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There are few things I like more than a good Viking game, especially one that is centered around a unique idea and colors it up with plenty of Viking humor. Two of my favorites that come to mind are Axe in Face [99¢] and The Horrible Vikings [$2.99], and now I can safely add I-play's Vikings Row! [99¢] to that list as well. In Vikings Row! you'll control a viking ship by rowing through twisting and turning levels, all the while collecting loot and avoiding hazards in an effort to get to the finish line before time expires. It uses a really clever control mechanic, has a wonderful art style, and a ton of content to play through including earning medals for each level and unlocking achievements. Every once in a while a game comes along that just feels right on this platform, and Vikings Row! is one of those games.

Controlling your ship in Vikings Row! is akin to controlling a tank. You'll swipe upwards on both sides of the screen in unison to move forward, and swipe downwards to slow down or move backwards. Swiping either the left or right side turns the ship, and swiping up on one side and down on the other causes you to turn more drastically. If you've played Vector Tanks Classic [99¢] or Extreme [$1.99], then you'll recognize the controls in Vikings Row! as being really similar, though from a top-down perspective rather than a first-person one. It just feels natural, like each swipe of your thumb is acting as one side of the ship's oars. A very nice tutorial level eases you into things, and with a little practice you'll be pulling off all kinds of maneuvers in your Viking ship.

The levels in Vikings Row! are twisting waterways laden with hazards and coins. The goal is to complete the level before time runs out while collecting a target number of coins and avoiding sharp rocks and wooden spikes in the water. Each time you hit one of these hazards you'll lose one of your Viking comrades, and if you lose all five then you fail that level. Each of the 48 levels are cleverly designed with hidden nooks and crannies that will reward the curious with extra coins. A minimum number of coins must be collected to earn a bronze shield and pass the level, with silver and gold shields attainable if you can collect enough loot.

Cruising around in my ship and beating the levels in Vikings Row! is a ton of fun, but there are a couple issues that bugged me. For one, the game can be really difficult. Just beating some levels with the minimum coins required is a challenge, and going back for silver or gold can be downright brutal. It's a satisfying feeling obtaining gold for a level, but it can come with some frustration. Another thing is when starting a level the camera quickly pans over the whole area, but when you're actually playing it can be difficult to tell where you're going. With so many branching paths that lead to dead ends an overhead minimap would be useful, though this is also part of the game's challenge. Also, while you must beat a level within a certain time limit, it doesn't keep track of how fast you do so. Online leaderboards would add even more replayability to each level and allow you to compete with friends for best times.

Even with these minor complaints, there is a lot to like about Vikings Row! The cartoony graphics look great and are Retina Display-ready, and in-game cutscenes and dialogue are really humorous. Just controlling the ship through the waterways is a lot of fun, and attaining medals on each level is a real test of your skills. The game does get pretty hard, but in an inviting sort of way that begs you to keep retrying until you finally have that one flawless run. If you have a penchant for pillaging, swilling brew, beards, collecting loot, and cruising around in your mighty Viking ship, then take a look at Vikings Row!

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It wouldn't surprise me if I went back and ran the numbers that Donut Games is responsible for more favorable game reviews than any other developer, or, at least, somewhere near the top of that list. Each Donut Game always seems to include so many things that make for great iPhone games such as online scoring, a tiered scoring/star system to enhance replay value, and gameplay mechanics that somehow go from incredibly simple to insanely difficult as the games progress.

Urban Ninja [99¢] has all of these features and more. In the game, you play as a fat French ninja looking to escape whatever obstacles are in between you and the rope dangling from the bottom of your escape helicopter. These often include a number of different types of bad guys, platforms, ropes, buildings, and other things. An energy meter on the top left corner of the screen serves as both your health meter, and an energy meter.

Getting from the start of the level to your escape helicopter involves careful jumping, as each jump depletes your energy and you die once you run out. To refill your energy (and increase your score), stars are scattered throughout each level that can be picked up. Also, a score bonus is awarded by ending the level as far down the helicopter's rope as possible, something that is usually easier said than done.

Like other Donut Games, Urban Ninja features a three star grading system for each level. Clearing the 40 included levels with a single star should be easy enough for most people, and scoring two stars is usually much more difficult. Scoring three stars, it seems, is a matter of completing a level absolutely perfectly. If you're the kind of person who can get sucked in to earning stars like this, Urban Ninja will have a ridiculous amount of replay value.

If you're looking for another quick pick up and play game to spend some time with, Urban Ninja is a great choice. If you like it, give some of the other Donut Games a look. Some favorites of mine include Cat Physics, Comet Racer, and Action Buggy.

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11 is somewhat of a milestone for EA Sports, being the number of players each team has on the field. As such, there were lofty expectations of Fifa 11 [App Store] to deliver something really special. Things start out great with Fifa 11– when you first load up your first game, you are treated to some of the best looking soccer ever created on the iOS platform. Retina support is crystal clear and ultra sharp, but even the older models will enjoy the brilliant and believable life-like animations and the finer details as EA have tried (and succeeded, we think) to give a fair bit of recognition to their player models and stadiums.

Of course, EA's licensing credentials mean that all the 31 leagues and their respective squads are well represented, and appear to be largely up to date. There are also a very respectable 50 stadiums to play on, fortunately only a few of which are generic models. The iconic stadiums from around the world nearly all feature here and look terrific in both the day and night settings available.

Regretfully, the overall visual appeal of Fifa 11 was marred for us during our review with a frustrating slowdown bug. This affected both our 3GS testing device and the iPhone 4, with many users on our forums indicating similar problems. We're hoping that EA address this in a fix soon, as we could barely get through a game without requiring a restart to get the game back to speed.

That problem aside, when it was working well, the gameplay in Fifa 11 is definitely a more measured approach than what we're used to. No longer can you press for a through ball and get a perfectly weighted pass to your runner. Passes now have a power indicator, and a degree of skill is required to do what was previously effortless. Of course, this is dramatically altered by your difficulty setting, with the lowest settings giving you that extra helping hand.

If you do struggle with the controls, you'll appreciate the default 'casual' settings, which offer a limited, but descriptive control set. Instead of the advanced A, B and C buttons, casual mode includes a context sensitive pass, shoot and through buttons, which change to switch, tackle and slide when you're in defence. Pressing longer on the pass button will intelligently lob the ball, as the game tries to second-guess your intentions. If you're after greater control though, you can't pass up the Advanced mode, which offers the more skill intensive slide-off buttons, where lobbing requires you to slide your thumb off the pass button, and through balls are performed by sliding from the middle C button to B.

This latter button combination caused more frustration than it should have, particularly for an action as frequently used as the through ball. It took alot of wrestling with the controls to get used to, and I can't help but feel there was a better way to go about this. On the flipside, I really liked the new touch gestures in Fifa 11. Tapping on the screen would perform a skill move such as a step over; dragging on a teammate would cause them to sprint forward into space; and tapping a player in defense would switch control of that player to you. I appreciated the fact that a little thought has gone into making the most use of the iOS interface.

The Fifa series is reknown for the quality of features that support the actual gameplay. In some respects, Fifa 11 doesn't depart from this. The fully voiced commentary (that thankfully doesn't seem to make as many mistakes as previous versions, and has the voice-work for even the smallest of teams) that contributes to the hefty 858mb filesize is easily the best of these. The availability of 3 game modes on top of the exhibition games (a cup mode, league mode and practice arena) also serves to keep things fresh. I've yet to see a comprehensive manager mode as the console versions have enjoyed, and it seems like we may need to wait a while longer for that to happen.

The menus and options in Fifa 11 also depart a bit from the expected standard. There seem to be far too many greyed out and inaccessible features in Fifa 11, the largest of these being an exciting multiplayer mode which I cannot wait for. Team strategies present a large list of toggleable options with only few of these actually available for each formation, which are largely rigid and canned. I'm not sure what the deal is with this, but it's certainly odd to see a lack of tactical flexibility. I're also disappointed to see no tooltip assistance is given on any of the options, making them prohibitive to new users and those not familiar with the soccer jargon.

I can comfortably say that Fifa 11 is the prettiest soccer game to grace our devices. I can't overstate just how life-like the player interactions are, whether it's jostling on the ball, celebrating goals, or performing cute dribbling maneuvers; the iOS platform has closed the gap dramatically with its console cousins and is a definite step up from last year's offerings. Unfortunately, the release build's nagging performance issues really hampered my time with Fifa 11, so we do advise caution until a fix is released. That aside, the scaleable difficulty and greater emphasis on player input and skill should prove a blessing to both experienced fans and newcomers alike. Ultimately, the verdict is still out on whether Fifa 11's gameplay can stand up to the other heavy-hitting soccer sims such as Gameloft's recently released Real Soccer 11 and Konami's Pro Evo 11 (if it ever arrives). We still feel there's room for improvement though, particularly where the finer controls are concerned, and we're sure that EA's starting 11 will have to look a little different next year to continue to impress.

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Last week we reported that premier '80s game studio Elite Systems would soon begin bringing classic ZX Spectrum game titles to iOS (via emulation) with the coming release of ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection (Vol. #1) [App Store]. This weekend the game went live in the App Store, shortly following a press release issued by Elite, meant to manage expectations of the unreleased title.

In the release, Elite's Steve Wilcox said,

The media and consumer reaction to the announcement, in late September, of Apple's approval of ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection has been extensive and enthusiastic. Our concerns now are to ensure that both groups understand that Vol. #1 of the App is a work in-progress, a rough diamond if you like and that we're committed to developing the App (eliminating some of its more obvious shortcomings and adding new features) over the weeks and months ahead.
…
If we're to achieve our goal of offering (and enabling others to offer) access – via mobile and wireless devices – to many of the thousands of fantastic ZX Spectrum games, we need to restore some order to the market and adjust expectations amongst developers, publishers and players.

Wilcox promises that the application will always be priced at £0.59 (Euro 0.79, US $0.99) and that within a month, six more game will be released via a free update (Vol. #2), with a further free update to come within the following month (Vol. #3), bringing with it an in-app game shop.

This Volume 1 release features the following six popular Spectrum titles:

• Turbo Esprit
• Saboteur
• Chuckie Egg
• Harrier Attack
• Frank Bruno's Boxing
• Buggy Boy

The bundled games in this release features on-screen, directional "key" controls configured for each specific title. Gameplay can be carried out in either portrait or landscape mode, depending on player preference. Audio is fully reproduced, as well, bringing the Spectrum's lavish soundscape to discerning iPhone gamers. (A bit of wit there…)

See Elite's brief trailer video.

I've not yet spent a great deal of time with this one, but can say that the emulation seems to be running games at full ZX Spectrum speed. (And I'm happy to say I've not hit a single R Tape loading error.) We'll be following Elite's progressive releases in this series closely.

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One of my real iPhone favorites — a game that I actually play for fun (a rare thing, given the number of titles we move through to find the gems among the chaff out there) — is Imangi's Harbor Master [link], which The Independent recently dubbed the third best app in the App Store. And the iPad version, Harbor Master HD [link] is the best Harbor Master experience to be had, thanks to the device's large display. Happily, Imangi's v2.0 Harbor Master update, which went live just a few hours ago, brings some of that big-screen detail to the iPhone 4's Retina display.

Imangi lists the enhancements in this update:

• Completely remastered high resolution graphics for the iPhone 4.
• New level! We adapted Cargo City, our most popular map from the iPad version, for the iPhone screen. It has 3 cargo types, so it takes "multitasking" to a whole new level.
• iOS4 multitasking support.
• Fixed twitter support so you can tweet your scores again.
• Rotation support, so you can hold your device however you want!
• A ton of bug fixes.

Imangi's current graphics guy, Kiril Tchangov, reworked all of the game's original art from scratch, putting his own, more "painterly" spin on the design, the studio tells us.

I think most people will be most excited about the new level, Cargo City. Cargo City is our most popular map from the iPad version, so we really wanted to bring a version of it over to the iPhone. It works really great on iPhone. With 3 cargo types, you have to turn on another part of your brain to control all those boats. You'll really like it. Here is the iPad version right next to the iPhone version, so you can see how we had to change it around to adapt it to the smaller screen.

The Harbor Master v2.0 update is a free download for current owners of the game.

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I'll start out by saying that this is a bit of a curious post. The app I'm highlighting here isn't a game at all — not even sort-of a game. It's a music player, of sorts. But, a music player that should bring a smile to the face of many a gamer who sat in front an Amiga or PC, joystick in hand, back in the late '80s and early '90s. The app I speak of is French developer Yohann Magnien's Modizer [App Store]…and it's a MODplayer.

First, some history for those unfamiliar with MODs, trackers, and all that lot of sampled digital audio goodness. In 1985 the Commodore Amiga was released, bringing with it dramatic innovations on every front, really. And, among them, was its 8-bit, 4-channel, wavetable, stereo audio subsystem offering far better audio playback than any other consumer machine of the time. Digitized sound samples could be loaded into the Amiga's CHIP RAM and triggered for playback (and with zero CPU intervention), with highly realistic results. Two years after the Amiga's release, developer Karsten Obarski decided to create a program that would load samples into said RAM and trigger them for coherent playback using a simple script that's something akin to the scroll of a player piano. That program was called Ultimate Soundtracker. That script, plus its associated audio samples, all bundled together into a single file were called a module or MOD. Since then "trackers" of every sort, along with new MOD-like formats, emerged for platforms far and wide.

Demoscene coders were quick to adopt these trackers to create soundtracks to accompany their onscreen pixel magic and soon the "music guy" became a critical component of every demogroup. Noting this, game developers soon adopted MODs as their solution for in-game music. Back in the day of limited CPU resources, audio boards with real horesepower came onto the scene to enable efficient playback of not just 4 but 8, 16, 32, 64 channels. Demos and games benefitted mightily, and audio geeks had a new scene to drool over. (I was a GUS and CapaMOD man, myself.)

And plenty of iOS games have reach out to MODs, S3Ms, XMs, and other formats of the kind for their soundtrack solutions.

And, so we come back to Modizer. Is it the only MODplayer in the App Store? No, it's not. But it appears to be the most full-featured. Modizer supports a dizzying array of audio formats thanks to its use of the MODPlug and UADE players (the latter of which actually emulates an Amiga 1200 computer), switchable in the settings menu. A variety of OpenGL-based audio visualizers can be enabled to accompany playback, a feature that will be much appreciated by those accustomed to hearing MODs running alongside a demoscene production's onscreen pixel magic. And it all runs smooth as glass without missing a beat.

Modizer is a universal application, natively supporting the iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, iPad and up, with specific optimizations for the iPhone 4 and iPad. The app includes a file browser that allows free access to the MODLAND and HVSC collections — about 215,000 tracks in all — that, when downloaded, are stored locally for quick access. The archives contain audio tracks from basically every demo ever made as well as most games for the C64 and Amiga.

See our iPad demo video. The developer provides a few iPhone demo videos, as well.

At a mere $.99, Modizer is a godsend for gamers with a fancy for digital music. And, while indeed not a game, Modizer for iOS seems worth a spot here at Touch Arcade.

UPDATE: We just got word from the developer that he's currently working on a v1.1 update that includes various bugfixes as well as a number of enhancements:

• Some optimization for browser (mainly when browsing modland/artists)
• Sharp X68000 support (mdx/pdx files) with updated Modland lib
• Addressing issue where some formats miss the last second of music
• And more to come, depending on user feedback…

Magnien indicates that he's also considering a network "user stats" sort of ranking system that would let users easily share the overall highest rated songs. We'll keep you posted.

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BulkyPix's MMORPG Yslandia [$4.99] recently hit the App Store after a considerable beta testing period in Canada. Earlier this month we posted an extensive hands-on preview of the game, and found quite a bit to get excited about:

In so far as the gameplay is concerned, MMOs traditionally have been about lengthy solo leveling experiences (read: grinding) with a smattering of teamwork needed in certain encounters. Yslandia on the other hand is more focused all around Player vs Player combat and social interactions (but with its own share of grinding). The three islands that make up the initial release of Yslandia are comprised of respective starting islands for the Simeh'a Alliance and the Zaa'me Coalition (essentially, Light vs Dark), and a neutral territory called Gilda where all the PvP combat goes on. And it's on this latter island that most of your time in Yslandia will be spent.

On Gilda, teams have to work together to capture Totems on the battlefield, thereby claiming territories for their Faction. The game itself encourages this teamwork– particularly teamwork through guild participation– by way of its skill system. Departing from any existing skill-building concepts, characters in Yslandia learn additional skills by "training" with other guild members. Every 10 levels, you accumulate training points in addition to your standard skill points, which can then be invested in other guild members, bestowing upon them a skill you currently have learned. Aside from skills learned in this fashion, characters start with 4 skills, 2 of which are usually passive.

'Usually' in this context is used quite loosely, as Yslandia boasts a massive lineup of 18 different classes to choose from divided amongst 6 very different races (some of which have no passive skills). The developers have also gone beyond the usual warrior/ranger/mage archetypes to offer interesting classes such as the Necrophage, the Lycan Bloodhound or the mana-sucking Nocturn Deceiver.

A thread on our forums is serving as a bit of a staging point with people trading tips and likely banding together as more people pick up the game. Similar to nearly every MMO launch since the beginning of recorded human history, Yslandia has a few bugs and some areas that feel rough around the edges. Thankfully, tthe developers are actively posting in the previously mentioned thread and mentioned that an update to address these problems and implement Game Center support is in the works.

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NimbleBit's Pocket Frogs [Free] has taken both our forums and the App Store by storm. Since its release less than a week ago, the game has been downloaded over half a million times, and currently is sitting at #1 on the iPad free charts and #3 on the iPhone free charts. Aside from the main Pocket Frogs thread, we've also got incredibly active threads on our forums both for finding friends and trading frogs. We loved the game in our review, and if you haven't yet, you really need to download it to give breeding your own colony of cute little frogs a try.

The 1.0.1 update was just approved and is currently available for download. This update addresses quite a few bugs and other issues that people have been reporting in our forums since the game's release. If you've had weird issues with missing frogs, all those problems have been fixed. Also, help text has been tweaked to make things clearer for new players.

NimbleBit isn't stopping there though, they're hard at work on additional updates for Pocket Frogs which will include a new frog design as well as fulfilling one of their most requested features by implementing a "Frogedex". (Similar to a Pokedex in Pokemon games.) The Frogedex will show every frog available in the game, as well as which of those frogs you have come across. Something to keep in mind though, with 13,800 available frogs currently (and 14,720 after the update), it's going to take some serious dedication to breed them all.

We haven't heard any specific release dates for the Frogedex update other than sometime in between "soon" and "when it's done", but looking at NimbleBit's track records with their other games, they've been pretty quick with updates. In the meantime, if you have suggestions regarding features and additions for future updates, swing by the thread where the developers have been actively posting since the game's release.

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Just a little more than a year ago, indie developer Krabl released a quirky puzzle platforming game with interesting mechanics titled Ynth [$2.99]. You controlled a tiny bug who rotated boxes from the inside in order to traverse a hazardous marshland. In our review of Ynth, we noted that the game was clever with cute graphics and plenty of content, but the trial and error factor of completing levels could be really frustrating. Now, Krabl and FDG Entertainment have collaborated to bring a sequel to the original game called Beyond Ynth [$3.99/HD]. It still retains some of the frustration factors of the first game but also expands on it in every way and ends up being a fun puzzler with a tremendous amount of content.

Beyond Ynth uses beautiful graphics that are optimized for Retina Display. An illustrated story with voiceovers explains the tale of the main character, the tiny bug named Kribl, as you progress through the game. Beyond Ynth takes place in four distinct environments – forest, volcanic, desert, and snow. Each environment has its own hazard to deal with, like getting burned by the sun in the desert or freezing in the snow when you are out of a box for too long. There are 80 levels to play through across each of the environments, accessed from an overhead map. The levels are more openly accessible with at least a few available to play at any given time, rather than the linear progression found in the original Ynth.

The core gameplay remains the same in Beyond Ynth. Kribl will start at one side of a level and use a series of boxes to get to the exit on the other side. Boxes come in various shapes and sizes, and once you crawl inside of one you can tilt the box over by pushing on one of the inner walls. You'll “roll” these boxes by tilting them over and over to progress through the level. The puzzle element in Beyond Ynth comes from being able to align the openings of the boxes together so you can make your way from one to the other without accidentally getting yourself stuck. You must also think ahead in order to properly deal with the environmental hazards and other various objects present in each of the levels.

The entire game is incredibly unique and each level is cleverly designed from beginning to end. As mentioned, however, it can be pretty tough figuring out how to advance past a certain part, and the instant death from touching a hazard that causes you to restart the level can wear pretty thin after a while. There's nothing more frustrating than meticulously working through a level only to suddenly die near the end and have to start over. Moving in the boxes can be slow-going, and it sometimes feels overly tedious to play through the same sections over and over just to get to the point you were previously stuck at. Each level also has a set of diamonds that can be collected in order to earn a medal, and some of these diamonds seem nearly impossible to collect which adds greatly to the challenge.

While this may sound pretty negative, I actually really like Beyond Ynth a lot. The artistic style and story are really charming and you can't help but appreciate how cleverly designed some of the levels are. For me, it's best taken in small doses though, and if I'm feeling frustrated with a certain level I'll try a different one or take a break from the game altogether. With 80 levels to play through plus the added replayability of obtaining gold medals for each one, Beyond Ynth will keep you busy for a long time. There's also achievements and leaderboards tracked through OpenFeint, with Game Center integration set to appear with the game's first update. There are already a lot of players enjoying the game in our forums, so if you like puzzle or platforming games and have a fair amount of patience, Beyond Ynth is worth taking a look at and is definitely a huge leap forward from the original game.

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Buried in the Buganoids announcement email from Backflip Studios was this tiny little tidbit:

A game developed by us in tandem with MGM Studios based on the cult classic ARMY OF DARKNESS movie will launch early in 2011 . . . deadites beware!

That's right! Army of Darkness the game is coming to the App Store in 2011.

Now, I know what you're thinking… "a movie franchise game?" But Backflip's Julian Farrior says the whole team is "insanely excited" about it and it's collectively the team's favorite movie. So, we're going to mark this one as "can't wait" for now.

The game will include all the favorite quotes from the movie and is described as a hybrid castle/tower defense inspired game. Your job is to protect the Necrinomicon from the deadites with help with your boomstick, chainsaw and more.

Here's a great collection of many of the quotes, probably not entirely safe for work:

If you haven't seen Army of Darkness, well, you've got time before the expected "early 2011" release.

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