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Sponsored Feature: TheGameTrail makes the struggle of finding an iPhone game a thing of the past

Watch the trailer, get the game you'll enjoy

Sponsored Feature: TheGameTrail makes the struggle of finding an iPhone game a thing of the past
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| The Game Trail

So you've got some disposable income burning a hole in your pocket, an iPhone or iPod touch at hand and you fancy a new game to help those Sunday afternoons fly by.

Huzzah – but hold tight, there's a slight problem.

Once iTunes has fired up, you're greeted by a bewildering number of apps to trawl through, many of which would seem overpriced if they were free.

The bottom line is nobody wants to waste their hard-earned on something terrible.

Hence TheGameTrail. No, it's not a scenic walk for iPhone apps, it's a free app (and website) designed to help you find what you need within the App Store jungle.

The best iPhone games

"At TheGameTrail, only the best games will be found and showcased with accompanying videos," says Alexander Etvall, from Fabrication Games, the app's developer. "The idea came when we time and time again saw the same things happened: Our friends whom had just gotten their iPhones were really excited about it, but had no idea where to start when it came to downloading all the amazing games they had heard so much about."

It's certainly easy to get lured into making a bad purchase. Let's face it, screenshots aren't the greatest way of judging a game.

Effectively, TheGameTrail puts everything you need to make a decision on a purchase in one place, which sounds pretty handy.

"I found myself constantly switching between the app store and YouTube on my train ride home from work when browsing for games to buy.

"With TheGameTrail I still have to switch to the App Store when I find a game I like, but I only have to switch when I have made up my mind to actually purchase the game," Etvall explains.

Not just a pretty app

Aside from convenience, TheGameTrail has a few other tricks up its sleeve in forthcoming updates, including the ability to create a 'trail' of games to find the right one for you.

Think of it as a 'games-you-may-also-like' feature, but in a slightly random fashion, which allows users to find other quality gaming experiences that they might not find otherwise.

That's not all.

"The thing I'm most excited about in the long run is allowing users to rate the games, and we are also adding pricing information."

Currently, the free app – which you can download here, or visit the website – offers a 'Top 250' list giving a more than plentiful collection of apps that may tickle your fancy, as well as a Featured section and a place for developers to submit their games. Each game obviously includes a video for your perusal and a rating.

How is the rating generated? Glad you asked. Etvall explains: "The rating system (…) takes an aggregate of ratings from a variety of sources and user ratings, the latter of which is yet to be added. You could say that this is close to what Metacritic does. We then process these ratings to get them more statistically accurate."

The result is a selection of the highest regarded iPhone games for you to browse through and sample in motion – enough for you to make a decision on whether this is something you should be downloading or not. It's the essence of what Fabrication Games has tried to achieve. "Our vision is to be the number one place to go when you want to buy games," concludes Etvall.

If that means helping players to get the most from their pocket gaming, then TheGameTrail gets a thumbs-up from us.

Ben Griffin
Ben Griffin
Having said farewell to university life, Ben decided to follow his ultimate dream of getting paid to play games. Luckily, Pocket Gamer was more than happy to help in his quest.