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Happy Holidays from 148Apps!

How do you know what apps are worth your time and money? Just look to the review team at 148Apps. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you're looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out above the many good apps and games with something just a little bit more to offer. Take a look at what we've been up to this week, and find even more in our Reviews Archive.

Boulder Jack

Boulder Jack is a free-to-play endless runner that mixes up the standard formula by having players view the action from in front of their character rather than behind. For fans of the Crash Bandicoot series, this isn’t a particularly new trick, and the developers of Boulder Jack seem to be keenly aware of this as the game also stars a character that is remarkably similar to Crash. Playing Boulder Jack is very, very similar to other endless runners. Players must swipe left, right, up, and down to move between lanes, leap over obstacles, or slide under others, all in the hopes of outrunning a large boulder. Along the way there are invincibility power-ups, speed boosts, and coins to collect – all of which create some risk vs. reward mechanics, but everything presented gameplay-wise is pretty standard. --Campbell Bird

Space Age

Space Age: A Cosmic Adventure is an ambitious adventure game that hearkens back to sci-fi tropes of of the 1960s and 70s – complete with alien saucers, fishbowl helmets, and a deep sense of exploration. While the game achieves this aesthetic beautifully, Space Age suffers when it abandons its roots as a game about exploration and decides to try to be something else. Playing Space Age can be kind of difficult to describe. It’s simultaneously an adventure game, a real-time strategy game, a stealth action game, a puzzler, and something of a visual novel. Going into any one of the available ten missions, players might encounter just one or all of these gameplay elements. One thing is for sure, though: every part of Space Age is oozing with character and style that is super-charming, funny, and endearing. --Campbell Bird

Astro Boy Flight

There’s a word that keeps bouncing around my head as I play Astro Boy Flight. Rather appropriately, that word is ‘repetitive’. It sums up this endless 2D shooter, based around the famous Japanese manga character, oh so very well. A few seconds of Astro Boy Flight and you’ll see everything the game offers, with little there to mix things up later on. You glide through the skies, all via a portrait perspective, using one finger to move Astro Boy around. Shooting is done automatically, so your sole method of interaction is via this one finger. Waves of enemies come at you, so you have to line up quickly to shoot them down. This isn’t R-Type though, so it’s not exactly challenging stuff. Instead, you’re more likely to fail because you got bored for a moment and stopped paying attention. --Jennifer Allen

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

When you start the game, you’re given the chance to design a character. There are quite a few classes to choose from, as well as several races. Without a knowledge of the system in advance, I had a very hard time designing my character and just picked an elf and went with the basic warrior type. Then I was presented with detailed statistics to tweak, again with no idea of what was good or needed in this game’s world. The walkthrough/tutorial said that if I wanted more help I could consult the full rules on their website (linked within the app). When I went to check it out it was pages and pages long and very hard to digest, so I went with a few random choices instead. Shadowrun: Dragonfall is set in a futuristic world where society has changed dramatically. It’s futuristic cyberpunk meets high fantasy, and information is the commodity everyone trades in. You’re part of a group of criminals that’s been hired to raid someone’s mansion and steal data from them. Of course once we moved into the mansion, we tripped an alarm and security came in to stop us. --Jade Walker

Adobe Premiere Clip

Over the years, Adobe has done a fantastic job of giving us a plethora of powerful yet user-friendly tools for video and graphic editing. They’re doing a pretty good job of converting that magic to iOS. Adobe Premiere Clip is the latest example, allowing you to easily create videos from earlier clips or brand new ones. Taking you step by step through the process, Adobe Premiere Clip can take as long or as brief a time as you want it to. You can choose to just edit one clip or you can bundle a few of them together, creating a montage of your media. Working mostly through dragging and dropping, as well as a few swipes to trim parts out, it doesn’t take long to line things up correctly. In each clip’s case, you can adjust the color, exposure, or shadow effects before moving onto arranging some transitions between each clip. Slow motion effects can also be included. --Jennifer Allen

Sago Mini Road Trip

I am always happy to introduce a new Sago Sago app to readers. As many know, Sago Sago is now a part of the Toca Boca family, which develops charming and colorful apps for toddlers and beyond. Their most recent app, Sago Mini Road Trip, allows children the chance to go on a road trip with their favorite orange cat, Jinga. Young ones will appreciate being able to choose from three destinations among a larger selection of choices such as jungle or desert adventures, as well as travels to the beach, mountains, forest, or city. They also will have a chance to pack their own bags with a variety of clothing, toys, and other objects into their bottomless suitcase, adding as much or as little in the way of personal effects as there is always room in their bag – details that will make both parents as well as children smile. --Amy Solomon

Other 148Apps Network Sites

If you are looking for the best reviews of Android apps, just head right over to AndroidRundown. Here are just some of the reviews served up this week:

AndroidRundown

Bitcoin Billionaire

At first glance Bitcoin Billionaire hardly seems like a game and in some ways it isn’t. It is in fact a devilishly addictive habit that uses a finely tuned system to show you ads while ensuring you won’t care and will in fact welcome the sight of ads! Bitcoin Billionaire as you might expect is a game about mining the virtual currency known as Bitcoins. After customizing your avatar with clothes and a spiffy pirate bandana it’s simply a matter of tapping the screen as quickly as possible to generate riches; the faster you tap the more Bitcoins you earn. Once a few Bitcoins have been earned, these can be spent on investments like lottery tickets or collectable comic books. These generate a constant stream of income whenever the player is actively mining or not and also while the app is closed. --Allan Curtis

NBA All Net

To say that the card battler is a well worn genre on Android would be the understatement of the year. A basketball card battler is much rarer however. Is NBA All Net swish? NBA All Net’s gameplay is mind numbing and no different to other card battlers on the platform except it’s in the form of basketball. Players simply tap on the “challenge” they would like to play (Which features a description that has nothing to do with the game) and then sit back and watch the game as it unfolds. Players play no role in the game once it has started and it is based on card stats only. Games are dreadfully boring to watch and feature more repetitive animation than an entire season of Scooby Doo so they are best skipped. --Allan Curtis

RAVPower USB Charging Station

I know we’ve been harping on being organized… with good reason, too. With all the devices and accessories, it gets busy. Toss in a kid or two (with their own electronics and such) and a company-issued device, and one begins to approach wired purgatory. So, it makes sense that accessories that help us to more effectively manage these devices will be if a high premium. Thankfully, proprietary cables are not the norm on Android, because solutions like the RAVPower USB Charging Station use cable standardization as a means to being order to chaos. In essence, this series of products looks to a central port for multiple USB cables, theoretically eliminating the need for several plugs and outlets. --Tre Lawrence

And finally, this week, Pocket Gamer investigated Apple's ban on nudity in Papers, Please; gave away five amazing iOS games in its Advent Calendar; picked the best MFi controllers for iOS; and reviewed Tales from the Borderlands. All that and loads more, here.

Welcome, one and all, to another 148Apps holiday shopping guide! Are you having trouble figuring out what to get for a distant relative, new neighbor, or estranged second cousin? Thankfully there are people like us putting together handy-dandy holiday shopping guides for you! Whether you’re looking for new hardware and accessories, or just something a bit less impersonal than an iTunes gift card, we’ve got you covered.

Other 148Apps Holiday Gift Guides: for [Health Nuts] [Socializers] [Creative Types] [Power Users]

Today’s guide centers around iOS gamers. These are the folks who love their portable games and spend most of their morning commute matching pieces of candy or fighting immortal titans. If you’d like to make the gamer(s) in your life have an overall more pleasant and convenient gaming experience, or simply get them some really cool stuff to play, check out our list below for some ideas.

MOGA has announced that the MOGA REBEL - a full-sized, console-style, premium game controller for iOS - will be releasing on September 17. The bluetooth wireless controller has dual analog sticks, L1/R1 and L2/R2 buttons, a D-pad, and four action buttons.

Eric Bensussen, President and Co-Founder of PowerA said, "We've seen an influx of triple-A games coming to the portable gaming market, including 2K's recently released BioShock for iOS, and we're thrilled to usher in the MOGA REBEL as the next best-in-class controller, enabling a rich, console-style experience on iOS devices. With the addition of MOGA REBEL to our iOS controller family, which also includes the more portable MOGA ACE POWER, we're giving gamers two quality controllers with a choice of size and features to suit their individual needs."

The MOGA REBEL will be available for purchase on September 17 for $79.99. You can check out which games are currently MOGA compatible here.

The E3 show floor was awash with games, as you'd expect, but there were also a fair number of iOS controllers on display. Three in particular stood out, including a couple of big names as well as a third entry that seemed to come out of nowhere. Curious to know more? Well then read on!

SteelSeries Stratus XL

Imagine a much larger console-style rendition of the Stratus with pressure-sensitive left and right bumpers, a decent heft, comfy fit, a Quick Pair button that makes pairing with an iOS device much easier, and rubber on the analog sticks for a better grip. That's the Stratus XL.

This new full-sized controller ships with (and uses) two AA batteries and holds a charge for up to 40 hours of start/stop play, and will auto sleep after two minutes of inactivity just in case you forget to shut it off. It also features the same compatibility list as the original Stratus.

The Stratus XL should be available for purchase in September or October of this year. No concrete price has been announced yet, but I've been told it will sell for less than the classic model ($79.99).

Razer Junglecat

Then there's the Junglecat from Razer.

What makes the Junglecat interesting is the way it's been designed to act as both an iPhone case and a controller. The control portion actually slides out from the side, turning it into something that's about the size of most handheld gaming devices. Once you're finished with it you just slide it back and go back to using your phone as usual. It was designed with to be a more convenient portable solution to iOS gaming controllers, and it definitely shows.

The Junglecat is available in white or black for $99.99.

PhoneJoy

The PhoneJoy was tucked away in a corner towards the back of the expo hall, but I'm glad I had the chance to check it out because it's actually pretty neat.

It's certainly similar to the MOGA Ace Power Gamepad in the way it expands and cradles an iPhone, but make no mistake: this is a totally different beast. When collapsed, the Phonejoy takes up very little room - maybe about the size of a wallet - and can easily fit into a pocket, yet it can expand far enough to house a tablet in portrait orientation. Oh, yeah, it can be used with tablets. It also connects to iOS devices via bluetooth.

There are three packages available for the Phonejoy: Basic for $69.90, which is just the controller and a one year warranty; Advanced for $79.90, which includes the controller and warranty, a soft pouch, and a set of specially-designed adapters that will allow you to plug in headphones (because it covers the iPhone's jack) and act as a backup power source; and the Pro Gamer for $89.90, which includes all of the above plus a tablet kickstand and travel case.

SteelSeries revealed their Stratus XL today: a sleek, full-sized, console-style gaming controller designed for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Ever since SteelSeries brought us their quality mini controller in 2012, fans have been asking for a full-sized model.

As with most controllers, the Stratus XL features a D-pad, 4 action buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, and dual analog sticks. It will also have a pairing button to connect to iOS devices via Bluetooth and a convenient on/off switch to conserve battery. The Stratus XL will deliver an estimated 40 hours of gameplay with two standard AA batteries. The controller will be able to interface with many gaming apps such as Leo's Fortune, Bastion, and GTA: San Andreas.

You can expect to see the Stratus XL to be available for purchase later this year.

With iOS 7 came much better support for third-party gaming peripherals, and the MFi (Made-for-iPhone) controller seems to be all the rage lately among accessory makers. Mad Catz is one of many manufacturers that plans to release more controllers for iOS 7 devices, and Engadget reports that the company recently unveiled its latest development: the C.T.R.L.i.

The controller is the first from Mad Catz to natively support iOS 7 and, while it's still in active development, Engadget had the opportunity to experience the peripheral and confirm that it's indeed in fully-playable condition. The device features a "spring-loaded mount" to holster your iOS device, and said mount is attached with a screw - meaning users who wish to use the controller with a device too big for the clip can remove it altogether.

Although many MFi-type controllers have been known as of yet to be expensive and of low build-quality, Mad Catz hopes to break that trend this Spring with the C.T.R.L.i. The device is expected to launch for $80 and come in black, white, blue, red, and orange variations.

So it looks like the MOGA Ace Power MFi controller has had a price drop. The collapsable iOS controller has gone from $99.99 down to $79.99 - possibly due to some rather stiff competition, hmm?

Well regardless of the reason, you can now get your hands on the MOGA Ace Power for $20 less than you could before. So if you've been wrestling with the idea of buying one for yourself now might be the time to reconsider.

The original Wind-Up Knight was a tour-de-force of level-based auto-running (there goes my hyphen allotment for the month). But that was before iOS 7 and MFi controllers. Apparently the developer intends to put the feature to good use in the upcoming sequel to a very thorough degree.

Check out the video below for gameplay footage of Wind-Up Knight 2, then laugh as you watch them test just about every game controller they could get their hands on. Especially the trance "controller" from Rez. I'm not sure I even want to know the story behind that.

Looks like there's been a change in the SteelSeries Stratus wireless game controller's price recently. The MFi controller is still in its preorder phase, but the price has officially been dropped by $20. So instead of paying $99 for the wireless bluetooth iOS controller, you'll be able to get it for $79. People who have already preordered the controller need not fret however; SteelSeries has stated that they will be honoring the $79 launch price on all preorders, regardless of whether or not they were placed before the price drop.

If you liked what you've read in Jeff Scott's review, or if the new price tag makes it hard to resist, you can head on over to the official SteelSeries store page and preorder a Stratus controller of your own.