MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz WWDC 2009 Review (Video)
Video review of the WWDC ‘09 MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz. I am YouTube username ziggibyte.
iFloat Review
Doodie Cycle makes their debut on the iTunes appstore with the app iFloat. iFloat is a simple game but requires skill and determination to get highscores. The game is based on a high powered fan which you control by tilting your iPhone or iPod Touch. Hold your device straight up for 0% power and flat for 100% power. Most of the time you will be holding your device somewhere in between those two positions. The object of the game is to keep afloat a ball and stay in the green zone. The green zone will give you the most points and it is the place you want to keep the ball in. If you can keep the ball there your bonus multiplier will increase and your ball will go on fire and crack the screen! The next zone is the yellow zone that is just above and below the green zone. If the ball reaches this zone you will start to lose points but the game will still continue. The next zone is the red zone which surrounds the yellow. If your ball stays in the red zone for just a few seconds the game is over.
You might be thinking to yourself this sounds easy too easy. You thought wrong! The zones will change direction either up or down causing you to make sudden movements to adjust the speed of the fan. Keep in mind that physics is in play in this game, you have factors of gravity. The fan gives more force to the ball when it is nearest to it and when its further away it needs just a tad bit more power to move the ball. You may decrease power to move the ball downwards but then you quickly need to give it a burst of more power to keep it from going too far and into the red zone. This game all takes place in a two minute time frame. Your main goal is to survive those two minutes and gain as many points as possible. It is quite a challenge! A warning to all, the game may be really frustrating at first but once you get the hang of the controls in a couple of games you will be addicted. You can also change the difficulty in the settings which allows for harder gameplay. In easy mode arrows will appear in the yellow zone to let you know which direction the grid is shifting as well as graphics to let you know how much power you are giving to the fan but in hard mode that all disappears. The overall graphics in the game are simple yet very nicely done and perfectly fit the style of the game. Doodie Cycle has many plans for iFloat including adding global highscores, Facebook connect, detailed game stats, and trophies. I highly recommend this game to everyone. The accelerometer controls are spot on and this game is truly such an innovation. You will be playing this game over and over and over again, it is just that addicting.
TheLoopBlog gives iFloat an 8.5/10 stars
iFloat is currently on sale in the appstore for a low price of $.99
LINK: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=322962469&mt=8
Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid Review
Hey guys. Zalman here. I guess I’m unofficially in charge of ng reviews. Anyway, this is a review of Rolando 2, the widely anticipated sequel to the extremely popular Rolando.
First, the gameplay. Rather than typical 2D like in the original Rolando. Don’t get me wrong, it was great, but Rolando 2 had a 3D-like environment. It was affected by accelorametor, the same way you control the Rolandos. It added a nice touch to the game. It was easy to control for the most part. I just wish there would have been an option for sensitivity for the controls. That is a minor roadblock that has a fast learning curve.
Next the plot. The sages of Rolandoland have an ancient curse or something. The royalty then sends Sir Edward, a famous explorer, to retrieve the Golden Orchid (never would have guessed that). Overall it was a good plot and makes you want to keep playing to find out what happens at the end.
Finally, we have the navigation. As I stated before, I wish the controls for moving the Rolandos were a little for sensitive. Nonetheless, the general navigation for controling everithing is fluid.
All in all, ng:) delivered again and did not dissapoint. With Star Defense, my expectations were very high for R2QGO. ngmoco:) raised the bar again. The Loop Blog gives Rolando 2 a solid 9.75 because it’s 3D-esque environment, great gameplays and a spectacular plot to go along with it.
Bricks of Camelot Review
From Donut Games comes an exciting brick breaker game, Bricks of Camelot. The popular computer game series Bricks of…(Atlantas, Camelot, Egypt…etc) comes to the iPhone and iPod Touch. This game features level packs that consist of 8 levels each. The game currently has 9 level packs for a total of 72 levels! Future updates will bring even more levels to play. The game is based on Camelot so the graphics are all from the medieval times. When you pick a level pack to play you have the option to play in either easy, medium, or hard difficulties with each having a certain amount of lives/bats and high scores to beat.
The games graphics are a visual masterpiece and are like no other brick breaking game on the appstore. Like every game of this type comes powerups. The good powerups that help you on the way are in green and the bad ones that try to poison you and make it harder for you to win are in red. These power ups include arrows, which allows you to tap and shoot arrows out of the bat, lightning, causing a severe lightning storm to blast through some blocks, eagle, which find treasure for you to gain more points, extra life, expand bat, multiball, poison, speed up/down..etc. The levels also feature many other objects in play such as wooden barrels, shields to catch with your bat when you hit their respective block which are worth many points, bags of gold, holy grail, and many other items that are either in your way or help you to gain more points. Some levels consist of fire which rapidly spreads through the playing field toward the bat, if it hits the bat you will lose a life but if you put out the fire with water or by hiting the ball towards it then you will be safe to continue on the level. The game is nicely done. The bat is extremely responsive to your finger and you will never worry about missing the ball because it wouldn’t move with your finger. The game can be easy in the earlier levels of each pack but it becomes increasingly difficult and very fun to play. The music is nice as well and fits along with the theme. In the options menu you also have the option to change the color of the ball which adds a nice little feature to the game.
This is one of the best brick breaking games currently in the appstore and I highly recommend this game to everyone. With the amount of levels and difficulties you will be playing for a long time to either beat all the levels or beat Donut Games highscores. With the updates promising new levels in the future this game is surely a must have.
TheLoopBlog gives Bricks of Camelot a 9.0/10 stars
Bricks of Camelot is currently on sale in the appstore for $1.99 which is its sale price and really a great bargin . Link http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=316593422&mt=8
CSI: Miami Review
Gameloft, one of the leading iPhone/iPod Touch game developers has a smash hit with the app CSI: Miami. The game features one crime case where you travel around the city of Miami searching for clues, solving puzzles and mini games, questioning suspects, and talking with your fellow CSI co-workers. The characters in the game are all from the show including the most popular character Horatio. As you play a new game you can play on three difficulty levels and try to achieve the highest score in each. The game has beautiful graphics as well as cut scenes taken directly from the show which lack in quality but are still a good addition to the game. The characters in the game also have voice acting which is always a plus for any game of this type. The character’s voices are different then those from the show but are still nicely done. The game is a little too short lasting only around two hours or so. But after you complete the game you can play many mini games that were featured in the main storyline for some additional fun.
The game is well made and very fun to play. You need to search for things like guns, blood, water, broken glass, and fingerprints. Once you find the evidence you need to use a specific tool such as a glove, x-ray, pipette, and swab to collect it. Then you can take this evidence to the CSI lab and test them with other evidence and collect DNA samples that match your suspects. Once you have found a suspect you may question them, you will only get the information you need by questioning the suspect a certain way and showing evidence that you have collected to coax them. The storyline is great and you will want to play straight through to find out what happens. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and really recommend it for anyone who is a fan of CSI or any type of crime strategy game.
The Loop Blog gives CSI: Miami a 8.3/10 stars
CSI: Miami is currently in the app store for $.99 on sale from its original price of $4.99.
Star Defense by ngmoco:) Reveiw
As you probably know, ng:) and Star Defense were showcased at the WWDC Keynote as part of the iPhone OS 3.0 demonstrations. Stephanie from ngmoco :) showed the audience the new in-app purchase API’s available in the soon-to-be-available 3.0 software update.
Star Defense falls under the genre of Tower Defense. Tower defense games are usually 2-D in the sense of the playing field. Star Defense’s playing field, however, takes place on 3-D planets. The interface is intuitive and it uses iPhone OS’s standard multi-touch.
First, the icon. Although this is not part of the app, ng:) did an absolutely incredible job with it. It is basically an eagle and a star combined. The texture is rugged, and there is a bezel on it matching the color of the eagle. The color choice and texture is very good, and it makes me want to buy the app without even reading the description to make my home screen look better.
Let’s get into the interface. You launch it and are greeted with the familiar ngmoco:) splash screen. You then see a standard loading bar and the Star Defense Main Menu.
The options in the menu are Galaxy Map, Challenge Log, Commendations, and Options. Galaxy Map is the choice of planets, but more on that later. Challenge Log shows tweets by the game for accomplishments in Challenge Mode, but, again, more on that later. Commendations are accomplishments such as defeating all waves on all planets on all difficulties, etc., etc. Options are the settings and comprises of Sound FX on/off, music on/off, reseting the game, credits, and Facebook Connect and Twitter.
If you go to Galaxy map you are greeted by planets in the shape of the Big Dipper constellation. Here you choose the setting of gameplay. You see one unlocked planet and six other ‘locks’ indicating a locked planet. If you tap on that first planet, it gives you the options of difficulty. You tap on one of those, and you tap proceed to go onto gameplay. On the right you have the five turrets. You can choose Start Wave to start the first wave. To move around the planet you just drag your finger around. To zoom in, you pinch two fingers. To pinch out, you double-tap. Overall, the interface is intuitive and it is familiar to iPhone users.
Finally, we move on to gameplay. You drag your turrets out, and you press Start First Wave. Out of the enemy’s, or S’rath’s, ship come creatures trying to attack your planet. Your turrets immediately start shoothing, and the S’raths basically explode. As the waves go on, the creatures get harder to beat, and you really have to think about where you put your turrets. As you kill S’raths, you get money to get more expensive turrets. You can upgrade them and such, but my one gripe about it is that you can’t move your turrets around. You have to sell them for a lower price than you got them, re-purchase them, and then put them where you wanted to move them. Overall the gameplay is very good, and that little kink won’t ruin your day.
In conclusion, ngmoco:) did an incredible job with Star Defense. The interface is intuitive, the gameplay is good, and it is a fun game. The replay value is medium-high due to the fact that the differences between planets not much except for the look. You can get Star Defense in the App Store here http://bit.ly/mwvup for $5.99. The Loop Blog gives star Defense a 8.75/10.
