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Fans of 2D Minecraft-ing on iOS have had it pretty good with the excellent Junk Jack [$2.99/Lite], but the developers at Bytebin Studios want to know what would happen if you take a similar Terraria/Minecraft sandbox idea, placed it in a steampunk setting, and let everyone connect to one giant persistent world together online MMO style. The result is Deepworld, and you can get a pretty good idea of what it’s like in this new gameplay trailer.

Deepworld is in an alpha state but is close to entering beta, and as the game stands right now it contains procedurally generated worlds, a robust crafting system, a day/night cycle and weather effects, and a limited number of enemies. It will also be coming out for Mac, and since the game world is stored in the cloud, there will be cross-platform play between the iOS and Mac versions.

Longer-term goals for Deepworld are a dynamic ecosystem that can be dilapidated and brought back to health, a steam-based power source for creating vehicles and machines, and social game types like Capture the Flag and Freeze Tag. While the idea of something like Deepworld is certainly intriguing, it’s also incredibly ambitious for an iOS title. I’ll feel much better once the initial product gets released and I can actually try it out, and much like Junk Jack or Minecraft itself, Deepworld will likely evolve over time.

It sounds like Deepworld is set to initially launch pretty soon, and we’ll keep an eye out for a specific release date. Until then you can swing by our forums to talk about the game.

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Crescent Moon Games’ Paper Monsters [ Free ] hit the App Store earlier this year, and we liked it quite a bit in our review. It’s a slick looking platformer that’s highly inspired by the Mario series, and it wouldn’t be that big of a stretch to make some Little Big Planet comparisons. Regardless, it’s a load of fun, and is available for free on the App Store right now.

I dig the boss battles, the auto-running dash mode is cool, and the game has a great overall feel. If you don’t have it already, make sure you snag it during this promotion.

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Here’s a heads up for the many board game (Well, in this case, card game.) fanatics out there- USM, the same German outfit responsible for the iOS port of Settlers of Catan [$4.99 / $4.99 (HD)] just released a few screenshots of their upcoming adaptation of Rivals for Catan on our forums.

Check ‘em out:

Rivals for Catan is a re-worked version of the Catan Card Game which itself is a re-worked version of Settlers of Catan. That’s some serious board game Inception action right there. Anyway, the card games are a simplified take on the territory building gameplay mechanic that Settlers hinges on.

Details are fairly vague right now, but USM has mentioned that the game will be a universal app that’s going to have both two player local and online multiplayer. Either way, I’m always excited to see these kind of physical to iOS transitions for “well known” board and card games. Playing with some random dude online is often so much easier, approachable, and generally substantially cheaper than just buying the physical game.

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One of the all-time best platformers on iOS would have to be Acne Play’s Pizza Boy [ $1.99 ]. Released back in September of 2010, Pizza Boy absolutely nailed the virtual controls thing on the touchscreen, and almost more importantly they totally got the “feel” right – that is, the weight and movement of your character as he ran and jumped through the world felt perfectly tuned, like a classic 2D Mario game.

We thought Pizza Boy was great when it hit, though it was a bit on the short side, something that was rectified a few months later. Now, after all this time since Pizza Boy’s release, Acne Play, in conjunction with NCSoft, has announced their newest game for iOS and Android called My Little Hero with the following teaser trailer.

The problem with this teaser trailer is, well, that it’s just one big tease. There’s no gameplay shown and we’re really left wondering what kind of game My Little Hero is. I guess that is the point of a teaser, right? At the very least our interest is piqued.

The only other information we’ve been able to glean from our forums is that My Little Hero is an action adventure title and we should be hearing more on the game in the way of screens and videos soon. Given how awesome Pizza Boy is, consider us excited for whatever My Little Hero turns out to be.

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We’ve been following the upcoming Jetpack Joyride [ Free ] update since we first caught wind of it back at GDC. Since then Halfbrick has been slowly teasing additional gadgets that are going to be included in the soon-to-be-released update.

Here’s the latest:

In a nutshell, gadgets are going to work sort of like the perk system in Call of Duty and other similar games where you can mix and match two persistent bonuses. It sounds like it’s going to add even more replay value to the game as players slowly figure out which two gadgets they like pairing together.

If all goes as planned, the update should be landing sometime later this month.

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Crescent Moon is publishing its first racing game later this May. It’s called Slingshot Racing, and as its name implies, the core action loosely revolves around slinging your cars around tracks. Its twists are in its hooks, literally. Each car is equipped with a grappling hook, so you’ll actually be flicking cars’ hooks on pieces of the environment as you race. The steampunk-stylized visuals help to explain this weirdness away.

Slingshot is being developed by Snowbolt Interactive, which is a collective of ex-Frontier guys who helped with titles like Lost Winds and Kinectimals. We expect to be impressed with this one considering those chops.

We’ll be hearing a lot more about this in the future, so stay tuned. Also, check out these screens. This thing is a looker.

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If the latest Call of Duty hasn’t replaced Battlefield 3 in your disc tray yet, then we’d imagine this news could be exciting. EA has just released a companion app for the widely lauded PC and console shooter. It’s an interesting one, too, as it leverages EA’s Origin to bring in a much more meaningful social component than we’re used to with these things. From EA Battlelog [Free], you can message your friends, view their progressions and compare it with your own, and see what servers they’re in. You can also view your own stats, monitor weapon progression, and see where you stand on the game’s leaderboards.

Battlefield 3 launched in October 2011, so this app is definitely coming in much, much later than we would have liked… but we’ve been kinda looking for an excuse to dive back into the game. Those helicopters aren’t going to crash themselves.

[Thanks, Jakub!]

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Galcon [ $1.99 ] creator Phil Hassey, who also released the poultry-themed Galcon parody Chickon [ Free ] on iOS this past November, has revealed his latest upcoming project which is titled Dynamite Jack. In it, you play as a Space Marine who has been captured in battle and enslaved by your enemies to work in a mine. Naturally, you don’t take kindly to this, so you set out to break free from the mine and defeat your captors.

Gameplay in Dynamite Jack is top-down and in “glorious 2D”, and totally looks like a mashup of elements from the classic Bomberman and Metal Gear series, perhaps with a dash of Syndicate thrown in there for good measure. Basically, it looks just about as awesome as you’d imagine that combination of games to be, as you can see for yourself in the game’s trailer.

Right now Dynamite Jack is shooting for a May launch on Mac and PC, but as Phil told me over Twitter, a port of the game to iPad following the desktop version launch is extremely likely, and he even makes special mention of it having iCade support. In another tweet, Phil says he built Dynamite Jack from the beginning with the iPad in mind, so the porting process should hopefully go pretty smoothly.

I’m really loving the look of Dynamite Jack based on the video, and I’ll be anxious to check it out when it hits the Mac and PC next month. As for the iOS port, it sounds like it will become a reality, and I’m sure we’ll have more information on that in the coming weeks.

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Being a fan of Diablo-style loot grinds, I was pretty excited to try DevilDark: The Fallen Kingdom [$0.99], Triniti Interactive’s take on the classic dungeon hack and slash. For the most part, DevilDark actually does a good job recreating the experience with nice visuals and a decent amount of weapons and armor. Unfortunately, simplistic gameplay combined with some general miscues hold the title back from stardom.

DevilDark follows the story of a wandering (and clueless) adventurer that sets out on a journey to save the world from being ravaged by an evil demon, who had been unleashed by a power-hungry king years beforehand. You’ll slowly accomplish this by doing a bunch of quests that involve fetching items and taking down hordes of baddies. An occasional boss battle permeates the monotony, but for the most part, DevilDark stays close to its dungeon crawling roots. While I realize that narrative may not be the priority in such a game, I would have liked something more than the intro cutscene and what little I can glean from quest texts.

One of the keys to a successful dungeon hack and slash is a robust inventory. While DevilDark doesn’t provide the limitless customization of say a Diablo, there’s more than enough loot to keep you occupied. Additional features such as bonuses for wearing groups of armor as well as elemental infusion do a great job adding some much-needed customization. The inclusion of a slot machine that has the potential to toss out some high-leveled gear is a nice touch, as well. However, I wasn’t a fan of the fact that some weapons and armor required currency that could only be purchased via IAP. Suffice to say, these special items aren’t required to complete the game – just expect to grind a lot more to pick up the normal currency items.

DevilDark’s visual engine is another standout feature in the game. The cell-shaded style looks great on Retina-enabled iOS devices. While Retina Display compatibility extends to the new iPad, please note that there’s currently a UI bug that’s been identified and should be fixed relatively soon. It’s also nice that items equipped on your character change his appearance. The music and character design do a decent job reflecting the overall tongue-in-cheek presentation, although the music does get a bit repetitive as you begin playing the same maps continuously.

Speaking of repetition, gameplay is quite simplistic, even for a dungeon hack and slash. There’s little in terms of additional abilities (which are tied to which weapon you wield) beyond simply attacking. In addition, DevilDark has a few quirks that, while hardly significant, still detract from the experience. For example, there are a lot of reused maps and assets which quickly become boring with the amount of grinding you’ll have to do. Navigation is also done via a static overworld map, which feels a bit disjointed.

Another annoyance is the fact that the game doesn’t warn you when you accidentally exit a map (and thus end the mission). Considering the camera angles can occasionally block the ‘world portal’ I had a few instances where I wandered into the exit and lost all of my mission progress. The lack of iCloud support is disappointing as well.

The pacing also feels a bit off. ‘Story-based’ missions seem to drastically jump in difficulty with the completion of each previous objective. While DevilDark offers plenty of optional missions to earn coin and experience in order to prepare for said story missions, I’m not a fan of the sheer amount of grinding necessary.

It seems silly complaining about excessive grinding when the goal of games such as DevilDark are to, well, grind. However, there’s a lot of ways to implement the grind that keep it interesting without messing with the core formula. If DevilDark had a more cohesive story accompanied by randomized maps and a little more complex battle system, it would be at the top of my list on iOS. As it currently stands, the visual engine and sense of progression are enough to merit a recommendation, but there is potential for it to be much more.

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In January Namco Bandai released an excellent iOS version of their classic 3D fighter SoulCalibur [ $11.99 ]. A a fan of SoulCalibur on Dreamcast more than a decade ago, the faithful iOS port was a great way to re-experience the game. The virtual controls worked well, the graphics were crisp and high-res, and the finely-tuned mechanics withstood the test of time.

However, as good as iOS SoulCalibur was, it was strangely devoid of any kind of multiplayer, a key component for a fighting game. Over the weekend, Namco Bandai looked to rectify that omission by releasing a new update that adds Bluetooth multiplayer to SoulCalibur. The new versus mode works just as well as you’d expect it to, and squaring off against an opponent face-to-face is just as fun as it was back in the day. It really is crazy just how well SoulCalibur has aged after all these years, especially as a competitive game.

One important thing to note though is that multiplayer isn’t compatible with the iPod touch. SoulCalibur is a pretty technically demanding game anyway, and even upon release required at least an iPhone 4, iPad 2 or 4th generation iPod touch to run. It is likely the lower amount of RAM in that iPod touch device that is the reason multiplayer is a no-go.

If you’re a SoulCalibur fan in the iPhone or iPad camp then get to updating your game and go search out a worthy opponent. Believe it or not, SoulCalibur is actually on sale right now to celebrate the update, down from its normal price of $14.99, so if a lack of multiplayer caused you to pass on the game before now is not a bad time to finally pick it up.

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