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Provided Owlchemy Labs can energize the creative members of their playerbase, Snuggle Truck [$1.99/HD] owners won’t want for levels in the near future. A new level editor as well as a hip new social component that lets you share, rate, and explore each other’s levels, will appear in the game’s next update — an update that’s currently in testing, but is being teased openly on the studio’s blog.

I get the sense that the sky is the limit in terms of raw sharing. The game can currently boast 41 original levels, but it’ll soon support thousands. The user levels, as explained in a recent video release, will appear next to the level select screen in their own special sub-menu, complete with all sorts of sorting and finding mechanisms. This is THE editor that the developers used to create the game, so you’ll be able to play or provide a similar level of quality to those that ship with the game.

Olwchemy Labs sees this as a great value add and I tend to agree. But version 1.5 won’t just boast the level editing stuff. It’ll also feature a re-position UI, new higher-resolution art, new achievements, and a “ton of low-level optimizations” and bug fixes.

We see a lot of game creators dabble with putting their tools in their user’s hands. For the most part, it doesn’t seem to enrich the overall experience — bad level design or funky implementation never makes for a good time. See: Infamous 2, ModNation Racers, and LittleBigPlanet for plenty of examples of both. Really, for level sharing to work for you, creative minds have to get involved, feel like they have a stake in the product, and keep iterating. I hope Snuggle Truck owners will do that over the long haul.

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Reviewing card games is always tricky for me. As I've mentioned in previous card game reviews, I've been playing Magic: The Gathering on a competitive level since the earliest days of the game which gives me an entirely different perspective on card games from most gamers. People on our forums are having a fantastic time with Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer [$4.99 / Lite], and from a technical perspective it's absolutely fantastic, but all this really does is make me wish that we could finally get iOS ports of some of the better card games out there.

From a technical standpoint, there's really not much more you could ask for. First off, the game is universal and plays great on both the iPad as well as smaller iOS devices. I find myself preferring it on the iPad since the increased screen real estate really lends itself to games like this, but it's just as good on the iPhone. The touch interface works great with card games, as anyone who has basically played any card game on an iOS device could tell you, and Ascension is no different. There's options to make the game run as fast (or as slow) as you'd like, multiple levels of AI, and even online multiplayer via Game Center.

The actual game of Ascension is a somewhat refreshing spin on fantasy-based card games in that instead of building a specific deck that you use in battles, you're building your deck on the fly from game to game. Players start the game with identical basic decks of ten cards consisting of two militia cards which provide the "power" resource and eight apprentice cards which provide the "rune" resource. Using power and runes you're able to interact with a common pool of cards to either acquire new cards for your deck or defeat monster cards. Most actions you do in the game award different amounts of victory points, and at the end of the game, the player with the most victory points wins.

Like most card games, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is infinitely easier to explain visually. The good news is, Ascension started its life as a physical card game, so there's no shortage of incredibly detailed videos on how the game works. Here's a particularly fantastic one from Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower:

There's some things that I really like about Ascension. Similar to Dominion, it's really cool how each game starts off totally fresh. Unlike games where players have decks they've built themselves, no one can enter a game with a stacked deck filled with the best cards. Everyone has access to the same card pool, and there's a decent amount of variety in the deck building strategy you can try to follow from game to game. If you have an opponent that did something interesting with how they built their deck, you can try doing something similar the next game. As someone who has invested thousands of dollars into specific Magic decks that I've been more or less locked into playing through entire set rotations, this is just awesome.

But with the good, there's a hefty amount of bad. First off, the card art is laughably terrible. It seems like placeholder art that just never got refined, and some of the card art flat out looks unfinished. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but there is an incredibly odd contrast between how great Ascension is as an iOS game from a technical perspective and how poor the art is. It's easy enough to overlook, but the art totally jumps out in your first moments with the game which leads to some incredibly mediocre initial impressions.

While I really like the nature of these types of deck building games, Ascension is entirely too random, especially with more than two players in the mix. It's virtually impossible to follow any kind of deck building strategy, as you're faced with two layers of randomness: The cards you draw, and the cards that are drawn off the communal deck to replace other cards that have been acquired/defeated by other players. Instead of being able to follow a game-wide strategy, you're faced with focusing on tactics on a turn by turn basis resulting in often disjointed decks and just buying/defeating whatever cards you can that turn.

Lady luck can be a cruel mistress, and sometimes the seemingly awesome deck you've built can be rendered entirely useless based on a series of horrible card draws to the common pool. For instance, one viable deck building strategy involves focusing on cards that generate power to spend slay monsters which can generate a considerable amount of victory points. However, if you hit a unlucky streak of cards in the common card pool with other players being slow to acquire them to get fresh cards on the field, your whole deck stalls out without any substantial monster cards to kill. Also, the high levels of randomness can often let one player in a game get an incredible lead in victory points, making even attempting to finish the game bordering on fairly pointless.

Asynchronous online multiplayer seems incredibly promising, but Ascension is faced with the same problem that so many similar games fall victim to: It can be difficult finding people to play with, especially people of equal skill. I've managed to get a few games going, but a (seemingly) small player base combined with the length of the individual games doesn't lend itself at all to available random matches with people that will play games to completion. When the stars align and you do get into a four player online game, it's a ton of fun, but as soon as a single player becomes unresponsive the entire game grinds to a halt.

At the end of the day, the developers did an absolutely fantastic job porting Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer to iOS devices. I'm not sure what if anything they could have been done differently to make the game better, as all of my issues with Ascension are directly linked to the source material and are shared with the physical version of the game as well. I almost think it's biggest downfall is how precise of a port the game is.

Regardless, if you're interested in fantasty-based card games I'd highly recommend at least giving the lite version of Ascension (which is also universal) a try. As mentioned at the start of this review, I'm fully aware that my outlook towards card games in general might be a little more hardcore than most out there, so you might find my complaints to be not much of an issue for you. Either way, the lite version will give you a great idea whether or not the game of Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer jives with you, if it does, definitely grab the full version.

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Cavorite [$1.99]  by Cascadia Games is another entry in the puzzle-platformer section of the App Store, only this time, the game takes place on the moon. The story goes like this: Back in 1898, a funky substance named 'Cavorite' was discovered, which could shield against gravity. The professor who discovered it built a spaceship, sprayed it with cavorite and ventured into space, to become the first man on the moon.  Unfortunately, a bunch of green bug-eyed aliens, known as 'Selenites', emerged from underground. They abducted the professor and dragged his spaceship into caverns below the lunar surface.  Luckily, the professor has escaped, but he now must repair his spacecraft, to escape the moon. The game is inspired by the H.G.Wells novel The First Men in the Moon, written in 1901. How's that for retro?

As a platform game, Cavorite has plenty of stationary and moving platforms and conveyer belts to jump between, lava and spike-pits to avoid, lazer beams to block or deactivate, doors to unlock and assorted alien enemies to jump or defeat. There's three varieties of alien to watch out for: 'Guard Selenites' are aggressive and carry spears, 'thieving Selenites' are kleptomaniacs who steal your ships parts if they reach them first, while 'pusher Selenites' move any crates in their path, which may either help or hinder. My favorites are the deadly moon-beetles, which crawl around platforms and inflict instant death if touched.  The enemies can be killed by crushing with crates which turns them into green goop, forcing them into spikes or pushing them into molten lava.

While the title is solid as a platform game, It's the puzzle-solving and level-design where this game really shines. There are crates which must be pushed, dropped or even flown into position, to complete each level.  The professor is armed with a cavorite gun which causes objects or enemies to float.  You can spray cavorite on an object to make it rise, perhaps to activate a button above or to drop on an alien's head once the effects of cavorite wear off. You can also make a crate float, then grab hold of it, to be pulled into the air. Once air-bound, you can maneuver the floating crate (and yourself) left or right. This is a useful way to reach higher platforms, to transport crates to other parts of the screen, to activate buttons or to block lazer beams. The puzzles make you stop and think, as you often need to plan your strategy for completing the level. Things are moving around on the screen, so sometimes you need to act quickly before your exit is blocked or a thieving alien steals a part required to repair your ship.

Cavorite delivers plenty of gameplay in three chapters (63 levels). Each chapter features a different pixel-art landscape and it's own boss battle. Gold or silver stars are awarded for each level, based on time taken. If you get stuck, a level can be skipped after a few unsuccessful attempts. There's even Game Center achievements and an online leader-board for fastest game-completion times–  Screenshot grabbing and tweeting are built in. The developer knows all the puzzles and can beat his own game in 24 minutes and 9 seconds, which is an insane time for hard core gamers to beat. For most of us, the game will provide hours of gameplay, which is probably why the music got stuck in my head, in a good way.

The App Store is a smorgasbord of awesome games, so it's easy to jump from title to title, having a wee taste of each. But a nibble of Cavorite isn't enough, for the puzzles are enticing, without being too difficult, so you'll want to keep playing until you escape the moon. The well-designed puzzles and ability to float objects, all within a physics-based platforming game, with retro pixel-art and a nod to H.G Wells, is a winning combination.

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One of our favorite releases from earlier this year was The Blocks Cometh [99¢] from developer Halfbot. This Flash game to iOS port had you controlling one of several characters who must dodge and stay on top of the endless stream of blocks inexplicably falling from the sky. The goal was to get as high into the air as possible while avoiding getting crushed by a falling block, and each of the 5 available characters had their own unique attributes such as special jumps or weaponry to destroy blocks with.

With its great pixel art, rocking chiptunes, and frantic gameplay, we had no problems recommending The Blocks Cometh in our review from February. As great as the game was though, there were still a few issues. Our major complaint was the difficulty, and it seemed that no matter how large our own Brad Nicholson’s muscles grew, he just couldn’t do very well in the game. There was also a substantial group of people in our forums and elsewhere who were calling for a landscape mode, since playing The Blocks Cometh in portrait was a pretty cramped experience.

In the just released 1.5 update to the game, Halfbot looks to remedy both of these major complaints, while at the same time adding in a whole bunch of other cool things to boot. Addressing the difficulty is the new Casual mode, which features slower moving blocks and the ability to get squished by blocks 3 times before it causes a game over. In addition to Casual mode, there is now an Arcade mode as well which gives you the benefit of the extra lives but the blocks move at regular speed.

The next big feature in this update is the ability to play in landscape mode at any time simply by turning your device. Landscape mode causes the screen to shrink considerably so as not to cut off any of the same area you would have in portrait mode, but it still remains large enough to play easily and there are nice borders on the sides for the virtual buttons to sit. Landscape definitely offers up a way more comfortable way to play the game. If I had to nitpick something it would be that none of the screens outside the actual gameplay are landscape friendly, but this is an extremely minor annoyance.

Another of the big changes is the addition of an in-game store with two 99¢ in-app purchase options. The first will unlock all 8 additional playable characters in the game, which includes the 4 new ones added in this latest update. Every character can be unlocked normally just by achieving certain goals in the game, but if you’re not patient enough for that sort of thing then the option is there to spend a buck and get them all at once.

The second IAP is much more interesting. It’s actually a whole new mode called GameBot which gives you a retro Game Boy inspired version of the game. GameBot can only be played in landscape mode, and the outside edges of the screen are mocked up to look like a classic portable system. Gameplay is essentially the same, though it does have a slightly different feel to it and you aren’t able to choose a character. But something about it is just a lot of fun, especially if you ever owned an old handheld like the Game Boy.

The remainder of the update contains 30 Game Center achievements as well as general bug fixes and optimizations. Also, all 4 of the modes that are in the game now each have their own Game Center leaderboard to climb. If you picked up The Blocks Cometh before but couldn’t hang with playing in portrait mode or thought it was too difficult, you should definitely give the updated version another spin. If you’ve been enjoying The Blocks Cometh since the beginning, then there are plenty of goodies in this latest update to keep you further entertained as well.

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For quite some time now we have been tracking Manomio's upcoming iAmiga emulation system for iOS, designed as a sort of wrapper or delivery vehicle to bring licensed Amiga games to the App Store. At the end of last year, we posted an exclusive preview of the in-development system, including a demo video showing a number of classic test titles running quite well on an iPhone 4. One of the titles we played with back then was Cinemaware's classic 1986 strategy game, Defender of the Crown. I'm happy to report that this well-loved, fully-licensed title will be the first iAmiga-powered game to land in the App Store, and that Manomio CEO Stuart Carnie was kind enough to grant us exclusive access to a near-release build of the game.

First, let me say a little bit about the game, for those that may be unfamiliar. Defender of the Crown is a strategy game set in medieval England. The player takes on the role of any of four Saxon knights in a bid to defeat the Norman invaders and fill the vacant throne of England. The original game manual, which is packed with historical information, tells the story well.

IT IS A TIME OF LEGENDS. A time for heroes. A time of bitter strife, when great men rise above their peers to perform great deeds. A chapter of history is in the making.

Your liege the king is dead, the throne vacant. Britain enters a season of destruction, a winter of killing that can end only when the last brave Saxon knight lies dead or the castles of the Normans lie in heaps of rubble, emptied of the foul oppressors who have enslaved your people.

It is a time when foreign invaders shall learn truths administered by the shining blades of Saxon swords. It is a time when heroes are made, and legends are born.

The game is centered around a Risk-style map of England on which the player builds and deploys troops in an effort to defend home territories and take land occupied by the Normans. The struggle involves field combat, castle raids (with catapults, even), jousting, rescuing damsels in distress, and the like. While some of the action is quite involved — jousting is a first-person affair, for instance — other portions of it are more high-level strategy, i.e. click attack, watch the stats columns update. The whole thing is laid out like a very interactive board game, as opposed to something more intricate and vast, such as the more recent Warcraft III or Starcraft II. It is 25 years old, after all.

Even though Defender of the Crown is now 25, the pixel artwork of the talented and renowned Jim Sachs is still lovely to behold — and I don't think I'm talking through my retro blinders, there. Given that, I wanted to share an excerpt from Brian Bagnall's excellent book On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore, to help convey just how actually jarring an experience it was to see the game for the first time back in 1986.

[Amiga co-creator R.J.] Mical saw artist Jim Sachs push the Amiga to its full potential. "Jim Sachs, what a God he is," marvels Mical. "Jim Sachs is amazing. These days everyone sees graphics like that because there are a lot of really good computer graphics artists now, but back then, 20 years ago, it was astonishing to have someone that good."

The final game was a landmark in video game production values. As game designer Bob Lindstrom recalls, "The shock of seeing Defender for the first time was one of those experiences that changed the gaming stakes for all of us."

Compared to other video games of the time, Defender of the Crown established a new level of quality. IBM had Kings Quest by Sierra On-Line, a decent but primitive adventure game. The Macintosh had games like Checkers or Backgammon, or board games like Risk. Defender of the Crown had richer graphics than any computer, console, or even arcade game could boast in 1986. It was a revelation.

That's not to say that the game shined so brightly on every one of the numerous platforms to which it was ported. While the Amiga original is unquestionably the most visually impressive of the lot, there's room for debate as to which version looks the worst. And, happily for iOS users, it's the Amiga version that will soon be landing in the App Store.

Being a faithfully emulated version of the original, Defender of the Crown for iOS brings with it the Amiga's mouse-based controls, and Manomio has done a good job of making that work with the iPad's touchscreen. In order to interact with items on the screen or aim the jousting lance, the screen becomes basically a large trackpad, with a pointer that can be dragged or clicked (tapped) to get things done. As a full-time user of Apple's large Magic Trackpad, I very quickly got accustomed to the interaction, there. In a number of situations, a direct tap on this or that item on the screen would be preferable to dragging the pointer about, true, but I think it's important to remember that this is an emulated title that is being made available to iOS gamers thanks to the iAmiga system. A ground-up rewrite of a classic from years past — and the likelihood of that occurring — is an entirely different proposition, from many angles. I think there's much to be enjoyed about Defender of the Crown on iOS, just as it is.

Have a look at a bit of gameplay on the iPad 2 from the latest build of the game.

Stuart indicates that right now the game is feature complete and all that's left is to finalize the in-game documentation. Defender of the Crown for iOS is a Universal application supporting the iPhone 3GS, 3rd gen iPod touch, iPad, or better. It should arrive in the App Store in about two weeks and we'll be sure to let readers know when they can start to have fun storming the castles.

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It feels like a long shot, but there’s a chance we could see Octodad 2 on the iPad. The Young Horses, an incorporated branch of the original Depaul Game Experience crew, has revealed that it’s working on a follow-up to the original, and depending on how the funding fairs, we could see  additional projects like a motion-controlled console port, a booth for gaming conventions like PAX, and a possible iPad port.

Octodad is a curious third-person PC and Mac adventure game that has you, as the eponymous character, masquerading as a human and constructing a mannequin so you can avoid having dinner with your wife. The overall goal is to never be suspected as anything less than a loving, human husband, which is harder than it sounds. Movement in particular is abstract. You use a combination of thrusts and button presses with the mouse in order to plant on foot in front of the other recreating, somewhat, the gait of a human.

I’m… cautiously optimistic about how the movement mechanics in particular will translate to the iPad, but I’d love to see it despite the questions that I have. The Kickstarter page for Octodad 2 features the following video that teases some of what you’ll see in the sequel.

No firm release date for Octodad 2 has been noted. You can bide your time with the original, for free, at the game's official web site.

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Last year, Capcom raised the bar for traditional fighting games on the touch screen with Street Fighter IV [$4.99], and a couple of weeks ago they upped their game again by releasing Street Fighter IV Volt [$6.99] with online multiplayer. To a lesser degree, we’ve also seen Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 [99¢/HD] on the App Store, and although quirky and rough around the edges it still offered up a decent portable experience for fans of that series. With SNK Playmore’s recently released The King of Fighters-i [$7.99], we now have all the major players of the mid-90s 2D arcade fighter rivalry once again battling it out with each other, this time on the App Store.

While SNK’s various fighting franchises all had a pretty dedicated following, it was always the Street Fighters and Mortal Kombats of the world that stole the mainstream spotlight. Now here, more than a decade later on iOS, SNK Playmore has brought their A-game for a shot at the iOS fighting crown. And true to its namesake, The King of Fighters-i takes that crown by elevating touch screen fighters to the next level. It’s missing the marquee feature of online multiplayer that Street Fighter IV Volt can boast about, but when it comes to control responsiveness, speed, performance, visuals, animations, and approachability, The King of Fighters-i tops the competition.

The King of Fighters-i is based off of the newest entry in the franchise, The King of Fighters XIII which hit arcades last Summer and is slated for a home console release this October. The game comes with 14 playable characters, and anybody who knows the King of Fighters series knows that that is just a fraction of the monstrous roster of total available fighters. But it’s a decent start, and all of the included characters are interesting and fun to use. Plus, SNK Playmore states in the game’s description that 6 additional characters will be coming by October in free updates, most likely in time to coincide with the console release of the game.

The meat of The King of Fighters-i lies in the 4 single player modes. First, there is the traditional arcade mode lets you engage in the 3-on-3 team battles that are a staple of the series or regular 1-on-1 matches. Then there is an endless mode which is your typical game of survival as you face off against as many consecutive opponents as you can using just one gauge of life, which gets refilled slightly in between rounds. Finally, there is an excellent training mode which not only lets you spar against a computer opponent with many adjustable parameters but also features a fantastic combo training section that will teach you how to pull off some of the extensive combos in the game, some of which are incredibly elaborate.

As for controls, The King of Fighters-i is set up very much like Street Fighter on iOS, right down to the virtual controls which can be placed anywhere on the screen that’s to your liking. Despite the similarities though, The King of Fighters-i controls come out on top, and feel a notch above Street Fighter in terms of overall responsiveness. There's a punch and kick button, a button for evading, one dedicated to simplified special moves, and a fifth button used for entering a hyper state when one of your special meters is filled. These special meters also allow you to do super and EX moves. All of this is explained well in the tutorial that gets you off an running with the basics without much hassle.

The one big feature I love about the controls here is the inclusion of simplified special moves. This allows specials to be pulled off just by hitting a direction along with the dedicated special moves button. For someone like me who isn’t as intimately familiar with each character’s move sets, this allows me to use any character on a whim and not have to worry about constantly checking a move list in the pause screen and trying to memorize their special moves. It really encourages using and exploring different characters rather than the ones I’m normally comfortable with, and also makes the game a bit more playable with virtual controls.

At this point, the bones of The King of Fighters-i seem fairly comparable to other entries in the genre, but it’s in the overall execution where the game really outshines its opponents. The first thing you will notice is that The King of Fighters-i is much faster than other fighting games on the App Store. The action can get really fast-paced, but thanks to the excellent controls it’s not a problem to keep up. Also, I’ve never ran into so much as a stutter in frame rate while playing, and load times are lightening quick.

Graphically, the game is pretty incredible. It contains static backgrounds similar to Street Fighter IV, which is kind of a bummer, but the backgrounds in The King of Fighters-i are much crisper and more vibrant than the drab, fuzzy ones found in Capcom’s offering. Where the game really stands out visually is in the amazing hand-drawn sprites which are animated so fluidly it almost feels like you're watching a cartoon. The character sprites are a bit jagged around the edges, but you’ll hardly notice once you see them in motion. The animations, to me, are what make The King of Fighters-i feel the most like an actual console fighter as opposed to just a mobile version of one.

With all the things there are to love about The King of Fighters-i, there’s still one big thing missing which is the lack of online multiplayer. This might normally have been forgiven on a platform like the iPhone, but since Street Fighter IV Volt just proved that it’s possible to pull off and will likely only get better in the future, it’s something I’d like to have in a fighter. There is a local Bluetooth multiplayer mode, but in my limited testing the  performance seemed fairly sluggish. Still, I appreciate its inclusion and hope that SNK Playmore will explore more options for multiplayer in the future.

As a single player experience though, The King of Fighters-i has a lot to offer. The several arcade modes and combo training alone will keep you busy for some time, not to mention the Game Center leaderboards and achievements, but there’s also a really great collectible component to the game. Coins can be earned while playing the various modes and then spent in an in-game shop on things like concept and promotional art as well as collectible character cards. There are also different pre-fight dialogues for every character matchup in the game, which is a cool little detail if you have any vested interest in the various story elements of the characters. Luckily, it can also be disabled in the options if you choose so as not to slow down the matches starting.

I really can't find much fault in The King of Fighters-i apart from a lack of online multiplayer. If that ever comes into the picture it will just be icing on what is already a very delicious single player cake. Players in our forums have been raving about The King of Fighters-i since release, and as far as iOS fighters are concerned it’s raised the bar significantly against the competition, including the mighty Street Fighter.

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Com2Us's ultra-Korean Puzzle Family (Free / $1.99) is now available worldwide. It's full of crazy-fun minigames, but to get in on all the fun you're either going to need to pony up some cash, or invest some substantial time playing. Here's the deal: you start out with three of the game's eight minigames available to play. One is unlocked for free, one is unlocked by connecting Puzzle Family to your Facebook account, and one is unlocked by signing into Com2Us's gaming hub. If you want to unlock anything else, it's going to cost you stars. You can earn stars by playing the games (but slowly), or you can pay to get them in larger amounts. Unlocking all eight games is going to take a serious investment of your time, or more than a couple of your hard-earned dollars.

So if you're someone who wants to pay for a game upfront and have it all available to you, give this one a pass. But let me just say one thing first: Puzzle Family is really, really fun. Most of the minigames are takes on matching games, but they're interesting takes. If you can resist the siren song of IAP, you can easily get by with the three unlocked games in the free version and have a lot of fun while slowly working towards unlocking the rest of the content.

Flick and Fly, the included game, is a match-3 style game where you flick grumpy-faced blocks into each other to make and clear matches. They'll slide until they hit something, so setting up combos takes some (quick) thought. Hide and Seek also has you matching faces, but these ones are two-sided. Tap them to flip them around and swap their colors to make matches. In Shanghai Pop you'll match pairs of blocks, but they have to either be touching or be free on one side.

If you choose to spend your stars on more games, you can unlock the following:

• Order the Order, which gives you a three-symbol pattern to find in the field.
• Who's Next, which has you locate three different colors of critters in ever-increasing numerical order.
• Boing Boing, which is pretty much Puzzle Bobble.
• Copy Copycat, a flipping puzzle that needs you tap squares to flip those around them and match a specific pattern.
• Tap on Time, a timing game about tapping the right square at the right moment.

They're all wrapped in Puzzle Family's colorful, haywire style, with lots of cute and completely ridiculous imagery. And they're also very fun. You're on a tight timer in all the games, with either time or HP running down whenever you stop making matches or miss your timing, so they always feel frantic. In a pinch you can use a skill, which gives you a little more HP or time, but be warned – in the free version of the game, you can only earn them back by viewing ads, and in the paid version you can earn them back at a rate of 10 per day.

That's the main difference between the paid and free versions of Puzzle Family, by the way: ads. There aren't any in the paid version. You also get 3000 stars to start with, so you can unlock a couple more games. If you like the game, I'd recommend going for the paid version sooner than later, since your progress doesn't seem to carry over – it's a better deal than buying the stars in the shop.

The metagame aspects of Puzzle Family are a little lacking. There is no Game Center integration, just Facebook leaderboards. The urge to earn stars helps offset the lack, though – a high score is nice, but earning a ton of stars is much more satisfying. Even once you've unlocked all the minigames, you can use your stars to buy dress-up items for your stick-figure avatar, and those items give you more HP, higher scores and such. Your scores also feed into an experience system, of sorts – each "level" moves your little Puzzle Family to a new home. They start off living in the gutters, so there's nowhere to go but up.

I can see why Puzzle Family is so popular: there's lots to see and do, I'm always stimulated, and the stars do a great job of hitting the "reward" switch in my brain. So far our forum users are loving it too. I do wish the game were less mercenary in its approach, but if you pay, you're paying for a collection of very fun games. Few of them would stand on their own, but all eight together make an argument that's hard to resist.

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I've always thought the early Fallout games would work great on the iPad, (and to some extent they do, if you were able to download iDOS before it got pulled) but like many ancient PC games, the Fallout IP is securely locked up in a twisted web of developers and publishers that have been bought and sold over the years. In the case of Fallout it was originally an Interplay project, which got rolled into Bethesda, which now is part of ZeniMax. There's even been some brutal legal drama as who owns the rights to a Fallout MMO has been duked out in courts. What I'm getting at, is I'm not holding my breath for an iOS Fallout anytime soon.

So, having totally written that off long ago, imagine my surprise when I stumbled across PipClock [99¢ / Lite] randomly browsing the App Store today. In a nutshell, it takes the "dashboard" style clock and weather apps, but applies a glorious level of Fallout-esque style to it. Seriously, just check out the screenshots:

The functionality is basically what you'd expect out of one of these sorts of clock and weather apps, although everything has a wonderful Fallout spin. For instance, here in the "Ruins of Los Angeles" in "California's Wastelands" it's 85 degrees out with "poisonous fog not detected". Oh, there's a faux geiger counter built in too. Each element also has subtle animations, with static, scan lines, and even sparks.

Since upgrading to an iPad 2, I've been looking for a good use for my original iPad outside of checking to make sure games we're reviewing still run on it. With PipClock, I'm thinking I might have to relegate it to night stand duty as PipClock just looks too awesome to not be running all the time. It's universal too, so you could do the same with an old iPod touch if you've got one laying around.

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