In June of last year, Revolutionary Concepts and Tangible Games brought us Banzai Rabbit [99�/HD], a modern take on the Frogger formula with slick 3D graphics and a bunch of new gameplay elements. We thought they did great justice to the classic arcade game in our Banzai Rabbit review (and even more so after they nerfed the difficulty a bit), and put a fresh new perspective on the gameplay while keeping the core Frogger mechanics intact.

Fast forward to just this last month, and Revolutionary Concepts struck a partnership with Konami to bring Gesundheit! [99�/HD] to the App Store, with the help of artist Matt Hammill offering his whimsical style to the graphics in the game. Now, Revolutionary Concepts has announced that they're once again partnering up with Konami, Tangible Games, Matt Hammill, and even esteemed composer Alex Khaskin to honor this year's 30th anniversary of Frogger with the upcoming Frogger Decades.

It's somewhat ironic that Revolutionary Concepts is being handed the keys to the Frogger IP from Konami. In fact, Banzai Rabbit was originally known as Frogman, but due to concern about the possibility of infringing on the Frogger IP the main character in the game traded in his warts for floppy ears and a cotton tail. But, Konami was impressed with the studio's ability to pay homage to classic franchises as they had with Karate Champ [99�/HD], Road Blaster [$1.99/HD], and Cobra Command [99�]. Now, more than a year later and Revolutionary Concepts is bringing yet another modern take on Frogger, this time with Konami's full blessing.

Frogger Decades begins when Frogger heads out to catch a few flies for lunch, and while out and about his friends leave a note on his door with directions to a party they're throwing for him in celebration of his big 30th birthday. But, the evil Doc Croc gets his hands on the map first and changes up the route to the party, forcing Frogger to traverse through 5 dangerous locations and 10 huge levels in order to finally end up at the party. The story is told in-between levels using fantastic cutscenes drawn by Matt Hammill which are just oozing with personality.

Like Banzai Rabbit, the core Frogger mechanics are kept intact in Frogger Decades, but expanded upon and taken in new directions. You'll still be hopping around on a grid-like play field, but rather than the single screen of the original that had you continuously moving your frogs back and forth, the levels in Frogger Decades are lengthy vertical affairs, filled with all sorts of interesting terrain and plenty of enemies out to get you. Poor Frogger, if only he'd known about the safe and direct path his friends had originally laid out for him!

Controls are either swipe gestures or a virtual d-pad and buttons, and both work pretty well, though so far I'm preferring the swipe-based controls. In addition to just hopping around, Frogger has several special moves, like flicking out his tongue to collect flies or move objects and various kinds of jumps which help him make it through the challenging terrain in the game. If you've played Banzai Rabbit, many of Frogger's moves will feel pretty familiar.

You're also under time constraints in each level, so you'll need to keep moving rather than just admiring the gorgeous 3D scenery. Thankfully there are plenty of checkpoints along the way, so dying at the hand of an enemy or hazard, or not moving quick enough before the level scrolls past your position isn't too much of a hindrance as you'll just get sent back to your checkpoint. Frogger Decades has been a difficult ride during my time with the game thus far, but it's a nice kind of challenge that pushes you to keep at it and rewards you for thinking on your feet and acting quickly.

I'm really enjoying what I've played so far of Frogger Decades, and look forward to continuing on through the rest of the game. If you're liking what you're seeing and reading here as well, then you'll be able to get your own hands on Frogger Decades when it launches as a Universal app this coming Thursday at an introductory price of $1.99.

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Firemint's Spy Mouse [$.99] probably won't spawn a billion copycats like�Flight Control [$.99 / HD] and it lacks the�jaw-dropping 3D prowess of�Real Racing 2 [$4.99 / HD], but it's a mechanically solid and visually pleasing game that, in addition to being flat-out entertaining, breaks down a lot of stealth game barriers of entry. Basically, I'm just saying it's really good.

Stealth games are notoriously fickle things; genetically linked to arcade stock that treated players like quarter-pumping cattle, stealth's central conceits have revolved around failure, punishment, and the gaming of its systems instead of things like fun and rewards. Spy Mouse mitigates a lot of the not-so-fabulous parts of its mechanics by being pretty up-front about its moment-to-moment stealth: it clearly shows you enemy pathways, its top-down perspective quickly gives you a handle on what you can do and when, and it's mechanically simple, which eliminates execute grand schemes or interact with complicated systems in second-long bursts.

In a couple of words, it's strikes me as a 'balanced' game. It isn't super action heavy and as forgiving as the new Splinter Cell title, but it's also not as stringent as an early�Metal Gear or a Hitman. It's challenging without being stupidly hard; its AI is predictable but capable; its level design provides allows for autonomy but doesn't sacrifice vision; its boss battles are tough while simultaneously entertaining; and it gives you just enough information to succeed without overloading you.

It's also pretty pure. This is a game about a mouse grabbing cheese underneath cats' noses. The cats patrol on highlighted pathways, while you move around similarly to how you draw a plane's path in Flight Control. It's indirect, but it serves the game well and keeps pacing on an even keel, ensuring few stealth "Oh Crap, Get Behind The Wall Quick" messes.

There are times in which I really, really want more direct control over my character, but those are few, and frankly, it's because I'm approaching situations in stupid ways. Just like Flight Control, Spy Mouse is all about economy of movement and good planning; it's not about dancing in front of cats and stumbling away in the nick of time, even though you can, if you want, do just that.

What strikes me as odd is that the core mechanic in this joint isn't its biggest draw. I've been having more fun with the situational content that you apply movement to, as opposed to drawing raw joy from stalking around behind corners. For the better, Firemint has loaded Spy Mouse with oodles of levels, all of which have something fun or strategy-light to offer. It even throws in a bunch of power-ups, side cheese, and hidden areas into the mix, brightening up and differentiating the overall offering, while still maintaining a cohesive feel.

And, sure, while Spy Mouse does a great job of tossing out a lot of stealth game garbage, trial and error are still very much a part of this package. The catch is that it does a fantastic job of putting you right back in to the action in a snap, Super Meat Boy-style.

Artistically and visually, I love what I'm seeing. I'm not the kind of dude who usually reflects on this stuff, but it's hard to deny the appeal of the soft, Disney-like overall aesthetic. It oozes character without beating you over the head with it, and, you know, its colors and contrasts also look pretty sharp on 'HD' devices.

If you couldn't tell, I'm pretty pleased with Firemint's latest offering. It's a neat change of pace from a talented development house, and more importantly, it's a fun and good game. Give it a try, especially if you're into stealth without a lot of the mess.

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Mobigame's Edge [$2.99] is a game with a ridiculous amount of history behind it. There are several incredibly detailed accounts of everything went down, but in a nutshell, Edge was the first high profile game on the App Store to face serious legal troubles via trademark disputes. It flashed on and off the App Store at seemingly random intervals, often times with a sale, until EA won a court case against the previous-trademark holder Tim Langdell which resulted in a judge specifically referring to him as a trademark troll. Following that, Edge was back for good, and this new-found era free of frivolous legal threats has ushered in a fantastic pseudo-sequel: Edge Extended [99c].

If you're unfamiliar with the original Edge, here's a quick run-down. You navigate a rolling cube around maze-like levels built from blocks, collecting prisms and trying to reach the ending destination in the fastest time possible. The platform levels are dynamic, with moving floors and walls which sometimes transform into objects unexpectedly. It's a unique experience, which we described in 2009 as being "inventive and an overall joy to play".

Edge Extended has not been released as 'Edge 2'. Instead, it's designed as an extension of the original Edge: keeping all the things which worked well, while adding some improvements.� Edge was already an incredibly fun game, so extending it further is like pouring some awesome on top of something that's already awesome.

The first Edge appeared to feature a 3D world, but surprizingly, it was actually created using a sophisticated 2D engine. This introduced some limitations around things like camera effects and other things that require a true 3D engine. For Extended, they've implemented a whole new 3D graphics engine, which is optimized for retina displays and the iPad 2 (with some great anti-aliasing). The new graphics engine allows them to switch from a perspective view to an isometric view in real-time, which they call "the Vertigo effect," which is really cool when you first see it.

There's 44 brand new levels in Extended. This includes 41 normal levels plus 3 additional bonus levels if you obtain all the prisms in the game. That's only 4 levels less than the original Edge (48 levels), so this is a whole new release in terms of levels alone. Mobigame even engaged a new level designer for Extended (Jérémie Torton) who has brought in a ton of fresh level design ideas which I dare not spoil here. (Trust me, the game gets crazy later on.)

If you completed all 48 levels in Edge, you unlocked a faster paced 'Turbo mode', but that feature is not present in Extended.� Instead, they've implemented a 'ghost-mode'. While you play, your device is actually recording your movements, and if you beat all 44 levels you can race against your own ghost, to try and better your earlier performance.

Another significant change is the introduction of a sinister new black cube, which speeds around the level, causing trouble. This new cube, named "Dark Cube" is introduced in one of the early levels, so you don't need to wait long to encounter it. Dark Cube interacts with the level , such as triggering switches which make things change around you, forcing you to race.� The presence of another cube brings a whole new dimension to the game. Sometimes the Dark Cube is helpful, as he shows you how to pass certain obstacles, as a new way of delivering in-game tutorials.

Oh, there's even a whopping 23 music tracks, including some from the original, which brings back happy memories and the new tracks sound as great as the original ones.

Extended is a universal game, so it can be installed on all of your iOS devices, but it also syncs your progress automatically across devices using Game Center. This allowed me to start playing Extended on my iPad, then pick up my iPod later and continue playing from the same point, as the levels automatically showed up as unlocked on both devices� I wish more games worked like this.

Edge Extended [99c] is currently cheaper than the original Edge [$2.99], making it the logical option to purchase if you haven't got either. If you don't have one of these games in your platform game collection, then delete something to make room for at least one of them, as Edge and Edge Extended are both brilliant platform games.

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Word games are some of the earliest and most venerated titles on the App Store, and still developers continue to find ways to refine and revitalize the genre. The popularity of Words With Friends and the resurgence of updated standards like Wurdle demonstrate clearly that there's life in the old girl yet. Genre mash-ups are another energizer; from PopCap's Bookworm Adventures on PC to the upcoming Word Fighter on iOS, sprinkling in just a few new letters can make the difference between snore and adore.

In the case of Quarrel Deluxe [$4.99/Lite], the twist comes in the form of strategic gameplay. A fresh and fun take on the Scrabble formula, the game sports bright visuals, intuitive mechanics, and a crunchy outer layer of macro objectives that gives the sweet casual core longevity and depth. Think of it as an adorable war of the words.

At its most fundamental, Quarrel Deluxe is more or less a hybrid of Scrabble and Risk. The goal of each match is to claim all the territories on the map from your opponents. After you choose a faction to represent your soldiers (robots, aliens, ninjas, highlanders, etc.), the computer will divvy up the board's zones between you and the AI players and randomize who gets the first move.

The first phase of each player's turn is the attack phase. You can select a territory to attack from and then one of your enemy's to invade. The number of troops you invade with then determines how the ensuing word battle plays out.

Both sides in a territory skirmish are given the same 8 letter tiles, which represent a mixed up anagram. Just like Scrabble, each letter tile has a point value attached to it, but since both sides have the same tiles, the maximum point limit (achieved by spelling the whole 8-letter anagram) is the same for both teams. This is where the strategery comes in to the wordsmithing.

You can put one tile into play for every soldier you have in the fight. If you only have four soldiers to work with, you won't be able to play the whole anagram. Instead, you'll have to find the most valuable combination of four tiles from the eight you're given. If you're outnumbered, then even the highest possible total for your soldiers can be defeated by the AI just by playing STARS when you play STAR.

Thankfully, the game simulates human error and will occasionally flub one even when it has the advantage, which gives you incentive to play your best even when the odds are against you. You will regularly experience the thrill of a come from behind victory, which is one of the best feelings you can have in a word game.

Time can be a factor, so coming up with words quickly is ideal. If both you and your opponent achieve the same point total, then the player who submits their word first is declared the victor. The AI does seem to have a major advantage here, as I don't think I've once submitted a winning word before my opponent had buzzed in. Some game modes offer unlimited time to think about your words, while others will put you on the spot and give you a countdown timer.

Minor quibbles about timing aside, the word battle mechanics are solid and extremely entertaining. However, it's the metagame of deciding what territories to invade and when, along with how you distribute reinforcements when your attack phase is over, that makes the game truly stand out from the crowd for me.

Blitzkrieg a wide swath of the map, and your enemy can just sweep through your poorly defended annexations when their turn comes up. Turtle up in your territories for too long and you'll quickly find yourself outnumbered; reinforcements are doled out on the basis of how many territories you control. While the maps are nowhere near as large and complex as the Risk board, there are plenty of opportunities to engage in wily play like capturing choke points that can be easily reinforced and defended.

Before I continue, I think it's pertinent to bring up something about myself. I am primarily a single-player gamer. I have railed long and frequently about the mistakes that developers make in awkwardly forcing multi-player gameplay into titles that just don't need it when they could just focus on improving the single player experience instead.

With that disclaimer behind us, this game really would shine with a multiplayer component. The strategic and word mechanics make this title an ideal staging ground for PvP, and its absence is a gigantic missed opportunity for Quarrel Deluxe. It would have pushed the game into killer app territory.

Don't get me wrong, the lack of multi-player does not take the shine off the overall package here. It is a smartly produced and full experience as it currently exists, and the value proposition is assuredly there. Pick up the lite version as a demo at the very least, and you'll likely be swayed into a full purchase of the deluxe package as I was. Daily challenges keep the game fresh, Twitter integration lets you brag to your followers about how gr8 ur speeling iz, and the bright presentation makes Quarrel Deluxe a game with wide appeal that you'll want to keep coming back to.

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Last week Crescent Moon Games announced on their Twitter that they would be publishing an upcoming game called Last Knight, developed by Toco Games. Attached to that announcement tweet was a promo image that didn't show actual in-game graphics, but did hint at the cartoony art style in the game and provided several interesting tidbits of information.

First, the game is described as an "endless 3D jousting" game, although more accurately it's a third-person endless running game with a jousting theme. As explained by Josh from Crescent Moon, you'll travel down a path in various environments and encounter evil knights and other types of enemies as you collect gems along the trail. The second bit of information we know about Last Knight is that it's being built using the Unreal Engine, and it's looking mighty sharp as you can see for yourself in the first screenshots of the game (click to enlarge):

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the promo image claims that Last Knight will include ragdoll horse physics. Again, that's ragdoll horse physics. Long have I waited to finally see a game which will accurately portray a horse flopping around the physics environment of a game, and Last Knight promises to fulfill that wish for me. So far the game isn't scheduled for release more specifically than "this Fall", but we'll keep our eyes open for any more pertinent information on Last Knight and in the meantime you can discuss the game in our forums.

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We last covered Forze Field's take on Geometry Wars earlier this year when it was released as an iPad-only title. While we certainly enjoyed the fresh perspective that Infinity Field [$0.99/HD] brought in terms of gameplay and enemies, we felt that the art style just didn't offer any variety or spark on the iPad. Now that the game has arrived on both the iPhone and iPod Touch, does it fare any better? If you happen to have a retina-display device, then yes. Otherwise, expect a mostly intact version of the original iPad title.

Forze Field has done a good job preserving all the various gameplay modes that are available in the HD version of Infinity Field. All six survival modes ('Zombie' and 'Insane' being my favorites) return in this version, along with the full campaign mode complete with star rankings and power-up shop. Unlike the iPad version, multiplayer is not offered in this non-HD version of Infinity Field, although that seems obvious considering the lack of screen space needed to have two players use the same device. Make no mistake � this is essentially the same game as the HD version, and the majority of the gameplay comments we made in our previous review still stand.

The most significant improvement in this version of Infinity Field is the inclusion of Retina-display graphics. �The higher resolution assets just seem to pop out more at you, especially when you're playing the game in one of the '3D' views offered in the options. Also, the particle effects look just as good if not better than the iPad version. There's very little slow-down as well, even when your ship is completely powered up and spewing out so many shots you can barely make out the enemies. Still, the game's visuals derive greatly from Geometry Wars, so if you're hoping for some creativity, you won't find it here.

One of�Infinity Field's downfalls in making the transition to the small screen is its dual stick controls. Personally, I think the controls handle better simply because the position of your hands on an iPhone allow for greater precision than when using the iPad. However, because the screen is so small, your hands do cover up a decent portion of the action. Depending on the view you're playing in, this could lead to a definite disadvantage, especially when the action starts getting hectic. Unfortunately, this is simply one of the tradeoffs to using on-screen dual-stick controls on a small device. Still, I didn't find the controls too frustrating as long as you stay on your toes.

If you don't have an iPad and are looking for a good dual-stick shooter in the same vein as Geometry Wars, look no further than Infinity Field. If you have both an iPad and an iPhone/iPod touch, then your choice becomes a bit more difficult. Unless you plan on utilizing multiplayer, I'd probably stick with this version of Infinity Field as its retina graphics offer a marked improvement. Regardless of which you pick, I doubt you'll be disappointed if the reception in our forums is any indication.

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4Towers: Onslaught [$1.99] is the latest tower defense game from LambdaMu, the makers of Infinight [$1.99/Lite] and Dice Soccer [Free]. If the name of this game sounds familiar, that's probably because it was originally released mid-2010 as 4Towers Combo TD: Classic Edition [99c] .

Onslaught is a reboot of their Classic game, as it delivers additional levels, bosses, an features, plus improved vector-style graphics and sounds. The first 22 of the 28 levels are taken directly from the Classic game, but look better and include the addition of equipment which grant special abilities.

4Towers: Onslaught features 13 different varieties of enemy (or "creep"), each with different health, speed and abilities. Creeps travel in waves, along a set path. You set-up towers to destroy them, before they reach the end of the path. Anyone who plays tower defense games will be completely familiar with this concept. The creeps have abilities such as turning invisible, spawning swarms and healing other creeps. And each level features one unique boss to defeat, so that's 28 bosses.

This game is quite similar to GeoDefense [$1.99/Lite/Review], which is an excellent tower defense game from early 2009, although there's three main differences. Firstly, there are set positions in Onslaught where you can install a tower, rather than being able to position towers anywhere. Secondly, some of those positions are specifically allocated for combining two towers together, as a combo-tower.� And thirdly, instead of failing once 10 creeps escape, the remaining health of each escaping creep is removed from your own health, causing you to die if your health reaches zero.

This game is named "4Towers" for a reason. The four basic towers are red (blast tower), blue (slow tower), green (weaken tower) and purple (cannon tower). By combining two towers together, you can create 18 stronger combo-towers, with new abilities, to fight off the swarm.

Here's a couple of examples:� Two linked red towers form a rapid fire tower, blue and green towers form an immobilizing stun tower, while red and green towers form a sniper tower which specifically targets creeps with the highest health points (HP). Four of the combo-towers are achieved by placing towers on special charge platforms, for extra powerful attacks once charged up, although these have a long cool-down period.

The gameplay controls are simple and intuitive. Towers are built by tapping an available marked position, then selecting the tower type. You can tap an existing tower to upgrade or recycle it. Recycling means you get an instant refund for all money spent on that tower so far, enabling you to create a new tower elsewhere. This redeem-and-relocate technique can be used strategically mid-game, to move towers back in front of a wave of creeps after they've passed by.

There's a "fast-forward" button, to make the action play out faster, or you can press pause to make your moves without pressure. A radar shows the next approaching wave of creeps, and tapping it causes the next wave of creeps to spawn immediately. This allows expert players to confront two waves of creeps simultaneously for higher scores. You can also unlock Veteran and Elite modes for more difficult and prolonged game-play.

When you complete a level, you're rewarded with biomatter (in-game currency) and the next level is unlocked, even if you didn't manage to defeat the boss. However, it's only by killing the boss that you collect the items it drops.� Collecting equipment will give you abilities or tower modifications, boosting your stats. You can unlock items using biomatter or if you're impatient, via in-app purchases. Game Center rankings and a healthy 51 achievements are included.

This release was originally planned to be an episodic tower defense game, like their Classic game which features two episodes, however ignore the current iTunes description and game trailer, because the developers have scrapped that approach. Instead, they advise that a future update is likely, but not expected to require an in-app purchase.

If you already have the Classic version, you may not want this game unless you don't mind repeating most of the levels, but otherwise 4Towers: Onslaught is a solid tower defense game which rewards intelligent play, has a lot of depth and improves on the aesthetics of its earlier version.

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