Holiday Havoc Review:

Best Retro Game yet, with amazing graphics and gameplay…

Overview: Holiday Havoc is an amazing Holiday themed retro game and by far the best in its kind. In it, you destroy evil toys, but be careful, dont shoot the elves! Its gots amazing graphics, challenging, simple and excelent gameplay!

Positives: Holiday Havoc is full of good stuff. The graphics are magnificent, and retro eye candy. You have three lives when you start a game, and these deplete if you shoot one of your helpers, the elves. You play as Santa, atop a pile of presents, the elves adding to it, with a plasma gun which you use to blast all those evil toys coming from both directions to steal your presents. The hard part? You have to reload after every few shots, which is really hard to do when there are hundreds of enemies approaching from both sides! The game has retro graphics and does support the retina display, and adds to the positives of Holiday Havoc!

Negatives: The only negative point i found was that there were no sound effects when firing the cannon, but other than that, there’s nothing I don’t like in Holiday Havoc.

Conclusion: Holiday Havoc is a great retro game with amazing graphics, addicitve and challenging gameplay. Since it costs just $0.99, it has a must have for ALL gamers!

AppStore Details:

Name- Holiday Havoc

Price- $0.99

Author- David Drew

Release Date- 1st December 2011

Size- 7.4 MB

Version- v1.0

Age Rating- 9+

Rating- 5/5

iTunes Link (US store)- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/holiday-havoc/id477751829?mt=8

‘Downbound’ Review

A cute little addictive pick n play…

Overview: Downbound is a really cute little game in which you have a ball shaped character, who really wants to go down. Use motion controls and tap controls to move your character through a maze, avoiding enemies, collecting powerups, collecting stars, unlocking new levels and unlocking 11 new characters!

Positives: Downbound is a really great game and really fits well into the category of Pick n Play. It has 1 planet, 3 more coming soon, each with 16 amazing fun filled worlds, and each world with four challenging, and fun levels! As a bonus, there is also an endless mode, which can be unlocked by playing through level 1, so you can always try and make a better score! Also, so it doesnt get boring, the devs behind Downbound have spiced their amazing game up with 11 really cute unlockable characters, with more ‘Coming Soon’ in future updates. Each character also has its own name and you can also checkout the stats associated with it, including deaths, jumps, etc. This game is full to the brim with awesomeness! The controls are really simple, tilt your iDevice to move your character right and left and tap the screen to jump. There are also a few enemies that slow you down, powerups, such as one that makes you small etc., springs and lots more! You have to go down till the end of the level before the black clouds get you. The game supports retina display and has cute graphics.

Negatives: Nothing :)

Conclusion: Downbound is a great game to play for all ages, whether you have a few minutes, or more. It would be great if it had multiplayer, but its graphics, gameplay and controls are amazing. Also, the price is quite reasonable at $0.99. This is a must have for casual gamers

It deserves a rating of 4/5

AppStore Details:

Name- Downbound

Price- $0.99

Author- Mental Moustache

Post Date: November 22 2011

Size- 36.9 MB

Version- v1.0.1

Age Rating- 4+

iTunes Link (US store)- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/downbound/id478863729?mt=8

Jelly defense review

Overview: Jelly defense is an amazing and the best Tower defense game i have played yet. Your Jelly planet is being invaded and it is up to you to strategically place your jelly towers to defeat the enemy and prevent them from stealing your precious gems. There are tons of turrets for you to use and even more types of enemies and lots and lots of epic fun!

Positives: Jelly Defense is full of good stuff, the graphics are one of its main positive points and are simply amazing and support the retina display. The colours really pop out make your experience amazing. The controls are pretty much like other tower defense games except that instead of money coming to you when you defeat an enemy or sell a tower, they scatter as coins on the battle grounds and you have to tap to pick them up before they disappear. Jelly defense also has many power ups and tons of amazing levels with many waves of enemies and provides the gamer with excellent gameplay. Jelly defense has two basic enemies, blue ones, and red ones. There are many different types that belong to one of these two basic groups, each with their unique abilities, looks, and speed. Two defeat these enemies, there are different types of turrets as well, some turrets defeat only blue enemies, some defeat only red, and some defeat both at once, there are also more towers that do other stuff to your enemies, rather than just killing them, which can prove to be really helpful. The brute force of the turrets does not purely lead to the success of a level, but your strategy and tower placement does as well. You can also tap a turret to get two options, upgrade and sell. Tap and hold sell for your turret to disappear, opening a spot for another turret, and the money you get from selling it is scattered around its previous placement for you to pick up. The turrets can be upgraded to only a certain level.

Negatives: Theres nothing about the controls, graphics, or gameplay that I dont like, but when we have the planet infront of us while selecting levels, the planet spins too much when I dont even want it to and it becomes difficult to browse through completed and available levels.

Conclusion: Im a big fan of tower defense games and jelly defense is the best in this category. Almost everything about this game is perfect, fun and addictive! As for the price, $2.99 is quite reasonable for this much awesomeness, and i do recommend this game a lot as it is reasonably priced, has tons of enemies, towers, fun tower upgrades, levels and lots more!Go get it!

Jelly defense gets a rating of 5/5 for being all that

AppStore Details:

Name: Jelly Defense

Price: $2.99

Version: v1.07

Size: 89.6 Mb

Update Date: 31st October 2011

Age Rating: 4+

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jelly-defense/id436134867?mt=8

Zombify me Review

A fun and easy way to zombify your photos…

Overview: Zombify me is basically an application where you load or take new photos, choose from many if the gory zombie effects and then have a zombified version of yourself, or anyone else!

Positives: When you launch the app, you are presented with two options, ‘select a victim,’ and ‘transform.’ Press select a victim to either load an image from your library or simply take a picture use. When you’re done with this, tap tranform and cycle through the different types of effects and stuff, and move it here and there on the victim’s face for the effects to fit in perfectly. After doing that, you have four options, share the image on facebook, tweet it on twitter, email it to someone, or simply save it in your photo library.

Negatives: There’s nothing wrong with this app =D

Conclusion: Zombify is great and if not the best, it is one of greatest zombification apps out there and costs only a buck. While I couldnt exactly come up with a negative point, this app could still use a bit of improvement in general.

Zombify me deserves a rating of 4.5/5 for being a really fun and easy to use zombification application

AppStore Details:

Name- Zombify Me

Price- $0.99

Author- Bouncing Ball Ltd

Update Date- 24th October 2011

Size- 9.3 Mb

Version- v1.2

Age Rating- 12+

Rating- 5/5

iTunes Link (US store)- http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/zombify-me/id464086469?mt=8

‘Dynamic English Lessons: Phrasal Verbs’ Review:

A nice educational app that is quite helpful, but has some issues..
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Overview:
Dynamic English Lessons: Phrasal Verbs is a nice little educationaly applicTion that helps you learn, practice, and work on Phrasal verbs. It features different categories, and you can play through them choosing the correct verbs with another word in order to complete the sentence so that it makes logical and grammatical sense.

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Positives:
It is a great app, and has many different categories of Phrasal Verbs for you to work on, and an awesome feature is that the phrasal verb that you get correct is stored in the ‘dictionary’ tab along with a sentence and an audio clip for you to revise it at anytime. In each category you get a lot of cahllenging sentences, and there are two blanks in each, and you have to fill them up by turning the wheels at the bottom that have a selection of words, once you are satisfied, press the blue button and it will tell you if your selection was correct, and if wrong, which word (out of the two) was. It also has the option to toggle sound effects between normal and rude.

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Negatives:
In my opinion, Phrasal verbs has sentences that can be challenging to kids aged from 10-13, and is not meant for older audience, but yet it has categories that are not recommended to younger audience, so this creates an issue and i believe it should be atleast 16+. Also, it has some bugs while selecting words and choosing them as the correct ones for the sentence.

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Verdict:
Dynamic is a great app, but I wouldn’t recommend it to you of you are young, as it hascategories that may not be for your age, but other than that it is a nice little educational and quite useful application.
It deserves a rating of 3/5

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AppStore Details:

Name- Dynamic English Lessons - Phrasal Verbs
Price- $0.99
Author- Nadia Bentoua
Release Date- 21st October 2011
Size- 8.8 MB
Version- v1.1
Age Rating- 9+
iTunes Link (US store)- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dynamic-english-lessons-phrasal/id453940202?mt=8&ls=1

Ninja Pong by @AlienWormGames is out!

Hey guys :)
Every week, there are a mumber of anticipated iOS game releases, that we can’t wait to see in the AppStore, and for me, and many others, Ninja Pong was like that.

The reason I love this game is that it has unprecedented addictiveness, and has so much stuff you can buy, the graphics are extremely appealing and vibrant, etc.

Also, I was a beta-tester of Ninja Pong, and my name can be found in the credits.

My fully detailed review of Ninja Pong is coming really soon, so for now just go over to the AppStore and BUY Ninja Pong!

Here’s the link to Ninja Pong on the AppStore:
http://t.co/k4WYboCB

(PS: As far as I know, it has an iPad version as well, so search for Ninja Pong on Your iPad as well :D)

‘Troll Blaster’ Review:

Trolls, weapons, tons of levels, what more could you want?

Overview:
Troll Blaster is a great and quite addictive game, though it appears to be an Angry Birds clone (and kinda is) its much more challenging and fun than Angry Birds itself.

You basically have to take out trolls using one of the weapons you have. You earn stars based on how few weapons you had to use to complete one level.

Positives:
Troll blaster is an excellent iOS game. It has 64 challenging and really fun levels, so it will be quite a while before you get bored lf it. The interface is really neat, and the graphics do support the retina display.

The main thing about this game is the weapons. You have 4 weapons, each with a different damage radius and damage level. Your goal is to use as few weapons as possible to complete each level.

The controls are quite simple too, you have a the four weapons on the top left, tap one to select it, and then pull back on the weapon on your screen to aim and set power, and then release to shoot and hit the trolls! There are many structures, such as wood, glass etc., so as you progress, you discover which weapon is better in which situation.

The gameplay is also quite fun, and the hainted environment the sound effects and background sounds create suits the theme of the game really well.

Negatives:
Troll Blaster is a great game, and has nothing that a gamer would dislike.

Verdict:
Troll Blaster is a great and really fun and addictive game with excellent graphics, awesome sounds, tons of levels, and a really low price of only $0.99! It is a Must-Have for all gamers and those who need a new and more challenging (much more challenging) ‘Angry Birds.’ Therefore, it deserves a rating of 5/5

AppStore Details:

Name- Troll Blaster
Price- $0.99
Author- eMobiSoft
Update Date- 6th October 2011
Size- 10.7MB
Version- v1.0.1
Age Rating- 9+
Rating- 4/5
iTunes Link (US store)- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/troll-blaster-physics-strategy/id464204098?mt=8&ls=1

‘Idyllic’ Review:

 

An extremely addictive, fun packed jumping game…

Overview:
Idyllic is a really addictive game where you jump from creepy-looking floating island to island, healing them, as you jump onto them, so that they bloom with grass, trees, and other awesome stuff! 
There are tons of things that you can upgrade to make the game easier, earn more points, earn them faster, and other awesome perks as well.

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Positives:
In Idyllic, the thing I liked most was that when we jump onto a dead island, it blooms to life, which is really fun to watch over and over again, as you jump even more. 
Idyllic’s graphics support the retina display and are amazing, and the soundtrack changes from a dull one to a bright and happy one when you heal islands.
As for the abilities, you have two, the wings, and stomp ability. The wings ability lets you float in the air for a while, in the start you slowly fall downwards, but ad you earn points and spend them on increasing this ability, you will eventually be able to fly upwards, rather than fall down or hover, when you use the wings button. 
The stomp ability is actually better for the islands you jump on, the more upgraded stomp you have, the more life the islands acquire, ie., when you’re about to jump onto an island, pressing the stomp button will make your charcter fall down faster with energy and hit the islands harder, and making them grow even more stuff like trees, fruits, etc, the stomp ability also lets you defeat enemies. 


One of the most helpful feature is the ability to double-jump, perfect for when you just missed an island, simply tap the screen to double jump. The buttons for the two abilities are located on the bottom right and left sides of the screen, and refill over time. The best thing is that there are checkpoints, and even if you exit the app, the checkpoint is still saved, and you can add to your previous score! At the checkpoints, you have an option to visit the Shop where you can upgrade your Stomp and Wings ability, increase mysticism, which will increase the speed at which your abilities refill, and you can also upgrade your double jump power, and greed, which multiplies the points you collect. 
You can also share your scores at checkpoints, and delete and create savedata.

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Negatives:
The one thing I disliked about Idyllic was the character. He remains frozen, moving slightly while jumping and turning, and thats about it, plus, we don’t even know the background story, so that would be a great addition.

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Verdict:
Idyllic is an excellent game at just $1.99, and is a must-buy which i suggest to all iOS gamers. It has excellent gameplay, awesome and HD graphics, great controls, and is simply amazing overall; also, it gets a rating of 4.5/5.

AppStore Details:

Name- Idyllic
Price- $1.99
Author- FatCow Games
Update Date- 14th September 2011
Size- 36.7 MB
Version- v1.1
Age Rating- 4+
Rating- 5/5
iTunes Link (US store)- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idyllic!/id445869482?mt=8&ls=1

FlashCards++ Review:

The best Flash Cards application that does way more than you expect….

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Overview:
FlashCards++ is an awesome Appication and utility, and it is the best at what it does. Its an app that lets you make virtual flash cards which you can use for many purposes, plus, its got tons of other awesome features! Its easy to use, and when you launch the app, it teaches you how to make use of all the features.

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Positives:
It is a great and really useful utility. 
You can creat individual collections of flashcards, and set the languages that the tect should be in, you can select a different language for either sides of a flashcard, a really useful featre if you are learning a foreign language.

After creating and naming your collection, theres lots you can do! First of all, you must add some cards to the collection, and after tapping ‘Create Cards,’ you can choose the text to display on the front side, and the back side of each card, also, to spice up your flashcards, you can add images as well.

After you have created one flashcard, you can tap ‘Next’ and so on. After you’re done making flashcards, you can choose to learn them first, and there are many options from which you can choose from such as randomising them etc, and if you think you’ve had enough practice, you can tap ‘Test Cards,’ to begin.

The flashcards appear one by one on your screen, and after reading the question, you can think of the answer, and then tap the screen to see the back side, from there, you can tap on how good your answer was (like Fail, Good, etc.) You can also check the stats of those cards, like when they were created and stuff. When you’re done with all the cards, it shows your overall score, percentage, and stats, and you can choose to do it again and again till you’re satisfied.

There are also other options like studying lapsed cards, viewing all cards, card sets, and you can also import cards. You can also choose to export and share you cards in a number of ways. You can also adjust tons of other basic settings like text size, font, etc.

To ensure that you never lose your flashcards, you can use the in app feature to backup your data on DropBox and restore from it at any time.

Since you can have multiple card collections, and within them different card sets, all of your stuff will always remain organized

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Negatives:
The thing I didn’t like about FlashCards++ was that the flashcards looked pretty plain and got boring after a while, so it would be great if we could choose from some themes, or use our own pictures as backgrounds for the flashcards.
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Verdict:
FlashCards++ is an excellent utility for studying and other purposes. It has an extremely low price (Only $0.99!) It could be perfect due to its ability to organize your cards, let you easily learn them, tell you your score and stats, but the lack of themes and/or custom backgrounds, causes it to get a quite awesome rating of 4/5

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AppStore Details:

Name- FlashCards++
Price- $0.99
Author- Jason Lustig
Update Date-
Size- 4.3 MB
Version- v4.2.1
Age Rating- 4+
Rating- 4/5
iTunes Link (US store)-http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flashcards/id378786877?mt=8&ls=1

Do leave an answer with what you think of the App and/or my review of it, and remember, if you need your app reviewed, simply send an email to theifanatic@hotmail.com, or contact me via twitter @theiFanatic