Scarlett and the Spark of Life, despite being probably the shortest of these three games, might be my favorite. I should note first that it’s probably not suitable for younger kids—I’d say maybe 10-12 and up, depending on your tolerance …
Continue ReadingEveryone knows you can play music on an iPhone and iPod touch. Most of us now think of these devices more as mini-computers that fit in your pocket, but before all the apps and video and snazzy features, the iPod …
Continue ReadingWhen you don’t feel well, what’s your typical response? Make an appointment with your doctor? Hit Google or Wikipedia? Flip open a book? Now, thanks to Dorling Kindersley, there’s an app for that. Family Doctor uses a flowchart system to …
Continue ReadingFruit Ninja, everyone’s favorite fruit-slicing game for the iPhone and iPad, just keeps getting better. Early on they introduced Zen Mode: no bombs, no lives, 90 seconds of combo-scoring glory, and included an HD version for the iPad. Then they …
Continue ReadingI recently came across a relatively new iPhone/iPad app called Trainyard that is a work of art. Well, perhaps not literally a work of art, although the interface is not bad on the eyes — it’s a puzzle game with …
Continue ReadingIf you like puzzle games and logic puzzles, All-in-1 Logic GameBox is a one-dollar iPhone app that will keep you occupied for … well, let me pull up my statistics here … Whoa! Nineteen and a half hours so far? …
Continue ReadingMontessorium brings the Montessori Method of learning to the iPhone and iPad. In case you’re not familiar with it, the Montessori Method is a more child-directed approach to learning that focuses on different sensory experiences. In keeping with that, both …
Continue ReadingRemember Saving Private Sheep? It’s a little physics puzzler for the iPhone and iPad involving sheep, wolves and dynamite, and it’ll keep you busy for a while. While it’s no Angry Birds, it’s not a bad app, and now that …
Continue ReadingEarlier this year I asked why games aren’t about winning anymore—they’re all about achievements. I read through all the comments and there were a lot of good points, both in defense of achievements and criticizing them. There were a few …
Continue ReadingFruit Ninja, one of my favorite apps, has just gotten even better. If you’ve installed the latest iOS update on your iPhone or iPod touch, you probably noticed this new app that showed up called “Game Center.” It’s a way …
Continue ReadingSome people are fond of saying that it isn’t the Earth that needs saving—the Earth will be around long after we’re gone. No, it’s we humans who need saving from ourselves. (Need evidence? Look no further than the Gulf, where …
Continue ReadingYou may have heard about this guy, Scott Pilgrim. It’s a series of comic books by Bryan Lee O’Malley that just concluded this summer, and it also happens to be a highly anticipated movie that opened last weekend … to …
Continue ReadingChronicles of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple is a hidden-pictures game combined with a mystery plotline and various mini-games. It was originally a PC game (previously titled Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual) but has been re-designed for the …
Continue ReadingMy kids love Highlights magazine, especially since they each get their own copy (my younger daughter gets High Five), usually on the same day, and they can’t wait to sit down and flip through them. One of their favorite pages …
Continue ReadingWhat happens when ogres take over the kingdom and kidnap the Princess? Well, if you’re Chuck Gnome, you go out and take back your kingdom by catapulting copies of yourself at the enemy and destroying them. Or maybe Chuck is …
Continue ReadingSister Angelika has a slight problem: the hordes of zombies that are taking over the town of Jalombe. With the help of Father Richiardo and armed with a “soul redeemer” scythe, Sister Angelika must rid the town of the zombies …
Continue ReadingI’m always looking for ways to encourage my kids to learn Chinese — a task that is not always easy in small-town Kansas, where their bilingual education is largely up to me. Chinese for Munchkins is an iPhone app developed …
Continue ReadingNeed another virtual pet for your iPhone or iPad? Pocket Creatures by Tactile Entertainment is a quirky entry that gives you a little critter with a paw on its tail and a garden to wander around in. There’s the usual …
Continue ReadingDoes the world really need another Doodle Jump-style game? Based on the sales figures for Bird Strike, they seem to want one. (With 1.3 million downloads of the original, the iPhone app from PikPok Games is now available as a …
Continue ReadingIt’s no secret that little kids love rude noises. Until they reach the age where they learn that farts and burps are considered rude (note: for some, particularly boys, this age limit has not yet been discovered), kids just delight …
Continue ReadingGenesis 11 tells the story of an ambitious people. Armed with a common language and purpose, they decided to build a tower that would reach to the very heavens. But, as the familiar story goes, God decided to confuse them …
Continue ReadingEveryone knows that all ninja hate fruit. At least that’s what Halfbrick Studios claims with the release of Fruit Ninja, their second game for the iPhone. (Wikipedia is oddly silent on the subject.) Regardless, whether you’re a ninja yourself or …
Continue ReadingIn software terms, Babylonian Twins is practically ancient. When it was first created, you (or maybe your parents) were finally playing Mortal Kombat on the Sega Genesis (or perhaps the bloodless version on the SNES). It was the age of …
Continue ReadingHow are you celebrating Earth Day? Barefoot Explorers encourages you to “be a force for good” with their first iPhone game, Panda Hero. It’s a combination of an top-down action-adventure game and an interactive virtual pet, and for each app …
Continue ReadingYou know what’s missing from most physics puzzler games? Sheep! Okay, so maybe you didn’t miss them, but somebody apparently did. Saving Private Sheep, an iPhone game from BulkyPix just released this week, has you rescuing sheep from the ravenous …
Continue ReadingI haven’t quite gotten into the world of e-books … yet. I’m still too attached to the idea of books as physical objects, with a heft to them, a feel and a smell and color. But I’m also drawn to …
Continue ReadingQuick! You’re stranded in space, slowly spinning as you orbit endlessly around a planet. What do you do? Well, hopefully a rocket will come by to rescue you before they run out of air and fuel. Blast Off is a …
Continue ReadingIf you have kids of a certain age, you’ve probably seen at least one (if not all three) of the Ice Age movies, and are familiar with Scrat, the prehistoric squirrel-thing on his single-minded quest for his acorn. It’s a …
Continue ReadingSay you’re a working parent who just doesn’t get enough time with your kids at the end of the day. Or, maybe you’re a young couple just starting to consider the idea of having kids of your own but you’re …
Continue ReadingSo, the App o’ the Day is Teragati, brought to you by Mike Tsao of Attachment Computing (and a stay-at-home dad). Mike described it as a mix of “old-school Galaga mixed in with Doodle Jump-style gameplay” and it’s perfect for …
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