The iPhone's introduction and success in Japan is ushering in a new era of mobile services
In the last ten years, Japan has led the world in mobile services. Beginning in 1999, NTT DoCoMo introduced a content service called i-Mode. They followed this in 2001 with a Java application service called i-appli. In addition, Japan was ahead of other nations in the development and introduction of digital money and TV streaming services.
Galaxy on Fire is another multi-platform port that excels on the iPhone. A 3D space shooter in the tradition of Elite and Wing Commander, Galaxy on Fire provides more than just a chance to step into the cockpit and blow away a few alien bogies. It offers a great way to scratch both your science fiction and trigger finger itch.
Chillingo has quickly distinguished itself as a leading publisher of innovative games for the iPhone. In fact, it would have been easy to populate this article exclusively with Chillingo titles. In this article I focus on one of their most popular and influential games.
Another title that is well-suited to the iPhone format is PopCap’s port of its popular word puzzle game. As with many of the best iPhone titles, gameplay is straightforward. You are presented with a screen full of letter tiles; your task is to make the best word you can from a series of contiguous tiles. The more sophisticated or obscure the word, the better your score.
Some of my favorite action games are scrolling shooters, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t include at least one in this lineup. As with the platform games, scrolling shooters have been somewhat ignored on the
iPhone. Like Ignite, iFighter does a decent job of overcoming the lack of physical control buttons and even provides the user with three different control schemes from which to choose.