I want to start out with a game I picked up recently after reading a recommendation on another web site.
Carcassonne is an iPhone/Touch (iPad is coming this year) implementation of a simple to play board game that I would say is along the lines of a game like Risk but far simpler to play, but not so simple to master.
Basic gameplay is from 1 to 5 players, any of which can be a computer AI (of varying difficulties) or human. The game supports "pass-and-play" which is great for sharing with a group. In addition there is Internet based play with a group of friends, or a quick game with friends you haven't made yet. You can also play on a local Wi-Fi or Bluetooth network if everyone has a copy of the game. Network play also supports in-game text chat.
Players take turns drawing and placing tiles that have various land, road, village and city configurations on them. Similar to dominos you try to match up the sides of the tile with like sides, match city segments to cities, roads to roads, fields to fields. You also have people tokens that you can place in these cities, on roads or out in the fields to score points. For example if you place a person token in a city, and then complete that city by connecting tiles to enclose city walls, you score points based on how many city tiles are connected. Roads work similar, you score points based on the length of the road. Players take turns drawing and placing tiles, trying to increase their points and thwarting others building attempts. Game play ends when the tiles run out and the playing area can grow quite large. As I said, game play itself is rather simple, but strategy is definitely involved in where to best place your tile, and to place your people tokens (you only have 7) to score points effectively.
The game currently released is for the iPhone and iPod touch, but it plays just fine on the iPad and honestly the graphics are beautiful in 2x scale. The developers say a universal version is due out by the end of the year, and the price will rise from $4.99 to $9.99 at that time. The application is coded very well and has a beautiful UI, some very nice background music during game play and an excellent tutorial mode. In addition to normal play there is a solitaire game mode where you play alone trying to score as many points as possible. There are also weekly competitions for high scores in solitaire play.
Overall I gave this game 4 out of 5 stars, they'll get the extra star when the iPad version is released. But if I had an iPhone only it would get 5 for sure.
If you're looking for something different to play, like a simple but challenging game, and enjoy board games, I can recommend this one. Don't let the non-iPad version deter you, as I said it looks and plays just fine.
If pick this one up, feel free to hit me up for an Internet game.
http://carcassonneapp.com/
