Spore Origins

iTunes Link

Spore Origins is a game of survival by Electronic Arts Nederland BV. $6.99

Spore Origins is the cell section of EA's Spore on PC, Mac and Wii. The game is very easy to pick up and play straight away. With only one option to start with, Evolution, the first few of the 30 levels explain how to play and what you must do to advance to the next level. The controls are very simple to understand, tilt the device in the desired way to make your Spore move around. This can take a few levels to master but ends up being very easy. In the practice level it starts with bubble bars on the horizontal and vertical axis to help you, I would like to see an option to have the bubble bar in game as it would be very helpful for beginners. Later on in the game an achievement is unlocked letting you play survival mode, which is based on the same concept of evolution.

The graphics in this game are very smooth considering all the stuff that is going on. Each creature has been designed to perfection, from how the seaweed floats in the water to the action of the jellyfish swimming in the water. The game doesn't freeze at all when things get hectic in the game such as eating eight tadpoles in a row, which I am very impressed with. The detail which can be made with an infinite number of choices in the creature editor are excellent also. There are 12 possible upgrades which can be made to the creature such as spikes and eyes and these look great.

The in game music suits it perfectly. A new age theme is used causing easy flowing music that is easy to listen to. The music fits the cell stage perfect and is one of the few games I like to play with the music on.

The menu has a simple, easy to look at lay out which doesn't go over the top. There options to play either the Evolution or Survival mode. The creatures button shows which creatures you have currently made and currently playing with. You can have 10 creatures going at one time. For the codeword to razorianfly's contest, it is the nineteenth word in the next paragraph, good luck. The achievements show achievements that you have completed in game, they are hidden until you have unlocked them. Options will let you change the music levels and to calibrate your tilt levels to improve how easy it is for you. Help will tell you about everything in the game, such as how to use the creature editor controls or the objective of evolution mode.

The gameplay in evolution mode is to eat your way through 30 levels. Every 5 levels is an extended level where you must negotiate your way through a maze filled with creatures and get to the end. Getting past the maze puts you onto the next zone filled with new creatures The levels in between are designed so you eat creatures smaller than you to fill up the DNA bar which is on the top left of the screen. As you progress through the game, your Spore gets bigger and you can eat more creatures. The last three levels are boss levels where you must destroy large creatures in order to finish the game. Dieing in the game is by getting stung, attacked or shot at by other creatures and losing all your hearts. Survival mode is all about eating the little pills and evading the creatures which come onto the screen. You keep going until you die. The creature editor is very detailed and responds to each little touch. The color, pattern and weapons and size on your Spore can all be edited by pinching, pulling, poking and dragging parts on the screen.

There is some replay factor in the game by creating more Spore creatures and completing the game over and over again to unlock all the achievements. The game is good for casual players with the simple process of eat or be eaten, while being really addictive at the same time. Boss and maze levels will stretch the most experience gamer, while having fun at the same time. The game is very well done, I would like to see add ons or more Spore versions on the iDevices such as later stages in the Spore's life. Worth the sale price of $6.99

Graphics- 9/10
Gameplay- 7.5/10
Sound- 8.5/10
Overall- 8.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Pacman?

Tell me what you think about this review at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews and some ideas to improve the reviews will be appreciated! Stay tuned, The next two days I will be away due to a family member being in hospital hundreds of miles away, I must fly to visit them expect Monday's and Tuesday's Review to be released as soon as I get back- Coming on return- Smiles and Sneezies

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Texas Hold'em

iTunes Link

Texas Hold'em is a poker game by Apple Inc. $4.99

Texas Hold'em is Apple's only game on the App Store to this date and is the premier poker game available on the App Store. It is essentially the upgraded version of the click wheel game of the same name. The game is easy to pick-up and play for people who have previously played the game but may be difficult for first timers. The instructions are somewhat helpful to the people who are new to poker, showing the hand rankings and how to fold, bet etc. but it doesn't explain about what the Flop, Turn and River are so they may not know what its all for. There are ten different venues to play at, starting from the garage where it is free to enter, but winning gets you very little profit, all the way up to playing in the big league where the entry fee is a hefty total but the rewards make it worth the risk.

Apple didn't let anything be less than perfect in this game. This can be seen by the visually stunning graphics during game play. Instead of having cartoon figures as your opponents, they are real people who have been filmed and placed in the game to show betting, folding and angry when you take all their chips. The smoothness of these actions is also remarkably good and doesn't freeze the game. The only downside to this realistic feel is the background. All ten venues are computer generated. It would be nice to see real places completing the real feel. When the device is held sideways the game comes turns into a poker table which only shows the avatars of people you are playing against, but it allows you to have your own character.

The sound in the game is also very well done. All the actions made during the hand have a sound that matches to them right down to dealing out the cards of moving the chips into the pot. Again, this adds to the realistic feel of the entire game. Background music is played on all of the games and has a nice tune to it and doesn't get irritating after hours of it.

The menu has large, clear buttons for the different options. There is single player mode where you choose the location that you can play your game at. There is multiplayer so you can play friends and family over the same Wi-Fi network, not to play people from around the world. The settings option allows you to change the effects volume, the game music volume and other little tweaks which can help you enjoy the game more. Your statistics are shown for both single player and multiplayer, showing the number of games you have played as well as what percentage of them you came 1st, 2nd or 3rd in. It also shows the biggest pot that you have won. Lastly the help button is there to give you tips on how to play the game, such as what to do to fold or show emotions, and the hand rankings.

The gameplay is quite simple once you know how to play the game. Once you start the game you have two options of how to play it, either the slower but visually better first person game or the faster birds eye view game. Whichever one you choose to do makes no difference, just depends on your personal choices. You start the game with nine players around the table and you bet, call and fold until you are the last player or until you are eliminated by having no more chips left. In the higher stake games the game will involve two tables where you need to finish in the top 3 on the first table before taking a certain number of chips depending on where you finished to table 2.

As this is a gambling game, the game has a huge replay factor. Getting to the last table isn't easy and you will be spending hours on the game before reaching it. This is a great card game and would appeal to any poker players, card players or people who have alot of patience and nerve. This is the best poker style game I have seen on the app store and would certainly be your first choice if you were interested in getting a poker game.

Graphics- 9.5/10
Gameplay- 8/10
Sound- 9/10
Overall- 9/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Live Poker

Tell me what you think about this review at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews and some ideas to improve the reviews will be appreciated! Stay tuned, Tomorrow is the first of the real reviews and a competition to celebrate it!- Spore Origins

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Fieldrunners

iTunes Link

Fieldrunners is a tower defense by Subatomic Studios. $4.99

Fieldrunners is the most original tower defense game in the app store to this date. They have taken the principal of runners trying to escape by getting from the start to the end of a path and widened it out so the path is up to you. The games provides an infinite number of ways to construct your map consisting of Gatling Tower, Goo Tower, Missile Tower and Tesla Tower each with 2 optional upgrades to make the towers stronger.

The graphics in this game are very impressive. The cartoon feel to the game makes it that little bit easier to not feel so guilty about killing the fieldrunners. The smoothness of the entire game is top class, there is no glitchiness what so ever from the moving and shooting of the towers to the way the fieldrunners try to run to safety. The only slight downside to the graphics is that when you zoom in heaps by pinching two fingers together, the picture gets slighty pixelated.

The music in the game is quite enjoyable. Each fieldrunner has a sound that they make when they die, but this gets quite irritating at times. Overall quite good.

The menu is very easy to look at and captures your attention with the great art on the left of the screen. The screen makes it easy for first time players with easy to read links. There is play, this is where you choose what map you want, currently there is either grasslands or crossroads. There are two modes for each of these maps, Classic, try to survive 100 levels and Endless, survive for as long as possible. Each of these two modes have three difficulty levels to them, easy medium and hard for anytype of gamer. Next is the resume button for games which you are in progress of playing, saving the game is easy and by going back to the menu or clicking the home button to exit the app saves it automatically. Your scores are shown next, the classic and endless scores are merged and the scores are only shown with different tabs for the maps, saving space. Finally there is help with tells some information about each tower and what its properties are.

The best part of this app is obviously the gameplay. It doesn't matter which map or difficulty level you start with, the fieldrunners at the start of the game are very easy to beat and gradually get harder to beat. There are fieldrunners which are exclusive to certain maps and many different types on both of them. Every 10 levels are boss levels which bring out the strongest opponents you will find ranging from large blimps to tanks and robots. The maps are all a rectangle shape and allow ample room to create your path for fieldrunners to follow. Grasslands was the first map and has one entry and one exit. Crossroads gets a little bit more difficult and you have to cater for two entries and two exits.

With all this it has a massive replay factor which is an added bonus to any game. Trying to get a perfect score on hard or surviving to level 200 will consume hours of gameplay which you won't even notice. To move towers onto the field you must click and drag from the towers button. You have the option, found in the Settings, to show a grid on the map which makes it easier to place and the ability to zoom in to make sure that tesla is placed in the right place to kill the boss. Version 1.2 is currently in the final stages of development with one new map and two new towers which will add to the amount of gameplay you can get out of it!

This is an extraordinary game which would appeal to anyone who craves tower defense games or anyone who likes playing games everynow and then. In my opinion this is the best game on the app store under $5. Get it now!

Graphics- 9.5/10
Gameplay- 9/10
Sound- 8.5/10
Overall- 9/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Tap Defense

Tell me what you think about this review at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews and some ideas to improve the reviews will be appreciated! Stay tuned, Tomorrow- Texas Hold 'Em

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Asphalt 4 Elite Racing

Hello all, this is the first review of a game I already have. Starting in a couple days I will start the reviews for the loyal developers.

iTunes Link

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing is a racing game by Gameloft. $5.99

Asphalt 4 is one of the first true racing games on the App Store. Before its releases the racing games were scattered with small cartoon versions and we called for a full racing game, Asphalt answered. With 28 different cars able to purchase, 5 different race modes across 9 cities, Asphalt brought a complete feeling to it.

The graphics in this game are amazing. The smooth feel as you are hurtling down the detailed streets running into cars were superior to all others at the time of its release. The cars look awesome, but they have worked into getting everything else up to scratch which really gets people interested in this game. Different camera angles in the game are an added bonus and contribute to the replay factor of the game.

The music in-game is good in places, and not so good in others. The good part is that new music is used in each country, which stops it being repetitive after hours playing the game. The disappointing music is noises the cars make, from the breaking to the sirens on the Cop Chase. But overall it is pretty good.

Ok to the menu. You can choose your car for each race, and buy new ones when money becomes available and your level is high enough. As well as just buying the cars you can customize them by upgrading everything from the engine to the tyres as well as changing the color of the car. The second option is to choose your location, game mode for that location and to race your car. The game modes for the game are
Race- 3 laps of the course to come in the top 3
Beat 'Em All- 3 laps of crash and bash. You have to get 6 takedowns to win
Cash Attack- 3 laps to get as much cash as possible from money icons, takedowns, using nitro and jumps. Get the most money to win
Cop Chase- Be the cop and catch the leader of the chasing cars and take him down to win
Duel- Make a bet of $5000, $10000 or $15000 and race 1 on 1 for two laps
The next option is where you get to choose from which one of your fangirls you will use for that race. Each one gives you special bonuses in the race. There are setting for the game such as gameplay, sound and languages. Lastly there is the option to play multiplayer against other people in the same room, which is quite fun.

To the gameplay, when you first play the instructions of how to play come up and the driving option comes up, where you choose one of the three, which can be changed at anytime. The aim of this game is to get the gold cup in everyone of the races and complete the game 100%. There is no difficulty setting so after a few cracks at each game mode, it is quite easy to win all the races with ease, which is disappointing. After you have completed the game there is nothing apart from trying to improve your online score and just wanted to play a racing game that will get you back to the game, as nothing new happens. The game also goes surprisingly quickly being completed in four to five hours.

Controlling the car/motorbike is very sold and easy to use. In the car getting used to the drifting takes a bit of time because anytime you turn a sharp corner you automatically drift. Motorbikes cannot drift and therefore cannot take sharp corners so you bump into the edge quite a bit. The A.I drivers are quite ruthless and from race one they will be trying to knock you out.

All in all this is an excellent game for any hardcore racing enthusiast down to the casual gamer. I would recommend this to anyone who can afford to buy it, it is well worth this reduced price of $5.99

Graphics 9/10
Gameplay 8/10
Sound 8/10
Overall 8.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Ferrari GT: Evolution

Tell me what you think about this review at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews and some ideas to improve the reviews will be appreciated! Stay tuned, Tomorrow- Fieldrunners

Thanks- iPhone_Reviews

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Upcoming Reviews

We have had a great response and are always taking on more apps!

The Next Month's schedule may change at any stage.

Next Months:
Friday- Slotz Racer
Saturday- Pocket God
Tuesday- Touch Physics
Wednesday- Rogue Vertex
Thursday- Pocket Guitar
Friday- Bobby Carrot
Saturday- Flight Control
Sunday- Streetball
Monday- Oz Weather
Tuesday- Blue Attack
Friday- Need for Speed: The Pink Slip
Saturday- World Championship Pool 2009
Sunday- BubbleTown
Monday- 7 Cities TD
Tuesday- Flying Aces
Wednesday- Tamagotchi
Thursday- Geometrix
Friday- YardSale
Monday- Distant Shore
Tuesday- Crazy Snowboard
Wednesday- Krypton Egg
Thursday- Fruit Blaster
Friday- Low Grav Racer
Saturday- Zombie Chav Hunt
Sunday- Numba
Monday- Galcon
Tuesday- Paper Pilot
Thursday- Vector Tanks
Saturday- The Quest
Tuesday- Vay
Wednesday- VyFight
Thursday- 3-Point Skills Challenge
Friday- Reign of Swords
Saturday- Flight Control
Sunday- GL Golf Deluxe
Tuesday- iGamePack
Wednesday- Airport Mania
Thursday- iQuarterback
Friday- Aircoaster 3D
Saturday- Dead Man's Dungeon
Monday- Monster Trucks Nitro
Tuesday- Lone Wolf
Wednesday- Bobby Carrot 1
Thursday- TNA Wrestling
Friday- Freeballin'
Saturday- Otto Matic
Sunday- iNetMania
Friday- SimCity
Sunday- Car Jack Streets
Monday- Hysteria Project
Tuesday- Sprill
Wednesday- Treasures of Montezuma
Thursday- Tank-o-Box
Friday- Ice Stars
Saturday- Dungeon Defense
Sunday- Beer Pong
Monday- Galaga Remix
Tuesday- Build-a-Lot
Wednesday- Hospital Havoc
Thursday- Red Bull Air Race
Friday- Slope Rider
Saturday- 9 Innings Baseball
Sunday- Glide Factor
Monday- Bloons
Tuesday- 7 Days Apocalypse
Wednesday- Magnificent Gizmos and Gadgets
Thursday- Downhill Bowling
Friday- Durak
Saturday- Iso

NEW: Weekendly Specials
Namco Networks
Chillingo Ltd.
Reverbinc
Electronic Arts

If we get any promo codes they will be reviewed and added in as well for probably in a months time http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews

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Welcome to iPhone Reviews

Welcome to iPhone Reviews, this is the blog where we are going to be putting reviews of iPhone Games.

Notifications of new reviews will be posted onto Twitter. http://www.twitter.com/iPhone_Reviews

Developers if you wish to get your app out there by one of these reviews, contact me on Twitter.

Thanks

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Merge Mobile PACS viewer

Merge Mobile is breakthrough technology intended to help health organizations and clinicians improve quality of care, reduce costs and improve responsiveness to patients. Today, radiologists and physicians have access to patient medical images from computers connected to their practice management or PAC (picture archiving and communications) systems. Applications* built upon Merge Mobile technology will enable radiologists to view emergency cases directly from their iPhone or iPod touch, consult with colleagues and, when necessary, forward critical findings directly and securely to a patient’s referring physician.

"Merge Healthcare will usher in a new era of mobile healthcare by bringing advanced medical imaging information to the fingertips of physicians," said Justin Dearborn, Merge Healthcare Chief Executive Officer. "Merge Mobile leverages the rapid convergence of mobile and medical technology development to empower new approaches in healthcare delivery and coordination."

Merge Mobile technology will enable the development of applications to retrieve CT, MRI, X-ray and other images wirelessly, and to perform standard radiologic manipulations to guide decision-making, much like computer-based solutions such as PACS. Few solutions of this kind exist today, and most experience download delays associated with medical imaging’s large data sets. Merge Mobile incorporates advanced remote rendering techniques, including multi-planar reconstruction (MPR), which eliminate downloading of large data quantities to the mobile device and enable near-immediate access to images. Features include remote stack viewing using the iPhone multi-touch interface, scroll, contrast adjustment, zoom and pan. A secure communication protocol addresses privacy.

Merge Healthcare provides sample images and data via a demonstration server with the free Merge Mobile download at www.apple.com/iphone/appstore.

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