Note: This game is currently available everywhere except North American markets. Since we had such a great time with it, and people on the forums are similarly digging it, we're publishing our review a few hours early. If you're a US App Store customer, the download links should start working at 11:00 PM Eastern.

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The sixteen bit era of gaming was filled with a ridiculous amount of action RPGs. Which of these games of this age is the "best" is a debate that has been raging since before it was even possible to argue about it on the internet, and likely will keep burning on the internet's Matrix-like future successor… Only that argument likely will be a little more interesting as we'll all know Kung Fu, how to fly helicopters, and other things like that. I've always been a Link to the Past man myself, but regardless of what your favorite was, I think we can all agree on one thing: It'd be fantastic to go back and experience those games as they were the first time we played them. Before we knew what was in store for us after exiting the Castle Hyrule sewers, or what was on the other side of the teleporter at the Millennial Fair.

This is where Mage Gauntlet [$1.99] comes in. I think the best way to describe the game is as a dusty old Super Nintendo cartridge you just discovered and didn't even know you had after your parents threatened you into coming back home and cleaning your old video game crap out of the attic before they "clean" it themselves. (And by "clean" of course they mean "throw away.") It's a lot like The Last Rocket [$2.99] in that they take the 16-bit inspiration to such deep levels that it could pass as a SNES game, instead of just utilizing pixel art and chip tunes because it's in style.

Mage Gauntlet focuses on a single-player story mode that puts you in charge of Lexi on a quest to initially prove yourself to a local wizard named Whitebeard. Without spoiling too much of how it all plays out, you're quickly equipped with a magical gauntlet that allows you to command various magical spells. Throughout your adventure you come across a cast of other characters, journals, and notes which progress the story while accomplishing your typical rid-the-world-of-evil quest which manages to strike a great balance between funny, delightfully cliche, and totally classical without ever being overwhelming or trying too hard.

The game is controlled as you'd expect it to be, with a series of buttons as well as an invisible virtual joystick for movement. They work great, and I really like how you can touch basically anywhere on the left side of the screen to move Lexi around. Lexi has a basic melee attack which swings whatever weapon you're equipped with, as well as a dashing attack that's activated by holding the attack button down. You can also momentarily sprint by tapping another button, and while both of these maneuvers feel fairly optional early in the game, as you encounter enemies, you'll need to do much more than mash attack.

The truly unique twist of Mage Gauntlet is the magic system. In the game world you'll come across both magical urns of sorts as well as some enemies which will spew magical energy when destroyed or defeated. You can hold up to four spells at once, and using them is as simple as tapping a button in the top right corner of the screen which pauses the action and brings up a magic sub-menu. You select your spell, target it (if applicable), and the game resumes. The spells you get are random, but can be made less random using equipment (more on that later).

This whole system works fabulously. I love how magic feels rare, which forces you to value having a spell on deck much more than similar games which allow you to just blast away with whatever your favorite or most effective spell is to your heart's content or your mana bar is empty. In addition, since spells are randomized, it's really cool how you're forced to come up with clever solutions to a battle, utilizing a spell that might not be optimal for the situation by any means but still works by mixing up your strategy. One such instance, for example, was when I was getting mobbed by orcs, with a few spell casters. A chain lightning spell would've really helped, but charging through, silencing the casters, and hacking all the orcs down with my sword worked too.

Loot is plentiful in the game, and aside from looking cool also offers various benefits. For example, you can equip trinkets to increase the likelihood of a particular spell (or set of spells) appearing, and if you're really decked out you might even have a complimentary suit of armor that does something like up the critical strike rate of that spell. Swords have all different kinds of effects from doing more damage, to potentially restoring health or even providing a magical spell randomly. Pets provide constant passive bonuses, and of course, it wouldn't be a Rocketcat game without a healthy array of hats to collect.

Taking all this into account, gameplay is what you'd expect out of a typical action RPG with a very basic stat-based level up system, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. A overworld map display serves as a level select screen of sorts, and you make your way through each area until finally fighting the local boss. Each area has several sub-sections that must be progressed through as well. How long it takes you to get through Mage Gauntlet will largely depend on what kind of gamer you are. If you square off against every monster, search for every secret, and leave no area of the map unturned, you can spend a significant amount of time in the game. Alternatively, if you're the kind of person who just powers through things from beginning to end, dashing past monsters, and ignoring secondary pathways, Mage Gauntlet can be completed in only a few hours.

After beating the game, you'll unlock master mode which mixes up the levels, adds some new secret areas, fresh loot, double the enemies, and other variants. Beating the master mode earns you a second ending, and after that you can go back and replay individual levels for a higher rating to unlock in-game pets. An arena mode is planned as well for the game's first update, although details on that are fairly vague currently. Also, since Mage Gauntlet is all pixel art, it scales beautifully on the iPad in 2x mode� In addition, Rocketcat plans on making the game universal as well.

Rocketcat games has had a fantastic track record for releasing games on the App Store. Their previous three games, Hook Champ [99�], Super QuickHook [$2.99], and Hook Worlds [99�] all relied on a very similar hooking and swinging mechanic which made us wonder what else they were capable of. Well, it turns out that they can absolutely nail making an action RPG, and you wouldn't hear me complain at all if they similarly turned Mage Gauntlet into a vaguely derivative trilogy of games.

I feel like people who were around to enjoy the original 16-bit-era action RPGs likely will appreciate Mage Gauntlet the most, but there's plenty here to love even if that doesn't apply to you. Like other Rocketcat titles, Mage Gauntlet is launching at a special price, and early buyers also get a promotional pack of hats (and a pet). If you miss this release window, don't worry, you'll be able to buy those items through in-app purchase. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, there's other IAP items you can buy, but they genuinely feel so optional that there's basically no reason to buy them unless you just want to support Rocketcat further than just buying the game.

So seriously, go download Mage Gauntlet. The time you spent reading this review could've been much better spent playing this incredible game.

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It's been kind of a couple of weeks, what with the release of iOS 5, the iPhone 4S, and developers straying in a big way from the standard Wednesday night onslaught of releases. But, whatever, we'll soldier on because tonight's array of games is host to some seriously awesome stuff. Charge up your iTunes account, make yourself a sandwich, walk your dog (if applicable) and do whatever else you need to do before getting down on some serious iOS gaming action tonight. Like previous weeks, all of these games should be released at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if your iTunes store exists in a region to the east of North America.

Bike Baron, 99� � Forum Thread � There's been quite a few of these kind of insane motorcycle jumping / obstacle course games on the App Store, but with Mountain Sheep's involvement, I'm putting my money on this game being something special. If nothing else, the level editor looks like it's worth the price of admission alone.

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Bring Me Sandwiches!!, 99� � Forum Thread � I'm so glad that Adult Swim has gotten into publishing various iOS titles. Monsters Ate My Condo was awesome, and it looks like Bring Me Sandwiches!! is packed with at least a little of the same kind of magic, and sandwiches, lots of sandwiches.

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Crazy Escape, 99� � Forum Thread � There's no shortage of line drawing games of all varieties on the App Store, but I'm not sure there's been one with a premise as ridiculous as this: You play as a car, apparently filled with penguins, and you use your finger to draw a road to thwart wolves. It's so silly on so many levels that I don't know how it can't be entertaining.

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Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots, 99� � Forum Thread � Hey, it's Fruit Ninja with a movie tie-in and a new game mode. The Bandito mode actually sounds pretty cool and features challenges of increasing difficulty that all use the familiar Fruit Ninja slashing mechanic.

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Mage Gauntlet, $1.99 � Forum Thread � This action RPG from Rocketcat Games is absolutely fantastic. We'll have a review up for it when it hits the US store tonight, but if you're at all interested in action RPG's, don't miss this game.

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Putter King Adventure, 99� � Forum Thread � It's been a while since we've seen another full 3D mini golf game released, and Putter King seems to have everything I look for in a game like this. Crazy holes, multiple game modes, and even… royalty.

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Robo5, 99� � Forum Thread � This puzzle platformer looks really cool. Initial impressions from our forums mention a considerable amount of spelling errors, but hey, not everyone is a native English speaker. They'll be fixed in the first update.

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Rope Rescue HD, 99� (Universal) � Forum Thread � This rope-based puzzler from Chillingo also comes in a iPhone only non-HD version, but since they're both the same price I'm not sure why you wouldn't grab the HD version unless you're seriously low on space.

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Whale Trail™, 99� � Forum Thread � This game by ustwo™ is sort of similar to Tiny Wings, flipped upside town, with tons of color, and a whale. For more details, check out our preview.

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Rockstar is continuing its celebration of Grand Theft Auto 3's ten-year anniversary with a new trailer that thanks the game's fans and reminds them of the good times spent in its open-world city. I don't know how it'll hit you, but it kinda freaks me out because (a) I don't want to be so old and (b) a lot of what it does is still the foundation of what's being done now in non-fantasy open-world games. Think about it, man. It's living, breathing history.

Awesomely enough, we'll get to re-experience it all over again. Undoubtedly, you're aware that a touch version of GTA3 is in the works and will debut on top-tier tablets and phones in 2011 and will subsequently be released on other handhelds down the road. The footage in the video above is not from this version, by the way.

Knowing what we know of the Rockstar PR cycle, don't be too surprised if GTA3 pops up sooner than later. I'm not exactly sold that touch controls will make it a better game, but I can't wait to give it a try � after I pop a few aspirin. Arthritis!

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You wanted it, apparently, so Remedy Entertainment is dropping it into Death Rally [$.99]. This morning's update to the arcade racing title re-born adds a beta online multiplayer for up to five dudes.�From what we're seeing, the online is just like the typical campaign component, except actual people are pummeling your rear and scuffing your 'caps. Only six maps and one car are available at the moment, but we're fairly sure that number will go up in future updates or IAP opportunities as soon as Remedy is finished testing.

Interestingly, this pack rolls in a few new 'additions', including a car called the Shrieker, which offers a "separate level advancement" from cars in the single-player mode. You'll also notice some better anti-aliasing on the iPad 2, a new Flamethrower weapon via IAP, and some new achievements.

Death Rally is senseless fun. We totally re-realized this earlier today when putting the multiplayer through some paces to test its awesome-ness. If you're still in the market for something a little silly, a little violent, and pretty frantic, this is probably definitely it. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to death to rally.

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We've heard some rumblings lately about Order & Chaos Online [$6.99] accounts getting hacked, and the attacks were recently confirmed by our pals over at PocketGamer. Order & Chaos, if you're unfamiliar, is Gameloft's fairly blatant riff on World of Warcraft, complete with characters, monsters, and areas that might look a more than a little familiar to anyone who has played WoW before.

Anyway, the cause of this security breach as well as how deep this rabbit hole goes has yet to be revealed, although Gameloft says they're actively investigating. A thread on the official Order & Chaos forum indicates that players of both mobile and Facebook versions of the game have been hacked.

If you've ever played Order & Chaos and you're the kind of person who still uses the same password for everything, it's a good idea to change all your others. While you're at it, check out this New York Times article on creating strong passwords, and maybe even think about getting some password management software. I'm partial to 1Password myself, which basically exists for all platforms you'd ever want to access your passwords on and gracefully keeps all your data in sync via Dropbox.

Migrating from a single password you use for everything to a password management suite and different passwords for everything will take a little getting used to, but consider this: Once you start doing that, security breaches like this are entirely insignificant. Thanks to 1Password, I use a different password for everything. Order & Chaos getting hacked makes no difference to me, since all anyone would ever be able to access with those login credentials is my character… As opposed to desperately hunting down every login form that you've used your favorite password, "password", for.

Update: I was just reminded that Order & Chaos uses Gameloft's Gameloft Live service for logins, and if that is what was compromised, if you've ever created a Gameloft Live account it might be a good idea to get busy with the password changin' too.

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Late in 2010, Semi Secret released SteamBirds [$1.99 / HD], a turn-based aerial dog-fighting game based on the Flash game of the same name, which we thought was "tons of fun". Apparently other people liked it too, as it's reportedly been played by 12 million people worldwide (including the online Flash version). Well, the original makers of the game,�SpryFox, teamed up with HalfBrick to release a sequel ��Steambirds: Survival [Free/HD]. And it's definitely worth checking out (again!)

It's a top-down dog-fighting game where you play a pilot with the Allies, fighting against the Axis powers, to protect the United Kingdom. But the cool twist is that it's also turn-based. Your aircraft has an arrow in front of it, which represents the distance and direction it will travel in the next turn. You can bend the line to control your plane's flight-path.

When you press the "End Turn" button, your plane moves for a couple of seconds, as do any other planes in the sky, including enemies.� If any enemies appear in front of you, your plane automatically opens fire. It's like a slow-motion dog-fight, which plays out in bursts. Some of the AI controlled planes are on your side, so they'll also shoot at any Axis enemies.

In the original version, the missions were pretty basic: The enemies all appeared at once and you had to shoot them all down. Whereas Survival has eight cities to unlock and defend, like Aberdeen, Manchester and Exeter. Each city has eight specific missions to complete, such as� "Down three planes", "Survive 5 waves (of attack)" or "take down 8 bombinos within 5 waves". Instead of one wave of enemies, there's now multiple waves, making the missions feel more much varied and interesting. In fact, there's much more content in this release overall, with 64 missions and eight planes now and a further 56 missions and seven additional planes to be released soon.

Once you've completed a mission you can either return to base to play the next mission, or continue playing for glory and to earn extra copper (money). You'll score more copper by taking out more challenging enemies. Once you've beaten a mission, you can't replay it, although after beating the first seven missions for a city a much harder eighth "infinite" mission is unlocked. You keep playing this eighth mission until the enemy eventually shoots you down; and you can replay it too, for better scores in Game Center or Openfeint.

In the original, your plane started with specific power-ups, with no additional power-ups being available during the mission. In Survival, power-ups can be gained by shooting down enemies. To use a power-up, you simply tap the arrowhead in front of your plane to display an icon for each acquired power-up. This might include super-speed to travel further or bombs to deploy when planes are tailing you. You can also collect homing missiles, a 180 degree turn, a 360 degree attack, shields or maybe a poisonous green gas to deploy in front of an approaching enemy aircraft.

The touch controls work brilliantly, allowing you to frequently and quickly adjust your plane's direction as you hunt down other (moving) planes. But remember, you're sometimes given a finite number of turns to complete a mission, so if you fly around excessively or chase down every single power-up, you could put the mission in jeopardy.

In Survival, each of the eight cities features a different aircraft for you to pilot, each with different strengths and weaknesses. For example, one of the first planes you unlock is the "Buster", a bomber with relatively weak guns. Whereas the "Looper" is powerful with fast guns, but has relatively weak armor and relies on 360 degree power-ups and careful flying to stay alive. You have to use different strategies for each unique airplane.

You can tap any aircraft, including enemies, to view it's statistics ("health", weapons, speed, agility and armor) plus a status description, such as "on fire � nearly dead" or "going down!" This allows a clever player to be strategic in their attacks. For example, prioritizing your kills by attacking the main threat first and targeting planes with a shorter firing range from a distance. Of course, if you prefer more casual play, you can just fly around shooting at stuff.

Another new feature is that you can use your copper to buy assistance at the start of a level (up to two extra controllable allied planes). This allows you to fly multiple planes together as a squadron, for defensive maneuvers or for stronger attacks. You can also use copper to unlock cities earlier, although this leaves less to spend on other things.

Steambirds: Survival is a free-to-play game, with advertising banners at the bottom of each menu screen and full-size advertisements between each level � but there are no adverts displayed while you're actually playing (although the standard version has a bug which causes ads to appear obtrusively, but the developers have already submitted a fix to apple). If you choose to remove the adverts altogether with an In-App Purchase (IAP), it also unlocks all of the eight cities. The developers advise that the entire game can be completed without IAP, but it's available if you're impatient to progress.

The developers plan to eventually deliver asynchronous multi-player Steambirds, which would be super-awesome. With the arrival of iOS 5, hopefully we'll see more asynchronous turn-based games being released. In the meantime, there's a free Flash version of Steambirds: Survival to try on your computer. It isn't exactly the same as the iOS version, but gives you a feeling of the gameplay …but since it's free (and a great game) you might as well just download the iOS version!

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Back in August, we received the squeal-inducing news that Sega was readying a port of the classic Sonic CD for downloadable markets on home consoles and mobile. And by mobile, that meant it was coming to the App Store. But, this isn't shaping up to be just a mere port. Instead, Sega has enlisted the work of Christian Whitehead, a gifted software programmer who basically created his own game engine from scratch that was capable of running Sonic CD (among many other things, I'm sure) on multiple platforms with all sorts of optimizations and enhancements.

This Sonic CD project from Whitehead actually sparked off more than two years ago, and it's still crazy to me to think that it's actually finally materializing as a real, official release. Today, Sega has put out another trailer for the upcoming Sonic CD re-release, which you can see below:

The trailer pegs the release for Sonic CD as "late 2011", which is fast approaching. This is one release date that I really hope doesn't get pushed back, as I've been eager to get my manly hands on an iPhone port of Sonic CD ever since the first video of the unofficial port popped up back in 2009. And I know I'm not alone, as Sonic CD is revered as one of the best � if not the best � Sonic games to come out of the golden age of 2D platforming known as the 90s.

We'll keep a close eye out for any new tidbits of information on Sonic CD as the release date approaches, and you can join in on a discussion of the game with other like-minded Sonic fanatics in our forums.

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