PlayMesh Power: PlayMesh Review

PlayMesh has risen from relative obscurity in the last six months, coming from a multi-faceted iPhone software developer to solely a creator of their own unique brand of MMO text-based iPhone RPGs. Originally, iMafia was really only one of their many iPhone applications, and none of which were really like the other. After its first month and a half run PlayMesh saw iMafia rising on the iTunes charts they duplicated that success with iRacing, and that game model has been their exclusive work ever since.

Now they are arguably the most popular developer of this emerging iPhone genre, putting them in a position as one of the most overall prolific and downloaded software companies for the iPhone period. By creating synergy between their free iPhone games through promotional items most PlayMesh players and purchasers of PlayMesh Points have their hands in more than one of their titles. Now PlayMesh has released a “self-titled” iPhone application that acts as a hub for all the PlayMesh games that you have open accounts for.

PlayMesh opens up with the signature black and blue PM, reminding you that they have created a unique brand identity that they intend you to recognize. Once you are in PlayMesh you will begin to realize the kind of Orwellian knowledge and control they have over you and your touch screen habits. The bottom task bar gives you a number of options to select. On the far left you will see your assumed PlayMesh name that links to your “profile.” Here it will list the name that you gave your original PlayMesh account, your gender, and a variety of information you can add like your email address and phone number.

In the lower User section of your Profile, it will also list how many PlayMesh Points you have, how long ago you actually “joined” the PlayMesh family, and then a link to a list of all the PlayMesh games you play. If you select any of these games, you will get a profile for your account in that game including your financial position, player information, and very detailed statistics. The only thing more you could want would be for it to list how many PlayMesh Points you have for each specific title.

There is an Inbox for messages sent to you, usually from PlayMesh. The nice thing about this is it works pretty close to any email function on the iPhone and is easy to use right from the start. This is where you will likely receive emails from PlayMesh, such as the more recent announcement that idle accounts in PlayMesh games will be deleted soon.

The News section is a nice way to check up on how all of your accounts are doing at once. This is basically the same as the news feed in any regular PlayMesh game, but for all of your games cumulatively. That makes it both useful and difficult because you are getting so many news pieces at once, which is hard to sift through at times.

The Network function is actually a new addition that comes with the PlayMesh application. This is where you add other PlayMesh players to your account and socialize. There does not seem to be much reason for this, but it is a nice ploy from PlayMesh to strengthen their community. There is not much reason to add other PlayMesh players, either, because it has an internal crew system. The Forum section is similar to this and acts like a message board for each of the PlayMesh titles. This can be interesting to browse around and even though the PlayMesh application is new there are hundreds of posts. Check through and see how many different tips you can get on receiving free PlayMesh Points.

It may seem like a strange addition, but the PlayMesh application is one of the best things to come to committed PlayMesh players. If you are not a die-hard fan then this will not matter to you, but if you are this will unite all of your accounts. Eight out of ten stars.