Soccer Scores Pro – FotMob review

If you’re looking for an app to stay on top of all soccer scores from around the wrold, FotMob for iPhone from Score Service Ltd is a must have. The Soccer Scores Pro app delivers live updating scores for matching from virtually every single professional game being played anywhere in the world in any league you can imagine. There are tons of sports apps like ESPN, BBC, and Fox Soccer just to name a few, but FotMob is probably the only app you’ll find that is dedicated to providing professional soccer scores via an iPhone app.

From the main four tabs you can choose to view Live scores, League details, Favorites and Settings for the app. Live is where you can track games being played right now, which includes matches for Today, plus a history of games played Yesterday plus an overview of games coming up Tomorrow. This section can be quickly filtered for leagues by thawing the F/C icon and checking off the ones you want included. Popular leagues including the Premier League, Serie A, LIGA BBVA, Bundesliga, Champions League, Europa League, Euro, World Cup, MLS, and more international leagues are shown above other individual countries in the section called Staff Picks. Speaking of countries, the app covers what seems to be pretty much every single country who has a pro league, plus international series.

Match Facts is the detail screen where FotMob includes 4 additional sub-sections for keeping up with live and previously played matches. These 4 areas are Facts, Lineup, Stats, and Table. Facts lists goals scored, cards handed out, substitutions and more. Lineup has a nice field/jersey style graphic with player names and subs. Stats is a quick comparison of different statistics about the game such as shots on target, fouls, possession percentage and many more. Table is a standing for the league the game is a part of that shows games played, wins, draws, losses and points.
Push notifications can be added to the free app as a premium feature for $1.99 and ads in the app can be removed for $1.99 via in-app purchases. Just be careful, if you’re recording a game and don’t want spoiler alerts, you may not want to enable push alerts.
Overall, if you’re at all a fan of soccer (aka football, aka futball) and want to keep up-to-date on matches being played and your favorite teams, FotMob soccer scores is a gem of an app you should not overlook.

Download Soccer Scores Pro – FotMob at iTunes App Store

Price: Free

Developer: Score Service

Version: 3.7

Size: 13.62 MB

DragonVale review

Backflip Studios is a prolific developer of free-to-play games for iOS. All of the studio’s apps are now free and ad supported with a premium upgrade option. Their newest such application is DragonVale which is available for the iPad (iOS 4.1+), iPod touch (2nd gen+) or iPhone (3GS+). For this review, I played DragonVale on both an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4S.
Backflip intends DragonVale to compete in that “freemium” market of simulators that have us managing zoos, harvesting crops and leading a mafia family. In this game, the player controls a floating island — eventually a series of islands — where dragons live. Dragons range from ice to fire breathers, and it’s the player’s responsibility to breed them, hatch them, nurture them and so forth.

With simulation-style games being so popular of late, many of them have gotten quite complex, and most new entries try to top the field with some dazzling innovation. DragonVale, surprisingly, is not that application. Instead, it’s a mixture of good elements from a bunch of different games. On one hand, the app is stable and a lot of fun. On the other, it often gives you that been-there-done-that feeling.
Keep in mind that if you’re as big a fan of such simulations as we are, then that familiarity is not a problem. In fact, due to our experience with these games, we were playing this one like a pro almost immediately. The learning curve was small, and DragonVale got addicting fast. As the dragons age, the platform has a Pokémon quality that kids will love and adults will like far more than they care to admit.

One of the game’s best draws, also like Pokémon, is the collector aspect: You want to have one of each type of dragon. The difficulty there is that you can never be sure what type of dragon will hatch until it actually does. When that egg starts to shake and the crack forms, there’s tangible excitement as you wait to find out if you finally got that coveted breed. It’s the little things like that that make DragonVale work so well.
Since DragonVale is mostly a hands-off sandbox experience, there isn’t much to the controls, other than moving around the screen to monitor a particular area. The menu system is dense, but well laid out and very responsive. The music and sound effects are of high quality, but there’s not enough diversity for our tastes. You can disable the music, but you need the sound effects as notifications to hatchings and the like.
DragonVale is fantastic as an iPod touch and iPhone app. Eventually, you’ll have many dragons, and the 9.7-inch screen does come in handy at times, but DragonVale is well suited to the smaller screen. There’s not a lot of action off-screen, and when something of interest does happen elsewhere, DragonVale produces handy go-to buttons that zip you right over to it. User-assignable go-to buttons are on our wish list, however.
The low challenge may frustrate hardcore gamers, and as simulation apps go, this iPhone app has low long-term value because there’s nothing left once you created all the breeds and collected all the islands. Nevertheless, we had a great experience during this review, and as an ad-supported free app, we’d recommend to anyone with a little time to kill.

Download DragonVale at iTunes App Store

Price: Free

Developer: Backflip Studios

Version: 1.4.0

Size: 18.02 MB

Mad Tracks review

Mad Tracks is an iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone app made by Namco and it is a fun little racing game that harkens back to many other power-up based racing games where you can pick up items and use them against your opponents. Let’s get into the review of Mad Tracks.
Concept
The concept here is very simple: win the race. You get to pick from several different cars in this application, and each one has slightly different stats. There is also a meter at the top that makes it easy for you to see your position, so you know exactly how far you are trailing or leading in the race.

Power-Ups
Just like many other racing games, you get power-ups here. There are not that many power-ups, but they are certain fun to use. You get rockets, shields and boosting items to help you decimate your opponents. One interesting thing about this app is that you get to hold several different power-ups at once, while most racing apps only allow you to hold one or two items.
Graphics
The graphics certainly don’t look hyper realistic, but they aren’t supposed to. This app is stylized to look more colorful, and it does a good job at this. Everything is easy to see, and most of the graphics are very crisp. But, if you are obsessed with realistic looking cars, you won’t find it here.
Audio
While you’re going through the track, you have some fun and upbeat music to listen to that will keep you from getting bored. While the music isn’t exactly studio quality, it works with this game.

Controls
The controls are pretty straightforward. On the left you have two arrows to turn left or right, and on the right you have a backwards and forwards arrow for braking and accelerating respectively. You also get a great button in the center of the screen that you can use if your car gets turned around by a rocket. By pressing this button, you go back to the last checkpoint, which is a lot easier than slowly turning around.
The only bad thing about the controls is that your items are above your gas button. This means, to use an item, you have to stop accelerating for a second. These buttons probably would have been better over on the left side, because there are a lot of instances where you are going straight and not turning.
Multiplayer
You get to play against your friends and other players online in tournaments and single matches, which is really fun and it’s great to see.
While there is the one small problem with the controls, this app is very fun and works very well. If you are interested in racing and blowing up other cars, you will certainly get some fun out of this.

Download Mad Tracks at iTunes App Store

Price: Free

Developer: Namco Networks America Inc.

Version: 1.0.0

Size: 80.20 MB

NBA 2K12 for iPhone review

For as long as I’ve played video games, my favorite genre has been the sports game. I remember renting Jordan vs Bird Super One on One as a young boy and thinking it was the epitome of what a basketball game could be. Of course, as I’ve played more sports games I’ve been more and more impressed, but it wasn’t until last year when 2K Sports released NBA 2K11 that I was blown away at how a sports video game should make me feel. Even so, I tempered my expectations at their first efforts on the iPhone with this year’s iteration, NBA 2K12. Thankfully, I underestimated how great their first iOS NBA game would be.

If you’ve played the NBA 2K series on a console, you’ll know that one of the big selling points of the franchise is the presentation, and 2K Sports has brought their fantastic presentation to iOS with NBA 2K12. Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg team up as the play-by-play and color men and do as terrific a job on the iPhone as they do on the Playstation 3. Where most sports franchises have stiff commentary that sounds delayed to the action on the court, NBA 2K12 sounds like the announcers are courtside watching the game and talking about it in realtime, as a real conversation. It’s simply fantastic hearing the banter between the two and realizing that you’re losing very little in commentary from the console to the iOS version. But the presentation doesn’t stop at just the commentary. The camera angles and cutaways are fantastic, and really evoke the feeling of true television presentation. Graphically NBA 2K12 isn’t as evolved as some of the games on the App Store, but it’s as great as any other sports title available.

NBA 2K12 offers two different control schemes, a traditional three “button” scheme, and a swipe control scheme that offers one-touch control of the players on the court. Personally, I found the swipe control to be difficult, mainly because the players moved automatically, and as a long-time player of sports games, my point guard moving by himself was a little unnerving. However, for casual fans, this control scheme may be ideal. For the rest of us, the three button control system works perfectly, and it includes a fourth button away from where the thumb rests for alley-oops.
NBA 2K12 is an ideal mobile game for basketball enthusiasts. With authentic rosters, a full season mode, and a Jordan mode which lets you recreate 10 of the legend’s most iconic performances, NBA 2K12 will fill your basketball fix for a long time to come, even if the entire season is lost due to the lockout. NBA 2K12 is available now in the App Store for $4.99 on iPhone and $9.99 on the iPad.

Download NBA 2K12 for iPhone at iTunes App Store

Price: $4.99

Developer: 2K Sports

Version: 1.0.2

Size: 445.11 MB

Monster Island review

Monster Island is an iPhone game developed by released by Miniclip. Players of Angry Birds will find this iPhone app similar enough to be familiar yet unique enough to stand on its own. With 200 levels taking place on three different islands, the application promises to provide hours of entertainment.
The concept is one we’ve seen before. The player controls the main character, or monster, who remains stationery, shooting various rocks, boulders and exploding orbs at the enemy (what appear to be other monsters). People who enjoy this type of somewhat simple game play will no doubt enjoy Monster Island. What may set the app apart from its competitors is control of the shot.

With your thumb, you aim an arrow in the direction you’d like to shoot your rock. Drawing your thumb to the right of the screen increases your power meter and the strength with which your shot is thrown. Once you’ve aimed your arrow and decided on the power level, you tap your ‘mini’ in the bottom left corner to release your throw. The controls take a minute or two to get used to but by level four you’ll have it down pat.
The audio soundtrack on the app may be its drawback. The audio is on a loop and quickly gets mundane. The developers may want to consider adding better background music and additional sound effects to the app. For now, I’ll play Monster Island with the soundtrack muted and the sound effects on. Graphically, things are simple but interesting. Rich hues of blue, green and yellow highlight the app with more subtle variations of browns and purples.

For $0.99, the Monster Island app is a good value. The player is taken through tutorials each time a new feature is introduced in a level so that you are never left scratching your head. As you beat an enemy, you win coins which can be used to buy new monsters to control. Players can also purchase coins for real money if they don’t want to wait. Annoying background music and a lack of sound effects shouldn’t deter anyone from purchasing this app for their iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone. If you’re looking for a simple way to pass your lunch hour or entertain yourself while waiting for the doctor, Monster Island certainly delivers.
Perfect for children and adults of all ages, Monster Island is a great iOS game at a great price.

Download Monster Island at iTunes App Store

Price: $0.99

Developer: Miniclip.com

Version: 1.0.1

Size: 18.72 MB