December 1, 2008
Okay, I give a lot of grief to DS Effects, though let’s face it, it’s hardly undeserved. You don’t even need to take my word for it, just have a look at the reviews and average ratings of their titles in the App Store. So along come two new titles from them/him (is this more than one person? I have trouble with the idea that it takes two or more people to write apps this bad) that seem to signal a new genre that is apart from their sad little breakout/slide puzzle/virtual pets/crappy beat-em-ups/whatever.
They are “DS Snow” and “DS Lightning.” They produce virtual snow and virtual lightning, respectively, over…
Posted in Entertainment 
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November 24, 2008
App Name: Bricks Touch
Version: 1.1
Developer: DS Effects
Category: Arcade Games
There is a general assumption when examining the chronological releases of a particular developer that their games would improve over time if for no better reason than a desire for self-improvement. If there’s one developer who insists on defying this rule of thumb, it’s DS Effects, as examining their growing back catalog reveals a stark and depressing lack of anything resembling improvement, or even any attempts to do so. You’ve got the same blurry backgrounds that look like they were enlarged from 50×50 thumbnails, the same minimum of effort required to design something that only just peeks over the edge of qualification to be considered a playable game, and the same two or three sentence…
Posted in Games: Arcade No Comments »
October 17, 2008
App Name: Fantasy Puzzle
Developer: DS Effects
Category: Games: Logic & Puzzle
Honestly, DS Effects must create all of their iPhone games by mashing repeatedly on the Easy Button, sticking the results in their back pocket, then forgetting about them when they do their laundry, discovering them only when they’re putting the clean clothes away and notice a raggedy, faded scrap of something poking a dog-eared corner out of a pair of jeans as if to say, “Please kill me.” Then they remove it, try and smooth out the crinkles and colour in the faded bits as best they can with the worn nubs of old crayons, put clear tape on the torn bits, and finally post the sorry mess to the App Store with a…
Posted in Games: Logic & Puzzle, Hall of FAIL No Comments »
October 7, 2008
App Name: High or Low
Developer: DS Effects
Category: Games
If Jirbo are the kings of spin, DS Effects keep falling over the ficus every time they try and make a left turn on foot. They don’t even have to be anywhere near the ficus, either. Their game descriptions are, at most, two or three sentences, one of which is used to implore users to submit their high scores online. This one was two — the second being the aforementioned plea. Not that High or Low needs much in the way of introduction or spin, since the game is exactly what it says on the tin: Guess if the next card in the deck will be higher or lower than the previous one.
Woo.
…
Posted in Games: Board/Dice/Card No Comments »
October 1, 2008
App Name: Anagrams
Developer: DS Effects
Category: Word Games
For those of you who like word scrambles, you’re going to love Anagrams. And by “love” I mean “tolerate.” Anagrams is about as simple a word game as they come, featuring graphics that are just about as simple, except for the backgrounds, which are artsy in a way, but look like they’ve been digitally enlarged from images a quarter the size due to the soft jagged edges.
Worse however is that there is a maddening delay when you tap on letters before they appear in the word field below, and taps were often not even registered, forcing me to tap three or four times before it understood that yes, I’m tapping on a letter because I’d like to…
Posted in Games: Word No Comments »
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