In case you haven’t heard—and believe me, I hadn’t until I got this assignment—those bafflingly accurate Mayan calendars reset themselves on Dec. 21, 2012. Some people interpret this as a sign of the Second Coming or Apocalypse; others see it as the work of a bored Mayan “masterdater” trying to jerk us future folk around.
Either way, apocalypse iPhone apps are coming out of the woodwork, and with the New Year’s 2010 just a few tick-tocks away, we thought it high time to round up those iPhone apps that could well help you survive a tsunami, or just find something fun to play while your fellow unfortunate souls are sucked into a vortex. Think of it this way: If your gamer moves are good enough, you just might be able to juke an Agent of Doom out of its socks.
2012 Tumble (free): Save the world, really, by landing the globe on a platform with as few shots as possible. Reminds me of a cross between Topple and the old-school game Asteroids, and while 2012 Tumble seems an amusing diversion, let’s just say it’s a good thing the fate of the world rests outside my hands, or for that matter, my projectile-shooting fingertips.
Army Survival Manual (99 cents): The makers of this iPhone app claim to base their work on the actual U.S. Army manuals, with 23 chapters covering categories from sea survival to contact with local populations in foreign cultures. Bring your machete: There’s a lot of simplistic text you’ll have to hack through before you reach the good stuff. But the sound advice here might indeed save your life: Where else can you learn how to trade with tribal cultures and survive the radiation of a nuclear blast?
