I looked at Life myself a few months ago, and it’s a great port of the classic board game. Almost every element makes the transition well, from the spinner to the colorful graphics to the fortunate and unfortunate events that happen to your poor character. Playing board games solo can be a lonely experience, but Life’s AI’s are competent and you can fast-forward through their turns; on the other hand, if you actually have a group of friends who want to play Life, EA’s Pass ‘n’ Play is here too. There are no corners cut when it comes to production values, and this is just one more great board game port in EA’s giant stable. Sure, it relies heavily on “traditional” family ideals (everyone gets married, everyone gets a house, unemployment blissfully lasts for a few seconds at most), but if you’re nostalgic for the old game, go for it while it’s cheap.

THE GAME OF LIFE Classic Edition

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $0.99

Our Rating: :: CLASSIC
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Released: 2009-08-13 :: Category: Games

Boggle is another great game, and one that word fans should love. When we looked at this September, it had all the bones of the great game but sadly it was missing some things:

I was interested to finally see Boggle launch on the App Store and more than ready to try it out. What I found was a good 1.0 game with an interesting approach but lacking a lot of the polish that the veteran apps have added along the way…There are some great features in the Advanced mode of this app, but the rest seems like it needs time and polish.

Take that recommendation with a grain of salt, however. Since we reviewed it, much-wanted updates have brought new features like Pass ‘n’ Play, and some bugs have been ironed out. Plus, hey, it’s Boggle. Any word fan can tell you that along with Scrabble, crosswords, and word finds, Boggle-style games are a nearly-ancient standby. You won’t find this game for cheaper—at least not an official version—so if you’ve been on the fence, this is the time to buy.

BOGGLE

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $0.99

Our Rating: :: FUN BUT NEEDS POLISH
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Released: 2009-08-31 :: Category: Games

And, finally, the Appvent Calender brings us Crazy Snowboard. Not Crazy Snowboarding, mind you, but Crazy Snowboard. What can be crazy about a simple board, I wonder?

Anyway, this looks like it follows the familiar track of snowboarding games. The graphics are great, and there’s a lot of content, too; thirty missions are included and you can unlock a number of boards and riders. You can grind on rails, boxes, logs, and candycanes, and it just looks like an awesome freebie for fans of such games. Future updates promise to add Plus+ support and leaderboards. For a sports game, this seems to have quite a bit of depth, and you can’t beat the price.

Crazy Snowboard

Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: $0.99
Released: 2008-10-30 :: Category: Games