7 Best IPhone Games You Never Expected for Less $0.99

The Apple iPhone App Store is celebrating its one year anniversary of draining bank accounts and providing both the best and worst of content for your iPhone, and in honor of this momentous occasion we decided to give readers a "best of" series of iPhone apps and games.

This installment provides you with the 7 best iPhone games that you never expected.

Let's face it: there's not a lot of creativity left in the world. Either people are de-evolving or just getting dumber, but it seems like it takes a lot more effort to come up with something new, original, and engaging enough to hold our attention.

There are some who still like to push the envelope, and try out new things. We would like to celebrate these developers by featuring some of the most unexpectedly fun games that are available on the iPhone.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 7) Bowman
Just pull back your bowstring, aim, and shoot. Don't forget to factor in the wind! First person to kill the other is the victor!

This strange game is very reminiscent of the American Civil War, where soldiers would line up on opposing sides of the battlefield, stand, and shoot their friends. Only difference here is that Bowman is more fun, and you don't have to worry about explaining to your friend's mom afterwards that you killed him.

Bowman is available for $.99 on the App Store.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 6) Shift
Shift started out as a flash game on the Internet, and has made the "shift" to iPhone very well. Players control a man who is trying to get out of a black and white world. The trick to this game is that leaning the iPhone forward or backward will shift the man from a white world with black ground to a black world with white ground, opening up puzzling new options.

Shift is available for $.99 on the App Store.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 5) Up There
This game, bearing no relation to Disney's Up movie, involves little more than navigating a balloon from the group to the sky, and beyond. Its simple gameplay mechanic is what gives this game so much charm. Lean the iPhone to the left or right to guide your balloon to safety and out of the atmosphere.

A beautiful soundtrack adds a sense of peacefulness to this otherwise challenging game.

Up There is available for $.99 on the App Store.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 4) Stick Wars
Stick Wars originated as an online flash game where people would try to protect their castle walls by picking up and throwing masses of stick people who were constantly assaulting it. Eventually, players could upgrade and purchase archers, builders, and wizards to help protect their castle from the stickman invasion.

The iPhone game is no less addicting than its flash counterpart. It is surprisingly entertaining to toss little stick people up into the air and watch them fall down to their doom.

Stick Wars is available for $.99 on the App Store.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 3) Melodica
Music fans can play for hours on Melodica, creating loops of tones and tunes that repeat over and over. The concept is very simple: a bar passes over the surface of the screen repeatedly, reading the user's actions. The player touches various areas of the screen, setting up a pattern that the bar will read and convert into tones, chords, and notes. Create a pattern, and then start to add different layers for an extremely addicting experience.

Melodica is available for $.99 on the App Store.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 2) Flight Control
Flight Control is a unique game that places gamers in the role of an air traffic controller attempting to land various types of planes while keeping those in the air from colliding. Sound easy? This is actually one of the more challenging games on this list. You haven't lived until you find yourself screaming at the mirror after not seeing that jumbo jet headed straight for your helicopter!

Flight Control is available for $.99 on the App Store.

Best iPhone Games You Never Expected on the App Store - 1) Pocket God
Everyone likes to play God. When we were kids, we imagined ourselves popping people's heads in between our thumb and index fingers, or we pretended we could control the wind with a stick.

Pocket God gives us all the ability to do that at last, even if it is only on our iPhones. You play a god who has control over the weather, dinosaurs, gravity...you name it! There is something very gratifying about giving a villager the name of someone who has frustrated you and then causing a flying bird to bomb said villager with droppings. Pocket God keeps stats of the various creative ways you have killed your villagers, and even offers in-game achievements for going above and beyond.

What makes this game even more appealing is the regular updates that the creators offer, each adding a whole new dimension to the gameplay.

Pocket God is available for $.99 on the App Store.

For more top games for your iPhone, check out:

7 Best iPhone Games for Free
7 Best iPhone Tower Defense Games
7 Best Arcade Style iPhone Games on the App Store
Top 10 IPhone Games - April 2009