Oh, My Word! iPhone/iPod Touch Game Review (Mobile Pie)

Oh, My Word! is a very straight-forward game to get started with. The goal is to guess the hidden five letter word (which is the middle row in the screen shot) and, with each guess, you are told whether your guess falls above or below the hidden word in the dictionary. The challenge points are that you have a total of 50 guesses (and non-dictionary words use up a guess) and three hints (in total - not per word).

The problem with this game is that there just isn't enough here to hold my attention. I found myself guessing pluralized four letter and five letter words attempting to narrow down the word choices and I would often get to the point where the word bands (the upper and lower words) differed by two letters. The hints are also fairly non-helpful as you only get three for the whole game and you can only get a hint for one of the last three letters of the word. When too many of the hidden words seem to be plurals, it isn't much help to know that the last letter (or last two letters) are "S" (or "ES"). I tried the game multiple times and too often found myself trying to figure out a five letter word that falls between (i.e.) 'SHARES' and 'STARES'. While Oh, My Word! isn't a bad game, I'm not a Scrabble fan and this game didn't connect with me either.

Oh, My Word! is available in a free (advertiser supported) version and a paid version for .99 cents. If anyone is interested in trying the game, the free version will be more than fine for most people as it shows just one (slow to load) ad for Pearl Jam's new disc before the game.



Links:
Mobile Pie

Cleopatra Slot Machine Game Now Available for iPhone and iPod Touch

Cleopatra is one of the classic casino slot machines in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and was prominently positioned last time I was in Caesars Atlantic City. This iPhone/iTouch game is a straight-forward port of all of the slot machine's look, feel and sound. While there isn't a slot machine handle on the iPhone, you shake the device to spin the reels.



Like the land-based slot, this game is a 5-reel, 20-line game. You start the game with 3,000 credits and you can bet on 1 to 20 lines. Each line has a minimum of a one credit bet and a maximum of a five credit bet.

The jackpot comes from landing five Cleopatra symbols on a pay line but you can also do very nicely with a series of Sphinx symbols. If two or more Sphinx symbols appears anywhere on the reels, you earn a scatter award. The more Sphinx symbols that appear - the higher the reward. With three or more Sphinx symbols, you earn the Cleopatra Bonus which is fifteen free spins and any award won during these free spins are at 3x the normal amount.

The game has both an instant play mode (solo) and a tournament mode where you can compete for a place on the global leader board.

For any casino slot machine fans, the only thing missing in this game is the payout.

Cleopatra is $1.99 from the iTunes AppStore.

Magnificent Gizmos & Gadgets - New Physics Based Puzzle Game for the iPhone/iPod Touch (Publisher X)

Earlier this week, Publisher X announced that the physics-based puzzle game Magnificent Gizmos & Gadgets is now available in the iTunes App Store.

The concept behind Magnificent Gizmos & Gadgets is straight-forward as players have to move an object from one part of the screen to another. The challenge though is getting this done - you can build catapults, automated vehicles, and even create battering rams as you navigate through the different terrains and obstacles. There are multiple solutions to each level so the game should hold up to repeated play.

Magnificent Gizmos & Gadgets features:
• 44 challenging levels, each with an infinite number of possible solutions
• A variety of environmental objects, including explosive cannons, powerful fans, rumbling conveyors, and more
• A helpful tutorial and hint system that teaches you how to be a physics whiz
• A "Share" feature that allows you to save and email your favorite Gizmos to your friends
• Beautifully stylized visuals
• Groovy, foot-tappin' soundtrack

Magnificent Gizmos & Gadgets is available through the App Store for $4.99. You can visit the official Magnificent Gizmos & Gadgets website to learn more and try out a demo of the game.

Flight Control - iPhone/iPod Touch Game Review (Firemint)

Flight Control is currently one of my favorite games and it is well worth the (current) .99 cent price.

The game's premise is deceptively simple; you are an air traffic controller and you have to land red and yellow planes and helicopters on their appropriate runways. You use the touch screen to draw the landing path for each plane. It is easy to get going with this game and that is what makes it additively challenging.

Landing the first 20 or so planes is reasonably straight-forward but, after that, planes start appearing from all sides of the screen...and many of them are queuing for the same runway. The other challenge is that the different types of planes fly at different speeds so it takes a careful eye to set and modify the flight paths for each of the planes to ensure there isn't a mid-air collision.

The ability to pause the game is nice but appleiphoneapps.com posted that Firemint is going to update the game on Friday (April 24th) to include online highscores and the ability to save your game.

While there is only one level of play, I haven't gotten bored of the game after many repeated plays (which says a lot). There is a good reason that Flight Control is the top selling game in the iTunes App Store.

Links:
Flight Control (iTunes App Store)

Antimatter - iPhone/iPod Touch Game Review (Pangea Software)

Antimatter is the latest game from Pangea Software, the creators of Enigmo. It is extremely simple to get started with this game but it is (thus far) difficult to master, which keeps the game play fairly addictive.

The game's premise is that "you control a stream of antimatter particles and use it to affect the Cosmic Strings while collecting powerups and bonus points." How this works is that you control direction of the antimatter particle with your finger and you have to bounce the particle into each of the blue Cosmic Strings, which then turns the Strings red. Once all the Strings are turned red, you clear the level. Antimatter's graphics are stunning.

The game has a number of challenging aspects. The first is that you have a limited amount of energy and you have to clear each level before your energy runs out. You can collect more energy by hitting the Strings or "power-ups" that appear on the screen. As time progresses, the Strings break into smaller pieces (which makes then infinitely harder to hit) and you can accidently turn a String back to blue by hitting it a second time. The first few levels are fairly simple to clear but it gets complex quickly as more strings are added at each level.

Antimatter is only $1.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Soul Trapper - Episode 1: Ollie Ollie Oxen Free (iPhone/iPod Touch Game)

Soul Trapper is an interesting new App Store game from Realtime Audio Adventures. What makes this application stand out from the pack is that it is more of a "chose your own adventure" audio book than a pure game.

Soul Trapper's story line is pure pulp noir as it follows the exploits of Kane Pryce, a 27 year old drifter who hunts down and dispatches ghosts to the after-life with the aid of his Soul Trapper. The story line has all the main plot vehicles of a 40's/50's detective novel; a one-man army "hero", a beautiful love interest and seemingly impossible obstacles to overcome. While the story starts slow, it builds fairly quickly and I was hooked in from about Chapter 3 onward.

The gaming portion of the application is somewhat limited. While you can direct Kane to do certain actions (using arrows on the touch screen), the story doesn't move on until you pick the correct option. As such, there aren't alternate story lines and you really can't "die" (as you could in the early computer adventure games). As Soul Trapper is truly an "audio adventure", there really isn't much in the line of visuals, outside of a different image for each of the 23 chapters. The audio though is quite rich and it ranges from vocals narratives from the different characters (almost like a radio drama) to providing clues for many of the game vignettes.

As a book, I really enjoyed this application and it took me about four hours to finish the story. Looking strictly at the game functionality, this is probably not an application for hard-core gamers. The game play is pretty limited and it seems unlikely that you would come back to the application for the games once you have completed the story line.

As a fan of the pulp noir style of writing, I'm looking forward to hearing Episode 2.

Links:
Soul Trapper (Apple App Store)

Toy Bot Diaries 3 - iPhone Game Review (IUGO)

Toy Bot Diaries 3 is an impressive entry into the iPhone gaming space as it is has both great game play and an impressive amount of detail and design in the screens.

This action/puzzle game falls into the "hero on a mission" genre and you need to guide the game's hero, Toy Bot, through six levels of difficulty. Toy Bot moves via his grappling hook and magnetic boots but one of the early-on challenges is the effect that the zero-gravity of space has on Toy Bot's movements. There is a lot of action and puzzles in the game and each level requires both skill and practice to complete. What is nice though is that the game has an "auto-save" feature so you don't have to restart a level when you die.

In addition to the challenge of navigating each level, there are also memory chips hidden throughout which unlock Toy Bot's memories. I haven't yet finished all the levels as the core game is challenging enough but I did get all of the chips on one level. While this feat certainly appears repeatable in other levels, you have to time your jumps and tilts just right.

This game is very engaging and has enough action that it is well worth the $3.99 cost. As this is supposed to be the final installment of the Toy Bot series, it will be interesting to see where IUGO goes next.

Koi Pond: iPhone Application Review (iTunes App Store)

This game is perfect...if your idea of fun is watching paint dry or the Home Shoppers Network.

I'm a fairly new iPhone user so I've ben trying to check out some of the top apps in the iTunes App Store. Koi Pond is the electronic equivalent of the mini Zen Gardens for the office. Here is another piece of junk that is probably going to be marketed as a "stress reliever".

My complaint with Koi Pond is that it really doesn't do anything. The main functionality of the app is that you can feed the fish by shaking the phone and you can also stick your finger in the water and, if you hold it real still, the fish will nibble your finger. As the main functionality didn't hold my attention - I certainly don't care that you can move the lilly pads around on the screen and manipulate the multi-layered ambient background noise.

I've shown this game to a few co-workers and almost everyone of them has lost interest in the app after a minute or two. In fact, most of them stir up the water and "scare" away all of the fish before handing my iPhone back.

Just to give a balanced perspective, here are a couple reviews that loved the app:
Mactropolis.com
iPhone Savior (whose only complaint was that the fish didn't make farting noises when swimming away -- I really hope he is kidding)

Links:
The Blimp Pilots (authors of Koi Pond)

TapTap Revenge Releases Nine Inch Nails Version of Game (iPhone/iPod Touch)

TapTap Revenge, which is the iPhone/iPod Touch's equivalent of Guitar Hero, just released a Nine Inch Nails version of the game. The game soundtrack includes 13 tracks from NiN's last two releases The Slip and Ghosts I-IV.

Aside for being a highly addictive game, Tapulous is giving away floor tickets for every NIN show between 11/8 and 12/12. There is also a grand prize of a Les Paul guitar signed by Trent. To enter, you need to submit a score of over 150,000 points on any track in the game. (I haven't personally broken 100K yet).

The Nine Inch Nails version of TapTap Revenge is available through the iTunes App store for $4.99