Just because I have little to say about Link & Spell doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. In fact it’s damn good! Two well known games, Snake (yeah the old cellphone classic) and Boggle, are mashed up to create a word game unlike anything else I’ve experienced. Tiles are randomly placed on the playing field: letters (red), numbers (white) and power-ups (gray). In order to spell words you’re going to move around one tile (blue) and eat letter tiles. So each letter that you run into will then be connected to your starting tile–which creates your tile-snake.

Once you complete  spelling a word you do a double-tap and you’ll add the score for that word. Continue to do so until you screw up. I.E.  running out of time, run into a number, or go off of the screen. These rules are super easy to grasp and create a gameplay experience that needs very little explanation but mastering it will require fast thinking, dexterity, and strategy. If you like word games but are burnt out from scrabble-like games…give this one a try. Do stick with it for a day or two because it can be tricky!

The control scheme for Link & Spell is very well thought out and easy to learn within minutes. Controlling the tile-snake is done with swipes to change direction, two-finger swipe to flipflop the order of letters, as well as a couple of other tap-controls. I love the idea…but I must say that changing directions with the snake is troublesome. This is solely due to the jerky movement nature of your tile-snake. This causes a visual uneasiness to swipe at a precise time. If the tiles moved smoother this would most likely resolve the little issue.

-Hmmm… I guess I had more to say than I thought!

The Bottom Line: Link & Spell is unlike any other word game I’ve played. Watch out though because this mashup can be highly addictive.

Price $Free

Gamers looking for a strategy card game simply won’t find it here. No, instead this is a CCG that’s hook emphasis is collecting cards and not strategy. Placing cards onto the battlefield can be done via pushing Auto-Play. Yup, the game plays your cards for you and since there’s very little skill needed (Go-Fish involves more strategy), the winner for the most part is determined by who has the better cards…as well as a bit of luck…the handful of cards in your hand are pulled at random.

I know a lot of you think that I’m about to slam this game but surprisingly no! I see it more as a Freemium title that’s fun to play for a few minutes and ‘battle’ (using that word very loosely) against the AI. The battles are very short and more often than not, you’ll earn another card to add to your arsenal. Again, no skill is needed but ‘meh’ has a bit more entertainment value than town-builder Freemium games out there.

The CCG gamer looking for a strategy experience won’t find anything here but for someone wanting a leisurely game experience try it, you’ll be happy with all of the extra features. You can attach runes which will aid you in battles (these are slowly earned by leveling up), expand your deck, and even level up cards to make them a bit more powerful. On top of this is a multiplayer mode that will pit your deck against another real person’s. To repeat myself, no skill is needed and instead the winner is determined by who has the better deck…with a little luck.

The Bottom Line: Lies of Astraroth is a moderately  entertaining CCG but more about collecting cards (for some reason it includes mostly scantly clad female warriors) than anything else.

Price Free$

Purely for work-related consideration, I checked out WeDate – play, chat and date, over the last few days and was amazed at how fluid this dating app is. Everything about the UI and layout is so smooth that you won’t even realize it! Setting up a profile can be done in minutes but that’s not what we’re here for now is it? Nah, it’s viewing other profiles which can be done in a couple different ways. One such way is a list of thumbnail pics that you can scroll through and tap on one that peaks your interest. It’ll display small tidbits about the person, photos, things that you have in common, and chatting as well. I can’t help but say it again–smoooooth!

You know that I’ve been in a long-time happy relationship when I get more excited about app navigation rather than potential mates! Okay, so besides viewing profiles there’s also a good chunk of interaction. A small but noticeable feature is The Truth Game. This’ll ask you a quick question about yourself and as soon as you answer it you can view other people’s responses. It’s a casual icebreaker. If you’re a bit more out-going you can set up dates. Choose what type of date you want to set up and wait for people to join in. Again, very easy to do.

Note: Like anything online, always use caution when divulging information about yourself. 

The Bottom Line: WeDate – play, chat and date, makes viewing and interacting with new people a breeze. And again the presentation is…yeah, smooth.

Price $Free 

Implode 3D HD for the iPad (also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch) is all about demolition…and problem solving that is. Each stage gives you a structure comprised of different materials, a few bombs, and a couple objectives to meet. The main objective is to bring that structure down by  figuring out exactly where to place the bombs. Other objectives may include setting off crates of dynamite, triggering mines, and avoiding certain obstacles. These new objectives are fun, yet there’s still more up Implode 3D HD’s sleeve.

Different materials make up each puzzle IE: wood, striped wood (the only material that you can’t place a bomb on), and metal. There’s also several bombs that will interact with each material in a different manner. If you play your cards right, or rather place your bombs right, you can normally knock down the structure in an attempt or two.  Did you achieve all of the objectives?  Probably not. It’s the combination of achieving the variety of objectives and materials that makes blowing things up even more fun.

The cell-shading look and interesting environments are great in Implode 3D HD but that’s simply not the highlight. It’s how easy it is to navigate each world and carefully (re)-position each explosive. Swipe your finger around the screen to rotate the structure or pinch in or out to adjust zooming. When placing an explosive, a close up camera shot appears in the left corner that shows you exactly where the bomb is being placed. Positioning bombs is easy.

The Bottom Line: Implode 3D HD has mind-bending challenging puzzles that you solve by blowing things up. Not sure why being destructive is so much fun…but it is.

Price $1.99

Haunted Night – Escape from Zombies, is  a good looking Indie title but the graphical similarities to Limbo are way too close for comfort. Your lil’ spiky haired dude as well as a hotel with a crooked sign are all here with little tweaks to look slightly different from Limbo. It looks different but only because it doesn’t have the same WOW graphical presentation. This wouldn’t have bothered me as much if Haunted Night, had other awesome attributes–but it doesn’t.

In some ways Haunted Night, is a rather cool endless-runner. Here you can jump/double jump over zombies as well as avoid bats and crows that fly at you at rocket speed. Timing jumps is fun and does almost become addictive…but there’s a lot weighing it down.

The first notable issue is that when you jump you feel like you have lead weights in your pockets. The jumping feels heavy and doesn’t achieve the fluid movement needed in endless-runners. The other factor is that there are options that you can upgrade. But guess what?! The store is broken and we were never able to upgrade any of the stats. This was over the top annoying and put Haunted Night’s, fun factor in the no fun zone.

The Bottom Line: Haunted Night – Escape from Zombies, has some cool power-ups (I.E. ability to fly) but the heavy jumps and the broken store has me suggesting you go elsewhere. With that said, keep an eye on this one because if it ever receives a big update then this might become a really fun endless-runner.

Price $Free 

Stick Stunt Biker 2’s level design is best summed up as strictly following ‘the book’. Crazy jumps, explosives loop-de-loops they’re all here. It feels the same as other games in this genre…and I’ve played this style many, many times. Still fun though! The pacing is a double-edged sword where as in some ways it’s fantastic and in others it makes my rage boil.

Once you unlock a world (set of levels), you can skip a level even if you can’t beat it. This is nice since if you get stuck you can still move on.The downside is that unlocking new levels is over-the-top frustrating. Hitting time limits is extremely challenging and even earning the lowest time challenge leaves little to no room for error (even the very first levels). Adding to this is that the bikes that you can unlock have the same fate! (Unless you throw some cash at it to unlock a bike earlier.) I’m not sure why the difficulty is ramped up so high but it leaves me wondering if it’s a sneaky way for you to get frustrated and throw some money at IAP in order to progress. I would almost guarantee that was the thinking behind this. Normally I can plow through games like this.

The Bottom Line: Stick Stunt Biker 2 is a slick and stylish physics-racer with some cool level designs to check out but progressing becomes too challenging to be any fun.

Price $Free

Update May 13,2013: Hey all of you lovers out there celebrating Beltaine! Love Quiz is staying current and brings 3 new love tests to play with your partner. If you missed it the first time around, check it out now for a fun time

Update Aug 02, 2012: Last month we got our hands on Love Quiz! and our biggest disappointment was its short length. The devs have since then added a more fleshed out experience that’ll entertain much longer.

Are you old enough to remember The Newlywed Game or have seen its re-runs? If you’ve missed out on it you should hunt it down since it’s as humorous to watch today…if not more so. So why am I bringing up a 1960‘s TV show on a iOS/OSX review site? That’s because my better half and I sat down with a new app, Love Quiz!, and took a…you guessed it–quiz.

Love Quiz! is played very similar to The Newlywed Game: one of you will be asked a question about your partner and then he/she will give their answer to the question. If you both answer the same then you’ll score a point (you’re not competing with anyone but just for your own records). Then flip-flop this scenario and your partner answers first then you and so on until you’ve finished the quiz. Answer enough questions quickly and you’ll know that you’re in sync. If not…maybe it’s time to turn off the TV and start talking…or if you’re like my dad actually take out the earplugs (no joke…he really wears earplugs around the house!).

You’ll be able to select up to 5 quizzes (4 are unlocked via IAP). The questions found in Love Quiz! are amusing and include double entendres just as The Newly Wed Game did. But it’s too bleeping short! A buck will unlock 3 quizzes but that’s only 30 questions. Since the questions are always the same after you play a quiz, it looses its replay value (hopefully you both know the correct answers after one playthrough). On the plus side of this, if you can’t hold down a relationship you can continue whipping it out…the app–not that…geesh (how’s that for a double entendre)…and play it with someone new.

The Bottom Line (Updated): Love Quiz! is a fun quiz to take with your partner and with it’s newest update makes it worth your time.

Price $Free

When it comes to plot, Sorcery! is a walking cliché. It tells a tale of a wandering knight, you, who’s on a desperate quest to save the kingdom. Even with a thin plot stringing together the adventure, it holds your attention since the story can branch off in so many directions depending on your actions. It might lead you to befriending someone, a battle, and sometimes things simply go smoothly. Other times you might make an ‘innocent’ choice and find yourself dead. Luckily there’s a very useful Rewind feature that allows you to remake a choice and continue your quest.

Besides deciding which path to take, Sorcery! includes a bit more interactivity. At times you can cast spells (unfortunately the UI to trigger spells is beyond obnoxious), purchase items, and battles. The battles, while easy, add to the experience by having you decide on whether to attack or block. Don’t expect any real challenge here but again it’s still entertaining.

The Bottom Line: Sorcery! brings an interesting adventure book to life and lets you make a lot of choices. Sadly the adventure seems to stop right when it begins. I guess that’s what the announced Part 2 is for!

Price$4.99

Haunted Hollow is a turn-based strategy game with the objective to scare the entire town before your opponent does. You’ll both begin in an empty mansion each with a random room to build at the start of each turn. It’s with these rooms that you’ll be able to unearth Fighty, Scary, and Strange monsters to set loose on the town. In strategy formation of course. Fighty monsters are your attackers; fight off your opponent’s monsters, Scary monsters are your town spookers; you need them to win the game, and Strange monsters include a special ability.

Even though Haunted Hollow is very casual as far as strategy games go, there’s depth found in everything that you do. Further on in each game you’ll need to focus on how to build your mansion since good planning translates to more powerful monsters. Then there’s also figuring out how to deal with the townsfolk. You see, after getting spooked too many times they’ll fight back! Sometimes it’s best to kill ‘em off and other times let them go wild and burn down the town. So if your opponent has scared (captured) houses near the mob, let the mob do the work for you and destroy your opponent’s progress. See?! There is a good chunk of casual strategy here.

You’re not going to get everything up front, Haunted Hollow is a freemium game. Nope, instead you’ll be given only a few monsters, which actually works to your advantage since it won’t be overwhelming familiarizing yourself with every monster. You can purchase more monsters via IAP, unfortunately this is a bit on the pricey side. Don’t worry though you’ll have enough monsters to have fun.

Haunted Hollow can be played in single player or multiplayer modes. The single player pits you against the mentally challenged AI. Many times I would see the AI continue to make move after move with no logic behind it. Multiplayer is where the fun is to be had. There’s multiplayer via GameCenter which works great. My favorite though is pass ‘n play. It’s just so much more fun to play face to face and trash talk one another! If you’ve got a gamer friend sitting next to you then Haunted Hollow is one of the best casual games I’ve played for some time.

The Bottom Line: As far as casual games go, Haunted Hollow is a great My First Strategy Game that is friendly to new-comers while still entertaining strategy enthusiasts.

Price $Free

This is where GoComics comes into play. All of these great comic strips from Garfield, Peanuts, FoxTrot,  to my all-time favorite Calvin and Hobbes are here. For free. Scan through the catalog of popular comics (or check out new comers) and tap on it and you’ll be brought to today’s strip. Don’t fret, you can access more than a day’s worth and also check out an extensive backlog as well. If you’re like me and love reading these strips, it’s great to dive in and read your favorite strips without getting dirty newsprint all over your hands.

If you register (this is free) you can do so much more with GoComics. You can comment on strips but more importantly is that you can favorite certain strips or add it to “My Comics” and easily view only the strips you want. Oh, and you can easily share these strips as well. Drinking coffee and reading comic strips equals one great morning.

The Bottom Line: GoComics brings comic strips into current media. Seriously what are you waiting for? It’s free so go download it. 

Price $Free