In a somewhat surprising move, Gameloft released its space combat game Star Battalion [$6.99] to the App Store earlier today. While Sunday releases aren't generally common, another interesting thing about Star Battalion is that it is the first game that I know of to offer online co-op using either Apple's Game Center or Gameloft's own Gameloft Live! service. Strangely, the local and online multiplayer options only extend to co-op play, as there is no option for head-to-head battles in Star Battalion.

The single player campaign features multiple missions of interstellar conflict, all of which can be played online with another player. When playing by yourself, two AI controlled wingmen play through the game with you. The usual gamut of Gameloft features have made their way into Star Battalion, including Retina Display graphics and gyroscope-enabled controls for 4th generation devices. Onscreen gestures perform barrel rolls and backflips while in the midst of battle, and there is an option for virtual control stick controls if you're not a big fan of tilting.

This lengthy preview video of the Japanese version of the game from AppBank gives you a great idea of the kind of gameplay found in Star Battalion:

Lots of player impressions have been pouring into our forums throughout the day. So far the major points covered are that the actual combat in the game is really fun and feels a little bit like Starfox (though not on-rails); the online co-op is cool but the lack of a versus mode is disappointing; the voice acting is painfully bad; and the overall game is fairly short clocking in at about 3.5 hours in one gamer's experience. However, the replayability is naturally a bit higher than this due to the online multiplayer, achievements, and leaderboards. If you're in the mood for a new space combat game with impressive graphics, and an interesting online cooperative component, then take a look at Star Battalion and be sure to share your thoughts in our forums.

Czech development studio Cinemax has recently released a rather unique sort of role-playing game for the iPad. Designed to feel like an oldschool video game machine, Journey of Fortune: Dragon's Fire [App Store] seeks to turn your iPad into a digital board game. And here, it succeeds.

The game, which can be played solo or against up to three other people on the same device, puts you in the role of a mage (or magic user) on a perilous journey to kill the dragon and save the princess. Your journey is marked by an illuminated indicator somewhere among the 67 "lights" that make up the meandering path to victory. The lights are set in an illustrated, vertically scrolling "board" that artfully indicates what perils and actions / bonuses lie where, along the way.

Journey of Fortune is a dice-driven game, but the roll-of-the-die mechanic is handled via an illustrated wheel that spins with a finger-swipe. You progress forward along the board the number of paces indicated by the die face on the indicated wheel segment. You may end up landing on an uneventful spot along the path, but more likely you'll encounter a beastie to contend with, a bonus of some sort, or a teleporter that sends you many paces back whence you came (which, though frustrating, mixes up and extends the gameplay nicely).

When an enemy is encountered along the way, it's time for combat, and that's also handled via the spin-wheel dynamic. In combat mode, artifacts of both offense and defense become illuminated along the wheel, and a spin determines what your next combat move will be. These consist of:

• Melee Attack: Magical Dagger and Sword
• Attack Spells: Fireball, Lightning, Wall of Fire and Poison Strike
• Defense Spells: Heal, Heal II, Shield, Shield II, Mana, Mana II and Fear

In standard RPG fashion, your character has a certain level of Hit Points and Mana at any moment. Sustaining a monster attack drains Hit Points, and casting spells saps your Mana. Both can be recovered by Defense Spells on the wheel and by landing on certain bonus spots on the board. The combat wheel also allows you to indicate how much Mana the next attack should use, the more the mightier your attack, of course.

While I enjoy spending a bit of time with a nice RPG, they're really not my forte. I just don't have the time to put into them. And I've never really spent any time with RPG-style board games. But Journey of Fortune is strangely appealing to me. The single-player game (how I've spent my time here) hits the ground running and moves things along at a pace that seems well suited to play on a mobile device, where you're not really looking for a game consisting of hours upon hours. And, for a title that strives to deliver a digital board game experience, what device is more ideal than the iPad? It's a game that feels quite "right" for the platform, but this first release is not without a few issues.

The game takes a little while to get the hang of, on first approach. The title screen provides a brief list of play rules, but it doesn't send you into the game feeling very well educated. Gameplay is a fairly straightforward affair, however, and a sufficient comfort level shouldn't elude most gamers for very long. The developers, who are active in our forums, indicate that they'd like to improve the help / hint system in a future update, but prefer not to employ any sort of window overlay, which would shatter the board game feel of the title. Another criticism I might raise is the lack of a save feature; when you jump to another app, the game is gone for good. However, the developer indicates this will be remedied in the game's next update. Global leaderboards and a choice of difficulty level for the single-player mode are also on the way.

That said, Journey of Fortune: Dragon's Fire has quite impressed me. I've found it to be surprisingly engrossing to play and a title I would reach for to demonstrate the iPad to a friend unfamiliar. It's an experience I can recommend to any iPad gamer, even if RPG's aren't their thing.

If all this sounds appealing, today would be the day to jump, as Journey of Fortune: Dragon's Fire is on sale (today only) for $.99 -- 75% off the standard $3.99 asking price. A brief video of the gameplay can be seen here.

Crescent Moon Games made a huge splash with their entrance on to the App Store with Ravensword: The Fallen King [$2.99 / Free]. Since the success of Ravensword, Crescent Moon Games has been extremely busy, both on developing their own games and positioning themselves as a publisher for other indie developers as well. These projects include the recently released Rimelands: Hammer of Thor [$4.99], UltraKid: Mystery of the Mutants, and others. Much like the recent dramatic before and after trailers of Aralon: Sword and Shadow, Crescent Moon's involvement in Mobile Game Garage's Gears seems to be a similar extreme graphical makeover.

Check out the before and after:

Gears is going to be a ball roller based heavily on Steampunk influences filled with puzzles that involve turning gears, growing vines, and other fantasy-based elements. The game is going to launch with full Retina Display support sometime before Christmas along with the other games Crescent Moon Games has in production. There have been a ton of ball rollers released on the App Store, mostly because the games work so well with the tilt controls of the iPhone, but I'm always excited to see familiar game types taken to new levels.

Martin Kool describes himself as "'just some guy' with a family at home with 3 kids to take care of (and one coming up) and a day job" who also happens to have an insatiable love for old school Sierra adventure games. That day job he mentions involves doing "kick ass things with the web," as he put it, so it's not much of a surprise that when looking for tools to bring these old games to modern platforms he settled on completely cross-platform HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Currently, nine of these classic adventure games including the Kings Quest series, a Leisure Suit Larry game, and others are playable on his web site Sarien.net.

This all would be cool enough by itself, but Martin is hard at work on the final touches of adapting his web game engine that all these games run in to be (as he put it) "a real kick-ass iPad experience". When finished, these games will have their own special URL's users will be able to navigate to, then save as icons via the add to home screen functionality that already exists on the device without any jailbreaking, emulation, or anything else. These games will be entirely touch friendly, and require no typing. Check out the video he put together:

When Kool approached us about this, I definitely thought this was something that needed to be on TouchArcade, but had to ask the inevitable question of whether or not he was ready for the attention he will get. (Specifically, from Activision's legal department.) To him, this is a labor of love. He's running these games at his own cost, without ads. So far he's had over 2 million players stop by his site. He said he'd stop immediately if Activision sends him a cease and desist-- but more than anything he just hopes that Activision either grants him a noncommercial license or somehow involves him in republishing these games in HD like he has.

Sarien.net is an outstanding tribute to these old school adventure games, and if all goes as planned, the site will have iPad friendly versions of the included titles within a month. It's no secret we love retro gaming around here, and we'll post more information on this project as soon as we get it.

The guys over at Retro Dreamer released a new gameplay video of their upcoming puzzler Linkoidz today, and much like their other game Sneezies [99¢ / Lite / HD], it looks like it's going to provide some awesome classic puzzle gameplay. Somewhat similar to Magical Drop Touch [$2.99], the name of the game in Linkoidz is to suck up the differently colored Linkoidz with your gravity gun then shoot them back at similarly colored groupings to fire off massive chain reactions of Linkoidz destruction. The only thing protecting you from certain doom is your energy shield which can withstand stacks of Linkoidz, but begins to get weakened as too many pile up. However, clearing Linkoidz powers up your shield potentially resulting in being able to withstand massive stacks as long as you can keep the matching gravy train rolling.

According to the Retro Dreamer Blog, Linkoidz is in review and currently they're aiming at a release date of October 26th. We liked Sneezies (and the other Retro Dreamer games) quite a bit, and I expect Linkoidz is going to be just as good. Look forward to a closer look at the game as its release date approaches.

One of the lowpoints of the Fifa World Cup this year was all the blatant minimal-contact theatrical performances players attempted-- usually with one eye on the referee too, to gauge his reaction. Distinctive Developments has taken it upon themselves to reinject some testosterone into the world game, through its newest iOS creation, Bonecruncher Soccer [99¢], an obvious take on Backbreaker Football: Tackle Alley for the round ball game.

Much like Backbreaker, in Bonecruncher Soccer, your ultimate goal is to run the field of opponents with the ball at your feet; evading them with your athletic ability and speed. What Bonecruncher brings to the table (besides only a mildly creative title) is what happens when you do reach the goals at the other end. Borrowing from the basics of other casual soccer titles, your player lines up his kick and waits for a flick of your finger to direct his shot.

The running mechanic in Bonecruncher is very heavily borrowed from Backbreaker and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. They've clearly learned what makes these types of games fun; with a series of challenges divided into different difficulty classes offering solid gameplay progression. Each level you face off against a growing number of violent defenders with you squarely in their sights and not a moment's consideration of where the ball is. There's certainly no call for diving here, as defenders are more than willing to provide all the incentive you need to end with your face eating dirt and minus a working limb or two.

You get around these juggernauts with both your dribbling ability and speed. A side-step maneuver and the more elaborate Roulette spin is performed in either direction by swiping vertically or horizontally on the edges of your screen. Holding down anywhere else on your screen causes your player to run, and tilting your device affects the direction of your sprint. The dribbling is straightforward and fun, though we wish it showcased more of the impressive skills of the Peles and Ronaldhinos of the game than just these two.

Though that would likely result in less of the spectacular tackles that lends the game its name. You wouldn't think that soccer could compare with some of the more bone-jarring spear-tackles of Backbreaker but Bonecruncher pulls it off. Slide tackles fly in from behind or beside you and care not whether they hit man or ball first (or whether studs are flashing). So long as they knock you on your rear, defenders will hit you full force with very audible, dare we say it, bone crunching force. The fact that it's replayed to you (though without the replay controls of backbreaker) makes it all the more gruesome.

To extend and vary the gameplay further, Bonecruncher implements several gameplay features in the latter levels that are again reminescent of Backbreaker. Gates to aim for and barriers to avoid all offer their own challenges once the basic evasion moves are mastered. In fact, the game becomes so saturated with players and obstacles in the later two Pro and World Class levels, that the 5 lives you're given to complete each level will soon seem less than fair. Make no mistake, Bonecruncher is no pushoever, and it'll take quite a while (and many a knee-reconstrction) to work through all 40 levels and Game Center achievements. Furthermore, once that's done there's a timed shootout mode available which lets you play just the goal-scoring element.

Bonecruncher Soccer is a lot of fun that should prove a winner for fans of the only remaining football game that keeps the ball at your feet. It looks and sounds terrific and thankfully supports the Retina display right out of the box. Though it borrows unashamedly from Backbreaker, it has added its own touches with the addition of the shooting mechanic and a host of customizable players and kits. We still think the gameplay could have done with more flip-flaps, step-overs and drag-backs, but maybe it's something to look forward to in future updates. That said, Bonecruncher is an effortless recommendation to both Flick Football fans and Backbreaker fans who don't mind a bit of soccer on the side, too.

The App Store is home to some seriously weird games. Whether you're playing a bear driving a car around the forest in Enviro-Bear 2010 [99¢] or a cat inside a ball shooting at a giant cup of noodles in Meow Meow Happy Fight [99¢/HD], there are many strange experiences to be found on the iOS platform. The latest one that I've come across is called Font Monsters [$1.99/Lite] from Japanese developer Muu Muu, who have previously released the similarly strange and generically named Block Guy [$2.99/Lite] to the App Store. Font Monsters is a text-based shooter (literally, you shoot text) that has a really wacky style, with interesting character designs and catchy music, and it requires some fast reactions to engage in its challenging gameplay. It's also completely unlike anything else available on the App Store.

In Font Monsters, a series of monsters comprised purely of different keyboard characters come marching towards your first-person perspective. You defeat the monsters by shooting fonts at them one by one using your keyboard until there is nothing left of them, and the text characters you shoot must be the same type that the monsters are made up of. If you shoot a character at them that's not a part of the monster, they will fire back a random character at you that must be quickly typed to shoot it down before it hits you. If the monster gets to where you are then he (or she?) starts beating on you mercilessly, deducting life from a gauge at the top of your keyboard.

It's a totally odd concept, but also satisfying and fun to play. There are 5 levels to play through in Font Monsters, each one more difficult than the last. In each level you must defeat a certain number of monsters in a row to complete it, from 15 in the first level all the way to a whopping 50 in level 5. If you fail to beat a monster and they deplete your life gauge to zero, you must start the entire sequence over again. The monsters also become more difficult with each level. In level 1 they approach you in a fairly straightforward manner, allowing you to inspect them pretty easily to see what font characters you should shoot at them. In later levels they start to flip, stretch, and skew all over the place making it much harder to tell what fonts they are made up of.

You earn a score for defeating each monster which goes towards a cumulative score at the end of each level. Although it's not explained in the game, it appears that the quicker you beat a monster the better score you earn. Unfortunately, the top score for each level is only saved locally, as this would be a perfect game for online score tracking using Game Center.

One of my favorite things about Font Monsters is how cleverly designed all the enemies are using just font characters. There are 60 different monsters in the game, some fairly basic and some quite complex but all of them are interesting. A very cool feature in the game is a catalog that lets you view all of the different monsters that you've faced and even select them individually to do battle against them in one of the 5 difficulty levels. The catalog is definitely a nice touch and gives you incentive to keep playing and “collect 'em all” for future practice or admiration.

One big problem with Font Monsters that is kind of unavoidable is that as you keep playing you start to recognize what font characters make up the different enemies. Once this starts happening, the game can be a bit easy as you face these monsters over again. I was originally pulling my hair out shooting “O”s and “I”s at a particular monster before I finally figured out it was actually the percentage sign (%) I should have been shooting. Remembering this the next time I faced him, he was much easier to defeat. It's still a challenge to figure out the monsters the first time you face them though, and even if you recognize them they can be difficult to kill on the later levels.

Font Monsters is one of those quirky titles that must be experienced to really understand. Luckily there's a lite version so there's no risk in at least checking out the game to see if it appeals to you. I found that I was having way more fun playing the game than I though I would after just watching the video, and players in our forums are liking the game as well. Sure, it could definitely use some kind of online high score mechanism, and possibly even a greater variety in monsters. What would really be cool is if you could create your own monsters using the available keyboard characters and have them be added into the regular rotation in the game. But even as it stands now, Font Monsters is a totally unique experience that offers a good challenge with plenty of content.

TouchArcade Rating:

Last month we previewed some screenshots from the upcoming real-time tactical strategy RPG Battleheart from developer Mika Mobile, of Zombieville USA [$1.99/Lite/HD] and OMG Pirates! [$1.99/Lite] fame. Battleheart is unique in that it uses an interesting line-drawing mechanic to control players during the real-time combat. You'll tap a character from your party to select them and then drag a line out to a location that you want them to move to, or drag to an enemy that you want that particular character to attack. With multiple enemies attacking at once, you can send off a character to attack one of them and while they are battling select another member of your party to take on one of the other enemies.

It sounds like an easy enough mechanic to use, and should provide for some frantic battling during the game. This first gameplay video of Battleheart does a great job at demonstrating the battles in action:

There are some other details about Battleheart that Mika Mobile has divulged in the upcoming games thread in our forums. You'll choose a party of 4 characters from a selection of 8 different classes. Each class will have a selection of abilities that you assign your character based on damage, survivability, control, or a mixture of abilities. In addition, there will be passive traits for your characters in what Mika describes as a simplified "talent" system. Each class will have about a dozen powers of traits of which you'll be able to select roughly half for each character.

Another interesting part about the party system is that while your party will consist of 4 active characters at a time, you will have the ability to keep additional characters in reserve as well as encounter new party characters throughout your journey that can be swapped in and out of your party. Only the active party members will gain experience and level up though, so it's mostly in your benefit to keep the same core group active in your party, but the option to mix things up will be there too. Enemies will include various melee, ranged, and support type enemies to battle, and bosses are something that is currently being worked on as well. The enemies will also encompass a simple priority system in how they attack you, so your most powerful and heavily armored party members will generally be the first ones they focus on.

Battleheart is currently about 99% finished, with all of the major functionality of the game already complete. Now Mika Mobile is just focusing on adding content like additional enemies and spells and polishing any rough edges in the game. They are shooting for a December release, though will only release the game once they feel like it's 100% complete and ready to go. Also of note, the game will feature universal iPad support and graphics made for the Retina Display. We're definitely looking forward to the game, as are many players in our forums, and we'll bring you any new info on Battlehearts as the game pushes towards its tentative December release.

Hidden object games aren't hard to find on the App Store. They range from the classics like Where's Waldo [$2.99 / HD] to games with crazily specific themes like Dream Day Wedding: Married in Manhattan [99¢] to games that straddle genre lines such as Gourmania [99¢ / Lite / HD] that mix in time management or other gameplay mechanics. Time Geeks: Find All! [99¢] offers the same basic gameplay, wrapped around some absolutely fantastic pixel art that is dripping with pop culture references. (In fact, finding these pop culture references while you're playing makes the game even more fun.)

The core of the game is history mode, in which the time geeks in their strange time traveling helicopter visit 8 different locations on a mission for various objects. Playing the game in this mode involves the game showing you what you're looking for, at which point you have a set amount of time to find it in the cluttered game world. How quickly you find it determines how many stars you're awarded, and the location of each object is totally randomized, adding quite a bit of replay value usually not found in these kinds of games. Also, playing through history mode unlocks an array of simple but fun mini games and a few new game modes. You can even create your own island to find things on.

Something that sets Time Geeks apart from other hidden object games is the frantic pace the game sets for itself. In addition to the countdown timer constantly ticking, the screen is often cluttered with clouds, spaceships, and the time traveling helicopter that the geeks themselves are riding in. In order to get a clear view of the ground, you'll need to be constantly panning around and changing zoom levels, forcing you to play the game much differently than most of these types of games where you can take your time and just slowly scan the scenery.

If you've ever enjoyed a Where's Waldo book (or the game), or really any other hidden object game on the App Store, Time Geeks: Find All! is a game you need on your device. (And our forum members agree.) The pixel art is great, the graphics look amazing on the Retina Display, and the randomization of the target items in games means you can play through it again and again.

A couple of months ago we reviewed Big Bucket Software's The Incident [$1.99], a fun, pixel-art packed spin on climbing games. That same review explained the basics of the game:

The game is controlled by tilting your device right or left to move, and tapping on the screen to jump. You're able to move objects around by walking in to them, and sometimes you can flip falling junk around with a well timed jump underneath whatever you're trying to move. Seven levels are included in the game, starting with the street and ending in space. Each level consists of its own height goal, and you just need to stay on top of the falling pile of junk to climb upwards. This sounds simple enough, and the first few levels are fairly easy, but it doesn't take long until things are falling so fast that you will have your fingers crossed that a health powerup spawns or a checkpoint is near.

The main drawbacks of the original were lack of any kind of online scoring to speak of, no endless mode (an odd omission given the nature of the game), and even though it was universal, the tilt controls left a little to be desired on the iPad. All of these things have been fixed in this update. A new endless mode has been implemented, scores sync to Game Center, and they've even implemented a new controller mode to use your iPhone or iPod touch as a controller with the iPad:

There's also some new objects to avoid, the game has been enhanced for the Retina display, and there's even a whole pile of tweaks and fixes. Overall this is a fantastic update to an already great game. If you already own The Incident, download this ASAP. Otherwise, I'd seriously consider checking out our review and giving it a try.

Pac-Attack [$2.99] is a new puzzle game from Namco featuring everybody's favorite ghost-munching yellow circle. You may already be familiar with the game from its original SNES/Genesis release, or from one of the many Pac-Man compilations over the years. This new iOS version is a bit different from the original, featuring graphics that are more akin to the retro Pac-Man rather than the cartoonish look of the 16-bit offering and an online competitive mode through Facebook. Gameplay remains largely the same, however, and if you liked the original game then you should also like Pac-Attack on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Pac-Attack plays similar to Tetris or other block clearing puzzle games. Groups of three blocks consisting of solid pieces, ghosts, or Pac-Men will drop from the top of the playing field. Filling an entire row with solid blocks clears that row, and when you drop a Pac-Man block he'll make his way down into any available spaces in his path eating ghosts along the way. The solid blocks and ghosts both abide by gravity, so if there are openings below them they will fall down to fill the space, adding a bit of strategy to how you lay down blocks. After eating a certain number of ghosts a fairy will appear as a block at the top of the screen and will eliminate any ghosts in the eight rows directly below where you place her.

There are three main modes in Pac-Attack. The first is aptly named Pac-Attack mode, and is essentially an endless high score run which has you earning points by clearing the board as the game progressively speeds up, and if you blocks reach the top of the screen it's game over. Before starting the game you can choose one of four difficulties as well as the starting speed of the falling blocks, which is a nice touch.

Next up is Puzzle mode which features 100 different preset levels in which the goal is to clear all the ghosts on the board. The groups of blocks you receive are predetermined and must be placed in just the right way so that Pac-Man can run down the board and gobble up every ghost. This mode is a lot of fun, but can be incredibly hard as you get farther into the 100 levels. Finally there is Scramble mode, which is essentially a timed version of Pac-Attack mode that lets you compete with your Facebook friends.

Pac-Attack isn't an incredibly remarkable game, but it is well made and can be pretty fun if you enjoy Tetris-like puzzle games. The graphics are sharp and controls work really well, offering four different onscreen button layouts or a direct dragging option. The Puzzle mode is where I spend most of my time, and there are some fiendishly clever game boards contained in that portion of the game. The Scramble mode with Facebook Connect is nice, but I would have much preferred Game Center integration for high score tracking. If you have a soft spot for Namco's famous mascot, or have nostalgic feelings for the original game, then give Pac-Attack a look.

TouchArcade Rating:

Tokyo's Apple Store was recently host to a "Game Nights at the Apple Store" event where EA presented a slideshow with a surprising amount of information regarding upcoming titles for both the iPhone and iPad. We've known some of these have been in the works for a while, but this is the first time for many that we've either seen any kind of screenshot or any solid release information. Japanese iPhone site 4gamer.net was in attendance, and provides the following information.

First off, Reckless Racing, formerly known as Deliverace is a game we were following quite a bit before it got picked up to be published by EA. Since then, we haven't heard much about the game aside from wondering when it was finally going to be released.

According to the site, it's slated for this month. EA almost always releases their games on Thursdays, so we're likely either looking at a release late at night next Wednesday, or the following week. Next up is NBA Elite 11, a 5 on 5 fully licensed basketball game that takes advantage of the Retina Display.

A client for EA's free flash game portal pogo.com is also on its way. The slide mentions the game will be ad supported, with additional content available via a subscription. We'll have to see how this plays out on the device, and if the subscription they're referring to is Club Pogo or something that will be exclusive to the iOS app.

Much like Reckless Racing, I expect the above two games that EA has listed as October releases to pop up late next Wednesday or the following Wednesday. Moving on to November releases comes Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. We've been increasingly impressed with the Need For Speed series on the App Store, and I'm thinking Hot Pursuit will continue the tradition.

Next up is Pictureka!, an iPad game that sounds like a fast paced version of Where's Waldo? [$2.99 / HD]. It comes with pass and play local multiplayer for 2-4 people, and promises an art style that's both truly engaging and wacky. I'm not one to pass up on anything wacky.

Monopoly is finally coming to the iPad, which is allowing me to cross off yet another board game from my list of games I want on the device. The iPad exclusive features sound really rad, such as the auto-rotating tabletop mode... And I can't wait to see what in the world the new "cheating" mode entails. A mini game where you steal money from the bank while the rest of the players are getting drinks or going to the bathroom? We'll have to wait until December to find out.

EA Sports Active has been popular on consoles, and now is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The following slide isn't really clear how involved the app will be, but hopefully it includes some cool GPS or accelerometer integration for tracking your performance instead of being yet another calorie/workout logging app. The features list upcoming post-launch gyro support, so we'll have to see how that all works.

Last, but certainly not least by any means is Dead Space 2. This confusingly named third person shooter is apparently going to bridge the story between Dead Space and its sequel, making this something more along the lines of Dead Space 1.5 than Dead Space 2. (This confusing sequel numbering reminds me of the Angry Video Game Nerd episode on the subject.)

I can see Dead Space being absolutely amazing on the iPad, and if they do it right, an iconic example of just how good and immersive an iPad game can be. It's not entirely clear from the slide if the game is going to be iPad exclusive, or for the iPhone as well since the header mentions the iPhone, but the bulleted list below mentions it being graphically enhanced for the iPad. Either way, Dead Space on the XBOX 360 was incredible, and I have a feeling it's going to be either just as awesome on iOS devices, or just as disappointing as Mass Effect Galaxy [$1.99]-- I'm not sure there's much room in between.

Of course, we will post more as soon as we get any more information on any of these games.

[via 4gamer.net]

iPhone mega-publisher Chillingo has announced earlier today that their casual physics-based puzzler Cut the Rope [99¢] has reached the one million paid downloads mark worldwide. This news comes just ten days after the game's release, and according to Chillingo this makes Cut the Rope the fastest selling iOS game to date.

Although they don't specifically mention details, it's assumed that the one million number is inclusive of both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game. But really, that's just nitpicking. The rate at which Cut the Rope has risen to the top is simply incredible. When we said during our original review that “Cut the Rope is one of those games that you could tell was going to be something special...” I don't think that we imagined it would be the kind of meteoric rise that we've seen in the past ten days.

Chillingo and developer ZeptoLab have noted that they are currently working on new updates for Cut the Rope that will add additional content to the game. Currently Cut the Rope is the #1 overall paid app in the US App Store, as well as most other major markets around the world. It rocketed into that spot within just the first couple days of release, knocking App Store phenomenon Angry Birds [99¢] from its perch at the top. If you have yet to pick up Cut the Rope, we really cannot recommend it enough as it's one of the most engaging puzzle experiences on the App Store and suits the platform perfectly. We'll be keeping an eye out for the promised updates to the game, and are anxious to see just how far Cut the Rope can ride this current wave of success.

Back in May, we reviewed the iPhone version of Skate It [$4.99/Lite] from EA, a port of the existing Wii/DS game that was itself a spinoff of the Xbox 360 and PS3 Skate series. There was a lot to like about Skate It on the iPhone. It had better graphics than its DS counterpart, a robust career to play through, many different areas to skate, a heaping bag full of tricks to perform, and a nice level of customization that included a limited park creator. Despite this impressive list of features, two glaring issues held the title back from greatness. The biggest problem was the difficult tilt-only control scheme that took far too long to get the hang of, if you could at all. In addition to the control problems, Skate It had some performance issues, especially in regards to the touch recognition when drawing tricks onscreen using EA's Flick-It system. Surprisingly, EA released a new update today that looks to address both of these problems, and actually succeeds to a certain degree.

The biggest change in this new update is the inclusion of an option for a virtual control stick for moving your onscreen skater. Before, you tilted left and right to turn on the ground and spin in the air, and tilted forwards to crouch and gain speed or backwards to skid to a stop. Thankfully, all these movements can now be controlled with a virtual analog stick, with no tilting required at all. I forced myself to get used to the original tilt controls just because I love the Skate series so much, and in the end I found that they actually weren't that bad with enough practice. But this new control stick option is just so much more approachable, and means I don't have to be sitting in a certain position to play the game as I had to before.

Another nice control change in this update is the ability to perform different grabs by just tapping and holding certain areas of the screen. Before you had to first get airborne using one of the Flick-It gestures and then quickly perform a second gesture while in midair to do a grab. It was a little too complicated and imprecise, and I never could pull off the correct grab moves that I had intended to. Now you just need to get airborne and tap on a sector of the screen to pull off a grab from a selection of seven of the most basic ones. You still have the ability to perform the more elaborate grabs using the original methods, but these new options give you a quick and easy way to do a surefire grab when you need to.

Finally, this update is said to include various bug fixes and enhanced stability. For the most part I can't really tell much of a difference, as the game runs really well on my iPhone 4 and admirably on my iPod touch 2G. Owners of first generation hardware may see a marked improvement if they were experiencing problems with the game before. The trick recognition of the Flick-It system is still spotty, although not in a detrimental way. The big news in this update is definitely the nifty new controls, and if this was a source of frustration with you when the game was first released, it's definitely recommended that you check out this new update to Skate It as you'll likely find the game much more enjoyable now.

Adult Swim's Robot Unicorn Attack [$2.99 / HD] has been somewhat of a cult classic, both on the iPhone and iPad as well as online with their free flash version of the game. The game follows a similar gameplay model to so many games that involve running to the right for as long as possible, with two distinct differences. First off, you play as a rainbow colored robotic unicorn, and secondly the entire game is set to Erasure's Always. Following the success of the first, today Adult Swim released Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal Edition [99¢], a heavy metal reskin of the original.

Erasure is a thing of the past, in his place is Blind Guardian singing their epic metal ballad Battlefield. In addition, all the fanciful rainbows and the fantasy motif has been replaced with fire, brimstone, and pentagrams. Also, Instead of three dreams, you get three nightmares to score as high as you can before submitting your score online via OpenFeint.

It would have been cool if the Heavy Metal Edition would have been released as DLC for the original Robot Unicorn Attack so I didn't need to keep two seperate games on my phone to enjoy both modes, but at the launch price of 99¢, I can't complain too much. If you love Robot Unicorn Attack (and who doesn't?), you need the Heavy Metal Edition. It will bring the same stupid smile to your face as busting through purple stars while you bop your head to Always. Much like people in our forums, I hope Adult Swim keeps expanding the Robot Unicorn's adventures to other genres.