Games
Monopoly on the iPhone is one of my favorite games of all time. Although I did play it on my iPad by using the screen double feature my wish was for a native iPad version. I got my wish this week when Electronic Arts introduced Monopoly for iPad. That was one of the fastest App purchases I've ever made. I wasn't disappointed. It was worth the wait. Electronic Arts did a great job taking advantage of the iPad's screen real estate. There are new animations as well as new options to spice up the game play. First off you can play Monopoly as it was originally designed with all the normal rules in place. You can play against the computer (AI) or another player over WiFi or Bluetooth (on the iPhone or iPad version). There's even a "Tabletop" mode to allow you and your friends to gather around the iPad on a table and play each other. You can either listen to the built-in game music or build your own playlist from your music library. If you're the quiet type you can turn off the music and animations.
Game Play
The game play feels about the same as the iPhone version. I play on the "Hard" level and I still managed to beat the AI in the first game. Just like the iPhone version, Monopoly for iPad is "greedy" 
My strategy is to keep it broke by letting it out bid me on properties that it can't possibly get a monopoly on because I still own one of the other properties in the block. It also still offers some of the craziest trades that I wouldn't take in a million years. Although I know how to beat it, it's still a challenge because sometimes the dice just don't fall in your favor. This is what keeps me playing. I could win or lose and it's the joy of the game that makes it fun.
The new perks include the ability to choose the number of properties at start (defaults to none), Houses per Hotel (4 is the default) , House/Hotel Limit (on/off), What money if any goes under Free Parking (default is none), Initial Cash, Pass Go Salary ($200 default, Land on Go Salary (Normal or Double) and Auctions (on/off). The end game stats are a really nice touch too. The only thing I don't see is Game Center support (yet).
If you like Monopoly, you'll love this App!
You can get Monopoly for iPad for $9.99 here from the 
You can get Monopoly for iPhone/iPod touch for $2.99 here from the
What started out as a Halloween themed version of my favorite iOS game has now evolved into a "holiday" themed version. Angry Birds is one of the most successful games on iOS. I'm not a gamer and I look forward to playing it and the new levels whenever I have the time. I bought the Halloween version without a second thought not so much because I'm into Halloween (I'm not), but because it would give me the chance to play my game again. Everyone that bought the Halloween version was treated to a free update last week as the game has now become Angry Birds Seasons. This update has introduced a Winter or Christmas themed layout. There are more challenges and it's a nice refresh to a game that I thoroughly enjoy. It also now has Game Center support in iOS 4.2.
What's the object of the game?
If you're new to Angry Birds at first the game might look a little silly. However, what you don't see at first glance is that the game is really all about strategy. You're given a set number of "angry birds" and a slingshot. You use your finger to pull back the slingshot and launch the bird at the structure that the "pigs" are hold up in. Each bird has its different properties. Some can drop bombs. Some explode like grenades. The yellow ones have accelerated flight and hitting power, some are boomerangs, etc. Tapping the screen while the bird is in mid flight will expose the bird's particular powers. The reason I say it's all about strategy is you have to plan where to hit the structure to do the most damage and smash all of your pigs. That's where the addiction comes in. You'll quickly find yourself saying "one more try". Hours later you'll wonder where the time went.
One bit of frustration
This version seems to be counting down the days til Christmas. While that in and of itself is no big deal, the developer has decided to only allow you to go to the next level on the next day. That's right! Once I complete the level for December 6, I can't play level "7" until December 7. Now I suppose if you really really wanted to play all the levels immediately a quick change to your iPad's date might do the trick (I haven't tried this). While I'm willing to play one level a day, it would be nice if we had the "option" to turn this off and play all the levels we wanted. At least the way it's currently implement it keeps me from getting sucked in for hours at a time
You can get Angry Birds Seasons HD for iPad for $1.99 here from the
You can get Angry Birds Season for iPhone/iPod touch for $0.99 here from the
Angry Birds is one of the most addictive games I've ever played. It's also one of the few games that I've played all the levels on successfully. As soon as they update it with new levels I play all of those too. Needless to say when I saw that they had a Halloween version, I had to check it out. It's not that I'm a fan of Halloween as much as I am a fan of the game. Also it was a chance to get some new levels 
You see my addiction coming through now.
Angry Birds Halloween doesn't disappoint
Not only did I get some new levels in this special edition, but some new challenges as you advance, the pigs are sometimes incased in pumpkins. So you not only have to bring the structures down on them as before, but you have to do it in such a way that it smashes the pumpkins too. This game made my 4.5 hour flight to LA seem like it was only 30 minutes! Thanks!
You can get Angry Birds Halloween for iPhone/iPod touch for $0.99 here from the
You can get Angry Birds Halloween HD for the iPad for $1.99 here from the
P.S. don't blame me if your productivity just went down the drain. I'm just sayin….
Once in a while a game comes out for the iOS platforms that is just a big hit. Make way Angry Birds (the top game until now) because Cut the Rope is here to enter the scene and fight over the top game in the app store.
Game Objective
Cut the Rope has a very simple objective that they use to make a challenging but rewarding game. The plot, so to speak, is that you one day get a box delivered to your door with a little monster inside it who eats nothing but candy. If you are worrying that this is a simulation game, read on and trust me, it isn’t.
Your goal throughout all the levels is to deliver a little ball-sized piece of candy to the surprisingly cute monster (called Om Nom) by cutting the rope it hangs in and through the power of gravity make sure it ends up in Om Nom’s mouth.
iPhone:
iPad:
I've gotten this question several times now: "What's that tennis game featured in the screen shot on BestAppSite.com?" Is it Wii Tennis? Sadly no. It's actually called Tennis Slam. Although it's not Wii Tennis, it does feel like it a little while you're playing. Tennis Slam is a Tennis Game for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can play either by using your hand/iPhone as the controller (ala Wii) or you can play by hitting the onscreen button to swing. Although I'm not much of a gamer, I have played Wii Tennis many times and I do find it kinda fun. If nothing else, like most games it gives me a mental break. That being said, I found Tennis Slam to start out with that Wii Tennis feel, but then fall off quickly in both game play and animation. Great sound effects for sure, but after a few minutes I was getting kinda bored. Then I switched to using the on screen button vs. the accelerometer and for whatever reason I was able to score more easily. Even after winning some points though I was ready to move on. Now again, I'm not a gamer! So keep that in mind. If you are a Wii Tennis fan and you do like this sort of game, then this is probably worth a look.
A couple of things that would have made this game much better. As far as game play goes, I'd love to see the ability to play another human wirelessly via WiFi/Bluetooth. That's what makes Wii so much fun. I'd also like to do more than just swing. Right now the games moves the player around the court for you. I think this is why I got bored so easily because you don't do much other than time your swing. Do I recommend this game. That's a tough question because again it depends on your expectations and what you're looking for. So I would have to say "maybe." As I've said in the past, the focus of BestAppSite.com is to highlight THE BEST Apps on the App store and unless I tried others in this category I couldn't tell you if this is the best or not?
You can get Tennis Slam here from the App Store: 
I don't know of any guy that hasn't sat in his office and at one point or another balled up a piece of paper and toss it across the room in an attempt to make a basket. There's just something about this ritual that becomes an office tradition around the world. I've even seen people take the time to move a waste basket further away from their desk to make it more challenging to make that basket.
Paper Toss now gives you a way to take this experience with you everywhere you go
I had resisted this game for months now. When a friend first showed it to me I knew right then and there that I would spend hours playing with it. Luckily I'm very busy with work at the moment so I don't have a lot of time for games in general. However, I could see this thing sucking several minutes a day out of my life The concept is simple. You're sitting at your desk and you use your finger to flick the paper towards the waste basket. However, to make it more challenging with each turn there is a desk fan blowing your paper. So you have to compensate the angle of the toss so that the fan blows the paper into the basket. There's even an Airport mode for us frequent travelers to simulate the time we waste waiting for our flights.
F.A.S.T. stands for Fleet Air Superiority Tactics and it's all about arial dog fights plain and simple. I've always been a fan of military flight simulator games and fascinated by the ones that let you fly the latest and greatest fighter jets (or at least the ones we know about). I was amazed by how well F.A.S.T. was implemented on the iPhone/iPod touch. Of course they take complete advantage of the built-in accelerometers.
I'm always amazed at how well the developers can port classic games over to the iPhone platform. The makers of Doom have done an excellent job in bringing over Doom Resurrection. A lot of thought went to how you would control a game like Doom with just touch screen controls and the way they chose to make it more enjoyable was to remove the chore of having to walk through the game while you're trying to fight off the aliens/zombies. The game does the walking for you and leaves you to concentrate on firing, ducking, dodging and picking up clues. Although I'm certainly not a gamer, I find this game to be entertaining without being too gory just for the sake of being gory. Now if someone could help me defeat the two giant water creatures I could move on.
Blackjack 21 is one of my old favorites. When the App Store first opened I tried a few different Blackjack games and settled on Blackjack 21. I liked this one over the others for one simple reason. It was the game play experience. The developer took advantage of the touch interface to simulate as close as possible the experience of sitting at a casino table. You ask for a hit by swiping your finger down. You "stand" by swiping your finger across. You actually place your bets by tapping the chips representing the dollar amount you want to wager and those chips slide out onto the table. You split by swiping up and double-down by double-tapping and if you give up you can surrender by swiping left and right.
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Canabalt is a popular game with a cool music track and basically you run through the game jumping over obstacles and avoiding falling between buildings. Great time waster when you're standing in a line or sitting in a waiting room. Great use of vibration effects and it has the old arcade game kinda feel.
