Kairosoft’s Pocket Academy [$3.99 / Lite] takes the best and worst elements of its prior releases, Game Dev Story [$1.99 / Lite] and Hot Springs Story [$3.99 / Lite], blends them together, and then applies them to a school environment. It’s not remarkable on the surface. It has the same cutesy art direction used in these prior games. It also re-hashes a lot of mechanics, continues to shroud a lot of its crucial foundational and tycoon elements in mystery, and it controls like crap. But it does still deliver in the form of the studio’s should-be patented carrot-on-the-stick design approach and fleshes out a crucial, but oft-forgotten, driver in all simulation games: the people.

Provided the gun to my head wasn’t real, I’d argue until the moment the trigger is pulled that Pocket Academy isn’t as much of a school simulation as it is a over-the-top student simulation game because, at the end of the day, this game isn’t about how pretty your school is or about how many trees you’ve planted. It’s about what your kids are learning and how well they can prove that your system, either totalitarian or social-focused, works.

On the top end, this game puts you in the shoes of an administrator planning out the next greatest thing in education. You’re in charge of building classrooms, researching new facilities like restrooms, libraries, and nurses’ offices, and creating statistical bonus zones with bonus-laden objects like shrubbery, trees, or even rocks. Chaos is frowned upon, as the careful planner who puts like buildings together can string together dramatic bonuses to student-side factors like learning and school spirit.

This is where the one real rub rears its head: Pocket Academy isn’t good at telling you what is “good” versus “bad.” It hides a lot of bonuses and mechanics from viewing. The only solid way to find out what works well with something else is via experimentation, which is a costly and horribly slow, pace-chewing endeavor. Even buildings and research subjects have terrible descriptions that can lead to hair-pulling strategic misfires.

Like Game Dev Story understood, to some extent, the development process and let you lead it, Pocket Academy allows you to do the same with a school. The end product is a well-learned student body, and you get several years to turn kids’ mush into iron. Ample classrooms and activities are a necessity to do this, as well as teachers. Students come in once a year or through transfer if your school is attractive enough. Teachers, on the other hand, need to be hired and then leveled up. Satisfactorily, you are put in charge of what statistics receive boosts upon leveling up, which lets you mold a curriculum that feels... well, you. It's pretty redeeming building something in your own image.

Science, math, English, Spanish, and history are the subjects each student can learn. As they sit in classrooms, they’ll automatically receive points in these areas. As they roam and participate in other facilities, they’ll earn additional points that you can then, in turn, spend in classrooms to boost their core attributes or apply to research. This is the push and pull: do you spend these points in order to get more areas for interaction, or do you spend them to educate the students more?

I usually go with the latter since it’s the real meat of the game. In order to attract more kids, you need to compete in challenges based on those core subjects. The higher the IQ, the likelier they are to pass the challenge. Also, schools as a whole are rated and a lot of funding, as well as those ratings, depends on end-of-semester test scores. The goal is to be the best school in the world, so the students actually matter. But the other decision is a fundamental one, too. Without interaction, you don't get points for research or tests.

Weighing these two options, as dull as they sound, is entertaining. I think it helps that there's always something you could be doing in the process or, at least, building towards.

To its credit, Pocket Academy really fleshes out who these kids are. They’re all named and you deal with them over the course of several years. You’ll also see them make friends, attempt to date other students, get frustrated, succeed, and fail. Students all have certain disposition traits, too, which factor into how they learn and where they learn the best. As if that wasn’t enough, there are also activities they favor which you can cater to by building clubs or more facilities.

After spending years with these kids and using them in the right way, you do tend to bond with the character, as silly as that sounds. But it’s that connection, as flimsy as it is, that makes this simulation game much more satisfying than most. You have a stake in the systems, at least.

I could go on and on about the systems at play, what you can do, and the billions of little things that you’ll end up doing to improve the experience. There are tons of mechanics and little touches at play in Pocket Academy, all of which are satisfying to some extent to use, deal with, or think about. The game starts brutal, so be prepared.

I have a feeling that, like Game Dev Story, you’ll run out of meaningful things to do in Pocket Academy after an epic several-year run but I don’t think that hurts. As it is, there are plenty of things -- perhaps too much in places -- to do for several, several hours. For those of you who didn’t download sight unseen, no worries: this is a sharp little simulation game packed with depth and, oddly enough, a little emotion. It might be hard to penetrate at first, but stick with it and you’ll be rewarded with an awesome game.

TouchArcade Rating:

We've been sort of Kairosoft crazy ever since they released their phenomenal game company simulation Game Dev Story [$1.99/Lite] last year. Then, Kairosoft followed up that release here in the States with Hot Springs Story [$3.99/Lite], an even more refined simulation that let you manage and expand your own Japanese spa. Since then, Kairosoft has been releasing tons of differently themed simulations using their trademark character and style, but so far none of them have made it out of the Japanese App Store and into the US.

Back in April we took a look at one of those titles, which through our powers of mediocre translation we were calling Pocket School Story 2. It turns out that the game is actually called Pocket Academy [$3.99/Lite], and it has just gone live in the US App Store. Pocket Academy looks extremely similar to Hot Springs Story, except that you are creating a successful school from the ground up and managing all of the different aspects of it rather than a Japanese bath house.

We'll be putting Pocket Academy through its paces and come back with a full review soon, but since there are no doubt many of you who will buy a new Kairosoft game sight unseen (myself included) I figured that the decent thing to do would be to let you know of its availability and provide you with a link to the game. You can also check out the early impressions from gamers in our forums who have picked up the game, and we'll be back with more on Pocket Academy soon.

Update: A lite version is now available too.

There are plenty of popular car racing games in the AppStore; Real Racing 2 [$6.99/HD], Death Rally [99¢] and Reckless Racing [99¢/Lite/HD] spring to mind, to name a few. However, moto-racing is less frequently represented, so it's nice to find a new game about Italian motorcycles which looks pretty sweet. Ducati Challenge [$3.99/HD] from Ducati and Digital Tales opens with a montage of Ducati motorcycles in action, complete with pumping music. If you're a motorcycle, Ducati or racing game enthusiast, check this out.

The game features three modes: Quick Challenge, Championship and Multiplayer. Quick Challenge allows you to practice before a race, to familiarize yourself with the bike and track. You choose the difficulty level and number of laps. Championship Modes include easy (4 races), medium (6 races) and hard (12 races), which must each be beaten in turn as they're locked initially. Each Championship begins with qualifying practice laps which determine who scores pole position, followed by the race itself. Multiplayer mode lets up to four petrol-heads race via a local wi-fi connection and works with a combination of iPhone and iPad devices.

(more...)

Laser Dolphin [.99 / HD] is a criminally under-produced game plagued by issues that wouldn’t be permissible if Laser Dolphin was anything else but a mindlessly fun game about a dolphin with a laser gun strapped to its back.

It’s obvious that Laser Dolphin is a game built on a tight budget or the end product of a rookie game development team. Its animations are stiff, while the story presentation is even stiffer; the assets are endlessly regurgitated, the level design is haphazard, and the action is loose, unpolished, and lacking substance, control, and refinement.

(more...)

TouchArcade Rating:

One of the more interesting bits of development drama to come out of last year was when Mobile1Up went rogue and decided to port Lemmings to iOS. Sure, it was undoubtedly doomed from the start but it was still incredibly entertaining watching them liveblog the whole process as they ported over their entirely remade Palm OS version of the game. The liveblog mentioned is still online, and still worth reading (start from the bottom) if you're even vaguely interested in what's involved in porting an old game to iOS.

It wasn't much of a surprise that the Lemmings project was served with a cease and desist order from Sony, who is sitting on a number of forgotten retro IP's similar to Lemmings. Regardless, there are two universal constants in the world of gaming: Haters are gonna hate and lawyers are gonna... lawyer? So with the unofficial Lemmings port officially shut down, the developers decided to turn their existing completely rebuilt version of Lemmings into something that's just barely different enough to legally be in the clear.

Enter Caveman [$1.99] and its associated Caveman HD [$3.99]. It's Lemmings right down to its core, except without the actual Lemmings themselves. Given the circumstances, I would have opted for something a little more funny than cavemen, like lawyers, but I suppose it's in Mobile1Up's best interest to not push the issue much further.

It's great to see the whole Lemmings port project reaching a conclusion. If you've been looking for an authentic Lemmings experience but don't mind a bit of a reskin, make sure to give Cavemen a try.

Last month, indie developer Ryan Mitchell and his studio Banshee Soft released Mission Europa into the App Store. Combining a deep RPG experience with a first-person shooter, Mission Europa is really unlike anything currently available for a mobile platform like the iPhone. Now you can get a taste of this with the recently released lite version of Mission Europa.

The complete game is spread across 5 episodes and 170 missions, with 50 different levels to explore and at least 50 hours of gameplay. There are a ton of different armor types, equipment, combat skills, and weapons to customize your character with, not to mention an item and equipment creation system that expands that even further. Beyond the impressive single player offering is an online battle arena where you can take your created character into battle against players from all over the world, adding what amounts to endless replay value to the title.

Strictly speaking in terms of content and depth, Mission Europa is unmatched, and the fact that the entire game was built from scratch by one person over the course of 2 years is an insane accomplishment to say the least.

(more...)

Revolutionary Concepts is running a sale on its iOS port of the classic '80s laserdisc title Road Blaster. Road Blaster for iPhone [App Store], normally $1.99, and Road Blaster HD for iPad [App Store], normally $3.99, are both available for $0.99 for one week only.

Road Blaster follows a campy story of revenge (not totally unlike many action movies from the '80s) where you are out to get justice against an evil biker gang who murdered your wife. You'll hop into your modified sports car and go after these heartless thugs across 9 different levels, with the option of three difficulty settings. Operate your vehicle using a virtual steering wheel or the brand new tilt controls.

The iOS version features remastered FMV sequences that are optimized for Retina displays (on iPhone), a choice of two different redrawn in-game dashboard consoles, a new soundtrack and plenty of new sound effects, and numerous optimizations over the original.

Today also marks the return of the studio's Karate Champ FREE [iPhone, iPad] to the App Store, which gives a nice taste of the full iOS conversion of the classic '80s arcade fighter.

The iOS equivalent of video game crack, Game Dev Story [$3.99/Lite], unexpectedly took the App Store world by storm last fall when it released. This quirky simulation game let you build your very own video game company, releasing titles of your choosing for a wide selection of consoles along a timeline that is strikingly similar to the actual history of video games for the past few decades. Chances are you know all this already, as Game Dev Story has earned accolades from seemingly every corner of the internet, including our own glowing review from last October.

Today Game Dev Story received a new update that adds Game Center leaderboards and achievements to the game. There are now online leaderboards for total game sales, total console sales, total capital for the 20 year span of the normal game, and additional leaderboards that track game sales for every single console in the game. The leaderboards are already chock full of some absolutely insane scores, but it’s still pretty fun to see where you stack up in the various areas of the game.

(more...)

All the way back in January of 2010, Ryan Mitchell Games released Necromancer Rising [Free], an RPG of impressive scale. Utilizing their own in-house developed "Soul Engine", the game comes packed with tons of content and customization while still being capable of running well on ancient iOS devices. The graphics look a little dated, but if you can get beyond that you'll be in for 60 hours of gameplay across 50 in-game dungeons with 49 different bosses.

Check out the trailer which shows a bunch of bosses, dungeons, and gameplay:

Anyway, the whole reason that this game is free is because of the launch of Mission Europa, a Sci-Fi themed title based on the same engine which has an additional year of development under its belt. Again, the graphics in Mission Europa are definitely rough around the edges compared to modern video games, but the amount of content and customization is crazy. The 50 hours of gameplay is comprised of 50 different levels over 5 episodes and 170 missions. Also included are 180 different enemies, 50 bosses, and 30 unique armor sets.

Give the trailer a look:

One odd thing about Mission Europa is that it comes in two different editions. First off, there's Mission Europa Collector's Edition HD [$9.99] and Mission Europa Standard Edition HD [$3.99] they seem to be the same game, but the Collector's Edition comes with all of the content while the Standard Edition has it for sale in-game via IAP.

It sounds weird, but people on our forums are absolutely in love with the game. It had a ridiculously huge thread in our upcoming games forum, and now that it's out there's an equally massive thread in our games forum. In addition, there's even a FAQ thread filled with forum members helping others with the game.

I'd definitely give Necromancer Rising a try first, as the game mechanics are similar enough that you'll easily be able to get a feel for whether or not you can deal with how the game feels before getting involved in Mission Europa. Either way, it's impressive seeing indie developers like this releasing games of this scope and scale, so swing by the forums and see what others are saying about the games.

Living more than 5000 miles away, it’s hard for me to imagine the tragedy that struck Japan this past week. A devastating earthquake rocked the country from top to bottom, followed by a tsunami that reached practically every Pacific Ocean coastline. Many different organizations have set up channels to offer relief to Japan, and even in our tiny iOS corner of the world two Japan-based developers are doing their part as well.

Sega has dropped the price of every Sonic the Hedgehog game from now until March 20th, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Red Cross Disaster Relief in Japan. 3 of these 4 Sonic titles are emulated Genesis games, with Sonic Spinball being the one that works the best with virtual controls. Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 don’t fare as well, as they require the precision of physical controls, but honestly they work good enough to give you a quick nostalgia fix if you were a fan of the original titles. Sonic 4, on the other hand, is a brand new Sonic game which has been tailored for the touch screen. It’s a bit short overall, but we really liked Sonic 4 a lot in our review.

---

Capcom has also lowered the price of one of their flagship titles, Street Fighter IV. From now until March 22nd Street Fighter IV for iPhone will be just 99¢ with all sales going to charity. This version of Street Fighter impressed everybody when it released a year ago with how well it translated to the touch screen for a game that has traditionally relied on physical button controls. Our original glowing review doesn’t even tell the whole story, as the game has been updated many times since then adding new characters, modes, and functionality. It’s practically twice the game it originally was, and if you’re even remotely a Street Fighter fan, this needs to be in your collection.

It’s not always easy to offer support to tragedies like this, especially when many iOS gamers are too young to have a reasonable means of donating to a relief fund. This special promotion gives an easy way to do a small part towards helping, even if all you have is a spare few dollars of iTunes credit to spend. In fact, last month Street Fighter IV dropped to 99¢ for the first time ever and claimed the #1 spot in the App Store charts, so there is definitely potential to rack up a good amount of donation money for Japan. And it’s not such a bad deal for yourself, either, as all of these games are worth owning anyway. If you happen to already have them for yourself, now would also be a great time to gift them to family or friends with iOS devices.

A mega-huge update is coming to Zombie Smash and Zombie Smash HD [$1.99 / HD] a little later this April. Like the developers, I hesitate to call this a standard “update.” It’s more like a total overhaul with an added second campaign.

For you iPhone 4 owners out there, Game Doctors is adding in new, high-resolution visuals for device’s beefier screen. Also, look forward to some new technical wizardry via parallax scrolling effects and even a new soundtrack. Also, if you rock enough, you’ll earn some Game Center achievements along the way.

The game’s new campaign, Camp Nowhere as its called, adds in 30 additional days to survive against the zombie hordes. I got to see this during a demo session at GDC and came away quite impressed with what it added. That is to say, I dug the new zombies, the new special attacks, and the backgrounds. Here’s a shot of the muscle zombie, which was shown to me late yesterday. He’s my kind of undead dude:

Of course, the game will also support IAP, so get ready for that money drain. I’m not privy to the balance, so I can’t really speak to how much of a necessity micro-DLC will become, but, hey, I’ll keep my eyes out for this update when it hits later this April and report back to you.

About a month ago, we were somewhat surprised by the announcement that the arcade classic Double Dragon would be getting an enhanced iOS remake. I’m a huge fan of the Double Dragon series, both in the arcade and at home with the many console ports and sequels, and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t that excited by the news. I didn’t really dig the new graphics, and I was definitely not a fan of the virtual controller that took up the bottom third of the screen. I’m all for big name titles coming to iOS, but in this case it seemed that my nostalgia for Double Dragon was poised to get dragged through the mud.

Then last week, Double Dragon [$3.99] quietly snuck into the App Store, and with the madness of GDC coming to an end I’ve finally had a chance to spend some quality time with the game. Not only was I pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this new Double Dragon, but I’ll even go as far as saying that it’s easily my favorite beat-em-up in the App Store. It just goes to show that you really can’t ever judge a book by its cover.

Double Dragon on iOS is developed  Brizo Interactive, who are also responsible for the somewhat obscure version of Double Dragon on the Zeebo. The iOS version is loosely based on the Zeebo one, meaning that it has 4 levels that somewhat resemble the arcade originals plus 2 completely new levels unique to the remake. Also, there is a huge assortment of bosses and enemies to unlock in addition to the main characters Billy and Jimmy Lee, making for a whopping total of 26 playable characters.

The gameplay remains true to the Double Dragon series as you travel from left to right through the 6 levels section by section, taking on countless waves of thugs and squaring up against a boss at the end of each level. You can choose to take on the game solo or with a buddy in local Bluetooth co-op multiplayer, which is insanely fun and works like a dream in my experience. There’s also a Time Attack mode where you can play any of the 6 levels individually for the highest score and fastest time. All of these modes have associated leaderboards through Game Center, but unfortunately something seems to be screwy with that function as I’m not able to access any of them.

Despite the additional 2 levels over the original Double Dragon, the iOS version won’t take long to complete. Brizo compensates for this nicely by adding incentive to play through the game multiple times. There’s the 24 extra characters to unlock, and even though their move sets aren’t as robust as what Billy and Jimmy have, it’s still really fun to play through the game as one of the various henchmen or boss characters. There are also a ton of achievements to earn by completing all sorts of different tasks in the game. Even though the Game Center integration is currently broken, the achievements are also accessible in-game and I’ve been having a great time trying to get them all.

Given that Double Dragon is a button masher by nature, there have been concerns on how well this will translate to the touch screen. Thankfully the controls here are as good as virtual d-pads and buttons can be, which is to say that there is the occasional misfire but nothing earth-shattering. There's even the option for either a 4 button control scheme or a simplified 3 button setup, which makes the game considerably easier to play but also limits which moves you're able to do. Some players in our forums have complained that the controls are too small, but I personally haven’t felt that this is a problem.

What is a problem, however, is the awful looking overlay where the buttons are placed. This overlay takes up a good portion of the screen and can even block enemy positions or pits that lead to instant death. For the most part it stays out of the way, but when the overlay does block the action it can be an incredibly frustrating experience. An alternate overlay or even the option to increase the transparency would be a really welcome addition.

I am firmly a fan of this new Double Dragon and stand corrected by my initial judgment from our first preview. The redone graphics actually look fantastic, giving the game an almost comic book style that retains a retro feel. The controls are more than adequate and the fighting system is fairly deep, with experience earned from playing going towards unlocking an assortment of new moves. Coupled with unlocking new characters and achievements, there’s actually quite a bit to do in Double Dragon for such a fundamentally short game.

If the developer can sort out the Game Center and control overlay problems, I really wouldn’t have anything to complain about with Double Dragon. If you like beat-em-up arcade games and can deal with the changes from the original Double Dragon, you’ll likely find this version a highly enjoyable title. It’s currently on an introductory sale of $3.99 but will increase to $7.99 before long, so if you have any interest in the new Double Dragon for iOS then now might be the best time to pick it up.

TouchArcade Rating:

It’s not often that I hear about a game and feel the insatiable urge to play it that very second. Even the most heavily hyped games can be put aside for things like food and sleep, but Kairosoft isn’t your average app developer. Their first app, Game Dev Story [$3.99 / Lite], not only sucked the life out of me, but caused me to lose three pounds after not eating for a good day/ day and a half. I lived Game Dev Story. I breathed the fiery air of creativity. It was a taste of something wonderful. (Read our review if you don't believe me.)

Instead of pumping out a sequel using their tried and true formula though, Kairosoft felt that a little change was in order. They decided that instead of creating a new game development sim, they would jump way across the zen garden and create Hot Springs Story [$3.99], a full on sim in the realm of Sim City. Gone are the zany people that you could hire and fire; the people are now just customers that come and go at will.

My road down nostalgia lane isn’t precluding a bad game though, as Hot Springs Story is quite possibly the most soul sucking game (in the best way possible) that I’ve played since... Game Dev Story. Like a typical building sim, Hot Springs Story lets you build “rooms” in a new, up in coming spa. You build rooms to sleep in, spas to steam in, little restaurants to eat in, Panchinko rooms to gamble away all your money, etc. Being a Japanese style spa though, the challenge of the game comes with creating a zen-like environment for your customers. Certain items will get boosts when placed next to certain items, while others items need to be placed next to natural rocks and pretty plants to succeed. Try to get cutesy and western with blocks of this and globs of that though and you’ll create yourself a hot springs disaster. Don’t you dare ruin it for the locals.

What makes a Kairosoft game really great, aside from consistently solid game mechanics, is their ability to make a gluttony of options seem accessible. In addition to just building your zen paradise, it’s up to you to buy add on booster items for different rooms, buy new rooms altogether, invest in different companies around the city for various reasons, advertise to different target groups, and submit to different magazines for spa rankings. Winning first place in the hot springs magazine isn’t quite as awesome as having the creepy bear mascot from the trade show in Game Dev Story, but the larger than life trophy you get is a nice prize indeed.

While fans (and superfans... there are plenty in our forum) of Game Dev Story will undoubtedly be thrilled with Hot Springs Story, newbies to the land of Kairosoft will probably cringe a bit at the less than perfect graphics and the initial chaotic nature of the action. There’s a lot going on at once, and until you really get the hang of what everything does it can seem daunting. Stick with it though and you’ll definitely be rewarded with some of the best gameplay in the App Store. Just think of Kairosoft as that band that was tough to grasp but eventually rewarded you with some kind of religious experience. You’ll thank me later.

TouchArcade Rating:

One of the surprise hits from last year was Game Dev Story [$3.99/Lite] from Kairosoft. This quirky simulation game allowed you to create your own game development company and release a series of titles across multiple platforms. Game Dev Story was littered with all kinds of references to the real history of video games, making it especially appealing to long time gamers like myself. We loved the game when we reviewed it last October, and Game Dev Story went on to suck countless hours from iOS gamers ever since.

Coming off the huge success of Game Dev Story, Kairosoft has talked about their plans to bring a sequel to iOS in the distant future. Then earlier this year, they launched an interesting looking title called The Game Dealer in the Japanese App Store. Similar to Game Dev Story, The Game Dealer has you heading up a brick and mortar video game store and dealing with all the simulation elements that go along with it.

We speculated that The Game Dealer would be the next to get a localized US release, but earlier today we were surprised to see that Kairosoft’s US follow-up to Game Dev Story is instead a game called Hot Springs Story [$3.99]. In Hot Springs Story, you (unsurprisingly) manage a Japanese hot springs inn, building it out to your liking and attracting customers to patronize your establishment. AppBank has a gameplay video of the Japanese version of Hot Springs Story to give you an idea of what it plays like:

Hot Springs Story has been available in the Japanese App Store since December, and seeing as how it was their follow-up release to Game Dev Story in Japan I still think we’ll end up seeing The Game Dealer localized as well in due time. For now, though, you’ll be able to live out your fantasy of running a relaxing hot springs resort, just as you’ve always dreamed... right? Early impressions in our forums are positive, noting that the interface and mechanics are nearly identical to Game Dev Story but with a few welcome enhancements like zooming and landscape display.

The gameplay appears to be just as engaging as well, and chances are if you liked Game Dev Story then you’ll get similar enjoyment out of Hot Springs Story. Just don’t start playing too close to your bed time if you value sleep. We’ll have more on Hot Springs Story once we’re able to break away from our GDC shenanigans long enough to engulf ourselves in the world of hot springs management, but you can grab the game right now for an introductory sale price of $3.99.

Back in October we reported that the classic Bitmap Brothers Atari ST / Amiga / DOS Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe would be making its way to iOS in the form of Speedball 2: Evolution. Moments ago, the game went live in the App Store as a Universal application for both iPhone and iPad [link] and we've taken a close look over the past few days.

Speedball 2 is a futuristic cybersport that's something of a mix between handball and ice hockey. The game takes place between two opposing teams -- nine players to a team -- in an enclosed, metal arena littered with power-ups and arrayed in warp portals and various score-enhancing mechanisms. Points are scored by getting the metallic ball past the opposing defense and into the goal, but brutality and violence are rewarded along the way. The overall feel is something akin to Atari's earlier, football-inspired arcade cybersport Cyberball, I've always felt. It's nicely visceral.

The first thing to say about the iOS version of Speedball 2 is that it's an enhanced version of the classic Atari ST original. I note that right off, due to the fact that a remake of the game was released on the Xbox Live Arcade, featuring "enhanced" 3D graphics...which were anything but. They were 3D, but they were awkward and poorly animated and did not compare to the "classic" mode's top-down, 2D graphics of the original. Speedball 2: Evolution for iOS takes the original's 2D graphics and enhances them while leaving them in their original orientation, making the iOS release the best looking version of Speedball 2 to date.

The list of things Speedball 2: Evolution brings to the table is vast. There are 336 individual players, 20 in-field power-ups, 16 classic Speedball teams along with 12 new intergalactic teams, a 10-season career mode, 10 single-player modes, a multiplayer mode (Bluetooth & WiFi), six arenas on four different planets, and 22 achievements in all. It's an impressive list. The various play modes allow for long-term team-building or just a quick detached match -- whatever suits you.

I, personally, spent more time with the original Speedball back in the day, than with the sequel, and so certain enhancements over said original stand out to me. Among them are the arrays of stars for each team on the arena walls that add points when illuminated by a tag from the ball, sets of spiral ramps situated on the sidelines that alter point-multipliers, and the electrobounce chargers that turn the ball into a weapon. That's not to mention the many power-ups that can be collected during the game, such as those that provide faster movement, body armour, or even freeze the opposing team in place.

Speedball 2 offers tilt controls as well as an optional onscreen D-Pad. I found that I like the tilt controls better than those of most iOS games, but more precision is offered by the onscreen D-pad, which is centered where you touch, adding a nice bit of flexibility. It's a tap anywhere to pass the ball, and a tap-and-hold to perform a high, long-distance pass or to jump to catch such a pass.

In evaluating the game for this review I spent notable time with the Atari ST original to see how it compares to the iOS release -- and had fun in the doing. After playing both titles side-to-side, I have to say that the iOS version is a bit steeper in the difficulty department than the ST original. Also, graphically the iOS version is notably superior to the ST version. I'd call the two pretty well matched on the fun scale, though I was a little more successful on the field on the ST due to its somewhat lower level of difficulty. And, I don't think it was about the controls -- of course the Atari version with a physical stick controlled better, but it was more about the game as presented.

Speedball 2, and its classic predecessor Speedball, brought the excellent Cyberball mechanic to the home, and Speedball 2: Evolution does likewise to the App Store. This is a classic arcade-style sports game that is more about fun than about simulation and accuracy. And, if you're the kind of gamer that takes sports on a pretty casual level like I do, that's a win.

TouchArcade Rating: