I've always tried to reserve my own usage of the word 'extreme' for cases that really warranted it. Perhaps that's just a side effect of growing up in the '80s, when everything that was anything was labeled 'extreme.' To that end, Full Fat's Flick Golf Extreme [$2.99] is indeed an 'extreme' update to the original Flick Golf [99¢], but only in its locales, the gameplay hasn't changed much.

For the most part, the mechanics from Flick Golf remain intact in Extreme. You flick the ball off the tee, then you swipe to get it into the hole. You can swipe as much as you want to alter the direction mid-air, but you'll only have the balls first three bounces to change course once it hits the ground. Your score is tallied by a series of different facets, but much like the first one, it's more about stylized shots than accuracy. You can get a lot of points for whacking a ball straight into the hole, but you'll get more by hitting it off-course and swiping like a crazy person to get it back on target.

It's a simple, enjoyable mechanic that didn't need much in the way of refreshing for this release. Both World Tour and Quickshot make a return here, with World Tour acting like a campaign mode of sorts and Quickshot tasking you to rack up as many points as possible in a short amount of time. If you snag a bull's-eye or a hole-in-one along the way, you'll get time added. In addition to those is a Five Ball mode, where you get five balls as opposed to the campaign's nine to get as many points as you can on each course, with a hole-in-one giving you an additional ball.

If you get three hole-in-one's in a row in any mode, your ball will light on fire á la NBA Jam, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what this actually changed, except perhaps as a score multiplier. Either way, it certainly adds to the extreme nature of the whole experience.

The 'extreme' comes more in the way of location than it does in flaming balls. In lieu of playing on standard golf courses, you'll be flicking balls off of helicopters, moving boats and from atop buildings across five different courses. Each course is unlocked by scoring a medal on the previous one and each has its own Game Center leaderboard attached to it. With the exception of the fifth and final course, you shouldn't have too much trouble unlocking each of the courses. The last one tasks you with getting gold medals on the other four courses, which is a bit more challenging.

There are also a whole slew of achievements for the Game Center lovers, but more importantly there is a full statistical breakdown of how you're playing. Perhaps it's just the statistics nerd in me, but I rather enjoy being able to play a game that keeps track of trivial facts like how long my ball has been in the air or my furthest drive. It adds a sense of progression on top of the unlocks and achievements that feels a bit more personal.

Flick Golf Extreme looks as good as its predecessor, which is to say, it looks pretty good for a 3D golf game built for iOS. The 'extreme' settings are rendered well and for the most part, you won't struggle too much to see what you're aiming at. That said, Extreme has the same problem as Flick Golf did in that it's a bit difficult to accurately judge distance and fall rate. It might have something to do with the lack of any real depth-of-field or shadows, but there are moments where you'll likely start pulling the ball back mid-air only to realize you've fallen short of the target completely.

As the title should suggest -- Flick Golf Extreme is not a serious golf game, it's a high score game with a golf wrapper. You don't play through a nine or eighteen hole course, you simply hit nine balls off of a variety of different tees. It's still as enjoyable as the first and considering the game already makes use of slightly weird physics and non-traditional gameplay, the 'extreme' version is a better representation of what Flick Golf is all about: a casual, leaderboard driven golf game.

There have been quite a few "go-as-far-as-you-can" games in the App Store, but the majority of them have taken Canabalt's cue and stuck to the side-scrolling platformer style. Vivid Games' Mower Ride [99¢] takes that same idea and applies it to a top-down vertical racer -- with a lawnmower.

Taking most of its gameplay cues from old Amiga style racers, Mower Ride really just wants you to drive as far as you can without running out of energy. Along the way you'll run into plenty of obstacles that slow your progress, including other lawnmower racers bent on pushing you off the track.

The core of the game requires you to snag up energy blocks to keep you mowing forward, but there are also a few different power-ups scattered along the way to help you out, including a magnet that attracts energy and a speed and invisibility power-up that rockets you ahead. To knock the other lawnmower out of the race, you simply need to ram into them by tilting the device forward, or force them into a tight spot.

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Men like hitting stuff. At least, the “manly-men” of the world do, according to EA. The studio has kicked off its own Fathers’ Day celebration on the App Store, slashing prices for several of its action and sports-oriented titles. Big names like FIFA 11 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Madden 11 have been reduced to pennies, while others are receiving generous discounts. Dead Space, for example, is now just $3.

Overall, there’s over a dozen EA-published games available at 85-percent off the normal rate. We’re not sure how much longer the “Many-Man sale” -- no joke -- will last, so it’s probably wise to grab any of these while they’re on the cheap.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - $.99
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - $.99
Command & Conquer: Red Alert HD - $1.99
Dead Space - $2.99
Dead Space HD - $4.99
Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp - $.99
FIFA 11 - $.99
FIFA 11 HD - $4.99
Fight Night Champion - $.99
Madden NFL 11 - $.99
Madden NFL 11 HD - $.99
Monopoly - $.99
NBA Jam - $.99
NBA Jam HD - $4.99
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - $.99
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit HD - $4.99
Need For Speed Undercover - $.99
Need For Speed Shift -$.99
Need For Speed Shift HD - $4.99
Reckless Racing - $.99
Reckless Racing HD - $.99
RISK - $.99
RISK HD - $1.99
Sim City Deluxe - $.99
Sim City Deluxe HD - $.99
Tetris - $.99
Tetris HD - $1.99
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 HD - $2.99

If you’re interested in more deals, know that EA isn’t the only publisher hacking at its standard prices -- Gameloft and Firemint have their own going on right now.

Selling a million copies in the console and PC games space is a huge deal. A hair or two above five million is the watermark. Angry Birds [$.99 / Free / Lite / HD / HD Free], across mobile devices various services and even web portals, has been downloaded 250 million times. Talk about penetration.

Actually, let’s keep talking about penetration, because a new studio has announced that it’s hit the 200 million downloads threshold: Gameloft. In a recent press release, the App Store connoisseurs announced that it has served up its 200 millionth download on iTunes.

That’s a lot of games served.

I opened up with those traditional games space numbers just so you can see how much of a gap there is between these two markets. They’re different, of course. One pushes out a lot of $60 experiences, while the other 99-cent flings. Also, Gameloft is counting dozens of games’ individual sales to get this number, but the disparity is there regardless.

Gameloft is giving a special shout-out to the NOVA series, as well as the Asphalt, the Modern Combat, and the Let’s Golf franchises in the announcement, which implies that they are the actual workhorses fluffing the download number.

"We have been able to develop a truly massive fan base by offering high-quality games on the App Store," Gonzague de Vallois, SVP of publishing at Gameloft said in a brand new, congratulatory statement.

"For millions of people worldwide, Gameloft is now synonymous with amazing gaming experiences on their iPhone, iPod touch and iPad."

Gameloft has around 20 more games set to hit this year. I wonder how long it'll take before we see a "half a billion games downloaded" story? Five bucks says that we'll have one by next year!

We’re shedding paper like a second skin in favor of digital versions of the same content, but in the gaming arena there’s still a place for collectible cards. BANDAI is the latest creator intent on pairing “AR cards” with a digital game. At the 2011 Tokyo Toy Fair the studio is showing off a sharp marriage of the two that looks to stir anime enthusiasts.

We’re not sure on the name of the game because modern Internet translation software is notoriously fickle with brands, but the pictures from the event do enough talking. In this particular title, BANDAI is harnessing the back-facing camera of the iPhone to connect with cards from the popular mangas “One Piece” and “Kamen Rider.”

Once the pairing is complete between multiple cards and one phone, users can then battle digital versions of these cards via an application. There’s also a ‘mission’ element to the design as well, though it appears as if a demonstration of that was absent from the event.

A separate source tells us that the “first” series of these games will be available by the end of next month in Japan. We’re also advised that these cards can be used with other games and on other devices and are quite popular in the region.

Of course, this isn’t a new thing -- cards and games have been talking to each other since cameras started being introduced to handhelds and consoles, but it’s neat to see this kind of technology being used with iOS devices.

The Nintendo 3DS recently launched with a set of AR Cards that are host to a swathe of different mini-games. Because of the lack of quality 3-D experiences on the handheld, the cards are the de facto demonstration pieces for the two-screen device’s technology.

[Via HobbyMedia.it]

Last month, Backflip Studios unleashed Army of Darkness Defense [Free/HD] into the App Store. Based on the campy B-movie Army of Darkness, a particularly popular entry in the cult classic Evil Dead franchise, the video game incarnation is a castle defense game with some very light RPG elements. The castle defense premise plays perfectly into the movie plot itself, and Army of Darkness Defense is filled with plenty of fan service.

Now for a limited time, you can grab Army of Darkness Defense for free. There is an IAP component to the game that will allow you to advance your character building more rapidly if you choose, but it’s certainly not necessary to enjoy the full game. Gameplay is a bit on the shallow side, but everything is done so well with the art style and sound effects that it’s actually a really enjoyable experience.

You can check out our full review for more information, but really if you're a fan of the movie in any way, or even just a fan of arcadey castle defense games, Army of Darkness Defense is an easily recommended download while free.

Life was easy for the microbial denizens of the Soup System, all floating around and eating soup. Then Plubert from Pluto came by and spoiled the fun by trying to freeze everyone. Plubert's a bit of a bully—maybe he has problems at home?

Now you'll need to rescue all the little monsters in Monster Soup [$0.99] before they get frozen solid. It's a race against the clock. The top of the screen is death: any monster that stays there too long freezes into a chunk of ice. As they float upwards, you need to spot monsters of the same color and match them by dragging lines between them. Your lines can't pass through monsters of different colors.

It's not quite the same match-3 formula you've already played a dozen times. There's no grid to match on, only a loose collection of floating monsters that travel at slightly different speeds. You can only match what you can connect with straight lines, so the order you highlight the little guys makes a big difference, as does your timing. Numbers also come into play—match 5 of the same monster, and you get a power-up, or 9 to release a more powerful version. For example, matching enough purple monsters give you a bonus coin, which multiplies points for a while, while yellow monsters unleash a starshine that melts away a bit of the ice.

As you let monsters freeze at the top of the screen, ice chunks form and eat up your play area. If the ice touches the bottom, you're done. Monster Soup uses a level system, but the levels aren't unlockable - you always start from level one and keep going until you fail. Collect enough points in a level and you move on to the next, where your monsters will float upwards even faster. And any ice that forms maintains between levels, so as you start to fail, you have even less room to work with. The urge to just start randomly swiping is strong, but that's sure to finish you off.

I've been a fan of Kieffer Bros. for a while. Their previous color matching game, Orba [$0.99], has permanent home on my phone. Monster Soup is a pleasant departure from their usual style. Its design is looser and more relaxed than any of their other games, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of its art style, best described as "super cute." The cheerful music is great, too.

There's only the one game mode, but it's pretty replayable. Aside from chasing high scores on the leaderboard, you can also track down 63 Game Center achievements. It's got plenty of the achievements that I love, which reward you for doing something cool, but also a few would require more persistence than I see anyone putting into the game, like Work Week, which unlocks after playing for 40 hours. But hey, maybe that's just the challenge you're looking for.

I know the matching-game pool is crowded, but Monster Soup distinguishes itself with style and original matching mechanics. I've gotten quite addicted to pushing for a higher score and working on achievements. There are some positive early impressions from our forum users, too. Check it out. The Soup System needs you.

If you happen to be one of those people that has yet to check out the phenomenal Real Racing series on iOS, Firemint is going to temporarily make it a lot cheaper for you to do so. From now through the weekend, every Real Racing title is now on sale in some capacity. Here’s a quick breakdown of the price drops for each one:

• Real Racing, $4.99 → 99¢

• Real Racing HD, $6.99 → $1.99 (iPad Only)

• Real Racing 2, $6.99 → $4.99

• Real Racing 2 HD, $9.99 → $6.99 (iPad Only)

If you maybe aren’t a big racing fan but have always been intrigued by the Real Racing series because of its technical merits, then picking up the first Real Racing for just 99¢ or the iPad version for $1.99 is basically a no brainer. Neither of these games have ever been this cheap before. While the sequel Real Racing 2 is definitely a step forward over the first game, Real Racing still has plenty of legs with a ton of races to play through and online multiplayer.

If you are a racing fan then chances are you have already picked up at least one of these titles, but if for some reason you have not then this weekend’s sale is a great time to check out the Real Racing series.

Last month we reviewed ThinkGeek's excellent iPad arcade cabinet, the iCade, and followed it up earlier this month with a visit to the ThinkGeek headquarters to have a look at the original prototype.

Tonight Stuart Carnie of Manomio received his own iCade (seen above). This is great news because Stuart is the man behind the iAmiga emulation system that will soon be bringing us classic Amiga games to the App Store, as well as Commodore 64 [App Store].

And Stuart is building iCade support into his apps. Tonight. We expect an ad hoc of the iCade-enabled iAmiga system within the next day or so.

Let's keep this trend going, developers!

Need something to look forward to next week? Then I've got good news for you: NimbleBit's Tiny Tower will be released next Wednesday, June 22nd Thursday June 23rd.

We've been anticipating this game since the Pocket Frogs [Free] developer first announced it, and I'm super excited that the wait is almost over. I had a chance to get hands on with it last month, and I really liked what I saw. Since then, the guys at NimbleBit have put their usual coat of polish all over this thing, and it's looking better than ever.

Looking at the game now, we've been given a lot more to do with our towers. You could already dress up your Bitizens to fit your mood, and now you can also paint your floors, so everyone's tower will be unique. And the Bitizens have picked up their own set of hopes and dreams that you can fulfill by placing them in their dream jobs. A happy populace is its own reward, but you'll also get a few Bux for taking care of your little guys.

We'll have a full review for you when the game comes out, but I think it's safe to say that this one's going to end up in a lot of pockets. While you're waiting, why not head to our forums to share the anticipation?

Update: NimbleBit pushed the launch back a day, sorry guys!

Pavel Tsarev's iDaTank [$1.99 / Lite] was released a few weeks ago but had some troubles, namely some crashing issues and a lack of a save function when the home button was pushed -- thankfully an update thrust out last week fixes those problems, meaning all of us can sit and enjoy the unique experience without having to worry about saving issues.

Nailing down what it is that makes iDaTank enjoyable is difficult. At its core, it’s a resource-hoarding exploration game where you're controlling a small tank as it moves around a small, three dimensional planet collecting resources and killing enemies. Somehow it also manages to feel a bit like a rogue-like, where permadeath can end your game quickly (although you can purchase more lives through the in-game economy), weapon upgrades are slowly seeded out and an RPG system lays underneath the hood to increase the tanks properties.

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It’s written in the United States’ constitution that every holiday must be honored with a sale or two on the App Store. No joke -- it’s a new law according to yet another wiki page that I just finished vandalizing. If you're interested, the law is sandwiched between the “freedom of press” thing and that other law about how all American babies should be named after me.

Anyway, it’s with great honor that I tell you about Gameloft’s massive $.99 Father’s Day sale, a sale meant to stir your loins and your wallet. I can’t pin down a rhyme or reason for what games are being offered at their discounted rates, but hey, they’re cheap and I think that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

Here’s the list. The first link you’ll see is connected to a write-up of ours about the game, while the second will take you straight to the App Store:

Eternal Legacy - 99¢
Eternal Legacy HD - 99¢
Fast Five: The Movie: Official Game - 99¢
Fast Five: The Movie: Official Game: HD - 99¢
Fishing Kings - 99¢
Gangstar: Miami Vindication - 99¢
Gangstar: Miami Vindication HD - 99¢
NFL 2011 - 99¢
NFL 2011 HD - 99¢
Order & Chaos Online - 99¢ [Universal]
Real Soccer 2011 - 99¢
Real Soccer 2011 HD - 99¢
Spider-Man: Total Mayhem - 99¢
Spider-Man - Total Mayhem HD - 99¢

You know, maybe these are supposed to be games that father's dig? My dad refuses to play anything without the words "King's Quest" or "Hearts" in the title, but to each his own I suppose.

Last night, TechCrunch leaked some details of a new initiative taking place over at Facebook called "Project Spartan." This project aims to utilize HTML5 to free Facebook (and Facebook games) from App Store dependence, essentially putting the ball back in Facebook's hands for control over their platform. If you're not privy to the differences between HTML5 and native apps downloaded through the App Store, I'll break it down for you real quick so you can understand why this matters:

Currently, if you want to release an app or game on the App Store, you need to build it in Xcode using C, C++, or Objective-C, using the documented API's available for developers. To submit said game/app to the App Store, you need a valid developer account which costs $99 a year and your game/app needs to abide by Apple's guidelines. Updates to existing games/apps need to go through the same process, and pushing an update out not only requires an additional trip through the week (or more) long approval process, but also depends on users to actually download said update. When you think about it that way, there sure are a lot of hoops to jump through.

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When EA released Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 [99¢/HD] last December, it struck me as kind of a strange release. It wasn’t a direct port of the original arcade game, though it did retain the original music and sound effects. Instead it was a brand new version of that game completely redone with 3D graphics, and it also came with a healthy cut in the roster and number of arenas. The move to 3D visuals was puzzling as it somewhat alienated the fans of the original game, but at the same time they looked pretty sweet. The character models were kind of blocky, but the new 3D backgrounds looked absolutely fantastic, especially at high resolution on the Retina Display.

So looking past the dramatic visual change, whether you loved it or hated it, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was actually a competent little fighter on the iPhone, and I wound up liking it quite a bit in our review. The virtual buttons worked about as well as you could expect them to in a fighting game, despite some instances of inconsistent responsiveness. An iPad version was released a couple of months later, and came with an interesting (but not very practical) same-device multiplayer mode and more detailed graphics. Personally, I also found the game easier to play on the iPad with the larger screen.

The major issue I had with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on iOS was that for some reason the developers only included roughly half of the original fighters, and only 10 of the arenas. I can deal with new graphics and less than ideal controls, but at least give me the complete experience when I’m trying to get my Mortal Kombat nostalgia fix while waiting for the bus. Thankfully, today EA has released a major update to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that does just that. You can now choose from the full roster of more than 20 characters from the original game, and the 6 arena backgrounds that were missing in the initial release are included too. I’m also happy to report that the weird occasional control lag that I mentioned in the review of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 seems to have disappeared as well, though there’s no mention of this in the update description.

Check out the paltry selection of fighters in the pre-update screen on the left, compared to the full roster of the arcade game post-update on the right:

With my two major complaints now taken care of, the lack of characters and the wonky controls, I’m now having even more fun with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on iOS. It’s not perfect, and it's not quite up to par with Street Fighter IV [$1.99] as far as touch screen fighters go, but as a huge fan of the series I love having a version to carry around in my pocket at all times. If you’re also a Mortal Kombat fan then you should easily get a dollar’s worth of enjoyment out of the game. The iPad version is slightly superior in my opinion, but it also comes in at five times the price. Update: iPad version has now dropped to 99¢.

Even though it took a while, I’m glad EA came through with an update for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that completes the game, and I would really love to see other entries in the series brought to iOS in similar fashion.

Last month, FuzzyCube Software released iQuarterback 2 [Free] for the iPad and we thought it was pretty fun in our review. Gameplay involved tossing footballs into targets that were either stationary or moved laterally across the field. Just touching where you wanted a pass to go would send the football flying there, and the real fun was in trying to lead your passes to compensate for the moving targets. Being able to correctly judge where to put the ball so it intercepts a particularly fast-moving target was a hugely satisfying experience.

You can now get this experience in a more diminutive package for your iPhone or iPod touch called iQuarterback 2 Pocket Edition [Free]. We checked out Pocket Edition at WWDC this year, and when I first saw it I thought for sure the smaller size would make the game more difficult to play. Then I got my hands on the game and found out that iQuarterback 2 actually plays wonderfully on the iPhone and iPod touch. Both versions of the game were recently updated with improved hit detection on the targets, and the accuracy really feels much tighter now, even on the smaller screen.

As with the iPad version of iQuarterback 2, the Pocket Edition is completely free to download and play. It’s ad-supported, and this is one aspect where the Pocket Edition comes up short compared to its bigger brother. Whereas on the iPad the ads run at the bottom of the screen and are almost completely unobtrusive, on the iPhone a full screen ad runs after the end of a round. It’s completely in your face and awkward to skip past, so if you like the game then I’d definitely recommend disabling the ads through the 99¢ in-app purchase.

Other than that though the two versions are pretty much identical, and both are a lot of fun. There’s a couple of different modes to compete in with Game Center leaderboards and achievements, and there’s also some cool unlockable outfits and items which can give you some unique abilities when playing, and are also quite humorous. Best of all is that iQuarterback 2 is free, and the new Pocket Edition plays great, so there’s really no reason not to download and check out either version of the game.