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

Those eagerly awaiting the 2D Mini Squadron shooter we profiled back in September will be pleased to find the game has arrived. The developer described his motivation was to bring a "high quality, frenetic shoot-em-up to the iPhone, taking inspiration from old-skool games".

Mini Squadron offers an arcade style 2D shooter with a progressively difficult 8 levels with multiple stages in each. There are 50 progressively unlockable aircraft with different stats, handling and weapons to use throughout the game. Other features from the developer include:

• Over 50 planes to unlock and collect for your mini squadron.
• 8 Levels of intense combat each containing multiple levels of enemies to shoot down
• 7 different types of weapon to use including Homing Missile, Drop Bomb, Laser and BIG Laser!
• Ducks, Seagulls, UFOs, Devil Planes, Propellor Planes, Squids – you can shoot all these things and more!
• Simple yet fluid gameplay systems based on physics, you can stall if going too slow and also gain supersonic speed by diving fast towards the Earth for a competitve advantage.
• More than 8 different pick-ups to boost your plane.
• Local WiFi Multiplayer – challenge your friends to a one-on-one dogfight to the death!

Full review to come. First impressions are being reported in our forums.

App Store Link: MiniSquadron, $2.99

Dungeon crawler fans that like to equip an iPhone or iPod touch when it comes time to hew a row of ogre necks are in for a real treat in a coming iPhone remake of a true classic of the genre. Jeff McCord at age 17 originally wrote Sword of Fargoal for the Commodore PET — in BASIC — in 1980. Two years later he teamed up with Epyx and released the game commercially for the VIC 20 (still in BASIC). The following year, Jeff and friends brought the game to the newly-released Commodore 64, and the rest is history.

Sword of Fargoal is one of the best loved roguelike games ever to light up a CRT. In its 1996 anniversary issue, Computer Gaming World listed the game as #147 in the "Top 150 Best Video Games of All Time." It has been inspiration for many dungeon crawlers created since, and has itself been remade for various platforms.

In a nutshell, the game places the player within the top level of a deep series of dungeons with the quest of seeking out the legendary "Sword of Fargoal" and escaping with it from the depths of said dungeons. Complicating matters is the fact that the layout of each dungeon level is randomly generated when the player enters it, and that the dungeons are all initially bathed in darkness, revealing themselves only as the player explores. Those lucky enough to locate the sword have only 2,000 seconds to find their way out of the dungeons which, even on the way up, are randomly generated…. Not a proposition for the meek.

Along the way, the player encounters a vast array of enemies, both human and not-so-human. Battling these enemies, the player builds experience points which allow the character to level, increasing his fighting abilities and hit points. As well, various spells can be found throughout the dungeons that aid the player in completing his quest: Invisibility, Drift, Light, Regeneration, Teleport, and Shield.

Now, the astute reader might be asking themselves just how well a game written almost 30 years ago in BASIC for a 1MHz, 50 lb computer suits the iPhone. The answer is, in fact: quite well. As the game moved from PET to VIC 20 to C64 to PC it has certainly evolved graphically, but never moreso than in its latest jump to the iPhone. Jeff and his partner in this effort Paul Pridham (who brought us Saucelifter) have done an excellent job with this remake.

But, really, what makes the game so well suited for the iPhone is its casual nature as compared to the typical roguelike. And that's not to say the game is shallow or light on dungeon crawling action, but rather I feel it's simply a bit more accessible to the typical gamer than, say, Nethack, Moria, or Rogue thanks to an economy of controls, spells, and the like. Those who've never played a dungeon crawler before might just find themselves drawn in to Sword of Fargoal.

Have a look at the developers' trailer video for a glimpse of the action.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Sword of Fargoal will be submitted to the App Store sometime next week and should go live in early to mid December at a one-week introductory price of $2.99 (regular $4.99). After the game goes live, the developers plan to release a series of free, episodic updates that will introduce new game elements, level types, and the like. Additionally, new graphical tile sets will eventually be made available as in-app purchases for those wanting to apply a whole new look to the game.

I've enjoyed recent dialog with both Jeff and Paul as they've introduced me to their upcoming iPhone title and we plan to post an in-depth interview with the developers in the next week that takes a closer look at the game's history, the iPhone remake, and iPhone development in general. Accompanying the interview will be a detailed gameplay video that should give prospective buyers a solid look at Sword of Fargoal for the iPhone.

Auditorium has arrived for the iPhone. The musical puzzle game began life as a Flash game that can still be played on its website.

In Auditorium you have to guide a flow of light particles into the audio containers on the game board. Each level has a different set of movable pieces that all have different effects on the flow of these particles, from simply controlling its direction, speed, or even attracting or repelling the flow. The early levels start in grayscale, but quickly make way to vibrant colors and different audio containers that can hold each the various particle colors.

The iPhone version of the game contains 25 levels across 5 different acts and naturally uses touch and pinch controls to adjust the placement and strength of the pieces. Additional "movements" (levels) can be purchased for $0.99 a piece, adding 14-17 levels per pack. Some of the more advanced pieces that affect particle movement are reserved for the add-on content. A Lite version of the game is also available which contains 5 different levels and starts off slightly more difficult to give you a better taste of the game. Auditorium is an original game that's worth a try if you've never experienced it before.

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

Hook Champ is a game that takes the swinging mechanic which has been amazingly popular both in Rope 'n' Fly and its sequel as well as the recently released Rope Raider. The game has wonderful pixel art retro graphics, and feels more like an Indiana Jones game than the actual Indiana Jones NES game.

Using your trusty rope and grappling hook you swing through a series of caves trying to make it out alive with the idol you stole before the evil (and hungry) ghost that is constantly chasing you catches up and eats you. Everything in the game is upgradeable via an in-game shop where you spend the gold coins you pick up, and each level has its own online leaderboard with additional in-game perks if you rank high enough such as a crown for your guy to wear if you're #1.

The impending update is going to have even more hats for you to buy, along with full OpenFeint support. Along with OpenFeint comes loads of achievements that range from things like beating levels to killing 40 bats in a single level. Aside from the current in-game leaderboards, there will also be a myriad of OpenFeint powered leaderboards including an overall leaderboard to see who the true king of Hook Champ is. Also, you will be able to challenge friends to compete against your performance in any level in the game.

If you felt Hook Champ did a poor job at representing female grappling hook spelunkers, you'll be happy to find out that Gunny, the girl who hauls you up at the end of each level will be a playable character in the new update. Not only that, there's an entire new level set. The rat series of levels is all about doing things at blisteringly fast speeds. There's even a new ghost that chases you that's shaped like a rat skull that moves even quicker than before.

Hook Champ was a great game, even before this update was announced. Rockcat Games' commitment to adding additional content and features for fans of the game goes even further to seal the deal. If you haven't yet played Hook Champ, I highly recommend downloading the free lite version.

App Store Link: Hook Champ, $2.99 – Hook Champ LITE, Free

Just when you thought you had enough of Bejeweled, PopCap has released an update to the massively popular Match 3 game adding the competitive one minute Blitz mode that has been so popular on Facebook. According to the Facebook application page for Bejeweled Blitz, there are over 10 million monthly active users.

The iPhone version naturally connects to the Facebook version as detailed by Games.com:

The iPhone version also includes all of the same power-ups — score multipliers and laser gems — vital to pushing your score to unbeatable heights. Your high scores will automatically show up on the leaderboard in the Facebook version, and you'll be able to post brag notes on your Facebook page anytime you score a metal in the game (see example below). We were impressed to see our new high scores appeared in the Facebook version's leaderboard in real time, as well as our brag notes.

This tight Facebook integration allows you to compete on the existing leaderboards as well as in the weekly tournaments and prize drawings.

The Blitz mode is a free update to the Bejeweled 2 iPhone game. Facebook connectivity is, of course, required to take advantage of the online component. You can play in an offline mode if you prefer, but then you may as well be playing the existing single player modes.

App Store Link: Bejeweled 2, $2.99

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

Developer description of the game includes:

• Brilliant 3D graphics and classic platform action!
• For the first time, play as two different heroes each with a unique play style.
• Master six different weapons per character and power up each weapon with magic.
• Destroy treasure chests to uncover weapons and more powerful suits of armor.
• Further customize your Ghosts ‘N Goblins experience with DLC.

The game is on launch sale for $2.99 until November 23rd. The game also offers additional "cheat" power-ups and extras that can be purchased for $0.99 a piece. These add ons include:

• Unlimited Lives
• Increase the attack power of Arthur's weapons
• Increase the rapid fire and superiority of Lancelot's weapons
• Use of magic regardless of armor's condition, increase magic's power and decreases charging time
• Increases durability of all armors
• Makes enemies weaker and removes all magicians and traps in the stage

The use of any of these extras prevents you from being ranked in the local high scores.

Early impressions are being collected in our forums. We'll post detailed impressions and a video in time.

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

Last month Wisp Games released a sprawling galactic role playing game set far in the future, known as Flatspace [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch.  An adaptation of the well-reviewed 2003 PC release, Flatspace is a large scale, open space trading game in the spirit of the legendary Elite, Galaxy on Fire [App Store] for the iPhone, and others of the sort.

The distant future. Space has expanded to such an extent that stars and planets can no longer hold form. Humanity still lives and works in space stations and ships, islands of light and technology in an otherwise cold and flat void.

Such is the backstory of the Flatspace game universe.  Upon reading the title of this game along with the backstory, I must confess that I was anticipating an amazingly clever and wholly new type of game experience that might harken back to Abbot's Flatland, or something like the same, but this is not the case.  Not that Flatspace is a let-down, but it seems the "flat" backstory is simply justification for a game of galactic proportions being rendered in top-down 2D (well, 2.5D) as opposed to 3D.  I just wanted to clear that up, directly.

At the start of a new game, you create a captain for your ship, choosing from among a variety of professions: Trader, Mercenary, Bounty Hunter, Space Pirate, Police Officer and Scavenger.  You're then equipped with a rather meager spacecraft and dropped into a random spot in the game universe.  From there you're out to amass wealth by way of completing various missions and trading items between space stations — that is, if you're on the straight and narrow.  Another approach is to basically become a space pirate, raiding, stealing, and killing in order to bring in the loot.  Whatever your approach, there are plenty of other space pirates out there to keep you on your toes — watch out for them.

Your ship has the ability to target and scan both space stations and ships.  This reveals important information about the nature of these vessels, so that you can decide whether to interact with them (and in what fashion) or to pass them by.  Your craft is armed with lasers, but available weapons upgrades, which include cannons, missiles and tractor beams, add to your abilities and are necessary to complete certain missions.  Control of your ship is handled via accelerometer for steering, as well as on-screen touch for control of weapons and various other ship features.

Flatspace for the iPhone features three different playmodes.  First off, there's the Standard Game, which lets you create a captain and begin amassing your fortune.  The Custom Game mode gives you control over the types of people in the universe (pirates, no pirates, etc.), the quantity and visibility of space stations, the numbers of asteroids and nebulas, and so forth.  The Arcade Game just throws you straight into the heat of battle, where the emphasis is on action rather than strategy.

Even with my abbreviated time with the game, it's clear that Flatspace offers significant play time to those who fancy a large-scale space RPG.  While more approachable than the seminal classic Elite, Flatspace is one of those games in which you can (and must) invest a lot of time.

The accelerometer-only steering can seem imprecise and the interface, a bit unpolished, perhaps reflective of it being a port of a PC game, but Wisp Games indicates that the first update is almost ready, which will include the option of non-accelerometer steering, video tutorials, and the ability to choose your initial bankroll for Custom Games.  And those who remain undecided can check out the free, demo version of the Windows release to get a feel for the action.

App Store Link: Flatspace, $2.99

Similar to our monthly game ratings, the OpenFeint Gold program aims to pick out games which are not only of the highest quality, but also make excellent use of the OpenFeint service. They seem to be setting the bar fairly high in nominating Fieldrunners as the first game to get their gold rating, and it should be interesting to see what games they choose in the future.

Here are two screenshots of the upcoming levels, Frostbite and Skyway:

Each will feature new towers, new enemy units, and will require new strategies.

Fieldrunners was among the first of the highly successful tower defense games for the iPhone, and it's always nice to see original App Store classics like this still getting attention from their developers.

App Store Link: Fieldrunners, $2.99