At the beginning of 1000, your little hero steps into a game world not unlike Hyrule except that it is completely devoid of color. Your mere presence brings the joint to life, though. Each step fills the immediate area around you with brilliant greens and blues. Right here, we have an instant reward just for walking around and nobody's even come close to putting a dent in collecting stuff, which is the real thrust of 1000. As you wander the world map and interact with buildings and people, you receive gifts. Each present box contains one of the titular 1000 items, such as the Golden Gate Bridge or a simple hat.
Each item goes into a massive catalog. As you vacuum up more and more items, you unlock achievement badges, but far more interesting are the little blurbs that accompany each gift. Many items are given droll, dry descriptions that inspire a chuckle.
But 1000 extends beyond the borders of your iPhone screen. The game is tethered to the GPS in your handset (which is why 1000 is not nearly as fun on an iPod Touch). When you hit the map, 1000 identifies your location and gives you two new ways to find presents. You can either accept your location, which in turn places magical folks called Gifters into your world map at spots relative to your location in the real world. Or, you can stick to the GPS map and physically walk to presents (placed along accessible routes like streets), opening them as your GPS notes your arrival.
Whether or not you want to literally walk around your town to find digital presents is entirely your prerogative. It does take much longer to bank presents in GPS mode, but while trying this out, I had the distinct impression that I was nibbling around the edges of something bigger. With more thought put into how presents are laid out in the real world and some legit community features (how fun would it be to leave super-rare presents at spots for other people?), 1000 could take a much bolder step toward location-based gaming as a real game and not a gimmick.
