Kingdom Hearts Unchained X

IT’S THE POWER OF THE KEYBLADE

Roughly 14 years ago I entered the world of Kingdom Hearts. An unlikely pair, Square Enix and Disney were fused together in a way that shook the world. There is no denying that the game changed my life, or at least altered it in ways that allowed my imagination to flourish.

Since that first instalment there have been countless titles across many platforms that all tie into the main theme; the heart. The heart hold tremendous power and the key to the entire series.

Before I get carried away by the story, I’ll admit now that this game isn’t for casual gamers, it’s more for die hard fans and those that have dipped their toes into the world of Square Enix or any of the Final Fantasy games. The gameplay is dynamic and feature rich and involves synchronisation, dress grids, levelling up weapons and many other additional tidbits that prove useful to the progression of the story. It’s a game that lends itself to the side story of Kingdom Hearts 1& 2 and the upcoming console game that’s still in development.

If you’ve ever played any of the Kingdom Hearts series I strongly recommend you play this one, it’s fun, familiar and the battle system is pretty neat for a side scrolling 2D mobile game.

Purely out of my love for the games, this is another 5 Taps from me.

We’re glad to be back!

It’s official. We’re back.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts from this past week, I’ve had a great time reviewing and telling you my thoughts on the Apps i’ve been using. More will be coming in May as we begin the redesign of Tap This App; bringing it into 2016 and making our home at WordPress more visually pleasing and in line with our branding.

Me and Nathan (he’s doing well and you’ll be hearing his thoughts shortly) have been getting together discussing the future of our blog, we believe the future needs Tap This App. Our time is now; we’re sticking as a team of two. We’re bringing you more reviews, on software, on hardware and maybe by years end we’ll have another project to show you! More on that though as we edge closer to 2017.

Thank you for sticking with us, and for those of you who are new readers, we welcome you to our blog.

Write to you soon, TTA x

Snapchat Secrets

IT’S TIME YOU GOT THE MOST OUT OF SNAPCHAT.

Unless you live in North Korea, you most likely have Snapchat installed on your phone, and whether you use it to keep in contact with friends or to send explicit nudes, we have the secrets we think you should know about. Read on for ways to get even more out of the social platform that’s made almost a dog out of all of us.

USE MORE THAN ONE FILTER.

Okay so you’ve snapped a video and you want it in slow motion but your face in colour just doesn’t look good? All you have to do is hold one finger on your snap and swipe with another to add more filters. Be warned, if you swipe with just one finger, the whole thing will be wiped away.

COOL LENSES.

By now you should know what these are, if not; shame on you. Simply tap and hold on a face and a white wireframe will outline your face, behold, the cool lenses. You have a wide selection to choose from and they’re updated daily. The most popular ones are usually pasted all over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and I can guarantee you, at least one of your friends will update their profile picture using the dog lens. It’s painful.

If the filter goes a little funny, just hold your finger over your face again and it should reset and focus again. Have fun!

CONTROL THE CAMERA WITH VOLUME BUTTONS.

This doesn’t need much of an explanation. Quit stretching those thumbs and fingers and just use your volume buttons when snapping!

Happy Snapping!

Duolingo Review

THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE, FOR FREE.

If you’re like me, you most likely failed or got a low grade in your languages in high school. I never really saw the point in learning another language, I was always under the impression that i’d never have to use it; everyone in the world knows English right? Oh man I was wrong, as i’ve gotten older, and more exposed to various cultures, the thought of speaking another tongue excites me. I’m sat here wishing i’d paid attention in French and taken it seriously. If you’re reading this thinking the same as me; please, read on.

Duolingo has been hailed as the future of language education. It’s the holy grail of multilingualism. It could be what separates you from another job prospect or partner or a life changing opportunity. It could be what saves you from a writers block, a creative block or even something more personal. Why should your language be limited to one you were taught as a child? In the digital age this issue has never more prevalent. And there’s a ton of help out there, let me enlighten you.

“Far and away the best language-learning app.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Duolingo may hold the secret to the future of education.”—TIME Magazine

PC Magazine Editors’ Choice for Language Learning: “Among iPhone apps for learning or practicing a language, you can’t beat Duolingo.”

It’s free, it’s playful and it’s just the right kind of challenge. In the time i’ve been using it to learn French i’ve expanded my vocabulary vastly, more than I ever thought possible. All without the need of an establishment or learning programme, just 20 to 30 minutes a day in the comfort of my own home, I can access the tools to learn another language that’s fun and personal to me. You can go at your own pace, whether that be slow and steady or super speedy, you learn as you’d want to.

If only this was accessible to the entire world, maybe we’d find more in common with one another. Now has never been a better time to start learning, let this be your starting point. I promise you, you’ll astound yourself.

Thank you Duolingo, I imagine i’ll owe parts of my future to you; 5 Taps!

Musixmatch Review

SING ALONG TO THE KARAOKE APP YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU NEEDED.

It’s not a game, I know that. But it’s an issue that has plagued everyone for as long as I can remember. There comes a time in your life where your fav releases a new song and you have no idea what the lyrics are. You just end up ad-libbing all the way through and it’s not really that cool, or fun for anyone else but you. Believe me, i’ve been in those situations were a friend is singing along, messing all the words up and that said song becomes unlistenable thereafter. It’s torture, it’s inhumane and the world doesn’t need this.

Well, in steps Musixmatch, putting subtitles on the music you love and the music you discover! With a simple and intuitive interface, the days of not knowing the words to your favourite song are over. You can connect it with Apple Music and Spotify straight from the app so there’s no awkward flipping between apps to log in and load accounts; it’s all done in house. What sets this apart from all the other lyric apps out there are the cool features it has. You can add and edit the lyrics of any song, create artworks from the lyrics that give you the feels and explore more from the artists that take your fancy. There’s also a Shazam like feature that can listen and pin the song that’s playing around you.

For me this is an essential app to have on my phone, it’s a 5 Taps from me!

Kingdom Rush Review

THIS ONE IS ON US, YOU’RE WELOME.

Okay, some time back I reviewed the second instalment of this game. Kingdom Rush: Frontiers was an iPad exclusive during it’s release and for me, that would have been a good enough reason to buy an iPad. It’s a little dramatic but I couldn’t be more serious.

So recently I was browsing the App Store and came across the games again, I was super excited to find that the original game was now available for the iPhone, and having a 6S Plus seemed so fitting! It was free and from the minute I downloaded it, I haven’t been off since! The gameplay is pretty much the same as what i said in my last review, it’s a tower defence game in which you stop the enemies from going through the check point. It’s clever, it’s beautifully animated and the easter eggs that are hidden in the game provide moments of joy!

Get it whilst it’s free and to point out, the limited screen size of the iPhone doesn’t take anything away from it’s appeal. If you’re looking for a game that doesn’t require an internet connection, minimal loading times and constant entertainment, this is the one for you. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed!

Another 5 Taps from me.

Pokemon Shuffle Review

CANDY CRUSH, WITH POKEMON. IT’S A WINNER.

One thing we can almost all agree on, Pokemon has been mega successful throughout the last 20 years. The games are almost 8 generations in and the word Pikachu has slipped off the edge of every tongue around the world, regardless of your age, gender, ethnicity or sexuality, it’s global appeal transcends social and economic norms. Nintendo and the Pokemon company have created a behemoth of a brand and it still to this day, impacts my life and many others around me.

Hopefully by now you’ve experienced one of the games on any of the consoles, whether that be a DS, 3DS, a Nintendo Wii or a Wii U, if you haven’t, you’re either living under a rock or you’ve ignored the mainstream media for the last two decades. Get on board, play one of their games then come back to me here, i’ll show you what to do next.

I don’t know about you, but my favourite Pokemon has always been Squirtle, it comes from my childhood, I once wanted a turtle of my own and to name it Squirtle as a baby, Wartortle as a teen and then once it got older, it would be aptly named Blastoise. Sounds fitting right? Short story, it didn’t happen. So maybe this is where my love for this game comes from.

Let’s get into it, the game is pretty basic, you match different Pokemon in lines of 3 of more to defeat the opponent and potentially catch them. The more you catch the better chance you have at defeating the bosses at the end of each stage. You get to see cute animations, some cool mega evolutions and every so often you’ll see a familiar face you’d completely forgotten about. It’s not the smash that Pokemon were hoping for and the game is pretty dated compared to the rest of the App Stores’ offering but just for the nostalgia i’ll let it pass.

I’m more looking forward to Sun and Moon, but for now this game provides a little bit of fun and easy gaming.

From me, it’s a modest 4 taps.

Disney Crossy Road Review

RELIVE THE SPLENDOR OF THE DISNEY CLASSICS

So here we go. Another post about Disney and it’s heavy presence on the app store, but this time, it’s simple trickery and lending of an already popular brand provides many moments of accomplishment, annoyance and nostalgia. The original Crossy Road was a massive success for the team at HIPSTER WHALE in 2014, they even got their own segment to show off their app at an Apple conference. To me, they’ve already made it. With that in mind, they seemed content with the app they had, I never imagined the team at Disney to even consider approaching such a popular, yet in comparison, tiny developer. I couldn’t have even imagined what they’d create together. But alas, they’ve made magic.

Fundamentally the game is the same as the iteration before it, but it’s the Disney spin that provides the most fun! All you have to do is tap, swipe left or right to dodge various obstacles and get the highest possible score you can. It’s basic. It’s simple. What keeps me compelled are the endless Disney characters that i’m so familiar with. You start with the original Mickey Mouse and from there you unlock parts of your history that you’d forgotten about. I’ll keep those under wraps for you as I don’t want to ruin the fun but you’ll be pleasantly surprised and the smile that comes with it stretch from cheek to cheek.

The game has so many little easter eggs and different ways to boost your score, it’s a game that just keeps on giving! Well done HIPSTER WHALE and Disney, you’re union has brought me much joy and awakened the child inside of me, I’ll probably die of excitement when I unlock my favourite Disney character! Until then, please keep the additional content coming! 5 Taps from me!

Tap This App is going on hiatus.

A quick update from Tap This App.

As you probably have noticed, it’s been a while since we at Tap This App wrote a review or a helpful guide for you. Well, the silence has ended. We are writing to you at this moment to tell you about the impending hiatus. A lot has been happening recently in both our lives that requires a lot of effort and attention, thus making our posts very limited. Rather than keep you guys waiting and disappointed we feel it’s the right time to take a break. Don’t worry, we are not giving up on Tap This App, just perfectly timing it’s return. Unfortunately we can’t confirm when we will be back and posting but it won’t be too long, we promise.

We hope you have a festive Christmas and your New Years bring you happiness and joy.

Much love, us guys here at Tap This App.

Dinorama Review

FEED HERBIVORES AND CARNIVORES WITH YOUR FINGERS

Ever wanted to venture into Jurassic Park and see all the dinosaurs? Wanted to roam wild and be at peace with the huge beasts?

Well, this game is for you. It’s cute, it’s simple and did I mention it had dinosaurs?! The objective of the game is to create a theme park for your guests, an enjoyable place for them to see the dinosaurs, have a cup of coffee and to spend as much money as possible.

You start off with a little budget to buy your first dino. After that it’s up to you to decide what you spend and on what. The more your park has, the more visitors you get, eventually you’ll be bringing in the big bucks and you can pimp your park out as much as you want.

You have the option to build all sorts of attractions, from a coffee shop to a balloon stand, it’s all at your fingertips.

 

It’s a completely free to play game, no in-app purchases or adverts. Just you, your dinos and your finger.

The developers are still working on updates, like extra content and dinosaurs but it has a decent amount of tasks to keep you occupied.

I’m gonna give this app 3 taps, it’s great, but it still has so much more to offer.

Related articles

• Dinorama – Kids App (jancwatford.com)
• Dinorama – Fun Learning Game App for Kids Gone Free! (funeducationalapps.com)
• New Jurassic Park Movie Will Be Called Jurassic World. No, It Will Not Take Place On A Dinosaur Planet. (tor.com)
• ‘Jurassic Park’ dinosaurs will roar back in 2015 (nbcnews.com)