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Nory's Escape ($0.99) by Christoph Schnackenberg is an auto-runner game that is perfect for Halloween, or any time of the year really. If you enjoyed games like Dragon Hills 2 or even Canabalt, then you'll like Nory's Escape.

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite times of the year, followed by Christmas ("The Nightmare Before Christmas" is one of my favorite movies). Just something about all of the spooky and eerie stuff gets me excited and happy. Personally, I think this stuff is fitting for the entire year, but I digress. So when I see hauntingly-themed games on the App Store, I can't help but be drawn to them. And today, Nory's Escape is a new favorite to pass the time with.

$2.99

Dragon Hills 2

Cezary Rajkowski

$2.99

Canabalt

Last Chance Media, LLC

Visually, Nory's Escape is beautiful with a 2.5D aesthetic that makes things pop. Everything is hand-drawn and it definitely shows. It's a pseudo-3D effect because while the graphics appear rendered in 3D, the game takes place on what appears to be a 2D plane, with blurry backgrounds and sharp foregrounds. The environments in Nory's Escape are gorgeous with the various Halloween-related decor like jack-o-lanterns, spooky vines, giant mushrooms, and more.

The colors in Nory's Escape are bright and vibrant, so it definitely looks eye catching with the contrast. Animations are buttery smooth on my iPhone 8 Plus with no lag or choppiness in frame rate. Plus, the particle effects when you draw your paths are well done. There's a quirky and eerie soundtrack that's perfectly fitting considering the theme, and the sound effects are nicely done.

Even though Nory's Escape is an auto-runner game, it's not infinite as you'd normally expect. Instead, the game is split up into levels, and there are 18 levels to get through. While this does not seem like a lot, the game is fairly difficult, and new game elements get added gradually as you go, so multiple attempts are required on some stages. Don't be fooled — this auto-runner requires fast thinking and reflexes to survive.

So what is Nory's Escape, exactly? Players take the role of Nory, who is our spectacularly average hero — after all, he's just a kid! But a scary witch is chasing after him, and you must help him escape her evil wrath! In order to do this, you'll have to draw magical paths that Nory can run on in his attempt to outrun the witch.

Controls in Nory's Escape are simple and intuitive. To draw a path for Nory, just swipe your finger on the screen where you want the path to be (this is a great use for Apple Pencil). Since Nory automatically runs forward on his own, you don't have to worry about that, just where he's going to end up. The game is clearly designed for touch screens, and it works well. However, each line you draw will only last for a brief amount of time, and once you draw another path, the previous one disappears. Timing is key with the paths, as you'll want to make sure Nory has a seamless path to escape the witch.

Along the way, there are shiny green gems to collect. You'll want to try collecting all of them on each stage if you want to get the three stars. If you don't get them all, you'll only earn a fraction of the maximum stars. So acquiring all stars is a must if you're the perfectionist type. There's also three bonus stages that can be unlocked, given you have good enough skill level to gain access to them.

While the game starts out easy enough, the witch gets trickier as you end up in later levels. In the beginning she will only be chasing after you, but eventually she'll start attacking, such as throwing magical spell balls at you and other tricks. This means you'll need to get Nory away safely while also making sure that he doesn't just run into a projectile launched by the witch.

Nory's Escape is a delightfully charming auto-runner that is perfect for any time of the year.

The Good

Nory's Escape is a nice gem that's fit for the season. I am in love with the cute Halloween-themed hand-drawn art and the music is delightful. The unique gameplay mechanic keeps the auto-runner genre fresh and interesting. And while it seems easy at first, the game proves to be rather difficult and challenging, with even more content to unlock if you're good enough.

The Bad

While Nory's Escape is a good time waster, at the end of the day, it's still just another auto-runner. If you aren't a big fan of auto-runners in general, then this game may not change your mind. Still, if you can get over that fact, then Nory's Escape is a nice gem on the App Store.

The verdict

Nory's Escape is an endearing little game that is sure to delight players of all ages. The developer did a fantastic job with the hand-crafted visuals and amazing quirky music. While I'm mostly over the auto-runner genre, I think Nory's Escape does things differently enough to make the genre captivating, and the levels are fairly intense and challenging. I've only made it to level four so far, and I keep dying in the same spot, so it does require a bit of patience and practice to master. And while it has a bit of the Halloween stuff going on, Nory's Escape can be thoroughly enjoyed any time of the year.

I recommend Nory's Escape if you're looking for an exciting and stimulating auto-runner that tests your skills. You can find Nory's Escape on the App Store for just $0.99. There are no in-app purchases.

8.9

OVERALL

Replayability 9

Game Controls 9

Graphics 9

Gameplay 9

Sound/Music 8.5

$0.99

Nory`s Escape

Christoph Schnackenberg

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

When you're keeping track of a busy life and household, you need help with the shopping. Those trips to the supermarket, department store, and electronics outlet can get expensive if you don't make shopping lists. With Out of Milk, you can kiss most of that worry good bye.

Free

Remember The Milk

Remember The Milk Pty Ltd

Free

AnyList

Purple Cover, Inc.

Free

Todoist: Organize your life

Ist Productivity Ltd.

When you use Out of Milk, you're working with an app that's designed with shoppers in mind. It's simple, fast, and easy to use, allowing you to enter new items with just a few taps and some typing.

Out of Milk supports three types of lists: shopping, pantry, and to-do. Within the shopping list, you're able to jot down things you need to buy, categorizing them and marking how many you need. The pantry helps you keep track of those commonly-used food items (or whatever) that you have on hand. In the To-Do list, you can keep track of those tasks you need to complete and when they're due.

The real power of the app for shopping comes after you've entered something into your list. If you tap on that item, you'll be able to set things like how many of it you want to buy and the price. You can even put in coupons you might have for that item, and whether it's going to be taxed.

You can also categorize your items, specifying things like where you might find them or what they're for. Out of Milk is able to handle as many lists as you want to create, so you can use it for your weekly trip to the grocery store as well as your Christmas shopping, all without any mixups or confusion.

In the pantry view, you can create a list for yourself of what you have in your pantry, and how much. You're able to enter how many eggs you have, for example, or whether your butter dish is full or low.

A shopping budget and list in one app

The Good

One of the nicest things about Out of Milk is its focus on making generating your shopping list quick and easy. Rather than typing everything in that you need to shop for, this app supports scanning UPC barcodes.

That means all you have to do is go through your kitchen, scanning the barcodes for things you want to buy. Of course, if you don't have a barcode handy (or if it isn't recognized), you can still enter your items in by hand.

Out of Milk even maintains a history of things you've had on your shopping lists in the past. So, you can always just search for your things there. There are multiple ways you can add items to your shopping list, and all of them are easy to do.

With Out of Milk, you can also create multiple lists, or a suite of categories to organize your lists. In fact, if you're typing in something that another Out of Milk user has categorized in the past, it will automatically be put in that category. The app is easy to use, intuitive, but it has a simplicity that belies how robust it truly is.

At the store, either virtually or in person, you can start ticking items off your list. Out of Milk even keeps track of how much you're spending. After you add things to your list, tapping on them allows you to tell the app how much each items costs, how much you need to buy, and even whether sales tax applies to that item.

Once that's done, you'll see a "List Total" at the bottom of the screen. It tells you what the total cost should be for all of the items on that list, along with how many things you're looking to buy.

As you tick the things off your list, Out of Milk moves them from your active list to a completed section (called the cart on the Out of Milk website). When you start checking off items, you'll see another section of the bottom of the app's screen start to update — the Cart Total and the Items in Cart.

This section helps you keep track of how much you're spending in the store or in that online purchase. You won't have any sticker shock when you get to the checkout counter or page, because you'll already know the total.

The Bad

The only negative I can find in Out of Milk lies in the Pantry tab. This tab is meant to help you keep track of what you have on hand at any given time.

You can add things to your Pantry, filling in information like the price, how much you have, and the category. Popularly-added items will show up in the bar as you type, so you can often bypass filling in the whole name of the item. Most of these predefined items will also be categorized, making your pantry list quite neat and organized.

So, what's the problem, you ask? Well, while you can quite easily find things and add them to your pantry, keeping tabs on what you might be low on, the way you quickly put those items into a shopping list is counter-intuitive.

To add items to a shopping list, you check them off. That runs contrary to just about everything most people understand about shopping lists, since checking something off usually means you're done with it.

You have to really think about what the Pantry list means. This is a list of things you do have. If you are out of it, you mark it as gone — then you'll have the option to add that item to a shopping list. It requires a bit more thought (or, in my case, experimentation) than is usual, and there's no introductory tutorial when you open the app for the first time to help you understand that.

The verdict

Once you get the hang of using Out of Milk, it's one of the better to-do and shopping list apps available. It has plenty of features, keeps track of prices for you, and allows you to enter items by scanning their barcodes. That makes it one of the easiest shopping list apps to use, and being able to create a pantry list of commonly-used things in your kitchen, then transfer those to a shopping list, shows that the developers of Out of Milk really want to up the ante for their competitors.

8.9

OVERALL

Lasting appeal 10

iPhone Integration 10

Does it well 10

Is engaging 8

User Interface 6.5

FREE

Out of Milk – Shopping List

Bonial Enterprises North America Inc.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews