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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you don’t like spoilers, this isn’t the app for you.  If you want up-to-the minute updates and nice recaps of this live event at a glance, you won’t find a better app.  The $1.99 app launches with a popup of a recap of recent happenings in the house.  Tabs across the bottom offer more information.  It offers short biographies of all the house guests with indicators of who is Head of House, who has the POV, who is on the block, and who has been evicted.  Another tab has up-to-the-minute updates from JokerUpdates.com of what is going on via posts from those watching the live feeds.  Daily recaps are offered on yet another tab that shows the posts from The Daily Dish.  A final tab, something new for this year, is an alumni tab that shows you all the prior contestants from prior seasons and links to their twitter accounts so that you can see what former house guests are saying about current ones.  It also has links to the twitter accounts of the current HOH, Big Brother Watch, and Big Brother Scoop.

While there are competing apps out there for this purpose, none (in my opinion) do as good of a job of pulling the best of all of these into one app.  One of the other apps has push notifications, something lacking in this app to date, but is very specific to one source of information and doesn’t offer the live feed access that the Hamster Soup app does.  There is a free competitor out there, but it is ad-supported and doesn’t have the daily recap piece.  So I see this app as the best combination of features, and more features are in the works.  While the app already supports iPhone 4 resolution, the next will support iPad resolution, adjustment of timestamps to your current time or “Big Brother time”, and a way to mark which of the live updates you have already viewed and which ones are new.   The developer wants to make this the best app out there for the BB fans and it shows.  The other apps seemed geared to selling ads or promoting a single web site.  So my recommendation is to check this one out if you are a fan of the “hamster” shenanigans.  As I said before, nothing out there does it better.

Another nice feature of the app is that you can swipe on the screen to find similar stations. The comprehensive list by location and such is handy, but a single swipe is sure safer while driving.

While the app says that you can play streams in the background using Safari, I found that the app is fully iOS 4 aware, either by design or accident, and the streams continue to play fine as a background app on the iPhone 4. Developers are already working on some iOS 4 specific functionality, so I am really looking forward to seeing what the next release has to offer.

While I feel that the $4.99 price point is a bit high considering some of this apps competition, it is a quality app with excellent support and I’d have no problem recommending it to anyone.