GREE for iPhone hits the West, looks a lot like Facebook for iPhone

The day has finally come: GREE, the Japanese mobile social game network, has gone global. The official GREE iPhone app is now available on the App Store, and within players can try a bunch of new games along with some old ones. Serkan Toto has already taken a stab at the app, and has a few complaints.

For one, GREE doesn't have that many original games at launch save for recent releases Zombie Jombie and Alien Family--Japanese hits Pirates Age and Cerberus Age have been localized in time for the GREE open beta as well. Upon first glance, however, it's tough to deny that GREE for iPhone is downright slick.

The app automatically recognizes and supports any games on your iPhone that once supported OpenFeint, the network that GREE acquired to make this very move happen. As any social gamer would expect, friends support is there as is a stream that likely collects all of the things that your friends are up to in their games of choice, perhaps like a Facebook News Feed that's strictly for games.

Speaking of which, Toto takes an opportunity to knock GREE for taking a cue from Facebook's playbook in using a similar method to present its menu: a button that reveals every option off to the left side of the screen. And according to Toto, GREE doesn't expect to "officially" launch its global service until September. Surely we'll learn more of this two weeks from now at E3.

Click here to download GREE for iPhone Now >

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