iPhone

Review: Tetris for the iPhone

If anyone is going to review Tetris it should be me. Ever since I laid my first block back many years ago I have been hooked on the game. The only game that I bought for my DS is Tetris, and when I got my new iPhone it was the first game that I downloaded. So as you can see my Tetris cred is high. That being said I still had worries when downloading a touch version of the game that I love. Anyone who is quite good at Tetris knows that at the high levels you barely have time to think and without the feedback of a controller things could get hairy. Surprisingly though the touch and drag controls for this game does a damn good job and is sensitive enough to get you through some high levels, They allow you to rotate the pieces different directions based in what side of the screen you tap, and you can drag anywhere on the screen to move the piece. When you are ready to do a hard drop just swipe downwards with a quick flip and the piece slams into position. It does take one or two games to get used to the controls, but once you do you will find them to work quite well, but once you get up to level 12 or 13 things move so fast that the touch interface cannot hold up. Luckily most people can’t get past those levels even with a controller.

The game comes with two game styles, Marathon and Magic, both of which should be familiar to any Tetris fan. I was a bit disappointed that some other game types were not included, especially since this game will set you back $10. For that kind of money I would expect more then two gametypes. Luckily they can upgrade the game in the future via the app store, which I hope that they do. I would spend a whole paragraph about graphics, but this is Tetris and that’s not what the game is about. That being said the game does have very nice visuals and looks ten times better then any other mobile phone version of Tetris.

The Good

+Solid Controls
+Simple Clean Graphics
+It’s Tetris

The Bad

- Costs $10 (Would have happier with $5)
- Occasionally Crashes
- Music is a bit limited

Overall Tetris for the iPhone is a well executed game that uses the iPhone’s touchscreen quite well. If they can bring the price down to around $5 it would be a must buy for any fan of the game, but since the price is a bit high only the hardcore Tetris fans will most likely get this one.

New Mobile Browsers Coming

NetworkWorld has an extensive 4-page look at the next generation in Mobile browsers, which are starting to make their way to your mobile phone. Opera Mobile 9.5 is the first to be released for high-end smartphones as well as Apple’s latest iPhone, with its Safari browser. Other browsers worth mentioning are Mobile Firefox and Skyfire, which is due out later this year.

So what does this mean for gaming on your mobile? In the near future, I’m looking forward to Flash-based games on my mobile as the technology increases. Right now, I can barely see a fraction of a website on my old WEP phone, but I know this is coming to fruition with the iPhone and the new Smartphones.

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Black White & Blood Needs Help

R3Y GUTI3RR3Z of Black White & Blood has let us know that they are in the process of building up their portfolio for their iPhone game development studio. Unfortunately robots can’t design games yet, so they need to fill those plush seats with humans to help them out. With that said, BW&B need coders, artists, animators, and sound designers.

If you have what it takes, visit their site to submit a resume or portfolio.

Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb, New Screens

We have some new screens of Hudson Soft’s Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb which is now out on the Apple Store for $7.99. This classic 1983 arcade title is utilized by flicking, tilting and tapping the iPhone or iPod Touch to control Bomberman. Each stage stays true to the original game like powering up and special items. Check out the video after the jump.

de Blob: iPhone

We have some new screens of de Blob pocket version on for the iPhone which is available now for $9.99 on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

For those who have never played this classic title, de Blob is basically a ball that you must roll through ink, and paint the city with multiple colors - except this version will use the iPhone’s tilt to control the blob.

Super Monkey Ball: iPhone

The new Super Monkey Ball port from the Gamecube to the iPhone didn’t receive good reviews around the web. It isn’t fair to Atlantic Canada’s Other Ocean Interactive, the Developers on this title, who had only a few months to rewrite the code before the 3G iPhone launched recently. Super Monkey Ball has awesome visuals, 110 jam packed stages, decent Soundtrack and vibrant colors despite the clumsy motion sensor controls which really hurt reviews. Check out a clip:

iPhone vs. PSP

Erik Sofge, a writer for Popular Mechanics wrote a recent article titled “Death by iPhone? Why Spore Means the End of the PSP: Analysis @ E3 2008″ in which he thinks that the iPhone’s games, more particularly Spore, will kill off the PSP for good.

Erik’s article is like comparing apples to oranges. You simply cannot compare the iPhone to the PSP. The PSP’s screen is much bigger, is more adapt to play games, is backed by Sony and its wealth of titles and is more ergonomically fit for games in general. The budget for games on the PSP is bigger because the games have more content.

Which is another problem for the PSP. New titles for the handheld tend to cost $40. Spore Origins looks at least as good as anything on the PSP.

Sure the processor in the latest iPhone is twice as fast as the PSP slim, but that doesnt mean the video card and memory is better. Don’t rule the PSP out yet:

Not that the PSP will disappear, but if Sony’s press conference yesterday is any measure, the handheld isn’t exactly breaking new ground. It can play downloaded movies, but so can the iPhone, iPod, Zune and tons of other portable media players.

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