Three iPhone/iPod Games I recommend

There needs to be something said about the quality of the iPhone/iPod games. However, not all of them are without flaws, and some are just not worth the money.  I decided to share three games that I have been playing in my limited spare time.  If you like these three game types in general, you will enjoy playing these three games. I have picked one game from sports, strategy and music. They are all from EA publisher.

Sports: Tiger Woods PGA Tour  2010 for iPhone and iPad:  (link  to iTunes for purchase ability and more information)

Bottom line with any sports game is if you do not like the sport, then you probably don’t play  that sport’s video game. With that said, I love golf. I live for it and have enjoyed the Tiger Woods franchise of games for years. The Tiger Woods PGA Tour games have consistently been of very high quality. They feature the best graphics and challenging game play. In addition, the announcers are the very in tune with your game, and make me laugh from time to time. They really program a lot of sayings. If you watch the golf channel,  you will recognize the voices, although I am unaware of their names.

Game play:

Tiger Woods PGA Tour gives the option to pick one of 5 golfers and play any of the seven courses. The courses include Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, The K Club, Doral, Fancourt, and TPC Boston.

There also is a career mode Tour option. I started my Tour and at first the game is quite difficult. Naturally, you start with a max handicap and your drives off the tee with go max 280 yards. You will be known as shankapotamous for a few rounds. But, after you get the hang of how to aim and strike the golf ball, your handicap will drop to 0 in no time. In fact, in my last tournament, I scored a -38 (below par).  In all honestly, after you spend about 150,000 on equipment upgrades, the game gets easy.

The upgrades consist of things like increased power, spin control, distance, putting speed, etc. In this iPhone version, it is very scaled back and there are no real equipment changes like purchasing replica drivers and irons like in the full Xbox 360/PS3 versions.

Striking the ball is as easy as moving your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom and back up again. It is very sensitive and the slightest movement to the right or left will translate into a hook or slice. This is a huge plus to the game because it forces you to pay attention. The game also takes into consideration tempo. If you want more power, you need to take it back slower, wait for the power meters on the right in red to glow, and then release full speed. Even after playing the game for weeks it still is hard to get it perfect 100% of the time. But, I really like how the game developers did this. I think you will too.

Graphics:

The graphics truly are not bad all considering. The golfers look like gofers with a decent swing and the courses are darn near spot on replicas. However, the graphic details of the Xbox 360 versions like damn near photo realistic grass, trees and skies are not present. But seriously the graphics never bothered me and it runs smooth. My iPod generation 2 had no issue running the game. Load times were great.

Extra and Cost:

The game costs $4.99 and allows you to load songs from your iTunes library and play it right over the announcers. It then allows you to control the volume of both. So this is a huge plus. I can get a little John Mayer in during my 18 holes. Lastly, the game eats the battery so if you play a full 4 game tournament for a few hours straight you will most likely need a charge shortly after finishing.

I recommend this game if you like golf and have some time to spare. Give it a shot. I should mentioned that for me on a second generation iPod, I have no issue with the game. In addition, the game requires iPod software version 3.0 to run.

Strategy:  SimCity

I have always been a fan of SimCity. This is the original version. So for old school players who actually played this version a lot, it’s great. SimCity is very cool on the iPhone/iPod and actually works really well. Here are my thoughts on it.

Gameplay and Graphics:

Using your finger, you build and manage a city. The controls are really sensitive but after a little while building streets and zones comes naturally. The menus are familiar to people who have played the game before.

The game is not easy though. You can start on easy (50,000) medium (10,000) or hard -minus 10,000. Through managing taxes, utilities and zones, you manage to build a city. After a few hours, my city was right around 250,000. At this exact moment, my city has 202,286 people and has cash reserves of $601,642. The year is 11/17/2101. Is started in 1900…and I am out of room to work with . 🙁

Bottom line, if you like SimCiity you will like it on the iPod/iPhone. With my second generation iPod it runs smooth and I have not experienced one crash to date. The game play does feature one draw back, you cannot listen to your iTunes library and play the game.

The music for SimCity is just like the original, and it to be honest it kind of sucks. Although it is relaxing. Lastly, SimCity for iPod allows you to play at three speeds. On ultra 3X speed days go buy every second.

The graphics are scaled down but still high quality for the hardware. You can zoom into street level but don’t expect to see people. Although, you can see cars and check out the mansions.

Costs only $2.99 so why not give it a try if you like this type of game.

Music: Rock Band

Graphics and Gameplay:

Roch Band for iPod and iPhone is rock solid on both of these fronts. This game is one of the best games for the iPhone in terms of graphics and game play. Using your fingers, you hit the buttons as they can down just like in the full versions. I use both my thumbs usually.

You can play drums, bass, guitar and voice just like the full versions. I have to admit, it’s fun and a great way to waste time. You get the musical feel of the songs rather well .Plus, it runs so smooth. I have not had one issue on my 2nd gen iPod.

General game features are just like the full version. In the graphics, there are no close ups of the band members playing but they still rock out in the background, head banging/fist pumping and all. In fact, my only negative with this game is the lackluster song list that comes with the original Rock Band. They just are not my favorite bands. However, the game is solid. It should be said that you can download about 6 or 7 additional songs for free (like in the full version).

Costs $6.99 so it is the most expensive game on my list here.

So that wraps it up. I will edit this post more and add some pictures as time goes on. If you have a direct question about one of these games please post it in the comments area and I will answer it shortly.

Best regards,

Adam Fargalli

Follow me on Twitter @ AdamFaragalli