As we reported late last month, Touch Arcade had the opportunity to visit Gameloft's Manhattan offices and spend a bit of hands-on time with their upcoming WWII-based first person shooter, Brother in Arms 2: Global Front. Tonight the game landed in the App Store and, after spending a few days with this final build, we have some thoughts to share on Gameloft's latest.

When the first Brothers in Arms title for the iPhone landed in the App Store back in November 2008, it was a highly notable release and almost certainly the most complex 3D game to be released for the platform at the time. It was (and is) a well executed iPhone take on an extremely popular console / PC franchise, wowing most but drawing criticism for a "difficult" control system.

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, designed from the ground up specifically for the iPhone, comes to us over a year later.  So what has a year brought us in the sequel to such a bold initial platform release? Quite a bit, it turns out.

Brothers in Arms 2, weighing in at over three times the filesize of its predecessor, brings to the iPhone a much larger game experience. This time around it's a first person affair, as opposed to the third-person, over-the-shoulder experience that is the first title. Actually, when in duck-and-cover mode, BIA2 does jump out to third person — and that's something you'll see often, as using crates, walls, and tanks for cover is pretty much par for the course in this title. That is, when you're not sprinting across the battlefield, manning the turret in a jeep or tank, or piloting a "glider" through heavy flack. Yea, it's pretty intense.

BIA2 drops you neatly into WWII as the young American soldier David Wilson on a mission to push back the Germans and Japanese and get the backs of his brothers in arms in the thick of battle. But, before long, an ominous bit of correspondence reveals that his actual brother, Eric, has been killed and was given the medal of honor — but that medal was revoked due to uncertain circumstances. It's Wilson's additional mission to get to the bottom of the mystery and clear his brother's good name. Pretty heavy stuff, really.

The tools of the trade are many. Available weapons include bazookas, fixed machine guns, flame throwers, Thompson submachine guns, and grenades. (The default play mode offers targeting assistance, which I find helpful, but it can be disabled.) There are three different modes of play, in all, to choose from. The default is a mission to mission progression through 13 levels across five different locales: Pacific, Sicily, Normandy, Germany, and North Africa. Any unlocked locale can also be chosen for quick play in Campaign mode. And, finally, local network play is possible by way of either WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity.

The game's control system feels a bit more workable than that of the original iPhone release. This is due, in part, to the various refined methods of multitouch, onscreen controls offered, but also to the fact that, during the year that's gone by since the originals release, we've come to know a great many 3D shooters utilizing dual-stick (and the like) controls. We're just far more used to this iPhone control mechanic than we were back in November 2008. Whatever the precise combination of reasons, you're going to find BIA2 to feel more comfortable than did the original release.

While BIA brought impressive visuals when it made its debut, so too does BIA2, and that's said taking into account the significant raising of the bar that's taken place over the past year. The environment models have indeed grown in complexity, but more impressive are the subtle visual touches that BIA2 brings. Shafts of light through the trees, HDR blooms (there's an options toggle there) — it all comes together to make for a pretty amazing looking game, very "modern console"-like (on my 3GS).

The game features various trophies that are granted based upon particularly savvy battlefield performance, as well as for finding as many "Kilroy was here" tags as possible. Performance is tracked by way of the integrated Gameloft LIVE network.

And, while the game offers excellent action, often at a frantic pace, it does have a few shortcomings. Framerate is generally quite high on the iPhone 3GS, but occasional (loading?) lags do occur, causing brief pauses in the action and studders to the audio at times. As well, in an apparent glitch where I went off the expected story line, I entered a room and wiped out everything alive, exited the room, only to find it once again full of enemies upon revisiting said room — though this was an isolated occurrence.

And, about that room full of soldiers, or soldiers anywhere in the game, really — the enemy AI that commands them is quite basic. If you're re-playing a scenario after having died, the enemy does the exact same thing the second time around, making it quite easy to wipe out the lot. A little more complex / varied AI would certainly add depth to the battle experience.

See Gameloft's recent trailer video for a look at a variety of in-game scenarios.

That I can pick a few nits in the title does not mark Brothers in Arms 2 a game to avoid. On the contrary, it is a highly enjoyable, action-packed shooter that offers some of the most intense battle sequences you'll find on the iPhone, making this latest from Gameloft a gaming experience that's rather hard to pass up.

App Store Link: Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, $7.99

TouchArcade Rating:

I'm not a big sports fan, in real life or on the consoles. But there is one exception: snowboarding titles. I can't get enough of them. 1080 Snowboarding on the N64, SSX on the PS2, SSX Blur on the Wii — I just love them. Sadly, none of the snowboarding games available in the App Store have really been able to do it for me. Compared to SSX on Tour for the PSP, they generally just look fairly weak.

Well, I'm happy to report that, at long last, a quality snowboarding title has landed on the iPhone. X2 Snowboarding [App Store] from Exient is a highly enjoyable romp on the slopes that sets itself apart from the crowd in a number of ways.

The first thing you'll notice about X2 Snowboarding is its stylized graphical presentation. The game features particularly detailed cel-shaded graphics reminiscent of the exceptional Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast. They give the game something of a cartoony rather than realistic look, but compared to its App Store contemporaries, it looks just great.

You've got a crowd of six boarders to choose from, each of a different nationality and with highly varied skill sets. Six different venues there are, as well, set in as many countries: USA, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, and Chile. Upon each set of slopes there are three different types of competitions: Freestyle, Race, and Trick-Race. The slopes are impressively long and more varied than one might expect, providing a satisfying chunk of gameplay across the available types of competitions.

Another thing that sets X2 Snowboarding apart is the feel of its controls. Oh, there's nothing unexpected about the configuration, with a combination of tilt and touch controls (that can be customized) — it's more the general feel I'm referring to. Everything just feels a little "looser" than one might expect. But it's not a bad thing, in fact, somehow it feels quite right combined with the game's stylized visuals. And speaking of visuals, a nice instant-replay system lets you see your best moves over and over from various camera angles.

Gameplay is solid and heavy on the tricks. On-screen buttons control jump, speed boost, and "wheelies" which can be used to tie together tricks — and the trick system works great. Once in the air, you can swipe (or tilt, depending on your settings) in any direction to rotate thus, and tap on the left and right board icons that just appeared to perform various grabs. The more tricks you can tie together, the higher your score, the more speed boosts you can trigger, and the better gear you can grab in the shop to tweak your game.

Adding to the experience is a great soundtrack with songs that can be purchased through iTunes. Another feature we're glad to see is local, Bluetooth and WiFi multiplayer — for now — with online multiplayer to come in the game's first update, which will be in the App Store soon.

All of the aspects of X2 Snowboarding come together to deliver a highly enjoyable game with a surprising sense of speed and immersion. I've spent much time with this one so far, and I don't see that trend changing anytime soon. If you're a gamer that likes to tear up the slopes on occasion, do not let this one pass you by.

App Store Link: X2 Snowboarding, $6.99

TouchArcade Rating:

It takes a lot to stand out amongst the crowded rhythm game section of the App Store (or any section of the App Store, really) but Big Blue Bubble's Thumpies [App Store] manages to easily set it self apart. Crazy graphics combine with an interesting gameplay mechanic where each level has you tapping out beats that layer on top of each other until you've eventually formed a fairly complex song.

The most immediately noticeable thing about Thumpies is the art style which seems to be this odd combination of Where the Wild Things Are, the Madballs toys from the 80's, and the Fire Gang from the movie Labyrinth. The entire game is dripping in whimsical charm between the sprawling tree that makes up the level select menu, butterflies fluttering around everywhere, and even the backgrounds of each level that pulse with the beat of the music.

After selecting one of the unlocked songs (of which there are 16 in total) and then choosing one of three difficulties, the Thumpies will then fall from the sky to bounce on top of tree stumps and mushrooms and you must tap the screen when and where they land. This is simple enough when there is only one spherical creature bopping around the screen, but as the songs increase in difficulty, even more pads for the Thumpies to land on are introduced along with additional Thumpies you will need to manage at once.

If you're like me and not particularly musically minded, juggling all these Thumpies in the air to the beat of the song (especially when Thumpies are landing on half-beats) can be deceptively difficult. On top of this, there are additional Thumpies that can be unlocked by collecting and saving up differently colored butterflies that will be floating around as you're tapping out your beat. As soon as they appear on screen you need to try to tap them because if one of the Thumpies flies by them they will munch the butterfly right out of the air.

Completing each section of the song requires you to fill the meter at the top of the screen. The meter increases when you successfully tap in time with the beat, and decreases when you miss a beat. When the meter is full, the Thumpies cheer, the portion of the song you just completed where you were tapping out the bass beat merges with the rest background music, and you begin the next section of the song which might have you tapping out some crazy vocals to add. When a song is complete, you're scored on your accuracy, and the next song (or songs) leading up the branches of the level select tree is unlocked.

Thumpies is an amazingly creative game, and thanks to the multiple difficulty levels should be approachable enough for kids and challenging enough for adults. The thread in our forums is filled with people who are leaving absolutely glowing reviews of the game, and I find myself in agreement with all of them. If you enjoy rhythm games at all, you really need to give Thumpies a spin.

App Store Link: Thumpies, 99¢

TouchArcade Rating:

If like me you've found yourself following all the events and drama surrounding this year's Winter Olympics, you really need something to keep you busy during those pesky commercial breaks. RealArcade's Vancouver 2010 [App Store] does the trick, and being the official game of the Olympic Winter Games, it's even loaded with all the olympic logos, mascots, and five events: Cross country skiing, speed skating, snowboard cross, biathlon, and freestyle moguls.

Each event is able to be played individually, or all together in the "Olympic Games" mode which has you doing one event after the other competing against a team of opponents. There's also a single device multiplayer mode that can support up to 6 people competing against each other by passing the device around.

Each of the five included games are controlled a little differently, some with on-screen buttons you need to tap and others that require tilting. For instance, when cross country skiing, you tap the buttons that appear randomly on either side of the screen to go faster, and in snowboard cross your board is controlled by tilting your device. Racing in the speed skating event involves holding and releasing on-screen buttons with precise timing. Three difficulty modes are included, an easy mode which comes unlocked, as well as hard and survival modes which are sequentially unlocked as you complete each difficulty level.

Vancouver 2010 looks and plays very similar to Playman Track & Field [99¢ / Free], RealArcade's other sports game that came out early last year featuring a set of summer events. There isn't a lite version of Vancouver 2010, but the free version of Playman Track & Field will give you a very good idea of what you're getting in to. There's also a video of the J2ME version which looks nearly identical to the iPhone game aside from the differences in aspect ratio.

I liked Playman a lot, and Vancouver 2010 is even more timing, tilting, and reaction-based mini games. Each of the events are fun, although I've found myself preferring the Snowboard Cross and Biathlon both in-game and in real life.

App Store Link: Vancouver 2010, $2.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Like Wolfenstein RPG before it, id Software’s latest venture into the world of Doom has more in common with turn-based dungeon hacks of the 80’s than with the shooter genre from whence it sprang. Don’t get me wrong – there are guns aplenty here – but instead of relying on twitch-fingered accuracy and eagle-eyed precision, Doom II RPG [App Store] shifts the series focus to strategy and exploration. It’s a strange direction for the franchise to explore, but it works.

In each of the 9 levels presented here your goal will be the same; explore your surroundings until you’ve managed to uncover the exit. How you’ll go about that, however, can really differ from level to level. In some instances you’ll need to find hidden keycards. In others you’ll need to power up doorways or use a robot to explore gas-filled rooms. Level design offers up enough variety that things never really begin to feel stale.

The bulk of the gameplay offers up what you’ve come to expect from the Doom franchise – killing demons with big ass guns. Unlike the rest of the series though, you’ll really need to think about which guns to use in which situations and how best to approach your opponents. Sure you could go in guns blazing, but in a turn-based situation with no ability to gain cover you’re just asking to get yourself killed. Little tricks like hiding around a corner after you’ve been spotted to coax an enemy in front of you, or sending in a robot helper to get a good look at a situation before you walk into it, can make all the difference in the world.

Controls are fairly simple and will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played Wolfenstein RPG. You’ll be able to rotate your character 90 degrees in any direction with the aid of an on screen D-pad and sidestep by swiping your finger in the direction you want to move. Weapons can be cycled through by tapping your weapon icon, and shooting is done by tapping the screen. If you want to activate your inventory to restore some health or apply some armor, just tap on the health indicator. Everything is kept incredibly approachable, with every action requiring only a single touch.

Like all Doom games before it, the story here is essentially Aliens meets The Gate. Hell has once again opened up in space – this time on the moon – and you’re part of the team sent to investigate. There’s a good deal of sophomoric humor in the writing, yet I was surprised at the effort that was actually put into making the story interesting and providing the world with some depth. You’ll encounter different survivors that provide key information on what you’ll need to do to advance through a level. Computer terminals are found around the complex with emails open that give insight into the events that unfolded before you arrived. They’ve really done a bang up job of framing the story in a way that will keep you more engaged than you might suspect.

I was also taken aback by how well they managed to keep me on the edge of my seat with anxiety and occasionally jumpy with fear. When you remove the real-time components of a game like this and opt to keep the visuals campy and old school, your expectations in terms of nail-biting excitement are set relatively low. Yet time and time again, the level design would lead me into a situation where I was surrounded by demons with seemingly no way to get out.

The game also managed to have a few cheap carnival-ride thrills. In one instance I walked into an empty bathroom to refill my holy water gun in the toilet. Let me stress again — the room was totally empty. But when I looked in a large mirror on my way to the exit there was a zombie standing right behind me! Sure these are cheap carnie thrills here, but it made me jump nonetheless.

Silliness also manages to sneak its way into the game more often than I’d expect. Shooting a demon with holy water, for example, will make his eyes bug out like a Looney Tunes animation. Searching the corpses of demons will occasionally turn up useless items like human fingers and pocket lint. It’s the sort of stuff that would have made me laugh when I was 12, and for some reason it still manages to illicit a chuckle out of me. This is a game where you can throw toilets at hellspawn — who wouldn’t crack a smile at that?

As you can probably gather from the bulk of this review, Doom II RPG is a game that left me tickled pink from beginning to end. Still, we’d be remiss to not mention the few questionable design decisions that popped up from time to time.

I loved that enemy sprites were cut and paste from 1994, but they looked a little too fuzzy when you got up close. Couldn’t they have been cleaned up just a little for their 2010 re-introduction? Doom II RPG is also in desperate need of an auto-save feature. Each level would take a minimum of 30 minutes to complete, and on more than a few occasions I forgot to save and ended up having to replay huge chunks of the adventure. Also, for a Doom title, the game world is seriously lacking in the satanic scenery found in previous games of the franchise.

Still – with so few complaints, Doom II RPG is a game I enjoyed from beginning to end.

App Store Link: Doom II RPG, $3.99

TouchArcade Rating:

When Plants vs. Zombies [App Store] was originally announced on April 1st last year, PC gamers everywhere (myself included) were unsure if Popcap's newly revealed game was part of an elaborate April Fool's Day hoax or not. A little more than a month later, the game was released and not only saw universal acclaim from the gaming media resulting in an 88 on Metacritic, but also earned the title of Popcap's fastest selling game of all time.

In Plants vs. Zombies, Popcap takes the standard tower defense formula and greatly simplifies it. Instead of a path to build towers along, you drop seeds in your yard which then grow in to plants that have various offensive or defensive capabilities. The yard is organized in a grid, and zombies move straight across the row they spawn on, munching (or in some cases jumping or flying over) anything that they come in contact with.

A gauge on the top of the screen shows how close you are to the end of the level, with flags indicating when big waves of zombies are going to come. When you clear a stage, you're often awarded with the seeds of one more of the nearly 50 included plants. This seemingly constant progression does a great job of keeping you interested, as it always seems like you have a new toy to play with. To shake things up even more, mini game levels are mixed in, including a bowling game of sorts, a whack-a-mole game with zombies, and others.

Originally designed to be played with a mouse, Popcap did an excellent job of porting Plants vs. Zombies to the iPhone. The resource required to build your defenses is sunlight, and in the PC version feverishly moving your mouse around to click on the small suns falling from the top of the screen got tiring (especially when playing on a laptop with a touchpad). On the iPhone, the sunlight mechanic is also in place, but seems to work so much better when you only have to tap the falling suns to collect them.

Interface elements have been made smaller to dedicate more screen space to your yard, and some things have been moved around. Your available seeds have been moved from the top of the screen to the left, and to plant one all you need to do is tap it then tap the grid square of your lawn where you want it placed. Alternatively, you can tap the seed icon then drag your finger around your lawn. This causes both the X and Y axis of the square you're currently selecting to light up which effectively put an end to me accidentally placing seeds in squares I didn't mean to.

Plants vs. Zombies is absolutely loaded with high quality animations, excellent cartoonish zombies, and silly dialog between your neighbor/shopkeeper Crazy Dave and even notes from the zombies themselves. Throughout the game you'll defend your front lawn during the day, at night, then defend your back yard which introduces water plants that can only be planted in your pool.

As you advance through levels you will come across many more zombies than just the standard run of the mill mindless brain-muncher. There's a Michael Jackson zombie that causes others to rise from gravestones following a Thriller-like dance. There's also zombies that have armored themselves with screen doors, traffic cones, buckets, football pads, and other equally ridiculous equipment. 25 different zombies in all are included, and one end-boss. Each zombie even has their own profile inside the in-game almanac, and they're really worth a look once you unlock it.

Plants vs. Zombies performs well on both my iPhone 3G and 3GS. I did experience some slowdown when there were tons of zombies and projectiles on screen, but overall this didn't cause a problem playing through the game as the only time there was enough things happening on-screen to cause slowdown was at the very end of some levels where you already have your yard fully covered and are just waiting for the last wave of zombies to die.

On the iPhone, Plants vs. Zombies only includes the main story and a quick play mode that is unlocked once you've beaten the game that will allow you to play a few different scenarios and the various mini games you came across in story mode. The endless survival mode from the PC version is nowhere to be found, which is very disappointing, especially since I imagine quite a few people excited about Popcap porting the game to the iPhone have already completed the story mode on the PC.

There is only one difficulty level, and if you're a veteran of tower defense games, Plants vs. Zombies will likely be very easy for you. Personally, I love the tower defense genre, and being able to make it all the way through Plants vs. Zombies without much difficulty at all hasn't stopped me from playing through the game multiple times on my computer, and I'm enjoying the iPhone version just as much. I'm not sure what it is about Popcap games, but similar to Peggle and Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies never seems to get old.

The 88 Metacritic score of the original Plants vs. Zombies (complete with 100's from multiple sources) just goes to show how great this game is. The iPhone port is absolutely phenomenal, and even though it's lacking a few game modes, there's always hope for them to be implemented in the future either via an update or a DLC add-on. There isn't a lite version, but there is a free Flash demo that I highly recommend trying if this is the first you've heard of Plants vs. Zombies.

App Store Link: Plants vs. Zombies, $2.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Last week we noted that an iPhone port of the PC classic Rise of the Triad, which we first caught wind of back back in July, had been made official and would soon be hitting the App Store. We're happy to report that the game has gone live [App Store] and those wanting to take on maniac cult leader El Oscuro and his minions on the iPhone are in luck.

Apogee / Mobila Interactive's iPhone port of ROTT brings all there is to like about 1994 PC original to our favorite mobile platform. The game features 32 levels, a choice of five characters to play (each with unique attributes), five different, customizable controls schemes, and the original game's full soundtrack. A notable feature of the original at the time, the player can look both up and down — up to 45 degrees in either direction — to better take in the surroundings. And the original's horde of minions, comprised of ten digitized enemies (Apogee employees at the time), is fully represented.

I've spent some time with the game and can say that, while the standard formula of mouse + keyboard is definitely the ideal control method for an FPS such as this, the variety of control options offered in the iPhone port of the game, which utilize combinations of both touch and accelerometer controls, should make it easy for most players to find a system that they are comfortable with. It's not perfect — I'd like to see a sensitivity setting for the left / right swipe view controls, for instance — but it works well enough. And it's great fun to get back to this title I enjoyed so many years ago.

Back in 1994, ROTT was a nice alternative to DOOM. And, just as there's certainly a place for DOOM on the iPhone today, so is there a place for Rise of the Triad. For fans of the original, this is an automatic buy, and for anyone else who still enjoys an occasional round of DOOM on the go, Rise of the Triad is a nice alternative that may well be worth a look.

App Store Link: Rise of the Triad, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

For those whose fondest memories of growing up in the 80s and 90s involve playing through the various iterations of Super Mario Bros, platforming never seemed sweeter. For a handheld device especially, that never looked like changing– the 80s spark that created the Mario fever isn't easily replicated and Nintendo will never share its magic. It is fortunate then that the 80s also saw the birth of an infamous title known as The Great Giana Sisters, a title that attempted to challenge Nintendo's platforming dominance.

Now on the iPhone after a re-imagination on the DS in 2009, Giana Sisters [App Store] is an enhanced version of a tongue-in-cheek attempt in 1987. The levels have everything you would expect of a Mario-inspired game– refined run-and-jump platforming, fireball power-ups, brick smashing, coin collecting and even castles with Bowser at the end (well, a look-a-like cousin at least). In fact, it is not until well into the second world that Giana Sisters even hints at an identity of its own.

By the third and fourth worlds however, an attitude easily rivalling that of their plumber pals shines through. And the sisters will need every bit it as the game is rife with pitfalls and dangers. Crumbling platforms, deadly waters and razor sharp stalagnites– as well as a battalion of terrifically crafted enemies, some of whom would as soon run you down as fire a bazooka at you– are all thrown at our heroines. Not all enemies can be defeated by fireballs and head-stomps either, often needing deft and precarious jumping to avoid. The sisters do have a little help though; dispensers spit out shakeable soda bottles to clear brick obstacles or put out fires and dispense man-sized, floating bubble gum balloons to fly around in. A handy flower pot check-point is also available in most levels to save your progress.

The original title featured 32 levels all up, which are all playable after completing the game, but it's the whopping 80 newly crafted levels that will keep you most occupied in Giana Sisters. Negotiating your way through these levels is a breeze, with both a Classic and Touch scheme available. The Classic mode works a treat and is the recommended setting, the finely-tuned left and right movement and jump and attack buttons are well-placed on the screen. As in our early impressions though we had difficulty getting used to the Touch scheme, particularly the jumping mechanic which proved too tedious. Both settings have a swipe feature for looking below or above your current platform.

The production values in Giana Sisters go beyond just a carefully crafted platform game however, as it both looks and sounds superb. The artwork is crisp and detailed with gorgeous, layered backdrops and themed levels really setting the scene to distinguish each area. The soundtrack is really something to write home about too; layering on that nostalgia thick with keyboard-heavy midi-esque tracks that run the gamut of upbeat to dark and ominous.

Giana Sisters is certainly deserving of its tremendous cult following. As a widely appealing game, it is easily recommended to all as a fresh take on classic platforming. It draws its strength from its unashamed inspiration, offering a tight, fully-featured and excellently crafted platformer that really raises the bar for the AppStore. Achievement hunters and competitive types will also be glad to know that Giana Sisters comes packaged with OpenFeint support for both achievements and leaderboards.

Impressions from our discussion forums have been wildly positive. Be sure to check out the developer's trailer above for a closer look.

App Store Link: Giana Sisters, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

When the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine was released in the late '80s it failed to make the splash that its creators had hoped for. The console sold around 10 million units over the course of its lifetime, with only 2.5 million of those units making their way into US households, so it's no suprise that the original Military Madness [App Store] never became well-known. Hudson has updated the turn-based strategy franchise several times over the years (including XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare ports in 2009), and this newest iPhone adaptation makes MM a series that has seen releases across four decades. The iPhone's touch screen is a natural fit for the IP, so Neo Nectaris just might be the best version of the game yet.

The short cutscene that plays at the beginning of a new campaign in Neo Nectaris would lead you to believe that this is a sequel to the original game, but this is essentially the same tale told all over again. A ragtag band of rebels were defeated by the union forces at their base on the moon in 2089, and peace was abundant. That was the first game. Now, however, in 2099, that same group of rebels is developing weapons on (you guessed it!) the moon. Thus, you have been sent in with a special forces batallion to clear out the rebels. Despite the sloppily rehashed story, the 48 missions in this sequel are actually all-new, so old-timers need not worry about playing through the same old 32 levels from the first game.

Military Madness's similarities to Nintendo's Advance Wars series become quite obvious upon setting foot upon the battlefield. The mix of long-range units like rockets, mid-range units like artillery squads, and numerous close-combat tanks are nearly identical to the units in Advance Wars, and the games share a quite similar terrain advantage system. The first version of Advance Wars was released as Famicom Wars in Japan a year prior to the debut of Military Madness, so I'm not quite sure which series influenced which, but there are enough differences to make them unique in their own rights.

The most noticeable difference between MM and quite a few other strategy games is its use of a hexagonal grid system. This system can be confusing, initially, especially for players who've gotten used to quadrilateral-based grid systems in their turn-based strategy games. The spaces adjacent to units fall within that particular unit's "zone of control," which prevents enemy soldiers/tanks from progressing through the areas surrounding it and allows players to strategically set up roadblocks to force the enemy into a position that could potentially turn the tide of a battle in their favor.

Another feature of the game is the "stars" system, which rewards individual units with increased stats for every encounter they fight in. The ability to heal these units after a single turn spent in a factory (which cannot produce new units and must usually be captured by an infantryman) creates an incentive to retreat with units who've seen a lot of fighting to allow them to come back fully powered and enhanced later in a battle.

In-game tutorials and a unit description screen that can be pulled up at any point during battles makes the game extremely user-friendly, and I checked out all the old tutorials despite my long history with the franchise as a quick refresher. I was a bit disappointed that Neo Nectaris doesn't use 3D visuals like the recent WiiWare, XBLA, and PSN release, but the iPhone port does feature an updated soundtrack that sounds great and fits the game well.

There are a few issues that keep Neo Nectaris from greatness, most notably the omission of any multiplayer- local or online. Another problem I had with the game might sound a bit more nitpicky, but it's niggling: there is no real animation for unit movement; soldiers and tanks just "blink" their way over to their destination when moving. This is a problem that usually doesn't afflict modern games, so it could (and really should) be fixed in an update.

Military Madness: Neo Nectaris isn't much of a departure from the now 20-plus-year-old original game, but it holds up extremely well, especially with the new touch controls. Multiplayer seems too crucial to exclude, so I desperately hope that Hudson decides to support the game with the addition of those options in the future, but I'll admit that the single player campaign is so much fun that it can keep most people happy for now. If you've ever played Military Madness before, I probably don't need to convince you to check out this version, but for newcomers to the franchise I cannot stress enough how much pure fun this game is.

App Store Link: Military Madness: Neo Nectaris, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Action RPGs on the App Store have been steadily improving with the release of each new game. The first, The Chronicles of Inotia, was received with mixed feelings. Later, Zenonia was greeted as a vast improvement (albeit with its own flaws) and most recently Inotia 2 stole the crown upon its release last November. Now FDG Entertainment has upped the ante once again with Across Age [App Store], an RPG that explores time travel and simultaneous management of multiple characters.

The story of Across Age is standard fare for the genre, falling cleanly into a long line of RPGs in which the goal is to save the world from an evil magician. Unlike certain other similar games on the App Store, however, the writing and translation is extremely well done, with no noticeable spelling or grammatical gaffes. These high quality production values show in the soundtrack and crisp art style as well; each environment is colorful and carries its own unique and catchy background music.

Across Age's big hook is that players control two separate characters at once, switching between them and separating them at will by touching on their icons located at the bottom of the screen. The male character, a knight named Ales, can pick up the female mage character, Ceska, and throw her to otherwise unreachable areas. This creates opportunities for fun puzzles that might require Ceska to reach a switch to open a door for Ales, or simply lead to hidden treasure.

The character separation and cooperation element works quite well to create good puzzle variation. One puzzle might require Ales to separate and engage in a simple block pushing minigame, while others could turn into a complex maze that requires the two characters to separate and help each other progress. New mechanics (like a "boat" that can be used to navigate watery environments) are introduced at a fairly consistent rate throughout the game, effectively preventing things from becoming boring and repetitive.

Across Age's other big gameplay gimmick is the ability for Ceska to time travel through the use of sparsely-located panels. This opens up plenty of possibilities, and often forces players to think creatively. In one instance, Ceska has to go back in time to drop off a wine bottle, only to return years in the future to harvest the now priceless aged wine. Special items called rebirth stones can be left along with a normal item in a magic pool located in the game's central city and returned to in the future to create special items and weapons. This system can often add special attributes to weapons and other items, and experimentation is encouraged to discover the best possible results.

Combat in Across Age might take a while to get fully acquainted with, but it works quite well after a bit of practice. Ales attacks by running directly into enemies (which looks quite stupid at first but makes sense if you think about it; why do you need hit a button to do something that can be done automatically?) and Ceska attacks with a variety of spells, usually long range attacks. Her spells can be cast by tapping the big button in the bottom right, and the game is pretty forgiving with the hit area around attacks to make up for the game's rather limiting eight-way directional movement scheme.

Boss battles might be one of the best parts of Across Age. Unlike many RPGs, which simply force players to mindlessly attack boss characters until they die, this game demands a sound strategy to earn a victory. In one instance I was faced with a giant plant monster which had to first be weakened with Ceska's recently learned fireball attack before Ales could rush in to attack in its weakened state.

Across Age does have its fair share of problems, most of which probably can't be fixed in a simple update. The equipment screen takes a fair bit of getting used to due to the small text size that makes it rather unresponsive to touch, and the game's zoomed-in camera makes some enemies lurking in the southern regions of the screen difficult to detect before running directly into them. The most glaring flaw rears its head early in the game: some areas must be revisited far too many times to progress through the story.

The lack of multiplayer might be berated by some, but since only one character can attack at once as according to the intentional design of the game, I don't think of it as a missing feature. A great combination of fun combat and good puzzle variation allows Across Age to swiftly avoid the problems that many RPGs run into, and its high production values only serve to increase the already substantial attractive nature of the game for fans of the genre. Zenonia 2 has a lot to prove if it's going to continue the trend of ever-increasingly great action RPGs being released on the App Store.

App Store Link: Across Age, $6.99

TouchArcade Rating: