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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Read the rest of Jabeh: Find the Hidden Stones in This Logic Puzzle or discover more iPhone apps.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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