I thought the last six iPad games I bought were going to keep me happy at least a month or so.

I still haven’t completed all of them and I still enjoy them. But App Store always manages to sneakily get into my line of sight. Seriously!

And App Store is to an iPad gamer what a candy store is to a kid. You want everything. You can’t have too many of everything.

That’s how I ended up with 24 games on my iPad at last count. (5 iPhone imports, 8 free/trial games, 11 bought.)

I want to talk about Vacation Mogul today and I’m quite long-winded about it so there will be two GGFs this week so I can cover more games.

Yay.

Vacation Mogul HD (US$6.99)

This was actually an accident. I was browsing iTunes when I acidentally bought Vacation Mogul for iPhone (US$2.99). I had just wanted to read the product description but clicked on the buy button, instead.

And the worse thing was that, a minute prior to that, I had thought to myself, “It’s so easy to accidentally buy apps in iTunes. Based on Murphy’s Law, it’s probably gonna happen to me one day.”

Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.

(In iTunes, when you click on the price tag, it’s an instant purchase since they’ve got all your credit card details already. There’s no warning: “You’re buying this game. Accept? Decline?”

I mean, I like that cos it’s very convenient but it sure is risky for dodos like me.)

The good news is that the accident was a happy one. Vacation Mogul is so fun that, after doing the first few tutorial missions, I went and bought the iPad version.

Because of my doofusness, I ended up playing through the tutorial missions four times (that’s 20 missions in total).

First time was on the iPhone. It was fun, so I decided to see how it would feel on the iPad’s bigger screen, although I had to put up with slightly blurry graphics from the stretch.

Then I decided to download the free iPad version to compare the difference. That’s a third playthrough. The gameplay is still the same but HD graphics just can’t be beat. It really enhances gaming experience (for me, anyway).

That’s when I impulsively put down another US$6.99 for a game I already own which I had accidentally bought in the first place.

Since there’s no data porting between the free and paid version, I had to play the tute missions a fourth time.

Fortunately, the game is fun enough for that not to be a huge chore.

Vacation Mogul combines fun simulation gameplay with an interesting plot.

You inherit five islands from your recently-deceased uncle and are tasked to make thriving resorts out of them. Then, something happens to make you suspect that your uncle was murdered. So, in between being a future resort tycoon, you have to investigate your uncles’s death.

The game is mission-based, where you get a different goal to accomplish each level. Complete it faster to earn more money and experience points.

Experience points are needed to make blueprints for new resort amenities (to attract more tourists), as well as game bonuses that help you do your missions better.

It’s really addictive. I mean, I’d rather be playing it now than writing this review but I’m sensible like that and know when it’s crucial to do the right thing, lol.

There are also fun little surprises along the way. One part of the plot leads to a hidden objects mini game. An easier one than a proper hidden objects game, but still cool. You’re allowed to skip this, though. It’s just for fun and doesn’t add to game progress.

If you have an iPad, I’d totally recommend the iPad version over the iPhone one. Both are mostly the same, but why squint your eyes when you can enjoy beautiful HD colours and feel assured that you won’t mispress anything on the iPhone’s tiny real esate?

The main difference between both versions (quite neglible if you’re not the fussy sort) is that you can see all five islands on one screen on the iPad. On the iPhone, you have to scroll through them one by one. Not a big deal.

Likewise, on the research page where you buy new blueprints and bonuses, you can see the whole list on the iPad but only scrollable sections on the iPhone. This is slightly more important because you want to see at once what blueprints get unlocked next.

iPad:

iPhone:

The missions themselves are the same. No scrolling required. And that’s the crucial part. But it does help when it’s on a bigger screen. It always does.

There’s a free version for the iPad which you can download to try. I think you can play through the entire game on it (although I can’t be too sure cos I only played one main island before getting the paid version).

The catch is that a pop-up message will interrupt you after every mission to persuade you to buy the game so you can get rid of the annoying message.

Anyway, I’m not writing a full review of this game because it’s already been out for months. Just wanted to talk about it because I’m quite pleased that an accidental purchase became a pleasant surprise.

Will introduce more iPad games tomorrow!