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Review: Street Fighter IV
March 16th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

Overview

The Street Fighter franchise is one of Capcom’s most popular franchises, and in a surprise announcement the franchise will be coming to the App Store. True to their word, it’s out for the iPhone and iPod Touch. With such a massive fanbase, I don’t doubt the game will succeed. However, does this mobile version provide a good enough experience, or does it fall flat on its feet? Read on to find out.

Features

Street Fighter IV has a roster of eight different characters including Abel, Blanka, Chun Li, Ryu, M. Bison, Guile, Dhalsim, and Ken. The game also includes seven different environments to fight in.

There are tons of moves in Street Fighter IV, with Focus Attacks, Super Combos, Ultra Combos, and more. The controls can also be moved around, tweaked in terms of transparency, and you can also unleash special moves with the “SP” button, or manually enter the combo.

Head-to-head fighting via a Bluetooth connection has also been included. In addition, a new “Dojo” mode teaches you how to play the game and become a good Street Fighter by giving you tips and a set of objectives with restrictions or requirements that you have to complete against an opponent. Both casual and hardcore gamers can play this alike, since there are four varying levels of difficulty.

The Good

The gameplay mimics arcade machine controls, since you’ll have the joystick on the left, with various punch, kick, focus attack, and special attack buttons on the right. You can choose to fight in a Tournament, Free Sparring, Dojo, or Training, and for the first two modes you can select the number of rounds (one, three, five, or seven) in each fight and whether special move assist (the SP button) and Auto Block are enabled or not.

You’ll fight against various characters with diverse attack styles. Street Fighter IV is definitely a Street Fighter game here: it’s not a mini-game like other big name games, but nor is it a revolutionary new interpretation. If you’ve played a Street Fighter game before, you’ll know how it works.

The graphics are sprite based, and they’re quite good-looking. The screenshots in iTunes don’t represent what you really see in game, since sprites caught in a still screenshot normally look out of place. I can assure you that the in-game graphics are better than what you see.

The “Dojo” mode is a worthwhile addition for new players, teaching them how to effectively use moves, specials and ultra attacks, as well as create combos with each of the eight characters. You can also unlock a survival mode called “An Endless Battle Royale” mode after completing all of the Dojo missions. The Dojo also gives ratings for how well you do on each exercise, and you’ll have to spend some time to get the highest rank, “S,” on every single one.

The fast loading times and numerous moves and combos are something that I must praise Capcom for. At the most, it takes around 15 seconds for me to select a character and stage, load everything, and start fighting (on a 2nd gen iPod Touch). The list of moves has not diminished either, and doubtless veterans will find their favorite moves in this game, and newcomers will marvel at the choices that they can select from.

The Bad

More characters and environments should definitely be added, since this game currently doesn’t have enough content to warrant the premium $10 price point. At the most, I’d value this game at around $5 for the included content, and another $5 just for the “Street Fighter” namesake alone, just like the Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies game that Activision released. In analyzing the value for your money, Street Fighter IV is vastly overpriced for what it currently has.

A control scheme utilizing the iPhone and iPod Touch’s strengths would also be nice. Gesture-based control schemes are innovative and fit the iPhone and iPod Touch’s screen, so they’d work just as well, if not better, than the standard d-pad and button combo.

In addition, the screen seems much too cluttered with such a big d-pad in one corner and four big buttons on the other side. Granted, the d-pad allows near-perfect execution of moves, but it’s aesthetically ugly and seems ripped straight out of the arcade machines. There’s so much innovation possible with a touch screen, but it seems Capcom didn’t take the time to add the extra things in.

Another thing is that the fighting mechanic is cheap – you can totally abuse some moves and just spam the same combo over and over and you’ll be able to win a round. This eliminates a lot of the fun and skill necessary when you hit upon a difficult opponent or challenge.

Also, Street Fighter IV’s save system is broken. Since this is a mobile game, a working save system is a must since you never know when you’ll have to close the game and do something else. Street Fighter IV has a save system, but it doesn’t work. If you’re in the middle of a tournament and quit the game, it will not save your progress. This is a major flaw and something Capcom should take a serious look at.

Lastly, the lack of online multiplayer is extremely disappointing. I was kind of expecting it to be included since this is at the top tier of iPhone and iPod Touch gaming pricing. Online multiplayer is all the rage for Street Fighter games, and it’s what the iPhone can excel at. Including it in this one would make up for some of the other missing or broken components of the game.

The Verdict

If you are a hardcore Street Fighter fan, you probably have already purchased this game. For casual fighting gamers and action game fans Street Fighter IV is something you should consider buying if you have $9.99 that you can spare, but the game is far from perfect.

Street Fighter IV is a worthwhile purchase and one that has the possibility to capture your attention for a good amount of time. On the other hand, there are many more fun, unique, and innovative games at more affordable price points on the App Store that give much better value for you money. Like stated earlier the game seems to have a larger price for the street fighter name, and not the quality of the game.

Keep in mind that the controls seem somewhat awkward at first for new players and that the save game system does not function. If you don’t like arcade fighters, then the game will seem like a repetitive button masher. On the whole however, Street Fighter IV is a good attempt by Capcom at a serious foray into the iPhone and iPod Touch gaming market, but there is so much more that it could have been, and many places it can improve on now.

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Games To Download For Free: Spite & Malice, Castle Conflict, And Monkey Flight
March 16th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

After what was a pretty lackluster last couple of days for free games, today we have three good ones for you to check out by developers Trivial Technology, Broken Kings, and Donut Games.

Spite & Malice ($.99 -> Free): A challenging card game where you must simply be the first person to play all of the cards from your payoff pile, which is a lot easier said than done. Each player has five cards in front of them at all times besides the payoff pile, which contains 20 cards, each only accessible one at a time.  To play cards you must follow the sequence with no regards to suit.  Kings can be used as wild cards.  Keep placing cards as long as you can, and your turn ends when you throw a card into the discard pile.

The game features three game modes including local multiplayer via Bluetooth, three levels of difficulty, progressive stat tracking, and all kinds of gameplay customization options.

Spite & Malice is available for free today only (3/16/10).

Castle Conflict ($.99 -> Free): A real-time strategy/castle defense game that requires you to build up your army and take down your opponent before their forces are too strong.  The game features fairly basic graphics, but the gameplay is deep enough to keep you coming back for more.  You must balance your units by sending some out to collect trees (resources) while using others to defend and attack.  Units move freely once unleashed and can be upgraded to be more effective.

The game features 33 unit types, 39 levels in campaign mode, quickplay for a casual experience, and local multiplayer over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Castle Conflict is available for free today only (3/16/10).

Monkey Flight ($.99 -> Free): Another great casual and free game from Donut Games.  Monkey Flight will have you slinging monkeys through the air order to collect as much fruit as possible.  You control the launcher by tapping and holding until the time is right, and your monkey will bounce across the map collecting fruit.  You can extend your air time with a single tap, which makes the monkey pass some gas and also helps you avoid obstacles such as rocks and mud puddles that will stop you in your tracks.

The game features an arcade high-score mode, 40 challenges, local and online leaderboards, and progressive stat tracking.

Monkey Flight will be available for free for a limited time.

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Review: Picture Safe
March 13th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

The Overview

After the great Porno Purge of 2010 (February 20th – Bikini and Boobies will never forget!), we are left with few places to get our semi-naked images from rather than Safari and other browsers. We are all left grumbling for our loss and, sorry, but I am not going to turn you on to any apps with secret easter eggs to help you get your groove on.

However, once you DO get the images on you iDevice, what are you going to do with them? Leave them with your vacation photos, hiding behind that pretty little sunflower icon where your kids or just ANYONE can find them? Of course not! You need an app that can store photos that has, at minimum, password protection.

Picture Safe has been in the Top 25 in Utilities for a year and for good reason – this app is incredibly feature rich in organizing, protecting, transferring and hiding your photos…and not just the p0rn…seriously, there are plenty of other legitimate reasons you’d want to hide some of your photos, like….errrr…you are…..ummm……a spy….or something.

The Features

Picture Safe has multiple password protection: your real password , an accidental password, and an interrogation password. Your real password gets you to your actual photos. If someone tries to guess your password, after a preset number of failures, PS acts like they “accidentally” guessed correctly and shows them innocent photos…by default, PUPPIES!…no, wait…just silly background images.

And if you are ever forced to give out your password, say by an upset significant other who threatens to rip your ‘nards off unless she sees what is hidden behind that vault icon, this password takes them to same folder of images. My suggestion would be to change those images to something upsetting but not damning….else, why would you be password protecting them?

There are multiple ways to move files into Picture Safe: importing directly from your Photos app, upload through a web interface, upload through FTP, Bluetooth transfer for iDevices that have the hardware, or transfer over USB cable with a special app downloaded directly form the collect3 mobile web site. Unlike similar apps, you can upload 1000s of photos  with one push of a button.

The Breakdown

The Good
Did I mention that it hides your porn? And gives you multiple smokescreens to keep prying eyes from seeing what you don’t want them to see.

Being able to organize into multiple folders and do all that from your PC or Mac is so much easier than trying to arrange things on your iPhone screen.

Picture Safe has a password hint and password reset function (after answering security questions). I’ve used other photo privacy apps that completely locked me out if I forgot my password.

Take camera photos and add them straight to Picture Safe from within the app. No need to take pictures then transfer them over.
The Bad
The web interface is very non-intuitive. Without watching the tutorial videos or reading the online documentation, you will spend a lot of time fumbling around trying to figure it out.

Choosing multiple images from the Photo app does not give feedback as to what you have and have not chosen – just a count of the number of images picked. If you feel that you have chosen all the images in a folder, but PS’s count is different from the folder count, you’ll have to cancel and start all over again.

USB upload is sketchy. The client is still in beta but collect3 customer service responds to your questions fairly (I still cannot get it to work consistently, though).

The Verdict

Of course, not everyone needs a place to hide images. But if you are reading this review, I am guessing that you do. Whatever your reason for needing such an app – and, hey, I’m not judging! – Picture Safe has been the top privacy app for 12 months for a reason. It is the highest quality “protect your photos” app that I have used. Also, you can use its In App purchase system to get Video Safe, also….cause, you know, you need to password protect your kids’ Christmas Pageant videos.

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Games To Download For Free Today: Comet Racer, Flaboo, Spartacus, And Quizarium
March 12th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

Today can’t get any better. First off, it’s Friday, the end of the work week. Second, iPad pre-orders. Third, a bunch of awesome free games!

Comet Racer ($.99 -> Free): Another once paid, now free game from Donut Games.  The game will have you racing around the galaxy in a small rocket-powered ship using on-screen buttons or a unique touch and drag mechanic. Levels contain hidden secrets and power-ups throughout to spice up the gameplay.

The game also features local and online leaderboards and a ghost system so you can race against your own best times.

As with most of these Donut Games promotions, Comet Racer should be a free for a decent amount of time.

Flaboo ($.99 -> Free): A casual accelerometer controlled jumping game that features a plump chick that you must guide to all new heights.  Flaboo’s gameplay differs from others in the genre by requiring you to reach checkpoints before time expires in order to keep moving on.  Also, instead of just automatically jumping you must tap the screen when landing on each cloud.  Your chick can also hover for a moment by tapping the screen.

The game contains a variety of power-ups, and OpenFeint integration for leaderboards and achievements.

Flaboo is available free today only (3/12/10).

Spartacus: Blood and Sand ($4.99 -> Free): A violent and bloody fighting game that allows you to compete one-on-one against enemy AI or a friend via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in a gladiator-style setting.  Characters are controlled via an on-screen d-pad and three combat buttons: quick attack, block, and strong attack.  Combos can be created with specific sequences of button taps and a move list can be accessed via the pause menu.

The game also features three difficulty settings, eight characters to choose from, and modifiable game rules.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand is available for free for a limited time.

Quizarium (Free): This is now the third time I have mentioned On5’s new game in the last 24 hours, and for good reason, it’s pure fun.  Quizarium is an online trivia game that allows you to test your wits by competing against players from around the world.  The game isn’t multiple choice, you will have to enter your own answers via typing, which makes the game that much more challenging.

The game features 10 categories to choose from and the ability to create your own room, push notifications to invite your friends, Plus+ integration for awards and leaderboards, three themes to choose from, and the ability to share questions and answers on Facebook and Twitter.

Quizarium is and will be free for the foreseeable future.  Check out our hands-on preview to learn more.

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Hadouken! Street Fighter IV Is Now In The App Store
March 10th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

Gamers awaiting the arrival of Ken and Ryu to the iPhone need not wait any longer. Capcom’s Street Fighter IV, is now available for download on the App Store.

Choose from 8 classic fighters and battle your way in head to head combat. The game features the classic gameplay and all of the signature moves that have made the fighting series a legend among console gamers. Game settings include arcade style single player and head to head using bluetooth.

Be sure to check back here for a full detailed review. In the meantime, get ready to Dragon Punch your foes to victory.

Pick up Street Fighter IV for $9.99 on the App Store

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TiPb Give Away: Motorola H17 Bluetooth Headset for a TiPb Facebook fan!
February 26th, 2010 Uncategorized none Comments

TiPb: #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Facebook Page!

We’re moving TiPb’s Facebook presence from the old group and page to a newer, shiner, and — soon to be — better, unified TiPb Fan Page!

The bad news: since we can’t rename the old iphoneblog.com page or transfer the group to go with new, we have to apologize for asking everyone to move over with us, but we’ll do our best to more than make up for the hassle — that’s a promise!

So, please jump on over and become a fan of our new TiPb Facebook Page — we’re waiting for you!

THE GOOD NEWS: the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store has been gracious enough to let us give away a brand new Motorola H17 Bluetooth Headset [$89.95 - TiPb Store link] to one of our Facebook fans to help ease the transition. The give-away starts now and ends Monday, March 1st, 2009 at 12pm PST so get to it!

(And this being Follow Friday, if you’re kind enough to follow @TiPb on Twitter and subscribe to our iTunes and YouTube feeds, we’d appreciate it — and you just might get in on some additional, upcoming give-aways to boot! Shhhhhh!)

TiPb Give Away: Motorola H17 Bluetooth Headset for a TiPb Facebook fan! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog


Motorola XH1 Bone-conducting Bluetooth Headset for iPhone
February 17th, 2010 Uncategorized none Comments

moto_hx1_24

Phil and I got a demo of the Motorola XH1 Bluetooth headset [$109.95 (30% off!) - TiPb Store Link] at CES 2010 and I’ve been road testing it ever since. The real in-ear, bone-conducting technology was intriguing, and since I really liked the Moto H17, I was curious to see how this one would stack up. So, let’s take a look after the break!

Technology

The Motorola XH1 fights the war against noise with three levels of technology. It will normally cancel any background noise it finds. If that’s not enough, it’s CrystalTalk dual-mic system will kick in to actively cancel things like wind. I left the windows open during my daily highway commute (yes, in freezing Montreal winters — what I won’t do for our readers!) and most of the people I spoke to couldn’t hear a sound.

And then there’s the nu-cu-lar option, Stealth Mode, which actually turns off the mics entirely and instead reads the sound vibrations in your ear and converts that digitally into sound. It’s not quite human, of course, but from the show floor at CES to the loudest places I could find in Montreal — where I thought it would be useless — it remained understandable.

Wearability

In order to do the Stealth Mode bone conduction, the XH1 has to burrow rather deeply into your ear. To me it felt a little deeper than even your standard in-ear headset. I’ll admit, I found it rather intrusive at first but I’m hypersensitive about that kind of thing and even I got used to it after a couple days. It is the price you pay for bone conduction.

Other than that, the ear loop and fit were great for me, and I’ve said repeatedly my grappling mashed ears aren’t very tolerant of poor fit. Like all of Moto’s recent headsets it comes with a few different earpieces so you have a good chance of finding a great match.

Functionality

Unlike the H17 which has the boom flip-to-turn-on feature, the HX1 has an actual on-off switch, but it works well enough. Pushing the button activates the iPhone 3GS’ Voice Control feature so you can speak to dial the phone, play or shuffle music, etc. Holding down the button will repeat the last call. There are also volume controls and the welcome standard of a micro-USB charging port with no finicky “door” cover to get in your way and ultimately break off.

Conclusion

Overall, the HX1’s noise cancelation is among the best in the business and its looks are obviously intended to be more “executive” as well. I still prefer the boom on the H17 as on/off is just so easy with that design, but the XH1 is top of the line for a reason.

If you want a high-end headset that legitimately boasts “Star Trek” style technology, the XH1 definitely deserves a look… er, listen! (And hey, it’s currently 30% off at the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store to boot!)











Motorola XH1 Bone-conducting Bluetooth Headset for iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog


Jailbreak Only: iBlueNova Brings Full Bluetooth File Exchange Support To iPhone 3.0
February 16th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

The very limited implementation of the Bluetooth stack on the iPhone is yet another controversial limitation of the device. While we still have no signs of Apple adding some basic features to our iPhone’s bluetooth like file exchange or HID support, the solution seems to be definitely coming from the jailbreak front.

After using your iPhone’s Bluetooth to connect a keyboard or a mouse, you can now also use it to exchange files on iPhone 3.0. The tool which enables this, iBlueNova, was just released to Cydia and is available for $6 after a 15 days trial.

So what does it do? Well, it’s a full OBEX implementation from what I’m hearing. It will let you exchange pictures, music and other files, between your iPhone and any other Bluetooth enabled device that allows it. This can be your Mac, other brand phones, and even your auto radio.

Pretty neat, huh?

[via iSpazio]

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Review: Booooly! – Changing the Match Three Genre?
February 9th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

Overview

Booooly! may look like any other other match three game, that is until you play it. In Booooly you start with a set of boolies which are like different colored faces, and you try to remove them all. You could just tap on matches of three, but the game is all about booooly which is a match of at least four.

Your goal is continue getting booooly over and over, making chains of consecutive booooly, and really amping up the points. A new row of boolies is added every few seconds, and if the stack pushes over the top line you lose a life, and you get three per game. The biggest feature is that the boolies fall, and meld and move together based on the weight, and gaps below. Plus there’s multiplayer like no other match three.

Features

The game is all about different bonuses with missions included for getting five boooolys in a row, or making a match of eight green boolies. There is also a bottom line and if you have less boolies than that it’s a bonus. Longer chains of boolies are worth more, with a progressive multiplier for each additional booly of the chain beyond four. Each level requires collecting a certain number of booly, and each group you tap on adds to your own population of booly.

Multiplayer is included over wifi or bluetooth giving each player a different screen. You have a whole different screen, and are trying to keep the boooly from reaching the top line. When you make a match of three it removes the boolies, but when you make a booooly it adds that number of boolies to your opponent.

In the game there is a bomb power-up, and a bad booly that is a power down and gets in the way. OpenFeint is included with four high score tables: highest score, highest level, highest booooly, and highest mission complete. 20 achievements are also included each falling into one of the high score categories.

The Good

Booooly is packed with fun in every aspect of the game. First off it has a great balance of fast paced action, and methodical puzzling. You could just tap away at all the matches of three, but your score will suffer, because it’s all about waiting for the matches of at least four, and trying to build a streak of booooly.

The gameplay area is always changing with the physics engine of how the booly fall in place, depending on which ones you remove, and the new additions up top. Each level amps up the speed the new booly fall in, and there are more colors of booly (up to eight) making it tough to find matches. In the game you can always change your strategy to make as big of a streak as booooly as possible, or just last as long as you can tapping all matches of three.

The multiplayer helps it stand apart from other match three games. It’s great to play against friends where your actions impact their play area, and vice versa. You get a boooly, and it sends those pieces to your opponent, and in doing so the game becomes really fast paced as you both deal with huge influxes of boooly.

The game is really well designed highlighted by the cute booly, and their varying facial expressions when they match, and when they don’t. It’s nice to see the mass of booly fall, and combine together filling all the gaps below. There is also a good soundtrack that is the same theme song used in Soosiz.

Booooly has a brilliant save system which picks up right where you left off, which is mandatory as these games take awhile. OpenFeint inclusion is always good, and all of the achievements, and different high score tables give plenty of replayability. OpenFeint is nice, but Booooly has intrinsic addictive repalyability like no other match three I’ve played.

The Bad

Booooly is quite great for a match three game. If you want match three you know what you’re expecting, and understand that the gameplay is somewhat repetitive. Also the multiplayer could be better with online play, not just local online, and sometimes the background music never initiates.

The Verdict

Booooly! is one of the best match three games in the App Store with a wonderful chaining mechanism and outstanding multiplayer. The game changes depending on which pieces you remove, and how the new ones fall in. It has great production values, and the gameplay is second to none in the genre.

Booooly! is a must buy for only $0.99, so get some booooly today.

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Super Bowl Sale On Madden NFL 10, NFL 2010, And Flick Kick Field Goal; LED Football Available For Free
February 6th, 2010 Appstore Apps none Comments

Get pumped up for the big game tomorrow by picking up one or more football games for your iPhone or iPod touch for cheap.  While you are at it, don’t forget to download LED Football for free.

Madden NFL 10 ($6.99 -> $4.99): EA’s officially licensed football game features all 32 NFL teams with full team rosters, the ability to trade players and rearrange depth charts, nearly 300 plays to choose from, and Bluetooth multiplayer with the ability to save and resume games.

NFL 2010 ($2.99 -> $.99): Another officially licensed NFL game for the iPhone and iPod touch that features all 32 NFL teams, full team rosters, over 200 plays to choose from, 3D graphics, audio commentary, an official NFL RSS feed for news regarding your favorite team, and on-screen controls.

Flick Kick Field Goal ($1.99 -> $.99): A well-crafted field goal kicking game that features an intuitive flick kicking mechanism that allows you to control the angle and curve of your kick with just one finger.  The game also features multiple game modes, Sudden Death, Arcade, Time Attack, and Practice, and online leader boards and achievements via OpenFeint.

LED Football ($.99 -> Free): The 1978 Mattel Electronic Football digitized for your iPhone or iPod touch.  The game features the same basic controls as the original, where the player can only run forward and move vertically.  This one will certainly bring back some memories, and all at no cost to you.

All of the games listed above will be on sale, or in LED Football’s case free, through Super Bowl weekend.

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