Puzzle game? Nope. Card game? Nope? Shooter game? Nope. Farting? Vomiting? Jiggling things in photos? Nope. Boring? Definitely not. There’s really nothing else like it out there in the App Store. Years ago, I had a screensaver called Johnny Castaway. It was just a little man, shipwrecked on an island. He would fish, have a variety of troubles befall him, put up a tree at Christmas and a pumpkin on Halloween. Just when I thought I’d seen everything Johnny could do, he would surprise me. I watched Johnny for hours but lost track of him through various versions of Windows. Then I heard of Pocket God and it immediately reminded me of Johnny Castaway. Except I could finally, as I wanted to for such a long time, control what was happening on the little island. And there didn’t have to be just one Johnny. I could add as many as I wanted, in the form of little cartoon pygmies.

When I first heard of Pocket God, it seemed limited, however, the folks at Bolt Creative have really done a fantastic job on regularly updating the app with more fun and interesting additions. You are the god of a little island where the island residents live.  And as god, you can torture the poor little guys. From feeding them to sharks, to hitting them with lightning to throwing them into volcanoes, you are free to wreak havoc on their existence. The only conceivable drawback to this app is having to stare at this tiny island all the time but part of the fun of it is finding out all you can do with it so having to move from scenery to scenery could take away from that. Still, I wouldn’t mind a change of view sometimes. Again, the extra-positive thing about this app is the updating. And I like finding new and hidden things you can do with the little guys, like drown them in quicksand or make them fly around like superman. You can find everything you need to know about the updates and more information about Pocket God at the Pocket God blog.

The good: Playing god. Pretty regular updates
The bad: Limited scenery.
The bottom line: If flinging around pygmies, tossing them into volcanoes, feeding them to sharks, or just making life difficult for them sounds fun, then this is your game. At only 99 cents, and with so many updates, it’s a steal.
What we’d like to see in future updates: Some kind things you can do for the pygmies. I know, I know, sounds soft but being cruel all the time can get too much. Every now and then you want to throw the poor guys a bone (and not a coconut you hit them over the head with first). Maybe give them some food or a fishing rod, then you could watch them fish.

Download Pocket God from the App Store