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Back in January at Macworld, we checked out the upcoming puzzle game Look Again! [$1.99] from Smappsoft. Earlier this month the game was released in the App Store, and I’ve finally had a chance to spend some time with the final version. I was intrigued by the core gameplay in Look Again! when I previewed it, which has you matching designs surrounding the screen with an image in the center.

Since then the gameplay has been fine tuned for the better, decreasing the fairly brutal difficulty and also adding a ton more design types to the game. Look Again! isn’t the flashiest game you can buy, but the core mechanic is unique and it’s a fast-paced arcade game that will take a sharp mind to succeed in.

Look Again! contains more than 200 increasingly difficult levels, with each level containing 3 puzzles which must be completed in a set amount of time. Early puzzles have a central image comprised of 2 surrounding images, and the goal is to simply choose which 2 make up that central image.

As you progress, things start to spice up with the surrounding images rotating, flashing on and off, and various other distractions designed to make recognizing them more difficult. Once you get to the point where you’re unable to finish the 3 puzzles in a level before the timer runs out, the game is over. Subsequent new games can then be started from any fifth level that has been previously unlocked.

Look Again! is a simple game, but it’s an interesting concept and a fun challenge. Plus, there is loads of content with all of the included levels, dozens of different patterns, and Game Center integration for achievements and leaderboards. Visually it looks sharp and colorful, especially on Retina Display devices. If you’re looking for a game that you can jump into at any time to test your mettle in recognition and reaction, Look Again! will fit that bill.

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Last year we reviewed Spectre 3D [App Store] for the iPhone, Brilliant Bytes' remake of the classic, early '90s Macintosh 3D tank shooter Spectre from Peninsula Gameworks that oldschool Mac gamers likely remember as one of the most hardcore titles available at the time. Spectre 3D has recently received a major update that should notably broaden its appeal. What's more, its also on a limited time, 80%-off sale at a price of $0.99.

New features include:

• iPad support! A new HUD, control scheme, and interface
• All-new Arcade single-player mode
• High-definition Retina Display support
• Completely Re-balanced gameplay
• Game Center support

The original Spectre is a 3D, filled-vector tank battle game something akin to Battlezone. The simple objective was to drive your tank around various obstacle-filled battlefields collecting flags and dodging the fire of AI enemy vehicles. The game also supported local multiplayer over the Mac's integrated AppleTalk networking hardware. It was followed by Spectre VR, an overall enhanced, network-centric title. Both versions were highly rated at the time and were awesome to play on the Mac's relatively high resolution, color display.

Spectre 3D is a well-done remake featuring various single player modes and up to four players over local Bluetooth and up to 16 players over the Internet. It features an impressive degree of configuration options and stereo-3D via anaglyph stereographic glasses. It's an instant-buy title for anyone that enjoyed the game in decades past, and should be a lot of fun for those unfamiliar, as well.

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Earlier this morning we posted news that Firemint would soon be bringing an update to Real Racing 2 HD [App Store], with support for full-screen 1080p video-out on the iPad 2. This news got us wondering about the overall situation that the iPad 2 and it's new PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics processor(s) present to existing games that already utilize TV-out by way of Apple's earlier component and VGA video cables for iOS devices.

I chatted up Keith Shepherd of Imangi, author of Max Adventure [App Store], which has supported TV-out via the aforementioned cables for some time now, to see what he thought the iPad 2's 1080p capability means for existing titles. While he hadn't tested Max on an iPad 2 personally, he felt it likely that the newly supported resolution should be there among those presented to an application by iOS, and therefore presented as an option in his game.

And, he was right.

With an iPad 2 connected to a 1080p HDTV by way of the Apple Digital AV Adapter (the HDMI cable), I fired up Max Adventure to see how it runs on the new hardware. Max, which supported a maximum resolution of 1280×720 on all previous devices, presents the option to run at a full 1920×1080 on the iPad 2. And, when chosen, the game runs beautifully in full 1080p.

I also loaded up MajicJungle's Chopper 2 [App Store], which has supported TV-out since day one, and noted that it runs in full 1080p on the iPad 2, where it, too, was previously limited to 720p.

It's great news that existing apps like these got an automatic upgrade courtesy of Apple and Imagination Technologies.

Since I was caught up in waving around my HDMI cable, I decided to try it out on the iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3, which we already knew supports TV-out via the component and VGA cables. I loaded up Max Adventure and my HDTV lit right up, with full audio and video coming through just fine, but at a maximum resolution of 1280×720 due to limitations of the device's earlier generation graphics chipset. Still, this is great news, as HDMI delivers a nice, clean digital signal while the VGA and component cables provide analog output only (and lack audio information).

Speaking of those older cables, a quick look at Apple's website indicates that the VGA cable will also deliver 1080p video when used with the iPad 2, but that the component cable is limited to a maximum of 576p on recent devices and just 576i on older hardware.

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I wish I could explain why I've recently found myself so infatuated with a golf game of all things, since my real-world golf experience is limited to doing poorly on driving ranges… But, I digress. EA just released a gameplay trailer for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, and it looks sweet as heck. We were expecting this game to land next Thursday, and EA just confirmed that date on their end.

Check it out:

Keep in mind the original Tiger Woods PGA Tour [99¢] is still just a buck, and it's hard to say if that price will remain the same or not once its successor is released. (Or if the game will even still be sold or not.) So, if you want the old version, or don't particularly care about having the new hotness, don't wait too long on picking it up.

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I have some history with other versions of Max and the Magic Marker [$1.99 / HD] . Back in Jan. 2010, I previewed a PC build of the downloadable Wii version. I dug what I saw, though held back on the write-up because the build wasn’t native. At the time, it was suggested to me that Max could make it to other platforms. I’m slapping my head now because I didn’t even consider a touch-based port.

That was stupid of me. Max and the Magic Marker’s core mechanic — the drawing of objects — is a more intimate affair with a touch screen. In more measurable terms, the drawing is more precise and satisfying with a finger. Unfortunately, nothing else about Max translates so well.

In brief, Max is a side-scrolling puzzle / platform game wherein you control a imaginative boy who has just been thrust into a colorful world of his conjuring. The obstacles are the same that you’d see in other joints in the genre — open pits, water, and odd pieces of geometry — but the hook in Max is that you can construct your own bridges, or stairs, or oddities to circumvent obstructions.

It works a little something like this: you walk up to the lip of a pit, stop, and then draw a thick orange line across the two ends, thus giving you an easy passage. Later in the game the obstacles get more sophisticated. For example, at several points, you’ll need to scribble a makeshift skateboard in order to ride across pits of gears. It's harder to do than you think.

And still later on, you’ll also have to start paying attention to the game’s physics, as weights and counterbalance puzzles start popping up. These are simple, as the game doesn't give you all that much credit. The favorite physics puzzle seems to be the see-saw, which has you drawing thick balls that drop on one side of the see-saw in order to catapult something, or you, on the other side.

I think what's special about all of this is rather obvious: your solutions are flavored by your own choices. You don’t have to make a solid line to cross a gap; you could also, to go to the extreme here, draw the Golden Gate Bridge or something — provided you’ve the ink.

To get the ink required to draw, you need to collect little bubbles in the levels, which are easy enough to find. I should note that levels also have tons of other collectibles and each world of levels has a different, though still as colorful, theme. It’s satisfying stuff in terms of level design and palate cleansing.

Where the game lacks is in the virtual controls for the boy. The left and right direction arrows leave a lot to be desired in terms of precision, which is an interesting contrast to how incredibly well the drawing mechanic works. Also, the jumping and the pushing of basic environmental objects are tied to buttons that appear on the right-hand side of the screen, well out of the way of the your hand, making even basic movement a hassle. These control issues are noticeably worse on the iPad, where all of the buttons are absolutely massive and nowhere near ideal for the thumbs of any human.

In general, these faults don’t necessarily kill the experience. Max and the Magic Marker is a laid back joint; it doesn’t require a lot of split-second decisions, mitigating control issues to some degree. Also, elements and obstacles are pretty well spaced, giving you room to mess up and even struggle with the controls. There's also a pause functionality that allows you to pause the game then draw, which can make things a little more forgiving. But if a seamless and intuitive experience is something you absolutely desire, I recommend grabbing the Wii version of the game instead. It’s just easier to use the buttons on the controllers to guide the boy around his world in that specific version.

So, the verdict here is that this is a solid port of an imaginative game that puts a lot of control in your hands. You make the bridge, the make the weight, you make the thing that helps you reach the end point. I should also add that there's a lot of game in this package; there's tons of levels and worlds, so you'll be spending some time with the game. As a whole, I'm digging this version, despite the control struggles — but it might be best to steer away from this one if you demand perfection for your five or so bucks.

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Anybody who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past month is familiar with Tiny Wings [99¢], the little indie game that could from Andreas Illiger that we fell in love with in our review and then went skyrocketing up the charts to the #1 overall paid position. Tiny Wings has since been knocked down to #2 in the US, but it took an entirely brand new Angry Birds game to do it.

Today the first update to Tiny Wings went live in the App Store, and it adds a number of new features and fixes to the game. The big addition is Game Center support to supplement the existing OpenFeint integration. Previously there was just one leaderboard for overall high scores, but 5 new ones have been added for distance, longest fever time, perfect slides, cloud touches, and coins eaten.

There is also a new nest to earn, allowing for a x30 multiplier, and 3 new achievements associated with it. The Scores option on the main menu is replaced with Stats, where you can view all the local scores for the leaderboards as well as a screen showing a stack of every nest you’ve ever unlocked. Pausing during play will also display all of these same stats for your current game, as well as which island you are currently on. Another new feature is an onscreen counter right above your score display that keeps time of how long you are in fever mode.

Among the many small fixes in this update, there are two big problems from the initial version of Tiny Wings that have thankfully been addressed. The game now no longer crashes when receiving a popup notification, and the ability earn fever mode time while your device is sleeping has been fixed.

The first update to Tiny Wings is a pretty good one, with Game Center support and a new nest being the standout additions. The many other small fixes and tweaks are appreciated as well, making the game a more solid experience overall. Andreas has hinted on his Twitter account that a new mode is in the works for a future update of Tiny Wings, but isn’t spilling any beans on what this mode might be. Until we find out more about the next update, drop by the forums and join the chorus of praise for Tiny Wings, and be sure to grab this current update and check out the new features.

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The folks at Firemint have just sent over a brief demonstration video of the next major feature they have cooking for Real Racing 2 HD [$9.99]. Using the video out feature of an iPad 2, Real Racing 2 HD will be able to be displayed on a big screen in full 1080p resolution with the next update. This is a first for any iOS game, as other games have built in video out support but run in the native resolution and aspect ratio of the iPad. Real Racing 2 HD, on the other hand, will run full screen with no black borders and at native 1080p resolution without scaling.

The game is said to run at a solid 30fps in this mode, and real-time telemetry between the iPad screen and TV will allow for no lag while controlling the game with the iPad. This announcement is a big deal as it effectively paves the way for your iOS device playing the part of a home gaming console in addition to a mobile platform. While not quite as powerful as the current crop of gaming consoles, and iPad 2 is capable of some impressive visuals, and the appeal of being able to play the same games on my living room TV that I play while I’m out and about is huge.

Firemint is vague on when this feature will be hitting Real Racing 2 HD, only saying that it will be in the next major update. Real Racing 2 HD is already on of the best games for showing off the power of an iPad 2, and once this update is released you’ll be able to show it off in your living room in full screen 1080p.

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Back in January, we reviewed Grim Joggers [$1.99] from 10tons Ltd and found it to be a unique take on the endless runner genre. In Grim Joggers, you control a team of 15 joggers all running in line at once. Minding all the different joggers while jumping various deadly hazards and bottomless pits proved to add an interesting dynamic to the gameplay. The goal is to survive for as long as possible while hitting checkpoints along the way that will increase your multiplier and ultimately add to your final score for each run.

We liked Grim Joggers quite a bit when it released, and just a couple of weeks later 10tons sweetened the deal by updating the game with a brand new level and additional Game Center achievements. Now, several weeks later, they’re back again with another update for Grim Joggers. Much like the last update, a new level has been added called Alien Aerobics which features one of the more unique gameplay elements in the game.

In Alien Aerobics, there are the standard ground hazards to be avoided as well as a number of airborne baddies to look out for. Then there are these teleport doors spread throughout which will suck up members of your crew if you happen to run through them. What’s interesting is that there are accompanying teleport spheres that when touched will relinquish all of the joggers who were previously lost to the teleport doors, adding them back into your group. It’s a pretty crazy mechanic, and can really help out when you’re running low on joggers deep into a level.

In order to unlock the Alien Aerobics level, you’ll need to have the Dog Tag Collector achievement from the previous new level, Battlefield Bodybuilding. Also, included with Alien Aerobics is an additional 6 new achievements to earn that are associated with this level. I think what I like so much about Grim Joggers, aside from controlling multiple characters, is that each of the 5 new levels feel quite a bit different from each other, which is really evident in this latest update.

Players are really digging the game in our forums, so be sure to take a look at Grim Joggers if you're in the mood for a novel take on endless runners, or if you already have the game then grab this latest update to check out the new Alien Aerobics level.

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A few weeks back we profiled a few upcoming titles from retro revival studio DotEmu after our meeting out at GDC 2011. One of the titles they had in the works that wasn't on our list is an iPhone port of the early '90s point-and-click puzzle adventure Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon [link], which launched in the App Store this morning, published by Bulkypix. Goblins 2 is the second title in Cocktel Vision's original four-part series to come to iOS, the first, Gobliiins [link], having arrived back in November.

Originally released for the Amiga and Atari ST, Gobliins 2 puts you in control of two different little goblins, each with his own set of abilities, on a quest across the colorful landscape to rescue poor Prince Buffoon.

The King's son, the Prince Buffoon, has been kidnapped by the evil Amoniak. What else is there to do but to call upon daring adventurers, ever ready to confront greatest evils in the name of honor and thus to save the Prince? Two talented gobliins volunteer to take of this grave task. FINGUS is a serious, polite and careful little fellow. WINKLE is an oddball and a joker, cheeky and reckless. They go seeking Tazaar's help in order to find the Prince. It is your job to help them on their way.

The game is divided into various sections, each containing a few different scenes. In order to move from scene to scene you must determine how to best interact certain marked items on the screen to solve that scene's puzzles. And, these puzzles are, for the most part, highly challenging. An example from very early in the game is the need to have one goblin steal a bottle of milk while the other goblin distracts the village onlookers by attempting to steal a sausage. In this example, timing is important, but it's not the case with every puzzle in the game.

The interface for Goblins 2 has been entirely reworked for the iPhone, and is an improvement over the control system of the earlier Gobliiins for iOS. You move an onscreen pointer about the screen, tapping on items to send your goblin over to interact with them. A button at the top of the screen switches focus from one goblin to the other, while a menu bar at the bottom offers access to your pack, as well as several levels of hints available for each scene. The whole thing just feels a bit more ideally adapted to the platform than the first release.

Gobliins 2 was well received when it was released back in the early '90s, in large part due to the witty scenarios presented and the amusing personalities of Fingus and Winkle. It's a humorous game with wild, colorful scenes and a jaunty audio track, but you'd do well to remember that it is a point-and-click adventure from decades past and, as such, lacks some of the flourishes we've come to see in such titles as they've evolved over the years. Certainly, for any fan of the original series, Goblins 2 is a no-brainer buy, but I'd doubt its appeal ends there.

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Over the weekend, an interesting new game dropped into the App Store called Bastards [99¢] from developer Octavian Stirbel. Bastards is a Western-themed FPS that’s built on the Doom Classic [$6.99] iPhone source code which was released for public use under the GPL License. There have been a number of games released in the App Store (both authorized and unauthorized) that have used the Doom engine, but frankly not many of them have been very good. Bastards is one of the good ones though, and despite being a fairly short ride it’s worth checking out if you liked Doom on the iPhone and are looking for something new.

Bastards is pretty light on story, but all you really need to know is you play as the cowboy Boot Mckane who is on a mission to kill every last member of the Bastards Gang. The game only contains 3 single player levels, but each one is pretty expansive. Much like Doom, you’ll need to explore each of the maps to find colored keys that gain you access to locked areas and allow you to progress, adding a very small puzzle element to all of the outlaw blasting. Since this is based on Doom, the controls work very well on the touch screen, and there is no y-axis so no need to worry about aiming up or down. There are 3 different options for control layouts, and the ability to turn off the HUD elements if you want.

So basically, Bastards is a solid FPS in the classic style of Doom, but what really won me over about it is the Old West theme. Weapons include classic six-shooter revolvers which can be dual-wielded, or sticks of dynamite instead of the typical rocket launcher. Health pickups are represented by bottles of liquor, and armor pickups are little sheriff badges that add to your “authority level”. The landscapes are open plains littered with cacti, horses, and chickens (which can be shot or blown up). Enemies are an assortment of gun slinging outlaws, and the various sound effects add to the spaghetti Western feel of the game. In a world chock full of space-themed shooters, there’s just something fun about blasting away bad guys in the Old West.

While Bastards isn’t some ground breaking game release, it’s definitely a really fun pick up if you have your expectations set appropriately. The graphics and gameplay are old school, but the levels are well designed and there is a ton of enemies to dispatch. My biggest complaint is that the game is too short, but the 3 included missions will give you a couple of hours worth of play and the developer is planning on releasing more episodes down the line. There is also a local multiplayer mode to engage in co-op campaign or deathmatches with friends who have a copy of the game, adding some replay value.

The positive impressions from members in our forums is what lead me to give the game an honest shot, and I’m glad that I did. It may not be the prettiest or most fully-featured FPS available, but Bastards is a good amount of retro fun for the price, especially if you are a fan of Doom on the iPhone.

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