PixelPeople
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Daily iPhone App: Pixel People is free and simple, but also great fun
Here's the thing about Pixel People: I don't think it's very deep, it's basically just a time-based town builder, and much of the "gameplay" is just smashing various objects together until they work. All of that said however, here's the other thing about Pixel People: I can't stop playing it. This is the latest app from Chillingo, and that company's publishing experience shines right through here. This game is beautifully designed, from the gorgeous pixel art to the very nice touch of asking you to "cut" open a special card pack to unlock a new item. While most of the gameplay is simply just clicking on the screen (the idea is that you need to rebuild a civilization in space, slowly unlocking various jobs, buildings and housing as you earn more and more land and currency), the game brilliantly gives you more content at a steady rate, surprising the player almost constantly with little graphical touches, in-jokes and new twists and turns in the town system that you slowly build up. The game is free and runs with the often odious dual-currency system. But Pixel People is so giving (every time I log in to the app, which is often, I end up having gobs of money to spend) that I had no problem at all with the various in-app purchase options. You may be disappointed at how shallow the game is, but man, all of that pixel art just looks so impressively good.
