StoryCut - Review
November 20, 2020 by RSS Feed
With the popularity of video clips, video editing tools on mobile are not in short supply. Such apps are often swamped with new features, including rich filters, special effects, cute stickers, variable speeds, rough cuts, and even adding recordings. It can often all be a bit much.
In that case, is there a video editing app that is powerful and comprehensive enough to cover all the features provided by existing video editing apps? The answer is – yes, StoryCut is the only video editing app you need on your phone. So if you’re a big fan of clip creation, try StoryCut, which allows you to quickly finish what you want and share it on your desired social media platform.
If you are an amateur, StoryCut also customizes the clip sizes suitable for various social platforms, such as Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube - so that you can share the clip with one click after making it. StoryCut has standard editing functions, such as video cut and filters. It’s worth looking at the features in StoryCut that are absent from most editing apps.
PIP
PIP (picture in picture) allows you to merge images with a video. When we tried to overlay an image of a starry sky with my portrait, we saw an incredible double exposure. Using the green screen matting feature, we placed a video in a Jurassic Park scene, and created a Hollywood-style effect.
Keyframe
Keyframe is a dominant feature of StoryCut, a feature previously only available in professional clipping tools on the PC. In this feature, you only need to set a few keyframes to make any material move according to the trajectory you set. For example, if you want the object to move in sync with a moving car, you just need to add two keyframes. This feature can even achieve special effects like those seen in science fiction movies.
Effects
StoryCut offers a vast number of popular effects for short video platforms. Add an old TV frame to the video, or a gold dust effect can give you a dreamlike image. There are also some split-screen effects you can utilise.
Speed
You might think that video speed adjustment is a regular feature - but StoryCut can increase the speed by eight times, with many similar apps only offering half that. We imported a video of some skateboarding and got amazing results after adjusting the speed and combining it with the reverse play function.
Adjust
StoryCut contains 18 fine adjustment parameters, which can make up for the shortage of filters, saving the poorest videos that even filters cannot do anything about. I imported a video taken on a cloudy day with poor lighting, for example, but found that even with a filter, I could not get a nice color. Then I turned on the image quality adjustment. After a series of parameter adjustments, including brightness, sharpness, contrast, saturation enhancement, and color temperature reduction, the video looked brand-new, just like the image quality of a movie, and the clarity was significantly improved.
Very satisfactory results were obtained.
The Good
As detailed above, StoryCut has everything. You can perform every edit imaginable, and the interface is intuitive
enough to allow you to do it in no time at all. It’s entirely conceivable that you could have a video or slideshow with sound effects, cuts, transition, custom audio, double-exposure effects, and picture-in-picture ready in under five minutes.
For the most part, the effects and filters are tasteful and stylish, too, so StoryCut will let you turn out productive, high-quality content at speed. Curious prospective video editors could easily spend hours experimenting with all the tools and functions on offer, some of which are surprisingly advanced.
While tools like Instagram and your phone’s camera software will enable you to apply basic filters and stickers and so on, none of them contains anything like the depth of functionality available in StoryCut. In that sense, the app emphatically earns its place as an advanced, bespoke video tool.
The Bad
StoryCut can recognize voices to generate subtitles. With one tap, you will see subtitles auto-generated from the voices in your clips. For now, this feature is only supported on Android, but we hope the dev team will implement this feature on iOS sooner so users can also enjoy the ease of subtitling that the app provides.
Check out StoryCut via the App Store (and Google Play) and also its official site, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channels.
Overall
StoryCut is a comprehensive and intuitive video and picture editing app. VIP users will get the most out of it, as long as they don’t mind being subscribers rather than owners, but anyone looking for a richer alternative to Instagram should check it out.
8.3
OVERALL
iPhone Integration 9
Lasting appeal 8.1
User Interface 8
Is engaging 8.2
Does it well 8.3
StoryCut - Video Editor &Maker
Wenzhou XunChi Digital Technology Co., Ltd.
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MovieMusic Review
November 20, 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 20, 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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Let Them Come and Blow Them Into Oblivion in This Survival Arcade Shooter
November 20, 2020 by RSS Feed
Let Them Come ($1.99) by Versus Evil is a survival shooter where you must fight hordes of alien enemies as the lone survivor of a spaceship. If you enjoyed games like Ashworld and Kick Ass Commandos, then you will like what Let Them Come has to offer.
As someone who has watched a lot of movies and television shows and even played games that feature some post-apocalyptic setting, I've always wondered what it would be like to be all alone. You know, the last living human being, forced to survive by any means possible when it seems that everything's doomed? Yeah, that's pretty much what you end up with in Let Them Come, and as a fan of arcade shooters, I had to check this one out. While it's a fun game, it does have some flaws that affect gameplay.
Ashworld
Pascal Bestebroer
Kick Ass Commandos
Anarchy Enterprises
Visually, Let Them Come has an awesome 16-bit pixel art style aesthetic that falls in line with many other games. As someone who grew up in the '90s, I definitely appreciate these visuals. Despite the pixelated appearance, I found everything to fairly detailed, including the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the barren spaceship, as well as the various hostile aliens that can explode upon death. While the setting of the game is going to be dim overall, the lighting ends up being a bit dynamic because of your weapon and bursting neon alien corpses. Animations are smooth and fluid in Let Them Come, with no lag or choppiness on my iPhone 8 Plus. The game also features a heavy metal soundtrack with unlockable mixtapes as you progress, which is just appropriate when you're the only human left.
In Let Them Come, you'll control Rock Guner as he faces off against waves of alien lifeforms. As you clear waves, you won't be able to go back and grind, which is an unfortunate flaw of the game made apparent as you reach the first challenging boss level. Each time you die, you'll have to start off at the beginning of the wave you died on, so Let Them Come gets increasingly more difficult as you get further along.
As you kill enemies, you earn coins, which doubles as your score. You spend the coins in the ship's inventory stash, where you can purchase various weapon and passive upgrades, as well as mixtapes. If you change your mind on a purchase, you can also sell it back for the same amount of coin that you bought it for, though the buttons for this aren't too clearly labeled. There's a mix of various bullets, melee weapons, grenades, health increases, and more. Of course, the better an upgrade is, the more expensive it will be, so save up those points.
Once you have purchased an upgrade, it stays in the inventory until you decide to equip it into your loadout. To do this, just drag-and-drop what you want to use into the appropriate slots at the bottom. You can have up to four passive skills, two secondary weapons (melee and grenades), and two ammo types.
Controls in Let Them Come are simple but can feel a bit clunky. Since Rock Guner is stationary behind a machine gun on the ship, you're responsible for aiming and shooting from that single spot. Along the left hand side of the screen is a slider that allows you to aim the weapon. To shoot, just long-press on the button of the ammo you want to use. Yes, the gun can overheat, which you can gauge with the meter next to your weapon loadout. If it's getting dangerous, the rate of fire drops significantly until it can cool down, so make sure to keep an eye out on it. If enemies get too close, you can choose to use your melee weapon instead by tapping on it to use.
Near the top right of the screen will be your combo meter. This indicates the number of consecutive kills you currently have. Once it's full, you can get a bonus unlock to use for this round. These include useful items like unlimited item use (some ammo rounds have a limited number before you need to refill), more health, resupply, have enemies explode on death, and more, including the all-powerful Frenzy Mode. Your bonuses are always randomized, so you'll always end up with a surprise of what to expect.
Get ready to face an onslaught of enemies, and try to kill everything that moves.
The Good
Let Them Come is a good survival shooter game that is both fun and challenging. Even though it proves to be difficult, it's still hard to put down once you get started. The graphics are retro an a nice homage to classic games, and the tunes are also awesome to listen to. Being able to change the soundtrack as you play is a nice touch.
I wasn't sure about the whole stationary shooting thing, but it does work out fine for what it's worth. It gives me a ton of pleasure just sitting there and blowing up a bunch of aliens as I struggle to survive, and having so many upgrades to unlock and increase your strength just makes me keep coming back.
The Bad
While I like Let Them Come a lot, it isn't without some big flaws that unfortunately affect the gameplay. As you advance in waves, things get more difficult and eventually you may end up stuck and unable to grind for points to get better gear. I wish it was possible to go back to previous waves just to grind for coins for the necessary upgrades before facing off against the first boss, which can be too hard.
Another issue is the slider for aiming. Sometimes the slider's touch zone does not seem as responsive as it should be, so it was hard to aim fast enough to get the enemies on the ceiling as well as the ground. This resulted in some untimely deaths for me because I couldn't have the gun pointing up in time, so hopefully the controls get better optimization in a future update.
The verdict
Overall, I'm enjoying Let Them Come a lot, despite the issues with the controls and levels. The game looks great and the metal soundtrack is just fun to listen to, especially since you can change the tracks on a whim. Hopefully the difficulty and level issues get addressed soon, as its current state can be a bit unbalanced. And I hope to see improvements and optimizations to the aiming controls, as it would make the game a lot smoother.
Still, Let Them Come is a fun survival arcade shooter that everyone should try out. You can find Let Them Come on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $1.99. It's also available on Steam for PC and Mac for $4.99.
8.4
OVERALL
Graphics 9
Sound/Music 9
Replayability 8.5
Gameplay 8.5
Game Controls 7
Let Them Come
Versus Evil
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Cinco Paus is an Interesting and Experimental Roguelike
November 20, 2020 by RSS Feed
Cinco Paus ($4.99) by Michael Brough is a compact roguelike that's captivating and challenging. If you were a fan of Brough's other titles, such as 868-HACK, then you'll truly appreciate what Cinco Paus has to offer.
I've been playing and reviewing iOS games for years now, and one thing I love about it is discovering all of the quirky and eccentric titles that indies come up with. I mean sure, we all love a good triple-A game from a big name studio, but sometimes the real gems are from indie developers. And Brough is one of those devs. I remember checking out 868-HACK several years ago and falling in love with the unique gameplay. Needless to say, I became a fan of Brough after that, and am eager to check out anything new that he creates. Cinco Paus is another fine addition to my game collection.
First, some background regarding "cinco paus." The game's name, as well as all in-game text and even the App Store description, is in Portuguese. This is not a glitch or bug, so don't try to change it to your native language (I can't even figure that out, honestly). The phrase "cinco paus" literally translates to "five bucks," which is accurate in U.S. dollars. It also means "five sticks," which is what the game involves, though technically they're wands.
I'm not sure why everything must be in Portuguese, but I'm guessing that it's an experiment by the developer. That is, to demonstrate how most games appear to those who do not understand English, and have no option to change the game text to their own native language. While I don't understand the text in Cinco Paus right now, I'm finding learning through experimentation to be rather fun, and it certainly is an interesting approach.
868-HACK
Michael Brough
Visually, Cinco Paus is bit on the stranger side, as the cartoonish style is what I would imagine an acid trip being like. In fact, it reminds me of the art style of some adult swim cartoons, but honestly, it just makes Brough's game even more unique and special. The colors in Cinco Paus are bright and colorful, which are sure to bring a smile to your face, even if you don't understand what the game is saying. Despite this fact, Cinco Paus has icons (some straightforward while others are more obscure) that appear after you've used one of the staffs, so there's a little guidance as to what's happening. Animations in Cinco Paus are smooth and fluid, so there's no issues with lag or choppy frame rates on my iPhone 8 Plus. The game's soundtrack is also a bit weird, but delightful to listen to.
Since Cinco Paus is a roguelike, that means that each round is randomly generated, so it's never going to be the same game twice. The goal in Cinco Paus is to help your wizard character get from the starting point to the exit, which takes you to the next area. There's enemies that are in the way that resemble various animals, like frogs, prawns, and lizards. On top of that, there's items like keys to unlock chests, and even tomes that can modify the properties of your wands and staffs.
The controls in Cinco Paus are simple and straightforward, especially if you've played turn-based roguelikes before. Just swipe on the screen in the direction that you want to move to, and the wizard will do so, assuming that there's nothing in the way like a wall or enemy. You can swipe into an enemy to do a basic attack, but keep in mind that some take multiple hits to kill (life points indicated by the dots), and can hit you back as long as it's alive.
Fortunately, that's where the wands come in. At the top of the screen will be five sticks, which are the wizards wands and staffs. To use them, just drag the one you want to the wizard, and make sure that it's pointing outward in the direction you want it to face. Once you release your finger, it will activate, sending out a shot that can dish out some nice damage to enemies, so you want it to hit something.
But be careful when using these wands though, because you only have five of them, and they won't get replenished until you reach the next area. Also, icons show up next to each wand after it's used, revealing their properties. The properties get randomized with each game, so it may not be the same on your next run. The attributes can mean that a wand does double damage to frogs, or teleport you past an enemy. You won't know what a wand does until you use it, so it forces you to make use of your resources and also observe what they do.
Unless you know Portuguese, Cinco Paus will be one of those games that you may enjoy but have to figure out everything scientifically, as none of the text helps you out. It's different, refreshing, and a welcome challenge. And with a different loadout for each game you play, it's always going to be a surprise, and who doesn't like surprises?
CInco Paus is a quirky and lighthearted roguelike that's all about experimentation.
The Good
Cinco Paus is a special gem on the App Store. The game is full of quirkiness and charm, from the choice of language to the graphics and music. While many may not understand what the text says, the game is simple enough to figure out through mere observation and trial-and-error. I also like the randomization aspect, as it brings a fresh new experience on each run.
The Bad
While I like Cinco Paus for what it's worth, it may not be everyone's cup of tea. The language barrier may be bothersome for some, and the art style is rather unorthodox. Like they say, this game may be an acquired taste for fans of Brough's previous work.
This is definitely not a standard game, and takes a bit of getting used to. But if you can get through the hurdles, then it's rather enjoyable.
The verdict
As a fan of Brough's other games, I think Cinco Paus is another great hidden gem from him that I'm happy to have in my collection. The distinctive art style makes me think of obscure adult swim cartoons, and I think the experimental approach with Portuguese is a fascinating perspective on language barriers in games.
The gameplay itself is easy to pick up and learn after a few tries, and I enjoy the fact that each staff has a new set of properties in each game. It keeps you on your toes and you must try them all out in the first level to know and understand what their properties are. On top of that, there are a lot of other things in the game to learn as you play, such as enemy behaviors and what items do.
This is a game that will keep you interested and coming back for more. Cinco Paus is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $4.99.
8.7
OVERALL
Replayability 9
Game Controls 9
Gameplay 9
Graphics 8
Sound/Music 8.5
Cinco Paus
Michael Brough
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