iPhone Game Roundup: Critter Crunch, Zen Pinball, Imangi, and More

[MacRumors]

Games are the biggest seller on the iTunes App Store, and no matter what your style, there are a number of high quality games available. Here are a few highlights of some of the games recently reviewed at TouchArcade:

Critter Crunch - original variant of a classic puzzler ($9.99).
Zen Pinball - convincing Pinball simulation ($4.99).
Imangi - addictive cross between Scrabble and Rubik's cube ($3.99).
Galcon - perfect pick-up strategy game ($9.99)
Cro-Mag Rally vs Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3G - battle of the kart racers[/url]

Game developers are investing heavily into the iPhone platform. John Carmack revealed today that id Software is planning an exclusive iPhone title based on one of their existing properties (such as Doom, Quake or Wolfenstein).

“The iPhone, as a device, is in the same generation power-wise as the PS2 or Xbox,” he says. “The graphics are a little lower but the RAM is a lot higher. … You could easily spend $10 million on an iPhone game, but the market just can’t support that yet.”

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[techlover828]

eventually we're going to have different specced iphones.

[bitslap47]

Whoa... it is true

This was reported back on the 17th as a rumor: http://www.snappingyro.com/index.php...gaming-market/

This makes me very happy! John Carmack is just unreal... one of the most inventive programmers of our time.

Here come some mind blowing games!

[bubbagumpshrimp]

“The iPhone, as a device, is in the same generation power-wise as the PS2 or Xbox,” he says. “The graphics are a little lower but the RAM is a lot higher. … You could easily spend $10 million on an iPhone game, but the market just can’t support that yet.”

wow! so does that mean that the iphone could compete with the PSP in visuals? I find this hard to beleive but im up for a surprise.

[mainstreetmark]

Titles like Zen Pinball underscore the need for a demo system on iPhone. Right now, it's a developers wet dream out there. You pay money for their crappy app just to even try it, and there's no chance for refund.

The zen-pinball game, for example, I bought solely on the decription of the 3D imersiveness. It's sorta tilts when you tilt the iphone, and in a way opposite of what I would naturally expect it to do (which is, the iPhone is the pinball machine, rather than the iPhone being just the point of view...). So, $5 down the drain.

TouchArcade will find a nice home since they post videos of everything -- though I could do without watching the tester launch the app.

[bitslap47]

Originally Posted by bubbagumpshrimp

“The iPhone, as a device, is in the same generation power-wise as the PS2 or Xbox,” he says. “The graphics are a little lower but the RAM is a lot higher. … You could easily spend $10 million on an iPhone game, but the market just can’t support that yet.”

wow! so does that mean that the iphone could compete with the PSP in visuals? I find this hard to beleive but im up for a surprise.

Absolutely... and with some creativity the negative impact that lower spec graphics hardware would have can be greatly minimized/masked.

[Chipart]

Originally Posted by bubbagumpshrimp

“The iPhone, as a device, is in the same generation power-wise as the PS2 or Xbox,” he says. “The graphics are a little lower but the RAM is a lot higher. … You could easily spend $10 million on an iPhone game, but the market just can’t support that yet.”

wow! so does that mean that the iphone could compete with the PSP in visuals? I find this hard to beleive but im up for a surprise.

No, unfortunately it doesn't! "little lower" is a very optimistic paraphrase for
"2D is pretty good but 3D is substantially slower"...

Florian
(Waiting for a really compelling 3D-bib for iPhone)

[bytethese]

Wow, playing Quake or Doom on my iPhone would surely kill the boredom on the subway rides!

[kk1ro]

Originally Posted by Chipart

No, unfortunately it doesn't! "little lower" is a very optimistic paraphrase for
"2D is pretty good but 3D is substantially slower"...

Florian
(Waiting for a really compelling 3D-bib for iPhone)

Devs were granted access to the iPhone SDK less than six months ago!
It's obvious the first wave of games will be disappointing, at least graphically!
A lot of developers have said the iPhone has the ability to render great 3D graphics that are, at least, on par with the Dreamcast, which means we could see games getting to near-PSP level!
It's just too early in the development cycle to be making certain assumptions, but I predict a bright future for iPhone 3D gaming!

[iSee]

Enigmo is a good, high quality game.

If you liked games like Lemmings and LoadRunner, you'll probably like this one too. It's a little pricey at $10, but hey, that's half the price of the regular Mac version.

I enjoyed it a lot, but I did find it got repetative after a while. There are 50 different levels, but I found myseld using the same techniques over and over to solve each one. It would have been just as good a game with 25 levels.

[thingamajigidid]

Originally Posted by bytethese

Wow, playing Quake or Doom on my iPhone would surely kill the boredom on the subway rides!

it would also kill your battery before you get to were you are going.
but at least it is a choise.

[DaScreama423]

Speaking of games, here's a video of a cool new iPhone game that I just downloaded, called MotionX Poker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZqNi06tdBU. Very fun game!! i mean its touch and shake mostly. but poker. check it out.

[sunfast]

Originally Posted by John Carmack

“The iPhone, as a device, is in the same generation power-wise as the PS2 or Xbox,” he says. “The graphics are a little lower but the RAM is a lot higher. … You could easily spend $10 million on an iPhone game, but the market just can’t support that yet.”

Crazy to think the iPhone has that kind of power!

I'm really excited at the prospect of ID bringing a title to the iPhone. I'd happily pay proper money for a proper game - something a little more serious than a simple time killer.

[warburg]

Originally Posted by mainstreetmark

Titles like Zen Pinball underscore the need for a demo system on iPhone. Right now, it's a developers wet dream out there. You pay money for their crappy app just to even try it, and there's no chance for refund.

The zen-pinball game, for example, I bought solely on the decription of the 3D imersiveness. It's sorta tilts when you tilt the iphone, and in a way opposite of what I would naturally expect it to do (which is, the iPhone is the pinball machine, rather than the iPhone being just the point of view...). So, $5 down the drain.

TouchArcade will find a nice home since they post videos of everything -- though I could do without watching the tester launch the app.

My Zen pinball doesn't tilt when I move the iphone. Also, I think it's an impressive game. What do you mean by saying that the phone should be the "point of view" rather than the pinball machine?

[warburg]

Originally Posted by RAWR

Yeah mine won't move when i tilt the phone, but I do think it's an impressive game. What does "point of view" mean in the way you used it?

It's not supposed to move when you tilt the phone. Real pinball machines are oblong, vertical, when they face the user. Did you ever use a pinball machine in a horizontal position?