Star Hogs is a great space-themed, turn-based strategy warfare game from IUGO Mobile Entertainment, based out of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Game

Star Hogs is a great turn-based strategy game, you control a fleet of ships who must face off with other ships who are of different colour. That’s right, I just pulled out the colour card. Anyhow, you purchase ships to add to your armada, and there are three different types according to how you wish to use the ships. There are Combat, Engineering, and Intelligence ships, all of which have different statistics. For example, Combat ships have the best thrust, Engineering ships can carry the most and have the best armour, and Intelligence ships have the highest amount of shields. In addition, the set up of the ships will be different, specifically the number of Arms, Hull, and Tech slots each ship has.

Star Hogs has several options of play: Campaign, Free Play, and Online. Campaign is a great way to learn game mechanics, see the different types of environments available and how gravity affects them all (“Holy crap it’s going AROUND the planet!”) and unlocking different types of weapons for outfitting on your ships. Free Play is great practice on up to three other AI-controlled teams with anywhere from 1-4 ships. Online should be the bread and butter of Star Hogs, because you can square off with players around the world and show them who has bigger missiles. I said “should” be the bread and butter because online has its problems: connectivity issues when trying to log in and the lack of actual players playing the game. It really needs more people online, so get this game!

A lot of people will be comparing Star Hogs to the Worms franchise, and that is a fair comparison. They are both turn-based strategy warfare games, they have many weapons in their arsenal, your team has limited health, weapons are affected by gravity, and you’re fighting on a flat environment that is destructible. Those are the handful of similarities that you will find between Worms and Star Hogs, but it begins to deviate from there. Star Hogs sometimes feels like a simpler version of Worms, but it is really a different experience altogether.

Graphics

Star Hogs has fantastic graphics, using 3D models set on a flat landscape that gives the game a really great sense of depth. The planets are beautifully rendered, and overall, the graphics in Star Hogs are some of the best 3D modeling I have seen for iPhone games. Unfortunately, it just isn’t as nice looking as it could be as a 3D model, but it still does a bang up job.

Sound

Star Hogs has a pretty rock-centric soundtrack, which fits in perfectly with each round starting off with “Rock and Load!” There really isn’t much to say about the sound of Star Hogs, it is decent and it gets the job done, and you always have the option of playing your iPod instead of the in-game sound.

Additional Comments

I really wish more people played online, because then it would be a better experience. For now, a good number of people play at any given time, but either they suck real bad or they outright destroy you, some people in the mid-range would be nice!

Conclusion

Star Hogs is a quality game made for the iPhone by a fantastic independent developer based in Vancouver. (Gotta support fellow Canadians!) You will enjoy blasting the crap out of computers and other players alike, definitely a must have game for the iPhone!

Score

MustTap Score: Silver Tap

Looks great and gives out some quality stuff!

Bottom Line
Star Hogs is a wonderful turn-based strategy warfare game, outfit your ships with the best weapons and square off with players around the world. Definitely a must have game for the iPhone.

Screenshots

Aqua Globs is a very simple strategic game involving globs of orange and blue that absolutely hate each other, and it is up to you to smush their hate away. Aqua Globs comes from the studios of Qwiboo.

The Game

Aqua Globs is devilishly simple, there are three globs that exist: orange, blue, and green. The orange and blue globs hate the everlasting gobstoppers out of each other and will cause you to lose lives should they touch. Lives are precious! You only have three, so be careful of them. The green globs, on the other hand, are the hippies of the wonderful world of globs. They are the lovers and peacemakers, and are able to merge with either orange or blue globs. The aim of Aqua Globs is to combine the same colours together, and then combine them again to make them disappear. The circular globs merge into square globs, and square globs disappear into thin air when combined. Repeat ad nauseum, until your lives have been depleted.

To control the aqua globs, you merely have to tap on the one you wish to steer, and drag it toward where you want it to go. By dragging into another glob of the same colour or a green glob, you lock them into the same path and they will gravitate towards each other like long lost lovers running toward each other in slow motion on a beach. Aqua Globs doesn’t have much depth behind it, other than try to clear out the existing globs on the screen without losing all of your lives, not much else to it.

Graphics

The art of Aqua Globs is one of the stronger points of the game because each of the globs has their own unique sprites and not just different colours of the same sprite. The animations are very smooth, and all of the artwork is cute.

Sound

Aqua Globs has a very smooth and jazzy soundtrack that puts you into a really relaxed mood, which is probably for the best when playing this game because it gets pretty hectic when there are a lot of globs swimming all over the screen. The sound effects are not a huge factor in the game, but they definitely add that slight oomph to your experience.

Additional Comments

Aqua Globs has a great trophy feature that are pretty much achievements that you can attain while playing. The hardcore gamers will appreciate this feature, as well as the worldwide statistics that are tracked for you. Unfortunately, to be ranked, you will have to register, which is thankfully only your name and e-mail.

Also, there is a great feature to increase your speed of play, which ratchets up the challenge significantly. So if you feel like this is way too easy, just turn up the speed and you should be good to go.

Conclusion

Aqua Globs is a great strategy game that will keep you on your toes, the concept is simple and will have you coming back for more. It needs a little bit more depth, but the achievements and stats will keep the hardcore busy. Check it out!

Score

MustTap Score: Iron Tap

It's technically solid, but what comes out is pretty plain.

Bottom Line
Aqua Globs is a very simple and addictive game that has you mashing together globs that hate each other. Achievements and statistics will keep the hardcore gamers coming back, so definitely check it out.

Screenshots

iZilch is a dice game made by the good folk over at Crystal Springs Software, based on the actual dice game called Zilch.

The Game

iZilch appears to be a simple game, you have six dice on the screen, you roll them, and that’s that. Right? No, absolutely not. The game of Zilch is a game of skill and luck, knowing when to stay and knowing when to roll the dice again. Essentially, you are facing off with your own iPhone in a race to get to 3,000 points. You get points by moving dice into your scoring area, and I have attached the possible combinations that you can use for points as the accompanying screenshot for this paragraph. If you don’t roll any combinations at all, you get a Zilch, also known as no points for the round.

As long as you can get something into the scoring area for that one roll, you can keep going until all of your dice are used up. The risk of course, is rolling a Zilch, which would suck in the case of a close game. Also, if you reach 3,000 points before the iPhone does, the iPhone gets one final chance to catch up to you. This is one of the things that kind of annoyed me, because it seems like as soon as I hit 3,000 points, the computer would be able to pull off a 1,500+ point move for their last move and utterly wreck me. Perhaps it was just those particular games, but I almost threw my iPhone against a wall the third time that happened.

Graphics

iZilch doesn’t have much in terms of the graphics department, and why should it? It is a dice game, and the dice look like dice. For a game like this, the graphics are average but everything is laid out in a very aesthetically pleasing way, which is more important than flashy graphics.

Sound

There is no soundtrack in iZilch, but the sound effects are all very rich and satisfying. The sound of the dice being shaken sounds like dice actually being shaken, and the sound of rolling a Zilch will forever haunt my nightmares. After a while though, the dice shaking sounds gets on your nerves, but thankfully you can turn it off.

Additional Comments

One of the features that iZilch could really benefit from was having a multiplayer mode, because there is nothing more I would enjoy than laying the smack down on people who have no clue how to play iZilch. Also, having the option to have the winner start first would be nice, got rather sick of the iPhone rubber banding its way to victory.

Conclusion

iZilch is a nifty little dice game based on a real dice game appropriately named Zilch, which has a slight learning curve. Once you do learn how to play the game, you’ll be getting destroyed by the iPhone left and right, but at least you’ll be having fun on the go! iZilch is quick and fun to play, and the price is definitely right.

Score

MustTap Score: Iron Tap

It's technically solid, but what comes out is pretty plain.

Bottom Line
iZilch is one of those really small games that is pretty complicated takes a while to get used to. Once you do, it’s a very challenging and strategic dice game that will make you curse at your beloved iPhone, but could definitely use a multiplayer mode.

Screenshots

The Battle of Pirate Bay is a strategy game produced by the Muteki Corporation, the same guys behind Topple 2.

The Game

The Battle of Pirate Bay has a really simple concept: pirates are attacking your town and it is up to you to lay some smack down using your three defensive ships. Your three defensive ships are of different sizes and speeds, with the smallest obviously being the fastest but least powerful in the firepower department, and the largest being the slowest but most powerful and greatest range. The ships also have a limited amount of ammo on board, capacity varying from ship to ship, with the medium ship having the greatest amount of ammo, and the large ship having the least. To replenish ammo, aid ships will appear from time to time to give you that ammo that you so dearly need, in addition, if the aid ships manage to land at your town, your town’s health will replenish as well.

There are two different difficulties for The Battle of Pirate Bay, Landlubber and Seaworthy. The only difference I could really notice was that the ammo capacity of the ships decreased when you went into Seaworthy mode, causing you to be very strategic with which ships you use to fire at incoming pirate ships. I also thought that the number of pirate ships that were attacked had increased, but I really had a hard time differentiating, since I was just sinking them all effortlessly.

Pirate ships also come in three different flavours: small, medium, and large. Much like your own ships, their speed and durability varies with their size. For example, the large ship is the slowest, but will require three shots from your small ship to be sunk, but only one from your large ship. To shoot at these ships, all you have to do is draw a path for your ship to intercept the pirate ship and when they come into range (The circle of red dots around them, which is also used as ammo indicators) they will automatically fire at the pirate ship. Occasionally, pirate ships will jettison a power-up upon their destruction which also comes in three flavours: speed up your ship, slow down your ship, and allow your town to rapidly fire its cannons. Speaking of which, as a last line of defense should your ships be built with planks of fail, your town will be able to fire its emergency cannons and sink any ship with one shot. After taking a shot, it will take some time to recover, so you better not have let any more than one ship slip through.

Scoring is easy enough, kill the ships and it adds to your score. Kills are counted as well, and all of this information can be transmitted to the online leaderboards, which I thought was a nice touch. After several rounds, the game became somewhat tedious and boring, because it is essentially the same thing over and over again, no curve balls, no different objectives, just wreck some pirates. As long as this doesn’t bother you, you should be having a grand old time.

Graphics

The graphics for the game are decent, you can differentiate between ships easily, but there isn’t much detail necessary to do that. There is some nice detailing on the ships (The textures of the deck come to mind) as well as the roofs of the town, but overall nothing spectacular.

Sound

The Battle for Pirate Bay has a fitting soundtrack, with white noise like ocean waves breaking and the sound of sea gulls squawking. The sound effects are pretty good, nothing more thrilling than the thunderous explosions of cannon fire and the gurgling of ships sinking.

Additional Comments

Who doesn’t love pirates? But I wish there were more power-ups other than speed and rapid fire. I’m not entirely sure why slow down was included, because if I wanted to slow down I would either use the medium or large ship to actively defend. Just throwing that out there.

Conclusion

The Battle of Pirate Bay is a fun and simple game, but that is pretty much it. There is not much depth and personally, it got old quick. I definitely enjoyed playing it, but I don’t think I will attempt any runs at the leaderboard. Give it a try before you buy it, but pirate fans should enjoy.

Score

MustTap Score: Iron Tap

It's technically solid, but what comes out is pretty plain.

Bottom Line
A fun game that has you fighting off pirates, which is in of itself a reason to get the game, but there isn’t much depth beyond fighting off pirates, give it a try before you buy.

Screenshots

Defender Chronicles is a game from Gimka and Menara Games, published by Chillingo. It was one of those titles I had picked up on a whim based on a random suggestion (and a weekend sale!) that I just fell in love with. I apologize in advance for any sort of gushing that I do during this review.

The Game

Defender Chronicles puts a completely different spin on tower defense games: you build guilds instead of towers, you are viewing from the side instead of a top-down view, and you have a hero who can gain experience and levels and be outfitted with gear. Guilds are essentially buildings that recruit units who stand outside and beat the crap out of anything that walks in front of it, which makes me wonder if these are actually just bars.

Guilds come in four distinct flavours, Warrior guilds, Archery guilds, Mage guilds, and Thieves guilds. Warriors are your run-of-the-mill action heroes, they are suited up in full plate armour and they carry a big stick, a big, sharp stick. Archers are weaker in attack compared to Warriors, but they attack three times as fast, so they are much better suited for attacking faster but weaker creatures, as well as flying creatures which neither Warriors, Thieves, or your hero can attack. Mages have a stronger ranged attack in comparison to Archers but at a reduced rate, but they also prioritize their attacks for the stronger enemies, which is perfect when paired up with Archers, who will attack the weaker enemies. Last but not least, Thieves are essentially mini-Warriors (Literally, they’re Hobbits.) who will block and slow down enemies, and net you an extra gold for every kill they make. In addition, they will poison whoever they slash, but they will not attack anything that they deem strong, wusses. In addition, Warriors can be upgraded to Beserkers and Archers can be upgraded to Rangers, both are much stronger versions of their predecessors.

You’re going to need all four of these guild types in Defender Chronicles, because the enemies are vast in number, both variety and volume. You will be attacked by legions of orcs and gnolls, and little creatures whom I have never even seen before, and it is your job to stop them all. Should you fail, your last line of defense is you, your valiant hero standing at the gates of the city, who can level up and have his stats increased, and have a weapon and armour fitted onto him. Of course, if the creature is quite a bit stronger than usual creatures, like a boss, your hero will get flattened like a bug, so try to make sure nothing reaches him but outliers and stragglers.

There are six levels which all have different environments, enemy variants, and different strategies. In addition, there is a shop to buy items, a library to buy research, and an elf hut to also buy research. The game itself is still being updated with new maps, buildings, items, and upgrades while the storyline progresses, so you really do get a good bang for your buck.

Graphics

The graphics themselves may not seem all that impressive initially, but once you take a closer look, you can really see all of the detail behind the sprites, levels, and other art. You can see the little serrations in the sword of the orcs, the straps of leather across their armour, the lighting of the environments, and the detail in all of the art in the game. Graphics don’t normally impress me, but Defender Chronicles has a really well polished look that gives the game a complete feeling and really adds to the fantasy aspects of the game.

Sound

Defender Chronicles has a fantastic soundtrack that gives the game that sort of “epic” feeling that you really need when dealing with hordes of evil minions. The sound effects are distinct, they are clear, and they actually sound like what they are supposed to sound like. A great addition to the game was the ability to play the songs you have in your iPod, but you can only select songs, and you have no real control over what plays. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t allow for you to have your iPod playing in the background either.

Defender Chronicles was also the first game I have ever played on the iPhone with full voice acting for the stories. The gentleman who acts as your advisor will speak to you before every battle, and all of your units will shout out battle cries. It’s a very nice touch, that you can thankfully turn off should you ever get annoyed of it. The ability to turn it off is a fantastic option because the voice acting was actually kind of cringe-inducing at times, which may be one of the few drawbacks of this game.

Additional Comments

The game has plenty of extras to speak of. The Custom Game feature adds to the replayability of the game, where you can play four extra modes: Freestyle (Random), Extended, Classic, Classic Extended. Each of the four modes is unique in its own way and will give you another reason to play through the levels again. In addition, you can go ahead and send an e-mail full of smack talk to a friend or colleague challenging them to an artifact hunt in the game. Personally, I’ve gone ahead and challenged everyone I know without an iPhone or iPod Touch, because I know I’d win that match.

Conclusion

Defender Chronicles is a game that is huge in scope and depth, which gives tower defense a unique twist that will keep your eyes glued to that tiny screen for hours upon hours. You’d better buy this game, or you’re going to miss out.

Score

MustTap Score: Golden Tap

The best of the best; everything about this is perfect.

Bottom Line
A frighteningly addictive game that will have you missing meals and skipping appointments to play, a creative twist on tower defense that is a definite must have for any iPhone.

Screenshots

Harbor Master is the latest entry from Imangi Studios, a fast paced game where you guide cargo boats into docks and guide them back out. It is a very simple game that ratchets up the difficulty level quite quickly, and it’s very easy to lose track of time while playing. An oddly dangerous combination for an iPhone game.

The Game

Harbor Master is a devilishly simple game: guide the boats into the docks with your finger, and guide them back out as soon as they have completed unloading their cargo. There are four different docks at your disposal: Fishing Bay, Cyclone Island, Sturgeon Creek, and Cannon Bay. Each dock has its own distinct flavour and personality, and you have to unlock the last three by unloading specific numbers of cargo.

Fishing Bay is as simple as you can get, two docks, and boats are coming left, right, and centre. I think of Fishing Bay as the tutorial level, where you have to get used to the controls and the mechanics of the game, and this dock is perfect for that.

Cyclone Island is when the docks begin to get interesting. Periodically, cyclones will appear around the island and any boats caught in its path will be thrown askew from its original path and may cause some mayhem on your end.

Sturgeon Creek is my favourite level, despite being awful at it, because it introduces quite a novel idea: there are four docks, but they are colour coded. The left-hand side docks are for purple cargo, and the right-hand side docks are for orange cargo. Boats will come in from wherever and it is up to you to ensure that the correctly coloured cargo gets to their respective docks. Things heat up quickly as the frequency of boats entering the screen quickly increases and you will find yourself very flustered in a short amount of time. Frankly, I think this level is the best part of Harbor Master, and I wish I were better at it.

Cannon Bay is a new addition with the latest update, and it gives you three very spaced out docks with a cannon at the bottom of the screen. Occasionally, a pirate ship enters your screen and you have to quickly show them scurvy dogs who is boss. Thankfully, your cannon balls magically phase through your own incoming cargo ships, and seem to find a home in the hulls of the pirate ships, so you don’t have to worry about sinking your own kind. Of course, if they did hit your own ships, I’m pretty sure I’d have sunk a lot of my precious cargo!

The fact that I could write at least a short paragraph for each level shows you that the game itself has more depth than it appears to. That depth is the main reason I keep coming back to play Harbor Master: it’s simple, easy to play, and addictive.

Graphics

The art for Harbor Master is nothing spectacular, but it gets the job done. The sprites are clean and clear and you can easily distinguish the type of ship coming in to dock. There are the single cargo ships, double cargo ships, and the big four cargo freighters that are slower than The Sims 3 loading on an iPhone 3G. (Rimshot!) In addition, the pirate ships which were recently added stay true to the whole black ship ideology, and I think they look fantastic. The levels themselves have quite a bit of detail like the shallow water being a lighter shade of blue, little paths running through the grass, rocks on the coast, and little shrubbery made into patterns on the ground. Overall, the art for the game fits it perfectly.

Sound

The soundtrack for the game is very simple and for some reason really gives it a real nautical feel. I hadn’t noticed it at first because I was too busy trying to get my ships not to hit each other, but the musical score for Harbor Master really set the tone right for the game. In addition, there are plenty of great sound effects in the game such as a dinging noise when a boat is finished unloading, the horn of a boat when they come a little too close to each other (I hear this one way too often.) and the great sound of a cannon firing. (And eventually the sound of a ship sinking!)

Additional Comments

Harbor Master includes a great leaderboard and statistics tracker that gives you best scores for each level, best average score, and many other stats that make you feel very proud of yourself. From what I can see on Twitter from @kshepherd, Twitter integration will be included in the next big update, which means another outlet for me to boast about my meager scores on Harbor Master, awesome!

Conclusion

Harbor Master is one of those games that you have to have on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It’s easy to pick up and play, real simple to learn, and it can get challenging when it comes down to it. For the price of $0.99, you honestly just can’t go wrong with purchasing this great game from Imangi Studios, you will be hooked!

Score

MustTap Score: Golden Tap

The best of the best; everything about this is perfect.

Bottom Line
A definite must-have for the iPhone and iPod Touch, quick and simple gameplay with the challenging task of managing an ever-increasing number of boats.

Screenshots