The Portable Five: June

The Portable Five is a monthly column designed to help you pick through the glut of games out there -- especially on iPhone -- and purchase only the highest quality portable time-killers. If you do a lot of gaming on the go, you'll want to keep an eye out here the 15th of every month.

Portable gaming has been around since 1977, but it has never been as popular as it is today. One reason for this surge in popularity comes from everyone having a phone that can play games, but I think a lot of it is also due to great games being made that put console games made just 10 years ago to shame. Sure, they aren't all great, though. There is a mountain of crappy games covering the great games, and with my help you can scale that mountain and find those diamonds in the rough.

This month, I'm focusing on iPhone/iPod Touch games. There are over 100,000 apps on the iTunes store, and only about 50 of them are decent. Here are a few of the good, one of the bad, and one that is so broken, if you try it, you may contemplate suicide. So for a healthier mental state, follow this handy guide.


Resident Evil 4

It is called Resident Evil 4. It looks like Resident Evil 4. But this is not Resident Evil 4. It is Resident Evil 4 with even worse controls, as well as enemies that spawn in the same spot every time right before your eyes. What shocked me most is that they decided an onscreen directional-pad would be easier to aim with than simply using my finger. Resident Evil has been made into many light gun games, which I think would have worked a lot better than trying to port the console version onto the iPhone.

Platform - iPhone/iPod Touch
Price - $6.99
AVOID

Plants Vs. Zombies

It was developed by PopCap; If that's not enough to make this is a must buy, then perhaps you should stick to solitaire. The makers of Bejeweled and Peggle crafted a great little strategy game. Zombies want to munch on your brains, and you have to stop them by growing plants in their way.

It is essentially a Tower Defense game, but the wide variety of both Plants and Zombies make it challenging. It even allows a little bit of freedom in what plants you bring to each stage. I only need eight more plants, so I know I am close to finishing, but as soon as I'm done I will be playing it again in Free Mode.

Platform(s) - PC, iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad
Price - $9.99 on Steam and for the iPad, $2.99 for the iPhone/iPod Touch
BUY

Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2 is arguably one of the best games in the long-running series. It had great graphics for it's time, excellent music, and wonderful controls that made the difficulty bearable.

The iPhone version has all of these things except the most essential one; Good controls. That’s right, the controls are so broken that it makes this game completely unplayable.

Platform - Doesn't matter, really.
Price - Too much!
AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Street Fighter IV

When I first heard that Street Fighter IV was on the iPhone, I scoffed. After dealing with the torturous controls of Mega Man 2, I was afraid it would suffer from the same infliction. Surprisingly, I was completely blown away. The controls are simplified, but still allow you to perform all the moves and focus attacks.

There are only a limited amount of characters, but Capcom just released an update adding two more. You'd think a game like SF4, that requires pinpoint precision, wouldn't work with a touchscreen d-pad. But it does, and it is one of the best iPhone games out there as well as the best fighting game period.

Platform - iPhone/iPod Touch
Price - $9.99
BUY

Pig Rush

Games like Canabalt have created a new genre: the run-and-jump-until-you-die genre. Pigrush comes from the same mold, but it tries to separate itself from the others in a few fundamental ways. First, you are a pig. Second, you are constantly seeing the scores and high jumps of others who played the game before you. Third, it is super cute!

Okay, maybe I am a little biased on this game because a good friend of mine worked on it, but still, if you like Canabalt you should give it a try!

Platform - iPhone/iPod Touch
Price - $0.99
CHECK IT OUT!