It can spark a revolution! Fight for change! Rally a hockey team! Start a war! Bring U2 back out for an encore! How awesome is that?! It’s really REALLY awesome!!! THAT’S how awesome it is!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

It can also be really annoying when used excessively, as I’ve just proven, or inappropriately, as I’m about to prove further. This month, I’ve followed the shouting… I dug through the app-sack and pulled out anything with a ‘!’ in the title. Hey, a guy’s gotta have a theme, no matter how tenuous.

I’ve got Lucky Generals! I’ve got Burst!, Bigfoot, Go Home!, Hang In…Go! The Oh!BURGER and Oh!SUSHI double combo pack, plus Oh!Monster (not associated with Oh!BURGER nor Oh!SUSHI). Also, the gutsy triple-bang RoomBreak: Escape Now!!! and a mysterious app simply entitled ‘!’

As usual, I’ve stuck to the freebies, so nobody finds themselves shouting, ‘Gimme back my frickin’ frackin’ money!!!!!’ (although I wouldn’t say no to forcefully demanding compensation for the time wasted on a few of these beauties).

Hey, I know! Let’s knock off the duffers first! Then we end on a positive note! Nice!!!

‘!’ is more of a ‘…’ when it comes to excitement, and barely registers a ‘,’ for the amount of time you’d play it. How fast are your reflexes? Oh, they’re that fast. Then you delete it. I’ve spent more time on this paragraph than it did on my iPad.

Burst! is a Bloons knock off. You know how sometimes when a blockbuster movie is about to come out, a third-rate TV station will try to mooch off its predestined success by dumping out a paler, low budget version of the same thing? Tonight on ABS: the Revengers! And, like most people offered this choice, I would much prefer to pay full price for Bloons than play this knock off for free.

Lucky Generals! I’ve still yet to figure out the details. Best I can describe it is a tank war fought by paper-rock-scissors. You choose one of your tanks, the opponent chooses one of his, and you take a pop at each other until there’s only one tank left. You could probably take the time to learn which tank beats which other tank, but since when has war had anything to do with strategic planning? Good old dependable rock, nothing beats that. Did I mention that the battlefield is a bathroom floor? Yeah.

I’m sorry to report that Bigfoot, Go Home! is about Bigfoot the monster truck, and has absolutely nothing to do with Harry and the Hendersons. As tilty-truck 2D racers go, it’s fine animation and physics, but I’ve made it to the seventh level so far without any need to use the brake, or even take my thumb off the accelerator. Challenging it ain’t, which must be why my kids like it so much.

I keep trying my best to like Hang In…Go! because I think it’s got a lot of potential, puzzle-wise. You’re a bit of primordial ooze making its way through a bunch of sewer pipes, dealing with part maze, part swinging, part stretching, part slingshot. Lots of ways to get around, and the physics are pretty decent, only… the act of swinging about is so frustratingly slow and ungainly, and touch controls are so sketchy that I’m having trouble getting past the tutorial. If the slime-swings were, like, twice as long and the tunnels to match so you could get some satisfying speed on, it could be really fun reinvented as a fast-paced reaction game. But at the moment it moves at the speed of evolution. Don’t give up, guys! One more generation ought to do it.

Oh!SUSHI is definitely worth a free grab. What begins as a shining example of fit-inducing random manga colour that the Japanese seem to excel at, continues with a bit of shrug-n-tap through the menu system, and ends with you chucking raw fish onto the sushi train as fast as fast food can be. A customer walks in, says “!” and tap-flick, it’s in his mouth in under a second. He gnaws away graphically at it, then his face lights up surrounded by roses and happy symbols. He pays you a few hundred yen and leaves. Success! Quick shot of you, the Dragonball-Z of sushi chefs, then onto the next level. A good chef can please 20 customers in under 2 minutes.

It’s the customers that make the game though. When I say ‘customer’ I mean anything from puckered old African sourpuss in a muumuu to Mexican pro wrestler man-child. It’s hilariously random and fun in a DudeWTF sort of way. Also, because it’s packed with Japanese weirdness, you feel more culturally robust.

If you need to ease into your cultural robustness, there’s also Oh!BURGER for the American Market. Same thing, but translated into burgers and fries and more normal looking people (presumably because Americans are reputed globally for how normal they are).

The Oh! has obviously not been trademarked, because Oh!Monster has nothing to do with serving food to monsters (nor Harry and the Hendersons, for that matter). No, it’s about serving WHOOP-ASS to monsters… TOWER DEFENCE STYLE!!! To be honest, Tower defence isn’t really my thing (though I must confess a fondness for Bloons TD – what is it with me and Bloons today?), but the time I spent in here I enjoyed. Go on and grab this one too, the intro cutscene’s worth the price of, er, free.

And finally… RoomBreak: Escape Now!!! As you’d expect, it sits squarely within the escape-the-room genre of games. Because of this obvious fact, I cringed as I opened it for the first time…

Now, personally, my stance on the Escape genre is that it’s the neglected stepchild of the golden boy of gaming genres, the Point-&-Click (hence my own self-serving need to remind people of how good adventure gaming can be when done right – ahem – Hector: Badge of Carnage). The Escape genre seems to be this generation’s pale imitation of P&C, with all the obtuse puzzle illogic and none of the wit, charm, design or character interaction. I won’t go on about it or it will put me in a grumpy mood.

However… I liked this one! There’s a story, and great artwork, and if you throw yourself into the obtusity of the genre it’s actually pretty fun and challenging. The dialogue translation leaves something to be desired, but I channeled this into the charm of the whole thing. Plus, you get 5 episodes, each with 5 rooms to escape from, free. Totally worth the download, and totally worthy of the three !!!s in the title. I may even buy Episode 6!

So there you go!!!!!!!!!!!! Incidentally, how many ! is too many? I’ve always gone with the rule of thumb that five exclamations is a sure sign of insanity, whether in anger or joy. Facebook should put in an auto filter based on that rule.

Anyway, hopefully a few of these gems will have you shouting with joy, shouting with frustration or shouting with laughter (unless you’re one of the aforementioned developers, from whom I will expect to hear shouts of verbal abuse in the next few days).

And if I’ve missed anything obvious, don’t hesitate to give me a, well, you know. If you need me, I’ll be over here playing Bloons.

Before I get into the titles I selected for this week, I want to say that I’m really excited to see that all of my choices are Universal apps!

Kicking things off this week is the largest (and most expensive of the featured new releases at $6.99), Sonic The Hedgehog 4™ Episode II. It is the sequel to SEGA’s hit revival of the Sonic franchise which originally launched In October 2010 and December of last year on the iPhone and iPad (respectively). The game picks up where Episode I left off and features an all-new engine with updated physics and Retina Display graphics. Players will also have the opportunity to team up with a friend (as Sonic and Knuckles) in a co-op mode via Bluetooth. Couple that with iCloud saves and the fact that it’s a Universal app, and it means you can pickup and play Sonic wherever you go, on whichever device you’d like.

Now that you’ve spent $6.99, why don’t we look at some of the freebies coming your way tonight…

If you are into deck building strategy games, then the free-to-play Master of Maya might fit the bill. Perhaps high-scorers are more your thing? Well then check out the “get the furthest” endless climber action of Circus Atari™ where you must help your human-cannonball clown reach new heights. Finally, if you are looking for a new match-three experience, then Boomlings could be the answer, offering some creative-looking power-ups and no price tag.

Next up is a brilliant looking rendition of the classic 30 year-old board game, Scotland Yard. I distinctly remember my older brother getting this game for Christmas and however I don’t recall the specifics of the gameplay other than you had the choice of playing as an agent or the spy, Mister X, that the agents were chasing. I know we had a lot of fun playing it and with Retina graphics and both local and online multiplayer play, I’ll likely be picking this one up (and trying to convince my brothers to do the same) for a little family competition.

Rounding out the new releases are four 99¢ titles, all of which feature some cute animal protagonists and appear to offer some entertainment value w/o breaking the bank.

Missile Monkey is a level-based “shooter” where you are a monkey using his war plane to bomb all of the evil viking gorilla’s “frightful orange balloons of terror” and restore tranquility to your homeland. Skippy the Squirrel and the birds from Bird Zapper! are back in Namco’s follow up defense game which reverses the roles. Now you must help Skippy using electric arcs, toxic gas and ginormous flyswatters to fend off the endless barrage of buggy retribution sent forth by the angry upset birds.

The final two titles prove that the bird really is the word. Chillingo comes out flapping with their cute looking new physics puzzle game Non Flying Soldiers. You must place various tools on the battlefield to help every member of your squad of flightless fowl make it home safely. Last but not least is adult swim’s own avian adventure, Extinction Squad. You must catch all manner of nearly extinct animals from Dodos to pandas, gorillas to lions using your “official Extinction Squad trampoline and bounce them to safety”. Featuring friendly graphics and adult swim’s unique brand of sick humor, this looks like some irreverent fun.

Master of Maya Kaasa solution GmbH Free	Circus Atari Atari Free	Boomlings Robert Topala Free	Missile Monkey Munsey Clan Games LLC 99¢
Bug Assault Namco Networks America Inc. Games 99¢	Non Flying Soldiers Chillingo Ltd 99¢	Extinction Squad [adult swim] 99¢	Scotland Yard Ravensburger Digital GmbH $4.99
Sonic The Hedgehog 4™ Episode II SEGA $6.99

Is it a good thing, bad thing, or does it even matter?
What does it mean for the consumer?

On the show Carter also interviews Mark Peterson of VisionaryX about their new release, Damn You Dragons!.

Listen and enjoy.

Listen to the podcast on iTunes.
Listen to the episode streaming via the web.

Kicking things off this week is N.O.V.A. 3, arguably the biggest new title, it is the third installment in Gameloft’s popular HALO-like FPS series, and bound to be a popular seller. Speaking of sequels, Frontier Developments brings us LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias, the beautiful looking the sequel to their award-winning platform adventure game LostWinds which came out last December.

Looking for something a little different, then you may want to check out Jake Escapes HD from the Italian development studio, Just Funny Games. It is a comedic adventure game that tasks players with completing various jobs, collecting items to aid Jake and Doc in their quest to uncover the mysterious power of an Alien artifact. Offering a unique asthetic complete with comic book-style cut-scenes, this one looks like it’s brimming with character.

The Chillingo published 3D maze game This Could Hurt from Orange Agenda is one I’ve had my eye on for a few weeks now. On your pursuit to becoming a full-fledged Oakguard, you must carefully navigate your way through the Path of Pain, avoiding spinning blades, pitfalls and even giant mallets. With some really nice looking visuals, this one is a definite pickup for me.

Penny Time is a entertaining retroish looking side-scrolling action game from the Australian plastic skateboard manufacturer of the same name. The game offers a number of skater/board customization options, loads of unlockables, and plenty of planned FREE DLC (the first of which will be dropping on May 24th) adding a new playable character, 2 wearable accessories and ‘Competition Play’. Once this DLC hits there will be a real-world competition where you have a chance to win one of 15 original plastic Penny skateboards. So grab the game now or the free lite version and start practicing.

A number of other popular developers return to the app store this week with some frenetic fare. Everplay, the guys behind the popular title Spellsword, follow up this recently released hit with Pinch Peeps. It is a game in which players must pinch and drag together two similar ‘peeps’ to score and progress through the endless and timed modes. MadCoaster and Dimo Eggs creator CGMatic add to their expanding portfolio with ChickenBreak, a new swipe and tap-fest where you must help a chicken escape prison by deflecting incoming heat-seeking rockets and avoid obstacles like spike pits and swinging axes. Both titles appear to offer some nice leaderboard fodder.

By this point you are probably out of money, so you can always grab Electronic Arts’ new free version of BATTLESHIP for the iPhone, which is a tie-in with the new film from Universal Pictures. It offers both single and multiplayer battles via WiFi, Bluetooth, or Pass ‘N Play.

BATTLESHIP FREE Electronic Arts Free	Penny Time Penny Skateboards Australia 99¢	Pinch Peeps Everplay 99¢	ChickenBreak CGMatic Co., Ltd. 99¢
This Could Hurt Chillingo Ltd 99¢	Jake Escapes HD Just Funny Games S.r.l. $1.99	LostWinds2: Winter of the Melodias Frontier Developments Ltd $3.99	N.O.V.A. 3 – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance Gameloft $6.99

Working my way up the list in order of price, I’ll kick things off with the free to play RPG title, Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering. Players can select one of five warriors and do battle with over 100 “horrifying beasts and complete perilous quests on their way to an epic final battle against the formidable demon”. Featuring Retina iPad graphics, 12 classes of armor, a large selection of items and weapons, including 12 fighting spells and 30 levels of progression for your hero, not to mention the FREE price tag, Juggernaut seems like a safe pickup for any RPG fans.

Another freebie is Namco Networks’s accelerometer -based casual top-down 3D platformer, Rocket Fox. Simply tilt your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch to guide Guy (Fox) as he rides fireworks from flowerocket to flowerocket trying to reach the target.

My Little Hero is an interesting looking 3D adventure/puzzle game published by NCsoft. When a boy’s best friend Pinky, gets kidnapped by the evil Boogeyman, he dons his cardboard box helmet, grabs his sword and heads off through the doors of his bedroom closet, on a quest to save his buddy. At a launch sale price of 99¢ this may be one to pick up sooner than later.

Origin8 returns to the App Store with a departure from their popular Sentinel series. Tractor Trails is a cute take on a classic casual puzzle game, which has you trying to figure out the best path to lead a friendly tractor around the farm to plant as many trees as possible. This universal app has 130 levels, iCloud support for progress syncing, Game Center achievements and leaderboards, unlockable upgrades and some adorable graphics. I’ve already been playing a bit of this and at just 99¢ Tractor Trails offers up a good deal of family friendly entertainment.

As for some of the most prolific publishers on the App Store…

Chillingo’s sole new release this week is Robbery Bob™, which appears to be a stealth game along the same lines as SPY Mouse, except that you aren’t drawing paths, but rather using a virtual d-pad instead. Triniti Interactive’s latest is an endless vertical tilt-controled coin collector appropriately called, MiniFlyer. It has a variety of game modes, avatars, and Game Center leaderboards and achievements to keep things interesting.

Got kids? There are a number of new titles coming that might interest your little ones.

Animal Trackers is a cute game where you have to track down a variety of animals (go figure) by following the foot-prints, paw-prints, or hoof-prints, before the trail goes cold. There is an easy mode for young kids and a number of obstacles and more to keep the game’s 50 levels interesting for older players as well. PikPok is back with an adventure game for kids, based on DreamWork’s How To Train a Dragon property. In DreamWorks Dragons: TapDragonDrop you play as Toothless and Hiccup as you explore the Dragon world, rescuing sheep, using all manor of Viking tools.

Warner Bros. returns with their second LEGO Harry Potter title, this time covering years 5-7. Continuing the fun Lego-filled gameplay of the first game, this sequel let’s you experience Harry’s final years at Hogwarts and the big final showdown with (he who shall not be named). There is also a Dueling Club expansion available (I believe as an extra IAP) that let’s you master your skills against powerful wizards like Professor Snape, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Lord Voldemort and more.

Finally, we round out the new releases with the top-down path/strategy game Brainsss. Instead of trying to stop a zombie invasion, you are actually controlling a heard of zombies, trying to infect and recruit as many poor souls as you can. As a fan of most things zombie-related, this looks like it could be a good deal of fun.

SNK PLAYMORE launches a new version of their button mashing 2D on on one brawler, THE KING OF FIGHTERS i 2012. Offering up an astounding 32 playable characters as well as six single-player game modes and an online VS mode (via WiFi), THE KING OF FIGHTERS i 2012 looks like a strong competitor for STREET FIGHTER IV VOLT and MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2, especially now that MvC2 is up to $6.99.

Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering. Mail.Ru Free	Rocket Fox Namco Networks America Inc. Games Free	My Little Hero NCsoft 99¢	Tractor Trails Origin8 99¢
Robbery Bob™ Chillingo Ltd 99¢	MiniFlyer Triniti Interactive Limited 99¢	Animal Trackers Dave Alder $1.99	DreamWorks Dragons: TapDragonDrop PikPok $1.99
Brainsss Lonely Few LLC $2.99	LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 Warner Bros. $4.99	THE KING OF FIGHTERS i 2012 SNK PLAYMORE $6.99

First from Chillingo we have two titles, Lock ‘n’ Load and Fleece Lightning.

Lock ‘n’ Load is dual-stick shooter with not only some impressive looking visuals, but loads of content, boasting “16 massive levels in the main campaign, 9 huge additional levels in the unlockable Call of Minions campaign, plus 6 tough challenge maps”. Fleece Lightning features the loveable Shaun The Sheep from Aardman Animations. It is a top-down racer for the iPhone in which players must help Shaun race the pigs “through over 80 farmyard courses, jam packed with jumps, tricky obstacles and awesome power-ups!”. There is even a level editor to make your own courses.

Speaking of sheep, Bulkypix is back with the sequel to their fantastic 2010 physics puzzler, Saving Private Sheep. The sequel, appropriately titled Saving Private Sheep 2 is a universal app this time around, complete with iPad Retina graphics, all the game play you loved from the original game, plus some new surprises including a level editor!

While we are on an animal theme, I should also mention Miniclip’s pig-filled (and cutely named) physics-puzzler Hambo. You are the Rambo-esque, bandana and bandolier wearing pig know as Hambo and it’s up to you to save your best friend Bacon in a rescue mission spread across over 200 “reactive physics puzzles”. This looks like it’s got some really cute cartoony graphics and unlockable costumes for Hambo. Unfortunately this one is not a universal app, and is instead being offered in separate iPhone and iPad releases (boo to Miniclip).

In the new game Burger Cat, from Ravenous Games (yeah those same folks that brought you the awesome League of Evil series) you must solve puzzles using various tools like a magic wand, pickaxe, dynamite, decoys and more to help the cheezeburger-loving feline get to his savory meal. Featuring iCloud game saves and Retina graphics for both the iPhone and iPad, this looks like a deliciously entertaining value menu item at just 99¢. The last of the animal-themed games comes from Gameloft. Shark Dash is (you guessed it) a physics puzzler in which players help Sharkee, a friendly tub toy, rescue his girlfriend Sally from a band of cheaply-made rubber duckies. It too features unlockable upgradeable looks for the main character and the graphics look adorable. This one should be very appealing to casual gamers of all ages.

Okay, so I guess technically I lied, because we have one more animal-related app…well it’s a werewolf, does that count? Ayopa Games’ MacGuffin’s Curse is billed as a “stunning werewolf comedy puzzle-adventure” and had already won awards for its brilliant writing. The backstory is that “when desperate thief Lucas MacGuffin bungles a museum robbery, he finds himself bound to a mysterious ancient amulet. Using its powers to transform between man and wolf, he must sneak and smash his way through a mind-bending series of puzzles, bring down a terrifying criminal mastermind, and hardest of all, convince his daughter it isn’t funny to fill the fridge with dog food.” The game sounds right up my alley and like it’s brimming with character (and logic puzzles) and at a launch sale price of $1.99 (60% off), I think I’ll definitely be picking this one up.

Finally rounding out the notable new releases are ILLUSIA 2, the second title in GAMEVIL’s casual platform action RPG series. It is free-to-play with an in-game currency system. BBC Worldwide launches Ka-Bloom, “a colourful, psychedelic physics-based puzzle game about eating, growing and blooming.” You must touch gems and draw chains with your finger to “feed the ever-hungry Floret, an infinitely cute flower-like creature that brings warmth and life to the cosmos.”

FDG Entertainment’s iPad-only single and multiplayer strategy game, Tentacle Wars HD uses tom rich visuals to catapult players “into a microscopic world of cells, neurons and DNA tentacles”. You must draw lines between green antibody and red enemy cells, to save an entire alien species from extinction. The game sports a single player campaign mode as well as online multiplayer matches via Game Center.

Last but not least is another strategy game, this time from SEGA and the makers of the award-winning Total War series. Designed specifically for touch-screen devices, Total War Battles is a sweeping real-time strategy game set in Medieval Japan. It features a nearly 10-hour story-driven campaign which takes place in the world of Total War: SHOGUN 2. And there is also a 1 vs. 1 local multiplayer mode. It too is a universal app.

Personally I am VERY happy to see so much love for universal apps this week, cheers to the developers for this!

As for which of these I’ll be picking up, I’d say MacGuffin’s Curse, Saving Private Sheep 2 (because I loved the first one) and Burger Cat are strong bets, and then maybe another of the 99¢ titles as well.

How about you?

ILLUSIA 2 GAMEVIL Inc. Free	Hambo Miniclip.com 99¢	Ka-Bloom BBC Worldwide 99¢	Burger Cat Ravenous Games 99¢
Saving Private Sheep 2 Bulkypix 99¢	Fleece Lightning Chillingo Ltd 99¢	Lock ‘n’ Load Chillingo Ltd 99¢	Shark Dash Gameloft 99¢
MacGuffin’s Curse Ayopa Games LLC $1.99	Tentacle Wars HD FDG Entertainment $2.99	Hambo HD Miniclip.com $2.99	Total War Battles SEGA $6.99

Plenty of folks go for the Occam’s Razor approach; just call it what it does. Tossing paper? Paper Toss. Crushing castles? Crush the Castle. Conducting trains? Train Conductor. Bish bash bosh.

Bish bash boring, you mean! Instead, for your app, you decide instead to break all the rules and create a brand new brand out of a brand new word! You take all the first letters in all your developers’ names and jumble them up, and come out the other end of the marketing department’s digestive tract with, er… Zchmoodskie! Yeah! It’s new, it’s cute, it’s never been done! Let’s take over the world!

Granted, you’ll be whisked to the front of the URL dispute queue, and there’s a good chance your made-up name would probably stand out in a written list… but then, what’s happened to your word of mouth advertising? Where is everybody?

Here’s you talking to an investor: “Check out our website to see a video preview. It’s www.zchmoodskie.com. Yes, ‘zchmoodskie’. Starts with Z. Yes, that’s right. No, C-H. Double O… ah, you must have had a U, and a Y at the end, yeah, we’re I-E. Did you get the D? Right, so read that back to me… Hello?”

Now, I’m not saying failure is a foregone conclusion. Yours truly was in a similar situation just like this with an internet startup back when I worked in New York City. The jumble of letters was chosen for its visual appeal, as well as a bit of witty URL letterplay branding… but nobody could pronounce the damn thing. Not even our own receptionist.

Did we go public and retire in our twenties? Hell no! But that’s not to say it can’t work for some. Theoretically.

To put this to the test, I decided to take a chance on a bunch of free games with nonsense-word brand names. I popped on the extra-strength latex gloves, took a deep breath, plunged both my arms elbow deep into the AppAddict vault of review requests, and dug out anything that had the guts to go forth with a garbled gamble.

Prepare yourselves for the intriguing and mysterious potential delights of BloBox!, Urubu, Frisdinga, Moonga, Glwp, Nulis and Trigonon…

BloBox! turned out to be a very simple combination of two words: Blob in a Box. You’re a little dollop of strawberry jam, running like mad through some sort of faux-3D ventilation tunnel, avoiding the black panels, er, and, uh, picking up gold. You kinda have to see it to know what I mean, and even then.

Conceptually speaking, it’s the sort of gameplay that I’ve always been curious to try on for size: fast-paced accelerometer action. Flip left, flip right, upside down, right-side left, arse over teakettle, with added tap-jumping to invert gravity and induce vertigo. In short, play this one over a carpet, because you’re bound to drop the iPhone at some point.

Sad to say, while a good try, they just didn’t quite get the balance right in the execution. I managed to squeak through the tutorial with a pass, have since achieved two-out-of-three stars on Level 2 and have yet to complete Level 3. It’s flippin’ HARD, pun totally intended. The levels aren’t even that long; mind you, I think that’s part of the problem… In about three seconds, a flurry of black and gold comes flying at your jam blob and you’re like AH! WHOA! URK! YIPE! Aw crap.

Maybe a little more self-dedication would put me into the mindset, but with six other games to review I wasn’t willing to invest the time in something that gives me no actual skill in the real world (a bit like how I feel about Guitar Hero). So, score this one as Potentially Good After A Few Speed Tweaks.

Nonsense score: 3 out of Sausage!

Urubu turned out to be a game involving spelling words correctly, paradoxically enough. To their credit, I’m sure it’s difficult to come up with a clever word-based pun with all the other wordies out there trying to come up with the same stuff. Word Pummel! Word Turd! Wally Wally Word Wonk! Wordette! That sort of thing (if any of these are real, and they probably are, I’m not affiliated with them, (nor do I wish to be)).

All things being equal, I have to say I kinda like it. I like a good word game as much as the next man, and maybe it’s the simplicity that I appreciated. You’ve got six blank squares at the bottom, and two giant letter squares at the top, one for each thumb. Random letters flash into the thumb squares, and if you think you can spell a word with them, tap them to send them into the blanks below. If you’re not quick enough, a couple of primitive-culture-style letter squashers bash you down to five then four then three letters, until you’re screwed.

It’s different, it’s quick enough, and I think with a bit of design polish (okay, a lot) and some innovative achievement-based gamification, they’d have something here. Give it a crack.

Nonsense score: Scare my lare! It’s 6.11 Pa’aghurks!

Let’s kick things off this week with a few free-to-play titles that wont cost you a penny to try out. From GAMEVIL comes Fighter City, a massive, online, location-based territory claiming game, where players fight for turf by training and leveling up their fighters “in a diverse range of martial arts”. Chillingois back with Aero Vacation, a social time-management game where players attempt to build “the ultimate airship” and attend to all their passengers needs. Judging solely from the screenshots, it looks like it could be pretty similar to IUGO Mobile’s Sunshine Cruise Lines. The final free game is StickWars 3, which as you can probably guess, is the third title in PulsePlay’s popular Castle Defense series of games.

Next up is David Miller’s cute looking physic-based, puzzle game, Got Cow?. Cows are being abducted by aliens and you must launch rockets at the invaders’ ships to try and stop them, while taking into consideration how the Black Holes, Asteroids & Wormholes in you way will effect your trajectory.

Like fantasy? Prolific publishers Triniti Interactive launch a rather nice looking questing game called DevilDark: The Fallen Kingdom, with “tons of brutal weapons, hordes of enemies and a deep skill system”. Ankama also makes its return with iPhone and iPad releases of DOFUS : Battles 2, the sequel to its popular Tower Defense game, DOFUS : Battles. However, this time around, players reverse roles and the sequel is actually a Tower Attack game.

The next two titles come from the console world. First is Rockstar Games’ Max Payne Mobile. Similar to last year’s excellent port of Grand Theft Auto III, developer War Drum Studios brings the 2001 console classic which pioneered the concept of Bullet Time® in videogames to the iOS platforms. I must shamefully admit that I never player the original, but I will most certainly be picking this one up.

EA brings their XBLA/PSN title Burnout™ CRASH!, to iOS. The game is based on the Burnout Paradise series, or more specifically one of the most fun aspects of the game where players are positioned at an intersection where they attempt to keep their wrecked car in constant motion as long as possible by smashing it to as many cars, buses and other objects as they can manage. Burnout™ CRASH! follows much of the same principle, but takes more of a top-down approach and in the iOS incarnation, players “use swipe-and-tap controls to steer vehicles, trigger explosions and rack-up scores across 3 game modes, 18 traffic junctions, 54 events, and 6 themed locations”. This looks like a blast (no pun intended), now the only question is, do I wait for the inevitable EA sale price.

Last, but certainly not least is Crow, the debut title from newcomers Sunside. This story-driven, action-adventure game has been receiving a phenomenal amount of pre-release buzz for its amazing visuals and 3D world built via Sunside’s own Radiance platform. Being a huge adventure game fan, I think this is probably my top pick for the week, I cannot wait to see what all the buzz is about.

Now it’s your turn, which (if any) of these titles will YOU be picking up this week?

Fighter City GAMEVIL Inc. Free	StickWars 3 PulsePlay Free	Aero Vacation Chillingo Ltd Free	Got Cow? David Miller 99¢
DevilDark: The Fallen Kingdom Triniti Interactive Limited 99¢	Max Payne Mobile Rockstar Games $2.99	DOFUS : Battles 2 Ankama $3.99	DOFUS : Battles 2 HD Ankama $3.99
Burnout™ CRASH! Electronic Arts $4.99	Crow Sunside Inc. $4.99

The sheer amount of iOS representation was wonderful, with at least double (or even triple) the number of iOS-related exhibitors showing off some really great stuff. From seasoned vets to first-time app developers nervously displaying their apps, iOS gamers had plenty to be excited about. Heck, even companies that were not making iOS games, were giving away iPads and iPod Touches.

It was a great place for fans to finally put some faces to names and twitter handles, and try out some unexpected treats (like Playdek’s ‘Food Fight‘, Hello Games’ ‘Joe Danger’ or Owlchemy Labs’ ‘Jack Lumber’). Hopefully some of you attended the show and got a little hands on time with these really cool games and updates that will be gracing your iOS devices soon.

Since there is a lot of things I want to mention, I won’t go into great detail on each title, but you can expect some more in-depth articles on a number of these titles soon.

What did we see?

Jetpack Joyride v1.3 update – Halfbrick
Yes!I got some hands-on time with the new v1.3 update and got to try out ALL FIFTEEN of Barry’s new gadgets headed your way later this month. As I said in my full writeup, these add a lot of fun, variety and opportunities for strategical play to the already amazing Jetpack Joyride.

Jack Lumber – Owlchemy Labs
Alex and the rest of the guys at Owlchemy Labs have a hilarious new game coming your way this summer called ‘Jack Lumber’. The storyline is as follows: “Jack Lumber is a supernatural lumberjack with a kind heart but a fierce hatred of trees. One of those tricky wooden bastards killed his grandma, so he’s out for revenge against every piece of timber in the forest. Now Jack’s teaming up with Buck the Beaver for daily rounds of tree-slaying. It’s all in a day’s work: choppin’ wood and takin’ logs!”

A brilliant bullet-time / path drawing game, ‘Jack Lumber’ might best be described as ‘Bullet-time Log Ninja” as it kind of blends elements of familiar games, but in a fresh, fun way. It has nice graphics, challenging gameplay and a offbeat sense of humor, or basically all that you’d expect from the company that brought you Snuggle Truck. I have no doubt this will be another hit for the studio. You can check out the official site for more info and a trailer.

Gamebook Adventures 8: Infinite Universe – Tin Man Games
Between Microsoft’s “Made In MA” celebration on Thursday Night and the expo floor on Friday, I had a number of great conversations with Tin Man co-founder Neil Rennison, and artist Dan Maxwell, on topics ranging from their Gamebook Adventures and iOS development in general, to making a living on the app store, corn dogs and ironic bookmarks. You can check out my full review of their latest (and in my opinion, best) Gamebook, which you’ve got no excuse not to download, since it is free to play app.

Joe Danger – Hello Games
While satisfying my console gaming cravings by playing a demo of the upcoming XBLA title, Joe Danger : The Movie at the Hello Games booth, I asked if they had considered creating a Joe Danger game for iOS and I was immediatley pointed toward the other side of the booth where, to my surprise, there was a playable demo on both the iPad and iPhone! Not a port, an all-new title written from the ground up for iOS, to specifically take advantage of the touch controls and eliminate the reliance on a virtual d-pad.

Using a combination of swipes, flicks and touches the controls felt very solid and responsive. While I was told that it was still in development, the game looked very polished, but had a limited number of levels. This will be a day one purchase when released, as the development team has done a great job taking a popular franchise and building it properly for the iOS community instead of just giving us a second-rate port.

Ghostbusters : Paranormal Blast – XMG Studio
While wandering the aisles during the media hour before the masses arrived, we were approached by a Ghostbuster, dressed in full uniform and given a demo of a new title coming from XMG Studio called Ghostbusters : Paranormal Blast. It is an augmented reality title coming to the iPhone this Summer which uses the devices camera to cast you as an official Ghostbuster, zapping away supernatural beings with your proton pack, all in your current surroundings. Sure, there are a number of similar titles already available on the App Store, but this one benefits from having the official license to use characters and ideas from the Columbia Pictures film series. In the bit we saw you were trying to bag Slimer. Kids and Ghostbusters fans will get a kick out of this one.

Hero Academy – Robot Entertainment
Robot Entertainment, was at the show too. While mostly demoing Orcs Must Die 2 for the Steam/XBLA, they did have a few iPads up showing off their (newly universal) addictive strategy game Hero Academy. I have one much in which I’m currently losing against 148Apps’ Carter Dotson, so I figured this would be the perfect time to get a little strategy advice from the professionals. After politely saying “you’re screwed”, I was given some hopefully game changing advice and a free code to download the Dwarf Team (which may still be on sale for 99¢ to celebrate the release of the all-new Tribe Team). If you haven’t played Hero Academy, then you should really download it and check it out since it is free to play!

Food Fight – Playdek
This was one of my favorite surprises at PAX East. The night prior to the start of PAX, Playdek released Nightfall, their iOS version of AEG’s popular deck-building game. All of the press release info I received from Playdex was for this title, and not being a deck-building gamer myself, I have to admit that it wasn’t really something I was particularly interested in. However, when I arrived at PAX, there was a card in the PAX Swag Bag I advertising Playdek’s Food Fight game, which immediately caught my eye.

It is a super-fun strategical card game for 1 to 4 players where you must “recruit fighting entrees and side dishes to build a battling meal for the ultimate food fight”. Even with fun characters like Major Weiner and Private Pancake, there is actually quite a bit of depth to the game. The Playdek rep demoing the game did a fantastic job of explaining it and I was impressed that she managed to keep a straight face when describing the Yumminess factor, which determines who wins a hand. With single and multiplayer game modes as well as offline and online play, I was immediately hooked and have already played a number of matches with my twin brother via Game Center’s asynchronous multiplayer since getting back. I have no idea how I missed this one when it came out in February, but I’m really glad Playdek was demoing Food Fight at PAX East!

Super Crate Box – Vlambeer
The Boston Indie showcase was a great place to see some of the cool indie titles that iOS has to offer. I finally was able to meet Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail, and had a great conversation about Super Crate Box and Ridiculous Fishing (though I was unfortunately unable to get a sneak peak of this). It was fun to see my twin brother (and SCB newbie) get decimated by the rather unforgiving SCB. Also hanging out in the Vlambeer booth were Halfbot’s Melvin Samuel and Derek Laufman. I asked them what was next for Halfbot since it had been about a year since we’ve seen a new title from them since they’ve been keeping busy with updates for their current titles and collaborative works. Well I’m happy to say that they are finally ready to dig in and begin development on one of the many ideas rolling around in their collective heads.

SpellTower – Zach Gage
I’m sure there is at least one person who’s name you constantly see thrown about on your twitter stream, and though you’ve never met the individual you’ve heard a lot about them. For me that individual is SpellTower creator Zach Gage. I follow a lot of indie devs on Twitter and I see his name (and game) come up a lot, so it was nice to finally put a face to a name and check out SpellTower. Sporting a number of different game modes catering to a variety of play-styles, SpellTower is a fun and addicting word puzzle game, that Zach himself described as the “Drop7 of word games”. It is available on the app store now for $1.99.

Girls Like Robots – Popcannibal
Popcannibal’s Girls Like Robots is a logic/puzzle game all about seating arrangements. Each of the cute icon-shaped pieces is a person to be made happy by seating them near friends or certain types of other pieces. Players must balance a crowd of girls, robots, nerds, lady bugs, tennis thugs, baked goods and more. While the cute graphics and name had me thinking it was for kids, the game is actually trickier than expected, and geared toward players of all ages.

I enjoyed my time with Girls Like Robots and my conversation with the game’s designer, Ziba Scott. As far as mobile platforms go, he said that the plan is to launch on Android first, then follow that up with an iOS release. Since the game was developed using the Unity engine, it should make releasing on multiple platforms a little easier.

Words in Space – HitPoint Studios
HitPoint Studios had a display showing off some of their web and mobile games including Words in Space. It is word game where players try to form words by tapping on lettered asteroids to form words. You’ve got to be quick, for if too many asteroids land on your ships shield, then it’s game over. While I thought that SpellTower was easily a much more robust word game, I could see how this one may be more appealing to a younger audience. It is available on the App Store for 99¢ and there is a lite version available if you want to try it before spending 99¢ on the full release.

TapCity 2 – The Tap Lab
The Tap Lab will soon be releasing the sequel to their free-to-play multiplayer city-building game. In the original Tap City, players try take over their favorite places (which are located geographically near them) almost like Foursquare, but with a bit more Monopoly-style gaming aspects like earning income on the places you own. “A real-world map is your game board and the pieces of the game are the people and places around you. Play with friends as you build and defend your very own city made up of your favorite places.”

The biggest drawback of the original game is that you are restricted to just places that are near you and that can be seen by your iOS device’s GPS. So if you don’t have a lot of places near you or many people in your neighborhood playing the game (which was the case for me, since I’m in the Suburbs), it gets very boring, very quickly. With TapCity 2, The Tap Lab hopes to resolve this one big detractor of the game, by adding the ability to travel to other locations, not just those located geographically near you. Maybe I’ll give it another go when the new game comes out.

Wither Studios – Crowman & Wolfboy
iOS new-comer Wither Studios was on hand to demonstrate an early build of their rather visually pleasing, silhouette art-styled platformer/runner, Crowman & Wolfboy on the iPad. The Kickstarter-funded game features an “unlikely pair of Shadow Creatures, on an epic metaphysical journey to escape their own nature and find a greater meaning”. With a tentacled monster hot on their tails, the game reminded me quite a bit of rComplex. However, the developers were quick to point out that is was not an endless runner, even going as far as to show me that the characters could stop running anytime you wanted.

The game is still very much in development, but as it stands now, the basic movement of the characters is accomplished via tilt controls and tapping the screen causes the characters to jump. The developers are still debating the inclusion of additional gesture controls for other actions as well. While I really love the game’s art style, honestly I’m a little unsure about the tilt controls, as they are something I’ve always found a bit awkward on the iPad. I’ll save my final judgment for when the full game is available to play; there was just too little to see at this point, but Crowman & Wolfboy is one title I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on.

GunHead & Trapdoor – Headcase Games
On Saturday of the show, I was able to have a sit down with Ron Alpert of Headcase Games (180) to check out early builds of a couple of new titles they have been working on. The first title, GunHead is very similar to the NES classic CONTRA, but features a very unique one-handed control scheme and plays in portrait mode. There was just the one level to play, but it truly felt like I was playing CONTRA. Honestly the one-handed controls felt a little awkward at first and I had a natural compulsion to want use two hands, but Ron assured me that this goes away quickly and soon the one-handed approach feels quite natural. To prove his point, he then quite skillfully played the game using just one hand. I’m a huge fan of retro-style gaming so this one I’ll definitely be watching.

The other title, Trapdoor, is a simple pick up and play high scoring game. There are three chutes and various colored faces drop down the chutes from the top of the screen. If the face matches the current color of the bay, then you must tap and hold on the screen (on that chute) to open the trapdoor to let the face in. The colors are constantly changing around so you have to keep a watchful eye on things. There are some humorous sound effects when missed faces meet their doom and it includes a variety of power-ups to freeze time, or help you in other ways. The action ramps up and tests your ability to multi-task. It is a fun little casual game and one I’d certainly like to spend some more time with when it’s finished.

Bean’s Quest – Kumobius
Though the game first launched on the App Store last July, this was my first exposure to Bean’s Quest. It is a cute Mario-esque platformer where players control a Mexican jumping bean simply by tapping on the left and right side of the screen to change direction. This universal app is currently on sale for just $1.99 or you can download the FREE lite version.

There were a number of other iOS titles being displayed as well, but I just didn’t get to everything.

So let’s get down to it…

First up this week is Toca Kitchen Monsters, Toca Boca’s completely FREE, monster-themed version of their popular Toca Kitchen title. If you have young kids definitely grab a copy of this ‘Toca-Sitter’ and if they are anything like my girls, they’ll be captivated for hours.

Don’t Step On The Cracks looks like it may have one of those unexpected sleeper hits on its hands with On The Wind. You are the wind, and via simple one touch controls, you must try to guide the leaves to flourish in the Summer and survive the Winter. Ugg now I have that Patrick Swayze song stuck in my head.

Another title that I suspect will garner a following is Joystick Lab’s Saturday Morning RPG. It is an episodic role-playing game set in a world inspired by 1980s Saturday morning cartoons. Its 80′s theme could have enough appeal to get people who generally don’t play RPGs (like myself) to give it a go. It is free to download, but unlocking the entire game will cost you $1.99.

Aside from having an awesome studio name, Gotta Pea is releasing, Peakour™ in separate iPhone and iPad versions. It is physics puzzle game where players position oddly-shaped bits of junk around the screen to manipulate the adorable lead character (PeaG) to perform cool feats of parkour to collect bottle caps.

From Chillingo we get CreaVures a puzzle/platformer where players must combine the unique skills of the of the game’s five CreaVures to make them work together to solve the puzzles and claim victory in the “terrifying boss battles” at the end of each chapter. Also from Chillingo is Beeing, an obstacle avoidance game , where you attempt to guide a bee through a hazardous obstacle course by sliding your finger up and down the screen. There are a few power-ups along the way to keep things interesting.

UNCADE’s Blast Ball looks like a really cool retro title with a vector art style. “Score goals as fast as you can while blowing up your enemies! Avoid the ever increasing volley of bad guys as you score with soccer balls, footballs, basketballs, and Blast Balls. Complete missions to unlock new ball types such as the disco ball, mega ducky, and the cube.” Sounds like a winner to me.

Not particularly my cup of tea, but if you are one of those people that really loves those “catapult yourself the furthest” genre of games, then Propel Man may be right up your alley. It’s got 30 levels (each with increasing distances and a variety of obstacles), a shop for purchasing the usual upgrades and a total of 16 unique catapults.

If you like time management games where you build and maintain virtual towns, then you may want to take a look at G5 Entertainment’s Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort or the more kid-appealing Ice Age Village from Gameloft.

Finally, Ubisoft’s Rabbids are back in the form of a interactive torture-toy in the app Rabbids Go HD. CAVE CO returns with another of their shooters, Bug Princess 2. Last but not least, Big Fish Games, Inc is back with another of their super popular, free-to-try hidden object games, Dark Dimensions: City of Fog. As usual, it is available in separate iPhone and iPad releases.

Which of these titles will you be picking up?

Toca Kitchen Monsters Toca Boca Free	Peakour™ for iPhone/iPod Gotta Pea, LLC 99¢	Peakour™ HD for iPad Gotta Pea, LLC 99¢	Bug Princess 2 CAVE CO.,LTD. $4.99
Blast Ball UNCADE $2.99	Propel Man Spiel Studios 99¢	Saturday Morning RPG Joystick Labs, LLC Free (unlock full game for $1.99)	On The Wind Don’t Step On The Cracks $1.99
Rabbids Go HD Ubisoft $1.99	Ice Age Village Gameloft Free	Beeing Chillingo Ltd 99¢	CreaVures Chillingo Ltd 99¢
Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort G5 Entertainment Free	Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort HD G5 Entertainment Free	Dark Dimensions: City of Fog Collector’s Edition Big Fish Games, Inc Free	Dark Dimensions: City of Fog Collector’s Edition HD Big Fish Games, Inc Free