Out Of Circle - 3.5 Stars

What is it?

Out of Circle is a tap style game with the aim to escape a rotating circles. I was contacted on Twitter to review this game so was pretty excited to get started. I think this is a love or hate  app game as it can be very frustrating. 

The game is a white circle  outline with a gap rotating around a dot, you tap the screen to release the dot but if you hit the edge you die. Once out of the first circle you move to another and so on an so forth. The style, speed and direction of the circle change between moves and the longer you stay alive the more complex it appears. 

One frustration that I did have is that you can't tap anywhere on the screen as you are restricted to a circle at the bottom of the screen. This was particularly annoying when you were into the game, missed and lost the flow. 

There are three modes to the game: Arcade, Time Trail and Chirstmas (which I assume means Christmas with an unfortunate typo!). As it is Christmas I mainly played the Chirstmas version. The screen has a few colours that it changes to between plays, with stockings hanging from the header and festive snowfall. 

The normal version is the same as the Chirstmas game but is a  full colour screen, which I feel is a little plain and would benefit from having anything on there to liven it up a bit. 

If you have played DashUp then this is very similar to it. The colours and set up are the same but the format of the game play is different through the use of circles and not sliding white bars. 

Thus far my highest score is a mere 11 but my partner has scored 13 and is forth overall in the world with the highest being a mere 16. This is a bit of an indication to how difficult the game is to master and that there are some frustrating adverts, that I must admit has made me kill the game a few times. 

Now for some ratings.....

Ease of use - 4 

This is a pretty simple game to get a grasp off but it is difficult. If you have poor reaction speeds you will quickly get angry with it but it is interesting for in home challenges. The main frustration is that you can't tap anywhere on the screen to play and if you miss the tap circle you lose your flow. 


Price - 5

This is a free game with no in app purchases. 

Adverts - 2
This game is riddled with adverts. There is a constant banner at the bottom of the screen, but it doesn't interrupt game play. After three plays there are full screen ads, these start off as manageable but after about 8 plays they turn into 5 second screen invaders. After 4 of these in a row the game got switched off. As this game is difficult you don't want to break your concentration but the ads do it for you!

Overall Rating - 1

I have struggled with rating this app but I am going for 3.5 stars. The adverts are annoying and the game is a little difficult to play. The inability to tap anywhere on the nearly blank screen is also frustrating. With that said it has remained on my phone and from starting the review to now i have upped my score...but will I get the highest in the world. 

Keep, jury is out or delete - Keep

I will be keeping this for a little while longer as I enjoy the competition, but if the adverts get any more annoying it will have to go :(

Where to find it:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/out-of-circle/id943841480?ls=1&mt=8

Dash Up - 5 Stars

What is it?

I wasn't sure what this was but I stumbled upon it when I searched for 'Christmas Apps' on the App Store and scrolled like a lunatic to find the less popular or featured not offering.  Dash Up  can be compared to the popular follow up to Flappy Birds, Swing Copters. The aim of the game is to tap the screen, navigating a bauble to the top whilst avoiding obstacles. If you hit an obstacle you break the bauble with a shattering smash.

I have been thinking of the best way to describe what the obstacles are and I might be having a slow day but basically they are white blocks that close together like elevator doors. If you hit them whilst closed or get the bauble suck between them then game over. 

I haven't fully mastered this game yet, with my pitiful score of six (which was smashed by someone getting 25 as I typed this review), but I like this one. I found Swing Copters infuriating and I couldn't get past one, much to the delight of who I was playing against! Dash Up on the other hand isn't so brutal and is much easier to play, but do not be fooled into thinking it isn't frustrating! 

What I liked about this Christmas app is that it is festive. When you start there is a little festive jingle that plays that soon builds up into Jingle bells. The app uses bold festive full screen colours with crisp white snow falling and Christmas Trees. The bauble is red and decorated and I really liked the whole package, though I appreciate this may not be to everyones liking. Another nice touch to the game is that when you get past the white obstacles you hear a festive jingly ping.

I will be honest I am not a fan of the flappy phenomena that took the world by storm this year but I am liking this. I think the crisp, although basic graphics, and the absence of the abnormal bird with huge lips instead of a beak has done it. I am not adverse to pixilated games but it is nice to have a game that has a similar format and is modern.

From the main menu there is a 'Mode' option. There are four modes, each of different colour and the one I have been playing is 'Christmas'. I like that the app can still be played after the festive time without the Christmas features.  In the other mode you play with a white ball, and because I am in a festive mode i am going to refer to it as a snowball, but of course the music changes!

The game is on the GameCentre so you can complete ;) You can also remove Ads, if you pay but to be honest there are only banner ads at the bottom which I hardly noticed. 

I think there will be a contest in my home this week with this app which I will without doubt lose at but I will try!  

Now for some ratings.....

Ease of use - 5

Can you tap? If yes then you can play. 


Price - 5

This is free, you can upgrade to get rid of the ads, but I wouldn't bother as they are not intrusive.

Adverts - 4
There are ads, but only banner ads at the bottom and they do not interfere with game play, after a while I forgot that they were there. You can upgrade the app to remove the ads, but unless they do an update to add more I wouldn't bother. 

Overall Rating - 5

It could be my festive mood or the watching of frustration on peoples faces playing this app but I really like it!! It is not often that I like this type of game, so I am very impressed!

Keep, jury is out or delete - Keep

Keep, no doubt about it!

Where to find it:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dash-up!/id910959738?mt=8