"If there is an app for that"

Blackbox - think outside the box

March 28, 2016 by macjeff

Blackbox - think outside the box (Free) by Ryan McLeod is a new kind of puzzle game that has you thinking of creative new ways to solve puzzles without ever touching the screen. If you’re tired of the same old puzzle games on iOS, then Blackbox is something refreshing and different.

If you have followed my work here at AppAdvice, then you will know that I can’t help but love a good puzzle game. However, over the years, it seems that puzzles have become a tried-and-true genre, where developers go with the same old gameplay concepts and challenges, just don’t in a slightly different way. None of them have brought something completely different to the table in terms of iOS gaming, so while I love the genre, sometimes it starts to feel a bit stale. So when I got a message in my inbox regarding a new puzzle game that makes you think outside of the box, I was intrigued — what could this possibly mean? Turns out that Blackbox is a puzzle game that is unlike anything you’ve ever played before. So take what you know about puzzles on iOS and throw it out the window, because none of that will help you with this unique twist to the genre.

Visually speaking, Blackbox is very simple and fairly barebones, to be honest. It goes along well with the clean and flat aesthetic of modern day iOS, and fans of minimal design will fall in love. Blackbox, as the name suggests, features a crisp, black background that fills the entire screen, and neon lines, shapes, and dots contrast nicely against the darkness. There isn’t much else to the game’s graphics other than that, but the animations are fluid and smooth, making for a seamless playing experience. The game has no sounds or music, but that doesn’t detract from the experience at all — in fact, it adds to it.

Blackbox has over 50 distinctive puzzles for players to solve. They are not split up into various chapters like other games. Instead, they are color-coded, and you unlock more available puzzles as you solve other ones. The colors each have a different meaning, but one thing is for certain: they all utilize some aspect of your iPhone’s hardware, so you’re going to have to really understand how your device works in order to solve the puzzles.

The controls in Blackbox are special, because you will never use the screen to solve anything. You can tap on the screen to pause and return to the level select screen, or perform a 3D Touch on a compatible device to quickly go back home. But for actually solving the puzzles, you will have to figure out what the puzzle is asking you to do, and make use of the component on your iPhone to solve it. This ranges from using the device gyroscope and accelerometer to get colors on the screen to go where you need them to, using the mirror to reverse what is on the screen, adjusting the brightness of your device, tinkering around with the buttons and headphone jack, blowing into the microphone, and much more. This is just a sample of what I’ve tried so far, and I’m just a few puzzles in.

While the game certainly has a new perspective on puzzles, be prepared — some of these can be rather maddening at first, so you’ll have to return to it at a later time to solve if you can’t figure it out immediately. The game also has some hints that you can use, though they should be kept as a last resort when you just can’t seem to figure out what to do. Blackbox is a challenging puzzle game that requires brainpower, time, patience, and perspective to solve.

I’m still fairly early on in Blackbox, but I am in love with it so far. As a big fan of puzzles, this is the most invigorating new game I’ve played in a while due to the exclusive gameplay concept and controls. Plus, the minimalist visuals and text look fantastic on the screen. The developer is also actively looking for user feedback, so if you find something broken or have ideas for new challenges, make sure to let the developer know.

I highly recommend giving Blackbox a try if you haven’t already. It’s great to see someone come up with something that has yet to be done in the iOS gaming world until now.

Blackbox – think outside the box is available on the App Store as a free download for your iPhone only. There are in-app purchases for hints and an all-level unlock.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

YO-KAI WATCH Wibble Wobble

March 28, 2016 by macjeff

YO-KAI WATCH Wibble Wobble (Free) by Level-5 Inc. is a fresh new puzzle game from the Yo-Kai Watch universe. If you love puzzle games or just enjoy the Yo-Kai Watch franchise, then this game is a gem worth adding to your collection.

I consider myself a fairly big fan of Japan and all of the interesting things that come from over there, especially various anime series and certain games. However, while I have tried the Yo-Kai Watch demo on my 3DS, I didn’t invest in the full game, though it may be a consideration for the future. Despite that, I was still interested in Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble when I first heard of it, because hey, I am somewhat familiar with the premise of the franchise, and I love puzzle games. I had a chance to check out the game last week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, and after trying the demo out, I was eager to get my hands on the final release. Now that it’s out, it was definitely worth the wait.

In terms of visuals, Wibble Wobble remains true to the original Yo-Kai Watch video game. The game has a bright and cheerful cartoon aesthetic that makes it friendly enough for everyone, from kids to adults. While Wibble Wobble is not a fully 3-D game like the original, it does contain some 3-D visual elements, such as the animations of the yokai when they perform special attacks, as well as showing off the enemy yokai that you’ll be facing off against as you traverse through the world map. The graphics in Wibble Wobble are fairly polished, and the animations are smooth and fluid, especially when the physics come into play. The soundtrack is upbeat and quirky, and the sound effects of the yokai are a fun, finishing touch.

Like other puzzle games out there, Wibble Wobble is level-based, and each stage is a spot on the world map. With each level, you will face off against a new variety of yokai, which will have its own unique strengths, weaknesses, and attacks. Since the premise of the original game is to have you befriend and catch different yokai, you shouldn’t be surprised to find out that this also applies in Wibble Wobble. Each yokai that you encounter has a chance of befriending you after they’re defeated, and you can increase that chance by giving them a treat before starting a puzzle, though that is completely optional. While you may want to collect them all, the main objective of each stage is to defeat the enemy yokai and move on to the next level. At the end of each area will be a boss battle against a powerful yokai, so it is recommended to go back and replay levels in order to make your team stronger (each battle nets your yokai team experience points) and befriend yokai that you have not yet added to your army. The game also informs you of what recommended level your team should be before starting a puzzle, so you can see if you’re ready for the challenge or not.

The game mechanic in Wibble Wobble is to connect the same yokai pieces with a line that you trace with your finger. The more yokai you have in your chain, the larger the yokai becomes. To have that yokai attack the enemy, just tap on it — the larger the yokai is, the more damage it will do. If you can rack up large chains and pop them within just a few seconds, it will start a combo, which means more points and damage. If you’re fast enough, you can also enable the Fever Mode for bonus damage, and each of your yokai has a gauge that can be filled by making matches. Once you fill those gauges, that yokai can perform a “soultimate move” that can dish out some impressive damage or even heal you (your health is the bar above the bubbly game pieces and below the yokai). These soultimate moves can help you out a lot, so it’s important to remember to activate them (just tap on the yokai) when they’re available.

Since Wibble Wobble is a free-to-play game, you can expect the usual energy system (spirit) and in-app purchases for things like more energy, y-money (regular currency), and coins (premium currency). The currencies in the game can be used to purchase more spirit, or you can spend them in the “Crank-A-Kai” feature, which awards you with a random yokai capsule. You can keep track of all of the yokai that you’ve acquired by chekcing the “Medallium” in the game menu, along with other things like medals, settings, profile, friends, and more.

Even though I’m not usually a fan of energy systems in games, I found Wibble Wobble’s system to be pretty reasonable. It does not take too long to recharge your spirit, and the game will often award you a spirit for successfully completing a puzzle.

Even though I wasn’t fully invested in the original 3DS game, I’m finding Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble to be rather enjoyable. The cartoonish graphics are stunningly beautiful, especially on Retina screens, the music and sounds are fun, the controls are simple, the gameplay itself is challenging and refreshing due to the awesome physics engine, and the collecting aspect (over 200 yokai) means there is high replay value. I just wish that the game felt a bit smoother when transitioning between screens, as it does feel a bit choppy at times when I’m going through different sections of the menu.

I recommend checking out Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble if you are a fan of Yo-Kai Watch or just enjoy fun and charming puzzle games. You can find Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble on the App Store on the iPhone and iPad for free with in-app purchases.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Check out these five apps of the week

March 27, 2016 by macjeff

Looking for new apps to download? Pick from these top five of the week, ranging from one that will file your taxes, one that will add more security to the websites you visit, to one that can deliver some dinner tonight.

The post UberEats, Huthunt, Taxfyle, and more: Check out these apps of the week appeared first on Digital Trends.

King Rabbit - Find Gold, Rescue Bunnies

March 24, 2016 by macjeff

King Rabbit - Find Gold, Rescue Bunnies ($0.99) by RareSloth LLC is a cute and charming action puzzle game that will appeal to anyone. If you were a fan of the original Furdemption, or just like rabbits and puzzles, then King Rabbit is a must-have for your game collection. Even if you did not play the original Furdemption, don’t worry — King Rabbit doesn’t need prior experience to enjoy.

Let’s get a few things straight: I love animals (especially furry ones), and I was born in the year of the rabbit. So I have a pretty high affinity with bunnies and rabbits, though I haven’t had one as a pet yet (no pets here). And if you’ve been following my work here at AppAdvice for the past few years, you also know that I love puzzle games, of course. So when I heard about Furdemption and the sequel, I was pretty excited, as these games combined two of my loves together. I also had a chance to check out King Rabbit at GDC last week, and I’ve been eager for it to hit the App Store ever since. Fortunately, it is now here and has been worth the wait, even though Furdemption only originally came out last June.

Visually, King Rabbit is stunningly gorgeous. The game has a top-down perspective that is reminiscent of classics like The Legend of Zelda, and the pseudo 3-D graphics have a cartoonish aesthetic that is cute and welcoming. The colors in King Rabbit are bright, vivid, and rich, with some interesting environmental effects later on in the game. Animations are buttery smooth (including the death animation) and fluid, and I had absolutely no lag on my iPhone 6s Plus. The soundtrack for the game is also upbeat and quirky, making it a delight to listen to as you go through the game. Sound effects are also a nice and fun little finishing touch. Overall, RareSloth has done an excellent job with King Rabbit in terms of visuals and audio.

King Rabbit, like other puzzle games, currently features six different worlds that have 16 levels each. So at the moment, there is 96 total stages, with more to come. Honestly, for the price of admission, I say that this is a pretty good value, since the game has a lot of replay value due to finding all of the gold coins, diamonds, and getting all of the collectibles. The objective in each level is to help the King Rabbit rescue the queen rabbit, who has been caged up by a devious foe. In order to do this, you must hop your way through and solve some tricky, challenging puzzles to find the gold coins and keys to reach her. There is no time limit or points to score, but if you’re a perfectionist, then you’ll want to replay each stage until all coins and diamonds are found.

Controls in King Rabbit are simple and intuitive. In order to move King Rabbit, all you have to do is swipe on the screen in the direction you want him to hop in. With each swipe, you move one square space since the stages are set up in grid-like fashion. When it comes to objects, like crates, gates, and levers, all you have to do is run into the object to interact with it. This means you can push boxes and bombs one space at a time, unlock gates to progress, stand on buttons to activate them, or push levers to use the machines. These are just examples of what you can encounter in just the first world, but there will be many more mechanics to discover as you advance into the other chapters.

As I mentioned before, King Rabbit has pretty high replay value. Despite not having time limits or high scores, you’ll want to replay stages to acquire all of the hidden coins (explore every nook and cranny) and diamonds, and you can use the diamonds to purchase cool new death animations that give the game a touch of personal flair. If you get stuck, there are also hints that you can use to help you out, and if you run out of hints, you can optionally get more with diamonds, which can be bought through in-app purchases. However, I found that the puzzles are mostly just trial-and-error, so the chances of you going through all of your hints is slim. There is also Game Center support for leaderboards and achievements, which just add to the longevity of the game.

While I did not play the original Furdemption yet (I have the game but just never got around to it), I am in love with King Rabbit so far. The art style is beautiful, the music is fun to listen to, and the control scheme is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to play the game with one hand if necessary. The puzzles can be rather challenging as well, which is always welcome, but it’s not incredibly frustrating since you just have to do a lot of trial-and-error testing to solve them. The replay value is high due to the collectibles, and honestly, who can resist cute rabbits as the main characters?

I highly recommend checking out King Rabbit for yourself if you’re a fan of action puzzles and like cute rabbits. You can find King Rabbit on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $0.99.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Milkeddit

March 23, 2016 by macjeff

Milkeddit ($1.99) by Shihab Mehboob is an app for browsing reddit. If you are in search of a powerful and feature-filled way to browse reddit on your iPhone after reddit seems to have ruined Alien Blue, then Milkeddit could be the app you’ve been looking for. It joins the ranks of other fine reddit apps, including narwhal.

Whenever I’m bored, I gravitate towards reddit. Yes, I know — there will be some of you who may think of reddit as a “cesspool” on the Internet, but I’m pretty sure you may be thinking of 4chan. While there are certainly some bad parts of reddit (just like the rest of the Internet, actually), there are plenty of good parts to it as well, especially if you find some friendly and informative subreddits (individual communities on reddit) to subscribe to. I’ll admit, I will browse my subreddits for hours, since it’s pretty easy to lose myself in the rabbit hole of interesting topics, pictures, and links. While I originally was a big fan of Alien Blue when it first came out several years ago, I noticed that it got worse and worse after reddit bought it and made some changes. So then I moved over to narwhal, which has received many numerous improvements over the past year, making it my new favorite reddit client. However, I was saw Milkeddit on Product Hunt a few days ago and I was intrigued, since it definitely looked like it had potential to dethrone narwhal for me. But after putting it to the test for the past several days, I still think Milkeddit has the potential, but needs some more work before I’ll be replacing narwhal with it.

In terms of visuals, Milkeddit looks pretty good for a reddit app. It comes with three default themes that you can choose from, and everything is neatly organized on the main page when you choose the account you want to use (yes, it has multiple account support). The app is fairly responsive to touch, so it should not be a problem to get where you want to be, and there are some delightful, bouncy animations that get shown off throughout the app, such as when you change themes or access various settings. For those with larger phones, you’ll be pleased to know that Milkeddit has a toolbar at the bottom with options for things like keyword search, mute filters, new post, gallery, and subreddit options.

However, if you are like me and subscribe to a lot of different forums and like to switch out frequently, you have to manually go back to the previous screen to access your subreddits, or enter a subreddit, view the front page, and other things. Personally, I don’t like this method and prefer narwhal’s right-handed side panel that you can easily access from anywhere with just a swipe. Having to manually go back to previous views just to switch subreddits or pages is tedious and annoying, so hopefully the developer changes or optimizes this in the future.

Another thing I noticed is the fact that even if you just use one account, Milkeddit likes to start you off at the account selection screen on each launch, even after you come back to the app from the multitasking menu. I believe this is because it wants to show you the “how many posts you’ve visited in the past week” graph at the bottom, but for me this is unnecessary and just means an extra step to get to my content. If I only have one account logged in, the app should just take me to my account page by default, so that way I can just quickly get to where I want to go. Each account page will have various sections for content, such as: Front Page, All Subreddits, Multireddits, Subscribed Subreddits, Default Subreddits, Bookmarked Subreddits, and the option to manually enter a subreddit or user. You’ll also be able to see if you have any unread messages in your inbox, as well as messages you’ve sent to others.

No matter what content you’re looking at, Milkeddit organizes the list of posts in a neat and organized fashion. You’re able to see the thread titles, excerpts of the post body, link source, number of upvotes and comments, the user who submitted the post, and even thumbnails (square or circle thumbnails on either the left or right side, depending on how you chose the settings) if applicable. If you prefer to filter posts by what is Hot, New, Top, or Controversial, just tap on the filter button in the top right corner and select your choice. Some of them have other options like the time period, giving you more flexibility of choice.

One thing that I have missed from Alien Blue was the gallery feature, which has been included in Milkeddit. To access it, just tap on the photo icon in the bottom navigation toolbar, and you get to see all of the images in a subreddit or front page at once. Tapping an image takes you directly to the post.

While the gallery feature is nice, it doesn’t quite make up for the fact that Milkeddit does not display link previews directly in the thread, which is a feature I love in narwhal. Instead, you’ll have to tap on the links to view them in the in-app browser, and then you can’t even swipe to go back — you have to tap on the “back” button in the top left corner, which is annoying on devices like the iPhone 6s Plus. Perhaps it is because I’m so used to narwhal, but I truly think having a preview of the link in the thread that you can swipe down to view the full link is much more intuitive than separating the thread from the link. There is image previews, though, but they load very slowly compared to narwhal.

As you’re in a thread, there’s a toolbar underneath the main post that lets you upvote, downvote, bookmark, and more. You can also swipe left on a comment or even a thread in the post listing to reveal a contextual menu, which has options for upvote, downvote, bookmark, and the rest. Again, while this works, I also prefer narwhal’s system of a short swipe to upvote (from right) or save (from left) and long swipe to downvote (from right) or hide (from left). Swipes just feel more intuitive and less button-tapping is always a plus.

The search functionality falls a bit short as well. When you tap on the magnifying glass, it will bring up the search bar and you’ll see “Search {{subreddit}}” in it, which you would think means that you just get results within the subreddit that you’re currently in. However, I’ve tried searches with different keywords in the Apple Watch subreddit, for example, and got results from pretty much all of reddit, which is not what I want. You can also just type in your search terms and wait for results to populate, or manually tap the “Search” button the keyboard after you’ve typed in the terms you want, but either way, the results are different. It’s not consistent, and rather confusing — how do I view the results that are just contained in the subreddit I’m in? Narwhal does an excellent job with search for all of reddit and in specific subreddits, so it’s a bit disappointing to see Milkeddit’s search just all over the place.

When I am on reddit, I’m mostly just browsing and lurking, replying to a thread every now and then. I don’t post new threads, but if you do, there is the option in Milkeddit. It has you enter in things one-by-one by showing one thing at a time: Title, Subreddit, Body (Link or Text), and then the Captcha, before it is submitted. I like this, as it means you shouldn’t get anything wrong, but again, I don’t usually submit new posts.

Another issue I had with Milkeddit was the fact that somehow, the entire navigation bar at the bottom suddenly disappeared on me, and I was not able to get it back, no matter how many times I quit the app and restarted it. The only way that got it back was deleting Milkeddit and then reinstalling it. I’m not sure what caused the bar to go away, since I had the “Sticky Navigation Bar” setting turned on, but it vanished and I had a moment of frustration trying to figure out why. On top of that, the app has crashed on me a few times, and I dislike that it never remembers where I was on my last use, so it throws me back at the account selection screen every time I come back to the app.

I wanted to like Milkeddit, but at the moment it just seems too buggy and counterintuitive in some aspects. I do like the design and the animations in the app, but at the moment, narwhal does everything I need it to do, but much faster and better than what Milkeddit does. Again, I think that Milkeddit has potential, but more work needs to be put into it to make it much more polished than what it is right now.

At the moment, I can’t fully recommend Milkeddit until performance improves with updates. But if you want to give it a try for yourself, Milkeddit can be found on the iPhone App Store for $1.99. Narwhal, the other reddit app I’ve mentioned throughout the review, is available as a universal download for the iPhone and iPad, and is free with an in-app purchase of $2.99 to unlock Narwhal Pro (well worth it).

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews