Who hasn’t played those fun little fighter games in the arcade where you fly around and shoot everything in sight? Hopefully you have, because if you haven’t then you’ve really missed out on life. iFighter is the iPhone implementation of this classic arcade game, obviously using the iPhone “tilt” sensitivity instead of keys to move your plane around. They’ve made a few significant improvements over the arcade game, and the game is solidly playable overall, but there are definite areas that could use improvement in future updates. However, most of my gripes are relatively simple things; the game is fundamentally sound.

For those of you unfamiliar with this genre of game, the premise is simple: you start off with a small fighter. Everything you see is either an item to power you up or heal you, or a bad guy to shoot at. Throughout the levels you can pick up various upgrades that give your iFighter additional abilities, including bombs, wingmen to help you, and more powerful guns.

The options are extremely flexible, which is one of it’s best features. Besides the default “tilt” movement feature talked about above, you can go into the Settings menu to change it to all sorts of different movement options. Plus, you can turn on or off auto-fire, give yourself a name, change game difficulty, send high scores, and calibrate the tilt feature. The gameplay itself is fun and engaging. Who doesn’t like flying around shooting everything you see, right?

For experienced gamers, fear not! This game is a CHALLENGE. I may not be a gaming master, but I do consider myself pretty well-versed in this particular genre, and I struggled quite a bit on Medium difficulty. If you’re looking for a game that will test your pilot/fighter gaming skills to the max, look no further, I’m still struggling to get past Mission 2.

There are a few gameplay shortcomings in this game, however, that prevent it from getting full marks. Most of them are simple programming nitpicks I have, but they make the experience less fun for each replay. First off, while being able to withstand more than a single hit is a nice improvement over it’s arcade counterpart, only having 1 life is troublesome, especially when dying causes you to restart the level completely (not to mention when you’re in the middle of a boss fight). Furthermore, the selection of weapon upgrades is limited considering the possibilities that the iPhone is capable of supporting.

Besides that, a basic storyline and a save feature would be golden and give this game a far higher replay value; having to completely start over each time takes the fun out of the game after a few times through.

In the end, though, the game is a good one. At $0.99 it’s well worth it for any gamer. Most certainly iWorth It. Take a look at some screenshots:

iFighter for iPhone

My wife and I both love cooking (and, by extension, eating), so we’re always on the lookout for new recipes and ideas. Kraft New Services provides the iFood Assistant by Kraft to aid seasoned cooks and beginners alike with a mobile shopping list and recipe repository. The app shows some promise, but there are just too many flaws for this to be a very satisfying meal.

Kraft Work: As you might expect from a recipe app developed by Kraft, there’s a lot of Kraft-branded products on the menu in iFood Assistant. That’s not necessarily a problem, though the poor shopping list feature is.
iFood Assistant provides easy on-the-go access to tons of recipes, cooking ideas, and your own custom shopping list. And yes, the app is comprised almost entirely of Kraft-branded food ideas. That’s not a criticism—I didn’t find it a drawback, anyway—but you should expect going in that iFood Assistant has a very Kraft-centric focus.

Boasting a layout and design that’s both easy to understand and use, iFood Assistant’s navigation menu system allows you to quickly sort through the sections of the program, even if they do feel slightly cluttered. For example, under “Simple Shortcuts,” you might expect to find tips to make specific tasks easier. Instead, you will find several recipe categories with only a handful of easy, quick items.

Many of the items don’t seem to be correctly categorized for searching. There were several items that show up in the list, but aren’t included in search results under their specific category.

Further hampering the app’s potential, iFood Assistant provides no way of individually adding ingredients from the recipe view—it’s all or nothing. You might be able to find a great idea for dinner, and you probably already have half of the ingredients needed, but you aren’t able to add just what you need to the shopping list: you can only add all the ingredients from the recipe to your list.

The shopping list feature itself suffers from severe limitations. Without the ability to add any items that aren’t included in the app’s database, you’ll wind up having to carry a separate list for everything else you need from the store. Also, adding several recipes that use the same ingredients results in multiple listings of the same ingredient. Your list will show you needing 1 cup of milk, 3 tablespoons of milk, and 2 cups of milk—it’s not a very organized way of handling things.

Having your Kraft recipe box with you all the time—at least, whenever you have Internet access—can certainly be handy. But iFood Assistant just has too many drawbacks at this point to be of much use to the home cook.

Do you ever use your cell phone as a flash light? Well Doapp, a registered developer of Apple iPhone applications, has a neat little application to turn your iPhone into a colored strobe and flashlight. myLite is Doapp’s first iPhone app approved for download on Apple’s “App Store.

The myLite app takes the hassle out of trying to find a flashlight in the dark or when the power goes out, and it also makes you the life of the party at rock concerts or the MacGyver on your camping trip. No more digging for a flashlight only to find the batteries dead, or late night stubbed-toe incidents bumping into the coffee table. Your iPhone is always at the ready.

But not only is this instant “night light” good for reading in the dark or finding a keyhole in a pinch, shining as bright or brighter than any traditional or LED flashlight, you can very simply adjust its light beam for both brightness and color with the two convenient “slider” controls. Make your light beam more like fluorescent (cool) or incandescent (warm) light - or any color at all, across the entire color spectrum - whatever your personal preference is at the moment.

Use the Strobe feature to flash your light in any color at just the time interval you choose. Or flash your light continuously through the entire spectrum of colors with the Trippin’ feature, which is great fun for kids or to dramatize any storytelling situation - not to speak of trippin’ out at rock concerts.

The DoApp myLite app works with both the iPhone and iPod Touch and is available now at the Apple iTunes “App Store” for free in the “Utilities” category. More information is available at

A VERY useful single function utility which fills an important function inexplicably left by Apple - no not cut and paste another function some would consider more essential The ability to create a seperate and secure password protected area to store pictures - be they photo’s taken with the camera, images stored in the Photo App, or anything NSFW scrounged from the net via Safari.
Feature Summary.
* Creates a Password Protected storage area for ANY image.
* Import photos directly from the camera or from the photo album.
* Multiple image import - Quickly import multiple images from your existing photo album.
* Familiar interface - Looks and behaves just like the inbuilt Photo application but with addition of security.
* Quick Hide - With a double tap action you can quickly remove any offending image.
* Snoop Stopper - For the persistently curious, entering the wrong pin three times will show a collection of safe images.
* Export back to photo album - As well as being able to store photos you can export them back into the iTunes photo album.
Hopefully it’ll mean an end to unfortunate events like the one that follows (as described in the AppStore Advert):
Someone - a girlfriend, boss, colleague, friend or child - picks up your cool new iPhone. Within seconds they’re hypnotized by the beauty of the form factor, the sheer coolness of using the touchscreen, the awesome graphics, the tilt sensitive controls…
“Wow! Gee this is awesome! It’s like from the future man!”
You beam with pride, smug in the satisfaction that you are the coolest person on the planet! It’s like showing a caveman fire for the first time!
That is until things come to a grinding halt!
” Err (insert name) What’s this?! ”
Aggghhh! Their random button pressing has somehow led them to stumble across your private collection of cats in bikinis wearing high-heels (*insert alternate vice here).
You try and muster an explanation - ‘errr um I’m researching the effects of high heels on cats ability to land on their feet ?’, but it’s no good you been busted! Your secret shame has been outed for the world to see!
But no more! Now with Picture Safe, those embarressing moments are a thing of the past. Picture Safe, does just what the name implies, creating a seperate discrete and password protected area for photos and pictures to be stored (be they taken with the camera, imported from your computer or scrounged from the net via Safari).
Of course it’s not just for the preservation of your stash of content of a NSFW nature, Picture Safe also serves as an easy way to back-up cherished photos of family, friends, holidays etc - helping avoid the pain of unfortunate instances where important photos are accidently deleted or lost from your phone.
Picture Safe provides a much needed way to seperate, group, organise, and back-up photo’s by subject matter, providing a secure common-sense way for you to err um… enjoy your Pictures Safely

Another popular console franchise arrives on the iPhone this week with the debut of Resident Evil: Degeneration from Capcom. Based on the computer-generated movie of the same name, Resident Evil: Degeneration follows agent Leon Kennedy into an airport terminal that has descended into horror and madness. A plane full of infected people has crashed into the airport. The virus that turned the passengers and pilots in zombies is now spreading, infecting everybody from firefighters to military soldiers to baggage handlers. Kennedy must get to the bottom of what happened, keep the survivors safe from the undead, and escape with his own life.

The general plot is actually a great set-up to a fast-paced zombie thriller. Of course, Resident Evil: Degeneration is anything but fast-paced. All of the tenets from previous entries in the franchise such as tank-like controls and an uneven narrative (collecting a security card is treated with the same weight as rescuing a senator) are present. The story stuff is easy to get around because by this point, we know how the narrative is going to unfold. As awesome as Resident Evil 4 was, for example, it did not have a strong, cohesive plot to match the atmosphere and set pieces. But the clunky controls are not so easily dismissed.

You control Kennedy with a virtual stick. Pressing forward or back on the stick moves him accordingly. To turn, you must swipe left or right on the stick. This bolts Kennedy to the ground, though. Facing down the slow-moving zombies in the beginning isn’t too troublesome with these poky controls, but by the time you reach the dogs, it’s painful. Later zombies are able to close the gap faster and moving with all the haste of a glacier is frustrating.

To shoot, use an on-screen targeting button to bring up your gun. Kennedy raises his weapon and you use a laser sight to target the weak spots on incoming zombies. (The head is almost universally a good place to start.) You must tap another button to lower the weapon and be able to move again since Kennedy cannot walk and shoot. I noticed far too many bullets pass through zombies, despite the targeting laser fully planted right on a shambling horror’s face.

Certain action events require quickly touching buttons as they pop up on-screen, such as avoiding falling debris or a rampaging monster. The game does not use much tilt functionality, save for the reloading mechanism or shaking off a zombie. To reload your weapon, dip the iPhone forward and pull it back. This system never failed on me — it always registered that I wanted to reload.

When you need to interact with an object, such as door or computer, a virtual button appears. There is also an ever-present mobile phone button that accesses a map and your inventory. You grow your inventory by finding pick-ups, such as the trademark Resident Evil herbs, or buying weapons and upgrades from rogue agents looking to make a buck off the disaster. Yes, there is commerce in the middle of a crisis. The whole system requires a suspension of disbelief, particularly when most zombies you kill drop cash. (Extra suspension is required when dead zombie dogs also leave money on the floor of the airport.) However, the prevalence of cash means you have plenty of resources for upgrading your weapons (handguns, rifles, shotguns, and more), which is critical to beat the game.

And how long will it take you to beat the game? By my count, you’ll complete Resident Evil: Degeneration in about three hours if you explore every nook and cranny of the airport. Completing the game unlocks the mercenaries mode, which is a timed contest to shoot up monsters as fast as you can. You select your weapons, pick an area, and then dig in against the horde.

Three hours is not very long, but at least Capcom is only charging $6.99 for the game. But it’s not just the length and some off targeting that brings down Resident Evil: Degeneration. It’s the monotony of the quest. Everything is about opening doors. Gotta get the infirmary door open. Gotta get those duty free shop gates open. And between finding computers, codes, and cards, you shoot up some zombies. It all blends together after an hour or so.

Resident Evil: Degeneration is based on a previously released mobile title. Capcom scaled up for this port, but the mobile origins are always apparent. Many of the non-Kennedy character models are pretty iffy, composed of obvious polygons — and not very many of them. Textures are sometimes over-stretched. The camera is also your worst enemy in any tight situation, particularly if you have been backed into a corner. Kennedy’s head or a piece of wall will block the majority of your view.

Resident Evil: Degeneration was reviewed with version 1.0.
Closing Comments
Resident Evil: Degeneration is a decent enough game that I think hardcore Resident Evil fans will get some fun out of spending a few hours with Leon Kennedy. However, the controls are too often frustrating and the tasks presented to you are just so… tame. I still like shooting zombies in the face and there is charge when you see that first zombie do a back-flip thanks to a shotgun blast to the face. But Resident Evil: Degeneration never comes alive. It shuffles along like the zombies that infest it.

The “dungeon crawl” adventure game is alive and well in Underworlds, the debut iPhone game from Pixel Mine. The spiritual successor to games like Blizzard’s Diablo, Underworlds is a true “hack and slash”-style role-playing game (RPG) with a lot to offer.


The guardian of a traveling caravan, you find yourself seasonally unemployed when the caravan’s owner decided to set up camp for a while. He tips you off to a nearby inn that needs the services of a strongarm like yourself, and that sets off a cascade of events that culminates in you facing the forces of Hell itself.
Underworlds has many of the trappings that action RPG enthusiasts have come to expect—you can create a custom character, equip your warrior with loot that the bad guys drop throughout the game; as the game progresses, better quality armor and swords are yours for the taking. One concession to simplify the game for the iPhone is that all combat is melee-based; you’re bashing skeletons and shambling monsters with swords, not using magic or ranging weapons like bows and arrows.

While you can select from one of several portraits, including male and female characters, though that will have no effect on gameplay or abilities. It has no effect on sound effects or graphics in the game, either. It’s a bit unsettling to create a female character only to hear very male gasps and moans come from the character when she’s hit by a baddie. A minor quibble, I admit, but it’s distracting and took me out of the game.

As you progress through the game your character gains experience; with each new level you get points to spend increasing your statistics, such as strength, intelligence and dexterity—factors that improve your skill at fighting or using the items you find. You also can plow points into “feats” such as shield-bashing or smiting your foes with a whirlwind “Berserk” sword attack. You can also loot corpses, find traps and treasures, and more.

Teleport charms you’ll find along the way let you return to McTavish, your former employer, who’s only too happy to buy rare items from you and sell you items like stronger armor, health and vitality potions, and other objects you might find useful in your travels.

While Underworlds limits you to one essential “class” of character—there are no half-elf wizards or chaotic-evil mages to be found here—the skill tree lets you focus on specific areas. Boosting your intelligence, for example, enables you to unlock more feats. Improving your constitution, meanwhile, gives you more health points to work with as you’re taking damage from the hordes of undead that want to feast on your brains.

The game has taken some knocks from reviewers on the App Store for being short. I was hoping for more play-time, too. I’ll readily admit that I burned through Underworlds after only a few plays, not because it’s exceedingly short but because it’s extremely addictive—it occupied almost all my free time from the minute I downloaded it.

Four difficulty levels let you replay the game with variations, but there’s only one adventure to play, which makes me hope that Pixel Mine is working on either an expansion or an entirely new Underworlds adventure to play too. And if they are, I’m hoping they’ll let me import my existing character in true Dungeons & Dragons style, so I don’t have to start back at level one again.

Underworlds is very well-behaved; the game auto-saves if it’s interrupted (say, by an incoming phone call or the need to exit back to the Home screen). And it also asks permission to turn sound on when you first launch it, in case you’d like to play surreptitiously. There are two control schemes—one uses a “directional pad” or d-pad style of play that may be more comfortable for console players, and the other is a point-and-click style that I found to be inexact and more frustrating than fun.

There’s certainly room for improvement in Underworlds—the lack of character classes, some frustrating interface decisions, and fairly short gameplay are probably the most glaring issues. But as an authentic dungeon crawl RPG, Underworlds really hits the sweet spot, and especially right now—the game is on sale for $3, $2 off its regular price, as this review is posted—it’s worth picking up, if you’re yearning for a Diablo-style RPG on your iPhone.

An intuitive and refreshing application used to track rounds of traditional golf or disc golf. It requires minimal navigation and finger taps to manage courses, players, and scores.This is for the golfer who wants to:- Track scoring just like a real golf card, but even simpler.- See trends over time using graphs.- Automatically calculate personal handicaps.-NOT rely on GPS to tell you which club to use since GPS is like cell technology… you have to hope you get good enough reception to help you choose a club or see the course from a top down picture.- NOT rely on internet access every time you go golfing.Features:- A quality and intuitive interface, so you’ll never be confused or frustrated. (See the set of screen shots).- For traditional golf or disc golf.- An amazingly simple-to-use course editor. Nine or eighteen holes. Nine different tee types to choose from. Three different par groups and three different handicap groups to choose from. If the course name or details are incorrect or change over time, you can modify it at any time.- Record the phone number, website, and street address of each course, so you can call (iPhone only) for a tee time, and look up course information on their website.- Up to four players per round. Each player can have a different tee, par, and handicap assigned to them. If a player’s name or attributes are incorrect, you can modify it at any time.- Automatically totals each players score and number of strokes above or below course par.- View the course editor or score card in a small, medium, or large font.- Stores all the courses and score cards that are entered so they can be reviewed, in full detail, at a later date. At any time, you can delete any course or score card you no longer want to keep.- Calculates the handicap for any player.- Displays graphs and a table of rounds for any player to quickly find trends in their golf game.New features are coming soon:- Tracking, G.I.R., putts, O.B., penalty shots.- Enhanced graphics.- Landscape mode.- Plus more.Note:Does not use internet access, so you can use this app anywhere without restriction.IS THIS APPLICATION NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED?To continually improve this application, please send suggestions of new features. Our goal is to keep customers happy with this product.

Our Review:
Before we being, please feel free to visit our introduction to the following segments of golf application reviews that will be coming in the next few days. You can find it here. This should give you an insight on how in-depth we went to ensure we bring you the best perspective on what is best for your wallet. Hopefully, this can help you decide what is best for you and also encourage the developers to provide the best of what they do.

To start off, this golf application is probably one of the most evolved applications out there. Believe me, I literally have all golf applications that is out there (that is worth mentioning) and to this day it still receives constant updates of new functionality, new user workflow, etc.

You can rest assure that you will have the support of the developer(s) here. I will try to not get ahead of myself, but this is probably one of the best golf application that money can buy. In terms of support, design and usability, this will give you everything you need, in comparison to other golf applications.

What makes this golf application so great? Let’s dive into it shall we?

Look and Feel
I will start off by pointing out the weakest portion of Golf Card. That is, how the entire application looks. Don’t get me wrong, it does get the job done but if I had one suggestion for this application, is that, they should start refining the look of the application altogether. The cartoonish look just doesn’t match the amazing functionalities that this application has but overall, as stated, it will do.

Most users may not notice the look to be a nuisance; however, comparing the look with other golf applications out there, there are several applications that look very pleasing (for example, Teeshot). At this point, I will be picky about this because I would like to see this application as complete a package as possible. From my last conversation with the developer, this is actually in the works or has been redone already. This just proves my point above on how quickly “Score Card” has been evolving.

In terms of the workflow, it’s logical and entering data is very easy and goes without a hitch. This is without saying that there isn’t any initial setup. At first use, you do have to attain the course information through the “Course Manager” and set up a course that you would be playing at.

Here is where I am going to back step a bit and just briefly explain course availability. Most applications out there, when you need a course to be added, you usually would request it from the developer and a few days later, it would be available for you to use. Today, these golf applications have been around a good amount of time that, it is almost rare that you would require to request this, however, if you need to, they are there and available.

In Golf Card, they have integrated themselves with OobGolf.com. For any golfer out there, you should be relatively aware of this site and the plethora of useful information that you can attain from that site.

Essentially, with Score Card’s integration with OobGolf.com, the information available on Oobgolf is available at your fingertips within the applications. Theoretically, there is no need to contact the developer to add a course, no need to find out the slope rating, pars, etc. Every bit of information about a course is readily available on Score Card. You can even initiate a call to the course, find directions to the course, and view the course’s website, simply…pretty cool.

Before I had digressed, leveraging all this information into Score Cards just makes Score Card even more accurate and well maintained.

I should note that you do have the capacity to use the location base service so that it can detect the golf courses that are around you; making it simple for you to determine the course you are looking for or use the generic search to pull in the matching course you are looking for.

In the worst case scenario, if the golf course is not available (highly unlikely), you can request it from Golf Card or add it yourself manually.

Once you have added the course, you can then proceed starting a round. By completing additional information such as the amount of players, their names, and so forth, you’re on your way on recording the day.

Functionalities
Now here is where it gets fun.

Once you start recording your data, you are presented with the ability to either record your data in landscape or portrait mode. Landscape is the preferred method but the layout is relatively clean and easy to understand. You can adjust the view from small, medium, large, well suited for all the ages of golfers out there. Furthermore, what I like about this versus most of the golf applications out there is that Score Card presents the layout in an actual paper score card format (aka paper and pencil scoring), showing you relative information such as the Tee distances, par for each hole, etc. Similar to what most people are used to which gives you a quick glance of the overall course.

Don’t be mistaken, other golf applications usual work flow does show you the scorecard but usually it’s in a summary format which, at times, is only available at the end of the day.

How do you use it?

Very simple, entering data is quick and easy. You can add information…more or less, as necessary. If you want to just keep track of strokes, then you have that option, however, you can further keep track of details (putts, G.I.R. chips, clubs used, etc.). The overall workflow is well done in that everything can be done in one screen. If you swipe to the left, you can see the next 9 holes, including the little “Score Key” that was included to help guide you with regards to what all the little green/red dots and markings are as you record information.

Now, selecting the hole number on the scorecard allows you to determine your actual distance to the hole using GPS, which is essentially a range finder.

When all is said and done, you can email your score card or if you have an account with oobgolf.com you can upload your score. I think it’s suffice it to say that there are multiple ways to keep your score, such as , Stableford scoring and Net scoring based on playing handicap which leads me to the next section regarding statistics.

Once you have accumulated a good amount of recorded outings, there is one last section that is worth your time visiting and that is the “Player Stats” section. Here you can view each course performance with the ability to graph out your average score, par, handicap differential, fairway hits, penalties, chips, etc.

This section is probably the “above and beyond” portion that just tops the cake for this application.

Final Word
If I haven’t convinced you yet that this is one of the best golf applications out there, well then, to each it’s own. From my experience and extensive use of relatively all golf applications out there, I haven’t found a more dedicated, more inspired developer with his application.

Every week, there is always something that is refined, fine-tuned, added, to push the envelope of evolution with Score Card. There is so much you can do with Score Card that to list each detailed functionality, well, you would be overwhelmed. I have always believed in simplicity and Score Card hit it right on the nose. Of course, it also gives you all the complexity if you need it.

I don’t know how many golf applications I have reviewed that failed to tackle simplicity with complexity. It’s usually an either/or situation which makes the practicality…not so practical.

Suffice it to say, one of my biggest quirks when taking a golf application on the field. I ask one simple question. Will I enjoy my outing or will I constantly be fiddling with my iPhone/iTouch? With that note, Score Card is a perfect example of enjoying a day of golf.

Quick Take:
Value: High
Would I Buy Again: Yes
Learning Curve: Medium
Who is it for: Casual and Sophisticated Golfers
What I like: Simple and yet has all the complexities for power users.
What I Don’t: There can be a lot to be said of the design and general look and feel of the application. However, from my understanding or by the time you read this, some strides should have been made to fill that gap.

Final Statement:
This is probably the only golf application you will need. There are tons out there that may be suited for others but, in terms of, functionalities and information that golfers look for, it’s a one stop shop golf application.

If you don’t know the name Sonic the Hedgehog, you must have stumbled on to this site by mistake. SEGA’s mascot is still one of the biggest stars in videogames after almost 20 years of adventures on every machine from the Genesis to the Game Boy Advance to the PlayStation 3. And now Sonic’s original game — the one that started it all — is on the iPhone.

If you have fond memories of the original game, you are likely in the best position for Sonic the Hedgehog on the iPhone. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and perhaps it will be enough for many folks to overlook some fairly disappointing technical issues with this port. The entire game — rotating bonus stages and all — is there and at first glance, it looks great. However, the controls are just not as precise as necessary for such a twitch-sensitive game and the framerate — the smoothness of the game — just does not keep up. In fact, I found that the longer I played in a single session or the more I did normal things like adjust the volume or access the menus, the choppier Sonic became.

That’s entirely too bad because even after so many years, the original Sonic the Hedgehog is a great game. I played it on the Genesis when it first came out and absolutely loved it. Sonic the Hedgehog is a smart platformer with great stage design. The sights in this game are fantastic and the thrill of rushing through the rollercoaster-like loops is still there. Sonic is the kind of platformer that had no shortage of flash, but still rewarded real skill. Collecting enough rings in each level to access all of the bonus stages was tough. Defeating the ever-menacing robots of Dr. Eggman (then Dr. Robotnik) took classic gaming skills like pattern recognition.

But mastering the skills needed to beat Sonic is just beyond reach thanks to the problems with this port. The headliner is the control. Sonic employs an on-screen virtual d-pad that just does not respond as quick and sure as you need to avoid trouble effectively when screaming through the stages at Sonic’s advertised top speed. The jump button, however, works great. I never had a problem with that. The control problems are augmented with the slowdown that truly does affect gameplay. Making critical jumps is harder when things are a little wonky. The game needs further optimization to runs properly.

SEGA included two views for Sonic the Hedgehog: full-screen and arcade. In full-screen, the controls are transparent but the visuals are just not as sharp. In arcade view, the game is presented in a smaller box with fully visible on-screen controls. The graphics are much sharper in arcade mode — but definitely a touch on the tiny side.

June 1, 2009 - On the same day that zillions of PC gamers pick up the latest edition of the juggernaut Sims series, iPhone gamers are also moving in with their little digital folks. The Sims 3 for iPhone is not a direct port of the PC game, but it is also definitely not a watered down Sims game shoved on to an iPhone. Sims 3 for iPhone is its own experience — designed not only specifically for the iPhone, but also for the iPhone gamer.

Sims 3 for the iPhone starts with a solid Sim creator where you choose the gender and general appearance of your Sim. However, the true customization of your Sims takes place when you craft its personality through the selection of traits (both positive and negative) and the assumption of a persona. The persona is an overarching guide for your Sim that gives you as much structure for the game as you need — and likely want. Each persona has a handful of lifetime wishes that you aim to satisfy, such as wanting to watch three people sleep if you are the Maniac or the desire to WooHoo with multiple Sims (not at the same time, mind you) if you adopt the Sleaze persona.

The lifetime wishes are not the only desires of your Sim. Each day, your Sim barrages you with smaller wishes like wanting a promotion at work or acquire a new recipe. You are not required to accept every wish thrown at you. Choosing wishes gives you a constant stream of mini-goals that keeps the game moving forward. According to EA Mobile, there are almost 75 wishes in the game. If you manage to satisfy all of them, you unlock an extra career option (criminal) and the ability to buy a car. Finishing all of these wishes will likely take you between 12 and 14 hours, but that’s if you move from one wish to the next like a tiger. I’m not exactly sure how enjoyable it would be to treat this game as a checklist. I definitely preferred to just let things happen and see what “life” would throw at my Sim.

In addition to personality and appearance, Sims are personalized by their houses. You start with a smallish house and some essential items, such a fridge, shower, and toilet. At the end of your fifth game day, you can buy a house expansion for $1,000. As you earn money, you can buy new items for your house like stoves, beds, and computers. Using the touch-controlled catalog to scroll through items is easy. You can customize items with different colors so they match personal tastes. And when it comes time to place items in your house, a very simple grid shows where you can place items. Green is an available space, which strips unnecessary guesswork out of the equation.

Not only do items help dress up the place, but also serve to meet your Sim’s needs. A hungry Sim needs food from the kitchen, such as a snack from the fridge or cooked on the stove. A dirty Sim needs a shower. A sleepy Sim must get some rest before they get miserable. Addressing these needs also results in mood changes that affect the general happiness of your Sim. For example, after getting a full night’s sleep, your Sim is Well-Rested. Being in a better mood because of things like a great sleep or good meal means they will do better out in the city.

Of course, you cannot buy any of the items needed to address needs without money. To earn money, you need a career. There are four careers in the town: biology, politics, business, and culinary. To get a job, just report to the career’s associated building (for culinary, go to the restaurant) and accept the gig. You must then keep heading back to that building for your scheduled shift to keep the job and get paid daily.

And the game keeps going. There are social encounters that must be managed, too. This was easily my favorite part of the game. The town is full of other Sims, each with their own personalities. To start a conversation, you simply walk up to another Sim around town or in front of their house. Next, a menu appears around you and the other Sim that shows you a handful of conversation topics, such as romance or humor. Once you select a topic, you then have specific actions like telling a joke or flirting. How the other Sim reacts to your actions affects your relationship. When you first meet another Sim, you are acquaintances. As you initiate actions the other Sims like (as seen by green + symbols over their head), your relationship improves. I like the easy-to-read meter that fills around the current relationship status, showing you how close you are to taking it to the next level.

In fact, some much of the game is simple to use that it makes the cumbersome or un-fun stuff really stand out. For example, Sims like to eat prepared recipes. After acquiring a recipe from the store and learning it, you can make it in your kitchen. However, you need to have the necessary ingredients to complete the recipe. If you don’t have at least one of each ingredient, the recipe is denied. If you want to make it, you have to hoof it all the way back out of your house to the city map and to the supermarket. Why not gray out a recipe if you don’t have all of the ingredients? Or perhaps give the player an easy way to buy ingredients from the kitchen so it doesn’t break the flow. It’s also too bad you cannot easily cancel accepted wishes to take on new ones that you might find more interesting once you have filled the wish panel. (You get to have five accepted wishes active at a time.)

The minigames are also a mixed bag. Fishing is totally natural. You move the iPhone to direct the hook in the water and when a fish nibbles at it, you jerk the iPhone up to land the catch. The cooking event, though, is Cooking Mama-lite. Tapping pots and shaking the iPhone to keep them cool feels like busy work instead of a minigame.

For the most part, Sims 3 for iPhone looks great. There are occasional slips like Sims merging into each other in social settings, but the Sims themselves are nicely detailed and have good animations, such as when they make silly faces or try to get all kissy-faced. The town itself looks pretty good and is easy to navigate by touching buildings, although it is somewhat odd that Sims in the town map are represented as little blue and yellow Playmobil characters as they move around town. I understand this has some technical reasoning behind it, but with as much effort as you make to personalize your Sim, to see him or her reduced to a general figurine is disappointing. It would be cool to see this town be truly alive.

The Sims 3, in its current form, does not have any online component, nor does it have any of the commerce EA Mobile discussed at the iPhone OS 3.0 launch. EA Mobile has indicated that in-app purchasing will be in a future upgrade to the game. It is likely you will be able to buy items and clothing for Sims 3. However, to make this feature worthwhile, Sims 3 will need an online component where you can show your Sim and house to other players. The exclusion of these does not affect the score for Sims 3, though. The game is indeed a complete package and you will not be disappointed with the amount of content in this initial download.

Sims 3 was reviewed with version 1.0.
Closing Comments
I am truly impressed that EA Mobile did not treat Sims 3 for the iPhone as an inferior product to the flagship game, which is something you often see in DS or mobile editions of existing franchises. This was not shoved out to make a quick buck in the shadow of the PC game. The amount of content and detail betrays a real dedication to making a complete Sims experience for a new screen. Despite occasional bugaboos and odd interface decisions, Sims 3 is a quality game that comes seriously recommended.