1st Impressions

I have to admit first off that, as much as I love to play RPGs, this is he first one that I played that involved the actual rolling of dice to determine the damage done during a battle. It seems to add a delay to the game that, while I can understand the need if you were playing in person with friends, just seems to create an extra delay in an electronic version of the game.

That being said, I have to admit that Rimelands ranks near the top of all the RPGs that I have played on my iPhone. it didn’t take long (the screen shot is actually from the beginning of the game…) for me to realize that Rimelands will be a hot seller in the iTunes App Store.

The story line involves you, after humanity has spent 1000 years underground shelters to survive a frozen earth, being sent out on various quests in a frosty and frozen world that is inhabited by the Fair Folk.

Utilizing what has become a common D-Pad for control, you control the movements of Rose Cristo (the name is editable although you still have to play as a girl – something I hope a future update will allow you to change) as you not only perform the expected quests but solve puzzles along the way. One thing I really enjoyed was the amount of vaults to explore and treasures to find.

As the game progresses you can choose to follow one of three different character paths (Barbarian, Assassin, or Shaman) which gives this game a lot of replayability. That is only the beginning, however, as Diceworld Games and Crescent Moon Games are promising this is the first in what will be a Hammer of Thor series.

if forced to give this game a rating, I would give it a 9 out of 10. I wish there were an option to turn off the manual dice roll and something about a girl running around named David reminds me of the “Boy Named Sue” by Johnny Cash.

If you like the old school RPGs with the rolling of the dice than jump all over this one. it costs $4.99 in the app store.

In the last several months, I have purchased about a dozen apps looking for “that one perfect app” that would do everything I wanted when it came to ambient noises and the perfect alarm clock.

It has reached the point where I still have 8 of these still on my iPhone and liked one of then so much that I reviewed it not once, but twice for this site.

All that changed, however, after I spent the night with Nightstand Weather Clock.

While having a weather icon (much less a forecast) wasn’t a feature that I was looking for, I found it extremely helpful when it came to predicting how much difficulty I was going to have with my extremely arthritic knees that day. If, for example, I wake up and see that it is going to be rainy that day, I know that I will need to wear my knee braces and keep my pain pills handy.

The best part about the program, however, is that it will play built in ambient noises or music from a play list for up to 24 hours.  While doing so, it will display the time, a weather icon, and either a background of your choice or one of several landscape (or even celestial) backgrounds. You can also choose to cycle through these backgrounds in many different time increments, from a few seconds to a day. (That sounds handy with photos of my new grand baby… LOL) You can also adjust what part of the portrait or landscape screen the information is portrayed in.

My only suggestion for the app is that it allow for streaming music in the background.  While an iTunes playlist adds a lot of options, it would also be cool to do things like listen to a Pandora station overnight.

Now, for the best part. As good as this $0.99 app is, the developers are set to release a newer version that is so drastically improved that it is getting a new name as well. When that happens, you can read all about it right here…

Word Quest is a basic word-search game for the iPhone.  At $0.99, it offers unlimited game play that incorporates not only different difficulty levels, but twenty different lists of words.  I found the variety to be very entertaining.  Game play is very simple as you can not only tap the first letter of the found word and dragging to the end of the word, but you can also just tap the first letter and then the last letter.  There are even hints available if you get stuck.  The graphics are nice, and the interface very intuitive.  Overall, it is a fun game for when you have a few minutes.  Anyone that likes word games will not be disappointed with the versatility of this one.

The long awaited Pochi in Space has finally arrived in the app store. With the highest user rating of five stars, this game is a sure crowd pleaser.

The object is simple. you (Pochi) are blasting through space, doing your best to avoid running into UFOs, asteroids, and other space junk. Along the way you can pick up upgrades, such as shields, which will allow you to get even further.

Pochi offers two modes of play: an Exploration mode which is a good place to start for beginners, and a Speed mode that requires even faster reflexes.

As  many other games have begun using, the developers of Pochi has chosen to utilize the ever more popular Open Feint for tracking your scores and comparing them to others.

Speaking of the developers, my hat is off to you for making it so east to contact you with the option to do so built right into the About screen, something that guys like me appreciate. So many times you have to dig deep into the iTunes store just to find out how to make a game suggestion.

Regardless of that little rabbit trail, Pochi in Space was an entertaining surprise for me and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic arcade games.

Flight Doodle is one of a number of “doodle” games that seem all the rage right now.  At $0.99, this one puts you in control of a hot air balloon in an attempt to survive as long as you can against attacks.  As you can see in the attached screenshot though, you can configure your vessel and your attackers with a number of different choices.  In this case, I chose missiles against a jetpack.

Game play is very simple.  Using the tilt controls of your iPhone, you “steer” yourself around not only attackers, but also through power-ups that do things like shrink you or give you offensive weapons.  They can also speed you up and slow you down.  One interesting thing though is that you also go past the benchmarks of those that have gone on before.  This is facilitated by online leaderboards that can be set to automatically update after every attempt.

The game is not static though.  Future updates to the game over the next month will be adding new game modes.  Not sure where that is headed, but it should be interesting to find out.

While this is not one of those games that will keep you captivated with new content for hour after hour, the simplicity of little games like this that can be picked up and played for a couple minutes at a time speaks a lot for the million dollar success that some of these “doodle games” have achieved.  Every iPhone needs a few of these for just such occasions.

I have to admit that am not typically a fan of “find the missing objects” games. They are typically just one page after another in which you look for one item or another. sometimes you are given hints and other games outright give you a list of what to look for. It reminds me of the hidden object game you could always find in that children’s magazine I could always find in the doctor’s office or dentist’s office as a kid.

Mushroom Age has actually changed my mind about this genre of games.  The game not only includes 23 chapters and over 40 different levels but throws in 41 different mini games just for added benefit.

What I found most pleasing about the game was the excellent graphics, an exceptional story line involving a damsel in distress searching for her missing fiance, and the fact that the game not only takes place in the present but in the past and future as well.  The graphics and audio are excellent and, in many ways, the game reminds me of the Jules Verne Mysterious Island game.

I haven’t finished the game yet but, for the first time with this type game, look forward to doing so.

Marketed by G5 Entertainment, the game is available from iTunes for $2.99. if you are squeamish about dropping that mush on a game that you haven’t checked out, there is a free Lite version that will be sure to wet your appetite for more.

Supermarket Mania is one of the better iPhone time management games for the iPhone platform.  I tried it out last year when it was first released, and have to say that the re-visit has been an enjoyable experience.  The latest version of Supermarket Mania, version 1.5, adds not only language support, but also support for the iPhone 4 retina display.  And I have to say that the graphics are sharp.

This game is not some easy-to-beat game that you will quickly tire of.  The complexity of the game is not only reflected in it’s $2.99 price tag, but also in its 50MB download size.  The game not only incorporates an endless mode with leaderboards, but also a 50-level story mode across five different stores.  Multiple types of customers and goods exist, as well as a variety of upgrades as you progress in the game.

I do have two suggestions for the game.  First, as a guy that used to stock grocery store shelves as a teen, I wish the game had an option for stock-boys.  Being able to choose your gender as well as your name would, I believe, increase the size of the target demographic of the game.  Second, I’d love to see the game (or maybe a new one) morph into something that better incorporates growth in the character.  Taking a page from empire building games, perhaps, over time, one goes from stock clerk managing individual inventory items to store manager over different departments and ultimately to a franchise owner over different stores.  I just think that having different graphics for managing different stores might keep people involved a bit longer than upgrading the kind of meat they are stocking.

If you are into the time management genre of games, you really can’t go wrong with Supermarket Mania.  And if you are the try-before-you-buy type, a free lite version is available.

I have to confess, Zombie Wonderland surprised me. It wasn’t the quality graphics and sound. That has become something Chillingo is known for. What surprised me is that I found a zombie game so entertaining.

I’ve played other zombie games. They never kept my interest. But this one is unique. It combines Minigore style square-jawed graphics, arcade style zombie shooting, and elements of the time management genre of games into something new that really works.

This $0.99 bargain offers both survival and story modes, four different types of enemies, and three different levels of difficulty. It is guaranteed to keep your fingers busy. The close confines of the house you are protecting keep this from becoming overly burdensome though.

Not being a huge fan of arcade games, it is the time management aspect of the game that I really appreciate. Among the blood and guts that you would expect to find is the introduction of choices between killing or cleaning up after the mess, choosing between aggressive shooting or defensive boarding up windows, and, as you progress, choosing different weapons and bullets as you prioritize among the different types of zombies.

Overall, this game uses a mixture of successful elements that we have seen other places into something that is unique and is well worth the dollar. It definitely gets a thumbs up.

To tell you the truth, when I saw the title of this game I thought it was a donut-inspired clone of something like Diner Dash.  I was not aware of the award-winning PC game upon which it is based.  This is not a time management game though.  It is a process management puzzle.  It reminds me a bit of Aztec Quest or something where you have to place different pieces of equipment in the right place configured the right way in order to “complete your order”.

The goals are simple to comprehend.  On the right side of the screen you have orders for donuts.  They are different types with or without icing, sprinkles, filling, or whatever.  In order to complete your order, you need to set up the flow between the different machines so that you get the right number of the right kind.

One of the things I really like about the game is that it is challenging, but there is no time constraint to cause you pressure.  If you don’t get it right the first time, you are not running out of a limited number of lives or something.  This gives the game a nice relaxed feel that I find appealing.  This is enhanced by the fact that the puzzles can have more than one solution.  This allows you to solve the level by figuring out the right order of things without having to get too down in the weeds with exact placement of equipment.

One of the other things I really appreciate with the game (other than great graphics and game play) is the attention to detail.  Not only does the game allow for multiple player profiles, but sound settings based on different volumes (as opposed to just on and off).  It also separates the 111 levels across five different factories for a little variety.  Another thing that I really like is that, but muting the overall sound on the main launch screen, one can play books or music from other apps while playing the game.  The game also allows for skipping levels if you really get stuck on one.

I can come up with very few suggestions for this game.  I think it would be nice if additional “factories” or level packs became available in future upgrades – even if they were in-app purchases.  Ability for users to contribute their own levels would be cool as well.  But these kinds of possible future enhancements take nothing away from the game as it exists today.  It is solidly built and I can’t find a single fault with it.

Rocknor’s Donut Factory, at an introductory price of $0.99, is a steal of a deal for the 100+ levels it contains.  It’s been a while since I reviewed a game that made my Must-Have list, but this not only makes that list, but also gets 5-stars from me on the App Store.  If you are one of the folks that come to me later and ask if I recommend this game for you personally, consider it recommended.