Rayman Jungle Run [$2.99] is now my favorite iOS auto-runner. Granted, I wasn't the biggest fan of the genre, especially those with procedural, unending levels. Luckily, Rayman Jungle Run offers 40 distinct levels that require players to jump, hair-copter float, wall run, and punch or kick their way to the goal.

Each of these four overarching worlds tacks on an ability, and three of these worlds play out with tap-anywhere controls. However, the punch mechanic, used only in the final world, is relegated to a virtual button on the lower right.

Getting to the 40 goals is the easy part and adds up to less than an hour of pure gameplay. Getting 100 Lums per level, though, requires hours of practice. Each perfect level earns players a red gem-tooth, and five teeth unlock one crazy-hard race per chapter.

No Lums are in these Land of the Dead levels; it's all about reaching the end for the final tooth and getting the fastest time to place on the leaderboard. Speaking of leaderboards, none of the other stages are timed for online racing, which almost seems like a missed opportunity.

Other than meeting achievement goals, going for 100 Lums in stages unlocks an image gallery full of characters from Rayman Origins. This feels rather bittersweet, as seeing the characters creates nostalgia but serves to remind players what's missing from the Origins universe. How would this auto-runner incorporate bosses? I don't know, but I think the brilliant minds behind Rayman could have found an innovative way.

A few extra music tracks also wouldn't hurt, as they played randomly and grew a little stale after the first hour of playing. These tracks are probably enough for casual plays, but not for those who play over and over to perfect every level. That said, the overall lack of new assets made more sense when I realized Pix'n Love Rush creator Pastagames actually developed Rayman Jungle Run and not the original Ubisoft team.

Fanboy-like complaints aside, Rayman Jungle Run is the most thrilling, gorgeous, charming, and responsive auto-runner I've ever experienced. The stages whip and zip like a rollercoaster set at a perfect speed, which allowed me to take in each colorful character and background.

Each level, while less than a minute long, felt large. In whatever direction Rayman was running, jumping, or floating, I felt like I was exploring nearly every inch.

I don't believe collecting all 3,600 Lums in one play without dying is reasonable replayability, but I will happily pay for more levels to explore. Sadly, the title screen lacks a DLC button to hint of any forthcoming content.

For people who've never experienced Rayman or those who have strayed from the series, this is an excellent (re)introduction. For those who've played Origins, this may feel a bit mechanically and aesthetically familiar. In the case of Rayman Jungle Run, familiarity isn't a bad thing, especially when it stems from creator Michel Ancel.

ThinkGeek and manufacturer ION's dreamy handheld controller add-on for iPhone and iPod Touch, the iCade Mobile, is now a thing you can buy on the Internet. It's $70, and it's still available despite appearing earlier this weekend. The final build looks identical to the one we saw at CES earlier this year -- it's still nice and glossy, supports eight buttons and a d-pad, and allows you to flip your device in its cradle if a game is only playable in portrait mode.

Mobile works with any iCade supported game and it's compatible with a host of devices, both new and old. iPod Touch 3rd and 4th generation, as well as iPhone 3, 3G, 3GS, 4, and 4S can all be jammed into the peripheral.

We've got a list of good iCade supported games on our site, but do note that most of these games don't support Mobile's specific layout of physical buttons. This will change if Mobile is adopted at the rate iCade proper was.

[via Joystiq]

Surprise! Grand Theft Auto 3, which saw a release this December 14 at $4.99, is now just $2.99 in celebration of the holidays. If you were one of those day-one guys saying he'd wait until a price drop before taking the plunge... well, here you go.

This is part of a larger Rockstar holiday sale, by the way. Until the after New Years, you can also grab the studio's decidedly more mobile-friendly Grand Theft Auto joint, Chinatown Wars, at $5.99 instead of its usual $9.99. Beaterator, a music creation game, is also on sale. It's now $1.99 rather than its everyday $2.99. Deals!

Since Grand Theft Auto 3 is so fresh and all, swing by our review if you're on the fence. Spoiler: it's GTA 3 -- a fun, exciting open-world game that brimming with all the things we take for granted in a GTA -- but with virtual controls.

Final Fantasy Tactics [$11.99] on iPhone and iPod Touch has inspired numerous, uh, passionate e-commentaries since its release earlier this year. One of the components we've seen the most bickering about has been addressed: Tactics' latest update zeroes in on the port's decidedly unspectacular visuals on retina devices and supports the screen.

To be clear, the text is still tiny on iPhone 4S, for example, but it's apparently much less blurry overall. Also, the UI is noticeably sharper, and various assets like facial graphics and icons have been updated to mesh with the retina support. This update also rolls in some nebulous "bug fixes."

Off-topic, here, but we definitely want to note that Tactics is available at the lowest price it has ever been since its August release: as of December 19, it's $11.99 instead of $15.99. Still steep in comparison to other App Store games, but better.

If you already own the game and choose to update, note that you'll lose your auto-save data in the process because, reasons.

Uppercut Games's ridiculously awesome cover-based shooter, Epoch [$2.99], is seeing its first price reduction since its November launch. For a limited time, you can grab it at $2.99 instead of its usual $5.99. I ran this deal past a few of our math wizards, and they're telling me this is 50 percent off the regular price, so that's cool.

Epoch was a big hit with us. We awarded it a lot of stars, and loved how it made cover actually feel good. That's a rare thing in third-person shooters, even though there's a billion-plus-two of them out there on shelves at the moment. Give it a shot if you didn't grab it yet, or hey, read our full-length review and decide.

One of our several iPad Game of the Year contenders, Anomaly Warzone Earth HD [$1.99], just got a great update and another price drop. The headlining addition in version 1.2 is iCloud support. Starting now, your save games are pushed to the cloud and can be retrieved on any device with the game and rocking iOS 5. 11 Bit has also continued on its incremental visual update spree, too. Multi-sample anti-aliasing, post-processing, and extra details on clouds and dirt have been added, as well as red outlines for enemy towers.

Regular non-Universal Anomaly Warzone Earth [$.99] has also received a price-slashing. It's now $.99 instead of the usual $1.99. The HD version, which as you have observed already hopefully, is now sitting at $1.99 instead of the usual $3.99. If you haven't read our review and don't either version of this game, do yourself a favor and check it out. It's an impressive game that's worth your time.

The wait for Grand Theft Auto 3 on iOS and Android is almost over. On its blog a few minutes ago, Rockstar revealed that the 10 Year Anniversary Edition port of the game-changing open-world title will hit the App Store and Android Marketplace on December 15th at an agreeable price point of $4.99. A new trailer giving you another taste of what's to come is expected to release next week, but we've got some new screens right now to hold you over.

Oh! And in other related-and-cool news, GTA 3 will support more than just iPad 2, iPhone 4S, or a beefy Android device at launch. Single core phones and devices are now game. Here's an updated list of what will be supported at launch:

(more...)

We put incredibly powerful devices in our pockets and on our laps daily, but rarely do we see games that utterly embrace this like Infinity Blade has. It's a showcase piece; a technically and visually gifted game that consistently delivers eye-popping stuff.

Infinity Blade 2 [$6.99] is a step a step or two beyond what was accomplished in the original, adding in layers and layers of next-level environmental and character texture detail on top of a ton of fantastic ambient touches -- sharper shadows, stronger lighting, and a glut of atmospheric effects bolster what's already a visual delight, especially on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

(more...)

Luke Schneider's awesome take on Space Invaders, Super Crossfire [$.99 / UHD], is now bigger than ever thanks to an early November update. Version 1.1 specifically adds a new "dark mode" that includes 150 harder waves complete with new backgrounds and a "new perspective" on the game's story. Super Crossfire is also now more stable than ever; Schneider went back and dropped in some performance improvements for older generation phones, nipped a nasty save bug, and addressed several minor problems.

The most exciting addition for us is the one that couldn't be noted officially: Super Crossfire HD now supports the iCade. Just switch to "ARCADE" in the configuration and you're good to go. It's nice to see some new iCade games out there, eh?

Oh! And if you're particularly interested in the HD version -- and you should be since we're huge fans of it and are never wrong about these things -- know that its price has been reduced. For a spell, the game is being offered at $.99 instead of its usual $2.99. Neat!

We've nailed our collective pants to our chairs, but they keep flying off when we look at the first image from Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas. Finnish developer Cornfox & Bros describes it as a Zelda-'inspired' action adventure game that seeks to put the focus on puzzles and exploration instead of RPG sub-systems and menus. It's also gorgeous -- like, your-pants-will-pop-off kind of gorgeous.

The name of the game is derived from the fiction's ancient sea monster who "terrorizes" the World of Uncharted Seas. You'll play as a "nameless hero" tasked with killing this monster and saving his sister. In order to accomplish these things, you'll need to explore the world in boat and on foot, and undoubtedly plunge into some puzzle-y areas filled with treasure.

(more...)

I don't think I give Chair enough credit. Not only did it make a good game in Infinity Blade [$5.99], but it also created an entire mobile game structure and set of mechanics that has caught fire with both developers and mobile game fans. There are good reasons, too: the instance-based conflicts, progression, repetition are perfectly bite-sized for mobile and tablet play and visuals, while the over-the-shoulder slide, tap, and swipe controls are undeniably touch intuitive.

This didn't hit me in a vacuum, by the way. I just spent a couple of hours with Uppercut Game's Epoch and describing the way Infinity Blade gets down is the easiest way to start a conversation about Epoch. Sure Epoch is cover-based shooter based in a broken-down sci-fi world populated by robots, but on a finer level it takes and adapts a lot of what made Infinity Blade so great and applies it to its own action model and structure.

The proof of what this does for Epoch is in its pudding: the game's top-notch visuals are allowed to look great all the time, while the core play consistently stays fun and intuitive. It doesn't hurt to mention that it has the breeziness to make it possible to play on-the-go, but I don't think many of us will be able to put it down as quickly as our loved ones would like. (more...)

We're greedy folks over here. When Grand Theft Auto 3 was announced for the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, we immediately started thinking about also playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and its successor San Andreas on our new-fangled devices. Digital Trends must have jacked into our hive mind because it apparently quizzed Rockstar about the possibility of seeing these two games come to iOS, too. The good news is that it's "very possible," according to Rockstar but it would also present a "technical challenge."

Obviously, we're not inside of Rockstar, so it's impossible to talk specifically about what might hold-up the process. Heck, we don't even know why exactly GTA3 is being restricted to hardcore tablets and phones at first, either, but it's probably safe to assume that a variety of factors, including sales of GTA3 and what shape the original code for Vice City and San Andreas are in, will be two bridges to cross when decision time comes.

Grand Theft Auto 3 for iOS was announced a few weeks ago. It should hit in 2011, but no specific release details outside of the year have been dished out so far.

[Via Digital Trends]

'Tis the season for Halloween-themed updates, and you betcha' that Phosphor Games decided to celebrate the spookiest of days with a free update to its horror game, The Dark Meadow [$2.99]. The biggest game-changing tweak we've seen is the increased level cap, which has been bumped to 50 from its previous high of 40. This update also packs in optimization for the iPhone 4S, a few more save slots, some notable bug fixes, a new game+ mode, and lowered creature spawning inside the level "Montclair Hospital."

Oh! And the game is now cheaper. Until October 31, you'll be able to grab it at $2.99 instead of its premium-ish price of $5.99. That's quite a savings for a game we liked a lot. You can read our criticisms and praise in our full review right here.

Just for fun, here's a, uh… decidedly uncreepy shot of the game. Chew on this:

The price change is live now, and the update is going live in the "very near future," so keep an eye out for it.

We've already told you just how awesome Fish Labs' Galaxy On Fire 2 is in our review, which hit almost exactly one year ago. Since then, the original title has been updated a few times, and a DLC pack hit. In addition, Fish Labs had been teasing a high definition version of the game initially running on Tegra devices for way too long.

Well, that HD version hit earlier this month as Galaxy On Fire HD, released exclusively for A5-equipped iOS devices. It's even universal, to run on either your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S. Better yet, it can use either OpenFeint or iCloud to sync progress between devices. It launched with a few technical hiccups which kept us from sounding the alarm to go out and download it immediately, but those things have all since been fixed in subsequent updates.

Galaxy On Fire 2 HD is the exact same game as Galaxy On Fire 2, with substantially better graphics. If you already own Galaxy On Fire 2, there's basically no reason to "upgrade" to the HD version unless you just want some additional eye candy. However, since the game is so "old" (in App Store terms, anyway), it wouldn't surprise me if there's a bunch of people out there with 4S's or iPad 2's that never heard of it the first time around-- In which case, there's no better time to hop on this awesome game.

EA is hoping to grab some big-time love from new iPhone 4S owners this week. The publisher is throwing a sale in celebration of the new hot-ness’ impending official release, offering up a good portion of its more technically impressive titles on the super cheap. Starting now games like Dead Space or Shift 2 are now just $.99 instead of their usual premium prices. Good deals all-around, and hey, obviously you don’t need a 4S to enjoy them.

Here’s the big list:

• Madden NFL 12 - $4.99 → $2.99
• Dead Space - $6.99 → $.99
• The Sims 3 - $6.99 → $.99
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 - $2.99 → $.99
• Fight Night Champion - $4.99 → $.99
• RISK - $2.99 → $.99
• The Sims Medieval - $4.99 → $.99
• SHIFT 2 - $4.99 → $.99
• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit - $4.99 → $.99
• Need for Speed Undercover - $2.99 → $.99
• Real Racing - $2.99 → $.99
• Dragon's Lair II Time Warp - $2.99 → $.99
• Scrabble - $1.99 → $.99
• Tetris - $2.99 → $.99
• The Sims 3 Ambitions - $4.99 → $.99
• The Sims 3 World Adventures - $4.99 → $.99
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon -$2.99 → $.99

Whenever we do these sales we usually tell people to go download Dead Space since it's the best game on the list. This is true yet again, but I will add that Tetris is a mighty fine touch-based title. You won't be writing home about its graphics regardless of your hardware, but it's pretty fun.