Squishy Guts And Blood – Gross!

(written by guest author Tim Giron. follow Tim on Twitter @timgiron)

Meanwhile, back at the watercooler, we join in the conversation between Rad, an iPhone BloodLust_LogoGIF developer and his buddy Gyp:

Rad: Dude, I’ve got a great name for my iPhone game.  Get this, it’s gonna be called Blood Lust!

Gyp: Ooh yes, I love vampire games and they are all the rage right now.  I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it, playing the undead master unleashing his legion of minions to slake their unquenchable thirst on the life force of the living.  What, why are you shaking your head?

Rad: It’s not vampires.  It’s…

Gyp: Ooh yes, a frenzy of mixed martial arts and a cast of fearsome characters, each with their own defining finishing move, pummeling their opponent into a bloody husk!  Eh, you’re shaking your head again.

Rad: Nope, not a fighting game.  You play a covert ops trooper, air-dropped into a remote jungle to investigate a crashed UFO, and you’re attacked by…

Gyp: Ooh yes, an alien infestation and I am mankind’s only hope, equipped with a dazzling array of weapons and a super-soldier serum giving me the strength of ten men and the reflexes of a jaguar!

Rad: Close, actually you’re attacked by mosquitoes.

Gyp: The aliens are giant mosquitoes?

Rad: Nope, the UFO doesn’t even figure into the gameplay.  They’re just regular mosquitoes which you have to squish when they land on you.  Eventually, your health deteriorates Mosquito_SmashGIF unexplainably and the game ends.

Gyp: Well, you’re right about one thing.

Rad: What’s that?

Gyp: You’ve got a great name for your iPhone game.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Ewww – squishy and bloody – we get the heebie jeebies (does anyone even say that anymore) just playing this game. LOL. Blood Lust developer’s, Rad Lab, informed us that an update was just released which includes a very cool Global Leaderboard and faster mosquitoes. Krapp!  Those suckers are hard enough to squish, now they’re faster? Anyways, if blood and squishy guts is your thing, Blood Lust is available for 99 cents in the App Store. Or just follow @radlabgames on Twitter … even Facebook.

May 18, 2009 | Filed Under Games, Guest Authors | 11 Comments 

Rogue Touch Rocks

By demand, KRAPPS will periodically review “legit” apps thru a network of guest authors.
written by guest author Tim Giron (follow on Twitter @timgiron)

RogueTouchLogo Breathing new life into a 30 year old game, the recently released Rogue Touch (by ChronoSoft) is a port of the venerable game of Rogue to the iPhone/iPod Touch. Rogue was one of the first graphical computer games and has a storied past of being ported to just about every platform since its release in 1980. The goal of the game is to descend 26 levels into a dungeon to retrieve an amulet and then return to the surface. No walk in the park, you will confront a menacing array of monsters along the way.

Rogue Touch utilizes the same style of dungeon layout as the original, while offering many new and updated features. Movement in the game is via touching the sides of the screen or by calling up a virtual arrow pad. I started playing in the touch mode, since that is the default, but once I switched to the D-pad, I found that I actually liked that interface better.

RogueTouch1    RogueTouch2

The graphics have an old school feel, an homage to the great graphical games of the past. My favorite of the monsters that I have encountered is the skeleton, even though I haven’t yet been able to get past it. Also high on the list of bad things to run into are the slimes. If you don’t make quick work of a slime, you will soon find yourself surrounded by them as the split and multiply quickly. The only graphic that I found out of place was the dungeon walls, which have crenellations atop them, only really appropriate for an above ground structure.

The music in Rogue Touch is quite good. A rousing introduction gives way to a great set of ambient sounds, which appeared to change based on the monsters that were present. If you tire of the damp, drippy dungeon sounds, you can always play your own iPod music and turn off the music/sound in the game. The settings are presented within the Settings application, so make sure you get everything set up before loading up the game.

RogueTouch4    RogueTouch3

To date, I’ve only survived into level six. Since the dungeon layout is randomized each time you start a new game, you can’t rely on previous knowledge to guide you. Sometimes the next set of stairs down is nearby and sometimes it is not. In the later levels, you will find rooms that are shrouded in darkness, so you might miss treasure or a monster if you don’t fully explore. Often, you will catch a monster napping. If you are lucky, they won’t wake up and you can scoot by them.

During one of my games I descended into a room with only one door that led to a dead-end hallway. I crawled every inch looking for a hidden door, but was unable to find one. Not sure if it was a program bug, or if I just happened to miss the correct square to search.

Some of the updates that are specific to this port are additional monsters, an auto-map that comes in very handy when trying to figure out where the last room on a level is, and in later levels, the ability to uncover additional character types to play (I have yet to find myself worthy).

 

All in all, Rogue Touch is a worthwhile addition to the iPhone. A nostalgic game  with plenty of updates that take advantage of the premier mobile gaming device.
Click here Anti-Krapps-Seal-v2GIF to purchase Rogue Touch ($2.99) from the App Store now.

EDITOR’S NOTE: yeah – what Tim said! we love well made, high quality old school tribute games … and Rogue Touch does total justice to the original 1980 ASCII version. Oh – and make sure you check out the Worldwide Leaderboard and dedicated Discussion Forums. Rogue Touch rocks and is absolutely
100% anti-KRAPPS Certified.

April 25, 2009 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | 6 Comments 

KRAPPS vs KRAPPS

written by guest author Tim Giron (follow on Twitter @timgiron)

funny-cat-fight I came across a couple of apps today that I thought were related, but then found out are quite different.  So, I decided to pit them against each other and figure out which one would win in a fight.


KRAPPS presents “Rumble In Our Jungle” … iOops vs iWhoop!

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First up is iOops, which presents a blank starfield screen (reminding me of an H.P. Lovecraft story) and an invitation to touch the middle of the screen.  Then, as the app description says, the “beast hide inside iPhone” will “come out and bite your finger” to which you will presumably exclaim “Oops!” though I was more apt to mutter “What the?” myself.

ioops1   ioops2

The next contender for our street fight throwdown is iWhoop! which is a cool little soundboard app with some Southern fried phrases, ten to be exact.  You dial in the desired phrase and then engage the clever can of Whoop! to let fly the sound, the delivery of which reminded me of the Dukes of Hazzard.

iWhoopScreen

An important part of winning a street fight is the crew that you bring to the rumble.  Given that iOops reminds me of Lovecraft’s stories, it gets Cthulhu.  And, given that iWhoop! has a Dukes of Hazzard vibe, it gets the whole Duke clan.  While this matchup may appear to favor iOops, we must take into consideration that Cthulhu is not known for reliably showing up on time and them Duke boys have gotten out of some pretty sticky situations.  Advantage iWhoop!

For application startup times, iWhoop! is the clear winner.  Less than two seconds to offer someone a Knuckle Sandwich or the hilarious Karate sound.  Comparatively, iOops takes around eight seconds (presumably, locating the “beast hide inside iPhone” is not so easy as one might imagine).  Advantage iWhoop!

For ongoing entertainment value, I will have to give the nod to iWhoop! as well.  Once you’ve gotten everyone in your immediate vicinity to touch the screen and experience the “beast hide inside iPhone” for themselves, the novelty of iOops quickly wears off.  Not so with iWhoop!.  In fact, while writing this post, I discovered that you can “stack” the sounds for interesting combinations.  Advantage iWhoop!

The judges have reached their decision …
iWhoop! defeats iOops by unanimous decision at Rumble In Our Jungle!

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April 16, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment, Guest Authors | 2 Comments 

Citi Mobile App

By demand, KRAPPS will periodically review “legit” apps thru a network of guest authors.

Title: Citi Mobile
Category: Finance
Guest Author: John

What is KRAPPS? Well, I don’t know that I can define it, but I know it when I see it. And the U.S. Banking industry is definitely KRAPPS. Think about it: anyone who bought a fart app may embarrass a few of the more stodgy types, and end up poorer by $0.99, but at least they get some sophomoric laughter out of the deal. But the U.S. banking industry has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, put thousands of people out of work, and made thousands more homeless, without providing even a chuckle!

724680 Citibank has received over $20 Billion and counting of bailout money. And what do we get for our money? Well, an iPhone app, for one! Called Citi Mobile, the app is (mercifully) free. A pleasant “Citi” logo marks their app, and when you run it for the first time, you have to register your iPhone via text message. You also have to enter your PIN every time you run the application. These basic security measures are, of course, necessary. Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the app to prevent you from entering your PIN on the “Notes” app so you won’t forget it.

I don’t use many financial apps on my iPhone, mainly because all of my money is tied up in groceries. I have used the Paypal app and I’ve used the mobile web site for another bank. After you enter your PIN to log into the Citibank app, you get a list of your open accounts. I have one savings account and two credit card accounts (I opened up the savings account because they had a deal where 1% of everything I buy on the credit cards gets credited to the savings account, even if I pay my bill off every month!). The last 3 digits of each account number is shown, not the full account number, again for security. You also see the balance of each of the accounts, and you can select “Recent Activity” and “Search Activity” for the savings account. The activity functions are very useful features, and I’m not sure why they’re not available for the credit cards. It would be very nice to be able to check up and see exactly how much that sleazy retailer charged to your credit card while you’re on the way out the door. The activity is available from their web site, and the iPhone app has it for the savings account, so why not for the credit cards?

In addition to looking up your accounts, there are buttons for Payments, Transfers, Locations, and Services. While I don’t use my Citi account for bill paying, I see how it would be useful to have it available on the iPhone. I could see using the Bill Pay or Transfer features if you’re out and about and suddenly remember that you forgot to pay a bill or cover your checking account. The Locations function is nice, in that it uses the GPS to find ATMs and branches in your area (you can also enter a Zip Code or address if you don’t want to use the current location). The Services button allows you to change the app settings or easily call their Customer Service.

All in all, it’s a quite useful app and worth it if you have a Citi account, and while I don’t think that I’d choose them as my bank because of the app, some people might. I just wish the app said “I bailed out Citibank for $20 Billion and all I got was this lousy iPhone app.”

April 5, 2009 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Finance, Guest Authors | 9 Comments 

Belowscape App

By demand, KRAPPS will periodically review “legit” apps thru a network of guest authors.

Free Belowscape app giveaway – see end of article for details

Title: Belowscape
Category: Games
Guest Author: Dennis

Minimalism is a beautiful thing. In the iPhone game world, minimal games can work brilliantly. Belowscape, from 10tons, is one of these minimal games. It is a Geometry Wars type game where you navigate your triangle space ship while shooting the various shapes that appear.

Simple as that. Minimalism.

There are no power ups, no bosses, no bombs. Just try to rack up your score for as long as you can with 3 lives. No overly-complicated soundtrack in the background. Just sounds of you shooting stuff and the sound the enemies exploding as they die. Simple and smooth menu navigation that will eventually lead you to either the “Survival” or “Rush” modes.

What impressed me about the game were the options for the control system – they are customizable! You can pick from either touching the target, tilting the device, or using either a left or right joystick (and you can choose to use any of these schemes for navigation or shooting!!) This makes for many different combinations of control configurations to choose from. And to satisfy your competitive nature, there is a online Global Scoreboard where you can see how you rank against others players worldwide.

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So if you’re looking for the beauty of minimalism and something easy to play (thus avoiding a high difficulty curve that will leave you wanting to chuck your iphone/ipod at the wall), Belowscape is the game for you. Click here to purchase Belowscape for $2.99.

antikrappssealv2gif EDITOR’S NOTE: We love minimalism … it truly is a form of beautiful art. There is enough chaos in everyone’s daily life that sometimes it’s therapeutic just to chill and enjoy and straight forward shoot ‘em up arcade game. Top that off with very cool customizable user controls … well that easily makes Belowscape 100% anti-KRAPPS Certified.

FREE Belowscape ($2.99 value) To KRAPPS Viewers!
10tons was kind enough to provide codes which will allow KRAPPS viewers to download Belowscape FREE. Be one of the first 2 viewers to leave a comment at the end of this review indicating their favorite arcade style game and we’ll email you the download code.

April 4, 2009 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | 14 Comments 

Bugz App

By demand, KRAPPS will periodically review “legit” apps thru a network of guest authors.

Free Bugz app giveaways – see end of article for details

Title: Bugz
Category: Games
Guest Author: Carolynn

With new platforms for gaming, comes new genres of games to play. I don’t know if any one has named this new genre yet, so I’m going to. And here it is: Chain Reaction Games. I have reviewed one of these type of games already and that was Sneezies. Now, we have another game to add to that list and it’s called Bugz from Didev Studios.

Bugz1

Bugz is a great mix of skill and luck. The goal of the game is to pop as many Bugz as you can. When you touch a Bug, it pops creating a circle of color that gets larger and then smaller. When other Bugz touch this circle of color, they will pop as well creating a chain reaction. When you start each level, you are given a goal number of Bugz to pop. In higher levels there are enemy Bugz that you have to pop as well as a certain number of regular Bugz. Also, there are flower obstacles that get in the way of the bugz and slow them down. These obstacles can make the game more difficult when you are trying to get those hard to pop enemy Bugz.

Bugz3

What’s great about Bugz? It’s got a lot to offer players. 102 levels of gameplay should keep you busy for quite a while. If you have other people who like to use your iDevice, they can store their game on the multiple profiles that are included. That solves a lot of problems when you have various people wanting their own game. For the competitive, there is a Global Scoreboard so you can compare your bug popping skills with the rest of the world. The custom made in game soundtrack is fun and easy to listen to. You have the option to play your own iPod music as well. The graphics are good with no slow downs or freezeups.

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My overall impression of Bugz: A fun game that will have you popping bugz for days on end. There’s lots of levels to keep you interested and enemies add a new twist to the new Chain Reaction genre. Addictive and challenging gameplay is always a winner in my book. And this game has both. Just don’t get too frustrated and throw your iDevice when you can’t meet the goal on those higher levels. Click here to to Bugz from the App Store for the low low price of 99 cents.

antikrappssealv2gif EDITOR’S NOTE: Haaaa! Carolyn is brilliant! She/We coin the phrase … Chain Reaction games …. haaaa! … so remember, you heard on KRAPPS first – we’ll see which posers attempt to steal our claim … haaaa! And of course, Bugz … for 99 cents, you can’t go wrong. Give it a whirl and experience for yourself this 100% anti-KRAPPS Certified app.

FREE Bugz To KRAPPS Viewers!
Didev Studios was kind enough to provide 5 codes which will allow KRAPPS viewers to download Bugz for FREE. Simple be one of the first 5 viewers to leave a comment at the end of this article stating >> What Bugs You >> and we will email you the download code.

April 3, 2009 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | 16 Comments 

Wild West Guns App

By demand, KRAPPS will periodically review “legit” apps thru a network of guest authors.

Title: Wild West Guns
Category: Games
Guest Author: Mike

Wild West Guns [App Store] by Gameloft got my blood flowing. I guess it’s the ex-cop in me, but I love shooting games. This game is crazy and has plenty of action to keep you interested. You can pretty much shoot anything you want on the screen (cool). I shot ducks, buzzards, bad guys (by the dozen) and so on.

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I really enjoyed the ballon level, probably due to some buried repressed issue I have with balloons. I was not sure how to shoot with the iPhone, but I quickly figured this out as a means of survival.

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There are two difficulty levels (normal/hard) and 3 levels with 3 scenarios each giving you a total of 18 unique levels.  There are numerous types of guns you can use to inflict damage. My personal favorite is the shotgun (upfront and personal).

The screen details in the game background are not to be overlooked. The clouds are moving, plants are swaying in the wind, etc. The detail was so good it made me want to put on my cowboy hat and look for my horse. A last word of advice watch out for the big guy in the bar. Wild West Guns was released on 02/05/09, sells for $4.99 and has 134 iTunes user ratings averaging 4.5 stars.

March 29, 2009 | Filed Under Games, Guest Authors | 3 Comments 

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