Guess what? I just bought a new ‘toy.’ It’s an iPad! So I thought I’d have G.P. the GamerPuppet (all decked out in his summer duds) help me show it off and talk a little bit about the games I’ve downloaded for it so far. So let’s get started!

So why did I buy an iPad? Well it all started at E3. At this year’s show, there were so many fun iPad games that I thought it might finally be a viable purchase for me. It would give me more opportunities to play and review games! Plus, my dad just purchased an iPad as well a few months ago, and when I took him to E3 with me, he brought his iPad, too. I had so much fun playing on my dad’s iPad that I decided to take the plunge. Plus, another family member helped me get it at a special deal where if I bought it, I’d get a gift certificate for the app store.

The iPad is pretty expensive, though, especially considering that I’ll be buying another console this year as well, which will be the Wii U. I think the PS Vita may have to wait until next year. But I’m pretty good at saving money, and what good is earning money if you can’t spend it on things every now and then? Anyway, my tablet is the iPad 3 and while it may look green in the picture, it’s actually black. I got a neon green cover for it because I like bright obnoxious colors. I love the big screen, too. I’m still learning how to use the thing, as I’ve only had it for about a week. But I did figure out how to download games on the app store (which was a little confusing to start up at first). So I thought I’d talk about the games I’ve downloaded so far. So here we go:

Where’s My Water?

This was actually a free game I got at E3. At Disney’s booth, they were handing out cards with codes on them to redeem at the app store for a free download of Where’s My Water? I even had my dad get a card so he could download it on his iPad, too. The day I set up my iPad was the day that the code expired, so I cut it pretty close there! Whew!

Anyway, in the game, there is a sewer alligator named Swampy who wants to take a shower. But mean ol’ Cranky the alligator has been chomping all the pipes, making it difficult to get water. Use your finger to trace in the dirt to make a path from pools of water to Swampy’s shower pipes so he can take a bath. There are lots of puzzle elements to this game, like sometimes you might have to drain sludge out of the way, as it might contaminate the water. There are hundreds of levels and tons of secrets and bonuses to unlock. You can even download more levels, too. If you have kids, this is an excellent non-violent game for the whole family, and even the parents will enjoy playing it. Heck, I even got my dad addicted to it when we were at E3. Definitely one of the best iPad games I’ve played so far.

Recently, they added an expansion to Where’s My Water? featuring characters from the popular Disney Channel cartoon: Phineas and Ferb. It’s called Where’s My Perry? and they introduced it at E3. When I first saw it I thought, “What are they going to do, have Perry the Platypus take a shower with the gator?” But no. In the cartoon, the boys Phineas and Ferb have a pet Platypus named Perry who is a secret agent, unbeknownst to the family. To escape to his headquarters, Perry usually travels via underground tunnels. In the game, you must power these tunnels with water or steam to get Perry to his station. It’s pretty much the same game as Where’s My Water? but adds a few secret agent-ish elements like lasers and voices from the cartoon show. So if you have kids who love the Phineas and Ferb cartoon, this is an even better reason to download Where’s My Water? Excellent, excellent game. Phineas and Ferb is a pretty clever cartoon, too, except it gets a little too ADD for my tastes sometimes.

Galaga 30th Anniversary Collection

This is a good lesson in reading the description of the game carefully before buying things on the app store. A lot of games say they are free to download, but they’re not TRULY free. You might get one level for free, and then have to pay for the rest, for instance. So when I saw that the Galaga 30th Anniversary Collection was free, I initially got all excited that I’d be able to play Galaxian, Galaga, Gaplus, and Galaga 88 for free! But that’s not really true. I got Galaxian for free and I would have to pay to play the others. I guess having Galaxian for free isn’t that bad, and it helped me learn to watch out when something says it’s ‘free’ on the app store. But just be careful if YOU have an iPad and see something for free there.

Groove Coaster

Frequent readers of my articles know that I’m a big Namco fan. But you may not know that I’m also a huge Taito nut as well. Taito has been around the game biz almost as long as Namco, and they’ve created some equally iconic games (like Space Invaders). Taito also has an in-house band, Zuntata, and they make some of my favorite video game tunes ever. So when I found out that Taito made a music and rhythm game on iPad with tunes from Zuntata and various Taito games, I knew that would be the first thing I would download. The game is called Groove Coaster and plays similar to Elite Beat Agents. You just tap on the screen when the icon passes the markers. The graphics style is similar to Space Invaders: Infinity Gene (also on iPad). There are a ton of songs, and you can buy more if you like. There are even a few songs from Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS. The latter was such an underappreciated game. I loved the music in Arkanoid DS so much that I imported the soundtrack. So it’s nice to see the songs in that game get a second chance in another title.  I love the icon for this game; it’s a Space Invader in between a set of headphones.  I wish I had a t-shirt with that on it.

Darius Burst SP

Speaking of Taito, I’m also a big fan of the Darius shooter series as well. I loved the original arcade game with three screens, and the stage one music called Captain Neo is one of my favorite game tunes ever. G Darius on the PSOne is another favorite of mine, especially since you can capture nearly even enemy in the game, even mini-bosses, and use them in so many ways. And all the games in the series are very stylish, with fish-like enemies and weird settings. When Darius Burst came out on PSP in Japan, I really wanted to import it, but it was too expensive. So when I learned it was on the iPad as well, I downloaded it. Of course, it probably would’ve been cheaper to import the PSP game than buy an iPad, but I got the iPad for more stuff, too, of course. Darius Burst SP is actually one of the more expensive games out there on the app store. I haven’t played it much yet, but it is kind of weird to control a 2-D shooter with your finger. But in a way, it’s also kind of fun to play an old, me-too shooter in a new way.

Pac N Jump

I saw this on my friend’s iPhone a while back, so I wanted to get it myself whenever I got my own iPad. In Pac N Jump, you tilt the iPad around to steer a bouncing Pac-Man up platforms and try to get as high as you can. Avoid falling and touching enemies like ghost monsters. My brother Jeff says it’s exactly like another game called Doodle Jump. But this version has Pac-Man in it so it’s automatically better, right? There are different stages you can unlock, and each one is based on a classic Namco arcade game. As a fan of that kind of stuff, you know I just ate it all up. The stages you can play on include Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Rally-X, Galaga, and Mappy. I even downloaded the extra pack that had stages based on Pac-Land, Xevious, and Tower of Druaga. The stages have different obstacles and remixed music from the respective games. Only problem is the game is a little on the hard side. You can pick different ways to control the game, but tilting the iPad is actually the best way.

Free Games: ElectroMaster, HungryMaster & Fix-It Felix Jr.

These next three games have two things in common. They are all mocking classic arcade games, and they’re all free. Well, they were free when I downloaded them anyway. I don’t know if that changes on the app store or not. ElectroMaster and HungryMaster were made by the same place, and you can tell. Both have a 16-bit arcade style to them. In ElectroMaster, you have to move your character around with your finger. Hold down to charge up electricity, and then release to fire a beam for a couple of seconds. You can move the beam around with your finger as well. Defeat waves of enemies this way in this Robotron-esque game.

HungryMaster plays similarly, except to destroy enemies, trace a path from your character to all the enemies on screen to turn them into food. Then collect the food and bring it to houses on the map to reach the next stage. When you collect 20 food items, you can tap both fingers on the screen to create a bomb to clear all enemies on screen if they get too overwhelming. Defeat bosses this way, too. I like HungryMaster a little better, but both are fun and have hilarious purposely placed “Engrish” in the text.

The last free game, Fix-It Felix Jr., is based on the fictional arcade game in the upcoming movie Wreck-It Ralph. I can’t wait to see that movie! The game isn’t quite as fun, and controls are a little unresponsive, but hey, it’s free and its only purpose was to promote the movie. And I’m still having fun with it anyway. So if you have an iPad or iPhone, check these three free games out!

The Great Cookie Thief

OK this last game I didn’t download myself. I’m reviewing it, and you’ll see the review up soon. You see, the iPad has a lot of great kids’ games and apps, too, and I wanted the opportunity to review some of these at GamingWithChildren.com. I love reviewing kids’ games, and bringing attention to any games that makes kids smile. So hopefully I’ll more opportunities to do this now that I’ve got an iPad. I have to say, though, that if you let your kid use your iPad, supervision is recommended.

iConclusions

And that’s all I’ve downloaded on my iPad right now! But I need your help! I’m still learning how to use my iPad, so in the comments section, if you have any tips on how to use an iPad, other neat things it can do, how to take care of it properly, and other good games I should get, please let me know! But I can be a little slow in figuring things out, so you may have to explain things to me in a simple way. Like how you would teach your grandmother how to use the computer. Actually that’s an unfair generalization. I’m sure there are lots of computer savvy grandmas who know how to use an iPad better than me. But you know what I mean! Anyway, I would appreciate all your help in that regard! Later! –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews