GAME OF THE WEEK: iBomber

It all comes down to the lack of a physical interface. The best games are the ones that adapt themselves to the strengths of the platform – whether it’s Bejeweled 2’s precise touch sensitivity, Zen Bound’s clever implementation of multi-touch or Top Gun’s awesome use of tilt.

Where the iPhone can fall short is where established joypad and button type controls are replicated with on-screen equivalents. Whether you’re a fan of Flashback or not, the iPhone version is crippled by its control implementation. Car Jack Streets may have merits, but it’s certainly weakened by its controls and Sega’s otherwise faithful port of Sonic the Hedgehog simply can’t match up to its predecessors.

And that’s why Cobra Mobile’s iBomber can stand toe to toe with any title currently available for Apple’s handheld marvel.

iBomber is a simple action game where you play a bomber pilot fighting the Pacific Ocean of 1943. Using the iPhone’s accelerometer the plane can be steered left and right, with pitch controlling your speed. Bombs are dropped by pressing a large icon in the corner of the screen.

The movement response is excellent. Turning needs to be planned to account for the plane’s turning circle, whilst the speed of approach to the target will determine how far ahead of the drop a bomb actually strikes.

Your initial instinct is to fly slowly, thus making targeting easier. Doing so, however, makes you a sitting duck for the ground-based artillery positions. The result is a subtle and pleasing balancing act between flying with sufficient pace so as to avoid attack and staying slow enough to remain accurate with your bombing.

There are power ups on offer, too, which are released by some of the destroyed targets. Health packs become vital in the tougher missions, and there are also three extra bomb types available – a scatter bomb that takes out targets over a wider area, a targeted missile that hits targets immediately under your reticule and a super bomb that takes a while to drop but is ferocious upon impact.

Enemies are varied, with gun positions being joined by aircraft carriers, war ship, fighter planes and rival bombers. And there are a host of buildings and camps that will need dispending with – altogether the game, whilst simple, is a visual treat.

The 13 missions on offer won’t last a lifetime, and difficulty spikes can lead to a little frustration. But it’s never anything you can’t overcome with a little tactical reassessment, and the availability of medals for completing certain tasks means that there’s good reason to revisit levels.

We’ve not found it as hard to put a title down since we first discovered Flood-It!. Astonishingly, the quantity of 59p apps can make iBomber’s £1.79 price tag seem a little steep, but just cast your mind back to paying £69.99 for Street Fighter III on the SNES – suddenly just shy of £2 doesn’t seem too bad. In fact, it’s an absolute steal.