The iPhone is perfectly suited for quick gaming while on the go, making puzzle games with short levels and easy play mechanics ideal. Peggle falls seamlessly into this niche, offering iPhone gamers a great diversion while travelling around, be it for short or long stretches.

Like all great puzzlers, the gameplay is deceptively simple, yet deep enough to not completely offend the senses. At the beginning of each level you’ll be presented with a number of different pegs, both orange and blue, arrayed across the level in varying patterns. You’re job is to wipe out the orange pegs, and you have a limited number of balls to do so.

You aim and fire your ball from the top of the screen, from where it will go careening into the various pegs, crashing into and off of them, bouncing off the various ledges along the sides of the screen to shoot back into play, and finally falling to the bottom of the screen to disappear forever. If however, you’re lucky enough to have your ball land in the moving receptacle at the bottom of the screen you’ll get that ball back, effectively giving you a free ball. This addition is somewhat random, as there’s really no way to plan a shot that far ahead to have it land in the receptacle, but it helps add just a little bit more tension as you realize your ball will soon run out of steam and crash to oblivion, unless the bucket saves it.

While initial levels start off easily enough, you’ll soon encounter trickier and more complex layouts as you progress, which require different strategies to take down. The red pegs will often be buried inside a number of blue pegs, and that arrangement may be further blocked by other pegs above it, forcing you to pull off trick shots utilizing the banks along the sides of the screen.

It’s not only imperative to properly aim your first shot, but to try and determine where you’re ball will likely go after that by playing the shot out in your mind before you take it. Clearing a few pegs each ball is often not good enough, meaning you really need to focus on exacting massive peg blasting destruction with each ball.

Peggle is controlled very simply and effectively with the touch screen. You simply line your shot up and hit the fire button when ready to go.

The graphics have made the transition from the PC version of the game perfectly, featuring vibrant colours and some nice effects, especially upon clearing the level, as the game enters a slow-motion mode and ends with a flurry of fireworks and explosions.

The one thing missing from Peggle at present is the music, with only one track currently available from the PC version. You can play your own music while playing the game, but this isn’t a substitute for good original music, which the PC version possessed. The developer has plans to implement all the music tracks from the PC version in a future update though, so stay tuned.

If you’re a fan of casual games or puzzle games, you really can’t go wrong with Peggle. The iPhone version sells for $5, which is slightly high in comparison to some other puzzlers, but it’s cheaper than the PC version, and features plenty of levels and challenges to keep you occupied. Highly recommended.

Pros:

• Bright, vibrant colours
• Simple, addicting puzzle gameplay
• Plenty of levels and challenges

Cons:

• No music at present

Score: 9/10

Price: $4.99

Peggle on iTunes

Toy Bot Diaries was an interesting game to review. Contrary to most iPhone games, which I usually pick up shortly after release having little to no knowledge of as far as other reviews go, I had already heard a great deal about the positive reception Toy Bot Diaries and its sequels had received before I ever played it. Perhaps this raised my expectations a little too high, because I was ultimately left fairly disappointed by the first chapter of this bot’s diary.

Toy Bot Diaries is a physics-based game, placing you in the magnetic boots of a small legless and armless robot, who’s trapped inside a vending machine and must find his way out. The game consists of a series of corridors filled with various puzzles which must be solved to open the way forward.

Your little bot has two main abilities, it can swing from objects, or swing objects themselves, with a grappling hook (very much like Pitfall or Bionic Commando), and he can magnetize his boots to pick up objects or walk on certain walls. You control your bot by tilting the screen to move, and by touching the screen to send out your grappling hook or magnetize your boots. Once hooked on to something with your grappling hook, you tilt the iPhone from side to side to make the bot or the item swing to each side.

For a platformer style game, the first thing I noticed was the inability to jump. This was put in to force you to solve puzzles in a certain way, and came across as rather arbitrary to me. I would’ve liked to see more of a mix between platform and puzzle elements rather than what ended up amounting to a straight puzzle game.

This wouldn’t be much of a problem if the puzzle elements were up to snuff, but they largely consist of simple puzzles that take no creativity or ingenuity to solve, many of which boil down to ‘find the key to open the door’ style puzzles, though instead of keys you’re moving various coins around and inserting them into slots. The pedestrian puzzles and lack of any significant platform or action elements left me quite bored for much of the game.

This is further compounded by relatively simple map design, which leads back to the lack of jumping, as maps can be simple and uninteresting while still barring your passage in some fashion. By having the ability to jump in the game, the puzzles and map design would’ve been much more interesting out of necessity.

The graphics are great, and remind me a lot of some of the SNES’s platformers. The animations and effects were nice as well, with the only real letdown on the graphics front being the level design. The audio was also well down, with great sound effects and nice music. From the aesthetic side of things, I can certainly see why the game had a good deal of hype surrounding it.

By no means do I think Toy Bot Diaries is a poor game, it just didn’t work for me on a number of different levels. All the elements were there for a great game, with a cute mascot character, good use of the iPhone’s controls, and great production values. I was simply letdown by the simplicity of the gameplay. It’s also an extremely short game, which when combined with the gameplay and fact that two sequels have been released, makes the continued $4 price tag a little high in my books. Fans of puzzlers or physics games may enjoy Toy Bot Diaries, but if it’s challenge or creativity you’re looking for, you may want to look elsewhere.

Pros:

• Nice graphics, and the bot is undeniably cute
• Nice use of the iPhone’s features

Cons:

• Uninspiring gameplay
• Far too short

Price - $3.99

Score: 6/10

Toy Bot Diaries on iTunes

What can be said about Tetris? First created in the 1980’s, it’s one of the most well-known and well-travelled games in history, appearing on nearly every console, handheld system and device, and computer system since its creation.

Being an avid gamer for many years, I’ve played many different versions of Tetris throughout that time, beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System version in 1989 (a version that only lasted for a few weeks, as Nintendo eventually won the exclusive publishing rights for the game over Atari). Though I’ve never been particularly adept at it, it’s always been a game I enjoy going to every now and then.

Now with the iPhone release, not only can Tetris be brought on the go, but you get a new play mode and touch screen controls to go with it.

For the Tetris maidens in the audience, the goal is simple. Each stage presents you with a series of blocks descending from the ceiling. There are 7 blocks, all of which are made up of 4 tinier blocks, rearranged in different patterns. The goal is place these blocks in such a pattern that they cover complete levels horizontally, without any empty spaces. Added points are awarded for clearing multiple rows at once, often leading to players praying the I block to show up, as they continually stack blocks to one side to leave room for their killer 4 row clearing move, which happens to be called a Tetris.

The game has two different main versions, one where your goal is simply to play on for as long as you can, with the speed increasing over time. The other is level-based, with you only needing to clear a certain number of rows each level to move in.

Tetris iPhone also adds a completely original new mode called Magic Mode. Magic mode is the same basic game, but with additional tools that can be used to help clear blocks. The tools are fun to play around with, but the trouble is that the difficult hasn’t been raised in any way in this version to help offset the power of these tools. The tools can do things like shake the screen to make your empty spaces fill up, turn the blocks into bubbles that you can pop, or turning any block into a tiny one space block by pinching it.

The controls are simple enough, and the magic mode throws in some neat twists to the control scheme as well. Moving a block is as simple as dragging it around, while rotating it can be accomplished by tapping the screen on either the left or right side to rotate it in that direction. One magic power lets you draw any of the Tetris shapes for you to use with your finger, while others are activated by shaking the screen.

While the touch screen controls work very well, they run into problems later in the game, as the speed picks up. Whereas you can move and rotate your block at the same time in most versions, pulling that off by simultaneously dragging and tapping the screen at the same time in this version can be challenging. It’s akin to rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time. This isn’t an issue for much of the game, as each function can be performed individually, with plenty of time remaining to do the other, but at the later levels it’s extremely difficult.

The graphics and music are decent enough, and while many were disappointed by the lack of music from the original version, I thought the new pieces were done well, and seemed appropriate.

If you like Tetris, and not many don’t, this isn’t a bad version to get considering the price. If price is no object though, you may want to go for a version on a system with more reliable controls and a larger screen, which makes the gameplay that much more seamless.

Pros:

• Magic mode offers some creative twists to the Tetris formula
• Decent music and graphics
• Classic gameplay

Cons:

• Controls are not viable on highest levels
• Magic mode is ultimately too easy

Price: $4.99

Score: 8/10

Tetris on iTunes

Tiki Towers sees you placed in charge of a tribe of apes, who constantly seem to find themselves facing one great chasm after another, with no way around it but to go over it. To this end you must construct bridges, ladders, and other structures to help them across.

This is very similar in style to last year’s underground success World of Goo, available on the PC and Wii. At the beginning of each level, of which there are 45, scattered across 5 different islands, you’ll be presented with your box of monkeys on one side, and the exit they must reach on the other. There is no time limit to building your device, so you can freely experiment with different things, or just quickly throw something together and see what happens, which is part of the fun.

What happens is that your device will either be unusable, unable to get them across, or will not be able to hold the weight of the monkeys and break. You only have a limited number of bamboo sticks to aid you in your building efforts, and this is based on the level. As you send the monkeys out to brave your creation, you’ll see certain poles change colour to indicate the amount of strain on them. This can help you build a more efficient contraption the next time around.

Tiki Towers has the added element of bananas being scattered across the levels. The true challenge lies not simply in getting your monkeys across, but getting the bananas for them as well. I’ve also been a fan of this style of game design, rewarding players who wish to challenge themselves to the fullest extent, while making the core game enjoyable for those who don’t care to. You’ll definitely find that getting your monkeys across most levels isn’t all that hard, and if that’s all you aim for, you’ll wipe the game out quickly enough. Getting all the bananas on the other hand is a task that can take multiple efforts per level, unlocking awards if accomplished.

One feature of the interface design that can function as both helpful and annoying, is your creation’s unwillingness to reset after you restart a failed attempt. This is fine when your structure needs just a tweak or two to get it just right, but when you’ve totally butchered a design, it leads to needless frustration and wasted time. Having the option to do one or the other would’ve been much preferential.

Monkeys are naturally cute (at least I think so), so it isn’t terribly hard to express them as such graphically, and Tiki Towers does a fine job on this end with some nice animations and different expressions from your monkeys upon victory or failure. Seeing them fluid throw themselves onto your device, and the consequences of doing so was never dull. The graphics themselves are also very nice, with bright, colourful backdrops and imagery. The sound effects of monkey mischief also add nicely to the experience.

The control overall was very easy to get a handle on and functioned fine. Since the majority of control is conducted while the game is basically at a standstill, it would not have been a deal breaker either way.

Depending on your style of play, Tiki Towers may only last you a couple hours, or could entertain you for days. I found it charming and challenging, and for just $0.99, it’s the type of game you really can’t go wrong with.

Pros:

• Bright, vibrant graphics
• Excellent animation
• Nicely balanced gameplay
• As challenging as you want it to be

Cons:

• Construction building was unnecessarily tedious at times

Price: $0.99

Score: 9/10

Tiki Towers on iTunes

Despite being a big RPG fan, and having nearly every system that PuzzleQuest has come out on, I had never tried the game until I noticed it on the iTunes store while browsing around and ended up looking into yet. What I discovered was a game that, while severely flawed upon initial release, is a great fusion of RPG and puzzler, and one that has inspired me to look into some of the other versions.

PuzzleQuest first came out on the PSP and DS a couple years ago, and since then has seen releases for the PC, Wii, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3. PuzzleQuest iPhone now contains both Chapters 1 and 2 in the same package, the two of which were originally going to be released separately. This amounts to the entire game which was released on other systems in one package, as well as the added content from the Revenge of the Plague Lord expansion. There’s a lot of gameplay here, easily pushing 40 hours if you’re a completionist.

PuzzleQuest is very much a fusion of both Western and Japanese RPG’s, with a Bejeweled-style battle system thrown in for good measure. You can choose from a number of different character classes at the beginning of the game, and have a large degree of freedom over how you progress, very much akin to Western RPG’s. The story still has a very JRPG feel to it though, with Fire Emblem style character interaction, and anime styled characters.

Areas on the world map are connected together by lines, similar to a few other RPG’s such as Legend of Dragoon, with new areas opening up as you accept quests and talk to people. I’m not a fan of this style, but it seems like the right choice given the format of the game. As you travel between locations you’ll be sucked into random battles, which is where the unique battle system makes its appearance. The puzzle board is filled with gems and items which all have various effects, and lining up three of these in a row will unlock the action. If you can hit 4 or 5 in a row, further benefits are obtained. Tiles initially come in 5 varieties, and can earn the player bonus gold and XP, as well as damage the enemy. Other tiles can be unlocked later in the game, and how you distribute skill points can also affect what each tile does. There’s plenty of variety and customization to be found in PuzzleQuest. In addition to the main quest there are plenty of optional side endeavours you can partake in as well, such as collecting companions, rearing mounts, and building up a citadel.

Open-ended games generally fail to have great storylines, and I thought this was the case with PuzzleQuest. It was a fairly generic fantasy tale with rather cookie-cutter characters. If you’ve played a decent number of RPG’s, you won’t find much in the story of great interest.

The graphics are very nice for an iPhone game, though they have the tendency of being too small, which can make some of the text in particular very difficult to read. The frame rate can also stutter at times in battle, though this has been improved tremendously since earlier versions.

If you’re a fan of RPG’s and/or puzzle games, there’s a lot to like about PuzzleQuest. It’s a great value for the money, though on the other hand, the extended play length may convince gamers to grab one of the other versions which are better suited to longer gaming sessions, and without some of the iPhone version’s small shortcomings. Either way, be sure to give PuzzleQuest a try.

Pros:

• Incredibly lengthy game
• Great fusion of RPG and puzzle game
• Nice graphics, music, and even voice work

Cons:

• Graphics and text can be difficult to make out
• Occasional frame rate issues in battle
• Play length more suitable for home consoles

Score: 8.5/10

Price: $7.99

PuzzleQuest on iTunes