In late 2008, when App Store gaming was still fairly new, one title that we really liked was RealArcade's Tiki Towers [99¢/Free]. It was a bridge building physics puzzle game that took more than a few cues from World of Goo, but back then World of Goo was not available on iOS and Tiki Towers provided a similar experience that was executed well with cute graphics and clever level designs. Since that time we've seen additional titles in the same vein like Moonlights [$1.99/Lite], Bridge Odyssey [$4.99/Lite], and of course the official port of World of Goo [$4.99] for the iPad.

That hasn't stopped RealArcade from releasing a sequel, however, and more than two years later we now have Tiki Towers 2 [$4.99]. It doesn't stray too far from the formula of the original, and like any good sequel it builds upon its solid gameplay foundation by adding several welcome enhancements. There are 30 brand new levels to tackle in Tiki Towers 2, with a new overworld map system for accessing them. Some levels will have multiple exits which affect what path you take through the overworld.

Each level also tracks how many bamboo sticks you use in making your structure, with a reward for using less than a set amount. This feature was only available in the original after completing the entire game, but is a part of each level right from the beginning here and adds a nice dose of replayability beyond just collecting every banana when completing a level. Tiki Towers 2 also has improved graphics with more detailed environments and Retina Display support, as well as Game Center integration for unlocking 10 achievements.

If you enjoyed the first Tiki Towers, or even any of the previously mentioned similar games, then chances are you will enjoy Tiki Towers 2 as well. It isn't too different from the first game but the few improvements it does have fit into the original gameplay well, and it really is a lot of fun building precarious structures for your little monkeys to cross. One thing to note is that it does come in at a higher price than the original, but includes universal support for the iPad. There's a discussion thread with further impressions in our forums, and Tiki Towers 2 is a solid choice if you're looking for a fun new physics puzzler.

Sega's Virtua Fighter series literally spawned the 3D fighting genre back in the early 90s. It has also been one of the most well-received and successful fighting game franchises of all time, spawning numerous sequels, alternate versions, and spinoffs over the past two decades. That's what makes tonight's release of Virtua Fighter 2 [$1.99] on the App Store so disappointing – it's not the highly refined arcade sequel to the groundbreaking Virtua Fighter, but rather its severely gimped Genesis version running in Sega's iOS Genesis emulator.

I have mixed feelings towards the iOS Genesis games. Some of the titles they choose to bring to the App Store turn out pretty good, and remain highly fun and playable even after many years have passed. Some, though, are completely ill-suited to a touch screen platform, and merely serve to scratch my nostalgia itch when needed. The Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2 is neither of these.

Since the 16-bit Genesis was incapable of doing a 3D fighting game, Sega created a 2D version of Virtua Fighter 2 for its popular home console to take advantage of the huge popularity of the Virtua Fighter series in arcades. It only slightly resembles its arcade counterpart, and honestly it wasn't even that good of a 2D fighter when it released 15 years ago. It completely baffles me that Sega would opt to bring such a poor example of one of its strongest brands to iOS rather than the excellent arcade version, or at least the Sega Saturn version, both of which should be totally possible with the iOS hardware.

This is a random YouTube video of the Genesis version, just so there's no mistaking what the gameplay is like if you're curious about picking up the game:

Chances are there are some folks out there who never knew the beauty that was the Virtua Fighter series in arcades, but had Virtua Fighter 2 on their Genesis and played the snot out of it back in the day. To those people you will be happy to know you can now carry that experience around in your pocket, running fairly smoothly inside of Sega's no-frills emulator. There's even a nifty Bluetooth local multiplayer mode for you. Unfortunately I am not one of those people, and in fact, I don't even know anybody who is. The forum discussion has echoed a similar disappointment to my own, and I can only hope that someday we will see a proper version of a Virtua Fighter game on the App Store.

I'm not entirely sure what to even say about this. We post our fair share of iPhone game videos, so we know full well just how much time goes in to shooting, processing, and uploading gameplay video (and generally speaking our videos are only a couple minutes long). So when a TouchArcade forum member decides to post three whole hours worth of gameplay footage, split in to fourteen parts, well... That deserves some recognition. I suppose technically this is a Aralon: Sword and Shadow [$9.99] speed run as well, as the whole thing is completed in three hours, stopping only to do quests that are vital to the main plot line of the game.

Here is the first installment of the series:

Here's the complete series, in its full fourteen part glory: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14! Aiti1980, that's some serious dedication. Anyway, if you've yet to play Aralon, you can now watch three hours of YouTube video, or better yet, check out our review and give the game a download. It's an incredibly impressive open world RPG that's still one of the most talked about games on our forums and recently received an update adding a spirit wolf companion to the ranger class along with a bunch of other fixes and tweaks.

I'm not entirely sure what to even call Today I Die Again [Free]. I suppose technically it's a puzzle game, maybe, because you need to figure out what you need to do in order to "complete" it. Really though, it just seems like a really well done interactive poem. It won't take you much more than ten minutes to get all the way through it, and I'm really reluctant to even explain how it "plays" because discovering each component is all part of the experience.

If this trailer piques your interest, stop what you're doing right now and download the game:

Today I Die Again is a beautifully succinct journey that I won't soon forget. Unfortunately, because it's free, all kinds of people are downloading the game who both don't get it and don't appreciate it... So if you value your sanity, don't check the iTunes reviews. Also be sure not to read any more about the game than this article before you play through it, as I really think this is one of those things that's so much better to go in to not even knowing what to expect.

Ahoy, Catan [$4.99 / HD] for iPod Touch and iPhone owners! Man the poop decks, tow in the anchor, and put on your eye-patch. Catan has just went 2.0 with the “Seafarers Expansion,” an in-game download that adds two new Catan variants and 16 new scenarios within a new, sea-themed campaign. The price? $3.99.

That name should sound familiar to board game enthusiasts. To get specific, the Seafarers expansion adds ships, which are basically over-water roads.  Hilariously, pirates -- another new concept in this expansion -- can steal from these ships. Gold rivers (which give you a mineral of your own choice per adjacent city) and extra victory point tiles are also part of the package.

Other than the whole "new content" thing, the coolest part of this expansion is that you can test it out without ponying up the dough -- USM has also released a “Lite” version of which includes “The 4 Islands” scenario (of the sixteen) and the two additional game variants.

This delicious game of Catan is brought to us by Deviant Art user Luluriel!

We weren’t too crazy about Catan back when it was released, but this kind of support is always awesome -- especially for the people who really love the game being targeted for extra content drops. Hopefully, this’ll give the Carcassonne [$9.99] team a little bit jumpstart. I am more than eager to get my ‘sonne on with some Rivers content or something.

Today Gameloft revealed another upcoming game via their YouTube channel. Not much is known yet about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard other than it's a tactical FPS, but that much was safe to assume given the rest of the Rainbow Six series. The original Rainbow Six game was released all the way back in 1998 and has since spawned tons of sequels all generally revolving around rescuing hostages, thwarting terrorists, and doing other special operations kind of things. Shadow Vanguard will likely feature similar gameplay, and controls similar to that of other Gameloft FPS games.

Check out the teaser trailer starring faux newscaster Ross Halpert, which is both surprisingly corny and curiously devoid of any actual gameplay footage:

No further details have been announced. Although, historically looking at how Gameloft operates, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard will likely be available in the next few weeks for somewhere in between $4.99 and $6.99. I've enjoyed Rainbow Six games on consoles in the past, and am anxious to see how the series translates to iOS devices.

As mentioned in our post from this morning, the original iDOS fiasco last October was an incredible one. We constantly updated our initial post on the emulator throughout the day as we were more and more blown away by just how capable it was until Apple finally pulled the plug later that same day. Not long after, I reminisced on just how important iDOS was, hoping developers utilized the iDOS emulator framework to bring DOS classics to the iPhone.

As of today, iDOS is back, and free. The update text warns to "think thrice" before updating, as part of getting iDOS back on the store involved removing the iTunes functionality that allowed users to just drag and drop whatever executables they wanted within iDOS right in to iTunes to sync. You'd think that this would be the end of the iDOS saga, but forum member BoxOfSnoo informed us that the initial iDOS emulation rabbit hole is still there... It's just a little more complicated to get to.

Using the freeware utility iPhone Explorer, adding additional games to iDOS is as simple as browsing your apps in iPhone Explorer, opening the iDOS folder, and then dumping whatever files you want inside of the iDOS documents folder. These files will be available in iDOS, as /Apps/iDos/documents/ is the equivalent to C:\ inside of iDOS. This does not require you to be jailbroken.

What Apple's response will be to this discovery is anyone's guess. Technically speaking, I'm not entirely sure if iDOS is breaking any of the developer agreements since adding games is done entirely through an unsupported third party utility. Regardless, it seems that this version of iDOS is just as capable of the original version, just with a slightly different way for loading additional games on to it. If you haven't yet, you should really consider downloading iDOS. It's free and may not last long.

Oh, and of course, the thread on our forums for iDOS 2.0.1 is going wild again with people installing all kinds of crazy stuff on their iOS devices.

Trendy Entertainment’s ambitious hack-and-slash RPG Dungeon Defenders: First Wave [$.99] has gone 2.0 via a new update. The game now includes a new “Chase Camera,” GameSpy support for cross-platform play, and a new tutorial that tells you all you need to know about the game in “only a minute," instead of the old 10 or so.

Of course, there’s more, especially in the content realm. Trendy tells us that its added a 15 more levels to the cap, bringing it to a startling 70. It has also added new items, and a new challenge and campaign level for leveled-up heroes.

As for fixes, yeah, there are a lot of those in this update, too. Foremost, Trendy believes it has successfully squashed Game Center crash bugs and stabilized voice chat. Also, it’s tweaked item drops and values, thus making it harder to obtain hardcore drops and adding restrictions based on quality. And as if that wasn’t enough, look forward to some performance boosts and “minor bug fixes” game wide.

Now, you probably already know I wasn’t a huge fan of Dungeon Defenders. Even with these updates, I still feel like it’s a console game available for the iOS, but Trendy did tell us that UI improvements might be coming down the pipe, which, if good enough, could certainly make the game play like a real mobile title. Our collective fingers are crossed on this one because, despite its UI and control issues, Dungeon Defenders manages to be a deep and rewarding joint filled with a lot of cool functionality. With a good, streamlined UI it could be plain baller.

Just a small note here: Dungeon Defenders is .99 cents until tomorrow, Jan. 19. After this date, the game will be sold for the usual $4.99.

Angry Birds [$.99 / HD / Lite]. You have it. Your mom has it. And your big brother, even though he’s kind of a jerkwad, has enough heart in his chest to love it. In fact, over 50 million people have downloaded the physics-based puzzle game, so maybe that’s why none of us have been too surprised by the rumblings of an Angry Birds TV series or flick. The IP is, let say, popular.

But rumblings no more! Rovio Mobile CEO Mikael Hed recently sat down for a chat with C21media and confirmed that the Rovio has moved forward with plans to put out an Angry Birds animated show, though he wasn’t specific about what medium. It could be a web series, a flash series or, God bless ‘em, even a major TV production.

"It was a completely new area for us; we had to get our bearings there, and a sense of how the whole market was,” Hed said. In 2010, Rovio was reportedly shopping around the IP to Hollywood and whatnot, apparently in an attempt to see what people wanted.

Image via The-Bambookazee's brilliant deviantart page.

"That was the first part of the exercise, and now that we've done that, the next part is to move into production, and that's where we are right now.”

The popular opinion among blogs is that the Angry Birds show will be a good cartoon, and yeah, I can see that -- but Hed also doesn’t mention when we would see "Angry Birds The Show," which is unfortunate because I’ve just spent the last hour deleting episodes of “The Vampire Diaries”  to clear recording space on my DVR just in case Rovio takes Angry Birds to the TV. Now what am I going to watch!? Huh!?

UPDATE: The animated part was confirmed! Yay!

[Via the NY Post and Finger Gaming]

You may remember last October when a little app called iDOS snuck its way into the App Store. Every once in a while the review team at Apple falls asleep at the wheel and approves an app that probably shouldn't be allowed in the App Store. iDOS was one of those apps. It was a version of the DOSbox emulator that let you run DOS on your iOS device and load up all sorts of crazy old PC software.

Ah yes, I remember the iDOS day well. It was so much fun watching our article on iDOS constantly getting updated with whatever new feat of magic was discovered by the eager members in our forums. Many classic PC games ran incredibly well in iDOS, with full keyboard and mouse support, and the coup de grace was actually installing Microsoft Windows 3.0 on an iPad and playing the classic version of Solitaire included with it.

Like all good things though, the iDOS phenomenon quickly came to an end, and the app was removed from the App Store almost as suddenly as it appeared. Being able to load and run entire outside programs from within the iDOS app is a big no no according to Apple, and the thousands of people who had downloaded iDOS quickly backed up the app to their hard drives for safekeeping.

Then last night, iDOS surprisingly showed its face again in the App Store. In order to get it through the approval process, developer FAST Intelligence closed up the iTunes file sharing rabbit hole that was the gateway to loading whatever DOS programs you wanted, but has added some other nice functionality to try and compensate.

There are now 6 legal shareware games preloaded in iDOS which can be downloaded for free from the new “iDOS Store” within the app. The games can then be launched easily by selecting them from your collection, and no knowledge of DOS commands is necessary to get them going. For those that want to though, there is still access to the full DOS prompt for launching games.

Other additions include a full virtual joystick/d-pad and buttons rather than just a virtual keyboard, the ability to play on the iPhone/iPod touch in portrait mode just like the iPad, and Bluetooth keyboard support for text-based games. The virtual gamepad is actually really good, and makes playing games like Wolfenstein 3D a whole lot more enjoyable.

While it is pretty disappointing that you won't be able to go nuts running programs using the new iDOS, it's actually a pretty solid little emulator and still fun to play around with. Word on the street is that jailbroken devices can still load whatever games they want into this new version using file managing programs, but that doesn't seem very exciting to me since iDOS has been available as DosPad in the jailbreak App Store Cydia for a long time now, and offers that same functionality.

These screenshots show the new portrait mode gamepad controls for the iPad (left) and the iPhone (right). Click either image to enlarge.

If you missed out on iDOS the first time, it's still worth checking out this new version despite its limitations, especially as it's now free to download. Be warned though – if you have the original version of iDOS in your iTunes library, this new version is actually an update that will replace that one, so it's suggested that you back up the original app before downloading version 2.0. There's a brand new thread in our forums for discussing this rereleased version of iDOS, and hopefully this time Apple will let it stick around for longer than one day.

App Store Link: iDOS, Free (Universal)

Last month we had a hands-on preview of the upcoming iOS version of Dead Space from EA Mobile. Since then, anticipation for the title has been growing in our forums, and EA stoked this fire even more by releasing a set of iPad screenshots a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, at the EA event where I had a chance to play Dead Space, video of the game was not allowed. This is really one of the most graphically impressive titles that I've seen on iOS, and static screenshots just do not do it justice (though they look pretty fantastic anyway).

Today, EA has finally unveiled the first official video of Dead Space for iOS. In it you can really get a good idea of just how creepy the atmosphere is in the game, as well as how horrific the enemies are that you'll be facing. Note that just like the console version, the game screen in the iOS version is practically devoid of any HUD elements, allowing you to see more of the game and feel further immersed in the action.

The story for Dead Space on iOS will bridge the gap between the original Dead Space and the upcoming Dead Space 2 on consoles. EA has officially stated that Dead Space for iOS would hit the App Store the same date as Dead Space 2 on consoles, January 25th. This latest video has gotten me even more excited for the release, and after experiencing just how well the game translates to the touch screen I really can't wait to get my hands on it again. We'll bring you any additional information should EA decide to drop any, otherwise be on the lookout for Dead Space to land in the App Store next week.

A few days ago, developer Lakoo released a new iOS MMORPG into the App Store called Empire Online [Free]. Empire Online claims to be the biggest iPhone MMORPG with over 5 million users across Asia and Australia, and it is now available to US players. It's free to download and play, with an IAP currency system. There are four races and five classes to create your character from, with a deep skill system to learn as well as thousands of different items and equipment to collect. What is cool about the equipment in Empire Online is that it affects the look of your avatar, giving you a staggering amount of personalization to set yourself apart from the rest of the players online.

Visually, Empire Online employs an overhead perspective and pixel art style reminiscent of some classic 16-bit RPGs. Combat is turn-based and can have up to 20 combatants in a single battle. You can battle in real-time against other players in single PvP matches or team battles with up to 5 players on each team. Another interesting aspect is creating your own Empire where you can recruit members and battle to take control of territories and build your own cities as you expand your Empire's reach.

What I really like about Empire Online is the touch-friendly interface and ability to customize how you want to play. There are a number of different chat systems in the game that allow you to type out messages to all players, only those in your Empire, private one-on-one chats, and more. These text messages appear at the top portion of the screen, and all other online players' avatars are shown roaming around whatever world you happen to be in. These two elements can add a lot of clutter and confusion to the action on screen, especially when you're first starting out.

Luckily you are able to filter out which types of text messages appear, or turn them off altogether, and you can turn off the other player avatars as well. Shutting both of these off allowed me to focus on the early missions in the game without any distractions, and let me get a handle on how the game played. In this way, you can basically just play Empire Online as a solo game, leveling up your character and completing missions on your own. Likely there will be certain missions that require you to have a helping hand, but for the most part there seems to be a lot of gameplay available for those who aren't keen on interacting with the outside world.

I've enjoyed my fair share of RPGs over the years, but I've never gotten into the whole MMO thing. Partly because I've seen how they can overtake my friends' lives, but also partly because they can be intimidating to a newbie. Empire Online is the first one I've tried that I actually felt I could get the hang of, and I've been having a lot of fun with it so far. While I can't really speak to whether it will be satisfying to hardcore MMO players or not, it's definitely friendly to first-time players or those who are constantly on the go. Player discussion in our forums has been positive towards the gameplay itself, but critical towards the implementation of the IAP. At any rate, it's free to download and try out, so there's no reason not to check out Empire Online if you're in the market for a new MMORPG.

I love sprawling multi-million dollar platformers as much as the next guy, but I’ll take a small indie-developed project over the Super Mario Galaxies of the world any day. It boils down to execution, really. The good indie devs distill their games and bring to the fore one single, sometimes miraculous mechanic. Then, our underfunded heroes iterate and eventually offer us good games that lack the big budget fluff or unrealized stuff that sometimes worms its way into huge projects.

Yeah, yeah, you heard this all before. Welcome to mobile, Brad, you say. We see this all the time, you say. And to that I reply: hey, have you played They Need To Be Fed [.99 / HD] yet? Because even though it has problems, it could be the poster child for what we’re talking about here. It’s a no frills platformer with near perfect execution on a simple and entertaining mechanic. Oh, and it’s made by a single guy -- that’s, like, eight billion less people than the core Ratchet & Clank teams!

Provided you don’t already know about TNTBF, let’s talk about what it has to offer. It’s a 2D, physics-based platformer with hardly any plot to speak of and an art style that would melt any HAL Laboratories employee’s heart. But despite it being filled with so much color and life, it’s got a grim undertone. In TNTBF, you play as a silhouetted avatar with an endearingly misshapen head across a variety of levels in which the point is to die. Specifically, the end goal is always a squiggly monster’s gullet.

No worries. The sacred gameplay loop -- progress, fail, and die -- is still in effect, though in a more tortured way than normal. In TNTBF, it’s more like progress, fail, die... and then die again.

Fun stuff, sure, but the core mechanic is easily the most compelling thing in TNTBF. To move around and meet your doom as demanded, you’ll need to get good at moving around platforms. Each level is littered with various geometric objects, all of which the daring silhouette clings to via 360- degree gravity. So, when he jumps to, say, another platform, the game negotiates that platform’s gravitational pull versus the platform he just left. If the silhouette is closer to the latter, it'll cling to that one. Progress!

Momentum factors in as well. The faster your avatar moves, the more he’ll be able to bounce out of a platform’s pull. This leads to some interesting platforming, made all the more interested -- and dangerous -- when the game starts throwing in rotating platforms laced with spikes, exploding balls, cannons that shoot bullets at last known positions, and more.

And, yeah, it’s a breeze to shake bullets and jump around with the on-screen controls, but the jumping itself is a hair too floaty for me. Overall, TNTBF is flat-out missing a layer of accuracy that’s seems warranted for some of the more nontraditional platforming sections. Also, some of the levels expect way too much in terms of object avoidance, which kinda complicates this admittedly minor, yet annoying problem.

The good news is that this isn’t a punitive joint. Levels have smart checkpoints and accidental deaths are infinite. You’ll just get slapped on the wrist with a restart for your buffoonery or complications with the level design.

They Need To Be Fed is indeed, a smart, simple, and endearing platformer. The core mechanic might sound a little abstract, but don’t let that get in your way. In fact, just play it for free on the PC first. You see, this game used to be just a web-based project before publisher YoYo Games decided to bring it to iOS. Both versions of the game are a ton of fun, and it really comes down to whether you value portability or the ability to play it with your keyboard.

If you've somehow gone this long without being familiar with Donut Games, here's the gist: They consistently release some of the best 99¢ pick up and play games the App Store has to offer. All of their games are simple to play and feature a three star grading system where only a tiny bit of skill is required to earn one star, but getting all three is generally easier said than done. This gives their games a surprising amount of replay value, especially if you're the kind of person who insists on mastering every game you download.

The latest game from Donut Games is Cave Bowling [99¢], and somewhat similar to the Geico commercial features cavemen bowling, or what I suppose Donut Games imagines prehistoric bowling to be like. Apparently, bowling in the caveman era involves chucking your bowling ball to hit a series of bowling pins set up on different terrain while nearby cavemen (and cavewomen) watch in amazement.

At its core, Cave Bowling is very similar to the numerous catapult games available on the App Store as your control is limited to the angle and power of your shot. If you knock down all the pins, you unlock the next level. The game is scored by collecting bonus bones scattered about the level by hitting them with a pin or the bowling ball itself, and there's additional bonus points to be made by chaining pins on to one another. Points are deducted if you hit any spectators.

As you progress further in the game, Cave Bowling turns in to an entirely different animal. New gameplay elements are introduced such as turtles which you can bounce your bowling ball off of, snakes and other critters that periodically get in the way, and movable objects which can be positioned along a track. Like other Donut Games titles, difficulty scales well as each of these new elements are introduced one at a time.

Cave Bowling is a fun physics game that comes packed with everything we've come to expect of Donut Games. My only real nitpick is I wish it came loaded with Game Center, as Donut Games' web-based scoring system leaves much to be desired. Either way, I'm having a great time with Cave Bowling, as are people in our forum. We've basically been at the point where it's safe to just blindly download anything Donut Games releases, and I'm glad to say Cave Bowling continues that tradition.

Last week a trailer for a mysterious fantasy-based game by Gameloft hit the internet, causing rampant speculation across the iPhoneiverse (If that's not a word, it should be) regarding which game it was that Gameloft was setting its sights on next. We speculated this could be Gameloft's take on Zelda, and from the looks of it, that's exactly what we're getting.

Check out the new trailer:

Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden seems to have everything a good Zelda-esque game should have: A horse to ride around, items to use to get passed various obstacles, sliding block puzzles, and massive bosses. I'm excited to give it a try as Darksiders basically proved that I will play any game with similar gameplay mechanics to completion regardless of how good or bad it is. (Or in the case of Darksiders, how much headache-indusing screen tearing it has.)

Sacred Odyssey is landing on the App Store next month, likely launching at Gameloft's typical price point of somewhere between $4.99 and $6.99. In the meantime, we've got a thread for the game in our upcoming games forum if you're looking for even more speculation about the game.