Earlier this month we had a chance to preview ZombieSmash by Gamedoctors, a castle defense game that promised to stand out from the pack by marrying the genre with another of our favorite pass-times– Zombie Killing. That concept certainly seems to have gained a lot of attention in our forums of late, and now the wait is over, as ZombieSmash [AppStore] is available!

Our time with ZombieSmash has laid to rest our doubts that the genre had wrung out all it could, as ZombieSmash not only looks gorgeous, in a cute Plants vs Zombies kind of way, but has a number of surprisingly original elements to diversify the tired castle defense gameplay too. For starters, enemies can attack from both sides of the house at once, putting to use the multi-touch features of the iPhone. Scripted level manipulation also gives the game a more tailored and refined experience, in one level for example the screen gradually zooms closer and closer on the house you are protecting, making it more difficult to respond to incoming attacks and upping the challenge. It gives a sense of purpose and individuality to each level that removes some of the monotony of seeing the same house over and over.

A castle defense game wouldn't be complete without a range of monsters to defend against, and ZombieSmash delivers abundantly in this respect. New monster types are regularly introduced, each with their own attack style and different means required to dispatch them. And by means we're talking about over 20 unique weapons and upgrades that are each controlled differently, from pull-the-pin grenades (which hilariously, you can smack the zombies around with before they explode) to screen-clearing giant boulders. Whilst there seems to be an underlying strategy to ZombieSmash in deciding where and when to use your special weapons, particularly as some weapons combine to do additional damage, as a castle defense game that incessant flicking-like-a-madman gameplay is unescapable, and is ultimately what turns people away from the genre. The developers have seemed to recognise this and address it somewhat, as a few levels focus solely on special weapons, blocking the ability to grab enemies altogether.

One of the high watermarks of our experience with ZombieSmash has been the "Finish Him" cam (a throwback to Mortal Kombat fatalities) where time freezes and you can bestow immeasurable pain on the last zombie of each level– all recorded in celluloid for you to seamlessly email to your friends, send to facebook or save them to your phone without leaving the game. To round out the socialisation aspects, ZombieSmash features Chillingo's Crystal platform, offering achievements and leaderboards for a variety of the game modes on offer.

ZombieSmash has 31 Campaign levels (with the choice of either Normal or Hard mode), an Endless Siege mode and a nifty Sandbox mode, where weapons and Zombies that you've met in the Campaign mode can get friendly in your very own creative/sadistic ways without the risk to your house. From what we've seen based on our own sessions with the Sandbox, and from posts coming in from our readers, there are some rather remarkable means of eliminating Zombies that may not seem apparent at first. There is also a comprehensive upgrade system in ZombieSmash, where stars collected from the other modes can be used to boost your arsenal and defenses, enabling you to hold out and dish out all the more. You'll need to really dig deep into the upgrade shop to face the Hard difficulty levels, as even Normal difficulty poses a substantial challenge in the mid to latter stages.

ZombieSmash has evidently received a lot of love from the developers, who have attempted to liven up the stale flicking gameplay that comes with most castle defense games. As a result, ZombieSmash really does stand head and shoulders above its competition.

Despite all this, we still aren't convinced it'll make converts out of those who avoid castle defense games, but may draw in those open to a different take on the genre. A rocking soundtrack by Chris Hülsbeck, of Giana Sisters fame, completes the package– a fitting encore for your hard day of Zombie culling.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the Debut Trailer (which we've included above) for a look at the gameplay. Also, check out our discussion thread, which is brimming with many positive impressions from our readers.

App Store Link: ZombieSmash, $1.99.

There is something special about skin-tight spandex and inverted underwear that positively warms our hearts. Chillingo and Traplight Games have captured the essence of that specialness and synthesized it for the iPhone, with the release of The Hero [AppStore].

The Hero is a largely understated title for a game that puts you squarely in the rubber shoes of a top-heavy, Mr. Incredible-esque crime fighter with a penchant for destruction derby and loop-the-loops. Our brave hero zooms in from space, taking it upon himself to fly around each gorgeously crafted city to complete a number of tasks (by ramming them with his head) to keep secure his charges (the fair citizens), whilst causing as little damage as possible to the surroundings itself.

Of course, asking our Hero to go about his duty of catching falling babies, putting out fires, culling down the army, killing giant insects or downsizing orbital laser-barraging satellites (to scrape but the surface of his repertoire) without the occasional high-five would just seem rude. If The Hero has started to sound absolutely insane, that's only because it is. That simple fact can also be credited with why collecting High Fives from the town's citizens is the fuel source for your three super powers — Freeze, Blast or Zap– each of which help cut down your foes when you're feeling overwhelmed.

And overwhelmed you will be, as though The Hero starts of at a very relaxed (almost boring) pace for the first 5 or so levels, those who stick with it are rewarded with a manic adventure that will test your digit reflexes. The Hero has two control options to direct his flight, a virtual analogue stick or a tilt option; your Hero handling much more like a bi-plane than a Batman. This may seem frustrating at first, as you attempt to wrest your Hero into pulling tight turns to little avail, until you realise that the controls more closely resemble games like MiniSquadron, requiring you to loop to turn around. You attack enemies by simply ramming them, assisted by a boost button or by letting loose with one of your superpowers, which are gradually unlocked in the Campaign mode.

The Hero measures your progress each level by your ever present Fame meter. If you fail to stop the incidents being brought to your attention or if you receive damage yourself, your fame will decrease. If your fame reaches zero before completing all the assigned tasks it's "Fame Over", and you have to restart the level, something you'll see quite regularly as The Hero is certainly no walkover. The Campaign levels pose their own individual challenges too, tied together in a very loose but very funny storyline. There are 15 Campaign levels to complete on both Easy and Hard difficulties. There is also a Survival mode with 4 increasingly large and challenging cities that are gradually unlocked, where your Hero faces all manner of obstacles to build up the best score possible.

It's hard not to recommend The Hero simply due to its terrific style and over the top humor. Whilst some may find the airplane-like handling of The Hero to be counter-intuitive and awkward, those open to the gameplay will undoubtedly enjoy cannonballing through an army of enemies, including a number of challenging boss archetypes too. The open-ended Survival mode will whet competitive appetites and potentially add many more hours to The Hero's already substantial content. Oh, and did we mention you get to fight Zombies?

Be sure to check out the gameplay trailer above for a further look at The Hero. Impressions from our discussion forums are flowing in thick and fast, and are overwhelmingly positive. And a heads up to you lucky 3GS owners, there's an easily overlooked option which switches on a 'high' 60-fps mode.

App Store Link: The Hero, $1.99.

Having played my share of matching games, it takes something a little different to really capture my attention. What immediately stood out with Cubetrix 3D was the fast paced/arcade nature to the game – like Tetris on the later levels. The game is a row-matching game where your job is to clear the board as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, you can move a single block around the perimeter of the board and slide it in. The block that slides out can then be moved to a new position. It doesn't take long to figure out how to move the blocks to line up matches and combos. The high energy soundtrack adds to the experience.

Watch the developer video to see how it plays:

Beyond color block matches, the game also introduces a few other elements to the gameplay. Fixed blocks will prevent you from sliding blocks into certain rows, while the bomb elements add an even higher level of frantic rushing to the harder levels. Finally, some levels use colors and numbers that must be combined in sequential order to eliminate rows.

Here's a short hands on video showing normal and hard levels:

The hard level is crazy from the start, as bombs will randomly reshuffle the entire board in an instant.

Cubetrix 3D really sucked me in from the start. The game contains 20 Easy, 30 Normal, 30 Hard and 30 Puzzle levels. With fast paced gameplay and a great overall experience, I highly recommend it.

App Store Link: Cubetrix 3D, $2.99

During last night's iPhone Developers Union party, here at GDC 2010, I had the chance to sit down with Dan Bliss of BinarySquare and have a look at his new, retro-styled block elimination title Kerplinkus [App Store].

Now, many of you out there are surely thinking you need to see another block elimination game like you need a hole in the head, but Dan has managed to deliver a fresh take on the formula that's simple and highly challenging — in fact, it can be downright panic inspiring. It works like this: you start off with a playfield consisting of upwardly advancing rows of differing blocks. Particles that match the rising blocks fall from above and, in the case of a match, eliminate the blocks they hit (and any bordering blocks of the same design) or, if the shapes don't match, add a block to the column in question. The goal of the game is to see how long you can keep the tallest column from touching the top of the screen. The real strategy lies in the fact that you can swap any two of the advancing blocks by tapping one and then the other. The trick is to wisely determine which columns to focus on to keep the game going. It's a pretty frantic affair.

Like BinarySquare's earlier title, Space Out [App Store], the game features a highly-retro, pixellated graphical treatment that lends the title a distinctive look that some gamers (like me) will love. Old school music and sound effects, created using the Commodore 64's famous SID chip, are also featured.

While it's true that the App Store is flooded with block elimination games, Kirplinkus really does deliver a fresh twist on the formula. See BinarySquare's demonstration video for a look at the gameplay.

App Store Link: Kerplinkus, $0.99

A few weeks back we posted gameplay videos of an unexpected and since, highly anticipated, title coming to the iPhone this month. Well, the wait is now over, with Street Fighter 4 [AppStore] launching today! Whilst many were skeptical at Capcom's ability to port such an critically impressive console title to the portable devices, our time with Street Fighter 4 reveals a surprisingly faithful rendition, if somewhat watered down to suit the smaller scale of the iPhone.

Street Fighter 4 gives you control over 8 characters from the console version; Abel, Blanka, Chun Li, Ryu, Bison, Dhalsim, Guile and Ken (in order of appearance). The game offers an impressive move list, featuring all the special attacks from the console version, leaving out the low and medium punch/kick buttons and their respective moves. The purists amongst you may find this too much of a downsize as it undoubtedly poses a change in pace from the original and diminishes the ability to hit those ridiculously high combos. Having said that, there's no doubting its authenticity– this is Street Fighter 4 in all its glory.

It is hard really to see how any additional attacks could have been squeezed in, as the on-screen controls already take up a sizeable portion of the real estate available. Super and Ultra attacks are performed by simply tapping their respective bars (which may irk some), though they can still be pulled off in their traditional, anologue stick fashion via the SP button. This SP button also activates EX attacks and together with a Focus button, complements the kick and punch attacks on the right part of the screen. It should be noted that these on-screen elements can be moved around and have their transparency adjusted, to accommodate left-handers and minimalists alike.

Street Fighter 4 looks and runs exquisitely on the 3GS device we tested it on, with impressive animations and the same gorgeous backdrops we were treated to in the console version. Combat in Street Fighter 4 is fast and fluid, and button input is as responsive as we hoped it would be. The AI does a good job at keeping you on your toes too, and can be configured at 4 difficulty levels from beginner to gruelling. There are a number of game modes, from the standard Tournament mode (against 7 competitors, with Bison featuring as the end boss), to a "Dojo" challenge mode, together with a training mode and a single player versus mode. For those who prefer human competitors, a Bluetooth multiplayer mode is available too.

To round out the impressive feature list, Street Fighter 4 sports a full blown replay system and local leaderboards, to record your matches for later viewing, and to breakdown your winnings in both tournament and versus modes. Capcom has certainly created a comprehensive Street Fighter 4 offering, with only WiFi multiplayer and online leader boards remaining on our wish list, together with the inevitable cries for a more extensive character roster.

Street Fighter 4 is easily recommended to any Street Fighter fan or fighting game aficionado. At its core it is a lightweight port of the exceptional console title, so don't go expecting anything different if you've had your SF4 fill. On the other hand, it is amazing that such a game was ported to the AppStore in the first place and the simple fact that you can now bring Street Fighter 4 around in your pocket should be enough to sway many an eager button masher.

Impressions from our forums are collecting fast and are largely positive. Our readers have noted that there is only minimal slowdown on 3G models compared to the 3GS device we tested, and even 1G users are reportedly happy with Street Fighter 4's performance.

App Store Link: Street Fighter 4, $9.99.

Do you have what it takes to help Mark the mole locate the elusive Terracore gem?  That's the question, really, in Roo Games' recent release Mole - Quest for the Terracore Gem! [App Store].

Mole is a game that, on the surface resembles classic Dig Dug, but is really a deeper game (sorry) that's much more about scoring up in order to better equip your character than simple arcade action. In Mole, you start off as a rather ill-equipped Mark the mole that can't do much beyond burrow about the top-most layer of the six-layer underground world that hides the fabled Terracore Gem (in the deepest layer, of course). While burrowing, you can pick up various precious metals and gems, and they can be used to up your gear in the equip shop — and better gear is what really opens up the game. It's a gear-to-gameplay dynamic that's reminiscent of that in Hook Champ.

The aforementioned shop offers air tanks, pick axes, gem detectors, and the like for the player with enough metal. All of them help you on your quest, but the most important upgrade would have to be the air tanks, for, despite the occasional pockets of air that can be found in some (but not all) of the underground layers, you're not going to get very deep without some serious tankage. And the Terracore Gem lies deep.

The game offers very simplistic controls that work quite well; tap out some distance from your mole and he'll move there or just hold and drag in the direction you want to travel. The arrangement of on-screen indicators can be adjusted for left or right players, as well.

See the developer's gameplay video.

This is one of those games that delivers just a really nice balance between light playfield strategy (how deep should you go with your limited oxygen supply?) and asset allocation (how best to spend money in the shop?). If break-neck arcade action is what you're after, then Mole – Quest for the Terracore Gem! will disappoint, but for the gamer that can weigh risks and keep their eye on the goal, this one is a true hidden gem.

In honor of the Game Developers Conference 2010, Mole is free until Sunday, March 14th.

App Store Link: Mole – Quest for the Terracore Gem, Free (limited time, normally $1.99)

As someone who has spent more time than I'd care to admit playing both the first JellyCar [Free] and JellyCar 2 [99¢], I've been having an absolute blast with Chalkboard Stunts [99¢ / Free]. Featuring similar gameplay to the JellyCar series, developer Manta Research ups the ante by including a full featured level editor that not only allows you to create your own levels, but also upload them and download levels made by other players.

The object of the game is simple, you drive your little car across a track drawn out on a chalkboard to reach the finish flag. Buttons on each side of the screen control your movement and the rotation of your car for landing properly off jumps. You can also make your car bounce by tapping the screen. The included maps start out extremely easy, and slowly introduce more gameplay elements such as loops, ramps, and objects you can ram or otherwise interact with using your car.

Much like the JellyCar games, it doesn't take long for these courses to get amazingly difficult and you experience the same sense of satisfaction when you finally beat a level with your car spinning out of control and just barely crossing the finish flag. The levels you can download online vary in quality, but I've had a good time playing through the ones I've tried.

These silly physics puzzle racing games are among my favorite kind of iPhone games, and I've been having a great time exploring the various user submitted levels in Chalkboard Stunts. So much so that this review was delayed by nearly a week because every time I'd sit down planning to write something about it I'd fire up the game and lose an hour to it.

I still prefer the original JellyCar (Mostly because of the awesome music) but if the community generated content in Chalkboard Stunts keeps up, I can easily see it living a long and happy life on my iPhone.

App Store Links:

• Chalkboard Stunts, 99¢
• Chalkboard Stunts Lite, Free

It is said that the best ideas are often the most simple ones, and there doesn't seem to be anything quite as simple as the dot. Developers One Man Left seem to agree, as they've staked their entire game, Tilt to Live [App Store], on the premise of our beloved period; albeit the rapacious, hell-bent variety.

Tilt to Live is at its core, an object-avoidance game wholly utilising the accelerometer of the iPhone or iTouch to maneuver your arrow around the battlefield. I say battlefield, because that's exactly what is going on here– the dots are out to get you and will stop at nothing. And it is remarkable just how much personality One Man Left have managed to inject into such a straightforward concept. These are certainly no ordinary dots– these perilous periods make a point (ha!) of chasing you around the screen; coalescing into arrows and other shapes then hurling themselves at you at breakneck pace, or circling you like vultures, slowly closing in until it is impossible to escape. Make no mistake, touch even one of the hundreds of dots on screen at once, and you are history.

Sounds mind-numbing? Fear not! Our arrow protagonist has a range of very awesome weapons at his disposal to send these dots back to whence they came. Your arsenal really defines Tilt to Live because it shows an attention to detail and knack for the inventive that escapes many games we see on the AppStore. You start off with just a few basic powerups floating around the screen waiting to be collected. The most basic is a nuke explosive (Yes, a nuke is standard fare in Tilt to Live) but you also have a dot-seeking multi-rocket powerup and a haduken-style fireball which clears a portion of the screen in the direction you're facing. Each of the weapons require a different strategy to operate effectively and are useful in varying situations.

This thoughtful design factor continues through to the unlockable weapons, too, where eventually you'll unlock weapons such as a spike shield that lets you hurl yourself at dots as they literally cower away in fear or a vortex attack that sucks all nearby dots (and you if you're not careful) into a black hole, to name just a few. But it's the manner in which they're unlocked that I appreciated the most. Tilt to Live uses the AGON platform to deliver its achievements and leaderboard results. But, it takes the system one step further– integrating in-game rewards for unlocking achievement points– namely in the form of additional weapons. I'm ordinarily not one for achievements, but the added incentive of new weapons was enough to get me to actually pore through the list and attempt most of the nefarious challenges, a fact I found pleasantly surprising.

Tilt to Live is a game that draws you in with its edgy personality and inescapable 'just one more go' gameplay. It is gorgeously crafted and presented and has a wicked sense of humor to boot (just take a look at the loading screens to see what I mean). Completing its challenges and unlocking weapons has the added benefit of enabling you to achieve even higher scores and multipliers, meaning even those not normally counting themselves as completionists may be eager to experience the width and breadth of what Tilt to Live has to offer. This is one game that will remain a fixture on my iPhone for a long time to come.

As expected, impressions coming in from our readers are overwhelmingly positive. Be sure to check out the developer's YouTube trailer above for a preview glimpse of Tilt to Live.

App Store Link: Tilt to Live, $1.99.

The original Zuma by PopCap Games spawned a raft of look-a-likes of varying quality, but the recently released Sparkle [App Store] certainly appears to be amongst the best now available on the iPhone. Created by the developers of Azkend and Dragon Portals, two other excellent action puzzlers, Sparkle is gorgeously presented in every way.

For anyone new to the concept (frankly, you've been living under a rock), Sparkle is essentially a Match-3 game spread out over a track, where a long string of various colored balls slowly moves to the end of the path. You fire randomly colored balls at the string in an attempt to make groups of three or more like-colors, causing them to disappear from the playing field. If the string reaches the end of the path, it's game over.

Along the way you'll collect a number of power-ups and items to help your cause, and be introduced to a chain-reaction combo system to really rack up the points. There are three game modes in Sparkle which are gradually unlocked and help to deviate its offering, including a story-driven Quest mode, a time-attack Challenge Mode, and a score-tracking Survival mode. Sparkle also keeps track of your progress through an achievement and stat system, though no global leader boards are available at present.

Sparkle is great if only to rekindle some of that Zuma nostalgia right in the palm of your hand. As we're often finding, the tried and true gameplay works surprisingly well on a touch device, making Sparkle one highly polished and easily recommended action puzzler.

App Store Link: Sparkle, $2.99.

When we took a look at the original Ragdoll Blaster, we were quite impressed by the crafty blend of ragdoll physics, puzzler and hand-drawn, cannon-fed craziness. Backflip Studio has strapped on its helmet again in their second iteration of the series with Ragdoll Blaster 2 [App Store].

The sequel reveals a more polished title than the original, discarding the hand-drawn art and instead drawing heavily from the steampunk genre to create a rich game world of oiled cogs and shiny bronze contraptions. It is thanks to these machinations that the gameplay in Ragdoll Blaster 2 does vary a little to the original, if still sharing that same overall feel of blasting (and resetting) over and over again until you reach your target in as few shots as possible.

The new objects you'll come across include teleporters, additional cannons, objects that adversely affect gravity, ice blocks and mechanical arms to name a few, along with the expected array buttons, cogs and switches. All in all, levels feel more purposeful thanks to the new mechanics, and we're confident that the 150 levels that make up Ragdoll Blaster 2 will continue to be interesting (and undoubtedly difficult) and show the same attention to detail throughout as the ones we've played up to now.

Backflip Studios have also made the decision to incorporate the Plus+ platform in Ragdoll Blaster 2 to provide high scores for each of the nine 'rooms' which theme the levels. Both a Par score and Best score is displayed at the end of each room as a target to beat for those competitively inclined.

We're enjoying our time with Ragdoll Blaster 2, though it does still feel very familiar. Certainly, if you're a fan of the first title, we see no reason why you shouldn't thoroughly enjoy the new features on offer. (And if you haven't had a chance to try the first, we highly recommended it) Impressions from our readers are collecting in our discussion thread and to date seem largely positive.

App Store Link: Ragdoll Blaster 2, $2.99.