Hijinks Inc.

Category: iPad

  • Hijinks Reviews: The Jim and Frank Mysteries – The Blood River Files

    Publisher: Chillingo Ltd
    Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
    Cost: $0.99 [iTunes Link] – for a limited time
    Released: Jul 09, 2010
    Version Reviewed: 1.0

    I stumbled across The Jim and Frank Mysteries the other day, as I was perusing the App Store on my iPod. It was receiving 4.5 out of 5 stars on only about 45 ratings, boasted over 20 hours of engaging gameplay, and it warned of being a “TIME LIMITED INTRODUCTORY PRICE!” I’d recently played the Chillingo game Pro Zombie Soccer and enjoyed it, so for $.99, I figured I’d give it a try. In short, I’d like to congratulate Chillingo for going 2 for 2. (more…)

  • Jailbreak 101: An Introduction to Jailbreaking

    Jailbreak 101: An Introduction to JailbreakingWelcome to the wonderful world of jailbreaking, each week I’m going to focus on how to better take advantage of your new found freedom by featuring an app only available through Cydia.

    This week  I’m going to walk you through jailbreaking your iDevice, this used to be a lot more in depth process, but thanks to programs like QuickPwn and Spirit things are easier than ever.

    Disclaimer: This tutorial is only for iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch running firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3, or 3.2 and users running any version of iTunes 9 except 9.2. This does NOT work with iOS 4 or the new iPhone 4.

    Looking for a jailbreak for the newly released 3.2.1 firmware for the iPad? Sadly you’ll have to wait a little while longer, but rest assured we’ll be posting information on any new jailbreaks that are released.
    (more…)

  • Hijinks Reviews: Pro Zombie Soccer

    Publisher: Chillingo Ltd
    Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
    Cost: $0.99 [iTunes Link]
    Updated: June 28, 2010 for iOS 4.0
    Version Reviewed: 1.1

    Pro Zombie Soccer. I gotta admit, I downloaded it because it was about zombies. I don’t know what it is, but something about zombies just makes games better it seems. The problem is that the market is getting flooded with crappy zombie games, making those that are actually worth your money have to work so much harder to get your attention. Whatever the case if you can accept the premise that someone is better fit to kill zombies because he has such amazing soccer skills… then this game just might be for you. (more…)

  • iPad Car Mount

    Potentially more dangerous than texting while driving, it’s the iPad car mount!

    iPad Car Mount

    For myself, I’m primarily using it as a ridiculously large GPS and for some sweet cover flow music navigation (notice the audio out cable at the top right), but I could see some serious problems arising if someone decided to try and watch a video while driving. Although I must admit that I’ve used the 3G to stream the audio version of Tech News Today on my drive home.

    Is it legal? I don’t really have a definitive answer and it likely depends on where you live and how you use it, but I talked with a local law enforcement officer here in Lincoln, NE and he seemed to think everything was kosher with my car mount as long as I wasn’t using it for playing videos, email, etc. That’s here in Nebraska, your mileage might vary depending on local and state laws.

  • I tried to review Osmos for iPad

    I tried, I really did. I bought the game before it was even in the top 100 (its now #1 in popularity and gross sales). I beat the Odyssey campaign in about two hours, and I even logged a couple hours in arcade mode. This was the middle of last week. Since then I’ve tried to play it every day, and every day I shut it off a minute later and go play more Small World.  I get that its trippy, I get that. I also understand that if I habitually used LSD, this game would be AWESOME. Here’s the thing: I don’t, and this game gets really boring, really fast.

    The core concept is proven. You absorb things and get bigger. Yeah, like that game, and that one, also this one. I could go on. It falls apart about the time you beat the Odyssey and realize that whats left is the exact same thing you just played, only ten times harder. I don’t have a problem with challenging games, but I do have a problem with turning a casual arcade game into a hardcore puzzle game without any kind of a learning curve. I have a feeling the developers finished the core game, polished it, realized they needed to add more content, and then piled on a bunch of gameplay modes and additional levels without properly tuning them.

    I want to give Hemisphere the benifit of the doubt and believe that they will continue to update the game into a better experience. Frankly though, I doubt I’ll have the motivation to pick it up even if they do.