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Earlier today, multiple reports have revealed the early iPad App Store offerings currently sitting on Apple's servers. The iPad App Store appears live and ready for use for anyone with a device. Of course, this makes sense given the fact that Apple has likely delivered early units to reviewers ahead of the April 3rd launch.

From our perspective, we are most interested in the new iPad games that the leaks reveal. Several have already been pre-announced or previously spotted, but some of the recognizable games include:

• Flight Control HD – $4.99
• Labyrinth 2 HD – $7.99
• Real Racing HD – $9.99
• Bugdom 2 – $9.99
• Cro-Mag Rally – $9.99
• Otto Matic for iPad – $9.99
• Enigmo Deluxe – $9.99
• Igloo Games Arcade – $6.99
• Sparkle HD – $2.99

Pricing for these recognizable games are, of course, higher than their iPhone counterparts, but are likely to represent improved graphics and even added gameplay elements in many cases. $9.99 still appears to be the ceiling price for gaming even on Apple's new device.

Firemint was able to officially confirm Real Racing HD:

I still can't say much about this, but you may have seen some posts about this so I thought I'd drop in and give the official word: yes, we are working on Real Racing HD for iPad, and yes, it will be awesome

[via AppAnnie, MacRumors]

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Late last year Volkswagen teamed up with Firemint to bring us Real Racing GTI [Free], a cleverly disguised free demo of Real Racing [$4.99] loaded with VW cars and branding that is still totally worth downloading if you haven't tried out Real Racing yet.

VW's most recent collaboration was just released today, this time working with Fish Labs to bring us what appears to be some kind of crazy economical driving edutainment game that appears to share a similar game engine to their previously released Rally Master Pro 3D [$4.99]. In Volkswagen Think Blue. Challenge [Free], instead of racing as quickly as you can, players are forced to drive economically.

As silly as this sounds for a video game, doing well is actually quite challenging. You start the game with a small amount of gas, and with each checkpoint you come to, you're asked an often obvious question about fuel efficiency to get more fuel. You then try to drive as far as you can with the amount of gas the game gives you. This means intelligent throttle management, coasting down hills, taking turns properly to not lose speed, and other economical driving techniques the game explains for you.

When you finally run out of gas, your distance is submitted to a global online leaderboard showing how far the world's most economical drivers have gotten in the game. Initially I just wrote Volkswagen Think Blue. Challenge off as a marketing gimmick, but after playing a few games it's really kind of neat how the game encourages highly technical driving. So often in driving games you're able to just go all out, bounce through corners and off other cars with little if any penalty at all and this is a nice, albeit fairly odd, change of pace.

Volkswagen Think Blue. Challenge is free, and who knows, you might even learn something about economical driving that could end up saving you money on gas in your own car. If you like the graphics in the game and how it calls out turns for you, be sure to check out Fish Labs' game this seems to be based on, Rally Master Pro which we posted a review on when it was first released.

App Store Link: Volkswagen Think Blue. Challenge, Free

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About a week back I had a chance to visit Gameloft's Manhattan studios and have a look at their upcoming racing simulator GT Racing: Motor Academy [App Store] for iPhone. Tonight, GT Racing has gone live in the App Store and we've got a chance to take a closer look.

GT Racing is a driving simulation as opposed to an arcade racer. Gameloft likens the title to Real Racing, which it considers the only other driving simulation in the App Store. Being a simulation-style racer, it starts off much like the definitive driving sim, Gran Turismo. You are presented with a few initial challenges (accelerate to maximum speed and then come to a stop between the lines, etc.) that must be completed before your achieve your first racing license. From there it's a Campaign journey through a variety of tracks around the world. Though, I will say the game is rather more forgiving than Gran Turismo, partially due to the integrated Break Assist system (like Real Racing), but more due to the overall control scenario.

The game features over 100 cars from 24 different manufacturers to choose from for a race to the finish across 14 different worldwide tracks. The better you rank, the more credits you accumulate, and the fancier cars and equipment you can purchase. Progressive tracks are unlocked in Campaign mode, and any unlocked track can be used for a quick spin in the game's Arcade mode.

GT Racing features three different control methods: accelerometer (default), screen keys (think Vector Tanks – kinda), and wheel. I find accelerometer to be my preferred method that, for what it is, really leaves little room for control improvement. Score tracking has handled through the integrated Gameloft Live network. Like Asphalt 5, Gameloft also offers an online multi-player component that we were unable to test at launch, but we're certainly a feature we're glad to see.

GT Racing is one of the most visually impressive racers in the App Store. On my iPhone 3GS test unit, the game exhibits an impressive, but subtle, HDR effect to the rendered scene and runs at a very smooth frame rate. Six different driving views are provided — three outside, three inside — to allow for the view that bests fits your driving sensibilities. All races can be seen in Replay mode which is, as well, an impressive thing to behold, and videos can also be uploaded to YouTube (example video). One notable issue with the visuals, however, is a noticeably short draw distance resulting in buildings abruptly popping into view which can be distracting.

There are a few other issues we ran across with the initial version. On occasion, my car appeared to aburbtly jolt into a nose-up position, half embedded in the track, with a warning of "wrong way" presented. (One of these incidents is recorded in our demo video.) As well, in-game language suggested that I had access to a particular track before it was supposed to be unlocked. Neither game breaking, but notable for early adopters.

See our brief gameplay video for a closer look.

Overall, GT Racer is probably one of the best racers on the App Store. In particular, racing fans looking for a realistic racer that offers nicely varied racing action wrapped up in a very pretty package should enjoy Gameloft's latest offering.

Impressions from early adopters on the forum have been similarly positive, but similar caveats:

• tadad1 – lots of control adjustments, including driving aids, amazingly crisp graphics, but short draw distance, no crash damage, massive content
• morphman – Lots of options, good but not stellar framerate on 3GS, pop-in apparent, graphics look amazing
• iPhondTouch3G – screenshots from iPod Touch 3G
• Diablohead – huge difference in FWD, RWD and oversteer is a big factor here, can do doughnuts very easily if you power out of corners
• nizy – nice graphics, real life tracks recognizable, pop-in noticeable but not too annoying. early AI not challenging
• howiedeano – handling and controls good, tracks better than NFS shift, best realistic type racing game on platform

App Store Link: GT Racing: Motor Academy, $6.99

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Firemint has informed TouchArcade that Flight Control has hit over 2 million in sales over the past 10 months with an average daily sales of 6000. Peak sales were over 30,000/day in late March and reached over 20,000 on Christmas Day 2009.

We listed Flight Control as one of the best games of 2009 in our year roundup.

We spoke with Firemint's Alexandra Peters who reminded us that the game started as a "holiday project" last year. Firemint's CEO Rob Murray came up with the idea for Flight Control after having read multiple times that air traffic control was an incredibly stressful job but one that people absolutely loved. Peters told us, "The combination struck him as really compelling and he started prototyping. By that time we had come back from holidays, and Rob brought the game in to the studio. "

Rob Murray writes, “Flight Control has been an incredible success for us, and we owe that to the way people around the world have embraced it. Flight Control and Real Racing made 2009 a huge year for us, and we’re looking forward to revealing some brand new games for 2010 very soon.”

On future titles, Peters recently hinted on our forums that we'd see more than one new Firemint title soon, though she admits that Flight Control and Real Racing are going to be a tough act to follow. Peters explains, "You might recall that the launch of Real Racing was delayed because Rob decided it needed some more work, and we're continuing on with that same obsession with getting our games right. We've thrown out heaps of prototypes that just weren't fun enough, but we've got a few games in various stages of production now that we think are winners. We're looking forward to announcing our roadmap soon, with some details of our lineup for this year."

App Store Link: Flight Control, $0.99

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While the App Store had clearly been a huge success in 2008, the continued growth and explosion of iPhone game releases in 2009 was beyond everyone's expectations. The number of apps in the App Store soared past 100,000 with hundreds of new games being released every day.

We sat down trying to figure out the best iPhone games of 2009 and found the task of narrowing down the list to a select few to be near impossible. Instead, we've organized our year in review into categories with what we feel is an excellent cross section of games from 2009. If you just got an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas, this list is an excellent starting place to catch you up.

2009 iPhone Game of the Year

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor – We choose Tiger Style Games' Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor for our 2009 Game of the Year first and foremost because it's a great game, but also because it perfectly represents the promise of iPhone gaming. Spider is an original concept built specifically for the iPhone by a small self funded team. It's this low barrier to entry which provides customers with a huge selection of games including unique and polished gems like Spider. You really should experience this one. (Review, App Store)

Classics

Doodle Jump – While we have to give props to PapiJump as the clear inspiration for Doodle Jump, Lima Sky has managed to take the game to a whole new level and succeeded in creating a true iPhone classic. Doodle Jump has sold over a million copies to date and even been casually referenced on primetime TV sitcoms. Every day we hear from up and coming developers who claim they have come up with "the next Doodle Jump" but so far Lima Sky's title hasn't truly been dethroned. (Review, App Store)

Flight Control – Another iPhone game that will go down in history as one of the classics for the platform. Firemint's CEO Rob Murray took some of his free time during last year's Christmas break to whip up a prototype of a game that eventually became Flight Control. The game has single handedly defined a genre on the iPhone of "line drawing" games and has been endlessly imitated throughout the year. (Review, App Store)

iDracula – iDracula was one of the original dual-stick survival shooters. It wasn't the first, but it's the one that popularized the concept and opened the doors to a ton of play-alikes. (Article, App Store)

Only on iPhone

Zen Bound – Ok, technically this started life as a PC Game, but Zen Bound didn't really come into its own until it became an iPhone game in 2009. The game just came to life on the iPhone with multi-touch and tilt controls along with mood and music to perfectly and completely engross you as a player. An experience as much as a game. (Review, App Store)

Eliss – A multi-touch masterpiece. Eliss delivers a unique, challenging and undeniably iPhone experience. Pinching and combining on-screen planets without letting them touch make for some frantic and riveting gameplay. (Review, App Store)

Sway – The unique multi-touch "swinging" controls of Sway may have ultimately been its downfall. If you can master the steep learning curve of the game's controls, an amazing iPhone platforming experience awaits. (Review, App Store)

Space Ninja – A great use of the iPhone's accelerometer that allows you to dodge enemy fire and invoke slow motion "bullet time". Unfortunately, a recent 3GS update adds some strange and distracting visual effects, though the developer is said to be working on making those optional in a future release. (Review, App Store)

Arcade

Meteor Blitz – This is the best space shooter we've seen for the iPhone. It delivers 6 unlockable worlds with a good variety of enemies, perfect dual stick controls, and a lot of fun. The art and animation are top notch with all the flourishes you'd expect. (Review, App Store)

Space Invaders Infinity Gene – A really fresh and amazing modernization of the classic Space Invaders formula. Great controls, plenty of unlockables, as well as a unique music-based level generator. (Review, App Store)

Pac Man CE – Developed by the original Pac-Man designer, Tōru Iwatani, Pac-Man Championship Edition succeeds in breathing new life in to this arcade classic. With great controls, colorful graphics, and fast-paced game modes, Pac-Man Championship Edition is by far the best Pac-Man game on the platform. (Review, App Store)

I Dig It / I Dig It Expeditions – Take your tractor turned subterranean digger underground to search for valuable diggins to save the family farm. In the sequel, you take your digger on the road and search for lost treasure in several different environments including the antarctic and even underwater. Both games in the series are worth owning, although Expeditions does offer improvements over the original. (Review, I Dig It / I Dig It Expeditions)

Platformer

Rolando 2 – Sequel to one of the iPhone's early original games, Rolando 2 did great justice to the series with 3D level effects, more great music and larger levels. (Review, App Store)

Soosiz – This game adopts the usual trappings of a traditional 2d platformer but perfectly mixes in a gravity defying mechanism that turns out to be a lot more than just a cute gimmick. Combine that with great controls and a ton of content, and you have one of our favorite iPhone games. (Review, App Store)

Hook Champ – Take the same swinging gameplay mechanics popularized by other games, add an RPG style equipment upgrade system, seamless online leaderboards, and fantastic pixelated retro graphics and you've got Hook Champ. (Review, App Store)

Retro Games

Saucelifter – A wonderful Choplifter-inspired action shooter with great controls that should appeal to both retro and modern gamers. (Review, App Store)

Rogue Touch – The definitive version of Rogue on the App Store. Consistently updated throughout the year based on community feedback, and enhanced for the iPhone. All the brutal difficulty of the original remains, and there's even online leaderboards tracking the wealthiest saviors of the Amulet of Yendor. (Review, App Store)

Sword of Fargoal – By far the most approachable roguelike, Sword of Fargoal is a classic dungeon crawler with randomly generated levels which provide nearly infinite replay value. Aside from being a fantastic game, Sword of Fargoal also serves as an excellent example of how retro ports should be done. The iPhone version preserves the look and feel of the original while adding new OpenGL effects and other modern graphical flare. If you've never played a roguelike before, Sword of Fargoal is a great introduction to the genre. (Review, App Store)

Beneath a Steel Sky – An iPhone adaptation of the classic point and click adventure. While we loved the compete overhaul of Secret of Monkey Island which is absent from this release, Beneath a Steel Sky delivered something even better: great iPhone controls. A classic adventure game that is worthy for both fans and newcomers to the series. (Review, App Store)

Racing

Real Racing – Perhaps we should have categorized this as a "classic", but Real Racing was the first iPhone racing game that really blew us away. The great graphics, perfect controls and AI all combined to make this one of the best iPhone racing games that still holds up today. (Review, App Store)

Need for Speed Shift – EA's latest entry in to the genre can easily stand next to the best racing games on the platform in terms of the amount of included licensed materials, different game modes, and overall fun-factor. With control settings and driving assist options that range from the game practically playing itself to a competent racing simulation complete with a manual transmission mode, Need For Speed: Shift is a must-have for any fan of racing games. (Review, App Store)

2XL ATV Offroad – We described this as a "console quality" iPhone racer. The game is technically impressive with beautiful graphics and manages to combine it with varied tracks, a proper career mode and Wi-Fi multiplayer to deliver one of the best racers in the App Store. (Review, App Store)

Jet Car Stunts – A remarkably fun jet car racer/platformer that had us coming back again and again due to its great controls, fresh visual style and mind boggling levels. The only real complaint we've seen voiced has been the relative difficulty of the game, but, honestly, that's what made it so addicting. (Review, App Store)

Puzzle

Toki Tori – A cute and challenging puzzle platformer that has been excellently adapted to the iPhone. Beautifully animated and ramps up nicely to provide plenty of gameplay. (Review, App Store)

Bobby Carrot Forever – Another excellent level-based puzzle game that requires you to navigate obstacles in order to collect all the carrots and reach the exit. 60 levels provide a refreshingly challenging puzzle game that offers well over 15 hours of gameplay. (Review, App Store)

Casual

Canabalt – This isn't a particularly deep game. In fact, the average gaming session is probably measured in seconds rather than minutes. But with its simplicity and style, it managed to keep us coming back again and again. You can try out the identical Flash version for free at Canabalt.com. (Review, App Store)

Boost 3D – We might not have been too over the top about the game when we first reviewed it, but over time we realized that Boost 3D is a game that we love to play. There's something hypnotic about this tunnel runner that had us coming back to play it again and again. (Review, App Store)

Harbor Master – Among the first of the avalanche of Flight Control inspired games, Harbor Master mixes things up by having the player dock cargo ships and send them back out to sea on a variety of different levels– Each with a different layout and some with additional gameplay elements such as pirate ships to shoot or sea monsters to fight off. (Review, App Store)

Labyrinth 2 – The sequel to the game that pioneered the marble rolling genre on the iPhone before the App Store even existed, Labyrinth 2 takes the standard wooden labyrinth game and adds even more obstacles, fantastic 3D graphics, and a full featured online level editor. The user created content community has already exploded and you can load up Labyrinth 2 every day and have a new batch of levels to play through, all of which download almost instantly inside of the game. (Review, App Store)

First Person Shooters

Eliminate Pro – We know some readers were unable to get past this game's pay model, but we've logged more hours in this game than almost every other… and we never paid a single penny for it. Online FPS deathmatch with our friends and quick sessions throughout the day kept us playing this regularly. (Review, App Store)

N.O.V.A. – Drawing inspiration from Sci-Fi console classics, NOVA is a surprisingly complete and full featured iPhone first person shooter. With an epic single player campaign that will take you several hours to complete, graphics which are among the best currently available on the platform, and four player online deathmatch modes, NOVA has successfully lived up to the insane amount of pre-release hype. (Review, App Store)

Word

Bookworm – A game that should need no introduction, Popcap's word searching classic fits great on the iPhone. The touch controls work effortlessly, and the gameplay is perfect for the casual play style of many iPhone gamers. (Review, App Store)

Words with Friends – Asynchronous online multiplayer not-quite-Scrabble that can either be played for free with in-game ads or without for a couple bucks. A recent update added push notifications to tell you when it's your turn and according to Newtoy, the average player spends 1.5 hours each day playing. (Review, App Store)

Weird/Funny Games

Enviro-Bear 2010 – The best bear driving a car simulator available on any platform. Aside from just being a really crazy game, Enviro-Bear 2010 features some really clever interactions between items and if you survive long enough you'll even earn yourself a slick coon skin cap. (Review, App Store)

Must Eat Birds – This simple slingshot-powered pastry defense game is delightfully Japanese, its ridiculous premise is rivaled only by "maximum bake" mode which must be experienced to truly appreciate. (Review, App Store)

Hi, How Are You – A wonderful tribute to the life, music, and art of Daniel Johnston– And a fun puzzle platformer game with great cell shaded graphics to boot. If you've never heard of Daniel Johnston, Hi, How Are You is a good place to start. (Review, App Store)

Battle Bears – The ridiculous premise of this survival shooter involving a bear commando mowing down swarms of pink bears that spew rainbows when they die is worth the price of admission alone. As if the game couldn't get more silly, a recent update added a Colbear boss, zombie bears, and even a rap theme song.
(Review, App Store)

Cult Classics

Minigore – This dual stick shooter isn't necessarily any better than other dual stick shooters on the platform, but the extent that it has managed to captivate our community is rivaled by very few games. Stricken by problems with Apple's approval process, MiniGore is only now beginning to see the features Mountain Sheep intended on implementing long ago. (Review, App Store)

Pocket God – It's hard to even categorize or summarize Pocket God. Existing somewhere in between a entertainment app and a collection of mini games, Bolt Creative has managed to amass an army of millions of fans worldwide by consistently releasing free content updates and making players feel like they're a part of the project by constantly interacting with and implementing ideas generated by the community. You KNOW you like Pocket God. (Review, App Store)

Strategy

geoDefense / geoDefense Swarm – Whether you prefer open field or fixed path tower defense games, the geoDefense series are among the best available on the platform. Featuring difficulty levels that range from difficult to really really difficult, geoDefense is balanced in a way which will always keep you on your toes. (Review, geoDefense / Swarm)

Defender Chronicles – This odd hybrid between a tower defense game and an RPG has seen an absolute ridiculous amount of content added to it since its initial release. 20 different types of units, hundreds of items, multiple difficulty levels and game modes along with online leaderboards and voiceovers make Defender Chronicles among the best in its genre. (Review, App Store)

Chess with Friends – The iPhone equivalent to snail mail correspondence chess– You can play the ad-based version for free, or upgrade to the premium version to play without ads. Recently added push notifications that alert you when its your turn and an endless supply of human opponents makes this the best chess game available on the platform. (Article, App Store)

Role Playing

Zenonia – While the amount of grinding to level up may have lessened the experience for some, Zenonia still seems to be the benchmark that most RPG's are compared to amongst our community. The game will take you around 40 hours to complete, and the five included character classes will tempt you to play through it multiple times. (Review, App Store)

Underworlds – A great dungeon crawler with tons of monsters to slay and loot to pick up. Underworlds was the first of its kind on the platform, and a recent content update made it even better.
(Review, App Store)

Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone – The sequel of The Chronicles of Inotia sports considerable improvements to nearly all aspects of the game. Multiple character classes, a well designed battle system, mercenaries that can be added to your party, and a surprisingly full featured online component combine in to a game that will be hard for fans of roleplaying games to pass up. (Review, App Store)

Ravensword – While this RPG may lack some gameplay elements which have become standard in modern games, it marks an amazing accomplishment in iPhone development. Created by a team of two, RavenSword features an expansive and beautiful open world filled with quests to complete, hidden areas to find, and countless monsters to slay. (Review, App Store)

Physics

Peggle – If you don't know what Peggle is by now, you must have spent the past few years on Mars with your eyes closed and fingers in your ears. Inspired by pachinko and loaded with style, gratuitous graphical effects, and the Ode To Joy, this may be the perfect casual game. (Review, App Store)

Ragdoll Blaster – Fire ragdolls out of a cannon to complete over 100 different levels. Frustrating at times, Ragdoll Blaster is fun enough to keep you coming back for more– Even after you've spent the last 15 minutes retrying the same level so many times that you lost count. (Review, App Store)

iBlast Moki – The goal is to get the Mokis from point A to point B through the use of bombs, ropes, balloons, wheels and more as you traverse through the 6 worlds and 70 levels. The overall quality of iBlast Moki as well as the inclusion of a level editor with sharable levels make this game really stand out. (Review, App Store)

Sports

Baseball Superstars 2010 – Not only a great baseball game, it is also packed with RPG elements that add an amazing amount of depth. Aside from playing standard games of baseball, both super batters and super pitchers can be leveled up in season modes. These characters can be customized in a number of ways, allowing for hours upon hours of gameplay with each character. (Review, App Store)

Homerun Battle 3D – This one will always be known as Baseball Slugger to us, but since changed its name to Homerun Battle 3D. If you're not a sports game fan, don't let the sports theme throw you off, Homerun Battle 3D is one of the best. It also represented the first massively successful online matchup system we've seen in the App Store allowing you to easily compete head-to-head against others around the world. (Review, App Store)

Backbreaker Football – While nowhere near as deep as the "full" football games on the platform, Backbreaker is probably more fun. The game is laid out in series of challenges where you guide your player to the end zone, hopefully scoring bonus points by "showboating". (Review, App Store)

Let's Golf – The closest thing available on the App Store to Hot Shots Golf. This arcade golf game features 63 holes, local multiplayer, and different control modes that appeal to both casual players and those looking for a slightly more technical game of golf. (Review, App Store)

Conclusion

We spent weeks sorting through the hundreds of games we've reviewed this year, and found excuse after excuse to keep adding to the list. Even so, there were still plenty of games we quite enjoyed that didn't make it to this list. Feel free to add your suggestions to the comments if we missed one of your favorites.

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We got our hands on EA's upcoming Need For Speed: Shift this week, and after spending the last few days playing through the game I'm confident in saying that EA has succeeded in bringing yet another amazing racing game to the platform. With in-game options to tune the difficulty to the point that your car is almost driving itself, Shift is not only an extremely accessible racing game, but also can be a very technical driving experience for veterans of the genre with all of the assists turned off and the manual transmission mode enabled.

Believe it or not, Need For Speed: Shift is the thirteenth in the Need For Speed series which originally debuted all the way back in 1994 with Road & Track magazine heavily advising on both the sound design and vehicle physics. Since then, the Need For Speed saga has been through many iterations covering everything from super cars to underground street racing to police chases.

With recent Need For Speed games taking sharp turns towards the arcade racing genre (Such as Need For Speed: Undercover [App Store] for the iPhone.) it's nice to see EA getting back on course with what feels much more like an actual racing simulation in Shift.

The 20 included real licensed cars can have both their visuals and performance upgraded. In the visuals department you can add a body kit, change paint colors, buy ridiculously huge spoilers, and change out your wheels. If you care more about your car actually going faster than looking cool, you can upgrade its top speed, acceleration, nitrous oxide system, as well as tires and suspension. Each of these upgrades come in multiple stages and once you've hit a car's limit to remain competitive in races you will need to buy new cars.

Cars in game must be bought with winnings from races, and available cars are slowly unlocked as you progress through the game. Initially, Chicago is the only locale you have access to, but both London and Tokyo are eventually unlocked granting access to all 18 different courses included in the game. In each locale you can participate in seven different types of events which range from standard races to drifting competitions, time trials, and the driver duel which pits you against a single AI opponent.

Each event has an associated set of stars that can be earned while racing to unlock additional events. You will always earn stars for being in the top three, with additional available stars for doing things like being in first place for an entire lap, never going off the track, and beating the track's lap record. These stars go hand in hand with the in-game score system which tallies points for both "precision" and "aggression" based on different actions.

Doing things like following a perfect racing line or taking a corner well will earn precision points, while actions like riding an opponent's tail or bumping them out of the way earns aggression points. At the end of each race, these points are totaled on your persistent driver profile that the game is constantly building along with a custom racing emblem which gets an additional component added to it as you level up.

While overall the whole aggression/precision system doesn't have much impact on anything in the game, it's still fairly cool that two people will likely never have the game build the same emblem based on their career. Currently I've been towards the precise side of the spectrum, and my emblem is a target with a pair of crossed spark plugs. If my racing style focused more on bumping in to people, my emblem would consist of things like crossed axes and other more aggression-oriented objects.

Aside from your driving style, "badges" also can be earned which act as Shift's achievement system. Badges come in multiple ranks, and are upgraded over time based on your performance. For instance, the Iron Man bronze badge is earned by placing first in three consecutive events, and can be upgraded to silver by placing first in five consecutive events.

Need For Speed: Shift features several different control options which should satisfy the needs of most racing fans, unless you prefer virtual joysticks to tilting to steer– an option that is notably absent. In rookie mode, the game practically plays itself. Your car accelerates automatically, brakes automatically, and there is a racing line made of arrows on the track for your car to follow. In rookie mode, it also feels like it's difficult to not follow this racing line, almost like your car falls in to some kind of groove that is difficult to steer out of if you want to overtake an opponent.

The next control option is the professional mode, which turns off all the assist options and actually allows you to drive your car around where you want. Unless you are just really bad at racing games, I'd recommend just immediately turning on the professional mode before you even start your first race. The next step up is expert mode, which takes professional mode and adds a manual transmission and there's also a custom mode where you can enable/disable each control feature as you see fit.

Swiping up or swiping down on screen shifts the gears of your manual transmission, and while I'm sure there are people out there who will be in love with this game because of this functionality, I've never been one for changing gears in racing games. Regardless of which control mode you choose, acceleration is handled automatically and touching the screen applies the brakes. If you've upgraded your car to have a nitrous oxide system, tapping a button in the bottom right corner engages and disengages the nitrous. There's also a button on the top of the screen for changing the view from cockpit, hood, first person, and third person views.

With so few truly high quality 3D racing games on the App Store, comparisons are inevitable, and we've already had some heated debates on our forums regarding Need For Speed: Shift versus Real Racing [App Store]. In my opinion, both games are worth owning. Shift edges ahead of Real Racing due to the inclusion of real licensed cars instead of generic sports cars and Volkswagens as well as having a better career mode.

But, on the other hand, Real Racing seems to have better, more realistic, and much more aggressive AI opponents. Shift seems to fall victim to the same problem as many other racing games on the platform with opponents that just seem to want to follow their own little racing line and generally just ignore you entirely. Also, while I can't completely confirm the existence of irritating rubberband AI in Shift, I been in a few races where I've pulled very far ahead of my opponents only to see them zooming up behind me on the mini map from out of nowhere. I suppose it's always possible they decided to dump their nitrous tanks to catch up to me, but it does seem suspect.

Both games include local multiplayer, although I haven't been able to test this functionality in Shift. In the multiplayer mode, you're able to select both WiFi and bluetooth as connection options, as well as choose from many of the different tracks and included game modes. Online multiplayer would have been nice, although it's not unexpected to see EA preferring to stick with local multiplayer.

At the end of the day I think Need For Speed: Shift's greatest flaw is that it shares the same title and likely a lot of the same expectations of the XBOX 360 and PS3 console versions of the game. Having spent a great deal of time in the XBOX 360 game, what I was looking forward to most on the iPhone wasn't tons of cars or tracks, but only the insanely immersive sense of speed. On the 360, as you go faster and faster the edges of your screen slowly start to blur along with other visuals that make you feel like you're going very fast sitting on your couch– Also, there are all kinds of great visual effects when you crash. Out of all this, the only thing that made it to the iPhone is a vaguely reminiscent red tinge to the screen when you hit something.

Regardless, Need For Speed: Shift is a remarkable iPhone racing game. With licensed cars, control options that should make most people happy, and a very cool yet mostly superfluous driver profile and performance tracking system, Shift is a must-have for fans of the genre. Looking to the future, and seeing how much EA has tweaked and refined the racing experience between Need For Speed: Undercover and Need For Speed: Shift, I doubt I'm alone in being very excited to see what's next in the Need For Speed series on the App Store.

Need For Speed: Shift is coming soon.

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Apple has compiled a list of what they consider the best iPhone games of 2009. The list is part of their iTunes Rewind 2009 where they are highlighting the best content across 2009 in music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, and apps.

Apps are broken down into games and more traditional applications. Anyone who follows TouchArcade regularly should be familiar with most of the games on this list. While we've only recently given out star ratings, our currently rated 5 star games are well represented in the list.

The game names are linked to iTunes alongside links to our own reviews of the games.

• Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor – Review
• Real Racing – Review
• Zenonia – Review
• Ravensword – Review
• Earth vs. Moon – Review
• Sally's Spa – Article
• Ragdoll Blaster – Review
• Canabalt – Review
• Blades of Fury – Review
• Doom Classic – Review
• Sway – Review
• geoDefense – Article
• Flight Control – Review
• Alive 4 Ever – Review
• Fantastic Contraption – Article
• Samurai: Way of the Warrior – Review
• Backbreaker Football – Review
• Meteor Blitz – Review
• Rolando 2 – Review
• Star Hogs – Review
• Paper Toss – Article
• Boost 3D – Review
• Doodle Jump – Review
• Zen Bound – Review
• Stick Wars – Thread
• Eliminate Pro – Review
• Tap Tap Revenge 3 – Review
• Call of Duty: Zombies – Review
• iBomber – Review
• Jet Car Stunts – Review

Congratulations to the developers who made the list. We'll be compiling our own "best of" list for 2009 in the coming weeks.

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