Today's Best Apps: Qub, Ansel & Clair: American Bowl And Journeys Of Invention
Ansel & Clair: American Bowl by Cognitive Kid, Inc. ($1.99, 171.9 MB): This trivia-based bowling app allows your kids to have fun while learning and testing their knowledge about the US. An evil warrior has captured 50 bald eagles. To save the glorious birds, your child must help the explorative aliens Clair and Ansel in their knowledge of the United States. How so? By answering multiple choice questions. Every correct answer moves the excitement to the built-in bowling alley, where a strike or spare saves a single eagle, moving one step closer to rescuing them all. The game features hand-drawn 2-D and 3-D graphics, cherry music and sound effects, over 1,000 questions and follow-up historical factoids spanning eight categories, power-ups, star rating system, 16 unlockable balls, four player save slots, and reviewable performance statistics. A trial version is available.
iPad:
qub by Andrew Brinkhaus ($1.99, 35.0 MB): Show off those cat-like reflexes and recognition skills in this action-packed survival-type arcade game. Similar to Asteroids, you must avoid collision within an endless space, one where passing beyond a screen edge means immediately reappearing on the opposite, increasingly bombarded by destructive pastel colored cubes. To make things even more bewildering, solo mode requires you to track and control two white colored cubes, which confusingly mirror one another's maneuvers. In contrast, when competing against a friend or stranger, it's one white cube per person and the player who fails the round first relinquishes their points to the opponent. Whoever holds the most points after the three or six set match wins. Overall, the game features simple 2.5-D graphics, fast-paced percussive soundtrack, handheld solo mode, tabletop-style multiplayer, three difficulty levels, single finger control, and Game Center leaderboards.
Journeys of Invention by Touch Press (Free, 1.0 GB): With the help of London's Science Museum, this digital exhibition app offers entertainingly educational material on more than 80 technological marvels. Linked in a relevant manner, each invention is represented through an interactive 3-D model and accompanied by a history-based description. For example, you can discover the origins of the World Wide Web and view an amazing depiction showing the expansion on a time lapsed globe as well as see the iPad internals and read about how it was one longtime vision of Steve Jobs. Nine items are available for trial purposes, although, the full experience will cost $9.99.
