iPhone Guru

Earth vs Moon for iPhone is a modern spin on the Atari classic Missile Command with a twist of Space Invaders. You control the onboard missile targeting systems of three geostationary satellites hovering above Earth armed with missiles to defend our homeworld from the menacing Moon Fleet. The gameplay involves tapping in the playing field of orbital space and hoping your missile warhead will detonate near the incoming ICBMs or enemy craft, causing a lethal atomic chain reaction. The sparks will fly as you ignite an entire squadron of alien spacecraft with a well placed salvo of rockets to defend our planet. Your progress is saved as you obliterate the relentless onslaught of Moon Fleet aliens, so putting the game down and coming back to continue later makes this a casual favorite. Earth vs Moon is available now from the App Store from Low Five Games.

The Battle of Pirate Bay is a naval defense game where you have 3 indestructable ships protecting your fort from menacing pirates within the harbor of Pirate Bay. You manuver your fleet around the screen by tracing lines with your finger and your armada fires cannons at the incoming pirate ships. You only have limited ammo so the strategy lies in where you place your ships and how you control them once the action begins. If you deplete your ammunition before the wave of pirates is blown to smithereens then your fort will be left vunerable by the attacking pirates. This is a fun game with a quick learning curve that anyone can pick up and get right into. The Battle of Pirate Bay is available now from the App Store.

Siberian Strike from Gameloft is a scrolling shoot-em-up designed similar to the classic 1942 arcade game. The controls are wonderfully intuitive. You just point and touch the screen and you automatically unleash rapid fire against swarms of enemy fighters as you pilot your aircraft through several well-rendered levels. There are anime/role playing elements in the game as you can choose from several different pilots who fly different types of fighters. This app is worth the price and I discovered it via the staff favorites in the iTunes app store on my mac… I highly recommend this game to anyone interested in classic arcade button-mashers like 1942 and 1943. Siberian Strike is available now from the app store.

F.A.S.T (Fleet Air Superiority Training) is a fun, quick-paced flight simulator that let’s you dive right into supersonic dogfighting air combat. You can play single player missions or dogfight other pilots online. The controls are tilt based and there are onscreen buttons to fire cannons and missiles at your foe. You can unlock other planes by completing missions. This game is a good value considering the replay options of playing online. There is even a top pilots leaderboard. The controls are fairly intuitive and can also be adjusted for sensitivity and you can also invert the y-axis for more realistic flying. I would recommend this game to anyone interested in air combat flight simulators. F.A.S.T. is available now from the app store.

Celebrate Halloween with Crazy Pumpkin for iPhone! Crazy Pumpkin is a free application which turns your iPhone into a scary jack-o-lantern and it doesn’t require any carving. Shake your iPhone to change the glow color and hear frightening sounds. You can create hundreds of combinations. Here is the Crazy Pumpkin secret combination:

Caisss Chess for the iPhone brings the strategy of chess front and center to your fingertips. The computer makes a steady adversary even when the strength is set to one and I am no novice to chess. The gameplay is solid with minimal thinking times between moves by the computer. The sprite based two dimensional graphics offer several customization features as far as board colors and pieces. The game saves your place if you close the app, perfect for the snail-paced games I love playing. You can learn how to become a better chess player with the built in hint function. This is one of the more expensive apps that I have rated here at iPhone Guru but for the time and effort the author put into developing such a solid strategic engine it balances out the cost. You can save and export games and even play against friends via email. Caissa Chess retails for $9.99 and is available now from the App Store.

Koi pond is a lovely app brought to the masses by the Blimp Pilots. This app is well worth the 99 cents. You can shake the iPhone to feed your koi fish! If you put your finger in the middle of the pond and leave it there the koi fish will come nibbling your fingertip. Tap the lower right hand corner to reveal customization options such as different water colors and times of day. You can even customize the ambient noises. Give it a shot! Available now from the App Store.

I picked up Vegas Pool Sharks for only $1.99 from the App Store at this moment and it’s a fun game where…you guessed it! That’s right you shoot pool against various oddly modeled opponents (interestingly enough) but the game is a treat indeed. The three dimensional multi touch interface applied to pool makes playing a snap. Vegas Pool Sharks features intuitive controls and 3D camera controls and for the casual iPhone gamer there’s even a free version. Available now from the App Store from clickgamer.com.

Use the force with your iPhone! Phonesaber has been unbanned from the Apple iPhone App Store and has been re-released by the original developer The Mac Box in association with THQ and features legitimate Star Wars licensing. This free app is loads of fun if you’re a grade A geek like myself. In essence this app has been re-designed as an advertisement for The Force Unleashed, which is a fantastic gaming experience in it’s own right. You get 5 vivid lightsaber colors and bios of the main characters from The Force Unleashed. If you have Lightsaber Unleashed on your iPhone the force will be with you always.

You’re a modern day Jimi Hendrix, with your iPhone making sweet sweet melodies with PocketGuitar for iPhone. This App brings six groovy instruments aboard with customization features guaranteed to captivate your creativity. Try experimenting with the auto pluck feature enabled with 10 second delay and distortion enabled! Prepare to annoy the bloody hell out of your girlfriend! It’s a lot of fun for .99 cents.