Hi guys and girls, as we now have iPads on the staff I thought I would start sharing my weekly adventures into the murky world of the iOS app store with you all. I like nothing better than finding and learning about new apps and playing the games while on the go. So with that in mind I am going to start collecting apps and letting you know about the best ones and of course the worst. I will make it short and sweet, unless it warrants a more detailed review. So strap yourself in and get ready for a Drop Bear App Dance.

This week I have been active across the app store getting each day’s www.faad.com feature, just to check out the quality of what’s on offer. I will continue to do this as gems do sometimes present themselves, like when The Voxel Agents Train Conductor graced its site. Anyway FAAD offered a small amount this week; firstly I got ‘Tower Madness’, a cute tower defence game but not very challenging. Then I got ‘Battle of Midway” a battleship clone that made me feel 8 again for about 10 minutess. I also got ‘Overkill’ from FAAD which is a fun shooting gallery style game, which controls better on the iPhone than the iPad. With an eye on specials I was also able to pick up ‘The Settlers’, ‘Dungeon Hunter 2’ and ‘FIFA 11’ mostly under a few bucks each. Fifa seems hard to control; I kept missing the buttons and getting the ball taken from me. Anyway, each of them is a good game and DH2 and The Settlers are longer games that I will play over many sit-downs.

So far this week I would have to say my time has been used up playing some classics and only a few new games thrown in for good measure. The big one being ‘Fruit Ninja’, ‘Angry Birds HD’ and the ‘GameBook Adventures’ all have been hogging my attention, as they did with the iPhone. A few new gems have sprouted with ‘Penguin Airborne’, a free falling race in which 5 penguins drop from a platform and you must tap the screen to release the parachute before SPLAT! A very fun game as you’re trying to win each stage and climb the ranks. Lastly my largest purchase and although not a game, still very fun, ‘Garage Band’. If you like music and creating tunes and you have not got this app – go get it now!!! It’s the most amazing thing on the iPad so far. You’re able to create full drum tracks and loops, then overlay guitar and piano medley’s to create original songs, or near copies of most popular tracks. It was well worth the few coins I dropped on it.

Anyway, that’s been my week on the iPad so until next week, see you on the app store!