Five to Try: Help improve with Crowdsource, Marvel Tsum Tsum is super fun

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 2 Sep 2016

It’s bor Day weekend here in the States, so hopefully you have some well-earned leisure time planned in the days ahead. And if so, you might want to spend a little bit of that time putting some new apps games on your Android phone. In fact, wouldn’t mind a few minutes of help: its new Crowdsource app gives you the power to improve its services right from your device. 

Other new releases worth a look this week include Marvel Tsum Tsum, a comic book puzzler based on Disney’s popular plush line, as well as music video creator Funimate, flashy puzzle favorite mines: zzle Music, Final Fantasy XV spinoff stice Monsters Five. Be sure to enjoy the long weekend— some fresh apps, as well.

Crowdsource

fivetotry sept2 crowdsource

Chip in a few minutes of your time to help refine ’s A.I.-driven services.

’s new Android app is designed to help you help … to help you, really. Crowdsource asks you to spend a little time vetting ’s various A.I. powered tools, putting your human eyes brain to use to check the work of its powerful computers. You can view hwritten words from other users or snippets of photos type in what they say, for example, or help confirm translations for text or Maps data.

at’s the point? ll, these intelligent platforms don’t always get it right, but with a little human-assisted course correction, they’ll only get smarter over time. And a surprisingly frank spokesperson even told TechCrunch that for some languages, the company’s tools “aren’t very good right now.” If you can help bridge that gap, you’ll make its services a little better for people around the world. But that’s really the only incentive it offers.

Marvel Tsum Tsum

fivetotry sept2 marveltsumtsum

It’s a super-cute puzzler— there’s a bit more depth than the earlier Disney version.

Have you seen those adorable Disney Tsum Tsum plush toys in stores? They’re a panese craze that’s finding fans here, as well, there are Marvel character versions too— game adaptations, to boot. In fact, Marvel Tsum Tsum follows the same basic puzzle template as the fun ne: Disney Tsum Tsum game from a couple years back, but builds a larger more in-depth experience around it.

Here, you’ll still link together three or more of the same hero or villain in close proximity, which is done by drawing a path between them, but now there are missions, special powers to trigger, team-up abilities for multiple Tsum Tsum comic legends. It’s cute, breezy fun, with charming little adaptations of Iron Man, Captain America, more within.

Funimate

fivetotry sept2 funimate

tch some well-edited fan videos or quickly compile your own with Funimate.

ready with millions of downloads on iOS, Funimate is finally available on Android, it lets you create your own effects-laden music videos in a snap. Simply pick a song from Funimate’s library or those contributed by users, then you can film your own lipsync clip with your phone’s selfie camera. After that, the magic happens.

Funimate has a heap of special effects filters that let you transform parts of the footage with minimal effort, you can quickly alternate between them to create the trippy home music video of your dreams. Clips are then shared with the community, with the best ones shown in a Featured reel, plus you can follow friends top users in a very Instagram-like fashion. Know a teenager (or pre-teen)? He/she will probably love this app. You might too.

mines: zzle & Music

fivetotry sept2 lumines

Console hheld puzzle fans should know mines well, it’s finally on Android.

First debuting on Sony’s hheld in 2005, mines is one the most enthralling puzzlers of the last decade-plus, merging music block-clearing together in a really powerful way— now it’s on Android. mines: zzle & Music ($3) is a new entry that shifts to a portrait view, but maintains the elements that made other versions great.

Essentially, you’ll rotate drop squares comprised of two different colors of blocks try to create single-color squares, rectangles, chains below. The music isn’t just for the background, either: the tempo determines the pace of the game how quickly linked blocks are cleared from the board, plus a new visual skin comes with each song change. Unfortunately for skilled fans of the old games, the one-hed touch controls slow down the game compared to a d-pad buttons. At least the fundamentals are still strong the look sound are appealing.

stice Monsters Five

fivetotry sept2 justicemonsters

Square Enix’s new Final Fantasy spinoff is a strange one indeed.

Final Fantasy XV isn’t even out yet— won’t be until late November, due to a recent delay—but the upcoming R entry is already a multimedia franchise in its own right. There’s the Kingsglaive CG movie in select theaters, now you can download stice Monsters Five on the ay Store. at the heck is it? ll, it’s a mini-game that the heroes play within Final Fantasy XV on consoles, but now you can play it on your Android phone as well. 

stice Monsters Five is a combat-centric spin on pinball, in which you’ll fling heroes up into the game board bounce them between bumpers barriers while bashing enemy monsters to bits. The gameplay is a bit clumsy the app itself has some stability issues, but the character dialogue is surprisingly funny ( odd too), it could be a free amusing way to begin immersing yourself in the series’ next big universe.