MovieMusic Review
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Music is a more powerful storytelling tool than most people realize. It’s the vital seasoning that makes every movie, TV show, advertisement, and internet video meme work how it should, manipulating your emotions in exactly the right way.
The problem is, using an existing piece of music involves paying exorbitant fees or drawing on classical pieces that everybody has already heard a trillion times.
MovieMusic aims to solve that problem for you by providing a library of compositions that you can dip into for every conceivable dramatic context.
These tracks, which have been written by a company of jobbing professional composers and performed by a live orchestra, tend to be around a minute long. They fall into 70+ albums, with titles like “Attractive”, “Badness”, “Excitement”, “Light”, “Christmas”, and so on.
The tracks themselves have titles too. In the “Love” album, for instance, you’ll find “Bond”, “Bliss”, “Longing”, “Intimacy”, and more. Each album contains 30 tracks, meaning there are over 2000 in all.
There are a couple of chapters of Orchestral Tools as well - subtle accents to create mood rather than full-blown musical compositions.
The first two tracks in each chapter are free, while the remaining 28 cost 99c a pop. The reason MovieMusic is able to sell its music so cheaply is that the files are restricted to a bitrate of 128kbs, and the tracks are licensed for personal, non-commercial use. So if you’re looking for a cheap way to score your next Hollywood project, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
The Good
MovieMusic is simple to use and it works surprisingly well. The Christmas music sounds Christmassy, the Comedy music sounds suitably quirky and upbeat (think Curb Your Enthusiasm), and the Disgusting music, somehow, sounds disgusting.
A bit of imagination is required when it comes to the individual track names, such as “Baking” (“Bright pizzicato helps show off the intricacies of the expert in full flow”), but on the whole MovieMusic provides snippets of music that intuitively belong in their categories and do what they’re supposed to do.
Every single one of the app’s 2000+ tracks is in the same key and tempo, too, so you can in principle blend them into a seamless orchestral score. It’s very clever.
This really helps when navigating the 2000+ tracks, as does the simple preview - or “audition” - facility that lets you listen to each track in full before deciding whether to spend money on it.
It’s also worth mentioning that each track in MovieMusic has three versions: Cinematic (the default), Intimate, and Modern. While the quality levels of the different versions naturally vary according to the track, in general we find that Cinematic is the one to go for.
MovieMusic has a seamlessly simple interface. You just choose a chapter, pick a song, and tap the play icon to listen. Once you buy and download a song you’re given the option of sharing it via iMessage, WhatsApp, Mail, or even opening it in iMovie or another video-editing program. It couldn’t be easier.
The Bad
While MovieMusic’s interface is intuitive and easy to use, its presentation is functional rather than enjoyable.
You could argue that the same applies to the music itself. This isn’t a criticism of the compositions, all of which sound polished and professional. But the wall-to-wall orchestral arrangements don’t reflect the breadth and variety of music right now.
There’s a bit of digital percussion overlaid on the tracks in Modern mode, but few other nods to contemporary musical styles. If you’re looking for a traditional sound, it’s perfect. Otherwise, you may struggle to find what you’re looking for - even in the Technology chapter.
Overall
MovieMusic is a slightly odd proposition. While asset libraries are usually for commercial use, this one is just for fun.
But it’s a fun tool that will add a pleasing sheen to your personal and non-commercial YouTube videos. It’s incredibly easy to use, too, and it contains a generous supply of musical morsels.
8.4
OVERALL
User Interface 9
Lasting appeal 8.4
iPhone Integration 8.5
Is engaging 8.1
Does it well 8
MovieMusic | Music For Videos
Gothic Projects
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Athenion: Tactical CCG Review
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Athenion might not have the pedigree of some other deck-building card games available for mobile, but that shouldn't put you off. This is a game that's packed full of bright ideas, fresh new gameplay modes and enough content that you can lose hours of your life to.
Battles take place on a 4x4 grid, and see you taking it in turns with your opponent to lay down cards. You draw up to five cards from your deck of forty at the start of every turn.
These are the units you're playing in the fight, and they range from hulking monsters to flighty fairies, from magical trees to fearsome undead dragons.
Your cards have arrows on them that you show you which direction they can attack. You'll also notice a bunch of other numbers on the cards. These let you know the hit points a card has, how powerful its attack is and how many soul points it grants you.
Those soul points let you attack your opponent and they're the key to victory. The first player to lose all of their own hit points is the loser.
There's a lot more going on than that though. For one thing you need to pick from one of six different factions before you even get to the fights.
These factions have different strengths and weaknesses and figuring out which of them best suits the way you want to play is the first step of a pretty long journey.
Different factions have different special moves as well. Some let you link together cards to make them more powerful, others are all about sacrificing weaker units to create pockets of dark magical energy. One lets you build giant rock walls that you can use to protect some of your units or power up others.
There are single-player challenges, regular events and much, much more as well. You're never short of something to do in Athenion, and the pace of the matches lets you get a lot of them in in a single setting.
The Good
There's a staggering amount of depth to Athenion. It's going to take you a good while to get to grips with the basics and once you've done that there are layers and layers to peel back. Every time you win you'll figure out a new strategy and every time you lose you'll be trying to find a way to right that wrong.
The game looks amazing too. The cards all sport a brilliant anime art-style and you'll want to collect all of them just so you can check them out. The speed of the fights is a massive plus too - they deliver huge chunks of tactical action in the sort of short-blast sessions that are perfect for mobile play.
On top of that there's a brilliant community to the game, and you never have to wait long to find an online battle. There are a number of different modes that let you practice with different decks, take part in intriguing events and fight it out in ranked and casual multiplayer matches.
The Bad
There's a pretty steep learning curve here, so if you're not in for the long haul then you might be better finding your card-based fun somewhere else. Even when you've got the basics down you've still got a lot to learn and it can be punishing to come up against an opponent who knows more than you do.
There are also a lot of currencies, crafting materials and other rewards to figure out. The game does tell you what they do, but the tutorials are pretty brief and you're left on your own for a lot of the time to try and get to the bottom of things.
Overall
Athenion might not be the easiest game to understand, but once things start clicking it becomes something really rather special. There are some brilliant ideas here and they're woven into a bright tapestry of gorgeous visuals and wonderfully paced mobile play.
It won't be to everyone's taste, and it's fair to say that some players are going to put it down before they've even got to the good bits, but this is one CCG that it's well worth sticking with.
8.2
OVERALL
Replayability 8.1
Game Controls 8.2
Graphics 8.7
Sound/Music 8.2
Gameplay 7.8
Athenion: Tactical CCG
ZERO-bit Company Limited
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Take Flight in a Paper Plane in Highwind
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Highwind ($0.99) by Selva Interactive is a unique shooter that involves paper airplanes, and a lot of them. If you enjoy shooters such as Danmaku Unlimited 3 and AKA TO BLUE, but want a touch of minimalism, then Highwind is one to check out.
Life gets hectic (it definitely has been for me the past few days), so there's nothing better than sitting down to unwind and relax. Usually for me, this involves puzzle games of some sort, but every now and then I need something different. If it's not puzzles, it's probably an arcade game that involves shooting things up. I'm a big fan of bullet hell shooters, but when I saw Highwind, I was intrigued by the style. It's definitely a game that is different and unlike anything you've played before, which is never a bad thing.
Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Bullet Hell Shooter
Sunny Tam
AKA TO BLUE
TANOSHIMASU CO.,LTD.
KAMI 2
State of Play Games Ltd
Visually, Highwind has a simple and clean aesthetic that works well. Since the focus in Highwind is on paper planes, the graphics feature a paper origami style look and texture that is basic but pops out thanks to the color and shading. It's reminiscent of games like KAMI 2, which is lovely. Highwind's color palette is a great mix of bold and vibrant hues with subtler, muted tones, so everything contrasts nicely. Animations are buttery smooth and fluid on my iPhone 8 Plus, with no lag or choppiness in frame rate. There's also an upbeat and soothing atmospheric soundtrack that I found rather relaxing. The sound effects are fun and sci-fi style. The developers did an excellent job with Highwind's visual and audio design.
In Highwind, while there are levels, players have to start from the beginning on each run. This part is a little annoying, as I wish that there was a way to just select the stage you want to start from. Still, it's fun to watch your progression over time. The game is also randomly generated each time, so the enemy waves are different on your plays. The goal is straightforward: defeat all of the enemy ships in each wave, while avoiding other obstacles in order to move on to the next stage. While it sounds easy enough, the game's unique mechanics make things much more complicated than they seem on the surface.
The controls are simple but take some time to master. Your paper plane ship is centered on the screen and remains stationary. However, the background appears to shift to give you that sense of movement for your ship. You cannot manually move your ship around. When you tap on the left side of the screen, it will activate your shields to block incoming enemy attacks. Tapping the right side of the screen lets you shoot your plane's weapon, and a long-press does a charge attack.
To set Highwind apart from other games is the fact that you have a limited resource for your shields and bullets. There are gauges on the left and right sides of the screen to tell you how much charge you have for your shield and weapon. If they're completely depleted, those functions won't work. Fortunately, they replenish rather quickly, but still need time to do so. The key is to manage your resources wisely between defending yourself and attacking. You also can only take three hits before you die, and it's game over.
Another thing about Highwind that makes it challenging is the fact that sometimes you can't reach the enemy ships. There are special items that will spread your bullets out when they hit them, causing you to hit enemy ships that are moving in at an angle. Some enemies also fire bullets that can be deflected with your shield, so it's all about timing.
Once you clear a wave, there will be a mini-game of sorts before you move on to the next round. These mini games are usually obstacle avoidance courses, and you'll want to do as best as you can. As you play, you earn coins for defeating enemies, and if you get hit by an attack or run into an obstacle, you lose some coins.
After the mini-game, you're awarded with an opportunity to upgrade your plane. You can choose to upgrade your shields, ammo, or health. These upgrades cost 100 or 200 coins each. If you don't have that much, and took some hits prior, you can also heal for 60 coins.
Once you've taken too much damage, then it's game over. You get points awarded for your performance, and these accumulate over time to unlock rewards. These rewards include new planes, and each plane has their own strengths and weaknesses. You can see the stats for each plane on the Plane Select screen, where each stat is color coded (blue shields, yellow ammo, and green health). There are also additional game modes that vary the gameplay mechanics; there are a total of five different variations.
Highwind is a beautiful arcade shooter that is unlike anything you've played before.
The Good
Highwind is a unique shooter that truly is unlike anything you've tried before. The game has a gorgeous origami-like style and the sounds are special and distinctive. While there's only one game mode, the randomly generated enemy waves and unlockable style variations keep everything fresh and interesting. It does take some time to get used to the controls, since your ship doesn't move, but this is what makes Highwind stand out in the App Store.
The Bad
While Highwind has a lot of interesting aspects going for it, the "dodging" aspect of the game is a bit boring. You basically just need to get your shields up in time to deflect enemy attacks, and well, it's not the most exciting thing ever. I'm not sure how this part of the game can be improved, but it would help if there were slight tweaks.
The verdict
Highwind is an interesting and fresh take on the arcade shooter genre. The minimalist art style and music are soothing, the controls work out well, and the gameplay mechanics bring a real challenge to the game. I like that there are plenty of unlockables that you can obtain in the game, and there's a lot of replay value with the randomly generated stages. I just wish dodging attacks was a tad more fun.
I recommend Highwind to anyone who is a fan of arcade shooters and wants to play something different. You can find Highwind on the App Store as a universal download for the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.
9.2
OVERALL
Sound/Music 10
Replayability 9
Graphics 9.5
Gameplay 9
Game Controls 8.5
Highwind
Selva Interactive
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Take the City Back from Evil Rodent Gangs in Beat Street
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Beat Street (Free) by Lucky Kat Studios is a retro beat 'em up arcade game that plays a nice homage to games of the '90s. If you enjoyed games like Dan the Man, then you will like what Beat Street has to offer.
When I get stressed out, I usually feel like punching something, like a wall. But you know, that would end up hurting me and probably damaging property, which ends up being annoying to fix, so I take it out in video games instead. While I much prefer to relax with puzzles, sometimes I just need to tap into my destructive side, and what better way than with a beat 'em up type of game? That's why Beat Street is a fun option to have.
Dan The Man
Halfbrick
Visually, Beat Street is beautiful with the retro pixel art style that is reminiscent of classics from the '90s era. I have fond memories of games like Mike Tyson's Punch Out!, and this game is rather reminiscent of it for me. Despite the pixel art, Beat Street is packed with detailed environments and colorful characters that all stand out from each other. The game makes use of a bright and vibrant color palette that will hit you with a sense of better times. Animations are smooth and fluid with no issues of lag or choppiness on my iPhone 8 Plus. To top off this sentimental love letter, Beat Street has an upbeat and quirky chiptune soundtrack that wraps it all up nicely. Plus, the sound effects when you punch things in the face is downright fun.
In Beat Street, players are greeted with a map that shows the city. You take on the role of a young boy who has been given the task of cleaning up the city from the evil gangs that have been taking over. To move on to the next stage, the current one must be completed first. Up to three stars can be earned, depending on the difficulty level you choose. The goal is simple: clear out all waves of enemies on each stage using your awesome martial art skills. A boss, which is usually tougher than the rest of the goons and has a special attack, appears at the end. Everything is pretty straightforward, but the game still proves to be a fun challenge in terms of combat.
The controls are simple and clearly designed for touch screens. To move your character freely around the environment, just drag your thumb around. The game is a side-scroller, so when you reach the edge of the screen, you move on to the next sector. To do a basic attack, just tap on the screen — doing consecutive hits results in combos, which fills up your combo meter for an ultimate attack. Walking up to an enemy allows you to grab them, where you can then proceed with regular taps to perform hits while they're in your grasp. Swiping horizontally while you're grabbing them has you throw them. You can do a quick flick for a dash, but it uses combo points. Finally, you can flick upwards to do a jump kick attack, but be careful, as this one depletes your combo meter as well. You can also tap-and-hold to perform a charged attack.
Every now and then, you may find a weapon on the ground, such as a baseball bat. You can pick up an item by running over to it and tapping the screen. The item gets equipped on your hero and you can dish out more damage with it in your attacks. But keep an eye on how long you've had it — they don't last forever.
Once your combo meter is full, a button appears in the bottom left corner that lets you do an ultimate attack. This is a powerful flurry of hits that can take out most small foes and deal a hefty amount of damage to bosses, so make sure to use them at the right time. You can collect different scrolls that let you do different kinds of attacks, and collect tokens to upgrade your hero.
When you complete stages, you can get a plethora of rewards. These can include enemy figures that provide you with benefits in battle, and character tokens to upgrade, evolve, and unlock new heroes. The other characters that you can play as have their own play style and ultimate attacks, which can drastically change the gameplay. The more you play, the more variety you get.
After you clear the sixth level, you also gain access to the shop. Here, you'll find many useful items, and the offerings change every couple of hours. You'll need gold coins or green gems (premium currency) to get anything here, so save up!
Since Beat Street is a free game, there are ads every so often and an energy system. If you're low on coins and want to get something, you can watch ads to get more. It's pretty generous with the amount of coins you get, so it's not too bad. However, if you're looking for an ad-free experience, it doesn't appear to have an option for that. All of the in-app purchases are for getting more gems, which you can also exchange for coins.
A '90s inspired beat em up that is refined for mobile with one touch controls.
The Good
Beat Street is a fun little brawler for killing some time. The game's cute pixel art aesthetic brings back memories of my youth, and the chiptunes are excellent. The controls work well for touch screens and being able to play with just one hand is another bonus. The levels are challenging to play through, and the difficulty picks up at a nice, gradual pace. Even if you go back and replay levels with new moves or characters, the variety in play styles keeps things fresh and interesting. And while the game is freemium, I don't feel pushed into buying any IAPs, and the game is fairly generous with acquiring coins. There's also an online two player co-op mode that's sure to be a blast.
The Bad
While there's a lot of good things going on in Beat Street, it does feel a bit repetitive after a while. You end up having to tap the screen furiously trying to get long combos, and it gets tiring. I also am not a fan of how there's no way to remove the ads in the game, because this should always be an option.
The verdict
Overall, Beat Street is a fun little game that is perfect for taking out the day's frustrations in. I'm taken back to my childhood with the fantastic pixel art graphics (like other Lucky Kat games), and the music and sounds are fun to listen to as you play. The controls work out well, and being able to play with just one hand is especially nice. The levels are challenging and there is plenty of stuff to unlock to keep the game fresh and interesting.
I recommend checking out Beat Street if you're in the mood for some street brawling action. You can find Beat Street on the App Store as a universal download on the iPhone and iPad for free with in-app purchases.
8.8
OVERALL
Replayability 9
Graphics 9
Gameplay 9
Game Controls 8.5
Sound/Music 8.5
Beat Street
Lucky Kat Studios
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Push Your Luck in Brave Hand, a Challenging Card Game
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Brave Hand (Free) by Heart Shaped Games is a single-player card game that revolves around pushing your luck. If you enjoyed other recent card games like Flipflop Solitaire and Onirim, then you will like what Brave Hand has to offer.
When life gets crazy (and boy is it this week), I want to just sit back and play some games to take my mind off reality for a bit. Usually for me, this involves puzzle games, but I also spend a lot of time playing Solitaire-style card games. There's something about them that just helps me relax, and I put in tons of hours into playing Solitaire back in the day. When I saw Brave Hand on the App Store, I was intrigued by the style and unique gameplay, so of course I had to check it out for myself. After trying it out, I can definitely say that it's an interesting addition to anyone's card game collection.
Flipflop Solitaire
Zach Gage
Onirim - Solitaire Card Game
Asmodee Digital
The visual style in Brave Hand is beautiful, as it features what appears to be hand-drawn artwork on each card back. These drawings also represent "story pages" in the game, which are clues to the origin of the card game, and they also reveal strategy and hidden powers. The drawings all appear like paintings, and feature a wide range of colors, including vibrant shades and muted tones. The scenes are depicted in incredible amounts of detail, and there's a nice texture with the cards themselves. Animations are smooth and fluid on my iPhone 8 Plus with no issues of lag. The game has an ambient and atmospheric soundtrack, and the sound effects of the cards are realistic. Overall, the developers did a great job with Brave Hand's audio and visual design.
In Brave Hand, players have three game modes to choose from, though only the first one is available from the get-go: Brave, Boost, and Jumbo Deck. You'll have to keep playing Brave Mode until you earn enough coins to unlock more story pages, which then gives you access to Boost Mode. And with even more story pages, you can get the Jumbo Deck mode. But if you're impatient, you can unlock all game modes, remove ads, and get extra themes with a $2.99 in-app purchase.
So how do you play? Brave Hand features a standard deck of 52 playing cards, as well as an additional two Demon cards. There are eight starting piles on the board, starting from one in the first pile and going up to eight in the final pile. You're dealt seven cards in your hand, and then 11 cards remain in the deck.
In Jumbo Deck, the deck consists of 90 cards and all piles have eight cards each. Boost Mode is like Brave Mode, except you get three sets of special boost expansion cards that can be bought for some coins. These power-ups include Bomb (reveals all piles on a win), Guardian (+2 bonus point stars on cash-in), and Phoenix (transforms Pile Bonus to 2X on a win).
The goal of the game is to score points by cashing in your cards from the piles. The game ends only if you run out of cards in your hand, or all eight piles are cleared out. How do you clear out piles? On each of your turns, you'll pick any card in your hand, and then choose a pile. If your card is greater than the card in the pile (they're all face-down, but a few are revealed at the start), then you win. If you lose, you get nothing and lose your card.
You'll have two options when you have a win: Cash-In or Push. If you Cash-In, you earn points and end the run, while also getting an additional card from the deck. When you decide to Push, you can challenge the next card in the pile, but risk losing all earned points. It's a game of high risk, high reward.
While that covers the basics, there are some special rules in Brave Hand that make things more challenging. In the upper left corner is the Dice Pile, which reveals the top card of two random piles in exchange for a card. The "2" card is also known as the Scout Card, and can beat an Ace (14) card. The Demon Card has the highest value (15) and if it's scouted with the dice pile, can lead to bonus points.
While it may seem like a lot at first, Brave Hand is actually pretty straightforward once you get the basics. And with the addition of unique rules, it leads to interesting strategies to get the best score possible in a game. I'll admit that I didn't quite get it at first, but once I started to understand what was going on and the depth of strategy required, I found it hard to put down.
Once you get going in Brave Hand, you'll have a hard time putting it down as you push your luck like never before.
The Good
Brave Hand is a great gem of a card game that anyone can play. The game features gorgeous art and a distinctive style that is rather whimsical. The music is immersive and the sound effects are realistic to what you'd expect from real playing cards. While the gameplay seems simple at first, there's a lot of nuances to it, opening it up for many in-depth strategies. The core game mode reveals the basics of the game, but the additional two modes that you can unlock are almost like playing a new game. The replay value is high with Brave Hand.
The Bad
Brave Hand is a good game, but again, it does take some time to practice and understand the rules and strategies to it. And since the game is mostly based on luck, it may not be for everyone. But I can say that once you get going in this game, it can be hard to stop. You just feel like the next run will be better, and it's just fun to push your luck.
The verdict
After spending some time with Brave Hand, I must say that this is definitely a card game that I'll be coming back to in my spare time. I love the cute graphics, the sound is engaging, and the gameplay is different from other card games I've tried. While it's a free download and therefore comes with ads, I didn't find them to be too intrusive, so it's definitely tolerable. However, the game stands out from the crowd, and I'm finding it to be rather enjoyable, so I think it's worth the in-app purchase to get the full experience.
I recommend giving Brave Hand a try if you're a fan of single-player card games. You can find Brave Hand on the App Store as a universal app for your iPhone and iPad for free with in-app purchases.
9.0
OVERALL
Game Controls 10
Replayability 9
Graphics 9
Gameplay 9
Sound/Music 8
Brave Hand
Heart Shaped Games LLC
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