Review | iPhone Roundup

Portable delights…

iPhone Roundup

More iPhone offerings, reviewed by Jennifer Allen.

Time for more portable offerings. This time around, there’s a game of biblical proportions, anti Pac-Man, a mirror-based puzzle game and a zombie-slaying nun.

Babel Rising

Bulkypix – 59p

Babel Rising makes for some ideal stress relief, even if it’s not exactly the most original of titles. You play God, and your aim is to stop builders from completing the Tower of Babel. To achieve this you have to use your divine powers.

At its most basic level, builders can be touched with the finger of God. As time goes by, other powers become available, such as lightening bolts, tidal waves and, most effective of all, earthquakes. You can never truly “win”, with the builders always inevitably succeeding. The real point is simply to gain the highest score and last as long as possible.

That’s truly all there is to Babel Rising at its lowest price. For an extra 59p you can purchase a Campaign Mode which adds a more structured approach to proceedings, as well as the ability to upgrade the divine powers. There’s also the addition of a more complicated survival mode, Fury Mode, which is also 59p.

Babel Rising is entertaining enough for about five minutes, but it is lacking substance quite badly. It feels more like a flash-based game you’d play in your lunch hour rather than anything that you would actively seek out and pay money for. Give it a miss unless you have a very strong God complex. 4/10

iPharaoh

Justnine – £1.79

iPharaoh feels rather like an anti Pac-Man. Players direct either monsters or rocks towards an intrepid explorer with an aim to stopping them collecting the Pharaoh within each level. There are 60 levels in all with each posing increasingly more challenging ways of completing them. iPharaoh never feels dissatisfying though with a smooth learning curve gradually introducing different elements to the game the further you progress. It’s quite a fast-paced game too, which makes quick thinking and dexterity vital.

Besides the Original mode, there’s also the Wave Attack mode which offers more of a challenge. Waves of enemies are sent at you, making the game much more frantic. It does, however, feel a lot less satisfying than the Original mode, which I found kept my attention until completion.

iPharaoh is good fun, charming to look at and well worth its asking price. 7/10

Mirror Maze

Assyria Game Studio – £1.19

Mirror Maze is the least obviously attractive offering here this week, but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up with sheer entertainment. Players must manoeuvre a red and green ball across a maze covering the iPhone’s screen. The catch is that wherever you move one ball, the other ball moves in the opposite direction. Touch the maze’s wall and it’s game over.

It’s a simple concept, but one that quickly boggles the mind. The first few levels are relatively simple, but it’s not long before the mazes get incredibly intricate and challenging. Then there’s the addition of warp gates and moving barriers. Fortunately it never feels cheap; it just challenges you to be more careful. A bit like the old steady hand games of my youth.

Mirror Maze isn’t an easy puzzle game by any means, but it is immensely satisfying. 8/10

Twin Blades

Bulkypix – £1.79

Twin Blades is quite a change of pace from the puzzle-centric nature of this article so far. It’s a fast paced zombie killing hack ‘n’ slasher, and to my surprise, it works fantastically well.

You play a nun (yes, a nun) who has to defeat the zombie hordes across her town. Fortunately she has the use of a gun and a sickle, which can be upgraded throughout the game. It’s fun. Lots of fun. It might get a little repetitive after a while as essentially all you ever do is kill things, but much like the side-scrolling fighters of old, you can forgive it.

The upgrade system, although quite simplistic, makes things more interesting, with the ability to gain a machinegun and flamethrower, amongst other things. The virtual d-pad works well for the most part, with only a few mistakes. Most refreshingly, Twin Blades is utterly beguiling to look at for an iPhone game. Its cutesy, Manga-esque graphics are perfect for the insane plot of the game, and not once did I notice any graphical slowdown.

Twin Blades is a refreshing departure from an App Store overwhelmed by so many puzzle games. It deserves to be richly rewarded with a purchase. 9/10