The free iPhone game Trawler Report: Diamond Detective and ReBound have some fun with the symbol-matching puzzler
22nd February 2010
Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices have blurred the lines between casual and hardcore gaming since the App Store opened. Genres that have never had that much portable success in the past, like tower defence, have not only exploded, but have exploded onto other platforms, too - as we saw with Fieldrunners’s release for PSP.
At the pace the App Store’s top dogs move at, you have to stay on the ball to keep up with the latest movements in the iPhone gaming scene. We may not miss a beat, but it’s what we do all day. This week’s picks are a real mixture of the old and new.
We’ve got the 25-year-old Cobra Command, a video game in the most literal sense, to contrast with Parachute Ninja and ReBounce, which are iPhone games on the cutting edge of genre splicing.
We love both the new and old, so why not check them both out and see whether you prefer golden oldies or young upstarts.
The best free iPhone games on the App Store
Parachute Ninja
By Freeverse
Type Demo
Although it doesn’t feel like it, Parachute Ninja is really a platform game. You fling your character, the eponymous Ninja, rather than manually making him jump, but the effect is largely the same.
Each level is filled with many catapult-like platforms, which you can ping back using touchscreen swipes to send him flying into the air. You aim is to make it to the end of each level, picking up glowing fairies on the way.
So, there’s not all that much ninja-ing to be done, really. It's fun, though. This free version lets you check out a few levels from the full game.
By RealArcade
Type Demo Over the years, we’ve spent more hours matching three or more symbols than we’d like to admit, but even we think it can still be fun. Diamond Detective takes the classic symbol-matching blueprint and slaps a crime-solving narrative on top.
You have to collect jewels in order to find clues about some of the world’s worst criminals, each level bringing you closer to a conviction.
The real meat of the game involves drawing lines across gems of the same colour, thereby zapping them and winning you some points. We played this game on mobile way back in 2007, but this edition benefits from the iPhone’s touchscreen and is worth digging into the App Store for.
By Revolutionary Concepts
Type Demo Remember those cool video games that were actually based on, well, video? No? You’re probably just too young then, you lucky thing. Laserdisc game Cobra Command is now more than 25 years old, earning it a free bus pass in gaming terms. There’s even a slice of the game you can download for free, although it’s a very weighty slice at over 300MB.
Even though this game old enough to start lying about its age, it still looks good, as it’s basically an interactive movie. The free version lets you check out the New York level for free, but you can also upgrade to the full version from within the game.
By Romper Games
Type Demo Blending genres successfully is tricky. Get the balance wrong and things start to head south very quickly. ReBounce is ambitious in its genre mixing, splicing an action-infused control method with traditional puzzler gameplay.
On one front, it’s a symbol-matching game, but instead of swapping positions of blocks or tapping them you have to sling a puck towards them to knock them into oblivion. Any adjacent blocks in the same state will also be destroyed, giving ReBounce some great combo potential.
This free version only lets you check out a handful of minutes of the Rush mode, but it’s well worth checking out.
By Exient
Type Demo X2 Snowboarding is one of our favourite snow-bound iPhone games. Great controls, plenty of tricks and stylish visuals make X2 Games’s latest worth spraying some sleet at.
X2 Snowboarding School is an intro to the full game, letting you trick your way down a mountain complete with plenty of jumps and ramps.
Seamlessly mixing accelerometer and touchscreen control, X2 Snowboarding School gives you lots of control over exactly which part of board you grab whenever you launch yourself into the air.
You can also use the accelerometer to balance and help you grind across poles and any other raised surfaces that come your way. The full version of X2 Snowboarding will set you back £3.99, so this free version is worth checking out beforehand.
By Blackbird
Type Demo Shaving is a pain at the best of times. Sure, you may end up looking slightly more presentable, but the time, effort, and expense involved make having a beard an attractive prospect for busy young men the world over. MyRazor Lite, a shaving simulator, falls into the spectacularly useless category of app. All you do is rub your iPhone against your face and, based on the sound of your stubble scraping against the microphone, it starts pumping out some electric razor-like noises.
To boil our problems with this app down to one question:
‘Why?’
