Following Kolonists' apparent removal from the App Store, Catan [App Store] fans were left without an outlet for their need to build roads and settlements along with gathering various resources on the go– That is, until USM and Exozet Games' recently released official Catan hit the App Store.

Catan for the iPhone is a faithful reproduction of the board game, which was first published in Germany in 1995 and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide since. The game is played with up to four players (or more with expansions not present in the iPhone game) on a board game with 19 hex tiles that randomly go together to create a different layout for each game played.

Players then build settlements, cities, and roads as they gather resources and settle the island. To win the game, you need to have a certain number of victory points on your turn which are earned by meeting various goals within the game. In the iPhone version, victory points are configurable from 8 to 12 along with a few other options to customize gameplay to both make it harder for veteran players and easier for new players.

If this is the first you've heard of Catan, you will be happy to find out that the game has a remarkably full featured tutorial included that covers nearly every aspect of the game. Catan, like most strategic board games can be somewhat intimidating to new players, but the tutorial does an excellent job of starting with the basics and teaching you everything you need to know to be a proficient settler of Catan.

The thread on our forums about the game is filled with great feedback and reviews. INCyr, a fan of the board game, posted a review and thinks its a great game with a few issues keeping it from being perfect. Forum member Farnsworthiness had never played Catan before posted his thoughts and agrees with me on the strengths of the game's tutorials but mentions that the game is a bit of a battery hog.

I've been having a great time with Catan, although I was disappointed with the lack of anything other than hot seat multiplayer. Having spent so much time playing Words With Friends [$2.99 / Free] lately, I really wish more turn-based games adopted a similar push-alert powered asynchronous multiplayer mode.

App Store Link: Catan, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Monster Ball is a simple turn-based strategy game where you command an army of different sized balls across a hex grid in a survival of the fittest battle where big balls eat smaller balls. To win the match, you must eat your opponent's entire army. The basic gameplay is extremely simple, and almost has a checkers-like feel to it.

Each map starts you out an army of differently sized balls. Two small balls can be combined to a larger ball that can then eat smaller balls, but if any ball eats too much they will explode, leaving you with one less unit on the battlefield.

This basic gameplay is spiced up with various special tiles that do things like split one ball into two, clone a ball into two equal balls, and there are even special weapon tiles that allow you to fire bazookas at the opposing team. In single player you play against an AI opponent across ten different maps (in the current preview version). The single player is decent, but aside from a set of unlockable trophies there isn't much replay value yet. But that's where the online multiplayer comes in.

The really cool part about Monster Ball is that it isn't just an iPhone game, it also is going to be released for the Mac and PC. Packaged with our preview copy of the iPhone version was a pre-release build of the Mac client which played absolutely identical to the iPhone game aside from the differences in user interfaces between clicking with the mouse and tapping with your finger.

These different clients can even play against each other seamlessly in online multiplayer matches. The latency is amazing, and sitting at my computer playing against myself on my phone there is almost no delay between the two screens.

I shot the following video showing an online multiplayer game. The picture in picture is a screen capture from my MacBook Pro playing against the iPhone client both connected to a server in Germany:

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Monster Ball is still in development, but there's no doubt that the cross-platform multiplayer is pretty cool. The ability to play against your friend at home on their computer using you phone sitting on a bus is exactly what I imagined when I first started thinking of the potential of a constantly connected cellular gaming device like the iPhone.

The developers are still hard at work on the game and expect it to launch sometime this fall. For more information on Monster Ball check out the thread in our forums, or the official web site.

The first version The Game of Life [App Store] was originally created by Mr. Milton Bradley himself all the way back in 1860 after his lithography business started to dry up, since his major product was a portrait of Abraham Lincoln without his beard. Honest Abe grew a beard, the portrait was no longer an accurate portrayal of the then soon to be president, so out of desperation Milton moved on to other projects such as printing a few copies of "The Checkered Game of Life" that eventually went on to start the Milton Bradley empire and turn his brand in to a household name.

100 years later, the Milton Bradley executives decided they needed to do something special for their 100th anniversary and asked game inventor Reuben Klamer to come up with something to commemorate the occasion. Inspired by the original, Klamer developed the first version of what would become the modern Game of Life. Since then the game has been updated numerous time, gameplay elements have been added and/or tweaked, and many spinoffs have been made where the same basic game has been applied to the Family Guy, Pokemon, and even Sailor Moon universes among others.

In The Game of Life players travel around the game board landing on spaces that simulate the various events one goes through in their life from graduating highschool to eventually retiring. On the way you come across jobs, lawsuits, children, property, and life tiles. Life tiles represent major life events that are revealed at the end of the game, each rewarding different amounts of money to add to your retirement total. The player that ends their life with the most money wins the game.

As expected, the board game translates very well to the iPhone just like all of EA's other board game titles. Everything is controlled through a simple touch interface, and spinning the wheel to determine how far your game piece is moved is done by swiping your finger across the screen. It features single player with up to three AI opponents for four players total, and you can use one device to play multiplayer. It's unfortunate that there isn't any kind of WiFi multiplayer like Scrabble [App Store], but I suppose there is always hope for future updates.

My favorite thing about the iPhone version of The Game of Life is that you can fast forward through the turns of AI opponents. While playing games like this by yourself is hardly as much fun as playing against other people, not having to sit through full-length terms of computer players does a lot to make the game more enjoyable. At $4.99, the iPhone version is significantly cheaper than any version of the physical board game, so if The Game of Life is your thing, don't hesitate on picking this one up.

App Store Link: The Game of Life, $4.99

The number of games being released on a daily basis for the iPhone remains overwhelming. Here are a few games that have generated positive reviews in our forums. Though we're not sure they all have universal appeal, they each offer a Lite version to try for yourself.

Mahjong Artifacts 2

Now here's Mahjong with style and a story mode. There's a lot to like about this game, though it's biggest flaw is the tiny size of the tiles themselves.

App Store Link: Mahjong Artifacts 2, $2.99, Mahjong Artifacts 2 Lite, Free

Mummy's Revenge

This Zombieville-like side scrolling shooter offers an Egyptian theme as well as an active development cycle. The latest version adds a number of weapons and upgrades as well as boss battles. Is it better than Zombieville? We're not so sure, but you can try it yourself.

App Store Links: Mummy's Revenge, $0.99, Mummy's Revenge Lite

Match 3D Flick Puzzle

Does playing Match 3 on a 3D Cube make it fresh and interesting again? You can decide for yourself. Tap on adjacent tiles to swap them while swipe to rotate the playfield around.

App Store Links: Match 3D Flick Puzzle, $2.99, Match 3D Flick Puzzle FREE, Free

Move over Kolonists [App Store], the Catan Community & News section of the official web site just announced that Settlers of Catan is on its way to the App Store:

This summer the official version of the board game classic "The Settlers of Catan" will be released for Apple's iPhone. The game is being developed by Exozet Games in collaboration with Catan designer Klaus Teuber, and published by United Soft Media. More informations and screenshots will follow soon!

Now, doing a little research on Exozet Games lead me to Catan – The First Island on the developer's web site. All we know right now is what's in the news post from the official site. It could be a port of the mobile version, or something new entirely. Keep an eye on Touch Arcade for developments.

Newtoy, developers of Chess With Friends [App Store] recently released Words With Friends App Store] bringing the same asynchronous multiplayer to the game of Scrabble (basically).

Chess With Friends has become remarkably popular among Chess players, since it's both free and offers a modern spin on correspondence chess. Words With Friends takes this same formula and offers four different multiplayer game modes.

You can either search for users to play with using your contact list, or search by user name. If you don't know anyone with the game yet, you can play a random opponent. Finally, Words With Friends also has a mode for local play if you want to play against a friend using a single device.

Like Chess With Friends you can have multiple games going at once with both friends and random internet players. While push notifications aren't supported yet, you can either just launch the app to see if it's your turn yet, or enable email/SMS notifications. A recent tweet by Newtoy mentions push notifications coming soon for Chess With Friends, so I'd assume the same treatment will be coming soon for Words With Friends.

Either way, both games are free and supported via in-game advertising and Words With Friends has a premium version for 99¢ that you can buy if you want to support the developer and/or don't like looking at ads. If you like Chess or Scrabble, both games are a ton of fun.

App Store Links:

• Words With Friends Free, Free
• Words With Friends, 99¢
• Chess With Friends, Free

Any self respecting board game nerd has played Settlers of Catan and likely has a copy sitting on a shelf with at least one of the expansions. Kolonists [App Store] shrinks Catan in to the palm of your hand, combining the core gameplay experience with the iPhone touch interface.

Originally published in 1995, Settlers of Catan is often referred to as the "killer app" of board games both due to its overwhelming popularity and massive international appeal. Catan has sold over 15 million copies and has been translated to over 30 different languages as well as seeing different electronic versions of the game including browser-based applets, an XBOX Live! Arcade game, and now an iPhone game.

The basic idea behind Kolonists is you're a band of settlers on an island and you build farms, villas, and roads to connect them while collecting resources to build even more or trade with other players. Everything you build awards influence points, hit 10 influence, and win the game. (Influence levels can also be changed to 12 or 14 to win in Kolonists.) This is a complete oversimplification of the game, as I've read web sites that consist of nothing but strategy discussion for winning Catan.

The game has an almost Tetris-like appeal to it in that you can learn how to play in a few seconds, but becoming a good player will take much longer. No two games are ever the same because the game board game consists of randomized hex tiles, so one strategy that worked well for you in a previous game may be rendered completely ineffective due to the resource layout of the next game.

The greatest disappointment in Kolonists is the lack of online multiplayer. Since 3.0 came out I've been waiting for great board games like this to all come packed with the ability to play asynchronous multiplayer with push notifications when it's your turn. This functionality would take Kolonists to a whole new level, as the fun part of Catan always has been playing against other people, forming alliances, and eventually betraying those alliances.

There are also some odd rule changes in Kolonists, for instance there are no dice and instead of gathering resources from adjacent tiles, you gather from where you place your worker. This also restricts resource sharing since only one worker can be on a resource space at a time. Finally, there isn't any negotiation to be had with the AI opponents. Your only options for resource trading are pure 3:1 or 4:3 trades to banks or ports. (Thanks, Mrbass.)

If you're new to Settlers of Catan, check out the Wikipedia article for more in-depth rules. Kolonists is the best way to play on the iPhone, and it provides a pretty decent Catan experience. If multiplayer is your thing, I'd check out the free JSettlers java game, look in to the XBOX Live! Arcade game, or better yet, pick up the board game.

App Store Link: Kolonists, $1.99

Triazzle [App Store] is a triangular jigsaw-like puzzle game where you must assemble the puzzle based on the patterns printed on each piece instead of the shape of the piece itself.

The concept for Triazzle started in the early 80's when Dan Gilbert and his wife created a product to commemorate the opening of the new poison arrow frog exhibit at The National Aquarium in Baltimore. Originally called Froggle, the theme used for this gift shop prototype eventually evolved into the now iconic theme of the game.

The museum didn't order enough copies of the puzzle to make further development worthwhile, so the project was abandoned until the age of the Macintosh when Apple and Adobe started revolutionizing graphic design which greatly simplified the process of making these games. Froggle was renamed to Triazzle and since then, over 100 different variations have been created that had sold over 5 million units.

The iPhone version of Triazzle is extremely reminiscent of the original computer game, except this time around the game has much better graphics, animations, and sound. Included are four levels of difficulty, and both 9 and 16 piece formats. Each game is randomized, so you will never play the same Triazzle puzzle twice.

I could continue explaining the game, but instead, you'd be much better off just watching this five minute extremely detailed walk through by the creator of Triazzle:

Since you would be spending in the neighborhood of $20 if you went out and bought a physical copy of a Triazzle puzzle, the iPhone game provides a significant value at $2.99.

While there is something about playing with physical puzzle pieces that is just impossible to capture in a video game, you'd never be able to stuff a copy of Triazzle in your pocket any other way. The iPhone version also adds a number of elements that you won't get from the physical version, including animated cues, hints and even full solutions if you completely get stuck. Overall, a beautifully designed game that should be appealing to puzzle gamers.

App Store Link: Triazzle, $2.99

Rob Lemon of Gilded Skull Games dropped us a note about two titles they have in the works for the iPhone. The first is Imp or Oaf?, a quirky guessing game where a portion of an image is shown, and players can either decide if they're looking at an imp or an oaf. Tapping the image zooms out a bit, and scoring is based on how far you needed to zoom out on each image for the round.

While Imp or Oaf? may be too simple to interest core gamers, the art style is closer to what you would expect in a children's book and raises the bar on what we've seen in the past with games aimed at kids. Imp or Oaf? is tentatively going to be released in August or September, and will begin beta testing soon.

As a table top RPG fanatic currently playing City State of the Invincible Overlord (An ancient AD&D module.) I'm far more excited about Gilded Skull Games' second game in the works, Galactic Keep: Dice Battles. Utilizing gameplay elements from classic pen and paper roleplaying games, Galactic Keep takes a clever spin on RPG adventure games and tells the story as if you were sitting around a game table tossing out twenty sided dice and listening to the dungeonmaster explain the environments while they drive the plot forward.

Similar to D20 table top RPG's, players will roll dice to create characters, move, and battle. As Gilded Skull Games explains, one of the key elements to the game will be the story:

We want to create a variety of story ‘missions’ in the first offering that allow quite a bit of replay. To this end, the first five missions that will ship with the game will have branching story paths that lead to at least 5 different endings per mission, various different unlockable playable characters, different items to equip and special attacks to collect.

Every mission will be different, some will be dungeon crawls with lots of creatures to kill and loot to collect. Others will be more socially oriented, as players explore large maps and communicate with NPC's. One of the things I'm mosted excited about is the planned inclusion of Bluetooth multiplayer to battle other player's characters. With my circle of friends, quite a few being avid Dungeons & Dragons players, something tells me I'll get a lot of use out of this.

Also in the works are plans for addon packs to be sold via DLC following the game's release. Galactic Keep is slated for submission to the App Store early next year, but the developer has promised to keep us posted on its progress.

For more information about either of these games, check out the ongoing discussion thread in our forums.

ReactGames let us know that they had submitted Archon Classic to the App Store. Archon Classic is an official licensed game based on the original Archon from 1983.

This version (1.0) plays really well, which we’re really excited about! The combat is fast and fun, the characters are more evenly matched and the Phoenix KICKS BUTT! The Easy setting is VERY easy so everyone can get used to the controls on the iPhone (if you’re not yet) and win a few battles fairly easily. The Hard setting is pretty challenging, even for the veteran player. There is a ranking system that works nicely and in subsequent versions, we’ll be able to upload to a server for global scores and global rankings…it keeps track of your total game time, fastest combat time, how many pieces you’re won/loss, etc. In combat, you can control the characters by using the Dpad (which works excellent) or the Accelerometer.

They've also posted this first gameplay video from the iPhone version. The video starts off with scenes from the original 1983 version and then later shows the iPhone gameplay:

If you haven't played Archon before, it plays like chess but the characters actually do battle to determine who wins each square.