Zombie Invasion is a game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that lets you blast away zombies with several different guns. The object of the game is to just survive and earn a high enough score to lock your name down on the leaderboards.

You don’t move in this game at all. What you do is tap on the incoming zombies as they rush your unfortified position that you stay at night after night in an attempt to survive. You’ve got your trusty pistol, a grenade or two, and an assortment of other guns that you’ll find along the way to help keep this game interesting.  When zombies start attacking, you’ll have to tap in their direction to shoot them. Some require multiple shots depending on which gun you’re wielding, but you’ll eventually be able to get them down. You’ve got to keep an eye on your ammo supply for your secondary weapon and grenades as only the pistol has unlimited. This definitely adds to the challenge of the game, making it difficult to get a competitive high score.  Zombie Invasion is a really fun game, but it lacks substance. You’re simply standing there, night after night, shooting zombies in an attempt to just live a little bit longer. While the character models look cool and all, you’re basically just tapping away on the screen as you wonder why no zombies have attacked you from behind, considering your back isn’t against a wall or anything useful.

A pretty cool little app for only .99, you can read more about this game at www.conniptionentertainment.com./zombieinvasion/media .

Placelnk is one of those apps that allows you to post your services for others to see and review form their iPhone.  PlaceLnk uses iPhones GPS locator to give your potential customers direct access to either your personal or business information.  You can link the physical location of your home or business to a chosen website.This service is most helpful to those who weren’t able to grab their own personal domain name on the Internet.  Just link the coordinates of your home or business to a website of your choice, mapping your own place to a web site and it’s free.  Start up the application and it will determine your location and look for places around you, then click on a place and it will open up the web site linked to that location.  This is a great app allowing business owner to advertise and it gives a user the ability to compare information about nearby, competing businesses.  So here’s an example: You’re standing near several restaurants and you really want a corned beef on rye, start up Placelnk and after it finds your location, it gives you the option to open up websites for restaurants nearby.  Now you can compare menus and prices without ever entering an establishment.  Personal users can map links to their personal websites, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.  For a free app, this one not too bad, I would like to see a side-by-side comparison option.  It takes a little time to navigate back and forth between web pages, but it does what it’s designed for.  The cool thing is your business doesn’t have to have an iPhone to register, just visit the web site and do it for free.  I don’t know what purpose there is in registering personal info, if someone is that close to your home, they should just knock on your door and ask.  This app falls under the category of social networking but it’s really not designed to assist in connecting people, just people to businesses.

I think this app has potential, it serves its purpose and is a great idea, but it lack the ability to rate businesses or leave personal feedback.  It’s easy to use and to register online and it is free, everyone should appreciate that.  Check out the link at:

http://www.placelnk.com

Pathways, Conniption Entertainments latest release for the iPhone, puts a new spin on puzzle apps.  This app, however, is different from the other puzzle games because it contains a story line and lovable characters.  It’s challenging and fun to play.

You play the role of Tommy, a young man who is tasked with the rescue of his best friend, Eddie, who has fallen into the clutches of an evil villain.  Pathways begins as Eddie leaps headlong into a mysterious hole and becomes trapped inside a world of tiles, blocks and mazes.  The Grim Reaper looking villain, who has a taste for Orange Chicken, has devised an obstacle laden trek containing tiles that disappear as Tommy moves across them, so be careful of how you navigate the mazes.  Some tiles need to be crossed several times before they disappear, and there are also sliding tiles, natural obstacles, and more holes along the way that complicate things.  Pathways contains some seventy six levels and is a pretty fun game.  The first 10 levels aren’t all that hard, but after that, Pathways becomes more and more difficult.  It requires you to repeat levels, some several times, before completing them and moving on to the next level.  As you navigate through the pathways you’ll catch glimpses of Eddie and his evil captor, including some monologue that lends more to the story as you’re playing it out.  The graphic interface is very enjoyable and it comes with a satisfying sound track as well.  Of course there is a help menu that is easy and informative as well.

Pathways is entertaining and it’s a different kind of iPhone puzzle game, so if you’re looking for a new challenge and some intermittent goofiness then go ahead and give it a try. $4.99 may seem a little pricey but there’s a lot of gameplay sprinkled with an unusual dose of comedy and camp, and the mazes are very solvable if you put some thought into them.  Check out their official website at:

www.PathwaysTheGame.com

Simplenote, a new app for the iPhone, is like having a notepad in your pocket.  A very simple, one goal oriented app, take notes.  It works exactly like it should with only two buttons, one to delete your note and one to save it.

Simplenote also has a search function in case your notes queue is overflowing with reminders.  The app takes a little time to get acquainted with. Start the app up and you are presented with a blank page and a QWERTY keyboard.  The keys are small but with the use of a stylus that is easily overcome.  Tapping on the screen in certain places doesn’t do what you would expect such as when creating a new note, tapping a blank area below your list of notes that have already been made do not allow you to start something new. Instead, you type your title into the search bar and press ‘return.’ The result is a new note with a big, fresh page for typing.  You can use the search bar to find previous notes by just beginning to type, the most relevant search results appear, listing the most recently saved notes first.  There are not a lot of fancy options in this app, but it does what it’s designed to do.

This app is $1.99 from the app store and for its straight forward simplicity it’s worth the price.  If you’re looking for more caveats there are better apps out there.  Check out the website at: 
http://simplenoteapp.com/

Loan Shark 2.0, the new iPhone app from FoggyNoggin Software, can assist you in making the best decision in borrowing during these financially challenging times.  Loan Shark 2.0 is an update of the loan calculator and assistant for the iPhone and iPod touch and is available for US$4.99 at the Apple App Store.

Loan Shark is surprisingly easy to use it comes with great help components and an easy to read display.  Loan Shark helps you calculate loan values, display entire amortization tables, and locate nearby banks. It also shows you the benefits of making an extra payment.   With it, you enter a few loan details, and Loan Shark will do the rest, calculating any missing values. You can determine payment, necessary interest rate, or length of loan. Once you have your loan calculated, Loan Shark provides you with an amortization table showing the breakdown of interest and principal paid each month.  Loan Shark even gives a comparison of multiple loans side-by-side and lets you save your loan figures, and you can re-load them with a single tap. Using the iPhone’s built-in location sensor, Loan Shark can determine nearby banks and financial institutions.  This is a very useful app, especially for those involved in running a business or carrying multiple loans.  Loan Shark also helps you keep track of credit cards and automobile loans in the same way, showing your balances, principal and interest payments.  Think of this app as an electronic check book for your loans that balances itself.

A well priced, extremely useful app, Loan Shark even advises best options for repayment, and for $4.99 it doesn’t break your bank, or your legs. Check out FoggyNoggins website at:

http://FoggyNoggin.com/loanshark