The App Store’s Hidden Gems

Posted on January 24th, 2009. Written by J. Barrington.

With the 15000 applications ready for sale on the iTunes App Store, it is near impossible to find anything other than big name developers or useless fart machine (you know what I mean). Here at RazorianFly, we try our best to review applications – including the ones who have not gotten their well deserves attention. This is going to be somewhat of a series, to further help you on your quest to try (and enjoy) something new.

1. Pigs A Pop’n

I found out about this game on the Touch Arcade forums, through a contest that the developer had been hosting. Whoever gets the highest score in the game by February 1st (Yes, it’s still going!) will receive $200. This seemed like a great marketing method, and the chance of winning money pushed me over the edge of getting the game. It turns out that Pigs A Pop’n is one of the most challenging, polished and worth-while games to date for the iPhone, for the upsettingly low price of .99 cents. It’s a little bit hard to explain the gameplay, but I suggest that you give it a look, seeing that you don’t have much to lose.

2. Zombie Mansion

Ah, Zombie Mansion. An extremely well hyped first person shooter, set in an evil mansion filled with – you guessed it – zombies. The game was highly criticized for it’s controls system, right at it’s launch. Many make jokes about it, considering it a complete “flop” or “disaster”. I think I’m one of the only ones who disagree. With this game, you really need to spend some time getting used to it – getting a good feel for the controls and the gameplay. Once you’ve done this – which I did – you will appreciate the other elements that make this game a true winner. It has some of the best 3D graphics on the App Store, the suspense to make easily frightened gamers pee their pants, and a trillion different rooms to look through. What I’m trying to say is that everybody should give the game another try. You may end up loving it.

3. MemoColors

MemoColors is one of the many “Simon” ports for iPhone. I found about 6 different clones, but this one seems to be the most polished of the bunch. What makes this game fun is it’s simple concept – and that’s about all. You must match the colors on the screen by tapping in a specific order – the same order that the colors light up in before.

That’s about all I have to say about this game, but it does qualify for this list – it’s hidden, and it’s a gem.

 
4. DuckDuckDuck

This game was developed by Majic Jungle Software, the same people who brought us Chopper (one of my favorite) and an exclusive interview to RazorianFly. Although their first title was a port, DuckDuckDuck is an original game developed from the ground up, specifically for the iPhone. You must send your ducks to the matching colored whirlpools, but if you swim to far your duck will get lost! This is yet another hidden gem that I think is worth a look.

 

Those are all of the hidden gems we have for you today, but you can be sure that we are working on more news, reviews,