We’re spending less time with Left 4 Dead and Mirror’s Edge (prepare for parkour goodness soon!), yet increasingly more with all the iPhone games that started trickling in the App Store since January – lots of neon geometry, intriguing gameplay, good design and some more procrastination extraordinaire. From aural LSD to Van Helsing Crimsonland, junior bondage and beatbox tutorials, it’s all here.
Let’s start with the newest player on the block – Zen Bound single-handedly bitchslaps most of the current iPhone games with its top-notch graphics, production quality and relaxing atmosphere. The concept about rolling up wooden objects with a lengthy rope has been lying around for more than three years: the demoscene group Moppi Productions has released a PC version back in late 2005 called Zen Bondage and it’s nothing short of wondrous – special kudos going out for the downtempo soundtrack by Ghost Monkey. The iPhone version brings you more objects to wrap up – 51, to be exact – and you’ll just love the unlock system. The in-game GUI is polished and there are some extra tweaks to give enjoyment to casual gamers as well – you can clear levels with less than 100% coverage. If you had to pick one out of the eleven apps detailed here, choose this. There is no disappointment in Zen Bound. (zen bound on itunes)
I could get away with saying “we’ve covered RJDJ before“. Everybody’s covered RJDJ who was even remotely interested in mobile tech. Let’s face it – this is a tough one. A collection of algorhythms that process incoming sound feed (via the microphone) and spit out processed sounds is very much a case of hit-or-miss and you can find ideas both terrific and botched at the same time. Echolon sounds exactly like a bad case of LSD trip, Gridwalker’s for urban scenes, spitting out melodies of blirps wonderfully synched to what appeared to be small changes of environmental volume and those were our favourites – if you live around construction areas, you could have a go with WorldQuantizer, just to name one example. While RJDJ Album is a collection of six subprograms that need microphone input, RJDJ Shake has seven and needs you to move your phone as well. There are two issues that devs should correct in the next update: it would be nice to have a way for you to customize your own subroutines (or soundscapes). On another note, it’s hard to get good sound input in your pocket. (rjdj album on itunes, rjdj shake on itunes)
If you thought rhythm games and Guitar Hero are sloppy and heavy metal’s not hard enough to smack your world into a foundation of ROCK, here’s an app to change all this: Nine Inch Nails Tap Tap Revenge. Seriously. Guitar Hero without all the 3D graphics, for three fingers and only with the tracks by Reznor & Co. (nine inch nails tap tap revenge on itunes)
iDracula is basically Crimsonland rehashed into the Van Helsing monstrous steampunkish universe. Nuff said. No, seriously. We’ve been expecting this monstrosity automaton of a bugkiller for so long, we can settle for less. Demons, vampires, shotguns and crossbows. Choose from a selection of perks after leveling up and try to survive for as long as you can. Leave two smudges of finger fat on the control surfaces and hope for a setting where you can scale down game speed – (devs actually ARE promising updates soon enough!) – otherwise, if you’re in for some bloodcurdling action, the treat is there! (idracula on itunes)
Monospace is a block elimination puzzle game that constantly makes you switch viewpoints from 2D to 3D. Minimalistic graphics and a taint of gray, white and blue makes it worthy enough to mention – but hey, if it’s a dimension-wrapper, why don’t we just settle for Fez and nothing less? (Really. We should have Braid, Fez and Aquaria for iPhone. Indie gamesand casual should prevail!) (monospace on itunes)
Tower defense games are not exactly my cup of tea – they need a sense of strategy that is hard to maintain with my hilarious shockwaves of ADHD and I always was the kind of guy who destroyed the barricade and went out to shoot the invading crowd in the face. But I digress. Geodefense is your everyday tower defense but it’s all grids, neon, looks very 80s and explosions are just like Geometry Wars on blowjobs. Amazing. If you’re a strategic person, you’ll actually enjoy it for its real values. (geodefense on itunes)
I needed Loopy to have a decent six-channel mixboard to practice beatbox with. If you’re bad at starting recording – because sounds don’t exactly trigger recording sessions -, you’ll shit blood without hesitation. If you’re not, it’s going to be the time of your life. The GUI is very minimalistic but gives itself to you in a few minutes and the combination of orange, blue and dark grey is very soothing. When you shit blood, very soothing is the very least thing you need. Check the embed before deciding on this – this is very, very hit-or-miss. (loopy on itunes)
I’d really enjoy having a tracker like FastTracker or ReNoise on my phone with an online sample depository – oops, giving away ideas for free – but until that arrives, make do with noise.io. The GUI is gorgeous but very complicated and the only thing that saves my head, I’d bump it into the wall otherwise, is the cockhardeningly beautiful rendition of the TB-303. (noise.io on itunes)
Nano is a musical puzzle game similar to Bloom in its soundscapes but looking like, ummm, a lab hedgehog with excessive magnetic properties, three LEDs and an oscillator linked to its heartbeat? No, but it’s pretty similar. Guide blue particles to light beacons to form shields around them and steer red particles away. It’s easy, it sounds amazing and you shouldn’t, shouldn’t play it when you’re not relaxed. (nano on itunes)
Grey minimalistic design is something that appeals to me more and more every day – Drop7 is just like that, a mixture of Tetris and Sudoku and if you’ve seen Chain Factor before, that’ s just it. Embrace the grey! (drop7 on itunes)