Apple App Store gaming update for the week of May 25 – May 31, 2009

The Apple App Store gaming update is Gamertell’s weekly look at the previous week’s Apple App Store game releases. We cover them all – good and not so good – in their respective categories with a breakdown of the great games and the free games right where you want ‘em, at the top and in your face. The list is available every Monday, right as you are about to start that long work week.

Hey kids, you might have noticed something different about this week’s list. Yep, your eyes don’t lie – it’s shorter.

Because of the impeding hurricane onslaught of conventions, news, features, hours of back breaking chair work that we are about swim through, I’ve decided to introduce the “abridged” version of the Apple App Store gaming update. Hopefully, you won’t mind. Think of it as the entire list has become the “games you might like’” section.

The abridged version will probably run through the end of June, unless of course, you all become a very vocal crowd. Thing is, this week was prep, next week (upcoming) is digesting E3, and then the week after that is WWDC. That’s a lot of information to process for us and pump out for you. So bear with us, or maybe you’ll prefer this version. Whatever the case, sound off in the comments to let me know if I’m committing sin.

What’s Free

Sparta Lite
“Have you ever wanted to be a true Spartan warrior? Have you wondered how awesome it would be to be a god of war? Being a Spartan is no easy job, but sometimes it can kick some serious butt. *Pun Intended Defend yourself and your homeland against uprising peasants, roaming bandits, invading Persians, and even an unlikely foe that will be the ultimate test of your skills. Do you have what it takes to be a true Lord of War?”

Abigale Lite
“Abigale is a newly designed action shooting game. The uniqueness of the game is that the player is using Mosa, a weapon from the Dark God, to take-in bullets from the enemies to attack. Working with the accelerometer control of iPhone/iPod touch, Abigale is undoubtedly an exciting and challenging game for you!”

io lite
“In io lite, your mission is to bring the Nautilus-114 spaceship back home. However, the task isnít easy thanks to the many robotic minions that now inhabit the ship. In order to accomplish your mission, you have to play evasively (hide in the dark, walk donít run), avoid detection and carry out your objectives. You are also accompanied by your robotic friend and constant help, Ned. Together, you will take enemies down, gather data pertaining to the destruction of the ships human crew and bring the ship back home (or will you?) ”

Strike Force Trio Lite
“Strike Force Trio is a story-driven, top down, vertical scrolling, shooter game. If you like Raiden, Aereo Fighters, or 1945, you will love this game. With awesome power ups and boss battles you will not be able to put your IPhone or IPod Touch down.”

BeatRider Touch Lite
“BeatRider is the only rhythm game you can enjoy with all your MP3 and M4A(iTunes Plus Music) files. Now you can enjoy this rhythm game with your favorite artist’s music around the world. Set a new world record by competing with beat riders around the world. Now you can be the best beat rider of iPhone(iPod Touch)”

Alphabet Soup Free
“Hungry for some word game fun? Belly up to a steaming fun bowl of Alphabet Soup! Touch and rearrange each letter to guess the scrambled word.”

What’s New

Action

Lode Runner: Price: $1.99
“Do you remember that classic game by Broderbund? The idea is simple: you control the hero who avoids the guards and collects all the treasure to move on to the next level. The hero cannot kill guards, but can dig holes in the brick floors to temporarily trap the guards.”

Light Game: Price: $1.99
“Light Game is an Arcade for iPod touch/iPhone in which you’ll have to save the people of Light’s world from a terrible plague of mosquitoes. With 18 levels and a secret level, Light Game provides fun and entertainment like never before. You’ll also find four different and magic locations: a warehouse, the beach, the depths of the forest and the city. But Light Game offers a lot more. To complete the levels, you’ll have to interact with the objects in scene, use items that will be hidden in them, and don’t forget about the mosquitoes you’ll find in every nook and cranny of this magic world.”

RoboFighters: Price: $4.99
“Control and customize mammoth sized robots as they compete in a no holds barred battle arena. Equip your RoboFighter with a wide variety of weapons, including floating grenades, powerful plasma guns, and burning laser swords. Increase your skills with a series of fun minigames that will allow you to inflict even more devastating attacks.”

Stragea: Price: $1.99
“Archers, Catapults and Dragons, Oh My! Solus Games is proud to release Stragea, the first and only 3D real-time strategy game for iPhone and iPod Touch. Stragea features a classic cast of medieval 3D warriors at your command. You are the mighty Archon who must lead the Red Cloth to victory in the Battle for Rohan over the Blue Vain and Yellow Wood Clans. Build and defend your base with static and mobile defenses, but when the time is right mobilize your army to defeat your rivals. Whether you are a hardcore RTS fan or simply want something more than just another tower defense game, this is the game for you.”

Adventure

Jules Verne’s Return To Mysterious Island: Price: $4.99
“Jules Verne’s Return to Mysterious Island, inspired by the great Jules Verne’s novel, puts you in the shoes of Mina, a sailor who finds herself stranded on an island somewhere in the south Pacific. Though the island looks deserted at first, it is dotted with traces of human habitation. While Mina fights for survival and rescue, she’ll try to figure out who or what originally lived there, hoping to find what has been left behind… True to the novel that inspired it, the game will have you exploring the island, in search for food or tools, while solving the many mysteries that hide from its cloudy heights down to its deepest caves… This extremely rich 3D graphic adventure is for all audience with up to15 hours of exciting gameplay.”

Arcade

Graviton: Price: $1.99
“After devastating the largest cities of Earth and extracting all of its natural resources, the Xugg’zak left behind a planet buried in debris. As the pilot of the Graviton ship, your mission is to salvage the scarce energy spheres that the Xugg’zak have left behind, and take them to a safe place where will be processed to rebuild what’s left from the human race. Use all your skills through the 5 amazing post-apocalyptic environments in 3D with the deadliest traps. Be the fastest: Compete with your punctuation in our on-line ranking and compare you with the rest of pilots in our global rankings.”

Tankz: Price: $0.99
“Tankz is a fast paced arcade styled single player hover tank fighting game where you control one of three futuristic hover tanks in a non-stop battle against enemy towers and tanks, while you search for and collect all of the flags to complete the game. Enemy tanks patrol areas of each level, but if you get too close or shoot them from the distance, they will hunt you down and destroy you. Watch out for enemy proximity mines that get dropped around the level.”

Lightfall: Price: $1.99
“Lightfall is the fast-paced color-matching game which will test both your reflexes and mental agility. Some say it’s stimulating yet at the same time relaxing – it’s the kind of game you can pick-up and play in a few minutes, while also being the kind of game you can’t put down for hours. All we know is that when the meteors start falling, you’d better be ready! By lining up the colored filters with the falling meteors, you earn points and prevent a calamitous crash which will rob you of a precious life – lose all your lives and it’s “Game Over”. But fear not, as you earn more points and progress through the levels, you are also rewarded with additional lives. (Of course, we also make the meteors fall faster and every so often toss in an extra one (or two) to keep you on your toes.)”

Pong – iPhone Edition: Price: $0.99
“Travel back in time with Pong! The all new, easy to use Pong game for your iPhone or iPod touch! The first and most beloved video game ever is now with you wherever you go at all times on your iPhone or iPod touch. Pong is one of the most simple and easy to use games on the App Store or any other video game console. Just open up Pong and tap the screen, and you’re on your way to winning! Pong was first made in October of 1972 by Atari and was an instant worldwide hit. Selling over 35,000 copies within the first few years set the record straight that video games will change the world. For an extremely cheap fee, you can get an easy to use, good looking classic Pong game thats with you, wherever you go on your iPhone or iPod touch.”

Orange Hood: Price: $1.99
“While wandering around the forest, if Orange Hood becomes faced with the Wolf’s colleagues, she should defeat them by winning the “Throwing Balls” matches.
The rules of playing “Throwing Balls” are simple. Pick up a ball amongst the balls scattered around her, now move and throw it at the enemy until all the balls on your side have been sent over to the enemy’s side in order to win a match. If Orange Hood wins two of the three matches first, then she can proceed on to the next level where another, stronger enemy waits for her. Challenge and defeat all enemies to reach the Wolf’s lair!”

Board

Puzzle On Off: Price: $1.99
“Puzzle On Off is fully optimized for the touch-screen display of iPhone and iPod touch. The rule is simple, but it’s great fun and easy to learn. You can pick up and play immediately. Puzzle On Off is a puzzle game where you touch lights on the screen so that all of them are turned off. There are 25 light-cells on the screen and each of them is ON or OFF. You can turn on or off a light-cell by touching it. The cells around touched one will also switch to their reverse states. Turn off all the lights on the board. There are 60 stages in total for you to enjoy in each level in order to progress to the next.”

Card

Top Trumps Guns: Price: $1.99
“Our Top Trumps application is the modern conversion of the classical card game “Go Fish” (in other countries also known as Quartett, Megatrumpf, Top Trumps, Happy Families, Jeu de familles, Gioco delle famiglie or Authors). The 32 cards with diverse weapons are shuffled and evenly shared between the player and the iPhone. The player choose the value of one category of the displayed card and the value is compared with the same value of the card which the iPhone is holding. Who has the higher value wins the trick and the winner has the turn with the next card of the stack. The game is ending when one player has lost all the cards or the timer of 10 minutes expires.”

iPullTab: Price: $3.99
“iPullTab is the first PullTab application for the iPhone and iPod Touch! Playing pulltabs is fun and addictive! Players start with 250 pulltab tickets and get more delivered to them every day. Cash in your points in the Prize Room where you can unlock new themes, get more tickets and download wallpapers for your iPhone or Touch. We spent a lot of time in development to perfect this app and make it a very entertaining and addictive game to play! iPullTab is fun because it’s easy, and easy because it’s fun!”

Casino

Ruby Red Slots: Price: $0.99
“Go for the Ruby Sevens in Ruby Red Slots! Enjoy the rich graphics and addictive pace Candywriter brings to iPhone video slots. Though you can play up to twenty prize lines, all you need are three ruby sevens anywhere on the board to launch one of three bonus rounds, including panning for gold with your iPhone’s motion sensor!”

iSlotsPlus: Price: $0.99
“Now you can play a Vegas slot machine anywhere and anytime. Dazzling graphics and sound effects make you feel you’re playing the real thing and without the loss of your hard earned money. See how lucky you really are and win the jackpot. Credits are saved between games so you can play when it suits you and really rack up those credits.”

Dice

NOTHING

Educational

ESPN Spelling Bee: Price: $0.99
“ESPN and EpicTilt have teamed up again to bring you Spelling Bee!! Turn the sound up and see if you have what it takes to be the spelling bee champ! The game is simple, hear the word (read by ESPN’s Trey Wingo) and use the keyboard to spell the word. If you need help you can get the word’s origin, definition, part of speech, and in a sentence. But don’t take too long, you only have 60 seconds!”

SatoriKanji: Price: $0.99
“‘SatoriKanji’ is a brain-enhancing game. The rule is simple. All you have to do is to find and tap a Kanji character different from others. The character size becomes small as the game goes on.”

Beach Party! – Kids Memory Match: Price: $0.99
“WARNING: Beach Party! – Kid’s Memory Match is highly addictive. You will NOT be able to put this game down! Both children and adults will be entertained for hours. Undoubtedly, the best Memory Match game in the iTunes App Store! Beach Party! – Kid’s Memory Match is a must have game for the entire family. Develop recognition and cognitive skills while having fun and competing for high score with family and friends. A real blast for all ages. To achieve the highest possible score, match pairs of adorable animals as quickly and with the fewest mistakes as possible.”

Family

Same Pets 2: Price: $0.99
“You have to tap on two of more pets of the same type to remove them. Time is running fast and adds a line at the bottom until it reaches the top. Then it’s game over! See how high you can score in this game before time runs out.”

Music

BeatRider Touch: Price: $4.99
“BeatRider is the only rhythm game you can enjoy with all your MP3 and M4A(iTunes Plus Music) files. Now you can enjoy this rhythm game with your favorite artist’s music around the world. Set a new world record by competing with beat riders around the world. Now you can be the best beat rider of iPhone(iPod Touch)”

Puzzle

Sweetwater Defense: Price: $3.99
“Sweetwater Defense brings the tower defense genre to a whole new level: Deep tactical gameplay, stunning 3D-graphics, unique time-control features, an original soundtrack and over 25 maps will bring your phone to its limits and keep you entertained for weeks and weeks. Pirate fleets and monstrous sea creatures are threatening your coast and only you can save it. Build a mighty defense of towers, each with unique strengths and abilities to protect your lands. Balance their powers to prevail against various threats from above and below the surface of the sea. Sweetwater Defense features time control to fluently fast-forward or slow down the game’s speed in any situation. The unique Rewind mechanism allows you to jump to previous states of a map to try again, adding a puzzle-like quality to the gameplay.”

Racing

Stunt Wagon: Price: $0.99
“Join Edgar and Eva Zimmer in this wacky race to the finish line. Tilt your iPhone to steer the wagon in Stunt Wagon. Watch out for the pylons and tires. Tap the screen fly over obstacles. White stars give you special power-ups such as super-speed and bonus time. The green spirals are trouble. They can freeze you into a solid block or send you into the stratosphere! Race through all three levels.”

BMW Z4 Experience: Price: $0.99
“The latest masterpiece from BMW, the all-new BMW Z4 Roadster, fuses the heritage, tradition, passion and brilliance of BMW into this iconic automobile. Expanding on BMW Z4 – An Expression of Joy – Lite, Artificial Life brings you BMW Z4 Experience, which maximizes the enjoyment of navigating this amazing vehicle through four unique mini-games.”

Role Playing

Call to Arms – MMO: Price: $1.99
“Cape Horn, adrift in the north-eastern corner of the world, was where the Orcs lived. The Orcs were made up of small tribes and were followers of shamanism that led a nomadic life. However, under the iron fist rule of the absolute leader The Great Chief, Yulid Skullcrusher, the Orcs’ lives were primitive yet peaceful. One day, a ship arrived at the port. An exotic tribe appeared before the Orcs, calling itself ‘Human’. The visitors were received with caution and kindness. They showed great interest in the Arcane Crystal which the Orcs mined and used to acquire the power of the elements. A few months later, the Orcs were surprised by the seemingly endless legions of ship arriving at Cape Horn. The Humans began to build their own cities and towns out of stone and without the consent of its native dwellers. Many nomadic Orcs were lured or trapped as their slaves mining the Arcane Crystal. Not willing to tolerate the invasion and devastation of their land and culture by these foreigners, angry tribal leaders of the orcs start to defend their land from this invading species.

Science Wars: Price: $0.99
“In the year 2041 the “New Way” party takes control of the U.S. government. They quickly implement a series of reforms – banning many scientific advancements they claim are “unharmonious with reality.” Laws are passed making many chemicals and “dissonant” medical products illegal. Discussion of science in the press and internet is tightly regulated. Your mission is to travel from city to city buying and selling goods to scientists, medical professionals, teachers and other citizens in need. Hopefully you can make a little money in the process.”

Features:

-Play online together with thousands of players from all over the world.
-Take the role of either human or orc.
-Develop your city, expand your military forces, train your army and lead them to victory.
-Form alliances with your friends to defend against the enemy.”

Simulation

Squibs Arcade: Price: $0.99
“Play Squibs Arcade on your iPhone and take yourself back to a time when games were simple, addictive and fun, and game play was all important ! Seven individual games for you to play for the price of one, within Squibs Arcade! Squibs Arcade takes inspiration from the current generation of video games, distilling the game play to its most fundamental form, and re-imagining them with the style and passion of the classic LCD games. With hours of classic fun, like the original LCD game and watch electronic games, but bringing them up to date on the iPhone. The game titles are both homages and parodies of the games which inspired them. Squibs Arcade will appeal to both casual game players, but also hardcore game fans, who will recognise the tributes the game is paying to their favourite games, and also enjoy the genuine addictive game play to be found in Squibs Arcade.”

Underworld SweetDeal Re-Equipment Pack: Price: $1.99
“Become a merchant in Underworld, the unique location based massively multiplayer online game simulating street trade. Turn your everyday life into the spine-shivering action in the world of grey trade, cruel rivals and merciless loan sharks. Discover a parallel underworld using GPS inside your iPhone / iPod Touch. Find deals everywhere you travel in your real life and earn big buck by moving merchandise around. Rise to the top: start as a small-time seller with a goal to be a famous kingpin. Make a fortune and dominate the world! Money gives you power: win superior status, get access to better commodities and high trading volumes, gain independence from loan sharks and a lot more.”

Sports

10 Count Boxer: Price: $0.99
“Never give up, Johnny! With a 0-99 record, Johnny the gusty boxer refuses to lose. But even he has one unbeatable “weapon”. And that’s getting up off the floor. When he’s hit, he’ll get up. Hit again, he’ll get up again. Even after suffering 100 heavy blows, by some miracle he manages to get to his feet. Johnny may be a loser, but he won’t stay down for nobody! Enduring a frenzy of pummels day in and day out, Johnny dreams of the day he wins his first bout. What sort of hope does tomorrow hold? For some reason, Tom the ref doesn’t want Johnny to taste victory, and does whatever he can to keep it from happening.”

Pool Star Feat. Earl Strickland: Price: $1.99
“Earl Strickland Pool Star is without doubt the most complete Pool game launched to date – stunning 3D graphics combined with highly advanced game play make this a must have title. The game allows you to compete in 3 international formats, including the World Pool Masters, Premier League Pool and the one all pool players want to win, The World Pool Championships, where you have the enviable task of taking on the games greatest players, including Earl ‘the Pearl’ Strickland, Ralph Souquet, Francis Bustamante and Earl Strickland. Pool Star also boasts a number of unique features – the quick match mode allows you to play a range of formats, 9-ball, 8-ball, straight pool and trick shots, whilst the Wi-fi and internet multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to compete against each other at the same time. Rack em up and let’s play!”

Strategy

Exorcist: Price: $0.99
“Exorcist: a new engaging puzzle game that employs the iPhone’s touch and accelerometer in a genuine gameplay that has never been done before. Use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a magic wand and complete spells in a challenging race against time. In Exorcist, your goal is collect different shaped components to complete spells. You use your iPhone or iPod Touches motion sensitivity to control the wand, and specify the quadrant to put a component into by touching the corresponding corner button.”

Trivia

Geo Quiz: Europe: Price: $0.99
“Test your geography knowledge of European Countries! Test your knowledge of Europe as well as learning about countries that you may never know before.
The concept of the game is simple, drag the country from the top left window and place it correctly on the map! The faster you can place the countries the higher your score.
Use this game for an upcoming test or to show off your high score. Do you have what it takes?”

Primetime Cartoons Quiz 201: Price: $0.99
“Knowledge is Power and now it’s FUN too! Test your knowledge of Primetime Cartoons trivia and have fun at the same time with Quizner’s Primetime Cartoons 201. Fight boredom anywhere, anytime, and in those “in-between” times. For extra fun, compete against your friends or play together with your family. Stuck on a question? Quickly get an assist by emailing a friend directly from the quiz.”

Word

iYaketyYak: Price: $0.99
“What is iYaketyYak? iYaketyYak is an application designed to be a multi-use word game builder. It contains a sample icebreaker game that includes 184 conversation starter questions. To give you an idea of what you can create with iYaketyYak we have divided these 184 questions into 9 sub-categories: Favorites, Love, Travel, Food, Have you ever, What if, Life, Fears, and Tell me about. Each sub-category contains a list of questions; the timer is set for 30 seconds. You can choose to see the questions in random or chronological order; you can also choose to display all of the questions within the 9 sub-categories or questions within a single sub-category. If the question is answered within the 30 seconds you simply shake your iPhone to go to the following question. If the question in not answered in a timely manner the countdown begins, when time runs out the timer goes off and a pop-up-clock blocks the question.”

iPhone/iPod Touch

Appletell: [Macintosh/iPhone software update roundup - May 29, 2009] [Free Apps roundup for May 29th, 2009] [Appletell previews All Pro Crash Off Road for iPhone, iPod Touch] [Eucalyptus now available on iPhone store] [Appletell reviews VooDude for iPhone, iPod touch]