Mini Review: Official Rugby World Cup App

The 2011 Rugby World Cup started today, and I thought I'd also get in the whole spirit of things - by reviewing the official RWC2011 Android App - get it here.

The app is actually quite cool, it pretty much gives you all the info you could possibly want about the Rugby World Cup - you have news:

Congrats to the All Black for winning the opening match against Tonga!

As the news articles get added, so they become available in the app for you to read up on what's going on in the RWC.

Next you have the Match Centre - here you get all kinds of info regarding the matches themselves, including stuff like Results, what's happening Today and the Fixtures:

See? All the info you could want so far :)

The app also includes a Videos section, where you can watch movie clips and highlights of games played.

Then, the Teams section is quite in depth - you get info on all the teams participating, as well as info and stats on the players of each team:

Quite comprehensive stats and all, I was just a little disappointed that they didn't have photos of all the players - hopefully these will get added soon, but it's definitely not a deal breaker (also since it's 100% free of course!)

The fifth option is about the tournament, which includes the stats of each team, how many points they have on the log, and the knockout rounds info:

And finally you have the Fan Zone - here you can do stuff like submit questions to the pros, see what's going on in New Zeeland, get info on the stadiums (very in depth - info on each stadium, where it's located on the map, and games that will be played there, etc.), buy tickets, etc:

So, in short, if you're any sort of Rugby fan, and have an Android based phone, you'll definitely want to get this app - it gives you all the info you'd ever need, and more!

Enjoy the RWC! And Good Luck Springboks, hope you can bring that trophy home a third time!

Till next time!

Game Review: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline Part 2

This is only going to be a short post regarding the very awesome Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, which is available on the Samsung App Market for free (for the first 300000 downloads that is!).

If you haven't downloaded the game yet, you better do it, I'm sure a sweet title like this one will be very popular, and the allocated free copies will get claimed real soon!

Then, I've already covered my first few minutes of the game, and only did the normal racing game mode (see that post here).

I just did a quick career elimination race. How that basically works is there is a timer that counts down, and every time the clock reaches 0:00, the racer who is last gets eliminated.

Once again you must place at least 3rd to be able to continue, but I had a luck and came in first on my first elimination game.

By winning the races, I unlocked a few more stuff, like a tuning kit, and a new car, the KTM X-Bow. Each race also has secondary objective, like scoring a certain amount of drifting points, and so on. Depending on how you fare, you get stars for each race, and these you use to unlock more cars and bikes.

Also, you can easily change the colour of your car, and as you go a long you unlock decals. See some details about the tuning and customization options in the screen shots below:

Very fun game, will do some more coverage when I've played some more!

Stay tuned!

Game Review: Asphalt 6: Adrenaline Part 1

This is going to be my first full review of a big game on my Galaxy S2. If you're also lucky enough to have a Samsung Galaxy S2, then you can download this very awesome title from the Samsung App Market.

It appears to install quickly, but as with most of Gameloft's games, the installation is only the installer for the game. This one is a whopping 563MB download - so take care if you're using your cell network's data connectivity, and get charged as much as we do here in South Africa!

Ok, now to get to the actual game - at the time of writing this post, Asphalt 6 is available for free, and it's a full featured title. Here are some screen shots:

Now, you have to admit, these are very awesome looking graphics for a phone! Luckily the Galaxy S2 has the hardware capable of running games like this.

Anyway, I have only played the game for a few races, and this first part of the review will cover what I've experienced so far.

You start off the game with 3 cars in your garage - a Mini Cooper, Nissan 370Z and a Fiat Abarth, but there's lots more to unlock.

There are several game modes available, and I only played a few normal races so far, will cover the others as soon as I've done some!

The controls are really easy, and you can customize it as well. You drive the car by tilting the phone in the direction you wish to turn, and with the default control scheme the accelerator is on automatic. If you tap on the screen on the left you brake, and tapping on the right activates your nitro boost.

There are also different camera positions available, which is quite nice.

I was quite surprised to see Cape Town as one of the available tracks, and since I live here, I decided to drive there first :) - I was shocked to see snow, something we never have haha!

Each track has various shortcuts, and there are bonuses you can collect to, for example, recharge your nitro's charge.

Anyway, the graphics are really cool, and the Galaxy S2 really handles the game well. The phone does get a bit warmer, cause I'm sure pumping out graphics like this is quite hardware intensive!

While racing you can knock-out the other drivers, which gives you a cash bonus at the end of the race, but they're not out of the race completely though, it just buys you a few more seconds.

To "win" a race, you must place at least 3rd, and with your winnings you can buy new cars, apply decals and upgrade your cars as well - I have only unlocked one car so far, but haven't even started with the tuning and so on - will let you know how that goes!

So far I'm very impressed, and I see it even has multiplayer, both Local and Online. You also have a career mode, with lots of other cars and bikes you can unlock as you complete races.

The sound is also very cool, and a woman commentator keeps things interested with comments about your driving and close calls, etc.

This is a big game, so I'm going to stretch out this review over a few parts - I must admit, I look forward to review it completely - so far I'm very impressed! Not only by the game itself, but also by the Galaxy S2's capabilities in running it so smoothly!

Will keep you posted!

Free Game for the Galaxy S2 - Asphalt 6: Adrenaline

I have just started downloading Asphalt 6: Adrenaline on my Galaxy S2 via the Samsung App Market - For a limited time this top Gameloft game will be available for free on the S2, so if you're lucky to have the S2, go right ahead and download it.

The download is quite big, so make sure you're doing it via Wifi if you are also charged excessively for data in your country.

As soon as the game is done, I'll keep you guys posted on how the game is :)

Edit: Click here for Part 1 of my Review of Asphalt 6: Adrenaline and I just completed Part 2 as well

Till next time!