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Even though King of Dragon Pass [$9.99] is one of the nichiest (is that a word?) niche titles that has been released lately, I just can’t get enough of it. It’s been over two months since our review, and I’m still working towards ascending to the position of king. I love how different each play through is, too. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve needed to reboot my tribe, but each time I’ve taken a different approach and was met with a substantially different outcome.

The one exception to this is the duck people. They’re always jerks, and a few weeks ago I started a “relentlessly murder all ducks” policy that has been met with moderate success. KoDP players know what I’m talking about. Show no mercy.

Anyway, the one thing that I mentioned in our review that I really wish the game had was universal compatibility. These massive text-based games I want to be playing kicked back with my iPad, not hunched over my phone. In a recent blog post, the developers confirmed that the original game will in fact become universal in a future update. (Previously, they were undecided on a universal update or a separate HD version.) Unsurprisingly, the iPad version of the game is going to feature much less scrolling, and better yet, the crazy art that accompanies so much of the game won’t be obscured by so much text like it is on the iPhone.

No word on release yet, as the same post mentions that the update hasn’t been through any kind of QA yet, but it’s still reassuring to know that it’s in the pipeline and that it will be universal. Seriously though, check out our review if you haven’t. King of Dragon Pass most certainly isn’t a game for everyone, but if it hooks you, it won’t let go.

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Needing no introduction for any iOS Action fans, the Gangstar series has been Gameloft’s answer for folks looking for the city sandbox experience popular on gaming consoles. While we enjoyed the previous two Gangstar titles, there were outstanding issues in both games that prevented each from becoming a truly ‘must-own’ title. With Gangstar Rio: City of Saints [$6.99], Gameloft looks to up the ante in all aspects from the new location to cleaner graphics to even a new character advancement system. While Rio falters in its voice overs and the overarching story, everything else makes this the best Gangstar yet.

Gangstar Rio continues the tried and true gameplay of previous titles that closely mimics the gameplay of sandbox games like the Grand Theft Auto series. All the elements from previous games – from the mission based main story, to the large amount of collectibles, to even the side jobs attached to various vehicles – make a return. However, Gangstar Rio improves on its predecessors by making everything just a little bit better. For example, the Rio de Janeiro locale seems to be bigger and is a lot more unique compared to the previous locations. The entire world just feels more alive than previous titles. In addition, the developers have improved the controls by adding a few new options and tightening the existing schemes. However, I was extremely disappointed in the lack of cloud saving/syncing as that should be an essential requirement for lengthy games such as this (moreso since Rio is a universal title).

Another new feature to the series is the clothing system which works in tandem with the experience/level up system. In addition to gaining experience and earning ‘Respect Levels’, you can now also buy clothing which changes your appearance and provides additional perks beyond the typical stats that you increase with each level up. Some of the perks include ‘Luck,’ which increases the amount of looted money and ammo from enemies, and ‘Look’ which makes it harder to increase your wanted level. This is a significant leap forward from previous Gangstar titles, as there is now more motivation to simply enjoy the sandbox environment and earn exp and money in addition to playing the missions.

Graphics-wise, Gangstar Rio also improves upon the previous two titles. While Rio isn’t the nicest title we’ve seen on iOS, its visuals look much better compared to the previous Gangstar games. In addition, the game loaded extremely quickly and the framerate was relatively smooth (at least on an iPad 2 and iPhone 4S). Gameloft also did a good job improving the building pop-up, an issue we had in previous games. However, it’s important to note that your experience may vary based on the model of iOS device you have, and things may not be as smooth on earlier generation systems.

Gameloft also does a good job in nailing the music in Gangstar Rio. There are several radio stations, each with a decent selection of music. Personally, I could care less about name recognition so long as the music simply sounded good in the flow of the game.  Thankfully, most of the songs succeed in that regard. I did think that the developers were trying a bit too hard with the fake radio commercials, but otherwise, the radio was definitely a plus.

(PSA: Some foul language in the trailer):

Unfortunately, despite all these improvements, one area that Gangstar Rio seems to take a step back in is in regards to its story and voiceovers.  The story is your typical riches-to-rags-to-riches-again novella that really doesn’t have any originality. Granted, I’m not expecting a literary masterpiece while I’m planning a drive-by, but it is one of the weakest parts of an otherwise decent gameplay experience. The voice acting, meanwhile, is by far the worst part of Gangstar Rio. Horrid accents, low sound quality, and simply atrocious acting make the voiceovers so bad that it’s almost funny. In fact, I honestly don’t know if the dreadfulness is a deliberate ploy or not. Either way, it’s one of the few dark spots in Rio.

Regardless, I understand that most folks aren’t playing these games for the voice acting or even for the story. The most important question is whether Gangstar Rio is actually fun to play. The answer to that is definitely a ‘yes.’ Rio’s improvements to the core gameplay system, combined with better visuals and good music make this game the best yet in the series. However, much like the previous iterations, there are a few issues that prevent the game from living up to its full potential.

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Chair’s Infinity Blade [$2.99] hit the App Store late last year and was met with nearly flawless critical reception. We couldn’t help but give it five stars in our review, saying “It doesn’t get much more ‘must-have’ than this.” We then went on to name-drop Infinity Blade all over our Best iPhone Games category, listing it highly in every buyer’s guide, and every other opportunity we could think of to tell people to download it.

At the iPhone 4S press event, Chair announced Infinity Blade 2, and I’m not sure it’s possible for another iOS title (aside from a potential Infinity Blade 3) to have this much pre-launch hype. It’s well deserved, too. The original was fantastic, and really, all Chair would have needed to do is phone in a sequel with new monsters, new equipment, and maybe even a new setting and we all would have been happy. Instead, what they’ve done, it take nearly every element of the original and turned it up to eleven.

One of the few criticisms people had of Infinity Blade was the oddly cyclical nature of the game, which wasn’t held up by any more than a vague shell of a story involving your entire bloodline serving the single purpose of throwing themselves at the God King. Penny Arcade nailed it in a comic, and Infinity Blade was a much better experience if you didn’t focus on just how silly it was that you decided to take up the sword after your father, grand father, great grandfather, great great grandfather and however many “greats” you needed to add to get back to the original knight who foolishly decided to make this your family’s purpose.

Infinity Blade 2 feels like it has an actual story, and this time it’s told through actual voiceovers. It picks up where the first left off, and you’ve got the God King’s Infinity Blade in your hands, and are off to find “The Worker of Secrets” now that every deathless in the world is interested in taking the Infinity Blade from you. The initial hook involves searching for Saydhi, an information dealer. Thankfully, Saydhi seems to love duels, and offers up prizes for winning. I won’t spoil more than that (and this hardly counts as spoilers since it all transpires in the first cut scene) but the way things branch out from there is substantially more interesting than the original even though you’ll be doing a similar series of loops through the game.

Combat, the main draw of Infinity Blade seems to be greatly improved. Chair must have either tweaked the combat animations themselves, how the swipe input is handled, or both as it feels like you have an even more direct control link to your character. This shines even further in the new combat options which become available, allowing you to trade your shield to either dual wield or carry a massive two handed weapon.

The three fighting styles feel substantially different, and help greatly in making the game feel not quite as repetitive. With two weapons in hand, you attack much faster and blocking with your shield is replaced with being able to duck. Two handed weapons are much slower, and your defensive abilities are swapped with blocking using the actual weapon itself. It’s really cool how it all works out.

The item store is back, and just like the first game you’ll be trading your gold for gear at regular intervals. A new gem system allows for higher levels of customization though, and it won’t take long before your equipped set of gear has all sorts of slots that you can socket gems into which can do basic things like boost stats all the way up to imbuing your items with various magical properties. If coming across gold in battles is a problem, Infinity Blade 2 offers a similar IAP purchase system to buy more gold if you want. Although, like the original, there’s really no reason to and buying gold to get the best items seems to just remove any drive to actually play the game since equipment upgrades play such a big role.

Outside of fights, the gameplay is nearly identical with a world you can explore in an on-rails fashion, panning the camera around and tapping to move to the next location. Hidden items are back, encouraging you to stop to look around on every screen so you don’t miss anything. You’ll want to, too, because Infinity Blade 2 looks gorgeous. While you might be rewarded with items for doing it, you’ll also be taking in the scenery just to marvel at the graphics your iPhone is capable of pumping out.

The rest of the game can easily be summed up with, “It’s Infinity Blade, but more.” There are more enemy types to fight, more visual effects, more flexibility, more customization, and they managed to do all this while removing how repetitive the original felt after blasting through the game a few times. It’s everything I wanted in a sequel, and I can’t wait for it to be released.

Infinity Blade 2 will be available on December 1st as a universal app for $6.99. We’ll have a full review then, so stay tuned.

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I had expected to hear my geriatric iPhone 3GS to croon its swan song when I loaded up Minecraft: Pocket Edition [$6.99] for the first time. It didn’t. To my surprise, Mojang’s inaugural iOS title actually got along swimmingly with my hardware. Was it a sign of good things to come? Perhaps. Deeply pleased with this turn of events, I went ahead and generated my first world.

And that’s when the disappointments started rolling through the door. To be fair, I don’t blame Mojang. If anything, they’ve done a rather masterful job at porting their world-famous IP onto the platform. Nonetheless, there’s only so much you can do around technical constraints. Regardless of how you slice, the truth of the matter is that Minecraft just doesn’t work here (not yet, anyway). To paraphrase the Genie from Disney’s Aladdin, phenomenal cosmic power and itty-bitty living spaces do not mix.

Minecraft’s familiar sense of scale is all but missing in Minecraft – Pocket Edition. Everything is forever frozen in a state of unnatural daylight. There is no day and night, no sunsets to behold, nothing to reinforce the feeling that we’re in a world of our own. Instead, what we have is something that feels more akin to an open-air museum, a place to exhibit your mastery of multi-colored blocks. But even then, it’s hard to be deeply impressed with a Big Daddy replica that someone has built when you find yourself running about in circles, struggling to take in every detail. Again, this has nothing to do with Mojang; small screens are small. You might as well complain that winter is cold.

Once you’ve grown acclimatized to the controls (it’s your standard D-pad sort of thing), building is relatively easy. Blocks are placed by tapping the screen and removed by holding a finger over the cube. It’s about as simple as it gets. Granted, you’ll probably find yourself doing a lot of the latter. It could just be my lack of finesse but I found it a bit of a challenge to get the blocks exactly where I wanted them to go.

Asides from that, there’s not much else to Minecraft: Pocket Edition. Building is everything. The game gives you an unlimited supply of blocks (there are about thirty or so to choose from) to play with. It also features cross-platform multiplayer. Don’t get too excited. You won’t be able to interface with your home server. For the time being, you’ll only be able to sojourn to worlds built on the iOS and the Android.

Seriously, though. I could just be spoiled. I want my creepers. I want my skeletons. I want the ability to craft items. I want to be able to mine, damn it. Minecraft: Pocket Edition doesn’t feel like Minecraft. It feels like something else entirely, something that may well be the point. And, for one reason or another, that just doesn’t sit too well with me.

But if you’re willing to take it for what it is and want nothing more than the ability to engineer pixelated utopias while you’re on the go, Minecraft: Pocket Edition isn’t exactly a lost cause. The developers appear to have a number of updates lined up. Minecraft: Pocket Edition could potentially be an awesome thing someday. Until that day comes, though, it is best purchased by the curious, the affluent and the hardcore fan.

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Over this past summer, Bungie had everybody guessing as to just what exactly they were up to by trademarking both the “Crimson” and “Bungie Aerospace” monikers. In late August, we learned that Crimson was actually Crimson: Steam Pirates [Free], a new strategy game developed by Harebrained Schemes in conjunction with Bungie. Bungie Aerospace would actually be the name used for publishing the title on the App Store, and we would assume, future titles as well.

With that mystery finally solved, Crimson: Steam Pirates launched for the iPad on September 1st. It turned out to be a pretty decent strategy game too, if not a bit too linear in its progression. It came with a very generous 8 levels as part of the free download, with an additional 8 levels in a Chapter 2 expansion available as an in-app purchase.

Yesterday, Bungie Aerospace launched Crimson: Steam Pirates for iPhone [99¢], a smaller-sized version of the iPad game. The game appears to be identical to the one on the iPad, but the pricing is structured a bit differently. It’s 99¢ for the initial download, but it includes both the original Chapter 1 levels and the expansion Chapter 2 levels for the price, which is half of what it initially cost on the iPad. Additionally, a brand new Chapter 3 has launched with the iPhone version, and can be purchased from within the app for another 99¢. Chapter 3 is now available within the iPad version too, also priced at 99¢.

If you are sans iPad and have been interested in Crimson: Steam Pirates, or you’re just looking to have a more portable version for your iPhone or iPod touch, then now is a good time to check out the newly released Crimson: Steam Pirates for iPhone.

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If you’re not an O.G. iPhone (or maybe even a original 3G) owner, chances are Apple’s own Texas Hold’em never even appeared on your radar. There wasn’t much reason for it to, either. It was originally released in late August of 2008, updated a few weeks later, then totally abandoned. Even though the presentation at the time was a major step above the other offerings on the App Store, Texas Hold’em was quickly outclassed by third part developers that included things like online multiplayer, multiple game modes, and more.

Apple just pulled Texas Hold’em from the App Store, which was the only game they ever released for iOS devices. If you’ve got a copy of the .ipa laying around, it’s probably a good idea to back it up somewhere if you at all care about keeping it. If you’re into reading tea leaves with every minor move Apple makes, this could signal them withdrawing entirely from first-party iOS game development. Although, you could really argue that they’ve already been withdrawn anyway.

If you’re curious what Texas Hold’em was all about, Apple’s web site for the game is still online, although don’t expect it to be there for long.

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Ticket to Ride is a popular board game created by board game gurus Days of Wonder. Back in May, Ticket to Ride [$6.99] was digitally converted into an iPad game, one which we thoroughly enjoyed in our review. Ticket to Ride had an excellent computer AI to play against, but the real fun was in playing another real life person. The iPad version contained a slick online multiplayer mode for up to 4 players, but was criticized for not having a local pass-n-play mode, something that should be a core element of any game based on a real life board game. Thankfully, pass-n-play did eventually come in an update a couple months following release, and there was much rejoicing.

Yesterday, Days of Wonder has gone and released an iPhone version of Ticket to Ride, dubbed Ticket to Ride Pocket [99¢]. Many iPad gamers, and of course non-iPad owning gamers, have been clamoring for a portable version of Ticket to Ride, so this release certainly should make quite a few people happy. However, Ticket to Ride Pocket has almost the exact opposite problems that its iPad counterpart had on release. It does contain a pass-n-play mode along with its single player, but does not contain an online multiplayer mode. Days of Wonder has stated this was a conscious decision, as they didn’t want to compromise the online experience with interruptions that are inherent to phones like incoming calls and spotty network coverage.

Besides lacking online play, Ticket to Ride Pocket also nixes the extra Europe and Switzerland maps from the iPad version, instead focusing on just the American map. This was another conscious decision by the developer, as they felt that the additional maps contained too much detail to be sufficiently playable on the smaller screen of the iPhone and iPod touch.

While Ticket to Ride Pocket is a more limited experience than the iPad version, it doesn’t make it a bad game at all. In fact, quite the opposite. The single player AI is quite good, and pass-n-play is adequate for when you have a friend close by. There’s also multiplayer over local WiFi or Bluetooth if you’re close by friend(s) happens to have their own device and copy of the game. Perhaps best of all is that the pocket edition is just 99¢ as of this writing.

I still think it would be nice to see online multiplayer and the additional maps added into the game, despite the developer’s concerns, and that may happens sometime down the line. But for the cheap price of entry, Ticket to Ride Pocket is a great mobile take on the board game that’s worth having a look at.

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Back in 2004, CAVE released the manic shooter Mushihimesama (Bug Princess translated) into arcades to a warm reception from shmup fans, and two years later released a sequel called Mushihimesama Futari, which was also ported to Xbox 360 in 2009. Then, as most of you probably know, an iOS spinoff based on the Mushihimesama series called Mushihimesama Bug Panic [$6.99/Lite] was released late last year to critical acclaim. It wasn’t the typical CAVE scrolling shooter, and instead was more of a dual-stick action game with similar bullet hell craziness and over-the-top enemies.

Today, CAVE has released a teaser video for their new forthcoming iOS game, and it looks like they’re going back to that original title from 2004 Mushihimesama and bringing it to the App Store as Bug Princess this winter.

We don’t have many solid details on Bug Princess just yet, but based on CAVE’s previous iOS efforts you can bet that there will be all sorts of additional functionality over the original game, like the retooled “smartphone” modes in their other shooters. What we do know is that the game will require at least 3rd generation hardware, which is expected by now from a CAVE release, and that the game is scheduled to launch “winter 2011″. While winter is a vague timeframe, the good news is that there’s really only about a month and a half left in 2011, so as long as they stay on schedule we should be playing Bug Princess on our iPhones and iPod touches in the next several weeks.

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This past weekend, Elite Systems released their third round of 8-bit games brought to iOS through their Elite Collection of 8-bit computer games effort. The three games in question are stand-alone titles and each comes in both an iPhone and iPad “HD” version.

Denaris

One of the better scrolling shooters to appear on the C64 was Denaris [iPhone, (iPad coming)] by Manfred Trenz. Published by Rainbow Arts in 1989, Denaris was a re-release of the previous year’s R-Type-alike shooter, Katakis.

Denaris pits you and your craft against a slew of evil robot enemies that arose from a typical Skynet-type scenario. (Silly humans.) Like R-Type, Denaris features multiple side-scrolling levels, plenty of asteroids to dodge, power-ups, and end-bosses.

The Denaris releases are available in both English versions and “DE” German language versions. A video of Katakis (the same game) playing on a PC under VICE emulation can be seen here.

Paradroid

The star of these releases is certainly Andrew Braybrook’s Paradroid [iPhone, iPad] one of the most well loved games ever released for the Commodore 64. Originally published in 1985, Paradroid puts you aboard a large space vessel, in control of the “Influence Device,” a special droid that must roam the many rooms and decks of said craft and destroy every other droid on the ship. All of the droids on board, including your own, have a certain power level indicated by an integer — the higher the number, the more powerful the droid.

Each deck of the ship features a variety of rooms, doors, elevators, and computer terminals that can provide useful information about the ship. You can destroy enemy droids by shooting or ramming into them, though droids much more powerful than your own present a rather significant challenge. It is possible to take over another droid (even a more powerful one) by way of a timed mini-game, featuring logic gates and circuit diagrams, that challenges you to out-wire the enemy droid.

Paradroid is a highly unique game that has something of an eerie feel, for lack of a better word, and significant replay value.

Alternate Reality: The Dungeon

Following last month’s release of Alternate Reality: The City [iPhone, iPad] is Alternate Reality: The Dungeon [iPhone, iPad], an RPG originally published by Datasoft in 1987. These two games are actually the first game, split into two pieces, of a planned six-game series that never materialized. But, despite this, they have gained something of a cult following.

At the beginning of the story, you find yourself captured by aliens and standing in front of a gate with a row of changing attribute values. When you step through the gate, the attributes freeze and you have become a new person in an alternate reality, possessing the attributes shown. While The City is played in an open area, The Dungeon takes place in the confines below the city and features improved graphics over the original.

Gameplay involves freely exploring the very large game world, interacting with a variety of characters along the way, and keeping your vital attributes in balance. Interestingly, some of the attributes of your character are not revealed to you, the player, directly, but can be gleaned through the manner in which other characters interact with you — such as your character’s alignment (good, evil, or neutral). It’s a very open and free play experience, and perhaps to a fault; there is really no story behind the game and there is no real stated goal other than to interact with the vast game world and amass experiences there.

A bit of gameplay of the Atari 8-bit version can be seen in a somewhat rough video here.

Each of these titles features Elite’s customizable “iDaptive” control system allowing for a variety of control systems for both portrait and landscape play and iCade support is on the way. We expect each of these titles to make their way into the currently-delayed Elite Collection and Elite Collection HD game collections with in-app stores.

NOTE: Denaris HD and DE HD are still in review at Apple. They should be available shortly.

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