I'm glad I did. Though not what you would call 'your must-have game in the event of a zombie apocalypse', Baseball Superstars 2012 is still kinda awesome. Depending on how much you like your baseball, it might even be extremely awesome. There's a part of me that wants to be the cranky curmudgeon and witheringly observe that Baseball Superstars 2012 is, while a competent product, just a souped-up version of the one from the previous years, but I can't. The rest of me is too busy cultivating my digitized athletes.

Baseball Superstars 2012 is engaging in all the right ways. The core gameplay mechanics are incredibly easy to learn, but not so easy to master. As the batter, you'll basically have to ensure that your batting reticule is within the general vicinity of the ball before you smack it with all your virtual, training-augmented might. Here, you'll have the option of choosing between the usage of the D-PAD or the device's accelerometer; I personally recommend the latter. Things are even easier for the pitcher. To lob your balls, you swipe your finger across a grid-like area on the screen. Different pitches will naturally require a different set of motions.

Strangely enough, what makes Baseball Superstars 2012 work is the metaphorical packaging. For example, while the various modes are little more than different ways of approaching the aforementioned elements, there's still an ungodly amount of things to do. Want to be be a batter? Fire up 'My Batter' and enjoy a ten-year career. Prefer pitching instead? Load 'My Pitcher'. Would you rather micromanage a coterie of little athletes? 'My Team' will be your game mode of choice. The list goes on. You'll get to also dive into challenges, missions, engage in asynchronous multiplayer battle royales and fine-tune your little league of winners.

Visually speaking, Baseball Superstars 2012 is definitely the best-looking of the pack. The resolution is higher, the interface is cleaner and the sprites look like they were manufactured by a man-hwa artist. The writing, unfortunately, still leaves much to be desired. Aside from the overall aesthetics, one of the biggest changes here is the inclusion of the overworld. No longer will you be trapped in the stadium at large. Now, you'll be able to roam the somewhat scenic-looking town that rings in. In between matches, Baseball Superstars 2012 will allow you to do everything from engage in a fortune-telling session to helping out in a hospital to training in the park. Some of these activities will decrease or increase various statistics, others will add to your modest bank account.

Along the way, you'll also bump into an assortment of big-breasted characters, many of whom will engage you in peculiar conversations. To be honest, few of the encounters made any sense to me. What do aggressive female characters with a penchant for romance books have to do with baseball? While I appreciated the effort, this aspect of Baseball Superstars 2012 felt tacked on and a little awkward.

That aside, there's not much to dislike about Baseball Superstars 2012. Heck, even the IAPS are not constantly forced down your throat, something that is a rarity with this business model. Gamevil has done a fine job improving on each iteration. Baseball Superstars 2012 might not redefine mobile gaming but it'll certainly be a worthy addition to your collection of games.

Over the weekend, an update was released that looks to improve this situation with a new single-player Tournament Mode. Here you'll take on the 9 opponents in the game one after the other, and their AI increases in difficulty as you progress. Make it through them without dying and you'll square off against Skar, the new boss character you can see in the icon above. Also, a very simplistic stat upgrade system lets you increase your character's speed, power, and technique with each subsequent win.

While the Tournament Mode is cool, it's still pretty thin. Upgrading your player is fun, but only lasts for your current tournament. A persistent profile where you could continue leveling up your player over multiple tournaments would be a neat addition. Still, the new Tournament Mode is a welcome addition, and despite being a bit shallow there's something about it that just keeps me coming back to play some more.

Beyond the Tournament Mode and new Skar character, this update also brings some improvements to the visuals, animation, physics, and menu UI. In other words, some pretty standard, but necessary, update type of stuff. It sounds like Mountain Sheep have even more plans for updating Ice Rage, and this latest update is a step in a good direction. Definitely worth checking out for some simple arcade fun, especially if you have an iPad and someone to play against.

However, as bad as that was, it was far from the biggest blunder of the conference championships this weekend. Ravens fans, you know where I'm going with this. After taking the fight to the mighty Patriots all afternoon, the Ravens put together an impressive late game drive to put them within a short field goal distance to tie the game and send it into overtime. Seriously, this field goal was basically a chip shot that 99% of the time any NFL kicker could make blindfolded. Unfortunately for them, the Ravens kicker fell into the other 1%, when he shanked the kick and missed the field goal - sans blindfold.

So what's all this sports talk have to do with iOS gaming you ask? Well, Full Fat Games has just released NFL Flick Kicker [99¢/HD], which, if you so choose, will allow you to reenact the biggest missed field goal of the entire NFL season. If you're a Ravens fan, this sort of thing might be akin to rubbing salt in the wound. So, you can go the other way with it if you want – play as the Ravens and pretend he actually made that field goal, and then daydream your way to the Superbowl. You're always a winner, as long as it's in your mind.

Don't worry, if you're not an NFL fan there's still plenty to enjoy here. Full Fat has basically perfected the flicking sports genre over the past couple of years, starting with Deadball Specialist [99¢/HD] back in 2010 and extending to many additional titles across several different sports since then. They've even previously utilized their NFL license on the opposite end of the spectrum with NFL Flick Quarterback [99¢/HD], which put you in the roll of the ball thrower rather than the ball kicker.

I've been having fun with NFL Flick Kicker so far. It doesn't really do anything drastically different than previous flicking games, but it does have a nice character progression system and several different modes to play through, as well as Game Center achievements and leaderboards.

If you've enjoyed any of their previous games, chances are pretty good you'll enjoy NFL Flick Kicker as well, especially if the official NFL licensing does something for you.

Despite really liking Summer Sports Simulator, there were a few minor issues that detracted from the experience. With the game's first update, these have basically been taken care of. The most glaring problem with the initial release was that it lacked any sort of online high score tracking, which seemed like a big omission for such a high score-centric game like this. To rectify this, Game Center has been added with leaderboards for every event as well as a leaderboard for most gold medals earned during one play through. I've been having a ton of fun trading spots on the leaderboards with friends in JSRSSS.

The next major addition is a brand new event, the kayak slalom, and then the rest of the update consists of smaller tweaks and fixes. Controls have been improved on the iPhone, the AI has been balanced, and that weird cat that seemed to be stuck on the title screen has been fixed. Also, you can now choose from a list of actual flags and countries, rather than the weird mashup countries from the original release. See? I told you it got more realistic in this update, though I was pretty partial to the silly country names from before. Finally, you can turn on a "turbo" mode from the help screen at the main menu, which makes the entire game run at double speed. This makes an already difficult game that much more so, but it is kind of a fun feature to check out.

Another big change for Summer Sports Simulator is that the initial game is now free. Previously, it cost 99¢ which gave you 4 events and the option to unlock an additional 10 events with a $1.99 in-app purchase. It's something that we took issue with in our review, not so much because the game wasn't worth the money but more because it just seemed confusing and possibly off-putting for those who were thinking they were getting the whole game for their initial $.99 purchase. Now, the game basically functions as a free demo with five events and the remaining 10 still available from within the game for $1.99.

Justin Smith's Realistic Summer Sports Simulator is the type of game that won't be for everyone. Now that the barrier of entry has been lowered to free, there's no reason not to give it a spin. It's a really fun game made even better with this latest update, especially Game Center integration.

I'd go so far as to say that Pocket League Story is the most approachable game Kairosoft has put out on iOS to date. There are a few tricks to min-maxing the game, but if you do exactly what it tells you to do you'll be fine. For the spreadsheet geeks among us it may be too straightforward, but ultimately this is the perfect game to serve as an introduction to Kairosoft's catalog, or for anyone who loves their games but gets hung up on lists of combos and other arcana.

As manager of a soccer team, you're responsible for pretty much everything your team does, right down to the strategies they use on the field. The only thing that's out of your hands is how they play in the moment, and even there you have some input.

You're given control over hiring and firing players, arguably the most important part of the game. You might love your starting team, with their bright-eyed eagerness, but they're terrible. Just atrocious. They'll get you through the first few games, but your priority is to court better talent. Think Game Dev Story's talent pool, but vaster and more costly. You can really customize your team down to the last detail.

Building your team is an ongoing process, one you'll handle alongside training your players. You earn research points both on the field and off, and you can use those to improve your players stats, build up a fan base, and unlock new content. There is a bit of a building sim tucked in as you set up training facilities, but it's really low key. Most of your time off the field will be spent managing numbers, choosing basic coaching strategies and courting players, sponsors and fans.

On the field, things get a bit weirder. Like Grand Prix Story's races, Pocket League Story's matches mostly play themselves. You pick lines and formations in advance, and basic passing technique during the game. You can also fiddle with your strategy at halftime and trigger auras here or there, but your players are mostly on their own.

So you're left spectating a lot of the time. There's a huge selection of matches and league tournaments to work through in the eight years you're given, but they all boil down to the same thing: watch as your players win or lose. Games can take three or four minutes, and Pocket League soccer just isn't that stimulating a spectator sport after a few hours.

This is a misstep, for sure, because it takes players out of that non-stop, always-something-on-the-go mentality that Game Dev Story so perfected. It's much easier to put this game down than any of Kairosoft's other titles - not that that's necessarily the worst thing for those of us with other things to do.

Whether you'll enjoy Pocket League Story depends a lot on where you're coming from. Aside from a few issues some of our forum users with older devices have run into, this is probably the cleanest Kairosoft game yet. The translation is good, the tutorial explanations are clear and nothing's left to muddling through foreign cultural references. So it's easy to get into, and lays out all the traditional sim fun in a very manageable way.

But it's also quite shallow, with neither the complexity of a proper football simulator or the depth of most of Kairosoft's other games. If the meta-game of keeping spreadsheets and consulting FAQs is your thing, give this one a pass. But if it's the first Kairosoft title you're considering or you're okay with a streamlined experience, I can recommend Pocket League Story wholeheartedly.

Pocket League Story appears to be no exception. The theme of choice this time around is soccer, or football depending on which country you hail from. You'll build up a team of players, train them, and then take on the rest of the league. You also have the ability to sell your team's own merchandise, build a gym for training, and even build your own stadium. The goal is to increase your fan base as you progress your team's abilities through competition.

It looks as though all the components are here of another solid Kairosoft simulation, especially if you're a fan of footy. We'll be digging in a lot deeper before passing final judgement on Pocket League Story, but if you're generally a fan of Kairosoft's work you probably can pretty much guess what you're getting here. You can pick it up for $2.99 which is an introductory price, and at some point it will raise up to their usual $3.99.

We'll have a full review of Pocket League Story in the near future, and until then you can check out impressions in our forums which are starting to trickle in.

Those same principles of low-fidelity visuals, unwieldy controls, and high playability carried through to his next iOS release So Long, Oregon! [$1.99], and they are ever-present in his latest bit of zaniness know as Justin Smith’s Realistic Summer Sports Simulator [99¢]. Don’t let the ironic title fool you, there is absolutely nothing realistic about Summer Sports Simulator. In fact, it’s greatest attraction is just how NOT realistic it portrays the various Olympic-style events it contains.

Your job is to pick a fictional country and compete in up to 14 events against three other fictional countries to see who can win the most gold medals. The events themselves are simplistic 2D affairs that are what you might have expected to find in an Olympics game for the Atari 2600 in the early 80s. Pretty standard retro-inspired stuff, but where things start to get really Enviro-Bear-y is in how you control your athletes.

Rather than traditional controls featuring d-pads and buttons, you’ll direct your athletes in Summer Sports Simulator with a spring attached to their bodies (and sometimes, the athletic equipment itself). So for example, to run the 100 meter dash you’ll touch the runner directly and drag him down the track by his springy attached string, over and over, as he clumsily tumbles, cartwheels, and flies towards the finish line.

I just cannot stress enough how terribly awkward this is, and yet, it totally works. Plus, it’s downright hilarious at times watching your blocky athlete stiffly flop around the screen. I’ve easily had more laugh out loud moments with Summer Sports Simulator in the past week than I have with any other game, book, or movie this past year. It’s the game I immediately gravitate to on my springboard when I know I need instant fun and a hearty chuckle, and so far it hasn’t disappointed once.

So while the simplicity and absurdity of Summer Sports Simulator come together to create a fun experience, the game does lack a sense of direction that holds it back a bit. There’s no persistent player data, so each time you start up the game you begin as a new random country. It would be cool if you could pick your own country to play as every time where it kept careful track of all your stats and high scores.

For such a high score focused game, some persistent game save tracking is essential to keep me coming back to play. On that same note, an online network like Game Center would be great to compete against the scores of other players around the world. Based on the developer’s comments in our forums, it looks like more country customization options and better high score tracking will be coming in future updates. Right now, although still incredibly fun, the entire affair feels a bit too much like a one-off arcade experience each time you play.

Finally, I’m not a huge fan of the pay model used in Summer Sports Simulator. The initial game costs 99¢ and comes with 4 events, and 10 more events can be unlocked via a $1.99 IAP. I definitely feel like the entire package is worth the $3 you’ll end up spending to get the whole thing, but with such a “love it or hate it” type of gameplay I think it would have been beneficial to let players try out those initial 4 events for free, to make sure it’s something that would suit them. Lowering the barrier of entry for a game like this is important, and I’m not so sure how many people will be willing to pay a dollar to try out what essentially feels like a set of demo events.

Despite my minor complaints though, Justin Smith’s Realistic Summer Sports Simulator is some of the most fun I’ve had with an iOS game in recent memory. It’s the perfect game to jump into and play around with in short bursts, or focus hours of your attention on trying to earn high scores. The complete lack of instructions on how to complete the events is part of its charm, as it’s actually fun to experiment with different techniques trying to find the best one for each event.

I’ve also dumped an embarrassing amount of time into playing around with the interactive torch lighting ceremony before your events begin, or the medal ceremony at the end where it rains hundreds of medals on the athletes which you can fling around the screen. There’s no gameplay benefit to these things, but they’re the type of silly little details that I love. Seriously, I can’t think of any other game that let’s you grab a jet out of the sky by its rainbow contrail and spin and flick it around to your heart’s content.

If you don’t mind dropping a dollar to see what it’s all about, Summer Sports Simulator offers a deceptive amount of depth and playability. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if it clicks for you then you likely won’t hesitate in dropping an extra couple of dollars to unlock all the events. If a couple of future updates can tighten up the experience with persistent profile saves and online scoring features, then Justin Smith’s Realistic Summer Sports Simulator will end up living a long happy life on my springboard right next to its brother Enviro-Bear 2010.

Billed as bringing the “8-bit hockey experience” to iOS, Ice Rage plays less like a hockey game and more of something akin to Pong. Games are played 2 vs 2 (one goalie and one attacker) on a very small rink. There’s also very little strategy involved; if your player has the puck you take shots at the opposing goal, and if you don’t have it, you smack the opposing attacker until you get it back. The controls also share Ice Rage’s simplicity: a virtual joystick and a button that doubles as the offense/defense action are the only buttons you have.

Ice Rage does offer three different difficulties, with the hardest also giving you control of your goalie (which is not the easiest task considering that your joystick will control both your players simultaneously). Also featured are a variety of characters including John Gore of Minigore fame and Enviro-Bear (who needs no introduction). A brand new update has already hit for Ice Rage, which adds the Bike Baron as a playable character as well. While some of the characters do have hidden stats such as being harder hitters, as far as gameplay is concerned Ice Rage is about as basic as they come.

While the gameplay may lead to some lackluster single player games, it’s actually well suited for multiplayer and becomes the biggest highlight of Ice Rage. Multiplayer adds another set of controls and sets them opposite of each other table-top style. On an iPhone or iPod touch, the whole experience is a bit cramped, but on an iPad it’s actually well-done. The controls are easy enough to pick up and play, and the time period (all games are 1:45 long with no customization) is short enough for spontaneous games with local friends. There’s just something about frenetic gameplay combined with a human opponent that brings out the fun in simple arcade games and Ice Rage is no exception.

Once you get past the initial appeal of playing hockey with the likes of John Gore or Enviro-Bear, you’ll quickly find that Ice Rage doesn’t have much of anything else up its sleeve. There are no achievements, career mode, or really anything other than quick-play with the three difficulty options. Multiplayer is nice, but single-player really doesn’t have anything to offer after the first few playthroughs. I understand that the developers were looking to create a classic arcade hockey title, but even features as simple as a leaderboard or ‘tournament’ mode would have gone a long way towards increasing replay ability.

Seeing as how the game has already been updated, it's not hard to imagine that it may include more robust single-player features in the future. Along with Bike Baron as a character, the new update made some minor tweaks to the gameplay, including an upgraded goalie AI and the ability to play as either the red or blue team. It will be interesting to see how the solid foundation of Ice Rage gets expanded over the long haul.

In the end, Ice Rage really is a game about tempered expectations. If you go into it expecting any kind of depth, prepare to be disappointed, as that’s not the intent of this title. However, if you go into it knowing that it’s a simple arcade hockey game, you should have a good time, particularly with its multiplayer.

There's six different mountains to conquer, including 36 different multiple-branching down-hill runs. The first slope is 'Glacier' which has six runs and you can unlock the other peaks - like Mt. Payne and Angel Peak - by winning medal points (3 points for gold, 2 for silver or 1 point for bronze). You can choose which valley to enter and each route contains different gates, with blue for time bonuses and red for a score multiplier, so it's worth exploring.

After choosing to be male or female, you start with $1000 and can earn money in the game, which is handy for buying tricks, such as the ability to tilt the device for air-control. There's a decent assortment of tricks available, such as flips, rolls and tail grabs. Doing tricks earns time bonuses and points as you fly down the mountain towards the finish.

When you leave the ground, six new buttons conveniently appear on-screen for performing tricks.  You can press one button for a simple trick, two buttons for a trickier trick or hold and slide your finger to extend the move, for the trickiest of tricks. Two landing buttons appear when you're about to hit the snow and these can be pressed to level-out the board for a safe landing, or to stop a spin, roll or flip.  These trick buttons only appear when needed and then disappear to keep the screen uncluttered, so you have a clear view of the terrain.

The main navigational controls are rather unusual. A two-thumbed split steering-wheel is used to turn left or right. For example, to turn left sharply:  The left thumb moves down, while the right right thumb moves up simultaneously like using a virtual steering wheel of sorts. This control scheme wasn't immediately intuitive to me, however, I persevered and after five minutes I was carving the snow quite happily. So, potentially be prepared for a little practice time at the start.

Some highlights of the game include finding massive jumps on the side of the course or jumping off a cliff, onto a small snow-coated plateau, then immediately off a ramp for some big air. There's also caves and a deep rocky ravine to jump across, with a turning landing required on the other side. These "hell yeah" moments really add to the experience and make this game a lot of fun.

You can spend your game money on a variety of snowboards, for improved performance. There's six decks, ranging from the entry-level "basix" up to the "pro board". Each board has different attributes for air-time, air-control, acrobatics, speed and toughness. Plus, there's over 20 skins to buy: Perhaps you want a zombie ape on your deck, a tiger shark or a stylish green cyclops.

Your runs are scored based on tricks performed and time taken. SummitX connects to the Com2uS gameHub, but pleasingly, it also supports Game Center for leader-boards and 15 achievements and games are automatically saved to iCloud. The music is great, featuring over 20 licensed rock soundtracks, which play in a slow-motion effect when you're aerial. Alternatively, you can pump your own iTunes playlist. There are in-app purchases (IAP) available, to unlock features, however so far it hasn't felt intrusive or necessary which is good as Com2uS have been criticized for heavy-handed IAP in the past.

SummitX Snowboarding only has one game mode and I haven't seen any other boarders to race, however, this is a cool looking and sounding snowboarding game, with peaks, runs, boards, skins and tricks to unlock, plus a variety of routes down each run, which ensures there's plenty of replay value. Unfortunately, after downloading their update v1.01 and installing it on both devices, I lost my medal points and progress, which has dented my otherwise positive impression. If you're downloading the game for the first time, this obviously won't be an issue for you.

As we detailed earlier in October, the Elite Collection apps will come bundled with the following titles:

• Elite Collection Vol. #1:
  • featuring ALTERNATE REALITY: THE CITY and also including
  • Black Magic
  • Alternate Reality: The Dungeon
• Elite Collection Vol. #2:
  • featuring URIDIUM and also including
  • Buggy Boy (a.k.a. Speed Buggy)
  • First Samurai
• Elite Collection Vol. #3:
  • featuring BUNDESLIGA MANAGER and also including
  • Denaris
  • Enforcer: Fullmetal Megablaster
• Additional 8-bit "Singles":
  • Battleships (a.k.a. Battleship)
  • Frank Bruno's Boxing
  • Batty

In addition, at launch, there will be 16 more titles available for purchase through the in-app game store. We will provide full details of everything that's available, as well as a closer look at the collection itself, when the apps land this weekend.

But, for now, know that some of the particular stand-outs include:

• Datasoft's Bruce Lee
• Palace's Cauldron
• Gremlin's Monty on the Run
• Alternative Software's Skool Daze
• Thalamus' visually stunning Creatures 2: Torture Trouble

Elite mentions, in their release, that they are committed to improving and furthering the apps in the months ahead, as well as adding to the titles available in the in-app game store. A few of the titles they name as planned / hopeful additions are Archon II: Adept, Stunt Car Racer, Mercenary: Escape from Targ, and M.U.L.E. At the time of the October delay announcement, The Bards Tale (I, II & III), Wasteland, Dragon Wars, and Neuromancer were also named as titles likely to become available through the Elite Collection.

Many of the titles in the coming Elite Collection apps are also being released as stand-alone games. Their most recent round of releases consisted of Denaris, Paradroid, and Alternate Reality: The Dungeon. All of the Elite Collection games feature the studio's customizable "iDaptive" control system, and iCade support is said to be on the way.

Elite Systems also offers the ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection for the iPhone as well as the iPad, which are collections of ZX Spectrum games along with an associated in-app game store.

The graphics speak for themselves, check out the above trailer, the game really looks like that. What I'm really digging though is the control scheme that they've implemented. The preview I got was on my iPad 2, and games like this are usually controlled in one of two ways: Tilting, which I've never felt is ideal for the iPad, or with a weird virtual joystick setup which similarly never translates very well.

SummitX implements a two-thumb steering wheel sort of approach in that you slide your thumbs along both sides of the screen to control the board. I raised an eyebrow at the first loading screen that explained how it worked, but in practice, it's really cool. When you go over a jump, the interface changes to focus on tricks, which will allow you to do all your standard grabs and flips while flying through the air.

If all goes as planned, SummitX should be available as a universal app sometime this December. Initially, it'll come loaded with 14 different paths spread across 4 different mountainsides and an entirely licensed soundtrack with over 20 different bands. There's also plans for an iPhone/iPod touch-only non-universal build sometime after launch. Neat, right?

Distilled into its most basic form, Homerun Battle 2, much like its predecessor, is a batting simulation. A 'casual' sports game, if you will. The goal here is to hit as many home runs as is humanly possible. Sometimes. Depending on which game mode you've selected, you might occasionally be called upon to hit a number of fouls in rapid succession instead. It varies. If you're experiencing vague feelings of deja vu, I don't blame you. Com2uS is clearly a firm believer in the old adage, 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead of venturing away from a beloved formula, they've added more to the fix. But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

To recap for those who have yet to play the original, Homerun Battle 2 boasts of tight, simplistic controls. Aiming is conducted with the phone's accelerometer while the actual swing is executed with a mere tap of the finger. As is the case with real life sports, timing and accuracy are essential to success here.

Simple as the core mechanics might sound, they're also one of the reasons as to why Homerun Battle 2 is such a bloody entertaining experience. While it doesn't require extensive amounts of thought, it demands just enough skill to keep you interested. On top of that, it's also easy to get lulled into the rhythm of the game, to become caught up in developing the longest chain of home runs possible, to score pole hits - it's like meditation, except with caps and large virtual sticks.

Nonetheless, that pales in comparison to the multiplayer segment of Homerun Battle 2. While there are several different modes to play, I'm personally infatuated with the mission mode. Essentially, it's four people from across the world striving to be the first to meet the goal (hit four fouls in a row, be the first to reach 2000 points and so on) in each mission. There are no penalties associated to coming in second (or even last), just fewer rewards. While each fast-paced mission seldom lasts longer than a minute, you're probably going to find yourself losing a good chunk of time to the system. Fair warning, though, much like in the first game, winning seems impossible without a suitable arsenal of equipment, a fact that may rub certain players the wrong way.

Like the original, Homerun Battle 2 has a customization system for you to play with. It's a little more comprehensive compared to what is found in its predecessor; you'll finally get the opportunity to play a wasp-waisted babe in this one. Unfortunately, the prices in the in-game store are tantamount to highway robbery. I mean, you could theoretically spend the next week farming golden balls but it feels ridiculous to demand five thousand of those for a new hat. I understand that Com2uS is trying to turn a profit here but this borders on extortion. What if I don't want to buy your virtual currency? What then? I'll spend my hard-earned money on frivolous virtual items when I feel like it, thank you very much!

I can't help it. I'm a little bitter. I don't like the idea of a game trying to bribe me. I also don't like the idea of it attempting to strong arm me into an undesired purchase either. Homerun Battle 2 has all the elements that made the original such a hit and more. It's fun, it's easy to learn and it'd keep you occupied for a considerable amount of time. Unfortunately, it also exemplifies everything that I dislike about this type of pay model. Get this one if you're hankering for more of the same, or if you're looking for a polished take on the whole 'casual sports' thing. Just don't come with the need to be number one unless you're ready to pay for it.

It revolves around being nearly instantly matched up with people all over the world to compete in homerun derbies. You aim your bat by tilting, then tap to swing, hopefully resulting in a higher score than your opponent. Unfortunately, the addition of an in-app purchase system skewed the power curve like nobody's business, and before long you needed to either spend a shocking amount of money or grind for eternity to remain competitive.

The sequel is launching with all sorts of new customization, including female batters. There's six different game modes, and even multiple stadiums. Everything we've heard so far about the game is pointing to it being a great sequel to the original, but I've got my fingers, toes, shoelaces, and everything else that can be crossed crossed in hopes that the in-app purchase system doesn't have such a drastic effect on this entry in the series. Or, if nothing else, that there's at least a lobby you can play in that doesn't allow anything but the starting equipment… As the pre-IAP Baseball Slugger is responsible for some of my fondest memories in early iOS gaming.

If all goes as planned, Homerun Battle 2 should be available in the US App Store tomorrow night at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially much earlier if you're lucky enough to live on the same island as Peter Jackson.

Flick Home Run

Rather than displaying a batter, bowler, bases and fielders, like a regular baseball game, Flick Home Run focuses entirely on smacking home runs, as the name suggests. There's no awkward floating virtual bat displayed either, because your finger acts as the bat and your swipe is the swing. When you place your finger on the pitch button, a ball is bowled by an unseen pitcher from the right side of the screen. You flick your finger at the ball, timing it right to smack it as far as possible.

If the ball flies out of the park and into the parking lot, smashing into some parked cars or a neighboring building, that's a good result and the crowd will cheer. But to do this requires quick responses and accurate flicking, because the ball travels further if you flick it right in the center. This game has caused some extreme flicks, right off the iPod screen and into the air (once, into the wall) which almost feels like swinging a bat.

There are twelve different ball types, but you never know which you're facing until the last moment. As the pitch approaches, the ball type is suddenly revealed. It could be a regular baseball, a fast ball, a fast drop or notorious curving s-ball.  There's even ninja balls. Some balls are heavier, so cant be hit as far, while others act as score multipliers. Points are awarded for distance and hitting balloons or stars, which brings in a small luck factor. These points are converted to experience points (100 points = 1 XP), for leveling-up your power, accuracy and/or the number of delivery-type reveals available, to see what's coming next.

The five game modes are: Minor challenge, major challenge, multiplayer, moonstar mode and practice, with each mode having a separate Game Center leader-board. Practice mode lets you choose which ball types to receive and then keeps a tally of your successful hits.

The aim of minor challenge mode is to complete 15 different steps (objectives) in the same game. Each step requires you to successfully hit a certain number of balls. Each time you face a pitch, miss the ball, or don't clear the minimum distance, your life bar decreases and the game ends once your life bar is empty. However, making big hits and scoring points will recover valuable life points.

The furthest distance allowed in the minor challenge is 1000 ft and the ball stops just after reaching that point. There should really be no barrier imposed, because it's wrong to tell a batter he can only hit the ball a certain distance. Also, if the current pitch depletes the last of your life bar, a drum-roll plays and it's game over no matter how hard you hit it.  The player should be given that last chance to strike the ball well and save themselves. Instead when the drum sounds, there's almost no point swinging, because your game's already over.

Major mode is unlocked by completing minor mode, although it's exactly the same park setting, just with harder difficulty and some new balls. However, you can hit the ball further here, as the 1000 ft limit is extended. Major mode is presented as a separate game mode, but really it's more of the same; just harder.

Multiplayer mode lets you compete with a friend (or a random match-up) via Game Center. This 2-player online mode has both players racing to full a points meter with big hits. You can't see each other playing, but the opponents progress bar is visible.

Moonstar mode is like a mini-game. You're given nine balls to hit into as many stars as possible, by bouncing the ball of various moons in the sky.Because of this, you won't perform well at this game until your power attributes are upgraded enough to reach all the stars, which requires a lot of grinding or optional IAP upgrades.

Flick Home Run is a simple concept which is well-executed by Infinity Pocket. It's already provided days of  entertainment, which is a dollar well spent. With so many excellent  games available, I'm a little surprised this is in the very top rankings, but this baseball interpretation is certainly worth buying.

Flick Tennis: College Wars [99¢ / HD / HD Free] by Rolocule has come to the rescue, providing me with a challenging touch-based tennis game to conveniently carry in my pocket. The iPad version was released in August, but this review is based on the iPhone version, which has just come out. And I'm really enjoying it, because although it starts out pretty easy, the later matches are challenging and can be real nail-biters.

Three modes are provided: Story, exhibition and head-to-head multiplayer. Unfortunately, there's no tournament mode, which would have worked perfectly with this game, although story mode does tie multiple matches together in a sequence.

In story mode, you play the role of Kevin Adams, a talented young tennis prodigy who wants to succeed on court to make his wheel-chair bound father proud and to be selected for the college / university team.  Kevin's story spans 11 episodes, with 35-pages of comic-based cut-scenes between episodes (ie: about 3 pages worth per episode.)

Comic-strips and tennis are not an obvious combination, but the simple storyline works nicely enough, painting Kevin as an under-dog and explaining his motivation to win each particular match. If you're not interested in the storyline, it's easy to skip through the comics quickly to focus on the tennis. The story episodes include both single and multiplayer matches of increasing difficulty. By playing through the episodes, you unlock players, courts and subsequent episodes.

Exhibition mode includes singles or doubles matches. The doubles matches include an AI-controlled partner for you to play with. This introduces the additional challenge of ensuring the court is always covered by the two of you.  In multiplayer mode two players square off on the same device, taking turns at swiping. I didn't try this mode with another player, but it would probably work better on the larger iPad screen.

The AI opponents play intelligently, with four different styles of play (Defensive baseliner, aggressive baseliner, volleyer and all-court players). The help screen explains the traits of each style and lists some real-world examples, listing Pete Sampras as a volleyer and Roger Federer as an all-court player. The opponents also have a skill level, ranging from beginner to professional. There are 11 courts (including grass, clay and synthetic) starting with practice courts with bird noises, to sports stadiums with an appreciative applauding audience. And an umpire announces the score verbally, which adds to the tennis atmosphere.

Flick Tennis is totally designed around swipe controls, so there's no joystick or buttons cluttering the screen. You can do four different shots by swiping your finger. The basic ground-stroke is done by simply swiping upwards in the direction you want to hit the ball. The accuracy of the shot depends on how close you swipe from the position of the player and the timing. If you swipe too early, the shot will be inaccurate, but swiping too late will cause you to miss the ball entirely. Swiping downwards does a drop-shot, which is effective if the player is hanging back at the baseline.

The other two shots require two-finger swipes. A slice is done by swiping two fingers upwards. While a two-finger downwards swipe lobs the ball, which is useful for hitting the ball over a players head when they've cheekily approach the net. But be careful, because if you lob to a player at the baseline, he (or she) might SMASH the high ball back at you. Likewise you can smash it if you receive a lob in the right court position. Each of the four shots is drawn on the screen in a different color, to confirm your chosen action.

The one finger swipes are easy, but it took a little practice to nail the two finger swipes. Once you recognize that the first finger to touch the screen will draw the line, it's a lot easier to play accurate shots more consistently. Plus, there's an interactive tutorial which introduces you to the four different swipes. It also explains that you can tap the screen to walk in that direction, however the player will automatically run to the ball by default, allowing you to focus mostly on the shots unless you specifically want to run to the net, baseline, center or sides. One cool feature is that if you're running, it has a bearing on the shot, so if you draw your line early, you need consider where you'll be standing by the time you swing. Often it pays to aim a little in-court just to be safe.

A few general observations: Firstly, when two players are both at the net, the ball is sometimes hit backwards and forwards several times rapidly, with multiple sound effects in quick succession, which never occurs in real tennis and ruins the otherwise tennis-like atmosphere (only happens rarely). Secondly, there's no leaderboard or achievements, which is desirable in a competitive sporting title. My skills deserve some recognition! And lastly, the lack of tournament thing I mentioned earlier.

Flick Tennis: College Wars is a welcome addition to my iPod Touch and won't be deleted any time soon. The controls work well once you've mastered them and it's a blast to swipe a variety of shots, making the opponent run around the screen, just like I used to on the Xbox. Or some of the time I'm getting thrashed, but either way, I'm loving it. The game is currently on sale through today only, so don't hesitate to grab either version of the game for 99¢ before they return to their normal prices of $1.99 and $3.99.