I somehow just caught wind of the iPhone game for the History Channel show, Ice Road Truckers [App Store]. Ice Road Truckers is a documentary-style reality series that is on season 3 now, with the first show airing all the way back in 2007. And, up front, if you've never seen the show, you're going to have a hard time appreciating the absurdity of this iPhone title.

The show chronicles the amazing risks that these truck drivers take traversing a series of frozen lakes that double as roads in the winter of northern North America. Thin ice, mechanical problems from sub-zero temperatures, and human fatigue are just a few of the things these truckers need to contend with while making runs down the ice road. The show really is pretty interesting, and worth catching a few episodes if you're in to the kind of shows History Channel airs.

Here's a trailer for the most recent season of the show:

So how does the show translate to the iPhone game? In a word, it's awesome. As a fan of the show, I know it's an extremely dangerous journey and these truckers risk their lives doing what they do. I really don't mean to trivialize their efforts at all because I would never have the guts to drive down the ice road, but the game just comes off as so absurd that much like Enviro-Bear 2010 [App Store], I couldn't help but be smiling ear to ear playing it.

The game starts out with a suspenseful full motion video intro, then you select one of five trucks. As you earn bronze, silver, and gold tires, the other four trucks unlock, each having slightly better acceleration, speed, and handling than the last. After that, you choose one of eleven ice roads to race down, which also unlock as you play through the game.

So what's so great about the Ice Road Truckers game? Well, in the show they're constantly cutting to commercial in dramatic moments, suggesting all the dangers of the ice road, hinting that the particular driver you're watching could go plummeting through the ice at any time, and other things like that. If you've watched any History or Discovery channel reality show, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Yeah, all that? Nowhere to be found in the game. Instead, you literally race to the finish, drifting around corners and getting air off hills. Getting air? Yes. Seriously, the first hill you come to in the first track you can jump your eighteen wheeler filled with cargo off of. Not only that, but there's also other trucks on the ice road that are going so slow that you just completely blow by them as you're flooring your truck through the track.

To further add to the ridiculousness, the first ice road is 85 miles long according to the track selection screen. You finish it in a little over three minutes. That means your truck is traveling down the ice road at twice the speed of sound. There are some parts where you have to drive across thin ice, and during these portions of the game you have to keep your truck within a certain speed range indicated by a green area on your speedometer. Otherwise, it's pedal to the metal mach 2 all the way to the finish line.

Please, if you've watched the show, download the lite version of the game. It's so unintentionally hilarious when compared to the show it's supposed to be based on that I'm sitting here laughing just writing about it. And really, it's not that terrible of a game either if you completely dismiss the fact that it's supposed to be simulating the treacherous journey down the ice road, but it's sure to strike a chord if you're a fan of the show. Meanwhile, if you've never watched the show, you can safely skip this one.

App Store Link: Ice Road Truckers, $3.99 - Ice Road Truckers Lite, Free

Nothing like coming home to a ton of updates! Check for updates in iTunes if you haven't already, it seems like Apple pushed a massive amount of updates to the App Store this evening including four substantial updates for games we have covered in the past:

Harbor Master, 99¢ - New level "Smugglers' Reef" added. Players will need to unload differently colored cargo at two different ports before sending ships off screen. Also included is Twitter integration to brag about your scores.

Pocket God, 99¢ - New Doodle Jump-like mini game. Carry an islander up to one of the clouds, bounce them off of it, and see how much higher you can jump.

I Dig It, 99¢ - Three new challenges added as well as the ability to finally buy a 1up from the in-game store, giving a little bit more flexibility than the permanent death in the previous version.

GloBall, $2.99 - 12 new levels added as well as some new challenges, enemies, and the ability to calibrate the tilt controls.

So what are you waiting for? Check for updates!

Chillingo has been teasing us for a few months now slowly releasing screenshots, interviews, and trailers for Touch KO [App Store].

The game was just released this afternoon and features an impressive control scheme, intense character customization, and a whole slew of upgrades to buy for your boxer.

We've just had a short time with the game (on an iPhone 3GS), but here are some first impressions. Starting the game out, Touch KO treats players to a brief tutorial that explains the controls. Touching the left or right side of the screen punches with that arm, and different gestures like swiping towards the center lets loose a hook, and swiping upwards throws an uppercut. Holding your thumb on the screen blocks, and tilting the iPhone makes you dodge. The controls are responsive and feel extremely natural.

You can choose from a variety of different boxer models and different tattoo overlays for each of them. As you fight opponents, before each match you can choose what areas your character will train in to slowly increase your statistics. Winning matches earns money which can be used to buy different trunks, gloves, and boots, most of which have associated stat boosts that go along with them.

While fighting, when you land the last punch to knock your opponent down the game zooms in and shows a slow motion instant replay, also the boxers seem to use ragdoll physics when falling, so the pose boxers land in can sometimes be pretty hilarious. That said, the graphics are amazing, and it's pretty crazy to be playing a boxing game on my phone that look comparable to 3D boxing games on previous generation consoles.

Here is the Touch KO trailer, released about a month ago:

Something to be aware of is that Touch KO plays like a technical boxing game. Silly characters and special moves are nowhere to be found in Touch KO, so if you're looking for an arcade-style game closer to the new Wii Punch Out, you're going to need to keep waiting. On the other hand, it seems fans of boxing would likely feel right at home with Touch KO.

We have an active discussion taking place about the game on our forums with more first hand impressions. Some of the early players, however, are finding the early fights to be rather easy. We'll try to take a closer look after we've had more time with the game.

App Store Link: Touch KO, $2.99

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Last month, we reported that Doom Classic was closing in on release, but haven't heard much of an update since.

It seems id Software's John Carmack is still tweaking the control systems and posed a question on our forums last night asking about the demand for "tilt-to-turn" controls from Wolf 3D:

Does anyone actually play a lot with the tilt-to-turn option? I am considering removing it from Doom Classic. I don't want to present a lot of cluttered options to new users, but I don't want to annoy Wolf Classic players that have gotten used to a play style.

I don't mind having some semi-obscure options, but if just isn't a good way to control it for anyone, it would be best to prevent anyone else from wasting their time with it.

So if you are in love with Wolf 3D's [$2.99] tilt-to-turn option or have other strong opinions about it, now's your chance to influence the iPhone's Doom Classic release.

We were pretty excited when we first heard that developers were beginning to offer various Xbox Live-like social networks. These networks promise to offer players the ability to follow online achievements, play against friends, chat and more. Over time, however, the number of networks has blossomed with many of the major developers offering their own version. Chillingo and Gameloft are the latest companies to announce/launch their network.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Chillingo announced CrystalSDK which is an open social network platform that promises "a host of innovative features", though no specifics have been revealed. We asked Chillingo's Chris Byatte how Crystal SDK is going to be different from existing networks. Byatte was unable to give details yet but said, "We've listened to player feedback and aim to bring new standards of usability plus we'll be addressing the developer community with A1 support and feedback."

Meanwhile, just tonight Gameloft released a version update to Uno [$4.99] which adds Push notifications as well as a much enhanced Gameloft Live feature which also offers friends, trophies, chat and personal messaging for players.

Gameloft has made no announcements on whether or not they would open up their network to other developers, but we'd suspect not.

Meanwhile, we've been reluctant to offer much of an in depth analysis of each system since we don't feel they actually affect consumer decisions yet. At this stage, no one is going choose one game over another based on the social network they support. Here's a list of the various options available. (Crystal SDK is not yet available, and Nmogco's PlusPlus is not yet open to 3rd party developers.)

• AGON Online
• Crystal SDK (Chillingo)
• Gameloft Live
• Geocade
• Open Feint
• Plus+ (Ngmoco)
• Scoreloop

The decision lies in developer's hands at the moment, though some we've spoken to have been reluctant to make the "wrong" decision at this early stage. Meanwhile, many other developers have already taken steps to adopt one of the various networks available.

A strange amount of video game news is coming out of San Diego Comic Con this year. Aside from some Halo and XBOX 360 news, a new Dexter trailer was shown yesterday. Originally revealed during a panel at last year's Comic Con, the game is still in the works and hopefully is released sometime soon.

We also received a handful of new screenshots which have been exported at a higher resolution than the iPhone is capable of dislaying, but otherwise the screens are said to reflect the graphics of the iPhone game.

DotEmu has sent us word that they have partnered with D4 Enterprise and are soon to release an iPhone port of the Sega Master System / MSX role playing adventure Golvellius: Valley of Doom.

"Golvellius is a wonderful addition to our license portfolio and we are pleased to bring Golvellius to the iPhone and iPod Touch for a great retrogaming experience," said Xavier Liard, co-founder and CEO of DotEmu.

Similar to (and surely inspired by) The Legend of Zelda, but with 2D platform sequences that set it apart from Nintendo's  seminal work, Golvellius is an expansive title that many gamers missed due to its limited platform coverage.  Unlike Zelda, Golvellius is a rather linear, structured game consisting of seven distinct areas, where one must be completed before the next is unlocked.

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I really like Origin8 games, the Sentinel games are among my favorite on the platform, so needless to say I was fairly excited to see Car Mania [App Store] appear a few nights ago.

Car Mania is an evolution on the "draw lines to direct things" genre that has become so popular between Flight Control [App Store], Harbor Master [App Store], and other spin-offs. Instead of directing boats or planes, as you may have guessed, you're directing cars around.

The three included maps feature streets which oddly enough are only wide enough for one car, so you need to plan each car's route to avoid collisions. The nice thing about Car Mania is you have a rage meter which slowly gets filled as drivers wait or crash in to each other, this makes the game fairly forgiving compared to the one mistake and you're done gameplay of similar games in the genre. Also, along the way you'll need to deal with road construction. When these signs pop up on the road they stop traffic, but tapping them a few times gets rid of them.

Origin8 released a really great trailer showing how everything in the game works that is totally worth a look:

What sticks out the most in that trailer? For me it was the level with the train that comes barreling through the map blowing up every car in its path. How awesome is that? There's a problem, that level and the freeway level both come locked with quotas of cars you need to route to their destination in the first level before you can move on to the next one. Unlocking the train level literally requires routing hundreds of cars.

Now, I don't have a problem with unlockables because they're usually fairly insignificant so grinding your way to unlocking them is generally optional. The problem here is Origin8 dangles this cool exploding train of death carrot in front of me with the trailer, and it was disappointing to find that I had to play the easier (and significantly less entertaining) levels for what seemed way too long before I could unlock the freight train of doom.

With that said, the train level is ridiculously awesome, and worth the 99 cent price tag alone. Between four destinations to route cars to, constant train traffic, and the limited amount of roads to send cars down, it gets extremely hectic quick.

Other game modes include Road Rage where you have three minutes (or until the rage meter is full) to crash as many cars as possible, and Time Attack where you need to get as many cars to where they need to go under a certain amount of time. The problem with this, again, is the amount of cars you need to route before these different modes are unlocked. I still need around 800 more cars before Road Rage becomes available on the train level.

I really like Car Mania but I think the pace of the things you unlock needs some serious tweaking. The third level is disproportionately awesome compared to the first two so it is kind of disappointing to have to play both of them for so long to finally get to the train level from the trailer. All in all though, the end-game of Car Mania is really fun, and although the game currently doesn't save your progress when you exit, an update is coming soon to fix that.

App Store Link: Car Mania, 99¢

Chillingo has released screenshots of their upcoming Inkvaders game which bears a strong resemblance to Zombieville [App Store] and the many other similarly-styled shooters. The premise of this game explains the seemingly simple graphics and the title Inkvaders:

Whilst doodling away, half dazed from the boring lecture I was in, I thought I saw the image move. The Martians I was drawing were invading my notepad! I had to do something to stop them. Pen in hand, I drew a hero to fight them off. Bold, brave, no fear of death, the story unfolded before my eyes...

The game will come with 3 levels of difficulty, ammo management and various types of weapons including single shot weapons, multi-shot weapons, beam weapons, and rocket launchers. Both a Story mode (30 levels of 3 unique locations) and an Endurance mode is offered.

It's hard to tell the quality of the game from screenshots alone, and these types of games depend greatly on gameplay feel and balance, so we'll have to see how this one plays.

An extensive gallery of images is provided after the jump. The game is expected to be submitted in about two weeks.

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Mobila Interactive posted a brief video on YouTube tonight showing a very early build of Rise of the Triad for the iPhone. Originally developed by Apogee Software (now known as 3D Realms), Rise of the Triad was meant to serve as the sequel to Wolfenstein 3D.

With simple shoot everything that moves gameplay, it was released in 1995 and saw several re-releases before the source code was eventually released under the GNU General Public License. Since then fans have ported the game to nearly ever platform imaginable, and as of tonight the iPhone joins that list.

Here is the development video, also the developer notes the control scheme is just for testing and will be changed in the future:

For questions, or more information, head on over to the thread posted by the developer in our forums.

If you found yourself disappointed by the OS 3.0 requirement in ngmoco's Rolando 2 [App Store], you're in luck. Rolando 2 1.1 was just released, which includes full OS 2.2.1 compatibility as well as tweaks to the challenge system.

Rolando 2 saw a fantastic reception in our forum, and needless to say, we also had good things to say about it in our review:

All in all, we are really impressed with Rolando 2 which does justice to one of the few classic iPhone originals. Like the original, the art, style and music come together in a wonderfully immersive package. And with the addition of Plus+, you'll find yourself working to perfect your scores on individual levels in order to challenge your friends.

If you have an iPod Touch and have been holding off on picking up 3.0, but still wanted to play Rolando 2, now is the time to snag it from the App Store.

App Store Link: Rolando 2, $9.99

Once Sony Pictures Television's Q*Bert started appearing in international iTunes stores [App Store] on Tuesday, July 21st, we felt confident that this classic game would be appearing in the U.S. store imminently. However, two days later, the U.S. release is still absent.

We contacted Sony Pictures and found that the U.S. release has been delayed for a few weeks but we should see it alongside the first version update to the international version which adds a new Jungle Map Pack. The Jungle Map Pack offers new level configurations and elements:

• Welcome to the Q*bert Jungle, Q*bert hops of the pyramid to all new maps
• New 2-way disks keep Q*bert flying around the map
• Watch out, Coily can use the new 2-way disks too!

We first previewed the Q*bert release revealing that both modernized and classic modes are available. While the original Q*bert offers only pyramid shapes, Sony seems to be serious about adding additional content and maps over time. The international version of Q*bert is priced at the equivalent of the U.S. $1.99 price point which seems like it will be a great value.

Some screenshots from the Jungle map are included below:

App Store Link: Q*bert (International Only)

Move over Kolonists [App Store], the Catan Community & News section of the official web site just announced that Settlers of Catan is on its way to the App Store:

This summer the official version of the board game classic "The Settlers of Catan" will be released for Apple's iPhone. The game is being developed by Exozet Games in collaboration with Catan designer Klaus Teuber, and published by United Soft Media. More informations and screenshots will follow soon!

Now, doing a little research on Exozet Games lead me to Catan - The First Island on the developer's web site. All we know right now is what's in the news post from the official site. It could be a port of the mobile version, or something new entirely. Keep an eye on Touch Arcade for developments.

Star Hogs [App Store] saw a price drop to $2.99 this morning, and IUGO has plans in the works for two updates, one of which has already been submitted.

We first saw Star Hogs at WWDC, and when we finally got the game in to our hands, it was just as good as we expected.

From our review:

Star Hogs is less of a Worms clone, and more of an evolution of Worms-like turn based combat. The variety of options for ships, 32 single player levels, free play (which is basically just online play but with AI or human opponents sharing the same device), and the potential of online multiplayer makes for a solid title that can easily hold its own amongst the other $4.99 games on the App Store.

Star Hogs Lite [App Store] is also available, and if you ever enjoyed a Worms game in the past, you owe it to yourself to at least give the free version a try.

Only now, instead of $4.99, Star Hogs is $2.99. The update which has already been submitted to the App Store addresses some online game balance issues and fixes a few bugs. The next update coming down the pipes features improved graphics, in-game messaging for multiplayer battles, and an optional purchasable map pack which will bring 32 new campaign levels.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

IUGO's Sarah Thomson has been extremely active in the Star Hogs thread on our forums and is collecting community feedback for future updates. So if you have comments, questions, or other ideas for Star Hogs, don't hesitate to post them.

App Store Link: Star Hogs, $2.99

Deisgner and artist Antti Ojala came up with the idea for Treasure Grab [App Store] based on the combination of Thief and Pac Man. In the game, players will find themselves sneaking through maze-like houses stealing everything they can get their hands on while avoiding guards and picking locks.

The main game mode of Treasure Grab is Master Thief. In Master Thief, you take control of main character Alya Loot and one by one drive the nobles out of the city by stealing their heirloom items and everything else they own while you're at it. Each level has one special heirloom item hidden in it, and collecting the heirloom item doubles the value of everything you stole that night. Steal all the heirloom items in one mansion and that noble leaves the city.

When each night starts, you're greeted by your fence who tells you what he's looking for that night and it can be anything from furniture to books. These items pay triple when collected. The desired loot type is randomized each night, so there should be a decent amount of replay value as you go back looking for the specific things the fence asks for.

The more things you steal, the more alert the nobles become to your presence, and the more guards they will have patrolling their estates in future nights. Get caught by a guard and you lose all your loot. If a guard notices you, you may be able to run and hide but the more loot you pick up the slower you move so there is a delicate balance between how greedy you can get in picking up items before leaving the mansion. Pick up too much and you'll be too encumbered to stand a chance at getting away from guards. Leave too much behind and your score will suffer.

Assisting you along the way are various trickster spirits which you slowly unlock. At the start of each level you choose which spirit will be by your side, these spirits give you special abilities like being able to look around the map, briefly disguise yourself, loot everything near you instantly, and other perks. All the ones I've come across so far have been pretty useful, but I've stuck to using the instant loot trickster spirit as it really increases how quickly I can fill my pockets.

Each level has a loot timer, and when the timer reaches zero an alarm sounds and you're unable to steal any more items or use trickster spirits. All you can do is run to the nearest exit without getting caught.

The guards in game behave a lot like guards in other stealth games, but really remind me of the phantom guards from The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass. They patrol around, stopping to think and talk to other guards. Little red arrows on the side of the screen indicate where the guards are, which are easy to avoid in earlier levels but once the nobles dispatch more guards the game becomes very tricky.

The controls are very well done and work great with the game. Instead of a static virtual D-Pad, you simply touch anywhere on the screen and that becomes the new center of movement. To steal items you just walk close enough to them, and to use your trickster spirit you tap the button in the top right corner. Treasure Grab has fun music, and cute sprite based graphics that are reminiscent of sixteen bit games.

Aside from the main game mode, there are also 36 time-based challenges to complete where you have a certain amount of items to steal as quickly as possible. These challenges add a neat twist on the standard gameplay as in Master Thief where you would previously cautiously wait for the guards to pass, in Challenge mode you have to try to run by them and don't have time to wait.

The one unfortunate thing is that Challenge mode lacks global leader boards. I'd really like to see how my speed runs rank with other players, but really this is a fairly minor complaint.

Here is a brief video of me playing a level in Treasure Grab:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Overall Treasure Grab is a fun game and you can definitely feel the design inspirations as you're playing. All of the mansions have a very Pac Man level maze-like feel to them and infiltrating houses to steal heirloom items is very Thief-ish. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first read the Treasure Grab App Store listing (Especially after playing other THQ iPhone games.), but I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised.

App Store Link: Treasure Grab, $2.99