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Hug Sandwich has recently released Nano Tank [App Store], a simple, yet enjoyable top-down tank shooter for the iPad that's something of a mix between oldschool classics Armor Attack and Star Castle. With amazingly smooth animation and a glowy-vector aesthetic reminiscent of the color-overlay arcade games of old, Nano Tank brings out a kind of future-retro vibe that's easy to get drawn into.

The goal of the game is to pilot your tank through level after level of scrolling mazes, seeking out enemy glider bases with the aid of your onscreen radar. These bases are very much like the enemy base with its rotating walls from Star Castle. In order to destroy them, you'll need to knock out moving wall sections from the slowly regenerating, concentric defense rings in order to get a clear shot at the core. Of course, being glider bases, a steady flow of  enemy gliders is constantly emerging for you to contend with, all the while.

There are three levels of difficulty to choose from: Easy, Hard, and Ouch. Higher difficulty levels bring larger and more complex mazes, faster and more aggressive gliders, and more rings to the enemy bases.

The game is controlled via dual, onscreen analog sticks which center their axis on whatever point you touch on the left and right sides of the screen. The controls work quite well for this sort of game and, together with the aforementioned high framerate, deliver an uncannily fluid arcade feel. Both portrait and landscape orientation are supported.

Nano Tank is currently $0.99, 50% off in celebration of the game's recent v1.1 update that brought a number of notable improvements to the original release. Another improvement I hope the developer delivers in a future update is online leaderboard support — an iOS game like this really needs it. Even so, this one is simple iPad fun with definite retro appeal.

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It was little more than a week ago that we were lamenting that Starcraft 2 would not be coming to the AppStore any time soon. Unbeknownst to us, indie developer Pixel Stream has been working on the silver lining to that news for almost 8 months, with the release of their Starcraft-esque real-time strategy game, Armada – Galactic War [AppStore].

Firstly, let's dispense with one important fact early– Armada is a no-nonsense, online-only RTS, at least until a promised future update releases offline play too. This means from your very first game you'll be facing real competitors over your WiFi or 3G networks and won't be charging through a pre-scripted, story-based set of missions. Fortunately, you aren't thrown entirely in the deep end, as a brief page-by-page tutorial offers an introduction to the game's mechanics and features.

Each Armada army, of which there are 3 — the Humans, Cyborgs and Aliens — has 4 distinct classes of units. There are no buildings to concern yourself with, so the scope of your campaign is entirely in considering whether to deploy your Mechs, Tanks, (flying) Ships or your solitary Mothership. Unit effectiveness is determined by a loose rock, paper, scissors formula, where Mechs are effective against Ships, Ships are best against Tanks (who are the only units that can't attack air units) and Tanks use their splash damage to chew through Mechs. Each unit class (with the exception of the Mothership) is further broken down into 3 units of increasing strength and cost. The Mothership is the hub of each team, a goliath of a ship that is both your source of units and a competent fighter against all the other classes. Its destruction serves as the overall objective to achieve victory in Armada.

Your entire army is funded by sending your Mechs to harvest the green crystals scattered across the map (sounds familiar?). Selecting units and ordering them to a task is ingeniously simple in Armada. You enter select mode by holding one finger on the yellow square at the top left of the screen and can either drag a box around your units, or tap them individually to select them. Releasing the select box allows you to then issue commands by tapping on-screen, such as sending Mech units to mine crystal.

It's a wonder that many developers have cited difficulty in translating traditional mouse controls to the touch interface as the major reason RTS games aren't featuring on the AppStore (just read the comments from Blizzard above). Pixel Stream have managed to come up with a control scheme that feels both intuitive and responsive and allows for a surprising amount of micromanagement too. That's not to say we were completely satisfied with the control options, as we would have liked to see a way of de-selecting units and assigning control groups (to on-screen buttons perhaps?) or selecting all units of the same type to better co-ordinate your army in combat, but the basis for a successful system is certainly in place. A few tweaks could make it really exceptional.

We were very impressed by the online service provided via Pixel Stream's Zing Network. Private matches were simple to setup and the matchup system found opponents nearly instantly, or would revert to an AI player if players weren't available. Games played on WiFi naturally ran very smoothly but we were surprised to find that 3G connections were just as capable. Armada's netcode and graphics performance also appeared to be in peak form, as we piled scores of units on screen at once, upwards of 30 or 40, and noticed no perceivable performance hit on our 3GS device. Our 2G Touch device skipped only a few frames too, but combat certainly remained playable.

The 5 maps initially available in Armada can be played in any configuration from 2-4 players, with 4 player battles being a (manic) highlight in our time with the game. The maps all have different configurations and slightly different themes, though their function is more strategic than aesthetic, as each has a number of crystal farms for you to expand to in order to gain a leg up on opponents. The units themselves are crafted in simple 3D; they are evidently low-poly with low resolution textures. That's not to say they don't look nice though, as they are all easily recognised on the battlefield and get the job done. Each race has a completely unique style individual to their personalities too (for example, the Cyborgs are clean-lined and shiny, whilst the Humans are more rugged looking).

Armada also features an underlying upgrade system called A.R.M.S in-game, which we are admittedly on the fence about. 10 customizable upgrades (in total) can be applied to your profile, each one boosting the abilities of 1 particular unit in your arsenal. For example, a Mech 1 speed upgrade will boost the movement speed of any 1st tier Mech that you create by 30%. There are hundreds of upgrades to choose from covering the whole gamut of attributes for each unit (and the mothership too). Upgrades are purchased by credits which are awarded for playing matches, with wins and larger scale matches equating to larger returns.

The A.R.M.S system was intended to offer an additional layer of strategy, but it ends up playing out more like a ranking system on FPS games, where players that stick with the game have a significant advantage over those who play infrequently. To give an example, one player on our forums, backtothis– who is currently on top of the leaderboards– claims to have upgraded his level 1 Mechs to the point where they can destroy level 3 Tanks. This costs an exorbitant amount of credits to do however and won't be an option available to the average player for quite some time. We sincerely hope the developers will keep an eye on this, as the upgrade system could be a major source of serious imbalance issues in future match-ups, something that is far more detrimental to RTS' than other genres.

Armada makes serious inroads into capturing the essence of popular real time strategy games on a portable device. It is clearly influenced by the greats such as Starcraft, and in some ways actually manages to distil the epic unit-to-unit match-ups and combat strategy that made that game a hit. Its focus on unit management over building management ensures a narrower scope of battle that is well suited to shorter, more intense matches. It already has a tight control setup in place (which could still use some tweaking) and a match-up system that works– and works well. Our major concern is with the potential abuse of the upgrade system, the effect of which largely remains to be seen, and whether the developers can keep up with the inevitable balancing updates required.

At this stage though, we're ultimately impressed by what 3-man developer Pixel Stream have done; they have catered for RTS fans in a way that other larger developers had thought too difficult. With the promise of offline play in the near future, Armada is an effortless recommendation to any RTS buff looking to test their APM on the touch devices in a competitive environment. To check out the gameplay for yourself, take a peek at the developer's trailer above or hit up our forums for other readers' impressions.

App Store Link: Armada – Galactic War, $0.99 (Introductory Sale Price).

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Work originally began on Motocross Challenge way back in 2004 as the part-time project of three individuals with a desire to create an homage to the classic Excitebike and Motocross Maniacs titles. Unfortunately, various publishing pitfalls and shifting markets prevented it from ever arriving on its intended platforms, the GameBoy Advance and subsequently the DS. By early 2007, with no hope of a retail release in sight, developer DHG Games decided to put the project to rest and give away the completed game for free via their website. While not standing to profit from all their hard work, at the very least a small amount of players among the homebrew community would have the opportunity to enjoy their creation using a GBA emulator or flash cart.

Fast-forward to 2010, where it's relatively easy publishing a game to Apple's App Store, and Motocross Challenge is being given a second chance at life. It's a touching story of perseverance, but ultimately what matters is if the game itself is any good. Thankfully, it most definitely is, and five or six years ago it likely would have been a top selling GBA game. It still holds up really well today, and a lot of effort has gone into enhancing the game for the iPhone. But like many ports it does suffer from some of the common drawbacks that can befall a game when transitioning to a non-native platform.

The most glaring of these drawbacks is the immediately noticeable screen overlay. Since the game was originally designed for the GBA, it retains the aspect ratio and resolution of that system's screen. What this means is that the entire game is presented in a smaller window within the touch screen, with a virtual button overlay made up to look like a nondescript portable gaming system surrounding its border. It doesn't necessarily look bad, and it functions properly, but you'll have to be accepting of the fact that there's not an option for a full screen mode. If you can get over this aesthetic hurdle, an highly entertaining gaming experience is waiting for you.

Much like the recently released Giant Moto, Motocross Challenge really nails the look and feel of its inspiration but offers a much more complete package overall. Graphically it looks like the high quality GBA game that it is, with impressive pixel art and colorful scrolling backgrounds. There's only one option for controls, but it works really well. Separate A and B buttons grace the right side of the screen for gas and nitro, and up and down arrows are set on the left side of the screen for controlling lane changes and performing tricks. Tilting the device affects the angle of the bike and allows for full frontflips and backflips if you can catch enough air. Once comfortable with the controls, it's simply a delight to play and actually feels like a natural evolution of the Excitebike formula.

There are 10 distinct track locations spread across 30 different events which include standard races against three AI opponents, time trials, and trick attacks. The trick attacks are especially enjoyable, and have you completing as many in-air stunts as you can during one lap. I've replayed these multiple times trying to improve my score just because it was such a blast. The campaign is broken up in a way that there's almost always a few choices of which events to partake in. In general the game is a bit on the easy side, but difficulty does ramp up nicely towards the latter half. The entire game can be completed in only a couple of hours, but that doesn't diminish how absolutely fun it is to play through. In addition, OpenFeint integration provides leaderboards, challenges, and achievements that extend the replay value a great deal.

The road Motocross Challenge traveled before finally arriving on the App Store was a tumultuous one. What was originally planned to have sold for $20 or $30 on Nintendo's handheld a few years ago can now be had for an introductory price of just 99¢. Despite a couple of funky aspects due to the translation to this platform, the core experience remains incredibly fun. It's obvious DHG Games is a talented developer, and it would be interesting to see what they could do in creating a game built specifically for Apple's device. Until then, Motocross Challenge is by far the best option available for scratching that Excitebike itch.

App Store Link: Motocross Challenge, $0.99

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Qbism from Blowfish Studios is an interesting new game that stands out in the sea of iPhone puzzle games. The premise of the game is fairly simple. You have a three dimensional shape made up of smaller cubes. The shape is "empty", showing just the outline, and the cubes that are to make it up are scattered about the screen. It's your job to slide each cube into an appropriate space in the empty outline to create the shape. It's a clever concept, and is executed really well in Qbism.

Qbism is all about perspective, and forces you to think in three dimensions. From one angle, it may look like you've slid all your cubes into the right place. Then you spin the puzzle to a different angle, and realize that one of your pieces is way out of position. Oftentimes there are cubes that belong in the middle of the puzzle, surrounded by other cubes. You have to think ahead so as not to block your path to the middle of the shape. With some puzzles I've swore I had it figured out correctly, only to find that when I ripped apart all the pieces I had just put together there was a blank spot I had blocked that went unseen. It only gets more complicated as the puzzles increase in size to 4×4 and 5×5, as the initial puzzles are 3×3 and can still be quite difficult.

Levels are unlocked linearly, one after another. This means that if you get stuck on a certain level, you can't really progress. Thankfully, it sounds like this is being rectified in an update. If you do end up getting stuck on any of the puzzles, you can choose Hint from the Options screen. This clears the field of all cubes and allows you to spin the outline in any direction, giving you a better idea of the puzzle's overall shape.

The aesthetics of this game are clean and simple, but it still manages to look pretty impressive. The cubes are shaded nicely and the shadows change dynamically as the puzzle is moved around. In the options screen, you can choose to use cubes of several different solid colors or cubes made of wood grains. Both look quite nice.

When you slide a cube into a correct position, a smattering of tiny stars burst from the placed cube, signaling it's in a valid spot. You can use this visual cue to help you solve the puzzle easier, as well as the counter in the upper right corner that keeps track of how many cubes are in a correct position out of the total cubes available. Once the puzzle is complete, the three dimensional object can be spun in any direction with your finger, which allows you to appreciate it for a few moments before moving on to the next puzzle. The accompanying menus and UI are simple to negotiate and look nice as well. Puzzle games don't generally need to blow your mind with graphics, but Qbism still manages to be really visually pleasing.

The thing that makes me like this game the most is that it really caters to both casual and hardcore players. There's no set time limit, and you're free to toy around with any of the puzzles for as long as you want until you figure it out. But all the while, they are tracking how long it takes you to complete a puzzle, total times you moved cubes, and total times you spun the puzzle.

If you enjoy puzzle games, this is a great purchase. It has a relaxing effect as you mull over a puzzle and move shapes into place, reminiscent of Zen Bound in a way. And if you want it to, it has a fantastic amount of re-playability by way of improving your previous scores. There's over 100 puzzles to unlock, and based on Blowfish Studio's posts in the forum thread, there are some meaty extra modes coming very soon via updates. There is a lite to try, so no excuse not to check this game out.

App Store Link: Qbism, $1.99, Qbism Lite, Free

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There are a lot of crazy rhythm games on the App Store, including the recently released Thumpies, but Bulkypix's Maestro Green Groove takes the cake in being the most insane musical game I've played so far on my iPhone.

Maestro Green Groove is a crazy combination of a beat matching and platforming. You control a pink duck who struts along the level, and by swiping up or down you pluck the rope he's running across to make him either jump or fall down. Fruit are scattered throughout the level, and each fruit you pick up plays a musical note. Also, there are special strings that glow which must be strummed by swiping across them just as the glow is completely fading. To make things even more complicated, various monsters pop up which must be tapped to eliminate at the same time the circle that appears comes in to contact with them.

If you manage to do all these things at the right time, you'll actually be playing a piece of classical music. The way it all flows together is nuts, and there is so much going on at once that you're frantically swiping your finger and tapping that the first few times you go through a song there's little you can do to not end up failing and having to do it over again. After a little practice, you're bombing through levels watching your smug smiling duck parade around as you bust out Beethoven's 5th. It's awesome.

Here's a video of me doing poorly:

According to Bulkypix, Maestro Green Groove is "nearly ready" to be launched on the App Store, and when it finally appears for download it will be priced at 99¢.

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Late last month IUGO announced their new dual stick shooter, Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet [App Store] which appeared for download not long ago. In the game you play as Daisy Mae, valiant heroine of a desert trailer park, who defends Earth from a never-ending swarm of aliens with nothing other than her good looks and guns… lots of guns.

The atmosphere of the game is straight out of a classic B-movie, with everything from the numerous ridiculous weapons, to the silly looking aliens, and Daisy Mae's clothing which gets more and more skimpy as you unlock additional outfits. There whole game is even wrapped in a film grain filter that I think looks really cool but is easily disabled in the options if you don't like it.

Gameplay is standard for a dual stick survival shooter. You have three lives, and can restore lost lives by picking up lipstick power-ups. As you kill more and more aliens, a meter fills in the bottom of the screen that you can tap to taunt nearby aliens, which apparently makes them drop dead. There are a bunch of different aliens to kill, and even some giant aliens which take up a huge chunk of the screen.

My favorite thing about Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet is that it seems to be one of the few dual stick shooters that actually has collision detection with obstacles in the game world. You can use the old cars, signs, and random garbage strewn about to your advantage, and it really adds a lot more to the game compared to other dual stick shooters where you can usually just run in circles killing everything that's chasing you.

Daisy Mae is certainly one of the more newbie-friendly shooters out there, thanks to the three control options it includes. Aside from the standard dual sticks you can just use one virtual joystick and a button to fire, or simply just use the virtual joystick and let the game handle firing for you. With this third control option the game basically plays itself, and you really don't even have to move until the meaner aliens start spawning.

Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet is a fun survival shooter with tons of weapons and a cool atmosphere to it. An in-depth stat tracking system keeps track of kills with each of the weapons, total play time, and numerous other stats. Scores are even seamlessly submitted online without needing to register, but like other IUGO games you can optionally participate in the IUGO VIP system. The taunts and unlockable outfits are equally ridiculous, but the addition of terrain collision detection easily makes Daisy Mae worth trying, even if your device is already loaded with other shooters.

App Store Link: Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet, $1.99

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Vertical shooters are one of the oldest genres in gaming, and developers have been trying to figure out a way to create games that stand out amongst the crowded market for just as long. Eveningstar [App Store], developed by Divine Robot, does a good job of mixing up its tried-and-true gameplay with a unique element: a secondary weapon that's controlled in a unique and interesting way.

There is a backstory for Eveningstar that's accessible in text form through the main menu, but it's not really important. The important thing is that you are a dude in spaceship with a deadly magnetic ball called "the Eveningstar" orbiting you. The Eveningstar does major damage to anything it touches, and while it can't be controlled directly, it can be manipulated by moving your ship around to create a slingshot effect. Your ship is controlled by touching anywhere on the screen and dragging, and the Eveningstar follows behind. People in our forums found it quite difficult to control the Eveningstar at first, but reported becoming much better at it after spending a little time with the game.

Aesthetically, Eveningstar impresses. Each of the game's nine levels are set in different elementally-themed locations that draw from unique color palettes. These levels and the enemies that populate them are extremely well drawn, with animation that looks great and feels appropriate for the game's art direction. The occasional 3D effects on some objects seems a little strange, but despite the inconsistency in which items are 3D and which items are not, everything looks good. Complimenting Eveningstar's pleasant graphics is the orchestral soundtrack, which is of professional quality. The epic score makes headphones highly recommendable, as they can add to the overall experience in a way that really shouldn't be missed.

Unlike many other vertically-scrolling shooters, Eveningstar's camera is extremely slow to scroll, making the game intentionally slow-paced. This might be for the best, as there's a pretty cool physics system in the game attributed to some objects that can be manipulated by a well-placed whack with the Eveningstar. To keep levels at a reasonable length, most of the game's nine levels are extremely short (from a physical length perspective, not the time that it takes to beat them). It won't take long to beat the game, but completing all nine levels will restart players at the first level with their current score, encouraging endurance runs for those who wish to go for high scores.

Unfortunately, there is no online leaderboard support to speak of in Eveningstar, so players will be hard-pressed to find incentive to play through the game more than a couple times. The inclusion of easy, medium, and hard difficulty settings (the latter of which is a real challenge) was a wise move on the part of the developer that will add replay value to the game, but online leaderboards seem like an absolute must if Eveningstar is to totally connect with its audience. Even with the omission of leaderboards, Eveningstar is an attractive game that's well worth checking out.

App Store Link: Eveningstar, $1.99

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