Hero of Sparta $.99

Hero of Sparta falls short in the same ways other games made by Gameloft do. They look nice, but the iPhone is just not the right platform for the d-pad or a simulated joystick. I mean come on, what is the point of developing new touch screen technology if we're just going to simulate technology invented like 50 years ago? Like I said before, the game looks nice. The characters and backgrounds are pretty well animated, the menus look great, there's a really cool animated movie intro, and the music is even good. The game play... not so much. For the most part you end up doing nothing but tapping the attack button repeatedly (or holding it in) while trying to navigate with a simulated joystick. I have to give them some credit, they do try and break up the monotony a little by throwing in jumps here and there and a few special kill sequences, but they are all really nothing to write home about. The rest of the game is filled with a garbage story, pointless gems, rubies, and power-ups, and re-spawning enemy after re-spawning enemy. I don't mean to be so hard on this game, but between the N64 and the Sega Saturn, this game has been made at least 15 times already but on platforms that it was actually playable on. I'm all for the iPhone becoming a new gaming platform, but the large game companies like Gameloft really need to rethink how to play games in general.