Agharta Studio's interactive adventure 1112 Episode 01 [App Store] has just gone live on the App Store.

We previously highlighted this new game, which appears to be a very ambitious interactive adventure.

Take a journey to explore this intriguing mystery and discover the reasons behind his constant headaches and strange dreams. Meet a bunch of colorful characters, dive into bizarre situations until an unpredictable event occurs and turns everything upside down!

The game features hand drawn artwork for the scenes and hundreds of sound effects. Players can utilize the iPhone’s touch interface to interact with all visible objects (open, move, examine, etc…) and even multi-touch zoom and rotate certain 3D objects. The developer has been active in our forums and describes the game as installments of a TV show:

Think of it like a popular TV show instead (Lost for exemple) Each episode is a stand alone game starting with a "previously on 1112" and a recap of what happened Of course there will be improvement made in each episode (we already have tons of ideas) in the user interface of new way to do things...

An early gameplay video is provided, but the developer says a new and updated Trailer is in the works:

The game is on sale for an introductory price of $7.99 (normally $9.99).

App Store Link: 1112 Episode 01, $7.99

Danielle Cassley and Jason Citron's sequel to their popular game Aurora Feint has been released to the App Store. Aurora Feint II: The Arena brings multi-player online action to the puzzle game. Features include:

• Real-time asynchronous player vs. player dueling
• Continuous personal news feed
• A thriving multi-player community
• Powerful new character classes
• Player profiles with walls
• Friend and global leaderboards
• Amazingly beautiful artwork and particle effects

We previously detailed the unique asynchronous play in which you leave "ghost sessions" on the server for others to challenge.

The game is on sale for an introductory price of $7.99 through Christmas with a regular price of $9.99.

App Store Link: Aurora Feint II: The Arena, $7.99

Gameloft has provided a gameplay video for their new Uno title we reported the other day.

Overall, the iPhone version of Uno is relatively well implemented, but one of its most compelling features is Online Multi-player play. This means that aside from playing over local Wi-Fi, you can reach out to play others on the internet. (Because, let's be realistic, how many of you are sitting out there playing iPhone games with others in the same room.)

There were no players available when we tested this on the first day of its release, but just today were able to play a few games with some random internet players. Note that you must be on a Wi-Fi connection to play online.

App Store Link: UNO, $7.99

Gameloft has just released UNO [App Store] through the iTunes App Store, an iPhone adaptation of Mattel's highly popular Crazy Eights-style card game.

Play the classic card game that's #1 for fun with friends and family. In single or multiplayer, playing UNO has never been so fun and easy, thanks to a brand new gameplay system! Simply drag & drop cards using your finger on the screen for intuitive control, and be the first to get rid of all your cards.

• All your favorite Action Cards are here: Wild, Reverse, Draw 2 and more!
• Customize your game with 9 different rules including 7-0 and Jump-in.
• Play against the AI or your friends: use only one iPhone or play with multiple devices through a WiFi connection
• Take on increasingly hard challenges in Tournament Mode.

App Store Link: UNO, $7.99

Vivendi Games Mobile released their virtual island game to the App Store last night: Virtual Villagers [App Store]. As one might expect from a major publisher, the game is very well polished and seems to offer a pleasant amount of depth and story-line.

The game starts with castaways landing on a desert island. The game quickly walks you through how to influence the villagers and help them gather food and build shelter. Villagers can be tasked to do a number of chores, including gathering food, building shelter, performing research and more.

Research allows your villagers to build tools and make discoveries that are necessary to further develop their civilization. There also appear to be a number of mysteries on the island that you must uncover. Washed ashore message bottles slowly unravel a story-line from a person named Tito.

Since the game has just been released, we haven't been able to get far in this virtual world, but first impressions are quite positive. Forum readers have been discussing the game and their responses have also been very good.

Unique to this game, however, is that your villagers continue to work, live and play while you are away, so it adds a Tamagotchi-like aspect to it. Fpugirl describes her early experience with the game:

I picked up this game last night and played it for a few hours. This morning I was excited to see that the 3 babies that had been born last night are now in their teens and going to a school that the villagers built. I have unlocked quite a few of the mini games and they are easy at first but increase with difficulty. I also had my first person die this morning. That's when I found out that you need to keep everyone alive, or able to produce, to win/continue the game.

The game has a type of Sims feel to it but it's definitely different in that you can walk away and they keep living (however there is an option to freeze the game, should you be away for more than a few days).

The game also includes simple "mini games" which you can play to accelerate your villager's tasks. Early examples of these include memory games and food gathering games.

While simply watching this game isn't particularly interesting, but this video should give you an idea of gameplay and the overall polish:

The game is available in the App Store for $7.99 and the early response seem to indicate the game is worth it.

App Store Link: Virtual Villagers

Ever since Kroll was demoed at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference, we've been looking forward to Digital Legend's 3D adventure game. The teaser video was quite impressive but the gameplay was a bit of a mystery.

We've since been able to spend some time with the game and while we found it to be one of the most visually appealing games on the iPhone, the actual gameplay is a bit lacking. In many ways, it reminds us of our experience with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Both games offer a high level of polish with impressive visual effects, but gameplay is a bit too simplified and short for our taste.

In Kroll you play the hero in a side-scrolling 3D environment. The objective of the game is to defeat your enemies across 3 stages to "learn the secret behind the legend of Kroll". The gameplay, however, is quite simple. Virtual buttons on to the left and right of the screen allow you to move forward, quick swing and hard swing in either direction. There is no jumping. You are either moving your character forward/backward or swinging at your enemies. There is a special attack that can be invoked at times by shaking your iPhone.

Levels are rather short and there's simply not enough of a feeling that you are actually participating in the game. At the end of each stage, there is a "boss" to fight. Here, the game trades off visual effects for gameplay. The boss fights are essentially long cinematic cut scenes. What decides if you win or lose the fight simply depends on tapping on the skull icon that appears on screen. If you are quick enough to tap on the fleeting icon, the cut scene branches in your favor.

The game does offer 3 levels of difficulty with the most difficult level "locked" initially. The developers estimate a total game time of one to two hours.

With its short game time and simplistic gameplay, we find it hard to recommend this title at its $7.99 asking price. Overall, the game provides an impressive glimpse at the level iPhone gaming could achieve, but the gameplay doesn't quite match up to the visuals.

This gameplay video provided by Pockergamer.co.uk shows the completion of the first level of stage 1 and a good bit of level 2. There are 3 stages total with 3 levels each.

That was quick. After just profiling Digital Legend's side-scrolling fighter, Kroll [App Store] has appeared in the App Store.

The developer provides the following feature list:

• KROLL will immerse gamers in amazing 3-D action with its groundbreaking technology built explicitly for iPhone touch screen with its full graphics capabilities.
• Epic environments enhance the iPhone gameplay experience, with hectic fighting at the mountainside, inside molten magma mines, and high above active volcano in magical floating prison. To learn the secret behind the legend of KROLL, gamers must conquer mythic enemies and creatures.
• Bash’n’Crush your way through nine hectic levels destroying ever increasing amount of enemy hordes and play through awesome cinematic boss battles.
• Extend your experience through 3 difficulty level (Normal, Hard and Insane) for more and more crushing action. Scoring system keeps track of your progress.
• iPhone and iPod touch special features: Use the accelometer of your device to activate special attacks and the touch screen for controlling your character.

One of the very first iPhone jailbreak games I played was Raging Thunder [App Store], a 3D racer from Polarbit.  It was rough around the edges, sported a rather crude menu interface, and was perhaps the most impressive iPhone game available at the time.  That was months ago, and since then the iTunes App Store and iPhone 2.0 have arrived, making iPhone gaming "official."  And thanks to Polarbit's recent App Store release, Raging Thunder is now official as well.

Happily, the new Raging Thunder is far more polished than the the original, jailbreak incarnation.

Like the recently released Asphalt 4, Raging Thunder is more of an arcade racer than a racing simulator such as Gran Turismo.  The focus here is on "speed, accessibility and fun" as opposed to real world physics.  Because of this, steering the vehicle (which can be handled via tilt or touch control) and keeping away from walls and opponents is rather easy--perhaps a little too easy.

Raging Thunder offers several modes of play.  In Quick Race, the player is thrown into a car and onto the track with no options to be selected.  Arcade mode lets the driver pick a vehicle and places it at the start of the first track for a track-to-track race that simpy requires that the driver make every checkpoint under the clock.  Championship mode has the player create a profile and allows track-to-track progression based on finish-line ranking.  In Championship mode, cash icons can be collected on the tracks and used to purchase vehicle upgrades.  Time Attack mode challenges the driver to achieve the fastest track-time on any track unlocked in Championship Mode.  And finally, Multiplayer mode allows up to four players to compete on the same WiFi network.  In Multiplayer mode, one player hosts the game while the others join.

There are 10 tracks in all and in any play mode tracks are spotted with both skull and lightning bolt icons.  Lightning bolts increase the level of the driver's boost bar which, when tapped, delivers a temporary speed boost.  Skulls are to be avoided, as contact with a skull drains the driver's boost bar or, if empty, slows the vehicle to a crawl for five seconds.  There is also a tackle bar that glows when an opponent is near.  Pressing it causes the driver's vehicle to smash into the close-proximity opponent, sending him flying.

Unlike the early, jailbreak incarnation of Raging Thunder, the App Store release runs only in landscape mode.

Raging Thunder is a fun racer that provides a particularly satisfying sense of speed, magnified by the blur / rushing wind visual effects that present themselves at high speeds.  The graphics are impressive (especially given that the game is only a 2.8MB install) and the framerate is solid.  As mentioned earlier, the vehicle can be kept on the road with particular ease, especially in tilt mode.  This diminishes the game's challenge to some degree as compared to certain other iPhone racers.  While GTS World Racing offers superior control (likely the best of any iPhone racer), Raging Thunder's over-simplified controls are preferable to Asphalt 4's more difficult control system.

The v1.0.0 release suffers from an unfortunate audio bug (that can be observed in our demo video) in which, after completing a track or going to the menu mid-game, the sound cuts out entirely, only to return after a few laps.  This will surely be addressed in a near-term update, however.

If arcade racers are your thing--especially if you find the typical iPhone racer difficult to control--Raging Thunder might be worth a look.

Punch Entertainment has released Reign of Swords [$7.99, App Store] for the iPhone. Reign of Swords is an online multiplayer game that can also be played on your PC.

The game is described by the developers:

Engage in epic online battles with a customized army in a fantasy world of magic, steel and strategy. Build up your army by gaining troops, technology & magic through engaging campaign missions that feature fortress sieges, ambushes, stealth attacks and huge open-field clashes. Then battle your friends online! Receive in-game rewards such as new units & technology each week based on your score in a kingdom. Play on your iPhone & PC.

Reviews for the mobile version of the game for other handsets appear to be glowing. Pocketgamer's review describes the game as "fantastic":

Set in a fictitious but familiar world of knights and realms, most of the action focuses on a simple system of turns. During your go you can move each unit of troops across a two-dimensional battlefield according to their range, also unleashing their particular brand of attack on an enemy. Once you're done, the opposition has its go, and so on until a territory is taken.

Meanwhile, IGN also had high praise for the mobile version of the game describing it as "an exceptionally deep game".

The iPhone version is selling at an introductory price of $7.99 (normally $9.99) for a limited time. An off-line version of the game is also offered if you are away from an internet connection.

App Store: Reign of Swords

The developers of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart have released a new racing title to the App Store called Raging Thunder [App Store]. The $7.99 title claims to be a "coin-op style racing game" and boasts having "the most breathtaking 3D graphics on the iPhone yet."

Features listed by the developer include:

• WiFi multiplayer
• State-of-the art 3D graphics
• Boost, draft and tackling physics
• Customizable controls

There is a lot of competition amongst racers in the App Store. We had felt that Nitro Kart offered the best "kart racing" experience on the iPhone, so we'll be interested to see their take on a more traditional racer. Raging Thunder has existed for some time in Jailbroken form.

Amongst the other racers currently available, we favored Asphalt 4 Elite Racing over GTS World Racing, Pole Position Remix, and Moto Chaser (formerly Moto Racer). Another notable upcoming title is Need For Speed: Undercover.

We'll provide a full review once we have spent some time with this title.

EA is starting to experiment more with price flexibility by putting Scrabble [App Store] on sale for $7.99. The app is normally priced at $9.99 but is on sale for "a limited time." EA had similarly dropped Tetris from $9.99 to $7.99 (though on a permanent basis).

The most recent Scrabble update has introduced Wi-Fi networking as well as improved game stability and sound quality.

Scrabble is popular word game in which players form words from individual lettered tiles. Words are formed in horizontal or vertical rows with scoring based on which letters are used.

The iPhone version of Scrabble has been reasonably well reviewed, so the discounted price and Wi-Fi option may provide some additional incentive for readers to make the jump.

Handmark has released an update to GTS World Racing [$7.99, App Store] for the iPhone, which we recently reviewed.  Version 1.00.06 is presently available for download through the iTunes App Store.

New in this release:

• Updated graphics
• Improved vehicle sound effects
• General bug fixes

The developer has provided an updated gameplay video that reflects the latest version of the game.

Handmark informs us that a larger update that will bring additional features to the game is currently in development and will be released in the not-too-distant future.

Two prominent games have seen price drops today:

EA's popular Tetris [App Store] game dropped in price from $9.99 to $7.99. EA's Tetris is a reasonable implementation of the game for the iPhone. We previously took a look at the game. With the recent removal of Tris from the App Store, this may tempt you to get the full "official" version of Tetris for a bit less than its original price.

Freeverse's Big Bang Sudoku [App Store] has also dropped in price from $4.99 to $2.99. If you're still looking for a solid Sudoku game, Big Bang Sudoku was one of the top Sudoku picks from Macworld. This version of Sudoku offers a shiny interface and offers 10,000 levels across four difficulty levels.

It seems like we've been talking about Funky Punch [$7.99, App Store] a lot in the past few days. The reason for the interest is that Funky Punch brings a new genre to the iPhone -- a fighting game.

Set in an alternate universe where dancing recharges your energy, Funky Punch lives up to its name and is a solid addition to iPhone gaming.

The game is a reasonably straightforward 3D fighting game which uses on screen buttons to control the action. While I've been quite critical of touch screen buttons in the past, their use in Funky Punch seems natural and does not detract from the gameplay. While unrecognized presses still occur, due to the constantly changing circumstances during a fight, one missed move isn't a game-ending event like it can be in other genres.

The D-Pad on the left of the screen controls your type and direction of attacks while the buttons on the right side of the screen represent J (jump), A (attack) and B (block). Combinations of both buttons can be used for special moves and special attacks. Special attacks use up your Funky Flow, and the only way to recharge is to dance (another button combo). Dancing, however, leaves you vulnerable to attack. The controls are easy to pick up so you don't have to waste a lot of time before you are able to start playing the game.

Funky Punch has 8 distinct fighters with their own fighting styles, 5 different scenes, and 4 different gaming modes. The primary gaming modes include Quest, Trial, Survival, and Emotimania. The game also provides a nice tutorial mode to get you used to the controls.

Overall, I was impressed by the level of polish and finish to the game. Unlike so many iPhone gaming releases we've seen, Funky Punch is clearly a finished product.

The gameplay itself is also very enjoyable and it was easy to get sucked into a prolonged session. The gaming modes, however, are not very well described. Quest and Trial appear to be 10 fight sessions. Quest requires you to win sequential fights to continue, while Trial keeps track of your 10 fight record. Both Quest and Trial modes seemed too easy and I was able to win both of them in my first session.

Funky Punch keeps track of high scores for each character and for each mode, and expects that attaining higher scores will motivate ongoing gameplay. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but high scores don't generally motivate me in a fighting game. I generally want to fight progressively harder opponents until I get beat or I win the game. Fortunately, Funky Punch does offer Survival mode which can somewhat fulfill this masochistic desire. In Survival mode you keep fighting until you're beat, but your health does not fully recover after each fight. This makes for a much more challenging game.

The Survival mode as well as ability to choose from eight different fighters brings plenty of replay value to the game. Along with its overall polish and fun gameplay, it's easy to recommend this title.

The developers have provided this gameplay video which provides a good overview:

Solus Games' Funky Punch [App Store] is now available in the App Store for $7.99.

Funky Punch is one of the first fighting games for the iPhone which we first described in a story over the weekend.

The developer describes the game:

Get funky with FUNKY PUNCH, one of the first fighting games for iPhone/iTouch. Run, Jump, Kick, and Punch your way to victory in this action packed, 3D fighter. Train and test your fighter in a tutorial mode, then go to battle against other funky phenoms using Special and Super Attacks and power up your fighter in battle through dynamic.

We've spent only a very brief time with the game so will reserve our final judgements. First impressions show a well executed game with no show stoppers. The on screen buttons don't seem to be a deterrent in gameplay, but we're not yet certain about the long term playability. Solus Games, of course, promises that the local high score tracking "will keep you coming back".

This video provided by the developer shows the gameplay:

Thanks VeganTnT