iPhone Games Round-up: Part 2 feature

Super Monkey BallThis is proof that what works on a console doesn't necessarily translate well to a handheld device. After a lengthy and boring tutorial, you're thrust into the main game and are left reeling at the unintuitive nature of the tilt controls. Balancing is extremely difficult with only a slight tilt needed to send your monkey off into the abyss.As one of the first games on the iPhone, developers were still getting to grips with the architecture, so there is an understandable excuse for the basic graphics on display. 3D environments look decent enough, only let down by the 2D, badly-animated, monkey that looks like it was dragged straight from a SNES game. And at the price of 3.49, it's best left there.1/5Siberian StrikeThe first top-down shooter we've tried on the iPhone and it's a genre that might seem difficult to crack. Controlling your fighter plane is done by touching the screen and just dragging it around. The problem with this is that obviously your hand is going to be obscuring a large part of the screen - not exactly what you want when you have to battle against an ungodly amount of Russian enemies.It does have a nice visual style to it; it's a very cartoon styled take on war with everyone being basic stereotypes, even coming with your token drunk Russian. The Russian army even throws bottles of vodka at you, with one hit making you drunk and your plane uncontrollable. There's plenty of power ups to collect and it's definitely a great pick-up-and-play game. It definitely won't be the finest example of the genre (we hope), but it's hard to moan about little things when, at the time of writing, it costs a measly 59p.3/5FieldrunnersOur first foray into the world of Turret Defence. It's a simple concept: enemies come from one or more areas and you have to stop them from reaching the goal by constructing a number of turrets. As an introduction to the genre, Fieldrunners is incredibly simple. There isn't much to get to grips with. You have a few different styles of turret, each upgradeable, and you get more money to spend on turrets as you defeat each wave.A few problems. First it's almost too simple, with a lack of equipment and strategy. The areas are pretty much just squares with a different backdrop and music is almost non-existent apart from the title screen. However, if it's a genre you're interested in exploring, there are far worse, though we'd hazard a guess there're far better examples too. Currently it's at a decent price, though (1.79).3/5RolandoRolando is one of the bigger iPhone games released. Looking similar to the PSP game Locoroco, the idea is to use the tilt mechanic to gather up the other Rolandos in the level and then make your way to the level's exit. To do this you can actually control each one by drawing a box around them, or if you choose you can control multiple Rolandos at a time. The challenge comes from trying to navigate this beautiful looking world. You can swipe up on a Rolando to make them jump, which is required to make your way through the level. Blocks need pushing, switches need turning, and doing so without your little friends falling onto a spike trap can be quite frustrating.Controlling the Rolandos can be a little hit and miss; it's fine when controlling one at a time, but when you require some teamwork from them it can become quite infuriating and less than precise. It is, however, one of the most complete packages on the iPhone, and even now the developer is still adding new levels completely free of charge (something console developers should take note of). So it looks pretty, has wonderfully charming music, is full of challenge and comes out at a reasonable 3.49. All it needs is a few controls tweaking and this would be one of the best games on the iPhone.4/5Real RacingIn the last edition of this feature, we called Resident Evil: Degeneration a huge technical achievement. Well, there's another game that can have that title. Real Racing is basically Forza for the iPhone audience. Jam-packed with content (as you'd expect for 5.99), it comes complete with a career mode, single races and multiplayer.The cleverness comes from the controls. Tilting is how you steer and, in order to brake, you just press the screen. 'How do you accelerate', we hear you say? You dont; your car does it automatically. It's so simple, yet so clever, making use of the iPhone limitations quite brilliantly. Better yet, you have a brake assist. Turning this all the way up means, when approaching a corner, your car will brake automatically, though not always perfectly. Turning it down will mean you have full control.One of the best-looking games you can find on iPhone, its going to be difficult for any other, serious, racing game to eclipse this. It even has an in-car view, which even Forza never had. Buy it now.5/5