Animation Creator for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

One of my favorite computer programs as a kid was an official Disney animation program for the, yes, PC. It came with a thick book teaching animation technique, and allowed you to work like a real animator with "onion skin" effect, showing you your animations on previous cels. Unfortunately, it was an unwieldy process of swapping out floppies endlessly, and turned out the animation process was a bit too tedious for me at that age.

Fast forward to 2009, and we have Animation Creator for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The app uses the same onion skin technique to allow you to see your last cel as you work on your animated masterpiece. While you can adjust the brush stroke size, the program is a bit limited but the iPhone itself. Now on a tablet... It turns out the animation process is still fairly tedious, but that's the nature of the art, not the fault of the app.

You can use your own photos as backgrounds, change paint colors, and playback your creation at a several different speeds. Unfortunately, you can't get your carefully crafted animation off the phone with this version of the software. The developer has told us an export option will be coming in a future release as it is obviously a key feature.

Now you can dabble in animation between classes, waiting for the bus/train, etc. And you don't have to swap a single floppy disk!

(iTunes Link)

Here's a look:

Hole in a Wall 3D for the iPhone and iPod Touch

While not a huge hit in the US, game shows based on the "Hole in a Wall" concept are quite popular around the world. In those games, contestants try to contort their bodies to match the shape of an approaching wall. With Hole in a Wall, you are doing the same thing with Tetris-like blocks.

The action takes place in space, with very simple gamplay: A block wall gets closer and closer, and you must flip your piece to fit through the wall for maximum points. The gameplay at first seems boring, but there's something about it, especially on the advanced level, that keeps you coming back for more.

(iTunes Link)

Here's a look:

CSI: Miami for the iPod Clickwheel Video Review

Hey Horatio Caine fans, now you can don your own e-sunglasses and help solve a Miami murder mystery. CSI: Miami brings the popular CBS show to clickwheel iPods. Unfortunately, it doesn't bring any of the video clips, or audio from the show, and features some tedious-to-reach mini games, that might just be too mini.

The game also suffers from being a little too "on the rails" as you are talked through every part of the murder mystery investigation. You won't be doing any looking astray for clues, and if you're patient, you will "solve" the crime.

It's worth noting the iPhone / iPod Touch version of the game is 99 cents, and does have clips from the show as a bonus.

For clickwheel owners though, you'll need to pony up $4.99...

(iTunes link)

Here's a look:

Pet Sematary for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

We took a quick look at Pet Sematary in our first episode of DoubleTap, but here it is in official "reviewy" mode. It seemed like a perfect review to kick off the Halloween weekend. In short, you shoot zombie cats, birds, and dogs, by tapping on them, while also saving the humans. Bad concept? Well, we'll let you decide (in the comments, of course!) 

(iTunes Link)

Here's a look:

iLOL Dogs for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

I can haz iPhone app. (Sorry) Always Cute iLOL Dogs for the iPhone brings you over 3,000 pictures and videos of dogs to your iPhone, in the style of lolcatz. Not all of the videos are cute... in fact some are quite interesting, as they are pulled from YouTube and played through the YouTube player.

Yes, the app is 99 cents, but per photo, it's just a tiny fraction of a cent per photo. And can you really put a price on cute dog pictures?

(iTunes link)

Here's a look: