While it might be a little 
too intense for younger players, Pudding Panic is a downright cute game with some wonderful puzzles. The protagonist pudding — named J. Jitters — is empathetic, and the witches and skeletons, while not scary on sight, can cause you to jump when they surprise you. If Jitters is scared too many times, he’ll fall from his car and the game ends. You’re able to fight back with everything from noisemakers to a jack-in-the-box to even things out, adding another layer of fun absurdity to the game. While the game does get pretty difficult, the pacing is good and players are gently eased into the new levels. The graphics are wonderful as is the music — throw in a hefty collection of levels and it’s a wonderful deal, regardless of which version you choose.
Category Archives: Common Sense Media
App Review: Demolition Dash HD
Good arcade games have characters that 
exude personality — and the stubbly little ‘zilla in Demolition Dash HD loaded with it. It takes what could be a standard clone of the “destroy everything in your path” type of arcade game and makes it memorable and fun. With your monster’s almost childlike roar and singleminded mentality, you’ll have fun wrecking major cities of the world as he rampages through town. Beyond this, the game has a wonderful soundtrack and bright artistic style to bring it further to life. The add-on commercialization through Facebook coupon codes is distracting and seems out of place, but not enough to take away from the fun factor. A non-HD version of the game is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Either way, it’s money well spent.
App Review: Pocket God: Journey to Uranus
While the original Pocket God was an amusing 
experiment in cartoon torture (and a terrific guilty pleasure), Pocket God: Journey To Uranus falls a bit short. There are a few new ways to torment the pygmies who stare in awe at the worlds you drag them to and, once again, there’s an infinite supply of them, but the real thrust of the game is the three mini-games — clones of the arcade classics Joust and Tempest as well as a remake of the “flick the pygmies into the volcano” game from previous installments. They’re fun remakes, but there are plenty of other clones of those games about. And with a series this popular, you’d expect the fun factor to be ramped up — or at least for there to be more to do in the game. It’s a buck well spent for enormous fans of the series, but easily bypassed by others.
App Review: Bumpy Road
Bumpy Road has its own share of potholes, but 
story isn’t one of them. The game’s real strength is its heartwarming tale of the story’s central couple and their relationship. The road itself is a good metaphor for their life together, full of pitfalls, highs and lows, but highlighting the importance of perseverance. As a game, Bumpy Road isn’t bad, but it’s far from perfect. The control scheme isn’t overly precise and learning the best times to create hills and valleys (which you do by simply touching the screen) isn’t particularly easy. The music in the game is pitch perfect, though, and will stay with you long after you move on to other affairs. Platform fans will enjoy this one, as will romantic gamers, but it’s not a game for everyone.
App Review: Let’s Jump!
Jumping platform games are becoming a 
crowded field in the App Store, so to stand out new ones need to do something different. Let’s Jump! is hardly revolutionary, but it gets enough right that it’s worth a second look. The universal app support — letting the same game be played on both iPhone and iPad — is very welcome and the multiplayer mode adds a few tweaks (like not killing you instantly when you miss a platform) that make the game more fun. That said, there’s a definite sense of deja vu to this app — and if you’ve grown tired of Doodle Jump at this point, you won’t find anything here to reinvigorate your love for the genre.
App Review: Polar Puzzles HD
Polar Puzzles HD is the latest in a 
growing string of strategy/puzzle games that are hitting Apple’s iDevices in the wake of Angry Birds’ success. It’s not great, but it’s also not bad by any means. The game gives new users a chance to learn the mechanics and offers a wide variety of levels to enjoy (over 75 in the full version — along with unlockable bonus levels). There are also a few fun twists, like using ice holes to navigate and a seal that helps flip your penguin. But even with those there’s a sense of sameness to the game — and the $2.99 price tag feels a bit high.
App Review: AlphaTots
Spinlight Studios, the developers of the 
wonderful number-learning TallyTots, turn their attention to the alphabet in this creative and educational app. Learning isn’t something that’s viewed as a burden, but rather transformed into a game, which makes young kids want to use this app again and again. All letters are always on screen, letting kids explore where they want — and accessing the familiar A-B-C song is just as easy. The interactive elements, which kick in after pronunciation on the letters is made clear, are very clever and engaging. Navigating alphabetically is a snap, but if the user wants to jump from, say “A” to “Z,” they’ll have to press that letter for 3-4 seconds, which might be beyond the attention span of the target audience.
App Review: Storm in a Teacup
Storm in a Teacup is a good game, but 
it falls a bit short of being great — though it’s hard to say why. The app has a very unique look, like something from a child’s imagination, and has plenty of good puzzles to solve and items to find. Perhaps what’s missing is the lack of a story tying things together. There’s a narrative on the iTunes store page, but nothing’s built into the game. While Storm, the teacup-riding hero of the game, will charm you, there’s never a real emotional connection with him, so you don’t feel a sense of loss when you fail. That said, the controls respond wonderfully, an essential quality in an arcade game, and you may find yourself playing for long stretches without realizing it. For 99 cents, it’s a no-brainer.
App Review: The Heist
It takes a unique game to unseat Angry Birds from its 
roost at the top of the sales chart — and The Heist certainly qualifies in that regard. While most games — especially puzzle games — gently ease players into the game and take a long time to ramp up difficulty, this app offers no instructions and hits you with some hard puzzles pretty quickly. After you start the app, a “call” (actually a pre-recorded element of the game) on your idevice explains that you’re there to assist breaking into the imposing vault on the screen. From there, you’ll have to figure out what the goal of each puzzle is and how to achieve it. It’s not a game for the light-hearted, but it is a lot of fun and will test your puzzle-solving skills.
App Review: Jet Car Stunts
Like some of the best arcade games of the 1980s, Jet Car 
Stunts is an over-the-top joyride, filled with ridiculously loopy tracks and jumps that no sane man would ever attempt in the real world. Then again, most real-world cars don’t come with a jet pack strapped to the back. It’s a game that might take a short while to master, but one that big-air/racing fans will find themselves playing again and again to rack up high scores. If you’re having trouble in the early part of the game, though, do yourself a favor and walk away, as the game only gets harder, ultimately reaching a point where it seemingly wants to frustrate you.
Chris Morris: Journalist 