Like many other developers, Imangi Studios has been hard at work creating an iPad version of their game in time for the iPad's launch. Harbor Master has been their most successful title on the App Store, and come April 3rd, Imangi hopes to launch the "HD" version of the title that has been reworked for the iPad's larger screen.

Here's the first teaser screenshot from the iPad version:

Harbor Master for iPad - Click for Full Size image

Harbor Master is a line drawing game that requires you to juggle the docking and undocking of ships from their respective docks. All the while, you need to avoid collisions, cyclones and even pirates.

The iPad version seems to take advantage of the added real estate by offering more docks and ships to juggle as compared to the iPhone version (screenshot).

1000 Harbor Masters Giveaway

Imangi is celebrating the imminent launch of the iPad version of Harbor Master HD by giving away 1000 copies of the original version of Harbor Master to TouchArcade readers. Apple has recently begun allowing individual apps to be gifted to individuals and Imangi is taking advantage of this by giving away 1000 copies of their game for free.

To qualify, you simply need to be one of the first 1000 readers to sign up for their mailing list. It's a low volume double opt-in mailing list, and you can easily unsubscribe at any time. You need a U.S. iTunes account to be able to redeem the free App.

Harbor Master remains available in the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch users.

App Store Link: Harbor Master, $1.99, Harbor Master Lite, Free

Gamevil has posted a strangely narrated, but informative walkthrough of several of the new features for Zenonia 2 which should be arriving soon.

Zenonia 2 incorporates 4 distinct classes (2 melee and 2 long range). These include Magician, Warrior, Paladin, and Shooter. The game also includes 130 individual costumes that are reflected on screen as well as over 1250 items and 200 customizable items.

Zenonia 2 also includes an asynchronous online multiplayer gameplay mode as well as Normal, Hard, and Hell difficulty levels. Check out the video for more details.

Zenonia 2 is said to be "coming soon" to the App Store.

We absolutely loved Sword of Fargoal [App Store] when it was first released, following our glowing review we also not only gave it our highest rating in our Best iPhone Games of December 2009 post, but it also made appearances both our overall best games of 2009 roundup and our 2009 best retro games listing. In other words, there was plenty of reasons to pick up Sword of Fargoal before today's update dropped, which has only served to make a fantastic game even better.

Previously, while Sword of Fargoal was by far the more approachable roguelike, if you went in to the game not knowing anything about it there was still plenty of room for confusion. This has been completely remedied by a fantastic tutorial that covers nearly every aspect of the game. On top of this, there are now three difficulty levels ranging from "squire" where it's nearly impossible to die, and "legend" which adds a delicious level of difficulty where you can quite literally die from the first monster you encounter if you're not careful.

On top of this, there's also new art, magic, traps, monsters, and tons of other tweaks in a fully fleshed out options menu where you can do things like toggle the going up or down stairs animation between levels. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to die about 500 times trying to recover the Sword of Fargoal while playing on legendary difficulty.

App Store Link: Sword of Fargoal, $4.99

The Witcher is a roleplaying game that was originally released in late 2007 for the PC. Taking place in a dark medieval fantasy setting, The Witcher put players in control of Geralt, one of the last "witchers", or, wandering monster bounty hunters with magical powers. The game has a 81/100 on MetaCritic, and aside from being yet another modern RPG with a sometimes silly morality system shoehorned in, I had a lot of fun playing through it.

The recently revealed iPhone port of The Witcher: Versus seems to be based on the browser game with the same name. Details are scarce right now, but the trailer looks pretty awesome:

GameTrailers.com also has a developer diary from the development of the original browser game that is also worth a look if the above trailer piqued your interest.

[Destructoid via Polygamia]

Late last month, the developers of Warblade posted an announcement on our forums that the game was on its way to the iPhone. The screenshots themselves look pretty cool, but reading the history behind the game sealed the deal for me. Warblade started as the PC remake of the Amiga game Galaga Deluxe. The next iteration of the game for the PC came packed with new features and a graphical upgrade, and appears to be the version of the game headed to the iPhone.

The following gameplay video was released by the developer:

There is a pretty awesome demo available for both the PC and Mac on the Warblade web site, and at the time the thread was posted the game was "80% ready" for the iPhone. This is definitely a shooter we're going to be keeping a close eye on.

Two games we really enjoyed recently had lite versions appear on the App Store-- Ragdoll Blaster 2 [$2.99 / Free] and Transformers G1: Awakening [$2.99 / Free] both are games that you really should try, especially if you've enjoyed physics puzzles in the past, or happened to be a Transformers fan at some point in your life.

Ragdoll Blaster 2 - Review

The sequel reveals a more polished title than the original, discarding the hand-drawn art and instead drawing heavily from the steampunk genre to create a rich game world of oiled cogs and shiny bronze contraptions. It is thanks to these machinations that the gameplay in Ragdoll Blaster 2 does vary a little to the original, if still sharing that same overall feel of blasting (and resetting) over and over again until you reach your target in as few shots as possible.

The new objects you'll come across include teleporters, additional cannons, objects that adversely affect gravity, ice blocks and mechanical arms to name a few, along with the expected array buttons, cogs and switches. All in all, levels feel more purposeful thanks to the new mechanics, and we're confident that the 150 levels that make up Ragdoll Blaster 2 will continue to be interesting (and undoubtedly difficult) and show the same attention to detail throughout as the ones we've played up to now. ...Read More

Transformers G1: Awakening - Review

Originally available for mobile phones back in 2008, Transformers G1 Awakening is a solid strategy game that takes fan service to a whole new level. If you grew up on the original Transformers cartoon from 1984, you’re going to squeal like a 6 year old when you see some of the choices the game has made. The cast is comprised of series mainstays like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but the game happily makes room for fan favourites like Grimlock and Ironhide. True to the television storyline, the story starts with the crash of the Ark and continues through to the Space Bridge built by the Decepticons. Jetfire’s first appearance is even true to his back story, starting out with the bad guys and quickly switching sides.

Gameplay here should be familiar to anyone who’s played turn-based strategy games like Rogue Planet or UniWar. Each unit will be able to move a certain number of squares, attack opposing forces, and capture important structures. Unique to Transformers however, is the ability to -– well -– transform. Every character can transform from robot mode to vehicle mode and back again. Vehicle mode offers a major advantage if you need to cover ground as you’ll be able to move around with much greater ease, but it also comes with a major disadvantage as you won’t be able to defend yourself from attacks. ...Read More

App Store Links:

• Ragdoll Blaster 2 Lite, Free
• Ragdoll Blaster 2, $2.99

• Transformers G1: Awakening Free, Free
• Transformers G1: Awakening, $2.99

Last week we took a look at Freeverse's Flick Bowling 2 [App Store], a fun bowling game that has improved upon nearly every aspect of the original Flick Bowling [App Store]. Aside from an awesomely ridiculous storyline involving spontaneous and completely nonsensical time travel, they've also implemented a new control scheme that really gives a great bowling feel.

From our preview:

Flick Bowling 2 is controlled using simple touch gestures, and once you get the hang of it, flicking your finger across the screen to bowl works really well. Unlike the original where you applied spin to the ball by swiping across the screen, your entire shot is done in one flicking gesture. To throw the ball straight you flick straight up, to curve it in a particular direction, you simply curve your finger flick. It works surprisingly well.

Once you get used to the physics engine of the game, you really can do a lot with the flick controls. Here's an early video of me playing the game, and you can kind of get a feel for what's involved in adding spin to the ball, although I'm doing just as poorly as when I bowl in real life:

We mentioned in our preview that a nearly full featured free ad-supported version is coming as well, which is still pending approval by Apple. Freeverse is expecting it to appear for download in the next couple days. If you want to wait for the free version, here is the inactive iTunes link that should work as soon as it is approved.

App Store Link: Flick Bowling 2, $2.99

Pixel Mine's hack and slash RPG Underworlds [$1.99 / Free] was released early last year, and we just got word that it is getting a major makeover and if all things go as planned, should submitted very soon and available near the iPad's launch.

I had a great time with the original iPhone game in our review:

Your adventure begins as a guard for McTavish, the purveyor of a traveling caravan. After defending against an invading orc (which serves as a brief tutorial), he explains that your services are no longer required and suggests that you travel to the Happy Cadaver Inn located in nearby town of Albrect to find work. To save time, McTavish opens a portal and a brief animated video introducing the Inn plays. Upon arriving you’re greeted by Kurgan who asks you to retrieve a bag of flour from the basement… Which just so happens to be loaded with bloodthirsty swarms of rats! ...Read More

Since our original look at the game, they've also released a significant "Chapter 2" update adding even more content. The iPad version is going to feature completely customizable controls, new buttons for potion usage, enhanced menu art, and the game's camera was moved to allow you to see more of the action. In addition, all of the full-screen windows (such as your inventory, quest log, etc.) on the iPhone now simply pop up in the corner of the screen without taking you away from the action.

If our upcoming iPad games forum is any indication, the iPad launch should be filled with some pretty awesome games. Underworlds is still a favorite of mine, and I'm glad to hear it is making its way to the big(ger) screen.

One of the developers we met up with at GDC was Makeshift Games who previously released Chuck the Ball in early 2009. Their latest creation, however, is an online multi-player pictionary-type game called Depict.

The game was originally released in December as a $0.99 game, but has since made the transition to Free. The game is structured around a round in which up to 5 players compete to guess what is being drawn. Each player has a turn at drawing during each game. The faster you answer, the better your score. Instead of typing, you are given up to 6 different multiple choice answers.

The developer's gameplay video shows how it works:

The core game remains free to play. To support their servers, Makeshift is offering two in-app purchases: custom avatars and a "lightning round" where you just guess as quickly as you can.

The game incorporates OpenFeint so allows you to play against randomly paired strangers or with your own group of friends. It's fun and free. Give it a try.

App Store Link: Depict, Free.

The tower defense genre has had a heavy presence on the iPhone. As a tried-and-true TD enthusiast, it’s a fact that I take great pleasure in – but it also means that wave after wave of mundane copycats are cluttering the AppStore. That’s why it’s such a relief when a TD game comes along that really breaks the mold. BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak may sound like another generic undead-battling TD, but get past the name and you’ll discover a frantic exercise in survival unlike anything you’ve ever played before.

BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak blends basic real-time strategy elements with open-map tower defense. You’ll be tasked with defending your headquarters, which is set up in the middle of the playing field, from hordes of zombies that can approach from any direction. The game is kind enough to tell you how many are coming from which side of the map, but due to the game’s inherent darkness you won’t really see them until they descend upon you.

With the exception of your headquarters everything around you starts out shrouded in darkness. Since your towers can only fire at what they can see, this can be a little problematic when it comes to setting up a solid defense. The only way to see what’s out there is to build a network of floodlights – which the zombies can destroy. You might have the perfect layout of guns and missiles dotting your map, but it just takes one clever zombie to take out a light, rendering all surrounding towers useless.

Building new towers, whether it be floodlights or missile launchers, requires you to spend resource points. All around you are pools of ‘toxium’ which you’ll need to mine by setting up collectors. Toxium is the resource you’ll spend to build new buildings – and it is limited. There are only so many pools of toxium on the map, and once you’ve tapped them dry don’t expect any more to magically appear. This means that if you can survive to the 30 minute mark, you’re going to wish you’d spent your toxium a little more wisely 15 minutes earlier. Toxium isn’t the only resource you need to worry about, either.

Buildings need energy, and as soon as you start to run out you’ll need to spend toxium to build generators. If the zombies wipe those out, you’d better hope you have the toxium to spare to buy new ones. Mining toxium, building a network of weapons and floodlights, and surviving an ever-increasing zombie onslaught – these are the basics that make BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak such a unique experience in the world of tower defense gameplay. But once you get past the basics, things start to look a little skimpy.

Of the five towers you can build, only two are weapons. And while they can be upgraded, the visuals never change to reflect their newly earned destructive power. 10 missions can be unlocked that offer up unique scenarios, but you’ll rarely ever play them. The main draw in this game is survival mode, and while enjoyable, it remains an unchanged experience throughout.

It may not offer a great selection of maps or weapons, but by bringing a white knuckle survival experience to the well-worn tower defense formula BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak proves itself to be a worthy addition to the AppStore. What it lacks in variety, it absolutely makes up in fun. Tower defense fans should be delighted by the zombie-slaughtering good times that lay ahead.

App Store Link: BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak , $2.99, BioDefense: Zombie Outbreak Lite, Free

Following GDC, the next stop on the TouchArcade summer road trip is PAX East in Boston, MA. I'll be there for the whole weekend, and would love to meet up with any iPhone developers that have anything new, cool, and/or exciting to show me.

My schedule is wide open right now for meetings, and I plan to spend the whole weekend bumming around PAX if you would like to meet up. Passes for the event are already sold out, but if you're local to the Boston area and have a game you'd like to show off, don't let that stop you from contacting us.

Send an email to tips@toucharcade.com or shoot me an IM on AIM if you want to meet up. If you're on the other side of the country, I'll also be at 360iDev from April 11th to the 14th in San Jose, CA. We'll post something else when we're ready to start booking meetings for that event.

While I have been completely sucked in to hardcore racing simulators in the past, there's nothing I like more in racing games than ridiculous drifting and jumps-- Lots of jumps. Thankfully, developer Pixelbite seems to share a similar love for these kinds of racing games from looking at their recently released Raging Thunder 2 and the upcoming Deliverace.

Deliverace is a top down racing game that seems to be what you would get if you were looking to cross the classic arcade game Super Off Road and the late 70's/early 80's TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard". Racing through the various included tracks (with some unlockable by beating earlier tracks) amounts to keeping your finger firmly mashed on the gas, and drifting through each corner while hitting as many jumps as possible.

Almost every conceivable control option is included, from a set of right/left buttons seen in the video below, as well tilt controls, and two different kinds of virtual steering wheels. Six different cars are in-game as well that all handle differently, ranging from a pick up truck to a hummer and even a semi truck.

In the preview build I've been playing, there are three different game types: Standard races against AI opponents, a time trial, and delivery mode where you need to ferry cargo around a map as quickly as possible. Also, the game features a multiplayer mode, and although it is grayed out in this version, there is an menu option for internet multiplayer.

The craziest thing about Deliverace is this preview build is chock full of warnings about how it's an early version with bugs and placeholder art, but even in its current state, it's one of the coolest looking top down racing games I've ever played. Deliverace is still in development, and I'm really looking forward to playing a finalized version of the game.

Revolutionary Concepts sent us a new screenshot and a note saying they are working around the clock on their port of Data East's arcade classic Karate Champ to the iPhone. The partial list of features include:

• Dual Stick Control (no D-Pad or buttons).
• Virtual arcade cabinet surround (no thumbs covering the action)
• 1 Player vs CPU over 12 environments
• 2 Player Mode via Bluetooth and WIFI
• all the bonus rounds
• all the classic 80's sounds
• Super large Character Option
• Old school scanlines on/off

Karate Champ was a 1984 arcade game that was one of the first fighting games and was later ported to the Apple II and Commodore 64. They are hoping to get the iPhone version of the game out by April.

Bit Pilot

Bit Pilot is a retro-inspired dodging game that comes from Zach Gage, who also brought us the multi-touch puzzler Unify. Bit Pilot's biggest flaw seems to be that it was released only a week after Tilt to Live and likely drowned out by the cheers for that game.

Bit Pilot, though, does stand on its own with fast paced gameplay, well implemented touch controls and a great 8-bit soundtrack. The game allows you to control a small ship in an asteroid field using single or dual swipes. Use one thumb for smaller movements, or both for more rapid movements. All the while, your job is to dodge the asteroids and lasers while picking up bonuses.

It's one of those simple games in which death can happen very quickly, so you gotta try just one more time. The swipe/touch controls are very nicely done and responsive. A hands on video is also available.

App Store Link: Bit Pilot, $0.99

iJumpman

Part platformer, part tilt/rotation game, iJumpman actually started life as a PC/Mac game and remains available as a free download for those platforms. The iPhone version is said to have all the content of the PC/Mac version and even includes a level editor.

The game uses swipe controls on the iPhone for basic running/jumping movement and seems to work well. Levels tend to be small and quick, and often requires multiple attempts. If you die, you respawn immediately to try again. The rapid-fire trial/error nature of the game reminds me a bit of Gravball.

I'd recommend trying the nearly identical PC/Mac version before diving in.

App Store Link: iJumpman, $2.99

At GDC 2010, iPhone developer 99games showed us what they have been working on as their next major iPhone title. The Jim and Frank Mysteries - The Blood River Files is an adventure puzzler in the vein of the Professor Layton game series.

In the Jim and Frank Mysteries, players assume the role of Jim and Frank who uncover a mystery left by their grandfather. As they follow the story and clues, they start to unravel the mysteries and must solve the various puzzles along the way. The game is an original iPhone title with 60 puzzles and an estimated 20-30 hours of gameplay.

The game is story-driven with 60 puzzles, 4 chapters, 8 mini games and 27 different characters. The puzzles are designed with the iPhone in mind and take advantage of iPhone specific inputs such as touch and tilt.

A hint system is also included so you can get help along the way. Here's a few screenshots of some of the in-game puzzles.

The Jim and Frank Mysteries is due in late April, early May.