Id's Doom II RPG [$3.99] was released yesterday, and so far has had an overwhelmingly positive reception in our forums. Much like Wolfenstein RPG [$1.99], Doom II RPG is a turn-based 3D game chock full of crazy humor, items to loot, and enemies to slay.

Here is some gameplay footage of the first few moments of the game:

We're still powering through the game for our full review, but right now, it's safe to say if you like silly turn based RPG's, Doom II RPG is a worthy purchase.

App Store Link: Doom II RPG, $3.99

According to a post on the Myst Online forums, an iPhone port of Riven, the sequel to Myst [App Store], should be available "by early summer at the latest."

Myst is a point and click adventure puzzle game first published for the Mac in 1993. Loaded on a CD-ROM, Myst was absolutely revolutionary at the time. We enjoyed the iPhone port in our review, and there's not much reason to think that Riven wouldn't translate to the iPhone just as well.

Riven is set immediately following the events that transpired in Myst and the plot is hard to describe without revealing some spoilers from the original game. It's safe to say if the iPhone port of Myst was your first foray in to the series, you will also enjoy Riven as it was highly praised by critics and comes packed with even more immersive puzzles to get hopelessly stuck on.

Unfortunately it sounds like the rest of the Myst games might not be making it to the iPhone due to technical issues and licensing, but news of Riven joining Myst on the App Store should get any fan of the series excited.

Thanks Cougarcat

The Great Giana Sisters, as it was originally known, has an interesting and cheeky history, being pulled off the shelves as soon as it first went on sale in 1987 for the Amiga, Atari and Commodore 64, due to its incredible likeness to Super Mario Bros on the NES-- henceforth cementing it as a highly sought collectors item. Many years down the track, it was re-imagined on the Nintendo DS in 2009, a port of which has now made its way to the iPhone as Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters [App Store], named after the C64 version's original programmer.

Having just played through the first and second worlds, it is immediately obvious where Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters has derived its inspiration. Our early experiences were replete with head-butting brick-smashing platforming, jumping on unsuspecting enemies, pipes, and a steady stream of fireball upgrades. It goes so far as to have coin-bricks, and hidden coin-bricks, and a flag at the end of each level.

It isn't all Mario though, as Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters appears to have an abundance of its own charm. The platforming is straightforward, but challenging, and it really comes into its own after the first few stages. There are two control schemes available-- a Classic and Touch setting-- the latter of which seems a bit too unorthodox to time pin-point jumps. Fortunately, the Classic setting is as you would expect it; movement buttons on the left and jump and shoot buttons on the right which work a treat. Both modes have a swipe feature to help you look below and above you. A number of different power-ups are also available throughout the 80 newly-crafted levels, after which the 32 original 'retro' levels are unlocked.

The full feature set, as provided by Bad Monkey is as follows:

We've thoroughly enjoyed what we've played so far of Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters. There's something special about a great 80's platformer, and this one seems to get all the elements just right. Expect a more extensive review in the near future as we put Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters on the iPhone through its paces.

More first impressions from our readers are already amassing in our forums.

App Store Link: Giana Sisters, $4.99

Today, an iPhone port of the well-reviewed mobile title DOOM II RPG [App Store] from id Software LLC appeared in the App Store. Doom II RPG was created by the same team that brought us Wolfenstein RPG and offers a turn-based take on the Doom universe:

The forces of Hell have invaded our dimension once again, and only you can stop them from their ultimate goal—conquering Earth!

A mysterious distress signal calls your team—two hardened Marines and a rookie scientist—to a Union Aerospace Corporation research facility on Earth’s Moon, but you were unprepared for what awaits you. The forces of Hell itself have taken hold of the station and its inhabitants! Zombies and demonic monsters roam the halls, killing all who cross their path. Your backup squad is dead. Mysterious scientists conspire against you. Even the facility’s AI cannot be trusted. You are being hunted from all sides. Now, you must fight to survive, and try to stop the invasion—and uncover the truth—by any means available. The fate of all humanity is at stake!

The game challenges you to choose one of three available characters through which to take on a veritable menagerie of Hell-spawned beasts. Cacodemons, Cyberdemons, Spider Masterminds -- they're all here for your goring enjoyment.

Among the game's features as listed by id:

• Battle through 9 maps, spanning the Moon, Earth, and Hell itself. Over 8 hours of gameplay!
• Over a dozen unique weapons to find, plus improvised weapons such as Sentry Bots or even plumbing fixtures.
• Eleven different enemy types—each with multiple, increasingly-powerful forms—plus four bosses.
• Auto-mapping feature and mission-tracking PDA functions ensure you’ll never be lost again.
• Customizable controls; change the size, style, and placement of the control inputs.
• Three levels of difficulty will give players of all skill levels a challenge.
• Detailed graphics and complex levels which take advantage of the power of the iPhone.

As with Wolfenstein RPG, the pace of Doom II RPG game is entirely different than the first person shooter versions that we all know. We'll offer a closer look in time, while first impressions are being collected in our forums.

App Store Link: DOOM II RPG, $3.99

Plants Vs Zombies is Popcap's take on the tower defense genre, where players cultivate a crop of various plants that each have different abilities to play against the weaknesses of the many different types of zombies you will face. Progressing through the game, you eventually unlock all kinds of different defenses to choose from as you deal with zombies invading your front lawn during the day, across your pool in the back yard, and even fending them off at night. Each setting requires a slightly different strategy and this keeps gameplay fresh throughout the whole game.

The following trailer was released today, and mentions 2/15 as the official release date of Plants Vs Zombies for the iPhone.

Like most Popcap games, Plants Vs Zombies is available for the Mac and PC and currently can either be purchased directly from Popcap online or nearly any brick and mortar store that stocks PC games. You can expect a full review from us as soon as the game is released on the App Store.

Our January game ratings are in place now, and here are the top of the heap. Our monthly "best of" round-up summarizes the top rated games that we looked at in the previous month. Each game reviewed receives a 1-5 star rating relative to the other games from that month. Generally, a 3 or higher is considered a "good" rating.

Our final scores are not the product of any traditionally objective measures such as graphics or sound, but simply reflect the games we would most recommend to others.

5 Stars

Broken Sword - The remake of this 1996 point and click adventure was wonderfully brought to the iPhone. The story and all around high-quality production values of Broken Sword sucked us in. Whether you're an old fan of the original game, a newcomer to the series, or even someone who's never played a point-and-click adventure before, Broken Sword is a game with mass appeal that will draw you in. (Review, App Store)

Sword & Poker - Mix poker with a loose RPG and you get one of the most surprisingly compelling games from January. The variety of monsters, weapons and levels adds enough content to kept us coming back throughout the month. Even if the premise sounds strange to you, give the Lite a try. (Review, App Store, Lite)

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars - A great adaptation of a DS/PSP game, Chinatown Wars offers a level of depth rarely seen on the App Store. If you complete everything in game, playtime will need to be measured in days, not hours. The weapon targeting system can use improvement, but barely detracts from an otherwise phenomenal game. (Review, App Store)

4.5 Stars

Cogs - Cogs is a mechanical puzzler that challenges you to bring to life a series of increasingly complex machines by way of arranging sets of tiles, gears, pipes, and the like in such a way as to connect varying energy sources to their ultimate outlets across 50 different 2.5D and 3D environments It has become one of our favorite iPhone puzzlers. (Review, App Store)

The Deep - The Deep is all about exploring environments and finding important items that allow access to other parts of the map or give unique abilities to the main character. Unique level designs, the pleasant art, and that addictive, upgrade-focused exploratory gameplay kept us captive for hours (Review, App Store)

The rest of January 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, and 2.5 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.

Hudson Entertainment just released an iPhone version of the classic turn based strategy game Military Madness (or Nectaris). The hex map strategy game predates Advance Wars and was originally released for the TurboGrafx-16 back in 1989. The game has since seen a number of revisions including last year's revival for WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

The iPhone version is an adaptation of Military Madness 2 and is said to take full advantage of the iPhone's touch control and graphics capabilities.

Military Madness: Neo Nectaris delivers a complete, turn-based strategy game from the masters of the genre. Through 50 levels of blistering tactical gameplay, you'll be wrapped up in every battle, every move, every step of the way.

We'll take a closer look at this game later this week.

App Store Link: Military Madness, $4.99

Nearly five months ago now Tapulous first announced Riddim Ribbon [App Store] on stage at an Apple keynote. Oddly enough, aside from graphical changes, the game that is available today is almost exactly what Tapulous promised at the event. Three songs from the Black Eyed Peas are included along with three additional 99¢ tracks available via in-app purchase. (Two by Tiësto and one by Benny Benassi.)

The objective of Riddim Ribbon is to guide a ball down a track, and tilt your device to follow a green line that moves left and right to one of the three songs you select on the main screen. When you stray from the track, the music begins to fade out until you're only hearing the faint backbeat to the song. Laid out on the green line are silver spheres to pick up, ramps to jump over, and hoops to jump through. All of these different pickups and obstacles are arranged so you're hitting them with the beat of the song, an experience that's actually pretty cool if you haven't played a similar racing rhythm game before.

As you're rolling down the tracks in Riddim Ribbon, you will be faced with both forks in the road and ramps that lead to secondary portions of track that allow you to mix the song by turning or jumping up on to the same portion of the song remixed by one of a number of different DJ's included in the game. By replaying individual songs and choosing different paths to take, you can come up with a number of different remixes of the same song.

Riddim Ribbon is a game that sounds really cool when you describe it, yet it somehow manages to be not that fun at all when you're playing it. The way the music is visualized is great, and the tracks are laid out very well to match each song. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to get bored of the three included songs, and the tilt controls are frustrating.

Instead of like most racing games where you tilt to move right or left, then hold your device level straight to go straight, the amount you tilt directly translates to your position on the track. This causes you to spend most of your time holding your device at an awkward angle instead of making small tilting movements to steer as you're probably used to if you've played many racing games on the platform.

As mentioned previously, the way you interact with the music in the game is really neat but by default an announcer is almost constantly talking over it telling you how "dope" and "ill" your performance is along with announcing the many checkpoints on each song. It likely won't take you long to turn this off in the options.

Riddim Ribbon is a great idea for a game that ultimately is ruined by frustrating controls and gameplay which is too easy to get bored of.

App Store Link: Riddim Ribbon feat. The Black Eyed Peas, $2.99

Mobila Interactive and Apogee Software just announced that the classic first person shooter Rise of the Triad, originally released for the PC in late 1994, will soon be available on the App Store.

We covered an early development video of this game, but at that time didn't know if this would ever become an official release, until now:

“We are very honored to be working with industry pioneer like Apogee Software to bring this groundbreaking game from the 90’s to platforms of the 21nd century,” said Yevegeniy Goyfman, co-founder of Mobilia Interactive. “It is exciting to be a major part of re-introducing classics like Rise of the Triad and allowing fans to re-live the experience, as well as share these true entertainment treasures with a new generation of gamers.”

Features include:

• Original game soundtrack.
• A number of customizable control schemes.
• Four full game episodes containing 32 super huge levels - up to one million sq. feet, and up to 16 stories high!
• Secret levels, hidden rooms, and other surprises.
• Play as one of five players, each with unique attributes and abilities.
• Look both up and down, up to 45 degrees, to see what is above and below.
• Ten unique, real digitized enemies (actual Apogee employees!)

A new gameplay video shows the it in action:

The game is due in "early 2010".

About a week back I had a chance to visit Gameloft's Manhattan studios and have a look at their upcoming racing simulator GT Racing: Motor Academy [App Store] for iPhone. Tonight, GT Racing has gone live in the App Store and we've got a chance to take a closer look.

GT Racing is a driving simulation as opposed to an arcade racer. Gameloft likens the title to Real Racing, which it considers the only other driving simulation in the App Store. Being a simulation-style racer, it starts off much like the definitive driving sim, Gran Turismo. You are presented with a few initial challenges (accelerate to maximum speed and then come to a stop between the lines, etc.) that must be completed before your achieve your first racing license. From there it's a Campaign journey through a variety of tracks around the world. Though, I will say the game is rather more forgiving than Gran Turismo, partially due to the integrated Break Assist system (like Real Racing), but more due to the overall control scenario.

The game features over 100 cars from 24 different manufacturers to choose from for a race to the finish against up to nine on-track opponents. There are 14 different worldwide tracks in all, comprised of raceway, urban, and rally-style runs. The better you rank, the more credits you accumulate, and the fancier cars and equipment you can purchase. Progressive tracks are unlocked in Campaign mode, and any unlocked track can be used for a quick spin in the game's Arcade mode.

GT Racing features three different control methods: accelerometer (default), screen keys (think Vector Tanks -- kinda), and wheel. I find accelerometer to be my preferred method that, for what it is, really leaves little room for control improvement. Score tracking is handled through the integrated Gameloft LIVE network. Like Asphalt 5, Gameloft also offers an online multi-player component that we were unable to test at launch, but it's an important feature we're certainly glad to see.

GT Racing is one of the most visually impressive racers in the App Store. On my iPhone 3GS test unit, the game exhibits an impressive, but subtle, HDR effect to the rendered scene and runs at a very smooth frame rate. Six different driving views are provided -- three outside, three inside -- to allow for the view that bests fits your driving sensibilities. All races can be seen in Replay mode which is, as well, an impressive thing to behold, and videos can also be uploaded to YouTube (example video). One notable issue with the visuals, however, is a noticeably short draw distance resulting in buildings abruptly popping into view which can be distracting.

There are a few other issues we ran across with the initial version. On occasion, my car appeared to aburbtly jolt into a nose-up position, half embedded in the track, with a warning of "wrong way" presented. (One of these incidents is recorded in our demo video.) As well, in-game language suggested that I had access to a particular track before it was supposed to be unlocked. Neither game breaking, but notable for early adopters.

See our brief gameplay video for a closer look.

Overall, GT Racer is probably one of the best racers on the App Store. In particular, racing fans looking for a realistic racer that offers nicely varied racing action wrapped up in a very pretty package should enjoy Gameloft's latest offering.

Impressions from early adopters on the forum have been similarly positive, but similar caveats:

• tadad1 - lots of control adjustments, including driving aids, amazingly crisp graphics, but short draw distance, no crash damage, massive content
• morphman - Lots of options, good but not stellar framerate on 3GS, pop-in apparent, graphics look amazing
• iPhondTouch3G - screenshots from iPod Touch 3G
• Diablohead - huge difference in FWD, RWD and oversteer is a big factor here, can do doughnuts very easily if you power out of corners
• nizy - nice graphics, real life tracks recognizable, pop-in noticeable but not too annoying. early AI not challenging
• howiedeano - handling and controls good, tracks better than NFS shift, best realistic type racing game on platform

App Store Link: GT Racing: Motor Academy, $6.99

Just a quick update here on one of my favorite iPhone developers, Peter Hirschberg, author of the retro-inspired Vector Tanks and Adventure [App Store], and owner of the Luna City Arcade which is, without a doubt, the most amazing arcade ever assembled (if his office isn't cool enough for you).

Peter has recently setup his own studio, BlipTime Studios, and through it has released an update to Vector Tanks known as Vector Tanks (Classic Version) [App Store] at $0.99.  As one might suspect, denoting the current game as "classic" indeed betokens the near-term arrival of a rather revamped take on the original, to be known as Vector Tanks Extreme. Peter is splitting the game into two versions to provide, as he tells it, a version that delivers the "retro-simplicity" of the original, along with a version that's "a Vector Tanks experience WAY over the top for those seeking a bit more of a challenge."

Vector Tanks (Classic Version) appeared in the App Store in mid-January, with a version 1.3.2 update that appeared last week.  The updated classic version delivers the following changes to the original Chillingo release, as Peter details:

• New enemy tank added! The H6 "Heavy Sixer". Capable of driving directly over obstacles and having a fully turret-mounted cannon, this is a much more deadly foe than the regular tanks!
• Big fixes in responsiveness of the controls!
• Removed in-game music
• Now publishing the game directly through my own game company, BlipTime Studios (tm)
• Price reduction to $.99 (was $2.99)
• Rebranded as Vector Tanks Classic

Unfortunately for owners of the original, published by Chillingo, the updated BlipTime Studios' classic version cannot be downloaded as a free update. As Peter explains,

...I apologize that there isn't a way to upgrade. I worked with Apple to try and establish and upgrade path for my current customers but the final answer from Apple was that once you change the account under which an app is published, it will always appear as a "new" app and upgrading is NOT possible. I sincerely apologize. I did try and I know it sort of stinks. My hope is that the reduced price will serve as a good-faith gesture to my current customers who wish to pick up this updated version of Vector Tanks.

...though Peter hints that, in celebration of the release of Vector Tanks Extreme (which is expected sometime this month), iPhone gamers might just get an opportunity to grab the classic version at a price that's a bit less than $0.99 for a week or so, to even the score on the Chillingo situation...

I've been playing a few early betas of Vector Tanks Extreme for some time now and, I must say, Peter's use of the term "bloodbath" to describe the gameplay of the new title is an apt one. This one demands some real dual-track savvy.

Peter indicates that both Vector Tanks (Classic Version) and Vector Tanks Extreme will run natively on the iPad when it makes its 1024x768-pixel debut. He's already got Extreme running in the Xcode iPad simulator and promises it looks "glowy gorgeous."

We plan to take a close look at Vector Tanks Extreme when it goes live in the App Store and share details of the formation of BlipTime Studios through an interview with Peter that will accompany the review. Stay tuned.

App Store Link: Vector Tanks (Classic Version), $0.99

Every now and then a game comes along that just dazzles and blows you away by getting things exactly right. Such a game was released into the App Store yesterday by Venan Entertainment.  That game is Space Miner: Space Ore Bust [App Store].  In short, it's Asteroids meets the RPG. But that description really doesn't do the game justice.

Space Miner places you in the role of the nephew of good ole' Uncle Jebediah Gritstone, proprietor of the galactic Gritstone Mining Station. Uncle Jeb has hired you on to help with the ore mining and it's with much excitement that you make your way to his mining station in your veritable space jalopy. Once on board, things get complicated (it's a long story, enjoy it in-game) and Uncle Jeb is desperately counting on you to go out into the neighboring sectors, blast asteroids, and bring back the precious ore contained within. The more ore you collect, the bigger your cut of the profits. But the pitiful ship you start off with is hardly up to the task.

As you accumulate profits, the money can be spent in Uncle Jeb's shop, where more powerful ships, weapons, shields, ore collectors, power plants, and the like can be purchased. It doesn't take long to find yourself sitting in a decent ship with multiple ore blasters, a sizable cargo bay, and an ore collector that can get the job done. And the whole package is done up with a great deal of spot-on humorous dialog and even an amusing banjo-based audio track that fits ole' Uncle Jeb's operation to a T. (There's no doubt that he's got a still hidden somewhere on that rock of his.)

The game features highly configurable touch-screen controls (onscreen buttons, analog stick) that work nicely, 50 in-game achievements, and online score tracking via the Plus+ network.

Now, with all the heavy RPG aspects and the well done comedy, you might think the game is light on shooter action when it comes to dealing with those asteroids. Happily, that's not at all the case. The asteroid combat system is an example of shooter gold -- for an Asteroids-like experience, it really couldn't be any better. And it's not just asteroids you're fighting. There are competing robot miners bent on stealing your ore that must be dealt with. Not to mention the occasional encounter with the daunting gasteroids... (Yea, they're about as bad as they sound.)

Aside from the standard goal of blasting asteroids to mine ore, there are a total of 24 missions to complete, such as rescuing helpless tourists floating through space (think Dave Pool), destroying a massive robot enemy in order to save a heartless CEO, and the like. There really is an impressive degree of gameplay variation here that just keeps things moving. In my experience, you really have to be careful not to lose track of time while playing this one. "Hard to put down" understates it.

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

Space Miner: Space Ore Bust really is an App Store gem, given the unusually broad appeal I feel surrounds the title. Shooter fans definitely have a lot to be excited about, as do RPG fans — but even those that usually find themselves impatient in an RPG setting should enjoy Space Miner. The RPG layer is not only light, but easily manageable and delivered with a healthy dose of humor. It strikes a balance between two different gaming styles -- shooter and RPG -- like I've not experienced since playing Activision's Battle Zone, which married action and real-time strategy with similar elegance. Without a question, this is one of the best games I've played since the App Store went live over a year and a half ago. And you don't need to take my word for it; our forum readers are going nuts over this one.

Whatever sort of gamer you are, don't miss Space Miner: Space Ore Bust.

App Store Link: Space Miner: Space Ore Bust, $4.99

Updates are an integral part of the App Store and its economy. They allow developers to (instead of rushing out new games) draw fresh eyes to their old games by providing more content, crucial bug fixes, and general improvements. Updates are, however, as numerous as they are important, and it's sometimes difficult to find much to say about an update other than "new levels, hooray!"

With this in mind, we've decided to take steps to "update" our coverage of updates with a comprehensive article summarizing the most important updates. Worry not, these lists will not drone on about minor bug fixes and the like; only games that have been updated in at least somewhat substantial ways will be covered.

Battle of Puppets
Current Version: 1.1
[App Store]
[Our Review]

Battle of Puppets really stepped up to the plate to address player complaints, adding in a new tutorial and a complete hint system to help out new players. Other changes include increased performance on all hardware versions and a bunch of random bug-smashing.

TileStorm
Current Version: 1.0.2
[App Store]
[Our Review]

This update has been long-coming, but a lot of user-friendly options have finally been added to TileStorm to make it less of a hassle to navigate the menus. There's now a pause menu, the ability to restart a level without having to exit it and reselect it, and a "back" button was added to the level select screen. The other big fix in this update is the inclusion of the ability to "surrender" up to 10 times throughout the game. This counts the level that you surrendered on as a completed level (sort of) so you can unlock more levels and come back to the difficult levels later.

Parcel Panic - Post Car Racer 3D
Current Version: 1.2
[App Store]
[Our Review]

OpenFeint has been added, and along with that, of course, comes online leaderboards and achievements. Other issues addressed include the ability to add boxes during free ride and some slight texture work to improve the game visually.

Bust-A-Move
Current Version: 2.1.0
[App Store]
[Our Coverage]

OpenFeint 2.4 has now been included in Bust-A-Move, so high-score chasers and achievement lovers can rejoice! Facebook and Twitter connectivity was also added in this update for the social networking addicts out there.

Words With Friends
Current Version: 3.06
[App Store]
[Our Review]

Along with a bunch of various bug fixes, an entirely new dictionary has been integrated into Words With Friends. The dictionary is being touted as "a big improvement" from the developer, and will probably ease a lot of frustrations that people had with earlier versions.

Little Metal Ball
Current Version: 1.2
[App Store]
[Our Review]

A bug in the spotlight levels that was wreaking havoc on iPhone 3Gs has been issued here, but the biggest reason that this update is worth talking about is the substantial performance improvements that you'll notice while playing the game. I really enjoyed Little Metal Ball and made that clear in my review, but it doesn't seem like many of our readers ever really latched onto the game (especially given the low number of comments on that review). I'd like to seriously recommend that anyone who likes Labyrinth-style games check this out, because it's a ton of fun and deserves some love.

Ravensword: The Fallen King
Current Version: 1.2
[App Store]
[Our Review]

This isn't exactly a major update for Ravensword, but I'm sure that plenty of users will appreciate the integration of Crystal for online leaderboards and achievement support. Being a single-player game, Ravensword could benefit from a little bit of community integration, so I'm pretty happy about this particular update.

Battle For Wesnoth
Current Version: 1.3
[App Store]
[Our Review]

Kyle Poole just keeps on delivering with episodic content updates for Battle of Wesnoth, and the newly-added Episode 3 reportedly will clock in at over 10 hours of gameplay for those who delve into it. Not only has an entirely new campaign been added, but a whole slew of bug fixes (including one that reduces memory requirements to make the game more stable) and OpenFeint 2.4 with achievemens has been integrated. That, my friends, is how to do episodic updates. Bravo, Mr. Poole.

Diner Dash
Current Version: 2.0
[App Store]
[Our Coverage]

In an unexpected show of love for one of their original hit games, PlayFirst has delivered an update for Diner Dash that promises enhanced graphics (with a focus on larger sprites to make control easier), difficulty adjustments, and 10 new levels. Facebook connectivity has also been added, just in case there's a single person on your friends list who cares about your progress in an iPhone game.

There's a bucket full of games that had their prices slashed this weekend for various reasons. As always, standard App Store disclaimer is in effect in that these prices were all current at the time of this posting. Since sales are often very limited, if you've been waiting for any of these games to see a price drop, you may not want to wait very long before picking them up.

Assassin's Creed II Discovery, $9.99 → $6.99 - A fast paced side scrolling platformer that is highly reminiscent of Prince of Persia. We thought it was cool in our review, although to really enjoy it you need to play the game on third generation hardware, as the framerate on previous-generation devices left much to be desired.

Ravensword: The Fallen King, $6.99 → $4.99 - This impressive open-world RPG was developed by a two man team and features hours of gameplay. We liked the game in our review, and since then the game has been updated to include even more content.

Chop Chopa Ninja, $1.99 → 99¢ - Play as a ninja in this side scrolling beat-em up to rescue a princess. Instead of using on-screen controls, a series of gestures that are taught in the tutorial control the movements of your ninja. For more information check out our post on the game.

Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor, $2.99 → 99¢ - The first Chronicles of Inotia holds the claim to fame of being the first touch action RPG available on the platform. Released all the way back in 2008, Inotia has since seen a sequel that we enjoyed.

Crayon Physics Deluxe, $4.99 → 99¢ - A really fun physics game released in early 2009 that asks players to solve various puzzles by drawing crayon lines with their finger to create objects in game. You need to pick this up if you like physics games.

Heavy Mach 2, $2.99 → 99¢ - A top down mech game we enjoyed in our review. The sequel is an odd departure from the original which was a side scroller, and both games are worth checking out if you're in to vehicular combat.

iZombieland, $2.99 → 99¢ - One of the few movie tie-in games on the App Store that's actually worth playing. iZombieland loosely follows the movie Zombieland with a side-scrolling Splatterhouse-style beat em up. For more information, check out our review.

Theseus, $3.99 → 99¢ - A puzzle game that places players in a maze where they must escape a minotaur. The catch? The minotaur happens to move twice as fast as you do, but has predictable movements and mastering the game involves learning how the minotaur handles your actions. This was a forum favorite when it was released, and we liked it when we took a look at it.

Underworlds, $2.99 → 99¢ - Still one of my favorite hack and slash RPG's, Underworlds has had tons of content added to it since our initial review of the game. On sale for the Super Bowl, or, apparently, for a week following the Super Bowl if the Colts win.

Car Mania, 99¢ → Free - A traffic management game we had some minor issues with in our review, but you can't really go wrong with a free game-- Especially when it comes packed with full OpenFeint integration to pad your OpenFeint score.

Daniel Zandelin, who is apparently a big fan of Mario Kart DS

Donut Games is the developer/publisher of well over a dozen iPhone games including fan-favorites like Rat On A Scooter XL, Comet Racer, and Cows in Space. Officially titled "Swedish Game Development Group AB," Donut Games has all of their games available in flash form on their website, where they can be played for free. With a arcade-like menu and three-star rating system for the levels in all their games, Donut Games has earned a large fanbase by consistently providing simple, quick experiences that draw players in for more, usually with a focus on increasing high scores.

I got the chance to find out a little bit more about one of the important faces behind the company, Daniel Zandelin, one of the founders of Donut Games.

(more...)