In the debate of the best racers on the iPhone platform, titles such as Real Racing and Need for Speed: Undercover are likely to come up. You may want to add one more to the debate — Gameloft’s newly released Asphalt 5 is simply an adrenaline rush in your pocket. On the fun meter, Asphalt 5 definitely delivers with strong sense of speed. But, while the game delivers a solid overall racing experience with a good amount of content and responsive controls, the graphics and animation do keep it a notch below the others.

On that note, the first thing that hits you is the graphics. Even though they may not be the smoothest (on a 2G iPod) on the platform, they do pop off the screen, which makes a difference when you’re careening through tracks and dealing with oncoming traffic from all sides. Framerate aside, even though you may not be focused on the details, Gameloft obviously has. Whether racing through snow-covered freeways, mud soaked roads, or the darkness of night, the details are everywhere. From the signs on storefronts to damage on vehicles, Gameloft has definitely spent a good deal of development creating an arcade experience with good degree of visuals. The perky soundtrack is a keeper, although you can play your own music if you’re into something a little more gut wrenching.

The objective of Asphalt 5 is simple: win races and earn money to soup up your ride. Of course, you’ll face a variety of obstacles including oncoming traffic, innocent bystanders, and police in addition to varying weather conditions such as snow and rain. This can all be experienced through 3 different camera angles: close, far and bumper. Bumper provides a driver’s seat view which can be quite intense with every bump and crash.

The game takes you through 12 different locations including Aspen, St. Tropez, Athens and Las Vegas. The well-designed tracks offer different terrains and environmental conditions, and most importantly, shortcuts. These shortcuts, which can be seen on the mini-map, are a good addition allowing players the option of sticking to the standard track or risking it by taking a shorter yet tighter path. In some cases, these shortcuts are the only way to succeed especially in the time-sensitive races.

Asphalt 5 has three game modes: Single Race, Career and Local/Online Multiplayer. For many, Single Race will be the first taste of Asphalt 5 which provides a quick multi-lap race through the track of your choosing. While Single Race provides a good setting to practice driving skills, winning doesn’t unlock new tracks or earn money.

Online multiplayer provides a number of options which includes competing against up to six players in a single race. In our brief time with the game, the online experience was smooth with minimal performance issues, and joining or hosting a race is relatively easy.

Meanwhile, Career is the guts of Asphalt 5, and where winning matters. Whether unlocking tracks, picking up women, or earning money, Career is where you do it facing 8 different racing events. And once tracks are unlocked in Career, they become available in Single Race.

With a variety of challenging racing events (time trial, cop chase, escape, drift and more), Asphalt 5 has 33 licensed cars and motorcycles potentially at your disposal. From Lamborghinis and Ferraris to Ducatis and Kawasakis, winning races and earning cash will give you access to many of these vehicles for a price. The default vehicles are the Mini Cooper S and Nissan 370Z, and all vehicles are stored in the Garage section. If you want to cut through all that, playing online through Gameloft Live will provide full access to all the vehicles for competing against others or in individual time trials.

Cash can be used to upgrade vehicles in three areas: engine, handling and boost. And you’ll find there are numerous other ways to customize your vehicle. For example, paint jobs can be altered using the color slider and decals can be applied. Earning cash goes beyond winning races although that’s a big part of it. Cash is also earned by collecting tokens on the roadway, near misses with other vehicles, drifting, jumping, and eliminations.

Asphalt 5 provides a responsive set of controls, and in general, the handling is highly accurate. The game consists of three types of controls: wheel, screen tap, and accelerometer. Choosing the accelerometer controls allows you to turn on/off auto acceleration. Of the three, the accelerometer feels the most natural with screen tapping the most awkward. With auto acceleration turned off, a brake pad appears, although I rarely used my brakes except when wanting score style points for drifting.

Gameplay video from Japanese version recorded by AppBank:

When it comes to gameplay, Asphalt 5 does what it’s supposed to do—provide a good sense of speed. The different race types certainly offer variety, and a replay function is included at the end of each race to review the race, although replays can’t be saved. The AI in Asphalt 5 feels well balanced providing enough aggressive driving to keep it interesting but not overdoing it either to make it impossible. The controls make steering and handling relatively easy, and most won’t have issues picking them up. The game is fairly forgiving when it comes to crashing into objects, however, crashing into oncoming traffic tends to have more severe consequences by stalling your momentum and losing position in the race.

Overall, Asphalt 5 definitely delivers on the fun meter. The controls and content really makes this a racer accessible to everyone. Aside from the middling (though acceptable) framerate on earlier generation devices, Asphalt 5 is solid arcade racer with quality graphics. With a variety of different races, a relatively balanced AI, online multiplayer and a great feeling of speed, Asphalt 5 comes highly recommended.

App Store Link: Asphalt 5, $6.99

id Software's Doom Classic finally appeared in the App Store after a lengthy wait. John Carmack, himself, seems to have done most of the work in reviving this classic title for the iPhone. Doom Classic brings four episodes across 36 levels and revamps the control system to a touch-screen friendly system.

Those familiar with the Wolfenstein 3D Classic controls will likely feel at home with the adapted Doom controls but there have been several upgrades to the system. Doom Classic offers 3 different control systems with the option of adding accelerometer strafing. These include:

• 1. Combined single stick for movement and turning
• 2. Left stick movement, Right stick turning
• 3. Left stick movement, Right wheel turning

Each of the controls can be customized further by dragging and dropping them on the screen to the desired location. Notably, the sticks are now "floating" sticks by default that allow more freedom in where you place your fingers down.

The #1 control option offers the benefit of simplicity, with a single stick for movement, though at the sacrifice of pure left/right strafing which is more easily accomplished with the #2 control method. Controls seemed a bit sensitive during my early play with no options to adjust the degree of sensitivity.

The following gameplay video shows the different default methods in action:

Meanwhile, there are a number of control customization options, including the ability to fix the location of the controls (similar to Wolf 3D) or turn the control graphics off completely and just use the left/right sides of the screen. This latter option allows the game to emulate the other first person shooter controls that we've seen in Eliminate and Modern Combat. So far, this has been my favorite combination: #2 with Draw Controls: Off and Auto Use: On (so you don't have to tap on doors to open them), and sensitivity here seems better, but not perfect.

When we spoke to Carmack back in June, he had big plans for the Doom franchise on the iPhone, including adding the ability to purchase in-app content for Doom 2, Ultimate Doom, Final Doom, Master Levels.

This initial release also contains multiplayer, but it is local multiplayer only (WiFi). Competitive internet multiplayer was listed a possibility for a later update when we spoke to Carmack in June.

App Store Link: Doom Classic, $6.99

One of the most anticipated titles that we can remember, id Software's Doom Classic is now in the App Store. The game includes the original three episodes as well as Episode Four, They Flesh Consumed. Features include:

• Fight through 36 missions in four action-packed episodes
• Experience DOOM multiplayer on your mobile device, including Deathmatch and Cooperative play for up to four players via wireless internet
• Choose from three different control types and customize the interface to suit your style

We'll post video and impressions shortly.

App Store Link: Doom Classic, $6.99

Fish Labs' long awaited rally racer that we first heard of back in August has finally arrived on the App Store. Originally a J2ME game released in 2008 that received rave reviews from mobile gaming sites, Rally Master Pro 3D [App Store] for the iPhone is completely remastered with four times the polygon count of the original with all kinds of additional visual effects.

The extra once-over Fish Labs gave Rally Master Pro 3D is amazingly apparent from your first launch of the game. It looks absolutely gorgeous and can easily stand next to the other graphical marvels of the App Store. Your car is one of the best looking car models I've seen on the platform, the weather effects look excellent, the draw distance is far, and pop-in of scenery is minimal. From a technical standpoint, Rally Master Pro 3D is phenomenal.

The game is controlled similar to other racing games. Your steer your car either by tilting your phone, using an analog wheel, or digital buttons to turn right or left. Acceleration can either be handled automatically or via a button, and there is a button for braking. I've found myself preferring the buttons to steer right and left, which seems a little odd as tilt controls have worked so well with other games. Both tilting and using the analog wheel somehow feel significantly less precise than using the digital controls.

When you're doing well, racing through the countryside in Rally Master Pro 3D feels great. As a rally game, you are competing against the clock rather than other racers, and like other rally games, turns are called out and the tracks are mostly easy to navigate with plenty of turns and jumps. Where things start to go pear shaped is when your tires slip off the road, which is where the car damage system comes in.

If you don't maintain a perfect racing line, your car slows significantly whenever you even slightly veer off the road. On top of that, a bar showing your car's current durability is displayed on the top left corner of the screen. In addition to being slowed when you go off road, your car takes constant damage and must be repaired between races.

When I first noticed my car taking damage for sliding off the edge of the track through turns, I suspected that there was going to be some really slick multitouch enabled mini game where you used various gestures to repair your car or some other clever way to play as a member of your pit crew. Instead, you're offered two options– You can either have the game repair automatically to repair some lost durability, or assist the pit crew by playing timing based mini games to do things like refill your tire pressure or tighten the lug nuts of your wheels to repair much more.

What could have been a neat gameplay mechanic similar to how you hot wire cars in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS instead is accomplished by just pressing a virtual button on screen. When you're refilling your tires you hold a button to add or release air in to your tires and must guess the correct duration to get the pressure gauge within the desired range. When tightening lug nuts, you simply tap a button when a series of lines match up inside of a bar similar to how you putt in most golfing games.

What could have been a great opportunity to inject some mini games that suit the unique controls of the iPhone instead just come off as shallow and contrived. The vehicle durability and repair system really seem to be the fly in the ointment of an otherwise phenomenal iPhone game.

At the end of the day, Rally Master Pro 3D is still worth checking out. It's a fun racing game with great graphics. Once you eventually get good enough at the game your car doesn't take very much damage, and you can begin to mostly ignore the durability system. There is a ton to unlock by playing through the three difficulties of career mode, each with a rally course set up over 9 individual legs. Times are tracked locally as well as online, creating a sizable amount of replay value if you enjoy competing in online leaderboards.

App Store Link: Rally Master Pro 3D, $6.99

Volkswagen and Firemint's Real Racing GTI free promotional game for the iPhone has been released to the App Store. The 59.3MB download offers a Volkswagen branded racing experience with one main track and six 2010 GTI sport hatches.

The free Real Racing GTI App is available worldwide and spares no detail, allowing players to experience every thrilling aspect of the all-new 2010 GTI right in the palms of their hands on iPhone and iPod touch. From the redesigned exterior with more aggressive headlights and the famous red-striped grille, to the sporty interior with a race-inspired steering wheel, the all-new 2010 GTI races its way to life on the screen for a thrilling gaming experience.

The three game modes include Quick Race, Time Trial, and GTI Cup Championship (across three tracks). Aside from being a great ad for Volkswagen, Real Racing GTI also serves as the Lite version of Firemint's widely acclaimed Real Racing [$6.99].

As part of the launch promotion, Volkswagen is giving away six limited edition 2010 Volkswagen GTI MarkVI prize cars to six U.S. players of the game. Details of the giveaway will be posted at http://www.VW.com/RealRacingGTI.

We loved the full version of the game, so this free Lite version is a "must try" for anyone who hasn't played the game yet.

App Store Link: Real Racing GTI, Free, Real Racing, $6.99

Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter [App Store] is a hack and slash RPG easily comparable to either the Diablo or Dungeon Siege series. In the game you play as a prince who was recently resurrected to vanquish evil from your once glorious kingdom. The story doesn't come off as particularly deep or original, but it more than gets the job done.

Your quest (and associated subquests) will have you venturing across the land and killing (almost) everything that moves in a variety of different environments. The dungeons and villages you come across are beautifully rendered, greatly adding to the fantasy atmosphere and dark mood of the game. Just like the rest of the games that Gameloft has been releasing lately, there were several moments where I experienced a "Wow, I can't believe this is running on my phone" feeling as dimly lit corridors lead into giant expanses lit by candle with legions of skeletons to be slain.

Your character movement can either be handled using an on-screen virtual joystick or touch controls. The joystick is self explanatory, but with the touch controls enabled a small red cross will appear anywhere you touch in the game world and your character will run there. I've found myself preferring the virtual joystick, although touch controls work just as well once you get over the learning curve of figuring out the nuances of the pathing your character chooses to take to reach the point that you touched.

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Gameloft's Diablo-like action RPG Dungeon Hunter [$6.99] has returned to the App Store with a new version update.

The game originally appeared a couple of weeks ago but was pulled due to a major bug preventing game progress past the Forge level. This update offers a fix for this issue and brings the game back to the App Store.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

The game is now available for $6.99.

App Store Link: Dungeon Hunter, $6.99

Gameloft's Real Soccer 2010 is now available both Internationally and in the U.S. The game first appeared in international App Stores just a few days ago as Real Football 2010 with the U.S. version finally arriving tonight. The game, of course, is a followup to Real Soccer 2009 which was well received at the time. Gameloft has since added more content, better controls, online multiplayer and YouTube uploads of replays.

The early impressions from International adopters of the game found that the controls were indeed much enhanced, but early online multiplayer games have been laggy, from Metzas:

-The game is indeed improved from last year, but not in a major way. It is still in essence a dumbed down PS1-era Pro Evo clone.
-The controls are greatly improved. No fixed digital controls any more, the players run accordingly depending on the position of the analog stick and in all they feel smooth.
-The online experience so far has been disapointing. Having played 3 matches so far, each and every one of them had so much lag it was practically non playable (at least not enjoyable) so at this point at least, I wouldn't position the mode as a counterpoint to other app store offerings.

We'll have to spend some time with the U.S. version to see if this issue persists with the online play in the U.S. A sample of the uploadable YouTube replays can be seen here:

App Store Links: Real Soccer 2010, $6.99 (U.S.), Real Football 2010 (International)

Gameloft's Diablo-like action RPG Dungeon Hunter [$6.99] has arrived in the App Store tonight.

We had some hands on time with the game last month. Although we only had a brief amount of time with the game, it certainly seemed like a very solid take on the formula.

On-screen controls once again are utilized, with a virtual D-Pad controlling movement and a series of buttons that handle your attacks and magic. Three classes are included that each have slightly different strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. Dungeon Hunter plays a lot like Pixel Mines' Underworlds, in 3D, and could potentially have quite a bit of replay value as you play through the game as a knight, then a rogue, and finally as a mage. Also, along the way you will collect different fairies that assist you on your adventures, each providing a different offensive and/or defensive bonuses.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

The game description promises an enormous world with different types of quests and missions, tons of items, weapons and armor, and hours of gameplay. Early impressions are being collected in our forums, and we'll post more once we've had more time to put the game through its paces.

App Store Link: Dungeon Hunter, $6.99

Update: Gameplay video updated with a much higher quality version.

Update 2: Dungeon Hunter is no longer available for download, we're waiting for a comment from Gameloft but judging by our forums it likely is a result of a crash bug when loading a certain level of the game.

Update 3: Gameloft offers the following comment on the situation: "Dungeon Hunter was momentarily removed from the AppStore, an update will be live very soon."

We promised to report back once we had more time with Blades of Fury [App Store], Gameloft's newly-released fighting game. We're happy to report, that against all odds, the virtual D-Pad and on-screen controls actually do allow you to pull off some pretty impressive combos filled with special attacks and suprisingly don't seem to hamper the gameplay at all.

The Blades of Fury thread on our forums is filled with people echoing the same uncanny impressions regarding the controls. I'm really not sure what kind of new virtual D-Pad technology Gameloft has pulled out of their R&D department, but between Blades of Fury and Modern Combat: Sandstorm [$6.99] I'm beginning to become a believer in virtual controls.

The buttons on the bottom right of the screen control your attacks and defenses, you have two types of standard attacks as well as blocking and your special magical attack. Blades of Fury has a cool blocking mechanic in that you can't just keep the block button held down all the time as there is a limited number of times you can block before your armor breaks. The magic attack system is equally cool, and works off a blue meter below your health bar that seems to fill up whenever you take damage or hit your opponent.

This bar fills up in four usable chunks, and depending on how long you hold the magic attack button the more it will use. Tapping the button lets out a low powered special attack that varies for each character. This takes one chunk of the blue bar, holding the button longer eats up two chunks of the blue bar but does more damage, and by holding the button even longer you will use up the entire blue bar but unleash a devastating magical attack.

Each character has a fairly large variety of moves and combos, accessible through the pause screen attack list button and easily perfected in the included practice mode. I didn't have any problem going through the list of moves and memorizing a few combos, which again I found to be very surprising for a game with virtual controls.

There are five difficulty options, ranging from "easy" to "hardest", so players of all skill levels should be able to find some challenge in the game. Easy mode is easy enough that you can win by rolling your iPhone across your face and the hardest mode is just ridiculous. I figured I would give it a try just for the sake of having some frame of reference for the different difficulty settings, and found myself falling victim to these amazing combos unleashed by the AI opponent that had my character juggling through the air powerless to do anything more than get a few hits in before meeting an untimely demise.

If you happen to find yourself administering one of these insane opponent juggling combos, you can also save replays of complete fights. There doesn't seem to be a way to share these replays, but just having the option of recording them is nice. Included in Blades of Fury are many references to their online service Gameloft Live , but no one has been able to successfully log on. There are some statistics in the player profile area of the main menu that detail rankings which I assume have something to do with the currently inaccessible Gameloft Live integration.

The graphics in Blades of Fury are great, and the ten different levels in the game are equally awesome. Each fighter has their own arena ranging from evil looking catacombs to even flying on the back of a giant dragon. Similar to most fighting games, the story is lackluster and the voice work can be laughable at times.

If you're a fan of fighting games, Blades of Fury is worth some serious consideration. Gameloft has been on a roll lately both releasing and previewing games that have raised the bar of what to expect on the iPhone, and Blades of Fury fits in great with the rest of their current and upcoming lineup. If you know someone locally who also has the game, you can play over WiFi or bluetooth, a feature I've been unable to test.

But don't just take my word for it, the thread on our forums is filled with people echoing my sentiments. Ayjona, Nizy, Squarezero and several others have also posted detailed accounts of their experiences with the game.

App Store Link: Blades of Fury, $6.99