In late 2008, Freeverse released the original Flick Bowling, the first of what has since become the Flick Sports franchise. Next week they plan on launching its sequel, Flick Bowling 2, which improves upon the original in every way imaginable. In fact, it's really sort of amazing to go back and look at the original Flick Bowling trailer in comparison to see how much more detailed something as simple as a bowling game has become.

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.

Another new feature in the sequel is the addition of a story mode. Playing as either Jen or Jim, you'll warp through time (somewhat like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) to face off in bowling matches against famous figures in history who also have similarly themed bowling alleys while you make your way to the ultimate bowling showdown with the evil Baron Von Schtopwatch. The game itself even admits the plot makes no sense. Aside from story mode, you can also play regular bowling games as well as a quick three frame game.

Here is a video of me doing poorly against Cleopatra:

One of the most interesting things about Flick Bowling 2 is how Freeverse is pricing it. While the original Flick Bowling launched at $4.99, the sequel will come in two flavors: A completely free ad-supported version, and a paid ads-free version. The only differences between the two games is advertising, and the paid version also comes with multiplayer. Both games will also come with DLC packs for customizing your bowling balls, as well as an additional Helen of Troy level.

Freeverse is shooting for launching Flick Bowling 2 on the 23rd, and I really recommend keeping an eye out for it, especially if in-game ads don't bother you. The bowling control mechanic is fun, the new physics engine is a massive improvement over the original, and the time traveling premise of the game, which is beyond ridiculous, is hard to not enjoy.

In many ways Aftermath is the zombie shooter I've been waiting for.

You find yourself walking the streets at night of a zombie infestation, trying to fight your way out of the city. It's dark and raining. The entire scene is dark with the exception of your flashlight. You move around frantically trying to take out the incoming zombies when a flash of lighting reveals a horde of them right behind you.

The mood of the game really is perfect. The lighting effects, 3d engine and sound come together to give Aftermath a great feel. Your character is controlled by two thumb pads, but not in the traditional dual-stick format. Left is movement while the right one lets you turn left/right. Meanwhile, firing at zombies is automatic when you point at them with your flashlight. While this may sound awkward, it works quite well and makes the game feel a bit more realistic and frantic as you must be facing your opponents to fire at them.

Another aspect of the game that really stood out was the large city map in which the levels take place. There are blind alleys, cars, and buildings. You need to navigate your way around parts of the city to make your way through the level goals. This is a refreshing change from other dual stick shooters such as Alive 4 Ever which have all taken place in small square-shaped arenas. In Aftermath, you really feel like you are getting lost in the city.

Check out the video for the gameplay:

The game, however, only comes with an 8 level story mode and a final survival mode, but is integrated with OpenFeint for high score achievements.

While there is some replay value in the existing story levels to improve your score (and, of course, the survival mode), the main criticism about the game is this relatively short level structure. The early levels can go by really quickly and leave you wanting for more.

Still, it's hard to find too much fault in the game at only $0.99 when other games launch with much less. If you're looking for an atmospheric zombie shooter, this one's an easy recommendation.

App Store Link: Aftermath, $0.99

Revolt is a 3D dual stick shooter created entirely by three people: Kristopher Peterson who handles all the art, design, and sound effects, Jaap Kreijkamp doing the programming, and Sean Neville writing the music. This three man team has managed to come up with what very well may be one of the coolest looking dual stick shooters I've played recently.

We went over the basic premise of the game in our original preview:

Revolt is an exquisite looking shooter that departs from the usual dual-stick model of unlimited ammo run-and-gunning by throwing a surprising amount of strategy into the mix. The gameplay promotes taking cover and rolling to avoid enemy fire, and ammo needs to be carefully managed across 15 weapons and 5 weapon types. A mixture of lasers, grenades and missile launchers serve to create some of the most impressive explosions and combat effects we've seen on the AppStore, too. To boot, Revolt seems to take its storytelling seriously, the gameplay spanning over 8 campaign levels and an impressive 20 survival arenas.

The build we were sent was a preview in every sense of the word, most of the art has yet to be finalized, menus are basic, and they haven't added the story elements yet. However, as far as a beautiful framework for a dual stick shooter is concerned, these guys nailed it.

Check out the gameplay video which shows a bit of story mode and survival mode:

Survival mode is particularly interesting in Revolt, as you fight off enemies in waves and between each wave you're given the opportunity to spend the credits you collect in game on ammo, grenades, and other goodies. I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to make it through the survival mode, and there seems to be an interesting layer of strategy in stocking up on weaponry. The easy levels obviously don't require anything, but once you survive past the first few waves, grenades and other weapons become mandatory.

Revolt is still in development, but shows a considerable amount of promise. We'll be keeping an eye on this game's development, and if you want to know more, stop by the developer's thread on our forums.

We still really don't know anything about Square Enix's upcoming iPhone-exclusive RPG that we haven't already mentioned, but this trailer for Chaos Ring is absolutely amazing. The graphics are insane, and the game looks like a Playstation-era RPG. Needless to say, we're extremely excited about this:

Originally I suspected this might not be released for quite some time, since the only release date we've found anywhere is simply 2010, but the trailer looks like a surprisingly complete game. I wish we had more details to share right now, but needless to say, we're going to be following Chaos Ring very closely.

Update: Forum member GDSage has done a phenomenal job at piecing together tons of details about Chaos Ring in the Chaos Ring thread on our forums.

Earlier this month we had a chance to preview ZombieSmash by Gamedoctors, a castle defense game that promised to stand out from the pack by marrying the genre with another of our favorite pass-times-- Zombie Killing. That concept certainly seems to have gained a lot of attention in our forums of late, and now the wait is over, as ZombieSmash [AppStore] is available!

Our time with ZombieSmash has laid to rest our doubts that the genre had wrung out all it could, as ZombieSmash not only looks gorgeous, in a cute Plants vs Zombies kind of way, but has a number of surprisingly original elements to diversify the tired castle defense gameplay too. For starters, enemies can attack from both sides of the house at once, putting to use the multi-touch features of the iPhone. Scripted level manipulation also gives the game a more tailored and refined experience, in one level for example the screen gradually zooms closer and closer on the house you are protecting, making it more difficult to respond to incoming attacks and upping the challenge. It gives a sense of purpose and individuality to each level that removes some of the monotony of seeing the same house over and over.

A castle defense game wouldn't be complete without a range of monsters to defend against, and ZombieSmash delivers abundantly in this respect. New monster types are regularly introduced, each with their own attack style and different means required to dispatch them. And by means we're talking about over 20 unique weapons and upgrades that are each controlled differently, from pull-the-pin grenades (which hilariously, you can smack the zombies around with before they explode) to screen-clearing giant boulders. Whilst there seems to be an underlying strategy to ZombieSmash in deciding where and when to use your special weapons, particularly as some weapons combine to do additional damage, as a castle defense game that incessant flicking-like-a-madman gameplay is unescapable, and is ultimately what turns people away from the genre. The developers have seemed to recognise this and address it somewhat, as a few levels focus solely on special weapons, blocking the ability to grab enemies altogether.

One of the high watermarks of our experience with ZombieSmash has been the "Finish Him" cam (a throwback to Mortal Kombat fatalities) where time freezes and you can bestow immeasurable pain on the last zombie of each level-- all recorded in celluloid for you to seamlessly email to your friends, send to facebook or save them to your phone without leaving the game. To round out the socialisation aspects, ZombieSmash features Chillingo's Crystal platform, offering achievements and leaderboards for a variety of the game modes on offer.

ZombieSmash has 31 Campaign levels (with the choice of either Normal or Hard mode), an Endless Siege mode and a nifty Sandbox mode, where weapons and Zombies that you've met in the Campaign mode can get friendly in your very own creative/sadistic ways without the risk to your house. From what we've seen based on our own sessions with the Sandbox, and from posts coming in from our readers, there are some rather remarkable means of eliminating Zombies that may not seem apparent at first. There is also a comprehensive upgrade system in ZombieSmash, where stars collected from the other modes can be used to boost your arsenal and defenses, enabling you to hold out and dish out all the more. You'll need to really dig deep into the upgrade shop to face the Hard difficulty levels, as even Normal difficulty poses a substantial challenge in the mid to latter stages.

ZombieSmash has evidently received a lot of love from the developers, who have attempted to liven up the stale flicking gameplay that comes with most castle defense games. As a result, ZombieSmash really does stand head and shoulders above its competition.

Despite all this, we still aren't convinced it'll make converts out of those who avoid castle defense games, but may draw in those open to a different take on the genre. A rocking soundtrack by Chris Hülsbeck, of Giana Sisters fame, completes the package-- a fitting encore for your hard day of Zombie culling.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the Debut Trailer (which we've included above) for a look at the gameplay. Also, check out our discussion thread, which is brimming with many positive impressions from our readers.

App Store Link: ZombieSmash, $1.99.

There is something special about skin-tight spandex and inverted underwear that positively warms our hearts. Chillingo and Traplight Games have captured the essence of that specialness and synthesized it for the iPhone, with the release of The Hero [AppStore].

The Hero is a largely understated title for a game that puts you squarely in the rubber shoes of a top-heavy, Mr. Incredible-esque crime fighter with a penchant for destruction derby and loop-the-loops. Our brave hero zooms in from space, taking it upon himself to fly around each gorgeously crafted city to complete a number of tasks (by ramming them with his head) to keep secure his charges (the fair citizens), whilst causing as little damage as possible to the surroundings itself.

Of course, asking our Hero to go about his duty of catching falling babies, putting out fires, culling down the army, killing giant insects or downsizing orbital laser-barraging satellites (to scrape but the surface of his repertoire) without the occasional high-five would just seem rude. If The Hero has started to sound absolutely insane, that's only because it is. That simple fact can also be credited with why collecting High Fives from the town's citizens is the fuel source for your three super powers -- Freeze, Blast or Zap-- each of which help cut down your foes when you're feeling overwhelmed.

And overwhelmed you will be, as though The Hero starts of at a very relaxed (almost boring) pace for the first 5 or so levels, those who stick with it are rewarded with a manic adventure that will test your digit reflexes. The Hero has two control options to direct his flight, a virtual analogue stick or a tilt option; your Hero handling much more like a bi-plane than a Batman. This may seem frustrating at first, as you attempt to wrest your Hero into pulling tight turns to little avail, until you realise that the controls more closely resemble games like MiniSquadron, requiring you to loop to turn around. You attack enemies by simply ramming them, assisted by a boost button or by letting loose with one of your superpowers, which are gradually unlocked in the Campaign mode.

The Hero measures your progress each level by your ever present Fame meter. If you fail to stop the incidents being brought to your attention or if you receive damage yourself, your fame will decrease. If your fame reaches zero before completing all the assigned tasks it's "Fame Over", and you have to restart the level, something you'll see quite regularly as The Hero is certainly no walkover. The Campaign levels pose their own individual challenges too, tied together in a very loose but very funny storyline. There are 15 Campaign levels to complete on both Easy and Hard difficulties. There is also a Survival mode with 4 increasingly large and challenging cities that are gradually unlocked, where your Hero faces all manner of obstacles to build up the best score possible.

It's hard not to recommend The Hero simply due to its terrific style and over the top humor. Whilst some may find the airplane-like handling of The Hero to be counter-intuitive and awkward, those open to the gameplay will undoubtedly enjoy cannonballing through an army of enemies, including a number of challenging boss archetypes too. The open-ended Survival mode will whet competitive appetites and potentially add many more hours to The Hero's already substantial content. Oh, and did we mention you get to fight Zombies?

Be sure to check out the gameplay trailer above for a further look at The Hero. Impressions from our discussion forums are flowing in thick and fast, and are overwhelmingly positive. And a heads up to you lucky 3GS owners, there's an easily overlooked option which switches on a 'high' 60-fps mode.

App Store Link: The Hero, $1.99.

With less than three weeks to go to the release of the iPad, ngmoco CEO Neil Young revealed to Computerworld at GDC that they have six games on their way to the device. While Young was rather vague at the time, we've since talked to both Freeverse and ngmoco and have the complete list of games that should be available around the launch of the iPad.

Freeverse's highly anticipated space conquest game Warp Gate was specifically held back for the iPad launch. We first revealed Warp Gate at our iPhone Launch Party at WWDC last year, and since then have done an additional sneak peek of the game. Also, we've got a huge thread on our forums where Freeverse Senior Producer Bruce Morrison has been participating in the discussion about the game.

Freeverse classics Flick Fishing and NBA Hotshot will also be making their way to the iPad in addition to a fourth new game, CastleCraft, an MMO strategy game where players build and manage one or more cities, then stockpile resources and military units to wage war on hundreds of other players online. We will have more details on the game soon, but here are a few screenshots of the iPhone version for the time being:

Ngmoco themselves will be contributing iPad versions of both GodFinger and We Rule, two freemium titles that recently saw limited releases in Canada. It also seems likely that both games will be released for the iPhone worldwide at the same time.

We should have many more details on all of these iPad games as April 3rd approaches. In the meantime, I've been assured that Warp Gate looks absolutely amazing, and out of all the games I've heard about so far for the iPad, it's by far the one I'm most excited to fire up.

There's been a lot of talk about the possibility of some sort of physical game controller for the iPhone and iPod Touch. While there have been a few announcements, none of the projects have ever come to market. We never heard for certain, though we'd heard suggestions that Apple might not have previously been allowing official SDK-supported versions to be approved.

22moo seems confident that they will get approved and recently released a new rendering of their planned game controlled hardware add-on. The redesigned device is said to include stereo speakers, omni direction mic, built in lithium battery, and 30-pin connector. More exciting is a note from Manomio's Stuart Carnie that they are working with 22moo to support the Gamebone in their C64 emulator in the App Store -- and according to Carnie this will be an official solution that does not require jailbreaking.

There is some ongoing debate about the point of such controllers for native iPhone games. Why do you want to carry an extra accessory around with you? But I think emulators are a clear use example as people do want to relive their emulated games without working with touch-screen controls,

I have played a lot of match 3 games since I got my iPhone and there all pretty much the same. A few like Trism [2.99] and the recently updated Puzzle Quest [4.99] change the formula but there still just another match 3.

Well PlayBrain's soon to be release game called, ‘Babo Crash’ doesn’t change the formula. But it does add a whole lot of insane power ups and gem busting heroes to it.

‘Babo Crash’ uses the cast from PlayBrain’s Madballs: Babo Invasion game for the PC and Xbox Arcade. The object of the game is to collect enough gems in a set time limit to pass to the next level. This part of the game plays just like Bejeweled Blitz, but with a twist.

When you match more than three gems you create a hero gem. Each color of gem creates a different hero, when you use them in a match you activate their special ability. This is where the game gets good. One of the abilities creates a ball on the screen that you control by tilting you iPhone which destroys every gem it touches. There is something very satisfying about destroying gems in this manor.

There was so much going on while I was playing this game that I forgot I was playing a simple match 3 game. Also, when I went back to other match 3 games, they seemed slow and uneventful. This game totally refreshed how I look at games like this. And to think, I almost didn’t even give it a chance because it was “yet another match 3 game”.

PlayBrains is planning to release the game once they finish an update to have it iPad ready, which should be any day now. If you like match 3 games but have been bored with them lately, give this one a try. I think it adds excitement back in to the genre.

Update: Babo Crash [0.99] is now available in the app store.

We sat down with the guys from The Binary Mill late Friday evening at GDC to check out their upcoming shooter, Assault Squadron. The most immediately noticeable feature about the game is the insane frame rate it all runs at, and the developers insist that it even runs at a solid 60 FPS even on the 1st generation iPod touch. These performance levels are important, especially as the game increases in difficulty and you find yourself in "bullet hell," as the developers put it.

The twist of Assault Squadron comes from the two gameplay modes the various levels alternate between. While playing through the game, you'll go through a level where it plays like a vertical shooter with your phone held in portrait mode. Following that, the game might alternate to a horizontal side scrolling level. With each transition you see different sides of both your ship and enemies, and the gameplay feels slightly different as well.

Other than that, Assault Squadron comes with everything you could possibly want in a shooter. There's a crazy scoring system with multipliers galore (and online leaderboards via Crystal), four different ships that all handle differently with their own unique weapon systems, upgrades everywhere, and best yet-- Control options that should satisfy everyone between the on-screen touch controls, a virtual joystick, and tilt.

Take a look at the recently release gameplay trailer:

The developers have mentioned they still have balancing a bug fixing to do, but hope to have Assault Squadron on the App Store sometime this spring. For more information on the game, take a look at the thread on our forums which is home to quite a ton of Assault Squadron media.

To say details are sketchy right now on this game would be an understatement, but what we do know is that Japanese developer Media Vision has a job posting [Translated] up looking for developers for a new RPG for the iPhone coming in 2010.

French Final Fantasy fan site, Final Fantasy Ring via Famitsu noted the game is called Chaos Ring and also in their story [Translated] mention that the team behind it also created the Playstation RPG Wild Arms, a personal favorite of mine.

That's all we know right now, the rest is open to speculation. There is an awful lot of time left in 2010, and if Media Vision is only looking for people now, we might have a long wait in front of us to get our hands on Chaos Ring. Regardless, we're anxious to hear more on the game and will post whatever we can dig up from our Japanese sources.

In the meantime, you can swing by the Chaos Ring thread on our forums and join in on the excitement.

Back in October we covered the 360iDev Game Jam, an all-night coding frenzy that challenged developers to create a playable (and, hopefully, interesting) game in just 10 hours. The results were impressive.

One of the developers who took up the challenge was Owen Goss of Streaming Colour Studios. Owen labored through the night and came up with an interesting title called UpDown.  As Owen described the game,

UpDown is a puzzle game. To complete a level, all pieces must be raised or lowered to level 0. However, you can only raise or lower pieces in the patterns dictated by the brushes. Strategy and intuition are required to master this simple yet challenging game.

While graphically sparse, the game was maddeningly difficult. What Owen had come up with was such a challenging formula that, when we spoke with him about the title last year, he indicated that he was considering building the prototype into a more complete game and releasing it through the App Store.

At GDC 2010, I sat down with Owen and he showed me LandFormer, his upcoming puzzle game that is the evolution of UpDown. And trust me, it's still maddeningly difficult.

The included screenshots show rather clearly how the game has evolved. LandFormer presents a five-by-five game-world grid with five different terrain levels for each block. The goal is to alter the terrain such that all blocks form a flat plane (the blocks with the little villages on them). To do so, you must pick a brush along the side of the playfield, tap a block on the playfield at which to center the action, and carry out a two-finger swipe up or down to indicate the desired direction of change.

If that sounds easy to you -- well -- it's not. The effects of one move are layered upon the next (and upon the next, and so on...) in such a way that you can pretty quickly develop a dread sense of having painted yourself into a corner, in a manner of speaking. I was having difficulty with the easiest few levels and could feel a growing desire to send Owen's test device into the wall of the Marriott lobby. But, despite my own frustrations, Owen assures me that all of the levels in the game can indeed be completed.

To enable players to torture their friends, the sinister developer has included a level editor that allows for the creation of custom maps, built using the same brushes used for standard play (so that all levels will be solvable). User made levels can be shared with friends via a web-link system, where all the data needed to describe the level is present in the link's CGI variables.

Puzzle addicts who enjoy having their brain crushed will want to run, not walk, to the App Store and grab LandFormer when it makes its debut in April. The game will be a free download including about 10 tutorial-difficulty levels (which is what I was playing at GDC...) and the aforementioned level editor, with additional levels available as in-app purchases.

Having played my share of matching games, it takes something a little different to really capture my attention. What immediately stood out with Cubetrix 3D was the fast paced/arcade nature to the game - like Tetris on the later levels. The game is a row-matching game where your job is to clear the board as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, you can move a single block around the perimeter of the board and slide it in. The block that slides out can then be moved to a new position. It doesn't take long to figure out how to move the blocks to line up matches and combos. The high energy soundtrack adds to the experience.

Watch the developer video to see how it plays:

Beyond color block matches, the game also introduces a few other elements to the gameplay. Fixed blocks will prevent you from sliding blocks into certain rows, while the bomb elements add an even higher level of frantic rushing to the harder levels. Finally, some levels use colors and numbers that must be combined in sequential order to eliminate rows.

Here's a short hands on video showing normal and hard levels:

The hard level is crazy from the start, as bombs will randomly reshuffle the entire board in an instant.

Cubetrix 3D really sucked me in from the start. The game contains 20 Easy, 30 Normal, 30 Hard and 30 Puzzle levels. With fast paced gameplay and a great overall experience, I highly recommend it.

App Store Link: Cubetrix 3D, $2.99

Infinite Dreams has finally released the Pro version of their Sailboating Championship game that was released as a free trial version back in January.

Sailboat Championship is a clever game in which you must properly steer your boat in order to fully capture the wind in an effective way to propel yourself forward. While I'm no sailor, I've been told by those who having sailing experience, this is a great representation.

The full version of the game links to the free version as a training mode, so it's worth downloading both if you've never tried it before. The full version comes in at $0.99 contains 9 Pro stages, 2 Rescue missions, and 6 different boat types.

App Store Link: Sailboat Championship, Free, Sailboat Championship PRO, $0.99

The developers behind Ravensword [$4.99] are very active members of our forums, and aside from constantly answering questions in the thread for Ravensword, they also recently used our forums to post the first images from Ravensword 2. Obviously it's hard to discern much about the actual gameplay at this point just by looking at character models and concept drawings, but I really liked the original Ravensword in our review, and there's not much reason to think the sequel wouldn't be just as good-- If not better.

These details were revealed a few days ago, but due to the madness that was GDC, we're just catching up on it now. Here's what we know so far:

The Ravensword team is hard at work building a "massive library" of art assets, and with the help of Dicework Games are going to flesh out many of the RPG elements that the original Ravensword was missing. Ravensword 2 isn't coming out anytime soon, but they expect to have it on the App Store sometime this year.

They've also got a secret project in the works that is going to be announced soon, and you can expect to hear about it as soon as we find out more details. In the meantime, check out the Ravensword 2 thread where the Ravensword 2 team have posted a ton of images and have been actively answering questions from forum members.