If Tetris went out, got trashed, hooked up with an old-school shooter like Space Invaders and then spit out a video game love child, the offspring would resemble MecaPix [$.99 / Lite]. It's a slick combination of two genres that seem like they'd mix no better than oil and water, but what Robotalism managed to make is a fun, sharp pairing that strokes the shooter and the puzzle itch with the same scratcher. I just wish it wasn't tuned for us non-mutant folks.

Think of MecaPix as Tetris with guns, but also in reverse. In Tetris, the object of the game is to stack together a continually descending assortment of blocks in order to create a line. In MecaPix, the object is to create and shoot your own blocks upwards towards falling blocks. When a successful collision is happens, the falling blocks disappear into the ether.�If you miss a block or eighteen, these rogues blocks steal a pip from your overall health bar.

The bottom area of the screen is where all the magic happens � the block creation, the firing, and at the very bottom, the pain you could potentially suffer from letting a block through your defenses. Because this area is relatively small, block anticipation is a key strategic element, as well as a good amount of precision.

Conservation has its place, too. You can't fire willy-nilly because there's a bar for that as well, which recharges slowly as you play.

After a few levels, you get a real sense of the push and pull and the amount of design resources that went into the enemy blocks. These aren't your run-of-the-mill descending puzzle squares, but rather Space Invaders-like baddies. Some blocks, including clusters, stagger from right to left, while still others can shoot blocks or come equipped with armor.

It bears noting that each level in MecaPix adds another layer to the base enemy design in the same kind of satisfying manner in which the best shooters provide change of pace foes. You'll see a lot of different stuff that you'll have to kill in satisfying ways.

Perhaps the most interesting component to the action are the power-ups, which you don't receive directly. Instead, the game's "bombs," and horizontal lasers and other items are embedded inside enemy block formations. Precision, then, is required to set these off for massive damage, and the game reinforces this by presenting crazy situations in which you have to nail these special blocks in order to set off a conga line of reactions.

That's where the puzzle part of the game factors in the most, and for what it's worth, it does feel rewarding, but as a result of the frantic pacing, you'll never feel like Sherlock Holmes . The depth is there, it's just often guarded by momentum.

The visceral thrill of collapsing large block monsters can sometimes quickly turn from merriment to frustration. MecaPix relies on astoundingly fast reaction times, but its worse sin is that it also forces a large amount of rote memorization. It's rare when you can interpret what a new enemy is going to do, how fast its going to go, and then do something about it before you see it. The speed is stupid and the game takes for granted that you know what's coming next.

When you are clicking with the game, however, and aware of the pitfalls, there is a lot to like about MecaPix. It mixes up the action better than most titles on store shelves and it does offer a different style of play that can be as engrossing as it is entertaining. It also offers a decent bevy of content: each of the three themed stages have around ten levels and there's an endurance mode to have a go at. Oh, and if you're having the same kind of troubles I had, you can turn on a baby �mode that has a serious amount of give. Still, though, some of the levels just don't feel balanced correctly.

MecaPix has earned a place among my rotation of phone games, at least. It can be hard, and leans a bit too much on the side of memorization, but it's sharp and entertaining combination of two equally cool games.

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Remember back in late February when Gameloft announced that they were going to be using the Unreal Engine in future games? Since then, every time Gameloft announces a game rampant speculation has exploded on our forums regarding whether or not it's going to be the first Unreal Engine game. Heck, I'm even guilty of getting in on the speculation game.

According to a tweet this morning, March of Heroes will be Gameloft's first Unreal Engine game, with more details being released next week at E3. That's all we know right now, so feel free to go wild guessing what kind of game it's going to be.

My money is on some kind of military-centric first person shooter, but judging by trends in recent first person shooters for iOS, consoles, and PC, that's pretty much guaranteed.

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The iOS version of the classic Bitmap Brothers game Speedball 2: Evolution [Link] is currently free for the next few days. Speedball 2 is a sports game of sorts, a mishmash of football and hockey (or fockeyball, as I call it) with arcade elements and a futuristic theme. It's similar to the classic arcade game Cyberball, and originally released for home platforms back in 1990.

The iOS version of Speedball 2 contains a ridiculous number of modes and content to play through, and features improved graphics over the original. All of this and more you can read about in our original review of Speedball 2: Evolution.

If you were a fan of the original Speedball or Speedball 2, and for some reason you�haven't yet picked up this version, then now is your chance to strike. For those with no emotional ties to the original games, Speedball 2 is still a must download while free as it offers satisfying fast-paced arcade action with a retro feel. It's also a universal app with Retina Display support and Game Center integration, so definitely give this freebie a look.

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It was just last week that Illusion Labs released Touchgrind BMX [$4.99], the bicycle-themed semi-sequel to their fabulous little skateboarding game Touchgrind [$4.99/HD]. We really loved Touchgrind BMX in our review, as it retained the essence of the first Touchgrind while also adding many new features and improvements. One thing we didn't really like, though, was the rough edges on the visuals. The game looked quite nice overall, but some of the textures were a bit pixelated and edges were noticeably jagged.

Illusion Labs is taking a stab at rectifying this with a new update that adds Retina Display support. This is exciting news on the surface but comes with a huge caveat: in order to push the larger high resolution assets the frame rate in the game takes a huge nosedive. It's far from unplayable, but if you're used to the silky smooth performance the game currently has then you'll find the frame rate pretty unacceptable.

You can click on the before (left) and after (right) in-game screens below to scrutinize the difference between standard versus Retina Display resolutions yourself:

While the difference is small, the Retina Display support does add some needed crispness and clarity to the game. Unfortunately, the trade-off is a poor frame rate, and that's a sacrifice I'm not willing to make. Thankfully Illusion Labs had the foresight to allow the Retina support to be turned on or off in the game options in the Settings app.�Hopefully performance can be improved over time, but until then I'll just stick with the regular graphics. It does kind of suck though, seeing how good the game could look and having to go back to something less. Touchgrind BMX is still a beautiful game, and in this particular case it really is the gameplay that matters most anyway.

If the Retina Display graphics were mandatory, I'd probably advise avoiding this update to Touchgrind BMX. But since it's merely optional, you might as well grab it. It does contain a fix for startup crashes that some users were experiencing too, and the higher resolution graphics haven't appeared to increase the file size of the game.

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