Recently I was lamenting over one such App on my twitter feed, to which I received this snappy reply from a developer by the name of bitCycle.

Challenge Extended.
(Even though it’s an obvious ploy to play on my geek guilt, and promote their own App agenda)

Challenge Accepted!
(But only because you said ‘pleeease’)

So here I am, doing a Crossnerd App Review.
First thing is first. I think that the people at bitCycle might be really quite insane. Or Awesome. Or Both.
Check out their trailer for Crossnerd;

Heh.
But seriously folks, how’s the game? It’s great. Basically, like the catchy tune says, you Swap tiles to form words, only your tiles need to be the same type of tile as the tile you’re swapping with. And if you get it wrong the entire level will start over. So it’s easy but tricky, get it? Although as of right now there’s only a Free ‘Lite’ Version out so you’ll have to be happy with only 20 levels. Here are a couple Screenshots:

<<< Nice One bitCycle. Good Luck!

I’m not saying 20 Levels isn’t great for a free App, it is. I’ve seen ‘Lite’ versions that have only 5 Levels of something and they were still worth it. The problem here is that this game concept is really great, it’s tricky but not impossible and the graphics are snappy and the content is funny, witty and cute. The real problem is that this game needs to be released as a full version, but until the developers get enough interest in the Lite version they’re not going to release a full version. Tricksy Developers.

Which is another reason I accepted the ‘Challenge’. I know I don’t have a massive readership, but every little bit counts. I said in my Mission Statement that I was going to try and help out the Little Guys.

So here I am, doing my best, for a game that I think really deserves it. So, go ahead and Download The Free App (<- USA iTunes Link. Canadian iTunes Link), and join their Facebook Page and become a fan. Hopefully they’ll see the light and release the full version so that I can play it everyone can enjoy it! :)

Remember on Family Feud, when they said that they’d polled 100 people and then provided you with the top answers? This is sort of the technology behind iAssociate 2. From what I have been told, the suggestions for the words, and how they associate, were taken from the developers Facebook Fan Page. So it’s sort of a record of public consciousness, too. ;)

The game is simple, each round has a certain number of words that associate with each other that branch off, and the branches grow as you correctly guess the proper words. Luckily there’s no time limit because it might take a while, and I found that focusing on one branch/section at a time was best – once I got The Brain Freeze or frustrated, I moved on to another section within the same round.

Quick what do you think of when I say Peanut Butter! Jelly? Bread? Gum? Those are all valid guesses, and that’s basically the name of the game. To help you along, they will let you know how letters are in the unknown-associated word. Also, there are hints (a set number per round) that give you additional letters, and even the option to ask your Facebook Friends for help. As each round progresses you’ll receive trophies, when you’ve completed 50% (Bronze), 75% (Silver), and 100% (Gold). This is imperative because otherwise you wouldn’t have any idea on how Big/Long/complex each round is.

Another stellar feature which is just amazing is that the game saves each time you correctly guess a word, so you can come back to it at any time. Say you’re stumped, just close out the App and get on with your day, maybe the answer will come to you randomly – or maybe you’ll have a chance to ask someone what they think – at any time you can get right back into it.

Here are some screenshots for your viewing pleasure:

As you can see, design is beautiful, polished and pretty. Obviously a lot of time and energy went into the creation of this App – I think that the developers really love their work. Usually I’m not a giant fan of Apps in this price range unless they are really quite awesome. I’m here to tell you that this game really is quite awesome. It’s absolutely worth the $3.99 – But You Can Download This App For Free on June 1st! Check the iTunes Page, or look it up on FreeAppDay.com on Tuesday and get your copy Free!

Like I said though, if you missed the promo it’s still worth dishing out the dough.
Dough… Bread… Toast… Jam… OK, I’ll stop now.

There are a buttload of Virtual Pet Apps out there, and none really interest me. I had a Tamagotchi (or three) back in the hayday (like 1997), but it never went beyond that. I’m a grown-up now and so I have a real pet.

Here’s a quick rundown of the features of this App, before I go spilling my opinion all over everybody.
-Pick from 3 different pets (Cat, Dog, Raccoon?)
-Pick from 3 different locations (backgrounds)
-Choose style of and timing of pet’s demise, depending on pet.

Screenshots

There are also some features that are simply there to make the whole Virtual Pet thing more believable, Wash your animal or Feed your animal. I mean, you also get to name it, so that’s nice. Especially if you name it after the friend that you’re planning on tricking into thinking they’ve murdered your poor digital doggy/kitty.

OK so here’s my opinion: when it boils down to it, I’m not a prankster. I know there is an audience for this App, so I still tried it out. I think that even people who will get a hoot out of tricking their friends in this way, regardless of my opinion of them, deserve a slightly more feature-rich App if you’re going to ask them to pay for it (even if it’s only 99¢).

I think that Pet Tricks, as it is now, would be a fantastic version of Pet-Tricks Lite (for arguments sake, lets say that for the ‘Lite’ version you only got one death, the boring lay-down-and-die one, and the death-timer is always set at 30 seconds). I think that if the developer made a more robust and feature-rich game, they might actually swing this around from one-trick pony into something kind of awesome. Add more animals, many more ridiculous Deaths, and it could be worth the price. Besides, everyone loves watching digital things die.

See the end of this article for a chance to win copy of this App!

I thought I’d do a quick little post about this fun game, to give you something to play with on the weekend.

Firstly, to comment on the look of the game: polished. The menu was easy to navigate, and lucky for me, the tutorial was simple (because I totally botched Action mode a couple times before I realized what I was doing). Also lucky for me was that the game starts out pretty easy in regular mode, but don’t be fooled it can get complex pretty fast – on my first try I made it to stage 11 (of 30), not bad ;). When you’re playing in Action mode, your goal is to untangle one dot at a time – but be careful coz those things multiply like Tribbles, and if you get too many, you’ll lose.

There’s also the Random mode, that creates a level on-the-fly, for which you can set the difficulty rating (1-10). This feature is what, in the end made me realize that this is why it’s a paid app, and not a free game – practically unending playability. Here are a few Screenshots of the App, and a Video of Action Mode:

Another fantastic feature is that this App runs with OpenFeint.
I didn’t find any major glitches when playing it tonight, however I did find that sometimes it wasn’t easy to grab a dot when it was very low-down on the screen, because of the bottom menu bar.

Other than that, I had a tonne of fun playing this game – it’s absolutely something I’ll load up and play for a few minutes every day. This game is well worth the 99¢ they’re asking for, which appears to be a limited time offer, so you should get it now! It’s available on both the iTunes USA and iTunes Canada store.

Tangled 2 Giveaway Details!
If you comment below – or retweet this article (being sure to include @ChantelleJoytwt so I’ll see it), you’ll have a chance to win a promo code, which can be used on the US iTunes store for a free copy of this App. Three people will be chosen and you have until Midnight (EDT) Saturday, April 24 to enter. Winners will be announced in the comments of this post, on Sunday.