Price: $1.99     Score: 6/10     By A. Papachristos

Whether you’ve just obtained a new job or are a seasoned pro, advice from someone who has walked the same road can often be a comfort.  Hearing about their experiences can often teach you secondhand lessons that will help you make better decisions in your own position.

With Best Manager Secrets by Umbrella Business Development Ltd, users in the managerial field will find a book-like guide of advice, ranging from logical topics such as listening and sharing, to more business related topics such as marketing and promotion. While the guide offers a simple tone written in the most basic of styles, the general content of Best Manager Secrets can be considered logical and predictable, making one realize that most of what they’ve read could very well have been knowledge obtained for free through personal experience or the tales of a co-worker, friend or relative.

Though the author, Ziv, as he calls himself, could have used an editor to polish up some sentence structure and typo faux pas, he certainly provides a lengthy account of what he has learned as a manager.  One can always learn something from the first-hand experience of another in the same profession.  However, users should also take such advice with caution as no two scenarios are the same.  What Ziv may suggest only serves as guidance, as with any advice.  In the end, Best Manager Secrets simply promises to provide users with a general sense of how they may approach their job and suggest key skills that have been known to prove worthwhile.

Users who wish to get an idea of what Best Manager Secrets offers may choose to try the free version, Manager Secrets, first.  This version allows users access the first three chapters, giving them a taste that will hopefully entice them to buy the full version, which can indeed be purchased within the free application itself.

Best Manager Secrets [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.1.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

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Simplicity with a side of mind-bending difficulty is often the heart of any puzzle game on the App Store. Some games soar to greatness with this philosophy at their heart. RollOut is looking to top the charts of puzzle solving greatness with a new take on challenging your noggin. Does RollOut succeed in this task, or is it sucking the scum off the bottom of the barrel?

RollOut is a puzzle game about making for the exit. Players are tasked with getting Wabba to the exit of each level. Wabba is not just going to sit around and wait, though. Wabba forms into a saw blade ball and proceeds to start rolling through the level. To bad Wabba can’t just cut his way to the exit.

The puzzle part comes in with getting Wabba’s pointy posterior to the exit. Jump arrows scroll across the stage. Players control these arrows to get this Sonic wannabe to the exit door. The complexity starts to rack up when the player realizes these jump arrows can only be moved to the left. Wabba starts on the ground floor and it is up to players to jump him to an exit door strategically placed somewhere way above his starting position.

While this all sounds rough enough, there is yet even more complexity to throw into the mix. Sometimes an elevator is necessary to get to higher ground. Landing on it will stop Wabba just long enough to get to the next level. Wabba can also fall all the way back down to the starting position. Adding into these levels of heck are areas where the jumping signs won’t work.

Oh yeah, there is one last touch to round out those 50 levels of insanity-inducing game play. Jump signs, elevators, and control voids may all sound feeble and weak in comparison. One last thing to consider: not all jump signs are the same. Some will make Wabba race faster, others will pause, and some will even slow down the action. Whew.

RollOut may notch up the puzzle complexity, but it sure skips the visual eye candy. About the only colors that ever come into play here are fundamental primary colors in the control signs. Some different backgrounds would have really upped the ante on the presentation side.

Overall, RollOut is a sadistic take on puzzle platforming. Fifty levels, trophy support, and simple game play make this worthy of being on that iPhone. Just don’t be surprised when your broken blood vessels kick in at the higher levels.

[ iPhone Review: RollOut is a post from 148Apps ]

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Price: $.99    Score: 9/10    By A. Papachristos

Driving on an actual road, whether for work or for play, can prove to be quite an annoyance.  People now have to beware of the dozens of oblivious drivers who dart out in front of them sans blinker, as opposed to the occasional squirrel or groundhog.  However, with Road Hog by one1eleven, users can reclaim the road as they dodge walls and road signs, racking up points and proving they are the true king of the road (according to the worldwide leaderboard, at least).

When you begin, you will find a screen that explains all the necessary controls and markings on the screen.  Users will find the Pause button in the upper left corner, while their score and lives are visible in the upper right corner.  To control the car itself, simply tap and drag the vehicle to move.  Use your second hand to tap the car whenever you need to jump.  If you wish to access this information again at any time, visit the Tutorial listed on the main page.

Once you reach the main screen, users will find a simple yet useful main menu, including a Facebook connect button at the top of the screen that does just that, which allows you to share your latest scores with all of your friends.  Before you begin, head down to Settings, where you can choose you car’s color (red, yellow, green, blue, or pink), as well as adjust the volume of the music and sounds throughout the game.  As you play, users can monitor their score in comparison to Road Hog’s world leaderboard.  Unfortunately, no matter how many times I played, my scores never appeared on the ‘Me’ scoreboard, though Road Hog does also promise to track your personal scores as well.

The basic idea is to drive, avoiding the myriad obstacles in your way, while also collecting as many stars as you can to increase your score.  Tap with your other hand to jump, or, when you acquire a bonus button, tap using your other hand to trigger the action when necessary.  Faced with oil slicks, open manholes, shifting road signs and brick walls that will cause your car to explode, users face the most dangerous roadway of their lives.  However, the extremely smooth tap and drag controls make navigating Road Hog so enjoyable that I have come to completely agree with the fact that this game may become truly addictive. And considering Road Hog induces much less rage than the actual road, it’s a shame one can’t just tap and drag themselves to work each morning.

Road Hog [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

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Price: $.99    Score: 8/10    By A. Papachristos

Anyone who owns one of Apple’s portable gadgets will tell you that its utmost convenience is the capability to connect with friends, family and the World Wide Web in the blink of an eye.  Sharing timely photos and the details of current happenings as they occur is one of the greatest aspects of today’s developing technology.

Tap ‘n Cap by Jeremy Brousseau utilizes such modern conveniences to bring users an intuitive and simple application that allows them to enhance their image sharing experience.  With Tap ‘n Cap, users may insert up to six lines of custom text, creating captions for photos attained via their device’s photo library or camera.

Upon startup, users will find the Help screen, which teaches them exactly which actions accomplish certain tasks.  A single tap of the empty screen will reveal the main task bar located at the bottom of the screen.  The buttons provided are as follows: Settings, Help, Get Pic, Clear, Caption, and Finished.

Under Settings, users can adjust the many features Tap ‘n Cap offers, such as Camera Options (save copy of original, iPhone 3G mode), Photo Options (auto-save on send, auto-crop photos) and Text Options (auto-correct, auto-capitalize, two-finger rotate, default font).  In fact, Tap ‘n Cap offers 20 font choices, the default being my favorite as it is reminiscent of the classic LOLCats typeface.  These fonts come in black and white, though the developers hope to soon add colors, shadow, opacity and strikethrough to the list of choice in an upcoming update.

To begin the process, users will first need a picture to caption.  Tapping the Get Pic button will prompt the question of whether you’d like to choose a photo from you library or take one with your camera (if your device has one).  Once you have selected your picture, the once empty space will now display your photo.  Conveniently, Tap ‘n Cap supports landscape mode for any type of photo.  If you do not like what you see, the Clear button will wipe everything away.  However, if you are happy with your image, hop right over to the Caption button to insert your witty words.  A box will appear on the screen in which you may begin typing your caption.  When you have finished writing, you may then use a single tap to drag your caption to any position on the image.  You may scale the caption by using a two-finer pinch.  Double tapping the caption will release its own tool bar, which allows you to rotate the words or change the font.

Once complete, tap the Finished button to either save your image to your device or email it to a friend.  In the future, the developers also hope to include the ability to upload your images to Facebook and other such social networking sites.

Unfortunately, only those with an iPhone (or the latest iPod Touch) will benefit from the spontaneity Tap ‘n Cap offers.  For all other users, the photo you caption must already exist in your photo library (unless you have the external camera attachment for the iPad, but that’s a hassle and probably won’t be attached during those ideal, caption-worthy photo moments), though the $.99 price tag won’t break the bank for those who want to experiment with what they have.  And, for those who can utilize Tap ‘n Cap to its fullest extent, the potential for laughter is endless, allowing you to create your own silly images with the tap of a finger, not computer necessary.

Tap ‘n Cap [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.1.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

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