Stories By Tim Rattray

When it comes to puzzle-based adventure games, only one has name recognition: Professor Layton. Does Nelson Tethers come close to the celebrated Nintendo DS series? If this episode of Puzzle Agent is any indication, he just might.

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Battle Bears has become one of the franchises to watch on the iPhone. We’re big fans of the gun-toting war furries, and we've helped them in their fight against the devious Huggables ever since the pink monsters took our Editor in Chief from us at Comic-Con. However, despite our vendetta, Battle Bears Go’s lack of control optimization makes it an adventure we can’t recommend.

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It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then a new bar will be set for a genre by an indie gem, and Snake Galaxy HD fits the bill. We can’t remember any other version of Snake that has left our jaws dropped like this game has.

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Playing the bad guy is always a lot of fun, as it gives you a new perspective. In Shark or Die, you’ll quickly see that the lonely shark will die if it doesn’t chomp on beach-dwellers. In the end, guilt will override you and you’ll be helping the shark on its quest for carnage.

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Mahjong games are an interesting bunch. Many of them pass as adequate, but few manage to be unique. Mahjong Elements HD, the spiritual successor to FDG’s iPhone mahjong game Mr. Mahjong Touch, defines itself though interesting tile layouts and an upgrade system.

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Splode's simplicity is a double-edged sword, since it is highly polished but lacks variety. Its bare-bones approach offers a soothing, mindless escape from reality that only lasts for a little while.

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The original iShoot was an overnight success for developer Ethan Nicholas. In fact, it did so well he even quit his job, something that few app developers have been able to pull off. When we look back at iShoot today, it certainly feels outdated next to recent turn-based artillery games. iShoot 2 doesn’t do enough to give the title a fresh coat of paint, and actually downgrades the controls.

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Solipskier is what you’d get if Canabalt and Line Rider had a lovechild. It has the fast pace and constant rightward motion of Canabalt, plus the platform drawing of Line Rider. It’s a very fun game, even if you aren’t an extreme sporting fan.

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Justin Smith, developer of the infamous Enviro-Bear 2010, is taking another swipe at gaming with his latest ridiculous game, So Long, Oregon! Even thought it isn't what we'd call an amazing game, nor was that the point, it's completely unique and an entertaining way to relive the thrill of dysentery.

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Since Pocket Legends was released back at the iPad launch, Spacetime Studios has continued to reward players with incredible post-launch support. There are now dozens upon dozens of instances, PvP, a quest system, starting areas for each race, and more. In this review update we'll cover some of the highlights of recent developments in the world of Pocket Legends.

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Of the few iPhone games that have made an impact outside of the App Store, Pocket God is one of the biggest. To kick off our new Developer Profile feature, we interviewed Dave Castelnuovo and Allan Dye, the developer/artist duo that brought pygmies into our lives. Read on for a look at the future of Pocket God, their plans for the iPad, and information on their newly released comic.

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Scientists say we’re all made of atoms, but Little Things’ developer Matthew Hall begs to differ. What if everyone and everything is just a combination of other things, which in turn are combinations of other things, and so forth? It may sound ridiculous, but stick with us here.

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You’ve seen plenty of tower destruction games on the App Store, but have you seen one with a crazy ragdoll skeleton doing the limbic funk? We’ve got our money on no. Graveyard Shift is an impressive game, at least on the iPhone.

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We play a lot of HD versions of games that don’t include any new content. Some aren’t worth your time, but others are actually more enjoyable due to the larger screen, and that's how we'd describe Spirit HD. With more space to move you spirit around, this casual title will haunt your iPad for a while.

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Full disclosure-- Spider: Bryce Manor HD is a game we went into expecting to give our highest rating. After the masterpiece that was and still is the iPhone version, there was little doubt in our mind that it would be even better on the larger screen. Suffice to say, our predictions turned out to be true. It doesn’t get much better than using swipes and taps to jump around the surfaces of the manor, spinning webs and eating insects.

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When Semi Secret Software first sent out word of Gravity Hook, we immediately jumped over to their website to try out the flash game. The upward gravity flinging madness kept us occupied for hours and we felt confident that the controls would work wonders on the touch screen. They did, but what didn’t translate so well was the gameplay.

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Some pool games work extremely well on the iPhone and iPad. Just take a look at Namco’s Pool Pro Online 3, which we raved about in our review. Pool Bar is another solid entry in the genre, and it makes up for its lack of online multiplayer with excellent graphics and controls.

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We first saw Piyo Blocks 2 HD back at the iPad launch in April. However, we overlooked it due to the flood of games that came out at the time. That was a mistake. After playing the superb Piyo Blocks 2 that was released a few months later, we went back into our stash, pulled out this gem, and found that it utilized the large screen in ways that made it worth purchasing even if you already own the other version.

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Kyle Poole, developer of the excellent Battle for Wesnoth iPhone and iPad ports, recently brought to our attention his upcoming cross-platform trading card game, Shadow Era. To learn more about the game and what Kyle’s goals are in terms of pushing the genre forward, we asked him a few questions.

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We’ve seen a lot of innovative uses of the iPad and iPhone across all app genres. However, few of these have left us in awe like David Frampton’s Chopper 2. Besides being an incredibly well-produced game, the ability to use the iPhone as a controller for the iPad and connect the iPad to a TV with high-definition video output is outstanding. We may be looking at the future of gaming on iOS devices here, folks.

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