Weekly App Round Up 23/07/14
Welcome to this week's Weekly App Roundup! Each week we'll be shining a light on the latest and greatest apps available for your phones and tablets. This week we're taking a look at four free apps; whether you're on Windows Phone, Android or iOS, there's something here for everyone today!
By Alex Choros
Welcome to this week's Weekly App Roundup! Each week we'll be shining a light on the latest and greatest apps available for your phones and tablets. This week we're taking a look at four free apps; whether you're on Windows Phone, Android or iOS, there's something here for everyone today!
Swords & Poker Adventures
Free
iOS
Swords & Poker Adventures is a Konami-developed, free-to-play sequel to Sword & Poker and Sword & Poker 2. Swords & Poker Adventures is an odd mix of poker rules and turn based RPG mechanics. Rather than attempting to be a poker game with fantasy elements, Swords & Poker Adventures is more of a puzzler drawing inspiration from the card game. The damage you do to enemy creatures is determined by the kind of hand you are able to play; for example, making a three of a kind on the game board may do three damage to the enemy.
While the production values have been increased, fans of the original may be disappointed at the game's reliance on In App Purchases. The game certainly isn't pay-to-win, but the stamina metre will no-doubt be a source of frustration. It is possible to buy your way out of this with the "Infinite Battle Energy" purchase, for $6.49. An Android version is currently under development.
Climatology
Free
Windows Phone, Android
Climatology is an interesting little app from Microsoft that can tell more facts about a country's weather than you've ever wanted to know. For example, Climatology can tell you that there's on average four rainy days in November in central Mongolia, or that Canberra's average temperature in September in September is 9 degrees. The app is still considered "experimental" so it's a little glitchy, but I can see it being very useful for anyone with a case of wanderlust.
Bing Food & Drink
Free
Windows Phone
Not a new app, but one I've only just discovered thanks to my time with the Lumia 930. Bing Food & Drink not only aggregates food related news, but provides users with a whole host of recipes for meals and cocktails. Recipes can be searched by time required, major ingredients, dietary needs, or when it comes to cocktails, by the kind of glass its served in. The app also makes it easy to add all required ingredients from the recipe to a shopping list. Unfortunately, the app doesn't share the same "hands-free" mode as its bigger brother on Windows. Nonetheless, a must for foodies.
Hearthstone
Free
iOS (iPad Only)
Blizzard's Hearthstone isn't a new app either, but received its first major update today, The Curse of Naxxramas: The Arachnid Quarter. The Curse of Naxxramas expansion adds single payer content to the incredibly addictive card game, as well as 30 new cards. For those yet to have lost countless hours to the game, Hearthstone is an online card game in the style of Magic: The Gathering, but based on lore from Warcraft. An individual round takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes. For those iPad-less, Hearthstone is also available on both Mac and PC.
Want more? Check out last week's apps here!
