We've been following Firemint's SPY mouse for quite a while, in fact, back before it was even called SPY mouse. In the past, Firemint has been very secretive in regards to unleashing any kind of screenshots, or any details at all really, aside from showing it off to a select few at conventions. That's all (well, mostly) over now, and finally you can check out the SPY mouse trailer in all of its glory, and finally get a chance to see what I've been trying to describe in the various Agent Squeak SPY mouse articles from previous events:

Accord to the trailer, SPY mouse will be hitting Summer 2011. This means Firemint has all the way up until September 23rd to release the game and still technically be under their summer release umbrella. Other things we also now know is that there will be 72 levels included at launch spread across six different worlds. As the trailer illustrates, you'll need to snack on cheese and avoid various cats. There's even an array of power ups to help you on your quest. Awesome.

My most anticipated title of the year for the iPad, 11-Bit Studio's reverse tower defense game Anomaly: Warzone Earth, will hit the US App Store within the next one-to-two weeks, a rep from publisher Chillingo revealed to us via e-mail.

The wait has been crazy long. Anomaly first appeared on Steam and the Mac App Store in April this year to huge and well-deserved acclaim. We've gone hands-on with the touch-focused iOS iteration of the same game a couple of times since and have always come away impressed with how the port was being handled from a technical perspective. It looks great and it plays great, too, if those alpha or beta builds can be taken as a solid indication of the final product.

I've been begging for a pre-release build for months now, so hopefully we'll be able to bring you some much more fleshed out opinions of the final game leading up to its release. At any rate, you'll definitely be able to get your hands on it soon. Yay! Finally! I'm peeing at little but thats cool because I'm excited I think!

Supermono Studio, the same studio who achievement-ized standard non-game tasks like chores and scrubbing behind your ears in the stupendous Epic Win [$2.99], are close to releasing its next game, Forever Drive.�Forever Drive, if you didn't know, is a futuristic racing game, complete with track building and neat customization elements, sorta like ModNation Racers. The coolest element, on paper at least, is its online, perpetual city. Supermono describes the game as "Outrun-meets-SimCity-in-the-future-online," if you need some analogues.

Of course, it also dropped some screenshots. There's probably a great word for this kind of art style, but because my brain doesn't work so great all the time, so I'll just say it looks great (in a TRON kind of way) and let you tell me my business in the comments.

If you're familiar with this project, you might be wondering why it's now called Forever Drive instead of "Drive Forever." According to Supermono, there's a legal reason for the flip. It didn't go into the details in the official blog's latest post, probably because the story would be REALLY boring.

It also didn't discuss release date. We've got in touch and hope to bring you that information and more in the near future.

We've had our eye on Halfbrick's Machine Gun Jetpack for quite a while now. We got a glimpse of the game back at GDC and last month found out that it'll likely be hitting the App Store this August. We've even had Halfbrick's own Phil Larsen on an episode of The TouchArcade Show to discuss all things Halfbrick, including Machine Gun Jetpack.

Anyway, this latest video of the game entitled "Simple Awesomeness" does a marvelous job of exhibiting just how awesome Machine Gun Jetpack is going to be. It seems Halfbrick has just taken the cave flier formula, held it hostage in some kind of secret underground Australian bunker, and spent the last six months injecting various experimental performance boosting compounds into it. Lasers, energy beams, collectable coins that actually are used for things, oh baby.

Also, I'm just going to throw this out there, but I don't think it's too late for Halfbrick to either flat out change the protagonist in the game to Phil Larsen himself, or at least have Phil available as an unlockable character. I mean, Barry Steakfries was awesome in Monster Dash [99�] and Age of Zombies [$2.99], but he's no Phil.

Needless to say, we're totally stoked for Machine Gun Jetpack and absolutely love Halfbrick's ability to take what amounts to a tired game type on the App Store and make it incredible. They did it with Age of Zombies and dual stick shooters, Monster Dash and endless runners, and I'm thinking they're going to go for a three-peat with Machine Gun Jetpack.

Sure, things could go horribly wrong, but Halfbrick has an amazing track record for great games on the App Store.

Binary Domain's Flick Rocket [$.99] is a gesture-based amalgamation of Missile Command, Centipede, Asteroid, and Space Invaders that has you firing rockets from a centralized turret into a swathe of vertical space occupied by roving beasts nabbed from its source material. Where it has the most bang is in its over-the-top presentation, which assaults your senses with its lo-fi, retro-infused arcade sound effects and vector-stylized world. Where it fails is in its lack of precision and content. As far as flaws go, those are pretty fundamental, but I feel like the rudimentary action mechanics and even the stilted content to some degree are almost perfect for a pick-up-and-play game. If you rock Flick Rocket in bursts, you'll get something out of it, which is a vague way to say that you'll probably get those basic, visceral thrills that all of the classics its based on have provided for eons.

As of right now, Flick Rocket boasts three different styles of play that can be accessed in either its pick-a-level campaign or its arcade score-attack mode. The most satisfying of the trio is its Space Invaders mode, which simply has you hammering a squadron of roving crabs with unlimited missiles that you flick out of your turret with a swipe. The other two styles of play are basic riffs on Centipede and Asteroid: one has you battering a squirming worm that drops a mushroom for every segment you explode, while the other has you pummeling space rocks. You get infinite ammo in all the modes, as well as access to power-ups that allow you to stop time and do fun stuff like bounce your rockets off walls.

The goal is always to protect the city underneath the action. The foes, whether its from straight-up attacking or from secondary flack, can easily obliterate the eight or so buildings you're charged with protecting if you're not on the ball, so you're asked to stay on your toes. Overall, it's a simple enough play formula, and its satisfies in that overly basic and cozy kind of way. Oddly, you never really feel like you have total control over where the rockets go, despite that being the central conceit of the game.

I also kinda think that the enemy spacing is a tad too close and the explosions from rocket-to-enemy impact are just a smidgen too weak. Despite the fact that you're firing rockets half the size of the enemies, you don't really get a solid sense of empowerment, and I think the precision factors into that, too.

But, again, this is a really simple, retro-infused title. I feel like I'm saying that Pac-Man is broke or something whenever I criticize Flick Rocket. So, to be perfectly clear, the core concepts and the mechanic at work in this game are entertaining, though these are fleeting feelings. I like Flick Rocket as a lunch break-type of game, where you just go in and get your kicks and get right out. It doesn't have the substance to hold your attention for long anyway, but I don't think it really needs to.

It'll be interesting to see this game expand in the future. The campaign mode leaves several, several bubbles open indicating that new mechanics are coming. My gut doesn't says this was a horrible choice; games that feel content-light shouldn't really advertise the fact that they are indeed content light, but it's nice to know �that more is planned, I guess.

Anyway, if you're in the mood for some old-school action, Flick Rocket is definitely a good place to start looking for action. It's entertaining enough for what little it is. Check it out if you're intrigued, though, or need another good time waster.

Remember Star Command that we posted about a few months ago? No? Well here's the deal� War Balloon Games took note of the success of simulations like Game Dev Story and decided to take a crack at releasing something similar, only with a Star Trek-like theme to it. Here's the developer's own description from the original unveiling on Reddit:

Players can build their vessel in their own image � if you prefer a scientific, peace oriented game style you can build long rang scanners and diplomatic facilities to encourage peace and information exchange. Players more focused on settling disputes through force can build their Starship with multiple weapon bays and reinforced hull to absorb heavy damage.
Throughout the game players can hire and manage their crew. Crew members have a variety of skill sets and each of these comes into play when performing tasks on board like research, tactical, engineering and more. Crew members gain new skills as the game progresses making them more and more valuable.

Players can explore the universe, discovering black holes, nebula's, new planets and eventually make contact with new races. Diplomacy comes into play as some species are naturally drawn to combat while others may be more willing to join you � even exchanging officers on your crew.

Anyway, here's the three new screenshots to prove the dev team is "still alive and working":

Needless to say, I'm super excited for this. We're huge fans of the Kairosoft formula around here, and really can't wait to see a game that takes those same basic ideas and applies them to something entirely new and original instead of poorly translated ports of existing mobile phone games. If you want to know more about the game, the developers are actively posting in our forums.

Ever since the success of Death Rally [99�] earlier this year, there has been somewhat of a resurgence in isometric racing titles with an emphasis on weapons and destruction. And why not? There's nothing cooler than setting up a shot in your souped-up racer and blowing apart the leader right before taking the checkered flag. Mad Wheels [99�/Lite/HD] attempts to ride on this wave of enthusiasm and success and, while the title does a decent job nailing the core gameplay, its lack of any real customization definitely hurts replayability.

Simply put, many aspects of Mad Wheels are, well, simple. There are only two single player modes: a 'Championship' mode that has the player race through 25 tracks across four "regions," and a randomized Quick Race option. In addition, there is no story to speak of; the only motivation to continue playing is a progression bar that goes up every time a race is won or objective is met. While Mad Wheels offers a half dozen cars to choose from (with three more as IAP), each vehicle has fixed weapons and stats, with no options for upgrades or improvements. This drastically decreases any potential replayability, as once you go through each track and nail all the objectives, there's nothing else to play towards.

In addition to the concerns above, there are some glaring omissions in Mad Wheels that definitely detract from the overall experience. For example, there are no save states or 'multitasking' support within this game. In other words, if you're playing on your iPad, and you decide to exit out to check your email, you've just lost any progress you had on your current race and need to start over. This lack of any save state is almost unacceptable in this day and age. In addition, Mad Wheels only uses the Crystal social network system and doesn't even integrate Game Center. This isn't necessarily a big deal, but still surprising considering how Game Center is poised to be the primary gaming service once the next version of iOS comes out.

Not everything is bad, however. Mad Wheels has decent graphics with a stable, fast framerate (with a visual style that makes me wish Blast Corp was on iOS). In addition, the game controls pretty well, emulating Death Rally and providing an overall decent gameplay experience. While the weapons are predictable, they are implemented nicely and preserve the enjoyment of blasting apart your opponents. Furthermore, Mad Wheels also incorporates a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode, allowing gamers to join and host multiplayer races.

Despite its issues, Mad Wheels still manages to preserve some of the fun involved with these types of weapon racers. If you're looking for a simple, weapons-based racer with multiplayer and don't care about customizability or excessive replayability, then Mad Wheels may be a title worthy of your attention. If you're looking for a game with more substance and depth, then Death Rally still remains the perennial favorite and recommended title.

Breaking news: Chillingo and Zepto Lab will capitalize on the astounding success of their physics-based puzzle game, Cut The Rope, with a sequel to Cut The Rope. I hope this sends the same chills down your spine as it does mine.

Sarcasm aside for a moment, IGN mobile got its hands on the first few bits of Cut The Rope 2 media, thus confirming that a follow-up to the original game is indeed in the works. IGN is being oddly coy about the whole situation; in the article, the site seems to be suggesting to its readers that someone other than Chillingo or Zepto put the concept art into its hands, while the effort clearly appears to be the fruits from an initial step in a marketing effort.

The images say a lot, but I suppose they also say nothing. In the logo in particular, take note that the scissors are over two pairs of strings. Also, there's a hint that a new dude dubbed The Professor will join the existing cast of one (pic to the right). Two mascots, I've learned, are always better than one.

When will you see Cut The Rope 2? Since Chillingo hasn't made the follow-up officially official just yet, we don't know. The IGN article, however, says it'll hit the App Store in the near future. Neat!

[Via IGN]