When playing games or watching films, I'm not typically the type to get scared. Those surprise moments that are designed to make you jump don't even draw a flinch from me, and horror movies in general usually elicit more laughter than fear. So I was certainly taken aback when I found that a little iPhone game, Prisoner 84 from Hidden Games to be exact, actually had me on the edge of my seat with paranoia due to its unsettling atmosphere. As far as gameplay is concerned, there's nothing utterly mind blowing as on a whole it's rather simplistic, although certainly above average. But based on the overall feelings Prisoner 84 can invoke and how well suited to the iPhone it is, it's an experience that really captures your imagination.

The game takes place on an offshore prison where you play as prisoner 84. You awaken in solitary confinement to find that everyone in the prison is either dead or has become some form of undead. Gruesome and disturbing images wait for you around every corner. Your goal is to escape the prison, and along the way find out about your past and why exactly you've been sent to this prison. If you were to judge the game based on screenshots alone, you would likely not be impressed. The character models are blocky and lack detail, but for good reason. Every enemy has a complete skeletal structure underneath their outer skin and clothing. So blasting away at them will slowly chip off pieces of their flesh, exposing parts of their skeleton until they're finally put down for good. It's a really satisfying and neat effect, but at the expense of detailed character visuals.

The environments are a different story, and are what really makes Prisoner 84 shine. The standout feature is the lighting system, which creates a stark contrast of shadows throughout the game. Every light source reflects accurately on prisoner 84 as he makes his way through the maze-like prison, and the lighting does wonders to make you forget that the character models are less than stellar. Of equally high quality is the sound design, and while there's no music playing during the game, the soundtrack is comprised of haunting audio effects that fit the game perfectly. Distant moans or mechanical banging will come out of nowhere, and footsteps change from sharp and echoing to sticky and gross as you walk through a trail of blood.

This exceptional atmosphere that Prisoner 84 creates would be nothing without gameplay to go with it, and the game delivers fairly well on this front. From a third-person perspective, you control 84 with a small d-pad for movement and swipe the screen to aim. The d-pad is serviceable, albeit kind of funky, but the swipe to aim is nearly flawless. 84's movement is deliberately slow, but a quick double-tap of the forward arrow makes him move at a faster pace. There's a single button for firing your weapon, and a context sensitive button that will appear if you are next to something in the environment that can be interacted with. An inventory button resides in the upper corner and takes you to a screen where you can keep tabs on the puzzle items you've obtained and the weapons, outfits, and other collectible items that are in the game.

One of the things that really draws you into Prisoner 84 is the minimalist approach to the UI and other traditional game elements. There's no aiming reticule, rather where the barrel of your gun points is the direction you'll fire. Also there isn't any life indicator other than your character's diminishing appearance as he has damage inflicted upon him. Other nice touches really make you feel as though you're playing the game through 84's perspective, like actually touching and dragging a security card through a terminal or placing a key in the keyhole and turning it to unlock doors and lockers. Some may call this gimmicky, but to me it's a refreshing change from the by-the-numbers approach of similar games, and shows some ingenuity on the part of the developer for making the most of the touch screen interface.

With all my praise for Prisoner 84, it certainly does have drawbacks. I can accept the low poly characters since it allows for the skeletal damage system, as well as ensuring the game runs smoothly on all devices, but they do stick out like a sore thumb. The puzzles in the game are really basic, mostly consisting of collecting an item that has an obvious use later in the game. And as far as enemy AI is concerned, well, it barely exists. You can be blasting away at a baddie, with another a mere couple feet away that stands like a statue as if nothing were going on right next to him. But the game's focus is squarely on exploration and discovery, with the combat and puzzle elements taking somewhat of a backseat. In this way Prisoner 84 still succeeds as an enjoyable experience in spite of the negatives.

In regards to the horror game genre, Prisoner 84 really nails the important points, which is mainly a bone chilling atmosphere. It's certainly not the greatest action or puzzle game there is, but the exploration factor is truly compelling. As such, it certainly won't appeal to everybody, and I know for a fact that some people just don't dig these types of slow paced games. But for me, it's one of the most interesting and unique experiences I've had on the iPhone, and the comments in our forum are overwhelmingly positive. The fact that the entire game was created by a two man development team makes it all the more impressive, and they obviously have a very clear vision of what games like this are supposed to be like. Quibbles aside, Prisoner 84 offers a great amount of entertainment for the price, and proves that you don't need a big screen or a big budget to bring a scary good time to players.

Note: There is a known crashing bug at a couple points in the game when inputing a 3 digit security code into a computer by way of sliding each number in place for 3 seconds. The game has a tendency to crash during this event, but since the game automatically saves each time you enter a new room, you won't lose much progress. Repeating the code entry will get it to eventually work, so it shouldn't impede your progress, and the developer is already working on a fix for this.

TouchArcade Rating:

If there's one thing the App Store is sorely lacking, it's competent dungeon crawlers. Sure, there are tons of great roguelikes, but nothing has come close to scratching the itch that Diablo originally created for me. Pixel Mine's Underworlds [99¢ / Free / HD] is a favorite of mine that has been updated with new content a few times, and Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter [$4.99 / Free / HD] is a lot of fun, but otherwise my thirst to slay legions of monsters and collect mountains of loot has gone unquenched on the iPhone.

This is where it sounds like iPhone developer 3D ATTACK is comes in, as they're hard at work on Dungeon Legend, a classic dungeon crawler that takes place in a full 3D environment with a customizable camera system that you can rotate and zoom around your character. The developers are reluctant to reveal anything about the story just yet, but have assured me that the game will be about much more than "just go and kill whatever monster comes your way."

3D ATTACK has released the following teaser video, which doesn't show a whole lot, but it's not hard to imagine how good the rest of the game could look if this is what the environment is going to look like:

The 3D ATTACK team are all in their mid 30's and list off Diablo, Baldur's Gate, and Dungeons & Dragons as their influences, and they're looking to get the "pen and paper feel," as they put it, in to the game. Dungeon Legend is going to have an original soundtrack, and multiple character classes and quests to complete.

The game isn't scheduled for release until later this year or early next year, but given the severe lack of dungeon crawlers on the App Store, it's not hard to get excited for another one even with only vague details and a release that is months away.

Back in October of last year we posted about KF Lab's teaser video for the upcoming sidescrolling platformer A Skeleton Story. We had almost no details at the time aside from a brief synopsis of what the game was about, but the absolutely fantastic artwork and animation found in the trailer had us more than excited for the game:

Since then, the developers have posted a whole set of screenshots in the official thread on our forums. From the looks of it, A Skeleton Story is going to be a two-button platformer with oodles of upgrades you can buy via an in-game store-- A formula that has been very successful in other games on the App Store.

There are a whole load of other screenshots and concept art in the thread, and KF Lab has even teased some gameplay videos. This is really all we know about A Skeleton Story right now, but so far the screenshots look great, and the trailer was fun to watch again. Of course even the best art in the world won't make up for gameplay, but we're hopeful with how long the game has been in development that A Skeleton Story will play as good as it looks.

We've posted about Sword of Fargoal [$3.99] and its iPad counterpart Sword of Fargoal Legends [$6.99] numerous times now, even including it in our Best iPhone Games of 2009 listing. The thread on our forums has been going strong since March, and is filled with close to 2000 posts of people suggesting new features and telling tales of their adventures, with the developers participating constantly in the discussion.

From reading comments we get on articles, as well as endlessly pouring over our forums, it seems above all what our community seems to unanimously love is any developer who sticks with their game, and there is a short list of developers I can even think of who have done as much with their games as the Fargoal team has done over the life of Sword of Fargoal. Since its initial release on the iPhone, all kinds of new items and treasures have been added, along with new monsters, sound effects, potions, dungeon levels, and graphical effects. New traps have been thrown in, as well as multiple difficulty levels to make the game both more forgiving to new players and more brutal to veterans.

This latest update adds high resolution graphics, allowing players with iPhone 4's to enjoy the game at full Retina Display resolution. If you've been following the development of the game, specifically its pre-iPhone origins, it's really great to see how far Fargoal has come while still maintaining a retro feel. The original Sword of Fargoal was a 40x30 dungeon tile game with monster sprite graphics that ran on the Commodore 64, which can be seen in the bottom corner of the following comparison screen shot::

On the horizon for Fargoal in future updates is a complete overhaul of the random dungeon building system. Instead of the current 40x30 tile area that every dungeon floor is made of, floors can be any length and width. The developers are hoping that this will give Fargoal a much more "architectural" feeling to the dungeon generator. Dungeon generation is also said to be getting more purposeful, with things like guard rooms, store rooms, underground lairs, vaults, oubliettes, and other rooms for players to come across.

There is going to be more environmental interaction and danger outside of combat, and with these two things are coming even more descriptive text to help set the scene a little better. Fargoal will also eventually have an even wider variety of monsters that vary in intelligence and ability. Some will even use battle tactics and strategy, with certain enemies organizing with other enemies when appropriate to quicken your demise.

If you haven't updated Sword of Fargoal recently, now is a great time to do so. If you still haven't downloaded Sword of Fargoal, it's among the best roguelikes available on the App Store, and certainly the most approachable, especially with the recent difficulty settings. Sword of Fargoal is one of my favorite games, and it's really easy to recommend, especially with how committed the developers have been to both updating the game in the past and continue to update it in the future.

I'm not entirely sure that I'd call Infinite Dreams' Let's create! Pottery HD [$4.99] a game, strictly speaking, but somehow it managed to soak up a ridiculous amount of my time this weekend as the iPad was passed around the house with everyone making their own pottery creation. It's not strictly an entertainment app either, as there are objectives to follow, goals to meet, and things to unlock as well. Regardless of how you want to classify it, Let's create! Pottery HD is a really cool experience, and shares a similar feel to the Zen Bound games with a relaxing mood and controls that feel remarkably natural.

As you may suspect from the title of the game, the object of Let's create! Pottery HD is to create pottery. Tapping "create" on the main menu takes you to a spinning pottery wheel with a lump of clay on it that you then transform using your finger. Dragging up or down changes the height of your piece of pottery, while touching and dragging in or out changes the width or whatever section you're touching. I'm sure there will be some pottery wheel veterans who don't like how dumbed down this all is, as you never need to deal with adding more clay, maintaining any kind of balance, or the million other things that can lead to all-out pottery disaster.

Once you're satisfied with the shape of your creation, you fire it up in the kiln. After that's complete, you're able to paint it with all kinds of different colored paints and "brushes" which are basically just stamp tools of pre-made stripes and other designs. Following that, you then add your masterpiece to your collection, at which point you can either keep it there to bring up later (and send emails including an image of it) or you can sell your creation at auction. Using the coins you earn from selling your in-game artwork you can then buy more paints and brushes to make even more diverse pottery.

All this by itself would be cool, and make an entertaining little art app, but what really caught my interest is the fake email system that's included in game. As the player you take the role of the proprietor of some kind of custom pottery shop, taking email orders from people who send you photos of things that they want, and you try as hard as you can to duplicate them. While you're trying your hand at filling their order, you can slide the photo they sent you out from the side of the screen and see the customer's satisfaction levels in real time with both the shape and coloring on a scale of five stars.

When your creation is completed, you mail it off to them, and if it meets their satisfaction you're met with a reward and another order. If not, it's back to the drawing board (or, pottery wheel, I suppose). This component of the game seems entirely optional, and initially just seemed like a basic tutorial I had chosen to ignore. After revisiting the faux-inbox, it doesn't take long until the creations your customers are asking you to come up with get quite complex, requiring careful study of the photo and sometimes even trying more than once to meet their pottery needs.

It seems so far that everyone on our forums who has tried the game has enjoyed it, although I do agree with some of the criticisms, specifically, Let's create! Pottery HD is a game that badly needs a profile system for multiple players. Easy to play games like this on a device like like the iPad are just begging to get passed around to give everyone in your house a try. The email pottery commission system is really cool, but once you get a few projects in they start to become way too complicated for a beginning player.

Even without a multiple player profile system, Let's create! Pottery HD is totally worth a look. The entire game is a very unique experience that works extremely well on the iPad. As mentioned, I could see some people being annoyed by how amazingly simplified the developers have made everything, but as a veteran of horrible summer camp pottery creations that only a mother could love-- I appreciate the non-existant skill requirement to make great looking pottery in game.

There are already a plethora of Tron inspired games on the App Store, predominantly in the form of light bike games. And while some of them are indeed quite entertaining, none of them are actual Tron licensed games. That changed this weekend as Disney has released its own officially branded Tron game in anticipation of the Tron Legacy movie and Tron Evolution console game, both due for release later this year. While not the greatest game you'll ever play, Tron for iPhone is still pretty cool, and has a great visual style that should appeal to fans of the movies franchise.

What you initially get for this free Tron game is a dual stick tank shooter which we previewed during E3 last month. It's surprisingly fun to play, albeit a little uninspired. Fifteen single player levels have you fighting off enemies as you trigger switches that eventually unlock the end goal of the level. Your tank weapons can be upgraded giving you some satisfying firepower, although these upgrades don't carry over level to level. It can be frustratingly hard at times as enemies swarm you from every direction and can deplete your entire health allotment in the blink of an eye. Still, for a game that cost you nothing to try, it's not bad.

What's more interesting than the single player offering is the multiplayer mode. At the beginning of the game you'll choose what color faction you want to be associated with, and a running total of the weekly performance of each faction can be viewed from within the game. It's a neat idea and gives you the feeling of being part of a team, and apparently according to our forums the orange faction is the unofficial faction of TouchArcade, if you'd like to show your TA pride. Online matches connect very easily and you can choose to partake in 2, 4, or 6 player matches. It's pretty fun, but it's hard to get into matches where people are taking things very seriously and expect to get your own teammates killing you fairly often.

A clever bit of cryptic information is to be found in the games description, which is essentially just a string of binary code. Once solved, it reads “This TRON app will evolve. ComiTRON coming 072210”. Not coincidentally, 7/22/10 is the start of Comi-Con in San Diego, with a Tron panel discussion scheduled for this very same day. We're not sure if that means they'll just be unveiling new information regarding the iPhone game or if Disney actually has the first update to Tron set for release on this day. Either way, we'll be eager to find out, as they've confirmed that Light Bike and Discs modes are planned additions to the game.

Back in April of last year we ran a story about mobile developer ZodTTD's announcement of the forthcoming platform puzzle adventure game Wizzley Presto and the Mysterious Time Machine. What made the project interesting was the fact that the developers set a goal to complete the development of the game within 30 days, publicly documenting their progress along the way at 30daygame.com.

A cool element of this project is the blog. We are doing this game in 30 days, from an idea to a finished product for AppStore. Best of all we’re showing all of what is involved along the way. Expect lots of interesting posts for all those who wonder what it’s like programming a game on the iPhone & iPod Touch!

Early this month the game (renamed Wizzley Presto and the Vampire's Tomb) went live in the App Store [link]. But hey -- wait a minute -- that's a lot more than 30 days! I contacted the developers to find out what gives.

I spoke with project programmer Craig Rothwell, who also happens to be the person behind the OpenPandora handheld and the iControlPad iPhone accessory. He indicates that he achieved "mission accomplished" within 30 days, as planned, but the decision was made to expand the title into something overall more complete.

We did indeed complete the 30 day game but it was rather nice and we decided rather than releasing it then as a 'tech demo' we would like to make it bigger and better.

Now one thing a lot of people don't realise is that 90% of 'full' games which have development started are never finished, team members get bored, people move to other projects, the steam runs out and the 'on no! real work!' syndrome starts. Fortunately I've worked on games before (for the Gameboy color and GBA) so I knew how to just knuckle down and get on with it, sleepless nights and all.

So over the space of 8 months we worked on a proper plot, scenes, monsters and dialogue.

By Christmas 2009, the game was ready to go -- as developed and tested in the iPhone simulator -- but, when it was loaded onto an actual device, it didn't work. (The simulator is not the perfect testing ground...) Work began to get the game running on actual metal, and in March a few extra features (such as egg throwing) were added in before submission to Apple. And, after a rejection / resubmission snafu, Wizzley Presto has landed in the App Store.

It's a pretty nice title, actually. It features extremely impressive oldschool artwork reminiscent of  by pixel artist Ruckage along with a nice audio track. The goal of the game is to traverse screen after screen of obstacle, puzzle, and enemy-laden platforms, by way of button touch controls, in order to make it through all three "chapters," each bringing a save point. It's not so much a Turrican or Mario affair, but more a modestly-paced puzzle solving experience reminiscent of the classic Dizzy series. Stand on a switch to activate a sliding bridge, find the appropriate tool to make it past an obstacle, etc. Less arcade action and more problem solving. Kind of a Babylonian Twins -- without the twins, to reference an existing iPhone title.

The only notable drawback with the game is a performance issue that we've demonstrated on our iPhone 4 test device. On this unit, the menu and in-game animation is problematically slow, a glitch that has plagued a number of other games running on Apple's latest. The developer has indicated that he is collecting user feedback and plans to respond via updates to the game. We expect the performance issue to be addressed shortly, but until an update is issued, iPhone 4 users should probably hang back.

Wizzley Presto and the Vampires Tomb is lovely, clever, and quite enjoyable. I'm pleased the team took the extra time needed to build the game up to its current form (and hope that they soon spend some time on the iPhone 4 fix). And, if you have what it takes to be the first to finish the challenge, the developers have a $1,500 prize waiting for you.

The App Store has its fair share of top-down shoot 'em ups, with the overwhelming majority of them feeling very same-ish and not really doing much to set themselves apart (bar a few notable exceptions such as the recent Espgaluda II). Newcomers to the iOS, Art In Games, are looking to break that mould with the release of AirAttack [App Store] [Lite].

AirAttack departs from the traditional 2D platform of vertical shoot-em-ups and opts for a fully realised 3D world. This is what gives the game its own identity, as you'll see enemies not only fly towards you, but loop-the-loop back over you, too. What's more, Air Attack has an emphasis on bombing runs and laying waste to anything on the ground-- something made all the more satisfying when that silo beneath you actually crumbles to smithereens.

The exceptional models and animations really help sell the 3D gameplay. Textures are vibrant and detailed across the board, which really helps distinguish the many different level themes. Coupled with the awesome flight and crashing animations and specular and light maps at work, Air Attack is a visual treat on any device.

Despite all this eye candy, AirAttack ran silky smooth on the 3GS device we tested it on (the game supposedly running well on 2nd gen devices and up too, according to the devs) . The options for controlling your aircraft cover the gamut of tilt, touch, relational touch and on-screen joystick; leaving everyone happy. Controls are responsive and straightforward, with on-screen icons activating the many power-ups collectable throughout the level and a simple double tap activating your regenerating bombs.

Between and throughout the levels is a checkpoint system that doubles as an item store. Items are purchased with funds collected from enemy drops and cover standard upgrades such as cannon firepower and rockets; and special upgrades such as wingmen, lightning guns and even additional lives. The latter levels will see you with enough money to buy power-ups that slow down time, or give a protective shield. The more powerful upgrades have to have certain conditions met before becoming available, functioning alot like an achievement system.

There are 8 lengthy missions divided up into several checkpoints each and a whopping 58 different enemies to defeat. The 8 boss encounters at the end of each level are the fight to look forward to most though, as they're screen-spanning, multi-part battles that are quite challenging even on the normal difficulty. There is both an easy and hard mode though if you're finding it overly difficult or feeling masochistic, respectively.

The only setbacks to AirAttack's otherwise winning formula is that occassionally, enemy fire seems to just disappear into your aircraft, making it hard to see if you've been hit or not. It also feels at times that your hitbox is a bit larger than what it appears on screen, causing you to take hits where you think you've avoided them. The other issue we had was that AirAttack only offers a local high score system; and when online leaderboards are fast becoming the norm, this may disappoint some.

Even still, it's hard to look past AirAttack, particularly if you're a shmup fan. It's a challenging visual spectacle with solid gameplay elements backing it up throughout. Bosses are great, powerups are numerous, and your tenacity is rewarded as it should be in these games by added firepower and lastability as you progress without perishing. Graciously, there's a lite version available too, so there's no excuse not to at least give AirAttack a go if you're interested.

App Store Link: AirAttack, $0.99, AirAttack Lite, Free.

Justin Smith, the man behind cult phenomon (and the best bear-driving-a-car simulator we've ever seen) Enviro-Bear 2010 [99¢], has just sent out a tweet showing in-game video of the iPhone port of So Long Oregon, Let's Go Find El Dorado (previously known as F*** Oregon, Let's Go Find El Dorado on PC). Developed under the newly monikered Captain Games studio, So Long Oregon is the punk rock alternative to the classic edutainment title The Oregon Trail.

The game is a right to left scrolling wagon combat/racing game, featuring subtle nods to concepts found in the original Oregon Trail. You'll race against other wagons across the great North Western terrain, but rather than ending up in Oregon (which “only has dirt”), your settlers decide to hang a louie and make their way south towards the gold-rich hills of Northern California. Wagons can shoot, catch diseases, and feature incredibly silly physics as they launch over mountains and crash into woodland creatures.

Information and video taken from the So Long Oregon website:

Drive a wagon across the American west, then veer south in search of the legendary ancient lost city of GOLD known as "El Dorado". Oregon only has dirt! Wouldn't you rather be rich?

Test your conestoga wagon driving skills in 4 Challenges, including the Historical Oregon Trail for those of you who don't want gold.

Compete for high scores and achieve achievements on the OpenFeint power-up system.

Experience physically accurate terrain collision rendering. So much more than just going left!

For those of you who were endeared towards the simple graphics of Enviro-Bear should be pleased to know that So Long Oregon features a similar visual style, as well as a comically absurd premise. You can follow along at the game's website or on Jusin's Twitter as more information becomes available, or sound off in the thread in our upcoming games section. We'll be looking forward to getting our hands on this game which is said to be coming “really really soon”.  The PC version (complete with the original F-bomb in the title) can be downloaded here.

I have been looking for an excuse to post about Armada: Galactic War [App Store], after overlooking its first sizeable update amidst the chaos of WWDC. It was a game I really enjoyed, despite nit-picking on a few issues. It turns out developer Pixel Stream was listening, and have addressed each of my complaints and further added a suite of features in response to player feedback and an entirely new freemium version!

First and foremost, addressing the biggest complaint that readers had, was the introduction of an offline practice mode in version 1.2. Offline mode is still in its infancy, and though you can pick the map and your race, you are restricted to playing 1v1 vs the AI. Additional AI slots and a customizable AI difficulty would all be great to see in future updates.

This update also addressed my other issue with Armada: Galactic War -- the ARMS upgrade system. In our review, we took issue with how ARMS set an insurmountable gap in advantage between veterans and newcomers. In order to address this, Pixel Stream opted to completely overhaul their ARMS system. The more powerful variants of each item were removed entirely, and though the player can still equip up to 10 items, items are automatically balanced when players are matched against each other.

The player with the fewest upgrades sets the standard for the match at hand. If Player A has 2 items and Player B and C have 4 items, then only the first two items of each player will have effect in that game. In this way, the developers hope to have remedied the issue of power imbalance between players with access to more and better items.

Update 1.3, just released, further addresses issues noted by players since 1.2. It introduces player divisions by way of rooms; with a newbie room available to allow beginners to play against each other; and an extreme room rewarding bonus credits rewarded to the more daring, experienced players. The full change list is as follows:

Interface and Gameplay improvements
• newly created units are automatically selected if mothership is selected
• mech placement is easier to collect minerals
• improved selection/deselection of units
• Destroying a mothership will top up your resources
• Each mothership destroyed counts as a win

Player matching improvements
• three rooms - newbie, intermediate, extreme
• only newbies can enter the newbie room
• extreme room gives 2x credits
• a second leaderboard for extreme battles

ARMS item improvements
• lowered cost of items
• items increase stats as well as decrease other stats
• simplified the number of items

The developers have also released a new freemium version of Armada. This version is online only, and operates a little like Eliminate; in that you require 'fuel cells' to earn credits. These are used up as you play, and recharge automatically every two hours. Of course, In-App purchases allow you to skip that waiting process by purchasing additional cells.

That app has now hit the App Store, and whilst players can now play entirely for free (with a little patience) on the freemium version, the original paid app with offline mode has risen in price, too. So there are now a slew of options for RTS fans to get their game on; and with an app as feature rich as Armada: Galactic War, there's now no reason not to check out what has been dubbed Starcraft-lite on your iOS device.

App Store Link: Armada: Galactic War, $5.99 and Armada - Galactic War Online, Free (With In-App Recharge Purchases).

TouchArcade Rating:

There are few things I like more than an iPhone game with an absolutely ridiculous premise that wouldn't have a chance anywhere outside the App Store, except of course, when said game turns out to be a lot of fun. Such is the case with Cat Run [$1.99], a crazy conglomeration of classic line drawing control mechanics, Frogger-like traffic avoidance, and cats-- Lots and lots of cats. In the game, you have to route cats from one side of the street to the other, avoiding traffic in the process as well as several other obstacles once you get to higher levels.

Touching a cat and drawing a line controls the path they take across the street, and arrows indicate which lanes oncoming cars will be driving down next. If you run in to problems, such as an unexpected car or a cat not going quite as fast as you were expecting it to, you can tap a cat to stop it, then draw a new line either back to the side of the street it came from, or on to the other side. Four different types of cats are included in the game, with each having slightly different characteristics such as speed and temperament. Learning the properties of each of the cats is important as you obviously need to allow for more time for the slower cats to get around cars, and you need to prioritize getting the aggressive cats across the street to avoid cat fights (which you need to tap to stop).

Cat Run includes some awesome obstacles you need to deal with as well. Obviously you don't want your cats to get run over, but if a skunk appears, you get rid of it by drawing a path out in to traffic for it to get squished by a car. These skunks can also explode, which cause nearby cats to go crazy from the stench. That's not all though, like any normal street there are sewers with manhole covers, which apparently are home to giant monsters who extend tentacles to grab your cats whenever the manhole opens up and one is nearby.

You can route your cats in four different environments, ranging from a normal street to space, and there are achievements linked to each. Cat Run also comes packed with OpenFeint for all kinds of OpenFeinty goodness such as online leaderboards, achievement tracking, and everything else. Scores are tracked both locally and globally for each environment, and like most games, the online leaderboards are already filled with scores that far exceed my capabilities.

Cat Run is a silly game that is a lot of fun to play. Perhaps my affinity to cats has something to do with it, but having cats flying all over your screen avoiding cars, while managing skunks, putting out cat fights, and avoiding mysterious tentacles is something I never saw myself doing in an iPhone game... Yet somehow, I'm incredibly glad that I finally am.

Famous Japanese shoot 'em up developer Cave recently revealed that Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu will be released this summer, joining Espgaluda II [$8.99 / Free on the App Store. With similar bullet hell gameplay to Espgaluda II, which we enjoyed in our review, Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu will share the same limitations in only running on the latest generation of iPhone and iPod touch hardware, unfortunately leaving first and second generation iPod touch users as well as original iPhone and iPhone 3G owners left out once again.

Cave isn't discussing pricing yet, and they're not getting any more specific than "Summer 2010" for a release date. Either way, while I'm sure quite a few people have never heard of this game series before those who have, will likely be very excited.

iPad owners are in for a treat heading into this weekend, as TowerMadness HD has gone free for today. Not only is it a rare occurrence to get a full fledged iPad editioin of a game for free, but this particular game normally sells for $7.99. TowerMadness HD is a fully 3D tower defense game, and the iPad version features same device multiplayer for head to head competition. We previewed the game back in May shortly before it's release, and you can take a look at our review for the original iPhone version that was released over a year ago for more information.

This short developer video showcases the added multiplayer mode of the iPad version:

Even if you're not typically a fan of tower defense games, there's no reason not to give TowerMadness HD a spin during this free promotion. More information and player impressions can be found in the game's thread in our forums.

The folks at Team Phobic have sent us a heads up that they have issued updates for nearly all of their games on the App Store. The first of these to hit was an update for the lite version of their early platformer Bounce On [$1.99/Lite]. As one of the first true platformer games available in the early days of the App Store, Bounce On remains a forum favorite in the genre. We reviewed the game back when it was released, but since that time it has been updated with improved graphics and plenty of new levels to play, making it one of the more complete packages available. The lite now includes additional levels from the full version.

The sequel, Bounce On 2 [$3.99/Lite], has received the most significant update out of the bunch, and this update has just gone live today adding two additional levels and Universal iPad support. The game will take advantage of the higher resolution screens on both the iPad and iPhone 4  We reviewed Bounce On 2 as well, and found it to be an even more enjoyable and robust experience than the original. The lite version of Bounce On 2 should be updated soon with Universal support as well, for iPad owners looking to try before they buy.

Here's a full rundown of game updates straight from Team Phobic:

- Bounce On Lite is gaining three new levels from the full version.Since its release in December, 2008 Bounce On Lite has seen millions of users and still has a large number of players today.

- Our first iOS game, iTD, is receiving a huge update. We’ve added 4 new levels, sound effects and iPad support. We are also updating the free version to contain every level in the full version, supported through ads. Tower defense fans should not miss out on this!

- The full version of Bounce On 2: Drallo’s Demise is gaining two new levels. Additionally, both the full and lite versions will have iPad support.

- We’ve been working with Backflip Studios to bring an exciting update to our recently released game, Tunnel Shoot. The original gameplay has been sped up a bit and a new mode has been added. Get ready for “Insanity!” The new mode is much faster and contains power ups and new enemies.

All of the games feature iOS4 support for fast app switching. Likely the most exciting of these updates is that for Bounce On 2, giving iPad owners a native platforming game to enjoy. But it's good to see Team Phobic's first game iTD [$1.99/Lite] getting a healthy update after more than a year. Now, if they would only update their underrated WarioWare-like game Micro Mayhem [99¢], then you could truly call me a happy camper .

It's great to see an indie developer like Team Phobic is continuing to take care of their customers with updates like these, even long after release. Keep your eye out for these updates to go live in the coming week or so, and make sure to grab the update for Bounce On 2 which is available now.

RatRod Studio, the creators of Mike V: Do or Die [$2.99] recently released their second game on the App Store. Drift Mania Championship [99¢], as the title would imply, is a racing game that emphasizes on drifting. If you've never played a game that requires drifting, or have never been an irresponsible freshly-licensed teenager behind the wheel of a car in an empty wet or snow covered parking lot, drifting is intentionally oversteering your car to lose traction in your rear wheels while going around a corner. When performed well, this results in awesome sideways sliding at high speed, or, when done poorly, ends in an embarrassing spinout.

Drift Mania Championship combines so many great things in to one racing game that I can hardly believe they're selling it at 99¢. Everything from collaborating with the DMCC Drift League, licensed music, a great physics engine, replays, online leaderboards, as well as multiple cars, difficulties, tracks, and a really well-done control system, makes picking up Drift Mania Championship should be a no-brainer to anyone interested in racing games.

Part of drifting any car, either in a video game or in real life, involves accurate control of your car's speed. Drift Mania Championship accomplishes this with a clever control setup where you steer your car by tilting, and control the accelerator by sliding your thumb up and down the right side of the screen. The lower left corner is home to a button to pull your car's hand brake, and keeping control of your car while maintaining speed and sliding sideways requires precise use of both. On your first race there is a brief tutorial that you read through that teaches you how to drift, and while it would be nice to have something a little more interactive, it does the trick. If you find yourself spinning out too often, just take it slow until you get a hang of exactly how much you need to steer in to turns to not lose control.

Three tracks are included along with three difficulty levels hidden away in the options. One car is unlocked initially, with an additional car unlocked for finishing first on each track as well as a fifth car for finishing first in all three tracks. Placement in the races is determined by your total score which seems to be computed by how long your drifts and how fast you're going with bonuses offered for style, chaining drifts together, and other things. At the end of each race you're shown a replay that highlights your best drifts, and you're given the opportunity to upload your score to the global leader boards which already seem to be loaded with scores that I'll never be able to beat.

The current down side to Drift Mania Championship is that while it's being sold as a universal game, it seems to be entirely broken on the iPad. As with the recent Trism update, Drift Mania Championship attempts to run at the native iPad resolution, but all the interface elements are out of whack which makes you unable to play the game. The game being released as universal seems to be unintentional, as the game's FAQ mentions a separate HD version being released later. Needless to say, if you plan on playing this game on your iPad, I'd avoid it for now.

If you don't care about the current lack of iPad compatibility, Drift Mania Championship is one of the better games I've played that rely on drifting your car around. The controls are great, and while it would be nice to have more than three tracks, there could be a sizable amount of replay value through unlocking all the cars and competing in the online leaderboards. Aside from the iPad issues, people on our forums are really enjoying the game, and as long as you plan on only playing it on your iPod touch or iPhone, Drift Mania Championship isn't hard to recommend, especially for 99¢.