Best iPhone Games of 2009

Cnet tried to make a collection of iPhone games that would have something for everyone, there included quick casual games along with strategy, tower defense, first-person shooters, word games, and more. Obviously, Cnet recommend every game in this list, but hopefully you’ll be able to find a genre you like so you have something to play over the holidays.

Here are some favorite iPhone games for 2009.

Orbital iPhone Game Orbital is a game that starts out with a very simple concept, but after you spend some time with the game, you’ll realize it’s much more than it seems. The object is to shoot orbs onto the playing field and to hit them three times with subsequent orbs in order to score a point and make them disappear. As your playing field fills up, you’ll need to make increasingly precise shots to lower your orbs’ hit count and hopefully keep the orb you shot in an area that doesn’t block later shots. Obviously, it’s very confusing to explain, but once you play for a few minutes it will all become clear. You can also play multiplayer on the same device with a player on each end–great for an across-the-table match. Overall, Orbital is an excellent pick-up-and-play type of experience, with slick yet simple graphics, great for a quick game wherever you are and challenging enough to keep you coming back for more. I highly recommend this game.

GeoDefense iPhone Games The original Geodefense became known as the thinking man’s tower defense game, requiring players to work out a strategy for harder levels (and they were very challenging). GeoDefense is still one of the best tower defense games in the iTunes App Store, and its much-hyped follow-up, Geodefense Swarm, offers more of the same insanely challenging gameplay, but with a twist. GeoDefense Swarm has 30 playable levels split between Easy, Medium, and Hard categories, all offering the same vector-based graphics, pixel bursts, and warp effects found in the original. But Geodefense Swarm does away with the fixed path concept in Geodefense, and adds tiles that speed up and slow down creeps, a new tower called the Thumper, and several increasingly challenging maps to play.

Homerun Battle 3D iPhone Games Homerun Battle 3D lets you participate in a home run derby to beat your best score or challenge other players online. The control system is excellent: tilt your iPhone or iPod Touch to adjust where you will swing in the strike zone. When the pitch crosses the plate, touch the screen anywhere to swing. It takes some practice to be able to line up your bat with different types of pitches, but you get the hang of it fairly quickly. The challenge is in hitting several home runs in a row, which you’ll need to practice if you plan on trying your luck against other skilled players online. The system for online matching with other players is superb, letting you start playing almost immediately.

Modern Combat Sabdstorm iPhone Games Modern Combat: Sandstorm is a first-person shooter that might be the best one available at the iTunes App Store. The game is set somewhere in the Middle East, with mission objectives in dry sandy locales. You have three different types of control schemes to pick from, with variations of onscreen joysticks and touch-screen actions. Whether you’re gunning through the missions or take the game online against other players, Modern Combat: Sandstorm provides great shoot-’em-up action and great gameplay. Along with the great gameplay, the game also has great audio, with explosive-sounding guns, and good voice acting in-game and during cut scenes. Overall, if you’re looking for a solid first-person shooter with good single player to come to the iPhone, Modern Combat: Sandstorm is an excellent choice with exciting gameplay, challenging missions, and a control scheme that’s fairly easy to get used to. The new addition of multiplayer is only icing on the cake.

eliminate iPhone Game Eliminate Pro is an extremely well-polished “free” game featuring smooth-looking graphics, onscreen controls that are fairly effective (no match for a controller or keyboard/mouse setup, but that’s to be expected), a number of power-ups to improve your weapons and armor, and several playable maps. In-game kills and winning matches earn you credits you can use to buy new weapons and armor. There are eight armor types, five weapon types, and items to buy like armor designs (skins) to give you a new look. The best part is that you get to play an online FPS from wherever you are on 3G or Wi-Fi against your friends or against players from around the world. The game uses the Plus+ network, so you’ll need to register your character before you start playing online.

Alive4Ever iPhone Alive4Ever is part survival shooter and part RPG in which you’ll fight off zombies using onscreen joysticks and has more than a little resemblance to popular PC game, Left4Dead (even the name!). It’s similar to iDracula: Undead Awakening (another great game), a survival shooter, but adds several new elements to make it even better. In Alive4Ever, you get to choose among four different characters with varying strengths and weaknesses and play through 30 missions of increasingly hard zombie-killing mayhem. When you’re low on health or ammo, you can often fight your way to pickups to replenish your supplies. As you complete missions, you’ll earn experience to increase your character’s abilities and extra cash to buy new and more-powerful weapons.

N.O.V.A Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance iPhone game N.O.V.A. – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance just came out, but might be the best first-person shooter yet, so I decided to add it at the last second. Using much of the same controls as Modern Combat: Sandstorm (reviewed above), N.O.V.A. challenges you to unravel the mystery of several attacks on orbiting installations. The smooth graphics remind me of the Halo games visually, and the sound effects are excellent, with the notable exception of the voice acting, which is not so great. You can play a huge single-player mission across several levels or take the game online and play death-match games with other players. Overall, N.O.V.A. just might unseat all others as the best FPS for iPhone and iPod Touch, so I just had to add this one to the list.

Backbreaker Football iPhone game Backbreaker Football is not a “complete” football game like Madden NFL 10 or NFL 2010; it instead focuses on the challenge of running around defenders to make touchdowns. Control your runner by tilting your phone, forward to run, and left and right to turn. Onscreen buttons give you a variety of moves to make defenders miss including right and left juke moves, spin moves, and a turbo button to break free for the touchdown. There’s also a showboat button so you can high-step into the end zone. Each move has a certain point value and when you string moves together (or showboat for more yards before the end zone) you get more points to add to your score. The great thing about Backbreaker Football is that it doesn’t take an enormous amount of time to play a few waves (running the distance of the field), so it’s easy to get some quick playing time in wherever you are.

Real racing iphone game Real Racing is my favorite of all the racing games with excellent graphics, different camera views, more than 40 cars in four classes, 12 unique tracks, and five game modes–most of which you will unlock as you win races. You also can sync your best times against other players online and even join a league to rise up through the ranks against people across the globe. Excellent goal-oriented gameplay (new cars and tracks) keeps you playing, and an online component that’s more than just a high-score list makes you want to get better. But what makes me like this game over all other racing sim-type games for iPhone are the sensitive, but realistic feeling controls, including an autobraking system that helps you learn the ropes to become a better racer.

ATF offroad iPhone Game There have been a few good off-road racing games in the iTunes App Store, but none had the polish and natural-feeling controls of ATV Offroad. With amazing graphics and excellent physics, the gameplay involves racing through challenges and multirace competitions to unlock more tracks. There also are freestyle, quick race, and multiplayer modes, but you’ll need to be on the same Wi-Fi network to race against your friends. ATV Offroad sets itself apart from other racing games the second you hit the track with smooth-looking graphics and excellent accelerometer-based controls. You can even pull off huge tricks while in the air by hitting onscreen trick buttons. You can choose between three skill levels, though I found even the medium skill level to be very hard to beat. If you don’t like the look of your racer, you can easily switch between multiple ATV designs and different-color leathers with a swipe of your finger before a race.