I spend way too much time buying and playing games on my iPhone. It’s a steady and unhealthy addiction. So I thought that I would help facilitate you doing the same.

One of my more recent purchases was Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, published by Tiger Style. So far the game has been great casual fun. It loads pretty quickly, and no level is so long that you have to devote an enormous amount of time to defeating it. For the most part the game play consists of jumping, running, and spinning webs (as you are playing as a spider). Your goal is to clear each level of the bugs in as timely a manner as possible; however there is also an underlying plot that ties each level together. The Manor was abandoned, and by stumbling into secret nooks and crannies you get to figure out why. To be perfectly honest, this hasn’t played too large a part in how I approach the game, as catching bugs is really just satisfying enough so far. The music, graphics, and controls are all well polished, so I definitely would give this game an A+.

If I continue to write these reviews with any sort of regularity it will become evident that I am a Tower Defense nut. I would guess 40% or more of my games are TD style games, and over 80% of my time playing games have been spent on the genre since I got an iPhone. That being said, I am here to diss one of the games of the genre I love so dearly.

7 Cities, by Neptune Interactive Inc., received high praise in the App Store, so I thought it would be fun. You have to defend an ancient civilization from looting pirates by building towers with various abilities along the river. If enough pirates reach your city, you lose. Sounds fun/pretty standard. The graphics and controls are even pretty decent, and there is a neat little skill tree that you unlock/manage as you progress, adding a new element to the TD genre. So, with all these “pluses”, why am I dissing on 7 Cities?

I play a lot of these games, and I think of myself as a reasonably intelligent person; however I can’t beat even the first level of this game on “Normal”. On ‘Easy’ the game is a breeze, offering essentially zero challenge, but setting it to ‘Normal’ and I get my ass handed to me every time. I visited the publisher’s site for some insight on working strategies, which I essentially never do, and even the strategies there don’t seem to work. From what I can tell, winning is not about strategic placement and timing, as it is with the other games in the genre, rather it is about strange upgrade strategies using the skill tree. Problem is, you don’t live long enough to get enough gold to purchase the needed upgrades. Most of the strategies outlined in the forums are months old, and don’t seem to apply to the most recent update.

Maybe I’m wrong, and it’s an awesome game, but in my opinion a game should not punish you for playing. The learning curve should be a curve, not a cliff, and each level should add to your understanding of how to beat the game instead of treating you like an idiot for ‘not getting it’. That’s just my two cents though. I give this game a C, plenty of polish but too little incentive to stay.

Castle Warriors advertises itself as a Real Time Strategy game. As a teen I spent more than a little time on the Warcraft and Starcraft franchises, and I jumped to purchase this game. I can’t say it isn’t actually a RTS, but it is nothing like Warcraft or Starcraft. There is no real resource management, only the deployment of troops. The game is very distilled and simplified, and you can get into it really quickly. The graphics are sharp, the music is ok, and the game play is fun/simple. Unfortunately at each stage you are handling more and more soldiers and the poor little 3G processor doesn’t seem up to the task. The game lags, and pretty quickly instructions are being incorrectly conveyed to your troops because the clicks aren’t matching up with the scenery. There is no mention in the game profile that a 3GS is highly recommended, but I feel like there should be. Hopefully and update can be done to address some of this, otherwise I would warn 3G users to purchase with caution. I give it a B, with a chance for an A if an update can fix the lag issues.

Many, many, moons ago Civilization 3 was released on the PC. At that time my girlfriend, lost contact with me and didn’t hear from me for what seemed like weeks. I’m sure she reported me as missing. I think you get the idea. Not too long ago 2K Games released Civilization Revolution for the iPhone and I nearly had an accident involving my pants and bowels.

Sadly, it was the little Civ that couldn’t. Don’t get me wrong, all the elements were there to make a Civ widow of my wife, but the damn application was one of the most unstable things I have ever loaded onto my iPhone. To add insult to injury, it is also one of the most expensive apps I have ever purchased as well (though I didn’t get burned quite as badly as Xeno). Xeno was far more determined to enjoy the game, and developed a saving strategy that I assume must have equaled the amount of time he spent playing the game. I on the other hand quit, and moved on to greener and more stable pastures. Like I said, everything was there to make a great game, but to my knowledge the stability has not been addressed with an update. I’d give it an A+ if it would stay loaded long enough to type that, instead my broken heart gives it a C+.

As previously stated, I am a bit of a nut for Tower Defense style games and Defender Chronicles: Legend of the Desert King by Chillingo LTD is a good example of why. In a slight spin on the genre you are a general placed in charge of Guilds, rather than towers, and you must use the guilds to defend a battlefield. Instead of having different blast effects, the guilds build units (soldiers, archers, mages and thieves) that directly engage the enemy. You also have a hero unit (you) that you can upgrade over the course of the game with skills and equipment.

The voice acting is really strange, and I would personally recommend playing the game on mute/using iPod music, but the graphics are good and the game play is fun. I have dedicated a number of hours to this game, and it does get a bit repetitive trying to grind gold to purchase the next upgraded weapon (necessary to play the Heroic levels where emphasis is placed on having a highly upgraded general rather than intelligent placement of the guilds.) Overall, I would rate the game at an A or A+. Another big bonus is that the developers have released a number of free updates that provide new content and game play, and it looks as though some more are scheduled.