#11 - Snapshot Showroom

TITLE: Snapshot Showroom
SCORE: 5 / 5
NOTE: THIS APP IS ONLINE ONLY!

COST: FREE

So how many times have you stood in the sofa section of your local Ikea and wondered if the color you were choosing would clash with your drapes?  Well worry no more, now you can see exactly what a piece of furniture may look like sitting right smack where you want it to!

The concept is simple: This is essentially an augmented reality app; hover your iPhone/iPod over the area of your house you want to place your furniture, select said furniture from the online catalogue and then overlay it onto the scene.  You can then select from a variety of different colors and models until you find just the right one!

RECOMMENDATION:  This app really can't be beat, whether your re-decorating your home or just buying a new kitchen table.  If you want to know what something will look like in your home before you've even bought it and avoid the possible hassle of returning furniture, then you need this app.

#10 - The Graveyard

TITLE: The Graveyard

SCORE: 2.5 / 5
 

  COST: LITE (Demo)

Scoring this particular app was difficult.  Though it may seem like it at first, The Graveyrd is not a game application.  There are no villains to beat, there are no people to save, and no dubiously colored mushrooms to eat.  Instead, we have what seems to be an elderly person simulator.  Yeah.  It sounds pretty exciting, we know.
However, The Graveyard is, in fact, a kind of short, musical story.  It's meant to be immersive for the user, it's meant to have you identify with the old woman that you are slowly walking down the stone path of a black & white graveyard.  It's an exercise in empathy as you listen (or rather read) the song as it plays and identify the weariness on your character's face with the events being described in melancholy song. 

RECOMMENDATION:  It will probably not please the majority of those that give it a try.  It borders on dull if you are not properly prepared.  However, think of it as an emotional experiment and you're good to go.

#9 - Talking Rabbit Ruru

TITLE: Talking Rabbit Ruru
SCORE: 4 / 5

 COST: LITE (Demo)

If you're a fan of the Talking Tom Cat application, you will probably love this.  In fact, we love this more! The character has a variety of diverse, cute reactions (if you're into that kind of thing) for which the audio and graphics are very complimentary and the animation smooth.  The whole thing just sees to work better than TTC overall, and managed to hold our attention for longer.

RECOMMENDATION: The adds at the bottom can be a bit off-putting (as you can see via the screenshot above), but for a demo application, what the heck are you complaining about!  The app does claim to be free, but as you can also see there are in-game elements that remain locked (new animations/effects, etc.) unless you go online to purchase them, not making this 'Free' in the strictest sense.

#8 - Endless Elevator

TITLE: Endless Elevator
SCORE: 3.5 / 5

COST: FREE

Every once in a while, I like to kick back with an addictive little brain-tuner.  For all your gaming (and mind sharpening) needs, we bring you Endless Elevator.  Simple and straightforward: You are a random stranger, shaped much like the one on bathroom stall doors, taking a rather lengthy elevator ride.  With each passing floor, you're given a random challenge relating to the collection of items that appear on the screen before you. Quick, tap the carnivore from this group of animals! Count to ten before the timer runs out! Find the odd picture out!  You must do as the challenge instructs before the timer expires and believe us, it's harder than it looks!

RECOMMENDATION: If you like games of reaction and observation, then you will enjoy this.  The graphics are basic, but graphics are really not the point here. If, on the other hand, your response time has deadened over the years and you prefer something a little more relaxing, you might look elsewhere.

#7 - Cool Tip

TITLE: Cool Tip (Secret in Your iPhone)
SCORE: 3.5 / 5

COST: FREE

There are plenty of 'iPhone / iPod Secrets' apps available on iTunes.  Most of them offer little in the ways of actual information you couldn't have gleaned from common sense (and most cost you cash).  Cool Tip offers some genuinely useful information and while it does re-cycle a few tricks you may have seen elsewhere, will still provide you with a few you probably didn't know about.

RECOMMENDATION:  You really don't need this application, but if you want to know how to take a screenshot with your iPod, how to quickly delete data or how to know if you have applications still running in the background, you really can't go wrong with this.

#6 - LordofDestruction

TITLE: LordofDestruction
SCORE: 1 / 5

COST: FREE

I have to say I was pretty disappointed with this game.  Everything was there to make it a really fun, cute little arcade side-scroller, but it fell sadly short.  The graphics are, as you can see, simply sketchy drawings (this includes the in-play graphics), lending it a kind of simple, clean charm.  The controls were very easy and responsive (just mow down a wave of 'knight' baddies in standard side-scrolling style) and earn coin to level up your weaponry in the shop as you go.  All this would have made for a great game if not for the deal-breaking amount of glitches.  Some could be overlooked (the knights spawn seemingly out of thin air or right next to you in some cases, rather than appearing off the screen), but largely the glitches make the game unplayable (you can't advance past the first level, for one.  Either it will not load or it will load the level sans any baddies, leaving you to run around pointlessly).

RECOMMENDATION:  Until the developers fix the glitch issues, then I can't recommend what is essentially a broken game.  If you want to give this a look purely for its one level and aesthetic appeal, well hell, it's free.  But as a game, it fails.

#5 - Fozwot

TITLE: Fozwot Lite
SCORE: 5 / 5

COST: LITE (Demo)

In the sea of mediocrity that is the iTunes games collection, to find something original and interesting you really do have to look at the independent titles.  I dug deep to find Fozwot, and finding it alone was a piece of good luck.  If you enjoy the tilt mechanics of the iPhone/iPod used in your games, want to see some truly original, almost Gothic level design, and want to play a genuinely good, fun game, I can't recommend this enough.

The point of the game? Simple.  You are the titular, 'Fozwot', and it is your job as servant to your buggy queen to gather all the lazy queen's eggs through each progressively more challenging level.  The mechanics are great, the game-play catching, and if you're not genuinely tempted to get the full version after playing this (pleasantly lengthy) demo, I will...eat Fozwot.

RECOMMENDATION: Yes, this.  Get it.  Now.

#4 - Fun Camera!

TITLE: Fun Camera!

SCORE: 4 / 5

COST: FREE

If you like using your iPhone / iPod touch to take photographs, you probably have a small array of SFX applications you use to tune up the quality and add some flare.  Fun Camera! is another special effect app, with the added factor that all of its special effects appear in real time as you are taking the photograph.  If you want to add blasts of energy, floating hearts, bubbles, and a variety of other effects to your photo before you've even snapped the shot, this is a good way to go.

 

This tree is deeply in love.

RECOMMENDATION:  The application works fine, but you might find the special effects that come with it a bit trite (unless you invest in the 60+ effect package you can order).  If you want a professional effect application, then this isn't really for you.  If, on the other hand, you want to take a picture of your friend blasting an energy beam from his hands, this is probably one of the easiest, smoothest apps there is.

#3 - iAugment

TITLE: iAugment
SCORE: 5 / 5

COST: FREE

Hey, do you know what everybody loves? Everybody loves boobies.  We are a species steeped in boobies, swimming in them, you might even say.  So, in an effort to bring more bounce to the iTunes store, we have iAugment.  For those girls interested in changing their breast size (and possibly those of us with a kindergarten sense of humor--like myself), iAugment allows you to take a photograph of your breasts (or...like...the breasts of a friend...?) and changes your breast size according to the measurements you are most interested in.

Also, if you're ready to take the next step (and trust your iPhone with this sort of thing), this application will also recommend surgeons in and around your area to get the job done!

Apple: For the betterment of boobies world-wide.

RECOMMENDATION:  There's really nothing bad that can be said about this app.  It does what it's supposed to do, and if you're looking to level up your chest, this is a neat little tool to show you what you might look like pre-procedure.

#2 - Screwed!

TITLE: Screwed!
SCORE:  3 / 5

COST: LITE (Demo)

An amusing little entertainment application if you have a few minutes you need to kill.  A parody, all purpose, "survival guide", Screwed! will not only provide you with instruction on how to survive many a situation (Wilderness survival? Escaping an insane asylum? Fighting off hordes of Twilight fans?) but also provide you the necessary resources to do so (built in flashlight, distractions, motion sensor, official badges).

RECOMMENDATION:  You won't find too much here to help you in a genuine emergency (plenty of free & affordable First Aid guides available for that) but it might give you a giggle when you're bored!

#1 - Hysteria Project

TITLE: Hysteria Project
SCORE: 2 / 5

 

COST: FREE 

So you've just woken up from your latest Friday night bender and found yourself in a bit of a pickle: namely, you appear to have found yourself duct-taped in some pervert's forest shed.  Calm down, take a look around, and get moving!

A Fantastic concept let down by shitty execution, Hysteria basically stands as a poor man's Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game, with the events in the horror "film" playing out according to your choices. But each decision is completely limited (you  can either choose to run down the left path and keep going or down the right path, which gets your ass killed).  The quality of the video is also fairly blurry and grainy, making it particularly aggravating as you run through yet another of this game's dozen wooded area settings.  Repetition is also a severe problem, as you will learn to hate trees by the time you're done with this, seriously.

RECOMMENDATION:  I would give it a download just to check out the potential of this kind of game.  Properly done, this could be not only fun, but a great niche market for independent app-makers that want a leg-in.

Welcome to App-O-Plectic!

Finally bit the bullet and started a blog to keep all these reviews organized!

If you are--like most of the iTunes demographic--frustrated with the store search system, App-O-Plectic is here for you!  Let us make you some tea, fluff your pillow, and face-punch you with the awesomeness, oddity, weirdness, and non-stop amusement to come.  Woo.

We'll purely be concentrating on applications available for the iPhone and iPod Touch (compatible with both and including 4th Generation).

So sit back, pull up a mobile application system, and get downloading.