iPhone Article Zone

Street Fighter IV

If Street Fighter IV’s loading time is any indication of how good it is, playing it should summon unicorns, pixies and rainbows to my living room and my wife should exhibit an uncontrollable urge to hand-feed me cocktail sausages while I “labor” through the game’s levels. It took 55 minutes to download the game. Will it live up to the hype?

CAPCOM boasts that Street Fighter 4 is the iPhone/iTouch’s first true fighting game, featuring the same beautiful graphics and visceral game play the series is infamous for. Long-time fans (at the time I downloaded it [a $9.99 game mind you], it already had 73 User Ratings Reviews) can jump right into the action, while casual players can focus on training, using 1 of several settings and tutorials to hone their fighting skills.

Among it’s feature-set, Street Fighter 4 advertises multi-player/head-to-head play via Bluetooth (not WiFi), eight Street Fighter characters in seven different environments, new move sets including Unique Attacks, Special Moves, Focus Attacks, Super Combos and Ultra Combos, a robust “Dojo” boot camp which transforms neophytes into Street Fighter masters in five in-depth lessons, customizable controls for your style of play (players can move the virtual buttons/joystick anywhere they want on the screen and set their level of transparency), the ability to unleash “super moves” with a tap of the “SP” button, or toggle it off from the “Options” menu if you want to enter the button combo manually and four levels of difficulty: Beginner, Normal, Hard and Grueling.

Street Fighter IV’s animations, graphics and art-style are simply beautiful. To ensure the game’s performance integrity, CAPCOM reduced the original game’s impressive 3D models to sprites, a transition which is practically impossible to differentiate on the iPhone’s screen. While a tad clunky at times, the animations are visually fluid and the game features the same art style, visual style and character move sets seen in the console and arcade versions. When starting the game, its cinematic intro is extraordinary, inter-weaving gorgeous hues of color and animation against a gorgeous, animated, black-and-white backdrop.

Street Fighter IV’s Title Screen offers Solo Play (Tournament, Free-Sparring, Dojo and Training Room), Versus (Head-to-Head Bluetooth play), Stats (Stats), Invite A Friend (via email), Get More (opens Capcom iPhone webpage in Safari) and Special (Special Movie Footage). There are also Settings and Help icons:

For those of you who have the memory of a gerbil, like me, you can access the (moves) Command List for instructions on how to do moves by pressing “pause” from anywhere within the game.

Game play is fluid, but the “virtual touch” control scheme can take some getting used to, proving tricky to pull off moves/strikes requiring complicated thumb-stick/button-combo motions (CAPCOM claims ten months alone went into the unique virtual control system). After practicing in “Dojo” mode, I was able to navigate the game’s virtual controls problem-free.

As stated earlier, the controls are customizable. Players can move the buttons anywhere they want on the screen and set/adjust their level of transparency, enabling them to adjust the controls in a manner which works best for him/her:

This was a very smart move/feature on CAPCOM’S part, because everyone responds to/uses touch controls differently, especially while engaged in a fast-paced duel to the death, so proper placement and comfort are key issues. While the touch controls may take some getting used to, I was able to navigate, i.e. pwn other fighters in no time, although I was playing on Beginner in the Dojo. Advanced controls will take some practice, especially during high/advanced levels of competition requiring precision. That said, my only concern regarding Street Fighter IV for the iPhone is a major one: its capability of offering the same game play depth as its console counterparts. Players able to master the game’s virtual controls will reap the fruits of their labor, while those unable to will be exposed to restricted game play. There is hope, however, in the form of the Dojo mode, which allows players to practice/train until they gain the skills needed for advanced game play.

Multiplayer support is currently restricted to “Head-to-Head” battle, via Bluetooth. Hopefully, multiplayer via WiFi is on CAPCOM’S future update agenda.

Speaking of “restrictions,” Street Fighter IV’s current line-up consists of only eight fighters: Abel, Blanka, Chun-Li, Ryu, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Guile and Ken, all of whom possess different fighting styles, “special” moves and abilities. Hopefully, future updates will introduce additional fighters, whether as “unlockables,” or in-app purchases (preferably the former).

All aside, I love this game. CAPCOM spent a lot of time developing it and it shows. Street Fighter IV for the iPhone/iTouch is a complete, quality port of its console counterpart that will appeal to both hardcore veterans and newcomers. It features a slew of extra/additional content and although the game currently features only eight fighters, as opposed to its console brethren, these fighters (with the exception of newcomer, Abel) are classic CAPCOM characters who have retained their classic moves/abilities.

Street Fighter IV’s $9.99 price tag is indicative of its superlative quality and, considering you’ll have Street Fighter IV at your disposal to play anytime, anywhere, it is money well spent. I highly recommend this game to any/all lovers of the Street Fighter franchise or anyone who enjoys a quality 2-D fighter.

The Hero

Much like going to the movies, there are two ways of going into a new game. You can either go in thinking that it is going to be fantastic, or you can go in with no expectations at all. Rarely do high expectations pay off, but when they do, it makes for the best experience possible. Unfortunately, my expectations for The Hero were through the roof after seeing what I called at the time “the best app trailer ever”.

Much like the trailer showed off, The Hero is a superhero action game where you, The Hero, protect the world from the very Dr. Robotnik-like Dr. Hubbub and his band of evil militants. The game basically amounts to you flying around the screen while running into all the bad guys and potential disasters that you see. There are no punching or kicking moves, although you are given a few superpowers along the way… the majority of the time it is just up to your ability to ram into targets. The enemies, as expected, vary greatly from the stationary bombs to slow moving, high hit point tanks, to high flying satellites with laser beams. There are no real hit points in the game, only a “fame” bar, tracking how much the people adore you. Every time you get hit, hurt civilians, or let babies fall out of windows (seriously), your fame drops, but it can be regained by high-fiving supporters and killing bad guys. Once your fame meter runs all the way down, you lose.

The game really works on a number of levels, mostly being the graphics. There is something extremely satisfying about seeing a game on your iPhone that looks like it could just as easily be on XBLA. On my iPhone 3G, there were no slowdowns of any kind, and apparently on the 3GS you can enable a better graphics mode that runs at 60fps. I can’t imagine the game looking any better than it already does, but I’d love to see it try. The other winner here are the controls, which are almost simple to a fault. The Hero is controlled with a floating virtual joystick that works no matter where your thumb is on the screen. For the first hour or so the controls were spectacular, but I noticed after awhile that all the quick moving on the glass screen was giving my thumb a blister. Never being the kid that complained about thumb blisters, I played through the annoyance, but it was quite annoying.

My real gripe with The Hero is the story. After watching the trailer a few times, I was really excited about learning the story behind The Hero. I was hoping that the game would be an epic, taking you from the heyday to the point that he is in the video… depressed and smoking. I wasn’t expecting anything amazing, but I was hoping for a humorous Raging Bull-like downfall story. Instead I got a few screen before each level of a doting police chief and a press girl that seemed like a sexed up version of Moneypenny. On its own, the story isn’t awful, but my expectations were far too high for what I ended up getting.

While I certainly enjoyed playing all 15 levels of The Hero, I didn’t finish the game with the excitement that I wanted to. Unfortunately, this was a case there the trailer was so good that it actually took away from the overall experience. With the campaign mode and the survival modes afterwards, I’d expect a few hours of gameplay… certainly enough to warrant a purchase. Just don’t expect the app to be nearly as good as the trailer.

The Graveyard

I recently picked up Heavy Rain, for the PS3, and played it through in one setting. After being locked to the television for 8 hours straight, my wife had to come peel me from my chair. The game was an amazing experience, and really expanded my interest in cinematic gaming experiences. When I saw The Graveyard out for iDevices, I jumped at the chance to once again experience this style of play.

I believe it’s silly to assume that you’ll find a similar scope in a PS3 game that you will in an iDevice game, but I was surprised at how fast my gaming experience ended in The Graveyard. My best comparison would be assigning Heavy Rain a full motion picture length, and The Graveyard being a YouTube video. There isn’t anything wrong with YouTube videos; they just usually aren’t all that long.

Length aside, The Graveyard provides an extremely powerful message, though I think that message will be lost on a lot of people, especially the younger crowd. The game boils down to a look back on the life of an elderly woman, as she passes through the graveyard of people who have come and gone before her. At the end of the long stretch of graveyard is a bench that the elderly woman sits on to rest.

The goal of the game, for lack of a better term, is to slowly walk this woman through the long corridor of the graveyard and sit her down on the bench. Once there, the real message of the game begins.
Control wise, the game plays fairly rough. My first play through found me moving from side to side, not truly understanding how to get the woman to move straight down the path. After getting to the bench, I wasn’t sure how to sit down. I checked out the instructions by pressing the bottom right hand corner. They explained how to sit down, but when I tried to close the window in the same manner I opened it, I was tossed to an internet site. I closed out and restarted the game, and had to make the slow walk once again.

I’m having trouble really coming to a conclusion on if to recommend this game. At $1.99 it doesn’t provide a LOT of gaming potential. As an art form, it’s an amazing experience. It’s an easy recommend based on its merits to artists. It’s visually appealing; the impressive graphics matched with the soft black and white environment make it great to look at. I keep coming back to the short game play for the price, however.

My recommendation for the reader would be to try out the free version if you appreciate various forms of art. If you have a very powerful experience, grab the full version to support the developer. The only difference between the two, according to the developer, is that death is a possibility in the full version. Not the best marketing plan, but I am a big advocate for supporting developers who create a worthwhile product.

If the hidden messages and deep meanings behind song and art really don’t fit your fancy, The Graveyard is not for you. You would be better to try the free version if your curiosity is still peaked. That said, my own personal opinion is that it was a beautiful display of how game and cinema can be joined together for a fully interactive experience. I hope more developers follow suit with this approach.

Bit Pilot

Where I live, there is no such thing as a video game arcade. They all died off in the mid-to-late 80’s. As a teenager, I spent much, i.e. all, of my time at one of three different arcades where I live, shoving all my allowance and grass-cutting proceeds into the coin-slotted mouths of unassuming coin-operated conmen encased in fiberglass or wooden cabinets. Hence, while I’m not really “into” retro/retro-style games, I can certainly appreciate them and the nostalgia they invoke.

Bit Pilot is an intense, retro, asteroid-dodging game. It boasts intuitive and precise touch controls, a good soundtrack by Sabrepulse, unlockable soundtracks and bonuses, eleven challenging achievements and OpenFeint integration (global high-score lists and rankings).

Bit Pilot’s premise is simple: Score as many points as you can by staying alive, i.e. keeping your ship intact, as long as possible. In so doing, you must dodge ever-evolving asteroids and lasers as long as you can, while collecting power ups, giving you health, in the form of “shields” and points. Blue/orange pills are worth 1000 points and red/blue pills give you health (an extra shield) and 250 points:

Bit Pilot contains two levels/modes of game play: Easy, which you begin with and Normal (un-lockable achievement by scoring 3500 points on Easy). You start with two shields (three lives). Each “hit” you take from an asteroid removes a level of shield protection. When you run out of shields and your bare ship hits an asteroid, it’s “game over.” As the game progresses, the asteroids (Gray, Yellow and Red) grow bigger and move faster and deadly laser beams make their debut, vaporizing your ship if you touch them.

Bit Pilot has different “unlockables,” in the form of additional music and wallpapers. Whenever your cumulative score reaches a certain level, these “unlockables” become available. They’re not much though and do little, if anything, to add to the game’s already-high replay value. The game also uses OpenFeint, allowing you to see who else is playing and challenge them to beat your highest score.

Bit Pilot is great for long or short term play. While players will love both modes, Normal mode is more challenging and thus, games are quicker and end faster, while Easy-mode games last longer. Bit Pilot’s intense game play is attributed to its winning formula for/of frenetic pace: The movement of the asteroids, etc. combined with your ship’s speed and movement, having to constantly dodge obstacles while collecting “bonuses” and its unique, innovative and intuitive game controls.

To control your ship, you simply swipe your thumb in the direction you want your ship to move and swipe in the opposite direction to slow your ship down (or hit a wall). You can also use both thumbs for quicker moves (to make the ship “boost” in the direction you swipe) and tighter control of your ship (Note: These are indeed my thumbs):

Initially, I found the control scheme awkward and unresponsive, resulting in me spastically thumbing my iPhone while my ship careened against the asteroids/walls within the level. However, after enough practice, i.e. being blown to bits and humiliatingly vaporized over and over, I found the controls to be “spot-on.” It does contain/require a “learning curve,” but after you’ve practiced enough to learn how to control your ship, you’ll find the innovative control scheme to be immersive, fun and rewarding.

Bit Pilot’s music/soundtrack, as mentioned earlier, is provided by Sabrepulse, a “chiptune” musician in Aberdeen, Scotland. The game includes 4 tracks, including the theme track. You can choose to play your favorite or opt for random selection once you’ve unlocked the others. While I’m no expert on “chiptune” or retro soundtracks, I will say this: Hearing Bit Pilot’s soundtrack invoked many memories of the time(s) I spent in “old-school” arcades.

While Bit Pilot, at face value, may not seem to have much to offer, the exact opposite is true; it’s a deceptively-intense game with a lot of personality, fluid controls and a thought-provoking soundtrack. It’s a successful, innovative “retro-infused” modern take on a well-defined, often-finicky genre. At only .99, Bit Pilot is well worth your allowance: Bit Pilot Demo

Cocoto Magic Circus

Admittedly, I’ve never played one of the Cocoto series games before this one. The Cocoto series currently features Cocoto Kart Racing Online, Cocoto Kit for Kids, and this newest title, Cocoto Magic Circus. The storyline elements in the Cocoto series seem a bit hard to follow within the game, but from the game I can tell that there is a fairy princess that gets kidnapped by a clown, and it’s up to Cocoto and his friends to shoot their way through the various levels of the magic circus to save the fairy princess. The developer offers a more detailed explanation of the storyline in the App Store if you would like to know more.

Cocoto Magic Circus is a solid tap to shoot arcade style game that is filled with various mini-games. All of these mini-games lead you to the one ultimate goal, saving the fairy princess. Cocoto Magic Circus’s premise is fairly straight forward, if not cliché at this point, and the controls are extremely simplistic. It takes a little bit of hand eye coordination, but I found my play through was not overly difficult, and in total I had to replay two levels.

There are three difficulty settings in Arcade Mode. I was a master of easy, imagine that, but got significantly rocked in hard mode. Anyone looking for a good challenge will find Cocoto Magic Circus’s hard mode to provide that challenge. At the end of every level, your score is compared to the overall high score of the world as well. I can only hope it was because I was on easy, that my scores seemed to fall so far under the rest of the worlds. It couldn’t have anything to do with my lack of serious shooting skills. That would never be the case.

Regardless of my shooting prowess, this most recent installment in the Cocoto series provides a great experience, and while not being extremely long, it is in fact a lot of fun. The games vary from shooting creatures as they move towards the fairy princess, a matching style game where you race the clock to shoot as many matched cards as you can in the time limit, and a whole slew of other unique games that help to limit the overall repetitiveness of the game. Just about the time I was beginning to get restless, the final battle was fought, and the fairy princess saved.

Graphically, Cocoto Magic Circus is easy on the eyes. It provides an excellent medium to deliver the fun and simplistic game play that this title has to offer. It comes complete with opening and game completion cut scenes. The clown pops up before each match, which depending on the age you first saw Steven King’s “It“, might be terrifying. I’m no fan of clowns, but the small size of the iPod allowed me to muster the courage to carry on.

Cocoto provides a lot enjoyment during play through, and is a great title for those interested in using their finger as a virtual gun. In certain levels, it felt that there were some issues with where I shot versus where the game had registered my shot, but that could be a simple calibration. That aside, the game felt well polished, and I didn’t feel that the game mechanics held me back from enjoyment in anyway.

Magic Circus does provide a multiplayer mode. At the time of review, however, I was unable to find people online to interact with. It wasn’t prime game playing time, however, so it’s quite possible that you’ll be able to find people online at certain times of day.

You can check Cocoto Magic Circus out in the app store for $0.99.

Hellemental

Hellemental is one of those titles that on first impression, you can’t quite work out what it is. The game plays out the story of Elija, a powerful wizard who arrives in the strange but magical country of Norlisk. With the use of magical scrolls you aim to summon the most powerful of storms that call on each of the four elements: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire, defending each city from attacking monsters.

At its heart though Hellemental is a tower defense title. The game plays out on 16 battlefields over 3 difficulty settings. As you progress further, you’ll encounter various different types of monster set on destroying your land. Each of these monsters are assigned a certain class and overall there are 5 classes of monster you will encounter. Moving in-game and describing the actual playing screen, in the top right you’ll find all your controls for your spells. In this section you’ll see three circle type orbs. The center and larger orb represents your spells current charge. If you don’t have enough charge, you won’t be able to cast it. The top orb is a number which represents the remaining casts you have left for the currently selected spell. To the right-hand of the screen you’ll see your spells inventory. To select a new spell just tap on the one you wish to use next. To cast a sepll on-screen you just tap and hold that ancient symbol in the bottom left and BOOM! .. (as Steve would say).

Turning on the ‘Magic Eye’ option in the top right of the screen will immediately give you an auto-panned view of the paths you must protect. This helps the title’s gameplay immensely as you can step out of the rigid camera view for a few minutes, and take a look at your surroundings. Towards the top of the screen you’ll see a depiction of the level gate. This shows you how much damage your gate has withstanded, and how much more beating it will take. Throughout the game you’ll meet a whole host of weird and wonderful creatures ready to attack your land. These are dubbed elementals .. and as you progress further through the game, you’ll unlock the ability to buy spells to defeat them. Starting off, the game will offer you 4 types of spell each corresponding with the elements of life; Earth, Fire, Water and Earth. Overall there are 20 purchasable spells which can be purchased with the games virtual gold currency.

These spells include:

Windmill – Spins down the hurt on an attacking elemental
Tornado – Whips an elemental up and into oblivion
Celestial Sphere – Blows down the enemy with the fury of the Gods
Lord Hurricane – Lifts a marauding gang off their feet
Air Seal – Helps protect the gate against air attacks

Fire Blast – Punches out an attacking elemental
Fire Ball – Knocks them down like bowling pins and lights them on fire
Wings of Fire – This scouring attack sends groups of elementals back to their maker
Fire Beast – A monster attack that obliterates all before it
Fire Seal – Helps protect the gate against Fire attacks

Water Blade – Drops an icicle into the skull of an attacker
Geyser – Pours frozen death on elementals
Acid Rain – Wipes a group of attackers off the map
Frozen Tsunami – Shows down death on whoever is beneath it
Water Seal – Helps protect the gate against Water attacks

Stone Bomp – Smashes an elemental, especially effective on air elementals
Volcano – Buries enemies under hardened stone
Anger Earth – Swallows a group of attackers
Meteor Shower – Obliterates all that happens to be beneath it
Earth Seal – Helps protect the gate against Earth attacks

Visually, this title definitely has something about it. While they’re not the best graphics I’ve seen on the iPhone, they sure are charming. My only little caveat on the visual side of things is the ‘wave notification’ located at the top of the screen flashes up red, and due to the game being set on highly coloured green grassed battlefields, and being colorblind myself, I found it a little hard to work out what numbered wave was coming next. Making this notification black would further increase its visibility, in my opinion.

Overall, Hellemental is a respectable tower defense title. For its gaming genre its visual look and 3D feel makes a change to flat 2D offerings. While Hellemental didn’t hold my attention for as long as I would have liked to it, it definitely has promise. I’ve filed this one under worth a quick look!

Fox Vs. Duck

If there’s one app which has been stirring a fair amount of interest over the last couple of weeks, it’s this one. Thanks to the guys at Mr Fung Fung, I got a chance to take duck for a swim before his release. Developed by the people who brought us Mini Squadron, Fox Vs. Duck is an artistic and slightly weird game in which you take the role of duck. Set out around a small pond, the game’s aim is fairly simple. Periodically dropping from the sky, you must save as many copies of duck as possible before the time runs out. Sounds easy right? .. Well, in order to get duck across the pond safely and in one piece, you’re going to have to make a wily effort to avoid Fox. Fox navigates around the pond, stalking your every move. As you move across the waters surface in a leisurely direction, Fox will be gearing to make you his next meal. But it’s not just Fox you’ll have to worry about. There’s also an unfriendly fish lurking in those waters who is also not frightened of taking a bite out of you.

Using tilt, you guide duck around the pond aiming to reach the edge of it to gain flight. All the while though, you have one eye firmly on Fox and the other on his fishy friend (Wait, you have THREE eyes?). The more of duck you manage to save, the faster and more agile both of your predators become. The game plays out in two modes. Challenge and Survival. In challenge mode, you’ll be presented with a timer located at the top of the screen which ultimately counts down. The aim of this mode is to see how many of duck you have saved before the time runs out. Each time you manage to evade danger and send duck on his way to the clouds, you’ll earn more time. The more time you earn the more time you have in order to save more duck. The game ends once the time runs out. In survival mode though, you’re given 5 of duck to take care of (lives). Each time manage to evade danger you gain a further life. The game ends once all your lives are depleted.

As you progress further into the game and manage to save even more of duck, little coloured speckles will fall from the heavens. What are these I hear you ask? These, my friend, are your life savers. Navigating to and picking up one of these specks will give you an speed immediate boost. Something, I imagine, of value if you happen to be trapped between a rock and a hungry fish.

You might also be surprised to find out that pond isn’t static. Okay, I lied, it is in itself .. but the objects inside the pond? They’re dynamic. They move. Meaning everytime you do manage to evade Fox and his evil fish friend, the next danger-filled journey across the pond will never be the same. For example, rocks and lily pads are bound to sprout up, slowing your down .. and the slower you move, the more likely you are to be eaten! The game very much centers around this thought of life and death, but not in a morbid or overly-graphic way. In fact, there is little to nothing about the game that would deem the game unsuitable for younger audiences (and least in my eyes.. ).

Fox vs. Duck is definitely a good looking game, one which is both artistic and minimalistic in its approach. I’m a sucker of minimalistic games. If I had it my way all the games in the App Store would look like Edge or Eliss. My only little caveat is when using the tilt aspect of game, the duck felt just a tad too ‘resistant’. The game does offer an option to re-calibrate your device’s accelerometer though, and while this made no immediate difference to my experience within the game, I highly suggest you do so.

Fox Vs. Duck offers little of anything new we’ve not already seen, but its use of geometric shapes for its main characters, combined with its sheer simplistic nature of its playing board and in-game control mechanics, makes for a winning combination. It’s an enjoyable, addictive and quirky experience which, in my opinion, lives up to the initial pre-release hype.

Jet Ball

I was never a fan of Arkanoid. I’ve always (and continue to) called it “Arachnoid,” due to my fear of being unafraid of spiders. That said, I love “brick-breaking,” “Arachnoid” clones, but the presence of quality “brick-breaking” apps in the app store has been pretty sparse, until now.

Enter Jet Ball, an Arkanoid clone that takes all the past successes and failures of the “brick-breaking” genre and establishes a new standard. Prior to “Jet Ball’s” emergence, most “brick-breaking” games/clones suffered from a lack of innovation/creativity, etc., i.e. instead of re-defining an 80’s genre, most developers, in the name of all things nostalgia, chose to simply “mimic” it, resulting in bland, frustrating games suffering from such things as lack of creativity, poor/bad control/movement, lack of responsiveness and consistent proportion issues, e.g. no/few/lame “power-ups” and paddles, blocks and balls that were disproportionate to each other, to name a few. The developers at CODEFREEZE obviously share my sentiment and developed a quality “brick-breaking” game that shatters the bricks of it’s predecessors.

What immediately sets Jet Ball apart from its rival counterparts is its stunning graphics/visuals and animated game play. Jet Ball is a visual masterpiece and I found the proportions of the game’s elements (one of my “pet peeves,” abundant in most other Arkanoid clones in the app store), i.e. its paddle, brick and ball size/speed, etc. to be perfect.

Jet Ball has three different difficulty levels: easy, normal and hard, giving the game endless replay value. In addition to an adjustable, original soundtrack, one can listen to his/her own music while playing the game. The game’s sound effects (also adjustable) are creative and crisp. Other options included in the game are auto-fire (discussed below) and bonus hints.

Jet Ball boasts a total of 60 different levels, bricks and obstacles and more than 20 different “power ups,” and “power downs (sad trombone),” such as rockets, extra life, big balls, small balls, bomb balls, acid balls, a plasma gun, big paddle, small paddle, shield, etc.

Jet Ball’s premise is the same as other “brick-breakers” in its genre: Move the paddle, using your finger, thumb or other appendage to bounce the “ball” against all bricks/obstacles to destroy them and, thus, win the level. That said, Jet Ball boasts a very well-designed, responsive control scheme: Simply touch the pulsating circle under the paddle and move left or right to control it. Unlike other games in this genre, the area between the paddle and the bottom of the screen provide perfect space for appendage placement and the controls are both very smooth and responsive.

To use options like the plasma gun and rocket launcher, just tap the portion of the screen above the paddle to fire. I found this option difficult and awkward, but enabling the auto-fire option resolved this issue, firing rockets/plasma automatically, allowing me to focus entirely on moving the paddle.

The dynamics of Jet Ball contribute to what sets it apart from others. Different blocks/bricks contain bonuses, color-coded in green (good) or red (bad), which can dramatically alter game play. Green “power-ups,” such as the rocket launcher and plasma gun, aid you in your quest to destroy/remove all the bricks and obstacles from the playing field. Conversely, red “power downs” negatively impact ball speed, paddle size, etc., so you’ll want to avoid those, unless you’re a masochist.

In conclusion, Jet Ball is, far and away, my favorite brick-breaking” game and has become one of my favorite games in the app store. Its responsive and well-designed control scheme, bright visuals, dynamic game play, abundant levels, bricks, obstacles, “power ups” and ”power downs,” along with an original soundtrack, crisp/creative sound effects and the ability to listen to my own music, make it one of, if not the best, “brick-breaking” games in the app store.

Fly, Kiwi, Fly!

Fly, Kiwi, Fly! is a light-hearted go-the-distance game featuring a flightless bird, lots of upgrades, and a trip around the world. You play a stubborn kiwi who’s hell-bent on learning to fly. As you add more upgrades to your kiwi’s arsenal, the game soon becomes a challenge to earn as many wacky achievements and fly as far as possible. It’s a great pick-up-and-play game, and the cheery humor is enough to keep me coming back.

The game itself is simple enough. Your kiwi starts running headlong off a cliff; you tap a button to make him leap into the air. At that point, you can use your other items. At first, you’ll have nothing, and the kiwi crashes to the ground, but you can soon purchase gliders, rockets, and launching systems like a cannon in order to send your kiwi ever farther from home. Gliders allow you to soar; rockets chew through fuel but give you a powerful (if temporary) boost to speed, and launching systems give you your initial boost. Items like pogo sticks can also be purchased using the cash you earn from flying.

Ostensibly, the goal is just to fly the longest distance possible, but there’s more to it than that. The game world is divided into countries, with different scenery and new achievements becoming available once you reach a new one. Extra fuel and money bags are scattered in the sky. You earn additional money for performing stunts, collecting the money bags, and earning achievements. These achievements range from the “Kamikaze” award (crash from 100mts high without gear) to “Frigate Bird” (exceed 270mts) to unlocking new “countries.” You’re also awarded dollars based on distance.

The result is a vicious cycle of one-more-time: “I’ll just do one more flight so I can buy that catapult…ooh, shiny, just let me test the catapult once before I put this down…oh, but I was so close to reaching Italy!…” Yeah. It gets addicting pretty quickly.

It doesn’t hurt that the controls work extremely well. At first, I had a tough time figuring out how to control my kiwi—the direction of your flight is tilt-based, and I couldn’t get it to work. Finally, I hit the pause button mid-flight, and lo and behold: calibration options! I set my sensitivity to Medium, switched the control axis to horizontal, and calibrated it with my iPod standing straight up. The resulting scheme was easy to control, which is saying a lot for an accelerometer-based game.

As for the sound and graphics, both are pretty good. I love the cute kiwi, and the cartoony graphics are just fine. The music is a bit iffier. The in-flight tune is good, but I could do without the menu’s soundtrack.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take too long for you to circle the world and reach the space shuttle at the end, and once you max out on upgrades, there’s not much left to do. It’s still a fun game to play, but the drive to continue peters out. Even then, though, Fly, Kiwi, Fly! is still a good quick-play game and a fun diversion. Just don’t expect anything too deep, and you should enjoy helping this formerly flightless bird achieve his lifelong dream!

Colorbind

Colorbind is a breath of fresh air in the choked puzzle arena. I’m still a fan of more “normal” puzzles like Rafter—but have you seen how many physics puzzles there are? Don’t even get me started about match-3’s. Colorbind is decidedly different. It’s a serene, unique concept that marries good old-fashioned logic with excellent graphics and a minimalistic interface. If you’re looking for a true mind-bender, Colorbind is the way to go.

This is a game of ribbon-folding. Each level starts you out with one or more strips of colored ribbon at the edge of the screen, and a number of colored dots scattered around. Your goal is to make sure that each dot matches the color beneath it by dragging those strips of ribbon and folding them into place. There are a few catches: “corners” don’t count (and you can’t slide a ribbon under or over them); and if the dot is at an intersection of two ribbons, it’s the vertical one that is compared to the dot. Of course, the biggest catch of all is that you actually have to think your solutions through. Watch the video; it’ll give you a good idea of how the puzzle works. Controls are simple: drag your finger and the ribbon follows, and shake your device to reset the level.

There are a total of 84 levels, divided into the categories of Easy, Medium, and Hard. Don’t let those titles fool you, though: the levels don’t progress steadily in difficulty. Instead, some levels will seem obvious while others will have you scratching your head for a few days. It’s a good mix of challenge, frustration, and success, and the fact that completing each level unlocks those around it means that you’ll rarely be permanently stumped. The levels require a mixture of logic and experimentation, and the more you play, the more accustomed you become to Colorbind’s unique strategies.

Colorbind’s puzzles are excellent, and the scenery is good as well. The game takes place against a pale background, and the slightly-crinkled ribbons create a minimalist atmosphere and a good balance of color. Unfortunately, there’s no music, though at least the sound effects aren’t grating. The game also keeps track of your statistics and comes bundled with a handful of achievements to earn. For once, I’m grateful for the lack of OpenFeint: it would dampen the game’s aesthetic.

There’s not much more to Colorbind. It’s a game of logic and strategy, experimentation and folding. If you like puzzles at all, you owe it to yourself to grab this little beauty. The 84 levels won’t last you forever (I’ve finished over 50 already), but it’s more than worth the $1.99 entrance fee.