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Game Center isn’t that great. That was the first among throngs of intelligent thoughts that followed after my first few forays into Infinity Blade’s [$2.99] new “Arena” mode, which hit the App Store this afternoon as a free update to the core — and now reduced priced — game.

The second thought had something to do with the grim satisfaction I take from hitting people in the face with virtual maces. I’ve heard Infinity Blade likened to Punch-Out on several occasions. It’s a solid comparison, but I’ve never get the kind of cheap, visceral thrills from that joint like I do from Infinity Blade. Being able to hit people in face while dressed as trolls like I can now makes it all the more … er, fun.

In a nugget, Arena pits you against another dude in a series of battles to the death. The victor is the person who wins the most matches. The twist is that you don’t always play as the human — you’ll also be forced to play as at least one of the game’s monsters.

It’s a cool setup, and for the most part, it works. You’ll feel like you’re playing against opponents who are much smarter and way more cunning. The trade-off is that nothing you do in this mode translates to the campaign. Carrying on with the things you've earned is central to the experience, so this decision does stick out for better or worse.

My third thought had something to do with Arena’s self-containment. Infinity Blade allows people to sink real money into the game in exchange for gold, so I trudged into Arena with a belly full of trepidation.

Alas, no worries; everything you earn in Arena is locked into the current match. You’ll also start with no items earned from the campaign, so every game is a fresh one — which is what makes the decision to have progression a puzzling one.

After each match, you’ll earn gold that you can then spend on shield, armor, weapons, or new body types if you’re a monster… but you’ll keep none of it after the match. Ideally, this self-contained faux-perk system creates an arms race against opponents, but it lacks the depth needed to make that friction meaningful. The customization options are lacking and everything seems way too easy to get.

My fourth thought had something to do with how much I like trolls. I want to be the jerk troll clubbing pitiful humans in the face and I totally got to do that in Arena. Oh, and for what it’s worth, I’m having a blast doing it.

Beasts control much like the human with the added benefit of a slider bar that controls swing speed. There’s also a “Fury” bar that allows for increased recovery times. I think it might be a too technical for its own good, but you’ll get the hang of it in minutes.

Being a troll also offers a cool chance to look behind the curtain of enemy design. I feel like game creator Chair just ripped out its AI’s spine and sticks your hand up the monster. You get a distinct feel for how the enemies are designed to attack as the puppeteer.

To access Arena, update your game and head straight into the menu option from the game. Be prepared to fiddle with Game Center; I’ve received countless errors and weird hang-ups thus far, but when you do connect, the multiplayer works really well.

Like I wrote in a previous post, this Arena update also gives you a ton of new weapons and gives you access to a boss attack mode called “Survivor.” It’s definitely worth the price of $0 and the game itself is definitely worth the $2.99 Chair is selling it for at the moment. Check it!

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Ticket to Ride [$6.99] is a board game turned digital. It has no great pits to leap across, caves to plumb for loot, or monsters to bludgeon. Ticket to Ride is, without a doubt, a traditional game that requires the old-fashioned stuff: deduction, tactics, and skill. It isn’t for people who want flash and glam; rather, it’s for people who can appreciate sharp, boiled-down design that presents compelling challenges without the mess.

Straight up: Ticket to Ride is good on the iPad, just as it’s always been good as a board game. The things the digitization brings to the table is the streamlining of setup — the end game counting of points, the piece setting, and the shuffling of cards — and online play against or with friends or even random dudes.

It’s not shocking, but it’s still weird how sterile Ticket to Ride is from a visual design standpoint. I can count the number of animations and UI elements on my fingers. The focus here is on the game itself, as it should be. But while it’s nice to not have to deal with clutter, the thriftiness also highlights the questionable decisions.

The main menu turned HUB world in particular sticks out like a tumor. There’s a quick start option and then there’s the train station that hosts the majority of content. Also, the lobbies for multiplayer feel too front-loaded with bits and pieces of needless UI.

That’s enough overheard gazing, probably. The meat of Ticket to Ride is delicious. Like other solid board games, its rules are the main attraction, the sticking point that guides all of the strategy and deduction.

I fancy the contrast of this and Magic: The Gathering, the card game. In M:TG, success is often measured in how well you tap dance around the rules. Ticket to Ride is a regimented title in which you can only do one action per turn — even though you want, and can often do, much more given free reign. I think this bumping and grinding against Ticket to Ride’s rule set is the most enjoyable aspect; the game is teasing and challenging you at all times.

The point is to complete a railroad from one location to another. The initial phase has you being handed three location-to-location cards. If you manage to build that railroad on the card, you’ll earn the points listed on the card. The person with the highest score wins.

The rub is on the board. Certain tracks require a certain amount of colored train cars to fill in the track. In order to facilitate this, you’ll need to draw cards either from a shared pile or the random stack. After drawing cards, however, your turn is over.

If you set a piece or pieces on the map, your turn is also over. Or if you draw a new location card, your turn is over. You can’t mix and match; it’s one and done.

The overall strategy, I think, is tied to how and when you act. Do you set your pieces down as soon as possible before an opponent can tie up a track? But if you do, are you giving clues as to which cards and locations you’re trying to get to? Should you block a person instead? Or do you just sit around and draw cards until you can overtake the map?

The deduction and tactics aren’t subtle, but they’re still satisfying. Ticket to Ride requires a lot of foresight, critical thought, and even some reverse engineering if a person happens to screw all your plans with a surprise move. It’s fun and satisfying to do this and I think it needs to be noted that every game is different and presents its own challenges.

The AI, by the way, seems fairly sharp thus far. Human opponents, however, are where the real fun resides and the game does multiplayer without hitches. I was just in a four-person room and the game reacted well to the crowd, though stuttering was apparent.

This is such an overused phrase, but if you’re a fan of Ticket to Ride, or even its XBLA incarnation, you’ll dig this. Hell, if you’re looking for something in a similar vein to the other tremendous board games turned video games out there this will do just fine. Ticket to Ride is a sharp game that has all the charm of the board game minus a lot of mess. It is as challenging as you can make it and rarely unsatisfying.

NOTE: Ticket to Ride ships with just one map at the moment. You can purchase others through IAP by clicking on a vendor. Each is .99 cents, a steal considering the game is just $6.99 to begin with. Also, there is no pass and play.

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When I first saw the trailer for Simogo’s Bumpy Road [$2.99], I immediately knew it was something that I wanted to play. The graphics, music, and unique controls appealed to me on so many levels. I was given an early version of the game for our hands-on preview, and despite being unfinished and limited to just one mode, I absolutely loved it. Really, though, it just made me even more eager for the final version to hit the App Store. That day has finally come, as Bumpy Road is now available, and it’s easily one of the most beautiful and fun games I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing.

The biggest standout in Bumpy Road is its innovative control mechanic. A car carrying a cute married couple drives automatically to the right, but you don’t actually control the car itself. Instead, touching anywhere on the screen raises the elevation of the ground and creates a bump in the road. Using this, you can create a sort of wave to push the car back and forth or quickly tap under it to pop it into the air. This mechanic is dead simple to understand, but definitely takes some practice for it to click. Once it does, however, you’ll be bouncing the little car all over the screen like an old pro, and it truly feels great.

At its core, Bumpy Road is a high scoring game that contains two different modes to play. The first, Evergreen Ride, is an endless trek along a randomly generated set of track designs. You try to make it as far as possible without running out of fuel or falling into a watery pit. Along you path, various types of gizmos are lying around waiting to be collected. Grabbing these will continuously fill your fuel gauge, and if you fill the gauge completely you’ll trigger a bonus sequence that speeds up your car and removes any pits, allowing you to concentrate on picking up as many gizmos as you can before the sequence ends.

The second mode is Sunday Trip, and gives you another randomly generated level to drive in but one that has a finish line. The goal is to get to the finish line as quickly as possible. There aren’t any water pits to worry about here, and collecting boost or clock items will improve your time at the end. There are gizmos to collect in this mode too, but no fuel gauge, and they simply go towards improving your time at the end as well. Both Evergreen Ride and Sunday Trip have their own Game Center leaderboards to compete on and a number of achievements to earn.

While Bumpy Road is indeed a solid high scoring game, it’s the peripheral elements that transcend it from being merely a well-made video game to an unforgettable experience. I’m a strong believer that games can have a soul, and I can feel the love in Bumpy Road with every tap of the touch screen. The artwork is undeniably charming, simplistic but elegant and full of life. The music is catchy and inviting, and in a great touch collecting gizmos actually creates sound effects that enhance the soundtrack. Even touching the ground emulates the sounds of rolling across a toy piano, which actually make you feel like you’re part of the game while playing it.

There is also a mild story element to Bumpy Road. As you drive along in Evergreen Ride, you’ll occasionally come across old photographs to collect that each reveal a snippet of the married couple’s life together. You can then view all of the collected photographs in a gallery accessed from the main menu. This gallery takes the form of a dimly lit room where the photographs are projected on a screen in front of a silhouette of the couple nestled closely on the couch in the foreground. This is such a simple feature, and yet, it feels so personal to be experiencing the lives and memories of this couple right along with them that it adds tremendously to the experience.

Taken at face value, Bumpy Road is an excellent high score game. The unique control mechanic offers an organic way to interact with the game, even if it’s a little tricky to get the hang of. The pacing, scoring elements, and randomly generated levels all contribute to a game that’s both enjoyable and highly replayable. But, Bumpy Road is much more than the sum of its parts. The real magic lies in the emotional attachment to the characters and the whimsical sounds and visuals that permeate every inch of the touch screen. There is a chorus of praise for the game in our forums as well, and if you like high scoring games or touching works of art, then you won’t want to miss Bumpy Road.

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Developer FuzzyCube Software has just released their new iPad title iQuarterback 2 [Free] for free into the App Store. iQuarterback 2 is something of an arcade-style mini-game that lets you toss the ol’ pigskin at various types of targets using an intuitive touch screen interface.

There are two modes in iQuarterback 2. The first is called Shoot Out, and has you throwing at targets that move laterally across the field at different speeds. What’s especially fun about this mode is that you must lead your passes so that they end up hitting the targets in motion. This can be pretty tricky due to the different speeds the targets travel, but incredibly satisfying when you time a throw just right to nail one.

The second mode is simply titled Accuracy, and has you aiming for a series of stationary targets that pop up at various spots in the field. This mode is considerably easier just to hit the targets since they don’t move, but you are rewarded for quickly getting your passes launched as you’re then able to hit more targets in the allotted time. There are special targets in both modes that once hit will allow you things like extra round time, a huge ball that makes hitting targets easier, or the ability to throw multiple balls at once.

Competing in either mode will earn you fame and experience for your character. As your character levels up, you’ll unlock additional items to purchase with your collected fame, like special ball types, new helmets, and different field environments. If you aren’t the patient type, there is also the option to purchase packs of fame as IAP to speed up the whole process, though this is entirely optional. Another nice addition to the overall package is Game Center integration with achievements and leaderboards for each mode.

Also, it’s free to download the full game of iQuarterback 2 that is ad-supported with banners running along the bottom of the screen. You can disable these ads with an IAP of $2.99, but I’ve found that they really don’t interfere with the game at all.

iQuarterback 2 is definitely a lot of fun. The gameplay is simplistic, but the upgrading aspect is a real hook, and the crazy items you can unlock along the way are great motivation to keep playing. Plus, it’s free, so there’s really no risk to give it a try. Players in our forums have been liking it as well, so for some fun arcade-style gameplay give iQuarterback 2 a look.

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What happens when you combine a skateboard, a bucket, two tennis balls and a balloon? If Casey's Contraptions [$2.99] is any indication, you make a surprisingly deep physics puzzler.

Of course, a lot more than that went into this first team up by Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut Games. 30 different items introduced over 72 levels, a level editor and a creative solution sharing mechanic are all part of what makes Casey's Contraptions so much fun. But to get the most out of it, you'll need to bring something more to the table as well – a child-like desire to play and experiment.

Not because this game is childish or easy – it's just presented through a child's point of view. Eight-year-old Casey guides you through each level, and it's his toys you'll be playing with. You'll need to build contraptions out of these toys, like magnets, slingshots and darts, to help him through play time and chores. Things start out simple and get more and more complicated as you progress. If you're willing to experiment, you'll have a ton of fun. If you just want to get through each level as quickly as possible, however, you won't be nearly as well rewarded.

Nearly every level in Casey's Contraptions can be solved in many different ways. There is no "right" way, although you'll probably want to collect all three stars each time. Other than that, you're welcome to use the toolbox presented to you in each level however you want, as long as it gets you to that level's goal. If you come up with a solution you think is cool, you can share it with your Game Center friends with a single click.

You can also see your friends' published solutions, including Casey's three-star solution. If you want to check them out mid-level, you can. This keeps things from becoming too frustrating if you just can't find a workable answer, but I'd recommend you keep yourself from peeking when you can avoid it. Trying to copy a solution turns Casey's Contraptions from a game of experimentation into a frustrating game of pixel hunting as you try to find someone's precise positioning. It's much more fun to do it yourself and then check out all the crazy solutions your friends found. You shouldn't get completely stuck, anyways, since the game only requires you to complete three out of every four levels to progress.

Technically and visually, Casey's Contraptions is superb. Though the physics are a bit cartoony, things always behave how you'd expect them to once you see them in action. If you drop a ball onto a spring and it bounces a quarter-inch away from your goal, moving the ball and spring that quarter inch will work every time. This is super important, because in later levels you'll be pulling out a lot of trial-and-error solutions. "But what if I did this?" was a common refrain while I played.

As you progress through the game, you unlock the items you work with for use in the game's level editor. I haven't had a chance to play with many friends yet, but I can't wait to create some crazy contraptions for people to solve. In a particularly smart touch, you're required to solve each level you create with all three stars before you can send it out. My only disappointment is that you can't share your creations with the world at large – just with your Game Center friends. A rating system and some public curation would be a fantastic addition to Casey's Contraptions. A few achievements wouldn't hurt, either.

It sounds like there are a lot more levels in the works, and an iPhone release coming down the road. The developers are taking feedback in their thread on our forums, so let them know what you think. And just to head off one question I know is coming: I don't know exactly how similar it is to The Incredible Machine, and its various sequels, because I missed out on those PC classics as a kid. Coming into it fresh, though, I can tell you this – Casey's Contraptions is a joy to play.

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It's always surprised me when considering both how many games there are on the App Store combined with just how well the iPhone's tilt controls lend itself to the genre that we haven't seen more combat-oriented flight sims. While we had fun with both Ace Combat Xi and F.A.S.T., it has been nearly 2 years since their respective releases, and it is more than time for something new. Z2Live Games has decided to capitalize both on the recent lack of awesome combat-centric flight sims and how popular freemium gaming has been lately with MetalStorm: Online [Free].

Like most (all?) free to play games, it doesn't take long to get introduced to the in-app purchase system that fuels the whole thing. In the case of MetalStorm: Online, in-game coins and tokens are the name of the game when it comes to buying the jets you'll be flying, as well as tweaking them out with upgrades. You'll start out with enough credits to buy yourself a starter jet, although you're really limited to one of three that you'll be able to afford.

After picking up your first jet, you'll be ready to fly. In its initial release, MetalStorm: Online includes 3 game modes to choose from. You can either fight against continuous waves of AI-controlled opponents in either single player or co-op modes, or take the fight online via Game Center. Each game you play awards experience points as well as tokens which allow you to buy new jets, upgrades, and more.

The game's simple HUD compliments the controls very well, with virtual buttons for the various functions of your jets oriented intelligently on screen. They're both simple enough, and feel standard enough that if you try out MetalStorm: Online and you've played any other iOS combat sim you'll pick things up instantly. Evasion is handled in a clever way in MetalStorm with swipe-based gestures to perform various rolls, dodges, and quick turns.

While the previously mentioned single player mode is a fun way to learn the game, as the title hints, MetalStorm: Online was made to be played online. Game Center matches work well, and aside from a seldom rogue disconnect, connections have been perfect. Online dogfights can feel a little slow at time, as each of you are circling each other, but few games can rival the rush of a great matchup of an opponent with equal gear and skill… Which really leads me to my one major gripe about the game.

Each weapon you purchase with tokens or coins has an ammo count. Once that ammo runs out you'll either have to re-purchase them again using the tokens you've earned or downgrade to the standard weapons, which compared to the upgrade options are far inferior. You can still win matches against bettter equipped opponents using the basic weapons, but it is very difficult and can get quite frustrating. The game's match maker also doesn't seem to take into account the equipment level of your opponent, so it's not out of the ordinary to find yourself substantially outgunned by players who have invested in IAP.

MetalStorm: Online seems to be truly free to play in that you really can get all the important upgrades by earning the various in-game credits just by playing, but doing so would require some serious devotion to the game. Currently, you receive one coin per level up. In the early levels of the game, this takes around half a dozen matches. The best plane right now costs 300 coins, and saving up for that just by playing just seems unrealistic– Especially considering the whole time you'll likely be outgunned by people who are buying upgrades instead of stockpiling coins.

$5 worth of coins let me get a new plane and some missile upgrades which allowed me to absolutely dominate the matches I've played since, even going three in a row without dying once. Sadly, it seems buying IAP is basically required if you're at all interested in playing competitively online. Comparatively, before I bought my upgrades, I basically just joined games and got owned. I don't feel like I got substantially better in the skill department between the pre-IAP and post-IAP games, and the vast difference in performance feels directly related to dropping five bucks.

This alone would be annoying enough, but you never really feel like you even can save up your freebie tokens earned by playing because you have ton constantly be buying ammo for your weapon upgrades. This ammo system makes it feel like every time you make two steps forward in saving up for something cool without paying, you need to take a step back and buy some ammo to remain vaguely competitive.

The good news is, the whole in-game economy and how games are matched can be completely rebalanced, likely without even issuing an update to the game itself if MetalStorm: Online is running on a similar infrastructure as other freemium games. If that happens, MetalStorm would be an entirely effortless recommendation. Gameplay (when you're not getting totally smoked by people who bought better equipment) is a ton of fun, the graphics are great, and the controls work incredibly well.

Since it's free, you don't have much to lose by trying MetalStorm: Online. You might really enjoy grinding away in the game while slowly earning coins, making most of my IAP-related complaints a non-issue. I just can't escape the feeling that I'm being nickel and dimed for upgrades, ammo, and IAP doesn't seem anywhere near as optional as it should be in a PvP-driven online game where investing real-world dollars can make such a difference, essentially making the game less about skill and more about who has either spent more money or invested more time grinding up coins.

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Ever since the inception of the App Store, gamers have been crying out for an iOS entry in the ridiculously popular Monster Hunter franchise from Capcom. Indeed, the elements of exploring a huge world, hunting and fighting tons of different monsters, and crafting and collecting an assortment of loot to build up your character would be a great fit for an iOS game. Well, Capcom has officially announced that the series is appearing on iOS in the form of Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting, reports Andriasang via Famitsu.

While this is definitely great news, die-hard Monster Hunter fans shouldn’t get too excited just yet. Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting appears to be a fairly stripped-down version of what you would typically expect from the series. It focuses on one-on-one battles against the many popular monsters that have appeared in the game over the years, but based on the hands-on video from Famitsu it doesn’t look like it contains much of the exploration and RPG elements that the series is known for. Have a look:

At the end of the day, I can’t be mad to see that Monster Hunter is coming to the App Store, but it seems strange that Capcom is taking a watered-down approach to the game seeing as it’s been proven time and time again that a full-blown experience would be completely possible on iOS devices. Still, limited exploration one-on-one battling proved to be a great combination for Infinity Blade [$5.99], which Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting looks very similar to. If it’s well done, then it may be a fun way to give fans a taste of the franchise while on the go.

Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting is set to launch in Japan in June, and while there's no official word of a US release I'd imagine it will make its way here sooner or later. The lack of some of the fundamental elements of a Monster Hunter game is disappointing, but we’ll reserve full judgment until we’re actually able to play the game ourselves. Until then you can stop by the upcoming thread in our forums to voice your own opinion about the game.

[Via Andriasang]

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You might just lose yourself in the caverns of Spoing [99¢ / HD] Chillingo's newest platformer is a moody affair that sees you playing the titular Spoing, a spiky ball with a lot on his mind. Someone's stolen all the rainbow diamonds on his watch, and he needs to gather them up and find the thief.

To solve this mystery, Spoing travels through long, dark caverns and seeks out friends to guide him. He travels by bouncing from one elastic platform to the next, with your help to aim him (similar to the mechanic in Parachute Ninja [99¢], among others). You can also collect green gems that let you create your own platforms. Sometimes the path will be laid out for you, other times you'll be forging your own way through the caverns. Occasionally you'll need to choose the best path from a few different options.

You'll need to choose wisely, because your performance is rated by how long it takes you to reach the rainbow diamond at the end of each level. You earn Level Points based on your speed. Getting one or two is pretty simple, but the third is often a serious challenge. To master a level you'll need to earn three Level Points and make it through the level without hitting a wall or a monster. You'll be well-rewarded for your success – each level has its own Crystal/Game Center leaderboard and an achievement for mastery.

If gameplay alone isn't enough to keep you going, the lonely environments and minimalistic music might draw you in. While the game offers four built-in music tracks and the option to play your own tunes, you'll be missing out if you don't plug in your headphones and play with the ambient track. There's no rhythm integration, but the music blends beautifully with the sparse piano-note sound effects. It's the perfect soundtrack to accompany your journey through the deep, dark caves of Spoing.

Despite all that, I can't help but feel that games2be, Spoing's developers, spent a too much time on building levels, giving us 50 to explore, while spending too little time differentiating them. The difficulty goes up and down by the level so there's no feel of steady progression. And the environments hardly change at all. This wouldn't be too bad, but you may find yourself grinding to hit experience and Level Point milestones to progress at times. Replaying levels only to unlock the next group of near-identical levels is disheartening

Spoing also suffers from a bit of a clumsy story. The dialog is clunky, so it's probably for the best that there's very little of it. Mysteriously, I also couldn't find the ending. Despite the long set up for a climactic showdown with the rainbow diamond thief, I finished all 50 levels and found nothing. No ending scene, no indication of what to do next, just an open invitation to keep playing. I played a bit longer, hoping to reach whatever milestone the game expected me to have hit, but I never found it. I don't know if this is a bug or if I just needed to keep replaying levels, but it was pretty disappointing.

When it comes down to it though, it's not story that will keep you progressing through Spoing's 50 levels, but solid gameplay and enticing (if repetitive) atmosphere. While I'd love to see more variety in the level dressing, I can't really complain. Spoing gave me hours of fun that always stayed challenging, and that's the core of a great gaming experience. Hopefully games2be will have the chance to improve the game around that core in future updates.

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This massive bundle of Wednesday release bundles has so many awesome games in it that I'm just going to order them alphabetically since I'm not even sure which game I'd want to list first if I were ordering them in order of which I want to play first. I think I want to play Bumpy Road the most, which works out well, because it's also first when sorting these games alphabetically!

If this is your first Wednesday as an iOS gamer, here's how this all works: Developers can either set their games and apps to be released the moment they're approved by Apple, or they can set a future release date. Since the App Store is a global market, games with a release date of 5/19 are released first in the first place in the world where it's the 19th. In this case, that's the New Zealand App Store. All of these games will slowly be available as it becomes the 19th in your area of the world, or, if you're in the USA, 11:00 PM Eastern tonight.

Bumpy Road, $2.99 – Forum Thread – Every now and again a developer comes along with gameplay that centralizes around a control method that makes you say to yourself, "Why didn't someone think of this before?" Bumpy Road is a platformer of sorts that is controlled by touching the screen which manipulates the ground which, as the title suggests, creates a bumpy road for a car to travel down. By creating these bumps, you're able to make the car bounce to other platforms. It looks really clever, and I can't wait to give it a try. Oh, and to make things better, it's even universal.

Candy Train, Free – Forum Thread – What's better than a PopCap game? How about a free PopCap game? Candy Train seems to have similar gameplay to a lot of other train routing games on the App Store, but if there's anything PopCap is good at, it's taking established gameplay and making it impossible to put down with a thick payer of… PopCap magic. PopCap has had such a great track record of awesomely fun games that I'd blindly download this game even if it weren't free.

Casey's Contraptions for iPad, $2.99 – Forum Thread – I've been anxiously anticipating this game since we first got a look at it at GDC. Since then, it's been a difficult wait as my Twitter feed has been filled with horribly teasing tweets from beta testers. Casey's Contraptions is a cartoony physics puzzle game that asks you to complete various puzzles with elaborate Rube Goldberg contraptions. Aside from a level creator, you can also see how your friends solved puzzles, as there doesn't seem to be a single solution for any of the included 70 levels.

CHAOS RINGS Ω, $11.99 / HD – Forum Thread – Square Enix's continuation of the iOS-exclusive game Chaos Rings. Aside from the irritating to type "Ω" character in the title, Chaos Rings Ω also comes packed with a whole new story which actually takes place 10,000 years before the previous game. Squeenix has a whole array of updates planned too, which are all outlined in the iTunes text. 7 monthly updates are scheduled, most of which add a "secret boss" and up the level cap.

Draw Jump, 99¢ / HD – Forum Thread – A jumping game by EA, which according to the iTunes description, is totally green. Instead of your character being powered by fossil fuels, he's apparently completely carbon neutral since he jumps using trampolines that you draw on screen. It seems like a weird angle, but I can still sink a stupid amount of time into jumping games.

Ink Ball, 99¢ – Forum Thread – The art style of this puzzle game is really cool, and I can't wait to see it in motion. Gameplay revolves around funneling the ink on screen back into a inkwell. It seems like you're able to draw lines on screen to modify the flow of ink on screen, and doing well involves using as few of these as possible.

iQuarterback 2, Free – Forum Thread – A free game that revolves around tossing footballs, as you might have guessed from the game's title. By earning fame in-game you can unlock a ridiculous amount of things ranging from items for your character all the way to full stadiums. A bunch of different game modes are included too.

Kung Fu Panda 2: Be The Master, 99¢ – Forum Thread – So what do you do if you've got what will likely be a mediocre sequel to a movie and you want to release a mobile game based on it? Apparently incorporate both Fruit Ninja and Mega Jump. Two shockingly familiar mini-games are included in the initial release, and it looks like two more will be coming with updates. I wonder what Jack Black thinks of all this.

Orions 2: The Deckmasters $2.99 / Lite – Forum Thread – The sequel to the original Orions is here. The first game had a considerable following on our forums, and it will be interesting to see how much of that transfers over since as many thought a significant amount of the changes and additions in the sequel were going to be updates to the initial game. Regardless, Orions 2 is a similar card-based battle game. There's full online multiplayer, hundreds of cards, and even a full single player campaign.

Storm in a Teacup, 99¢ – Forum Thread – Sure, there might be a lot of platformers on the App Store, but how many of them have you piloting a magical teacup around? None that I can think of! I'm digging the art style of this game, I just hope it controls well.

TNA Wrestling iMPACT, $4.99 – Forum Thread – To say that wrestling games on the App Store haven't been that great would be a bit of an understatement, but there's always time to turn things around, and TNA Wrestling iMPACT could be the wrestling game that fans have been craving. It's got the ability to create your own wrestler, and then enter a career mode with that wrestler… but why would you do that when you can just play as Hulk Hogan doing these crazy kicks like the above screenshot!?

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Back in March, experienced iOS pinball developer Gameprom released their newest pinball offering into the App Store called War Pinball [99¢/HD]. Like their previous games, War Pinball contained gorgeous 3D graphics, complex table designs, and a decent physics simulation, at least as far as video pinball games go. The game featured 3 different tables that were each themed after a popular war movie – Navy Seals, Missing in Action, and Platoon.

We really liked War Pinball in our review, and today a new update is available that adds a couple of interesting features to the game. First off, it now has Game Center integration with leaderboards for each table (as well as one for the Platoon mini-game) and more than 50 achievements to earn.

The other big feature in this update is a TV-Out capability for both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game. Retina Display devices will output the game in a scaled back HD resolution when played on a TV, but iPad 2 owners can run the game in full screen HD resolution. The TV-Out feature has been a welcome addition to other games like Real Racing 2 HD [$9.99], Chopper 2 [$2.99], and various other games we tried. It’s certainly a cool function to now have in one of my favorite iOS pinball games, and to be honest I wish every game offered this option.

The following trailer was actually recorded straight from a television running War Pinball HD from an iPad 2:

Owners of Gameprom’s Pinball HD [99¢/HD], the collection of their 4 previous pinball games contained in one app, can look forward to getting the Game Center and TV-Out treatment in the very near future as well. For fans of pinball games I can easily recommend War Pinball as it’s definitely my favorite of the Gameprom titles so far, and now you can earn you Game Center achievements and compete on the leaderboards on the big screen in your living room.

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