iPod Games Megareview

Over the past few weeks I've had a chance to download a play quite a few iPod/iPhone games, so here's my review digest.

• Bubble Wrap (FREE): A high speed time trial for popping those awesome packing bubbles virtually.  Fun to pass around for a few minutes with friends to beat each other's high scores.
  1-stars
• Cannon Challenge (FREE): A physics based stationary tank shooting game dealing with trajectory and speed. Lots of targets as the levels progress. A single play through is probably all you need.
  2-stars
• Flight Control ($1 sale): This game is awesome. Touch and drag various aircraft to their color coordinated landing zones. Don't let them crash into each other as they fly onto the screen. So simple. So addictive. Highly rated. Get it before the temporary price goes back up to $4.
  5-stars
• LightBike (FREE version): TRON lovers will dig this rip-off game. I'm sort of intrigued to buy the full version.
  3-start
• Lightsaber Unleashed (FREE): All I can say is that I was once ambushed by two coworkers with their copy of this silly Lightsaber, motion control based toy. I'm no longer a virgin to air-light saber battles. We laughed the whole 20 seconds it lasted, then cried a little.
  2-start
• Monster Pinball ($4): A six-table pinball game with beautiful, cute monster graphics and table elements. This was the first game I bought. I think it's still worth the $4 after playing it too.
  4-stars
• Paper Toss (FREE): Another physics game where you are given a number and direction of wind speed in an office (they are so windy those cubicles) and you have to "throw" a paper ball in a waste basket. It would have been better to have speed control as well as direction. Still a good time for free.
  3-stars
• Peggle ($1 sale): A falling ball game based on Pachinko or the Price is Right's "Plinko". Special pegs have powers such as multiple balls or pinball-style flippers to keep the ball going. Great sound/music. The level themes are nice too.
  5-stars
• Pew Pew (FREE): A space game mashup of Geometry Wars and Super Smash TV (or Robotron if your that old). I like the two versions. One is solitary avoid-the-badies-and-get-to-the-door game and the other is a outlast-the-waves-of-enemies-and-shoot-them-up style game. The later has dual thumb controls.
  4-stars
• Tap Tap Revenge (FREE): Guitar Hero/Rock Band style game play for the iPod. The game is free. Most of the music downloads are free. It's a win/win when you add in the controls. Three buttons to press as well as shaking the iPod to the left, right, and floorward. A must have.
  5-stars
• Wild West Pinball ($1 sale): Another pinball game, but a single table. The camera moves in nice and close on the table when the ball is dancing around the bumpers at the top of the table. The sounds are authentic for the style of table that it is and it's got really good physics. It's a sparce table, but it's really well done.
  4-stars
• 2XL Supercross Lite (FREE): I was very tempted to buy the full version of this motion controlled motocross racer. What really kept me from getting it wasn't the graphics, the framerate or the sound, but the motion controlled steering that involved turning the iPod to steer. When you turn the iPod, you're turning the screen too! Very hard to play a game like that unless you've memorized the tracks (or lean your head with the iPod).
  4-stars

That's about it. I've played quite a few games that I played for 10 seconds and then deleted. But a couple things surprise me about the games that are being developed here.

First of all, the touch screen joysticks are actually pretty darn good. I thought I would find myself having to watch the screen where the small circles are for the thumb controls, but it's not as hard as you would think keeping your thumbs where they need to be. The Terminator game was the first game I played that used them heavily, but the slow framerate of the game made it unplayable, not the controls.

Secondly, there is a very nice war going on the App store. Peggle started it all by selling it's game for $1 for a limited time and grabbing the number one spot for sales that week. Since then, almost every day afterwards, a game will either go on sale for a buck or totally free for a limited time. It's a great way to grab really good games (like I did above). We all find ourselves checking the store daily to grab these good dollar gems.