iPhone Roundup – 01/09/2009

Welcome to our first iPhone Roundup. The App Store is brimming with games, both good and bad. Every week or two, we’re going to take a look at a few of those games and tell you whether they are worth your cash.

This week, I’ve got puzzles on my mind as I take a look at two very different iPhone games. First up, I bounce through the physics-based Antimatter. Then, we’ll fill the hole in your gaming library with PlayScreen’s Bouncetrap.

Puzzle games are a portable system’s bread and butter, so it is hardly surprising that the iPhone is buried in the games. Pangea Software’s latest iPhone game, Antimatter, attempts to rise above the masses with its physics-based gameplay and slightly different approach to gameplay. No, you won’t be matching up colored gems or directing pieces that fall from the sky. Instead, Antimatter kind of feels like the Pacifism mode of Geometry Wars meets Breakout.

What on earth do I mean by that? Well, in Antimatter, your finger controls a shimmering ball of energy, floating in the depths of space. A bunch of blue barriers, called Cosmic Strings, litter the screen. These strings float and bob around the screen, bouncing off of each other. If your ball of Antimatter hits one of these barriers, it will turn red. As you can probably guess, your goal is to hit every one of these strings (the Breakout part of my description). Unlike Breakout, these strings don’t go away once you hit them. Oh no, that would be too easy. Instead, they keep floating there, obstructing your path to the remaining walls. If you hit a string a second time, it changes back to its original blue state. This element of avoidance is the Geometry Wars half of the equation.

It’s more challenging than you might think. Once you pass the first few levels, you will actually struggle to clear a stage. The key to succeeding in Antimatter isn’t in just flinging your ball around the screen. You need to actually do the mental math and figure out what angle to hit one barrier at to avoid hitting red strings. In fact, you even need to watch how hard you push the antimatter around. The little ball is sensitive to the force that you apply in pushing it; fling it too hard and the inertia will ensure that you hit a half dozen extra strings. Thankfully, there are a few power-ups to make things easier, including (you guessed it) the temporary ability to destroy barriers.

Quite frankly, Antimatter is a gorgeous little game. I’m kind of a sucker for shiny glowing things, and every single object in this game seems to bleed sparkles. A huge part of that Geometry Wars comparison comes from Antimatter’s aesthetics. The glowing barriers bobbing through the air, the star-filled backdrop, the way that sparks fly around the screen when your antimatter collides with a string. It really does remind me of Geometry Wars. Unfortunately, every single level looks the exact same. A little variety would have been nice, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Antimatter is based on a ridiculously simple premise, but it is one of the most addictive iPhone games that I’ve played. The lack of variety in both gameplay and level designs is a major downer, but is forgivable at the $0.99 price excuses it somewhat. I definitely recommend Antimatter for anyone tired of standard puzzlers or just looking for a cheap impulse buy.

Peggle fans have been salivating at the prospect of playing their addiction on the iPhone ever since the App Store first opened. Bouncetrap isn’t exactly the same game, but the similarities are definitely there. Most importantly, PlayScreen’s Bouncetrap is just as addictive as anything to come from Popcap’s electronic crack factory.

Like so many other successful puzzlers, BounceTrap operates on an incredibly simple premise. The screen is covered in holes, and you have to fill them all using a limited supply of balls that fall from the top of the screen. As these balls come out, they move along a tray at the top of the screen. Once you tap the screen, the ball is release and enters free fall stopping once it hits an empty hole (or when it flies off screen). The filled holes become solid objects that other balls bounce off of. The strategy element of Bouncetrap comes in when you try to figure out how to fill those bottom holes. Hitting a filled hole with other balls three times will make that hole disappear, helping to clear a path. Want to clear a path even more quickly? Hit that filled hole with a ball of the same color.

Pretty easy, right? Not so fast. There are also solid objects placed around the screen that won’t disappear so easily. These obstacles will be both your bane and your salvation. Watching a ball bounce endlessly between obstacles on the harder levels will frustrate the hell out of you, but figuring out how to use these objects to your advantage will be the key to completing some levels. Naturally, as you progress through BounceTrap’s thirty-five levels, you’ll have to fill more holes without being given extra balls, and those holes will be placed more awkwardly.

The developers have managed to strike that critical balance between frustration and difficulty. The game never gets so hard that you want to give up. Failure isn’t even the end of the world, as the game saves your progress each time you complete a level. You can pick up again right on the level you failed. BounceTrap also allows you to keep any extra balls that you had when completing the previous level. If you breeze through the early levels, you’ll have a nice supply of bonus balls when hitting the harder areas.

With colorful visuals and addictive gameplay, BounceTrap is a great buy for any puzzle fan. While the gameplay could have easily been deeper, the thirty-five levels still ensure that you get plenty of bang for your buck. Fan of Peggle? BounceTrap is going to be right up your alley. Pick it up now while it is still ninety-nine cents. If you want to give it a try before you buy, go ahead download the free “lite” version.