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The wild popularity of Fruit Ninja [99¢ / HD] is a hard act to follow, but I think Halfbrick's next game is more than up to snuff. In Monster Dash {99¢], you play as Barry Steakfries, a man who loves two things in life: Running and killing monsters. Of course I don't know him personally, but I've been able to discern as much from spending the past week playing Monster Dash in almost every second of spare time I can find.

Monster Dash is a randomly generated survival platformer where you run to the right as long as you can, much like Canabalt [$2.99]. This is where the Canabalt similarities end, as between Barry Steakfries and wherever he's running to is an array of monsters which all must be either avoided or slain. Barry's default weapon is a shotgun, which has limited range, but along the way you will find weapon crates packed with sub machine guns, a powerful six shooter, and even a machine gun jetpack.

Barry's life is represented in heart on the top right corner of the screen, and you can regain health by picking up heart power-ups on your run. Colliding with an enemy or hitting spikes causes you to lose health, and when you run out of hearts or miss a jump and fall to your death your run is over. From there, your score is submitted to OpenFeint online leaderboards, and you start again. On your run you will randomly warp through four different settings, from an egyptian world filled with mummies to the rooftop ruins following a zombie apocalypse.

Monster Dash is host to oodles of OpenFeint achievements and also a ridiculous amount of stat tracking, keeping count of things like your total distance travelled, how many monsters you've stomped, most consecutive stomps, and a bunch of other things. Also, not only is there a leaderboard for single run distance, but you can also compete for total distance ran, total monsters killed in one run, as well as total monsters killed overall.

The graphics in Monster Dash consist of fantastically drawn sprites, and the fast paced music fits perfectly with the pace of the game. Overall, Monster Dash is just a ton of fun, the controls are simple and just consist of tapping either side of the iPhone screen to jump or fire, and I'm really having a hard time finding anything to complain about. Best of all, Halfbrick has had an amazing track record with updating Fruit Ninja with all kinds of additional game modes and content and all day people have been contributing their own ideas as to what would make Monster Dash even more awesome in the thread on our forums.

Halfbrick obviously hasn't committed to implementing any of these things, but it's not hard to imagine how well various power-ups and additional weaponry could fit in to the game. Regardless of whether or not these things ever happen, I'm happy as a clam with Monster Dash. If you like Canabalt-style gameplay and hate monsters, you basically need to download Monster Dash as soon as possible.

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Yesterday, Fun Guy Media released Entombed for the iPhone [App Store], an exploration puzzler set in the labyrinthine underground tombs of ancient civilizations. The game is something of a grave-robber scenario, but the other way around.

You play the role of Blake (indeed), whose father, a heroic archeologist in his time, has recently died in a freak accident, leaving you with a dread family legacy. During his life, your father explored the ancient tombs of long lost civilizations — the Egyptians, the Incas, the Aztecs, the Persians, and the like. He stripped them of their treasures for display in museums around the world, but, known only to his closest family members, he secretly kept a number of precious items for his own, personal collection. Over the years, your family has seen many a dark and tragic event befall them, your father's recent demise among them. Upon consulting an Egyptian mystic, you learn that the only way to avoid the same unfortunate end as your father is to return the artifacts in the secret collection to their rightful resting place.

And, so the adventure begins. As you move through the levels of this game, your goal is to return the artifacts in question, which requires solving various puzzles that riddle these subterranean labyrinths to get to your final destination. Along the way you will find various objects and obstacles that must be collected, moved, or crumbled in order to gain access to closed off areas of the tomb. There are pits, dart traps, sliding walls, and sketching challenges that test your observation skills as an archeologist.

You negotiate the many twists and turns of these catacombs by tapping where you'd like to move. Certain objects can be tapped to trigger interactions and a pinch / spread mechanic is used to zoom in and out of the play area. The angled top-down 3D graphics are simple but nice, with great, moody lighting accompanied by a similarly atmospheric audio track.

See our demo video that shows bits of early gameplay.

I, along with several forum readers, encountered a few glitches here and there in the game which required a level restart. It's an unfortunate blemish on a clever and enjoyable game, but I expect the developer to address these in a near-term update. Despite the glitches, our forum members are rather enjoying this one.

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EA has been busy these past few weeks prepping for multiple iPad launches as well as a sequel to the popular Sims 3 for iPhone. Sims 3 World Adventures continues with much of the same format of the first version by building on the existing familiar gameplay.

Sims 3 gameplay revolves around customizing and controlling your Sim while meeting its needs, fulfilling its wishes and generally just exploring the world around you. World Adventures starts off just like Sims 3 with basic character customization (clothes, physical features, personality) but also allows existing players to import their character from the first version directly into the second.

Immediately after finalizing your choices for your character, a brief tutorial walks you through the basics of the game and how to keep your Sim satisfied. Sims have the same basic needs you're used to, between needing to eat, sleep, bathe and go to the bathroom as well as a goals and wishes. The goals pop up randomly, and act like mini objectives for what to do in the game.

The biggest difference in World Adventures is the scope of the game with added locations that you can travel to. If you loved the gameplay of the original but felt the original Sims 3's world was a bit small, this version is for you. Beyond your own town, there are 3 additional locations including Egypt, France and China. Each location has its own buildings, inhabitants, goals and tourist attractions. Also included are 52 new goals and 4 new mini-games. The mini games include ruin exploration, air flight, bartering and language games. Succeeding in these mini-games help you along the way. For example, the in flight mini game prevents you from getting air sick which will suck up valuable time at your destination while you recoup. Meanwhile better language skills add to your charm, improving your interaction with others.

The first Sims 3 for iPhone successfully trimmed down the Sims series to a solid handheld experience. World Adventures expands on that by giving you additional adventures, clothing and locals to explore.

App Store Link: Sims 3 World Adventure, $6.99

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It seems as if EA's rapid fire release schedule we saw in 2009 is continuing right through to 2010 with the three games that they just revealed new screenshots of today. We don't know that much about these games yet, but should very soon judging by how EA has handled iPhone game launches in the past.

Sim City Deluxe

Coming this summer, Sim City Deluxe looks to be a significant upgrade from the original iPhone Sim City released in late 2008. The interface appears to have been tweaked, and the game also is loaded with new natural disasters and a pinch-zoom function.

The Sims 3 World Adventures

Yet another Sims expansion, this time focusing on exotic destinations such as Egypt and the far east. World Adventures for the PC includes tons of hidden treasures and new things for your Sims to discover, and it seems like we can expect the same out of the iPhone port. Oh, and of course, what would a Sims expansion be without new clothes and furniture?

2010 FIFA World Cup

Set in South Africa, this game appears to be an evolution of FIFA 10 which we enjoyed in our review. If you're a soccer fan, this is likely the soccer game to look forward to on the iPhone.

We will be following up with all of these games as more details are revealed.

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I have a love-hate affair with tile-sliding games, so when I first discovered TileStorm [App Store, I had mixed expectations. Generally, tile-sliding games are pretty difficult (and TileStorm is no different), but the satisfaction that one gets from completing a puzzle is worth the rough path there. TileStorm faithfully delivers this tried-and-true gameplay with some nice, clean 3D visuals, soothing audio, and complete option set.

There are 100 levels in TileStorm, all equally split up between industrial, Egyptian, medieval, and jungle environments, which serve as really nothing more than a set up for some variety in the level-to-level color palette. Your goal as the player is to create a path for "Eggbot the robot" to make his way to the level's exit. This is accomplished by figuring out a way to move around the different tiles that happen to be laid out in a jumbled fashion in select areas of each level. While most levels only require players to solve one puzzle to complete the level, some feature numerous puzzles with pieces that must be re-used.

There's quite a challenge to be had with many of the levels in TileStorm, but players can take their time while playing as their is no time limit or other way to "lose." The game does track your time in the top-right corner of the screen, but this feature is merely included as an option for those who want to beat their own best times. There are no online leaderboards for the game, but I feel that TileStorm gets a pass for excluding this otherwise necessary feature because of the nature of the game; once players memorize the solution for a puzzle improving their own times would become an exercises in finger dexterity, not actual skill, to see how quickly they could mindlessly repeat the motions required to solve them.

TileStorm features a clean 3D isometric perspective, and both the environments and Eggbot himself all look great. The few bits of animation that Eggbot does have all play out without a hitch, and tiles slide along without any lag when prompted with a swipe of the finger. I always appreciate the option to turn a game's audio and listen to my iPod library while playing, and the game offers that up as well. One feature that TileStorm managed to fit in that I enjoyed is an incredibly detailed stat counter for players. By selecting "Game Stats" from its options menu, players of TileStorm can see how many puzzles they've completed, how much time they've spent playing the game and even the number of times that the screen has been touched during play. I think that being able to check out such statistics is a lot of fun, and I'm glad that TileStorm's developer included this functionality.

While I've had a lot of fun with TileStorm, there are a few problems that need to be ironed out. The biggest issue that I have with the game is its level-unlocking system, which requires players to complete all of the levels in one area before proceeding on to the next– Causing gameplay to come to a halt if you get stuck instead of skipping to a different level. Also, there are some interface issues such as requiring players to completely exit levels to restart them instead of simply having a button in a menu somewhere. However, the developer has been very active in our forums, and these fixes should be coming soon.

TileStorm is a fun, well-made puzzle game that offers up plenty of challenge and hours upon hours of gameplay for those who stick with it long enough to complete all 100 levels. While a few minor issues with the game may cause some annoyance, I don't believe that these problems will be nearly large enough to keep players from having a good time with it. This is not an easy game, but is definitely worth considering if you enjoy a good brain-teaser.

App Store Link: TileStorm, $1.99 – TileStorm Lite, Free

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To say that The Sims series of games have been successful would be a massive understatement. The original PC version was the best selling PC game of all time, and the ridiculous amount of expansions and sequels all were remarkably successful as well. The iPhone game, The Sims 3 [App Store] rocketed up to the #1 top selling paid app on the App Store almost instantly following its release, and stayed there for quite some time.

EA hopes to duplicate that success with the upcoming pseudo-sequel The Sims 3 World Adventures. In the game, you'll be able to travel to three locations: "Al Simhara" in Egypt, "Champs Les Sims" in France, and "Shang SimLa" in China. Along with new personas, careers, and quests you will also have 52 new goals to achieve as well as 4 new mini-games to play with your sim.

Of course World Adventures also comes loaded with new clothes, furniture, and face types for you to choose when customizing your sim, and if you've purchased DLC in The Sims 3, you will be able to transfer those purchases to this game. On top of that, you will be able to import and export your characters between both games on your iPhone.

Last, but certainly not least, The Sims 3 World Adventures will feature musical accompaniment of popular songs sang in "Simlish". LeAnn Rimes is the only artist that EA has specifically mentioned so far, and you can hear her song sung sim-style here.

EA isn't ready to discuss release dates yet, but we will post more information (and hopefully more "Simlish" songs) as we receive it.

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