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  • Meow Meow Happy Fight Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Meow Meow Happy Fight Review

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    You'd be forgiven for mistaking Meow Meow Happy Fight for another of the App Store's generic twin-stick shooters. There's something about the device that seems perfectly wed to the genre, and it isn't the lack of sticks or tiny screen. But the point is moot. Meow Meow Happy Fight isn't really a twin-stick shooter, its control scheme excepted. The game's look aside, it really has more in common with a shooter like Quake than a shooter like Geometry Wars. This makes it a pretty fresh, if flawed, experience.
  • Helsing’s Fire Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Helsing’s Fire Review

    By

    The problem with apps is that most sacrifice substance for style. Flawed mechanics and flat gameplay are easily forgiven when you touch the screen and make beautiful things happen. Helsing's Fire is the first iPhone game from Ratloop, and its stylish exterior makes it an easy sell. But Ratloop, the developer behind the excellent indie Rocketbirds: Revolution!, aims to fill that shell with strategic depth and a genuinely interesting mechanic. In the end, though, Helsing's Fire still leans more heavily on being attractive.
  • Piyo Blocks 2 Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Piyo Blocks 2 Review

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    The cutest match-3 game on the App Store, Piyo Blocks, hardly needed a sequel. It seemed already complete, offering simple yet compulsive gameplay and a fully-formed aesthetic. Piyo Blocks 2 initially seems like an advertisement for Piyo Blocks 2 HD, the new iPad edition that features redone visuals and a simultaneous two-player mode. As it turns out, it's a valuable new expansion. Big Pixel has tweaked the game in small but significant ways.
  • Zombie Wonderland Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Zombie Wonderland Review

    By

    Shooting zombies would be more fun if, instead of fighting off the undead, it felt more like waiting tables at a neighborhood diner. That's the concept of Zombie Wonderland, the latest stylish yet derivative and un-fun offering from Chillingo. It combines the click management and survival shooter genres so thoroughly that you honestly can't tell the difference between gore and chores. If you think mopping the floor is as interesting as mopping up the undead, then this is your game.
  • Prince of Persia Retro Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Prince of Persia Retro Review

    By

    Prince of Persia Retro is a perfect port of Jordan Mechner's classic Prince of Persia, and an easy addition to your app library. The game's two-dimensional sights and sounds are a tight fit for the iPhone's small screen. Its combo of platforming, exploration, swordfighting, and high drama are just as addictive as they used to be. Even the touch controls are right on, and arguably feel more intuitive than the keyboard buttons we used in the '80s. But it's also perfect to a (slight, but nagging) fault.
  • T Raiders Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    T Raiders Review

    By

    There's something to be said for weirdness. T Raiders is nothing if not weird. It isn't the circus sounds or even the quirky cartoon characters; it's the way everything fits together. Touchmine was the company behind the superb Devil Invasion, a frantic and unexpectedly rich hybrid of match-3 and role-playing games that starred squishy little cartoons as the invading devils. T Raiders, a run-and-jump platformer, follows suit. It's packed with strange characters and mechanics that produce a distinctly alien vibe. But it's also a bit less amusing than its forebear.
  • Skate It Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Skate It Review

    By

    How does a mainstream title look when squished carelessly onto the iPhone? A lot like a bug under a microscope. You need to squint to make out the details, though you'll probably cringe first; you fiddle with some awkward controls; and you try to do your homework without tearing your hair out. Skate It appears to be an App Store port of the Nintendo DS and Wii version of EA's excellent Skate. But it's much less straightforward than you would think. The skateboarding title only goes to show that making an effective iPhone game takes more than slapping tilt and swipe functionality onto an existing game. This should have been rethought from the ground up.
  • Monster Mayhem Review
    Reviews
    • iOS
    Monster Mayhem Review

    By

    The thing about castle defense games is that they are frantic by necessity. There is zero depth to tossing enemies into the sky with your finger so that they splat on the ground. Most developers up the intensity by piling on more and more invaders so that the game becomes a test of your dexterity. Monster Mayhem piles on mechanics instead—giving you a full arsenal of weapons, giving you a full bestiary of creatures to take on, and giving your finger a much-needed rest. The shocking thing is that it totally works. Why can't all castle defense games be this diverse?