I’m not much of a gamer, but this year I’ve played more games than the past few years combined … thanks to the iPhone. The variety, quality and power of iPhone games never cease to amaze me. These are 5 games that have occupied my (otherwise productive) time in 2009. All 5 games are playable on the iPhone and iPod touch, cost no more than $5 each and should make people really notice the iPhone OS as a solid games platform.

1. Alive 4 Ever

alive 4 ever for iPhone

I love the zombie genre. For a while, all the games I played were zombie-related games! Alive 4 Ever is a top view shoot ‘em up game, which sort of combines Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil and Gauntlet. In each mission you have a primary and secondary objective. As you complete missions, you earn credits to purchase additional weapons and also level up.

There’s also cooperative multiplayer over Bluetooth and WiFi, which is always fun when you have a buddy to shoot zombies with.

Get Alive 4 Ever on iTunes ($2.99)

2. Modern Combat : Sandstorm

modern combat sandstorm for iPhone

Modern Combat : Sandstorm has one of the best controls I’ve ever played with in an iPhone game. This game was a pleasure to play : easy to control, and lots to shoot at and blow up. The game takes place in the Middle East, and you play a soldier who’s part of a hunt for a master terrorist.

The graphics and atmosphere are great. You have multiple choices of weapons that you can pick up within the game, and there are several different locations and scenarios from a hospital, to a truck chase, to exploring subterranean tunnels.

With the great controls, this would be an awesome multiplayer game — if only Gameloft can get the multiplayer working properly.

Get Modern Combat : Sandstorm on iTunes ($4.99)

3. Blades of Fury

blades of fury for iPhone

Street Fighter is back! Well, actually no, but Blades of Fury is a good 3D arcade-style fighting game. It’s actually more like Soul Calibre than Street Fighter, but you get the drift. In Blades of Fury, you have a number of characters (and costumes) to choose from. There’s a story mode which gets repetitive, but you need to play it to unlock certain characters. The graphics are incredible, and the game uses a lot of short videos for cut scenes and KO moves.

You can play against friends over Bluetooth, which is cool.

Buy Blades of Fury from iTunes ($4.99)

4. Dungeon Hunter

dungeon hunter for iPhone

If you like RPGs (role playing games) like Baldur’s Gate, then give Dungeon Hunter a try. Developer Gameloft calls Dungeon a “3D epic quest set in a dark fantasy world”. The graphics, sound and controls are well done. Even the storyline is quite decent, although it’s not always so straightforward. The game plays in a story mode, as you go to different locations to accomplish different missions.

There’s minimal replayability with Dungeon Hunter, but playing it will give you a “wow” feeling — when did the iPhone get to be such a good games machine?

Get Dungeon Hunter on iTunes ($4.99)

5. Eliminate Pro

Eliminate Pro for iPhone

I’ve had a lot of fun playing Eliminate Pro over the past few months. This was a widely anticipated game, and indeed developer ngmoco delivered what they promised. Eliminate Pro is a multiplayer first person shooter. You can play against friends or random strangers across the Internet, who are automatically matched to your skill level.

The frag sessions are pulse-pounding, frantic, fast paced, but frustratingly short. As long as you have a decent enough Internet connection, the game plays extremely well … which is amazing considering you may be playing against 3 other people who may be all over the globe. Since this game is designed from the start as multiplayer, you get all the usual leaderboards and bragging rights that come along with them.

The graphics are great. There’s lots of customization options, from weapons to armour to skins. Eliminate Pro is one of the first games that fully used the in-app feature to the max. You can have a perfectly ok gaming experience without spending any money, or you can get ahead faster by buying “power cells” which you can use to gain credits to upgrade your gear.

Get Eliminate Pro on iTunes (free)

So those are the 5 iPhone games that I have been playing over and over in 2009. What games have kept you up lately?

Filed under: Games • iPhone

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