{"id":19409,"date":"2013-07-09T13:30:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T18:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=19409"},"modified":"2019-05-31T21:50:41","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T02:50:41","slug":"happy-birthday-app-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/19409-happy-birthday-app-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday App Store!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been five whole years since the App Store launched, and going from mere hundreds to nearly a million apps. Apple has decided to make five awesome titles free, for a limited time.&nbsp; Typically I tear a game to pieces before I post about it here, but today, consider this a preview not a review.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19410\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years.jpg 600w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years-284x117.jpg 284w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years-190x79.jpg 190w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years-364x150.jpg 364w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years-284x117@2x.jpg 568w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years-190x79@2x.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>1)&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/badland\/id535176909?mt=8\">Badlands<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the more artsy titles I\u2019ve seen, using pure black on the entire foreground, and monochromatic backgrounds to keep the game lively.&nbsp; Reminds me of World of Goo in terms of art, but seems to lend itself more towards platformer than puzzle title.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/7nkxyKo09Qs?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>2)&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/infinity-blade-ii\/id447689011?mt=8\">Infinity Blade II<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now this absolutely gorgeous title, I have had the pleasure of playing, but not enough to give it a full review ( yet ). The graphics are intense, but it plays more like Where\u2019s Waldo, meets any game involving slapping your finger wildly across the screen to score points. Please be aware that the deaths in this game are rather intense. What they lack in gore, they make up for in the imagination that went into each killing blow.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/Yw3hRF0A4eM?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>3)&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/superbrothers-sword-sworcery\/id424912055?mt=8\">Super Brothers: Sword &amp; Sworcery EP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am such a sucker for pixel art. Perhaps it\u2019s more akin to a book, and more is left to the imagination? Maybe it\u2019s your mind filling in the parts that aren\u2019t created as you mentally relive your adventure at a later date. Whatever it is, I am very excited to give this one a try and will be reviewing very shortly, so keep an eye out.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/cKHuK_lckb8?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>4)&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/tiny-wings\/id417817520?mt=8\">Tiny Wings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oh these poor birds.&nbsp; Not quite enough to fly, you essentially go up and down hills almost akin to a dirt-bike, in motocross, albeit flying much, much, higher as you progress through the title\u2019s levels.&nbsp; With procedurally generated levels, and a game based on physics, looks like this one is worth a try too.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/VUnlE4cGgz0?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>5)&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/wheres-my-water\/id449735650?mt=8\">Where\u2019s My Water?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From the masterminds at Disney, comes a water physics puzzle game about showering a crocodile, or alligator, not quite sure. I do know that they promise 4 new puzzles a week, for free, and with a library of already over 200 puzzles, this is one that will also be making the review list.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/7fAav3rmzew?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So all in all some diverse yet very artsy titles in this bunch, and hey, they\u2019re all free for a limited time. That\u2019s a good enough reason for me to snag them and play at a later date.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Birthday App Store, and thanks for the wonderful surprise!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been five whole years since the App Store launched, and going from mere hundreds to nearly a million apps. Apple has decided to make five awesome titles free, for a limited time.&nbsp; Typically I tear a game to pieces before I post about it here, but today, consider this a preview not a review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":19410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[932],"class_list":["post-19409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-app-review"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.2 (Yoast SEO v20.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Happy Birthday App Store!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s been 5 whole years since the App Store launched, and going from mere hundreds to nearly a million apps, Apple is giving away 5 awesome titles free.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/19409-happy-birthday-app-store\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy Birthday App Store!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s been 5 whole years since the App Store launched, and going from mere hundreds to nearly a million apps, Apple is giving away 5 awesome titles free.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/19409-happy-birthday-app-store\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rocket Yard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-09T18:30:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-01T02:50:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/5years.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rocket Yard Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rocket Yard Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/19409-happy-birthday-app-store\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/19409-happy-birthday-app-store\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rocket Yard Contributor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/41210f6ded9a93e7b106ed9d227b8cdf\"},\"headline\":\"Happy Birthday App Store!\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-09T18:30:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-01T02:50:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/19409-happy-birthday-app-store\/\"},\"wordCount\":439,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"anniversary\",\"App\",\"Badlands\",\"Free\",\"games\",\"Infinity Blade\",\"store\",\"Super Brothers\",\"Sword &amp; 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