Looking for some specific iphone game recommendations

[Chemical Alia]

Hey guys, I'm hoping for a little assistance with choosing some ipad games, which is something I know basically nothing about. This seems like a pretty good place to get some recommendations, considering the circumstances!

Anyways, this weekend I want to buy a bunch of games for my 18-year-old cousin back in PA. In November, she was in a very bad car accident that left her in a coma for a while with major brain trauma. Her recovery since then has been amazing (her doctors were amazed the other day and think she'll eventually make a full recovery), and she was recently released from the rehab hospital to go back home. But she's still pretty much stuck at home all day, and I'm hoping that the ipad will be a good way for her to have fun and maybe even work on some of her abilities too.

The main things I was hoping that it might be able to help her out with are her memory and coordination. Her short term memory was completely gone at first, but it's getting steadily better. She also had to re-learn how to walk, and basically controlling her body in general, and she's to a point now where she can walk around and she's been going on Facebook a bit.

If you have played any games/applications that are fun or you think might be helpful with coordination, memory or boredom, I'd sure love to get a list together. I live out in Texas and I only get to see her on Facetime when my mom goes to visit her on the weekends, so I feel like that's the least I can do aside from actually being there.

Thanks a bunch in advance for any help you can provide. I'm supposed to be the one in the family who knows about all this Mario tapes stuff, and I feel like a bit of a noob v:

 

[Melon Hunter]

The Curse is an interesting little game I found. It's basically just 100 puzzles of various description, such as sliding blocks and riddles. Imagine a Professor Layton game boiled down to the core. It's actually quite a fun brainteaser, and some of the puzzles have a time-limited element, so it might do the trick as both a memory and co-ordination tester.

Reflow uses the forward-facing camera to create a black-and-white image. You have to pour a stream of coloured particles into the respective bucket, but here's the kicker: the particles will bounce off the white parts of the picture, so you have to move and rotate the iPad so that it follows the path you want. Might be good for helping regain fine motor control.

I could recommend the Bar Oasis games too, for boredom-killing. You play as a barman sorting out the woes of your various patrons, and has a fantastic story to it. The only thing is, you make the cocktails as you would in real life; tip the device to 'pour' the spirits, then shake it to shake the cocktail shaker, which might be a bit awkward on the iPad. I think you can turn off that function, though.

Doodle God works by combining elements into other elements. You start with air, fire, earth and water and work your way up from there. It's quite fun to play, if simplistic, and could help a bit with memory/association skills.

Sorry for the slapdash response, I literally just ran through my iPhone's library of games and picked out anything I'd personally enjoyed or seemed relevant to the situation at hand! I hope this list was of use to you, and that your cousin gets better =)

 

[mitchell271]

Coordination
[ul]
[li]Fruit Ninja[/li]
[li]Lumines: Touch[/li]
[li]Groove Coaster[/li]
[li]Osmos[/li]
[li]GeoDrop[/li]
[/ul]

Memory
[ul]
[li]Brain Trainer[/li]
[li]Circles[/li]
[/ul]

Puzzle Solving
[ul]
[li]Cut the Rope[/li]
[li]Where's My Water?[/li]
[li]Game Dev Story (or any other Kairosoft game)[/li]
[/ul]

 

[Quaxar]

Man, it's kind of weird to see a red user name in the Author column.

Well, do you have any idea what she could like? I mean you could get her everything from actual iOS versions of proper full games like <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Blade_II>Infinity Blades II or <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_Revolution>Civilization to a simple Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies. Seeing as she's still in the middle of physiotherapy it's probably not very wise to get her something that requires good hand-eye-coordination and fast reactions yet. How about some nice puzzle games? Bejewelled, <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Goo>World of Goo, maybe if she can play with someone also that Scrabble clone-whatsitcalled? They are fun and they stimulate many different brain areas while not being overly demanding to someone who's recovering from brain injuries.

I actually don't own an iPad and only have very limited use for my Galaxy Tab as gaming platform, I was mostly drawn in by the colorful Author column. But I like to try.

 

[Voulan]

A fun little game I enjoy a lot is Airport Scanner, although I believe it costs money now. It involves scanning bags at the airport and tapping on confiscated items. It's extremely simple at first, and gets progressively harder, so I imagine it would be great for concentration and coordination.

Another one I like is Fruit Pop. It's just an ordinary get-three-in-a-row game with fruit, but it's very fun, easy and each update so far has added a lot of features.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Oh sweet, thanks guys! I'll jot them all down and check them all out to get a good varied selection. This is going to be awesome, I'll make sure to tell her that THE INTERNET helped.

Oh awesome, thanks guys. I'll jot them all down and go through them to get a good varied selection.

Man, it's kind of weird to see a red user name in the Author column.

Well, do you have any idea what she could like? I mean you could get her everything from actual iOS versions of proper full games like <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Blade_II>Infinity Blades II or <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_Revolution>Civilization to a simple Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies. Seeing as she's still in the middle of physiotherapy it's probably not very wise to get her something that requires good hand-eye-coordination and fast reactions yet. How about some nice puzzle games? Bejewelled, <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Goo>World of Goo, maybe if she can play with someone also that Scrabble clone-whatsitcalled? They are fun and they stimulate many different brain areas while not being overly demanding to someone who's recovering from brain injuries.

I actually don't own an iPad and only have very limited use for my Galaxy Tab as gaming platform, I was mostly drawn in by the colorful Author column. But I like to try.

Well, she's not really into games, but she's really into dance and was getting into photography a bit (which reminds me, there's all those photo apps that let you do terrible editing and effects like Space Effects, duh). Puzzle games seem like they could actually be a really good choice, since your brain has to form new pathways to process information while other parts are still recovering from the swelling (I'm not a scientist, lol). I have a feeling story-driven or adventure games might also be a fun choice, but the only thing I recall was that Monkey Island one.

 

[DoPo]

Puzzle Solving
[ul]
[li]Game Dev Story (or any other Kairosoft game)[/li]
[/ul]

Hmm, wouldn't call it "puzzle solving" - it's a sim. It's a damn fine game, though - got addicted to it since I played it yesterday. And I only played the demo version (on Android but whatever) - I'll be buying the full one when I'm not broke. It's really cool.

And you also had Cut The Rope there - another vote for it - it's a really cute game.

 

[LAGG]

Other than that, puzzle games are good (you can go as simple as Bejewelled). Both Cut The Rope and Where's My Water are amazing games. Turn-Based Strategy or Tycoon (as mentioned, Game Dev Story among others) games too. and of course Visual Novels as they're easy to follow and make time fly...

In the coordination category I'll recommend our games Adventures Of Pet It Out: Ringo and Pet It Out (played in that order as the first one has many more entry level stages). Both are free platformers that control with slingshot style and they have a feature in the options where you can tune the game speed down a lot, which makes it very easy and give you time to do things in your own pace before scaling up. Any other game that lets you tune speed might be good too.

Cheers for her quick recovery!

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Waking Mars has an interesting story and really good mechanics, and a satisfying finish as well. You sort of manipulate the ecosystems on Mars by collecting and planting seeds around the place, eventually making a more or less stable system in each chamber that allows you to progress. I wouldn't call it story-centric, but there is another character who talks to you occasionally/when you need information, and it's never without momentum. The actual movement is done with a jetpack, which controls somewhat floatily and requires a bit of finesse, which could help with coordination.

 

[Chemical Alia]

And you also had Cut The Rope there - another vote for it - it's a really cute game.

I actually have that one on my own ipad and totally forgot about it. It's super fun and people who aren't really into games seem to be able to figure it out pretty quickly c:

Thanks again, guys.

And you also had Cut The Rope there - another vote for it - it's a really cute game.

I actually have that one on my own ipad and totally forgot about it. It's super fun and people who aren't really into games seem to be able to figure it out pretty quickly c:

Thanks again, guys.

Waking Mars has an interesting story and really good mechanics, and a satisfying finish as well. You sort of manipulate the ecosystems on Mars by collecting and planting seeds around the place, eventually making a more or less stable system in each chamber that allows you to progress. I wouldn't call it story-centric, but there is another character who talks to you occasionally/when you need information, and it's never without momentum. The actual movement is done with a jetpack, which controls somewhat floatily and requires a bit of finesse, which could help with coordination.

That sounds pretty cool too. I'm trying to get a good variety going, probably gonna have to get a few of these for myself as well, lol.

 

[itsausernamewhatofit]

The first Ace Attorney game was ported to iOS. It's a great game that focuses heavily on remembering details and problem solving with an entertaining narrative and a pretty great soundtrack. It's fairly accessible for any demographic as far as characters go, the appeal is pretty universal. Other than that Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective was also brought to iOS from the DS. It's by the same developer and it's really a gem. It's almost entirely focused on spacial puzzles and is a lot of fun. The aesthetic and animations are beautiful, the music is great, and the plot is a lot of fun and actually interesting.
I'd recommend those two above all others on iOS really, but I don't have too much experience gaming on the platform.

 

[jollybarracuda]

The Quest is a really great old-school RPG that you could sink a lot of time into and, if she's into that kind of thing, has a lot of problem solving, memorizing locations and tasks, tons of reading, which i'm sure will be good for her right now, and is just a great game to lose a lot of time into.

I know you were probably looking for some more "puzzle" type games, but I do think that this game covers a lot of the bases you were looking for, while still being a damn fine game I can't recommend enough.

Also, a video for your convenience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJgWPEjRbxg

 

[mitchell271]

Puzzle Solving
[ul]
[li]Game Dev Story (or any other Kairosoft game)[/li]
[/ul]

Hmm, wouldn't call it "puzzle solving" - it's a sim. It's a damn fine game, though - got addicted to it since I played it yesterday. And I only played the demo version (on Android but whatever) - I'll be buying the full one when I'm not broke. It's really cool.

And you also had Cut The Rope there - another vote for it - it's a really cute game.

I meant more like, "This may help with problem solving." Didn't feel like putting in another category for one publisher anyways XD

 

[Iori Branford]

The sole highlights of my tiny iOS library are (very) premium 2D shooters from http://www.cave-world.com/en/games/
They might do something for fine motor skill.

By learning curve:
Gentle: Bug Princess 1
Intermediate: Bug Princess 2, Dodonpachi Blissful Death
Steep: Dodonpachi Resurrection, ESP Galuda 2
???: The rest