Sim City
Developer: EA Netherlands
The question as to whether Sim City is a great game is largely a moot point in 2009; it’s an undisputed classic. This fledgling iPhone version could easily have become a disaster however, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see that EA Netherlands has turned out a fully-featured title that utilises the strengths of the iPhone interface to enhance the experience.
Dragging and placing zones and buildings is as easy as highlighting an area on the screen with your chosen digit, whilst the interface allows for small adjustments to boundaries and locations before committing any changes to the map with a simple tap. Zooming in and out is performed with the standard iPhone finger gestures, and the whole thing runs along at a decent framerate even when the map is chock full of smoking apartment blocks.
As an exercise at adapting a complex interface to the tiny screen, Sim City is a bigger success than most people would have ever expected; a triumph that bodes well for future PC ports.
9/10
Midnight Bowling
Developer: Gameloft
The concept here is relatively simple if somewhat bizarre. Take one part megabowl and one part Hollywood hills, add a dash of underground racing and you end up with Midnight Bowling; a game where caricatures caricature caricatures all the way to the cliché bank without pausing for non-thought.
Fortunately it actually plays pretty well. Featuring a similar setup to the addictive Tiger Woods, you’ll swipe a finger up the screen to dictate power and direction followed by tilting the phone to swerve the ball left to right. Again, like Tiger, it’s easy enough for the ham-fisted get into but subtle enough to warrant practice and replay.
On top of that, it’s not often that you’ll get to play a bowling game with a dedicated career mode featuring a love story; and that may be a recommendation to a select few among you.
7/10
Cube Runner
Developer: Andy Qua
From the homepage: “Cube Runner is a game for the iPhone and iPod Touch where the aim is to fly your ship across a terrain littered with Cubes. No-one knows how the cubes got there but you need to get through them”.
Sometimes the product description is about all you need.
Cube Runner requires you to tilt the iPhone left or right to avoid oncoming cubes as a techno beat pulses in the background. Deceptively simple but utterly compelling, at the height of addiction you’ll experience a similar sensation to the final levels of Rez; the background of reality fades away and all you can focus on are the colours flashing through your brain. For a portable game, that’s no small feat.
8/10
Paper Toss
Developer: Backflip Studios
Currently available free on the App Store, Paper Toss is possibly the dumbest, simplest way to pass time in this week’s roundup; and probably will be for some time to come.
The aim is to toss paper balls into a basket on the other side of an office, adjusting for wind speed (office fans) and direction before launching with a flick of the finger.
It’s silly, addictive, and the drive to beat your own number of consecutively successful tosses remains high long past the point of realisation that you’re probably wasting your life minute by minute.
Professional enthusiast, videogame "journalist" and all-round spectacular sofa dweller.
I wish i had an iphone for Paper Toss. I've tried to simulate it in real life, but my boss has just told me off.
I wish i had an iphone for Paper Toss. I’ve tried to simulate it in real life, but my boss has just told me off.
papertoss is the best game on the iphone, i’d love a £10 note for every minute i’ve wasted of work time on that game!
hehehe you could papertoss the £10 notes Bizzal!