Tag Archives: iPad

App review: Madden NFL 11 by EA Sports for iPad

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Madden fans are a diverse bunch. Some want absolute realism in the game, while others simply want a fun football arcade game. Madden NFL 11 for iPad offers both. It’s a gorgeous game that’s fairly easy to control, but some of the included gameplay modes, like GameFlow (which calls the plays for you) could aggravate players. (The mode can be turned off, though.) It’s not the same as the console version of the game — and there are a number of holes, such as the missing (but forthcoming) multiplayer mode and franchise mode — but with the extra screen size of the iPad, it’s the best mobile version of the game.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: Tesla Wars

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Tower defense games have been around for a while, but Tesla Wars manages to make the game play feel new. Hurling bolts of lightning at your enemies from the game’s central Tesla coil is entertaining and works smoothly with the iPhone and  iPad’s touch interface. Tesla Wars eschews the usual strategy elements that are common in these sorts of games, focusing instead solely on the action — and letting you buy a series of upgrades that make your tower even stronger. It’s violent, but its a cartoon violence. And, admittedly, it’s repetitive, but if the game play hooks you, it can chew up several hours of your time.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Chopper 2

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There’s a lot to like about Chopper 2, which makes it all the more frustrating that the game has such a steep learning curve. It’s well-polished, has a very clean interface, and offers a wide variety of missions and environments. (All totaled, there are 36 missions in 12 areas ranging from city rooftops to deserts.) It’s not only fun, it’s a great way to show off what the iPad can do, as the gameplay can be outputted to a TV and it can be integrated with the iPhone as well (the iPhone becomes your controller). In many ways, Chopper 2 blazes new trails for developers…

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Promini HD

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The concept behind Promini isn’t a complicated one, but it’s one that has worked well in other games. The game tries hard to capture the special qualities of Lumines, but never quite gets there. That’s due, in part, to the soundtrack, which doesn’t seem an integrated part of the game, and the control issues. It’s still tremendously entertaining, though, and the game play is very addicting.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: AirAttack HD

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AirAttack HD is the best air combat shooter in the App store. Anyone who enjoyed Capcom’s arcade standard “1942” (or any of its follow-ups) will instantly recognize its style and appreciate the similarities. Its eight missions will keep people entertained for a long time — and are different enough from each other to prevent any feelings of repetition. While sections are a bit overly difficult, the game lets you pick up from your last checkpoint, so there’s never a real penalty for losing.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: My First Puzzles

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Puzzles on the iPhone are a concept that just makes sense – and My First Puzzles gets it right. It’s an incredibly polished game that’s easy for children to pick up and play. As a child selects a piece with his or her finger, the others fade away, removing all distractions as players find the right spot for it. Though there are only 12 puzzles for kids to choose from — a number we wish was a bit higher — the replay value of the app is incredibly high. Your kids won’t get bored, even long after they’ve figured out how to solve the puzzles.

Read more at Common Sense Media


First impressions: Hulu Plus

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Hulu is finally expanding beyond your PC’s monitor, but if you want to take advantage of the service, it’s going to cost you. For the past week, we’ve been running Hulu Plus, the site’s subscription service, through its paces as it ramps up for a broad launch. And we’ve come to a few preliminary conclusions. 

We say preliminary since this is a service that’s still in beta – and there’s still time to improve some of the bugs. On the whole, though, Hulu Plus is a content-packed service that gets a lot of things right. And its portability, especially via the iPad, is a welcome and long overdue feature that might be enough to get some people to pony up the $10 monthly charge. It’s far from perfect, though, and there are a few stumbling blocks that could keep others sitting on the fence even after Hulu opens the service up to everyone.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

The second half of Apple’s one-two punch

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If you have even a passing curiosity in the tech world, you probably heard that the iPhone hits stores today. And even if you didn’t, there’s a fair chance you passed a long line of people at your local Apple store. 

This fourth phone from the company in four years is already a phenomenon. Pre-orders were 10 times higher than previous products, including last year’s 3GS. (600,000 preorders were logged on the first day.) It got so bad, in fact, that Apple’s site had to keep moving back the ship date for people ordering online, as it was unable to keep up with demand.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

Fly the iPad skies

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It was probably only a matter of time…

Jetstar Airways has become the first airlines to make the iPad available as an in-flight entertainment option for passengers. The Australian carrier (a subset of Qantas) will rent the tablet computers to interested fliers for AUD $10 ($8.40 in U.S. dollars) during a two-week trial at the end of June.

The iPads will be equipped with movies, TV shows, eBooks, games and more.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

Two months… 2 million iPads sold

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If there was any lingering doubt, Apple has a hit on its hands with the iPad. In just 60 days, the company has sold 2 million of the devices. To put that in comparison, it took the iPhone 74 days to sell just 1 million units.

That count could have been even higher had it not been for some retail shortages. Whereas the iPhone was limited to the tech early adopter crowd, the iPad has been a hit with the broad population – enticing mainstream users at an unheard of rate.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog