We reviewed Oliver Pasqualini’s cave-flyer G Force [App Store] a few weeks back and liked what we saw but found the game severely crippled by an odd “extended hang time” physics / control quirk. This is just a quick update to let everyone know that Oliver has not only ironed out the issues with the game’s control system in the 1.1 update but has also dropped the App Store price from $3.99 to $1.99.
We can now strongly recommend G Force as a title well worth its price that every iPhone gamer would do well not to miss.
iPhone developer f-gap recently released Space Rage 3D [App Store], a space dogfighting game, through the iTunes App Store.
Space Rage is a fast paced, realistic 3D space battle game that is totally unscripted. Fight in space against enemy ships, destroying as many as possible. The more you destroy the higher your level.
Fly around in any direction using the accelerometer, evade enemy fire and turn and destroy your pursuers! How you fight is up to you! The on screen buttons allow you to fire, control your thrusters and roll your ship.
The initial release of this game received some strong criticism from our forum members, spawning a lengthy discussion of the game’s shortcomings. The developer has been an active member of this disucssion and, based on this constructive criticism, has completely reworked the title, which is now available for download in the App Store.
The updated release now features:
More ship models
More variation with ships
Lots of changes to the gameplay
Distinct levels
Improved HUD
Sounds
The developer has posted a video of the updated game in action.
I still don’t know what it is about Mr. Papi that makes us so happy.
Is it the awkwardly translated Japanese? Maybe. The laughably simple graphics of the title character? Perhaps. Maybe just good gameplay? Probably.
But we’re not alone in our love of Sunflat’s Papi franchise, as they seem to have developed quite a following. At first glance, the latest installment from Sunflat, PapiJump Cave [App Store], appears to be another solid game. I’ve only been able to play through the first few stages, but stopped so I could deliver this gameplay video (and I kept dying) which may help you decide on getting the game yourself.
The game is a traditional 2d platformer in which you control Mr. Papi. On screen buttons provide left/right and jump movements and the goal of each level is to clear all the hamburgers (Mr. Papi is hungry, it seems). In your way are “spiky balls”, trampolines, moving platforms and green blocks that give way when you jump on them. The controls work reasonably well and the early levels are fun and do seem to ramp up in difficulty pretty quickly.
Sunflat describes the game as having 25 levels, broken into stages. The final (5th) level in each stage (except the final one) is a bonus level in which you collect as many hamburgers as possible for bonus lives.
The video shows the entire first stage and part of the second:
Once you reach a new stage, you can start back at the 1st level of that stage. While tilt controls for character movement are offered, they are not recommended. Like other Sunflat games, there’s a level of unpolishedness/simplicity to the game menus and there does not seem to be any way to resume a game if you are interrupted. At $1.99, however, this is still an easy game to recommend even after our brief playtime.
Everyone’s lovable “red ball guy” returns for the latest installment from Sunflat. PapiJump Cave [App Store] is described as a “full-scale jump action game” with 25 different levels.
Mr.Papi (red ball guy) was hungry, so he began to explore the cave of hamburgers! He moves, jumps, and falls to eat all the hamburgers in the cave.
This time Sunflat delivers a 2d platformer using left/right and jump buttons for controls.
We’ve only played the first few levels, but it seems to deliver a surprisingly good platform experience. Who needs Mario with Mr. Papi?
Freeverse’s steampunk-themed, accelerometer-controlled puzzle game Plank [App Store] has appeared as a $1.99 download in the App Store. We posted a preview several days back.
Balance the marbles on the plank by tilting left and right and roll them to match falling marbles of the same color. Make lines of 3 or more to score points and remove the marbles. Clear the marbles quickly or the weight will be too much for the plank and it will explode.
Plank features three levels of difficulty (from “Normal” to “Nnnnaaaarghh!”) and various power-ups, including the “Shake” smart bomb that knocks out a whole line of marbles.
See the developer’s demo video of the game in action:
Gameloft has surprisingly quickly dropped the price of Block Breaker Deluxe 2 [App Store] to $1.99 from its original price of $4.99.
Block Breaker Deluxe 2 was one of our favorite breakout games for the iPhone with plenty of action and gameplay.
Block Breaker Deluxe 2 takes the Arkanoid formula to the next level with a wide array of powerups and a cash system for purchasing paddle upgrades. Its onscreen action is more frantic than the typical brick breaker. Multiplayer support allows two people to compete on the same device.
It received our solid recommendation at $4.99 so at $1.99, it’s a great deal.
Mark S. Morris recently released a Torus [App Store], a fun little accelerometer-controlled puzzle game that can be a bit frustrating. As the developer describes it,
Catch tori as they fall from the sky by tilting your device to slide the base hook around the play area. You take damage each time a torus hits your base or the floor, but you can replace health points by catching the glowing green tori that appear when you are in danger.
It’s a super-simple game, but is an amusing pick-up diverison set to a relaxing audio trackset.
David Frampton of Majic Jungle Software has informed us that his new $0.99 iPhone game DuckDuckDuck has been approved (and should be appearing in the App Store at any moment) and to celebrate this new release, he is lowering the price of Chopper [App Store] to $1.99 (down from $4.99) for a limited time.
Frampton’s Chopper was inspired by the the classic Choplifter game from the 80’s. In Chopper, players complete missions, which involve rescuing civilians while fighting off tanks and bazooka wielding men.
There’s no shortage of match-three puzzle games on the iPhone. Frankly, we at TouchArcade are a bit tired of playing them. The mother of match-three games on the iPhone is perhaps Bejeweled 2 [App Store] — a franchise that has sold over 25 million copies. At $7.99, however, it’s falls in the high end “brand name” category of iPhone games.
Match three games involve tapping on items (in this case Jewels) to swap their positions. Lining up three or more like Jewels eliminates that row. The goal is simply to remove as many Jewels as possible.
Another reasonably popular match-three game called Jewel Quest II [App Store] recently appeared in the App Store, but at $8.99, it didn’t really catch our eye. And besides, how many match-three games do you need on your iPhone?
Well, if you haven’t made the jump yet, Jewel Quest II has been discounted to $1.99 until October 3rd. The iPhone version of the game has been well reviewed by IGN but with the main complaint being price:
Jewel Quest 2 is a good match-three game with a lot of puzzle screens, solid controls, and good production values. I like the series, so this installment was a welcome addition to the App Store and my iPhone. But the price may scare some of you away — and I understand that completely.
The game is a relatively straightforward implementation of the match-three on the iPhone with no special iPhone-specific (accelerometer) features. The game is said to have over 50 levels to keep you occupied.
After TouchArcade forum user ReformatPlanet pointed out a particularly polished new word game called Lexitron [$1.99, App Store], we sat down and went to work on evaluating this promising title. We quickly realized, however, that Lexitron was just one of several versions of the popular web-based TextTwist game.
TextTwist is a simple game where the player is given 6 jumbled letters and is expected to make as many words out of them as possible. The player is given the total number of possible words as well as the number of letters in each word. There’s no penalty for guessing but you are on a time-limit. Words can be anywhere from 3 to 6 letters long.
We found the following TextTwist clones in the App Store:
We reviewed Oliver Pasqualini’s cave-flyer G Force [App Store] a few weeks back and liked what we saw but found the game severely crippled by an odd “extended hang time” physics / control quirk. This is just a quick update to let everyone know that Oliver has not only ironed out the issues with the game’s control system in the 1.1 update but has also dropped the App Store price from $3.99 to $1.99.
iPhone developer 
Freeverse’s steampunk-themed, accelerometer-controlled puzzle game Plank [
Gameloft has surprisingly quickly dropped the price of Block Breaker Deluxe 2 [
David Frampton of Majic Jungle Software has informed us that his new $0.99 iPhone game 
