Category Archives: First Looks

NinJump Gets iPad Version and a Planned Content Expansion

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NinJump Gets iPad Version and a Planned Content Expansion is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Backflip Studios are going all-out in unleashing their lineup of freemium games onto the App Store. After launching Buganoids on both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad last week, Backflip Studios is now going through their back catalog of games released this summer, with NinJump now getting an iPad version, appropriately called NinJump HD.

NinJump HD is the same game as the iPhone/iPod touch version, just now with graphics and gameplay optimized for the iPad. The game really does look much more detailed and crisp than the original version did scaled up to 2X. As well, for players who may have been playing on their iPad and may occasionally have missed a jump due to tapping on the blank part of the screen in 2X scaling, you won’t have this problem any more. While it may have been coincidental, I set a new high score the first time I played the iPad version.

Speaking of high scores, the game is similar to Buganoids where high scores are synchronized between the two versions, so you can track your high scores on whatever device you play on, as long as you use the same OpenFeint login. All the OpenFeint leaderboards are the same as the iPhone version, as evidenced by the over one million entries present before the iPad version was publicly available.

NinJump HD is currently free (with the possibility of being a paid download in the future, according to Backflip Studios), with $0.99 in-app purchase to remove ads, similar to other Backflip Studios freemium games. However, the game may go to paid at some point according to CEO Julian Farrior, so downloading it now is recommended. The gameplay is the same great addictive ninja jumping action that the iPhone version presented, just now in iPad form.

Backflip were also kind enough to drop some details on the future of NinJump. First, Android will be getting a free version of NinJump later this year. As well, a new paid version of NinJump will be released, expanding on what the original free version presented, featuring “new levels, enemies and other content, with plans to add frequent updates on a regular basis” according to Backflip Studios CEO Julian Farrior. NinJump fans could have a lot to look forward to in the coming months for their ninja jumping game of choice.

FREE!

NinJump – HD

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-09-21 :: Category: Games / Adventure

[ NinJump Gets iPad Version and a Planned Content Expansion is a post from 148Apps ]


Epic Citadel First-Look

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Epic Citadel First-Look is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website


Epic Citadel, a free tech demo released into the app store by Epic Games, is the precursor to the upcoming RPG game known as Project Sword. No word on whether this is the final product name or not.

Acting as less of a game teaser and more of an explorable world, Epic Citadel has certainly whet [...]


Finally, e-Textbooks Done Right: Inkling on iPad

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Finally, e-Textbooks Done Right: Inkling on iPad is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

I’ll be a college freshman in just a few short days, and a couple of weeks ago, my parents asked if I wanted to try using a Kindle or other eBook reader for my textbooks. I said no, immediately. Why? Because almost all current “eBook” versions of textbooks are just text dumps onto a flat screen. If anything, that’s worse than a paper textbook.

Enter Inkling, an iPad eBook app.

Inkling finally brings us books that feel digital, not just text dumps…and it does it with the gorgeous aesthetic that iPad apps are known for. Inkling books come with links, seamless scrolling, tappable key words, and full-text search. Like on a website, icons can be tapped for expanded explanations. Your notes are saved in “streams,” which can be shared with other users—so for example, you can view your study-buddy’s notes, or those of your professor. Highlights and notes show up both within the text, and in a separate view.

Figures and diagrams? They’re here, in fully-rotatable, high-resolution incarnations that respond to iPad gestures like pinch and twist. Videos can also be embedded within textbooks. The entire UI is clearly designed to provide maximum functionality, while simultaneously “disappearing.”

Sound perfect? Oh, yeah. But here’s the problem: Inkling only has a handful of books available. Marketing (Kerin), Biology (Raven), The Micro Economy Today (Schiller), Experience Psychology (King), and The Elements of Style are the only titles as of writing. And it’s hardly a surprise, either; Inkling’s features require a thorough restructuring of the text, and it’s not backed by any major textbook publishers.

Alas, due to its minuscule catalog, it looks like Inkling isn’t a viable means for me to acquire my textbooks for this year. Inkling is a remarkable, gorgeous app…let’s just hope it finds some publishers to support it.

FREE!

Inkling

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-08-20 :: Category: Education

[ Finally, e-Textbooks Done Right: Inkling on iPad is a post from 148Apps ]


Monster Rush from Halfbrick Rushing to the App Store

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Monster Rush from Halfbrick Rushing to the App Store is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Halfbrick, having already invented and mastered the object slashing genre with their popular app Fruit Ninja, are about to unleash their take on another casual gaming genre, albeit one more familiar to iOS gamers. Monster Dash is Halfbrick’s newest game, and is an endless horizontal platformer, similar in nature to Canabalt.

Monster Dash stars a sarcastic antihero named Barry Steakfries, who should be familiar to fans of Halfbrick’s PSP games, as he was the protagonist of the arena shooter Age of Zombies. In this game, he is running forward, shooting zombies, mummies, vampires and other types of supernatural horrors that cross his path. You have two commands – jump and shoot – and a health bar that allows you to track the damage you take from enemies and spikes before dying. You can pick up additional health and various weapons as you constantly run forward, including my new favorite weapon, the machine gun jetpack, which fires downward as it propels you upwards.

Monster Dash provides several different random locales for you to run forward in, although the only key difference is the visuals, but you will see different level types every 1000 meters. Every time you die, you get a humorous one-liner from Barry Steakfries, sporting similar smarmy and sarcastic humor as was in Age of Zombies (which still hasn’t been confirmed for iOS yet, despite being a perfect fit considering the popularity of twin-stick shooters on the platform), along with the ability to check OpenFeint leaderboards and to tweet your score. Monster Dash is an intriguing attempt to bring some more action to the endless platformer genre, which gamers will get to play starting August 19th.

[ Monster Rush from Halfbrick Rushing to the App Store is a post from 148Apps ]


lolo Burn Is A Real Running Trainer

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lolo Burn Is A Real Running Trainer is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

I personally love fitness training apps, especially the ones that tell me what to do at all times. My problem when working out, and this is especially true with running, is that I always want to stop. I can use RunKeeper all day, but after I get past mile 2-3, I start losing interest fast.

lolo Burn is the first running trainer that I know of that not only tracks your progress on a treadmill, but also talks to you along the way. it tells you, in a nice, calm voice (voiced by a real person named Britani, not a scary computer voice) that you need to run for X number of minutes of X speed and X incline. The lolo voice doesn’t quite have the motivational skills that my old soccer coach possessed, but I also don’t have to be afraid of balls being thrown at my head.

For a bit of extra push, lolo Burn also includes 24 fitness tracks (you can also use your own music) that matches beats with your running pace. The built in music is the typical stuff that you would expect to hear in a Lifetime Fitness aerobics class, but if that’s your thing then you are set.

Pick up lolo Burn today for $4.99 at your local App Store, and enjoy your run!

$4.99

lolo Burn – Cardio

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2010-08-03 :: Category: Healthcare & Fitness

[ lolo Burn Is A Real Running Trainer is a post from 148Apps ]