Tag Archives: app review

App review: Tap Tap Revenge 4

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Judged solely on the gameplay elements, Tap Tap Revenge 4 is a wonderful app. The familiar tap-the-screen-in-time-with-the-music style of play doesn’t get old, and the developers have picked a good selection of songs as a starter pack. Unfortunately, other elements, such as out of control commercialism and a chat room that resembles the wild west make it entirely inappropriate for young players. Ads are plastered everywhere, and the game regularly tries to convince players to buy additional songs. Chat rooms, meanwhile, are self-moderated — and offensive actions generally aren’t reported, since so many people are doing the same thing. That’s sad, because online gameplay is actually a lot of fun, letting you compare your skills to others.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: TRON: Legacy

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TRON: Legacy focuses on the right things — Light Cycles and Recognizers — but suffers from poor controls and apparent game bugs that cripple the title. Driving and racing Light Cycles can be a breathtaking experience, but because the controls are slow to respond to your actions, it’s akin to a drunk driver hopping onto a motorcycle. You’ll wobble across the road and bump into walls regularly. The game’s shooting sections — using those Recognizers — are fun, but again stumble, since you’re not able to control the vehicles as precisely as you would like to. The game’s multiplayer option is one of its stronger elements, as playing against a live opponent is more fun than challenging the app. And visually, the game is quite impressive. With more polishing, this is a title that could have life long after the movie is gathering dust in your DVD collection.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Nash Smasher!

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Nash Smasher! is a fun, funny story that’s also surprisingly effective as a lesson in social skills for youngsters. The book is written by Bill Doyle of television’s Sesame Workshop, who has some experience communicating lessons to young children in an entertaining fashion — and knows how to keep adults interested simultaneously. In this case, that’s done via the story’s interactive elements, which are full of surprises and really make the book app something that’s fun for families.

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App review: Grimm’s Rapunzel – 3D Interactive Pop-up Book

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Grimm’s Rapunzel – 3D Interactive Pop-up Book is a superb interactive version of the classic story that features all of the bells and whistles you would expect. Users can have the story read aloud to them (with them choosing the pace of the page turns), read it themselves, or watch the story in autoplay fashion. The pop-up elements not only let children explore the pages at their own pace, but also offer tasks to complete, such as planting and watering seeds to grow flowers or picking flowers. Young children will love the story, which is less frightening that many other Grimm fairy tales.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: Jenga

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Jenga doesn’t seem a natural fit for an app, but NaturalMotion does a terrific job of building an electronic version of this classic — thanks in large part to its terrific physics engine, which causes the blocks to react as they would in the real world. Is it more fun than the game you play with friends around a table? No. But it’s as close as you can come. The pass and play mode is the best mode — since playing Jenga alone isn’t a fulfilling experience. And the new arcade mode, with colors and a timer, is a great spin on the single player game that makes it fun to play when you’re alone. Game Center functionality or some other way to play with friends who aren’t in the immedate room would have been welcome, but at its core, this is a terrific game.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: Homerun Battle 3D

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Homerun Battle 3D doesn’t have a license from Major League Baseball and doesn’t need one. The focus on hitting balls deep into the stands and the number of perks you can get with special balls — such as gold ones, which let you alter your appearance when you’ve hit enough homeruns with them — make this a great combination of arcade and role playing. The multiplayer mode is safe and a showcase of how matchmaking should be. The only downside is there’s no way to transfer your player’s progress between the iPad HD version and the separate iPhone and iPod Touch version — meaning you not only have to pay twice, all the work you put into the game on one platform won’t help you on another.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: Braveheart HD

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Braveheart HD might have high aspirations to mimic some of the great “point and click” role-playing games on the market, but it’s ultimately a one-note game. Enemies charge blindly at you and you mow them down, moving around the screen from time to time to pick up experience, health, or cash. While the game boasts 10 different weapons, there’s very little discernible difference in how they’re used on screen. The interstitial cartoon panels between levels end up being the best part of the game — and that’s not something worth paying for.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Infinity Blade

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There’s nothing particularly deep about the gameplay of Infinity Blade, but the game is a lot of fun to play — and it’s nearly as fun to just look at. The graphics engine powering the app is an offshoot of the one used in Gears of War, making it one of the most advanced on Apple’s systems. Unfortunately, after you’ve played for a while the repetitive nature of the game becomes apparent. While you can choose different weapons and magic powers to battle opponents, you’re still using the same actions. That could prevent some people from finishing the game. That said, there’s something mesmerizing about the simplistic structure of the game that hooks you and fans of action games will likely find themselves playing regularly — even though they recognize the game’s faults. Infinity Blade, in some ways, is an action equivalent of classic quarter-gobbling arcade games. You’re repeating the same motions and actions a lot, but the game is still somehow entertaining enough that you may not mind.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: PopOut! The Night Before Christmas

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Following its charming PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Loud Crow Interactive turns its talents on this Christmas standard in terrific fashion. Besides being a good story, PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit is also a good learning tool. And the pop-up elements are wonderful additions to the story, using sound and movement in terrific fashion. Each page has several interactive elements that encourage poking the screen or tilting the iPad. Finding them is half the fun. The narration and music are festively appropriate and calming (which isn’t a bad thing at this time of year). This is one of the best holiday apps this season.

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App review: ROCK BAND Reloaded for iPad

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The Rock Band franchise is one of the best in the music genre and this mobile version keeps the quality level high. The game comes with a deep collection of music — 20 songs are available initially — and finally lets players actually sing the songs, rather than tap the screen along with the lyrics. This “vocal mode” makes the game more immersive (though for tone-deaf players, the tap along option is still available). The game is pretty forgiving with singers, though — not recognizing lyrics and being extremely generous with pitch. The differentiating features of the iPad version (versus the iPhone version) are minimal and don’t really justify the extra $5 in price. It’s a well-made and truly fun game, but you’re just as well off buying the less expensive iPhone version.

Read more at Common Sense Media