Harry Potter fans who also happen to be fans of the iPad will want to check out our pricey but feature-filled leading Fresh App today. Harry Potter Film Wizardry is almost exploding with behind-the-scenes information, video and images that will take users beyond all eight films, just in time for the final movie in theaters. For those of us who would like a little more adult information, there APM: Marketplace Radio, which allows you to access American Public Media’s highly informative financial radio show Marketplace on demand. After listening to money talk, you can lighten the mood with a couple of solid games today as well: Gravity Lab! is a physics puzzler that thinks of some cool new ways to use physics, and Temple Trouble is a top-down puzzler in which you’ll push blocks and avoid traps as you try to find hidden treasures.
Harry Potter Film Wizardry (iPhone, iPad) $12.99
The final Harry Potter film is now out in theaters, but that doesn’t mean fans can’t be without a new Harry Potter fix now and then – especially if those fans happen to have an iPad. Thought it costs quite a bit, Harry Potter Film Wizardry is like having all eight films’ worth of DVD extras on your iPad all at once, allowing you to follow along with the films and access alternate and behind-the-scenes information and visuals.
Film Wizardry is packed with photos from the films composed into slideshows and lots of other cool features, including a timeline showing Daniel Radcliffe growing up through the movies, animations of Harry Potter universe staples like the Marauder’s Map and the Time Turner. There are also lots of other audio-visual extras, such as behind-the-scenes videos and concept art.
APM: Marketplace Radio (iPhone, iPad) Free
With all the talk about the debt ceiling and the U.S. economy, it can be hard to stay up on the latest financial news and understand what it all means. Fortunately, there’s American Public Media and its Marketplace Radio app. Marketplace is a nationally syndicated radio show played on National Public Radio stations, and it’s often brimming with financial information.
The app gives users instant access to the five Marketplace segments featured on APM: Marketplace With Kai Ryssdal, Marketplace Morning Report, Marketplace Mid-Day Update, Marketplace Tech Report and Marketplace Money. If you’re looking to keep up with financial and economic news on your schedule, APM’s app might be the best way.
Gravity Lab! (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Gravity Lab! joins the proud tradition and saturated market of iOS physics puzzlers, but for a buck, it’s one you should consider nabbing. The app has an interesting take on physics. You control a robot who wants to gather stars, which is accomplished by hurling himself not at the floating golden objects in every stage, but at special crates scattered throughout. Those crates topple over and hit the stars, and the point is to cause a chain reaction in such a way that each star is hit by a crate after they all start to fall.
The trick to Gravity Lab! is that all the crates are not the same. Gravity is a little wonky in the game, so some crates will fall differently than other crates. For example, green crates fall over regularly when struck, but red crates fall up, toward the ceiling. Yellow and blue crates each fall to the right and left, respectively. Knowing what to hit and where in order to trigger your chain reaction is tough, but at the same time, it’s very fun and addicting.
Temple Trouble (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
A top-down puzzle game that’s kind of like the old Legend of Zelda title on the Nintendo Entertainment System from the 1980s, Temple Trouble is all about pushing blocks, avoiding traps and gathering coins. In each level, you’ll have to reason your way through obstacles to gather all the coins in the room to unlock the door to the next area. You can push rocks into gaps to avoid falling, for example, and make bridges to coins. Each stage challenges you differently and requires smart planning and strong logic to solve.
Developer Sticky Studios promises “more than 20 hours of fun, guaranteed” from downloading Temple Trouble, but a more useful number might be its 50 puzzle levels spread across five different temples. The game includes easy touch controls that require players just to touch the side of the screen where they want their character to go. Puzzles get more intense over time, with more obstacles like pressure switches, as well as ancient monsters to block your path.
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