Jacob Hall, Editor-in-Chief of TapSauce | APPS | 07.04.2012 @ 12:00 pm
First of all, let’s get the obvious out of the way. From the entire office at Rocksauce Studios, we wish you a safe and exciting Fourth of July holiday! To get into the spirit of the day, we decided to scour the App Store and search for an app that would assist us in our celebration. All we had to do was type “fireworks” into the search bar!
There are tons of fireworks themed apps available for download. So we decided to go through the most popular free results and measure them against one another. Which fireworks app is the best of the bunch? Well, let’s take a look.
Fireworks Arcade: Have you ever wanted to play a shameless Fruit Ninja rip-off with fireworks instead of fruit? How about whack-a-mole? Memory? If you like badly designed, firework-themed games that play like lesser versions of much better games, then Fireworks arcade is for you! Toss in lousy graphics, tinny sound and a menu straight out of 1993 and you’ve got yourself a loser. D+
iLoveFireworks: Unlike Fireworks Arcade, iLoveFireworks doesn’t force its fireworks into games. No, this app is just about letting you create a kickass firework displays! The app can link up with your iTunes, letting you select what songs you want to underscore your custom display of explosive patriotism. Apply different kinds of pressure, swiping instead of tapping and holding down your finger will all result in unique fireworks, so learning how to create new types is half of the fun. Of course, you can record your display as your create it (soundtrack included!), letting you share it with friends later. To top it all off, it all looks and sounds pretty darn nice. B+
FireWorks: You boot up the app and find yourself facing an incomprehensible menu screen. You finally tap something and find yourself directed to a random 60 second, low quality video of fireworks exploding in the night sky. It’s like YouTube if YouTube only had a handful of fireworks videos and didn’t give you any choice in what you wanted to watch. This app is a complete waste of your time and energy. F
Fireworks Game: Yes, the name of this app is “Fireworks Game.” Generic title aside, it’s not terrible…just rather uninspired. Unlike Fireworks Arcade, which ripped off every game under the sun, Fireworks Game is a reasonably original creation, where you set off fireworks of various kinds to create chain reactions amongst the rest of the fireworks on the screen. It’s completely passable entertainment, but the slow gameplay and dull graphics don’t let it stand out in a world where high quality mobile games are just a click away. C+
Kid Fireworks: If you’ve ever wanted an app that felt like an interactive Windows 95 screensaver, then Kid Fireworks is the app for you! As computer-controlled fireworks explode in a dull but three dimensional environment, you can tilt your phone to look around and pinch you screen to take a closer look. Even with “kid” in the title, it’s hard to imagine even young people enjoying this dull app, especially iLoveFireworks lets you create your own displays. D
3D Fireworks 2: Well, it’s no iLoveFireworks, but it’s certainly better than Kid Fireworks. Combining aspects of both of those apps, 3D Fireworks 2 (yet another incredibly awkward title) lets you launch your own fireworks while exploring a dull 3D environment. It doesn’t have much more going for it, but at least a shoulder shrug is a better reaction than boredom vomit. C
There’s no contest here: if you want to download a fireworks app today stick to iLoveFireworks. Everything else is just, well…they’re just particularly good. The good news is that it’ll be pretty easy to see some real fireworks today, so these lackluster apps won’t tarnish too much of your fun.