iPhone OS 3.0 ready – for the first time ever, LISTEN TO & CONTROL music from your iTunes library without interrupting your game!

Get down to business – use your savviest business strategies to Buy, Sell, Trade & Manage big-name properties and stay ahead of the competition

Have fun while you make money – cruise around the interactive board with animated tokens and 3D dice as you collect popular properties for PROFIT

Hands-on excitement – shake your iPhone to roll the dice. Tap the screen to Buy, Trade, and Upgrade your properties with Houses & Hotels

Competition is not far away – play with up to four (4) friends on the same network with WiFi & Pass ‘n Play and up to two (2) people with Bluetooth Multiplayer

Endless possibilities – play through three (3) levels of difficulty and save games in progress for non-stop FUN

Monopoly Classic is available now from the iTunes Store at an introductory price of just $4.99 alongside it’s older sibling, Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition which we reviewed and liked. Check out the game on the iTunes App Store by following the links below:

Monopoly Classic [iTunes link]
Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition [iTunes link]

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Cold War – Experience real-time strategy as the Soviet or Allied factions. Control the battlefield with touch-screen power in up to 12 combat levels. Create and command war squads in realistic environments. Manage supplies with an intuitive combat system, and escalate the game with hi-tech weapons you develop.

Touch Screen Victory – Drag and scroll to gauge the battlefield. Pinch-zoom in and out of the action. Select and move units with a tap. Control multiple units at once!

Soviet or Allies, You Choose! – Fight for Soviet domination or battle to restore peace with the Allies. Deploy military might unique to each side and engage in different campaign storylines.

Command, Manage, Conquer – Command units in different environmental conditions. Build your base and manage supplies with a new easy-to-use combat system.

Armed for an All-Out War – Employ classic units like Kirov Air Ships and new units like the Paladin Tank. Or R&D new technologies to destroy your enemies.

More Coming Soon – It doesn’t end here. Upcoming features including multiplayer mode and Empire of the Rising Sun Expansion Pack expands the action further for even more battlefield intensity!

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is available now at an introductory price of $9.99. If the built-in 12 levels are not enough, the game comes with 6 additional skirmish maps (via In-App Purchase) for an additional $0.99.

Get this much awaited game from the iTunes Store today! [iTunes Link]

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Nothing but net – NBA Live delivers the most realistic 5-on-5 action available for iPhone and iPod touch!

Pick-up and Play – Tip-off anytime, anywhere, and watch your game come to life in vivid 3D. Even replay your most awesome plays. It’s fun and intuitive enough for the casual gamer, but also delivers the authenticity to meet the demands of the most hardcore basketball fans.

Authentic Teams, Real Stars, True Legends – With real NBA rosters, you can dominate the game as Dwight Howard and other NBA All-Stars. Or unlock legends and elevate your game with true Hall-of-Famers.

Multiple Modes – Match up all 30 NBA teams in the new 82-game Season Mode. Play a casual game in Exhibition Mode, or battle all the way to the Finals in the ultra-intense Playoff Mode.

Touchscreen Control – Control the game with a virtual analog stick. Use the accelerometer to accurately shoot free-throws. Touch the clip board to pick from a number of offensive plays or to select your defensive strategy.

Take It to The Rack – Stay in the zone with 15 music tracks from artists like Matt and Kim, Snoop Dogg and Xzibit.

Broadcast Legend Commentary – Hear legendary announcer Marv Albert accent the action as you rain 3s from downtown.

NBA Live is available for an introductory price of $9.99. Get it from the iTunes Store.

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An excellent title from the great guys over at Electronic Arts, this premium $9.99 title is a must-have for any fans of The Sims series of games. If you must know, I personally own a copy of the original The Sims for my Mac (can’t play it on my new Intel Mac), as well as The Sims Bustin’ Out for my (now abandoned) GameBoy Advance console. This is my third Sims game, playable on my iPod touch – and I’m loving it so far.

If you come to expect a full-blown Sims title on your iPhone, then you’re probably in for some disappointment. The Sims 3 for the iPhone (and iPod touch) are slightly scaled-down version of the larger games. C’mon, you can’t seriously want a full fledged Sims game on the iPhone, would you? Not possible at this moment, but sometime in the future, perhaps?

First, The Sims 3 promises over 10 hours of gameplay filled with hysterical antics and unexpected moments of surprise. (Yes, I took that line from EA’s promo copywriting.) I vouch that I’ve personally spent more than 10 hours on my copy and I’m still going back for more.

You start off by creating a character thru simple customisations like gender, skin tone, eye color, hair style and clothing. You know, the typical new character portion of most games.

Next, you get to define your new Sim’s persona. Select from: Jack of All Trades, Nice Guy/Girl, Jerk, Sleaze, Power Seeker or Maniac. Before you complete the Create-a-Sim process, choose five basic personality traits. There are a total of 17 different traits like: shy, conversationalist, good/no sense of humor, easily impressed/bored, vain, modest and friendly, to name quite a few. Some of these traits negate each other, so you won’t be able to, say, choose easily bored if you chose easily impressed in the first place.

Try creating a Sim that mimics yourself in real life. I made mine a nice guy with conversationalist, good sense of humor, genius, friendly and active as his traits. Finally, name your Sim and the game then begins, officially. I found that my new Sim had two personal goals, first being to get married, while the second, being liked by all the Sims in town when the game begin. I did not set these goals, so I assume it was set by the game randomly.

As with any Sims game, your task in managing your Sim includes making sure that his needs are taken care for and (most importantly) that he doesn’t die of hunger. Fortunately, you are given about §700 Simoleans (Sims currency) when you begin a new game. It will probably last your Sim for quite some time going thru junk food from the cheap fridge that you get by default, but eventually, your Sim will need to get a job and start earning some Simoleans to feed him/herself.

Getting a job is quite simple. In fact, if you must, it can be just a phone call away. But it’s much better if your Sim goes out of the house and start exploring the little Sims town. Aside to houses that other Sims called home, you’ll also find a mart, a pawn shop, a hobby shop, a laboratory, a town hall and a bistro in the town. Other than the hobby and pawn shop, any other buildings here are fair game when it comes to getting a job, so go ahead and sign that contract that will seal in your Sims daily life for good (or bad, depending on how you look at it). Your Sim will start from the bottom of the corporate ladder and (hopefully) climb up the stairs pretty fast. Speaking of landing jobs, it’s best that you make friends with whoever’s the boss of your job so as to get promotions easier and faster.

And that brings us to the chapter of interaction. Your Sim interacts with basically anyone. Even those currently commuting in their limosines. Tap any other Sim while you are in the home or town screen and the other Sim will wait for your approach. Things you can do when interacting include chatting, cracking jokes, being nice, rude and being romantic. I find it quite easy for my own Sim to interact with the rest, but that’s probably because of the trait that I chose. I made sure that my Sim is friends with every other Sim, thus fulfilling my second personal goal of being liked by all the Sims in town. My Sim got married with the first lady Sim he found, so that explains how easy it is to make friends and become partners in life. Gee, if its that easy in real life.

The Sims 3 is more than just interaction and making sure that your Sim wakes up on time and go to his/her day job. There are three mini-games as well – repairing, cooking, fishing and gardening. That’s four I listed, but gardening doesn’t actually qualify to be a mini-game as it simply involves tapping around to get things done.

Repairing occurs when your Sims’ electronic devices break down. In this mini-game, you are tasked to pull the burnt-out capacitors and replace them with new ones; the faster you get this done the better. Cooking involves cooling down the pots by shaking your device. Fishing, on the other hand is the most challenging. You will need to tilt your device to align your Sim’s fishing line with the fish and yank the device in order to successfully fish. Pretty straightforward, if you ask me.

One thing I found from these mini-games is that you could basically earn a living by just fishing at the lake, which makes up a large part of the little town, then selling it over at the local Quickmart. Trust me, those tuna fish you caught is worth more than spending eight to nine hours in the office/workplace for a measly §100 – §300 Simoleans. Again, if its that easy in real life, I’d probably be fishing during the day now.

All-in-all, The Sims 3 puts a lot of focus on the goals list. In fact, the goals checklist is available right in the main menu, before you even start a game! There’s a total of 73 goals to be discovered and hopefully, completed. I managed to discover about 58 goals so far, with 45 of them being completed. Your Sims will occassionally have some new goals to achieve, so it’s quite easy to discover these goals and complete them.

Some goals example include: gaining a skill point at repairing – this can be achieved thru the mini-game, stay rested for three days – simply make sure your Sim gets enough sleep, and kick over a trash can – you could try kicking yours, or you could do it on another Sim’s trash can and irritate them at the same time. In my case, I guess I’ll probably need to start a new game in order to complete some of the goals, like Meet a New Sim – my current Sim have basically met each and every Sim in the town, so that goal can’t possibly be completed.

There are some other goals – some being quite interesting and mischievous. I guess I’ll not spoil your game and leave it to you to discover them yourselves.

Presentation-wise, don’t freak out if you see a lot of loading screens. The game has got a loading screen when you go visit another Sim at their place, meet them by the road side or when you visit the town. Its fair, since the game is designed for a mobile platform. There are some quirks with the game, like slowdowns but having said that, I’m sure this game pushes the hardware to its edge. On the other hand, I have had the game crash on me on certain occassions but its definitely not a showstopper. Remember to always save your game often.

Throughout my time spent playing (reviewing) the game, I’ve noticed one weirdness so far. The pawn shop remains closed throughout. There’s some discussion on the internet saying that it will be open once you discover and complete all the goals – so go ahead, play the game and complete it!

Also, as exhibited earlier during the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement by Apple, The Sims 3 will definitely support in-app purchases. However, it’s not mentioned anywhere currently, but I am sure EA has something under their sleeve once iPhone OS 3.0 is in the wild.

Again, at $9.99, The Sims 3 may be quite steep a price to be owned. However, if you were to compare this version against the original release, it obviously feels way better. If you have never tried any of The Sims game, then this game is an easy pickup. Fans would definitely want the capability to bring their Sims with them everywhere they go.

Go ahead and get your copy of The Sims 3 from the iTunes App Store. I highly recommend it. In fact, many others agree and have made The Sims 3, the #1 paid app in just less than 24-hours after launch!

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps

App Data
App Name: The Sims 3 v1.0.85 | Developer: Electronic Arts | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $9.99 | Released: May 29, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v2.2.1

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The Sims is the #1 best-selling personal computer game franchise of all time. Aside to the launch for both iPhone and iPod touch, The Sims 3 will also make its debut at retail stores nationwide as well as via digital download for both Macs and PCs. It will then make its way worldwide in 60 countries and 22 languages later this week.

Ben Bell, Executive Producer of The Sims 3 at Electronic Arts has this to say, “The day is here and we can’t wait to see what kind of stories the players will tell, movies they’ll make, homes they’ll build and everything they’ll share using The Sims 3. Now you can create any Sim you can imagine. For the first time ever, you can explore a seamless, open neighborhood and give your Sims real personality traits. Sims fans and new gamers alike will have something to love in The Sims 3.”

The Sims 3 will be the first Sims game experience for both the iPhone and iPod touch. Its full 3D Sims environments take unique advantage of the innovative multi-touch user interface and accelerometer in the devices to give players the opportunity to experience The Sims in a whole new way, anywhere, anytime. The Sims 3 will be available globally from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch. Get the game via this iTunes link: The Sims 3

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