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Comblosion ($1.99) by Sebastian Miedtank is a twitch reflex arcade game that is all about connecting and collecting. If you want a much more fast-paced game about connecting dots, compared to Dots & Co and other puzzle games, then Comblosion is just your style.

Even though I have several different console systems, I still do most of my gaming on my iPhone these days just because of the convenience. While I get the most enjoyment out of puzzle games (they’re a great way to relax), sometimes I do want something that moves at a faster pace and lets me chase high scores all day long. Comblosion is one of those games, and while it’s about connecting the dots, it’s much different compared to some of the popular games out there, like the Dots series.

In terms of visuals, Comblosion features a super simple, minimalistic style that will appeal to everyone who likes a clean aesthetic. The game sports a black background with colored dots and lines that contrast nicely due to the bright and vibrant hues. The animations are buttery smooth with no lag on my iPhone 6s Plus. The game doesn’t have a continuous soundtrack in the background, but it does have charming little sound effects as you connect and collect. While Comblosion is pretty no-frills in the visual and audio department, the developer still did a great job in creating something that just looks great on your Retina screen.

Since Comblosion is an arcade game, it’s essentially just a high score chaser. There are no levels — you just play infinitely as long as you can, progressing to the next stage layout as you rack up the points. The objective of the game is pretty straightforward: connect the dots as they appear on the screen. Once you connect to the dot, a new one appears. But you can’t cross over previously drawn lines, and you only start out with a few seconds on the clock, but each dot you connect with adds another second to the countdown. There’s no end to connecting the dots unless you run out of time, which can be pretty fast. Sometimes items will appear on the screen, like gifts, extra time, and point boosts. If you see those, make sure to collect them before connecting to your next dot, as they disappear otherwise.

The controls in Comblosion are easy enough — just connect the red dot to the other red dot (with the orange dashes around it) with your finger. However, I recommend watching how you draw the lines, because the placement of the next dot is always random, and sometimes the game puts it in a spot that you can’t get to due to trapping yourself. Sometimes it just can’t be helped, though, and the procedurally generated nature of the game keeps things interesting. Again, if a power-up item spawns on the screen as you’re trying to make another connection, make sure to collect them along the way for nice bonus.

Despite the game being an endless high score chaser with no levels, there are times when you will advance to the next stage once you obtain the power-up or get enough dots, which means a different layout. In addition to not being able to cross over previously drawn lines, you cannot touch the red areas that are on the screen, which will always vary with each attempt. If you touch the red areas, your line breaks and you’ll have to try again, hopefully circumventing that section and any other existing lines already.

If you are good enough, you’ll eventually get the rocket item, which can be used to give yourself a head start and net you several hundred points before you even make a single connection. I have yet to unlock these rocket items though, so I’m assuming you have to reach a certain point threshold to get access to them.

I’ve only just started playing Comblosion, but so far I’m enjoying it, even though I’m doing terribly by trapping myself in my own web of connections. As a fan of minimalism, I like the aesthetics, the sound effects are whimsical, and the gameplay is simple but challenging. The only thing that would make the game even better is different game modes, if possible, but the infinite high score chasing right now is sufficient enough.

I recommend checking out Comblosion if you are searching for a fast-paced high score chasing arcade game to pass the time with. You can find Comblosion on the App Store as a universal app for your iPhone and iPad for just $1.99.

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Foresee: Your Personal Activity Forecast ($0.99) by BorderLeap, LLC is a weather app that helps you plan out your day and activities. Foresee is definitely an app that will help you make the most of your day given the present weather conditions of your frequently visited areas, and a great app for making life a bit easier. It’s the first app from the game developer BorderLeap, who has made some great hits like har•mon•y, Alpha Omega, and Drop Flip.

Like everyone else, I live a fairly busy life that is full of work, personal things, errands, appointments, meetings, and any other thing that gets thrown my way. It can be hard to plan things, but everything gets thrown into my calendar so that I can make sure I remember something coming up. However, aside from the normal things every day, I don’t necessarily schedule new activities ahead of time based on the weather, because to me, it seemed like a hassle — I’d have to use two different apps and always constantly check how the weather is as the day approached. Fortunately, that problem is now solved with Foresee.

In terms of visual design, Foresee is gorgeous. The app will launch with a gorgeous background photo (you can change this for each location) that is transparent enough for text to be shown clearly on the foreground. You’ll clearly see the present temperature and weather conditions at the top in large text, with a full two-week timeline underneath, with a projected forecast for the next seven days. Navigation is quick and easy with the recognizable buttons, and there is a lot of flexibility with the criteria you want to put in for activity planning. Plus, with the wide variety of different background images that you can use, there is a lot of customization in Foresee.

The first thing that you’ll want to do in Foresee is to grant it permission to your present location. This makes it easy for you to plan activities in your home or work area. The app also lets you add multiple locations, though you’ll have to tap on the hamburger menu button in the top left corner to access the menu. Along with adding several cities from this menu screen, you can change the temperature and wind speed units. There is also an introductory tutorial in case you need some guidance on how to use the app, though I believe it’s pretty self explanatory.

When you are ready to start planning an activity for the weather, just select the location you want to plan it for, and then tap on the plus button under the present weather bar. This is where the magic of Foresee happens.

The first thing you’ll want to do is give your activity or event a title, and then choose the appropriate icon for it: running, walking, cycling, mow the grass, walk the dog, etc. There’s a lot of options to choose from, and you can just swipe horizontally to scroll through the icon ribbon. Then, you will set your time and date preferences, including how often this activity will occur and at what time range. You can set it to notify you when your conditions are met as well. After the date and time are set, you can tweak your optimal weather preferences for the activity. These include specific temperature ranges, chance of precipitation, cloudiness levels, wind, and humidity levels.

Since I live in Southern California, the weather has not been optimal for me to be outside during peak afternoon hours most of the time. My skin also has a sensitivity to heat, so I’m finding Foresee to be incredibly useful, even though I’m seeing that my optimal weather conditions may not happen around this time of year (oh woe is me). However, it’s amazing that I can tell the app what I consider to be perfect conditions for a certain activity and it will let me know when that day arrives so I can do what I want to do.

You can add separate activities for each location, as well as multiple events in one area. The app tells you from the main location view whether or not the day’s weather meets your criteria. Even if it does or doesn’t, you can tap on the activity and see the conditions for the time range that you specified.

To change the background image for your cities, just tap on the photo icon in the upper right corner. It brings up a ribbon of thumbnails that you can scroll through horizontally, and when you find an image you like, just tap on it to select it. The location detail screen will refresh with your choice, and it’s pretty fast to render as well, so you can constantly change the theme on-the-fly.

I only downloaded Foresee over the weekend, but I can see this being an invaluable tool to plan my outdoor activities, especially in the SoCal heat. The app itself looks gorgeous and is intuitive for anyone to use, and the ability to customize your optimal forecast for specific activities and events is fantastic. I think the only improvement that should be made to the app is the ability for users to add in their own photos as background images, giving it even more of a personal touch.

I recommend giving Foresee a try if you want a weather app that works with you to schedule your activities in ideal weather conditions. Foresee is available on the iPhone App Store for just $0.99.

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