Apps 4 Itouch

Normally cutting fruits is boring & non-fun; but now there's FRUIT NINJA! FRUIT NINJA is an application created for the Iphone & Itouch, and recently FRUIT NINJA HD was released for the Ipad. The application was created with a lot of creativity, you notice this while playing the game, because of it's unique User-Interface. Once you launch the application, a creative Home screen will appear. Although the graphics are well thought through & well designed, I think they could be improved. The graphics look a bit old-schooled; once you play FRUIT NINJA you may or may not realize what i'm saying. The aim of FRUIT NINJA is to slice as many fruits as you can without slicing bombs(1 Type of Gaming Mode). The minute you slice your first fruit, the graphics start to get better. Now you're able to see all the juice dripping from the sliced fruit, which to be honest, is kind of addicting to look at! You might ask yourself, "How do I slice fruits?". You slice fruits by sliding your finger across the fruit, & as a matter of fact you do this for the rest of the game's options as well. Instead of touching the screen like you find yourself doing in other games, you slide you finger across anything you'd like to 'click' on.


Navigation

• Once FRUIT NINJA launches, the Home screen should appear, with 3 circles containing fruits. A new feature which was added in an updates is the DOJO, located at the lower left of the screen. Then there's the 'New Game' option which is found right next to the DOJO. Last but not least is the Openfeint feature; located at the top right corner, placed diagonally above the 'New Game' option. As I mentioned before, the Home screen could use a bit more graphics, but other than that it's been designed creatively.

• Once FRUIT NINJA is launched, you'll be able to 'Slice' the 'New Game' option to access the 2/3 finished game modes. Once you're in that option, you'll be allowed to pick between two game modes: Classic & Zen Mode. While playing the Classic Mode of FRUIT NINJA, you have to slice as many fruits as possible without slicing bombs. The Player has 3 'lives' which are bombs, once you slice 3 bombs the game's over. Players can achieve High-Scores by making combos. You make combos by slicing as many fruits as possible in on go (Applies to both Game Modes). While playing the Zen Mode of FRUIT NINJA, you have 90 seconds to slice as many fruits & make the most combos as possible without 'Lives' & Bombs. Here's a tip for high combos: You can use as many fingers for blades as you want. Personally I like the Classic Mode more, because I think it enables you to achieve a higher score than playing the Zen Mode.

Online Features 

• FRUIT NINJA contains Openfeint which allows you to connect with other people around the world, share High-Scores, compete, & much more! To use Openfeint you'll need to make a FREE account, or sign in with one if you've already got one. FRUIT NINJA also allows you to post your latest High-Scores to Twitter & Facebook. I think that this application would be boring without Openfeint because you wouldn't be able to compete about scores.

All-in-all, I think this applications has potential to become something greater than what it is at the moment. There will definitely have to be future updates to make this possible, I'm sure the developers are thinking about updates. To be honest I got bored really quickly playing this application, even with Openfeint integrated into FRUIT NINJA. In the end it's just doing the same simple tasks after & after each other. But who knows! Maybe its your type of game.

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Contact Information


Itunes Store - Fruit Ninja (Buy Now) $0.99
Website - Fruit Ninja
Publisher - Halfbrick Studios

Carcassone is one of a type! It's the perfect game for the whole family. It's a bit challenging for the newcomers, but don't worry, it has a superb Tutorial which you can decide to read or listen to. For the people that know the rules of this classic game, it'll be no problem playing the game. The main aim of the classic game is to expand the "board" by appropriately placing tiles next to each other. The game also allows the player to place Farmers, Thief's, & Knights in order to collect as many points as possible. You will be able to play with up to 5 players in the "Normal Game" mode, under "Local". Carcassonne also allows you to play Online against anyone in the world via WI-FI or Local Multiplayer via WI-FI & Bluetooth. While playing Online Multiplayer, it's only possible to play with 1 other person (2 in Total), but in Local Multiplayer you can choose to play with up to 4 other people (Computer or Human). A new feature added into Carcassone is called the "Solitaire" mode. This mode allows the player to complete a certain challenge with limited amount of Carcassone cards. For every card you place next to another, you will lose a certain number of points. The Points start at 1000 & will decrease every time you place a card until you completed the challenge. The aim of this mode is to finish the challenge with the highest possible points. Carcassone also features a High-Score Leaderboard. The High-Scores consist of the Solitaire mode, Local Multiplayer mode, & Internet mode, although I haven't quite figured out what Internet mode is supposed to display. Unfortunately Online Leader boards haven't been added into the game yet, but will soon. The downsides of Carcassone are that the turn timer while playing online takes to long, & that Multiplayer High-Scores haven't been added into the High-Scores section yet. One more thing I like about this application is that it's possible to play more than 1 game at a time. It's extremely simple to play at least 5 games simultaneously, but the Pop-Ups telling you that it's you're turn in your other games do get quite annoying! Here are a list of other features Carcassonne has:

• Official Carcassonne game with original artwork
• 8 different AI players
• Internet multiplayer with Push Notifications
• Local network play with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
• Unique Solitaire mode
• Available in English and German
• Online and offline ranking
• Comprehensive in-game manual
• Tutorials with voice acting
• Compete for the best score in Solitaire Game of the Week
• Chat function for Internet and local network games
• Invite friends to play in-game or via email

 I'll leave it at that.

Carcassonne is definitely a great game, which could do with a few more updates, but other than that, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys puzzle games & doesn't mind giving up a bit of time. I admit that it's price ($4.99) is a bit too much for the game at the moment, but when the developers updates that game, Carcassonne will definitely be worth your money!

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Contact Information:

Website - http://carcassonneapp.com/
Twitter - http://twitter.com/CarcassonneApp
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carcassonne-App/108933369130175
Developers Blog - http://blog.carcassonneapp.com/

Games Faction has introduced us to a new game called Trigger Happy Christmas - a very fun, & addicting game, especially in the Winter Season! This is quite a violent game, so a warning to all the people who don't like violence: This is absolutely nothing for you! This is quite  the game, I doubt you'd want to miss it! Lets Get Started.

Trigger Happy Christmas is an extremely fun, addicting, & well-illustrated game. While you're playing Santa & guarding the Tele-Present 2000, Rudolf will be dropping presents from your sleigh. You're job is to not let the Evil Elves get a hold of the presents. From time-to-time, Rudolf will drop certain weapons that you can use to kill the Elves. Flame-thrower, Grenade Launcher, & Freeze Gun are some of the weapons you might collect during the game.

While you're guarding the Tele-Present 2000, you're job is to keep the presents on the Tele-Presents before the Evil Elves snatch them. It's not too hard, since various weapons are strong enough to kill them with one shot - usually. The Elves come to you from the left & right, so when you're guarding one side, they can easily sneak up the other side & steal some presents. It's a wonderful game, which forces you to have a quick trigger finger!

Trigger Happy Christmas features a variety of things:

• Online Leader & Score boards using AGON
• Numerous Awards that you can unlock
• Ability to post Achievements to Facebook/Twitter
• Ability to send Christmas E-cards to friends via E-mail Client
• Ability to play 2 different Characters 

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Contact Information

• Follow Games Faction on Twitter - Games Faction
• Facebook Version of THC - Trigger Happy Christmas
• Visit them online @ - GamesFaction.com

Compatibility & Other Games

• Check out Games Faction Second Game - Inkvaders
• Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 2.1 or later.

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Developer Notes


Breaking News... the elves have gone bad, again, and are trying to ruin Christmas by stealing all the presents. They've hot-wired the sleigh, which is flying around uncontrollably, spilling its contents all over the place.

Santa is running hither and thither trying to gather them back up again but, quite frankly, he's had his fill of the thieving blighters. Time to dust off "Olde Persuader"!

He's not alone though. While trying furiously to bring the sleigh under control, Rudolph is also on hand to supply Santa with the a few more 'persuasive' tools. You know, like flame-throwers, grenade launchers... that type of thing!

Flame-throwers? It Is the season of good will, isn't it?

Err, yes of course. I don't see what's not in the spirit of the season with dismembering elves... hmm, okay good point. Well, to make up for it, you can send electronic Christmas cards to your friends from the game. That way, you even save the cost of those little bits of printed card people usually send.