One of the great things about the App Store is that the games you buy have the potential to evolve over time with updates. Couple that with our forums which are chock full of helpful feedback from our members, and developers with a listening ear can turn a game into something that is much greater than it originally started out as. While the App Store has been around for over two years and this is nothing new, I've never quite seen anything like what has happened with Rogue Runner [99¢/Lite] from developer Glowdot Productions.

Rogue Runner is an “endless running” game like so many others that have recently been popular in the App Store. It was released two full months ago, and to be perfectly honest I just wasn't very impressed with it at the time. It featured some excellent pixel art and a cool 16-bit style, but the content was limited and the gameplay just felt “off” compared to similar running games. Rogue Runner just didn't do anything that different from the competition to make it stand above the rest.

But then something happened. Glowdot listened to all the great feedback that was given in the forum thread, and the first update issued addressed a lot of the gameplay concerns. Rogue Runner was now much more enjoyable to play, and Glowdot vowed to issue content updates at a ridiculous pace. As soon as one update was approved, he would immediately submit the next one that he was working on while the previous one was in review. Two months and five updates later, and Rogue Runner has blossomed into much more than the initial release, and the beautiful thing is that the majority of content is directly inspired by the actual people playing the game.

Rogue Runner plays like your typical running game, with a button for jumping from platform to platform and another button for firing your weapon. Besides the enemy soldiers and vehicles that litter the ground, airborne enemies will fly in from the left side of the screen and attack from the right, and tapping on them will launch a missile in their direction while you continue to focus on blasting away the ground threat. It's not really anything we haven't seen before, but it works well and is a whole lot more playable since the first update.

Initially Rogue Runner contained just two vehicles to choose from and a single desert environment to play in. Now after the slew of updates the total is 6 environments, including a Gameboy-style theme and a 1920's noir-style San Francisco, and 10 vehicles which range from Back to the Future's Delorean to a dinosaur. All of this is merely cosmetic, mind you, but it's very cool nonetheless to be able to choose from all the different options, and it adds a lot of enjoyment to the game. The video above shows a bunch of the different themes available in the game.

What isn't cosmetic is the two additional game modes that have been added into Rogue Runner. The first is a chase mode, similar to the main game but with constant boss enemies that you chase after and battle. The second new mode is basically an entirely new game. It's a top-down mode similar to Spy Hunter in a way, where you travel around different lanes on a highway shooting or ramming enemy cars while avoiding innocent pedestrians. This top-down mode could have easily been a second game from Glowdot, but instead it's been included in the original Rogue Runner for free. You can check out the top-down video below.

Really though, there's too many different things in Rogue Runner to cover them all. The best thing to do is check out the thread in our forums where the first post lists videos of the various themes and the second post details all the updates so far. Then, if there's something you would like to see in the game, make sure and leave a comment about it because chances are pretty good that it could become a reality. A recent lite version has also been released, so you can actually experience what the gameplay is like before buying.

I still don't think that Rogue Runner is the best of the endless running games. The jumping still feels a bit floaty and the controls are not as responsive as they should be. But you do get acclimated to how it plays and with Glowdot's track record I have no doubt that the gameplay will be refined even further. What Rogue Runner really is, though, is a labor of love from both the developer and the community, and for that reason alone it is worth having a look at. I get excited whenever I see the Rogue Runner icon pop up in my list of updates in iTunes, and I can't wait to see what sort of content comes out for it in the future.

TouchArcade Rating:

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and has been all my life. What's there not to love about an entire day revolving around eating massive amounts of turkey, stuffing, and all the other fixings? Sure, I could do without needing to feign interest in football, but thankfully tryptophan overload usually allows me to sleep through all of that. If you're looking for something to do this year while you do your best to either pretend to be interested in football or anxiously wait for the food to be done, there are a ton of sales on the App Store to consider.

The basis of this post comes from SirAwesome's awesome thread in our new price drops, freebies, and deals forum. He put together an extremely exhaustive listing of everything that's on sale, and the thread is good to stop by just to make sure you're not missing anything that might have since gone on sale since the writing of this post. Also, some of these sales start at different times, if something isn't the price that is listed here, check back later (or Friday).

First off, here are some of what we consider must-have games that are on sale. We've positively reviewed all of these, and really recommend picking them up if you're going to grab anything from this price drop extravaganza-

Need for Speed Shift, $0.99 This is an absolutely fantastic arcade style racer that actually manages to capture almost everything that made the console version of the game fun. A must-have at 99¢.

ChuChu Rocket!, $2.99 A classic Dreamcast puzzle game that I paid full console game price for that I don't regret one bit. A recent updated added a ton more content, making this a no-brainer for a buck.

Ravensword: The Fallen King, $2.99 This is the cheapest that this open-world RPG has ever been. It hasn't exactly aged well compared to more recent 3D games (especially looking forward to Aralon) but it's still a ton of fun and probably your best bang for the buck with hours upon hours of gameplay.

Defender Chronicles - Legend of The Desert King, $1.99 A cool twist on tower defense that has been updated a ton with all kinds of new content since its initial release. If you like tower defense and earning experience points, this is the game for you.

Harbor Master, $1.99 Harbor Master has been selling for $1.99 for quite a while now, if you missed the initial 99¢ launch price of this fun little content-packed line drawing game, here's your chance to snag it again.

Jet Car Stunts, $1.99 Half racing game, half puzzle platformer. Pilot your jet car through a series of ridiculous jumps, twists, turns, and other obstacles. Retina Display graphics looks awesome, and the game runs fantastic on every device I've ever played it on.

Chopper 2, $2.99 This awesome sequel is loaded with all kinds of cool options, such as being able to control the game running on your iPad with your iPhone. Chopper had a huge fan following, and Chopper 2 doesn't disappoint.

Game Dev Story, $3.99 If you're looking for a game that will quite literally suck up your entire day (and battery in the process) look no further than Game Dev Story. Create your own game company, and even release your own game console eventually. It's awesome.

MovieCat! - Movie Trivia Game, $1.99 This is by far the best movie trivia game that I've tried... And it's cat themed, what's not to love? If you like movie trivia, download this now.

And here's everything else we consider noteworthy that's on sale-

Namco

99¢
BIT.TRIP BEAT
BIT.TRIP BEAT HD
Dug Dug Remix
Galaga Remix
Garters & Ghouls
Gator Panic
Inspector Gadget
Isaac Newton's Gravity
Lt. Fly Rise of the Arachnids
Mr. Driller
Ms. PAC-MAN
Noby Noby Boy
PAC-Attack
PAC-Chain
PAC-Chain Compact
PAC-MAN
PAC-MAN for iPad
PAC-MAN Championship Edition
PAC-Match Party
PAC-Match Party HD
PAC-MAN Remix
Pole Position: Remix
Pool Pro Online 3
Pool Pro Online 3 for iPad
Star Trigon
Tamagotchi: Round the World
Time Crisis Strike
Tinseltown Dreams: The 50s

$2.99
Ace Combat Xi
i Love Katamari
Ridge Racer Accelerated

$4.99
Time Crisis 2nd Strike

Gamevil

99¢
Zenonia
Hybrid: Eternal Whisper
Soccer Superstars

$2.99
Zenonia 2
Hybrid 2
Baseball Superstars 2010

EA

99¢
Madden 11
Need For Speed Undercover
The Sims 3 Ambitions
Tetris
RISK : The Official Game
Monopoly
Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition
SimCity Deluxe
Need for Speed Shift
The Sims 3 World Adventures
Scrabble
The Game of Life Classic Edition
The Simpsons Arcade
Reckless Racing HD
Yahtzee HD

$4.99
Rock Band
Mirrors Edge for iPad
Scrabble for iPad
Madden NFL 11 for iPad

Gameloft

99¢
Let's Golf!® 2
NFL 2011
Hero of Sparta II
Iron Man 2
Brothers In Arms® 2: Global Front
UNO™
The Settlers HD
Splinter Cell Conviction™ HD
GT Racing: Motor Academy HD
Brothers In Arms® 2: Global Front HD
Iron Man 2 for iPad
Let's Golf! 2 HD
Hero of Sparta 2 HD
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within HD

$4.99
Real Golf 2011

Big Pixel Studios

99¢
Meow Meow Happy Fight
Meow Meow Happy Fight HD
Piyo Blocks
Piyo Blocks 2

Glu

99¢
Deer Hunter 3D
Paperboy: Special Delivery
Build-a-Lot 2: Town of the Year
Build-a-Lot 2: Town of the Year HD
World Series of Poker Hold'em Legends
World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend for iPad

Sega

99¢
Chu Chu Rocket
Phantasy Star II
Golden Axe

$2.99
Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition
ChuChu Rocket HD

$4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 4™ Episode I

Bootant

99¢
Victory Day
Crazy Tanks
Pirate Waters
BeeCells HD

$1.99
Victory Day HD
uBoot HD
Crazy Choppers HD

99 Games

99¢
Wordsworth
Mystic Emporium
Christmas Sudoku
Create a Mall
Wordulous
Create a Mall HD
Mystic Emproium HD
Christmas Sudoku HD

Chillingo

99¢
Billabong Surf Trip
Radio Flare REDUX
Radio Flare REDUX HD
Ravensword: The Fallen King
Parking Mania HD
Defender Chronicles - Legend of the Desert King
Master of Alchemy
Master of Alchemy HD
Fiona’s Flowers

$1.99
Cogs HD

IUGO

99¢
Toy Bot Diaries Compilation
A.D.D. Addictive Dumb Distractions
Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet
Freeballin' 5 Pinball Tables
Spy Bot Chronicles
Star Hogs: Online & Campaign Battles
Toy Bot Mini Missions
Zombie Attack!
Zombie Attack! Second Wave XL
Cliffed XL
Implode! XL

Everyone Else

Free
Chop Chop Runner
Depict
Aqua Moto Racing
Babylonian Twins - Escape
Racer

99¢
Harbor Master
Mr. Bill
Jet Car Stunts
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing
MovieCat!
Fantastic Contraption
Azkend

$1.99
The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition for iPad
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge for iPad

$2.99
Chopper 2
Game Dev Story
Fruit Ninja HD
Fantastic Contraption 2
Ragdoll Blaster 2 HD

$4.99
Crimision Gem Saga
UFC Undisputed 2010

---

Keep in mind, this isn't everything that has seen its price slashed. For a full listing, check AppShopper where there are listings for:

• All popular games on sale.
• All games on sale.
• All popular games that dropped to free.
• All games that dropped to free.

Also, to see iPhone, iPad, or Universal games just click the respective buttons on the top left of the AppShopper listing. Oh, and if you haven't yet, be sure to check out the AppShopper App [Free] itself. It's got push alerts and all kinds of other slick features so if what you want isn't on sale this time around, you will get a push alert as soon as it is.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Last week, we took a hands-on look at Wispin [99¢], the debut game from indie developer Grumpyface Studios. Wispin is an arena survival shooter without the shooting, instead relying on a unique color matching mechanic as the core of its gameplay. I really enjoyed my time with the preview version of Wispin, and it has since become available for purchase in the App Store. If you typically like the kind of action you would find in the multitude of iOS dual-stick shooters, but are tired of how similar they've all become, then Wispin is worth a look as it offers a new take on the formula and does it with the kind of style and polish that would rival long-time development studios.

In Wispin, you move your character with a left stick as per usual, but the right “stick” is actually a color wheel that changes your character to one of three colors. Enemies called Bloopers pop up from the ground all around you, and you'll use the right stick to change to the same color as the enemies you want to attack. As more and more enemies appear, Wispin turns into a frenzied battle as you are constantly trying to change your color on the fly while running down every last one of them. Bombs and arrows can be picked up randomly to mix up the offense as well as some special items like a wedge of cheese that draws all like-colored enemies towards where you toss it.

Just changing colors and mashing into enemies is pretty fun, but a nice multiplier system adds a layer of strategy to the combat in Wispin. Each Blooper you splat in quick succession adds to a multiplier that increases the points earned for defeating enemies. Getting 3 kills in a row of the same colored blooper will give your character a temporary speed boost, and getting to a 20x multiplier sends him into a crazed frenzy around the screen killing Bloopers of every color in his path. The multiplier aspect is what really makes Wispin fun to play. Taking your time and carefully defeating Bloopers is what will help you last a long time, but since this is a high score game the temptation to try to kill enemies quickly and build up a huge multiplier can lead to some reckless decision making.

There are two different modes to play in Wispin. The first is Standard Mode that brings wave after wave of increasingly harder Bloopers, and the other is called Super Intense Mode that is one endless wave with a constant onslaught of enemies. The Standard Mode starts out pretty slow, and the action doesn't really start to pick up until about the 5th wave. Lasting past 10 waves unlocks Super Intense Mode which is much more action-packed right off the bat. Wispin is a really challenging game, and just getting to wave 10 to unlock the new mode is a tough feat. Adding to the challenge is the slightly awkward handling of character movement. It's hard to be precise in where you move, and I've had more than one death because I accidentally bumped into a Blooper when I didn't mean to. Also, the smaller Bloopers can be hard to pinpoint and kill, leading to more unintentional damage. It's not a game breaker, and Grumpyface has already issued an update to Apple that tightens up the control stick, but it can lead to some frustrating moments.

Overall though, Wispin is a breath of fresh air in iOS gaming. The crisp Retina Display graphics and charming art style are very visually pleasing. The unique color matching system adds a twist to a genre of gameplay that has been done to death on the App Store before. There are two different environments to play on currently, but Grumpyface has plans to add more with future updates and is actively seeking new ideas in our forums for things to add to the game. Game Center integration handles online high score tracking and achievements, and there is even a color blind mode to help the color blinded players amongst us to differentiate the default colors. If you're looking for some arcade-style action that's deviates from the norm, I would definitely recommend checking out Wispin.

TouchArcade Rating:

If being as quiet as possible about the Back to the Future episodic series was a goal of Telltale Games, well, mission accomplished. The first of five episodes is set to hit PC and Mac in December, with an iPad version slated to follow at some mysterious point after the fact. It's clearly an ambitious project. The series takes place after the events in the time-twisting third movie and boasts the on-hands support of BTTF stars, writer Bob Gale and actor Christopher Lloyd.

And that's about all we know. Actually, until earlier this week, we didn't even know what the series would look like until Telltale slipped some images to IGN. Perhaps it was worth the wait because, as you can see, the game looks magnificent.

Co-designer Mike Stemmle told IGN that the game takes a stylized approach and that's plain enough to see. In the above, Doc Brown and Marty's features are exaggerated in a playful way, leaving room for fantastic expressions and some big, emotional movements. It's a hip approach that, as Stemmle said, stays true to BTTF, while also showcasing Telltale's creative touch.

Do take note that these are probably not iPad shots, though you can expect to see a similar amount of quality if Sam & Max: The Penal Zone [$4.99] is still a valid indication of what Telltale Games can do on iOS. We'll keep on the lookout for a release date, but in the meantime, what do you think? You down for some BTTF adventures?

[via IGN]

At this point in the life of the App Store, I'm not sure if it's fair to say that the tower defense genre is any more overloaded than any other genre of game, but there definitely does seem to be a real lack of any kind of innovation in that section. There are a ton of tower defense games out there, but very few of them are that memorable. Much like match three games, you've really got to do something different to stand out. Recently, Guns'n'Glory sticks out as a game that features more than typical tower defense gameplay, but the Sentinel series has always been my favorite tower defense games on the App Store.

The original Sentinel was released back before tower defense games really started blowing up on the platform and provided some really solid classic tower defense gameplay with great graphics, a cool array of towers, and a high frame rate that didn't stutter even on fast forward modes. Sentinel 2 was a worthy sequel in every way, and my review of the game reflected just how much I enjoyed it. The second Sentinel introduced things like orbital weaponry, new tower types, along with both repair drones and energy drones to keep your defenses online. Sentinel 3 takes the series another step further, providing RPG elements and further customizations.

The forefront of these new features it the commander unit, which is deployed at one of the barriers on the map. This unit provides a morale boost to any tower within range, increasing its damage. In addition, it also has ranged and melee attacks to take out any incoming enemies that your towers missed. Progressing through the campaign awards experience for your commander, and with each level you're able to increase the commander's statistics. These range from pumping up its own health, ranged attack, melee attack, and how much it boosts the strength of nearby towers. In addition, you also slowly unlock additional abilities such as being able to jump between barricades, temporarily boost your damage output, and others.

Also unlocked through the game are the different tower types and orbital attacks. However, unlike previous games, you'll need to buy these individual towers with in-game credits. In addition, much like how Plants vs Zombies offers a wide array of tower options but only space for a few of them when you're actually playing each level, you'll eventually only be able to bring eight of the ten towers with you. Similarly, the various orbital super attacks work much the same way. Eight in all are included, but you can only select up to six at a time. Between levels you're given the opportunity to modify which of these defenses you have access to.

All this flexibility greatly increases the level of personalization in the game, and much like how there wasn't really any "right" way to beat levels in Sentinel 2, 3 takes this even further. For instance, it seems equally viable to dump tons of points upgrading your commander's attack capabilities as it is to pour all your points in to the nearby tower strength boosting effect. With a strong commander, you could place towers elsewhere, and with a commander that is good at boosting your towers, you'd want to place as many nearby as possible. The amount of different approaches you can take to the levels included in Sentinel 3 make for a surprisingly deep tower defense experience.

Sentinel 3 was submitted on November 16th, and is awaiting Apple's approval. Things tend to get pretty backed up towards the end of the year, but the good news is Origin 8 doesn't plan to hold up the game's release for a specific date. As soon as Apple throws the approval switch, we'll be in tower defense heaven. For more details on Sentinel 3 check out the thread in our upcoming games forum.

This morning Firemint released some additional details about the upcoming Real Racing 2, along with the best news of all: We'll be playing the game before Christmas. They've also released a short gameplay video which features a Nissan GT-R (R35), but Firemint has stressed that this is still in development, and not representative of the final game.

It gets better yet, they're promising a career mode that will "easily provide 10 hours of gameplay" as players earn in-game money by winning races and increasing their reputation. We will be able to buy and sell cars, unlock tracks and additional championship events, and even customize cars with various performance enhancements and paint jobs. The game will support all iPhones and iPod touch models, going all the way back to first generation hardware while having enhancements for the latest devices as well.

Needless to say, I can't wait.

Early last week we reviewed a new iOS exclusive RPG called Ash [$4.99], a game inspired by the fantastic RPGs of the 16-bit era that featured some engaging gameplay and an excellent story. Our only real problems with Ash were the overly difficult nature of the early portions of the game and an awkward control system that required touching all over and blocking portions of the screen during play. The feedback in our forums echoed these same problems of an otherwise highly enjoyable title.

Developer SRRN Games took this feedback to heart, and yesterday they released an update to Ash that rectifies both of these problems beautifully. There is now an option to turn on a d-pad and action button from the pause screen. The d-pad is unobtrusive, tucked away in the lower corner, and makes moving around in the game a whole lot easier.

The other big change to Ash is that the beginning portion of the game in the town of Nikel has been made significantly easier. You now start with better equipment and will find more potions to heal your health. Also, the overall character level cap has been raised from 32 to 40, and any experience you had earned after capping out previously will go towards gaining these additional levels now that the update has hit.

It's really hard to find anything to complain about in Ash after this latest update. The control movement is much better, and after starting a brand new game I can definitely tell that the difficulty curve in the early goings is a lot smoother. I'm looking forward to playing through the game again just for kicks, and I sincerely hope that SRRN will put out a sequel in the future. If you like RPGs but were holding back on Ash because of any of the negative points from our original review, rest assured that they have now been taken care.

A little over a month ago, the long-awaited top-down arcade racer Reckless Racing [99¢/HD] was finally released in the App Store. We really enjoyed the game in our original review, noting that it was downright beautiful to look at and quite a bit of fun to play. Our biggest problem with Reckless Racing though was its severe lack of content. With only 5 tracks to race on in the iPhone version, the game felt like it was over before it began. Reversed versions of these tracks and online functionality went a good deal towards stringing out the play time somewhat, but it still felt entirely too short.

Now it seems that publisher EA Mobile and developer Pixelbite are working towards rectifying this problem, and have detailed an update to Reckless Racing in our forums that will add some additional content to the game. The iPhone version will receive one of the iPad version's 3 additional tracks, called The Island, and both versions will get a brand new track called Frozen Lake. Two brand new racers, “Boss” and “Granny”, will also be added to bring the available vehicle count to 8.

Also to be included in this update, along with various other bug fixes and performance optimizations, is the fix that allows 4th generation iPod touch owners to experience the Retina Display graphics in the game. While no firm release date is set for the update, I'm looking forward to the new content and hope that the update train continues to chug along with even more tracks and features in the future. Also, both versions of Reckless Racing are currently on sale for 99¢ each, so if you have yet to pick up the game now would be a great time to do so with an update on the horizon.

Adult Swim is getting in to the holiday season by releasing two Christmas-themed games, Robot Unicorn Attack Christmas Edition [99¢ and Amateur Surgeon Christmas Edition [Free]. Following in the footsteps of previous games, Robot Unicorn Attack Christmas Edition plays nearly identical to Robot Unicorn Attack [$1.99], Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal Edition [$1.99], and Robot Unicorn Attack HD [$2.99]. The main difference with this game is the inclusion of Game Center support as well as holiday themed graphics and music by The Darkness.

Similarly, Amateur Surgeon Christmas Edition plays just like Amateur Surgeon [99¢ / Lite / HD] and Amateur Surgeon 2 [99¢], only with holiday themed tools and surgeries. If you've never played an Amateur Surgeon game before, you should really snag this as it's an excellent Christmasy introduction to the dark humor of the rest of the games.

Bolt Creative's Pocket God [99¢] has been a smash hit on our forums since it was released in early 2009. Since then, it's received 35 individual updates, or episodes, each implementing a new feature or two. The latest episode adds even more customization via DLC packs and the ability to draw double rainbows all the way across the sky. In addition, there's also a Pocket God Comic [99¢] that chronicles the adventures of the inhabitants of the game's island.

Soon, Pocket God will be making its biggest leap yet. Bolt will be starting a closed beta for the Facebook version of Pocket God, which is said to lean heavily on various social features like most Facebook games. I can't wait to give it a spin, as (and I could be alone on this) I've had an odd amount of fun playing various Facebook games recently. We don't have much more details than this right now, but if you're interested in the game, it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep an eye on the Pocket God blog.

Gameloft is at it again, borrowing popular ideas, concepts, and mechanics from established franchises and dropping them into an iOS release. This time the studio is setting it sights on Naughty Dog's Uncharted series, which has shown other big-time studios how to combine good action, adventure, reality, cinematics, fantasy, and superb writing elements into a single, mind-melting package. The Gameloft game we're referring to is called Shadow Guardian, an upcoming iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch joint whose first trailer has just debuted on the Internet. Check it out for yourself.

The above trailer shows what it needs to: huge and foreign set pieces, a third-person cover-based shooting system, wall scaling, and hand-to-hand combat. It also reveals a protagonist who doesn't quite look like Uncharted's Nathan Drake, but could probably win a medal at a Midwestern fair's lookalike contest.

To be clear, we haven't played Shadow Guardian just yet, so this comparison might be a tad on the unfair side (provided this trailer is being, in turn, unfair to the game, too.) For all we know, Shadow Guardian could be 20 percent Uncharted and 80 percent space combat simulation. However this shakes out, we hope Gameloft manages to put its own spin on these familiar concepts and presentation-styles while keeping the game touch screen-friendly. If so, we could have a very exciting iOS game on our hands.

Now this is a press release that I didn't think I'd ever see, as both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [$5.99] and Streets of Rage [$2.99] were just updated to support full multiplayer co-op modes via Bluetooth. To play, you'll obviously need two devices, each equipped with Bluetooth and their own copy of the game. In Sonic, players will be able to play through the game together with one person controlling Sonic and the other controlling Tails. In Streets of Rage, players will fight together through the game as they purge the streets of bad guys.

It's incredibly cool to see both of these games updated, as it means that Sega has been working on improving their Genesis emulator, which as we've mentioned several times in the past leaves much to be desired. With Bluetooth multiplayer working, my imagination is running wild with two player games I'd love to see Sega bring to the App Store. If you own either Sonic 2 or Streets of Rage and know a friend who does too, snatch up these updates as soon as possible.

We're barreling towards the December-ish release of The 7th Guest, Trilobyte Games iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad port of the popular CD-ROM puzzle game it developed long before humans decided to get real and grow crops. As part of our coverage the other day regarding the cut content, the studio handed us a few images of the Retina Display-ready version of it. We thought it'd be radical to share those with you, and so we are!

You'll notice that not much of substance is being tweaked from a visual standpoint. Not that you should expect Trilobyte to do such a thing with The 7th Guest -- this is a port, after all, but we're pointing this factoid out in case you're not entirely clear on the creative direction for this touch-enabled version, which is hitting well more than a decade after the original's debut. Ah, if only every studio would re-release their older games rendered completely in their former glory!

KITCHEN PUZZLE

GHOST IN THE HALLWAY

DINING ROOM OF THE DEAD

CATHEDRAL

Sure, the full-motion video snaps we've received look rough by today's iOS standards (especially in a post-RAGE [$.99, HD] and Epic Citadel [Free] world), but you have to realize that Trilobyte would have to remaster the entire game to bring it up to said standards. Plus, a huge part of the allure of playing an older game is experiencing it within its original framework, visuals and all. But regardless of the approach, we're excited to get our hands on it.

The fine folks over at Donut Games have just released their latest iOS game titled Rat On A Skateboard [99¢] into the App Store. This latest offering features all the hallmarks of a Donut Games release - colorful pixel art, simple game mechanics, and high replay value. I love just about all of Donut's 20+ iOS games, and Rat On A Skateboard is no exception. It stars Ratty, the main character from Rat On The Run [99¢] and Rat On A Scooter XL [99¢], as he travels treacherous terrain on his skateboard busting tricks and avoiding obstacles. There are three different game modes to play in Rat On A Skateboard - two endless modes and one 30 level challenge mode with a three star achievement system, and all modes feature online high score tracking.

The basic gameplay has Ratty moving automatically from left to right across the screen on his skateboard. Tapping the screen makes him jump (or ollie, to be precise) and tapping the screen while he is in the air performs tricks. You can perform up to four tricks in the air based on how many taps you can pull off before Ratty hits the ground. These tricks in order are a kickflip, a 360 flip, a triple kickflip, and a master flip, and you'll earn more points by executing multiple tricks in one jump. This adds a slightly more strategic element to the game where you can effectively earn more points by performing a lot of in-air tricks during well planned jumps, rather than only having your score increase solely due to collecting items or traveling a long distance.

The first two modes in Rat On A Skateboard are Canabalt-style randomly generated endless levels. The first, Power Stunts, has you busting tricks, grinding rails, and collecting stars and cheese for points all while avoiding a host of bouncing basketballs that litter your path. The basketballs will knock you off your board if you crash into them thus ending your run, but you can also bounce off the top of them to score some extra points. The second endless mode, Banana Harbor, is similar to the first but features a shower of banana peels raining down from the sky. Each banana peel you pass earns you a point for your score, and Banana Harbor is quite a bit more difficult than the first mode. Finally there is a Challenge mode with 30 set levels filled with various obstacles and challenges, and each of these levels features the wonderful Donut Games three star achievement system.

The one minor gripe that I have with Rat On A Skateboard, and with all Donut games actually, is that accessing the online high scores pulls you out of the game and opens up the leaderboards in Safari. In an age where Game Center is readily available to developers, this sort of action doesn't quite fly anymore, and I'd love to see their entire catalog updated with proper in-game leaderboards in the future. This isn't enough to put me off from playing the game though, as beating my own local high score and earning 3 stars on all the levels is usually my focus anyway. I may be bordering on sounding like a broken record, but Donut Games has done it again, and if you have a spare dollar sitting around then Rat On A Skateboard is an excellent way to spend it.

TouchArcade Rating:

Find that trendy USB cable, people. iOS 4.2 has been released for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. For iPad owners, this ushers in a new age of tablet use. An age where people can put all their Apps in folders, use Game Center, multi-task, switch Apps quicker with a double tap of the Home button, and enjoy the fruits of a unified e-mail inbox. If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, 4.2 is still a worthwhile update which includes tons of little fixes, tweaks, and the addition of things like AirPrint and AirPlay.

iOS developers have had builds of 4.2 in their hands for some time, so you'll notice that a lot of your games will already have the functionality built in as soon as you update your iPad's firmware via iTunes. It's not a stretch to expect that the more on-the-ball developers, such as ZeptoLabs, will add the functionality soon-ish.

While this is a big day for iPad owners, we should note that nothing of substance is being seen for the first time here. All the functionality of iOS 4.2 has been completely dissected by users who have been fiddling with the developer builds over the past few weeks. Earlier this month, TiPB offered a great synopsis of everything new and exciting in iOS 4.2 for both the iPad and iPhone which are worth checking out if you're new to this whole 4.2 thing.

Give it a try and let us know what you think! I'm upgrading as you're reading this and salivating over the opportunity to put my messes of apps in folders on my iPad like a civilized human being.