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The AppStore being the bottomless font of creativity and innovation that it is, developers are constantly finding new ways to engage us with our devices. Tactility is a big draw card here, with simple concepts such as Fruit Ninja proving a hit thanks to the very cool way that we interface with the game. Brainium Studios provided another example of something fresh earlier this year, but their game was pulled due to a new publishing arrangement. Thankfully, it has now re-emerged as Hand of Greed – dodge the blade! [AppStore].

Hand of Greed is an avoidance game with a twist, forcing you to literally put your hand in the hornet's nest. Where Fruit Ninja had you do the slicing and dicing, Hand of Greed makes you the subject of the slashing– tasked with avoiding the whirling on-screen blades to collect each level's treasures simply by tapping on them. Each time you unsuccessfully jab at a target, the screen is caked with blood and a gut-wrenching stabbing sound emanates from the device, along with a sharp vibrate.

There are 50 levels overall in Hand of Greed spanning over 5 differently themed worlds. Each level is beautifully rendered, with the exceptionally crafted blades stealing the show and occupying most of the screen real estate. This is especially true of the latter levels, where you'll have to face off against a number of wicked looking knives that you certainly will not find in the kitchen.

Each level provides several wave of different treasures to collect, with bonus points awarded for collecting chains of like-treasures. The object of each level is to clear it in its entirety without being sliced more than three times. To help, power-ups are slowly introduced along the way, and provide benefits such as refilling portions of your life bubble located at the top of the screen. They're sorely needed too, as Hand of Greed features a sharp incline (pun intended) in difficulty that requires you to study closely each blade's pattern or face being shredded instead.

Scores are accumulated at the end of each level and high scores recorded on the OpenFeint leaderboards. There are also 17 achievements to unlock, with most of them remaining secret until discovered to further up the ante.

It's a winning formula that is as simple as it is effective. Though there's not a lot of depth to the game, it's a terrific time waster that should keep you occupied for a long while, largely thanks to its gruelling difficulty (which may very well be too much for some). Just don't show it off to anyone with a queasy stomach or penchant for fainting at the sight of blood.

App Store Link: Hand of Greed – dodge the blade!, $0.99.

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At first glance you might dismiss Domino's Adventure [App Store] as being just another generic Rolando knock-off, and that's understandable as they do share similarities in look and gameplay. But beneath the surface lies a brilliantly designed platform experience that admittedly draws influence from many different areas, but melds them together in a way that's uniquely its own. An incredibly fun physics system, simple controls and a demanding test of your dexterity combine to make Domino's Adventure a pleasure to play. It's a pretty short ride, but at only 99¢ it's definitely one worth taking.

The protagonist, Domino, is a circular alien that has crash landed on Earth and must traverse 20 increasingly difficult levels to get back to his lost spaceship. Left and right arrows in the lower corner of the screen roll the character in either direction, while simple jump and spike buttons sit in the opposite corner. Which corners these controls are located in can be configured in the options. There's tilt controls available if you choose, but I far preferred the virtual touch controls. Domino jumps higher the longer you press down, and the spike button gives him a pointy circumference for clinging to walls and ceilings.

It's certainly taking a page out of Rolando's book, especially in regards to the Royal Spikey Commando character, but never comes across as a malicious rip-off. If anything, it's merely because these particular gameplay mechanics are so solid and entertaining. Any feelings of déjà vu are quickly forgotten anyway once you start making your way through the exciting level designs.

The physics in the game have a floaty and fun feel, and make for some pretty crazy experiences. For example, you may encounter a series of planks standing on end, set up like dominoes. You'll need to jump into them, knocking them down onto each other creating a bridge for you to cross. Even better are the many instances that have you knocking one of those planks over onto a line of rotating gears which propel the plank forward while you ride it like a surfboard, reminiscent of something from a Super Mario Bros. game. Each level is progressively more difficult and cleverly designed, and I found myself constantly being surprised with each new one.

It's very casual-friendly, with unlimited lives and checkpoints spread throughout the game. At the end of each level it tells you how many lives you used, the time it took to beat, and how many of the 5 gold stars you collected. Sadly, it doesn't do anything with these stats, and the game is just begging for some sort of online leaderboard or achievement implementation. There is incentive to collect the stars as you can unlock three more skins for Domino at set star intervals, but unfortunately nothing extra happens when you collect all 100. I'd really like to see something special if you can beat every level with just one life, which would be quite a task for anyone to complete.

I'm happy to say that Domino's Adventure is only “inspired by” like games, and not some dreadful rip-off. It feels like a lot of love went into it, and it turned out to be so much fun that I was sad when it came to an end. You can expect to get a few hours or so of playtime completing all the levels and collecting every star, which isn't bad but leaves you wanting more. There's just something so enjoyable about playing, I'm really hoping for some more levels sometime in the future. Still, there's more than 99¢ worth of entertainment in what's already here and if you enjoy platforming games like Rolando, Soosiz or Bounce On, don't miss out on Domino's Adventure.

App Store Link: Domino's Adventure, 99¢

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It seems that Freebie Friday is spilling in to the weekend, with another set of games to download. The games from yesterday will likely still be free for a little while, so be sure to grab those as well as the following four games:

Chop Chop Runner

The ninja from Chop Chop Ninja [99¢ / Free] is back in this fast-paced single-button sidescroller. See how far you can go while unlocking a hand full of achievements and finally submitting your best scores to the game's OpenFeint-powered online leaderboards.

StickBound

Another see how far you can go to the right platforming game, StickBound has an interesting control mechanic where instead of jumping you're using some kind of intergalactic pole to pole vault across the platforms that make up the game. Where you touch to aim your pole controls how far you jump and where you end up. It takes a bit of getting used to, but is a lot of fun once you do. StickBound also comes loaded with OpenFeint leaderboards.

Tune Runner

Appy Entertainment's Tune Runner is also free for a limited time. This rhythm game puts you in control of Groov-EE, a robotic boom box of sorts and the game generates levels for any song in your iTunes library with shapes for you to trace to keep Groov-EE dancing. Each song also has its own online leaderboard, and it's fun to see which songs have the most in-game competition online.

Mini Golf Wacky Worlds Free

This mini golf game, as the title may indicate, is fairly wacky. 45 holes are included and each one comes with obstacles such as snow, lava, cheese, police helicopters, and all kinds of other strange things. This is a new ad-supported version of the game, but there's also the ad-free Mini Golf Wacky Worlds [$2.99] if the advertisements bother you. Otherwise, if you can put up with some ads, this is the full game.

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When we first reviewed Alive 4-Ever back in August 2009, we were thoroughly impressed to see a top-down dual-stick shooter finally delivering both the depth and breadth of content that the genre was really calling for. Since then, we have seen an explosion of dual-stick shooters, with only few really exceeding or even matching the standard set by developer Meridian. Fortunately, the release of Meridian's sequel, Alive 4-Ever RETURNS [AppStore] gives us another look at just how a dual-stick shooter should be delivered.

Alive 4-Ever RETURNS introduces 4 new characters who were fortunate enough to escape the infection that seemed to zombify the planet. The storyline (very) loosely ties in their adventure to the gameplay, providing a short bit of context at the beginning of each level. Meridian have completely overhauled the original game engine, bringing each of the new levels to life with 3D props to give both a sense of depth to the world, and also new obstacles to navigate. If we had to distill just one memorable feature of the original engine, it would undoubtedly be the bloody mess left over at the end of each level. Alive 4-Ever RETURNS amazingly improves on this, adding what must be 10 pints of blood to each zombie you mow down, spraying from each lifeless victim in a satisfying (masochistic) manner.

The whopping 40 new levels in Alive 4-Ever RETURNS are also grislier than their original counterparts. Overall, the mood is darker, there is far more environmental eye-candy, and some of the levels are just downright cool to play through (loved tackling zombies on the football pitch!). Together with the standard mission-based challenges of the first game there is also a self-explanatory Survival Mode and new take on gameplay in the form of Horde mode. In this mode you face wave after wave of increasingly difficult zombies, trying to get through as many waves as possible, with your life and ammo replenished after each wave by spawned items. Each of the new game modes puts you in the role of the character from your challenge mode, meaning they can be revisited each time your character grows to attempt greater feats.

And just as in the first title, there is an impressive laundry list of customization available to your character. The attribute points, equipment slots and the huge armory of weapons featured in Alive 4-Ever make a return, joined by a new skills system. Skills are on-screen button-activated abilities that are made available at certain levels, and give powerful, temporary (but re-usable) boosts to your character. There are 13 skills available which effect anything from health boosts to weapon damage increases, with only 4 slots for skills unlocked as your character progresses. Together with the menu-driven customization, Alive 4-Ever RETURNS also includes a number of new in-game pickups to help you out of tight spots; our favorite easily being the room-clearing dual-wielded handguns, with the new grenade pickups coming in a close second.

Many of the features that made the original great make a return here too, with bonus challenges driving the main source of weapon unlocks and fiercesome, large-scaled boss enemies interspersed throughout the challenge missions. We're also pleased to see that WiFi driven 4-player co-op (with Bluetooth co-op coming in the next update) has been included in the sequel, a feature that was added to the original several months after its release. Competitive types and completionists alike will be pleased to know that the game also makes use of the OpenFeint platform to deliver a full suite of achievements and leaderboards for each of the game modes.

Alive 4-Ever RETURNS is a faithful zombie-massacring sequel, offering a similar experience to the original title albeit in greater quantity and quality. A number of improvements to both the engine and the gameplay itself have solidified Alive 4-Ever RETURNS as much more than just a content update, with some thoughtful touches such as zooming out to see the battlefield when you're not firing or how the gun sounds amplify when a power-up is active really shows how Meridian has really fine-tuned this release. Alive 4-Ever RETURNS is easily recommended for dual-stick shooter fans, and a must-have for fans of the original game. There is an enormous amount of content to shoot through here and the levels themselves are challenging, terrific to explore and look great with a whole heap of zombie blood smeared over them.

Be sure to check out the gameplay trailer above which highlights the new additions to the sequel. So far, comments from our readers in our forums have shown their overwhelming enthusiasm for the sequel and its new features.

App Store Link: Alive 4-Ever RETURNS, $1.99 (Introductory sale until first update).

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There's been a number of games released on the App Store featuring mainstream music acts such as Lady Gaga, Metallica and Coldplay. So it didn't really come as much of a surprise to see Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion arrive over the weekend. What does come as a surprise however is that this isn't rhythm-based like most other music games, but rather a side-scrolling beat-em-up of sorts with a heavy focus on social networking. It sounds strange, and it kind of is, but it's also quite refreshing to see something other than the expected. The result ends up being more of an interesting experience, rather than a solid game.

The story has you helping each of the six members of Linkin Park to find their stolen music track. Once all tracks have been found, they complete an exclusive new Linkin Park song which will save the world… or something like that. You'll travel through the seven different locations in the game talking to different characters for clues and performing menial tasks that eventually lead you to each track. The gameplay is a bit shallow and repetitious, and incredibly easy. Battling enemies is done by merely mashing an action button, but there are some pretty cool weapon upgrades to help spice it up a little.

During play you'll collect coins from defeated enemies which can be spent in the shops spread throughout the seven game settings. You can buy gear for your avatar or furniture and decorations for your apartment. There's a heavy focus on this collection and customization aspect, and there's lots of different items for you to buy in the game. 8 Bit Rebellion does a great job of providing fan service with this, and the real life artwork and posters of Linkin Park albums can be adorned on your apartment walls. Even better are the music tracks in the game, which are familiar Linkin Park songs that have been given the 8-bit treatment. I'm not the biggest fan of Linkin Park, but I couldn't help but enjoy the retro versions of their songs. There's eight songs in total, and during the game you'll unlock all the original versions of them as well so you can compare them to the 8-bit remakes.

What really shines about this game is the online component. You're constantly connected while playing, and you'll see the avatars of players from around the world walking around inside of your game. At any time you can tap on one which brings up a menu to check out their profile, “poke” them á la Facebook, or even engage in real time chat with them. It's fun to see these people roaming around, and I've already run across some familiar usernames from people in our forums. Each level even has a bulletin board where anyone can post a message for all to see. Full Facebook and Twitter integration are included so you can post various game accomplishments and search out friends. If none of this sounds appealing to you, the entire game can be played just fine offline.

If you're a fan of Linkin Park, you'll likely get a lot of enjoyment from playing through 8-Bit Rebellion. The gameplay is a little too simplistic for serious gamers, but it can still be fairly entertaining at times. It's almost as if River City Ransom, Zombieville and Facebook decided to make a game based on their love for Linkin Park. In reality it feels like the type of game that actually would be played on a social network like Facebook. If this sounds interesting to you, you're definitely getting a high quality experience that's been designed beautifully to suit the iPhone interface. If you're not a huge fan of the band, however, 8-Bit Rebellion may just be a little too flimsy to hold your attention.

App Store Link: Linkin Park 8-bit Rebellion!, $4.99, Linkin Park 8-bit Rebellion! iPad Edition, $4.99

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For those of you who had issues installing Espgaluda II onto your 3rd Gen iPod Touches, the new update now fixes that. Along with a few other bugs being fixed:

- Fixed install error for 3rd generation iPod touch
- Fixed issue where sound does not play when receiving a call
- Fixed issue where save data is not saved under certain conditions
- Fixed issue where some achievements do not unlock due to data not being
saved.

The game is a bullet hell-style shooter by Cave Co. that we reviewed earlier this month and really loved.

However, due to the number of projectiles in the game, Espgaluda II requires a 3rd generation device. This includes the iPhone 3GS, 3rd Generation iPod Touch and even the iPad (works great even in pixel doubled mode).

In addition to releasing an update to the full version, a free Lite version is now available to try out to see how you like the game. It is also suggested that you install the Lite version to confirm that the game is compatible with your device.

Compared to the full version, the Lite version only includes the first stage, one character, one difficulty mode, and OpenFeint is not integrated.

Here is a video of the game in action:

App Store Link: Espgaluda II, $8.99, Espgaluda II Lite, Free (Both games; 3GS, 3rd Gen iPod Touch or Pixel-Doubled on iPad only)

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Late last year we reviewed MiniSquadron, a 2D, side-scrolling aerial combat game that we thoroughly enjoyed and was a hit with our readers. Developers MrFungFung have followed up their original title with a content-rich sequel, MiniSquadron Special Edition [AppStore].

Gameplay in the new MiniSquadron Special Edition is identical to that in the original game, so instead of reiterating what we originally reviewed, we'll just cover what has been added.

Primarily, the fee structure has changed. MiniSquadron Special Edition is now a free to download game, offering the first two levels for free and including the remaining 6 levels in the form of 3 separate level packs for $0.99 each. Each level contains waves of progressively harder enemies that you must defeat to continue. Essentially this adds to the same $2.99 price of the first game, but it should now be more accessible to those who never got around to giving the original MiniSquadron a try.

Content-wise, there are a whopping 50+ new aircraft to unlock, which also introduce the helicopter to your squadron ranks. As expected, the helicopter can hover and brings greater manoeuvrability and control. More than that though, it changes up the gameplay you're more than familiar with by now and gives a fresh perspective on how to tackle each of the 8 new levels. MiniSquadron Special Edition also features 2 new power-ups, Freeze and Rapid Fire (which can both be used against you, too) and are rather self-explanatory. Also included is a new fireball weapon-type that is unlocked for certain aircraft.

As in the previous version, the handcrafted levels are all individually themed (you can take your dogfighting into space to fly amongst aliens, or to the arctics to play with penguins) and really present a terrific backdrop to the frantic flying action. There is still a Classic mode (which offers waves of individual challenges per level) and a Survival mode to play through. MiniSquadron Special Edition also allows for Network play via WiFi.

We're a bit disappointed that our biggest wish for the first version hasn't been provided. There is no online multiplayer, and network play is restricted to 1 v 1 battles only– overlooking the opportunity for this game to really shine by offering dogfighting between several players at once.

If you are a big fan of the first Minisquadron, then MiniSquadron Special Edition will be an obvious must-buy for you. The gameplay is identical despite the new additions, so essentially you're purchasing additional levels and a large number of new plane unlocks. We're sad that there is no expanded multiplayer functionality, as it would have offered something fresh for those that had their MiniSquadron fill in the original title.

This doesn't seem to have discouraged our forum readers though, who are already expressing their enthusiasm for the sequel on our forums.

App Store Link: MiniSquadron Special Edition, Free (With 3 In-App Level Packs for $0.99 each).

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NimbleBit is holding another Freebie Friday on April 23rd, this time the free game being offered is their newest release, Dizzypad for the iPhone. It's already gone free for those of you who want to jump on it early.

We gave Dizzypad 4 stars back in February for being a fun casual game.

The goal is to simply get as far as you can while jumping from lily pad to lily pad. Each lily pad is spinning in place, and a well timed tap on the screen will launch you forward. The trick is to wait until you are facing the right direction and off you go. Sounds simple, eh?

In addition to making their iPhone version of Dizzypad free for the day, Nimblebit has announced that Dizzypad is coming to the iPad as well. The iPad version of Dizzypad will be freemium, where you will get the classic game mode, 30 unlockable frog skins, and plus+ with awards and leaderboards included. In addition, there will also be three new game modes available to purchase through DLC for $1.99 each:

Sliders: A fun twist on the classic mode. Test your timing with pads that slide back and forth instead of rotating in place!
Memory: Be a froggy matchmaker and test your memory by picking frog pairs. Guaranteed to sharpen your wits!
Battle: Duke it out on the pond with a friend in this 2 player mode! Try your best to gobble each other up until your frog grows the largest.

Dizzypad for the iPad has already been submitted, so expect to see it soon in the AppStore.

Here's a video of the iPhone version in action:

App Store Link: Dizzy Pad, Free (Today Only)

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Admittedly, I seem to be behind the times when it comes to modern-day board games. So when Gameloft announced the release of Blokus [AppStore], it barely registered on my radar, despite its award winning table-top origins.

For anyone else in my position (though I'm sure the majority of you are better informed) a description of Blokus is warranted. A colorful, tetris-like affair, Blokus has you competing against other players to cover more of the board in your tiles than can. The trick is that you have at your disposal 21 differently shaped tiles, which can only connect at the corners– no adjacent or touching tiles are allowed of your own color or the move is invalid. Each player takes it in turn to play one tile, until players are eventually eliminated by being unable to play a valid turn. Squares are then counted up, with the player owning the most tiles on the board claiming victory.

It's a simple process that evidently has an enormous amount of strategic value for those wishing to understand the nuts and bolts of the gameplay and really get good. Fortunately for the uninitiated, Gameloft have compiled a set of single-player tournaments to teach you the basic strategies and handling of the game. The controls are smartly designed and easy to learn– tiles are twisted and flipped with intuitive swiping and rotational gestures, and are picked up by simply tapping the tiles in the bottom tray. After mastering the controls, the rest of the single player Tournament mode introduces a number of gameplay variations to keep things interesting, including the two player board game variant, Blokus Duo.

While the single player Tournament mode is challenging enough, offering 6 cups to unlock scaling up to the Legend difficulty, Multiplayer is where the game appears to shine. I say appears because at the time of this writing, I came across no games to join, nor were any that I created populated. This was really a shame, as it is clear that a game as rich in strategy as Blokus supporting up to 4 players simply needs to be played competitively. Gameloft have done a great job facilitating the multiplayer element of Blokus too, offering both an Online mode (WiFi and 3G supported) and a Network mode to connect to your friends.

If you're a fan of the board game, you won't need me to tell you that this is a game that really gets you thinking. You'll soon learn through lots of trial and error (and cursing, as your opponent deftly blocks your entire gameplan) just when and how a particular piece should be played, or how to shut down a particularly aggressive opposing player. It's a great looking, quick-paced game that is perfectly suited to the App Store, and shouldn't require much thought to pick up for those interested in strategic and competitive multiplayer puzzlers.

Here's hoping that more people get on board the online multiplayer system!

App Store Link: Blokus, $4.99.

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The Muteki Corporation, creators of Topple 2 [99¢ / Free] and The Battle of Pirate Bay [99¢ / Free] had a new game hit the App Store recently, Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia [iPhone: Free / iPad: $1.99]. Similar to Adult Swim's free online flash game, Robot Unicorn Attack, Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia is a high-scoring endurance games where players play as a dragon running across the countryside capable of jumping, briefly gliding, and smashing through walls depending on which side of the screen you touch.

Scoring high involves picking up meat, burning every town you come across, and most importantly, not dying. As you get farther and farther your dragon runs even faster, creating a slow but steady difficulty curve. There are also a bundle of Plus+ achievements to unlock, and the entire game is set to some awesome rock music.

The iPhone version is completely free, with a brief interstitial ad (currently for Bing.com) between loading the game and playing. If you want the HD iPad version, be prepared to fork out two bucks for basically the same game with higher resolution graphics.

Sure, Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia is a little on the simple side, but I have a hard time complaining about a fun free game that helps me pad my Plus+ gamer score.

App Store Links: iPhone: Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia, Free – iPad: Super Jetpack Dragon IV: Village Burntopia HD, $1.99

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