Starbucks has been offering various iTunes freebies for what feels like years now, and typically the way you'd get them is by going to an actual Starbucks location and looking around for the physical cards that had iTunes promo codes printed on the back of them. There is/was several problems with this system, in that some Starbucks locations didn't seem to bother to put them out, their employees didn't know about them, or if they did, some jerk could've just come and taken the whole stack to give away or trade online (something I've actually seen with some high-demand freebies). Well, that's behind us now as the Starbucks app [Free] is now offering freebies directly.

If you download the app, then go to the home screen by tapping the "Home" button in the bottom left you'll see a "Messages" icon. Tap that, and you'll get a mews feed of sorts filled with free songs, as well as a free offer for Angry Birds Star Wars [$0.99]. Getting it is as simple as tapping "Download Now" which tosses you over to the App Store with a free copy of the game.

Angry Birds Star Wars is a fantastic game, which you can read about in our review. Rovio did a great job of combining those super-familiar Angry Birds mechanics with new abilities and gameplay elements that make the whole thing feel very Star Wars-y. And, for free, why not? Also, the Starbucks app is pretty useful too, especially if you drink a lot of coffee from them. It's a little shocking how quickly rewards stack up if you use the Passbook Starbucks card.

UPDATE: ...Aaaand if you really don't want to bother downloading the Starbucks app, or would prefer to redeem the offer on your computer, you can mash this link right here and get Angry Birds Star Wars for free in your normal web browser. This sort of seems to be circumventing the whole idea behind the promotion though, so don't be surprised if that direct link doesn't work for very long.

Alright, so posting about iPhone 5 updates might be a little old hat these days, considering the iPhone 5 came out in, um, September of last year... But, you can't miss out on a game this good when it's free. The Blocks Cometh [$1.99] is a great game with a simple premise: Survive as long as you can by avoiding and climbing on top of the endless supply of boxes falling from the sky.

This simple gameplay mechanic is greatly enhanced by a silly amount of playable characters that you can unlock. Each have a slightly different play style, and can make the way you approach the game change substantially. For instance, dudes with a more powerful attack can get away with destroying more blocks, while guys who can jump well are often better off relying on acrobatics to survive.

Oh, and to make things even better, you can play as me, Brad, and Jared in the game if you're a bad enough dude to unlock us. If you missed it the last time the game went free, now's your opportunity to snag it. If you've already got the game on your phone, and you're rocking an iPhone 5, be sure to grab the new widescreen update.

At the top level, Star Command is a sci-fi simulation game that focuses on the real guts of an interstellar ship -- you know, the people, the facilities, and the technology that makes travel and battle possible. As far as feel goes, it's something of sci-fi slugfest where you find yourself limping out of every battle in a charred ship that's being staffed by a skeleton crew because everyone either (a) got sucked out of the hull, (b) got incinerated by phasers, or (c) died in a fire. I'm not really sure that this is the feel that creator War Balloon was ultimately looking for, but this is how it came across to us for the first couple of hours. And, spoiler, this is a pretty cool thing.

We didn't know this when we first booted it up, but Star Command is story-driven. You play as a commander of a ship in Star Command, a "Star Trek"-inspired Federation of sorts. In the opening moments, you're tasked with responding to various threats in our system under their watchful eye. After a brief tutorial, things get real when you discover a busted up ship which explodes as soon as you get there. Star Command gets on the honker and blames you for the explosion, saying you fired on the thing. From here, the adventure takes on a different tone entirely. You're now the commander of a rogue ship in a big galaxy with an assortment of alien species and various tricks, traps, rewards, and oddities.

(more...)

Hey everybody, it's Wednesday again, and per page #489 of the App Store rulebook tonight we're in store for a whole heap of new games. Like previous weeks, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially way earlier if you're not in the ol' US of A.

Badland, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Billed as an "atmospheric action adventure platformed," I'm not sure what other word I'd pack in that description aside from "really awesome." Wait, that's two words.

Colosseum Defense, Free - Forum Thread - A free to play castle defense and battle game? I think? It's hard to tell with how Gamevil does their screenshots what's going on.

Dragon Blast!, Free - Forum Thread - It's been a while since I've been able to say, "It's sort of like Angry Birds but…" in one of these posts! Dragon Blast seems to be sort of like Angry Birds but with a giant dragon.

Dream Chaser, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This slick looking runner is giving me some serious flashbacks to continually failing to pick up chaos emeralds in those Sonic bonus stages. Featuring both an endless and story mode, Dream Chaser seems to have a lot to offer.

Eyes - The Horror Game, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A creepy exploration game, with lots of flashlight action. The description mentions being similar to those Slender games, so if you like those this might be worth a look.

The Other Brothers, 99¢ - Forum Thread - This game is finally here. I feel like we've been following its development for years now. The Other Brothers is the first game I'm downloading tonight.

Run Sheldon!, Free - Forum Thread - A super-colorful runner where you play as Sheldon, the tortoise from the Tortoise and the Hare.

Slayin, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Sidescrollin' endless RPG with pixel graphics and a chip tunes soundtrack by Matt Creamer? Take my money. Just TAKE IT.

Tekken Card Tournament, Free - Forum Thread - While I won't deny the combination of Tekken and a… well, card game seems really weird, so does the idea of combining Metal Gear with a card game- But, that made for the only PSP game I actually will still go back and play.

It's Monday, we're all back in our respective homes, and have just posted the remainder of the GDC straggler stories. PAX East and GDC were both insanely busy this year, so much so that we found ourselves wondering if we were actually posting too much event coverage. Regardless, good times were had by all, and like every year, it was awesome to see both familiar faces as well as meeting all sorts of new people at GDC. I've said before, and I'll say it again, if you're involved in game development in any way, GDC is an event you need to get to. GDC 2014 will take place from Monday, March 17 to Friday, March 21, 2014... So plan accordingly!

PAX East kicked off with a bang as Blizzard announced Hearthstone, a cross platform collectable card game. I got to spend a little time with it, and while I can't really speak to the depth and strategy involved without getting deeper into the game, the production values seemed out of this world.

Word of a few game releases also came from the PAX expo floor. Ms. Splosion Man got dated, and details leaked on a iOS port of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Oh, and Ms. Splosion Man was even released while we were at GDC. As an aside, I spent the whole plane ride back to Chicago playing it.

I got a quick look at Magic 2014 at the Wizards of the Coast booth, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least vaguely disappointed with how close to 2013 it is. New cards, sure, but as a long-time Magic player I wish there was more refinements to some minor things that'd vastly improve gameplay for familiar players. Following that, I stumbled across the developers of Organ Trail [$2.99] who were excited to show off a teaser for their upcoming Wizards & Warp Drives, a D&D-style shooter-ish spin on FTL.

We recorded our podcast with me chiming in from Boston, then I quickly hopped on a plane for San Francisco where GDC started. This year we experimented with 100% video coverage, and I think it went really well. The first game we saw was Snow Siege by Milkbag Games which was a crazy mash-up of tower defense, card collecting, and Tetris. From there, Kepa came by to show us Wayward, the entirely randomized roguelike spiritual successor to Mage Gauntlet [$2.99]. I'm particularly excited for this game.

We spent some time with Cubemen 2, and if you liked the original Cubemen [$1.99 (HD)] you're going to be in for a treat as the theme of the sequel definitely seems to be "even more and even better." If you're into ragdoll punishment, the next Stair Dismount is totally going to be your thing. I mean, punishing your dude in Stair Dismount [Free] was great, so it'd stand to reason that doing anything to that formula is going to be even more fun.

Fans of Knights of Pen & Paper [$1.99] were in for a treat with this GDC as a new update was revealed with all sorts of cool new features. Also, while iMech Online has been in development for ages, it definitely looks like it's getting way closer to release with our hands-on where the developers seem confident that we'll see the game in the wild next month. Oh, and while Magic 2014 and Hearthstone might've been overshadowing PAX East, the talk of the collectable card town at GDC definitely was GRL Games' Rocket Patrol. Oh, and while we don't typically cover kid-centric stuff, Hakitzu is definitely worth a look as it's a puzzle game that actually teaches you how to code.

I've been really stoked for any news on the release of the upcoming Leisure Suit Larry remake, and we got an extensive hands-on at GDC. CEO and Larry enthusiast Paul Trowe walked us through the game, which admittedly might be a little less than work safe in our video. (And as an aside, if Larry is up your alley, take a look at the just-released iOS port of Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold.)

I was impressed with the demo we saw of Third Eye Crime, as the Spymouse [Free] style gameplay melded incredible well with a noir-theme. Speaking of games with cool atmosphere, Tengami knocked it out of the park with a puzzle adventure game that's actually set in a pop up book. It's really clever how all the interactions both look and feel. Additionally, while the dual stick shooter aisle of the App Store has been a little defunct as of late, we were happy to see some new contenders such as Annihilate which definitely gave us some Geometry Wars vibes.

Las Vegas will be joining the ranks of other iOS board games, which is an always welcome sight with how well they work on touch platforms. From there in our rapid-fire meeting schedule we hopped about as far as you can get from board games to the platformer genre with the sequel to Trace [Free], aptly named Trace 2. Switching gears with something that feels a bit more natural on the touch screen we spent loads of time with Halfbrick's upcoming Fish Out of Water, which puts you in charge of flinging fish for a set of picky judges ready to rate you on your performance. I spent the whole week insisting the game needs more sparkles.

I'm really stoked for the above Breach & Clear, which Call of Duty's Robert Bowling gave us a full walkthrough of. I think this game will be a hit, although it remains to be seen just how well (or poorly) the free to play implementation will be. A similar hardcore-ish title that we saw next was Dead Squared which is a clever combination of roguelikes and first person shooters. ...And again, the variety we see at GDC is crazy as just after getting involved in a rogue-like, Brad from Be-Rad Entertainment was standing there waiting to show us AnonA, a game built at a NASA game jam with a gameplay mechanic that hinges on 3D printing.

Oh, and if you, like me, have been wondering what in the world happened to Drifter after they got all that money on Kickstarter... Well, the game has come out of hiding. It looks awesome, and I totally can't wait to play it. We got a fairly extensive walkthrough, take a look:

Be sure to take a look at the video for DeckWar. It's a pretty crazy game that I guess you'd describe as a CCG, but the way to cards link to the gameplay seems really unique. On the subject of unique games, there was also Vitamin Z, which is a fixed position shooter... Except you're shooting fruits and vegetables. From there we hopped over to Stellar Wars, which takes Liv Games' saga of sidescrolling battlers to space. Legendary Wars [$1.99] was great, and if you watch the video, all the improvements will be immediately clear.

Golf Star by Com2uS seemed really cool, as it's your typical golf game wrapped in this whole almost-MMO wrapper filled with items and avatars to unlock. It's all multiplayer-enabled too, so hopefully a community picks up after it launches. Following Golf Star we saw two other super casual titles from Trigger Happy, Feed Frankie and $1 Popcorn, each using swipe controls in slightly different ways.

I'm not traditionally that into sports games, but the above Football Heroes has me super excited. I don't watch football, like, ever, but if you make it arcade-y enough, I'm all over it. I'm also all over Gamevil's upcoming Diablo-like Dark Avenger. It looks awesome, and coupled with a super high frame rate I'm hoping it'll be as fun as it seems.

Drastically shifting genres again our next meeting was with Pixowl Games who showed us a substantial update for The Sandbox [Free]. Definitely give that a look if you're into that game. Island Escape seems interesting as well, they take super fast-paced mini-games with an over-arching story. I'm anxious to spend more time with it to see how it all pans out. Oh, and there's even something for Fred fans in the works with Skiing Fred which will join Falling Fred [Free] and others on the App Store soon.

Continuing the theme of sequels and spinoffs is Soccer Rally 2. Check out the above video. Meetings then took another turn to the RPG-side with Pylon, which puts Quantum Squid in the driver seat of making their own Diablo-like. And of course, it wouldn't be a GDC without an awesome Crescent Moon game. This year's was Exiles. Take a look:

Hopping genres as far as you can go once again, the next game on the lineup was Zombie Faceball which combines zombies and baseball. Hey, it could happen? Crystal Siege was the first traditional tower defense game we saw, and its video is totally worth a look as they're doing some neat things.

It was at this point that things were getting pretty late in the day on Friday, so we quickly recorded our podcast which features Halfbrick's Phil Larsen as well as our own Arn, Nissa, and Marianne. We recorded it live, so the quality is a little different, but it's still a good listen.

Once we all got home, we only had a few cleanup stories to post of games we saw really late in the week. The first of which was Bean Dreams, which is the sequel to Bean's Quest [$0.99], a title which is always on any short list of best platformers of mine. We got a look at The Other Brothers which is coming soon, and saved the best for last with five minutes of Oceanhorn. Be sure to watch this:

And last, but certainly not least, if you're interested in the developer side of things be sure to check out the live episode of Walled Garden Weekly. I'm on it, and we're talking about the various aspects of freemium. Alternatively, you could just subscribe in iTunes.

Alright, with this out of the way, now I can finally exhale. GDC and PAX East were awesome. I can't wait for them to roll around next year. Thanks for everyone we met with, my staff who busted their butts on all this coverage, and all of our readers who enjoyed our videos. This has been the craziest ten days in a really long time.

It's Wednesday, which means that despite being knee-deep in upcoming game coverage at GDC, there are plenty of games coming out right now that are worth getting excited about. By "right now," of course, I mean about 11pm EST in the Americas and potentially much earlier elsewhere.

Dungeon Hearts, $2.99 - Forum Thread - An iPad Puzzle/RPG hybrid that looks to mix classic JRPG combat stylings with match-3 mechanics in battles with big scary monsters. Very cool.

Final Fantasy V - $16.99 - Forum Thread - Another Final Fantasy title hits the app store. This time around, it comes with improvements from the 2006 GBA release and new character art by the original artist, Kazuko Shibuya.

Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet - $1.99 - Forum Thread - Magicka's been rocking co-op RPG chaos on desktop since 2011. Wizards of the Square Tablet has been designed fresh for iPad, but promises a similarly ludicrous list of spell combos and team-kills.

Nimble Quest - Free - Forum Thread - Imagine this: Snake, RPG mechanics and NimbleBit's pixel art and friendly take on free-to-play. Seems like an easy call.

Runaway: A Twist of Fate - Part 1 - 4.99 - Forum Thread - The first installment of the third game in the Runaway series of adventure games by Péndulo Studios. Check out the technical requirements before grabbing this one—it needs a ton of space and a fairly recent device.

Secret Castle - Free - Forum Thread - A hidden object game with very cool tilt-3D object hunting. Check out the trailer.

Tiny Troopers 2: Special Ops - $0.99 - Forum Thread - The sequel to the popular top-down shooter about mini military dudes. This one should be out at midnight tonight.

It's Wednesday night again, and aside from going insane planning for both PAX East this weekend and GDC next week, we've got a whole heap of new games to fiddle with. Just like every other week in recent memory, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially way earlier if you live in some other non-American region!

Abalone, $2.99 - Forum Thread - A super classic board game I feel woefully ignorant about. Regardless, people on our forums are really excited for a proper port of this and I can't wait to see what Abalone is all about.

Chopper Mike, $1.99 - Forum Thread - A slick-looking helicopter piloting game featuring a dude named Mike. Check out the trailer.

Dream Tim, $1.99 - Forum Thread - An endless runner that seems to have an awful lot of swiping judging by the trailer.

Fetch, $4.99 - Forum Thread - An intriguing iPad adventure game that's actually on exhibit at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle? That's pretty cool.

Kingpin Lanes, $1.99 - Forum Thread - Remember when the very mention of the Unreal Engine got people excited? Well, here's a bowling game utilizing it. Are you excited?

Order & Chaos Duels, Free - Forum Thread - A trading card game set in the incredibly original Order & Chaos universe? Hmm.

Smash the Office, 99¢ - Forum Thread - The title and trailer really say it all.

Snoopy Coaster, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Wild about the various sidescrollin' roller coaster games on the App Store and love Snoopy? We've got a love connection here, in that case.

The Wizard of Oz Game, Free - Forum Thread - If you haven't yet gotten your fill on these kinds of free to play builder games, here's one based around The Wizard of Oz.

It certainly isn't the first time someone has snuck on to the App Store, and I can almost promise it won't be the last, but if you're big into grabbing things you "shouldn't" have (per Apple's approval process) then Awesome Baby Names [$1.99] is something you need to snag immediately. What initially appears to be a very simple and silly baby naming app is actually a fairly full-featured Gameboy Advance emulator.

Accessing it is simple, load up the app, tap the top left corner three times, the middle button once, then immediately above that once. Presto, you're thrown into a ROM listing for a Gameboy Advance emulator. You'll need to use iExplorer or something similar to load a Gameboy Advance bios as well as the actual ROMs into the app, but once you do that, it's (reasonably) smooth sailing.

For help with getting this all running, definitely check out the thread in our forums. Admittedly, getting this all working is a little trickier than playing your typical iOS game so if fiddling with your phone's file system via iExplorer sounds over your head, this might not be for you.

Update: Aaaaaaaand just like that, Awesome Baby Names joins the many other similar trojan horse apps that have been released. Apple seems to have just pulled it from the App Store. If you were able to grab it, store that .IPA somewhere safe. I recommend snagging a free Dropbox account and just using it to permanently store apps like this so you'll always have a copy in the cloud if you ever need it again.

We've already posted a TA Plays on NimbleBit's upcoming snake-like NimbleQuest, and could totally write up an extensive preview article detailing even more about the game for its upcoming release. But, really, what's more fun? Reading what we think about an upcoming game, or just playing it yourself? We're thinking the latter, so we're trying something new here. NimbleQuest is made in Unity, and among the other magical properties of the engine is the ability to build the game into a format that's playable in your browser.

All you need is to do to play it is download a tiny browser plugin and mash the image below to load the game up and give it a spin:

This online preview is only going to be active through Monday night, so if you want to check out NimbleQuest before it launches on the App Store, be sure to do it before then. As far as when it's going to launch, NimbleBit isn't ready to get official on the release date, but their fingers are crossed that we'll see NimbleQuest before the end of the month. Enjoy the game, and feel free to post any tips or strategies you come across for maximizing your score in the comments.

Also, let us know what you think of this style of game preview, as we'll try to do more of them in the future if people enjoy it. It obviously wouldn't work for every game, but NimbleQuest is a perfect example of a title that plays just as good in your browser window with arrow keys as it will on your iOS device with swipe gestures.

This week's releases got a little less exciting with the announcement that Magicka will be hitting on the 28th instead of tonight, but, we've still got Ridiculous Fishing and a bunch of other awesome games in this haul. As usual, everything should be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or way earlier if you're in a different region.

Castle Champions, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A Tiny Tower-looking castle builder with a battle mechanic.

Clowns in the Face, Free - Forum Thread - Did you like Tennis in the Face? Well, here's more, with clowns.

Crazy Monster Whack: Blood Edition, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Enjoy Crazy Monster Whack but wish it had blood? There's an app for that.

Danger Boat, Free - Forum Thread - From the makers of Disc Drivin' comes a game I'm totally going to download just because Disc Drivin' is/was so awesome.

Le Vamp, $1.99 - Forum Thread - A runner that centralizes around playing as a vampire with gameplay gimmicks that revolve around vampire tropes. It sounds pretty neat.

Mayday! Emergency Landing, Free - Forum Thread - A light weight flight simulator that has a really radical premise of saving a plane in emergency situations.

NightSky, 99¢ - Forum Thread - Often imitated but never duplicated, finally this cool physics puzzler is on iOS.

Ridiculous Fishing, $2.99 - Forum Thread - I was lucky enough to score an early copy of this game and I've been having a blast with it. I highly recommend picking this up.

Rock Bandits, $1.99 - Forum Thread - Another Adventure Time iOS game? I am all over this.

Rolling Hero, 99¢ - Forum Thread - It's this week's super-cute Chillingo physics puzzler!

Stargate SG1 Unleashed Episode 1, $4.99 - Forum Thread - I had no idea this was coming, and I'm totally excited to play an adventure game set in the SG1 universe. There's so much potential.

Super Stickman Golf 2, 99¢ - Forum Thread - The original was an iOS classic, and the sequel is even better. Definitely give this game a look.

Heads up pen and paper role-playing enthusiasts or just anyone looking for a quirky new adventure: you're going to want to check out Knights of Pen & Paper [$1.99] which is currently free for the first time ever. Originally releasing this past October, Knights of Pen & Paper is more about the theme of classic pen and paper role-playing games rather than trying to be a digital recreation of it. It's literally a game about people playing a game, and it's full of self-referential humor and references to the world of video games that will bring many a smile to your face.

Knights of Pen & Paper doesn't ever take itself too seriously, and has an abundance of personality and charm throughout, which are big reasons why we enjoyed it so much in our review. There's also a challenging battle system and more quests than you can shake a stick at, all jammed into a tight little package that feels very well-suited to the mobile gaming platform. It can be a tad grindy at times and the quests aren't always the most creative, but these are minor shortcomings compared to all the things that Knights of Pen & Paper does really well.

You don't have to be a diehard role-player – in analog or digital form – to get a ton of enjoyment out of Knights of Pen & Paper, and for free it's definitely in no-brainer territory. Grab it and check it out, and don't be surprised if its charms win you over. Also be sure to hit up our forums to talk strategies and hear new information straight from the developers.

We're fairly eagle-eyed when it comes to spotting the good games that grace the App Store's shelves, but inevitably with such an expansive offering of games there's bound to be those that fly under our radar. One of those games was Help Volty [$0.99 (HD)], an atmospheric and clever puzzle game for the iPad.

Help Volty actually released back in October of last year, a lifetime ago in the mobile space it feels, but Brad happened across it last month in his never ending plight to discover cool games, and found it enjoyable and worth talking about. Him and Eli took it for a spin in a TA Plays video, and a couple of days later offered out a full review for Help Volty, awarding it a solid 4 stars.

I'm bringing all this up because right now, to celebrate the integration of Game Center leaderboards and achievements late last month, Help Volty's creators have decided to make the game free until March 10th.

If you're an iPad owner looking for a new puzzle game to work through, and this one originally slipped by your watchful eye just like it did ours, then you should be all over this free promotion. Check it out with the link below, and also be sure to stop by the thread in our forums for some discussion and strategies for Help Volty.

If you happen to be among the last people on the planet who still don't have Angry Birds [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)], guess what? It's free, so you've got absolutely no excuse anymore. Angry Birds has turned into a classic of sorts on the App Store, and has been ported to basically ever platform under the sun, including, hopefully, your refrigerator at some point in the not too distant terrifying future.

In weirder Angry Birds news, Angry Birds Space [$0.99 / $2.99 (HD)] has been updated with an all-new version of the theme song by Slash. Yes, as in Guns 'n' Roses Slash. It's pretty wicked, I guess, but I'm still stuck on the fact that an 80's rock god is playing the Angry Birds theme.

These are weird times we live in.

First off, apologies for this post being a little later than usual. Weather in the Chicago area here has been insane the last couple days. Anyway, on the glorious world of the Internet where I don't need to deal with two foot deep snow drifts there's a whole load of awesome games coming. Like every week before this one, all of these games should be available at 11:00 PM eastern.

Astro Shark HD, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A physics-y space game where you play as an interstellar shark trying to save the Russian space dog Laika.

Block Fortress, $1.99 - Forum Thread - The oddly compelling combination of Mincraft, tower defense, and first person shooters. It sounds insane, and I can't wait to play it.

Fury of the Gods, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A god-themed tower defense game that looks pretty wicked in screenshots but only makes me want a proper iOS port of Black and White that much more. Who is with me on that?!

Hungry Gows, Free - Forum Thread - If you have room in your heart for one more physics puzzler, this one seems pretty cute and also happens to be free.

Infinity Space, 99¢ - Forum Thread - I'm getting some serious Space Miner vibes from this game, which is a very good thing.

Jones on Fire, Free - Forum Thread - An endless cat-saver? Can you hear that? It's the return of Jared's Kitty Korner.

Journey to Hell, $3.99 - Forum Thread - Our forum members are incredibly excited for this shooter, and for good reason, it looks awesome. If you've found yourself mad about free to play games, here's a premium shooter for you.

Knitted Deer, 99¢ - Forum Thread - It's hard to say if there's more to this game than the gimmick of its art style, but I've got to say, that's one heck of a gimmick.

Liberation Maiden, $4.99 - Forum Thread - I'm really, really excited for this game. The screenshots look great, the production value seems out of this world, I just hope it's fun to play.

Melodive, 99¢ - Forum Thread - A musical "remained flight simulator"? If you're into the weird offerings of the App Store, this is right up your alley.

Metal Slug X, $3.99 - Forum Thread - I imagine this is much like the other iOS Metal Slug ports in that if you can hang with the virtual controls it's going to be a ton of fun.

Monster Meltdown, $1.99 - Forum Thread - 80 levels of saving weird monsters as a dude named Yuri who can teleport all over the place.

Outland Games, 99¢ - Forum Thread - If you're a fan of Monday Night Combat, you need this game as it takes place in the same universe. If you've never heard of Monday Night Combat, well, here's a neat runner.

Sneezies Match, Free - Forum Thread - A free puzzler utilizing the Sneezies from, well, The Sneezies.

Sonic Dash, $1.99 - Forum Thread - While I'm not blown away to have another Temple Run-derivative on the App Store, it's just nice to see an iOS Sonic game that has Sonic doing something that makes sense. RUNNING! Wow!

Last week we got our first big taste of Super Stickman Golf 2 with a new trailer showcasing the various new features of the upcoming sequel to Noodlecake Game's physics golfing extravaganza. The release of Super Stickman Golf 2 is fast approaching too, and to celebrate this the original Super Stickman Golf [$2.99] has gone free.

We've previously talked about how much fun the online multiplayer is in Super Stickman Golf when it first arrived via an update to the game almost two years ago, but the single-player portion is not to be dismissed either, and provides a fantastic challenge and loads of content that will keep you busy for hours on end.

Super Stickman Golf has been free before, and ridden the rollercoaster of price drops that most games endure in the course of its more than two year lifespan. However, if you somehow have managed not to pick it up yet, I just can't recommend it enough and it should be a great introduction as to what to expect in Super Stickman Golf 2. We'll have more on the sequel as it nears release, but definitely don't slip on picking up the original for free while you can.