The Pre Match Warm Up

It’s always good to get some practice in before the game, so when I am on the train traveling to the game I get a chance to play a few hands. Usually, I tend to play poker games online or use one of the many poker apps such as Party Poker, as found on the poker app guide site, however there are plenty to choose from, some use real money whereas other are just for fun.

Poker Time

As we start the game and reminisce about our previous wins, we start one of our ‘timer’ apps to keep track of the blinds, so we can all concentrate on the cards. Depending on whether we use my iPhone or Craig’s HTC our timers of choice are; Poker Timer by Birdsoft (for both iPad and iPhone) or the Ultimate Hold’em Timer for Android. Both have simple, minimal displays that allow you to get all the information you need from a simple glance.

Who Gets The Beers

Playing on a custom made poker table at Andy’s is a pretty cool experience, but playing in the Kitchen, a stones throw away from the fridge also has its advantages; namely, its close to the beer. When we are separated from our precious drinks we like to use an app to designate who will make the mammoth journey. For this we like to use Tea Round for the iPad. It might be themed around Tea but with its simple customization it is easily re-purposed.

Who’s Hungry

What better way to compliment beer and cards than with a few Pizzas. So when 10pm comes around we use the handy Dominos App to choose and order our pizzas without having to break the flow of the game.

Are You Taking Notes?

If like me you are constantly looking to up your game then you can take you poker playing to the next level by using taking notes on the other players. For this I recommend Poker Notes Live (for both IOS and Android). This free poker utility app is a useful tool that will help you remember the moves, style, patterns, and tells you notice about other players at your table. Very handy for the serious player and it can be used when playing online as well.

Win or lose we all have a fantastic time and eventually we will take our game to Las Vegas when Andy hits 40, where we hope to take part in one of many tournaments held at Caesars Palace. Can’t wait!

The post Essential Apps for the Ultimate Poker Night appeared first on AppTrawler.

Whether you want to have a barbecue, plan a trip or just relax in your garden, there are some essential apps you really should download. We have listed 6 top apps to make your summer even more enjoyable!

RunKeeper (free)
What better way to start your day then with an early run! With the RunKeeper app you can track your running distance, pace, weight loss and more. Not a fan of running? Use RunKeeper to track your walks, cycling tours and other workouts! It also works on the Apple Watch when you combine it with your iPhone.

GrillTime ($1.99)
Do you want to enjoy the weather with a delicious barbecue? Grill the perfect steak or any other kind of meat with the GrillTime app. The app guides you through the actual grilling and notifies you when your meat is done. Select the meat, thickness and level of doneness you want and let GrillTime do the rest. The app can’t do absolutely everything for you, so you are needed to put the meat on the barbecue and flip it when it’s time.

Kayak (free)
Summer time usually means travelling. People are looking forward to spending their vacation in the perfect place. One thing most people do not look forward to is packing. What you need to pack, depends on the location you are headed to. Some will be staying in luxury hotels in far-flung places and calculating flying on a private jet costs to get there in style, whilst others will be planning local camping trips and adventures with their family. Either way, the packing will be necessary. Save time and do not forget a single thing with the GetPacked app. You have to answer a couple of simple questions and within a few seconds the app customizes a personal packing list. This is an iPhone and iPad app.

GetPacked ($1.99)
Summer time usually means travelling. People are looking forward to spending their vacation in the perfect place. One thing most people do not look forward to is packing. What you need to pack, depends on the location you are headed to. Save time and do not forget a single thing with the GetPacked app. You have to answer a couple of simple questions and within a few seconds the app customizes a personal packing list. This is an iPhone an iPad app.

Free WiFi Finder (free)
Nowadays most people can’t go a day without access to the internet. Not even when they are on vacation. Whether you want to find the best restaurant in town, directions to your hotel or the nearest monuments, with internet-access you have the information you’re looking for right away. However, using your mobile internet could be quite expensive. Not with the Free WiFi Finder app! The app uses your location to find free Wi-Fi access. The Free WiFi Finder app is compatible with an iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Point It app ($2.99)
Are you headed for a foreign country this summer? The English language is not spoken everywhere or at least, not as well as you would like. Even if you are familiar with the foreign language, it can sometimes be difficult to understand one and another. The Point It app is the solution! Simply choose a picture and point at it to make yourself clear. With the pictures of this app everyone can understand you. The Point It app is compatible with an iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Get the best out of your summer with these apps, which you can buy in the iTunes Store with a credit card or iTunes Gift Card. You can order an iTunes Card from iTunescard.com in an easy and fast way. It is even possible to purchase the newest movies, music and books with it.

The post 6 Apps You Should Definitely Have This Summer appeared first on AppTrawler.

The thing is, the idea of app development is enough to send shivers down the spines of many people. Why? Well, if you’re not a programmer, learning how to code can be a scary prospect. If you want to build an iOS app, the good news is you can stop hiding behind your screen!

Believe it or not, the process of creating an iOS app is much easier than you might think! In today’s blog post, I will show you how. Keep reading to find out more:

Image Source: Pixabay

Decide why you want an app

The first thing you should do is consider the purpose of your new iOS app. In other words, what do you want it to do? If you run a business, is your goal to attract new customers? Or perhaps market mouthwatering offers to existing ones? Maybe you’d like to launch an app for an idea or invention you’ve got?

As with most things in life, research and planning are the keys to success. Before you get started with app development, it’s essential to build the groundwork first.

Do you want to sell something?

Many people decide to create iOS apps as a way of earning a passive income. For instance, they might display ads in their apps. Or they might create a virtual shopfront to complement their e-commerce site.

If you already sell products through your website, there’s one thing you should do first. And that is to decide how to plug that functionality into your app.

The easiest way is to create a Safari browser window within your app. Doing so means you can just load up your site in that window without doing any further programming. Of course, it makes sense to ensure your website is mobile-friendly first.

I recommend having your site checked by an OpenCart or Magento 2 agency. That way, they can suggest ways to improve the “responsiveness” of your site’s design. Let’s face it. You don’t want your users to squint their eyes to look at your site’s content on their iOS device!

How to create an iOS app without any programming (or any magic)

So, just how do you get started “coding” your new app? Well, here’s the shocker: you don’t need to do any programming! Do a Google search for a term like “app builder” and you’ll notice one thing. There are dozens of online app building services available to use.

To get started, all you do is set up the design and layout of your app. You can then attach all kinds of human-understandable logic to various components. To put it another way, you don’t need to be an Objective-C or Swift guru to create an iOS app. Online app builders do the hard work for you. All you need to worry about is making it look great!

An alternative to such services is to hire an iOS developer. It’s a useful option if you want to add a feature that an online app builder can offer you.

Good luck!

The post How To Create An iOS App The Easy Way appeared first on AppTrawler.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is a short but incredibly addictive game. Once you start, you won’t put it down until you’ve completed the whole thing. The genius of Monument Valley is the design. Every level is a work of art, inspired by MC Escher’s impossible puzzles. The simple, minimal design is unlike anything you’ve seen in gaming, let alone smartphone gaming. The puzzles are excruciatingly difficult, but oh-so-satisfying when you solve them too! Trust us, you won’t put this one down.

Threes!

The best gaming apps are simple, just like all the best puzzles. They are the ones that seem so easy, you can’t stop until you figure it out! Threes! is one such example. The aim is simple; slide the tiles around until you create multiples of three. It’s so simple it almost sounds boring. Until you try it for yourself! The app received critical acclaim across the board and became one of 2014’s most popular apps.

Hi Guess The Movies

This app was part of a larger ‘Hi Guess The ___’ franchise. It included movies, books, characters, food and just about anything else you can think of. It shows you an image, cartoon or pixelation, and you have to guess what it is. Again, simple, intuitive, but mind-bendingly addictive.

Proust

Proust is the fun game that proves ranking things never gets old. The app offers you a category and five options relating to it. All you have to do is rank the options from best to worst. For example, the category might be Harry Potter characters. From there, you rank the five options from best to worst. The addictive bit sets in when you realise you can see what your friends have put. Hours and hours of fun!

Minecraft

Minecraft is perhaps the most successful gaming app of all time. The irresistible game allows you to build just about anything from small blocks. The game benefited from some powerful online app marketing that sent it stratospheric. It became an instant hit on all corners of the internet. There are now entire websites, manuals and YouTube channels dedicated to the game.

Dumb Ways To Die

This app is just as silly as the name suggests. Dumb Ways To Die presents the player with a number of ridiculous situations. It’s your job to save the cartoon characters from silly deaths, all set to an irritatingly brilliant soundtrack. As you progress, the game gets faster and harder until your characters die. Silly, dumb, but genius.

And that brings us to the end of our list, folks. We hope you enjoyed our short trip through the most addictive games. We’ll see you again soon.

The post The Six Most Addictive Apps On The Planet appeared first on AppTrawler.

In AFDL you play Officer Robert Campbell, aka Vengeance, an armour suited, super soldier trying to keep the peace in a world collapsing into the zombie apocalypse.

The game is reminiscent of Halo: Spartan Assault with a sprinklings of Resident Evil. It balances frantic twin stick zombie shooting action in a psuedo-top down viewpoint with an array of different puzzle elements. One minute you will be cutting your way through an onslaught of charging zombies with your assault rifle and the next you are playing a memory game with a psychotic Prison Director.

The game has a decent budget with scripted ‘in-engine’ cutscenes and passable voice work but it would benefit from some final polish. This action packed shooter works hard to cram in as many options as possible. A swipe control is used to change weapons and sporadic shop keepers offer a slew of different weapon types and upgrades. All of which are a little too expensive to get on a ‘free’ play through. A jump button creates some verticality and allows the protagonist to navigate over small obstructions and access higher levels. The melee button comes in very handy when swamped by the undead and become invaluable when reloading. Finally, the gadgets functionality means you can drop mines, release drones and throw smoke bombs. This mass of options does make you feel like you are getting a lot of game for your money, and it is pretty cool to have a drone fly around the screen taking out your enemies. However, all of these buttons do make the GUI a touch overcrowded and if you have fat fingers you might press shoot, melee and jump at the same time (on my iPhone 6, not on iPad).

The story moves along at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout introducing additional characters such as the sword wielding ninja and a maniacal scientist.

Overall, the game deserves its ‘app store’ featured status as it looks great and has responsive controls. The game feels cinematic, with an engaging narrative despite some dodgy voice acting. The gadgets are a exciting addition and there is plenty of game to keep to busy. The additional weapons and upgrades are a bit on the pricey side and many will not want to spend more than a couple of dollars on upgrades. However, the game is fun and congratulations has to go out to the team at Fedeen Games For translating this third-person twin stick shooter to mobile devices. It’s well worth a play.

ITUNES LINK: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/a-few-days-left/id908844751?mt=8

The post Review: A Few Days Left | iOS appeared first on AppTrawler.

Here are some of the best gambling apps available today. Of course, you could always read through http://www.sportsgamblingapps.com/ if you need more information.

William Hill

This app comes from one of the most successful gambling companies in existence. While you can’t play casino games like poker or blackjack, you can place bets on almost anything. The app mainly covers sports, but you can find odds on the next president, and even the next member of the British royal family to pass away. William Hill are famous for giving the best odds in town, so you should definitely add this application to your collection today.

To download this app from the Apple store to your iPhone or iPad, simply click the link: Download.

Bet365

If you’re looking for an alternative to William Hill, but you don’t want to stray too far from the nest, Bet365 could be perfect. The application is completely free to download, and once you’ve opened an account, you could be gambling in minutes. Again, this app focuses mainly on sports betting, but you’ll also find occasional odds on global events and the like.

If you’re a fan of horse racing, you need to get this on your smartphone as quickly as possible. The software provides real-time information and always keeps you updates on any wins or losses you might experience.

To download this app from the Apple store to your iPhone or iPad, simply click the link: Download.

Jackpot City

Presuming you prefer casino games, Jackpot City might be of interest to you. While it’s not the most famous casino app around at the moment, it offers the widest variety of games and winning potential. Regardless of whether you like to spend time on the slots, play roulette or engage in poker tournaments, there is something for everyone on this app.

Best of all? It’s completely free to download, and you don’t have to risk money if you don’t want to. There is an unlimited free-play option for people who don’t want to spend a penny while playing. That said, is there any point in using a gambling app if you have no intention of gambling?

To download this app from the Apple store to your iPhone or iPad, simply click the link: Download.

Having taken a look at the applications mentioned in this post, we hope you will have added them to your download list. All of the apps we’ve highlighted today are used by thousands of people all over the world. So, it’s safe for you to assume they’re completely safe and reliable.

The post The Best Gambling Apps Available Today appeared first on AppTrawler.

New updates for Google Play Games Services

Gaming is an enormous market for Google, and the lead product manager for Google Play Games said that they saw 2013 as a breakout year. The company has seen more than a billion Android devices activated, which is an enormous target market. They also say that 75 percent of Android users use their devices to play games. No wonder Google is taking the gaming market so seriously.

As part of their commitment to gaming, Google has just released new updates for Google Play Games Services, and also the Google Play Games app, which bring some exciting new abilities to the Android gaming world. The element that will be most appreciated by gamers is the ability to have cross-platform games. Currently, Android users cannot play games with their iPhone friends, and vice versa. It is a frustrating limitation, and users will be happy to see the end of it.

Multi-player gaming across iOS and Android

The new Games Services toolkit update gives game developers the ability to create multi-player games across both platforms. While it still depends on developers to make use of this feature, this could lead to a wider game play experience – one where you can play with all of your friends.

Once developers incorporate this capability into their games, it will be possible to play both real-time games and turn-by-turn games with all of your friends, whether they are Android lovers or iPhone fans. There are benefits for game developers, too. Widening people’s pool of friends to play with could mean they become more engaged with the game, and keep playing longer. It also could lead to more players in a game, as people get their friends to play, regardless of what platform they are on.

In-game gifting – an excellent strategy to draw in more players

There are other changes in the newly announced updates, as well. One thing is that developers can now add gifting capabilities into their games. The idea is that players could send an in-game gift to any of their friends who are playing the same game, as long as that person is in their Google+ circles. This could help new players discover the game, when they see their friends sending and receiving gifts. It can also increase engagement by encouraging that interaction with friends.

The Google Play Store is also being redesigned for games, with eighteen new categories meant to exceed the expectations of every avid gamer out there. The intention is to help people find games they would like more easily. The store previously had very broad game categories like “Casual”. When someone is looking for a role playing game, for example, it is a lot easier to find something they want if they can browse through a more descriptive category.

There is also a change to help game creators improve their monetization with better in-game advertising. Google is integrating AdMob (which is their platform for mobile advertising) with analytics. This could let game developers target specific players with ads for in-game purchases.

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I had been recommended the Viator app and in particular, their VIP access services. It can save you hours in research time as you attempt to find where to go and when to go there. I started using their services in San Francisco when be booked our amazing trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train. I couldn’t believe how painless it was and what a fantastic experience I had. My worry about having a printed confirmation was quashed by the fact they had a passbook app for iPhone meaning they could scan my phone for confirmation.

As the tour took us down the coast road through Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and finally Santa Monica we used the app religiously. It’s guides were useful and honest and the visitor feedback was always great to read but it was the VIP access that kept me hooked and when we finally reached LA it paid off, when we used it to book a VIP experience at Universal Studios.

Eight of us were treated to a behind the scenes look various sets in the Universal back-lot. from plane crash scenes to walking on the set of some of the top comedies. As we walked around the props warehouse, real film crews were going about their daily businesses as if we were extras in some TV show. All the while we smiled to ourselves as we thought of the hundreds of people currently queuing in lines and scrabbling for views of the shows.

Thanks to the App I was able to arrange some of the most memorable experiences the West Coast had to offer. I was skeptical about a travel app that books trips and tours for you thinking they would be bias and overpriced but I was pleasantly surprised to see both the guide and a booking agent go further than just taking you to tourist traps.

The post Review: Viator: My Pocket Booking Agent | iPhone appeared first on AppTrawler.

Because of this, many of the Android phones available are quite different, and it can be hard to sort through them all. Here is a list of the top rated Android phones, based on several professional and private users’ reviews. These are phones that consistently were rated at 4 stars and above, and are in no particular order.

Motorola Moto G

This phone shows up repeatedly as the best value Android on the market, period. It is available in two memory sizes 8GB (~ £135) and 16GB (~£159). Though it doesn’t look very fancy, for the price, its features can’t be matched.

The 4.5-inch 1280×720 pixel resolution is particularly impressive. As is the slick interface (4.4 compatible), sturdy sturdy build, strong performance and battery life.
The downsides include a poor camera that takes dark photos, low internal storage with no expandability, and no NFC or 4G capabilities.

HTC One

HTC is quickly gaining a reputation for phones that rival Samsung and Apple. Their latest flagship model certainly underscores these claims. Sleek in both engineering look and ease of use, the HTC One is thin, light and powerful.

The newly enhanced HTC Sense UI runs beautifully on the fully HD 4.7 inch display. The strong metal frame is durable and looks slick, but can scuff easily. It comes loaded with 32GB of storage, as well as top-end Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G and 4G LTE connections.

The £500 price tag may scare off some users, while others may be disappointed with the “innovative” camera.

Sony Xperia Z1

This sleek and powerful phone comes with the great feature of being water resistant. Its polished glass and metal finish comes with a protective band, to keep it safe from most phone-killing liquids.

Also, as a Sony product, it was built off the technology that created the Walkman, and it shows in both stunning sound and photo capability (20 Megapixels). It comes with a full HD, 5 inch display, which though beautiful, makes it a bit cumbersome.

Unfortunately, the stunning technology also comes with a stunning price – about £540 without a contract.

Google Nexus 5

Google teamed up with LG to release this great phone at an affordable price. Though it’s a bit pricier than the Moto G at £299 for the 16GB model, and £339 for the 32GB phone. That’s pretty reasonable – doubling the storage space for just £40. Unfortunately, the memory is not expandable.

And unlike the Moto G, the Nexus 5 comes with a 5 inch HD display, and the latest version of Android, Kit Kat 4.4. As a Google product, you can always be assured of getting the latest updates as soon as they are available. It also comes stuffed with a 2.3 GHz quad-processor backed by 2 GB of RAM.

Unfortunately, they cut some corners on the camera, and there can be some software issues.

Samsung Galaxy S4

This phone is often touted as the most powerful on the market. One of its most striking features is the full HD 5 inch display. The design fits it well in terms of the phone’s orientation, but does make for a slightly bigger phone, though it doesn’t come off as clumsy.

It comes with a 1.9 GHz quad-processor with 2GB of RAM that makes it not only possibly the fastest phone on the market, but even challenges some laptops.

Unfortunately, it comes with a £540 price tag, which isn’t reflected in the cheap feeling plastic case.

The post 5 Great Android Phones appeared first on AppTrawler.

If you grew up in simpler times you might find yourself reminiscing about the golden years, when cameras used film, hair was teased, jeans were acid-washed and portable sounds came from a Walkman. If you love the idea of revisiting your youth, but can’t bear the thought of parting with your iPhone or iPad, add a touch of nostalgia into your day with these fun and functional retro-inspired iOS apps.

The post Retro-Inspired Apps You’ll Love appeared first on AppTrawler.

The story revolves around Ittle Dew, an adventurous young girl who washes up on an island and has to complete a number of quests before the mad shop keeper will give her a boat to sail off on.  Ittle Dew sets off with her trusty drunken flying fox companion and tackles castles, dungeons, caves and a slew of weird  and wonderful enemies.

Swedish indie studio Ludosity has done a great job of bringing back the look and feel of the classic Zelda whilst offering a fresh and funny spin on it.

I have added the trailer below to give you a taste of the game before I hit you with the negatives…

OK, now the downside…

I really enjoyed playing this game in the beginning  and I was happy to over look the slow load times and periodic stutter but I had to stop playing when I had to hit four diamonds to open a door. This is a relatively simple puzzle about 30 minutes into the game and has four diamonds that are timed to turn off after a certain time. Using the on screen joypad I found it very difficult to move my character fast enough and after 20 attempts I was still struggling. Frustrated I downloaded the Steam version of the game and found that the same puzzle was infinitely easier on a joypad and keyboard.

So whilst I would recommend the game ‘as a game’ I would probably avoid the iPhone version and try the PC, Tablet or even OUYA version in order to avoid the troubles of an onscreen joypad.

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• Ittle Dew
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• Booyah for Ouya?
• [Bonus Round] Ittle Dew, Promised Lands, Monster Loves You, And Sketchman

The post Review: Ittle Dew | iPhone appeared first on AppTrawler.

But not all apps are created equal. A large number of them are good for everyone from toddlers to teens, but many are inappropriate or blatantly unsafe for anyone but an adult. Whilst you can click here to check out the most popular apps that your child can use, ensure you review any app before your child downloads it so you know that it will entertain without harm.

Additionally, you can protect your children from potentially dangerous situations by installing mobile apps that can monitor what they’re downloading and where they’re going on the internet as well as around town.

Safe Apps

These particular mobile apps are fun for every age group and contain no violent scenes or inappropriate material.

● Angry Birds – Help the birds fly in the right direction to knock down various targets. This is an addicting game that actually helps kids learn a little bit of how arcs and angles work.
● Cut The Rope – Here’s another app that works a basic understanding of physics into the fun. To get Om Nom his candy, you have to know how to swing the rope just the right way to get past obstacles and have the treat land in his mouth.
● AniMatch – This is an electronic memory match game that kids as young as two or three really enjoy–with no cards to put away when done.
● Drawing Pad – With this app, kids pull out their virtual crayons and draw just as they would on paper. Budding artists can save their completed work and then share it using email, Facebook and Twitter.
● Where’s My Water – If you child doesn’t like getting clean, this mobile app may change that. The goal is to help Swampy the Alligator stay clean which makes for good, clean fun.

Just this small sample should give you an idea of all the wonderful, safe mobile apps that both you and your kids will be happy to own.

Mobile Apps To Avoid

It’s critical to know what apps your child, particularly your teen, should avoid. Don’t take your child’s word that the app is safe because “all my friends have downloaded it.” It could result in disaster.

Omegle and Kik are two prime examples. These social apps let you chat with people based on a profile you create. Users are required to be 18, but most kids are savvy enough to get past that rule. Unfortunately this had led to teens viewing (and sometimes sharing) “graphic” photos which compromised their safety and their reputation. Remember that what’s posted online stays there forever.

Other Important Child Safety Apps

Parents can’t be with their kids 24/7, but luckily there are safety apps that can.

The Mobile Spy app records both phone activities and the GPS location where your child has been. Phone Sheriff lets you block chosen activities from running on your child’s phone. Net Nanny for Android has an app manager that keeps new apps from downloading until reviewed and approved by a parent. You can work these from any web browser so your child won’t be aware of the surveillance.

Even after you take these precautions, remember that parents are walking, talking safety apps. Learn which apps could be trouble and talk with your kids about what can happen if they download any of these to their devices. They might not want you to know it, but they will be listening.

Software Developers India works with both large and small organizations to help them develop and market their mobile app ideas for both children and adults. Their developers are experts on a variety of platforms including Android, iOS and Windows.

The post How To Ensure Your Kids Use Safe Mobile Apps appeared first on AppTrawler.

More to the point, most of these games require a lot of time to enjoy and are the sorts of games you would only really play while relaxing at home. With that in mind, it makes far more sense to just play them on a PC or games console as they were intended. I soon realised that the sort of games that become fun and addictive to play on a phone are fairly simple in nature, use lots of quick levels, and have some sort of points system that are used to unlock later levels. They don’t necessarily have flashy graphics, but what they lack in visuals they more than make up for in playability.

I have found these to be the elements that make a smartphone game enjoyable and all of these elements are present in one of my favourite smartphone games available for Android and iOS: Blast Monkeys.

The concept is quite simple, even if it doesn’t really make much sense. You have a cannon which you use to fire a monkey called Moki up in the air. Once fired from the cannon you have no control over the monkey and have to rely on bouncing him off walls or platforms. Your objective is to capture three bananas on each level and then make your way to the finish point. Getting one or two bananas and reaching the end of the level is often fairly straightforward, while collecting all three bananas and making it to the finish point can very often be quite a challenge. Bananas are then used to unlock later levels, so if you don’t collect all of the bananas on each level you cannot fully complete that world.

The game is split into various worlds, each containing 25 levels and 5 “expert” levels which are more difficult. The worlds offer different themes, different graphics, and different challenges. For example, the snow world features levels that contain icicles which fall from above onto Moki and kill him, while the space world has strange vortexes that can transport you around the level in unpredictable ways.

Because of the short and quick nature of the levels and the fact that is can be so easy to almost complete a level perfectly and then cock the whole thing up, I have found this game to be extremely addictive and sometimes quite frustrating at the same time.

The short nature of the levels means this is the sort of game you can whip out and enjoy at any time. You could just have a minute or two spare while you are waiting for a bus, or for your drink at a coffee shop, but it is equally well suited to long stints while relaxing at home.

Levels often require you to act in stages. After firing Moki from the initial cannon to get the first banana you can often end up in a new cannon, a floating bubble (which you are able to pop at a desired altitude), or a block of ice that will move you to a new part of the level. It is this splitting of the levels into a few separate stages that makes the game addictive. The first stage may be quite difficult and require many attempts, but once you have managed to get the hang of it you are still not able to complete the level because the second or third stage results in your monkey dying. Not since playing Goldeneye on the N64 have I so much wanted to throw a game controller (in this case my phone) at a wall and sit in a corner rocking and back and forth.

This game is a couple of years old now and has already been enjoyed by over 12 million people on Android and iOS. Based on this success the developer behind Blast Monkeys, Yobonja, has released a sequel called Blast Monkeys Forever which comes with even more features and a new game concept called “infinite runner”.

Simon writes for UK money saving community Suppose.com

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The post Blast Monkeys for iPhone and Android | Guest Review appeared first on AppTrawler.

Grav is a gravity based puzzle game by 2DM based on the Unity engine. You take control of a small ship whose task it is to collect spheres from around four galaxies imaginatively named Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Each galaxy has ten levels to complete and whilst short for a puzzle game it ramps up the difficulty quickly to ensure that the completion of each level is truly satisfying.

So what do you do?

The gameplay is based around using the gravity of various planetoids to circle your ship towards the sphere. Once collected you are rewarded with one to three stars. There is however, various obstacles which get in the way in the form of black floating barriers (who put them there we will never know). Black obstacles on top of the blackness of space does make it hard to see when in bright light but I can understand why they did it as they didn’t want these floating walls to detract from the ‘space-ness’ of the game. By pressing the screen you activate your thrust which can change the nature of your orbit putting you in a better position to thrust to your next target. when you have the right position you effectively ‘swing’ your way to your objective.

Is it any good?

The games simplicity makes it instantly playable and highly enjoyable and you can fly through the first few levels with some ease. Once familiar the levels get decided hard and they add a reversal block which effectively changes the direction of your orbit. You need to use these wisely in order to navigate to tricky ‘blocked off’ areas in order to retrieve the sphere. As an added pressure point, there are many levels which instantly put you in harms way and you have little time to strategize before you are smashed with a meteorite or oncoming planet. And did I mention the meteors chase you… well they do!

The graphics are a pretty standard affair of generic space background, simply rendered ships and obstacles and a futuristic GUI (graphical user interface) giving the game a simple polish. The music is fitting with the theme, if a little to too relaxing considering you are being chased by two flaming meteors intent of your destruction.

Any extra stuff?

Aside from the ‘Campaign’ mode there is a ‘Free Play’ mode where you play a side scrolling distance game. This mode sees you swing from planet to planet collecting multipliers and avoiding barriers. The idea is to get as far as you can and collect as many multipliers as you can in order to get the highest score. Along the way to have to avoid the meteorites and make sure you are not left behind by the scrolling screen. This is fun addition to the game and although it lacks in Game Centre integration (it would be nice to see how you compare with the rest of the world) it is still satisfying to know that you are improving.

Final word

At the time of writing I was in the penultimate level about to face the big ‘forth’ galaxy and I had tackled some pretty difficult levels. In many ways the game is short but I spent A LOT of time tackling single levels of the game being frustrated but not put off which is indication of great game making. This is a great game that you can complete with a bit of effort and its fun whilst it lasts. I’m not sure if I will return to it once complete but I know that when I played it I had fun. If you are after a fun, throwaway puzzle game that’s simple, solid and satisying then I would recommend Grav. Just make sure you get the right game though as there are two games of the same name… This is the one you have to pay for

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The post Review: Grav | iPhone | iOS appeared first on AppTrawler.

This is a great app if you you enjoy the news as well as the joy of the classic newspaper design and layout. Each paper, once downloaded looks almost scanned in from the original with all the headlines, bylines and copy all where the editor intended. Should you be more familiar with web type content then a simple click changes the format to a web centric view. Pages can be easily navigated through swipe gestures or using a pagination bar across the bottom. Images and text are crisp and clean and zooming is as easy as a pinch or double tap.

The bottom bar allows for easy navigation

With many of the online publications now trying to adopt a subscription model to pay for their services this is a great way to subscribe to many publications for a single fee. The concept is great and the execution is solid

This would be a great app for those who travel a lot or has periodic Internet connection as users could download various papers (around 70mb each) and enjoy whilst offline or in transit.

Jump to different sections

Where’s the but…

There are a few it’s and buts however. Firstly, is fact that much of the worlds news is easily accessible through the Internet so paying for it might put a few people off. If you are already considering a newspaper subscription however this is a great place to start. Secondly, not all papers are represented here so if you wanted to read the Times, Telegraph or FT you will not find them on this app.
Finally, the download times can be slow (depending on connection) so you have to pre-plan your paper downloads in advance. A ‘read online’ mode might be good for the more impatient of us.

Overall, this app is a taste of the future of news. Soon many news outlets will move to payment models for their content. Nowadays, we read newspapers for their comment and opinion on news, as much as for the breaking headlines (twitter, and other social channels have made breaking news almost instantaneous) so if you enjoy reading the news (from all over the world) this is a great app well worth the £25 a year subscription.

Web style view

Just some of the UK papers

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The post Review: PressReader iPad appeared first on AppTrawler.

Breakout your glow sticks

Orbital is the Geometry Wars of breakout games, with vivid glowing neon colors, simple lined graphics and particle effects galore. This game appears on the surface, to be really simple to play, the player uses a trajectory cannon to fire balls onto the play area. Once settled in their final resting place they expand until they touch a surface, be it either the sides of the game area or another orb. These orbs of varying sizes each start with a number on and count down with each ‘bounce’ from other orb, until finally exploding into a pixelated flurry when reaching zero. Once the orb falls below the firing line, or you find yourself penned in the game is over. There are three fantastic game modes to choose from; the standard is the Supernova mode mentioned above, Gravity mode; which adds a moving cannon as well as giving the orbs their own gravitational field and finally, there is the pure mode that is essentially Gravity mode but without the gravity (a slight disappointment but still fun).

The game’s simplicity is its greatest feature as it is easy to boot up and kill a few minutes and I found it is now one of my top toilet games as it’s quick, easy to control with one hand and is different every time.

Sound wise, the game has some retro robot voices and a slew of upbeat techno tunes that all add to ambiance and style of a really solid puzzle game. This game is better than the screenshots convey and will be a worthy addition o any puzzle fans collection. For those that love games such as puzzle bobble and Geometry Wars you may have just found your next download…

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The post Windows Phone Review: Orbital Puzzle Game appeared first on AppTrawler.

The gameplay uses tap and swipe gestures to fight your foes and is very repetitive. Tap, tap, tap, swipe when prompted, tap tap, tap, swipe when prompted, repeat that for around 4 minutes and your very likely to win the match in the early stages of the game. Taps will provide combos and the swipes will generate heavy hits  and by increasing your combos you can unleash special moves. Whilst the graphics are great the gameplay process gets dull very quickly.

One great thing you can do in Injustice is unlock content in the Console version of the game by signing up-to a Warner Bros account and logging into it on your console and your iPhone, this provides additional skins and abilities to unlock meaning you can progress your console game whilst on the go, it works both ways too with content being unlocked on your phone by playing the console version.

Upgrades in the game (including characters and special abilities) can be purchased either by spending  gameplay earned xp or buy purchasing xp through in game micro transactions. The best characters will have you spending a fortune to unlock or a major amount of time to gain the xp which is frustration the more you play as the difficulty ramps up fast requiring you to grind or spend.

If you don’t mind the grind, Injustice: Gods Among us is a very nice game to look at, however the lack of any story line coupled with the grind-fest needed to unlock the best characters means that the game leaves a lot to be desired.  Its certainly worth a try for free and a good companion of you are a fan of the full console version.

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Well, it’s not that easy. The game randomizes platforms, so as you start it’s easy to get yourself up there but the further you go, the more spaced out they are. Or they might collapse when you jump on them, or move back and forth, making it harder to aim. Your jumper is always in jumping motion; it takes a tilt of your smart phone to move him back and forth. The more extreme the tilt, the faster he’ll travel in that direction. The sensitivity can be changed, which is a good thing, as it really is all about how you work with your phone’s accelerometer.

You’ll also run into enemies along the way, which emit a sound that you can hear before they appear on screen. The downside is if you choose to play with sound off, you have no idea they are coming up. It’s very easy to run into one with no warning, making it hard to play this game in a public place where you might not want to disturb others.

Another downside is particular to the Android version; you don’t have the option for upgrades like the iPhone version does, making the game a lot more basic and overall much harder. It isn’t certain whether they will implement those options for Android users in the future, but it would be nice.

Your goal is only to beat your high score; there is literally no end game. This can make for an engrossing game, so it’s best not to start if you might have to abruptly finish!

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The post Review: Doodle Jump appeared first on AppTrawler.

Plague Inc. is a strategy game where the goal is to infect and wipe out every human being on the planet. You must do so before a cure is created and administered. You can choose from only one disease when you start out, bacteria. Once you beat the game with bacteria, you can unlock others; virus, fungus and parasite are just a couple, all of which spread differently and provide different challenges to the player.

The game works from a top down view of the world; you name your disease (providing endless, hilarious possibilities) and then tap a country to infect someone. Choosing your starting country is the first major important decision, and depending on the type of disease, your choice will change. From there, you gain DNA points you can use to manipulate your disease.

You do this a variety of ways; you can influence how it transmits, whether by air, sea, injection or even insects. You can also choose its symptoms, which also have the ability to mutate on their own. Sometimes, you’ll want to de-evolve these symptoms to keep your disease under wraps. Other times, you’ll embrace them so they can kill off thousands.

Lastly, each type of disease can be manipulated to resist research as well as added benefits that change depending on the type you are working with. It creates a huge dynamic in the game, as each one needs a very different strategy to beat. And even if you get through them all, brutal mode will up the challenge even more.

Plague Inc has won a ton of accolades and it is easy to see why. It’s easily one of the most infectious, pun intended, mobile games available. You can get Plague Inc on both Android and iPhone.

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The post Plague Inc appeared first on AppTrawler.

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.