LucasArts' first entry in the Monkey Island series hit the App Store tonight [$7.99] completely re-imagined with new art, complete voice-overs, and a new live instrumental musical score. Originally released in 1990, and having seen several revisions following the initial release including a port to the Sega CD, this Special Edition of The Secret of Monkey Island [App Store] is the best version of the game we've seen yet.

The game features Guybrush Threepwood, who washes up on the island of Mêlée™ and has high hopes of becoming a pirate. After meeting the pirate leaders in the SCUMM tavern, you're faced with a set of three challenges that involve swordfighting, thievery, and treasure hunting. These goals serve as your initial quests as your adventure begins.

The graphics of this remake are wonderful and have a whimsical hand drawn look to them. The new voiceovers and music add a whole new level of immersion to the game and should give even veterans of the series something new to enjoy as all their favorite characters now have associated voice personalities. The touchscreen interface and the way the pointer works feels a little awkward and does take a little getting used to. Once you get the hang of moving it around and double tapping on things to perform actions the game becomes very workable.

The coolest part though? Swipe with two fingers across the screen and the new graphics and audio work fades away to the game's original graphics. This transition is instant, and you can switch back and forth at any point during the game:

The entire game is an amazing package, and this same remake was also released for both the PC and XBOX Live earlier this month. Official reviews for those versions have been very positive. Here is an excerpt from the Team XBOX review:

If there was a PC Gaming Hall of Fame, The Secret of Monkey Island would be in it. It’s a game that many of us grew up with and to this day refer to regularly. As much as that can be said for the original classic of 1990, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a welcome addition to XBLA that will give fans an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, bringing them back simpler days in the gaming business, when games didn’t have the multi-million dollar budgets as they do today and they didn’t need high-profile marketing or fancy gimmicks to succeed. For long-time fans, it’s a chance to relive a part of our childhood; for newcomers, it’s a chance to experience what so many of us haven’t stopped talking about for nearly 20 years. Do yourself a favor and download The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (at the reasonable price of 800 Microsoft Points or about $10). Otherwise, you’ll be wearing my sword like a shish-kebab!

So far we can echo those sentiments, except instead of downloading it from the XBOX Live Arcade for $10, iPhone users can grab it from the App Store for $7.99! Here is a brief gameplay video from the iPhone version:

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The Secret of Monkey Island has stood the test of time, and the newly released Special Edition somehow manages to make this classic even better. Refreshingly, it appears that the iPhone version isn't a second class citizen to the Xbox and PC versions of the game. If you're interested in learning about what went into creating this Special Edition of the game, see this "making of" video.

App Store Link: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, $7.99

Tatem Games released their first iPhone game into the App Store tonight with Racer [$0.99], a very nice touch-controlled racing game.

The gameplay is simple: you drag your finger to control your car while passing other cars in your way. Cars are moving at different speeds so you have to react quickly to maneuver around them. The game is nicely presented with all the zooming-by sound effects that you'd expect from a high speed racing game. The goal of the game is to accumulate the highest score which can then be compared against a global leaderboard. Higher score comes with both distance as well as bonus points for "extreme and fast" driving. The game offers both "normal" and "hard" difficulties.

Despite the simple game mechanism, I found myself riveted to the screen looking out for oncoming cars and getting particular satisfaction when just swerving to avoid a collision. While I'm very much enjoying my time with it, the gameplay may be too simple for some as dodging cars is the extent of the game without any other obstacles or goals -- so it's a pure reaction game. Still, at only $0.99, it fits in well with the other fun casual games that the App Store has had to offer and I recommend it.

Check out the developer's video:

App Store Link: Racer, $0.99

Pixel Mine has just released the Lite version of their hack and slash RPG Underworlds [$0.99 / Lite].

We really enjoyed the game when it was first released and the game has since seen significant updates adding music and addressing several user concerns. Still at only $0.99, we highly recommend the full version if you have any interest in the genre.

Pixel Mine's Bill Money also let us know that they are about to start beta testing a 1.2 update that contains "more than double" the content of the current version of the game. This should address any nagging concerns that the original might have been too short.

App Store Link: Underworlds, $0.99, Underworlds Lite, Free

Backflip Studios' Paper Toss [App Store] has even surprised the developers with its own popularity. Since the game's release, it has been hovering around the top-end of the top 100 downloaded free games with over 6 million total downloads.

Offering a fun and extremely simple gameplay element that anyone who has ever worked in an office knows all too well, Paper Toss has you literally tossing paper in to a garbage can. It's not that easy though, in this virtual office your coworkers are constantly changing the location and speed of a small fan, so you have wind to deal with while you attempt to make your shots in to the nearby trash can.

Paper Toss is a fantastic free game. Backflip Studios has additional plans for the Paper Toss franchise, and just today released a video for the upcoming Paper Toss: World Tour where you will be able to take your paper tossing skills on a jet setting adventure, stopping at various exotic locales to toss crumpled paper in to garbage cans.

Paper Toss: World Tour was submitted to the App Store last night, and will be available whenever Apple gets finished doing their thing. At 99 cents, World Tour seems like it will be worth picking up for fans of the original just because it doesn't get more ridiculous than tossing paper in to trash cans outside the Great Pyramid or the Taj Mahal.

If this is the first time you've heard of Paper Toss, go ahead and download it now. Also, while you're at it, check out Backflip Studios' other game, Ragdoll Blaster.

App Store Link: Paper Toss, Free

The iPhone has so far seen both 2D (Car Jack Streets) and 2.5D (Payback) GTA-clones but, as yet, iPhone gamers have not had a fully 3D world in which to wreak the particular sort of inner-city mayhem that has made the genre so popular. Thanks to Gameloft, that's about to change.

Yesterday Touch Arcade visited Gameloft's Manhattan studio to have a look at a preview build of their upcoming Grand Theft Auto-like iPhone title Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.

The studio's forthcoming Gangstar, which is an enhanced port of their 2006 mobile handset title, is a fully 3D take on the formula, set in an expansive world (Los Angeles) that strives to bring the modern, home console GTA experience to iPhone gamers.

The story goes something like this: Our hero, Pedro, has recently been released from a Mexican prison and has crossed the border into the U.S., arriving in LA, where he meets up with his friend Juan's cousin who recruits Pedro to get revenge on the rival Los Matadors gang.  Missions to this end include collecting guns, killing people, even helping people -- but mostly killing people.  There are mini or side missions to keep things varied as well, such as heading across town to pick up a gun at a friend's house.

While unquestionably a GTA-inspired title, Gangstar departs somewhat from the formula of the original by not including any missions dealing with the drug trade or prostitution.  There is no money to be made in selling jacked cars to chop shops, either.  In Gangstar, it's killing people that gets you the cash.  Whether by close fist combat, machine gun, or just a good old fashion squish-and-run, murder is the currency of the game.  As such, Gameloft expects the game to receive a "16+" ESRB rating.

The game is a free-roam sandbox affair, with LA being the sandbox.  And the game world is actually modeled after LA with some accuracy.  Hollywood, Santa Monica, South Central, and other well-known areas of the city are represented with many distinguishing characteristics in place.  Portions of the game are also played through sequences that are flashbacks to Pedro's time in the Mexican pen.

The game is rather cut-scene heavy, with most of the back-story and missions being laid out in on-screen text dialog during the in-engine scenes in question.  Happily, the frequent cut-scenes can be quickly tapped-through and are generally to-the-point, without lavish theatrics that might slow down gameplay.

Most any car in the game world can be jacked for transportation, and certain vehicles are presented during cut-scenes to be used to complete various missions.  Certain vehicles must be unlocked through play progress before they are accessible, however.

All that killing and jacking and general mayhem will, of course, get the attention of the police before long.  Cops in this game are pretty aggressive, but luckily there are ways to work through it.  When you're the target of an APB, various police badges appear around the city, shown on the on-screen map.  Each one you pick up reduces the cops' alert level.  But grab them fast.  And if that doesn't quite work out for you, it's possible to "corrupt" cops and bribe your way out of a sticky situation -- but it'll cost you.

When on foot, an on-screen stick is used to control Pedro, with a set of contextual tap buttons to perform actions.  Vehicles are controlled through a choice of any of three different controls methods: stick (which is a left / right slider for steering), on-screen steering wheel, and tilt-based control.  When fighting (with fists or guns), a tap to the enemy of choice will lock onto him, directing all attacks directly at him.  I tried out all control methods save tilt and found them to work very well.

On the audio front, Gameloft definitely didn't skimp.  A total of four different radio stations can be accessed with each vehicle's radio: rock, latino, techno, and hip-hop.  Each station delivers all-original music as well as DJ commentary.  A very nice feature of the game that utilizes iPhone OS 3.0 is the ability for players to listen to their own music instead of the on-air radio (using OS 3.0 devices).

There is currently no online gameplay or scoreboard component, but Gameloft indicates that they are now in the process of planning upgrades that will be released over time, adding features to the title.

This hands-on video shows the game in action on a 2nd Gen iPod Touch. An earlier video was also shown when the game was first announced, but that was not shown running on an actual device.

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Gangstar: West Coast Hustle looks like a very solid take on the GTA formula that, even in my short time with the game, impressed me with its large, sprawling game world.  This, coupled with the choose-your-mission nature of the title, should make for very significant playtime.  We'll take a much closer look when the game goes live in August but, from what I've seen so far, Gangstar might just provide iPhone gamers the most potent GTA fix in the App Store. 

RockingPocketGames posted a video of a new version of their Blue Skies helicopter shooter that was originally released back in August 2008. The new version (which is a completely separate version) makes it amongst of the first games to offer 3GS specific features:

The 3GS enhanced version makes use of the pixel shaders that are ONLY found in the new iPhone 3GS. It has per pixel bump mapping and amazing dynamic animated water that demonstrates the true power of the new iPhone 3GS!

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There's been some debate about the practicality of offering 3GS-specific versions of games in the future. While most developers will likely target the broad market, but obviously some will certainly experiment with some of the new features to gain a bit of an advantage.

Here's a video of the existing version of Blue Skies

The 3GS version of Blue Skies has been submitted to Apple for approval but has not yet been approved. It will be a separate $0.99 purchase over the existing version.

Update: It appears the 3GS version will be a separate app rather than an upgrade that we had originally indicated. Apologies for the mistake.

If you haven't already, before reading this please go download Wild West Pinball [App Store] while it's still free. No seriously, go download it. Tell your friends. Wild West Pinball is one of the best 3D pinball games on the App Store, and while some people complained about not being able to see the whole table as the camera panned around to follow the ball, that was one of the things I really like about the game.

Gameprom's upcoming pinball game, The Deep brings the same level of performance and the same high quality pinball table graphics seen in Wild West Pinball, only this time bank robberies and shootouts are traded for sunken treasure and other underwater dangers.

Check out this gameplay video where I complete a few "missions" (in-game objectives that have you hitting a specific part of the table with your ball), cracking open the treasure chest, and plundering the sunken ship:

The Deep has already been submitted and Gameprom is optimistic it will appear on the App Store sometime in the next week.

While I'm sure developers prefer not to be compared existing games, it seems pretty clear that these two games have drawn inspiration from Doodle Jump [$0.99], the strangely addictive platform jumper by Lima Sky. (Of course, Doodle Jump was likely inspired by Papi Jump. )

Regardless, here are a couple of fun Doodle Jump-inspired $0.99 games that are worth a look.

A Doodle Flight

A Doodle Flight [$0.99 / Lite] from j2sighte adopts the nice hand drawn "doodle" art style and applies to a vertical shooter. The game offers both tilt and touch controls to navigate the 8 levels, each with their own boss enemy as well as weapon upgrades.

The game starts off pretty easy but later boss levels start throwing out a barrage of shots rRootage-style (Boss 4 video).

The game comes with a Lite version to try out the controls and has been well received in our forums.

App Store Link: A Doodle Flight, $0.99, A Doodle Flight Lite, Free

321 Jump!

321 Jump! [$0.99] preserves the addictive platform jumping qualities of Doodle Jump and Papi Jump but adds its own power ups and a distinct level progression.

321 Jump! offers mystery power-ups as you go along that can either be good (Superman jump, shotgun, wider platforms) or bad (breakaway platforms, ink splat) but you don't know until you pick them up. Same good tilt controls as its predecessors as well as a global high score leaderboard.

If you were a big fan of Doodle Jump and are looking for more variety, this one is a solid contender.

App Store Link: 321 Jump!, $0.99

A few minutes ago we received a provisioned copy of the Portal clone built in Unity that we posted about last week. There have been suspicions since the original video was posted that the entire thing was an elaborate hoax, but we can now confirm that it actually does exist.

The game in its current state is rather buggy, I've fallen through the world a few times and the way gravity is handled when going through portals needs some tweaking. Also, according to the developer, the controls are not as good as they'd like them to be, a sentiment I can get behind as playing the game right now feels rather clumsy.

Here is a short video of me playing through the first room and entering the second room of the first level:

All in all though, we're looking at a very promising Portal clone that still needs a good bit of work before it's ready for prime time. Also, it remains to be seen what Valve's reaction to this project will be as ultimately they hold the keys to the castle and needless to say, this Portal clone is treading on some extremely thin legal ice.

Newtoy, developers of Chess With Friends [App Store] recently released Words With Friends App Store] bringing the same asynchronous multiplayer to the game of Scrabble (basically).

Chess With Friends has become remarkably popular among Chess players, since it's both free and offers a modern spin on correspondence chess. Words With Friends takes this same formula and offers four different multiplayer game modes.

You can either search for users to play with using your contact list, or search by user name. If you don't know anyone with the game yet, you can play a random opponent. Finally, Words With Friends also has a mode for local play if you want to play against a friend using a single device.

Like Chess With Friends you can have multiple games going at once with both friends and random internet players. While push notifications aren't supported yet, you can either just launch the app to see if it's your turn yet, or enable email/SMS notifications. A recent tweet by Newtoy mentions push notifications coming soon for Chess With Friends, so I'd assume the same treatment will be coming soon for Words With Friends.

Either way, both games are free and supported via in-game advertising and Words With Friends has a premium version for 99¢ that you can buy if you want to support the developer and/or don't like looking at ads. If you like Chess or Scrabble, both games are a ton of fun.

App Store Links:

• Words With Friends Free, Free
• Words With Friends, 99¢
• Chess With Friends, Free

Any self respecting board game nerd has played Settlers of Catan and likely has a copy sitting on a shelf with at least one of the expansions. Kolonists [App Store] shrinks Catan in to the palm of your hand, combining the core gameplay experience with the iPhone touch interface.

Originally published in 1995, Settlers of Catan is often referred to as the "killer app" of board games both due to its overwhelming popularity and massive international appeal. Catan has sold over 15 million copies and has been translated to over 30 different languages as well as seeing different electronic versions of the game including browser-based applets, an XBOX Live! Arcade game, and now an iPhone game.

The basic idea behind Kolonists is you're a band of settlers on an island and you build farms, villas, and roads to connect them while collecting resources to build even more or trade with other players. Everything you build awards influence points, hit 10 influence, and win the game. (Influence levels can also be changed to 12 or 14 to win in Kolonists.) This is a complete oversimplification of the game, as I've read web sites that consist of nothing but strategy discussion for winning Catan.

The game has an almost Tetris-like appeal to it in that you can learn how to play in a few seconds, but becoming a good player will take much longer. No two games are ever the same because the game board game consists of randomized hex tiles, so one strategy that worked well for you in a previous game may be rendered completely ineffective due to the resource layout of the next game.

The greatest disappointment in Kolonists is the lack of online multiplayer. Since 3.0 came out I've been waiting for great board games like this to all come packed with the ability to play asynchronous multiplayer with push notifications when it's your turn. This functionality would take Kolonists to a whole new level, as the fun part of Catan always has been playing against other people, forming alliances, and eventually betraying those alliances.

There are also some odd rule changes in Kolonists, for instance there are no dice and instead of gathering resources from adjacent tiles, you gather from where you place your worker. This also restricts resource sharing since only one worker can be on a resource space at a time. Finally, there isn't any negotiation to be had with the AI opponents. Your only options for resource trading are pure 3:1 or 4:3 trades to banks or ports. (Thanks, Mrbass.)

If you're new to Settlers of Catan, check out the Wikipedia article for more in-depth rules. Kolonists is the best way to play on the iPhone, and it provides a pretty decent Catan experience. If multiplayer is your thing, I'd check out the free JSettlers java game, look in to the XBOX Live! Arcade game, or better yet, pick up the board game.

App Store Link: Kolonists, $1.99

We previously called Last Cannon a refreshingly original iPhone puzzle shooter.

Last Cannon is a simple game with a single survival / highscore mode, but the color matching / elimination element takes it beyond just another simple shooter into the realm of a puzzle game that's genuinely refreshing to play.

The original version's difficulty ramped up pretty steeply, but the latest version improves the balance with weapon upgrades and a larger gameplay area that can extend your gameplay time.

The 1.3 version also addresses bug-fixes for 3GS owners and improves the tilt sensitivity. The following video is of the original 1.0 version:

If you're looking for a simple stylistic shooter with some puzzle elements, Last Cannon is one to get. The game still seems to have a following in our forums.

App Store Link: Last Cannon, $0.99

Drawing games are becoming more and more popular, and for good reason. Out of all the different control methods on the iPhone, few are more natural than simply drawing on the screen.

Draw Race [App Store] takes a unique approach on racing games. Employing the familiar drawing mechanic, you literally draw your racing line around the track. The speed of your finger controls how fast or slow you go and once the race starts your car tries as hard as it can to stay on the line.

If you draw too fast around a corner your car can spin out so there is a small skill curve to the game as you get a feel for how fast you need to draw compared to the handling capabilities of your car. Currently included in the game are 20 tracks, and once you complete a race in the single player mode you'll be able to race other people online and compete in time trials.

The developer released the following trailer:

Flyloop [App Store] utilizes a similar drawing mechanic, only this time you're drawing circles around butterflies to catch them as they fly across the screen.

What initially appears as a tranquil game of catching butterflies in a field quickly escalates in to frantically drawing circles trying to match pairs. The game has an acoustic guitar soundtrack, and global high scores if you're in to that kind of thing.

Watch the trailer for Flyloop to see it in action:

Both of these games use screen drawing in different ways to create entirely different gameplay experiences. Draw Race and Flyloop are both worth checking out if you want a couple of simple fun games without needing to use virtual D-pads or tilt controls.

App Store Link: Draw Race, 99¢ - Flyloop, 99¢

Namco Networks has just announced that it has submitted Pac-Man Remix, a modern take on its 1980 arcade classic, to the App Store.

Based on the world-famous arcade hit, PAC-MAN REMIX showcases enhanced graphics and lots of new exclusive features like boss battles, stage-specific gadgets, and power-up items! Guide PAC-MAN through the maze and avoid the brightly colored ghosts while chomping up all the dots. Eat a power pellet to temporarily turn the tables on the ghosts. Gobble up as many ghosts as possible while they are blue. Chomp the ghosts consecutively during one power pellet to score major bonus points!

The game holds onto the core Pac-Man game mechanic, but expands greatly upon it, both as far as visual presentation and gameplay are concerned.  Pac-Man Remix is played across six different stages (with five levels each) and features various power-ups that can be acquired to help beat those familiar ghosts and their six new boss ghost friends.  These include:

• Jump -- jump over ghosts or walls
• Dash -- move faster
• Lucky Item -- all the pellets turn into Power Pellets
• Ninja Item -- Trick the ghosts with an illusion of Pac-Man

Two methods of control are offered in the game: on-screen directional buttons and swipe controls, like those used in Namco's iPhone version of classic Pac-Man.

The game appears to be an evolved / extended adaptation of the studio's well-reviewed 1996 release, Pac-Man Arrangement, which is an excellent remake I've spent considerable time with on the Gameboy Advance.  If Remix is anywhere near as good as Arrangement -- which it should certainly be -- then iPhone gamers are in for quite a treat.

Pac-Man Remix has been submitted to the App Store and should appear later this week at a price of $5.99.

Namco also took this opportunity to announce the launch of a new division within the company, dedicated exclusively to the iPhone and iPod touch.  The new 'Apple Games' division is headed up by former I-Play Mobile Gaming producer and designer Jonathan Kromrey.  And while the announcement of Pac-Man Remix brings a smile to my face, the creation of the new division within Namco focused entirely on iPhone gaming, and the studio's commitment to the platform that such a move reveals, is a much more significant turn of events.

We can't wait to see what the studio has in store.

For various reasons the "spot the difference" game genre has taken off on the App Store. These games involve looking at two nearly identical photographs and tapping on the areas of difference. It's a simple game but well suited to the iPhone's touch screen.

We've tried a variety of these games over the past few months, and most have them have been pretty disappointing. Photo Spot [$0.99, Lite] was probably one of the best ones available and came out back in Febraury. However, a new contender called What's the Difference [$1.99] was recently highlighted by longtime forum member Carlos-SZ and highly recommended -- and we can see why.

JVL's entry into this field offers great production value, a variety of modes, a library of 500 photos and even a global high score system.

The game offers both timed (Challenge and Survival) modes as well as a more relaxed Practice mode. Taps on the wrong areas during Challenge and Survival modes incur a time penalty to prevent random guessing High scores are synced to a central server so you can see Daily, Weekly and Champs (all time) score.

If you've been considering a photo comparison game, What's the Difference seems to be one of the best ones available with a variety of gameplay modes and relatively large library of photos.

App Store Link: What's the Difference, $1.99