iPhone applications and games range from mildly amusing the outright mandatory for anyone with an iPhone. Here are mini reviews for a game that makes you manage a lawn, one that helps you give a stay of execution for a stick figure, and one that gives you a world of music at your fingertips.
Sunday Lawn
In gaming it seems that almost every concept has already
been co-opted, which has sent developers reaching. Over the last few years it has seemed that
activities normally seen as chores have become the source of gaming
premises. Donut Games' Sunday Lawn is a,
ahem, lawn mowing game. The basic
framework is to mow a lawn in the most efficient way possible. To do this you set the direction for where
you little animated worker will go with his lawnmower, and to get the largest number
of points you want to plan for the largest strips of mowing at a time. This means that you want to get the biggest
patches of sod covered in the fewest number of moves. This is a basic principle
behind a number of classic puzzle games, which Sunday Lawn is with a more
colorful palette. There is a lot of
depth in Sunday Lawn as the gameplay options are numerous. Even amongst these different gameplay types
you have a graduated level system that will actually keep you playing for quite
a while. You can complete the level
adequately enough to progress on, and then you can also go back to try and
complete it according to even more rigorous standards. These all add to the overall package with
Sunday Lawn, but if the basic premise does not work for you it will not matter
much in the end. The gameplay is fun, to
a point, but there is not really enough here to legitimize enough gameplay time
to get through all the features. It is
not the worst among the free iPhone library, but it is not going to define the
genre.
Hangman Free
Some how 'time killing' games like Hangman remain just as
addictive today as they have for decades.
Hangman Free, from Optime Software, does start with a bit of an annoying
advertisement for other titles from the developer. Once you actually get into the game features
for Hangman Free you will find a fairly complete port of this classic
vocabulary game. You can set different
perameters such as difficulty or specific word categories, like Animals or
Holidays. Inside your Hangman you will
find a nice chalk board where the Hangman will be drawn in front of you each
time you make a misstep. You have the
option of one or two players, but unfortunately there is no option to play
online. At this point in free iPhone
games what really helps to determine the effectiveness of a particular title is
whether or not it supports online play with other iPhone users. Once you take this away it is still
relatively nice for those that want a Hangman title. For the most part all the gameplay elements
are in accordance with the classic conception of hangman, but the vocabulary could
be a little more complete. No matter how
nice the Hangman incarnation looks it will not make up for a lack of available
words. This is not even to mention the banner ad that is place suspiciously close to your keyboard, which causes many accidental selections launching Safari. Hangman Free is an adequate free
iPhone game, but if you intend on playing Hangman with more serious attention
you may want to look for a batter title. There are plenty on the iPhone.
Pandora
Every college student will tell you that an iTunes' mix for a party is great, but Pandora is always the go to. Pandora Radio is a web service that allows you to set up a whole radio and selection system based on your specifications. You can log in to your Pandora account and then enter information like artist name. Pandora will then select songs by that artists and songs that it believes you would like based on your selections. You can set up your own specific channels in Pandora according to your preferences and then log in to listen anywhere you are. There may be no more perfect web service to be brought to your iPhone, especially now that the 3G network is making mobile internet more reliable. You can either log in to your existing Pandora Radio account or create a new one right from the free iPhone application. Once you are in you can begin setting up stations, which can be saved right to your account. This means that once you have set up a station you can easily return to it whenever you want. Searching for artists and songs is easy and you will often find that even if you do not know the exact name the title searching mechanism will likely suggest the correct title. Once a song comes up you can establish the station you want from either the song or artist specifically, and rate the music selections so that your requests can be more effectively interpreted. Pandora Radio is one of the essential websites these days, standing up in the ranks of daily obsessions like Facebook and Wikipedia. Since the iPhone is the synthesis of internet applications, phone functions, and mobile media then Pandora seems like the most standard of any free iPhone applications you could have. You cannot live without having Pandora on your iPhone, but the one thing that would make it more effective would be to listen to your stations while operating other applications. Maybe on the 4G.
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