Cooking Mama has officially been ported to the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Now you can cook over a dozen different meals(full meals), or have a cooking contest with about the same amount of actions(cut, chop, fry, etc).

Chop, Cut, Fry, and do all of the things you would do on your Wii or NDS). The game has been adapted by iPhone controls so when you have to flip the burger you literally make the motion with the iPhone just as if you were holding the frying pan.

You get judged on each action as well as a final score on the overall meal. If you get a good enough score you’re awarded a gold metal and I can only imagine something special happens when you get a gold metal for each meal.

Let’s Golf! is a great Golf game from the developers behind The Oregon Trail(Gameloft). With an entire 3D game engine including over 60 different holes, 4 different courses, 4 different characters. . .this game will keep you playing for a long time.

The game comes with 2 characters and 2 courses, you have to play the game(and play it well) before you unlock those other characters. While this is a great way to challenge the players and keep them playing. . .you can also just touch ‘Instant Game’ and pick any character and any level.

There is a Tournament Mode where you unlock these things, along with costumes and other unlock-ables. Here you play against 4 other computer characters in a grueling 9 hole game. This is even challenging on the easy difficulty setting(which is great).

Gameplay is very standard when it comes to golf games. There are 2 meters that you have to time perfectly(or as good as possible), a power meter, and then one for the angle. Hitting perfect on the meters will give your ball a little extra boost, and it even comes with a way to adjust the ball after you swing.

So after you hit it, there is a ball at the bottom left(for a short time only). If you move the ball forward, it will give it a little boost, if you move it backwards it slows down the momentum as the ball bounces. . .if you move the ball to the left/right it will adjust the angle if you mess up on the initial angle meter.

TV Forecast helps you find out the next NEW episode of your favorite TV shows. Instead of turning on the TV and finding out it’s just a re-run, now you can see ahead of schedule(even months ahead) to find out the next time a set of shows comes on.

It comes with a suggestive search so just in case you can’t remember all of it, just type in a few words(or letters) and let it suggest some shows for you.

After you add all of your favorite shows into the application you will see them(with cover art) in both the Upcoming and Previously lists. Touching a show will bring up a brief summary of what the new episode is about.

Is your show does not have a new episode for another 2-3 months, thats ok. As long as it’s confirmed(on I assume TVRage.com) it will be listed in the application. I love this feature to find out when shows are confirmed for a new seaosn.

This is basically a personalized TV Guide. Even though you have to set it up with the TV shows you want to see, that’s what makes it extremely useful.

Wolfenstein 3D Classic includes all 6 original episodes which is 60 levels of Nazi killing fun. With 4 different control styles to pick from you can pick through and find your most comfortable way to play.

Since this is a complete port of the original game, you’ll find all the classic and memorable things, from the sounds(Achtung!), to the enemies and the secrets that you should always look for in every level.

I’m not a huge FPS fan, but I did love this game, Doom(and Doom 2), and all of the Duke Nukem games. The simplicity of these older FPS games are quite enjoyable as a mobile game on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Don’t forget your map! If you do then you’re sure to get lost in this maze of rooms of each level. And don’t forget to look for those secret rooms. My favorite tweak(and the only one that I’m aware of) is the ‘open’ button. You used to have to press the space bar 2000 times or more in each level just checking for secrets. In this game to save on space, you automatically open doors(and in turn moves secret walls). All you have to do is go up to the door(or wall) head on, and it will automatically open it.

LightBike is one of the most accurate video games based on the Snake style game played in the famous Sci-Fi movie Tron. You pick a color bike and then play against the other players in the game.

The best part about this game is the multiplayer versions included. Not only can you play against 3 other computer players, but you can also do a split screen game(where both players hold onto a half of the iPhone/iPod Touch) and you can play against each other. If you have 2 or more devices then all of them can play against each other if they’re on the same WiFi network. The developers say Internet Multiplayer(instead of just Wifi Multiplayer) will be included in future versions.

During gameplay you always go straight. Touching the right side of the screen will make the bike turn right, and if you touch the left side the bike will turn left.

The goal is to ‘trap’ your enemies or somehow make them run into themselves, or each other, or the wall. Just like in the classic Snake(Nibbles) game that you might have played on basic, Q Basic, etc. I loved this style game back in the day, and I love being able to play the game that was featured in the classic movie, Tron.

I Love Katamari is a another chapter in the Katamari Damacy series. You are the prince and it is your job to clean up the trouble that the King has created. Go from world to world and collect as many items in your ball and then pick up the ‘key’ item before the time runs out.

I Love Katamari lets you play the game of Katamari Damacy was supposed to be played. Instead of moving the ball around with a directional pad on a controller. . .you can move it with the accelerometers inside the iPhone and iPod Touch. Tilt the device to the right, and watch the prince move around the ball in that direction. Tilt the device forward or back and then the prince will push or pull the ball in that direction. If you’ve played the game Crazy Tanks then you’re already aware of how the controls will feel.

You have a time limit for each level, which makes the game quite challenging. Instead of giving you some time to walk around and get used to the controls/level, they require that you jump right in and start collecting items with your ball. If you don’t then you will inevitably run out of time.

The thing is that you can’t collect items that weigh more than your ball. So you have to go around and collect the smaller items and when it gets big enough you can start collecting some bigger items. If you run into a bigger item(or something like a wall) then you can potentially lose other items on your ball(which makes yours smaller). Then again, if you’ve played Katamari you already know about the gameplay(and probably have already purchased the game).

This was the first time I’ve played any Katamari games, and I have to say it is very fun to play. I have seen this game series around before, but I’ve never played it before until this game. I will definitely keep my eye out for future games in the series now.

Wheel of Fortune is just that, Wheel of Fortune on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Play the game that you’ve always watched at home on TV. Play by yourself or against 2 other computer opponents.

The best part about Wheel of Fortune is that even if you’ve never seen the game show, it is still a fun puzzle game to play. You spin the wheel and hopefully you’ll land on an amount of money. Guess a letter and earn the amount of money equal to how many of those letters are in the puzzle(so if you land on 500 dollars, you guess N and there are 2 of them. . .then you get 1000 dollars). Avoid the lose a turn, bankrupt, and small money spot, and try to get the bigger money spots(and bonuses). Again, if you’ve ever watched the TV show then you know how to play it.

This does a great job of giving you the experience of the game like you were on the game show yourself. Solve over 1000 different puzzles which keeps this game playable for hours and hours and hours. I know I couldn’t put the game down for 2-3 hours when I first started playing it.

The game says it comes with 1000s of puzzles, and I hope that Sony will update it multiple times in the future to keep the game fun to play. I think they will because I don’t see them releasing a ‘Wheel of Fortune 2′ anytime soon. Maybe specialty ones(like for Halloween, Christmas, Movies, etc). . .but that’s it.

Arcade Bowling is a great Skeeball game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Enhanced with neon lights to make the game more appealing, it’s the gameplay of this game that really makes it good.

Touching the alley will put up a ball, almost like you’re aiming. ‘Flick’ or ‘Slide’ your finger up the alley and watch the ball shoot up the ramp and into the holes. The better your aim the higher your score will be in the end(especially if you get good at getting the 100 pioint spots).

If your finger slides even slightly to the left or right when you ‘flick the ball’, it will go at an angle and miss the spot you’re trying to hit. But the developers knew of this issue and included accelerometer controls to help you correct the ball after you rolled it.

The game comes with 2 gameplay modes. One for casual normal single games. . .and another for ‘progressive games’ where you’re given a goal to reach. Get enough points to reach that goal and you’ll go to the next level(which you’re given a higher goal). The game uses the collective total of all of your goals to calculate your high score for the leaderboards.

The Oregon Trail is a game that most of my generation played when they grew up. The goal is to get one one side of the country to the other(Oregon), without losing your entire family.

The controls are very simple. Touch the screen at the top to bring up your main menu. While you’re moving you have speed controls at the bottom(fast, medium, slow). 90% of the controls are simple menu selections with the occasional mini-game. Mini-games include tasks from repairing your wagon, picking fruit, and hunting too.

The game isn’t exactly the same as the original. And because of this I actually think it’s not doing as well as it could. I’m not saying that this updated version is bad or anything, it’s just different. Some changes make things easier, some changes make things harder. . .so it works itself out.

I think that Gameloft made a SMART move by purchasing the rights to this game and putting it into the App Store. This was a game I played in school on the Apple computer in Elementary School, and loved it. Every 5 or 10 years I think to myself, man it would be good to play that game again. . .and now I can.

Metal Gear Solid Touch is a chapter in the Metal Gear Solid 4 story. Control Solid Snake just like in MGS4 and shoot the enemies before they shoot you(or destroy your cover).

By default you’re in ‘cover mode’ when you don’t do anything. Tapping the screen with shoot the gun. Touching and sliding anywhere on the screen will move the small circle which acts as a crosshair(so that’s where you shoot). The best part about this control system is that when you touch the screen and move circle, it doesn’t put the circle under your finger/thumb. I have seen this in a lot of games and that causes the accuracy to not be as good as it could be.

So you touch the screen and move the crosshair to the enemy you want to shoot. Tap the screen and you’ll shoot the gun. If you aim just right you’ll get a head shot and you’ll only have to shoot 1 bullet. If not you have to touch the screen a few more times to kill him.

If you don’t shoot the guy quick enough then he will shoot you. If you don’t touch the screen you will go back into cover mode and will be protected. You have to be careful with certain enemies though. The thing that you cover behind can be destroyed, and that will make it easier to be hit.

When you get into the later levels you learn that you obtain another weapon(a sniper rifle) that lets you shoot enemies way far away. You have to use the 2 finger pinch/pull to switch into and out of this weapon. . .almost as if you were zooming into the background.

There is some fun gameplay here, but some say it just doesn’t last long enough.

Crystal Defenders is a tower defense with a Final Fantasy(Tactics) theme, with many of the more popular characters to choose from. The ultimate goal is to prevent every enemy from reaching the ‘exit’ of the stage.

They add multiple layers of challenge and strategy into the game in many different ways.

– The more money you have at the end of the round the more ‘bonus’ you get(which is money you can use to buy other units).
– Each character unit has it’s own strengths and weaknesses aka aerial, magic, etc(the same thing with the enemies too).
– Thieves and Time Mages give you the upper hand if placed in the right spot.

I am a huge Final Fantasy/Square Enix fan. I’m actually more of a jRPG fan, which Square Enix makes the best games of that genre(in my opinion). I am also a huge fan of Tower Defense games. Before I thought Fieldrunners was the best one out for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but no longer.

The one thing that I hate about this game is how the game controls. I’m not a fan of a small screen at top, and just buttons at the bottom. I’d almost rather have the buttons on top of the screen(when it’s full screen), even though this is a horrible way to do things(most of the time). Using the ‘control stick’ at the bottom can sometimes be slow and lag behind. . .but you eventually get used to it. It’s very obvious the developers slapped this game together and didn’t put much thought(or money) developing a clever way to control the game. I hope this is updated in the future(instead of just releasing a part 2 fixing the controls).

I have held off on reviewing this game for so long because I have just been playing it for that long. It took me this long just to learn enough strategies to beat the first set of levels. There are 2 more for me to beat and those add some handicap in spots, but also add more layers of strategy. While it may seem that an 8 dollar price tag might be too high, it has proven(at least to me) that it provides more gameplay than almost any other application that I’ve purchased in the past.

Pocket Cocktails is an entire resource of alcoholic drinks from beers, to wines, and even cocktails, margaritas, martinis, and more. This application includes a picture of the drink, a brief description, and for cocktails and mixed drinks, the ingredients to make the drink.

A great feature to compliment the wines included is a database of which wines go best with which foods. Find out what goes good with fish, deserts, meats, and more. There’s a great search feature to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. . .either search for the name of the drink or even just an ingredient.

I wish this developer gave details on how many total drinks were included here(to help when comparing it to other apps). . .but they don’t. I love the price point that they went with. I’ve reviewed other apps that do less than this, and charge 5 dollars. So it’s nice to see so many features and such at such a great price.

Zombieville USA is a ‘survival horror’ but more on the casual side. Your goal is to go from the left side of the screen and move right until you reach the end of the ‘street’, killing zombies and raiding houses in the process. Kill the zombies before they touch you or you’ll see your life bar start to diminish.

While you go down the street you shoot the zombies. Shooting them enough will kill them(of course) and when they die you get money for it(because you supposedly loot the body). You also have houses in the background with lights on. Standing in front of the door and touching the door will make your character go into the house where you can collect ammo(or any kind) or money. You can hide in the house for as long as you’d like(so you can wait for the zombies to pass), and then touch the screen(or an arrow button) to jump out of the house. At the end of each level you’re presented with a shop where you can refill your health or upgrade your weapons.

When I first played this game I only used the gun that they give you at the beginning. I kept trying to upgrade to the next weapon but I kept having to use most of my money for health refills. . .and every time I got close to getting enough money I would die. I ended up changing the difficulty mode to easy and I was able to enjoy the game a lot more. While it was way to easy on this mode, I actually got through 10 or so levels and also got to play with all of the weapons(which helped make it easier). While it was nice to actually enjoy the game(instead of being stuck with just the pistol) it really was too easy on this mode.

Maybe that’s how the developers wanted it to be, but I tried to for 2 days(playing it for probably 30 minutes total) and kept getting close. . .but not close enough. The biggest reason why I kept dying was because there is no button for shooting!!! Instead you just touch the space between the arrows and you see the guy shoot. Only sometimes he doesn’t shoot because you don’t touch the exact spot. Sometimes I’d hit the area 15 times and it would only shoot 3 times.

Like I said, it got easier when you can upgrade to automatic weapons(since you can just touch and hold to keep shooting), but for me I couldn’t get that far without putting it into easy mode.

Tap Tap Dance is a Techno/Electronic version of the popular game Tap Tap Revenge. The goal is to touch the screen at the specified spot and the specified time(just like any rhythm based game would be), and you have a bunch of good techno music to play.

After playing Tap Tap Revenge 2 and really enjoying the techno songs available, I just had to download and try this game out. While it’s very similar to Tap Tap Revenge, this application is setup more like a game. Instead of downloadable games your given 1 level at a time. Once you get at least 85% of each song on the easy level, you gain access to the medium level. And it even comes with ‘boss levels’ of sorts. They use unique ‘themes’ for the board on the final songs for each level. Some make it harder, and some just look cool.

I’ve never been a fan of rhythm style games, but this one was very easy to play. . .even though the extreme levels are very hard, it was still fun. 5 dollars is pricey if you don’t like the genre, but if you do, then you’ll love this game.

Tap Tap Revenge 2 is the sequel to Tap Tap Revenge, lol. In this version they have updated the graphics and added a lot more songs. More songs, online play, and a 2 player mode makes this game ideal for any fan of rhythm style games.

If you liked the first game then you’ll love this one. While I liked the first one this one really shined for me because of the techno/electronic songs available. I think this is the perfect genre for this type of game. Being able to play with songs from DJs like Moby and Chemical Brothers is awesome in my eyes. I tried playing some of the other rock and alternative songs available for download(yes you can download additional tracks), but it just wasn’t as enjoyable for me as the techno songs were.

Since I’m a huge fan of that genre of music, that’s why I liked this game so much, if it only had songs that I didn’t like, then I wouldn’t have enjoyed the game as much. So if I were you, I would download this free game, and find out if there are any songs or genres that you like.

I tried playing the online component of this game but it never took me anywhere(the screen stayed blank), but I hear 2 player mode is great(just haven’t had a chance to play it yet).

Wide Email started out as just a landscape email application that let you type up emails in landscape mode. But now it’s advanced to much more, learning the shortcuts lets you write up multiple lines of content with just a few letters.

When you first open up the application it goes immediately to a new email. From here you can type it in both landscape and portrait mode. Once you’re done just press the button ‘Send to Email’ and it will take the text and insert it into the stock email application. This is very useful for when you need to type up a long email and hate typing when it’s in portrait mode. Landscape mode makes the keyboard much wider which makes it easier and quicker to type.

To learn the shortcuts you have to cancel the email that the application immediately opens up. I don’t think this is the best idea since a LOT of people wouldn’t even know about them. The application comes with a bunch of default shortcuts already setup, but you can go in and both edit the existing ones, and you can also add new ones.

Tower Bloxx Deluxe 3D is a balancing style game where your goal is to stack as many ‘segments’ on top of each other without making them fall. If you don’t get it exactly center then you’ll notice that the building will start to wobble(making it even harder).

The crane above that drops the segments also moves so it makes it even harder. That combined with the tower wobbling(if you don’t line it up perfectly) makes it even more challenging. It’s nothing crazy hard, but it definitely makes you give the game your undivided attention(if not you’ll never get a perfect). The more perfects you get in a row, the higher your bonuses will be. And it will also increase your ‘population’ score. Lining up the segments with a balcony add an additional bonus to your population score.

Tower Bloxx Deluxe 3D looks great, and while the controls are amazingly simple(just touch the screen), it’s still challenging enough to keep you playing. They also have different game modes to keep you playing. They have a quick mode, party mode, time attack, and city mode. The Build City mode is the ‘full game’ and comes with 3 major cities, where you have to fill each city with a bunch of buildings.

The only thing that I can think of that would make this game better would be the ability to leave a game(in city mode) and it save your current game. That way next time you open the application it will ask you if you want to continue your last game. They do save your progress after the levels. . .but with it being a mobile game they should let you pick up and play anytime, anywhere.

iDracula is a 3D action shooter. If they call games like Double Dragon ‘Beat ‘em Ups’, then you can all this a ‘Shoot ‘em Up’. You are the only human on the board, and it is your goal to shoot your way through wave after wave of vampires, werewolves, witches, and more.

So the goal is to stay alive as long as possible, shooting everything else that moves with one of many different weapons(I believe I counted 6). As you kill enemies they drop things like ammo, better weapons, health, and more. You control the guys feed with the left circle(on the bottom left), and you control his gun with the right circle(bottom right). As you gain more and more points, you ‘level up’ in a sense, and gain what they call ‘perks’. This can be anything from making dropped items float to you automatically, run faster, full health, more damage, faster shooting, and a few other things.

iDracula is an extremely fun game to play. Not only does it keep you on the edge of your seat trying to keep away and kill the monsters at the same time. But you’re not kicking yourself because you missed the button and got killed. In my opinion, this could have been an average game if it used the controls like Kroll, Hero of Sparta, etc. But they thought of something different, and it works(works very well).

Note – The price for this application is $0.99(right now). The developers say they will change the price to $2.99 after it’s ‘introductory offer’. I don’t think they will stick with that 3 dollar price point for too long though(because of competition). But they suggest that you get it now while the price is still low.

Block Breaker Deluxe 2 is a great port of the classic game Breakout. If you ever thought the game was hard before then just wait until you get your hands on this one. Just getting through the basic levels is hard enough, and there are plenty of other game modes you can play through once you’re done with them.

This game comes with special power-ups like shooting, a jet pack, fireball, iceball, yoyo, forcefield, shield, and plenty more. Right along with the power-ups you also have ‘power-downs’ like smaller paddles, power downs, crazy ball, and more. They even include a multiplayer mode that lets you play against your friends head to head(on the same device).

There are hundreds of levels to play, each one with it’s own unique look and feel. I have been playing it for weeks and still have to force myself to put it down to take a break.

Blocked is a puzzle game where the goal is to push the blue block off the right side of the board. To do this you must push the grey blocks out of it’s way, and doing this might not be as easy as you might think.

The application controls very well. The blocks slide smoothly making it easy to slide the blocks quickly.

Blocked comes with 5 different difficulty levels to choose from and each of these comes with 20 different puzzles(with a grand total of 100 playable puzzles). . .each one harder than the next. I got through the easy levels pretty easy, only getting stuck once or twice, but once I started doing the medium levels, the difficulty quickly caught up with me.

How far can you get?