If you’re a heavy social network user, you’ll want to check out our Apps Worth Downloading column today. Our first app is Cooliris, an app that’s designed to let you browse photos on all the social networks and cloud resources you use online – from Flickr to Facebook, Dropbox and beyond. We’ve also got some games for your attention: first up is Drift Mania Championship 2, a racing title that’s all about making sick drifts to score points. And finally, Naughty Bricks provides players with some physics puzzler action as they work to destroy bricks that have invaded Earth’s orbit.
Cooliris update (Free)
What’s it about? View photos from lots of different social networks in one place using Cooliris.
What’s cool? If you’re an avid user of social networks, you’ve got photos all over the place – from Flickr to Facebook to Instagram to Twitter. Cooliris consolidates all those social networks and the images that go with them to a single app, so you can view what photos your friends are sharing and browse through and share your own, as well. You can also share groups of photos privately or publicly across various social networks, and use Cooliris to message other users in one-on-one discussions or group conversations. Cooliris’ latest update adds iOS 7 support and fixes up some bugs and improves performance.
Who’s it for? If you’ve got photos all over the Internet and what to see them all in one place, check out Cooliris.
What’s it like? Flickr and Dropbox are also solid ways to share photos, and offer a lot of free storage space to users.
Drift Mania Championship 2 ($1.99)
What’s it about? Drift around corners in single- and multiplayer events, scoring points for drifting in Drift Mania Championship 2.
What’s cool? Racer Drift Mania Championship 2 is all about speed and sliding, with players tasked with using their driving skills to blast around corners and rack up major points. The game includes 13 different drift-heavy tracks to play through, and your goal in each of them is to keep your speed high and drift around as many corners as you can, for as long as possible. You’ll score major points for stylish drifts, and you can use your successes on various courses to earn tons of upgrades for your cars throughout the game. Drift Mania Championship 2 also includes a multiplayer mode that lets you challenge other drivers and their drifting skills.
Who’s it for? Racing game fans, Drift Mania brings tight controls and great online competition.
What’s it like? Snag the original Drift Mania Championship, and check out racers like Asphalt 8: Airborne for more high-speed action.
Naughty Bricks ($1.99)
What’s it about? Puzzler Naughty Bricks tasks players with bouncing a tiny sun off orbiting bricks in order to destroy them and save the world.
What’s cool? The name “Naughty Bricks” refers to a group of evil bricks that have invaded the atmosphere of Earth and smashed the moon, and it’s your job to eliminate them. Though it might not make a ton of sense, Naughty Bricks makes for good fodder for puzzles. Each stage has players carefully shooting a tiny sun at various bricks in order to destroy them, but you’ll also have to use objects like chunks of moon rocks and black holes to direct, reflect or curve your shots to take out all the bricks in a given level. Naughty Bricks includes more than 70 levels and also allows players to mess around with time and use things like wormholes to achieve their puzzle-solving ends.
Who’s it for? If you like puzzlers that make heavy use of physics gameplay, Naughty Bricks is worth your attention.
What’s it like? You’ll get similar physics-based puzzles in Angry Birds Star Wars II and Cut the Rope: Time Travel.
