Movies & Netflix & Twitter oh my!

MyMovieList is a nice little app on the iPhone/iPod Touch that lets you manage what movies you have watched, who your favorite actors and directors are, share your list on Twitter, and even order movies from Netflix.

When you first open the app it defaults you to the Search tab. The interface of this tab is pretty straight forward. Search by actor/actress, director, movie name, year the movie was released, or the genre. When I first went to “Search by name” I was astonished at how many movies can be in such a small application. It lists, what I am guessing, thousands of movies. Luckily there is the alphabet scrolling thingy on the left, and a search field at the top. Under the “Favorites” tab, it shows all of the actors, actresses, and directors you have marked. “iWatched” shows all of the movies you have marked. When you tap one of the movies you have searched, it shows when the movie was released, how long it is, the director, and all of the actors. This feature is pretty nice if you are in a conversation with someone and you are trying to remember the actor or director of a movie. Or if you are just plain curious, that works too. Last, under the “Share” tab, you can share your list with your Twitter followers.

The interface that MyMovieList has is very plain and simple, which I believe is all this app needs. Not too much and not too little.The repository this app contains is incredible. There are so many movies listed, including new movies, such as Jennifer’s Body. This application is a great movie reference. If I were to choose the price for this price, I would choose either free (and place an adsomewhere) or 99 cents.


Overall Rating: 8/10
Great

Cartoons fighting each other again… Sounds like fun!

As you can see, this is my first review I have ever done. I hope this will be good for a start.

Cartoon Wars is a strategy and defense-like game. The object of the game is to destroy your enemies castle. You send units, which costs mana (that regenerates overtime), to attack the enemy’s base. At the same time you send units, your enemy is sending units. It does not seem as if the enemy has any mana since they can send expensive units at the start, but there are random pauses where they won’t send units for some time. This is balanced with you having a tower that shoots arrows at your command. This feature used to be a thumb-killing experience before the newest update. Now this feature is enjoyed how it should be. Set the range that the arrows will shoot with a sliding button and tap a button to start/stop shooting arrows.

 

           The upgrades screen is very simple and user friendly.

Before, after, and during a battle you can visit the upgrades screen to improve your units, arrow tower, and castle. Most units have 10 upgrades, while the stronger and more expensive units have 8 upgrades. After upgrading a unit to a veteran (level 5) their appearance changes, and changes again around 8 and 10. This feature is nice because it makes you want to have the last appearance, and to get that you need money, and to get money you need to play. You earn a decent amount of money after every round, depending on how long you take to destroy the enemy’s castle. You get more money when you take longer, but sometimes the round already takes a good 15-30 minutes to beat.

When you first download Cartoon Wars, I believe it defaults the difficulty to medium. If you start off easy to get used to the game, you change the difficulty under the options screen, located at the main menu. While you are at the options screen, take a look at the other features you can change. For example, you may want to change the arrow firing controls, as I find type B much easier to use rather than type A. I should also note that there is a nice little “Save game” feature in Cartoon Wars. I save my game after every round in case something should happen during the next round, I can always restart the round. When you save your game, it only saves before and after rounds, not during rounds. This can be frustrating if you are about to beat the round and you get a phone call, but just be happy there is a some kind of saving feature.

Now that I am done reviewing the app, time to rate it. Lets start with graphic shall we? I enjoy the graphic that Cartoon Wars has. I am not a fan of those round 3d-looking graphics some games have. They just don’t have a very eye-appealing look to me. I like either flat 2d graphics with nice solid colors, or realistic graphics that give a flat wall 4 billion different colors on it. Since the name of the game is Cartoon Wars, the graphics are pretty cartoonish. I give the graphics an 8/10 because the graphics are nicely made cartoon pictures, but some units start to fade into that weird, 3d-2d mix.

Now to sound. The sound of each unit attacking is pretty good, but if you are like me, the sound of 100 weak units can get rather annoying. Also, the music is kind of annoying. Especially when you hear the end of the song loop to the beginning. I play with the sound off, but my iPhone is almost always on vibrate anyways. I give the sound a 4/10 because the sounds fit the actions, but after a while it can sound like a whole iTunes playlist playing at once.

Gameplay. The very heart of the game itself. The gameplay is well thought of and made. Tap on a unit and watch him attack enemies. Not too many things to monitor and not too little things to do.I give the gameplay a 9/10 because you’re always either tapping on a unit to deploy it or waiting for your mana to regenerate to send another unit. It may seem like a waiting game sometimes but it doesn’t last that long.

Last but not least, the user interface. Cartoon Wars has a nice and simple UI. Units at the bottom, arrow angling on the side, and an on/off button at the bottom right for the arrow tower. Of course, the arrow tower’s controls depend on what your options are set to, but other than that the UI is great. I give the user interface a 10/10 because it is very user friendly, and your not playing Twister with all of your fingers.

• The graphics are a good fit. 
• Sound and music could use some work. 
• The gameplay is nice and has a good replay value.
• User interface is simple and easy.

Overall Rating: 7.75

Good