IPhone Cafe

My current favorite iPhone game is from BinarySquare.  It’s called Spinblox, and it’s a match-three style game.  Starting off, the game drops three rows of colored blocks, which you tap and move blocks around the screen to create rows and columns of three or more.  As you level up, more colored blocks, and eventually iconed blocks are added to the mix, making it more difficult to create rows before the screen fills up.

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I love this game.  I play it obsessively, especially when I should be working instead.  I literally am playing right now as I type this review.  My only problem with the game play is there is no room for impatience in tapping the blocks.  If you don’t put enough pressure on the screen, it won’t register the touch, which means the difference between level up or starting over.  Other than that, it’s a simple, yet addictive game that has yet to get old for me, though I’ve been playing it for several weeks now and added it as a permanent icon to my home screen!

Several sites, including iPhonematters are buzzing about an unconventional new iPhone game called Trism that uses the built-in orientation detector to control game play. It’s not yet released, but you can check out the YouTube video:

Video of Trism

Just got an iPhone and have been trying to figure out how to play games on it.  It took me a couple days, but I finally realized that you can’t download games to the phone like you can on most other cell phones.  Instead, you have to go to the iTunes website and play these little web apps games directly from the Internet (assuming you can find the games, that is.  Trying to navigate through the iTunes website on the iPhone screen is like embarking on a Grail Quest–you really have to want to find the games sections to endure all the midget print and impossibly tiny links).

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My first issue with the games is the fact that you have to play from the Internet.  This means you have to be able to access the Internet.  I spend a lot of time in the subway here, and my phone has no connection with the outside world when I’m down there, so I don’t get to play games while I’m waiting for my trains to come, and that sucks.  My second issue is that the touch screen, while very responsive for simple things like typing or dialing numbers, isn’t quite fast enough to properly keep up with the frantic pace of some of these games.  Also, you have to have freakishly thin fingertips if you want to touch the screen with any precision.

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That said, there is this one game, called iPipes, that I’m pretty addicted to.  The goal is connect pipe pieces together before this toxic-looking ooze rolls through them.  Simple, but fun.  I was wondering if there are games available other than on the iTunes site, or if anyone has games that they would recommend?  Thanks!

I’ve found these games useful for passing time; especially at an airport waiting for the next flight:

• Digiwidge Reversi - Level of Play: Easy - This is my favorite IPhone game; only complaint; it’s too easy; I never lose.  The next version should have easy and hard play levels.
• Shredder Chess - Level of Play: Hard - I’ve never beaten this game; but I’m not a serious Chess player.
• SpinBlox - a match-three style game where you tap and move blocks around the screen to create rows and columns of three or more.

 

MacMost has lots of Iphone games. I’ve played missile command which works okay, except my cities seem to disappear before they get hit by the enemy.

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Another site for Chess, Reversi, Battleship, Checkers, etc. is IFonearcde.

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If you’re serious about chess, see iPhone Chess Clock for pointers on how the IPhone supports playing a blitz.

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See Trism for more on an upcoming game that uses iPhones built-in orientation detector to control game play.