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Pavel Tsarev's iDaTank [$1.99 / Lite] was released a few weeks ago but had some troubles, namely some crashing issues and a lack of a save function when the home button was pushed — thankfully an update thrust out last week fixes those problems, meaning all of us can sit and enjoy the unique experience without having to worry about saving issues.

Nailing down what it is that makes iDaTank enjoyable is difficult. At its core, it’s a resource-hoarding exploration game where you're controlling a small tank as it moves around a small, three dimensional planet collecting resources and killing enemies. Somehow it also manages to feel a bit like a rogue-like, where permadeath can end your game quickly (although you can purchase more lives through the in-game economy), weapon upgrades are slowly seeded out and an RPG system lays underneath the hood to increase the tanks properties.

It doesn't fit into an easily definable genre-box, which is what makes it all the more appealing. The game play doesn't stretch much further than what you'll get from the outset — you drive around, stripping planets of resources and killing enemies, but you still feel like you have to see what's at the end.

You control the tanks movement by sliding your finger in the direction you want to go — there is no virtual joystick, but it feels similar, perhaps even better than one. The firing is done automatically, so even though it might look like a duel stick shooter, it's not. Somehow, the constant upgrades keep it interesting and as the game progresses, you can actually feel it change underneath your fingers. You get more control over your tank, more speed, weapons, storage — the progression feels spot on, even though you'll have to grind a bit to get through later levels.

There are a total of 26 different levels, each subdivided into different subsections based on planet type. Each planet has its own alien life, is shaped differently and a few even have bosses, which if you run into unprepared, will absolutely slaughter you. That's made all the more difficult by the fact you can't back out and leave a planet if you find it too tough, which means you'll need to grind the early levels before you jump into some of the later ones, providing a serious challenge even if you're fully prepared. The goal of each planet is to capture a certain amount of resources, sometimes this means running over and delivering some blue crystals, other times you'll need to kill enemies or blow up giant egg things. You'll often need to make several trips from the resources to the delivery platform before you're finished with the level.

Picking which upgrades to use on your tank and your weapons is integral to your success in each mission. Weapons are handled by the same in-game economy as the lives, so you have to choose between the two. Tank upgrades are dispersed out when you reach a new level by gaining XP from killing aliens. There's also the whole permadeath thing that might turn some people off — when you're out of lives, you have to start over at the very beginning of the game.

iDaTank is built in Unity and looks the part. The 3D graphics are simple, but they work with the overall atmosphere of the game, which is to say it's a minimal, but well-planned and well-executed idea. That said, the enemy animation is top-notch and the tank looks great as well — like something pulled straight out of Jonathan Ive's brain if Apple suddenly decided to start making space-tanks. The interface continues the minimalist trend, almost to a fault as it takes a couple of taps to figure out what a button does instead of just one, but the uncluttered look works well with the rest of the game. It's a universal build, but it looks a little better on the iPhone's smaller screen then it does on iPad. However, the controls are a little smoother on iPad, so pick your fancy there if you have a choice.

Despite the ambiguous name, iDaTank is a surprisingly in-depth adventure game with a thin, but adequate layer of RPG elements added on top to keep you coming back for more. Like the best rogue-likes, it works like crack in that you'll manage to inch further and further into space through each playthrough before suddenly realizing it's three in the morning.

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When EA released Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 [99¢/HD] last December, it struck me as kind of a strange release. It wasn’t a direct port of the original arcade game, though it did retain the original music and sound effects. Instead it was a brand new version of that game completely redone with 3D graphics, and it also came with a healthy cut in the roster and number of arenas. The move to 3D visuals was puzzling as it somewhat alienated the fans of the original game, but at the same time they looked pretty sweet. The character models were kind of blocky, but the new 3D backgrounds looked absolutely fantastic, especially at high resolution on the Retina Display.

So looking past the dramatic visual change, whether you loved it or hated it, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was actually a competent little fighter on the iPhone, and I wound up liking it quite a bit in our review. The virtual buttons worked about as well as you could expect them to in a fighting game, despite some instances of inconsistent responsiveness. An iPad version was released a couple of months later, and came with an interesting (but not very practical) same-device multiplayer mode and more detailed graphics. Personally, I also found the game easier to play on the iPad with the larger screen.

The major issue I had with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on iOS was that for some reason the developers only included roughly half of the original fighters, and only 10 of the arenas. I can deal with new graphics and less than ideal controls, but at least give me the complete experience when I’m trying to get my Mortal Kombat nostalgia fix while waiting for the bus. Thankfully, today EA has released a major update to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that does just that. You can now choose from the full roster of more than 20 characters from the original game, and the 6 arena backgrounds that were missing in the initial release are included too. I’m also happy to report that the weird occasional control lag that I mentioned in the review of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 seems to have disappeared as well, though there’s no mention of this in the update description.

Check out the paltry selection of fighters in the pre-update screen on the left, compared to the full roster of the arcade game post-update on the right:

With my two major complaints now taken care of, the lack of characters and the wonky controls, I’m now having even more fun with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on iOS. It’s not perfect, and it's not quite up to par with Street Fighter IV [$1.99] as far as touch screen fighters go, but as a huge fan of the series I love having a version to carry around in my pocket at all times. If you’re also a Mortal Kombat fan then you should easily get a dollar’s worth of enjoyment out of the game. The iPad version is slightly superior in my opinion, but it also comes in at five times the price.

Even though it took a while, I’m glad EA came through with an update for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that completes the game, and I would really love to see other entries in the series brought to iOS in similar fashion.

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Last month, FuzzyCube Software released iQuarterback 2 [Free] for the iPad and we thought it was pretty fun in our review. Gameplay involved tossing footballs into targets that were either stationary or moved laterally across the field. Just touching where you wanted a pass to go would send the football flying there, and the real fun was in trying to lead your passes to compensate for the moving targets. Being able to correctly judge where to put the ball so it intercepts a particularly fast-moving target was a hugely satisfying experience.

You can now get this experience in a more diminutive package for your iPhone or iPod touch called iQuarterback 2 Pocket Edition [Free]. We checked out Pocket Edition at WWDC this year, and when I first saw it I thought for sure the smaller size would make the game more difficult to play. Then I got my hands on the game and found out that iQuarterback 2 actually plays wonderfully on the iPhone and iPod touch. Both versions of the game were recently updated with improved hit detection on the targets, and the accuracy really feels much tighter now, even on the smaller screen.

As with the iPad version of iQuarterback 2, the Pocket Edition is completely free to download and play. It’s ad-supported, and this is one aspect where the Pocket Edition comes up short compared to its bigger brother. Whereas on the iPad the ads run at the bottom of the screen and are almost completely unobtrusive, on the iPhone a full screen ad runs after the end of a round. It’s completely in your face and awkward to skip past, so if you like the game then I’d definitely recommend disabling the ads through the 99¢ in-app purchase.

Other than that though the two versions are pretty much identical, and both are a lot of fun. There’s a couple of different modes to compete in with Game Center leaderboards and achievements, and there’s also some cool unlockable outfits and items which can give you some unique abilities when playing, and are also quite humorous. Best of all is that iQuarterback 2 is free, and the new Pocket Edition plays great, so there’s really no reason not to download and check out either version of the game.

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First off, apologies for not posting our typical Wednesday night release megapost last week. To say we were "amazingly busy" covering two concurrent events would be an understatement. Regardless, we're back again this week combing through the New Zealand App Store for cool new releases. If you're new here, here's how this whole deal works: Developers can set specific release dates for their games/apps. The trick is, since the App Store is a global marketplace, those games/apps are released on that specific date in each region. Thanks to the modern-day wizardry that are time zones and New Zealand's proximity to the International Date Line, they get things first.

These games will slowly be available to everyone west of New Zealand slowly throughout the day before finally appearing in the US App Store at 11:00 PM Eastern. Here's an alphabetical list of things coming out tonight that seem worth checking out:

Celtic Heroes, Free – [Forum Thread] – This 3D MMO seems to have the kind of feature list you'd expect: Character customization, multiple classes, a quest system, and more, all for free. Sounds cool, right? What has us scratching our collective heads is its file size. Celtic Heroes weighs in at a svelte 23MB. Perhaps they're trying to keep the download size under the 25MB limit for 3G installs, and streaming the rest of the content and assets in-game. Either way, our interest is piqued.

A Long Way Home, $1.99 – [Forum Thread] – A puzzle game that seems to employ a similar mechanic as Dizzypad and other similar "jump from one circular object to another" style games. I'm digging the art style, and the premise of making your way back to Earth one light year at a time seems interesting.

Cell Bound, 99¢ – [Forum Thread] – This cellular matching game involves matching five colored orbs together in a play area that you can spin around to line up matches. Multiple game modes are included, as well as power-ups.

Ewe Doodle – Keep the Sheep Alive, 99¢ – [Forum Thread] – This avoidance game puts you in charge of keeping a sheep safe from its natural enemies: Dogs, bees, and um, duel wielding maniacs? On a personal note, I grew up in the midwest on a farm. We had sheep amongst other animals. I have to say, I don't recall any issues with dogs, bees, or blood-crazed killers. Times truly have changed, apparently. Perhaps global warming is to blame.

Flick Golf Extreme!, $2.99 – [Forum Thread] – Previously, playing a game of golf on the decks of aircraft carriers and on the roofs of skyscrapers were reserved for members of the US military and the financial elite. Not anymore! Thanks to the thoughtful folks at Full Fat, the rest of us proles can enjoy these high-end pleasures. Seriously though, Flick Golf! was great, and I expect this to be just as good if not better.

iQuarterback 2 Pocket Edition, Free – [Forum Thread - We had a great time with the iPad-specific version of iQuarterback 2 in our review. We got a look at the iPhone version at WWDC, and it's just as much fun. If you like football, don't miss this fun and free pigskin-tossing mini-game.

Monkey Island Tales 2 HD, $6.99 - [Forum Thread] – Continuing where Monkey Island Tales 1 HD [$6.99] left off, the second installment delves deeper into this adventure which involves Guybrush, LeChuck, and all the other Monkey Island favorites. Like most episodic games, it's probably a good idea to play the first one before jumping into the second.

Mower Ride, 99¢ – [Forum Thread] – Alright, I'm stoked for this one. Vivid Games seems to have applied the "see how far you can go" gameplay style of jumping games, but transformed to a top-down vertical racer where you ride a lawn mower. Perfect!

Peter Packer, 99¢ / HD – [Forum Thread] – Judging by the trailer, this sorting game gets hectic fast. Bonuses are earned by sorting multiple boxes at once using multi-touch. I've never really enjoyed these kind of games, but I could see the simple premise being perfect for kids.

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Defiant and Chillingo's Rocket Bunnies [$0.99 / HD] tells us of a future where bunnies have spread throughout the universe, and one rabbit, armed with only a rocket, must fight the forces of oppression to bring food to the hungry masses on each planet and asteroid. Or something like that, anyhow. Story isn't really a big thing in this game.

What we get instead is plenty of gravity-based planet hopping. Each level is filled with planets and asteroids, as well as obstacles—orbiting mines, rotating electrical fields, homing robotic spiders and the like. You, as the titular rocket bunny, orbit around a planet until you tap another one nearby. This launches you toward that planet as soon as you're lined up with it, and with careful timing you won't succumb to the various enemies and obstacles in your path—you might even get them to blow each other up. Hungry bunnies are spread between the planets, and your goal is to get to each of them alive.

Gravity-based physics games are already well-represented on the App Store, but Rocket Bunnies does things a little differently. You might start out treating it like a puzzle game, plotting each move carefully, but that isn't going to work for long. As you make your way through the game's 60 levels, you'll quickly learn that hesitation is death. Sit on a planet too long and a spider will come to destroy you. Fling yourself away from an asteroid at anything but the right moment and you'll smack headfirst into a web or a mine. There are no second chances. Mess up once and you'll be starting the level over again.

The fear of failure isn't the only thing that will keep you moving. In order to unlock all of Rocket Bunnies' levels, you need to earn higher and higher totals of stars. Each level has three stars to earn, but you don't collect them through clever platforming or puzzle solving, you earn them with speed. Muddling through at a steady pace will generally give you only one star, and you won't be able to unlock all the levels with performance like that. I'd like to see completion time leaderboards in a future update, since so much of the game revolves around shaving seconds of your time.

When I wasn't rocketing through each level at maximum speed, I didn't find Rocket Bunnies all that much fun. Avoiding all the obstacles while feeding the bunnies is challenging, but sort of bland. The game got a lot more interesting once I realized the stakes behind my level completion times. I needed to both react quickly and time my jumps carefully to get boosts (a reward for perfect timing) and to avoid dying.

While you're working on earning those three-star completion times, you can gather the 32 Crystal/Game Center achievements. Most of them require creative space acrobatics, with a couple that require grinding and completionism. Intrepid explorers will also be rewarded with a collection of hats that are hidden in a few of the levels, allowing you to dress your bunny in a sombrero or a trucker's cap if you're so inclined.

Despite all of that, Rocket Bunnies never completely grabbed me. It's a solid, even game that's good across the board that is never quite great. If you're looking for a new physics platformer, you certainly won't go wrong grabbing this one. It's not quite a universe of entertainment, but it's a galaxy or two for sure.

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NaturalMotion Games' Icebreaker Hockey [99¢] is a bit difficult to describe. Not because it's a complicated game, it's not — but it so resembles the studio's Backbreaker series of games it's a bit hard to really dig into the premise of it without noting its pedigree.

So, if you've played Backbreaker, you're going to know what to expect from Icebreaker, but if you've avoided the series because you're not a fan of football, you'll be in for a treat. Icebreaker takes the same, challenge oriented, tower-defense-in-reverse aspects of Backbreaker and puts it on the ice.

The basic premise of the game puts you in control of a single skater, puck on stick, trying to make a goal. In your way are a set number of defenders and a goalie that will attempt to stop you. You can think of it as a game dedicated solely to the breakaway. While that sounds simple enough, the game does a good job of ramping up the difficulty slowly as you complete each of the ten challenge modes. Ten might not sound like much, but considering there are also three different difficulty settings, you'll end up with a lot of bang for you buck. There's also an endurance mode that tasks you to survive an endless number of waves — for the obsessive types it provides an increasing challenge as you move through the various waves.

Each challenge will also net you a star rating, which is used to unlock achievements and is factored from you overall score, which you can compare on the leaderboards through Game Center.

Control wise, if you played Backbreaker, you're going to instantly recognize the setup for Icebreaker. Tilting your device moves your skater left and right, and a series of buttons lets you dash, deke and spin. While it's one part reverse-tower-defense, the other part is all high-score game. You rack up points as you're skating along for deking out of the way of an incoming attacker, hitting score zones and for holding slap shots for ridiculous amounts of time. If you're the type of person who likes to rub it into a digital goalies face, you can also showboat to increase your score.

All of these factors combined make getting a high-score on a level a balance between the two different modes. If you take too long to unleash a slap shot, a goalie will pop you in the face or if you spend too much time rolling into the high score patches, the defensemen will eventually catch up and take you out. While you want to get the highest score along the way, you main mission is to put the puck in the back of the net and if you fail you'll have to start the wave over again. Thankfully, aiming the shot is handled automatically and as long as you get the shot off, it'll usually get past the goalie.

There are no licensed teams here, but if you've been itching for an arcade-style hockey game for iOS, this will fit the bill perfectly. You do get to customize your player with one of several different team types, skin color, number and name, but for the most part you're controlling an empty avatar whose only goal is to put the puck in the net.

Hockey fans haven't had much to choose from on the App Store, so if you've been longing to lace up your skates, this will certainly give you something to do. It's not the console-perfect simulation NHL 2K11 promised to be, but it controls and plays a heck of a lot more smoothly. It's a casual, easy to pick up and play hockey game that has a surprising amount of depth and skill hidden inside of it for those willing to give it the time.

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Bumpy Road [$2.99] is a great game for a lot of reasons. Its art, sound, and controls fit snuggly together, establishing it as one of the most complete, whole, and well-refined games that we've taken a look at recently. And while there’s a bunch to do in the game, there’s even more as of now. A free update to the innovative physics-based platform game has been pushed out, adding 100 new level segments, the “gruesome and sneaky Break Gizmo,” and two new tracks for the “Classic Sunday Trip.”

Complimenting this, of course, are five new Game Center achievements, and some new leaderboards, which round out the experience nicely.

On the technical side — what’s an update without a band-aid — developer Simogo has tweaked the title so its start-up loading is faster. On the game’s blog, Simog reckons that it’s now “three times faster.” Good. I don’t like waiting.

Definitely give Bumpy Road a shot if you’re looking for a new game. As I referenced earlier, we do have a review for the title. Catch it!

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A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Ten One Design was getting ready to release a smaller version of their wonderful Fling controllers for the iPad which would be suitable for use on iPhone and iPod touch devices. There was a lot of negative backlash to this announcement though, and I can sort of see why. The promo image for the Fling Mini showed that using 2 of the controllers at the same time really blocked much of the screen of the device, and it was hard to imagine how it could be practical to play games this way.

Last week at WWDC, Eli and myself both got our hands on an early pair of the Fling Minis and put them to the test. Surprisingly, the screen blockage is almost a complete non-issue when you’re actually using the Fling Minis. The plastic that the Fling Mini is comprised of is translucent and doesn’t really block any more of the screen than your own thumbs normally would. But, that’s not to say that they don’t come with some quirks and they won’t work on every game that you’d hope. For the games that they do work with they work exceptionally well, and just like the Flings on iPad they offer a smooth and tactile control option over using a touch screen alone.

Eli has put together this fantastic comparison video showing off the difference between the original Fling, which you can read our original review of, and the new Fling Mini:

In my own experience, I’ve found several games that work near perfectly with the Fling Mini. Both Bug Heroes [Free] and Max Adventure [99¢/Lite] are two of my favorite dual-stick shooters that don’t come with many compromises when using the Fling, which you can see in this second hands-on video. There will be times when accessing a UI element or menu option will be difficult because the Fling Mini is blocking that part of the screen, but it’s easy enough to detach a suction cup and swivel the controller out of the way to gain access to these. It would be cool if there were tiny hinges in the connector arms of the Fling Mini so you could quickly flip them up to access the entire screen. Perhaps in a Fling Mini version 2.0.

The Fling Mini is also well-suited to some games that use just a single analog stick or a d-pad for movement, and one interesting thing is how well it works with the Joypad Game Controller [Free] which we also covered at WWDC this year. Especially with the Joypad SDK now offering the ability to use analog sticks, one or two Fling Minis combined with an iPhone or iPod touch and the Joypad app could make for a really nice controller for playing an iPad or desktop game.

One example of a game that did not work so well is Age of Zombies [$2.99/Lite]. I had high hopes for this one as it employs a touch anywhere scheme for its set of dual-stick controls, which would mean precise placement of the Fling wouldn’t be necessary. Unfortunately there is no way to access the grenade button while using the Fling with this game, which is a pretty big problem. You can avoid this by using only one Fling on the left control stick, but this gives the game an inconsistent feel. Also, games that utilize buttons in the lower corners of the screen, like many first person shooters, are also basically unplayable due to the plastic spirals of the Fling Mini blocking those areas of the screen.

The thing I like most about the Flings is that they just “feel” good. The movement is solid and smooth, and for the games that they work well with they are definitely an enhancement. On the larger screen of the iPad, the original Fling works with a greater number of games and there are much fewer instances of inaccessible UI elements. These problems are amplified with the Fling Mini and the smaller iOS screens, but it isn’t a total deal breaker and for the select games that they do work well with they feel absolutely brilliant.

One of the first things I asked Ten One Design about the Fling Mini was whether they would also work on an iPad, thus negating needing two different styles of Flings. While there’s technically nothing preventing them from working on an iPad, almost all iPad virtual analog sticks require a larger range of motion than what is afforded by the smaller Fling Mini. You may be able to come up with a few games that work well on the iPad with a Fling Mini, but for the most part you are better off using the original Fling with that device.

Really the best thing to do is find a friend who owns a pair or head to an Apple store and try out the Fling for yourself. If you like the way they feel and can deal with limited game compatibility, then they are a great purchase. Hopefully more developers will incorporate special settings for using a Fling controller in their game, especially with them now being available on iPhones and iPod touches.

You can currently pre-order the Fling Mini in a 2-pack for $24.95, and they should be shipping sometime in mid-to-late July. The original Fling for iPad is available now in 3 colors at a price of $19.95 for a single controller or in a 2-pack for $29.95.

Product Pages:

• Fling Mini 2-Pack (Pre-Order)
• Fling for iPad

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If you were having issues downloading the latest episodes of our podcast, here's some good news: Our iTunes feed is now working. It’s finally pumping out hot pod content just as the gods intended. It's also available on Zune. You’re welcome, ears.

We were having some brief technical difficulties which prevented the feed from being updated, but everything is good to go now. You can now download the second and the third episode of the TouchArcade Show via the iTunes music store. Both are free, so there's not much reason not to.

While I have you, if you could do us solid, I’d love for you to rate us on iTunes. Ideally, I’d love to see a ton of five star “you guys are the greatest, I want to stroke Jared's beard” reviews… but I would understand if you opted to be somewhat sober about the whole thing. Either way, your reviews will help establish the podcast on the store and give us even more listeners and POWER.

As always, we’re easy to reach. If you’d like to blast us a question through the Internet, hit us up at podcast@toucharcade.com. You can also hit us up via the Twitters and the Facebooks, too, if you’re into the whole social media thing.

Oh — and if you’ve got any feedback, let ‘er rip in the comments below.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace Link: TouchArcade.com Podcasts

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Sometimes the simplest things are the ones that bring the most joy. There aren't many games that are simpler than Match Panic [$0.99], but that's a big part of its charm.

Here's how the game plays: adorable pixel sprites make a line down the screen. Identical sprites are shown on both sides of the screen, and its your job to tap the side of the screen that matches the sprite in the middle. Does it get any more straightforward than that?

But don't jump to conclusions—Match Panic is harder than it sounds. Without lives to contend with, you're free to make mistakes, but you have to beat the clock. It's easy at first, but time gets tight as you reach higher and higher levels. You've got to be fast, and you can't spare the seconds mistakes cost you. Now you're probably thinking that you're some kind of pro matcher who'd never make an error, but try saying that when there are three sprites on one side of the screen, two on the other and a clock ticking down the seconds. This is some seriously frantic matching action.

For all you meta-gamers, there's a lot more replayability than you might think. The first challenge is to unlock all the sprites by hitting level or match milestones. They get shuffled into play and make it that much harder to keep track of where your fingers should be tapping. You'll also want to push your scores on the Game Center leaderboards, which track high scores, bonus time, streaks and total matches. Then there are the achievements, which challenge you to play creatively, quickly and carefully.

I was pretty charmed by the trailers for Match Panic, so I'm thrilled that the game is so good. When I have a little time to kill, I put a song with a good beat on my iPod and get right to matching. I love Chaotic Box's Silverfish [$1.99], and Match Panic confirms that the one-man dev studio is chock full of good ideas. Our forum users agree: this is a game that's simple to pick up, but so hard to put down.

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