Song Summoner Encore [App Store] is Square Enix's second release in as many weeks, following on the heels of Hills and Rivers Remain which we weren't overly impressed by. Fortunately, Song Summoner Encore has a bit more substance to its gameplay, touting an interesting twist that sees your music library integrated into the game as its major drawcard.

Song Summoner Encore was originally released as an iPod app utilising the click wheel control. It is a typical turn-based RPG in the same vein as Final Fantasy Tactics, where each battle sees you taking turns to face off against a number of foes with a limited number of your own troops. The iPhone version of the game carries over 20 hours of gameplay and represents both the content of the original Song Summoner as well as a never-published iPod sequel Song Summoner 2.

Song Summoner distinguishes itself by offering a meta game of sorts by integrating and keeping track of your favourite music. Song Summoner Encore automatically generates your troopers from songs in the library that you select; giving each song a class, stats and in-game likeness. The game presents music as a force to be reckoned with as part of the storyline, but continues this out-of-game too by remembering your iPod play counts for each song/trooper that you select. The more you listen to your chosen songs, the more you are awarded with moral boosts that strengthen your troopers in battle.

It is a novel idea that unfortunately is not as fleshed out as it could be. Other than the system outlined above, the songs you select play no further part in the game itself, making the entire integration feel more than a little lacklustre.

This continues through to the presentation of the game itself. The graphics in Song Summoner Encore are nothing to write home about, the only exception being the excellent cutscene artwork. When fully zoomed out, the in-game graphics look decent, and the animations and spell effects are respectable. As soon as you zoom in however, each pixel stands out in what can only be described as an eye sore. Unfortunately, the game cannot practicably be played at the prettier zoomed out level; as navigating the battlefield becomes hit and miss at this setting, particularly for those with larger fingers. Of course, the reason for this seems due to the fact that the game content was originally designed for the click-wheel iPods.

The controls in Song Summoner Encore have been adapted well from the click wheel. Each action is managed from an in-game scroll wheel with a considerate confirmation prompt ensuring that no order is given accidentally. Character and option menus are easy to navigate with the touch controls, and an automatic and manual save system minimizes frustration.

Each level consists of managing your army either by choosing existing forces or importing new units from your iPod library, then pitting those units against the various enemies that make up each level. From there Song Summoner is a standard turn-based strategy game where you kill all of the opposing forces before they kill your force, progress to the next level, and repeat.

Those new to the game however, will undoubtedly find mind boggling the sheer magnitude of stats and game mechanics to keep track of in Song Summoner Encore; something not alleviated by the less-than-helpful in-game assistance. For example, the effectiveness of each trooper in battle requires consideration of deployment points, play points, class ratings, rankings and morale levels.

Song Summoner Encore is ultimately a game that will only reward those with patience enough to learn its details. For those looking for a casual experience, Song Summoner Encore is difficult to recommend, even considering its unique iPod integration. Fortunately, a lite version is available for download and highly recommended for those remotely interested in the game or have been looking for a tactics game to really sink their teeth into.

App Store Link: Song Summoner Encore, $9.99, Lite Version, Free

Data East's Cobra Command [App Store] was originally released in arcades all the way back in 1984. At the time, its laserdisc-based graphics were nothing short of revolutionary and similar to games like Dragon's Lair, made other games in the arcade look primitive in comparison.

In the game, you play as a pilot in the world's most advanced helicopter, the LX-3 Super Cobra. Your enemies consist of an elite terrorist group, who also fly around in helicopters (although presumably nowhere near as advanced as yours). Gameplay involves an interactive movie playing behind a cockpit overlay with on-screen controls to move a crosshair around the screen to fire at enemies. There are also points in the game where you will need to follow the audio prompts of your commander and steer your helicopter, this is accomplished by tilting, or using the virtual joystick depending on what method you select in the game's options.

Like other laserdisc games (Notably Space Ace [$4.99 / Free] and Banjo The Woodpile Cat [$1.99] on the App Store.) actually getting through Cobra Command requires fast reflexes, a good deal of memorization, and lots of trial and error. These games were designed as arcade machines with one goal: sucking up as many quarters from your pocket as possible. Even on easy, Cobra Command can be irritatingly challenging, but that's all part of the charm of these retro games.

Cobra Command is completely remastered from the 1984 version, with fully restored video, a new cockpit and sound effects, as well as unlockables. There's even an online leaderboard and hardly any noticeable delay between the different animated clips that make up the game. Of the laserdisc games available on the iPhone, Cobra Command is by far the most impressive largely because of how much care Revolutionary Concepts not only put in to bringing the game to the platform, but also bringing the game up to today's standard instead of just doing a straight port of the original.

If you were around when laserdiscs games were the pinnacle of gaming technology and remember the people waiting in line to play Cobra Command and Dragon's Lair, it's going to be hard to resist this remastered version of the original arcade game. But if, however, these games are before your time, it's hard to say how much you will enjoy Cobra Command, especially with how much video games as a whole have moved away from the "one small mistake and you're dead" gameplay model in recent years.

Reactions in the thread on our forums have been positive so far, aside from issues with the tilt controls. This is easily remedied by just switching control of the helicopter to the virtual joystick instead of tilting. I've been having a great time with the game myself, but I've entirely lost count of how many times I've crashed my helicopter-- An occurrence that seems remarkably common when I play.

App Store Link: Cobra Command, $4.99

Com2us has released a trailer for their upcoming RPG Chronicles of Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone which is due out this month.

The RPG genre on the iPhone has really seen an explosion of titles -- both released and announced. This Chronicles of Inotia sequel appears to be one of the more promising ones.

Features listed by the developer include:

• Classic RPG: Over 200 Single player quests.
• Match up Mode: Endless online battles against other players on our server.
• Classes: Choose from 5 classes. Knight, Magician, Priest, Thief, Templar.
• Party System: Ally with up to 2 mercenaries which can be customized by the user.
• Look System: Change your character appearance with each new armor you equip.

The game is due in December 2009.

Normally we post about freebies on Friday, as "Freebie Friday" has such excellent alliteration-- I suppose in this case "Wild Wednesday" will have to do as these freebies won't last long. While Freeverse's Skee-Ball [99¢] may win when it comes to realism and actually licensing the real Skee-Ball machine, The Iconfactory's Ramp Champ [Free] takes the cake in the art style and originality department and has always been my ball-rolling game of choice. (Even though I agree with some of the criticisms of wonky ball physics.)

Ramp Champ takes the arcade game of skee ball, shrinks it down to the iPhone screen, and applies the same thick layer of highly stylized graphical work seen in all the other Iconfactory products. Included in the initial release of Ramp Champ are four different virtual skee ball machines. Clown Town has a carnival theme, Breakwater Bay is underwater, Space Swarm tips its hat at Space Invaders, and The Icon Garden pays homage to Iconfactory's roots in icon design.

For more information on the game, take a look at our in-depth review that we posted when it was first released. Along with the single DLC pack available at launch, three more have been rolled out for 99¢ each. Regardless of how you feel about the DLC packs, I still recommend at least giving Ramp Champ a shot especially while it's free.

Meanwhile, AppventCalendar's second free app today is TriDefense -- a different take on tower defense with modifiable terrain.

Get 'em while they last.

App Store Link: Ramp Champ, Free, TriDefense, Free

iPhone screenshot

EA revealed this morning that they will be bringing their action adventure game Mirror's Edge to the iPhone. The original Mirror's Edge was a first person action game that on the PC and home consoles featured an amazing amount of fluidity in the chains of acrobatics required to traverse the various buildings of the city the game takes place in.

Here's the trailer for the original PC version in case you missed it:

In Mirror's Edge, you play as Faith, a member of a secret group known as "Runners" who act as couriers for information that cannot be transmitted in other means due to the totalitarian regime that has taken over and implemented a policy of extremely intrusive surveillance across the game-world.

We don't have a whole lot about iPhone version of the game, but the original had an excellent sense of speed and immersion as you jump, climb, grab, and vault over things jumping from rooftop to rooftop. As seen in the new iPhone screenshots, the view has obviously shifted from first to third person on the iPhone, so it should be interesting to see how much of what made the PC and home console version of the game great translates to the App Store.

Flash screenshot

It should be noted that the game has already been successfully translated into a 2D side scrolling Flash game hosted at MirrorsEdge2d.com -- so this is not completely uncharted territory. The iPhone version does appear much more advanced than the Flash version with 3D graphics and "dynamic camera angles" as seen in the screenshots embedded below.

Here's the developer blurbs about the game which is said to be coming in January 2010:

• EXPERIENCE THE WORLD OF MIRROR’S EDGE - A place where information is heavily monitored and law is brutally enforced in an effort to create the 'perfect' society.
• YOUR MISSION -Take control of Faith Connors, a member of an underground messenger group known as Runners, as she races to stop a deadly threat that has grown from within their own ranks.
• SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST… AND FASTEST - Use Faith's incredible acrobatic moves to outmaneuver the enemy --run on walls, slide down precarious ramps, ride ziplines, and leap between rooftops. Leave the enemy in your dust.
• EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT EXCITEMENT - Burn through 14 levels of the fastest, most fluid action imaginable. Dynamic camera angles capture the intense action of this unique game.
• HEIGHTEN YOUR SENSES- Immerse yourself in a stylish, graphically rich 3D environment flooded with realistic sound effects and phenomenal music.

There have been a whole mess of game updates that have been released in the latest App Store refresh. I recommend checking for updates either in iTunes or on your device to see what's out there for the games you own, these happen to be my favorite three updates I downloaded tonight:

Hook Champ, $1.99 (On sale from $2.99) - We were given a preview of the update earlier this month, and all the new content and features the developer teased us with are finally here. Aside from a new playable character, and another set of levels, Hook Champ also features full OpenFeint integration with achievements and the ability to compete against your friends' times in any level of the game. Hook Champ Lite is also available (although obviously lacking the new content) if you haven't had the chance to give the game a try yet.

Doodle Jump, 99¢ - What may possibly be the best iPhone game ever created has been updated with yet another holiday theme pack. Entering the name "snow" when you submit your score turns the normal platforms and bad guys in to ice-covered platforms and demented (but cute) holiday-themed monsters. Also, instead of your normal projectiles you shoot snow balls, and the whole time you're playing it's also snowing.

Pocket God, 99¢ - Episode 29: The Pyg Chill includes a new DLC holiday themed skin pack as well as performance enhancements and an entirely new ice island. On this new island your pygmies will have access to an igloo as well as battle a new enemy... The giant ice monster. If you're a Pocket God fan, you likely have already updated. If you don't own the game yet, now is a good time to pick it up as the amount of content it comes with now is just downright ridiculous compared to the original versions of the game.

Sad Cat Software released Project Phoenix into the App Store tonight. Project Phoenix is a very nice twin stick tank shooter with large levels and frantic gameplay. Oh, and it's FREE for a limited time.

After successfully defending a key research facility from invading aliens in "Team Alpha" you have been promoted, and are now in charge of the army's most advanced tank prototype. Your mission? Free the Earth of the evil invaders, which are going to throw their best military technology at you. Can you do it and save the planet?

The developer's gameplay video shows the action which can get intense with tons of enemies on screen:

The game is well controlled using left and right dual thumb sticks. The current version of the game spans 7 different missions/levels each with a specific goal. Kills award cash which can be used to upgrade your vehicle's armor, weaponry and more. Health and power-ups are also strewn across the levels giving items such as helper vehicles or air strikes. The game has a great classic arcade feel to it and you really should download while you can.

Project Phoenix is free for a "very, very" limited time. The developer plans on added more levels and features to the game over time.

App Store Link: Project Phoenix, Free (limited time)