Snood has arrived for the iPhone tonight. We took an early look at the game just a few days ago, which offers a revamped version of the classic game. Some will find the gameplay familiar to other matching ball-shooters like Bust-a-Move, but Snood had its own following amongst Mac and PC gamers.

Snood for the iPhone preserves both the Classic gameplay with original graphics but also provide enhanced visuals as well as a number of new play modes. The game offers both single player and two player modes. Single player modes include Story, Classic, Time Attack and Puzzle modes across 5 different difficulty levels (child, easy, medium. hard, evil) and can be played with either the original or new graphic sets.

This video shows Classic and Puzzle modes using both the old and new graphics:

The game's goal is to eliminate all the Snoods from each level by matching them up in groups of 3 or more. Additional Snoods are fired onto the board with a canon at the bottom of the screen. Extra points are awarded for bank shots and chaining eliminations in sequence. iPhone controls allow you to touch on the screen to aim your canon with a button to fire. Controls work well, but like on the Mac/PC version it takes a little time to learn how to aim consistently.

The game makes heavy use of Facebook to offer online challenges, achievements and multi-player. Like many of our readers, I've never been a big fan of Facebook-integrated gaming as my Facebook world is very separate from my game playing world. While this integration for multiplayer makes some sense as a Facebook version of Snood is launching soon, even the single-player achievement system requires you to login.

For those who loved it, Snood was one of those time-sucking games that let you lose yourself for hours mindlessly firing away. While I don't think the iPhone version is necessarily going to draw in a new generation of gamers, it should please longtime fans of the franchise. For those on the fence or want just want to try out the game first, an online Facebook version of the same game will be launching very soon.

App Store Link: Snood, $3.99

The number of games being released on a daily basis for the iPhone remains overwhelming. Here are a few games that have generated positive reviews in our forums. Though we're not sure they all have universal appeal, they each offer a Lite version to try for yourself.

Mahjong Artifacts 2

Now here's Mahjong with style and a story mode. There's a lot to like about this game, though it's biggest flaw is the tiny size of the tiles themselves.

App Store Link: Mahjong Artifacts 2, $2.99, Mahjong Artifacts 2 Lite, Free

Mummy's Revenge

This Zombieville-like side scrolling shooter offers an Egyptian theme as well as an active development cycle. The latest version adds a number of weapons and upgrades as well as boss battles. Is it better than Zombieville? We're not so sure, but you can try it yourself.

App Store Links: Mummy's Revenge, $0.99, Mummy's Revenge Lite

Match 3D Flick Puzzle

Does playing Match 3 on a 3D Cube make it fresh and interesting again? You can decide for yourself. Tap on adjacent tiles to swap them while swipe to rotate the playfield around.

App Store Links: Match 3D Flick Puzzle, $2.99, Match 3D Flick Puzzle FREE, Free

I somehow just caught wind of the iPhone game for the History Channel show, Ice Road Truckers [App Store]. Ice Road Truckers is a documentary-style reality series that is on season 3 now, with the first show airing all the way back in 2007. And, up front, if you've never seen the show, you're going to have a hard time appreciating the absurdity of this iPhone title.

The show chronicles the amazing risks that these truck drivers take traversing a series of frozen lakes that double as roads in the winter of northern North America. Thin ice, mechanical problems from sub-zero temperatures, and human fatigue are just a few of the things these truckers need to contend with while making runs down the ice road. The show really is pretty interesting, and worth catching a few episodes if you're in to the kind of shows History Channel airs.

Here's a trailer for the most recent season of the show:

So how does the show translate to the iPhone game? In a word, it's awesome. As a fan of the show, I know it's an extremely dangerous journey and these truckers risk their lives doing what they do. I really don't mean to trivialize their efforts at all because I would never have the guts to drive down the ice road, but the game just comes off as so absurd that much like Enviro-Bear 2010 [App Store], I couldn't help but be smiling ear to ear playing it.

The game starts out with a suspenseful full motion video intro, then you select one of five trucks. As you earn bronze, silver, and gold tires, the other four trucks unlock, each having slightly better acceleration, speed, and handling than the last. After that, you choose one of eleven ice roads to race down, which also unlock as you play through the game.

So what's so great about the Ice Road Truckers game? Well, in the show they're constantly cutting to commercial in dramatic moments, suggesting all the dangers of the ice road, hinting that the particular driver you're watching could go plummeting through the ice at any time, and other things like that. If you've watched any History or Discovery channel reality show, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Yeah, all that? Nowhere to be found in the game. Instead, you literally race to the finish, drifting around corners and getting air off hills. Getting air? Yes. Seriously, the first hill you come to in the first track you can jump your eighteen wheeler filled with cargo off of. Not only that, but there's also other trucks on the ice road that are going so slow that you just completely blow by them as you're flooring your truck through the track.

To further add to the ridiculousness, the first ice road is 85 miles long according to the track selection screen. You finish it in a little over three minutes. That means your truck is traveling down the ice road at twice the speed of sound. There are some parts where you have to drive across thin ice, and during these portions of the game you have to keep your truck within a certain speed range indicated by a green area on your speedometer. Otherwise, it's pedal to the metal mach 2 all the way to the finish line.

Please, if you've watched the show, download the lite version of the game. It's so unintentionally hilarious when compared to the show it's supposed to be based on that I'm sitting here laughing just writing about it. And really, it's not that terrible of a game either if you completely dismiss the fact that it's supposed to be simulating the treacherous journey down the ice road, but it's sure to strike a chord if you're a fan of the show. Meanwhile, if you've never watched the show, you can safely skip this one.

App Store Link: Ice Road Truckers, $3.99 – Ice Road Truckers Lite, Free

Konami, better known for its Metal Gear and Silient Hill series, has just released Power Pros Touch [link] through the App Store, an adaptation of its popular Wii and PS2 baseball title MLB Power Pros, for the iPhone and iPod touch.

MLB Power Pros is a cartoonish take on the sport featuring cute, bobble-headed players in keeping with the style of the heretofore Japanese-only Power Pro series, which made its debut in 1994.

The game is very well reviewed, with Gamespot concluding,

Simply put, get the game for whichever system you play the most. It's a fantastic choice for anyone in the market for a fun-loving alternative to all of the other hardball sims out there, and one that doesn't skimp on statistical and physical realism in its pursuit of goofiness.

Power Pros Touch maintains the cartoonish graphics and delivers much of the home console experience to iPhone gamers.  It features two play modes across three different difficulty levels.  Exhibition Mode is a game against the CPU with a choice of six different teams and a certain degree of customizability.  Pennant Mode allows you to customize your season, selecting 25, 50, or 162 games and choosing between 3, 6, or 9 inning per game.  It's a full season experience.

Our forums readers have reacted very positively to Power Pros Touch, many calling it the best baseball game in the App Store.  MicroByte writes,

I've been playing Power Pros now for a day or so and must say, I'm loving it! I've purchased the other baseball games on the App Store (except the Homerun game) and I'm honestly liking this one the best. I've always liked more arcade like baseball games as opposed to realistic ones so that's probably why I like this one.
…
Overall I would say that it's definitely worth the money for me. I've spent some decent time with the game and it's not perfect, but it's fun and that's what counts. Between this and Baseball Superstars 2009, I prefer this one. To me, the pace of the batting and fielding always seemed too fast on BS2009 whereas this one feels like I can manage things better. I also like the touch screen control better than the virtual d-pad.

The main criticism that we've heard from those who've spent significant time with the title is that the game is much too easy on the default Novice difficulty level; we'd recommend players give the Normal or Expert difficulty setting a try, for a better game experience.

The arrival of a well reviewed, big-studio home console title on the iPhone platform is always a welcome event.  And baseball gaming fans, with or without prior experience with the Power Pros series, will likely find Power Pros Touch to be a title well worth considering.

See this gameplay video for a look at Power Pros Touch in action.

App Store Link: Power Pros Touch, $3.99

Low Five Games made their debut on the App Store yesterday with Earth Vs Moon [App Store], a game that features a mixture of vintage gameplay elements all wrapped up in a delightfully cheesy game universe where the Earth defends against the evil Moon army.

Beginning with a brief tutorial, Earth Vs Moon explains the simple touch controls of the game which are largely based off the classic arcade game Missile Command. Utilizing the three satellites that make up Earth's defense system, you touch the screen to launch missiles.

The point that you touch not only controls where the missile will go, but also where it will explode. When one of your missiles explodes, it will take out any enemy missiles inside of the blast radius. Fend off the entire wave of missiles and you progress to the next level.

This gameplay style worked great for Missile Command, as well as the countless Missile Command spin-offs and works equally well with Earth Vs Moon. The game is also spiced up with five boss battles, each of which have elements that tip their hat at other classic arcade games. For instance, one boss functions like a giant Pong machine, another works similar to Breakout, and there's even a level where you fight waves of Space Invaders.

This is all wrapped up with an art style that perfectly fits the mood of the game. Scores are displayed in nixie tubes and the health of Earth is shown in the vintage-looking gauge in the center of the menu bar. Between levels, the story moves forward using in-game newspaper machines, which display the front page of The New Earth Times. (These newspapers can be zoomed and panned using standard iPhone gestures, and are totally worth reading.)

As you progress through the game, additional game modes are unlocked. In Boss Attack, you race to defeat all the bosses as quickly as possible and in Score Attack you play in randomly generated levels to achieve the highest score possible.

Low Five Games released the following trailer for Earth Vs Moon, but unfortunately the trailer's epic soundtrack is nowhere to be found in the actual game itself:

Earth Vs Moon is totally worth a look if you've found yourself enjoying the vast array of updated classic games that developers have been releasing lately to quench the nostalgia of gamers that grew up on them. If Missile Command was before your time, Earth Vs Moon is a game with gameplay elements that have stood the test of time and some pretty great graphics to boot.

App Store Link: Earth Vs Moon, $3.99

Off-road racing fans are in for a real treat in Invictus' new iPhone release 4×4 Jam [App Store].  The game appears to be a loose adaptation of the developer's 2001 off-road racing game 1nsane which, at the time, PC Gamer called "the best off-road game ever" and Gamespot called "the only 4×4 racing game to date that truly offers a sense of the freedom–and the chaos–found in real-life off-road racing."

The stand-out feature of 4×4 Jam, and one that makes it unique among its App Store peers, is the fact that its terrain playfields are not closed routes, but provide total freedom to roam about — they are boundless.  Two such terrains are provided: a green European countryside and an American rock desert.  Three play modes are available across both terrains.  Jam is a race from gate to randomly-appearing gate across the vast game areas, in Off Road Race players (loosely) follow a dirt track to victory, and Free Ride offers a no-pressure opportunity to roam about the land.  There is no "career" mode, to speak of.

The game provides the choice of either a 4×4 truck or a Baja-style Beetle buggy to drive in each race type, with four different paint jobs for each.  There are three control modes to choose from: accelerometer steering with manual acceleration, accelerometer steering with auto acceleration, and touch steering with auto acceleration.  The options screen also provides the ability to tweak the display rendering for those wanting a framerate boost on slower iPhone platform devices (the game plays very smoothly on my 2G iPod touch test device).

As a real fan of off-road racers, I find that 4×4 Jam delivers a very enjoyable game experience, thanks in particular to its spot-on vehicle physics and the ability it provides to cut my own track across the landscape and head off the other racers.  The game's free-roam mechanic really sets it apart from more traditional, track-based racers (even the game's Off Road Race feels rather unlike track-based games) — to such a degree that some gamers married to the track may find it a bit too "loose" for comfort.  The lack of career mode may also be a bit off-putting for some and the track and vehicle selection is a bit limited, and I do hope to see more in future updates.  But overall, my guess is that most off-road racer fans will find 4×4 Jam to deliver a highly enjoyable (and unique) game experience.  (So far, our forum readers are loving it.)

See the our video to see the game in action. The developer's game trailer can be seen here.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

App Store Link: 4×4 Jam, $3.99

React Game's iPhone remake of the classic 1983 EA game of light and dark, Archon, has tonight appeared in the App Store [link].

Archon is hailed as a perfect hybrid of strategy and fast-action combat. You take control of either the Light or Dark team, each with their unique line-up of creatures. Strategically move your pieces on the chess-like board to capture squares. If you move onto an enemy square however, real-time battle ensues in the Combat Arena! Dodge with your Dragon or weave with your Unicorn and defeat your enemy. The combat victor captures the square on the Strategy Board. You win a game by annihilating your opponent's team or claiming all 5 “Power Squares.”

As a long-time fan of the '80s original, I was thrilled to hear that a licensed port of the game was headed to the iPhone….but I also harbored reservations.  Archon is a game that really stands the test of time.  I was afraid that the iPhone remake would dispense with the true spirit of the game and deliver an over-the-top, ultramodern experience baring little resemeblance to the nearly perfect original.  Happily, it seems my fears were unfounded.

Archon for the iPhone is, well, Archon — for the iPhone.  Oh, the reworked game features enhanced graphics and sound, but it is highly similar to the 8-bit original and the spirit is most definitely preserved.

On the game board, pieces are moved with tap controls, and when action shifts to the battle arena, an on-screen D-pad with a tap to fire in the direction of motion are used by default, with the option of accelerometer based movement controls.  The controls work as well as the typical D-pad scenario, but the all-important diagonal shots can be tricky to smoothly execute. The game comes with three difficulty levels (novice, average, adept) with novice and average both seemed too easy, while adept started offering some challenge. The game only offers a single "classic" single player mode in the first version, though ReactGames has suggested they are looking into campaign, multiplayer and more in the future.

Arena combat may involve combatants of highly differing attack techniques.  Unicorn fires high-speed, low-damage bolts.  Phoenix is invincible during its fire-plume attack.  Golem throws low-speed, high-damage boulders.  Knight delivers a close-range, high-damage attack.  And the overall power of each is affected by the shade of the board square on which it sits; light pieces are more powerful the lighter the square, dark pieces are more powerful the darker the square — and the shade of each square changes as time progresses in the game.  In all, it makes for a series of battles that require real skill with each attach technique in order to emerge victorious.

The game's audio has been notably modernized as compared to the original and a variety of battleground backdrop graphics are provided.  It's basically the same  Archon, packaged to appeal to modern players. There had been some talk that we'd see a playmode featuring the original, retro graphics set, but that option isn't apparent at first glance.

Those unfamiliar with the title should not confuse Archon with a Battle Chess-style title where gameplay is entirely a board-based strategy affair, with fighting sequences that are nothing more than eye-candy.  In Archon, once battle is waged, it's up to the player to white-knuckle it to victory. And at a price-point of $3.99, it's a title certainly worth a look if you're a fan of the original, though the game offers only the one single player mode at this time.

App Store Link: Archon, $3.99

Matmi has released their beautifully designed pinball game Monster Pinball [$3.99] into the App Store.

Their game is described as a "totally original pinball extravaganza" which offers the player 6 interconnected pinball tables that are stylistically designed. The action is fast and furious with 60 frame per second animations.

The initial reactions to the game have been very positive from our own Eli Hodapp and Big Albie (5 stars), but perhaps most convincing is an unabashed thumbs up from forum user dogmeat who has been diligently reviewing many of the other pinball games in the App Store.

Its absolutely magnificent, and worth the money, presentation value is great

So far, the sole dissenting criticism is that the game perhaps doesn't quite "feel" like traditional pinball due to the stylistic embellishments, though, that seems it was part of the intent.

The developer's gameplay video shows the action nicely:

App Store Link: Monster Pinball, $3.99

Gameloft's latest title, New York Nights: Success in the City [App Store] popped up for sale this evening. As a social simulation game, you play the role of your customized character, fresh off a plane in Manhattan with little more than the clothes you're wearing and an entire city in front of you.

New York is split in to six areas: 5th Avenue, Greenwich, Wall Street, Times Square, Chinatown and Central Park. Each section of the city has its own set of NPC's to talk to and different businesses to explore as you make your way to the top of the nightlife scene.

The game starts with a fairly detailed tutorial in which you meet your brother at your new apartment, make friends with someone on the street (who oddly enough quickly becomes your new roommate), work your first job as a dancer at the nearby Club Awesome. New York Nights: Success in the City plays similar to The Sims, only instead of focusing around your house, emphasis is placed on people, activities, and relationships. A focus that I'm enjoying as the decorating/building aspect of The Sims never interested me that much.

The graphics are colorful, the adventures I've had so far have been fairly amusing, and the game as a whole seems to have a good sense of humor. Originally existing on mobile phones, New York Nights: Success in the City is a decent port. The touchscreen interface works well, although it would be nice if there were confirmations on conversation choices since there is nothing you can do but face the consequences of talking about "Car accidents" instead of "Club chicks".

As you work your way through the game, you balance a wide variety of stats. For instance, throughout the day you get tired, increasing "Sleep". Drinking coffee to stay up later decreases your "Sleep", but in turn increases your "Crazy" and "Bathroom" statistics.

New York Nights: Success in the City was well recieved in its original mobile phone release, and having enjoyed what I've seen so far in the game, I expect the iPhone port to see the same praise.

App Store Link: New York Nights: Succes in the City, $3.99

iPhone developer ARCTAN has released iLodeRunner [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch, a remake of the 1983 Brøderbund classic platformer Lode Runner that's virtually identical to the Apple II original.

Features listed by the developer:

• Graphics, sound and gameplay virtually identical to the original 1983 version.
• All 150 levels from the original LodeRunner!
• Two control modes:
  • Accelerometer: Tilt to move, tap to dig.
  • Touch: Tap to move, swipe to dig.
• Extra features include level select, high scores, and game speed control.
• Level editor coming soon!

And while retro fans may enjoy the title, it seems unlikely that this is an officially licensed release.   Official Lode Runner remakes have recently appeared on the classic iPod (from Hudson) and on the Xbox Live Arcade (from Tozai / SouthEnd).  If it is indeed not an official release, ARCTAN's version will shortly be pulled from the App Store due to requests from stakeholders.

App Store Link: iLodeRunner, $3.99