Meridian has released a new game in the App Store which is a departure from their recent games such as Alive 4-Ever and Against the Fire. This time they've returned to the time management genre with a nice doctor-themed game called Are You Alright?.
Chloe is a brilliant doctor that strongly believes the medical machines invented by her dad will bring great benefits to a lot of patients around the world. She continues to work at hospitals in different countries to demonstrate the machines so that they can be widely used and recognized.
Like most time management games, you are tasked with keeping your customers (well, patients in this case) happy as you direct them from station to station. The story mode for Are You Alright takes you across 70 levels with 50 additional Time Attack levels.
Are You Alright? keeps things interesting by adding station-specific mini games such as X-Rays, Bacteria Testing, Plaster Casting and more. You need to take the time to properly complete each task before moving on.
As you earn money during levels, you can upgrade your equipment and hire additional help that will help keep the flow of patients moving. But, take too long with one, and they might not make it out alive.
This gameplay video shows an early level:
We've only spent a short amount of time with the game so far, but we've found it to be a fun and well executed time management game.
iPhone developer The Voxel Agents has recently released Train Conductor [App Store], a pick-up chaos management game that should get the attention of Flight Control and Harbor Master fans.
Train Conductor, like the other aforementioned titles, involves safely getting a series of vehicles to their designated destination. In this game, the vehicles in question are trains and, as such, it's not a matter of drawing an arbitrary path to said destination, but routing the trains from track to proper track.
Each screen is filled with up to five, numbered, parallel train tracks. After a brief warning signal, numbered trains enter the screen along these track — in both directions — and the task at hand is to draw connecting tracks to get each train to its designated track. A tap on any train stops it on its track, and a fast-forward control allows for moving the game along when all on-screen trains are sorted. It sounds like a more simple take on the formula than that of the better known time management games in the App Store — and in a way, it is — but as the developer's video illustrates, things can get hectic pretty fast.
In all, there are eight progressively harder levels across four Australian locales. Certain levels feature a few twists, such as especially long and fast Gold Rush Trains, Demon Trains, and even Ghost Trains in the Graveyard Shift mode where spectral trains don't collide and action ramps up fast. Plus+ network integration tracks global awards and leaderboards.
iPhone gamers on the go will find Train Conductor to be a game particularly well-suited to quick, pick-up play sessions. It's right into the action and in moments you're in the heat of the connecting track shuffle. In assessing the game for this writeup, I found it hard to put down and expect to spend some real just-for-fun time with Train Conductor over the next few months.
While we don't often post about hidden object or time management games, both genres have been quite popular on the App Store, perhaps because they perfectly target the highly coveted casual gamer demographic. There are hidden object games that will have you searching for things in every locale imaginable, and time management games that will leave the fate of hair salons, sandwich shops, and even factory farms in your hands.
Alawar's Gourmania [App Store] bridges both the time management and hidden object genres with a culinary themed Frankenstein monster scientifically engineered to be the ideal casual game.
In Gourmania you play as a small-time chef with aspirations for greatness as you make your way through 8 different restaurants that make up the 60 levels in the game. Like most time management games, the goal is to keep your customers happy while turning a profit.
The gameplay twist in Gourmania is that the different items required to meet the time management goals aren't clearly laid out. Instead, you must search for them. This is easier said than done as the kitchens you work with in Gourmania consist of food haphazardly strewn about all over shelves, counters, and even on the floor.
While you're working in the kitchen, orders will come in along the top of the screen that list certain ingredients that must be located. Once you've found all the ingredients of the order, you tap the order card at the top of the screen to prepare the food and collect your money. If you can't find an item you're looking for, the standard pinching and swiping gestures work to zoom in as well as pan around. If you're really stuck, there's a hint button that will lead you in the right direction.
The money you earn can be used to upgrade appliances which will increase your cooking performance. There are also various bonuses in game such as having all three orders cooking at once, or completing order combos. Once you've made it out of the early levels of the game, you experience the same time crunches found in other time management games. This is fun, but can be a little frustrating at first especially as you initially try to find objects that aren't as obvious as red tomato or bright green lettuce. Thankfully, the hint system helps out a ton and it doesn't take long to learn what the more ambiguous items look like.
The orders in Gourmania appear to be completely random, and sometime result in some pretty ridiculous combinations such as hot dogs with mayo or pizzas with lettuce. Despite the odd tastes of the diners in Gourmania, I've had a great time playing the game. Alawar seems to have succeeded in bringing out the strengths of both the time management and hidden object genres, and there's even a lite version available to try.
If you're an iPhone developer and you've been struggling to figure out a way to get your game back on to the top 100, just get a celebrity to mention how they can't stop playing your game on a talk show. Megan Fox appeared last night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and explained how addicted she is to the time management game Sally's Spa [$2.99 / Free].
The iPhone chat begins at around 3:20 remaining in the video:
Since Megan Fox's plug on this nationally broadcasted talk show just last night, Sally's Spa is back on the top 100. (Position #92 and climbing as of this writing.) This isn't the first time we've seen celebrities mention iPhone games, between Demi Moore tweeting about battling Ashton Kutcher in Flight Control [99¢] or American Idol winner Jordin Sparks tweeting high scores from Harbor Master [99¢ / Free] among others.
This just goes to show how shockingly mainstream both iPhones and iPhone gaming is becoming, something I'm not sure many people expected when the iPhone and the App Store launched.
At GDC Austin, we also met with Appy Entertainment, creator of Face Fighter [99¢ / Free], a fun fighting game where you create your opponent based on any photo on your phone. In the game you can beat up co-workers, loved ones, pets, or anything else. Face Fighter has been out for a while, but if you've never heard of it, there's a free version a try. [App Store]
While Face Fighter might be a difficult act to follow, Appy Entertainment may be on to something with their latest game, Zombie Pizza, a strange cross between matching and time management games. In the center of the play area there is a pizza with four quadrants that can be filled with the various toppings coming down a conveyor belt. Since you're making pizzas for zombies, these ingredients are things like brains and hearts, each with a different score value associated with them.
These toppings must be arranged on the pizzas in matching pairs, and an in-game cookbook guides you through the acceptable pizza types. As you go through the unlockable levels, you will have access to more pizzas, and you will eventually find yourself managing multiple different pizzas at once to feed a gang of zombies that grow even more restless with each new level.
Here is the trailer for the game provided by Appy Entertainment today at GDC:
Zombie Pizza has a great art style to it, and the cartoonish zombies combined with the ridiculous premise of needing to feed them pizzas was actually a lot of fun.
Zombie Pizza is due to be released on the App Store very soon.
Success Story is a very nice time management game which challenges you to run various fast food joints.
The objective here is simple: fill customers’ orders as quickly and accurately as possible. The happier the customers, the higher your profit margin will be, and most importantly, the faster you get to move on to the next fast food restaurant. Of course, it’s not as simple as grabbing this and grabbing that. To fill an order, you actually have to assemble things using the right ingredients and in the correct sequence using a variety of different ingredients.
Success Story offers a good deal of content with 10 different restaurants for a total of 46 levels including a final supermax franchise level to be the ultimate fast food guru. Customers appear with their orders and wait patiently at least for a short while for their orders. Controls are straightforward: tap on the desired ingredient or food product. And if you choose the wrong ingredient, tap again to remove.
Ingredients appear on a layout of 11 tables which constantly appear and disappear throughout so you’ll need to act fast. As I mentioned, accuracy is important. For example, to assemble a cheeseburger, the ingredients must be placed in the following sequence on the bun: patty, onions and then cheese. If any of that is in the wrong sequence, not only will your picky customer storm off, but your customer satisfaction will also take a hit if it happens too often. In order to proceed to the next level, you’ll need to meet certain profit targets and a running tally keeps track of progress.
As levels are completed, profits are tabulated which can then be used in the upgrade store. The game also has an achievement system based on points earned (not profit) called the Grill Hall of Fame where you can be crowned anything from Chief Cook and Burger Professor all the way up to Burger Hero and ultimately Burger God.
Visually, it can be tough to make out what’s actually in an order. For example, some customers request extra lettuce or cheese, and sometimes, that’s not readily apparent from looking at the order. In addition, the game throws a wrench into things by including indecisive customers—customers who change their mind while you’re preparing their order. For some, the gameplay may feel repetitive because you are constantly assembling things. But on the other hand, the diversity of items and the fast-paced flow of the game are both challenging and entertaining.
Success Story is a terrific game with high production values and a ton of content. The gameplay should appeal to those interested in time management games as well as those looking for a faster change of pace.
Two time management games have recently appeared in the App Store that have been receiving very positive reviews in our forums. These include Farm Frenzy [$4.99 / Lite ] and Ranch Rush [$1.99]. Each game seems to cater to a slightly different audience and each game seems to have its fans.
Forum user Big Albie reviewed both games (Farm Frenzy and Ranch Rush) and found both games to be solid time management games. He explains the differences between the titles:
…there are nuances to both, and you have to select the one that makes sense. Ranch Rush is more of a campaign with a long-term building focus where you have to succeed through each day to get to the next, and once they are met, the money and everything else carries over. Farm Frenzy on the hand is really more mission based so even if you don’t complete the game within the medal times, you can continue to earn money to buy things in the next round making it less time sensitive and stressful. In addition, you can keep making things for as long as you want and make money off of that until you meet the objectives regardless of time. In Ranch Rush, once you’ve met an objective in a day, anything extra beyond that doesn’t count for much.
Both are solid games, but the only way to judge this is based on each individual’s preferences. If you are looking for more causal gaming without having to worry too much about time constraints, then Farm Frenzy makes sense. If you like the competitiveness and more long-term building, then Ranch Rush would be the better choice.
Ranch Rush
This video is from the PC version, but a trial of the game can be played in your browser. The iPhone versions of the game costs $1.99 and offers 80 levels.
Firemint's Flight Control is one of the early games to support the 3.0 firmware's Bluetooth peer to peer gameplay. Prior to 3.0, players would have to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network in order to play any local networking games. With 3.0, all you need are two iPhones (or iPod Touches) with Bluetooth.
When you set up a Peer to Peer game, you are sharing flight control duties with your friend. In this level example, one person lands all the red planes, while the other lands the yellow planes and helicopters.
Click for larger image
Seems simple but all types of planes still appear in on each screen and you need to divert them to the other player's screen still while avoiding collisions. You both share a common cumulative score for the session. A very exciting new use for the Peer to Peer gaming option in 3.0.
Meanwhile, it seems that Firemint is branching out into merchandising with a new shop set up to sell Flight Control branded mugs and steins.
To turn on Bluetooth, you have to go to Settings -> General -> Bluetooth and turn it on. Only the iPhone 3G, 3G S and the 2nd Generation iPod Touch can use Peer to Peer Bluetooth.
From iPhone accessory maker Zagg, this is a casual chaos-management game with a similar feel to Firemint's Flight Control. There have been a number of similar themed games using cars, boats and, of course, trains:
This one offers a bit different gameplay as your sole method of control is tapping on the intersections to change the track directions. Unlike Flight Control, there's no way to redirect a train at the last second, so you need to plan ahead the tracks to avoid collisions. Your goal is to deliver colored cargo to their proper stations. Trains unload automatically as they pass their respective stations and must be led off the screen as well.
While I think I still prefer Flight Control, this one had me coming back more often than the many other similarly themed games.
This tap-to-target game clearly takes inspiration from the Police Trainer arcade game, but that's not a bad thing. I've wasted a lot of time and money on that arcade game, and found this to be a familiar experience.
The game is simple to play but hard to perfect. It offers you 5 different types of skills to test: Accuracy, Reaction, Color & Shape, Judgement and Speed. Check out the video to see how it plays. I tend to find it hard to recommend any tap shooters, but this one carries some familiarity that some may enjoy.
Imangi Studios has released their latest game into the App Store: Harbor Master [App Store]. This $0.99 chaos management game can really only be classified as an unabashed Flight Control clone.
Like Flight Control the game involves the use of the swipe gesture to safely guide your boats (planes) into their docks (landing strips). Imangi's version does do justice to the gameplay mechanic and adds a number of nice twists to make it interesting.
Besides successfully docking your boats, you must also wait until they unload their cargo and then safely guide them out — all while avoiding hitting other boats. The situation can get relatively manic quickly requiring you to move some ships into holding patterns while waiting for a dock to free up. Larger boats move slower and also have more cargo to unload. In one of the three included maps, a cyclone can even send your ships off track which adds another dimension to the game. Online leaderboards allow you to see how well you've done on each of the three available maps.
The video shows the gameplay. From 13s to 30s it shows a sped up "time-lapse" version of the game while the later video shows actual gameplay speed:.
The game is very well put together and feels "right". I suspect there are those that will prefer Harbor Master to Flight Control and vice-versa, but for only $0.99 it's certainly not a gamble if you already love the genre. It already seems to be a hit amongst our forum early adopters.
Are You Alright? keeps things interesting by adding station-specific mini games such as X-Rays, Bacteria Testing, Plaster Casting and more. You need to take the time to properly complete each task before moving on. 
Each screen is filled with up to five, numbered, parallel train tracks. After a brief warning signal, numbered trains enter the screen along these track — in both directions — and the task at hand is to draw connecting tracks to get each train to its designated track. A tap on any train stops it on its track, and a fast-forward control allows for moving the game along when all on-screen trains are sorted. It sounds like a more simple take on the formula than that of the better known time management games in the App Store — and in a way, it is — but as the developer's video illustrates, things can get hectic pretty fast.
At GDC Austin, we also met with Appy Entertainment, creator of Face Fighter [
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