Skyworks Interactive has developed several games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, most of them sports themed. We here at ToT tried our fingers at one of them recently, HorseShoes Pro.
This game has all of the things that we have enjoyed in other Skyworks games we’ve tried. One of the things we like best is that the games are based around concepts that usually require just a flick of the finger, a good quality for casual games. They also allow you to quit at anytime and give you the option of resuming your game from the point you left it when you return. The games also let you upload your high scores so that you can compare them with other players.
The basic concept of HorseShoes Pro is simple, just like the version you play on your lawn…Stand at one end of a court, toss a horseshoe and hope that it lands on a stake planted in the ground at the other end, which gets you a point.
In this version, at the bottom of your screen is a horseshoe. You give it a little scoot with your finger to toss it, and that’s the game. After several tries I was still having trouble figuring out the secret to get the shoe to go where I want it to go consistently. The game gives you the ability to “grip” the horse shoe different ways, but that did not make any difference in my success rate. Doug was able to get better results when he tried it, especially in the Arcade Toss mode.
The game has the following four different modes of play
* Ringers – this is just you and 24 horseshoes out on the pitch. You toss them one at a time and get points for each ringer or shoe that lands close to the stake.
* Arcade Toss – Gives you a different goal each round that you have to accomplish to move to the next round.
* Tournament – You take turns with an opponent, throwing shoes to score 3 points for a ringer and 1 point for being close. First one to reach 40 points wins and if you defeat 3 opponents you win the tournament.
* Play-n-Pass – In this co-operative mode you can take turns throwing shoes with a real opponent, passing the IPhone when it is time to change turns. Tournament scoring is in effect.
The information menu describes all the modes in detail, gives you some hints for tossing and also has slider controls for sound and FX. Like other Skyworks games, you can save your high scores from the game and share them with other players via the high scores page.
Overall this game is fun. It has good graphics and features that make it a great game for those casual players who don’t mind having a bit of a learning curve as far as the game’s controls are concerned. The addition of a beginner mode where the horseshoes are easier to control would be a plus. It’s fun to be able to play cooperatively with your friends and check out high scores from other players.
The main down point for me with this game was that it had such a high learning curve for the control of the horse shoes, if there were some way around this the app would have scored much higher. I expect casual games to have an easy entry point.
Skyworks Interactive’s HorseShoes Pro is available in the iPhone App store for 99 cents.
Pros: 4 different game modes, community scoring, one finger play, co-operative play
Cons: Needs an easy mode for those of us with fumbly fingers
Rating: 3.5 
