The Blocks Cometh makes me want to slam my iPod into a toilet. I fancy envisioning this happening in slow motion; the iPod tumbles end over end towards a porcelain rim, then a triumphant splash of thick, watery droplets crown the device as it makes contact. Perhaps there'll be a sizzle or two as the electronics thrash before drowning. That'd be nice.

I can't help but to compare The Blocks Cometh to Super Meat Boy because of the love and hate relationship I've developed with it. Like with Team Meat's game, The Blocks Cometh has style to spare, a superb tone, and a lot to share, but it's so demanding, and so damn difficult, AND I suck so bad at it, that the game makes me want to snuff my iPod and listen to it fizzle.

You get the idea, but there's an important distinction between the two games: The Blocks Cometh isn't about trial-and-error, nor is it as insane as SMB. It's a manageable game (that I suck at) and a very a different one to boot.

The Blocks Cometh is like a tortured game of Tetris that has you, as an avatar, climbing up stacks of blocks that fall from the skies. You've no control over the blocks and there are no rewards for lines � that's not the point. The point is to climb higher and higher on the pile in order to record a high score without getting crushed.

It's like The Incident [$1.99], in other words, except with more movement mechanics. You can double jump, slide on moving or set blocks, and even shoot blocks to eradicate them if you can find the time to do so.What makes this so hard is a combination of the game's pace and the precision that it requires. The speed of the falling blocks ramps up quickly, and you need to be oh-so nimble in order to navigate the environment that inevitably changes as new blocks are introduced.

To give you a sense of what I'm talking about: a common scenario involves interaction with three blocks and the use of at least two mechanics in order to reach the highest point. For example, sometimes you'll need to slide on a falling block, jump onto a stagnate one, and then double jump to the other side of the level in the span of a second or so.

But when you manage to do this, there's no better feeling of reward. You feel like some sort of super ninja, the master of all things jump, slide, and shoot. It's great… until you get clobbered because you were just half a millimeter off on a jump.

And speaking of great, like SMB, The Blocks Cometh is rocking an excellent tone and a visual flair reminiscent of a new age 8-bit game. It's highly stylized and fitting, especially when you factor in the retro-infused music that plays over the action. It's good stuff.

So, a fair word of warning to those of you who don't want to get bludgeoned by a game on a device that can make phone calls: The Blocks Cometh is hard, requiring a level of precision that I can only barely muster (not that I'm a super ninja or anything.) But if you don't mind a little pain with your video games, then this is definitely worth some space on your device.

Note: While this game is currently available in most international markets, it won't appear for download in the US until 11:00 PM EST.

App Store Link: The Blocks Cometh, 99�

You have to hand it to the Telltale Games' crew behind Back to the Future Episode 1. Not only did it manage to create a terrific licensed-based game, it also innovated within the IP without stomping on what makes it great. From the voice work to the music, to the clever writing and look, this is faithful, though more light-hearted, extension to the series.

I tend to imagine of this game as a virtual melting pot filled to the brim with the stuff that makes Back to the Future great � the dialogue, the boyish adventure, the characters, the audio, and the inventions of a madman scientist. Telltale stirs this all together and makes a harmonious whole, but I think the audio in particular stands out. The voice work from the sound-alike part of the cast is stunning, and while Christopher Lloyd can expose his advanced age with some of his exasperated deliveries, he does a great job reprising his role as Doc Brown. The original series' music also gives the game a satisfying movie vibe, which is fitting as a result of its strong point-and-click roots and cinematic flair.

One spot I would have liked to see a bit more oomph in would be the tale itself, as its has a much lighter tone than the movies. The repercussions of the time-splitting shenanigans of Brown and Marty seem distant, the dialogue is less crude, and Biff isn't as dark of an antagonist. Overall, the tone mimics the cartoonish visual style.

That said, the story is good for what it is, which is to say, a more gleeful romp filled with Telltale's warmth and humor on top of the franchises' own blend. And that's not mentioning the amount of callbacks and reverence distributed throughout. As a fan of the flicks, you'll hear the lines you'll want to hear come out in natural ways, and see the characters you love react as you'd imagine they would. Good, fun stuff all around.

The plot goes something like this. Marty, six months after the events of "Back to the Future III," is beginning to miss Doc Brown. And soon after he goes back to peruse Brown's old lab, he finds himself attempting to save the old man once again. This time, though, the rescue is in a swingin' Prohibition-era version of the series' fabled town featuring a young Doc Brown.

The puzzles in Back To The Future are shaped for a wider audience, no doubt. Most are disposable, easily passed by with a dash of thought and basic game-side item use logic. In stark contrast, the more action-oriented puzzles linger beyond their welcome and feel as if they're artificially elongated to milk a certain scene. And that's not to say that�the puzzle experience is bad, especially if you're looking for a more lean back kind of experience, but Monkey Island-style involvement this does not require.

On an unrelated note, this probably isn't an port of the PC version in the traditional sense, but the mouse-centric menu navigation leaves much to be desired. However, Telltale's slick virtual stick interface rears its head in this game providing a native-like movement experience. You can walk or run wherever by dragging your finger or, optionally, by pointing and clicking on an item of interest.

So, yeah, if you're in the market for a Telltale Games point and click joint or an actual, quality�Back To The Future game, hit iTunes and get playing. There's a ton to like about Back to the Future.

Note: While this game is currently available in most international markets, it won't appear for download in the US until 11:00 PM EST.

Note 2: On performance: there's some slight frame rate chugging in some of the action-heavy sequences. Also, while the characters and the prominent textures look fine, you'll notice a smattering of low-res texture work on unimportant objects. This stuff is distracting to some degree, but it never kept me from enjoying the game.

App Store Link: Back to the Future Ep 1 HD, $6.99

It's always nice to see a game bring an innovative mechanic to the App Store, and that's just what LambdaMu Games' eerie new light-based mystery puzzler�Infinight [link] has done.

In Infinight, darkness is your enemy. The game starts off with you waking up in an abandoned hospital shrouded in darkness, with no memory of who you are or what has brought you there. You wander about trying to solve the mystery of just what in the world is going on, but it's a challenge as you can only see a few feet in any direction save for the occasional flashes of lightning (and, later, occasional illumination pads and the like). And bumping into walls isn't the only hazard; mysterious vortexes (which cannot be seen without outside illumination) and burning holes that open and close litter the terrain and stand to do you in.

You must traverse 50 perilous levels, across several environments in this fashion � from the start point to the distant exit � before finding the real truth. Along the way you can collect tape recorders which contain clues, from both yourself and others, that slowly help piece together the mysterious puzzle, but finding them often leads you well off the path to the exit, introducing further peril. And certain levels add a bit of haste to your step as you try to avoid an ultimate darkness that sweeps slowly across the level � think The Nothing from The Neverending Story. The whole scenario is a rather clever gameplay mechanic.

Adding to the stark and eldritch atmosphere is a constant, sinister audio track that comes together with all the rest to really set a mood. It's creepy. The Retina display is supported, where available, with graphics the developer claims are so sharp they'll cut your eyes out. (More creepy.)

The game is controlled via onscreen D-pad (which can be positioned on the right or left of the screen) which moves you one space on the game screen in the direction of your tap. You'll want to be precise with the controls, or it's curtains.

Infinight is not a fast-paced game � so much so that likely some gamers will find frustration � but it is evocative and challenging. Puzzle fans who like a slice of atmosphere to go with their quest for the goal should enjoy what Infinight has to offer.

Remember the trailer for the Crescent Moon Games' upcoming title Gears? No? Well here it is again, and it's really worth watching a second time just to marvel at how they've manage to clip together gameplay footage of a ball rolling game to make it seem this epic:

Sure, Crescent Moon is known for their RPG offerings like Aralon: Sword and Shadow and Ravensword: The Fallen King, but there's no disputing the fact that ball rolling games have worked great on iOS devices, especially when combined with both adventure and puzzle elements. Dark Nebula Episode 1 [99�] and Dark Nebula Episode 2 [$1.99] are fantastic examples of this.

Developer Josh Presseisen provided us the following hands-on video today, and while I'm not entirely sure it will live up to everyone's expectations after that crazy of a trailer, it does look pretty cool:

Gears is scheduled for release as a universal app in early March, and while they're not discussing final pricing yet, they've said it will be comparable with similar games on the App Store. We can't wait to try a finalized version of the game to see if the Crescent Moon magic that made Ravensword and Aralon is capable of transcending genres or not.

Well it's Wednesday again, which means many things, but in the world of iOS it means one thing: A tidal wave of game releases. If you recently picked up a Verizon iPhone, and haven't yet experienced a App Store Wednesday, here's how it works- Developers can set specific release dates for their various games and apps on the App Store. Games released today had their dates set to 2/17/11. The trick is, these games are released internationally, as the clocks in each region tick over to actually being the 17th. This allows us to get an early heads-up on what's coming out, before things are actually released on the US App Store at 11:00 PM EST.

Here's what's going to be available:

Starfront: Collision, Free + $6.99 IAP � [Forum Thread] � I've spent many sleepless nights hoping for Blizzard to actually release a legit iOS port of StarCraft, and while I hate to continue using the "Well, at least I appreciate Gameloft bringing a game we'll never see on the App Store as a clone!" excuse… I have to. I'm a little more excited for the eventual and inevitable release of Starfront: Collision HD, but impressions for the iPhone version of the game have been positive so far in our forums. I can't wait for people to start downloading and playing this game, as the online four player multiplayer sounds like it could be excellent.

Back to the Future Ep. 1 HD, $6.99 � [Forum Thread] � Words can't fully express how much I love the Back to the Future trilogy, so naturally, any video game (save that horrible NES game) based on the series gets me totally excited. This game has already been released on both the Mac and PC, and has additional episodes in the pipeline. We're going to be reviewing this ASAP to see how the iOS port is, as Telltale's track record of iOS releases hasn't exactly been spotless.

The Blocks Cometh, 99� � [Forum Thread] � We posted a preview earlier, but this game plays similar to The Incident in that your goal is to avoid falling blocks, and climb as high as possible. There is a free Flash version, but it looks like the iOS port is going to be great.

Volcano Escape, $1.99 � [Forum Thread] � This 2.5D platform-shooter has an interesting premise in that in each level you're trying to escape from a volcano. There seems to be a ton of weaponry, power-ups, and even online leaderboards and achievements.

Bug Wars, $1.99 � [Forum Thread] � An arcade style first person shooter of sorts where you must save the world from an invasion of… bugs? (Well, at least it's not another zombie game.) It looks like there's an impressive amount of weapons to use, and I admit, I'm a total sucker for any game that has massive bosses like the one found in the above trailer.

Ridge Racer Accelerated HD, Free + IAP � [Forum Thread] � Well, it's Ridge Racer, on the iPad. I would have hoped that a little more care would have gone in to this port, but judging by the screenshots, these are some seriously low resolution textures for a "HD" game. Regardless, if you can't get enough Ridge Racer, now you can have it on your iPad.

Back in January, one of the unfortunate aspects of developing for the App Store reared its ugly head. Developer Halfbot's popular Flash title The Blocks Cometh was stolen nearly pixel for pixel and released in the App Store by a different developer. This sort of thing has certainly happened before, but what made it even worse is that Halfbot didn't even find out about this injustice until they saw the counterfeit version of their game in the App Store's New & Noteworthy section. So not only did their game get released under their noses while they were in the midst of porting it to iOS themselves, but Apple even featured it.

Halfbot quickly took action and informed Apple of the situation, the wheels of justice cranked ever so slowly, and eventually the unauthorized version of The Blocks Cometh was pulled from the App Store. Since then, Halfbot has finished up the actual port of The Blocks Cometh for iOS and is set to release the game tomorrow. Here's a quick trailer for the game:

If you aren't familiar with The Blocks Cometh, it's a game similar to The Incident [$1.99] where an endless supply of blocks come falling at you from the sky and you must continually stay on top of them as they pile high into the sky, while also avoiding getting crushed by one. You're able to jump, double jump, wall jump, and destroy the blocks using various offensive weaponry to help you achieve great heights. You can check out the original Flash version of The Blocks Cometh to get an idea of the gameplay.

What is really exciting is that fellow indie developer Ravenous Games, creators of League of Evil [99�/Lite], has teamed up with Halfbot to cross-promote new content in each others' games. We liked League of Evil a lot when we reviewed it earlier this month, and fans of the game can look forward to an update that adds 30 brand new levels that are themed after The Blocks Cometh. Conversely, when The Blocks Cometh launches tomorrow there will be some unlockable characters that have been taken directly from League of Evil, and offer new ways to enjoy the game.

The update for League of Evil has already been submitted and is currently "in review" with Apple, so be on the lookout for it as it can be released just about at any time. As stated, The Blocks Cometh is already approved and set to release tomorrow, which typically means later tonight for most everybody in the US. We'll definitely be taking a look at it just as soon as we get our hands on it. If you are a fan of awesome pixel art, retro chip-tunes, and solid platforming then prepare to have an enjoyment overload when The Blocks Cometh is released and League of Evil gets updated with new content.