In this week's bonus episode of the TouchArcade Show, we sit down with the two dudes behind Tiger Style Games to get the skinny on Lost Mars, the duo's atmospheric and ambitious action-gardening game. We talk a lot about the game's odd categorization, how it tries to be different in the third-person space, and how the studio's equally unusual, but refreshing design goals inform its work. We, of course, also break down what Lost Mars is and how Mars was lost, if you're wondering.

Lost Mars hits a much later this year across the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad, so why not listen to this while you wait, right? You can grab our pod just below via direct download or in-browser streaming. Additionally, you can subscribe to us on iTunes or Zune to get our new podcasts just as soon as we upload them.

�

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-Bonus-016.mp3, 19MB

We'll be back this week for another regularly scheduled episode of The TouchArcade Show and, of note, we'll also probably have a very special guest! See you Friday!

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Developer Fractiv just introduced a new mechanic and a new character in a free and fresh update to its arcade racing game Lane Splitter [$.99]. New version 2.0 � which the studio says is the game's most comprehensive update yet � adds Ricky, a character "who looks cooler than you because of his sweet [blue] chopper. Also,�police. Yep! For the first time ever, you'll be asked to avoid the long arm of the law as you switch lanes to and fro at silly speeds. From our tests thus far, escaping the police seems to simply boil down to "just keep driving fast," a conceit that jives with the whole game.

New animations, tweaks, and optimizations are also a part of the �free update. Interestingly, the studio has also added four more characters, but only as IAP. You can grab them one a piece for $.99 or in a bundle for $1.99. The latter is an introductory price for the moment.

Lane Splitter is stupid fun and we certainly got into it earlier this March. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about the crotch-rocketry that fuels this game, you should definitely give our review a read.

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GRL Games' awesome word game, Word Chat [$.99], has just received a brand new game mode and a few other select tweaks via a free update. The new mode is Word Solitaire and it's basically what you're envisioning � you pull tiles from the columns to make new words and then the tiles on the upper reaches of the board are revealed until you clear the level. Designer Graeme Devine tells us that this was, at one point, an entirely fresh game, but he soon decided to roll it into Word Chat as a mode instead. How nice!

As far as new mechanics, Devine added in a power-up for use in Word Solitaire that allows you to change out letters. As for tweaks, there's a few: tiles are now smoother on old devices and you can also shake your phone to alter the bubble background in the game.

More updates like this are coming in the future, according to Devine. He wants to update a lot with a ton of meaningful content, which is an approach we can certainly get behind.

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Need more Zenonia in your life? You know publisher Gamevil doesn't have a problem with fulfilling that steamy desire. A fourth game in the RPG series � apparently dubbed Zenonia 4: Return of the Legend � is indeed coming down the pipe and a member of our message board snagged the first images we've seen of the iOS version in action.

Say what you will about the series' old-school design and approach to the genre, but you've got to admit that the art direction on display is top-notch. Hit up the thread to see the other three images, but also be aware that they're obviously marketing materials.

Our mysterious poster doesn't know when the game will arrive in the US or at what price, but he or she does seem confident in a couple of features. Zenonia 4 will probably feature retina display support, as well as "thousands of costumes, upgradeable items, and rare items," they said in the post. As if you didn't already spend enough time with Zenonia in the first place, right?

We'll obviously keep our all-seeing eye on red alert and our all-hearing ears to the ground for official announcement and even more assets, so stay tuned.

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If you were among the group of people who scooped up the Parrot AR.Drone when it was first released (Check out our review) and have since gotten bored of the few apps/games that Parrot has put out since then, here's an idea for you: Aerial WiFI hacking rig. Appropriately named, SkyNET takes the Parrot AR.Drone, and trades the protective shell for a tiny Linux computer, a 3G card, GPS, and two WiFi cards.

The idea, in a nutshell, is once you've got your SkyNET drone all set up, you fly around in urban environments loaded with WiFi networks controlling the AR.Drone via 3G. It looks for networks it can break into, breaks into them, and attempts to compromise any vulnerable computer on the network. From there, these infected machines can take orders from SkyNET with no traceable ties back to the hackers running it, as everything is coming directly from an aerial drone connected directly to your WiFi network.

Pretty creepy, right? This seems like the stuff out of science fiction, but with the right technical know-how can be done today for approximately $600. So, if you haven't yet, now might be a good time to secure your wireless network. Personally, I'm just blown away that a device that was originally sold as a fun iOS-controlled quadricopter with some augmented reality games can be used for such crazy things.

[via Gizmodo]

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Last week we reported on rumblings that GameStop was going to get into the iOS device buying and selling business. We also briefly discussed this on our last podcast, and the TouchArcade hive mind thinks it makes sense, as currently GameStop is a company with a business model based entirely around physical media that's facing the cold hard reality of a physical media-free future thanks to devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Without some kind of strategy, GameStop could potentially be the next Blockbuster Video, with a business made totally obsolete by advancements in convenience technology.

According to Kotaku, taking iOS devices on trade in isn't the only thing GameStop has up its sleeves. Apparently, they're rolling their own touch-based hardware platform… This, oddly enough, doesn't seem that far fetched either. There are a bazillion Android OEM's out there desperately trying to sell their various reference designs with hopes that they catch on in some meaningful way. And GameStop needs to figure out what it's going to do in the new frontier of app gaming as the bread and butter of their business is taking a game on trade-in for $6 and re-selling it for $60� Something you can't do with virtual goods.

From the looks of it, GameStop will likely be taking an existing Android device (I'm guessing something based on the Tegra family) and branding it as a "GameStop certified gaming platform." This would potentially also allow them to run their own proprietary Android storefront, that they'd have complete control over, and could then sell virtual goods in stores via downloads codes quickly and easily. (Assuming this catches on, of course.)

What will be interesting to see is if GameStop attempts to weasel in some kind of wacky trade-in mechanic into their store, or what else they could possibly have in mind to make them think that something like this would take off in any meaningful way. Just branding something a "GameStop certified gaming platform" doesn't change the fact that Android's gaming library is largely filled with old ad-laden ports of iOS titles, and if you're standing in a GameStop, I'm not sure why you'd choose a GameStop tablet with Shrek Kart over an iPad with… everything else. Unless of course, the way GameStop is going to choose to compete is on price point, which hasn't exactly worked out for any Android tablet save the HP TouchPad which was liquidated at a massive loss.

[via Kotaku]

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jAggy Race [99�] arrived on the App Store without much fanfare, but this kart-racing game is an impressive debut release from Swiss developers�SevenOnly.�The goal is to race your little kart around the track within the allotted time. That sounds pretty easy, except the tracks are totally crazy.

They curve down-and-under, so your vehicle ends up racing upside down with 360-degree gravity. You can do massive jumps on the track which send you flying for ages, even around corners, or to other sections of track. If you've ever played the snowboarding game iStunt 2 Insane Hills [Free] the tracks are just as crazy, but here you're on wheels.

There's no other karts in this game, as you're solely racing against the clock and trying to avoid crashing. A timer starts beeping if you're running out of time, which really gets the adrenaline going, but If you take the corners too quickly you'll fly off the track altogether. Fortunately, there's mandatory checkpoints which illuminate as you pass and act as a re-spawn point if you wipe-out. This is a game of skill and timing as you can't simply hold down the accelerator.

To makes things trickier, there's obstacles to jump, laser barriers in the air, and large rotating saw blades to avoid. If you ram into an obstacle at full speed the kart bounces back, using up precious time, although you can slam on the brakes and speed forward again. And this game delivers a great sensation of speed, on tracks which grow much longer and more complex as you progress.

There's 5 tutorial tracks, followed by 3 worlds of five tracks each. When you complete a level, the next level unlocks and you can unlock an additional 3 bonus tracks by scoring three gold wins per world (making 23 tracks in total).� But be warned: It's not easy to achieve gold results at first, and obstacles can sometimes appear too quickly to avoid if you're not familiar with the track yet. In jAggy Race, memory and quick reflexes come in handy.

The track is only one-lane wide (as wide as your kart) so there's no swerving left or right. Instead, there's buttons to drive forward and backwards on each side of the screen. Or tap both together for braking. Some tracks require a combination of driving forwards and backwards, but there's always arrows conveniently located� to show you which way to race.

Jump buttons are available on both sides of the screen. While you're mid-air, you can optionally tilt the device to do flips. If your kart tips over, or is racing along on two wheels, you can shake the device to upright it. Once you've mastered the controls, there's an option to remove the buttons altogether if you choose. The controls in general work really well, and your fingers never obscure the action.

The retina graphics look great and the "camera" panning is super smooth, starting with a wide view of the track and background, zooming in on the car at the starting post and then tracking the car nicely, despite the rapid turns, drops, jumps and loops.

If you look closely, you'll notice some attention to detail. The kart wheels rotate and Jaggy (which is the name of the driver) looks over his shoulder when in reverse and even blinks occasionally. And the backgrounds are layered with details. There are sheep grazing beside (or sitting upon) the track.� And when the voice says "Ready…go!" at the start, you can accelerate quickly to turbo.

jAggy Race is a fun casual game, but it's also an exciting and challenging game for competitive gamers who want to familiarize themselves with each track for better results. Game Center leader-boards are provided for each track, plus 46 Game Center achievements. jAggy Race is already a good deal for a buck, but the developers advise that new tracks, additional features and a universal version are being worked on already, which will make this game an even better deal down the road.

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Chillingo is pretty reliable when it comes to fun mobile releases, so I went into my experience with Fruit Roll [99�/HD] expecting to enjoy my time with it. A cheerful, colorful title with a cartoon-inspired style, Fruit Roll foregoes a complex approach in favor of a simple one, which really makes it easy to pick up and never want to put back down.

You play the game as a wide eyed, adorable fruit that must go rolling through sidescrolling levels, jumping through the air in pursuit of stars and other fruits and avoiding creepy-crawlies such as caterpillars and giant red frogs. The game is on rails, so you won't need to control your movement, only take actions as it's happening, such as jumping. You have a single jump and a double jump, controlled precisely by a tap or two from your fingertip. Movement is fluid and comfortable to use, so you never have any moments of stabbing at the screen with your finger trying to nail a jump.

There's more than meets the eye when it comes to gameplay, though. When you begin, you'll notice a little bar on the far left of your screen with three slots. As you progress through levels, you'll not only see stars and enemies, but also fruit you can roll over to pick up. Each one you pick up will be added to this queue, and when you want to, you can tap one of them and become that fruit. This would be fun if it was just for the hell of it, but it actually has a purpose.

By color-coding, you can then take on enemies of a corresponding color by rolling over them, and as long as you are the same color, you'll knock them out. This lends an element of strategy to the game, as you have to be on your toes to change colors appropriately, all while moving and avoiding enemies of the wrong color (and the game speeds up as you progress through levels, so you'll have to work hard to keep up). The end of each level also contains a large area of stars that you can double jump your way through to suck up extra points.

Another option is to collect three fruits of the same color, which will transform you into some sort of monster fruit that can barrel past all enemies and grab twice the amount of stars for a short period of time. This is key to making it through some of the harder levels, not to mention it's a lot of fun to transform into a wacko version of yourself that can take out anything in its path.

One thing I'm not nuts about with Fruit Roll is that all the levels are strung together, creating an endless flow of play until you die by being hit by an enemy of the wrong color. It does help that the terrain changes each time you play, but I couldn't help but feel it would have been cool to bookmark your progress or finish levels. Fruit Roll is more about racking up points and speed running than it is about level completion, though � your goal will just be to see how far you can make it and how many points you can get in the process.

The game is Game Center enabled and also works with the Crystal network, and it's definitely the kind of thing that casual gamers will want to come back to over and over to see if they can nudge that high score just a bit further along. It's a pleasant gaming experience in every way (including the price!), so if you dig great presentation and consistent, engaging gameplay, I think you'll get a lot of fun out of this one.

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By the unspoken law of videogames, a sequel tends to follow at least a full year after the original, but in the case of HotGen's To-Fu: The Trials of Chi [99�/ HD], it has been less than six months before we're seeing the follow-up, aptly titled, To-Fu 2 [99�]. You wouldn't think much could happen in just those few short months, but what To-Fu 2 lacks in artistic changes, it makes up for in level design chops.

In a lot of ways, it would have been easy to pull a Madden 12 on To-Fu 2 because, for the most part, this is the same game as it was before. The art, music, sound effects, and everything else are pulled from the original. That is, except for one single new feature: you can now charge To-Fu and send him rocketing through wood blockades.

Other than that and a couple environmental hazards, the basic design remains the same. You pull To-Fu in the direction you want him to go, then watch as he flies across the screen. Your goal is to get to a pink fortune cookie at the end of a spike or chainsaw riddled stage. This time around, the game comes packed with 100 levels, but unlike the first one, the levels are more diverse and far more difficult.

Like the first game, you'll have three objectives in each level: finish it, get all the blue orbs, and do it in a set number of moves. In most cases, you'll need to replay a level twice to get everything. The first To-Fu was challenging, but never really displayed any levels that could be called memorable.�To-Fu 2 pushes the difficulty up, making it much twitchier, complicated, and�ultimately a more memorable game.

There are essentially two reasons why the game is harder this time around. First off, the level design is, to put it bluntly, better. Levels have several tiers and they're mixed up in a way where they don't get stale. Getting all the orbs and completing the level in a set number of moves feels like two distinctive objectives, and totally changes how you get through each stage. The side effect of that is that they're wildly inconsistent. You'll blaze through three or four levels before getting stuck on a particularly hard one. It's not a building process from simple to hard, it's more of a random scattershot of levels thrown together.

They're also a lot tighter. Where the first game would give you a bit of leeway in you movements, this time around, To-Fu will die on you if he even gets close to spikes. It makes the game considerably more tedious and oftentimes annoying, but for the most part, it keeps things interesting by requiring a pinpoint precision with everything you do.

Unfortunately, it retains some of the problems from the original. The game assumes you're willing to trial-and-error your way through certain sections. Since the levels are often rather large, it also means you'll be flying blind a lot, especially during the parts where you have to fly out of teleporters at an exact angle. The screen real estate is made a bit better on an iPad, but during a lot of the sections, To-Fu 2 suffers from the same problem as Angry Birds where you feel like you're kind of flinging him in the general direction of where it needs to go, but never being certain of what the results will be.

Calling To-Fu 2 a sequel seems a little off. While it's not just about the game's artistic direction, To-Fu 2 doesn't offer enough new stuff to really make it feel like anything but an expansion pack to the original. It's a good thing the first game was good and the core �formula is certainly worth repeating, but don't expect anything new or special here.

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We've previously covered NaturalMotion's 'breaker' series of sports games and have liked the way each title seemed to extract the core gameplay elements of each sport to create a series of enjoyable objective-based missions. NFL Rivals [$2.99], NaturalMotion's latest title, operates very similarly to its Backbreaker Football series, taking the basics from those games and infusing them with the official NFL license.

For those new to the series, the goal of NFL Rivals is to score as many points as possible by hitting all the objectives, dodging any players coming at you as well as a variety of obstacles, and building up your swagger as much as possible before scoring the touchdown (or in the case of defense, taking down your opponent). Your player is controlled via tilt for directional and acceleration controls, while a few on-screen buttons provide the rest of the controls.

If you've played Backbreaker Football, NFL Rivals is probably going to look very familiar to you. Both the offensive and defensive modes make a return, putting you in the role of either a running back dodging the defense while heading for the end zone or as an actual defensive tackle looking to stop the offensive player from scoring. Also making a return is the star-ranked scoring system, along with the 'swagger' system and zone-objectives.

As was the case with Backbreaker Football (and its sequel), NFL Rivals offers a solid gameplay experience due to its responsive controls, impressive visuals, and fun scoring mechanic. Also, there's something fun about the 'swagger' mechanic � which allows your player to showboat and earn more points, but at the cost of possibly having a defensive player take you down before you hit the�end-zone. I found myself repeating missions several times in order try different routes in the hope of beating my own score and earning more "NFL Points," the currency earned by making plays and scoring points which is used to rank you among other NFL Rival players.

Where NFL Rivals looks to differentiate itself is with its NFL License and social gaming features. As evidenced by its name, NFL Rivals has access to the names, colors and logos to all 32 teams in the National Football League. Don't expect to find any actual NFL players in this game however, as it looks like that license wasn't acquired. It's also not necessary since at the onset of playing, NFL Rivals has you create your own player on your team of choice, which you will level up through completing objectives and levels.

In addition to creating your own player, NFL Rivals forces you to choose your favorite NFL team. �Once you make a selection, every NFL Point you earn will go towards that team. This is where the social gaming aspect comes in: you (and your NFL team) are constantly in competition against everyone else that is playing and scoring points for their respective team. It doesn't really affect gameplay much, but I can appreciate the additional motivation of wanting to continually play and do well in the hopes of driving your team up the rankings. �In addition, earning NFL Points will level up your personal player card, but this is mostly for show. It's important to note that the only way you can switch NFL teams is if you reset your entire player and give up any points you've already earned.

I thought NFL Rivals did a great job just incorporating all aspects of the NFL license into its game. When you pick a team, their 2011-2012 NFL schedule becomes your single player roadmap. The main menu screen is also populated with an NFL ticker that shows the latest NFL news; a feature that I thought was a nice touch. In addition, playing your team's current weekly matchup earns extra NFL Points. I'm a bit curious why the NFL schedule ends at week 10; hopefully NaturalMotion continues to add in the rest of the weeks along with additional content.

Since NFL Rivals is very similar to Backbreaker Football, the biggest question becomes whether it's worth it to pick up this title if you already own those other football titles. If you're a diehard NFL fan, the answer should be in the affirmative. That goes double if you've never played a Backbreaker Football game. The question becomes a bit tougher if you don't particularly care for the NFL license and you already own the other Backbreaker titles. NFL Rivals certainly adds new social gaming features as well as a fresh coat of paint in the NFL license and an upgraded graphics system. However, in the end, the gameplay is nearly identical to Backbreaker Football and may not be worth your while.

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Boiling down the themes of uber-profitable App Store games yields a single undeniable fact of the universe: animals are lazy. The birds can be as angry as they like, but they don't seem to do a thing about the pigs on their own. It's only when you launch them out of slingshots that they take action. The gormless Om Nom would starve to death if it weren't for you rewarding his horribly sedentary lifestyle with candy by cutting the rope. Let's face it. You're all a bunch of enablers.

However, since your co-dependent tendencies aren't likely to change any time soon, it's as good a time as any to take a look at yet another creature lacking motivation in Swing the Bat [99�]. Published by Chillingo and created by Deadbug, the game draws in numerous elements from many recently successful iOS games.

While most bats are unable to survive without the power of flight to help them acquire food, this bat has developed a bit of a unique evolutionary adaptation. Rather than actually learn how to use the anatomy it was born with, he has developed the ability to launch his legs out like a grapple-gun, attach to trees, and swing to get around. It's a cybernetic augment that would make even Adam Jensen jealous.

The first cue that Deadbug takes from the winning lazy animal formula is one-touch controls. Tap and hold to launch your leg and attach it to a surface and swing, then release at the optimal point in the arc to launch yourself forward. A handy guide is present to show you where to release for maximum momentum, but once you've got the hang of it you can decide to remove the training wheels and gauge your swings on your own.

There are two main modes in Swing the Bat, Dusk 'til Dawn and Night Fire. Dusk 'til Dawn is essentially Tiny Wings [99�] in reverse, where you race to see how far you can get before the sun rises. As you advance, different animals will appear in the bamboo and attempt to stall your progress. Points are rewarded for perfect swings and for gathering food such as fruit and moths. Gather enough food and your bat will be inspired to actually fly for a short time.

While the main objective of Night Fire is still to get as far as possible, this second mode forces you to get more strategic. A fire at the base of the trees will continue to grow, and popping balloons to release buckets of water on the blaze is the only way to ensure you'll have the time needed to push forward. It's less speed and more precision focused than the other.

The second major cue it takes from Tiny Wings (and more recently, Jetpack Joyride [99�]), is the implementation of an extensive achievement/objective system where completion will unlock new bat costumes. While the objectives never really force you to play the game much differently, as they do in the aforementioned games, they do add some needed spice to a fairly vanilla core. The unlockable costumes along with character design and general art direction all have a fun cartoony feel to them; the game's got a nice look about it.

My biggest complaint about Swing the Bat is that while it brings in many of the mechanics of a Tiny Wings, it's missing the same sense of arcade-like fun. The swinging controls are precise and easy to master, but it lacks the sense of speed and fluidity that makes other successful entries in the genre so enjoyable.

Even when you're hitting every swing perfectly, the plodding pace of the swings means there's no point where you get enough momentum going to really feel like you're flying through the levels. The other animals that are there to provide a needed difficulty curve unfortunately also rob you of really ever enjoying a good run of swings.

The flying mechanic also is a bit under-baked. Once you eat enough fruit to temporarily unlock this ability, you should be able to take advantage of it to avoid those pesky pandas (who are strangely less lazy than the bat). However, the game does a poor job of indicating when you've activated this mode, so by the time you realized why you aren't swinging any more you've wasted half the time you had to fly.

Deadbug has clearly paid attention to what works in the genre and brought some solid design to bear for Swing the Bat. The game has a warm colorful look, and the objectives and controls give this $.99 title a decent store of longevity and enjoyment. It never quite breaches the level of pure fun and action of the titles it so clearly draws inspiration from, but it lives up to the Chillingo standards we've come to expect. It's worth the buy for those hungering for more one-touch objectives to get lost in and another cute, helpless animal to spoil rotten.

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Ever have one of those games that you desperately want to hate but can't? You know there are better games on your phone and that by all definitions you're essentially wasting your time by playing it, yet you can't seem to escape the grind. That's Pygmies-Hoglet [$.99]. It's the digital equivalent of a menthol cigarette: it's in no way what you originally planned to smoke, but the flavor is weird enough to see you through while you get your fix.

I don't want to come across too harshly, but in good conscience I need to spell out up front that this game may quickly turn off some folks. That disclaimer behind us, this game has an innocent, playful charm I can't seem to shake and some simple tweaks to classic RPG mechanics that kept me from dwelling on its shortcomings. If you liked the movie Rudy even ironically, you may consider giving this scrappy underdog (underhog?) a try.

Looking at the iTunes description and the art style, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this game was some sort of iOS Tomagotchi app. The main character, an adorable low-fi hedgehog, must regularly be fed and made to sleep in order to survive. But, that's as far as the comparison goes.

The story is as simple and thin as it is cute. The hedgehog is sad because he has no friends, and so he sets off in search of other spiky things to make friends with. Much like me in junior-high, he is constantly rejected, and so must push on from area to area to put his heart out there again and again. This hedgehog is not daunted, however, and tries to bond with everything from cacti to a super spiky boss enemy who proceeds to attack him.

So, if you haven't guessed by now, this game is full of all the usual quirks you'd expect from a localized Korean game. If you enjoy the sorts of anachronistic and linguistic oddities that go hand in hand with such titles, as I do, then you're in for a treat. While some random encounters in this game result in battles, many will find you face to face with some ridiculous characters.

Collected baubles can be traded to Jewelry King, a pimped out monarch with a goatee who apparently is comfortable with setting up his throne in the middle of the wilderness. Excess food can be donated to a homeless man, who will stubbornly reject anything but the finest foods. Oh, yeah: Santa Claus. Whether in the mountains or jungle or desert, jolly ol' Saint Nick will periodically show up and ask if you have any items for the kids for Christmas.

The art style plays into the quirkiness perfectly, with a Game Boy-esque approach that fits like a glove on top of the old-school RPG simplicity. It was easy to get pulled back in time with Pygmies-Hoglet, and when I finally emerged from the blocky grey and black world, all the colors on my phone suddenly seemed vibrant and new in a way they weren't before. The game takes the reception bars, battery meter, and time display from your phone and renders them at the top in the same style, which was a really nice touch.

The core gameplay has you moving around on a gridded map, with encounters marked along its surface. Travel to a dot, and an event will ensue. This might be a simple item pick-up resulting in food, baubles, or medals being added to your inventory. This might also be an encounter with one of the aforementioned NPCs, or an enemy may attack. Once you've encountered a spiky thing in the world and tried to make friends with it, you'll be able to travel to the next area.

The RPG elements couldn't be any simpler. XP earns you points to sink into HP, damage, and dexterity ratings. If I might offer a word of advice to new players, get your dexterity raised early on. This is because dexterity controls how quickly your attacks come and will make the difference between life and respawning in many cases.

The fighting is an active-time battle system, where you and your opponent have meters that fill up. Once the meters fill up, your attack is released. A blocking system is implemented that allows you to reduce the damage you receive and even reflect some of it. However, whenever you are blocking your own attack meter will stop progressing. This forces you to keep an eye on both meters and use your block judiciously, giving the stripped down combat a fun element that keeps you from entirely zoning out.

While the basic mechanics are satisfying, there are a few elements of Pygmies-Hoglet that make advancing the game an occasional exercise in tedium. If this game were a set of teeth, it would have to wear a mouthguard to bed at night; the grinding is excruciating at times. Raising damage and dexterity stats are reasonable, but every time you put enough ability points in to raise your health you are rewarded with a measly single HP increase. Travelling is an additional drain on the experience, as the time it takes to get from dot to dot on the map can be significant.

Damage is healed by allowing your hedgehog to sleep, and while it's initially cute to watch the blocky Zzzz's waft up from the sprite it quickly becomes frustrating. When you only have a handful of HP to restore you won't notice, but when you are waiting a minute or more to restore your health later on it can really wear on your patience. Given that combat is the best way to accumulate precious XP, this mechanic really exacerbates the grind.

Despite the periodic time-suck doldrums, I found myself playing the game much longer than I ever expected.�Pygmies-Hoglet is that dog that always gets into the food, but you just can't bring yourself to stay mad at them because they are so full of personality. At $.99, it's worth giving it a go if you have the patience to milk the cute and fun out of the experience. I certainly wouldn't blame you if you don't, however. I'm just weird like that.

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Steampunk-themed programs have done pretty well on the App Store. Games such as Gears [$1.99] have certainly demonstrated the viability of incorporating that sort of fantasy/mechanic aesthetic into a game. ArkanoArena [$1.99 / Lite / HD] is the latest game to incorporate the fantasy/steampunk motif, this time in a brickbreaker. While I think ArkanoArena definitely nails the steampunk visuals, issues with the controls may turn off some folks.

Before we get started, a quick history lesson on ArkanoArena. It was originally released as an iPad-only game back in early January. A "free" version of ArkanoArena then appeared on the App Store for the iPhone in July as a prelude to the full version of the game, which came out last week. This full version of ArkanoArena for iPhone includes more levels (or "Arenas") as well as a third weapon that wasn't in the main gameplay mode of the free version.

Simply put, ArkanoArena is a brickbreaking game in the vein of titles such as Arkanoid and Breakout. In fact, ArkanoArena also includes the majority of the classic power-ups, such as paddle expansion, multi-ball, and so on. Where it differs somewhat from its classic brethren is in its inclusion of an in-game store that you can visit between levels that allow you to spend points on various weapons, ammunition, and even extra lives. Weapons and ammunition also play a more prominent role in ArkanoArena, as have most recent games in the genre. Overall, you aren't going to find any significant differences here from a core gameplay perspective.

Interestingly, ArkanoArena is one of the more challenging games that I've played lately. The inclusion of enemies that fire projectiles at you and can destroy your paddle in one blow, combined with the expensive cost for extra lives means that you're going to be restarting quite a bit. Also, the fact that ArkanoArena's main gameplay mode is a "tournament" in which you must start over from level one every time you want to start a new game (vice being able to select any level you've beaten) means that for some folks, you're never going to see those later levels. The easiest mode does let you restart the last level you've played as many times as you wish, but if you started that level with only one life, then you will continually only have one life each time you restart, increasing some of the frustration. Overall, I didn't have too much of an issue with the game difficulty-wise, but it can become frustrating when combined with its controls.

By far, the best thing about ArkanoArena is its overall presentation. Everything from its steampunk backdrop and retina-display graphics to the ambient music in the background while you're playing are well done. It's pretty obvious that Sketch Games took great pains to make sure that nearly every aspect of ArkanoArena would shine graphically. While the background doesn't directly impact the gameplay, it is teeming with life and activity. Also, graphical touches like having giant blimps fly across the screen while you're playing are nice as well. Be advised that ArkanoArena is steampunk through and through; if this sort of graphical flair turns you off, then you're not going to enjoy it. For everyone else, it truly is a delight and the highlight of the game.

It's because of ArkanoArena's awesome presentation that its flaws are so frustrating. The most glaring issue I had was with its erratic controls. On the iPhone version of the game, the only way you can move your ship is by dragging your finger back and forth. Normally this is fine (in fact this is usually the normal way these sorts of games are controlled), but ArkanoArena only lets you drag your finger across the bottom portion of the screen, rather than the standard screen-wide touch area.

Considering there's not a lot of clearance below your ship, there were many times when my drags�weren't�being registered quickly and I�couldn't�get the paddle to move fast enough. There were also times when my touches just weren't registered at all, even though I know they should have. Combine this with an general slight delay in controlling your ship, and the whole game experience just becomes frustrating. The iPad version allows you to tap on the left or right side of the screen in order to move your ship, but this control scheme is just as unreliable if not�more so.

I'm sure you're thinking that I'm making too big a deal about the controls, but when it comes to reflex oriented games like brickbreakers, having fast, responsive controls is almost a prerequisite in order to have an enjoyable gameplay experience. This goes double for a game like ArkanoArena, which takes the normally fast-paced brickbreaker genre and infuses it with power-ups that can drastically speed up or alter the path of the ball and enemies that shoot projectiles that must be avoided. Admittedly, I found that the game controls a lot better on the iPad, but for those that have to use the iPhone, it's definitely a problem.

Another strange issue with ArkanoArena (at least on the iPhone) is that the game does not respect the ringer mute/unmute switch. There were a few times when I launched the game at work for a quick run and the game started blasting its music even though I had the whole phone on vibrate. In this day and age, this kind of bug should never happen.

ArkanoArena is one of those frustrating games that manages to get certain things absolutely right while falling short in other elements. While I absolutely love the steampunk theme and the overall presentation, I just felt that the controls were definitely lacking. I'd recommend at least checking out the Lite version to see if the controls are an issue for you. If they don't pose a problem for you, then consider picking it up as it's certainly one of the prettier brickbreakers I've seen.

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