"If there is an app for that"

Finding Paradise review

December 23, 2022 by RSS Feed

Finding Paradise is the second episode in the To the Moon series, which probably means something to anyone who has played To the Moon. I haven't, but the app description for Finding Paradise accurately notes that this game does not require previous knowledge of other games in the series. This experience ends up being a touching exploration of inner life presented through a very light pixel art style and some sci-fi shennanigans.

Choose your own deathwish

The story of Finding Paradise revolves around two doctors who work for a company that has developed a technology they use to hop into the subconscious of people on their deathbeds. Their mission is to reconstruct a new life for those at death's door so that their parting memory fulfills any wishes, dreams, or desires of the person before passing on.

For this particular game, everything focuses on one particular client named Colin who isn't particularly forthcoming about his dying wishes and has a family who is pretty unhappy about his decision to work with this company. Regardless for the doctors, the job is the job, and you as the player alternate between controlling both members of this dynamic duo to solve light puzzles that break up what is otherwise a text-based dialogue-heavy game.

Mind games

A large portion of Finding Paradise is a slice of life story about the person Colin came to be, but the wrinkles introduced by playing as interlopers trying to "fix" his life before he dies creates layers of mystery, twists, and turns that keep it genuinely intriguing. For most of the game, the doctors act as stand-in for the player that you pilot around scenes to piece together their significance.

At the end of any particular scene, you are supposed to have gathered memory "orbs" that you then insert into some object of significance that kicks off a simple matching puzzle you complete before being whisked away to the next memory related to the object you interacted with. This creates a structure where you are hopping between large gaps of time in Colin's life. The space between these scenes also creates some suspense and mystery, but as you play the game you fill in the blanks to eventually learn why Colin was so insistent-yet-cagey about getting this procedure done.

Pesky playfulness

The primary draw of Finding Paradise is almost entirely its story. The game doesn't ask a whole lot of you in terms of problem solving or navigating, which is probably for the best as controlling characters doesn't feel great so you don't want to be in control for longer than you have to before making it to the next round of dialog.

That said, Finding Paradise doesn't really do many favors to help making control it easier. Almost every object interaction feels like it has two or three extra steps to it than necessary, which can get annoying at times. Similarly, Finding Paradise's dialog can be a bit loquacious through its constant insertion of jokes and bits between lines that actually drive the action forward. I'd be ok with these if they were a little fewer and further between, but it feels like every sequence has at least 2-3 moments where the game is giving you a wink and a nudge and it feels too forced. Without any of those moments, Finding Paradise establishes a charm of its own, and every time it tries to add to it with little gags it's a bit distracting.

The bottom line

I found myself genuinely moved by the story in Finding Paradise. Making my way toward the end wasn't particularly challenging (which is good), but it sometimes did feel like things were drawn out unnecessarily (which is... less good). Still, if you are looking for a narrative-forward experience on mobile with an intriguing sci-fi premise this game is probably among the best picks you could make.

Source link:https://www.148apps.com/reviews/finding-paradise-review/

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 12/22/2022

December 22, 2022 by RSS Feed

Nanuleu , MailTime Pro Email Messenger , Intermittent Fasting: Fasta and more

iPhone:

MailTime Pro Email Messenger ( $2.99 → Free ) MailTime MailTime reimagines the way you deal with email. It grabs your email threads and turns them into bubble chats, allowing you to cut through the clutter and communicate more efficiently. If you want to view the original email, just tap the bubble. MailTime’s smart inbox system also learns from your email behavior, automatically sorting email from accounts you’ve already interacted with into a separate tab, helping you quickly find the threads that matter. The app also includes a bunch of other handy features like the ability to quickly create and assign to-dos using the "@" symbol, warnings for messages that ramble on, and quick access buttons to cloud services.

Square Fit: Photo Video Editor ( $14.99 → Free ) Artur Darbinyan Square Fit: Photo Video Editor makes it even easier to post amazing photos to social media with its no crop editor. Post full-size photos and videos to Instagram without a hassle. The app has a huge collection of background, effects, and filters.

Nanuleu ( $2.99 → Free ) Selva Interactive Plant roots to expand your territory in order to survive and defeat enemies. It’s up to you to decide where to use your resources. You can use them to expand or for defense. There are five different gameplay scenarios.

Intermittent Fasting: Fasta ( $9.99 → Free ) Akash Jain Intermittent fasting has quickly become one of the most popular ways to lose weight. Fasta provides an elegant way to help you monitor your progress and achieve your goals. It includes more than 15 fasting plans to choose from, covering everyone from beginners to experts. You’re also able to design custom plans. Once the timer has started you’ll be able to monitor the elapsed time and even receive helpful information regarding what’s happening inside your body at that very moment. After each session you’re able to record your mood and current weight. Fasta also includes three timer shapes, more than 50 colors to choose from, Siri Shortcuts support, a dark mode, Apple Watch support, home screen widgets, and valuable insights.

Matching games for kids Ploppy ( $1.99 → Free ) Michael Temper Ploppy is a great way to have a little fun with family and friends who live far away. The app utilizes SharePlay so you can compete via FaceTime. Each level starts with a randomized faced down set of cards. Tap a card to flip it and try to memorize the image on it. When you match a pair the cards stay faced up, otherwise keep the cards faced down. It’s very similar to the classic card games Memory, Concentration, or Matching Pairs.

Betta Fish - Virtual Aquarium ( $2.99 → Free ) Lighthouse Games Studio Betta Fish is a 3D virtual fish tank. There are 10 variations of Betta fish that you can interact with, as well as over a dozen underwater scapes to choose from. The app also has incredibly soothing music for an overall relaxing experience. Studies suggest that people who spend time in aquariums could improve their physical and mental wellbeing.

Leaf Identification ( $2.99 → Free ) Le Giang Nam Leaf Identification can identify over 20,000 different species of plants. The app uses AI technology to give you quick and accurate results. All you have to do it snap a photo with your phone and let the plant identifier do the rest. The interface is very easy to use. You’re able to share your plant identification to any device and check your plant history to see what you’ve discovered at any time.

Highwind ( $0.99 → Free ) Selva Interactive Highwind delivers a fun twist on the vertical shooter genre. You’re put in control of a paper airplane that’s set to autopilot. Tap the right side of the screen to rain fire upon your enemies and tap the left to activate your shields. Gauges on each side of the screen indicate how much power remains for each ability. As you progress, you’ll be able to purchase upgrades and new planes. The game includes five game type variations and three mini-games, making each play through a unique experience.

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

Afterplace review

December 21, 2022 by RSS Feed

From the outside, Afterplace can look a bit like a Legend of Zelda derivative, but after only a short time with the game it's easy to tell there's a distinct vision guiding this experience and that it plans to go places and say things unique to itself. This is (unfortunately) a fairly rare thing to encounter on mobile platforms these days, but Afterplace is also notable for just how strange it insists on getting and the vibe it plays with, even if everything it tries to pull off isn't entirely successful or easy to deal with.

Looking for adventure

Afterplace is an open-world action-adventure game where you play as Yu, a pink-haired wanderer who just so happens to have one of the only weapons that exist in a mysterious world they've found themselves waking up in. With sword in tow, you as Yu wander through the woods, visit town, and talk with people to get a sense of how this world operates and Yu's role in completing an adventure within it.

As it turns out, no one living here seems to be native to the world. They, too, all just woke up here one day, though at different times. Also, there's a gigantic floating sword in the sky that seems ominous and bad. Most people want to go home, but have found some way of life that occupies them in this strange place they are in now for the time-being. One of these individuals is an adventure-seeking mouse who wants to team up with Yu (because of the sword) to figure out more about what is going on, and it's this partnership that kicks off the dungeon-crawling that leads you through the rest of the game world and story.

One-finger wonderland

Going through this adventure is a fairly simple affair. Afterplace is a portrait mode game that is easily controllable by dragging anywhere on the screen to move Yu around and tapping to attack. There are some more advanced maneuvers like swiping to roll or adding another finger to automatically shift the control scheme to control movement and attacking separately, but a majority of the time you'll be prowling through environments that don't require much from you in terms of input.

What the game may lack in control complexity or mechanics it more than makes up by filling its world to the brim with secrets and strange things to discover. Some of these areas and happenings you encounter as part of your journey through the story, but it feels like just as often you'll find a small hidden pathway that leads you to something you could have easily missed entirely. I don't want to get into any spoilers necessarily, but it is important for me to underscore that Afterplace is so thick with beautiful, touching, charming, strange, and surreal locations and secrets that it was the main reason I felt compelled and excited to see it through to the end.

Beautifully flawed

A big part of Afterplace's charm comes from its presentation. Its visuals, music, and writing are mostly not all that sophisticated or ambitious, but they are all so cohesive, confident, and beautiful that you want to keep being in that world, even if it means wandering aimlessly as you internalize a mental map of the game world.

Speaking of which, some of Afterplace's design decisions result in some clunky, obtuse, and--in some cases--not entirely functional moments. These can obviously hamper your enjoyment of the game, but by the end of it I (kind of) understand why some of them were there. On its face it sounds like having no waypoints or maps, for example, are categorically bad ideas, but if you are like me and have some patience to just deal with some design friction and other hinky stuff, the adventure is well worth it (especially now that the game has received a few updates that were needed for me to actually complete it).

The bottom line

Afterplace is one of those games that isn't entirely easy to recommend, but it is undoubtedly special. It definitely hits some Zelda notes, but is also so much more than that. A lot of that "so much more" is rewarding precisely because this isn't a game that has its weirder and rougher edges sanded down to make it abide by prevailing game design principles. Afterplace wears that weirdness on its sleeve and asks you to follow it to where it wants to take you, and I think doing so is well worth doing.

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

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 12/21/2022

December 21, 2022 by RSS Feed

AudioKit Hey Metronome , Groovy Loopz , ProShot and more

AudioKit Hey Metronome ( $0.99 → Free ) AudioKit Pro AudioKit Hey Metronome completely takes practicing to the next level. It’s voice-activated so you can work on your sets hands-free. Use your voice to play, stop, set the tempo, and more. It includes over a dozen themes or you can create your own. You can use the app, even Voice Control, without an internet connection.

Groovy Loopz ( $9.99 → Free ) Makafui Kwami Groovy Loopz is packed with drum loops and tracks across a variety of genres and styles. You’re able to save each setlist for quick access. You can re-adjust the drum loop tempo up and down in realtime, making it super useful for live performances.

ProShot ( $5.99 → Free ) Rise Up Games ProShot is meant to replace your DSLR by providing a bunch of powerful features that are just a flick away. DSLR-style dials allow you to quickly change from automatic, manual, program, and custom shooting modes. You’re also able to record video in any mode. ProShot’s responsive and dynamic menu system provides you with access to every parameter and shooting option including ISO, flash, color cast, shutter speed, resolution and ratio, timer, and grid. A tutorial is available within the app to ensure you get the most out of it.

Night Rider - NFTS Racing ( $1.99 → Free ) Volkan Kutlubay Night Rider has a totally rad retro 80s look and sound. Tap to change lanes and dodge traffic and other obstacles as you speed down the highway. Pay close attention to what’s ahead because things can change in an instant. One hit and it’s game over. Night Rider includes tons of levels and an endless mode.

Origami - Fold & Learn ( $1.99 → Free ) Andreas Bauer Learn How to Make Origami will delight anyone who gives it a try. It includes 22 patterns to choose from, covering everything from boxes and stars to flowers and animals. Each pattern includes step-by-step written instructions accompanied by illustrations. A folding guide is available as well. The app is designed for beginner and intermediate origami enthusiasts.

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

Free Apps to Download TODAY ONLY 12/20/2022

December 20, 2022 by RSS Feed

Digital Barometer S10 , Money Converter + Budget , MovieSpirit - Movie Maker Pro and more

Digital Barometer S10 ( $0.99 → Free ) Studio Nano Ship, Inc. Digital Barometer S10 provides as much information as you’ll ever need regarding barometric pressure. It displays the barometric pressure in real-time along with the associated conditions. You’re able to chart the pressure up to 30 days out as well. The app includes nine barometer units to choose from, and 20 background colors.

Money Converter + Budget ( $4.99 → Free ) monkeyLabs Inc. Travel Money+ is the only traveling companion you need. It’s actually three apps in one, allowing you to quickly convert prices between currencies, calculate tips, and calculate discounts. It’s able to automatically detect what country you are in and identify the currency so you don’t have to. It also supports more than 240 countries and 150 currencies, and you’re able to utilize it offline.

MovieSpirit - Movie Maker Pro ( $9.99 → Free ) Jacky Wu MovieSpirit is a powerful all-in-one video editor. You’re able to import video clips and photos, and crop, split, merge, cut, transform, flip, and scale them with taps and gestures. Add masks, background music, voice recordings, transition effects, filters, hand-drawn art, and much more to further personalize your videos. MovieSpirit also includes helpful tutorials and a sample video.

Story Cutter for Instagram ( $2.99 → Free ) Metromedya Digital Ad Agency Story Cutter lets you post video stories longer than 15 seconds to Instagram. The app takes any video from your camera roll or allows you to record directly from your iPhone camera and splits it into clips of 15 seconds. It saves to your camera roll so you can then upload your videos to Instagram.

Word Search Daily PRO ( $1.99 → Free ) Michal Sajban Word Search Daily PRO has hundreds of levels waiting for you to solve. There is both an online and offline mode so you can play anywhere you go. You’re able to change and customizable everything from the size and color of the letters to the background and grid style.

Trippy Escape: Mindeater ( $1.99 → Free ) Koopa Studio s.r.o. Staring down the prospect of another boring day, Cordelia makes a mind-altering decision. It’s up to you to help her escape from her own mind by discovering clues and putting the pieces together. Just tap the arrows to move around inside the room, and tap to collect and interact with items. A complete walkthrough is available on the developer’s website in case you find yourself stuck.

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