Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and fifty-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.
A solid selection of apps and games has been released this week for Windows.
Game of the week is Sniper Fury, a great looking shooting game.
Other notable additions to the Windows Store are 3D Scan, a 3D scanner that uses Kinect, Hero Panda, a great looking Bomberman clone, and Action Note, a note taking application that integrates with the Action Center.
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
Red Stripe Deals are back. Up to six applications and games are discounted and highlighted in Windows Store each week.
The following is this week's selection:
- SuperPhoto, a photo editing application for $1.99
- PDF Jack, a PDF productivity app for $2.49
- Solitaire Mystery: Four Seasons (Full), a hidden object and solitaire game for $0.99
- Learning Games for Kids (Educational Preschool activity in English), an educational game for young children for $2.49
- Checkers by Post, play Checkers against human opponents for $0.99
- Hero Panda Bomber, a Bomberman game for $0.99
App of the Week
Sniper Fury is a shooting game in which you play an elite soldier. Play and unlock missions, better weapons, or raid the bases of other players of the game to steal their gold.
The game is held back somewhat by its free to play mechanics, mainly that you spend energy for each mission or action you take in the game.
Energy replenishes every four minutes to a maximum of ten which prevents you from playing the game non-stop unless you use premium currency to fill up the energy level right away.
You use an automatic rifle or a sniper rifle during missions with objectives ranging from identifying and terminating an enemy operative to shooting down drones or preventing attacks on buildings or innocent bystanders.
It is a fun, but ultimately basic game which may appeal to casual gamers more than it does to hardcore gamers.
Other Apps
Action Note is a note taking application at its core. What sets it apart is its integration with Windows' Action Center, and the options that it provides when creating notes.
While you can use it to create text notes only, you may also use it to attach images to notes and synchronize notes across devices.
The Machine is a challenging puzzle and dexterity game in which you try to move a small droplet of ink to the level exit.
Each click or tap results in a jump in the selected direction. The droplet sticks to surfaces, and things begin to get complicated once traps are introduced.
The game is challenging, offers several worlds to play through and three game modes on top of that.
The chess game supports hot-seat play against another human opponent or games against the computer.
It features three difficulty levels, different camera modes, and unique chess pieces and animations.
Some game elements, like the hot-seat mode or different themes, are only available in the pro version.
Figure is a music making application by Propellerhead. It requires no musical expertise making it dead easy to use.
Create, share and remix tunes using drum, bass and lead synth by sliding with the mouse of finger across the play pad.
Music can only be saved online though and not locally it appears.
Hero Panda ($0.99 currently, no free trial)
Hero Panda is a modern adaption of the classic Bomberman game in which you use bombs to destroy blocks and enemies to proceed to the next level.
The game features more than 20 different enemies including bosses, and can be played with the keyboard, gamepad or by touch.
Use a Kinect to create 3D scans in real-time. You can use the Kinect to scan people or objects. and use 3D Builder afterwards to edit them.
You may use 3D Builder afterwards to print the 3D scan using a local 3D Printer or order a print online instead if you don't have access to a 3D Printer.
The application ties-in with the Forza game franchise on Microsoft's Xbox console. Get free credits or cars each month, check your overall progress or compare your performance to those of your friends.
It features editorial content, information about new cars, as well as racing news.
Country Friends looks like your typical "create your farm" style of game on first glance, and while that is true to some extent, it improves the process by introducing the community farm concept.
Basically, it allows you to grow fruits and craft products together with your friends.
So, band together and build the best community farm out there.
Notable Updates
Fenice for Twitter is a universal application now. The new version of the third-party Twitter client introduces other changes such as small screen improvements.
Big update for the Kobo Ebooks application. It is optimized for Windows 10, supports Live Tiles, Cortana and Continuum as well now.
The Uber application for Windows has been released as a universal application.