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Boiling down the themes of uber-profitable App Store games yields a single undeniable fact of the universe: animals are lazy. The birds can be as angry as they like, but they don’t seem to do a thing about the pigs on their own. It’s only when you launch them out of slingshots that they take action. The gormless Om Nom would starve to death if it weren’t for you rewarding his horribly sedentary lifestyle with candy by cutting the rope. Let’s face it. You’re all a bunch of enablers.

However, since your co-dependent tendencies aren’t likely to change any time soon, it’s as good a time as any to take a look at yet another creature lacking motivation in Swing the Bat [99¢]. Published by Chillingo and created by Deadbug, the game draws in numerous elements from many recently successful iOS games.

While most bats are unable to survive without the power of flight to help them acquire food, this bat has developed a bit of a unique evolutionary adaptation. Rather than actually learn how to use the anatomy it was born with, he has developed the ability to launch his legs out like a grapple-gun, attach to trees, and swing to get around. It’s a cybernetic augment that would make even Adam Jensen jealous.

The first cue that Deadbug takes from the winning lazy animal formula is one-touch controls. Tap and hold to launch your leg and attach it to a surface and swing, then release at the optimal point in the arc to launch yourself forward. A handy guide is present to show you where to release for maximum momentum, but once you’ve got the hang of it you can decide to remove the training wheels and gauge your swings on your own.

There are two main modes in Swing the Bat, Dusk ‘til Dawn and Night Fire. Dusk ‘til Dawn is essentially Tiny Wings [99¢] in reverse, where you race to see how far you can get before the sun rises. As you advance, different animals will appear in the bamboo and attempt to stall your progress. Points are rewarded for perfect swings and for gathering food such as fruit and moths. Gather enough food and your bat will be inspired to actually fly for a short time.

While the main objective of Night Fire is still to get as far as possible, this second mode forces you to get more strategic. A fire at the base of the trees will continue to grow, and popping balloons to release buckets of water on the blaze is the only way to ensure you’ll have the time needed to push forward. It’s less speed and more precision focused than the other.

The second major cue it takes from Tiny Wings (and more recently, Jetpack Joyride [99¢]), is the implementation of an extensive achievement/objective system where completion will unlock new bat costumes. While the objectives never really force you to play the game much differently, as they do in the aforementioned games, they do add some needed spice to a fairly vanilla core. The unlockable costumes along with character design and general art direction all have a fun cartoony feel to them; the game’s got a nice look about it.

My biggest complaint about Swing the Bat is that while it brings in many of the mechanics of a Tiny Wings, it’s missing the same sense of arcade-like fun. The swinging controls are precise and easy to master, but it lacks the sense of speed and fluidity that makes other successful entries in the genre so enjoyable.

Even when you’re hitting every swing perfectly, the plodding pace of the swings means there’s no point where you get enough momentum going to really feel like you’re flying through the levels. The other animals that are there to provide a needed difficulty curve unfortunately also rob you of really ever enjoying a good run of swings.

The flying mechanic also is a bit under-baked. Once you eat enough fruit to temporarily unlock this ability, you should be able to take advantage of it to avoid those pesky pandas (who are strangely less lazy than the bat). However, the game does a poor job of indicating when you’ve activated this mode, so by the time you realized why you aren’t swinging any more you’ve wasted half the time you had to fly.

Deadbug has clearly paid attention to what works in the genre and brought some solid design to bear for Swing the Bat. The game has a warm colorful look, and the objectives and controls give this $.99 title a decent store of longevity and enjoyment. It never quite breaches the level of pure fun and action of the titles it so clearly draws inspiration from, but it lives up to the Chillingo standards we’ve come to expect. It’s worth the buy for those hungering for more one-touch objectives to get lost in and another cute, helpless animal to spoil rotten.

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Ever have one of those games that you desperately want to hate but can’t? You know there are better games on your phone and that by all definitions you’re essentially wasting your time by playing it, yet you can’t seem to escape the grind. That’s Pygmies-Hoglet [$.99]. It’s the digital equivalent of a menthol cigarette: it’s in no way what you originally planned to smoke, but the flavor is weird enough to see you through while you get your fix.

I don’t want to come across too harshly, but in good conscience I need to spell out up front that this game may quickly turn off some folks. That disclaimer behind us, this game has an innocent, playful charm I can’t seem to shake and some simple tweaks to classic RPG mechanics that kept me from dwelling on its shortcomings. If you liked the movie Rudy even ironically, you may consider giving this scrappy underdog (underhog?) a try.

Looking at the iTunes description and the art style, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this game was some sort of iOS Tomagotchi app. The main character, an adorable low-fi hedgehog, must regularly be fed and made to sleep in order to survive. But, that’s as far as the comparison goes.

The story is as simple and thin as it is cute. The hedgehog is sad because he has no friends, and so he sets off in search of other spiky things to make friends with. Much like me in junior-high, he is constantly rejected, and so must push on from area to area to put his heart out there again and again. This hedgehog is not daunted, however, and tries to bond with everything from cacti to a super spiky boss enemy who proceeds to attack him.

So, if you haven’t guessed by now, this game is full of all the usual quirks you’d expect from a localized Korean game. If you enjoy the sorts of anachronistic and linguistic oddities that go hand in hand with such titles, as I do, then you’re in for a treat. While some random encounters in this game result in battles, many will find you face to face with some ridiculous characters.

Collected baubles can be traded to Jewelry King, a pimped out monarch with a goatee who apparently is comfortable with setting up his throne in the middle of the wilderness. Excess food can be donated to a homeless man, who will stubbornly reject anything but the finest foods. Oh, yeah: Santa Claus. Whether in the mountains or jungle or desert, jolly ol’ Saint Nick will periodically show up and ask if you have any items for the kids for Christmas.

The art style plays into the quirkiness perfectly, with a Game Boy-esque approach that fits like a glove on top of the old-school RPG simplicity. It was easy to get pulled back in time with Pygmies-Hoglet, and when I finally emerged from the blocky grey and black world, all the colors on my phone suddenly seemed vibrant and new in a way they weren’t before. The game takes the reception bars, battery meter, and time display from your phone and renders them at the top in the same style, which was a really nice touch.

The core gameplay has you moving around on a gridded map, with encounters marked along its surface. Travel to a dot, and an event will ensue. This might be a simple item pick-up resulting in food, baubles, or medals being added to your inventory. This might also be an encounter with one of the aforementioned NPCs, or an enemy may attack. Once you’ve encountered a spiky thing in the world and tried to make friends with it, you’ll be able to travel to the next area.

The RPG elements couldn’t be any simpler. XP earns you points to sink into HP, damage, and dexterity ratings. If I might offer a word of advice to new players, get your dexterity raised early on. This is because dexterity controls how quickly your attacks come and will make the difference between life and respawning in many cases.

The fighting is an active-time battle system, where you and your opponent have meters that fill up. Once the meters fill up, your attack is released. A blocking system is implemented that allows you to reduce the damage you receive and even reflect some of it. However, whenever you are blocking your own attack meter will stop progressing. This forces you to keep an eye on both meters and use your block judiciously, giving the stripped down combat a fun element that keeps you from entirely zoning out.

While the basic mechanics are satisfying, there are a few elements of Pygmies-Hoglet that make advancing the game an occasional exercise in tedium. If this game were a set of teeth, it would have to wear a mouthguard to bed at night; the grinding is excruciating at times. Raising damage and dexterity stats are reasonable, but every time you put enough ability points in to raise your health you are rewarded with a measly single HP increase. Travelling is an additional drain on the experience, as the time it takes to get from dot to dot on the map can be significant.

Damage is healed by allowing your hedgehog to sleep, and while it’s initially cute to watch the blocky Zzzz’s waft up from the sprite it quickly becomes frustrating. When you only have a handful of HP to restore you won’t notice, but when you are waiting a minute or more to restore your health later on it can really wear on your patience. Given that combat is the best way to accumulate precious XP, this mechanic really exacerbates the grind.

Despite the periodic time-suck doldrums, I found myself playing the game much longer than I ever expected. Pygmies-Hoglet is that dog that always gets into the food, but you just can’t bring yourself to stay mad at them because they are so full of personality. At $.99, it’s worth giving it a go if you have the patience to milk the cute and fun out of the experience. I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you don’t, however. I’m just weird like that.

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Steampunk-themed programs have done pretty well on the App Store. Games such as Gears [$1.99] have certainly demonstrated the viability of incorporating that sort of fantasy/mechanic aesthetic into a game. ArkanoArena [$1.99 / Lite / HD] is the latest game to incorporate the fantasy/steampunk motif, this time in a brickbreaker. While I think ArkanoArena definitely nails the steampunk visuals, issues with the controls may turn off some folks.

Before we get started, a quick history lesson on ArkanoArena. It was originally released as an iPad-only game back in early January. A “free” version of ArkanoArena then appeared on the App Store for the iPhone in July as a prelude to the full version of the game, which came out last week. This full version of ArkanoArena for iPhone includes more levels (or “Arenas”) as well as a third weapon that wasn’t in the main gameplay mode of the free version.

Simply put, ArkanoArena is a brickbreaking game in the vein of titles such as Arkanoid and Breakout. In fact, ArkanoArena also includes the majority of the classic power-ups, such as paddle expansion, multi-ball, and so on. Where it differs somewhat from its classic brethren is in its inclusion of an in-game store that you can visit between levels that allow you to spend points on various weapons, ammunition, and even extra lives. Weapons and ammunition also play a more prominent role in ArkanoArena, as have most recent games in the genre. Overall, you aren’t going to find any significant differences here from a core gameplay perspective.

Interestingly, ArkanoArena is one of the more challenging games that I’ve played lately. The inclusion of enemies that fire projectiles at you and can destroy your paddle in one blow, combined with the expensive cost for extra lives means that you’re going to be restarting quite a bit. Also, the fact that ArkanoArena’s main gameplay mode is a “tournament” in which you must start over from level one every time you want to start a new game (vice being able to select any level you’ve beaten) means that for some folks, you’re never going to see those later levels. The easiest mode does let you restart the last level you’ve played as many times as you wish, but if you started that level with only one life, then you will continually only have one life each time you restart, increasing some of the frustration. Overall, I didn’t have too much of an issue with the game difficulty-wise, but it can become frustrating when combined with its controls.

By far, the best thing about ArkanoArena is its overall presentation. Everything from its steampunk backdrop and retina-display graphics to the ambient music in the background while you’re playing are well done. It’s pretty obvious that Sketch Games took great pains to make sure that nearly every aspect of ArkanoArena would shine graphically. While the background doesn’t directly impact the gameplay, it is teeming with life and activity. Also, graphical touches like having giant blimps fly across the screen while you’re playing are nice as well. Be advised that ArkanoArena is steampunk through and through; if this sort of graphical flair turns you off, then you’re not going to enjoy it. For everyone else, it truly is a delight and the highlight of the game.

It’s because of ArkanoArena’s awesome presentation that its flaws are so frustrating. The most glaring issue I had was with its erratic controls. On the iPhone version of the game, the only way you can move your ship is by dragging your finger back and forth. Normally this is fine (in fact this is usually the normal way these sorts of games are controlled), but ArkanoArena only lets you drag your finger across the bottom portion of the screen, rather than the standard screen-wide touch area.

Considering there’s not a lot of clearance below your ship, there were many times when my drags weren't being registered quickly and I couldn't get the paddle to move fast enough. There were also times when my touches just weren't registered at all, even though I know they should have. Combine this with an general slight delay in controlling your ship, and the whole game experience just becomes frustrating. The iPad version allows you to tap on the left or right side of the screen in order to move your ship, but this control scheme is just as unreliable if not more so.

I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m making too big a deal about the controls, but when it comes to reflex oriented games like brickbreakers, having fast, responsive controls is almost a prerequisite in order to have an enjoyable gameplay experience. This goes double for a game like ArkanoArena, which takes the normally fast-paced brickbreaker genre and infuses it with power-ups that can drastically speed up or alter the path of the ball and enemies that shoot projectiles that must be avoided. Admittedly, I found that the game controls a lot better on the iPad, but for those that have to use the iPhone, it’s definitely a problem.

Another strange issue with ArkanoArena (at least on the iPhone) is that the game does not respect the ringer mute/unmute switch. There were a few times when I launched the game at work for a quick run and the game started blasting its music even though I had the whole phone on vibrate. In this day and age, this kind of bug should never happen.

ArkanoArena is one of those frustrating games that manages to get certain things absolutely right while falling short in other elements. While I absolutely love the steampunk theme and the overall presentation, I just felt that the controls were definitely lacking. I’d recommend at least checking out the Lite version to see if the controls are an issue for you. If they don't pose a problem for you, then consider picking it up as it’s certainly one of the prettier brickbreakers I’ve seen.

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I've long been a fan of Jeff Minter's unique take on game design, and his iOS releases are in my list of best games to be found in the App Store. His titles all drip definite old school appeal, and so I was extremely pleased to see his recent tweet indicating that he has worked iCade support into all of the iOS titles where it makes sense.

Jeff has posted a lengthy video demonstrating iCade gameplay in his imminent upcoming title GoatUp, as well as Minotuar Rescue [App Store] and Minotron: 2112 [App Store].

All titles mentioned should be getting an update soon that includes the demonstrated iCade support and GoatUp should arrive any day now. We'll be bringing an in-depth look at the latest title when it lands.

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On this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show, I do my best to stop nerd-gasming over Relic Entertainment’s Space Marine long enough to discuss the hottest iOS games and App Store news of the week alongside my co-hosts. At the top, we really dig into Grand Prix Story as well as Bungie Aerospace’s and HareBrained Schemes’ Crimson: Steam Pirates. Eventually, we get into other new releases such as King of Dragon Pass and, of course, that Max Payne HD story we ran the other afternoon.

We’ve got one heck of a running gag this week courtesy of Eli’s neighbors, so I hope you have as much fun with it as I do. If you’d like to give us a listen, you can do so just below via all these links. Of course, you can also subscribe to us via iTunes and the Zune Marketplace if you want to get each and every episode of TAS as soon as they’re uploaded.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-016.mp3, 37MB

A bit of spring cleaning here before I toss you the show notes for the week. The Bearded One will be on a short hiatus starting next week, so we’re bring in some fresh meat to fill his shoes for the two week period. We’ve got a savage line-up of guests coming down the pipe that I really, really think you’ll enjoy (although no-one can actually replace Jared’s dulcet tones.)

Here’s your show notes!

GAMES

JARED'S KITTY CORNER

• Cat Game [Free] [Universal]

FRONT PAGE

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If you missed out on our WWDC preview, allow me to calibrate your expectations about Tiny Heroes [$2.99], a new tower defense title from Simutronics Corp. You may have heard that the team behind this game was headed up by David Whatley, the developer of the outstanding geoDefense [$1.99 / Lite] and geoDefense Swarm [$1.99]. Already your brain may be whirring along, thinking about upgradeable towers and mazing. Stop that. You won't find those here. And you won't miss them, either.

In Tiny Heroes, you are the master of a dungeon rich with treasure. In classic Dungeons & Dragons style, where there is treasure, there are heroes. Are you going to sit back and let them take your treasure? Heck no! So you set up defenses in their way, and who can blame you if a few of those defenses are a touch lethal? You have liability insurance, right?

Once you push past the first few levels, which introduce you to the basics a bit too slowly, you'll find a game that has more in common with Plants vs. Zombies than geoDefense. The first clue is in the resource management: rather than profiting from killing heroes, you build mana stones that generate mana every few seconds. You use that mana to build your defenses, which are designed to block the oncoming heroes. Why politely leave a path for them to travel down when you can stop them in their tracks?

As you progress through the game, you unlock all manner of vicious defenses. Spike traps, catapults and barricades are just the beginning. You'll get so many that you won't be able to carry them all into battle. Instead, Tiny Heroes requires you to strategize and pick your poison before starting each stage. You'll need to learn how to combine your most brutal traps with static defenses and creatures to effectively guard your treasure, and you'll need to make sure you have the resources to pull your plan off.

But for each imaginative defense you set up, the heroes are ready to counter it. Knights march in with a single-minded appetite for destruction, thieves dismantle your traps from a safe distance and wizards take out your mana crystals, starving you for resources. Once you get a handle on defeating them, you'll find yourself facing epic versions of each. Your unbeatable combo may be able to take out basic knights with ease, but then an epic ranger will sweep in and keep things balanced.

It's the dungeon layouts and pathing that take Tiny Heroes from Plants vs. Zombies clone territory to something quite different, though. Each level has a unique layout, requiring an original strategy. The level layout can help or hurt the heroes, because they don't travel in the ways we've come to expect. In most tower defense games, enemies use basic pathing logic. They'll travel down the path that takes them to their goal most quickly, to hell with the consequences.

In Tiny Heroes, on the other hand, the heroes are a little more complicated. In their tiny brains they have a drive to explore, to find the best path based on what they can see. While this does occasionally lead to weirdness, like heroes wandering back and forth under fire, it also means that they put up a good fight — and that you can trick them.

For a game about the wholesale slaughter of friendly adventurers, Tiny Heroes is surprisingly adorable. Big goofy eyes can be found on the heroes and more of the defenses than you'd expect, and the animations are similarly charming. The only thing that's missing is music. I've spent hours on end with this game and haven't minded the lack, but if you're auditorially inclined you'll certainly miss it.

But otherwise, Tiny Heroes is a complete package. The two included campaigns are huge and challenging, and there's a third coming as a purchasable update. The Game Center/OpenFeint achievements are done beautifully: you're rewarded with new defenses for completing groups of them, adding quite a lot of replayability to the game. You can play through in Campaign Mode, and then replay individual levels for higher scores and achievements in Quick Play. There are also challenge levels to be had, and these put your skills to a serious test.

There is one in-app purchase available, but let me stress that it's totally optional. The Defense Expansion gives you four new defenses that aren't available in normal gameplay. They are very slightly overpowered, but this is by design: they're there to help people who find the game too frustrating. If you're stuck and you'd rather not pay, the developers have a series of walkthrough videos available on their website, and forums to discuss strategy.

iPad users are currently out of luck, but according to the developers an iPad version is planned. It's expected to have it's own set of levels that take advantage of the extra screen real estate, so it should be worth the wait.

I can't say enough about Tiny Heroes. It's a fantastic game, with few flaws to speak of. Challenging, but rarely frustrating, it had me returning to levels again and again to improve my score. By turning genre conventions on their heads, Tiny Heroes succeeds brilliantly. And you don't have to take my word for it alone — our discussion thread is packed with fans. Who wouldn't want to throw down against a bunch of greedy do-gooders, just this once?

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WayForward, the studio that’s just finished cleansing and manipulating Majesco’s Bloodrayne franchise into something that’s actually fun to play with Bloodrayne Betrayal for Xbox Live Arcade, is porting the second game in its original Shantae franchise to iOS. In a couple of weeks, the studio plans to launch Risky’s Revenge on the App Store for the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod Touch, a representative has confirmed with us.

Risky’s Revenge debuted on the Nintendo DSi e-store in 2010. Despite the relative obscurity of the platform, people have been downloading and embracing the action-platform game. Heck, its even gathered some lofty awards with the media at large, which isn’t something download-exclusive Nintendo DS games do.

To be clear, this is a port and it will have virtual controls as a substitute for the DS’ control functionality. And while that sounds like a bummer, it’s important to note that WayForward is actively tweaking the design of the original game to cater to iOS. In our Q&A below, the studio specifically says it's tinkering with the spacing of environmental objects and the behavior of AI, in addition to overhauling the UI and how moves are triggered.

We’ve played a bit of a developer build and love what we’re seeing — Risky’s Revenge is undoubtedly poised to be a technically and mechanically sound game that we’ll be happy to have with us on the move. As for what’s next on iOS for WayForward? We realize we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but it sounds like its interested in sticking with the App Store in some capacity down the line. The first priority for it, though, is to get this out of the door in the best possible way.

Q&A

Let's pretend that the entire iOS audience hasn't had a chance to see Shantae: Risky's Revenge on the DS' digital store. What is it and what makes it so awesome?

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge is a modern day sequel to the Game Boy Color classic Shantae, originally distributed by Capcom. In it, players guide a hair-whipping, belly dancing genie on her quest to defeat Risky Boots, a sexy pirate who’s determined to rule the world. Nintendo fans will notice the influence of Zelda, Castlevania, and Metroid right off the bat. There are puzzle-filled dungeons, gigantic bosses, magical upgrades, and a humorously flirty-girty storyline. Having developed 3rd party Nintendo titles for over 20 years, we’ve got a good handle on this kind of thing.

What makes it a good fit for the iPhone and iPod Touch?

Shantae is famous for three things; high ratings, hips that don’t lie (whatever that means), and being difficult to find. We’re bummed when we get letters from gamers who want to play it, but don’t have the means. So, moving to iOS should help fix that.

Technically, the game runs silky smooth at a rock solid 60 frames per second, which is essential for an action game. The character artwork gets a huge boost on retina display, and our love of dot pixel graphics is perfectly preserved since there’s plenty of resolution to go around. The iPad version is especially engrossing, since the visuals really stand out.

You're going to have to make do with virtual controls, right? What kind of enhancements, tweaks, or concession have you had to make as a result?

Virtual D-Pads are my personal arch nemesis, so I’m happy to report that ours does the job incredibly well. I should explain that this was not a quick and dirty port… it’s been almost a full year of nonstop work, and we’re preparing a release candidate now. The game has changed over time. Early on, our focus was to make it play exactly like the Nintendo DS game, but over time we saw the need to make it play “proportionately” the same. Meaning, if the player put out X amount of effort as in the DS version, they should get an equal sense of accomplishment in return.

Using that philosophy we made tweaks throughout the game. Platforms are slightly wider, chains dangle a little bit closer to the player’s grasp; enemy behaviors are just a bit different. Players familiar with the Nintendo DSi version will probably enjoy discovering the subtle changes. We also overhauled every menu interface and changed how many of the player’s moves are triggered. We also optimized each version for use with Fling and Fling mini joysticks, and came up with an inspired list of Achievements for Game Center. Overall, there are many more enhancements than concessions.

What do you hope new fans or consumers will get out this particular version of the game?

I hope players will get a kick out of our bizarre sense of humor and appreciate core gameplay fundamentals, maybe fall in love with the characters too. But mostly, we’re just happy to have a stage to entertain on.

I’ve read that WayForward often uses Shantae to demonstrate its abilities with new technology. We’re all under the impression that this is a cohesive and whole game, but is Risky’s Revenge iOS a sign that more is to come from the studio on this platform?

Yes, we’ve done that a lot in the past, and this is indeed a full product. I think with this title, we’re officially on every popular platform out there. As to whether or not there’s more to come? Probably. But rather than porting something akin to a $29.99 retail game, we’d more likely make something specific to iOS from the get go. Right now we’re extremely jazzed to bring Shantae: Risky’s Revenge to iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

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What I like about the Hector: Badge of Carnage games is how comparatively different from one another they are. The gap between We Negotiate With Terrorists and its follow-up Random Acts of Justice [$4.99 / $6.99] highlights not only the breadth and scope of the adventure genre, but also Straandlooper’s willingness to use episodic content as an avenue for experimentation and iteration.

There are some technical improvements to note — Straandlooper have added helpful on-screen cues to show players precisely where they’re tapping, and Random Acts of Justice is significantly longer than its predecessor — but Hector’s cirrhotic core remains largely unchanged: it's still a competent adventure, smartly written and well-designed.

Random Acts of Justice doesn’t stray particularly far from established tropes — puzzles are solved by navigating dialogue trees and manipulating items with a cast of quirky townsfolk – but Straandlooper is deft in their adjustments. There are some particularly clever setpieces. There’s a section in Hector is trapped in a building and Lambert must rescue him (after adopting a child) that’s particularly nice. Oh! And the bit with the date-rape drugs!

Straandlooper's most effective change was structural, though. The first game in the series was fairly strict in its pacing — titular Detective Inspector Hector is given three assignments, born fully-formed from creators Dean Burke and Kevin Beimers' collective thigh. The game ends when they are completed.

Ep2 loosens its grip, letting players suss out the game’s objectives for themselves. It's not enough for players to solve a puzzle — figuring out the puzzle itself is often the first step toward progress.

In other words, Hector felt like a (well-voiced and fully animated) flunky in Ep1, but he becomes a cop in Ep2: each step following logically from the next. The first game tasked Hector with simply completing assignments, but Ep2 is about gathering knowledge, using that knowledge to formulate a plan, and then executing that plan by blackmailing people in a brothel.

It is, to lift a term from television, procedural. From beginning to end, Random Acts of Justice drip feeds new places to explore and new people to interrogate, each piece fitting snugly into another like a giant matryoshka with villains at the center. Random Acts of Justice develops and unfolds, with a well-defined arcs for both story and gameplay.

The puzzles in “Random Acts of Justice” are, on the whole, better and more varied, but it’s really Hector’s up-grade from tchotchke-hoarder to investigator that pulls the game together. In Ep1, Straandlooper lampooned crime shows with pithy-one liners; here, they do it by taking the jumpy, outsized logic of Legally Blonde and creating a set of puzzles and narrative beats to exploit it.

The way Random Acts of Justice couples its investigative puzzle-solving with Hector’s job title is an effective, though perhaps genre-specific, tweak, but it stumbles sometimes in execution — there’s a long middle-section that, by and large, consists of navigating dialogue trees just so. These types of "puzzles tend" to be least fun of any adventure game because they get so repetitive and feel so strict. Ep2 also breaks the fourth wall with annoying regularity — it was a cute, knowing wink Ep2, but that humor technique, too, can become repetitive.

My only serious issue with the game, though: Lambert, Hector’s bumbling partner. The Hector series allows players to ask Lambert for hints and presents it as a viable, in-game option — it is, in other words, not cheating. Unfortunately, Lambert’s dialogue options are often based on information that the player hasn’t learned yet, effectively turning Hector’s hint system into a de facto spoiler machine. This type of cagey gating is annoying in any case, but doubly so in a game that depends on the slow osmosis of knowledge and lateral thinking.

Lambert also reveals — at the end of the game — that he had solved the case hours ago and kept the information to himself. This, I think, was originally conceived as a hilarious joke about both Hector and Lambert’s incompetence, but it just serves to undermine all of the work the player has so skillfully been doing for the last several hours.

Nevertheless, Random Acts of Justice is so well-designed and -written so often that I’m willing to forgive. The game stands well enough on its own, but in the context of the Hector: Badge of Carnage series as a whole, it’s a valuable lesson is just how much experimentation the adventure genre can stand while still feeling familiar and grounded. Straandlooper have an eye for characterization and parody, and they were smart to put their faith in the genre veterans at Telltale Games — it’s served them well so far and, I suspect, will continue to do so when Hector: Badge of Carnage wraps up in its third episode.

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Earlier this summer, Limbic Software did what I thought couldn’t be done: it created a zombie game with a unique mechanic in its inaugural Zombie Gunship [$.99] [Universal]. Since release, the developer has yet to take its foot off the pedal — it has dropped two updates since July, the latest of which is pretty newsworthy.

Version 1.2 introduces brand new audio commentary to the game, a noteworthy improvement since it mixes up the bland and once-super repetitive speech. It has also dropped in a new inverted controls setting, bug fixes, and a headline-worthy in-game “upgrade” that doubles the amount of friendly fire casualties you can have in a single round. Brad Nicholson doesn’t play when he’s in an AC-130, so people — undead or not — tend to die in droves. No doubt, this will extend his playtime by minutes, if not hours.

We reviewed Zombie Gunship when it hit and, yeah, we dug it quite a bit. If you still haven’t given it a try, check out that write-up and see what you think about it after the fact. It’s definitely worth your time.

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On the heels of a cool new content update to Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone and iPod Touch, creator PopCap Games has slashed the prices of the vast majority of its App Store catalogue. From now until whenever the studio decides to call it quits, you can grab its best games on the cheap, including the aforementioned Plants vs. Zombies as well as Peggle.

Here’s a Quick Hits list for your pleasure:

• Bookworm – $2.99 → $.99
• Chuzzle – $2.99 → $.99
• Escape Rosecliff Island -$1.99 → $.99
• Escape Rosecliff Island HD – $2.99 → $.99
• Peggle – $2.99 → $.99
• Plants vs. Zombies – $2.99 → $.99
• Plants vs. Zombies HD – $6.99 → $1.99

It’s hard to believe that everyone doesn’t own Plants vs. Zombies or Peggle already, so I thought I’d plug Chuzzle real fast. It’s another neat match-three game in a long line of match-three titles that don’t quite do enough to distance themselves from Bejeweled, but it’s hip in bursts and has a ton of character to spare. At this price, it’s worth a shot if you’re into puzzle games.

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