Tiny Wings

Price at time of writing 59p (approx $0.99)

Sometimes apps can surprise you.

Something so simple yet so ruddy addictive.

Many have argued it's an Angry Birds beater. It's fabulous but I don't think you can compare the two games, they are completely different kettles of fish ............or rather birds.

What a simple concept. A solitary bird, a hilly landscape - the aim is just to keep the bird in flight as long as possible between dawn and sunset.

At dawn your little feathered friend awakes but immediately the sun goes down it's game over because he falls asleep (If only I could nod off so easily!)

Control method? One single digit which you can place anywhere you like on the screen (although avoid top right as that's the pause button) Touching the screen results in the bird's wings closing and therefore speeding the bird up on his decent. To do well you need to do this to catch the downward slopes of hills, releasing your finger before you ascend up the next slope.

There are coins and "speedcoins" to be collected on your journey but concentrate too much on these rather than your quick journey and you will literally find time catches up with you as the sun quickly reaches the midday point then moving on to sunset. You need to concentrate and keep speedy to hop from one island to the next to stay one step ahead of time.

Open Feint enabled you can keep track of those leader board to see how your achievements compare with others around the world.

As if that's not all Tiny Wings has a couple of rather nice features which adds to its already addictive universal appeal.

Getting achievements adds to a score multiplier which is then retained so on the next game you keep that multiplication of your score.

Graphics are completely different from one game to the next, so never the same hills, never the same graphics, which are bright and colourful.

With a lovely gentle piece of very appropriate background music which never gets irritating Tiny Wings has that "Just One More Go appeal". It also seems to be very friendly on battery usage.

This would have been a fabulous app to be sponsored by Twitter, featuring the Twitter Bird. It would have been fantastic for the publisher, Andreas Illiger, and brilliant great publicity for Twitter. If it ever happens please remember where you read this suggestion first - I'll be looking for my cut Andreas :)

This is one of those Angry Birds like apps which is going to stay at the top of the charts for a long time and it should sell well in just about every countrry on the planet.

Well done Andreas Tiny Wings is a classic game to be enjoyed by young and old alike.

10/10 and available to download here

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Airport Mania : First Flight

Price at time of writing 59p (approx $1)

One of the little time management gaming apps you can buy.

Like thousands of other users I hope that Reflexive Entertainment are working on a sequel.

OK it's cute graphics may seem like this is a game for little kids. Nothing of the sort. Yes it is cute, but that is part of the charm. The sound effects are a real delight, the graphics are lovely and just for once even the backing track is not ittitating if you wish to have it playing.

Your task? You progress through 8 different airports. You need to manage landing flights, unloading, refueling, repairing and reloading them back into the air as quickly as possible.

A paper plane mode can be unlocked too.

Achieving a perfect score on every level will require a fast finger and a good eye. Difficulty I feel has been set just right and everybody should be capable of completing the 48 levels at the minimum score which is needed to unlock each level.

Points combos can be obtained by doing a fast turaround and for trying to keep same coloured planes loading and unloading at the same coloured gate.

Airports can be upgraded using your earnings. Additional runways, a fan to blow away fof, a hairdryer to thaw out frozen runways, executive waiting areas and much more is there to be unlocked to assist you in getting that perfect score.

For me the purchase of Airport Mania : First Flight is a 'no brainer'. I just hope that Second Flight is in the making.

10/10

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Pocket Ants

Price at time of writing 59p (approx $1)

Irritating little buggers ants aren't they?

This is the app that lets you take vengeance on red and black ants using a huge variety of different tools.

Blow them away, blast them, drop rocks on them, burn them, freeze them. Use these and a load of other weapons to wipe out as many as you can.

You can even race against the clock to see how many you can destroy in a minute.

Achievements are available as you use all the tools you have to eradicate your virtual insects.

A slider tool lets you customize your own preferred balance of red and black ants.

Graphically it's bright, colourful and effective. The tools are easy to use and the sounds are great.

But I would class this as less of a game and more of a therapeutic way of spending a few spare minutes. There may be exceptions but I don't think that pocket ants, for most, is going to be played for hours on end.

But if you're in a bit of a mood and feel like taking your temper out on virtual pests this may be right up your street. For the price you can't complain about pocket ants.

8/10

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Open Feint application review

Price at time of writing FREE

By now most seasoned game players on the iPhone or iPod touch will have come across Open Feint.

It is the popular utility for the sharing of high scores, chatting about apps, looking at your game achievements  and editing your profile.

So why create an app specifically for Open Feint when you can access it from within any Open Feint enabled game?

Well a free game every day that has Open Feint functionality is a good reason.Each game is only available for the 24 hour period.

Early on following the release of this app users were complaining that the Free App was a "lite" version rather than a full game. To be fair Open Feint did state this would be the case from the outset.

However, recently, the balance has changed with a lot of full apps being given away free. Granted the vast majority may only keep you entertained a few hours, rather than weeks but they are FREE.

Max Injury was one such app which had a FREE DAY recently. Granted it is no longer on my IPod Touch (and it doesn't make my 8/10 criteria as it's far too short). But it did remain on my gadget for a couple of days and I quite enjoyed flinging my "dummy" over, across, and at various obstacles trying to do the most damage.

This app isn't an "earth mover" by way of functionality by any means but it does make the grade purely because giving things away these days for free is always handy !

8/10 Get the free app here

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