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Back when Sega was releasing games like Sonic the Hedgehog [$5.99], Sonic the Hedgehog 2 [$5.99], and Streets of Rage [$2.99] wrapped in their Genesis emulator we were increasingly critical of the poor performance and mediocre controls. These types of games were built to be played at a high frame rate, with gameplay that basically requires the precision found in the original physical Genesis controller and just flat out didn't work that well on the iPhone. With every one of these games that Sega released, people posted in comments and on our forums asking where in the world Sega's massive back catalog of RPG's and other games that would work phenomenally within the constraints of the emulator.

Sega finally responded by releasing Shining Force [$2.99], an effort that was hard to say enough good things about in our review. Tonight they've released Phantasy Star II [$2.99], and much like Shining Force, the slow pace of the game completely negates any performance issues of control inaccuracies and instead just provides an awesome classic RPG in your pocket.

Phantasy Star II is the sequel to Phantasy Star, a Sega Master System game which didn't see another release in North America until it appeared on the Gameboy Advance and then the Wii Virtual Console. Playing the first is by no means required to enjoy the second, as the plot of Phantasy Star II follow the now entirely cliche story of ridding the world of ultimate evil while the backgrounds of the various characters that make up your party develop. Phantasy Star II has made it on to several greatest games of all time list, and it really should be played by any fan of turn based RPG's.

Really the only thing I could ask of this port is some further refinement to the emulator. Phantasy Star II badly needs a way to speed the game up as your movement is more than a little slow by today's standards, a "problem" other PC emulators have solved by allowing you to crank the speed of the game up. I somehow doubt Sega would ever implement these kind of tweaks, but enough complaining did get them to release two fantastic RPG's so far, so who knows.

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Developers seem to love scheduling their release dates for Thursday, causing their games to slowly leak out over the world over the course of the day on Wednesday and we're in for another onslaught of releases tonight. These games should all appear for download in the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST unless you download your games from the various European or Asian App Stores, in which case they will be available much earlier (possibly even as you're reading this).

R-Type, $1.99 – We've covered R-Type a number of times in the past, including getting a sneak peek at it at the recent EA pre-holiday event. R-Type is a sidescrolling shooter that hardly need an introduction filled with huge bosses, tons of power-ups, and everything else that makes a shooter awesome. For more information, and impressions as the game trickles out over the world, check out the thread in our forums.

Dodonpachi Resurrection, $4.99 – Another bullet hell shooter from Cave which unfortunately only runs on 3rd generation devices and later due to the sheer amount of things happening at once on screen. We've been following this game closely, and bullet hell fanatics are already debating Dodonpachi Resurrection versus Cave's previous game, ESPGaluda II [$8.99 / Free] in the forum thread.

Phantasy Star II – Sega's classic Genesis RPG should be available on the US App Store tonight, although it doesn't yet appear to be available internationally. Sega often releases two versions, one American and one international, and while it seems unlikely it's possible that the international version simply hasn't been approved yet. Regardless, we're keeping our eyes peeled for it.

Knight's Rush, $2.99 – From the developers of Knights Onrush [99¢ / Free] and A Quest of Knights Onrush [Free] comes a full featured arcade style hack and slash which sounds like it has a ton of content. 50 enemy types, 8 bosses and 40 levels across 8 different worlds have people pretty excited in our forums.

Cave Run, $1.99 – Randomized survival platformers seem to be the name of the game lately between Monster Dash [99¢], A Skeleton Story [$1.99], and others. Cave Run is universal and has generated quite a bit of buzz in our forums, packed with an Indiana Jones-like theme and tons of obstacles to avoid.

We're going to spend the day working up reviews for as many of these games as possible, and if you've been looking forward to any of them in particular be sure to stop by the threads linked with each game as international forum members almost always post first impressions throughout the day.

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When Sega first started releasing its emulated games like Sonic the Hedgehog [$5.99], Golden Axe [$2.99] and others, everyone wondered where Sega's array of classic RPG's were. Sega responded by releasing Shining Force [$2.99], leaving commenters and forum posters happy, but asking for the Phantasy Star series next… Which is exactly what Sega is delivering this Thursday.

Much like Shining Force, Phantasy Star II is a turn-based RPG that works marvelously with Sega's emulator. Text entry is a little dicey, but otherwise navigating the game world and engaging in battles works wonderfully. The emulator also does a great job of saving the game state when you quit the app, making Phantasy Star II surprisingly workable as a pick up and play game.

I still need to spend more time with Phantasy Star II, as like most RPG's the game is quite epic, but so far things are looking very good with this classic Genesis game on the iPhone. Just like Shining Force, all the down sides of Sega's emulator fade away when you're playing a game that doesn't require precise control or high frame rates. Stay tuned for a more comprehensive review when the game arrives on the App Store this Thursday.

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The interactive fiction section of the App Store has grown quite a bit since our original post on both the Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Adventures series of RPG eBook apps. If this is the first you've heard of them, these game books are an evolution of sorts on choose your own adventure books that you may or may not have read as a kid. Instead of simply choosing between two forks in a book and turning to that page, they have you roll dice to determine the outcome of the story. For instance, the main character might lose his footing, at which point you're faced with a dice challenge to see whether or not you fall in to some treacherous pit or manage to grab on to something and pull yourself out. The random nature of these game books make them a lot of fun, and give them quite a bit of replay (reread?) value as the story forks a different way with each reading.

These game books all play similarly, but I've found myself leaning towards Big Blue Bubble's adaptation of the Fighting Fantasy series, as they're universal and look great on the iPad as well as existing previously as published game books. Definitely look in to Fighting Fantasy if you're planning on playing the books on an iPad, as pixel doubling works on the others, but isn't a very good experience.

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, $2.99 Deep in the caverns beneath Firetop Mountain lies an untold wealth of treasure, guarded by a powerful Warlock – or so the rumor goes. Several adventurers like yourself have set off for Firetop Mountain in search of the Warlocks hoard. None has ever returned. Do you dare follow them?

Fighting Fantasy: Citadel of Chaos, $2.99 The Citadel holds a dark and dangerous peril for anyone foolhardy enough to venture through its gruesome gates. And yet venture you must for your mission lies at the heart of the Citadel, with the dread sorcerer, Balthus Dire!

Fighting Fantasy: Deathtrap Dungeon, $2.99 Countless adventurers before you have taken up thee challenge of the Trial of Champions, but not one has survived. Devised by the devilish mind of Baron Sukumvit, the labyrinth is riddled with fiendish traps and hideous creatures of darkness to trick and test you almost beyond the limits of endurance!

Fighting Fantasy: Creature of Havok, $2.99 You begin this adventure not knowing where you are or who you are. All you know is that you are some kind of creature of instinct, understanding little. During the course of the adventure, it may be possible for you to begin to control your bestial nature, to find out more about yourself, and even to learn your destiny. But even if you know all this, success is by no means certain, for the traps and terrors of Trolltooth Pass are many … Are you ready — to become the Creature of Havoc?

Next are Gamebook Adventures by Tin Man Games, a completely original series written by S.P. Osborne and illustrated by Pirkka Harvala. I like the presentation of the Gamebook Adventures series a lot, and I really hope they're eventually updated to be universal.

Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes, $4.99 Set within Orlandes City, nobles are being systematically murdered by a ruthless assassin no-one seems able to catch. Finding yourself thrust in the middle of a large conspiracy, you must make decisions that may put yourself and one other most precious to you in great danger. Can you locate the Assassin in Orlandes before it is too late?

Gamebook Adventures 2: The Siege of the Necromancer, $4.99 Set in the coastal town of Myr, you have returned home after a long Summer in the mines of Durath Tor to find your hometown besieged by strange creatures. A dark presence has taken over the town and you are the only one who can rid the stronghold of Erid Buul, the mysterious new Lord and his ghastly cohorts.

And last but not least, Bright AI brought the first installment Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series to the App Store. Jackson is one of the original authors of the Fighting Fantasy books, and wrote the Sorcery! series along side them targeted at an older audience as they're much longer and more complex, even offering a choice of class to play while reading the book. Unfortunately, this isn't universal either.

Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! The Shamutanti Hills, $2.99 The Shamutanti Hills is Book One in Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! series. Your epic quest will take you across the mysterious hills to the cityport of Kharé, but only if you outwit the creatures, traps and wizardry you encounter along the way.

Since all of these game books basically play the same, you can pretty much just choose whichever one(s) sound interesting to you based on their description as reading previous installments in the series to enjoy later ones isn't required either. As mentioned, if you intend on reading them on an iPad, I'd gravitate towards the Fighting Fantasy books, but any of them will be highly enjoyable to any fan of fantasy fiction.

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Epic Force's Stone Wars [Free] hit the App Store late last year, and actually has been free for a while now but thanks to our very own Free App Man it was brought to our attention and I'm actually enjoying the game quite a bit. Initially it seemed like Stone Wars was just your typical Worms clone with turn-based gameplay featuring various weapons and considerably less cartoony charm… That is, until you realize just how much multiplayer functionality the game has. You can play Stone Wars locally with a single device, locally via either WiFi or Bluetooth, or online in real time and of course there are single player modes where you can play against an AI opponent.

Online multiplayer actually works really well, you can either just wait to be match with a random opponent or create either a public or passworded game room for people to join. There isn't much of a delay between moves, and gameplay worked just fine on the single bar of EDGE that I'm rocking right now on my iPhone. Stone Wars has been free since late June, and according to the iTunes description is a "limited time promotion" for their latest game, Super Laser: The Alien Fighter [$2.99 / Free] so I guess grab it quick if you want it as who knows when it's going back to paid.

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Galcon Labs [Free] takes the gameplay from the original Galcon [$2.99 / Free] with several new game modes. Galcon is a fast-paced strategy game where players take over planets by tapping them to dispatch forces from a nearby planet. Think real-time Risk in space played either locally or online against other players. When it was originally released, Galcon Labs was criticized for not providing enough new content to justify a complete sequel as the core gameplay was basically the same with some slight variation from the different game modes, but now that it's free Galcon Labs is something you should download as soon as possible.

Galcon Labs is free for today only, and if you enjoy it make sure you check out the original Galcon or Galcon Fusion [$4.99] if you own an iPad.

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Tower defense games on the App Store come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors it seems as the genre becomes more and more saturated with each new release. Much like match threes, it's getting harder and harder for these games to stick out amongst the crowd when there are already such fantastic tower defense staples such as Fieldrunners [$2.99 / HD], geoDefense [$1.99 / Free] (along with geoDefense Swarm [$1.99]), or my personal favorites, Sentinel: Mars Defense [99¢] and Sentinel 2: Earth Defense [$1.99]. But just because all these awesome games exist, doesn't mean I don't try every tower defense game that looks interesting (and every match three for that matter) but so often in these games there's not much in them that given the choice would make me tap their icon instead of just playing some Fieldrunners or any of the other games I just mentioned.

Guns'n’Glory [$2.99] is a somewhat rare exception to that, and I really can't believe it hasn't generated more buzz in the time since its release over a week ago because it's one of the most unique tower defense games I've played in quite a while. Handy Games did a great job of combining some elements of realtime strategy with the standard tower defense formula as well as a ridiculous premise, great sprite-based graphics, and a western themed soundtrack that fits the game perfectly. On top of that, it's even universal and while I prefer it on the iPad, it's just as much fun on the iPhone.

So by now it all sounds good and you're probably wondering what's the deal with the title of this review. Well, I'm not entirely sure how the setting of the game will sit with some people as in Guns'n’Glory you're not protecting Earth from invading aliens, or killing the anonymous troops of some enemy army. Instead, you control a gang of bandits made up of various stereotypes, train-mounted gatling guns, and cannons. These bandits slaughter waves after waves of men, women, horses, and a few different types of covered wagons all trying to make their way west. It's actually kind of amusing how when playing the game I went from "Wait a minute, these are… obviously women… that I'm gunning down" to "Argh, get back here you!" as a settler makes it to the end of the path and off the screen.

Five units are included in the game: "Desperados" which are your standard run of the mill pistol totin' bandits, "Mexicans" who toss sticks of dynamite, "Indians" who shoot flaming arrows, cannons which are strong against wagons, and the gatling gun. These units are all on screen at the start of every level, taking a nap in the hot desert sun. To enlist their help, they have to be paid off with the gold coins you earn from slaying settlers, at which point you can tap one, and wake them up to start shooting. The cool part about how all these units work is that you can move them around at any time during the battle, and this mechanic really starts to become important later in the game where there are multiple paths and not enough manpower to cover all of them.

Tapping an awake bandit selects them, then you can tap anywhere and have them walk there if there is a clear path to get to the destination. This actually works out to be really cool, because you can totally change your defensive strategy on the fly and it's awesome to just be able to upgrade a small handful of units then just micromanage them well to complete levels with minimal defenses. There isn't a fast forward button in Guns'n’Glory to speed up the gameplay, which normally would be a negative in any tower defense game, but I never felt the need to speed time up at all in this one as you're almost always busy repositioning your units for maximum effectiveness.

Further in to the game you will get access to trains to mount your gating guns on which can move quickly but obviously are limited to train tracks. Also, chests will spawn in the game world and depending on the icon over the chest sending a unit over to collect it will make their attacks stronger, faster, or just award you some gold. In later levels, juggling all of the mayhem between moving your units, going for chests, deciding what to upgrade, and which units to wake up is a ton of fun.

The main down side to all of this is when you begin to realize how few levels there are in the game. There are ten levels included, and really not much reason to replay them once you beat them. This wouldn't be so bad, if half the levels weren't building up as a tutorial, as you don't even gain the ability to upgrade your units until the fifth level– Half way through the game. Regardless, Guns'n’Glory is a very fun ride while it lasts.

iPad left, iPhone right

Curiously enough, Guns'n’Glory is listed in iTunes proudly and prominently as "AD FREE", and according to the developers on our forums there is a free version in the works, though still waiting for approval by Apple. Whether you keep the free version on your App Store watch list or you grab the paid version, Guns'n’Glory is a game that any fan of tower defense games will enjoy.

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Early last month, Villain's Archetype [$2.99] hit the App Store, and we thought it was great in our review. Archetype is an incredibly impressive game, providing 5 on 5 team-based deathmach that works well regardless of if you're connecting via WiFi or 3G/EDGE. The new iPad version plays the same, with graphics and controls that have been optimized for the large screen of the device.

Archetype HD [$4.99] comes with all the same maps and game modes from the iPhone game, including the new rocket arena mode and Avarice map that dropped not long ago in an update. You can even play with people who are playing the game on their iPod touch or iPhone. It's a bit of a bummer that Archetype wasn't just updated to be universal, but if you've been enjoying the iPhone game, the iPad version is worth picking up as well as it controls a lot better with the iPad-specific controls instead of the pixel doubled iPhone controls.

For more information on Archetype, check out our review and/or the thread on our forums. There's also a thread specific to the iPad version as well as a thread filled with people trading usernames if you're looking for someone to play with.

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Yesterday we showed off some screenshots of Top Gun 2 [$2.99], the Freeverse developed sequel to last year's Top Gun [$1.99/HD] iPhone game based on the the hit 80's movie. The screens looked really nice, and being rather fond of the first game I was really looking forward to Top Gun 2. After spending the last couple of hours with the game however, I'm fairly disappointed. While the visuals in the game are a pretty big improvement, most of what I liked about the first game is gone. It isn't necessarily a bad game, just more of a step sideways than a step forward compared to the first game.

The first thing that struck me as odd about Top Gun 2 is that there's no title screen. The game boots up with the Top Gun logo and familiar music, and then sends you right to an overhead map. From this map you can choose to go to an aircraft carrier to upgrade any of the 3 available planes, or choose a jet icon to enter the first mission. There's nothing that explains any of this, nor is there any help screens in the options menu or anywhere else that tells you how to play the game. Granted, the map options are easy enough to figure out on your own, but if you aren't already familiar with the gameplay from the first Top Gun then you might have a hard time finding your way here as there's no tutorial.

Another thing missing is any kind of progressive story, aside from a small blurb generically explaining what you are doing before each mission. It doesn't feel like a cohesive experience, rather just a collection of missions to play with nothing to really tie them together. I imagine this was intended to streamline the game, but it ends up making it feel disjointed and hollow instead. In essence, Top Gun 2 feels like a no frills arcade game where the focus is on scoring and chaining together combos in a series of dogfights and boss battles.

The gameplay in Top Gun 2 is pretty good, but it leaves out some of the aspects that I enjoyed from the original. Controlling your craft works the same by tilting the device, and you have the same vulcan cannon and lock-on missiles, but there are a couple of cool additions as well. Each of the 3 jets (the F-14, F-16, and F-18) have their own unique weapon and special move, like a barrage of missiles, a speed boost, or a shield. All of the different functions of each plane can be upgraded using money earned during missions. Gone are the “danger zones” of the first game, which seems more realistic but makes it hard to tell where you are getting shot from. I actually enjoyed that part of the original game and thought it was fun to be aiming and shooting at enemies while dodging incoming fire from these danger zones.

Top Gun 2 isn't terrible by any means, but it just may not appeal to people who enjoyed the first game. The planes you can fly are awesome, and I enjoyed the upgrading aspects. The missions are also chock full of action, and there is some satisfying arcade-style dogfighting to be had. But the game lacks soul and personality, and with no real storyline or any kind of tutorial to guide you through the game, it diminishes the overall experience. If you're just looking for some frantic jet fighting action, you may enjoy Top Gun 2, just don't expect much beyond that.

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The wild popularity of Fruit Ninja [99¢ / HD] is a hard act to follow, but I think Halfbrick's next game is more than up to snuff. In Monster Dash {99¢], you play as Barry Steakfries, a man who loves two things in life: Running and killing monsters. Of course I don't know him personally, but I've been able to discern as much from spending the past week playing Monster Dash in almost every second of spare time I can find.

Monster Dash is a randomly generated survival platformer where you run to the right as long as you can, much like Canabalt [$2.99]. This is where the Canabalt similarities end, as between Barry Steakfries and wherever he's running to is an array of monsters which all must be either avoided or slain. Barry's default weapon is a shotgun, which has limited range, but along the way you will find weapon crates packed with sub machine guns, a powerful six shooter, and even a machine gun jetpack.

Barry's life is represented in heart on the top right corner of the screen, and you can regain health by picking up heart power-ups on your run. Colliding with an enemy or hitting spikes causes you to lose health, and when you run out of hearts or miss a jump and fall to your death your run is over. From there, your score is submitted to OpenFeint online leaderboards, and you start again. On your run you will randomly warp through four different settings, from an egyptian world filled with mummies to the rooftop ruins following a zombie apocalypse.

Monster Dash is host to oodles of OpenFeint achievements and also a ridiculous amount of stat tracking, keeping count of things like your total distance travelled, how many monsters you've stomped, most consecutive stomps, and a bunch of other things. Also, not only is there a leaderboard for single run distance, but you can also compete for total distance ran, total monsters killed in one run, as well as total monsters killed overall.

The graphics in Monster Dash consist of fantastically drawn sprites, and the fast paced music fits perfectly with the pace of the game. Overall, Monster Dash is just a ton of fun, the controls are simple and just consist of tapping either side of the iPhone screen to jump or fire, and I'm really having a hard time finding anything to complain about. Best of all, Halfbrick has had an amazing track record with updating Fruit Ninja with all kinds of additional game modes and content and all day people have been contributing their own ideas as to what would make Monster Dash even more awesome in the thread on our forums.

Halfbrick obviously hasn't committed to implementing any of these things, but it's not hard to imagine how well various power-ups and additional weaponry could fit in to the game. Regardless of whether or not these things ever happen, I'm happy as a clam with Monster Dash. If you like Canabalt-style gameplay and hate monsters, you basically need to download Monster Dash as soon as possible.

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This isn't a game by any means, so if you're looking for the next cool iPhone game to download, keep on scrollin'. If you like games, RPG's specifically, and have always wondered what would happen if you combined the functionality of a to do list app with an experience bar, Epic Win [$2.99] is right up your alley. Created by Rex Crowle, responsible for the visual design of Little Big Planet, and Tak Fung, the developer behind MiniSquadron [$2.99 / Free], Epic Win is a list keeping app by gamers for gamers.

On your first launch of the app, you choose one of five avatars. Three are unlocked initially, with the other two available via in-app purchase. Which avatar you choose has no bearing on how the rest of the app works, and you can change them at any time in the options. Tapping the pencil icon opens up a new task, at which point you set its "epicness" and date along with what type of feat said task is. These feats range from feats of strength, stamina, intellect, social, and spirit.

As you complete items off your to do list, you're awarded experience for the level of epicness you set and your avatar gains a point on your profile page for the type of feat the task was. When each task is completed, your dude travels down a curvy road, and eventually is awarded various pieces of ridiculous loot… And that's really all there is to Epic Win. Sure, there are more full featured gettin' things done apps on the App Store, but how many of them have loot or experience bars?

Yeah, you can technically "cheat" in Epic Win really easily by just constantly making and completing tasks, but the "game" portion of Epic Win really has no competition, and only serves as a neat little bonus for checking things off of a list. If you've found yourself looking for some more motivation to get things done on your to do list, and filling an experience bar is your carrot on a stick that will actually lead you to do things, Epic Win is what you need.

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