Just as Engadget gets its hands on the still-unannounced PlayStation Phone, SCE hits us with this new mobile phone project: the PlayStation Suite.

In a nutshell, PS Suite is an Android initiative that will open up the PlayStation library to a range of Android owners with “PlayStation Certified” devices like phones and tablets. Details are light at the moment, but publisher Sony has confirmed its intent to port over PS One titles to Android via this new vehicle, which looks more like an extension to its downloadable platform PSN than anything else.

Interestingly, if PS Suite will resemble PSN, or even tie-in to it, there’s a good chance PS Suite subscribers might also get access to other forms of media like videos, themes, or even the Trophies achievement system. Sony isn’t talk about stuff other than games yet, so consider this all speculation on my part. However, I’ll note that Sony CEO Jack Tretton is teasing something in this PS blog post when he says, “we are also working with developers to create new and exciting content that will be available on both PS Certified devices and the NGP when it comes to market.”

It’s an interesting approach to the mobile gaming space that we haven’t seen from the other big two publishers, Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony is taking its platform straight to a range of phones, while Nintendo is producing its 3DS and Microsoft is pumping its resources exclusively into the Windows Phone 7. As for what PS Suite means to us, the iOS user, is more competition on the phone gaming market, which is never a bad thing. If someone raises a bar, the other has to respond. If PS Suite catches on, we might see growth in terms of more full-featured, console-like offerings on iOS.

There’s also a small chance that PS Suite could make its way to Apple’s devices. Note that Sony isn’t saying “exclusive” when it talks about Android, so its obviously leaving some wiggle room. Don't forget, last month we did report on Sony planning on bringing a curious official Sony app to the App Store with "tons more features" coming in the future.

And take double note of the PSP Minis initiative. Certainly, those will be part of the “exciting content” that’ll see released on the NGP and PS Suite, right?

Oddly enough, our first look at what will surely become a PS Certified device came from Engadget earlier this week when it somehow got its hands on an ever-elusive Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (or the “PS Phone.) Their rundown is solid from a technical angle and a rather good read from an iOS-centric point of view for the reasons I just discussed. No official Sony content is available on the platform quite yet (the phone still hasn't been announced), but it performs well with emulation, so that's a good indication that it'll be able to run what Sony is talking about well.

In all, Sony made some cool announcements yesterday that’ll bleed into our platform of choice if its moves are responded to by fans with Sony-branded devices. Obviously, we’ll have to wait to see if Apple feels like these are significant enough developments to feel like it needs to answer in the 5th generation, but it’s exciting nonetheless.

It’s not hard to get excited about the second generation PSP or the “Next Generation Portable,” as Sony calls it, especially if you do most of your gaming on the go. On top of a familiar button and doodad layout with an added stick for his comfort, the publisher is tacking on a kitchen sink’s worth of tech, including tilt and touch, as well as two different cameras and 3G support. It’s just about everything you’d want from a next generation portable device.

Men wiser than I have told me, though, that the specifications for the NGP that were revealed last night for the first time are good indications of the direction Apple will be going with its second generation iPad and 5th generation touch devices if rumors are to be believed. Manufacturers tend to pull from the same hardware shelf and then tweak components like brand new CPUs and GPUs so they cater to their own devices, meaning we might see comparable stuff from Apple whenever it reveals its next gen platforms.

Do note the NGP is using an ARM Cortex A9 which has been rumored as the potential foundation for the Apple A5 chip, the successor to the A4 found in current devices. It's also using a similar GPU to the one most people in the Apple rumors community expects to see in upcoming iOS devices as well.

So, what will the next round of Apple devices have in them? Only really, really special people (think: dudes who work for Apple) know for sure, so this is all speculation on our part. But what’s so exciting about this -- aside from being able to fill out some slots in our Apple press conference BINGO cards a little earlier this year -- is that the NGP looks capable of rendering native PS3 games. If Apple were to actually put all this junk into its next handheld, we’ll be fiddling with incredible machines with the power to output visuals and tech on the same level as current consoles. WILD, right? Oh, how those budgets will soar!

And speaking of wallets, Sony isn't talking price at the moment. But if the PS3 was any indication... well, you might have to get a second or third job. For more information on the NGP, swing over to Engadget.

One of the best run-and-jump fighters I've ever played is Sega's 1987 coin-op release, Shinobi. Several of us here at Touch Arcade spent hours in the local arcade together way back when, shoveling quarter after quarter into that Shinobi cabinet. We grabbed various home versions of the game, but none lived up to the excellent arcade experience. Happily, a number of sequels followed that targeted consoles specifically, and they provided some great ninja slashing action. The best of the lot in the eyes of many, myself included, is Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. It was originally released for the Genesis / Mega Drive back in 1993, and tonight Sega has released the game, wrapped in their iOS Genesis emulator we've seen before, through the App Store [link].

In Shinobi III, you're back in the role of ninja warrior Joe Musashi as he fights to defeat the evil organization Neo Zeed, which is bent on world domination. You move through seven rounds of carnage, laying waste to scads of other ninjas with your shinobigatana, shurikens, and four magical ninjutsu techniques. You must brave a variety of hostile environments, including forests, caves, cities, laboratories, and factories. You even ride a horse. And surf! It's a harrowing affair, but the game is actually a bit more forgiving than the first in the series, employing a life meter that allows for accumulated damage as opposed to one hit kills, as did Revenge of Shinobi which preceded it. It's a great game -- a bit short on play time, but full of action.

...on the Genesis (and Wii Virtual Console), that is. Sadly, as has been the case with numerous straight arcade / console conversion from Sega and others in the past, much of the great experience of the original has been lost in translation to the iPhone. There is nothing to complain about as far as performance from the emulator -- it seems Sega has been steadily improving it, and things run smoothly and at full speed for all intents and purposes on an iPhone 4 test device. The issue is with the controls, their arrangement and inflexibility.

Like other Sega iOS releases running in their emulator, there is both a full screen and a windowed view. The fullscreen mode, with its larger image, is the most desirable play mode, I would say, but it suffers from the fixed arrangement of the onscreen D-pad and three action buttons; very often a thumb on either completely obscures your character, making gameplay highly awkward. This can be avoided by using the windowed view which renders the game at it's native resolution (fullscreen is a scale-up, not the other way around) with D-pad and buttons below, but on a screen with a pixel density as high as any iPhone or iPod touch device, it's a strain to behold. It's possible that an option to reposition the touch points would help matters but, frankly, I can't imagine an arrangement that would be truly acceptable. As is, the gameplay will leave you longing for your old Genesis.

See a gameplay video of the original console version.

And so, again we have a truly excellent console title that falls sadly short of the mark in making its way to the iPhone. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master is likely an App Store purchase that only the true Shinobi devotee could make with satisfaction.

Gamers have been enjoying the frantic arcade game Tilt to Live [$2.99/Lite/HD] for nearly a full year now. We really liked the iPhone version in our initial review as well as the excellent iPad version that came later in the year, and Tilt to Live has since gone on to be one of the most well-supported games on the App Store with numerous content updates that have added new items, enemies, and game modes.

Now developer One Man Left is teasing in our forums and on their Twitter feed about another upcoming mode for Tilt to Live. All we can really glean from this screenshot is that there will be some sort of multiplayer coming to the game in the near future.

There are currently no other details about this mysterious multiplayer mode, such as if it will be cooperative or competitive or how the gameplay will work with two players, though One Man Left has confirmed that it will be local multiplayer using Bluetooth. We’ll definitely keep our eyes and ears open for any new info about this, and you can drop in on the thread in our forums for more information from the developers themselves as we wait to hear more about this upcoming multiplayer mode.

Somethin' Else's Papa Sangre [$4.99] has been on our radar since it was originally released in mid-December. With a recent sale and an official nomination in the "Most Innovative Game" category at the International Mobile Gaming Awards, I figured it's high time we gave Papa Sangre a closer look.

Admittedly, I initially thought Papa Sangre was a nifty little binaural tech demo. After all, the game has no graphics short of a basic menu system and interface, but if you let your imagination go with it you will be in for a treat. Let's back up a bit and get in to what exactly binaural audio is, in case it's something you're unfamiliar with. There's a number of ways it can be recorded, from two appropriately spaced microphones to actually using a dummy head with fake ears. The resulting product, when listened to with headphones, will provide a shockingly convincing 3D effect for the listener. Wikipedia, unsurprisingly, has a really interesting article on how it all works.

The premise of Papa Sangre is great. The game takes place in the world of the dead, where your eyes are useless. Thankfully, your ears work fine. You're on a quest to save the soul that belongs to a loved one, and doing so involves making your way through Papa Sangre's underworld "seeing" with your ears. Your control is limited to buttons for each of your feet, which you can walk or run with by alternating tapping them either slow or fast. Additionally, there is a dial of sorts that you swipe on the top of the screen to turn your character in game.

At its most basic, you need to walk towards a sound, which you can hear in the distance. Doing so involves swiping to spin the dial until the sound seems to be coming from in front of you, then alternating your right and left thumbs to walk to it. As you get closer, you might need to make adjustments with the dial to not miss the sound. Once you do, it's off to the next level. (Most levels also have multiple sounds that need to be located before they're over.) Of course it isn't that easy though, as the game quickly throws various enemies in game that all make sounds that you need to avoid, as well as different types of terrain. This terrain sounds different, and you might make more or less noise walking on some ground, which can lead to the enemies in the level being able to quickly locate you if you're not careful.

What you get out of Papa Sangre is directly related to how much you're willing to get immersed in to the game. This means playing with your eyes closed, and letting your imagination do the rest. The game is wonderfully narrated before the start of each level, explaining your surroundings and the enemies you need to avoid. An early level sets you inside of a room covered in discarded finger bones which you must run over, and it's just really cool imagining what that room actually would look like to go with the sounds that you're hearing.

Grab some headphones and listen to this:

Even though Papa Sangre is really cool, I'm not sure how strong of a recommendation I can give it. It's a great experience, but I think you need to be in the proper state of mind to enjoy it, and even then I'd lean more towards describing the game as "this is really neat" rather than "this is really fun." Regardless, it's still a great concept, and I'd totally stand behind the IMGA nomination for its innovative gameplay. If you like strange games, or are intrigued by the binaural nature of this game, consider giving it a shot. If nothing else, this is just something really unique on the App Store that more people should be aware of.

Telltale Games is offering up its entire library of App Store iPad titles on the cheap again. From now until Feb. 10, 2011, you can download all four of their iPad games $2.99 instead of their usual six-plus dollar price points. Needless to say, this is definitely a deal for adventure game enthusiasts, as Telltale sort of has the genre down pat. Here's the list:

Monkey Island Tales 1 HD, Free - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - The Tales of Monkey Island series was fantastic on the PC and Mac and developer Telltale Games successfully ported over that experience to the iPad. Rich in humour, character, puzzles, and reverence to its forerunners, this is the ultimate adventure game for Monkey Island fans. It's also pretty good as a standalone point-and-click adventure game.

Puzzle Agent HD, $6.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Puzzle Agent HD is a non-traditional point-and-click adventure title featuring the grim art of Graham Annable. It has a few technical problems, but the puzzles and the narrative are deeply involving and worth your time.

Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone for iPad, $6.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - This game debuted when the iPad was all hot and new, so I’d imagine there was a rush on Telltale’s part to get this one on the App Store as soon as possible. I say that because this game, unlike the former two mentioned, is plagued by technical hitches. If you can get past those, though, there’s a pretty rich point-and-click experience waiting for you. There are also a few twists on the genre like, for example, solving puzzles in reverse. You see, Max inherits the power to see the future, which creates an assortment of odd scenarios in an already quirky and offbeat game.

Wallace & Gromit The Last Resort for iPad, $6.99 - [Forum Thread] - I'm not a huge Wallace and Gromit fan, but I don't need to be one to recognize that this particular joint has a solid production value and decent jokes to boot. As for what it is, well, it's an adventure game starring these two offbeat characters. Sounds familiar, right?

If you didn't grab these in a previous sale, now seems like a good time. I'd imagine the Sam & Max title is the only one that'll make you feel cold on the inside if you happen to be a victim of a sound glitch or one of its lock-ups, the rest are great.

There are tons of different endless running games available in the App Store, and while the genre certainly wasn’t invented by Canabalt [$2.99] it sure seems to have exploded in popularity since that title's release in October of 2009. Nowadays it’s hard to get excited about a new running game, much in the same way it’s hard to get excited for another match 3, doodle, or zombie game. It's an overly-saturated genre, but every once in a while a new entry will emerge and do something that is just different enough to change up the gameplay in a way that puts a new spin on things. That is the feeling I had after spending time with 10tons’ newest title Grim Joggers [99¢].

The hook in Grim Joggers is that you are actually controlling multiple running characters at the same time. You start out with 15 joggers in a line, and you can jump or double jump by tapping anywhere on the screen. The lead jogger will jump immediately upon tapping, with the rest of the crew following in a staggered fashion. The goal is to run for as long as possible through randomly generated levels while avoiding a plethora of hazards and dealing with a steadily increasing speed. Inevitably you will lose members of your crew to these hazards, but play will continue as long as at least one of the joggers remains alive. Once everyone has given up the ghost, though, the run is over.

The multiple jogger aspect may seem like just a gimmick, but it actually completely changes the typical approach to this sort of game. Normally you would just immediately jump every gap or hazard that comes your way without much thought. In Grim Joggers, however, you have to consider the entire line of joggers - where each of them are when you jump, where they will land, and what sort of hazards will be in their way next. It’s a subtle change from the norm, but it impacts the gameplay in a significant way. I really like having to actually make strategic decisions and pay attention to everything that’s going on while playing, rather than just blindly reacting to a level’s challenges.

Heightening this evolved gameplay is an excellent scoring system that is the real heart of what makes Grim Joggers so much fun. Points are accrued as you run, and at set intervals there are checkpoints. The amount of joggers in your crew when you pass through each checkpoint adds to a scoring multiplier. Needless to say, it’s in your best interest to have as many joggers alive as possible for each checkpoint if you want to reach any kind of meaningful scores. This, coupled with the need to play smart and pay attention, creates some pretty compelling gameplay and is what sets Grim Joggers apart from other running games.

Visually, Grim Joggers utilizes a colorful pixel style that won't blow your mind but does look quite nice. There are all manner of gruesome deaths awaiting your joggers, from man-eating plants to explosive barrels to polar bears ready to maul you. It’s a tad on the gory side, but done in a humorous way, and there is an exhaustive amount of funny statistics and facts tracked throughout the game as well. Three different environments are available to unlock and play through, with a fourth level apparently coming soon. The pacing of the game is really well done too, and there are a ton of achievements to earn and high score tracking through Game Center.

Grim Joggers may be yet another running game, but it brings a few different twists to the genre that put it in a category of its own. The fantastic scoring system and randomly generated levels give the game a ton of replay value. The only thing I came across that I didn’t like about this are the sometimes unfair placement of hazards due to the randomly generated nature of the levels. These occurrences are pretty rare, though, and don’t hinder the overall experience. There’s a discussion thread for the game in our forums with further impressions, and even if you think you’ve had your fill of endless running games, Grim Joggers is still worth a look for its different take on the formula.

Chaotic Box’s Silverfish [99¢/Lite] is an intense arcade-style avoidance game with flashy retro graphics and fast-paced gameplay. We really enjoyed Silverfish when we reviewed the game back in November, and we also really liked the brand new Haste mode that was added in an update just a couple of weeks ago. Despite all of this positivity towards Silverfish, though, the game never really seemed to catch on with mainstream App Store gaming populace.

Now there’s no reason not to at least give the game a try, as Chaotic Box has just released Silverfish Free into the App Store. Silverfish Free features a single game mode based on the Reaper mode from the full version of the game. This free version is ad-supported, but does contain full Game Center integration for competing on high score leaderboards and unlocking achievements. It even contains two exclusive achievements not found in the full version.

Silverfish Free is a great way to get a taste of the regular Silverfish without having to pony up any dough. Should you decide to upgrade to the paid version, you’ll get an unlimited Reaper mode along with 3 additional play modes, as well as many more achievements and leaderboards through Game Center. Silverfish really is one of the best games that you aren’t playing, and players in our forums have been loving it since release. Check out this new lite version, and if you dig it, the full version of Silverfish is still currently on sale for 99¢.

We were first alerted of Sarien.net's existence back in October. After a brief preview a bit later, Space Quest went live. In a nutshell, Sarien.net was an amazing homage to classic Sierra adventure games. When it was still online, it allowed you to stream picture-perfect ports right within Safari on iOS devices, with most games totally tweaked to be touch friendly. Some even had basic multiplayer support to see other players in-game.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and even though the whole project was a labor of love for developer Martin Kool, Activision finally sent the somewhat inevitable cease and desist letter-- Resulting in an immediate halt to the whole project. Hopefully this means that Activation is planning on bringing these same games to the iOS platform with the same care Kool gave them, but I somehow doubt it.

The up side of all this (if there is one), is that quite a few people took notice in the sheer HTML wizardry taking place behind the scenes in these ports, resulting in a surge of business to Martin's web design studio. He's told us to keep an eye out for apps and games (both native, and web-based like the Sierra games) in the future.

So, by now you’ve read the reviews for Dead Space [$6.99 / HD]. The game is good. Real good. But on top of sharing my thoughts about it, I wanted to get some inside perspective on the three pillars of the game: its world, its scares, and its action. For that, I went straight to the source, which happened to be lead designer Jarrad Trudgen.

Let’s start with the scares. Dead Space is unusual in that it’s able to make the predictable or obvious scare as impactful as the sudden kind. It’s all in the tension, the build-ups to the event. Scripting and the placement of precursors and mood setters are a big part of how the team succeeds in this regard. The other part is leverage. This game is able to use any mechanic, any trope no matter how insignificant, to scare you.

Of course, touch screen and the power of the iPad and iPhone can be barriers. So, I asked how the limitations informed the design of the horror elements, in addition to asking for comment about how some of the more clever stuff was developed.

“Scares are a big part of survival horror games and Dead Space is no exception. I still fondly remember jumping out of my skin when those zombie dogs jumped through the window in Resident Evil on console,” Trudgen said. “So, including some similar moments was a high priority for me personally.

“For the first time in our studio’s history we developed a scripting system that allowed designers to set up scripted events using triggers, sound cues, animations, enemy spawn controls etc. -- basically all the tools a designer would use on a console title.”

“This allowed us to have a good variety of scripted scares and atmospheric scenarios play out over the course of the game. We also employed teleport and asset switching scripts that allowed us to produce some truly startling and disorientating hallucination sequences that I can’t wait for players to experience.”

Dead Space has a lot of scares. The general knock on them is that they’re too predictable. I don’t necessarily “get” this criticism because I feel like Dead Space always does a fantastic job at keeping you at a level of alertness that makes you jump at whatever goes bump or thump in the game. I especially dig how these scares are worked into basic tropes, like the Necromorph room I spoke about in the review.

“As far as leveraging game tropes against the player you are absolutely right. In order to keep things fresh we play with misdirection a lot. You set up an expectation for the player like, ‘Dead Slashers always pounce on me,’ or, ‘I’m safe in this type of room.’ Then you let that expectation set in and finally, once you’ve got some mileage out of it but before it gets stale, you violate that expectation... or don’t.”

(more...)

Alright, I suppose technically this is more of an entertainment app than a game, strictly speaking. This hasn't stopped me from trying to stump it (and having a great time doing it) for the past hour. Akinator [$1.99] and Akinator HD [$1.99] ask you to think of a person or character, then asks you a number of questions. These questions can be answered by buttons for "yes" or "no", as well as "I don't know," "probably," and "probably not" in case you're not sure. The Akinator will start asking you incredibly vague questions such as whether your character is male or female, or whether they even really exists. A few questions in and it will start asking you more and more specific things, right down to the color of their hair.

The sheer amount of stuff the Akinator is capable of guessing is just incredible. It's been able to come up with Mr. Pink from "Reservoir Dogs," Alex Trebek from "Jeopardy," Sebastian from "Little Mermaid," and George Washington. It even can do comic book characters:

This is definitely a novelty app, especially considering you can play with the Akinator online for free, but as mentioned previously-- I've been having a ton of fun with it. Also, answering the questions truthfully, I've yet to be able to think of something it doesn't know. Something to keep in mind, the Akinator requires an internet connection... an unfortunate side effect of being able to guess every person ever.

Did you burn all of your iTunes credit you had saved up on Dead Space last night? Have you given up actually purchasing games as part of an extremely odd New Year's resolution? Or, maybe, do you have such a terrible case of the Mondays that it has become a case of the Tuesdays? Well, here's a whole load of great free games to nab. Of course, the standard App Store pricing disclaimer is in effect here in that all of these games are free as of this writing, but they could go back to paid at any time. So, really, it's in your best interest to just mash your download button as hard and as fast as you can on all of these games before they go back to their normal prices.

AR Invaders, $1.99 - [Forum Thread] - This game was nominated in the International Mobile Gaming Awards as one of the best real world games and now you can try it for free. Basically, it uses the camera of your device to overlay an alien invasion on top of your nearby surroundings. It's a pretty cool augmented reality tech demo that's totally worth checking out.

Buster Red, $0.99 - [Forum Thread] - Huge lasers, bullets everywhere, massive bosses, tons of enemies, multiple ships to play as, and many other features come packed in this vertical shooter. It has achievements, leaderboards, and some pretty awesome music to boot.

Cat Physics, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I'm reluctant to really call Cat Physics the best Donut Game, but I do love cats, physics, and Donut Games... In this particular title, you need to roll a ball between two cats. Of course it's not that simple, however, as these cats seem to play in the strangest of environments.

Hysteria Project, $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - To hype of the release of the sequel due out on the 27th, the original Hysteria Project is free for a limited time. I still think this game is pretty cool, as it reminds me a lot of early full motion video games where you view canned footage with branching points, kind of like a video choose your own adventure book.

Jungle Crash Land, $0.99 This seems to be one of the forgotten Donut Games, as not many people on TouchArcade are talking about it. I'm not sure why, because it's a heck of a lot of fun. The basic premise amounts to you've got a plane landing on a runway that's covered in rocks and other junk that you need to shoot with missiles first. Sure, it sounds goofy, but give it a spin.

Liberty Wings, Free - [Forum Thread] - Do you like flying planes, shooting things, and playing three distinctly different game modes? Well, Liberty Wings is the game for you. It has a campaign and freeplay mode, as well as OpenFeint integration for all that fantastic OpenFeinty stuff.

muBlip, $1.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - Part rhythm game, part Simon, muBlip is a stylish game of music, timing, accuracy, and memory. I gave it a try when it was first released and was surprised by just how difficult it was, especially as you progress through the levels. I never dared to try the "hardcore" mode.

Phoenix Spirit, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - If you've been looking for a good Metroid/Castlevania style game on the App Store, give this one a try. In Phoenix Spirit you play as a flying squirrel, which is pretty cool until you discover that the game's control scheme revolves around gesture-based gliding. If you find yourself enjoying the controls, you'll be in for a treat.

Skycat and the starchildren, $0.99 - [Review] - [Forum Thread] - I thought this game was great when it was first released, but with a limited pool of content and no endless mode it was a little hard to recommend. Now that it's free, you can see what all the fuss is about at no cost! Seriously, give this game a try, it's a surprisingly fun platformer.

Sunday Lawn, $0.99 - [Forum Thread] -The third and final free game from Donut Games. Sunday Lawn is a puzzle game involving mowing lawns while avoiding obstacles. It also saw a substantial update since its initial release which added 30 new levels and all kinds of other fun stuff.

Dead Space is like a wicked seesaw that keeps you teetering between states of panic and outright nervousness no matter how predictable the outcome of a scenario is. This is its real voodoo, the magic of the title, which is informed by a sharp, terror-drenched atmosphere influenced by various sci-fi horror works such as “Event Horizon” and “Alien.”

Its setting, plot, and combat feed into this rich atmosphere, making the title feel as if it were a cohesive whole. However, the game’s weakness, the combat, should give you a bit of pause. It’s not hard to recommend Dead Space, especially if you plan to play with the blinds pulled down, but it’s not a good shooter, which carries some weight.

Dead Space is a sequel to the original Dead Space, a console and PC joint created by the folks at EA Visceral. It’s a confusing name at first glance, until you peel the experience back a bit and learn that Dead Space iOS really doesn’t do anything to separate itself from its forerunner. It feels like a one-off experience just so happens to take place before the events of Dead Space 2 on the mining colony “Sprawl.”

You spend all your time on this colony drifting amongst a cluster of stars, completely detached from the rest of civilization. Gorgeous panels and LCD displays sprinkle and contrast the cold, hard steel of the floors and walls of the Sprawl, while the remnants of civilization inform a grim tone and atmosphere.

Things, of course, have gone bad on the colony. Sickly, disjointed aliens are now taking over, slaughtering all in their path. For you, this means you get to see the aftermath -- all those pools of crimson, those piles corpses with the missing flesh, and the wrecked lockers, broken glass, and general disarray.

I think what’s most remarkable about the setting is that it’s crafted in a way that all the future stuff feel familiar, yet obviously above and beyond what our civilization can accomplish and build. You can connect with the setting, but you recognize it as alien.

And it’s in solitude that you dwell. Dead Space is really good at making feel both helpless and alone in the face of something much, much larger than yourself. In this specific one, your avatar, code-named “Vandal,” isn’t the chatty type. Your guide -- who also doubles as the games’ narrator to some degree -- isn’t all that talkative either. Also, your adventure, as a result of an incident, isn’t filled with many people with jawbones intact. Essentially, you live and breath in a world without any living and breathing.

So, you're alone -- alone against hordes of aliens, I should add. Unfortunately, combat isn’t good enough. Vandal is essentially a slow meat turret with basic strafing abilities, which makes it hard to be either aggressive or even defensive. Granted, the weaponry in the game is plenty violent; the Plasma Cutter and the god-like drill weapon can put serious hurt on your foes, but you’ll constantly be re-negotiating your position in battle and never quite comfortable with what you’ve chosen.

Combat isn’t this grand ballet where you can skillfully move about enemies, juking and jiving and delivering punishment with the grace and ease of a Kratos. It’s more like a square dance for people with insanely large feet. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if you could aim and fire with accuracy and quickness, but you can’t do that. The touch implementation of both these mechanics -- bringing up the gun and choosing your target -- are clunky, leading to a lot of missed shots, missed opportunities and a needless death here and there.

And you’d figure the combat would be grand: the game features a dismemberment mechanic for god sakes that rewards you for shooting off the limbs of aliens. But the accuracy just isn't there, so the pay-offs aren't either. (You also can't aim with tilt or gyrometer, for that matter. There's also no way to invert the Y axis, or any way to customize the controls.)

The kicker for me is that I think the weakness of the combat actually enriches the experience to some degree. It heightens the scares and does the most work in informing the nervousness you’ll feel. I say this because you’re not a Terminator; you can’t just obliterate anything in your path, making you actually fear the next confrontation.

There's a level of immersion in this game as well, due in large part to the game's super limited HUD. Health and bullets, for example, are displayed visually on the character and its respective guns, which makes for a super clean presentation -- one in which you control Vandal with invisible dual-analog sticks, which are serviceable, but still not ideal for some of the things the game throws at you in the action department.

Bullets are limited, which is an interesting touch. The lack of ammunition will force you to rethink battle strategies, readjust and lean on the game’s generous upgrade system. With collected nodes and cash, you can refill your guns and make them stronger and faster via Benches and an in-game Store.

To dive into a little bit more of the brick-and-mortar, this is a rigidly linear, scripted game that goes a little something like this: you are to go [there], and the only way you can get to [there] is to find a way to unlock a door, the key in which you'll need just so happens to be tied to a scare or a fight with monsters. And… that’s about it.

Of course, straying from the set path by a few feet will net you goodies, but for the most part, the game doesn’t offer anything outside of its invisible racing line (which, hilariously, you can pull up visibly at any point in case you lose your way).

And while you’ll encounter few instances where something isn’t scripted, there’s still a lot of atmosphere to soak in. The sound design, in particular, is ridiculous good. You’ll hear the patter of aliens in ventilation system, the terrible groans of aliens behind you, and these astoundingly dramatic crescendos that spurt from nowhere, often sparking you back into a state of high alert. Wear headphones if you have them, it's worth it.

The art and visuals are also particularly inspired. The art manages to parallel the grim undertones of the narrative and the visual work is top-notch.

However, I wish there was more "new" in this game. A lot of the assets and elements of the original Dead Space for PC and consoles, including the enemies, the lockers, the weapons, and so on, are reproduced here. I suppose if you haven't had experience previously, though, this isn't a big deal.

Also, The Retina display visuals on the iPhone 4 look tremendous, though I think the control issues on this specific version of the game are made a little worse because of the lack of screen real estate. Your thumb will almost always obscure part of the game. I lean towards preferring the iPad version myself, but you'll get a similar experience no matter what device you play on.

But, I think what’s best about Dead Space isn’t the art and sound despite their impressiveness; what's best is how good this game is at keeping you thinking about what kind of terrible things can happen -- that overwhelming sense of dread that you get from the best horror flicks.

In some sections, the game terrorizes you with traditional video game tropes, having you check bodies that you know will spurt to life. In another section, it plays with vertigo, and still in others, it hammers you with sudden conflicts, bouts of nothingness complimented by a roaring firefight, and hallucinations. It's kind of amazing when you consider just how many ways this game tries to screw with you.

Sure, Dead Space is worth a download based on its production values alone. The team has successfully created a very, very dark title bolstered by a rich atmosphere that oozes everything you want out of a solid horror game. And the story isn't so bad, either. As Vandal, you set off a series of events that it must, in turn, stop. It's almost a revenge narrative, though to really dig into it would kinda kill the experience for you.

But, I feel like the weakness of the combat far surpasses its usefulness as a bolster for the scares. The end of the game turns into a series of unintelligible slugfests that will grate on you, especially on higher difficulty levels. It's a bummer that more imaginative situations weren't created for the last hour or so of the game because the rest of it manages to feel so smart.

This isn't the scariest game on the planet, nor is it the best put together. The combat in particular is a black eye. But there's a lot in Dead Space to keep you engaged and there's some points of great design that I think you'll appreciate -- especially if you're daring enough to play this on your sofa with the lights off and some great headphones on. Just keep the minor issues in mind and I don’t think you’ll leave the game disappointed. I suppose there’s also the chance EA could go back and implement fixes like sensitivity sliders or even some kind of aim assist system, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.

Macworld 2011 is taking place in San Francisco, CA this week on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We'll be in attendance, and are currently taking appointments from game developers who have something new, cool, or new and cool to show us. (Or if you just want to say "hi.") If you want to meet up with us, please email tips@toucharcade.com with "Macworld 2011" in the subject to make sure our email filters appropriately highlight your message.

Although Apple no longer plays a big part in Macworld, it's still one of the major events for the Apple community. Originally started in 1985, Macworld has been the home to a number of large announcements such as iTunes itself in 2001, the Mac Mini and iPod Shuffle in 2005, and the original MacBook Air in 2008. We look forward to meeting everyone there, and reporting on the awesome games we come across.

Earlier this month we got our hands on a pair of Fling iPad joysticks. The device is a clever design with two suction cups on one side which stick to the iPad screen and a concave conductive joystick suspended in the center of a plastic ring with a spiral spring. Because of the spring arrangement, the Fling joystick always returns to the center, and as you get closer to the edge of the ring it becomes more and more difficult to push until it stops. It works surprisingly well in dual stick shooters, and many other types of games with virtual joysticks.

I highlighted some games that seemed to work especially great with the Fling in our preview:

The good news is, for many games, the Fling is absolutely outstanding. Playing dual stick shooters using the Fling is, in a word, glorious. I easily decimated my Geometry Wars [99¢] high scores. With real joysticks, Max Adventure [99¢] is a joy to play. Age of Zombies [$2.99] feels like it was made to be played with the Fling, with the secondary weapon buttons positioned perfectly outside its plastic ring.

First person shooters work great as well. In fact, I almost felt like I was cheating in N.O.V.A. 2 HD [$6.99] my overall accuracy improved so much. It's really incredible just how much of a difference it makes, almost making N.O.V.A. 2 feel like an XBOX game with a real controller. Similarly, the Fling works really well in every Gameloft game I tried, as the ability to move the various on-screen controls around allows you to perfectly position the Fling wherever you're comfortable, while also placing the buttons within reach. ...Read More

The down side of the Fling at the time was that while the preorder price was in line with other iPad accessories, it still seemed a tad expensive. However, the economy of scale works in wondrous ways though, and apparently, demand for the Fling has been quite high. This has allowed Ten One Design to drop the price of Fling units from $25 each and $38 for a pair down to $20 each and $30 for a pair. If you've already preordered, expect a refund for the difference to show up sometime soon if it hasn't already.

If you were holding out for a price drop, now is your chance to head over to the Fling site and preorder now. Also, while we haven't been able to get our hands on one yet, ThinkGeek has a joystick that is similar but with a more retro feel that might be worth considering as well.