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Developer THQ Wireless is flexing their Star Wars license once again with the announcement of Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner. THQ has brought a number of Star Wars licensed games to the App Store, including Star Wars: Battle for Hoth [$2.99/Lite] and Star Wars: Trench Run [$2.99]. This newly announced Falcon Gunner game takes a slightly different approach, unsurprisingly placing you in the gunner's seat on the Millenium Falcon and having you blast away at enemies in an augmented reality style overlay.

We've seen these kinds of games before, but admittedly Star Wars: Falcon Gunner looks to be a fairly high quality effort with a nicely modeled gunner interior and the wonderful authentic Star Wars music and sound effects that I'm such a sucker for. You'll be able to point your device's camera at anything and watch the onslaught of TIE Fighters and other enemies come gunning for you, which leaves open the possibility for some humorous dogfighting locations (“Imperial TIE Fighter heading straight at us from the litter box sir!”).

Of course if you aren't in an area that features an appropriate battle environment, Star Wars: Falcon Gunner will come equipped with some pre-rendered backgrounds where you can play as well. This video shows Falcon Gunner being played with New York City as a backdrop:

Not many other details are known about Star Wars: Falcon Gunner at this time, though THQ is shooting for a mid-November release. Though the game won't necessarily need to use the camera since it has the option of built in backgrounds, it looks like it will only be compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and 4th generation iPod touch which are all camera equipped. We'll have more from Star Wars: Falcon Gunner as it gets closer to release later this month, and you can drop by the upcoming games thread in our forums for some discussion on the game.

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Last week we took a look at a new video for upcoming boxing game Beast Boxing 3D [$2.99/Lite] from Goodhustle Studios. The video boasted some impressive looking character models and fluid animations, but my biggest concern was how the game would control since that had been a sticking point for me with previous boxing games. Just a couple days after our preview post, Beast Boxing 3D popped up on the App Store. After spending the majority of my weekend with the game, I can happily say that the visuals are even more impressive in person and the controls work like a charm. It's over fairly quickly and the overall mechanics are pretty simple, but Beast Boxing 3D is a lot of fun while it lasts and the simplicity actually works to make it a more enjoyable experience given the touch screen interface.

In Beast Boxing 3D, you'll play as a human who enters a “beasts only” boxing federation as a means of making money and escaping your slum lifestyle. A clever costume convinces the other beasts that you're one of them, and the trainer at the local gym takes you under his wing as you rise up the ranks. The career mode spans 9 different opponents, each with their own distinct style and special moves. In between fights you can hit the gym where you're able to spend coins collected during matches on upgrades to your boxer. Also you can rematch any previously defeated opponent to earn some extra coins if you feel like you need additional upgraded abilities before your next career match.

The control scheme in Beast Boxing 3D is really simple and responsive. The screen is split in half, with the gestures performed on either side of the screen corresponding to your left or right arm. Quick taps are used to perform jabs, short horizontal swipes for hooks, and vertical swipes for uppercuts. Holding a thumb down on each side of the screen blocks and tilting moves your boxer to the left and right within the ring. There isn't the ability to perform body blows, which may be essential if you're looking for a pure boxing experience, but their absence actually benefits the arcade nature of Beast Boxing 3D. It's the kind of game that anybody can pick up easily, but it still retains a ton of strategy in how you use your boxer's moves and deal with the capable AI opponents.

While it won't take long to work your way through the 9 opponents in the career mode if you're playing on Casual difficulty, Gamer and Hardcore difficulties will really test your skills. Unlike the Punch-Out! games that Beast Boxing 3D draws inspiration from, your opponents won't follow a set pattern of attacks. If you use the same combos over and over they will adapt to your offense, requiring you to mix up your strategy. This aspect of the game is really well done, and gives each match a natural feel that increases the replay value quite a bit. Rematching defeated opponents for some extra cash can be necessary to purchase upgrades that help you progress through the game, but often I found myself jumping into a quick rematch with an opponent just for the sheer fun of it.

Beast Boxing 3D is exactly the kind of boxing game I've been waiting for. The controls and game mechanics are simple, but there is subtle strategy that runs fairly deep and the intelligent opponent AI ensures that the game doesn't wear too thin. It's an absolutely gorgeous game, and although it doesn't currently support Retina Display graphics you'd be hard pressed to tell, as it looks fantastic even without it. Goodhustle has stated in our forums that high resolution graphics are a possibility for the future, but new characters and arenas are a higher priority. The current price of $2.99 is a limited introductory price, and should jump up to $4.99 soon. There is a lite version to try, so if you're looking for an excellent boxing game for your iOS device then make sure to at least check out the lite version of Beast Boxing 3D.

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Back in the early days of March, we previewed an upcoming dual-stick shooter called Revolt. The video for Revolt showcased some very nice looking 3D visuals, destructible environments, and some incredible lighting. Even more impressive, however, was that Revolt was being created by just a three man development team. Revolt also looks to add a greater strategic element than what is found in most other dual-stick shooters, with careful weapon and ammunition management required to be successful.

Earlier tonight, Revolt [$1.99] finally went live in the US App Store. It features 8 story-based levels and a whopping 20 different survival arenas to blast through over 3 difficulty levels. A number of upgradeable weapons and armor are at your disposal to take out a range of different enemies and boss characters. In addition to these gameplay features, Revolt is a universal build with Retina Display support and Game Center/Openfeint integration.

Here is some early gameplay footage from a hands-on preview we did on Revolt back in March:

It should be noted that the developers don't recommend Revolt for owners of 1st generation devices, and warn that the game may not perform very well on anything lower than 3rd generation devices. Interestingly they also already have the first update completed for Revolt, as mentioned on their blog, and further versions will look to address performance on older devices as well as add new features to the game. We'll be taking a much closer look at Revolt once we've put it through its paces. Until then, you can check out the early impressions pouring into our forums that are so far fairly positive. Or you can just dive in head first and take advantage of the introductory price of $1.99.

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Just in time for Halloween comes word of an official Evil Dead game coming to the App Store. For those that don't know, Evil Dead is a campy 80s horror movie directed by Sam Raimi (yes, the director of the Spider-Man movies) that follows a group of college kids as they spend the weekend in a remote cabin in the Tennessee woods. They accidentally unleash demons into the world by using The Book of the Dead, and all manner of Hell breaks loose. Main character Ash (the "King of All B-Movies" Bruce Campbell) spends all night fending off his friends as they each become infected with evil spirits. Evil Dead has become a cult classic horror film in the nearly 30 years since it was released.

We literally have no details about the upcoming game, but are impressed with how faithfully the game represents the original film in this trailer:

We're eager to find out any more information about this Evil Dead game that is coming to our iOS devices, but so far the developers are remaining hush about any specifics. What's interesting is that the trailer seems to use the actual audio directly from the movie itself, and what is shown closely mimics the events in the movie as well (though with Nintendo Mii-like characters). Also, this comes after the announcement of an Army of Darkness (the third movie in the Evil Dead trilogy) iOS game coming next year, but it doesn't appear that the two games are related aside from subject matter. We'll bring you any more news on this game as we get it, and until then I'll just pop in my Evil Dead Necronomicon Edition DVD and patiently wait.

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Id Software's Rage is high up on my list of games I can't wait to play. It's going to be released on the PC and home consoles on September 3rd, 2011, and spinoff game for iOS devices is also in the works that is coming this November. The Bethesda Blog posted a developer diary of sorts by John Carmack today which is filled with some great technical details and newly revealed information on their upcoming Rage-based iOS game, Mutant Bash TV.

Starting things out, John admits that mobile development at Id hasn't been on the top of the priority list, and it wasn't until the end of July that he even started writing the engine that would power the iPhone game. (We saw the results at QuakeCon.) In the post, Carmack also reveals that while with this engine it's technically possible to compile the full-blown PC/console version of Rage for the iPhone, he describes it as a "hopelessly bad idea," citing inappropriate performance tradeoffs and control differences.

He admits what they do have is fun, and unlike anything else available for the iOS. After seeing the success of Myst, which is a 700MB download, that became their target file size for the "standard definition" version of the game. The "high definition" version for the iPad and iPhone 4 will be twice that size. Carmack then goes on to explain that the full version of Rage weighs in at an incredible 20GB. Even more surprising, this game is going to launch at 99¢ for the standard version, and $1.99 for the HD. Carmack thinks "people will be very happy with the value."

But what is this game going to be all about? John explains in detail:

The little slice of RAGE that we decided to build the iPhone product around is “Mutant Bash TV”, a post apocalyptic combat game show in the RAGE wasteland. This is the perfect setup for a quintessential first person shooter game play experience — you pick your targets, aim your shots, time your reloads, dodge the bad guys, and try and make it through to the end of the level with a better score than last time. Beyond basic survival, there are pickups, head shots, and hit streak multipliers to add more options to the gameplay, and there is a broad range of skill levels available from keep-hitting-fire-and-you-should-make-it to almost-impossible.

A large goal of the project has been to make sure that the levels can be replayed many times. The key is making the gamplay itself the rewarding aspect, rather than story progression, character development, or any kind of surprises. Many of the elements that made Doom Resurrection good the first time you played it hurt the replayability, for instance. RAGE iOS is all action, all the time. I have played the game dozens of times, and testing it is still fun instead of a chore.

Carmack has built his life around making games that are not only technically impressive and beautiful, but also tons of fun to play. If gameplay is in fact the rewarding part of Mutant Bash TV, I can't wait to give it a try. This all is making the end of November seem even more far away.

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Glu's Gun Bros [Free] plays a lot like a typical dual stick shooter in that you're armed to the teeth with weaponry and need to survive in a battle against wave after wave of various baddies. Competition is getting tough in the dual stick shooter section of the App Store, with plenty of fantastic options to choose from, but Gun Bros offers a few features that makes it stand out from the pack. First off, it's free to download and monetized via in-game adds and optional in-app purchases for equipment upgrades. Also, instead of playing by yourself, you play with a computer controlled bro who assists you in slaughtering everything that moves.

It gets even cooler though. Utilizing Game Center, you can import your friends' characters in to your game which then substitutes your secondary bro with their bro. It's still computer controlled, but both you and your friend get all kinds of bonuses for helping each other's bros out.

Playing the game awards experience and xplodium which is then refined in to coins at the end of the level. Utilizing these coins and optional war bucks which you buy with real money, you can upgrade to 30 different types of guns and 50 different types of armor. Some items are only able to be purchased with war bucks, but if you're willing to grind up coins, you can still have a great time in Gun Bros without paying for anything.

If you're in to dual stick shooters, you need to give Gun Bros a try. It looks great on the Retina Display of the iPhone 4, and like any free to play game you can either go crazy with in-app purchases, or just play the game without paying anything. Either way, the Game Center bro sharing system is really cool, making Gun Bros worth checking out for that feature alone regardless of how you feel about freemium games.

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After taking a look at Lil' Pirates a couple of weeks ago, Capcom Mobile is keeping the casual social freemium game trend going with their recently announced Smurfs' Village. Smurfs' Village looks to mimic some of the same mechanics of other similar titles like We Farm [Free] and Farmville [Free], but wraps it up in gorgeous artwork based on the classic Smurfs franchise. While these kinds of games have proved to be insanely popular as of late, they aren't typically my kind of game personally. But as a fan of the Smurfs growing up, I must admit I'm intrigued by the concept of Smurfs' Village and can't deny that the screens are looking fantastic.

The game begins as the Smurfs' village has just been desecrated by their nemesis Gargamel. Papa Smurf guides you as you rebuild the village starting out with just a small house and plot of land. As the village grows, more specialized houses, gardens, and structures will become available. A crew of your favorite Smurf characters will join in as well, offering their own unique abilities. When you're not busy building your village you can partake in some mini games based on things like painting, baking and mixing potions with Papa Smurf. Facebook integration will allow you to share your Smurfing exploits socially with your buddies online. Click on any of the pictures below to get the full size high resolution image:

Smurfs' Village will be launching sometime in November, and will be free to download and play. As is the case with most freemium games, much of the progression will be constricted by timers, and you'll have the ability to purchase special Smurfberries that allow you to grow and construct your village more quickly if you choose. The sharp look of the artwork and allure of nostalgia has captured my interest for Smurfs' Village, and we'll be taking a closer look at the game when it launches for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad next month.

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Last night Chillingo's WackyLands Boss [99¢] hit the App Store, and turned gaming on its head by allowing you to quite literally play as the boss, slaying hordes of innocent knights, archers, wizards, and more leaving nothing but destruction in your wake. To sweeten the deal, you're not stuck with one boring old boss to play as either. Your boss is incredibly customizable with even more customization that unlocks as you play through the game.

Only one control option is included, and every action in the game is performed via tapping or swiping gestures. For instance, holding one side of the screen causes your boss to walk that way, tapping in a direction executes a quick attack, and swiping in a direction performs a slower but more powerful swing. Rolling to evade is accomplished by swiping up on either side of the screen, and picking up in-game objects involves swiping up on your boss.

It all sounds good, but in action, it leaves a little to be desired especially later in the game when precise control of your boss is required. As much as I hate to say it, I almost wish there was a virtual D-Pad and button option. WackyLands Boss reminds me a lot of Samurai: Way of the Warrior [$1.99] in that way too many deaths result from game disagreeing with what you're trying to get your character to do as you wildly tap and swipe trying to stay alive.

Once you do get a hang of the controls, WackyLands Boss is a lot of fun. Gameplay can be a little repetitive at times since you're basically just walking to the right murdering swaths of defenders, but this is greatly defrayed by an experience system. Leveling up unlocks more and more weapons, armors, special abilities, and evolutions for your boss. Using coins that you take from your victims, you can really trick out your boss by buying swords, clubs, shoes, and all kinds of other items that boost your stats. In addition, as you progress through the story you also unlock three simple but fun mini games.

WackyLands Boss is a game that's dripping with charm. Whether you decide to customize your boss to look like a bloodthirsty killer or any number of other silly combinations, it's a great time rampaging through the countryside tossing barrels of poison, eating princesses to regain health, and punching down castles. I'd like to see some more control options, but other than that, this is a beat-em-up that's easy to recommend.

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In July of last year, Team17 released their classic artillery battle game Worms [$2.99/HD] onto the App Store. It was great to see such a beloved franchise hit iOS devices, but unfortunately the game was plagued with a number of problems. Performance was subpar even on a then-new and more powerful iPhone 3Gs, and fans complained of certain missing weapons and lack of online play. The game was updated a number of times which resulted in much improved performance, but the promise of additional weaponry and online matches never actually materialized, though they did add a very nice Bluetooth multiplayer mode to the game.

Now Team17 has just released Worms 2: Armageddon [$4.99] to the App Store, and it essentially feels like what the first game was always meant to be. There is an incredible amount of weaponry in Worms 2, and local multiplayer with up to 4 players or 2 player battles online. A single player campaign contains 30 missions to play through across 5 brand new locations, with tons of different modes to try out. Also, many options are available to customize the look and sound of your worm teams as well as a number of unlockable items to earn.

In many ways, Worms 2: Armageddon feels more like Worms 1.5. The UI feels just like the last game, slightly clunky but manageable. The graphics also don't look any different, save for when running on the iPad, and the lower resolution visuals stick out on a Retina Display device. Online play is a nice addition but I can't help but wish for full 4 player support, as that's when Worms is really at its best. Overall it's a good game if you're a fan of Worms and are looking for the best available version for your iOS device, but if you were expecting leaps and bounds of progress over the first game then you will likely feel disappointed with this latest installment.

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Back in March of last year Fish Labs rolled out their space trading title Galaxy on Fire, giving folks like me who missed out on the 1984 classic Elite a chance to make a name for themselves out there among the stars. It's a great game that debuted with some difficulty issues, but they were resolved in short order and its universe has been enjoyed by many. Tonight, the studio released a new challenge for space jockeys everywhere, the sequel Galaxy on Fire 2 [App Store] for the iPhone, with an iPad version to follow close behind.

The game places you in the role of space fighter pilot Keith Maxwell who encounters a space anomaly and ends up adrift through the galaxy, to be rescued by a benevolent miner who helps you get back on your feet. You'll quickly find you've not only been transported to to the other side of the galaxy, but that you've woken up 35 years in the future. Kind of like Sigourney Weaver.

Your goal is to get back to your home system on the other side of the galaxy, but achieving that goal is going to take some time, and what better way to fill that time than by taking on various missions across the region's 20 star systems. You start out with a relatively weak, modestly outfitted ship, but there's money to be made and upgrades to be had along the way. Jobs ranging from cleaning up space garbage to mining asteroids to transporting goods to hunting pirates to rescuing kidnapped officers can be had in the various stations in each system on the vast star map. And, if that seems too harrowing, money can be made in the simple buying and selling of simple commodities from one station to another. Like father of the genre Elite, it's a game you can take at your own pace.

Each star system consists of a handfull of planets, each with a space station — there are 100 in all — complete with a hanger in which to buy and sell goods as well as a Space Lounge. In each station's lounge can be found individuals of many sorts, most of whom are eager to do business with you. Some want to send you to a neighboring planet to do their bidding, while others seek to send you to other systems much father afield, requiring a multi-leg journey across the star map, involving jumpgates that can send you to strange and distant systems. And all this against the backdrop of the tyranny of the evil alien race known as the Voids.

Seeing real success in the game required careful ship and equipment choices. For instance, some ships offer up the valuable contents of their cargo holds when destroyed, but without a pricey tractor beam, you can't touch them. The same goes for asteroid mining — without the proper gear, that booty is beyond your reach. It's all about successful missions and wise income management.

The game offers a choice of virtual stick or tilt-based controls with contextual action buttons to fire primary and secondary weapons. In addition, there are two view modes: standard and free view, which allows for swipe-based, any-angle  camera controls of the battlefield action with pinch and spread zoom support. The free view mode is an opportunity to partake in some real eye-candy, allowing you to contrive cinematic aspects through which to view the game's impressive starfields and volumetric dust clouds which take advantage of the iPhone 4's Retina display, where available. (And a different vantage can actually be helpful in a heated battle against a swarm of space pirates.) An option setting offers three different detail settings, the default being the highest on our iPad test system.

Hitting various gameplay milestones (returning to base nearly mangled, talking to more than 20 traders, etc.) will trigger in-game achievements, which are tied to integration with both OpenFeint and Apple's Game Center.

While I enjoyed the time I spent with the original Galaxy on Fire, the sequel feels a more well-rounded and immersive. More polished. Everything just kind of flows together more smoothly this time around. And, while I've spent a significant amount of time with a pre-release build, I've really only scratched the surface of the gameplay the title has to offer.

The space trading / commerce genre is certainly not a sparsely populated one out there across the many available gaming platforms. And in the App Store, Fish Labs isn't the only gig in town. But of the games of this sort I've spent time with, Galaxy on Fire 2 is the most approachable and satisfying on the platform, so I highly recommend it.

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