Keith, Natalia, and the rest of the team at Imangi Studios have been hard at work on their next title for months now. Max Adventure is a dual stick shooter that is set to be released this Tuesday for the limited time price of 99�. The game has a story mode with hours of gameplay that will take Max through environments ranging from the familiar suburbs to an alien mothership as well as the standard dual stick shooter survival mode. The levels are described as "huge" with many hidden areas to discover and enemies to slay.

Max Adventure isn't going to be your typical run and gun game, as it features all kinds of different objectives such as saving your friends, solving mazes, escorting people to safety, and even fighting huge bosses. Game Center integration is included for high scores and achievements, and the game not only supports the Retina Display but it's also universal for the iPad.

We plan on taking a closer look at the game when it launches this coming Tuesday.

NimbleBit's Dizzypad [Free / HD] is a high scoring jumping game that we thought was great in our review. The game is a little more significant than its good review though, as the associated frog collection mania that surrounded each Dizzypad update served as the foundation for NimbleBit's runaway freemium hit Pocket Frogs [Free]. Going back and looking at Dizzypad, it's really cool seeing how the whole Pocket Frogs frog pond started.

This week was a huge week for Thursday releases, but if at all possible, you should take a break from getting killed by the God King in Infinity Blade to give Dizzypad a download. For the sake of your sanity, you might want to play with the sound off. The endlessly looping background music (also found in the trailer below) seems to get stuck in my head in the worst way.

If you need additional convincing, check out the Dizzypad thread in our forums.

If you are one of the many people who thought that Real Racing 2 had stolen all of Firemint's time and they were no longer focused on delivering the promised Real Racing [$4.99] multiplayer update, you'd be right, to some extent� As it's already completed, and in Apple's hands awaiting approval. The flurry of excitement this morning that resulted from the flood of new information on the game's sequel seemed to cause everyone to miss the following tweet by Firemint:

Now, it's really hard to say when this update will land in our greasy little hands. We've heard from several developers that the cutoff for approvals before the Christmas iTunes Connect freeze was anywhere between Thanksgiving to the 1st of December, but this is Firemint we're talking about here. It wouldn't really surprise me if the update wasn't approved until after the holidays, but at the same time, it also wouldn't surprise me to find out that Firemint has a direct line (read: bat phone) to the person responsible at Apple for pulling the massive lever labeled "approve" inside their Cupertino fortress.

I wish I had more details than what has already been revealed, but I mostly just wanted to raise awareness of the impending update. I've got my fingers crossed it drops soon, as I can't think of much reason to invest much time in playing Real Racing 1 online if the update appears after the release of Real Racing 2. 4 players hardly seems that exciting anymore in the shadow of massive 16 player online races.

Find your sync cable and grab your dungeon masters, friends, and loved ones. The oft-teased Universal update for Carcassonne [$9.99]�is now available, meaning you can now play the tabletop-game-turned-App on your iPad without having to maximize or deal with UI not intended for use on the device's much larger screen.

As a result, the game's price has also been raised to $9.99. Bummer at a glance, but if you haven't purchased Carcassonne, don't see this as a deal breaker � the original game is a fantastic port of the beloved tabletop game and it appears as if the iPad update is just as good.

Granted, my time has been limited, but I haven't spotted a single bruise. The UI looks sharp and reacts well and the touch controls are solid, too. Heck, even the visuals remain appealing. It's like The Coding Monkeys spent a lot of time on this update or something, right?

Oh, the parties I am already planning. If only I can convince my "cool" friends that playing Carcassonne is more fun than drinking jungle juice. Challenges. Life has them.

Over the last few weeks Firemint has been teasing us with various snippets of information, a screenshot here and there, and even a development gameplay video, but all of these things left so many questions unanswered. Today, they're letting the cat out of the bag with the biggest information flood yet that we've seen on Real Racing 2. First off, the game will be released on the 16th for $9.99.

But what will you get for your ten bucks? 30 licensed cars from several manufacturers (listed in detail below), and when you're actually playing, you'll be up against 16 racers either locally or against online opponents in multiplayer races. Firemint is promising "well over 10 hours" of gameplay in the career mode which spans a wide range of event types where players will earn in-game currency to both buy new cars and upgrade existing cars. Game modes include the career mode, quick races, time trials, and both local multiplayer with 8 players and online multiplayer with 16 players.

15 locations in all are included, which make up 40 miles of race track. There is a vehicle damage system as well, which is a little surprising as usually licensed cars and vehicle damage go together like oil and water. Firemint's Cloudcell and Game Center are both supported along with storing your game saves online. Just like the original, there's a wide range of control options and camera angles including the full 3D cockpit view with (what appears to be) extremely accurate car interiors. Also, the HUD has a new minimap which can be toggled on or off which also displays rival racers.

Expect a full review from us when the game launches this Thursday. Here is the full list of cars included:

• 2010 BMW M6 Competition Edition
• 2010 BMW M3 GTS
• 2009 BMW M3 GT2
• 2010 BMW Z4 sDrive35is
• 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe Race Car
• 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt SS
• 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS
• 2010 Chevrolet Camaro GS Race Car
• 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
• 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R
• 2010 Ford Focus RS
• 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500
• 2005 Ford GT
• 2010 Jaguar XKR
• 2010 33 Jaguar RSR XKR GT
• 2010 Lotus Exige
• 2010 Lotus Evora
• 2010 Lotus Evora Cup
• 2010 McLaren MP4-12C
• 1995 McLaren F1 GTR Race Car
• 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35)
• 2010 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (car 23 � NISMO, GT500)
• 2010 Nissan 370Z (Z34)
• 2010 MOLA 350Z (car 46 � MOLA, GT300)
• 2010 VW Golf GTI (A6)
• 2010 VW Golf R (A6)
• 2008 VW Scirocco (A6)
• 2008 VW Scirocco R (A6)
• 2010 Volvo C30 R
• 2010 Volvo C30 STCC Race Car

Back in late September Rocketcat Games announced their newest title Hook Worlds, the amalgamation of sorts of their previous iOS offerings Hook Champ [$2.99/Lite] and Super QuickHook [$2.99]. Hook Worlds is a collection of 3 different endless hooking games (well, 4 really, but more on that in a minute) that each utilize mechanics from the aforementioned titles, as well as some new ones.

Rocketcat has uploaded the entire Hook Worlds sountrack to their YouTube channel, along with some humorous hints to the storylines associated with each of the game worlds. Following is a brief rundown of each of the games in Hook Worlds, along with the YouTube descriptions and some new screens (click to enlarge):

Curse of the Watcher � The first game is called Curse of the Watcher. It features "Gramps" Hooker and gameplay that is similar to the original Hook Champ, as a deadly enemy chases you through the level as you try to escape.

In World One, an ancient death god awakens and is all upset because Gramps stole his dainty little sacred idol. Gramps also calls it a "ninny". An old-fashioned grappling hook chase ensues.

After three solid minutes of being made a fool of by Gramps, the ancient death god decides to pull out all the stops. Gramps must swing and rocketjump through the cursed jungle, with death floating right behind him.

Hook Gunner � The second game is called Hook Gunner and stars Zelle, the vivacious DLC character from Hook Champ. Zelle will have the ability to fire a weapon through barriers as she collects coins and makes her way through a dungeon.

In world two, Zelle tries to collect the bounty on a gang of pirates. They all turn out to be ghosts and floating skulls. She shoots them anyway, along with their army of gigantic haunted crabs.

Cybergnome 202X � Finally, the fan-favorite Gnomey from Super QuickHook gets his own game world called Cybergnome 202X, which features the most radically different game mechanic of them all. Gnomey will actually have the ability to flip gravity, and will have to make use of both floor and ceiling as he escapes from the Gnome Police.

In World Three, Gnomey must escape the grim dystopian future. It's not clear exactly what his plan is, but he has a gravity flip belt and a grappling hook. The power-mad Gnome Police stand between him and his goals of gnoming it up, gnome-style.

Eventually, Gnomey is enveloped by and infused with the incredible power of Rainbow Magic. This music plays, and in the very end he might magically turn into a tree for absolutely no reason at all.

Retro Hook Champ � As a special bonus, players who download Hook Worlds through the first weekend of its release will get a bonus 4th game that is an early 80s take on Hook Champ, complete with retro stylings. If you don't happen to get this early buyer bonus, this world will become available for all players in a future update roughly a month following release.

In the fourth world, you get to play the very first version of Hook Champ. The one made in 1982. Help Jake survive the Chaser's wrath until you're obliterated by spikes!

Rocketcat was also kind enough to put together an exclusive trailer of Hook Worlds for us that showcases some gameplay from the Cybergnome 202X level, complete with gravity flipping and Rainbow Magic.

Needless to say, as a big fan of both Hook Champ and Super QuickHook, I'm really excited to check out Hook Worlds. In addition to gaining early access to the bonus 4th world, as an early buyer you will also get the exclusive Rocketcat Mask and Hat as well as the RocketHook. If Hook Worlds is anything like their previous games, you can expect a slew of new hats and outfits, and possibly even entire new game worlds, to be added in updates. Hook Worlds was submitted on December 1st, and as long as Apple approves it in time, it will launch on December 16th for 99�.

Make sure to check out the original gameplay trailer that we posted in October that shows gameplay of the first 3 game worlds, and drop by the discussion thread in our forums. We'll be taking another look at Hook Worlds when it gets released (hopefully) next week.

New from Gamevil, developers of the popular RPGs Zenonia 2 [$2.99/Lite], Hybrid 2 [$2.99/Lite], and even the RPG-ish Baseball Superstars 2011 [$4.99/Lite], comes another entry into the role-playing game genre called Illusia [$4.99]. Illusia is less of a traditional RPG and more of an action-RPG/platformer hybrid. You'll run, jump, and attack through side-scrolling levels filled with monsters over the course of the 7 worlds in the game. Illusia has a very colorful and cute art style, and a fairly interesting (if a little cliché) storyline. But due to the repetitious quests and level grinding, it will really only appeal to a niche group of players, mainly those who enjoy leveling up and equipping their character with the ridiculous amount of items in the game. If that is your thing though, Illusia really excels in this area.

You start out in Illusia by choosing to play as one of two different classes, a fighter or a magician. That may not sound like much, but each class can be customized to a pretty ridiculous degree through the course of the game, so it's not much of an issue. The majority of quests are simple kill X amount of enemies or fetch X amount of items, and they all start to blend together after a while. It works though because it's simply a means to level up and unlock equipment to outfit your character with, and the amount of items available provide a ton of customization options. There is also a number of IAP extras that you can buy in the game that allow you to trick out your character even more, and an interesting online auction system lets you buy or sell items with other players around the world.

One thing I did not like about Illusia was the onscreen controls. They are large and obscuring, and not very responsive. However I soon discovered that you can customize the size, positioning, and opacity of them and things improved considerably, though they can still be unresponsive at times. Luckily the action in the game is casual enough that this never really hinders your enjoyment. Another issue related to this is the haphazard touch screen support in menus. Some menu items and popup windows allow you to simply tap a button to proceed, but some of them require you to navigate using the virtual controls. Again, it's not a game ruining problem, but it can be pretty annoying.

If building up a character as you see fit while blasting through some Mario-style levels sounds like a good time, then you'll likely enjoy Illusia. I've been having a good time playing through the game, and plenty of players are enjoying it in our forums, but it is starting to feel a little too repetitious for my liking. The sheer amount of items in the game is really impressive, and the graphics and story are entertaining enough to hold your interest. Once you've completed the game, there's a special hard mode that provides a nice challenge as you take your leveled up character through the game again. In the end,�Illusia doesn't do anything particularly mind blowing, but the gameplay is solid and it will keep you occupied for quite some time.