It seems like nearly every classic video game mechanic in existence is represented on the App Store in one way or another, either through blatant clones, lovingly inspired homages, or something else in between. Mummy Panic [$2.99] lies somewhere near the "lovingly inspired homage" side of the spectrum, with gameplay reminiscent of Chu Chu Rocket, graphics that remind me of the dungeons found in Zelda: A Link to the Past, and a load of other video game and movie references that will either go completely over your head, or leave you smiling.

In the game, you must guide a set of mummies to open crates of loot, where they hope to go un-noticed, get boxed up, and finally escape the pyramid they've been trapped in for so long. Hitting a button in the bottom right corner of the screen puts the mummies in motion, and they'll walk forward until they hit a wall or other obstacle, turn right, and keep walking. You can change their direction by placing arrows on the floor, and each level has a limited number of arrows you can use. Later levels introduce traps to avoid, and explorers to evade. There isn't any penalty for goofing up on a level, and you can either play the game via careful analysis and planning to get the mummies in their crate in one shot, or just keep moving arrows around and guide them there with trial and error.

Three difficulty levels are included with over 50 levels. It would be nice to be able to skip forward a few levels if you get stuck like you can in similar puzzle games, as getting stumped and being stuck on a level is really the only down side to Mummy Panic. Either way, I'm a huge fan of any game with sprite based art, and the developers of Mummy Panic have done a great job at emulating the look of an old 16-bit game, much like Super QuickHook.

They've also put together a gameplay video which serves as a bit of a tutorial, walking through the first two levels and going over the mechanics of the game which I've already mentioned:

If you have fond memories of the Dreamcast (and Gameboy Advance) game ChuChu Rocket, or just like the idea of a puzzle game where you're helping mummies escape, give Mummy Panic a try.

Big Pixel Studios, the guys behind both Piyo Blocks [$1.99 / Free] and Piyo Blocks 2 HD [$2.99 / Free] for the iPad, have a new game scheduled for release later this month. Meow Meow Happy Fight is a dual stick shooter for the iPhone with a delightfully ridiculous premise: Apparently, a cat from the future, 2336 to be precise, decides he is too happy. Naturally, the logical thing to do in that case is travel back in time to modern day Tokyo... to bring happiness and destruction.

I'm not entirely sure how this turns in to a basis for a dual stick shooter, and I can't wait to find out. Either way, Meow Meow Happy Fight looks like it has a great array of 12 power ups and 15 unlockable characters which even include silly things like a "cat ball", a cup of noodles, and something that looks like a vending machine. Meow Meow Happy Fight has tons of collectables, complete OpenFeint integration, and a similar bright pixel art style as the Piyu Blocks games. Check out the following gameplay trailer:

The thread on our forums has the developers participating in a discussion with other forum members excited for its release, and even though I'm admittedly a little tired of dual stick shooters, I can't wait to give this one a try. According to Big Pixel Studios, beta testing is completed and while it hasn't been submitted to Apple for approval yet, they're hoping to have everything ready to rock by the 3rd or 4th week of July.

Pocket God [99¢] is a game that hardly needs an introduction around here. With meager beginnings as a simple sandbox with an island full of pygmies you can toss around, Pocket God has since turned in to a seemingly unstoppable monstrosity that now includes mini-games and tie ins from all sorts of iPhone games such as Harbor Master [$1.99 / Free] and even Doodle Jump [99¢]. Other features have been added such as the ability to create little in-game movies with your islanders, turn them in to zombies, and more things than I can even list off the top of my head. What started as a game that was so basic it was hard to even describe as a "game" has turned in to an iPhone game with a surprising amount of things to do and discover.

This fall, Pocket God will be coming to the iPad. Pocket God for the iPad will be a completely new game, as creator Dave Castelnuovo told CNN, "I don't really believe in taking an existing title and cranking out an exact same clone of the game on every different console out there. If we have a really hardcore fan that has it on both iPad and iPhone, we want them to have a different experience."

This new Pocket God will have the same humor that Pocket God fans have come to expect, with the first installment being titled Journey to Uranus. The pygmies will quite literally take to the stars, and Bolt Creative sent us the following screenshots that show how this is all going to look on the iPad:

Since our forums served as one of the original infestation points for the Pocket God army, you can bet that as soon as we hear more details on either Pocket God for the iPad, or the upcoming Pocket God comic book, we'll post everything we find.

Still enjoying the afterglow of just how great Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge for iPad [$9.99 / Free] is, I went scouring the App Store for other worthy "HD" versions of favorites of mine on the iPhone. More often than not these games feature little more than higher resolution graphics, but for quite a few of them, the bigger screen size of the iPad makes playing them a lot more fun, especially in instances where the game's interface felt too crowded or cramped for comfort on the smaller screen. None of these games are universal, which is a little annoying that you have to buy them twice if you've already downloaded them on your phone, but I've been guilty of re-buying my favorite movies that I already own on DVD in BluRay which is pretty much the same thing.

ORBITAL HD, $2.99 - This is a favorite around my house, and is a great game for showing the iPad off to all those annoying people who can't help but ask you, "Is that an iPad?" because it looks so cool. The gameplay is simple, and based on the free Flash game Gimme Friction Baby much like a number of other nearly identical games on the App Store. What sets Orbital HD apart is the bright colors, mellow music, and more superfluous particle effects than you can shake a stick at. Orbital looked great on the iPhone, and Orbital HD looks even better on the iPad.

Geared for iPad, $4.99 - This up-scaled version of the original Geared [99¢ / Free] features 150 levels of varying difficulty, the ability to skip to any of them, timers to keep track of how long it takes you to complete levels, and other fun stuff. On the big screen, the various gears are easier to manipulate, and while there isn't much sense in re-buying the game if you already own it for your iPhone, if this is the first you've heard of Geared and own an iPad, it's really worth checking out.

Galcon Fusion, $7.99 - This game could easily be described as Galcon [$2.99 / Free], but bigger. Fusion on the iPad has all the same gameplay and multiplayer modes that made the original awesome, only bigger, with way more planets to attack and defend. On high difficulty levels, battles get so chaotic they almost require two people playing in order to win.

Charadium for iPad, $4.99 - In Charadium, players take turns in online games drawing and guessing what other people are drawing. More screen real estate has really made Charadium much more fun to play on the iPad. You can actually draw with some level of accuracy, and the new layout with the chat screen below just generally makes the game more fun.

bitFLIP HD, $1.99 - While there are entirely way too many match 3's on the App Store, and you probably already have at least one on your device, bigFLIP HD is worth checking out. It comes with a great electronic soundtrack and multiple game modes including a two player split screen battle mode that's a ton of fun if you have another person around who shares a love of matching three similarly colored circles together.

I Dig It HD, $9.99 - The original I Dig It [99¢] along with the sequel I Dig It Expeditions [$2.99 / Free] are two of my favorite iPhone games, and I Dig It HD is even better on the iPad. You can see more of your surroundings, there's an on-screen mini map that makes navigating your tunnels a lot easier, and there's even a map editor where you can create, trade, and load your own levels. I Dig It HD is a must have for any fan of the original iPhone games.

Samurai: Way of the Warrior HD, $4.99 - What attracted me to Samurai: Way of the Warrior [$4.99 / Free] for the iPhone was its fantastic art style and graphics combined with excessive amounts of blood. This all looks even better on the iPad, and the various swiping gestures you need to do in order to attack seem to be much easier to perform on a larger device.

CRYSTAL DEFENDERS for iPad, $7.99 - This odd tower defense game by Square Enix has you utilizing familiar Final Fantasy units to attack waves upon waves of enemies. I've actually really enjoyed most tower defense games for the iPad, as you can place towers (or in this case, units) much easier and more precisely on the larger screen. Crystal Defenders got a complete graphical overhaul, and as expected, looks even better on the iPad.

Karnival for iPad, $5.99 - The original version of Karnival [$3.99 / Free] left me pleasantly surprised as the gameplay from the Tycoon series of games worked very well with the strange setting of a creepy carnival. The interface of the iPhone version felt a little cramped at times, which has been completely alleviated on the iPad.

Hug Sandwich has recently released Nano Tank [App Store], a simple, yet enjoyable top-down tank shooter for the iPad that's something of a mix between oldschool classics Armor Attack and Star Castle. With amazingly smooth animation and a glowy-vector aesthetic reminiscent of the color-overlay arcade games of old, Nano Tank brings out a kind of future-retro vibe that's easy to get drawn into.

The goal of the game is to pilot your tank through level after level of scrolling mazes, seeking out enemy glider bases with the aid of your onscreen radar. These bases are very much like the enemy base with its rotating walls from Star Castle. In order to destroy them, you'll need to knock out moving wall sections from the slowly regenerating, concentric defense rings in order to get a clear shot at the core. Of course, being glider bases, a steady flow of  enemy gliders is constantly emerging for you to contend with, all the while.

There are three levels of difficulty to choose from: Easy, Hard, and Ouch. Higher difficulty levels bring larger and more complex mazes, faster and more aggressive gliders, and more rings to the enemy bases.

The game is controlled via dual, onscreen analog sticks which center their axis on whatever point you touch on the left and right sides of the screen. The controls work quite well for this sort of game and, together with the aforementioned high framerate, deliver an uncannily fluid arcade feel. Both portrait and landscape orientation are supported.

Nano Tank is currently $0.99, 50% off in celebration of the game's recent v1.1 update that brought a number of notable improvements to the original release. Another improvement I hope the developer delivers in a future update is online leaderboard support -- an iOS game like this really needs it. Even so, this one is simple iPad fun with definite retro appeal.

Few games inspire more heartfelt nostalgia than the classic LucasArts adventure games of the late 80's and early 90's. While we've still got our fingers and toes crossed that we'll eventually see similar "special edition" treatments to Maniac Mansion and/or Day of the Tentacle, we couldn't be happier that the Monkey Island series is being re-released with the level of intimate care that we've seen so far both with the previously released The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition [$7.99 / Free], and Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge [iPhone: $7.99 / Free - iPad: $9.99 / Free] which just hit the App Store mere moments ago.

Monkey Island 2 takes place after the events of the first Monkey Island where wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood is introduced and meets the cast of characters included in the game as he seeks out the pirate leaders and attempts to prove himself through three challenges. A ghost pirate named LeChuck is thrown in to the mix, along with the beautiful Elaine Marley. Without spoiling too much, the game concludes with romance, root beer, and fireworks. Even though playing the original is by no means required to enjoy the sequel, Monkey Island is filled with great writing, silly characters, funny situations, and often extremely odd solutions to the problems that Guybrush must overcome which is really worth checking out-- Especially considering the fantastic job LucasArts did on the iPhone port of the special edition release.

Monkey Island 2 opens with our familiar protagonist Guybrush Threepwood setting the scene for his next adventure. Now that LeChuck is no more, he decides to search for the treasure of "Big Whoop", and in typical Guybrush fashion, he has no idea where it is, has no way to get there, and doesn't really know if it even exists at all. Regardless, this hasn't stopped him in the past, and it certainly won't stop him now. Of course no LucasArts adventure game could ever be as straight forward as finding out where some treasure is, figuring out a way to get there, then digging it up, and it doesn't take long before you're toe to toe with Largo LaGrande, LeChuck's old henchman. One thing leads to another, and LeChuck returns, turning your simple treasure hunt in to yet another epic battle with the ghost (now zombie) pirate.

With a development team that was nearly identical to that of the original Secret of Monkey Island, the sequel shares all of the same fantastic writing and cartoonish charm. Monkey Island 2 is hilarious at times, and incredibly cheesy at others, but manages to maintain a highly entertaining witty atmosphere the whole way through. The port of the original to the iPhone was a load of fun, with the only real complaint being the control system which treated the touchscreen like a trackpad which you used to move the in-game cursor around. Thankfully, this has been replaced by a new default control scheme in the sequel which works like many other iPhone adventures games where you just touch areas in the game world that you want to move to, or objects you want to interact with.

Interactive objects highlighted on right.

The special edition of Monkey Island 2 also has several other refinements over the first, my personal favorite being the highlighting system that shows you objects and areas that you can interact with. Tapping the screen with two fingers makes everything interactive glow, easily allowing you to see things you've missed, or other things to try. This is an incredibly welcome change from the standard tap/click on absolutely everything once you get stuck in an area. This two finger tap also illuminates doors you can walk through, making it very easy to see where you're able to go so you don't miss anything on your journey.

If you do get stuck, Monkey Island 2 features the same great hint system found in the original where you can get hints which initially start out extremely vague to push you in the right direction which eventually ramp up to flat out telling you where to go and what to do. Having played quite a few classic adventure game ports on the iPhone, this really is the best approach as you never need to leave the game to check a walkthrough online, and it's usually much more fun to just get a small hint to send you in the right direction instead of just reading exactly what to do. (Of course, that's there if you need it.)

iPad top, iPhone bottom - Comparing both graphical styles.

Monkey Island 2 also has the incredibly superfluous yet amazingly cool classic graphics included which blew out mind when we first saw the previous special edition. By default you can play the game with its redone graphics, stellar voiceovers, and the toolbar of actions that Guybrush is capable of. Swiping two fingers across the screen causes the game to fade out in to its original pixelated glory with the top half of the screen displaying the original game with the set of actions below.

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge launched with separate iPad and iPhone versions of the game, and while I would have loved there to be one universal version for both devices, the iPad game is definitely the one to have. Not only does it have the same adventure from its iPhone counterpart, but currently for an additional two bucks (assuming you own an iPad) you get high resolution graphics and audio commentary. On quite a few areas of the game, you're able to tap a microphone icon in the top right corner and listen to the creators talk about wherever you are in game. It's not exactly a killer feature that's worth getting upset over if you only have an iPhone or iPod touch, but it is a nice addition.

The one thing that is a bit of a disappointment is that LucasArts flaunts these fantastic looking high resolution art assets in the iPad version, but played on my iPhone 4, the iPhone version is disappointingly low resolution in comparison. It still looks good, but I would have loved to have seen some Retina Display support in Monkey Island 2, I'm hopeful for future updates that might beef up the graphics, but it seems doubtful that audio commentary will ever make its way to the iPhone.

I could go on and on about how great the Monkey Island series is, how wonderful any game build on the SCUMM engine is, and the genius of the original creators Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman, but really this is just a game you need to play. LucasArts is covering all its bases with this launch, with free lites corresponding to both the full iPhone or iPad versions. If you've never played an adventure game before, I can't think of a better place to start. The Monkey Island series is great, and the few minor refinements added to the sequel makes this one of the most accessible point and click (point and tap?) games on the App Store. Download the lite version and give it a try, if the game hooks you in, chances are you will enjoy the entirety of both Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2.

On the other hand, if you're ever played a Monkey Island game before, I doubt you even made it this far in this review before just clicking the first iTunes link you could find and downloading the game for whatever device you own.

Australian developer Halfbrick Studios has recently announced that their appetite inducing fruit slicing game Fruit Ninja [99¢] has sold 1 million copies in the App Store. What's even more impressive is that it took just 74 days to reach this landmark, as the game was released on April 21st of this year. If you aren't yet familiar with Fruit Ninja, various fruits will pop up on screen and it's your job to slice them in half with your finger while avoiding game-ending bombs and earning bonuses like cutting up multiple fruit with one slice. Essentially, they've taken a fresh concept and executed it brilliantly, creating a fun experience that's well suited to iPhone gaming. It's not surprising that they've sold 1 million copies as it's a fantastic game that we enjoyed in our review.

Another factor that's helped Fruit Ninja keep a steady position near the top of the paid app charts is the number of content updates it's received. Since it's release, Fruit Ninja has received 5 updates adding new modes, unlockable swords and backgrounds, and of course new fruit to decimate. Halfbrick has given us a tidbit of info on a new update that is pending Apple approval that adds a new red, white, and blue 4th of July blade into the mix. It's too bad it didn't quite make it out in time for the actual holiday, but should be fun for fans of the game to celebrate their independence post-holiday, and will likely be available any time now.

Also on the horizon is the iPad version of the game, Fruit Ninja HD, which has been submitted and should be available soon. The iPad version will take advantage of high resolution textures as well as adding some new features. It's a beautiful game on the iPhone already, and the hi res graphics make it even more so. Plus it will run at a rock solid 60fps. But by far the biggest new addition is a same-device multiplayer mode. Each player will control the game on one side of the screen and compete in either Classic or Zen mode. The prospect of this is very enticing, and we can't wait to get our hands on the iPad version for some head to head action. Both versions of the game will be receiving support via updates, including a completely new mode that has been hinted at in the game's forum thread.

Fruit Ninja is a great example of the type of game you want to see on the App Store. It's easy to pick up and play, has stellar production values, and most importantly is a ton of fun. Chances are you've seen the game floating in the Top 10 Paid Apps in iTunes, and if you haven't yet given the game a shot we highly recommend you do.

One of our favorite games of April went free today, Babylonian Twins [Free], while its HD iPad counterpart, Babylonian Twins HD [$1.99] saw a price drop to $1.99. Regardless of which version you get, both are a lot of fun and the game has an amazingly interesting history involving extraordinary conditions during its development in Iraq with economic sanctions preventing its initial release.

As the title would hint, in Babylonian Twins you play as a set of Babylonian twins, with each twin having their own abilities which must be cleverly combined to complete levels. Gameplay is very similar to that of the classic Blizzard game The Lost Vikings, with only one twin able to be controlled at once. We loved how this gameplay mechanic was combined with challenging, well designed levels in our review:

These simple gameplay features form the premise for some of the most interesting and expansive level designs that we have seen to date on the platform. In many ways, Babylonian Twins does away with contemporary trends in gaming, and re-instates the old-school values of a challenging, explorative platformer that refuses to hold you by the hand. There are no directional arrows or maps to point you towards the golden palm trees you must collect each level. In fact, even crucial objects such as the aforementioned broken walls and floors are easily missed unless you're paying attention. And each level is enormous– an adventure in and of itself– many of our completion times clocking in at around 30 minutes each.

The iPad version of the game plays the same, with higher quality graphics as is the case with most "HD" releases. Give the iPhone version a try, and if you like it and own an iPad, Babylonian Twins HD is well worth the two bucks. Regardless of whether or not you pick up the iPad version while it's on sale, Babylonian Twins for the iPhone is a game everyone should download to try out while it's free.

The much anticipated first persona shooter Archetype has finally launched in the U.S. We first spotted the game having beta launched in the Czech App Store a few weeks ago as it prepared for its international launch. Archetype is an online 5-on-5 team deathmatch game that works over Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE.

Anyone who has ever complained about the "freemium" model of Eliminate now has a chance to put-up or shut-up. The developer says in their game description "No gimmicks, no tricks: iPWNAGE IS JUST $2.99."

We've given the game a quick spin for a couple of games over Wi-Fi. The game runs very well on the two devices we were able to test initially: the iPhone 4 and a 2nd Generation iPod Touch. Controls are very smooth and as you have come to expect from an iPhone FPS: left to move, right to aim/shoot. The game comes with 5 different maps with 6 weapons (Battle and Precision Rifles, rapid-fire AutoMag, shotgun, missile launcher, and brutal melee axe) as well as 2 different types of grenades.

Controller options include invert aim axes, auto-fire on/off, aim sensitivity, vibration on/off, display joysticks on/off, and display radar on/off. The game natively supports the iPhone 4's retina display.

The game comes with 3 different modes: Team Deathmatch, Challenge, and Training. The bulk of the game seems to be focused around the online Team Deathmatch. The developers have 5 different regions covered with servers: U.S. East, U.S. West, Europe, Asia, and S. America. You can easily toggle between them though presumably it originally places you with the group you are closest too.

Since it has just launched within the hour, the number of players available hasn't picked up yet. I've been involved in a few matches with 2 on 2, so I haven't seen the full 5 on 5 action quite yet. Early impressions have been very positive, but we'll post a full review after we are able to spend some time with it. The whole package seems very professionally put together. As with any online multiplayer game, however, the trick is going to be able to build up a sustainable player pool and to see how the servers can hold up.

More impressions are trickling into our forums.

It seems like there's been an influx of new 2D beat 'em ups on the App Store in these past few months, and get ready to add another to that list. Wolf Boy [99¢] is a single plane side-scrolling brawler similar to games like Zombieville USA [$1.99 / Free] and Twin Blades [$2.99]. The actual gameplay is rather simplistic, but it features a really appealing art style and best of all it allows you to change from a cute (albeit angry) little boy into a ferocious werewolf to dispatch the many enemies in the game. The arcade style button mashing may not appeal to everyone, but for those that don't mind the simplicity, Wolf Boy offers a visually appealing and challenging game.

Like many games before it, Wolf Boy begins with your special lady friend being taken from you by an evil enemy. This ignites your rage, and starts you off on a journey to reclaim her. Left/right arrows in the corner control your movement with a button for attacking and separate button for jumping or double jumping in the opposite corner. Double tapping either arrow will perform a dash in that direction, and if you couple that with an attack you'll pull off a powerful dash attack maneuver. The combat is melee focused, and an assortment of weapons and powerups (like huge swords or hammers and temporary invincibility) can be found throughout the levels. It's nothing groundbreaking, but the virtual controls work well and there's a decent amount of variety in your offense.

What is really cool about Wolf Boy is that as you defeat enemies a gauge shaped like the moon will slowly fill in the upper corner. Once full and flashing, touching that moon turns the boy into a more powerful werewolf and let's you wreak havoc as such on enemies for a period of time. As the werewolf you won't take damage and are much larger, allowing you to take out airborne enemies without jumping. The werewolf mechanic throws a nice wrinkle into the gameplay, as you might strategically wait to use it until there's a slew of enemies onscreen or your life is almost depleted. Plus, it's just really satisfying to turn into a huge werewolf and wreck shop on some bad guys.

Coins are collected during the level and after defeating enemies. After each stage you can spend these coins on upgrades, and both the boy and his werewolf incarnation can be upgraded independently. The boy can be upgraded in health, speed, and attack power. How quickly the moon gauge fills up and how long you stay transformed can be upgraded for the werewolf, as well as attack power. Like the gameplay, it's a fairly shallow system but it works well and is balanced out nicely with your progression in the game.

While not reinventing the genre, Wolf Boy is an entertaining game with plenty of action, although it can tend to feel a bit repetitive. This fact is even more pronounced due to the great length of the game. In the game's forum discussion, member sammysin has made it all the way to level 38, which is no small feat and earns him the title of “most hardened Wolf Boy player” but still does not indicate when the game will end. At any rate, you can at least be assured you're getting plenty of bang for your buck. For my money, Wolf Boy is worth the price based on visuals alone, and the icing is that it's also a relatively fun game, adding yet another solid option to the crowded 2D brawler genre.

TouchArcade Rating:

Here's one for all the platformer fans out there. Alessandro Andriani has recently released Omino [App Store], a cute little retro-inspired platformer with a look reminiscent of Super Mario Brothers on the NES. It features bright colors, simplistic "8-bit" graphics, and a rather primitive chiptune soundtrack that all come together to pretty much achieve the developer's stated goal of taking you back to the '80s.

In fairly standard platformer fashion, the goal in Omino is to safely get from start to finish across various levels filled with platforms, obstacles, power-ups, and baddies -- some of which can be stomped, while others (the spikey ones) can't. Along the way you find coins to collect and power-blocks that, when hit with your head, may reveal red or blue hat power-ups that, when worn, allow you to shoot at your enemies (red) or walk on water, and faster than normal (blue).

The game makes use of left / right touch arrows and on-screen fire buttons for jumping and shooting. In my first few minutes with Omino, I found the game hard to control due to the speed of the on-screen character, which made things feel a bit over-sensitive. After about 20 minutes playing, however, I got used to the controls and they became a complete non-issue.

Omino is a free download that comes with the first two levels, with the rest of the game zones available in a single in-app download at a price of 99 cents. Anyone who enjoys old-school platformer action should give this one a try.

The iOS platform, with it's basically nonexistent barrier-of-entry, really is a haven for indie developers; it's just great to see so many fresh, new types of gameplay emerging for -- and thanks to -- the iPhone and family. One such game is the upcoming puzzle title Helsing's Fire from Ratloop, to be published by Chillingo.

Helsing's Fire sends you on a quest to destroy Dracula, placing you in 90 randomly generated, dungeon-like levels across three different worlds (The Abandoned Village, The Haunted Forest, The Cursed Castle), peopled by the 13 different monster types that comprise Dracula's horde. The challenge is to eliminate said beasties by moving your torch about the screen, which casts brilliant beams of light and dark shadows about the play area. Light up as many ghouls as you can and strike with a powerful tonic, banishing them to oblivion. But, be careful -- not all that dwell in The Shadow Blight are creatures of darkness, and those that aren't must be spared. It's a highly innovative puzzle mechanic that is best illustrated in video.

The game features both a Story Mode and a Survival Mode, only the former being available at first, with the Survival Mode opening up after a bit of Story Mode play. The three Survival arenas are based on the three game worlds. Other features include touch controls, a dynamic light and shadow system, stylized hand-drawn sprites and character portraits, and online leaderboards and achievements thanks to integration with Crystal. And, according to the developers, the great emotive audio tracks in the preview video are part of the actual game soundtrack.

Helsing's Fire has likely been submitted to the App Store by now and should be available any time. Readers anxious for the game's arrival are discussing it quite favorably in our forums.

Ratloop's previous offerings include Mightier (PC/Win) and Rocketbirds (Flash), both of which were Independent Games Festival finalists. The developer has posted some before / after pics showing progress in the development of Helsing's Fire to our forums.

A little over a year ago Paul Pridham of Madgarden, who teamed up with Jeff McCord to bring us the iPhone / iPad roguelike Sword of Fargoal [App Store], released an iPhone version of his own take on Dan Gorlin's 1982 Brøderbund classic Choplifter. The developer's v1.3 free update to the game has just gone live in the App Store [link], turning the title into a Universal application that takes full advantage of the iPad's large display, among other enhancements.

In Saucelifter, gameplay involves flying your tilt-controlled saucer to various Earth prison barracks, blasting open the doors, picking up your captive crewmates, and dropping them off at the transporter where they're beamed safely back to your alien world.  This is made challenging by evil Earth forces, including tanks, laser turrets, fighter jets, and flying attack drones.

There are a lot of nice touches to the title. The stylized, vector-based 2D graphics lend the game impressive visuals, with a day-into-night changing skyline that adds nice variation to the scene. A letter-box effect alters the aspect of the play area to provide early warning of incoming enemies. It's very well done.

The full list of the enhancements that v1.3 brings, as listed by the developer:

• New saucer!
• New reptoid super weapon!
• Saucelifter is now a universal application
• iOS4 multitasking support
• Support for both landscape orientations
• Fixed sound that was too quiet
• Gameplay tweaks

It's a nice list of enhancements, but the developer has already submitted the v1.3.1 free update to the App Store that brings iPhone 4 Retina Display support as well as control refinements. I'm presently playing v1.3.1 on my iPhone 4 and it looks beautiful.

See our video of the initial release version of the iPhone original.

Choplifter was the first game I fell in love with on my first Apple computer, an Apple //c, back in 1984. Saucelifter is a superb enhancement on the formula and pays faithful homage to the Dan Gorlin masterpiece. Since its release, I've counted Saucelifter among my five absolute favorite iPhone games and, after enjoying the Universal build of the game for several weeks now on my iPad, I don't expect that to change anytime soon. Whether or not you've ever played Choplifter, Saucelifter is one not to be missed.

There's something special on the way to both the iPhone and the iPad for lovers of rhythm games, lovers of 8-bit retro-styled games, and, most especially, lovers of both styles all mashed up together. Gaijin Games has teamed up with Namco Bandai to bring an adaptation of their Wiiware title Bit.Trip Beat to the App Store.

One of a series of four Bit.Trip titles by Gaijin (published through the Wii Shop by Aksys Games), Bit.Trip Beat is something like a cross between Pong and Rez as an accelerometer-equipped Atari 2600 might play them. The game puts you in tilt or touch control of an on-screen paddle with the goal of bouncing waves of oncoming blocks whence they came. The impact timings of the aforementioned blocks are synched with the excellent chiptune audio track while abstract / futuristic animations float in the backdrop, both of which give the game its sort of Rez dynamic. And, it's all done up in brilliant colors and oh-so-lovely jaggy, chunky pixels.

The further you progress through the game, successfully returning oncoming blocks, the more complex and evolved the visual presentation becomes. Miss too many blocks, and the visuals slowly regress to a simple, black and white state, in another apparent nod to Rez.

The iOS versions of Bit.Trip Beat will be enhanced beyond the Wiiware original. The only real criticisms that can be found in the many positive reviews of the original are the small number of levels -- three, each with an end boss -- and the lack of an online leaderboard; both of these points are being addressed in the new versions. Aside from leaderboards, additional levels are expected to arrive as in-game downloadable content, free of charge. What's more, the original's four-person cooperative multiplayer support is expected to be brought over to the iOS versions, though we don't have details on just how that will work.

See video of the Wiiware original.

As a big fan of the Gaijin's Wiiware titles, I can't wait to get my hands on the iPhone and iPad versions of Bit.Trip Beat and hope that the studio sees success enough with the release to bring the other members of the Bit.Trip lineup over to the App Store. No price or exact release date has been indicated.

[ via Destructoid, GameZebo ]

Every now and then the App Store divulges something that actually surprises me; a previously unheard of game design that sinks its claws into me before I even know it. From its outward appearance, Doodle God [App Store] seems less of a game and more of a periodic table gone wrong, an experiment only of interest to scientists of questionable sanity. It's not until you experience it for yourself that you realise the true genius behind Doodle God's alluring gameplay.

The premise starts off simple: combine the four basic elements of earth, fire, water and air to create 140 objects (referred to within as elements, but not strictly so) in the world around us. Your job is to find the specific combination of two individual elements, or by-products of elements, or by-products of by-products, et cetera; to do so.

And elements don't always bond as you believe they should; the developers employ a far more abstract thought process than a logical one in creating the Doodle God universe. So while combining earth and fire to create lava might be logical, the combination of fire and water into alcohol requires a greater stretch (and that is a tame example). Dare I say it, but God knows what needs to be added together to create a Wizard, of all things.

The end result is that what seems like a relaxing, thought provoking experience, is instead a manic adventure of 'out of the box' thinking, with many results and accidental discoveries evoking laughter just as often as they do sighs of relief as a piece of the puzzle is secured. Because while Doodle God doesn't impose any time constraints on your discovery process, it will test the limits of your imagination and patience.

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