This being the new platform that was being covered, the Apple iPhone had a surprising amount of great games from up and coming indie developers. Sure, companies like PopCap, Square Enix and Taito made quality games as well for this handheld, but it was clear that the shining examples of great games this year came from more independent developers.

11. Drop 7 – How can such a bite sized game capture hours and days of my time this year? When it’s Drop 7, a puzzle game that has you getting rid of falling balls by the amount of balls in a row or column. If the number on the ball matches the amount on a row or column, they disappear creating chain reactions. This simple premise and clean interface makes Drop 7 the perfect game to play for a few minutes while on the go.

19. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor – Portable games aren’t want you would expect to bring new experiences in the platform genre, but Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor does just that. By simple pressing on the spider and flicking on the screen, creating intricate webs to ensnare enemies becomes a satisfying and unique experience that can only be done on this platform.

Nintendo DS

While every other year before it was a year that the Nintendo DS flourished with dozens of quality titles, 2009 proved to be kind of a snooze fest for the venerable dual screened handheld. Sure, mainstays like Zelda, Layton, Kirby and Pokemon had their releases, along with a new version of the Nintendo DS (DSi), but something still seemed rather lacking for the handheld.

24. Knights in the Nightmare – The Nintendo DS is almost a dumping ground for JRPG’s this generation, but some of the more unique games are finding its way to the dual screened system. The most unique, and unbelievably complex, games to be released on any system is Knights of the Nightmare. Blending shmups, strategy and RPGs, learning the rules and the strategies of this game is well worth the investment in time…if you’re willing to sink your teeth into it.

Sony PSP

In a year that Sony put more attention to its video game handhelds and consoles, the PSP ended the year on a slight whimper even though it started off surprisingly strong. Many quality titles were released, including Resistance: Retribution, Pangya: Fantasy Golf and Rock Band: Unplugged.

That being said, no PSP games made it to our honorable mentions category.

Sony Playstation 3

More than any other year, this was THE year of the Playstation 3. A new “Slim” model, plus a price drop and a new foothold on the market thanks to some high quality games. Both the PSN side and the retail releases had some of the best games released this year, so for these honorable mentions to make this list shows the high quality these games have.

16. Flower – In what may be one of the most devisive games to be released this year, Flower’s blend of gorgeous visuals, unique storytelling and very capable (and controllable) Sixaxis controls makes it easily one of the games every PS3 owner has to try out. After the 4 hour adventure is complete, you’ll grow a great appreciation of the relaxing and beautiful world thatgamecompany has created.

22. Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time – Not only a stunningly animated and beautiful rendered world but a well imagined and very well produced game. All of the platforming and weapons are excellent in one of the best games in the vaunted Ratchet and Clank series.

Microsoft Xbox 360

In terms of quality exclusives, the 360 recieves a venerable “meh”. The year sounded like it would be exciting for the system, but towards the end it’s the Arcade offerings of the 360 that truly stood out.

12. ‘Splosion Man – Xbox Live Arcade’s best game happens to also be the best platformer this year: ‘Splosion Man. Featuring a hilarious main character and some of the toughest and most nerve-racking platforming, ‘Splosion Man caters to a specific set of gamers, but it fully satisfies their need of platforming.

17. Shadow Complex – Think about how strange this concept is: Let’s make Super Metroid for the 21^st century…only we won’t change anything about it. It’s this admittedly simple yet impressively executed concept that drives home what is one of the best values in gaming in 2009.

Nintendo Wii

The Wii’s popularity hasn’t made it a favorite amongst the hardcore gamers. However, this year proved to be a fantastic year for a Wii owner who considered themselves dedicated gamers.

21. Punch-Out!!! – It is easy to condemn Punch-Out!!! as just a simple port job or “re-imagining” of the original Punch-Out!! of the NES. Yet, it’s exactly that reason why this version is so charming and lovable. Little Mac’s conquest of defeating these diverse and somewhat racist set of characters rings that nostalgic bell hard, but you’ll definitely like the tune it plays.

14. New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Speaking of some hard nostalgic ringing, what could possibly be called Super Mario Bros. 4 is simply one of the most delightful games on the Wii this year. Behind one of the harder Mario’s to be released is a clever carry and multiplayer mechanic that makes the game more chaotic, but that much more engaging.

18. Rune Factory: Frontier – As Harvest Moon starts to grow tiresome, Rune Factory seems to bring that series to a new level. Featuring a great dungeon crawling game, along with satisfying farm simulation, Rune Factory: Frontier gives fans of both farm simulators and dungeon hacking a place to co-exist and to enjoy it both of their quirkiness.

Multi-Platform

A recession and a bevy of delays didn’t stop some of the best titles from coming out this year on any platform. In fact, it’s safe to say that this year might be one of the better years in gaming overall.

23. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand – Never before has solid gameplay mechanics and absolute stupidity meshed so well. A lot about Blood on the Sand should be poked fun at and teased for years to come, but the gameplay is a great mash of Gears of War and hip hop that ends up being a good deal of fun.

13. Street Fighter IV – The comeback of the year, Street Fighter IV brought back everything that was great about the original Street Fighter II and made it relevant and new for this generation. The tried-and-true gameplay, along with subtle refinements that add more depth and strategy to the game, make SFIV a nostalgiic fighting game lover’s dream cone true.

15. Battlefield 1943 - Easily the best multiplayer game of 2009, Battlefield 1943 pares team based gunplay into a simplistic, but very well crafted gelatonous mixture with great controls, strategy and maps. More maps would have been great for this game, but the 4 provided is enough to sate your cravings.

20. Red Faction: Guerilla – Open world games aren’t known for their innovation and penchant for new gameplay experiences, but Guerilla’s completely destructible world creates a unique twist in the open world game that hasn’t been touched since Crackdown.

25. Assassin’s Creed II – What Assassin’s Creed II lacks in new features, it more than makes up for in ambience, atmosphere, diverse gameplay and a great story. Ezio’s road to redemption, plus the very story that spawns from the game, will you keep you engaged and into the story until the very end.

Top 10 of 2009

10. Shatter – Making an Arkanoid clone isn’t a hard feat; taking what Arkanoid did an improve upon it is something different entirely. Shatter does that with a clever multiball bonus mechanic and one of the best techno soundtracks you’ll hear in a game. For $8, PS3 owners have the best downloadable title this year.

9. Space Invaders Infinity Gene – As the iPhone exploded with quality titles this year, one stood above them all and used everything the iPhone has to create a unique and beautiful experience you can’t play anywhere else. Space Invaders Infinity Gens’s mix of Space Invaders, Galaga, gorgeous technic visuals and excellent music gives an audio/visual experience that will capture any on lookers or gamers attention. The constant stream of unlocks makes you want to play each level constantly.

8. Batman: Arkham Asylum – It almost seems like Batman: Arkham Asylum is this year’s game version of Sideways: it automatically is on every Top Ten list. Arkham is the prime of example of how to make a game with great mechanics, character development and atmosphere that will be a testament on how to make stealth, action hero and character driven games for years to come.

7. Excitebots: Trick Racing – You get to be a Frog racing against a Bat, while kicking a field goal during a race.

Oh, you need more reasons? How about a game that brings speed to Burnout 3 proportions, level design to the likes of Pure…while bringing crazy mini-games during the race? How about a surprisingly strong online component and its ingenious Poker Race? 

Excitebots: Trick Racing may seem like a kids game or some cheap standing for a “real” racing game, but it ends up being one of the most intense and exhilarating games to come out this year.

6. UFC 09: Undisputed – The fighting game came back in full force this year, and while Street Fighter IV was the most popular, UFC 09: Undisputed was the high watermark of fighting games this year. Combining a very responsive and brutal physics engine, gameplay that is diverse and strategy heavy and a very solid and clean look that makes every knockout look painful, UFC 09: Undisputed is a shining example of not only how to do a new franchise right, but to do a great fighting game right.

5. Dissidia: Final Fantasy- If there was one game that seemed to sound like a complete and utter disaster, Dissidia: Final Fantasy was the game to do it. Yet, with its amazingly complex RPG system, along with its simplistic but intuitive fight mechanics, Dissidia turned into a game that not only any fighting game fan would enjoy, but anyone with a good 10 – 20 hours to kill would sink their teeth in and never let go.

4. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Creating movie-like experiences is something that the videogame industry has toyed around with for years. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the first game to ever create a great game with a great movie combined within it. The personality from the characters help you want to go through every single area in this stellar adventure.

Plus, the multiplayer is a lot of fun to play, thanks to its great level design and ingenious use of verticality.

3. FIFA Soccer 10 – One of the deepest interpretations of any sports game ever, FIFA Soccer 10 provides the depth in both management and pitch play that stat junkies and footie heads will get months of game time out of. The implementation of the Virtual Pro and the updated controls and visuals help FIFA Soccer 10 shine about all of the other sports games.

2. Borderlands – In a year that felt more safe than innovative; more familiar than daring, Borderlands was a big breath of fresh air. Sure, the concepts are familiar: shooting enemies in the head and loot and level grinding are common staples in a FPS and an action-RPG.

Yet, it’s the nearly seamless blending of both game types that makes Borderlands so refreshing. With a visual appealing art style and a quirky, demented sense of humor, Borderlands quells both itches with a style and feel that is distinctly unique and full of a new type of flavor.

Shooting random enemies in the face can get boring in most games, but when you add a progression system that is worth moving through and a reward system that really makes you feel like your accomplishing goals and becoming stronger, Borderlands has an addictive quality that few, if any, games this year possessed.

Creating multiple characters until I hit level cap and downloading every bit of DLC is very plausible and likely for me, because of how completely satisfying the game is.

1. Wii Sports Resort – Why go to an urban wasteland where the most fun you can have this year is Wahu Island? In a surprise that may shock some (including me if asked about this in the beginning of 09), Wii Sports Resort is not only a vast improvement on the Wii Sports franchise, it’s an even bigger improvement on the mini-game collections that are released in the system. More importantly, Wii Sports Resort finally shows one of the inherent strengths of the Wii and improves in every way what the Wii can do.

Sure, you may complain about the fact that it needs the Wii MotionPlus to even play any of the games, but when you attach the peripheral to your Wii Remote and let it rip, you’ll always want to play games with this type of tactile feel and precision. Having the remote respond to the twist of your wrist or how hard you swing and in what direction becomes immediately satisfying.

Wii Sports Resort is also one of the only mini-game collections that require actual skill to play the game. There is no simple shaking of the Remote or random waggling, all of the games require you to be precise, calculated and trained in order to win the game.

Previous Wii Sports games like Bowling and Golf are vastly improved with the Wii MotionPlus. However, the real highlights in this package are Frisbee, Table Tennis, Swordplay and Basketball. Each game utilizes the Wii Motion Plus in different ways to make the game more engaging and fun to play, for any type of gamer no matter how new or jaded.

In a year that was more familiar than risky, due to an economic downturn that closed production of various games, delayed key titles into the next year and shut down various studios, video games were a kind of comfort that many went to for solace, piece of mind and escape. Wii Sports Resort defines the pinnacle of 2009.

Yes, it’s comforting. Yes, it’s safe. But in a time where we could you some optimism and good clean fun, a day at Wahu Island may just be what Dr. Mario ordered. And there really was nothing better to play this year than Wii Sports Resort.

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I remember hearing about Song Summoner for the original iPod last year. The thought of a game that mixes my favorite type of RPG (Strategy-RPG) and Monster Rancher style collection gameplay seemed like a graet idea, especially since I miss the Monster Rancher series (Tecmo, a Wii version of this game would be excellent!). Unfortunately, the concept and the execution seems to vary quite differently in this case.

In Song Summoner, you play as Ziggy, a conductor who summons Tune Troopers to aid him in battle. You are out to save your little brother Zero, who has been captured by a fascist militia who strives to destroy music forever…or something like that.

The crux of the game is this: use your iPhone or iPod Touch and select tracks from your device. From those tracks, you create units of applicable strength and class. These units are given a letter ranking after they have been summoned.

Then, you go battle enemies in either the story missions, in free maps or in the “rehersal room”, where you go to battle and win Pitch Pearls, which are used to level up your characters from Bronze to Platinum.

You also level up your units through the use of “Play Points”. To accumulate Play Points, you listen to the songs that have created units. These accumulate points for all characters, but give more to the specific song that you listened to. However, the points accumulate moves you up in Levels, not in Bronze to Platinum rank (like is used with Pitch Pearls).

As you can see, just the leveling of characters seems to be confusing. And while to most outsiders, strategy-RPG’s can be considered a confusing, sometimes daunting affiar, Song Summoner confuses gamers who have been bred in the ways of Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice and Knights of the Nightmare.

Leveling and setting up your men is easily an exercise in confusion. You mean to tell me to level up my characters to be good, I have to listen to the song it came from multiple times? And all that Pitch Pearls really do is give you more abilities and level you up slightly? How do my main characters level up? Why can’t I accumulate points by defeating enemies? What really IS the point of free battles when I can only get about 15 Pitch Pearls per battle?

Leveling and gaining new abilities are easily the most fun mechanic from a Strategy-RPG, and Song Summoner does this all wrong, resulting in a confusing system that doesn’t seem rewarding and all that interesting to dive into.

Compounding the problems with the game is the actual battles. Played like a paired down, very simplistic version of Final Fantasy Tactics, battles are over fairly quickly with not much of a challenge involved. In fact, there is nary a recollection where actual strategy played into the game itself, which defeats the entire purpose of the battle system in the first place.

In fact, the biggest problem the game has is that it doesn’t feel like a whole game, even though they added to the game from the previous version. To progress or really enjoy the game in some form, it seems like a majority of your experience has to be done outside of the game itself by listening to the music attached to your army. This makes the game feel like more an add-on or a companion piece to your music, rather than a game that uses your music to fleshen out the game itself.

With a lackluster story, decrepid visuals, controls that are annoying and unresponsive and a rather disheartening feeling of being incomplete, Song Summoner: The Unsong Heroes + Encore simply fails in both the basic design and in its ambitious and unique concept.

The game seems to have too many systems that do very little in the way of progresssion and the fact that you are better at succeeding in the game when you don’t play it seems very disheartening to someone who wants to dive head first into a long, deep RPG.

Unless you want an add-on that allows you to do something different with your music, this game is best left out of your iPhone or iPod Touch. I’d tell people $4.99 is too much for the game; $9.99 is highway robbery.

Brad Wiswall
www.twitter.com/gamakarmica

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I’m gonna do something very different with my review of what might just be the worst game of this year: Phantasy Star 0. I’m really not going to talk about the game so much because the game is Phantasy Star Online made very sloppy and ugly.

Much like it’s PSP reiteration Phantasy Star Portable, Phantasy Star 0 attempts to shoehorn the PSO legacy into a handheld game with poor controls, camera and with the same battle system that the game has had since the Dreamcast days almost a decade ago.

Next to nothing has been changed since the original PSO: Phantasy Star Universe completely disappointed fans of PSO with a horrible story mode and very lackluster multiplayer mode. The addition of paying an extra $10 along with the money you have to spend on XBOX Live also left a bad taste in the mouth of gamers, especially when they realized how abhorrent the game has become.

This year, two portable iterations of the series hit and both have glaring and unfortunate weaknesses. Like Monster Hunter, Phantasy Star Portable doesn’t even have internet servers to allow players to play with others. This severely hampers the experience of playing the game as it should be. On top of that, the limitations of the controls on PSP makes this version unwieldy to play. Around that time, Phantasy Star 0 was announced and many thought that would finally be the game that made PSO relevant again.

Instead, it only further cemented the painful fact that PSO fans from yore now have to realize: PSO must die.

Phantasy Star Online was the first game to have a sustaining, burdgeoning community within a console. Being the first console in the United States with its built in online infrastructure, the Dreamcast did many things that were soon replicated in another generation of hardware and on PC’s. PSO was a brilliant mix of dungeon hacking, MMORPG and Japanese role playing conventions, three things that were hugely popular in the 90’s.

Riding that wave, PSO gained cult status amongst gamers. In fact, when the Dreamcast is often remembered with gamers in the 90’s, Phantasy Star Online is usually the first thing that they mention in memorable games. It’s this feeding in nostalgia that PSO has been able to soldier on from this day.

Phantasy Star 0, the game that is a prequel and is supposed to take the game into a new direction, ends up being exactly like PSO, but worse. The graphics and sound are horrendous, while the battles are nowhere near as captivating or interesting.

The reason why the battles aren’t that interesting is mainly due to the archaic combat. Sega has been using the same types of level ups for years: You get incrimental boosts to your stats and that’s it. Sure, you can buy abilities and weapons to create, but leveling feels like it’s nowhere nears as rewarding.

This type of RPG has steadily made improvements over the years: Why Phantasy Star 0 decided to phone it home is beyond me. It’s honestly about time for the PSO franchise to take a leave of absence or to find a way to drastic impvove itself.

In a gaming world where PSO-like  games are a dime a dozen, Phantasy Star 0 seems like a crotchety old bugger who refuses to accept that time has moved on and things improve. The developers need to find a way to improve the game….or just let it die.

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Whether you want to say that the PSP has had a comeback year depends on one question: Do you like quirky games with irreverant old school charm (or gameplay)? If so, then the PSP has been your safe haven. This trend continues with the satirical and charming Half Minute Hero.

Every little piece of Half Minute Hero requires you to at least have some knowledge, nostalgia or love of old school games and sensibilities to fully appreciate the game, which is very evident when you boot up the game for the first time. Anyone else would be wise to steer clear.

The game has you playing as multiple characters: The Hero is someone who has to defeat a dark lord in every level of the game. The Hero's story is done in a rapid, simplistic version of a Japanese RPG. The Evil Lord's story has you trying to turn your bat girlfriend back into a human, which is played out in an Real Time Strategy type of game. Fianlly, the Princess has you finding a cure to your fathers illness, which is played out like an old school shoot em up.

The catch, of course, is that you have to conquer each level in 30 seconds or less. The fast pace of the Hero and Princess games make this to be a fun, quirky and somewhat satisfying game. The Evil Lord, however, feels like a way too stripped down RTS that boils down to spamming one button until your objective is done.

Sounds daunting? Well, it really isn't that difficult, since the Time Goddess can come and refill your time before you run out. This takes some of the frantic edge off of the game, but there is a dash of strategy that is implemented into each game when it comes to refilling time.

Then again, each and every game are as simplistic as can be. In Hero, all you do is power level, which is easy since the battles are a breeze to play (you basically do nothing but watch your hero run into monsters). In Evil Lord, you spam any of the face buttons to defeat opponents to produce monsters that exploit the weakness of your enemies. In Princess, you make sure you stay on a specific road and hold the O button to shoot forward.

This is where the problem lies with Half Minute Hero: despite it's relative simplicity being a strength to the game, it's also its greatest weakness. Even when you beat one of the story modes, you really don't feel like you did anything at all. Everything is too automated to feel satisfying, so you're left with reading the funny dialogue and satirical storylines the game hands you.

Another problem the game has is its price. Much like Holy Invasion of Privacy, this game more than likely costed next to nothing to produce and despite their being a sustainable amount of gameplay, $29.99 seems pricey for a game that looks very cheap, even though the gameplay and story is lovingly crafted.

In fact, Half Minute Hero suffers from exactly what Holy Invasion of Privacy has: identity crisis. Making a game look like a simplistic, no frills old school game has its advantages, but when you make no allusion that there's more to the game than that, you're left with a confusing mish-mash of sensibilities.

And even though Half Minute Hero is much better than Holy Invasion, it has one more thing in common that hurts it some for the time being: It's $10 more than it should be. Half Minute Hero is charming and fun to play, just for the lunacy of what it does. However, paying full UMD price for the game seems to be a stretch.

Brad Wiswall
www.twitter.com/gamakarmica

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 Five years in the making and it still seems about ten years behind. Are they harsh words? Sure, but there’s not denying that when you play Gran Turismo for the PSP, that you’re in a time warp that was built with dated technology.

This all starts when you realize there isn’t a main campaign mode to the game. Instead, the game basically relies on you to create the game for yourself. You decide what cars to buy and what races to complete to get credits. From there, you can buy cars.

And that’s it. You don’t upgrade your cars, get different paint jobs or customize the way your car looks. On top of that, you can’t exactly choose which cars you want to buy.

Explanation: The game runs on a date/clock, where it chooses which cars and models are available for sale. This does prevent, in theory, for someone beating this game in a week or so, but it also severely limits what you can do daily in the game.

In ways, it makes sense on a portable: The “do once a day” model has worked really well in such portable games as Animal Crossing and Nintendogs. But Turismo fans were told they were getting the same console experience on a portable, and after waiting 5 years for this game, it seems like the wool is being pulled from their eyes.

Finally, there are the graphics. Normally a benchmark in the industry for its prestine graphics and smooth framerate, GT for PSP looks more akin to its PS1 counterparts than its PS2, which would have still looked dated, but slightly impressive. The results are a bunch of boxy looking cars driving in a low-res, low-detail track that looks almost cartoony in comparison.

Only the most diehard of GT fans should give this game a purchase. Otherwise, it’s best left in the garage.

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Sometimes, adding bells and whistles is just the perfect excuse to create a sequel to a new game. Better animation, graphics and sound usually are purely artificial and means to only help a game get first week sales due to its impressive tech. Very rarely do the new bells and whistles actually improve a game beyond an aesthetic point of view. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, however, is one of those exceptions.

The game has you returning as Nathan Drake, treasure hunter extraordinare who seems to be a potent mix of the best parts of Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider and geek-adored actor Nathan Fillion. Like in the first game, you scale the environments to get from destination to destination, then stop every once in a while to shoot down some baddies, cover-based style (Gears of War).

The story is very much in the vein of pulpy 50’s exploration novellas, while mixing with modern anti-hero archaetypes to create Nathan in a different light than he was in the original Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Nathan feels more like a dashing rogue than he does a reluctant hero, which is to the benefit of this decidedly darker story.

In the course of the 10 – 14 hour adventure, Nathan goes from lush jungles, to snow barren mountains and war-torn city scapes. The exquisitely detailed environments gives the game a pure “lived-in” feeling when going through cityscapes, while the tombs and jungle based areas are gorgeously rendered with distinct, colorful detail. This helps avoid common problems with most exploration type games, where certain areas look very similar and adds confusion to progressing to the next area.

Uncharted 2 can be described as a game of rapid sequences. Mainly, after one big thing happens, another big thing happens that tops that moment, and the cycle continues from there. Whether you are shooting up enemies or jumping from train car to train car, Uncharted 2 keeps the game going on a blockbuster, popcorn munching pace. The pure cinematic feel to the game oozes with Hollywood charm, making lovers of cinema and games alike fall for the main character and the globe-trotting story.

The multiplayer, however, may just be the biggest draw to this game. A full functional, competitive and accessible multiplayer renders this package complete. In both cooperative and competitive modes, Uncharted 2 adds simple thrills with its beautifully rendered graphics and its air-tight gameplay. Some may complain that the multiplayer is simply “standard”, but with so many multiplayer experiences falling short, a fully competent and fun multiplayer should still be rewarded.

Here’s a cliche you probably heard already dozens of times: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a complete package. An entertaining and breakneck paced singleplayer campaign, followed by a finely balanced and tuned multiplayer gives any PS3 fan a great time worth having.

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Scribblenauts placed 13th in overall monthly sales on the NPD, selling 194K units. This is quite an impressive number, especially since big name games on both the DS (Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story/Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days) and other systems (Guitar Hero 5 and Beatles Rock Band) debuted in September as well.

Brad’s Take: Despite my overall feeling of the game, it reassuring that creative games that push the boundaries of what a game can do is getting this great of sales, which only excites me further into what 5th Cell can do with a possible sequel to the game.

Also that should be noted: Need For Speed Shift sold very well, but whether that is due to the positive word of mouth or the brand name is still up in the air.

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Brad’s Take: Can we say collectible? Nippon Ichi knows its games cater to an incredibly niche market and their niche loves collectibles, so its a no brainer on this one.

Also, good job to NIS for having the foresight to notice that Badman probably wouldn’t sell enough for a standard shipment.

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Currently, the DS runs at a speed of 37mhz to 67 mhz. With the new Tegra, rumored calculations have it 600mhz, greatly increasing the processing speed and power of the hardware.

Brad’s Take: Well, if this does happen, kiss backwards compatiability goodbye for the current DS hardware.

That said, it will be interesting if Nintendo bites on such tech heavy hardware. A more powerful portable system that is capable of possible Gamecube graphics sounds very nice to me.

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Harvest Moon Frantic Farming ($5.99) – Thinking that this can’t be as bad as the horrid Puzzle de Harvest Moon, Frantic Farming does enough to sate your expectations of what a puzzle version of Harvest Moon is like. That being said, there’s something that seems to be missing in this puzzle version of the long standing farming franchise. Maybe its charm? Or maybe a sense of logic of how the puzzle game works?

The tutorials do an adequate job of showing you basics, but you’re left stuck when it comes to figuring out advanced tactics…well, that is if there are really any. For a Harvest Moon fan, it’s a purchase that you will seldomly find yourself playing. In fact, playing this will make you wonder why hasn’t an iPhone version of the beloved franchise hasn’t shown up on the platform in the first place.

Anyone else, you’d do best to avoid this game since there are dozens like it.

Harvest Moon Fans: Let It Drop (to at least $2.99)
Everyone else: Avoid at all Costs

Castle of Magic ($2.99) – D-Pads on an all touch screen system is an unfortunate circumstance when it comes to platformers, because it guarantees that people who play it will not get the most accurate and reliable control scheme when they play the game.

That being said, if you find yourself comfortable playing games like Zenonia with little to no problem, then your next purchase is definitely the cute and lovable Castle of Magic. A very bright and colorful platformer, this game has you going through various stages in this classic 2D platforming game.

I’ve always had problems with touch screen d-pads in games, but this game has one of the better versions that actually works rather intuitively on the touch screen. Very rarely did I die or miss a jump because of an unresponsive d-pad, which is praise enough for the controls.

For $2.99, anyone who wants a nice, cute platformer will enjoy Castle of Magic. That being said, don’t be surprised if this ends up being a PSP Mini, at which case it’s a definite purchase (if they can retain the cutesy charm).

Worth The Price

Tower Bloxx 3D ($1.99) – It’s as simplistic as games get: stack blocks without them falling, then you win.

But why is it an instant purchase? The overall metagame, which has you placing those blocks as buildings to create towns, becomes rewarding as soon as you start creating more difficult buildngs and towns. The timing needed is forgiving, but does provide a challenge in some areas, but it’s entertaining to get a 40 block streak within the 5 minutes you’ve spent playing.

Overall, a quick and dirty game is all this game really is, but if you want to invest more time into the game, you’ll find yourself easily as entertained.

Worth the Price

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor ($3.99) – Out of the plethora of iPhone games available, one of the most impressive has been Spider. Playing as the mentioned arachnid, you go into environments to create webs and trap all sorts of bugs and insects into your clutches, then eat them when they stick to your webs to create more webbing. It seems simple, and at first it is. Making three webbings intersect into a single web provides some easy fun.

Then, as the levels differ, clues into the dark story pop up to make the game more interesting than its percieved to be. On top of that, new bugs are found that need to be tackled in different ways, while the different areas provide different challenges in creating the most effective web.

In the end, it comes down to one question: Do you own an iPhone and like to play different types of games? If your answer is yes, buy Spider.

Worth the Price

Wolfenstein RPG ($2.99) – It’s always nice to see a brand take itself realistically than seriously for a change. Wolfenstein RPG knows it isn’t the deepest, nor is it the most realistic, when it comes to narrative. But the hairbrained and absolutely ridiculous story gives the game a lot of its charm that makes it much easier to blow through.

The RPG mechanics are surprisingly a lot like the 1st person shooter, only done in a weird turn-based sort of way. Strafing and circling work the same way as they do in an FPS, but all sorts of intangibles like critical hits and stat boosts are included in the RPG sense.

Wolfenstein RPG is a strange, retro hybrid for someone who wants a new twist of a classic game. Fans of the game are highly recommended to check it out, as well as people who want a quirky new game for their iPhone.

Worth the Price

Backbreaker Football ($.99) – More of a Madden drill then it is an actual football game, this surprisingly addicting $1 game provides a lot of challenge in its rather rudimentary concept.

The game is simple: You are running to the endzone and you have to juke, spin or out sprint all of the defenders trying to get you there.

The combo based gameplay, which has you getting out of tackles in near 3 second succession, gives the game its addicting, “try one more time” quality that keeps you playing until you finally eat dirt.

I still wish there was more to the game than that, but for a $1, you’ll spend tons of time with the game and have a blast playing it.

Worth the Price

GeoDefense Swarm ($1.99) – Think FieldRunners, but far more difficult. Swarm has the same type of look and feel that Geo Defense has, but instead makes it a make your own path game.

The game works more this way and is more fun than GeoDefense, but the same problems, such as the dodgy placement control and the sometimes stupifying AI on the cannons, still rear their ugly heads. But, for $1.99 (a whole dollar cheaper than FieldRunners), it’s still worth a buy.

Worth the Price

Dungeon Hunter ($6.99) – Action-RPG’s are a dime a dozen on most platforms, but quality is far and few between. It’s especially rare on the glut of games that are on the iPhone, but Dungeon Hunter provides a ton of great monster hacking for any iPhone lovers.

The first thing I must point out is the controls, which are very well done despite it being on a touch screen analog nub. The rather large attack buttons on the screen make hitting enemies also very easy and the auto lock on detection helps greatly so you’re not expecting to be precise on the controls.

Lastly, the powers and leveling up are highly rewarding and make going through each dungeon worth your while. That, and the game is still as pick up and play as any game on the iPhone, which is fantastic for quick play sessions.

If you’re looking for a quality action RPG on the go, this is actually the best you can find. Easily worth the $7.

Worth the Price

Brad Wiswall
www.twitter.com/gamakarmica

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