MotionX Poker

Developer: MotionX Software Price: $4.99 Version Reviewed: 1.11

MotionX Poker Dice is one of the those applications that makes a fantastic demo of the iPhone OS platform but falls short as a game. The game itself is, as you would expect, a very simple and repetitive poker dice game. But this app is all about the motion of the dice and that simulation is gorgeous.

The object of the game is rather simple -- you have 5 dice, each with 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. You roll the dice to try to get the best possible poker hand. You are playing against the computer which is also trying to get the best hand. There is very little, if any, progression of difficulty.

The game does add three different achievement incentives - new dice, new tables, and accomplishment based. As you score certain hands, or win a certain number of hands in a row you unlock new dice or new tables that you can play with. This adds a little excitement to the otherwise very repetitive game.

But, this isn't really meant to be an exciting game -- it's a demonstration platform for the MotionX toolkit. And it's beautiful demonstration of motion, 3D animation, collision, etc.

Here's a demo video that gives you an idea of what it looks like.

While it's three different achievement type do provide an incentive to continue playing, the game play just falls a little short. This would be a must buy if it were $1.99 maybe even $2.99. But $5 is a little high to pay for this very simple yet beautiful game. Still, if you like impressing people, showing them what the iPhone is capable of, this might be worth it to you.