Five iPhone games you'll play for more than five minutes

2. Shredder Chess £5.99
Skizzix

If you have even a passing interest in chess you should immediately pick up this game. Don't buy any other chess game, pony up the £6 and get this one. A couple of things make Shredder special. The most important is that it adjusts its difficulty level to match your gameplay; after a few games it consistently plays at the same level as you. Most other chess games are either too easy, or kill you within a few moves. Shredder is like playing an equally competent friend and because of this you can play it indefinitely. It also has a coach that tells you if you're making bad moves, and can suggest good moves. So you feel like you're constantly getting better while winning some, losing some. Extreme chess fans will find it useful because it has - allegedly - an "immensely strong computer opponent". Although I'm more of a intermediate player. I play this almost daily.

3. Real Racing £2.99

Firemint There are few arcade games that truly match the sort of thing you can get on the PSP. Some have the graphics, but the controls aren't quite right. Or the gameplay is a bit more limited. Real Racing is one of the few games on the iPhone that feels every bit the full console experience. Basically it's a Gran Turismo-style racer and the graphics are an excellent showcase. You steer by tilting and touch the screen to brake (acceleration is automatic). I'm not normally a massive fan of the tilt to control mechanism but it works really well in this game and had me hooked for weeks.

NEXT: Dungeons and words

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Comments received

vader said on Friday, 20 November 2009

gotta say i'm still loving virtual pool and ragdoll blaster. may have a look at dungeon hunter, i've wanted a long lasting rpg for ages but don't want too much setting up, building villages, getting weapons etc...

Adam said on Saturday, 21 November 2009

Real Racing might be a good racer, but to compare it in quality to Gran Turismo is making it shoot way above its height. Gran Turismo on the PSP is probably the best game available on any heldheld in terms of quality and attention to detail, with an immese roster of accurately rendered cars, near-perfect physics modelling, graphics to die for, and a control system of depth and subtlety.

None of that makes it a good game, or necessarily better than Real Racing, but despite them both being racing games they are very different beasts. Real Racing is cheap by comparison.

Adam said on Saturday, 21 November 2009

Real Racing might be a good racer, but to compare it in quality to Gran Turismo is making it shoot way above its height. Gran Turismo on the PSP is probably the best game available on any heldheld in terms of quality and attention to detail, with an immese roster of accurately rendered cars, near-perfect physics modelling, graphics to die for, and a control system of depth and subtlety.

None of that makes it a good game, or necessarily better than Real Racing, but despite them both being racing games they are very different beasts. Real Racing is cheap by comparison.

dingdong said on Tuesday, 24 November 2009

I've spent TONNES of time on GeoDefense Swarm. It's simple but beautiful and extremely addictive. The best Tower Defense game I've played by miles.