CleverMedia (MacMost parent) has just re-launched its popular Free Games app. Originally published in 2009 based on the 2007 iPhone games found at MacMost, this new version is a complete reboot of the app written from the ground up. Included are 15 complete games all in one app including many of CleverMedia’s hit games from GameScene.com. They can be played on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad all at native screen resolutions and in both vertical and horizontal orientations. Check out the list of games and give it a try. After all, it’s free!
Made by MacMost’s parent company, Sudoku by CleverMedia aims to be the most elegant Sudoku game for the iPad. The screen can be no more cluttered than a Sudoku game in a book, yet you can tap to access advanced features like marks, hints, undo and mistake checking. Best of all it is free and unlimited.
Santa’s Christmas Ride is a free game holiday offering from MacMost’s parent company, CleverMedia. You play Santa trying to deliver gifts to children. No time to actually land and go down the fireplace, though. You have to toss the packages and hit the chimneys. It is a quick, fun play for all ages.
How about something a little scary for Halloween? Slender Rising is a simple game with excellent 3D graphics. You move around looking for signs in creepy environments. At any time the Slender Man can appear and you must look away and run away before he kills you. You know the scare is coming — it is always coming — but the tension builds up to just the right amount to cause a fright.
Here’s another game that is getting a second life on the iPad. The 7th Guest was one of the best games of the 90s, and is perfect for someone looking for a Halloween scare. Solve puzzles and enjoy the mystery.
I like games that teach you something while you play. Type:Rider is a fairly basic side-scrolling roller with some puzzle solving. But the backdrop to this game is the history of fonts and printing. You can skip the text, or read it and learn something. Plus, it looks beautiful.
Here’s another free game from CleverMedia, the parent company of MacMost. Hangman Deluxe is the classic hangman game, but with a ton of features. You can play a random word, or choose from a list of topics. You can also use news headlines or humorous quotations, then trivia question answers. There’s even a daily challenge set of 10 words you can try.
A new sub-genre of puzzle games that is becoming popular is the “escape the room” game. Doors & Rooms may be one of the best examples out there. Basically, you are shown a picture of a room and must interact with objects in the room to open the door. The game starts simply, and quickly gets to the point where you need to pick up and use objects in various ways to open the door. You feel compelled to keep going to the next level to solve another.
Finally there is a good way to edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents on your iOS devices. And, believe it or not, it is from Google. Quickoffice is an app that works with Google’s cloud file sharing service, Google Drive. You store the Microsoft office documents on your free Google Drive, and then you can open, view and edit them with this free app.
Terraria is a deep exploration and building game. You move around a side-view 2D environment, both on the surface and below ground. You build your home and create objects from raw materials. You can even build a town. The graphics are retro pixel images that sometimes make it hard to see what is happening, and the controls are far from perfect. But this game is worth every penny as it looks like you can play for days, months or even years.
The best apps are the ones that make life simpler and easier. GrubHub lets you order takeout from nearby restaurants right from your iPhone. You can see what places are in their system that deliver, browse the menus, and build your order. Then you pay through the app and wait for the delivery.
Here’s another role-playing game app, but this time with a refreshing new style of gameplay. Well, actually, it is an old style of gameplay, just new to apps. Knights of Pen & Paper is a simulation of a role-playing game, complete with character sheets, a table, and a dungeon master. You don’t just role-play the adventure game, you also role-play the person playing the adventure game. Add to that an environment where you travel around and go where you wish instead of following a strict storyline, and this game is a nice break from other RPGs.
If you played any of the original Ultima games, then the existence of a completely new game is very exciting. But add the fact that it is an iOS game and it becomes a must-try. Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar is kind of a sequel to Ultima IV, drawing from that early storyline. The graphics try to look good while remaining simple enough for enjoyable gameplay. It is basically a large RPG adventure with some multiplayer aspects. And it is free. Well, there are in-app purchases, but you can get enjoyment out of the game either way.
Rymdkapsel is an addictive strategy game were you build a platform in space while defending it against attacks. It is part city-builder: you need to create quarters and food to attract a population. It is part puzzle: you need to build platforms to extend to other parts of the play area. Don’t expect amazing graphics, as it is all pixels and shapes, but that doesn’t seem to matter as it is a much more interesting game than most of the stuff with cute characters and scenery.
Ever wish that in Angry Birds you could control the flight of the birds by dragging them around after they launch? Ever wish that the piggies were vampires instead, that can be killed by light? Ever wish that some of the birds could travel through glass or cause boards and rocks to become weightless? Well, that’s quite a coincidence because it pretty much describes Lums, a fun puzzler.
Here’s an interesting take on a calculator app. Instead of tapping out numbers on a keypad, you write them with your finger. But what is really interesting about MyScript Calculator is that you don’t have to write out straight forward formulas like 1+2=. You can write things like 7x?+10=115 and it will fill in the ? with the correct number.
Tiny Thief is a cute little platform game that presents you with very small puzzle levels instead of one massive world. You move a funny little Robin Hood-like character around to steal food and things while avoiding the gaze of guards and others.
The idea behind TripIt is that it organizes your travel information: flights, hotels, etc. But usually you would have to enter all of that data in first, which can be time-consuming and there is plenty of potential for error. Instead, all you need to do with TripIt is to forward your travel confirmation emails to the service. It then figures it out for you and puts all of the data into the app.
Here’s the problem: you want to watch a movie and you have iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, your cable provider and probably a few more choices. Which one has your movie? Maybe all of them do, but which offers the best price? Fan is the solution. You can search for the movie or television series and it will find it for you. Certainly beats look at each one individually.
