If you wanted to play Minecraft and ran into this instead, you'd be very disappointed and out $1.

Browsing recent App Store releases, I came across “Minecraft – Pocket Edition,” with a version 1.0 update. Thinking it might be the update that finally brings combat and additional block types to Mojang’s free-form world creation game, I quickly clicked through — only to find a completely different app that’s obviously trying to lure customers who aren’t paying close attention.

The Minecraft – Pocket Edition released Jan. 26 is from developer Onliance, not Mojang, and despite having exactly the same name as the original, and using screenshots from the full release desktop version of the game, actually isn’t a game at all: it’s a guide or recipe list for use with the PC title (and doesn’t even really apply to the genuine Pocket Edition in its current form), but customers searching for the original would be hard-pressed to discover that at a glance.

Here’s the introductory paragraph for Onliance’s app description:

Minecraft is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. Gameplay in its commercial release has two principal modes: Survival, which requires players to acquire resources themselves and maintain their health and hunger; and Creative, where the player has an unlimited supply of resources, the ability to fly, and no concept of health or hunger. A third gameplay mode, named Hardcore, ratchets up the difficulty of surviving and forces the player to delete his or her world upon death. An outdated Classic version is also available for free, although it is no longer being developed. Creative Minecraft resembles Classic, but with many more features.

Before clicking through to “…More” in the iTunes page for the app, you actually see only about the first sentence of that, but the real purpose of the app is buried much deeper still. Much later on, the description does say the following, but it’s the kind of information that should be right up top, and it still doesn’t convey clearly that this title contains only supporting material, and not the game itself:

This app will help you get to know the basic building commands used within the game and help you fight off those nasty creepers!!

Not sure how this one snuck past Apple’s review process (we dropped them a line to let them know and will update with comments if we receive any), but this is a pretty bald attempt to mislead customers and profit from the success of Mojang’s innovative title. Here’s hoping the game quickly gets taken down, or at least changes its name, description and screenshots to something more representative of its actual function.

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Super Stickman Golf ($0.99 Universal) is a sports game that plays more like a platformer. As in other golf games, you use your club to hit a tiny little golf ball into a hole that is so far away you need a flag in order to see where it is located.  The big difference here is that each golf course is designed more like a level from a Mario game than something you’d see on the PGA tour.

The scoring system is familiar as well, since it works just like golf. Get the golf ball into the hole in less than par for the entire course, and you’re awarded by unlocking various power ups and additional courses. If you do either get a little impatient or come up against a frustrating level that you can’t get past, you can always go to the Pro Shop and purchase unlocks for all courses and power ups. What you can’t buy are all of the seemingly impossible Game Center achievements, like scoring less than zero on a given hole.

You only have one club, but you choose the angle and direction you want to hit the ball in, and then choose the power applied to the stroke. Power-ups earn you special golf balls. For example, with the super ball you can make those extra long shots, and with air brakes you can stop a flying shot mid-air and have it drop straight down onto the green.  Without learning when and how to use the power ups you earn, even attempting to achieve par on some courses would be impossible.

In multiplayer mode you can challenge your Game Center friends, or play against someone on the local network or over Bluetooth. You can either start a new foursome or choose to join one that already exists. As the host, you can accept or reject players that want to join your foursome. Another perk of hosting is that your choose which course to play.  Each player can play through at their own pace, and the game will keep score for you.

With over two hundred unique holes to play, Noodlecake Studios has committed to keeping the game fresh by investing in new content. That should help ensure the game stays fresh in the longer term.

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With the holiday season in full force, finding some “me” time on the weekend may not be possible. That’s why this week’s pick is a game you can share with friends you may be doing last-minute shopping with. And if bragging rights for a mindless, schoolyard sort of challenge is what you’re looking for, then Paper Toss 2.0 fits the bill.

Unlike previous versions of this game, this latest universal rendition is ad-supported, and is available for free in the App Store. Through a $0.99 in-app purchase, you can turn off the ads. The goal is to toss a crumpled piece of paper into a trash can to earn points. It sounds easy enough, until you realize there’s a fan between you and the trashcan interfering with your paper’s trajectory. With Paper Toss 2.0, they kept the game physics that worked so well in the original, and greatly improved the graphics. Backflip Studios is no stranger to making great-looking games. They’ve also developed Army of Darkness Defense and the equally addictive Ninja Jump series.

To score points, you swipe your finger toward the trash can taking the wind speed of the fan into consideration and hope your paper lands in the bucket.  The harder the fan is blowing, the further to the right or left you need to throw the paper ball. Successful baskets earn points that can be used to purchase power ups or different forms of ‘ammunition,’ including tomatoes, watermelon, bouncing balls and even grenades.

The further away you are, the more difficult it is to make it in, and consequently, the more points you earn if you do.  If you find you’re not earning points fast enough, you can always buy additional paper points via in-app purchase.  As an interesting twist, there is an Intern mode where the trash can sits on the lap of the office intern as he rolls his chair back and forth across the screen.

If you’re looking for a change of scenery, Backflip Studios has also released Paper Toss Would Tour. In this version, you’re no longer in an office, and the wind comes from nature itself as you travel to various destinations around the world.  As addictive as these game are, they’re also very easy to pick up and put down, and as a result can create instant rivalries amongst friends whenever they happen to be convenient.

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I’ve been playing GTA III on my iPad 2, and it’s been pretty much a completely positive, totally nostalgic experience so far. The sights and sounds of the Rockstar open-world crime game immediately take me back to my days playing it on the PS2 back at the beginning of college, but in fact it actually improves on that original experience, at least in terms of graphics; the iPad version is sharper than its console predecessor.

One area where you would think GTA III would falter on mobile devices is in terms of controls: On-screen buttons do the job of a controller on the iPhone and iPad. But surprisingly, Rockstar has done a good job of minimizing the absence of physical d-pads, joysticks and buttons. On-screen controls are clearly explained in the interactive walk through at the beginning of the game, and begin to feel natural quite quickly — especially when you realize you’re playing one of the most influential open-world titles in video gaming history on a tablet or smartphone.

In fact, it’s one of the most impressive games out there available on the iPad, whether or not you’ve played the original. And it’s yet another warning shot for the console and PC gaming industry, which was already losing ground to mobile devices before top-tier games from just one console generation ago were being ported, in their full, undiluted glory to phones. OnLive is another way that console-quality games are making their way to mobile devices, with an iPad app set to be released soon.

GTA III even plays amazingly well from the iPad on the big screen, either via Apple Digital AV Adapter and an HDMI cable, or using AirPlay Mirroring and an Apple TV. I tested both solutions, and found each to be thoroughly playable, although the wireless connection might’ve had just a tiny touch of lag and slightly inferior video fidelity.

With new, more powerful iterations emerging on an annual basis, mobile devices could potentially match and exceed the power of consoles relatively quickly, and video-out capabilities combined with greater compatibility with external accessories could narrow other gaps between the two types of gaming platform.

Playing GTA III on my iPad today feels like a surreal experience, in no small part because it wasn’t too long ago when I was marvelling at it as a cutting edge example of what the most powerful home console in the world could accomplish. But what’s even more surreal is that for gamers who were too young to play it the first time around, this probably just feels normal.

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A platforming game presents the player with a series of actual platforms the central character must jump to and from to complete a level. With Chillingo’s iOS title Storm in a Teacup, we get classic side scrolling platform mechanics, with graphics and charm that are anything but traditional.  For just $1.99 on the Mac App Store, and$2.99 on both the iPhone and iPad, this game offers a lot for very little.

What sets this game apart from other platform games is the meticulous detail on the graphical design of the levels.  The style could best be described as a well-crafted scrapbooking project come to life.  The main character, Storm, navigates a flying teacup through various obstacles, ultimately collecting hidden stickers that are revealed once all of the sugar cubes have been collected.  As you collect these stickers, you can customize the design of Storm’s world by unlocking new outfits, hairstyles and even changes to the teacup itself.

The game is simple, yet slightly challenging to master.  You move either forward or back and can give the teacup either a gentle or hard nudge into the air.  The physics behind the gliding aspect of the teacup are reliable and consistent.  You are however limited in how much ‘umph’ you have available at any give time to propel the teacup backwards or forwards.

You’ll find you’re about halfway through the forty levels by the time you’ve mastered flying in a teacup, at which point the difficulty gets a little more challenging where obstacles are concerned.  The real challenge isn’t simply completing every level, but completing every level perfectly and collecting all the hidden stickers. Unique achievements like completing a level without jumping, which are awarded through Crystal and Game Center integration, add replay value to this cute, fun game.

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The App Store list is the most interesting to me, as you can definitely see a trend in what the Apple team values in apps. The iPhone App of the Year (iTunes link) went to Instagram, which is an iPhone-exclusive (for now) photo-sharing network, and the iPad App of the Year (iTunes link) was Snapseed, which is basically a simple photo editor for iPad that lets you apply Instagram-like filter effects to your photos, but with more granular control.

In both the iPhone and iPad categories, runners-up for App of the Year included music-related titles. VidRhythm on the iPhone is an app for creating mashup music videos with friends; Band of the Day highlights one artist each day, as its name implies, and provides track selections, biographical information and more for each band it profiles; and djay on the iPad, which is a digital turntable, also got a nod.

Games on the iPhone and iPad singled out for praise include Dead Space on the iPad as Game of the Year, and Tiny Tower named the same for the iPhone. It was a “Tiny” sweep on the iPhone as Tiny Wings came in as a runner-up, with indie darling Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP grabbing that honor for the iPad, alongside another unique title, puzzler Contre Jour HD.

On the Mac App Store, Apple also picked favorites, including Pixelmator and Civilization V. Djay got another nod on the Mac as a runner-up, alongside game Anomaly Warzone. Check out the rest of the list in the MAS section (App Store link) created specifically for this year’s list.

Check out all the top picks for apps, and all other media, including artist, album and song of the year at Apple’s iTunes Rewind 2011 (iTunes link) dedicated page.

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Kid-friendly and kid-loved

The iPad and the iPhone have a knack with kids, as any parent and iOS user will tell you. The brightly lit, touch-screen technology that appeals at an emotional level to adults is no less effective on children, who are more liable to indiscriminately touch things to see how they react to begin with. Kids are also voicing their demand for iOS devices as soon as they’re able to; recent surveys found that iPhones, iPod touches and iPads topped the wish lists of children ranging from the very young to the nearly adult. In fact, 52 percent of children between the ages of zero and eight already have access to a mobile device of some kind, many of which are probably running iOS.

Cross-branding opportunities

Accessories and apps seem to be either fueling or cashing in on this trend, too, at a growing pace. Consider the partnership announced Tuesday between Disney and iHome, maker of audio accessories for iOS devices. Characters from Disney’s stable of brands will be adorning iHome iPhone docks, headphones, and speaker systems starting this holiday season, at major outlets like Toys ‘R’ Us and Bed Bath & Beyond. Think about it: A Kermit the frog docking alarm clock assumes a lot of kids either are already or will be sleeping next to iPhones next year.

Disney and iHome aren’t the only ones cashing in on the youthful appeal of Apple’s mobile gadgets. Perennial Apple accessory maker Griffin is partnering up with Crayola to create the iMarker, essentially a branded stylus kids can use in conjunction with a coloring book app. Both Disney and Crayola are playing it smart, taking parent-trusted brands and combining them with the expertise of industry-leading third-party gadget manufacturers who already know the ins and outs of making devices for Apple products.

A new vector for content-makers

It isn’t just accessories getting the kid-friendly treatment. Content producers have kids in mind with their iPhone and iPad offerings, too. PBS announced Tuesday (.DOC link) that its PBS KIDS video app for the iPad is now available on the iPhone and iPod touch, too. The iPad app, which launched in May, has delivered on average two million video streams per day to its more than 450,000 users, growing steadily since its introduction. Reaching out to iPhone and iPod touch users broadens the potential audience, so that kids can check out full episodes of programs like Sesame Street and Super Why on smaller-screened devices if they don’t happen to have a tablet handy.

This is just the beginning of a coming flood. Whereas once the kid appeal of iPhones and iPads was an unexpected bonus to a parent’s purchase, now parents are seeking out Apple devices with full knowledge that they also make good distractions and educational tools for their young ones. And since people are often even more willing to spend money on their children than on themselves, the market for kid-focused apps and accessories has likely only begun to heat up.

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There’s no real franchise character with the kind of repeated success of someone like Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario on the iOS platform, but one contender wants to change that. Enter the adventures of Ratty, a collection of fast-paced, side-scrolling games by Donut Games.

In Ratty’s latest, Rat on a Snowboard, you encounter various ramps, icicles, flags, cliffs, trees and exploding meatballs that you need to carve and bonk your way through. There are three different game modes to choose from: Two endless modes, one in which you just remain on your board as long as possible, and another in which you need to sustain a life meter, too; and a challenge mode where you need to accomplish specific objective. In all three modes you rack up points for the various tricks and jumps you perform.

There are three other older titles in the Ratty lineup, Rat on the Run, Rat on a Scooter XL, and Rat on a Skateboard.  All four titles are the same price at $0.99, and all four are universal games that look great on both the iPhone and the iPad.  There’s something special about the latest game, however  The gameplay is noticeably smoother, and the graphics seem to pop. Each release has been an improvement on the last, and this new release is certainly deserving of your attention this weekend.

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Don’t mess with success

Infinity Blade 2 doesn’t deviate significantly from the path tread by its predecessor. This is still a game about duel-style combat, with parries, blocks, and dodges as your main evasive tools and swiping madly at the screen your primary offense. Your path is predetermined, or more commonly referred to as “on rails,” but in the case of these games, that’s little cause for complaint.

The parts of Infinity Blade that defined it as a title remain in place, and users won’t feel like they need to relearn controls if they’ve played the first version. If you had problems with how the first one handled, however, there’s little to look for here in terms of changes to combat mechanics.

Well, mess with it a little bit

The basic formula is the same, but developer Chair Entertainment hasn’t just completely left well enough alone. The developer managed to ramp up the graphics for this version, thanks in part to the improved rendering power of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S (though it works on any device that can run iOS 5, plus the 16 GB and larger 3rd-gen iPod touch). Things look positively gorgeous in this game, and that applies to basically everything you see. Lighting effects, textures, fine details like floating dust motes and birds flying in the distance; it all looks delicious, as do character building and environmental models. Infinity Blade II definitely sets new standards in terms of being the game you want to dazzle your friends with.

The looks aren’t all that’s changed for the better. Infinity Blade’s RPG elements are also slightly deeper this time around, which works in the game’s favor, and still stays well shy of being overwhelming for more casual player. The new elements include gem slots for weapons, which allow you to use add-ons you pick up in-game to augment the power of your equipped weapons. Gems can add elemental damage, for instance, for added effect in combat.

Weapons are also now divided into three types: light, or one-handed, for people who like using a shield and aren’t looking for anything too different from the first game; heavy, or two-handed, for people who prefer offensive power over defensive capability; and dual-wield for those who want quicker, nimbler attacks and better parrying power. It’s a small change, but it adds a new dimension to the weapon development and combat aspects of the game that go a long way toward deepening the experience and providing more replay value.

Some parts are actually simplified, too. Post-battle screens give less breakdown of where you earned your XP, which, is fine for me, since nitty gritty statistical details aren’t really what I’m here for anyway.

Story: It has some!

The first Infinity Blade had a basic story, which (spoiler alert) laid out that you were part of a family destined to fight the God King and win the Infinity Blade, albeit after countless of your predecessors died in the attempt. Infinity Blade II sort of picks up where that left off, with your character beginning fully equipped with topped out gear including the Infinity Blade itself. It also confusingly adds a bunch of stuff in that doesn’t seem to follow from where the last one left off. But it’s mostly explained in time, and plus it actually has more depth and is a lot more interesting than the first version.

I still wouldn’t call the story necessarily mind-blowing, nor is it the primary reason to play. But like the rest of the game, it’s an improvement over the original.

More and better

In the final tally, Infinity Blade II satisfies by delivering more of what the original did right, and making some tweaks that improve the overall experience. You still get to look around the world for treasures and gold, for instance, even during travel cut scenes, and there seems to be more treasure hidden around to find. And those travel cut scenes, with their awesome camera angles on the gorgeous game world, make me feel absolutely fine about this being on rails.

One big addition I should mention is syncing of game states across devices via iCloud. That means you can pick up on the iPad after a long day of playing on your iPhone secretly at work, without losing any progress. It’s awesome, and it just works so long as you use the same Game Center account on both devices.

Infinity Blade II is also once again a universal app, so you can play on both your iPhone and your iPad. And at $6.99, it’s a bargain. If you have an iPhone or an iPad, and you like games, chances are Infinity Blade II has what you’re looking for.

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One of the first computer games I ever played at home was Zork.  It was a text-based game that guided the player through a narrative of obstacles and challenges. Then came PC/Mac games like Myst and more recently Silent Hill, a visually stunning variation on the same storytelling theme that also included the mouse and visuals. Now, there’s Dark Meadow on iOS (on sale for $0.99, normally $5.99).

With Dark Meadow, the genre of story-based games heads to a new level with touch controls. The graphics are visually stunning, and there’s something about actually holding the whole game in your hand that somehow psychologically connects you more personally to the story.  To complete the immersion, I recommend using a pair of noise-cancelling earbuds or headphones. Don’t think this game hangs its hat on the fact that it uses the Unreal graphics engine; it’s the unfolding mystery, witty and surprisingly narrative, and rich media that make this game difficult to put down.

Game play can at times get to be a little tedious, as must restart from the beginning every time you die. You keep your accumulated stats and items, but have to make you way back through the game world to where you died.  Some of the tedium also comes from the fact that the game’s navigation is on rails, meaning you have a set path and can’t freely explore.

But again, those aren’t the game’s most alluring features anyway.  In-game, you’ll find yourself seeking out a quiet place to unravel the mystery more often than you will a crowded hallway with in which to fight monsters.

The great part about Dark Meadow is that it steers clear of the puzzle or physics-based formulae that most iOS games seem to opt for.  It’s great to see not only some diversity on the iOS gaming platform, but diversity done really well.  Dark Meadow will likely prove one of the landmark gaming experiences that helps drive a gaming platform like iOS into greater maturity.

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I’ve always been a fan of side-scrolling shoot-em-up action games. Defender is one of my all-time favorite arcade games. Then I started playing Chopper 2, and what a difference 3D makes to this type of game. For just $0.99 in the Mac App Store,  and $2.99 in the iOS App Store for a universal version that supports iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, you can play this excellent, addictive game on all your Apple devices.

What sets this game apart is the way in which you control your chopper.  It uses the gyroscope on your iOS device to go up and down, backwards and forwards. And on the Mac, you can use your iOS device as a controller for similar gyroscope controls. Not only that, but the game supports HD output via the Apple Digital AV Adapter directly to your HDTV, and AirPlay Mirroring from iPhone 4S and iPad 2 to your Apple TV. The graphics are truly stunning on all devices tested, including a Apple 27-inch LED Cinema Display and Samsung 55-inch LED HDTV.  The soundtrack is also exceptional, and will sound great on your home theatre setup.

As far as the game itself goes, you’re basically on a mission to provide various kinds of air support for military operations.  Some of the types of mission objectives include rescue, escorting and search and destroy.  You can even master the art of takeoff and landing by stopping at various friendly checkpoints along the way to repair your chopper in the middle of the battle.

Getting used to the controls can be a bit tricky at first.  If you like, you can opt to use touch-based controls on iOS, or keyboard controls on OS X instead of the gyroscope. Control and display options may seem overwhelming, but regardless of how you play, the game is fun. The changes in scenery across the game’s twelve different landscapes, as well as an increasing level of difficulty throughout its thirty-six different missions keeps the game fresh.

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For certain topics, Apple already is embracing curation around themes: Newsstand, which creates a separate place to buy digital newspapers and magazines, with a digital “shelf” for storing them. Right out of the gate it has been a success: Conde Nast reported last week that since Newsstand’s debut, its digital magazine sales through the store rose 268 percent, and across all nine of its titles, it saw their single issue sales jump 142 percent.

That’s being attributed to a number of factors. You don’t have to search the whole iOS App Store for magazine or newspaper apps anymore. Instead, with a click inside the Newsstand app, they’re available in a separate category within the App Store. You can browse by the latest issues in the same way you might on a physical newsstand, as well as by the most popular paid and free titles.

There’s another key: You can subscribe within Newsstand. By using a subscription payment model as an option, publishers make more money with ongoing sales, rather than just single sales of newspaper editions or magazine titles. And it means new issues show up automatically on a shelf, so subscribers are often prompted to read when they pop up. If people read more, they’re more actively engaged in the product. In other words, this is a boon to the publisher and the customer.

So it makes sense for Apple to think about expanding this model to other departments within the App Store. On Wednesday, Appsfire made a solidly argued plea for Apple to essentially do the same thing, but for games:

Apple would make a great service to the developers’ community but also to gamers, if, like music, movies, books, they created a separate store with its own sub categories, allowing other verticals to surface for and get really discovered.

Games have their own nervous center (the Game center), their key monetization path (in app, which is mostly used by games), its own user base and ecosystem (from developers, to app networks like openfeint or scoreloop). Games are a separate vertical and should be treated in a separate store.

Games are a huge part of the App Store, and people are spending a lot of money on them, often at the expense of traditional portable gaming platforms. Apple has demonstrated it wants to be known as a place you go for games. It’s pushed the iPod touch as a gaming device through ad campaigns, and at press events for new iOS software Apple invariably brings up on stage the big traditional console gaming publishers like EA, Capcom and Ubisoft to drive the point home that iOS is a legitimate gaming platform.

So why not take it a step further and give games their own store? Better yet, add it to Game Center, a place where you can already play games in multiplayer mode with friends and keep track of your achievements. There’s a button within the app that gives you a list of “recommended games” based on what your Game Center friends have played, and if you want to buy one, it will route you to the usual App Store interface to do so. But you still can’t search for specific games or browse top titles within Game Center. But adding the in-store option you could sign in once, browse games friends are playing, buy new games, and compare achievements and high scores in once place: it could be like a full-on arcade experience, right on an iOS device.

It’s not just games and digital publications where Apple could do more curation and test new payment options. In addition to a Newsstand or an online arcade, Apple could do the same thing in TV.

There’s been a lot of talk about Apple working on a television recently — beyond the set-top box Apple TV — after Steve Jobs told his biographer that he “cracked” the problem of creating a new TV. And what would that look like? John Gruber at Daring Fireball thinks if Apple does do a TV it’ll be by curating all TV apps into a single store, essentially with each app being a channel of video, sort of like each app in Newsstand being a different title, like New York Times  or Vogue.

That’s basically how TV will work in the future, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said earlier this year:

“In the next 10 to 20 years, almost all video will become click-and-watch Internet video and consumers will interact with it on a wider range of devices and it will able be on demand,” he predicted. “You will not tune into a certain channel this is broadcasting — and that is the radical change. It will be an on-demand world.”

So it makes sense for Apple, with their integrated software and hardware advantage, and ability to make things simple for consumers to use and understand, to be the one that brings this model to the mainstream.

Apple’s been willing to take risks with other entrenched models of distribution, as with newspapers and magazines. Games and TV are two great categories to tackle next.

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When your kids quickly become addicted to a game, you know it has to be good. That’s what happened with Gears ($2.99) by Crescent Moon Games. The beauty of Gears is that you’re lured into a sense that you can overcome any challenge with just a little more practice.  Each new level adds just enough complexity to keep the game interesting, without driving you completely nuts.

There are two very different gameplay experiences.  You can either choose to use your finger and control the ball by swiping across the screen, or you can enable tilt and control the ball by moving your screen up, down, back and forth.  The game also let you fine-tune the swipe speed as well as the degree of difficulty. Easy has no time limit and infinite lives. The harder levels introduce time limits and limited lives.

While the gameplay in tilt mode is more like a traditional labyrinth game, I find the swipe gameplay much more appealing. The graphics of the game are simply stunning. In the options, there is the ability to throttle down the graphics, but it performs very well on both the original iPad and the iPad 2, no matter your settings.

It’s also a universal game, so you can play on both iPhone and iPad.  Gameplay is locked into portrait mode, so this game isn’t the best of games to play over AirPlay on your Apple TV, but no matter how you choose to play it, you’ll have a good time doing so.

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I’m a simple man, and at times I like simple games. At its core, Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting ($0.99 until Oct. 24) is a simple game. The object is to defeat various monsters in an arena setting. This isn’t a game where you run through corridors seeking treasure and fame.

Every duel has a timer you need to beat. Each monster has different attacks and defenses; a gorilla may be vulnerable to head attacks but his stomach is heavily armored. So, you need to plan your attacks instead of just standing there hitting the thing with your sword. Although, take it from experience, sometimes that works in a pinch. At the end of each match you get a letter grade based on how long it took you to win your fight, your ending health, etc. It’s a good way of getting you to want to improve your performance, as well as a somewhat humbling experience. What do you mean I got a D? I won the fight, didn’t I? Apparently this is a game where style points matter.

The graphics are good. Not great, but good. While they don’t fall into the category of something like Infinity Blade, they don’t make my eyes bleed, either. Getting used to the controls took a little bit of time, too. I’ve got large fingers and an old brain and I had a hard time remembering whether dodging was a swipe or two-finger tap. Also, since this an iPhone-only game (it will run in 2x mode on an iPad, but it’s not optimized for it) I found my fingers blocking some of the action on the screen.

Monster Hunter is on sale this weekend for $0.99 to celebrate their new update that adds four new monsters and some gameplay improvements.

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This week we bring you the first game I’ve seen that takes full advantage of what iOS 5 and iCloud can mean for gaming: Scribblenauts Remix ($4.99). In addition to being a fun puzzle game, Scribblenauts  also takes full advantage of iCloud by syncing saved games across iOS devices.

The goal of Scribblenauts Remix is to help Maxwell get Starites on each level. You help him by creating objects he can use to interact with his environment. Creating objects is achieved by writing them out.

For instance, to get the Starite on the first level I wrote “hammer,” providing the main character with one he could use to attack the tree the Starite was stuck in and shake it loose. For some levels you need to get to the Startite that’s visible on-screen, while on others you need to create a number of necessary objects to unlock the Starite; in one I needed to create eight items a person in school might need. There is some level of intelligence to the notepad you use to create items; if you type in something it doesn’t recognize, it will suggest alternatives.

The laid-back nature of  the nature of the game is great for mobile gaming. You won’t find yourself in an awkward situation where you’re almost at your stop on the train, but aren’t in a position to quit the game quite yet. The graphics are fun and cartoony. Warner Bros. claims there are unlimited solutions and outcomes but I haven’t had much of a chance to test out that claim. There are definitely multiple ways to solve a level, though the goals never change. While you can create different objects each time you play the schoolhouse level, for instance, in the end you still need to create eight objects it’s happy with.

What’s really great is since it’s a Universal app and uses iCloud to sync saves, you can switch between devices at will. I didn’t have to do anything special to get fame syncing to work, but I assume you need to have Documents and Data under iCloud’s Settings ticked. What I did notice is it will sync the levels you’ve unlocked and your score, but not your progress through an individual level. How they use iCloud is exactly how I hope all game developers use it. Not being able to sync my save game state is a major pain. Since iCloud also keeps the data after you’ve deleted the game from your device, you can pick up where you left off when you reinstall. Fantastic stuff!

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• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Flash analysis: Steve Jobs

I’d hate to live in the fictional condo depicted in Monsters Ate My Condo ($0.99). It’s a vertical matching game where the goal is to sacrifice floors of your condo to monsters to ensure the tower doesn’t collapse. On each side of the tower are two monsters whose colors match the colors of the floors. You can sacrifice a floor by swiping it toward one of the monsters. If the colors match, the monster is happy. Feed it enough off-color floors, though, and it will become decidedly unhappy.

When you line up three or more floors of the same color, you score points, and the tower stabilizes. Three similarly colored floors will create a bronze floor; three bronze floors form a silver, three silvers form a gold; and finally, three golds make up a diamond floor. Each of these are worth a ton of points. If the combo formed is the same color as a monster on the screen, you earn even more points. Occasionally, a bomb or concrete floor will appear. You can’t swipe these away, and instead need to form combos around it to make it go away. Have enough mis-matched floors, and the tower collapses into a gigantic pile of sad.

This is a high-scoring game. There’s an achievement to score a million points I earned in my first game. Scores of a billion are not uncommon. It’s a little over the top, but also surprisingly satisfying. There are two modes of play: Endless and Timed. Each use the same basic game mechanics, but timed mode has a two-minute countdown. Monsters Ate My Condo has intentionally cheesy graphics and sounds; it’s part of its charm. It’s a Universal game, so it works on both iPhone and iPad, but your status and score aren’t saved across devices.

These days, I find myself drawn to games that offer brief, rewarding sessions but hook me into playing them again and again. This certainly fits the bill, and for a buck, it’s a no-brainer purchase making it this week’s Games for the Weekend.

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• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Flash analysis: Steve Jobs