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Seven great games for your iPhone
Posted January 22, 2009
By CHAD SAPIEHA, EVERGEEK MEDIA
The iPod Touch and its cousin the iPhone are about to become major players in portable gaming. Hundreds of titles have already been released through the App Store, and unlike the low-fidelity fare normally found on music players and cell phones, many of these games feature high production values and surprisingly innovative play.
What's more, they're dirt cheap. Most are priced between $1 and $10, and plenty are available for free. Compare those prices with the $20 to $50 games available for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable and it’s fair to assume that Sony and Nintendo might be alarmed by their new competitor. Here's a quick rundown of some of the best iGames to date.
Rolando (ngmoco, $9.99)
4.5 (out of five)
Innovative in both play and visual design, Rolando uses the iPod Touch's motion-sensing capabilities to let players roll tiny, cartoon-faced spheres around the screen as though they were real balls subject to the laws of our world's gravity. The puzzle-based platform play is brilliant (recalling, to a degree, the PlayStation Portable's daring LocoRoco), and the bright and bold graphics are instantly adorable. It's the best game yet made for Apple's handheld devices.
Fieldrunners (Subatomic Studios, $4.99)
4.25 (out of five)
If you've played PixelJunk Monsters, a downloadable title for the PlayStation Network, you'll have a good idea what to expect from Fieldrunners. A tower defence strategy game, players position turrets on the playing field to intercept approaching enemies. Money is earned with each fallen foe, and players spend that cash on more weapons and better defences. It's addictive, wonderfully accessible, and requires just the right amount of concentration to make it a perfect distraction for quick commutes.
Hero of Sparta (Gameloft, $9.99)
4.25 (out of five)
Gameloft's brawler is an unabashed rip-off of Sony's God of War games, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun. Indeed, Hero of Sparta is proof that Apple's handhelds can do action games with aplomb. Using a virtual thumb-pad and action buttons located on the touch screen, players steer an ancient warrior through surprisingly lush three-dimensional worlds and use his bladed arsenal to slice and dice a wide variety of fantastical evildoers. Who would have thought we would one day be hacking and slashing our way through fully polygonal gorgons and centaurs on an iPod?
Warfare Incorporated (Spiffcode, $4.99)
4.25 (out of five)
A classic real-time strategy game complete with resource collection and management, structure and unit building, and a surprisingly compelling story-driven campaign, Warfare Incorporated makes terrific use of the iPod Touch's touch screen for unit selection and menu commands and consequently demonstrates the surprising versatility of the device as a gaming system. Obviously, it lacks the sophistication and visual panache of the latest PC-based games in the genre, but as handheld RTS games go it's pretty much unbeatable. An ideal way for tactics junkies to get their strategy fixes on the way to work.
I Love Katamari (Namco Bandai, $7.99)
4 (out of five)
The pleasantly bizarre Katamari franchise, which sees a robed, rainbow spewing Elvis look-alike known as the King of All Cosmos ordering players to roll everything in the universe up into a great big ball, was pretty much made for the iPod Touch. Just use the device's motion-sensitive capabilities to roll the ball around the screen like a big, sticky marble. Apple's hardware struggles a bit now and then with the dynamic, three-dimensional worlds, resulting staggered frames, but not enough to seriously detract from the fun.
What's more, they're dirt cheap. Most are priced between $1 and $10, and plenty are available for free. Compare those prices with the $20 to $50 games available for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable and it’s fair to assume that Sony and Nintendo might be alarmed by their new competitor. Here's a quick rundown of some of the best iGames to date.
Rolando (ngmoco, $9.99)4.5 (out of five)
Innovative in both play and visual design, Rolando uses the iPod Touch's motion-sensing capabilities to let players roll tiny, cartoon-faced spheres around the screen as though they were real balls subject to the laws of our world's gravity. The puzzle-based platform play is brilliant (recalling, to a degree, the PlayStation Portable's daring LocoRoco), and the bright and bold graphics are instantly adorable. It's the best game yet made for Apple's handheld devices.
Fieldrunners (Subatomic Studios, $4.99)4.25 (out of five)
If you've played PixelJunk Monsters, a downloadable title for the PlayStation Network, you'll have a good idea what to expect from Fieldrunners. A tower defence strategy game, players position turrets on the playing field to intercept approaching enemies. Money is earned with each fallen foe, and players spend that cash on more weapons and better defences. It's addictive, wonderfully accessible, and requires just the right amount of concentration to make it a perfect distraction for quick commutes.
Hero of Sparta (Gameloft, $9.99)4.25 (out of five)
Gameloft's brawler is an unabashed rip-off of Sony's God of War games, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun. Indeed, Hero of Sparta is proof that Apple's handhelds can do action games with aplomb. Using a virtual thumb-pad and action buttons located on the touch screen, players steer an ancient warrior through surprisingly lush three-dimensional worlds and use his bladed arsenal to slice and dice a wide variety of fantastical evildoers. Who would have thought we would one day be hacking and slashing our way through fully polygonal gorgons and centaurs on an iPod?
Warfare Incorporated (Spiffcode, $4.99)4.25 (out of five)
A classic real-time strategy game complete with resource collection and management, structure and unit building, and a surprisingly compelling story-driven campaign, Warfare Incorporated makes terrific use of the iPod Touch's touch screen for unit selection and menu commands and consequently demonstrates the surprising versatility of the device as a gaming system. Obviously, it lacks the sophistication and visual panache of the latest PC-based games in the genre, but as handheld RTS games go it's pretty much unbeatable. An ideal way for tactics junkies to get their strategy fixes on the way to work.
Tap Tap Dance (Tapulous, $4.99) 4 (out of five)
To get a grip on Tap Tap Dance, just imagine Guitar Hero but with your fingers tapping a screen rather than plucking a plastic strummer and an emphasis on keyboards instead of axes (contributing artists include the likes of Daft Punk, Moby, and the Chemical Brothers). Tap Tap Dance is low on originality, to be sure, but scores high marks in terms of playability. If you want to try before you buy, download the slightly older Tap Tap Revenge, which is free and offers essentially the same play.
I Love Katamari (Namco Bandai, $7.99)4 (out of five)
The pleasantly bizarre Katamari franchise, which sees a robed, rainbow spewing Elvis look-alike known as the King of All Cosmos ordering players to roll everything in the universe up into a great big ball, was pretty much made for the iPod Touch. Just use the device's motion-sensitive capabilities to roll the ball around the screen like a big, sticky marble. Apple's hardware struggles a bit now and then with the dynamic, three-dimensional worlds, resulting staggered frames, but not enough to seriously detract from the fun.
The Plateau (Spoonjuice, $0.99)4 (out of five)
It takes a while to wrap your mind around this brain-breaking puzzler, but once you do The Plateau becomes an enormously satisfying interactive experience. It's like one of those remove-the-ring-from-the-metal-frame puzzles you get in your stocking at Christmas, only in two dimensions and without the rings. It's difficult to explain, and perhaps even more difficult to master, but, most importantly, it's fun. And super cheap. If the sub-dollar price doesn't do it for you, you can try it for free by downloading the demo version, dubbed The Plateau Lite.
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Newsroom Notes
Seven great games for your iPhone
File Under:
Casual, Round-up, iPhone / iPod Touch, Apple
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