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Full steam ahead: In »Railbound«, the wagons first have to be puzzled onto the locomotive before you can continue
Photo: Afterburn
Games, learning programs and smart everyday helpers: every month we trawl through the newly released smartphone apps and take a look at which useful tools and entertaining games have appeared for iOS and Android.
This time we're playing a clever dice game, checking pixel passes and letting a so-called artificial intelligence act as a ghostwriter to reserve the restaurant table.
These are our current app tips:
»Railbound« – untie knots in the track
The cute graphics are deceptive.
At first glance »Railbound« is a nicely designed puzzle fun for the little ones.
But the puzzle app is anything but child's play.
At the beginning, the comic locomotive with its wagons still chugs comfortably through forests, deserts and ice landscapes.
Laying out rails is still simple at first: It is usually sufficient to let the last carriage turn an extra lap so that the front carriage docks faster.
But later in the more than 150 levels there are barriers, switches, tunnel tubes and many more wagons.
Then it gets confusing and really tricky.
With a few quick swipe movements, the rail puzzles can no longer be solved.
Then the only thing that helps is tinkering and trying things out.
But it's so much fun that the two to three hours of gameplay go by quickly.
»Railbound«
for iOS and Android, ages 4 and up, about 5 euros
»Prince of Persia: Escape 2« – prince roles through Persia
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Nostalgia on your smartphone: »Prince of Persia: Escape 2« is based on the original from 1989
Photo: Ubisoft
With »Prince of Persia: Escape 2«, the game publisher Ubisoft is reviving a classic on the smartphone.
Daring jumps, thorn plates and simple sword fights are reminiscent of the original hit from 1989, which set new standards in the platformer genre.
This gives »Prince of Persia: Escape 2« a nostalgia bonus.
However, the smartphone game also looks a lot better and delivers more action.
The prince runs non-stop through desert towns and palaces and is easy to control: all you have to do is tap the screen to jump and swing your sword, and the character heaves himself over cannon barrels and house edges. The app is free.
But: If you enjoy it, you should consider spending four euros once for the advertising stop.
Because the ads are incredibly annoying and sometimes last up to a minute.
That puts the brakes on the fun that the prince platform game definitely brings.
»Prince of Persia: Escape 2«
, for iOS and Android , from 6 years, free with in-app offers
»Dice Versa« – Tactical Tetris with colorful dice
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Dice for the soul: »Dice Versa« mixes three games together: Domino, Tetris and Uno
Photo: Ragtag Games
A crazy mixture of dominoes, Tetris and Uno: In »Dice Versa« there are several rules to be observed, which are simple but challenging: Only dice with the same number or color may be placed next to each other on a square board with 16 fields .
If a row is completely filled, the dice burst.
That's a good thing, because it creates space.
The game ends when no more dice can be placed.
The game keeps you entertained for some time due to the refreshing idea.
However, the long-term goal is a little missing.
Simply cracking a high score is not enough.
The advertising can be switched off for three euros, but it is placed very cautiously and does not constantly jump into the picture.
»Dice Versa«
, for iOS and Android , from 4 years, free with in-app offers
»Papers, Please« – check pixel passes
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Could this woman be hiding something?
In »Papers, Please«, wrong decisions usually have serious consequences
Photo: 3909
Is it a good idea to take the money and let the man with the hidden drugs through?
Can I turn away the pimp because a woman feels threatened by him?
Many decisions at the border post of »Papers, Please« are about life or death.
This job is tough.
Because if you make mistakes, you have to go to jail at some point, while the family at home starves and freezes.
It's this print that makes pixelated passport control so exciting.
The indie game »Papers, Please« was released eight years ago and has won numerous awards since then.
The app was already running on the iPad, and now the passport control simulation is also available for iPhones and Android smartphones.
The implementation has been successful.
The game hasn't lost any of its charm and can be controlled really well with swipe movements.
The form font may be a bit small, but that hardly detracts from the border adventure with its many little stories.
»Papers, Please«
for iOS and Android, ages 18+, about 5 euros
»Paragraph AI« – AI as a personal writing assistant
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The AI also has love letters on the box: "Paragraph AI" writes texts on command
Photo: Paragraph AI
This tool is really amazing: "Paragraph AI" is practically a ghostwriter for everyday life.
The app can formulate e-mails, type a table reservation and write application rejections.
The tool gets support from the GPT-3 language model.
Based on so-called artificial intelligence, »Paragraph AI« even writes a short story about a blue mouse within seconds.
Okay, the story is pretty flat and the bottom line is that the mouse never leaves her blue house again because she saw a blue cat in front of it.
End.
But the texts on demand are perfectly formulated.
A slider can be used to adjust whether a message should sound more like colloquialism or an official cover letter.
If you have to answer a lot of messages with standard phrases every day, you can download the app as a practical helper.
Unfortunately, it is only in English and not up to date. When asked what the name of the King of England is, the tool replies with a paragraph about Queen Elizabeth II. Up to 20 texts per day are free if you register .
Unlimited access costs around 25 euros per month.
The writing assistant is also available as a plug-in for the Chrome browser.
»Paragraph AI«
, for iOS , from 13 years, 20 texts per day are free