• Published:September 5th, 2009
• Comments:No Comments
• Section:Games, Pick of the Week, Simulation

The following might be less of a “pick of the week” and more of a “pick of the three-day weekend,” but here it goes. My pick of the week is EA’s SimCity ($2.99, iTunes, AppShopper).  SimCity is a game that really needs no introduction.  If you’ve been living under a rock or you’re really new to gaming or something, SimCity is basically described by its name–it’s a simulation of a city.  You’re the mayor of what starts as an empty plot of land,  equipped with a budget and some tools.  You have to successfully zone your land, manage utilities, deal with budget constraints, and also deal with the occasional earthquake, UFO attack, or what have you, and hopefully build and manage a successful and thriving city.  My social skills were definitely stunted as a child due to the many, many hours I put into SimCity 2000 on my family’s old Mac.

As a quick rundown, the SimCity for iPhone is a slightly-streamlined version of SimCity 3000.  While it is stripped down, to this SimCity veteran, it doesn’t really feel neutered or anything at all.  Let’s face it, you’re playing on a relatively tiny phone, and thus some of the more minute details you’d probably rather not have to manage.  You still have a myriad of things to take care of–zoning, water, electric, roads, budgets, pollution, garbage, mass transit, et cetera.  EA has done a great job of porting the controls to a touch-screen interface.  Some of the settings will seem to be a bit buried in menus, but they did the best they could with the small screen real estate, coupled with the fact that you are having to use the touch interface to control everything.  For the most part, aside from when you need to consult advisors or play with the finer parts of your budget, it’s all accessible from the main screen.

When SimCity for iPhone first came out, it was mired by reviews of it being buggy and crashing all the time.  Some people thought it was maybe even a bit too ambitious for the platform.   That may have been true when the first version dropped late last year, but I can tell you from this writer’s experience, on an iPhone 3G I’ve had absolutely zero slowdowns, glitches, bugs, or any crashing.  Great performance.

SimCity is a great game, but what makes it my pick of the week is the fact that it’s currently on sale for the Labor Day weekend.  True, its normal price point of $4.99, which it has had since May, isn’t exactly a bank breaker, and is certainly a fraction of what you’d pay for a “full” version of SimCity.  But at its current price of $2.99, it really does seem like a steal.  If you’re into SimCity or simulations at all, and you’ve got three bucks to spare, I definitely recommend this one.  Pick it up before the sale is over!

• Published:September 1st, 2009
• Comments:1 Comment
• Section:Card, Games, Pick of the Week

Ok I’ll start off not with a review, but with my weekly pick.  We here at Appalon will try to keep up a weekly pick where we choose some sort of app that is worth a look.  It could be new, old, a game, or some sort other functional thing like a flashcard program or something.  On with the pick!

Right of Way (App Shopper) is a mobile port of a classic card game.  I’m not sure how many people out there are familiar with the French card game Mille Bornes, but this is what Right of Way is based on.  I personally spent a lot of time with Mille Bornes when I was younger, and have many fond memories of getting angry at my hand, getting angry at my partner in the game, getting angry at my draw, and getting pissed off when I play an entire hand without getting the almighty “Go” card.

I guess before I go into more detail about Right of Way I should spend a little bit of time talking about what Mille Bornes is.  Mille Bornes is a pretty simple card game where you and another person (team play is possible with the card game, but sadly Right of Way is only a 1 on 1 affair) are playing against each other in a race to the finish.  I don’t want to have to write up an explanation of the rules here because it will be long and boring.  If you are unfamiliar with how to play Mille Bornes please click here.  Needless to say the game seems very simple in theory, but it is very hard to execute properly.  This game is strangely addictive and hugely frustrating.  I can remember times where I was practically foaming at the mouth because I had a flat tire and the jerk I’m playing against keeps throwing away spare tires and laughing as he zooms to the finish.

Anyways Right of Way is a great app.  It’s one of the first things I purchased on the app store, and it’s one of my few “go to” apps.  It’s great for a quick 5 minute session while waiting for my next class, but can easily be played for an hour or two while you’re sitting on the bus/subway.  Sadly there is no ‘Lite’ version of Right of Way on the app store right now, and the $2.99 price tag can scare away a lot of the crowd who think if an app is over $0.99 it is crazily overpriced.  But for those of you that love card games, want a game that has unlimited re-playability, or played Mille Bornes as a kid and want to relive old memories of nearly getting in fist fights because some jerk just played the 9th stop on you, go check out Right of Way!

Please keep an eye out for my upcoming review of Right of Way.  I’ll spend some time talking about the app and the features it has.