Most App Store gamers are no stranger to Halfbrick's Fruit Ninja [99¢/HD]. Over the last 6 months and 2.5 million sales since the game's initial release, Fruit Ninja has received some excellent updates in the form of new modes, unlockable items, and even online head-to-head multiplayer over Game Center. But one thing that has been grinding the gears of Fruit Ninja fans for months is a mysterious banana shaped icon on the game mode selection screen. Everyone wanted to know what exactly was this new “banana mode” that Halfbrick has been teasing us with? They weren't about to spill the beans though, and the curiosity in our forums reached astronomical levels.

Finally, today Halfbrick let the banana out of the bag and divulged what this mysterious new mode would entail. Dubbed Arcade Mode, you'll have 60 seconds to slice up fruit as per usual, but with the added bonus of 3 new special banana shaped bonuses fruit. One slows down time affording you more time to slice away at the fruit, a frenzy banana causes fruit to fly out at a much higher rate, and one doubles your score for a brief period of time. In addition, these bonus bananas can be activated on top of each other. So you may get a frenzy banana followed by a freeze, thus giving you a screen filled with fruit to slice and extra time to slice it. Couple that with the double points bonus and the potential for crazy high scores is through the roof.

At the end of your 60 second session your score is tallied up and bonus points can be awarded based on your performance. There will also be a brand new weekly high score board specifically for Arcade Mode scores. After so many great updates to Fruit Ninja, Arcade Mode is sounding like a lot of fun. Halfbrick has noted that the update will hit the iPhone and iPad versions of the game in early November, which basically can mean any day now, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled and grab this new Fruit Ninja update when it goes live.

There have been a number of games that try to emulate the popular Trials series of games from developer RedLynx, and in fact, the “side-scrolling motocross game” is practically its own genre on the App Store. Up until now, each of those games hasn't quite captured the “feel” of Trials, but with the release of iTrials [99¢] from developer Tooko a couple of weeks ago, there is finally a competent Trials-like experience that you can fit right in your pocket. There are some minor issues with iTrials, most of which are being sorted out with planned updates, but the core gameplay and level design is a ton of fun and if you're looking for some on-the-go Trials action then iTrials is your most solid choice.

iTrials takes place across 27 different levels in 3 tiers of difficulty. You'll power your motorbike down a single plane level filled with jump, seesaws, moving platforms, and all sorts of other obstacles to negotiate. You're timed on how long it takes you to complete each course, and checkpoints are spread throughout so you don't have to start all the way from the beginning should you bail (and you WILL bail). A slider in the lower left controls your bike's tilt angle, and gas and brake buttons adorn the right side of the screen. It's really simple to pick up and begin playing, and the physics and weight shifting of your rider feel just how you think they should.

Besides the nice handling of your bike, the level designs are what really set iTrials apart from similar titles. They start out simple enough, with just a few jumps and drops between the start and finish lines. Slowly the levels grow much more complex, with full loops, giant rotating platforms, seesaws, and other crazy hazards designed to make you bail. Bailing is actually part of the fun as the ragdoll physics of your rider provide for some amusing and painful looking crash animations. The checkpoint system is also done really well, as most levels can be beaten with just a little persistence no matter how difficult they are. Of course the clock remains ticking as you retry each section, and for an even greater challenge you can try to complete a level as quickly and flawlessly as possible to compete on the Agon leaderboards.

This video does a much better job showcasing what's on offer in iTrials than I can by just explaining it:

My major complaint with iTrials is the awkward positioning of the slider that controls your bike angle. It's much too close to the center of the screen to be comfortable, and I've often missed it entirely while playing. Thankfully an update is already submitted that addresses this, and adds tilt functionality as well, so it shouldn't be an issue too much longer. Speaking of updates, the developer has noted in our forums that following this first update they will be adding universal iPad support and updating the graphics for Retina Display. This is welcome news, as another sore point to iTrials is the fairly jagged graphics. If this gets addressed along with the control placement problems then there will be an incredibly solid foundation to build upon for the future.

In addition, new levels and modes are being discussed for iTrials, and the developer is open to all feedback for future changes to the game. iTrials is one of those games that's a ton of fun as is for the current price, but is also incredibly exciting due to its strong potential. There is a near-endless supply of praise for the game in our forums, and if you've been searching for a great motocross platforming game for your iOS device then iTrials should fit that bill nicely.

Early this morning, Trilobyte Games, developers of the classic CD-ROM game The 7th Guest, started pushing out tiny whispers on their Twitter account that they would be bringing that game to the iOS platforms. Just moments ago, they again confirmed the existence of a The 7th Guest port coming to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on their Facebook page. Trilobyte was closed down in the late 90s, and is now being resurrected to bring this official port to the App Store.

The 7th Guest was one of the first CD-ROM games when it released back in 1993. Many people consider that it, along with the similarly popular Myst, helped usher forth the CD-ROM gaming era. Bill Gates is even remembered for calling The 7th Guest "the new standard in interactive entertainment". No doubt that if you were a PC gamer during the early 90s, then you have some fond memories of The 7th Guest. No real details are known about the iOS port, other than it should be the game in its entirety with reworked touch screen UI and that it should be available sometime in December.

You may remember from the iDOS phenomenon last week that The 7th Guest was successfully up and running on that emulator, but now it seems that you won't need a banned app or some iOS trickery to enjoy The 7th Guest come December. There is an upcoming games thread in our forums for The 7th Guest that is brimming with excitement over the announcement, and we'll bring you any new information as soon as we get it.

Late last week Square Enix posted some cryptic details to their Facebook page regarding an upcoming game that allows players to generate characters with their voice. We presumed it was something similar to Song Summoner, and speculation ran wild both in our comments and forums. Voice Fantasy [$2.99] just hit the App Store, and after spending the morning with it, I'm really not sure what to think.

The main problem with everything that Square Enix brings to the App Store is that they have such an insanely awesome back catalog of games that anyone who was around for the Super Nintendo would likely love to play. The whole Final Fantasy series, Tactics, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, the list goes on and on. When we see things like this released, I think it's completely understandable to wonder why in the world they would choose to work on this game instead of say, porting Final Fantasy IV. What's truly strange about this, is that if any other developer released Voice Fantasy, I bet the overall reception would be substantially different.

Voice Fantasy is a very strange game in that it really seems to straddle the line between what I'd consider a "game" and what I'd categorize as an "entertainment app." The basic premise is as follows: After loading up the game, you're given a few different options for battling against AI opponents, or a local battle with another person. From there, you generate your party. This amounts to holding down a record button on screen and saying something, yelling, squealing, or really making any sound at all. Depending on the volume and pitch of the sound you make, different party members are generated.

These party members range from warrior-type monsters to human mages and everything in between. When they attack (or fall) in battle, the game plays back a distorted version of your initial recording. Depending on what you generate your characters with, the battles can sometimes be absolutely hilarious. In single player mode you battle against a few waves of monsters until finally squaring off against the Demon King himself. That's it. There's no gameplay or any interactivity beyond just recording your sounds, and at the end of the battle you're able to save your favorite generated characters.

Playing with other people and passing your phone around, with each person trying to come up with something even ridiculous to generate a character from actually is a lot of fun. So far my best character attacks with a slurping and tongue slapping noise, made even funnier by the fact that Voice Fantasy generated an extremely high-level paladin based off that. I just really wish there was more to do in the game, as the lack of interactivity really makes it boring to play by yourself.

If you often find yourself in social situations where you're passing around your device with friends showing off whatever crazy apps and games you've found recently, Voice Fantasy will be an excellent addition to your "Hey, check this out!" arsenal. If you're looking for the next killer Square Enix RPG, stay far, far away.

Venan Entertainment has been teasing us with their free spinoff of Space Miner [$4.99 / Lite] for months now. We first caught wind of the game at E3, and since then have been patiently waiting for their upcoming arcade twist on Space Miner. The basic premise of the game was explained in our preview:

Space Miner Blast will be supported by unobtrusive in-game advertising, with optional DLC which will add features to the game and disable advertisements entirely. Most of the original Space Miner has been stripped out in favor of a quick survival game with a very basic upgrade system. All you do is see how big of a multiplier you can keep going by blasting as much ore as you possibly can (while defending against enemies of course).

Unfortunately, along the way Venan hit some roadblocks. Namely the release of the iPhone 4, iOS 4, and all the other fun things that Apple sprung on developers between E3 and now. The good news is, Space Miner Blast was submitted to Apple a few days ago, and is pending approval before its unleashed to the masses on the App Store. In celebration, Venan released the following gameplay trailer:

In addition, they've provided some more details of what the game will include. Basically, it will be completely free to download and play with a few unobtrusive advertisements in menus, but nowhere when you're actually playing the game. Three different ships are available via a 99¢ in-app purchase that each have different bonuses to attack, defense, and mining. Buying one of these ships disables advertisements and unlocks Retina Display graphics which likely are part of their new content delivery system mentioned in the previous post to offer high-definition games while staying under the critical 20MB file size for over the air downloads.

Either way, we'll find out how it all works soon. We'll have a review of Space Miner Blast as soon as it docks with the App Store.

Back in the early days of March, we previewed an upcoming dual-stick shooter called Revolt. The video for Revolt showcased some very nice looking 3D visuals, destructible environments, and some incredible lighting. Even more impressive, however, was that Revolt was being created by just a three man development team. Revolt also looks to add a greater strategic element than what is found in most other dual-stick shooters, with careful weapon and ammunition management required to be successful.

Earlier tonight, Revolt [$1.99] finally went live in the US App Store. It features 8 story-based levels and a whopping 20 different survival arenas to blast through over 3 difficulty levels. A number of upgradeable weapons and armor are at your disposal to take out a range of different enemies and boss characters. In addition to these gameplay features, Revolt is a universal build with Retina Display support and Game Center/Openfeint integration.

Here is some early gameplay footage from a hands-on preview we did on Revolt back in March:

It should be noted that the developers don't recommend Revolt for owners of 1st generation devices, and warn that the game may not perform very well on anything lower than 3rd generation devices. Interestingly they also already have the first update completed for Revolt, as mentioned on their blog, and further versions will look to address performance on older devices as well as add new features to the game. We'll be taking a much closer look at Revolt once we've put it through its paces. Until then, you can check out the early impressions pouring into our forums that are so far fairly positive. Or you can just dive in head first and take advantage of the introductory price of $1.99.