In 1941, Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges published the first book featuring decisions the reader could make to change the way the story ended through two different branching points that asked readers to flip to a particular page depending on which option they choose. Several other early game books were released over the years, but it wasn't until the late-70's that the genre exploded with several different series of varying complexity– The most popular of which was undoubtedly Choose Your Own Adventure with over 200 titles that were almost always checked out of my local library.

Fighting Fantasy

Fighting Fantasy is a similar series that was released around the same time that distinguished itself from the rest of the game books by implementing a single player dice rolling system to determine the outcome of fights and other situations (like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons).

The first entry in the Fighting Fantasy family of books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone hit the App Store recently and is a phenomenal fit for the iPhone. Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain [$2.99] sends players on a treasure hunting quest to locate the treasure of a powerful warlock, who as you may have guessed, stashed it deep inside of Firetop Mountain.

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Throughout the journey players collect keys, fight orcs and dragons, and finally face the warlock himself. Getting to the end is easier said than done, and much like the game books of my childhood, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is filled with sudden death and countless ways to make mistakes, even if you're rolling your dice well.

Gamebook Adventures

Even though Fighting Fantasy books have nearly a 30 year lead on the recently released Gamebook Adventures, the team at Tin Man Games have put together an equally remarkable and entirely original virtual game book for the iPhone. Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes [$4.99] is the first in of an up and coming game book series by author S.P. Osborne. Much like the Fighting Fantasy books, throughout the adventure you will need to use dice to determine which fork in the story you take by winning battles and succeeding in various challenges.

Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes

The premise of An Assassin in Orlandes involves an assassin who is on a killing spree eliminating the nobles of the city of Orlandes as a part of a massive conspiracy that is slowly revealed, assuming you make the right choices along the way. Gamebook Adventures features much better illustrations and dice animations, which honestly make very little difference in the overall experience since most of your time is actually spent reading.

Tin Man Games also released the following trailer:

Both titles play comparably and are both worth consideration, so if you're looking to try just one, simply pick the plot that most appeals to you. I'll be looking forward to new entires on the App Store from both series of books, and have my fingers crossed on both hands that we'll see iPad-optimized versions as both game books are practically begging for a bigger screen to be displayed on.

App Store Links:

• Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, $2.99
• Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes, $4.99

Id's Doom II RPG [$3.99] was released yesterday, and so far has had an overwhelmingly positive reception in our forums. Much like Wolfenstein RPG [$1.99], Doom II RPG is a turn-based 3D game chock full of crazy humor, items to loot, and enemies to slay.

Here is some gameplay footage of the first few moments of the game:

We're still powering through the game for our full review, but right now, it's safe to say if you like silly turn based RPG's, Doom II RPG is a worthy purchase.

App Store Link: Doom II RPG, $3.99

Today, an iPhone port of the well-reviewed mobile title DOOM II RPG [App Store] from id Software LLC appeared in the App Store. Doom II RPG was created by the same team that brought us Wolfenstein RPG and offers a turn-based take on the Doom universe:

The forces of Hell have invaded our dimension once again, and only you can stop them from their ultimate goal—conquering Earth!

A mysterious distress signal calls your team—two hardened Marines and a rookie scientist—to a Union Aerospace Corporation research facility on Earth’s Moon, but you were unprepared for what awaits you. The forces of Hell itself have taken hold of the station and its inhabitants! Zombies and demonic monsters roam the halls, killing all who cross their path. Your backup squad is dead. Mysterious scientists conspire against you. Even the facility’s AI cannot be trusted. You are being hunted from all sides. Now, you must fight to survive, and try to stop the invasion—and uncover the truth—by any means available. The fate of all humanity is at stake!

The game challenges you to choose one of three available characters through which to take on a veritable menagerie of Hell-spawned beasts. Cacodemons, Cyberdemons, Spider Masterminds — they're all here for your goring enjoyment.

Among the game's features as listed by id:

• Battle through 9 maps, spanning the Moon, Earth, and Hell itself. Over 8 hours of gameplay!
• Over a dozen unique weapons to find, plus improvised weapons such as Sentry Bots or even plumbing fixtures.
• Eleven different enemy types—each with multiple, increasingly-powerful forms—plus four bosses.
• Auto-mapping feature and mission-tracking PDA functions ensure you’ll never be lost again.
• Customizable controls; change the size, style, and placement of the control inputs.
• Three levels of difficulty will give players of all skill levels a challenge.
• Detailed graphics and complex levels which take advantage of the power of the iPhone.

As with Wolfenstein RPG, the pace of Doom II RPG game is entirely different than the first person shooter versions that we all know. We'll offer a closer look in time, while first impressions are being collected in our forums.

App Store Link: DOOM II RPG, $3.99

Every now and then a game comes along that just dazzles and blows you away by getting things exactly right. Such a game was released into the App Store yesterday by Venan Entertainment.  That game is Space Miner: Space Ore Bust [App Store].  In short, it's Asteroids meets the RPG. But that description really doesn't do the game justice.

Space Miner places you in the role of the nephew of good ole' Uncle Jebediah Gritstone, proprietor of the galactic Gritstone Mining Station. Uncle Jeb has hired you on to help with the ore mining and it's with much excitement that you make your way to his mining station in your veritable space jalopy. Once on board, things get complicated (it's a long story, enjoy it in-game) and Uncle Jeb is desperately counting on you to go out into the neighboring sectors, blast asteroids, and bring back the precious ore contained within. The more ore you collect, the bigger your cut of the profits. But the pitiful ship you start off with is hardly up to the task.

As you accumulate profits, the money can be spent in Uncle Jeb's shop, where more powerful ships, weapons, shields, ore collectors, power plants, and the like can be purchased. It doesn't take long to find yourself sitting in a decent ship with multiple ore blasters, a sizable cargo bay, and an ore collector that can get the job done. And the whole package is done up with a great deal of spot-on humorous dialog and even an amusing banjo-based audio track that fits ole' Uncle Jeb's operation to a T. (There's no doubt that he's got a still hidden somewhere on that rock of his.)

The game features highly configurable touch-screen controls (onscreen buttons, analog stick) that work nicely, 50 in-game achievements, and online score tracking via the Plus+ network.

Now, with all the heavy RPG aspects and the well done comedy, you might think the game is light on shooter action when it comes to dealing with those asteroids. Happily, that's not at all the case. The asteroid combat system is an example of shooter gold — for an Asteroids-like experience, it really couldn't be any better. And it's not just asteroids you're fighting. There are competing robot miners bent on stealing your ore that must be dealt with. Not to mention the occasional encounter with the daunting gasteroids… (Yea, they're about as bad as they sound.)

Aside from the standard goal of blasting asteroids to mine ore, there are a total of 24 missions to complete, such as rescuing helpless tourists floating through space (think Dave Pool), destroying a massive robot enemy in order to save a heartless CEO, and the like. There really is an impressive degree of gameplay variation here that just keeps things moving. In my experience, you really have to be careful not to lose track of time while playing this one. "Hard to put down" understates it.

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

Space Miner: Space Ore Bust really is an App Store gem, given the unusually broad appeal I feel surrounds the title. Shooter fans definitely have a lot to be excited about, as do RPG fans — but even those that usually find themselves impatient in an RPG setting should enjoy Space Miner. The RPG layer is not only light, but easily manageable and delivered with a healthy dose of humor. It strikes a balance between two different gaming styles — shooter and RPG — like I've not experienced since playing Activision's Battle Zone, which married action and real-time strategy with similar elegance. Without a question, this is one of the best games I've played since the App Store went live over a year and a half ago. And you don't need to take my word for it; our forum readers are going nuts over this one.

Whatever sort of gamer you are, don't miss Space Miner: Space Ore Bust.

App Store Link: Space Miner: Space Ore Bust, $4.99

iPhone developer Ryan Mitchell has just released Necromancer Rising [App Store], a large-scale, first-person RPG with an air of the macabre that should appeal to fans of dark and dank dungeon crawlers.

Necromancer Rising places you in the unenviable position of the last surviving Battle Priest of the king's army with a wife and child that were recently slaughtered and buried, and — as if that wasn't enough — robbed from their graves by the minions of the evil Necromancer, tunneling in caverns below. Your goal is to regain your former strength and visit grave vengeance upon the aforementioned Necromancer in the name of your beloved family.

The game features a highly detailed stats and equip system; your person features 16 equipment locations for weapons and armor allowing for a great many battle configurations. The author indicates that the game includes tens of thousands of items as well as 50,000 different weapons, in all. (All items are freely available to those who spend the time to find them, but for those who don't mind paying for a bit of a short-cut, certain particularly useful items are also available as in-app purchases.) There are 50 different levels to explore (with 49 end-bosses) and each is dynamically generated upon entrance, so no level is ever the twice the same.

See the developer's trailer video for a look at the game in play.

As yet, I've spent but a brief while with the title and find that what it lacks in polish in some areas (menu system, look controls, etc.), it makes up for with a pleasantly ghoulish atmosphere thanks to the creepy level and creature design, as well as the superb, moaning sound effects and evocative background score. The whole thing has a nice sort of campy Evil Dead feel to it that lends it a particular sort of charm that I find myself enjoying.

Our forum members have had a lot to say about this one. Hitch enjoyed it, while noting the lack of polish in some areas.

This is a hardcore RPG. If you're a casual gamer, I'd probably pass as of now. It has good graphics, sounds, and gameplay elements/length, but a crappy menu system and messy controls keep the game from living up to it's potential. Great game, but hard to work with.

8/10- Must have for PATIENT RPG fans, but needs quite a few updates to make it a must have for everyone.

SharpCarlos is enjoying it as well.

Overall, it's scratching my dungeon crawl itch. There's random loot in varying levels of quality with random affixes (just found a helmet that increases my intelligence). It runs smoothly on my 3GS. And it SEEMS like there's a lot of game here. The dungeon is 50 levels deep, and if there continues to be several quests per level, it'll take quite a while to burn through them.

Have a look at the game trailer (this early version of the bundled tutorial video might be helpful as well) to aid in your decision.

App Store Link: Necromancer Rising, $6.99

Jason Citron and Danielle Cassley of Aurora Feint Inc. are, for a short time, offering their normally $4.99 multiplayer puzzle PRG Aurora Feint II: Arena Daemons [App Store] as a free download.

For those not familiar with the original Aurora Feint, it was one of the first games to appear on the iPhone back in July and won a huge following due to its polish and complexity (not to mention also being free). The developers are following up the success of the original with a new pay version that builds on the existing world and adds head-to-head competition into the mix.

Aurora Feint II: Arena Daemons, as it is called, contains all the components of the original game which revolve around a typical color-matching game but set in a role playing environment. Players can earn crystals while "mining" and subsequently level up and purchase additional tools to add to your abilities.

The game offers multiplayer support, but rather than "synchronous" head to head competitions, the developers are proud of the unique "asynchronous" system they have developed that seems well suited for casual gaming. This means that you can sit down and play against opponents who aren't actually online at the same time as you are.

Whether or not you've played the original, now is the time to give Aurora Feint II: Arena Daemons a try.

App Store Link: Aurora Feint II: Arena Daemons, Free (limited time) – No Longer Free.

The Final Fantasy series started with the original release in 1987, spawning a game franchise that has since become Square Enix's most successful series and overall has sold over 85 million units worldwide as well as often serving as the benchmark that nearly all roleplaying games are compared to.

Details are sketchy at best right now, with nothing more than a set of screenshots released on Square's Facebook page. With a release date of "TBA", both games appear to be the same highly refined versions that were released on the PSP.

Final Fantasy:

Final Fantasy II:

As huge Final Fantasy fans ourselves, I can guarantee we will be keeping a very close eye on these games and their impending release.

Gamevil's action RPG Zenonia [$2.99 / Free] was among the first "full" RPG experiences on the iPhone, and is still a game that is thoroughly recommended amongst our community whenever a "What game should I get?" thread pops up on the forums. Its sequel is something which will no doubt be as highly anticipated as its initial release, and of this evening Gamevil gave us a few details on what to expect.

Zenonia 2 will have four distinctly different character classes: The paladin, shooter, magician, and warrior. Ranged attacks are also being implemented, allowing players to use various skills to attack from a distance. New difficulty modes are also being added, aside from the standard "normal" difficulty, "hard" and "hell" modes will allow hardcore players to access additional loot and a hidden boss stage only available in the higher difficulty modes. There are also new terrain effects thrown in to the mix such as water, snow, ice and others.

While this all sounds pretty cool, the feature I'm most looking forward to is the asynchronous online multiplayer, which sounds fairly similar to the online multiplayer functionality found in Baseball Superstars 2010 [$4.99]. According to Gamevil, players will be able to "download and compete against" your friends' characters– Details are limited right now, but they're shooting at a March release so we should have more information soon.

One of my favorite things about the App Store are all of these insane game concepts that likely would have never seen the light of day if it wasn't for the low barrier of entry in to iPhone development. Discussed during our most recent podcast, Sword & Poker [App Store] is a game we greatly enjoyed with an odd combination of gameplay elements that surprisingly enough work very well together.

At the core is a card-based strategy/adventure game where battles take place by making poker hands on a 5×5 grid. When each game starts, nine cards are dealt in to the center of the grid and you take turns with the AI opponent placing pairs of the four cards you're dealt on the perimeter of the game board to form hands down, across, or diagonally. Jokers are wild, and as you play more hands a gauge in the bottom left slowly fills which allows you to swap a card for a joker as well.

There is a surprising amount of strategy in placing cards, as you need to look at what you've been dealt to try to determine the best order to play them as your opponent could also have plans for the same squares you hope to utilize on your next turn. Furthermore, as the game board fills up, you can potentially form multiple hands. A well-planned hand placed on the diagonal could also form many other hands going down or across.

The "Sword" portion of Sword & Poker comes from the roleplaying game layered on top of these poker battles, which could practically stand alone as its own game. Instead of just playing poker battles of increasing difficulty, the games are structured as floors in a dungeon and the challenge differs based on the type of monster you're fighting.

The various monsters have different amounts of coins, which is how your life is measured in game. Forming a hand like a flush subtracts far more coins from your opponent's coin purse than a simple pair, and when either you or the monster you're fighting runs out of coins the battle is over.

As you get farther in the game, the shop eventually unlocks where you can use the money you win from battles. Aside from upgrading your coin purse to increase your stamina in battles, you also can buy a number of different weapons. These weapons change your damage output, and some of the later ones you come across also have special abilities when you form particular poker hands.

Weapon selection adds yet another layer of strategy on top of Sword & Poker, as some weapons are bottom heavy, and do more damage when you form simple hands like one or two pairs. Other weapons are top-heavy, and while they do very little damage when you match pairs, they inflict devastating strikes upon laying down hands like straights or flushes.

In addition, certain weapons (along with some monsters) have special effects associated with certain hands. For instance, the thief's knife I'm using now steals a card from my opponent's hand when I form any kind of straight. Other special effects include shielding yourself from damage, causing your opponent to skip a turn, and more.

This is barely scratching the surface of Sword & Poker, a game which nearly defines the term "a hidden gem of the App Store." There are a few things that are strange about the game, such as there seems to be a huge benefit in passing your turn to make sure you are able to play the last two cards of each game board as you're often guaranteed more than one poker hand.

Also, as you progress in the game, poker battles can drag on for quite a while especially when fighting harder "boss" monsters. These fights can be a lot of fun, but the battle music is a painfully short loop that quickly becomes very repetitive as it has a very clear start and finish. However, these are merely minor complaints for an otherwise fantastic game.

If you like poker, RPG's, or just strange games that actually turn out to be a lot of fun you owe it to yourself to at least try the five levels in Sword & Poker Lite [App Store]. We discussed the game on our last podcast, and there is a thread on the forums where several people have posted about how much they're enjoying it if you need any more reason to give the game a try.

App Store Link: Sword & Poker, 99¢ – Sword & Poker Lite, Free

The latest RPG to emerge from the Chillingo publishing factory is Seed 1- Rise of Darkness [App Store], a port of an existing Japanese mobile game by CH Games and a title we had been eagerly anticipating thanks to an eye-catching trailer released earlier this year.

Seed's App Store approval comes at the same time as a raft of other RPGs, our recently review of Inotia 2 placing it firmly at the top of this list. It is unavoidable then that comparisons between Seed and Inotia 2 will be made seeing as how these two comprise the more substantive of the lot. Adding a twist is the fact that Chillingo has recently made Seed into a free game to rely entirely on in-app purchasing for their revenue stream. Seed originally launched at $2.99. So how does Seed stack up?

From the very start, it is clear that Seed's port to the iPhone has delivered a mixed bag of results. The graphics, whilst rich in color and detail, have suffered in quality by having its textures scaled to the larger device. As such, the world of Koolikoop does have a blurred-look when compared to Inotia 2's ultra crisp graphics. Still, the character and enemy detail is impressive, particularly considering the large number of various armor sets and weapons available, each of which have a distinct look when applied to your character.

Seed is a real-time action-RPG, taking its cue from wildly popular console franchises such as Secret of Mana. Its class-based system departs from the traditional mould by recognising your class depending on the weapon you wield the most– the sword, lance, gun or staff. Magic can only be cast while wielding a staff, but all classes have a range of skills that are unlocked by learning them from NPCs, and strengthened by subsequent use of that weapon in combat.

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