Man of Steel [$2.99] infuses the power of Infinity Blade [$5.99] into the hands of Krypton’s last son. If you played last year’s Avengers Initiative [$1.99] game, you’ll find this one vaguely familiar. Unfortunately, since Man of Steel draws heavily from the movie of the same name, this game is limited by the number of environments and villains you face in your quest to save Earth from a Kryptonian invasion. Still, it’s a blast knocking General Zod’s soldiers through barn walls and into gas tankers over and over.

We’ve all watched or read the origin of Superman before in one or more variations. The planet Krypton is going to blow up. In order to preserve the planet’s legacy and save his son, Krypton’s lead scientist Jor-El sends his only son away to Earth. The game begins with a short, motion-comic introduction and accompanying narration from Jor-El. I’ve always been a fan of motion comic storytelling for iOS games, which works especially well here given the source material. A few panels, especially those featuring General Zod, are adapted directly from Zach Snyder’s Superman flick.

If you’ve never played Infinity Blade before, Man of Steel is all about quick swipe attacks. Swiping left to right will deliver a one-two, cross punch combo. It’s a great mechanic that works well for the one-on-one matches you’ll find in this Superman game. Zod’s soldiers tend to walk up to you and square off as if they’re about to begin a game of Mortal Kombat. It always seemed odd for a Kryptonian to make the “you’re going down” pointing gesture before a fight. But that just made it more satisfying when hit them with an uppercut that would send them flying into the air.

Sometimes Superman knocks Zod’s soldiers into the air to continue with some Dragon Ball Z-esque air fighting, while at other times he knocks them into the air and then quickly pounds them back to Earth. In some cases, the Man of Steel actually grabs his enemies and Supermans them through tons of destructible objects. You can actually control which objects Superman pushes his enemies through. This was pretty cool. Knocking a Kryptonian through a postbox or lamppost was great. However, regardless of how many objects you destroy, the destruction XP is generally the same.

Players can also shimmy to the left or right to dodge incoming attacks or use your block. However, when Superman blocks he still takes a little damage. It’s a matter of preference, but why block at all to take damage when you can just avoid the attack completely?

Well, attacking and blocking are both tied to a timing mechanism going on behind-the-scenes. As your progress through the story mode, getting attacked by the same Kryptonians again and again, you’ll notice that Zod’s soldiers will start to get their punches in before you even if you very obviously swiped first. If you check your Character Upgrade menu, and you’ll notice that you can trade in XP to upgrade both your Attack and Dodge speeds.

You can gain XP the traditional way through story mode or make a quick IAP. Luckily, you can bypass the IAPs by simply fighting your way through the survival mode. Even if you only take down a handful of opponents the XP persists through the story mode. You’ll need to rely on survival mode to boost your Character upgrades, which help you to stay alive longer and deliver more powerful blows. You can also find Kryptonian keys that can be used to unlock new Superman armor, such as General Zod’s armor and Jor-El’s Ceremonial armor from the movie.

There are also two super powers, which can be upgraded. I would always save my super speed for those moments when I needed to beat that invisible timer, especially when I saw my opponent’s hand charge up red. There’s nothing worse than swiping madly, while Superman stands there like a lame duck. Thankfully, the super speed power allowed me to unleash a flurry of quick punches. Heat vision works more like a rage blast. Unless you upgrade it, the power doesn’t do much damage. However, it can interrupt an enemy’s attack.

Man of Steel does suffer from a lack of variety. Since it’s tied so closely to the movie, you’re primarily stuck with the environments of Smallville, Metropolis and Zod’s ship. If you perform a knock back, which is when Superman knocks an opponent to a different section of the environment, you’ll usually just end up in an area that looks like a carbon copy of the chapter you already fought through. Also, the Kryptonian soldiers are just grey-shaded variations of each other. There’s a regular sized soldier, shorter woman, tall Lieutenant, big Super Soldier with blue buttons… you get the point. Visually, even Zod looks like just a regular soldier without a helmet. Regardless, all they do is punch and grapple. Zod may surprise you with a heat beam attack, but don’t expect much.

Enemy variation starts to come in the form of EXO Drones, which weren’t in the movie. These purple-headed drones have electric arms. So you have to be more precise about how you hit them to avoid taking damage. Once you break one movie restriction in a licensed game, why not just break them all? Why not have more super villains in more areas? Give us a space fight on Apokolips. Introduce Brainiac. Throw in Lex Luthor in his super suit. Just mix it up. We can always come back to Zod in the end.

At the end of the day, we’ve already suspended our comic belief and adherence to restrictions by playing the game. Superman still has a power meter and you lose when it goes down to zero. If this were the real Man of Steel, wouldn’t he catch a last “humanity saving” wind instead of passing out? I digress.

Overall, Man of Steel is a solid game. The brown landscapes of Smallville may seem bland at times, but it’s still a blast knocking soldiers through a wall or billboard for the umpteenth time – if only just to see them jump right back up through the ceiling of a barn. The game could have benefited from more variety, but such is the nature of licensed game development. Be sure to check out what the folks on our forums have been saying about this game.

TouchArcade Rating:

Living for glory kinda went out with dying by the sword: there just isn't much of it in the daily struggle to work a desk job, handle your homework or get your kids in bed on time. Sword & Glory [Free] is an outstanding game that imagines a time when life was all about the struggle to raise yourself and your family for nothing, earn a reputation for great deeds and pass that down through generations.

The life you live may always start the same—the same small homestead, the same brotherly advice— but you have a few key decisions to make before you begin. You can pick a clan, align yourself with the hardy Elk Clan, the noble Eagle Clan or the traditional Bear Clan. Or you can shove the whole clan system and go it alone. Similarly, you can dedicate yourself to a faith or go for a more worldly approach. Finally you define a personality trait for yourself. Those choices directly impact the life you'll lead—the kinds of quests you'll encounter, the opportunities that will arise and the ways you'll excel in combat.

From those humble beginnings you head off to build a life. At first you'll probably focus on helping your family and clan, driving off competition for resources, hunting down petty thieves, and otherwise protecting your homestead. Maybe you'll get married. Maybe you'll range far from home.

Many decisions come down to a binary choice: do violence, or don't. Violence isn't always the best option, but it is usually the fastest route to glory (score, more or less), Epic points and silver. With those things you can improve your lot in life, so while you may want to pick your battles, you'll have to do some fighting.

Fighting comes down to a fairly simple duel system. You face off against a foe with a sword and shield. You have buttons for the same. Combinations of tapping and holding give you shield bashes, blocks, and careful, fast or power attacks. There's a rock-paper-scissors calculation going on in the background, and with that and careful timing you can destroy your foes.

With a few successful bouts under your belt, life opens up. You can expand your home, improving your stats in the process. You can buy new gear that gets passed down to your future characters. You can use your Epic points to unlock truly impressive items. And you can range farther afield, encountering new adventures and new challenges.

Wounds are easily dealt with at the cost of some of your hard earned Epic points, but eventually you'll take too many hits in a single fight and die. Even if you're a flawless warrior, death gets us all in the end. When that happens, your character is given a title for his sacrifice and a place in the graveyard. Your glory is marked on the leaderboard, your silver is lost, your points and gear go onto the next generation, and you start again anew.

It's a fantastic arrangement, well thought out from almost every angle. The most confusing part is that Sword & Glory is currently completely free. It seems as though room was left in its design for in-app purchases of Epic points, but those haven't materialized. You have to earn every bit of future success for yourself, and there is no cost but the effort you're willing to put in.

Sure, the art style might be a touch divisive (stark whites as far as the eye can see) and the game sometimes suffers from clumsy writing, but there's really no reason not to try it out. Sword & Glory delivers what it promises: glory to be had, and life and death by the sword.

TouchArcade Rating:

Oh, cool: Double Fine's The Cave is heading to "iOS" at some point this summer, TouchGen has confirmed after getting some hands-on time with the upcoming FingerPad version at E3 2013.

The Cave, if you're unfamiliar, is a puzzle slash adventure game that tasks players with taking a team of three (out of seven) characters into a talking cave on a quest for fame and fortune. Unfortunately, what they get instead are reality checks. It's a pretty good game built by a studio that knows how to write funny stuff and make adventure titles.

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Oh, man, check these out: Telltale Games has just released a new teaser trailer and some promotional images for "400 Days," the all-new DLC episode coming to The Walking Dead: The Game at some point later this July. In these assets, you'll get a glimpse of the trouble these new survivors run into, as well as a peek at the setup.

As we've covered before, 400 Days is a single episode that covers five different stories about folks, apparently, on the run during the zombie invasion. It looks pretty rad, but that's kind of a given isn't it?

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Welp! It looks like that Walking Dead: The Game tease we posted about a few weeks ago is actually a PlayStation Vita game (for now). During Sony's E3 2013 tonight, Sony announced Walking Dead: The Game is coming to its handheld platform. In addition, a new episode called "400 Days" is coming, too, filling the hole between season one and two nicely no doubt.

The new episode, and the series, are slated to hit this August on Vita. We're guessing we'll be seeing the new chapter hit other platforms, including iOS, at a later date. We'll keep you updated on this one, as it appears there's a lot more information coming soon.

UPDATE: Actually, it's coming out in July across Xbox, Mac, PS3, PC, and iOS Telltale Games just confirmed on Twitter. Also, interestingly, 400 Days will have "five stories of survival."

Super School Day [$0.99] plays like any other of the mini-game collections on the App Store, yet it manages to not bore by being (so damn) charming. From the second the game launches it’s crackin’ jokes, successfully entertaining with style and personality. Don’t be fooled, Super School Day is actually a not-so-casual, challenging, laugh-in-the-face of mini-game collections - and succeeded at becoming a by-the-hour affair with me and my iOS devices. These days games like *that* are a rare breed.

The premise is simple; you pick a student avatar and go through a day of school. Only, if this wasn’t a Second Impact game that might be ok. These avatars come with RPG-style personality and intelligence attributes that play a role in how difficult each class of the day is. Mini-games get played, then… you get to try and save the world; Dragonball-style punches vs. a meteorite. I emphasized the try, there, because that meteorite is one hell of a challenge.

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TouchArcade Rating:

I've watched Telltale Games's super teaser-y Walking Dead: The Game [Free] Vine video around, oh, 200 times, and I'm still not sure what it's trying to sell me. Is it just a first look at some of the characters from the upcoming second season? Or is it some sort of tease for the "something extra" coming between season one and two? I guess this means these guys made a good teaser, huh?

Any ideas? I see that Vince guy, but I don't recognize him from the comics or the first season of the game. Same goes for the lady. As for the words "evacuate immediately to designated shelters," that just seems like... something you'd do if, say, the dead got up and started eating folks.

Walking Dead: The Game season 2, by the way, is slated for this fall. As noted before, the mysterious "something extra" should hit before that.

If you're the kind who loves adventure games that have some great puzzles, but eventually reach a breaking point, Jacob Jones will feel right at home for you.

As I stated when I reviewed the game, some of the puzzles can be difficult, especially if you're new to the adventure puzzle game genre, while only a couple of them will leave you wondering why they seem so simple compared to the rest of them.

If you need any help at all, this quick puzzle guide will give you solutions to all the puzzles. SPOILER WARNING: These are straight answers. I don't try to gently lead you to the right conclusion, I just give you what the game is looking for.

Without further ado...

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As extensively explained already in our original post when Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [$9.99 (HD)] hit the App Store, this is a game with a ton of history behind it. With its tenth birthday coming up this summer, there's no better time to either replay this classic, or get deep into the game as a new player.

Set roughly 4,000 years before the events that transpire in the movies, players travel around the galaxy doing various Star Wars-y stuff as they track down Darth Malak, who not only used to be a Jedi but also now holds the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. The game is largely framed around a series of events that have lead to a almost-too-typical setting where the Jedis are now spread across the universe, many have died, or, potentially worse yet, have defected to the dark side.

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TouchArcade Rating:

"People in weird uniforms yell at you, control when you wake up, when you go to bed and every last thing you do all day. It’s either evil or it’s the army!"

And thus begins Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery: Episode 1 [$0.99], a cute puzzle adventure by Lucid Games. You play the role of Jacob Jones, a little boy being dropped off at Camp Evil Feath—sorry, that’s Camp Eagle Feather, by his mom and dad, who are about to embark on a fantastic journey. And, naturally, you're not going with them.

The first thing you’ll notice upon launching the game are the graphics and the set design. Jacob Jones was built using the Unreal engine, and even though it doesn't look as realistic as what you might expect from an Unreal-based title, the game's visuals are fantastic. The characters, items and world all look as if they were cardboard cutouts, with seams on the character models to match. Details definitely make the game here, from leaves blowing in the wind to snot coming out of the kid's nose before slowly retreating back inward. For a high-end, cartoony look, Jacob Jones comes across as nicely put together.

Your journey starts simply enough, and before you know it you've made the rounds and are introducing yourself to the rest of the camp. You have an eclectic, if not cliché, cast of characters here. There’s the old lady, Mrs. Haggardy, who founded and runs the camp and is quite cantankerous. There’s the science counselor, the quirky, young and bubbly woman, and, naturally, the hard-ass phys ed coach, who hates you from the start and threatens to put you in the cooler.

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TouchArcade Rating:

One of the coolest releases on the App Store this year has been Frogmind's Badland [$3.99], an atmospheric, physics-heavy cave-flyer that was as simple as pie to play and chock full of fun. The game was spread across 40 distinct levels that were grouped together as "Day I" with more levels always part of the plan for future updates. This week, Badland saw its first big content update which introduces "Day II" and 10 brand-new levels.

The new levels are right in line with the previous ones, full of surprising hazards and cleverly designed terrain. There's room for more levels too, and it sounds like those will be coming at a pretty swift pace, likely in 10-level chunks like this latest update. So, there's more Badland coming in due time, but be sure to check out these new levels and give 'em a spin, or our original review or TA Plays video of Badland, as this is one iOS title you don't want to let slip by.

Originally released on the Xbox just under ten years ago, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [$9.99 (HD)] is considered by many to be the best Star Wars game ever released, and those who don't agree with that would at least put it among the best. A big reason why the game succeeded so massively is that instead of inventing their own systems, Bioware leaned heavily on the existing d20-based Star Wars tabletop RPG. This becomes more and more apparent in the game as you go through character creation and then experience the round-based combat which is limited by the number of actions you can take each turn just like a tabletop game.

You can have two other party members accompany you through your adventure, and KOTOR was among the earliest games to feature all sorts of branching dialog trees complete with a morality system that not only influenced conversations, but also which party members you could have as well as the actual ending of the game itself. Admittedly, it seems a little dated now, with most of these choices landing on the two extremes of the "Light" and "Dark" side of the force, but it's still cool to see in action.

Like any good RPG, there's also all sorts of side elements such as mini-games that involve racing, a Star Wars-ish version of blackjack, and sometimes you'll even need to man a cannon to shoot down enemy fighters when travelling from planet to planet.

As far as where KOTOR lands on the Star Wars timeline, it actually takes place 4,000 years before The Empire was even a thing. The bad guy in question is a dude named Malak, who is not only an Ex-Jedi but also, of course, a Dark Lord of the Sith. You're on the hunt for something called the "Star Forge" which is said to be the source of Malak's power. A large part of the game is both searching for and learning about the mysteries of this device.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic absolutely ripped it up on Metacritic, rocking a overall 94 in its original Xbox release. Since then the game has been ported a bunch, and the iPad is its most recent resting place. We've yet to really sink our teeth into the game yet, but an exclusive IGN review from this morning seems mostly positive aside from the somewhat predictable control issues that occur when you take a game originally designed for a controller and apply it to a touchscreen.

We're going to be playing through KOTOR today, so stay tuned for some more in-depth coverage including a review and a TA Plays video.

Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright started out life on the Gameboy Advance system in Japan in 2001 and since then has seen multiple sequels, re-releases and even a spin-off. The original game has also seen a straight port to iPhone from the Nintendo DS. So, what makes this version so special, I hear you ask in your Barry White tone (okay, Betty White, in my case)?

Well! Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy HD [Free], as well as being a mouthful, marks the spikey-haired lawyer's first encounter with the Retina display and what's more, every case and trial from the original three games are available via IAP. You can even play one-handed in portrait mode, according to the official blurb. Though, try doing this on an iPad and you'll either need a grotesquely giant hand or tentacles.

If you've been living under a rock for the last decade or so, the Ace Attorney games see you taking on the persona of a quirky, noob lawyer named Phoenix, who sports a hairstyle not unlike Sonic the Hedgehog's and sweats a lot in an odd, manga fashion.

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TouchArcade Rating:

Games Worksop is is one of the most well known game studios of all time. In Junior High I spent hours carefully painting dozen of plastic miniatures like Orks and Wood-elves. With the recent gold-rush for Games Workshop licenses, there are now or will soon be several of their classic titles available on various platforms, such as Talisman and Space Hulk. Rodeo Games, the makers of the Hunters [$4.99] series have brought us Warhammer Quest [$4.99], a dungeon crawling romp through the Warhammer fantasy universe. This reworking of the classic board game harkens back to its roots while presenting an excellent video game experience.

The world of Warhammer Quest is a dark place. A few settlements dot the land but they are surrounded by wilds overrun with Orks, Goblins, Trolls, and other threats. Taking on the role of a party of four adventurers, you will journey the land seeking quests, fame, and fortune. Your basic team will consist of a human Barbarian, a Dwarf Iron-breaker, a Human Wizard, and a Elf Waywatcher. Each party member plays differently with their own fighting style and special abilities. Also available (via in-app purchase) are additional characters such as the Troll Hunter and the Warrior Priest.

As you battle through dungeon after dungeon, you must learn how to best utilize each team member to succeed. The basic nature of each warrior, combined with a fully customizable inventory for each, provide a great level of customization. The variety of items may not be Diablo level, but there is still a lot and each one feels like a real boost in power. Unlike other dungeon crawlers on iOS, you feel like a bad-ass early on and none of the gameplay feels like grinding or work. One hit kills are common and you really own your heroes. As silly as it seems to say, it is refreshing how fun the whole RPG experience is.

The game is divided into several towns, each acting as a hub for quests. As you visit a new location you are treated to a cool cut-scene depicting the village literally emerging from a book. Within each you can visit the market (to buy and sell inventory items), train your warriors, and more. Each village has one or more main quests (that drive the game towards its conclusion) and will randomly generate a host of optional quests. As you travel around the land you will also encounter random events that can benefit or hurt your party.  The main quests feature story segments and interesting situations. The random quests have different goals such as bounties, rare items, and other benefits. This system appears to allow for almost endless gameplay as you take on quest after quest.

Below the surface level is the main dungeon crawling gameplay. You guide your party through, turn by turn and room by room. As you enter a new room there is a chance that there will be monsters waiting for you. You will face off against spiders, rats, goblins, orcs, trolls and more as you explore. Combat is turn based with your warriors having various numbers of melee and ranged attacks. It is quick and dirty with many engagements taking only a few turns. The tile sets of each dungeon are diverse and randomized. In each room the level of detail is impressive. This same quality is found in the hero and monster models which animate as you move and attack, as well as die quite fantastically. The easy controls and the surprises at every corner will make you want to delve in over and over.

Sadly, there are a few flies in this ointment. One point of debate is the inclusion of some IAPs. Gold is an important resource in the game as it is needed for both new items and leveling. You will earn some through the game and can also pay for it if you prefer. The issue comes when certain random events can take large amounts of your gold. This seems like a conflict of interest to me. While other purchases make sense in terms of basic expansions, this one just seems off. It is a strange choice in an otherwise excellent game.

 Warhammer Quest, while being an excellent port of a classic board game, is actually an amazing dungeon crawler on iOS, no matter what your experience with the source material. You owe it to yourself to check out this excellent hack and slash experience.

TouchArcade Rating:

Yup: Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright Trilogy HD is hitting tonight alongside the rest of the world's latest releases. As we've been kinda prepared for, it's a free-to-play bundle of the original games with a (kinda) re-tooled interface and some higher res assets. With a download, you get the first two missions in the first game. After finishing that, you've got to buy the entirety of the original for $5.99. The other two games in the collection are priced, separately, at $6.99.

As members of our forums are pointing out, it doesn't appear that the app gives you any sort of discount if you've got the first one already on your iPhone.

We gave it try this morning and can report that, yes, this is a Phoenix Wright game, and yeah, it's more convenient to play on iPad than it is on anything else.

Look for it to hit tonight across the App Store. It should arrive in the US around 11PM. You can add the game to your Watch List via our app [Free] and received a notification when it does release, if that's a thing you're interested in.

International App Store Link: Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy HD, Free (Universal)