It’s Halloween which means it’s the perfect time to gather around as a family and enjoy some quality time together.
We’ve rounded up six apps and games you can play together this Hallow's Eve, with each appealing to a different age group. So no matter the age of your kids, there should be something to appeal to them.
:: CUTE TRAILSApples to Apples, byMattel, is a fun card combination game where players try to create hilarious matchups between a topic and subject - such as matching "Glamourous" with "Bigfoot" - and it's now available as a mobile app where you can play in groups of up to five players.
:: EDUCATIONAL BOARD GAMING
:: MONSTER MAHJONG
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.
Tilt to Live 2 wakes up in a world where the tilt-based game feels almost dead. Free-to-play Skinner boxes rule the landscape, and here’s a $2.99 game that dares to toss things back to 2010 by having us tilt to survive? Well, great gameplay is timeless, and One Man Left has made Tilt to Live 2 feel both fresh and familiar. The core concept of “tilting to live” is the same, but nothing else is. Visually, the game has been given a detailed and fluid overhaul. It looks and feels incredibly lively. But all the power-ups from the original have been replaced with new ones. Now, there’s a brimstone ball that can be bounced around the screen, a dual-bladed energy sword, a shield that can collect dots to destroy them, a dot disguise that makes the player briefly invulnerable, and more. This was a fantastic decision by One Man Left – what it does is that it makes the game feel new. The game is innately familiar, but the ways that the problems are approached and solved are completely different. It’s the perfect approach for a sequel; one that other developers need to consider. --Carter Dotson
Stealth Inc., originally released for Mac and PC under the name Stealth Bastard and then later for the PlayStation 3 and Vita under its more family-friendly name, has been well-loved from the start. And rightly so as it mixes stealth and brutal platforming challenges so effectively. So how does everything hold up on iOS? Ridiculously well, actually. The basic premise of Stealth Inc. is to escape. Players control a very unfortunate clone (several, really, since there will be lots and lots of dying) whose only purpose is to sneak out of a facility that’s absolutely packed with death traps. Now that I think about it, all the place seems to do is make and kill clones. In order to guide their little fellas to figurative safety, players will need to solve a series of challenging environmental puzzles and make a bunch of intricate jumps while also trying to avoid detection at all costs. The game uses a simple left/right slider for movement along with jump and duck buttons to great effect, while a contextual button for interacting with computers and the like pops when needed. --Rob Rich
Monster Hunter? Pokemon? No, this is Hunter Island from ZigZaGame Inc. A game that incorporates both catching monsters and fulfilling side quests in RPG style. Fans of the Pokemon games will feel right at home here, as Hunter Island manages to capture the tone and enjoyment of just what makes this style so engrossing. Anyone familiar with the rules of Pokemon will not find it difficult to work through. Players start off with the option of three different monsters – each with different elemental attributes. It is then the player’s job to decide whether they will be a male or female protagonist, but it doesn’t really make a difference because whichever one is chosen the other will still join them on their journey. --Lucy Ingram
Appigo’s Todo apps have been keeping many people organized for as long as the App Store has existed. After a major OS update in the form of iOS 7, it only seems right to come across Todo 7. The app fits into the aesthetics of iOS 7 extremely well, retaining its position as both powerful and visually appealing. Some people looking for a simpler solution might be disappointed to note that Todo 7 isn’t as minimalist as other To Do list apps, but once taken through the tooltips it offers, it proves to be quite effective. The main screen of Todo 7 offers the bulk of the information. A list of all tasks is offered along with a focus list which prioritizes overdue tasks and those needing to be done today, while a personalized list option offers more control over how content is arranged. Personalization options such as changing the color of each category, and even the list icon and background image, further adds to the control. --Jennifer Allen
Millie’s Crazy Dinosaur Adventure is an interactive title in a series of Millie Was Here – charming multimedia experiences children and their adults will really appreciate. Here Millie, a cute little dog, builds a space ship to hopefully transport her back in time to earlier that day – because after having arrived at her friend’s birthday party, she realized that she had forgotten her present. Things go awry though and Millie actually travels back into the time of the dinosaurs where she goes on an adventure, then safety arrives back in present time. --Amy Solomon
Email is quickly becoming one of the most time-consuming daily tasks. Since most folks are mobile now, it’s necessary to have an email app that is speedy and efficient. SnapinboxHD does its best to make this chore as simple and seamless as possible. Combine all accounts into one inbox, and swipe left or right to organize it without even opening the message. Yes, this may save seconds, but seconds add up to minutes, which add up to hours. --Stacy Barnes
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:
Gotta love Move. Its main draw is its simplicity. The game developer does a good job of ensuring that it is accessible enough to almost not even need a tutorial. The basic objective is to move colored, 2D circles to matching squares in the least number of moves. Every level starts out with a suggested number of moves, and not surpassing that is what is the key to earning the most stars. --Tre Lawrence
Pocket Harvest’s premise will be familiar to anyone who’s played Harvest Moon. Players are given control of a small, struggling farm, with few staff and next to no resources. Before long though, the farm will be bustling with a huge variety of crops, animals, attractions and even tourists. Building the farm couldn’t be easier. Fields are placed one by one depending on what kind of crop they grow. Worker houses are placed nearby and if they are close enough the worker will tend the fields, sell the crops and earn cash. Of course there are many things that affect how much money they’ll make, such as the moisture of the field, the worker’s skill at harvesting, how well cultivated the crop is and so on. --Allan Curtis
Combat Monsters is a turn-based strategy game that involves the use of extras to win. It has one of the most thorough tutorials I’ve come across, and it does do a great job of ensuring that the 8-step learner gives the right pointers with regards to how the game works. What the tutorials do reveal are some nice media elements. The whimsical characterization work within this type of fantasy warfare, with simple animations that are fun without being too distracting. The playing area is a battle stage that is set in a circle with chess-like squares that afford movement of the pieces. --Tre Lawrence
And finally, this week Pocket Gamer reviewed Oceanhorn, Epoch 2, and Stealth Inc, started its new First Look video series, and welcomed in the new generation of consoles with a round-up of second screen apps. Check it out in the Pocket Gamer Weekly Round-Up.
:: FAMILY HISTORYWith the announcement of iOS 7 came plenty of expectations and hopes. While some were realized (hello better multitasking and improved notification center), I think one very important area has been overlooked: the family market.
I don't have kids of my own but I've heard the woes of many friends of mine that do. Apple just isn't cutting it for them. This is an area where Android is currently ahead and it's something that I was really hoping that iOS 7 would catch up on.
iOS does have one significant advantage here in that users have total control over app-related permissions, but its restrictions tab is really pretty, well, restricted. Without the option for multiple profiles, users can hand over their iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad but they need to turn restrictions on or off each time. Multiple profiles are just so much simpler and require less maintenance, plus there's the advantage that everyone has their own workspace to deal with rather than the clutter that comes from using one device across an entire family. I know a few families that struggle with the finer details of things like restrictions. If it was just a matter of setting up profiles, I could easily do it for them and they'd be set up for the future. Even better, such profiles would ensure that each member of the family felt like they had some kind of ownership over the device. Something in particular that kids get a real kick out of from technology.
While we prefer to not cover rumors at 148apps, there is an significant one that could relate to this issue: the prospect of a fingerprint sensor built into the iPhone 5S. There's no guaranteed proof as of yet, and we'll have to see what's fully announced in September, but this could pave the way to multiple profiles.
For now though, parents are stuck with the option of using separate apps such as Disconnect Kids rather than a simpler, more comprehensive, built-in solution. However, the potential is great if the fingerprint reader comes to fruition. And if it doesn't? Well, families may find themselves even more tempted towards an Android tablet purchase, and who can blame them.
:: VIRTUAL PHOTO ALBUMPredominantly is the ability to sync lists between all the family's iOS devices so that each person can add items on the go. This should save users plenty of time as they attempt to consolidate numerous lists, instead the app does it all.
Grocery List - Buy Me A Pie! works through not just iOS devices but also the buymeapie.com site to ensure that it's always possible to add something to the grocery list for consultation at a later date.
Other features include a word prompting tool which suggests words, items that are automatically grouped within a list and color coded accordingly, plus the ability to create multiple lists for different situations.
Together, Grocery List - Buy Me A Pie! should prove the ideal app for those who need to save time and be more organized in their grocery shopping.
It's out now, priced at $2.99.
The app makes it simple to produce all kinds of books from photo books to cookbooks, manuals or even children's stories, all through the wealth of options within. It's simple to add photos or videos to a book, as well as resizes such images and move them around easily. It's the kind of thing that would be great for collating memories from a special event.
Once created, it's just as simple to share the book via iTunes, email or by printing the document, making it a great way to share creations with friends and family.
Book Writer is out now, priced at $3.99, and it's an Universal app.
Burst is the latest app hoping to encourage users away from bigger networks, with a focus on sharing just with close friends and family. The app requires just one touch to capture then store and organize mobile videos and photos. It's then simple to share such moments with the special people in one's life.
Burst can tag and title those moments along with information from the user's calendar with everything securely stored in the cloud.
Users can restrict who views the content and be notified via Push notifications, email or SMS when a family member comments on the images.
For those looking for a more secure social networking app, Burst will prove invaluable.
Burst is out now and it's an Universal app.
:: FAMILY FRIENDLY
:: WIZARDRY FUN
:: WORDY
