With so many popular games and some very addicting ones in the App Store on iTunes, along with many, many free ones, it can be hard to decide on what games are actually good and which ones are just over-hyped. After hours and hours of reviewing dozens of games, 5 really stood out above the rest.
1. Jelly Car by Walaber
The premise of this driving/platforming game is a simple one. The player drives a squishy car through 2-dimensional, soft-bodied worlds, trying to reach the exit. This very fun game makes great use of the iPhone's built in accelerometers to tilt the Jellycar back and forth, while the user presses on the left or right side of the touchscreen to move backward or forward. With 28 levels, this game can provide for hours of fun for all ages.
The many unique features of this game include a completely flexible, soft-bodied car that bend and stretches through tight gaps, a squishy world that can be manipulated to the player's advantage by some well-timed finger work, and a car that grows in size for a limited time just by tapping it, to give the player some extra power whenever it is needed. This game is definitely the best free game for the iPhone, and over 600 5-star reviews in the iTunes App Store definitely agree. Be sure to look out for Jellycar 2, slated to be released sometime in Fall 2009.
2. Tap Tap Revenge 2 by Tapulous
The people at Tapulous sure knew what they were doing when they made Tap Tap Revenge 2, a Guitar Hero-style rhythm game for the iPhone. In this game the player chooses a difficulty level, a song, and then taps one of three areas as beats from the music pass by.
This simple game can be fun for hours on end with five difficulty levels ranging from the extremely easy Kids mode, all the way up to the mind-bogglingly hard Extreme, career mode, and even online play. Tapulous even provides dozen of free songs that can be downloaded for play in each game mode. But this game allows the player to do more than just shoot for a high score; the game can be put into two player mode, with each person tapping beats at either the top or bottom of the screen.
3. TapDefense by TapJoy
This tower-defense game by TapJoy for the iPhone is similar to other computer-based tower defense game. Just like other computer-based tower defense games, TapDefense allows the player to place various towers like arrow-shooters and bomb-throwers along a predefined track with the hopes of killing all the enemies before they reach the end.
This is a fairly easy game with many different game modes, maps, and levels. The player can put down various types of towers and use various tools such as Arrow and Bomb Towers which injure enemies, Water Towers which slow down enemies, and Earthquake power-ups that cause damage to many enemies at once. This game stays true to the form of a tower defense game is one of the best free iPhone games.
4. Knights Onrush Free by Chillingo
Step into a medieval world where a castle is under attack and must be defended in Knights Onrush Free by Chillingo. In this game, the player must defend a castle using his finger to fling enemies into the air along with using several other power-ups that make this job much easier.
The controls for this game are simple: various knights are charging at a castle. The player places their finger on one of them and either tosses them up into the air to get rid of them, or hangs them on a hook as a sacrifice (which gives the player sacrifice points which can be used to buy power-ups.) The player can also use various tactics like firing a cannon at the oncoming knights or dropping a large boulder on top of them.
This is a fun game, but it does have some drawbacks. For example, on some levels, the knights are moving so fast that it is hard to click on them. On other levels, so many knights are attacking the castle at once that the game essentially becomes a screen-masher (like a button-masher, but instead of hitting buttons, the player is tapping the screen) and the player is just trying to fling knights into the air that any sense of order is gone..
5. Topple 2 Plus+ by ngmoco
This sequel to Topple, a very popular game by ngmoco is a major improvement to Topple. Topple 2 Plus+ brings to the table improved game physics, graphics and sound effects. In this game, which is like Tetris on steroids, the player stacks blocks of various shapes on top of a base platform by pressing on the blocks and dragging them into position. After each level, the player is awarded up to three stars for the number of points earned, the time it took to complete the level, and the final height of the stack.
One interesting feature to this game is that, instead of turning the blocks at 90 degree angles and stacking them in nice, neat rows, the goal is actually to build the highest tower possible, turning the blocks at any angle necessary by dragging them on screen with two fingers. Another cool feature of this game is that it uses the iPhone's built in accelerometers to balance the tower. The phone can be rotated from side to side to help balance the stack and keep it from falling. Overall, this is a great game.
 |
 |
