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Every week, Gamasutra sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent portable games platform -- this time covering SimCity, Fantastic Contraption, and Payback.

Danny Cowan, Blogger

February 2, 2009

2 Min Read

[Every week, Gamasutra sums up sister iPhone site FingerGaming's top news and reviews for Apple's nascent -- and increasingly exciting -- portable games platform, as written by editor Matt Burris and guest editor Danny Cowan.] This week's notable items in the iPhone gaming space, as covered by FingerGaming, include the debut of Apex Designs' GTA-like Payback, the release of Fantastic Contraption, and a review for EA's iPhone port of SimCity. Here are the top stories over the last 7 days: - Politically Charged Pay2Play Submitted to App Store "Mere weeks after the controversy that followed the rejected Prohibition 2: The Dope Wars (and its sugary-on-the-outside sequel Prohibition 3) comes Pay2Play, a Dope Wars-styled simulation title that parodies the recent scandal involving former Illinois governor and accused Senate seat auctioneer Rod Blagojevich." - Payback Hits App Store "Payback includes nearly all of the features and details seen in Grand Theft Auto's early days, and comes complete with a similar overhead viewpoint. Players will carjack dozens of different vehicles and travel through 11 different cities to complete missions and cause a good deal of general mayhem." - Review: SimCity "The problem with SimCity is that while it's admirable that they've crammed SimCity 3000 onto the iPod Touch/iPhone, the already tiny, isometric graphics aren't especially suited for such a small screen, and as a result it will be rare, if ever, that you manage to select the area on screen that you wanted to first time." - Reo Nagumo Returns to Rhythm Gaming with Aero Series "Seeing as how Beatmania basically invented the kind of rhythm-based gameplay seen today in games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Nagumo's contributions to the genre are not insignificant." - Super Monkey Ball Gets Free Lite Version "Today, Sega released Super Monkey Ball Lite, a free demo version of their flagship iPhone title that includes three levels from the full game, along with a tutorial." - inXile Releases Fantastic Contraption "A physics-based puzzler in the vein of The Incredible Machine, Fantastic Contraption challenges players to build motorized vehicles from simple parts in order to solve each of the game's 21 levels."

About the Author(s)

Danny Cowan

Blogger

Danny Cowan is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist for Gamasutra and its subsites. Previously, he has written reviews and feature articles for gaming publications including 1UP.com, GamePro, and Hardcore Gamer Magazine.

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