The roguelike is a timeless video game genre and helped shape the RPGs and dungeon crawlers we've known and loved for decades. But I've never played one that was a side-scroller. Not until WazHack [Free] anyway. Warwick Allison's WazHack has been around on desktop and Android for about a year, and has now made its way to iOS. I've only just barely scratched the surface of the game, but I'm already hooked.

The funny thing about WazHack is that it being a side-scroller doesn't really change its roguelike feel. You still explore a large, randomly generated dungeon; battle monsters in turn-based fashion; and collect all sorts of sweet loot like items, spells and weapons. Your overall goal is to plunge down to the bottom of the dungeon, retrieve the Amulet of Zaw (hey, that's Waz backwards!), and make your way back up and out alive.

Best of all is that WazHack is free to download and play (or free to play on the official website). Once you get to a certain depth in the dungeon, you'll be prompted to purchase a character class to unlock the full dungeon and continue on. There are four character classes (Knight, Wizard, Sorcerer and Huntsman with male and female versions of each) and each class goes for 99¢ as an IAP.

I like this system, as you can play as each of the different classes up to the cutoff depth as many times as you need, and then you can decide to buy whichever ones you really want. The free portion of the dungeon is more than enough to help you decide if WazHack is something you'd like to drop some money on, too.

I have a feeling there's lots more that I'll be discovering about WazHack in the days to come, but I was having such a good time and the players in our forums have been having such a good time that I felt the need to share it with you right away. But seriously, this thing is deep. With over 300 types of items and more than 130 types of monsters, not to mention the various unique attributes of each of the different classes, both male and female, and randomly generated dungeons, WazHack should be a very different experience every time you play.

Check out an older trailer from the desktop version to see it in action.

Something worth noting is that a couple of minor bugs are in this release version of WazHack. From the App Store description:

* Keyboard input on iPhone does not allow pop-down. This will be fixed very soon (1.1.5).
* Multiplayer does not work except by very circuitous means. This will take a little longer to get working - I may use GameCenter for this, but I would prefer that cross-platform multiplayer works, which will take longer.

Nothing major, but good to be aware of at least.

So, go check out WazHack, it's available right now and it's awesome. You can thank me later.

While most fans of Square Enix should be rightfully concerned with some of the recent Final Fantasy mobile offerings, one area competently executed are their ports of preexisting console FF offerings. Final Fantasy V [$15.99], the latest port to grace iOS, thankfully continues the trend of offering improved versions of the classic RPG series. Offering one of the better implementations of the main series’ job system, FFV is a great game in its own right, successfully makes the transition to iOS and should be added to the collection of any nostalgic RPG collector.

Originally released in 1992, Final Fantasy V wouldn’t grace the US until its inclusion in the PSX Fantasy Fantasy Anthology in 1999 (and wouldn’t see a mobile release until the 2006 GBA Version). It’s a shame that US FF fans had to wait so long, because Final Fantasy V was a pretty good entry in the series. The overall story, which centered on a sealed evil looking to destroy the elemental crystals holding its bond in place, features a lot of themes and character development that would be utilized in later entries in the series.

There’re a lot of folks that have probably played FFV in some previous iteration and are wondering what the differences are between this iOS version and previous ones. Content-wise, FFV for iOS features the same additions as found in the GBA version. This means that players will find an additional end-game dungeon as well as four extra job classes that weren't in the original. While the additional content is purely optional, the additional job classes add some variety for players that haven't experienced the GBA remake.

The one area that does change significantly in this iOS port is the art style. Instead of using the classic, highly pixelated models of the original, FFV on iOS has a very smoothed art style, with the game looking closer to the recently released Final Fantasy Dimensions. In addition, the game features more artwork from original artist Yoshitaka Amano at a much higher resolution than previous versions. While I welcome the additional Amano art, I'm on the fence about the rest of the visual improvements. There's a lot of nostalgia and charm lost in the move away from the pixel graphics and the current look feels a little bland.

The rest of the additions, meanwhile, are positive in my book. The music, which is classic Nobuo Uematsu, has been remastered beyond the chiptunes of old but still retains everything that made the original soundtrack great.  FFV for iOS also includes an auto-battle mode, which speeds up the wait time between turns and automatically uses the previous commands issued for every character. This one little addition does a lot towards speeding up the grind, which is always a concern with these early RPGs. Little additions such as the ability to pinch-zoom the in-game map are also nice touches.

It's always hard to review these classic FF titles on iOS because they're always essentially ports of ports of the originals. Just as was the case with the previously released iOS ports, Final Fantasy V is a no-brainer if you're an RPG fan and have not had the pleasure of playing it. The story, job system, and classic Final Fantasy gameplay are strong in this title and showcase the golden age of  Squaresoft 16-bit RPGs.

At the same time, the changes to the visual engine and minor gameplay tweaks probably aren't enough to justify a purchase for fans that have already completed the game (especially on GBA). Although, there's still enough nostalgic appeal that odds are you'll probably buy it anyways.

We've been following along with the development of iMech Online [Free] since its first unveiling at WWDC last year, and over the weekend the game quietly launched for free in the App Store. Actually, to back up a bit, iMech was a game originally released way back in 2009 and was among the first iOS games to feature full competitive online multiplayer for up to 8 players. It was extremely impressive for the time, and iMech accumulated a dedicated fanbase of online players.

As can happen, the original development team broke apart and eventually iMech was removed from the App Store and its servers were shut down. A phoenix rose from the ashes in a sense, though, as some of the original team banded together and purchased the iMech IP and set forth to revamp and rerelease the game. And that's where we're at now with the release of iMech Online.

It's free to download and try iMech Online, and there's really no reason why you shouldn't. It has a fairly robust selection of mechs to choose from as well as a ton of customization options so you can trick them out with special abilities and weapons. It's a free-to-play title, though, so expect to need to grind away to earn some of this stuff or pony up some real dough to do it more quickly.

However, the game's new developer Mobula has tried to ensure there's nothing that's "pay-to-win" about their upgrade system, so even if you are new to the game and not quite fully-equipped just yet you can still match up well with those who are. Also they're using a League of Legends-inspired rotating system which gives you a selection of different mechs to try out each week, so you can check them out before committing to investing time or currency into them.

So far I've only spent a small amount of time with iMech Online, but it feels like there's a lot of potential here. I like the amount of different mechs and customization options, but with just one arena and a simple deathmatch game type it feels very basic. We'll see how it continues to evolve, but for free I think it's definitely worth the time to check out. Also, there's a discussion thread in our forums if you want to drop your own thoughts or suggestions on iMech Online, or just find some folks to frag.

The term “4X game” is either scary or foreign to you if you are not a strategy gamer. Even if you are one, like myself, they can still be daunting. With Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy [$6.99 (HD)], Big Daddy’s Creations has attempted to make this genre more accessible. Based on a complex board game of the same name, Eclipse simplifies the the 4X genre by providing guided, limited options and a set game length. That is not to say it is simple, but it has elegant European design; imagine Masters of Orion and Settlers of Catan had a baby.

What is a 4X game you ask? It stands for the four basic actions you can take in this type of game: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Examples include Starbase Orion on iOS and Heroes of Might and Magic on PC. In Eclipse you take on the role of one of several alien or human races with the goal of building your empire over 9 rounds. By exploring and claiming sectors of space, researching technologies, and engaging in combat with other players you will earn points which will contribute to your empire’s overall reputation. There are also other actions to take like engaging in diplomacy, building new ships, and upgrading those ships that round out the experience.

It does seem like there is a lot going on (and there is) but Eclipse is focused in its approach. Each round you have a limited number of resources to work with based on planets you have colonized. Materials allow you to build spaceships, fighters, and other constructs. Out of materials? Ok, then those options are gone. Science allows you to research new technology which can help you colonize new sectors of space or outfit your ships. Do you have enough science to research this round? Maybe only once, ok that’s easy to plan out.

Lastly you have money which determines how many actions you can take that round and how many sectors of space you can control. Clearly knowing how much you can do each round keeps you focused. This is the secret sauce that makes Eclipse so palatable as a grand strategy game. Rather than giving you freedom to control every unit you have in play each round, you are funneled into taking whatever actions you can fit in.

Of course, this is not solely an economic game, there is also deep space combat. As you explore the galaxy you may encounter “Ancients” which are a remnant of the former controllers of the galaxy. You also may spar against other players as you attempt to invade their territory. Combat in Eclipse is basically done by a roll of a die, but smartly the designers don’t show you some cheesy dice rolling animation. Instead there is an interesting combat animation as ship goes against ship.

Eclipse also features a very cool ship customization system that is as easy as dragging and dropping. As you research new techs you will get things like bigger guns, better armor, and faster engines. You can upgrade your ships by adding these different techs to what is already on the ship. It has become apparent after playing this game for the past week that ship construction is a key strategy in winning the game.

The sleek UI design given to both upgrading and combat is carried throughout the app. There is a lot of information to process and access, and it could have been a nightmare to access it all. Luckily, this is some of the best UI design I have ever seen. You always have a view of the galaxy at large and can quickly access trays that contain the other information you need to know. For what is at its heart a port of a board game with about a gazillion pieces, Eclipse is designed so well I am not sure you would have known it was based on a board game if I had not told you.

Staying true to the goal of a grand space opera, Eclipse can handle up to 6 players. This can be all human players gathered around your iPad as you pass it around like some sort of deep strategy peace pipe. Of course, finding five friends that can all be together at the same time can be challenging. The game features AI opponents which may be the main way to play the game. They are challenging at each level and play differently to help you perfect your skills.

For example, the peaceful AI will never invade your territory allowing you to learn the game without having to defend yourself. This builds up to the hardest AI which starts with an advanced spaceship and is very aggressive. For the brave at heart there is also asynchronous online play. So far there has always been a healthy crop of opponents from around the world to choose from. The system even allows for private games and features in-game chat. There is even a public chat lobby which has a very early StarCraft vibe. Our forum community has been loving Eclipse since its release as well.

Eclipse is an accessible and polished strategy game that feels at home on iOS. This is not a casual game, but if you have been interested in the 4X genre or strategy gaming in general, this is a great place to dip a toe in. Even with the game's excellent tutorial, it requires some repeated play to really master. If you are ready for a grand space strategy epic, this an amazing specimen on iOS.

You know you're an O.G. iOS gamer when you've got fond memories of the original array of Ngmoco games. I'm talkin' Dr. Awesome, Word Fu, Mazefinger, Rolando, and the Topple series. After all, there was a time when it was totally fair to say that ngmoco were well on their way of being the "Nintendo of the App Store" or whatever other cheesy phrase you wanted to assign to a developer that was continually raising the bar of what you could expect of iOS gaming. For better or for worse, the free to play explosion happened along side the release of Eliminate, and, well, here we are.

In the aftermath of the free to play apocalypse, the DeNA buyout, and all the other weird junk that's been going on in the lifecycle of ngmoco a few of these classics have been pulled from the App Store as they originally existed, or replaced with strange Plus+ laden free releases. However, per a recent interview with our pals at 148apps, Topple 2 is on its way back.

As explained in our review, Topple 2 is a block stacking game that is/was a ton of fun. From our review:

The premise of the Topple series is simple, you stack blocks of various shapes and sizes to reach a set altitude goal within the provided time limit. Blocks can be rotated to fit better in to the existing stack and the game makes excellent use of the accelerometer. If your tower of multicolored blocks isn’t as sturdy as you would like it to be, tilting the phone left or right causes your stack to lean, potentially giving you the extra bit of stability you need in order to not send everything crashing down.

It'll be interesting to see how the game stacks up now, as admittedly a lot of the original appeal of games back then revolved around the fact that it was super-nice to see titles that were cleverly designed to be iPhone games instead of just being games that run on the iPhone. It was a serious distinction that anyone around for the inception of the App Store likely will remember all too well.

[via 148apps]

Update: Aaaand it seems Topple 2 [$0.99] is now out. It's 99¢, and filled to the brim with Mobage stuff pressuring you to sign in, link your Facebook, and all that. Oh, and it has up-scaled blurry non-Retina assets. And advertisements for CSR Racing on the title screen and ads that load on the world map screen in between levels. Le sigh.

Yep.

So at about this time last week we were letting you know that Paradox Interactive's nautically-themed turn-based strategy title Leviathan: Warships [$4.99 (HD)] had jumped the gun of weekly Thursday releases and had launched early in international markets with a spot on the shelf of the US App Store reserved for 11pm EST that night. Except… that never happened. Due to several bugs and a completely non-functional online multiplayer, Leviathan: Warships was pulled several hours later.

If you're a Paradox fan in the PC world then this is all just par for the course. They have a reputation of releasing buggy games initially, but also have a pretty great track record of updating and fixing them in a somewhat timely fashion. In the end, Paradox's games typically end up being great, and the rocky road to getting there is all just part of the, uh, "fun" I guess.

Well, as of today, Leviathan: Warships has returned to the App Store, and it seems all online multiplayer connection issues have been fixed. However, according to some players in our forums and elsewhere, it still seems there's quite a few bugs or oddities taking place in the game. I mean, you didn't think Paradox would get everything worked out in the very first patch, right?

Despite its issues, though, it sounds like people are still enjoying Leviathan: Warships a lot so far, warts and all. I'm sure Paradox will continue to chip away at the game's problems and release further updates down the road, but if you're used to this sort of song and dance and aren't scared of some bugginess, then you can mash away at the link below and check out Leviathan: Warships on the iPad for yourself. For everyone else, we'll continue to keep tabs on the game's issues and are currently working on a full review, so keep an eye out for that in the near future.

There's no escaping it: multiplayer on a single iPad is pretty much always a full contact sport. It's all hands and fingers everywhere, ducking and dodging to see under and around your opponent and clear to your goal. You can try to fight it, to keep everything very organized so everyone stays in their respective corners. Or you can embrace it, as Alistair Aitcheson has with Slamjet Stadium [$2.99 (HD) / Free (HD)]

Slamjet Stadium is pretty chaotic in its Solo mode, in that crazy future bloodsport sort of way. Playing bumper cars with a soccer ball, more or less. Then you add a second player on the same screen, and things get downright aggressive. This is a game that encourages players to steal their opponents' units if it helps. Anything goes, though you really ought to stop before your opponent gets physical. It's probably not supposed to be that sort of bloodsport.

Each player (or team) controls two units, slingshotting them to try to get a small ball into the other team's goal. The stadiums are claustrophobic. Four bumper car-style units is a crowd, and anything more would be impossible. Half the battle is avoiding your own goal, and the rest is making the best of the arena.

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The Nightjar [$4.99] is a fantastic fabrication of horror, creating a vision of terror from the wonderful and disturbed recesses of the subconscious. Your eyes are rendered useless and your ears become sight. Focusing on finite and nearly faint ‘beeps’ of access panels to exit doors, the paces of creatures, and the echoes of a dead and void space station made my body have claustrophobic reactions and my thoughts feel with the dread of a disgustingly loud and crunchy demise. As Somethin' Else's spiritual successor to Papa Sangre [$4.99], The Nightjar is impressive in design and even more in the execution of an auditory warp into darkness.

Left behind to survive on the derelict spacecraft, your goal is to escape its metallic remains. Nightjar has a unique pacing that immediately builds tension as you internally battle the ship’s on-board computer (an eerie homage to ‘Mother’ from Alien) and your guide (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). Each contradicts the other, making trust rest with the voice that saves you from the most recent dire circumstance. Sound becomes equal parts enemy and ally.

The controls are minimal using two light bridges expressing your steps and a rotating dial as your compass. As my brain rewired and adjusted to not using the sense of sight, I failed a small number of early acts before I confidently connected to the UI. Nightjar's refinement is displayed when the controls are synchronized with 3D audio from the Papa Engine. As direction is navigated by sounds, going towards something perceived as awful is often done. However, the closer to danger one may come, also yields the true path to your exit as a new sound may be introduced, better defining the correct direction. This made me move with purpose, but not too fast, as every step is wonderfully pivotal by syncing ambience to situational awareness. Utilizing the instructions of the ubiquitous guide, I filtered my projected madness from the atmosphere, and eventually, pinpointing the lifesaving “ding”.

If a deadly apparition feels like its nipping at your feet, it is. Crystal-clear is every sound and yet, The Nightjar often placed my bravery into question as I continually second-guessed myself in moments that needed complete poise and some common sense. When watching a horror-flick, common sense can be constantly absent as supporting characters are either too patient or overly edgy at the incorrect moment. The Nightjar gives you a construct but it doesn’t necessarily have to be obeyed. When death is close, there is no shame in running; or if the exit appears to be near a threat, trying another approach may prove better.

Though a short experience, besting 2 hours, there are several challenging stages in Nightjar's second half that can surely extend your length of play. Coupled with a few generic twists, there’s enough variance in the plot to see The Nightjar through to completion. It is a fresh survival horror app that will test your nerve and synesthesia while leaving a strong sense of fulfillment. The Nightjar is a definite bird to catch so check out our forums and see what the community is saying about the experience.

With the new release of Angry Birds Friends [Free] yesterday, Rovio hasn't forgotten about their flock of other Angry Birds games as they've been teasing a new update for Angry Birds Seasons on their Twitter.

Last week, they tweeted out a teaser image featuring the iconic birds and pigs decked out in magician and clown costumes, promising that the next update will feature "magic."

Today, they've gone a step further and have actually created a live-action teaser and posted it to Vine [Free]. The video shows some of their planned magic in the form of portals that will transport your birds. Check it out.

I really liked that little video, it was really well done. And, much in the same way that adding gravity into Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars, adding in a portal mechanic is a small but fundamental change that can really affect the way we normally play Angry Birds levels. I'm definitely interested to see how it turns out, so stay tuned and we'll let you know when the latest Angry Birds Seasons update hits.

[Pocketgamer]

If it's one thing Brain Seal Ltd's Dark-Quest [$1.99 / $1.99 (HD)] is good at, it's staying close to its roots. In fact, some might argue that this old-school turn-based strategy succeeds in that regard a little too well. Still, as a relatively basic TBS Dark-Quest offers an enjoyable experience with plenty of missions, a party combat system, and a few twists to the standard gameplay that will either intrigue or frustrate you.

If you're familiar with old-school boardgame dungeons such as Milton Bradley's HeroQuest, Dark-Quest will probably seem intimately familiar. Like the classic board game, Dark-Quest's missions are based on pre-generated tilesets full of traps, enemies, and loot. Players have a pre-determined amount of turns to accomplish the board's objectives and escape. Each action, such as attacking, moving, or casting a spell cost a turn. The mission ends when all your characters exit the dungeon (thus signaling completion), die, or run out of turns. Besides its boardgame underpinnings, Dark-Quest plays most closely to a combination of a rogue-like and turn-based dungeon crawler.

The combination of genres makes Dark-Quest a bit deeper than one might initially suspect. While the mission levels aren't randomized, the loot isn't which adds to variation between playthroughs. In addition, the available weapons, spells, and abilities that can be purchased for each hero between missions add to the available tactics and reinforce the roles that each should play. While these are important foundational elements that Dark-Quest gets right in making it a good strategy game, it still felt a little bland overall.

Frustration is also added to the mix with the the skull of fate, where the antagonist wizard will randomly force you to enact a random status effect on you (which is typically negative). The concept is supposed to keep you on your toes as the wizard is constantly watching your party throughout the story, but it seemed unnecessary at best and a cheap way to ruin your mission at its worst.

While Dark-Quest does a good job with the basics of the game, some of its supplemental design decisions are questionable and can be frustrating. For example, each turn defaults to the Barbarian's actions, with the game's limited AI taking over for the other two party members if you don't manually select them before ending the Barbarian's turn. In theory, the AI should go a long way towards speeding up the gameplay and lets you focus on the Barbarian. Unfortunately, the AI is incredibly spotty, with my cohorts either not attacking enemies when they're in range, or doing dumb things like picking up cursed gold that cause health damage. A very recent update thankfully provided the option to turn off auto-follow.

Another questionable decision is the fact that the game does not allow you to save mid-quest. If the game remains in your device's memory you can return to it if you leave the App, but if it gets cleared, you'll have to restart the quest from the beginning. Granted, most of the quests are relatively short, but I still don't understand the lack of some kind of auto-save.

On one hand, there's very little in terms of originality with Dark-Quest, especially in comparison to the board games it gets its 'inspiration' from. On the other hand, it's still an enjoyable strategy game that offers a simplified old-school experience that isn't typically executed well on iOS. Thankfully, as mentioned earlier, the developers are listening to players and updating the game with changes. Assuming you can get by its relatively basic offering (as well as the incredibly simplistic visuals), Dark-Quest is worth checking out for genre fans.

With the recent release of the excellent Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes [$4.99] on the iOS App Store, my heart fluttered quite a bit when I saw a game called Lego Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles [Free] pop up in the list of new releases. Was this a similar mobile version of the console Lego Star Wars games that I loved so much all those years ago?

No. It's not that, sadly. Instead, The Yoda Chronicles is more of a free-to-play, social, extremely light real-time strategy/action game that takes place in the Lego Star Wars universe. It seems a bit flimsy so far, but it's also not completely terrible, to my surprise.

You'll start by picking a side, either as a Jedi fighting for Yoda or a Sith fighting for Dooku, and then embark on a series of missions based on your choice. Missions take place in tiny environments from a sort of top-down view using a simple one-tap system to move your characters and vehicles around and interact with the environment.

The missions seem pretty straightforward, and involve things like killing certain enemies, collecting a specific item, and making it to an endpoint in the level. There's a 3-star grading system based on the missions you're able to complete and how quickly you're able to complete them. You can also collect studs by destroying enemies or items and then use them to build different kinds of vehicles at certain points in the level.

The missions may be standard fare type stuff, but they're bolstered by excellent CGI cutscenes in-between that tell the story of the struggles between the Jedi and the Sith. The Yoda Chronicles also has lovely 3D visuals and stellar music and sound effect, all straight from the Star Wars films and shows, naturally.

I was initially disappointed that we weren't getting the full-blown Lego Star Wars games from consoles, and I still am actually, but Lego Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles seems neat for what it is. I mean, it's free to download and there isn't a single in-app purchase in sight, so you've really got nothing to lose if you're a Star Wars fan looking for something new on your iOS device to occupy your time.

You can also play The Yoda Chronicles on the official Lego Star Wars website after May 4th ("May the 4th Be With You," get it?) and if you log in with your Lego ID you can even keep your progress up-to-date between the iOS and web versions as well as unlock special bonuses for doing so. Finally, later this summer when the game hits Android a new batch of levels will be released doubling the current amount of levels.

Rockstar Games brought a surprisingly playable touchscreen port of their classic Grand Theft Auto: Vice City [$4.99] to the App Store back in December, and for the first time since release they've dropped the price of the game from $4.99 down to just $1.99.

Vice City is the second iteration of the fully 3D, open-world sandbox GTA games and was released way back in 2002. It goes hard with its 1980s, neon, Scarface-meets-Miami Vice theme and follows your protagonist as he starts out as a low-level thug and works his way into the crime boss of Vice City.

For its 10th anniversary Vice City was released on iOS with some cleaned up visuals and some subtle tweaks to certain missions and difficulty levels. While the original Vice City is designed for the many buttons of modern gaming controllers, the virtual buttons actually work surprisingly well on iOS and we really enjoyed the touchscreen conversion in our review.

If you're a GTA fan that for whatever reason hasn't picked up Vice City for your iOS device yet, then now is your chance to grab it for more than half-off. It's fun for what it is, and it's kind of a miracle a game like Vice City can be carried around in your pocket nowadays. As always, more information and discussion of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City can be found in our forums.

Hey, do you like Angry Birds? And do you have friends? Well you can finally combine these two major aspects of your life in one handy iOS game. Yes, as we've talked about previously, Rovio has just taken their ultra-popular Facebook social game and brought it to the App Store as Angry Birds Friends [Free].

Here's the thing, though: as snarky as I might try to be about yet another Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Friends is pretty darn fun so far. First and foremost, it uses Facebook to do pretty much anything meaningful, so if you're not down with that then you should probably just move on now.

If you are down to plug your Facebook into the game, Angry Birds Friends will pit you against your buddies in weekly high-score tournaments. A different set of 6 levels will appear with each weekly tournament, and you can play and replay each one trying to get the absolute best score you possibly can. Your total score for all levels is the bar used to measure who wins at the end of the week, and then the whole thing starts over again.

While there's nothing mind-blowingly different going on in Angry Birds Friends, it's still fun to have a smaller subset of players to compete against rather than the billion or so people who are playing the other Angry Birds games, and with a rotating set of new levels each and every week it should provide some variety if you've played the other games to death already.

I'm not crazy about having to use Facebook, and the connection to the social network seems kind of slow at times, but for a free download you don't have anything to lose by checking out Angry Birds Friends if you're looking to add a more competitive aspect to your bird-flinging.

If you imagine a venn diagram where one circle is people who read TouchArcade and the other circle is people who watch The Ellen Show on the reg', I'm really not sure what (if any) overlap there'd be. Regardless of whether you're an Ellen superfan or you don't even know who Ellen DeGeneres is, you need to check out the new iOS game she's throwing her proverbial brand muscle behind. It's called Heads Up! [$0.99] and I think the best way to describe it is Spaceteam you can play with your Mom.

In Spaceteam [Free] you're playing with a gang of nerds, each with their own iOS device, with everyone laughing and shouting random sci-fi-ish to everyone else. Heads Up! has a very similar party game vibe when you're playing, with two main benefits: You only need a single iOS device, and gameplay revolves around pop culture charades that anyone can get into. If you watch Ellen, you're probably totally familiar with the style of charades she does, if not, check out this video of the Heads Up! game being played on her show:

In a nutshell, you get a group of people together, load up the app, select a category, and then hold your iPhone (or iPad) up to your forehead. From there, you've got 60 seconds where a word will appear on the screen, everyone else shouts clues, and you try to guess it. If you get it right, you tilt your device down, if you can't get it and want to skip you tilt up. It sounds basic, but even beta versions of the game that randomly would appear at bars and restaurants of GDC was a ton of fun.

Cooler yet, Heads Up! utilizes the front camera of your device in a super clever way. As you're playing, it's recording everything, and showing the word(s) you're supposed to be guessing in the saved recording. So, if you have a particularly silly game, you're only a few buttons away from blasting that footage up to Twitter, your own Facebook, or even the Heads Up! Facebook page which I'm guessing will be used to feature the best videos on the actual Ellen show.

Here's the video exported from the play session seen in the previous video:

The only down side to Heads Up! is that outside of a social situation there's really not much for you to do, but, that's the case for all party games. Still, you should drop a buck on Heads Up! and keep it in the same folder on your iPhone that you keep Space Team in so next time you're out with friends you can bust this bad boy out and see how long it'll take you to guess "Captain Jack Sparrow" from your friends' terrible barrage of clues.

Two years, two Kickstarter campaigns, and lots of hookers and blow later, developer Warballoon has finally beamed up Star Command to the App Store. Do some screws still need tightening? Affirmative. Should you dive in immediately? Absolutely.

After designing and naming your avatar and ship, you learn the ins and outs of running your rig. Your spacecraft is made up of three types of rooms: weaponry, science, and engineering. You decide which types of rooms you want to build, then hire crew and assign them to rooms. Without crew to operate equipment, rooms cannot function. Rooms cost tokens to build, and some rooms, such as the plasma torpedo, require special ammo tokens to operate.

With the basics under your belt, you set sail for faraway planets and mix it up with your first band of hostiles. The goal of ship battles is to knock out the opposing craft's shields and sap their hull down to zero before they do the same to you. You wait for your weapons and defensive tech to charge up, then let fly with your chosen offense by playing quick time-like minigames such as stopping three spinning balls inside tiny circles and lining up vertical and horizontal sliders. Survive, and you earn tokens you can allocate toward more rooms and upgrades for your crew and equipment.

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