Eliminate [App Store] has been somewhat of a sensation on our forums since its initial release in Canada. Our Canadian members (as well as quite a few "Canadians") have really enjoyed having early access to the game, and aside from the somewhat expected reactions towards the energy system and in-game microtransactions, it seems like everyone is having a lot of fun.

We extensively previewed Eliminate last month, and very little has changed since then short of some tweaking of the energy system and increasing the recharge time. Still, as mentioned in the preview, you can play Eliminate for as long as you'd like to without paying a penny– Your character advancement will just be slowed as you will only earn credits (the in-game currency used to level up and buy equipment) while you're energized.

I highly recommend downloading Eliminate. It's free, you've got nothing to lose. Regardless of how you feel about the payment system ngmoco is using to fund the game, it's still one of the more impressive multiplayer games available on the platform, and experiencing that won't cost you anything.

Update: Eliminate is available in most major iTunes markets, it seems there are still some countries that haven't seen it yet, but most European stores as well as the US store are currently stocked with Eliminate.

App Store Link: Eliminate, Free

RetroVenture has released a port of the old 1982 Apple II game Transylvania. Originally developer by Antonio Antiochia, RetroVenture has collaborated with the original author to bring this classic game to the iPhone.

In Fall 2009, Roe Mobile Development will release Transylvania for the iPhone. Transylvania is an adventure game that was originally released for the Apple ][ in 1982. Back then it was quite successful and spawned two sequels (Crimson Crown and Vanquish the Night: Return to Transylvania). The iPhone version is a joint work between Kenneth Roe and Antonio Antiochia who is the original author. The iPhone version will add a new touch interface and sounds.

If you ever played the original version, here's your chance to get it again for free. Even if you miss the Halloween sale, the game will be available for only $0.99.

App Store Link: Transylvania Adventure, Free (Halloween)

After an amazing amount of anticipation on our forums, Eliminate is finally playable for our Canadian friends. Like we mentioned in our previous post, ngmoco is using this initial Canadian launch as a large-scale beta test to guarantee the servers hosting the game are running as well as they should be when Eliminate is finally released in to the wild. Things are still being tuned and tweaked, so I'm reluctant to offer many gameplay specifics as ngmoco indicated to us that quite a few elements of the game are going to be in flux while they make their final adjustments.

What I am willing to say is that playing Eliminate with real people is every bit as awesome as I imagined it being. The last time I had played the game was for our hands on preview we posted earlier this month. So far I've yet to notice any major differences, so everything mentioned in our preview is still accurate short of the energy recharge period which ngmoco says still has not been finalized.

So far the Canadian beta has been lag free, and I've always been able to find a game almost instantly. One of the things I've been dying to find out is how Eliminate performs over 3G, and so far it seems to play just fine. Already the Plus+ leaderboards are filling up as more and more people download and install the game, and I can't wait to see how many people are online tomorrow.

Even in its current beta status, Eliminate is receiving rave reviews on our forums and has seemed to ether meet or exceed the expectations of nearly everyone lucky enough to have a Canadian iTunes account. We have our fingers crossed that the beta goes smoothly and quickly, and as soon as the game is officially released worldwide we will post an in-depth look at the game.

App Store Link: Eliminate, Free – Only Available in Canada

Ngmoco's widely anticipated titles Eliminate and Touch Pets have both been approved by Apple for inclusion in the App Store. Ngmoco announced tonight that both titles will be free to download, but that will see an initial launch in Canada before spreading to the rest of the world.

The reason for the beta Canadian-only launch is to make sure they have enough server capacity to handle the load for the worldwide launch.

Official threads for Eliminate and Touch Pets have been started in our forums:

- Eliminate – FREE 4 Player Online FPS: LIVE IN CANADA
- Touch Pets Dogs – FREE social puppy game: LIVE IN CANADA

The games have not quite yet propagated into the Canadian App Store but we'll post the direct links here when they do.

Canadian App Store: Eliminate Pro, Free, Touch Pets Dogs, Free

If you've found yourself with nothing to do today aside wait for Halloween tomorrow, the Edis brothers of Ezone.com have offered a small amount of relief in making their latest game free for the day. Scarecrow [App Store] is a simple jumping game similar to Doodle Jump and other games with the sole goal of seeing how high you can go.

We explained the game in more detail in our review last month:

ike their predecessors, the scarecrow wishes to go high… very high. Instead of jumping on platforms, however, scarecrow is propelled by popping kernels of corn. Make sure to hit enough of them as you ascend to keep your momentum going. Hitting the explosive corn also recharges your own personal boost that can be triggered by tapping on the screen. This supply is limited so you need to use it sparingly.

Your path is hindered by a number of obstacles including chainsaws, spikes, and more that threaten to dismember you as you ascend. You can take a fair amount of damage to where you are just left with a torso flying upward.

We enjoyed Scarecrow in our review, and played it enough that we included it in our recent Halloween games roundup. So what are you waiting for? It's free, and it has Plus+ with high score tracking and Push challenges. There's not much reason to not give the game a try.

App Store Link: Scarecrow, Free (Today Only)

Early this month Empty Clip Studios gave us an exclusive preview of the upcoming iPhone port of their download / retail Wii rhythm puzzle title, Groovin' Blocks. Those anxious to get their hands on this one can now try the full [link] or lite [link] version, which went live in the App Store yesterday.

Each of Groovin' Blocks' 50 levels is played to a pumping techno soundtrack with scrolling beat-indicators on either side of the screen.  Block clusters slide onto the playfield in a Tetris-like fashion, and will ultimately come to rest at the bottom of the screen.  A tap on the 'drop' button will quickly drop the piece into place — but if you "hit a beat" (tapping the drop button during a beat of the soundtrack) the blocks will be bigger, brighter, and worth more points.  Hitting consecutive beats without a miss increases your score multiplier — but miss a beat and it drops back to zero.  Hitting the occasional Superbeat, shown brighter in the scrolling beat display, will double your current score multiplier.

Certain blocks contain power-ups that can be collected only if you hit a beat when placing said block.  Power-ups are unleashed when the successfully placed block is destroyed by a match-three scenario.

See our preview video for a closer look.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

GameSpot calls the Wii version of Groovin' Blocks "a music-based game like no other."  As we said in our preview look, there's no shortage of match-three puzzlers in the App Store, but Groovin' Blocks' musical / rhythm component really does set it apart from the pack.

App Store Links: Groovin' Blocks, $1.99, Groovin' Blocks Lite, Free

This weekend is "crazy Donut Games weekend," folks.  Why the craziness?  Donut Games is giving away three of their popular iPhone titles for free.  Have a look.

Spikey's Bounce Around (normally $2.99)

Bounce with SPIKEY through the magic gardens on a quest to free all his friends.

The sacred butterflies have all been trapped inside glass jars, and it's up to Spikey to smash them open using his wild bouncing skills!

Rat on the Run (normally $0.99)

Help Ratty get FATTENED UP for the winter in this hilarious platform game!

Ratty has just found the house of his dreams – a house full of cheese blocks and doodles.
There's just one big problem. All floors are full of slimey blobs, mean spiders and other baddies who try to stop Ratty from getting the goodies.

Includes the bonus game: RAT ON A SCOOTER

Lucky Coins (normaly $1.99)

LUCKY COINS is a bumping fun mix of the best elements of Pinball, Pachinko and casino style games!

Feelin' lucky? Drop the golden coin and watch it bounce off bumpers, pins and moving gizmos. Magnets will trap the coin and allow you to aim and blast the coin in new directions to grab more bonus items than you can think of.

Combine your skill and luck to rack up loads of points in this updated version of LUCKY COINS.

Based on the crazy Donut Games weekend forum post, readers are having a great time with these limited-time freebies.  Grab 'em for free while you've got the chance.

I’m always on the lookout for new twists on puzzles. Sometimes these new twists or elements work and often times, they don’t. Besides the degree of fun which is highly subjective, the ideas that generally work and succeed are the ones that add complexity without complicating the game. When I first started playing Wriggle, I was lured in by the fun looking graphics, but what’s kept me playing is the mind benders that at first glance look simple enough. As you play with Wriggle, it becomes a test of logic all presented in a lighthearted package.

Wriggle is all about squirmy worms that come in a variety of colors. The only one you really care about is the blue one that must get to the exit within a certain number of moves. While the goal sounds mundane on paper, in practice, Wriggle is brain teasing at its best.

The control scheme involves your finger and the ability to drag Blue and the other worms in whatever direction. Wriggle has 4 levels of difficulty—easy, medium, hard and expert—with 80 total puzzles. In order to unlock the puzzles at the higher difficulty, you must complete 50% of the puzzles at the previous difficulty.

Each puzzle has a number of moves in which you must get Mr. Blue to the exit if you’re to receive an award. This involves strategically moving the other worms out of your way. Worms can be moved by dragging the head or the tail, and moves are counted when you drag a new worm. In terms of other features, once you’ve unlocked a set of puzzles in a difficulty level, you can choose to play any of the puzzles, skipping forward or replaying previous puzzles. Within each puzzles, a handy undo button is available so you can re-think your strategy without having to start from scratch. Plus, the game has auto save so your progress is saved regardless of where you left off.

Wriggle fits in that category of “simple to play but difficult to master”. It provides enough puzzles with a range of difficulty levels that novice and advanced puzzlers will enjoy, and provides enough to keep you coming back

App Store Link: Wriggle, $0.99, Wriggle Free, Free

Gamevil's latest epic RPG got its own lite version today, Hybrid: Eternal Whisper Free [App Store] offers a brief look at the world of Hybrid through three included battle stages where you will be able to master nine different fighting skills.

Hybrid is an adventure roleplaying game with an extensive skill system all wrapped around a brawler-style fighting game. You play as Grey, a kid with a mysterious past protected by an equally mysterious guardian named Fairy through a quest that will take you numerous hours to complete that touches on a number of RPG cliches along the way.

With every enemy you kill, you gain experience points and in-game currency which can be spent on an impressively deep character customization and upgrade system. The combat is the star of the show in Hybrid, and as you fight through each level you eventually gain more moves, techniques, and magical attacks to dispatch your enemies. These attacks can be chained together to form massive combos, and fighting entire gangs of baddies at once can be fairly satisfying.

Like Zenonia, there are a lot of people who love Hybrid, there's a thread on our forums filled with fans of the game. I do appreciate all the work Gamevil has put in to the game, and as you level up and gain more abilities, watching Grey fly around the screen killing enemies is fairly spectacular.

Where the game fell short for me, however, was in the seemingly endless amount of button mashing and thumb swiping required to kill all the enemies on a level only to watch a cut scene with tons of dialog, then get back to mashing the attack button. Regardless, I still recommend trying the free version, because opinions on this game seem divided, and you could find yourself amongst those who can't get enough of Hybrid.

App Store Links:

• Hybrid: Eternal Whisper Free, Free
• Hybrid: Eternal Whisper, $5.99

EA recently release a cute point and click adventure game for the iPhone called Mystery Mania. It's a charming adventure game that was originally released for mobile phones before it was ported to the iPhone.

The game offers 27 puzzle rooms throughout which you unravel the mysterious storyline. You play the role of F8, a robot with amnesia who must figure out what's going on. Touch controls offer the ability to interact with your environment and you must perform tasks in the correct order into order to solve each room. The game as been relatively well received in our forums with mostly positive experiences.

The only real criticism for some has been the relatively short length and ease of difficulty of the game, though it appears to be a good time during. Here's some of the Lite gameplay recorded by AppBank.

Two things, however, may convince you to give the game a shot. First, EA offers a free Lite version that gives you a taste of the game, and second, they have temporarily dropped the price of the game from $3.99 to $1.99 for the next 24 hours.

App Store Link: Mystery Mania FREE, Free, Mystery Mania, $3.99