We've done a lot of things in zombie games over the last decade and survival has been the key ingredient in 99.9 percent of them. Action Mobile Games' 2013: Infected Wars isn't going to set the world on fire with its atypical focus on zombie survival and its same-y premise, but it is a game that we think you should take mental note of. Developed with UDK Mobile, it's a competent-looking third-person shooter with a great visuals and the promise of carnage, as it boasts a bunch of zombie-chopping weaponry, as well as tons of guns.

In the game, you'll play as a post-apocalyptic survivor of a zombie virus who moonlights as a mercenary hired to grab supplies amidst a near-complete zombie take-over. At your side will be your trusty guns, as well as a few friends � 2013 will allow for co-op over the 'net.

We don't have a release quite yet, but considering this is alpha footage and all, I wouldn't expect it to hit within the immediate future. We'll definitely keep our all-seeing eye turned towards this as it shambles towards release, though, and give you what we can.

Developer ustwo™ doesn't really consider themselves game developers, though they have dabbled with their series of "DOT" games, most recently DOT5URBO [Free]. No, most of their success and notoriety is from their utility and entertainment apps, and their extremely well-received interactive children's app Nursery Rhymes with StoryTime [$3.99].

However, they're preparing to jump head first into the world of games with their upcoming Whale Trail. A take on the endless cave flyer genre, Whale Trail gets the base mechanics of this type of game just right. You play as Willow the Whale, trying to escape an evil underwater monster who has invaded your ocean home. You realize that a magical whale trail gives you the power to float into the sky and escape his grasp.

This whale trail is fueled by the colorful bubbles that are spread across the randomly generated play field. Your trail is constantly decreasing, so in order to keep afloat in the air you'll need to collect these bubbles to keep the whale trail chugging along. Mixing things up are the ability to do a loop-de-loop, small turbo whirlwinds that can shoot you along and allow access to higher elevations, and spikey items which will give you temporary invincibility when enough have been collected. Invincibility from what, you ask? From the evil dark clouds that also litter the landscape, and will cause your whale trail to diminish at an increased rate if you don't avoid them.

I've been playing a preview version of Whale Trail for the past couple of weeks, and so far have really come to adore the game. It doesn't do anything especially new or crazy in the game mechanics department, though it does have a great "feel" and tugs at you to give it just one more go to increase your high score.

Where Whale Trail sets itself apart from the packs of similar titles is in its stunning visuals. The entire world is a brightly colored, almost psychedelic collection of crazy graphics and sounds. It's as if The Beatles' movie Yellow Submarine decided to morph into a video game starring a cute whale. There's even a catchy folk-rock theme song about Willow the Whale humming along in the background, completing the hippie vibe. No 'shrooms necessary. Check out the newly released trailer for Whale Trail to see what I mean:

Whale Trail is currently slated for an October 20th release date, and before then there may even be a few new features that sneak in as ustwo™ continues to tweak the game. I'm impressed with it already, and feel like it has the solid gameplay chops to keep you coming back as well as the aural and visual splendor to sink its hooks into you on an emotional level, Tiny Wings [99�] style. We'll definitely be giving the final version of Whale Trail a flight through the sky (with diamonds) when it launches later this month, and until then you can drop by our forums for discussion of the game.

The iPhone 4S will utilize the Apple-designed A5 chip, which according to Apple, allows for studios to make games with up to "7X faster graphics." At its press event moments ago, Apple brought Epic Games CEO Mike Capps on-stage to discuss the innovation and show off a new project set to harness the dual-core chip: Infinity Blade 2, the sequel to the hugely popular and eye-poppingly gorgeous Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment.

The demo was brief, but people on the ground apparently got an eye-full of graphical awesome, as Capps showed off a significantly better looking sequel with shadow and reflective effects, as well as some neat little touches like, say, real-time koi swimming in a pond. The mechanical part appears to be pretty similar: you'll play as a soldier-y type of guy charged with killing big monsters with various slashes.

Capps said, during the demo, that the game is "only going to run like this on the iPhone 4s. Why? Because it's awesome." And the wait for it won't be long: Infinity Blade 2 is due out this December 1.

[via Endgadget]

The day is upon us, and there's barely an hour left to go before Tim Cook (presumably) takes the stage at 10:00 AM Pacific to potentially unveil the iPhone 5, or maybe the iPhone 4S, who knows� But, either way, we'll find out shortly. Yesterday I posted a little roundup of sorts of what we might be able to expect today, and as of this writing we've taken in over 50 comments on that story of people speculating what might be coming. Whatever it is, I want one.

If you're the kind of person who likes to have every possible liveblog open in different browser tabs so you get everything the second it happens, here's a pretty awesome list of other sites doing live keynote coverage:

• Engadget
• Ars Technica
• Thisis my next…
• gdgt
• Macworld
• CNET
• The Loop

Anyway, the keynote will be starting shortly. As soon as it does, keep an eye on this page for updates.

Half hour to go!

Poor Timmy is not having a good day. CB Labs' The Adventures of Timmy: Run Kitty Run [99�] starts off in the thick of Timmy's misery: He's a playground outcast in a cat costume whose only friend/probable true love, Kitty, gets snatched away and held prisoner in hulking bully Mitch's tree house. Rather than accept this, however, Timmy puts his cat suit's hood up and gets down to business�a rescue operation that spans 36 levels of 2D platforming awesomeness.

There's a reason that some of our forum users compare Run Kitty Run to classics like Super Mario Bros. It shares a lot of elements, from the rescue angle to gathering coins. Probably the most important similarity, though, is the way you feel playing it. It's challenging, sometimes frustrating, but often rewarding.

The story works because we've all felt like Timmy at some point. (Well, maybe not with the cat costume, but I'm not here to judge what you do in your free time.) It's really refreshing for a platformer to have much of a story at all, much less a solid one like Run Kitty Run. The art style is also very nice, even if the levels can look a little repetitive at times. Since all the levels in a chapter share the same basic backdrop, you're not going to notice much of a difference between, say, 1-1 and 1-9. However, it's nice to look at, and it's obvious that a lot of thought was put into the style and creative direction of the game.

As far as the gameplay itself goes, it's a mixed (but mostly good!) bag. If you're, um, not very good at platformers, you are going to find this game challenging to say the least. Most of these are good challenges like progressively more difficult jumps, timing, and techniques, with a compelling story and fun enemies to keep up the pace. Levels are short, which is good because the further you go, the more you are going to die. A lot. In like every conceivable way. Spike pit? Fireballs? Psychotic bunnies? Run Kitty Run has all that and more, baby.

Of course, it has its share of not-so-fun challenges, too. Like so many games, these challenges are mostly related to the way the controls handle. Run Kitty Run has a simple two-button floating setup; right thumb jumps, left thumb sends you forwards or backwards. Seems pretty basic, but it proved to be diabolically challenging as the game progressed. I often found that my pudgy thumbs were incapable of the finer aspects of platforming.

Sometimes it seemed like I had too much momentum from leaning forwards; other times I had none at all and poor Timmy plunged helpless into spike pit after spike pit. And of course, the more you progress, the more challenging the platforming gets, which sometimes made ledges just a little too precarious given the control scheme. As time went on I found I developed a bit of a rhythm and I stopped dying as much, but there were still plenty of moments where the controls failed me and I plummeted to my doom.

That said, the game is compelling enough that even the sometimes-imprecise controls can add to the overall sense of accomplishment when completing levels. With 36 levels and incentive to replay (you get stars and achievements based on how well you perform), it's well worth the $.99. And besides, don't you want to know whether or not Timmy gets the girl?

We've been eagerly anticipating Rocketcat Games' newest upcoming iOS game Mage Gauntlet since it was first revealed back in July, and that anticipation has only intensified with the newest gameplay trailer that was released for the game late last month. The funny thing about game development, though, is that projects tend to go through a pretty intense evolution from their beginnings until the time a finished product hits the market. One of my favorite things is to see early prototypes or concepts for a game and then compare them to later versions, much like the incredible transformation that Aralon: Sword and Shadow [$4.99] underwent during its development cycle. There's even an entire thread in our forums dedicated to developers showing off their before and after work on their games.

Mage Gauntlet is no different, and Rocketcat has recently released a short video showing the earliest version of their game, which charming as it may be, looks like the nasty gas station hot dog that's been sitting on those spinning heat roller things for the past week compared to the filet mignon that is the latest Mage Gauntlet trailer. Ok I'll admit, sometimes I have a hankering for those crazy hot dogs, but still, Mage Gauntlet has come a long way since its humble beginnings:

Pretty crazy, huh? In the YouTube description, Rocketcat explains that Mage Gauntlet was originally planned as a top-down arcade shooter, sort of like an 8-bit fantasy-themed Minigore [99�/HD]. It then changed to a randomly generated dungeon crawler, and finally morphed into the action RPG with an SNES-era aesthetic that it is today. Interestingly, through this growth process, the story remained unchanged, and they've even held onto certain gameplay mechanics from that first version like having 4 spell slots and an emphasis on powerful but quick-burning spells. For reference, here is the latest Mage Gauntlet trailer for you to compare:

I think it's pretty safe to say that we're all glad the game has evolved to where it's at now, though to be honest that game in the old trailer does look pretty cool. And Rocketcat, please, tuck away that "randomly generated dungeon diver" idea for a future game. At any rate, Mage Gauntlet has been in Apple's possession for a couple of weeks now, and barring any more snafus it should hopefully be available extremely soon. Rocketcat's best guesstimation is next week, October 13th, so keep your eyes glued to this space and we'll let you know just as soon as it's available. You can also get plenty more information and lively discussion on Mage Gauntlet in the thread in our forums, so be sure to check that out as well.

Backflip Studios' Boss Battles [Free / HD] is difficult to really talk about in a lengthy matter. After all, you know exactly what the game is based on its title alone and the fact it's free should ensure nobody will hesitate over it too much. Still, the concept alone is interesting enough to warrant a discussion.

The idea of basing a game on boss fights has been done before, Shadow of the Colossus, for instance, and Cave's Japanese only Kesui Death Label, but Backflip's pedigree of casual titles mixes the idea up a little by creating an easier to push through barrier of entry.

Boss Battles is a vertical, bullet-hell shoot-em-up, where you control a ship blasting through space by simply moving your finger across the screen. The game is packed with eight boss battles, each with five different levels of difficulty that reward you with gems based on which level of difficulty you choose to play.

Those gems unlock different power-ups and weapon enhancements, as well as extra lives. The freemium model is employed for those who don't want to grind through the game to get new weapons, but if you've got even just a smidgen of patience, you'll never need to use the in-app purchases.

Technically, Boss Battles is slightly more than just a series of bosses, as each stage starts with a simple, but necessary farming run where you shoot humble enemies as they drop from the top of the screen to get more gems. While the bosses are certainly the highlight and beating them will collect the most gems, farming in the stages early portions will ensure you'll be able to save up for whatever weapon enhancement you've got your eyes on.

As for the bosses, they're visually ridiculous and over-the-top. They're not particularly difficult after the first round provided you've outfitted your ship with the right weapons, and they don't do much to scale the difficulty other than shoot out more projectiles or move a little quicker. Most can be beaten by simply hammering bullets into them and don't require the usual puzzling and tiered elements we're all used to in vertical shooters. Still, the right weapon will make short work of an enemy, so it's possible the studio wanted to stress that more than ripping brightly colored pieces off a boss.

Unfortunately, the free part isn't entirely supported by IAP's, there is also a banner ad on the top of the play screen. Some games can handle this fine, but in a vertical shooter, it cuts down a bit too much on screen real estate and when the ad changes mid-game, it's a distraction from the dodging and shooting you should be doing. It would be nice to be able to buy out of the ads, but no option exists at the moment. It's also a little odd the app isn't universal, but that might have something to do with a complexity of in-app purchase transfers. As you'd expect, the HD iPad version looks significantly better, but it also means the ads are bigger.

If it's even feasible to create a casual shoot-em-up, Backflip has certainly come close. At the moment, it still feels more like a proof of concept than a full-fledged experience, but as a quick and free distraction it works well. It doesn't have anywhere near the visual flair of a Cave shooter, but the core idea is entertaining enough. If a little more love had been poured into the complexity of the battles as they evolve over difficulty tiers, it would have been a more thorough experience.