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One of the most interesting phenomenons that have sprung up from the App Store is how game engines like Unity have empowered so many first-time iPhone developers to create games with full physics simulation. There are a ton of silly little physics games already on the App Store, many utilizing a similar bike riding and ramp jumping mechanic, but one simple thing sets Mr Onions [99¢] apart from the rest: A basket full of groceries.

In the game, you must help Mr. Onions get home from the grocery store, riding his bike across various country roads, all of which are home to hazards such as ramps, tires, floating logs, windmills, and many other things that should never be on any kind of roadway. Mr. Onions can distribute his weight to tilt the bike forward or backward by tilting your iPhone, and pressing the right side of the screen makes him pedal while touching the left side makes him brake.

This is all pretty standard, and the controls will come naturally if you've ever played games like Bike or Die 2 [$5.99 / Free], Moto X Mayhem [99¢, or many others. What sets Mr Onions apart is that the goal of the game is not only to get to the other side of the level, but to get there with what appears to be a loaf of bread, hunk of cheese, and tomato all still in the basket of your bike.

This is so much harder than it sounds, especially in some of the later levels. Keeping three tiny little objects inside of the basket on the front of your bike requires extremely precise control, always being sure to land as gracefully as possible while keeping your speed reasonable. (Your time is also recorded, adding some replay value as you go through levels again to try to beat previous times.)

The simple graphics of the game are silly enough, but few iPhone games have ever had me cackling like such a maniac. The incredibly ridiculous stunts you need to successfully pull off, all while keeping your lunch in your basket, are really something else. Also, there's nothing quite like flying off a windmill as your loaf of bread flips out of your basket, you catch it by powering in to a wheelie, only to just barely lose your tomato before crossing the finish line.

The main down side to the game is how little time it will take you to beat. 20 levels are included, and are slowly unlocked by collecting stars which are awarded by making across the finish line with your entire load of groceries intact. In the future, I'd love to see more levels, or even some kind of online leaderboard integration.

If you've enjoyed these kind of physics games in the past, or just really want to know what it's like trying to get home from the grocery store in the world's most dangerous neighborhood, you really should give Mr Onions a try. I've had a bunch of fun with the game, even though I swear that tomato has something against me.

Note: There has been a high level of debate amongst the TouchArcade crew regarding the actual contents of the basket. I firmly believe it's bread, cheese, and a tomato as that makes the most sense for a sandwich but other things have been suggested including a box of Arm & Hammer as well as an orange, grapefruit, and/or many other things. Perhaps part of the magic of Mr Onions is wondering what he's going home to prepare with the three mystery items.

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NimbleBit recently released a video of their upcoming iPad game, Omium, a two player retro-styled shooter. Much like their other newly launched iPad title, DizzyPad HD [Free], Omium is going to come packed with three different game modes. Each of them involve one player controlling a single space ship, while the other controls spawning an army of "bad guys."

Each of these different game types are detailed in the following gameplay trailer:

NimbleBit has amassed an army of fans on our forums through their constant release cycle of casual games starting with Scoops [Free] which was released all the way back in September of 2008. Other games include Textropolis [$1.99], Moon Drop [$1.99] and many others. If you haven't yet, take a look at their entire library of games on the App Store.

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Press OK Entertainment, the guys behind Finger Physics [99¢ / Free], had another puzzle game hit the App Store this morning. Spinzizzle [$1.99 / Free] takes the familiar match three formula and adds a fun spin to it, in that you're literally spinning the game board to make the matches.

Each level of Spinzizzle has a dial with a slightly different layout that holds the various balls you have to match. Spinning the dial causes any balls which free spaces next to them to fall, and doing well in the game involves analyzing the playing field and figuring out which way you need to turn the dial in order to clear all of the balls on the screen without mixing them up too much to score any matches.

Once three matching balls link up, they become locked on the dial, and you can keep spinning it to make more matches. Because chains of balls get locked in place when they're initially matched, there's actually a surprising amount of strategy found in the game between figuring out how to spin the dial to arrange the balls before actually getting any matches to make sure that once you do the other balls are still free to get matched as well.

Of course you can't spend all day figuring out the best moves as the entire game is timed, with more time awarded for every successful match. Two game modes are included, a story mode where players progress through many different dial layouts (some much more difficult than others) and action mode which allows you to replay any dial layout from the story mode and see how high of a score you can get before time runs out.

To mix things up further, a number of different wild balls also pop up while you're playing which really seem to be the key to scoring high. Speaking of scores, Spinzizzle comes loaded with OpenFeint for all kinds of online leaderboards and all the other things OpenFeint brings to the table.

With how many match three games are on the App Store, it really takes a lot to stand out from the rest. I've been having a lot of fun with Spinzizzle, largely in part because it's often entirely possible to clear the entire game board at once, and figuring out how to do that is a really good time if you're a puzzle game perfectionist. The game launched along site a lite version, so if this review has at all piqued your interest I really recommend at least giving the free Spinzizzle a spin.

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Early last month, dual-stick dungeon crawler Solomon's Keep was released onto the App Store. Successfully blending aspects from many similar games before it, it proved to be a surprisingly fun experience that we enjoyed in our review. As impressive as that initial release was, rather than resting on their laurels developer Raptisoft has been hard at work collecting user feedback regarding new ideas, gameplay tweaks, and bug-fixes to further improve their game. The latest culmination of this is the recently released version 2.0 update, which irons out the kinks that plagued the first version and adds a considerable amount of new content to play with.

One of the most significant improvements in 2.0 is the ability to weld offensive skills together. Combining 2 of the 3 primary attacks (Magic Missile, Lightning, or Fireball) creates an attack that carries attributes of both. As just one example, Lightning welded with Fireball creates an auto-targeting stream of fire called Flame Lash that's capable of exploding and arcing to multiple enemies at once. The characteristics of the welded attack you create depend on how extensively each individual skill has been upgraded at the time you combine them. The welding mechanic works extremely well and adds a whole new layer of strategy and customization to developing your character, as well as providing satisfying firepower.

Another welcome change is an extension to the game's length. There are now 13 dungeon floors versus 10, with an added boss fight on floor 11. After beating all 13 levels, you're given the ability to play through the dungeon over again on a harder difficulty while retaining all your previous skills and gear. This second run through the game is called Wizard mode, and once that has been completed a third even harder Archmage mode is waiting. There's also a new wizard in town that offers you specific meta-quests, called Feats, such as beating the game without using any potions or items. Acting similarly to achievements, these Feats provide even more interesting ways to play through Solomon's Keep.

In addition to these major enhancements, there's a multitude of bugs and glitches that have been taken care of, which was a point of contention in our initial review. Many other tweaks have been implemented to balance out the gameplay, as well as a few brand new items and secondary skills. Facebook connectivity also enters the fray so you can boast about your achievements (and failures) to your social networking cohorts. It's now a much more stable experience throughout, and taking into consideration all the new additions it feels like a much more complete game. With random level and item generation, and countless possibilities for character leveling, the replay value here is near infinite.

What started as a somewhat brief, quirky game now contains enough compelling content and polish to compete with other heavy-hitting dungeon crawlers on the App Store. And it doesn't seem likely to stop here, as development is already under way on ideas for future updates and DLC. These include an endless graveyard mode to test how far you can take your leveled-up character, and possible new classes such as Archer, Rogue, and Warlord each with unique skill trees and stories. With such an incredibly solid foundation in place, the prospect of additional content like this is really exciting. The price has risen to $1.99 with the 2.0 update and lite version being available, but it's still a great bargain for the amount of entertainment it contains. If you've not checked out Solomon's Keep yet, it's strongly recommended to at least give the lite a try, and to not miss out on this extraordinary title.

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Croquisoft, creators of Castle Fantasy [99¢], recently dropped the price of their other game, Finger VS. Finger [Free], to free. While it may not look that impressive from first glance if all you're looking at is screenshots, Finger VS. Finger is actually a surprisingly clever turn-based game that can both be played with AI opponents along with a full suite of multiplayer options to play with other people.

The object of the game is similar to playing ringer with marbles in that players take turn knocking the opposing marbles off the game board. You have control of which marble you shoot, along with its direction and velocity. Aiming and shooting your marbles is just a matter of tapping on the screen, and winning games usually involves intelligent use of environmental obstacles to protect your marbles from your opponent.

These obstacles include two kinds of bumpers that both have a different effect on how hard your marbles bounce off of them. There are also black holes that completely swallow your marbles, as well as warps which look like little worm holes that you can shoot your marble through to have it come shooting out the other similarly colored hole in the game board.

While playing against the AI opponents in the 32 different included levels is a pretty good time, the real killer feature of Finger VS. Finger is online multiplayer which seems to work equally well over both 3G and WiFi. Also, I'm not sure if the developers have bots to play against online or if all the opponents I've faced have been human, but I've yet to have much of a problem finding a match with another player.

The one down side to the game is that the online functionality is limited to random matchmaking. The only way to play with a friend is to simply use the local single device multiplayer. But, at the current price of free, it's hard to really get too worked up over the omission of private online matches– Especially when the random matchmaking works so well.

Forum member TheProxy shot the following gameplay video for the Finger VS. Finger thread:

Croquisoft hasn't mentioned anywhere that I've found how long Finger VS. Finger will be free but since App Store pricing can change at any time, you should really snag this game as soon as possible.

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Clickgamer's Angry Birds [99¢ / Free] has been one of my favorite games since it was first launched in December of last year. We thought the game was great in our review, and since then, Angry Birds has only gotten better with the surprising amount of extra content that has been added to the game via updates.

Angry Birds is a game that could easily be described with any number of cliches such as "easy to play, difficult to master", "polished", "addictive", and others. When it comes down to it, what makes Angry Birds great is how incredibly accessible the game is to everyone, even non-gamers. Gameplay amounts to a number of different birds, each with different abilities, loading themselves in to a slingshot. You then use a single finger to fling them at a fort filled with smug, smiling pigs.

There isn't really any quick reaction elements to the game, or really anything that requires more than just intelligently analyzing the weaknesses in the pigs' fortresses and aiming at them with your birds. Levels are scored and stars are awarded based on performance. Completionists can shoot for three stars, perfecting every level, and gamers just looking to have fun can generally clear levels with one star without too much trouble.

A previous update added Chillingo's Crystal for all kinds of online scoring, achievements, and all that fun stuff along with 40 new levels. The last update added a new bird and 15 additional levels. This update adds another 15 levels and a new level theme. The amount of content in Angry Birds when it first launched was more than enough, but after all these updates, you really need to pick this game up if you haven't already.

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We first heard of Blizzard's plans to improve the functionality of the Mobile Armory [Free] app to include access to the auction house back in February. MMO Champion has all the details today on the recently released Remote Auction House functionality of the existing Mobile Armory app which currently only works for a small number of World of Warcraft servers as part of a beta test of the service.

To use the Mobile Armory you will need a World of Warcraft or Battle.net account, with most of the features requiring an active World of Warcraft subscription. If you're lucky enough to play on the hand full of servers currently supported, using the existing Mobile Armory app you will not only be able to buy items on the in-game auction house, but also sell any item from your character's bags, bank, or mailbox as well as manage all the gold generated from said auctions.

Currently, this functionality is free but limited to 25 total transactions a day, a number which will be increased at launch, according to Blizzard. At the conclusion of the beta test, the auction house features of the Mobile Armory will split in to free and paid functions. Without paying for anything, you will be able to browse and view the auction house along with getting real-time notifications when your auctions sell, expire, or you are outbid or win an auction. For $2.99 on top of your existing WoW subscription you'll be able to do all the buying and selling mentioned previously.

Towards the bottom of the new Remote Auction House site is a chart that details the feature differences of the two subscription tiers.

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In late March we first caught wind of Warblade, an impressive looking vertical shooter that has already lived a long life on the PC. (Starting originally with the Amiga.) The plot of Warblade is extremely simple, an alien race is invading Earth and you must stop them by shooting up every enemy ship that crosses your path. While the game likely won't win any awards for story telling, the recently released gameplay video really looks great:

The graphics look awesome, and they even go through the shocking number of weapons you can buy in game while playing through quite a few levels. Also, as mentioned in the description of the video, Warblade will come loaded with 100 levels along with 15 time trial levels and boss fights. The game also runs at 60 FPS, but it isn't clear on which devices.

According to the EMV Software Twitter, the free version of Warblade was recently submitted. The last mention of the full version of the game is from May 6th, where a new beta version was sent to testers.

I was excited for Warblade when I first heard about the plans to bring it to the iPhone, and after seeing the game in motion, I can't wait for it to get here. Hopefully the free version comes with a decent amount of content to hold us over while the paid version is finalized.

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In late March we first caught wind of Warblade, an impressive looking vertical shooter that has already lived a long life on the PC. (Starting originally with the Amiga.) The plot of Warblade is extremely simple, an alien race is invading Earth and you must stop them by shooting up every enemy ship that crosses your path. While the game likely won't win any awards for story telling, the recently released gameplay video really looks great:

The graphics look awesome, and they even go through the shocking number of weapons you can buy in game while playing through quite a few levels. Also, as mentioned in the description of the video, Warblade will come loaded with 100 levels along with 15 time trial levels and boss fights. The game also runs at 60 FPS, but it isn't clear on which devices.

According to the EMV Software Twitter, the free version of Warblade was recently submitted. The last mention of the full version of the game is from May 6th, where a new beta version was sent to testers.

I was excited for Warblade when I first heard about the plans to bring it to the iPhone, and after seeing the game in motion, I can't wait for it to get here. Hopefully the free version comes with a decent amount of content to hold us over while the paid version is finalized.

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Little White Bear Studios have released their newest game today, Compression HD [Free] — an all new iPad version of their popular iPhone game Compression [$1.99 / Lite] that we reviewed and gave 4 stars.

In Compression HD, the object is to remove all the hollowed out blocks from each level to move on. Making a match of 3 or more of the same colored block will remove those pieces from the board. You control new pieces falling down from the top with swipes and taps of your finger to move and rotate the pieces as they come down. The controls are very natural and easy to get the hang of, and you'll immediately understand how to control the pieces once you start playing.

A unique feature in Compression HD compared to similar matching games is that the walls will move inwards throughout the level compressing the board, hence the name of the game. For every three pieces that drop, a wall will come in (either the left, right or bottom wall), adding to the strategy involved with making combos in the game. You must complete the level before the board is too small and there's no room left for any new pieces. As you complete levels, the game gets faster and faster the farther you reach. You'll want to last as long as you can and score as many points as possible to compete in the online leader boards. Compression HD is OpenFeint enabled, offering achievements and multiple global scoreboards.

This game has been soaring up the charts today and it is easy to see why, with fun gameplay, cool graphics and great music that suits the game perfectly. You won't want to pass up this excellent iPad title, especially since it's free. The developer has said in our forums that a new mode may show up in Compression HD in the near future in an update.

App Store Link: Compression HD, Free

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