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Before Mega Mall Story and Pocket Academy, we were pretty sure that Kairosoft’s next big US iOS release would be Grand Prix Story. It seemed like an educated stab since the game was ported stateside to Android phones, translated, and had the appearance of being just as solid as its other titles. We were wrong, but now the developer seems poised again to bring its car themed managing simulation to iOS in the states. As you read this, fans in Japan are getting hands-on with the game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which leads us to believe that it’ll hit here next, as all it requires is a translation pass with already-translated text.

We could be totally, horribly wrong, and hilariously, we kinda invite that. Grand Prix Story, a game that puts you in the role of a racecar manager, is a known property now. We’d rather get another surprise (or Game Dev Story 2) — whichever will sate our taste for simulation.

Communication with Kairosoft is something we’re still struggling with at the moment, but we have fired off an e-mail to see what’s up. While we wait, we’re drawing up Excel spreadsheets for Grand Prix Story in preparation just in case.

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Normally, multiplayer updates are celebrated by the fans and community surrounding a title, but in the case of Uno [$.99 / HD / Free] fans are bitter over the whole ordeal. According to the 50 plus one-star reviews (and counting) that the game has raked in post-update, Uno has become a bad, crash-riddled title filled with ads, bugs, and broken gameplay. We didn’t see this one coming.

Alongside multiplayer and new leaderboards, several new issues introduced via the update are rubbing people the wrong way, and none more than the bug that keeps the game from launching after its updated, which is a pretty rational reason to throw a bad review the game’s way. Unfortunately, when it does work, paid users are now being served ads, which again, is a pretty rational reason to drag the title under the bus since ads weren’t a part of the original deal.

Users are also complaining about IAP cards leading to bad play. Apparently, you can purchase special cards in the game that can be pulled out whenever, including even in multiplayer. If this is the case, well, wow — that’s definitely not good.

On the bright side, it’s hard to believe that Gameloft won’t answer these concerns in some meaningful update down the line. When that’ll be though is anyone’s guess. We've put in a word to the publisher to see and will update if / when we hear back.

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If achievement data is an actual lens into intent, it appears as if Angry Birds Seasons [$.99 / HD / Free] is set to be the second full Angry Birds [$.99 / HD / Free / HD Free] game to be graced by the Mighty Eagle. The dudes over at fan site Angry Birds Nest have spotted several listings for Mighty Eagle in Angry Birds Seasons’ Game Center data, indicating that Rovio Mobile is about to drop the level-shattering and Angry Birds' completely optional IAP bird into the mix.

Seasons, of course, is the holiday-themed Angry Birds joint that Rovio updates whenever an extraordinarily pleasant day in certain joyous months need to be celebrated. Often, players are restricted from playing too much Seasons at once, as it unlocks levels per day. This hits me as something that might put a damper on the Mighty Eagle as a value proposition, but we’ll have to see how Rovio handles and rolls in the update. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be free.

I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Rovio likes money. Also, it has said in the past that the Mighty Eagle will be coming to different platforms, iterations, and versions of the uber-popular franchise. Seasons seems like a natural progression. Also, if you haven't yet, you should debate giving the Mighty Eagle a try in Angry Birds. It's not just a cheat mechanic, it's actually a whole new game mode for each level.

UPDATE: While this story sat in queue waiting for to be published the update was released this morning. Go grab the Mighty Eagle if you're looking for something new to do in Angry Birds Seasons!

[Via Angry Birds Nest]

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Chillingo sure knows how to be timely. Their newest game, Conan: Tower of the Elephant [$1.99], was slated to come out around the same time as the 2011 film remake, which means that they hope lots of people will stroll out of the theatre feeling all barbarian-like and search the App store to find this game. I have to hand it them though, giving a nod to one of the original Conan the Cimmerian stories with the title and storyline was a nice touch.

Like the original Robert E. Howard short story it is based on, Tower of the Elephant sees Conan setting his sights on a great tower in order to steal a precious gem from a demon sorcerer named Yara. Using comic-inspired cutscenes to illustrate story arcs and top down gameplay in order to complete quests, the game offers an attractive presentation and makes it pretty easy to slip into the world of Arenjun.

A simple tutorial opens the game, teaching you how to interact, attack and manage your inventory. Controls are basic, with a d-pad for movement on the bottom left and a large circle for attacks on the lower right. I found that the d-pad was sometimes unresponsive for a moment after an event where I talked to someone, but for the most part it was accurate.

When it came to battle, attacking and defending were both available, but I found that hacking away at my enemies was the most effective method of taking them out. Well, they don't call these games "hack and slash" for nothing (although when it comes to fighting bosses, that defend button will be much more useful). You also have a bar that fills up as you fight and allows you to pump up your attack for a short amount of time when you need it — really handy for when you get jumped by a gang of grubby thieves who are dumb enough to think taking on a barbarian is a good idea.

A lovely, hand-drawn world map is available in the menu to show you your way as you explore these lands, along with a menu to keep track of your quests and inventory. These interfaces are really pleasant and I enjoyed using them. Seeing at a glance how to find a merchant or the location of a treasure chest made the game easy to navigate. In addition, whenever Conan gets a major quest, a small arrow will appear before his feet that shows you where to go. One of my biggest pet peeves is wandering around a world map with no idea where I'm going, so I appreciated this bit of attention to detail.

Of course, there are fetch quests as well, but I found that the story and gameplay was streamlined in such a way that I actually enjoyed even doing something as simple as going to collect a copper pipe or take out a band of thieves. Everything in the game is executed well and caters to making the player comfortable while experiencing the game universe, and it really shows in the final product. Even purchasing new items and armor was easy, giving single options rather than a huge list of things to choose from and stats to compare. Some gamers who enjoy that process will not like this. For me, it took away a step that would normally distract me in an iOS action title and allowed me to get back to the gameplay.

Also compatible with Game Center, you can watch achievements pop up as you play. Tower of the Elephant also offers access to a service called Crystal, which offers perks such as profile customization, sharing game results on Twitter and Facebook, and inviting friends to play the game. You can sign up for Crystal within the game as well, which was cool to me — I hate having to surf to some other website on my phone to do that type of thing.

You won't do anything wildly new in Tower of the Elephant, but what you can do is enjoy some good old fashioned gameplay where you kick butt and take names, enjoy quests, and rack up achievements for it. What could have been a boring movie tie-in turned out to be a solidly enjoyable entry in Chillingo's action library. If you're in the mood to kill stuff and feel like a badass, Tower of the Elephant is a winner.

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Late last month, a game we’re pretty fond of called Disc Drivin’ [$1.99/Free/HD] received a meaty new update with 3 brand new tracks and a new obstacle. Now just a few short weeks later and the folks over at Pixelocity Software have gone and released yet another update to Disc Drivin’ and this time have added a couple of great features that people have been asking about for a long time.

First off, you can now check how many of each medal you’ve earned over the total amount of games you’ve played. There’s always been a running list of your 10 most recent games where you can see where you placed as well as replay everybody’s final turn, if you wish, to see how it all went down. That feature is nice, but I’ve always wondered how I’ve done overall, and now I can check on this anytime in the Settings menu.

Also worth mentioning is the new ability to swap the power-up buttons on the bottom of the screen. As most players know, sometimes it can be pretty awkward trying to activate a power-up immediately after taking your turn because the button was always on the right hand side of the screen, and in my case this was directly under my flicking hand. Having the ability to put that button on the left side of the screen is pretty nice.

However, the huge new feature added in this update to Disc Drivin’ is the often requested ability to customize your disc. There are tons of different disc designs to pick from, broken down into packs of 4 or more discs each. Each pack can be unlocked for a 99¢ in-app purchase, and you can further customize the discs by choosing their 2 colors. Of course, you're also welcome to change up the colors on the original "flame" design disc for free.

The disc and color customizing interface is simple to use, and I was really surprised to see how much having a custom disc added to the game’s enjoyment. I mean seriously, aren’t you just totally jealous of my pink and blue disc that looks fit for a 4-year old girl? Thought so. I've nicknamed it "Jared's Magical Ponydisc Adventure", FYI.

If you’re a Disc Drivin’ fanatic like myself and others, then be sure you’ve grabbed this latest update and have pimped out your ride. If you haven’t given the game a spin yet, there really should be nothing stopping you from trying out the fully-featured ad-supported free version.

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Sometimes it seems as if there’s nothing more ubiquitous than a game of electronic Solitaire. Even a quick glance at the App Store will yield pages upon pages of Solitaire titles of every kind of variation, theme, and quality. With this much competition new players to the field are going to have to distinguish themselves in order to earn the attention of gamers looking for a Solitaire fix. Solitaire by Backflip [Free / HD], one of the latest entries in the overcrowded Solitaire field, doesn’t particularly offer anything that hasn’t already been seen in this sub-genre. However, what it does offer is a solid card experience with incentive to continue playing, provided you aren’t put off by the prevalence of in-game ads.

You won’t find a multitude of different types of Solitaire in this title. Rather, Solitaire by Backflip only has 1 and 3-card draw. In addition, you can either play with ‘Normal’ or ‘Vegas’ rules (the latter only allowing you to run through the whole deck only once before the game ends). Solitaire also has four different themes, two of which must be unlocked by collecting a certain amount of in-game coins that are earned by making successful card moves and completing a whole game. While the coin amounts for unlocking the themes did seem high, by my calculation you’d have to win approximately 10 games on normal rules in order to earn enough coins for a theme unlock, which seems fair enough to me. Of course, additional coins are available as IAP should you decide you don’t want to play the game.

In addition to unlocking themes, players can use the coins earned while playing Solitaire to unlock a wide variety of ‘prizes.’ The prizes earned are little more than random items from Backflip’s various other games and don’t affect the gameplay in Solitaire at all.  If you’re a fan of Backflip Studio’s other iOS titles, some of the objects you can buy may actually have some meaning for you. If not, at least there are plenty of items to work towards for the collectionists out there.

If unlocking themes and collection items isn’t your fancy, Solitaire by Backflip also allows you to spend coins on a variety of cheats to help in your quest for card-playing domination. Cheats range from taking a peek at the next card in the deck, to being able to move any stack to an empty space on the field. Personally, I don’t understand why anyone would want to cheat at a game of Solitaire, but it certainly does offer some diversity to the playing field.

The only glaring issue I have with Solitaire by Backflip is the frequency of ads throughout the game. Banner ads adorn the gameplay screen and the main menu, with an occasional full screen ad as well. It’s not so much that the ads necessarily detract from the actual gameplay, but just that the majority of them look ugly and out of place when contrasted with the crisp retina-display graphics of the actual game. Thankfully, an IAP exists to eliminate all ads.

It’s pretty obvious that Backflip Studios positioned Solitaire as a sort of free gateway to the rest of their titles. However, if you look past this, you’ll discover a game with well-done visuals and a system in place that at least keeps you coming back. The ad placement (and quality) definitely serves as distraction to the rest of the game, but they can easily be removed if you decide it’s worth playing for the long haul. Just don’t go into Solitaire expecting it to be anything more than it is, and you should have a decent time.

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By all rights, Drawin' Growin' [$0.99] should be a good game. It was released by Taito, who ought to be riding high off the acclaim they've earned with Groove Coaster [$2.99]. It looks cheery and sweet, with a hand-drawn art style that charms. So how has it ended up so completely bland?

Things began well. Drawin' Growin' has a premise I can get behind. The plants of the kingdom have withered away, and Meu, a plant-loving sprite, is tasked by the King to fill the world with greenery. To regrow all the plants, you need to use line-drawing tactics to funnel sun to the sun-loving flowers, rain to the damp types and so on. You need to tap to keep them free of bugs, use your lines to protect them from lightning and volcanoes, and generally babysit them until they grow. It's a frantic formula, but not a bad one.

But after a while, the levels start to blend together. Levels offer a few different objectives, but they can all be distilled down to growing plants and keeping them alive. In many of Drawin' Growin's levels, succeeding at that task is punishingly challenging, especially without power-ups. The power-ups can do all sorts of things – increase the number or length of the lines you can draw, bring Meu out to protect the plants from bugs and disasters, and make the plants grow quickly. And as you progress through the game, Meu becomes better at using them. When I found myself having genuine fun with the game, it was because I'd carefully selected just the right item to pull out for a particular level. Too bad that fun couldn't last.

For some reason, Taito has locked the power-ups behind a pay wall. There are a few given out on completing levels, but those just give you a taste. If you want more, you'll need to cough up some cash. It makes perfect sense to charge in-game coins — keeping players from abusing them — but by limiting those coins to in-app purchases rather than handing them out for skilled play, it just makes the game's failings more apparent.

As the King drags Meu through the levels and puts him to work, I found myself wondering why I was bothering. Meu didn't seem to want to be there, and as the game progressed, neither did I. I wasn't really having fun, I was working — and if I wanted to make that work more tolerable, I'd have to put in my own money. When I'd lose the King would toss me a pity power-up or two, keeping me from ever being completely stuck. But if you want someone to buy your consumables and keep coming back, you have to give them a reason. Instead, I realized that paying to make Drawin' Growin' tolerable wasn't worth it. There are plenty of games out there that respect my time and money, and this isn't one of them.

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In this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show, we battle through a discussion of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the "Eli’s Scuba Diver At The Bottom Of A Fish Tank" (Eli Note: It's fixed in the second half, I'm so sorry.) voice woes in order to bring you the latest iOS video game news. At the top, we dig into the My Virtual Boyfriend, and then smoothly enter into the iCade, a few other delectables. Later, on the Front Page, we don our tin foil hats to chat about the PS Vita and remove them in order to have a discussion on Galaxy On Fire 2 Full HD. It’s a neat show all-round, promise!

If you’d like to give us a listen, you can do so just below via in-browser streaming or direct download. If we’ve somehow convinced you to stick around, you can always subscribe to us on the iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-013.mp3, 42MB

Here’s your show notes and remember, you can always talk to us with an e-mail to podcast@toucharcade.com. Let’s brighten the mood next week and discuss dating advice. Seriously — send in your dating advice.

GAMES

FRONT PAGE

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Way back in September of 2009, Godzilab released iBlast Moki [Free/Universal], a game that quickly caught the attention of physics puzzle fans everywhere. iBlast Moki went on to earn accolades from just about every corner of the gaming world, including several Game of the Year awards as well as our own 4.5 star review and inclusion in our Best of 2009 Buyer’s Guide. With the success of the original iBlast Moki, a sequel was pretty much a given, and indeed we learned earlier this summer that one was in production.

Following up on that kind of breakout success isn’t always easy though, and I’ve been disappointed on more than one occasion with a sequel to a game that I absolutely loved. With iBlast Moki 2 [99¢/Universal], this is not the case, not even close. Godzilab has taken everything that made the first game special and made it bigger and better in every way. There’s also an improved social aspect which allows you to check your friends solutions to the single player levels as well as share levels created using the robust level editor. iBlast Moki 2 is truly the whole package, and is the epitome of what you'd want out of a sequel.

The gameplay in the original iBlast Moki was simple, at least on paper. The goal of each level was to get tiny creatures called Mokis into a portal-like end goal. The catch was that you didn’t have direct control over the Mokis themselves. Instead, you needed to strategically place bombs around the level to literally blast the Mokis towards the goal, with various other items and a solid physics system there to help you along the way. One of the key components was the ability to control when bombs would explode, and some of the more elaborate levels involved ping-ponging Mokis across a series of well-timed blasts into the exit portal.

iBlast Moki 2 smartly keeps this core gameplay intact, but it also brings a bunch of new elements into the mix that force you to use an entirely different set of strategies to be successful. Shortly after beginning the game, you’re introduced to one of the biggest changes: paint bombs. These little guys explode and spread their insides all over whatever surfaces are within their blast radius, giving those surfaces different properties like acceleration, bounce, or stickiness. Just this tiny change alone transforms how you tackle the game, as you’ll need to use the landscape itself in unique ways to get your Mokis to their goal.

Things don’t stop there though, as there are a ton of other items you’ll need to utilize as well to complete each stage in iBlast Moki 2. Ropes, balloons, metal rods – there is literally a smorgasbord of the types of items you’d typically find in a physics puzzle game to aid you in your quest. It almost feels like Casey’s Contraptions [$2.99] but with an injection of small rotund creatures and a whole lot more explosions.

This variation of items highlights the game’s strongest feature, which is the incredibly brilliant level designs. iBlast Moki 2 is a really challenging game, and more than once I’ve sat there and stared at a level having no idea whatsoever what the heck I was supposed to do. This encourages experimentation and lots of thinking outside the box, and when you finally do figure out a solution it’s a satisfaction greater than almost any other game can offer. I’ve literally laughed out loud and applauded the game so many times after seeing exactly how a certain solution worked, which has drawn quite a few awkward stares from my cat. It’s worth it for the sense of accomplishment it gives you though, and iBlast Moki 2 is brimming with experiences like this.

Another cool feature this time around is the ability to see the solutions used by people on the Game Center leaderboards. So as not to be abused, you’ll need to spend coins earned by completing worlds yourself first before unlocking this ability. One of the best parts about iBlast Moki 2 is figuring out how to complete a level, and just viewing how someone else did it and copying that basically sucks all the fun out of the game. I definitely recommend only using this feature after you've completed a level yourself and you’re just curious how your buddy got a better score than you did, and in this way the option to see their solution is a welcome one.

Despite how wonderful iBlast Moki 2 is in practically every way, there were a couple of aspects I felt could be better. First off, the tutorials don’t do a great job of explaining how to play the game. If you’re familiar with the first game it’s not an issue, but people coming into the sequel brand new might have a hard time understanding what the visual diagrams in the tutorial are trying to tell you to do. Still, everything will become clear with a bit of practice and experimentation, but it would have been nice to see the game cater a little better to the newbies.

The second issue that stuck out to me is the lack of precision when placing bombs and other items around a level. The majority of the time it’s never an issue, but every once in a while you’ll need to adjust an item placement just so, and will find it frustratingly difficult to get it how you need it. A handy window inset gives you a magnified view of objects when you’re trying to connect them, which is nice, but many times it’s actually in the process of removing your finger after placing an object that has a tendency to knock things off kilter. It’s not anything that will prevent you from completing the game in any way, it can just be annoying at times.

Other than those small quibbles, iBlast Moki 2 fires on all cylinders. The visuals are crisp, colorful, and full of character. The gameplay retains the appeal of the original while adding fresh new elements and ideas. There’s a ton of included levels, with more planned on the way, and that’s not even including the robust level editor. As with the first game, I expect the community support behind creating and sharing levels to flourish, giving iBlast Moki 2 legs that extend long term. But aside from all of these bullet points or features, the absolute best part about this game is the feeling of satisfaction it gives you when you solve the challenging and clever levels. This is the part about iBlast Moki 2 that will stick with me for a very long time.

If you have even a passing interest in puzzle or physics games, you need iBlast Moki 2 in your life. It comes in 2 flavors, a cheaper iPhone only version and a slightly pricier Universal version. Both contain high resolution graphics though, and currently they are both being offered at an introductory price. If you enjoyed the first game then iBlast Moki 2 should blow you away, as it has done to the many satisfied gamers in our forums, and it stands tall as one of the best – if not the best – puzzle games in the App Store.

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Yesterday, we pointed out a bunch of titles that have incorporated iCade support since the mini-arcade machine’s debut. This afternoon, I want to highlight an awesome game that really clicks once you strap it in ThinkGeek’s device: Mos Speedrun [$1.99 / Lite].

If you need a little background on Mos Speedrun, our review is a good place to start. In brief, it’s a simple and cutesy lo-fi platformer that stresses level completion time instead of exploration or 2D combat. As a personal aside, I love how the game screams “GO” in a non-contrived way — every single system, mechanic, and bit of visual or audio design expertly and organically serves the purpose of expressing speed, much like how a 2D Mario beckons you to move to the right and explore the world without having to throw up blocks and blocks of instructional text.

Without an iCade, you navigate Mos Speedrun with three big pieces of UI. The virtual buttons are responsive enough, but the iCade adds a level of fluidity and precision to movement that you don't get otherwise, especially when course-correcting mid-air. The physical buttons, on the other hand, give you much better control over jump height, due to the tactile feedback they provide. Considering that the vast majority of things in your way often breaks down to Something You Have To Jump Over, this shakes out to be a big deal when you're racing against a clock or taking mini-bounces over enemies.

I’ve been putting up better times and sharper runs since switching to an iCade, but I’ve also been having a lot more fun with the game, which is way more important than anything else I’ve mentioned thus far. If you grab an iCade, Mos Speedrun should be at the top of your list.

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