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Retro game fans — especially those with friends in meatspace — are in for a treat with Revolutionary Concept's latest release, Karate Champ XL. Shortly after Karate Champ for the iPhone hit the App Store we reported that the studio was hard at work on an iPad version that would feature a two-player, split-screen play mode. The wait is over and we're happy to report that Karate Champ XL for the iPad [App Store] has arrived.

Karate Champ, which was rated one of the 10 most influential games of all time by IGN, is a 1984 arcade fighter that was one of the very first 2D, side-perspective, face-to-face fighters to hit the arcades. In Karate Champ, the player controlls a karateka with two joysticks, one for movement and one for attacks, that together allowed for a wide variety of attack combination. It is a match for points as well as a race against the clock; if both fighters are still standing when the timer runs down, he with the most points wins. It's simple by today's fighter standards, but is appealingly so to many, myself included.

Karate Champ XL features everything that the iPhone version has to offer, and then some. There are 12 different environments, two-player Bluetooth and WiFi support, the original '80s sound effects, all original bonus rounds, and a Super Large Chracter option. The onscreen graphics take advantage of the iPad's large, high-res display — well, at least the cabinet fascia graphics do, as the in-game graphics are (happily) as pixellated as ever. The big feature of this version, however, is the split screen mode that allows two players to go literally head-to-head in a martial arts match. This mode looks great and plays like you'd hope; it's a smooth one-on-one fight experience that actually works quite well.

Karate Champ XL should be an instant buy for any fan of the game who's got an iPad and someone to go head to head with. But, even in single play the game looks better, with sharper graphics on the iPad than the scaled-up iPhone version.

A version 1.1 update of the iPhone version of Karate Champ [App Store] (which is priced 50% off at $0.99 for a limited time) is currently under review by Apple. It will allow for iPhone to iPad gameplay.

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Epic Force's Stone Wars [Free] hit the App Store late last year, and actually has been free for a while now but thanks to our very own Free App Man it was brought to our attention and I'm actually enjoying the game quite a bit. Initially it seemed like Stone Wars was just your typical Worms clone with turn-based gameplay featuring various weapons and considerably less cartoony charm… That is, until you realize just how much multiplayer functionality the game has. You can play Stone Wars locally with a single device, locally via either WiFi or Bluetooth, or online in real time and of course there are single player modes where you can play against an AI opponent.

Online multiplayer actually works really well, you can either just wait to be match with a random opponent or create either a public or passworded game room for people to join. There isn't much of a delay between moves, and gameplay worked just fine on the single bar of EDGE that I'm rocking right now on my iPhone. Stone Wars has been free since late June, and according to the iTunes description is a "limited time promotion" for their latest game, Super Laser: The Alien Fighter [$2.99 / Free] so I guess grab it quick if you want it as who knows when it's going back to paid.

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Galcon Labs [Free] takes the gameplay from the original Galcon [$2.99 / Free] with several new game modes. Galcon is a fast-paced strategy game where players take over planets by tapping them to dispatch forces from a nearby planet. Think real-time Risk in space played either locally or online against other players. When it was originally released, Galcon Labs was criticized for not providing enough new content to justify a complete sequel as the core gameplay was basically the same with some slight variation from the different game modes, but now that it's free Galcon Labs is something you should download as soon as possible.

Galcon Labs is free for today only, and if you enjoy it make sure you check out the original Galcon or Galcon Fusion [$4.99] if you own an iPad.

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Ethan Nicholas grabbed headlines when his Scorched Earth-alike, iShoot [App Store] shot up the charts to grab the #1 spot in the top 100 paid apps category, dethroning the mighty iFart Mobile. What's particularly interesting about his success is that the game had been languishing in the App Store for several months until he released the free iShoot Lite [App Store], which instantly started to climb the charts, bringing the paid app with it and thereby defining a strategy that many would follow with varied success. For Nicholas, his success with iShoot was such that he was able to leave the day job behind and focus entirely on iPhone development.

In January, after his follow-up title Kim Rhodes' Outdoor Shooting [App Store] was out the door, Nichols began work on iShoot 2, sharing details of the development process in a few developer blog posts. And, after eight months' work, the game has just gone live in the App Store [link].

iShoot 2 is basically a reworked take on the Scorched Earth formula, but with some nice enhancements over the original iShoot. First of all, iShoot 2 is a universal application that takes full advantage of the screen resolution of the iPhone 4 and iPad. But, aside from the benefit gained by the physically higher resolution screens of Apple's latest devices, the graphical detail of the game itself is notably enhanced as compared to the original, lending a more polished feel to the game.

Like iShoot before it, iShoot 2 is a turn-based artillery game that delivers a kill-or-be-killed battlefield scenario to the player. You control a tank set on a hilly / craggy landscape, flanked by one or more enemy tanks. Your goal is to calculate the proper angle and velocity to deliver your projectile(s) to your enemy in as few attempts as possible. And then pound him until dead. In this go-round, you have more intricate control of your weapons, as the velocity setting is handled via on-screen slider, as opposed to the length of time the fire button is held down, as handled in the original.

The game offers both Skirmish and Campaign single-player modes, as well as local Bluetooth multiplayer, with four players total in each mode. An entirely new weapons system has been put in place, with not only single-projectile weapons, but particle-based weapons, flame weapons, and the like. Tanks can be upgraded to use more advanced ordnance as the game progresses. The battlefields of iShoot 2 are larger than those of the original, with scrolling and pinch / spread zooming used to keep enemies in view. A dramatic, original soundtrack backdrops the action. Basically, every area of the game has been in some way improved over the original.

I've personally long been a fan of these sorts of games, there being a sort of fulfillment gained from calculating a trajectory and watching your volley of fiery death rain down upon your enemy. If you can identify with that emotion, or simply enjoyed Scorched Earth and its ilk, you'll likely find iShoot 2 rather to your liking.

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The Madden series hardly needs an introduction, as football player turned coach turned commentator John Madden has had his name on football games for the better part of 20 years now. On home consoles, it has become tradition for EA to release a new Madden game each year with updated rosters, a few new features, and other various tweaks. As of tonight, the second yearly installment of the Madden series has arrived for the iPhone.

Last year we took a close look at Madden NFL 10 and thought it was a really great football game for the iPhone. Madden '10 came loaded with all the licensed players, stadiums, logos, and everything else you'd expect of a Madden game along with game modes ranging from single exhibition games to full seasons. The two hip new features of Madden NFL 10 for the iPhone were hot routes allowing players to draw on the screen to control players, and "action control time" which switched the game to slow motion mode allowing for precise maneuvers with the virtual controls.

There wasn't much to complain about with last year's Madden, which really left me wondering what EA was going to include in this year's release to up the ante. The preview we got revealed substantial graphical upgrades including Retina Display support, but it wasn't until I got to spend more time with the game today that I realized just how much more fun the other new features made playing Madden NFL 11.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a sports person by any means. I don't remember the last time I watched anything more than the Super Bowl on TV, and the only sporting events I've attended have been the result of friends with extra tickets. I play sports games, but generally gravitate towards arcade style sports games like Homerun Battle 3D [$4.99 / Free], or sports games that have RPG elements such as Baseball Superstars 2010 [$4.99 / Free].

I mention this because I generally never really got into a Madden game, or really any full football game. The weak link for me always came in choosing from an endless array of both offensive and defensive plays, with each yearly iteration of football game boasting even more plays to choose from. I don't know enough about the strategy of football plays to have ever felt like I was making a wise decision, and when it got down to it, play selection just always seemed like a needless interruption every few seconds while playing the game.

GameFlow changes all of this, and I really can't overstate how awesome a feature it actually is. Using some new AI algorithm likely designed by a team of people who know way more about football than I ever care to, Madden 11's GameFlow will intelligently chooses plays for you. It is absolutely insane how much this changes both the feel and the pace of the game. Using GameFlow, endless submenus of plays are a thing of the past. Instead, you just play football. The plays it selects work fairly well too, or at least, much better than my typical choice of plays which usually alternate between the hail mary and the fake field goal kick– both favorites of mine.

What's also shocking is how much this actually speeds up playing the game. You can tap the screen to skip through the extra animations, victory dances, and other junk and play through a whole football game in what barely seems like any time at all. Of course, if you are the kind of person who knows exactly what every play does, all you have to do is flip GameFlow to off and you have complete control of each and every play.

The hot routes functionality from last year has been expanded, and at any point during the game you can pause the action and draw paths for your players. If you're playing offense and do this, you can save those routes as an audible, or if you're playing defense you can just send your players wherever you want. The whole system works very well, and by drawing lines you can send dispatch players to man to man duty, follow the ball, or really anything else. This really makes defense a lot more fun because you can now actually sensibly direct your team around instead of just tabbing in between players and chasing after whoever has the ball. Check out my top secret LOL offense:

As mentioned already, the graphics of Madden NFL 11 look fantastic. The stadium crowd has actual depth now, and they even wave around signs for the home team. The included weather effects look good, and overall it seems like all the player models and animations are more detailed. Every texture in game also seems to have been substantially improved, making going back and forth between 10 and 11 seem fairly drastic.

Madden 11 also is host to some other noticeable tweaks over last year's as well such as controls that feel a little better and a spruced up interface. There's an in-game store which currently is home to a free roster update, but seems like it might be used for future DLC . Finally, Madden NFL 11 behaves beautifully as an iPhone game, gracefully saving your game and resuming quickly when you load it again.

Like last year, the inevitable comparison between Gameloft's NFL 11 [$6.99] and Madden NFL 11 will likely take place in our forums for months to come, but in my opinion, Madden wins by a landslide. Gameloft's offering seems to run at a higher frame rate, but Madden looks better overall– rspecially when it comes to how the crowd and stadiums are rendered. Madden NFL 11 has local bluetooth multiplayer while NFL 11 is single player only, and the commentary in Madden seems less repetitive than Gameloft's. Where Madden really wins though is in the extra features. With how much I've fallen in love with GameFlow I can hardly bring myself to deal with NFL 11's play selection, and Madden's total defensive control makes playing defense in NFL 11 flat out boring in comparison.

At the end of the day, people who like Madden games likely don't need this review, or anything more than the iTunes link to download the game for that matter. Who I really expect to sway into checking out Madden NFL 11 are the casual sports fans, or people like me, who are vaguely interested in sports games but found the various technicalities of football games to generally be annoying. GameFlow fixes all this, and I can hardly believe that I spent the majority of my day today playing Madden 11 on my iPhone– not because I was trying to power through it to write a review, but because I was actually really enjoying a football game for the first time since Mutant League Football on the Sega Genesis.

The iPad and iPhone versions are essentially the same aside from the price difference and UI tweaks to make the controls more comfortable for playing on the iPad. The iPhone version is workable with pixel doubling, and the only thing you're really going to be missing out on is the upcoming "Vintage Voltage Football" mode which is basically just Super Shock Football [$1.99 / Free] with Madden graphics.

International App Store Link: Madden NFL 11

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Shortly after the iPad arrived, Gameprom treated iPad gamers to Pinball HD [App Store], a collection of their excellent stand-alone iPhone pinball titles — Wild West Pinball [$.99], The Deep Pinball [$.99], and Jungle Style Pinball [$.99] — all in one high resolution, iPad application. We found the title easy to recommend, and we weren't the only ones; Pinball HD was a WWDC 2010 Apple Design Award winner.

When the iPhone 4 was unveiled, sporting its high resolution Retina display, we hoped to see the same fine collection adapted to suit Apple's new iOS flagship. And, today, we're happy to report that Pinball HD 4 iPhone [link] has arrived and is now available for download in the App Store.

Pinball HD 4 iPhone delivers everything that the iPad's Pinball HD does, beautifully rendered on the iPhone 4's Retina display with a sharpness that almost makes your eyes bleed. (Though, the iPhone 3GS and 3G iPod touch are supported at their native resolution, as well.) And we're happy to see that Gameprom added the fixed, portrait table view mode that we requested in our April look at the iPad version. (This mode sits in addition to the floating, portrait view mode and the fixed, landscape mode.)

Like its forerunner, Pinball HD features split-screen, tap paddle controls, WiFi and Bluetooth multiplayer, online score tracking, and support for 3D anaglyph (red/blue, etc.) glasses rendering. And you get all that for  buck less than the iPad version. Any pinball fan with an iPhone 4 (or a 3GS if you're new to the series) needs to get this game on their device.

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David Frampton and his Majic Jungle Software first crossed our radar when his aerial shoot and rescue title Chopper [App Store] debuted two years ago as one of the more notable App Store launch titles. Chopper was very well received from the start and quickly became one of the true App Store success stories, seeing 500 downloads a day (at $7.99), early on. Since then, the game has been downloaded more than 350,000 times.

A little over half a year after Chopper's debut, inspired by the game's success, Frampton began work on the sequel, Chopper 2. And quite a bit of work it turned out to be. Originally expected to be completed in just six months for an August '09 release, Chopper 2 has taken a hefty 16 months to complete. But, at long last, it has landed in the App Store [link].

So just what's taken so long to bring this title to the App Store? For one, Chopper 2 has emerged a universal application that runs on the iPhone / iPod touch, iPhone 4, and iPad, fully utilizing the screen resolution of each device. And that's not the last word on the display options offered by the game. In this area, as well as in the area of game controls, Frampton has gone rather above and beyond. But, more on this in a bit. Let's first look at the gameplay.

Chopper 2 is a highly enhanced take on the same basic shoot and rescue formula of the original. It features that same side scrolling action, but with a completely re-written 3D engine that delivers dramatically improved, highly fluid "2.5D" visuals with a much greater depth-of-field. The experience of weaving about the enemy airspace, laying down fire while dodging missiles, trees, and flocks of birds (they do damage, too!) is a white-knuckle affair, and the deep, parallax scene rendering of your chopper gliding along a canyon wall can really bring the vertigo at times.

And it's not just canyon walls you'll be negotiating. There are 12 distinct locations in the Chopper 2 world, and each contains three different missions for 36 total missions to the game. Terrains include desert, snowfields, cityscapes, countrysides, and more. There are a range of mission types thrown into the mix, as well — rescue ops, deployment, caravan defense, search and destroy, etc. Initially, only a training mission is available for play, and progressive missions unlock based on goals achieved.

Enemies you'll encounter include ground troops, anti-aircraft turrets, tanks, and enemy choppers. To take on these baddies, your chopper is equipped with directional cannons (aim controlled with a finger swipe), bombs, and missiles, depending on the mission at hand. Along the way, many levels feature armament refuel pads that can outfit your chopper mid-battle.

OpenFeint integration tracks your achievements and high scores online.

And now for those particularly interesting details I hinted at, earlier. The game uses tilt controls by default, but they're not your parents' Chopper controls. Chopper 2 utilizes a nonlinear, stepped control system that mimics an actual helicopter control response model, based on actual pilot feedback. What's more, on the iPhone 4, the device's gyroscopes are fully utilized to deliver more precise motion control. For those not keen on accelerometer-based controls, the developer has added the option of an onscreen analog control stick. But, interestingly, all of the aforementioned is not the most noteworthy thing about Chopper 2's control options. Users with both an iPad and an iPhone or 2G iPod touch (or better) can tether the devices together via Bluetooth to allow gameplay on the iPad with remote iPhone control, for the best control arrangement of all. In addition, with Apple's VGA or component video out adapter (the former providing much better results), players with an iPad + iPhone Bluetooth control configuration can enjoy the game on a large, external display, as demonstrated in our brief video here. These are truly impressive extras that really take the game to the next level. (And hats off to the excellent floating intro text that starts off each mission — truly cinematic.)

See the developer's game trailer for a closer look at the action.

The original Chopper was probably one of the best action games available when the App Store went live back in June 2008. A huge amount of work went into the sequel, which is laden with all kinds of bells and whistles one might not expect to find in an iPhone platform game, and it clearly shows. Chopper 2 is a quality production that I can recommend to any gamer with an iPhone platform device. It's miles beyond the original and stands as a perfect example of all that iPhone gaming can be.

Chopper 2 is available for a limited time at a launch sale price of $2.99, after which it will be available for the standard price of $4.99.

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David Frampton and his Majic Jungle Software first crossed our radar when his aerial shoot and rescue title Chopper [App Store] debuted two years ago as one of the more notable App Store launch titles. Chopper was very well received from the start and quickly became one of the true App Store success stories, seeing 500 downloads a day (at $7.99), early on. Since then, the game has been downloaded more than 350,000 times.

A little over half a year after Chopper's debut, inspired by the game's success, Frampton began work on the sequel, Chopper 2. And quite a bit of work it turned out to be. Originally expected to be completed in just six months for an August '09 release, Chopper 2 has taken a hefty 16 months to complete. But, at long last, it has landed in the App Store [link].

So just what's taken so long to bring this title to the App Store? For one, Chopper 2 has emerged a universal application that runs on the iPhone / iPod touch, iPhone 4, and iPad, fully utilizing the screen resolution of each device. And that's not the last word on the display options offered by the game. In this area, as well as in the area of game controls, Frampton has gone rather above and beyond. But, more on this in a bit. Let's first look at the gameplay.

Chopper 2 is a highly enhanced take on the same basic shoot and rescue formula of the original. It features that same side scrolling action, but with a completely re-written 3D engine that delivers dramatically improved, highly fluid "2.5D" visuals with a much greater depth-of-field. The experience of weaving about the enemy airspace, laying down fire while dodging missiles, trees, and flocks of birds (they do damage, too!) is a white-knuckle affair, and the deep, parallax scene rendering of your chopper gliding along a canyon wall can really bring the vertigo at times.

And it's not just canyon walls you'll be negotiating. There are 12 distinct locations in the Chopper 2 world, and each contains three different missions for 36 total missions to the game. Terrains include desert, snowfields, cityscapes, countrysides, and more. There are a range of mission types thrown into the mix, as well — rescue ops, deployment, caravan defense, search and destroy, etc. Initially, only a training mission is available for play, and progressive missions unlock based on goals achieved.

Enemies you'll encounter include ground troops, anti-aircraft turrets, tanks, and enemy choppers. To take on these baddies, your chopper is equipped with directional cannons (aim controlled with a finger swipe), bombs, and missiles, depending on the mission at hand. Along the way, many levels feature armament refuel pads that can outfit your chopper mid-battle.

OpenFeint integration tracks your achievements and high scores online.

And now for those particularly interesting details I hinted at, earlier. The game uses tilt controls by default, but they're not your parents' Chopper controls. Chopper 2 utilizes a nonlinear, stepped control system that mimics an actual helicopter control response model, based on actual pilot feedback. What's more, on the iPhone 4, the device's gyroscopes are fully utilized to deliver more precise motion control. For those not keen on accelerometer-based controls, the developer has added the option of an onscreen analog control stick. But, interestingly, all of the aforementioned is not the most noteworthy thing about Chopper 2's control options. Users with both an iPad and an iPhone or 2G iPod touch (or better) can tether the devices together via Bluetooth to allow gameplay on the iPad with remote iPhone control, for the best control arrangement of all. In addition, with Apple's VGA or component video out adapter (the former providing much better results), players with an iPad + iPhone Bluetooth control configuration can enjoy the game on a large, external display, as demonstrated in our brief video here. These are truly impressive extras that really take the game to the next level. (And hats off to the excellent floating intro text that starts off each mission — truly cinematic.)

See the developer's game trailer for a closer look at the action.

The original Chopper was probably one of the best action games available when the App Store went live back in June 2008. A huge amount of work went into the sequel, which is laden with all kinds of bells and whistles one might not expect to find in an iPhone platform game, and it clearly shows. Chopper 2 is a quality production that I can recommend to any gamer with an iPhone platform device. It's miles beyond the original and stands as a perfect example of all that iPhone gaming can be.

Chopper 2 is available for a limited time at a launch sale price of $2.99, after which it will be available for the standard price of $4.99.

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An official version of Risk [$4.99] just hit the App Store, and as I mentioned in the roundup from the recent EA event, this really seems like too little too late from the massive game developer. When third party software first graced the iPhone, it wasn't hard to see the potential that the touch interface had for board games, and this potential only grew as Apple implemented push notifications which allowed developers to create some extremely robust asynchronous multiplayer experiences. An absolutely fantastic example of this in the classic board game arena is Carcassonne [$4.99] which we detailed in our review not too long ago. In Carcassonne, developers The Coding Monkeys masterfully duplicated the board game while providing more single player and multiplayer features than I think anyone was expecting when we first heard of the game.

In Risk: The Official Game, EA brings a fully licensed version of Risk to the App Store with futuristic looking graphics, a decent soundtrack, and all the same army fortifying dice rolling gameplay that has been evolving for the last 50 years through various iterations of the board game. You can either play single player against AI opponents, or play local multiplayer with up to 6 players on a single device, or up to 4 players with their own devices via WiFi or Bluetooth. There's a decent amount of stat tracking and achievements in game, but that's where the bells and whistles stop.

The problem with Risk is that the brand name is so powerful that I think that most people who are downloading it are just thinking, "Oh, finally, Risk for the iPhone!" without being aware of the many other better alternatives which aren't exactly the same as Risk, but scratch the same strategic dice rolling itch– Often with much more content, options, and game modes. If this applies to you, here are just a few of the better Risk knock-offs available on the App Store:

Lux DLX 2, $4.99 – This world conquest game which recently was updated to version 2.0 sports universal compatibility between the iPhone and iPad, single device multiplayer, challenging AI, and tons of new maps to play that can be downloaded within the game for free. If you want to try Lux before buying, there are two different free versions, Lux Touch, and Lux USA which are also universal apps.

Generals – Online Global Conquest!, $2.99 – Where Generals lacks in multiple maps it more than makes up for in the online multiplayer department. Like most Risk-like games, you can play locally on one device with human or AI opponents and Generals also allows you to organize online games over WiFi or 3G. Currently, games are played in real time online, but the developers are working on an update to add push notifications to allow for up to 20 games to be played simultaneously as well as more online game modes. The free version has ads and no multiplayer, but will give you a good idea of what you're getting in to.

Stratergery, $1.99 – Also a universal app, Strategery boasts single player, single device multiplayer, and online multiplayer with push notifications. My favorite thing about Strategery is that it randomly generates maps of four different sizes, which always keeps things fresh since you need to develop new strategies on the fly instead of just going by your old standby of building up armies in Australia. Strategery Lite is also available, which doesn't have any ads but lacks a few gameplay options and online multiplayer.

Dominion, $1.99 – Like the other games already mentioned, Dominion has local and online multiplayer with either classic world domination mode or objective based games. It has multiple maps and a full featured online component with asynchronous push alert powered play, player statistics, and a bunch of other goodies. Unfortunately, Dominion isn't universal so if you don't want to run the game pixel doubled on your iPad you will have to spring for Dominion HD.

Unless you really really need to play the official Risk game for some reason, I'd really give any of the four previously mentioned games a spin if you're looking for some awesome online world conquest action. At least for me, board games are exponentially more fun when you're playing with real people, and if the success of Words With Friends [$2.99 / Free] is any indication, most tend to agree.

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Mountain Sheep's Minigore [99¢] has been somewhat of a cult favorite on our forums, with legions of fans still willing to defend the honor of Minigore whenever a new dual stick shooter hits the App Store. The Episode 4 update was announced quite a while ago, with the developers promising a new level, new playable characters, a new weapon, and even co-op over Bluetooth and local WiFi.

Today they released a 30 second gameplay clip of co-op mode, and it's hard to not get excited at the sheer potential of playing Minigore with a friend:

We liked Minigore a lot when it first came out, and since our initial review, an onslaught of updates have been released adding all kinds of new characters and features. There's even a iPad Minigore HD [$4.99] if you're an iPad owner looking to get your 'gore on. Mountain Sheep isn't discussing any release date estimates for episode 4 yet, but if you want to stay on top of all things Minigore, follow the Minigore blog or stop by the thread in our forums.

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