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At the beginning of last month we learned that developer Godzilab was currently in the process of making a sequel to their 2009 hit physics puzzler iBlast Moki [$2.99/HD]. iBlast Moki 2 will feature similar bomb-blasting physics gameplay as the first game but with many new level elements and Moki characters, as well as an improved level editor.

Since our first post about iBlast Moki 2, Godzilab has posted additional screens and new information about the game on their Facebook page. One nugget of information they divulge is that there will be many new Mokis, including this little yellow guy on the right who the developer notes is from the Steam World levels in the game.

Another new element, the pink paint bomb, is shown in the gameplay screen below on the left. The paint bomb will blast its insides all over the ground, creating a rubbery surface for the Moki to bounce off of. In the gameplay screen on the right, you can see a mechanical structure which will move a rudimentary vehicle carrying a couple of cute little Mokis (click images to enlarge):

One of the most exciting new prospects of iBlast Moki 2 is the revamped level editor. Godzilab has improved the editor by adding new features like curves, joints, and many other new elements for even greater flexibility in creating levels. As a testament to how robust the level editor is, they admit that every level in this new game was actually created using the same level editor that will ship with the final product.

Being such a huge fan of the original iBlast Moki, it’s getting pretty painful having to sustain myself on these little tidbits of information that Godzilab keeps trickling out. I’m dying to get my hands on the final game, which they are hoping to have out sometime this Summer, though nothing is concrete. There’s an active thread in our forums for discussing iBlast Moki 2 as we all impatiently wait for the release, hopefully sooner rather than later.

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Lavafish Studios' Squirmee and the Puzzling Tree [99¢] might look like another iteration on the tried and true one-screen puzzle game action of the App Store, but even though it initially follows the formula, it quickly turns into a brutally difficult game that will tax your brain and force you to rework your inner circuits to get through it.

You play as Squirmee, a blob-ish thing with the power to manipulate your environment as you attempt to rescue your sister from the top of a tree. To do so, you'll need to move along a track to get to a star at the end, the quicker you do so, the more stars you're awarded.

While it might not make sense until you've actually played it, Squirmee and the Puzzling Tree is a lot like Super Meat Boy flipped on its head. Instead of controlling an avatar, you're controlling the environment, but the same perfectly timed actions are required.

What sets Squirmee apart is its intuitive, albeit slightly complex control scheme. Each of the objects in the game – whether it's the buzz saws, the platform you travel on, the enemies, or the globs of goo – are color-coded. Each color behaves differently depending on the gesture you use. Some stop when you touch the screen or only move when you're not touching the screen, while others can be rewound with a touch and a slide. Each color has its own pattern and reacts depending on how you gesture. Because of the rewind slide, the universal app works a little better on iPad, but once you get the hang of the controls, both work well.

That's all well and good while you're working with only one or two colors, but when the game starts throwing three or four iterations at you, it becomes an incredibly complex, often brutal experience. That's not a bad thing by any means, but consider it a fair warning. Squirmee requires not just multi-tasking, but the ability to see multiple core game concepts at once and utilize them to get through a level. You'll often be required to stop time for a moment, flip it back and reverse it the next, all while keeping an eye on the buzz saw that only moves when you don't touch the screen. It's brilliant in much of its level design, but it's unforgiving in its difficulty.

Thankfully, the game features a skip button that lets you bypass frustrating levels. You'll be able to get through and experience most of the 75 levels even if you get stuck, provided you can at least beat the boss at the end of each level. It might seem like a cop-out, but Squirmee isn't as accessible as it might look, so the skip button is a conceit that works well here. It's a good thing controls work well as the game's frustrations don't stem from the feeling you're getting cheated, it's all about you and your ability to master each screen.

There's no cliché more apt as a description for Squirmee than "looks can be deceiving". The cartoon graphics and collect-three-stars system might sound like an indicator for simplicity, but the game complicates things quickly. It's by no means a bad thing, but it's certainly something to be aware of. Cartoon graphics aside, this is not your typical physics based puzzle game. There is full Game Center support for leaderboards, but it only tracks your time on each of the three worlds as a whole instead of each level. It might have been nice if the leaderboards included each stage, just to add a bit of an award system to keep you moving along.

If you've been itching for a complex, difficult puzzle game, you won't find much better in the App Store, but be forewarned, there is a reasonable chance you'll be tossing it across the room by the end of it.

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All of my two-wheel racing experience resides in that one Moto GP game that came on the Xbox Live demo disc. Because I couldn’t compete, I drove backwards around the tracks while making funny noises over the microphone. I’m not so sure that I’ll be able to rekindle those times in Polish developer Vivid Games’ Speedway GP 2011 for iOS, but it sure does look like a sharp title that strokes all the right notes of a proper simulation racing game.

That was all build-up to get to the point of telling you that Vivid shot us over some fresh images of the racing title. Also, I wanted to give you a release date: August 25th for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad.

As its namesake implies, Speedway GP 2011 is a BSI Speeday game, kinda like how Madden is an NFL game. It’ll launch with, as you see, some pretty hot visuals and, of course, realistic physics. The craziest thing I’ve learned so far while checking out the pre-release intel is that these racers don’t use brakes, nor will you be able to. Yeah, I know. Wild!

Speedway GP 2011 will also launch with 11 stadiums, a “full roster of statistics” and real-time stat-tracking of the Speedway Grand Prix. There’s another app on the App Store that appears to have your back on that, too, if you’re especially interested.

Stay tuned for some more in-depth coverage as the game races (huh, huh!?) to the App Store a little later next month.

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Excuse the e-drool, but we’re quickly falling in love with the concepts behind Namco Bandai’s forthcoming Doodle Jump-ish vertical-scrolling platformer, Heli-Awesome. In addition to rocking a fascinatingly beautiful title, the game can boast the following features: spiders with helicopter hats, worms with helicopter hats, a colorful hand drawn-looking world, big and vibrant balls, and even floating pigs.

It’s like Namco Bandai broke into our skulls (or something), pillaged them, and then spit out our feverish video game ideas / dreams into a single title. Thanks, guys!

If you’re interested in hearing some spectacularly light specifics, I can satisfy those interests. Namco has told us that the game will launch this Thursday, July 27, with several levels to play in, as well as variety to characters to control. It’ll also be able to boast both Game Center and Open Feint support for all your service-based needs. Yep. That's all we know at the moment.

But, obviously, we’ll be keeping our eyes on this one as it releases this Thursday. You’ll be able to grab it at $.99, which seems like a steal for a game that has spiders that wear helicopter helmets on their butts. I mean, really. What a great idea.

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A free version of everyone’s favorite view-locked, Space Invader-y shooter starting a raptor with spider legs, Velocispider [$.99], is getting a free version soon. Creator Retro Dreamer blogged about it earlier this afternoon, announcing that it’s currently traveling through Apple’s certification bowels. This free version will include all of the content of the paid, premium version with the exception that it’s free-to-play.

This means that it’ll feature all the same levels and the Game Center achievements functionality that was just added in an update a few days ago. It won’t, however, share Game Center leader boards with its other iteration — according to Retro, the service doesn’t allow for that kind of connectivity.

You know how we said that we’d love to get our hands on more iCade titles? Well, both of these versions will support iCade in the future. Velocispider Zero will right out of the box, while the premium version will receive its own support in an update that’s currently clearing certification. Neat!

Velocispider is an exceedingly awesome game, so definitely check out our review if you’re interested in the game, or hey, just the concept behind it. And really, who isn’t?

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The most recent update to Two Worlds II Castle Defense [$4.99 / Lite/ HD / HD Lite] for the iPad is as curious as the fact that the game is even receiving updates, considering that it’s a weak tie-in title for a niche, PC-focused RPG series. But anyway, the overhead strategy game has just received head-tracking by the way of the iPad 2’s front-facing camera. According to a press release, the title now recognizes the position of your 'eyes' and changes the perspective of the in-game camera accordingly.

The example that’s being throw around for its application are, simply, corners. Apparently, you’ll now be able to see around them — if you’re playing the game with an iPad 2 and move around your head as the tracking demands.

“Right now we are adapting the system for more platforms like PC or Mac and will also present some challenging 3D surprises within the next couple of months,” TopWare Interactive’s CEO, Dirk Hassinger, said in a statement.

This update is, of course, free, but this technology support has even been added to the Lite version of the title. So, if you want to give it a spin and haven’t taken the plunge, you can for the price of $0, which seems fair. I’d also like to add that we’re now one or two steps closer to Judgement Day.

[Via Joystiq]

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Battleheart [$2.99], as charming and as entertaining as it is, is sorta a one-and-done game — you beat it, appreciate it, and then you move on. Creator Mika Mobile, however, is attempting to rope us (and maybe even some new folks) back in with an update that's currently worming its way through Apple approval as I write this post. The coolest and most surprising addition in the update is the introduction of two new classes: the Paladin and the Ranger. Two new classes!

As their names imply, the two will specialize in tanking and healing and hardcore damage at range, respectively. In a post on our forums, Mika Mobile expanded on this, adding that the goal was to make the Paladin a special kind of tank, as she sacrifices offensive entirely in service of healing the party and herself. The Ranger, in addition to being able to handle mobs, will also be able to direct enemies into the tank.

Tweaks are coming in this update, too, of course. The Barbarian has been re-tuned to be as powerful as the other specialized classes; if you complete a level with fewer characters, the remaining members will get a larger share of experience points; the spell Mortal Wounds has been replaced with “a cool … skill” called Bloodthirsty; and enemy healers will, thankfully, have finite mana going forward.

There’s more to see on the tweak front by taking a gander at the post.

Battleheart is easily one of the most enjoyable RPG-like battle games available on iOS, so definitely give our review a read if you somehow missed it. Man, I can’t wait to drop my other, less-new ranged dudes for a Ranger.

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One of our favorite object avoidance games, Chaotic Boxes’ spectacularly flashy Silverfish [$1.99], is set to be released in HD on the iPad this Thursday, July 28. This new version of the game, dubbed Silverfish Max, will include all the content of the iPhone version we liked quite a bit, but it will also boast a new thing: iCade controller support.

Provided the implementation of the support is sound, the iCade controls should really pump up the experience. Silverfish is a super colorful, psychedelic, hectic, and particle-effect-laden game, just like one of its obvious inspiration, the Geometry Wars series, is as well. And like those games from their now-shuttered developer, Silverfish requires precision and speed, which is something a joystick easily provides.

But, hey, your fingers should work fine, too, if the previous game can be used as an indication of potential quality. This is the second title we’ve covered in as many days that has included iCade support. Hopefully, this is a trend. We need more quality titles for our fake little (and expensive) arcade machines.

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It's been almost a year since we looked at Neuroshima Hex [$4.99], Big Daddy's Creations first board game adaptation for iOS. Now they're back with a new hex-based board game adaptation, Army of Frogs [$1.99 / Universal HD).

If you're not familiar with the original board game, you won't be as completely lost as you might have been with Neuroshima Hex. Army of Frogs has a relatively simple ruleset. The goal is to claim territory for your color's frogs. To win, you need to string at least 7 of your frogs together, leaving no loners behind. Your competitors, 1-3 human or AI players, are trying to do the same, and they're also trying to block you from succeeding.

Each turn you can move a frog of your own, jumping as many times as you'd like in a straight line to the next free space. After that, you need to place one of two randomly selected frogs on the board. It might be yours, in which case you'll try to place it somewhere you can easily jump it to your others, or it might belong to an opponent. Then it's your job to try to place it so it can't reach its brethren.

Unfortunately, like it's older sibling Army of Frogs does a fairly poor job of introducing those rules and goals. The game includes a lot of documentation, but a playable tutorial would do a much better job. As it is, expect to flounder around for your first few games while you sort out exactly what you can and can't do, and then re-read the manual to fine-tune the details.

Once you work all that out, Army of Frogs is a lot of fun. If you have someone (or someones) to play with locally, it's a blast. Games are short but sweet, and strategic without being bogged down with complicated rules. If you don't have anyone to play with locally, you're in a bit of a bind. You can play with AI, but victories feel a bit hollow with no overarching campaign. There are Game Center achievements for beating the AI opponents, but they're quick to burn through.

You can also play online, but here Big Daddy's Creations really dropped the ball. The player base isn't yet large enough to find a game quickly, so most people start games and leave them idling while they fill. Since the game currently lacks push notifications for turns, this means most online games never actually get off the ground. I bet it will be a lot of fun to play with three other players online, but I can't say for sure. I'm still waiting for my turn to come around in every game I've joined.

Given a few tweaks, Army of Frogs could be well worth the price of admission. Until then, though, I'd caution you to only hop in if you've got someone local to play with. You'll find a well-designed game that's a lot of fun to play -- but the pond is awful lonely if you go it alone.

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If you've never heard of This American Life before, it's never too late to start listening. TAL is a radio show produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. You can listen to it by visiting their web site, subscribe in iTunes, or download the This American Life for the iPhone [$2.99] or for the iPad [$4.99]. Each show centralizes around a particular theme, which is explored over the course of an hour through various "acts" which consist of stories often told as first person narratives which are sometimes followed up with a brief interview. It's fantastic show, with a mood that varies widely depending on the topic ranging from incredibly somber to remarkably humorous, with tons of variance in between.

Why This American Life is relevant to the TouchArcade audience today is because their most recent episode, "When Patents Attack" focuses on patent trolls and does an absolutely fabulous job of demystifying all of the confusing US patent law that gives these patent holders the power to relentlessly sue so many people. Recently, Lodsys has been harassing iOS developers with patent claims on in-app purchase, as well as "more games" links inside of iOS titles, and they even get a brief mention in the show.

If you've found yourself following the various Lodsys drama but don't necessarily understand all the nitty gritty how's and why's of what's happening, you'll be totally up to speed after listening to this episode. Heck, if you like it, listen to other episodes, they're all worth your time.

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