Apple App Store gaming update for the week of January 4 through January 10, 2010

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.

Back after a nice and blizzard-filled holiday break, and just in time for the wrap-up of the Consumer Electronics Show, this is the Apple App Store gaming update.

This week there aren’t too many great gaming apps this week but you’re probably busy with all the exciting gaming gifts you’ve received. Top picks this week include NBA Hotshots, Black Matter, Robo Rush, and Zombie Attack.

What’s Free

Frankenstein – The Dismembered Bride FREE
“Solve the enigma left by the Lord Frankenstein in this hidden objects game, specially designed for iPhone and iPod Touch. Brad is looking for his wife, Janet, who has disappeared for a few months.
After a long search, his quest leads him to Bavaria, near a manor house where his car breaks down. Brad discovers that the house is owned by a weird scientist: Lord Albrecht von Frankenstein. Janet has been his last “experiment”. She’s still alive, but his body has been set apart, and all the parts have been scattered around the house. Brad has to find them, and all the missing pieces of the machine that works to put together again Janet’s body. In Frankenstein – The Dismembered Bride FREE, search 4 various locations to find the hidden items and solve the mystery!”

Tap-Tap Boat Race
“Tap-Tap Boat Race is a racing game where your goal is to reach the finish line with your boat as fast as you can. You have to tap the screen with your fingers to move your boat.”

Pow-Word
“The classical word building game just got more interesting!!! Form as many words from the given set of 6 jumbled letters in each round. Your score is carried forward until you are unable to form a six letter word within a round. Simple controls and a host of features make Pow-Word a very addictive game and a great way to improve your vocabulary.”

Ghost Hunter
“In a high industrialization processing at 21C, the city is ruined, all hippies things is disappeared from hearts of peoples and peoples just had a egoistic mind and a greed, at the same time, the evil is appeared in the city. It happen a strange phenomenon hear and there in the city and Jung-pee request helper to the Vatican. The Vatican are calling ghost hunters which is a secret organization for elimination the evil several hundred years ago. The Vatican decide to rush Mr. Jack who is the best of best member of a ghost hunters.”

Picture-Puzzle
“Choose a picture from your library or make a picture and it will be displayed in random blocks. Tap on a block to activate it, and click another block to make them switch places!
Try to do it as quick as possible, but be wise with the steps you make, because every step costs you one second.

Zombie Attack! Bridge Defense
“Zombie Attack! Bridge Defense is the lite version of Zombie Attack! Second Wave. Get a taste of the bloody action with 2 challenge missions. Sample 3 weapons (rifle, flamethrower and pulsewave) against the zombie horde! See below for full description and features of the complete version, Zombie Attack! Second Wave. Once you start blastin’ zombies you just can’t stop!”

Super Ramen BROTHers
“You and your brother (Super Ramen BROTHers) are running on a supermarket cashier’s conveyor belt, trying to avoid getting scanned, taken home, and eaten. You have to either jump or swerve to avoid oncoming food items. If you are hit, you get knocked back a notch, closer to the scanner and your eventual doom. If you happen to gather a soy sauce packet, you get moved forward a notch.”

Scene It? Movies Free
“Try the FREE version of Scene It? Movies for iPhone and experience classic Scene It? trivia and puzzles pulled from the past 3 decades of Hollywood hits. The game features movie clips, images and custom puzzles designed to take full advantage of the latest iPhone features.”

Woolly the Jumper; A Sheep on the Edge LITE
“Woolly’s large, beautiful fleece is his most treasured asset. Unfortunately for him, Farmer Brown is so desperate to rob him of his coat that he will don a jet pack and follow Woolly through precarious pitfalls, dangerous obstacles and changing seasons – all just to sheer that oversized woolly coat! Using the iPhone’s touch screen, players must calculate the angle and power of Woolly’s jumps in order to successfully move between cliff edges in this vibrant 2D platformer. Help Woolly travel through the seasons quickly enough to avoid Farmer Brown closing in on his jet pack, and robbing the adorable Woolly of his fluffy coat!”

The Infinity Project Lite
“The year is 2248 and Earth is at war with the Talon’s, a technologically advanced race bent on stripping Earth for its resources. As Commander Ethan Avery, you’re sent to Infinity Station, a research and development facility located in deep space currently developing controversial technologies and military weapons. Earth has lost contact with the Top Secret station and sends you to investigate. Captain Onora Zorion will help guide you via a Secure Communications Link. Infinity Station is large and easy to get lost in, use the signs posted next to some doors to help guide you. Explore the station to find keys that unlock the next area of the station. Unlock the mystery behind “The Infinity Project”.”

Rhythm Racer
“Combining elements of “F-Zero” and “Guitar Hero”, RHYTHM RACER is the fastest full 3D racing experience you’ll have on the iPhone or Touch, and an amazing musical experience too! Keep the music playing and rack up points by hitting as many Power Spheres and jumps as you can. If you blow it, you’ll know it. Recover quick and you’ll still have a chance to hit a streak and pull a high score. The Pickup Placement System keeps it interesting by making sure that no two races are ever the same. RHYTHM RACER features original songs written and performed by Parry Gripp of Nerf Herder. Download it, play it, and see what the hype is all about.”

Gas Tycoon WE
“Game “Gas Tycoon WE” is a development of this genre, where you have to lay a pipeline from sources to consumers of ready-made elements by their rotation in opposite directions. If you have already played in the first part of the “Gas Tycoon” or “Gas Tycoon 2″, then you’ll love this sequel. We tried to make the game more interesting, more beautiful, and created more and more new levels.”

What’s New

Action

Black Matter: Price: $0.99
“Black Matter is fast-paced battle action combined with tower defense strategy. Prepare to fight hordes of enemies that push your space station off the screen. Upgrade your weapons and blast your enemies away. Black Matter takes you on an epic journey. Fight your way through four episodes full of nasty enemies and earn fame and money. Upgrade your space station with superior weapon systems, beat gigantic boss enemies until you reach the epic 100 final levels.”

Big Sea Battle: Price: $0.99
“Big sea battle is a amazing sea battle game, only brave captain can be a master of sea battle, you play a new captain to complete multiple missions and searching out all enemy warships or targets to destory! some missions that need you to protect your firend warships and save some hostages。Let’s go! Good luck!”

Super Man Bob: Price: $0.99
“Superman Bob is a great innovative game. You are the heroic Bob. Guide your skyborad and draw your energy flow to protect the world. You can move and attack enemies through lining on your screen.”

Active Agent: Price; $0.99
“Active Agent is an animation shooting game. You have got lot of missions to test your tactical assassination skills! Shoot and slash your way through several missions in the Active Agent game. Instructions are posted during the mission briefing. Go for the highest score by completing every mission as fast as possible with no mistakes. Enjoy!”

Building Destroyer: Price: $0.99
“Building Destroyer is a new pattern game that uses your own voice as the input mode.
After entering the game, you should destroy the building as soon as possible by shouting with your own mouth or shaking your iPhone. When you destroy the building, some passers-by will pass through. If the debris which falls down from the building cracks the ordinary passers-by, then your mark will be reduced. Finally you will win the game if the building completely collapses in set time. Otherwise you will lose the game. There are several tools for you to choose. These tools are mainly used to accelerate the destroy of the building and protect passers-by. There are two way of using the tools. One is that the tools will appear randomly; you can click or drag them. The other tools need some power to be stored.Once is is enough,the tool can be used.”

ShipFighter: Price: $0.99
“You are captain of the cargo ship, responsible for delivering supplies to our troops on the front line. Your ship has a small fleet of robotic fighters which you control from the relative safety of vessel.”

Robo Rush: Price: $0.99
“Your maker, callous and insensitive to the spirit of the machine, has betrayed you, innocent robot. Frustrated by the failure of his experiments, he seeks to destroy you and your brethren. Now it is time to make a stand, and fight back against tyranny! Jump, run, and pound through the blocks of bigotry which stand in your way, and deliver swift justice to those evil creatures that would impede you!”

Adventure

The Legend of Crystal Valley: Chapter 1: Price: $0.99
“Embark on Sandlot Games’ greatest adventure yet in The Legend of Crystal Valley: Chapter 1! When Eve receives a mysterious and disturbing letter from her long-estranged father, who for years has lived an increasingly secluded life, she travels to the family estate in France in order to find him. After arriving, she discovers that her father has disappeared. Now, in order to find him, Eve must explore Crystal Valley, an alternate fantasy world inhabited by strange creatures, and piece together the clues that reveal her family’s true identity.

Arcade

Air Raid: Price: $0.99
“The First World War has just started. Enemy planes are flying in great numbers past your position. You are armed with an anti-aircraft gun and your mission is to shoot down 80% of them. Simple? Think again. The game has a realistic twist. Just like in real life, your bullet has a finite speed and trajectory that makes it harder to shoot targets the further they are. The technique of shooting at moving targets is called “leading”. The further away the target, the higher you aim, to compensate for the effect of gravity on the bullet. Likewise, the farther away a moving target is, the further in front of it you should aim. Your anti-aircraft gun has an infinite number of rounds but this will be of little use if you can’t hit the target. For that reason we have included a practise screen with large, bright targets. Aiming and shooting is easy. Simply touch the screen and the visor (or crosshairs) will come into position. As long as you touch the screen, the gun will fire. It will briefly stop firing when you move it quickly across the screen.”

Tap Tap Ants Pro: Price: $0.99
“Do you have a good reflex? Do you Love to play tapping games? Let’s have a test of your reflexes and tapping speed! Start squashing Ants on “Tap Tap Ants” and Improve your reflex speed. Imagine you have some delicious Pizzas and you don’t want to share those with ANTS! But Ants are rushing to your foods! Kill those by Tapping. The more ants you kill the more points you will gather. Remember about the time, you will get total 60 seconds to kill the ants. DON’T MISS any Ants!!!

Magic Flower Garden: Price: $1.99
“Magic Flower Garden is a fun game where you try to take care of your beautiful garden. You need to pick as many beautiful flowers as you can! Tap on the screen to start picking flowers. This will start a chain reaction that will allow you to pick more and more flowers. Longer chain reactions will give you super bonus points!”

Tongue2 Chameleon: Price: $1.99
“Polygon Magic presents the brand-new casual game “Tongue Tongue Chameleon”!! This is a fun game for your free time now available on App Store!! A hungry Chameleon came to the forest in search of food. There are many delicious-looking bugs in front of him. Is he able to eat full of bugs?”

TerroRats: Price: $0.99
“TerroRats is the new puzzle/action game for everyone. Easy to learn so you can start having fun right away, but yet so hard to conquer! As the rats are marching out on the sandy desert dunes they seem peaceful. But watch out, some of them have bad intentions. It’s your job to keep the desert clear of the TerroRats who are carrying time activated explosives and will blow up, unless disarmed and sent to jail. When a rat turns blue or red, it becomes a TerroRat. Quickly drag it to the right color police car before he blows up. When the police car is getting full, drag it out of the screen to empty it. The more rats in the car, the more points you earn. Earn additional combo bonus points by dragging multiple rats to the police cars quickly. Various items will appear on the screen, some good and some bad. Throw (drag) the bad objects out of the screen and the good objects to your power-up collector at the bottom center of the screen. You can carry 2 power-ups at a time. Activate a power-up by shaking your device.”

Board

BingoDraw – Bingo everywhere: Price: $0.99
“This app can transform your iPhone / Ipod in an amazing Bingo Drawing Machine, now it’s possible to play with your friends everywhere without the need to carry all the stuff!”

Card

MR BIG 2: Price: $0.99
“The God of the Traditional Card game, Big 2, is playing against the Top 3 players from Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. The player with the highest amount of money wins the competition.”

Casino

NOTHING

Dice

NOTHING

Educational

NOTHING

Family

Dizzy Drops: Price: $0.99
“Dizzy Drops™ is a new and exciting game franchise for iPod Touch/iPhone created by the developer behind Championship Manager and The Crystal Maze. Can you save the cutely coloured Dizzy Drops™ from extinction by catching them in their water buckets that they call home? Introducing an entirely new control system, where you will have to frantically drag the buckets around the screen in order to save the precious little droplings, Dizzy Drops™ is sure to test your mind, body and soul!”

HIPPANG!: Price: $0.99
“Jump game featuring adorable babies – HIPPANG! The player needs to step onto falling balloons to go up higher. HIPPANG consists of vivid cartoon graphics and colorful effects. The game uses iPod/iPhone’s motion sensor to control a boy or girl character to jump up. You can compete with world’s best players by uploading your scores to dedicated server.

Scribble Pilot: Price: $1.99
“Scribble Pilot is an exciting fast action shooting game with scribble style graphics in which you must defend the galaxy against the aliens. You’ll need to destroy asteroids, fight alien ships and at the end of each level fight the motherships. You’ll need to collect fuel, missiles as well as save the spacemen to complete each level and stay alive. With three skill levels, EASY, NORMAL, and HARD each containing 10 levels of increasingly harder enemies, will you be able to save the galaxy?”

Music

A Pocket Flower: Price: $0.99
“No matter what seasons or weathers, Pocket Flower will surely brighten up your day. Pocket Flower is your perfect companion on-the-go, without the fuss! In Pocket Flower, you will be given a magical seed. As you nurture it with appropriate amount of water and fertilizer, the seed will bloom into a beautiful daisy. Pocket Flower shows emotion, just like other pets and babies, and it is a mute. Sometimes you have to guess what it wants. You will also have to protect your Pocket Flower from critical situations, such as storm and worms attack. You can also show this game to your friends and family – they will love this cute little game. You will find Pocket Flower an indispensable centerpiece for your iPhone/iPod Touch!”

Puzzle

Maze Square: Price: $1.99
“4000 two dimensional square mazes from 6×6 to 20×20.
Maze walls can be invisible, revealed upon touch, shown only along a horizontal and vertical line, shown only near your position, or fully displayed.”

Racing

Tap-Tap Boat Race Pro: Price: $0.99
“Tap-Tap Boat Race Pro is a racing game where your goal is to reach the finish line with your boat as fast as you can. You have to tap the screen with your fingers to move your boat.”

Role Playing

NOTHING

Simulation

NOTHING

Sports

Street Cred 3D: Price: $1.99
“This is an extreme bike 3D-game. You have to pass through all the obstacles. To achieve the highest points. With the fastest speed to reach the terminal, get the trophy!”

Pocket Button Soccer: Price: $0.99
“PocketSoccer is based on a classic fun Hungarian board game which is played on a table using “disks” or “buttons” as players. PocketSoccer is a turn-based soccer game. The goal
of the game is to be the first player to score 10 points against the opposing player. You move (kick) the ball by tapping and holding your finger over one of the players. Flick your finger in
desired direction of where you want to aim the ball. The length and direction of your finger move will control the speed and direction of the ball.”

NBA Hotshot: Price: $0.99
“This classic arcade game is now officially licensed by the NBA and ready to play whenever and wherever you are! Sink baskets to rack up points and earn awards, achievements and more! Two modes of gameplay make time-racing fans and high score elitists equally happy. Plus+ integration will have you bragging to your friends and family about your awesome skills and bluetooth support means gamers can battle it out head to head, with up to five players in any game mode! Have a favorite NBA team? Then dominate the game in their name! Collect their official NBA team basketball to use or display. The amazing physics coupled with the fun, flashy graphics will get your heart pumping and your finger flicking. Add this to your Flick Sports collection today!”

Strategy

Pocket Warfare: Price: $1.99
“Guard the last tower from dark force! One day, gate of dimension was suddenly open, and dark force beyond dimension started attacking the world. 6 towers of 7 defending towers were already destroyed by dark force for 6 days. If last tower is destroyed, there are no more places to live and be protected from dark force. To protect last tower, humans and elves who have protected seven towers gathered.”

Shark Attack: Price: $1.99
“The Clash Soft brings you SHARK ATTACK! The most sensational and entertaining game like “tower defense” that exists for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Your mission is to protect your little fishes of large marine predators. In order to win and pass levels you will have to combine mental agility, strategy, tactics and speed. In this unlimited adventure, with over 40 levels where each level will be different every time you play you need to buy different fishes or algae to defend yourself, get coins, be the best strategist and faster than the predators. In addition to spending hours and hours of maximum entertainment you will compete in the top of the best world players through the online ranking and your 3G connection or Wi-Fi. Do you dare to enter the world of Shark Attack? Will you be faster than the shark, swordfish, whales and many more fish enemies?”

Druid Quest: Price: $2.99
“Druid Quest is a mind-boggling logic-puzzle game. The druid got lost in the woods. Now he needs your help to find his way back to the Village.”

Age of Conquest: Africa: Price: $2.99
“Age of Conquest AFRICA is a medieval risk-like turn-based strategy game where you take the reins of a budding empire and struggle against fellow empires for control of the African continent. In one game, up to 15+ players vie for supremacy, but only one can be victorious. Every game you win pushes up your score, until you don’t just dominate the world, but also your fellow players. Then all will be in your shadow and not just peasants, but even kings will worship you! All this can be yours, but only if you triumph.”

GO! GO! Rangers!: Price: $0.99
“GO! GO! Rangers!” is an idea type strategy game to which enemy’s Monster is defeated by handling the Hero who is the member of Rangers. It is a tough game system to which the strategy side was considerably strengthened from the battle system of the “J-RPG” style. The system is a turn system, and the Hero and the Monster can act only once a turn. In the action, there is set “Action” of “Movement” to an adjoining arbitrary panel or each Hero. Hero’s “Action” includes “PROTECT FORWARD” etc. that recover the damage of not only the attack to damage the Monster by using the sword and magic but also the circumference and the adjoining Hero, and reduce the attack from the Monster. The “Action” cannot be you selected. The fixed action of each Hero is the position of “Front row/Middle row/Back row” where the Hero exists. The Monster has “Level” who becomes the enemy of Rangers.Because the Monster’s attack increases to level 5 one by one, it is a practice of the game. Monster’s “HP” of “AGI” and “Power” is rise on over level 6. Please challenge the Monster strengthened at a high level.”

Trivia

CSI Miami Trivia: Price: $0.99
“Welcome to the Unofficial CSI Miami Trivia. Test your knowledge of CSI Miami’s history with 100 in depth Trivia questions. The Trivia game allows you to pick the number of questions per session and if you feel up to the challenge you can add a time limit to the Trivia game. The Trivia Game also allows you to turn on the correct answer section. Thus if you miss one, the game will tell you the correct answer.”

Seinfeld Quiz: Price: $0.99
“The Best Seinfeld Trivia Quiz app in the app store! How well do you know Jerry Seinfeld and his hilarious gang of George, Kramer and Elaine. The Seinfeld Quiz contains over 500 Questions covering all seasons of the Seinfeld series. Game Mode allows you keep playing with new questions everytime. Lots of Questions in the best user interface out there for Seinfeld fans.”

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST STATE ALCHEMY EXAM: Price: $1.99
“Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the most popular anime series in the world, and now it has an official iPhone app! Fans of the Fullmetal franchise can now test their alchemy abilities with Fullmetal Alchemist: State Alchemist Exam. The app features 130 questions that quiz your knowledge of physics, chemistry, and the events and characters of the original Fullmetal Alchemist TV series. The test is comprised of 3 levels of difficulty, with questions chosen randomly. When you’ve correctly answered every question in a level, you’ll unlock the next one. Being an otaku won’t be enough – you’ll need good knowledge of the fundamentals of science to earn the prestigious title of Alchemy Sage!”

Word

Pow-Word Pro: Price: $0.99
“The classical word building game just got more interesting!!! Form as many words from the given set of 6 jumbled letters in each round. Your score is carried forward until you are unable to form a six letter word within a round. Simple controls and a host of features make Pow-Word a very addictive game and a great way to improve your vocabulary.”

HellWords: Price: $0.99
“HellWords is a fiery word game where your soul, er, sole goal is to drop the demons into the fire pit! For the first time in human history, the fate of evil can be decided with.. a word!”

iPhone and iPod Touch Links

Appletell: [CES Hands On: Case Mate adds customization for iPhone cases] [Free apps roundup for January 8th, 2010] [Macintosh/iPhone software update roundup - January 8, 2010] [Appletell reviews three Zattikka games for iPhone, iPod touch] [iPhone 3G/S case roundup review]