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While we weren't too crazy about Dungeon Defenders: First Wave [$2.99] in our review, we have no problem getting behind any developer committed to continually supporting their games. We've already posted about Trendy Entertainment's intentions to add completely cross-platform multiplayer, and on Christmas Eve, they released this teaser trailer for Dungeon Defenders: Arena.

Trendy is referring to the arena as a "PvP expansion", so we're not really sure quite yet whether this is going to be a free update, a whole new app, or some kind of DLC. We hope with all of these feature additions they have time to address some of the control issues, as once all of these Dungeon Defenders updates hit, we're going to have an iOS game on our hands with an insane feature set.

For more information on Dungeon Defenders, check out the game's thread in our forum. Alternatively, if you've already got the game and are just looking for people to play with, we've got a thread for that too.

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We'd like to extend our thanks to TouchArcade forum user Crex who worked tirelessly over the holidays to put together an epic thread. Originally asking everyone to list their top games of 2010, Crex went through and compiled the top ten games in to a poll which closed last night.

Epic Games' Infinity Blade [$5.99] put up a fight, but in the end, the unofficial TouchArcade Forums Game Of The Year award goes to Crescent Moons' ambitious and expansive open-world RPG Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD [$6.99] for the iPhone and iPad.

Aralon grabbed the award with 22.8 percent of our user votes in the unofficial message board poll. Infinity Blade came in second with 20.15 percent, while Real Racing 2 [$9.99] was third with 14.6 percent.

In our review, we noted that Aralon is unlike any other experience you'll have on the iOS so far. In brief, the game is wicked big and boasts tons of customization, quests, and areas of interest. Solid character movement, helpful quest logs, and the game's combat are just some of its other positive features that our forum readers have come to love.

Aralon is Galoobeth Games joint, but back in May, Crescent Moon stepped in and gave the RPG a well-document makeover, helping generate even more interest in our upcoming games thread, as it reached more views than any other thread in TA forums history. Now that it's out, the threads on Aralon continue to grow.

Crescent Moon is still working on Aralon, by the way, and our message board is undoubtedly proving vital. The studio is implementing forum suggestions and is obviously dedicated to listening to what you guys have to say. Keep it up! Also, congrats to Aralon and Crescent Moon!

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Pixelocity Software is a development team of two brothers who have previous experience in the game industry working on big name console titles. They decided to branch out and form their own studio in an effort to create smaller, more fun-focused titles. Based on their first iOS offering Disc Drivin' [$2.99/Free], they're off to a pretty fantastic start.

Disc Drivin' is a turn-based racing game that can be played locally or online with up to 4 players in each race. If “turn-based racing game” sounds weird to you, you're not alone, as I had trouble envisioning how something like that could work or even be fun when I first heard of the game. However, once I actually tried Disc Drivin' it quickly became clear just how brilliant an idea it is. If you've ever played the board game Pitch Car, this is essentially the video game equivalent. It's missing a couple of online features that keep it from realizing its full potential, but the foundation is solidly in place for what I can only describe as Words With Friends [99¢/Lite/HD] meets racing.

In Disc Drivin', cars are replaced with tiny discs that are advanced down a race track one flick at a time. Choose what direction to aim your disc, and the power and angle of your flick determines the course the disc will take. Physics play a role as your disc will slide along the ground like a shuffleboard puck and bounce off of walls and other objects along the track. Once you've flicked your disc and it finally comes to rest, it's the next player's turn, and play continues like this as you each make your way around 3 laps of a track to complete a race.

Various special move can also be used to spice up the racing. Sliding your disc along the track or bumping into other players' discs fills up a power gauge, and once this gauge is full you can unleash one of the 6 special moves in the game. These include a speed burst, the ability to stop on a dime (handy if you're about to fly off a track), and a jump for leaping over obstacles or taking shortcuts, among other moves. Also, each of the 12 different tracks are filled with obstacles, like speed boost pads, pinball-like bumpers, and ramps.

The way that players each take turns moving is what makes Disc Drivin' a perfect fit for the asynchronous online play it contains. You'll take your turn, close out of the app and go about your business, and once the other players have taken their turns you'll receive a push notification that it's your turn again. In addition to online play, there is also local play over WiFi or Bluetooth and a single-device pass-and-play mode for up to 8 players. Sadly, there is no single-player component with computer AI to race against, and Disc Drivin' is strictly a multiplayer-focused game at the moment.

What's funny about Disc Drivin' is that it has actually been out for a couple of weeks, but I didn't start to notice it until practically everybody in my Twitter feed was talking about the game and setting up matches with each other. And this brings me to my biggest complaint about Disc Drivin', which is that there is no built-in way to find new players or match up with random people. You have to know the username of who you'd like to add to an online race beforehand, and there's no friend list to keep track of who you play with. Both of these problems could be handled with the use of Game Center, but for now you'll need to rely on reaching out to your fellow Man using social networks and the like for exchanging usernames.

There are a couple of really nice features included in the online games, though. First there is a simple text chat that is easily accessible anytime during a game, and while in my experience it's mostly used for trash talk it can occasionally come in handy to compliment an opponent on a particularly nice move as well. The other great feature is the ability to watch a replay of each opponent's previous move, which is extremely helpful to get you up to speed when jumping into a game after a period of time. Also worth mentioning is that while the graphics are fairly simple, they're actually quite attractive. The tracks and landscapes are colorful and support the Retina Display, and the game runs at an incredibly smooth frame rate.

Even with the somewhat limited matchmaking, Disc Drivin' is a total blast to play. The flicking mechanic works well and the physics in the game are floaty and fun. The special moves and the extensive number of well-designed tracks adds a lot of variety to the gameplay, and you'll no doubt experience a lot of epic moments during races, like blasting into the lead with a speed boost, knocking an opponent off a track, or nailing a perfect shortcut jump to take a huge lead. Something about the gameplay is just so satisfying, and the turn-based nature fits into a busy lifestyle. In fact, I've been playing almost the entire time while I've been writing this review, and you can have up to 20 games going at once if you wish.

If Pixelocity can find a way to streamline matchmaking and add a friends list, and possibly even a single-player component for offline play, then Disc Drivin' could be really huge. For now, you can check out the game's thread in our forums to pick up some usernames and start up some matches. Even in its current form, Disc Drivin' is still a fun and unique experience, and the free version is actually the full game supported with ads, so there's no reason not to download it and take these discs for a spin.

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I know what you're thinking, but despite the name, Big Blue Bubble's newest iOS game Burn the Rope [99¢] has nothing to do with the popular title Cut the Rope [99¢/Lite]. It's actually a completely unique kind of puzzle game that tasks you with burning a design made out of rope by igniting just one point of the picture and guiding the flame, earning a medal based on the percentage of the entire picture that you burn. Various insects and spiders affect how you're able to burn the rope, and the 80 levels contained in the game get increasingly more difficult and complex as you go. There are a couple minor annoyances about Burn the Rope, but the core gameplay is engaging and there's enough content in the game to keep you busy for some time.

The basics of Burn the Rope involve touching a single point of the rope design to start a flame burning. The flames that ignite will only burn upwards, so you must spin your device around as the rope burns to keep the flame always moving up. It's possible to have multiple flames burning the picture at once if you can keep them all pointing upwards, but once a flame sits stagnant sideways or downwards for too long it will burn out. Torching at least 60% of a puzzle will net you a bronze medal, 80% for a silver, and the entire 100% will land you a gold medal.

As you progress in the game, bugs will begin to appear in the levels crawling along the rope. Different colored ants will change the color of your flame if you burn them up. Some levels contain pictures with portions made out of colored rope, so you have to strategically burn the correct colored ant to change your flame to the same color as the rope you're trying to burn. There can also be colored beetles crawling in some levels that add to your level completion percentage when burned, but again your flame must match their color in order for it to count. Finally there are spiders that will shoot out a string of web when burned, enabling you to reach portions of the rope picture that would normally be inaccessible as they aren't connected to the rest of the picture.

I don't normally like having to twist and turn my device around to play a game, but it doesn't bother me in Burn the Rope because the motions are mostly subtle, and there's an almost hypnotic feeling to slowly turning your device in your hands as you follow the flame along the rope. In this way, Burn the Rope has more in common with the Zen Bound series than any other game I can think of. The levels get fiendishly clever and complex the farther you go, and it will be a real challenge for anyone to attain gold medals on all 80 of them.

While the gameplay is interesting and fun, there are a few small things I feel could be better about Burn the Rope. It has a really cute art style, but it would definitely benefit from being enhanced with Retina Display support to make it stand out more. Also, I'd like to see Game Center integration with some neat achievements tied to the game's progression. The developers have stated in our forums that both of these features are already planned for the first two updates, and I think that once those hit it will add a lot to the overall package. One small problem I noticed was that the way the rope burns can sometimes be odd, leaving a very tiny chunk of rope unburnt when it shouldn't be. This forces you to replay a level if you're going for 100% completion, and although it happens infrequently it can be pretty annoying.

Despite any minor issues, Burn the Rope is a pretty great experience. I came very close to just glossing over the game because I assumed it was some sort of Cut the Rope ripoff, but I'm really glad that I checked out the trailer and gave the game a shot. There's plenty of content to play through, with 80 levels currently in the game and more coming in updates. Burn the Rope is definitely worth a look if you're interested in a unique puzzle game, and if you aren't afraid to spin your device around in public.

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The App Store has continued to grow in leaps and bounds in 2010. The number of apps in the App Store soared past 300,000 with hundreds of new games being released every day.

We sat down trying to figure out the best iPhone games of 2010 and found the task of narrowing down the list to a select few to be near impossible. Instead, we've organized our year in review into categories with what we feel is an excellent cross section of games from 2010. If you just got an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas, this list is an excellent starting place to catch you up. Note that many of the games also have iPad versions which are also linked.

Casual

Cut the Rope, $0.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Proving that a cute main character, clever level designs, and simple touch screen controls are a formula for success, Cut the Rope has ridden the top of the charts practically since it was first released. The goal is to navigate a dangling bit of candy into the mouth of the adorable and hungry Om Nom by cutting the correct ropes to set it free. Just feeding the lil' guy isn't so hard, but getting 3 stars and a high score on each level can be, and is what has brought people back to Cut the Rope time and time again.

Fruit Ninja, $0.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – When Fruit Ninja was first released, it was novel for using a simple swiping mechanic to slice fruit out of the air. It was hard to explain the appeal, but it was an oddly satisfying experience and quickly shot up to the top of the charts. Since then it's gained new modes, unlockable items, and online multiplayer, and has become a mainstay on my device. Who would have though slicing fruit could be so much fun?

Robot Unicorn Attack, $0.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The iOS port of this popular Flash game from Adult Swim meant you could have all the rainbows, fairies, unicorns, and as much Erasure's Always in your pocket with you at all times. This endless running game adds additional moves like double jumps and dashes to the formula, wrapping everything in a sugary sweet graphical package that is the epitome of “ironically cool” and also a ton of fun.

Tilt to Live, $2.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – In its intial release, the game was based around a simple but fun formula of frantically avoiding red dots and using various power-ups to dispatch them. Since then, several updates have been released adding great new power-ups, game modes, and more.

Solipskier, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A universal game where you draw the slope for a skier to ski down. To make him speed up, you draw a downward slope, and to make him jump you simply draw a ramp. It works incredibly well both on the iPhone and iPad.

Platformer

Bounce On 2: Drallo’s Demise, $3.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Bounce On 2: Drallo's Demise succeeds in delivering highly enjoyable platform gameplay to the iPhone. The original was fun, but the sequel goes well beyond, feeling notably more "fleshed out," with a good deal more eye-candy. While there's certainly room for more quality platformers in the App Store, Bounce On 2 is among the best.

Fastar!, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Fight angry squares in this action RPG. The name of the game is speed runs, and the goal of Fastar is to play the game faster and faster. There's a cool magic system, online leaderboards, and squares that explode coins when they die. What's not to love?

Dark Nebula – Episode Two, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We loved the first installment, and the second is even better. You control a disc-like object by tilting, but to call this game a simple ball roller hardly seems to do it justice. The level design is amazing, and there's even a new combat system to allow for boss fights.

Babylonian Twins Premium, $1.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Sixteen years in the making, Babylonian Twins delivers an amazingly challenging yet satisfying iPhone and iPad puzzle platformer. In many modern platformers, I've felt like I'm just mindlessly going through the motions to make it to the end of each level. Babylonian Twins, however, really keeps you enthralled throughout.

Hook Worlds, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Developer Rocketcat Games practically perfected the “hooking game” genre with their previous two App Store releases, and Hook Worlds is a culmination of that expertise. Offering 3 (soon to be 4) endless running games injected with the hooking mechanic, Hook Worlds manages to make each one feel unique despite using the same core gameplay. This is topped off with tight controls, charming pixel art, and the humorous tidings that Rocketcat is known for.

Retro

Pix’n Love Rush, $0.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Like a platforming game with ADD, Pix'n Love Rush offers bite sized levels with constantly changing themes. The themes run the gamut of retro consoles, including the greyscale screen of the Game Boy and headache inducing red of the Virtual Boy. The jumping, shooting, and coin collecting is complemented with solid virtual controls, and every facet of the visuals just ooze style. On top of that Pix'n Love Rush is just a frantically fun good time.

The Incident, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – This curious tilt-based game has you climbing a seemingly never-ending pile of junk all the way in to space. It's packed with some really great pixel art, and is even universal with some cool interaction between devices allowing you to do things like use an iPhone to control the iPad game via Bluetooth.

Vector Tanks EXTREME!, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We're not entirely sure it's possible to pack more retro charm in to this game. As the title may hint, you compete in battles against other tanks, and the whole game is drawn in glorious vector graphics. If you were around during the 80's to play Battlezone, you need this game.

FINAL FANTASY, $3.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A great port of the classic NES title that started it all. Final Fantasy II is also available, but this is the game you should start with. If you were around for the original release of the game, hearing the opening theme again will likely be worth the price of admission alone.

Secret of Mana, $8.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – One of the timeless role-playing games from the bygone SNES era, Secret of Mana is a huge fan favorite among RPG gamers and has finally arrived on iOS. Practically everything you remember about Secret of Mana is intact in this new version, both the good and the bad, and has been reworked effectively for virtual touch screen controls. If you loved this classic title nearly two decades ago, then it's practically essential to have in your iOS library.

Role Playing

Infinity Blade, $5.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – ChAIR's amazing gesture-based swordfighter which utilizes the Unreal Engine to provide the best graphics we've seen so far on the platform. Sadly, you'll need a 3rd generation iPod, iPhone 3GS, or later to enjoy them. If you've got a recent device, this is not a game to miss.

Aralon: Sword and Shadow HD, $6.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – There have been many RPGs released on the App Store, but none with the depth and scope of Aralon. The game is home to an epic game world complete with multiple races, classes, mounts to ride, crafting recipes to master, and quests to complete.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A fantastic port of Years 1-4. It's universal, has Retina Display support, and just as much content and depth as the full console counterparts. Unfortunately, since it's a port it also retains the console-style save system which isn't as mobile friendly as we'd like it to be.

CHAOS RINGS, $5.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – One of the most ambitious RPG games we've seen so far for the iPhone. The graphics and gameplay are exactly what you'd expect out of a Square Enix RPG. Battle in parties of two in classic turn-based battles as you make your way through a story that's just as ridiculous as any other Japanese RPG.

Strategy / Sim

Sword & Poker, $2.99 – [Lite] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – At the core Sword & Poker is a card-based strategy/adventure game where battles take place by making poker hands on a 5×5 grid. The "Sword" portion of Sword & Poker comes from the roleplaying game layered on top of these poker battles. The strange blend of genres works quite well and is a game we really loved.

Warpgate, $4.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A space conquest game with an amazing sense of scope. Warpgate has cool graphics, an interesting faction system to get involved in, and a dynamic in-game economy that can keep you busy for as long as you remain interested in the game.

Plants vs. Zombies, $2.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Popcap's casual tower defense game hardly needs an introduction. Plants vs Zombies is a game that's easy enough to appeal to everyone, yet fun enough to warrant multiple play throughs without issue.

Game Dev Story, $2.99 – [Lite] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – At first glance this appears to be an abysmal port of a J2ME game… Then you play it. A few hours later you will be looking for your charger to keep playing. In the game you run your own game studio, managing staff, making games, and even releasing your own console. Once Game Dev Story sucks you in, it's impossible to put down.

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge, $0.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Few games inspire more heartfelt nostalgia than the classic LucasArts adventure games of the late 80's and early 90's. The improved iOS control scheme in the sequel which works like many other iPhone adventures games where you just touch areas in the game world that you want to move to, or objects you want to interact with. Fans of the series are in for a treat with this installment.

Osmos, $0.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – In this award winning indie game, you control a tiny organism called a "mote". By tapping in a direction, you expel mass towards where you tapped, and your mote goes zooming off the other direction. With each tap you lose a little bit of your mass, so it doesn't take long before you're making extremely calculated taps to get exactly where you want to go with minimal loss of size. Your mote can absorb any mote that it smaller than it, but it also can be absorbed by any mote that is larger than it. The gameplay translates beautifully on both the iPad and iPhone and is a great great experience.

Action / Shooter

STREET FIGHTER IV, $6.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – We were incredibly skeptical of how Street Fighter would work with touch screen controls, but have been pleasantly surprised. Also, since the original release, Capcom has consistently updated the game with new characters to play as. Also, if you've got a friend nearby who also owns the game you can play against each other using Bluetooth.

Chopper 2, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The long-awaited sequel of one of the most popular action games of the original App Store launch. It also has all kinds of crazy control options utilizing its universal nature on both the iPhone and iPad, and it's everything a great sequel should be. It expands on everything that made the original great, with some new things thrown in to the mix.

Archetype, $0.99 – [iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Five on five online deathmatch, capture the flag, and more. Archetype has Retina Display graphics, and the HD version looks great on the iPad. If online FPS games are your thing, this isn't one you should miss.

Dodonpachi Resurrection, $8.99 – [Lite] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – When it comes to bullet hell shooters, it doesn't get much better than Dodonpachi Resurrection. There is so much going on at once in this game that it can be entirely overwhelming at times (in a good way), but this also prevents it from running on devices older than the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation iPod touch.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, $9.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is by far the best open world crime game available on the platform. The sheer amount of content, the amazing graphics, and gameplay that will keep you coming back for more whether you choose to follow the story or rampage through Liberty City on your own is absolutely fantastic.

Racing

Real Racing 2, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A marvelous sequel to Firemint's original Real Racing, which improves upon the first in every way imaginable. A career mode, licensed cars, and 16 player online multiplayer are just a few of the new features. It also will run on any device, even the first generation iPod touch.

Cubed Rally Racer, $1.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A wonderful homage to isometric racing games, Cubed Rally Racer is completely randomized, so you'll never play the same track twice. Similarly, if a particular track is too difficult, you can simply generate a new one to play. The iPad version features split screen single-device multiplayer which is a ton of fun.

Reckless Racing, $0.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – An incredibly enjoyable top-down arcade racer with multiple cars, game modes, and even online multiplayer. Retina Display graphics and an excellent physics system heighten the experience, although we wish there were more tracks to race on as Deliverace is one of those games you never want to end.

Puzzle / Board

Carcassonne, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – There are many board games that have made their way to the App Store, but Carcassonne is by far the finest. Online asynchronous multiplayer, Retina Display graphics, universal compatibility, and classic gameplay. It doesn't get much better than this.

Trainyard, $0.99 – [Lite] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A puzzle game based on laying train tracks to route multi-colored trains around the game board. Solutions can be shared online, and after you beat a level it's even more fun to see the zillion other ways that everyone else solved it.

Zen Bound® 2 Universal, $0.99 [Forum Thread] – Zen Bound 2 is filled with relaxing gameplay supplemented by one of the best (if not the best) soundtrack I've heard in an iPhone game, and the gameplay mechanic of rotating string around a 3D object to cover it in paint works phenomenally with the multi-touch controls of iOS devices– and even more so when you throw the gyroscope of the iPhone 4 in to the mix.

Helsing’s Fire, $0.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Helsing's Fire sends you on a quest to destroy Dracula, placing you in 90 randomly generated, dungeon-like levels across three different worlds. The challenge is to eliminate said beasties by moving your torch about the screen, which casts brilliant beams of light and dark shadows about the play area. It's one of the most unique games I've ever played and is a true App Store gem.

Sports

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A surprisingly competent port of the classic skateboarding game. Everything is included from the original, and once you get used to the virtual controls, you'll be performing endless combos in no time in the many included skating locations.

MADDEN NFL 11 by EA SPORTS™, $0.99 – [iPad]- [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The Madden series hardly needs an introduction, as football player turned coach turned commentator John Madden has had his name on football games for the better part of 20 years now. EA introduced a new featured called GameFlow this year which will intelligently chooses plays for you. It is absolutely insane how much this changes both the feel and the pace of the game. Using GameFlow, endless submenus of plays are a thing of the past. Instead, you just play football.

X2 Soccer 10/11, $4.99 – [iPad]- [Review] – [Forum Thread] – X2 Soccer 2010 brings improvements to graphics, controls, computer AI, new game modes and more teams. X2 Soccer 2010 has over 150 club teams to choose from in 10 different leagues, plus international teams from all over the world. X2 Soccer 2010 is one of the top soccer game experiences right now on the App Store.

X2 Snowboarding, $4.99 – [Lite / iPad]- [Review] – [Forum Thread] – X2 Snowboarding from Exient is a highly enjoyable romp on the slopes that sets itself apart from the crowd in a number of ways. All of the aspects of X2 Snowboarding come together to deliver a highly enjoyable game with a surprising sense of speed and immersion.

Odds and Ends

Sketch Nation Shooter, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – While it isn't that great of a game in itself, Sketch Nation Shooter is one of the most creative uses of the iPhone camera we've seen yet. You sketch a doodle on a piece of paper, take a photo of it, and then import it in to little mini games you create. Gameplay is a little limited, but does it really matter if you turn a drawing of your cat in to an end boss?

Godville, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Godville is a "zero-player game" in that it requires absolutely no interaction from the player at all. Your character in Godville plays himself, all by himself, and you take the role of an omnipotent god and can either encourage or punish your hero, or do nothing at all. It's surprisingly amusing to just be able to load up your Godville character and vicariously live through his randomized adventures without needing to actually do anything at all.

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After months (years?) of rumors, Apple finally released the iPad in 2010. iPad gaming hasn't quite taken off as quickly as on the iPhone/iPod, but here's a cross section of some of the best iPad games of 2010. If you just opened an iPad for Christmas, here are some games to look at.

World of Goo, $9.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – World of Goo is a game about creating towers and bridges with stretchy pieces of goo. It becomes much more than that though as you progress, which is one of the most fascinating and rewarding things about this natural-feeling, and beautifully directed puzzler. It's truly one of the best games ever released on the iPad.

Plants vs. Zombies HD, $6.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Developer PopCap Games manages to splice in whimsy on top of a satisfying mix of careful tower selection and defense. In Plants vs. Zombies HD, you are the lone protector of a backyard who must put up seed spitting plants and other abominations in order to beat back an advancing zombie hord. The towers are diverse, the amount of options are incredible, and the hours of entertainment provided are incalculable.

Osmos for iPad, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Osmos for iPad is a beautiful and relaxing game in which you, essentially, take a big bubble and make it steadily grow bigger and bigger. A great soundtrack eases tension and the simple play lends itself to a good, calm time.

Corpse Craft, Free – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Corpse Craft is a fun and rewarding match-3 title with an interesting tower defense twist that has you using turning matched blocks into building materials for your reanimated soldiers. The game's greatest accomplishment though is its balance between character and mechanics. The brilliantly grim art direction and narrative doesn't detract from the gameplay, nor was development time seemingly sacrificed for the inclusion of the brilliant universe Corpse Craft is based in.

Monkey Island Tales 1 HD, $6.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – The Tales of Monkey Island series was fantastic on the PC and Mac and developer Telltale Games successfully ported over that experience to the iPad. Rich in humour, character, puzzles, and reverence to its forerunners, this is the ultimate adventure game for Monkey Island fans. It's also pretty good as a standalone point-and-click adventure game.

Puzzle Agent HD, $0.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Puzzle Agent HD is a non-traditional point-and-click adventure title featuring the grim art of Graham Annable. It has a few technical problems, but the puzzles and the narrative are deeply involving and worth your time.

The Tower®, $7.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A lazy bit of shorthand that we use to describe Yoot Tower is "SimCity in the sky." In the game, you construct a tower out of the living spaces like offices, condos, hotel rooms, and even restaurants. As you progress, you'll need to start paying attention to the stress levels of the people who have a financial stake in your tower, while also attempting to keep the tower growing to floor 100. It's fun, complex, and most all, pretty rewarding. Talk about a time sucker for the ages.

Cut the Rope HD, $1.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Cut the Rope HD is a straight port of its other iPhone brethren, but it just feels so right on the iPad, which boasts a larger screen area to cut the rope holding the precious candy so it can sail into the adorable Om Nom's mouth.

Across Age ™ HD, $4.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Across Age HD is the closest you'll get to a Zelda on the iPad. And, really, that's selling it short. On top of the traditional dungeon-based play, Across Age HD offers rewarding hack-and-slash combat, a neat time travel mechanic, and decent controls.

Fruit Ninja HD, $0.99 – [Lite- [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Fruit Ninja HD is essentially just a bigger version of its iPhone cousin wherein you chop up fruit for points. It's a simple game that requires simple gestures, but there's just something about it that has kept us playing for hours and hours.

CHAOS RINGS for iPad, $7.99 – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – Chaos Rings for iPad is a creative take on the traditional JRPG. Developer Square Enix forgoes the usual narrative in favor of a shorter, much more focused journey that has teams of gender-confused people taking on monsters and then each other in a contest to win immortality. A deep battle system, a great hi-def look, and fun, bite-sized adventures make this a must-have.

Cubed Rally Racer, $1.99 – [Lite / iPad] – [Review] – [Forum Thread] – A wonderful homage to isometric racing games, Cubed Rally Racer is completely randomized, so you'll never play the same track twice. Similarly, if a particular track is too difficult, you can simply generate a new one to play. The iPad version features split screen single-device multiplayer which is a ton of fun.

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I'm a firm believer that Rovio Mobile has a high-ceilinged vault in the back of its office filled with mounds of cash and coins from the billions and billions of Angry Birds [$.99 / Lite / HD] purchases. I reckon it'll need to build a new money vault rather soon as a direct result of the game's latest update, which adds 15 new themed levels and the long-awaited Mighty Eagle, a bit of paid DLC that adds a new, pig-annihilating bird to the Angry Birds roster.

Let's back up a second. Update 1.5 adds a Wild Western-themed chapter called "Ham 'Em High." A total of 15 new levels are introduced, none of which feature anything stunningly new from a design perspective aside from cowboy hats and sombreros. It also adds a new Golden Egg "for y'all city slickers" to discover.

But the update also adds the Mighty Eagle, a one-time, $.99 bird purchase. The Eagle is basically the Angry Birds version of a nuclear bomb. To use it, you slingshot a can of sardines into the environment. When the can stops, the Eagle swoops down and banks off the geometry, causing the physics to react from the aftershock. This clears the level of all pigs and then you can progress.

The thing to note here is that the Eagle can only be used once an hour if you're using it in levels that you haven't completed. But if you use it in levels that you have completed, you can go to town as often as you like, with no hour cooldown.

There's a cool meta-game with the Eagle, too. After you clear a level, a destruction indicator pops up and reports the percentage of the level you destroyed. The goal here is to to completely wreck a level. Once you've got 100 percent, you get a small feather next to the stars on the level select screen, luring completionists in to replaying the whole game again with the Eagle.

It's hard for me to tell if the Mighty Eagle disrupts the game's balance. I think it's more of a creative level-skip than anything else, considering you don't get the same sort of satisfaction from pounding the Eagle "Win" button. But these new levels are the only ones I've yet to beat, so my frame of reference is bad. The hour between skips seems like a good compromise between letting you skip forward if you're stuck but preventing you from just skipping through the entire game.

All in all, this is another good update from Rovio, and the new Mighty Eagle destruction gauge makes the new IAP a must-have for every Angry Birds lover.

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Earlier this month we posted a brief teaser video from developer Mobigame for their newest iOS title called Perfect Cell [$5.99]. The video didn't explain much in the way of gameplay, nothing at all in fact, and we were left scratching our heads wondering exactly what Perfect Cell was all about. Now that the game has actually been released I've spent a good deal of time with it, and it has turned out to be unlike anything I could have imagined. It's sort of a mishmash of genres, with elements of action, platforming, stealth, and puzzle. These end up working really well together, and coupled with intuitive controls and a beautiful graphics engine, Perfect Cell is a good time from beginning to end.

The story of Perfect Cell starts as an asteroid crash lands to Earth in the not too distant future. Humans discover a form of life in the asteroid that is advancing at an incredible rate. They keep this life form in a research facility deep below the sea in order to study it, but after some time the alien grows into a sentient being who doesn't fancy being held in captivity. It then becomes your job to control this squid-like alien as you negotiate intricate levels full of puzzle-like traps, enemies, and hidden passages in an effort to break free.

The look of Perfect Cell employs a 2.5D perspective, similar to Shadow Complex, with fully 3D backgrounds but action that takes place on a single side-scrolling 2D plane. The lighting effects in the game look fantastic, as do the style of the characters and environments. The underwater facility almost gives off a James Bond-like vibe with giant computer panels and scientists in lab coats spread throughout. Shortly after the game begins soldiers start to infiltrate the facility, and don't seem to take kindly to the scientists, and certainly don't take kindly to the alien being.

You control your alien in Perfect Cell by simply touching and dragging to move, or touching and holding to call the alien to that position. Quickly swiping the screen performs a dashing attack that can kill enemies and bash through certain structures to find hidden areas. Later in the game a super dash attack is introduced, where you can charge up and draw a line that the alien will rapidly follow, killing anything along the path. Also, as you progress you'll run across a couple of your alien buddies which absorb into you, making you larger and stronger. You can then use a pinching apart gesture to split yourself into two or three separate beings, controlling each individually to conquer tasks that require being in multiple places at the same time.

Perfect Cell contains 35 levels to play through, and in reality it will only take several hours to complete them when destroying anything in your path. The real genius to this game comes from not killing people. There is a stealth element to the game, and its very possible to complete every level without killing a single person. This is where serious strategy comes into play. Upon seeing you guards will become alerted in a very Metal Gear Solid kind of way, minus the exclamation point above their head, and will seek you out for a short time before becoming bored and going back to normal patrol.

It would be easy to just dash attack the life out of these guards, but when trying to complete the game without killing anyone you'll need to take advantage of hiding spots and your ability to cloak yourself by staying still. Taking this pacifist's route through the game is really challenging, and practically turns Perfect Cell into two completely different games depending on how you play.

The only real problems I had while playing came from the controls. They're very intuitive and touch screen friendly, but lack precision at times when you need it. Also the dash attack isn't always reliable, and when you're counting on pulling one off during the split second when a guard's back is turned it can be detrimental when the move doesn't come through. These problems are minor, however, and for the most part there's nothing that will hamper you from progressing and enjoying the game.

There's really nothing like Perfect Cell on the iOS platform, and it offers some refreshing gameplay and fetching visuals. It doesn't take too long to whiz through the game when you're killing everything you see, but sparing lives and utilizing stealth offers a real challenge that will keep you busy for a while. There is also Game Center integration for achievements and high score tracking. Fans of games like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid will find similar gameplay in Perfect Cell, along with the exploration and puzzle solving of the Metroid series.

Perfect Cell blends all these different elements together seamlessly, and creates an experience that feels like its own. Players in our forums have been enjoying this one too, and Perfect Cell is recommended if you enjoy any of these previously mentioned influences or are just looking for a new unique gaming experience.

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If you're in the mood for some Tilt To Live [$2.99 / Lite, HD], now is a better time than most to boot up the title. Developer One Man Left Studios has pushed out a new update to the game, adding in a new mode and a new weapon via an in-game $.99 purchase.

The update, which is available on the game's main menu, has been lovingly dubbed "Viva la Turret," and as it implies, it gives you access to a mounted chaingun-like weapon. The weapon, "The Perforator," is exclusive to this new mode, which is also called "Viva la Turret."

The point of Viva la Turret is to grab points, of course, and the easiest way to do so is by collecting "The Perforator" power-ups that spawn on the map. Whenever you get access, you'll be assault by a stream of projectiles from all angles. The key here is to use it without getting smacked, and then to snag all the sweet blue leftovers from victims for crazy points multipliers. Here's a video of it in action:

Viva la Turret seems cool and should provide a nice change of pace opportunity. That's not to say Tilt To Live every really gets old, but hey, something new to do with a game you love, right? I'll note here that this update is currently only available for the iPhone and iPod Touch versions of the shooter. An HD version of the update is in the works, however.

Tilt to Live, if you didn't catch my drift earlier, is a fantastic game. I don't know if there's anyone out who doesn't own it already, but if you don't, you'll probably love it. Here's some literature if you're curious.

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