Flipt [App Store] brings to the iPhone a game in the fashion of the wildly popular flash game, Shift, but vastly improves on the formula.

Flipt is a puzzle game where you take control of your character in his or her attempt to reach the final door, and do so on the correct axis to enter it. This is essentially Flipt's trump card– the ability to vertically flip the game world by simply rotating your device, completely setting the world on its head and making what was original underfoot now traversable. Additional elements in the game further the depth of its puzzles; with explodable boxes, gravity switches, moveable platforms and hazardous spikes all needing to be accounted for in your efforts to reach the end. The more mainstay of these, the gravity switches, are included in almost every level, rotating the game world in any of four compass points and doubling the axes to wrap your head around.

The world in Flipt could be lifted straight from a cyberpunk novel; every grungy surface and eerie blue or red light detailed on a terrific industrial backdrop. The sound in Flipt is a hot and cold affair, though always to an exceptional, crystal clear standard. It is unfortunate that the interesting and diverse ambient sounds evident throughout the first few levels are soon overrided by a droning factory clamour that while appealing at first, soon grates to beyond frustration. Fortunately, these can be quietened or turned off altogether.

The movement controls, though separate from the rotational mechanism, are handled with the same care and fine-tuning. Holding your thumb to the left or right of your character, regardless of the device's orientation, will move the character left or right. Jumping is achieved by pressing the other thumb at the same time, rounding out a hassle-free control system that is accurate and straight forward.

There are 20 puzzles to work through in Flipt, which should take you about an hour or so to complete all up (unless you get really stuck). There are reasons to come back to each level however, as your fastest game completion time is recorded, and the top 10 global results appear in the rankings menu. Upon completing the game you are given the option of unlocking an additional character, which while nice, appears to be purely cosmetic. A Time Trial mode is also unlocked once you complete all 20 levels, which allows you to play each level individually to record and perfect your time. It is unfortunate that the global rankings do not also extend to the Time Trial levels; an oversight by the developer that could have added to the game.

Flipt is a high quality platform puzzle game that shows off the breadth of the iPhone's touch and tilt controls. The puzzles are challenging but never frustrating, and it is a delight to behold how clever many of the levels actually are once you have solved them.

App Store Link: Flipt, $2.99.

Raptisoft's Hoggy game is a great puzzle platformer that has stayed under the radar in the weeks since its release.

In the game, you control the title character Hoggy a strange blob-like creature whose girlfriend has been captured by the Moon Men. Your job is to collect the keys across 45 levels to unlock the doors to her release.

Each level requires you to collect all the fruit while avoiding baddies, bombs and other obstacles in your way. Hoggy is controlled well using tilt for movement and a single tap on the screen reverses gravity. Hoggy will flip from the bottom to the top of screen and vice versa with the tap of your finger. This maneuver becomes quite natural and is essential to your success.

The game's levels are varied with plenty of different enemies, obstacles and triggers along the way that keeps the game fresh. This video shows a couple of different levels you'll come across:

Hoggy offers great level designs, intuitive controls, and variety of enemies in a nicely polished package. A lite version offers 14 levels for you to get a feel for the game. Overall, Hoggy comes highly recommended.

App Store Link: Hoggy, $1.99, Hoggy Lite, Free

SEGA was one of the original developers recruited by Apple to provide a demo of what kind of apps might be possible on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Super Monkey Ball seemed like a natural fit to the platform with its tilt controls and became a massive success when it launched with the App Store. SEGA is finally returning to those roots and has just released a sequel to the game with Super Monkey Ball 2. We previewed Super Monkey Ball 2 just a couple of weeks ago.

Super Monkey Ball 2 takes the original and offers new levels, local Wi-Fi multiplayer, improved 3D graphics and, notably, improved controls. One of the common complaints about the original version was the sensitivity of the original controls. When played side-by-side, Super Monkey Ball 2 is notably easier to maneuver and turn. That's not to say you'll be breezing through the courses immediately. It still take practice to properly play the game and I find with all ball-rolling games it's easy to get a little frustrated.

Check out our gameplay video with the improved controls and new levels:

One thing you can't fault SEGA for is the amount of content provided in the game. Like the original, there are a ton of levels (115) included with the game. Also included this time around will be mini games that have been so popular on the console versions. The first mini game that has been included is Monkey Bowling, with Monkey Golf and Monkey Target to be released in a later free update.

If you're a fan of the original title, you'll certainly want to pick up this new and improved sequel. Early impressions are also being collected in our forums.

App Store Link: Super Monkey Ball 2, $9.99

Movie tie-ins have long been cautiously received by gamers, owing to the dearth of quality games based on such popular licences in the past. It is fortunate however that Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs [App Store] has placed its well-known pre-historic characters and setting in the capable hands of Two Tribes, known best for Toki Tori which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Two Tribes has created of the movie licence a puzzle platformer in the same vein as Toki Tori; the player assuming control of the cute-but-accident-prone Scrat, a sabre-toothed squirrel on a tireless quest for the greatest acorn he has ever laid his eyes on.

Puzzles essentially take the form of block pulling and pushing to navigate Scrat through treacherous terrain. There are 36 levels in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs spanning four individually themed chapters that present their own obstacles and mechanics to help and hinder Scrat in his journey. Puzzles involve breaking and sliding ice blocks, floating bubbles and toxic gases, nasty spikes and lava pits, together with a range of hostile dinosaurs to avoid that would love nothing more than to make Scrat dinner. This only scrapes the surface of what Scrat will need to interact with to rescue his dream acorn; puzzle elements being continually added to as the levels progress.

Similarly (and fortunately), the controls in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs borrow heavily from Toki Tori, a simple tap will see Scrat take the shortest path to reach the desired location. This makes complex actions such as climbing a number of ladders quickly and directing near-bursting bubbles through the air effortless, ensuring the difficulty lies not in the controls but in correctly solving the puzzle at hand. There are no limit to retries and checkpoints are frequent and unobtrusive, rewarding you with a save point after each puzzle is solved.

This is particularly important seeing as how the levels in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs are quite long, much longer than your average Toki Tori level; platforms often span a number of screens in various directions. Subsequently, there are a number of hours to be had working through the often mind-numbing puzzles for even puzzle geniuses out there; far more hours undoubtedly necessary for the everyday gamer. To achieve 100% completion and collect each level’s many smaller acorns will likely consume many waking hours for those eager do so, a feat rewarded with the unlocking of a final, Expert level.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs boasts an outstanding all-round presentation; the graphics gorgeously rendered and animated, with some of the larger, more recognizable dinosaurs from the movies providing some additional visual treats. The music and sounds accompanying each level are of a similarly excellent quality.

For puzzle fans, particularly those that enjoyed Toki Tori, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs can be thoroughly recommended. For those not so easily convinced, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs can be quite a challenging and repetitive game when you are stuck on a puzzle, but its frequent checkpoints, unlimited lives and in-game hint-signage afford a generous measure of forgiveness to encourage further attempts.

App Store Link: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, $4.99

Touch Foo recently released a free Lite version of their iPhone platformer Soosiz. We loved the game in our review, declared it the best iPhone platformer and gave it 5/5 stars in our monthly roundup of the best October iPhone games.

The big twist to the game is its gravity-changing mechanic. When jumping to a platform above you, the entire world spins around and up becomes down. While this all seems like it might just be a novel gimmick, Touch Foo manages to utilize it fully across Soosiz's 7 worlds and 65 levels. The gravity experience is truly an integral part of the game, and not simply a tacked on afterthought. Triggering this gravity manipulation simply requires you to jump onto another platform, and becomes second nature very quickly.

The full version contains 65 levels with progressively more difficult and interesting levels. The Lite version only gives you the first 5 levels, so while you'll get a good taste of the controls, the levels remain very straightforward. Still, the Lite is a "must try" if you managed to miss the game before.

App Store Link: Soosiz, $2.99, Soosiz Lite, Free

Smashed

A physics-based destruction game where you can demolish blocks with a tap of your finger. The game offers several different scenarios set to a silly story line where you are a new employee of DDD Demolition. The game has generated a following with its nice graphics, enjoyable physics and over 60 levels. Levels offer specific and varied goals to keep it interesting. A lite version is available and further discussion can be found in our forums.

App Store Link: Smashed, $2.99, Smashed (Free), Free

Titi Totems

Tiki Totems is a more traditional physics block dropping game that we've seen before in the App Store. Tap on blocks one at a time while trying to keep the totem from hitting the ground. But Tiki Totems manages to do it with more style and enjoyment than most of the others we've seen. Special blocks including bouncing blocks, indestructible blocks and vanishing blocks try to keep things interesting.

Early customers are also really enjoying it with the main criticism being a relatively short play time to make it through the 60 levels.

App Store Link: Tiki Totems, $0.99

If you're a child of 80's video games like me, few games likely bring back more traumatic memories of horrifying difficulty than Ghosts 'n Goblins. While the game was originally released in arcades in 1985, it wasn't until 1986 that Ghosts 'n Goblins cursed the NES with its presence and quickly grew in fame as one of the most difficult games of all time. Over the years there have been many sequels, ports, and remakes of the game with the most recent being Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights [App Store] for the iPhone.

So what has changed over the years? Well, the most noticeable thing are the sprite-based graphics from days of old have been replaced with a 2.5D world with all kind of new animations and environmental effects. It's hard to say how much this improves the game though, as the textures are low resolution, the animations appear to be almost intentionally ridiculous, and what's worse is the game doesn't run very smoothly even on my iPhone 3GS.

The difficulty has been significantly decreased from the original. You can now absorb multiple hits from enemies before dying, and there are a whole array of additional weapons and power ups to be found in the game. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the challenge in the game now comes from negotiating the inherent lack of precision in the virtual D-Pad controls. Similar to how we felt about Earthworm Jim, if your memories of Ghosts 'n Goblins involve a physical D-Pad, you will likely have an uncomfortably awkward adjustment period of missing jumps and falling in to pits.

Because of the increased life bar and chests with power-ups littering the game, the only real threat that the monsters you come across pose is knocking you backwards in to a pit. At the end of each level there's a boss, but the gimmick of each boss only amounts to dodging different things. Levels feature multiple check points, and it seems like there's always a checkpoint just before a boss so if you don't beat them the first time you will almost assuredly beat them the second.

There is an in-game store where you can buy access to various cheats for 99¢ each. These cheats range from infinite lives to stronger armor and weapons. Unfortunately, there's no "don't fall in pits constantly" cheat you can buy, so none of them seem really that useful. Since after you die you're able to select the last level you were on and start from that point, even having infinite lives doesn't help that much.

Despite the game's many flaws, it's still Ghosts 'n Goblins, and I doubt I'm alone in enjoying this game just because of that. Everything from the map scrolling across the screen between deaths to your guy running around in his underwear when you take enough damage to lose your armor is in place. If you're into nostalgia, Ghosts 'n Goblins does deliver but, otherwise, the iPhone version of the game can't really stand on its own. If this is the first you've heard of Ghosts 'n Goblins, you'd probably be better off playing it on a real console with a real d-pad, though it will likely cost you more than $2.99.

App Store Link: Ghosts 'n Goblins Gold Knights, $2.99

One of the first must-have iPhone games to appear in the App Store was PapiJump.  Not long after, Doodle Jump took the simple, accelerometer-controlled concept of ascending a wall of platforms to the next level.  Since then, many other takes on this addictive play mechanic have appeared in the App Store, the vast majority of which are really not worth your time.  Happily for fans of these games, another such title has just appeared in the App Store, and this one brings a twist.

GTProduction's Spring Fling [App Store] is a jump-up-the-platform-wall game where you take on the role of a spring.  Being a spring, it's not just a matter of tap to jump straight upward — you can compress the string and set the angle of your jump by way of a tap and drag mechanic.  And the integrated PhysX engine makes the experience rather convincing.  Choose an angle to shallow or severe and it's a platform miss with a plummet to your end.

Each jump uses up a supply of Power that doesn't get recharged until the next checkpoint. So, the game is a more deliberate physics/power management game than the fast paced action of other platform jumping titles.

Along the way rockets, balloons, parachutes, and pogo sticks help you scale the wall. The game includes five different worlds, some static and some downward scrolling. And achievements, online leaderboards, and Facebook / Twitter integration provide incentive to reach the highest height.

See the developer's gameplay trailer for a look at the action.

App Store Link: SpringFling, $0.99

Two Lives Left have been posting regular updates in a thread on our forums about their upcoming game, Wheeler's Treasure. I recently got my hands on a copy of the game, and so far I'm extremely impressed. Not only did they seemingly create an entire game inspired by the Orlando Bloom water wheel fight scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but they've really managed to nail the difficulty curve.

One of the things we've discussed at length during our podcasts is how much we enjoy games that foster the feeling of if you could only have managed to not make that last mistake you could have gone even farther, almost forcing you to play again to see if you could beat your previous attempt. Games like Flight Control and its associated spinoffs, Doodle Jump, and the recently discovered Boost 3D all provide this experience, and so far Wheeler's Treasure is giving me a similar vibe.

The goal of the game is to see how many yarrds (get it?) you can accompany a wheel through a sidescrolling environment filled with all kinds of obstacles. Your character is moved using simple swiping gestures, and buttons in the bottom corner of the screen control the use of your items– Another clever feature of Wheeler's Treasure.

The game includes achievements, such as picking up a certain number of jewels or stomping on a certain number of bats in one run. Each achievement unlocks a map that gives you a hint for where you can find items that your character can equip. During the tutorial you're awarded boots that allow you to double jump, and a hook that you can use to grab on to the wheel for a brief period of time. Meeting the goal of the jewels achievement tips you off to where you can find the loot magnet, making picking up coins easier.

The entire game is wrapped in a whimsical hand drawn art style with music that matches perfectly with the look and feel of the game. Wheeler's Treasure features complete OpenFeint integration, so when your game is finally over either from your death or your wheel's destruction you can submit your score to the online leaderboards before starting again. These scores appear in-game as tombstones, providing an excellent indication of how you're stacking up next to your friends' performance.

The game world is procedurally generated, so no two games will ever be the same, and obviously the farther you go the harder the game becomes. As you progress in game, you also will unlock additional 3D scenes to reveal the story behind Wheeler's Treasure.

Two Lives Left recently released this gameplay trailer, along with a few other gameplay videos and control demonstrations in their thread for the game:

Wheeler's Treasure has already been submitted to Apple for approval and is expected to appear on the App Store sometime soon.

Touch Arcade forum member Rozgo has been posting for around a month now on the progress of his currently untitled 2.5D sidescroller that already shows a lot of promise. In the two videos he has posted we see multiple weapons, using missiles to break things, a grappling hook to solve physics puzzles, and many other amazing things that have come out of this one-man wolfpack of iPhone development.

This game looked impressive in screenshots, but seeing it in motion is something else. As a huge fan of both MegaMan and Metroid, these videos have me amazingly excited to have the game in my hands.

Alex Rozgo's game is still in development, which you can follow in his thread on our forums. According to his posts, he's optimistic to have the game submitted in early November to hopefully see it released on the App Store a few weeks later.