Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and twenty seven in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows in the past seven days.
This week saw the release of several high profile apps and games such as the latest addition to the Halo franchise, Halo: Spartan Strike, and the relaxing Game Over.
As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email instead.
Discounts This Week
The following applications and games are discounted by at least 50 percent this week.
- Rayman Jungle Run, a jump and run game for $1.49
- Tile rider, an adventure game for $1.49
- Einstein Brain Trainer, a puzzle game for $2.99
- Dactyfun, a learning game for children for $0.99
- Nightmares from the Deep 3: Davy Jones (Full), an adventure game for $1.99
- Eternal Journey, an adventure game for $0.99
Best app of the week
Halo: Spartan Strike ($5.99, no free trial)
Halo: Spartan Strike is a top-down shooter in the Halo universe. Play as the Spartan in 30 missions to defend Earth against Promethean and Covenant enemies.
The game introduces new weaponry and armor abilities, vehicular combat and weekly challenges that allow you to climb the leaderboard.
You can play the game using keyboard and mouse, an Xbox controller or using a touch-based virtual stick.
A lite version is not offered currently and since there is no trial, it is not possible to test the game as of now before buying it.
Other apps
Tinymals resembles Microsoft's Kinectimals in many regards.You hatch a baby dragon, panda or griffin at the start and need to take care of it afterwards.
This includes feeding, playing, teaching tricks and petting it.
The game is optimized for touch devices and while it is possible to play it on a device without touch, it does not work as well.
You will notice lags and that clicks are not detected properly in the game if you use mouse and keyboard controls.
The app adds support for WiFi-enabled SD cards to Windows. When you start WiFiSD8 it displays a dialog to find a compatible SD card by hostname.
Once found, it allows you to browser the contents of the card and batch download photos to your Windows device.
The application connects to your Trakt account which allows you to keep track of TV shows and movies.
Data is synced automatically between the web version and the Windows apps, and you should see your shows and movies in the app right after signing in.
While most functionality requires an account, search is available for unregistered users as well.
Features like adding a show to the watchlist or collection are reserved for registered users.
The app lacks the calendar feature of the web service currently which means that you cannot use it to keep track of upcoming shows this way.
Checkpoint Champion is a challenge-based driving game in which you need to complete objectives in a certain period of time.
This involves reaching certain checkpoints placed in the level most of the time.
You get one to three stars in the end depending on how fast you reached the last checkpoint and these are used in the game to unlock new challenges including online challenges that require an account.
New cars are unlocked when you complete certain challenges in specific ways, for instance by completing a challenge with a limited number of turns.
The game plays better with touch than it does with the keyboard, as keyboard users use the left and right arrow keys to steer their vehicle but also to use the turbo.
You-Doo is a task planner at its core that supports to-do lists, tasks scheduling and reminders.
What makes it kinda interesting is that you may add location-based information to tasks to receive notifications based on your current location.
For instance, you will only receive notifications to clean the bathroom when you are running the app at home while you won't receive it when you are at work.
A paid Pro version is provided that adds data synchronization, cloud storage, task sharing and direct syncing of tasks with your calendar to the app.
Game Over plays a little bit like the classic Marble Madness game only that you are not controlling a ball and that jumping is an option.
The main idea remains the same however: reach the level exit without falling into the abyss or dying in other ways.
The game rewards you for completing a level as rapidly as possible but won't punish you if you take your time and explore it instead.
Gem Crush Legends is an addictive puzzle game in which you try to complete certain tasks by removing gems from the board.
All adjacent gems of the same color as the gem you clicked on are removed from the board. Depending on how many, this might create special gems in the process that create massive explosions when combined with gems of the same color.