Friday App Wrap

Welcome to the Friday App Wrap, where we share with you some of the standouts from the mobile phone apps that we find each week. You'll find a variety of apps below, plus you can scroll back via the page navigation at the bottom to see the applications highlighted in previous weeks.

• Extinction Squad

  

  Oh, Adult Swim. How we love your ability to look all cute and adorable, then give us blood and guts and bones and horrible explosions.

  In Extinction Squad, you are working for muscle-bound explorer "Chuck" Darwin, travelling around the world to bounce falling endangered animals off a safety net into a truck. We don't know why the animals have unanimously decided to lemming it up, but what the hey. If you miss, the animals go splat, and you also have to look out for falling bombs. Power-ups and upgrades can be purchased to help you along.

  One thing we weren't so keen on was the implementation of in-app purchasing. Coins for purchasing levels and upgrades are sparse; you can collect them in-game, but it will take a long time. It seems that if you want to actually enjoy the entire game you have purchased, you will have to spend extra money pretty much right off the bat.

  However, the game itself is fun and well designed, so don't let that put you off checking it out, if you're interested.

  Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: AU$0.99

• Circus Atari

  

  This is a weird one from Atari. It's a bit like Doodle Jump, and a bit like Cordy Sky; you propel a little clown into the air to collect coins. As he rises, his trajectory slows; you can collect balloons and jump into hovering cannons to get a bit more lift and propulsion.

  This style of game is fun, but Atari's effort is not one of its better ones; it's, well, sluggish is the only word we can think of. Still, it's free, so give it a shot if you like.

  Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: Free

• Scotland Yard

  

  Remember the Scotland Yard board game? We didn't either, but here it is for iOS. The experience is designed to be a multiplayer one, for three to six people, and you can play as either the detectives hunting the mysterious Mr X across London, or as Mr X himself, evading capture.

  There is a single-player mode, and you track Mr X in the London night by following the trail of tickets he leaves behind. It looks pretty awesome, actually, but we're excited mainly because of one feature: in-game voice chat.

  Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: AU$5.49

• StreetHawk

  

  If you have an eagle eye for a shopping bargain, then it can't hurt to have a hawk on your side. StreetHawk is an app that helps you find what you want — if what you want is clothes. You input your search parameters — men's or women's, and clothing type — and then you can narrow it down by searching for specific brands, putting in a price limit and setting a distance parameter — for example, within 5km of your current location. Create an account so you can save searches, with the app alerting you when it has found your item.

  It's a pretty good way to cut unnecessary legwork out of shopping around, but it does need to expand its search database just a tad.

  Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: Free

• Airtasker

  

  One thing apps are great at is connecting you to people in your area. Airtasker is like a community noticeboard. Need someone to walk your dog or put together a bookcase or replace a light bulb that you just can't quite reach because you have a high-ceilinged house and you're only 5'2"? Airtasker has got you covered. You input the job you want done and how much you're willing to pay for it, and other people can view and take your job. Conversely, if you need a little extra cash, you can check out what people need done in your area, and sign yourself up.

  It's probably also a really cool way to meet people, which we can always get behind.

  Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: Free

• Songify

  

  We can't figure out whether we love Auto-Tune or hate everything it stands for. At any rate, if you're in the former camp and have an Android device, you can now jump aboard the Songify train. It lets you record yourself talking or singing, and then Auto-Tune the results. You can then share what you've created with your friends ... so, if you're in the latter camp, it's a fabulous way to be annoying.

  Platform: Android; iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: Free

• Roamz

  

  New-ish social network Roamz, which allows you to find stuff to do in the real world based on data from Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook and Instagram, has just arrived on Android. Next step: total world domination.

  Platform: Android; iPhone
  Price: Free

• Evernote

  

  Man, has Evernote ever thrown down in the Apple-Android wars. Its Android app has received an extensive upgrade — one that brings with it a completely redesigned look and UI, making it eminently more usable. The home page now has one-tap icons for creating new notes, snapshots, recordings and attachments, and everything is really simple to navigate and find. It's the app it should have been all along.

  There's no news on a similar update for iOS.

  Platform: Android
  Price: Free

• Someecards

  

  Someecards seems to be the go-to internet spot for sending silly ecards to your mates. Well! Now you can do it from your Android phone, with the brand spankin' new Someecards app! It has access to all the cards on the site, which you can send any way you choose, and you can even add a home page widget for quick access.

  Platform: Android
  Price: Free

• Machinarium

  

  Machinarium is one of the most gorgeous games on mobile. You're a cool little telescoping robot in a town made of scraps and gears, and you have to save the girl robot by solving beautifully designed puzzles. It's one of our favourite interactive experiences on the iPad — and now on Android, as well.

  The newly launched Android version is cheaper than the iPad one, and can be played on smaller screens; however, developer Hothead Games recommends it for tablets, since it was designed to be looked at and played in a higher resolution, and touch accuracy degrades on a smaller screen.

  Platform: Android; iPad
  Price: AU$3.99 (Android); AU$5.49 (iPad)

• Sonic 4 Episode II

  

  Sonic 4 Episode I was a bit of a surprise on both iOS and Android — it was actually fun to play, with smooth controls and visuals. Now Episode II has come out, and it keeps up the precedent set by its predecessor. We also like that you can play co-op multiplayer with a friend via Bluetooth.

  If you're an Android person, alas, Sonic 4 Episode II will only run on devices with the Tegra 3 Nvidia chipset. We're hoping that it'll get a more universal launch soon.

  Platform: Android; iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
  Price: AU$7.03 (Android); AU$7.49 (iOS)

• Plopp

  

  With Plopp, the idea is to create chain reactions. Bubbles, or "plopps", grow on your screen; you tap them to burst them, which will set off a chain reaction of popping and point scoring. The bigger the plopps get, the more points they accrue — but if two plopps touch each other outside of a chain reaction, they'll disappear, leaving you missing the points. It can get quite challenging, trying to get the biggest chain reactions timed just so, while losing as few plopps as possible.

  It also works the other way around; red plopps are negative points, so if you let those ones touch, they'll disappear off the board — the trick is in guiding that to happen while not losing the positive plopps. And black plopps can't be popped manually, so you have to make sure that you have a poppable plopp big enough to reach any black ones on the board.

  Overall, it's deceptively simplistic — there can be as much or as little strategy involved as you like, all set around a cute little electro soundtrack.

  And now, our P key needs a rest.

  Have an appy weekend, y'all!

  Platform: Android
  Price: AU$1.22

Got a hot app tip to share? Let us know by emailing cnet@cnet.com.au.