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On the consoles, Need for Speed: Shift was seen as a return to form by the franchise after a series of bungled attempts to recapture the magic of NFS: Underground. This was true of the iPhone release too, which we thought captured some of that tuner magic through a host of customization options and a great emphasis on handling. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit [App Store] throws that formula right out the window, reviving the hit cops and robbers racer of the last-gen console with the same name. And it seems to be a winner, the iPhone version having giant boots to fill already as its big-brother weighs in a critical success (90/100 on Metacritic).

So we'll get one thing out of the way early: unlike its console counterpart, in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit you only get to play as the hunter, not the hunted. That's right– the array of glitzy cars you get to unlock (15 in total) will only sport the black and white of the po-lice, though the range is hardly stunted. You'll get to drive Corvettes, Porsche's, Lamborghinis, Fords, and even a Veyron as this cashed up police force takes it out in kind on the host of tuned-up racers plaguing its streets.

There are no story sequences to worry about in NFS: Hot Pursuit either and nor are any warranted as the devs blessedly throw you into a live pursuit as soon as you fire the game up, bypassing the usual song and dance needed to get started. A quick tutorial showing off the NOS and 180 degree thumb-slide controls is all you need to know as you're thrown head-first into the first of 24 pursuits making up the career mode.

Each event in NFS: Hot Pursuit takes one of four models: Tough Justice, Intercepter, Rapid Response and Power Struggle. The first two are the bread and butter and the events you'll gravitate to most — these are where you get to dish out serious police brutality. In these events you're tasked with taking out one or more opponents– by either ramming them off the road or by using one of several tools at your disposal. These include deployable spike strips, police road blocks and EMPs, all of which can either slow down or disable the target vehicle temporarily. The rest is up to you, as your most effective weapon at stopping these cretins is vehicular battery.

The whole concept is great, but unfortunately doesn't live up to what's expected of it. Setting up an effective road block sounds cool, but in practice does about as much damage as mosquitos on the windshield as racers plough headlong through a barracade while barely pausing a beat. Even EMPs that send cars spinning out of control are rendered ineffective when the cars bounce of the invisible bumper bars around the track and teeter back on course with minimal stopping time. Simply put, the poor physics engine on the small screen does the game an injustice, with the expected high-impact crashes only occurring once the enemy life bar is whittled down to nought.

The other two race types – Rapid Response and Power Struggle – are straightforward checkpoint or straight-line races without the pursuit mechanic. The latter is the more interesting of the two, as it pits cops against cops as you thrash out your tweaked out squad cars (and eventually even getting to use your tech against each other) between doughnut breaks. These races are challenging and fun the first few times, but get boring very quickly and pale in comparison to the cops and robbers races.

This is mostly due to the overarching problem in NFS: Hot Pursuit that far too much emphasis has been taken off the driving to focus on the weapon mechanics. We enjoyed NFS: Shift because it put you back in the driving seat; with steering, braking and gears to worry about if you wanted to. In NFS: Hot Pursuit, there's not even a need for a brake or an accelerator (the default setting is auto-accelerate). The whole game can be played by just tilting your screen, and swiping occassionally when you want to hit the turbo. Gone are all the customization options too, the cash system replaced by a bounty system where gaining enough stars and subsequent bounty unlocks new cars and new events.

Fortunately everything in NFS: Hot Pursuit looks terrific, with a range of different environments to race through at varying times of the day. It looks great on a 3GS device, with only infrequent framerate hitches and bland off-road textures spoiling the visual treat; but really comes into its own on the ultra-sharp, high-res retina display of the 4th gen models. The only downside on the presentation front is that spending even half an hour with the game will reveal familiar track segments, with events eventually becoming predictable due to the high level of section recycling going on.

Despite these set-backs, NFS: Hot Pursuit dishes up some seriously high-octane moments, when you're toe-to-toe with an offender tilting your screen to-and-fro as you try to ram him off track, only to have the bugger jam your weapons as you get ahead of him to deploy a spike strip. This experience is heightened dramatically with local WiFi play (where you're finally able to play as the bad guys), but we're disappointed to see that there's no online race option to duke it out with friends across the globe.

All up, as far as the Burnout-meets-NFS vibe goes, NFS: Hot Pursuit on the iPhone misses the mark, its tuner-lite gameplay hard to recommend to driving enthusiasts. It does have more casual appeal however, and for those unphased by the lack of online racing or customization and the sometimes frustrating driving mechanics, NFS: Hot Pursuit will provide some thrilling moments and maybe a couple of hours of content to work through.

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It's easy to get the gist of Chair Entertainment's Infinity Blade by watching a sizzle reel or by reading the various impressions pieces on the web. It's a medieval action RPG that pits you against various titanic foes in pitched battles that'll require you to approximate sword slashes and parries with swipes and gestures. But what you won't get from these mediums are specifics.

This is why I contacted Chair for an interview about IB. The game looks so great, looks so promising, that I just had to know more about it. The man I spoke with, Chair creative director and lead designer on IB Donald Mustard, filled me in.

It's More Of An Action Game
Think of the RPG aspects of Infinity Blade as a strategic compliment. The action part of the game, which has you reacting to attacks from large and small foes, and then dispensing your own punishment composes the core of the game.

When we sat down to look at the device and we had an opportunity to make a game for it we kinda had this idea kicking around in our heads for awhile about how could we make a really cool sword-fighting game that actually felt like you were sword fighting as opposed to mashing buttons. We thought that the touch screen on these devices would be the perfect place to do something like this.

Right down to its core, we thought it'd be really fun to have a game where I could have a big, nasty enemy on the screen that's coming at me with a sword — a sword that could be coming from any angle at any time. And because I have a touch screen, I could swipe my finger exactly where that sword is coming at me and parry it away and knock that guy's blade back and then swipe at the guy.

As for those RPG elements, they come from how you customize your character with items like swords, shields, and armor found in the environment. Every sword and shield has EXP attached to it — as you use the item, the EXP drains into you and into your overall EXP pool. You'll also master the item once it is drained. When you level up, you'll gain skill points that you can then apply to your character, so draining an item is something you want to do. Unless, of course, this happens:

You'll find yourself with a mastered sword that's pretty cool, but… let's say you have an ice sword that you've mastered and you're coming up to an enemy that's weak to ice. You've got a fire sword equipped currently that you're gaining EXP from. You're like, 'Well, do I really want to re-equip my ice sword that I'm not going to get EXP from in this fight? I really want to use it on this guy because he's guarding a treasure. I know can beat him easier that way.'

I should note that you can also use magic rings to cast spells. You'll have to draw the symbol of the spell on the screen. These can level up too and become stronger.

You're A Knight In His Version Of Gannondorf's Fortress
Interestingly, IB kicks off where most games end. You're an aging knight at his end goal ready to square off against the God-King and his last remaining Titans. It's an interesting twist that we'll learn more about as we play the game.

It's Not On Rails
There's a lot of speculation about IB being on-rails, as in the game will do the walking for you. That phrase has stigma attached to it, despite the fact that several games have managed to be great, guided experiences. IB is not an on-rails title, but it does plainly point out where you need to go via "nodes" in the world. To me, it sounds like Myst with some actual guidance.

In IB, you'll be able to move your character in the game world with a simple click on a destination, which is probably why it's commonly thought to be an on-rails game. The point of this streamlined method of control, though, had more to do with ease of play as opposed to a specific point of level design at first.

We really wanted to come up with a way to navigate the castle that was different than games I've played on my iOS device. We're not huge fans of games that try to emulate what a controller would do on the touch screen. We're way bigger fans of games that use the touch screen in a unique way that's more suited for that device. We tried with everything we did in Infinity Blade to make it a game that you can be play with one finger. That was our mantra.

When it came to navigation we settled on more… we call it cinematic click navigation. So, basically, I can use my finger to look around the environment by just holding down on the screen as I swipe back and forth to move the camera. And then I can click on certain points in the environment, kind of more like Myst or some adventure game, and then my character will cinematically move towards that location. While that's happening, I could be picking up gold or see other nodes to go in different ways.

The Multiplayer Won't Just Be Knight On Knight

Post release, Chair plans to release an update that will add competitive multiplayer to the game via Game Center. This component won't just be knight on knight action and furious swipe fests. Chair will try to put you in the shoes of some of the monstrosities in game to make things different.

We've got some cool ideas, how we could make it different than what you'd expect, to make it fun. One of the things that will be key to that is not just having it be 'my knight fights your knight.' But having it be more like, 'How can we have multiplayer that is a knight versus the boss?' We want to give people the opportunity to play as the big, 15-to-20-ft. tall titan. How do we make that work in multiplayer and have that be fun and engaging and balanced?

Epic Citadel Was The Show-Off App, IB Is The Game
Epic Citadel [free], which was the first App to use Epic's Unreal 3 Engine, was a commercial. IB will be the first Unreal 3-powered game. I want to make sure you're aware of that distinction because it's very clear that Chair is really behind IB and working as hard as it can to make a functional, iOS-specific and friendly title.

I think there's room for lots of different kinds of games on every console. Our personal taste is that we tend to gravitate more towards games on any console that are designed more specific to that console. So, if I'm making Shadow Complex on the Xbox 360, I'm going to do everything I can take advantage of what the Xbox 360 does well, whether that's the way it renders graphics or the way its controller is layed out. I'm going to utilize every tool on that device to make it cool.

The same with a touch screen device. There's a lot of things you can do with a touch screen that I can't do with a traditional joystick. And we tried to focus the game design to really take advantage of swipes and clicks and different things you can do that are cool as opposed to try to shoehorn in a traditional control scheme. I think ultimately that makes for a more seamless, more unique experience.

Infinity Blade is due out this holiday for the iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and the iPad. Updates will, as Mustard said, follow soon after its release.

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There are many gamers, myself included, who would consider the 16-bit era to be a golden age of role-playing games. The wonderful pixel art, unforgettable music, memorable characters and stories – there are literally too many fantastic 16-bit RPGs to name them all. Even todays most high-tech, cutscene-laden, 200 hour epics fail to capture my attention like a traditional top-down 2D RPG. I get the feeling the folks at SRRN Games feel the same way, as that is undoubtedly what prompted them to create Ash [$4.99], a brand new iOS exclusive RPG that is a great homage to the classics of the 16-bit era. Ash tells an interesting story which is complemented by its simplistic but satisfying gameplay. It's rough around the edges in certain areas, but overall Ash delivers an experience that shouldn't be missed by RPG fans.

Unlike some RPGs, the dialogue in Ash is well written and holds your attention in a way that compels you to keep progressing. So many times I've started an RPG only to eventually become frustrated with a convoluted, boring story to the point that I never finish the game. This isn't the case with Ash. Sure, there are many clichés in the story here but that's also kind of the point, as this is an homage to classic RPGs. The dialogue has pop, and all of the characters are well developed with distinct personalities, even the most nonessential ones. It may not win the award of greatest story ever told, but amongst the heap of cookie cutter storylines from most RPGs Ash definitely stands out.

Graphically, Ash achieves what it sets out to do which is emulate a 16-bit style RPG. It's created using RPG Maker software, so it does have a kind of generic look to it, but it's charming nonetheless. What I really appreciate are the subtle details in Ash. There are many interactive objects in the game world, and I've come across all kinds of neat items and gold just by exploring boxes, barrels, and other nooks and crannies. I also really like how a character's text bubble will dim once you've spoken to them, and will light up again when they have something different to say. It's a small touch, but it helps avoid wasting time reading repeated dialogue from characters. Also worth noting is the excellent music in Ash. While not retro-inspired like the rest of the game, it's an appropriately moody score that adds tremendously to the atmosphere.

Like most RPGs of this kind, you'll travel an overworld map visiting various towns and dungeons. Combat happen randomly in dungeons and the overworld, but not too frequently as to be annoying. When you do encounter an enemy, the view switches to a first-person perspective with 2D illustrated sprites. A simple skill system will unlock new abilities for your character as you level up, and a decent assortment of armor and weaponry can be equipped. The character progression is really straightforward, and far from deep, so if that is a huge part of what appeals to you in an RPG you'll find Ash lacking in this regard. The combat is fun though, and the menu UI works really well and makes it easy to always keep up with your party.

My major complaint with Ash is that it's a pretty hard game in the early goings. There were some points where I just hit a wall trying to defeat a particularly difficult enemy. Ash is far from being a grind-fest, but there are definitely times where you'll need to level up in order to progress past a certain part. Luckily the difficulty levels out as the game goes on, but in the beginning prepare to have your mettle tested. There is a nice strategy guide available on the SRRN website to help you get started if you want a leg up. Another negative in Ash is the slightly funky character control. You press left, right, above or below the actual onscreen character in order to move in said direction. This effectively turns the entire screen into one big d-pad, which sounds like a good idea, but in practice it's actually pretty awkward. You get used to it eventually and it's only mildly bothersome, but I would have much preferred some additional options like a regular onscreen d-pad.

Even with its minor faults, Ash is one of the better RPGs available in the App Store. It tells an engrossing story with characters that are full of personality and emotion. It's definitely not the most complex game when it comes to character progression, but the gameplay is fun and a nice change from some of the more convoluted RPGs out there. You can expect to get about 15 hours of gameplay from Ash, or more if you explore every nook and cranny like I did, and the ending definitely leaves open the possibility of a sequel. Players in our forums have been loving the game, and the developers have also joined the discussion and are actively addressing user feedback. If you grew up in the era of 16-bit RPGs and are looking for a new adventure to tackle, or if you're just in the mood to hear a wonderful tale, then make sure to give Ash a look.

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We've made a number of posts over the last few months regarding a fan-created, iPad version of Sierra's graphical point-and-click adventure Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter. What makes the effort particularly interesting is the fact that the game is entirely web-based. Load the URL in Mobile Safari, save a bookmark to your Home Screen and — voila — you're a tap away from playing a true classic on a device more suited to the style of gameplay than anything that was available back in 1986.

We're happy to report that developer Martin Kool has completed his effort and shared the public URL where iPad-toting space cadets the world around can get started on this excellent adventure. The game can be found right here:

http://ipad.sarien.net

Our observations of a pre-release version stand true for the final product. You tap the home screen icon and the game loads completely seamlessly without any additional work. It's crazy just how fast and easy the whole process is. The first time you load it up, there's a small load time, but as soon as mobile Safari starts caching parts of the game it's just like playing the actual computer game. There's even multiple save slots, and accessing them is as simple as rotating the iPad in to portrait mode.

The game features the same, relatively blocky graphics as the original. And, to the retro gaming fan in me, that's a splendid thing — but getting them to render unaltered in the iPad's browser was no walk in the park, it turns out.

The only complain I could offer is the lack of sound effects that were present in the original — a challenge of in-browser, HTML / Javascript gaming that the developer indicates he hasn't addressed "yet." I spent a brief period with Space Quest in days long past, and I can say that what the developer has delivered here, despite that complaint, is all that I remember and then some. Now, I confess that I'm more of a King's Quest man at heart, but that's no matter; Martin recently indicated that once Space Quest was complete, he's moving on to The Black Cauldron, King's Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry.

I would encourage any iPad gamers who counts themselves among fans of adventure to give Space Quest for the iPad a try.

Fans of the effort should visit Sarien.net's forum where Martin is soliciting opinions on an official iPad adventure series as released by Sierra.

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One of the worst things about being an American is that you're unequipped to talk soccer. There's a total of 12 outliers in the US who actually understand the sport, but I'm pretty sure every single one of these freaks play for Team USA. I mention this because I wanted to give you some perspective for this post, which from this point forward, will be all about Championship Manager 2011 [$6.99] and, as a result, my inability to bring up something insightful about the simulation games'… footy-ness? Awesomeness? Something-ness?

Right, so, Championship Manager 2011 for the iPhone (a soccer game) has received what appears to be a solid update that should make the, uh, Champ Man simulation experience that much more fluid and smooth. According to the notes, this update has fixed several crash bugs, as well as the iPad movie issues that have been locking people out of games. It also improves something called "Player Position effect." Now, apparently, playing a soccer player out of soccer position in a game of soccer will "have a greater impact on the team's overall [soccer] performance." Lastly, soccer scorelines have been refined to produce more authentic soccer game results.

Whew. Glad that's over. Eli and I flipped a coin this afternoon. He called both sides, which left it up to me to write this post. We here at TouchArcade treasure our international audience, so we thought you'd like to know, at least, that this game has been updated. Sorry for being stupid Americans, but if you really dig soccer as much as FOX News says you do, well, certainly this post served a purpose!

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Despite the overwhelming popularity of the genre, I fully admit I've never been able to get in to most hunting games. The ones I've played on the iPhone either seem entirely too basic, diluting the sport of hunting down to basic wild animal shooting galleries with a few gimmicks or attempting to recreate arcade light gun style gameplay by tapping on the screen. In Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 [$4.99], Activision takes some steps in the right direction to make a hunting game that's more entertaining than most by injecting a single player adventure campaign in to the mix.

Instead of just choosing a location, selecting your hunting load out, and just shooting whatever animals are on the horizon, Dangerous Hunts has you actively stalking prey. Also, more often than not, your prey is also stalking you. It sounds like the workings of a real cool game, as you're left wandering about the African wilderness after animals that are just as interested in killing you as you are in killing them. Unfortunately, the cool premise is about all there is to it.

Dangerous Hunts is controlled via a dual-stick setup that anyone who has played an iPhone first person shooter should be immediately familiar with. Virtual buttons handle things like changing weapons, reloading, looking down your sights (or scope), and other tasks. Gameplay consists of following various checkpoints on your mini-map, completing tasks that almost always involve hunting some animals, and making your way to the end of the level.

There's a foundation for something really compelling here, especially in a genre that is overloaded with games that don't offer a whole lot of freedom of movement, story, or gameplay. Sadly, the graphics of the game make it really hard to ever feel immersed in the game world. One of the early levels involves slowly creeping up a winding path to a village that has been decimated by some kind of feral animal. After taking a detour to make your way around a closed gate, you find yourself attacked by wild bloodthirsty hyenas.

There's room for lots of suspense here, as the buildup has potential to really lead to something, but the incredibly low resolution textures, barren landscape (save a few low-res trees and shrubs here and there) and the low polygon poorly animated hyenas themselves all ruin it. Following that, you get alerted via your radio that there's a lion nearby. Moments later, he's pouncing on your face, leading up to what could have been a neat quick-time event. Instead, an image of a lion appears on screen and you simply have to tap the circles that appear to kill it.

A second shooting gallery mode is included in the game as well, but it is basically what you'd expect out of a game that really needs a light gun but instead just has you using your finger to tap. Interestingly enough, Activision did bundle OpenFeint with Dangerous Hunts, so there is a bit of replay value to be had if you find yourself getting involved in the online leaderboards for who can mow down the most wolves.

I admit I was totally stoked to hear that Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 was coming to the App Store when we first got news, having followed some of the insanely cool previews of the home console version (which also comes packed with its own light gun). However, visuals that look incredibly dated make any kind of immersion impossible and ultimately ruin what could have been a really cool blend of hunting and adventure/survival games for the iPhone.

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According to the Veteran's Day Wikipedia entry I just edited, Veteran's Day is a day in which "young Americans commonly pretend to listen to old people talk while they secretly fondle their phones." Being the expert that I am on this hallowed holiday, I know exactly why the entry makes a passing mention of phones — the entire galaxy often celebrates Veteran's Day with handheld game sales. So, it is with great pleasure and honor that I bring you this post on the Internet about the sales the App Store is throwing today. And, boy, are there some good ones.

Zen Bound®, Free Zen Bound is one of those unusual-in-a-good-way kind of games. I say this up front because this proceeding sentence, if you’re not familiar with Zen Bound, is going to throw you for a loop: Zen Bound is a game about wrapping wooden figurines with rope. I know, I know. But tell you what, go ahead and give ye’ old ZB a try. It’s free today, as developer Secret Exit notes, in celebration of a Mac and PC version of the title, which is set for a November 16 release.

Tilt to Live, $0.99 Tilt To Live is one of those games that just keeps selling and selling, so I’m surprised there’s a few dudes who don’t have the reverse, top-down dual-stick shooter. As I mentioned this morning, Tilt To Live is good according to our review, so there’s little reason not to grab it at its sub-one dollar price point.

Sonic The Hedgehog 4™ Episode I, $6.99 I heard on the Internet that Sonic fans are crazy. I’m not sure if that’s accurate or not, but I’d kinda like to see Sonic 4 get into a many more people’s hands just in case this is true. I feel like if I were successful in making this happen, I’d kinda be like the Scarecrow, minus the whole “gas” thing.

Geometry Wars™: Touch, $0.99 Geometry Wars was a surprise hit on Xbox Live Arcade during the Xbox 360’s fledgling years, and while it’s iDevice counterpart isn’t bad, it’s not quite as good as playing it with a real Xbox controller. Your finger tends to get in the way of the dual-shooter’s action (especially on the iPhone). Still, sub-one dollar makes this really hard to pass on considering this universal game usually sits at six bucks.

ChuChu Rocket! HD, $4.99 A lot of people want a new Chu Chu Rocket title and the only way to make that happen is to give SEGA a lot of money… by buying ChuChu Rocket! and its HD counterpart on the App Store. Luckily, the price is just about right today.

Textropolis, Free Textropolis is a cool word game that may even help you expand your vocabulary. For example, today I told Eli that he was a “sadist” because he beats me all the time. I did good, right? Thanks, Textropolis!

Geared for iPad, Free Geared is a unique puzzle game that has you — wait for it — placing gears to solve puzzles. The iPhone version is great, and the iPad version is even better as the big screen makes moving and placing gears even easier.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, $1.99 THPS2 was the definitive skateboard game of its day, and to some extent, still is. It was designed for a physical controller, so you might not be able to string those infinite combos together on the iPhone as easily as you could the N64, but otherwise this isn’t a game you should miss.

Whoa! Talk about Veteran's Day blowout. What are you grabbing today?

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One Man Left says that 500,000 people have downloaded Tilt To Live [$.99, Lite], the studio's tilt-controlled top-down, dual-stick-ish shooter. This means there's still more room for the game to be adopted by others, and in an attempt to grab even more fans for the mega popular game, One Man Left has released a Lite version on the App Store that you can check out now.

It's hard for me to tell what exactly has been removed from this Lite version since I suck at Tilt to Live proper and am not faring much better in this version. But on the info page for the free version, One Man notes that owners should "Be sure to try our full version for even more insane weapons and unique gametypes." Some further investigation shows that this lite version is very similar to the default demo version of Tilt to Live HD [free] before you unlock the rest of the game via in-app purchase. You can play the standard game mode with a basic load-out of weapons and that's about it. The additional unlockable weaponry and extra game modes (all of which are a ton of fun) are only available in the full version of the game.

Tilt To Live, if you don't get the indication from the sales number mentioned above, is good. Here at TouchArcade, we lauded its mechanics and points of thoughtful design, particularly when it comes to the strategy of mixing and matching of weapons to get something done. But, hey, you don't need a review now, right? Give it a spin yourself and decide if it's radical or not.

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Free is a good thing. If I didn't dig around in Salvation Army dumpsters, for example, I wouldn't be wearing these hip and slightly soiled boxer shorts right now. The App Store is kinda like a better version of my SA dumpster. The smell is superior, no doubt, and more to the point, the App Store offers better and more useable free things. And since it's been awhile since we've last gave you a rundown of what's out and free, I'd go ahead and write something up today. Maybe you'll find something that tickles you as much as these boxers tickle me.

Lil' Pirates from Capcom Mobile

Lil' Pirates [free] is an isometric loot-snagging game. You play as a boat's captain, and it's your job to assemble a crew, take charge during pirate ship attacks, and upgrade your boat and crew. I can't think of a direct point of comparison for this game, but within minutes of play, I think I can see the freemium catch: you need gold to do anything and if you haven't plundered lately (it cost gold to even travel), well, you'll be needing to raid ye' old Capcom store for more.

Touch Pets Cats from ngmoco

If you've played Touch Pets Dogs [free], you'll be right at home with this one. In Touch Pets Cats [free], you're a proud owner of one of five adoptable breeds of cat. And as this owner, you'll be responsible for petting, feeding, and cleaning up poop, as well as decorating your own house. Touch Pets Cats has an in-game economy like most freemium titles, and for a price, you'll be able to increase the amounts of coins you receive by purchasing catnip.

Trade Nations from Amplified Games

Trade Nations [free] is your basic simulation / town romp, with the added bonus of a cool art style. In the game, you're responsible for a village that will eventually grow to a town via your purchasing and decision-making prowess. You can buy buildings and decorations, make villagers perform jobs that make your economy roll, and you can even specialize and sell off your resources at a premium to other nations.

Gun Bros from Glu Games

Gun Bros [free] isn't new, but I thought you'd like to know that a new update is available. Version 1.1.0 adds Game Center leaderboards, supports retina display, and addresses several bugs that plagued the original release. If you ran in to any issues that made you fed up with Gun Bros, it might be worth a second chance.

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Last month we posted about Sarien.net, Martin Kool's home built tribute to a wide array of classic Sierra Adventure games ranging from Space Quest to Leisure Suit Larry. Currently, all of these games are completely playable via any modern web browser just by navigating around the site. Since we last spoke with him, Martin has been hard at work customizing and tweaking Space Quest to run on the iPad. We were given a hands-on preview of the game, and it didn't take long to come to the strange realization that they really feel like how the games were meant to be played… nearly 25 years later, on a device that the original developers likely couldn't even imagine.

Playing the game on the iPad is effortless. Installing it is as simple as navigating to a (secret) URL, at which point the game tells you to go through the sequence to add the URL as a home screen icon. From there, you tap the home screen icon and the game loads completely seamlessly without any additional work. It's crazy just how fast and easy the whole process is. The first time you load it up, there's a small load time, but as soon as mobile Safari starts caching parts of the game it's just like playing the actual computer game. There's even multiple save slots, and accessing them is as simple as rotating the iPad in to portrait mode.

The version of the game we were given access to seems complete, and playing it is simple. You tap in the game world to move there, and text commands are entered via a menu tree of sorts represented by buttons on the bottom of the screen. Instead of typing, every command is only a few taps away. It works really well, and I suspect will make the games much more approachable to people who haven't experienced them before as the available commands usually at least nudge you in the right direction by hinting at what you're capable of doing.

What makes this all that much more impressive is the technical wizardry taking place behind the scenes making this all possible. Space Quest is built entirely with HTML, CSS, and Javascript and once they've been cached on the iPad you can play them in their entirety offline. Also, to preserve the classic retro blocky graphics, Kool had to jump through quite a few hoops since modern browsers love to scale things with bicubic filters. This makes photos and other images look good, but turn these ancient pixels in to a blocky mess. Due to this, each of the games on Sarien.net will need to be hand-tweaked to run on the iPad. Space Quest should be finished within a week if everything goes according to plan, and after that Martin has his sights set on The Black Cauldron, King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry.

As huge fans of retro adventure gaming, we're following this very closely. As soon as Space Quest is ready to be made public, we'll let you guys know.

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