Price: $7.99

Publisher: EA Mobile

Perhaps no series in game history has done as much two step forward, one step back taking as the Madden football series that is released every year for nearly every system.  Madden NFL 11 makes the second Madden series appearance on the iPhone and I extremely pleased to say that it does not take any steps back; instead is drives itself forward for a first down.  A blend of updated graphics, dynamic ai, and realistic game play really make this a must buy for those mobile football gaming fans.  It also puts to shame Gameloft’s latest attempt at a rival mobile franchise, NFL 2011.

If you read my recent review of Gameloft’s game, you saw that I was pretty unhappy with it in a lot of ways.  Its dismal logic, poor presentation and unrealistic ai were maddening for me.  Madden steps up in the pocket in all three categories and the new editions to the gameplay really result in a much better representation of real football.  This year, Madden added a new feature to all of its iterations called Gameflow.  The idea is that the sideline coach calls all of your offensive and defensive plays; you get a quick look before the play starts and away you go.  Gameflow is a perfect fit for the iPhone and I’ll tell you why; nothing is more annoying than play calling on a touch based screen.  3 plays at a time, scrolling through slowly is incredibly annoying.  Luckily for those hardcore iPhone players (do they exist?), that option is still available.  However, Gameflow speeds up the gameplay significantly.

Now this feature isn’t without a few issues here and there.  Clock management is where you see the biggest problems.  I had a situation arise where I was using Gameflow and my team lined up at the 2 yard line for a field goal even though there were 8 seconds to go.  My team had 2 timeouts but the sideline coach wanted to kick a field goal instead of running a quick play.  That was annoying.  That being said, Gameflow gets you running plays that you would likely never find/use if you picked your plays manually.

The ai is obviously improved over last year’s game although when I first started playing it didn’t look obvious, it looked extremely easy.  That was due to the default game being played at rookie mode.  Skip that and turn it up a notch to Pro.  I promise you will have a lot more fun.  You’ll see sacks, interceptions and players that are much closer to their real life counterparts that Gameloft’s NFL 2011.  Peyton Manning makes the big throws but if you’re playing with Jon Kitna, you can tell the difference.

Other noticeable additions include a 50 man roster, the ability to get free roster updates throughout the year (!), penalties within the game, real life stadiums (all modeled and realistic looking), and a ton of other things that help to make football, football.  Finally, the game gives you some basic multiplayer over a Bluetooth connection.

The graphics on my iPhone 4 are substantially higher quality than last year’s App Store Madden.  Having said that, I’m not sure what kind of upgrade you’ll see on one of Apple’s older device models.  The animation is generally smooth throughout gameplay but you will notice some stuttering from time to time.  The commentary within the game is done by John Madden and Cris Collingsworth and though it’s nice to hear Madden back in a Madden game, you’ll hear both announcers say the same things all too often.  The crowd noise is nice and some of the hits really have a nice bone rattling sound attached, but overall the sound is nothing special with one caveat – the music.  The music is fantastic and really adds to the polish of the game.

There are a ton of things I really wish were included in this year’s version.  The big one is obvious – Franchise mode.  Unfortunately we are left being able to play just a single season.  I’ll let it go this year but next year it darn well better be there.  Other missing items include online multiplayer and more statistics.  That being said, for a mobile game in its second year, Madden has really made a solid effort.  It’s no contest at all which football game should be on your device this year and at $7.99 it’s not going to break the bank.

Overall Value for it’s $7.99 price point

Overall: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Controls: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Price: $7.99

Publisher: Hassey Enterprises

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Galcon Fusion is single and multiplayer strategy game where you use your planets and ships to take over other nearby planets.  To control a planet you must fly ships from one of your current planets to another planet not currently under your control. Once you have taken the planet over, you can use the ships on that planet to take over another planet and so on.

Larger planets hold more ships and produce ships faster, so taking control of big planets early is a smart move. To transfer ships you must tap on the planet that you would like to take ships from and then tap on the target planet. You can select multiple host planets by tapping them in a row, then selecting a target. To select all of your current planets double tap any planet that you have ships on.  If you have sent a fleet of ships out then release you need them somewhere else, you can tap the fleet and redirect them by selecting another target. Also, the number in the bottom right of the screen is what percentage of ships you send out from each planet. You can flick that number left or right to change it. The in game controls are quite easy and simple to learn.

There are 8 single player modes. A few of them include Vacuum, Stealth, and Assassin. The Vacuum missions are timed based games where you must conquer all of the planets before a timer runs out. The Stealth missions are tricky. You cannot see the enemy’s fleets as they attack your planets. With the Assassin missions you are assigned targets and must conquer all of the target planets to end the game. As the game goes on, if your target enemy grows, so does the number of targets.

The multiplayer games are the same as I described above plus a few additional modes like Billiards, where the planets float around. The multiplayer aspect of Galcon Fusion is very well done and playing people around the world via WiFi is just a touch away. The interface is pretty easy to understand and there is virtually zero load time. You pick your game and opponent and boom the game begins. The multiplayer is a lot of fun, but I really got crap kicked out of me the first few times I played.

Visually, Galcon Fusion seems to be right down the middle. The graphics aren’t stand out great but aren’t bad either. The ships are just little triangles and the planets are swirling balls of color. I understand that to have more detail on the ships would probably bog down any good desktop, let alone an iPad, but I wanted a bit more. The audio is on the same level as the graphics. The sound FXs are mainly popping noises from your ships hitting planets. The background music is dark and menacing which actually fits the color and style of the game. Although neither the graphics nor audio really caught my fancy, they are a good fit for the gameplay.

Galcon Fusion is a fun and slightly addicting game, but at $7.99 it’s an expensive one. If it weren’t for the multiplayer aspect of this game I would say this game is a no go, especially for the price. But, if you’ve liked what you’ve read and can spare the $7.99, go for it. The game is fun and there is an endless amount of gameplay with the multiplayer feature. And don’t expect to win the first time playing online; some of those players are serious gamers.

Overall Value for it’s $7.99 price point

Overall Value: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Graphics: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Controls: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Cost: $9.99

Publisher: Activision

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Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies is a FPS built in the vein of the other Call of Duty games.  The script; Nazis have turned into Zombies and apparently want to eat your brains.  You need to kill them to survive.  First person shooters have been tried on the iPhone with a varying degrees of success.  COD: Zombies has its ups and downs.  The ups would easily outweigh the downs if it only the game included more value for the money.

The game includes both single player and multiplayer components.  The single player mode is built on the idea of killing zombies, lots of them.  In fact, the mode revolves around the idea of continuous swarms of zombies trying to break down barricades and killing as many zombies that make it through.  You run around the house, spending the points you earn for killing zombies on new guns and to open up new portions of the house.  If you think it sounds really basic, you would be right but it is also a great deal of fun.  The problems lie in the fact that there is simply one level in the game and just the one single player mode (survival mode).  Inevitably you will die; it’s just a matter of trying to make it as long as you can before a zombie kills you in cliché zombie fashion (again with the brain eating).

Activision promises new maps and levels but unfortunately they will charge for the additional maps they release.  In other words, you are spending 10 bucks for 1 mode and one map.  A steep price to play in my option.  That being said, the controls are great and offer 3 different control schemes for killing zombies.  In an iPhone FPS, nothing is more important than fluid controls and one of the three control options is likely to be a good fit for you.

Multiplayer is hit and miss.  The online component usually has games available where you and 3 additional players try to fight off the advancing zombie horde but unfortunately disconnects are common.  The game also offers Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi options.  The only multiplayer mode offered is co-op which is fun and welcome in most FPS, but no deathmatch mode means replay value is less than it could be.

If my reviews only dealt with the graphics, controls and the sound of an iPhone game, Call of Duty: World at War Zombies would be rated much higher.  As it is, the value just isn’t there and the money you spend on this game could be better spent on several other, lower cost games.  That all being said, if you have the money and are looking for an hour or two diversion (and not much more), Zombies is a top notch fit.

Ratings for this game at $7.99

Overall Value:      Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Graphics:             Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound:                 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Controls:             Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars