Stretched [99¢] is a new physics-based slingshot-platformer from Chillingo, which has been receiving praise in our discussion thread. The objective is to fling a ball between various slingshots, collecting as many bubbles from each level as possible, before reaching the exit portal. There's no time limit or restriction on the number of turns, so there's no hurry, but each time you fling yourself you need to land safely, as there's no ground or safety net.
The best feature of Stretched is that new gameplay elements are constantly being introduced as you progress through the 80+ levels and 4 worlds (Sunrise, Monochrome, Misty and Desert). Each world has it's own features and music and it's often a pleasant surprise to discover what comes next.
Back in late October we posted an update on Elite Systems' coming Elite Collection (iPhone) and Elite Collection HD (iPad)Â apps, which will offer a bundled collection of classic Commodore 8-bit home computer games, as well as an in-app game store for purchasing additional singles and bundled arrangements of games. At that time, Elite indicated that these applications would be delayed due to a trademark complication. We're now happy to report the studio has informed us that the titles will land in the App Store on Friday, December 16th, and at a one-week promotional launch price of $0.99 each. [ UPDATE: Apologies to readers in our overlooking the fact that the stated release date does not apply to the Americas. These titles will see release there in mid-to-late January. ]
Most gamers are probably familiar with The Behemoth from their Flash game turned console game turned HD remake XBLA title Alien Hominid, and their subsequent XBLA release Castle Crashers. You might even remember that earlier this year they released a game for the App Store called Super Soviet Missile Mastar [Free], which was a strange and humorous mini game straight out of Alien Hominid that was turned into a standalone iOS game that we thought was pretty cool.
Well, The Behemoth is back in the iOS space with their latest offering called Alien Hominid: PDA Games [Free], which as the title suggests is a compilation of the PDA mini games that you could play in Alien Hominid. It's basically a simplistic platforming game where  the goal is to collect the gems and kill the enemies in each level, which will unlock the door to the next level. It has a pretty cute grey and white color scheme which is a throwback to the PDA devices of yesteryear, and some well designed levels that will occasionally rough up your brain as you determine how best to complete them.
At heart, Catball Eats It All [Free] does not have a unique premise. At all. At heart, all you do is battle physics with your thumbs to keep a fat cat rolling around big shapes and eating stuff. Sounds a bit boring, doesn't it?
However, great execution is all about a clever take and excellent design, as fans of standout iOS titles will tell you. And if Catball Eats It All has anything nailed, it's in presenting a title that looks so wacky that you can't help but be drawn to its inherent weirdness and wonder what the gameplay will be like. It's actually like someone chopped up a bunch of weird photos of animals on the internet and made playable levels out of them. And you get to play one too. You're sold, right?
For what seems like forever now, gamers have been clamoring to have the indie arcade platformer Super Crate Box ported over to their beloved iOS devices. And who can blame them, the game is awesome. This past August Vlambeer, the developer of Super Crate Box, made the official announcement that they would indeed be bringing their game to the App Store, with the help of The Blocks Cometh [99¢] developer Halfbot. And there was much rejoicing.
The plan was to have Super Crate Box ready for iOS the following month, but in the world of game development almost nothing ever goes as planned. Yesterday, Vlambeer updated their blog with word that at long last, Super Crate Box for iOS was finished and had been shipped off to Apple for their approval. Again, there was much rejoicing.
Today, 5th Cell and Warner Bros. unleashed an update to Scribblenauts Remix [$2.99], the iOS port of the popular franchise from the Nintendo DS. The big new feature in this update is something they're calling Scribblespeak. Scribblenauts is a game where you're able to type in just about anything you can think of, complete with descriptive adjectives, and it will be created for you within the game. This is intended to be the way you solve the many puzzles in the game, as you can create objects that you need to complete the tasks that allow you to pass a level.
However, while that's all well and good, the serious fun in Scribblenauts Remix is just thinking up the craziest objects or creatures that you possibly can, and then making them fight each other. At least, that's how I get my kicks, and that goes for just about everybody I know too. This sandbox-like aspect of Scribblenauts Remix is the thing that ensures this wonderful little app will never leave my device.
There's nothing that gets me more giddy than when one of my favorite iOS games gets a sweet update that adds some new content and functionality, especially when that game has already been out for a while. It's great to see games getting support far into their lifespan, and over the weekend my giddiness was increased to the max when Pix'n Love Rush [99¢] and its iPad counterpart Pix'n Love Rush DX [$1.99] both received great new updates.
The Pix'n Love Rush games are no strangers to updates. They've been updated three times before with major new features since the original iPhone version release back in June of last year. This latest update adds yet another new gameplay mode and also makes the previously iPad only version Pix'n Love Rush DX into a Universal app, so you can throw that bad boy on your iPhone or iPod touch if you wish. It's kind of a bummer that if you had some nice high scores saved to the iPhone version that they won't transfer over to DX, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to have one less app taking up space in my iTunes.
As for the new mode, it's called On/Off Rush and is a smart little piece of puzzle platforming. There are two different types of objects to collect, suns and moons. Suns can only be collected during the day, and moons during the night. Touching special switcher walls will turn the level from day to night. Your character moves automatically, so you're tasked with jumping at the right times to collect the proper item depending on if it's day or night.
It's quite clever, and gets increasingly difficult as you progress. Collecting correct items in a row increases a multiplier and adds time to the clock, allowing you to continue on. Accidentally grabbing a moon during daytime (or vice versa) resets the multiplier and adds no time to the clock, and eventually your time will run out. There are two different flavors of On/Off Rush, and Arcade mode where missed items mean less points and a Puzzle mode where every item must be collected through multiple trips through a level, but time is the commodity.
I absolutely love the new On/Off Rush, as I do with just about every other aspect of Pix'n Love Rush, and I'm pretty gassed that the iPad version is now Universal. If you own either version of the game, then get to updating and check out the new modes, and if you don't own Pix'n Love Rush already then check out our previouscoverage as it's a game that really needs to be on your device.
In the world of iOS platformers, there are many games that pique my interest and might keep me entertained for a while, but there are few that end up remaining on my device for good. One of the ones that made the cut and has achieved that prestigious status on my iPhone is The Adventures of Timmy: Run Kitty Run [Free] by CB Labs.
We quite enjoyed The Adventures of Timmywhen we reviewed it in October, and later that week it reached the pinnacle that all cat-related games strive to achieve when it was the Kitty Korner game of the week on our podcast.
Easily one of my favorite platforming games (and just plain favorite games period, really) is this past February's League of Evil [$1.99/Lite] from Ravenous Games and WoblyWare. The game featured bite-sized levels of increasingly difficult platforming challenges in a similar vein to Super Meat Boy, with a great 3 star rating system for each level that begged you to replay over and over until you've perfected every one.
League of Evil became known as one of the top examples of tight virtual controls on iOS as well, and during the past year numerous content updates have added tons of new levels for more than 160 total along with new features like ghost replays and iCade support. In short, League of Evil owns, and is one of the best platforming games on the App Store.
With the positive reception and success of League of Evil, it's no surprise that a sequel would be in the works and the developers have began to tease the first screens for League of Evil 2in our forums. Ravenous Games and WoblyWare are once again at the helm for this new entry in the series, but this time have enlisted the help of Bulletproof Outlaws to completely overhaul the visuals, or "kick the graphics up to 11!" as Derek from Ravenous puts it. Eleven. It's one louder. Think about it.
Now, first of all, I'm a big pixel art geek and I absolutely loved the pixel graphics in the first League of Evil. However, after seeing these gorgeous new screens for League of Evil 2 I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to this new visual style. Plus, the developers are talking up how silky smooth the new character animations are, and I really can't wait to see this new game in motion.
Since League of Evil 2 is being built off of the same engine as the first game, you can expect the same type of bite-sized level design and tight controls that you've come to know and love. All of the original enemies and hazards will be making another appearance along with about a half a dozen new ones. Right at launch the game will feature more than 100 levels spanning 5 different environments, and more than likely it will receive post-release update love with new features and content similar to what happened with the first game.
Sadly, there is no word on a release date for League of Evil 2 just yet, but all I know is it can't come soon enough. We'll be pestering the developers for more details in the near future, and until then check out the thread in our forums for discussion of the game.
Clay's Reverie [$0.99] is cute. Really, really cute. Cute enough to warrant a warning label. That's how cute it is.
...And hard. In spite of the fleecy clouds and the pink dolphins, SuperGlueStudio's physics puzzler isn't a game for the faint-hearted. One false step and you're dead or, well, whatever passes for dead with doughy-looking things like the protagonist. Here in Clay's Reverie, death is synonymous with touching anything asides from the conveyor belt. It's a tough life but those are the breaks when you're a little, googly-eyed ball of white clay.
Fortunately, the odds are somewhat in your favor. Clay's Reverie benefits from simple and supremely responsive controls. Holding down on the conveyer belt allows you to move it on a vertical axis. Clay, on the other hand, does not seem quite as appreciative of such a hands-on approach. In order to control the blob-by hero himself, you're going to have to make use of the iPhone's accelerometer to roll him around the screen.
Paul & Percy [$2.99] is a great little platform-based puzzle game for the iPad, released by Danish developers Kipper Digital. When they discover someone has stolen their butter biscuits (or "cookies", if you're American), Paul and Percy set-off on a mission to recover their delicious snacks. The two main characters look identical, so perhaps they're twins. Otherwise, they're just two dudes who live together, dress alike and share butter biscuits.
The interesting thing about this game is that the screen is split down the middle, with Paul on one side and Percy on the other. It's like taking two platform games, turning them sideways and then placing them against each other. Each character has their own separate platform level to walk around. But, they can stomp on certain brown blocks to push them through to the other character's side. So, when Paul stomps on a block, it becomes a step for Percy (and vice versa). By helping each other, they can both reach their teleportation portal and escape the level.
Raccoon Rising [99¢] from Romper Games is a delightful game about a sleepy raccoon trying to survive when his forest is invaded by an army of robots and their deforestation machinery. After watching the trailer (below), you might expect an endless-vertical jumping game, as it resembles NinJump [Free/HD]. But, it's actually more like a vertical platform game, because you're not constantly jumping and can find places to stop and plan your approach upwards, through the obstacles. Also, it's level based, so you're not always restarting from the very beginning.
The little raccoon's simple story is told through comic-strip cut-scenes as he journeys through four worlds, including a temple, Tanuki forest, a ship called the 'Salty Sprocket' and finally, a city. Each world features different graphics, music, enemies and obstacles, but the goal is always to progress upwards until you reach a gate, which shuts behind you.
Whizzers [99¢] by Demonual Studios is an endless-running game, whereas Whizzer (without an "S") is an old restroom-locating application from 2009. This review is for the game, not the toilet finder. Although if you're busting and need some entertainment, you may decide to get both.
The goal of Whizzers is to reach the end of each side-scrolling level, by running, climbing, jumping and dropping. That sounds pretty standard and reasonably easy, until you realize the platforms you're standing on are actually sinking into molten hot lava. The lava eventually floods the platforms, leaving you with fewer and fewer things to stand on, or perhaps nothing to stand on. Therefore, it's advisable to run for your life and to seek higher ground.
Ivanovich Games, who have previously brought the Operation Wolf-inspired gallery shooter Operation Wow [Free/HD] to the App Store, are at it once again with their homage to the classic arcade-style platforming game Bomb Jack, called Katana Jack. Just the news of a new Bomb Jack style game coming to the App Store is reason enough to get excited, but even more interesting to me is how Katana Jack has been developed. All of the artwork in the game was created using the excellent Brushes [$4.99/HD] app on an iPad, and the music was also composed on an iPad using GarageBand [$4.99].
Now, I absolutely love the Brushes app, but I've never personally been able to create anything with it that didn't look like I drew it by haphazardly dragging my nose around the screen. I have a ton of respect some of the amazing art people are able to make using the app, and as demonstrated in the following video Katana Jack's visuals are just that much more impressive considering how they were created.
Katana Jack is set to launch on November 17th as a Universal app for just 99¢. It will feature 90 levels across 15 hand-painted environments, and will include two game modes, Game Center, iCade support, and iCloud integration. There will also be 28(!) included videos showing the behind-the-scenes creation of the game on the iPad, which is a pretty neat inclusion. I'll be anxious to see just how the game was made, as well as how good of a Bomb Jack clone the actual game is, when Katana Jack launches later this week. Be sure to stop by the thread in our forums for early discussion of the game.
OrangePixel have a few iOS platform games under their belt. Back in June, we reviewed Meganoid [$1.99] calling it a quality retro platformer with responsive controls. In September, our review of Stardash [$1.99] highlighted the challenging difficulty levels and Game Boy style presentation. Plus they've released Super Drill Panic [$1.99] and Time Chaos [99¢]. Now, OrangePixel has released their latest action platform game, named simply: INC [$1.99], which is probably my favorite of their releases.
INC uses a comic-inspired silhouette art style which immediately captured my interest. Your character is a square with legs and blinking little eyes who runs, jumps and shoots his way through levels that are intentionally pixelated with rough edges. The graphics are 8-bit and chunky, with backgrounds reminiscent of Canabalt [$2.99]. And there's a chip-tune soundtrack, which is always popular in any retro platform game.
Stretched [99¢] is a new physics-based slingshot-platformer from Chillingo, which has been receiving praise in our discussion thread. The objective is to fling a ball between various slingshots, collecting as many bubbles from each level as possible, before reaching the exit portal. There's no time limit or restriction on the number of turns, so there's no hurry, but each time you fling yourself you need to land safely, as there's no ground or safety net.
Back in late October we posted an update on 
Today, 5th Cell and Warner Bros. unleashed an update to 
Clay's Reverie [
