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iOS developer Phil Hassey is running an 75%-off sale on Galcon Fusion [App Store], the iPad take on his popular fast-paced space strategy game, Galcon [App Store], winner of the IGF Mobile 2009 Innovation in Mobile Game Design award. Normally $7.99, the game is available for just $1.99 for the next seven days. The sale coincides with a gameplay contest the developer is currently running to see who is first to achieve the Grand Admiral rank in the game's multiplayer mode. (The winner takes home a Galcon t-shirt and a piece of original artwork hand-drawn by Hassey himself.)

Galcon begins with a galactic playfield filled with planets of varying size.  The green planets belong to the player, neutral planets are grey, and planets of any other color belong to the enemy.  The goal is to take over all the planets.

The size of the planet indicates the production rate of the planet.  A number appears on each planet indicating how many ships exist on that planet–for neutral and enemy planets, this is the number of ships that must be defeated in order to take control of a particular planet.  The player clicks on one or more green planets and then drags to a target planet in order to set ships in motion to invade said planet.

Galcon Fusion takes full advantage of the iPad's large display to deliver really a deeper play experience than is possible on the iPhone. And, like the original Galcon, Galcon Fusion provides a truly excellent, real-time strategy game experience. Since it's initial release, Galcon Fusion received a 1.1 update that enabled multiplayer action, doubled the framerate, and improved the overall graphics and lighting effects.

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Before E3 even started we met up with Nathan Vella of Capybara Games, creators of Critter Crunch [$1.99 / Free]. They've teamed up with Superbrothers and Jim Guthrie to create what we thought was the most amazing game at GDC this year. Three months later, and while the game looks very similar, they've significantly refined everything from the menus, to the camera system, and everything in between. Also, since the release of the iPad, they've also committed to releasing both an iPad and iPhone version of the game. Today we were shown the iPad version, and Superbrothers' pixel art looked absolutely fantastic on the larger screen.

I grabbed my camera and had Nathan explain "side A" of the game, which covers all the new controls, inventory system, additional in-game goodies, and the consequences of your actions in the world of Sword & Sworcery.

Since the developers are shooting for Sword & Sworcery to be an experience similar to an EP, the game is split in to two different sides. "Side B" isn't finished yet, but here is as much of it as they're willing to show at this point:

Sword & Sworcery looks gorgeous on the iPad screen, and as you can see from the videos is extremely simple to play. The team behind the game don't plan on releasing it until it provides the exact experience they're shooting for. The game itself will be content complete at the end of this month, and according to Vella, will then require a few months of polishing which should hopefully mean a release sometime in August.

In the meantime, here is a whole new set of iPad-resolution screenshots to whet your Sword & Sworcery appetite:

We've been told that there's a new trailer in the works that should be released in the next couple of weeks. We're following this game very closely, so stay tuned for even more Sword & Sworcery action.

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Hungry Shark is a tilt-based high score and exploration game that places you in the role of – unsurprisingly – a hungry shark. You'll start as a young shark and must keep eating to grow in size and keep your constantly depleting health sustained. There's an enormous variety of food to munch on, from tiny fish and unfortunate swimmers up near the surface to more exotic deep sea creatures and scuba divers farther down below. In essence, it feels like a mash up of Feeding Frenzy and Ecco The Dolphin, but with a lot more gore. We reviewed the game when it was released a couple of months ago, and found the compelling high score objective coupled with the satisfaction of chomping down on lesser creatures hard to put down.

This past weekend saw the release of a major expansion to the game. Simply titled Hungry Shark – Part 2, this update brings a huge new level that's selectable along with the first one, and is in fact even larger than the original. With different areas to explore, new sea creature fodder to indulge your appetite, more hazards to be wary of, and 10 additional unique items to find, the update effectively doubles the size of the original game. There's even an absolutely humongous crab boss to battle that practically fills the entire iPhone screen. Scoreloop is now integrated to flesh out the high score system, and tilt calibration has been fine tuned. A gameplay video showcases the new level and boss crab:

Hungry Shark was a terrificly fun game to begin with, and this latest update adds even more of a good thing. As if that wasn't enough, developer Future Games Of London has stated in our forums that work is already underway on a Part 3. A release date hasn't been mentioned, and it's unknown whether Part 3 will be a free update as Part 2 was, but we're looking forward to it nonetheless. If you have an insatiable appetite for seafood and careless humans, look no further than the newly expanded Hungry Shark – Part 2.

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As we've had our time spent in meetings and activities this week at WWDC, several notable games have been released that have been getting some positive feedback in our forums. Here's a roundup of a few of them and links to their discussion threads.

2XL TROPHYLITE Rally

The latest racing game from 2XL games, this time they've applied their skill to a rally racing game. See our discussion rhread for impressions.

SuperBlox

A game we first saw some time ago as a preview but finally came out last week. Superblox has been generating positive impressions on our forums.

Pac Match Party

A Pac-Man Match 3? Crazy, I know. Even crazier? People seem to be liking it. A Flash version remains available for web play.

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The 2D side-scrolling brawler is a fairly popular genre on the App Store, with games like OMG Pirates!, The Simpsons Arcade, and most recently Pride and Prejudice and Zombies bringing arcade-style action to our touch screens. Adding another solid entry to the list is a collaborative effort from developers UltiZen and MoStar called Princess Fury. We previewed the game just a few days ago, and were impressed with the visual style and the idea of adding strategic elements to what is typically a simplistic button-mashing genre. With Princess Fury now available, we're happy to say that it has largely succeeded in bringing a new take to a tried and true formula, but doesn't delve deeply enough into the strategic areas and has a frustratingly imbalanced pace. It remains a graphically appealing experience that's chock full of action, and will reward players who are prepared to endure its faults.

You play as a young purple-haired Princess, wielding a sword larger than your entire body, laying waste to enemies across 20 different stages. Each stage is broken down into multiple sub-stages, and instead of being structured with a beginning and an end like most games of this type the levels in Princess Fury are more along the lines of elongated arenas. The goal of each sub-stage can vary, and this is what really sets it apart from your average brawler. Some challenges are as simple as defeating every enemy, or killing a boss. But others mix things up nicely. You might have to escort a character from one side of the level to the other, while fighting off enemy attacks and keeping that character alive. A similar version of this task gives you a stationary crystal which you must defend and keep alive for a predetermined amount of time.

My favorite of these challenges works similarly to a territories game type. Five crystals are spread evenly across the map. Your group starts on one side, and a group of enemies on the other. Emptying each crystal's life meter “owns” it for your team. The enemies can also control crystals, and it's a fight to see who can own all 5 at the same time. It can become a pretty heated battle as crystals are constantly changing ownership. This game type in particular really is a lot of fun, but all the different game variations work well and add welcome variety to the beat 'em up style genre.

The other big wrinkle in the traditional gameplay is the addition of a leveling system and computer controlled allies that fight alongside the Princess. You gain experience while playing, even if you die and fail a mission. Unfortunately, there's no type of meter letting you know when you'll level up next, it just sort of happens. As you level up, more troops become available to you, up to a total of 8. There's various types of soldiers, like archers or swordsman, that you can configure in your party and are able to earn experience and level up as well. You can decide whether your group sticks with the Princess and protects her, or acts more aggressively and searches out enemies on their own. This is about the extent of the real-time strategy the game boasts about, and while not adding a tremendous impact on the gameplay it's a fun little addition.

The Princess is naturally much stronger than any of her supporting crew, and she is capable of some unique magical attacks in addition to her humongous and powerful sword. New attacks are unlocked as you level up, and you can have up to 3 active at a time while playing. They range from raining down lightning to throwing tornadoes to advanced techniques using your sword. Each one takes time to recharge in between uses. There can be a ton of enemies onscreen at once, which can be good and bad. It's good because there's always a lot of action happening, but can slow the framerate down some on older devices. Also, your character can get lost amongst that huge crowd, and sometimes you don't get a good view of what's going on. These are pretty minor issues though, and in general the combat gameplay is really fun.

Where the road starts to get bumpy is in terms of balance. The game gives you a helpful tip that there's the option of replaying any level for additional XP, but essentially this is required. Even the boss of the very first stage is too hard to defeat without replaying some of the levels you just played in order to level up your characters more. In some instances this can simply be due to you not utilizing the proper strategy for a level. For example, during an escort mission you may want to forge ahead and dispatch of any threats that lay waiting. And sometimes you'll want to stick with the person being escorted, and defeat enemies as they come to you. But the majority of the time if you can't beat a level it's due to an unfair difficulty. The enemies level scales along with yours, making the inconsistent difficulty all the more annoying.

Still, for most people the good will outweigh the bad, and Princess Fury packs quite a punch for just a couple of dollars. There's a ton of levels, attacks to learn, and soldiers to add to your party making for a unique twist on the typical brawler gameplay. There's also something to be said for dishing out a world of hurt as an adorable Princess. If you're looking for a game with a lot of action that's likely going to last you quite a while, give Princess Fury a look.

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Deadly Dungeon is a new 3D dungeon-crawling hack 'n' slash game for the iPhone and iPod touch. It seems to be somewhat Diablo-esque in the way the dungeon is presented, the real-time enemy combat, and loot collecting. It doesn't appear that there's much in the way of weapons or gear to equip on your warrior, but there are two playable main characters with a female warrior able to be purchased with in-game gold. The graphics and animation shown in the video are really impressive, with huge enemies and nice lighting and magical attacks.

Details from the developer:

• 8 levels
• 3 enemy types: Skeletons, Ogres and Goblins
• Collect gold to unlock extra playable Female Warrior and extra swords
• 4 magic spells per playable character
• Great 3d art/animations, music and sound effects
• OpenFeint achievements and leaderboards integration

While we're certainly impressed with the visuals portrayed in the video, we do have some reservations about the game. First, it doesn't appear that there's much variety in the dark dungeon setting. Playing through 8 levels of the same environment may get monotonous. On that same note, only having 3 different enemies seems a bit lacking, although those huge ogres are pretty cool. It may just be a bit too basic for gamers who are normally into this type of game, although that remains to be seen until we've actually played it. Still, it has a great look to it and a lot of potential. The magic attacks seem interesting and the ability to play as a female character is a nice addition.

Deadly Dungeon was submitted on Sunday for review from Apple. Barring any unforeseen complications, we should be seeing the game arrive in the next week or so. The price is said to be at 99¢ or $1.99, with the possiblility of being free at first release for early adopters. Due to the graphical intensity, it's recommended for newer hardware (2^nd generation iPod touch and above). We'll be taking a closer look at the final version when it's available.

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FDG Entertainment, the developers of the Bobby Carrot series, Parachute Panic [$1.99 / Free], and more recently, Across Age [$5.99 / Free] tipped us off to their next game in the works, Physics Gamebox. Scheduled for release in June for $2.99, Physics Gamebox will come loaded with iPhone ports of two flash games from NewGrounds veteran Johnny-K.

The first game, Roly-Poly Cannon, is highly reminiscent of so many physics games on the App Store currently. Playing the game amounts to shooting a cannon to bust up bases and blow up enemies much like Angry Birds [99¢ / Free]. Roly-Poly Cannon as well as the various sequels and additional level packs are all playable for free on NewGrounds, all you have to do is sit through some ads.

Ragdoll Cannon is the other half of Physics Gamebox. Using a similar cannon shooting mechanic as Roly-Poly Cannon, players fire ragdolls at targets just like the iPhone game Ragdoll Blaster [$1.99 / Free]. Also, just like Roly-Poly Cannon, if you can deal with some advertising you can play Physics Gamebox for free on NewGrounds as well.

The interesting thing about these games is that while your knee-jerk reaction might be to roll your eyes at yet another App Store copycat of existing games, both parts of Physics Gamebox have been out for quite a long time, with the flash version of Ragdoll Cannon predating Ragdoll Blaster by nearly a year.

As mentioned before, Physics Gamebox should be available in June for $2.99, with an iPad version slated for July. Between both games, 300 levels will be included.

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Gamelab, creators of Roswell Fighter [$.99 / Free / $1.99 HD] and Probably Nuts [$.99], have released their newest game yesterday. Published by Chillingo, Pirate's Treasure [$1.99], is a 3D dual-stick shooting adventure game.

Pirate's Treasure is a game similar to Minigore [$.99] with two on-screen joysticks to control the game. The right controls where you shoot and the left handles your movement. Unlike Minigore, however, Pirate's Treasure has a campaign mode that sends you on a quest to recover your gold. The game has over 50 stages, each with different missions to unlock the next.

In campaign mode, you must defeat each stage by completing a certain goal to receive a key to unlock the next level. For example, staying alive for 40 seconds or killing 20 monsters will unlock the next stage. These missions get progressively harder as you get farther in the game. As you collect more keys, you are able to access different areas of the island and play in different themed environments.

You also get gold coins from beating stages that you can use at the shop to upgrade your character. By purchasing upgrades you are able to do better as the levels get harder, advancing you through the game. You can upgrade attributes such as your fire rate, movement speed, chance of getting a flame thrower, and increasing your special ability.

There is also an endless survival stage to see how long you can last and compete on the online leader boards. Be sure to upgrade your character before entering this stage though, as the enemies are much tougher. It's better to play through the campaign some before trying to compete in this stage. Chillingo's Crystal social gaming network is used in Pirate's Treasure to track your high scores in survival mode and award achievements for tasks completed throughout the game.

The campaign mode certainly sets this game apart from most other dual-stick shooters, which tend to be just endless survival games. Upgrading your character along the way and having different missions for each stage makes Pirate's Treasure a fun and intriguing game that is said to have over 6 hours of gameplay. If you were a fan of Minigore or Guerilla Bob, you should definitely check out Pirate's Treasure. The game is being extensively discussed in our forums with some people having crashing issues.

App Store Link: Pirate's Treasure, $1.99

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It's Memorial Day weekend for those in the states, and in honor of this holiday weekend, both Glu Games and Igloo Games are running sales on a notable list of App Store titles.

Glu games on sale:

• Deer Hunter 3D, $2.99 → $0.99
• Family Guy Uncensored, $1.99 → $0.99
• Super KO Boxing 2, $2.99 → $0.99
• Build-a-lot, $2.99 → $0.99
• Bonsai Blast, $2.99 → $0.99
• Glyder, $4.99 → $0.99
• Glyder 2, $2.99 → $0.99
• Transformers G1: Awakening, $1.99 → $0.99
• Taxi Fight!, $1.99 → $0.99
• Stranded: Mysteries of Time, $2.99 → $0.99
• Mini Golf Wacky Worlds, $2.99 → $0.99
• Cooking Star, $1.99 → $0.99
• Beat It!, $2.99 → $0.99
• Alley Gator, $1.99 → $0.99

Igloo games on sale:

• Dizzy Bee, $2.99 → $0.99
• Dizzy Bee 2, $2.99 → $0.99
• Bed Bugs, $1.99 → $0.99
• Flippin', $2.99 → $0.99
• Igloo Games Arcade, $4.99 → $2.99

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Last week we took a look at the faithful and highly enjoyable iPhone port of the 1984 arcade fighter Karate Champ [App Store]. We've been having fun with the game since it hit the App Store and are happy to report that the developer, Revolutionary Concepts, will soon be bringing a native iPad version of Karate Champ to the App Store.

Karate Champ HD will take specific advantage of the iPad's larger display and, most interestingly, will feature a split-screen, head-to-head two player mode for tabletop gameplay, as illustrated in the above mock-up provided by the developer.

We'll be sure to pass on additional details on the upcoming iPad title as we get them.

App Store Link (iPhone version): Karate Champ, $1.99

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