Futurama Head-In-A-Jar Creator

Futurama Head-in-a-Jar Creator App for iPhone
     For those of you who enjoy the popular cartoon series Futurama, you might want to give this free application a try.  It gives you the chance to create your own Futurama head in a jar, based on yourself, your friends, fictional characters or your own unique idea.
     There are 4 parts of this application (You will see this on the main boot screen).  You can watch fun Futurama videos, Visit the "Head Museum" or click "More" to visit the Facebook for this application, rate the application, view more apps from the creator and so no.  the naturally there is the "Get Started" button which will launch the head creator.
     Let's start by covering head creation, as that is the primary function for this application.
     First you choose your "Species".  Available are male, Female (Apparently these are two different species), robot (Why a robot head needs to be in a jar is beyond me) and Alien (Kif's head).
     Once you have your head you can choose from many different options for head shape, eyes, nose, hair, "extras", and a scene.  you also get to name your character.  Depending on what species you choose, and the head shape... You may not have all of the options available to you.  Also, different species have different bits to choose.  You can scroll through the options by swiping across the screen.
     When you are finished creating your character, click the "Done" button.  Your jar will fill with water and you will then be able to share it, send it to your photos, add to a contact (You will see that image when they call you), add to an exhibit (This is essentially creating a group/category for this creator.  Family, Friends, Official Characters" whatever you like), you can edit it or go to your museum (Where you can browse all of the heads you have made).
     About the head museum...  This is where you can either view all of the heads you've made by clicking the "My Heads" option, or view them by category assigned by clicking "My Exhibits".
  The "My Heads button will show a shelf (Or series of shelves) that will have all of the jars set upon it.  You can click the shelf of jars to view the larger version (As they are shown very small here).From the larger version of the shelf (Swipe to view the different jars) you can click any individual jar to share, add to contact, edit, etc.
     The exhibit allows you to view a list of all of your head categories.  Click the category you want to view and you will see any jars you have added to that exhibit.  It will display as it would in the "My Heads" section.  The difference is that you can view only the heads for that category.  Separate your friends from your family.  Separate official heads from original character heads.  This is especially useful if you find yourself making a lot of heads.
     I think this is a really fun application.  The graphics are really great, the app runs smoothly.  There are really fun sound effects through out the app and the fact that they have a videos section is a nice add on.  I really enjoyed playing with this.  I believe it's well worth the download.  And hey, it's free.  So what do you have to lose?  It's especially fun for Futurama fans, clearly.  But I think even people who've never seen the show might enjoy it.
Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Updated: Jul 10, 2012
• Version: 2.0
• Size: 19.0 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: MTV Networks
• © 2012 Comedy Central All rights reserved.

Rated 4+

Fix-It Felix Jr

Fix-It Felix Jr App for iPhone
     If you're like me, you can't wait to watch the new Wreck-It Ralph movie coming out this year from Disney.  It's about a video game "bad guy" who decides, it's not so fun always being considered the bad guy.  He's just doing his job!  So he decides to quit, and choose his own path!  It's an animated feature full of old school video game characters that bring you back to your childhood.
     This application is a movie companion for the film.  This is the video game that Wreck-It Ralph decided to abandon in the film.  You play Felix, the fix-it man.  As Ralph goes about wrecking the building, floor by floor, Felix is the one repairing it and picking up pies (Left by the grateful building tenants) for limited time immunity to Ralph's brick attacks and passing birds.  The game is in traditional 8-bit style and has a very Donkey Kong feel to it.
     You go up the levels, repairing windows and dodging bricks and birds.  The higher you go, the higher your score.  Try to get the highest score possible!  You can save your top scores in the app and try to challenge your friends.  You even get to type in your initials like all traditional arcade games.
     As far as game play goes I do find that having the arrow buttons so close together on my tiny iPhone screen can make moving quickly and efficiently a bit challenging.  If your finger is just a tad off you can end up going the wrong direction.  I wonder if this game might be a lot easier to play on an iPad.
 
     This application (Last i checked) is only available on the Apple market, and is not being offered to Android users.  however, if you go to the official site, via your browser, you can play the game from there as well.  Though you wont be able to save your score.  Even if you download the application for the game, I would recommend checking out the official website.  You can view the trailer, check out the wallpapers and otherwise explore the film.  It's also a really cute site and well put together.  Just what you'd expect from Disney.
Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Games
• Updated: Aug 04, 2012
• Version: 1.1
• Size: 4.5 MB
• Seller: Walt Disney
• © 2012 Disney

神ヴォイスチェッカー

神ヴォイスチェッカー App for iPhone
     This is a Japanese application for testing your voice acting skills.  It's a promotional application that's a companion for the Japanese film "神☆ヴォイス".
     Now this application is entirely in Japanese.  However, it's a simple application.  So with my translations, you should be able to use it easily, even if you can not read Japanese.  Kitty is here to help!
First you click the big yellow button to start and choose your gender.
      Now you see the image to the right.  The top says "Voice God Checker!" Which what this application is.  It checks your voice and gives you a number and chart to rate your voice quality.
     Next are the instructions in yellow.  "Press the record button and read the following lines, please".  The lines you have to read, in the white box says "Voice of God Miracles!"... But you have to read it in Japanese.  So that would be said this way "Kiseki wo Okosu Kami no Koe"... If you don't know Japanese syllables it's essentially:
"Kis" like Kiss
"ek" like Heck
"i" like E

"Wo" like Whoa

"O" like O
"ko" like Cold
"su" like Sue

"Ka" like Calm
"mi" like Me

"No" like No

"Ko" like Cold
"e" like Hey
     You will now be able to play back your recording, as shown on the left.  If you like it click the big button.  If you want to retry, click the smaller button.
     Once you have a version you like and have clicked to continue, you are given your score.
     The very top has an ad banner.  Ignore that, it isn't important.  I will display some of the possible characters and scores below.  Here's what the score says and means...
     Higher Numbers are better!  Obviously...
You see by the number the character's name and a phrase they have given you.  Below are some samples from the images I provided.
"Lucky, you'll get a good score.  -Tinkun"
"Some Notes. -Rodrigues"
"Fight Fight -6 Shooting Scene"
"In, In, In -4 Shooting Scene"
"I was standing on the starting line -Arrow Clear Oda"

     You will then see the image of the character who is speaking to you.  The character is attached to the score.  Meaning if you get a certain score you will always get 'that' character.
       Below the photo you'll see some small text  It tells you your voices rank in the national rankings list for this application.  Try to get a good score.
      The graph under this score shows you your performance, and what the score was based on.  At the top of the graph, "voice pitch".  Clockwise we have, "Length of recording", "Smoothness of voice", "Ease of listening" and "Volume of voice".  So to get the best score possible speak loud, clear, smooth and speak the syllables accurately.
     You can try again by pressing the blue button.
     I think it's an interesting application.  I have not seen the film, nor do I intend to... So I can't really say much about the character references and so on.  But as an application, it seems fun.  It's nice to try to get a better score.  I also like seeing the graph that shows a judgement of my voice qualities.  I think this could be a good download for people who want to have a career in voice work.  Or people who wish to practice their Japanese speaking (Even though ther is only one phrase).  Obviously, if you have seen the film, and liked it... This is also a good download for you too.  And it's free!  So that's always nice.
     I would of course have liked them to translate this before releasing it on the US marketplace.  Even if not the phrase to speak, at least the text within the application.
Rating: 3.5/5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 5.0 MB
• Language: Japanese
• Seller: KAYAC Inc.
• © 2011 Team G.V. KAYAC Inc.

Snow White and The Huntsman: Devour Your Youth

Snow White and The Huntsman: Devour Your Youth App for iPhone
     It seems like every movie that comes out in the US recently has an app to promote the film.  This one was for Snow White & The Huntsman.
     I realize I'm a little late with this review.  I downloaded it when the movie premiered but I've just been sitting on it.  I apologize for that.
     There are two options, upon starting up the application.  The quest will take you through the queen's quest to gain eternal youth.  It explains the general premise of the app and film.  Of course you can skip all of this by clicking "Start" instead.
     Let's start with The Quest, shall we?
     You'll be shown a video from the film.  This can be skipped.  You then see a photo of the queen and it explains that she wishes eternal youth, and is willing to sacrifice "your" life to help her achieve this goal.
     From here you can click "Start", "Main" or "Trailer".
     Start works the same as clicking start from the first screen.  Main takes you back to the main screen... Oh the infinite loop this can create... And Trailer allows you to watch a trailer from the film.
     Clicking "Start" from either the initial app screen or the quest screen, you are then shown another photo of the queen, along with a message explaining how to use the application for the best results.
      "Take a photo or upload one from your gallery.  Zoom, rotate and match the ovals to your eyes to set.  Look surprised for best results"
     You'll want to select a photo where you are facing forward, should you use one from your gallery.  The "ovals" you use to line up with your eyes are not very forgiving if you are turned too much to either side.  A bit of a tilt is fine though.
     You can see the photo I selected below.  The eyes were lined up with the ovals and the face was placed as much in the "face shape" as I could manage.  As you can see it was not a straight on shot.  But it still worked well enough.  This may work the very best if you take a "new" photo, within the app.  This way you can line everything up perfectly.  The result to the right of the photo used is the result of the "Youth devouring".  She probably thought I'd have a lot more in me than she got out of it!  Trick is on you, Queen! 

     I think it's a fun movie accompaniment application.  It's free, simple and informs you a bit on what to expect when you watch the film.  I enjoyed it.  I only wish they would have shown more of the other characters as well.  The app doesn't have a ton of "replay value".  It's something that's fun to play with for a while, but I don't see you coming back to it often.  Still, it does what it's supposed to.  Works well and runs smooth.
Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 17.9 MB
• Languages: English, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
• Seller: NBC Universal, Inc.
• © Universal Pictures 2012