Have you been playing a lot of brick breaking games in your childhood? Breakout was one of the big time hit and my favourite on video game consoles, handheld gaming consoles and even the non-smartphone’s. Nocturnsoft.com brings the same fun in a new flavour with the release of its physics based game – Action Block Buster.

Action Block Buster comes with three unique worlds with new challenges and graphics. What makes Action Block Buster stand apart from other similar games its different gameplay style, where the metal ball needs to be safeguarded in all four directions of play area. The circular shaped pad also adds a unique physics in the game by adding a twist in deflection angles.

As the game start it shows all the possible danger zones which can let the ball escape out from the play area and thus you know your target and area’s to safeguard your ball from. You start the game by pulling the spring to launch your ball in the play area where the blocks align themselves in the center and need to be hit a couple of times based on their material & color depicted to blast them.  When you clear some of the most challenging levels you receive powerups and bonuses for limited time which can help you get through an unbeatable level with ease. The game also has some powerdowns which slow down your progress and need to be avoided. You will come across useful hints at the beginning of each level but sadly the game lacks a help guide.

If you love sharing your scores and achievements, you can login to your facebook and twitter account to allow auto-sharing on your wall or timeline. There’s also a hidden cheat in the game that unlocks 99 balls in a level for fun, try figuring it out and see how it works for you.

Overall the game is fun and fast enough to be played in short intervals like coffee breaks for relaxing your mind. The music is cheerful and graphics are colourful. For 99 cents this a challenging Breakout styled game you can consider.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Action Block Buster
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: nocturnsoft.com

Sound can be a source of entertainment for a few, fun for some people while a relaxing activity for other. Whatever your purpose is, have a look at Sound Kitchen – a sound processing app that can process, generate and combine sound effects for the pleasure of listening and achieving relaxation.

Sound Kitchen makes use of Mizusoft relaxing sound engine which wasn’t available on the iOS until now.  Mizusoft relax and sleep has seen over 2 million downloads on other platforms and is still providing a great medicine for stress with sound effects. Sound Kitchen uses a 24 bit sound processor which can generate very high quality sound effects and gives ability to add additional effects with several unique combinations.

Sound kitchen comes in a unique design which feels like thermionic valves/vacuum tubes planted in a sound system. The whole theme gives a wonderful experience and a real feel of working with a valve amplifier. The GUI consists of controls like start/stop individual track , next track, previous track, effects toggle, individual track volume, system reset switch to start over again and valve switches which start/stop the whole system.

You simply start the system by turning on the valves and get ready to compose your own unique melody. You can play from 64 different tracks and create unlimited unique sounds with effects, combination or both. You can play (combine) multiple tracks at once, add effects to the output, reduce the volume of individual tracks and increase it for others and do a lot more. If you are using the app for relaxation purpose you will be able to set a timer for both start and stop thus the app will automatically go to sleep mode preventing unnecessary battery drain on your iPhone or iPod.

Sound Kitchen can have different applications in real life also depending on the needs of a user but on the top what it gives is wonderful sound effects for different moods with a whole new experience. There one missing feature that could make a good difference to the app for regular users is the ability to save the combinations made for recalling them each time you feel like listening to self made melodies.

99 cents is not a bad deal for a music app and considering its usefulness it worth trying. You can also take a hands-on before purchasing the app with the limited free version.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Sound kitchen
App Category: Music
Price: $0.99
Developer: tecworks

Story Buddy’s are more than just your “Typical” cuddly toy, but an interactive, innovative friend, designed to bring the magic to your child’s story time. The end of winter is always something to celebrate, so whether you celebrate Easter or not, adding some fun to this occasion with wonderful kids apps could please your child.

“Stories of the Easter Bunny” is an interactive story-book for your kids, which starts with a beautiful book shelf holding all the episodes in it along with few toys and decorations. The book features 6 different episodes of a story together with hand-drawn pictures by kids which are easy to understand and enjoyable for other kids because that’s how they imagine the world with colors and shapes. These hand-made paintings are supported by story written in big fonts and a speaking squirrel which dictates the story as it is, thus cutting off the necessarily to read the story or dictate it to your younger kids.

Kids will easily learn how to navigate through the pages of story by swiping once taught or if a parent is assisting them, they can use the options like page seek bar, speech on/off control and other options for navigation within the app. The speech can also be turned off with a tap over screen when playing and you can quickly start over with the first page of the story with navigation gesture over the screen.

“Stories of the Easter Bunny” is beautifully crafted for providing children’s both fun and entertainment with the colorful graphics, easy to use interface and interactivity. If you have been planning or haven’t thought about a gift yet, with this interactive book you will find a perfect gift for your children to make them smile on the occasion of Easter.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Stories of the Easter Bunny – An interactive story-book
App Category: Book
Price: $1.99
Developer: www.App-Dev.de

It can be really difficult  to choose the best apps for your kids these vacations but if you are looking forward to leave them independent to learn and build their basics while they have fun you would like the 55 cubes iPad kids app.

The game helps kids improve over their basic math skills. With the use of arithmetic operators and fun environment within the game you will no longer find your kids bored even after multiple session of learning and gameplay.

The game starts with some basic exercises and gradually moves to complex mathematic puzzles with each new level. The exercises will include addition, subtraction, multiplication and division which is solved in a pyramid structure with top to bottom style. Having multiple variations of exercises and operators will turn to be very useful in moulding a kids brain and making it sharp.  The tips offered in initial levels slowly decreases to zero and thus making your kids play independently with the total torque of their brains. The ultimate aim of the game is to build the largest cube with 55 numbered blocks.

The ear catching sound effects, the reflexes of the tiny cubes and ample play area will be fun for kids where they can drag blocks, strike them, and do what they wish. Each completed level motivates them for a new challenge by sound effects and special effects on the screen.

55 cubes is very kids friendly with its availability of the iPad’s large display , with appropriate sized blocks that can be easily dragged and differentiated by kids with high contrast colors.

55 Cubes could be a nice game to add to your holiday shopping list of apps for you kids for just 99 cents.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: 55 Cubes
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: Mark Berner

The name “Cut the buttons” may sound pretty similar to the one of the all time favorites but frankly this is a totally fresh game with just pure addiction in common. In the game you will be cutting off buttons from old shirts, torn pieces of cloths or any other useless scrap that has buttons on it. Cut the buttons is fun with its unique controls, fast paced challenges and unlimited re-playability.

The game controls evolve from the natural gesture of using the index finger and thumb to cut the buttons on the iPhone’s screen making use of multi-touch capabilities of the screen. You make snips and cuts by holding your fingers over the handle while you pinch and release it. We used the scissor for free movement in every direction, angle and at crazy speeds but controls never gave up. The controls are very responsive,  fluid and make the game enjoyable to a great extent. You may find your fingers aching or the display turning hot if you are rubbing too hard over the screen, which is not supposed to be done for a comfortable gameplay experience  rather use the controls by gently sliding your fingers and take it how it is meant to be.

The UI of the game has been themed with crisp colors and a scissor that is used for cutting navigation buttons or tapping to break them off. This scissor is available throughout the game and the navigation menus giving you a wonderful feel of the cutting magic.

The game comes in two modes. The Arcade mode requires you to cut buttons and collect them in a container to score while racing against the clock and the Classic mode is more of a challenge where you need to cut buttons stitched with thread, avoid buttons with metal bolts and also avoid missing more than three scraps with uncut buttons which brings the game to an end.

Cut the Buttons is one of the most interesting and addicting game we have come across in this year. Its definitely going to get even better in long run and would find a lot of enthusiast gamers adopting it. If you loved the unique concepts and power play of some of the most popular hits, Cut the buttons is one such game you will love to spend your summer’s with.  For 99 cents you will make the best deal of the season.

If you have an iPad you will be definitely adding to your fun by playing the unique multiplayer mode with your friends and family which did not make its way to the iPhone due to screen size limitations.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Cut the Buttons
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: Open Name Ltd

The fast paced busy life has become a part of everyone’s life today. But this also tends to be a reason why we skip personal activities like self care, socializing and giving time to our family.  If you have been promising yourself to keep in touch with all your family members, friends and professional contacts but in the end you fail to keep up with your promises due to lack of adequate free time or a bad habit of forgetting small things in life then let HobbNobb get it right for you.

HobbNobb is not a social networking app neither is it a phone book/contacts app. HobbNobb is wonderful way to keep a track of your entire hello” and “hi” with people you have spent your wonderful days in past playing, studying or working.

Well, starting with the app for the first time doesn’t give you hard time adding all your contacts one by one manually rather you can just add you Facebook , LinkedIn and phone contacts by authorizing the application request. Once done, you have all your contacts in one place along with all the details in their profile. The app will also create a list of people you should HobbNobb (a term used for contacting people in the app) on weekly basis. The list creation is purely automatic and takes the iPhone address book, Facebook wall and LinkedIn profile details in consideration.  You can see a full list of contacts with alphabetic grouping, navigation and search function to get in a conversation much faster.

The app lets you set your weekly reminder list which includes your essential contacts that need o be contacted at a specified day and time of week. Say you set it to Friday, then you would be getting ample of time to make calls, make a Skype video call or meet in person. The also has HobbNobb networking frequency for individual contact that lets you specify how you would like to contact any person based on three ratings aggressive, moderate and casual.  You can have a look at the settings before getting started to choose the networking frequency and weekly reminder time. Furthermore there are options to have a look at your past usage statistics over an year’s time.

With HobbNobb you will take the first step to make a better and long lasting relation with your contacts.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: HobbNobb
App Category: Social Networking
Price: $0.99
Developer: HobbNobb, Inc.

I remember my childhood when i desperately awaited the release of a kids magazine that had wonderful puzzles including my favourite “spot the difference between two pictures”.  Hidden object games are a great fun and challenging brain exercise for a relaxing break or a weekend.

Mysteryville 2 HD: is a wonderful hidden object and crime investigation game. You would have experienced the fun if you played the original Mysteryville (1). In the latest game you play as Laura a journalist who returns to her home town from the city and finds her friend Bill missing whom she had been planning to spend her vacation with.  You start by meeting new people in the game and collecting clues to unfold the next mystery.

The game comes with 22 fresh levels and is played in various locations of the town and each level takes you to a new challenge in a new place. You have a wide variety of level objectives like helping the people you know to extract information and new clues while also meeting strangers to uncover the puzzles in their mysterious messages.

Being a hidden object game lover and with the added crime detective role i loved Mysteryville 2 as much as i did the original part. Though the graphic have not see a noticeable improvement over the previous version but it does feel more smooth and responsive with its controls.

The wonderful story, the short challenges with a main objective in the game and crisp graphics are worth having a look. The iPad only (HD) version has been priced to $4.99 while the iPhone version is $2.99. We’ll if you find the iPad version too pricy, check out the lite version to experience the game before purchasing.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Mysteryville 2 HD: hidden object crime investigation
App Category: Games
Price: $4.99
Developer: Nevosoft

Its been quite long since we had our hands on a refreshing puzzle game. Fortunately “Boneyard – Slide. Spin. Win” didn’t disappoint us while we had some fun recalling the good old memories of dominoes game.

The objective of the game looks pretty familiar, where you need to eliminate the tiles from the playing field in least possible time. The intensive challenge is achieved by sliding or spinning dominoes to match the other existing tiles with the same value.

The wooden table textures give a beautiful feel to the game. The dashboard gives some vital statistics like tiles remaining, move count, game time, score and multiplier for score calculation.  Scores are calculated based on the domino piece with number of pips removed. The multiplier say 3x will triple the awarded points. As you score more tiles together the multiplier also sets to the number of tiles scored and thus you have chances of scoring higher by using this strategy.

The game adds some more power play stunts with three unique power-ups which can modify the dominoes in play field or give bonus score by giving a higher multiplier or double score in a move.

Well playing a puzzle game on a small screen or with higher difficulty level can be a reason for some wrong moves but the undo option is the real deal. But you need to use your limited undo moves very selectively and in the right situation or you may end up in critical phase with no more moves.

The game has a couple of customizable difficulty levels. You can increase or decrease the tile sets between 12, 15 and 18. You can also invite your friends to play a multiplayer and really multiply the fun of a puzzle game. For puzzle lover this is a truly refreshing game for just 99 cents.

Screenshots from the app :

App Name: Boneyard – Slide. Spin. Win
App Category: Games
Price: $0.99
Developer: Rebel Drone, LLC