This year has
without a doubt been the year of the iPhone
and more to the point, the year of the iPhone
mobile game. The launch of the Apple (AAPL)
iTunes App. Store earlier in the year unleashed
a torrent of new games and iPhone applications
onto the world. Although most of the early
releases tended to be rehashed versions
of existing game concepts, adapted for
the iPhone experience, as 2008 progressed,
our friends the game developers, have started
to get to grips with the uniquely new technologies.
Which haave helped define the iPhone as THE
mobile gaming experience to be reckoned with
and hopefully with the game developers just
getting warming up, who Knows what 2009 will
bring!
Oh yeh! and you can make a phone call if
you really want.
As the year draws to a close we asked our
thumbthug.com mobile gamers to weigh
in on what they felt were the best iPhone
games of 2008.
10. Tap Tap Dance/Tap Tap Revenge
Opinion was pretty much split were tapping
was concerned. Both Tap Tap Dance which
is a Dance Dance Revolution style game
and Tap Tap Revenge which is basically
Guitar Hero for the iPhone scored high
this year both for playability and just
shear down and dirty fun. But if we had
to give it either way it would probably
go to Tap Tap Revenge because, lets face
it, more people want to be lead guitarist
in a rock band than a backup dancer for
Britney! The online element also helps
to add depth to the gaming experience. GO
SEE!
9. SimCity
EA has done a great job in porting this game
over to the iPhone maintaining all of it's
engaging and addictive gameplay qualities.
The downside is that there are still a few
bugs in the system that need to be sorted but
EA are working on them and have promised to
have them resolved shortly. That said, SimCity
may have scored higher this year if it were
not for this. GO
SEE!
8. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
Really not much to say about this game apart
from it's just a fun driving game that uses
the iPhone's accelerometer to steer. If you
are a fan of games like Mario Karts on the
Wii, you will be a fan of Crash Bandicoot Nitro
Kart 3D on the iPhone. Just don't try and walk
down the street whilst playing it, lampposts
are harder than they look. GO
SEE!
7. Super Monkey Ball
Another just down right fun game that makes
great use of the iPhone's accelerometer technology
and i would not have expected anything less
from SEGA. Just watch-out for the motion sickness! GO
SEE!
6. Bejeweled 2
This game seems to become everybody's favorite
regardless of what platform it is thrown onto.
It just goes to show that great gameplay out
weighs great graphics every time. GO
SEE!
5. Tetrus
Classic, classic and again a CLASSIC! GO
SEE!
4.
Enigmo
Voted "Best iPhone Game" at Apple's
WWDC '08 this fun puzzle game also seems to
be a favorite of the thumbthug.com crowd. If
you are the shoot 'em up type cell phone gamer
then this game is probably not for you but
if you like a game that is fun, challenging
and makes you think then you are an Enigmo! GO
SEE!
3. Trism
Another game to take full advantage of the
iPhone's tilt and touch gameplay, Trism sits
somewhere between Tetris and Bejeweled in the
game style highraki. Yes Fun, Yes Addictive! GO
SEE!
2. Topple
If you love to stack you will love Topple,
this very addictive "How high can you
go?" game is both funny and fun at the
same time. Drag, rotate and stack your blocks
and when they fall, drag, rotate and stack
some more. Oh, and it's FREE which might account
for some of it's ranking! GO
SEE!
. 1. Rolando
Without a shadow of a double, Rolando is the
Thumbthug.com Gamers iPhone game of 2008 and
I mean overwhelmingly, we are talking "Obama-esc" landslide.
And i have to say that we here in the thumbthug.com
office tend to agree. This puzzle game utilizes
all aspects of the iPhone's gaming technologies
to great effect. Hats off to ngmoco, Inc for
creating the iPhone game of 2008. GO
SEE!
