In this week's episode of the TouchArcade Show, the regular cast and crew push through talk of PlayStation Home, the next console generation, and the impact of game streaming to bring you the latest and greatest in iOS. Prepare your earholes, folks, because we've got a huge games section this week � which includes chat about Bike Baron, Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots, etc. � and we also spend a ton of time getting through our e-mail backlog. I think you'll really like this one, as it's easily our loosest, but information-filled yet.

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GAMES

JARED'S ELI'S KITTY KORNER

• Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots [$.99 / HD]

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Ah, the inevitable movie tie-in. In the tradition of Angry Birds: Rio and Doodle Jump: Hop comes Halfbrick's Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots [$0.99 / HD]. Apparently animated films go with popular iOS properties like peanut butter and jelly.

But let's not jump to conclusions. This Fruit Ninja is no lame license cash-in. It's no replacement for the original game, but it's a great complement. As we mentioned in our preview, it introduces Bandito mode, a fantastic addition to the family of Fruit Ninja's [$0.99 / HD / Lite] game modes. And it adds a ridiculously popular feline mascot, for the folks who swoon at the idea of a swashbuckling kitty with a Spanish accent.

Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots boasts two game modes. Desperado, the first, is the classic game most of us know and love. You swipe the screen to slash fruit as they're tossed up. Let one fall unslashed and you lose one of three lives, hit a bomb and it's game over. The longer you go and better you perform, the higher you'll place on the leaderboard in the end.

Bandito mode is new, and very cool. Fight your way through a gauntlet of randomly chosen challenges. The challenges are all about slicing, of course, but they mix the situation up. You may need to slice 15 apples in amongst an intricate and ever-changing pattern of bombs, or 20 lemons while a giant bomb bounces around the screen. There's quite a variety. Each challenge is on a tight time limit � fail or hit a bomb and you'll lose one of your three lives.

Those lives need to keep you through 12 challenges across three areas that also serve as difficulty levels. Each challenge you complete adds to your score, ranking you on speed, precision, and just how thoroughly you can obliterate your goal. Your total score for the mode hits the leaderboards when you finish the final bonus challenge, which a cute departure from the game that I won't spoil here.

Though plenty was left out of Puss in Boots � multiplayer, zen mode and arcade mode, specifically � one of Fruit Ninja's best features returns: the Dojo, or in this case, the Stash. Meeting certain goals unlocks new blade and backgrounds, themed for the film. There are four extra blades and three extra backgrounds to unlock.

Aside from the themed unlockables, this game feels far more Fruit Ninja than Puss in Boots. The core game is familiar and intact. but there are a few other nods to the upcoming DreamWorks film. The main menu is thematic, with a movie site option. The areas you visit in Bandito mode are from the film as well.

I could take or leave most of the thematic elements, but the new Spanish guitar soundtrack is a great accompaniment to the gameplay. And Puss (or an Antonio Banderas sound-alike?) pipes up with encouragement as you play. Slicing fruit is entertaining enough on its own, but it sure is motivating to have someone shout "Aha!" or "Yeah!" whenever you do something cool.

If you could only have one Fruit Ninja game on your phone, I'd tell you to keep the original. It has a lot more to offer. But Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots is well worth playing, even if it's more expansion than stand-alone. Any fruit-slicing fan will be well served by this game, so grab it � and swing by our discussion thread to let us know what you think.

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A young man washes up on shore without knowledge of where he is or how he got there. An elder teaches him swordplay and sets him off on an epic quest. A small blue blob that lives on his arm breaks the fourth wall at every opportunity.

This was almost the set up of any classic role-playing game, a fact that Pixel and Texel's Fara [$0.99] is happy to point out. With tongue firmly in cheek, the action RPG leads players through most of the cliches of the genre � fetch quests, boss battles and awkward romantic subplots, among others � though it never quite transcends those cliches itself.

Fara falls into the simplest category of action RPG. There is no leveling system, no loot, no snazzy gear to equip. There are two extra skills you'll find over the course of the game, and they serve mostly to give you access to new areas, Legend of Zelda style.

The game sends you hither and yon to solve problems for villagers, slay enemies in your way and collect hidden treasure. Some of this serves your ultimate quest, but you're never quite sure what that will be until you reach its last few steps. Still, the journey is entertaining enough. Hacking and slashing your way through the mysterious island is old-school fun, the villagers you meet are quick witted and funny, and finding treasure tucked away in some dark corner is always a good time.

Alas, the controls are not so friendly. Fara offers two control styles, a virtual stick and touch controls that use a combination of swiping and dragging. The former is better, but will get you in trouble in tight spots. And tight spots there are aplenty. I'm not sure what's meant to be fun in providing imprecise controls and then putting deadly spikes and gas all over some rooms, but I certainly didn't find it.

You know how some RPGs have the sewer section, or some equally unfun area that seems designed as an exercise in tedium? Fara trumps them with its tilt sections. Whenever you pick up a shield powerup or use the shield ability the game switches to tilt controls. This lets you get through the aforementioned hazards, but good luck being precise when you have to change the orientation of your phone while on a time limit in a hazardous area with poorly defined boundaries. It's a frustrating and entirely unnecessary inclusion.

At least death isn't much of a setback. The only penalty for dying is that you get sent back to the start of the area you're in, and you rise up the leaderboard that tracks the number of deaths each player suffers. There are also leaderboards for kills and gold collection, and achievements that are mostly awarded for completionism.

Completing every last bit of Fara will only take a few hours, and that includes earning all the achievements. It's the perfect length, really � enough time to feel your quest is sufficiently large without dragging on or backtracking too often. The game would be better for short bits of play if it had a better map, but it's rarely all that difficult to figure out where you're meant to be going.

Ultimately, Fara falls prey to more RPG cliches than it mocks. It's ambitious, and not overly-so, but it's neither unique enough or successful enough to stand out from other games in the action RPG genre. Still, if you're looking for a short jaunt through the fantasy wilds, it's hardly a bad choice. It just isn't a particularly inspiring one.

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When it comes to what makes a good game, I usually boil it down to two basic rules: create a gameplay experience that is fun, and extend that experience long enough to make it satisfying. Monster Island [$0.99 / HD] (and Monster Island Begins [Free / HD]), the latest title from Miniclip, does a great job satisfying both tenets in droves. In addition, its colorful artistic flair, solid gameplay, and interesting in-game store ideas make the game one worth exploring.

At its core, Monster Island is a physics-based puzzler that has you tossing 'minis' (basically small alien balls) that have a variety of attributes, with the goal being to take out the enemy monster thugs. Minis range from Blui, a mini that explodes only after it stops moving, to Sticky, a mini that sticks to whatever you throw it at (and will subsequently let other minis stick to it) and so on. Each level gives you a predetermined amount (and type) of minis, and your goal is to simply use them and try to take out the baddies in as few throws as possible.

The better you do, the more stars and gold you earn (the gold allows you to buy various items from the store). If you've played any sort of physics level-based game (like the all-encompassing Angry Birds) you'll have a good idea of what you're getting into. While the setting and minis are certainly unique, the fundamental gameplay doesn't offer anything particularly innovative.

One thing Monster Island nails is its graphical style. Basically, the entire game is detailed, extremely colorful, and just permeates with personality. Your monster (along with all the other ones you can purchase with coins) certainly has a cute disposition. Also, I just enjoyed the various backdrops, even if they didn't have an effect on the actual gameplay. Miniclip certainly nails the whole cute alien motif, which I think adds to its overall presentation and approachability.

Another aspect that Monster Island succeeds at is its content. To put it simply, it will be a very long time before you run out of levels to play. Monster Island actually consists of four different islands, each with 70 different levels. Considering that each level has the standard 3 star ranking system, completionists have their work cut out for them. In addition, Miniclip has already stated that new islands are in the works, further expanding out the content. My only complaint is that you have to play through each island before unlocking the next (unless you want to spend your coins to unlock certain islands, or IAP to unlock everything off the bat).

Monster Island does have one option that I don't find nearly enough in these level-based puzzle games: video solutions. For some gold coins (which can also be purchased as IAP), you can watch a video showing exactly how to earn three stars on a particular level. Of course, since solutions require gold, you can't simply view each of the hundreds of levels consecutively (unless you spend a lot of money on IAP gold). Also, once you view a solution, that particular level is marked, meaning you'll always know which of those three stars you sold out on. It's simply a system that's well done, and I think should be offered in more games.

With its imaginative art style, large amount of content and decent gameplay, Monster Island is definitely worth checking out for any puzzle aficionados looking for a new title. Also, its in-game store with access to level solutions should keep gamers coming back. Sure, one might look upon Monster Island as just another physics puzzler, but when the game is as fun and as long lasting as it is, who cares?

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