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Peter Panic (Free) by [adult swim] is a mobile musical with plenty of mini-games for your entertainment. If you are a fan of the WarioWare games, then you will love what Peter Panic brings to the world of iOS gaming.

As much as I love playing games on my iOS device, let’s face it — the App Store just gets filled up with the same kind of stuff every day. You have the typical run-of-the-mill match-threes, infinite runners, Clash of Clan clones, quick little arcade fixes, and other tried-and-true formulas that everyone knows about. It’s getting rarer to see something unique and original on the App Store these days, so when I find something that is different, I’m quick to jump on the opportunity. That’s why Peter Panic struck a chord with me — it’s unlike anything you’ve tried on the App Store to this day, and that means it is fresh and exciting.

As a big fan of pixel art myself, I’m in love with the style of Peter Panic. The game is pixelated in adorable 16-bit fashion, and the expressions on each character’s face is priceless. The colors range from soft pastels to colorful and vivid brights, and everything is finely detailed. While I found the game text to be a bit hard to read at times due to the script-style font, I like how it suits the Broadway theme of the game. Animations in Peter Panic are smooth and fluid, with no lag on my iPhone 6s Plus. The background music in the game is rather whimsical and quirky, but the real treat here is with the actual singing done by Peter and other characters you meet along the way. These are real songs that are sung by some talented Broadway stars, including those behind “Fun Home,” “Hair,” “The Little Mermaid,” and more. For the best experience with Peter Panic, you’re going to want to get your best headphones.

In Peter Panic, you’ll meet the young and talented director, Peter, as he introduces himself with a bit of humor (similar to how the “Deadpool” movie makes fun of itself). As he wants to embark on his quest to become a top Broadway director, he just finds out that his longtime theater has just closed down due to some rather unfortunate circumstances. In order to get it kicking again, he’ll need some funding, but the only way to get that is to win over the local businesses near the theater with the old “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” method. And this is where all of those mini-games come into play.

As you set out to try and win the favor of neighboring businesses for your cause, you’ll have to perform jobs for those business owners. The first one in Peter Panic is the packing peanut factory that is right next door, where you’ll meet a charismatic blonde who looks oddly like a mix of Conan O’Brien with Donald Trump’s hair. To earn some money, you’ll have to successfully complete some mini-games, and you can unlock more businesses and difficulty levels by completing a certain number of mini-games in the factory without screwing up and losing your three hearts per job.

The controls in Peter Panic are simple, and the mini-games will usually tell you what you have to do, though it can be hard to pay attention given the fast-paced nature of the game. Still, all of the mini-games utilize multitouch gestures like swiping and taps — you just have to pay attention to the timing of things. For example, some jobs in the packing peanut factory involve tapping buttons to fill up boxes on the conveyor belt, levers to fill the mold with the liquid that turns into packing peanuts, catching items in peanut-filled boxes, sorting paperwork, and more. As you complete more mini-games successfully, the game warns you when things are about to speed up, so you can be somewhat prepared for it. The more times you come back to a job to earn cash, the more new things get added to the mini-games to spice things up. Once you’re good enough and complete a certain number of games without messing up (the game tells you how many you need), you’ll unlock the next local business and try your hand at that.

Even though Peter Panic is a free download, it allows you to play as much of the game as you want at any given time, and so far I have not encountered any ads. However, while you can play the game as much as you want, you won’t be able to save your progress unless you go for the $2.99 in-app purchase that unlocks this feature. If you don’t, you’re still able to play as much as you want, and even beat the game, as long as you don’t stop playing. So if you don’t want to unlock the game saving feature, but still want to beat the game, you’re going to have to do it in one go — otherwise, you’ll lose your progress.

Personally, I think the game is fun and unique enough that it warrants the in-app purchase for saving. Plus, it has a humorous little dialogue with the pixelated sprites of the two people who made the game, which I thought was well done.

Since this is a game about mini-games, there is clearly a lot of replay value. It’s always fun to go back to stages and see if you can do better than your best run, unlock more bonuses, and even compete with friends with Game Center leaderboards.

I’m still early on in Peter Panic, but I’m finding it to be an enjoyable way to pass the time, and I’ve even opted for the game saving unlock. I love the pixel art, the original songs and score are wonderfully performed, and the mini-games themselves are pretty challenging. There’s a lot to love about this little game, and it’s definitely one I’m going to be coming back to for a long time.

I recommend checking out Peter Panic if you like Broadway musicals or just like arcade mini-games. You can get Peter Panic on the App Store as a universal download for the iPhone and iPad for free with in-app purchases.

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Doo – Get Things Done ($4.99) by Ciarlo Software, LLC is a

new way to look at your to-do list. If you are looking for something that is simple but effective, then Doo could be the right app for the job. It is similar to other apps on the market, such as Begin and Remi, in which there is a unique way to display and manage your tasks.

Over the years, I believe it’s safe to say that I grew into a productivity nut. I love being productive, but in order to do that I have to have my list of things that need to be done in front of me, otherwise I forget or am just not motivated to do it at all. Having some visualization of my progress lets me prioritize my to-dos and makes it easier for me to focus on one thing at a time. I’ve tried dozens of task management apps in the past few years, with some of my favorites being OmniFocus 2, Todoist, and 2Do. Even though I end up with a system and sticking to it for a long time, it doesn’t stop me from going out and trying new to-do apps, as I can’t help but be curious about what else is out there. I was intrigued when I stumbled upon Doo when it was featured on the App Store front page a few weeks ago, so I decided to give it a try for myself.

The design of Doo is simple and clean, which is just what you should want from a to-do app. It features a beautiful lavender to steel gray blue color gradient for the background, which I personally found to be pleasing on the eyes. The task “cards” that make the app different from the rest look fantastic, as the developer has made sure to include some gorgeous little illustrations to match the context of the task. The sans serif typeface (I believe it is Avenir) looks sharp and is easy-to-read, which is a plus. Navigating between cards and the “All Reminders” section or creating a new task is just a tap away, and everything is fast and fluid. In terms of aesthetics, the developer has certainly done a great job.

Functionally, I’m not so sure about some of the choices made.

To create a new task, just tap on the “plus” tab that is located at the bottom of the screen on the main view. Then you just type in your task name, toggle an alert if needed (which also brings up the option to turn it into a recurring task), and add an optional note if it’s needed. Then tap on “Save,” and it will end up in one of two places: the main Doo view, or in the “All Reminders” section, which can be accessed by tapping on the hamburger button in the top right corner of the main view.

I was a bit disappointed when I realized that Doo did not put tasks with due dates immediately in the main card stack, but just tucks them away in the All Reminders section, where you can also view completed items. If you don’t put an alert for a task, then it will end up in the main card stack right away. Personally, I would prefer to see all of my tasks as cards on the main view. It’s a bit confusing and not streamlined when your new tasks end up separated from others, even if they are due today. The only way that tasks with alerts end up in the card stack is if it is now due, or overdue. For me, that’s not entirely efficient and I would prefer to see them in the card stack prior to them being due. Hopefully the developer can consider this and change how tasks appear in the card stack in a future update.

The purpose of the card stack is to help you focus on one item at a time. Despite that, I would prefer if the cards were just made for all tasks and stacked in chronological order, as that would be the best way to get through it, in my opinion. Doo makes use of gestures for completing or snoozing a task, which is done by swiping up or down, respectively. You can also tap on the checkmark to mark it as done, or tap on the clock button to snooze it. The snooze duration can be customized in the app settings to be 24 hours, one hour, or 15 minutes.

One thing I do love about Doo, though, is the fact that it can analyze the text of your task and come up with an illustration that closely matches it, giving the card a nice bit of flair. Of course, there are only 18 pictures, so you will encounter some repeats for things, like “coffee” and “lunch,” but it’s still nice.

While Doo is not set up for big, complex projects, the app can detect if that is what you are doing and offers ways to set you up to successfully complete it. Still, for big things like projects, I would prefer to use a different app. Doo also has a Notification Center widget, 3D Touch support, a share extension, and iCloud support. I have noticed that the app will sync to iCloud fairly regularly, especially if changes are made, so your tasks will go with you no matter the device.

I’ve tried Doo briefly for the purpose of this review, and while I love the aesthetic, I’m not sure if it will work for me in the long run. I would prefer to see all tasks in the card stack in chronological order, and I’m not sure why that isn’t already the case, but having to switch between views to see everything you’ve added can be a hassle. Another flaw is the fact that you can only set one alert for each task, which is pretty much just the due date and time. I think multiple alerts should be an option for users. And one of my biggest qualms with the app is the fact that you cannot just swipe through the cards in the stack to see the next one — you’ll have to snooze tasks to bring the next one to the front, and then you can’t un-snooze the item. I believe swiping left and right on the cards should let you sort through them, picking the task you want to focus on, rather than the app forcing it upon you.

At the end of the day, I love the look and feel of Doo, but it has several big flaws that prevent it from being a tool I want to use every day. The current iteration is a good start, but there are many improvements that need to be made before it can be recommended for daily use, especially for its price point.

Doo is on the App Store as a universal download for the iPhone and iPad for $4.99.

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