Sonic The Hedgehog 2 – Sequel Even Better Than The Original

(written by guest author Connor Coghlan. follow Connor on Twitter @Condawg)

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I grew up on Sonic the Hedgehog. It was one of the very first console games I ever played. (first videogame ever was SkiFree … couldn’t get past the damned yeti.) And let me tell you, I played the hell out of every single Sonic game (up until they started sucking).

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was by and far my favorite. It introduced the ability to rev up and roll fast as hell … which I love. So, as you can imagine, when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [iTunes $5.99] was released by SEGA for the iPhone and iPod touch sometime last week, I bought it instantly.

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Sonic 2 plays like a champ on iDevices. The emulator that SEGA made to allow this port is fantastic. I’ve never noticed any lag and it just feels like I’m playing it natively. It gives you a virtual d-pad and "A" button (only "A" because that’s all you need). In-between zones and levels, the buttons disappear to show you the title slide … which is a very nice feature that makes it feel more like a native game.

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Plus Sonic 2 has an awesome savestate feature. This means that if you get interrupted by a call, you can just resume your game right where you were. Or even if you just close the game and come back to it later, you’ll be RIGHT where you left off … it’s awesome.

All-in-all, if you’ve ever played Sonic 2, you get the gist of this game. The gameplay transitions perfectly to a mobile device and how well they pulled this off just gets me even more psyched for the upcoming Sonic 4. (if you’re not aware, Sonic 4 will be a 2D sidescrolling, episodic Sonic game … brand new game, but it’s going back to its roots. It’ll be pretty sick.)

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Running around at mega-speed and stomping enemies is just as fun as ever. Robotnik’s complex machinery still fails to kill you (which makes me wonder why the dude doesn’t just, like… make or purchase a firearm … that would be much more effective).

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If you’ve ever played and enjoyed a Sonic game, you shouldn’t be thinking twice about giving this a purchase. If you’ve never played a Sonic game… what the hell is wrong with you? Well, you’ll never have a better opportunity to start. Sonic 2 is currently #53 in Overall Paid Apps … buy this game and help it climb a notch to #52 [iTunes $5.99].

April 24, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | 9 Comments 

Thumpies For iPhone & iPad Flat Out Rocks, Rolls & Even Thumps

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

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I have been playing Thumpies [iTunes $2.99], a rhythm game from Big Blue Bubble for a few months.  I shall now put the game down and attempt to convey my unbridled enthusiasm for this app and it’s bigger iPad sibling, Thumpies XL [iTunes $4.99] (which I am pretty sure stands for eXtraLicious).

This game flat out rocks, rolls and yes, even thumps.  The imaginative graphics, ultra smooth gameplay and wickedly good soundtrack will quickly draw you in and the challenges will keep you coming back for more.  Much more, if my experience with it is any indication.

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What?  You’re still here?  OK, for those of you that didn’t immediately jump over to the AppStore, I’ll back up and give you some highlights.

In Thumpies, you tap in rhythm as these crazy fuzzy monster heads bounce around, striking a set of targets (mushrooms, tree stumps, turtles, etc.).  When your taps are right on your notes get added to the mix and your scoring meter moves up.  When you miss, your scoring meter falls.  When your meter fills up, you get to advance.  In the early rounds, you’ll be able to keep up with just one finger, feeling the pattern and kicking out the jams.  As you progress though, you’ll have to rely on multiple finger dexterity, tracking multiple monster heads each following their own pattern.  When you nail the beats, the resulting musical number is quite spectacular indeed.  To add to the challenge, you also need to collect butterflies which allow you to unlock even more quirky levels.  You have to be quick, though, since the monsters love to eat them and if your meter falls to zero, they escape.

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Easy, medium and hard settings give both kids and adults & newcomers and veteran players an appropriate level of challenge.  Like I said earlier, this game has legs.
In the past few weeks, following the release of the iPad, several venerable games were super-sized for the new device.  And, I am happy to report, Thumpies XL retains all of the yummy goodness of the original and then heaps on some extra whipped cream in the form of multiplayer mode.  That’s right, all of the flying finger fun can now be enjoyed by two players at once.  This mode splits the screen in two for a "cooperative competition".  So, there’s only one shared meter to fill but each player is given a breakdown of their performance at the end.  My kids and I enjoyed playing a few rounds in this mode this afternoon.  The updated graphics in the XL version are big and bold, just as I expected them to be.

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At $2.99 for the iPhone app (or try the free trial version) and $4.99 for the XL iPad app, you are getting a whole lotta entertainment for the price.

April 17, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | Leave a Comment 

Escape Reality, Become Tom Cruise – Tiki Bar For iPhone

Tom-Cruise-Cocktail-1 One of our secret desires here at KRAPPS is to escape the rat race of urban living and open a bar on a warm exotic island. Our place would be called “Cocktails & Dreams” and we would engage in elaborate drink-mixing performances like Tom Cruise in Cocktail. Problem is  there are no In-N-Out Burgers on exotic islands … thus shattering our dream – sucks for us.

But alas we found our savior … a new iPhone game called Tiki Bar [iTunes $1.99]. Grant it, Tiki Bar is not the perfect exotic bartending replacement … but for two bucks, it’s close enough and we can still fulfill our In-N-Out B Urge r.  

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Published by Caldera Studios, Tiki Bar is the first action game that has players mixing and serving drinks in a swanky Tiki Bar. After each drink is served, you collect the tip. The faster you serve drinks, the more tips you get … thus increasing your score. Just be sure to keep pace with your demanding customers or they’ll get pissed off and leave.

Mixing drinks is a blast in Tiki Bar. Caldera Studios designed a unique and very iPhone-esque user interface … shaking, cutting, juicing, pouring, stirring and blending are all there to fulfill your wildest Tom Cruise bartending dreams.

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Now because gameplay takes place in a too cool Tiki Bar, the drinks served are also too cool … Bolo Cocktail, Outrigger, Apple Passion … you won’t find any Coors Light in this kick ass joint. Tiki Bar features in app purchases that extended gameplay … the matchbook ($0.99) sets up flaming drinks, while the blender ($0.99) unlocks libations that require blending … Lava Flow, Tasman Sea, Derby Daiquiri, etc.

We particularly dig using the matches which activates the Flame-O-Rama mode … not because we enjoy FIRE, FIRE, FIRE … rather for the two drinks Big Hot Wood and Flaming Nut (huh, huh).

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Tiki Bar also contains some Easter eggs … rare drinks that appear roughly 1:100 drinks. Like the drink below … look at closely, it’s uncommon … Daddy’s Special Water (aka Daddy Drinks Because I Cry) – vodka poured into an iced mug, a spray of tonic and topped with Jerry Garcia gummy bears.

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Not only did Caldera Studios do a phenomenal job coding the gameplay of Tiki Bar … the graphics and game music are superb. Tiki Bar includes over 450 original pieces of art by Emmy Nominated Nate Funaro of Cartoon Network and original Tiki lounge music by Marcus Baide. Obviously with this type of attention to detail, Tiki Bar is a high quality, well made application … certainly deserving of your hard earned $1.99 (which has nothing to do with Big Hot Wood). 

April 16, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games | 6 Comments 

Get Hooked On HELLKID – One Hell Of An Addicting iPhone Game

(written by guest author Connor Coghlan. follow Connor on Twitter @Condawg)

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Do you love running and jumping, all while collecting things? … How about occasionally hooking onto shit?

If you answered "Yes" to any of the questions above, have we got the game for you! And no, it has nothing to do with Tarzan.

Hellkid [iTunes $0.99] by Justnine Co.… officially HELLKID: hook & jump … is a game that reminds me of Canabalt (you’ll notice that, in most of my reviews, I compare a game to another similar game – yeah, that’s how I roll … I get around). The goal is just to run as far as you can. The twist here, however, is collecting souls.

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In Hellkid, you play a kid named Devi, in hell (who would’ve guessed?). Your mission is to collect souls. By collecting these souls, you unlock other characters (which I haven’t been able to do quite yet … not that I suck, this game is pretty difficult).

Devi wants to know what it’s like to be human. Somehow that ties into everything… I dunno, I don’t pay much attention to the story in this game. But basically if you collect enough souls, you become human. The gameplay is really addictive, which makes me want to get to it  and not necessarily focus too much of my attention on the storyline.

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The game consists of you (Devi) running and jumping around to collect souls. Every now and then, a gap comes up. Sometimes you can clear them with one jump … if not, you have to hook to the pillar behind you to swing across, collecting souls as you do so.

As you progress through the levels, the game gets faster, and the souls become more sporadic in nature, causing you to jump around much more than you’re comfortable with, and leading to your very inevitable and saddening death.

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One thing that’s really tough (for me, anyway) in Hellkid is timing swings just right to maximize your soul collection … or to survive since I die a lot in this game. That said, Hellkid is a blast and it’s never really too frustrating when I die (that’s the beauty of the  "Retry" button).

Hellkid is a quality iPhone game … well polished and great graphics. It contains 12 levels, 50 patterns and 38 achievements to unlock … the replay value of Hellkid is outstanding. For the agro player, there are global leader boards and you have the ability to post your score to Facebook or Twitter from within the app. And per the developer’s Twitter account on April 8, a new update is coming soon.

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I highly recommend this game for anybody who’s into "pick-up-and-play" games (which I imagine is 99% of iPhone users) … or you can take Apple’s recommendation (but why would you do that when you have me?) of Hellkid as it was featured in the New & Noteworthy listings last February.

Be sure to check out the full version of Hellkid at 99 cents [iTunes] … or the lite version which is a free download [iTunes Free].

 

April 10, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | Leave a Comment 

Apple Bans Blatant Doodle Jump Ripoff, But Approves Another, Doodle Drop

While Apple celebrates (and profits) from an estimated 700,000 iPads bought on day one, they still can’t seem to get their shit together when it comes to consistent App Store approval policies.

Doodle-Jumper-IconF On March 19 we reported that Apple approved the Doodle Jumper iPhone app. Notice the extra two letters “E” and “R”? Guess those two letters were enough of a difference between Doodle Jump and Doodle JumpER for Apple to feel good about approving a blatant ripoff. Oh and of course the Doodler character in Doodle JumpER is blue with  two legs … while the original Doodler is lime green and has four legs. Bravo Apple! Excellent attention to detail … way different apps and smart move approving JumpER.

Smart move? Uh … maybe not! Hindsight is 20/20 … within 24 hours of our report, justice prevailed with Apple removing Doodle JumpER from sale. WOOT!

If you’re not familiar with Doodle Jump [iTunes $0.99], you should be. It’s arguably the most successful iPhone game to date, published by the two-brother team, Igor and Marko Pusenjak, of Lima Sky. Doodle Jump has already surpassed $3 million in sales (a first for any Indie development house) and is one of the best App Store bargains ever. 

So you would think after the JumpER mistake, Apple would have learned not to approve blatant Doodle Jump ripoffs. After all, Apple is no dummy … case in point, nearly 1 million iPads sold on day one. LOL … no dummy? … yeah right —> Doodle Drop.

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Very original, eh? “I don’t jump, I drop!” … yeah, of course you do, dickhead. The folks at Drop even lifted Doodle Jump’s tagline idea, “Insanely Addictive!”, with their grammatically challenged “Ultimate Addictive!” derivative… exclamation point included. 

Doodler character … all good … both lime green, have a snout and wear a green striped shirt. But of course, the trump card … Drop only has two legs.

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Graphics? Yes! A round of graph paper and booster springs for all – it’s the cool thing to do.

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But what bothers us the most is the overnight success of Drop. Released on Friday, April 2nd … in less than 48 hours Drop broke into the Top 100 Overall Paid Apps. Achieving this ranking means Drop’s developer is making some decent money … profiting from Lima Sky’s success. Since Doodle Jump is constantly being updated, it would be a safe assumption that Lima Sky released a new game … one that drops down, instead of jumps up. Heck … the name, Doodler character and game graphics look just about the same … so unsuspecting buyers are likely to get suckered. 

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As we previously stated, Apple seemingly doesn’t care to protect copyright holders, thus it’s up to the individual owner to complain. However it would behoove Apple to avoid biting the hand that feeds them … especially when that hand delivered over $3 million in sales and $1 million directly into Apple’s mouth.

April 5, 2010 | Filed Under Games, News | 16 Comments 

Don’t Make These Birds Angry, Mr. McGee – Angry Birds For iPhone

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

It’s a war between the birds and the pigs in the action-puzzle game Angry Birds [iTunes $0.99] by Chillingo / Rovio. See, the pigs got all greedy and stole some eggs, then retreated to their fortified shelters. The birds, not ones to take such things lightly, have mobilized an impressive avian army to retaliate.

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Utilizing a challenging two-screen view, the player must fire a series of birds from a slingshot with the goal of eliminating all of the pigs before advancing to the next level. The pigs are dispatched by either hitting them directly with a bird, by causing them to fall or by causing a rock to fall on them. Each bird, knowing this is a one way trip, has also loaded up on black powder causing them to explode after a set amount of time. This can be used to advantage in combination with elements on some of the screens – rest a bird against some explosives and they can cause further damage.

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As you progress through the levels, you pick up new bird types too. You start off with the hard-headed red birds, capable of knocking down any obstacle the pigs can put up. Next up is the smaller blue bird which has the added ability to split like a MIRV while in the air. Time it just right and this terrible trio can take out multiple targets with the same shot. I just cleared level 12 (while grabbing screenshots) and can’t wait to find out what other specialized birds are yet to come.

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Some of the levels are easy and some are dastardly difficult. The smug grunts of the pigs are easily enough to make me want to re-try until I’ve conquered them! The game play is ultra smooth and the projectile physics are very well implemented. Each bird has different flight characteristics which have to be accounted for; luckily they leave a trail so you can make minor adjustments on subsequent shots if necessary. Since you get bonus points for finishing the level before running out of birds, it’s important not to waste too many shots (even though I ultimately cleared level 12 with birds to spare, I probably played it a dozen times before that where I left a single pig alive).

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An online leaderboard and achievement posting to Facebook/Twitter is provided via Chillingo’s own Crystal system. If you have an iPad (this post was written the day before the big launch), there is a new release of this app specifically for the new device. I, for one, can’t wait to see how it looks.

 

April 4, 2010 | Filed Under anti-KRAPPS, Games, Guest Authors | 1 Comment 

iCade Turns Your iPad Into A Retrogaming Arcade Cabinet – For “Reals”

Ok, so Steve Job’s love child … the iPad … is launching in two days. We’ll admit, we’re getting pretty excited and will be doing the “overnight camping out in line” thing to ensure we are iPad owners from Day 1. However, it wasn’t until today that we got fully pumped for the iPad … reason why … the folks at ThinkGeek have just announced a new iPad accessory and application that will become available April 3 (iPad launch day) …

iCade – The iPad Arcade Cabinet

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How freaking brilliant is this? For only $149.99 (cost of the cabinet – app is free), you can turn your iPad into a mini arcade cabinet … or as ThinkGeek puts it …  

How cool would it be to slide your iPad into a desktop-sized arcade cabinet and rock it old school with some Pac-Man or Space Invaders?

More arousing details from ThinkGeek …

To use the iCade, gently slide the iPad into the docking cradle. The docking cradle uses a standard 30 pin connector to link the iPad to the professional-grade arcade controls. Once the iPad is in place, launch the iCade App (available free in the App Store April 3rd) and it’s game on!

Screw eBooks and HD videogames … iCade is the real only reason to buy an iPad. Simply put … it doesn’t get any more awesome than this!

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For more details, including product specifications, and to order your very own iCade, visit the iCade page at ThinkGeek.

Hey … just keeping it “REAL”. Don’t shoot the messenger. If you need to FFFFUUUU someone, then FFFFUUUU ThinkGeek.

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April 1, 2010 | Filed Under Games, News | 8 Comments 

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