Castle Crunch For the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

Castle Crunch takes the traditional Bowman-style game in which you hurl objects at an opponent, using trajectory and strength settings, and wraps it up in a shiny Medieval-era quest story.

And with that, I think I've summed up the app in one sentence.

(iTunes link)

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AppSniper for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

I'm on a quest to (eventually) have a blog post about how the iPhone can pay for itself in saving you time/money. Since today's app merely helps you save money on more apps for the phone, I suppose it doesn't count, but it does allow you to add more apps for free, rather than paying for them.

AppSniper tracks prices in the App Store, and shows you how the price of specific apps is trending over time. It also gives you a list of previously pay apps that are currently free, and also app that are reduced in price. See an app you want but it's a little too expensive? You can set a sniper watch on it, set the price you'd like to pay, then the app will notify you when the app drops to that price. AppSniper quickly pays for itself, and there aren't a ton of apps that can't make that claim.

(iTunes link)

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We Rule for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

Sometimes you have to admit you respect something, even if you hate the fact it exists. I think Farmville, and games like it might very well be the downfall of society. But they aren't going away anytime soon, so I might as well get used to this type of game.

In that spirit, today we take a look at We Rule. We Rule is a "free" app in which you create your own kingdom, starting with farming, then building houses, collecting taxes, landscaping the yard, and generally keep things in order (why do we love to do the tasks we hate in real life in video games?). If you're not familiar with this type of game, it takes a LONG time for things to happen. For example, if you plant green beans, they'll be ready to be harvested in about 23 hours. As in 23 hours here in the real world. Of course you can speed things along using "mojo" to instantly grow crops. And where do you find this mojo, you ask? While it's available in small quantities for completing tasks, the fastest way is to buy it at $9.95 for 75 doses of mojo. Can you play the game without it? Sure, but it will take you a long time to complete tasks compared to your friends if they are buying a bunch of mojo.

Cleverly, the game has push notifications to let you know when crops are ready to be harvested, etc.

It's a fine implementation of this type of game, and honestly I haven't delved deeply enough into Farmville to know what new features We Rule might bring to the table. It's free to try, but if you get sucked in, and find yourself tending crops when you should be completing a task at work or spending time with the family, don't blame me.

(iTunes link)

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Babel Rising for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

Who hasn't wanted to play God on occasion? In Babel Rising you get to use six natural calamities to wipe out scores of humans trying to build the Tower of Babel. Use earthquakes, lightning, waves, wind, and of course the good old crushing with the finger of God to keep the tower from being built.

The action is fast, and while it might frustrate some people, I found half the fun was figuring out how to deploy the six different attacks. (The secret to many of them is leaked in the video below.) Fun graphics and fast play make Babel Rising a good choice for quick play on the go.

(iTunes link)

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Fantasy Warrior Legends for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

Fantasy Warrior Legends is Digital Chocolate's latest entry into the role-playing game (RPG) competition on the iPhone. Fantasy Warrior has all the elements you would expect of this type of game: a somewhat odd backstory, special weapons, and of course gems to collect. The game is free, but if you choose to buy the gems, keep an eye on the e-wallet as it can get expensive quite quickly.

While all the usual elements are there, unfortunately there are a few bugs as well: It often takes multiple encounters with gems before your character can pick them up. Additionally, some players have complained of graphics anomalies, stuck characters etc., we didn't encounter any of those issues. Overall it's a standard RPG game that's a little rough around the edges. Maybe a re-visit after a few software updates is in order.

(iTunes link)

Here's a look: