Three Top Games for the iPhone and iPod Touch

The iPhone/iPod touch is becoming a very, very popular gaming platform for casual gamers. Its main benefits are that games are cheap, it is always at hand and many games can be played, well, casually.

Nintendo revolutionised gaming, introducing it to a whole new market segment that had largely been ignored until then, with Microsoft and Sony pandering to hard core gamers. When the third gen. consoles came out, only one could be truly called third gen., that is, the Wii. It was the only one to take gaming to a new level. The Xbox and PlayStation simply upped the graphics and grunt. Boring. With its truly third gen advancements, the Wii boomed and it became the platform of choice for casual gamers.

Apple performed similarly with the iPhone. It doesn't have better graphics, grunt or games with depth, but, like the Wii, it does present new (and appealing) ways to play and targets a broad audience. I've read stories of kids selling their DSes and PSPs to buy iPod touches. A revolution is afoot.

One of the real marvels of the iPhone/iPod touch has been the unique ideas game developers have brought to the platform, such as Flight Control and Trism.

Generally, I don't spend a lot of time playing games on my iPhone, but these three have done their best to change that, and have caused a few late nights.

Solebon
Solebon is a comprehensive pack of 40 solitaire card games. Klondike Deal 1 is my favourite.  I've tried a few of the other solitaires in Solebon, but I keep going back to KD1. In it I can now win about 88% of the time, up from 75% when I first started. That's important, because the others I've tried I hardly win at all as the luck of the draw plays a much bigger part. I've played at least 300 hands and find I actually go to sleep more easily if I've played a hand or two. It must help slow down my over-stressed brain. Most hands last 3 or 4 minutes, which suits casual gaming perfectly. And if I tire of KD1, there's 39 others to choose from. (Lite version available)

Civilization Revolution
The greatest game of all time has come to the iPhone. It doesn't have the breadth or depth of the desktop version, but still has its heart and soul. And like any good game, once you start you can't stop. (Lite version available)

Draw Race
I never got into FlightControl. Clever idea but didn't hook me. Draw Race on the other hand...The weekend I got it I played it for about 4 or 5 hours, if not more, and a lot of that with the kids. It builds on Flight Control's idea of drawing a path for an object—in this case a racing car—to follow. Whereas Flight Control is simply a path to follow, in Draw Race the speed at which you draw the path affects the speed and handling of your car. In case you've never played, you draw the path and then sit back and watch you car race around the track, following the path you drew—losing control on corners if you went too fast. You can race against up to two other human players (but not via bluetotth or WiFi), a computer player, an online human player or a ghost of your best time (provided you've first beaten the computed car). It's surprising how exciting it gets watching your little car zooming around the track, especially in a close race. It's one shortcoming is a need for more tracks. It doesn't take long to beat most of the 20 supplied tracks.

Some people would probably have Flight Control, Doodle Jump, Pocket God and Fieldrunners in their top three, but those aren't games that have been able to hold my attention.

And that leads us to you, what are your favorite iPhone/iPod touch games?