Fans of the marble/labyrinth games should note that there's a newcomer in the App Store and it's actually pretty nice. Wooden Labyrinth 3D [App Store] offers 100 levels of tilting fun but adds a 3D twist. Besides the traditional 2D levels, it also offers platforms and obstacles that must be jumped over by simply shaking your iPhone.

The game also provides a 3D perspective that shifts with the tilt of your iPhone. It can be seen clearly in the video (below). The game plays well and "feels" right. It also provides plenty of calibration/sensitivity options.

The developers plan to offer a level editor in future versions. The price is $2.99 at present but will go up to $3.99 with the addition of the level editor.

Overall, a very well polished version of labyrinth that adds some interesting features over its competitors.

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App Store Link: Wooden Labyrinth 3D, $2.99

Sunflat was kind enough to give us a heads up on their newly released PapiJump Land [App Store]. Yup... Mr. Papi is back!

Mr. Papi is the star of Sunflat's Papi franchise which kicked off with the lovable and addicting PapiJump [App Store]. The game is described beautifully by Sunflat:

• Mr.Papi came to the Hamburger Land to eat ultimate hamburgers!
• This is an exciting jump action game.
• Tilt the device to move Mr.Papi (red ball guy) so that he eat all the hamburgers in the level.

Yep, that's all there is. Tilt to bounce Mr. Papi to collect all the hamburgers. Sunflat provides 30 levels of progressive difficulty which is a bargain at the sale price of $0.99. The gameplay is simple but challenging. It requires a steady hand but could grow frustrating to those who don't like these tilt-type games.

Gameplay video shows the later levels:

App Store Link: PapiJump Land, $0.99 (on sale)

Pocket Gamer recently sat down with Apex Design's James Daniels, the man behind Payback [App Store], the Grand Theft Auto clone that started life on the Amiga in 2001 and saw recent release for the iPhone and iPod touch.  The interview covers Daniels' beginnings as a developer as well as his thoughts on bringing the game to the iPhone platform.

Payback's been around for quite some time now. Can you tell us how it began, and give us a bit of info about the game on other systems?

It began way back in 1998. I'd written a few games for the Amiga in my spare time and decided I wanted to have a go at a commercial project. I experimented with a few ideas (everything from a first-person RTS to a Zarch/Virus-style game) before stumbling across a certain little-known game called GTA. I really liked the concept and there were a lot of additions I wanted to make to it - not to mention that it wasn't available for my platform of choice at the time.

I initially developed the game in my spare time, but it soon became a full-time job. Payback was released for the Amiga in 2001 and won several "game of the year" polls. Support for 3D graphics cards and PowerPC processors quickly followed.

Amazingly, the game is still popular among Amiga enthusiasts today.

We reviewed Payback when it debuted in late January.  See the full interview with Daniels at Pocket Gamer's website.

Chillingo has really been cranking them out lately.  The publisher recently made a post in our forums (more pics there) pointing to their upcoming isometric hack-'n'-slash game iDracula, from the developer of Orions: Legend of Wizards.  iDracula invites players to lay down some monster smack--Van Helsing style.

It's a point, shoot and run affair -- stop to bag the goodies, guns and power-ups but watch out for the werewolves and other bad guys.

While further details right now are scant, the game will be priced at $0.99 and is set to debut sometime in the next week.  We're anxious to spend some time with this excellent looking title.  Stay tuned for a closer look.

IndieAn has released a really nice side-scrolling tank shooter called Heavy Mach. [App Store] for $2.99.

The game is split into 6 missions with multiple stages (4-5) within each mission. A total of 60 stages are provided and can range in length. The game involves driving your tank and destroying enemy tanks while avoiding enemy fire. Controls are very well suited to the iPhone and involve left/right tilt for tank movement. Tapping at your target to fire and tapping on a lever to jump.

With my limited time with the game (Mission 3), it progresses in difficulty, though the basic mechanic stayed the same. It involves shooting and jumping (dodging) your way through levels. One strange omission, however, is the lack of collision detection between your tank and the enemy tanks. You can just drive right through them (though you do need to destroy the bosses to progress).

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.

There are a few "1.0" issues that we hope will be addressed quickly. The in-game menu button was not functional, and some readers are experiencing crashes (I personally experienced one). The in game documentation is also quite limited, so you should read through the iPhone description on gameplay. That said, the graphics and gameplay already provide a very polished experience, and I still think it's easy to recommend at only $2.99.

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

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App Store Link: Heavy Mach., $2.99

After the tremendous success of iShoot, iPhone App developers seem to have been working round-the-clock in providing Lite versions of their games in hopes to reproduce some of Ethan Nicholas' success.

Fastlane Street Racing developers Atod AB seems to be another major Lite success story with the release of their Fastlane Street Racing Lite [App Store] game just one week ago. The Lite version of the game contains only one car, but that's apparently enough.

The Lite version hit the Top 100 Free games 4 days ago and quickly rocketed up to the #1 spot. The full $4.99 version followed just one day later and has risen from off the Top 100 Paid chart to #86, #45, and now #21 at the time of this writing.

We couldn't be happier for the developers who are regular participants in our forums. We reviewed the game and found it to be the "best looking, best playing racing game" in the App Store at the time. We even included it in our Top 2008 games list. Here's your chance to try it.

A good tutorial video to get you started:

App Store Link: Fastlane Street Racing Lite, Free, Fastlane Street Racing, $4.99

IGN has the scoop on an upcoming first-person shooter Prey based on the Xbox 360 and PC game.

Prey follows the early exploits of Tommy, determined to rescue his girl Jenny from the clutches of an alien horde. At the start of the game, Tommy wakes from a terrible crash. He's in a canyon decorated with ancient carvings. Strange monsters are afoot. All he has to defend himself with is a wrench, but that's certainly good enough to crack a few alien skulls before locating more powerful weapons, like energy guns and an organic grenade that it kind of like a frog. To pull the pin, you rip off one of its wriggling legs.

The iPhone version of the game is said to introduce an "innovative touch controls scheme" meant to replicate a console controller.

The screenshot above reveals the use of on-screen bars to control movement while "looking" is accomplished with your thumbs. According to the early reviewer's experience, he quickly became accustomed to the bars which can be configured anywhere on the screen.

The game is expected to debut in the next few weeks. Is this finally the First Person Shooter we've been waiting for?

IGN posted some screenshots from the upcoming iPhone version of The Oregon Trail.

This classic game which was developed in the 1970s and later saw popularity in the 80s and 90s has been recently revived by Gameloft for mobile phones.

As Wikipedia describes it,

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.

See screenshots of the Apple II and Mac versions of the game.

We presume Gameloft is bringing this title to the iPhone. No release date has been provided.

Dutch developer Two Tribes announced today that they will be releasing Toki Tori for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the first quarter of 2009. Toki Tori was originally released for the Gameboy Color in 2001 and has since been updated for with a well-received Wii release:

"We are happy to announce that we are able to bring the full Toki Tori experience to iPhone gamers.", says Martijn Reuvers, Managing Director at Two Tribes. "A lot of games get dumbed down before being released on the iPhone, but we believe in full quality games and offer exactly this with Toki Tori."

The gameplay of Toki Tori is described as a blend of both platform and puzzle genres. The use of special tools or items on each level allow the player to successfully navigate each level. The developers claim to have adapted the game to take advantage of the iPhone's unique control system.

Click on thumbnails to view additional screenshots:

This video shows gameplay from the Wii version:

Ketara Software has released their first space shooter SpaceX [App Store] as a free download for a limited time. The developer describes his intention:

The idea was to make a fun, fast-paced, and beautiful and deep game which invokes the feeling of the early 90s shooters I used to play as a kid. As you fly more missions, you can upgrade your ship, weapon systems, etc., and control the ship using touches or tilt controls.

The game offers a traditional vertical scrolling shoot'em-up with tilt or touch controls as well as a number of upgrades in between levels.

Video shows a weapons-upgraded ship:

Overall a reasonably implemented shoot'em-up that will waste some time and is worth the free download. The inclusion of a global high-score is also nice.

App Store Link: SpaceX, Free for limited time

Licentia Software posted the alpha video of their upcoming sequel: SciFly II.

SciFly II will place the fast-paced aerial combat of its predecessor into a truly massive world where pure exploration is as fun as the action. Conquer chunks of this world to increase your in-game wealth and invest in customizing your aircraft for greater weapons, armor and boosters.

The gameplay video shows the action:

Licentia Software release SciFly: Dogfight [App Store] back in October. No word on when this new version will be available.

Update: The developer says it won't be coming for 3-4 months.

There have been a few arcade flying games announced and released for the iPhone, but none that I'd really classify as must-have's.

The makers of Downhill Bowling [App Store] are taking their shot at the genre with this as-yet unannounced game:

The game involves two modes: Arcade and Race.

In Arcade, you basically try to shoot down as many enemy targets as you can to get the highest score. Ships spawn crates (yes, good old crates) which you can pick up and drop on a specific target for additional points.

In Race mode, there are 9 different courses where you have to fly through a series of hoops in sequence. We use the same mechanics (shoot stuff down, pick up and deliver crates) except that it gives you a time bonus.

The game is expected sometime in February.

Area/Code's Drop7 [App Store] number puzzler has drawn positive reviews from our forum members and a Game of the Month nod from IGN.

The iPhone game is a version of a popular Flash game called Chain Factor that can be played in your browser.

The game involves dropping numbered discs into a row/column. Whenever the number of the disc matches the size of the row/column that the disc is in, it will disappear. In practice, it's more difficult and interesting than the description.

Give the flash version a try before considering Drop7 for its introductory $0.99 price.

App Store Link: Drop7, $0.99

80s retro gaming nuts should enjoy LagMac Studios' recent release CuBert [App Store], a port of the 1982 arcade classic Q*bert for the iPhone.

For those unfamiliar, in Q*bert the player moves a cute, tube-nosed, orange character about an isometric pyramid constructed of three-color cubes.  The goal is to hop from the top of one cube to the next, changing each square to a specific color.  (Some cubes take several hops to reach the target color.)  It's a rather basic premise that's made more complex by a variety of roving enemies bent on preventing Q*bert from converting the board to the target color.

CuBert is...well...pretty much Q*bert.  No surprises and no real disappointments.  The main character is controlled by touchscreen; the screen is divided into four equal-sized quadrants and touching within a given quadrant causes CuBert to hop in that direction.  And that's pretty much all you need to know.

While fans of the Gottlieb classic may enjoy this port which features the original (unenhanced) graphics and sound, it's worth noting that CuBert does not appear to be an officially licensed Q*bert remake, and as such it may be subject to removal from the App Store pending complaints from the original stakeholders.

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App Store Link: CuBert, $1.99

Krypton Egg was a highly regarded Arkanoid clone for the Amiga and Atari ST that was developed by HitSoft and released by Rainbird in 1989.  DotEmu has just released an iPhone port of this classic [link] through the App Store (published by Chillingo).

When Krypton Egg first hit the shelves back in 1989, French magazine PC Loisirs described it as the best breakout game in the world.  As has been the trend of late, this Amiga classic translates well to the iPhone.  We've played a lot of Arkanoid clones for the iPhone, and Krypton Egg is certainly one of the best.  While the game has a retro feel--even beyond the typical Arkanoid clone--it should appeal to fans of the genre who aren't particularly looking for a jolt of dreamy-eyed nostalgia, as well.

Features as listed by the developer:

• 60 levels levels for hours of gameplay
• Unlock 12 special levels and defeat boss
• Play with the touch screen or with the accelerometer
• 30 power-ups including bonuses, penalties, special effect
• Continue your game from any level completed
• Addictive retro style music

Have a look at the developer's demonstration video.

DotEmu is also responsible for the iPhone port of the Amiga classic Nicky Boom.  See our interview with DotEmu CEO Xavier Liard to get a better feel for this retro-reviving development house.

App Store Link: Krypton Egg, $0.99