TapCritic – Honest iPhone and iPod Touch App Reviews

I absolutely love casual puzzle games like Brain Age, Brain Challenge, Bejeweled and the like. So you can imagine my excitement when I got TouchMaster Vol.1 to review.

TouchMaster Vol. 1 from Midway Amusement Games is a compilation of five casual puzzle games.

The games in this volume include: Dice King, Spellwinder, Carpet, Combo 11 and Prismatix.

[Video Review by Mr. Pence]

THE GAMES.

Dice King.

In Dice King you match three or more dice (think Bejeweled) to score points. You then take the matched dice and try to get poker-like combos. This mini-game along with Spellwinder, is in my opinion, the most interesting of the five.

Spellwinder.

In Spellwinder you try to find the words from the list sort of like word find, except only adjacent letters can be used to create a word.

Carpet.

You try to stack your cards in order from Aces to Kings. I’ve never been a huge Solitaire fan, so this game is the least of my favorites.

Combo 11.

In Combo 11 you match adjacent cards that add up to 11.

Prismatix.

In Prismatix a four jeweled sequence is generated and you have to at least match two adjacent jewels from the sequence. If you can’t find any jewels to match, you can “spin” the sequence to generate a new sequence.

THOUGHTS.

I find most puzzle games very addictive. I almost always have 10 minutes to kill during the day and I’ll launch a puzzle game on my iPhone to occupy my time.

Sadly, TouchMaster rarely gets launched. I don’t know what it is. I thought this app would be THE ultimate collection of kick-butt puzzle games. Instead, TouchMaster is more of a collection of some forgettable, very average puzzle games. It’s just not that compelling of an app, especially for the $3.99 price tag.

Maybe, it’s just me. But, this game looks like a first generation GameBoy Advance game and not a iPhone game. The music in TouchMaster is so repetitive, depressing and downbeat, I had to turn it off for the two hours I spent with this app while reviewing it. I usually don’t worry about graphics on puzzle games, but TouchMaster seems to be missing some polish for a $3.99 app.

Dice King, another average puzzle game.

CONCLUSION.

When we first started TapCritic, our goal was highlight some of the most interesting apps in the over 10,000 and growing app market. Since our incarnation we’ve been brutally honest about our reviews, pointing out strengths and weaknesses of the apps that we review. This of course has come with some criticism, but expressing our honest opinions on apps will always be a part of our DNA. With that being said, the last thing I wanted to do when I launched TouchMaster, was to dislike it.

I mean, I grew up LOVING Midway.

Who designed this interface?

Space Invaders, Tapper, and Mortal Kombat are games that were not only fun, but where also imaginative for the time.

Maybe that’s what bothers me with TouchMaster, it’s not that imaginative or addictive. I could accept that, if this app was priced at .99 or even 1.99. However, there are so many awesome apps in the 3.99 to 4.99 range, it’s hard for me to recommend TouchMaster Vol. 1.

If you have money to burn, then you can buy TouchMaster Vol. 1 HERE.

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