All Features List

Considering how many people use their iPhone as their primary portable music player, it's surprising to see how few rhythm games there are. Sure big titles like Tap Tap Revenge has taken off like wildfire. But competitors to the handful of successes you'll find are few and far between. That's why it was such a delight to stumble across World of Tunes, a colorful adventure filled with great music and charming visuals. Read more»

Being a mom is a busy job. Being a working mom is even crazier. Who has time for fashion? I’m lucky if all of my clothes are in the right place and properly tucked in or out, let alone worry about being fashionable. My kids keep threatening to nominate me for the TLC show What Not To Wear because they’re so embarrassed when I wear my comfy Crocs in public.  So, I was thrilled to get all caught up on my fashion sense with the very girly, but very entertaining Roiworld: Fashion Fix.  Read more»

Fruit Juice Tycoon strives to reach a perfect blend of genres, combining elements of puzzle and tycoon games into a frantic new style of gameplay.  But does this combination of different elements go down smooth?  Or is it just a muddled sour conconction that no one would want to consume?  Like a real fruit juice stand, there are some things on the menu that you'll love, and some that'll leave you scratching your head. Read more»

When mobile phones starting gaining popularity about a decade ago, few people thought that their tiny monochrome screens would ever make for a viable gaming platform. Still, they tried.  Working within the limited options available to mobile software programmers at the time, Snake was born.  It quickly became a fun little diversion that millions played to pass the time.  Now, more than 10 years later, Snake has been reborn for the 21st century. Read more»

"I died of dysentery." This phrase defines a beloved playing experience of a whole generation of kids who cut their gaming teeth on Oregon Trail, a historic simulation game about traveling west from Missouri to Oregon in wagon train in the 1800s. This edutainment software title was originally published for the Apple IIe in the 1970s and now has been given a spectacular facelift by Gameloft for its debut as an iPhone App. Read more»

Bringing their "Family Game Night" concept to video game audiences is something that Hasbro has been trying to succeed with over the past few years, and it has met with mixed results.  While games like Jenga World Tour and Operation Mania were flops, recent releases like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit have been meeting with moderate success, both critically and commercially. 

Could Yahtzee, a simple game that combines dice and poker rules, really offer the level of depth and replayability that so many gamers demand nowadays?  Much to my surprise, in the case of Yahtzee Adventures for the iPhone, the answer is a resounding yes.

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Many years ago, the puzzle game Tetris introduced the idea of fitting a variety of geometric shapes together to produce a continuous line that would disappear. This type of puzzle game makes you think about the position and shape of each falling object and how they collapse into another to form lines.

You have to have similar skills to understand and solve the puzzling movement in Action Blox by TikGames. Read more»

The iPhone has seen its share of match'em and make'em disappear puzzle games, so what makes Crayon Ball stand out in the crowd?  Could it be its unique art style?  Could it be its physics-based twist on a decades old genre?  Could it just be that it's just classic puzzling fun? Whatever it is I picked it up a week ago and I just can't seem to put it down. Read more»

Putting a good game in the iPhone App Store can be a real balancing act, and few titles know this as well as Topple 2. After all, balancing is what the original Topple was all about. But the balancing act ngmoco has to pull off has to do with more than just the gameplay. They need to balance to success of their original title with the expectations of its fans. And Topple 2 delivers. Read more»

On my visit to the great Niagara Falls, I was truly captivated by the majesty of the immense volume of falling water. It was a true open-mouth experience. To me, waterfalls are mesmerizing... peaceful, dangerous and intoxicating at the same time. TikGames takes full advantage of those qualities in its American Falls Solitaire game for the iPhone and iPod Touch to create a Zen-like experience. Read more»

I think word games appeal to a special segment of the gaming population. Maybe you’re an avid reader and you love books. Maybe you make a living from some form of writing like public relations, journalism, advertising or law. Or maybe you’ve just always loved the challenge that comes from forming words out of a random set of letters. They’re not for everyone, that’s for sure. But for those of us who are word-addicts, games like WordsWorth can be very entertaining little diversions. Read more»

Once in a while, I come across a game that is the perfect blend of mindless fun. I don’t have to think hard to understand the rules. I enjoy the graphics, and I find myself so engaged in getting past the next level that I have to force myself to stop playing. PileUp! Candymania is just such a game. The graphics are enticing (who doesn’t like candy?), and the gameplay is simple and addictive. It’s the perfect snack for my brain. Read more»

I have to admit I’m not a fan of airports. Fighting for an overpriced parking space, disrobing for a perfect stranger at security, and being herded on to a cramped airplane are just not my idea of a good time. So, when I saw the title Airport Mania: First Flight I was skeptical that one of my least favorite places could be turned into the setting for a fun game. But my fears quickly subsided as I began to play the iPhone version of this highly addictive, instantly adorable multi-tasking (time management) game from Reflexive Entertainment. Read more»

We used to have a standing joke in my family at Christmas time. My hard-to-please brother would look at his newest gift from my grandma with an awkward expression on his face, obviously not thrilled with the unusually bright sweater. Already knowing what his reply would be, I'd ask “What do you think of your new sweater?” His pained response would always be: “I’m trying to like it.”  

Those words accurately describe my feelings about Sudden Games' Sushi To Go. The screen shots are cute and enticing. Sushi is one of my favorite foods. The characters look great in the opening sequence. I love the motion of the turtle under water as he seems to float inside of my iPhone. It’s almost like I’m holding a tiny aquarium.  So, why am I not having fun playing this game? I’m trying to like it, but somehow it falls short.  Read more»

When I was a kid growing up in the 60’s and 70's, we didn’t have video games to keep us entertained. Instead, we played hide n’ seek or freeze tag, and card games and board games when we couldn’t go outside. My dad loved “coffee table” games that were not only attractive (they were usually constructed out of wood and polished steel) but also fun and challenging. I remember playing Labyrinth for hours, trying to navigate the little steel ball into the “goal” at the end without letting the ball fall into one of the trap holes.                 

It’s been years since I played the coffee table version of Labyrinth, but all those childhood memories came back to me when I played Codify AB’s iPhone version of this classic maze puzzle game. Read more»

Maybe it's because I grew up watching those Kurt Russell movies with chimps, like The Barefoot Executive, or maybe it's because I used to play Monkeys in a Barrell with my little brother (I usually won) when were kids. Fact is, monkeys (or chimps) are synonymous with FUN! True to form, the monkeys in RealArcade's Tiki Towers deliver loads of monkey-style humor and merriment. Read more»

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have lived in the Wild West of the 1800's here in my home state of California: the gold rush, the building of missions, and every man for himself. With wonderful games like Westward, I can play cowgirl and never have to worry about getting bit by mosquitos. Read more»

Like many of you girls out there, I went to see "He's Just Not That Into You" last weekend. It was definitely a movie about women for women (a "chick flick," as my husband would say), but I could relate, and I enjoyed it. I realize that we women spend a lot of time consoling each other, convincing our girlfriends that "your hair looks great" or "those jeans do NOT make you look fat."

We're all in search of that little boost that can temporarily melt away the stress of a bad day, or the way a great new hairdo just makes a girl feel fantastic! Sally's Salon is definitely one of those happy little stress-relievers that we just can't get enough of.

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I remember playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time on my family's Nintendo console. My reaction was, "Why do I care about this little Italian plumber?" Maybe it was the way he stared at me, waiting to be moved along in his quest to save the princess. Maybe it was the surprised and disappointed look on his pixelated face when I accidentally dropped him off a cliff. Whatever it was, it didn't take long for me to become completely engaged and addicted to caring about what happened to Mario and his friends.

That kind of connection between player and game character is rare. Well, dare I say that I feel the same king of connection to the cute little characters in Rolando that I felt for Mario, Luigi and their buddies?

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Game shows make for interesting TV because we're always curious to see if the contestant is going to suddenly become a millionaire, living out our own fantasy. The stakes are high. The money is real. The suspense is non-stop because, with one false move, our contestant goes home with nothing. NBC's hit game show Deal or No Deal epitomizes the winner-take-all format because the contestant can literally go home with $.01 or $1,000,000 in her suitcase.

So, when I played Deal or No Deal for the first time on my iPhone it was hard not to have high hopes.

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Enigmo is a beautiful looking game. The "Rube Goldberg" style graphics are fun and inventive and remind me of the inner workings of an elaborate set of pipes in an inventor's laboratory. The physics of how things work are interesting, surprising, and sometimes mesmerizing. With all of the effort put into the art and graphics, I only wish the developer, Pangeasoft, had done more testing of the actual gameplay, which I often found very difficult and frustrating. Read more»

The first time I played a game on the iPhone, I remember thinking:  this would be such a great device for Last Day of Work’s (LDW) real-time game environments.  The folks of LDW must have come up with the same obvious conclusion, because they recently launched their virtual fish-breeding game, Fish Tycoon, for the iPhone/iTouch.  Read more»

If at first you don't succeed, try again. That would appear to be Sandlot Games' mantra in releasing their PC download game Snail Mail as an iPhone game.

For the most part, it's sound advice. Snail Mail never felt quite comfortable in its PC download skin, and its scrolling arcade action is tailor made for the iPhone's tilting technology.

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In its 35-year run as a top game show on TV, The Price is Right has been taken to every conceivable game platform that exists – the PC, console, the Web and mobile phone, to name a few.  

Now, Ludia and Freemantle Media have launched The Price is Right for the iPhone. This iPhone version is as true to the original TV show as possible for a touch-screen mobile device.  Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on how big a fan of the TV show you are. Read more»

Back when I worked at Yahoo!, we strove to achieve the holy grail of online gaming: creating a multiplayer online game that can be played seamlessly between players on the PC and mobile phone. Many have tried, but like King Arthur in Monty Python’s and the Holy Grail, all have failed.

Until now. Zynga, a leading social gaming company, has released Live Poker, a free iPhone app connecting players on the iPhone with the thousands of players playing games online through social networks. The result, quite frankly, is...the Holy Grail of Online Gaming. And my online poker habit shall never be the same.

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In the same week that PopCap released Bejeweled Twist, it only seemed natural to review a puzzle game for the iPhone. Tatomic is the opposite of Bejeweled in almost every way. It's clearly an indie effort, lacking the flare and pizzazz of the more famous puzzler, and frankly, you probably have never heard of this game at all.

However, it does share one quality with Bejeweled: It's addictively fun and hard to put down, even long enough for me to sit down and write this review.

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Last time we talked iPhone, I was complaining that a lot of games I was playing were mere ports of the same games on other platforms.  Who is going to be the first game company to “wow” me and create a game 100% around the design factor of the iPhone?

Ironically, it’s a Facebook game company, SGN, who has stepped to the plate, literally, with iGolf, iBowl, and iBaseball.  They are all fun little free diversions that turn your iPhone into a Wii. . .as long as you do not destroy your iPhone and poke out someone’s eye in the process.

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It was only a matter of time before the first popular PC download games we know and love here on Gamezebo make their way to the iPhone. Yesterday, both Jewel Quest 2 and Diner Dash made their debut on the iPhone.

Are these mere ports of the original PC games or does the iPhone versions bring something new?   The simple answer is the former,  but with a multi-touch twist.  Our take is below the fold. Read more»

When I bought my iPhone two weeks ago, I promised myself two things: One, I would not drown this phone in a pool of water (see forum post). Two, I would share with you all the casual game gems we find on the iPhone in our new feature, iPhone Fridays! Read more»