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One man development studio Chaotic Box has released a video for his upcoming iOS release Match Panic, a followup to last year’s excellent Silverfish [$1.99/Lite]. Whereas Silverfish had a hardcore, old-school-arcade style of gameplay and a striking visual style, Match Panic appears to be on the opposite side of the spectrum with an extremely simple gameplay mechanic and an overly cutesy style.

One thing the two games seem to actually have in common though is a frantic pace and a focus on high scoring. As you can see in the video below, gameplay involves sorting an incoming lineup of sprites to their designated side of the screen. The line moves as fast as you’re able to sort, so it’s in your best interest to move quickly if you’re shooting for a high score. Sometimes you'll need to match more than one image per side, and there's special items and a multiplier aspect involved as well.

Match Panic has already been submitted to Apple and is due out in the next few weeks. It will come equipped with Game Center achievements and leaderboards and a dozen unlockable characters. The gameplay may look incredibly simplistic, but sometimes it’s the simple games that have the deepest hooks, and I haven't seen this particular type of gameplay on iOS before. Plus, I’m a total sucker for cute pixel art.

You can drop by the thread in our forums for Match Panic discussion and we’ll be sure to check out this title when it hits the App Store soon.

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Remember last week when we posted a set of borderline unbelievable looking screenshots for Madfinger's upcoming Shadowgun? I admit, even I was skeptical about whether or not this game would look anything like this when it's actually running on a device. Two videos recently appeared with the game running on a Tegra 2-based Android device, give 'em a look:

If this is how the game runs on Tegra 2 devices, I can't wait to see it running on the iPad 2 which is a graphical beast in comparison. Madfinger has committed to releasing the game on the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, and of course, whatever the iPhone 5 is called. No word yet on older devices. If this all sounds interesting to you (and I don't know why it wouldn't), stop by the thread on our forums where people from Madfinger are actively posting and answering questions.

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We’re back! In this week's episode, The Bearded One, Jared Nelson, talks up Bumpy Road, Touchgrind BMX, and Mos Speedrun. Eli Hodapp discusses cat games, and I deliver some details about the Infinity Blade update and the third episode of Back to the Future. We also delve into the i3D thing, as well the Minecraft-coming-to-Android story that made the rounds before closing out the hour.

You can grab the podcast on iTunes now if you like, or you can download the raw file or stream the new podcast just below via the handy-dandy link. I encourage you to go ahead and subscribe to us if you're going to do the former. We'll be spitting out pods all over the place from that feed. Starting now, you'll get TouchArcade Show every Friday and fun interviews and other content as well.

In a nutshell, The TouchArcade Show, is an offbeat joint about iOS video games and the staff of this web site. I want to give you more insight into who we are and how that informs our writing. But, I also want to give you something fun to listen to if you’re into new iOS releases, hot iOS scoops, and the occasional phallus, or angry boss joke.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes or Direct Download (MP3, 38MB)

Overall, there’s a lot of fun discussion, but we were missing a key component: you. If you’d like to give us some feedback — whether it’s a question, a comment, a terrible pun, or whatever — throw us an e-mail at podcast@toucharcade.com. You can also reach us via the Twitter and the Facebook, and if that doesn’t float your boat, you can also reach us in the comments of this post OR via our phone line. The number is +1-951-922-5582 or 951-9-CALL-TA.

The phone line, actually, is something fun we'd like to focus on in the future. If you're too lazy to write an e-mail, send us a call and we'll play it on the show and then respond to your comment or question. I stress, though, that you need to be using good equipment if you want to be featured in future episodes. We can't just throw up any old .mp3 from someone's jank handset.

So, yeah, feel free tell us what you think, what you’d like us to talk about in the next episode, or give us a question. We welcome it all. Also, enjoy!

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We’re back! In this week's episode, The Bearded One, Jared Nelson, talks up Bumpy Road, Touchgrind BMX, and Mos Speedrun. Eli Hodapp discusses cat games, and I deliver some details about the Infinity Blade update and the third episode of Back to the Future. We also delve into the i3D thing, as well the Minecraft-coming-to-Android story that made the rounds before closing out the hour.

You can grab the podcast on iTunes now if you like, or you can download the raw file or stream the new podcast just below via the handy-dandy link. I encourage you to go ahead and subscribe to us if you're going to do the former. We'll be spitting out pods all over the place from that feed. Starting now, you'll get TouchArcade Show every Friday and fun interviews and other content as well.

In a nutshell, The TouchArcade Show, is an offbeat joint about iOS video games and the staff of this web site. I want to give you more insight into who we are and how that informs our writing. But, I also want to give you something fun to listen to if you’re into new iOS releases, hot iOS scoops, and the occasional phallus, or angry boss joke.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes or Direct Download (MP3, 38MB)

Overall, there’s a lot of fun discussion, but we were missing a key component: you. If you’d like to give us some feedback — whether it’s a question, a comment, a terrible pun, or whatever — throw us an e-mail at podcast@toucharcade.com. You can also reach us via the Twitter and the Facebook, and if that doesn’t float your boat, you can also reach us in the comments of this post OR via our phone line. The number is +1-951-922-5582 or 951-9-CALL-TA.

The phone line, actually, is something fun we'd like to focus on in the future. If you're too lazy to write an e-mail, send us a call and we'll play it on the show and then respond to your comment or question. I stress, though, that you need to be using good equipment if you want to be featured in future episodes. We can't just throw up any old .mp3 from someone's jank handset.

So, yeah, feel free tell us what you think, what you’d like us to talk about in the next episode, or give us a question. We welcome it all. Also, enjoy!

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It’s been awhile since you’ve heard our dulcet tones. April 2010 marks the last time we’ve blasted out a podcast for mass earhole consumption. But, I’m not writing this post to lament this little fact. Nah; actually, I'm revved to announce that this long period of unbearable Internet radio silence is over — we’re back with a new pod', a new name, and a fresh cast to entertain you. Or tickle you. Or something.

You can grab the podcast on iTunes now (or as soon as iTunes updates our podcast feed, anyway) if you like, or you can download the raw file or stream the new podcast just below via the handy-dandy link. I encourage you to go ahead and subscribe to us if you're going to do the former. We'll be spitting out pods all over the place from that feed. You'll get TouchArcade Show every Friday and fun interviews and other content as well.

In a nutshell, The TouchArcade Show is an offbeat podcast about iOS video games and the staff of this lovely web site. I want to give you more insight into who we are and how that informs our writing. I also want to give you something fun to listen to if you’re into new iOS releases, hot iOS scoops, and the occasional phallus, or angry boss joke.

This week’s episode, by the way, has a lot of content about fresh releases. The Bearded One, Jared Nelson, talks up Bumpy Road, Touchgrind BMX, and Mos Speedrun. Eli talks about some cat games, and I deliver some details about the new Infinity Blade update and the third episode of Back to the Future. We also delve into the i3D thing, as well the Minecraft-coming-to-Android story that made the rounds before closing out the hour.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes or Direct Download (MP3, 38MB)

Overall, there’s a lot of fun discussion, but we were missing a key component: you. If you’d to give us some feedback — whether it’s a question, a comment, a terrible pun, or whatever — throw us an e-mail at podcast@toucharcade.com. You can also reach us via the Twitter and the Facebook, and if that doesn’t float your boat, you can also reach us in the comments of this post OR via our phone line. The number is +1-951-922-5582 or 951-9-CALL-TA.

The phone line, actually, is something fun we'd like to focus on in the future. If you're too lazy to write an e-mail, send us a call and we'll play it on the show and then respond to your comment or question. I stress, though, that you need to be using good equipment if you want to be featured in future episodes. We can't just throw up any old .mp3 from someone's jank handset.

So, yeah, feel free tell us what you think, what you’d like us to talk about in the next episode, or give us a question. We welcome it all. Also, enjoy!

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At first glance, HotGen's To-Fu: The Trials of Chi [99¢ / HD] looks like a riff on the Xbox Live Arcade game Super Meat Boy, but where SMB was a gruelingly difficult platformer, To-Fu takes a more slow-paced approach. That's not say To-Fu isn't difficult, it certainly is in the later levels, but you can generally take your time with it.

You'll touch and pull To-Fu in any direction and release to send him flying through the air. He'll end up sticking to most surfaces and those he doesn't, he'll bounce off, slide down or move up them. It's helpful then that you can get a view of the whole level and all of its obstacles by touching and scrolling too, which becomes an absolute necessity by the end. If you've ever touched a video game at any point in your life, you're going to know which obstacles to expect because they're all here — every single one of them.

Going back to the Super Meat Boy comparison is easy to do because To-Fu really does look like it took a lot of hints from it, but the problem is that Super Meat Boy took its inspiration from every platformer before it. If To-Fu wasn't a piece of Tofu the inspiration probably wouldn't be as transparent, but both games are certainly deeply seeded in the history of the genre. Spinning wheels of metal, rotating platforms, portals, disintegrating obstacles, lasers, spikes — all designed specifically to make you die.

And die you will — a lot. It's not a big deal, overcoming adversity is what makes a game like this rewarding, but the lack of instantaneous restarts is a tad annoying and having to wait out a death animation can be taxing when you're in the mood to just pick up and play quickly.

Thankfully, the level design keeps up with the ridiculous amount of obstacles and across the course of the 100 levels you'll see a lot of innovation in screen setup. Each level has three separate objectives. Most importantly, you need to get To-Fu to the end, marked by a pink fortune cookie. Along the way, you have two supplementary, but not complimentary directives. Scattered throughout the level are blue orbs, which you'll be trying to pick up by any means possible. Contrary to that is a goal to solve the level in a limited number of jumps. Rarely do these two coincide so if you're the type to obsessively finish a game, you'll have to play through them multiple times.

It's that trifecta of objectives that makes To-Fu a game that's likely going to appeal to a broad range of people. You can get through each level with a limited amount of challenge and enjoy the game as much as someone keen on getting everything. It's too bad there isn't Game Center support as it would give people more of an excuse to reach the 100 percent mark.

Visually, the game gets the job done. To-Fu looks great stretching out and sliding down walls, but the backgrounds start to get a bit repetitive as you move along. The music sticks in the back as do the majority of the sound effects, neither drawing much attention good or bad.

The touch screen controls really do work remarkably well and To-Fu: The Trials of Chi does a great job of working with the touch screen, not against it. The depth of challenges here works well, but it would be nice to have some type of meta-game or leaderboards so you could track your progress against others.

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Arcades just aren't what they used to be (with a notable exception or two, of course). But, back in the day, they were wonderful places — the glowing cloud of phosphorescence, that lovely din of beeps and boops from every direction, and rows and rows of stand up cabinets of many shapes and sizes. Of all the cabinets I recall encountering in my youth, one of the most striking was that of Tecmo Bowl, an American football game released in 1987 that was easily the most visually impressive arcade take on the sport of its day. It was a 46-inch, double-wide cabinet that featured two side-by-side monitors sitting back in a dark sort of monitor cavern. The game was played on a side-to-side "widescreen" rendering of a football field across both screens.

Those recalling this well loved game will be happy to hear that Tecmo Koei Games has just released an enhanced iPhone version of the game, called Tecmo Bowl Throwback [App Store].

Those fondly familiar with this classic likely recall the highly popular NES port, which was responsible for most of the game's popularity, given the relative scarcity of the wide cabinet in arcades. Tecmo Bowl has, since, come to the Game Boy, the Wii Virtual Console and, last year, the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the form of Tecmo Bowl Throwback. This iPhone release is actually a port of last year's console remake.

Like all versions of the title, gameplay in Tecmo Bowl Throwback consists of basically picking teams, starting off a game, and choosing plays from a menu that can be customized to some degree. In the arcade and elsewhere this is done with buttons and sticks, but on the iPhone a touch interface that works well has been put in place. It's the same basic drill, however.

Once a play is in motion, you can choose where a player runs or who to pass to with a screen tap. The active defensive player can be chosen with a tap and the act of tackling a player or breaking out of a scuffle is also done with a tap. This approach versus an onscreen D-pad that might've tried to emulate console play was a wise design decision, I feel.

Now, sadly, I am generally not a fan of sports games. I did play the arcade version a few times with friends long ago, and recall it being a good time. Tecmo Bowl, when it was released, was praised for its easy appeal to typical gamers. Spending time with the iPhone version, I can understand where that sentiment was coming from; it's a very approachable title.

The arcade graphics were impressive for their day, while the NES version's were less so. When the title came to the PS3 and Xbox 360 it got a major overhaul featuring a sort of angled perspective 3D playfield. The iPhone version sits somewhere between the original arcade version and last year's console release on the visual front. It's pretty much 2D gameplay with shadowed "3D" players. It looks nice enough, though somewhat retro — a situation magnified by the game's apparent lack of native Retina display support.

Tecmo Bowl Throwback offers a Quick Play mode to get you going in a flash, and also a Season Play mode that offers more depth, variety (30 teams in all) and overall team development. There is an impressive degree of player and team stats available through the menus, with certain customizations available along the way.

Tecmo Bowl Throwback is a solid representation of the original game that stands as a well done, albeit somewhat abbreviated (no online play, for example), version of the recent console release. Those who enjoyed the earlier versions should have a good time with the iPhone release, but I fear that the nearly 25 years of video game evolution that's taken place since Tecmo Bowl hit the arcades will limit the game's appeal to gamers that have no history with the title.

Tecmo Bowl Throwback requires an iPhone 3GS or 3G iPod touch or better. The iPad's full display is not natively supported at this time.

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Back in November of 2008, Illusion Labs’ Touchgrind [$4.99/HD] was a remarkable display of what was possible on iOS devices. It had fantastic 3D graphics, a great physics system, and excellent multi-touch controls that let you interact with a skateboard in a way unlike any game before it. Now Illusion Labs is back with a new entry in the series called Touchgrind BMX [$4.99] that takes the formula into the world of trick biking.

All of the major traits that made Touchgrind so good carry over to Touchgrind BMX, and it even comes with many welcome improvements. But it’s also missing a few features that I would expect in a game like this, and the multi-touch controls come with a steep learning curve much the same way Touchgrind’s did. Such is the cost of innovation though, and Touchgrind BMX is definitely innovative. It’s also a ton of fun once you get the hang of things, and those who persist in the ways of Touchgrind BMX will be rewarded with a truly unique experience.

Like Touchgrind before it, Touchgrind BMX only requires two fingers to play. One finger controls the handlebars of the bike, and the other controls the frame. Using an assortment of different gestures, you can get your bike to perform just about anything you can think of. The gesture control is really organic, and moves are pulled off just how you’d expect them to be, like flicking the handlebars to spin them around while you’re airborne.

A simple 3 part tutorial walks you through everything you need to know about controlling your bike, and it’s all incredibly easy to understand. The challenge comes when actually trying to perform tricks in practice. It takes fast reactions and precise finger coordination to pull off the elaborate tricks and combos that will earn you the most points. It took me a few hours to actually feel pretty comfortable and start performing some more complex tricks, but looking at the developer high score challenges I know I still have quite a ways to go. It’s a lot of fun though, and improving my skills is what keeps drawing me back into the game.

One major change from the original game is the perspective. Touchgrind was strictly top-down, whereas Touchgrind BMX is more of a third-person perspective. This works beautifully, and really opens up the environments in the game and allows you to actually see where you are going, which is nice because the background visuals are beautiful in Touchgrind BMX and are a huge step up from the sterile skatepark in the first Touchgrind.

The 5 courses in Touchgrind BMX are quite varied from one another, offering an assortment of terrain that runs the gamut from very realistic to borderline fantasy settings. There are some jagged edges in the graphics that could use a dose of anti-aliasing, but by and large Touchgrind BMX is gorgeous to look at and runs at an incredibly smooth frame rate.

Another huge change is rather than having a sandbox environment where you’re able to move about freely, the levels in Touchgrind BMX are linear courses with deliberately placed jumps and obstacles. You still have a small range of movement within the width of each track, and you control your forward movement, but you aren’t allowed to stray off course and explore or go back to specific obstacles.

I actually think this design decision is for the best, as there is always a defined finish line to work towards and you must learn to maximize the scoring potential of every object in a level before you reach it. It’s more goal-oriented in this way, and each level is filled with tasks to complete that will slowly unlock new features, like different bikes, paint jobs, and new levels.

The progression in Touchgrind BMX is balanced really well, and it seems like there’s always some new reward or challenge waiting for you. It feels very much like the old Tony Hawk Pro Skater games in this way, which is definitely a good thing. The scoring system is also done really well, with a nice multiplier that rewards you for landing high value tricks, mixing up your variety of tricks, and not bailing. One glaring omission though is Game Center integration to coincide with the in-game achievements and high scores, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see that added in the future.

While the linear nature of the game makes for a better overall experience, I definitely think there should be a sandbox level where you’re allowed to ride around as you please. Part of the fun of Touchgrind was jumping into a free skate session and experimenting to your heart’s content, and this aspect is missing from Touchgrind BMX.

One of the coolest features in Touchgrind BMX is the replay system. After crossing the finish line of any level, you have the ability to watch a replay of your entire run. The game automatically presents the replay from several different camera angles for maximum dramatic effect. You can also choose to save any replay to a list that's accessed from the main menu. From there you can choose to create a video file of that replay and either export it directly to YouTube from within the app or transfer it to your computer by way of the File Sharing option in iTunes when your device is connected. The whole process is simple and works extremely well.

While it’s easy to point out some of the minor flaws, it’s impossible to ignore just how excellent a game Touchgrind BMX is as a whole. Illusion Labs has taken the concept of multi-touch manipulation of an object to the next level, and has fleshed out a great gaming experience around it. It takes a lot of practice for the controls to click, but that process is also part of the fun. There is many hours worth of content to play through, with new levels already planned for updates, so it should keep you busy for a while.

Players in our forums are definitely loving this one, and whether you were a fan of the first game or you're just interested in a challenging and completely unique type of game, then Touchgrind BMX really delivers.

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It's pretty clear the first time you load up Delusion Studio's House of Mice [99¢] that one of the developers is a big fan of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. It's not just because you're playing as a group of mice hell-bent on destroying a cat, it's also because the game features some of the slickest animation you'll find in a puzzle game.

Unless you've never booted up the App Store in your entire life, you're going to recognize House of Mice right away. It's a one-screen puzzle game that requires you to get from one point to another while grabbing onto three tasty pieces of cheese. The game certainly looks the part of Cut the Rope or its countless iterations, but the gameplay takes a different, albeit familiar approach.

House of Mice is essentially billiards with mice that turn into bombs. To complete a stage, you need to flick one of three mice through a set of obstacles and into a cat that bears a striking resemblance to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Along the way you'll want to pick up pieces of cheese to improve your score, but if you're struggling with a particular level, killing the cat will suffice.

The game currently features 80 levels spread across four different areas and as you progress through them, new obstacles are introduced. Boxes will block your path that require one or two mice to destroy, pipes will transfer you over to another part of the level and fans and magnets will alter your pathway. You'll oftentimes have to bounce a mouse off a wall and into a box to sacrifice it so another can pass through to kill the cat. The quicker you do so, the higher your score.

As of right now, you'll only be competing against yourself for those high scores, but as noted in the forums, Game Center and Facebook integration is coming in the next update (as well as a Lite version). That's lgoing to help offer more in the way of replayability for anyone obsessed with high scores, as it's not just about grabbing the cheese and exploding the cat, but how quickly you can do it.

While the gameplay is far more original than it looks on first glance, the real appeal is its visual style. Not only is the premise derived from classic Tom and Jerry cartoons, but the entire look of the game is. It's a beauty to behold and the visuals look like the hand-drawn animation cells of '40s classics. There aren't a whole lot of moving parts in the game, but when there are, you'll be wishing you were playing on an iPad just to get a closer look at them.

If you needed more proof of the games visual importance, you can click through the "Extras" screen to watch the opening video, the credits and the ending video again. They're short, but they're well worth watching for their style alone. The fact they're included at all is an indication of their merit.

It might sound a bit like this is a case of style over substance, but while House of Mice's wrapper is certainly its most delicious part, the gameplay inside still gets by as an enjoyable, easy to grasp concept that offers enough of a challenge to keep it interesting. If you enjoy puzzles with a heavy emphasis on light-geometry, you'll love what House of Mice has to offer, but even if you don't end up getting into the gameplay, it's hard to deny how great it looks.

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Swedish indie developer Eric Svedang has recently released a new game named 'Tri Tri Triobelisk' [99¢] for the iPad. I've been following Erik's work for a while, so was totally interested in checking it out. Any discussion of Tri Tri Triobelisk really begins with his earlier game, Shot Shot Shoot [$1.99], so let's examine that first.

In 2010, Eric released Shot Shot Shoot! for the iPad. It's one of those games you may not have heard of, however Frank Lantz (the designer of Drop7 [$4.99]), is quoted as describing it as "the first truly great game for the iPad. Essential."

Erik describes his game as a "Digital board-game" for the iPad; it could also be easily described as a top-down shooter. Two players sit facing each other, on the same iPad and each player has five squares on their side of the board. The goal is to destroy your opponents five squares before they destroy yours. Tapping on one of your squares fires a shot directly towards your opponent, but if you hold your finger down, you can optionally redirect that shot while it's traveling, allowing your bullet to swerve around other bullets or to change targets. This is best illustrated by watching a gameplay video:

Shot Shot Shoot is a game of strategy. Some players fire strategically, picking their shots, while others prefer to play offensively, mashing the buttons to overwhelm the opposition with a swarm of shots. If you fire like crazy, you'll end up defenseless, as you have a limited supply of bullets which take a while to regenerate. Alternatively, you can shoot at grey squares in the middle of the screen to collect bullets, but your opponent is seeking these too. Another strategic element is that the more shots you have active on the screen, the slower they all move. This means a single shot can travel faster and often zips across the screen to save the day. Many frantic and exciting games are won by a millisecond.

This month, Erik released Tri Tri Triobelisk which is promoted as a faster and more extreme remix of Shot Shot Shoot. Check out the trailer compared to the previous Shot Shot Shoot video:

The unusual title is named after electronic artist Triobelisk, who composed the energetic dance soundtracks. The minimalistic square graphics of Shot Shot Shoot are replaced with a space backdrop and triangles replace the squares, with shots now leaving different trails behind them. The game modes, basic gameplay and controls remain unaltered from Shot Shot currently, however Erik revealed in the thread on our forums that he's currently developing power-ups as a future addition to Tri Tri, which I can't wait to see.

While I'm a fan of both games, it's unusual to have two games with the same basic gameplay, from the same developer. People with Shot Shot already may be hesitant to buy the new game as well and would probably have preferred that game to be extended too via an update of sorts. Having played both games, I appreciate each for different reasons. Shot Shot has simple and clean graphics.  Tri Tri has more energy and more music and may have more widespread appeal.

If you're not sure which game to try, I recommend Tri Tri Triobelisk. The "introductory price" for Tri Tri is currently cheaper than Shot Shot and has potential to be updated. Erik plans to keep Shot Shot as the "minimalistic gentleman's game" with Tri Tri being the "crazy over the top version". If you specifically love artistic minimalistic games, get Shot Shot, otherwise Tri Tri Triobelisk seems to be the way to go.

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