The game also features a rubber duck mode where it all goes a bit ‘Disco’ and the rising bubbles are replaced with, you guessed it, rubber ducks.

Although young gamers might enjoy this for a while, it’s not for older gamers and if I had to offer one constructive critism it would be to increase the font size of the text as it might be fine on iPad but on a smaller iPhone screen it is too small to read.

Overall, this is a sweet game but with limited appeal but if you have small children it is well worth downloading the free version to see of they like it. If so, you can remove the adverts for a minimal cost.

itunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/bathroom-popper-free/id582957479?mt=8

From the Developer:

BATHROOM POPPER FREE

Experience the ultimate bubble tapping experience in Bathroom Popper FREE! Endless gameplay in the hunt for the highest score. The game is filled with light-hearted humor and beautiful graphics with intuitive controls made for your iPhone.

This is the ultimate bubble popper for the iPhone!

GAMEPLAY

Tap the bubbles that rise from your bathtub. Don’t miss a bubble, for you will lose the game! In tight spots, shake your iPhone sideways to stop the bubbles for few seconds.

FEATURES

– Beautiful graphics!
– Bathroom songs from the mouth of a pro bathroom singer!
– Taptaptaptappititap!
– Languages in finnish and in english.
– Lots of easter eggs for you to discover!
– A possessed duck!
– Special mode, where you have to tap as many ducks as you can!
– Fun and entertaining gameplay for your whole family.
– Instructions.
– A great pickup and play game!

Discover the world of Bathroom Popper!

The post Bathroom Popper – Simple Game For Toddlers appeared first on AppTrawler.

There’s not going to be many people who haven’t played this game. It’s been given away free at various times including during the recent ’12 Days of Christmas’ promotion by Apple.

The premise of the game is simple; guide your jet pack clad hero through miles of tunnels whilst avoiding obstacles, layers, missiles and other assorted troubles. Pressing the screen fires your jet pack and letting go sending the protagonist down to the floor. The simple aim is to get as far as you can and collect as many coins as you can.

What really makes this game fun is the massive amount of extras there are. In game, there are various vehicles to pick up from a Bad As Hog which is a Harley Davidson esqe bike to a Chinese style robotic dragon. Each of which give the player an addition level of protection meaning it will take two hits to kill you instead of one. These vehicles also add an extra dimension to the game as the dragon reveres the controls, the gravity suit either sticks you to the floor or ceiling and the transporter zips from one random space to the next. Out side the main game there is a massive amount of collectables and customization options to buy with you well earned coins from zombie outfits to coin magnets for your vehicles. Couple that with a huge range of challenges such as ‘high five 20 scientists’ and go 1000 meters without collecting a coin’ and such like. These additional extras are really what will keep you playing again and again in an attempt to beat your longest distance, get those elusive extra coins and acquiring that bubble powered jet pack.

This is a truly fun, pick up and play title which has been excellently executed and ideal for any smartphone user. The game is fun, it lasts for ages, and the regular updates from the developer will ensure that this app doesn’t get deleted any time soon.in an attempt to beat your longest distance, get those elusive extra coins and acquiring that bubble powered jet pack.

This is a truly fun, pick up and play title which has been excellently executed and ideal for any smartphone user. The game is fun, it lasts for ages and the regular updates from the developer will ensure that this app doesn’t get deleted any time soon.

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/jetpack-joyride/id457446957?mt=8

The post Review: Jetpack Joyride – Thrusting fun on the iPhone and iPad appeared first on AppTrawler.

Although he was gone he was not forgotten, and various attempts to bring him back all seemed to fail. Recently there was a Kickstarter campaign (last month) by non other than the egg’s creators ‘The Oliver Twins’ who wanted to give Dizzy a complete overhaul to bring him into the 21st century. Sadly this failed and we had to settle for a Codemasters remake of Dizzy Prince of the Yolk Folk.

The graphics have been lovingly updated from its 16bit counterpart and everything has been mirrored from the original so retro fans and dizzy fan boys will be happy. This game celebrates it retro-ness with an old style graphic splash screen and Amiga ‘workbench’ screen whilst loading. However, for new gamers I am not sure the pick up and carry mechanic will hold many people’s attention. In essence, you have to find an item at one end of the level, take it to the other end and move forward. Sounds simple enough but there is plenty to keep you entertained throughout your journey. From start to finish there is a few hours game play so its well worth the price tag.

The one let down has to be the controls. They work fine but just seem a little ‘spread out’. There are six buttons for each of main points of the compass; up down, left right and all the diagonals but they are on all sides of the screen which makes it unusual to play to say the least.

Overall, it’s great to see the little egg back in action and although many newer gamers might not like the simplicity of this classic adventure those that remember the early day of gaming will play it with fond memories of yesteryear. We can only hope that this is Dizzy dipping his proverbial toes in the world of smartphone gaming, as it would be great to see more of our shell shocked hero.

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dizzy-prince-of-the-yolkfolk/id474181227?mt=8

The post Review: Dizzy Prince Of The Yolkfolk appeared first on AppTrawler.

It was very motivating when I was testing this app that I was able to run against someone I’ve never met in a 5k race, virtually, in real time.  The sheer motivating power of “seeing” that person pass me made me run faster than I ever have.  It was great.  And I won!  There were also audio prompts that let me know if I slowed down or when I was close to the finish line, plus I could listen to my own music while I ran.

There are some other features of Sociercise Real Time Running Races that separate it out from the pack of other running apps in addition to the running races you can use Sociercise to do individual running workouts by yourself.  The Sociercise App also lets you see your route via Google Maps and everything is shareable with Facebook and Twitter.

Another great tool that this app solves is goal setting and tracking.  Many people have a calorie app and a running app.  With Sociercise you can track all of your goals and they show up in individual and combined percentages to let you know where you stand.

The user interface is simple but it works and works well.  Anyway, if you’re running you shouldn’t be caring so much about fancy graphics.  GPS functionality with this app is very accurate but as with other GPS apps it does take some battery power.  Before running I would suggest dimming the screen to save some battery life.

I run holding the app in my hand but other people might want to where an armband or put the iphone in their pocket.  If you do that you may not be able to see the graphical representation of the race but it won’t affect the functionality.

Overall, Sociercise Real Time Running Races is a top-rated running app that features real time running races, goal tracking, running log, and a user friendly interface.  Five Stars.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sociercise-real-time-running/id567206550?ls=1&mt=8

The post Sociercise Real Time Running Races on iPhone appeared first on AppTrawler.

As I said earlier, Droplitz is a puzzle game based around moving and routing a bunch of water drops. The drops start at the top of the screen. So, the main objective is rearranging hexagonal pipe segments to facilitate the journey of water droplets from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. There are a series of spinning dials that have different tube paths.
By altering the orbs, you try to create linked chains for the drops reach the “collectors”. The game is over once the number of drops runs out. Points are given by routing drops to the “collectors”, triggering bonus drops and the number of dials knocked out in your completed paths. The more connections you make, the more the score multiplies. Connecting pipes so that water flows from point A to point B is easy, but stringing together combinations is where you start racking up some big points. After you’ve made as many connections as you can, the tiles disappear, and in order to keep the combo going you’ve got to quickly make a new connection or lose everything.
Controls in the game is basic and easy. You just need to tap the dial to spin it. And you can make the dials move in the opposite direction by pressing a special dial.

On a side note, there are options to change the overall color schemes during gameplay, which makes the game just a little more playable, I guess.

Droplitz is the sort of puzzle game that I consider numbingly addictive. Like Tetris, Bejeweled, Hexic, or any successful game in the genre, it foregoes a flashy presentation, fixing your attention to its particular game play mechanic and lulling you into a sort of fugue state in which the only thing that makes sense is playing more.

All in all, with three gameplay modes (i.e. Normal, Hard, Free Play), Droplitz will keep you busy for a while!

The post Review : Droplitz – A fine puzzle game for iOS! appeared first on AppTrawler.

The fatbooth app itself does one thing, you take a photo of yourself, line up the eyes, mouth and chin and the software does the rest.  The visuals actually come out really well and it great for a few laughs.  After everyone in the office was done, this spread to a sunday afternoon when the family was round.

This is a simple and amusing app that will break the ice, give you a quick laugh and the feature to email the photos is a great touch.  I can see this coming out at parties (in the wee small hours of course) and family get togethers.  A fun little app that maybe limited in terms of extra features but great for a quick laugh.

At the aforementioned family gathering, the family were so bowled over by the fatbooth app (they don’t get out much) that they instantly wanted other booths to see themselves all photoshopped.  With this we got the Aging Booth straight after and went around the family adding 20-30 years.  As with the fat booth you take a photo of the victim and they software adds wrinkles, age spots and tireness.  Personally I didn’t find it as funny as the fat booth but some of the other family members did.  So both apps got the thumbs up and would be great if gatherings go a bit quiet.

If you have 59p to spare then this is a lot better than some of the tripe currently circulating.  A funny pair of apps that are great at social occasions.

The post Review: Fat Booth & Aging Booth appeared first on AppTrawler.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch developer Koei has obviously (and appropriately) read that ancient military guidebook and learned its vital lessons.

While the game only ever shows you static screens of information and abstract representations of feudal Chinese armies, you’re fully deceived into thinking you’re a 2nd-century warlord.

Spend ten minutes with it and you may as well write the next couple of hours off because this truly is one of the most engrossing experiences on the App Store.

Pick a caste, any caste

You begin by selecting from five consecutive periods of Chinese history spanning the end of the 2nd-century through to the middle of the 3rd. Each is tied to an important historical event, such as an influential political figure being overthrown or the start of a major conflict.

Next, you pick from a number of factions vying for supremacy. Even at this early stage you’re given pause for thought, as you must weigh up which faction to choose based on size, geography, resources and military strength.

Do you, for example, go for the dominant power (early on at least) of Dong Zhuo, rich in gold and land but somewhat unwieldy and surrounded by aggressive enemies, or do you opt for Sun Jian to the southeast – a small, relatively poor lord, but isolated from his enemies in a corner of the map that’s ripe for non-violent expansion?

Whoever you choose to command, your ultimate goal is the same: overthrow every last competing faction.

Chinese democracy

This is no Command & Conquer-style real-time strategy game, though. Unrestrained aggression will lead to swift defeat.

Instead, you have to take time to build your empire by increasing productivity, which determines how much gold and food you receive every twelve turns. These two resources are the foundation of everything you do in the game, funding your military endeavours and keeping your people in check.

Once your coffers are filled the possibilities really open up. Using your officers you can implement a range of commands. As such, officers are rated according to their abilities in war, charisma, intelligence, and age (they can die of natural causes).

In addition to utilising their unique talents, you also have to keep them happy with regular rewards. Enemy-initiated rumours can sap loyalty, increasing the chances of defection, along with the troops under their command.

It’s worth remembering that anything your enemy can do to you, you can do to them. If you want to destabilise a prosperous opponent then you can dispatch one of your officers to sow seeds of doubt among the populace or sabotage their food crops.

You can even entice opposing officers to your side, if their loyalty is sufficiently low and your offer too good to refuse.

Command and conquer

Once you’ve built up a sizeable force and a healthy stock of both gold and food, you can start to think about direct engagement. This section of the game plays out as a turn-based strategy game in the mould of Advance Wars or Mecho Wars.

While far from rivalling the aforementioned games in terms of depth, battles add a welcome dose of action to an otherwise cerebral game. Sneaking in to steal my numerically superior opponent’s supply base after artfully drawing them out ranks as one of my most gratifying gaming moments of recent months.

Strategic blunders

Given its depth and scope, it’s perhaps unsurprising that something has been lost in the game’s touchscreen translation. While menus are laid out well, the dispersal of relevant information can be maddeningly counter-intuitive.

For example, when seeking to employ a new officer you would hope that you’d be able to obtain each candidate’s stats through the “employ” command branch.

Touching on the officer here, though, merely selects them. You have to back out of the menus, scroll to the “info” pane and select the “all officers” command, examine the information, then return to the “employ” screen to make your selection.

Navigation of the core map is also a little inconsistent, slow in scrolling and zooming but skittish when skimming across the regions.

Imperial splendor

It’s a testament to the quality of the game’s core systems – the yin and yang of decision making, the surprising variation in battle tactics, the elegant presentation and the historical intrigue – that such flaws don’t ever threaten to stop you from returning to Romance of the Three Kingdoms Touch.

It’s a tough, punishing and demanding experience that won’t be to everyone’s tastes – even some of those who would consider themselves fans of previous iPhone strategy titles. Those with the patience to mine its depths, though, will be richly rewarded for their loyalty.

The post Review: Romance of the Three Kingdoms appeared first on AppTrawler.

As with any typical RTS game, the objective is to build a community, establishing a means of income, develop a powerful military, and expand territories. The Settlers, however, is less about tactical micromanagement and more about strategic planning. In many ways, The Settlers is a game focused on urban planning where the placement and construction of buildings play heavily in your success. Unlike many of today’s RTS games, direct control of individual or groups of units is limited. You literally establish a virtual society where your vision will set it down the path to success or failure. This premise alone makes The Settlers worth considering especially for newcomers to the series.

As expected, Gameloft has done an impressive job with visuals in The Settlers. From the buildings to the animations and actions of individuals, The Settlers provides an enjoyable viewing experience. Even the random fluttering butterflies, foraging forest animals or the crashing waves seem to bring just the right amount of personality. To further the immersive experience, the sound effects are particularly well done from the birds chirping to battle cries. One minor issue is the soundtrack, which is short and noticeably irritating when it loops, although you can play your own music if you choose.

The Settlers consists of 4 tribes— Roman, Viking, Mayan and Dark Tribe —each with a series of mission-based campaigns. The most extensive set is the 12-mission campaign against Dark Tribe where you play as each of the tribes in campaigns to conquer them. Unfortunately, a free play mode isn’t included, though the length of included missions should take significant time to complete, and unlocked missions can be replayed at any time. Auto save is also included along with 5 save slots which is a necessity for a game of this length and depth.

The game boasts an intimidating 35-screen help section which is your first indication of the great depth in The Settlers. These screens are categorized into 8 sections: Buildings, Goods Flow, New Colony, Settlers, Warriors, War Machines, Alcohol, and Magic. The game’s tutorial does a good job walking you through the basics. Each mission is introduced with a cut screen providing a story background followed by objectives which are well thought out.

With all that it’s involved in The Settlers, the user interface is adequately laid out even though it may feel cluttered for some. Like most RTS games, certain things need to happen in a certain way before being able to do something else. For example, to tap into resources such as gold, you’ll need to recruit geologists, send them out to survey a site, build a gold mine, a gold smelter to process, and then a weaponsmith to make tools and weapons. In many cases, you’ll need to have tools made such as shovels and pickaxes to before The Settlers can proceed with their work.

Building and placing structures is rather simple. Once a structure is selected from the Building menu, a series of dots will appear on the screen. These are the locations on which the new structure can be located. It’s here that you can watch the little tribesmen work, and the animation really makes it interesting to watch. Of course, you can also fast forward through the process if you want to the speed up the game. Once a structure is placed, statistics can be viewed by tapping on it. For example, a gold smelting building will show how much is produced, while a tower will indicate the number of troops.

The Settlers has a different dynamic which you will either love or hate when it comes to the moving settlers since many are not under the player’s control. When a unit is controllable by a player, they can be selected either by tapping, drawing a square using a pinch motion around a group of settlers, or accessing the Find Settler button. Once selected, tapping on a specific location will create a flag which serves as the meeting point, and the selected settlers will move accordingly. One of the small issues is that settlers you control will tend to revert back to what they were doing no matter where you want them to go, so control is a relative term. Some characters such as the carrier, digger and builder automatically perform their tasks and cannot be controlled. For those new to the game, the limited amount of control can be frustrating especially since these settlers can move rather slowly.

Gameloft has provided this tutorial video to show how to play the game:

Battles can be fun as you recruit and train troops and then watch the ensuing fight. But keep in mind, beyond directing the direction of troop movements, there are no tactical decisions to be made during a battle. Besides magic, there are several war machines available based on the tribe. These include Roman catapults, Mayan firespitters, and Viking Warships, which create visually eye catching damage during battles.

After initially not being too high on the gameplay, I found myself enjoying the game more as I progressed. Personally, I prefer the ability to control the movements of the people in my virtual community, and can see this being an issue for those who fall in the same camp. Long time Settlers fans however point out that such micromanagement was never the focus of the early versions of the game.

Because the game is focused on strategic planning and less so on micromanagement, the enjoyment level may vary based on your personal preferences as you’ll spend a fair share of time watching rather doing. As a result, I found the game can be a mix of fun and frustration. Regardless of your previous experience, however, the game does offer a solid and deep experience with beautiful graphics. The missions and the maps are elaborate enough to offer hours of play, bringing enough to separate itself from other games in the genre.

The post Review: The Settlers appeared first on AppTrawler.

Combined with the Plus+ social network for friendly challenges and global leaderboards, it’s the sort of thing golfing buddies should consider in terms of stoking up one upmanship on the greens.

And you get a lot of grass for your game. Fore! features 54 holes spread across three courses.

As you’d expect, the controls use a  touch-and-swipe mechanic, with the accelerometer providing aftertouch on your ball.

But most importantly, the game automatically saves your best moments – holes in one for example – for you to replay over and over again.

You can check out the quality of its swing via the video below.

The post Review: Fore! appeared first on AppTrawler.

Happy Halloween fellow AppTrawlers!

Aptly we are overrun with monsters today in the form of the new game by Origin8, creator of BioSub, Sentinel and Poker Buddy. MonsterKill is a tower defense game with a monster twist.  The aim of the game is to protect your gate from the rampaging hordes of classic horror types such as Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, and the mummy.  In your arsenal of weapons are a series of spells which are cast by motioning different patterns on the screen.

The spells:

• Slice and dice them by motioning the finger left to right
• Summon lightning by drawing a ‘Z’ on the screen
• Reign down fireballs with a ‘V’ action
• Freeze them with an inverted ‘V’

The graphics are lovely and the game has a well thought out and polished feel, each of the characters move very well and the premise of the game is simple and enjoyable.  The shop feature allows you to repair and upgrade your gate or wall and improve your spells.  The sound effects are fitting, funny and even a bit catchy.

There are three game modes which include:

• Normal: Work through the levels upgrading your abilities and defences
• Endless: Same as normal but with no level limit… it just keeps going!
• onslaught: The player is given 20 tokens to stock up and you have to fend off 101 monsters that attack

The only niggly problem i found was that the controls can be a little un-responsive sometimes and whilst trying to do a lighting bolt they get hit by an ice block.  However this only really happened at the craziest moments when overrun by the enemy.

Overall, the game is extremely well realised and you can tell a lot of thought and love has gone into the game.  The graphics and sounds are great and the control method, despite being un-responsive at times is new to the device and genre and adds a refreshing twist.  If you are looking for a halloween related game, you can’t go wrong with this one.  The price is great at the moment so snap it up before it goes up.

The post Halloween Special – Review: MonsterKill appeared first on AppTrawler.

Everything from carrots to potatoes can be grown and the more you grow, the more money you will make. Eventually you can buy a tractor that will automatically plow your land and different decorations such as pumpkins to make your property personal to you. The game is very casual meaning it doesn’t really take that much thought to play through. It takes a while to really get anywhere in the game as you need to keep growing crops and harvesting them to make money and buy bigger things.

Overall, the game was cheap but it was just too simple to keep me entertained. The matching minigame is advertised as fun but it really turned out to be repetitive and every time I found myself wondering when it would be over. There are definitely better farming games out there at the moment, but the developers of this game seem to keep updating with better features. I recommend looking into some others first and then seeing if this one has grown any.

The post Review: Pocket Farm appeared first on AppTrawler.

On the contrary, it’s a frightening ability for the characters in Sliding Heroes. Though highly original, this accelerometer-controlled strategy game proves just how unwieldy any sliding superhero would be.

To be frank, using nothing but tilting to control your characters doesn’t really deliver the goods when it comes to actual gameplay.

You control an army consisting of four character classes: Warrior, Mage, Cleric, and Lancer. After summoning your desired unit, tilting your handset sends them rolling in the corresponding direction. When they run into an enemy, your forces attack.

The idea is to clear the board of all foes and occasionally a boss to unlock the exit. Getting there with at least one of your squad is enough to move on to the next stage.

The monsters themselves are initially varied, some landbound, some keeping to the skies. Like your own units, they too have their own strengths and weaknesses. As such, the game is all about deploying the right class to take out monsters susceptible to their kind of attacks.

It’s fairly basic stuff, navigating through each level and matching up your targets with the correct unit the backbone of play, but none of this is helped by the fact that the controls are sluggish. It takes too long for the game to respond to your tilts.

Precision is also called for, purple pools sapping your health away and holes in the ground swallowing units. It’s not uncommon to get caught up in unseen level furniture, too. The whole process of moving your band of battlers around – which, remember, is your one and only action during play – is a constant frustration.

Objects within the levels are meant to be used as a tool for dividing units into smaller, more manageable groups for battle. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work because you’re unable to control any one unit or group at a time. Organising groups does you no good because you’re always moving every unit on the board.

Incorporating the ability to select units manually by roping them with a gesture or executing a multi-touch box would great improve things. Groups could then be drafted and controlled individually with tactics in mind. Instead, you end up fighting against the controls and babysitting your own units more than actually battling enemies.

The end result is a condescending, almost insulting, non-entity that would serve as a nifty bonus round but is a bit vacuous for a strategy game. Suddenly invisibility, at least in Sliding Heroes case, seems like the obvious choice.

The post Review: Sliding Heroes appeared first on AppTrawler.

Just in case you are new to tower defense games, the basic idea is to build towers along the path of your enemies in order to destroy them before they reach the end. There have been countless tower defense games on the market, each one offering something unique. This game does just that, putting forth yet another interesting concept. The maps are described as “whimsical forests”, and the enemies as “ghoulish creatures.” There really is no other way to describe it. The enemies range from tiny foot soldiers to flying monsters and they always arrive in groups of the same type. There is always a predefined set of rounds you must fight through in order to win the level. The first few rounds are always easiest. As the rounds progress, the enemies become harder to defeat, requiring you to upgrade your towers. The first unique aspect about Moonlight Minions is that the enemies don’t just travel across the screen. They each have special abilities that you must take into account if you want to win. For example, some creatures can teleport, heal or destroy your towers. This adds special challenges not found in other tower defense games.

My first complaint with this game is the lack of tower choices. There are only six towers to choose from. Four of them are attack towers, one will slow the enemy down and the last one reveals creatures that would otherwise be invisible. All the towers resemble some sort of plant, which adds to the whole whimsical forest theme. The attack towers fire small projectiles, large fireballs and bolts of electricity. The fourth tower actually shoots spike up from the ground.

Each of these towers is upgradeable and may also be sold for some money back. The towers are all unique and fun to build. However, the lack of towers is definitely one of the weaker aspects of the game and should be expanded upon in the next update.

The bottom of the screen will display each upcoming wave of enemies. I guess this may help you prepare for what’s to come, but I rarely pay any attention to it. This same area includes a way to speed up the waves of enemies for extra points. There is also a button to unleash your special weapon, whether that is an earthquake, lightning bolt or meteor shower.

The graphics and animations in Moonlight Minions are high quality and, combined with great music and sound effects, really do immerse you into this fantasy world of ghouls and goblins. Each time I played this game my senses were engaged and flooded with quality sound effects, eerie music and beautifully animated environments and characters. You cannot zoom in or out as in most tower defense games, but this really didn’t bother me too much.

There are so many positives in this game that it’s a shame it has been released with so many bugs. There are some issues with crashing and glitches that can’t be ignored. For example, I experienced enemies that seem to skip around the map a bit as if there was lag. I also had a problem where it wouldn’t let me move a tower to exactly where I wanted it. Restarting the level solved this issue. Controls are generally intuitive, but there was one other issue I had with tower upgrades. At times, I tried to upgrade a tower and accidentally sold it. The buttons are in the same area and if you tap on a tower slightly off screen, you only see the “sell” side instead of the upgrade side.

When the developer fixes the bugs and adds more content to the game, Moonlight Minions will definitely become a top tower defense title. Even as it stands now, I strongly recommend picking this one up.

The post Review: Moonlight Minions appeared first on AppTrawler.

The character can run out of air quickly if he does not grab the air capsules that are found throughout the level and he can also be crushed by falling blocks. Along the way players will meet different characters that will help or try to hurt your progress through.

The game was definitely fun and had a few different control options to choose from. The graphics and music were great too and overall the game was very enjoyable to play through. It definitely felt like an arcade game. NAMCO was offering Mr Driller at a very cheap price at the time of this review. I definitely recommend checking it out.

The post Review: Mr Driller appeared first on AppTrawler.

Dungeon Hunter is the premiere hack’n’slash rpg release by Gameloft. Those players who are longtime fans of the Diablo series or familiar with the look of games like Dungeon Siege, this game will seem very similar. The game plays a little like Pixel Mine’s Underworlds with it’s upgradeable characters and various items that can be collected and utilized.

Right from the beginning of the game you are given a choice between three different classes of characters to play. You can pick from the standard classes of Warrior, Rogue, or Mage. Each class has it’s benefits that are special to it personally and it really comes down to what style of play you enjoy the most. Getting into the game, you start out with almost nothing and have to fight your way through a dungeon to escape. As you progress, you will collect different weapons and gain levels as you fight. The controls in the game are smooth with each style of attack being assigned to a button and the virtual joystick.

For fans of this style of game, it is definitely a solid release. It could quite possibly be the best of its kind on the iPhone. The game is priced at Gamestops new pricepoint so you’ll be paying a medium price for the game. After distributing my experience points into the abilities that I wanted I can definitely say it would be worth the purchase. Check it out.

The post Review: Dungeon Hunter appeared first on AppTrawler.

In Ancient War, you become God of a tribe attempting to destroy the enemy’s totem pole while trying to defend your own at the same time. To accomplish this task, you are given several types of attack units ranging from militia to giant dinosaurs. The game is actually quite challenging, even on the novice level. Even though it’s fun at first, it won’t be a game to keep on your device for long.

The main objective of the game is to destroy the other tribe’s giant totem pole. Tapping on a specific unit at the bottom of the screen will create that unit and dispatch them onto the screen. The unit will automatically move from your side of the screen to the enemy’s side until it reaches either the totem pole or an enemy unit. Each unit requires a certain amount of food points to create. These food points are deducted from a constantly accumulating supply that’s shown at the bottom of the screen. Here’s where the first bit of strategy comes into play. If you only have forty food points and you create a militia unit that costs thirty food points, you now have ten food points and must wait until the point accumulate until you are able to create another unit. If you wait for the food points to accumulate to a higher number, you can create more units at one time. The game offers eight different units, all of which can be upgraded to more powerful levels.

At the end of each level you earn gold that can be used to upgrade your technology. For example, you can use gold to make your hunters more powerful, which will defeat the enemy units easier. There is also something called “miracle”, which is an act of God that will rain down multiple fireballs onto your enemies. Upgrading this technology will put a very powerful weapon in your hands.

The top of the screen displays the life of each totem pole. This is also upgradeable in that you can increase the amount of life your totem starts with. The more life you have, the longer it takes for the enemy to destroy you.

The gameplay is quite simple. All you have to do is keep tapping on the units you’d like to create, when you want to create them. You will always send one unit at a time, but if you think it through, you can start sending units in groups, which are much more powerful than individuals. Strategy is really what this game is about. You have to think about what type of unit you want to send over, and when. As you progress through each level, the enemy becomes increasingly more difficult, forcing you to upgrade your units to maximize hit points and damage. You can play through each level on multiple difficulties, which definitely increases the game’s value. Graphics, music and sound effects are all done very well. However, it appears as though they cut corners with regards to animation. Unit and weapon movements are just a bit too simple and choppy. The totem only appears to have three stages. It either looks like new, a bit beat up or completely destroyed.

Overall, Ancient War is a fun game for the first couple of hours. The main drive is to unlock more units and get to the next level. But, sometimes it takes too long to beat a level, and you’re just doing the same things over and over again. It becomes routine, tapping on the same combination of units to push forward and destroy the totem. In other words, it gets boring fast. Luckily, there is a free version to check out first, and I strongly recommend doing so before making a purchase.

The post Review: Ancient War appeared first on AppTrawler.

The basic idea of Headhunter is to flick your shrunken heads into the air and land them on one of several ledges. Landing heads on these ledges will award you points and the more points you have, the better. If you land three heads of the same type on a ledge, you will unlock a new head to add to your collection. Yes, you can actually collect shrunken heads!

Launching your heads in the air is simple. All you have to do is tap and hold on a head and drag your finger backwards for power. The more you pull back, the harder the head will launch. Then, set the angle by moving your finger up or down. Releasing your finger will launch the head toward the sky. Tilting your device left or right will guide the head toward a ledge. If you miss your mark, you can tap your finger below the head to emit a magical burst that will give it an extra boost upward. If your head falls off the starting location, you will lose a head and a chance to beat the level.

Each level is timed, so accuracy is critical. To win the level, you have to land a predefined number of heads onto ledges.

Game controls work very well in Headhunter and the integration of the accelerometer adds a nice element to the gameplay. Graphics are also done beautifully and really enhance the whole experience. My only complaint comes with the sound and music. There is no music in the game and the sound effects are of low quality, which take away from the gameplay a bit. The sounds are just weak and don’t seem to fit what’s happening on screen.

Overall, Headhunter is a fun app that will offer a few hours of addictive gameplay. You’ll feel the urge to continuously unlock new heads to add to your collection. It’s a unique idea that I believe succeeds in being a fun experience on the iPhone and iPod Touch. I strongly recommend checking this one out.

The post Review: Headhunters appeared first on AppTrawler.

Have you ever been falling out of a window and thought, “Everything will be okay as long as I can kiss someone?” Yeah, me neither. However, that’s the basic premise of this really strange and addicting app that goes by the name, Kissing Frenzy.

Put those tapping skills to good use as you frantically attempt to kiss as many girls as you can before falling to the ground. The more you girls you kiss, the more girls there are to catch you as you fall toward the ground. I warned you it was strange…

Features

The app comes packed with over 60 different levels and 5 different unlockable locations: Sun City, Dusk Town, Moonville, Vinter Valley, and Rainbow Hill. The game also includes three different modes of gameplay: Casanova, Multiplayer, and Survival.

Each level completed awards you with medals based on your score. Replay each level until you get a perfect score and display that score on the app’s Leaderboards or on its Facebook connection feature too.

Breakdown

The Good:

This app has a ton of content in it for only {content}.99. There are a bunch of levels and lots of different power-ups and unlockables in this one. Who doesn’t love extra stuff to do, right?

This game seems pretty simple at first, but it gets really intense really quickly. If you are looking for a fun, addicting, and challenging game, this one is definitely it. It’s also just really weird. I mean the premise alone is kind of out there, but that’s also part of the charm of this little game too.

The Bad:

There really isn’t anything “bad” with this game. I mean it does everything it is suppose to do and it plays the way it is suppose to play. Yeah, it’s weird and a little strange, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun or addicting to play either.

You are either going to like this game or you will hate this game. It’s really that simple. Coming from someone that enjoyed the game, I tried to find something to put in this “bad” section and there really isn’t anything. Again, you’ll like it or you won’t.

The Verdict

This game does everything really well and it has a lot of features included in it. For only a buck, that’s not bad. It might be a little weird, but I liked that originality of it even if it was a little out there. If you are still undecided on this one, try out the Free version first.

The post Review: Kissing Frenzy appeared first on AppTrawler.

Of course, this popular adage isn’t just reserved for such embarrassing events – it’s equally true when it comes to games.

The fact that the first thing you read on the App Store listing for Puzzlebreaker (v 1.1) is that you need to reboot your iPhone after installing it doesn’t exactly generate a tremendous feeling of confidence. Sadly, the early omens are accurate – this isn’t a very good piece of software.

The notion is a sound one: a fusion of Breakout and billiards. You’re presented with a table packed with blocks of various colours and qualities, the aim being to collide your ball with the victory block at the top of the screen, allowing you to advance to the next stage.

Most of the blocks on the table are either green or red. These explode upon contact, provided your ball is imbued with the same hue as the combustible cube in question. You can alter your orb’s shade by hitting the all-important colour-change block.

There are also metal cubes that can’t be destroyed and yellow blocks housing power-ups intended to make your mission a little easier.

You only have control of your ball when it enters the catch zone at the bottom of the screen. This area also includes a hole covered by a barrier of destructible blocks. Should the barrier be broken and your ball plummet into the gaping abyss then you lose a life. Go down three times and you have to start over.

It all sounds pretty interesting on paper, but once you get stuck into the game you notice that Puzzlebreaker is crippled by a number of issues. For starters, the act of putting your ball in motion is frustratingly inconsistent.

While you expect a swift flick of the finger to fling your ball forcefully, it’s actually the distance you swipe that determines the overall pace. If you want to execute a quick and powerful shot you have to draw a line from the bottom of the screen to the top.

This little quirk is relatively easy to overcome with practice, but the highly suspect ball physics present a rather more pressing issue. Some influence is exerted by tilting your handset, yet the sphere often seems to have a mind all its own. It often bounces off surfaces in entirely unpredictable ways, making its trajectory a guessing matter.

Another glaring problem is the power-ups. Intended as an aid, they often have the exact opposite effect. The triple shot is a good example. Splitting your ball into three is supposed to make things easier when it comes to removing blocks.

However, because you then have to watch three different balls at once, it’s far too easy to accidentally destroy the protective barrier that is placed in front of the hole at the bottom of the screen, which naturally makes things harder for you in the long run.

With 75 different levels, various achievements to unearth and a handful of power up items to play around with, Puzzlebreaker has plenty of content to explore but the sloppy gameplay and unconvincing physics prevent it from breaking through with an underwhelming first impression.

The post Review: Puzzlebreaker appeared first on AppTrawler.

The game takes place in a world where friendly dragons roam the skies.  However, a dark magic has befallen the realm which has bound the dragons to the earth.  Ingame you represent Mila, a simple girl who discovers she is a descendant of the mythical Dragon Sentinel and the only one who can restore the freedom of the dragons and solve the magical mystery.  To save them you must match colored orbs before time runs out (yes, this is a timed game) and the dragons crash to earth.  An ingenious feature here is the fact that the gameboard is itself the dragons and all the matching goes on within them as they quickly drop from the sky.  The whole thing is wonderfully drawn and animated and definitely eye candy.  Anyway if you can match enough orbs you save them, otherwise they crash to earth and you have to try, try again.  Helping your cause are powerups, gained periodically as you progress.  Somewhat unique is how the powerups are used.  Basically there are 15 total and divided into 3 types:  destructive, creative and passive.  You can select 1 from each category (or none if you’re hardcore) then as you play, any time you create a chain of at least 3 matches in 1 move, one of those powerups is chosen randomly and appears somewhere onscreen.  A simple touch activates it and they range from the standard (lightning bolt, fireball) to the nifty like being able to ‘paint’ orbs the same color for some strategic matching.  You can also stockpile powerups onscreen for later use.

In the main story mode your progress through each level is charted through an attractive scrollable map; about 70 levels in total.  You can also replay any level you as you go and why would you wanna do that you say?  Each level ends up with a star-rating out of 5 plus there’s an ‘outro’ sequence at the end of each level where you can gain bonus points.  The better you play the more stars and higher bonus you can achieve.  This is a nice touch as it gives players a decent reason to replay levels for that ‘perfect game’.  Periodically you’ll be presented with an optional minigame where you can get even more bonus points along with some insightful tips by taking pictures of dragons for a research doctor.  The minigame is a decent diversion but absolutely non-critical to the story so it’s really cool that the game allows you to skip it if you so desire.

Quick word about the production values in this game:  splendid.  The sound (with one teeny exception), music, graphics and overall level of polish are simply outstanding.  Neat little nuances abound like the blinking eyes of the dragons or the satisfying splash screen when you garner an achievement.  You cannot possibly be dissatisfied with audio/visual elements presented here.

In addition to the main story mode there are 2 other modes.  I mention them here for completeness but to be honest after checking them out a few times each for the review the only one I will consider playing is Islands and even then only very rarely as both modes have the tendency to burn you out on the play mechanic in a hurry.

• Survival – here you pick a single powerup and try to keep the dragons aloft as long as possible though you’re allowed to lose 2 along the way.
• Islands – this is survival but ALL powerups are available and randomized (you can still sacrifice 2 dragons).

Just a few items for the props and flops section so here goes.

• sound and music volume sliders are extremely wonky so it’s exceedingly difficult to get your selections to ‘take’
• minor gripe but the sound effect used when an orb hits another orb or the edge of the screen just sounds like a ping pong ball hitting a paddle; after spending a long time playing this game I’m still not used to it and it just seems out of place
• no screen flip support
• no iTunes music support
• bug, the pause feature does not work on Islands mode, the pause screen comes up but the game plays on behind it (pause works fine elsewhere).

Version reviewed – 1.15
Reviewed on – iPhone 3GS OS 3.1
iTunes link – Dragon Portals

The post Review: Dragon Portals appeared first on AppTrawler.