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A few weeks ago, I wrote about 5 simple games available for the iPhone and iPod touch. There were some great games, but what if you wanted something a little more challenging, something to get you thinking? Here are four great titles below for you to check out, each of a different genre, so let’s begin!

The Games

KDice Trainer War Game - $1.99

There’s something quite intriguing about taking over the world using nothing more than skill and dice rolling. In KDice Trainer War Game, having a six means everything. Confused? Let me explain. In KDice Trainer War Game, you’re up against up to five other players in a bid to control the entire map. Each player has dice on specific segments of the map. You tap on your segment, and a segment next to it of a different player’s so you go head-to-head. All the dice on your segment are rolled, and the dice on the opposition’s segment are rolled. The highest number wins, and takes their opponent’s segment. It’s a very simple concept, but it’s also very addictive. Clever strategy will keep you on top of your opponents, but if you loose a few rounds, it’s difficult to come back.

The graphics are very similar to the web-based version of the game, and suit the style nicely. There’s no need for amazing 3D graphics here, just a simple, useable interface. The gameplay is of course repetitive. There are 99 possible “bots” to play against, each with unique artificial intelligence, but each level is similar. An interesting update would be to see online multiplayer—which may be possible after the release of iPhone OS 3.0.

KDice Trainer War Game is a very simple, yet very fun game. It’s perfect to pick up and play for a few minutes, and hasn’t yet become boring. The price may seem a little high for what you see, but the creation of 99 separate “bots”—each with slightly varied playing styles—is a lot of hard work for the developers, an effort which clearly shows through to the final product.

Appletell Rating: 4/5

Red Bull Air Race World Championship - $4.99

In no other form is the quote “Red Bull gives you wings” so accurate. Well, alright, it doesn’t give you wings literally, but it gives you the ability to fly a plane on your iPhone or iPod touch—with wings included, of course. The ultimate flight-sim, X-Plane, was ported to the iPhone some time ago, and has proven to be very successful; it works great on the device. Red Bull Air Race World Champtionship takes similar controls to X-Plane, and applies them to a Red Bull-styled race. It’s the sort of flying that looks impressive. Flying between air-filled pylons at fast speed while performing tricks looks impressive, there’s no doubt about that. The graphics for Red Bull Air Race World Championship aren’t amazing. For the fast-paced games such as this title, the iPhone lets them down slightly; it’s not quick enough to keep up with the constant movement at high speed. While it’s easy to pick out the pylons, water and plane around you, I feel the graphics could be crisper, and provide an all-round better experience.

The gameplay requires accurate controls throughout. You can calibrate the movement and adjust the sensitivity, but the default settings have a fast response time. The movements you need to get your plane flyting in all directions sometimes means you’re holding your iPhone or iPod touch at angles which don’t allow you to see the screen clearly. As a result, you move it back slightly, and miss the gate. Although it’s nothing a little practice can solve, it’s probably not the preferred game to play on a crowded train.

If you’re a fan of stunt-plane flying, you’ll enjoy playing around with Red Bull Air Race World Championship. It’s great fun to play, the controls are realistic (if a little sensitive), and the graphics don’t stop you from playing. The options available are great. You even have the ability to edit your own race course and share it with your friends around the world. The 30 levels of gameplay are sure to keep you flying for longer than your lunch break, so no worries there.

Appletell Rating: 4/5

The VOID - $2.99

The VOID is one of a minority of space-related role playing games for the iPhone and iPod touch. You begin as small ship in a small world, but slowly build up to bigger and better crafts to control and worlds to conquer. When playing the game for the first time, it can be confusing as to what you actually have to do, but once you’ve played around with it, it’s quick to learn. You go through four menus of options, choosing your weapons, equipment and ship, as well as choosing a location to explore.

The controls borrow ideas from consoles and use three buttons; A, B and C, a slider and a fire button. You can assign your weapons to one of the three A, B or C buttons to have everything available to you. The graphics are slightly pixelated in areas, but provide a good experience overall. Playing in space means the backdrop is black. Targets, weapons and ships are bright and show up clearly. You can control the zoom using the standard pinch method to either give you more of an overview or an in-the-action experience.

The gameplay of The VOID is certainly addictive. The space-genre of gaming doesn’t usually appeal to me, but I’ve been playing The VOID and have found it difficult to put down. Once you begin playing, you want to continue so you can move to the next levels. The screenshots of gameplay don’t show the full picture. When you’re looking at a single spaceship surrounded by nothing but three large buttons on the side, it doesn’t look like a great game. But once you’re playing it, you’re not thinking of how it looks, you’re thinking of how you can find that particular box with weapons in it, or how you can attack the enemies without getting shot yourself. It’s immersive.

The VOID, as many games do, comes with a lite version, which offers options to upgrade to save data to the full version if you’d like to continue playing. There’s nothing to lose in giving it a try, and you won’t have to repeat the easier levels if you decide to purchase.

Appletell Rating: 4/5

iMind - $0.99

If you’ve ever played Mastermind, you’d enjoy playing iMind. It’s perfect for those times where you’re either too lazy to find the game or there’s no one around to play with you. There are levels of play from “challenge kids” to “challenge pro.” The graphics don’t require much, they’re just plain and simple. The four beads vary in number and style depending on which level you’re playing. The “kids” level plays with aliens, while the “pro” level uses 3D squares.

There’s not a lot to say about iMind. It’s a brilliant re-creation of the classic Mastermind. The gameplay is exactly as you’d expect, but with the added bonus of multiple levels, and no need for a second player either. It would be interesting to see that implemented in future releases, although it would get boring for the player who simply chose the beads each time. The graphics are fine for the style of play.

Overall, there’s nothing wrong with iMind. It’s not going to entertain you for hours on end, but for those times when you feel like playing a simple game of logic, there’s not a lot that can beat Mastermind.

Appletell Rating: 5/5

The Verdict

The four games above are great examples of the many different types of games you can find in the App Store; there’s something that appeals to everyone. My personal favorite from the above four is KDice. Simply because it’s fun, entertaining and rewarding. iMind takes a close second, however, as there’s not a lot bad about the application. Both Red Bull Air Race World Championship and The VOID are also great games, and all would appeal to many people. The excitement of flying a plane in a race, the immersive gameplay of The VOID, the strategic style of KDice, and the pure simplicity of iMind make the four titles above, great examples of different styles of gaming on the ever popular iPhone and iPod touch.