Unify went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Then Harbor Master saw it and was all "Nuh-UH" and pushed it back down. Covered in dirt but not dismayed, Unify called his pal Mr.AahH who suggested they go to the water fountain instead. They did, and they saw Squareball on the way there, and everybody lived happily ever after.
Unify - A brilliantly simple puzzle game that's a truly unique experience. Unify plays like a game of color-based Tetris that takes place on two sides of the screen at once. Use your left thumb to slide and rotate blocks on the left side, the right thumb for the right side. Bring blocks together at the center of the screen and make them vanish by nudging four like-colored squares together. Set up chain reactions for bonus points, and try to survive all 40 levels of intense brain integration. You won't believe how captivating this simple concept turns out to be!
Mr.AahH!! - Less of a puzzle game and more of an arcade game, Mr. AahH!! is a little guy who apparently has the ability to attach ropes to invisible points in the sky. He uses this ability to swing from ledge to progressively smaller ledge. How and when he lands, though, is up to you. Tap the screen to cause Mr. AahH!! to let go of his precious rope, adjusting for variable wind/gravity and timing it so he lands on each platform's center. Keep going as long as you possibly can, and when you die, play it again, because you can't get enough of this game's cool neo-retro attitude! A free Mr.AahH!! Lite is also available.
Crush the Castle - Another popular Flash game makes the transition to the iPhone App Store. Take control of a trebuchet to fling 8 types of ammo at enemy castles and take no survivors! Just tap once to start the trebuchet swinging, tap again to let it fly. Earn medals for crushing castles using a minimum of ammo. Featuring a simple, effective control scheme, 50 unique levels, and even a level editor, too. A free Crush the Castle Lite is also available.
Harbor Master - Ep5: Monster Cove - Dig the stressful underpinning of the airplane-centric Flight Control? You'll love Harbor Master. Direct ships to port by tapping and dragging a path along the sea. Once a ship docks, let it unload its cargo then set it back into the wild blue. Things get really interesting when multiple boats are on the screen, ranging from zippy little things to massive tankers who take their sweet time moving through the water. Keep the ships at a safe distance to avoid level-ending crashes. Harbor Master also packs six maps, each with its own unique hazards such as cyclones, monsters, and pirates! A free Harbor Master Lite is also available.
Squareball - If Pong were a sidescrolling platformer, it would be Squareball. This unforgiving action game features a square ball (take that, physics!) that bounces from the top of the screen to the bottom. Swipe your finger across the screen to scroll left and right, making sure the ball doesn't fall beyond the walls. Collect colored rectangles for points, and try your very best not to scream when you lose. And lose you will. Over and over again.
NOTE: Games listed may not be available outside of North America. Prices are subject to change and are therefore unlisted. Please see the individual game pages for purchasing info.
Ok, I'm finally going to ask this question, it's been in the back of my mind ever since you started mobile monday.
Will you ever review console games? Or possibly other handheld games (PSP, DS).
For someone like me who doesn't have a (working) iPod touch/iPhone, this is kindof a waste of time. But of course it was awesome when my touch worked.
Anyways, now I have a DS and I'd love it if you reviewed games from there, even if it is asking a lot, it's just a question.
I have the same, but come here to get away from non-casual game review sites. At the very least you get to see some cool ideas every Monday: "color-based Tetris," descend to the center of platforms while swinging, multi-ammo trebuchet, Flight Control with boats, "if Pong were a sidescrolling platformer." Also, links to the flash version are included as in Crush the Castles's case. There's a lot of games for the iPod, enough such that any 'casual' game you'd ever see on a console has a pretty good chance of already being covered here.
I agree with mikybee. And to add to his list, what about Android?
If all you do is review iPhone/iPod touch games, why not just call it "Apple Monday"? You can still be a "mobile" gamer and not own an Apple product. But that's just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work.
The argument made in the past is that the reviewers only own iPhones. The only thing that makes "Mobile Monday" not a completely obnoxious title for every owner of a non-Apple mobile device is the notion that in the near future it'll be expanded to other platforms. The fact that nothing's been done on this front for months begins to cast doubt on that.
I think the professional thing to do would be to ask for the site, as a prominent reviewer of games, to receive a tester product of various other mobile platforms from those companies, which is what every other reviewer in every other field (save maybe restaurants) does. Alternately, just bite the bullet and buy some. I'd chip in if you wanted to pass the collection plate around.
Re: console game reviews - we are not interested in expanding into that market, even though we have reviewed a few in the past. There are far too many other review sites out there that cater to the console games audience. We will stick to what we do best.
Re: other mobile platforms - when there is another mobile platform that has the quantity of innovative titles we are seeing from the App Store, we will consider featuring games for that platform here as well.
oh bull there's no other handheld platform that's as innovative as the app store.
Look at the DS for heavens sakes, scribblenauts just came out, REVOLUTIONARY.
They have plenty of point-and-click games, very similar to your abundance of escape-the-room games, and there are plenty of other titles as well (electroplankton, warioware, etc) If that's not enough there are homebrew games as well, you just have to search for those a bit harder, and you have to hack the DS, but that's not too difficult.
I'm thoroughly disappointed in you guys, that's a terrible excuse.
[Edit: The DS is viewed as a handheld console in the games industry, and we share that view. -Jay]
Also, I don't consider Scribblenauts as "revolutionary". Crayon Physics is a precursor to the game, so "evolutionary" might be a more appropriate adjective.
Plus, I found Scribblenauts to be disappointing, and the controls frustrating.
I absolutely love the secret weapon of terror you can get in Crush the Castle! It has to be the funn(i)est weapon I have seen used the gravity gun.
"Innovative"?
Pretty rich on a site that won't let a week go by without at least one hidden-object, room-escape, side-scroller, platformer, and tower-defense game reviewed. Quality should be the watchword. The reason there are so many loyal JiG fans is that y'all separate the wheat from the chaff for my daily bread, not that you're out finding exotic new cuisine (though that's always nice).
I'll get you started for Android:
- TopSETgame: a nice implementation of the classic Set game, previously reviewed on JiG
- Space War: a solid space shoot 'em up
- Athol Adventure: a cute takeoff on Pyramids of Ra
- Armadillo Roll: promising 3D-tilt based racing game
- Robo Defense: a better tower-defense than most I've seen for flash, lots of branching upgrades
- Mystique: a 3D room escape with a horror theme
- Sandblaster: a Powder-like sandbox game
- Doom: a full port of the classic FPS
Thank you for recognizing what we do here at JIG.
Mr. aaAAH! Is the best. Good job getting the word out on that one.
Really love Unify. I'm fascinated by how the music evolves, especially when you hit level 30. Take the developer's advice: play this one with earbuds to appreciate the stereo.
Not such a fan of some of the color schemes. Level 20, for instance, has middle column colors that are very close to some of the blocks that fall, so it's hard to tell when certain spaces are empty without looking at the shadow.
This is, I believe, the third week in a row that you've featured a game in Mobile Monday which I've subsequently downloaded and enjoyed. Keep up the great work.
Just to add to the positives...
I love Mobile Mondays! It's great to have these updates especially as it's easy to miss some of the gems on the app store.
Keep up the good work Jay & Crew.
Thanks
Luke
I like the Mobile Mondays. Even when I didn't own an ipod touch, I didn't mind it's existence. There is plenty of stuff I skip over here on JIG. Hidden object games and room escape games I automatically gloss over. Same with any download game that has a price(what can you say, I'm cheap) But some people like those games, so the columns stay. I just skip over them to find the platformers and strategy games :)
Also,on a completely unrelated side note, Mr. Aaaaaah! is awesome. Gotta love that music.
I also would like to see Android applications reviewed! Come on guys it's so difficult to wade through all the chaff on the Android Market, all Androind device owners here are going to be very grateful!
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