Games : Free Iphone Applications

Archive for the Games category

Feb

Pac-Man Lite

posted by iPodFirst in Games

More and more companies are bring their flagship products to the iPhone and iPod Touch, and of course, Namco, with it’s prized Pac-Man game, could not be left behind. The company has released 3 great Pac-Man related Apps, one of which is the free Pac-Man Lite. It’s not surprising that this game, being the free version of one of the most popular games ever created, is near the top of charts for it’s category and the overall downloads.

Pac-Man Lite is played like the traditional Pac-Man games, in which you playÂ a green person who’s goal is to eat all the points around the board before the ghosts who are chasing him do the same to him. The iPhone and iPod Touch version of the game can be played in 3 varients, and 3 different modes. The three different varients, which are basically the 3 different ways you can control the Pac-Man, are Swipe, in which you swipe your finger across the screen to indicate the direction you wish to go, D-Pad, in which you simply tap a direction on the touch screen to go that way, and the Accelerometer, which makes full use of Apple’s technology and allows you to tilt the iPhone or iPod Touch in the direction you wish to move. The game’s 3 different modes are basically difficulty levels, and include Easy, Normal, and Original. As far as the gameplay is concerned, there is not much difference from normal Pac-Man games, except for the occasional frustration of the D-Pad or Accelerometer not working as it should.

Pac-Man Lite Cube Runner

There are some major features that were left out of this game, however. We would have liked to see an online high-scores table, as well as more than 1 level for the free version. Keeping that in mind, we award this App an contentful 3 out of 5 stars.

Feb

iSniper Lite

posted by iPodFirst in Games

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War games have always been an taboo genre in the iPhone and iPod Touch world, partly because they are usually so complicated to create, and partially because perfecting the process with the touch screen would be difficult. That doesn’t mean no one has tried it though, and one particular game that has taken the charts by storm is iSniper Lite. The game was created by MASQ Interactive Limited, and is available in a paid version as well.

The game is the first one of it’s kind, and while it does a great job to showcase a realistic sniper game, it’s obviously going to need some tuning. The free version is quite limited, and all you can do is play in the practice mode. In said practice mode, you play as the sniper of an anti-terrorism unit, and you must snipe the terrorists, who are situated in buildings and streets across from you. You tap to zoom in with your scope, and then tap again on the shooting button to fire. The goal of the practice mode is to shoot as many terrorists as possible within the set time limit, which also increases with each terrorist you shoot. Theoretically, someone could keep playing forever, but we highly doubt that’s possible. The game also houses a breathing button, which lets you hold your breath, but this is not needed. We don’t know if you’ll need this in the full version, but it was a fairly big waste in the free version.

iSniper Lite

We had great expectations for this App, and while we understand it can’t meet up to all of them, it’s very surprising that the developers chose to completely handicap their free version. The free version doesn’t have much going for it and we’re not sure that this App sets a very good precedent for future War Games apps, and that’s why we’re going to give it a dismal 2 out of 5 stars.

Feb

Cube Runner

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Many classic games from the past are now being sent into the future through Apple Apps, and the classic Cube Runner game is no exception. The game makes it’s debut on the iPhone and the iPod Touch through the Cube Runner App, released by independent developer Andy Qua. Not only has the game sparked celebrations within the Atari Gamers community, but it is also gaining mainstream popularity, peaking near the top of the charts for all game Apps.

Cube Runner, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a simple game that consists of “running” your arrow through the array of cubes, trying to avoid running into them. The classic game was usually played with a joystick or a mouse, but the iPhone and iPod version takes it to a whole new level. The App makes clever use of the Apple Accelerometer, and your runner is manoeuvred by tilting your iPhone or iPod Touch side to side. Not only does this make the game much more fun, but it’s a whole new element of realisticness. The scoring of the App is based off a time model, in which the longer you survive (keep going without hitting a cube), the higher your score. The game goes through many different modes in the same level, triggered by a certain score that starts every new mode. The App also comes with 3 different level packs: easy, medium, and hard.

Cube Runner

Beyond the classic game, there is really no other element in this game. We would of liked it if there was an online high-score table we could submit our stats to, or if there was a way the developer could have implemented multiplayer into this. The App is still fairly fun and addictive regardless, and that’s why we’re giving it a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars.

Feb

Whack the Groundhog Lite

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Who here hasn’t played the classic carnival game of Whack-a-Mole? That game has now also transitioned to the iPhone and iPod touch, with the release of Whack-the-Groundhog Lite. Sure, the name is different, but we’re sure that the change was only made to deter any copyright infringement claims. The game was made by Teemsoft Incorporated, and is sure to provide entertainment to any and all Apple gamers.

This App, as I mentioned above, plays off the simple Whack-a-Mole concept. Here’s how it goes for anyone who doesn’t know. There are a series of holes, and out of them, one by one, groundhogs appear. Your job is to hit all of the groundhogs that appear (by tapping the screen), but to avoid hitting the “special” target, which is a groundhog-like animal with spiky hair in this game. The developer did a great job at integrating multiplayer, and gives users a choice of many options to play. You can also play single player in a race against time. We were dissapointed with the lack of instructions, and while most users will instinctively know how to play the game, we found it annoying that they did not even mention which groundhog you are not supposed to hit, and how you are scored.

Whack the Ground Lite

We highly recommend this App to anyone who wants to download and install and App that they’ll be able to use over and over. We also highly recommend this App to anyone who likes to play multiplayer head-to-head games with their friends. Even this this game is pretty awesome, we felt it may not fit in perfectly with the touch theme. We’re not completely sure whether the problem was in our iPod Touch or in the game, but it usually took more than one tap to hit a groundhog, and if your friends are anything like mine, your touch screen really takes a beating after a while. So all in all, we award this game a honest 3 out of 5 stars.

Jan

EyeTricks

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A new idea comes along every once in a while, and when some of those ideas do come, they surely bring in a breath of fresh air to Apple App community. One such idea is EyeTricks, made by independent developer George Giaslas. The App, as the name suggests, is a collection of optical illusions and tricky pictures. Not only is the concept new, and never done before on iPhone or iPod touch, but it’s also unique in that it adds a whole new angle to an App.

The App is basically a photo gallery, with 30 different optical illusions to choose from. You can browse the illusions in order, randomly, or alphabetically. Some of these optical illusions are famous, and have already been publicized plenty, so you’ll be bored with them. Others, however, are fairly unknown, and are pretty interesting to look at. It helps that the App displays instructions on how to view the optical illusion correct (what you should be looking for), than gives you a chance to look, and on third tap displays the results. This is something that is fairly essential in an optical illusion app, because lots of people may not get the correct answer, or may not see the 2 possible answers, and this app will let you do it.

EyeTricks

After all was said and done, however, we got bored of the App before we even finished all the optical illusions. While there may be a place for such an App in the future, we believe some major kinks will have to worked out first. The developer needs to add more optical illusions, as 30 is way too little for a serious App, and they need to add some value-added features, such as downloading new optical illusions daily, the ability to upload and share your own optical illusion, and perhaps even a discussion section. Those reasons and above are exactly why we’re giving this App a disappointing 2 out of 5 stars.

Jan

Soccer Kickoff Free

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Soccer Kickoff Free is a game Application released by independent developer Mark Andrade. The game also comes in a paid version of the game, which simple drops the “Free” from the title. There is practically no difference between the two versions except in-game advertising, so we highly recommend you get the free version. In fact, you can’t even see the ads if you aren’t connected to the web, so there’s no question on which version to get

As for the actual game play in this App, it’s not much more than one of the traditional POWER/ANGLE shooter games that were very popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The goal of the game is to kick the ball as far as you can, avoiding obstacles in the way, and taking advantages of powerups. You do so through the power/angle selector, and while it may seem simple, there is much more to the game than just choosing the highest power and angle. The obstacles and powerups make the game very interesting and addicting as well, with obstacles such as pylons, full-stop barriers, and slow down barrier, and powerups such as an additional kick, ball throw-up, and ball roll-down.

Soccer Kickoff Free

Besides all the obvious features, this game also takes it a step further for it’s users by creating high score tables. Not only can submit your score online to compete against millions of other people, but you can also save your score locally to compete against people that use your iPhone or iPod touch, and even yourself. Even with all these features, however, the developers were only able to take such a simple concept so far, and the game can get quite boring for repetitious play. So, even though the game was well developed, the concept for the game is fairly poor, and we award this game a sizable 3 out of 5 stars.

Jan

Magic iBall Free

posted by iPodFirst in Games

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Hasn’t everyone, at some point in their lives, used a Magic 8 Ball to answer various questions about their life? Now, kids of the tech age can do so as well, with the release of the Magic iBall Free for iPhone and iPod Touch. This App is completely free, and released through the App Store by independent developer Eric Redmond. It takes the traditional concept of a magic 8 ball, being a question answerer, and brings it to the next step through the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Function in this App has been expanded by the developer, and we applaud him for that. Just like a traditional Magic 8 Ball, Magic iBall Free lets you shake the ball to get your new fortune. Unlike a normal Magic 8 Ball, however, you can go into the settings page for the iPhone or iPod Touch and change some of the default options. You can choose the mode of the fortunes, which is basically what type of fortunes you would like come up. There are many choices to choose from, including Classic, Weird, Zen, Positive, and Negative. There are also some different viewing styles you can choose from, including Classic, Gold, Full Screen, and Smiley Face.

Magic iBall Free

So what did we think? We found the developer did an excellent job of creating a great app from a very simple idea, and for that they should be commended. We also had a lot of fun with this App, and it’s unique nature provided repetitious play for hours as we joked around with our friends. We couldn’t imagine playing this alone, however, and we can’t imagine playing it in a normal situation (we were on a long bus ride). Either way, this App can be some fun, and that’s why we’re going to award it a prestigious 4 out of 5 stars.

Jan

iSki 2008 Lite Review

posted by iPodFirst in Games

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It’s Winter for most of the world, and that signals a huge change for the gaming world as well. What change is that, you may ask? Well, Winter is the time that most gaming companies move out of Summer sport games and into the Winter sports, and when that happens, a great skiing game or two are sure to come out! That’s exactly what the free version of iSki 2008, iSki 2008 Lite, sets out to do!

After downloading and installing the app from the store, we instantly went over to open it up. The app has fairly decent graphics throughout, and this was complimented with the burst of music we heard as soon as we opened up the app. The clip seemed to not flow nicely, and reset every minute or so, but that’s not what the reviews based on. You’re given a choice of 3 characters, and the concept is simple. You use the on-screen controls and the Apple Accelerometer to manoeuvre your character, who is snowboarding (not skiing!) down a slalom course. You get points for sticking on the correct side, and later for performing tricks. You can also go and submit these points to a high score table after you lose, which occurs after you crash too many times.

iSki 2008 Lite

This app certainly left us wondering about the future of this company, let along it’s other apps. First of all, they labelled a snowboarding game incorrectly as a skiing game. Secondly, their game was fairly boring, and nothing more than some very old Atari games. Finally, the fact that they sell any version of this type of game was enough alone to surprise us. We’re not sure about most people, but this game was certainly a major letdown for us. We feel if the developers would have done a bit more work, they could have earned a bit more than the dissappointing 2 stars out of 5 that’s we’re awarding them.

Jan

iChess Lite Review

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As far as video games go, Chess is the only one that has been ported to every imaginable system, console, or machine, and of course, the iPhone and iPod Touch can’t be left behind! The aptly named iChess from MyMobileApps has claimed the seat for the Apple market by introducing two version, iChess Lite and iChess. The first one, of course, is free and that is what we will be focusing on in this review.

Upon downloading and installing the App, we were told that this App would include all features of the full-version game, with the addition of a small nag screen. Sure enough, the nag screen for MyMobileApps came up when we first started the App, and after waiting several seconds, a button to go to the came did too. The game looks just like a normal chess board, and the rest of the game functions just like one too, so we thought we’d focus on the unique features. The fact that the board is so small bit it slightly harder for our fingers to touch the little pieces, and that was a big letdown as we had to tap 3-5 times just to move on piece. The artificial intelligence, on the other hand, was very intelligent, and even gave an experienced chess player like myself a challenge.

iChess Lite

After a short game to get the feel of the app, we certainly feel like this application could make an exciting addition to any chess player’s iPhone or iPod Touch. We liked the fact that MyMobileApps released a full-feature version of their premium App for free, and we will definitely consider upgrading as the App is astounding. The only thing we would really fix is make the board larger to allow for easier gameplay, and the addition of online gaming. So overall, we gave this App 4 remarkable stars out of 5.

Jan

Falling Balls Review

posted by iPodFirst in Games

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Falling Balls is an extremely simple, yet addictiveÂ free arcade game from Bit 101, and is one the most popular games in the App Store right now. The game revolves around a very simple concept, and that is that you are a stick man, and you have to run from one side of the screen to the other to avoid getting hit by hordes upon hordes of falling balls. The game starts out fairly easy, and then gets harder and harder as time progresses. The object of the game is to get the highest score, which is calculated by the amount of time you can survive in this abnormal world.

We found the game to be fairly entertaining, and it certainly kept us tinkering around with it longer than most Apps do. The creator has done a very good job incorporating the Apple Accelerometer into their game, as that is how you move your stick man around. Even though it provides some fun game play, we found it was too simple for our taste, and we ended up getting bored. Bit 101 could have went further in the development of the game, such as adding powerups for the stick figure, creating a high score table, or playing online.

Falling Balls Review

Simpleness aside, we thought that Bit 101 should have put some real time and effort into creating this app, as it could have been something really great. The concept of the game was solid, and would have kept users playing for hours on end, but the fact that they only created one parallel and left it that turned us off. So after a couple of tries at the game, we uninstalled it, and that’s why we’re only giving this game 1 start out of 5. That’s not saying that Bit 101 can’t come back and re-invent the game though.

Free Iphone Applications

Archive for the Games category

Pac-Man Lite

iSniper Lite

Cube Runner

Whack the Groundhog Lite

EyeTricks

Soccer Kickoff Free

Magic iBall Free

iSki 2008 Lite Review

iChess Lite Review

Falling Balls Review

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