It's a good day whenever we can write about id Software twice. In addition to letting loose a cool little update to DOOM Classic, the developer's mobile branch also dropped a great update to its much more recent first-person shooter, RAGE HD [$1.99]. Version 1.21 has been "optimized" for the iPad 2 (we lack specifics on what that entails) and allows for HDMI TV output. Even better, the update packs in a melee mechanic that triggers whenever you push your handheld forward, a new analog stick control option, and addresses some obscure Game Center crash bugs.

If you don't have RAGE but wouldn't mind grabbing it and its update for the price $0, publisher Bethesda has just the solution for you: an online petition (of sorts). When the franchise's Facebook page hits 100,000 "Likes," all variants of the game will go free for an entire week. You can shoot over there right now to sign up and hope that the rest of the Internet responds.

What's next, I wonder. Will we eventually see any of those other RAGE spin-offs that John Carmack teased before? I hope so. QuakeCon is happening pretty soon, so who knows what goodies will get?

This is one of the few times I'll ever write the words "Oh snap" and mean them. Oh snap: more than likely, the next Kairosoft App Store release will be Mega Mall Story, the studio's own spin on simulation tower games. Provided it's actually worming it's way through certification, it'll hit at an odd moment in time where tower simulations have some actual steam. Yoot Tower [$7.99] was a nice re-injection, but Tiny Tower [Free] is putting the genre over the edge.

To be frank, half of my excitement at the moment is simply from knowing what Kairosoft's next title is. The studio is generally pretty bad with its communication. I don't think anyone saw Game Dev Story [$3.99]�coming, but we should have, at least, received indications that Pocket Academy [$3.99 /�Lite]�and Hot Springs Story [$3.99 /�Lite]�were slated to be follow-ups in the US.

The reason why we know is thanks to the official Kairosoft web site. Tucked under it's other iOS game banners is this message with a Mega Mall banner on top of it: "According to a well-informed source, a hot new app is bound for release soon… how about passing on the word via Twitter and other social media?" Done and done! Now, give me! Thanks!

Dekovir's Amazing Breaker [$.99] kinda came out of nowhere. One day, Eli stumbled upon a little fanfare in the message board and decided to review it. Next thing he knew, he was singing about how good it was on our podcast and serving anyone within listening distance with a heaping plate of praise. Chances are you if you heard him, you already grabbed the game, but if you decided to pass, you really have no excuse now. It's free. Like, free-free free.

I'm a fan, too, though mostly only because I like smashing precious or beautiful things. The hook revolves around 'breaking' sculptures with a bomb-filled catapult. As the intensity of the sculptures ratchets up, your bombs gain powers for maximum obliteration possibilities. It isn't rocket science, but it's still pretty fun.

The free-ness of Amazing Breaker will only last the next 16-ish hours, so if you've got about five or so seconds go ahead and grab it. I guess there's a chance you'll regret it, but it's not like you lost anything out of the deal.

Gameloft has had a recent track record of enjoyable titles (9mm [$6.99] and BackStab [$6.99] come to mind). Silent Ops [$6.99], the latest part-stealth, part-third-person shooter looked to extend Gameloft's streak of decent titles that provide a good iOS alternative to a variety of genres usually reserved for console and PC gamers. Unfortunately,�Silent Ops, with its generic story, poor presentation, and lacking gameplay definitely takes the genre back quite a few steps and should be avoided in lieu of other, much more deserving titles.

At first glance, Silent Ops looks to take a lot of its inspiration from the popular Splinter Cell series �there's a lot of sneaking into buildings, a lot of silenced weapons, and a lot of double-crossing.� Take a closer look, however, and you'll quickly see that any comparison to an actual stealth title is only skin deep. While you may be doing quite a bit of sneaking, your cover is almost always blown every time you take a shot at the opposition, silenced weapon or not. In addition, the whole 'sneaking' mechanic is just poorly done, as not only is the cover system poorly implemented, but once you're spotted, you're basically in guns blazing mode for the rest of the level.

Not that getting spotted makes the game any harder. The AI in Silent Ops is atrocious. I lost count how many times I've seen several enemies just stare at me for seconds on end while I took my time reloading in front of them and then proceeding to empty my clip.� In fact, the only threat I ever encountered was running out of bullets. Not to worry, however, as when that happened I would simply just run up to a group of enemies and they would immediately put their guns away and face me in hand-to-hand combat, each taking their turn in an organized, civilized fashion.

The whole combat system is just bizarre and not done very well. Other gameplay elements include simplistic quick time events as well as a few sniping sections that worked as well as they could within the context of the rest of the game. �Overall Silent Ops' gameplay, like its aged graphics system, just seems to be lackluster.

In addition to the single-player mode, which takes place across seven different levels (coupled with three separate difficulty levels), Silent Ops also features a barebones multiplayer mode. Players can create or join servers with up to 12 total combatants. Stat tracking does exist, but is restricted to games played, total deaths, and total kills. Admittedly, multiplayer was a much more enjoyable experience than the single player mode, but that's mostly due to the fact that you're playing against other live players and has nothing to do with anything that the game actually offers.

As iOS has matured as a gaming platform, games in the style of the typical first or third person shooter have become readily available. In this day and age, there's no reason to flock to a new one just because it fits in this mold, but that's the impression I get with Silent Ops. There are far more better titles than this one, some even published by Gameloft itself. I'd suggest you stick with one of those other alternatives, and stay away from this game.

id Software has tinkered with the price of DOOM Classic [$1.99] more than ten or so times since its release in mid-2009, but it hasn't thrown in an update or tweak… until now. I'm still kinda stunned that the studio even bothered considering the age of this iteration of the shooter, but I'm also pretty jazzed about version 2.0, which adds retina support, universal support, a new menu layout, and a few "minor bug fixes."

If you weren't on the ground floor of the App Store's coming out party, you may have missed this entirely. I guess the good news in this particular regard is that DOOM Classic's price has been reduced now, too, from $6.99 to just $1.99. Deal!

We've little indication of why either the price drop or the update have happened. I can't even conjure a solid marketing reason � id has been crunching on RAGE as it finally spirals towards a release, but the fledgling series has nothing to do with the DOOM, so there's no immediate gain. Regardless, DOOM Classic is now cheaper and better and that's pretty cool.

A couple of weeks ago, we sat down with Semi Secret Software's Adam Saltsman. One of the many topics we covered in the conversation was, of all things, Wurdle [$1.99]. It's another word game but it's remarkable because it was one of the first big word game productions to hit the now-word-game cluttered App Store. After assaulting us with his thoughts about developing this initial title, he also dropped that a new update was in the works � an update that would bring Wurdle into this era of the App Store. That update is now available. PSI Rockin'.

In a nutshell, version 3.0 of Wurdle is a catch-up upgrade. The game now boasts new retina display artwork and Univeral app functionality. More importantly, Game Center multiplayer has been added, as well as same-screen multiplayer for the iPad variant. You can also set time limits, look up word definitions, and even pass-and-play locally on both versions.

The kicker here is that it's still $1.99, which is a pretty solid price for a good game with a crazy legacy and, obviously, the support of its developer. Check it out if you're in the mood for some word hijinks or just like looking at pretty retina artwork.

Awesome Saucer [$1.99] slipped stealthily into the App Store a couple of weeks ago, without receiving much attention, but this well-presented 3d space-shooter deserves some acknowledgement. Nebuleux Games has used a unique graphical style, which makes it a memorable experience to play. And because it's universal, you can install it on your iPad and iPhone. Here's the low down…

You're a saucer pilot, responsible for flying the SCR-090 space fighter. It's an old-fashioned flying saucer, shaped like a frisbee, as often portrayed circa the 1950s. You fly around space, tracking, targeting and destroying the required quota of aliens to clear each area. Do it fast enough and you earn bonus points and unlock weapons. It's basically a dogfight situation, in space. This is an arcade-style game, so there's no story, missions, trading or traveling to specific locations. Instead, you simply score points by blasting aliens. When your shields hit zero, it's game over and you restart from scratch.

The graphics are, as the title suggests, quite awesome, in terms of their uniqueness. The enemies resemble glowing stars, which leave colorful trails, which are helpful for tracking them down. The default view is third-person perspective, looking from behind your saucer, however you can switch to first person perspective by tapping the screen. There's also crystalline asteroids to dodge or shoot.� The background graphics, such as particle clouds and interplanetary skies will make you pause mid-battle to check out the awesome scenery. Movements are all smooth, fast and responsive. And if you hit the 'boost' button, things get even faster for a few seconds, with an acceleration effect. At times the game does get a little too fast, and that's on easy mode!

There's a heap of weaponry systems (12 types) and you can try them out in the free-roaming tutorial. Weapons include a rapid-fire proton-burst, gas attacks, 360 degree lazer targeting and graviton missiles. Some games offer two or three weapons slots, but in Awesome Saucer your craft can be loaded with all of the weapons simultaneously.� The weapons auto-fire when an enemy is in range and targeted, so you can focus on navigating rather than mashing the fire button, although there's a manual fire button too. Now, need something to shoot? There's at least eight different enemies. Some are fast, others aggressive, some swarm, while kamikaze extra-terrestrials will chase you down and attempt to physically ram into your saucer.

The controls are a little different, with a left "flight stick" for steering and a right stick to rotate your saucer, so it rolls like a fighter jet. I didn't understand why the rotate stick was required, until the developer explained "It helps you turn faster, and rotating can help you track a target by spiraling in. But mostly it just looks cool". There's also buttons for braking and changing weapons.

If you took away the stunning graphics, Awesome Saucer would be less awesome and more ordinary. The gameplay is fairly shallow, a bit repetitive and doesn't provide a great feeling of progression, as there's currently no story, career mode, achievements or rankings and each game starts from scratch. Although, the game does track your overall kill statistics and the developer advises Game Center integration will be a priority update.� Fortunately, the graphics transform Awesome Saucer from an average dog-fighting game, into a visual experience, which is why it caught our attention. E.T might need to "phone home" to warn the galaxy, because I'm about to board my saucer!

"Soon" seems to be the default for every iOS game release announcement, and that constant holds true for Forever Drive. In a conversation over e-mail, a representative from Supermono Studios told me that the open-world, sandbox-y racing game is about to enter certification, which can take weeks. "We're very close," he said.

While I can't get you a release date thanks to Apple's crazy complicated and often lengthy processes, I can try to paint you an accurate word picture of the online element of the game and how it informs everything in Forever Drive, including racing mechanic and its systems. It's just that vital to the experience.

So, here's the deal. Forever Drive's hook is that it has a distinctive and�inseparable�user-creation element. Like LittleBigPlanet, creative users will be able to tap out their own levels and then share them with the game's community at large. In Forever Drive, you'll be asked to create pieces of racing tracks, which is an important distinction to make, as each piece will eventually be procedurally combined into a much bigger, but singular "mad uber-highway" in the game's fast-paced driving component dubbed "DRIVE."

Provided enough people create in the game, the track you race on might be the product of tens of thousands of user creators. I was told to think of this highway as a playlist of sorts where only the best and brightest will be added to the uber-track. Supermono plans to dish out rewards of in-game currency and unlockable items to the best creators, who will be, essentially, providing the Forever Drive experience to everyone.

"What we've tried to create is a very streamlined experience � something a little different from the "load a track, do 3 laps, stop, repeat" gameplay that's become almost universal in driving games," he said.

" We're trying to create something that feels more like an epic journey, with that feeling of discovery and wonder you get driving fast into an unfamiliar land…"

In our original coverage I almost used the word "MMO,' and I wish I would have. If Forever Drive actually works well, it'll have a sense of persistence that we only typically see in MMOs. I think the core conceit that will be displayed is really special and I can't wait to see it in action. Count me in, Supermono.

Well, it seemed like this day would never come, but here we are. After being announced at last year's E3, and missing several intended release windows, Square Enix's highly tactical role-playing game Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions [$15.99] is now available for download for your iPhone or iPod touch.

For some backstory, the original�Final Fantasy Tactics first launched on the PlayStation back in 1998 to critical acclaim. It marked the first time the Final Fantasy series branched out from its more traditional RPG style and ventured into the realm of highly tactical combat with an engaging storyline and RPG-like elements.

In 2007, the game was rereleased for the Sony PSP as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, and contained a number of improvements. These included new storyline cutscenes, graphical improvements, new characters and classes, local multiplayer, and more. Unfortunately, with all these new enhancements, some negative issues rose up as well, most notoriously a slowdown bug that made combat flow at a snail's pace even compared to the nearly 10 year old original. For a game where you're engaging in combat a whole lot, this was an unfortunate problem.

The iOS version of Final Fantasy Tactics is a port of the PSP version, and although it loses the local multiplayer mode, the slowdown problem has been greatly improved. The problem isn't totally eradicated, but it's at least much more tolerable now. Other iOS-specific enhancements include a completely native touch interface for navigating menus and combat and an autosave feature that allows for the types of interruptions that you get when gaming on a mobile platform like the iPhone. Some of the artwork has even been redrawn for this version, as well, though the graphics overall are still retro and pixelated, especially some of the in-game text.

The pricing for Final Fantasy Tactics has been a hot topic ever since it was announced. It's certainly on the high end of the price tiers of the App Store, but in terms of gaming bang for your buck, it's nearly incomparable to anything else available. There are easily over 100 hours of gameplay time here, so if you like your tactical strategy games to last a while then you're in luck. An iPad native version is planned for release in about a month's time, so if you figure you'll be playing on your iPad mostly then it might be worth waiting around for that version.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is an absolute classic, and it's great to see a title of this caliber in the App Store. Some may not be down with the price, and if you've played the game extensively in the past it might be hard to justify buying the game again now. Of course, if you're fanatical about this game like so many gamers are, then price isn't even a question and chances are you've downloaded the game already.

You can check out further impressions of the game in our forums, and whether you're a longtime fan or just now checking out the game for the first time, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a fantastic tactical RPG experience that works incredibly well on the iOS platform.