Plasq.com has released their first iPhone game to the App Store. Pharos IV: Assault [App Store] is available for an introductory price of only $0.99. The game is a space shooter in which you must defend your starbase:

Your mission: defend the starbase at all costs against all comers. Enemy fighters and destroyers relentlessly attempt to eliminate you and your starbase - but your superior technology and skill might be able to prevail. Refuel in the treacherous neighboring nebula - but watch out for wandering asteroids! Good Luck!

The game uses the iPhone's accelerometer to control the ship's movement. In the end, this works reasonably well once you get used to it. A Lite version is also available [App Store] so you can try out the first three levels.

App Store Links: Pharos IV: Assault Lite, Free, Pharos IV: Assault, $0.99

A few weeks ago, Two Tribes announced that they would be bringing their well received platform puzzler Toki Tori to the iPhone. The company has since seeded us with an early preview release and it looks and feels great.

The game is a platformer in which you (Toki Tori) must navigate levels in order to rescue all the eggs. Special tools are provided that can (and must) be used to solve each level. Tools can help Toki Tori move around obstacles (telewarp, bridge) or weapons to thwart enemies. The tools only have a limited number of uses so you must use them wisely.

Two Tribes has adopted a seemingly effective touch-control method to control the game. Tapping on your destination sends Toki Tori walking to that spot. Tools are trigged by special icons on the top left of the screen.

The included video shows off some of the easier levels from the preview release of the iPhone version.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

The final version of the game is expected in first Quarter of 2009 and already seems like one to get. We'll have a full review once the final version is available.

The award winning game Edge [App Store] has been updated to version 1.1 today.

The new version adds 17 new levels, 5 new tunes, global ranking and new controls. Be warned that your old scores and save-game will be deleted upon upgrade to take into account the new content. The game has also seen a price drop to $4.99 (from $5.99) since its release.

Edge is a game that we never fully reviewed here on TouchArcade, but it's one that we did particularly enjoy. The levels were inventive and an overall joy to play. One of the early criticisms from readers was simply short play time due to the original version containing 26 levels.

With this latest update, Edge provides an even greater value and we very much recommend it.

App Store Link: Edge, $4.99

Secret Exit's Zen Bound [App Store] has finally made its way into the App Store.

We've been talking about this title since September after the developers provided us with a teaser video of this unique game.

The game is described as a calm and meditative puzzle game about wrapping wooden sculptures with rope.

A game in which a high score is not the goal - instead it is something to focus on and enjoy at your own relaxed pace.

It is a tactile experience: a game of wood, stone and rope with the most beautiful graphics yet seen on the iPhone. The visuals complement the controls to provide interaction that feels natural and comfortable.

Zen Bound makes very good use of the iPhone's touch display to provide direct manipulation of the objects you are rotating. iPodTouchLab provides this hands-on gameplay video that lets you see the controls:

The game has already won the International Mobile Gaming Awards for "Excellence in 3D" and is a finalist for "Best iPhone Game" and "Audio Achievement" in the Independent Games Festival Mobile 2009 awards.

We've had a chance to play the game for the past week and our full review will be up shortly. Our conclusion, however, is that this is one of the most polished and technically impressive games available on the iPhone and, if you've had any interest in the title, we highly recommend it.

Meanwhile, long time computer enthusiasts might not be surprised to learn that the engineers at Secret Exit all have a background in the demoscene (specific examples: ix, Assembly 2004 invite, The Line Age, San Angeles Observation).

App Store Link: Zen Bound, $4.99

Illusion Labs, the developers behind Labyrinth and TouchGrind, have released their latest iPhone game, Sway. We previewed this almost-platformer back in January.

The world of Sway exploded and you must help Lizzy the Lizard find her friends by swinging her through the world. When you find Ninja, Pappman or one of the others you can play them as well! Lizzy the lizard and her friends can grab and swing in beautiful bouncy physics simulation with a little help from your fingers.

It takes a bit of practice to get used to the controls but once you get the hang of it, you never wanna stop swaying.

The game's controls are uniquely suited to the iPhone with the use of multi-touch "swaying" to control the character. As the developers warn, it does take abit of practice to get the hang of.

Illusionlabs has published this control tutorial video:

... and this gameplay video.

We'll provide some first impressions after we've had some time with the title, but early impressions are very positive.

App Store Link: Sway, $4.99

If you're a Gen-X'er and you've spent any time at all in a computer lab at school in the '80s, you almost certainly have fond memories of one of the most popular educational computer games ever written: The Oregon Trail.

The Oregon Trail is an educational computer game developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by MECC in 1974. The game was inspired by the real-life Oregon Trail and was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th century pioneer life on the trail. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding his party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon’s Willamette Valley by way of the Oregon Trail via a Conestoga wagon in 1848.

Thanks to a commercial floppy release of the game in 1985, Apple IIs and PCs in every school across the land started hitching students to a wagon train blazing a trail out west.  And the thing was, despite being an educational game, it was actually fun!

Last year Gameloft brought this frontiering classic to mobile handsets and brought home the Best Casual Mobile Game of 2008 award.  The Oregon Trail for mobile made it to the top 10 download lists for the Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T networks.  And so it's no wonder (as Gen-X'ers ourselves...) that we were excited to see the first photos of Gameloft's iPhone version of The Oregon Trail surface earlier this month.

This week I had a chance to visit Gameloft's Manhattan offices and speak with several members of the team about the iPhone version and even do a little trailblazing myself.

(more...)

MTV.com had an interesting interview with id Software's John Carmack. Carmack discussed their plans for iPhone projects and revealed that they are working on bringing their classic games to the iPhone:

But literally before I came in on this interview, I was going around poking with some of our old titles. I’m really looking forward to bringing over an id classics line — start with “Wolfenstein 3D” and go through “Doom” and “Quake” and bring pretty much all of them over to the iPhone because I’m a really big booster of the platform. And it frustrates me to no end that here we are without product yet shipping in the iPhone. We’ve had a couple of thwarted attempts at different things. I’m frustrated about it and trying to do something about it. [laughs]

Carmack notes that they have Quake III already up and running on the iPhone.

Aside from these classic games, Carmack discusses their plans to bring Wolfenstein RPG to the iPhone though he admits its not a "designed-from-the-ground-up-for-the-iPhone game".

For that, they have another title that they are working on using some existing id assets and is described as "graphically impressive". No official release date just yet.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Gameloft's Manhattan offices and spend some time with various members of the Gameloft team previewing a few upcoming iPhone releases.

One of the games set for App Store submission this week is a casual golfing title known as Let's Golf.

In short, Let's Golf looks and feels very much like a quality golf title you might find on the Nintendo Wii.  It features bright, cartoonish characters set in beautiful, lush course environments across a variety of locations around the world, such as Fiji, England, USA, and Scotland.  There are a variety of golf characters to choose from, each of whom can be customized in various ways as the player accumulates accolades.

Let's Golf features touchscreen control, and while the standard left / right shot adjustments are present for lining up a swing, the game also allows the player to see a movable target grid down-course that represents an estimated touch down location.  Carrying out a swing involves a three-tap drill that finally gets it right (I've complained about overly simplistic swing systems previously).  Once the ball is in the air the player can swipe an onscreen control to give the ball some English. A very nice ball tracking / follow animation gives a satisfying sense of driving the ball down the course.

Let's Golf will be priced at $5.99 and should go live next week in the App Store.  We'll take a much closer look at the game when it debuts, but it's clear from the brief time I spent playing it at Gameloft that Let's Golf is one of the very best golf titles for the iPhone and iPod touch.

See Gameloft's Let's Golf trailer for a few glimpses of the game in action.

Puzzlers can be the hardest games to review. Beyond just explaining the raw mechanics of the game, it can be very difficult to convey the "fun" aspect of the game. Fortunately, here are a couple of puzzle games with trial versions that are worth your time.

Theseus

Theseus [App Store, $3.99] is a puzzle game that has been bouncing around the App Store since September but hasn't really gotten a huge amount of attention.

The game pits you against the Minotaur and your goal is to escape the maze. The catch? The Minotaur moves twice as fast as you do, however, he follows a strict set of rules that you can use against him.

For each move that you make, the Minotaur makes two moves. He always tries to get closer to Theseus. If he can move one square horizontally and get closer, he will do that first. If he can’t move horizontally, then he will try to move vertically.

The full version of the game offers 85 levels of play. Meanwhile, there's a Lite [App Store] trial version that offers 17 levels to give you a taste of the full game.

If you like logic/puzzle games, this one's worth a try.

App Store Link: Theseus Lite, Free, Theseus, $3.99

Gudeballs

Gudeballs [App Store, $0.99] is a new iPhone puzzle game that appears to be another Flash port. That means you can try the Web/Flash version for free before you buy the iPhone game.

The game involves grouping 4 like-colored marbles onto various plates. You can rotate each plate and send balls down the set paths. Later levels introduce some interesting obstacles such as one-way paths and color-specific locks.

Both Flash and iPhone versions appear to be written by the same developer and include identical levels (at least for the first few stages). The iPhone controls could use some improvement (tapping targets are a bit small) but are functional.

App Store Link: Gudeballs, $0.99

The Code Monkeys Ltd is a very long running game developer who has been around since 1988. Their extensive gaming library includes a number titles ranging from the Nintendo DS and PSP and reaching back into the PS2, Gameboy, Atari ST and even the Sinclair Timex. And now they've just released their first entry into the Apple iPhone with Triple Shot Sports [App Store]. The $2.99 game follows the style of their recent athletic titles. In this case, the focus is on shooting events. Specifically, the game offers archery, pistol shooting and free rifle.

The timing of their game release, however, may be a bit unfortunate with the release of a number of other "shooting" games. To their credit, they did not use the iPhone's tilt mechanism as the targeting. Instead a virtual joypad is used to take aim with your thumb at the target. This gameplay video shows the level of polish of the title. Note that while the video is without sound, the full game does have full sound effects, stadium music and audience sounds.

While the game's production quality is amongst the best we've seen on the iPhone, the actual gameplay is a quite simplistic (touch, aim, release) and repetitive. The game is also limited to the three shooting events which play rather similarly. As a result, we can't recommend this title unless you happen to be a huge fan of competitive shooting.

Still, we appreciate The Code Monkey's entry into the iPhone market and the quality of the production gives us hope for more traditional sporting titles in the future.

App Store Link: Triple Shot Sports, $2.99

As promised, TransGaming has delivered the version 1.3 update to Puzzle Quest [App Store]. The new free upgrade offers continued graphics, sound and performance enhancements as well as the entirety of Chapter 2.

With Chapter 2 upgrade brings 20+ more hours of gameplay to the $7.99 game which brings the total game time to 40+ hours. Puzzle Quest was originally released for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable in early 2007 and became a surprise hit.

Puzzle Quest brings together Role Playing and Match-3 gameplay into a harmonious package. Set in a traditional fantasy world occupied by knights, orcs, wizards and warriors, you must complete quests in order to progress the storyline. Beyond the actual storyline, there are also a number of side-quests that can also be pursued.

A free demo version remains available for those to try the game out.

Our gameplay video from Version 1.0 provides a feel for gameplay, though there have been graphics and performance enhancements since:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

App Store Links: Puzzle Quest Free, Free, Puzzle Quest Chapter 1 and 2, $7.99

BulkyPix has been hyping up their upcoming adventure game Hysteria Project with a series of teasers, and has just released the first gameplay video. The game begins with the following premise:

You start in an old cabane after been tied by a strange and frightening guy...
Your eyes are blurred, you feel your heart pulsing on forehead sides.
You see this strange logo everywhere around you and start to hear weird cries.
There is only one thing to do.. escape and stay alive!

The developers describe the game as a "groundbreaking gaming experience" with an interactive series of video clips.

Go along with the video clips, keep a sharp eye on what's going on around you and most importantly of all - make the right choices at the right time.

The game plays like a choose-your-own-adventure book set to video. This video shows the initial decisions to be made:

The initial "pilot" episode should be available in the coming weeks and offer 30-40 minutes of play for $1.99. Subsequent episodes will continue to reveal a longer running story.

FlipSide5, who brought us the free, enjoyable Touch Hockey: FS5, has recently released their take on the Asteroids formula, Oort Storm: FS5 [App Store].

Unknown forces have disturbed the Oort Cloud at the edge of our solar system, launching huge numbers of asteroids, mines, and alien artifacts that threaten to destroy the Earth. Use your shield, 3-way fire, Pulse Bombs, and AutoChron 'time freeze' along with all of your skill to make it through 9 levels and prevent the end of civilization if you can! When you're done, submit your score on the Global Ranking leader-board and see how you compare!

Oort Storm is an enjoyable, well done iPhone space shooter that brings a number of enhancements to the age old Asteroids formula such as power-ups, shields, and point multipliers.  The graphics are simple but well rendered and the accelerometer-based directional controls, available in both "point" and "turn" modes, are solid.  Thrust, Shields, and Hyperspace buttons are on the left side of the screen while Fire, AutoChron, and Pulse controls sit on the right.

Oort Storm is a simple, fun space shooter that I'd recommend to any shooter fan out there--but don't take my word for it.  While the paid app is available for $2.99 [App Store], FlipSide5 has also released a one-level "lite" version [App Store] for those that want to try before they buy.

See the developer's gameplay video for a closer look:

App Store Link: Oort Storm: FS5, $2.99, Oort Storm: FS5 Lite, Free

MoreGames' iDracula [App Store] has quickly risen to the #1 spot in the iTunes App Store in only four days since its launch. We'd been excited about the game since it was first revealed in early February and have been keeping close tabs on it ahead of the launch.

The game, of course, is a survival shooter in which you control the main character with two control sticks. One stick controls movement while the other controls direction of shooting. You fight off a never-ending horde of enemies (vampires, werewolves, witches) while upgrading to one of 6 different weapons. It's fast-paced frantic fun. Meanwhile, the inclusion of a "perk" power-up system adds some depth to the otherwise single-minded gameplay.

For those interested in the future of iDracula, the developer reports that there are two more gameplay modes in the works for a soon-to-be-submitted update:

Don't have much time, but wanted to say that a new game mode is amazing - I just love it . As I see in the recent messages, someone suggested it - it's Wave Attack, where monsters attack wave by wave, with a chance to give you a rest between. I've also made a different Perk system for this mode.

Ah, and there will be another mode, which is not done yet, but should be fun, too. I won't reveal details on this one. Let it be surprise.

Congrats to MoreGames and their publisher Chillingo. We attribute their rapid success to simple fun gameplay, eye-catching graphics, and an aggressive introductory price. (And, of course, massive grass roots support here on TouchArcade ).

App Store Link: iDracula - Undead Awakening, $0.99 (intro price)

IndieAn is stepping up their promotion of side-scrolling shooter Heavy Mach with the release of a free Lite version [App Store] as well as a price drop from $2.99 to $0.99 on the full version [App Store].

We took a look at Heavy Mach when it was introduced earlier this month and enjoyed it quite a bit:

The best aspect of the game is the number of powerup weapons and upgrades you can get for your tank. Powerful weapons upgrades include a machine gun, shotgun, howitzer (high-angle gun), missile, laser, nuclear bomb and more. You have to be judicious about your use of these weapons, however, as you only get a limited supply of each as you go on. I found it worked much better to reserve these weapons for “boss” enemies rather than waste them on the minor players.

A version update has addressed a few of the 1.0 issues including an originally non-functional Menu button. Edit: Menu button still non-functional in Full version, works in Lite version.

This gameplay video shows almost the entirety of level 6 (Mission 2, Stage 2).

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

App Store Link: Heavy Mach Lite, Free, Heavy Mach, $0.99 (on sale)