Video games are usually play-tested before foisting them on paying customers.Therefore it's's baffling to think what Food Processing, an iOS arcade puzzler from Chillingo, went through (or didn't) between the "final" line of code and the App Store. Both the visuals and controls render this game largely unplayable, making a game that's not very original a rare instance where it's not even worth the... more.

Something different and still fun is a too-rare occurrence in the App Store, so when a game like Play Kalei lets you toy with the world through a kaleidoscope there's much rejoicing. A short cheer, but nonetheless spirited. I had an odd liking for kaleidoscopes as a kid, to the point of indulging in one of those overpriced yuppie desktop toys early in my professional career (alas, it's generall... more.

There's a reason Dragon's Lair has been rereleased ad nauseum despite its massive lack of player content. There's also a reason its sequel, arguably a much better game just rereleased in highly playable form for the iPhone, barely registers in the collective memory of gaming history. Dragon's Lair, of course, was a fascinating novelty in 1983 for its first-rate animation as much as its quirky l... more.

For the first time in its history, Konami's X-Men Arcade has arrived on a portable device. Identical in every way to its arcade counterpart, the iPhone version retains the action and gameplay of the coin-op. All six X-Men made it to the portable version: Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Night Crawler and Dazzler. The side-scrolling, beat 'em up action takes place across 8 stages as you try ... more.

Seeing as how there's a gazillion iPhone pinball games already, the average gamer is probably wondering why there's any reason to get excited about this title with its spartan "toy-like cabinet (and) old-style mechanical score drum." Furthermore, it's easily the most primitive game released by a developer whose never budged from charging new-release prices even for titles that are 20 years old. ... more.

Summer's here, bringing with it that classic sport with balls and bats. Since most of us who play instead of watching it are on sandlots instead of in stadiums, there's also frequently rule tweaks to account for conditions/players/etc. The version we'll be playing on what we'll call Mark's Virtual Sandlot includes a few simple basics: • Everybody bats each inning. No strikeouts – players... more.

Maybe it was figuring out how teachers' passwords were encoded on my high school's typing tutor program. Or how to copy the code from a game cartridge on my computer to disk. Or recovering "eternally lost" files for eternally grateful people. But the dark portion of my soul is largely occupied by a cyberpunk. The truly sinister contemplations are restrained by that large reservoir of sanity ... more.

Hard to say if Jeff Minter actually likes his latest release, which returns to his long-ago success with mutant llamas. But I'm having a hell of time with it. Minotron: 2112 is Minter's iPhone remake of the 1991 Atari ST game Llamatron: 2112, which is a remake of Robotron: 2084, which is merely the greatest arcade game of all time. Many home versions of Robotron tried and failed to capture the ... more.

If an award for the best iPhone game of the past year were being awarded purely on my personal tastes, Word News would be it. It probably won't be received anywhere near as enthusiastically by the general gaming population, so an even-handed critique is as exercise in self-restraint as much as anything. It's edutainment, for goodness' sake. It focuses on the news, as the name suggests, which is... more.

When asked about Digital Leisure’s 2011 line-up, Paul Gold could only say, "We hope to make some announcements in the coming weeks as we finalize our 2011 releases." If we consider the current trend of Laser Disc games already released on Playstation 3, Dragon's Lair II: Timewarp seems like the next logical choice. But this doesn't explain the other projects that Paul Gold hinted at. In a r... more.