One of my real iPhone favorites -- a game that I actually play for fun (a rare thing, given the number of titles we move through to find the gems among the chaff out there) -- is Imangi's Harbor Master [link], which The Independent recently dubbed the third best app in the App Store. And the iPad version, Harbor Master HD [link] is the best Harbor Master experience to be had, thanks to the device's large display. Happily, Imangi's v2.0 Harbor Master update, which went live just a few hours ago, brings some of that big-screen detail to the iPhone 4's Retina display.

Imangi lists the enhancements in this update:

• Completely remastered high resolution graphics for the iPhone 4.
• New level! We adapted Cargo City, our most popular map from the iPad version, for the iPhone screen. It has 3 cargo types, so it takes "multitasking" to a whole new level.
• iOS4 multitasking support.
• Fixed twitter support so you can tweet your scores again.
• Rotation support, so you can hold your device however you want!
• A ton of bug fixes.

Imangi's current graphics guy, Kiril Tchangov, reworked all of the game's original art from scratch, putting his own, more "painterly" spin on the design, the studio tells us.

I think most people will be most excited about the new level, Cargo City. Cargo City is our most popular map from the iPad version, so we really wanted to bring a version of it over to the iPhone. It works really great on iPhone. With 3 cargo types, you have to turn on another part of your brain to control all those boats. You'll really like it. Here is the iPad version right next to the iPhone version, so you can see how we had to change it around to adapt it to the smaller screen.

I'll start out by saying that this is a bit of a curious post. The app I'm highlighting here isn't a game at all -- not even sort-of a game. It's a music player, of sorts. But, a music player that should bring a smile to the face of many a gamer who sat in front an Amiga or PC, joystick in hand, back in the late '80s and early '90s. The app I speak of is French developer Yohann Magnien's Modizer [App Store]...and it's a MODplayer.

First, some history for those unfamiliar with MODs, trackers, and all that lot of sampled digital audio goodness. In 1985 the Commodore Amiga was released, bringing with it dramatic innovations on every front, really. And, among them, was its 8-bit, 4-channel, wavetable, stereo audio subsystem offering far better audio playback than any other consumer machine of the time. Digitized sound samples could be loaded into the Amiga's CHIP RAM and triggered for playback (and with zero CPU intervention), with highly realistic results.

Two years after the Amiga's release, developer Karsten Obarski decided to create a program that would load samples into said RAM and trigger them for coherent playback using a simple script that's something akin to the scroll of a player piano. That program was called Ultimate Soundtracker. And that script, plus its associated audio samples all bundled together into a single file, is called a module or MOD. Since then "trackers" of every sort, along with new MOD-like formats, emerged for platforms far and wide.

Demoscene coders were quick to adopt these trackers to create soundtracks to accompany their onscreen pixel magic and soon the "music guy" became a critical component of every demogroup. Noting this, game developers began adopting tracker modules as their solution for in-game music. Back in the day of limited CPU resources, audio boards with real horesepower came onto the scene to enable efficient playback of not just 4 but 8, 16, 32, 64 channels. Demos and games benefitted mightily, and audio geeks had a new scene to drool over. (I was a GUS and CapaMOD man, myself.)

And plenty of iOS games have reach out to MODs, S3Ms, XMs, and other formats of the kind for their soundtrack solutions.

And, so we come back to Modizer. Is it the only MODplayer in the App Store? No, it's not. But it appears to be the most full-featured. Modizer supports a dizzying array of audio formats thanks to its use of the MODPlug and UADE players (the latter of which actually emulates an Amiga 1200 computer), switchable in the settings menu. A variety of OpenGL-based audio visualizers can be enabled to accompany playback, a feature that will be much appreciated by those accustomed to hearing MODs running alongside a demoscene production's onscreen pixel magic. And it all runs smooth as glass without missing a beat.

Modizer is a universal application, natively supporting the iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, iPad and up, with specific optimizations for the iPhone 4 and iPad. The app includes a file browser that allows free access to the MODLAND and HVSC collections -- about 215,000 tracks in all -- that, when downloaded, are stored locally for quick access. The archives contain audio tracks from basically every demo ever made as well as most games for the C64 and Amiga.

See our iPad demo video. The developer provides a few iPhone demo videos, as well.

At a mere $.99, Modizer is a godsend for gamers with a fancy for digital music. And, while indeed not a game, Modizer for iOS seems worth a spot here at Touch Arcade.

UPDATE: We just got word from the developer that he's currently working on a v1.1 update that includes various bugfixes as well as a number of enhancements:

• Some optimization for browser (mainly when browsing modland/artists)
• Sharp X68000 support (mdx/pdx files) with updated Modland lib
• Addressing issue where some formats miss the last second of music
• And more to come, depending on user feedback...

Magnien indicates that he's also considering a network "user stats" sort of ranking system that would let users easily share the overall highest rated songs. We'll keep you posted.

There are a ridiculous amount of these see how far you can go vertical climbing games on the App Store, and much like the match three genre, classics like Doodle Jump [99¢], Mega Jump [Free] and others overshadow most new releases. Argentinian iPhone developers Hungry Game, creators of Fly Kiwi Fly decided to throw their hat in to this overcrowded ring, and wound up with Sir Lovalot [99¢]-- A jumping game that manages to set itself apart with cute graphics, a fun premise, and loads of collectable loot.

Sir Lovalot plays a lot like similar games in that you're tilting your device to the right or left to control your character who is constantly jumping whenever he has solid footing on a platform. The first thing you notice while playing is that instead of jumping on a 2D plane, Sir Lovalot climbs a Rapunzel-like never-ending 3D tower. Tilting causes your knight to spin around the outside of the tower, which will have platforms on all sides of it. Platform types include standard stone platforms, breakaway wooden platforms, spring-loaded platforms, platforms that turn in to spikes, spikes themselves, and others. Not being to see all sides of the tower provides a considerable challenge as you get farther in the game, as often times the path upward isn't as clear as similar games where you can see all of your options at once.

The difficulty of Sir Lovalot is defrayed a bit in a number of ways. First off, you're able to fall back down a few platforms without penalty, and you start the game with three hearts which get spent each time you hit a set of spikes. To balance this, you're constantly under the pressure of a timer that is refreshed at checkpoints along the way up the tower. While being able to miss a jump or land in spikes a few times makes the game feel more forgiving than most, goof up too much and you'll run out of time before reaching the next checkpoint.

As you make your way up the tower you'll find various pieces of loot to collect which also add to your total score. Sir Lovalot has OpenFeint integration for online leaderboards, which undoubtedly will soon be dominated by people far better at the game than me. To see what Sir Lovalot looks like in action, check out the following video:

I totally dig the theme of Sir Lovalot, and really can't help but smile as he performs various acrobatics while twirling his sword around in the air ascending the tower. The only thing that really sticks out as an annoyance is that the game uses a single fairly obnoxious spring sound each time you jump. This quickly gets incredibly tiring, but thankfully, sound effects can be turned off in the game's options. If you're looking for a new game to satiate your need to jump forever, give Sir Lovalot a try.

BulkyPix's MMORPG Yslandia [$4.99] recently hit the App Store after a considerable beta testing period in Canada. Earlier this month we posted an extensive hands-on preview of the game, and found quite a bit to get excited about:

In so far as the gameplay is concerned, MMOs traditionally have been about lengthy solo leveling experiences (read: grinding) with a smattering of teamwork needed in certain encounters. Yslandia on the other hand is more focused all around Player vs Player combat and social interactions (but with its own share of grinding). The three islands that make up the initial release of Yslandia are comprised of respective starting islands for the Simeh'a Alliance and the Zaa'me Coalition (essentially, Light vs Dark), and a neutral territory called Gilda where all the PvP combat goes on. And it's on this latter island that most of your time in Yslandia will be spent.

On Gilda, teams have to work together to capture Totems on the battlefield, thereby claiming territories for their Faction. The game itself encourages this teamwork– particularly teamwork through guild participation– by way of its skill system. Departing from any existing skill-building concepts, characters in Yslandia learn additional skills by "training" with other guild members. Every 10 levels, you accumulate training points in addition to your standard skill points, which can then be invested in other guild members, bestowing upon them a skill you currently have learned. Aside from skills learned in this fashion, characters start with 4 skills, 2 of which are usually passive.

'Usually' in this context is used quite loosely, as Yslandia boasts a massive lineup of 18 different classes to choose from divided amongst 6 very different races (some of which have no passive skills). The developers have also gone beyond the usual warrior/ranger/mage archetypes to offer interesting classes such as the Necrophage, the Lycan Bloodhound or the mana-sucking Nocturn Deceiver.

A thread on our forums is serving as a bit of a staging point with people trading tips and likely banding together as more people pick up the game. Similar to nearly every MMO launch since the beginning of recorded human history, Yslandia has a few bugs and some areas that feel rough around the edges. Thankfully, tthe developers are actively posting in the previously mentioned thread and mentioned that an update to address these problems and implement Game Center support is in the works.

Classic arcade game fans were extremely excited when developer Taito announced at E3 2010 that a Bubble Bobble game would be coming to the App Store. They then revealed at this year's Tokyo Game Show that the game would be called Bubble Bobble Double, and would feature an authentic port of the original arcade game as well as a new style game based on the Bubble Bobble universe. Just a couple of days ago, Taito tweeted a short gameplay video of this new mode, and later tweeted another video of the classic mode in action. Earlier today, Bubble Bobble Double [$4.99] went live in the App Store. After giving both game modes a thorough spin, I'm definitely left with mixed feelings.

On one hand, it's incredible to have the original Bubble Bobble arcade game with me at any time on my device. All one hundred of the original levels are here, with the original music and sound effects that are so near and dear to many gamers' hearts. The problem is that all this nostalgia is represented on a tiny game screen with virtual controls that leave a lot to be desired. I understand Taito's dilemma though, as thumbs would just block too much of the gameplay if they had the game running on a larger portion of the screen. There is a zoom option but it really only makes the screen marginally bigger, and while the game is still very playable it's harder to enjoy on the small screen.

The virtual controls themselves work alright, it's just that Bubble Bobble is a game that really requires tactile feedback while playing. It can be really frustrating trying to focus on the onscreen action and end up losing a life because my finger slipped off of the virtual d-pad, or that I accidentally hit jump instead of shooting a bubble. Again, it's not unplayable by any means, just not ideal. One cool aspect of the classic mode is that you can choose to bring the second player into the game at any time. This player is controlled by AI and helps you defeat the enemies on each level. For a game that was really at its best with two players in the arcade, this is a neat addition, although I'd love to see an actual two-player mode via WiFi or Bluetooth.

The new mode found in Bubble Bobble Double is where the package kind of falls flat. Here, your character sits in a fixed position as enemies attack in various formations from every angle. Tapping an enemy puts them in a bubble, and tapping them again pops that bubble thus defeating the enemy and giving you a fruit bonus. The blast from the bubble popping can destroy other enemies near it, similar to how chain reactions are caused in games like Splode [$1.99] or Sneezies [99¢/Lite]. Enemies trapped in bubbles can also be flicked around the screen to get them near other enemies to set up combos, or combine with others trapped in bubbles to create an even bigger bubble to pop.

The new mode has plenty of levels, collectable items, and online leaderboards through OpenFeint. The problem is that it's just not very much fun. Gameplay consists of mostly mindless tapping, and enemies enter the screen too quickly to really utilize any kind of strategy by flicking them around and creating combos. Most levels can be completed easily by just frantically double tapping every enemy, and you're really only ever in danger if you do try to go for elaborate scoring opportunities. After playing through some of the zones in this new mode, I honestly just wasn't compelled to keep going.

The classic mode in Bubble Bobble Double can still be a lot of fun despite its shortcomings. The ability to continue as many times as you want or start a new game from any previously beaten level are nice touches, and the pseudo two-player aspect actually adds to the experience. As for the new mode, it's just plain underwhelming compared to the timeless gameplay and design found in the original game. Depending on how big a fan of Bubble Bobble you are, you may find Bubble Bobble Double a solid purchase. I've easily spent much more than the price of this game both in arcades and on home console versions over the years, and I'll make do with the less than ideal screen size and controls just to enjoy the game over again. But if you were looking for an innovative twist on a classic game like what was found in Taito's Space Invaders Infinity Gene [$4.99/Lite], then you'll most likely be left disappointed.

Well, it looks like Apple's Game Center is helping developers bring some nice features to the App Store. Firemint just announced tonight that they will be introducing a 4-way online multiplayer update to their popular Real Racing game using Apple's Game Center.

Real Racing was one of the highly anticipated racers for the App Store and was met with great reviews. But one of the most requested features was some sort of online multiplayer. While Firemint had provided users with local Wi-fi multiplayer, unless you had direct access to a lot of iPhone toting friends, you were stuck playing against the AI. Well, pretty soon, you'll be able to play against smack-talking anonymous strangers.

Real Racing also happens to be on sale at $2.99 at this time.