Tech Blog

[#1]

There are many iPhone and iPod touch games out there and working out which are worth the money is a challenge, so here I am again with another round-up of reviews, weighing in on Puzzlebreaker, Ghosts 'N Goblins Gold Knights, Eliminate Pro , and Let's Golf.

Puzzlebreaker (Titmouse Games) - $0.99 – iTunes link

Breakout -style games really aren't my cup of tea—god knows how so many people keep themselves entertained with the one that's installed on the Blackberry—but this is an intriguing and very iPhone twist on the format, with the ball not caught with a bat but your finger and you "flick" it into the blocks. In addition, it's not simply a case of clearing them, but carefully solving the puzzle of level, requiring you set the ball's colour to destroy like blocks. Quite challenging, my one caveat is that it doesn't run especially well on my second generation iPod touch, making me think it's intended for third generation devices. Ah well. 3/5

Ghosts 'N Goblins Gold Knights (Capcom) - $.499 – iTunes link

Good grief! A version of the famously exacting and difficult Ghosts 'N Goblins series on the iPhone/iPod touch, which famously features imprecise touch controls? Yes. Are the controls imperfect, and therefore quite frustrating? Yes (they're not very good at all!) Has the game had its difficulty neutered to make up for that? Yes (and it's not very long, either!) However, it's still Ghosts 'N Goblins , which means past the awful controls there's clearly a good game under there trying to get out. Whether they'll improve the controls or not with an update remains to be seen, though. 2.5/5

Eliminate Pro (ngmoco) – Free – iTunes link

A free multiplayer FPS title seems too good to be true, and in Eliminate Pro 's case it kind of is. The title—while indeed a multiplayer FPS—only allows you to play matches a certain amount of times before you have to wait for your "power cells" to recharge, and conveniently you can buy more powercells if you want to play more ($0.99 per 20, which works out to about five more matches). It can clearly be very expensive if you want to play a lot, but… I'm not that bothered! Emininate Pro would be an acceptable FPS in the vein of the the original Unreal Tournament , but play really suffers if your internet connection isn't perfect, plus it has imprecise (and awkward) controls and a levelling-up structure that feels completely imbalanced. If you're not spending any money in it, though, it's not bad to pick up and play occasionally. 2/5

Let's Golf! (Gameloft) – $1.99 – iTunes link

One of Gameloft's many dodgy games that (more or less) rip off another series' style wholesale (in this case Sony's Hot Shots Golf ) this is also another one of Gameloft's games that is so good at what it does that it's hard to complain (if you're not the one being ripped off.) Let's Golf is a brilliant golf game if you don't mind them a little cutesy, with trophies to achieve, classic PGA tour -style swings (no "flick to swing", notably) plenty of courses and tournaments to play and characters to customize. Even without playing any other golf games on the iPhone/iPod touch I'm still sure this is one of the best you can get on the system. 4/5