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‘Chaos Rings for iPad’ Now Available Plus All Square Enix Titles On Sale
‘Chaos Rings for iPad’ Now Available Plus All Square Enix Titles On Sale is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
As we reported a few months ago, Square Enix's phenomenal iPhone exclusive RPG Chaos Rings was heading to the iPad. Game producer Takehiro Ando already had the game up and running on an iPad just days after the iPhone release, but wanted to take the time necessary to upscale all of the graphical assets to the higher resolution of the iPad screen. Now the day has finally come for Chaos Rings for iPad [$15.99] to be unleashed on iPad gamers everywhere. If you aren't familiar with the game take a look at our full review of the iPhone version and you'll see that we really, really like Chaos Rings. This sentiment should apply to the iPad version as well, just with crisper graphics and a larger area of play. From our review:
After putting the game through its paces, I can safely say it stands to not only meet any high expectations but exceed them in remarkable fashion. With stunning visuals and captivating gameplay that is tailored specifically for Apple's device, Chaos Rings defines what an RPG experience should be like on a mobile platform.
In the end, it's not really about how Chaos Rings does anything especially new, but rather how it takes all the pieces of a traditional role-playing game and packages it together in a way that feels natural to the platform. The result is something more akin to an action-adventure game with heavy RPG elements. The turn-based fighting is gratifying and never got old, and the story and character development remains immersive even in short play sessions. The entire experience feels like a high quality console offering shrunk down to portable size. Chaos Rings is executed brilliantly on just about every level, and has all the makings of a true classic.
Also, in celebration of the release of Chaos Rings for iPad, all of Square Enix's games are on sale in the App Store. You can check out all of their titles by clicking this iTunes link here, and there are some great deals to be had on some excellent games. At any rate, if you are an iPad owner and an RPG fan, don't hesitate to pick up Chaos Rings for iPad as it's not only one of the finest games available, but looks stunning on the larger screen. Hi res screenshots and player impressions can be found in the Chaos Rings for iPad thread in our forums.
App Store Link: CHAOS RINGS for iPad, $15.99 (iPad Only)
Price Drop Alert – ‘Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night’
Price Drop Alert – ‘Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night’ is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
One of the most classic game franchises of all time, Castlevania, finally made its long awaited debut on the iPhone last month, but not exactly as fans had expected. Rather than the action-oriented, whip-lashing platformer that we've grown up with the last two decades, the iPhone iteration of Castlevania appeared as a match 3 puzzle game with RPG elements.
Dubbed Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night [$1.99], the game takes place during the same timeframe as one of the most heralded entries in the series, Symphony of the Night. The majority of the game content stayed faithful to its inspiration in regards to equipment, enemies, and overall style, but the realtime fighting and platforming had been replaced with gem matching battle sequences reminiscent of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. After the initial disappointment of Castlevania Puzzle not being the type of game we were used to, looking past that aspect and judging the game on what it is meant to be revealed a fun RPG puzzler with a wealth of content to play through.
While we really liked the game in our review, opinions remain mixed amongst fans in our forums. If you were ever on the fence about purchasing Castlevania Puzzle, it just got a whole lot cheaper to take the dive and check out the game for yourself. Konami is having a 60% off “Back to School” sale on the game, dropping it in price from $4.99 to $1.99. If you're a Castlevania fan you'll likely get two dollars worth of enjoyment out of the presentation alone, and if you're a puzzle battling fan there are very solid game mechanics in place for some satisfying battles against the computer. If you're a fan of both, then this is a very good deal for the amount of content it contains, and I recommend checking out Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night during this limited time sale.
App Store Link: Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night, $1.99
Two New Updates and Price Drops – ‘Frogatto’ and ‘The Hero’
¡Freebie Fiesta! – ‘Babo Crash HD’, ‘Crystal Quest’, ‘DinoSmash Online’, ‘Dr. Nano – 3D Artery Adventure’, ‘Max Vector’, ‘Mecho Wars’, and ‘Piyo Blocks’
Freebie Alert: ‘Truckers Delight: Episode 1′ and ‘Luxor’
VAT Pro – iPhone App Review
VAT Pro – iPhone App Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
VAT Pro ($0.99)
Version 1.1
Looking for a quick and easy VAT or sales tax calculator? If so then you may be interested in VAT Pro. It is a simple and easy to use calculator that not only works for US states but also includes a decent listing of international sales tax details.
When you open the app up, it defaults to a country’s tax information but it is very easy to change that. By hitting the Countries button it will not only take you to a listing of different countries that are already built into the app but it will also show you a listing of different states within the US. In addition you can also make custom rates as well in the event that the country you are wanting to reference is not yet listed.
After choosing the country, or state, that you want to use, the app reverts back to the default calculator screen. At this point the process is simple. In the first spot you will type in the cost of what you’re looking at and based on the stored values it will return to you both what the sales tax will be and also the total price of what you’re interested in. Easy enough!
Here are a few things you’ll find in this app:
- VAT rates for European countries
- Tax rates for all US States
- Tax rates for over 50 more countries
In a nutshell this app is simple and easy to use. If you are looking for a VAT or sales tax app that is handy and ready to go then you may find this app worth looking at, especially if you could one day take advantage of the international rates as well. The app is currently selling in the app store for $0.99 so pick up your copy today!
- Chris G
© 2010, iPhone and iPad app reviews. All rights reserved. An expedite fee may have been paid for some reviews. We work diligently to ensure that this does not affect the content of the review and strive to keep the journalistic integrity intact. All reviews are the personal opinion of the reviewer.
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Freebie Alert: ‘Sentinel 2: Earth Defense’
Turn-Based Strategy Game ‘Highborn’ Free for a Day, iPad Version Now Available
Turn-Based Strategy Game ‘Highborn’ Free for a Day, iPad Version Now Available is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
One of our favorite turn-based strategy games, Highborn, has just received a new update and has gone free for today only. Released in early June of this year, Highborn has a wonderful art style, clever writing, single player campaign, and an asynchronous multiplayer mode. Using the typical top-down grid view of most strategic games like this, once you engage in battle with an enemy the game switches to a 3D animation of the ensuing fight between your troops and the enemy. It's a really neat effect, and the overall presentation of Highborn really impresses. As you can see from this excerpt, we really loved the game in our full review:
Highborn comfortably sits as one of the best turn-based strategy games we have played on the iPhone. Beyond its dialogue and characters, which raise the bar entirely for humour, creativity and personality (and ability to plough right through that fourth wall); Highborn looks and plays fantastically, with a depth and attention to detail in its presentation that constantly surprises (just take a look at the character descriptions to see what I mean). If you look past the Facebook integration (which we understand some of you won't, though we strongly urge you to), Highborn also has a lasting and engrossing multiplayer mode that is excellently paced and perfect for portable devices. With additional campaigns promised beyond the 8 lengthy missions currently available (they'll take you hours to complete), Highborn is a robust and content-heavy turn-based strategy game that will surely leave you impressed.
What you can also see from that snippet is that while we loved the way the multiplayer mode worked, we absolutely hated that it forced you to use Facebook to take part in it. I'm sure many other players felt the same, and likely shied away from the multiplayer aspect because of this. Developer Jet Set Games recognized this, and in an update released a couple days ago Facebook was taken out in favor of the OpenFeint social network. While not everyone is a fan of OpenFeint either, it at least affords a way to enjoy the multiplayer in the game without having to add strangers to your own personal Facebook friend list, and doesn't even require an email or any personal info to sign up for. There's even the inclusion of player chat thanks to OpenFeint, not to mention the 30 million strong user base.
Besides Highborn for iPhone being free today, there's also an iPad version that has just been released. The iPad version adds the usual benefits of sharper graphics and a larger play area due to the bigger screen, but essentially the two versions are identical. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, as the iPhone version is of such high quality and the introductory price for the iPad version is only $2.99. And while Highborn has a fairly decent single player campaign already, what I'm really waiting for is the addition of the second chapter that is hinted at in the game. Still, for one of the best strategy games available on the App Store there's no reason not to at least grab the iPhone version of Highborn while it's free for today only.
App Store Links: Highborn, Free – Highborn HD, $2.99 (iPad Only)
Open World RPG ‘Ravensword: The Fallen King’ Drops to 99¢
‘Cubed Rally Racer’ – New Lite Version and 99¢ Sale
‘Cubed Rally Racer’ – New Lite Version and 99¢ Sale is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Back in May, Jared Bailey from NoCanWin.com released Cubed Rally Racer [99¢] onto the App Store. Inspired by NES-era isometric racers, Cubed Rally Racer was dubbed “RC Pro-Am meets Canabalt”, and fits that tagline rather well. It put you in control of a rally car tasked with racing through randomly generated levels, all the while avoiding cows, gophers, and other silly obstacles on your way to the finish line. We really liked the game in our review, but noted that the controls can be hard to get used to and the overall difficulty of the game is rather high.
Because of those reasons, many gamers may have been on the fence over purchasing the game. Those fence-sitters should be happy to know then that a lite version of Cubed Rally Racer has just been made available. The full version features tracks made up of sections, with a maximum number of 99 sections in a track. Cubed Rally Racer Lite [Free] features up to 3 sections of track to race on, and a selection of the different unlockable track obstacles from the full version. It's definitely enough to give you an idea of whether or not you'll enjoy the full version, and there is an option to upgrade to the full right from within the game after practically every race.
What you don't get in the lite is any kind of OpenFeint integration, which is a huge part of Cubed Rally Racer as you can send challenges to friends and and compete on several different leaderboards. Also missing in the lite is the endless Pasture mode which acts as a more casual practice track, and Redline mode which is pretty much the opposite and has a red line chasing you down an endless course while you race, forcing you to keep up a brisk pace. These two modes have been added in an update since we reviewed the game, and players in our forums are absolutely loving them. In addition, the full version has many more types of track sections and obstacles available.
If you have never been able to pull the trigger on purchasing Cubed Rally Racer, definitely give this new lite version a try. It's the type of game that doesn't appeal to everybody, but to those who take kindly to it it's a real gaming treat. As an added incentive, the full game is seeing it's first ever price drop, down to 99¢ from $1.99. If you like what you see in the lite version, now is a great chance to jump on the full version of Cubed Rally Racer during this limited time sale.
App Store Links: Cubed Rally Racer, $0.99 – Cubed Rally Racer Lite, Free
Price Drop (and Freebie) Alert – ‘Ancient Frog’, ‘Stick Golf’, and ‘Underworlds Ultimate Edition’
Price Drop (and Freebie) Alert – ‘Ancient Frog’, ‘Stick Golf’, and ‘Underworlds Ultimate Edition’ is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
A few noteworthy games have just received a price reduction that are worth checking out. One is a puzzle game that features some incredible photorealistic graphics, one relies on simple stick figures and silhouettes, and the other provides hours of dungeon crawling action. They all have separate iPhone and iPad versions available for a low price, so no matter which device you own this particular sale should interest you.
Ancient Frog – A puzzle game where you must lead a frog to it's meal, which is naturally a fly, by moving one leg at a time. There are droplets of water laid out before you that are the only spots to place his feet. Keeping in mind that the frog's legs can only stretch so far, you must position him close enough to the fly to be able to eat it, using the least amount of moves as possible. The graphics were simply stunning at the time of release, which was well over a year ago, and still impress today. The graphics are incredibly lifelike, and the gameplay is both challenging and “zen-like” due to the game's great atmosphere.
We liked the iPhone version when it was released, and developer Ancient Workshop completely reworked the game for the iPad specific release, taking advantage of the higher resolution and extra screen space. Both versions originally sell for $4.99 a piece, but they have since both been dropped to 99¢. There's also a lite version to try, which I would recommend doing since the type of gameplay on offer may not appeal to everyone. But if you end up enjoying what's in the lite, I highly suggest grabbing Ancient Frog during this sale.
Stick Golf – A simplistic game of 2D golf with a clean style and a brutal difficulty. There's eight different nine hole courses, all with a unique theme and some crazy level designs. You're given a side view of each hole and a small trajectory line emanates from the golf ball. To hit a shot you simply adjust the line using a pair of directional arrows, tap a shot button once to start a shot strength meter, and tap again to set the power of the shot. Using one finger you are able to pan around the level to plan out your next shot, and playing Stick Golf couldn't be easier.
The real challenge of Stick Golf is the difficult design of the courses and the physics system. Plenty of times I've made an epic shot only to have my ball very slowly continue rolling right off of some sort of cliff and down into a deep chasm, which I'd then lose plenty of strokes trying to get out of. Still, it's a fun game and easy to get sucked into playing for short or long bursts. I'm not sure why I had never noticed Stick Golf before, but with the price dropping down to free it was a no brainer to check it out, which I'm glad that I did. There's also an iPad specific version available for 99¢, and either are worth taking a look at during this sale.
App Store Links: Stick Golf, Free – Stick Golf HD, $0.99 (iPad Only)
Underworlds Ultimate Edition – The iPad version of Underworlds [99¢ / Free], a hack and slash dungeon crawler we really enjoyed in our review. Since we first looked at the game, two additional chapters worth of content have been added and the iPad version makes great use of the extra screen real estate with things like your inventory popping up in small windows instead of being full screen on the iPhone which you can see in the following video:
If you own an iPad and have any interest in dungeon crawlers, you need to grab Underworlds Ultimate Edition, especially while it's free. If you've got an iPhone or iPod touch, give the lite version of Underworlds a spin and consider upgrading to the full version which provides a surprising amount of content for its current price of 99¢.
App Store Links: Underworlds Ultimate Edition, Free (iPad Only) – Underworlds, $0.99 – Underworlds Lite, Free
Three Free Titles During Donut Games Crazy Summer
Three Free Titles During Donut Games Crazy Summer is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Donut Games has just set three of their premium titles to free during their “Crazy Summer” promotion. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we love Donut Games. The wonderful pixel art graphics and simple game concepts are a perfect fit for iPhone gaming. Their games are hardly ever priced at more than a dollar, so it's not hard saying that purchasing any of their games is money well spent. However, if you've ever been on the fence over grabbing any of these three titles, you have no reason not to now as they've gone temporarily free.
Castle Smasher – One of the earliest offerings from Donut Games, Castle Smasher has you launching stones from a catapult towards a castle in an effort to demolish it to the ground. A recent 2.0 update added a tremendous amount of new content to the game, which we detailed in an article last month. If you enjoy something like Angry Birds, then you should surely enjoy Castle Smasher.
App Store Link: Castle Smasher, Free
Traffic Rush – Traffic Rush is a fairly simple traffic direction game. Cars enter from all sides of the screen moving towards a four way intersection. You must decide when to stop cars and when to speed them through in order to avoid having any collisions. If an accident occurs, it's game over. The action picks up fairly quickly as more and faster cars start to come, and the game can get incredibly hectic and fun. If you like line drawing games like Harbor Master or Flight Control, but could do without the actual drawing of lines, Traffic Rush should be a great fit.
App Store Link: Traffic Rush, Free
Cat Physics – A cute physics puzzler that tasks you with directing a ball from one kitty to another. Arrows can be placed about on each level that redirect where your ball will go, allowing you to make your way past the obstacles in it's path. I've seen a pretty overwhelming response to Cat Physics from gamers of all ages, and we loved the game in our review from May. Finding just the perfect placement of the arrows ensures you can maximize your score, and if you like puzzle games Cat Physics is a winner.
App Store Link: Cat Physics, Free
Freebie Friday – ‘TowerMadness HD’ Free for Today Only
Camera+ Makes $250k In First Month – Writer Considering Career Change
Camera+ Makes $250k In First Month – Writer Considering Career Change is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
tap tap tap (Convert, Voices) has done quite well in the App Store despite not being a game developer. Continuing this trend, the company has announced today in a lengthy blog post that their newest app, Camera+, has made $250k in its first month. Surprisingly enough, the app did so with no advertising (the company doesn’t advertise for its apps anymore due to costs) and quickly declining sales in the US market.
So how did they do it? Here’s the abridged version.
Since tap tap tap does no advertising anymore, John Casasanta, head of the company and writer of the blog post, says that the key is to start with a HUGE launch. Huge as in contest for $10,000+ worth of camera equipment… but the key is how to get the word out. Fortunately for tap tap tap, John Casasanta is also the head of MacHeist, so the company got a large head start, but now tap tap tap has its own opt-in list with 70,000 subscribers. Says Casasanta, “Granted, not every developer has access to such resources, but there’s no reason that anyone can’t build-up resources of this sort over time… it’s taken us years so patience and persistence is key.”
I guess in any business, you’re only as successful as the people you know, or in this case, the amount of people you know.
The rest of the success lies in the app itself. Since the US App Store is completely dominated by games, it’s imperative to have a flawless, detail oriented app with some fun touches and well done social network integration. The post talks, in detail, about making things feel right, with not too many options, but enough to work correctly. Also, developers need to be completely open to feedback, and update when the app needs to be updated, but only when the updates are necessary.
As a non-game, it’s very important to keep hope even after sales wane in the US. The app market overseas is very different from our game and entertainment app dominated store, with countries like Finland having 14 of the top 25 being non game and entertainment apps. Check out the sales chart on the right to see how foreign app store are supporting Camera+.
The post ends with a warning. “You can spend a year on an app and hardly make a dime on it. It’s not just the nature of the App Store… it’s the nature of practically any business.” Only make an app if it’s something that you love, and be sure to slave over every last detail.
So good luck to all the devs that are out to make your own $250k. If every app turns out to look as well made as any of the tap tap tap apps, the world would be a much better place.
[Source: taptaptap]
[ Camera+ Makes $250k In First Month – Writer Considering Career Change is a post from 148Apps ]