Best iPhone games for children

February 28, 2011

Tiny Wings for iPhone 59p

This game was only launched a couple of weeks ago and has bit a great hit with children and their parents.Tiny Wings has already knocked Angry Birds from the top of its perch and has landed on the number one spot in the UK App Store. It’s even earned itself a 4 and a half star rating from over 600 reviews.

Tiny Wings is a pretty simple one-button game. You have to aid a bird with, “tiny wings” dive-bomb through several levels, tapping the screen to do a nose dive. The game has you bouncing off  hills in a 2D side-scrolling world filled with colourful islands. Touching the screen will cause the bird to dive-bomb out of the sky and slam into the earth. The trick is to time things in such a way that the bird will hit the side of a hill and pick up momentum, allowing you to then launch off the next hill with more speed than before. Your ultimate goal is to outrun the coming of nightfall. If you get stuck slowly sliding down hills the game will end and your points will be tallied.  Tiny Wings is like a flying, super fast version of Nintendo’s Excitebike – as the game’s speed increases, so must your reflexes.

Tiny Wings  is compatible with iOS 4+ and like Angry Birds is very addictive. It tops our choice of gaming apps.

Harry Potter: Spells for iPhone £1.79

This is the first official Harry Potter game and the graphics are as good as anything Xbox or Wii has to offer and the sound effects are a sheer delight to would-be magicians. Harry Potter fans will love the twists and challenges.

The game offers two modes of play: single player and multiplayer. The single player encourages you to practice your spell-casting proficiency to increase your accuracy score. If you multiplay with another iPhone-wielding, Harry Potter-loving friend, you can use Bluetooth to duel each other. Or you can play online with Wi-Fi and duel other players around the world. Your user profile is stored along with your worldwide stats, allowing you to drop and pick up the game at any time.

The  game takes you straight into Harry’s world where you receive an acceptance letter to Hogwarts School and you get a wand just right for you. You are then placed in your residence house (Ravenclaw, Gryffindor etc) and you are ready to learn to cast up to 14 spells by holding your thumb on the screen while waving your handset around as if it were a wand. You can also record your own voice calling out the spell, which will play back to you with each successful cast.

All of this is sure to thrill Harry Potter fans albeit the rhythm, speed, and angles to accurately cast spells seem to be quite complex.You really need to be a dedicated Harry Potter fan to have the patience needed to perfect the spell making magic. This is a well designed and challenging game.

Tap Zoo for iPhone -free

NOTE: Although this game is free to download many of the items in the game require in-app purchases paid for with real money.

Children will love this game as they can create their own virtual zoo. Visitors pay entrance used to buy more animals and attract more visitors. With cash and experience you can start a breeding programme or add a gift shop. Tap Zoo is a zoo simulation game where players are put in charge of running a zoo in the hope of turning it into a world class safari park. Players will choose which animals to buy and to breed, what stores and restaurants to have and how the park looks using decorations, paths and trees. Players will enjoy all aspects of zoo life, from feeding and cleaning, to picking up litter after the messy visitors. This game will appeal to people of all ages and especially fans of Theme Park and also Facebook games such as Farmville.

Items bought for coins and stars are earned as part of the game. However, if the player wishes to purchase more, they must do this using real, not virtual, money. Parents should note that when they allow children to play Tap Zoo the game will not ask permission to take money but simply says ‘ Are you sure you want to buy this item?’ children may not realise that this incurs real costs and charges to their iTunes account. Therfore, it is highly recommended that parents disable in-app purchases to guarantee this game is financially safe for them to play. We recommend you read our recent post: ‘Hidden cost of free iPhone gaming’ to fully appreciate the problems inherent in apps of this genre.

  • To buy the apps reviewed above go to itunes store
  • With 3 you are free to download and use as many online apps as you like, as often as you like without any data charges.  Visit the three website to find out more.

 



 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Got something to say?