review - 2/30 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

Pebble Smartwatch Review: A Rough Diamond In Need Of A Little Polish

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Reviews

If there's one product from the last year that's managed to capture the attention of just about everyone in the tech arena, it's Pebble. Between the somewhat tenuous underdog status of all Kickstarter projects, a general swell in "wearable tech" interest, and months and months of frustrating delays, it's proven to be even better fodder for bloggers than speculative hardware backers. Finally, 8 months after being successfully funded (and four months after the initial ship date) I've got one sitting on my wrist.

So, is Pebble worth the wait? Putting aside the fact that the wait isn't over yet (most Kickstarter backers are still waiting, and it'll be a couple of months at least before you can buy one outright) the answer is a resounding "maybe." While there are some serious deficiencies in the design of both the hardware and software, the idea and the execution of Pebble are solid.

Jan

Temple Run 2 Review - Is It A Worthy Successor Or Will The Curse Of The Sequel Strike Again?

Posted by John Thompson in Games, Reviews

With over 50 million downloads and almost a million 5-star ratings, Temple Run has set the bar rather high for its successor, Temple Run 2.

As is the case with most successful games, the basic premise of Temple Run 2 is the same as the original: you're in possession of an idol that's been stolen from an ancient temple, which has angered a particularly murderous monkey who wants to get it back.

Gameplay

So what's changed? Well, the maps are more elaborate - this you can tell straight away as you zip-line your way into a brand new environment. However, the basic swipe controls remain the same as the original game.

Jan

Official Nexus 7 Dock Quick Review: A Solid Accessory That's Worth Its Price – If You Can Find It

Posted by Liam Spradlin in ASUS, Nexus 7, Other Reviews, Reviews

After months of speculation, pre-orders, and cameo appearances, it's finally here (kind of) – one of the precious few official Nexus accessories users have ever been able to purchase: the Nexus 7 Dock. After snapping one up when they appeared at B&H, I was one of the unlucky handful to receive a "we regret to inform you" email, noting that the dock was not, in fact, available yet. Just a few days later, though, my dock showed up in the mail.

Jan

Upcoming ASUS MeMO Pad Gets The Hands-On And Review Treatment In Bulgaria, Still Pretty Meh

Posted by Cameron Summerson in MeMO Pad, News

Can we get a show of hands as to who's interested in the upcoming ASUS MeMO Pad? Great. This post is for you. Bulgarian site tablet.bg has gotten its hands on this understated Android tablet and taken the liberty of giving it a full review. The conclusion? It's still pretty meh. But you know, it's meant to be a budget device, and will compete wonderfully with Acer's new B1 tablet. I'm getting ahead of myself, though – let's take a closer look at what this tablet has to offer before we commit to buying something that's still not available for at least three more months here in the states.

Jan

Hands-On With RedBox Instant: Netflix Has Nothing To Be Worried About

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Features, News

At last, my collection is complete. Just the other day I received my invite to the beta of Redbox Instant. I was excited. The idea sounds great: it's like Netflix, but you also get four monthly credits at Redbox rental kiosks! Awesome, right? What's that? Verizon has something to do with it? Well, no matter. It's not exclusive to the carrier's handsets, so I'm sure it's nothing to worry about! I'm ready to get my hands all up on this thing.

Oh, how naïve I was.

I'm going to start by taking a look at the desktop site and the service as a whole, but don't worry, we'll get to the Android bit in its own section.

Dec

Grand Theft Auto Vice City Review: A Classic Never Goes Out Of Style

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, Reviews

Parachute pants, big hair and pastel sport coats might not be the height of fashion these days, but ten years ago gamers were in the midst of a digital revival. Grand Theft Auto Vice City rode on the massive (and well-deserved) success of GTAIII with a fresh setting, a more character-driven story and a refined sandbox world that makes it a series favorite even today. Those who want to relive the glory days of the 1980s (and 2002) can download the game on Google Play for just five bucks.

Does Vice City live up to expectations? Well, yes and no. The technical aspects of the game, and Rockstar's ambitious commitment to the sandbox style, haven't aged well.

Dec

Dropping Some Science: Splice Review

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

I first played Cipher Prime's Splice when it was part of a recent fourth Humble Bundle, and it still enjoys a place in my Installed Games list on Steam. It's a puzzle game that involves taking different strains of bacteria and "splicing" them, moving around cells in order to fit an provided outline. Of course, you have a set amount of moves, and added "mutation" cells will change the game in different ways: for instance, one mutation will cause each cell attached to it to grow, or split identically. The trick is to plan ahead and think strategically in order to finish each level and move on.

Dec

Time To Wreck It!: Wreck-It Ralph Review

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

As gamers, we've all become familiar with the tie-in title. These are usually released in conjunction with a movie or TV show to widen its exposure, and historically they're usually pretty sub-par.

However, Disney's Wreck-It Ralph subverts this trope because it's in the unique position of being based off of video games. That's kind of hard to mess up.

Wreck-It Ralph is a series of three (soon to be four) arcade games that feature characters and environments from the movie. The first is a direct port of the Fix-It Felix Jr. arcade game that Ralph calls home, the second will remind players of Doodle Jump and other "bounce as high as you can" games, and the third is a very modest twin-joystick shooter.

Dec

Game Review: Shoot Em Up + Rave = Beat Hazard Ultra

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

I've been enjoying video games for most of my life, and some of them come with a seizure warning before I start playing. This is to make sure that people who are prone to seizures or headaches know that there is a large amount of strobe effects in the game they're about to start.

I've never felt that been susceptible to the problems the warnings are meant to address, but then again, I hadn't played Beat Hazard Ultra, either.

Beast Hazard Ultra is a shoot-em-up game that uses your music to generate levels. Gameplay-wise, it's a mix of Asteroids and the traditional two-joystick shooters that many players are already familiar with.

Dec

Do The Twist: Pixel Twist Review

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

For all the shooters and racing games that mobile fans see, there's another subset that seems specifically made for the touch environment. "Zen" games are popular because they're relatively simple, can be played in short bursts to cure boredom, and ultimately allow their audience to sit back and relax. Pixel Twist fulfills all three of those criteria.

Pixel Twist starts off quite simple: you're given an exploded view of an image, like a lime, painting or game controller, and by moving the camera around you can line up the pixels so that they form a complete picture.

As you can see from the left screenshot, the game provides a hint to particularly frazzled players on the first few levels, but eventually they disappear.