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 When I was 10 years old, I had this great idea of putting condiments like mayo, ketchup and mustard in squeezable bottles. Inspired by NASA astronauts, I figured if they can put peanut butter in a toothpaste tube why not condiments in squeezable plastic bottles. Nothing became of it obviously or I wouldn’t be here writing this review. I would be rich, b***h! A decade later, shopping at a Safeway supermarket with my college girlfriend, I experienced my first out of a handful of regrets as an adult as I stared at a new product being showcased at the end of the aisle: a squeezable Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottle. I was face to face with my idea as someone else’s profitable reality. I vowed right there and then that it would never happen again, but unfortunately it has with iLike Challenge, an addictive Name That Tune-type of music trivia game with over a 1,000 questions. I know what you’re thinking, “Dude, there are plenty of apps like that…” Yes, there is plenty of competition in this particular space, but the clean and simple interface of iLike Challenge is what makes it the one to beat as I can get into and out of a game quickly as well as engage friends on the spot in a 2-player face-to-face game on the same device. Plus, as I would have wanted to do if I made the app myself, you can purchase any song that you’re listening to on the spot through iTunes. That’s right: it connects to iTunes if you want any particular song in the game. I would really hate these guys if I didn’t love their app so much. It’s money well spent for music lovers, young and old. Price: $2.99.
 A couple of months ago, I was looking for a tank game along the lines of the old Atari vector tank game, Battlezone, but instead, I ran into a slew of games, which were closer in nature to EA’s Desert Strike and Nintendo’s Battalion Wars. Through it all, I eventually did find a comparable tank game to an Atari classic, but it wasn’t Battlezone. As the name suggests, iCombat pays tribute to one of the more popular games to originate from the Atari 2600, Combat, while updating graphics, gameplay, and adding online features. First, with the simple objective of defeating all enemies thrown at you in each level, the mazes themselves are presented in 3/4 overhead view in landscape mode. Therefore, you get to see all the action in a single map, which definitely helps when the addition of power-ups to help boost your success is essential. Next, online head-to-head gameplay via WiFi and global online leaderboards to measure yourself against the best in the world increases replay value tremendously. But the biggest improvement in the 50 level game has to be the controls, which now allows you to steer either by tilt or by a virtual directional key. Either way, it’s easier than ever to be evasive while leading your target for the kill shot. Extremely challenging and fun. Price: 99¢.
 Every so often, The Escapist, an online magazine covering video games, gamers, game culture, and the Games Industry, publishes an article identifying who are the next generation of movers and shakers under the age of 30. More often than not, I don’t know any of these guys and the ones I do know are part of a typical breed of self-promoting egotistical d-baggers that I’ve come to encounter every so often over my 14 years of working and writing in the land where I get both my milk and honey. Unfortunately, the one person who I believe deserved to be recognized in that category a few years back (no, not Yahtzee Croshaw, but he is a close second in my book) was The Escapist‘s own Jason Rohrer, who, at one point, was contributing a free downloadable game a month through the website. Whether he wasn’t eligible for that distinction since he was associated with the magazine or just completely overlooked, Jason has a body of work (recognized by Esquire, BusinessWeek, and Wall Street Journal) that I believe is extremely important not only for the Games Industry, but also for Hollywood because of one salient point: he knows how to solicit raw (and often varied) emotions from a single gaming experience. Not too many people are capable of doing that yet Jason has, and now, he has brought it to the iPhone with this game simply called Passage, which is about life… in five minutes! That’s all I can tell you. This is not a gimmick. Just like life, you have to find out for yourself what it means to you. But what I can promise you is that it’ll be a unique game experience, which you’ll never forget. Highly recommended. Price: 99¢.
 A few years back, I saw a game called Galaxy on Fire 3D on a cellphone and I was speechless. Up to that point, I believed that the cutting edge of mobile games could only reach the height of retread arcade classics, slices to chunks of 16-bit turn-based games, and passable web games. Another homerun derby or soccer goal kick game anybody? Crickets. Obviously, I’m talking about the early days of J2ME and BREW when even a good game’s release required both a bended knee and puckered lips for the backends of carrier reps, who mysteriously got their houses renovated in the process. Business ethics anyone? Crickets again. Anyway, even though the version of Galaxy on Fire 3D that I tried out was on Symbian, I nevertheless realized that the times were a-changing and mobile games as we knew it were about to evolve. Fast forward to the present day and well, while technology has gotten way, way better, only a small percentage of games is living up to expectations. However, FISHLABS remains strong like bull bringing not only its classic Galaxy on Fire 3D to the iPhone, but also contenders like Powerboat Challenge 3D, a powerboat racing game filled with non-stop arcade fun and lots of personality. With four characters to choose from, four different venues to play in, and so many tuning options, you’ll see why this dev leads the pack, while everyone else just follows. Reminiscent of EA’s Burnout series and like racing titles, in which unlocking is a big part of gameplay, this release further solidifies FISHLABS’ reputation as one of the top quality gamemakers in the industry, who you can trust with each purchase. Always recommended. Price: $3.99.
 While Taxiball didn’t really need our help to make a Top 50 (under Games/Arcade), I’m glad that it did drop out temporarily so we can give our own special brand of accolades. First, upon checking out its iTunes page, the first thing that came to mind is the old Marvel Comics’ What If…? series from 70′s and 80′s. But instead of What If Dazzler Became A Herald of Galactus (yawn), the cover in my mind read What If Katamari Damacy & Crazy Taxi Had A Baby? Sure, the game in its most basic form is a marble maze/labyrinth, but one can still dream, right? As the name suggests, you control a taxi via accelerometer, aka ’tilt motion’, that’s shaped like a ball, which you roll around picking up fares throughout a city shaped like a labyrinth. While some areas require unlocking, others require using the mechanisms at your disposal. Yet, although there are puzzle-like elements in the gameplay (it’s a labyrinth after all), the most important thing is getting your fares to their destinations in time and intact. Sound familiar? Boasting maps for nine cities, in-game awards, global online leaderboards, friends list, auto-save feature, and an all beatbox soundtrack, this game has lots to offer, especially replay value, all for a very low price. Plus, with the promise of updates in the near future, it’s a no-brainer to at least check out the free version. You won’t be disappointed. Price: 99¢.
 Do not let the icon and title screen graphics fool you: this is not some cutesy word game for some anime/manga fanboys and fangirls to giggle over while watching Kare Kano (aka His and Her Cirsumstances). Instead, Letter Hunter is an extremely well-polished word game that entertains a broad audience of people because of it’s simplicity. First, you are presented with a matrix of different letters, each of which has an associated value. Once you pick and select letters in order to make an actual word, submit it to not only get the cumulative point total added to your score, but also time added to the clock. If you cannot make any words with the letters available, shake the device to get new letters or you can also just start submitting individual letters to achieve low points and buy you some time in the hopes of a vowel appearing. However, I would recommend doing the former rather than the latter, which has a very small succcess rate at best. Another plus is the background music, which absolutely fits the motif of the entire game. We hope to see more products from Felipe Oliveira in the near future. Price: 99¢.
 When I’m not in the mood to surf the entirety of the App Store, I can always trust on the Games category because it’s many subcategories guarantees something beyond their own Top 50 lists will qualify for our humble little website. Yet, I sometimes can’t help but look in anxious anticipation at “fringe” games that are so close to being outside of the Top 50 that I can taste it. Many of those games I have downloaded on a hunch that one day very soon, I can finally recommend them to our faithful readers. So far, my luck has been 50/50, but today is the greatest day I’ve ever known: UniWar, a critically acclaimed turn-based strategy game from Xpressed, has temporarily fallen outside of the Top 50 for Board and Strategy. Why ‘temporarily’? Well, let’s look at the facts: Xpressed is also known as Javaground USA, a mobile dev studio that has been around for quite a long time making, porting and testing apps. So they know what they’re doing, which is further evidenced by their choice of game mechanic. Obviously inspired by Advance Wars by Nintendo’s Intelligent Systems studio, they took the Godfather of Handheld Turn-Based Strategy Games (Don Advance Wars anybody? Okay, how about Oyabun Advance Wars?) and geeked it up with eerie facsimiles of Halo and Starcraft units. In addition, the game offers 50+ maps, seamless online head-to-head games with up to 7 other friends, a global ladder board, a campaign mode with 21 missions, chat and even email notifications when it’s your turn, not to mention the pretty solid AI when playing in Single Player mode. For the price, it’s a virtual steal. Jump on the bandwagon so you can brag that you found the game before it was on the Top 50… for the nth time! Price: $4.99.
 It’s always an honor when Game Industry vets like Rich Adam and Ed Rotberg from Mine Shaft Entertainment contact you for any reason. These guys worked at Atari when it was on top of the video game arcade world in the late 70′s and early 80′s. They have the original Missle Command and BattleZone listed to their credits. Later, Rich also worked on the first versions of John Madden Football and PGA Golf Tour at EA. Whether as producers, designers, or programmers, these guys did it all contributing to a craft that only a lucky few ever get to make into a career. So, obviously, the pleasure was all mine when they asked if I would look at their Tilt-a-Ball game for the iPhone. A brick breaker game with a twist: instead of a paddle, just use the accelerometer to tilt the device in the desired direction in which you want the ball to go. With a bubble level tool built-in, use various brick types and special balls throughout the game to advance levels as well as your score before time runs out. Overall, a simple yet well-executed concept, which you would come to expect from seasoned pros like these. Price: 99¢
 It was the Summer of 1995 and I was one of over 150 1st Party QA testers at Sega of America in Redwood City working around the clock to help get games out just in time for Christmas on quite a few pieces of proprietary commercial hardware: Sega 32X, Sega Mega Drive (aka Genesis), Sega Mega CD (aka Sega CD), Sega Saturn, Sega Pico, and the Sega Game Gear. While the majority were recent high school and college grads, some QA testers were pretty much lifers, who finally landed a perm job after years of temping with various companies throughout the Bay Area, including EA, Konami, and Crystal Dynamics. Many of them had stories, the majority of which were horrific in nature, about the pitfalls of being a core tester on a crappy game. Yet, the one story which gave me hope is the one about Vay, a solid J-RPG originally created by former Sega studio, SIMS, and released here in the U.S. by the now defunct, Working Designs. While the story may be a typical one of a hero trying to stop doomsday, the game was charming nevertheless in both its graphic style and familiar gameplay. While some may complain that the game balance could have been better tweaked, it was worthwhile playing then as it is now on the iPhone. Even though it boasts over 100 enemies, 12 bosses, and 90 expansive areas to explore, the one thing that I can appreciate is the auto-save feature, which should be standard for most iPhone games, especially ones with potentially long play times. Relive the past or experience it for the first time. Either way, you’re getting a good deal for a game that’s hard to find, even for an emulator. Price: $4.99.
 When Darrel reached out to us to check out his game, we were skeptical about how good it could be considering the bravado shown in the title alone. “Most Diabolical Sliding Puzzle Ever”?! Really? What shameless hubris! Such undeniable self-promotion not only for the game, but also for the creators! This is the kind of language and attitude that people have when they are hiding a shortcoming or are just plain insecure. Yet, when we started playing Bedeviled 1: The Most Diabolical Sliding Puzzle Ever, we slowly noticed how obsessed we became with solving each puzzle. The simple objective layered with various elements from different childhood games, such as n-puzzle (aka ’15 puzzle’), jigsaw puzzle, memory match, and rolling ball, grabs hold of you and just never lets go. Basically, it’s like the game is toying with you rather than you toying with it. It is most diabolical indeed. Maybe the game is as advertised. Or maybe it’s the advertising that makes the game. Or maybe Darrel is just Satan incarnate. Whatever the case, all aboard! This just might be the only ticket to Hell worth purchasing. Price: 99¢.
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