iPod Touch

Frogger iPhone now on Apple App Store

Frogger never seems to die, and why should it?

Konami announced today that the 27 year old car-leaping Frog is now available on the iPhone and iPod touch at the Apple App Store. This is Konami’s first title for the App Store which has been re-designed to take full advantage of the platform’s capabilities, including the innovative Multi-Touch Interface and accelerometer.

Joe Morris, Vice President of Konami Mobile.

“We see the iPhone platform as an opportunity to showcase the legendary Konami brands in a truly unique fashion,” “Konami is committed to providing players with games that leverage the latest technology. Fans of the best-selling Frogger franchise can now experience the title like never before, and we look forward to releasing more of our popular titles for the iPhone soon.”

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Review: Scrabble (iPhone)

Scrabble has long been a staple board game in American homes. Unfortunately I think that most families only play it once or twice before retiring it to the closet. The game has a way of turning a fun night with friends or family into a UFC championship fight. This is really a shame because Scrabble is a fun game that can keep your brain finely tuned, and now you can download an iPhone version you can play anywhere.

The game itself feels and works just like the board game. Their are no difference to rules, and the game is checked by a built in copy of the Scrabble Players Dictionary 4th Edition. So try as you might you won’t be able to cheat the system. The game comes with two play options, quick and custom play. Quick play should be obvious, while custom play allows you to fine tune the settings, and even set up a pass and play game so you can play with up to 3 other people in the same room. The games graphics are clear, clean, and full of color.

When the game was first made availible it was quite buggy and would crash often. It also took around 30 seconds or more for the game to boot up and be ready to play. EA just released an update a few days ago and they have made the game very reliable and now boot up only takes about 10 seconds. I have played around 10-15 games since the patch and so far it has not crashed once. I am glad to see that these games do get updated on a regular basis.

So now that the game is patched what is still wrong with the game you ask? Well there is the $10 price tag, which is kind of hard to swallow for a cell phone game. Besides that there is little to complain about. I would like to see the ability to play people over 3G or Wi-Fi, but I cannot fault them for that too much. Overall, Scrabble for the iPhone is a quality conversion of the popular board game that is fun and easy to play…just make sure that your vocabulary is in check.

The Good

+Good Graphics
+Intuitive Controls
+Very Reliable (since last update)

The Bad

- No Wi-Fi or 3G Multiplayer
- 10$ a bit too much

Review: Super Monkey Ball (iPhone)

Super Monkey Ball was one of the many cool games that Apple chose to show off many months ago when they announced the new iPhone firmware. The developers talked about how they were able to upgrade the graphics even more from what they were showing, which was already impressive for a cell phone game. The problem is that they should have spent that time working on the controls. There are a bunch of other games on the App store that use the motions sensors in a similar fashion and they feel tight and responsive. Unfortunetly SMB’s one major flaw is that the oversensitive controls ruin most of the fun you can have with this game.  I have played plenty of SMB in my day and they get everything else right, but the controls just aren’t good enough to handle some of the more difficult levels. Heck even easy levels can be frustrating!

I gave this game plenty of opportunity to grow on me and I tried over and over to get used to the controls, but it just didn’t work. If you want to play a similar game with simple and responsive controls then download Labyrinth, which has a free trial version so your not stuck with buying a game you will never play.

If this games controls were retooled then Super Monkey Ball would be one of the best games on the App store. As it stands now it’s a pretty game that can show people what the iPhone is capable of, but just don’t let them play it.

The Good

+Great Graphics
+Cute Music
+Well Polished

The Bad

- Oversensitive Controls
- It Costs $10!

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.

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.