iPhone/iPod Touch Games Thread

[Hansey]

There’s also a really well done ripoff of Sherlock called Marple. It was free the other day, not sure its normal price.

I’m hoping for Honeycomb Hotel - I preferred that game to Sherlock even though it had a similar idea.

Aw, I missed Marple for free… it seems to currently be $2.99. Not that that’s a high price to pay if it’s just like Sherlock, but I just paid $2.99 for 50,000 Sherlock puzzles, so I think that will keep me busy for awhile, hehe.

[Bahimiron]

Anyone have any experience with SmartGo or SmartGo Pro? I haven’t played Go since ever in my life ever, but I’ve decided I’d like to learn and doing so while in traffic seems ideal. I’m just looking for the basics on becoming a 10 dan grandmaster on my phone. So are these any good? It seems like primarily SmartGo Pro is about having tons of extras, but the reviews of regular SmartGo seem to suggest that for people trying to learn that SmartGo Pro is preferable. Before I drop $13 on something, I’d like to know if anyone else has used it or found it useful.

[Aristophan]

Stop what you are doing right now and download this one - Sherlock.

This is the old Everett Kaser DOS (then Windows) game, ported to the iPhone. Free to download, and you can purchase more puzzles at given sizes in-app.

I have been waiting for this game since forever.

Thanks for this! Just looking at the graphics brought me back.

[Chris_Nahr]

Anyone have any experience with SmartGo or SmartGo Pro? I haven’t played Go since ever in my life ever, but I’ve decided I’d like to learn and doing so while in traffic seems ideal. I’m just looking for the basics on becoming a 10 dan grandmaster on my phone. So are these any good? It seems like primarily SmartGo Pro is about having tons of extras, but the reviews of regular SmartGo seem to suggest that for people trying to learn that SmartGo Pro is preferable. Before I drop $13 on something, I’d like to know if anyone else has used it or found it useful.

Looks interesting. The developers themselves clearly state that beginners should get SmartGo (or even the 9x9 version) and that SmartGo Pro is aimed at… pros! That is, people who want to replay classic games and study Go problems since those are the exclusive features of the Pro version. The actual learning features (tutorials, auto-adapting computer player) are available in all versions.

I’ve played only a little bit of Go but I’m also interested in learning the game, so I’m going to give the regular SmartGo edition a try.

[RichardEvans]

Bahmiron, I recommend igowin13 and igowinLife - they are both excellent.

Then get tetsuki - an excellent free go client for playing with real online humans.

[Bahimiron]

The developers themselves clearly state that beginners should get SmartGo (or even the 9x9 version) and that SmartGo Pro is aimed at… pros!

Yeah, I saw that, but if you read the reviews of SmartGo several people seem to suggest that the AI in SmartGo Pro is better at teaching for whatever reason.

Bahmiron, I recommend igowin13 and igowinLife - they are both excellent.

Then get tetsuki - an excellent free go client for playing with real online humans.

I’ll take a look at those.

Edit: Hot damn, igowin Tutor is free. Well, I’ll get that and if I actually learn how to play Go well enough to beat the tutor’s AI, then igowin gets my money for a more challenging app.

[KiloOhm]

Taking reccomendations for a podcast listener / downloader app. Prefer one that’s smart enough to wait until I’m on Wifi before downloading. I’d rather not connect to Itunes to do it.

[OrfBC]

Podcaster was discussed a little on the previous page. It’s slightly clunky, but it works well enough. You can have it only sync when you tell it to, which is what I do, and then you can control if it does it when you’re on Wifi or not.

Edit: NINJA’D! I swear there was just a post asking for a podcast app.

[KiloOhm]

So you don’t look like you answered a ghost. I deleted my post afterwards. Thank you for the response. :)

Someone told me itunes in the phone will do it for me so I felt dumb asking. :)

[Tracy_Baker]

Anyone who likes card games – particularly climbing games like Big Two, Gang of Four, Great Dalmuti, etc. – should check out Tichu. It’s a universal app with a great tutorial and AI, and a steal for the two bucks they’re charging.

EDIT: There seems to be a scoring bug with Grand Tichu calls (at least there was in a fame I played on my iPhone this morning.)

[Tracy_Baker]

Fastaar! and Kamikaze Race are both free today and worth nabbing.

[epthegeek]

Thanks for this! Just looking at the graphics brought me back.

I had always wished Everett would find a good artist to work with and sexy up his games - speaking of the graphics.

Marple is cool, but there are some very different rules about the clues that make it annoying to adapt to if you’re used to sherlock.

[epthegeek]

Fastaar! and Kamikaze Race are both free today and worth nabbing.

That’s “Fastar!” with only 2 a’s - for anyone that may be searching for it and not familiar with it already.

‎Fastar! on the App Store

And while I’m typing, a link to Kamikaze Race for good measure

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kamikaze-race/id335197771?mt=8

[Tracy_Baker]

linkage

Thanks. I love my iPhone but posting to the board from it sucks.

[Larsen]

I downloaded Sherlock and, despite being bewildered at first having never played it, I set about trying to use logic to deduce the pattern.

Then I found that when you select your choice by tapping and holding your selection, you can only choose the correct one in this manner. Which took away any element of making a mistake.

Is this game design, a bug or a cheat feature that I should only use if I need it?

[forgeforsaken]

I downloaded Sherlock and, despite being bewildered at first having never played it, I set about trying to use logic to deduce the pattern.

Then I found that when you select your choice by tapping and holding your selection, you can only choose the correct one in this manner. Which took away any element of making a mistake.

Is this game design, a bug or a cheat feature that I should only use if I need it?

I think you can turn that off in options.

[peterb]

I think you can turn that off in options.

Yeah, I think the intention behind that feature (which is on by default in the desktop versions as well) is to keep you from making a mistake early on and then continuing to play for the next hour even though you’ve actually put the game into an unwinnable state.

[Bahimiron]

StarPagga is also currently free. It ain’t great, but it’s the closest thing to a space sim that you’re apt to find on the iPhone.

[Chris_Nahr]

SmartGo kicked my butt in a regular game, which isn’t a huge surprise, and I’m now working my way through the humongous number of tutorial positions. Very nicely made, I feel already a bit less stupid.

[The_Other_Guy1]

Here’s a quick brain dump of recent purchases for both my iPod Touch and iPad along with the stars I rated them on iTunes.

Zombie Escape (*****)- The most fun I’ve had with those path-drawing games (e.g. Flight Control, Harbor Master) because of the fun power-ups, simple economy, nice scenario variety, achievements, and survival mode. Easily worth a buck.

<<snippage>>

Thanks for the review, Jim–I picked this up based on your recommendation. While it’s no Sword & Poker, the gameplay is very well-designed and although it’s a little jauntier than I would like my zombie games to be, it’s quite good (esp. for the price). Surprised it’s not getting more love in this thread.