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Owen Goss of Streaming Colour Studios had his third game land on the App Store recently. LandFormer [Free] follows Monkeys in Space: Escape to Banana Base Alpha [$1.99 and Dapple [$2.99 / Free] and is a puzzle game where players use a set of six tools to raise or lower squares on a five by five grid to make everything level. LandFormer is the completed product of the 360iDev Game Jam which we covered in October, and later checked in with Owen at GDC to see its progress. Looking back on the early concepts and in-development screenshots, it's really cool to see how far LandFormer has come.

Gameplay amounts to loading a level where the various tiles on the grid are at different heights. You then touch on the grid where you want one of the tools centered, then either press up or down to raise or lower the terrain. Each level begins by telling you how many moves were used when making the level, and once you make your way out of the easy set of levels, hitting this target is much more difficult than it sounds. Thankfully, there is an undo button.

Like a lot of unconventional puzzle games, Dapple being a prime example, the concept is a little hard to describe but will make sense as soon as you watch the video:

The best part about LandFormer, and where we've really got to tip out hats to Streaming Colour, is how the game is being sold. You can download LandFormer for free, which gets you access to the ten tutorial levels and complete access to the user created level system– You just can't save any of your creations or downloads once you quit the game.

If you decide you enjoy the game, a $1.99 in app purchase unlocks an additional 50 levels of multiple difficulties along with the ability to store user created levels. Also, if the land forming theme isn't doing it for you, there's a 99¢ Discotheque theme that changes things up a bit. Either purchase will remove the in-game advertisements. There are plans for both additional level packs and themes available in the future as additional DLC as well. I've always really liked games that take this sales approach, as you risk nothing by trying the game out, don't need to bother with a lite version, and you know exactly what you're getting in to before you decide to shell out any cash.

The level creation and sharing system works quite well, and will likely provide a ton of replay value between level pack releases if a community springs up of people sharing levels. The level editor is basically just playing the game in reverse, and using the tool set you mess up the terrain as much as possible. From there, you can share levels via email, which really is just trading a fancy landformer:// URL. Because these levels are just cleverly encoded URL's, they can also be shared via forums, text message, or wherever else you copy the URL to. If you've downloaded LandFormer already, tapping this link on your device should load up the game and allow you to play the level that Owen Goss posted in the LandFormer thread.

I've had a lot of fun with the game, and if it has one flaw (and it's odd to even call this that), it's that it can be too difficult at times. There isn't any kind of hint system, and it's entirely possible to just get flat out stuck on some levels. Thankfully, all of the levels are accessible, so you can just skip the ones you get stuck on, but it would be really nice to sacrifice your move count to get a prod in the right direction instead of just skipping ahead. But, if you like puzzle games that can leave you stumped for who knows how long, LandFormer is a game you definitely need to try.

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One of our favorite developers, Donut Games, has just released a huge free update to their game Castle Smasher that adds more than ten times the original content. Released over a year ago, Castle Smasher was just the second title from Donut Games to grace the App Store. The concept involves launching stones at a castle in order to slowly demolish it bit by bit, setting the angle and power of your catapult shot before letting it fly. Think Angry Birds with a little Breakout thrown in and you get an idea of the gameplay, although Castle Smasher predates Angry Birds by a long shot. There were 5 different castles to smash, but due to the arcade-like aspect of having to start from the beginning each time you ran out of stones it was difficult to ever see all 5, and the first couple grew tiresome after having to play them over repeatedly. Essentially, it lacked some of the thoughtful design of the later Donut Games.

Now Castle Smasher has been given an update that brings it more in line with what you might expect. Rather than releasing a separate sequel, 50 brand new levels have been added that include the wonderful 3 star achievement system Donut Games is known for. New elements like extra bouncy or flaming stones and additional enemy types lend some variation to the smashing of castles. These 50 levels are incredibly well designed and fun. The original game remains intact, appropriately titled Arcade Play, and there's even a randomly generated Target Practice mode thrown in for good measure.

The Target Practice could easily be its own game, and when I had merely just wanted to check out what it was like, I was surprised to find I had blown almost an hour playing it. Castle Smasher was relatively enjoyable to begin with, but the 2.0 update has pushed it amongst the elite of Donut Games and is highly recommended.

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Coatsink software's Pinch game is one that had shown up on our radar back in May when it was first released. What drew us to the game was the relatively natural use of multi-touch to control the game to combine and separate objects.

Pinch is a level-based puzzler that requires you to getting specific colored orbs (called Norbs) to the end goal. In your way are a series of switches, one-way ramps, trenches, and more. The primary mechanic of the game is combining and separating the Norbs in order to pass make it past the obstacles. Some trenches, for example, require you to have multiple Norbs combined into a larger one, while certain doors will only allow certain colors to pass through.

Put them together and you get a nice puzzle game that takes advantage of the iPhone's multi touch capabilities:

The first version of the game seemed relatively short, but the developer has since added a number of new harder levels bringing the total up to 72 at this time. The graphics are simple and we wished the controls were a little smoother at times. At present the playfield needs to be panned around with swipes and you are unable to pinch/zoom the entire level to get an overview. It appears most of these issues, however, will be addressed in a coming update.

In the meanwhile, the game is definitely worth a try. There is a free Lite version also available.

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In early May we first posted about Crescent Moon Games getting involved in the development of Aralon: Sword and Shadow, an RPG by Galoobeth Games that had been in development long before Crescent Moon even started on their previous RPG, Ravensword: The Fallen King [$4.99 / Free]. In essence, Aralon had been the project of two developers who were extremely passionate about building an immersive RPG with levels of detail seldom seen on mobile platforms… But neither of them were artists. Aralon was filled with what amounted to mediocre character animations, place holder art, and 3D models that were beyond basic.

Crescent Moon saw the potential this game had if the graphical front-end could be brought up to par with all of the various subsystems powering the game world that Galoobeth had spent so much time working on. With artist Mark Jones, Aralon had the last piece of the puzzle it was missing to be the game it needed to be.

This is what the world of Aralon was going to look like:

And this is what Aralon will look like now, running at the Retina Display resolution of the iPhone 4:

The night and day difference continues through the rest of the screenshots we were provided:

The time that's being put in to the complete artistic makeover of the game has allowed Galoobeth to add even more to Aralon than they were originally even planning on launching with. For instance, the game now has a complete pet system where any NPC (even a human) can be charmed and serve as your pet. The game now includes well over 30 hours of gameplay, what has been described to us as a "massive" world that players can completely explore, hundreds of items, mounts, four playable classes across three races, and other gameplay mechanics such as faction systems, herb gathering, crafting, and more.

Aralon: Sword and Shadow is planned for a fall release, and if they manage to deliver on the things they're promising, Crescent Moon and Galoobeth games will likely have a hit on their hands. For more on Aralon, take a look at our previous post on the game or the thread on our forums. If you like seeing these kind of drastic before and after shots, swing on by this thread on our forums where other developers are posting shots of their placeholder art compared to their final release art as well.

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Alright, this is a ridiculous amount of good freebies out there for a Monday afternoon, and really, nothing should stop you from downloading all of these games as soon as possible. Of course, the standard App Store disclaimer applies here in that freebie promotions are often for a very limited time, everything is free as of the time of this posting, but if you delay they may return to their normal prices before you get a chance to snag 'em.

Saving Private Sheep – A fun physics puzzler by Bulkypix with over 80 included levels, and even more available via 99¢ level packs. Set in a silly game world where wolves are at war with sheep, Saving Private Sheep has a great difficulty ramp and a funny atmosphere which significantly adds to the game. (App Store)

Dirt Moto Racing – Resolution Interactive has released several racing games (which are all worth a look if you like this one) that all have great controls and graphics. Dirt Moto Racing has a career mode, vehicle upgrades, and everything else you'd expect from a full racing game. (App Store)

Super KO Boxing 2 – Now this is a game I can't believe is free. Super KO Boxing 2 looks and feels a lot like Super Punch Out for the Super Nintendo, with 15 opponents that cover a wide range of stereotypes, tons of achievements, multiple game modes, and tons of other fun stuff. Don't miss this one while it's free. (App Store)

Dawn of the Dead – I wasn't that impressed by this game when it was originally released, but you can now give it a spin for free. Three characters are included, along with a bunch of weaponry, five different levels, and both a story and survival mode to play through. The iTunes description mentions iOS 4 issues, so you might need to wait for an update if you've already upgraded. (App Store)

Action Buggy – All Donut Games seem to be universally loved around here, and Action Buggy is no different. In the game, you pilot a, well, action buggy, on the rocky surfaces of a distant moon. Like all Donut Games, the gameplay mechanics are simple enough that anyone can play it, but gets difficult surprisingly quickly. (App Store)

Car Mania – Route traffic through a variety of different maps while juggling drivers' road rage, construction sites, and other obstacles. Multiple game modes keep things fresh, and there's even a Road Rage mode where the goal is to crash the cars instead of routing them safely to their destinations. (App Store)

Mr.Space!! – A fast paced game with simple graphics, fun sound effects, and stick figures. Mr. Space has found his way in what appears to be some kind of trash compactor, and you have to move him from side to side to fit in a hole to not get squished. If you like this game, give its sister game, Mr.AahH!! a try. (App Store)

Superblox: Powers Unleashed – As the iTunes description mentions, this is NOT your Grandma's puzzle game. What might initially sound like a simple matching game actually turns out to be tons of fun, filled with crazy powerups, enemies, tons of game modes, and outstanding controls. (App Store)

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Three games came out recently which are all fun in their own way, but not really deep enough to warrant their own individual reviews. This isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means, as some of my absolute favorite iPhone games are the ones you only play for 30 seconds at a time. So if you're looking for a new game to play while you're waiting for your microwave popcorn to finish popping, consider any of these:

iHook, 99¢ – With controls that feel a little bit like Rocket Jockey for the PC, you pilot a tiny space ship through 20 different levels. Each level is host to a set of pylons you must grab on to with your hook (by tapping) in order to change the trajectory of your ship. Tapping again disengages your hook and sends you flying in whatever direction you were headed when you let go, and tapping your ship makes you turn around and head the opposite direction.

Completing the included levels involves flying around and picking up enough of the fuel tanks strewn about to open the exit portal. From there, you make your way to the exit, and go on to the next level. It's a simple gameplay concept that should be simple enough to execute, but it doesn't take long before iHook starts throwing out narrow corridors, bombs, moving barricades and other obstacles which left me crashing my ship and retrying levels more times than I'd care to admit. Thankfully, there are checkpoints.

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Infection:Zombies, 99¢ – Yes, yes, I know, few things on the App Store are more played out at this point than zombies, but a few things sets Infection:Zombies apart. First off, instead of simply slaying zombies, you play as a zombie and are tasked with converting as many humans to undead as possible. People on our forums are loving it, and what really sold me on the game was the ability to upgrade your zombie's stats between levels, as the concept of upgrading a zombie just seems beyond ridiculous to me.

Initially you can only play as Micky the zombie, but other zombies are unlocked as you infect more humans with different starting stats that either move faster or do more damage when attacking. Gameplay consists of tilting your device to move your zombie around, bumping in to humans to either eat their brains or optionally infect them. Infected zombies join you in your fight and infect other humans on screen until there is no one left living. Simple, a little repetitive, but oddly enjoyable.

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Crazy Parachute, 99¢ – In Crazy Parachute, you play as one of four skydivers who jump from a blimp on the count of three and plummet towards the ground collecting power ups and avoiding obstacles on the way. Three other AI controlled players are doing the same thing, and the first person to the bottom wins. The game is controlled by tapping to jump initially, tilting, then tapping again to open your parachute.

With each completed level you jump from higher and higher, and the gameplay mechanic of timing when to open your chute really reminds me of my old days playing Pilotwings on the Super Nintendo. Because you're racing, you want to open it at the absolute last second, but open it too late and you're going to find yourself cratering in to the ground… Which is what I usually find myself doing, getting far too greedy and waiting way too long to pull the rip cord. I could see Crazy Parachute multiplayer being a ton of fun, a game mode which is sadly nowhere to be found in the initial release.

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Giana Sisters [$4.99] was originally released all the way back in 1987 for the Amiga, C64, and similar platforms of the era. Surrounded by legal troubles due to its similarity with Super Mario Bros., the game was pulled almost as soon as it was released– Making original copies of the game highly valued by vintage video game collectors. In 2005, Giana Sisters made the jump to mobile phones, and a few years later found a home on the Nintendo DS following an extensive graphical overhaul.

Earlier this year, the sisters hopped platforms once again to the iPhone, and on July 9th will be jumping, tossing fireballs, and smashing bricks on the iPad. Developers Bad Monkee sent us a bunch of screenshots, and we're really excited to see the game in motion on our iPads.

We really liked Giana Sisters in our review, and later went on to award it a solid four star rating when we did our Best iPhone Games February 2010 round up. If this is the first you've heard of the game, if you like platformers with a classic feel, Giana Sisters is really worth checking out. If you own an iPad, hold off until the 9th to pick up the HD version.

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We first heard about Crescent Moon Games' Ultra Kid: Mystery of the Mutants back in late April of this year. Back then we only had a few screenshots and were told the game was inspired by classics such as MegaMan, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Galaxy and others. It's not hard to see elements of those games coming together in the following teaser video:

A new set of screenshots have also been released:

Ultra Kid is still in development, and the guys at Crescent Moon are shooting for a release this fall. We enjoyed their other game, Ravensword: The Fallen King [$4.99 / Free] quite a bit, and are expecting some great things from Ultra Kid.

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Earlier this month at Apple's WWDC 2010 in San Francisco, we had a chance to sit down with Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms of Backflip Studios, who brought us Ragdoll Blaster and Paper Toss, among others. The group has shown real App Store savvy, with eight of their 12 titles reaching the top five overall ranking. What's more, they're presently serving one million unique players per day.

In our time together, the folks from Backflip demonstrated four new titles — three free games along with the paid arcade shooter Tunnel Shoot, a collaboration between Backflip Studios and Team Phobic (Bounce On, Bounce On 2). We liked what we saw of them all, but it was the last that really had us excited — and now it's here. Tunnel Shoot [link] has recently gone live in the App Store.

Now, right off the bat — aside from anything relating to gameplay — Backflip / Team Phobic impress with Tunnel Shoot in that it's a Universal iOS game that graphically renders natively to all three iOS platform devices: the iPhone / iPod touch, the iPhone 4, and the iPad. Everybody wins, here.

Tunnel Shoot is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a tunnel shooter in the vein of N2O: Nitrous Oxide for the Playstation (and is somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone's own Boost 3D). The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible, travelling down a neon-vector tunnel while dodging obstacles, blasting enemies, and collecting green gems for points. You're placed in tilt-control of your craft — there are several to choose from, all of which can be visually customized — with a tap / hold mechanic for firing your blaster and bombs.

Your ship's blasters, when first activated, fire bursts of three bolts per shot, but as you hold down the fire "button," that soon drops to two bolts, and then to just a stream of single bolts. Let up on the button and your blasters quickly recharge and it's back to three bolts per shot. (Read: don't just lay on the fire button, folks.) You start off with one bomb which, when activated, flies down the tunnel destroying all enemies in its path. More are accumulated along the way. Your damage bar replenishes over time, and fairly quickly. A nice touch is that when you get blown up, the force of the explosion sends a destructive shockwave down the tunnel before you respawn.

The farther you go, the harder things get. After you get a little ways into the game, the obstacle layouts become rather complex. The arrangement of oncoming pylons and walls becomes difficult to visually comprehend between their appearance on the screen and their crushing impact with your ship. Here, I experience a definite advantage in playing on the iPad and, to a lesser extent, the iPhone 4 as compared to the earlier iOS devices. It's just easier to make out distant structures on larger and / or higher resolution displays. That said — the game is great on the older devices. I've, in fact, spent the most time with it on my 3GS.

As mentioned earlier, the game utilizes accelerometer-based tilt controls for steering. Tilt controls for fast paced shooters can often come up short, given their generally slower reaction time and lesser precision as compared to onscreen swipes. That's really not a problem in Tunnel Shoot as, although the action is intense, the velocity at which you're hurtling down the tunnel is a bit slower than that of some, similar games. I don't mean to indicate that it's some sort of "sluggish" or "laggy" affair, it's just that you're being challenged to dodge hither and yon, choosing your path and placing your shots wisely, as opposed to emphasis being on go, go, go!

The long and short of it is that Tunnel Shoot is a stylized shooter that feels very well implemented, delivers real challenge, supports all iOS devices natively, and costs $0.99. The only gripe I've got is that there's no real explanation as to the specifics, in-game — how the multi-blaster works, that green gems are good, that your damage repairs over time, etc. Nonetheless, it should be an instant buy for anyone that even approximates a shooter fan — especially if you've got multiple devices.

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As we mentioned late last month, everybody's favorite little yellow dot-eating friend just turned 30. Namco marked the occasion with a sale on most of their App Store PAC-MAN titles. Earlier this month the studio further celebrated the occasion with the release of PAC-Match Party for the iPhone [App Store], a PAC-MAN themed match-three title. This weekend an iPad version of the game, PAC-Match Party HD [App Store] landed in the App Store.

Now, if I had a nickel for every match-three title in the App Store, well, I'd have quite a few nickels. But PAC-Match Party stands out from the crowd thanks to a few nice innovations — and it's not just the retro gamer nut in me, giddy about the PAC-MAN tile set and spacey retro soundtrack. No, it's a pretty solid game, retro aside — as far as match-threes go.

Being a match-three title, the core mechanic is swapping tiles on the playfield to line up three-of-a-kind eliminations. But the whole thing is set against a ghost chasing PAC-MAN in the playfield border. Every match causes PAC-MAN to gobble a dot and move one space away from the ghost in pursuit. It's just a fancy way to present a timed match, but it's nicely done. What's more, a column of bonus tokens appears to the right of the playfield that, when tapped, performs certain power moves such as a row + column elimination and a sort of ghost attack.

The iPhone version of the game features a 5×8 play grid, while the iPad version sports a 10×8 arrangement, taking advantage of the device's larger display.

My only real complaint about the title is that, when next-move hints are enabled, they appear after just five seconds of idle time. That's offering up the goods pretty quickly. They can be disabled, happily, but it would be nice if the wait period there were 2-3x longer.

Those wanting to get a feel for the title can check out the free, Flash-based web version that lives here.

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