Run Roo Run ($0.99 iPhone, $1.99 iPad) is a simple to learn, yet hard to master side-scrolling game that rewards split-second accuracy. If you were one of those gamers that toiled over Mario to get the timing of jumping from pipe to pipe just right, then this is the game for you. Run Roo Run forgoes complex touch-based controls, yet still delivers that satisfying rush when you make the right moves.

Gameplay is very basic. The main character, Roo, begins running at an even pace across the screen. As Roo approaches an obstacle, you jump by tapping the screen. Jump too soon, and you land on the obstacle. Jump too late, and you run into the obstacle. Each level is timed: How long it takes to beat a level determines your reward, since the timer keeps going every time you run into an obstacle. Between jumping, double jumping, pausing and restarting, you end up driving yourself nuts trying to make it through a given level in record time. The game ends up being about mastering split-second timing and pattern recall.

Each level occupies just a single screen, which combined, add up to Roo’s journey across Australia. With over four hundred individual screen challenges to overcome, the game seems almost endless. Roo learns new skills along the way to conquer new types of obstacles in order to keep things fresh. The game also keeps its edge by resetting quickly after each failed attempt; Roo is back up and ready to try again almost instantly, with no tedious intermediary screens getting in the way.

You can buy power-ups to slow time down or skip a level entirely via in-app purchase, but it definitely takes some satisfaction out of the game. However, with developer 5th Cell (which also created the celebrated Scribblenauts) committed to adding 10 new levels per week, you may need to take advantage of the occasional cheat just to keep up.

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Trenches II ($1.99 iPhone, $2.99 iPad) is the latest in a lineup of World War I-themed games from Thunder Game Works. Falling somewhere between Plants vs. Zombies  and Flight Control, Trenches II offers slightly more advanced, compelling gameplay, so much so that it approaches the realm of real-time strategy gaming.

The game’s training mode leaves a lot to be desired, with constant, annoying pop-ups, but you can get the hang of things without the tutorial. The basics are as follows: As time passes, you earn money to buy more troops. Troops advance from left to right with the swipe of a finger or two.  You do need to be careful though, as your troops will need to be directed to bunkers and other objects on the battlefield to take cover.

You can lead British, French or German troops into battle. Game strategy comes in the form of which type of troops you buy when. There are sharpshooters, engineers, medics, spies, and flamethrower units to name a few. Along the way, you earn Perk points, which can be used to unlock new troop types and upgrade existing ones. For the impatient, there are in-app purchases to accelerate the earning of Perks.

The more rewarding part of the game, and what makes it a great game for a weekend, is definitely the Skirmish play mode.  In it, you need to scope out a battlefield with airships, and then decide how to deploy your troops. The challenge comes from knowing when to invest in an engineer, and when to invest in a rifleman. The resemblance to Flight Control comes in directing different groups of troops to different points on the battlefield.  This adds a lot to the overall feeling you get of being a real-time field commander.

The iPhone can seem a little tight in terms of available screen real estate with Trenches II, so if you have an iPad, that’s the way to play.

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As an old school D&D player, and a fan of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, I can’t help but be drawn to games that feature dragons, swords and sorcery.  For the last two weeks, the game that has captured my attention the most is Prativo Group’s Dragons Rage.  For just $0.99, you can submerge yourself into a world where dragons are feared and fought by peasants branding pitchforks.  Not only is the app universal, so it works on both iPhone and iPad, but there’s also a Mac version in the Mac App Store for the same price of $0.99.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward.  You’re the dragon and you defend yourself by breathing fire on your attackers. You pivot the dragon’s head from a central point to fight off attackers from all sides.  Red arrows appear on screen to tell you where attackers will be appearing next.  The tricky part is that you can run out of fire, so you have to be careful how long you keep the flame going.  To keep things interesting, you can pick up bonus items along the way to help boost your score, and you can compete online with your Game Center friends.

Difficulty comes in the form of the number of attackers, the number of attacks from opposite sides, and the amount of fire it takes to defeat each class of attacker.  You also learn early on that archers are your real enemy, as they can start doing damage from a distance.  While the game is not going to keep you engaged for weeks on end, it is a very easy to pick up, and definitely the sort of thing that’s perfect for sharing with family and friends at various holiday get-togethers.

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Games for the Weekend is a weekly feature aimed at helping you avoid doing something constructive with your downtime. Each Friday we’ll be recommending a game for Mac, iPhone or iPad that we think is awesome enough to keep you busy until Monday, at least.

I’m starting to think there’s a union rule: In every shooter, the helicopter, plane, train, or automobile you use to arrive will be destroyed. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation ($6.99, Universal) for iOS is no exception. Combined forces of Very Bad People doing Very Bad Things have taken over some cities in America. Even though the American Armed Forces number over a million soldiers, apparently it’s up to just you to solve this problem.

Well, not just you alone. As in most of the Modern Combat series, there are various NPCs that accompany you through the 13-mission campaign that spans Los Angeles to Pakistan. I’d say they help you, but most of their support so far seems to involve yelling encouraging things and laying down random covering fire.

Games like Modern Combat 3 are starting to make me question my decision to pass on the iPad 2. Not so much for the increased graphics performance — when I did a test restore of a friend’s iPad 2 a while back to check it out, I didn’t notice a huge difference in games — but for the AirPlay Mirroring. I’m rapidly coming around to the idea of sitting on my couch playing a shooter on my iPad and TV. MC3‘s graphics are quite good. I’m starting to get as much value from a $7 iPad app as I am from $60 Xbox games.

The only problem I had with this game was with controls. When I wrote about Shadowgun, I raved about how customizable the controls were. In MC3, I didn’t have that flexibility. As a result, I’d end up shooting when I wanted to look around. With Shadowgun, I could move individual controls around; in MC3 I could only choose between three presets I was never fully happy with.

Even so, with 13 single player missions and 6 multiplayer maps for the low cost of seven bucks, Modern Combat 3 is this week’s Game for the Weekend.

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The game, a mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called Please Stay Calm, makes its debut today in the App Store, though only in Canada for now; Massive Damage is cutting its teeth in the Canadian market in preparation for an October U.S. launch. But the new game is worth a look no matter where you happen to live, because it uniquely combines location and personalization with tried and tested models of iPhone gaming success.

A unique twist on success

At its core, Please Stay Calm bears some strong similarities to games such as World War and Crime City. All the games use a store of energy that refreshes over time and can be spent to accomplish things or take action, like engage in combat, for example.

Please Stay Calm tweaks this, making it much more social through global in-game chat and a clever system whereby players (who take on the role of zombie apocalypse survivors) work together to fight off the undead threat. Also unique to Please Stay Calm is a strong focus on location; the game detects your real-life surroundings using the iPhone’s geolocation services, allowing you to set up a defensive bunker in your local Starbucks, for instance.

Massive Damage CEO and Co-Founder Ken Seto told me that the “core of [the] game is centered on providing a truly local social experience.” He says that “people have an affinity for their favorite spots like cafes, bars and even their offices.”

The major appeal of Please Stay Calm, according to Seto, is that “being able to upgrade a real-life location like your office as the biggest baddest safehouse in your city is quite the feeling.” In this way, the location-based elements of Please Stay Calm sound a bit like Foursquare’s mayor mechanism, except that you invest virtual resources, as well as time in a specific place in order to take control of it.

Location: more than just background

Location is about more than just where you do your zombie-fighting in Please Stay Calm. Seto also points out that “characters you run into in the game are local, and you’ll see them in-game time and time again.” City- and safehouse-specific chat will also soon be added, in addition to the global chat option that currently exists. Also, players near your location, and even “non-player Foursquare users automatically help you out if you’re fighting off the zombie hordes in the same location as them,” Seto says.

It’s exactly the kind of rich use of location mechanics that Ryan Kim recently suggested might be the way forward for mobile location services, but in this case, those added value features are extending, rather than replacing the gaming paradigm.

Blended revenue models to suit different tastes

Please Stay Calm is free to play, but uses in-app purchases to allow players to enhance their experience if they wish. The freemium model employed by Massive Damage for this game is designed to “allow people to spend as little or as much as they like,” according to Seto.

The game’s in-app purchases allow you to buy credits, which can then be used to upgrade items and locations. You can also earn credits in other ways, too, and the game does a good job of striking the right balance so that players don’t feel obligated to spend money. There’s also a clever secondary means of earning credits; players can opt to view 10-second videos (essentially advertisements) in exchange for free credits. Seto says they went with this approach because it keeps the app ad-free, while also providing a way for those unwilling to spend on in-app purchases to experience some of the advantages of the game’s freemium model.

For mobile gamers looking for something that takes advantage of the unique abilities of smartphone devices, instead of just making compromises regarding what iOS lacks, Please Stay Calm is an ideal title. Massive Damage also promises episodic content packages, with more cinematics, missions, zombies and weapons coming in at least 10 free chapter upgrades, so the action shouldn’t get stale. Also, the game features tons of great-looking original artwork that gives Please Stay Calm its own unique feel. If you’re Canadian, check it out now. If you’re not, mark your calendars for October and try to be patient.

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MacHeist and developer tap tap tap Tuesday released The Heist

I talked to MacHeist Directorate Members and tap tap tap Principals Phill Ryu and John Casasanta to find out more about the idea behind The Heist, and what why it seems to have struck such a positive note with app buyers. Note that MacHeist and tap tap tap, while technically separate entities, share the same founders and most staff. MacHeist is a software bundle deals provider that also happens to develop apps in the process of designing its deals packages.

Beginning in 2006, MacHeist ran series of challenges that consumers could follow in order to gain access to a software bundle deal that offered multiple Mac applications for one low price. In 2009, with MacHeist 3, it brought coder Corwin Derkatch (who was also instrumental in the development of this iOS app) on board to create Flash minigames.

Casasanta came up with the idea of packaging minigames for the iPhone later that year, says Ryu. While the “games looked nice enough,” Ryu wanted to go bigger than simply repackaging what they already had, so he ended up suggesting “a much more involved take that featured a giant looming safe to crack, a prize at the end, and mysterious phone calls from Sophia, to try to port the spirit of MacHeist over [to the iPhone].” The MacHeist team had already invested considerable time and effort into a straightforward port of its flash games (six months worth, according to Ryu), but “everyone was on the same page about taking the time to make something truly cool.”

The result of their efforts is definitely cool, as well as addictive. And I’m not the only one to think so, either. Ryu reports that the app has seen more than 25,000 sales so far in just its first day on the App Store. It’s the single best launch tap tap tap has seen for any of its apps so far. Those players are eager to crack the safe, too. So far, 10 percent of buyers have already beaten the game, which is no small feat, speaking as someone who probably slept less than he should have last night in an effort to claim my prize from The Heist.

The addictive quality of the puzzles found in The Heist is due to a simple formula, according to Casasanta: “take a classic puzzle and throw an interesting twist into it.”

For example, Casasanta points out that the wires puzzles in The Heist “are basically traditional 15-puzzles (8-puzzles for the easy levels),” with the additional element of having to “figure out how the wire segments on the tiles need to be arranged to connect the various circuits.” Same with the stone/sand/glyph puzzles, which borrow elements from Sudoku, but use “sections [that] are much more irregular” than the traditional simple 3×3 grid within a 9×9 larger grid arrangement used in Sudoku puzzles. Also, the Sudoku-style puzzles in The Heist employ “color to add another dimension,” and “various abstract glyphs instead of numbers” to “breathe a bit of new life into a familiar puzzle,” says Casasanta.

Of course, the careful attention paid to the look, feel and sound of each puzzle experience is also a key factor. Casasanta notes the development team tried “very hard to make them look great and also have nice background soundtracks to set just the right mood for the player.”

I also talked to Ryu about the business model behind The Heist. MacHeist charges $0.99 for The Heist in Apple’s App Store, but upon completion of the game, users are rewarded with a code for a $9.99 game called Eets in the Steam marketplace, which sells games for Mac and Windows computers. Ryu and his team negotiated a promotional deal with Klei Entertainment, the studio behind Eets, in which MacHeist pays Klei a licensing fee in exchange for the rights to distribute Steam codes to The Heist players for one year. Klei is looking for a bump in sales thanks to the exposure promotional downloads will provide its game through Steam and other sources as a result of increased download volume.

Finally, I asked Ryu about his plans for the future of The Heist and the potential of the iOS platform. He admitted that there were potentially plans in the works for both the introduction of new content to the existing Heist app, and also plans to expand with additional apps and iPad support, but he wouldn’t make any guarantees about either. Judging by the response so far, I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see something new and exciting from the MacHeist/tap tap tap team on iOS down the road.

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Infinity Blade

Definitely a Looker

Let me make something abundantly clear: This is a gorgeous game. It’s the best-looking game I’ve seen on my iPhone 4′s Retina Display, and the best on the iPad, too. I haven’t had the chance to see how it works on an iPhone 3GS or iPod touch, but it runs very smoothly on Apple’s latest phone and tablet hardware. You can see many pretty pictures of just how nice Infinity Blade looks in the gallery at the end of this post.

Gameplay

Gameplay initially held some disappointment for me. Unlike in Epic Citadel, you aren’t free to move about the game world in Infinity Blade. It’s an on-rails experience, with pulsing circles directing your attention to places you can travel to. Generally speaking, you have one choice. Sometimes, you have two. Along the way, you can tap gold, potions or chests to get items, and you can change the camera angle, but there is no exploration or open world environment.

When you start the game, you’re presented with an opponent barring your way. Tapping on that enemy puts you into combat, or you can tap a circular blue “i” icon to get more information about him. You can block, dodge or parry attacks in order to get opponents to drop their guard, and then attack with your weapon. If you attack without first breaking an enemy’s defence, you’ll only do minor damage. You can also use a special power attack when fully charged, which automatically breaks an enemy’s guard. Finally, you can also use magic to cast spells with gestures you draw on the screen, which can be either offensive or defensive.

Fighting opponents earns you (surprise!) experience, and money, which you can spend on equipment. You “master” equipment by using it in battle, which grants you skill point upgrades. Levelling up also nabs you new skill points which you can assign to your attributes as you like.

Story

You’ll probably be amazed at how fast you burn through the various battles with the castle’s guardians and wind up facing the God King, the game’s boss. I know I was. And you’ll probably be even more surprised when the God King kills you incredibly quickly. But death isn’t the end. When the God King kills you, you start again, with all your weapons, equipment, gold and experience intact. Because you’re the previous hero’s son. Enemies are tougher, but you earn more defeating them. The cycle repeats as you gain experience and better equipment, getting killed by the God King until you’re strong enough to take him down. It took me four runs (or generations) to get to that point.

Verdict

Infinity Blade is short, and repetitive. Even within the individual “lives” of the hero, the enemies you face have repetitive fighting styles and character model designs. Despite its brevity and repetition, though, Infinity Blade is a good game. Why? Because I still want to keep playing it, even after having seen both possible endings to the game.

When the credits first rolled, I admit I felt betrayed. The game does cost $6.99 after all, and I expected something completely different after playing Epic Citadel. But then I just started playing again, and didn’t stop for a long time after. Collecting and upgrading items feels so rewarding, as does refining your combat abilities and identifying enemy patterns. In fact, in that regard, it feels very much like old-school games where you have to know the boss patterns by heart to win. GigaOM colleague Kevin Tofel noted that Infinity Blade reminded him of gaming classic Dragon’s Lair, which is another pretty good comparison.

Infinity Blade is a great tech demo. It shows that Apple’s iOS devices can run games made with the Unreal Engine 3, and the level of detail put into armor, weapon and environment design is amazing. But more than that, it’s a really fun experience based around RPG fundamentals, yet light enough that it remains a great casual game: one you can pick up and put down at your leisure without feeling like you’re breaking the mood as you might with, say, a Final Fantasy title.

Here’s what you might want to think about before making a purchase:

• Highs: Gorgeous graphics, fun gameplay with solid controls. Addictive RPG elements.
• Lows: Short on story, repetitive.

It’s also good to keep in mind that Infinity Blade’s developers have promised more content to come, including a multiplayer mode. I can see player-vs-player combat being really fun using the mechanics already in place. The promise of future updates doesn’t affect my overall opinion of the game, though. I’d gladly recommend it either way.

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Clearly, the Mac App Store is something Mac developers are excited about, as it should bring more publicity, and therefore more revenue, than other distribution means. However, if the list of restrictions on what can actually be sold through the App Store is anything to go by, there will definitely be many who decide they’d rather carry on as before.

As for the game itself, I don’t see myself buying Flight Control for the Mac. The game’s appealing if I’m drawing the flight paths with my finger, but using a mouse seems like it’d be too much of a hindrance. Of course, you could use a Magic Trackpad, but having to keep it clicked in while you draw a line sounds difficult. Then again, perhaps Firemint has thought of that already, and is working on an innovative control solution. iOS device as wireless controller, perhaps? We’ll have to see.

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The iPhone faces control issues and what seems like a natural reticence towards developing lengthy, in-depth game experiences on the iPhone. I say natural because most users still game only casually on the device, since that’s what a phone lends itself to. So does Ravensword manage to pull off an in-depth action RPG gaming experience? Read on to find out.

Graphics and Audio

At least superficially, Ravensword looks like the console and PC games from which it so clearly takes its inspiration. By default, you operate your character from a third-person perspective, and you can switch to first-person. That’s a standard borrowed from the Morrowind series, among others.

It’s a little jarring to see some of the visual effects the game has in store. For example, everyone’s eyes are plastered open all the time, and look painted on and terrifying. Every time your character wakes up after having fallen in battle, I have to suppress a little scream.

Ravensword’s soundtrack and effects sound a little pre-packaged and stock, but they don’t really hurt the experience, and you can always flick the silent switch is the soundtrack becomes too repetitive, as it did for me.

Gameplay

If you’ve ever played any kind of RPG before, the game mechanics of Ravensword will be familiar to you. Basically, you run around killing monsters and get experience for doing so. In most cases, the RPG mechanics are a little more structured and complex than that. In most cases. In Ravensword they are not.

As soon as you venture out beyond the city walls, bad guys appear, and you hit them with whatever you happen to be wielding, then they die and you get experience, or you die and wake up in town. If you kill enough critters, you gain a level, and your stats are increased by a pre-determined amount. No level customization, no skill selection, nothing. To make matters worse, you don’t choose a class/race/gender etc., so you’re stuck as a human warrior whether you like it or not.

Nor is combat challenging. The most you can do is switch between your bow and your sword when killing animals and forest creatures. Otherwise, you just hit the attack button like it’s going out of style. Also, you die a lot early on, since the game design is unbalanced.

Plot

It’s a bad sign when the first thing I have to say about a game’s plot design is to question whether or not it actually has one. To be fair, there is a story lurking somewhere in the background, about a kingdom in denial and a king who’s been missing for three years. Presumably, you’re meant to find out exactly what’s up with all of that nonsense at some point, but after spending quite a bit of time killing rats and warthogs, I just wasn’t convinced that finding out would be worth it.

Verdict

I was perhaps too excited to pick up Ravensword, since it seemed to have a lot of promise as an action RPG for the iPhone, but even if you aren’t expecting much, I’d definitely take a pass on this offering from Chillingo. Dungeon Hunter is a much better experience, and if you’re looking for a Morrowind clone, I’d suggest just waiting a few months since I’m sure Gameloft will get to copying it, too, in due course.

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Trench Run is based around the Rebel assault on the Death Star at the end of George Lucas’ classic 1977 movie. Piloting an X-Wing fighter, you begin the game high above the Empire’s dreaded Death Star in an aggressive dogfight with TIE fighters. Once you’ve dispatched them, it’s time to descend into that famous trench and make your approach to a small (two meter wide) thermal exhaust port, which, if memory serves, you’ll find right below the main port.

Oh, and, the shaft is ray-shielded so you’ll need to hit it directly with proton torpedoes. The doubting Dodonna’s amongst you might think that impossible — even for an iPhone — but, y’know, womp rats, T-16’s and all that.

The game starts with a fierce dogfight with TIE fighters above the dreaded Death Star…

…and culminates in the famous trench run.

Trench Run uses the iPhone’s accelerometers to great effect. I’m usually wary of extensive tilt-control. That might be because I’m just rubbish, or because developers sometimes use accelerometers unnecessarily. In Trench Run it’s not too bad, and there are options for adjusting pitch and sensitivity.

The on-screen controls are cleverly implemented; there are no virtual buttons cluttering the screen. Instead, the two main controls (Force Power for slow motion and, of course, Fire) are activated by pressing the left or right hand sides of the screen. Easy.

The few controls are activated by hitting large areas of the screen

Video sequences of the X-Wings approaching the Death Star (S-foils in attack position, naturally) and the spectacular explosion of the Death Star itself (the 1997 bang, by the way) really help set the scene. But it’s John Williams’ breathtaking score that puts you slap bang in the middle of the action.

All Wings report in…

One quibble; the difficulty levels are a bit… odd. The easiest level was selected for me at installation so I bumped it up a level (usually labeled “Normal” but Trench Run goes directly from Easy to Medium.) So, with Medium selected, I dove in… and failed. I’m normally good at this type of thing but after 15 minutes of failure I was starting to hate this game. So I tried again on “Easy.”

10 minutes later I had destroyed the Death Star and defeated the evil Empire. I had finished the whole game. See, once the dogfight’s over, the actual trench run is appallingly easy. THQ Wireless say the game has “tons of replay value” but when the difference between “Easy” and “Medium” is actually “Pointless” and “Practically Impossible” I don’t see myself playing this again any time soon. (Now in your best Yoda voice, croak “That is why you fail.”)

THQ also says there are hidden features in the game. You could always stretch out with your fingers and ask Google what they are, but that’s probably the path to the Dark Side.

If you love Star Wars, this is a game you should own. I doubt it’s worth the $4.99 asking price, but hey, there’s profit to be had, and Lucasfilm ain’t finished beating this Tauntaun just yet.

Star Wars Trench Run is out now. Go buy it – and may the Force be with you.

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Basically, it’s a Space Invader clone wherein when you kill an alien, a file in your home folder is deleted. It looks like it’s evil — and designed to perform such a task without the knowledge of the Mac owner on which the program resides. But it isn’t. It’s an art project that clearly advertises its purpose and nature to all who would wish to use it.

The game, dubbed Lose/Lose, is the brainchild of Zach Gage, who created the program as part of an online art installation and released it for public download in September. It’s intended purpose is not to dupe unsuspecting gamers, but to pose questions about the relationship between killing in video games and real-life moral issues. Gage says as much in a statement on his web site:

By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions. As technology grows, our understanding of it diminishes, yet, at the same time, it becomes increasingly important in our lives.

Even if a user were to download the game from a different, less well-intentioned place, the game itself warns users right when it opens, stating that “Killing in Lose/Lose will likely result in files on your hard drive being deleted. You have been warned.” Of course, that doesn’t mean that an intelligent programmer couldn’t remove or change said message, and redistribute the game themselves with the intent of causing harm.

That’s what Symantec’s worried about, and why the firm decided to issue its warning about the so-called Trojan. Of course, the company took the opportunity to recommend installing security software as a means to protect against this kind of dangerous artistic expression, seeing as that’s the business it’s in.

Should you worry about this game or threats derived from it? Not unless you are one of the slim few whose retro Mac gaming addiction is so acute that you feel the need to hunt around the digital frontier in suspicious and shady locations looking for independent games of questionable quality and without any sort of legit distribution channels. Or if you happen to be a devoted patron of the arts, and therefore can’t resist the urge to download software you know full well will harm your computer and destroy your files, all for the sake of the artistic effect it has. In either case, anti-virus software won’t help.

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How well does the beloved RTS translate to the iPhone platform? That depends on what you’re looking to get out of the game. EA Mobile has clearly tried to faithfully translate the experience, but as with any translation, no perfect one-to-one relationship can exist. What does come through, however, is definitely worth looking at.

Graphics & Audio

Perhaps just to make me sad, EA chose not to go with live action mission briefings for this installment of the series, opting instead to brief you with static cartoon images and scrollable text. It’s not nearly as pleasant as hammy acting, but it does get the job done and prepare you adequately for the in-game action.

In-game graphics look great, and are probably a bit of an improvement over their original counterparts in the PC version. Units are clearly distinguishable from one another, animations are smooth, and the visual special effects look good. My sole complaint for the in-game look of things is that units can tend to stack, which renders some of them invisible. It’s confusing and can hamper effective unit management.

Sound is good, with music from Red Alert 3, which is the latest game in the series for the PC and consoles. In-game voices are well-recorded and clear, as are most sound effects. Again, the lack of audio in briefings and other between-action components is a little disappointing, but not terribly so.

Gameplay

As with any real-time strategy port for the iPhone, the key to enjoyable gameplay lies in making sure the controls are well-designed and intuitive. This can be particularly challenging even when porting RTS games to consoles from the PC, so EA has its work cut out for it with Command & Conquer on the iPhone.

Selecting and commanding individual units on the iPhone is simple enough. You touch a unit to select it, and touch somewhere else to tell it where to go or what to attack. To select multiple units, you have to activate a selection tool by clicking an icon in the lower left-hand corner. At first it wasn’t clear (I hadn’t reached that part in the tutorial yet) and I tried tapping and dragging and two-finger pinch and zoom type gestures.

Once you have selected a group of units, though, you can assign them to a command group using another icon at the lower left of the screen. This assigns them to one of three slots on the left, and allows you to re-select that group at any time with a simple tap. It’s the saving grace of the game, control-wise, and I wish there were more than three spots available to assign unit groups to.

The campaigns are fun, and not too challenging. There is both a Soviet and an Allied campaign, each of which contains five chapters, and there’s a skirmish mode with customizable starting resources and different maps, which really adds to the replay value of the game.

All told, EA Mobile does a great job skirting the limitations of the iPhone’s controls, and provides ample gameplay while still retaining a fairly casual feel, so that you can pick it up and put it down as necessary between meetings or while commuting.

Verdict

For an iPhone game, Command & Conquer: Red Alert feels polished and professional, but it leaves me wanting something more. I can’t help but yearn for the easier controls and richer storyline and gameplay of the PC version, which may in fact be what EA was intending. Perhaps the iPhone game is meant as a sort of teaser demo to attract new customers to the PC/console line. Either way, despite solid gameplay, Red Alert left me underwhelmed. I’d wait for the inevitable price drop to $6.99 or less before picking this one up.

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Even though the apps are indeed free to download and install on your device, it should be noted that both of these apps represent the latest attempts to capitalize on Apple’s in-app purchasing system, in perhaps some of the most diabolical ways yet. ngmoco has recently used in-app purchasing to sell level packs for Rolando 2, which can now be downloaded for free with Chapter 1 included.

Eliminate (Free, iTunes Link)

Space marines, jumping, shooting, glowy surrounding, what more could you ask for? Eliminate is the first fully functional, original IP (not that we’re saying it isn’t derivative, mind you) first-person shooters to hit the iPhone platform, and it’s been highly anticipated as a result. It features global matchmaking for multiplayer combat over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Sorry, no EDGE, but it probably couldn’t handle the action anyway.

There’s also Plus+ network integration so you can track your stats and invite your friends and contacts to go toe-to-toe in deathmatches, and compare stats on the leader board. And the game includes a leveling and credit for weapon and armor upgrades and customization. Sounds pretty good, right? Now the bad news.

Eliminate is free to play, but it definitely gives you an advantage to pay. As the cleverly designed opening sequence relates, you are equipped with a set amount of energy in Eliminate, and when said energy runs out, you no longer earn credits for kills. Energy refills over time, or you can simply buy more using the in-app purchasing system. Credits allow you to upgrade weapons and armor.

You start with 30 power cells of energy. Based on my trials, that will probably last you about 10 to 15 minutes of play, if that, though I’m not sure of the actual conversion rate. Once you expend any points, a countdown clock starts until you charge again. The clock lasts around 240 minutes, so you are recharged every four hours, basically. You can buy additional power cells in blocks of 20, 280, and 975 for 99 cents, $9.99 and $29.99 respectively if you’re not the patient type.

The game is fun, and works surprisingly well given the touch controls you’re stuck with on an iPhone or iPod touch, and you can practice against bots or play without earning credits for free any time you want. All of which means that ngmoco is being pretty fair with its use of in-app purchasing this time around. Basically, you pay to progress, but the game is still enjoyable by all without that aspect. It’s a nice blend, and one that I predict will be hugely successful once Eliminate hits wide release.

Touch Pets Dogs (Free, iTunes Link)

I admit to once having owned a tamagotchi. Or if not owned, at least permanently on loan from my sister. The problem, of course, was that they always proved more of a nuisance than anything else. All of the demands of a real pet, and none of the benefits, like companionship or snuggle-ability.

Touch Pets Dogs follows in the footsteps of Nintendogs and other pet simulators before it. You pick out a puppy, name it, and then begin taking care of, playing with, and training it. It has a Sims-like interface for checking on your dog’s skills and happiness level, and even their Job status, which is a unique feature introduced by the ngmoco sim. You can train your dog to follow a career path, which makes it even more like The Sims.

There’s actually a lot to do in Touch Pet Dogs, and you gain levels as a dog owner in different areas, just like your dog can gain skills and job levels. It’s much richer than any other pet sim I’ve played, and it managed to keep my interest for more than one play-through, which is a record I think.

The in-app purchasing component to Touch Pets is fairly devious, though. You have to pay for food, which seems extremely cruel, since it’s such a basic necessity for your dog’s well-being. Luckily, your food automatically refills to a maximum of two bowls, and does so relatively quickly, so you can still play without having to cough up micropayments, but it will be harder to keep your dog hale and hearty. You can also buy more Puppy Bucks by converting food that you buy via iTunes.

The Future of iPhone Gaming?

Both of these new games from ngmoco show different types of attempts at capitalizing on the iPhone’s in-app purchasing system. It’s a thorny issue to navigate, since on the one hand, you could stand to make a lot more money than by selling apps in a more traditional manner, but on the other, you could inspire the rancor of your customers if you appear to be using the system unfairly. In my opinion, ngmoco’s done a good job of treading that thin line thus far, and it looks like they’re committed to making changes to make sure they strike the right balance.

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It’s Halloween and so my top pick for this week is Alive 4-ever, a top-down zombie shooter with plenty of guts and gore to go around. I’ve also been checking out TowerMadness Zero, NASA and WordPress 2.

Alive 4-ever ($1.79)

As it’s Halloween, I thought that at least one of my top picks this week should be themed for the occasion. Despite the clumsy sounding name, Alive 4-Ever is a surprisingly polished top-down shooter. The plot is simple and disgustingly cliché: for whatever reason, a zombie apocalypse happens, you take to the streets to rescue other survivors.

The game takes its inspiration from some of the best zombie titles out there, including Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead. There’s a battalion’s worth of weaponry on offer, including zombie-slaying classics like the AK-47. Plus, if you’re after more firepower you’re able to purchase bigger, stronger, faster guns in the shop after each level.

There’s also a Bluetooth multiplayer mode, allowing you to jump into the action with three other friends. Alongside guns, zombies and survivors, the game throws in experience points too. Completing a stage earns experience points, these precious points go towards upgrading your character. In effect, you’re able to become the ultimate undead-destroying warrior.

TowerMadness Zero (Free)

Earlier this month, our own Alfredo Padilla took a look at 49 different tower defense games for the iPhone. Owing to the epic nature of his list, days later Alfredo distilled the document down into five tower defense games worth owning. All of Alfredo’s picks costs a few bucks though and, in this cash-strapped climate, some of us don’t have much money to burn on iPhone games.

That’s where TowerMadness steps in. The game is available in two monetary flavors. You can purchase it for a couple of bucks, or you can download the Zero edition: a totally unrestricted ad-supported version of the game for free. The ads are unintrusive and targeted in such a way that, for the most part, they feel relevant.

Of course the iPhone doesn’t need another tower defense game. Aside from being free, TowerMadness is a pretty good representation of the best qualities of the genre. All the usual TD staples are there — waves of enemies, upgradable towers, strategic play — but it’s all wrapped up in excellent graphics too.

NASA (Free)

National organizations seem to be slowly switching on to the iPhone. Last year, the BBC decided to create an iPhone-specific version of its excellent iPlayer site. Canada’s National Film Board just released a wonderful app for viewing its content on the go. And now NASA has released its very own app, allowing us earthlings to keep up-to-date with space mission news.

The app is essentially like having a tiny mission-control in the palm of your hand. There’s a listing of all NASA Missions, all of which have awesome names like Mars Express and Mars Odyssey. Tapping through to a mission section provides a mission briefing, photos, videos and an ever-so-slightly ominous countdown timer.

For me, the best part of the app is the video section. Rather than attempt to visualize the various space happenings described in the app, the videos bring these extraordinary happens closer to home. You can observe spacecraft launches, see astronauts float around in zero gravity, listen to people in space describe their experiences, and watch history in the making.

WordPress 2 (Free)

The original WordPress app just wasn’t so hot. With a clunky and convoluted interface that was all function and no form, it immediately felt dated. And, for writers and bloggers alike, it certainly wasn’t the most inspiring environment in which to attempt to pen a post.

The user interface has been updated but still, on first look, the app looks worryingly basic. In fact, it’s disconcertingly similar to its clunky counterpart, WordPress 1. I appreciate that the WordPress app is here to serve a function, but, discounting features, surely it could have been executed with a little more pizazz?

Anyway, looks are not the most important thing with WordPress 2. This version introduces several new features to the mix. There’s automatic saving and restoring of posts. A new comments interface which includes author URL and Gravatars. The app even stores password in the keychain. If you’ve got your own WordPress blog, this is certainly an app worth checking out.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

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Fans of the series (and there are many) will be pleased to know that Settlers is now playable on your iPhone thanks to Catan ($4.99, iTunes link), an app that faithfully recreates the experience on your mobile device. If you aren’t yet a fan, Catan for your iPhone or iPod touch might just be the thing that converts you.

Gameplay

If you’ve played Settlers the board game, or if you’ve played it on your PC or Xbox 360, then you’ll already be familiar with the gameplay in the iPhone version, since it uses the standard rule set. Expansions are available for the board game which add more tiles or new gameplay elements, but for now, Catan on the iPhone doesn’t offer any of these additional modes of play.

The board consists of 19 hexagonal tiles, themselves laid out in a hexagon pattern. Each tile represents one resource, either Sheep, Wheat, Ore, Lumber or Brick. Each player gets to place settlements at the corners of these tiles, and collect resources from them when the number on the tile is rolled. Each tile has a number from 1 to 12, and each player rolls two six-sided die at the beginning of their turn.

Some tiles, like those with a 6 or an 8, come up more frequently, statistically speaking, and are strategically advantageous because of this. The goal in the game is to amass resources, which you can use to buy more settlements, roads, and other things to earn victory points. In traditional play, the first person with 10 victory points is the winner.

Catan on the iPhone lets you play with between three and four players. You can either play against computer opponents, or play hot seat multiplayer mode, in which you pass the iPhone off to other players when it’s their turn. It’s not an ideal multiplayer situation, since you have to trust your partner not to glance at your resource distribution, but without a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth option, it at least works well enough to be playable.

Sights and Sounds

Clearly, Catan wasn’t rushed out to the masses on the iPhone. Developer United Soft Media (USM) took its time in refining the look and feel of this cult sensation before its release, probably predicting correctly that fans of the game would be sticklers when it came this version’s faithfulness to the original.

The board is viewed from a top-down perspective, and you can zoom in or out using touch controls. Your resource count is displayed at the bottom of the screen in a convenient and non-obtrusive status bar. All of your controls are nested in a pop-out tab interface usually hidden at the right side of the screen behind an arrow button.

Sound is great, with a nice, fitting soundtrack running in the background, and appropriate sound effects for things like trades, resources, and standard button presses. In fact, I’d say it compares favorably even to the console version on the Xbox 360.

Conclusion

Whether you’ve heard of Settlers of Catan before or not, the iPhone port is an awesome time-waster. It’s engrossing, rich, and carefully tailored to the handheld touch-controlled platform. I will say that I found the difficulty to be rather on the challenging side, even when playing against a stacked line up of all the weakest computer players. The Xbox version has both a universal difficulty switcher and different AIs, allowing for greater versatility, and I would recommend Catan for iPhone adopt that in future, too. Still, for $4.99, you couldn’t ask for a better or more challenging pocket strategy game.

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This week I’ve selected a smattering of fun games. My top pick for this week is Canabalt, plus I’ve also been looking at Nota, Tap Tap Revenge 3 and Real Football 2010.

Canabalt ($2.99)

Earlier this week Adobe announced that the latest version of Flash, version CS5, will support iPhone app development. What this means is that an app can be created using Flash and then effectively rendered out as an iPhone-compatible app file.

Ustwo, who I spoke to earlier this week, prototyped its minimalist designer game .™ in 48 hours using Flash. With CS5, developers will be able to handle prototyping and development without leaving Flash. What this means for us folk who download apps is that we’re on the cusp of another exciting period in iPhone development, especially in terms of gaming.

Which brings us to Canabalt, a game which debuted several weeks ago online in Flash form and has since been ported across the the iPhone. It’s a furious filmic rush as you dash across a futuristic rooftop, jumping buildings, dodging debris and trying to survive for as long as possible. This is one button gaming at its very best, a worthwhile download for all iPhone gamers.

Nota ($2.99)

The iPhone has great potential as an e-learning tool, but so far, it feels like an unexplored area. It’s fair enough I suppose…developers need to make a living too and other app genres, such as games, seem like they have more potential for generating profit. It’s a shame though as there’s so much potential to create something wonderful for learning on the iPhone, something just like Nota.

Nota is a music learning tool. It’s got all the beginners stuff, covering notes and crochets and all that jazz, but it dips into the realms of advanced music theory too. There’s a comprehensive reference section containing music terminology, a music quiz with two difficulty levels and even a four octave piano with a real-time musical stave.

As a musician and producer myself I think it’s important to make learning music more accessible to everyone. The app’s rich selection of tools and toys, combined with a quality finish in terms of the visual design, make this a great investment for professional musicians and students alike.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 (99 cents)

The third iteration of Tap Tap Revenge touched down in the App Store earlier this week, but this time it’s going to cost you. The two previous iterations have been free but with the third game Tapulous is charging 99 cents, a paltry sum for such a feature-packed offering.

The game packs in all the usual TTR staples, such as online play, track downloads and competitions. There’s a refreshed track-listing bundled with it too, containing music from Fall Out Boy and Tiesto, alongside premium track downloads supplied by some seriously impressive names, including Smashing Pumpkins, Killers and Foo Fighters.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, it can be summed up as Dance Dance Revolution for the iPhone. Instead of dancing with your feet, you tap with your fingers, plus there’s some shaking and tilting thrown in for good measure too. Regardless of whether or not you’ve got rhythm, if you love music, this is the game to download.

Real Soccer 2010 ($3.99)

Yet again, Gameloft has launched another game that’s terribly similar to a couple of other big name console franchises. This time the folks at Gameloft have taken their inspiration from the FIFA soccer franchise and the ISS Pro series.

Aside from the omission of real soccer team names — Manchester United becomes Man Red, for example — Real Soccer 2010 delivers everything you’d expect out of a console soccer game. There are real player names, a massive range of teams, a convincing in-game commentary system, single-player leagues as well as online matches and so much more.

Normally I’d condone this type of uninspired game design, but the thing with Gameloft is that the end product of its barefaced borrowing is always executed with such flair, focus and immense polish. For soccer fans especially, this should be a definite download.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

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