It's really not an every day occurrence that a puzzle game piques my interest, and while I've yet to get my hands on RoboSockets, I really can't wait to try it. According to the preview material, instead of being a simple match three, RoboSockets also mixes in gameplay from both Tetris and pipe games. Instead of typical tiles, you're working with robots, and each robots needs to connect to a chain of five or more to be cleared. Doing so gives you energy, which plays in to the story of the game where you're attempting to revive the robot civilzation.

Check out the trailer:

RoboSockets is due for release on February 22nd for 99¢. For more details on the game, take a look at the game's thread in our forums.

This has been a crazy week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. I saw a ton of different kinds of mobile phones, tablets, and other devices running all sorts of non-iOS apps and operating systems. Overall, it was really interesting checking out what the competition has to offer. Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to truly gauge the relative gaming performance of these new phones and tablets, as curiously enough, most were just loaded with a smattering of ports of last year's Gameloft games (or older, in the case of Shrek Kart) and Angry Birds. When asked, despite superior hardware, most developers still seemed reluctant to invest too much time or energy in to building games for these new devices, really making me wonder how much longer this "wait and see" approach will persist.

Anyway, the reason I was even in attendance at Mobile World Congress in the first place was to participate as a judge in the International Mobile Gaming Awards. The whole process was incredibly elaborate, with everyone involved taking the whole thing very seriously. It was great deliberating games with an international pool of judges, and seeing what people from particular regions tended to prefer. I hope to play a bigger role in the event next year as well, and hopefully can get some more developers to submit their games for judging than we saw this year.

Oddly enough, even though all mobile platforms were allowed entry, iOS games swept the awards:

Best Casual Game: Plants vs. Zombies, $2.99 - [Review / Forum Thread]
Best Real World Game: AR Invaders, 99¢ - [Forum Thread]
Best Sports Game: Snowboard Hero, Free - [Forum Thread]
Excellence in Design: Infinity Blade, $5.99 - [Review / Forum Thread]
Excellence in Game Play: Beyond Ynth, $1.99 - [Review / Forum Thread]
Most innovative Game: Papa Sangre, $6.99 - [Review / Forum Thread]
People's Choice Award: Perfect Cell, $4.99 - [Review / Forum Thread]
Operator's Choice Award: Snowboard Hero, Free - [Forum Thread]
Grand Prix / Game of the Year: Beyond Ynth, $1.99 - [Review / Forum Thread]

I'll try to raise more awareness to the IMGA when entries for 2012 are starting to be accepted as after I posted about the nominees being announced, I got confused instant messages from quite a few developers who weren't even aware they could enter. Regardless, some great games won, and hopefully we can get some even better games submitted next year.

If you weren’t paying attention to iOS gaming last Summer, then you may have missed a total gem called Pix’n Love Rush [99¢]. The best way to describe Pix’n Love Rush is to say that it’s the platforming genre’s answer to WarioWare. The goal is to run, jump, and shoot your way through various bite-sized platforming sections that appear quickly one after the other. As you scored well and built up your multiplier, the “skin” of the game would change to one of 7 different retro-gaming themes.

The action was frantic and fun in Pix’n Love Rush, and we really enjoyed the game in our review from last June. We also recommended it as a game to get in our 2010 Buyer’s Guide, I chose it as one of my personal favorites of 2010, and Apple even recognized it as one of “The Best Games You’ve Never Played”.

So while pretty much everyone had been enjoying the heck out of Pix’n Love Rush, it never really got any of the updates that had been talked about by the developers in our forums. It was updated last September with Game Center achievements and leaderboards, and a native iPad version called Pix'n Love Rush DX [$1.99] was released in December that included a few additional features, but none of the promised additional modes were ever added to the timed 5 minute and endless modes in the game.

Now, more than 8 months after the initial release, the iPhone version of Pix’n Love Rush is finally getting some update love. The big new addition in this latest update is an endless runner type of game called Cursed Rush. Here you automatically move to the right as you jump from platform to platform as they disappear from under your feet. There are five difficulty levels in this new mode, each with their own set layout of platforms. Scoring is based on the percentage of the level that you complete, so in this way it doesn’t really seem “endless” though I’m not totally sure what happens when you reach 100%.

Besides the Cursed Rush mode which is proving to be a ton of fun, there are a number of other welcome additions in this update. The menus have been redesigned and are more streamlined, and the long-awaited ability to flip the screen has finally been added. Also the controls feel much tighter, and you can now pause the game and move the virtual buttons around to better suit you, which is fantastic as I’ve always felt the jump and shoot buttons were too far apart. Finally, and best of all, there are two blank options on the mode selection screen that hint at additional modes to come soon (and one “not so soon”), so I’m really excited to see what’s in store next for Pix’n Love Rush.

If you already own the game then hurry to your iTunes and grab this latest update. If you’ve never heard of Pix’n Love Rush, it comes highly recommended if you like platforming games, high scoring challenges, or awesome retro graphics.

Last month at Macworld 2011 I spent some time playing with XMG Studio’s latest game Cows vs Aliens [99¢], and yesterday it became available for download in the App Store. Cows vs Aliens is a super casual high scoring game that uses a gameplay mechanic that struck me as especially unique. I enjoyed my ten minutes or so of playing Cows vs Aliens at Macworld, but now that I have the full game in my hands I’m liking it even more and finding it especially hard to put down.

In Cows vs Aliens, waves of cows will appear from the bottom of the screen and it’s your job to herd them into the barn opening located at the top of the screen. Touching the screen creates a circular barrier of sorts, and you’ll use these to push the cows along in the right direction. Making this task more difficult are aliens that begin to appear in saucers along with the cows at the bottom of the screen. You’ll need to weed these aliens out from the pack of cows and push them off the sides of the screen into oblivion, and if even one makes it into your barn then it’s game over.

Those are the basics, but there are additional aspects in Cows vs Aliens that add depth and strategy to the gameplay. Each wave requires you to herd a certain amount of cows into the barn all whilst a clock is ticking away. The clock resets each time you complete a wave, but the number of cows required increases with each wave and the timer can easily tick away if you’re not paying attention. There are also harder types of aliens that will begin to appear as you progress. The initial aliens are pretty slow and easy to shove off the side, but later aliens are quicker and more aggressive, and aren’t so willing to be pushed around.

The real hook in Cows vs Aliens is the scoring system. Cows come in several varieties, and are worth between 10 and 50 points each when wrangled into the barn. Herding a group of cows into the barn at the same time adds a multiplier to the scoring that increases with each successive cow captured. Being patient and letting a huge group of cows amass before herding them inside can earn you some insane scores, but it also gets decidedly more difficult to weed out the aliens when they’re in the middle of a big bunch of cows. Pushing cows off the sides while trying to dispatch aliens won’t count against you, but it does deplete the amount of cows you can use to score with.

The controls in the game just feel good, and there’s something very fun about pushing around a herd of cows. The natural inclination is to use two thumbs to push cows from the outer edges towards the middle of the screen, but Cows vs Aliens utilizes multitouch which can prove very beneficial if used wisely. You can create up to 5 points of contact on the iPhone, and up to 11 on the iPad. While I generally stick to the two thumbs approach it can be really helpful to stick an extra finger or two onto the screen when a pesky alien is trying to sneak into my barn. This can result in what resembles a game of finger Twister as things get increasingly more hectic. It’s definitely a lot of fun.

If I had to come up with one negative about Cows vs Aliens, it would be that it’s really just a one-trick pony. There’s only the one mode with wave after wave of cows where the goal is to get a high score. Still, it doesn’t make it any less fun and I’ve been hooked on trying to rise up the ranks on the Game Center leaderboards. Some of the best high scoring games around, like Doodle Jump [99¢] or Canabalt [$2.99], rely on a single type of gameplay and I think that Cows vs Aliens has found a similar winning formula. The game is also really cute, with colorful Retina Display graphics and a catchy tune. Coupled with the interesting control mechanic and compelling scoring system, Cows vs Aliens has totally reeled me in.

You can head over to our forums for a discussion about the game and further impressions, and if you’ve got an extra dollar floating around and enjoy high score-based survival games then I’d suggest hoofing it on over to the App Store and checking out Cows vs Aliens.

Back in early December, Gameloft revealed the latest entry in their series of highly inspired takes on established franchises called Starfront: Collision, a real-time strategy game that takes more than a few cues from Blizzard’s insanely popular Starcraft series. After hitting a slight delay from its intended release date last week, Starfront: Collision [Free] is now live in the App Store. Like Gameloft’s previous release Sacred Odyssey [Free/HD], Starfront can initially be downloaded for free and provides a short taste of the game, with a $6.99 IAP to unlock the full version.

Typical of many RTS games, Starfront features 3 playable races who are all in a battle over the rare resource Xenodium that is found on the planet of Sinistral. There is the human race known as the Consortium, a hostile alien race called Myriad, and a sentient robot race called the Wardens. The full version of Starfront features a 20 level campaign that is split into 3 sections which has you playing as a different race during each one.

Additionally there is a skirmish mode with 7 maps to play on and a multiplayer mode that features both local and online play for up to 4 people. Unfortunately, since the game has only been out for a few hours I haven’t been able to find an online match to test it out. Hopefully in the coming days the servers will fill up as more people buy the game. While a decent sized campaign and a skirmish mode are nice features on the single player front, strong multiplayer is what will really give Starfront longevity.

One of the biggest issues with RTS games on the iPhone is being able to have controls and UI that work on such a small screen. I’ve only spent limited time with Starfront, but it seems that they’ve nailed it pretty well on this front. Navigating the terrain and setting up any of the 8 different structures is a snap. There are 10 different unit types for each race, and for the most part they are easy to control. It can be a bit difficult to select certain units because they appear so tiny on the screen, but there are some nice advanced features like assigning units to groups for quick selection or creating a selection box by pinching the screen with two fingers. With a bit of practice and some forethought, navigating and commanding your army isn’t a problem.

A game like Starfront is really hard to judge off of brief impressions, since it will take many hours of play to determine how balanced each race is and stress test the online multiplayer servers. That said, my first impressions of Starfront are really good. We’ll definitely put the game through its paces in the coming days, but seeing as it’s free to download initially I can definitely recommend checking it out. Just be aware that it’s a 680mb download and requires a 3rd generation device or above.

The free version of Starfront gives you access to 4 tutorial levels that do a wonderful job at explaining how to play, and the first mission of the campaign. A $6.99 in-app purchase will then unlock the remaining 19 campaign levels, skirmish mode, and multiplayer. There are a ton more impressions rolling into our forums which have been largely positive, and there is a dedicated thread to finding online opponents and discussing strategies. I like what I’ve seen of Starfront so far, and it’s worth trying out the free version if you’re a fan of real-time strategy games.

The Blocks Cometh makes me want to toss my iPod into a toilet. I envision this happening in slow motion. The iPod tumbles end over end towards the porcelain rim and then a triumphant splash of thick, watery droplets crown the device as it makes contact with the water. Maybe there’ll be a sizzle or two as the electronics thrash before drowning. That’d be hip.

I can’t help but to compare The Blocks Cometh to Super Meat Boy because of the love and hate relationship I’ve developed with it. Like with Team Meat’s game, The Blocks Cometh has style to spare, a superb tone, and a lot to share, but it’s so demanding AND I suck so bad at it, that it makes me want to snuff my iPod and listen to it fizzle.

You get the idea. But there’s an important distinction between these two games: The Blocks Cometh isn’t about trial-and-error, and is it as insane-hard as SMB. It's a manageable game -- that I still somehow manage to suck at -- and a different kind of game to boot.

At its core, The Blocks Cometh is like a crazy game of Tetris that has you, as an avatar, climbing up stacks of blocks that fall from the sky. You can double jump, slide, and even shoot block as they tumble, which is harder than it sounds. I suck because I get can't click with the game's pace and the precision; the speed of the falling blocks ramps up quickly, and you need to be pretty nimble in order to navigate the environment as it changes. I'm just not fast enough.

To give you a sense of what I'm talking about: a common scenario involves interaction with three blocks and the use of at least two action moves in order to reach the highest point. Sometimes you’ll need to slide on a falling block, jump onto a stagnate one, and then double jump to the other side of the level in the span of a second or so.

When you manage to do this you feel like some sort of super ninja -- the master of all things jump, slide, and shoot. It’s great... until you get clobbered because your timing was a nano-second off, which mine usually is.

Like SMB, The Blocks Cometh rocks an excellent tone and a visual flair reminiscent of an 8-bit game. It’s highly stylized and fitting, especially when you factor in the retro-infused music that plays over the action. It’s good.

So, a fair word of warning to those of you who don’t want to get bludgeoned by a game on a device that can make phone calls: The Blocks Cometh is tough and requires a level of precision that I can only barely muster (not that I’m a super ninja or anything.) But if you don’t mind a little pain with your video games, then this is definitely worth some space on your device.

You have to hand it to the Telltale Games’ crew behind Back to the Future Episode 1. Not only did it manage to create a terrific licensed-based game, it also innovated within the IP without stomping on what makes it great. From the voice work to the music, to the clever writing and look, this is faithful, though more light-hearted, extension to the series.

I tend to imagine of this game as a virtual melting pot filled to the brim with the stuff that makes Back to the Future great -- the dialogue, the boyish adventure, the characters, the audio, and the inventions of a madman scientist. Telltale stirs this all together and makes a harmonious whole.

The audio in particular tickles me. The voice work from the sound-alike part of the cast is stunning, and while Christopher Lloyd can expose his advanced age with some of his exasperated deliveries, he does a great job reprising his role as Doc Brown. The original series’ music also gives the game a satisfying movie vibe, which is fitting as a result of its strong point-and-click roots and cinematic flair.

One spot I would have liked to see a bit more oomph in would be the tale itself, as its has a much lighter tone than the movies. The repercussions of the time-splitting shenanigans of Brown and Marty seem distant, the dialogue is less crude, and Biff isn’t as dark of an antagonist. Overall, the tone mimics the cartoonish and rubbery visual style.

That said, I dig the story for what it is: a gleeful romp filled with Telltale’s signature warmth and humor on top of the franchises’ own blend. And while Telltale does take some artistic liberties by heaping in new, quirky characters and unique situations, there's plenty to enjoy as a Back to the Future fan. You’ll hear the lines you’ll want to hear spill out in natural ways, and see the characters you love react as you’d imagine they would. Good, fun stuff all around.

The plot goes something like this. Marty, six months after the events of "Back to the Future III," is beginning to miss Doc Brown. And soon after he goes back to peruse Brown’s old lab, he finds himself attempting to save the old man once again. This time, though, the rescue is in a swingin’ Prohibition-era version of the series’ fabled town featuring a young Doc Brown.

The puzzles in Back To The Future are shaped for a wider audience, no doubt. Most are disposable, easily passed by with a dash of thought and basic game-side item use logic. In stark contrast, the more action-oriented puzzles linger beyond their welcome and feel as if they’re artificially elongated to milk a certain scene. And that's not to say that the puzzle experience is bad; I didn't mind the lean back kind of adventure experience, but Monkey Island-style involvement this does not require.

On an unrelated note, this probably isn't an port of the PC version in the traditional sense, but the mouse-centric menu navigation leaves much to be desired on iPad. However, Telltale's slick virtual stick interface rears its head in this game providing a native-like movement experience. You can walk or run wherever by dragging your finger or, optionally, by pointing and clicking on an item of interest.

So, yeah, if you’re in the market for a great Telltale Games point and click joint or an actual, quality Back To The Future game, hit iTunes and get playing. There's a ton to like about Back to the Future.

Note: On performance: there's some slight frame rate chugging in some of the action-heavy sequences. Also, while the characters and the prominent textures look fine, you'll notice a smattering of low-res texture work on unimportant objects. This stuff is distracting to some degree, but it never kept me from enjoying the game.

App Store Link: Back to the Future Ep 1 HD, $6.99

It's always nice to see a game bring an innovative mechanic to the App Store, and that's just what LambdaMu Games' eerie new light-based mystery puzzler Infinight [link] has done.

In Infinight, darkness is your enemy. The game starts off with you waking up in an abandoned hospital shrouded in darkness, with no memory of who you are or what has brought you there. You wander about trying to solve the mystery of just what in the world is going on, but it's a challenge as you can only see a few feet in any direction save for the occasional flashes of lightning (and, later, occasional illumination pads and the like). And bumping into walls isn't the only hazard; mysterious vortexes (which cannot be seen without outside illumination) and burning holes that open and close litter the terrain and stand to do you in.

You must traverse 50 perilous levels, across several environments in this fashion -- from the start point to the distant exit -- before finding the real truth. Along the way you can collect tape recorders which contain clues, from both yourself and others, that slowly help piece together the mysterious puzzle, but finding them often leads you well off the path to the exit, introducing further peril. And certain levels add a bit of haste to your step as you try to avoid an ultimate darkness that sweeps slowly across the level -- think The Nothing from The Neverending Story. The whole scenario is a rather clever gameplay mechanic.

Adding to the stark and eldritch atmosphere is a constant, sinister audio track that comes together with all the rest to really set a mood. It's creepy. The Retina display is supported, where available, with graphics the developer claims are so sharp they'll cut your eyes out. (More creepy.)

The game is controlled via onscreen D-pad (which can be positioned on the right or left of the screen) which moves you one space on the game screen in the direction of your tap. You'll want to be precise with the controls, or it's curtains.

An online multiplayer mode involving both a Runner and a Chaser that plays live over Game Center is demonstrated here.

Infinight is not a fast-paced game -- so much so that likely some gamers will find frustration -- but it is evocative and challenging. Puzzle fans who like a slice of atmosphere to go with their quest for the goal should enjoy what Infinight has to offer.

Remember the trailer for the Crescent Moon Games' upcoming title Gears? No? Well here it is again, and it's really worth watching a second time just to marvel at how they've manage to clip together gameplay footage of a ball rolling game to make it seem this epic:

Sure, Crescent Moon is known for their RPG offerings like Aralon: Sword and Shadow and Ravensword: The Fallen King, but there's no disputing the fact that ball rolling games have worked great on iOS devices, especially when combined with both adventure and puzzle elements. Dark Nebula Episode 1 [99¢] and Dark Nebula Episode 2 [$1.99] are fantastic examples of this.

Developer Josh Presseisen provided us the following hands-on video today, and while I'm not entirely sure it will live up to everyone's expectations after that crazy of a trailer, it does look pretty cool:

Gears is scheduled for release as a universal app in early March, and while they're not discussing final pricing yet, they've said it will be comparable with similar games on the App Store. We can't wait to try a finalized version of the game to see if the Crescent Moon magic that made Ravensword and Aralon is capable of transcending genres or not.

Well it's Wednesday again, which means many things, but in the world of iOS it means one thing: A tidal wave of game releases. If you recently picked up a Verizon iPhone, and haven't yet experienced a App Store Wednesday, here's how it works- Developers can set specific release dates for their various games and apps on the App Store. Games released today had their dates set to 2/17/11. The trick is, these games are released internationally, as the clocks in each region tick over to actually being the 17th. This allows us to get an early heads-up on what's coming out, before things are actually released on the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST.

Here's what's going to be available:

Starfront: Collision, Free + $6.99 IAP - [Forum Thread] - I've spent many sleepless nights hoping for Blizzard to actually release a legit iOS port of StarCraft, and while I hate to continue using the "Well, at least I appreciate Gameloft bringing a game we'll never see on the App Store as a clone!" excuse... I have to. I'm a little more excited for the eventual and inevitable release of Starfront: Collision HD, but impressions for the iPhone version of the game have been positive so far in our forums. I can't wait for people to start downloading and playing this game, as the online four player multiplayer sounds like it could be excellent.

Back to the Future Ep. 1 HD, $6.99 - [Forum Thread] - Words can't fully express how much I love the Back to the Future trilogy, so naturally, any video game (save that horrible NES game) based on the series gets me totally excited. This game has already been released on both the Mac and PC, and has additional episodes in the pipeline. We're going to be reviewing this ASAP to see how the iOS port is, as Telltale's track record of iOS releases hasn't exactly been spotless.

The Blocks Cometh, 99¢ - [Forum Thread] - We posted a preview earlier, but this game plays similar to The Incident in that your goal is to avoid falling blocks, and climb as high as possible. There is a free Flash version, but it looks like the iOS port is going to be great.

Volcano Escape, $1.99 - [Forum Thread] - This 2.5D platform-shooter has an interesting premise in that in each level you're trying to escape from a volcano. There seems to be a ton of weaponry, power-ups, and even online leaderboards and achievements.

Bug Wars, $1.99 - [Forum Thread] - An arcade style first person shooter of sorts where you must save the world from an invasion of... bugs? (Well, at least it's not another zombie game.) It looks like there's an impressive amount of weapons to use, and I admit, I'm a total sucker for any game that has massive bosses like the one found in the above trailer.

Ridge Racer Accelerated HD, Free + IAP - [Forum Thread] - Well, it's Ridge Racer, on the iPad. I would have hoped that a little more care would have gone in to this port, but judging by the screenshots, these are some seriously low resolution textures for a "HD" game. Regardless, if you can't get enough Ridge Racer, now you can have it on your iPad.

Back in January, one of the unfortunate aspects of developing for the App Store reared its ugly head. Developer Halfbot’s popular Flash title The Blocks Cometh was stolen nearly pixel for pixel and released in the App Store by a different developer. This sort of thing has certainly happened before, but what made it even worse is that Halfbot didn’t even find out about this injustice until they saw the counterfeit version of their game in the App Store’s New & Noteworthy section. So not only did their game get released under their noses while they were in the midst of porting it to iOS themselves, but Apple even featured it.

Halfbot quickly took action and informed Apple of the situation, the wheels of justice cranked ever so slowly, and eventually the unauthorized version of The Blocks Cometh was pulled from the App Store. Since then, Halfbot has finished up the actual port of The Blocks Cometh for iOS and is set to release the game tomorrow. Here's a quick trailer for the game:

If you aren’t familiar with The Blocks Cometh, it’s a game similar to The Incident [$1.99] where an endless supply of blocks come falling at you from the sky and you must continually stay on top of them as they pile high into the sky, while also avoiding getting crushed by one. You’re able to jump, double jump, wall jump, and destroy the blocks using various offensive weaponry to help you achieve great heights. You can check out the original Flash version of The Blocks Cometh to get an idea of the gameplay.

What is really exciting is that fellow indie developer Ravenous Games, creators of League of Evil [99¢/Lite], has teamed up with Halfbot to cross-promote new content in each others’ games. We liked League of Evil a lot when we reviewed it earlier this month, and fans of the game can look forward to an update that adds 30 brand new levels that are themed after The Blocks Cometh. Conversely, when The Blocks Cometh launches tomorrow there will be some unlockable characters that have been taken directly from League of Evil, and offer new ways to enjoy the game.

The update for League of Evil has already been submitted and is currently “in review” with Apple, so be on the lookout for it as it can be released just about at any time. As stated, The Blocks Cometh is already approved and set to release tomorrow, which typically means later tonight for most everybody in the US. We’ll definitely be taking a look at it just as soon as we get our hands on it. If you are a fan of awesome pixel art, retro chip-tunes, and solid platforming then prepare to have an enjoyment overload when The Blocks Cometh is released and League of Evil gets updated with new content.

I travel a ton, both for many of the conventions and events we cover on TouchArcade, as well as because staying in one place for too long is boring. Traveling a lot is liberating for many reasons, but mainly because you realize just how little of the stuff you own you actually need. Specifically, from a computing standpoint, I've got my entire infrastructure down to a single laptop bag which houses absolutely everything I need for TouchArcade and all other things I use my computer for.

When bag space is at a premium, you rarely have room for any "unitasker" as Alton Brown puts it, which sadly leaves many traditional gaming accessories without a place in my mobile arsenal. I've made a special exception for the Fling iPad joysticks, but I haven't had an actual USB gamepad for ages. Normally this isn't much of an issue, but since 2011 is the 25th anniversary of both the Metroid and Zelda series, I've taken it upon myself to replay both series in emulators as carting my originals (and associated consoles) around just isn't realistic.

This is where Joypad [$2.99 / Lite] comes in. Utilizing a small iOS app combined with a companion program running on your Mac or Windows PC, you can use your iPhone as a game controller. Setup is simple, and basically just amounts to having both your computer and iPhone on the same wireless network while having both the iOS app and the companion program running. In the Joypad Connect computer program you'll then select one of the pre-sets for mapping buttons to keys, then select your iOS device from the list of devices and you'll be good to go. If you're playing an emulator or game that uses different keys, you can create a new profile for that, and go to town mapping the controls it uses to the virtual buttons of Joypad. It all works really well.

This will be somewhat obvious if you've played the various emulated games that Sega has released on the App Store, and other classic titles released by other developers... but often times these classic games simply require the precision and tactile feedback of a real controller. So, how well Joypad works is largely dependent on two factors: 1. How good you are at handling virtual controls. 2. The control demands of the game you're emulating and whether or not those will even jive with Joypad. Specifically, games that require super-precise D-pad dancing aren't so great. Also, games that require you to hold down more than two buttons can be hit or miss depending on what buttons they actually use and how often you need to use that button combination.

Another issue I've randomly run in to is that Joypad is highly dependent on a low-latency WiFi network. It has worked great in most locations, but this week I've been staying in an area of Barcelona with so many WiFi networks that my menu to select them on my Mac scrolls for ages. With the local WiFi signal spectrum this jam packed, I've had issues just browsing the Internet, so it's not much of a surprise that Joypad also suffers. I don't expect this to impact most people, but if you live in a super-crowded urban environment just be aware that your game controls will only perform as well as your local WiFi climate will allow.

That being said, Joypad is without a doubt one of my favorite non-game apps that I've tried lately. Sure, it was released almost a year ago now, so it's very existence will likely be old news for some. However, if you're like me and never really had reason to look for something like Joypad before, now you know about it. $3 for the app is also considerably cheaper than any worthwhile USB gamepad, and while it is by no means a substitution for real physical controls, it sure is a great travel companion.

If you were hanging around the arcades back in 1983 (and I’m willing to bet at least some of you were), then you probably remember the classic game called Tapper. In Tapper it was your job to man several counters in a bar and rapidly serve drinks to approaching patrons, while simultaneously collecting their empty glasses before they slide off the end of the counter and shatter all over the floor. Tapper was an extremely fast-paced game and notoriously difficult, and it is also well known for originally being sponsored by Budweiser and featuring their logo throughout the game.

This aspect of Tapper didn’t go over too well though, as it’s common knowledge that kids love video games (as do adults!) and placing a game laden with Budweiser branding in arcades that are crawling with children is generally frowned upon. The next year, Tapper was rechristened as Root Beer Tapper and featured nearly identical gameplay minus the Budweiser logos and with root beer as the beverage being served. Root Beer Tapper is the game that is more commonly recognized out of the two as it went on to receive various home console ports and has been included in numerous retro compilations.

Recently, it was announced that Warner Bros. and developer Square One would be releasing a brand new version of the Tapper franchise for iOS called Tapper World Tour. Tapper World Tour will retain the same basic gameplay elements of the original Tapper and Root Beer Tapper but will have you working in bars around the world, and instead of just serving your average beer to patrons you’ll be serving drinks that are appropriate to the locale that you’re working.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the original Root Beer Tapper 1984 arcade game and Tapper World Tour on an iPhone 4 (click images to enlarge)

Perhaps the most exciting development from Tapper World Tour is that the game is being drawn and animated by the legendary Don Bluth, who has worked on countless classic animated films for studios such as Disney and Fox but is immediately recognized by gamers as the artist behind classic laserdisc arcade games Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. You can check out Tapper World Tour in action in the first trailer for the game:

The developers aren’t getting any more specific about a release date beyond “within the coming months” but we do know they will have a playable build of Tapper World Tour at GDC which starts at the end of this month. We’re eager to get our hands on the game to see how the new version plays out on iOS. Personally, a touch screen seems like a perfect place to slide beers down a counter towards thirsty drinkers, but I have no idea if that is actually the mechanic used in the game. Make sure to check out the official Facebook page for Tapper World Tour and we’ll bring you more information on the game just as soon as we get it.

After being released in October of 2008, JellyCar [Free] went on to become one of the most popular titles in a young App Store. JellyCar is a 2D side-scrolling driving/platforming/puzzle game that utilizes a soft physics engine, meaning practically everything in the game has an extremely bouncy, Jello-like behavior. The goal was to complete each course in as little time as possible by accelerating forwards or backwards, tilting the angle of your car using the accelerometer, and occasionally enlarging your car to a massive size to get past some of the terrain. JellyCar launched for free with a healthy amount of levels to play, and since release has been downloaded nearly 6 million times.

A little more than a year after JellyCar hit the App Store, a sequel was released aptly titled JellyCar 2 [99¢/HD]. JellyCar 2 maintained the core gameplay of the original, and besides adding new levels there were also a number of new features included as well. There was a simple editor where you could create your own levels, a long jump mode where the only goal was to launch your car as far as possible, and an odd puzzle game called Jelly Factory where you sorted various Tetris-like pieces. There was also the ability to customize your car’s colors and utilize two special powerups to make your way through the game.

While it was neat to see so many interesting features in JellyCar 2, it felt a bit scatterbrained as it moved away from what made the first game so much fun - mashing through cleverly designed levels as fast as possible. Last week, series creator Walaber and Disney released the third entry in the series, JellyCar 3 [99¢], which ditches a few of the features from the last game and refocuses on what made the original JellyCar so great. Despite a couple of hiccups, JellyCar 3 manages to be the most fun JellyCar yet.

JellyCar 3 comes with 50 brand new levels to play through, each one with a hidden exit to find and 3 stars to earn based on completion time. The levels are much more interactive than they were in the previous games, with a ton of moving parts and platforms that will launch your bouncy car around. The powerups from JellyCar 2 return, one that causes your wheels to stick to any surface and one that ties a balloon to your car and lets you float around a level. Both of these special items are used to great effect in the puzzle-like designs of the levels.

An interesting new feature in JellyCar 3 is the ghost replay which allows you to race against your own ghost run through a level as well as those of anyone online. JellyCar 3 uses Game Center for achievements but has its own online leaderboard system for tracking high scores and replays. Unfortunately, creating a username to upload my own high scores seems to be broken for me, as well as some of the players in our forums, though the developer is looking into the cause of this problem and will issue a fix as soon as possible. I am still able to download and race ghosts from the global leaderboards from people who haven’t had this issue, and I’m able to view and save locally the replay from any completed level in my own game.

One slightly odd new feature in JellyCar 3 is the ability to rewind a short portion of your run if you happen to screw up. The game initially comes with 10 rewinds to use, and you can buy packs of rewinds as IAP if you need more. I’ve heard mixed feelings about this addition. On one hand, the rewind feature is completely optional and it lets the more casual players progress in the game without having to completely redo a level if they mess up. On the other hand, the entire game is built around the idea of completing a level in one run as quickly as possible. Giving people the ability to fix their mistakes until they achieve perfect runs ruins the integrity of that aspect of the game. Regardless of how you feel about this feature it’s important to know that it’s there, and personally I’ll never use the rewind as that would ruin most of the fun for me.

Overall, JellyCar 3 is a fantastic effort. The 50 levels are a ton of fun to play through and figure out, and Walaber has promised even more levels with future updates. The graphics are also much improved over the previous games with far more animated bits throughout the levels and support for the Retina Display. The car customization is back too, and beyond just picking the colors for your car’s body and wheels you can actually choose from a bunch of different designs or even draw your own from a simple in-game design editor. I’ve surprisingly spent a ton of time just creating cool cars by drawing stuff in the templates, which has proven to be really fun.

If you have no idea what JellyCar is, then you should definitely download the free original to see what it’s all about as the subsequent games are very similar. If having a level editor and mini games is really important to you, you’ll have to stick with JellyCar 2 for those features. If you’re any sort of JellyCar fan at all though, JellyCar 3 is easily the best one yet and is highly recommended.

It's pretty hard to get excited for any kind of match-3 game anymore, but after checking out the trailer for the upcoming Liqua Pop I walked away pretty impressed. The gameplay in Liqua Pop revolves around organizing the flow of the drops that fall from the top of the screen. You can use their fluidity to create shapes and combine drops, and clearing drops from the pile will slowly help Toadie the frog inch his way up the leaf on the side of the screen.

This trailer hints at even more nuances to the gameplay, but at this time nothing more is known besides what is described above. What I do know, however, is that I'm really digging the bright, colorful look of Liqua Pop and the convincing liquid effects of the drops. Have a look yourself:

As you can see from the video, Liqua Pop has a really vibrant look. It will be optimized for Retina Display as well, so it should be extra crisp on those devices. The gameplay sounds interesting due to the liquid nature of the drops that are used for play, but we'll have to wait and see if Liqua Pop really offers anything more than your average color matching game when we actually get our hands on it. The game is being developed by iChromo and published by EA Mobile, and they expect to have Liqua Pop out by the end of February. There's currently a discussion thread in our forums for the game and we'll take a closer look at Liqua Pop upon release.