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Little Inferno Gleefully Ignites the Deep Dark Pyro Within February 04, 2013 
From what I've seen of humanity, there's a little pyro locked inside most of us. Maybe it's a universal longing to chase away the darkness with warmth and light, or maybe it's just a genetic quirk coded into our DNA from the days of the Ice Age when cooking up a wooly mammoth meant survival. Or maybe we just really like to see things burn.
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The Room Holds One Maddeningly Fun Puzzle After Another January 21, 2013 
Sometimes thousands of user reviewers really get it right: The Room has nearly 100,000 reviews in the App Store with an average ranking of 5 out of 5 stars, which is a feat that grabbed my attention. Hence, I promptly downloaded The Room. But what is The Room? It's a moody, atmospheric mystery puzzle game set inside of a room, set inside of a safe, set inside of a pointy box inside the safe, and so on and so forth.
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Hundreds Uses Basic Physics to Grow Puzzling Circles of Delight January 07, 2013 
It's not so often that I notice a newly released game or app rocket to a high-profile position in the iTunes App Store, but Hundreds, a puzzle game, seemingly debuted in the App Store as an Editor's Choice for the iPad version. Supposedly, the game is designed for people ages 2 to 222, so I figured it ought to work for a guy whose fingers are slow and mind only incrementally faster.
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Fans Willing to Pony Up for M&M's Tasty Advergame December 17, 2012 
Those delectable M&M's characters seen in commercials are making their way to the iPhone. An advergame app titled "M&M's Brand Chocolate Factory" recently became available on iTunes for $0.99. While many M&M's commercials involve the six characters in social situations trying to avoid being eaten, the new game has the group -- and all M&M's -- in peril of being dropped into hot milk chocolate.
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Xbox SmartGlass: Not Quite the One, But Worth a Date or Two November 26, 2012 
I've been watching Microsoft's Xbox 360 transformation from online gaming console to living room media center for years, so when Microsoft's Xbox SmartGlass app showed up earlier this month, I had to give it a whirl. My personal Xbox 360 use is fairly limited to playing a few games here and there as well as assisting small children as they attempt to play games.
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Crazy Taxi Is a Wild Pedestrian-Terrorizing Jaunt October 23, 2012 
Back around the turn of the millennium, Sega had itself a bona fide hit in Crazy Taxi, a driving game that has players picking up fares around a city that looks a lot like San Francisco and getting to their destinations in as little time as possible. What began as an arcade game was ported to the Sega Dreamcast and then to various other platforms, most recently iOS.
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Zynga Aims to Keep 'Em Down on the Farm September 07, 2012 
Zynga rolled out "FarmVille 2" on Facebook this week -- but if fans were expecting an enhanced version of the same familiar game, they were in for a surprise. The two versions have little in common. For starters, "FarmVille 2" is the first Zynga game to be built entirely in 3D. The theme is also different: In "FarmVille 2," players journey to the countryside to reinvigorate their old family farm.
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'Bastion' Blends Monster-Smashing Fun With Great Color Commentary September 04, 2012 
The action role-playing game "Bastion" has been around on the Xbox 360, PC, Mac and a few other places for a while now, but I failed to notice or care until I stumbled upon it in the App Store on my iPad 2. It has fighting action, so that's good. I'm a sucker for hammers, pistols and bows. It has a lush and vivid landscape. Fantastic. And yet none of this sparked me to download and buy.
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'TheEndApp': When the World Ends, the Fun Starts July 23, 2012 
I'm definitely not an iOS gamer, but I do look for a good diversion every now and then. My latest: "TheEndApp." The premise: The world as we know it comes to an end and you've got to run around an urban wasteland collecting duct tape as you go. Why? Presumably duct tape can fix anything.
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Beautifully Dark Design Makes Up for 'Crow's' Gameplay Shortcomings May 21, 2012 
Every two or three months, an iOS game manages to snag more than a brief glance and actually inspires me to buy and download it. "Crow" is one of those games. The icon for the game implies a lot -- it's got a wicked darkness to it, is slickly designed, and it evokes the idea that there's trouble somewhere.
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'Soulcaliber': A Beautiful Mashy-Slashy Mess April 24, 2012 
Action games can be tricky to pull off on iOS. Everything's done through a touchscreen, so you don't have as much tactile feedback -- there are no buttons under your fingertips to let you feel exactly where you need to touch at precisely the right moment, while your eyes are busy with the screen.
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'Arkham City Lockdown': The Bat Is Broken April 10, 2012 
Typically when I review an iOS or Mac application, I'll give it a rating somewhere between one and five stars. Star ratings tell you nothing about the concept behind the app, how well it's executed, or how practical it is. They're just shorthand for "good," "meh" and "digital sewage."
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'Angry Birds Space HD' Soars Into Orbit March 27, 2012 
The "Angry Birds" franchise is one of the App Store's biggest success stories. When it debuted almost two and a half years ago, its developers hit on a potent formula for casual gaming profits. Make it colorful, make it work nicely with a touchscreen, and make it really easy to figure out.
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'Infinity Blade II' Carves Out a Plot This Time Around December 13, 2011 
I never beat the original "Infinity Blade." I liked the game, thought it was worth the money, spent many a joyful moment slashing away at a never-ending parade of uglies. But come on, that game was kind of hard. You're trying to kill a God King, and that's not an easy thing to do, even for a thirtieth-generation sword-swinger.
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'Blood & Glory' Delivers the Goods but Might Bleed Your Wallet Dry December 12, 2011 
When I stumbled across the iPhone and iPad game "Blood & Glory," I instantly got the feeling that it was like "Infinity Blade," the popular fantasy slasher fighting game. That alone wasn't enough to pique my interest, but when I saw that it was free, sported lush graphics, and had an eye-popping 43,000 customer ratings with a five-star average, I had to download the 111 MB beast and take a look for myself.
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Microsoft Opens iOS Window for Xbox Live Fans December 09, 2011 
Xbox gamers can access their Xbox Live accounts from their iPhones and iPads now that Microsoft has launched the My Xbox Live app for iOS. Access to Xbox Live has been available on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform since it launched more than a year ago, but this is the first time Microsoft is offering the app on a competing system, although third-party apps have allowed at least partial capability before.
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Does Any App Play Straight Poker Anymore? November 28, 2011 
When Apple pulled its popular "Texas Hold'em" game from the App Store, I was moderately surprised, but then again, it's not like Apple was actively developing the game over the years. And besides, after racking up $100 million or so against the Artificial Intelligence engine, it's been a long time since I've actively played it.
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'Little Wings' Soars by Not Trying Too Hard March 08, 2011 
Some iPhone games try to emulate the kind of layout you'd see on an actual video game controller -- a directional pad on the left and a set of A/B/C buttons on the right. That's a familiar configuration, it allows for a lot of options, and the developer can let the player customize just how everything's laid out.
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'Risk' Lets You Conquer the World on Your iPad January 10, 2011 
Board gamers with a thirst for world conquest have long been attracted to "Risk." Its simple mechanics make it easy to learn, and the thrill of annexing nations through simulated force of arms appeals to a bellicose streak in all but the most devoted pacifists. Hasbro and Electronic Arts have done an excellent job making the tablet version as exciting as its board analog.
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'Infinity Blade': Gorgeous, Epic and Surprisingly Addictive January 05, 2011
Currently among the highest-grossing apps in the Apple App Store, the sword-slashing fight game "Infinity Blade" is one of the must-have games of the year. Like "Angry Birds," it's surprisingly addictive. I'm far from a hard-core gamer, but I can recognize a masterpiece when I see one.
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