New Apps Discussed on March 15th, 2010:

1. The Graveyard Lite – Free Lite version or $1.99 Premium version – You guide an elderly woman to a bench at the end of a graveyard and then you sit and experience something unexpected. It’s like experiencing a short film and it’s unique enough to be worth taking a look at. If you feel you need the feature of the premium version, then the app can provide you the ink to purchasing the version with the extra feature. I don’t want to say anything else since really any description is kind of a spoiler as to what to expect. It’s different and that’s a good thing when we’ve been seeing the same types of apps every week.
2. iBed – Free – Specialized browser application that ONLY works in Portrait mode so you can use it while lying on your side in bed, on the couch, etc. Comes pre-loaded with links to pages like Gmail, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter. You can put in your own bookmarks on the opening page so you can go wherever you want in it. Does seem to load a bit slowly and for pages that aren’t inherently designed to work with mobile devices it doesn’t seem to allow you to resize them with the usual pinch and zoom. A fairly nice solution for those without jailbroken phones.
3. N.O.V.A Lite – Free Lite version or $4.99 Premium version – I had been wanting to try this game for a while and now that I have finally gotten a taste, I will be going on to the Premium version. NOVA is Gameloft’s attempt at getting a piece of the Halo game market for the iPhone. Graphically, NOVA comes off very well, reminding me of Metroid Prime Hunters for the Nintendo DS or basically any PS2-level FPS game. However, the real achievement here is the controls. First-person shooters haven’t fared too well on the iPhone, but I feel that the use of a fire button that allows you to slide around and aim is a very easy and the thought process of applying the two joysticks you’d normally have on a control pad to the two virtual sticks you get with the iPhone works so well that NOVA will make you believe iPhone FPS gaming is really here. The presentation is solid, but the ripoff of Halo is so obvious that most fans will either be annoyed or get a kick out of it. I was in the latter group. If you were on the fence, it’s worth checking out this Lite version and if you were really looking for the best FPS game on the iPhone, I believe NOVA will be it for a while (especially with the iPad version coming).
4. Garage Buddy – $0.99 – Sort of all-in-one app for the auto mechanics enthusiast. All sorts of charts and calculators that are useful when working on cars, including a tire size calculator, relevant units converter, belt and gearing calculators, and even a notepad to take notes on your cars. Admittedly, it’s not really that easy to use the iPhone when doing actual WORK on cars, but this is still a nice handy reference. One tip for anyone who DOES feel absolutely compelled to take their iPhone or iPod TOuch out into the garage with them: if you put it in a ziplock bag- I’ve found that the ’snack size’ ones that are about half the size of a sandwich bag work quite well, you can still control it through the plastic of the bag- though it obviously doesn’t work through shop gloves…
5. The Hero – $1.99 – Fly around and keep your fame up in this quick, arcade-style  action game in which you high-five fans, catch robbers and save babies with your super powers. With 15 cities to save, several types of enemies to defeat, and a great Incredibles-style presentation, The Hero is a very solid and fun game for short 15-20 minute bursts.
6. Tweet Defense – $0.99 – You got twitter in my tower defense game! You got your tower defense game in my Twitter! Your powers combine will form…. OK, I’m not finishing that one… I’m actually surprised this hasn’t been done before: it’s a TD game that uses stats from your twitter account to provide bonuses to your towers. Each day there’s a different ‘booster’ celebrity tower that if you follow them you get even more bonuses if you build one of those towers. It’s actually not a bad TD game even without the Twitter element to it. It’s a hybrid mazing/fixed path format in that there is something of a fixed path the creeps- ZOmbies in this case- follow, but the path isn’t always just one block wide and you can build towers pretty much anywhere- including in the path of the zombies- so in open areas of the path you can set up mazes. There are also a number of maps that you unlock when you beat the previous map. There are some issues with the initial release- there’s a bug that should be fixed in the next update that makes it such that you actually need a bit more money than it’s showing you to be able to upgrade the towers, and it can occasionally be difficult to hit the upgrade button deepening on where on the field the tower is, and there’s a REALLY steep curve on the cost of the towers, somewhat moreso than I think there should be. Despite these issues, the main one of which should be fixed shortly, it is definitely an enjoyable entry to the TD genre.

BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak – (Kevin) –  $2.99 Premium version or Free Lite version – A combination of Real-Time Strategy game and Tower Defense game that marries the two into one incredibly awesome app. Rather than placing towers along a path or forcing drones through a maze of towers, you’re actually placing and expanding them around your base in an effort to expand your base’s coverage of the map while defending against zombies trying to destroy that same base. There’s upgrades, different level styles (leading to different level strategies), and a feeling that each playthrough will be different from the last. It’s the kind of genre-bender that you figure many other apps will want to mimic in the future.

50 in 1: APPZILLA! (Bob) – $1.99 – 51 applets in one collector app- at the moment. There is quite a number of them are pretty useful as well. Appzilla looks very nice and works well – it includes a lot of very useful tools and should be able to replace even more of the utility-type apps that you have. Even includes such things as a basic Twitter and Facebook updating apps and a decibel meter. There’s also a rather nice take on a kitchen timer by allowing you to set 6 different timers- one for each of four burners on a stove and two for ovens. There’s also some silly or at least amusing stuff, like the Homeland Security Advisory checker and a morse code generating flashlight. All in all, it’s a whole lot of useful stuff for just $2…

White Lines – $0.99 – It’s actually not about cocaine. This is a game of Simon Says in which you draw white lines on your screen to mimic what the computer previously drew. It’s deceptively titled and deceptively simple to point of addicting. Like cocaine. This app is not cocaine.

Walk with the Hero – (Bob) – Free – Have you ever wished your life was more like an RPG? Well, a GOOD one, like Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana? Wanted to wander around aimlessly beating up everything you see for some nebulous experience points or to find the one rat carrying a full set of legendary armor? Well, This app won’t help you with random encounters or experience points- but it can help make your trekking around a bit more interesting. This app puts a customizable party of 8-bit RPG characters on the map that follow your location dot around. It isn’t perfect – it doesn’t auto-center the map and has a hard time deciding the direction at times. But, it’s still a lot of fun to turn on and occasionally glance at- just don’t’ stare at it when you’re actually driving…