Developer Crystalised are throwing their hat into the Unreal Engine powered 3D shooter ring with their upcoming title Desert Zombie: Last Stand. They announced the title back in June via a teaser trailer, which was a cool cinematic but didn't showcase any gameplay. Today, they have released a new gameplay trailer from an alpha version of Desert Zombie that showcases the game in action. So far, it's looking pretty incredible:

Yeah, I'm pretty sick of zombies too, but that video looked awesome nonetheless. All we really know about the game at this point is that it will be a completely free-roaming third-person affair and include 6 levels to survive though, including an on-rails shooter sequence in a Blackhawk helicopter. No release date is given other than "coming soon", but we do know the game will be $5.99 whenever it launches and will require 3rd generation hardware and up.

You can check out discussion of the game in our forums, and we'll be sure to keep our eye out for more on Desert Zombie: Last Stand in the coming weeks.

One hurdle when making games for the iOS platform is creating controls for an entirely touch screen interface. Often, the simplest approach is the best, and it doesn't really get much simpler than single-tap gameplay. That is the approach taken in�Space is Key [99�] by ChrisJeff Games, which was recently released in the App Store. Space is Key started out as a popular Flash game, which is another platform that is well-suited to single-button mechanics. Because of this the game translates extremely well to iOS, and offers a fiendishly difficult but strangely captivating arcade experience.

Space is Key is a series of 43 single screen challenges distilled down to the basics of running and jumping. Your tiny square character handles the running part automatically, entering from either the right or left side of the screen. Your job is to tap the screen to jump at just the right times to clear the obstacles in each level and safely make it to the other side of the screen.

That may sound simple, but Space is Key is anything but. If your square so much as grazes an obstacle, you're instantly killed. This is a game where you will die no matter what, and you will die often. There's no avoiding it, and that's really the point of the game. Your score is calculated as the amount of times that you end up dying after a straight run through all 43 levels. So yes, we're all going to die when playing the game, but let's see who can die the least.

The margin for error when trying to successfully navigate past obstacles is razor thin, and the difficulty can be erratic. A certain level you might completely nail in just a few short tries during one play through, then the next time that same level might take you a hundred tries or more (literally). This makes it difficult to get too excited even if you are doing particularly well, since it can all come crashing down at the drop of a hat, but that also adds an intensity to the game which I like.

This sort of masochistic gameplay ends up working because Space is Key is so darn quick and easy to play. Upon death, your restart is instantaneous and automatic, to the point that many times you haven't even processed that you've screwed up before you're already off and running into a new attempt. This means it's incredibly easy to just waste lives with reckless abandon when becoming particularly fixated with passing a certain level, and if you aren't careful, a potentially good score can slip away in the blink of an eye.

At first blush, Space is Key might look like nothing more than an early Atari 2600 title. That's basically correct, but little flourishes like cool particle effects and a kick ass chiptune soundtrack give it a modern touch that would never been possible on that old hardware. Despite the retro aesthetic, the game has a lot of personality. This is mostly due to the humorous messages that pop up throughout the game that are designed to teach, praise, and pester you along the way.

The only downside to Space is Key is that it doesn't have a whole lot of lasting appeal. I played it pretty obsessively for a few days until I'd achieved a decent score, but after that there's not much reason to revisit it. A global leaderboard and 25 well designed Game Center achievements extend the experience, but I'd really like to see some more levels or possibly some additional modes down the line. Hints on the game's Facebook page lead me to believe that we'll see such things in the future.

While the gameplay on the whole is a bit thin, Space is Key is pretty entertaining for a 99� title. At times you'll feel like breaking your device over your knee due to the difficulty, but completing the game is a fairly quick and satisfying experience. It's hard to not want to keep replaying through the game hoping for that "one perfect run" where you get an insane score. As infuriating as it can be at times, when you do finally have a great run in Space is Key it makes all the pain worth it.

When Traction Games first brought Stickman Skater [99�/Lite] to the App Store, it was a bit of a surprise hit. With the release of its spiritual successor, Stickman BMX [99�/Lite/HD] it's a question of how much of the core gameplay will change with the name while still retaining fans of the original.

Not much, it turns out. For better or worse � depending on whether you like Stickman Skater � Stickman BMX is essentially the same game. You'll get two buttons to use, one that controls your pedals and another that makes you jump. There is an advanced option that allows you to control your tricks as well, but although at a glance you might think Stickman BMX is about pulling tricks off, it has more in common with the likes of Canabalt than it does with anything else.

That's one of the main problems with Stickman�BMX, it might have worked a bit better as a one-button game. The requirement to constantly hit the pedal button is more annoying than it is helpful and you'll rarely find yourself wishing you could slow down. Even with the advanced controls and scoring bonuses, the tricks still don't feel all that integral to the game, which means you'll spend most of your getting through the levels, not flipping over bars.

Even though they're not particularly complex, the levels do keep you on your toes. Stickman BMX cruises at a faster pace than Stickman�Skater, so you need to pay a little more attention to what's coming up. While a lot of the time the game just throws objects in front of you out of nowhere, the fact you can branch through the levels in several different paths is an interesting take. There is also plenty of variety � sixty levels in four different zones are included in the game � with more available for in-app purchase if you can't get enough. As you'd expect, there are different medals you can get for getting different tokens and collecting stars as well as finishing without dying. Also available as an IAP is the ability to use a skateboard as in the first game, if BMX bikes aren't your thing.

As far as level design is concerned, Stickman�BMX takes a lot of the ideas of the original�and expands on them. The biggest improvement between the two is the design, where Stickman�Skater was complacent in pushing you down a linear path toward a finish line, Stickman�BMX at least offers you multiple ways to get there.

As you've probably already noticed from the screenshots, Stickman BMX doesn't have the best visuals in the world. The simple, cut-and-paste style aesthetics are certainly intentional, but they won't be turning heads. It would have been nice if they'd spent a little more time on the menu and button design too, because they're completely hideous. For what it's worth, the sound can get a bit aggravating as well and you'll likely find yourself muting it from the start. But this clearly isn't a game worried about its aesthetics, it's all about how it plays.

It might not be pretty, but if you liked Stickman Skater, Stickman BMX does a good job of bringing enough new content to make it worthwhile. As an overall experience, it doesn't offer much new to the table, but it does expand on the ideas of the original in a way that changes how you'll approach it.