Hey everyone, my name is Craig and I hope to be writing many pieces for iPhone Docked in the future.

Onto the good stuff- here is a list of my 3 MUST HAVE apps for the iPhone.

#3- PingPong

From 148apps.com

Skyworks was seriously my favorite gaming company back in 6th grade. They made a lot of games for candystand.com, which was the only game site that we could get to without a proxy (probably shouldn’t have admitted that).

Anyways, this game is great. At a cheap $.99, it is a great time waster and an entertaining game. 3 different paddles can be used which have differing amounts of power and spin. There’s a pretty extensive tournament and arcade section. This article is taking me a while to write solely because of this game.

The tourney mode is basically first to 11 (with a 2 point margin of victory). The arcade mode is more interesting, and much more difficult. You have a half-table, and after a few volleys and serves, you must hit targets to score points. You only have 3 “lives” which correspond to the wall scoring a point on you.  It is a lot faster than the tourney mode, and a lot more frustrating, but adds significant replay value.  I lost the arcade mode 3 times while writing this part. Seriously, I suck at the arcade mode.

#2 ITRANS NYC-

From appstorebest.com

Since I live on the outskirts of Queens, NYC, I like to get out of the ‘burbs and into Manhattan pretty frequently. While I know the MTA system pretty well, the trains have gone batsh*t crazy the last few weekends. Frustrated by being stuck on a local line for an hour longer than I wanted, I picked this app up. It has a feature that alerts you to changes in the trains schedules (which is amazing when it works), has the approximate times that trains arrive in any station which works offline, and has an updated map sanctioned by the MTA. I’ve had this app for a short time, but already I wish that I had it from the day I moved here.

An all around solid application that allows you to plan your trip with minimal frustration that usually accompanies a trip with the NYC subways.

#1 Twitterfon-

From justplaintech.com

I joined Twitter about a year ago in order to keep up with various news stories and just see what it was about. I still use it for that, but now I use it to connect with others that share my various addictions/hobbies. The best free client that I have found is Twitterfon, with a special mention to Natsulion.

Twitterfon is fast, has all the options that a regular user could ask for, and is very stable. An inline browser helps keep the app open until Apple enables apps to run in the background, or you jailbreak and use Backgrounder. @replies (mentions) and DMs are kept both in separate sections and inside your main timeline separated by colors. My main grudge against Twitterfon are courtesy of the last couple of updates, which have kind of killed the ease of clicking links inside tweets, but they seem to slowly getting better. I’d actually rather use Twitterfon than the website. The app has just introduced an ad on the top of your timeline in the latest update, but it isn’t that big of a deal for a free app.

The special mention goes out to Natsulion because it was my first Twitter client on my iPhone, and it has a lion for an icon. Really, it’s sort of cute. Just stare at its eyes for a while. You get lost in there.

Natsulion icon from macin.files.wordpress.com

Thanks for reading!

Wow I can’t believe this is an actual playable game on iPhone… I loved watching it on NBC. I also played it online at some random website too. I think that the problem with this version is that instead of requesting Bob Saget for rights to his likeness Gameloft went with a Saget copycat. I mean it’s not a major flaw for me not to get it, but still the Saget would have made it better. It’s available in the app store from Gameloft for $4.99. Wow half if not all of the games that i’ve reviewed on iPhoneDocked are $4.99 yeesh. That isn’t neccessarily a bad thing though.

The game starts out with several video clips of the show after which we get a tutorial from the “fake” Saget. We’re then shown the mob and the seeral groups highlighted each time you play they’re different. Then it goes into the rules of play and asks you if you’re ready to start. This is basically a question and answer game as most people will know. I was actually going to say that this is the only game show of this type that’s in the app store. However that would be a false statement as ABC’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is in there as well. I haven’t played that game yet, but I might get it for review.

So after the videos and everything you are given a question to answer. You have three helps to start and I suggest saving them for that question you just can’t think of the answer. There really isn’t much more to the game then that. Once your helps are out and you miss one question game over. So I think this has been the shortest review I’ve done. Because the game is very simplistic. It is fun as well and a great addition to any iPhone owner’s device.

Yes that’s right folks it’s the classic pricing game on the iPhone. Minus Bob Barker and (cough) Drew Carey. It’s available in the app store for $4.99 from Freemantle Media and Ludia. I first bought this for my PC, before I even knew it was in the app store for iPhone. Which I believe it was released a few months after the PC version. I think this is a very cool way to be able to be a contestant on one of the most popular game shows in history.

It has two different game modes those being: Play Game and Party Game. The party game is basically a multiplayer version. It allows you to select from 2-4 additional players that you pass the iPhone around to each turn. This can be good if you have a group of friends over, but other then that there’s no online multiplayer like through wifi or anything.

You are given a number of avatars to chose from then you can enter your name and everything. After that you are shown a scene where the camera pans across the audience just like in the TV show. Then it’s onto contestant row where you can bid on the item that’s shown off by the price is right models. The best thing if you’ve already played the game through once to the Showcase Showdown you can tap the image to let it “fast forward” and you don’t have to watch it every time. I do this alot now that I’ve had the game for a while. If you lose the bidding war you will recieve a strike (you have three before the game’s over). After striking out once you are taken to a random pricing game if you win or lose this it doesn’t matter you get no strikes. However it’s preferred that you win that way you can unlocked rewards and win “fake” cash.

The pricing games are fun and they make excellent use of the touch screen technology that iPhone has. There are a number of pricing games and as I said before it’s all random which one appears when you win the contestants row round. I think the one I have the most trouble with is “Cliff Hangers” I always guess the wrong damn price and the guy goes off the moutain making me lose. I really don’t have a favorite or best played of the pricing games. The fun aspect is there with each one, but again it’s just the second step in getting to the next goal.

The next goal is the “spin the wheel” round. In this round you must spin the wheel to get a amount the either is equal to or less then $1.00. If you land on the red $1.00 spot you get a bonus spin and $1,000.00 additionally. There are several things that could go wrong with this round.

• #1 you spin first and on both spins you get low numbers that the PC players beat you. This in turn earns you a second strike.
• #2 you get a high score on the first spin and wanna be bold to try for the $1.00. Well you end up going over and the same thing happens in point #1.

There is a good point though if you are the only one left that hasn’t gone over or been defeated you get to the final goal which is the showcase showdown. If you get that third strike either here or in the contestant row no showcase for you!!

Here’s the showcase showdown the ultimate goal in the game. There are several things that I’ve found out about this round first thing that I’ve noticed is the fact that all the “prizes” recycle. So it isn’t hard to guess the amounts on the nose after a few tries. Everyone knows from watching the TV show what happens here. You’re shown a series of prizes and you must be the contestant to correctly guess or be the closest to the retail price without going over. If you come within $250 of your own showcase you with them both. Another little I guess you could call it cheating thing is the fact that you can exit the game right before your are told that you’ve been given a strike and enter back into the game without being affected. I think by doing this the highest monetary score I’ve gotten was over $600,000.00 to bad the stuff aint real!

So in closing out this review I say that the game is pretty cool. It’s not exactly my favorite after I’ve mastered all the challenges. At the same time it is a good game for those Price Is Right fans. Yes I know you’re out there don’t even deny it! After I first played through everything within the confines of the game the one thought that came into my head was Adam Sandler in “Happy Gilmore”…….

“The Price Is Wrong Bitch!”

So I’ve found a new game on the iPhone I’ve become addicted to. It combines the match-3 puzzle standard, a storyline and plot, additional powerups (recipes), various game modes (Adventure, Quick Play, Challenge), and it’s all packed in a cute little anime-style package.

You play as Master Chef, and he must travel across various islands in his journey to cook the freshest sushi, while encountering people along the way. However, these people have ‘inner demons’ and Master Chef must battle them in a sushi battle! You then are in a battle with these demons, and you must match-3 sushi pieces in the puzzle while also bringing down the opponent’s HP by matching 3 or more wasabi pieces.

You select pieces of sushi and slide your finger across the screen to move a piece to another end of the board, which will cause the pieces to slide and you’ll match pieces together. If there is no move available for that direction, you’ll get a message saying ‘Illegal move!’ but you won’t be penalized in any way. There is also no time limit, which is great, and you can take your time in the game.

As you play, you will gain experience if you win the battles. You’ll level up after reaching a certain amount of experience, and your HP will get raised and the damage you do with wasabi will become more powerful. You can increase the amount of experience you’ll gain at the end of the battle by matching 3+ of the puffer fish and increase the amount of money you get by matching 3+ of the blue fish.

As you progress through the game, you’ll eventually come across recipes which are certain combinations of sushi that will have powerful rewards when you use them in battle. These rewards range from healing yourself or doing massive damage to the opponent. You must learn the recipes first, which will be presented in a puzzle of matching 3 sushi in a limited amount of moves.

A great twist with the game that doesn’t usually appear in a lot of other puzzle games is that when there are no more moves available, the stones that are on the board crack open to reveal more sushi, fish, and wasabi; this opens up a lot of possibility to make a comeback if you’re falling behind, or even to get pwn’d by the opponent. It’s a fair playing field, after all.

The game contains three modes: Adventure (main storyline), Quick Battle, and Challenge. Adventure is the main core of the game and is where you will probably spend the most time, unless you’re like me and abuse Quick Play to level up. Quick Play lets you battle past opponents that you have already beat, but you still gain experience and can level up. This is the mode where you literally can ‘grind’ (if you’ve played MMORPG games like WoW, you know what I’m talking about). Challenge is the mode to match items in a limited amount of moves.

Chop Sushi is a great puzzle game that adds a fresh new twist to the standard match-3 genre. If you’re unsure of how you’ll like the game, you can try out the free Lite version, or buy the full version in the iTunes App Store for $2.99.

This is the best thing to come down line since… I don’t know what. When I was first exploring the app store looking for games that I wanted to play on the iPhone I found two awesome games for it. The first is the classic card game UNO, and the second is Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition. Both of these are available in the app store, both are priced at $4.99. Which is basically a 2 for $10 deal and I think that’s awesome.

First up is UNO! Everyone remembers playing this classic card game on a Saturday evening with family and friends. Or getting the family together during the holidays and fightiong over that last card while shouting UNO at the top of your lungs. Uno for the iPhone is great it’s very easy to use and there are several game modes you can play. The first is a quick play mode, next is single player which offers two additional modes tournament and custom mode. I’ve been doing the tournament mode since playing the game. Custom mode allows you to obviously customize the game features. I’ve not yet tried this but it seems very cool. The final mode is the multiplayer which has three sub modes. Wifi, One Device, and online.

There are multiple rule sets in the game as well as the tournament play takes you through each. It’s just super cool to see this game on the iPhone the graphics are very fluid and it’s almost like your sitting at a card table. There are several icons to choose from for your player, and the background colors can be customized as well. I think the best thing outside of the game play for Uno on iPhone is the fact that it allows you to use your own music in the iPod on iPhone instead of the in game sounds. The game play itself is very cool and easy to use. It’s basically choose the card you want and slide it to the discard pile.

Next up is Monopoly…. again where do I start with how cool this is on the iPhone? First off Monopoly offers two modes play game and wifi game. As I don’t have an overabundance of iPhone users around me to try the wifi game I stick to the classic version. You can customize the house rules and choose from several icons for game pieces. You can also choose from five backgrounds to have the game board setup on. Me personally I use the fourth background which is a coastal theme.

OK to the game play first off you can either select an option to shake the iPhone to roll the dice. Or you can turn that feature off and use the buttons on the screen. Everything that was in the original board game is here, from trading with players, buy and selling property, and of course getting to go to jail. I’m actually playing this as I’m writing, because I actually couldn’t remember the game play. It’s very simple to play the game the buttons that are on screen respond very well. I don’t think I’ve really had any issues with the game since I’ve had it.

If you grew up with either UNO or Monopoly these are two great additions to your iPhone game collection. Plus they take up less space in your house then the board and card games do.

When I first got my iPhone after the App Store came out. I was searching for games, and as we all know Electronic Arts is a huge gaming company. I was feeling the urge to play Tetris, however the issue was I no longer had the original Game Boy which sucked. So just by chance I searched for Tetris in the app store and holy crap there it was. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw it #1 because I’d played previous non Game Boy versions of the game but never liked them. And #2 well it’s freakin Tetris on the iPhone Touch Screen glory!

This game is available in the app store at $4.99 which isn’t bad at all for all the game gives you. First off there’s the classic Tetris where you get as many lines as you possibly can before you reach the top and the game is over. Then there’s countdown mode or whatever it’s called where you have to get to zero lines each round. Then there’s magic mode this is a fun way to play because it gives you several powerups to help you on your quest in getting the highest scores and the most lines. This mode also takes full advantage of the accelerometer in the iPhone.

I wouldn’t really call Tetris a “time waster” type of game, but it’s very addictive. The best part is that there are NO buttons that need mashing! You take your finger and slide it accross the screen. To alternate the block’s angle just tap on it. They’ve got very easy controls and you’ll be getting that accomplished feeling once you reach level 15 and you’ve won. I know I did the first time I made it all the way through the game. Because I never ever made it all the way through the Game Boy version of Tetris. I think my max line score was 152 lines.

This is just another awesome addition to my iPhone apps and games. The sheer addictiveness of it is super crazy. Just goes to show you that games on the iPhone rock!!

Outside of Pocket God this is the game I’ve been playing the most on my iPhone. It’s iShoot and even though I don’t remember when I bought it from the app store it’s a great game. Basically what it is is a military tank shoot’em up game. Currently it’s in it’s 2.0 version and priced at $1.99, there’s also a lite version that’s free. However you are going to want the full version.

OK do you have the need to vent frustration on the go? Do you like things that explode? Well I have your solution iShoot for iPhone. It’s a great little game with a lot of power behind it. At first before the 2.0 update when I bought it, there were a set price on the weapons you had to choose from. And there was no wifi connectivity with other iShoot players. The environments are completely destructible and it’s sooo cool. The environments range from historical landmarks like mount rushmore, the white house, and the capitol building. To desert landscapes, snowy mountains, and so much more.

I think my favorite weapons are the Hellfire Missles and the Shiva Bomb. Again before the 2.0 update it took me close to 18 out of the 20 rounds to acquire enough money in the game to be able to buy 1 Shiva. However with the new 2.0 update Ethan Nicholas and the Naughty Bits crew have added so many new features. Like being able to choose the backgrounds you do and don’t want to play. As well as setting the monetary value of what your startup cash will be, and what each weapon will cost. Well of course I’d start out with the most money possible and slightly alter the price of my 2 favorite weapons so I can get more of them at one time.

After selecting your weapons and everything you are taken to a selected environment that changes from round to round and you fire upon the other tanks easy right? not always…. There’s the fact you have to set the gun turret at the exact angle to get a direct hit on an enemy tank. However with the weapons editor you can alter the blast pattern of every weapon so the previous statement isn’t exactly true. The only thing that you must be careful of when using the Shiva Bombs is that you are at the farthest point on the screen away from the other tanks. And you don’t fire it prematurely, because if ya do you’re toast!

As I said before there is now wifi connectivity with this game. If you’re in say a starbucks and there’s another iPhone/iPod Touch user playing iShoot the wifi menu option will find all other users and you can play together on your respective devices. I myself have not had this experience as I refuse to step into a Starbucks, but I digress. In closing this is another one of those awesome “time wasters” for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but really who wants a Touch when iPhone’s much better! So go out buy iShoot you won’t be disappointed.

CORRECTION: the app is $1.99

Sticky Licky from J Doss on Vimeo.

All and all I think this a great game for quick play to beat the boredom but feel there is room to expand.  Would I recommend you buy the app? Truthfully I’m on the fence, but I lean toward yes as long as the developer is committed to building out the game and adding the ability to save your progress. At $2 I think it is a little steep, but if it goes to $.99 I think it would be well worth it. If you bought it, write a mini review in the comments, tell us what you think.

(oh yea this my first video review, let me know what I missed)

Here is another fine example of the horsepower the iPhone has when it comes to gaming! Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles has launched for the iPhone and iPod touch for $9.99, and the graphics looks awesome! Now $9.99 might sound like a lot of dough to cough up for a game, but you get roughly 7 hours of assassination wonderfullness for your bucks! So if knocking off unsuspecting folks is your thing, hit the link below to get your assassin on!

iTunes Link

Article Via: Joystiq