iGuide volume 1: October

REMEMBER that conversation you had about 15 years ago, when you and a mate fantasised about the day when your handheld gaming device could make phone calls as well?

Or the time that you paused during a particularly intense round of Snake on the old Nokias and commented about how great it would be if mobile phone games were more advanced?

iPhone thumb

Well, as everybody on this planet knows, that age is upon us, and possibly the most prominent method of fusing those dreams together and basking in gaming/communication excellence is with an iPhone (or iPod Touch).

And, as everybody on this planet also knows, there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of games to be downloaded and played on said iPhone.

But how do you, the innocent little owner, sift through all the "meh" free games and find something truly worth your time? What about when you are faced with a fee of 59p, or 79p, or, dare we say it…£1.79?

Do you invest? Will they be worth it? Can you get a refund if they're pants? Sometimes the user reviews on the App Store don't give you the answers…whatever will you do?!

Well, fear not, iPhone user. Just like the Ghostbusters do with paranormal peskiness in Manhattan, this is where we can help.

Every month, our game reviewers download, play and, where the content doesn't make the grade, delete many of these games.

And, every month, we will list all the games that really do demand that you spend your lunch hour / train travel / toilet time playing.

Volume 1 of the iGuide starts now and, although the games here have been doing the rounds for a while, they are still pretty darn worth your time and, where applicable, money.

RAGDOLL BLASTER

Developer: Backflip Studios

Price: £1.19

Free lite version available: Yes

You must have been living under a rock if you haven't heard of Ragdoll Blaster until now. It took the App world by storm when it hit online shelves couple of months ago and has been a pretty high rater ever since - and it's easy to see why.

The premise of the game, on paper, is simple. A cannon fires blue ragdolls at whatever you point at. Move your finger further away from the cannon for extra power, let go, and kaboom! Out flies a pathetic little man. The goal: simply to touch an on-screen bullseye target with one of the ragdolls.

Yet in practise, Ragdoll Blaster throws up an extremely addictive, sometimes frustrating, sometimes mind-bogglingly difficult challenge. As the stages (104 of them) progress, the obstacles standing between your cannon and the target become increasingly complex and tough to overcome. You have to use pistons, springs, switches, pendulums, motors and all sorts of other stuff to reach that pesky target.

Some levels are simple enough - choose the right trajectory and power and your ragdoll will glide gracefully over a wall and straight into the target, job done. But that simplicity won't last long. On one level, you've got to fire multiple ragdolls at a pirate ship mast, causing it to topple over and knock a stack of cannonballs out of the way so you can get a clear shot at the target that was previously buried beneath them…tricky stuff, but punch-the-air-style satisfaction if you nail it.

Whatsmore, Ragdoll Blaster is a physics-based puzzle game - an up-and-coming sub-genre in the world of mobile gaming. Each ragdoll you fire is confined to realistic physics effects, meaning if you fire them at a wall they don't ricochet off like a pinball - they crumple, unfold and fall as a real ragdoll would, if you lobbed it at a real wall.

But who needs real ragdolls and real walls when you have Ragdoll Blaster in your pocket?! No one!

TOUCH CRICKET

Developer: On-Sea

Price: 59p

Free lite version available: Yes

This little gem was released towards the end of the Ashes series and, while cricket fever may have died off a little, Touch Cricket is still as addictive as it was on its first release. Players take control of a batsmen and are faced with the challenge of, you guessed it, hitting a cricket ball for as high a score as possible.

The iPhone is held horizontally, with your left thumb in the top left of the screen. This thumb controls the stance of the batsman - move it across, and the batsman leans down the wicket; pull it back and he stands up straight. Then, you place your right thumb in the bottom right corner. This controls your bat - pull it back, and the batsman will try and slog the ball for all his worth; move it only slightly, and he'll give the incoming ball a friendly little nudge.

As soon as both thumbs touch the playing surface, the ball starts coming at you. Bowling styles have three types - spin, medium and fast. They speak for themselves. Your scoring range is at the right hand side of the screen and goes from one run, to two, three, four and six. Combine the right stance with the right stroke and, with the right ball, you can pretty much play for however many runs you want.

But be warned! Behind you, above you and in the middle of the run-ranges ahead of you is the dreaded "grey W", meaning wicket. Hit the ball in there, and the chances are you're going to be caught. And, obviously, don't let the ball wallop your stumps either.

There are different game types, from the Ashes Test (pretty damn hard), to Match Play (the most fun) and Quick Play (a mixture of fun, annoying and impossible. Let's focus on Match Play - you pick two teams, choose either Twenty20 or a One Day International, press either Both Innings or Run Chase (recommended), and play. It's quick to load, simple to play, and highly addictive.

An imminent version update will give players the option of Career Mode, meaning you can take a batsman from village cricketer to KP-style legend, all from the comfort of wherever you start playing it.

Touch Cricket takes some getting used to, and there is the temptation to bin it off before you've got your thumbs and brain around the controls. But once you've cracked it, the world is your Boycott.

XPANDABALLS

Developer: Craig Caldwell

Price: 59p

Free lite version available: No

Granted, a game featuring both giant pandas and balls would be brilliant - but as far as we know, that's not been made yet. But Xpandaballs is just as brilliant! Instead of pandas and balls, it centres on, yep, expanding balls. Like some of the best iPhone games, Xpandaballs is simple. From the bottom of the screen, you fire out different coloured balls into the playing area. When the ball stops moving, it expands until it touches either another ball or the edge of the screen.

Each ball has a number and, once it has stopped, it's your job to bounce another ball into it that number of times. For example, a red ball flies out with the number 3 on it. Now, you've got to use more balls to hit the red one three times. When you've done that, the red one disappears and you've got a bit more of the playing area to fire into. But every ball you fire repeats the process. So, if you hit the red one with three green balls, each with the number 3 on them, then poor old red pops into oblivion, but you've now got three green balls to hit, three times each, and pretty soon the playing area is filling up.

Oh, one more thing - if a ball bounces back towards the bottom of the screen and touches a white line, you lose one of your three lives. So be careful!

Okay, maybe not as simple as it looks. And this is where Xpandaballs will really hook you - it is easy to get into and freakin' hard to get out of once you're there. The game also demands skill, precision and timing. When your playing area fills up, you have to really think about where to fire the next ball - do you go for broke and just hammer a green 'un out there, or bounce it off the walls to get it to nestle safely at the top of the screen, behind a hugely expanded blue one? There is something extremely satisfying about firing one ball into the small gap between the wall and another ball, and watching it ricochet wildly and destroy everything in its path.

Another clever feature of the game are the attributes of each ball. You have five colours - red, green, black, blue and gold. The red ones are pretty standard; the green ones are fast and zip around the screen more; the black ones are slow and sluggish, allowing you to be a bit more precise in your placing of them. The blue ones, although average in speed, destroy any ball they touch first time - handy when your screen is getting full. But it's a gold one you want. They're the fastest, they destroy anything first time, and they're immune to that pesky white line at the bottom of the screen. Fire a gold one out and just watch the mayhem as it bounces from one ball to the next, sending your score sky high.

Once your three lives are up, you can post your score online and compare with everybody else and, again, this is probably where Xpandaballs pulls you in even more. When you've had a particularly bountiful game and loaded it up on the scoreboard, it's agonising to see that someone has got one more point than you. And you'll find yourself playing again, and again, just to try and beat that score.

SEAMAN COUNT

Developer: Tootle Games

Price: 59p

Free lite version available: No

Seaman Count has only recently made its way onto the App Store but its simplicity should see it gobble up the rankings pretty quickly. Like Xpandaballs, it uses it basic gameplay to great effect. You play as a deep sea monster, surrounded by a growing population of seamen, each with a number penned on their iron lungs. All you've got to do is touch each seaman in the correct order, i.e. 1, then 2, then 3, and so on… Get it right, and you'll gobble up those seamen with glee. But wait - what's that on the right hand side of the screen? It's a fork! With every second that passes, the fork gets closer and closer until, when the time is up, you are skewered and turned into calimari. It's a tough life, being an horrific deep sea beast. Get the sequence wrong, i.e. touch 52, then 54, then 53, and the fork will lurch forward, bringing your sticky end that little bit closer.

The challenge, aside from trying to keep your eye on that fork as well as the seamen, comes as your score progresses. The 10s and 20s are pretty straight forward and you'll sail through them. But when you rocket into the 50s and beyond, the screen becomes so cluttered with sinking seamen that it becomes extremely hard to know where to press next. That's when the fork lurches forward and your doom creeps ever closer.

When you've been forked, it's game over and your score can be posted online (provided you set up a free account on gaming network Agon), where you can compare them with everybody else. Like Xpandaballs, this adds another level of addiction. Smashing your personal best will have you punching the air but, seeing that someone has edged you by a good 20 seamen will have you rushing back to the main menu and having another bash.

UNBLOCK ME

Developer: Kiragames

Price: 59p

Free lite version available: Yes

Okay, this game isn't as action packed or quirky as some of the others but it's just as worthy of your time. Anyone who has watched The Crystal Maze will now how easy it is to solve a sliding-blocks puzzle from the safety of your settee, but actually doing it is another matter, and that's the test here.

In Unblock Me, you have to shift wooden blocks from one spot to the next, with the express goal of budging a red-shaded block out of a hole at the side of the screen. Easy, right? Wrong. You can only move blocks horizontally and vertically, and only into a vacant space, meaning you can't just mash everything out the way and flick the red 'un off the screen.

The game demands that you sit and stare at the puzzle for minutes, or if you're on the loo, hours. You'll think you've cracked it and start maniacally shifting the blocks around, only to find yourself at a dead end with no positive moves available. It will take you to the deepest, darkest recesses of your subconscious as you try and crack the puzzle, knowing that the solution is in there somewhere. And boy, when you find it…

Have you ever wondered what George Lucas felt like when he thought up the idea that Darth Vader was actually Luke Skywalker's dad? How he must have leapt up into the air like a little Ewok at the climax of Return of the Jedi, or squealed girlishly like R2D2 when he's zapped by the Jawas? Well, that feeling pure, all-encompassing elation is what you will experience when you suddenly see the path.

Your jaw will drop with every shifted block; your eyes will widen in disbelief as the red block edges closer and closer to the side…and then you've done it! Success at last! Take that, red block and all your sand-coloured mates! Then, as soon as you've done that, it's onto the next puzzle. And the next. And the next, and so on, with the difficulty level ramping up as you progress from puzzle number one, right the way up to puzzle 2,400!

It's very difficult, extremely addictive and even more satisfying when you finally defeat one of the puzzles. Only Richard O'Brien and his harmonica could make Unblock Me any better.