If you're old enough to remember playing the Habbo Hotel game in the early 2000s you'll remember that it was a popular virtual world that saw people hang out with their friends in a virtual hotel. The game ultimately went the way of the dodo like so many others, but now it's back from the dead and you can play it for free.

Habbo Hotel Origins is a recreation of the original title and will see gamers "hang out with your friends, meet new ones, create and decorate your own personal space, and take part in a wide variety of activities and competitions."

So why is Habbo Hotel Origins here now, after all these years? It turns out that someone found the original game's files on a long-lost server and the rest, as they say, is history.

Game time

A blog post on the Habbo website detailed the somewhat miraculous way in which gamers of a certain age have now been treated to a little bit of gaming nostalgia.

"After discovering an old decrepit server with some long-lost files at the beginning of this year, over the past six months or so long-time Habbo developer and player Macklebee has lovingly restored an old version of Habbo Hotel first released in 2005," the blog post explains.

Taking the game for a spin is as easy as downloading the Mac version of the game and then creating an account.

"Habbo Hotel: Origins is also the place where you can build your own Guest Room and invite your friends round for a chat!," Habbo explains, noting that the title is more than just a game. "There are loads of Furni items for you to choose from and decorate your Guest Room with as the Furni Guide will show."

You can learn more about Habbo Hotel Origins over on the game's website right now.

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Gamers on iPhone and iPad have a new Farming Simulator game to look forward to and we have the first gameplay trailer to show you.

Farming Simulator 23 will be released on iPhone and iPad on May 23 and it's shaping up to be a big release for fans of the franchise.

Developer GIANTS Software created the Farming Simulator brand 15 years ago and the new version comes three years after Farming Simulator 20, the last game that came to mobile. But can it live up to the hype?

Two maps and all the animals you need

Farming Simulator 23 comes with two maps for you to play, both inspired by environments in the United States and Europe. We're told that the two maps "invite exploration and different farming approaches, while the game remains entertaining and relaxed – the players always choose what kind of farmer they want to be."

"Grow crops, grow your agricultural empire! Become a modern farmer to operate more than 100 authentic machines by Case IH, CLAAS, DEUTZ-FAHR, Fendt, John Deere, KRONE, Massey Ferguson, New Holland, Valtra & many other acclaimed manufacturers from around the world," the game's App Store page reads.

Farming Simulator 23 includes more than 100 machines and cows, horses, pigs, and sheep. There are also chickens this time around as well.

You won't need to rush out to be the best iPhone or iPad that money can buy just to play Farming Simulator 23 either. So long as it has iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 or later you should be good to go. Got an Apple silicon Mac? You can play the iPad version there, too.

You can pre-order Farming Simulator 23 right now — it'll cost $7.99 but paying once will get you access to the game on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. There's no support for the Apple TV, unfortunately, so no big-screen farming for you.

Many of us live in big cities, or at least close enough to a major city. We may love or hate the city life, but one thing's for certain: there are always things that we wish we could change. While most of us don't have the power to manage a real city, we have games that simulate what that's like.

If you enjoy simulation games like Sim City, then Pocket City's definitely one you don't want to miss.

• Story and setting
• Gameplay
• Interface
• Visual and audio design

Story and setting

Since Pocket City is a simulation game, so there isn't much story to it. However, the general idea is that you're an up and coming mayor of a new city, and you're starting from scratch. Build homes, create jobs, and add in some commercial businesses to generate that city revenue to grow and expand.

As your city flourishes with residents, tourists, businesses, and other attractions, so will the crime, fires, and even natural disasters. There isn't quite an end goal to Pocket City other than completing all of the quests that are available, so it's like a free-for-all: build your city how you like it!

Since this is a city-building simulator, you can expect all of the things you'd normally find in a city: houses, apartments, various shops and dining establishments, leisurely parks and recreational fare, towering landmarks, and the like. There's even more odd things, such as obelisks to keep natural disasters away, pyramids, and other distinctive landmarks with unique properties.

Gameplay

There are two game modes in Pocket City: Normal and Sandbox. No matter which route you choose, you basically start with nothing and must work your way to a city that's hustling and bustling with activity.

With the normal mode, you'll start your town from nothing, and work your way up. This means building simple additions to the city, earning revenue and experience, leveling up with access to new building types, and enjoying plenty of growth. However, you need to manage your money wisely, expand your land, and also complete quests as they come along, which various folk in the city give you.

Sandbox mode lets you pick from randomly generated maps, and everything is free to build, so you can let loose with your creative side. You basically have infinite funds, all buildings are available at your disposal from the get-go with no wait times, and there are no quests or leveling up to worry about. If you just want to freely create your dream city, Sandbox mode is the way to go.

Honestly, I like the normal mode so far and haven't felt the need to dive much into Sandbox. I like the quests since they keep you coming back, and it's a nice, steady progression. A small gauge at the top notifies you of what the citizens are demanding more of (Residential, Industrial, or Commercial zones), so you're constantly planning, expanding, and growing.

One thing I didn't particularly like about the gameplay is the fact that all buildings need power and water (obviously), but the only way to get these resources to the buildings is to connect them via roads. This part didn't make too much sense, as I would think that's done through wires and pipes underground. I just found it a bit odd, and it leads to more roads than I truly wanted in my city.

Interface

Like with most simulation games, everything's done through various menus and a drag-and-drop interface. However, there are a few quirks with the UI that end up being annoying, especially in portrait mode.

First off, props to the developers for allowing everyone to play the game in either Portrait or Landscape mode. Players can change this whenever they want in the game's menu, and it depends on if you prefer getting a larger space to work with at once or if you prefer to use just one hand.

All buildable structures in Pocket City get organized by categories and subcategories. Just tap on the "Build" button in the bottom toolbar, and select the category you want. For example, you have Resources, Services, Leisure, Road, and Zones. You'll find power plants and water towers in Resources (necessary for all buildings), Safety (police, fire department, hospital), Institutions (banks), Traffic (rail stations), and more under Services. Leisure includes things like parks, art galleries, theaters, and other fun activities for all citizens. Roads include basic roads, highways, bridges, and rail tracks.

Just find what you need to build, and then select it. You can then place it on the land by dragging your finger around. You can build things like roads and zones in clusters by adjusting the size freely. Other things, such as specific structures, may only get built one at a time.

I did notice that when trying to lay down a lot of roads, the map camera does not pan out with your finger. So I ended up putting down what I can on the screen, then adjusting the camera before adding more down. I think the developers should make it so that the view pans around automatically.

With the current menu system, there's a lot of back-and-forths too. For example, the menu always starts back from the beginning. Perhaps it should pick up where you last left off, in case you need to put down more road. It would feel more streamlined that way.

Visual and audio design

Pocket City's a cute little city-building simulator, and it definitely shows in the graphics and sound.

With Pocket City, players find themselves in a world of simple cartoonish visuals full of life and color. Since cities become vast and sprawling with activity, you won't be able to see a lot of the finer details with each individual structure as your city grows. However, everything looks unique enough to know what it is at a glance, so you don't have to worry about that too much.

Once your city grows large, everything looks tiny from a distance since you'll zoom out a lot. You can zoom in at any time by pinching the screen with your fingers. One thing I did notice as I started playing was that the graphics looked a bit fuzzy if you zoom in. Fortunately, you can adjust the resolution in the game's menu, but keep in mind that performance may suffer with higher resolutions.

As far as sound goes, Pocket City doesn't have much of a soundtrack. However, the sound effects of city life get reflected pretty realistically, as you'd expect from a game of this nature. The different NPCs you'll encounter have their own distinctive voices, but they never go further than a quick one-liner.

My verdict

All in all, I've found Pocket City an entertaining way to pass the time. I'm definitely more into finishing the normal City mode because of the objectives and I enjoy the actual simulation of being the mayor. I think that after completing the City mode, I'm going to dive into the Sandbox mode just for kicks and see what I can come up with.

If you're looking for a simplified but still enjoyable city-building simulation with no in-app purchases or timers, then Pocket City is a must.

$4.99 - Download Now

Frontier Developments has launched RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 for the iPhone and iPad. Gamers can now play the classic management simulator with an all-new touch-friendly interface, without leaving behind any of the depth of the original game.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 for iPhone and iPad lets you create your dream theme park. You have different modes to play in: Tutorial, Career, and Sandbox. Sandbox lets you freely play and create, while the Career mode puts you in a number of different scenarios, each in a new park environment, featuring all 18 scenarios from the original PC release.

As your guests begin to enjoy your park, they'll spend money, which you can use to purchase upgrades and new rides in your park. Note, this money can only be acquired by making visitors to your park happy, as the game contains no in-app purchases.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is available for the iPhone and iPad from the App Store now.

• $4.99 - Download Now

SimCity's newest game for Mac has been re-released as a new bundle that has a bunch of extra content. SimCity Complete Edition includes the core game, Cities of Tomorrow expansion pack, Amusement Park, Airship Set, Heroes and Villains Set, and French, British and German City sets.

This version plays offline, so no need to worry about keeping a connection. As always, SimCity challenges you to build a thriving metropolis while managing vital services, balance citizen needs, and keep a balanced budget. Before you get downloading, here's a quick run-down of the system requirements.

• Operating System: 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion), 10.9.5 (Mavericks), 10.10.1 (Yosemite)
• CPU Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual-Core)
• CPU Speed: 2.2 GHz
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 12 GB
• Video Card (ATI): Radeon HD 2600
• Video Card (NVIDIA): GeForce 8800
• Video Card (Intel): HD 3000
• Video Memory (VRam): 256 MB
• Peripherals: Macintosh mouse and keyboard

• $39.99 - Download now

That's right, another motion based game for the Apple TV, this time hitting the lanes and going Ten Pin Bowling! Rolecule, developer of Motion Tennis and Dance Party, is back again with one of the more fun games we've played with our iPhones in a while.

Bowling Central actually came about because the community requested it after Motion Tennis. Wii Bowling has always been a favorite, and that same essence has been captured here for the Apple TV.

The game is actually playable on the iPhone without an Apple TV using touch and gesture controls. But, through the magic of AirPlay Mirroring, the iPhone is once again transformed into a motion controller while the game is projected to the TV. And as with previous games from Rolecule, the execution is flawless.

Controls are incredibly simple and Bowling Central really is a pick up and play kind of game. Before you get to it you just have to point the phone at the TV and tap the display to calibrate the sensors. From there it's all motion. To move your position in the lane you tilt the phone left or right, then to bowl you hold your finger on the screen, pull back, and swing. Just as if you were, well, you know, bowling!

For the more advanced among us – or those who like to look like a pro – you can also add spin to the ball by rotating your wrist as you swing through. It's extremely responsive and there is absolutely no visible delay between you swinging and the game reacting.

In terms of gameplay, there are two different single player modes right now. Traditional Ten Pin, playing either 3, 6 or the full 10 frames, or a more testing, challenge mode. This has various obstacles in the way for you to avoid in the lanes while still trying to achieve a target number of pins knocked down. And it gets pretty tough pretty quickly. But not so tough you don't want to try again.

All in all it's another excellent game from a top notch developer. Whatever magic is going on to make all this happen on the Apple TV continues to impress, and we're still left wondering why it hasn't become more of a thing. But if you've got an iPhone and you've got an Apple TV, it's definitely worth checking out. Who needs a Wii, right?

• $2.99 - Download Now

Electronic Arts has now made its latest urban simulation game, SimCity BuildIt, available worldwide for the iPhone and iPad, after first announcing the game earlier this year.

Much like the previous games in the SimCity series, this new entry in the franchise allows folks to create their dream city while also dealing with all of the problems that come with it. Here's a list of its features:

• BUILD YOUR CITY - With countless buildings and vivid, 3D-quality graphics, this is the most realistic city builder on mobile. Strategically place buildings to keep the taxes flowing and your city growing. Pinch, zoom, and rotate 360 degrees as you manage your city on the go – both online and offline.
• FLEX YOUR POWER - Create and trade resources with friends and other cities. Unlock exclusive buildings like Big Ben and The Arc de Triomphe, or unleash natural (and not so natural) disasters!
• KEEP YOUR CITIZENS HAPPY - Solve real city challenges like traffic, fires, and pollution. Balance services like power and entertainment to give your citizens what they need. Complete fun challenges to specialize your city and shape society.

While the game is free to play, it does contain in-app purchases to buy "SimCash".

• Free with IAP - Download Now

In Godus, you are the creator of all things. That comes with the responsibility of making the world suitable for your followers. Sculpt and shape the world around you to help them grow and prosper. As you get further, you'll need to use your God powers in order to obtain the belief of your followers. The more they thrive, the more they believe in you. Belief isn't free and you'll have to use yours wisely, or you'll end up having to spend real money in order to get things done. Here are our top tips, hints, and cheats to building a thriving Promised Land in Godus!

1. Speed up time for instant belief and building completion

Like many other games, Godus is also susceptible to speeding up time artificially in order to complete goals quicker. Just hop into the Settings app of your iPhone or iPad and speed time up a few hours. Hop back into Godus and everything you were working on should be complete. You should also have lots of belief to collect. Once you're done, hop back into time settings and correct things again. None of your progress will be taken away.

2. Boost your workers regularly

Tap on any worker and you should notice a boost option. Make a regular habit of boosting workers because if you don't, they'll get fatigued. This causes projects to take longer and in some cases, they'll go sleep instead of work. At that point you'll need to trade in gems in order to wake them up, or you'll have to wait. Instead, just be sure to boost everyone regularly to make sure your followers are happy and stay at maximum productivity at all times.

3. Don't use leashing unless you need to

Every time you order someone to a specific job site with leashing, you'll use belief. Typically ordering people to work simply by tapping on their abode is sufficient. If there's a job you want to be first priority, then order people to specific sites. If you just want work in general done however, let your followers do their own thing.

4. Follow the butterflies

Chests contain all kinds of goodies in Godus and you'll want to make sure you're finding and opening as many as you can. An easy way to know where to locate a chest is to follow the butterflies and then start sculpting the land in order to uncover it. You never know what you're going to get but if you can get at a chest, by all means, do it.

5. Keep followers happy with the God Seed

Once you obtain the God Seed, make sure you put trees by your followers' homes. You can also increase happiness by using the Rain of Purity once you obtain it. If you don't keep your happiness up, your followers will abandon you for the Astari, so be sure you keep an eye on them.

6. Voyages are a quick way to rack up stickers

You'll need stickers to advance in Godus and one of the easiest ways to do it is by going on voyages frequently. The same quests cycle themselves every 24 hours as well so after a while, you'll learn how to avoid obstacles and make it through voyages at lightning speed. Just be sure you do them in the time you have remaining each time.

7. Start the voyage cycle over again immediately

If you don't want to play harder voyages and would prefer sticking with what you know, you can easily start the cycle over again by hopping into your iPhone or iPad's Settings app and turning time forward 24 hours. This will make Godus think a new day has started, and voyages will start over.

8. Clear trees and rocks for bonus belief

Every time you clear a rock or tree, you'll gain some belief. This is an easy way to rack some up if you're running low. You aren't going to gain enough to sculpt an entire mountain side but you'll get enough to dole out a few orders and keep going.

9. Use the Finger of God to destroy abodes you don't want anymore

After a while you'll probably want to remove older abodes that are smaller and produce less in favor of larger ones. While you can always condense them into a farming settlement to do this, you can also use the Finger of God once you've obtained that particular power in order to destroy old abodes. Then you can order followers to rebuild on the same land.

10. Use your God powers to keep the Astari away

The Astari have a nasty habit of trying to wreak havoc on your settlements. Use your God powers to scare them away. While sculpting the land spooks them, try drowning them or putting water around settlements where possible in order to ward them off easier when you need to.

Your top tips, hints, and cheats for building a thriving community in Godus?

If you've been building your own world inside Godus, what are some interesting tips, hints, and cheats you've used to create settlements even faster? Be sure to share them in the comments!

The development team 22cans, lead by legendary game designer Peter Molyneux, have brought their PC "god game" Godus over to the iPhone and iPad today, and unlike the PC version, this one is free to play.

Molyneux is well know for his previous games such as Populus, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White and many more. Here's a quick description of what you can expect for the iOS version of Godus, where you literally control an entire civilization.

• Use your touch to physically shape, mold and sculpt every inch of the landscape, making it unique to you.
• Be loved and worshipped by tiny, devoted Followers. Watch them live, learn, and grow in a fully simulated world.
• Nurture the growth of a civilization as it rises from the dawn of the primitive age and advances throughout the ages of humanity.
• Cast miracles of both beauty and destruction: sculpt rivers and grow forests, or throw meteors and spread fires.
• Uncover a wealth of mysteries and surprises waiting to be found above and below the landscape.
• Guide your Followers as they embark on regular voyages to new and uncharted lands that hold great rewards.

Godus is free to play, but you know what that means — $4.99 for 100 gems and $9.99 for 240 gems by way of in-app purchase (IAP).

Will you be playing Godus and will you use your god powers for good or evil?

• Free with IAP - Download now

Anyone who grew up playing computer games no doubt remembers the Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise. Now you can build amazing theme parks and attractions right in the palm of your hand in Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 for iPhone and iPad. In order to keep up with customer demand, you'll need to stock your park with plenty of amazing rides, attractions, and food booths. However, coins and tickets are not unlimited and can be rather hard to come by if you don't build and invest your money wisely. That's where iMore can help! These are the top 10 Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 tips, hints, and cheats we think you need to know!

1. Don't waste tickets on speeding up construction

Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 is one of the few games where you really don't have to spend any real life money if you're smart about how you spend your initial coins and where you choose to use your tickets. You only earn tickets for completing quests and as special finds. How many coins you earn is completely up to how well your park performs. One of the biggest wastes of tickets is to spend them on speeding up construction. Instead, be patient and pay attention to how long something takes to build. If it's a long wait, build those things right before you close the game. That way you aren't tying up money you want while playing. You also don't end up spending tickets on rushing the process. It happens while you're gone.

Unfortunately, unlike many other games, Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 doesn't seem to be susceptible to rolling forward time. Many games like Candy Crush, Two Dots, and others are. That means you'll just have to learn some patience and build smarter to avoid spending real money.

2. Add Food Rush and become an ultimate burger master

Food Rush is found under the Build section in Specials. Add it to your park as soon as you can. Tap on it and then tap play. Your job is to serve as many burgers to your park customers as fast as possible. The more you serve, the more cash and XP you earn. There are certain tricks to burger rush such as timing when ingredients must refill. The better you get, the more you earn. If you need some cash or need to burn some time, it's a great way to do it.

3. Build your own coasters, don't waste money on prebuilt layouts

Coasters that are already made for you may be convenient but they're also astronomically expensive. Save your cash and build your own coasters. You can design them anytime and then build them when you have the money and tickets to do so. There's also another advantage to this strategy and it's that you can custom build coasters that fit to your park layout. A lot of times prebuilt coasters are large and bulky on purpose. This is so you're forced to buy more land. Instead, rearrange your park and build to suit. It's cheaper and makes your park more unique than the next guy's.

4. Don't can trees and bushes, transplant them

When you buy more land to expand your park, you may find lots of trees and bushes get in the way of construction. A big mistake many players make is that they remove them. Instead, relocate them to another area of the park. Your guests enjoy looking at nice landscaping and it increases their overall happiness. Happy guests equals thriving park. So let the shrubs stay!

5. Invite friends for free tickets

Like many other games, Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 lets you hook your Facebook in so you can share roller coaster designs, request blueprints, and send each other gifts. The same goes for Game Center. However, if you send invites to your Facebook friends, you'll earn 1 free ticket for each friend you invite. Sure, we all hate Facebook spam, but it's for a good cause, right?!

6. Upgrade attractions whenever possible

Many attractions allow you to spend some coins in order to upgrade them. This increases the buzz around them and keeps your guests happy. Upgrade your attractions whenever you feasibly can. While it's easy to get distracted by building roller coasters and ignoring regular attractions, your park's buzz will suffer if you do so.

7. Food booths and hotels are your biggest money makers

The main way you'll earn money in RCT 4 is by selling food to your park guests. Hotels are important to since they increase your park's holding capacity. The more people you have, the more rooms you book and the more food you sell. Figure out which food booths generate the most money and build a ton of them. I like to do it off in a corner of the game where they aren't in the way. Hotels you can easily upgrade before building more so they take up far less space.

8. Check the parking lot for special deliveries

Sometimes you'll find cargo boxes in the parking lot that contain special gifts your park receives. It's easy to overlook them so be sure you check from time to time as gifts vary from statues to other decorative objects that you can place in your park for free. Your guests enjoy looking at them so it never hurts.

9. Listen to your guests

Every once in a while you'll see guests with thought bubbles over their heads. Tap on them to read their thoughts. Listening to your guests is the number one way to increase park buzz and make people spend more money. If you're meeting their needs, your park will thrive. So before you build another roller coaster, make sure that's what your guests are really asking for.

10. Equip your park with engineering and maintenance staff

Adding an engineering building to your park will minimize the amount of time overall construction takes on rides and attractions. It doesn't cost a lot so be sure you add one. As for maintenance, after you add the building, you can trade tickets to keep it running. As long as the maintenance building is paid, your rides won't break down while you're away. This is a nifty way to make sure you come back to the game with tons of money to collect and a great park buzz.

Your top Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 tips, hints, and cheats?

If you've been building the theme park of your dreams on your iPhone and iPad, what strategies have you used to become a theme park master? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!

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Sim City 4 Deluxe Edition has once again arrived on the Mac and this time around, the game has been updated to support OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion and above. Originally released on the Mac back in 2003 and on Steam in 2010, the new release includes bug fixes, performance enhancements, and other updates such as native resolution support. As a package, SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition includes the best-selling SimCity 4 and SimCity 4: Rush Hour Expansion Pack.

Some key new features in this updated version of SimCity 4:

• Full control over the environment and the ability to unleash natural disasters to create (and destroy) a world all your own.
• Ability to deploy emergency vehicles and join in the action as they battle blazes, mobs, and more.
• New transportation options, including monorail and ferry system.
• Interconnectivity with The Sims, allowing players to import their sims into their city.

If you’re looking to purchase the new release, you’ll find it on the Mac App Store right now with pricing set at $19.99. If you worried about space, the game weighs in at only 1.14GB so, not only is it a fun way to waste some time it’s not going to take up much of your hard drive. And, of course, there's the new revamped SimCity that you can also play, though it's both more connected and insular than the older version.

• Download Now

EA has released SimCity Update 10, a new patch for the 2013 reboot of their popular city-building strategy game franchise. Update 10 finally brings offline play to the game, which heretofore has required a live Internet connection in order to work. The initial announcement came from the SimCity forums.

SimCity arrived on PCs — and later on Macs — in 2013 with a host of enhancements, updates and changes to earlier game versions, designed to bring the popular franchise into the modern age. One of the most controversial of those changes was a reliance on a persistent online connection.

EA claimed that this was necessary to keep the complex calculations involved in the city simulation in sync, and made online play with other SimCity players a key part of gameplay as well, but gamers used to being able to play SimCity on their own computers as a single-player game were put off by the change; soon the claim arose that EA and Maxis implemented this change as a digital rights management scheme to help reduce piracy.

Later Maxis reversed itself and said that a future update would implement offline play, and that's Update 10, which is available now. The change for offline play took six months to develop because of the major redevelopment to the game, according to Simon Fox, the game's lead engineer. In a lengthy post to the SimCity web site in January, Fox explained what it took to get SimCity working offline.

Other changes have been implemented as well - a new Save As a Copy feature has been added, so you can make copies of your regions at multiple save points; autosave cane be disabled in single player mode; performance optimizations have been made, and Friends Search now uses the friend search feature built into Origin, EA's multiplayer gaming system.

Last year we named Game Insight’s My Country as one of the best simulation games for iPhone. It basically combined a standard free-to-play city building design with that of a real city simulation. The extra depth really helped My Country stand above other city builders.

This year, Game Insight followed up with a sequel called 2020: My Country. The new game starts out quite a lot like the old one, but before long players will encounter science-fiction elements like flying cars, teleporters, and aliens. 2020: My Country initially debuted as an iPad-specific game, but the publisher recently released it for iPhone and Mac OS X as well.

Start your city right

After launching the game, players are thrust directly into a tutorial - no title screens here. You begin with a small section of city to call your own. The player’s first order of business is to construct an office building. Everything takes real-time to build, but spending a little energy causes tasks to finish instantly. You shouldn’t run out of energy during the tutorial phase, so just hurry things along.

Once you've erected the building, you’ll need to hire an entrepreneur to run the place. But you can’t just hire a building manager outright. First you’ll need to collect a handful of resources that the professional will need – in this case, a cell phone, briefcase, and folder. To get these and other items, just hop over to one of your other buildings and complete a task. Materials randomly drop after finishing these short tasks, so you might need to repeat the process a few times until you get the goods.

Having hired a professional to run the building, players can then select contracts for the business to work on. Initially you’ll have only one contract duration to choose from, but raising a business’s star rating will unlock longer and higher paying contracts. Whenever the contract wraps up, collect the money it produces and start a new one.

Making money and progress

Other types of edifices such as residential buildings just produce money on their own schedules with no need to choose a contract. After reaching level 6 (the end of the tutorial), players can perform short tasks at any building at any time in hopes of finding materials – or just to earn extra money. Collecting money from any building also causes a VTOL aircraft to come along and drop XP and more money for the picking.

Perform a building’s tasks enough times to raise the place’s star rating and earn a free spin at the upgrade wheel. Depending on where the wheel lands, players can win upgrades to the location’s money production or environmental rating, and even free money, energy, and premium game dollars. Or you might get unlucky and not win anything. The wheel minigame provides a fun little reward for leveling up a town’s buildings.

Like other city builder games, players always have one or more missions to work on. Some involve erecting new businesses or houses, while others might have you purchase upgrades for buildings or clear out space for future developments. Standard stuff, but cute animations like people rushing to a store or celebrating with fireworks instill more personality than you might expect. Events like UFO crashes, fires, and floods also keep things lively while giving players more things to do.

Social features

Let’s face it. There is no point in pouring countless hours of your life into a city building game unless your friends can see what you’ve built. Luckily 2020 does not disappoint in that all-important area. The game allows you to build a friends list from both Game Insight’s servers and Facebook.

I believe that makes the social features platform agnostic, so Apple, Android, and Windows players should all be able to interact with each other. The only catch is they actually have to accept your invites before you can visit them. Speaking of which, why not send me a friend request? My username is EastX.

Upon visiting a friend’s country and remarking at how much nicer yours is than hers, you can also interact with your friend’s buildings. Each time you select one, both you and your friend will gain money or XP for your trouble. You’ll also get social points, which contribute towards unlocking unique goodies for your town.

Finally, players can send one gift per day to each of their friends. Daily gifts include materials and even professional workers, all of which are quite handy. Get a few friends to play and you’ll have an easier time of things.

Keeping up with the clutter

2020 gives players so many things to do and systems to manage that it can get confusing at times, especially early on. You’ll go several levels before learning what some of the currencies and stats do. The function of the electricity and ecology stats in particular was a mystery until I discovered that some buildings require sufficient power or greenery in order to be constructed.

On the other hand, the game does have a few graphical options that will allow players to cut down on the visual stimulation a bit. You can adjust the pedestrian density from high to low to off, and even turn buildings completely off. Doing the latter will replace buildings with colored panels, which can also be handy just for taking stock of your country or cutting down on clutter. These options should also help 2020 run better on older iDevices.

Currencies and energy

The currency and In-App Purchase (IAP) systems can add to player confusion as well. 2020 has too many currencies going on for its own good: game dollars, country bucks, gold coins, reputation, and energy. Country bucks are the main premium currency; you can buy game dollars, gold coins, and energy with them. You can earn country bucks through gameplay, but they’re hard to come by.

Most processes in the game require energy to perform, whether it’s the actions that buildings offer, constructing a business, or speeding up a process’s completion time. The energy mechanic doesn’t annoy too greatly except for when you’re trying to earn a rare material from a building.

You might have to perform a building’s action ten or more times to find the part you need, which can easily drain more energy than your meter holds. In those instances, it might be tempting to just buy the rare item with country bucks.

Step into the (near) future

Will the future be brighter in the year 2020? The latest My Country game seems to think so. A world with flying cars, friendly aliens, and donut shops doesn’t seem so bad. Not everybody cares for futuristic stuff though, so the game cleverly spreads them out as you play through the game. By the time you realize 0actually happens in the future, you’re already hooked.

2020: My Country stands out from the crowd by offering a more fully-developed simulation than typical mobile games. It also packs a ton of content, with numerous missions, buildings, and ways to interact with those buildings. Like other free to play city builders, you’ll need to be able to stomach the time mechanics in order to enjoy this one past the tutorial phase. If you enjoy the genre, perhaps this one will keep you busy through the real year 2020 – or at least until another sequel comes along.

• iOS version – Free  – Download now
• Mac OS X version – Free  – Download now

This is the one a lot of us have been waiting ever so patiently on since it was first announced, but today – well, technically tomorrow – is GTA: San Andreas day. The game is already available to download in the New Zealand and Australia App Stores, and according to Pocketgamer will go live at midnight in the UK and the U.S, and presumably anywhere else it'll be available.

While we're waiting, we do at least get some idea on the size of the download and which devices will be supported. You're going to need an iPhone 4s and up, 5th gen iPod touch, iPad 2 and up and both iPad minis. Oh, and the download clocks in at 1.63GB so you're going to need to take that into account as well.

This is the first GTA game from Rockstar that is coming to market with support for the new MFi game controllers, such as those already released from Logitech and Moga. Touchscreen controls – particularly on the iPhone – have been the primary frustration for many with the previous releases for iOS, so it'll be interesting to hear the feedback from those folks who've jumped on the controller train.

So, midnight is the golden hour. Download links below for Australia and New Zealand, but now to try and not stay up all night playing it...

• $7.49 - Download Now (Australia)
• $9.99 - Download Now (New Zealand)

Source: Pocketgamer

Following on from GTA 3 and GTA: Vice City, Rockstar Games has announced that GTA: San Andreas will be coming to iOS this December. The good news doesn't end there, as it will also be heading our way with support for MFi game controllers with iOS 7. Oh yes. From the official Rockstar Games announcement:

The new touch control system sounds pretty interesting, especially since that's how most people will play and it's fantastic to hear that Rockstar has put some real work into optimizing it. But, it's the MFi game controller support that's really exciting us. With recent announcements from Logitech and Moga, and surely more to come elsewhere, you could be cruising the streets of San Andreas in a whole new way on your iPhone come Christmas time.

Rockstar has said that more will follow in the weeks ahead, but we're already getting impatient waiting. Are you going to be jumping on this when it lands? And what about that controller support? Sound off in the comments!

Source: Rockstar Games

It’s been a while since we wrote about The Sims FreePlay, Electronic Arts’ mobile version of the hit life simulation series. Even still, the game is going strong. EA has released two major updates for FreePlay in the last two months: the Teen and Mysterious Island updates. Together, they add new quests, areas to visit, loads of items, and of course teenage Sims.

We’ve put ample time in with both updates. Read on for full details on how The Sims FreePlay has grown!

Money Grows on Trees (unlocks at level 13)

Before you can visit the Mysterious Island, you’ll need to complete the ‘Money Grows on Trees?’ quest chain. It consists of the following goals:

1. Ponder in a Lounge Chair
2. Grow Potatoes
3. Make a Double Shot of Coffee
4. Grow Watermelon
5. Make a Hot Snack in the microwave
6. Catch some Zs on a Couch
7. Buy a Seed From the Supermarket
8. Have a Quick Dip in the Bath
9. Negotiate with a Sim-Eating Plant
10. Bake Donuts
11. Grow a Simoleon Sprout in the Garden

The Simoleon Sprout is a new plant for your Sims to grow. Planting one instantly launches a slot-machine minigame in which all of the payouts are in Simoleons. You can plant a Simoleon Sprout for free every four hours. Planting them sooner costs 5 Life Points. Probably not a great investment.

The Mysterious Island (unlocks at level 15)

After completing the Simoleon Sprout quest chain, you’ll gain access to the Mysterious Island quest series. It contains the following goals:

1. Go for a drive
2. Wash hands
3. Be on Hold to Tech Support on the Phone
4. Build bridge on the Town Map
5. Visit the Mysterious Island
6. Tap the Monument icon
7. Read Encyclopedia
8. Call a Friend
9. Catch a Ghost
10. Grill 'em all on a BBQ
11. Bake Pancakes
12. Bake Cookies
13. Read the Big Book of Stuff
14. Browse Internet
15. Have a Deep Sleep
16. Rest Eyes on a Couch
17. Grow Onions
18. Rich Lather in the Shower
19. Find Another Resource
20. Upgrade 'The Riches of Terra' to Level 1
21. Garden, Bake, or Work until you get a Simoleon bonus
22. Upgrade 'The Riches of Terra' to Level 2

The Mysterious Island itself is a new map that you can travel to after building The Mysterious Island Bridge. It contains a series of monuments for players to build. Each monument provides a chance to earn Simoleon or Life Point bonuses from completing tasks.

Instead of Simoleons or Life Points, monuments cost resources – a new class of item. Players will randomly earn resources by completing tasks such as gardening, hobbies, etc. The resource earned is random as well, with certain ones being much rarer than others. After you’ve upgraded the first monument, you can choose to substitute Life Points for resources at a cost of 3 Life Points per missing unit of resource.

Coming of Age (level 23), Higher Education (level 24), and the Road to Fame (level 25)

Now we come to the Teen update, which stars a recurring NPC character: Osiris the alien. Once you’ve unlocked Osiris, you can go to him or call him just like other Sims - from the SimTracker.

The ‘Coming of Age’ consists of:

1. Be Nice To Osiris
2. Bake Donuts
3. Be Nice To Osiris
4. Read The Big Book Of Stuff
5. Watch A Movie Marathon
6. Bake Chocolate Pudding
7. Talk To Trees
8. Grow Potatoes
9. Be Inconspicuous On A Park Bench
10. Bake Birthday Cake

After completing ‘Coming of Age,’ you’ll be able to advance Preteen Sims to full Teen status! The ‘Higher Education’ series then allows you to build the High School for teens to attend.

Teens need stuff to do besides just going to school. Thankfully they will be able to become Teen Idols by completing the ‘Road to Fame’ quest, which will become available in mid-November. Idols can play new instruments, sign autographs, and more. You’ll also be able to build one more new building: the SimTown Sign. It gives a chance to get extra revenue when collecting Simoleons from the town map.

Ghost Hunting and Halloween Event (level 10)

Ghost hunting has long been a popular method of grinding for Simoleons and Life Points. EA knows this and so they made ghost hunting a little harder. Haunted items now lose their hauntedness for 20-30 minutes after use.

If you want to continuously hunt for ghosts, you’ll need several haunted items in the same house (a good idea anyway). And if you want multiple Sims hunting for ghosts, you’ll have to buy a boatload of extra haunted goods in order to ensure they always have a haunted object to investigate.

Downer, right? On the plus side, the ghost hunting hobby can now level up to 8 instead of six. There are six new ghosts to find, which also bumps up the reward for subsequent ghost collection completions to 5 Life Points instead of 3. More exciting, each tier of ghosts offers brand new haunted items to unlock as rewards. These are all part of the special Halloween event that EA runs every year.

Complete the expanded collection of ghosts by November 1^st and you’ll unlock the Petrifying Putting Green item! It will only be available until then and never again. You’ll find it in the Outdoor Furniture section of the Home Store.

Mystery Boxes

The basic quest chain (comprised of random quests) provides a new item as a completion reward: the Mystery Box key.  You can only earn one key per week, though the chain continues to produce quests even after completion. 

To visit the Mystery Boxes Store, collect at least one key, select the weekly quest chain, and touch the Mystery Box icon. Mystery Boxes cost 1-10 keys, with the more expensive ones providing better rewards. Their contents are random, but at least you can judge the reward rarity by the cost of the Box.

Limited edition Progressive items

From time to time, EA adds sponsored items to the game. This update throws Progressive Insurance cars and TVs into the mix.

The TV is rated at 2-stars and gives players the option to watch that annoying Flo lady. Both the TV and car are free, so we can’t complain too much about the commercialization aspect.  You’ll still need to build the Car Dealership before you can get the car though.

New In-App Purchases

Naturally a content update like this has to add some new ways for players to spend real money.

• Adopt a Preteen
  Use a phone and choose this option to instantly add a preteen to your roster. Saves the trouble of having a baby and baking birthday cakes.
• Adopt a Teen
  This option appears after you complete the ‘Coming of Age’ quests. “Why make a teen the old fashioned way when you can just buy them?” someone asks.
• Life Point Lotus
  Works like the Simoleon Sprout but with Life Points, and it always costs money to grow. I won 50 Life Points when I tried it. This seems like a good deal no matter how much you win.

Bigger, mostly better

The Sims FreePlay is one of the most enjoyable free to play games I’ve experienced. The vast assortment of quests to complete, jobs and hobbies to level up, and customizations for your Sims’ homes will keep Sims fan busy for months at least. The Teen and Mysterious Island updates make the game that much better – except for making ghost hunting harder. Give it a try and see how fun Simulated life can be!

• Free – Download Now

The hot ticket in the gaming world right now is without question Rockstar's latest masterpiece, Grand Theft Auto V. Years in the making, hit by delays, it finally launched to eager gamers the world over just a month ago. The buzz was immense, as was revenue, with GTA V pulling in a cool billion dollars in the first three days. Chances are that if you're reading this, you've already had some time with the console version. But, as mobile gaming continues to take hold, there's understandably folks out there wondering if we'll ever see a mobile version of GTA V on our iPhones and iPads, and likewise what kind of GTA fix you can get.

Right now, it's a no for GTA V, and Rockstar hasn't said anything either way. There's no doubts a raft of technical challenges that would prevent a full port of GTA V, not least the 8GB mandatory install on Xbox 360 and PS3. But, never fear, for there is still plenty of Grand Theft Auto action to be had on your iOS devices. Rockstar has ported some of their past efforts to mobile, and GTA V has its very own companion app and full game manual to run alongside your console experience. So, click on a little further for the full list, tool up, and let's get to it!

Grand Theft Auto III

Originally released back in 2001, Grand Theft Auto was a game changer. Set in the fictitious world of Liberty City, the game offered an explorable world the likes of which hadn't been seen at the time. You play a no-name crook who works his way through crime filled missions, or just goes out and gets up to no good around the city. The launch on iOS coincided with the tenth anniversary of the launch of the game, and is a must play for any GTA fan. Despite being the third game in the series, this is where it all began.

• $4.99 - Download Now - Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Not a proper sequel to GTA III, Vice City took the same style of open world gameplay to the glorious 80's. Very similar graphically and in gameplay, Vice City launched just a year later. And, as with it's predecessor, it launched on iOS to celebrate the tenth anniversary. It's all the great gameplay of GTA III, but with better hair and costumes.

• $4.99 - Download Now - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The Grand Theft Auto V Connection

Rockstar hasn't left out mobile with the launch of their latest flagship release. The game manual and accompanying map of Los Santos and its surrounding area is so large that they dispensed with an included paper copy and released it in the form of a mobile app. An essential for all GTA V players for sure.

iFruit is a fun little companion, that hooks into the Rockstar Social Club. With it you can raise your in-game dog – kinda like a modern Tamagotchi – pimp up your rides and even order custom license plates for delivery to your in-game vehicles. Hint: iMore is taken! Both this and the manual are free to download, so there's no reason not to use them to enhance your game playing experience.

• Free - Download Now - iFruit for GTA V
• Free - Download Now - Grand Theft Auto V: The Manual
• iFruit is your Grand Theft Auto V companion for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

So, thats what we've got, but which is your favorite? Which GTA adventure would you most like to see Rockstar bring to iOS? Let us know in the comments!

As the clock ticks over midnight around the world tomorrow morning, a gaming goliath goes on sale that has its very own companion app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. We're of course talking about Grand Theft Auto V, and the iFruit application which has become available in the App Store on the eve of the big launch. Only iFruit isn't just an app, it's an app representing a phone – just in case you didn't get the connection yet – with other apps inside of it. So, what do we get?

First up is Los Santos Customs. In here you can create your dream GTA V car, including custom license plate. Kind of like real life, if someone else takes your license plate it's gone for good. So I've already acquired iMore, well, because! Once you've designed your car and added all the trick parts to it, you can send the order for it to be paid for – with in game currency – and next time you fire up the game you'll find it waiting for you in your garage. If you create one mid-game, your mechanic will call you asking you to swing by. Pretty sweet.

Chop the Dog is somewhere between a Tamagotchi and Kinectimals. You care for Chop, your in game dog, by feeding him, walking him, playing with him, teaching him tricks basically as you'd care for a real dog. The interesting part; the better you care for Chop here, the better he'll behave in GTA V.' If you take him for a walk, direct Chop around the park to keep those pesky other dogs away from your gal. Just don't forget the pooper scooper...

There's also a bunch of links to other Rockstar content, versions of GTA available on iOS, the Social Club – of which you need to be a member to use the app – and links to Lifeinvader. So, Lifeinvader is basically the GTA version of Facebook. You 'Stalk' people on it instead of follow or friend them, and in doing so you get free in-game stuff like spray jobs at Los Santos Customs, free drinks and so on.

The app is compatible with both PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA V, you just have to sign in and link the app to your PSN or Xbox Live account. After that, you should be good to go when you get your hands on a copy of the game. Rockstar is also pushing live at some point soon the GTA V user manual, since it's too big to go in the box with the game. We'll update as soon as it does.

Companion apps for big games are becoming more common, and with the next generation of consoles we'll be seeing a lot more of it. What do you think of it all? Happy to get this extra level of interaction with your favorite games?

Grab iFruit from the App Store now for free.

• Free - Download Now

Amazon currently has some pretty great savings on two classic Grand Theft Auto titles, with the pair costing less than $8! San Andreas and Vice City have both gone on sale, and the digital downloads can be yours for just $3.75 for San Andreas and $2.50 for Vice City. That actually means you can pick up the Mac version of Vice City for less than you could on your iOS device!

Neither title packs the graphical punch of some of the latest titles, but the Grand Theft Auto titles offer huge open worlds to explore, complete missions, and generally get up to all kinds of things that aren't fit for writing about. Grab them from the links below, and wave goodbye to your weekend.

• GTA San Andreas for Mac ($3.75)
• GTA Vice City for Mac ($2.50)

The wait is finally over, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is now available to download from the App Store. The 10th anniversary edition of the game has been revamped for mobile devices and includes high resolution graphics, updated controls and a host of new features.

The game has some nice features for iOS users such as tailored firing and targeting options, customization of user controls, iCloud save game support, huge gaming campaign, support for Retina devices and you can even listen to your own iTunes Playlists while driving around Vice City.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is available from the App Store now and supports the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

$4.99 Download Now

The creator of Tiny Tower released their long-awaited sequel today, only this time instead of populating an ever-growing skyscraper, in Pocket Planes you're in charge of an airline. Over the course of business, you have to buy new planes, expand to new cities, and transport both cargo and passengers to their destinations. Some of the more playful parts of the original have stuck around, including customized outfits for the bitizens you employ, and a look into their ridiculous lives through the fictional social network BitBook.

The core gameplay is straightforward, but if you've poured a lot of time into Tiny Tower, you'll find progression is a lot better defined in Pocket Planes. You start off with three cities and a handful of small planes in each one. Every city will have a few cargo and passenger jobs available (though sometimes you'll run out of jobs and will have to either fly to another city or pay to advertise and drum up business locally). After loading up you pick your route simply by tapping each city on the world map in the order you want it to fly in, provided you've paid the one-time fee for a spot at each airport. (One particular oddity of the map view: you use plus and minus buttons to zoom in and out, not a pinch gesture.) Once you lock in your flight path, you'll have cash deducted for fuel, and eventually get paid your fare when the plane lands. Be sure to plan ahead, since you can't change routes once you're in the air. You can upgrade airports to expand their flight and passenger capacity, though that tends to be pretty expensive.

You earn a 25% bonus to fares if you're taking more than one person to the same place. This can make it more profitable to make single stops rather than multiple ones even if the base fee per passenger is lower than alternative destinations. Hotspots, like Calgary in the above case, will give you a lot more cash for your flights, though you might have to significantly extend your network to get planes to those areas. Flights have a real-world duration, so once all of your planes are in the air, you'll be able to put your iPhone away until you get pinged with a notification. Over time, you level up and unlock new planes in the store, which is a common mechanic in just about every iOS game out there, but new since Tiny Tower.

The first thing you'll notice about your planes is that there's a lot of customization available, much like the bitizens under your command. Every plane has at least three different color categories that you can tweak to suit your preference, plus you can name each individual plane. The options extend far beyond the superficial, however. You can use the game's premium Plane Bux currency to upgrade parts like fuel capacity, engine strength, and frame weight. The aircraft available for purchase vary wildly in style, range, speed, weight, capacity, and class. Meticulous logs keep track of how much time your planes have spent in the air and how profitable they are.

Plane Bux can be acquired over the course of leveling up, delivering special cargo to hotspots that change every couple of days, or by tapping bills that fly by your planes in mid-flight. They're used to hurry up flights and unlock bitizen costumes, but they're mainly used for buying new planes. You can also buy plane parts with Bux in addition to finding them when you buy access to new airports, but then you have to pay even more Bux just to assemble the parts into a full craft. Currently, I'm level 4, and I would be lucky to get 4 Plane Bux a day by catching high-end fares. The cost of full planes start at around 14 bux, which means I would have to play diligently for three to four days to get a single plane, which in and of itself is a long time for a casual game, plus I doubt it'll get any easier as I level up.

I'm pretty disappointed that such a core part of the gameplay relies on premium currency; for me, the freemium model only works really well when you dangle accelerated progress or vanity items through microtransactions, not by making spending money a requirement to play the game. At that point, I might as well just pay for another game up-front and skip the jerking around. By all means, offer some premium planes that you can buy with Plane Bux, but you should be able to progress with coins alone.

One especially new feature in Pocket Planes is the heavy Twitter integration. Basically every second screen has a Tweet button. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not prone to bragging about how totally awesome my make-believe airport is to friends and family, so seeing the tweet button as often as you do can get irritating pretty quickly.

On the other hand, Pocket Planes has an awesome social feature called Flight Crews, where you can team up with your buddies to collectively climb leaderboards for events, as well as compete among yourselves. You and your friends can win Bux prizes for hitting certain ranks internationally. Normally, getting a high score isn't much of a motivation for me, but having me simultaneously team up with and compete against my friends for a shot a high-value in-game prizes makes it really compelling to get in on the action.

The graphics, though blocky and simple, retain the chunky charm of Tiny Tower. The background in flight view changes depending on the time of day, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, none of the graphics were optimized for the iPad, so instead of getting nice, sharp lines and a user interface that makes use of the extra screen real estate, you get something that looks just as bad as an iPhone app blown up to double size. That's actually okay, since there isn't any cloud syncing for the game either, so you wouldn't be able to pick up where you left off on either iOS device anyway. The audio is a little low-key. It has the familiar coin pick-up noise, and some fairly standard airplaney sound effects for mid-flight, take off, and notifications, but there's no music. Tiny Tower had a few catchy earworms, and I would have liked to see at least a couple of new tracks to really drive the spirit of flying home.

The good

• Charming 8 bit-style graphics
• Deep, detailed business simulation
• Attractive small- and large-scale leaderboard competition

The bad

• Aggressively pushes spending of premium currency
• Poor implementation on the iPad
• Obtrusive Twitter buttons

The bottom line

NimbleBit has created an exceptionally catchy brand that has spawned many competitors. Pocket Planes takes a decidedly huge leap from Tiny Tower by adding a ton of gameplay depth, but still keeps the adorable 8-bit spirit alive. The implementation of premium currency feels a lot more heavy-handed here than before, as does the Tweet buttons peppered throughout the game.

I've been a fan of business sim games ever since Theme Hospital, and since trying out Now Boarding, I've been hankering for a high-quality airplane-themed title. Pocket Planes comes close, and once they add some additional mechanics for hiring staff, I think I could spend an unhealthy amount of time playing this one. Hopefully they ease off the throttle on microtransactions, otherwise many people might start remembering why they hate freemium games.

Free - Download Now

[gallery]

Grand Theft Auto III: 10th Anniversary Edition has hit the App Store. Aside from the menus and loading screens, that have been updated for the '10th Anniversary', the game stays very true to the original. Its a must buy for anyone who wants some good nostalgia.

• Visually stunning updated graphics, character and vehicle models
• HD quality resolution
• Gameplay optimized for touch screen devices
• Custom controls for the mobile platform
• Countless hours of gameplay

It's also a universal app, so it plays well on both iPhone and iPoud touch, as well as iPad.

• $4.99 - iTunes Link

[gallery link="file"]

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars HD for iPad (GTA henceforth) is a great homage to its console brethren. Good story? Check. Good graphics? Check. Plenty of adult-themed action, adventure, and melodrama? Check. Check. Check.

You start off GTA on a flight back to the US, specifically Liberty City to transport your recently deceased Chinese Mafia Father's sword to the new leader. However, as soon as you arrive you are kidnapped and left for dead. Without spoiling anymore of the story, that's where you begin. I am not going to give away any more of what happens to you. Instead I am going to focus on the play mechanics, environments, etc.

GTA is structured in an isometric 3/4 view topdown action game. You are centered above Huang Lee's (the main character) head and move him around via a virtual d-pad on the bottom left of the screen. You can sometimes get turned around quite easily, so you can center the camera behind your character by double-tapping the d-pad. On the left of the screen you have your action buttons. These buttons are dynamic depending on what you are doing. You basically have some core functions; jump-kick, leap (over an obstacle such as a fence) and punch. If you acquire a weapon, the punch button is replaced with the weapon of choice. However, switching weapons is a little painful; you have to go to the pause menu located in the upper left and tap the weapon you want. This can remove you from the action in the middle of a fire-fight and is a bit disappointing.

The story is driven by mini-quests typically given to you by your uncle early in the game. You go to his house, some dialog ensues and you are then sent on your way. Examples might be to meet a family friend and escort them to a location, take out a rival gang and more. To do this you have to take advantage of your environment such as car-jacking anything from trucks to motorcycles to boats in the harbor.

The environment is absolutely huge. To help you get around you are given a GPS with map to get you to any destination. This is a very necessary tool. I couldn't tell you how big the city is in virtual miles, but it is quite large and with a lot of variety. You have everything in Liberty city including different burrows ala New York City style. You can go where you want, take people out for cash, play mini games all while time moves in accelerated time. Day goes to night and so on. The night effects are particularly nice as car, street and building lights all have neat effects on the environment which is quite impressive.

I think it's a fair statement that though there have been a few iterations of the game, the iPad version resigns supreme if for only having the larger screen. I absolutely love the gameplay and the fun uses of the touch screen from throwing out trash in a dumpster to manually having to hot-wire a car. Is the game groundbreaking? No, especially compared to other consoles. Is it fun? Oh yeah.

[$9.99- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Great graphics- details, light effect, shadows, etc
• Pedestrian back-talk
• Robust mobile iteration of the consoles legacy
• Easy to play with the iPad screen

Cons

• Inconvenient means to switch weapons
• Vehicle controls can be frustrating at times

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We'll avoid the obvious question (why live in a SIM world when you can live in the real one), and the metaphysical (maybe you're just a SIM in someone else's iPhone already...?) because, frankly, no one cares! The Sims 3 is -- finally! -- out for the iPhone and iPod touch:

If you try it out, and manage to remember the rest of us still exist, let us know how you like the Sims 3 for the iPhone, okay?

[Thanks Andrew for the tip!]