Discovery VR, Lara Croft GO, and other awesome apps of the week

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appsoftheweek_1024
Have an 'appy weekend.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

From undersea virtual reality to a great Mac Instagram client, there have been plenty of interesting apps that have hit the App Store in the past seven days. But which ones to download this weekend?

Thankfully, Cult of Mac is here to help guide you through the best apps of the week. Check below to see our picks:

Discovery VR

Du-du du-du du-du-du-du du-du-du-du-du. Or some other way of writing the Jaws theme.
Du-du du-du du-du-du-du du-du-du-du-du. Or some other way of writing the Jaws theme.
Photo: Discovery

What better demonstration could there be of 360-degree virtual reality on your iPhone or iPad than being submerged in the ocean, surrounded by sharks, all from the comfort of your own home?

Discovery VR offers a range of Mythbusters clips, accompanied by an explanatory voiceover. To explore each scene, simply move around your iPhone or iPad. Certainly it’s a gimmick, but it’s a a fun showcase of what can be achieved when it comes to immersive VR experiences on your Apple mobile device. Who needs Oculus when you’ve got an iPhone, right?

Available for: iPhone/iPad
Price: Free
Download it from: App Store

BlockBye

Call it a misspent childhood spent in arcades if you want, but I’m a sucker for the kind of takes-a-minute-to-learn-but-a-lifetime-to-master puzzle games turned out by companies like Atari throughout the 1970s and 80s. Blockbye is a perfect fit in that regard — offering a fun game that’s equal parts Tetris and Super Breakout.

It might not have the epic quality of recent iOS titles like Final Fantasy VII, but it’ll definitely keep you tapping away on the bus to work.

Available for: iPhone/iPad
Price: $0.99
Download it from: App Store

Lara Croft GO

A turn-based, isometric Tomb Raider game doesn’t sound like it has the makings of a winning iOS title, but the newly-launched Lara Croft GO is eager to defy your expectations.

Adding gorgeous cell-shaded graphics and an additional level of strategy that’s absent from the usual run-and-gun action, Lara Croft GO sticks with the the tried-and-true mixture of rolling boulders and collapsing floors, but turns the whole concept on its head by transforming Tomb Raider into turn-based strategy game.

Well worth a download, particularly if you enjoyed the studio’s previous Hitman GO.

Available for: iPhone/iPad
Price: $4.99
Download it from: App Store

Photoflow

This might be the best way to experience Instagram on your Mac.
This might be the best way to experience Instagram on your Mac.
Photo: Photoflow

A gorgeous Instagram client for Mac, Photoflow supports multiple accounts and streams, and lets you surf, comment and like images at your leisure on both your personal and (if you have one) professional accounts.

On top of that, there are desktop notifications for comments, likes and new photos, a nifty trackpad gesture-based interface, and the ability to zoom in to get a closer look at photos and videos.

Sadly you can’t upload images directly to Instagram through Photoflow, but it’s still a great tool to get your hands on.

Available for: Mac
Price: $4.99
Download it from: Mac App Store

M

Facebook's answer to Siri.
Facebook’s answer to Siri.
Photo: Facebook

No, not Fritz Lang’s 1931 crime movie about a child killer, M is instead Facebook’s answer to Siri — offering a combination of AI and human-powered answers to questions. Rather than being carried out through natural language speech, Facebook’s M takes the form of chat-style text-based conversations.

In addition to the kind of reminders and notifications functionality we expect from a Siri or Google Now, M can also make restaurant reservations, find gifts for your significant other, and a variety of other tasks we were assured Siri would be able to carry out, but still remain elusive.

M isn’t its own standalone app, but instead a feature built into Facebook’s Messenger tool. Sadly, it’s a bit of a cheat to include on this list since it’s only available as a beta to people in the Bay Area — but if you live in San Francisco, it’s certainly worth a download to check out.

Available for: iPhone/iPad
Price: Free
Download it from: App Store

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