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If you're not a Mac user, you likely have never heard of MacHeist, which is really too bad because it's one of the coolest ways to get a bucket full of software on the cheap. The gist of the whole MacHeist promotion is somewhat similar to the various Humble Indie Bundles or Steam bundles, but with a unique twist involving all sorts of puzzles, generally set in a high tech almost hacker-ish safe cracking theme. Like most bundles, there's usually one or two really awesome pieces of software that make it totally worthwhile, then a handful of other stuff that you've never heard of that actually turns out to be pretty useful.

The Heist [99¢] is MacHeist's first foray into the App Store. This 99¢ game comes with 60 different puzzles to solve amongst four different types of puzzles. These puzzles all involve familiar mechanics, with three hinging on sliding blocks around in different ways and a fourth that's a strangely abstract version of sudoku. Solving the puzzles disarms a vault's defense system, allowing you to get to the prize inside.

But what's the prize? Well, since the game came out mere moments ago I haven't had a chance to completely beat it yet. However, I've been told that players who successfully complete the game will be rewarded with a Steam code for a PC/Mac game with a value substantially higher than the 99¢ purchase price of The Heist. We'll have a full review up shortly, but in the meantime, this seems like a ridiculously cool idea for a game. Just the included puzzles easily seem worth the price, and the promise of an actual prize with real-world value on it rewarded for completing the game is just icing on the cake.

Also, I'm not about to spoil it, but The Heist comes with a really cool feature to add some immersion into the game that I can't believe got past the Apple approval process. You'll know what I'm talking about when it happens.

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Back in March we posted an exclusive hands-on with a pre-beta version of the Universal title Battle Squadron ONE, an iOS port of Cope-Com's excellent Amiga vertical-scrolling space shooter Battle Squadron. Even in its relatively early state, the game was playing just great on the iPhone and iPad. We're happy to report that Martin Pedersen and Torben Larsen of Cope-Com have recently shared a close-to-final beta of the game with me to put through its paces. And I definitely like what I'm seeing, here.

The biggest difference between the two pre-release versions we've been given is the controls. The earlier, pre-beta version they provided us with offered both swipe and tilt controls. This new release features entirely revamped swipe controls (at two sensitivities), as well as tilt (also at two sensitivities), and an onscreen D-pad. I'll say right off that the last is the weakest. The best control scheme — by far — is the more sensitive swipe control scheme which breaks the shackles tying it to the Amiga ship movement speed and lets you zip your craft around the screen like nobody's business. This method would absolutely make the game too easy at the Amiga difficulty level but, happily, there are three difficulty settings to choose from. Jacking the difficulty to the roof and going with the sensitive, fast swipe is absolutely the way to play this game on an iOS device.

As a retro enthusiast I'm pleased that the graphics from the Amiga version were maintained. They're so faithful, in fact, that one might think it's an extended emulation title — but it's not. The iOS version is a line-by-line C/C++ adaptation of the original Amiga 68000 assembly code. Impressive.

According to the guys at Cope-Com, the only thing left to add before release is Game Center integration. And, based on the gameplay I'm seeing in this near-launch beta, that's just fine with me.

Battle Squadron ONE will be followed up by Battle Squadron TWO which offers a two-player, cooperative game mode for those with friends. Battle Squadron TWO will be free for those who purchased the initial release.

We'll give the heads-up when this lands in the App Store. Stay tuned.

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Grab your whet stone app and find a virtual squire — you’ll need them, no doubt, to best the hordes of Infinity Blade [$5.99] slaves waiting for this bit of news. On this Thursday, May 19, the oft-promised competitive multiplayer update to Infinity Blade goes live alongside some new, though traditional content additions all for the generous price of $0.

The competitive online component has been dubbed “Infinity Blade: Arena,” but aside from its monster-versus-dude twist, point, usage of Game Center, and its titling, we still know almost next to nothing about it.

No worries if you can find the time to spare this afternoon, though. Game creator Chair Entertainment will be doing a special Facebook Q&A session this afternoon at 4:30 EST to answer these lingering pre-launch questions.

Back to those other content additions I mentioned: in addition to “Arena,” this content update will see the release of “two dozen” new rings, swords, shields, and helmets, as well as Facebook integration, and new achievements. Also, Chair will be dropping in a new Boss Rush mode called “Survivor Mode,” that’ll have you fighting against Titan after Titan in an attempt to get a high score. Oh, and holiday helms! Everyone loves those.

That’s one hell of a free content drop for any kind of game, right? I can't wait to hack you dudes up this Thursday.

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Cashing in on the success of an IP like Gameloft does with its regurgitated, oftentimes hobbled re-imaginings is a double-edged sword; the studio profits based on established interest, but there are expectations and legacies that it has to keep in check in order to continue to make dough. For example, with its follow-up to its Halo homage, NOVA 2 [$6.99 / HD], Gameloft has to fulfill the promise of post-release content much like Bungie did with the actual series.

Good thing Gameloft has. In the game’s latest update that just hit this afternoon, three new competitive maps have been added — Floating Rocks, Aquarius Beach, and Icy Bridge are the names and, well, you don’t need much more description than that. I suppose I should note that Gameloft notes that each of these maps has a confrontation focus. Floating Rocks is for close-range, Aquarius is mid-range, and Icy Bridge is for massive battles.

Version 1.1.7 also brings about a bug fix. Now, you’ll be offered “better protection” against hacking. And if that wasn't enough, you’ll also get ten additional levels in multiplayer as soon as you grab the update from the App Store, which is available now for both versions of the game. Happy, er, killing dudes!

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Those of us who grew up with the likes of X-Com and Jagged Alliance have long been waiting for something — no – anything in that vein to come up in the App Store since its inception. We've seen plenty of turn-based strategy games come and go, but nothing has captured the RPG-centric squad-based tactical combat we've been yearning for (save, perhaps for the recent release of Tactical Soldier – Undead Rising). Hunters: Episode One [Free / HD] wants to scratch that slow-moving turn-based itch and does so by offering you a few maps for free.

Hunters uses the same in-app purchase style of recent Gameloft games, you'll get a tutorial and a couple of levels for free and you can decide from there if you'd like to purchase the game. That's not the only quirk, it also has a 24-hour mission cycle — so every day Rodeo Games drops new maps into the cloud for you play through. This is a great idea in theory, but that "always connected" feature also happens to mean there will be ads on the mission select screen, which is a weird thing more than an annoyance. If you're passionate about checking the ads, you'll get some snazzy loot.

Being a turn-based strategy game, the goal is generally to either kill everything on the screen in a nice bloody mess or to retrieve an object and wander away. To accomplish those tasks you upgrade, unlock and beef up your soldiers in a variety of ways. Each move takes away action points and is done through an intuitive and easy to grasp system that works remarkably well on the touch interface. Because of the increased screen real estate, it feels better on the iPad, but it works well enough on the iPhone. You'll wander blindly (and often straight into fire) through a fog of war, trying to gain an understanding of each levels layout without dying. Most gestures you've grown used to work here, including swiping and pinching to slide the map around. You'll double-tap to select your soldiers, which can cause some frustrating moments, but not being in real-time keeps it from causing your teeth to grind.

As you move along, you'll gather up soldiers and weapons and you'll be able to customize them to your liking. Different weapon and skill upgrades allows you to build a relatively diverse crew of killers and the fact you can replay missions ad-infinitum during the 24-hour cycle means you can farm XP and gold as much as you'd like. Since there isn't a linear story-mode, difficulty is shoddy at best. It seems to cater enemy type and variety according to your current level, but at no point is the game particularly difficult — especially when you factor in the lack of perma-death among characters, a feature sure to ruffle the feathers of a few long-term strategy fans.

Why are you doing all this, you ask? Well, because shooting things is fun, apparently. There is some ramshackle backstory here dealing with a world of mercenaries and contract-for-hire nonsense, but it doesn't get much deeper than "you've been hired to clear the screen." For most people, that's all well and good, but at the same time, the lack of a narrative of any kind also comes at the price of a cohesive world environment. From a technical standpoint, the graphics are rendered well and function perfectly fine, but there isn't much soul poured into the universe itself. For most people that probably won't matter, but many might find the cookie-cutter science fiction universe and bland, toned-down color scheme a bit of a drag — or at least a disappointment. That's not to say the level design isn't solid, because it is, but the generic art style is a bit underwhelming.

Most people aren't going to care about that little niggling complaint because the gameplay is solid and works well. There isn't a huge layer of strategy depth here, you're only offered a few weapon varieties and soldier types and you can't prone, kneel or sneak, but as an entry-level strategy title it should tickle your fancy enough to keep you coming back. The mission structure is interesting and as an immersive technique does make you sort of feel like you're really a mercenary with daily updated objectives. Once you've figured out the systems and upgraded your soldiers you might find things a bit on the easy end, with the tactical aspect borked down to something like, "eh, I'll just wander in here and shoot some stuff," but don't let that shy you away from checking out the first few levels. It's a good title, but its lack of innovation in anything except its content delivery keeps it from being great.

One thing worth noting is the possibility of multiplayer in the future. Currently, the game is set up as a single-player only experience, but Rodeo Games assures that multiplayer is in the works down the line. They're also claiming a more cohesive story mode is coming soon as well, which might fix a few of the complaints listed above. Either way, you'll be able to spend a reasonable amount of time with it for free and it's most certainly worth that much.

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Several weeks back, we took a look at the video for Vampire Rush [$1.99/HD], developed by A-steroids and published by Chillingo, and the game has since launched as part of last week’s influx of new releases. Vampire Rush is a tower defense/hack ‘n slash hybrid, and if that sounds familiar that’s because the same sort of genre mishmash was used in Dungeon Defenders [$2.99] released late last year.

The problem with Dungeon Defenders, though, was that it was an excellent game that was not a great fit for the iOS platform. The complex gameplay and cluttered interface marred what would be a great experience on a full-fledged console. Vampire Rush takes the opposite approach, providing much more streamlined gameplay and an accessible interface. While it is a much easier game to grasp, it’s almost too simple, and is hampered with some imbalances and a high level of difficulty. Despite this, Vampire Rush is still a lot of fun, and with some minor tweaking and a dose of extra content it could be a standout example of this unique mixed genre.

Vampire Rush’s campaign consists of 7 levels, each with 10 waves of monsters who are hell bent on destroying your gate to the outside world. The level designs are excellent, and you’ll need to strategically place various types of towers to help combat the onslaught of enemies, all while directly doing your own part by using your sword. Your character, Captain Greg, can perform a couple of different sword combos on enemies. The direct combat is basically just mashing away at a single button, but it still manages to be pretty fun frantically running all over the map dicing up bad guys.

In addition to the swordplay, there are 8 different special moves and perks for Captain Greg to use which unlock as you progress. These can be reusable moves that come with a cool-down time like partial healing or a fire attack, or single use perks like increased melee damage or gate repair. Killing enemies or collecting random chests will net you cash, which is used to enable these abilities and is also used to build and upgrade the 4 different towers available in the game.

What I like most in Vampire Rush is the highly strategic style of gameplay. Tactful placement of towers and smart management of your resources is imperative if you wish to do well. You won’t be able to just crowd a bunch of towers around your gate and expect to keep it safe. Thoughtfully choosing where to put your towers while taking into account the enemy spawn points and the layout of the different levels is key. Some of the most satisfying moments in Vampire Rush are when you see your current strategy falling apart, and end up trying a level over again with a fresh approach and succeeding.

Unfortunately, these good times can be hampered by some horribly imbalanced parts of the game. My biggest problem is that your own life meter and the life of your gate can be whittled down in a matter of seconds, and before you even have a chance to react and do something about it your gate will be destroyed and you’ll be starting over from wave 1. This can get incredibly annoying, especially as it can feel like you lost due to no fault of your own.

My other big problem is the bats in the game. Oh, how I hate the bats. First of all, they are floating in the air and it’s extremely difficult to gauge how close you are to them. You may think you are hacking away at them with your sword when you actually aren’t, and all the while they are shooting at you from a distance. Coupled with the rapid rate of health depletion, this accounts for a lot of frustrating and cheap deaths. It just seems strange that the smallest, least ferocious enemies can end up also being the most difficult to deal with.

Despite these odd gameplay quirks, Vampire Rush is still really enjoyable. It controls really well, looks good, and has a simple and intuitive interface which works great. If you enjoy tower defense games and are looking for a variation that features more hands-on gameplay by way of hacking and slashing, then you’ll find a lot to like about Vampire Rush. If you’re looking for a Diablo-like game with light tower defense elements, you’ll probably end up disappointed, as the upgrading and looting aspects are minimal and don’t carry over from level to level.

With a few tweaks, Vampire Rush could easily be the best action tower defense game in the App Store. As it stands now, it’s still a solid and enjoyable first effort that’s worth checking out, just be prepared to deal with more than a few frustrating moments.

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There have been tons of crazy Kinect hacks since Microsoft released the accessory for the Xbox 360. In fact, there are so many it's difficult to choose which to use as an example, so instead, check out this list from GameFront if you want to see a good rundown. If you include tech blogs in your daily reads online, you've no doubt noticed that these Kinect hacks are popping up both more often and with even cooler functionality. Today's example is the first one I've seen that includes an iPhone. Sure, it's just a prototype, but it's cool to see it in action:

Basically, Singapore-based developer Rockmoon built a tech demo of sorts in Unity that takes two people to play. One flies the ship using Kinect-based motion controls, and the other handles the guns with a dual-stick setup running on an iPhone. Who knows what (if anything) will come of this project aside from a video on YouTube, but it's still neat to see.

As an aside, is anyone else amused by the fact that all of these Kinect hackers have come up with all this amazing stuff while all Microsoft has figured out is how to release an array of dancing games? That being said, Dance Central is a favorite in my household…

[via Joystiq]

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Straight up: I’m not a soccer fan because honestly, it's hard to be a soccer fan in the USA. The whole non-stop nature of the game makes it really difficult for TV stations to inject advertising into the game, so aside from gym class soccer has yet to catch on.

We cool now? Great. Because here’s the thing about Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro [$4.99]: it’s not a simulation title, and it’s not an all-out action sports title, either. I like to frame it as a mix of the two, as it somehow marries the spirit of the actual game of soccer with video games antics, whimsy, and some light RPG elements that the Superstars series is known for.

For me, this is a great thing. I don’t need to know squat about soccer to dig what is being done in Soccer Superstars 2011, just like how I didn’t need to know anything about the actual game of hockey to be to enjoy the NES classic Blades of Steel. (Also similar to Baseball Superstars where you need to know nothing about baseball to get immersed in training up your super batter.)

I think you get the gist, but just in case, think of Soccer Superstars as a lean arcade kind of sports title. You can only pick from a few teams, none of which offer real players or likenesses from the actual sport. In fact, each team sports a whacked out super player who can, quite literally, kick flaming balls into goals with the touch of a button.

Doing that requires a simple press of one of the three-to-four action buttons displayed at all times on the game’s not-so-beautiful HUD. There’s also a virtual analog stick present one the screen, too, which is how you move around your dudes on the field. Sadly, much like last year's iteration of the game, the controls aren't as precise as we wish they were as the virtual joystick just flat out feels clunky at times.

The fundamentals of soccer are all present and accounted for on the face buttons, which in turn, keeps the game simple: you can only, really, dribble and shoot as well as steal and tackle. Holding some of these buttons increases the strength of a move.

You get your standard amount of players on the field, all of which have assignments, so you’ll need to shift from character to character as you would in a simulation soccer game as the ball bounces around. Also, each person on the field also has his own set of stats, so you’ll need to keep an eye on what player can do what the best.

I’d like to say that there’s some sort of grand strategy to the play, but if there is, I haven’t discovered it. Most of my matches — and they’re all lightning fast — have been “pass and shoot” fests, which is to say, I’ve just been driving the ball to the hole and dominating.

So, I can with without a care. Frankly, I think this is stellar; I don’t want to bother with elaborate defensive or offensive strategies I don’t want to think soccer. I’d rather just put the ball in the hole. This game allows me to do that. Instant bliss!

I can see this being a problem with people who require deeper experiences, so do keep away from this one if being a great Pitch Commander is necessary. Thankfully, there are tons of incredibly in-depth soccer simulators such as Football Manager Handheld 2011 [$9.99] that are worth a look if you want something substantially less simple.

Of course, there’s more: Soccer Superstars boasts a variety of different campaign type modes ranging from a full season to exhibition to Cup matches and the like. The season mode in particular is pretty hip: you play as a coach charged with construction the best team possible, and you’ll get a range of tools to do so. Similar to an RPG, you’ll train your players, exploit their strengths, and even go out to get other game-breaking special characters who can … oh, I don’t know, kick lightning balls into nets turned arcade voids.

The presentation of players is done in this really cute throwback SNES-style, full of color and rich with life. It lacks fine detail as a result, though.

One thing I really would like to see would be an improved out of game UI — the in-game menus are labyrinthine. Though this may be a design trap constructed around getting you to believe that you need to sink real cash into the Gamevil's weird credits system, but just like the other Superstars games, this isn't required to enjoy Soccer Superstars at all.

Overall, I really like what I’ve seen so far. If you enjoy soccer, or at least, want to get your game on in a cute, lighter kind of action-arcade soccer marriage, check this out. It might lack the fist-to-face antics of Blades of Steel, but it’s satisfying in its quirky, not-so-serious kind of way.

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We've been tracking Elite's retro game releases through its ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [App Store] and associated apps for some time now. This weekend, Elite released another emulated classic that many gamers on both sides of the pond will recall fondly: Barbarian from Palace Software.

Barbarian (distributed in the U.S. by Epyx as Death Sword), originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1987, is a hack and slash fighter that places you, the barbarian, in a series of fighting pits on a mission to slash your way through warrior after warrior and ultimately defeat the evil wizard Drax and rescue the ample Princess Mariana. It's all in the spirit of Conan. The game was noted for its realistic character animation (despite its simplistic graphics), considerable gore, and pleasant dose of wit. More than all of these, perhaps, it was noted for its racy box cover art featuring a bikini-clad Maria Whittaker, who had recently made an appearance as a topless Page Three girl in The Sun, and some dude. The outcry was dramatic.

Being a title running in Elite's ZX Spectrum emulator, Barbarian: ZX Spectrum is, of course, the ZX Spectrum version of the game. Unfortunately, this was not one of the strongest ports. Due to limitations of the Speccy's hardware, the actual play area and the characters within are rendered in monochrome. The detail is there, but the presentation feels pretty sparse. Another negative in this emulated iOS release is the control scheme. Despite Elite's "iDaptive" control system, where button (or key) layout can be custom arranged, the types of wildly varying moves that you need to pull off in rapid succession to excel in this game are not particularly conducive to touchscreen-style D-pad play. Happily, the customizable controls let you move the D-pad out of the way of your character in landscape mode, but that doesn't help with the feel of the controls.

Barbarian for the C64 and other platforms of old featured both a single player campaign mode (the quest to rescue Mariana) and a two-player challenge mode. It's worth noting that the version presented here offers only a single player mode.

See a video of the game as played on the ZX Spectrum.

Barbarian: ZX Spectrum is a stand-alone title with versions for both the iPhone [link] and iPad [link], and will be appearing as part of a new download pack for Elite's ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [link] on Friday, when the number of available games in the collection will reach 108.

As a fan of what I knew as Death Sword on the Apple II back in the day, I was happy to see Barbarian arrive on iOS, even if it's come in a non-native fashion. I'd wager that the happy customers here are going to be other oldschool gamers who have fond memories of gut kicks and decapitation as Palace delivered them. Those unacquainted will probably find this one wanting.

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Surprise! It's Wednesday! (I know, it was a surprise for me too.) Aside from the only day of the week where you don't look like a total weirdo making "hump day" jokes, it's also the day that scheduled iOS game releases slowly start leaking out through the international markets before magically appearing for download in the grand ol' US of A at 11:00 PM EST on the dot. If your App Store region is east of us, these games will be available sooner. All of these links (aside from NBA Jam because EA does things differently) will work in every region, so feel free to go nuts clicking links as soon as midnight approaches in your neck of the woods. Oddly enough, tonight's big name releases seem to be more iPad-centric than iPhone for once.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP Micro, $2.99 – [Forum Thread] – The highly anticipated iPhone-only version of Sword & Sworcery! We loved the iPad version in our review, and as an added bonus the non-micro Sword & Sworcery EP [$4.99] which is already out should be getting an update at some point today to be universal. Pretty sweet, huh?

Third Blade, $2.99 – [Forum Thread] – This hack and slash game from Com2uS had an oddly huge thread in our upcoming games forum filled with beta testers discussing the game. The general consensus seems to be if you like hacking, slashing, and slaying an endless stream of monsters, this is your game.

Dragons' Den™ The Official Game, $2.99 – [Forum Thread] – While I'll fully admit that there aren't a whole lot of video games out there based on TV shows that are actually worth playing, I'm stupidly excited for Dragons' Den. Based on the BBC show of the same name, players get pitched business ideas then decide whether or not they're sound enough to invest in. Sure, the show likely won't translate very well to a game since the most amusing part (for me) was always the banter between dragons… But hey, it's got 5 player local pass and play multiplayer, you can make your own banter!

Golden Axe II, $2.99 – [Forum Thread] Sega can't seem to go a week without reminding us that they're totally capable of bundling any old Genesis game into their emulator and tossing it up on the App Store. Bluetooth multiplayer could make Golden Axe II a decent amount of fun, but holy cow I wish Sega would release some more RPGs or other games that actually work well given the constraints of their emulator.

PAC-CHOMP!, 99¢ – [Forum Thread] – Namco seems to be juicing poor old Pac-Man for all he's worth lately. Pac-Chomp joins two other Pac-Man themed match 3's already on the App Store. Gameplay involves matching ghosts, moving Pac-Man around, high scoring, and wondering why Namco keeps releasing games like this.

Play Kalei, 99¢ / HD, $1.99 – [Forum Thread] – While not a hardcore gamer's game by any stretch of the imagination, I was totally impressed with how clever Play Kalei was when Chillingo gave us a quick look at it. The premise basically amounts to taking a photo, then trying to find where you need to move your finger to make a kaleidoscope image match up with the target image. Since I'm not even sure kids have kaleidoscopes anymore, it's cool to see them being virtualized in a fun iPhone game.

Choo Choo Steam Trains, 99¢ – [Forum Thread] – A train building game published by Chillingo. Taking control of your train set you need to pick up passengers and complete various other challenges. As you play, you unlock pieces of track to create your own railway system. As an aside, I'm actually kind of surprised that more people haven't made similar train games, there seem to be so few.

Elemental Rage, $4.99 – [Forum Thread] – Joining Elemental Rage HD [$6.99] on the App Store is a pint-sized iPhone-specific version. Elemental Rage is a Metroidvania style platformer with about four hours of playtime according to people on our forums (who also have enjoyed the game quite a bit).

Chicken Balls, 99¢ – [Forum Thread] – This Angry Birds-like physics game adds a crazy amount of variation with all kinds of different power-ups. Chicken Balls HD [$1.99] was released a while ago, so if the game piqued your interest then but you don't own an iPad, here's your chance.

NBA Jam for iPad, $9.99 – [Forum Thread] – I had a stupid amount of fun with the non-HD NBA Jam [$4.99], and aside from running on the iPad the big feature with this release seems to be local multiplayer. I wish I could play online, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Now all we need is the iPhone version to get updated with multiplayer, better yet, updated so you can play with iPhones and iPads in the same game.

Back to the Future Episode 2 HD, $6.99 – [Forum Thread] – The continuation of Back to the Future Episode 1 HD [$6.99 is here, with Marty, Doc Brown, and the rest of the cast of characters. If you're a Back to the Future fan, these games are a must-have... Just keep in mind, they run substantially better on the iPad 2 compared to the often choppy gameplay on the original iPad.

Final Fantasy III for iPad, $16.99 - [Forum Thread] – Not long ago Square Enix proved that gamers were more than willing to pay $16 for Final Fantasy III [$15.99] on the iPhone, and they're pushing that price ceiling even higher for the launch of the iPad version. Regardless of how enraged that premium price might have you, Final Fantasy III is an absolutely fantastic game, and we really couldn't have asked for a better remake. Now, Squeenix, where's Final Fantasy VI?

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