One of the first must-have iPhone games to appear in the App Store was PapiJump.  Not long after, Doodle Jump took the simple, accelerometer-controlled concept of ascending a wall of platforms to the next level.  Since then, many other takes on this addictive play mechanic have appeared in the App Store, the vast majority of which are really not worth your time.  Happily for fans of these games, another such title has just appeared in the App Store, and this one brings a twist.

GTProduction's Spring Fling [App Store] is a jump-up-the-platform-wall game where you take on the role of a spring.  Being a spring, it's not just a matter of tap to jump straight upward -- you can compress the string and set the angle of your jump by way of a tap and drag mechanic.  And the integrated PhysX engine makes the experience rather convincing.  Choose an angle to shallow or severe and it's a platform miss with a plummet to your end.

Each jump uses up a supply of Power that doesn't get recharged until the next checkpoint. So, the game is a more deliberate physics/power management game than the fast paced action of other platform jumping titles.

Along the way rockets, balloons, parachutes, and pogo sticks help you scale the wall. The game includes five different worlds, some static and some downward scrolling. And achievements, online leaderboards, and Facebook / Twitter integration provide incentive to reach the highest height.

See the developer's gameplay trailer for a look at the action.

App Store Link: SpringFling, $0.99

RetroVenture has released a port of the old 1982 Apple II game Transylvania. Originally developer by Antonio Antiochia, RetroVenture has collaborated with the original author to bring this classic game to the iPhone.

In Fall 2009, Roe Mobile Development will release Transylvania for the iPhone. Transylvania is an adventure game that was originally released for the Apple ][ in 1982. Back then it was quite successful and spawned two sequels (Crimson Crown and Vanquish the Night: Return to Transylvania). The iPhone version is a joint work between Kenneth Roe and Antonio Antiochia who is the original author. The iPhone version will add a new touch interface and sounds.

If you ever played the original version, here's your chance to get it again for free. Even if you miss the Halloween sale, the game will be available for only $0.99.

App Store Link: Transylvania Adventure, Free (Halloween)

Craneballs Studios, who brought us the unique iPhone shooter Blimp - The Flying Adventures, has just released 33rd Division [App Store], a combat-themed tactical line-draw game in the ilk of Flight Control.

Set in World War II, 33rd Division offers gameplay across four different European battlefields.  The goal is to guide soldiers, medics and sergeants entering the battlefield to each of their designated destinations without being seen (shot and killed).  This is done by drawing a course across the battlefield (Flight Control style) in and among obstacles and roving patrols.

Sounds just like all the other line-draw games, right?  Well, 33rd Division has some interesting variations up its sleeve.  The aforementioned roving patrols have a limited field of vision, indicated by a highlighted sight cone that moves as they turn about the battlefield.  As long as you stay out of their sight area, you're fine, but enter that cone and, well, let's just call it the cone of death.  What's more, if you're trapped and about to be seen, you can lie down, rendering you invisible...unless the patrols walk right up to you, in which case they render you full of lead.

The game offers two playmodes, Life, in which it's game over after you lose all your lives, and Time, where it's an all out race against the clock. Helping you out along the way are eight different power-ups that can be collected on the battlefield, including invincibility, bonus life, extra time, double speed, and frozen enemies. The WWII-era menu music, complete with crackles and pops, adds nicely to the effect, as does the ambient battlefield sound during gameplay.  OpenFeint leaderboards provide incentive to hone your skill.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

There are a number of line-draw games of this general sort in the App Store.  I do have my favorites.  And as it turns out, 33rd Division is among them.  The temptation to shortcut your way across the battlefield, cutting dangerously close to the patrols and dropping to the ground at the right moment, adds a great sense of danger and exhilaration to the gameplay.  But, be careful, you don't want to get stepped on!

App Store Link: 33rd Division, $0.99

After an amazing amount of anticipation on our forums, Eliminate is finally playable for our Canadian friends. Like we mentioned in our previous post, ngmoco is using this initial Canadian launch as a large-scale beta test to guarantee the servers hosting the game are running as well as they should be when Eliminate is finally released in to the wild. Things are still being tuned and tweaked, so I'm reluctant to offer many gameplay specifics as ngmoco indicated to us that quite a few elements of the game are going to be in flux while they make their final adjustments.

What I am willing to say is that playing Eliminate with real people is every bit as awesome as I imagined it being. The last time I had played the game was for our hands on preview we posted earlier this month. So far I've yet to notice any major differences, so everything mentioned in our preview is still accurate short of the energy recharge period which ngmoco says still has not been finalized.

So far the Canadian beta has been lag free, and I've always been able to find a game almost instantly. One of the things I've been dying to find out is how Eliminate performs over 3G, and so far it seems to play just fine. Already the Plus+ leaderboards are filling up as more and more people download and install the game, and I can't wait to see how many people are online tomorrow.

Even in its current beta status, Eliminate is receiving rave reviews on our forums and has seemed to ether meet or exceed the expectations of nearly everyone lucky enough to have a Canadian iTunes account. We have our fingers crossed that the beta goes smoothly and quickly, and as soon as the game is officially released worldwide we will post an in-depth look at the game.

App Store Link: Eliminate, Free - Only Available in Canada

id Software's Doom Classic finally appeared in the App Store after a lengthy wait. John Carmack, himself, seems to have done most of the work in reviving this classic title for the iPhone. Doom Classic brings four episodes across 36 levels and revamps the control system to a touch-screen friendly system.

Those familiar with the Wolfenstein 3D Classic controls will likely feel at home with the adapted Doom controls but there have been several upgrades to the system. Doom Classic offers 3 different control systems with the option of adding accelerometer strafing. These include:

• 1. Combined single stick for movement and turning
• 2. Left stick movement, Right stick turning
• 3. Left stick movement, Right wheel turning

Each of the controls can be customized further by dragging and dropping them on the screen to the desired location. Notably, the sticks are now "floating" sticks by default that allow more freedom in where you place your fingers down.

The #1 control option offers the benefit of simplicity, with a single stick for movement, though at the sacrifice of pure left/right strafing which is more easily accomplished with the #2 control method. Controls seemed a bit sensitive during my early play with no options to adjust the degree of sensitivity.

The following gameplay video shows the different default methods in action:

Meanwhile, there are a number of control customization options, including the ability to fix the location of the controls (similar to Wolf 3D) or turn the control graphics off completely and just use the left/right sides of the screen. This latter option allows the game to emulate the other first person shooter controls that we've seen in Eliminate and Modern Combat. So far, this has been my favorite combination: #2 with Draw Controls: Off and Auto Use: On (so you don't have to tap on doors to open them), and sensitivity here seems better, but not perfect.

When we spoke to Carmack back in June, he had big plans for the Doom franchise on the iPhone, including adding the ability to purchase in-app content for Doom 2, Ultimate Doom, Final Doom, Master Levels.

This initial release also contains multiplayer, but it is local multiplayer only (WiFi). Competitive internet multiplayer was listed a possibility for a later update when we spoke to Carmack in June.

App Store Link: Doom Classic, $6.99

One of the most anticipated titles that we can remember, id Software's Doom Classic is now in the App Store. The game includes the original three episodes as well as Episode Four, They Flesh Consumed. Features include:

• Fight through 36 missions in four action-packed episodes
• Experience DOOM multiplayer on your mobile device, including Deathmatch and Cooperative play for up to four players via wireless internet
• Choose from three different control types and customize the interface to suit your style

We'll post video and impressions shortly.

App Store Link: Doom Classic, $6.99

Ngmoco's widely anticipated titles Eliminate and Touch Pets have both been approved by Apple for inclusion in the App Store. Ngmoco announced tonight that both titles will be free to download, but that will see an initial launch in Canada before spreading to the rest of the world.

The reason for the beta Canadian-only launch is to make sure they have enough server capacity to handle the load for the worldwide launch.

Official threads for Eliminate and Touch Pets have been started in our forums:

- Eliminate - FREE 4 Player Online FPS: LIVE IN CANADA
- Touch Pets Dogs - FREE social puppy game: LIVE IN CANADA

The games have not quite yet propagated into the Canadian App Store but we'll post the direct links here when they do.

Canadian App Store: Eliminate Pro, Free, Touch Pets Dogs, Free

Turns out the guys at Ezone aren't the only one celebrating the holiday by cutting the price of their games. There's an amazing amount of games that are seeing significant price reductions for the weekend. If you've been waiting for any of these games, here's your chance!

Rock Band, $6.99 (Originally $9.99) - EA's latest rhythm game should need no introduction. 20 songs are included, along with a whole in-game store filled with other song packs that sell for 99¢ a pop. Play as any of the four band positions, each with a different melody to tap out on the iPhone screen.

Tap Star, 99¢ (Originally $4.99) - Another rhythm game for the iPhone, providing similar gameplay as the others... But this one not only includes a song by RUN DMC, but also "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. (Lighter not included.)

Haunted 3D Rollercoaster Rush, 99¢ (Originally $1.99) - Digital Chocolate's tilt controlled rollercoaster game comes with 40 different Halloween themed tracks and a ton of unlockables.

Derek Jeter Real Baseball, 99¢ (Originally $4.99) - While there were a few things we weren't crazy about in Gameloft's latest sports title starring the one and only Derek Jeter, 99¢ is hard to pass up for a 3D baseball game with this many in-game options and play modes.

Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem, 99¢ (Originally $1.99)- A popular game for the Nintendo DS, this fantastic port is enhanced for the iPhone and comes loaded with surprisingly awesome online multiplayer. Highly recommended.

iDracula - Undead Awakening, 99¢ (Originally $2.99) - Once again back to 99¢, this dual stick shooter is still one of the best available on the platform. It's been out for quite some time now and has had some substantial content updates. If you don't own iDracula yet, now is a great time to get on board the undead slaying train.

Nick Chase: A Detective Story, 99¢ (Originally $4.99) - While some gameplay elements kept us from fully endorsing this game when it was first released earlier this month, the presentation is one of the best I've seen in a hidden object game. Well worth 99¢ just to experience the attention to detail and comic book style plot progression.

Sentinel 2: Earth Defense, 99¢ (Originally $2.99) - If you're a tower defense fan and somehow don't own this game already, please take this opportunity to download it. Sentinel 2 is even better than the original and is still one of my favorite tower defense games.

Tap-Fu, $1.99 (Originally $3.99) - A fun and casual side scrolling beat 'em up with an interesting gesture-based control system. 2.5D graphics and high quality animations make for a very impressive visual experience, even though the gameplay can be somewhat repetitive.

Blades of Fury, $4.99 (Originally $6.99) - Gameloft's take on Soul Calibur, Blades of Fury works remarkably well with the on-screen controls and has character models and graphics that look great.

Orbital, 99¢ (Originally $2.99) - Launch orbs in to the game field to collide with other orbs. Each orb must be hit the displayed number of times to clear it off the board. The gameplay is fun and the amount of graphical flare in the game make Orbital one of the coolest looking casual games out there.

Aside from all these games that went on sale, there's also a ton of games worth checking out that recently went free for a limited time:

• Shipwreck
• Udder Chaos
• 2 Minute RPG
• Crash!! The Most Stupid Race
• Heavy Crossbow
• Scarecrow
• Libra Balance

These are just a selection of the many games currently on sale or free. For a complete listing, check AppShopper's list of games with price changes. All the prices are current as of this posting, but given the nature of sales on the App Store, they all could change at any time so snatch whatever you've been looking at quickly.

If you've found yourself with nothing to do today aside wait for Halloween tomorrow, the Edis brothers of Ezone.com have offered a small amount of relief in making their latest game free for the day. Scarecrow [App Store] is a simple jumping game similar to Doodle Jump and other games with the sole goal of seeing how high you can go.

We explained the game in more detail in our review last month:

ike their predecessors, the scarecrow wishes to go high… very high. Instead of jumping on platforms, however, scarecrow is propelled by popping kernels of corn. Make sure to hit enough of them as you ascend to keep your momentum going. Hitting the explosive corn also recharges your own personal boost that can be triggered by tapping on the screen. This supply is limited so you need to use it sparingly.

Your path is hindered by a number of obstacles including chainsaws, spikes, and more that threaten to dismember you as you ascend. You can take a fair amount of damage to where you are just left with a torso flying upward.

We enjoyed Scarecrow in our review, and played it enough that we included it in our recent Halloween games roundup. So what are you waiting for? It's free, and it has Plus+ with high score tracking and Push challenges. There's not much reason to not give the game a try.

App Store Link: Scarecrow, Free (Today Only)

Namco's Garters & Ghouls made its way into the App Store last night and is the latest twin stick shooter to arrive on the scene. You play as the freshly reanimated Marie Dupois fighting against an evil force known as "Thrum" who has caused the dead to rise under its control. It's your task to close the portals of the underworld that spawn the various zombies, werewolves, and demons that are rampaging across the countryside.

The game plays a lot like iDracula and other similar games, with two virtual joysticks that control your movement and shooting. Along the way you come across different weapons and powerups, and throughout the land are shops run by the "Steam Queens" where you can buy upgrades for your character's health, movement, weapon damage, and other things.

The main content difference between Garters & Ghouls and similar iPhone games is that the gameplay is structured around 25 distinct and large levels and framed in a slowly revealing storyline.

The task for each level, however, remains the same throughout: you must destroy the enemy-spawing portals strewn across the map. Still, going into a level with a specific number of portals to destroy gave me a greater sense of purpose than other pure survival shooters. There is some very light planning involved in avoiding getting caught in the crossfire between demon-spawing portals, and there are a variety of enemies which do get more difficult as well as a number of weapon upgrades.

The game's difficulty, however, ramps up slowly, so it can feel like you are just grinding your way through the game. And if you listened to our last podcast, you would have heard that Eli Hodapp's issue with the game was the repetitive and lengthy nature of the levels. While I don't believe its any more repetitive than many of the existing survival shooters we've played before, I had also hoped the levels would provide more variety in gameplay.

Meanwhile, a number of other factors keeps the game squarely in the "good, but not great" category. The controls and animations are adequate, though not especially smooth, and the targeting of the enemies and portals requires you hitting just the right spot. This gives the enemies a 2 dimensional feel. The 1.0 version also suffers from some occasional crashes, though if this occurs only your in-level progress is lost and you can resume at the beginning of the level.

Further discussion and opinions of the game can be found in our forums

App Store Link: Garters & Ghouls, $4.99

Zombie games and the App Store seem to go together like peas and carrots. I'm not sure what the allure of zombies is, but I'm not one to argue about slaying legions of undead. Developers Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team (Yes, that's their real name) have been working on a sports zombie apocalypse hybrid for quite some time now, and finally seeing it in motion with this gameplay video is truly something to behold.

Details are vague right now, but the developers have provided us this list of things to expect in Pro Zombie Soccer:

• One of the most surreal and funny stories to ever grace a videogame.
• Lots of different zombies for your zombie killing pleasure, all of them with different hit points.
• A powerful blockbuster-type soundtrack and sound design.
• And of course: a nice combo system; different levels; Zombie Odyssey Mode for the hardcore gamers; character skill upgrading system.

If you've watched the video and think there are some strong similarities to the art and animations in Plants Vs. Zombies, it's because Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team is comprised of an international team of seasoned game industry veterans with titles under their belt such as Worms, Vin Diesel's Wheelman, the EyeToy Play series, and Plants Vs. Zombies itself.

In an effort to boost online gameplay, Dot Matrix has organized a TouchArcade Frag Fest tournament night for their online-multiplayer artillery game KIL.A.TON. KIL.A.TON is a first rate artillery game with simultaneous rather than sequential battles. This results in more intense action as well as a twist in strategy. If you're not familiar with the game, check out our review of the game back in August.

Details of the event:

• The event will run tonight (10/29) from 9pm-3am EDT / 6pm-12am PDT
• Games played during the event will earn double XP for all players
• The Frag Fest will use kills as the basis for player rankings
• Results will be kept in a unique tournament table, to track all players
• Once the tournament is complete, a "Championship" table will be created to track winners (1st, 2nd 3rd places)

These regular Thursday night tournaments were suggested by one of our forum members, and seems a great idea to have leverage the TouchArcade community. So if you have the game, come join in tonight. We'll try to continue this and other designated game nights in the future.

App Store Link: KIL.A.TON, $2.99

Along with tower defense and line drawing games, it seems like the twin stick shooter genre has an amazing representation on the App Store. We just got exclusive word from Angry Mob Game that they're ready to show the world what they've been working on for the last six months: Guerrilla Bob.

The game takes the standard survival shooter format we're all familiar with by now and structures the gameplay through various levels that take place in canyons, deserts, and urban environments. There also is an exploring element to the game, with new weapons and secret items to be found. While on your quest of mowing down everything that moves with your arsenal of weaponry, you will encounter bosses described as "epic" as well as "elements of depth and complexity never before met with any iPhone games of its genre" according to CEO Bogdan Iliesiu.

The recently released trailer and screenshots are required viewing for anyone interested in dual stick shooters:

EDGE developer Mobigame is finally returning to the App Store with a follow-up title. Their launch title EDGE was critically acclaimed, though, had some nagging legal battles that resulted in its removal from the App Store for many months. EDGE finally did return to the App Store in October, and the developer has been working on their next game.

Mobigame's David Papazian explained to us that after taking 2 years to create EDGE, they wanted to "take a breath" with a smaller game. The game was inspired by some old wooden puzzle toys but this one is said to be impossible to have built in real life. The game is a fully multi-touch game, and Papazian reports that "sometimes you will need all your fingers to solve the 120 puzzles we created."

Here's a teaser video:

The game has been submitted and is waiting for approval from Apple.

Oddly enough, the App Store has no shortage of hunting games. Quite a few of them have flirted with positions high up on the overall sales charts, but none (until now) have come from such long-standing hunting game franchises as the Big Buck Hunter arcade machines and the Deer Hunter series of PC and console games.

Real Deer Hunting, 99¢ - The eighteenth installment in the Deer Hunter series offers a fairly in-depth hunting experience that takes place in the woods of Indiana and the plains of Texas. The game is packed with all kinds of deer luring actions, along with the choice between a shotgun, scoped rifle, and compound bow. Out of all the hunting games I've tried for the iPhone, this one seems the most technical, although having never actually hunted deer I can't say for sure how accurate the developer's claims of ultra-realism are.

Big Buck Hunter Pro, $2.99 - We extensively previewed this game last week following the Big Buck Hunter World Championship in Chicago where the game was originally unveiled. It's a fantastic port of the arcade machine, and provides a remarkably similar experience, only without the plastic shotgun. Big Buck Hunter machines are becoming as much of a bar staple as Golden Tee in my area, so if the iPhone game can tap in to the existing fan base it should be a huge success. However, if you've never drunkenly pumped quarters in to the real Big Buck Hunter game, the iPhone version likely won't have much appeal.