This week, 2XL Games' highly anticipated off-road racing game 2XL ATV Offroad [link] hit the App Store.  The game is a follow-up to the studio's 2XL Supercross, a technically impressive dirt-track racing title that, physics and visuals aside, felt a little shallow from an overall gameplay perspective.  We're happy to report that this latest from 2XL Games takes all of the "good" from Supercross and combines it with highly varied tracks, a proper career mode, and Wi-Fi multiplayer to deliver one of the very best racers in the App Store.

ATV Offroad features three different track types in which to compete.  Supercross tracks, much like those featured in 2XL Supercross are represented but, in addition, an array of Nationals (outdoor tracks) and Freestyle (it's like stunt racing in a massive fossile pit) tracks have been added to the mix.  Whatever track type you're racing in, the visuals are breathtaking — especially in the two outdoor types.  From the impressive draw distance to the overall smoothness of the onscreen action to the clouds of dust kicked up by your competitors, the game is an iPhone eye-candy carnival that the PSP has reason to envy.  The visual experience takes me back to the ATV Offroad Fury series on the PS2, but with a better sense of speed.  Yes, this truly is one of the most visually impressive games available for the iPhone.  It is absolutely a full console experience.

The game features an Arcade mode, which allows racing among any of the 16 available tracks across Supercross, Nationals, and Freestyle, as well as a Career mode (which is really the core playmode) and a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode (with Bluetooth on the way).  Online leaderboards provide a skill incentive.

Career mode involves moving through a sequence of 11 Leagues which are events of varied track combinations.  Rank high enough and the next League is unlocked.  I've spent a great deal of time playing rather deep into the title and can tell you that, at Medium difficulty anyway, it's not a cakewalk.  The challenge is apparent and requires some real skill to League up.  But the journey to victory is a most satisfying one.  The requisite track replays to get the needed ranking are nothing but enjoyable.  Adding to the experience is an extensive achievement system that rewards players for skill on the track along the way.

The two available Freestyle tracks, in whichever mode you encounter them, are solo free-for-all's in a large, terraced pit.  The goal here is to perform as many tricks as possible to rack up points and medal up from bronze to gold.  It's kind of a Tony Hawk experience on an ATV.  The draw-distance and physics system exhibited here are impressive.

The game's default control mode is accelerometer tilt, but a virtual stick is available as well.  I find the former to be far superior to the latter in any mode of gameplay.  Tilt control in this title has been very well tuned and offers excellent vehicle control.

In any playmode you can choose from among 15 different drivers and 15 different ATVs to get the race done.  The variation that these choices provide are simply visual rather than physical, but it's nice to have choices.  And adding to the experience is an impressive sound system that does a great job of letting you know just where the encroaching competitors are on the track behind you.

See the developer's gameplay video for a closer look.

I am a particular fan of offroad racing games.  I enjoy the heightened in-game physics that they exhibit and don't at all mind a little travel on the Z-axis (jump, jump, jump).  That said, this is my favorite racing game available for the iPhone.  And the replay value is significant.  Anyone who enjoys a solid, well-rounded racer — and offroad racing in particular — would be a fool to let 2XL Offroad Racing pass them by.

App Store Link: 2XL ATV Offroad, $7.99

TouchArcade Rating:

2XL Games' much anticipated ATV game was released into the App Store tonight for $7.99.

The game represents 2XL's followup title to the technically impressive 2XL Supercross and seems to share the same graphics engine. Beyond moving to ATV's, however, 2XL has added a lot of content to this new title, including freestyle levels, career mode, local multiplayer, online leaderboards and more.

The game offers tilt controls with a large number of customizable settings, though the default controls seemed to work reasonably well on our first few spins around the track.

The game shares the same impressive graphics seen in the original 2XL Supercross and are well demonstrated in this hands-on video provided by the developers.

Superficially, the biggest addition to the game is a full career mode that was conspicuously absent from their freshman iPhone release. 2XL ATV Offroad offers 16 ATV Supercross and Outdoor Nationals tracks and 2 Freestyle levels, and 3 levels of difficulty.

We'll be able to spend some more time with the title now that it's been released. Early adopters can share their impressions in our forums.

App Store Link: 2XL ATV Offroad, $7.99

It's hard to describe the Madden series of games as a franchise anymore, they've been around so long it seems that a more appropriate way to describe the games would be the "Madden dynasty." The first Madden game appeared on the Apple II all the way back in 1989, it wasn't until Madden '94 that the real NFL teams were included, and sports gamers would have to wait another year until the real players were added. When you look back at the 20 years these games have been around, constantly improving each year, it's no surprise that Madden NFL 10 [App Store] is as good as it is.

Madden NFL 10 was one of the titles we previewed at PAX and spent some time with EA who highlighted the many features from the game.

First and foremost, Madden NFL 10 includes all of the NFL players, teams, and stadiums. Around 2000 players are in the game in addition to 200 free agents, and all of these players can be freely traded between teams. Whether you want to follow the real NFL trades and move players around based on the official rosters, or just turn your favorite team in to a dream team of the best players, EA says Madden NFL 10's team management can handle it.

Madden NFL 10 was specifically designed by EA's mobile team, which means it plays nicely as an iPhone game. If you get a phone call, need to answer a text message, or quit the game for some other reason, Madden NFL 10 saves the play you were on and reloads right back at the start of the play without any fumbling around with menus, intros, etc. EA also says they have really put a lot of emphasis on play time. Every cut scene, non-essential player animation, or instant replay can be skipped simply by tapping the screen. While there is a lot of fluff in the game, it's all quickly and easily skipped.

While behaving as a good iPhone app is nice, there were two other feature that I thought really stood out: Action Control Time and Hot Routes.

Madden's "Action Control Time" seems to work so well it wouldn't surprise me if we see a lot more sports games imitating it:. When you're playing regularly, the game runs at normal speed, and while on offense you have buttons to sprint and spin. With Action Control Time enabled, however, the game slows down, and additional controls appear allowing you to do things like juking to the left or to the right. The ability to slow things down allows for extremely precise player movements and changes the game from being action oriented, to a more tactical experience as you're able to avoid tackles exactly when you need to, as well as make for the clearest path you can see to the end zone instead of just catching the ball, running forward, and mashing spin as many times as you can.

Playing defense in Action Control Time works just as well, and with it enabled you can jump for balls, dive tackle, or even go in for a big hit– A move that has a high risk of missing, but offers a higher chance of the opposing player fumbling. Again, slowing things down allows for a much more precise defensive attack instead of just switching to whatever player is closest to the one with the ball and mashing tackle.

The other cool feature of Madden NFL 10 is "Hot Routes". Before the snap, you can press the Hot Routes button and redraw the path of any of your players with your finger on the screen, you can even make nonsensical zigzags and they will follow your every command. This takes the 300 included plays and lets you customize them any way you want.

Passes are controled by tapping on icons appearing above your receivers heads that range from red to green depending on how open they are. When it's time to kick, the kicking controls work just like swinging in Tiger Woods PGA Tour [App Store]. A kicking interface appears on the right hand side of the screen, you drag your finger down to determine the power, then swipe back up to determine the accuracy of where you aimed. All of the player AI, detailed player attributes, and all the other inner workings are in place to allow you to do things like simulate games when playing in season mode instead of playing through each game yourself. And If you're a football statistics nerd, there are a stupid amount of different statistics being tracked with every play you make in Madden NFL 10.

My brief time with Madden NFL 10 was spent on an iPhone 3GS, though I was assured that they've developed the game to run well across the entire iPhone and iPod Touch family. Madden NFL 10 doesn't require 3.0, although you do need it if you want to access your music from inside the game.

Here's our hands on video with the game from PAX:

We'll have the opportunity to spend more time with the game now that it's been released, but it's overall a really impressive package that we expect football fans will love. EA has also announced that a soon to come update will support "multiplayer". Madden has been launched at $7.99 as a one day sale, and will go up to the full price of $9.99 on Thursday evening.

App Store Link: Madden NFL 10, $7.99 (for one day sale).

TouchArcade Rating:

After a cool teaser video and a load of screenshots, Konami's Krazy Kart Racing [App Store] has been high on my list of games I really wanted to play. As of tonight, the wait is (almost) over, and Krazy Kart is actually surprisingly fun, especially when playing against friends in the various online multiplayer modes.

Konami has tried pretty hard to duplicate as much of Mario Kart as they can, with shells replaced with missiles, mushrooms replaced with a generic speed boost item, the lightning bolt replaced with an item that turns everyone in to pigs, and other fairly blatant copies of Mario Kart power-ups. Instead of the highly recognizable Nintendo lineup or characters, Krazy Kart Racing features a slightly more obscure cast of Konami characters such as Sparkster (from the SNES game of the same name), Robbie Rabbit (the mascot from an amusement park found in Silent Hill), and the frog from Frogger along with seven others.

The controls work well and feature both tilt steering and touch controls. I've found myself preferring touch controls, but tilt worked fine as well. Acceleration is handled automatically, and there are virtual buttons on screen to brake and use whatever power-up you've managed to pick up.

16 tracks are included, based on themes of the games the characters are from. For instance, Power Stadium is a baseball diamond shaped track to go along with the baseball player racer from Power Touch Pros and there's a Antarctic themed track to go with the penguin racer from Penguin Adventure. These tracks can be played in grand prix, time attack, and free run modes as well as with friends or random people online in the included internet multiplayer modes.

Online multiplayer works without any kind of registration. You simply enter your name, connect to one of the game servers, and from there you can either create or join a game room with other players. Any track that you have unlocked in single player is playable online with up to five other players and/or bots. Aside from the standard race mode, there are two battle modes, chicken and bomb chaser. In chicken, players accelerate down a straight track and slam on their brakes before reaching the end and flying off in to the pool of water below.

In bomb chaser, one player has the bomb and drives around a circular arena attempting to run in to other players to give them the bomb. Whoever has the bomb drives significantly faster than the other players, so it can get kind of hectic at times, but neither battle mode is very interesting and pales in comparison to Mario Kart. Performance online is surprisingly good, although there was a bit of lag when playing in a full game with bots, it was still completely playable. The online system seems a bit buggy still as I experienced a few instances where games wouldn't launch, game rooms becoming unresponsive and it not releasing my username. Once you're actually connected, however, the gameplay seemed to work fine. We mostly tested on Wi-Fi though 3G worked as well.

This video shows the multiplayer modes as well as single player using touch control:

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Our early impressions of Krazy Kart Racing is that it's a fun kart racer, and while it's currently the closest thing to Mario Kart available on the App Store, it's still hard to compare to the original. There already is a menu item in game for downloadable content, so it should be interesting to see what Konami has in store with that. If Krazy Kart's online community takes off, I could see myself spending a serious amount of time racing over the internet. We'll spend some more time with this title this weekend, and we are still looking forward to Gameloft's Shrek Kart which is due next month.

Note: Krazy Kart Racing is not currently available from the US App Store, but has appeared in international stores. With any luck it should appear for download in the US shortly, though there have been instances (such as Silent Hill) where the U.S. release lagged as long as a week after the international release.

App Store Link: Krazy Kart Racing (EU), $7.99 (Only available in some regions)

Surprisingly enough, Gameloft's NFL 2010 [App Store] came out tonight, only a couple days after it was first revealed. It truly is the App Store's first full football simulation, complete with NFL teams, players, and stadiums.

Inside the game are four modes of play: Quick Play, which just tosses you in to a game with your favorite team (set in the options), as well as the self-explanatory Exhibition, Season, and Playoffs modes. All NFL teams are included, and each are vaguely rated in their overall offensive and defensive power. Graphics are good for an iPhone game, especially considering how many players are on screen moving at once, and the sound can be incredibly immersive. The crowd cheers constantly, and the game comes with an announcer that provides a constant (although sometimes inaccurate) play by play.

Reactions on our forums seem largely positive so far, with most forum members agreeing that the controls are the weak link in the NFL 2010 chain. The game is controlled utilizing an on-screen virtual joystick and an array of buttons depending on what you're doing on the field. Most of the problems with the controls seem to be largely due to the lack of precision inherent in touch screen buttons not having any kind of tactile feedback.

One thing that I thought worked really well in the game is throwing the ball. When you select a throwing play, after the snap various shapes show up that can be touched to throw the ball to the corresponding player. These symbols change from red to green depending on how likely each player is to catch the ball. Also, instead of cycling through which player you're controlling with a button, tapping any character on screen selects them to be controlled.

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Like most of these highly ambitious titles for the iPhone, they come with a decent amount of both good and bad things about them. It is really cool to be able to play as any of the NFL teams with the players on my phone, and the way passing works is great. Still, the controls could use some work, and the announcer isn't perfect by any means and can get repetitive. Regardless, NFL 2010 is now the best game on the App Store right now for football fans with a surprising amount of improvements already planned in a future update. Gameloft lists a number of features for the next update including full online, bluetooth, and WiFi multiplayer as well as Gameloft Live, YouTube replay uploads, and even a "Zombies vs Skeletons" special match.

Some other first impressions of the game were also posted by FearlessFreep, Sizzlakalonji, and Big Albie.

App Store Link: NFL 2010, $7.99

Following the surprising early accidental release of Resident Evil 4 [App Store] in Japan a few weeks ago, iPhone owning Resident Evil fanatics have been anxiously anticipating its official release. The wait is over, but it will likely take a true Resident Evil fan to appreciate the mobile edition of the game (or, ironically, one who has never played the original).

An on-screen D-Pad controls your movement along with a array of buttons lining the right hand side of the screen that control all of your actions. Resident Evil 4 features a slight improvement to the control scheme in Resident Evil: Degeneration [App Store] that we reviewed previously. It seems like Leon moves a little bit faster, and double tapping on the D-Pad while aiming makes you take a step in that direction.

Since in a game like this controls are everything, I highly recommend giving Resident Evil: Degeneration Lite [App Store] a try before picking up Resident Evil 4. They take a lot of getting used to, and the inability to run and aim at the same time doesn't translate particularly well to the virtual D-Pad either.

The thing that gets me about this version of the game is that the console and PC versions of Resident Evil 4 are such amazing games. In fact, RE 4 saw so much critical acclaim that it a "Reception" section summarizing its awards in the Resident Evil 4 Wikipedia article. Many publications listed it as the 2005 game of the year, and Resident Evil 4 even ranked number 1 on the "IGN Readers' Top 99 Games Of All Time" list.

Unfortunately, the iPhone version of the game (ported from BREW) seems so watered down that it's barely even recognizable as Resident Evil 4. All of the amazing plot elements and cut scenes are replaced by brief text introductions to each of the twelve levels, all of the voice overs are gone, and overall this just really feels like what you would expect a cell phone game to be– which needless to say does not do justice to the original at all.

AppBank posted the following gameplay video of the Japanese version:

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If you're interested in the series or enjoyed Resident Evil: Degeneration, chances are you will still have fun with Resident Evil 4 despite its shortfalls. If you're brand new to the game, however, I'd recommend starting with one of the other console versions if you can, but then again, you can't exactly play your GameCube while sitting on the bus.

App Store Link: Resident Evil 4, $7.99

LucasArts' first entry in the Monkey Island series hit the App Store tonight [$7.99] completely re-imagined with new art, complete voice-overs, and a new live instrumental musical score. Originally released in 1990, and having seen several revisions following the initial release including a port to the Sega CD, this Special Edition of The Secret of Monkey Island [App Store] is the best version of the game we've seen yet.

The game features Guybrush Threepwood, who washes up on the island of Mêlée™ and has high hopes of becoming a pirate. After meeting the pirate leaders in the SCUMM tavern, you're faced with a set of three challenges that involve swordfighting, thievery, and treasure hunting. These goals serve as your initial quests as your adventure begins.

The graphics of this remake are wonderful and have a whimsical hand drawn look to them. The new voiceovers and music add a whole new level of immersion to the game and should give even veterans of the series something new to enjoy as all their favorite characters now have associated voice personalities. The touchscreen interface and the way the pointer works feels a little awkward and does take a little getting used to. Once you get the hang of moving it around and double tapping on things to perform actions the game becomes very workable.

The coolest part though? Swipe with two fingers across the screen and the new graphics and audio work fades away to the game's original graphics. This transition is instant, and you can switch back and forth at any point during the game:

The entire game is an amazing package, and this same remake was also released for both the PC and XBOX Live earlier this month. Official reviews for those versions have been very positive. Here is an excerpt from the Team XBOX review:

If there was a PC Gaming Hall of Fame, The Secret of Monkey Island would be in it. It’s a game that many of us grew up with and to this day refer to regularly. As much as that can be said for the original classic of 1990, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a welcome addition to XBLA that will give fans an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, bringing them back simpler days in the gaming business, when games didn’t have the multi-million dollar budgets as they do today and they didn’t need high-profile marketing or fancy gimmicks to succeed. For long-time fans, it’s a chance to relive a part of our childhood; for newcomers, it’s a chance to experience what so many of us haven’t stopped talking about for nearly 20 years. Do yourself a favor and download The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (at the reasonable price of 800 Microsoft Points or about $10). Otherwise, you’ll be wearing my sword like a shish-kebab!

So far we can echo those sentiments, except instead of downloading it from the XBOX Live Arcade for $10, iPhone users can grab it from the App Store for $7.99! Here is a brief gameplay video from the iPhone version:

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The Secret of Monkey Island has stood the test of time, and the newly released Special Edition somehow manages to make this classic even better. Refreshingly, it appears that the iPhone version isn't a second class citizen to the Xbox and PC versions of the game. If you're interested in learning about what went into creating this Special Edition of the game, see this "making of" video.

App Store Link: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, $7.99

MLB.com has released an official Major League Baseball World Series 2009 game into the App Store [link]. The $7.99 offers players an officially licensed product featuring 30 Major League Clubs and four MLB ballparks.

Game features include:

• Multi-Touch Pitching Mechanics – Choose between fastball, curve, change-up or slider and swipe correctly to execute the perfect pitch
• Accelerometer Targeting: Tilt the device to aim your pitch and line up your swing.
• World Series mode, Season mode, Exhibition mode
• Fielding modes – let the computer play defense or switch to manual for an added challenge

We've included a number of screenshots from the game (click thumbnails to enlarge):

And also included is a gameplay video. We've started the embedded video mid game, but if you're interested in team selection and player substitutions, rewind to the beginning:

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The game itself allows you to play a season from the start or straight to the World Series. Games can be setup with different teams and substitutions can be made mid-game based on player stats or fatigue. The video shows off batting and pitching.

Batting is performed using the accelerometer to match the ball while pressing the "swing" button at the right moment. Pitching is performed using swipe gestures which influence power and accuracy of your pitches. Accelerometer controls also help target the location of your pitches.

Fielding can be performed automatically (the default), but if you're interested in more of a challenge, you can turn this to "manual" and then decide where to throw the ball after it's hit. The embedded video shows manual fielding.

An ongoing discussion thread has some first impressions. As noted by one forum user, individual player names are not included in this game, only team names.

App Store Link: MLB World Series 2009, $7.99

2XL Games are no strangers to the extreme racing genre. They’ve been at it for over 10 years, starting with the Motocross Madness series on the PC, then graduating to releasing six Xbox racing games based on all kinds of off-road vehicles (and watercraft) as well as BAJA: Edge of Control for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

They’ve taken their decade of experience combined with the track design of Motocross champion Stephane Roncada to create the most graphically impressive racing game we’ve seen yet on the iPhone, 2XL Supercross [App Store].

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2XL Games released their much anticipated offroad motorcycle racing game tonight: 2XL Supercross [App Store].

The $7.99 game offers a truly remarkable package from the creative team who also developed Motocross Madness, ATV Offroad Fury, and MX Unleashed for other platforms. This iPhone game offers a laundry list of features:

• Tracks designed by Motocross champion Stephane Roncada
• 3 Modes of Play: Time Trials, Practice and Racing
• 4 Camera views
• 8 preset control schemes
• 12 different tracks
• 15 different bikes with 15 different skins
• "Secret jump combinations"

The original developer gameplay video shows off a race with accelerometer controls:

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When playing the actual game, the first thing that you notice is the high production quality of the entire game. 2XL Games offers a number of calibration options as well as 8 different control schemes. This includes accelerometer, slider or joypad steering as well as left/right handed combinations.

The game comes with 12 tracks (many locked) that can be played in Practice, Time Trial or Race modes. Locked tracks can be unlocked when placing 1st or 2nd in a race. Whips and backflips can be performed and a reference to "secret jump combinations" is mentioned in the app store description.

We recorded this video to show off the control schemes, track choices and a bit of the gameplay:

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Early reactions to the game have been very positive, though some have voiced concern about a lack of "career" mode in the game. We'll offer a more in-depth look at the game after we've had more time with it.

App Store Link: 2XL Supercross, $7.99