The graphics are slick and well made which is essential for a game where the pace of the action is often fast and unpredictable. The amount of obstacles, bonuses and hidden mini-features is fine but in my opinion there could be a lot more added in order to make the game more interesting. Adding extra features would definitely increase the longevity of the game because the more ways you can score extra points the more determined you will be to achieve a record score. One other downside to the game is the dynamic view the developers have chosen to use. Your view of the action follows the ball which means you can only see the certain sections of the table at any one moment.

This undoubtedly creates a greater sense of movement and action but when the ball is moving rapidly it makes the game much more difficult because you can’t always see the hole at the bottom of the table until it’s too late. A static view of the whole table would make the game less frustrating and players would still find it tricky enough to want to keep coming back to perfect their skills. Once you feel you’ve racked up a strong score you can submit your results to the international leader board but a word of warning, some of the top scores are eye wateringly high. It is difficult to get bored with Wild West Pinball because pinball as a game in itself is highly entertaining; whether the dynamic view detracts from your gaming experience will be a matter of personal preference. Wild West Pinball is certainly worth downloading though as it will provide you with more than enough entertainment when you’re looking for a way to pass the time.

There are four difficulty settings: free, easy, normal and hard. Free mode has no time limit and the water will only be released when you activate it. This mode is good as it allows you to create snaking labyrinths without having to worry about being soaked by the dodgy water mains valve. Once you’ve quelled your architectural urges in free mode it’s time to get serious test your skills in easy mode. From here it’s up to you to move through the levels and see how elaborate you can make your sewage systems without running out of time or space.

Toobz isn’t the a game that’s going to set the world alight but it is a quaint little game that will put your nerves and planning skills to the test. It’s unlikely that you’ll rank the game ahead of others you have on your iPhone and if your memory is getting low then it would likely be one of the first games to get the chop. It is, however, a game that you can dive into without any hassle and play a quick game when you’ve got a spare two minutes. Beating your own best scores will be the only motivation you need to keep your interest in the game and whilst it might be a game you won’t miss if it’s gone, you will certainly be grateful it’s there when you’ve got a spare few minutes to kill.

How to Shred Your iPhone

The game offers users the chance to either jam away on the guitar or bash out the beats on the drums. The ability to plug in headphones allows for total immersion in the game as players attempt to tour the circuit and achieve global rock star fame in career mode. Whilst strumming away to tunes such as Smoke on the Water, What’s My Age Again and Beat It, can be mastered relatively quickly on the easier levels, users may find that the drums take slightly longer to master. For the purpose of parity I should point out a few of negatives in the (although there aren’t many). Although the track list is stocked with instantly recognisable hits the experience is slightly tainted by the records not being by the original artists.

Also, if you fancy a quick jam session then you first need to work your way through the career mode in order to unlock the majority of the songs. However, this feature does increase the overall gaming aspect of the application. The biggest bug bear with the game though is that after half hour of ripping the chords you may find yourself needing to recharge your iPhone’s battery. Overall though these niggles aren’t enough to dampen the hours of fun you’re guaranteed to have tapping away to some of the biggest rock tunes in the world.

The game is perfectly designed for the iPhone as it utilizes two of its most unique features, namely the touch screen and the in-built accelerometer. To keep your swaying friend on his feet you can either tap either side of the screen to force him in that direction or tilt your iPhone in the direction you wish to move him. Once you’ve mastered the controls your task is to getting the rocking party animal as far as you can in three attempts. The cartoon graphics brilliantly encapsulate what this game is all about: fun. The random hiccups, encouraging “oi” sounds as you prod your man to keep him vertical and the merry grin on his face create an entertaining atmosphere. More importantly, the game is easy to play and frustratingly addictive.

Done Drinking is a perfect game for the iPhone because it not only makes good use of its groundbreaking technology but it’s a game that requires little effort and can fill those boring moments in the day. Indeed, this game truly is one for the road as you can swagger and sway while on the move. If the only downside is that you miss all the fun of drinking the fun you’ll have playing the game will certainly make up for it. Plus you won’t feel any of the nasty effects of a hangover in the morning.

The original version required you to use your mouse to pilot the aircraft through the tunnel but the developers have capitalized on the iPhone’s touch technology to control the chopper. The controls are so simple a trained chimp could play the game; you tap and hold to make the copter to up and you let go to make it drop down. Easy. Personally though, I find that your tapping finger slightly obscures your view of any upcoming obstacles. This is the nature of the beast though and something that makes the game that little bit more taxing than the original internet version. Indeed, the taxing element of the game is what keeps it appealing.

The tunnel starts off comfortably wide but the further you get the narrower it becomes and to make things even trickier the number of randomly placed blocks increase over time. This game is perfect for challenging your friends and the ability to automatically upload your score to your Facebook page makes it perfect for those with too much time on their hands. The game is simple enough that anyone can get good at it and once you start you can’t stop, as getting a better and better score becomes an obsession. Games like Copter thrive on frustrating players to the point of obsession and that is what makes them so popular. Be warned though, the endless drive for perfection only gets more frustrating and as you post further distances that are increasingly difficult to beat your iPhone may start to bear the brunt of your anger.

Who Gives A Toss?

Thankfully, Paper Toss gives you all the realism of the game without any of the drawbacks which means you can wile away the hours in the office without disturbing your more industrious colleagues. The game has three difficulty settings: easy, medium and hard, which basically means that the bin is a further distance away. To throw your paper ball all you have to do is flick you finger in the desired direction and the watch it hurtle towards the centre of the hole or bounce agonisingly off the rim. Each shot requires you to judge the wind speed (actually a fan) correctly in order to get the right trajectory to the target.

Paper Toss won’t win any awards for its innovation or game play but the graphics are well constructed and the actions are slick and precise. The sound effects create a realistic ambience and an ego boosting round of applause each time you set a new record will certainly raise a smile. Overall, this is a game that you’ll keep coming back to every time you’ve got a few minutes (or hours) to kill. Beating your own scores as well as those of players around the world provides enough motivation to keep that throwing arm loose and for pure mindless entertainment this game can rival any top end game available.

However, the majority of the gaming environment isn’t accessible and your character is only capable of walking predefined paths much like the old 2D platform beat ‘em up games. In one sense this is a saving grace because although manipulating your character’s movements is simple enough it would be a nightmare trying to avoid falling off every ledge and cliff face. Not being able to fully explore the full terrain though does leave the game lacking a little and at times it does feel like a glorified 2D platform game with a fancy background. The fight controls are simple and the special “focus” attacks allow you to kill larger creatures with ease.

There are three difficulty settings: easy, normal and heroic (only available after completing the game once) and players can choose to set the action levels to soft or explicit. For those players who aren’t keen on seeing a few barely noticeable drops of claret spray from their enemies then opt for the soft mode but if you can stomach “uncensored gore” (more than a little hint of sarcasm there) then leave it on explicit mode.

Hidden items and weapon upgrades give the game a sense of progression and with each end boss having to be killed with a special sequence there is enough to keep even the most serious gamers occupied. Hero of Sparta is definitely a battery killer, once you start playing you’ll want to keep piling up the demonic bodies until you reach the final quest. Whether the game can survive past one or two completions is a matter of opinion but my thoughts are that while it stays fresh it is a top game; after that it will likely become part of your gaming history.

Killing Time

The community surrounding the game is huge and the dedicated forums are filled with the latest news, strategy advice and forth coming updates. Much of the game’s new features are a result of the users’ feedback and this is one of the main reasons that the game has become so popular. The appeal of Mark of Mafia comes from its simplicity and once you start to see you empire expand you’ll become obsessed with when you can next bank a buck or rough up some rivals. The rolling nature of the game makes it great to dip in and out of but with no real end it can become slightly repetitive overt time. Unless you’re willing to take the game seriously you’re never going to become top of the mafia family tree. However, if you’re content plodding along and ruling your own little empire you’ll be more than happy with this game. Mark of Mafia won’t keep you gaming for hours on end but there is no doubt it will keep the touch screen warm as you check back every couple of hours to make sure your rivals haven’t put too many bullet holes in your new Aston Martin.

Black Mamba Racer harks back to those days of old and invokes memories of classic bygone titles such as Super Sprint, Spy Hunter and APB. The game is a simple top down racing game that takes place across nine different tracks and 25 missions. Included are power-ups and the ability to damage your car which adds to the replay-value and variety of the game.

Upon starting the game it’s clear that Black Mamba Racer isn’t going to win any awards for its visual appearance. This is not to say the graphics are particularly bad, they do capture a retro feel quite convincingly, but rather in today’s’ world of high presentation values and professionally designed games BMR looks a little too ‘homemade’.

It is a testament to iPhone gamers that BMR has been a success despite of its looks. It’s one of those games that you must play to really appreciate; static screen shots just don’t do it justice! The release of a lite version has certainly aided sales and enabled the title to stay in the higher echelons of the iPhone games chart for many weeks. It shows that small developers can create a successful title without having to match the big boys in terms of production values just as long as the game-play is good.

In this case the game-play is good. Your car skids and slides like crazy and feels very retro in the way it handles, a far cry from the ultra realistic car handling mechanics found in most racing games today. In the early stages of play you feel as if you’re driving on ice. The over played momentum and drift provide a frustrating experience and then, as in all great games, something clicks and you find yourself gliding majestically round the tracks like Lewis Hamilton – only better! BMR uses on screen pseudo buttons rather than using motion control and is better for it. You do lack the tangible feel of press down on a mechanical switch but after a little play even novice players will be timing their cornering to perfection.

BMR features only 9 tracks which are unlocked in a linear manner, first you take part in time trials for the right to face the drone cars and then ultimately face off against the black mamba herself. The game features 25 missions or challenges in total and once you have learnt the track layouts most players won’t have too many issues completing them fairly easily. Indeed if we were to find fault in Black Mamba Racer it would be in the poorly balanced difficulty and progression. The times do get more challenging and the drones faster but once you’ve beaten the first three tracks the rest are fairly straightforward. The drones also don’t display the same vehicle behaviour as your car which does look rather strange.

One added bonus is the option to play against a friend using local WiFi and this does add a degree of longevity to the title although I’m sure most players won’t use this feature. The game would have benefited from having a number of racing cars to select from and an upgrade path with new parts purchased from a shop or garage to allow each player to tweak their vehicle to their own individual driving style. Starbyte might well be planning to add these features to forthcoming updates, a wise move if they did!

In summary Black Mamba Racer delivers exactly what you would expect. It’s a game that harks back to a bygone era where game-play mattered more than fancy visuals. If you like top down racing games and are prepared to spend some time getting used to the ‘feel’ of your racing car and enjoy the retro feel then you won’t be disappointed. If you prefer your racing in a more serious, realistic manner then you’ll probably struggle to get to grips with it. It’s a lot of fun, offers great value for money and is a good example of substance triumphing over style.

Score:

WI is set in a futuristic world, where you are a beginning mining specialist for ACME Corp. (I know, not very original, but bear with me). As your Mining Leader, Gordon Fox, is AWOL you experience a series of rapid promotions following your successfully completed missions. The planet you are in charge of was supposedly a secret and free of any OMNI Corp., a rival mining company, presence. As you progress however you will find that this is not necessarily the case.

Warfare Inc. covers most of the bases when it comes to the RTS formula. There are a number of various unit types each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are buildings for defense, as well as unit production buildings which can be upgraded in later levels to yield access to more powerful units. Expansion must be balanced with power production (similar to food or population limit in other RTSs) because all buildings require power. Without the proper amount of juice flowing through your camp unit production will slow and defense buildings will shut down altogether.

WI is not without flaws however. First, the graphics aren’t really up to snuff with what the iPhone can do. This game was ported from Windows Mobile, and it shows. The units and terrains look more like a Game Boy Advance title than an iPhone one. Also, as with a lot of mobile/internet games, the AI could use some work. They will send almost endless groups of small raiding parties which can easily be mopped up by light based defense buildings instead of saving a few waves and crushing your defenses. Also, the AI is set up well to make a base, defend it, and form attacks, but once its balance has been thrown off it doesn’t recover well. I had destroyed its miners used to gather resources, and it didn’t have enough to make a new miner. Instead of selling a building, or canceling a unit being produced, to have the resources to make a new miner it sat in a state of not being able to do anything. Finally, some of the missions are actually easier to complete if you ignore the mission objectives for a while. One of the missions I was finding impossibly hard no matter how well I played it. Then, I found by ignoring the mission objectives the computer would indefinitely hold of the large attacks that were supposedly “imminent” but were actually triggered by completing the event, not by a certain amount of time passing.

The controls also lack a bit. There is no deselect, so you will find yourself accidentally moving units when you were trying to select another one. There is also no “attack+move” command, so your units will not engage the enemy until you select an enemy for them to attack or they reach their destination. This can lead to your units getting pummeled by the enemy without fighting back if you aren’t watching them. Also, units never attack enemy buildings without specific instructions, so they will sit in the enemy base doing nothing. Miners do not flee if being attacked either, even without any way to defend themselves.

Graphics: 6.5/10
As I said, the graphics are not what they should be. Many critics’ reviews mention the “superb graphics,” but remember that most of these reviews were written about WI on a Windows Mobile device. As these graphics were directly ported to the much higher resolution iPhone without any enhancements they do not look great, especially when you hold a unit and it is zoomed in on.

Sound: 3/10
First off, there is no music during missions. Most units have a few catchphrases they say when they move, but these are recycled for multiple units, so you will get sick of them very soon. I find myself playing with the iPhone in silent mode to mute the units while listening to my own music.

Gameplay: 6/10
Gameplay is good, but stupid mistakes kill the score here, these being the AI and poor controls. If they fixed these, depending on the extent of the AI fix, this would immediately jump to an 8-10.

Replay Value: 7/10
With over 200+ player created scenarios and counting there is plenty to keep you coming back. . . if you still want to come back that is. Lack of multiplayer knocks 2 off this score, and another point for the fact that if you can’t stand the flawed AI you won’t make it to the add-on missions in the first place.

Overall: 6/10
Warfare Incorporated offers something to hold RTS fans over. . . not satisfy them, but at least keep them content until something better comes along. While it has the potential to become THE definitive RTS on iPhone it currently stumbles in too many areas to claim the title. With a few small fixes this game has the opportunity to jump from an average 6 to a solid 8+, so I’d watch for updates if you are on the fence about buying it, especially considering multiplayer has been announced to be included in a future update. Overall I would recommend this game to hardcore strategy fans that are looking for a fix on their iPhone. For a casual gamer or someone moderately interested I would say your $5 is probably better spent elsewhere.

Pros:
-The closest thing to a PC RTS currently out for the iPhone
-Lots of missions

Cons:
-Poor Sound/Graphics
-Poor controls
-Dumb AI