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This week on The TouchArcade Show, we push through even more Skyrim discussion and other delightfully off-topic shenanigans to bring you the latest and greatest iOS talk. Because this week has been woefully light on interesting news, we instead decided to run clean-up. At the top, we discuss the 2011 games we liked the best but didn’t quite make it into our GOTY show. Also, we dive into Eli’s experience with OnLive on the iPad and, of course, answer your user questions.

2011 was a radical year for the site and especially this podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in over and over again and rating us so highly on iTunes. You guys are the best. Seriously. The best.

You can give this week’s episode a listen via those download links listed just below. Additionally, you can download and subscribe to us over iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. The coolest people on Earth listen to us via the latter method, so get on that. Peer pressure!

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-032.mp3, 47MB

GAMES

• Bumpy Road [$2.99]
• Beat Sneak Bandit
• Dungeon Raid [$1.99 / Lite]
• The Last Rocket [$2.99]
• Battleheart [$2.99]
• King of Dragon Pass [$9.99]
• Grand Prix Story [$3.99 / Lite]
• Tactical Soldier: Undead Rising [$3.99]

JARED’S KITTY KORNER GOTY

• Kitty Up [$.99]
• The Adventures of Timmy: Run Kitty Run [$.99]
• Misu Misu Kaboom
• Box Cat [$1.99]
• Sushi Cat [$.99]

The games listed in those notes, by the way, are just the heavy hitters. We talked about a lot more, but didn’t get as in-depth. Have fun over the weekend, guys, and we’ll see you in the future.

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We’re about to lean back in our chairs, puff our proverbial pipes, dust off our hands, and put 2011 to a close. It’s been a heck of a year for iOS gaming, and we’ve gone totally overboard with year end coverage, listing the greatest games the App Store had to offer.

TouchArcade has gotten even more awesome over the year, and our community has grown to be an even better place for iOS gamers to chillax, find out about new games, and discuss their favorites. We’re super-excited for 2012, and I can’t wait to see what new iOS devices will be released, what games will surprise us, and everything else that comes with being totally immersed in the world of iOS.

Here’s a list of our various year end coverage in case you missed any of it:

• Best iOS Games: 2011 Buyer’s Guide
• TouchArcade Game of the Year 2011: ‘Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP’
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Brad
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Jared
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Eric, Nissa, and Troy
• 2011 TouchArcade Staff Favorites – Eli

We hope you all have a safe and happy New Year, and hope you all stick with us through 2012!

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After getting together to pick our official best games of 2011, we also had our writers take a look back at the last year and compile lists of their personal favorites along with their reasons why.

2011. What a year. The App Store has been online for over three years now, and it still feels like the future to me most days. Looking back on my life of gaming, it’s just crazy how far we’ve come, and not only in terms of the quantity and quality of iOS releases. When I was begging my mother to take polaroids of me as proof that I beat NES games, the very existence of devices like iPhones and iPads would’ve seemed like some sort of unattainable future eternally found only in science fiction. But, here we are, almost to the point that we’re taking being able to download ridiculously great games, wirelessly, from anywhere, often for a fiftieth (or less) of the price for granted. That’s crazy.

My responsibilities as Editor in Chief of TouchArcade here has me cycling a silly amount of games through my iOS devices, as I make sure to at least try every game we review to make sure I agree with what we post. I usually just don’t have the time to get incredibly invested in too many of these games, as serving as the gatekeeper for TouchArcade content really just doesn’t allow for it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, as badly as I wish there were.

So, the games I end up playing for extended periods of time are an eclectic mix of titles that may have larger over-arching goals, but are totally conducive to quick pick up and play sessions. I’m not sure I’d call any of these games the best games of the year, but they ended up being my favorites, and the ones I spent the most time with:

Dungeon Raid, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Even though Dungeon Raid was technically released very late in 2010, it didn’t hit its stride until a few updates later in 2011. No other video game (including consoles) released this year even comes close to the amount of time I’ve invested in Dungeon Raid. I loved Puzzle Quest, but the way Dungeon Raid boils down that formula its core essence is pure genius. Unlockable classes, random abilities, and game balance that makes any strategy viable with some work has created not only one of my favorite iOS games, but one of my favorite video games in general. I can’t believe I’m saying that about a match three.

King of Dragon Pass, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Since completely abandoning PC gaming at some point in the last ten years and becoming a full-fledged “Mac guy” I’ve missed out on so many of these obscure PC titles. At first glance, King of Dragon Pass might not seem that friendly to iOS style pick up and play gaming since it’s a shockingly involved game of managing a tribe that can go on for months (assuming you’re good enough, of course). Where KoDP wins me over is that it’s the perfect game to load up, make a few management decisions, close the game, and come back to it later. I’m in the midst of a game that I’ve been playing for close to three weeks total now, and while I’m not sure I’ll ever ascend to position of King of Dragon Pass itself, each game is random enough that it feels totally fresh. A universal update is coming too, which I’m beyond excited for.

NBA JAM by EA SPORTS™, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The only series of sports games that comes with more nostalgia for me is the Mutant League games. I couldn’t even guess how much of my life I’ve spent playing NBA Jam between the ancient console versions, the four player arcade machines, and subsequent ports and re-releases. 18 years after NBA Jam’s original release, I still smile like an complete idiot as I shatter backboards, dunk on fire from a hundred feet in the air, and as the announcer exclaims, “BOOM SHAKA LAKA.” The iOS port is absolutely fabulous, although I really wish it had online multiplayer. I’ll keep my fingers crossed on that.

The Last Rocket, $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m all about games that feel like they offer a totally complete package that all meshes together in perfect harmony. It was this reason why I loved Sword & Sworcery so much, and I feel like The Last Rocket comes packed with similar magic. Too many games hinge on retro tropes, but don’t go “all the way” (for lack of a better way to put it). Pixel art and/or chip tunes with modern gameplay can feel a little disjointed at times, but The Last Rocket nails the whole thing to the point that you could load it on to a NES cartridge and blast it back through some wormhole to 1985 and it’d fit in perfectly on a shelf at Funco Land. The appropriately barebones story, the graphics, the music, the gameplay… Flawlessly nostalgic.

Battleheart, $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Without a doubt my favorite iPad game of the year. Battleheart is one of the few games that seems to really just click on the iPad, as the touch interface allows you to control four characters at once to have these surprisingly intense battle sequences that feel like you’re micromanaging an entire party of players in an MMORPG. I really wish there was more to it, as I feel the end-game is a little lacking, but I’ve had a silly amount of fun over the year just re-starting the game over and over to level up a new party, relying on a vastly different class composition each time. I’ve really really got my fingers crossed for sequel treatment, similar to what Zombieville USA saw, as more than anything else Battleheart feels like the foundation for a game that could be beyond incredible.

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If you’re feeling like reading some legal tea leaves this afternoon, put the kettle on and try this on for size: We just got news that Peter Hirschberg’s Vector Tanks and Vector Tanks Extreme have been pulled from the App Store due to their resemblance to Atari’s Battlezone. According to the recent Kickstarter update for the planned-but-currently-unfunded Vector Tanks 3, “Tank games, asteroid shooters, and so on have all been pulled.”

There’s a number of ways you could read into this, largely depending on which way your dowsing rod is pointing. Atari could be planning on releasing their own version of either a direct port or modern re-imagination of Battlezone, and are sweeping the App Store of “clones” (I’m using that word very loosely, mind you.) to make room. Alternatively, it’s entirely possible that Atari has a whole department of lawyers whose sole purpose is to protect their IP by any means necessary, and the Vector Tanks series were just casualties of of a legal war.

I could really go either way on that one, as Atari is all about milking their old IP, but they’ve also become a company that seems to consist of little more than retro branding and lawyers. Either way, it’s just sad to see Vector Tanks and Extreme caught in the crossfire, as I never saw those games as “rip-offs” or “clones” of Battlezone, rather, just very tasteful fan-made homages.

If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to backup the .ipa files for both Vector Tanks and Vector Tanks Extreme, as it’s unclear if they’ll ever be back on the App Store.

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After getting together to pick our official best games of 2011, we also had our writers take a look back at the last year and compile lists of their personal favorites along with their reasons why.

Among the many things that changed around here this year at TouchArcade was massively ramping up our writing staff with freelancers from quite literally all over the world. We now have writers in four of the seven continents, checking out games and writing reviews around the clock. Maybe in 2012 we’ll pick up some people to review games in Africa and Asia, but I’m really not sure how we’re going to swing Antarctica.

Our content output is through the roof compared to previous years, which has allowed us to broaden our focus to include games that we normally would have passed on just because of not having the bandwidth to review anything but the absolute best games. I think it’s made TouchArcade a much more varied, and better daily read, along with giving a bunch more games some exposure. 2012 should be even better, as ramping up even further along with releasing the TouchArcade app!

Anyway, Eric, Nissa, and Troy were our most active freelance writers in 2012, so I asked them to join the party in compiling lists of their top five games. Check it out:

Eric

Avadon: The Black Fortress HD, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’ve been a big fan of Spiderweb Software since the days of playing Exile on my Performa, so I was intrigued when I first heard that they would be releasing a classic style, isometric RPG. Avadon does not disappoint as it not only succeeded in taking me back to the glory days of 1990s-era Mac RPGs but it also made the entire genre accessible to a whole new generation of gamers. All I can say is that after this fulfilling nostalgic experience, I’m hungry for more.

Jetpack Joyride, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Jetpack Joyride has the honor of being the first endless runner to successfully capture me in its grasp for a very long time. Its
presentation, style, and approachable gameplay are top notch making the game appealing to even the most reluctant of gamers. Most importantly, it has that rare quality of making each run feel new and unique – something that so many other similar games try to achieve and fail.

Dungeon Raid, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m not the biggest fan of match three games. Yet, out of all the games on my list, Dungeon Raid has probably gotten the most hours played than any other. Maybe it had something to do with the way its RPG elements meshed seamlessly with the standard match three gameplay. Or maybe it was the huge amount of unlockable classes, spells, and equipment making each play through different. Regardless, Dungeon Raid has continued to be my de facto option for quick gaming sessions on the go. If you’re one of the few that haven’t played this by now, hurry up and grab it.

Battleheart, $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Battleheart gets a lot of elements right, but in my opinion it’s really all about two things: versatility and multitasking. With so many different classes, equipment, and spells, I spent a lot of time playing this real time strategy action-RPG simply to discover various combinations and styles of play that worked. Add in the fact that the game successfully implemented a control scheme that had you simultaneously control four different characters, each with their own abilities and class roles, and it’s not hard to see why Battleheart is one of the better strategy games of the year.

Mega Mall Story, $3.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – You really can’t go wrong with any Kairosoft game, but Mega Mall Story was by far my favorite release from them this year. Taking a more concrete approach than some of the other ‘Story’ games, Mega Mall had more short and long term goals littered throughout the game while still giving you enough leeway to build mostly anything however you wanted. I also loved the wonderful pacing that the game set; providing countless rewards and incentives to continue playing while making them just rare enough that they continued to be meaningful throughout the playtime. Also, how could you not love building your own tower?

Nissa

Async Corp., $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This is the one game that can cheer me up in nearly any situation. It has smiling blocks, bright colors, and cheerful music, which is pretty much the perfect recipe for a good mood. Add the constant positive reinforcement you get for being a productive worker and there’s just no way to be down when playing this game – unless you think about what happened to the team who made it. But layoffs aside, Async Corp is by far my favorite matching game. I appreciate the variety of modes it has on offer, but what really gets me is that it’s just so relentlessly cheerful.

Wind-up Knight, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – At some point in the past year or two, I went from hating difficult platformers to craving them. Wind-up Knight is the cream of the crop of that genre. It’s gorgeous, runs smoothly and is unfailingly punishing. But it’s never unfair, and that’s why I love it. That, and the terribly clever storytelling conceit that’s tucked away in its loading screens.

Mighty Fin, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m a huge sucker for endless-whatever games. Runners, climbers, cave fliers, you name it and I can probably name five I adore. Mighty Fin topped the pack this year with something like nineteen endless levels to obsess over, and an equal number of more traditional arcade levels. It also has an adorable protagonist, high production values and dozens of unlockable costumes.The one thing that really makes it stand out from the crowd, though, is that it’s updated regularly and still manages to stay entirely IAP free.

Elder Sign: Omens, $3.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This one goes out to all my fellow tabletop nerds. In its tabletop form, Elder Sign is one of those overly complex card and dice games that I hate to love – they’re just so messy. On iPhone, the experience is streamlined and still tons of fun. I’ve rolled a lot of dice in my time, and Elder Sign makes it a particularly compelling activity. It’s a little bit RPG, a little bit board game, and a whole lot of Elder Gods devouring your face. I hope this is a sign of more great things coming to iOS from Fantasy Flight.

Poker Pals, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – As Words With Friends becomes increasingly bloated, I’ve moved away from it as my asynchronous game of choice. Poker Pals has taken its place. It’s not an incredibly deep game, but it is super accessible, so I can play with just about anyone I know. Seriously, if you’ve somehow managed to avoid learning how to form poker hands, it’s a skill you can pick up in under a minute. The game’s progression system is also pretty cool. But when you get right down to the heart of it, what I really adore about Poker Pals is that it (almost) fulfills my long-standing wish to play Sword & Poker online with friends.That game gave me a serious love of poker puzzling, and Poker Pals brings it right back.

Troy

jAggy Race, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This fantastic game gave me so much pleasure – I know this because I happily re-played the same tracks hundreds of times, searching for the optimum routes. I loved memorizing each crazy track and searching for new gravity-defying jumps, or short-cuts to shave a second off my times. It was especially fun to compete with the skilled TouchArcade forum members, who dominated the jAggy Race leaderboards, because each time someone else achieved a top score, I knew my own strategy needed some adjustments. The blend of fast-paced cart-racing, memorization and strategy made jAggy Race a personal favorite.

Dungeon Raid, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Dungeon Raid is one of my favorite games to play on the smaller iPod screen, which is unusual as I generally prefer playing match-3 games on the iPad. Initially I loved it’s simple appearance, the way it’s so responsive to rapid swipes, the excellent sound effects and it’s ability to reverse out of the lines you’re drawing (which is handled better than any other line-drawing game I’ve seen). But mostly, it’s the deepness of the RPG elements which gave it a longer lasting appeal and for that reason it’s staying on my iPod.

Vetica, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I love innovative games which are relatively unknown, because it gives me a smug satisfaction, as if I’ve discovered something that other people have missed. Vetica is one of my favorite shmups of the year, mostly because it creatively constructs animated enemies using the helevetica font (which I totally dig), but also because it’s also entertaining to play, not just a gimmick. It’s hard enough to be challenging, without being too difficult to complete.

Perfect Cell, $2.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – I’m a sucker for platform games in general, but Perfect Cell was particularly fun because it added a line-drawing mechanic for rapid dashes. I never tired of decapitating multiple guards in a murderous high-speed dash, or taking them down by knocking their legs out. The ability to split in two (or three) for stealth ambushes or for puzzle-solving was a neat feature. Technically it came out at the very end of December 2010, but I’m listing it here because it came out just after our annual round-up last year… and because it’s awesome.

Tiny Wings, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Tiny Wings is a cute and lovable gaming experience that manages to be both soothing and challenging at the same time. I loved the way it was packaged to perfection with a likable soaring bird, unique procedural graphics for the islands, perfect one-touch controls and a totally chilled out sound-track. I usually spot areas for improvement within most games, but Tiny Wings ticked all of my boxes and made me smile each time the bird chirped. It also felt like a special success story because it came from an indie developer (ie: I was willingly caught up in the buzz of popularity it generated).

Yes, I realize we included Dungeon Raid twice in these lists. The game is that good.

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I adore tower defense titles, but they tend to be just a bit samey. More than most genres, they rely on a number of standard elements that are rarely done without. Kingdom Rush [$2.99] isn’t a mold-breaking game. There are towers, yes, and upgrades and creeps. There is a set path, there are levels. Sometimes the creeps fly. Sometimes there are bosses. You really ought to know all this by now.

Despite the familiarity of its formula, though, Kingdom Rush is absolutely fabulous. With good-natured charm, with clarity of purpose, and with a touch of clever design, this game makes a place for itself in its crowded genre. It’s no wonder Ironhide Games Studio’s original Flash version is so very popular (a Flash version you can play right here, minus the premium content included in the iOS port).

You won’t be surprised if I tell you that Kingdom Rush takes place in a medieval setting. You might also recognize its four basic tower types: arrow towers, magic towers, artillery towers and defense towers. Those don’t seem like much, but there’s a method to that scarcity. After the first few upgrades, you can choose between two specialized towers, and each of those specializations has further upgrades and customizations. That’s where you’ll create the missing classics, like snare and lightning towers.

This is just one of the low-key ways Kingdom Rush presents its surprisingly broad collection of choices. On the micro level, you choose which position to place your tower in, and which way to upgrade it. On the macro level, you can choose difficulty, passive upgrade paths, and a couple bonus game modes per map. The game rarely feels prescriptive. No upgrade is really wrong (though it may be strategically unsound), every mode is rewarding, and your choice of difficulty never punishes you. How refreshing.

While the presentation might be chill, don’t expect that means Kingdom Rush will be an entirely casual experience. For one thing, this game sticks close to its browser-based roots, avoiding five-minute matches tuned for mobile players. Expect each level to take time, up to twenty minutes or more, especially as you approach the end of the main game’s 13 levels.

There were times this left me wishing for a fast-forward button, one of the few missing genre conventions. But those moments were rare, because Kingdom Rush demands players stay on their toes. In addition to the normal tower defense duties – building towers, upgrading them, praying a creep will get hit just once more before it crosses the finish line – players are granted two cooldown-based abilities that can be used freely. One is a meteor strike from the skies that will damage any creeps it hits. The other brings out reinforcements wherever you tap. Aside from positioning your towers well, this is the main way to strategically influence your success.

Whether you’ll find these useful will depend on your play style, but I’ll hazard a suggestion that the game will be quite difficult without them. Well-upgraded, they can easily make or break a challenging level, and most of the levels are really quite challenging. While I very rarely failed a level, earning three stars was nearly always rough. And without all the stars, you won’t be able to unlock all the passive upgrades for your various towers and abilities. It’s a welcome challenge, no matter how thoroughly I’ve been conditioned by iOS games to consider a failure after 20 minutes of playing an unforgivable waste of time.

That’s not to say there are no real issues with Kingdom Rush. There’s no Game Center integration until an upcoming update, so you’ll have to make due with the in-game achievement system for now. There’s also an outstanding save corruption bug (don’t close the game while the new level animation is playing on the map), but that should be resolved just as soon as the current update is approved. The only serious trouble I had was with some rather imprecise tapping.

Most of the game doesn’t require precision, so this is often forgiveable. But when you call down meteors they always hit just a little too far south of your tap. They’re on a long cooldown and are generally only pulled out when badly needed, so this can be frustrating. Worse, the final boss battle includes many sections that require rapid taps, leading to some really inconvenient mistaps, and potentially, mis-upgrades. It’s by no means game breaking, but it’s an annoyance nonetheless.

(Video of Flash version)

Overall, however, Kingdom Rush is a fantastic package. It’s a game that made me take notice, that made a well-trod genre seem a bit fresher and more interesting than it’s been in a while. Its presentation is top notch, too. Most units have vocalizations like “Freedom!” or “Reinforcements!,” and while by all rights this should be annoying, I found it a welcome accompaniment alongside the martial soundtrack. It’s an understated charm that’s found throughout the game, in its art, interface, and imaginative encounters.

If you enjoy tower defense, you absolutely must give Kingdom Rush a try. It doesn’t stray far from anything one might expect from an “epic fantasy” tower defense title, but everything it does, it does with style. You’ll be setting yourself up for hours of awesome, strategic tower defense gaming, so don’t skip this one. And if you’d like a little company on your journey, stop by our discussion thread.

TouchArcade Rating:

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If you’ve been listening to our show, you already know that Rocketcat Games has plans to release a free-to-play RPG based in its Mage Gauntlet [$2.99] universe. Earlier this morning, Rocketcat dropped another first-look at a class for that game on its Facebook page. It even threw out some information on what it’s shooting for with the title.

“The Spellsword is essentially the same as Lexi from Mage Gauntlet. Anti-magic dash move, finds randomized single-use spells, while also being very strong in melee. However, he has low health compared to almost every other character.”

“Despite the similarity to Mage Gauntlet mechanics, we’ll be taking a lot of time to improve things with the Spellsword. The heart system will be replaced with a health bar system, allowing for things like armor that actually reduces damage.

We’re also looking into altering the equipment a bit. Some ideas include making some of the swords change what your charge-attack does, the spell-critical robes being replaced with new effects, and the spell trinkets adding secondary effects to the specific spell.”

In brief, Rocketcat’s Next Game will be a randomly generated dungeon crawler that jives with the spirit of Mage Gauntlet. Players will have different classes to choose from, and other classes to unlock via an in-game gem currency system. Since it’s free-to-play and all, those gems will be also be available as optional IAP downloads.

Rocketcat seems pretty serious about sharing stuff for this title on its Facebook, so go give that a follow if you’re into what it’s doing next.

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We’re certainly no strangers to Glu’s action-oriented freemium model and, whether you love it or hate it, Frontline Commando [Free] looks to follow a very similar format. Sporting great visuals, tons of content and a decent control system, this third-person cover shooter certainly has some positives going for it. However, its freemium system, along with a lack of gameplay variety, may be enough for some to simply pass on it.

Like a lot of other war-themed shooters, Frontline Commando places you in the role of a soldier stranded in the middle of a battle zone with the goal of single-handedly taking down all the enemy forces out to get you. You’ll complete this daunting task through various missions with objectives that include Elimination (kill all the baddies), Survival (kill all the baddies until time runs out) and Rescue (kill everyone but the civilians).

Successful missions reward ‘war cash’ that can be used to buy some of the available weapons. An experience system also serves as a barrier to picking up stronger weapons until you earn the requisite amount of experience by playing missions. The story is nonexistent and the general presentation doesn’t offer anything new, but at least it doesn’t detract from the experience.

One area that Frontline Commando excels is its graphics engine. Environments look great on the latest iOS hardware, and the game plays smooth and at a fast framerate. Your character’s model also looks decent, although the enemy ones not so much (they shouldn’t last very long on the screen anyways). It’s not the best looking game we’ve seen on iOS, but Frontline still does a great job showcasing its visuals and graphical effects.

Another good point is its control system, which doesn’t impose unnecessary constraints on the player and actually offers enough precision and smoothness to execute headshots with ease. It may seem like a simple point, but so many shooters botch up the aiming system that it’s worth mentioning when done correctly.

As a cover shooter, Frontline Commando drastically limits what you can actually do in each mission, thus restricting the overall gameplay. As one can imagine, staying under cover is the key to survival as you poke out and take potshots at the opposing forces. Typically, each environment will have several cover points you can run to, with one of them also doubling as the ammo station. Stay under cover in the same place long enough, and the enemy will actually chip away at your cover point, forcing you to either relocate or begin taking damage from errant shots.

It’s important to note that you don’t actually have direct control over your character – your sole control choices are moving from cover point to cover point (with pre-done animations), moving in/out of cover, and aiming your weapon. Folks looking for an actual third person shooter with free movement are not going to find that here. Still, Frontline Commando manages to implement its own gameplay with little hiccup.

Freemium comes into play in Frontline Commando with the standard dual-currency model of progression. In addition to the war bucks mentioned above, there is also gold, which is the premium currency and can be purchased using IAP (and consequently converted to war bucks if needed). Like Gun Bros, there are a wide variety of weapons, armor, and items that can be purchased either with war bucks or with gold.

As is the standard with these types of games, you’ll quickly discover that the best weapons are those that can only be exclusively purchased with gold (and will cost more than you’ll ever earn without IAP to boot). Sure, there are tons of weapons that can purchased with war bucks, but there will always be something better that’ll require some cash. Combine this with the occasional hard mission, and you’ll find yourself wanting to pick up some of those premium weapons just to scrape by. This is certainly not a new issue with the freemium model, but I feel compelled to mention it whenever it’s encountered.

The main problem I have with Frontline Commando is that, when all is said and done, there’s not enough variety to keep me coming back. The different locales you eventually unlock are nice, and the different weapons provide some small changes in strategy, but the core gameplay is still the same and hardly changes.

In addition, the freemium elements make it unnecessarily hard to pick up new weapons (which are your only hope for some variability). If the game progressed using a normal non-freemium pace, then I think Frontline Commando would work a bit better from a gameplay perspective. However, with the grind currently the way it is, the lack of variety really seems to stand out.

In the end, your likelihood of having a great time with Frontline Commando is directly proportional to your opinion of freemium elements in action games. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Frontline; it’s just that games based on free-to-play economies tend to become long and drawn out (if you don’t pay), which tends to introduce the issues I mentioned above.

Regardless, if you don’t mind the grind and are willing to put forth lots of time (or money) to progress, then Frontline Commando is a good game to check out. However, if you have an issue with freemium or you’re looking for a game with a bit more variety, then I’d recommend giving it a pass.

TouchArcade Rating:

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You guys, I had the Worst Christmas Ever this year. No, it’s not because I didn’t get an iPad 2 – I mean, it’s pretty much a job requirement for me to be set in that department – so my (ex-) friends and (former) loved ones are off the hook for that. No, what I can’t get over is the fact that Santa did not leave me a puppy this year. Seriously, I blew up Twitter for weeks with links to dog videos and pet adoption websites and no one picked up on the hints? Collective friends and family, you are dead to me.

Luckily, RagTag Studio’s Puppy Panic [$.99] is here to numb my pain. A cute, well-made endless runner, Puppy Panic helped take my mind off of the callousness of those most dear to me by presenting me with a stable of eight (nine, if you count the secret one) puppies for me to race and play with. Each puppy has special abilities unique to their breed that help it in various ways throughout the game’s two modes. When you start with the Beagle, for example, you can double-jump really high, and when you get the Eskimo, you can bark and clear all the obstacles from your path.

The games themselves are pretty much the same, with slight variations. In Squirrel Chase, your puppy chases a squirrel and must dodge bouncy red balls, jump over tree stumps and duck under low-flying birds in order to catch up with it. In Cloud Surfing, your puppy has to bounce along on clouds to catch up to an airplane while avoiding falling through the clouds or running into birds. (Dog LSD may or may not be involved.) Beating both game types with a puppy breed unlocks endless mode for that puppy, meaning you can continuously chase squirrels or airplanes (which I’m pretty sure my existing dog dreams about on a daily basis).

But I know why you’re really here. You don’t care about catching squirrels or airplanes. You’re here for the puppies, am I right? You want to know how to get your hands on a sweet little puppy of your very own. I feel you. So pay attention, because you’re about to get the lowdown on how to get your hands on a bunch of puppies, and I’m only saying this once.

OK, here it is. In case your parents never told you where puppies came from, Puppy Panic blows the lid right off that secret—they come from vending machines, duh! But, like, really big vending machines that only take puppy coins, which you earn through successfully passing trials with your first puppy. You get your first puppy handed to you by the game, presumably because the prior owner of the puppy coin was already losing his or her mind due to the alarmingly large number of puppies the game gives you, and the thought of getting one more out of the vending machine would have driven them to adorable, floppy-eared suicide.

Despite the overall adorableness of the game, there are improvements I would definitely like to see made. While the two game types are solid and well-designed, I would love to see more made available in future updates. The same two games, over and over, for all eight puppy types is repetitive, and while playing and beating both game types with each puppy unlocks endless running mode for that particular puppy breed, I couldn’t be bothered with it after a while because it all felt the same.

The special abilities each puppy has, too, are a bit unbalanced. For example, the Corgi’s ability to automatically avoid pretty much all birds (because it has short legs!) made the game too easy for me, whereas the Dalmatian’s ability to call a firetruck to its aid never got used.

Even with these small downsides, Puppy Panic is a fun take on the runner genre. For about a buck, you get pretty much endless entertainment, especially since you can pick your favorite puppy out of eight to customize the playing experience. If you’re a fan of runners in general, this is a really cute, family-friendly option. And you don’t even have to worry about your furniture getting chewed up.

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In the crowded genre of endless games, developers need to do more than ever to distinguish themselves. Some attempt to do it via heightened visuals and presentation while others do it by modifying core gameplay elements to try and differentiate themselves from the pack. Stay Alive [$0.99] falls more in the latter category, with the endless arcade shooter making some changes to what is otherwise a standard leaderboard oriented endless game. While these changes are interesting (and possibly controversial), Stay Alive doesn’t particularly separate itself from the pack as much as it may like.

Stay Alive has you piloting a starship through a perpetual asteroid field littered with enemy ships taking pot shots at you. In addition to avoiding all these hazards for as long as possible, your goal is also to pick up as many floating orbs as possible, which are currency for the upgrade store. Also littered throughout the playing field are power-ups that range from more ammo to a temporary laser weapon that lets you destroy everything in sight. OpenFeint leaderboard support (Game Center is not supported currently) keeps track of total kills across all games, as well as the longest distance traveled during one run. As is the case with most endless games, the primary goal is to beat your (and your friends) leaderboard scores.

From a presentation standpoint, Stay Alive is rather typical. The visuals are simplistic and lack the nostalgic personality that most games are looking to achieve with this art style. The same goes for its music, which has an 8-bit MIDI feel but isn’t as catchy as I’d like, especially considering that you’ll be hearing it time and time again with each run. There’s nothing particularly wrong with Stay Alive’s presentation; it’s just nothing out of the ordinary.

One area that Stay Alive succeeds in is with its controls. While decidedly simple (a quick swipe on the left side of the screen moves your ship up and down, while touching on the right side shoots your weapon in the direction you tapped), I thought the controls were very smooth and definitely responsive enough for the amount of close-knit navigating that this game requires. One minor complaint is with the location of your ship’s information (shields, ammo count, etc.), as it’s located right next to screen space for steering your ship and easily becomes partially concealed with your hands.

While endless shooters tend to reward players with cosmetic upgrades or items that provide limited gameplay advantages, Stay Alive’s reward system is a bit more significant and lasting. At the end of each run, players will have the opportunity to enter an in-game shop to spend those hard-earned orbs on ship upgrades. Upgrades range from increasing the inherent strength of your hull and shields to increasing the amount of starting ammunition and armor. These upgrades are permanent and allow your future runs to last just a bit longer.

While I’m a fan of the upgrade system and I think it improves replayability, it’s important to note that having a permanent upgrade system drastically changes the dynamic of Stay Alive in comparison to other endless shooters. Some of the appeal of other games in this genre is the fact that, when all is said and done, each player is competing on a somewhat level playing field, and the only main differentiators are skill and luck. While both of those variables still factor in Stay Alive, upgrades play a far more important role in the long run. In other words, you’ll going to have to play for quite a bit to get the upgrades needed to make a dent in the leaderboards.

There are a lot of gamers that may be inherently turned off by this change to the endless shooters formula, especially since it effectively turns leaderboard chasing into a grind. In that respect, Stay Alive does lose a lot of its appeal with fans of the core genre and may be passed over. On the other hand, folks that may not be the best at endless games might appreciate this change, as more playtime means more orbs and the greater chance of being able to easily go further in a run. Regardless, if being first on the leaderboard isn’t the end-all of your enjoyment, then Stay Alive does offer enough in terms of fast-paced gameplay and replayability to warrant checking out.

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