A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving ($6) from Loud Crow Interactive features everyone’s favorite sad sack, Charlie Brown, and the rest of the Peanuts crew for this interactive book. Dialogue, music, and sound effects all come straight from the 1973 animated special, and the iOS interface has been substantially improved from prior Charlie Brown holiday apps. Three reading modes are available, and word highlighting and touch-to-speak technology are also included in the app.
SNK Playmore has brought its classic fighting game The King of Fighters ‘97 ($4) to iOS. The fourth game in the classic KOF series, the ‘97 edition features 35 characters and new teams — hidden characters Orochi Iori and Orochi Leona are included from the get-go.
Both the extra and advanced fighting modes are available, as in the original game. Both a four-button and six-button control scheme are available, and it’s possible to move the controls around the screen, and change the joystick/button sizes as well. Due to a bug in the control-moving system, it’s harder to set the buttons up properly on an iPad, but hopefully SNK Playmore will fix the issue.
Nest Mobile (free) from Nest Labs has upgraded to version 4.0. The redesigned app connects to the Nest Learning Thermostat and new Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. Animated weather has been added to the app, in addition to more detailed locations for Nest devices.
The app now enables Nest Protect to support messages, push notifications, and direct emergency contact services, among other features. Additional features increase interaction between the Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect.
Oceanhorn ($9) is a long-awaited adventure game from FDG Entertainment. Featuring more than 10 hours of game play, Oceanhorn has been described by many as a Zelda clone. Though it bears obvious thematic similarities to the GameCube title Wind Waker, the gameplay and art are actually more similar to the classic SNES Zelda game, A Link to the Past, only in 3-D.