A class action suit has been raised against Apple claiming Siri does not appear to work as advertised. Siri was launched as a key feature of the iPhone 4S however it has always carried the tag of beta software. This has not deterred a New York man from suing Apple for false advertising over Siri’s capabilities. Frank M.Fazio purchased his iPhone 4S back in November and is now part of a class of people who feel mislead by Apple.

In many of Apple’s television advertisements, individuals are shown using Siri to make appointments, find restaurants, and even learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs or how to tie a tie. In the commercials, all of these tasks are done with ease with the assistance of the iPhone 4S’s Siri feature, a represented functionality contrary to the actual operating results and performance of Siri.

Source: WSJ

Everyone has been eagerly awaiting Infinity Blade's introduction to the App Store, and with it, a promised new era of iOS gaming. Listening to the hype around this game, one would think you would stop playing other games altogether. Does Infinity Blade live up to the hype? Let's take a look at this game a little more in-depth to find out.

Infinity Blade is the first game for iOS that used the Unreal Engine 3 to bring to life the story of a lonesome hero bent on destroying the God King (for reason's unknown other than, presumably, the God King is a bad dude); alas, your story begins.

You start off the game as our hero and his approach to the castle where the God King resides. To reach the God King, you will need to destroy many of his minions. They range in shape and size. After you defeat several minions, you reach the God King. If you defeat him, you have won. If you fail, you die and the journey or "bloodline" begins again with your son, avenging your death.

The time of this game is set in a castle with magic and knight folklore which will appeal to many people. The story for this game is not very deep, but with this game it is all about the gameplay and overall mechanics that make the title shine. Before you enter a battle you have an opportunity to scope the environment. This is a good thing as often you will find health, chests (they may contain an item) and bags of money. You can also see the properties of an enemy before you face them. This is useful because some enemies, especially once you get further in the game, are immune to certain attacks. So, prior to battle you can adjust your armor and weapons to the maximum benefit.

Once the battle begins, you have essentially three things you can do: block an attack, dodge an enemy attack by tapping the left or right corners of the screen or you can parry an attack by swiping in the same direction on screen as an incoming attack with your preferred weapon (sword, mace, axe, etc.) You can also use a special skill such as magic to perform a special attack. That's it folks (well, occasionally you get an opening where you can stab your enemy).

So, though this may not seem incredibly deep on the surface, the controls are very satisfying; it is not simple to just arbitrarily parry and block, there is some skill and technique involved. If you block attacks, your shield becomes weaker and will eventually break, adding even more challenge since you can't just block every incoming attack. There is a fair amount of variety in enemies too. They attack from different angles and are not standardized. Using magic strategically helps as well (heal your self, add additional hits to your shield, use an elemental attack against a weaker enemy) adding even more depth to the game. Some items even have magical endowments, a fire branded sword or a shield immune to ice attacks.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. Is it the most amazing game ever? Of course not, but it does offer a fun diversion and foretells the possibilities of gaming on iOS. There is currently enough content to keep you coming back for more. Dozens of weapons, helmets, shields, armor,etc. all have different attributes and is worth your time to master them. The most recent update added a max level for the player, a new enemy and additional items to buy and collect. Future updates will unlock even more of the castle, new monsters, multiplayer and more. If you have not downloaded this game yet, go do it now.

[$5.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Beautiful graphics
• Challenging gameplay with each new bloodline
• Game Center support
• Plenty of planned updates for the future (including Multiplayer)
• Universal App

Cons

• Framerate can be a little jerky- even on iPhone 4 and iPad
• Battles can get repetitive after a while (parry, parry, block, dodge, repeat)

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars HD for iPad (GTA henceforth) is a great homage to its console brethren. Good story? Check. Good graphics? Check. Plenty of adult-themed action, adventure, and melodrama? Check. Check. Check.

You start off GTA on a flight back to the US, specifically Liberty City to transport your recently deceased Chinese Mafia Father's sword to the new leader. However, as soon as you arrive you are kidnapped and left for dead. Without spoiling anymore of the story, that's where you begin. I am not going to give away any more of what happens to you. Instead I am going to focus on the play mechanics, environments, etc.

GTA is structured in an isometric 3/4 view topdown action game. You are centered above Huang Lee's (the main character) head and move him around via a virtual d-pad on the bottom left of the screen. You can sometimes get turned around quite easily, so you can center the camera behind your character by double-tapping the d-pad. On the left of the screen you have your action buttons. These buttons are dynamic depending on what you are doing. You basically have some core functions; jump-kick, leap (over an obstacle such as a fence) and punch. If you acquire a weapon, the punch button is replaced with the weapon of choice. However, switching weapons is a little painful; you have to go to the pause menu located in the upper left and tap the weapon you want. This can remove you from the action in the middle of a fire-fight and is a bit disappointing.

The story is driven by mini-quests typically given to you by your uncle early in the game. You go to his house, some dialog ensues and you are then sent on your way. Examples might be to meet a family friend and escort them to a location, take out a rival gang and more. To do this you have to take advantage of your environment such as car-jacking anything from trucks to motorcycles to boats in the harbor.

The environment is absolutely huge. To help you get around you are given a GPS with map to get you to any destination. This is a very necessary tool. I couldn't tell you how big the city is in virtual miles, but it is quite large and with a lot of variety. You have everything in Liberty city including different burrows ala New York City style. You can go where you want, take people out for cash, play mini games all while time moves in accelerated time. Day goes to night and so on. The night effects are particularly nice as car, street and building lights all have neat effects on the environment which is quite impressive.

I think it's a fair statement that though there have been a few iterations of the game, the iPad version resigns supreme if for only having the larger screen. I absolutely love the gameplay and the fun uses of the touch screen from throwing out trash in a dumpster to manually having to hot-wire a car. Is the game groundbreaking? No, especially compared to other consoles. Is it fun? Oh yeah.

[$9.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Great graphics- details, light effect, shadows, etc
• Pedestrian back-talk
• Robust mobile iteration of the consoles legacy
• Easy to play with the iPad screen

Cons

• Inconvenient means to switch weapons
• Vehicle controls can be frustrating at times

Can Gameloft deliver with their sequel to Hero of Sparta? I think the answer is a resounding yes. Though not perfect, Hero of Sparta II (HOS2) delivers pure action and colorful graphics on Apple's noble iPhone and iPod Touch.

HOS2 is an action game spun in the Greek mythological era of the Gods and Goddesses. You play the warrior Argos. I won't get into his story here, but in this game you are sent on a path of redemption. You return to Earth after spending some buddy time with Hades and immediately the action starts. The controls are different than its predecessor. The main diffidence is that Argos can now jump. This adds a much needed play mechanic to HOS2. In the weapon department, you start off with the basic shield and sword. After every level or so, you start to collect a variety of different and useful weapons including: wings that can be used to glide and attack, a helmet that give Argos the ability hurls fireballs, and my favorite the claws which give you God of War like attacks against your enemies.

The levels are mostly linear, but on occasion you can find a hidden area that has extra gems. You can collect red balls that can be used to increase the attack and magical attack of each weapon. Blue gems to replenish magic and green gems to gain back health. You can also collect additional gems that can be added to your weapon of choice to gain attack/magic bonuses like a +2 to attack, for example.

Pulling off attacks is fun. You have an attack button that when pressed successively, gives you a combo attack on your enemy. However, you can add a modifier to your attack by swiping up, down, left and right. If you use the down motion it will typically cause a "shield break" maneuver with your selected weapon to destroy a shield or some other object. Using the up swipe will launch your enemy in the air for you to unless even more combos.

I am very pleased with the variety of levels in HOS2. You have a lot of different interactive events from running acorss a crumbling bridge to swinging with the claw weapon like a vine to climbing towers. The enemies in HOS2 are not as great. I found that I was constantly fighting the same 3-4 enemies every time with an occasional 5th monster added just for variety. A new enemy feature which is enjoyable is "taking control" of the enemy. For example, the Minator can be controlled by following a series of button presses on screen. You can then control the Minator and attack the baddies. Regretfully, there is not much of a boss battle. There is a boss at the end of every level in HOS2, but you rarely actually attack them. Instead, you typically dodge their attacks or dodge environmental variables. This is somewhat disappointing, but there is plenty of action when fighting during the levels.

The graphics have really be stepped up in this release. There is an insane amount of detail close up with a wide variety of color and textures; make no doubt, HOS2 is very pretty and impressive. However, all of this comes at a controversial cost in this reviewers opinion; framerate. HOS2 moves nicely if you are in a relatively enclosed area with a couple of enemies, but this is rarely the case. You are typically fighting 5 or more bad guys at once in an open area and this is where the framrate begins to suffer. I estimate this game runs at an average of 15-20 frames per second. This can become frustrating when trying to string combos together,etc. I can only hope that Gameloft will update this app soon. Gameloft did an awesome update to GT Motoracing Academy to the pleasure of many fans and I hope that they do the same here.

Overall, HOS2 is a must buy for any action fan. If you are looking for the silky smooth framerate of say, N.O.V.A, look elsewhere. If you want a solid, fun action game that pays homage to God of War, then this is the game for you.

[$6.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

Cons

With the release of Terminator Salvation only a few short weeks away -- May 21st to be exact -- Gameloft has gone and sent TiPb the very visually-pleasing trailer for their new iPhone game tie-in.

This game looks to be the most impressive iPhone game to date, we can only hope that the controls will be half as good.

There is no word on pricing (We'd expect it to be in the $9.99 price range.) or a release date but you can only assume it should be hitting the App Store on or around the movie's theatrical release.

As for the movie, it is looking pretty decent, if you can get past the PG-13 rating...