MovieMusic Review
November 21, 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 21, 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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Live Out Your Wizarding Dreams in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery (Free) by Jam City is the hot new mobile Harry Potter RPG that many of us Potterheads have been waiting for. Even though the main Harry Potter series of books and movies is long over, there's the new Fantastic Beasts series of films coming up, but in the meantime, we still need our Potter fix. That's where Hogwarts Mystery comes in.
Throughout my middle and high school years, I was a huge Harry Potter fan. I remember waiting eagerly for each new book release, and then reading the entire thing in a day because that's all I would do. However, I never quite got through the last book, I'm honestly not sure why, and I still haven't finished it to this day. I also only saw the first part of the Deathly Hallows movie, and I'm quite proud of myself for not having the ending of the original Harry Potter series ruined for me to this day. I'll get around to it one of these days (been saying that for years). Still, I'm a big fan of the series as a whole, and get merchandise and other stuff when I can. I've been awaiting a good Harry Potter game to play on-the-go, and Hogwarts Mystery is a good contender, though I'm not big on the freemium aspect.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Jam City, Inc.
Visually, Hogwarts Mystery is pretty decent. Everything is rendered in 3D, but it's more like last-gen graphics, similar to what you'd expect from PlayStation 3. The character model renderings look alright with their aesthetics and texture details, but they're a tad more blocky than I'd like. The world of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley are pretty true-to-life with the movies, and overall a nice representation of the Harry Potter world. There is quite a bit of dialogue and text to read through, as you'll be making choices, but the typefaces are easily legible. Animations are smooth and fluid, so there isn't any issue with lag or choppy frame rates on my iPhone 8 Plus. The music is whimsical (as expected) and the sound is pretty spot-on. If you're a Harry Potter fan, then this game does a good job in terms of visual and sound design.
Since Hogwarts Mystery is a role-playing game that takes place before Harry Potter attends Hogwarts, there's a standalone story to go along with the adventure. You are a young witch or wizard who's received their Hogwarts letter to attend the famous school of witchcraft and wizardry. You start out as just any other kid, then you're whisked away to Diagon Alley to get your materials for the school year, and then finally Hogwarts Castle.
Even though this is a role-playing game, it's fairly on-rails. What I mean is the fact that you're guided through a lot of the scenarios, and there's not much free-range exploration to do, as you can quickly jump to where you need to go to advance the story. As you interact with other characters, you'll be asked to make decisions that affect your character's attributes, friendships and rivalries, and the ending. You'll need to be careful about who you build relationships with, since you'll want to work together with your House to earn points for the House Cup.
Speaking of houses, I was a little disappointed with how the Sorting Hat worked here. I was expecting the Hat to ask you questions and then judge your house sorting based on the answers you provide. Instead, the Sorting Hat merely asks you what house you hope for and then you pick the one you want. That's it — the Sorting Hat throws you in to the house you picked and calls it a day. Even though I like that it gives you the freedom to choose your favorite house (Slytherin is best), I thought the process could have been more personalized and true. So I was a tad disappointed with the Sorting Hat.
As you embark on your journey as a student at Hogwarts, you'll go into scenarios that have timers attached to them. These include things like taking classes, learning spells and potions, and getting out of hairy situations. To clear these scenes, you need to earn two stars on them. Each scene features objects in the environment that you can interact with through taps, and it fills up the gauge. However, sometimes these activities require energy for each tap, which I thought was dumb and annoying. You only start out with so much energy, and if you're out, you must purchase more with the purple crystals (premium currency).
Because of this, I'm stuck in a room trapped with Devil's Snare for eight hours because I'm out of energy to perform taps and don't have enough crystals to get more. This is the first paywall and I'm surprised that it came so early on. It's rather annoying, to say the least.
I did enjoy other activities, such as learning spells and making potions. These usually consist of mini-games, like tapping the screen at the right time, or tracing out lines and shapes for spell casting.
In the beginning of the game, you're able to customize the look of your character. If you made a mistake, you can change anything at any time, but you'll also unlock more items as you progress in the game and level up from completing chapters. However, you'll need coins and purple gems to buy the "cooler" looking hairstyles, clothing, and accessories, and they're pretty pricey.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery lets anyone play out their wizarding dreams on-the-go.
The Good
Hogwarts Mystery is a decent addition for Harry Potter fans. The graphics look a tad dated, but are fine for a mobile game. Music and sound is well done, and falls in line with expectations. There's a lot of activities to do during your time at Hogwarts, and the interactions with other characters is an important part of the game. The mini-games are not too difficult, and being able to cast spells and partake in duels is what every Potter fan has dreamed of for years.
The Bad
While I want to like Hogwarts Mystery, there are some aspects of it that leave a sour taste in my mouth. For one, the energy system and timers are pretty dumb. I get that it's a free game, but really, a tap costs one energy in certain situations? It's the fastest energy burning time sink I've seen so far, and having to wait to complete a scenario is just annoying. Plus, you can't leave until it's done, so you're stuck waiting around. Another thing that bothered me a bit was how expensive the character customization can be. It's more like nickel-and-diming you for every little thing. Plus, I'm a bit disappointed that I can't just freely roam and explore Hogwarts to my heart's content.
The verdict
As a big Harry Potter fan, I'm still enjoying the fact that Hogwarts Mystery lets me live out my Hogwarts dreams. The visuals are okay, and the sound is great. The on-rails experience means you aren't going to get lost or confused, and always know where to go or what to do next. I like the mini-games for casting spells, making potions, and dueling since they have intuitive controls. Tough choices are going to be made, and I like that it affects the dynamic storyline. I just wish that the timers and energy system weren't the way they are, and that customization options were a bit cheaper.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for free. There are in-app purchases.
7.9
OVERALL
Replayability 8
Sound/Music 8.5
Gameplay 8
Game Controls 7.5
Graphics 7.5
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Jam City, Inc.
Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews
credit : midatlanticconsulting
Supertype Focuses on the Weight and Sound of Letters
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Supertype ($0.99) by Philipp Stollenmayer is a new word puzzle game that changes how you think about words. If you enjoyed games like Spelltower, Alphabear, and TypeShift, then Supertype is another fine addition to your word game collection.
As a writer, I have a thing for word games. They're relaxing for me and rather stimulating. Plus, I love words much more than numbers — it's kind of my thing, after all. While word games aren't filling up the App Store as they did a few years ago, I'm still always looking out for new ones, especially if they aren't just another Scrabble clone. I heard about Supertype a few months ago, and it was something so different that I couldn't wait for its release. Now it's finally here, and I must say, this is a completely fresh approach to word games in general, and it shouldn't be missed.
SpellTower
Zach Gage
Alphabear: Word Puzzle Game
Spry Fox LLC
Typeshift
Zach Gage
Visually, Supertype has a unique and textured aesthetic style that makes it stand out from the crowd. The game is rendered completely in 2D, but features a textured background like canvases and wallpapers. The lines, shapes, and letters in each stage appear as if they're inked on the paper, which I love. There's nothing quite as satisfying as watching ink get absorbed into quality paper, and Supertype brings back those memories for me. Each stage is distinctive, and the sans serif typeface that the game uses is beautiful. Sans serif fonts with straight edges is my preferred kind of typography, so seeing it everywhere in Supertype made me happy. There's no base soundtrack to the game, but the sound effects as letters move around and hit other objects generates a one-of-a-kind soundtrack that'll be different for everyone. Supertype proves that sometimes, less is more.
Like many other puzzle games, Supertype is level-based. The game launches and places a puzzle in front of you, and gives you another once you solve it — rinse and repeat. The goal of Supertype is straightforward: have the letters touch all of the small squares together. You can tap on the "Home" button in the bottom left corner to reset a puzzle or go back to the level select screen.
While this sounds easy enough, it gets pretty tricky. You have to think about how certain letters fall, how much they weigh, and even how they sound. On every level, there are different shapes and objects laid out, and the squares you want are scattered about.
Controls in Supertype are intuitive and friendly enough for everyone. Tap on the screen to bring up the keyboard, and then type in some letters — it doesn't even have to be a real word, and you don't need to take up all of the indicated spaces. Just tap on the checkmark button on the keyboard and watch gravity do its thing. Other times, there are already letters put on the screen, and you must draw a line with your finger (not over the letters) to guide them to the squares. Sometimes there are fans that push letters up, and other objects that can affect where your letters go, so think about your letter choice and make use of them.
When you go back to the level selection screen, you can view completed stages with the letters you used, and you can also attempt the next few stages ahead of you, as a few get unlocked at a time. The game has over 100 puzzles, so there's some good bang for your buck here.
A letter based puzzler that isn't your traditional word game.
The Good
Supertype is a refreshing new word puzzle game that will appeal to many. The visuals are a nice mix of old timey and modern, especially those little buttons of various printed paper that splash onto the screen once you solve a puzzle. And while there's no static soundtrack, the sounds that each letter generates creates a nice dynamic track that's unique and fresh. The controls are easy to learn, and the gameplay itself is different, challenging, and fun. This is a word game that is unlike anything you've played before, and it's a refreshing addition for word game aficionados.
The Bad
Supertype is packed with a lot of good stuff, but I did notice that it's a bit glitchy with the button to go to the level select screen. I noticed that sometimes it would appear in the bottom left corner, but sometimes it wouldn't be there, and only show up on the keyboard itself. It's a minor detail, but left me a bit puzzled at first.
The verdict
As a lover of word games, Supertype is one that did not disappoint. The gameplay is interesting and makes me think about letters from a different perspective now, and it's just downright fun to watch and hear them get juggled around. The graphics are gorgeous, and everything runs pretty smoothly, aside from the glitch with the menu button. I'd recommend giving Supertype a try if you're in search of a word and puzzle game.
Supertype is on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad.
8.9
OVERALL
Gameplay 10
Game Controls 9
Graphics 9
Replayability 8.5
Sound/Music 8
supertype
Philipp Stollenmayer
Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews
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Be More Productive With Google Tasks
November 21, 2020 by RSS Feed
Google Tasks: Get Things Done (Free) by Google is the official app for managing your tasks and to-dos associated with your Google account. The app came out earlier in the week, which should be appealing to users of the service, which was previously only available through the web.
Ever since I got my first iPhone back in 2008 and then joined the lovely AppAdvice team, I've grown into a kind of productivity nut. I never really kept track of a digital calendar until I got an iPhone, at which point I started to just use Google Calendar for everything. I also went through many different task managers, writing apps, and other miscellaneous things to up my productivity levels. Even though I've come to settle down on a workflow that works for me (Things 3 is what I currently use), I can't help but check out other to-do apps as they come along. So when I saw Google Tasks hit the App Store this week, I had to give it a go, especially considering the fact that most of my stuff is on Google anyways.
Google Photos
Google, Inc.
Google Calendar
Google, Inc.
Things 3
Cultured Code GmbH & Co. KG
OmniFocus 2
The Omni Group
Visually, Google Tasks is simple and clean. If you've used other Google apps and services before, then Tasks will look familiar to you right away. It's definitely not the prettiest thing to look at, but no one uses Google services because they're pretty, it's more about functionality. Tasks features plenty of whitespace and bold headers so you know exactly where you are in your lists. The app is fast and responsive, with smooth transition animations as you navigate through the app and edit items. And since this uses Google's cloud, syncing data is fast and seamless across multiple devices, such as between your iPhone and the web (this version needs some work).
When you launch Tasks, you'll need to sign in to your Google account, obviously. Most of us should already have a Google account by now, but you can also make one if you don't use Google's productivity suite yet.
Once you sign in, your default screen is "My Tasks." This is like the inbox for your items, and where they go to by default if you don't add to a specific list. Speaking of, Tasks only has support for lists, so if you wanted to create projects, such as "Work" with multiple jobs, then you're out of luck. You can switch lists at any time by tapping on the hamburger button in the bottom left corner and then selecting the list you want to view. You can also create a new list from here as well.
Creating a new list is fairly barebones — just give it a name, and then hit "Done." It gets saved and you have an empty list, ready to get to work. When you want to add a new task, just tap on the large button in the center, and it brings up the prompt. Type in your task, and then tap on the "+" button for additional details like notes and a due date.
Unfortunately, Google Tasks does not support due times, which is something I prefer, with deadlines to meet. Maybe it's something that Google could consider in the future, but it may or may not be a deal breaker for some.
If you decide you need a task to be in a different list, it's easy to move. Just view the item in question, and then tap on the list in the upper left corner, then pick where you want to move it to. Or you can trash it with the button in the top right.
Google Tasks does come with support for subtasks straight out of the box, though, so at least there's that. You can add subtasks to any existing task in a list, and there's no limit on the number of subtasks you can have. You can check off each subtask off as you complete them, but checking off the main task also marks any subtasks as done in one go.
A nice thing about Google Tasks is that it has the ability to create tasks for you from emails. When you use Gmail to directly add a task, you can check out your tasks in the sidebar of Gmail. Tasks even let you trace it back to the source, in case you forget where it came from.
Previously only available on the web, Google Tasks is now a standalone app.
The Good
Google Tasks is a great choice to consider for tasks if you are already using Google's other G Suite apps, such as Gmail and Calendar. The mobile app looks a lot nicer than the web version, and it's fast and simple. It's not a complicated app, so those who are usually scared off by complex task managers like OmniFocus should definitely take a look at Google Tasks.
The Bad
I can see Google Tasks being good enough for those who don't want anything too complicated. However, I'm not a fan of the lack of due times with dates, and I wish I could organize lists together in a collection or project. Perhaps it's something that can be considered in the future.
The verdict
While I use Google for a lot of things (Calendar, Gmail, Contacts, and Photos), I don't think I'll be sticking with Tasks. While I like the simplicity of the design, it's just too barebones for me. However, if you don't need a complicated task manager and just need something that handles basic lists with subtasks or integrates with Gmail, then Tasks is a good fit. But if you need more powerful features, then I recommend looking elsewhere.
Google Tasks is available on the iPhone App Store for free.
7.8
OVERALL
iPhone Integration 8
User Interface 8
Is engaging 8
Lasting appeal 7.5
Does it well 7.5
Google Tasks: Get Things Done
Google LLC
Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews
credit : appadvice
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