The concept here is very simple and very useful. Color Assist uses the camera to show you the RGB color value of anything. For designers and graphic artists, this is really cool. If you see a nice color or set of colors in a book, poster, or a real-world object like a tree or cup of tea, you can capture and save that color value to use later.
Clash of the Clans combines the elements from a build-your-city game with those of a strategy war game. You get to create your village and defend it too. It is free to start, but you must purchase gems to speed up gameplay or you will want a very long time for things to happen. Still, it is fun and well made.
I created this app because I like trivia games, but hate what they have become in the app store. Each game has a complex system of levels or tokens, usually involving repeated in-app purchases. I wanted just a simple free game where you could answer trivia questions to test your knowledge. So I created Trivia Game, even using a generic name to underscore its simplicity. Answer 10 questions as quickly as you can and get a score.
Here’s a very addictive world building and exploration game. In The Blockheads you move around and explore a world while also building a home. There seems to be almost endless gameplay here, with only time being the limit — and there are in-app purchases that speed that up. It takes a few minutes to figure out how to do things, but once you get the hang of it you’ll find it is a lot of fun and very addictive.
Apple has been featuring movie trailers as content on their web site for years now. I think it started as a way to show off QuickTime. Now it has grown into a free iPhone and iPad app called iTunes Movie Trailers. But in addition to just viewing the trailers, you can also get movie times in a no-nonsense grid. There are even links to buying tickets, map locations, photo galleries, movie details and reviews.
Check out my latest game: Championship Solitaire. The idea here is that it is solitaire, but with scoring. You get points for every card moved to a foundation, but it costs points to start a new game. And you can compare your scores to others using Apple’s Game Center. You can also challenge your friends.
In addition to the scoring, I’ve tried to make this a smooth and easy-to-use solitaire game. It works with native screen resolution no matter which iOS device you have: iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPad, etc. And you can orient the screen any way you like. The game is free to play, so give it a try.
Whether you like the new Maps app, or miss the old Google one, it is worth it to get this free app as an alternative. The Google Maps app is for the iPhone screen, but works fine on the iPad right now in 2X mode and will hopefully be native soon. You can access Street View and also compare and contrast the maps, satellite images and voice directions to the built-in Apple app.
RPG fans have been waiting patiently for this landmark game to come to the iPad. Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is a massive 80-hour adventure that is deep and rich. The iPad version brings pretty much everything from the original game, but adds a new scenario and other new elements. In upcoming months we should also see a new Mac version of this game appear.
If you are looking to get a flight simulator for iOS, it looks like this is the one to get. Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy has great graphics, nice controls and a good set of levels. You can also play against your friends or collaborate with them on missions.
Been having a lot of fun this week playing Autumn Dynasty, a beautiful real-time strategy game for the iPad. It doesn’t have nearly the complexity of even the first Age of Empires, but it is well balanced and easy to learn.
Letterpress is a deceptively simple two player word game for the iPhone and iPad. You are quickly and easily matched up with someone and place head-to-head, selecting letters to form words from a 5×5 grid. The winner is the one with the most captured letters when all 25 letters have been used. Moves can take a minute or can span days, so usually you have several games going at once.
Remember those really cool mechanical and electronic building kits of the 70s and 80s? Creatorverse feels like one of those, but it is on your iPad. You can easily create fun physics simulations by dragging objects on to the screen. This is from the makers of Second Life, so it has lots of sharing options too.
Who says that iPad education apps are for kids? With the Craftsy app you can take online courses for grown-ups for things like quilting, knitting, sewing, cake decorating, jewelry making, food, photography, gardening and more. Now you have no excuse not to do something constructive with your weekends.
Just Jigsaw Puzzles is another game from MacMost’s parent company. It is an iPad game where you can assemble a jigsaw puzzle right on your iPad’s screen. You can even decide how many pieces to cut the puzzle into, making it suitable for young children and adults alike. There are lots of options and the game is free. Give it a try!
If you were disappointed that the recent Pitfall app was not the original Pitfall, then it is time to rejoice: Activision Anthology brings the original Pitfall and many other classic home video games to iOS. It is a free app, and then you have to buy game collections, including the one with Pitfall. But one game, Kaboom comes with the app for free. That was one of my favorites too. There are a lot of games, so you may find one of your favorites as well.
Rebuild is a different type of zombie game. Instead of mindlessly destroying zombies in a fight-til-you-lose battle, Rebuild is a building game where you try to create a new city while holding them off. It is a turn-based strategy game where you have to play ahead and manage resources. You scout, scavenge, recruit and reclaim city blocks to rebuild civilization. The graphics and interface are excellent, but most of all it is a lot of fun to play.
