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I must be biologically programmed to react instantly to anything that reminds me of The Legend of Zelda for NES. Take Carota! [$1.99], for instance, which is a puzzle game starring a rabbit named Thaddeus who’s been knocked down a hole and must proceed through 50 levels of puzzling to make it back to the Earth’s surface. Must have been a deep hole, yeah?

Anyway, if you’ve ever played Zelda (and who hasn’t), you’ll recognize that some of Carota’s levels take place in a room that looks awfully like the rooms of the Zelda dungeons. And so, the nostalgia begins…

It’s really no more than a hat tip though, which I appreciate, since I’ve played plenty of Zelda clones. Carota! is anything but, going in favor of an interesting little puzzle dynamic where you turn blocks with the touch of a finger in order to guide your rabbit to the door.

This sounds very simple, and in the beginning, that is just what it is. You can drag blocks around the screen in order to craft this path, but in order to clear a level, you must use a certain number of blocks or the door will not open. This is no problem at all when your goal is to use four. It gets somewhat more complicated once you have fifteen. Did I mention the blocks also disappear after you waste enough time? Yep, there is that.

You do have a few options at your advantage, however — you can introduce new blocks in at anytime (and you’ll get a preview of what each block is, in the upper left hand corner), and you also have access to a speed button which makes your bunny friend go just a tad faster. Both of these resources are invaluable as the levels become more difficult. Since Thaddeus only walks in one direction most of the time, you’ll have to be crafty about making sure you turn blocks at just the right moments to keep him moving, too. Oh, but he always turns left at forks. And he cannot walk back on a tile he has already crossed. Have you got all this written down?

Keep that pen out. In later levels, there will be more new blocks for you to learn to work with, such as blue ones that are slippery. To say that Carota! gets difficult later down the line would be a bit of an understatement. You’ll have quite a bit going on to manage if you can progress, and that’s when one of the game’s fatal flaws comes in — it’s not always 100% responsive to touch when you are trying to move blocks around. It’s mostly responsive, but I did have a few issues where I had to drag my finger across the screen several times when trying to move a block, which meant losing the precious few seconds I needed and Thaddeus fell to his doom.

Carota! will time you as you progress through each level, so if you want to try to improve your score, the option is there. To tell you the truth, though, some of these levels drove me so crazy, I don’t think I would ever want to play them again. If you’re a high score rockstar, however, OpenFeint and Game Center are waiting for you to get in there and show off your high scores.

I liked the concept of Carota! but I thought it could have been executed better. If the controls were as responsive as I expected, I think it could have helped with the challenge of later levels, but fighting against that issue and the difficulty at the same time made me feel as if I was struggling to have a good time. When the formula works, it works well, but if you don’t have a high tolerance for punishment, you might want to spend that $1.99 elsewhere.

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Swordigo [$1.99] shouldn’t be as refreshing as it is. We were playing through better hack and slash adventures twenty years ago. But the genre has stumbled en route to the App Store, and we’ve been left waiting for a classic of the mobile era. Swordigo might just be the one.

Touch Foo is building a reputation for impressive games. Soosiz [$1.99 / HD], the studio’s first release won our hearts with a combination of novel design and great controls. Swordigo has all the things you’d expect from a good hack-n-slash: boss battles, sword combat, spell slinging, character upgrades and a ton of exploration. We’ve seen it all before. So why is it so utterly satisfying?

Scarcity is part of the reason. But Touch Foo has done more than create a game in an under-represented niche. It’s done an outstanding job of building it in the process.

From the controls to the upgrade mechanics, nearly everything in Swordigo works better than you might expect. On-screen directional controls are so often awkward, but they’re flawless here. In the eight hours I spent with the game I only bungled one or two jumps with my hand out of place, a better than reasonable margin of error. And that eight hours of content? That’s just for the main game. If you’re inclined to hunt down every last treasure chest (and earn the related Game Center achievement), expect to put in more time.

The art might be a problem for some. I’ve never been comfortable with Touch Foo’s style. The critters and character design in Soosiz grated on me, and the transition to 2.5D hasn’t helped. The environments are decent if repetitive, but it would be generous to say the character models have the detail of a Playmobil figure. You might be inclined to skip the game because of that. Don’t. The hero looks better as the game goes on, and you won’t notice the look when you’re knee deep in rock-solid gameplay.

You also shouldn’t look to this game for an original story—Swordigo goes well beyond nodding to Link and his crew. I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing—it’s a charming homage, and it’s also unobtrusive. Touch Foo clearly spent its time elsewhere, designing an impressive platforming experience and a fun set of customizable upgrades. Some of the latter can be bought with the not-rupees dropped by enemies and unsuspecting bushes. Others are found tucked away in secret treasure chests.

Early on, there isn’t much to do. You’ll have a sword and a jump button and can only do so much with the combination. But your toolbox expands as the game’s four spells are introduced. Three can be used against enemies, and all four let you interact with the environment in new ways. You can shoot switches with your magic bolts or blow up hidden walls with bombs. Boss fights take advantage of those abilities, and there are unique challenges in nearly every new area. Because of this, Swordigo stays novel for its entire length, never relying on familiar tactics for long.

If a challenge can be defeated using spells or objects from the environment, the game plays beautifully. Sword combat, on the other hand, is a bit stiff. Your attacks run in a pattern, and you’ll often need an overhead swing at just the moment you slash forward. Enemies seem designed to exploit that weakness in the most frustrating ways, firing just over your sword’s reach or swooping down and hitting you in the face. Thankfully death is rarely a problem—falling takes you back to the last ledge with a sliver of health lost, while anything more permanent drops you at the most recent checkpoint. You can also teleport between checkpoints, so it’s trivial to take a trip back to town to shop or heal.

So while there are frustrations and a handful of small bugs, they’re blips in a solid eight hours of entertainment. Whether it ends up as a hidden gem or a genuine hit, Swordigo will have earned its place in any number of hearts. Touch Foo may be treading familiar ground, but it does so with great skill. If you’re up for a good old fashioned adventure, this is where you want to be. You might also want to be in our forums—it’s dangerous to go alone.

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There’s never been a better time than now to jump into Kode 80’s 1-Bit Ninja [$1.99 / Lite]. A free Lite version of the game is now available on the App Store, giving users a taste of the full arcade-oriented, perspective-jostling experience. Specifically, it rocks five of the game’s first levels.

Here’s another reason: the game’s first major content update since its debut in 2011 is now out, too. The newly-introduced World 5 picks up right where World 4 had left us wanting more, and, as a bonus, this update also packs in a nifty custom checkpoint feature. Kode 80 says this takes the edge off some of the trickiest sections. I’ve been having trouble in the first level, so, uh, here’s to finally seeing that one through.

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At the beginning of February, the team behind the action platformer Terra Noctis [99¢] announced their new iOS project called Spellsword (no relation to Rocketcat’s upcoming game). After dishing out scant details for Spellsword in our forums, the team has been quiet for the last month or so while toiling away at the project. Today they’ve sent along the first video for Spellsword that finally shows the game in action.

The core gameplay in Spellsword is arcade-style action platforming similar to Super Crate Box [$1.99], but with lots of cool upgradeable items like hats, rings, amulets, and special powers. It will also be more structured and goal-oriented than SCB with 90 missions slated for the release version as well as unlockable endless arenas. It’s looking pretty sweet so far, and it sounds like Spellsword is very near its completion, so expect to hear a release date sometime in the near future.

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When Hunters: Episode One hit the scene almost a year ago, we were impressed with its solid gameplay and daily mission structure. With Hunters 2 [$4.99], Rodeo Games looks to expand on the success of the original with additional content while attempting to address some of the shortfalls of the original. While Hunters 2 has its share of nagging problems, there are more than enough improvements to the core gameplay to make this sequel worthwhile.

As expected, gameplay in Hunters 2 is comparable to its predecessor. Players still deploy and guide hunters through a variety of environments (complete with fog of war), taking out opposing forces in furtherance of hitting mission objectives (which typically involve defending an objective, reaching a marker or just taking out all forces). Both the leveling and equipment systems return, offering a variety of different ways to upgrade your hunters. Also making a return is the daily mission hub, offering new contracts with different maps and objectives every day. At this point, Hunters 2 offers more of a ‘tried-and-true’ approach to turn-based strategy, leaving little to error or imagination.

While the gameplay is mostly similar, Hunters 2 does add a few new elements to the mix. In addition to fighting against other hunters, the game introduces a new alien race that has its own attack style. The aliens play a role in the new campaign mode, which finally offers a story experience to the Hunters world.  Hunters 2 also combines the previous Health/Armor system into simply Armor, streamlining weapon damage. A new crafting system also allows players to customize a wide variety of weapons (at a premium price). Permadeath also makes its debut, offering genre fans the opportunity for a more hardcore experience. Finally, the sequel overhauls the talent system, providing a great deal more customization for individual hunters.

This new upgrade system is at the heart of the Hunter 2 changes. Hunters are assigned two of six possible talent trees, which provide perks ranging from additional benefits while guarding to increased weapon damage and armor protection. Players can hire new hunters with different talent trees, although only a limited amount of hunters are available to hire at any one time (hunters for hire cycle every few hours with the rest of the in-game shop).

Level design has also improved in Hunters 2, with a bit more variety in environment and size. However, I still noticed that some of the tile sets appear to be recycled from the first Hunters. Visuals are also well done, with fast, fluid animations (although I think retina support for the new iPad would have been a nice addition). However, I did encounter a strange lighting bug that would completely wash out the environment colors and make the game very bright.

One feature that is sorely missing in Hunters 2 is the inclusion of iCloud support. Considering the amount of investment you can have with building up your team in terms of loot and stats, I really would have liked the ability to move saves between different iOS devices. This is especially true since Hunters 2 plays great on both iPad and iPhone.

Despite its inclusion of a story-driven campaign, plot is still somewhat lacking in Hunters 2. The number of set missions is incredibly small and the tale being told lacks any kind of narrative punch to serve as motivation for continuing the campaign. Granted, some gamers will undoubtedly not care about a story, but I just found it a little disappointing.

Still, despite my above complaints, Hunters 2 continues to do a great job preserving the core gameplay mechanics of Episode One. The leveling system and large variety of weapons keep me coming back  to play missions simply to earn more gold and experience to refine my hunters. Also, the loot system and daily mission structure do a great job promoting replayability. As mentioned above, there’s nothing new or particularly innovative, but it’s still implemented well.

It goes without saying that fans of Hunters: Episode One will have a great time with Hunters 2. The tweaks to the leveling and upgrade systems do a great job streamlining gameplay while the inclusion of an actual campaign and additional difficulty options are welcome additions. While the incremental upgrades probably won’t win over gamers that weren’t fans of the original, Hunters 2 still offers a compelling turn-based strategy experience.

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Just a quick heads up to let you know that Noodlecake Games has made two of their iOS titles free for a limited time. First up is Lunar Racer [Free], a side-scrolling 2D racer that feels like a mashup of Excitebike and Mario Kart. The physics are crazy, due to being on the Moon and all, and Lunar Racer is a frantic arcade experience due to just how easily the tides can turn during a race.

There’s also a whole host of unlockable items to trick out your ride with, as well as 12 different lunar tracks to race on. Finally, there’s a local multiplayer mode over Bluetooth or WiFi that is a total blast if you have a friend handy with another copy of the game. You can read about that and more in our review of Lunar Racer, but since it’s free you might as well just go grab it anyway and find out how it is for yourself.

The other title Noodlecake is currently offering for free is the excellent Super Stickman Golf [Free]. It’s been free a few times before, but that is definitely no reason not to grab it if you haven’t already. Super Stickman Golf is what happens when you combine the trajectory-based mechanics of an artillery style game like Worms with the rules of golf. The results are spectacular. Super Stickman Golf offers a crazy amount of single player courses to play through, and a bunch of special “power-up” golf balls to use that give you unique abilities like sticking your ball to a surface or causing it to stop suddenly and drop right out of midair.

Despite all of this single player goodness, perhaps the biggest draw of Super Stickman Golf is its fantastic online multiplayer mode, which we covered when it first hit. It’s a ridiculous amount of fun and is easily one of the finest real-time multiplayer experiences I’ve had on iOS. Needless to say, make sure to grab both Super Stickman Golf and Lunar Racer while they’re currently free if you’re a fan of not paying anything for good games.

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As if you need another reminder to download Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP [$4.99 / $2.99 ] if you haven’t already, nominations for the 2012 Canadian Videogame Awards were just revealed and Sworcery was nominated for basically every category that even vaguely applies to the game. This includes game of the year, best game on the go, best downloadable game, best game design, best visual arts, best writing, best indie game, best original music, and… innovation award.

I have no doubts that the game will soak up at least some of those awards, which is just extra crazy when you look at the list of other games that were nominated. In your wildest dreams back when the App Store launched in mid-2008 did you ever think that four years later an iOS-exclusive indie-developed game would be standing toe to toe with massive budget AAA console titles for awards?

What a wild time to be a gamer.

Oh, and if this somehow is the first time you’ve heard of the game (really?) check out our review.

[via Gamasutra]

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Hey Daniel Johnston fans, there’s another Johnston-centric game on the App Store. Daniel Johnston’s Space Ducks [ Free (HD)] joins Hi, How Are You [$2.99 / Free ] with another look into his art and music. This time around, it’s much less of a game when compared to the puzzle elements of Hi, How Are You, and instead could be described as an “interactive comic book experience.”

Space Ducks is free, and as you play through it you slowly unlock all the songs from Johnston’s upcoming album. If you’ve never heard of Daniel Johnston, Hi, How Are You is likely a much better gateway drug than Space Ducks (Check out our review of Hi, How Are You.), but, either way, I dig these sort of gamified comic book apps.

Getting access to new music early (and for free) is just icing on the cake.

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Following the release of Portal 2 on Steam and home consoles came Geoff Keighley’s “The Final Hours of Portal 2″ [ $1.99 (HD)] which, as mentioned in our news post on its release provided a really cool highly interactive look behind the scenes of the game’s development. Well, Keighley is at it again, this time with the recently released Mass Effect 3. “The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3″ [ $2.99 (HD)] follows the same interactive magazine article approach as its Portal 2 predecessor, and provides a really cool behind the scenes look at the game’s development.

If you’re a Mass Effect fan, and you haven’t completely written off the series following the horrid ending of Mass Effect 3, you should give this app a look. New iPad owners should be aware that like most magazine-like apps out there right now, “The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3″ has yet to be optimized for the Retina Display. Some text looks pretty pixelated compared to the ultra-crisp text found in Retina-ready apps.

Seriously though, that ending. Yeesh.

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In case there’s still a person out there who is shocked by the runaway success of the Angry Birds series, secure your monocle and try this news on for size: According to a recent tweet from Rovio, Angry Birds Space has been downloaded over ten million times in three days. Now, before you go multiplying that ten million by ninety nine cents, consider that Rovio has been historically vague with the platforms their download figures are from. Angry Birds Space launched as a 99¢ iPhone version, a $2.99 iPad version, and a free ad-supported Android version. Free versions of anything seem to be downloaded exponentially more than apps with a price tag, so it doesn’t seem that far out there to assume that a hefty chunk of those downloads came from the Android side of the fence, but still.

If you still haven’t downloaded Angry Birds Space for whatever reason, check out our review. The game is seriously just phenomenal, and as I’ve spent more time with the game I’ve been having an absolute blast attempting to three star the 99¢ IAP “Danger Zone” ultra-difficult levels. If anyone from Rovio is reading this, please keep releasing level packs like this. Heck, make ‘em more difficult, I dare you.

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