Apple App Store gaming update for the week of June 8 – June 14, 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.

So that happened. I have to say this is pretty aggressive for Apple releasing this feature packed upgrade at the same price point and dropping the price of the current model. It really makes you wonder why anybody actually paid almost $600 for the original iPhone, eh?

This obviously puts the Palm Pre in a danger zone where it’s only hopes of salvation come in the form of the iPhone 3GS not being available to cash burning consumers. AT&T is already sold out of pre-orders so your only hope is Apple itself. I managed to eek in a pre-order so let’s see when it actually gets to me for hands-on coverage. Until then, here are some apps to check out while you wait:

What’s Free

Dark Hill Lite
“Dark Hill is a scary horror first person mystery puzzle inspired by Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Doom and many other great horror game .

In Dark Hill, Milba city now overrun buy zombies hungry for human flesh, you are the only survivor! You must be able to find the way out. To save your skin, you must manage your weapons and ammunition.”

Sleuth Jr
“Did you just realize that you failed The Moron Test by buying it? Do you wish you had put your money towards something that could make you smarter?”

Action

Archmage Defense: Price: $0.99
“Archmage Defense is a castle defense game with three game modes – easy, normal and hard.

You control a skeleton wizard who is in charge of protecting the skull tower from human invasion. With each human kill of enemy warriors, you gain soul points which can be used to research for new spells or repair your tower.

To send your enemies to their deaths, touch the skull tower and drag a line towards the enemies to send a lightning towards them so that they will be electrified before they reach the skull tower.

Your mana bar will increase similarly like your soul points when the number of enemies you killed increases. However,if more enemies hit on the skull tower, the health bar of the tower will decrease to a point it will be destroyed to ground. Your mission is to prevent that from happening!

After you killed all the enemies on the level, you are given a resting time where you can either upgrade your existing spells or research new spells. You can also exchange all your soul points to repair your skull tower.”

How Many You Can Lite
“Are you having sharp eye?Are you got brains?And how about your girl or boy friends,coworkers,and your family?You can downlad the Game “How Many You Can Lite” to test it,find who can find the most?Only about 1 or 2 minutes,you will get the answer!

Select the word you know as fast as you can!There maybe some limits for you to select the right word.In formal version “How Many You Can”,there have many combinations of limit,you can enjoy them:)”

Adventure

Wizard of the forest: Price: $1.99
“Evil animals have invaded the forest! They are threatening the peace of the forest. As the wizard of the forest and the last hope for good animals, it’s up to you to save the world of the forest from complete destruction. Go destroy all the enemies and their boss. Protect your town and the good animals! Hurry up!”

Aquatica: Price: $1.99
“This little gem offers the perfect escape for those wanting to recharge and smell the flowers. Featuring an underwater utopia full of koi fish, turtles, and great white sharks. Pass the time by interacting with these curious creatures or simply watch them swim about.”

Arcade

Metal Core: Price: $1.99
“Metal Core is an Artillery Game with a Modern Warfare circumstance. Turn-based strategy game. Attack and defend using 7 unique units. To attack the enemy, adjust the angle and power, and considering wind speed. Each unit has the ability to move, and using items for offense and defense. Each unit has unique features of the weapons. Two weapons are given with unlimited rounds. Items: attack support, defense support, weapon support. A team can consist of Maximum 3 units. Individual play is also possible. Each shell makes a range of crater on the stage. Unique 9 stages are given.”

California Gold Rush: Price: $2.99
“Dig for gold, artifacts and gems in California Gold Rush, an addicting action puzzler that will keep you glued to your iPhone for hours!!

Explore up to 30 mines full of unexpected twists and sudden dangers! Help Mandy strike it rich by uncovering hidden treasures and purchase store-bought supplies like maps, supports and explosives to help you on your quest. Keep an eye on your energy bar and be careful not to over extend yourself. Get ready for the rush and experience a classic adventure with stunning art, colorful characters and high quality production values.”

Board

Battleships Classic: Price: $1.99
“Battleships Classic is a variation of the old commodore 64 game Battleships, suitable for everyone.

The major difference from the board game counterpart is that, the players select more than one target in each turn, depending on the number of ships they have left. This feature adds strategy factor to the game, so playing against computer player also becomes challenging.

Battleships Classic is played with a larger grid. The ships are different in shapes and sizes and can be rotated and placed in different orientations including diagonally.”

Diabolika: Price: $1.99
“Diabolika is the fiendish turn-based game of chain reactions! Use an assortment of exploding monsters to fight back the horde of invading red demons. From the simple straw man to the bombastic black cyclops, to the powerful cannon… each of the 9 different monsters yields a different explosive pattern on the playing field. Together, they’re like destructive dominoes – place them on the board and detonate them at will!

But use your noggin! There are many ways to succeed, and many strategies to try. To obtain a high score you’ll have to blow up large chains of demons. But be careful! If too many appear on the board you’ll lose and they’ll get the last laugh. It’ll take luck and planning to survive for very long against the ever-increasing onslaught.”

Card

NOTHING

Casino

NOTHING

Dice

Worded Pro: Price: $0.99
“Worded Pro is a word search game with a twist: words don’t have to be in a straight line. Your goal is to earn the most points by finding words in a puzzle grid. Each letter has a particular point value, and you earn bonuses by forming longer words. And if you get stuck, just shake the dice to shuffle the letters!”

Educational

ILetters Pro(English): Price: $0.99
“Iletters is an educational letter’s game that fits with your game’s style . you can set chrono and size of the game. For each draw (9 letters), you have more than 800 thousands possibility (you can put down from 3 to 9 letters).you have to find the longest combination and make more point than computer.” NOTE: Also comes in French.

Advanced Mental Maths: Price: $0.99
“Sharpen your mental arithmetic, problem solving and mental agility skills. This game is playable by anyone looking for a challenge or wishing to improve their mental maths.”

Family

Dante’s Conundrum: Price: $0.99
“Dante, torn between heaven and hell and between good and evil, must collect the heavenly Soul Jewels to determine his place in the hereafter, along the way Demons will try and thwart Dante by destroying the landscape of purgatory making it impossible to collect the Soul Jewels, but there is good on his side in the form of Cherubs that will lend a hand placing power-ups and special items to help him in his task.

Will the forces of good win out and lay open the gates to heaven? or will the Denizens of Hell, the vile Demons strike back and force Dante to a Millennia of Torment?, Dante’s fate is in your hands, do not fail him.”

Music

Lady Gaga Revenge: Price: $4.99
“Lady Gaga Revenge is the latest and greatest release in the wildly popular Tap Tap Revenge series, this time featuring 14 tracks and remixes by international pop sensation Lady Gaga.”

Puzzle

voro: Price: $0.99
“Play the irockgames hit title voro and “swallow” as many shapes as you can before they flood your screen and bring you to your knees!”

Popple: Price: $1.99
“Popple is a game that will challenge your speed, reflexes, and memory. The goal is simple, survive! Do not let the curtain close! The falling bubbles need to be popped in the correct order displayed at the top of the screen to slightly raise the curtain. The sequence will change randomly so stay alert! With each correct sequence pop, your score multiplier increases, so accuracy is key. Popple hits home for anyone who likes fast paced, easy to learn, arcade or puzzle games. Let your brain have some fun, play Popple.”

Racing

Mindracer Duel: Price: $0.99
“Release your inner geek in this intense math racing game. The goal is to finish the race as fast as possible by solving math problems – and thereby earn infinite glory, hot babes and an akward award for the best looking math geek. You can play alone against the time and train you ridiculously underdeveloped mental arithmetic skills until exhaution. This will reward you with the speed and accuracy of a mighty math demigod (or your head will explode). OR you can humiliate your vicinity in the two player mode. Yes we know it, this text is crap – but the game is great! Go get it!”

Role Playing

Mecho Wars: Price: $4.99
“Jump into an exciting advanced war between the Winged Crusade and the Landians! Mecho Wars is a turn-based strategy game where you command your troops to expand control and conquer your enemies. Strategically position your troops because each type has its strengths and weaknesses.

Command your troops to conquer structures for your team’s benefit. Capture factories to expand maximum army support. To pay for this large army, take-over cities to earn gold from the rich economic hubs. Finally, defeat the enemy by capturing their H.Q. structures.

Included in the game is a rich story-driven single player campaign, a special set of individual challenge maps, and remarkable multi-player support with a single device.”

Mariolife
“Mario Life is an alternate reality GPS game, which literally combines virtual and real world, so you play in both. The aim of the game is to find and rescue beautiful princesses languishing in their locked hidden castles all over the World map. There are no geographical boundaries! Play whenever and wherever you like, whether it is a North Pole or USA!”

Simulation

NOTHING

Sports

Duck N Cover: Price: $0.99
“Time to hunt some ducks!

It’s either you or them and only one of you knows how to operate a shotgun. Take out as many of you flying foul nemeses as you can, but watch out for low flying mallards and their eggs. Touch the ground to take cover or load 8 new shells. Get far enough and you might get in some bonus skeet shooting.

It’s a simple game. Hunt some ducks, shoot some skeets and try to survive.”

Strategy

The War: Price: $2.99
“Progress through the ages of time, beginning from the stone age all the way to the nuclear age in “The War”. The idea of the game is simple – destroy your enemy base. Think strategically and tactically decide the balance between both attack and defense to succeed. Remember that you cannot repair your base during battle.

As you progress and kill all the enemies you will collect experience points, spend these to move onto the next of 5 available ages. Each age has its own unique units, defense levels and special weapons for when it gets heated!”

Trivia

NOTHING

Word

NOTHING

iPhone/iPod Touch Links

Appletell: [iPhone 3GS pricing - get over it already!] [Macintosh/iPhone software update roundup - June 12, 2009] [iPhone flight sim dogfight] [iPhone 3G S: 600 MHz and 256 MB of RAM of fun] [Appletell previews Firemint’s RealRacing for iPhone, iPod touch] [The meaning of the $99 iPhone 3G to Pre and RIM] [Free Apps roundup for June 12th, 2009] [WWDC: Apple announces the iPhone 3Gs, now with video]

Gamertell: [Gamertell Review: Space Ace for iPhone, iPod Touch]