Top 10 best time-management games for iPhone (2011)
Tick tock
Considering some of the hardest jobs often involve balancing priorities, hitting ridiculously harsh deadlines, and keeping a team of people from murdering you in your sleep, it’s a wonder why time-management games are so popular on mobiles.
They basically trade real-life stress for game-related stress - where’s the fun in that?
But as a fan of this popular genre, I can tell you that a good time-management title is a lot of fun. It has to get the balance right between stress and action, but when this happens there are few other mobile genres that can match up to its level of engagement.
You now have one minute to read through the rest of this article, starting...now.
Diner Dash - Review - Buy
Diner Dash is often considered the first port of call when it comes to the genre, such is the way this unassuming PC title has demolished the competition over the past few years. While I personally prefer our next game on the list, it’s hard not to see why so many millions have fallen for Flo’s frantic dashing.
On the surface, it’s a game about simply serving customers and getting them out as happy as can be, but there’s a lot more depth to its gameplay than just that.
Different types of people can’t stand other types, for instance, requiring some deft management, while the various coloured seats means there’s a range of different combos that can be nabbed by the real experts.
Build-a-Lot 2 - Review - Buy
One of my all-time favourite time-management games, Build-a-Lot 2 (as with most of the games on this list) doesn’t have the most inspiring of setups - play an estate agent / builder in a series of small towns - but it’s how it goes about the task that really impresses.
It’s a title where every decision matters: the two time limits are engineered with such laser-like precision that one bad choice about what house to build at what time can cost you the expert award for that level in an instant.
Despite its difficulty, however, it’s also a game that offers far more freedom and choice than other titles, coming across like a slimmed-down city-building RTS in some places.
While the original game is still great fun, the sequel’s improved graphics and extra considerations, such as desirability of the land, make it a time-management game that should be snapped up immediately at auction.Jack of All Tribes - Review - Buy
Jack of All Tribes doesn’t exactly set itself up well, with an overly-long introduction that holds your hand so tightly it may feel like it’s starting to cut off the circulation to your fingers.
Once it stops protecting you from playing the game, however, it opens up into a well-designed and enjoyable time-management title featuring little tribes trying to restore parts of the world to normality following various events such as landslides, drought, or fat, lazy rulers.
Jack himself is a bit of an annoying twerp, but his involvement is thankfully restricted to just the pre-mission story bits. So, you can ignore his offensive goatee beard and get on with the enjoyable tasks of building houses, mining gold, and - err - riding on dinosaurs.
Garage Inc. - Review - Buy
Garage Inc. probably has the most unusual setting of all the titles in this top 10. Instead of waiting tables or building tribes, it puts you in the role of a 1920s car mechanic, trying to fix up a series of vehicles before the customers get peeved.
The unique setting will be the main draw for those already well schooled in the art of managing twenty things simultaneously. That, combined with the simple - but still fun - story about repaying the mob, acts as the main driving (sorry) factor to progress through the elegantly styled levels.
The way the game uses multiple characters and builds towards a satisfying conclusion at the end of each level will have the veterans rubbing their oil-stained hands in appreciation.
Harbor Master - Review - Buy
Technically, Harbor Master falls into the line-drawing category, rather than traditional time management. But unlike Flight Control and others of its ilk, it incorporates some very time-management-esque qualities into the standard ‘stop things colliding’ mechanic.
For one thing, you have to ensure the cargo arrives not just at the correct dock, but also leaves without crashing. Then there are pirates (pirates!) that require shooting with a cannon, huge sea monsters that need furious tapping to subdue, and even cyclones that have to be avoided - all while navigating the increasing number of ships on your touchscreen to safety.
It’s hectic - far more hectic than Flight Control - and it’s hard, really hard. If you’re not sweating a little by the time your cargo counter hits 80, you may need to get someone to check your pulse.
Farm Frenzy 3 - Buy
Farm Frenzy 3 is essentially Farm Frenzy 2 again with better graphics, but if you’ve not played Alawar’s excellent economics-leaning time-management games in the past, then this is the game to start at.
Each level begins with an empty field with a few animals: your task is to water the grass, pick up the eggs (or other produce), process it all before they clog up your warehouse, and finally sell it to the local town.
The first hour or so is quite gentle, really, with only a few animals and manufactoring plants available, but don’t let this easy start fool you - Farm Frenzy 3 lives up to its name once everything starts kicking off.
It’s one of the more vicious of games on this list, so I wouldn’t recommend starting here if you haven’t got a handle on the genre yet, but those tired of lining up coloured people to coloured chairs should find quite a challenge waiting for them.
Jet Set Go - Review - Buy.jpg)
Is there anything better than travelling on holiday? Why, being the travel agent, guide, and stewardess of course! No, wait, that’s not right.
Yet, despite the flimsy premise and slightly on the wrong side of ‘chirpy’ graphics for my taste, Jet Set Go delivers a finely tuned and frantic time-management experience.
One of its strong suits is the way in which it integrates various mini-games into the usual Dash-style structure, so that every element of your customers' holidays is taken care of by your good self (on top of ensuring everyone gets to where they want to go, of course).
Hotel Dash - Review - Buy
“Surely this is just a re-skinned version of Diner Dash?” you cry. Well, you’re wrong. Sort of.
While Hotel Dash contains a lot of the same elements that made the original diner a swinging success with customers and gamers alike, there’s enough in this hotel-themed addition that will keep those that have exhausted Flo’s kitchens happy.
The big changes to the game are almost completely unnoticeable at first, though. But it soon becomes obvious that the pacing is more finely tuned in Hotel Dash, thanks no doubt to lessons learned in previous Dash games, making it arguably far more enjoyable as a result.
Chicken Tycoon - Review - Buy
As anyone who’s lived / seen the countryside before knows, food doesn’t normally begin its life inside Iceland’s cold freezers. No, that chicken burger was once a feathery being, running around in a field, eating corn, and clucking like a happy maniac.
Or, more likely, it was in a small cage alongside a thousand others in a factory with the minimum required space to pass as ‘free range’.
Chicken Tycoon (formally known as Cock-a-Doodle, Inc.) isn’t shy about showing you the entire chain from battery to batter, so the squeamish vegetarians among you might want to give it a miss, despite the generally quite jolly graphics and atmosphere.
For everyone else, it offers up a decent serving of time-management gaming, if a little more laid-back than normal. These extra steps before the meals hit the plate make it stand out among a sea of imitators in this particular genre.
Supermarket Mania - Review - Buy
If you are the sort of person that believes food begins with freeze packing, then maybe Supermarket Mania might be more up your high street.
It follows the same template as a number of titles on this list, in that your character Nikki has to dash from one place to another, stocking shelves and serving customers before they become too irate and storm out.
However, the bite-sized nature of the 50 levels and some interesting extra mechanics (such as thieves that steal food when you’re not looking) help give it some character of its own, and the graphics and tight controls mean it’s only frustrating for the right reasons.
