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Grumpyface Studios released their first iOS game called Wispin [$1.99/Lite] for the iPhone and iPod touch last November. Wispin is a unique take on arcade-style arena battling games and used a color coded system of combat that had you matching the colors of your foes in order to defeat them. The gameplay was fun and decidedly different from any similar games, and the wonderful art style gave it a certain charm that was hard not to like.

While we really enjoyed the game in our original review, there were a few hiccups associated with a first time release, mostly dealing with finicky controls. Grumpyface updated Wispin several times since then, incrementally improving the entire experience and tightening up the controls. The culmination of this was the 1.1 version released in early February which finally struck upon a solid feel for the controls as well as added a brand new level, a new enemy, and an assortment of other goodies.

With all the rough edges finally smoothed away, Grumpyface went to work on a native iPad release of Wispin which has just gone live in the App Store. Wispin HD [$2.99] retains all the core elements of its iPhone counterpart but comes with a few iPad-only features to accommodate the device’s larger screen. Each level is expanded accordingly to fit within the larger play area, and the controls are now completely customizable with the ability to drag and place them wherever you choose.

There’s not currently a video of the iPad version as its too new, but if you’re completely unfamiliar with Wispin then the original trailer will give you a good idea of the game:

Wispin has remained one of my favorite games since its release, and now iPad owners have the ability to experience it in a version that is tailored for their device. There is a ton of fast-paced and strategic gameplay in Wispin, with achievements and leaderboards using Game Center that will have you giving it “just one more go” for a new high score. There are plenty more positive impressions in our forums, and if you’ve been holding off on Wispin until an iPad version was released then now is your chance to get in on the action.

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When talking about tired genres, people tend to first turn to tower defense and match 3, then to falling brick games (Tetris), followed by anything with the words "stick" and "doodle". RoboSockets [99¢], being somewhere in the gray area between match 3 and falling brick (but staying far away from the stick/doodle realm) would generally not be my cup of tea, but after a few levels I found myself playing. And playing… still playing.

The goal of RoboSockets, setting the story aside for a bit, is to connect robots to one another in groups of five or more. Each robot that falls has 0-4 hands, with each hand pointing in a different cardinal direction. By placing the robots next to each other, assuming they have hands that are linking, they latch on to each other to create robot chains. Once you've linked 5+ robots together, they poof away in a cloud of dust, simultaneously adding to your robit-link fulfillment that you need to pass the level.

It all seems easy in a Tetris sense, but the pieces that fall in RoboSockets fall as-is. No rotation, no flipping; all you can do with the robots is move them right, left, and quickly down. Like any good block drop game made after 1985, RoboSockets also arms you with an arsenal of side abilities (such as the wonderful ability to clear off the random bot with no arms) and does a good job of dropping random objects onto the playing field. The mix of randomized objects is pretty good too, tossing you such objects as a column busting mega drill and, my personal favorite, a little bot that pushes the blocks next to it to the side (and off the screen).

What really separates RoboSockets from the majority of the block drop/ match 3 (5?) pool is that it really does a good job of pushing out a nice presentation. There is a simple story of a planet of robots trying to repair their deactivated land, but the pervasive robot theme (complete with hydraulic crushers that smash away the pause/loading screens) really works. The graphics are also fairly nice, though not fantastically amazing, with fun looking robots and detailed backgrounds and animations in every level. I would've liked to have seen some high quality (or any) cutscenes to flush out the story further, but the simple level explanations drive the game along just fine.

While not for everyone, RoboSockets is definitely one of the more interesting falling block games that I've seen in a while. Its strong mix of innovative gameplay and robot presentation really work for the genre… a genre that is typically synonymous with being quite drab. If you are a fan of the genre, or are just looking for a quick game to pass the time during your morning commute, I definitely recommend snagging RoboSockets.

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Back at Macworld in January, I met up with Lee Dotson of Zarksoft to check out their first iOS game Empire of the Eclipse. Zarksoft is comprised of 3 core members with a wealth of experience in the gaming industry, and Empire of the Eclipse is an ambitious undertaking for their first project. It’s a massively multiplayer online strategy game that’s really unlike anything available on the App Store thus far. At the time Lee wasn’t quite ready to show off Empire of the Eclipse on video, and due to the sheer scope and complexity of the game it would be difficult to really get a sense of it with just words and screenshots alone.

Last Friday at GDC, I met up with Zarksoft again to see how the development of Empire of the Eclipse has come along in the weeks since Macworld. The game is showing a lot of promise, and although it’s not really the type of game that appeals to a wide audience it should serve a niche group of gamers quite well with what it has to offer. Each game takes place in an entire galaxy, the size of which is determined by the amount of players which can be 1000+ per game. That galaxy is the broken down into sectors, and even further into solar systems comprised of multiple planets.

During play you’ll be able to harvest resources and build several types of ships to amass an armada that is able to take control of solar systems, sectors, and eventually the galaxy. Of course there are many other players all trying to do the same thing, and tensions are sure to rise as you begin to encroach on each others’ territories. There’s a very deep combat and skill system in the game, and support for real time chat and an email-style player messaging system should you want to negotiate a collaboration with other players (at least temporarily) to facilitate your galaxy domination.

What I think really impresses me about Empire of the Eclipse is that for such a complex game Zarksoft has crafted a really friendly UI. Almost anything can be accessed from a top menu bar, and there’s several different ways to access and view the information pertaining to your game at any time. What could easily be a mess of menu screens and cumbersome solar system navigation has been streamlined and made intuitive, and a nice tutorial will ease players into the many facets of Empire of the Eclipse. You can see a bit of this in the brief introduction video that I shot at GDC, which really only scratches the surface of the game:

One interesting aspect to Empire of the Eclipse is that each game is finite and should take approximately 2 months to complete, rather than being an ongoing persistent game. You’ll be able to have multiple games going at once, each with a clearcut winner at the end. The gameplay is also geared towards mobile play, so you can pop in and play for a few minutes at a time without having to constantly babysit what’s going on. Also, unlike many MMO games on iOS that take a freemium approach and require a steep monetary commitment to be able to make any sort of meaningful progress, Empire of the Eclipse will launch for free as a complete game and utilize Apple’s recently introduced subscription service. It will cost $1.99 per month to play and can be cancelled at any time.

There’s definitely a lot of great ideas in Empire of the Eclipse, and it will be interesting to see how they all work out when the full version launches. Zarksoft is in the beta testing stage and is hoping to have the game out by the end of March, and we’ll take another look at the game when it launches.

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We've got some seriously good news from GDC 2011 for our retro game-loving readers out there. A pile of Bitmap Brothers Amiga classics are on the way to iOS from two different developers.

This morning we spoke with KavCom games who demonstrated an iOS version of Z, a real-time strategy game that was originally released in 1996. The game consists of two armies of robots battling for control of a series of planets. We captured a bit gameplay video of a pre-release build on both the iPhone and iPad. The video won't mean much to those unfamiliar of the series, but should show existing fans a taste of the upcoming iOS version.

Z was highly rated and very popular game during its time. We'll have more information and screenshots about the game shortly.

And, if that's not enough…this afternoon we met with John Hare of Tower Games who developed the iOS port of the recently released Bitmap Brothers cybersports classic Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe. Among other titles (which we will detail shortly), Tower Games is planning to bring a many other Bitmap Brothers classics over to iOS, including Xenon 2 Megablast, Gods, The Chaos Engine, and Magic Pockets.

Hare was also associated with Sensible Software, creators of the Sensible Soccer series. He indicates that Tower will be bringing forth a soccer title that utilizes the Speedball 2 engine.

There is no specific timeline for these coming, at present.

This is outstanding news for both retro fans as well as iOS gamers that never had a chance to experience these landmark titles. We'll bring more news on all of this as we hear it.

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Early last week we posted the first video of Team Phobic’s newest iOS game Undead Island [$1.99], and as of today it is now available for download in the App Store. Team Phobic has honed their platforming craft with Bounce On [$1.99/Lite] and its sequel Bounce On 2: Drallo’s Demise [$3.99/Lite], and now they’ve taken this expertise to create an action/platforming hybrid with Undead Island. The game features 16 levels to play through, all of which are quite lengthy and are loaded with secret areas and alternate paths. The main protagonist, a female ninja, comes equipped with a katana melee attack, a powerful sword blast charge attack, shurikens to toss at foes, and the ability to double jump.

In essence, Undead Island feels very much like the classic action-platformers from the arcade and 16-bit eras. The level designs are very good, with a ton of areas to explore and secret bonuses to find. There are also plenty of environmental hazards to avoid, like breakaway bridges and swinging axes, as well as hordes of undead enemies to hack away at. The controls are really simple and work well, with either a touch slider or tilting for movement and a button each for jumping and attacking. The levels are timed, so you can try to rush through before the timer ends for an added bonus or take your time exploring every nook and cranny.

Undead Island's colorful hand drawn artwork is sharp and Retina Display ready, and there are some lighting touches based on what time of the day it is depending on the level you’re playing. Also, each enemy is comprised of multiple parts and feature ragdoll physics, so you can hack away and lop off arms or heads and watch bodies flop around the environment. There’s something just fun about jumping up and down on a suspension bridge to bounce a pile of zombie parts all over. It’s disgusting, and awesome.

Based on all of their previous work, it seems like it’s a challenge for Team Phobic to create a game that’s not a lot of fun. I’ve always really liked the Bounce On series for getting my platform fix, and Undead Island is another strong entry in the genre with a more action-oriented focus. The included levels can be beaten relatively quickly, but the game can be very challenging and there is plenty of incentive to replay levels to discover secrets and compete for higher scores on the Game Center leaderboards. There is the possibility of updating the game with additional level-filled islands in the future, if the demand is there, and there will also be a free prequel coming out in the next couple of months that will serve as a sort of demo to the full Undead Island game.

Early impressions are rolling into our forums and have been really positive, and if you’ve enjoyed any of Team Phobic’s previous games or if you enjoy action-platformers in general, then Undead Island is definitely worth a look.

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While we're barely able to keep up with GDC insanity, the massive announcement of the iPad 2 and all the other craziness taking place this week Chair decided to go releasing a major update to their Unreal Engine-powered sword fighter Infinity Blade [$2.99]. The update, dubbed "The Deathless Kings" adds an entirely new dungeon, new enemies, as well as six new arenas which apparently double the size of the game.

Hardcore players will be able to start a new game+, which removes the level cap, allows for re-mastering of items, and unlocks brand new items in the store. In all, 30 new items have been added to the game and new achievements have been added to farm as well. Of course, there have been various tweaks made to the game to make it even better too.

We absolutely loved Infinity Blade in our review, and recommend anyone with an iPad or recent iOS device pick it up while it's on sale. This massive update just further sweetens the deal.

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The golden gate bridge is in sight, the aroma of Moons Over My Hammy fills the air, and an army of people wearing name tags are wandering about town. This can only mean one thing! Well, I suppose it could mean many things but in our case it's the kick-off of GDC in beautiful San Francisco, California. First held in 1988, GDC seems to have grown exponentially and has changed with market trends over the years. With the advent of the App Store, the conference has substantially shifted gears to be surprisingly iOS-centric, filled with developers from all over the world anxious to sit in on iOS talks and meet fellow iOS game makers.

But what does this mean to you, faithful TouchArcade reader? It just so happens that all of these developers absolutely love meeting with people like us to show off their up and coming games, share ideas, and otherwise just spill their guts on what they've been up to and what they plan on doing in the future. Looking back at our GDC 2009 and GDC 2010 coverage, we saw tons of cool games. Judging by our meeting schedule, which couldn't possibly be more insane, we're going to have even more cool stuff to write about this year. (Particularly so as Apple seems intent on crashing the event by unveiling the iPad 2 this Wednesday barely a block away from where GDC is taking place.)

If you're a developer, we look forward to meeting with you. If you don't have an appointment with us yet, it's not too late, but we'll likely need to get creative with when and where we meet. Send me an IM via AOL Instant Messenger. My screen name is ioburn [Status: ]. If you don't have an AIM account, signing up is easy and only takes a second. Alternatively, AIM even connected to Facebook and Google Talk, if you would rather use that. Of course you can also email at tips@toucharcade.com, it just won't be anywhere near as fast. (Be sure to put "GDC 2011" somewhere in the subject for email filters.)

Also, don't forget about our party on Wednesday night at Bin 55 in the lobby of the Marriott. We're going to kick things off at 8:00 PM and go until they kick us out, which should be sometime between 11:00 PM and midnight. Find someone from TouchArcade and we'll trade you your business card for a fancy schmancy TouchArcade tyvek bracelet for free drinks. (If you don't have a business card, a GDC pass will suffice.)

Likely the best way to track us down and follow what we're doing at GDC will be via Twitter. Here's our array of Twitter accounts:

• @hodapp – Eli Hodapp
• @arnoldkim – Arnold Kim
• @blakespot – Blake Patterson
• @jaredta – Jared Nelson
• @nicholsonb – Brad Nicholson

Let's get this conference kickin'!

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Back in October we reported that the classic Bitmap Brothers Atari ST / Amiga / DOS Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe would be making its way to iOS in the form of Speedball 2: Evolution. Moments ago, the game went live in the App Store as a Universal application for both iPhone and iPad [link] and we've taken a close look over the past few days.

Speedball 2 is a futuristic cybersport that's something of a mix between handball and ice hockey. The game takes place between two opposing teams — nine players to a team — in an enclosed, metal arena littered with power-ups and arrayed in warp portals and various score-enhancing mechanisms. Points are scored by getting the metallic ball past the opposing defense and into the goal, but brutality and violence are rewarded along the way. The overall feel is something akin to Atari's earlier, football-inspired arcade cybersport Cyberball, I've always felt. It's nicely visceral.

The first thing to say about the iOS version of Speedball 2 is that it's an enhanced version of the classic Atari ST original. I note that right off, due to the fact that a remake of the game was released on the Xbox Live Arcade, featuring "enhanced" 3D graphics…which were anything but. They were 3D, but they were awkward and poorly animated and did not compare to the "classic" mode's top-down, 2D graphics of the original. Speedball 2: Evolution for iOS takes the original's 2D graphics and enhances them while leaving them in their original orientation, making the iOS release the best looking version of Speedball 2 to date.

The list of things Speedball 2: Evolution brings to the table is vast. There are 336 individual players, 20 in-field power-ups, 16 classic Speedball teams along with 12 new intergalactic teams, a 10-season career mode, 10 single-player modes, a multiplayer mode (Bluetooth & WiFi), six arenas on four different planets, and 22 achievements in all. It's an impressive list. The various play modes allow for long-term team-building or just a quick detached match — whatever suits you.

I, personally, spent more time with the original Speedball back in the day, than with the sequel, and so certain enhancements over said original stand out to me. Among them are the arrays of stars for each team on the arena walls that add points when illuminated by a tag from the ball, sets of spiral ramps situated on the sidelines that alter point-multipliers, and the electrobounce chargers that turn the ball into a weapon. That's not to mention the many power-ups that can be collected during the game, such as those that provide faster movement, body armour, or even freeze the opposing team in place.

Speedball 2 offers tilt controls as well as an optional onscreen D-Pad. I found that I like the tilt controls better than those of most iOS games, but more precision is offered by the onscreen D-pad, which is centered where you touch, adding a nice bit of flexibility. It's a tap anywhere to pass the ball, and a tap-and-hold to perform a high, long-distance pass or to jump to catch such a pass.

In evaluating the game for this review I spent notable time with the Atari ST original to see how it compares to the iOS release — and had fun in the doing. After playing both titles side-to-side, I have to say that the iOS version is a bit steeper in the difficulty department than the ST original. Also, graphically the iOS version is notably superior to the ST version. I'd call the two pretty well matched on the fun scale, though I was a little more successful on the field on the ST due to its somewhat lower level of difficulty. And, I don't think it was about the controls — of course the Atari version with a physical stick controlled better, but it was more about the game as presented.

Speedball 2, and its classic predecessor Speedball, brought the excellent Cyberball mechanic to the home, and Speedball 2: Evolution does likewise to the App Store. This is a classic arcade-style sports game that is more about fun than about simulation and accuracy. And, if you're the kind of gamer that takes sports on a pretty casual level like I do, that's a win.

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As an avid fan of the retro aesthetic, it's with a hopeful heart that I try out every retro game in the App Store that I come across. Sadly, all too often the charm ends right there — with the aesthetic. But, on the occasions where all those blocky pixels and glowing vectors are backed up by addictive gameplay, I'm a happy gamer, indeed. And a happy gamer is what two titles from Dan Bliss at BinarySquare have made me. They're not new releases, but titles we seem to have overlooked for whatever reason and it's only in the last month or so that I've spent real time with them.

Dragon Panic - $0.99

Originally released almost two years ago, Dragon Panic [App Store] is a cute little dodge and blast game that looks like something you'd see on a Sega Master System.

The game puts you in tilt-based control of one of two dragons, Berny or Blaze, trapped in a sort of dungeon of horrors. Said horrors come in the form of spears, skulls, arrows, and potions falling from above. You must run about the dungeon, blasting the falling implements with a ball of flame that can only be fired diagonally upward at a fixed angle. If you miss and an object hits the floor, it cracks a floor stone, which will shatter on a second impact, cutting you off from a section of the dungeon. If an object hits you, it's game over. And, blasting one of the potions grants a boon, such as eliminating all falling objects onscreen, replacing a missing floor stone, or adding a ricochet to your fireballs.

Just going on the description alone Dragon Panic might seem like an overly simple, unremarkable game, but after one round I was hooked. It packs a definite just-one-more-time draw to rank on the leaderboards.

SpaceBlast HD - $1.99

An iPad-only title, SpaceBlast HD [App Store] (no relation to the earlier SpaceBlast for iPhone) is a straight-up Asteroids clone that does a great job of capturing the glowing vector aesthetic — complete with a slight flicker — of the classic Atari shooter.

Destroy the rocks and stay alive is the name of the game, as you'd expect, and black holes, weapons upgrades, and an online scoreboard are planned in a future update.

SpaceBlast HD's "vectors" are semi-trasnlucently rendered over a space scene backdrop, an effect that evokes the old cardboard + mirror + CRT arrangement that added color to certain vintage arcade cabinets. Below the playfield are onscreen buttons for rotation, thrust, shields, fire, and hyperspace that "clack" like the real thing.

I'm hoping most readers have played a game of Asteroids at some point. SpaceBlast HD is the closest thing I've seen to that experience on the iPad.

Dan Bliss previously brought us the retro-inspired Buganoids, Kerplinkus, and Space Out.

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