Ever since Gameloft's Order & Chaos Online showed up for download on the Canadian App Store this morning, our forums have gone wild with speculation regarding gameplay, how the IAP works, and everything else. Since the release is Canada-only right now, and the game isn't free, it has left all of our "Canadian" forum members on the outs anxiously awaiting impressions from the few actual Canadians out there. Consider this post a continuation from the one from earlier today, so check that out first if you haven't already.

I decided to play an orc ranger because I wanted to play on the chaos side of things and I've always been partial to ranger-like classes in general. Starting the game, you're inundated with various tips, all of which will be incredibly obvious to anyone who has played an MMORPG before. The early quests, like most (all?) MMORPG's walk you through how the basics of the game works, and the path my orc ranger took involved slaying pigs, killing crabs, and various other low-level kill quests before I decided to go exploring.

Fast travel in the game works through a portal system, instead of flying places you're able to find a portal and just instantly warp from place to place for a small fee. I actually like this quite a bit because when playing World of Warcraft, flying somewhere was basically little more than a time sink. As mentioned in the previous post, the quest system also includes a waypoint arrow that points from your character to either the quest objective or the quest giver to go turn it in.

By and large this works decent, up until you get into areas that are a little more complicated than the starting town that have hills and other obstacles that prevent you from running directly to where the arrow is pointing. In these instances, finding the objective can be fairly difficult because the objectives don't appear on your map anywhere, and the quest text is often fairly vague (likely assuming you're going to be using the arrow.) Also, things get really confusing once you start warping around, as quests don't seem to be broken up by region. Early on it suggested I warp to Silence, a nearby town. It took me a good 20 minutes to figure out where I was originally and how to get back to all of my low level quests.

The interface of the game works basically how you would expect. Touching the left side of the screen works like a virtual joystick, and touching the right controls the camera. Pinching moves the camera in and out, and buttons frame the screen that perform all of the other functions. Targetting is as simple as tapping enemies, and for the most part combat works reasonably well.

Of course Order & Chaos isn't without its launch day flaws. Pathfinding for monsters seems laughably exploitable, and attacks don't seem to obey line of sight. If you're experienced at kiting, you can take down enemies that are much tougher than you should be able to fight. Monsters also seem to have very short leashes so you're rarely ever in danger of dying because you can just run away a few steps.

Death is handled in an interesting way, and is one of the most useful things that I've stumbled across so far that the IAP runes can do. When you die, you're given two choices: Respawn at a graveyard, or at the cost of one rune, resurrect right where you are. Otherwise, the runes seem to serve little permanent purpose aside from buying in-game vanity pets. Other uses for these runes include both temporary stat boosts along with boosting the rate that you gain experience.

Potential players on our forums are worried about this upsetting the balance of the game, but I don't really see that happening in the long term. The experience boost item costs 25 runes, which amounts to almost $5 and only lasts an hour. Sure, I'm sure that some people will buy these items, but the low length of time that they're effective combined with their pricing makes me think it really won't be much of an issue.

Also, while you can buy gold in game to buy things, you also seem to earn plenty of money for whatever you'd want to do just by playing. Every MMORPG that I know of has third party markets that players can buy gold from, so all Gameloft is doing here is moving things in house and cutting off any third party market. What I'm getting at here is I don't think the IAP is anything to get worked up over.

Anyway, on my way to level 10 I've come to the sad realization that there doesn't seem to be any world PvP (Yet?). The order and chaos factions don't seem to make any difference, as you're able to hang out with people from either faction and even invite order characters in to a guild started with my chaos character. The only PvP I've stumbled across is finding someone to duel me in town.

I'm liking the quest system, even though it doesn't really do anything new or exciting. In fact, almost all of the core gameplay is lifted straight out of World of Warcraft, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Quests chains often have you going back and forth between different NPC's, and delving deeper and deeper into enemy camps. Loot is plentiful, and it always seems like you're either on the verge of upgrading something, or leveling and getting another talent point to assign somewhere (which also works very WoW-like).

As mentioned, I've yet to come across any kind of PvP, or any dungeons to speak of. Because of the Canadian release, the world is quite barren of players so I'm not even sure grouping up is possible right now. Regardless, I'm going to keep playing and see what else I come across. My initial impressions from five or so hours of playing is that Order & Chaos Online is a textbook Gameloft game. It copies the important parts from what it's imitating, loses some depth in the process, but overall feels remarkably competent. If you've been looking to get your WoW fix on the go, this is it.

I've started a TouchArcade guild on the Arcadian Forest server, and my character name is "Eli". If you add me to your friends list, then send me a whisper in game I'll invite you to the guild. I'm also not sure what purpose being in said guild has, but at least we'll have some rockin' guild chat if nothing else.

Canadian App Store Link: Order & Chaos Online, $6.99

Retro revival studio DotEmu has just sent word that they have kicked off a 48-hour sale on five of their iPhone titles. From today until the 28th the following titles will be available for just $0.99.

64th Street � $1.99 ?�$0.99

64th Street: A Detective Story is a Double Dragon-style beat 'em up arcade fighter that was originally released back in 1991. The iOS version of�64th Street is wrapped in an emulator, providing the original graphics and an authentic game experience as compared to the arcade release, but with customizations that make it appropriate for the iOS platform.

Avenging Spirit � $2.99 ?�$0.99

During a walk with his girlfriend, a boy is ambushed by agents of a mysterious crime organization and is shot to death. Now, as a wandering spirit with the ability to possess most others, he is summoned by his girlfriend's father to save her from these criminals

The game is a run-and-jump platformer that sets itself apart due to its "possess anyone" mechanic. You start out as a Casper-cute ghost and make your initial possession. Then, when you die, your ghost pops out and you can take control of most any character onscreen. Your fighting abilities depend upon who you've possessed, so it mixes the game up nicely.

Earth Defense Force � $1.99 ?�$0.99

Earth Defense Force is a�classic horizontal shoot 'em up that made an appearance in both arcades and on the SNES in the early 90's.

The alien Azyma Empire, threatens to destroy the Earth with the Orbital Buster, a large computerized space satellite. The Earth's only hope lies in the recently developed XA-1 spaceships held under the organization known as E.D.F: Earth Defense Force. You are the pilot in command!

This iOS version features two game modes: Arcade and Freeplay, and also boasts support for both D-pad and touch controls. Online leaderboards are also a part of the package, as well as Game Center integration.

Golvellius � $1.99 ?�$0.99

Golvellius: Valley of Doom is a 1987 RPG that was originally released for the Japanese MSX home computer system and later brought to the Sega Master System.

The iPhone version of the game was ported by�DotEmu with iPhone UI modifications as well as an intelligent save system.

Nicky Boom 2 � $2.99 ?�$0.99

Nicky Boom 2 is a retro platform game that combines adventure, puzzle and 90's graphics.

A significant snag has hit the development of Dream:scape, the promising Unreal Engine-powered adventure game that's been making waves with those of us who like our visuals crisp and our worlds open. According to the game's creator, the title flat-out won't operate on third-generation devices or even the original iPad � but there's still hope it will be able to.

"So I have finally, after dozens of painstaking hours, accepted that my game, dream:scape, will never run on the iPad 1, iPod Touch, or iPhone 3GS," he wrote on the official UDK message board. A vicious memory bug, which makes the game crash when a build-up occurs, is to blame.

At the time of writing, "kamequazi" wasn't sure if he could just release the title for the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. It was an obvious point of concern in the post, as it sounds like the title is currently worming its way through the Apple review process.

The good news here is that, yeah, you can submit a targeted game. "I did get the go-ahead from Apple to release the targeted version," he wrote in an update. He followed up, adding, "Ironically, however, I did connect with a programmer who feels confident that we can get D:S running on all relevant devices."

"So, while he works on that, I am adding a few new gameplay elements. There will be a new trailer in the next week or so, and when D:S finally does get released it will be better than ever."

Who knew awesomeness could come from such a bummer moment?

At some point early this morning, Gameloft released their MMORPG Order & Chaos Online on to the Canadian App Store, which seems to be standard operating procedure for a wide-scale "beta" of sorts. Ngmoco and other similar developers all have used the Canadian market to test out how their servers are running and how the game is performing, so it isn't out of the ordinary by any stretch of the imagination to see Gameloft doing something similar.

I've downloaded the game and put around an hour of playtime into it so far, and in the process discovered quite a few of the things we were wondering from the trailers Gameloft previously released. First off, the game isn't freemium which may be a relief for some. It's launching at $6.99, which includes three months worth of subscription to the game. Following that, you can subscribe for a single month for 99�, three months for $1.99, or six months for $2.99.

There are four playable races. Humans and elves are on the "order" side, and orcs and undead are on the "chaos" side. These races look remarkably similar to World of Warcraft, and as of right now four basic classes are included: Warriors, mages, monks, and rangers. Each class also seems to have two talent trees to invest points in. For instance, my ranger can specialize in being an "archer" or an "assassin".

In the hour I've played I've barely scratched the surface of the game, and most of my time has been spent completing basic kill quests and running around trying to get my bearings. One thing that's very nice about Order & Chaos is that there's an arrow you can enable or disable to always point you in the direction you need to go for the next quest, and a great map system hasn't allowed me to get lost anywhere.

Order & Chaos also features two different types of IAP. Runes can be purchased in differently sized packs and then spent on things like vanity pets and what appear to be high-end crafting items or enchantments. Gold can also be bought, but according to the Order & Chaos thread in our forums it can also be earned in game. So far the only thing I've come across that specifically requires a gold piece is increasing the size of my inventory.

As mentioned, I'm only around an hour into the game so far and it isn't immediately apparent how much any of these IAP items are needed. Every quest rewards money, although I'm far too low level right now to see if that money does in fact add up to the same gold pieces you can buy. I'm going to keep at it though, and will update this story as I hit any walls that require IAP.

All in all, Order & Chaos seems like the real deal, it's a great effort by Gameloft and a surprisingly accurate, although substantially toned down, clone of World of Warcraft. I'm curious to see how the whole order and chaos factions eventually play in, as I was able to create two characters on different factions on the same server. The terms of use does have all kinds of provisions for player vs player combat, I just haven't found it yet.

Anyway, if you're a Canadian or a "Canadian," give Order & Chaos a shot. I'm fairly impressed so far, although I wish it worked over 3G. Requiring WiFi is a drag, especially since my iPad tethered via 3G seems to work flawlessly while playing the game. If you're creating characters, do so on the Arcadian Forest server, that way we can all play together.

And of course, we have no word when this game will actually see an international release. Historically though, when developers release things in Canada they're just doing final testing to make sure their infrastructure is working. We could see Order & Chaos Online is the rest of the world as early as this Thursday.

Canadian App Store Link: Order & Chaos Online, $6.99]

Straight up: I'm not a soccer fan because honestly, it's hard to be a soccer fan in the USA. The whole non-stop nature of the game makes it really difficult for TV stations to inject advertising into the game, so aside from gym class soccer has yet to catch on.

We cool now? Great. Because here's the thing about Soccer Superstars 2011 Pro [$4.99]: it's not a simulation title, and it's not an all-out action sports title, either. I like to frame it as a mix of the two, as it somehow marries the spirit of the actual game of soccer with video games antics, whimsy, and some light RPG elements that the Superstars series is known for.

For me, this is a great thing. I don't need to know squat about soccer to dig what is being done in Soccer Superstars 2011, just like how I didn't need to know anything about the actual game of hockey to be to enjoy the NES classic Blades of Steel. (Also similar to Baseball Superstars where you need to know nothing about baseball to get immersed in training up your super batter.)

I think you get the gist, but just in case, think of Soccer Superstars as a lean arcade kind of sports title. You can only pick from a few teams, none of which offer real players or likenesses from the actual sport. In fact, each team sports a whacked out super player who can, quite literally, kick flaming balls into goals with the touch of a button.

Doing that requires a simple press of one of the three-to-four action buttons displayed at all times on the game's not-so-beautiful HUD. There's also a virtual analog stick present one the screen, too, which is how you move around your dudes on the field. Sadly, much like last year's iteration of the game, the controls aren't as precise as we wish they were as the virtual joystick just flat out feels clunky at times.

The fundamentals of soccer are all present and accounted for on the face buttons, which in turn, keeps the game simple: you can only, really, dribble and shoot as well as steal and tackle. Holding some of these buttons increases the strength of a move.

You get your standard amount of players on the field, all of which have assignments, so you'll need to shift from character to character as you would in a simulation soccer game as the ball bounces around. Also, each person on the field also has his own set of stats, so you'll need to keep an eye on what player can do what the best.

I'd like to say that there's some sort of grand strategy to the play, but if there is, I haven't discovered it. Most of my matches � and they're all lightning fast � have been "pass and shoot" fests, which is to say, I've just been driving the ball to the hole and dominating.

So, I can with without a care. Frankly, I think this is stellar; I don't want to bother with elaborate defensive or offensive strategies I don't want to think soccer. I'd rather just put the ball in the hole. This game allows me to do that. Instant bliss!

I can see this being a problem with people who require deeper experiences, so do keep away from this one if being a great Pitch Commander is necessary. Thankfully, there are tons of incredibly in-depth soccer simulators such as Football Manager Handheld 2011 [$9.99] that are worth a look if you want something substantially less simple.

Of course, there's more: Soccer Superstars boasts a variety of different campaign type modes ranging from a full season to exhibition to Cup matches and the like. The season mode in particular is pretty hip: you play as a coach charged with construction the best team possible, and you'll get a range of tools to do so. Similar to an RPG, you'll train your players, exploit their strengths, and even go out to get other game-breaking special characters who can … oh, I don't know, kick lightning balls into nets turned arcade voids.

The presentation of players is done in this really cute throwback SNES-style, full of color and rich with life. It lacks fine detail as a result, though.

One thing I really would like to see would be an improved out of game UI � the in-game menus are labyrinthine. Though this may be a design trap constructed around getting you to believe that you need to sink real cash into the Gamevil's weird credits system, but just like the other Superstars games, this isn't required to enjoy Soccer Superstars at all.

Overall, I really like what I've seen so far. If you enjoy soccer, or at least, want to get your game on in a cute, lighter kind of action-arcade soccer marriage, check this out. It might lack the fist-to-face antics of Blades of Steel, but it's satisfying in its quirky, not-so-serious kind of way.

Yesterday, Sony officially entered the tablet market by unveiling two new tablet devices for release this Fall. As everybody and their mother are rushing into the tablet market to compete with Apple's iPad after its unprecedented success, it's not surprising to see one of the largest electronic makers in the world throw their hat into the ring.

What is surprising to me, however, is the decidedly different approaches each of Sony's new tablets are taking compared to the rest of the crowd. And from a gamer's perspective, the fact that both tablets are powered by Tegra 2 chips and will be the first tablets to officially be "PlayStation Certified" is definitely intriguing.

The first of Sony's tablets, currently being called the S1, carries a 9.4" screen that's only slightly smaller than the iPad's. Unlike the iPad and most other similar tablets, the S1 features a tapered design that's thicker at the top and gets skinnier towards the bottom, which Sony claims is more comfortable and is "like holding a magazine".

Their second tablet, the S2, is a much more radical design and isn't much like a tablet at all actually. It's a clamshell design similar to a Nintendo 3DS, with 5.5" screens on both the upper and lower halves. The screens can work in unison to display content or can work independently to perform two different functions, like having game controls on the lower screen while showing the actual gameplay on the top, just like the 3DS.

Each tablet will run on Android 3.0 Honeycomb which is a special version of Android specifically designed for tablets. They will be able to do most of the types of things you would expect tablets to do involving accessing media and the internet, but what interests me the most is how these new devices will factor in regards to gaming.

As stated, both tablets are PlayStation Certified which means they will include support for the PlayStation Suite service which we reported on back in January. The PlayStation Suite allows PlayStation Certified Android devices to run a library of PlayStation 1 titles, and was first implemented into Sony's own Experia Play phone which is largely known as the "PlayStation Phone".

We speculated at the time that PlayStation Suite was announced that it would be possible the service could eventually come to iOS, and Sony executive Kaz Hirai further affirmed this possibility by stating that they have a "completely open stance" as to which devices and carriers the service may end up on.

Despite this, however, I don't suspect we'll ever see the PlayStation Suite come to iOS. First of all are the hurdles we outlined in our article on the subject, namely the fact that Sony would need to give the OK to whatever comes to the PSS service on top of Apple's already strict approval process, and the need to have devices running PSS be PlayStation Certified, which Apple would most likely have a problem with.

Beyond this though, Sony's new devices are not only aimed at the consumer tablet market at large but are also specifically aimed at the mobile gaming market with their emphasis on being able to run games and being PlayStation Certified. It's obvious that Sony wants a piece of the mobile gaming pie that is currently being dominated by the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and 3DS. To offer a flagship service like the PlayStation Suite to one of their biggest competitors would seem like an odd move to say the least. Although, Sony has been known to make some odd moves in the past, so I guess anything is possible.

At any rate, these new devices are pretty interesting, and it will be fun to see how this all plays out over the course of this year and next. Let's not forget that Sony's new PSP is on the horizon as well, which throws yet another wrinkle into this matter. If one thing's for certain, there's never been a better time to be a mobile gamer as the mobile gaming scene continues to expand and evolve at an incredible pace.

[Via Gizmodo and Wall Street Journal]

Back in March, developer Raptisoft released their newest iOS title called Robot Wants Kitty [Free]. It was a greatly improved remake of the original Flash game by Hamumu where you played as a robot who must negotiate a complex level to ultimately end up with the grand prize of a kitty cat. The game employed a Metroidvania style where you explored one large level and had to gain access to new areas by exploring and discovering new items and abilities for your character.

The iOS version of Robot Wants Kitty included much better graphics and 5 brand new levels in addition to the original Flash version level. 6 levels may not sound like a lot, but each one is fairly large and complex and can take quite a while to fully complete. Also, there is a full level editor included that lets you create your own levels using elements from the game, ensuring a high replay value beyond the initial 6 levels.

As part of a promotion with OpenFeint, Robot Wants Kitty is currently free for one day only. We thoroughly enjoyed the game in our initial review, and it really is a must-download while free if you don't already own it. I have a particular fondness for iOS platformers, and Robot Wants Kitty is one of my favorites. Raptisoft is also currently working on an online sharing feature for user created levels, so if you grab the game now and get to work on making some of your own levels you'll be able to share them with fellow gamers in the not-too-distant future.