Apple App Reviews

Overview Ragdoll Blaster is one of the most successful iPhone games of all time, so it made perfect sense for Backflip Studios to make a sequel. The main gameplay is intact, and now there are upgrades to everything else with the most noticeable difference the visuals. In Ragdoll Blaster you fire ragdolls from cannons, and try to hit targets that are in varying locations with multiple hazards and contraptions in your way. Features Nearly 140 levels are included not counting the tutorial levels, split into 9 rooms of 15 levels, with a few bonus at the end. The game is all about using the power of the cannon, the ragdoll physics, and your puzzle solving skill to reach the target using the fewest number of ragdolls. Some levels require quick timing while others are slow methodical head scratchers, and there are levels requiring a lot of fired ragdolls. There are many new types of levels with new elements. You have to deal with springs, bombs, ice, zero gravity, gravity pulls, and transporters to name a few. Plus+ is also included for online high score tables for each of the rooms based upon the number of ragdolls shot. Over 30 achievements are also included for varying degrees of skill. The Good The game is billed as improving on everything of the first, and in actually playing the game I can confirm their assertion. The biggest improvement is the gameplay which was already solid.

The name of the game is match, match, match! Basic rules Match Match Shapes is a game in which the player tries to place as many shape sets as possible on the board within the three minute time limit. ?? Rotate and drag the 2?2 shape sets onto an area of the board. ?? The shape set can be placed on an area of the board if the shape or color of the shapes of the area match those of the shapes in the set.?When the shape set is placed correctly on the board, the original shapes will be replaced. ?? When the shape set is placed correctly on the board, the original shapes will be replaced. ? ? When all three shape sets are placed on the board, new sets will appear in their place. If no shape sets can be placed on the board, touch the reload button on the bottom right hand corner to replace them with new sets. Tips If a shape set is placed in the same area as one from before, more points will be given. Continue to place the shape sets in the same area to acquire lots of points

Overview Sparkle is a brand new game from 10tons & MythPeople, and it’s a full port of their PC game. It’s a new marble (orb) shooter for the App Store, that is fixed position (Zuma) rather than a bottom scroller (Luxor/Stoneloops). You tap where you want the orb to go, trying to match three orbs of the same color that are in chains moving along a fixed path. There is a story to go along with the marble shooter just as Azkend has a story to go with the match three. You are in Crowberry Woods, and a darkness (like the black smoke monster from Lost) is taking over the lands. It’s up to you to journey into the woods, and use your orb slinging prowess to collect magical runes, and send the darkness back in its hole. Features Three gameplay modes are included to test you marble popping prowess

Overview Nimblebit has released a new game, and if that doesn’t mean anything to you, then you must not like good games. Dizzypad is their newest creation which pits you as a frog, and your goal is to jump from lily pad to lily pad as far as you can in a moonlit pond. The lily pads rotate, and there is a little white arrow that shows your jump direction. You tap when the white arrow lines up with the next lily pad, and you’re on your way. You begin with three lives (flowers), but you can earn more by skipping a lily pad on a jump. As you progress the lily pads become smaller, and fewer in number. Features Not the most feature rich game, but it has quite a few good ones. The biggest thing is that there is Plus+ for online high scores and achievements. There are four high score tables, for single run points and total points as well as single run flowers, and total run flowers. 15 achievements are also included, and each one is tied to unlockable frog skins. Once you earn an award, a new frog appears in your collection, and you can customize the frog with that skin for your next run. The Good Nimblebit seems to have the simple casual game down pat

10tons has just released Sparkle , an atmospheric orb shooter by the creators of the much-loved puzzle matching game, Azkend . Sparkle , like Azkend , began its life as a Mac/PC game in 2007.  It received much praise during its initial launch, helping it climb to the number one spot on RealArcade.com , so it was a no-brainer to bring the title over to the iPhone. Sparkle features familiar orb shooting gameplay where your launcher is in a fixed position on the map and you must fire like colored orbs in order to match three or more to clear the trail before they reach the hole.  You can switch the color of the orb you are firing by tapping the launcher, and tapping on an area of the map will launch the orb. The game features multiple levels, three game modes, achievements, power-ups, in-depth stat tracking, and smooth and colorful graphics.

In the next few weeks, Backflip Studios is set to release the follow-up to its extremely popular game, Ragdoll Blaster. Though it has nearly the same gameplay as the original, Ragdoll Blaster 2 feels like an entirely new game thanks to a complete rehaul of the visual style, an original audio score, and tons of new elements to fling your ragdoll, over, under, around and through. Gravity wells, ice floors, bombs – these are just a few of the new things you’ll have to contend with. Did I mention the teleporters? Now you’re playing with Portals! Once you get past the tutorial levels, you move into the appropriately named Awesome Room. Is the puzzle design of RB2 as good as the original Ragdoll Blaster? Oh, yeah! From simple accuracy based puzzles to complex multi-ragdoll based monstrosities, Backflip created a wide variety of new levels, including an homage to one of their other top selling games, Paper Toss. And, wait a minute, is that level really a claw machine you have to extract the target from before you can even shoot a ragdoll at it?

Overview ReBounce is a brand new take on the arcade puzzle genre from Romper Games. You control a puck, and you have to destroy marbles by hitting them with a gold puck. The marbles take three hits to destroy, and your best objective is to make as many marbles on the same level of damage to make a huge chain of marble blasting. The puck bounces around automatically, but that doesn’t do much. You can control the puck by flicking on the screen in the intended direction, or tap and hold on the puck to slow down time temporarily, and aim your shot. Features Three gameplay modes are included which alternate as you progress through the main game. The highlight is rush mode which gives you endless rising columns of marbles and gears, and you try to keep them from reaching the top target line

Sudoku Shuffle is Sudoku variant that combines the elements of Sudoku and the challenge of a Rubik’s cube. Get Sudoku Shuffle from the App Store In Sudoku Shuffle, you start with a Sudoku grid full of out of place numbers. The goal is to rearrange the numbers so they form a valid Sudoku puzzle. You can only move the numbers around by sliding the rows and columns using touch gestures. A valid Sudoku puzzle must have one of each number in every row, column, and square region. Sudoko Shuffle features two difficulty levels.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we’re putting Lexo, the fun and addictive word game for every occasion, on sale. For one week, word lovers can enjoy Lexo’s challenging gameplay for the reduced price of $1.99 (US pricing). You’ll need to hurry, though – Lexo will return to its full price on 21st February. Lexo features simple, yet challenging, gameplay in which you unscramble mixed up letters to find a hidden word. 4 game modes and 3 difficulty levels make Lexo ideal whether you want to warm up a sluggish brain or face a more serious challenge. Works with iPhone and iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above. More Information about Lexo Purchase Lexo on the App Store View the Lexo Demo on You Tube

Filed under: Macworld , Humor , Cult of Mac , TUAW Business While we were walking around the Apple Campus yesterday, we spotted this strange device planted in the ground. The picture above is the only one we took, but we’ll give you a few hints: the two holes in the metal box are upside down trapezoids, and inside of them, you can see a metal grating just bigger than the holes themselves. The device stood right next to the Apple visitor parking lot (and in fact, that shadow on the right side is of a parked car just outside the frame — the box itself is planted in grass, with no other wires or connections on it). Our query to you: What is this thing? We have our own ideas — we joked it was some kind of electric car charger, or perhaps an iPod nano dispensary. It almost seems like the leftover parts of a parking meter, but it was the only such box in the lot, and it was facing away from the cars parked there. Give us your guesses below: what is this strange box on the Apple Campus parking lot? We’ll update this post with your best answers, and maybe even the right one, if you can figure it out