"If there is an app for that"

Ticket to Earth is an Immersive Puzzle RPG Strategy Mashup

March 24, 2017 by RSS Feed

Ticket to Earth ($3.99) by Robot Circus Pty Ltd is a unique mashup of a match-three puzzle, RPG, and a turn-based tactical strategy game. If you enjoyed other hybrid games like Solitairica, Beglitched, Tavern Guardians, and Card Thief, then you will love what Ticket to Earth brings to the App Store.

During my tenure here at AppAdvice, I’ve gone through hundreds of iOS games, and some of my favorites include match-three puzzles, RPGs, and strategy. While these types of games individually flood the App Store, it gets boring when everything is basically a re-skin of one another, without much differentiation. Fortunately, there are developers out there who feel the same way, and have taken the time and effort to create distinctive games that are mashups of genres that you don’t normally think would go together. That’s why when I saw Ticket to Earth on the App Store, I was intrigued by the concept as I saw it in the screenshots. I’ve finally had some time to dive into the game after a lot of Zelda, and I have to admit that Ticket to Earth does not disappoint.

Visually speaking, Ticket to Earth has a beautiful art style that makes me think of quality animated cartoons. The quick dialogue exchanges between characters really tell the story well and also breath life into everyone, especially when they show off their various facial expressions and emotions. The environments of New Providence are incredibly rich in detail, and the textures give everything that extra bit of “oomph” to pop out on the screen. The stages feature an isometric grid view with bright, color-coded tiles with icons that are easily recognizable from each other. Character models on the puzzle grid have realistic motions, and the overall animations in Ticket to Earth are smooth and fluid with no lag on my iPhone 7. Cutscenes are styled like comic panels, and the dialogue is quick and gets the point across, though you can skip them entirely if you want. The game also has a techno-vibe soundtrack that is engaging and immersive in the futuristic world, and the sound effects are a nice touch. Overall, Robot Circus did an excellent job with the visual and audio design of Ticket to Earth.

Since Ticket to Earth is a strategy puzzle RPG game with a rather deep sci-fi storyline to tell, players will have to go through all of the levels in chronological order as the events unfold. However, after a certain point in the game (don’t worry, it’s pretty early), you’ll unlock optional side missions that you can do for extra credits (in-game currency) that can be used to purchase better combat powers. It’s nice being able to continue the episode’s storyline quests if you want to beat the game, or going for quick-play type missions for extra cash if you want. At the moment, Ticket to Earth only has the first episode, but it will have a total of four episodes, which will be coming in future updates.

Regardless, each stage will have its own primary objective, and if you want a real challenge, there is always a secondary set of goals to strive for if you want even more rewards, such as the talent tokens for getting each objective. The primary mission always varies, and includes things like “Defend the garden,” “Defeat a certain number of enemies,” “Survive for five rounds,” and more. The secondary set includes things like “complete with full health,” “use all combat powers to defeat enemies,” and more. I like this quest system, because the variety always means something different.

The controls in Ticket to Earth are simple and intuitive, and should feel natural if you’ve played these types of match-three puzzles before. Each level features a grid of various colored tiles that have icons on them. To move your protagonist, Rose, around on the grid, just trace a path from her to adjacent tiles (the paths can also be diagonal). In typical match-three fashion, the longer chain of tiles you connect, the better, as the number of tiles adds to Rose’s attack power. By default, you start at one, and it can go up to 20, but getting hit by enemies will reduce it slightly (along with your health). To attack an enemy on the field, just tap on them when you are next to them, but beware — you only get two moves per turn before the enemy can make their move.

As I mentioned earlier, you do get combat powers early on in the story, and these are special skills that you can use in battle to make things a bit easier. There are four colors of tiles on the field, and they represent Hand (yellow), Eye (purple), Heart (red), and Mind (green). When you collect the tiles along your path, you’ll fill up the gauge for your powers at the top. Once they’re filled, you can tap on them to activate them for things like both close-up and ranged attacks, converting tiles to another, crippling your foes, and more. You start out with pretty basic powers in the beginning, but you earn credits for successful missions and these can be used to purchase even better abilities in the shop.

Eventually, you also uncover the talent tree, where you can spend the tokens from successful mission objectives for passive abilities for Rose that increase her survivability and powers in battle. As you get further along in the talent tree, you’ll need more tokens, so if you missed previous goals, you can go back and replay them for another chance. Today’s update also adds the ability to re-spec Rose’s talents if you change your mind about your path.

I only started Ticket to Earth today, but I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far. The graphics are stellar, the music and sounds are amazing, and the controls are straightforward and intuitive. The mashup of match-three puzzle RPG and tactical strategy works out incredibly well, and the game is challenging with high replay value. The variety in mission objectives also offers up something new for each mission, so it’s not always the same thing for every level. And if you like a good dystopian sci-fi story, then Ticket to Earth has that too. And for what it’s worth, the RPG aspect of the game, in terms of character skills and upgrades, is surprisingly in-depth. Ticket to Earth is a keeper, and is one of the more enjoyable titles that have been released so far this year (and it’s been a good year for games).

I highly recommend Ticket to Earth. You can find Ticket to Earth on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $3.99 (40 percent off) for a limited time. There are no in-app purchases, and there are iMessage stickers included.

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from : Mid Atlantic Consulting, Inc.

Be Sneaky and Steal All the Treasure in Card Thief

March 24, 2017 by RSS Feed

Card Thief ($1.99) by Arnold Rauers is the follow-up to the cult classic Card Crawl, which is one of my favorite iOS games in the past few years. If you enjoy stealth and solitaire-style card games, then Card Thief is a perfect match for you.

Lately, a lot of my time has been spent with my Nintendo Switch and Zelda, but I’ve been turning to my iPhone for quick games when I want a break from saving Hyrule. As I mentioned already, Card Crawl is a personal favorite of mine in the past two years (it came out in March 2015), because it combined two of my favorite genres: card games and dungeon crawlers. It was also a rather difficult game, but I still kept coming back to it in futile attempts to do better than my previous run. I still have Card Crawl on my device, but it’s been a while since I’ve played it, to be honest. However, once I heard that a follow-up was coming, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Needless to say, Card Thief is a worthy successor and does not disappoint.

If you had played Card Crawl, then the visuals of Card Thief should look familiar. The game features the same graphic novel-esque art style that captured the hearts of Card Crawl fans, but things look to be even more detailed this time around. Your thief character looks sly right off the bat, and the enemy guards you encounter have their own gruff appearance as well, and facial expressions on everyone provide nice clues as to how you’re doing even before confirming your move. The colors are definitely darker during the actual gameplay, but there are some nice vibrant hues when you are navigating through the main title screen and other sections of the game. The typography is still the same as in Card Crawl, and while it’s fairly thematic, it’s still legible when you need to read text, such as what a card does or when you go through the tutorial. Animations in Card Thief are buttery smooth and fluid, so there is no lag on my iPhone 7. The ambient soundtrack is rather haunting, and the sound effects are nice and provide you with clues as to whether you’ll be caught or not. I believe that Rauers has another hit on his hands with the superb visual and audio design in Card Thief, but this shouldn’t be surprising given the success of Card Crawl.

Card Thief features a map with four different areas that you can play through. While this does not sound like a lot at all, the game is fairly difficult and requires a lot of strategy and thinking to get through, so it may be a while before you get all areas unlocked and ready to play. On the first launch, there is a somewhat lengthy tutorial to go through if you want, and it explains all of the basics that you need to know. It’s recommended to go through it because Card Thief is much more intricate and complex than Card Crawl, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The goal in Card Thief is pretty simple: move your thief through the deck of cards by sneaking around in the shadows, extinguishing torches, pickpocketing guards, and stealing shiny treasures along the way, all without getting caught. Sounds easy enough, right? However, be warned — this game requires a lot of proper planning and strategizing, because if you don’t, then you’ll be snuffed out much sooner rather than later. Once you get through the entire deck of cards for an area (the number of cards remaining is shown in the top left corner), then you have beat that stage and can move on to the next castle.

Controls in Card Thief are intuitive and easy to pick up. Cards will be arranged randomly on a 3×3 grid, with your thief always showing up first before the other cards. To move the thief, all you have to do is tap on adjacent cards (you can also move diagonally) to create a path, as long as you have enough Sneak points (shown at the top) to move around. When you are ready to move along the path you just created, just tap-and-hold on the thief card to see it play out. You can also long-press on any card to read about what it does, which would be helpful when you first start playing.

Since you are a thief, you have to move in the shadows to avoid being caught. If there are torches on the board, they illuminate adjacent cards, so guards will spot you easily. To extinguish the light, move your thief on top of those cards and that area will once again be in darkness. Guard cards have arrows on them that indicate the direction that they are looking at, so if you want to pickpocket them and dispatch them, make sure to strike them from their blind spot. There will also be chests that you can loot, though you may need keys to open them, which are also needed to get through some door cards.

When you are able to get through all of the cards in the deck and reach the exit, then you’ve successfully cleared that heist and you’ll see your score, which depends on how much treasure you managed to steal. Another thing that becomes available when you’re successful are the equipment cards, which you can unlock and upgrade through the Guild Master each time you complete a heist. You can take up to three equipment cards with you at a time, so Card Thief does incorporate a bit of a mini deck building mechanic in the gameplay once you have acquired a handful of them. These equipment cards have their own unique abilities to use in the game, which can vastly improve your high scores.

As I mentioned, there are four different heist areas for you to test your stealth and tactical card skills in. Additionally, though, there is a daily heist level each day, where you can compete with other global players for the best high score possible. This is perfect if you’re a competitive person, and it gives you a new challenge each day, so there is plenty of reason to come back even if you are done with everything else in the game.

I’m still only on the first heist, which I have yet to beat, but I’m finding the game to be excellent. I was a huge fan of Card Crawl (it took me a while to get good at that one too), so I was excited to get my hands on Card Thief. The graphics are stylish and stunning on Retina screens, the music and sounds are captivating and immersive, and the controls are simple. The rules do take a bit of getting used to, and even after you go through the tutorial you may be confused as to how some things work, but I think the best way to get better is to just keep playing and observing how everything plays out. Card Thief is also a great challenge, and it will keep you busy for quite some time, so you’re definitely getting a lot of bang for your buck.

I highly recommend checking out Card Thief if you were a fan of Card Crawl, or just enjoy stealth and card games in general. Card Thief is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $1.99. There are no in-app purchases.

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from : Mid Atlantic Consulting, Inc.

‘The Oregon Trail’ Meets ‘The Walking Dead’ in Death Road to Canada

March 22, 2017 by RSS Feed

Death Road to Canada ($7.99) by Rocketcat LLC and Madgarden is a road trip action RPG that’s filled with humor, zombies, and plenty of randomized goodness. Think of it as “The Oregon Trail” meets “The Walking Dead.”

When I was a kid in elementary school, I remember playing “The Oregon Trail” on the school computers whenever we went to the lab in the library. While it was supposed to be an educational experience, I remember being addicted to that game every time I played. It was just fun to see how far I could get each time, and how many times my party would die from dysentery before I’d ever reach Oregon. So when I first heard about Death Road to Canada, I was definitely intrigued and couldn’t wait for it to come out on iOS, because hey, it’s a zombie apocalypse version of “The Oregon Trail,” what’s not to love? Plus, it’s from Rocketcat, which are the developers behind awesome games like Wayward Souls and Mage Guantlet, so I knew I had to have it. Now that it’s out, it doesn’t disappoint, though there could definitely be some improvements made.

Death Road to Canada, like the other Rocketcat games, features a cool retro pixelated art style that serves as a great homage to classic games. Even with such an old-school graphics, the developers have managed to pack in plenty of detail in DRtC, from the various characters that you’ll come across along the journey, to the myriad of walking undead, to the different types of vehicles and buildings you’ll find, to the dynamic lighting effects that affect the overall tone and mood of the game. You’d think that the zombies and humans would only have several different appearances, but there is a character editor for customizing your own humans, and all zombies have their own unique look. Needless to say, a lot of thought has been put into what the potential undead and living would look like in DRtC. Animations are smooth and fluid during the game, so I had no lag on my iPhone 7. Since the game is reminiscent of “The Oregon Trail,” there is a bit of heavy reading when it comes to various scenarios, but the vintage pixel text is easy-to-read and the buttons for choices are large and friendly for everyone. There are also vintage effects like scratches, grain, and glitch on the screen to give it that old-school aesthetic, but they can be turned off in the settings if you want. DRtC also has an awesome chiptune soundtrack that is sure to delight fans of the genre and the sound effects are fun. In terms of visual and audio design, Rocketcat and Madgarden have another hit on their hands.

With DRtC, players will find a procedurally generated adventure each time they play, which means completely randomized characters, locations, weapons, and events. While this may not be a preference for everyone, it does mean that the game is never the same thing twice, which is refreshing. There are three game save slots available in case you have multiple trips going at the same time, and there is a full character customization editor in case you don’t want to have a random set of crew members during the zombie apocalypse. On your first launch of the game, there will be a tutorial that shows you the ropes, and it’s recommended to go through it, though it’s completely optional. One thing that players will be able to notice from the get-go is the fact that DRtC is not a serious game, and it is rather humorous, as you can tell from the sometimes over-the-top characters and text that describes characters and scenarios. While the game does take a bit to get used to (plus it’s pretty difficult), you just can’t stop coming back to it.

Unfortunately, the controls in the game are somewhat tainting my experience with DRtC. A lot of the game is done through text screens that describe scenarios and you just tap on a button with the choice you want to make, but the parts where you have to explore and battle can be a bit annoying with the current control scheme. To move, just drag your thumb around in the bottom left corner area of the screen. You can interact with objects (such as pick them up) with the action button (indicated by the hand icon) that is located in the bottom right area of the screen. Another button adjacent to the action button lets you switch to your ranged weapon, if the leader character you are currently controlling has one. To attack with melee weapons, just tap anywhere in the right half of the screen.

My problem with the controls is the fact that since there isn’t a virtual joystick that’s visible, I often found my thumb drifting towards the center of the screen, which would get in the way of seeing what’s around me. I also noticed that my character would be facing one direction while attacking, but it would be hard to make them turn around quickly enough to attack something coming up behind them. This led to my death a lot, and it’s a bit frustrating, to say the least. There are customization options for the controls, though it’s just for adjusting the drag and dead zone for movement, and swapping sides with the attack button. I hope that the controls are better optimized in the future so that they’re more responsive and make your character react quicker, because it’s annoying when you try to attack something behind you and fail miserably while it’s chowing down on you. It would also be nice to have MFi controller support in DRtC, because this is the type of game where those controllers would shine.

Before you and your crew go off the road to explore and look for supplies and weapons, you’re able to equip gear on them for the situation. Each character can hold up to three weapons, and it’s best to have different options that best suit the conditions. After you are done scavenging around for supplies in a location, you’ll always want to make your way back to the exit to reach your vehicle (or travel by foot if you’re out of gas). While you’re on the road, you’ll see events pop up, and this is how you check on how your crew is doing by means of how much food or gas is used, their morale status, and other little events like increasing their stats. You always start out with two characters in your team, but you’ll have the option of recruiting people along the way, but watch out — not everyone can be trusted.

Aside from the clunky controls, Death Road to Canada is an enjoyable title that offers plenty of replay value. The retro pixel art graphics bring a smile to your face, the music and sound effects are awesome, and the gameplay is rather challenging. Believe me — you will be dying a lot in this game, but it doesn’t get tiring because each attempt brings a fresh new set of characters and events to encounter, and hey, who doesn’t like to bash in zombie hordes? The character customization is also fun, because you can create characters that represent your family, friends, and even frenemies, and have them be an awesome team member or eaten by zombies, your choice. I just hope to see better touch controls in a future update, as well as support for MFi controllers, which is supposedly coming in the next update, so sooner rather than later. Still, DRtC is a fun action RPG that is worth a look, especially if you were a fan of “The Oregon Trail” and “The Walking Dead.”

You can find Death Road to Canada on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $7.99. The developers are planning to raise the price with each update release (it will be $8.99 in two weeks), so now is the best time to buy. Death Road to Canada is also available on Steam for $10 until March 27 (normally $14.99).

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from : Mid Atlantic Consulting, Inc.

Cord Cutters Rejoice! NewsON is Here

March 22, 2017 by RSS Feed

NewsON – Watch Local News Anytime, Anywhere Price: Free Rating: iPhone App Review by iPhoneAppReview.com

Reviewed by MC

NewsON is a very cool news app that provides users with quick, easy access to local televised news stations, all from the convenience of one app.

Free to use, this app makes it simple to keep up to date on the news in your US hometown, regardless of wherever you are in the world.

Features:

NewsON, by NewsON Media LLC, is not only a great news app for your favorite iOS device, but unlike more world-focused news sources, NewsON is unique in that it is specifically designed to provide users with newscasts from local stations.

Enabling the “location services” function to work on the app allows you to quickly find local news stations nearby wherever you are in the United States, and the app also allows you to save your favorite stations as well.

This way, you can easily keep up to date on the news from multiple “hometowns” all at once.

In addition to streaming news broadcasts of current news, NewsON also enables you to easily view past broadcasts for most stations as well (generally if aired within two days of the current date).

Sending clips of news to friends and family through social media is also an option. Using NewsON is incredibly easy to do, and I found most clips to stream smoothly without any noticeable lag.

Appearance and Layout:

NewsON iPhone App Review

“Functional” would probably be a good way to describe NewsON.

The layout for this app works fine; it’s created to be simple enough to easily navigate, even if you’re unfamiliar with all of the features of the app. The general appearance of the app, however, isn’t particularly impressive.

While there’s nothing “wrong” with the graphics of NewsON, they still don’t stand out as a reason in and of themselves to give the app a try.

Still, the purpose of this app is for providing news clips to users, and the “just average” graphic design of the app does not in any way detract from the overall usability of NewsON.

Value:

As mentioned previously, NewsON is a free app. This definitely gives it an advantage over pay-for-use television station subscriptions, and for users who travel often but want to stay up to date on local home town happenings.

NewsON really is a great option.

An impressive selection of local news stations are featured in the app, and the ability to watch previously aired broadcasts really adds to the value of this app as well.

For users looking for news outside of the United States, however, NewsON isn’t really the app for them.

NewsON iPhone app requires iOS 9.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

iPhoneAppReview’s Rating:

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A Closer Look at 7SultansCasino mobile

March 21, 2017 by RSS Feed

(Sponsored Post)

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Deposits are normally instant to allow you to play.  Withdrawing money can take a little longer due to the processing times of different companies.  Typically, e-wallets process payments in a maximum of 48 hours, though they are often instant.  Payments to cards can take 2-4 days depending on the bank.

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