Touch Foo's Soosiz platformer has arrived in the App Store for an introductory sale price of $1.99.

Soosiz is a great looking 2D platformer that we previewed a few weeks ago. Aside from the usual running/jumping mechanic, Soosiz also introduces gravity flipping jumping, allowing you to jump onto platforms directly above you. The gameplay mechanic is reminiscent of Gomi but packaged in a more traditional platformer title running at a faster pace. The game comes with 7 worlds and 65 levels, each with bronze, silver, and gold achievements.

See this developer provided video of the game in action:

The game includes left/right virtual buttons for movement and a jump button for jumping. Additional on screen controls allow you to zoom out for an overview of the map. Holding the jump button down further lets you jump a little higher. Some enemies can be dispatched by jumping on them Mario-style.

Even with our brief time with the game, we've been very impressed with the total package. The controls are responsive and the gravity turning gameplay design works well and is very fun. The game also appears to incorporate a lot of different gameplay elements, enemies and obstacles.

A few of the more advanced obstacles and enemies are shown in this video:

Other early impressions are being collected in our forums, and we plan on taking a closer look, but even at this early stage, this looks like it's a winner.

App Store Link: Soosiz, $1.99 (Intro price)

Crescent Moon Games has provided the first hands-on gameplay video of their upcoming 3D RPG Ravensword. The game has received a massive amount of attention in our forums since it was first revealed in August.

Since the first trailer was released, Josh Presseisen reports that they have been undergoing further performance optimization and interface tweaking. The following video represents a beta version of the game which shows the character fighting a troll in the woods, a skeleton in the dungeon, and lizard warrior in the dark lands of Sytheria.

The video shows a very impressive 3D action RPG. The control system shown in the video is said to be "completely changing" and will include some auto-targetting. The game is undergoing active development and is expected to be released sometime later this year.

Here are a couple of retro-inspired games which may be of interest to some of our readers.

iPlutoid

Lazrhog Games claims to have created a "new genre" of 3D shooter with Plutoid and they may be right. Readers may remember Lazrhog as one of the early jailbreak developers who originally ported Noiz2sa to the iPhone.

iPlutoid is an arcade shooter where you pilot a ship over a small planet while saving humans from the invading aliens. The game kind of feels like a 3D take on the 80's classic Defender. The game is set up as a old-school arcade shooter which means you get 3 lives, start at level 1, and see how long you can survive the waves of alien invaders. The graphics adopt a similar primitive but effective polygonal style.

The game controls involve the use of the accelerometer to control the ship's left/right and up/down motion. The ship is restricted in vertical movement, preventing you from either crashing or flying too high. The games controls work well and the game plays smoothly, but the restricted 3D space that you are allowed to fly in can cause some difficulties in figuring out proper aiming and navigation. We suspect iPlutoid will primarily appeal to those who love old-school arcade action.

App Store Link: iPlutoid, $0.99

Blastination

Blastination is the first iPhone game from Bithoard games. Their game is a fast action deflection game with a wonderful art style complete with particle effects. The gameplay itself requires you to draw lines to deflect the bouncing ball to collect all the objects for each level. You must complete each level within a given time period in order to succeed.

This draw-a-line deflection mechanic has been used in other games such as Reflexion [App Store] and Creepytown [App Store]. So, if you're a fan of this sort of gameplay mechanic, Blastination is nice fast-paced variant of the genre.

App Store Link: Blastination, $0.99

Freebie Fridays have been somewhat of a tradition over at NimbleBit, where they make one of their games free for a day to promote a new title or the rest of their lineup. In a somewhat unprecedented move, they've decided to make all of their games free for a day to promote their new project, App Classics, a web site that searches the App Store using various calculations in attempt to generate a list of the best and most popular apps available.

If you're unfamiliar with NimbleBit's collection of games, here is what's available for free that would have cost you a buck or two yesterday (and will tomorrow):

• Bluebird - Play as a small bird trying to fly as far as possible. Eat bugs to regain energy and tap the screen to flap your wings
• Hanoi Plus - A classic logic puzzle, move stacks of differently sized baskets to the opposite side of the screen stacked smallest to largest.
• Moon Drop - Assist astronauts colonizing the moon. Tap and hold the screen to fire the thrusters of the lunar landers to help them land safely.
• Scoops - Catch falling scoops of ice cream as high as you can while avoiding tomatoes and onions. Play long enough and you will be stacking ice cream past the planets of our solar system.
• Sky Burger - Fill orders for burgers utilizing ingredients falling from the sky. Gameplay is similar to Scoops, but with objectives.
• Textropolis - Search for words using the letters of various city names. With each word match the definition flies by and buildings are built on the top half of the screen.

We first heard of Gameloft's plans to produce a game targeted towards casual gamers based on topical humor back in the beginning of August, and if you somehow found yourself waiting for this game, you will be happy to find out that Bailout Wars [App Store] is now available for download.

There was a time when Bailout Wars may have been funny and relevant, but that time has long since passed, leaving a fairly decent castle defense style game with a highly questionable premise. The basic idea is you're defending the white house from five different types of bankers all intent on stuffing their pockets full of the bailout money which is somehow bursting out of the windows of the White House.

The game is controlled the same way as other castle defense games, you defend the White House using various flicking and swiping gestures. Different bankers require different tactics, while the standard banker can simply be flicked in the air, the stock broker will open his briefcase and use it to glide to the ground. To kill them, you'll need to slam them in to the ground with a swiping motion.

There's a banker with a vacuum that explodes when you tap him, high risk investors in helicopters that you need to make crash, and a giant CEO that can only be damaged utilizing the White House's weaponry and by flinging other bankers in to him.

As you progress through waves of bankers, you'll earn coins that can be used to buy upgrades to your defenses. Three upgrades are included-- The tank and sniper fire at bankers, and Uncle Sam allows for the use of some kind of touch controlled orbital laser to fry the hordes of incoming bankers.

The animations in Bailout Wars are surprisingly well done, and despite the entirely dated subject matter, the bankers themselves do have a lot of cartoon character to them with detailed animations for each action. In fact, the amount of detail in the entire game is very high, making the questionable subject matter an even more puzzling design decision.

It is interesting to see Gameloft entering the 99¢ market with this game, but with the high production value of the art and sound in the game, you really have to wonder why they didn't pick a more universal theme. In comparison, Knights Onrush [99¢ / Free] offers similar gameplay experience for the same price, but without any attempts at stale humor or political overtones, which really is too bad because Bailout Wars is pretty fun for a castle defense game.

App Store Link: Bailout Wars, 99¢

After a dramatic two month wait, the first Minigore [App Store] update was approved this afternoon. Mountain Sheep originally intended on doing episodic content updates similar to Pocket God, but unforeseen issues with Apple's approval process resulted in these updates being rolled out much slower than originally anticipated.

Minigore is a dual stick survival shooter similar to iDracula loaded with fantastic music, a charming cartoon-like art style, and random voice-over commentary from the game's protagonist, John Gore. In the game, you mow down armies of furries with your machine gun for as long as you can stay alive. For more detail on the gameplay, take a look at our review.

Minigore 1.1 brings a number of changes to the table, including the integration of OpenFeint for online scoring. You also have a furry "radar" of sorts, as incoming furries are indicated by small icons bordering the screen showing which direction they're coming from. The game also saves your progress when you quit, and restores your game when you load it again.

Aside from the standard flaming furry, a giant flaming furry was also added along with some new sound effects, voice acting, and animations. John Gore's health was also increased, and he can take one more hit before dying.

While this update introduces a hefty helping of gameplay tweaks and bug fixes, it also introduced two substantial bugs. Forum members are reporting that if you flip the screen orientation in the options, the game will crash and the only thing you can do to fix it is reinstall the game. Also, if you don't enable OpenFeint when it first offers, you will need to reinstall the game to get the prompt again.

Mountain Sheep has had ambitious plans for the future of Minigore, and recently added another 99 players to their beta testing pool. It's hard to have worse luck than they've already had with being able to get these updates out the door, so hopefully future updates to the game will have fewer problems making their way through Apple and getting on to the App Store.

App Store Link: Minigore, 99¢

The App Store is starting to hit its stride. In the past day, we've heard of sequels to a couple of beloved iPhone originals.

Glyder 2 - This followup title to the original Glyder [App Store] is due sometime in 2009. Glu has released new screenshots of the game showing flight and even wing customization.

The original generated quite a following from those who enjoyed Glyder's more relaxing gaming experience.

Glyder's pleasant sense of soaring, combined with the title's soothing soundtrack, makes for a relaxing game experience. That's not to say that there's a lack of challenge to the title; some of the narrow corridors that must be negotiated in order to secure that last crystal are quite harrowing. The game is well implemented and offers a very different type of gaming experience on the iPhone.

Additional screenshots from Glyder 2 can be found in this thread.

Zombie Attack 2 - The original Zombie Attack (more affectionally known as "ZA!") [App Store] was a bit of a cult favorite amongst TouchArcade members. It didn't really see much commercial success until the release of the Free Lite version [App Store], after which it did pretty well. Details on the sequel:

IUGO built upon what you loved best about the original Zombie Attack! game making it bigger, better and bloodier! Your mission: play as a survivor from the ultimate Zombie Apocalypse, protect your shack and stay alive. Kill zombies, earn points and cash to upgrade your weapons and bolster your fire power. Easy tilt and touch-screen controls make ZA! 2 an instant iPhone-exclusive favorite.

There will be 7 turrets, 4 maps, and 6 zombie types. Ongoing details are being posted by IUGO in the upcoming thread.

I admit when we first got approached by EA about Rock Band I was skeptical. After all, Tapulous has been through three revisions of Tap Tap Revolution, the latest of which we reviewed recently and includes an immense in-game store to buy new music to play along with a bunch of other features. However, where Rock Band pulls ahead of the pack of rhythm games on the iPhone is when it comes to overall immersion while you're playing the songs.

Obviously there's only so much immersion that you can achieve when you're pretending to play a guitar by tapping on the screen of your iPhone, but playing the tracks in the iPhone Rock Band works just like its console big brother in that every note you miss causes the music to be interrupted. This seems to add so much more to the game than just tapping along to a song like other similar games on the platform with music that just keeps playing regardless of how poorly you're doing.

Each song can be played in four distinctly different ways-- Guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Every instrument has its own track that you tap along with, and they all match up with the music just as well as the other versions of the game. Each mode is also playable in three difficulty levels. Easy should be easy enough for anyone to jump in to, and hard seems fairly challenging.

Rock Band features several modes of play. If you only have time to play a single song, there's a quick play mode. If you want to play through various gigs as your band seeks fame and fortune there's a world tour mode, and if you have friends with the game both online and local bluetooth multiplayer is included. I don't have anyone to test these multiplayer features with, but they're all in there, and I can imagine some pretty hilarious impromptu bluetooth jam sessions among groups of friends that have the game.

The online component uses Facebook to log in and connect you with your friends, and according to EA you will even get push notifications when friends of yours invite you to rock out online. Included in the initial release are 20 songs from a ton of great bands, and there is an in-game store where you can buy additional tracks. In the build I have, there is one additional content pack which features two Smashing Pumpkins songs for 99¢.

Included track list:

30 Seconds To Mars - "Attack"
AFI - "Girls Not Grey"
All American Rejects - "Move Along"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
Blink-182 - "All The Small Things"
Blondie - "Hanging on the Telephone"
Foo Fighters - "Learn To Fly"
Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
George Thorogood & the Destroyers - "Bad to The Bone"
Jethro Tull - "Hymn 43"
Joan Jett - "Hymn 43"
Lynard Skynyrd - "Simple Man"
Motorhead - "Ace of Spades '08"
Pixies - "Debaser"
Presidents of The United States of America - "Ladybug"
Rise Against - "Give It All"
Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
Smashing Pumpkins - "Cherub Rock"
Steve Miller Band - "Take The Money and Run"
The Go Go's - "We Got The Beat"

I went into Rock Band for the iPhone skeptical that EA could provide something that hadn't already been done before by the existing rhythm game competition and came out fairly impressed. Rock Band has already been submitted for approval to Apple, and is expected to go live sometime next week!

A few games have gone on sale or even dropped to free over the past week.

iBlast Moki ($1.99 -> $0.99) - One of our Best iPhone Games of September dropped to $0.99 earlier this week and remains on sale. It remains a great value at only $0.99, with over 70 levels and online level sharing.

Topple 2 Plus+ (Free) - In celebration of the Plus+ network launch, Ngmoco has released a free version of Topple 2. In the game you stack blocks of various shapes and sizes to reach a set altitude goal within the provided time limit.

Dr. Awesome Plus+ (Free) - This Qix clone is also free. As Dr. Awesome, you must perform microsurgery to save your friends from a deadly virus. A fun game that's worth getting for free.

Donuts Games' latest title, Titanic Rescue [App Store] was released tonight. Like their other games, Titanic Rescue is packed with pixel art, great music, and silly yet strangely charming gameplay.

The historically questionable premise of the game revolves around loading "gentlemen", as the game calls them, from the sinking Titanic in to the lifeboats below. These gentlemen eventually jump on their own, but a flicking motion on the screen also sends them flying skyward only to hopefully land in one of the boats or lifebuoys floating along side the ship. Sliding your finger along the bottom half of the screen controls the location of these life saving vessels, and for additional bonus points, gentlemen with matching suits can be loaded in sets of three in each life boat.

The longer you play, the more obstacles are introduced. For instance, fog obscures your view of the gentlemen on the ship and lifeboats loaded with three piece bands eventually are included in the series of boats on the bottom of the screen. Needless to say, gentlemen can't be loaded in to the boats with bands in them. The game continues until five gentlemen have splashed in to the ocean.

One extremely puzzling omission is the lack of any kind of scoreboard, either online or local. Inside of the options menu there is a button for your overall statistics, which list the number of gentlemen you've saved along with color matches, sunken boats, and total playtime. The only other stat that is saved is your all-time best, which I guess does the job, but I'd still rather see the top 10 scores.

Despite the lack of a more robust score recording system, Titanic Rescue is still a lot of fun. The simple gameplay gets challenging quick with the introduction of different obstacles, and it's hard to not enjoy a game based on such a silly concept.

App Store Link: Titanic Rescue, 99¢

After a year and a half, TouchArcade is going to start doing something we've never done before: provide numeric ratings for our game reviews (though with a catch).

The absence of a rating system at TouchArcade has been a point of contention amongst some of our readers, but was not a decision that we had made lightly. A great number of issues arise with any rating system, the least of which is consistency over time. Rating scores can also blind readers to otherwise good games if they didn't get a near perfect score. There are many advantages, however, including the ability for readers to find the "best" games at a glance.

In an effort to bring the best of both worlds, we have decided to start rating games in bulk on a monthly basis and publishing a monthly "Best iPhone Games" column that recaps the best games from the preceding month.

Our rating system adopts a 5 star system like iTunes but also allows for 1/2 star ratings. Any rating of 3 or above is considered a good score. Individual game reviews, however, will not be rated until the end of the month. By rating games in bulk at the end of the month, we can also take into account longer term appeal and playability that can be hard to predict at the initial release.

September's "Best iPhone Games" are highlighted here:

5 Stars

Meteor Blitz - This is the best space shooter we've seen for the iPhone. It delivers 6 unlockable worlds with a good variety of enemies, perfect dual stick controls, and a lot of fun. The art and animation are top notch with all the flourishes you'd expect. (Review, App Store)

geoDefense Swarm - The original geoDefense was one of the most popular tower defense games on the App Store, and for good reason. geoDefense Swarm takes the same deliciously difficult gameplay combined with the familiar vectorized graphics of the original and evolves the game to an open field format. Both games in the series are among the best of what the genre has to offer. (Review, App Store)

4.5 Stars

Dungeon Hunter - a 3D hack and slash RPG. Featuring a ridiculous amount of character customization, loot of all kinds, and loads of quests to complete. While Dungeon Hunter is the perfect game for fans of the Diablo or Dungeon Siege series, the difficulty curve shouldn't be overwhelming for new players either. (Review, App Store)

Baseball Superstars 2010 - Not only a great baseball game, it is also packed with RPG elements that add an amazing amount of depth. Aside from playing standard games of baseball, both super batters and super pitchers can be leveled up in season modes. These characters can be customized in a number of ways, allowing for hours upon hours of gameplay with each character. (Review, App Store)

iBlast Moki - The goal is to get the Mokis from point A to point B through the use of bombs, ropes, balloons, wheels and more as you traverse through the 6 worlds and 70 levels. The overall quality of iBlast Moki as well as the inclusion of a level editor with sharable levels make this game really stand out. (Review, App Store)

Backbreaker Football - While there may be two "full" football games on the App Store, the gameplay found in Backbreaker is much more conducive to the play style of most iPhone gamers. Structured in a series of challenges players must evade defenders to score a touchdown. Single levels can be played in under a minute, and Endurance mode tests your skill in a 50 level non-stop touchdown marathon. (Review, App Store)

The rest of September game ratings can be seen in their respective rating categories (also found in the sidebar navigation): 5 Stars, 4.5 Stars, 4 Stars, 3.5 Stars, 3 Stars, 2.5 Stars, and 2 Stars.

As always, we expect there will be some debate about relative scores, but keep in mind that everyone's personal ratings may vary based on individual tastes.

Back in July we reported that Revolution Software would be bringing its cult-classic graphic adventure Beneath a Steel Sky to the iPhone through its newly formed mobile group.  We're happy to report that the game is now available for download in the App Store [link].

Originally released for the Amiga and DOS in 1994, Beneath a Steel Sky is a sprawling graphical adventure set in Australia in a dystopian future. The story goes like this: the protagonist, Robert, crashed in the Outback as a child and was raised by a group of natives. After growing into an adult, storm-troopers sent from Union City by its all-powerful computer, LINC, kidnap Robert and kill his tribe. After entering the city dome, the helicopter transporting him crashes and he escapes into the city with his robot companion, Joey. Robert's mission is to find out why he was wanted and what to do next.

The game, which is notable for its excellent illustrations, drawn by famed comic artist Dave Gibbons, received very high praise at the time of its release and is widely considered to be one of the best adventure games ever created.  PC Gamer gave it 91% and called it "a must-buy for all serious adventure fans."  CU Amiga gave it 95%, calling it "one of the greatest adventures ever," while Simon Byron of The One gave it a 93%, saying, "I could sum this game in one word: Superb."

The iPhone adaptation, which has been ported to the ScummVM engine, uses touchscreen controls and dispenses with the on-screen pointer typical of Scumm games and, instead, uses blue dots to highlight points of interest.  The game's artwork has been enhanced with the iPhone release, which also features a high quality soundtrack and a new, integrated hint system.

See a video of the original version to get a feel for the game.

See the original game's five-minute intro video here.  Those wanting to try before they buy can have a look at the 2003 shareware release, playable on most major platforms.

App Store Link: Beneath a Steel Sky, $4.99

After a very long and dramatic legal battle between Mobigame and Tim Langdell over a trademark dispute over the name "Edge", the game has once again appeared on the App Store. EDGE [App Store] is a game where you control a colorful cube through a series of 3D isometric maze-like levels packed with puzzles to solve and obstacles to overcome.

Featuring both touch and accelerometer controls, EDGE requires both quick thinking and fast reactions to progress past the first few levels.

We enjoyed EDGE, and recommend picking the game up now -- both because it's a great game and also in case it gets pulled again as it's unclear whether or not EDGE is here to stay. An official statement from Mobigame is said to be coming soon.

If you haven't kept up with the "Edge" dispute which has caused quite a stir on the Internet, EA recently petitioned to get the "Edge" trademark thrown out, and Langdell responded calling the petition a "desperate attempt by EA". For a complete background on the dispute, check out the summary provided by TIGSource. Needless to say, the whole situation is unfortunate, and it's sad to see such a great iPhone game caught in the legal crossfire.

App Store Link: EDGE, $4.99

Bolt Creative's Pocket God [App Store] has had a seemingly permanent spot on the top lists of both overall paid apps and paid games since its release nearly a year ago. As a pioneer of episodic content updates, the "Good Will Haunting" update marks the 26th addition to the original game.

The free "Good Will Haunting" update introduces the Pygmy Ghost:

If a Pygmy dies in the graveyard, it will reappear as a ghost and float around. You can direct the ghost and have it mess with the other live Pygmies. You can do possession, scare a Pygmy to death, pickup a Pygmy and fly away, phase through the ground and pull a pygmy into the ghost dimension, and even do a banshee scream that bursts the eardrums of all the Pygmies listening. You can make all 6 Pygmies into ghosts if you want and to get rid of them, you just send them into the light (ala Poltergeist).

This update also marks the beginning of a new era of in-app customization via optional downloadable content (DLC) packs. For 99¢ in the latest update you can customize the look of the T-Rex on the island with various skins, hats, and even tattoos. Developer Dave Castelnuovo hopes to ideally include one additional DLC pack alongside each free update to the app, provided it doesn't slow down the release of said update. The reason to include these optional paid upgrades is, of course, to fund future development of Pocket God, but as a result, the latest version requires OS 3.0 or higher.

If you've never heard of Pocket God before, the premise is simple-- You play as a god watching over a small tribe of pygmies. The amount of interaction you have with these characters and their environment is insane, and you can do everything from flick one of your guys in to a volcano, bury them alive and turn them in to zombies, as well as play little mini-games inspired by Doodle Jump [99¢] and Harbor Master [99¢ / Free].

Pocket God's army of fans is a phenomenon that many developers have attempted to duplicate. The amount of spinoff sites and communities all because of this one iPhone game is absolutely mind boggling. I admit I don't really get it myself, but the number of people who are in love with Pocket God borders on unbelievable. If you've never played the game before, it's worth picking up, especially since with 26 updates under its belt it will likely take you a very long time to discover all the different things that can be done.

App Store Link: Pocket God, 99¢

Tapulous's Tap Tap Revenge 3 [App Store] is the third generation of Tap Tap Revenge games, and with the inclusion of downloadable content (DLC), Tap Tap Revenge 3 finally has become what the series should have been from the start, with a complete in-game store to buy all kinds of licensed music tracks to play.

If you're unfamiliar with the series, Tap Tap Revenge is a rhythm game similar to Dance Dance Revolution that you play by tapping with your fingers and shaking the phone. The game's roots go all the way back before the App Store even existed, and was one of the first jailbreak games for the iPhone that was more than a simple card or marble rolling game.

Prior to OS 3.0 and the advent of in-game DLC, Tapulous sold music packs through separate games on the App Store. Available for $4.99, these individually bundled games featured music from Weezer, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Nine Inch Nails, and Dave Matthews Band.

In Tap Tap Revenge 3, there are close to 50 bundles of music that can be purchased in game. 6 track bundles are sold for $2.99, and 2 track bundles for 99¢. Each of these bundles also comes with their own theme with various art from each of the bands that scroll across the screen as you play their corresponding songs. (Full track list available on TUAW.)

Aside from the array of optional music to buy, Tap Tap Revenge 3 has over 100 free indie songs, and Tapulous plans on adding free music every week for users to download. TTR3 also has a full online component with various multiplayer modes, avatars to choose from, and tons of other social features like in-game chat.

If you've never played a Tap Tap Revenge game, Tap Tap Revenge 2.6 [App Store] is free and will give you a good idea in what to expect in the sequel. Otherwise, Tap Tap Revenge 3 is available for 99¢, and with the potential of nearly unlimited content to be added to the game via the DLC store, there's not much reason to not pick this up if you're a fan of rhythm games.

App Store Link: Tap Tap Revenge 3, 99¢