Pulse: Volume One [$4.99] is a new iPad-exclusive game by Cipher Prime, the developers who created the award-winning Auditorium [Free]. Like Auditorium, Pulse is a simple and elegant music game. This time around, Cipher Prime has moved away from puzzles and into the rhythm game genre.

Pulse is an immersive experience right from the start. Even in the tutorial, the game provides no external feedback. You can learn by experimentation, noting what works and what doesn't with the game's visuals to guide you. You're presented with a series of concentric circles and a musical beat. Glowing rings pulse outwards from the center in time with the music, and dots appear with the beat. Tap the dots as they're hit by the pulse and you'll be rewarded with explosive visuals and the next musical note.

Hit them too soon or too late, and that note is marred with dissonant noise, and the color and beauty leech out of the game. Played successfully, Pulse is a visually exciting experience. Birds and butterflies fly from under your fingertips with each successful tap, and colors light up the screen. It's a game that really shows off the elegance of the iPad's touch interface, an impressive feat for the developer's first time self-publishing on iOS.

Pulse includes eight levels that showcase original music composed by the Cipher Prime team. The music is atmospheric, and ranges from slow ambient tracks to upbeat electronica. As the music gets faster the game gets more difficult, and you'll need to use both your hands and have incredibly nimble fingers to keep up with some of the later tracks. Getting 100% on each level is a challenge, but the music is enjoyable enough to stay fresh through repeat plays.

Unfortunately, eight tracks are all that the game currently has to offer. In total, a single play-through of all the tracks makes up less than twenty minutes of play time. The game doesn't include leaderboards, achievements, or any other way to share your progress, so once you're satisfied with your performance, you're done. That's not great news, but Cipher Prime has at least six months of regular free updates planned, with original music that will showcase independent musicians from Philadelphia. It's also taking music submissions on its website. Upcoming content includes songs from an eclectic mix of genres, including chip-tune, nerdcore and death metal, so there should be plenty to look forward to if you decide to jump in now.

Ultimately, if you're looking for strong gameplay hooks and replayability, Pulse:Volume One won't hit those notes for you. But if you're interested in elegant rhythm gameplay and an immersive audio-visual experience, you'll find lots to enjoy.

They say the best things in life are free, and that's especially true if you enjoy comic books and you've also downloaded the latest offering from Squeenix. Imaginary Range [Free] is a graphic novel/game published by Square Enix, and developed by H.A.N.D., known for Final Fantasy: Chocobo Tales on the Nintendo DS.

Imaginary Range isn't your typical game, in fact it's not much of a game at all, it's more of a comic book with mini-games interspersed between the pages. While the main attraction here is the comic, the mini-games really help you feel like you're playing a part in progressing the story along, mainly because you can't read on until you finish whatever challenge comes up. The games range from your simple slide puzzles, to line drawing games like Flight Controlwhere you guide missiles towards your enemy. While the games are fairly simple, they are marvelously executed and really tie into the story well.

The real stand out here is the comic book itself. The art is simply beautiful, and the presentation of each scene is absolutely stunning. The story is a fantastic read, and all of the sound and music that accompanies Imaginary Range makes you realize just how much power iOS devices could have in advancing the graphic novel format.

Once you read through the comic's 53 pages you'll unlock the included mini-games to be played at your leisure. Also, you have the ability to use the coins you earned in the game to purchase some character art through scratch-off games.

Always skeptical of the free apps I was a little unsure of whether or not Imaginary Range would have much to offer, but I was pleasantly surprised. The mini-games could have had a little more variety, depth, and/or difficulty, but the plot and presentation is the focus here and it's great. If you're a comic fan, don't miss Imaginary Range. Even if you don't like comics, it's still interesting to check out Square pushing the format further.

It will be interesting to see what comes of Imaginary Range in the future. It's not much of a leap to speculate that Squeenix might be releasing this to give us a taste, then either sell additional "issues" either as separate apps or in-app purchase. I'm down for either.

As happy as it makes me to see how far the iOS platform has come in adapting to more traditional gaming tropes, there's really nothing I love more than coming across a game that utilizes controls and mechanics that feel completely organic to the touch screen. Such is the case of Foodies [99�], the first iOS game from indie developer Nano Titans and one that I had never even heard of before until it popped up in the App Store just a few hours ago.

Foodies is a story of two squishy, uh, creature… things named Sam and Pam. They are madly in love and Sam proposes marriage to Pam, but there's a problem. Pam likes a man with some meat on his bones (if these things have bones, that is), and she has given Sam one week to gain some weight before she'll agree to get married. All that's left for Sam to do now is eat everything in sight.

The unique control mechanic in Foodies is a big part of what I like so much about the game. Placing two thumbs on the screen will create a line in between them. Sam will drop into a level from the top of the screen and you'll use this created line to bounce and push him around each level, collecting the various types of food and avoiding hazards.

The 80 levels in Foodies are also very creative. Some have you simply collecting all the food on the screen, sometimes with a time limit or only a certain number of bounces to accomplish the task. Other levels require only collecting certain kinds of food (like healthy stuff) while avoiding the rest (like junk food). Oftentimes there are obstacles to deal with too, like buzz saws that will kill you or barriers that must be bashed into several times to get past them.

Foodies also contains the ever-important 3 star rating system for each level, though in this case it's actually a 3 candles on a cake rating system. You're scored on the treats that you munch during a level, how long it takes you to complete it, and how many bounces you needed.

This brings me to my one problem with Foodies, and that is that it seems incredibly difficult to earn 3 candles for many of the levels. I'll feel like I completed one as quickly and efficiently as possible, but when my score is tallied up I've barely earned enough for 1 or maybe 2 candles. This isn't a huge issue and it's possible there's some aspect to the scoring that I'm missing, but it's really the only thing in the game that had me scratching my head.

Check out this extensive video from the developer that gives a taste of the mechanics and many of the level types in Foodies (actual gameplay starts at 1:29):

Besides the tiny scoring quibble, Foodies is an extremely entertaining game. The two-thumbed control scheme is incredibly intuitive to use, and with a bit of practice, you'll be bouncing Sam around expertly in his quest for increased caloric intake. The 80 included levels will take some time to work through, not to mention trying to earn 3 candles for each, and they get quite challenging and complex in the latter half of the game. I'd love to see some more levels released in future updates, as well as achievements to go along with the already included Game Center leaderboard for total score.

If you're looking for a new gaming fix that's different from what's already out there, plus has charming visuals and plenty of content, then definitely give Foodies a look. I was surprised by just how much I immediately enjoyed the game, and players in our forums seem to be loving it as well.

Noel Llopis of Snappy Touch and Miguel Friginal of Mystery Coconut Games have teamed up on an upcoming project called Casey's Contraptions, a colorful physics-based puzzle game. 8-year old Casey must build crazy Rube Goldberg-like contraptions in order to solve the more than 70 levels in the game. Solving puzzles will unlock over 30 different items which can then be used in a level editor to create your own puzzles.

Casey's Contraptions will also feature Game Center integration which allows you to see replays of how your friends solved the puzzles in the game, and they can see your solutions as well. Also, created levels can be shared via email so you can send out your creations for other people to take a crack at.

The developers have just released the official trailer for Casey's Contraptions that shows off the many possibilities of the physics gameplay:

I've been a big fan of these types of physics creation puzzle games ever since The Incredible Machine way back in that long-forgotten era known as the 1990s, and Casey's Contraption looks to be a solid take on the formula. The game is slated to launch on May 19th, and we'll take another look at it then. Until that time, swing on by the upcoming thread in our forums for a discussion on Casey's Contraptions.

There have been plenty of excellent retro platformers released for iOS over the years, and the upcoming 1-Bit Ninja is one that has really caught my attention. Developer Ben Hopkins and his studio Kode80 wanted to create a platforming game that was an homage to the Game & Watch and Game Boy platformers of his youth, and it's immediately apparent that 1-Bit Ninja is just that. It features monochrome-style graphics and simple 1 pixel animations, but it's also hiding a high tech secret under the hood.

Anytime during play, you can touch and drag the upper portion of the screen to reveal the world in 3D and get a new perspective on things. If you follow console gaming at all, the effect is somewhat similar to the upcoming title Fez (I highly suggest watching the gameplay video for that game) or even the Paper Mario series. Changing the perspective is not only very cool looking but also affects the gameplay by revealing hidden paths and giving you a broader perspective down the level so you can plan your actions better.

But talk is cheap, check out this developer gameplay video to see what 1-Bit Ninja is like for yourself:

In addition to this interesting gameplay mechanic, Kode80 is also dedicated to creating a game that controls really well on the touch screen. The game has been designed from the ground up for two button controls � touching the left side of the screen makes your character run and touching the right side makes him jump � and that's it. Players in our forums who are fans of iOS platformers like League of Evil [$2.99/Lite] and Mos Speedrun [$1.99] are skeptical about not being able to move to the left, but I'll keep an open mind about that until I'm actually able to try the game.

That won't be too long of a wait either, as 1-Bit Ninja is scheduled to hit at the end of this month. We'll definitely be taking a look at this interesting looking title then, and check out the forum thread for more information.