iPod/iPhone App Review: X-Plane 9 Airliner

      The continuation of the great app X-Plane 9 has begun. Now there is an X-Plane Airliner! This flight simulator app is great and performs well. In this app, you can practice flying, taking off, and landing. This app is just like the original X-Plane for the iPod Touch and iPhone except now you can fly planes such as the Boeing 747, Boeing 777, Boeing 787, and the Airbus A-380.

      There are many things that I like about X-Plane 9 Airliner. One of the good things about this application is that it feels like a real flight simulator. I’ve played around with some of the actual computer flight simulators and I think that this comes pretty darn close to being like the real deal. While you are flying, you can control the trim, speed brake, throttle, and flap. You use the accelerometer in the iPhone to control your plane. You tilt the device left to fly left, tilt it right to fly right, tilt it up to climb, and tilt down to head towards the ground. The controls in this app are very simple and easy to use. The graphics in X-Plane 9 Airliner are also very good. There have been some updates to make it more realistic and I think that they did a pretty good job at making it as realistic as possible. You can also view the full glass EFIS system which shows you airspeed, heading, altitiude and mush more. The ability to chose the time of day, how strong the wind is and how heavy the plane is makes this app pretty cool. These features make this app more life-like and gives you the opportunity to play around with the settings a bit. This app is made to be a true flight simulator, not an air combat game. So if you’re looking for a true flight simulator, X-Plane 9 Airliner is for you.

      This app has come so far, but it still lacks some features that could make this app more fun and realistic. One thing that this app lacks is true airports. Even though there are “airports” in this game, they aren’t true airports; they’re just runways in the middle of nowhere. Also, there aren’t any other planes in the sky flying around with you. I know this isn’t usually a big deal, but it would be cool to see other planes in the sky while you’re flying. Another thing that makes X-Plane 9 Airliner less desirable is the fact that the only place you can fly is in the mountains. This app doesn’t let you fly over cities or over oceans. There is only a 60 by 60 mile area in which you can fly in. With the limited area, this app can become tedious and unexciting.

      Overall, X-plane 9 Airliner is a pretty good app. Again, this is not a air combat application, it’s just a flight simulator. This app is good for introducing what flying is like to people who might want to become a pilot.  

page topic: xplane 9 airliner app review for iphone and ipod touch

]]> http://www.innocentenglish.com/nathan-reviews/xplane-9-airliner-iphone-app-review.html/feed 0 http://www.innocentenglish.com/nathan-reviews/iphone-app-reviews-real-soccer-09.html http://www.innocentenglish.com/nathan-reviews/iphone-app-reviews-real-soccer-09.html#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:33:12 +0000 admin http://www.innocentenglish.com/?p=7999 Real Soccer 09: iphone Apps Reviews
Real Soccer 09 is one of the best apps out there for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Obviously, in this app, you can play soccer against many different countries. Out of 198 teams, you can pick your team and your opponents team. Afterwards, you can decide which team wears what color jersey and shorts. In Real Soccer 09, you get a chance to play in 12 different stadiums and easily perform the most amazing tricks. This app is one of the best and is great for those who absolutely love soccer.

On of the things that I really like about Real Soccer 09 is the 3D graphics. Although the graphics aren’t as good as the best graphics in the world, they are very good for something on the iPod Touch and iPhone. I was amazed when I first tried this game. Another cool thing about this game is that there is a great sense of flow throughout the game. There are smooth and fluid animations throughout the whole game which makes it very impressive and cool. Real Soccer 09 is different than all of the other apps out there because instead of using the accelerometer on either the iPod Touch or the iPhone, this game has an actual D-Pad and buttons that show up on the screen. When playing you use the D-Pad to set your character running in a direction and you press the “A” button to shoot the ball into the goal and the “B” button to pass your ball to another teammate. The controls on this game are pretty simple and easy to use. Soon, I was able to do tricks such as side tackling, sprinting, faking shots, and rushing the goal keeper. Real Soccer 09 goes further in depth than what’s expected. In this game, you can sub out different players, tackle people to earn yourself a red card (ha ha ), and you can pick which formation your team should start in. You can also just place your teammates wherever you want to by dragging their little icon and placing them wherever. There is also a training mode which will teach you all of the moves and it lets you practice at your own pace. I found this to be very helpful. There is also an options mode where you can change match length, weather, difficulty, time of day, and match rules. Finally, you can do league mode which lets you compete for 6 different trophies.

Like I said, this game has amazing graphics and while you are playing you can change the camera angle and there is an instant replay feature that lets you zoom in, slow down, and pan the camera in several different directions. Also in Real Soccer 09 comes those classic sounds such as the crowds chanting and cheering and the guy yelling “GOOOAALLL!” when someone makes a goal. When playing this app, the A.I. seem to be mostly smart. Sometimes, the A.I. totally run off and do their own thing or they don’t receive the ball when you pass it to them, but the A.I. is almost all of the time great.

Real Soccer 09 is a great app for the iPod Touch and the iPhone and you can get it at the App Store for $5.99. It is definitely worth the price! I would give this app a 8 out of 10.

Page topic: Real Soccer 09 iphone App Review

Ever since the App Store started running, there has not been very good shooting apps out there. Until now. The new game, Brothers in Arms: Hours of Heroes is an amazing game that is based off of the Brothers in Arms games that came out for the Wii and the Xbox 360. When you play this game, you are a soldier who is fighting in World War 2 against the Nazis. In the game there are many missions that you have to complete. During these missions, you learn how to do certain things and you get a chance to fire a multitude of different guns. Once you have completed all of the missions, you can replay them but on a harder level. This makes this game longer-lasting and fun.

There are many things that I really like about this game. The graphics of this game really amazed me as soon as I turned started Brothers in Arms: Hours of Heroes. I was expecting something slow and stupid like a related app that came out called Cube. This app was the exact opposite. It smoothly flowed and there were no sudden jerks of the screen and there was none of that “please wait. . . .loading” junk during game play to slow you down. I was very impressed at the smoothness of this game. The graphics of the actual people are also very good for being on something as small as the iPod Touch and iPhone. Again, I was impressed. What is really good about this app is the way it is designed so people can control their character easily. I am not a true gamer, but I was able to pick this app up and make it look like I knew what I was doing. The controls were very good. One cool thing about the iPod Touch and iPhone version of Brothers in Arms is that when somebody wants to look through their scope on their gun, all they have to do is put two fingers on the screen and then spread them apart. It works just like zooming in on a picture on the iPod Touch and iPhone. This game is pretty darn amazing for a game that’s made for something small as an iPod Touch.

There are also a couple of things about this game that might not make people too happy. One of those things is that this game has a limited number of levels and if you’re a person who likes to play til’ you drop, this game may only last you a couple of hours at the least. But updates for this game are coming out and one of those updates might have some extra levels which is another good reason to get this game. Another thing that might be found disappointing is the graphics when car or a tank is being driven. It’s like driving a very poorly looking box that jerks around and that is hard to control. This bad thing could also have an effect on a gamer’s performance when playing.

Brothers in Arms: Hours of Heroes is a great game to get for the iPod Touch and iPhone. It’s graphics are good and the actual game play is very smooth. You can get this great game in the App Store for $7.99. I would rate this game 9.5 out of 10.

Iphone App reviews: Brothers in Arms shooting game

Guitar Rock Tour for the iPod Touch and the iPhone obviously originated from the famous videogames, Rock Band and Guitar Hero. In this app, icons go down the screen and you tap them when they reach the end line. For this app, you can chose from two instruments: guitar or drums. This app is very much like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. So this game is for those who have played the famous Guitar Hero and those who spend their life in a dark basement in their mom’s house playing Guitar Hero.

Guitar Rock Tour comes with some famous songs unlike Tap Tap Revenge that provides many songs which are either unknown or unpopular. Some of the included songs are: Beat It, In the Shadows, Girlfriend, Message in a Bottle, Rock You Like a Hurricane, Smoke on the Water, and many more. This app has many good things about it. The background as you play is fully animated and fun to watch. Also, the songs are fun to play along with. This is the only music app out there that lets you play with some popular songs. Just like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, there’s a Quick Play mode and a Career mode. The quick play mode lets you instantly play with any song that you have unlocked. The career mode lets you go song by song and unlocks each song after you completed them. This game has good graphics and is one of the best music games out there.

Although this game is cool, it does have its downsides. First, it crashes very often. Crashes can happen just as you start the app or while you’re playing it. These crashes can prove to be annoying and in some cases, if an app tends to crash a lot, it might harm the iPod or iPhone software. So be careful. Second, the notes on the screen and the music sometimes get out of sync. It quickly goes back to normal, but this could mess some people up and annoy them. Third, Guitar Rock Tour is just way too expensive for the limited things that this app does. It did start as $9.99, but has dropped to still an expensive price of $5.99. One more downside of this app is its number of songs. 17 songs are not enough to keep the music player entertained. But because this app is not on a disk or something of that nature, this app will not be able to hold very many songs even with future updates. The app would become too large and it would soon grow into huge mess.

Guitar Rock Tour is a really good and well made music application. But its constant crashes and lack of songs make it less popular. This app had its first release in November 2008, so it still has a good chunk of problems that could be later fixed. So my recommendation is to wait for future updates before you purchase this app. Save your money. Check out the App Store every once in a while and see if this app has gotten any better. Don’t buy it unless you have a lot of money to burn.
Page topic: Iphone App reviews: Guitar Rock Tour

One of the new apps that came out for both the iPod Touch and the iPhone is Monopoly Here & Now. This game is based off of the classic board game of Monopoly. In this game, you try to buy as many properties as you can such as London or Beijing. Whenever people land on your property, they have to pay rent depending on which property it is and how many houses or hotels you have on that particular property. The goal of this game is to own as many properties as you can so that you can try to run your opponents out of money. Also in this game are different things such as “Chance,” “Treasure Chest,” “Income Tax” and more. These different things either benefit you or take away your money, which makes this game more unpredictable and exciting.

There are many cool features in Monopoly: Here and Now. When it is your turn, you shake the iPod Touch or iPhone to shake the dice. This makes the game more interactive and fun. Like some of the other apps, you can play your own music while you are playing this game. What is really neat about this game is the 3D graphics and animations in this game. Every different player piece such as the car, or the penguin has their own unique way of moving along the board. The graphics of this game are very impressive. This game has many options that you can change to make the game more challenging or easier. You can change the starting money amount, you can pick the A.I. difficulty level if you’re playing against the computer, and you can turn off and on background music and sounds. Monopoly: Here and Now is a great game to get caught up in and it is definitely worth your money.

One of the things that I noticed about this game is that when you pick the difficulty level, the harder the difficulty level, the more likely the game goes in the opponent’s favor. For example, I picked an easy difficulty level and everything seemed pretty fair. When I chose the more difficult level, I would always land on the “Go to Jail” spot and I couldn’t ever get past until maybe 20 minutes later. Also, when I landed on “Chance,” or “Treasure Chest,” I would always be the one to pay something to other players or lose an enormous amount of money. In addition, the game seemed to always go in favor to the opponent so that they stayed with at least 10 million. When the amount dropped below that, the opponent would always roll the dice and get even more money by landing on “Chance,” “Treasure chest,” or the “GO” space. Throughout the whole game, the opponent never had to pay anything except when it bought properties. So I think that the options “unfair game,” and “fair game” would be more appropriate under the difficulty options.

Besides the game difficulty problem that this game has, I would say that this game is one of the best board games you can get for your iPod Touch or iPhone. You can get it at the App Store for $7.99. I would rate this game a 7 out of 10.

Page topic: Iphone app review of Monopoly

There are many good things about Touchgrind. First of all, the graphics are pretty good. The skateboard looks very real and the obstacles such as ramps and rails look as good as the skateboard. Overall, it does look like the creators or the designers did take their time to make this game look very good. Another good thing about this game is its performance. I’ve tried a different skateboarding app that did not do what I wanted it to do, but this app is sensitive and it picks up my every swipe and touch. I was able to easily do tricks and impress my friends. One last good thing about this app is that it is great for waiting rooms or something of that nature. Touchgrind starts up quickly allowing me to entertain myself whenever and wherever.

One small note that I want to add is that even though this app is just like those small fingerboards that you can get at toy stores, you DO NOT have to press down hard on the screen to make it work. This information may be common sense to some, but I’ve had some people who thought that in order for Touchgrind to work, they had to press down hard on the skateboard just like they did when they played with their toy fingerboards. One of those people almost broke the screen on my iPod Touch.

Although this is a great app, there are some things I do want to point out. The area in which you skateboard in is very very small. Many times I have found myself running into the fence that serves as the border of the skate area. So it is really easy to get tired of skating in the small area over and over. Another thing is that even though the skateboard is big enough to fit the screen, there is hardly any room left to show where you are going. There are icons that pop up on the screen to show you where everything is, but it still doesn’t help very much because it doesn’t tell you how far away you are from a ramp of a rail. There is a map option that you can choose that lets you see the whole park and where you are at. But the downside of the map is that you have to stop skateboarding to access it.

Touchgrind is a very good app for the iPod Touch and the iPhone. It entertains and allows you to exercise your fingers a little. The graphics are great and the performance is amazing. You can find this great app in the app store and buy it for $4.99. I would give this app 8 out of 10.

page topic: review of Touchgrind: Iphone App Review

   New apps are out in the App Store for iPod Touch with the new 2.0 firmware and the new iPhone 3G! Are there any applications for musicians? Yes there are! There are applications with drums, guitars, and many other instruments. There are even applications that are compatible with porfessional studio recording systems! But one of the best of the music applications is Pianist.
     Pianist is an application for musicians who own an iPod Touch or an iPhone. With this application, users can play piano using the amazing touch screen. All 88 keys in the piano are individually sampled from a real grand piano to give you the most realistic sound. And every time you touch any key on the piano, the key goes down like a real key on a piano! Pianist also lets players play up to five note chords on the piano. With this application, you can also record what you play and you can also play along with your recording and even record that! In addition to these cool features, there is a metronome to help you stay with the beat. This can be helpful if you’re aiming towards perfection. Also, you have the ability to control the volume of the piano. This feature is especially cool because not only does it control your piano volume, but also the volume of every application that you have. This app is amazing and would serve well to musicians who are bored and can’t get to a piano.
     One of the downside of Pianist is that you can view only view 12 keys at a time. You have to push a button to go up or down the piano. You can also do piano panning; with this feature, you can view all 88 keys on a miniature piano and move your finger over to any 12 keys that you want to play. So playing complicated pieces on this application is very complicated.

   Pianist is an amazing music application that is sure to keep you entertained and occupied for quite a bit. Though there are many things that are very cool about the Pianist application, there are some things that pull it away from the “perfect application” category. Pianist is one of the best music applications and it is definitely worth $5.99.

Page Topic: Apple iphone Apps: Piano Review for Iphone and Ipod Touch

Here it is: The new iPod/iPhone 2.0 update with many easily obtainable applications! Out of hundreds of applications, there are many good ones and many bad ones. One of the best games that show off the iPod/iPhones’s accelerometer is Super Monkey Ball.
Super Monkey Ball is a unique game where you (the monkey inside a plastic ball) are trying to reach the end of the level while collecting all the bananas in under 60 seconds. To move in the game, you tilt your iPod or iPhone and the monkey moves in the direction of your tilt. So for example, if you tilt you iPod/iPhone to the right, the monkey goes to the right. In the App Store, this game is $10, and many are asking: Is it really worth the money? Well this review can help you make that decision.
This game is very different from the other games made for the iPod and iPhone. Unlike other games, Super Monkey Ball is a full console game. This simply means that this game has so much to it, such as the plethora of levels and the graphics, that it usually takes a game console like the Nintendo Wii to run it. Super Monkey Ball also shows off the amazing performance of the accelerometer in the iPod Touch and iPhone. The game is very sensitive to every move that you make with your iPod/iPhone; as soon as you tilt the thing, you monkey immediately starts moving in that direction. Super Monkey Ball also lasts a long time because of all the levels and everything that you can do on this game. This game is good for waiting rooms, restaurants with long waiting lists, or just whenever you’re bored. This game is very entertaining and fun.
Like all games, Super Monkey Ball also has a few downsides. Due to the extreme sensitivity to your tilts and moves, many people have a lot of trouble getting everything under control. For example, a friend of mine tried this game and when he would try to tilt the iPod, the monkey would go flying at high speed off the track. Many people experience this and are very tired and frustrated after a few minutes. I’m sorry to say that for some people, Super Monkey Ball takes a lot of patience; and most of us are not willing to use patience to be able to play a game on our iPod or iPhone. This whole problem with Super Monkey Ball turns many people away from the game. But once you are able to control your character, you will find this game entertaining and fun. One last small downside to this game is the actual appearance of the monkey. While the background and everything else looks very good compared to the original Super Monkey Ball on Gamecube, the monkey looks like it was pulled from an old Gameboy. The monkey is sort of pixilated and very jerky. This appearance of the monkey kind of takes away from the whole appearance of  Super Monkey Ball.
Though this game has some downsides, Super Monkey Ball is a great game to have on your iPod Touch or iPhone. It is definitely worth $10.
page topic: Iphone apps reviews: Super Monkey Ball

The new update came out for the iPod Touch and the iPhone. This update enables both products to play many applications. So many people are browsing the App Store wondering what they should get. Well one of the applications that you should get is AquaForest.

AquaForest is a very awesome application designed for creativity. In this application, you can create water, heat, walls, elastic strings that you can dangle stuff from, and many other things. While it seems at first that this game could be boring, it really captures the interest of creative people. When you create water by just swiping your finger across the screen, the water is then pulled down gravity (which you can turn off in Settings) to the bottom of your iPod or iPhone. Then the water reacts to every single tilt that you make. This feature is really cool. But you can do many things with the water. You can make it evaporate by creating heat, you can draw your own boat and make it float on the water, and many other neat things. You can also create walls to make your own mazes to move objects through, you can draw yourself a house and then burn it all down with fire, and you can do many other cool things with the wall feature. AquaForest is really amazing because everything that you create reacts to each other based on real-world physics and properties. For example, anything heavier than water will, of course, float to the bottom of any water that you have on the screen. Also, when you mix the right things, they will combine and make another different substance. In AquaForest, you can also play around with the puzzles that come with the application. Some of the puzzles include mazes and combining different things such as water and heat. This game is very amazing and it allows you to take your creativity as far as you want.

One thing that I do have to say about AquaForest is that it does have one problem. When you have only one or two things going on at the same time, things move smooth and they move at a nice speed. When you have a bunch of things going at the same time or if you have a lot of water on the screen, things start to move slower than normal. I don’t like this because it kind of ruins the fun of this game. The slow moving water and objects is a real turn-off. But usually, things move nice and smooth.

AquaForest is a great application for the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I highly recommend it and it is definitely worth $7.99

It’s back and it’s better than ever! Mario Kart has been released for the Nintendo Wii system.
 After its first release for the Nintendo 64 game system in 1997, people have been playing this game. Nintendo released other Mario Kart games for different systems such as the Nintendo DS; but it didn’t have a great turnout. Now, Nintendo has released Mario Kart for the Wii and it has been a great hit.

 There are many great things about this new game. Since it’s for the Nintendo Wii, it requires movement. To drive, you use one of Nintendo’s steering wheels. The steering wheel makes the game really fun because you feel like you’re really driving on a racetrack. It’s not as good as a driving simulator, but it’s very great. Another cool thing about this game is that not only are you driving to win the race, you have to be careful and avoid being attacked by other players. In the game, you can pick up items such as turtle shells that you can shoot at people and bananas that you can put on the road to make people slip and slide all over the road. So in this game, you can attack other players to slow them down and you have to avoid other players so they don’t slow you down. One more great thing about this game is all of the different racetracks that you can race on. There are tracks with volcanoes, there are tracks with huge mushrooms and plants that are big enough to eat you, and there are tracks that are high up into the air and you have to be very careful so that you don’t fall off! Lastly, if your Wii has internet access, you has connect and play with people from all over the world! This game is a great game and can be very addicting.
 Even though there are a great many things about this game, there are a couple things that may not please some players. When you get hit by an item that someone threw at you, it takes some time to get going again. When you are hit, you fly up into the air and you land on the ground and you stall for about 2-5 seconds (depending what you’re hit by). In an intense race, this can be really annoying because if you’re in 1st place and you get hit; 2-5 seconds of stalling is long enough for almost all of the players to pass you. This can be very frustrating.
Over all, this game is a great game and is appropriate for the whole family. It is great at parties and it’s a whole lot of fun!

Page topic: Review of Mario Kart for Wii: Video game reviews by Nathan