AppCraver » Andrew Portela

Fool Your Friends With iMagic Trick

Andrew Portela — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:00:49 +0000

The main idea behind the app iMagic Trick is your friends pick a number from 0 to 60 and answer a couple of questions. After your friend is done with the questions iMagic Trick is supposed to “magically” discern the number that was being thought of by the user.

The app itself is very basic — it’s essentially designed for doing the trick one way and that’s it. There’s not a lot of razzle-dazzle, but the graphics are sufficient for the application and the numbers are easy enough to read.

I know a magician never reveals his tricks, but here’s the way iMagic Trick works.The pages each have a set of numbers. Then, according to when the user pushes yes or no, the app can pin-point the exact number that the user was thinking of. It is an impressive thing when you see it for the first time, but essentially it is a math formula that, if followed correctly, will always come up with the number. It’s pretty easy to figure out once you know what’s happening. So, it’s only good one time for each person that you show.

Of course, if you do want to play the trick again, there’s a downfall — there is no play again button when the iMagic Trick finally does tell you your number. So, in order to try it again, you have to close the app and then load it up again. Granted it’s only a small inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless.

iMagic Trick is a good way to stump your friends, but this will surely be one of those apps that sits on your phone and doesn’t get much use.

app_name: iMagic Trick
rating: 6/10

Mr. Papi Eat More Burgers to Win

Andrew Portela — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:30:20 +0000

PapiJump Land is a cute app that involves a little red ball man (Mr. Papi as he is called). The goal of PapiJump Land is to jump around the level and eat all the hamburgers.

There are obstacles in the way of you getting those hamburgers so you have to watch out. Move Mr. Papi around the level by tilting the iPhone or iPod Touch towards the direction that you would like Mr. Papi to go in.

The game itself has a very cute and interesting style of gameplay.

PapiJump Land is easy to use from the first time you open it up. The front page provides quick access to the how to play and settings buttons. The help page offers you a look at all the information that you need to play, including all the obstacles and how to have the app function the way you want it to. The one thing that I don’t like is that the help page is a web page that opens in Safari as opposed to it being right in the app itself. It’s a minor issue, but it causes the game to close and you have to reopen PapiJump Land after reading the help section.

Once you decide to start a game you can pause it on any level and continue next time you get a chance. The settings give you the option of adjusting the tilt sensor in the iPhone. I like that the app gives you this option because I get turned off of the games that don’t have the option and are over sensitive.

PapiJump Land is a lot of fun and proves you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.

app_name: PapiJump Land
rating: 8/10

HexSpin: Spin to Win This Challenging Color Match Puzzle

Andrew Portela — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:00:33 +0000

HexSpin brings to the table a puzzle game that mimics bejeweled, but with one major difference. It involves colors that need to be matched up. Each hexagon can be spun to match the colors to try and get the same colors together. You have to do as many as you can in the allotted time limit in order to get the most points possible.

I had trouble with HexSpin at first because I tried to just start playing and didn’t go through the instructions. After I couldn’t get the hang of it the first go ’round, I took a look at the directions and I must say that the game is still challenging. I never did complete a hexagon within the allotted time limit.

The help section of HexSpin, however, does a good job of explaining how the game is to be played and how the scoring system works. The options section lets users choose to either drag a finger or to spin your finger in order to rotate the hex. It also lets users adjust the touch screen’s sensitivity.

I like the creativity that is involved in HexSpin. I have seen games like this one before that required players to slide a line or flip the colors to make a pair, but I have yet to see one spins the colors such as HexSpin. I love innovation and that gets a thumbs up from me.

Puzzle lovers should note that HexSpin is on the harder side and will probably take a fair bit of practice to become good. HexSpin is not for beginners or those looking to toss off a few games while waiting in line at the post office. That being said, if you have the dedication, you may just find greatness in HexSpin.

Watch HexSpin in action on YouTube:

app_name: HexSpin
rating: 7/10

Jabeh: Find the Hidden Stones in This Logic Puzzle

Andrew Portela — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:30:14 +0000

Jabeh, an interesting logic puzzle app, is a mixture of Sudoku and Minesweeper. Your goal in Jabeh is to find the 12 hidden stones on each puzzle board.

The arrows on the board are to help point you in the right direction of the hidden stones. The columns and rows are filled with numbers that tell you how many stones are in each column or row. Using the arrows and the numbers you can make your best guess as to where the stone is. You can also cross out boxes to help you make a closer pin point decision on the stones location.

Jabeh comes with a nice user interface that is aesthetically pleasing. There are 10 different theme songs and all of the art work is original. The simple actions of a tap on or a swipe across boxes are used to discover the stones.

Jabeh has a 5-page instruction section that explains what objects mean all the way to tips on solving the puzzle. The settings are adequate enough with toggles for all the sounds and a choice of difficulty for each puzzle. The easy setting displays lots of arrows and users can easily figure out where each stone is in a column or row. Each level you move on your way up to hard involves losing arrows and the numbers become more sparse.

Jabeh features original art and a soothing soundtrack. In fact if you like the songs, the developers even offer the full soundtrack for free at their website Jabeh.org.

The only downfall in my opinion is that Jabeh lacks excitement. Once I found the stones, there wasn’t much of a reason to come back for more.

Watch Jabeh in action on YouTube:

app_name: Jabeh
rating: 7/10

Aeterius: Contact Wars – Fight For Your Home Planet

Andrew Portela — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:00:31 +0000

Aeterius: Contact Wars is a unique idea that works well for the iPhone. The object of the game is to hold the iPhone parallel to the ground and tilt the device in the direction that you want your ship to go. In order to beat the enemies, you have to bump and push them off the screen without flying off the screen yourself.

Opening Aeterius: Contact Wars for the first time was a bit startling. The background music was blaring. It’s an unwelcome surprise because I often play games in public and it’s embarrassing to attract attention like that. Aaterius has a sound option so the user can easily shut off both music and sound fx or just one of them. The app also supplies a well laid out instructions page which explains everything from the goals and controls to special abilities and enhancements.

Unfortunately, Aeterius: Contact Wars lacks excitement. This game reminds me of Space Invaders mixed with SmashTV. The difference, however, is that those classic games involve more enemies and the ability to shoot. Contact Wars would be excellent if it had either of those things to provide a sense of urgency. Also, Aeterius takes a long time before the user gets to any real challenging levels — unlike games where the excitement starts right off the bat.

On the plus side, I do like the arena stage aspect of the game where all the user has to do is beat the enemies in one level. Aeterius: Contact Wars is well designed and excellently set up. All it needs now is to instill a little bit more excitement during game play and people will have a hard time putting it down.

app_name: Aeterius: Contact Wars
rating: 7/10

Twizzle Launches Color Matching Game With a Twist

Andrew Portela — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:00:58 +0000

Twizzle joins the many puzzle apps that involves matching colors or shapes to win. The object of Twizzle is to get rid of all of the colors in as little moves as possible. By tapping color groups of three or more the user can clear those and move on to the next grouping. The user can also tilt the phone on its side to have the blocks fall and thus rearrange.

When I first opened Twizzle I was startled by the loud music, which is never good for anyone playing this game for the first time in public. Luckily there are music and soundfx toggles on the first page so I didn’t get stuck with it for too long. Also on the first page the user can find instructions which are highly detailed and explain each aspect of the game quite well. A level toggle can also be found on the first page with choices from easy, medium and hard. And, of course, you can start the game from the opening page.

When you start Twizzle the playing board is filled with colored blocks. Something that bothers me is that I couldn’t figure out how to start over if I wasn’t able to win the game. A couple of times I was left with one block sitting on the bottom and could not clear it. In order to start over I had to exit Twizzle completely.

All in all Twizzle is fun, but not very addicting. It doesn’t have me coming back for more.

app_name: Twizzle
rating: 6/10

Coins N Rainbows – Coin Sliding Fun

Andrew Portela — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:00:12 +0000

Coins N Rainbows was an original idea that involves the user having a coin and sliding it along the board to land on rainbows. The user would take his or her iPhone and slide it forward which sends the coin along the board and depending on where it lands on the rainbows, determines how many points the user gets.

Although Coins N Rainbows is a great idea for a game and reminds of my childhood days playing ski ball, it falls short in many ways. First thing I noticed of course is that there is no way to shut of the sound. Not only is there no way to shut off the sound but there is no options page in general. There are no instructions on how to play the game either. It took me a couple minutes of trial and error to figure it out.

Another thing that bothers me about Coins N Rainbows is that it is very hard to gauge the distance you are throwing the coin making it difficult to throw. It is also almost impossible to score because if any part of the coin is touching a black line the points don’t count. The color areas of the rainbow are barely bigger than the coin so in order to score points the user has to get lucky.

Coins N Rainbows has a lot of work to do in order to compete with the other apps. The app is a great start and a great idea, it just needs some elbow grease to get it right.

app_name: Coins N Rainbows
rating: 4/10

Ski Lodge is More Than Just Snow Reports

Andrew Portela — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:00:38 +0000

Ski Lodge is not the first snow reports app that I have reviewed, but it is just as good as the rest of them. It also offers much more than the rest of the snow report apps.

The opening page of Ski Lodge shows all of the favorite resorts you have saved. When you tap on the resort name, the app displays an attractive page of options. The first button is the trail map. This is an essential tool for exploring a mountain that you’re not familiar with and something that is missing from other snow report apps. The next is a graph that shows difficulty of the trails and an approximate breakdown of trail type — you can see at a glance if a resort is mostly bunny slopes or double diamonds. Snow Lodge also shows the number of trails that are open as well as the amount of lifts that are open.

With Ski Lodge you can check out live webcams and look at photos of the mountain or tap to visit the ski resort’s Web site. Ski Lodge will also take you to Google Maps so you can get directions or let you give the mountain a call at the tap of a button.

Ski Lodge has an option to search for mountains nearby or browse resorts all over the USA and Canada.

Another feature that I haven’t seen on any other snow report app is the ski news that Ski Lodge offers. It gives you the chance to check out what is going on in the ski industry at the moment. You can also choose where you want the news to come from, such as Google ski news and onthesnow.com.

app_name: Ski Lodge
rating: 9/10

Word Warp is Best Word Game for iPhone

Andrew Portela — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:30:43 +0000

Word Warp! I love this game and everything about it. This is probably the one iPhone app that I have used everyday since I have downloaded it. The object of the game is exactly like that of Text Twist if you are familiar with it. If not, basically all you have to do is make the most words you can using the 6 letters presented — in order to go to the next level you have to make a word using all 6.

The game is very addicting and allows you to leave in the middle of a game and return to where you left off. I love this feature because it constantly keeps me coming back for more so I can continue building up a high score.

If you click the info button on the bottom right corner, you’ll find directions for the game and a few options. Players can set a time limit for each set of words. I like to keep mine under 3 minutes because I find that if there is no rush in the game then it loses its appeal. There is also the option to use an alternate word list and a button to check out more apps made by the same people, MobilityWare.

There is something about word games that I love, especially when they are mobile and be played anytime anywhere. Word Warp is my first go-to game when I find myself out of the house and not doing anything. Every time you see me sitting on the train or in a waiting room I am listening to music and playing some Word Warp. My hat goes off to the people of MobilityWare.

app_name: Word Warp
rating: 10/10

Fleck Tells a Magic Story

Andrew Portela — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:30:18 +0000

Fleck is a board game app for the iPhone and I have yet to see anything similar. The object of the game is to get the little guy in the green shirt, also known as Fleck, to the cove. You have to do this without coming into contact with the acid raindrops or the toadstool which will poison him and ultimately end the game. This may sound easy, but it is actually pretty hard.

The app’s quality is apparent as soon as you open the game. It’s obvious that a lot of thought went into making this a user-friendly game.

The sound options use a slider mechanism so you can not only turn it on or off but adjust for the perfect volume. There is a separate control for the background music. There are also on/off toggles — cheats, time limit, and limited moves — that allow you to change the difficulty.

The help section is great and shows exactly what to do in the game. In addition to offering a background story, it shows every piece of magic that player will come across on the board.

Start to play the game from the main menu and if you need to leave mid-game you can come back later and continue the game or just click new game and start all over.

At the end of the game, Fleck shows the points acquired during your game and the amount of moves that it took to do so. On the bottom right you can click the retry button to give the game another shot or click the menu button on the bottom left to exit back to the beginning.

Fleck is a great game and you can certainly see that the developer put a lot of time and effort into creating a diversion that can be played over and over again.

app_name: Fleck
rating: 9/10