitizens to the right jobs, to keep the stores stocked, and to keep building more and more spaces. You also get to tend to various visitors and tasks. As your stores grow, they make more money; which is good, since the building keeps getting more and more expensive to maintain and expand.

 Tiny Towers works as well as it does in part by balancing the demands of tending your tower with the realities of casual gaming. This isn’t like Farmville — evil, evil Farmville! — that requires constant attention to avoid spoilage and wasted resources. The game is built more on the concept of setting things in motion, then coming back when it’s convenient; if things “wind down” while you’re away, you’ll stop earning money, but you won’t be penalized for it. Thus, regular tending is rewarded, while inattention is not penalized; instead, if you leave the game alone for long enough, all of the stores will run out of stock and close, and you’ll just have to spend time restocking them all the next time you play.

Of course, as the game goes longer and the demand for resources increases, you can always buy your way to success.   The goal of the game is to generate both money and “bux,” the buyable currency of the game. Bux get you … well, everything. It costs bux to speed things up; it costs bux to move things; it costs bux to buy extra money. Luckily, you can buy bux in packages ranging from $0.99 to $29.99. Don’t worry, though; Tiny Tower is not one of those freemium games where you practically NEED to buy to play. The more you play actively, the more you’ll earn bux just through the course of play. It’s slower, but it works. For more hints and tips on getting more free bux in game, visit our Tiny Tower Walkthrough page.

One place where Tiny Tower falls flat, for me, is the graphics. The game is presented in a retro 8-bit style, and while I don’t mind retro at all, here it just comes off as flat and uninspired. Especially annoying are the Bitizens, who all look like Domos in costumes, and who have these flappy fish mouthes that make them look like brainless mouthbreathers. I just don’t get the look. The background music is likewise dismissible (and I quickly did).

Did Tiny Tower deserve to be App of the Year? That’s a discussion for a different column. But in terms of providing balanced freemium play that keeps you coming back, Tiny Tower is pretty good. If these sorts of games are a draw for you, and if you’re looking for a new way to waste five minutes on the bus, or in line at the theatre, or just before dinner, than try it out.

Our Score: 4 out of 5.

Tiny Tower Review: Freemium Fun that Made it Apple’s Top iPhone Game of 2011 is a post by App Chronicles

Unfortunately, what I got was not exactly the game I used to love. At a fundamental level, I don’t know that the folks responsible for this app understood Tetris — what makes it fun, what makes it a classic. As we’ve seen too many times before in the App Store, the makers were not content to simply bring Tetris, unmolested, to the device. They had to throw in extras. And those extras really rub me the wrong way.

The game has three different modes, which I find to be two modes too many. And those modes bring very different things to the table. So, one at a time …

For the Tetris purists out there (like me): The mode you want is Marathon mode. This is classic Tetris, with touch controls that mimic the classic control scheme — tap to rotate, slide with your thumb to move side-to-side, and flick down to drop. This is by far my favorite way to play, because it feels the most like Tetris.There’s something visceral about the flicking down of a piece that feels like I’ve got an old NES controller in my hands.

Unfortunately, there were a few times where the screen registered a tap and a slide, and visa versa, and I’d have to recorrect where / what orientation my piece was, and a few times where I didn’t notice the change and suffered a bad placement for it. Other than this occasional moment of frustration, this is Tetris, as it should be. If you’re a Tetris fan and didn’t download the old version of the app, this is probably worth 99 cents to you.

For general Tetris fans, and those new to the game: The new Tetris app introduces a new way to play: One-Touch. Rather than the dropping block and physical manipulation, One-Touch mode introduces a new system: the piece hangs there, a clock counts down, and you’re presented with numbered options for where to place your piece. Don’t like the options? Tap the screen to cycle into another set. I personally found this mode to be too slow and cumbersome; frankly, I think on my toes with Tetris, and having to cycle through four or five screens of options to find the one I wanted just threw off my rhythm.  Plus, it didn’t *feel* like Tetris. But I can see it being a bit easier for newer players, in that it lets them better visualize where pieces can go.

If you’re not a big Tetris players but want to learn the game, this is the mode for you. Then, when you’ve learned enough to get annoyed by swapping out options, Marathon Mode will be waiting for you.

For those of you who love to be nickeled-and-dimed to death by microtransactions: Then there’s Galaxy mode, which is Tetris done up in the puzzle style that is both the blessing and the bane of the App Store. In Galazy mode, you’re presented with level challenges, most of which involve clearing the board, with morestars awarded for doing it faster and in fewer pieces. This mode also introduces power-ups — exploding and fragmenting pieces, for example — that you can use either freely (they recharge like spells in an MMO) or at the cost of virtual “T-Coins” per use. Oh, yes — T-Coins. Virtual Tetris currency. And if you don’t think you can’t buy a bundle of them from the App Store for $99.99, then you haven’t been playing many games on your iOS device.

In addition to the annoyance of having to deal with virtual currencies to play Tetris, you can also — and I am not making this up — subscribe to Tetris. As in, pay a monthly fee to play Tetris, that game that you can play perfectly well, for the cost of the App, over in Marathon Mode.  For the price of — again, not making this up! — $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, you get to earn T-Coins and Lines at a 15% faster rate than playing normally. So, for a monthly subscription, they don’t even oven up the game for you to play freely.

Ultimately, there’s enough good in Tetris as a game that it’s worth the price of admission here for the pure virtue of having Marathon mode (read: normal Tetris) on your iPhone; and those a little less zealous about their Tetris experience may warm to One-Touch mode, too. Unfortunately, the transaction-focused Galaxy mode comes along with it; it’s a feature of the game best left ignored. Sometimes, the best games are those that are simply designed and masterfully executed. And thankfully, they’re not charging you T-Coins or an extra 99 cents to play the mode you’ll want to play.

Our Score: 3 out of 5

Tetris (2011) Review: A Perfect Game, Overcomplicated is a post by App Chronicles

We here at App Chronicles understand that most of you probably already indulge in this app, but for those who might be unaware of the wonders it brings, we thought we’d give it a thorough run-down.

All you need to enjoy Instagram is an iPhone, an email address, and a password.

As photo editing/sharing apps go, this one makes the process dead simple. You can take a photo from within the app, or choose from your iPhone’s library. Once you’ve found the not-so-perfect shot, you can then move on to the editing process, wherein that photo can come a little closer to perfection.

It’s the editing process that sets Instagram apart, really. You can apply a number of effects to your photo, ranging from simple black and white (Inkwell) to plenty of other hipster-ish vintage overlays. You also have the ability to apply a tilt-shift effect to your photo, which has quickly become one of the most popular on the app.

Applying the filters is as easy as the push of a button, either in post or in real-time as you’re taking the picture, which gives you a nice preview of what your photo might look like before you take it.

Once you’ve found the look that’s perfect for your particular photo, you have a couple of choices: keep it for yourself, or share it with the rest of the world.

And when I say share, I mean it. Instagram supports pretty much any social network out there you can think of, and makes uploading almost as dead simple as editing.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Tumblr
• Posterous
• Foursquare

As of right now, these are the supported networks you can share your photos to, so sharing your masterpiece with the world isn’t difficult by any means. In case you are a little shy or private about a certain photo, you can easily choose which network, if any, you want to load that specific photo to. So if you only want your friends on Instagram, or maybe just Facebook (or perhaps all of the other networks), to see what you just created, you are given that capability. It’s this ease of sharing that separates Instagram from other vintage photo-editing apps, like Hipstamatic. For me, I’m especially fond of Instagram’s integration with Foursquare, as it gives me the opportunity to not only check-in at a certain site, but document what I was doing there as well.

Something else that’s really great about this app that I touched on briefly before is that Instagram is in itself a social network. You can follow friends or various other artists/celebrities (á la Twitter), and see what kind of photos they’ve taken in your “Feed” tab. You’re also given the ability to comment and/or “heart” (similar to Facebook’s “like” function) the photos of your friends or people you follow. By participating in this sort of communal environment, every photographer can collaborate and take pointers from each other, creating a unique learning and sharing experience.

If you’re not sure who to follow, you can always jump to the “Popular” tab, and you’ll be given a rundown of which photos on Instagram are currently the most…well…popular. I’ve spent many hours of my life perusing through this list, finding random people who I think have a particularly wonderful or unique photographic eye, and started following them. Now I by no means consider myself an even competent photographer, but because of this interaction with the other users of the app, I have learned countless lessons on lighting, angles, and effect layering. I’d like to think that it has at least helped me to grow as an amateur photography hobbyist.

If I there were any sort of “cons” to Instagram, it would be that after applying your desired filter, you lose a little bit of image quality to said photo. It’s not a major degradation, but it’s necessary to allow the filter to be placed on the photo in the first place. Also, if you’re uploading a previously taken photo from your iPhone library, you’ll have to scale it down to fit into Instagram’s size restrictions. Aside from these nitpicky things though, I can’t find anything else wrong with it.

Instagram is perhaps the most simple and easy to comprehend photo editing app on the iTunes market. And it’s free! You can’t really beat that combination.

Instagram Review: This App is 2011′s #1 iPhone app for a reason… is a post by App Chronicles

It’s called Momento, a neat little journaling app (I refuse to use the word diary; I’m a man) that lets you record a litany of “moments” in your life. It works just as you would imagine a journaling app to work by allowing you to select a time and date and input whatever is on your mind. Each entry is called a “moment”, and the more you use it, the more you quickly begin to realize this is so much more than just a journal.

In addition to recording your thoughts, Momento actually gives you the ability to curate pretty much anything you would have done on a number of social media services, and access them by date. With access to a number of social media services, you can take a gander at what you were up to on say, Twitter, a year ago. This is where the real fun begins, as it takes the journaling concept to a whole new level and allows you to exhaustively record your everyday happenings and thoughts.

The services Momento supports include:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Instagram
• Last.fm
• Foursquare
• Gowalla
• Digg
• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Web Feeds (Rss/Atom feeds)

So now it’s no longer a bother to go back and see what that photo of that one burger I made all the way back in the Spring of ’09 looks like, thanks to Momento. This is made easier by allowing the user to access specific dates by calendar view, which enables you to quickly jump to any moment in the past. The only services I have synced to the app as of right now are Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare, so I can’t say how deep the integration with all of the others goes. Based on the integration I see with my services (all of my tweets, pictures, and check-ins are there), though, it’s safe to say it probably goes a long way and will make any journaling nerd quite happy.

The other great thing about all of this is that you have the option to search any of your imported and locally inputted moments. So if you were wondering what you had to say about the last election, search a few keywords and you’re good to go. Accessing your data is made incredibly easy by all of these features, and really enhances the overall experience for the user.

In case you’re worried about information overload, you have the option to limit what Momento imports. For instance, if you don’t want any tweet containing the hashtag #bigbutts (hey, some people have their weird interests), Momento won’t import that tweet. But if you ONLY want tweets with #bigbutts, it can import just those for you as well. So basically, you have a large amount of control over what goes into the app.

So, what’s good?

Read all of the above. In my opinion, Momento does a near perfect job of what so many journaling apps strive for, and that’s giving you, the user, complete control over your data and allowing you to access it in an incredibly easy manner.

In terms of aesthetics and design, I have zero complaints. The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate; and not to mention, gorgeous. d3i really blew this one out of the park, and I for one love it.

So, what’s not so good?

Ummm…you’ve probably already figured out that I’m an unabashed Momento fan, so I’m going to have to find something really obscure and nitpicky, but here goes: it’s not the same as pen and paper. There just isn’t much that compares with physically writing your thoughts down on paper and looking over what was more than likely a laborious effort. But given the added features and capabilities that you’re given with this app, it’s a more than fair trade off.

For those worried about losing all of their data should their device crash, don’t. Momento has a great way to backup all of your data via iTunes File Sharing, so you can rest assured that your “moments” won’t become just a memory.

By now it’s quite obvious that I give this app my full stamp of approval and therefore award it the first ever 5 out of 5 star review of my (very) young tech blogging career. The $2.99  tag is really a small price to pay when compared to sentimental value.

Momento: One Diary/Journaling app to Rule them All… is a post by App Chronicles

That would appear to be so in the case of their latest release, Gangstar Rio: City of Saints.

In the 3rd edition of the Gangstar series, players are this time taken to the exotic location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The story line is very simple: you will have the opportunity to go on your own crime spree as you exact revenge for the murder of your naggy, useless girlfriend and subsequent need for facial reconstructive surgery via a car bomb. Just your typical day in the neighborhood, really.

Other than that, the rest is really up to you as the user.

All throughout the experience, you can customize your character (look, clothes, etc.), choose (read: steal) different rides, and interact with a variety of objects and “people”.

So, what’s good about City of Saints?

Well, for starters, it impresses fairly well in terms of graphics for a sandbox game on the iPhone. On my iPhone 4, I was able to clearly see the hard work and sweat the developers put into this game, as there were all sorts of little surprises and nice touches to be found in the most inconspicuous of places. Very rarely did gameplay lag for me, and when it did, it was barely noticeable. This, though, might be more attributable to the power of the iPhone 4 more than anything; but needless to say, Gameloft has taken full advantage of the graphics capabilities at their disposal.

My favorite thing to do was explore the maps at my own leisure, as the missions themselves weren’t really all that attention-grabbing. The tasks set before you will mostly consist of run-of-the-mill objectives, mostly wherein you must evade police, kill a few people, and steal as much of whatever you can.

If you’re like me and you enjoy the freedom to do as you please and see how far you can push the envelope in games like this, you’ll find City of Saints to be a perfect opportunity to do just that. I had free reign to go anywhere the maps physically allowed and interact with the characters and scenery there in a wide range of ways. This is where the game really shines, as pretty much anyone who plays a sandbox game is looking for this kind of experience, to be able to see how far they can take certain things.

A nice touch is the “Respect Levels”, which enable you to earn “respect” (obviously) for various tasks completed, destruction doled out, and whatever other type of thuggery you can imagine. As you increase your level of respect, you can improve your character’s health, unlock new weapons, style yourself a little better with more clothing choices, and improve your character’s fighting, driving, and shooting abilities.

What’s not so good about City of Saints?

If you’re a fan of excellent writing and plot development, you’re going to be severely disappointed. I rarely found a moment of dialogue that was half-way believable, as the voice actors were clearly phoning it in. Gameloft obviously didn’t think of it as a priority to invest in quality voice acting, seeing as how none of the accents have any flow or sense about them. If it weren’t for the subtitles on display, I would rarely have known what the heck anyone was saying. Although, that could probably be largely on account of my hearing disability, but I digress.

While it goes without saying that GTA-styled games like this come with their obligatory amount of crass and vulgarity, this game easily earns its 12+ rating. Nudity, random acts of extreme violence, and seemingly pointless, copious amounts of cussing can be found at nearly every turn of the wheel. If you’re someone who can handle that sort of thing, then this won’t bother you. But I doubt many mothers would approve of such an app on their teenager’s iPhone if they were aware of what was on the screen.

All in all, I’d say that Gangstar Rio: City of Saints is a moderately entertaining sandbox game that makes the most use of its massive download size, clocking in at a heavy 818 MB. It’ll keep you busy and entertained for quite awhile, as long as the terrible voice acting doesn’t melt your ability to stay tuned in.

If this seems like a game for you, it’ll set you back $6.99 in the app store.

Gangstar Rio: City of Saints Review: Freedom to Do as you Please is a post by App Chronicles

So what should you expect if you choose to rise to the challenge of using two thumbs and a touchscreen for some campaign/multiplayer action? True to the game it is imitating, Modern Combat brings you conflict on a global level, as America is the “Fallen Nation” and its attackers are countries such as Russia and Pakistan. It’s notable that entertaining cutscenes and dialogue that is average, at worst, have allowed MC3 to get a passing grade in the story department. That’s saying a lot for Gameloft, and it’s really good news for those as easily-annoyed with terrible voice-acting/characters/scripts as myself.

With the story making steady advances, it’s time we turn to the action… The experience of wielding a weapon and sprinting through the intense campaign is similar to the previous installments, except with a lot of graphical improvements and a higher level of variety. Not only do you get more weapons and more different ways to use them, but everything thing looks pretty stunning as you do so. Gameloft thinks big when it comes to designing these missions, and the visuals of Fallen Nation are good enough to keep you engaged in the chaotic frenzy of action taking place on all sides.

Gameloft didn’t try to break any new ground with the controls. MC3 still comes with all the inherent difficulties of playing a dual-stick shooter on a touchscreen. You can try all three different control options that are available, but in the end, somewhat-clumsy controls are still the bane of shooters like this—and MC3 is no exception.

After playing through all 13 missions you might need a short break, but then it’s on to the multiplayer, where many might spend the most time. Gameloft knows that they hit gold with this mode previously, and the multiplayer has been properly serviced this time around. It’s now possible to do with battle with 12 players at a time, either online or using local WiFi. There are six maps and a total of seven different multiplayer modes, ranging from the classic Battle to more creative variations like Manhunt and Zone control. The experience is rounded out by the inclusion of things like specialized weapons skills and kill signatures… Really, those who scoff at getting involved with this kind of multiplayer game on a mobile phone have got some re-examining to do.

… And that’s the point that MC3 manages to drive home throughout all the hours of gameplay present here. This is the full package. And for $6.99 it’s nothing short of a bargain when you consider all the cinematic moments and epic multiplayer matches that are promised within this app. Yes, some will find it difficult to connect with the control scheme, but it’s nothing you can’t get used to, and Fallen Nation makes it abundantly obvious that its time we all start practicing. There’s far too much going on here to miss.

Our Score: 4.5 Out of 5