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I'm still kind of stunned it's already Friday, after GDC madness last week and playing catch up this week I'm not even sure where all the time went. Regardless, we missed our sales and freebies post this week, so I've dug up an extra helping of freebies in attempt to make amends this week. As always, the standard iTunes price change disclaimer is in effect. These prices are all current as of Friday afternoon, but due to the nature of the App Store are subject to change at any time. If you've got your eye on one or more of these games, you're probably better off grabbing them ASAP.

Earth Vs Moon, 99¢ → FREE

Quite possibly one of the best missile command spinoffs on the App Store, we loved Earth Vs Moon in our review, and since then it has only gotten better with updates. This one has been free for a few days now, and likely will return to normal price any time now, so grab it while you still can… And if you miss the free promotion, it's still totally worth a buck if you haven't heard of it before.

Other notable freebies include:

• Crazy Turkey Blast, 99¢ → FREE
• DJ Jones, 99¢ → FREE
• Kaloki Adventure, $1.99 → FREE
• My Brute, $3.99 → FREE
• TowerMadness, $2.99 → FREE

As far as game sales are concerned, a few Gameloft games were recently dropped to 99¢. I've had a good time playing through all of these, so if you don't own them yet, I can think of worse ways to spend $5:

• Blades of Fury, $4.99 → 99¢
• Dungeon Hunter, $4.99 → 99¢
• Earthworm Jim, $4.99 → 99¢
• Real Soccer 2010, $4.99 → 99¢
• Skater Nation, $4.99 → 99¢

And of course, there are a ton of other games with recent price drops:

• 2012 Zombies vs Aliens, $1.99 → 99¢
• Across Age, $6.99 → $5.99
• Alien Glyphs, $3.99 → $2.99
• Azkend, $4.99 → $2.99
• Battle for Wesnoth, $4.99 → $2.99
• Boom Brigade, $3.99 → $1.99
• Doodle Bomb, $1.99 → 99¢
• Dragon Portals, $4.99 → $2.99
• Electric Box, $1.99 → 99¢
• Fighting Fantasy: Deathtrap Dungeon, $2.99 → $1.99
• Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, $2.99 → $1.99
• Geared, $2.99 → 99¢
• Hottie Hookups, $1.99 → 99¢
• Occurro!, $1.99 → 99¢
• ReBounce, $1.99 → 99¢
• Tall Bike Joust, $2.99 → 99¢
• Thumpies, $2.99 → 99¢
• TRANSFORMERS G1: AWAKENING, $4.99 → $2.99

There are many other games with recent price changes, and you can see a listing of popular games and all games on sale over on AppShopper. Stay tuned for more freebies and sales next week, same bat time, same bat channel.

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Gameloft's port of Rayman 2: The Great Escape [App Store] launched this evening, and fans of the original will be in for a treat as it appears that very little, if anything, has been cut from the game in the process of squeezing it on to the iPhone.

We explained the basic premise behind Rayman 2 in a preview earlier this week:

Rayman 2 is a 3D platformer released in late 1999 that takes place in a world known as the "Glade of Dreams" that happens to be infested by robot pirates who, lamentably, invaded and destroyed the "Heart of the World". Now it's up to Rayman to seek out the four magic masks needed to awaken Polokus, the spirit of the world, and set things right.

In the graphics and sound department, Rayman 2 is great. It looks just as I remembered it on the Dreamcast, and the soundtrack does a great job of setting the mood of the game. Unfortunately, once you get past how cool it is to be playing a late 90's console classic on your phone, things start to quickly fall apart.

As a 3D platformer, the two most important things are the controls and the camera system. A virtual joystick on the left side of the screen controls Rayman's movements, while a set of buttons handle jumping and tossing orbs to attack. Additional buttons appear when needed, such as a third button to dive while swimming.

The camera can be moved left or right by swiping that direction on screen, and to lock on to enemies a confusing pinching gesture is used. There are also some portions of the game with an obligatory tilt gimmick thrown in for good measure.

I feel like there are a lot of similarities between what I think about Rayman 2 and how I felt about Earthworm Jim when Gameloft brought it to the iPhone last year. The game itself looks great, but even a fantastic looking port of a game I had a lot of fun with when it was first released in the late 90's doesn't outweigh the cumbersome controls that make even the simple tutorial levels much more difficult than they should be.

I can forgive Gameloft for yet another game that doesn't really fit the iPhone with a set of virtual controls plastered on top, because Rayman 2 with bad controls is still better than not having Rayman 2 at all. As you progress through the game, you even start to get used to the crazy camera system and end up falling off ledges much less than you were originally, but something as simple as character movement really shouldn't have a learning curve attached to it.

Where Gameloft completely loses me on this port is in the save system. If you need to answer a phone call, a text message, or quit the game for any reason, the next time you load it you're back at the level select screen and need to start the level you were on over, complete with skipping through any associated cut scenes.

Taking these flaws in to account, Rayman 2 is hard to recommend, especially as your first foray in to the Rayman universe. If you are willing to invest the time in to mastering the game's irritating controls, and can work around the ridiculous save system, you will be rewarded with a classic adventure across tons of unique levels that are loaded with oodles of different hidden collectables.

App Store Link: Rayman 2: The Great Escape, $6.99

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Keita Takahashi, game developer and apparent future playground designer, is best known for Katamari Damacy and its sequel We Love Katamari. Both games are extremely creative and have spawned an incredibly devoted fan following, there's even an iPhone game– I love Katamari [$4.99 / Free]. Takahashi kicked things up a notch with his next game, Noby Noby Boy which was first revealed at a Sony event in 2007, and didn't make it to the PS3 PlayStationNetwork store until 2009.

In the PS3 game, you take control of a multicolored worm character that the game refers to as "BOY". With the analog sticks you can move BOY around the 3D environment filled with various buildings and animals. You can also stretch BOY, and points are accumulated by making BOY grow as long as possible. As players stretch their respective BOYs, points are collected by an online character called GIRL which causes GIRL to stretch through the various planets of our solar system as more points are submitted by everyone playing Noby Noby Boy.

This surreal sandbox PS3 game saw generally favorable reviews, but there was a clear division between those who absolutely loved the game for how crazy it is and those who hated it. For instance, Eurogamer said the game "inspires creativity, curiosity and simple, careless glee" while ArsTechnica said "Noby Noby Boy has no point, or fun".

In honor of the one year anniversary of Noby Noby Boy's release on PSN comes Noby Noby Boy [$1.99] for the iPhone. So far reactions to the game seem extremely polarized, with people either absolutely loving the game, or not understanding why anyone would waste their time with it. In the iPhone version, you have access to a full toolbar of toys for you to play with. BOY can be stretched across maps utilizing the iPhone's GPS, you can write and store memo's using BOY's body for a notepad, use BOY as a clock, and oodles of other crazy things ending in you submitting your BOY's length to GIRL online.

Here is the first of a twelve part series of movies made showing the various features of Noby Noby Boy:

I'm not sure there's much point in attempting to "review" this game, as Noby Noby Boy is just a collection of toys that you will either love, or not understand at all. If you're among the group of people who were crazy about Noby Noby Boy for the PS3, chances are you will like the similar insane sandboy play of the iPhone game. If you've never heard of Noby Noby Boy, you can attempt to watch the previously mentioned series of videos to try to make some sense of it, but much like the thread on our forums I expect the reaction to this story is going to be similarly split between people who are excited the game exists and people who don't know why we would bother posting about it.

App Store Link: Noby Noby Boy, $1.99

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The iPhone has attracted a notable number of Amiga game ports since the App Store went live. Worms, Pinball Dreams / Fantasies, Krypton Egg, Beneath a Steel Sky — the list goes on. For those unaware, the Amiga was an extremely innovative platform, released in 1985 by Commodore, that saw rather limited success outside of Europe. It featured a lean yet powerful operating system and a great deal of custom hardware that made it the choice gaming platform of the day (for those that were aware of its existence). Despite Commodore's demise in 1994, a few stragglers still carry the Amiga torch.

In an App Store first, the iPhone is about to receive a port of a highly praised Amiga game…that never was.

In 1993, Iraqi developer Rabah Shihab, part of the Mesopotamia Team, began work on the Amiga title Babylonian Twins (with basically no budget), inspired by what he saw of other games' depiction of Iraq. As he explained in an interview with Amiga Games That Weren't,

…My real dedication for this theme came during the early nineties after I saw a computer game in which you control a warplane with the goal of bombing Iraq. Putting the bombing aside (I was in Baghdad during the first gulf war and I saw the human suffering that resulted from the real bombing ), I didn't like the way they depicted Iraq in the game, as a primitive and uncivilized place. I wanted to build a game that counter that image, a game that shows the vibrant history of Mesopotamia. In Babylonian Twins, the game takes you to different historical places, from Babylon to Assyria. We relied on authentic history books to design many of the graphics in the game.

Shihab was impressed by the smooth scrolling of Team 17's Amiga title Superfrog and set out to deliver similar visual finesse in his title. Another inspiration was Konami's MSX release Maze of Galious. The team released a very well-liked demo version of the game, but no full Amiga release ever came. And although he, later, targeted the Xbox Live Arcade, it's the iPhone that will at long last receive the final release. And, befitting the game's history, the full Amiga release is also imminent.

The forthcoming game is a puzzle platformer with an authentic historic feel and unique two-character gameplay. It features the puzzle elements of Maze of Galious with the multi-character control of Lost Vikings, along with the glass-smooth animation of Superfrog. The author indicates that the iPhone version features an original soundtrack, excellent graphics, and over a dozen large levels.

See the developer's trailer video for a look at the updated version.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Videos of the original Amiga demo version can be seen here, here, and here. Amiga screenshots are also available.

UPDATE: In putting together this post, we sought further information from the developer, but he got back to us a bit after the post went live. Shihab wants to make sure readers are aware that the iPhone version of Babylonian Twins is an entirely new game that borrows no graphics or audio from the Amiga version. He assures us that all aspects of the game have been enhanced specifically for the iPhone by a dedicated team (and this time around on a healthy budget) over the course of the game's six-month development cycle.

We're quite anxious to get our hands on the final product and will bring further news of the iPhone release of Babylonian Twins as we get it. Stay tuned.

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The iPhone has attracted a notable number of Amiga game ports since the App Store went live. Worms, Pinball Dreams / Fantasies, Krypton Egg, Beneath a Steel Sky — the list goes on. For those unaware, the Amiga was an extremely innovative platform, released in 1985 by Commodore, that saw rather limited success outside of Europe. It featured a lean yet powerful operating system and a great deal of custom hardware that made it the choice gaming platform of the day (for those that were aware of its existence). Despite Commodore's demise in 1994, a few stragglers still carry the Amiga torch.

In an App Store first, the iPhone is about to receive a port of a highly praised Amiga game…that never was.

In 1993, Iraqi developer Rabah Shihab, part of the Mesopotamia Team, began work on the Amiga title Babylonian Twins (with basically no budget), inspired by what he saw of other games' depiction of Iraq. As he explained in an interview with Amiga Games That Weren't,

…My real dedication for this theme came during the early nineties after I saw a computer game in which you control a warplane with the goal of bombing Iraq. Putting the bombing aside (I was in Baghdad during the first gulf war and I saw the human suffering that resulted from the real bombing ), I didn't like the way they depicted Iraq in the game, as a primitive and uncivilized place. I wanted to build a game that counter that image, a game that shows the vibrant history of Mesopotamia. In Babylonian Twins, the game takes you to different historical places, from Babylon to Assyria. We relied on authentic history books to design many of the graphics in the game.

Shihab was impressed by the smooth scrolling of Team 17's Amiga title Superfrog and set out to deliver similar visual finesse in his title. Another inspiration was Konami's MSX release Maze of Galious. The team released a very well-liked demo version of the game, but no full Amiga release ever came. And although he, later, targeted the Xbox Live Arcade, it's the iPhone that will at long last receive the final release. And, befitting the game's history, the full Amiga release is also imminent.

The forthcoming game is a puzzle platformer with an authentic historic feel and unique two-character gameplay. It features the puzzle elements of Maze of Galious with the multi-character control of Lost Vikings, along with the glass-smooth animation of Superfrog. The author indicates that the iPhone version features an original soundtrack, excellent graphics, and over a dozen large levels.

See a video of the Amiga demo release of the game. (Screenshots in this article are also taken from the Amiga demo release).

Other Amiga demo videos can be seen here and here. Screenshots are also available.

We're quite anxious to get our hands on the final product and will bring further news of the iPhone release of Babylonian Twins as we get it. Stay tuned.

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There's no doubt that 2009 has been an amazing year for iPhone gaming, but in looking ahead to 2010, compiling a list of the things we're looking forward to the most proved to be just as challenging as listing the games we most enjoyed in the past. To wrap up our series of year-end "best of" articles, let's take a peek at things we're excited to see released or hear more about in 2010.

Without a doubt, the current elephant in the room of indie iPhone gaming would have to be the recent news of Unreal Engine 3 running on the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation iPod touch. Details are still hazy at best as to how licensing this engine is going to work, as well as how much (or how little) effort it will take to port existing projects which utilize the Unreal Engine 3 to the iPhone. There are a ton of great games either already released or in the works that rely on Unreal Engine 3.

Interestingly enough, BioShock not only runs within Unreal Engine 3 on the PC, XBOX 360, and PS3, but in late May of 2008 was "coming soon" to the iPhone. It seems unlikely that over a year and a half later that we'll ever see something similar to the BREW demo, but if 2K Games was interested in bringing BioShock to the iPhone at one point… It may not be much of a stretch to think that if porting a existing Unreal Engine 3 game to the iPhone engine isn't that involved that we could be harvesting Little Sisters on the go in the undersea city of Rapture at some point in the future.

Similarly, in February of this year, Bethesda Softworks' Todd Howard indicated that one of Bethesda's next projects is an iPhone game. Bethesda is famous for its extensive RPG's, so it is somewhat conceivable that a project typical of Bethesda's scope is still in development. Howard is the executive producer responsible for both The Elder Scrolls series as well as Fallout 3, and with the fan following both game series have, anything they release on the App Store should do well.

In late August, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was coming to the iPhone. Originally slated for fall of 2009, little is known about the current state of the game. Given the subject matter of previous titles in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's not hard to imagine that Rockstar may have missed their target release timeframe by going back and forth with Apple attempting to get the game approved.

Originally announced at GDC this year, OnLive is a gaming-on-demand service which aims at applying the cloud computing model to gaming. Allegedly, all you will need is the OnLive "microconsole" and a fast enough internet connection to play the latest and greatest video games streamed over the internet. Apparently, OnLive also works on the iPhone. We didn't originally report on this due to the vaporware nature of OnLive in its current state, but if it does turn out to work as advertised, it could shake the foundations of mobile gaming.

Augmented reality games have shown great promise in tech demos, but currently all of the games that use the iPhone's camera, the 3GS compass, or both have seemed like more of a gimmick than an actual enjoyable game. New user input methods seem to always start out as feeling gimmicky, as anyone who waggled a Wii controller through Twilight Princess can attest to. As augmented reality matures on the platform throughout 2010, we could potentially see some extremely innovative projects that we never could have imagined.

The App Store went largely ignored by Activision following their release of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D [$2.99], a game released very early in the life of the iPhone. We were surprised when Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies [$9.99] appeared out of the blue, especially with such a full featured online component, and one can only wonder what else Activision will surprise us with.

In other Activision news, a video (which has since been removed) of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 running on the iPhone appeared on YouTube one day which was later confirmed to be real by iPhone developer LTI Gray Matter. At the time it wasn't clear if the port would ever see the light of day, and months later we still haven't seen or heard anything. We didn't know about Call of Duty until the day it was released, so here's hoping for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 appearing out of nowhere sometime in 2010. (Another skateboarding game we're looking forward to is Mike V – Do or Die.)

As Gameloft continues smashing the top selling and top grossing charts with games inspired by console classics, it's hard to say how much longer their reign of the top of the App Store will remain unchallenged before even more of the original creators of said inspiration throw their hat in to the ring with their own original iPhone games. There are a great deal of big-name publishers that dominate the home console and PC market which have yet to launch a game on the App Store. As the market gets larger with every passing day, it's anyone's guess as to how much longer these same publishers and developers can ignore the platform.

Speaking of Gameloft, it should be interesting to watch how their partnership with Ubisoft evolves and translates in to iPhone games such as the previously released H.A.W.X. [$6.99] and the yet to be released Assassin's Creed 2. Gameloft is an independent sister company of Ubisoft who have a massive list of games that we'd love to see adapted to the iPhone.

During our recent interview with John Carmack, he mentioned the next Id game that will grace the iPhone will likely be Quake Classic, followed by the rest of the Quake series. He indicated that Id hopes to release a new iPhone game every 2-3 months, and judging by the quality of the previous Id games available on the App Store, the Quake games should be just as amazing.

While classic PC gamers may be puddy in Carmack's hands, everyone seems to love PopCap games. This year we saw Peggle [$1.99], Bookworm, [$1.99], Chuzzle [$1.99], and even a awesome update for Bejeweled 2 [$2.99] that allows you to compete in weekly high scoring competitions with your Facebook friends. We expect to see Plants vs Zombies in early 2010, and hope to see Peggle Nights along with many other PopCap classics in the future.

EA has had a fantastic year on the App Store, with too many great games to even list. All indications point to 2010 being just as chock full of big-name games, inevitable sequels, and other must-haves. Mirror's Edge and Spore Creatures will likely be available early in the year, and 2010 should be accompanied by EA's entire updated lineup of sports titles and other surprises such as the yet to be released SSX that was part of an early report of games they had in the works.

Capcom's Phoenix Wright is presumably coming to the American App Store, although it apparently has already been released in Japan with a questionable requirement of a constant connection to the internet as the game itself is only 2MB, with the rest of the content downloaded on the fly from Capcom's servers. It's unclear how much this will change (if at all) when the game is released internationally, but Phoenix Wright is near the top of my list of most anticipated games.

In a sea of mediocre Sega games, a previously unknown indie developer came from out of nowhere with a Sonic CD remake for the iPhone. Christian Whitehead revealed the iPhone Retro Engine and Retro Engine Development Kit which apparently greatly speeds the process of bringing these classics to the platform with phenomenal performance to boot– A significant change from Sega's previously released emulated titles which still don't perform very well even on 3rd generation hardware. We're not sure where the fate of this project lies currently, but we've got our fingers crossed that Sega and Whitehead have teamed up to work on some amazing super-secret project which may or may not have anything to do with Sonic CD.

Earlier this year some Unity developers threw together a decent clone of Portal that we were able to get our hands on. We haven't heard anything from them since, and while it's likely that they got a cease and desist letter from Valve and completely abandoned the project, we're still holding on to a hope that the game gets released in some form in the future.

Retro gamers have two big titles to look forward to a likely 2010 release: R-Type and Marble Madness. We don't really know anything beyond the information we've already posted, but both games would be an excellent fit to the controls of the iPhone as well as the existing retro game lineup available on the App Store.

We've also got our eye on quite a few indie titles which have been in the works and should be released next year. In no particular order, I want all of these games on my iPhone yesterday:

• Warpgate
• World of Goo
• A Skeleton Story
• Power Pill
• Riddim Ribbon
• Cogs
• 100 Rogues
• Galactic Keep: Dice Battles

Really, I could go on listing all the cool games that get posted in our upcoming forum for hours. This is hardly even a fraction of what we're looking forward to, there is so much on the horizon that it's impossible to mention everything without even taking in to account the future possibilities of both the rumored Apple tablet and 4th generation iPhone and iPod touch hardware improvements.

2010 is going to be incredible.

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One of the most surprising things about the App Store is just how big a draw it has been for us old timey gamers like Blake and myself. Being in our mid 30's, we remember the days when processor megahertz were measured in the single digits and having most of these games on your home computer would have been amazing, much less on your a mobile device.

That's not to say you have to be over 30 to appreciate these titles. Anyone who has been gaming at all in the past 10 years is sure to find something that appeals to them.

Unfortunately, there have been some disappointments along the way, but here's a list of some good retro ports that we've run across in 2009.

The Oregon Trail – This isn't quite the same game you'll remember playing in grade school, but it's close enough. The core gameplay was preserved, while enhancing the graphics and making the gameplay a bit more accessible. (Article, App Store)

Dragon's Lair – Don Bluth's Classic 1983 laserdisc game that you may have drooled over as a child… but now it won't cost you $.50/play. Some of the Dragon's Lair experts have noted some subtle differences between it and the arcade version, but it's good enough for us mere mortals. (Review, App Store)

Space Ace – Don Bluth's followup to Dragon's Lair, play as Space Ace trying to rescue Kimberly and save Earth. An excellent adaption of the original laser disc game. (App Store)

Cobra Command – Another 1980s laser-disc classic, but this time you play as a pilot of a helicopter taking out terrorists. This one's been remastered with restored video, new sound effects and unlockables. (Review, App Store)

Commodore 64 – Manomio's fully licensed Commodore 64 emulator with licensed and legal game downloads. They are working hard to add new titles, but Bruce Lee and Laser Squad come free with the emulator. (App Store)

Archon Classic – EA's classic Archon: The Light and Dark was one of the big home computer hits of the '80s. It's chess-like, turn-based strategy meets arcade shooter action. It has been well ported to the iPhone, even if it's a bit easier than the original. (Review, App Store)

Ghosts'n Goblins Gold Knights – This isn't actually a port of any particular version, but instead an iPhone specific version of the game. It plays a bit easier, but does give the Ghosts 'n Goblins vibe if you can get used to the on-screen d-pad controls. (Review, App Store)

Pinball Fantasies – A classic Amiga pinball game with the 4 original tables. Amiga owning pinball fanatics were in love with this game. (App Store)

Myst – Published first in 1993, Myst was said to have accelerated the adoption of CD-Roms. This immersive graphical adventure really adapts itself well to the iPhone's interface. (Review, App Store)

Earthworm Jim – A remastered port of the 1994 classic platformer. Controls are as good as can be expected with on-screen d-pads. (Review, App Store)

Wolfenstein 3D Classic – Grandfather of first-person shooters. Great control system for the iPhone and packed with all the original levels and more. (App Store)

Doom Classic – id Software's classic first person shooter. The one that really started it all. It's been brought to the iPhone with care, and we still hope for Doom II and other maps to come soon. (Review, App Store)

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition – The classic remade with new graphics, voice acting and music. The ability to switch back and forth between old and new graphics is an added bonus. (Review, App Store)

Note we highlighted some of the best games that happen also to be retro ports in our 2009 Game Roundup including Beneath a Steel Sky, Sword of Fargoal, and Rogue Touch.

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While the App Store had clearly been a huge success in 2008, the continued growth and explosion of iPhone game releases in 2009 was beyond everyone's expectations. The number of apps in the App Store soared past 100,000 with hundreds of new games being released every day.

We sat down trying to figure out the best iPhone games of 2009 and found the task of narrowing down the list to a select few to be near impossible. Instead, we've organized our year in review into categories with what we feel is an excellent cross section of games from 2009. If you just got an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas, this list is an excellent starting place to catch you up.

2009 iPhone Game of the Year

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor – We choose Tiger Style Games' Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor for our 2009 Game of the Year first and foremost because it's a great game, but also because it perfectly represents the promise of iPhone gaming. Spider is an original concept built specifically for the iPhone by a small self funded team. It's this low barrier to entry which provides customers with a huge selection of games including unique and polished gems like Spider. You really should experience this one. (Review, App Store)

Classics

Doodle Jump – While we have to give props to PapiJump as the clear inspiration for Doodle Jump, Lima Sky has managed to take the game to a whole new level and succeeded in creating a true iPhone classic. Doodle Jump has sold over a million copies to date and even been casually referenced on primetime TV sitcoms. Every day we hear from up and coming developers who claim they have come up with "the next Doodle Jump" but so far Lima Sky's title hasn't truly been dethroned. (Review, App Store)

Flight Control – Another iPhone game that will go down in history as one of the classics for the platform. Firemint's CEO Rob Murray took some of his free time during last year's Christmas break to whip up a prototype of a game that eventually became Flight Control. The game has single handedly defined a genre on the iPhone of "line drawing" games and has been endlessly imitated throughout the year. (Review, App Store)

iDracula – iDracula was one of the original dual-stick survival shooters. It wasn't the first, but it's the one that popularized the concept and opened the doors to a ton of play-alikes. (Article, App Store)

Only on iPhone

Zen Bound – Ok, technically this started life as a PC Game, but Zen Bound didn't really come into its own until it became an iPhone game in 2009. The game just came to life on the iPhone with multi-touch and tilt controls along with mood and music to perfectly and completely engross you as a player. An experience as much as a game. (Review, App Store)

Eliss – A multi-touch masterpiece. Eliss delivers a unique, challenging and undeniably iPhone experience. Pinching and combining on-screen planets without letting them touch make for some frantic and riveting gameplay. (Review, App Store)

Sway – The unique multi-touch "swinging" controls of Sway may have ultimately been its downfall. If you can master the steep learning curve of the game's controls, an amazing iPhone platforming experience awaits. (Review, App Store)

Space Ninja – A great use of the iPhone's accelerometer that allows you to dodge enemy fire and invoke slow motion "bullet time". Unfortunately, a recent 3GS update adds some strange and distracting visual effects, though the developer is said to be working on making those optional in a future release. (Review, App Store)

Arcade

Meteor Blitz – This is the best space shooter we've seen for the iPhone. It delivers 6 unlockable worlds with a good variety of enemies, perfect dual stick controls, and a lot of fun. The art and animation are top notch with all the flourishes you'd expect. (Review, App Store)

Space Invaders Infinity Gene – A really fresh and amazing modernization of the classic Space Invaders formula. Great controls, plenty of unlockables, as well as a unique music-based level generator. (Review, App Store)

Pac Man CE – Developed by the original Pac-Man designer, Tōru Iwatani, Pac-Man Championship Edition succeeds in breathing new life in to this arcade classic. With great controls, colorful graphics, and fast-paced game modes, Pac-Man Championship Edition is by far the best Pac-Man game on the platform. (Review, App Store)

I Dig It / I Dig It Expeditions – Take your tractor turned subterranean digger underground to search for valuable diggins to save the family farm. In the sequel, you take your digger on the road and search for lost treasure in several different environments including the antarctic and even underwater. Both games in the series are worth owning, although Expeditions does offer improvements over the original. (Review, I Dig It / I Dig It Expeditions)

Platformer

Rolando 2 – Sequel to one of the iPhone's early original games, Rolando 2 did great justice to the series with 3D level effects, more great music and larger levels. (Review, App Store)

Soosiz – This game adopts the usual trappings of a traditional 2d platformer but perfectly mixes in a gravity defying mechanism that turns out to be a lot more than just a cute gimmick. Combine that with great controls and a ton of content, and you have one of our favorite iPhone games. (Review, App Store)

Hook Champ – Take the same swinging gameplay mechanics popularized by other games, add an RPG style equipment upgrade system, seamless online leaderboards, and fantastic pixelated retro graphics and you've got Hook Champ. (Review, App Store)

Retro Games

Saucelifter – A wonderful Choplifter-inspired action shooter with great controls that should appeal to both retro and modern gamers. (Review, App Store)

Rogue Touch – The definitive version of Rogue on the App Store. Consistently updated throughout the year based on community feedback, and enhanced for the iPhone. All the brutal difficulty of the original remains, and there's even online leaderboards tracking the wealthiest saviors of the Amulet of Yendor. (Review, App Store)

Sword of Fargoal – By far the most approachable roguelike, Sword of Fargoal is a classic dungeon crawler with randomly generated levels which provide nearly infinite replay value. Aside from being a fantastic game, Sword of Fargoal also serves as an excellent example of how retro ports should be done. The iPhone version preserves the look and feel of the original while adding new OpenGL effects and other modern graphical flare. If you've never played a roguelike before, Sword of Fargoal is a great introduction to the genre. (Review, App Store)

Beneath a Steel Sky – An iPhone adaptation of the classic point and click adventure. While we loved the compete overhaul of Secret of Monkey Island which is absent from this release, Beneath a Steel Sky delivered something even better: great iPhone controls. A classic adventure game that is worthy for both fans and newcomers to the series. (Review, App Store)

Racing

Real Racing – Perhaps we should have categorized this as a "classic", but Real Racing was the first iPhone racing game that really blew us away. The great graphics, perfect controls and AI all combined to make this one of the best iPhone racing games that still holds up today. (Review, App Store)

Need for Speed Shift – EA's latest entry in to the genre can easily stand next to the best racing games on the platform in terms of the amount of included licensed materials, different game modes, and overall fun-factor. With control settings and driving assist options that range from the game practically playing itself to a competent racing simulation complete with a manual transmission mode, Need For Speed: Shift is a must-have for any fan of racing games. (Review, App Store)

2XL ATV Offroad – We described this as a "console quality" iPhone racer. The game is technically impressive with beautiful graphics and manages to combine it with varied tracks, a proper career mode and Wi-Fi multiplayer to deliver one of the best racers in the App Store. (Review, App Store)

Jet Car Stunts – A remarkably fun jet car racer/platformer that had us coming back again and again due to its great controls, fresh visual style and mind boggling levels. The only real complaint we've seen voiced has been the relative difficulty of the game, but, honestly, that's what made it so addicting. (Review, App Store)

Puzzle

Toki Tori – A cute and challenging puzzle platformer that has been excellently adapted to the iPhone. Beautifully animated and ramps up nicely to provide plenty of gameplay. (Review, App Store)

Bobby Carrot Forever – Another excellent level-based puzzle game that requires you to navigate obstacles in order to collect all the carrots and reach the exit. 60 levels provide a refreshingly challenging puzzle game that offers well over 15 hours of gameplay. (Review, App Store)

Casual

Canabalt – This isn't a particularly deep game. In fact, the average gaming session is probably measured in seconds rather than minutes. But with its simplicity and style, it managed to keep us coming back again and again. You can try out the identical Flash version for free at Canabalt.com. (Review, App Store)

Boost 3D – We might not have been too over the top about the game when we first reviewed it, but over time we realized that Boost 3D is a game that we love to play. There's something hypnotic about this tunnel runner that had us coming back to play it again and again. (Review, App Store)

Harbor Master – Among the first of the avalanche of Flight Control inspired games, Harbor Master mixes things up by having the player dock cargo ships and send them back out to sea on a variety of different levels– Each with a different layout and some with additional gameplay elements such as pirate ships to shoot or sea monsters to fight off. (Review, App Store)

Labyrinth 2 – The sequel to the game that pioneered the marble rolling genre on the iPhone before the App Store even existed, Labyrinth 2 takes the standard wooden labyrinth game and adds even more obstacles, fantastic 3D graphics, and a full featured online level editor. The user created content community has already exploded and you can load up Labyrinth 2 every day and have a new batch of levels to play through, all of which download almost instantly inside of the game. (Review, App Store)

First Person Shooters

Eliminate Pro – We know some readers were unable to get past this game's pay model, but we've logged more hours in this game than almost every other… and we never paid a single penny for it. Online FPS deathmatch with our friends and quick sessions throughout the day kept us playing this regularly. (Review, App Store)

N.O.V.A. – Drawing inspiration from Sci-Fi console classics, NOVA is a surprisingly complete and full featured iPhone first person shooter. With an epic single player campaign that will take you several hours to complete, graphics which are among the best currently available on the platform, and four player online deathmatch modes, NOVA has successfully lived up to the insane amount of pre-release hype. (Review, App Store)

Word

Bookworm – A game that should need no introduction, Popcap's word searching classic fits great on the iPhone. The touch controls work effortlessly, and the gameplay is perfect for the casual play style of many iPhone gamers. (Review, App Store)

Words with Friends – Asynchronous online multiplayer not-quite-Scrabble that can either be played for free with in-game ads or without for a couple bucks. A recent update added push notifications to tell you when it's your turn and according to Newtoy, the average player spends 1.5 hours each day playing. (Review, App Store)

Weird/Funny Games

Enviro-Bear 2010 – The best bear driving a car simulator available on any platform. Aside from just being a really crazy game, Enviro-Bear 2010 features some really clever interactions between items and if you survive long enough you'll even earn yourself a slick coon skin cap. (Review, App Store)

Must Eat Birds – This simple slingshot-powered pastry defense game is delightfully Japanese, its ridiculous premise is rivaled only by "maximum bake" mode which must be experienced to truly appreciate. (Review, App Store)

Hi, How Are You – A wonderful tribute to the life, music, and art of Daniel Johnston– And a fun puzzle platformer game with great cell shaded graphics to boot. If you've never heard of Daniel Johnston, Hi, How Are You is a good place to start. (Review, App Store)

Battle Bears – The ridiculous premise of this survival shooter involving a bear commando mowing down swarms of pink bears that spew rainbows when they die is worth the price of admission alone. As if the game couldn't get more silly, a recent update added a Colbear boss, zombie bears, and even a rap theme song.
(Review, App Store)

Cult Classics

Minigore – This dual stick shooter isn't necessarily any better than other dual stick shooters on the platform, but the extent that it has managed to captivate our community is rivaled by very few games. Stricken by problems with Apple's approval process, MiniGore is only now beginning to see the features Mountain Sheep intended on implementing long ago. (Review, App Store)

Pocket God – It's hard to even categorize or summarize Pocket God. Existing somewhere in between a entertainment app and a collection of mini games, Bolt Creative has managed to amass an army of millions of fans worldwide by consistently releasing free content updates and making players feel like they're a part of the project by constantly interacting with and implementing ideas generated by the community. You KNOW you like Pocket God. (Review, App Store)

Strategy

geoDefense / geoDefense Swarm – Whether you prefer open field or fixed path tower defense games, the geoDefense series are among the best available on the platform. Featuring difficulty levels that range from difficult to really really difficult, geoDefense is balanced in a way which will always keep you on your toes. (Review, geoDefense / Swarm)

Defender Chronicles – This odd hybrid between a tower defense game and an RPG has seen an absolute ridiculous amount of content added to it since its initial release. 20 different types of units, hundreds of items, multiple difficulty levels and game modes along with online leaderboards and voiceovers make Defender Chronicles among the best in its genre. (Review, App Store)

Chess with Friends – The iPhone equivalent to snail mail correspondence chess– You can play the ad-based version for free, or upgrade to the premium version to play without ads. Recently added push notifications that alert you when its your turn and an endless supply of human opponents makes this the best chess game available on the platform. (Article, App Store)

Role Playing

Zenonia – While the amount of grinding to level up may have lessened the experience for some, Zenonia still seems to be the benchmark that most RPG's are compared to amongst our community. The game will take you around 40 hours to complete, and the five included character classes will tempt you to play through it multiple times. (Review, App Store)

Underworlds – A great dungeon crawler with tons of monsters to slay and loot to pick up. Underworlds was the first of its kind on the platform, and a recent content update made it even better.
(Review, App Store)

Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone – The sequel of The Chronicles of Inotia sports considerable improvements to nearly all aspects of the game. Multiple character classes, a well designed battle system, mercenaries that can be added to your party, and a surprisingly full featured online component combine in to a game that will be hard for fans of roleplaying games to pass up. (Review, App Store)

Ravensword – While this RPG may lack some gameplay elements which have become standard in modern games, it marks an amazing accomplishment in iPhone development. Created by a team of two, RavenSword features an expansive and beautiful open world filled with quests to complete, hidden areas to find, and countless monsters to slay. (Review, App Store)

Physics

Peggle – If you don't know what Peggle is by now, you must have spent the past few years on Mars with your eyes closed and fingers in your ears. Inspired by pachinko and loaded with style, gratuitous graphical effects, and the Ode To Joy, this may be the perfect casual game. (Review, App Store)

Ragdoll Blaster – Fire ragdolls out of a cannon to complete over 100 different levels. Frustrating at times, Ragdoll Blaster is fun enough to keep you coming back for more– Even after you've spent the last 15 minutes retrying the same level so many times that you lost count. (Review, App Store)

iBlast Moki – The goal is to get the Mokis from point A to point B through the use of bombs, ropes, balloons, wheels and more as you traverse through the 6 worlds and 70 levels. The overall quality of iBlast Moki as well as the inclusion of a level editor with sharable levels make this game really stand out. (Review, App Store)

Sports

Baseball Superstars 2010 – Not only a great baseball game, it is also packed with RPG elements that add an amazing amount of depth. Aside from playing standard games of baseball, both super batters and super pitchers can be leveled up in season modes. These characters can be customized in a number of ways, allowing for hours upon hours of gameplay with each character. (Review, App Store)

Homerun Battle 3D – This one will always be known as Baseball Slugger to us, but since changed its name to Homerun Battle 3D. If you're not a sports game fan, don't let the sports theme throw you off, Homerun Battle 3D is one of the best. It also represented the first massively successful online matchup system we've seen in the App Store allowing you to easily compete head-to-head against others around the world. (Review, App Store)

Backbreaker Football – While nowhere near as deep as the "full" football games on the platform, Backbreaker is probably more fun. The game is laid out in series of challenges where you guide your player to the end zone, hopefully scoring bonus points by "showboating". (Review, App Store)

Let's Golf – The closest thing available on the App Store to Hot Shots Golf. This arcade golf game features 63 holes, local multiplayer, and different control modes that appeal to both casual players and those looking for a slightly more technical game of golf. (Review, App Store)

Conclusion

We spent weeks sorting through the hundreds of games we've reviewed this year, and found excuse after excuse to keep adding to the list. Even so, there were still plenty of games we quite enjoyed that didn't make it to this list. Feel free to add your suggestions to the comments if we missed one of your favorites.

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