Five addictive iPhone apps

Top 5 Apps that will compromise your social life in 2009! You’ve cut back on cable, on lattes, and you’re wondering what to cut back on next. No worries, your iPhone or iPod Touch will save the day, and provide hours of entertainment that will even help you save some $$ on your social life – thanks to these 5 addictive apps:

#1 Tap Tap Revenge (free)


If you haven’t been near a TV, a street, or a magazine, you may not have heard of this app. Put simply, it’s the Guitar Hero of iPhone and iPod Touch, and it was so popular it stood on a 30 feet poster at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino when the iPod Touch came out. If you checked it out when it first came out, you probably remember it had 6 songs, and that was it. Since then, it’s been pimped up with some nice additions, including the latest tunes, such as “Hot ‘N Cold” (Katy Perry), “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” (Offspring) and “TroubleMaker” (Weezer). Better yet, the updates and new tunes keep flowing in. There’s no doubt it’ll rock your fingertips throughout 2009… leaving little time to text your friends back. If you do, invite them; there’s a fun 2 player mode in the game, and Tapulous provides online tournaments (who needs real friends anyway?).


My tip: play with 3 fingers on one hand rather than 2 thumbs, and tilt the device forward when you see the “Tap Tap Revenge” logo in blue – that’ll get you 8X points.



#2 Wordle (free)


My favorite word game out there, and bonus, it’s free! 6 letters appear on top of the screen, and you have 3 minutes to find the 6-letter word (which will get you to the next level) and score extra points by uncovering the shorter words (up to 24 words total). A nice take on anagrams, simple design, and endless fun. You can play alone when you have a couple of minutes, or play with friends and share the budget saving wonder. Some of the words don’t always make sense (and sometimes words you would play in Scrabbulous are missing), but if you’re unclear on the words you missed, you can tap on a word to view its (sometimes esoteric) description, provided you have wifi access.
My tip: the words discovered are placed in alphabetical order – a good hint to refine missing words from the list.

#3 Subway Shuffle Lite (free) – Subway Shuffle ($2.99)


You don’t have to pay for a taste of this addictive game: the developers are so confident you’ll be hooked that they offer a Lite version for free. Worked on me! This is a puzzle game with a simple premise: getting the train to the big red circle. The twist: there are colored blocks on the way, and each color can only slide on a line of its own (green on green lines, red on red lines, etc). The number on the top of the screen shows you the minimum number of moves you should take to get your subway to its final destination. 



The Lite version gives you a good overview of the levels up to level 30, but the full version (to date) goes up to level 85, with a breathtaking minimum number of moves at 589. That $2.99 will take you a couple of months of solitary time, and it’ll make you feel smarter too (if you solve the puzzle that is). Extra kudos to the developers: they keep adding on new levels of difficulty, making this a great value over time.


My tip: in the earlier levels, look at each colored line individually – it will help you find out which blocks to move first to clear the way.

#4 Frenzic ($4.99)


Ok, so you’ve given up on your lattes, and now I’m asking you to shell out a Lincoln? That’s right. Once you get a taste of this game, you’ll be addicted. Imagine 6 trivial pursuit pies in need of wedges. 3 colors available: green, purple, and orange. Your mission is to find an available space for the wedge as it appears in the center. Complete a pie, the circle clears. Complete one using wedges of the same color, you gain a life. If your wedge can’t find a pie, you lose a life. Of course, as the game goes on, you have less and less time to distribute the appearing wedges. You get 3 aids: the “clear all pies” (on top), the “slow time” (bottom left) and “X2 points” (bottom right). Use them wisely!


My tip: you can activate the aid next to a circle by completing a pie of a single color in that circle.

#5 Crazy Penguin Lite (free)


PETA didn’t endorse this game, but you don’t need a license to have fun! Crazy kamikaze penguins need to be catapulted to take down evil polar bears. Two steps in this game: catapulting the penguins to the site of destruction, and actually taking aim on the polar bears once the penguins are in flight. Following the laws of physics, the penguins drop at an angle towards the bears. You have three bounces (they have helmets that protects their heads), and then the kamikaze goes out of the screen. The number of bears to take down gets higher at each mission, as do the weapons. A simple principle that’ll keep you on your toes for hours – and when you’re done, you’ll be so endeared by the crazy penguins you’ll be tempted to donate to the World Wildlife Fund.
My tip: master the catapulting of the penguins in the circle of fire – without it, the later levels will be impossible to complete. Note that each level requires different timing on the penguin-launching – but the secret lies in when the penguins’ feet kick back.