We've had our hands on an early build of Halfbrick's Jetpack Joyride [99¢] for quite some time now, and ever since then I've been trying to figure out the best way to approach a review of the game. Between our own hands-on preview and Halfbrick's series of developer diaries (Parts 1, 2, and 3) I'm really not sure what else can be said about the actual gameplay. Between myself, and Halfbrick's own videos, you've seen everything that Jetpack Joyride has to offer. As explained in the previously mentioned preview, Halfbrick hasn't done anything particularly innovative with the game, instead, they've taken a tried and true gameplay package and in essence, turned it up to 11.

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Just last week we brought you the news that several employees of the now-shuttered Bizarre Creations had formed a new studio, Hogrocket, with a new iOS property hitting the App Store in September. Well time flies, September is here and so is that title, which we're now at liberty to discuss. It's called Tiny Invaders [$3.99] and it's a quest to take over humanity -- from the inside out.

In Tiny Invaders you control microscopic aliens who are here to dominate the human race. To take on such a gargantuan task they delve into the bloodstream of the first person they find, a hick stereotype that just so happens to be in the path of their crash landing. Once inside his body they race through his bloodstream, collecting his white blood cells (or so I assume his "human orbs" to be) and infecting him piece by piece. (more...)

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Here's what you need to know tonight: Jetpack Joyride is coming. Alright, there's a ton of other great games coming out tonight too, so I hope you've got your iTunes account all charged up with credit to go on a massive downloading spree when the time arrives.

Anyway, with our without Mr. Barry Steakfries, it's the same old song and dance here as it is every week. Games get released first in New Zealand, then slowly filter out over the rest of the world as it becomes (or gets close to) Thursday. For us North Americans, that means all of these games will be unleashed at 11:00 PM Eastern.

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UPDATE: On this very special bonus-bonus edition on the TouchArcade Show, the regular cast gives a live show a spin and pound Jared with words about his recent trip to a SEGA event. Before we get into the real meat, though, we spend some time talking about Madden 12 on iOS and consoles, toilets, and other assorted things.

Couldn't come to the live show? Bummer! But, hey, we've also thrown this on our feed and edited out some of the rougher spots for your earholes. Download or stream the audio from the download link just below or subscribe to us on iTunes or Zune.

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Before I explain what A Sharp’s King of Dragon Pass is and comment on the fact that an iOS version has been in the works and will release in September 2011, take a gander at some of these images and tell me that this doesn’t have the potential to be the greatest thing to ever grace the App Store this side of, oh I don’t know, Doodle Jump [$.99 / Free].

The three underneath shots are taken directly from the forthcoming iOS version. The first image is from the 1999 PC version. It's by far one of the best out-of-context video game screenshots I’ve seen in a long time. Dinosaur mounts, guys! Wow! (more...)

Hey, guys, the finalists for the 2011 Unity Awards, an even put on by the engine company to celebrate the best and brightest utilizing its platform have been announced. I’m a little on the surprised side to see that there aren’t more iOS games nominated considering the massive penetration of Unity among the independent crowd, but there are quite a few.

Of most note is Snuggle Truck [$1.99 / HD] and Pulse: Volume One [$3.99], which have been nominated for best in "Gameplay" against several PC or web-based titles. The "Community Choice" and "Grand Prix" brackets give props to Battleheart [$2.99] and Gears [$1.99], while "Graphics" lists Siegecraft and Cordy [Free] among other titles on other platforms.

Pay attention to the "Community Choice" category -- as its name sorta implies, you can vote for what game you want to see take the gold. Just visit the official Unity site and do up the poll on the side of the page. I just dropped a vote for Battleheart because swoon.

The awards will be given out September 29 at Unite 2011 in San Francisco. Apparently, you can still grab tickets ($400!) for the event at this page.

The full listing of all the finalists -- including categories not relevant to our interests such as "Student" and "Non-Game" -- can be seen here. Last year, Crescent Moon and Dicework Games' Rimelands : Hammer of Thor [$4.99 / Free] took home Best Mobile Game, while Air Attack HD [$.99] grabbed the Grand Prix.

Fuzzy Professor Head’s Puppysaurus [$3.99] isn’t the Pokemon clone that we expected it would be when our all-seeing eye initially caught it earlier this summer. Inarguably, it cribs a lot from Game Freak’s overly formulaic and mega popular franchise, but it also packs a few important twists -- namely within the barrier of entry -- that gives it some measure of distance. Because of the anticipation surrounding it we thought it would be wise to go ahead and give you a run-down and, sadly, tell you why it isn't for you.

The short version is that it's Baby’s First Pokemon, a very rudimentary take on the series with spectacularly base mechanics and systems seemingly designed for kids. The long version is that it takes just about everything important to Pokemon -- the world navigation, the battle system, the training, and the catching of beasts -- and simplifies it to a point where it’s hard to stomach as a grown-butt dude, but might end up being perfect for little ones looking for a light sort of RPG immersion. (more...)

Forever Drive, Supermono Studio’s insane-ambitious racing game where you, pals, and total e-strangers will compose and create the game’s uber-highway, is still coming “soon.” No hard date has been set, in other words, but while the studio crunches, it’s been churning out a beauty of a teaser trailer that I think does an awesome job in expressing the game’s core mechanics and fleshes out what sets it apart from other top-down racers.

In brief, this is Supermono’s attempt to shake-up the racing model. Most racing games give you an assortment of well-designed, though never-changing tracks to compete on. Forever Drive will attempt to always provide something new via the sorcery of user creation. Basically, you'll be charged with constructing pieces of tracks with others that'll be combined into one huge highway. It's a cool idea.

Will this work out? I dunno, man! But I guess that's what makes following this game so fun. It looks great and has a ton of promise. Definitely stay tuned to us as we follow it.

The previous two episodes of Agharta Studio’s conceptually brilliant and artistically gifted adventure game series, 1112, are now on sale. For what appears to be a limited time, you can grab the regular and HD versions of Episode 01 for $0. The regular and HD versions of the second episode, Episode 02, are available for $.99. This price-slashing maneuver comes on the heels of Episode 03's release earlier this summer.

• 1112 Episode 01 - $4.99 → Free
• 1112 Episode 01 HD - $7.99 → Free
• 1112 Episode 02 - $4.99 → $.99
• 1112 Episode 02 HD - $7.99 → $.99

While the earlier games initially had some weird issues due to localization, we’ve always been pretty impressed by what it tries to do, how it goes about weaving its story, and the super snazzy art direction. Our review for the third episode is still coming, but take a look at this trailer to see if its up your alley:

It took around a year for Agharta to refine and develop the third entry and it shows: the campaign is much longer than the previous two games and the title incorporates multi-touch puzzles, as well as a new soundtrack. If you’ve missed out on previous episodes obviously now would be a great time to dive in. You’ve got nothing to lose when it comes to the first episode, at least.

When I first saw the banner for Brick People, one of three upcoming titles that Sega was demoing yesterday in San Francisco, it seemed somewhat familiar but I couldn’t quite place why. It wasn’t until they showed a video of people playing the arcade version that I remembered, “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that crazy thing before!”

In the arcade version of Brick People, there were actual physical bricks that you used to play the game. They were similar to oversized Legos that you could stack onto a small ledge that jutted out at the base of the game screen. The tiny characters in Brick People would then be able to jump onto the bricks that you had built to reach fruit floating in the sky.

Brick People in the arcades was definitely kind of odd, but also a pretty clever idea. Now, Sega is bringing the game to iOS, though obviously without the physical bricks of the original. That’s probably for the best, actually, since lugging around a tote bag full of oversized foam bricks really hampers the portability of iOS devices.

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At a San Francisco preview event yesterday, Sega announced that they would be bringing their classic fishing franchise Sega Bass Fishing to iOS this Fall. Sega Bass Fishing originally launched in arcades back in 1998, but most people will likely remember it from its days as a Dreamcast launch title complete with wacky fishing rod-shaped controller. Since then, it’s been rereleased in various forms over the years, and – perhaps most appropriately – as a Wii title using the motion controlled Wiimote.

The iOS version will be based on the 2009 arcade game Sega Bass Fishing Challenge, which was an updated version of the original, hence the “Challenge” in the title. The game is still at an incredibly early state, though it’s looking really nice so far. As with most fishing games, you’ll be able to cruise around the waters in your boat in various worldly locations, cast your line, and hope to entice a huge fish to take a bite. You control your boat from a third-person perspective, but once your line has been cast, things switch to an underwater view.

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On this week’s bonus edition of The TouchArcade Show, Eli and I spit some mad game at Retro Dreamer’s Gavin Bowman. At the top of the interview we really dig into his studio’s latest game, Velocispider [$.99 / Free], but we also take the time to discuss Bowman’s past, what Retro Dreamer is all about, the iCade, and the free to play model.

If you’d like to download the show, go ahead and do so via the link at the bottom. Heck, you can even stream it from there, too. If you’d prefer to get these episodes the second we can upload them, go ahead and subscribe to us on iTunes and the Zune. That’s what all the cool kids do. Like, the really cool kids.

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I had my greasy fingers all over Halfbrick's upcoming Jetpack Joyride in our hands-on preview last week, and one thing I neglected to mention something that got my goat playing over the weekend: The game itself starts in a really weird way. There's an explosion, and suddenly you're flying through this underground lair. Well, Halfbrick's trailer for the game that was released today fills in any potential plot holes by showing what happens just before:

I suppose the only question that remains now is where does Jetpack Joyride land in the life of Barry Steakfries? Presumably he just got the machine gun jetpack now, making Monster Dash a sequel of sorts? Maybe? But then where does Age of Zombies fit in? A better question is, what is wrong with me that I think about these things?!

Jetpack Joyride will be out this Thursday, and you better believe we'll have a review. Spoilers: It's great.

It seems like physics-based puzzlers are always popular with fans of iOS games, but the genre is undoubtedly saturated. Mikrotie's take on it is prettier than most -- in fact, graphics are likely to be the first thing to suck you into Treemaker [$0.99], which has a modern, atmospheric look to it that certainly is easy on the eyes. I admit that I am totally a sucker for extremely pretty games, so I was interested to see if Treemaker could offer great gameplay to accompany its uncommonly good looks.

Some iOS games like to supply a story, but Treemaker doesn't bother, and it's just as well. You play a silent, smiling character who uses frondlike arms to swing from platform to platform in each level, collecting orbs,setting smaller creatures free as you go and planting trees in the process. The levels are very short ( I admit I would have enjoyed it if they were longer), and each gives you the opportunity to score one, two or three stars, depending on how you play the level. You have an unlimited number of connections at your disposal when it comes to casting your branchy arms about, but only certain connections that allow you to score three stars in each level, so there is replay value in figuring out the best way to play each level.

Touch controls are very responsive, but getting the swing of things (yeah, I went there) takes some practice if you don't have a lot of experience with physics-based titles. The movement is pitch perfect, and after you learn to control the treemaker, you'll be swinging him all over the place to land on the platforms you want. You can also pinch the screen to zoom in or out, which makes it easier for you to plan your next move rather than go sailing of finto the abyss.

While Treemaker is a lot of fun to play and really lovely to look at, I have to admit that I was disappointed with the lack of variety when it came to the appearance of the levels. The level design is great as far as gameplay goes, but the look of the levels only changes by way of color, and there are only a total of four platforms in the game to land on. Some new elements are introduced as you progress, such as exploding blocks and spring blocks, but the game feels like it could have benefitted from a wider variety of things to do.

The other letdown in Treemaker is that it has absolutely no online compatibility, so you can't share your scores with friends with GameCenter or any other similar service. Considering the scoring aspect, I think this would have made it more fun. The game itself has a great vibe, and I enjoyed my time with it, but it feels like the ball was dropped when it came to the social elements that people seem to enjoy in iOS titles. Achievements would have been great oto and given the game more of a replay value. In other words, what's there is great, but if you play these types of games often, you can't help but see the missed opportunities that feel as if they should have been fleshed out.

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I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do with EA's Madden 12 [$6.99 / HD]. I mean, a game like Madden we sort of need to review, but I've spent a considerable amount of time with the game and honestly couldn't even say what's different between Madden 11 and Madden 12 aside from adding one more to the numerical suffix, redesigning some menus, and updating the roster. So, I've just updated our Madden 11 review:

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The Madden series hardly needs an introduction, as football player turned coach turned commentator John Madden has had his name on football games for the better part of 20 years now. On home consoles, it has become tradition for EA to release a new Madden game each year with updated rosters, a few new features, and other various tweaks. As of tonight, the second third yearly installment of the Madden series has arrived for the iPhone.

Last year Two years ago we took a close look at Madden NFL 10 and thought it was a really great football game for the iPhone. Madden '10 came loaded with all the licensed players, stadiums, logos, and everything else you'd expect of a Madden game along with game modes ranging from single exhibition games to full seasons. The two hip new features of Madden NFL 10 for the iPhone were hot routes allowing players to draw on the screen to control players, and "action control time" which switched the game to slow motion mode allowing for precise maneuvers with the virtual controls.

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