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Jelly Defense [$2.99], a tower defense game that absolutely crushes it on the art and production front, is apparently riding a wave of success. Creator Infinite Dreams shot us over a press release this morning noting how it's taken a couple of number one App Store chart spots across the globe, but it also tipped us off on a 'huge' update that hit the other day. The headliner is the game's new "easy" or baby mode, which gives lays off on the casual among us. Courtesy of a few mystery tweaks, Jelly Defense is now also better performing and more balanced.

I'll summon my inner Billy Mays here and mention that's not all — users can now turn off the sound and music in the game, speed-up the waves instead of just inviting more, and enjoy the wonders of 'improved coin collecting.' Cool!

As I mentioned to Eli earlier today, just looking at Jelly Defense makes me happy. It looks sharp, it nails cute, and it's also a pretty competent tower defense game. I reviewed it this month, by the way, if you're in the market for something like this.

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When it comes to what makes a good game, I usually boil it down to two basic rules: create a gameplay experience that is fun, and extend that experience long enough to make it satisfying. Monster Island [$0.99 / HD] (and Monster Island Begins [Free / HD]), the latest title from Miniclip, does a great job satisfying both tenets in droves. In addition, its colorful artistic flair, solid gameplay, and interesting in-game store ideas make the game one worth exploring.

At its core, Monster Island is a physics-based puzzler that has you tossing ‘minis’ (basically small alien balls) that have a variety of attributes, with the goal being to take out the enemy monster thugs. Minis range from Blui, a mini that explodes only after it stops moving, to Sticky, a mini that sticks to whatever you throw it at (and will subsequently let other minis stick to it) and so on. Each level gives you a predetermined amount (and type) of minis, and your goal is to simply use them and try to take out the baddies in as few throws as possible.

The better you do, the more stars and gold you earn (the gold allows you to buy various items from the store). If you’ve played any sort of physics level-based game (like the all-encompassing Angry Birds) you’ll have a good idea of what you’re getting into. While the setting and minis are certainly unique, the fundamental gameplay doesn’t offer anything particularly innovative.

One thing Monster Island nails is its graphical style. Basically, the entire game is detailed, extremely colorful, and just permeates with personality. Your monster (along with all the other ones you can purchase with coins) certainly has a cute disposition. Also, I just enjoyed the various backdrops, even if they didn’t have an effect on the actual gameplay. Miniclip certainly nails the whole cute alien motif, which I think adds to its overall presentation and approachability.

Another aspect that Monster Island succeeds at is its content. To put it simply, it will be a very long time before you run out of levels to play. Monster Island actually consists of four different islands, each with 70 different levels. Considering that each level has the standard 3 star ranking system, completionists have their work cut out for them. In addition, Miniclip has already stated that new islands are in the works, further expanding out the content. My only complaint is that you have to play through each island before unlocking the next (unless you want to spend your coins to unlock certain islands, or IAP to unlock everything off the bat).

Monster Island does have one option that I don’t find nearly enough in these level-based puzzle games: video solutions. For some gold coins (which can also be purchased as IAP), you can watch a video showing exactly how to earn three stars on a particular level. Of course, since solutions require gold, you can’t simply view each of the hundreds of levels consecutively (unless you spend a lot of money on IAP gold). Also, once you view a solution, that particular level is marked, meaning you’ll always know which of those three stars you sold out on. It’s simply a system that’s well done, and I think should be offered in more games.

With its imaginative art style, large amount of content and decent gameplay, Monster Island is definitely worth checking out for any puzzle aficionados looking for a new title. Also, its in-game store with access to level solutions should keep gamers coming back. Sure, one might look upon Monster Island as just another physics puzzler, but when the game is as fun and as long lasting as it is, who cares?

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I'd imagine the dudes over at Rocketcat Games are a little tuckered out at the moment. On the same night its glorious action RPG Mage Gauntlet [$1.99] hit worldwide, Rocketcat also dropped a bunch of tweaks and improvements into its "Hook" line-up of games. And you thought you were productive when you managed to clean the house and polish off that proposal.

Here's a run-down of the changes according to the patch notes: Hook Worlds [$.99] now supports flip-screen on retina devices, Super Quick Hook [$2.99] now supports retina display visuals and multi-tasking, and Hook Champ [$2.99] now boasts crisp retina support as well flip-screen, multi-tasking, and better OpenFeint functionality. All three games also have an updated in-game news catalog for your pleasure, too.

We're all pretty big on the Hook games and we're stoked to see that each is boasting a new, more refined look on our fresh devices. Ironically, we're little too engrossed with Mage Gauntlet to put a tremendous amount of time back into Hook, but hey, the game's look nicer. That's neat.

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The sixteen bit era of gaming was filled with a ridiculous amount of action RPGs. Which of these games of this age is the "best" is a debate that has been raging since before it was even possible to argue about it on the internet, and likely will keep burning on the internet's Matrix-like future successor… Only that argument likely will be a little more interesting as we'll all know Kung Fu, how to fly helicopters, and other things like that. I've always been a Link to the Past man myself, but regardless of what your favorite was, I think we can all agree on one thing: It'd be fantastic to go back and experience those games as they were the first time we played them. Before we knew what was in store for us after exiting the Castle Hyrule sewers, or what was on the other side of the teleporter at the Millennial Fair.

This is where Mage Gauntlet [$1.99] comes in. I think the best way to describe the game is as a dusty old Super Nintendo cartridge you just discovered and didn't even know you had after your parents threatened you into coming back home and cleaning your old video game crap out of the attic before they "clean" it themselves. (And by "clean" of course they mean "throw away.") It's a lot like The Last Rocket [$2.99] in that they take the 16-bit inspiration to such deep levels that it could pass as a SNES game, instead of just utilizing pixel art and chip tunes because it's in style.

Mage Gauntlet focuses on a single-player story mode that puts you in charge of Lexi on a quest to initially prove yourself to a local wizard named Whitebeard. Without spoiling too much of how it all plays out, you're quickly equipped with a magical gauntlet that allows you to command various magical spells. Throughout your adventure you come across a cast of other characters, journals, and notes which progress the story while accomplishing your typical rid-the-world-of-evil quest which manages to strike a great balance between funny, delightfully cliche, and totally classical without ever being overwhelming or trying too hard.

The game is controlled as you'd expect it to be, with a series of buttons as well as an invisible virtual joystick for movement. They work great, and I really like how you can touch basically anywhere on the left side of the screen to move Lexi around. Lexi has a basic melee attack which swings whatever weapon you're equipped with, as well as a dashing attack that's activated by holding the attack button down. You can also momentarily sprint by tapping another button, and while both of these maneuvers feel fairly optional early in the game, as you encounter enemies, you'll need to do much more than mash attack.

The truly unique twist of Mage Gauntlet is the magic system. In the game world you'll come across both magical urns of sorts as well as some enemies which will spew magical energy when destroyed or defeated. You can hold up to four spells at once, and using them is as simple as tapping a button in the top right corner of the screen which pauses the action and brings up a magic sub-menu. You select your spell, target it (if applicable), and the game resumes. The spells you get are random, but can be made less random using equipment (more on that later).

This whole system works fabulously. I love how magic feels rare, which forces you to value having a spell on deck much more than similar games which allow you to just blast away with whatever your favorite or most effective spell is to your heart's content or your mana bar is empty. In addition, since spells are randomized, it's really cool how you're forced to come up with clever solutions to a battle, utilizing a spell that might not be optimal for the situation by any means but still works by mixing up your strategy. One such instance, for example, was when I was getting mobbed by orcs, with a few spell casters. A chain lightning spell would've really helped, but charging through, silencing the casters, and hacking all the orcs down with my sword worked too.

Loot is plentiful in the game, and aside from looking cool also offers various benefits. For example, you can equip trinkets to increase the likelihood of a particular spell (or set of spells) appearing, and if you're really decked out you might even have a complimentary suit of armor that does something like up the critical strike rate of that spell. Swords have all different kinds of effects from doing more damage, to potentially restoring health or even providing a magical spell randomly. Pets provide constant passive bonuses, and of course, it wouldn't be a Rocketcat game without a healthy array of hats to collect.

Taking all this into account, gameplay is what you'd expect out of a typical action RPG with a very basic stat-based level up system, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. A overworld map display serves as a level select screen of sorts, and you make your way through each area until finally fighting the local boss. Each area has several sub-sections that must be progressed through as well. How long it takes you to get through Mage Gauntlet will largely depend on what kind of gamer you are. If you square off against every monster, search for every secret, and leave no area of the map unturned, you can spend a significant amount of time in the game. Alternatively, if you're the kind of person who just powers through things from beginning to end, dashing past monsters, and ignoring secondary pathways, Mage Gauntlet can be completed in only a few hours.

After beating the game, you'll unlock master mode which mixes up the levels, adds some new secret areas, fresh loot, double the enemies, and other variants. Beating the master mode earns you a second ending, and after that you can go back and replay individual levels for a higher rating to unlock in-game pets. An arena mode is planned as well for the game's first update, although details on that are fairly vague currently. Also, since Mage Gauntlet is all pixel art, it scales beautifully on the iPad in 2x mode– In addition, Rocketcat plans on making the game universal as well.

Rocketcat games has had a fantastic track record for releasing games on the App Store. Their previous three games, Hook Champ [99¢], Super QuickHook [$2.99], and Hook Worlds [99¢] all relied on a very similar hooking and swinging mechanic which made us wonder what else they were capable of. Well, it turns out that they can absolutely nail making an action RPG, and you wouldn't hear me complain at all if they similarly turned Mage Gauntlet into a vaguely derivative trilogy of games.

I feel like people who were around to enjoy the original 16-bit-era action RPGs likely will appreciate Mage Gauntlet the most, but there's plenty here to love even if that doesn't apply to you. Like other Rocketcat titles, Mage Gauntlet is launching at a special price, and early buyers also get a promotional pack of hats (and a pet). If you miss this release window, don't worry, you'll be able to buy those items through in-app purchase. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, there's other IAP items you can buy, but they genuinely feel so optional that there's basically no reason to buy them unless you just want to support Rocketcat further than just buying the game.

So seriously, go download Mage Gauntlet. The time you spent reading this review could've been much better spent playing this incredible game.

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Developer Two Tribes recently celebrated the ten year anniversary of their wonderful little puzzle platformer Toki Tori [$2.99/Lite/HD/Lite HD]. The game originally launched back in late 2001 for the Game Boy Color, and due to that system's life cycle coming to an end and its successor the Game Boy Advance garnering all sorts of buzz, it never really received much recognition, despite being an especially excellent puzzle platforming experience.

Then, in 2008, Toki Tori finally got a chance to receive the accolades it deserved when a remade version hit the downloadable WiiWare service on Nintendo's Wii platform, with slick 2.5D visuals and several new or reworked levels over the original. This enhanced remake of Toki Tori earned high review marks and award nominations from the gaming media at large, and it was this version that was ported to the App Store in mid-2009, with a brand new touch control scheme and several other bells and whistles. We weren't shy about how much we liked the iOS version of Toki Tori in our review, and even included it in our Best Games of 2009 roundup that year.

So, what exactly am I trying to say with this longwinded backstory? Well that's simple – Toki Tori is good. Like, really good. And now it's finally getting a sequel. Two Tribes has announced in our forums that a sequel is in the works, and they have provided this super teaser-y teaser trailer to whet your appetite:

While no real gameplay hints are given up in that oh-so-short teaser video, my gut instinct tells me that Toki Tori 2 will involve an egg-shaped chick (as in baby chicken) as well as plenty of egg-shaped, uh, eggs to collect. My sixth sense is also telling me that there will be lots of puzzle elements as well as light platforming. Boy, I'm really going out on a limb here, eh? Of course, I could be WAY off base, and Toki Tori 2 might end up being a modern-military first-person shooter. I guess we won't know until next year, or at the very least whenever Two Tribes decides to drop some more substantial information in the collective lap of TouchArcade.

Another interesting note is that Two Tribes is actively recruiting players (just like your fine selves reading this right now) to take part in the development process of Toki Tori 2. You can visit their website for more details about this, and keep your eyes on this space for more news on Toki Tori 2 as development continues.

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Bumpy Road [$2.99] developer Simogo is peeling a corner of the curtain off its next big thing. In a new teaser trailer released this morning, viewers are shown the briefest of glimpses at an array of whimsical characters, clocks, and other items clad in crimson and plastered against a black background. In the text of the video, Simogo teases that this unnamed project will have rhythm, puzzle, and stealth elements.

On our interview podcast, Simogo's Simon Flesser mentioned this game, but he was careful with the few details he shared. Regardless, we came away from the whole of the conversation believing that the studio was primed for another App Store success. Simogo gets what makes an iPad and iPhone unique in the video games space, it understands simplicity, and it obviously has a ton of talent to spare. We're pretty stoked for this — whatever it turns out to be.

My guess? We're looking at game where you'll use music to guide an avatar sneakily through some sort of construct. Like, Metal Gear Solid Meets Rock Band. Or maybe this is actually Simogo's take on Waterworld 2 and I totally convinced Simon to make the game happen.

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The arcade shoot'em-up Crossfire was released for Xbox in July 2010, followed by Crossfire 2 a few months later. Now Radian Games and their publisher, Chillingo, have released Super Crossfire [99¢ / HD] for our iOS devices. This game plays like a colorful version of the classic 1978 game Space Invaders, with one key difference: When a wall of bullets and lazers rains down on you, leaving you boxed in the corner and about to be destroyed …your spaceship can flee to safety by warping between the top and bottom of the screen.

But warping to the top of the screen doesn't necessarily ensure your safety, as the aliens can shoot upwards too. Some enemies have shields and can only be hit from one side, which necessitates warping up and down to get a clear shot. By collecting the gems dropped by destroyed aliens, you can charge up segments of your super-fire meter, then briefly shoot anything, even if it's shielded.

The warp drive is an interesting twist, as it forces you to pay attention to both parts of the screen. The developers blog mentions that they once considered having enemies move like another classic arcade game, Galaga, but they decided against this as it interfered with the warping. Still, it would be nice to see some different movements or perhaps a boss appear. That said, the game  throws 19 enemies and more and more bullets at you, until it almost feels like a bullet-hell scenario, which works really well.

Periodically, a UFO flies across the screen, which is another familiar concept from Space Invaders. The flying saucer drops a power-up when destroyed. For example, it might drop a bubble shield or slow-down the enemies movements. To collect a pick-up you simply warp across it. Unfortunately the pick-ups aren't super exciting and it doesn't announce what they are when collected.  Although the bubble-shield is very handy amongst all those bullets.

The game has a fast and exciting pace, with wave after wave of vector-graphics style enemies. There's a camera tilt effect which displays the entire game on an angle which changes each time you warp. You can select high or low angle tilt, although I personally found the angled perspective off-putting and turned this option completely off, so it's great that these options were included.

After every five waves of alien attack, your ship is repaired and you're given the opportunity to upgrade it using the points you've acquired. The upgrade system works really nicely. There are ten upgrade categories, including:  Armor, speed, shot frequency / power, firing rate, shot spread / speed, super power, super segments and gem magnetism. You can also downgrade these categories mid-game and re-allocate the points to different abilities. An auto-upgrade option is available, but it's fun to customize it manually.

Super Crossfire offers hundreds of control options (or to be more precise: 9). This includes 3 button, 3 tilting  and 3 slider lay-outs, with additional options for multi-touch. Unfortunately, none of these control options felt nice on the iPad, as the left and right buttons are too far apart. If you're going to put that much effort into controls, it's probably better to let the user customize the button positions themselves. Fortunately, it's far more comfortable, enjoyable and cheaper to play on the smaller iPhone or iPod touch screen, where the buttons are closer together.

The main menu has an "Unlockables" section, listing nine items to unlock with earned victory points. For example, the "doubler" makes enemies and gems worth twice as much, "Musician" enables the music-player option on the main menu, with sliders for tweaking filter and pitch, while "perfection gives you extra victory points for each perfect wave.  The most expensive unlockable is "Super Blast" which gives you a wider superfire.  You can also use your victory points to unlock chapters early. And you can buy victory points as in-app purchases.

There are five chapters to play through, with 150 unique enemy waves and three difficulty levels to unlock. The leaderboards are managed using Chillingo's Crystal as well as Game Center, along with 16 achievements. There's high score tables for 1-life and composite scores, plus a leaderboard for each of the five chapters. When you die, you can continue an infinite amount of times, without needing to restart from the very beginning, thankfully.

Personally, I didn't enjoy playing Super Crossfire on the iPad as the main left / right controls are too far apart. However, after switching to the smaller iPod screen, it was an enjoyable classic-feeling arcade experience. After 33 years, shooting space invaders is still fun! The developer advises the first update will include the "Dark Chapters", delivering some even faster-paced action and offering higher upgrade points, with an alternate background color scheme. The first update will also include additional leaderboards and achievements.

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In this week’s bonus edition of The TouchArcade Show, Eli and I speak with Simogo’s Simon Flesser. You already know Simogo — it’s the studio behind one of the more artfully designed touch-exclusive games, Bumpy Road [$2.99]. At the top, we drill Flesser about how Simogo operates, what informs its work, and how it got rolling. We also, somehow, end up talking about Dallas, the A-Team, and critical user reviews of Bumpy Road.

As usual, this was a super fun recording. You’ll notice quite a bit more banter than normal for our interview-y type shows, but I think you’ll like the overall product. Speaking of that, actually, you can download this latest podcast via the links below. Additionally, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune Marketplace in order to get all of our content the second they’re uploaded onto the Internet!

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-021.mp3, 25MB

We’ll be back at you with another episode this Friday. Thanks for all the kind words and the flurry of e-mails. We’re loving this and glad you are, too.

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Fruit Ninja [$.99 / HD / Lite] developer Halfbrick is expanding, apparently. Gamasutra recently spotted a job listing from the Australian outfit indicating that it’s looking for full-time design, art, and programmer types to start “its exciting new Sydney office” and develop social, mobile, and digital games. Halfbrick proper, which is also home to Phil Larsen’s School For The Marketing Gifted, is located in Brisbane.

Since it’s founding in 2001, Halfbrick has churned out a lot of hits with us. Fruit Ninja is certainly one of those, but we’re also pretty big fans of Monster Dash [$.99], Jetpack Joyride [$.99], and Age of Zombies [$2.99 / Lite]. Soon, it’ll roll out a special version of Fruit Ninja with a Puss in Boots tie-in that we’re pretty sure will rock despite its licensed-ness.

It’s a pretty tumultuous time in the industry in general right now, so it’s refreshing to finally hear about studio growing instead of shuttering. We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on Halfbrick and its studios’ new projects. Undoubtedly, its going to be busy in the near future.

[Via Gamasutra]

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Com2uS is making some pretty solid games these days. I had nothing less than a blast with their FarmVille clone Tiny Farm, and we took a real shine to Inotia 3: Children of Carnia as well. In other words, I trust them to deliver a solid gaming experience, so I really looked forward to sitting down with the cute looking, colorful puzzler Piggy Adventure [99¢/HD].

I don't personally mind whether puzzlers provide me with a backstory or not as I'm old school and liked games the best when all that stood between me and actual playtime was a title screen, but Piggy Adventure does give you a little detail to fill in the gaps before you begin. You are a pig (surprise) named Steezy who shares a cool job with your friends Haden the chick and Moochew the cow — painting pictures every day to fill the world with beauty. Sure beats getting milked and turning into ham, I suppose. But when an unnamed evil force sweeps all the color out of your universe, you have to go on a puzzle solving quest to collect paint to get things back in proper shape.

To do so, you'll play your way through 40 levels (or islands), solving a small puzzle to get through each one. You can choose to use a small, non-obtrusive control pad at the bottom to move your characters and make them jump, or you can choose gravity sensitive mode, which means you'll tilt the phone to move your guys and tap them to jump. I thought it was really cool that these options were both featured and could be swapped in and out of at any time, even within a level. I personally found the gravity sensitive mode a bit awkward in comparison to the regular controls, but I'm sure some players will prefer it.

Piggy Adventure is simple, but there's something really pleasing about the way solving a level works. For each puzzle, you'll see the pig, cow and chick on screen, and you'll see a button on the bottom right that allows you to switch between them at anytime. You'll need to use them all to solve each island, and you'll get better scores depending on if you collect all the paint drops in each level and how your animals cross the finish line.

Another cool feature available is the ability to record levels in real time as you play the game. Since there are multiple ways to solve each level, you have a way of keeping track of them. This is especially handy as you get into the later islands where puzzles become much more challenging. Of course, you also have leaderboards at your disposal via Gamecenter and 44 achievements to knock out, so suffice to say this one could keep you busy for a while. Another nice touch is in the form of a question mark at the top of your screen during play, which you can tap to see your next move outlined on the screen. In other words, you can figure it out if you want, but if you simply can't get it, you can peek to figure it out, erasing that roadblock that can make many a player quit playing a game out of frustration.

Everything about Piggy Adventure just reeks of quality. It's well-illustrated, has a cute sense of humor, is a ton of fun to play, and provides a really smooth and enjoyable experience. Puzzle fans ought to get a lot out of this one. I could pick a bone with the fact that this "colorless" world they are in actually has vividly colored levels and is quite beautiful, but you know, why take the wind out of their sails?

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