iPhone Reviews 2.0

iTunes Link

Terminator Salvation is a shooter game by Gameloft. $4.99

I have never been a fan of the Terminator movies, finding them boring and in the same trash can as Star Trek. I will grant the movie the fact that it has a storyline perfect for a shooting type game, and Gameloft has taken on the challenge of bringing this movie franchise to the big touch screen!

Terminator Salvation plays very similarly to another successful Gameloft game: Brothers In Arms, with the same style of gameplay but improved graphics and controls. The game stays somewhat true to the movie storyline with features in both versions that you can relate to, for example the motocycle level. The aim of Terminator Salvation is to defeat Skynet by fighting with both John Connor and Marcus Wright, two characters from the movie and from what I understood in the cinemas, previous movies as well.

Gameloft’s classic difficulty level settings are the same with easy and medium being unlocked and the ability to play in the hard difficulty after completing one of the two. Generally the hard difficulty doesn’t take my fancy as its the same game, except a bit harder. Terminator Salvation lets you play as the Terminator on hard mode, something that you will only understand after watching the movie, but certainly something different.

3D Games are rare and generally hard to come across on the App Store. Terminator Salvation is probably close to the top of the 3D games with graphics so good that it feels more like a top class PSP game than a simple $4.99 game on the iPhone. The great graphics doesn’t just end with a pretty background, but instead a huge amount of detail and dedication has gone into every aspect of the game, right down to the sparks coming out one of the Skynet’s enemies after a long range headshot.

Fans of the series will enjoy being able to distinguish different Skynet models while playing the game. Each area from the movie has a different color theme, depending on whether it is the dark Los Angeles or dangerous San Francisco. Terminator Salvation was made by a team of Terminator enthusiasts and has therefore been made to make any fan proud, but those disliking the movie series like myself will still get immersed in the environment.

The sound is surprisingly good for a developer who I find it generally lacking in this department. The in-game sound effects are very detailed and actually make it sound like a full on battle zone. There are intro clips before all levels which are from the game’s graphics and look spectacular for a device like this. This is definitely a shooting game to play with the sound on.

The controls in Terminator Salvation have been a huge step-up from what I thought were clunky and often annoying controls in Brothers In Arms. Moving your character involves dragging the virtual joystick in the desired direction. To move the camera to a position that actually allows to see, especially after turning a corner while walking, you just drag your finger on the screen like the process used in The Sims 3. To shoot you use the attack button on the right of the screen and to change your weapon of choice just touch the weapon icon at the top of the screen. Some other options appear from time to time and a button appears just above the attack button.

The game is a lot smoother than Brothers In Arms, and compared to BIA would be like playing the exact same game on the iPhone 3GS compared to the iPhone 3G. Everything just works a lot easier and just feels like a more enjoyable game to play. Skills like hiding behind barriers and walls is easily implemented and gets rid of the need for a lot more controls. The best shooting game I have found on the App Store in the controls, smoothness department by far.

This is one of the best games in terms of action and being a great game that engages you in the gameplay. You don’t get a single moment of rest because around every corner is the chance that one of the smaller, yet deadly fast Skynet robots will come and attack you. Quick reflexes and good aiming skills are the key to defeating the game. The aim of Terminator Salvation is to survive through all the levels by destroying all members of Skynet as well as making it to the end of the level. Each level generally ends with some type of larger boss to destroy and sometimes involves using a simple mini game to defeat them.

The game is, as I said above, filled with action requiring you to shoot and destroy as much as possible. With other members of the Resistance running around to help you fight your battles it really feels like you are on the battlefield, with the same type of feeling that you got from playing Brothers In Arms. There is more than just the classic shooter side of the game, with different levels in the game that let you control a vechile, either a motocycle or a tank. These are great fun to play and a nice way to tie in some of the film aspects with the full on fighting.

Alot of the aspects of Brothers In Arms that I felt let the game down have been improved to give a great gaming experience in Terminator Salvation. The driving levels of BIA were clunky and hard to control, as was some of the movements of your character, such as hiding behind barriers.

While Terminator Salvation gives you a playing time of about 2 hours, this is doubled to 4 hours after playing through the game as the Terminator. I believe the movie went for about 115 minutes (Hooray for Wikipedia) and especially with Popcorn and a Drink on top of the ticket price, is a more expensive exercise than buying this game. While I have just compared this game to Brothers In Arms, it is the best 3D shooter on the App Store by far, easily outclassing others like Resident Evil: Degeneration and Prey Invasion.

Terminator Salvation has class smeared all over what is left of Skynet. Once again Gameloft has prevailed with a outstanding game, showing why they are in what I consider to be the best five game developers/publishers on the App Store (Congratulations to Electronic Arts, Ng:Moco, Chillingo and Freeverse). A great game with graphics to amaze you after every corner. This is seriously one of the better games that you can pick up on the App Store if you enjoy shooting games.

iTunes Link

Castle Conflict is a castle defense game by Broken Kings. $0.99

Games like Defend Your Castle are really successful on the PC for their simple use of throwing away stick people coming to attack your castle. Both this game and a spin-off called StickWars have reaped the benefits of the App Store, with StickWars being the No.1 game for a long time before being dethroned by the useless Moron Test.

Castle Conflict adds in another castle and adds a bit of action in between. The game is a lot of fun, but once you have mastered how to win, it doesn't really give you any reason to continue returning to play. The unique style of play is great, but only for really short periods of time. Instead of just defending your castle against attacks, you also have to defeat the opponents castle without yours being overtaken. But is this game a successful conversion from the classic game format? In some parts it is, in some parts it isn't.

The graphics are pretty good f0r a simple game. They look almost cartoon like, but are a bit pixelatted when you take a deep look at the game. While playing the actual game however you don't tend to notice it at all. The animations are very smooth, with no glitches or freezes what so ever in my entire playing time. The different soldiers move at different speeds but the only let down is how the fighting happens. It seems that you run into them, somebody or both die instantly in a poof of smoke. I would have like to seen a bit of animation or even a quick fight scene between the two. The opposing soldiers and bombs are easy to distinguish due to their different colors in the game.

The game is pretty basic when it comes to sound, with hardly any game related sound effects and really just random ones when you select soldiers to go onto the field of battle. There is SOME background music but its not all that great so it is suggested that you stick listening to whatever you have on your iPhone or iPod Touch at the moment.

This game has probably the easiest controls out of any game I have played for a very long time. All that is required in this game is for you to touch the icon up the top of the screen on the soldier or option that you wish to select, if you have the money of course. This is a very easy way to play and requires no reading of the rules before picking up the game. It however isn't very engaging and often leads me bored and wanting more action than something I would expect from an iMob game. This is really better suited for a flash game on the PC. Defend Your Castle does well on the iPhone because it requires the 'flick' method to engage you in the game, instead of the touch and watch what happens process.

The aim of Castle Conflict is to protect your castle at all costs while managing to destroy your opponents castle. This is done by sending out men to collect wood from the forest in the middle of the field, which becomes the games currency almost. For a dearer price you can send out a ninja to steal wood from the opponents supplies. If a soldier comes along, either walking or on a horse then they will kill any opponents in their path. If they meet a soldier equal to their ability or better then they will be killed. If they make it alive to the opposing castle then they can attack it and inflict damage. The battle is also taken to the air when cannons able to fire cannonballs and air balloons exploding into the opponents castle. Finally for a hefty price you can speed up the amount of wood that is grown in the forest area. The winner is the last one with their castle standing.

This all sounds very easy, but after you progress to medium or hard it requires a well thought out strategy to win. Not only do you have to harvest enough wood to keep your supplies up but you also have to defend them from attacks, attack yourself with soldiers and worry about air attacks. The game is split into three difficulty levels with three times as such for gameplay. You can choose quick, medium or long time limit which basically decides how much damage is inflicted per attack. I didn't see much difference in times when defeating the game between quick and long as it all depends on how well your strategy works.

This is a great game for a while but as soon as you have a strategy down, this game gets downright boring and is begging to get deleted off your iPhone. The game has promised additional levels, game modes and even a multiplayer mode which I assume will be Wi-Fi so it should add to the replayability of Castle Conflict.

While this is a great game to start off with, it doesn't have that engaging factor to bring me back to this game after playing it a few times. There is nothing to be gained from playing the game and is definitely only for those who really enjoy the more casual game. The concept behind the game is good but feels like more of a beta version compared to other games that are doing well at $0.99. We have started to expect more out of the games of this price, especially if they are in the Top 100 games. So, if Broken Wings wants to continue bringing in more buyers they should add content quick smart.

The graphics, animation and gameplay is great but as I just said wears off after a few turns. In this state I would buy this game if you are really into casual games or are hoping to play it alot more with the new content as it is sure to rise to a price upwards of $1.99 with a big update. I'm not screaming at you to get this game, so I will leave the decision up to you whether it is the right game for your iPhone.

iTunes Link

The VOID is a space shooter game by Alexander Wayne. $2.99

[This is a modified post by TheAppEra]

When I first saw this game I was thinking it was going to be a total disappointment. Looking at the game I thought it would turn out to be a bad Galaxy on Fire look-a-like. I ended up eating my words as this is a great top down shooter with an incredible amount of content.

This is safe to say one of the best hidden gems on the App Store. Before James came to me with this I haven't even heard a single tweet or mention of The Void, and upon looking at the screenshots I was thinking it was going to be a failure. I was thinking a a space shooter with about 10 levels and a survival mode, but instead is a fully fledged game with over 80 levels to explore. When playing this game it seems to me like a top down version of Galaxy on Fire with hundreds of items including weapons, equipment and spaceships available to buy and upgrade. The graphics in this game are pretty basic, but the number of different enemies are a welcome addition from the same ships over and over again. But for a game you probably haven't heard of before, is it worth it?

The Void doesn't have any whiz bang graphics to go with the gameplay which is one of the reasons why people don't buy this game. I am a victim of this as the game doesn't look that great. The game is a pretty basic space environment with the background as stars absolutely everywhere and all the objects floating around. These are pretty basic but what makes these graphics understandable is the amount of objects and enemies floating around in all the enemies.

Not only are there many enemies trying to hunt you down, but many objects pop up in quite a few of the levels. As you progress, you will find more of these hanging around in the levels. Some examples of items that you can find are asteroids, mines, packages and planets. These can be used to your advantage in different ways throughout the game. I will talk more about them later on.

Both the enemy and your own ships start out basic and small, with basic yet original designs. As you progress not only do the ship designs look better but they get bigger with a wider range of choices. Enemies ships also change frequently determining on how far you are into the game. There are hundreds of weapons available to use each with their unique attack and animation.

The controls have been designed perfectly for the space game. To control your space ship you have an up and down arrow to accelerate and reverse with a button to brake. To turn you have to tilt your iPhone in any direction depending on how sharp and quickly you want to turn. Mastering using the accelerator and brake to turn corners can take a while to do it quickly but these controls work well.

To attack there are three buttons, an A B and C button. You can assign certain weapons to certain mounts on your ship which can then be assigned to one, two or all three buttons. In the start it seems like a waste to have different weapons on different buttons but each attack uses energy, so having long distance weapons and short distance weapons on different buttons to save energy could be reasonable later on.

The ships have been designed to move around the levels just like they were in space. Alot of thought has gone into their movement and the ships move just like they were in an area with no gravity. Unlike other shooter games, when going in one direction and turning around you will continue to move forward, almost drifting around slowly instead of a quick turn. This seems more realistic and while taking more time to do, certainly enhances the playing experience.

The basic storyline in The VOID is that you are an insignificant space pirate that raids and plunders various uninhabited lands, before climbing the ranks and eradicating the four neighboring alien races. The VOID plays as a role playing game with over 80 stages to complete in the game with varying difficulties.

The game is split into five sectors basically with the aim of defeating all stages in each sector. The sectors are color co-ordinated and represent the four alien races and one unhabiated section. The enemies and items in each sector vary depending on the difficulty and color of the sector. Darker shades of the colors mean that the level is easier in difficulty than the brighter shades which are ultra difficult. There is a large bright dot for each of the four alien sectors which act as a type of 'boss' level.

The aim of each level is to destroy all of the 'red' items in the level. By red items I mean ones that have a red marker where they are positioned on the map which is on the left of the screen. These include enemies, packages and mines as well as others. These items as well as the yellow items, which are asteroids, drop off the currency in the game to buy ships etc. as well as new ships, weapons and equipment. The game is very challenging and the statement on the description sums up the fighting perfectly, "Winning battles will take skill and not just a big gun". Going up to an enemy and blasting away will often get you killed as your defence will disappear and you will die. The way to kill an enemy successfully is to attack it without getting hit. Often getting its attention then running away or circling it with well timed hits can often kill an enemy.

I personally think the controls dashboard needs a some work. It offsets the quality of the games graphics with super big buttons and what not. It can maybe get transparent a little or make them smaller.

The VOID gladly surprised me, and ending up being an exciting adventure to play. You will find many hours wrapped up in this very challenging game. The VOID plays like more of a role playing game than a space shooter with the original style of play. This has something for everyone, with the ability to try and collect all the ships or beat every sector in the solar system.

While this hasn't had the success of similar games like Galaxy on Fire, don't let that deter you from buying The VOID. For those not sure if they will like this game, as there is a bit of a learning curve to master, there is a lite version with a few levels from the beginning of the game. This is an addicting game, that will keep you hooked for hours on end, definitely one to check out.

iTunes Link

The Sims 3 is a simulation game by Electronic Arts. $9.99

[A Modified post from TheAppEra]

The Sims 3 has been well awaited on the App Store with amazing hype. The game has had the best release ever on the App Store, skyrocketing to the No.1 top paid app in less than 24 hours priced at the premium price of $9.99. Is the game worth the price? After a few seconds in the game I could safely say Yes!

I bought the original Sims on the PC with all of the expansion packs and would play it for hours on end. As my computer was only capable of handling one Sims game, I wasn't able to buy and play Sims 2. My first impressions of The Sims 3 were amazing, with graphics that are equal or even better than the original Sims. Obviously for $9.99 and 64MB content in The Sims 3 will not withheld most of the content of its PC counterpart, but it is certainly worthy of its price. Hey! Give us a game that knocks off Moron Test from the top slot, and we're a happy camper. The Sims 3 is cherry on top.

As stated before the graphics are super impressive for an iPhone game. Not only has Electronic Arts made a detailed home for you but every building in the neighbourhood is originally crafted and different from every other house in the game. Everything down to the dustbin outside your house looks beautiful and easily better than many DS, PSP and PC games.

The characters are very detailed with a range of clothes and hairstyles that can be created when you first start the game. The choices are between only a few hairstyles and clothing items with pre-set colour changes. These look great, but I didn't see a shop in the town that changes hair styles or lets you buy and sell clothes. The neighborhood is an amazing place to look around as all the different places look absolutely brilliant. As with Need for Speed the attention to detail is top notch, and this is easily one of the best looking games on the App Store.

The controls in The Sims 3 are exactly the same as the other games in the franchise. For this game however, there are some mini games which have been implemented to use the iPhone's controls which the PC doesn't have. To move around and interact with different objects and people in the neighborhood and your house, all you do is tap on the required spot and select one of the many options. The process is effective and very easy to use as it always has been.

The hardest part of the touch controls is moving the camera angle and zoom around to suit what you are doing at the time. To zoom in you slide a button up and down the right hand side of the screen. To move the camera without changing the angle of it you just slide your finger in any direction on the screen. The hardest part of this is changing the angle of the camera, which is done by having two fingers on the screen and moving them around. I find it hard to change the angle easily and often gets difficult.

The mini games that are on this version use different touch screen controls. Two examples of the four mini games are repairing and fishing. To fish you have to tilt you rod left and right and flick it up when you catch a fish. To repair electronic items from your house you have to throw out the old circuits and replace them with new ones.

The sound in this game is also what I have come to expect from The Sims games. This game provides an experience just like you are in a neighborhood with trees blowing in the wind, cars driving by and various other sounds.

When talking to people they again do not actually talk, instead make the cute yet so hilarious sounds when they do their actions. I love it when you give someone a tender embrace, and it sounds like you are halfway between dribbling and laughing at the same time. These sounds are great and better than having music in the game. The game doesn't sound as good as Need for Speed Undercover or Tiger Woods PGA Tour, but certainly close.

The emphasis in this version of The Sims is more on relationship making and and less on becoming successful with a huge house. One big part of the Sims that is missing from this game is the build mode that many people love doing. I can understand why it is missing with difficulty making a house with a finger, but instead they have the ability to do house upgrades. This gives you a bigger house for $1000, but it seems like you can only upgrade it once.

I was hoping for more upgrades with maybe a second storey, but hopefully they will come in DLC (Downloadable Content). There are many items that can be bought and for your house, with specific items for each room as well as the ability to grow your own food outside. From what I could tell there aren't many extravangant items that are available to put in and out of your house, but I am hoping for expansion packs when the OS 3.0 is released sometime soon.

The house up-keep and person up-keep seem to be alot easier than in The Sims as it gives you more chances to build your relationships with people. Your character can have his own personality that you choose at the beginning of the game. I chose a nice guy who wants to be friends with everyone. He is easily impressed and has a good sense of humour. Not all characters are like this, as you can choose a maniac who talks to trees or even someone who wants to be hated by the entire neighborhood.

As always your career makes you money which lets you get a better house and items. There are multiple jobs which you can do and your profession will go down a certain path. As always though what happens in the game is entirely up to you, whether you decide to have your own bachelor pad and be single or get married and work all the time. This game can be hilarious at times especially when you try and tune up the hot girl on the street, get a budding romance then visit her at her house only to find out she has a boyfriend. Still unphased by the boyfriend and you walk in to get her a hot smooch, he starts to get annoyed and creeped out by you before kicking you out of their house.

The Sims 3 will keep you entertained for hours on end. I have only been playing this game for about 2 hours and I feel like I have only skimmed the top of the iceberg with what there is to come in this game. For $10 this is an incredible game, especially when the full version on the PC is upwards of $80 in some places. Brilliant graphics, sound and gameplay that the world has fallen in with for many years has been successfully brought onto the iPhone.

I can see why this can rose to No.1 in such a short amount of time. The Sims 3 will give you all kinds of experience and easily surpasses the gaming experience of New York Nights, which I found really short. While that game is great for the casual gamer, The Sims 3 provides an experience for all types of gamers which is why it has turned into such a huge game. This is the best game on the App Store by far. If you do not buy this game right now you are definitely missing out on something special.

Previously we covered various games announced in the first half of E3. Here are some more juicy titles announced in Part II of our E3 wrap-up.



Hybrid: Eternal Whisper courtesy of IGN



Real Racing courtesy of IGN

~No Image available at this point in time~

Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming courtesy of IGN



iMech courtesy of TheAppEra



Virtual Families courtesy of TheAppEra



A.D.D courtesy of TheAppEra



Legend of WuKong Warrior courtesy of TouchArcade



AMF Bowling courtesy of TouchArcade



Prey Invasion courtesy of TouchArcade



SciFly 2 courtesy of TouchArcade



Batting 1000 courtesy of TouchArcade

~No Image available at this point in time~

Lock n' Load courtesy of TouchArcade

I can't wait for some of these games to come out with many more announcements to come at WWDC. Stay tuned for more great announcements

E3 has been running rampant with many amazing announcements for both iPhone and other products. Microsoft awed us with Project Natal while Nintendo did the opposite with a way to see if your grandparents are dieing?

Below are some of the iPhone games announced for release in 2009:



Dexter - Courtesy of IGN



Robocalypse: Mobile Mayhem courtesy of SlideToPlay



Baseball Sluggers courtesy of SlideToPlay



Mecho Wars courtesy of TouchArcade



Mass Effect Galaxy courtesy of TouchArcade



Real Tennis 2009 courtesy of TouchArcade



Castle of Magic courtesy of TouchArcade



Command & Conquer: Red Alert courtesy of TouchArcade



Circuit.Strike One courtesy of TouchArcade

~No Image Available at this point in time~

Guitar Rock Tour 2 courtesy of TheAppEra



DJ Mix Tour courtesy of IGN

The future looks bright for iPhone gaming, check back in two days time for our Wrap-Up of the final two days at E3

iTunes Link

Flight Control is a time management game by Firemint. $0.99

With Harbor Master coming hopefully in time for WWDC by Imangi Studios, I thought I would take the time to review one of the best selling games on the App Store. For those who have no idea, Harbor Master is a game with a very similar style of play, except with a boat theme instead of taking to the skies. Flight Control is a small project created by Australian developers Firemint before they released their upcoming game Real Racing. Flight Control is based on a very simple time management process to run a successful Airport. It sounds easier than it seems, with hours to master the game and even more hours of fun to be had. Currently there is only one difficulty level and one map to play, but a large update is coming soon with more maps. The game has brilliant cartoony graphics that go hand in hand with the simple yet effective touch controls.

The graphics are superbly done and contribute to the simplicity of the game. The graphics look like something out of a cartoon and really look great. The simple design of the game makes the game what it is, and I am just hoping that the new levels provide the same feeling as this first map. The different planes are easily distinguished by not only their shape and size but they are in the colour of the required runway to help you distinguish where they have to go. All the planes turn white once they are successfully on course to their destination. The controls are simple to learn but take a long time to master. To move the planes all that is needed is for you to draw a line from the plane to its destination. The destination is the planes runway so it can successfully land. Again this sounds like a simple process but landing all the planes without them crashing and not all planes can land at once. Some times planes will be required to fly around waiting to land and this is done by either planning out a track or moving it in a direction. Once the plane gets to the end of the drawn line it will continue to fly in that direction until it is moved again or hits the edge of the screen and changes direction itself.

The sound is a pretty basic loop that plays throughout the whole game. The music seems to have a type of Mediterranean theme upon first hearing it but turns out to be more of a simple tune. The tune is catchy but I found it to easily get a bit repetitive. For those who get sick of the music there is an option to listen to your own tracks while playing.

With hundreds of thousands of copies sold, its interesting to see how the game would grip me and astound me. The principal behind Flight Control is easy, aircrafts fly onto the screen and you must send them on their way to the the correct runway. There are no levels or time limits, except that you must try and last as long as possible without any planes crashing, which will end the game. What Harbor Master provides at this point in time that Flight Control doesn't is variety and a reason to keep coming back to the game to achieve something other than to get a high score. The game is already addicting enough but with the submitted update pending I'm hoping that this game will get pushed to the next level.
As I was finishing up this review of course Flight Control's awaited version 1.2 was released. This new update provides us with two great new levels and five new aircraft to lead to the various airports. This update adds a heap of content and provides us with more reason to keep coming back to Flight Control, but these airports are unlocked at the start of the game, I would have liked to see achievements that have to be earnt before they are unlocked.

Flight Control is an amazing game that is perfect for the casual gamer. The simplicity of the game provides for a fun experience for young and old. The online Cloudcell technology used in Fast & Furious is also used in Flight Control as a great way to see how you are compared to the rest of the world. This new update will force us to think of new ways to master the levels with one level that I found easier than the original and one level quite harder. This is a great game that I hope will continue being updated by Firemint and wont be tossed into the bin when Real Racing is released probably early next week. A great time waster for quick play while on a bus or waiting somewhere. Highly recommended buying Flight Control.

Gameplay- 8.5/10
Graphics- 9/10
Sound- 6.5/10
Overall- 8/10

iTunes Link

Leaf Trombone: World Stage is a music game by Smule. $0.99

Smule is well known for its revolutionary music App Ocarina. Ocarina used the iPhone's microphone to create music. Leaf Trombone is the first game by Smule, which is an altercation on Ocarina. Leaf Trombone is more iPod Touch friendly, with a mode that performs well on the iPod, as well as an option using for microphone for the iPhone. This game is totally user dependant on being successful, with users performing the songs to judge, users judging the songs and users making the songs for people to perform. I reviewed Leaf Trombone on an iPod Touch so I was not able to try out the microphone mode, but the touch mode works extremely well in basically performing any song as long as someone has created it. The game also puts a bit of competitive edge between friends, with many of my friends buying the game to try and perform the best song. There are no difficulty levels but songs have different ranges of difficulty. Obviously Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is going to be easier to perform than Viva La Vida by Coldplay.

Leaf Trombone isn't a game that needs to wow you with flashy graphics, but it is quite nice. The musical leaf doesn't look real but certainly professionally done. In the performance area there isn't much else that is spectacular with the basic black background and notes popping up on the left of the screen. When judging a performance you can express yourself through a number of smilies as well as adding your own comments, which is a nice touch. These smilies are animated and aren't always pleasing to see as a performer. The game is very smooth, reacting instantly to your movements as you change notes, especially in some of the more difficult tracks. I have yet to have a problem with lag or the game crashing yet. While I can't comment on the iPhone only controls, the touch system works extremely well in creating music. To play your Leaf Trombone you have to tap and hold on certain points on the screen to move the Trombone to make the right sound. A plus and minus button is on the left of the screen to change the pitch of the notes for certain parts of the songs.

The song is very much dependent on your musical skill in this game. If you are terrible at this game and can not hit a single note, it will sound terrible. However you can watch performances by some of the best and the game will sound absolutely amazing. For experimental purposes we will say that the game sounds beautiful and mystical while I am playing. Those musical buffs will enjoy how the notes played match a real trombone, with the ability to change between different types of music such as C# to D are available. Yes, as you may have noticed I'm no expert when it comes to this.

As I said before this game is totally dependent on the users to make this game flow with a tight knit community. You can play and practice songs whenever you like, as well as compose then. To perform these songs on the World Stage you need these incredibly rare items called Leaf Tokens. Three of them to be precise. These can only be awarded to you each time you judge a song on the World Stage. Since there are three people who must judge a song, I suppose the number was chosen to always have judges and songs in high demand. Wait times to be a judge or to have your song judged are very short, generally taking less than 10 seconds on average. Who doesn't like a promo code or three? I just love playing Ocarina at JM4PKHE9W97J and Sonic Lighter at AHKPWARF93KK and Sonic Boom at 6YEWJHJTKT96. The number of songs able to be played also amazed me. I opened the game expecting a few pre-made tunes and the rest had to be made up ourselves. This is basically right but I didn't expect to be able to share them with the rest of the world. Some well known songs have been thrown into the mix as well as jingles such as the Simpsons Theme Song. Playing a song is easy and only requires you to hold down certain notes for so long repeatedly until it starts sounding like a song.

This addictive gameplay is great fun and is a more rewarding online gameplay than Tap Tap Revenge with user feedback helping you to improve your skills. As with any online environment you will get the odd perverted immature teenager but they are quickly sought out and dealt with severely (I hear they get turned into Leaf Tokens). This is by far the best online environment I have seen to date on the App Store, finally giving me something to do that doesn't involve paying $99.99 for 500 Mob Points. If you like Ocarina or online play you will find this an absolute treat to play. I recommend it for both casual and determined gamers. A great pick up for only $0.99. Now if you excuse me I am off to play Viva la Vida just one more time!

Gameplay- 10/10
Graphics- 7.5/10
Sound- 10/10
Overall- 9/10