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Ever since we spotted the online first-person shooter Archetype in limited release, we'd been dying to try the game out. At long last, Archetype was released to the global App Store this past week to much fanfare and a huge marketing campaign. After finally getting our hands on it and spending some quality time playing, we can safely say that Archetype is one impressive game, and developer Villain has, for the most part, followed through on their promises for the title. That's not to say there aren't a few issues with it, or a wish list of things we'd like to see added, but all said, Archetype delivers one of the most robust, beautiful, and most importantly fun FPS experiences that can be had on the iPhone.

For starters, if you have Apple's new iPhone 4 then you are treated to some unbelievably crisp graphics. The textures that make up the levels and player models aren't the most detailed — which is fine, as this allows the game to run at an ultra-smooth clip — but, on the retina display, it really approaches a high definition console game running on the small screen. For all other devices, including the first generation of iPhones and iPod touches, the game is still very graphically impressive and maintains a solid framerate. The five stages available in the game are also visually quite nice, and are all indoor arenas with a high tech industrial look similar to games like Eliminate or the Halo series. It's not a groundbreaking style, but it gets the job done while maintaining good performance across all devices.

Controls in Archetype are a familiar dual analog stick setup that works well, though doesn't leave many options for players that prefer different control schemes. The two sticks are visually situated in the usual spots in the lower corners, but can actually be activated by touching nearly anywhere on either half of the screen. This lends itself well to people who like the “touch anywhere” or “swipe the screen to aim” mechanics of similar touch screen FPS games. Your weapon can be very quickly changed by touching the upper right corner and grenades are thrown by touching the upper left corner. A melee attack is performed by touching the bottom of the screen anywhere in between the two analog sticks, which is also where the radar is displayed. Minor options to invert the aiming axis or adjust sensitivity are available, but the default control scheme described is basically all you get. This isn't really a bad thing though, as they do work very well and are semi-flexible, but surely won't suit every single gamer.

An important thing to note is that this game is meant to be strictly an online affair, so if you are looking for a single player campaign or don't have any interest in online multiplayer then Archetype is not for you. There's a very basic offline mode where you can run through a timed training level taking out stationary cardboard cutout style targets — but that's it. Everything else is matchmaking against live opponents over a WiFi, 3G, or EDGE connection. If you're the type of person that loves online FPS multiplayer, then you're in for a treat. Archetype runs and plays near-flawlessly over all of these connections.

Starting the game will launch you into a lobby that is connected to the server closest to your region, although you can choose to play on any server you wish. The current servers are US East, US West, Europe, Asia, and South America. Matchmaking allows just under a minute to find opponents to match you with, and once the timer runs out the game will start with whatever number of players are in the lobby by that time. Archetype boasts up to five-on-five team matches, but in my experience this is a somewhat rare occurrence. More often I'd get into two-on-two or three-on-three matches on a regular basis, with a fair amount of four-on-four as well. The good news is that I haven't had any trouble quickly picking up a match during my time with the game (US West).

Actually playing matches in Archetype is a blast. The five maps are designed well and feature a nice mix of different elevations, passageways, teleports, and weapon drops. As with any good FPS game, learning the ins and outs of each map is really beneficial. Player movement is fast, and by default your weapon will auto-fire when an enemy enters your aiming reticle, although this can be disabled in the options. A radar at the bottom of the screen shows the position of enemies and teammates (and can also be disabled if you wish). The six weapons in the game run the usual gamut of assault rifles, a shotgun, a sniper-type weapon (minus the zooming capability), and a rocket launcher. Grenades are here as well, with a normal frag grenade as well as an awesome grenade that splits into multiple parts when thrown.

Rounding out your offense is the ability to melee with any weapon available, or even pick up a brutal battle axe that can be used exclusively for close combat. Melee can feel overpowered at times, as you can rush up on opponents and spam the button wildly usually ending up in a kill, although this can also leave you open to an easy counterattack from savvy players. The precision rifle feels a little too strong as well, able to kill players with only one or two shots across an entire map, thanks to auto-firing. While rockets and grenades are also strong, the proximity damage of these will kill you just as easily as the opposition, if you aren't careful. So, there may be room for improvement in the balancing of the weapons, but there are tradeoffs with each, so it's not been a huge issue and gameplay doesn't suffer much for it.

Matches are incredibly fast paced and combat heavy. The match length is determined by the amount of players, so a one-on-one match goes for just one minute, a two-on-two for two minutes, and so forth. Since the matches are so brief, there's not a lot of reason to camp or lie in wait to get the drop on other players. Instead, you'd better keep moving if you want to get a decent amount of kills.  The setup is also really well suited to mobile gaming, as you can quickly pop in and have a match or two with just a spare few minutes. The only available game type is team Deathmatch, with no sort of free-for-all or objective based gametypes like capture the flag available at this time.

With all the great fun to be had in Archetype, it's not without its issues. For the most part it runs incredibly well online no matter what type of connection you're on, but there's inevitably instances of minor lag or even games completely locking up and dropping out altogether. The lobby shows you your current ping rate, so you can have an idea of how solid your connection and that of other players will be. The two biggest points of contention I'm hearing from players in our forums is over the auto-firing nature of the weapons and the ability to actually do damage to your own teammates. Auto-fire can be disabled, but this can just put you at a disadvantage to everyone else who uses it. Teammate damage cannot be disabled, so you'll need to learn to be careful around your own team, especially with tossing grenades around.

My biggest complaint about the game, personally, is the lack of options in setting the parameters of matches. It's very easy to add friends in Archetype, either from the post game lobby following a match or by searching out usernames and sending requests. From your friend list you can then issue a direct challenge to up to 9 other players to engage in a private match together. It works extremely well, giving other players a push notification inviting them to the game, and accepting that notification launches the game and sends you directly into the lobby very smoothly. I would love to be able to set longer matches in these instances, or adjust other variables like weapon types and frag limits. To be expected, match performance can be hit or miss when trying to play with friends in other countries. As it is, the private match feature is extremely basic but is still a nice addition to the overall package.

See our gameplay video for a closer look.

If you've actually managed to read this far, chances are you're really interested in this type of game and, with that, I can wholeheartedly recommend Archetype to you. It does have a few issues, some of which only amount to personal taste, and it does want for variety or progression somewhat, as it is just team deathmatch over and over again. But it's still incredibly fun. It gives you a game that you can quickly jump into and play practically anywhere in a reasonably reliable fashion. It also avoids the two common complaints about its closest competitor, Eliminate, in that you just pay for the game when you buy it, without any sort of in-app purchasing involved, and you don't have to worry that other players' equipment will be more upgraded than your own. Everyone plays on a level field here and, although it's a bit simplistic, it does work wonderfully. If you're liking the sound of what Archetype has to offer, then don't hesitate to check it out. It's personally become my favorite iPhone FPS to date.

Note: Archetype is presently being advertised on this site, but it has no influence on our choice of coverage or the outcome of our reviews. See advertising and editorial policies for additional details.

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Venan Entertainment, creators of Space Miner: Space Ore Bust [$1.99 / Free] and Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! [99¢], were at E3 this year crammed in the corner of the mobile section. The two new titles they had to show off were Ninjatown for the iPad, and a brand new freemium arcade game based on Space Miner called Space Miner Blast.

Space Miner Blast will be supported by unobtrusive in-game advertising, with optional DLC which will add features to the game and disable advertisements entirely. Most of the original Space Miner has been stripped out in favor of a quick survival game with a very basic upgrade system. All you do is see how big of a multiplier you can keep going by blasting as much ore as you possibly can (while defending against enemies of course). Here is a few minutes of gameplay:

Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! for the iPad retains the same feel of the iPhone game, with upscaled graphics and a new timed mode which will soon also be released in an update for the iPhone. You have 25 seconds to start, and with every 100 meters you climb adds 15 seconds to the clock. The original Ninjatown for the iPhone works great upscaled on the iPad, but if you've held off on buying it and own an iPad it would make sense to wait for the iPad HD release.

Here is a clip of the new timed mode in action:

Venan has had a track record of releasing fantastic games lately, and if you haven't already, take a look at both the Ninjatown: Trees of Doom! review and the Space Miner: Space Ore Bust review. You really can't go wrong downloading either.

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I have immense respect for Backflip Studios. They are one of the few iPhone development groups that has been able to leverage one of their early successes and build it into a strong and sustainable business.

The company was founded by Julian Farrior (pictured left), Dale Thomas (pictured right) and Tom Blind in April 2009. Their first game was Ragdoll Blaster and launched on May 15, 2009. Three weeks later, they launched Paper Toss for free. Paper Toss, of course, went on to be massively popular to the surprise of everyone including Backflip. But Backflip recognized the value of having such an incredibly successful free app and used it to both generate revenue for the company and also help launch its other games up from obscurity.

After their first year, Backflip has generated $3.5 million in net revenue and has expanded to 8 full time employees and over a dozen contractors. 60% of their revenue comes from direct App Store sales while 40% comes from advertising. Of the 11 apps (including Lite versions) they've released, they've seen 8 of them reach the top 5 overall rankings, and they presently serve 1 million unique players a day.

We spoke with Backflip's Julian Farrior and Dale Thomas today at WWDC 2010 and got a look at their upcoming projects. Farrior reports that they have been aggressively ramping up production of games and has 4 new games coming in the next couple of months. He provided us hands on demos for them. They included one paid game and three free games:

• Tunnel Shoot – tunnel shooter developed with Team Phobic
• Graffiti Ball – level-based physics game
• Ninjump – casual jumping/climbing game
• Buganoids – retro-styled circumferential shooter

Julian and Dale walk through the gameplay of each in this video:

We expect they'll continue with their great success. Tunnel Shoot is the first title to be delivered on June 24th with Graffiti Ball, Ninjump and Buganoids each following every 2 weeks. Julian Farrior is an active participant in our forums as Backflip Studios.

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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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Apple's surprise media event unveiling the iPhone OS 4.0 is set to begin shortly. We'll be providing live updates, and focusing on things that specifically pertain to iPhone gaming or things iPhone gamers might be interested in like all of our other keynote coverage in the past.

Steve Jobs just took the stage, and started things out by talking about the sales figures of the iPad. On Saturday they sold 300,000, and as of today they've sold 450,000. Apple apparently is making them as fast as they can, but notes that Best Buy is already out of stock. On the first day, 1 million paid apps were downloaded, and since then 3.5 million have been. (In addition to 600,000 eBooks.)

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

Jobs also mentions that there are over 185,000 apps in the App Store, with over 3,500 iPad apps. He then took some time to show off the more impressive iPad apps in the App Store currently such as the ABC app, Netflix, the Marvel comic book reader, and others. Shifting gears to talk about the iPhone, Steve mentions they've won three JD Power awards for customer satisfaction, and currently holds 64% of the mobile browser market share. Apple has sold over 50 million iPhones, with 85 million combined devices between the iPod touch and iPhone.

iPhone OS 4.0 is coming this summer, with a developer preview available today.

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

Among the seven "tent pole" features of iPhone OS 4.0 is multitasking. Steve goes on to demonstrate how multitasking is going to work. With multiple apps running, double clicking the home button raises a window that looks a lot like the bottom dock of the iPhone showing what apps are running. Tapping an icon instantly switches to that app.

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

To explain how this all works while preserving battery life and performance, Steve hands things off to Scott Forstall, SVP of iPhone Software. iPhone OS 4.0 will provide seven multitasking services. The first of which is audio streaming, and Forstall specifically cites Pandora as an example of an app that will shine with this functionality. Developing applications to utilize this functionality is apparently extremely easy, as it only took the Pandora developers a day to make the app background aware. Skype also works fantastically with this new functionality, even allowing you to accept calls while running in the background.

Doodle Jump spotted:

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

The next multitasking function is background location. Apps that use the GPS functionality such as TomTom will be able to continue routing while in the background. This raises obvious privacy concerns, and a new settings menu will be available to enable and disable location services per application, as well as showing a small arrow icon next to the battery indicator.

Moving on to push notifications, Forstall mentions they've sent over 10 billion notifications since the service went live. Building on push notifications comes local notifications, done entirely on the phone to see alerts from apps you have running in the background. One example mentioned was a popup when a photo was finished uploading to Flickr.

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

Steve takes the stage again and announces folders to organize apps. The interface seems an awful lot like the various jailbreak app organization solutions. So far Apple is really knocking it out of the park with this keynote.

Photo courtesy of gdgt live.

The iPhone mail client is also getting enhanced, with a unified inbox for each email account on the device along with a threaded email view for reading conversations. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone is also getting the iBooks app which will sync pages and bookmarks with other devices that have the app.

Forstall just announced "Game Center", Apple's own gaming social networking service that seems to handle everything Plus+, OpenFeint, and others do with presumably one unified login tied to your iTunes account. Matchmaking, leaderboards, and achievements are all part of it.

Photo courtesy of Gizmodo.

Also mentioned was Apple's own iAd advertisement services, which we expect to see making appearances in many free games that have historically relied on AdMob and other advertising networks.

iPhone OS 4.0 will be coming this fall, and sadly, multitasking will not be supported for the iPhone 3G and second generation iPod touch. That's it folks, Steve is taking questions now.

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We all know that iPhone platform devices are capable mobile gaming devices. There are some real gems in the App Store that take particular advantage of the iPhone's unique capabilities, with more on the way. Apple knows it too — they've long been advertising the iPod touch specifically as a game machine. An Apple patent application that was made public on April 1 may indicate that Apple wants to take iPhone gaming to an even higher level.

First filed back in 2008, the patent in question, US20100081505, is entitled ACCESSORY FOR PLAYING GAMES WITH A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE. The abstract follows.

Circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide user interfaces for playing games on portable electronic devices. One example provides a game accessory having input controls for playing video, audio, and other types of games. The game accessory can have input controls, such as buttons, joysticks, and D-pads. Another example provides a game accessory having a thumb pad or keyboard. Other possible features include microphones, cameras and camera lenses, speakers, a second screen, rumble, and motion detection. The game accessory may have a recess sized to fit the portable electronic device. Inserts or removable adapters can be used to fit portable electronic devices having different sizes. The portable electronic device can be held in the accessory using sliding covers, clips, or other engaging members. In other examples, the accessory can communicate with another accessory for head-to-head game play. The accessory may include circuitry for power, identification, and authorization.

The patent basically details enclosures or sleds of various configuration into which a mobile device can be inserted, enabling use of the device with several different types of attached or wirelessly-connected peripherals. In the most basic form, simple enclosures (both landscape- and portrait-oriented) featuring integrated D-pad and button sets are detailed. From there, things get much more elaborate, including integrated keypads, cameras, accelerometers, rumble-packs — even a second display.

In other embodiments of the present invention, it may be desirable to include a second screen on the accessory. In such a situation, where the screen of the portable electronic device is a touchscreen, the touchscreen may be used to receive commands and instructions from a user and to provide first graphics, while the second screen provides second graphics.

The iPhone, with its accelerometers, multitouch display, and powerful processing hardware is certainly a platform where non-traditional games can thrive — and have. But there's no disputing the fact that certain types of games — old-school shooters, for instance — suffer from the lack of physical controls. iPhone OS 3.0 enabled the use of such external devices. Will it be Apple that brings these gaming accessories to market for dedicated iPhone gamers?

Visit Patently Apple for a easy-to-grasp layout of the patent with additional images.

Reading the description of the devices in the patent may, for some readers, bring to mind the iControlPad device, long in development, which we first covered back in May 2008. News of Apple's patent has come as surprise to the iControlPad team, causing great concern. Team member Craig Rothwell has been tweeting about the situation (@craigix) and is in the process of approaching Apple on the matter.

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In late 2008, Freeverse released the original Flick Bowling, the first of what has since become the Flick Sports franchise. Next week they plan on launching its sequel, Flick Bowling 2, which improves upon the original in every way imaginable. In fact, it's really sort of amazing to go back and look at the original Flick Bowling trailer in comparison to see how much more detailed something as simple as a bowling game has become.

Flick Bowling 2 is controlled using simple touch gestures, and once you get the hang of it, flicking your finger across the screen to bowl works really well. Unlike the original where you applied spin to the ball by swiping across the screen, your entire shot is done in one flicking gesture. To throw the ball straight you flick straight up, to curve it in a particular direction, you simply curve your finger flick. It works surprisingly well.

Another new feature in the sequel is the addition of a story mode. Playing as either Jen or Jim, you'll warp through time (somewhat like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) to face off in bowling matches against famous figures in history who also have similarly themed bowling alleys while you make your way to the ultimate bowling showdown with the evil Baron Von Schtopwatch. The game itself even admits the plot makes no sense. Aside from story mode, you can also play regular bowling games as well as a quick three frame game.

Here is a video of me doing poorly against Cleopatra:

One of the most interesting things about Flick Bowling 2 is how Freeverse is pricing it. While the original Flick Bowling launched at $4.99, the sequel will come in two flavors: A completely free ad-supported version, and a paid ads-free version. The only differences between the two games is advertising, and the paid version also comes with multiplayer. Both games will also come with DLC packs for customizing your bowling balls, as well as an additional Helen of Troy level.

Freeverse is shooting for launching Flick Bowling 2 on the 23rd, and I really recommend keeping an eye out for it, especially if in-game ads don't bother you. The bowling control mechanic is fun, the new physics engine is a massive improvement over the original, and the time traveling premise of the game, which is beyond ridiculous, is hard to not enjoy.

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It's hard for me to resist a game with a ridiculous premise, and it's difficult to get more silly than this. In Ghosts'n Zombies [App Store] you play as a bushy-eyebrowed, cigar-smoking, shotgun-toting monk who apparently was dispatched from the Vatican to investigate a mysterious haunted chapel. Upon your arrival, you discover the church is absolutely loaded with rats, ghosts, zombies, and other demons. So, as an agent of the Vatican, what do you decide to do? Shoot everything that crosses your path of course.

The movement of your monk is controlled by tilting your iPhone, and shooting is just a matter of tapping the screen. Alternatively, you can drag your finger around to precisely aim your shots, which are then fired upon releasing your finger. Aiming your shots quickly becomes a vital component of the game, as apparently the Vatican sent you out on your mission woefully low on ammo. Killing multiple baddies in one shot causes them to rain loot for you to pick up which restores your ammo and slowly builds a meter in the top left corner of the screen that you can tap to briefly upgrade your weapon to a rifle, mini gun, and even a rocket launcher of sorts among others.

The more enemies you can kill at once, the more loot and points you get, but at the same time there is a delicate balance between holding off to be able to shoot multiple enemies while still allowing yourself a clearing to run to without getting hit. As you progress through the game, different environmental obstacles and enemies are introduced, with spice up gameplay even further. Ghosts'n Zombies includes OpenFeint, providing leaderboards for each level along with a bundle of achievements to earn.

One thing that's strange about Ghosts'n Zombies is that the paid version game comes bundled with Ad Mob ads on the menu screen. According to the developer, these ads are only going to be in place until the introductory sale is over, but they seem like a very odd thing to include regardless– Especially with how much people dislike advertising in anything they're paying for. Never the less, Ghosts'n Zombies is a fun shooter with a silly premise, and worth picking up if you can ignore the ads rotating on the main menu.

App Store Link: Ghosts'n Zombies, 99¢

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