Fairway Solitaire Review; A Hole-In-One

iPhone: 99c/Free  iPad:$2.99/Free

Fairway Solitaire is a unique puzzler that combines golfing elements with the strategy of a card-based solitaire game.

What you care about:
+  The presentation is astounding and flawless. Fantastic animations, vivid colors, and a humorous and enjoyable audio track of commentators.
+ Fairway Solitaire plays beautifully. Players are tasked with meeting a "par" at the end of each course by playing solitaire (adding cards to your pile either one higher or one lower). There are creative uses of typical golfing hazards peppered throughout the game, that add extra challenge to each course
+ The content is virtually endless. There are a myriad of courses to play on, and additionally 3 challenge courses are added every day. This is how you do an iOS game.
+ Gadgets and awesome items to buy. There are a host of different "power-up" type items that you can buy in the games shop and during the rounds themselves, that all add their own flavor of awesome to the game. The best part is that it's easy to earn the "in game currency" in order to buy them, and there's no "gold buying" required.
-  The game isn't universal. The iPhone version will run you .99c and for the iPad it's $2.99. A small nitpick really, because for the content it's hard to complain.
-  No support for Gamecenter. While it may not be a deal-breaker, it's still something that would be nice, and should be easy enough to add in.

Tap Start Review: True Skate

iPhone/iPad: $1.99 [Universal App]

True Skate is a fresh experience for iOS, and there's no skating experience required.

What you care about:

+  Great for quick plays. The strength of True Skate is that it's a game that's easy to pick up for just a few minutes at a time. Skating around the park and trying out new moves is a nice challenge and a fun time killer.

+  The controls work very well. It's not too difficult to successfully execute skateboard moves. The player uses 2 fingers as they would their feet, which despite never skateboarding before, feels very natural.
-  There's only one skate park in the game. Hopefully there are updates in the future, but for now only having a single setting to skate in makes the game feel lackluster.
-  There isn't much structure as far as missions. The game teaches you just a few things, and then leaves you on your own basically to "free skate". It should be noted that in the "pause" menu there are missions and achievements you can view and try to accomplish. But the missions are flimsy and specific to a fault. The game lacks some kind of timed high score mode, a la THPS, that you could compare against other players.

Angry Birds: Star Wars Review; Is the force strong in this one?

iPhone: 99c   iPad: $2.99 

The new Angry Birds is more of what you love, with some brilliant new Star Wars themed innovations.

What you care about:
+  The birds have been redesigned and re-imagined for the Star Wars universe. This gives the game a fresh new vibe and makes for interesting gameplay mechanics. Using force powers and lightsabers is a complete blast, and is a welcome diversion from the previous games.
+  New worlds and settings based on Star Wars. There's a little of everything with standard Angry Birds mixed with elements from the Space franchise.
+  Star Wars music, as well as many of the classic sound effects. These ultimately really add to the Star Wars experience. You'll also find many Star Wars design elements integrated into the UI.
-  Not a universal app.

TS Review: "Draw a Stickman: Epic"

iPhone: .99c / Free  iPad: $1.99 / Free

Draw a Stickman: Epic is an intuitive adventure game that utilizes player's drawings to create characters and complete puzzles.

What you care about:
+ Creating with the drawing tools feels great. You can create you own story characters, which is entertaining and a great tool to engage you in the story. It's also easier than you think to make something cool, and the possibilities are virtually endless. 
+  The story is light and fun. Nothing confusing here or for mature audiences. This is a game that the whole family can enjoy. 
+  The controls are simple. The various gameplay elements are easy to understand without being too simplistic, and making gestures with the drawing tools isn't difficult.
-  Not a universal app. You'll have to pay 1.99 for the iPad and then .99 for the iPhone if you want it on both devices.

Welcome to Tap Start

The face of gaming is undergoing a transformation, and It's time for today's antiquated "hardcore" gamer to accept that there is a fresh medium out there, and it's breathing new life into the industry. While PC's and consoles have deep rooted histories in gaming culture, they are now making way for a new competitor, and that is mobile gaming.

But don't be fooled, these devices aren't just screens without buttons that mimic a game you've played already in a mediocre, half-assed, port from another console. It's important to point out that we can't compare apps to the $60.00 games for sale in retail stores. They aren't the same, nor should they be. Mobile gaming is an entirely separate breed of gaming. One which gives players simplicity, and most importantly, efficiency. Efficiency in the fact that players don't need to start up their TV and expect to sit down for over an hour, or even be at home at all. The go anywhere, play anywhere accessibility is the driving force behind many mobile game's success.

This is Tap Start - A place for concise reviews and insight on what's going on in iOS gaming.