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Must Have Apps

Best iPhone and iPad apps of the week: Modern Combat 5, Matter, and more!

Simon Sage

Modern Combat 5

Once again we've gathered together the best iPhone apps and best iPad apps and games released this week! We'll regularly dig up the best, freshest social, music, photography and productivity apps for iOS, not to mention action games, shooter games, puzzle games, and anything in between. Come on and dig in to see our favorite releases over the last seven days!

Revolution 60

Revolution 60 is an all-female RPG with action, highly stylized 3D graphics, and decisions with consequences. Players will have to make some tough calls as a futuristic assassin named Holiday. The action sequences will require some quick-action responses to on-screen prompts, which is perfect for touch interfaces. Besides the gameplay, there's a strong story with full-fledged voice acting to enjoy.

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Modern Combat 5: Blackout

The world's premiere mobile first-person shooter has finally ditched in-app purchases. The graphics are great, there's excellent multiplayer, and there are tons of unlockable weapons and skills. Dig into our full Modern Combat 5 review for a look at live gameplay and get a feel for what's new.

Poptile

Poptile is a fun, light, and minimal puzzle game. All you have to do is pop groups of tiles with a tap while also making sure the ever-rising tower doesn't bust through the ceiling. It's easy to think of it as a reverse Tetris. There are ads in there, but you can get rid of them for $0.99, and pick up new color themes for another $0.99

The Great Prank War

The Great Prank War is a hybird tower assault/defense game based on the absolutely hilarious Regular Show. Players attack disgusting prank-themed towers as Mordecai, Rigby or other furry heroes in an effort to build up their own in the same spot. As you continue on, your heroes level up and gain more power to press the advance. There are four seasons to chew through including a boss battle at the end of each.

Traps n' Gemstones

Traps n' Gemstones is an old-school side-scrolling game that has players exploring the depths of an expansive Egyptian tomb. Evade ancient traps, solve puzzles, rescue relics, and capture a ne'er-do-well thief. If the word "Metroidvania" means anything to you, Traps n' Gemstones is worth checking out.

Caramel

Caramel is an app for audio professionals to add crunchy kinds of distortion effects to their sounds. Caramel supports all sorts of USB interfaces, as well as audio being pumped through other apps. Crunch, Sizzle, Crush and Bite are just some of the variables you can tweak. If you want to get really fiddly, you can enable even controls.

Matter

Matter lets you drop surreal 3D objects into your photos. Pick, rotate, and scale your shape, then pick its texture. Shadows are left behind behind which you can reposition laterally and vertically, as well as fuzz out depending on the light source. With a bit of extra masking tools, you can make it look like these objects are tucked behind other objects in the picture. This ties in with Pixite's other excellent apps such as Fragments and LoryStripes.

Scenes

Scenes for iPhone

Sometimes just one filter isn't enough. Scenes lets you layer on up to three filters on your photos and tweak opacity as desired. Those layers can be rotated and scaled, and once you're happy how everything looks, you can easily share out to Facebook, Instagram, or simply save it to your local Camera Roll. Filter types include multiple grains, light leaks, spotlights, rough textures, and wooden options.

PHHHOTO

PHHHOTO is a new image-based social network focused on animation. It's not really Vine, since the creations submitted by the community are simply series of stills rather than full-on video clips. These animated .GIFs create a much more jagged feeling than you'd get from micro-videos elsewhere, and the looping mechanism makes them a decidedly different format.

Jink

Jink is a promising location-sharing app for Android and iOS. Users can see where their trusted contacts are in real-time and send messages to update them on how soon they can meet up. Your buddy only has access to your live location for awhile though, so you can maintain privacy later on. It's launching as a beta, but the simplicity and easy of use are big selling points.

Your favorite iPhone and iPad apps from this week?

A lot happens in the iOS App Store in a week, so feel free to leave a comment with your favorite recent release on iPhone and iPad! We're always looking for more, so don't be shy to drop us a line when you find something exciting!

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