It still looks lovely, even a year on.

So, I was watching the Home Run Derby the other night – well done Big Papi! – and fancied some home run action of my own. I knew I hadn’t played this game in a while – not since it was called Baseball Slugger – but I hadn’t realised that I wouldn’t have a save file. Seems that I’ve not played it since getting my replacement iPhone nearly a year ago.

Still, it holds up well. It’s not as revelatory as it once was and doesn’t stand out quite so brightly, but it’s as fun and addictive as it ever was. (And it’s still getting updates, too. One came through just a few days ago.)

I did, sometimes see this screen.

But more often I saw this one.

I got enough golden balls to complete my Jaguars costume and buy a new bat, though, which was nice.

That aside, Baseball Slugger is comfortably the best game I’ve played for the iPhone. The controls just work. There’s no getting used to them, or being pleasantly surprised with how well they work, all things considered. None of that. You tilt, you tap, your guy swings his bat and either you hit the baseball or you don’t.

Aim your bat. Time your swing. That’s it. Nothing else to worry about. It just works.

I’ve been playing the Arcade mode for a day or two, but last night I decided to try out the online multiplayer.

That’s me there, just about to start playing against a chap called Ticookie. We played a few games and he beat me every time. In fact, everyone beat me, except one poor sod who actually managed to lose against me. My ranking points flew away like rocket-propelled birds as I lost over and over and over and over again. Yet I couldn’t stop playing. Arcade mode is great, but when you’ve got that little window up there showing a real other person and you’ve got the bars under the player names filling up something kicks in and grabs you and won’t let go.

You’re not taking turns, you see. Your playing your game, he’s playing his and you fill up your power bar (or whatever it’s actually called) by hitting the ball and getting points. Whoever fills the bar first wins, obviously enough. It’s a system that keeps things working, minimises the effect of any lag, but provides real competition. It doesn’t hurt that getting into a match is very quick and it’s easy to ask for a rematch after a round. It’s brilliant, just brilliant.

If you’ve got an iPhone and you’ve not got this game you’re DOING IT WRONG in caps. Just get it. Now.

Baseball Slugger: Home Run Race 3D – My most played iPhone game. It’s a simple game where you simply have to hit as many baseballs as possible as far as you can. It works due to the speed and the controls. Games are short (at least they are when you’re not very good), but it’s very hard not to hit “Yes” when it asks you if you want to play again. The controls are simple – tilt the iPhone to aim, touch anywhere on the screen to swing – and work perfectly. Very, very highly recommended. It cost me £1.79 and I’m happy with that, but for today only it’s down to 59p. Go get it – now!

Droplitz – Fantastic puzzle game where you have to rotate paths so that drops can get from the top of the screen to the bottom. Highly addictive and my second most played iPhone game. I believe it costs £1.19, which is an absolute steal, even when other games are 59p.

Flight Control – Draw paths so planes and helicopters can reach their destination without crashing. Great fun and makes good use of the iPhone’s location, giving you very local leaderboards. There’s a reason this 59p game has been such a big hit.

Zombies & Me – Notable for being the first product of a new EA studio set up to produce cheap iPhone games. You run around, getting zombies to follow you and then lead them into the path of falling bombs to blow them up. Very simple, but great fun. It really needs online leaderboards, though.

Assassin’s Creed Lite – Pretty rubbish. Looks lovely, but the virtual d-pad and buttons just don’t work well enough.

Mega Man 2 Lite – Another game ruined by having to make use of a virtual d-pad.

Topple – Free, fun enough, but a bit clunky to control. Worth a download.

iso – Falling block matching game. Decent enough, but I’m glad it was free.

Enviro-Bear 2010 – Insane, er, bear driving simulator. Absolutely impossible to control, but that’s the point. Not worthy of its current cult status, but you really do need to pay the 59p just for the WTF-ness.

WildWest Pinball – Good pinball game and well worth a download for the current price of zero pence.

Toki Tori – Excellent little puzzle game, which makes good use of touch screen controls and features some fiendish puzzles. Well worth the asking price – I played the demo and then bought the full version immediately.

Paper Toss – Oddly relaxing game where you have to flick balls of paper into a wastepaper basket. It’s free and worth downloading. I play it more than I feel I should.

Globall – Tilty ball game. It’s decent, but somehow it hasn’t grabbed me.

Galcon – Imagine Risk. In space. In real time. Where a whole game lasts about thirty seconds. You’ve just imagined Galcon. Recommended – and there’s a good demo, too, which convinced me to buy the full game.

Westbang – You remember that old game set in the wild west where there are three doors and when they open you have to shoot the baddies but avoid shooting the good guys? This is that. Works brilliantly and comes highly recommended. Yet another game where the demo convinced me to buy the game. I was surprised how good it was. Check it out.

Pocket God – Mainly notable for being the only game I’ve tried so far to make use of the cross-game Feint achievements system. It’s a fun little diversion for thirty seconds – you’re a god and you can kill your islanders in briefly amusing ways – but even 59p feels like a bit of a stretch to me. It’s hugely popular, though, so I’m probably in the minority here.