Gridlocked is a micromanagement game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Similar to the ever-popular "Flight Control," your objective is to get as many cars off the screen without stopping traffic.
When you first start the app, you will be greeted with a funky jazz theme and the main menu. From the main menu, you can begin playing the game or view the tutorial. As always, I recommend viewing the tutorial, as there is no introduction while beginning the game.
Playing the game is simple; you control the six intersections by tapping them. When you tap an intersection, the red line will show you what street is blocked off. As of now, there are only two different types of cars. There are regular cars, and then there are police cars. The police cars cannot stay on the screen longer than 15 seconds or else you will fail. You can view the state of traffic by the traffic light on the screen. As you progress, the interstate sign will show how many cars you have successfully directed through traffic.
Though the premise of a great game is here, it needs a bit more work before it can directly compete with titles such as "Parachute Panic" or "Flight Control." For starters, there is no way to resume from where you left off. This is probably the biggest issue for iPhone users as they cannot control when they receive phone calls. While the actual interface is very aesthetic, the sound effects are as annoying and as loud as if you were in a real life traffic jam. This may not be an issue, but you are guaranteed to get some weird looks if you decide to play with the volume on in public. While I was playing, I also found it hard to keep track of all of the intersections, and sometimes an intersection would become completely blocked if I changed it while cars were still going through. With a little bit more polish, and a touch more of variety, this could be a great game for those who enjoy micromanagement. This game is fun, but as it stands now I recommend passing on this app or waiting for an update.