The Army of Darkness is one of the more popular cult 
films around, so making an app based on it is risky. Army of Darkness Defense does it well, though, blending the film’s most famous soundbytes with the classic defense gameplay. The cartoonish look of the game actually blends well with the quotes and the game comes with plenty of modes to keep fans entertained. Smartly, instead of creating something complicated, the developers went the casual route, letting you have fun, but realizing that the one-liners from star Bruce Campbell are what many people will be interested in. Licensed games are often terrible, but this is a pleasant surprise for fans of the film — though if you’ve never watched it, you might wonder what all the fuss is about.
Category Archives: Common Sense Media
App Review: Celebrity Bodyguard
While the premise of Celebrity Bodyguard has 
plenty of potential, the game itself falls flat. Hobbled with no real variety in gameplay, some corny take-offs on celebrity names (Lady Bla Bla? Really?) and less-than-stellar artwork, it gets old fast — really fast. Worse, there are only three faux-celebrities to guard, meaning even if you do find the caricatures funny, they still get old. And the muttered comments of your bodyguard protagonist do nothing to add to the game’s fun factor. (“I got a really good health plan” is more head-scratching than funny.) For 99 cents, you could do worse, but it’s so much easier to do better.
App Review: PopOut! The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin might be a bit less well-known 
than Beatirx Potter’s Peter Rabbit, but Loud Crow Interactive shows the story as much devotion as it did with its previous interpretation of that author’s work. The interactive reading parts are once again top notch, but it’s the pop-up elements that truly stand out. Users can pluck falling tree leaves or crabapples out of drawings and make the squirrels chatter and hop on screen. These interactive elements are charming. The narration is soothing and the music calming. It’s a complete interactive package — and perfect for all ages.
App Review: Burn it All – Journey to the Sun
Burn it All – Journey to the Sun strives to 
follow in the footsteps of Cut the Rope, with a cute hero and a collection of unique puzzles, and it almost hits the mark. The game is certainly fun and increases difficulty at a very gradual and forgiving pace. And when players aren’t able to complete a level, it doesn’t mean they’re finished, as the game smartly includes the ability to skip areas that are proving too challenging. The controls, however, aren’t quite right, and the constant pressure to share your scores is a bit grating after a while. Still, for the price, this is a great way for puzzle fans to waste a few hours.
App Review: TallyTots
TallyTots makes learning fun for toddlers. Rather than making 
counting a chore, it walks them through the process, then rewards them with fun, interactive activities that reinforce the number. For example, if the number is 7, kids are encouraged to make a sandwich with seven layers. Kids may want to play it again and again — but it’s not perfect. Once an activity is completed, the app waits for you to pick another number, which requires selecting one from the top or bottom of the screen, then pressing it for 3-4 seconds. That’s nothing for adults, but kids may lose interest in having to touch the screen in a single spot for that long. It would be nice to see an option to advance to the next number once the interactive element had been completed (or after a period of inactivity). That’s a quibble, though. For parents looking to teach their toddlers how to count, this is a fine tool.
App Review: i Learn With Poko: Seasons and Weather! HD
Weather skills might seem self-evident to 
some parents, but for toddlers, they’re an introduction to the world of science. i Learn With Poko: Seasons and Weather! HD gently eases kids into the differences between seasons and how to dress for each one — and even manages to sneak in some calendar education. The app is split into three levels for different age groups (though most young kids are likely to hop between them), giving it a wider range of appeal. It’s an app that requires no reading skills, letting users learn at their own pace, regardless of age. Ultimately, that means most kids will have fun with it, prompting them to play longer (and, ideally, learn more).
App Review: ZombieSmash HD
While its excessive use of cartoon gore makes 
ZombieSmash HD a poor choice for young players, older players may be charmed by the game. It’s a slightly different take on the reliable tower defense genre, where waves upon waves of enemies rush your stronghold, but flicking them away is fun. The game also requires a bit of strategy in determining when best to use the weapons in your reserve. (There’s something satisfying about flattening zombies with wrecking balls.) It’s frenetic action that doesn’t get boring — and the game offers several different modes (campaign, endless siege, and sandbox), that offer a good bit of variety.
App Review: SplitApple
Archery sims are fairly rare beasts in the gaming world, 
but when they’re done right, they can be a lot of fun. SplitApple has that essence of fun, but it lacks many features that seem natural to the genre, ultimately making it fall short. There’s no GameCenter integration at the time of this review, and the tournament mode feels stunted (taking place in just one location). Moving targets would also seem a natural part of the game. Thankfully, developer MKO Games recognizes this and is promising an update in the future. The graphics are quite smooth, though, and aiming your bow is just challenging enough to stay interesting, but not frustrating. Right now, this is an overpriced app, but if developers follow through on their promises to add more game modes and target types, it might be worth a look.
App Review: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD
There are plenty of racing games in the iTunes 
App Store, but the Asphalt series has always been near the top. Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD is another winning installment, offering a fun, fast-paced experience with plenty of tracks, cars, and detailing options. It’s also a long game that lets users feel they really got their money’s worth from the app’s reasonably high cost at the time of this review. The problem is, this sixth version of the series is pretty close to the fifth. Aside from the ability to get an acceleration boost by collecting nitro symbols on the track and the elimination of unlocking “girls,” it’s a virtual clone, in fact. And the multiplayer is so-so at best. That puts the series at risk — and developer Gameloft will need to shake things up if it wants the inevitable Asphalt 7 to stand out from the crowd.
App Review: PAC-CHOMP!
Pac-Man and Bejewled might seem an odd mix, but 
they blend quite well together in PAC-CHOMP! The game is nearly as addictive as the PopCap Games’ classic Bejeweled, but still retains the charm of Pac-Man, a beloved arcade standard. Matching ghosts of the same color earns bonus items, which eliminate scores of ghosts when Pac-Man eats them. Match enough ghosts and you’ll earn a power pellet, which triggers a bonus stage when eaten. The real fun is in the ability to rotate parts of the screen to move elements around. Determining when that’s appropriate adds another layer of strategy to the game, elevating it beyond a simple clone. One word of warning to colorblind players: The ghosts can be hard to discern if your eyes have trouble with shades of blue. That won’t affect most people, but it’s maddening for those it does.
Chris Morris: Journalist 