On the last day of Macworld, I met with Allister Capati, founder of a new iPhone gaming company called Objectify, LLC. Capati actually works for Sony Playstation during the day, but over the past 6 months, his (and his team's) evenings have been occupied with the development of Drift Sumi-e an upcoming iPhone game which is trying to intersect art with racing.

The idea for the game was a collaboration between Capati and his friend Calvin Wan, a professional Drift racer. Drift Sumi-e caries the style of Ink and Wash (Sumi-e) painting throughout the game and incorporates it as a line drawing element to control your car. At first glance, the game is reminiscent of Draw Race, though with a far more elegant style.

The game will launch with 8 tracks and a single type of car, though iterative updates are planned. You must achieve a certain score in order to unlock the next track. Each track also carries a set of unlockables that can be obtained on subsequent repeat plays. These unlockables include a customizable signature stamp, the ability to take snapshots, as well as day/night and snow/clear sky toggles.

The game involves drawing a single stroke along the racetrack as the path for your car. You must try to hit and connect all the red clipping zones and try to make it through the course as fast as possible. After you draw your single stroke, you sit back and watch the playback in 3D as your car drifts around the corners. Multiple camera angles are provided along with drifting smoke effects. Your ultimate score is based on the smoothness of the line and speed of your run.

Here's a gameplay video:

Overall, the game really stands out for its style and presentation. Drift Sumi-e is expected in the App Store on Tuesday, February 16th.

Angry Birds [App Store]
Current Version: 1.2.0
Our Review
Forum Thread

The newest update for Angry Birds is nearly worthy of being a standalone sequel, with 42 new levels across two new graphically unique worlds to play through. Crystal has been been added for leaderboard and achievement support for high score/points junkies, and changes have even been made to older levels, mostly in the form of bug fixes, but with some small graphical enhancements thrown in there as well. I fell in love with Angry Birds when I first reviewed it, so you can bet that I'll be cranking up the game as soon as I get the chance.

Bird Strike [App Store]
Current Version: 1.2
Our Review
Forum Thread

Bird Strike was only released about a month ago, so it's a nice surprise to see an entirely new game mode (in the form of "Endless Climb mode") make its way into the game. The new mode really raises the value of the game, but the price hasn't been raised to correspond with the update, so if you haven't bought the game yet, now is a great time to do so. Those who've owned the game for a while and expressed complaints about 3GS performance and a nasty leaderboard duplication bug can breathe a sigh of relief as well, as Prodigy Design has addressed these issues with this update as well.

Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies [App Store]
Current Version: 1.2.0
Our Coverage
Forum Thread

It's been a long wait since Call of Duty: Zombies' initial mid-November launch, but a second map, Verrück, has finally been added for purchase in a massive update. Along with this update and new map comes nine new weapons (including FG-42, Gewehr-43, PPsh-41, M1 Garand, and the Springfield), 13 new achievements for Nacht der Untoten, 10 new achievements for Verrück, engine optimizations to make the game run more smoothly, leaderboard enhancements to track a wider variety of in-game stats, more customizable controls, a tutorial adjustment, network reliability enhancements, a "multiplayer point display" to track other players' in-game progression, and even French-localized text. The new map and all the goodies that comes along with it will set you back $5.

Doodle Bomb [App Store]
Current Version: 1.2
Our Review
Forum Thread

Doodle Bomb's newest update brings 10 new master missions and five new standard missions for players to play through, along with a new anti-gravity control that lets players reach new places and even roll bombs along ceilings. The master missions have been unlocked for everyone, so you won't have to meet a certain Bomb Badge requirement to play them now, and a new "variable bomb tilt" feature should provide something fresh for those who've conquered the game.

Ghosts'n Zombies [App Store]
Current Version: 1.1
Our Review
Forum Thread

This update isn't a large as many of the others on this list, but it's notable for removing the AdMob banner ad that we complained about in our review. A couple of bug fixes have also been instituted in the 1.1 update, as has the newest version of OpenFeint. We commend the developers for listening to feedback and taking action on the problems that players were having with the game, and now that this update is out, I don't feel like there's much getting in the way of a hearty recommendation from us for this game.

Hook Champ [App Store]
Current Version: 1.40
Our Review
Forum Thread

Mingore's John Gore has finally been added as a playable character in this newest update to the legendary swinging game, and he even comes with a usable machine gun (with unlimited ammo!). New levels have been created for playthrough with John, and a brand new control method has also been added and set as the default control scheme, but veterans of the game still have the option to switch back to the "classic" control scheme if they so wish. Naturally, a variety of bug fixes have been tossed in as well, so this might be an update that brings a lot of people back to the game for more.

Parachute Ninja [App Store]
Current Version: 1.1
Our Review
Forum Thread

Parachute Ninja's 1.1 update is a small one, but it fixes what might've been a make-or-break issue that I had with the game when I reviewed it: the tilt auto-calibration that activates with the parachute. This issue really frustrated me during my playthrough of the game, but now that I know I can turn it off, Im extremely likely to return to this beautiful platformer for more.

Sunday Lawn [App Store]
Current Version: 1.10
Forum Thread

Sunday Lawn has never been a big seller for Donut Games, but I've always liked it quite a bit. This new update should've been called 3.0 instead of 1.10, because it literally triples the value of this game. A challenge mode (much like the main game in Comet Racer) has been added, as has a fun little minigame called "Sweet Dreams" in which you must keep Charlie asleep by bouncing sheep over fences. Global leaderboards have been added, and the game finally allows you to start the app with your own music playing to replace the in-game music- a feature that all App Store developers should implement. If you've never tried out Sunday Lawn, go purchase it now, because it's finally on par with all their other awesome games.

Trenches [App Store]
Current Version: 1.2.6
Our Coverage
Forum Thread

I'll admit it: when Trenches was first released, I hated it. I beat the entire game on its normal difficulty setting in less than 20 minutes, a task I completed by simply tapping the "spawn infantry" button over and over until the game abruptly ended. We didn't give much coverage to the game due to its broken nature upon launch, but now that several updates have been implemented, I returned to Trenches to discover a truly fun, well-balanced game. The newest 1.2.6 update is nothing more than a bunch of bug fixes and further (necessary) unit balancing, but it also addresses the crashing that annoyed tons of people before now. Other past updates, however, have added new modes, length and variety to the campaign, and even improved control methods, morphing what was at first a broken novelty into a legitimately great game. If you're like me and took a pass on Trenches before, it's definitely worth revisiting now.

Last week we noted that an iPhone port of the PC classic Rise of the Triad, which we first caught wind of back back in July, had been made official and would soon be hitting the App Store. We're happy to report that the game has gone live [App Store] and those wanting to take on maniac cult leader El Oscuro and his minions on the iPhone are in luck.

Apogee / Mobila Interactive's iPhone port of ROTT brings all there is to like about 1994 PC original to our favorite mobile platform. The game features 32 levels, a choice of five characters to play (each with unique attributes), five different, customizable controls schemes, and the original game's full soundtrack. A notable feature of the original at the time, the player can look both up and down -- up to 45 degrees in either direction -- to better take in the surroundings. And the original's horde of minions, comprised of ten digitized enemies (Apogee employees at the time), is fully represented.

I've spent some time with the game and can say that, while the standard formula of mouse + keyboard is definitely the ideal control method for an FPS such as this, the variety of control options offered in the iPhone port of the game, which utilize combinations of both touch and accelerometer controls, should make it easy for most players to find a system that they are comfortable with. It's not perfect -- I'd like to see a sensitivity setting for the left / right swipe view controls, for instance -- but it works well enough. And it's great fun to get back to this title I enjoyed so many years ago.

Back in 1994, ROTT was a nice alternative to DOOM. And, just as there's certainly a place for DOOM on the iPhone today, so is there a place for Rise of the Triad. For fans of the original, this is an automatic buy, and for anyone else who still enjoys an occasional round of DOOM on the go, Rise of the Triad is a nice alternative that may well be worth a look.

App Store Link: Rise of the Triad, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

If you're a long-time gamer, there's a good chance you've heard of David Crane.

Widely considered to be one of the most influential video game creators to have ever laid down code, Crane is responsible for some truly groundbreaking classics. Among his more notable creations are Pitfall! (the first platform game), Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Ghostbusters and Little Computer People. Another of his creations you may have heard of is a little game publishing and development house known as Activision. Very recently, he was honored by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences who, later this month, will present him with its first Pioneer Award, which recognizes videogaming visionaries who paved the way in the industry's early days.

Last week, Crane issued a press release announcing the creation of a new game studio, AppStar Games, a joint venture with noted game developer Garry Kitchen. AppStar will focus on "small footprint" games for connected devices, the iPhone being among the studio's targeted platforms.

“Garry and I have worked together on a number of successful ventures over the years, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for investors and stakeholders. We’re very excited about the dramatic shift that is occurring in the game industry with the advent of direct-to- consumer distribution of our titles. AppStar Games is committed to taking a leadership role in that transition by delivering the highest quality product in the marketplace”, said Crane, CTO of AppStar.

Crane and Kitchen leave behind Skyworks Interactive, which they co-founded in 1995, that has been focused heavily on the iPhone platform since the App Store opened in 2008, with a notable number of releases including the very successful Arcade Bowling and Arcade Hoops Basketball.

AppStar Games expects to publish its first game titles in Q2 of this year, but is priming the pump with a few reference app releases that -- while not actually games -- may be of extreme interest to retro gaming fans.

AppStar has just released the second app in Crane's Technical Wizardry Series, entitled Dragster Magic [App Store]. It details the extremely obscure technical tricks that were used to make Activision's first game release, Dragster for the Atari 2600 / VCS, possible. This comes on the heels of the release of the initial volume of the series, 2600 Magic [App Store], which seeks to explain the highly bizarre (by today's standards) internal video circuitry of the Atari 2600 console. Both titles are comprised mainly of text and static graphics, but there are animations and interactive elements in some areas. Crane designed and programmed both iPhone releases himself, and more volumes are on the way.

We're quite anxious to see what the new studio has in store. Stay tuned.

The final game that I previewed at Ngmoco while in San Francisco was an upcoming social game We Rule developed by Newtoy. Like Touch Pets Dogs, We Rule is an online only game so requires a persistent network connection in order to play. In exchange, Ngmoco has created a more interactive social game that you can play with your friends.

The game map shows you your kingdom as well as the kingdom of your Plus+ contacts. Scrolling across the map shows you the relative size of everyone's kingdoms. The goal of the game is to build up your community as much as possible, but with the added twist that your own kingdom can be customized with a number of special cosmetic tweaks. These tweaks will make your kingdom truly unique and personalized.

The game consists of alternating between your daily activities of harvesting or otherwise managing your resources while building up new houses, farms, and businesses. Your kingdom will be bustling with activity from townspeople as it grows, though unlike God Finger, you don't actually have individual control of the inhabitants.

The game progresses as you earn more money from performing daily tasks such as harvesting crops and managing your businesses. Each crop will generate a certain amount of gold, but each variety of crop takes a different amount of time to grow. Once fully grown, you have a certain amount of time to harvest the crop (tapping on it) before it goes bad. Performing these daily tasks regularly provides you with a steady income in order to buy further buildings and even decorative touches to your kingdom. This includes waterways, different styles of fences, and much more.

Aside from gold, you earn experience points throughout the game which builds up a supply of "mojo". Mojo can then be used to accelerate processes in the game, such as crop growth. This allows you to earn gold faster, and progress further in the game. Of course, mojo can also be purchased directly, if you want to earn your items faster.

One neat aspect of the game is the integrated social network. You can see your friend's kingdoms and even visit them. Once in another kingdom you may patronize a business which works similarly to crop harvesting. You initiate an action, such as ordering an item which may take some time to build. Your friend must then take their own action to fulfill the order and back and forth. The end result is an earning of gold for both parties, but only after mutual participation.

Ngmoco has released this podcast which walks through the game. Like Ngmoco's other games, We Rule is also nearing completion over the next few weeks and will be free to download.

We Rule was developed by Newtoy, the developer of Words with Friends and Chess with Friends and will be published by Ngmoco.

iPhone developers Team Phobic were showing off their latest game at Macworld, Bounce On 2. The sequel to their popular iPhone platformer Bounce On is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

Team Phobic was particularly proud of the new graphics engine which allowed for 3D sprites, special lighting effects and even gravity changes, and are shown in this hands on video:

Bounce On 2 is said to be launching with approximately the same final content of Bounce On [$1.99, Lite). The sequel will have 3 world with over 50 different kinds of levels. Each level, however, could have multiple objectives and slightly modified layouts bringing the total number of distinct gameplay levels to over 100. The game will have Plus+ integration for high scores, and should be shipping in the next few weeks.

It's time to head off to the nearest Coinstar machine to turn the treasures lost to your couch cushions in to iTunes credit, as this week has some sales you likely won't want to miss. As usual, all of these prices are current as of this posting and because of the nature of App Store price fluctuations it's usually not a good idea to wait very long if any of these games interest you.

The star of the show this week is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a game that we not only loved in our review but also awarded 5 stars in our January "Best iPhone Games" round up. For a limited time to celebrate the Chinese new year, Chinatown Wars will be available for $6.99, down from its original $9.99. If you haven't bought this game yet, this is a sale you won't want to miss.

There are also a ton of Namco games on sale:

• ACE COMBAT Xi Skies of Incursion, $6.99 → $2.99
• BurgerTime Deluxe, $1.99 → 99¢
• Dig Dug REMIX, $2.99 → 99¢
• Galaga REMIX, $2.99 → 99¢
• Garters & Ghouls, $4.99 → 99¢
• I Love Katamari, $4.99 → $2.99
• Inspector Gadget, $2.99 → 99¢
• Isaac Newton's Gravity, $3.99 → $2.99
• Mr. Driller, $1.99 → 99¢
• Ms. PAC-MAN, $4.99 → $2.99
• PAC-MAN, $4.99 → $2.99
• PAC-MAN Championship Edition, $2.99 → 99¢
• PAC-MAN REMIX, $2.99 → 99¢
• RIDGE RACER ACCELERATED, $2.99 → 99¢
• Time Crisis Strike, $4.99 → 99¢
• Star Trigon, $1.99 → 99¢

Other noteworthy game sales include:

• Airport Mania: First Flight, $2.99 → 99¢
• Angry Birds, $1.99 → 99¢
• BATTLE BEARS 1.5, $1.99 → 99¢
• Catan, $4.99 → $3.99
• Family Feud, $4.99 → $2.99
• Flower Garden, $2.99 → 99¢
• Low Grav Racer 2, $2.99 → FREE
• MonsterKill, 99¢ → FREE
• Neocell Fighters, $1.99 → 99¢
• Underground , $3.99 → 99¢
• Star Wars The Force Unleashed, $5.99 → 99¢

Of course as usual there are a ton of other games on sale, to see other games with recent price changes, AppShopper has listings of both "popular" games with recent price changes and all games with recent price changes.

Aside from B-Boy Beats that we previewed this week, Tag Games has another title in the works that they're describing as a mixture of Farmville, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and Futurama. I never got sucked in to Farmville myself, but have sunk an embarrassing amount of time in to both the Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon series of games, and however they can work in Futurama is just icing on the cake in my book.

Astro Ranch is set in a 3D game world where players will either play as Sindy or Max Starlight to manage various farming resources, complete short quests, and participate in mini-games such as fishing or panning for gold. The recently released intro movie for the game does a great job of setting the scene:

Also released is a brief gameplay trailer that shows some of the farming, the various in-game shops, dealing with livestock, talking to the alien locals and a few other things:

Tag Games is targeting the week of the 21st to launch Astro Ranch, and are planning to price the game at $2.99. Also, the first 50,000 people to download the game at this time will be rewarded with an exclusive golden statue of the town mayor available from the shopkeeper. As mentioned previously, as a fan of the games Astro Ranch draws its inspiration from, I can't wait for the game to be released.

The second game we saw from Ngmoco was GodFinger, their take on the God game genre with an iPhone twist.

In GodFinger, you are an all powerful deity who control the people and environment of a small planet. The planet environment is a side view cross section that you can navigate by swiping on the screen and pinch zooming in and out. When the game begins, you are given a very small planet with one inhabitant. As you demonstrate your powers to the inhabitants, they become followers and earn you gold and mana for their efforts.

As the god-figure in the world, you have the power to pick up inhabitants by the swipe of a finger and drop them off anywhere else. Other examples of powers include terraforming, causing rain, floods, sunshine and lighting. As you level up, you gain more powers. more followers and even a bigger planet.

GodFinger had a Pocket God meets Touch Pets feel to it, as you feel some responsibility for your inhabitants. The game remains persistent when you quit, so your followers can keep earning you money while you are away. However, neglect them too long, and they'll grow tired and productivity will come to a halt.

Ngmoco continues to integrate the power of their Plus+ social network into their games, and for GodFinger that means you can assign your Plus+ friends to specific followers. There is a mutual benefit in that your Plus+ friend also earns a percentage of the gold that your follower earns for you. Gold can then be used to purchase various types of buildings for your followers. The game includes an array of Plus+ achievements including what I suspect will be the most popular: longest follower throw.

GodFinger follows the same free to download model as their other recent games, but allows users to accelerate their progress by purchasing "Awe" points with real money. These Awe points can then be used to get gold (which otherwise takes time to earn) or special power boosts that will make your followers work harder for faster. In the end, no purchases are required to unlock any items, it simply will accelerate your progress in the game.

The game is expected to released in the next few weeks.

Square Enix has released the first trailer for Final Fantasy for the iPhone. We reported in January that both Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II will be coming to the iPhone, though a specific date has not been announced.

The new video shows some gameplay from the games which are said to be available "soon".

While attending Macworld San Francisco 2010, we managed to take some time to stop by the Ngmoco offices to see what they had in the works. The first update they revealed is that their popular first person shooter Eliminate Pro will be getting a new mode of play in version 1.2.

In addition to Deathmatch, Ngmoco will be adding Co-Op play which will allow two players to work as a team to take on battle drones. As the story goes, Arsenal Megacorp has become infested with rogue battle drones and your job is to clear the infested facilities.

At least two new maps will be introduced alongside Co-Op mode and you and a parter will be fighting off 3 different types of droids as well as bosses. Your job is to survive and clear out the drones before time runs out (3 minutes). Co-Op mode carries over your same equipment and armor as Deathmatch mode, but also adds a "loot" dropping system where droids may leave behind items beyond the usual credit drops. While many of these items may be short lived prototype weapons or armor, the rare loot drop may provide you with a persistent item to keep.

Players can play with a friend or get thrown into the usual matchmaking system. Meanwhile, Enemy droid capabilities scale to your skill level to keep things interesting.

The 1.2 update is said to be nearing completion and should be ready in the next couple of weeks. Eliminate Pro remains a free to download game.

App Store Link: Eliminate Pro, Free

For those whose fondest memories of growing up in the 80s and 90s involve playing through the various iterations of Super Mario Bros, platforming never seemed sweeter. For a handheld device especially, that never looked like changing-- the 80s spark that created the Mario fever isn't easily replicated and Nintendo will never share its magic. It is fortunate then that the 80s also saw the birth of an infamous title known as The Great Giana Sisters, a title that attempted to challenge Nintendo's platforming dominance.

Now on the iPhone after a re-imagination on the DS in 2009, Giana Sisters [App Store] is an enhanced version of a tongue-in-cheek attempt in 1987. The levels have everything you would expect of a Mario-inspired game-- refined run-and-jump platforming, fireball power-ups, brick smashing, coin collecting and even castles with Bowser at the end (well, a look-a-like cousin at least). In fact, it is not until well into the second world that Giana Sisters even hints at an identity of its own.

By the third and fourth worlds however, an attitude easily rivalling that of their plumber pals shines through. And the sisters will need every bit it as the game is rife with pitfalls and dangers. Crumbling platforms, deadly waters and razor sharp stalagnites-- as well as a battalion of terrifically crafted enemies, some of whom would as soon run you down as fire a bazooka at you-- are all thrown at our heroines. Not all enemies can be defeated by fireballs and head-stomps either, often needing deft and precarious jumping to avoid. The sisters do have a little help though; dispensers spit out shakeable soda bottles to clear brick obstacles or put out fires and dispense man-sized, floating bubble gum balloons to fly around in. A handy flower pot check-point is also available in most levels to save your progress.

The original title featured 32 levels all up, which are all playable after completing the game, but it's the whopping 80 newly crafted levels that will keep you most occupied in Giana Sisters. Negotiating your way through these levels is a breeze, with both a Classic and Touch scheme available. The Classic mode works a treat and is the recommended setting, the finely-tuned left and right movement and jump and attack buttons are well-placed on the screen. As in our early impressions though we had difficulty getting used to the Touch scheme, particularly the jumping mechanic which proved too tedious. Both settings have a swipe feature for looking below or above your current platform.

The production values in Giana Sisters go beyond just a carefully crafted platform game however, as it both looks and sounds superb. The artwork is crisp and detailed with gorgeous, layered backdrops and themed levels really setting the scene to distinguish each area. The soundtrack is really something to write home about too; layering on that nostalgia thick with keyboard-heavy midi-esque tracks that run the gamut of upbeat to dark and ominous.

Giana Sisters is certainly deserving of its tremendous cult following. As a widely appealing game, it is easily recommended to all as a fresh take on classic platforming. It draws its strength from its unashamed inspiration, offering a tight, fully-featured and excellently crafted platformer that really raises the bar for the AppStore. Achievement hunters and competitive types will also be glad to know that Giana Sisters comes packaged with OpenFeint support for both achievements and leaderboards.

Impressions from our discussion forums have been wildly positive. Be sure to check out the developer's trailer above for a closer look.

App Store Link: Giana Sisters, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

When the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine was released in the late '80s it failed to make the splash that its creators had hoped for. The console sold around 10 million units over the course of its lifetime, with only 2.5 million of those units making their way into US households, so it's no suprise that the original Military Madness [App Store] never became well-known. Hudson has updated the turn-based strategy franchise several times over the years (including XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare ports in 2009), and this newest iPhone adaptation makes MM a series that has seen releases across four decades. The iPhone's touch screen is a natural fit for the IP, so Neo Nectaris just might be the best version of the game yet.

The short cutscene that plays at the beginning of a new campaign in Neo Nectaris would lead you to believe that this is a sequel to the original game, but this is essentially the same tale told all over again. A ragtag band of rebels were defeated by the union forces at their base on the moon in 2089, and peace was abundant. That was the first game. Now, however, in 2099, that same group of rebels is developing weapons on (you guessed it!) the moon. Thus, you have been sent in with a special forces batallion to clear out the rebels. Despite the sloppily rehashed story, the 48 missions in this sequel are actually all-new, so old-timers need not worry about playing through the same old 32 levels from the first game.

Military Madness's similarities to Nintendo's Advance Wars series become quite obvious upon setting foot upon the battlefield. The mix of long-range units like rockets, mid-range units like artillery squads, and numerous close-combat tanks are nearly identical to the units in Advance Wars, and the games share a quite similar terrain advantage system. The first version of Advance Wars was released as Famicom Wars in Japan a year prior to the debut of Military Madness, so I'm not quite sure which series influenced which, but there are enough differences to make them unique in their own rights.

The most noticeable difference between MM and quite a few other strategy games is its use of a hexagonal grid system. This system can be confusing, initially, especially for players who've gotten used to quadrilateral-based grid systems in their turn-based strategy games. The spaces adjacent to units fall within that particular unit's "zone of control," which prevents enemy soldiers/tanks from progressing through the areas surrounding it and allows players to strategically set up roadblocks to force the enemy into a position that could potentially turn the tide of a battle in their favor.

Another feature of the game is the "stars" system, which rewards individual units with increased stats for every encounter they fight in. The ability to heal these units after a single turn spent in a factory (which cannot produce new units and must usually be captured by an infantryman) creates an incentive to retreat with units who've seen a lot of fighting to allow them to come back fully powered and enhanced later in a battle.

In-game tutorials and a unit description screen that can be pulled up at any point during battles makes the game extremely user-friendly, and I checked out all the old tutorials despite my long history with the franchise as a quick refresher. I was a bit disappointed that Neo Nectaris doesn't use 3D visuals like the recent WiiWare, XBLA, and PSN release, but the iPhone port does feature an updated soundtrack that sounds great and fits the game well.

There are a few issues that keep Neo Nectaris from greatness, most notably the omission of any multiplayer- local or online. Another problem I had with the game might sound a bit more nitpicky, but it's niggling: there is no real animation for unit movement; soldiers and tanks just "blink" their way over to their destination when moving. This is a problem that usually doesn't afflict modern games, so it could (and really should) be fixed in an update.

Military Madness: Neo Nectaris isn't much of a departure from the now 20-plus-year-old original game, but it holds up extremely well, especially with the new touch controls. Multiplayer seems too crucial to exclude, so I desperately hope that Hudson decides to support the game with the addition of those options in the future, but I'll admit that the single player campaign is so much fun that it can keep most people happy for now. If you've ever played Military Madness before, I probably don't need to convince you to check out this version, but for newcomers to the franchise I cannot stress enough how much pure fun this game is.

App Store Link: Military Madness: Neo Nectaris, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Action RPGs on the App Store have been steadily improving with the release of each new game. The first, The Chronicles of Inotia, was received with mixed feelings. Later, Zenonia was greeted as a vast improvement (albeit with its own flaws) and most recently Inotia 2 stole the crown upon its release last November. Now FDG Entertainment has upped the ante once again with Across Age [App Store], an RPG that explores time travel and simultaneous management of multiple characters.

The story of Across Age is standard fare for the genre, falling cleanly into a long line of RPGs in which the goal is to save the world from an evil magician. Unlike certain other similar games on the App Store, however, the writing and translation is extremely well done, with no noticeable spelling or grammatical gaffes. These high quality production values show in the soundtrack and crisp art style as well; each environment is colorful and carries its own unique and catchy background music.

Across Age's big hook is that players control two separate characters at once, switching between them and separating them at will by touching on their icons located at the bottom of the screen. The male character, a knight named Ales, can pick up the female mage character, Ceska, and throw her to otherwise unreachable areas. This creates opportunities for fun puzzles that might require Ceska to reach a switch to open a door for Ales, or simply lead to hidden treasure.

The character separation and cooperation element works quite well to create good puzzle variation. One puzzle might require Ales to separate and engage in a simple block pushing minigame, while others could turn into a complex maze that requires the two characters to separate and help each other progress. New mechanics (like a "boat" that can be used to navigate watery environments) are introduced at a fairly consistent rate throughout the game, effectively preventing things from becoming boring and repetitive.

Across Age's other big gameplay gimmick is the ability for Ceska to time travel through the use of sparsely-located panels. This opens up plenty of possibilities, and often forces players to think creatively. In one instance, Ceska has to go back in time to drop off a wine bottle, only to return years in the future to harvest the now priceless aged wine. Special items called rebirth stones can be left along with a normal item in a magic pool located in the game's central city and returned to in the future to create special items and weapons. This system can often add special attributes to weapons and other items, and experimentation is encouraged to discover the best possible results.

Combat in Across Age might take a while to get fully acquainted with, but it works quite well after a bit of practice. Ales attacks by running directly into enemies (which looks quite stupid at first but makes sense if you think about it; why do you need hit a button to do something that can be done automatically?) and Ceska attacks with a variety of spells, usually long range attacks. Her spells can be cast by tapping the big button in the bottom right, and the game is pretty forgiving with the hit area around attacks to make up for the game's rather limiting eight-way directional movement scheme.

Boss battles might be one of the best parts of Across Age. Unlike many RPGs, which simply force players to mindlessly attack boss characters until they die, this game demands a sound strategy to earn a victory. In one instance I was faced with a giant plant monster which had to first be weakened with Ceska's recently learned fireball attack before Ales could rush in to attack in its weakened state.

Across Age does have its fair share of problems, most of which probably can't be fixed in a simple update. The equipment screen takes a fair bit of getting used to due to the small text size that makes it rather unresponsive to touch, and the game's zoomed-in camera makes some enemies lurking in the southern regions of the screen difficult to detect before running directly into them. The most glaring flaw rears its head early in the game: some areas must be revisited far too many times to progress through the story.

The lack of multiplayer might be berated by some, but since only one character can attack at once as according to the intentional design of the game, I don't think of it as a missing feature. A great combination of fun combat and good puzzle variation allows Across Age to swiftly avoid the problems that many RPGs run into, and its high production values only serve to increase the already substantial attractive nature of the game for fans of the genre. Zenonia 2 has a lot to prove if it's going to continue the trend of ever-increasingly great action RPGs being released on the App Store.

App Store Link: Across Age, $6.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Following on the heels of I Dig It Expeditions [App Store], InMotion Software gave us a look at their upcoming dual-stick top-down dungeon crawler, Catacombs. They take the familiar controls of the numerous dual-stick games, but instead of simply asking you to slay a never-ending supply of enemies, you have to make your way through the maze-like corridors of whatever evil dungeon your character found themselves in.

Along the way you will come across locked doors that must be unlocked with keys hidden inside the dungeon, as well as tons of gold and treasure. To assist you on your quest, the monsters of the dungeon randomly drop power-ups that do things like increase your movement speed, or offer different offensive bonuses.

Three classes are included: The warrior, mage, and archer. Each class plays a little differently and have their own basic attacks and special abilities. The following gameplay video shows each of the three classes going through a part of the first level of the dungeon:

Catacombs has already been submitted to Apple, and hopefully will be released sometime soon. If you like dungeon crawlers, and you like dual-stick shooters, you're going to love Catacombs.