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At this point we've posted about Freeverse's Warpgate so many times that linking to the various previews over the last year just seems excessive. From its very beginnings at WWDC '09, Warpgate piqued my interest, and as information slowly leaked out of Freeverse regarding the game's development, it seemed like it was set to exceed even my wildest expectations– Provided they could live up to nearly a year of pre-release hype.

Warpgate HD [App Store] was among the initial batch of games available along side the launch of the iPad, and was the first game I loaded up following unboxing mine after waiting what seemed like an eternity to sync. Since then, Warpgate has sucked me in in the worst way. Describing games as "addicting" or "addictive" has become the absolute worst cliche of the App Store, both in descriptions and game reviews, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a better way to describe my attraction to this game.

To give some perspective, things I love in video games in no particular order includes anything to do with space, massive game worlds, warring factions you can take part in, an impressive sense of scale, and as much randomization as possible to provide endless replay value. Warpgate has all of these things and more.

Obviously set in space, Warpgate is host to a gigantic galaxy map that you slowly explore through a seamless set of campaign missions. Once you complete the initial tutorial, and start in on the "real" game, procedurally generated missions begin appearing that have you flying places, delivering things, getting in to battles with other ships, and other objectives. Because of this, the game never technically ends.

Warpgate is remarkably open, so much so that if you're the kind of gamer that requires a rigid goal structure with a concrete "end" to a game, it might just drive you crazy. The end goal of Warpgate is whatever you want it to be. If that means grinding up reputation with the space pirates and piloting the biggest, baddest battleship in the entire galaxy, killing everything in your path, you can. Or, on the opposite side of things, you can be completely lawful and play your cards so you're in good standing with all the factions of space.

Or, if you don't care about that, and you just want to have billions and billions of space bucks, Warpgate is conducive to that play style too. There's an entire dynamic economy in game and if all you want to do is ferry around commodities between planets selling low and buying high, you can. In-game news feeds will help you keep an eye on the pulse of the universe, and you can often make an insane profit by quickly delivering huge loads of much needed cargo to planets that show up in the news.

If you don't like power gaming these kinds of games, and just want to have fun in space, that works too. Warpgate seems to be balanced in a way that both rewards power gaming the economy and in-game faction system as well as being conducive to casual gamers just bouncing between campaign missions without getting too involved in the other parts of the game. Mostly, playing the in-game markets is optional, and you might only have to participate in buying and selling commodities if you're low on money and need to buy an expensive quest item or want to further upgrade your ship's weaponry.

Alternatively, if you really don't want to grind up money to buy things, there's an in-game store where you can buy a huge battle cruiser and tons of space bucks for a few real dollars. Other than that, you can just follow the campaign missions and have a great time.

It seems like App Store gamers are always clamoring for depth in games, something that has become exceedingly rare as pricing across the board has hit rock bottom. Warpgate has depth on top of depth. To give you an idea of how much content is in the game, the galaxy map is host to 36 star systems. Those star systems are home to 120 different plants and space stations. While you're marauding around the galaxy, you can pilot one of 172 different star ships, and equip your ship with the 60 included weapons. It's really just insane how much is packed in to this game.

As far as an iPad game is concerned, Warpgate HD is great. Since the launch of the device, we've played almost everything worth playing, and it seems like the control method that I've been preferring the most is one where you can comfortably rest the iPad in your lap, holding it with one hand, and playing with the other. This is exactly how Warpgate works.

You control your ship either by touching anywhere in the game world to fly there, swiping in the direction you want to fly, or touching one of the icons on the side of the screen indicating the direction of a planet, warpgate, or other point of interest. Context sensitive buttons appear to allow you to warp through a warpgate, land on a planet, scan another ship, answer an incoming communication, or fight another ship.

The camera is controlled using all the same familiar multitouch gestures such as two fingers to rotate and pinching to zoom in or out. Speaking of zooming the camera, this is one of my absolute favorite things about the game. With a pinch of your fingers you can go from seeing the minute details of your ship, then instantly and fluidly pan the camera all the way out to show all the nearby planets. This level of zoom control and sense of scale is so cool that the first hour or two that I played the game I couldn't help myself but just constantly zoom in and out.

If you're looking for a fast paced action game, Warpgate is not it. While narrowly escaping from pirates as you just barely warp before getting hit with a missile that would destroy your ship can be exciting, by and large the game is fairly slow. You will spend a lot of time watching your ship flying from place to place, and when you're actually fighting, combat isn't anywhere near as interactive as I had hoped it would be.

When you tap the button to enter a battle, the screen zooms, twists, and blurs just like a Final Fantasy. The game then quickly loads in to a battle sequence where your ship will be flying in a swarm with the other ship (or ships) you're fighting. You don't have any control over your ship's movement at this point, and all you really do is choose when to fire what weapons by mashing buttons that appear on either side of the screen and select the target you're firing on. It gets the job done, but feels surprisingly remedial compared to the rest of the game. If there's one area that Warpgate needs improvement, it's in fleshing out this battle system to add some strategy beyond mashing your weapon buttons as they come online.

Originally designed as an iPhone game, the non-HD version of Warpgate will be available on the 13th, Warpgate will intelligently scale across the entire iPhone and iPod touch family, enabling the different graphical effects depending on what device you're playing on. If you're playing the game on a 3GS or 3rd generation iPod touch, you'll see all kinds of fancy shader effects. If not, the game should still look good without them and run at a great frame rate to boot. Aside from the smaller screen size and a reworked user interface, the iPhone version of the game will be identical to the iPad.

iPhone Warpgate compared to Warpgate HD.

While I'm having a great time with Warpgate, one thing really makes me nervous about a game of this scope. There's no way to manage your game saves, back up your game, or anything like that. I have invested hours upon hours in to Warpgate, and I'd hate to think that I could lose it all from some update SNAFU, iTunes sync weirdness, and the countless other things I've run in to in the past that have resulted in random save game data loss. Especially with an iPhone version on the horizon, there's nothing more I'd love to see than some kind of online Plus+ powered save game synchronization between devices, or anything else to add some kind of security that my massive space empire is here to stay.

Overall, in my eyes, Warpgate has completely delivered on the months of pre-launch hype. Playing the game on my iPad feels like the future, and something that you would see some space kid playing on a similar tablet device in an 80's sci-fi movie. The mood of the game is great, the graphics are phenomenal, the in-game soundtrack has an epic feel to it, and even the icon is cool. Sure, the battle system could use some work, but that is just a small part of an otherwise remarkable game.

Warpgate HD is currently my favorite iPad game, and if you've ever enjoyed a space conquest game in the past, this is a game you need to download. If you don't have an iPad, the iPhone version will be coming April 13th, so keep an eye out for that.

App Store LInk: Warpgate HD, $7.99 (iPad only, iPhone version coming 4/13.)

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Alright, so here's the deal- The amount of iPad games out there on day one is beyond overwhelming. In the interest of getting something up on the site, here's some brief first impressions of the games we're going through as quickly as possible. Right now we kind of feel like kids in a candy store with hundreds of different kinds of candy while thousands of people stand outside with their face plastered against the window yelling "How does it taste?!"

We'll likely do in-depth coverage of most of the games that stand out, but for the time being, if you just got home with an iPad and are totally lost with where to start you can follow along with us going through these games. These aren't in any kind of order, rather, these are just the games that jumped out at us first.

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Real Racing HD, $9.99 – One of the biggest surprises for me with the iPad is how immersive racing games are, especially when in cockpit mode. The iPad feels a little on the heavy side until you get used to using it as a steering wheel, but a 1024×768 screen so close to your face really makes for a cool gameplay experience. For more details on Real Racing, check out our review. The game itself is very similar to the iPhone version, but with much better graphics and a hefty heap of immersion.

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Need For Speed Shift for iPad, $14.99 – Much like how we mentioned in our in-depth preview of the iPhone version, it's really a toss up as to which game is better between Need For Speed and Real Racing. Much like Real Racing, the game looks great on the iPad and I absolutely love the in-car view with the feel that comes with using the iPad as a steering wheel. Currently, Need For Speed costs an extra $5 over Real Racing, but if you prefer the arcade style of racing in the Need For Speed series, don't let the higher price tag scare you away.

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Touchgrind HD, $7.99 – If you're at all in to finger boarding, or liked the iPhone version of the game, you need Touchgrind HD for your iPad. The extra screen real estate of the iPad really improves gameplay, as you can see so much more and can actually plan out lines to skate instead of just bumping along looking for ramps and rails. The two player mode is super cool, and the amount of customization in the game between different skateboards rocks. Something to keep in mind is that this game controls like you're using an actual finger board just like the original, so there can be a somewhat sizable learning curve as you learn how to handle your board.

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Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99 & Labyrinth 2 HD Lite, Free – Following the previously mentioned racing games, Labyrinth 2 HD was yet another "Oh wow, this is really cool" experience on the iPad. We absolutely loved Labyrinth 2 when it was first released for the iPhone, so it's not much of a surprise that the game is even better on the big screen of the iPad. Seriously, download the lite version if nothing else. The pseudo-3D tilting effect looks even better on the iPad.

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Harbor Master HD, Free – Line drawing games work fantastic on the iPhone, and they're even better on the iPad. The control method feels completely natural, and the game gets even more hectic because of how much more you can have on screen at once. If you've got an iPad, you definitely need to grab Harbor Master HD while it's free. (Heck, grab it even if you don't have an iPad just in case they raise the price.) The main down side to the game is it only includes one map, but if you get bored of Harbor Master HD and are craving more line drawing chaos management there's…

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Flight Control HD, $4.99 – The original Flight Control for the iPhone was a runaway classic, and I expect the iPad version to see the same success. Along with the HD upgrade comes even more maps, two player mode, and other fun stuff. Honestly, Harbor Master HD and Flight Control HD are both worth owning, and each game serves as a fantastic example of how to do a great job in taking a solid gameplay concept for the iPhone and making it even better on the iPad. I can't say enough good things about both games.

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Azkend HD, $4.99 – The original Azkend I think is the only puzzle game for the iPhone that I completely beat. The control mechanic employed is this neat mixture of matching and line drawing, which you can read all about in the review of the iPhone version. I really, really liked Azkend, and am more than a little disappointed that it doesn't seem that the HD upgrade brings much new to the table. The art definitely looks amazing at 1024×768, but if you're like me and have already annihilated Azkend on the iPhone you can probably skip the iPad version. If this is the first you've heard of Azkend, then the iPad version is fantastic.

Dual Stick Shooters

We've tried both Geometry Wars ($9.99) and Mini Gore HD ($4.99) and so far, we're not crazy about the feel of dual stick shooters on the iPad. We're not sure if there's a learning curve that we have to master, but it comes as a surprise given how naturally suited they were on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Geometry Wars looks and sounds great, but I couldn't get out my mind the thought that I'd rather be playing it on my iPhone. We'll spend more time with these and more titles and let you know our final conclusion

Positioning

Perhaps related to the dual stick shooter feel is that with the iPad I'm far more aware of my position and how I'm holding the device. Whether in my lap, or on the couch or holding it up, I've had to consciously juggle it around more than my iPhone due to the increased heft. In the long run, this may affect the type of games I want to be playing on it.

Tower Defense Games

So far every tower defense game I've tried has seemed to be absolutely perfect for the iPad. The HD upgrades also look beautiful.

The Creeps HD, $3.99 and Fieldrunners for iPad, $7.99 have controls that work great with the device, and panning around the map is a thing of the past with the iPad.

…Stay tuned for even more game impressions

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The Apple iPad is about to launch this morning, and up until now, Apple has been very tight with early access to the tablet device. So much so, it's been rare to see footage of games played on actual devices. In fact, many developers have been unable to test their games on final hardware.

This morning, Apple has posted some in-hand videos of several well known games being played on the iPad. Here they are:

Scrabble for iPad

Asphalt 5 HD

Real Racing HD

Note we've received full size (1027×768) screenshots from Real Racing HD: one, two, three, four, five

Labyrinth 2 HD

All of these games are already available in the App Store. We'll have our own hands on videos with various iPad games once we have our iPads in hand.

App Store Links:

• Scrabble for iPad, $9.99
• Scrabble Tile Rack, Free (iPhone/iPod Touch)
• Real Racing HD, $9.99
• Asphalt 5 HD, $6.99
• Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99

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I never really was able to get in to Touchgrind [$4.99] because of how zoomed in the camera needed to be to provide a good playing surface on the iPhone and iPod touch. Back before anyone knew the iPad even existed they released a video of the game running on a huge multi-touch surface, and ever since then I've wanted to play the game on a much larger screen.

Anyone with an iPad will be able to enjoy playing the game like this tomorrow with Touchgrind HD [$7.99], and it even includes a two player split screen mode.

Similar to the video of Touchgrind on a huge display, they also released a video of Labyrinth 2 [$4.99 / Free] being played on a 24" LCD with a PlayStation 3 controller taped to the back to capture the tilt controls. Labyrinth 2 is a game we absolutely loved in our review, and I only expect Labyrinth 2 HD [$7.99 / Free] to be even more fun on the big screen of the iPad.

Of course we haven't actually been able to try these two games yet, but both of them are already in my iTunes library ready to be loaded as soon as I get home with my iPad tomorrow.

App Store Links:

• Touchgrind, $4.99
• Touchgrind HD, $7.99 (iPad)
• Labyrinth 2, $4.99
• Labyrinth 2 Lite, Free
• Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99 (iPad)
• Labyrinth 2 HD Lite, Free (iPad)

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Secret Exit just released some full-size screenshots and details about their iPad-followup title Zen Bound 2. The game is, of course, a followup to their highly acclaimed Zen Bound puzzle game where the goal is to paint wooden sculptures by wrapping them in rope.

Secret Exit reports three goals for Zen Bound 2: "to make it more accessible, more beautiful, and it had to justify itself as a sequel with new gameplay." The new version of the game includes more levels of shorter length offering a larger variety of themes and gameplay modes. Visuals are enhanced with new textures, reflections/shadows and dynamic shift. Finally, they've included a new game element called "paint bombs".

Features include:

• Over 100 levels in nine Trees
• New gameplay modes with paint bombs
• Highly detailed visuals, gorgeous on the iPad screen
• New Ghost Monkey music (total soundtrack 45 mins)
• All levels from the original Zen Bound, all with visual upgrades, some with new gameplay
• New levelsets include the Tree of Tribute, featuring guest stars from other independently developed iPhone games

Here are some full-size screenshots of the new game (click to view):




Zen Bound 2 is available for $7.99. Obviously, we haven't had time to try the iPad version first hand quite yet, but we loved the original. It'll be on the top of our list come Saturday.

App Store Link: Zen Bound 2, $7.99 (iPad Only)

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Today the iPad App Store opened up, revealing a great many iPad launch titles to those itching to see what they'll be loading onto their iPads when they arrive on Saturday. The amount of iPad app news this has generated today has us feeling as if we're standing in the middle of a tornado, admittedly. And so, without a great deal of rhyme or reason, I've chosen a few iPad games, now in the App Store, to highlight, the only real criterion being that they're titles we've not recently covered and are ones that I'm personally anxious to get my hands on.

So, without further ado…

Minigore HD from Mountain Sheep — $4.99

The iPad adaptation of Minigore sounds better than ever with 14 playable characters, "guest stars" from Hook Champ, Zombieville USA, Sway, and Envrio-Bear 2010, and redone graphics to take full advantage of the iPad's screen acreage.

Warpgate HD from Freeverse — $7.99

Freeverse's real-time strategy title Warpgate is here for the iPad, but not yet for the iPhone. Who would've guessed? (The iPhone version should be making its debut any day now.) All that we've seen indicates that this is a RTS title not to be missed.

Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone from Telltale Games — $9.99

Inspired by Steve Purcell's comic series Sam & Max, Lucas Arts in 1993 released the SCUMM-based adventure Sam & Max Hit the Road to much critical acclaim. Sequels followed and the odd, starring duo gathered something of a cult following. Those in the cult will be happy to see the just-released iPad title from Telltale Games, Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone.

Cogs HD from Chillingo — $4.99

In January we took a look at steampunk puzzler Cogs and very much liked what we saw. Cogs HD is now in the App Store and rendered on the iPad's 10-inch screen,

Mirror's Edge for iPad — $12.99

We recently posted about Mirror's Edge for the iPad, but at the time, it was to be a $14.99 title. While still premium, it seems to have made its debut at $12.99 — just a shade less dear.

Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies from Activision — $14.99

This bundle of zombie smackdown is the most expensive game on our list, but it does look like fun. Bigger screen = more menacing zombies.

Fieldrunners for iPad from Subatomic Studios — $7.99

Fieldrunners. Everyone's favorite tower defense game. Well, my favorite, anyway. And it's here in full-screen iPad glory.

Touchgrind HD from Illusion Labs — $7.99

Touchgrind is a highly unique iPhone skateboarding game. Skateboarding for your fingers, really. But the one limitation? Screen size. The iPad version should have no such limitation.

Ocean Blue from Com2uS — $9.99

Ocean Blue falls under the Entertainment category — it's not really a game. But it looks pretty fun. It has the distinction of being "the first realistic diving experience on the iPad." We're anxious to check it out.

Scrabble for iPad from Electronic Arts — $9.99

Scrabble. On a big multitouch screen. Not cool enough? How about this:

Scrabble Tile Rack for iPhone / iPod touch — Free

Use your iPad as the Scrabble board and connect wirelessly from your iPhone or iPod touch to use it as a private tile rack while you are playing Scrabble.

Harbor Master HD from Imangi Studios — Free

Imangi has produced an HD version of their chaos management game and is giving it away for Free.

There are plenty more announcements, screenshots and info about upcoming iPad games in our dedicated forum.

It's hard to track everything that's happening in the App Store right now. This is going to be a rather insane weekend for everyone connected with the iPad. Don't worry, our usual iPhone and iPod Touch game coverage will also resume but over the next week there's going to be a lot of news and attention on the iPad.

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Earlier today, multiple reports have revealed the early iPad App Store offerings currently sitting on Apple's servers. The iPad App Store appears live and ready for use for anyone with a device. Of course, this makes sense given the fact that Apple has likely delivered early units to reviewers ahead of the April 3rd launch.

From our perspective, we are most interested in the new iPad games that the leaks reveal. Several have already been pre-announced or previously spotted, but some of the recognizable games include:

• Flight Control HD – $4.99
• Labyrinth 2 HD – $7.99
• Real Racing HD – $9.99
• Bugdom 2 – $9.99
• Cro-Mag Rally – $9.99
• Otto Matic for iPad – $9.99
• Enigmo Deluxe – $9.99
• Igloo Games Arcade – $6.99
• Sparkle HD – $2.99

Pricing for these recognizable games are, of course, higher than their iPhone counterparts, but are likely to represent improved graphics and even added gameplay elements in many cases. $9.99 still appears to be the ceiling price for gaming even on Apple's new device.

Firemint was able to officially confirm Real Racing HD:

I still can't say much about this, but you may have seen some posts about this so I thought I'd drop in and give the official word: yes, we are working on Real Racing HD for iPad, and yes, it will be awesome

[via AppAnnie, MacRumors]

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Hey what do you know it's Friday and once again we've got a huge list of games that are on sale and free. As usual, because of the nature of iTunes pricing, these can change at any time. All prices are current as of this posting, but if you've had your eye on any of these games you're better off not waiting around because you never know when they'll return to normal price.

One game you should really check out while it's on sale is Revolutionary Concepts' Cobra Command [$4.99 → $1.99], especially if you've never played an old laserdisc game. We enjoyed the game in our review and even included it in our year end listing of best retro games.

There's also a free version of the game and to celebrate their one year anniversary, Revolutionary Concepts is also making the two games developed by their sister studio Collect3 free as well: SNAP! and Animal SNAP!.

To promote the launch of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, Square Enix dropped the price of most of their other games. They haven't drastically slashed prices, but if you've been looking to pick up some of these games, Square Enix sales are fairly rare:

• CRYSTAL DEFENDERS, $7.99 → $5.99
• Hills and Rivers Remain, $6.99 → $4.99
• SLIDING HEROES, $2.99 → 99¢
• SONG SUMMONER: The Unsung Heroes – Encore, $9.99 → $7.99
• VANGUARD STORM, $4.99 → $3.99

And of course there is a whole bunch of freebies:

• AirBear, 99¢ → FREE
• Compression, 99¢ → FREE
• Kachina, $1.99 → FREE
• Rasta Monkey!, 99¢ → FREE
• Sky Force Reloaded, $1.99 → FREE
• Vector Tanks (Classic Version), 99¢ → FREE

TONS of great games are on sale this week, this is just my pick of games we've covered that have had price drops:

• B-Boy Beats, $2.99 → 99¢
• Battle Blasters, $2.99 → $1.99
• Battle of Puppets, $1.99 → 99¢
• Bird Strike, $1.99 → 99¢
• Bridge Odyssey, $2.99 → 99¢
• Castle Frenzy, $1.99 → 99¢
• Doodle Bomb: Physics Puzzle with a Bang, $1.99 → 99¢
• Geared, $2.99 → $1.99
• Giana Sisters, $2.99 → $2.99
• GROUND EFFECT, $1.99 → 99¢
• Isaac Newton's Gravity, $3.99 → $2.99
• Riddim Ribbon feat. The Black Eyed Peas, $2.99 → $1.99
• Robot Rampage, $4.99 → $1.99
• Speed Forge Extreme, $2.99 → 99¢
• Space Harvest, $1.99 → 99¢
• Scoops – Ice Cream Fun For Everyone, $1.99 → 99¢
• VANQUISH: The Oath of Brothers, $2.99 → 99¢
• Zombie Cannon Carnage, $1.99 → 99¢

And while we haven't given The Quest series much love here on TouchArcade, I know quite a few people who absolutely love these old school style 3D RPG's.

The Quest Gold, The Quest, and all the expansions are on sale:

• The Quest Gold, $9.99 → $5.99
• The Quest, $5.99 → $2.99
• The Quest – Hero of Lukomorye I, $2.99 → $1.99
• The Quest – Hero of Lukomorye II, $2.99 → $1.99
• The Quest – Hero of Lukomorye III, $2.99 → $1.99
• The Quest – Islands of Ice and Fire, $2.99 → $1.99
• The Quest – Mithril Horde, $2.99 → $1.99

This is just a small selection of games with recent price changes. For the full list, check out AppShopper where you can find all games and popular games with recent price drops.

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As we reported late last month, Touch Arcade had the opportunity to visit Gameloft's Manhattan offices and spend a bit of hands-on time with their upcoming WWII-based first person shooter, Brother in Arms 2: Global Front. Tonight the game landed in the App Store and, after spending a few days with this final build, we have some thoughts to share on Gameloft's latest.

When the first Brothers in Arms title for the iPhone landed in the App Store back in November 2008, it was a highly notable release and almost certainly the most complex 3D game to be released for the platform at the time. It was (and is) a well executed iPhone take on an extremely popular console / PC franchise, wowing most but drawing criticism for a "difficult" control system.

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, designed from the ground up specifically for the iPhone, comes to us over a year later.  So what has a year brought us in the sequel to such a bold initial platform release? Quite a bit, it turns out.

Brothers in Arms 2, weighing in at over three times the filesize of its predecessor, brings to the iPhone a much larger game experience. This time around it's a first person affair, as opposed to the third-person, over-the-shoulder experience that is the first title. Actually, when in duck-and-cover mode, BIA2 does jump out to third person — and that's something you'll see often, as using crates, walls, and tanks for cover is pretty much par for the course in this title. That is, when you're not sprinting across the battlefield, manning the turret in a jeep or tank, or piloting a "glider" through heavy flack. Yea, it's pretty intense.

BIA2 drops you neatly into WWII as the young American soldier David Wilson on a mission to push back the Germans and Japanese and get the backs of his brothers in arms in the thick of battle. But, before long, an ominous bit of correspondence reveals that his actual brother, Eric, has been killed and was given the medal of honor — but that medal was revoked due to uncertain circumstances. It's Wilson's additional mission to get to the bottom of the mystery and clear his brother's good name. Pretty heavy stuff, really.

The tools of the trade are many. Available weapons include bazookas, fixed machine guns, flame throwers, Thompson submachine guns, and grenades. (The default play mode offers targeting assistance, which I find helpful, but it can be disabled.) There are three different modes of play, in all, to choose from. The default is a mission to mission progression through 13 levels across five different locales: Pacific, Sicily, Normandy, Germany, and North Africa. Any unlocked locale can also be chosen for quick play in Campaign mode. And, finally, local network play is possible by way of either WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity.

The game's control system feels a bit more workable than that of the original iPhone release. This is due, in part, to the various refined methods of multitouch, onscreen controls offered, but also to the fact that, during the year that's gone by since the originals release, we've come to know a great many 3D shooters utilizing dual-stick (and the like) controls. We're just far more used to this iPhone control mechanic than we were back in November 2008. Whatever the precise combination of reasons, you're going to find BIA2 to feel more comfortable than did the original release.

While BIA brought impressive visuals when it made its debut, so too does BIA2, and that's said taking into account the significant raising of the bar that's taken place over the past year. The environment models have indeed grown in complexity, but more impressive are the subtle visual touches that BIA2 brings. Shafts of light through the trees, HDR blooms (there's an options toggle there) — it all comes together to make for a pretty amazing looking game, very "modern console"-like (on my 3GS).

The game features various trophies that are granted based upon particularly savvy battlefield performance, as well as for finding as many "Kilroy was here" tags as possible. Performance is tracked by way of the integrated Gameloft LIVE network.

And, while the game offers excellent action, often at a frantic pace, it does have a few shortcomings. Framerate is generally quite high on the iPhone 3GS, but occasional (loading?) lags do occur, causing brief pauses in the action and studders to the audio at times. As well, in an apparent glitch where I went off the expected story line, I entered a room and wiped out everything alive, exited the room, only to find it once again full of enemies upon revisiting said room — though this was an isolated occurrence.

And, about that room full of soldiers, or soldiers anywhere in the game, really — the enemy AI that commands them is quite basic. If you're re-playing a scenario after having died, the enemy does the exact same thing the second time around, making it quite easy to wipe out the lot. A little more complex / varied AI would certainly add depth to the battle experience.

See Gameloft's recent trailer video for a look at a variety of in-game scenarios.

That I can pick a few nits in the title does not mark Brothers in Arms 2 a game to avoid. On the contrary, it is a highly enjoyable, action-packed shooter that offers some of the most intense battle sequences you'll find on the iPhone, making this latest from Gameloft a gaming experience that's rather hard to pass up.

App Store Link: Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, $7.99

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We're still working on the finishing touches of out Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front [App Store] review, but the game was just released on the App Store a few moments ago. This sequel of Brothers in Arms Hour of Heroes [$4.99 / Free] comes with an even larger single player campaign, six player online multiplayer with multiple game modes, and tons of other goodies.

We posted an extensive preview article earlier, and Gameloft recently released the following gameplay trailer:

Our review will be up soon, and in the meantime, there's a very active thread on our forums with forum members discussing the game.

App Store Link: Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, $7.99

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