"If there is an app for that"

Hero Emblems II review

June 23, 2022 by RSS Feed

In the time since posting my review of the first Hero Emblems game, I found myself feeling somewhat out of step with most other mobile enthusiasts. The match-three rpg had some neat combat ideas but it was wrapped in a pretty dull fantasy setting with very poor writing. Those that celebrated the title did so by praising the strength of the puzzle combat as a panacea for the rest of the game's weaknesses and appreciating it for being an IAP-free experience. Fast forward seven years and Hero Emblems II feels a lot like it's going to play out the same way. This follow up title lands almost a decade later with some updated visuals, but otherwise feels all too familiar.

It's a match

Hero Emblems II fashions itself as your typical fantasy role playing game. You follow a group of adventurers comprised of a warrior, priest, etc. and what starts as a simple quest to retrieve an item leads them to discovering an amnesiac elf in need of help. This kicks off a long, meandering quest where progress forward involves a lot of turn-based match-three puzzle combat.

Along the way, you'll meet other adventurers to add to your party, and by mixing and matching your abilities you can take down any number of spiders, skeletons, wizards, etc. that stand in your way. Much like the first Hero Emblems, the story here is not worth the price of admission. In addition to being very cliche, the same localization issues from the previous game erase much chance of finding charm in these characters or nuance in how the tale plays out.

Swapping it up

Instead of story, puzzle combat is again the star of the show in Hero Emblems II, and boy is there a lot of it. For the most part, the basic rules of the original Hero Emblems remain intact here, though there are a few twists that make Hero Emblems II conceptually deeper than its predecessor. In this game, each party member has their own life bars and your squad of four can tag out with other heroes in the midst of a battle.

Characters also unlock passive traits as they level up, some of which trigger when you swap them into a battle. This, along with access to customize what kinds of abilities party members can trigger on matching certain numbers of their emblems, allows for a somewhat granular level of customization that I'm not sure I've seen before in a puzzle rpg. My only issue with these systems is that they only sound impactful in theory, while in practice I found myself using most of the same strategies I used for the first game over and over again and not feeling like many new skills really changed any party member's role or function all that much for the majority of the game.

Swap some more

To add to the disappointment of Hero Emblems II's customization system, most of your ability to play around with it is limited by how much gold you've accrued on your journey. In order to afford new gear and abilities for your party, you'll definitely have to grind through dungeons multiple times, which makes Hero Emblems II's already somewhat lengthy combat format feel like a slog for long stretches. You won't necessarily have to grind for all the new gear you encounter, but some uneven difficulty spikes can and will eventually force you to get on the currency grind.

For some, this might be exactly what you want. To its credit, Hero Emblems II gives you a ton of match-three combat with some somewhat interesting systems layered in and some goals to aim for outside of its hard to parse story, all without ads or IAPs. This makes it a decent companion for a flight or to occupy the back of your brain as you watch tv on the couch. As a main event, or a game you want to really sink your teeth into, though, it leaves quite a bit to be desired.

The bottom line

Overall, if you enjoyed the first Hero Emblems, this sequel will probably serve you just fine. It very much feels like more of the same, but with some more customization options and updated visuals. None of these changes feel meaningful enough to change the core of its match-three combat, and outside of that the series continues to struggle in making any of its rpg trappings compelling.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/hero-emblems-ii-review/

Abandon Ship review

June 22, 2022 by RSS Feed

The influence of FTL is still holding strong as evidenced by games like Abandon Ship. This game takes all of the roguelike elements of ship and crew management from Subset Games's breakout hit and moves them from the stars to the high seas. There are other ways in which Abandon Ship tries to establish its own identity but most of them aren't very well implemented making for an experience that constantly reminds you of an older, better game you could be playing instead.

Captain Cthulu

In Abandon Ship, you play as a sea captain on the run from a group of seafaring cultists. You start with a crew of a handful of prisoners you freed in your escape and a very basic ship, with your ultimate goal being to stay ahead of your pursuers. Along the way, you sail in open waters, have sea skirmishes with pirates, and can stop off at ports to upgrade your ship, hire new crew, etc.

Along the way, it's also clear that these cultists are more than just fanatical worshippers. The world of Abandon Ship has some occult and monstrous secrets lying in wait, which mostly borrow from the realm of Lovecraftian horror and its derivatives.

Clunky cartography

For the most part, anyone familiar with FTL and the games that have already imitated it will be pretty familiar with how Abandon Ship works. You sail to a location on your map, and while there something or some things happen that you need to react to in order to move on. Abandon Ship is a little different than other titles like this in that each point of interest is like a small open world map that you sail through in real-time. This is to say you might see an event that seems like a battle and decide to take that on first before hitting the port to repair, though you have to weigh these options against the time it takes to explore the map and the ticking timer of when the cultists might arrive to try and recapture you.

All of this works... ok, but none of it looks or feels particularly great. The polygonal visuals are all pretty rough, as are the parchment-textured dialogue boxes and overlay UI elements that highlight events, units, etc. None of it feels super cohesive and functionally certain things like sailing around the map or scrolling through menus don't quite work the way you want them to. Because of the real-time nature of the game, this can create some problems, though Abandon Ship does handily provide a pause button that you can use at virtually any time to queue up commands or just assess your current status.

Test the waters

If you're curious about Abandon Ship, the game is a free-to-start title, giving players about 15 minutes of time with it before offering a few different options to pay and unlock several different campaigns and modes. Despite its brevity, this demo does give a good window into the way it looks, feels, and controls, and your comfort with those things are primarily what will affect your overall enjoyment of it. The stories from the campaigns and the level of randomized events are all serviceable with their main hook being their repeatability and your ability to strategize around completing them, and there is plenty to do even if you only pay into the main campaign unlock and not the others.

I enjoy the time I spend with Abandon Ship, but I can also never shake the feeling that I could be playing any number of games of the same mold that find more elegant and appealing ways to offer this kind of survival/combat/management/roguelike experience. Since all of these games are built around replayability, it's also hard to think of these older games as something that have been exhausted and can't be returned to. So, unless the high seas backdrop or Lovecraftian aspects of Abandon Ship speak to you in particular, I'm not sure there's a whole lot else this game offers that's better than what can be found elsewhere.

The bottom line

Despite some rough edges, Abandon Ship is a perfectly serviceable roguelike in the vein of FTL. The only problem with this is it's not different enough from other classics in this genre, and what it does do isn't quite up at the level of games that came before. This makes it a decent pickup if you really just need a new-looking kind of this game or cultist and pirate aethetics really speak to you personally. Luckily, if you're not sure, the opening demo version of the game is rather informative of what you can expect from the full game.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/abandon-ship-review/

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 06/22/2022

June 22, 2022 by RSS Feed

Altimeter & Precision - Simple , Rhythm Cat - Read Music , Drug Infusion in UCI Emergency and more

iPhone:

Altimeter & Precision - Simple ( $0.99 → Free ) Studio Nano Ship, Inc. Altimeter & Precision uses a simple interface to display accurate altitude readings. GPS accuracy varies depending on the amount of visible GPS satellites. For the best readings try to maintain a clear view of the horizon. There are 16 different background colors to choose from.

Rhythm Cat - Read Music ( $4.99 → Free ) James Uhart Rhythm Cat will teach you how to read basic music rhythms. In each level a rhythm will be played and you’re required to tap to the beat. Read the notes to anticipate the taps because you must hit every note in order to move on to the next level. The game includes a total of 60 levels that become progressively more challenging.

Drug Infusion in UCI Emergency ( $4.99 → Free ) SmartMedic LTDA This medical app calculates the concentration of solutions used for intravenous medications. It greatly reduces the risk of calculation errors and increases the patient’s safety. The app also warns about certain medications that are photosensitive or that must be diluted in a specific medium.

µMagnetometer ( $1.99 → Free ) Dmytro Hrebeniuk This app is a useful tool in measuring magnetic field strength. Magnetometers can be used to find archaeological sites, iron ore deposits, shipwrecks, and other things that have a magnetic signature.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 06/21/2022

June 21, 2022 by RSS Feed

Fleur: Cute Budget Planner App , RUN - running widget , Beat Watcher and more

iPhone:

Fleur: Cute Budget Planner App ( $15.99 → Free ) Akash Jain Fleur is a minimalist budget planner and tracker app. Budgets are a lot like diets, if you stick to it you will see fantastic results. Fleur will help you set a monthly budget and stick to it. It allows you to easily add daily expenses and income, create multiple accounts, and track your debt. Managing money just got a whole lot easier.

Beat Watcher ( $1.99 → Free ) Ganotis Holdings, Inc. Beat Watcher will alert you when your heart rate goes above a certain BPM threshold. It’s perfect for managing stress, breathing exercises, meditation, or working out. Just turn the crown on your Apple Watch to set a desired threshold, you will hear a sound and vibration when your heart rate goes above the threshold, and a different sound and vibration when it goes back below that threshold. Beat Watcher is integrated with the App Heath app. Just keep in mind that background mode won’t work at the same time as another workout app.

RUN - running widget ( $0.99 → Free ) Andrei Gaivoronskii RUN lets you sync up and see all your runs across all devices, including your Apple Watch. The app fetches data from the Health App so your workout data is automatically pulled in and updated. You can also share your runs via Instagram.

Updraw - create 2D CAD drawings with dimensions ( $2.99 → Free ) Ben Blevins Updraw is a powerful 2D CAD tool for creating drawings with dimensions. The app has an intuitive interface where you’ll use your finger as the pencil. Updraw offers global constraint solver calculations such as distance, diameter, radius, coincident, congruence, intersection, midpoint, tangent, and much more. Final creations can be exported as a JSON, PNG, or PDF file.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 06/20/2022

June 20, 2022 by RSS Feed

Tonality: Music Theory , Idyoma:Local Language Exchange , Blur Photo· and more

iPhone:

Idyoma:Local Language Exchange ( $4.99 → Free ) Idyoma, LLC Idyoma will help you learn a new language through conversation. It connects you with language learners in your area who already speak the language you’re trying to learn and who are interested in learning the language you already know. This mutually benefits both parties, allowing you to speak in each other’s native language. Simply set up a profile by choosing languages you want to learn and those you already speak well, determine proficiency, and start browsing profiles.

Tonality: Music Theory ( $6.99 → Free ) Bryce Hostetler Tonality allows you to view and hear a large database of piano/guitar chords and scales. It also includes an interactive circle of fifths that lets you view signatures and scales for major and minor keys. You can run Tonality as an AUv3 MIDI receiver and see chords that match MIDI input you route to it, or as a MIDI source and send chords to other apps. The built-it chord and scale dictionaries are filled with over 1,000 chords each. Learn to recognize notes, melodies, intervals, chords, and scales by ear with the help of this powerful music app.

Blur Photo· ( $2.99 → Free ) Le Giang Nam Blur Photo· offers multiple blur effects to put your subject in focus. The app will automatically blur the background for you or you can use manual mode to finger touch the parts you wish to blur. Try the tilt-shift mode to make your photo look like it was taken on a shallow depth-of-field for an acceptably sharp effect. You’re able to zoom and rotate to make small adjustments. Final creations can be saved directly to the camera roll or to your favorite social media platforms.

Remote NumPad Keyboard ( $3.99 → Free ) Evgeny Cherpak Remote KeyPad turns any iPhone or iPad into a wireless extension of your Mac or PC keyboard. You’ll first need to download the free companion app from the developer’s website: https://cherpake.com/get. Then launch both apps and your devices will automatically sync up. Remote KeyPad includes dedicated number, arrow, and action keys, allowing you to work more efficiently. You’re also able to edit existing keypads and create custom keypads that match your workflow. Remote KeyPad for Mac works with Numbers, Excel, Keynote, PowerPoint, and many more applications.

File Explorer for Mac [Pro] ( $4.99 → Free ) Evgeny Cherpak File Explorer for Mac allows you to access your Mac from anywhere in your home. You’ll first need to download the free companion app from the developer’s website: https://cherpake.com/remote-for-mac. Then launch both apps and your devices will automatically sync up. Remote Drive provides full access to the files on your Mac, allowing you to view photos and documents, stream video, stream music, and transfer content with ease.

Breathing Zone ( $3.99 → Free ) Breathing Zone Breathing Zone comes highly recommended today because it won’t chew up a lot of your time. All you need is five minutes. Set your target breathing rate and let Breathing Zone guide you through the process. You're able to follow along with six different guide sounds and either a female or male voice. You can also choose from six different visual guides. Before you know it, you'll be in a perfectly relaxed state! The app includes landscape support, a breath analyzer that utilizes your microphone, timed sessions from five to 60 minutes, and weekly targets to achieve.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free