The ILands Game is a Decent Substitute for Sandbox Game

iLands is a no-cost game for iPhone and iPad that's available for iOS 4.3 or later. iLands Premium can be purchased for US $3.99. If you don't want to drop $6.99 for Minecraft - Pocket Edition, then this is the game for you. You start with a fresh block world to build on and personalize however you like.

The graphics are pretty decent in comparison to Minecraft Pocket Edition. Pocket Edition, but they could be much better. The D-pad is on the left and allows for strafing, moving ahead and backwards. Moving around with the D-pad can become somewhat annoying at times. The sensitivity takes a little getting used to at first, but it's bearable for the majority of. The control on the right is solely for jumping up and worked pretty well. When you navigate the terrain, the experience was a little jerky when hopping over obstacles in your path. Sometimes, the touch targets wouldn't respond unless I tapped several times. For instance, when I used the X to break up dirt, grass, or blocks, it could require more than two taps. The game crashed frequently while I was in the middle of creating and exploring my Solo world.

A base of building materials is provided to you. These include grass, sand and bricks. The steel skeleton cubes are exclusive to iLands since I've never seen anything like them in Minecraft - Pocket Edition. UOOKA.COM Steel skeleton blocks are awesome because they allow you to build a solid structure while still enjoying daylight, which is not the case when building using solid blocks. I really enjoyed building with the cobblestone to construct roads and houses. The materials that have locks can be unlocked by purchasing the full version. For this review I only tried the free version.

If you're looking for a survival mode that is similar to Minecraft - Pocket Edition, you will not find it in the free version of iLands. I'm not sure if the survival mode is available in the premium version. I usually play in creative mode all the time in Minecraft - Pocket Edition anyway, so I was not averse to that in iLands.

Overall, iLands is worth the free download if you enjoy building with blocks in a virtual environment like I do. I'd love to find out what the paid version lets you to do, other than unlock building materials. I enjoyed creating buildings and anything else my mind was able to imagine.

ILands is a great alternative for sandbox games.