When it comes to the crowded Tower Defense genre, a game truly needs to take an innovative (or extremely well-produced) approach in order to make its mark. Unfortunately, Tiny Defense [$0.99] doesn’t really satisfy this lofty goal. Sure, Tiny Defense manages to take the core gameplay of Plants vs Zombies and offer a twist on the traditional formula (as well as a vastly different setting), but it just doesn’t offer any sort of gameplay  experience that can’t be found in better games in the genre.

As mentioned above, Tiny Defense closely mimics tower defense gameplay made popular by Plants vs Zombies – gamers place various attacking and support units on the right side of the screen in order to defend against baddies coming in from the left. If any enemies get to the other side, you lose a life. Lose enough lives, and the game is over. Tiny Defense differs somewhat in its theme and perspective. Instead of plants, you control a variety of robotic units that are defended against evil (and usually much bigger) robots. Also, instead of the gameplay arena taking place from a top-down perspective, Tiny Defense has a purely 2D perspective.

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I want to tell you about Do Do EGG! [$0.99], the newest title from PONOS. They're the studio behind Mr. AahH!! [$0.99 / Lite] and several other fine titles, and I'd hate for their newest to get ignored just because it happens to a bit like a match 3. I want to tell you how tangled and twisted my brain got trying to understand this game, where matching too many of the same color is a good way to lose. I want to tell you about the impressive amount of content Do Do EGG! has, with puzzles, an arcade mode and multiplayer right out of the gate.

Instead, though, I'm trying to get this bad taste out of my mouth.

You see, Do Do EGG! is a good game. And what you get for your $0.99 isn't too shabby: 20 puzzles, one arcade mode and both single-device and Game Center multiplayer. You also have the opportunity to unlock three more arcade modes through skilled play. If you look at it in that light, the value proposition is pretty darn good.

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Cowboy Guns [$0.99 / Lite / HD / HD Lite] is probably the most generic name for a game that I’ve heard in a while. Thankfully, that faux pas is one of the worst that Chillingo’s latest offering commits. Sure, Cowboy Guns isn’t going to win any awards for innovative gameplay, and the general lack of variety accompanied by an uneven difficulty is somewhat annoying. However, Cowboy Guns does succeed at creating a decent dual-stick shooter supported by a single player story that takes you through the harsh domain of the Wild West.

Gameplay-wise, Cowboy Guns is a classic dual-stick shooter similar to Minigore. In fact, the visuals sort of have a Minigore motif as well, although the muted graphics of Cowboy Guns are not as detailed, regardless of whether you opt for the retina “HD” version or not. The main adventure mode in Cowboy Guns has you playing as “The Kid,” a former gang member turned law man that must take down his former posse when they threaten his town. Okay, the story isn’t going to turn any heads, but it’s nice to see a dual-stick shooter actually try and incorporate a full-fledged story into the game instead of the usual generic prompt accompanied by hours of mindless killing. If a cheesy narrative-based game mode isn’t for you, Cowboy Guns also has a quickplay mode that operates more like the traditional games you find in this genre (although you need to play through at least some of the adventure mode before you can unlock quick play).

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When Plushed [$0.99 / Lite] was first released, nearly two years ago now, it seemed like the start of something great. When we played the platformer we found it flawed but ambitious, a funny, lovely-looking game that was a few tweaks short of complete success. For the first App Store release from Blacksmith Games, though, it was an impressive start.

Now, following quite a gap, we have the next game under the Plushed banner: Plushed Gold Fever [Free]. And while it's good to see Blacksmith Games back at it, those of us hoping for an equally ambitious follow-up will need to keep waiting. Plushed Gold Fever is an enjoyable game, but it isn't quite a worthy successor.

Three minigames make up the meat of Plushed Gold Fever, and they're all designed around a gold rush theme. Gold-Grabber is a fast-paced claw machine, Gold-Cart is an endless runner, and Gold-Smasher is a color-matching brick breaker. They're all fun, and they're all centered around collecting gold that you can use to buy power-ups and new characters. It should come as no shock, but you can also purchase gold and skip the messy business of actually playing the game.

Between the three games, I'm partial to Gold-Smasher. It's not outstandingly original, but it's fun. Mineral bricks fill the play area and you can smash any group of two or more, causing more to fall into place and filling a progress bar. As you level up more block types are introduced, making it ever-harder to proceed. The game only grants you a minute per level, so a screen filled with mismatched blocks is a quick trip to failure.

Gold-Grabber is all about timing and aim. A claw rotates on a static mine cart, and tapping launches it straight outwards. You earn points by grabbing gold and other valuables, but stones, bats and other obstacles slow you down. This mode is on the same timer system as Gold-Smasher, so a lack of precision can hurt.

In Gold-Cart, your character of choice climbs into a runaway mine cart and travels as far as possible. Your input is limited to swipes -- up to jump and down to duck. There are occasional tricky bits, but you're most likely to be killed by something that appeared on screen too late for you to react to than any particular challenge. Or, if you're stuck on an older device, you may fall prey to slow performance.

In all of these games you earn coins that can be put toward power-ups. These are consumable, but they're relatively inexpensive and can save you from certain death. You can also unlock two alternate characters. You also collect plush toys while you play, and these tell a bit of a story in the game's Library.

I've had a good time with Plushed Gold Fever, but on the whole it falls flat. There's nothing here to push it beyond mindless entertainment. A hefty selection of Game Center achievements and leaderboards may motivate the meta-gamers, and attractive art and good music keep things from becoming too dull. It's just that it's no Plushed, and it's not interesting enough on its own merits to make up for that failing. But for the price, it's a reasonably fun package, one that our forum users have enjoyed as well.

By the unspoken law of videogames, a sequel tends to follow at least a full year after the original, but in the case of HotGen's To-Fu: The Trials of Chi [99¢/ HD], it has been less than six months before we're seeing the follow-up, aptly titled, To-Fu 2 [99¢]. You wouldn’t think much could happen in just those few short months, but what To-Fu 2 lacks in artistic changes, it makes up for in level design chops.

In a lot of ways, it would have been easy to pull a Madden 12 on To-Fu 2 because, for the most part, this is the same game as it was before. The art, music, sound effects, and everything else are pulled from the original. That is, except for one single new feature: you can now charge To-Fu and send him rocketing through wood blockades.

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Boiling down the themes of uber-profitable App Store games yields a single undeniable fact of the universe: animals are lazy. The birds can be as angry as they like, but they don’t seem to do a thing about the pigs on their own. It’s only when you launch them out of slingshots that they take action. The gormless Om Nom would starve to death if it weren’t for you rewarding his horribly sedentary lifestyle with candy by cutting the rope. Let’s face it. You’re all a bunch of enablers.

However, since your co-dependent tendencies aren’t likely to change any time soon, it’s as good a time as any to take a look at yet another creature lacking motivation in Swing the Bat [99¢]. Published by Chillingo and created by Deadbug, the game draws in numerous elements from many recently successful iOS games.

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Ever have one of those games that you desperately want to hate but can’t? You know there are better games on your phone and that by all definitions you’re essentially wasting your time by playing it, yet you can’t seem to escape the grind. That’s Pygmies-Hoglet [$.99]. It’s the digital equivalent of a menthol cigarette: it’s in no way what you originally planned to smoke, but the flavor is weird enough to see you through while you get your fix.

I don’t want to come across too harshly, but in good conscience I need to spell out up front that this game may quickly turn off some folks. That disclaimer behind us, this game has an innocent, playful charm I can’t seem to shake and some simple tweaks to classic RPG mechanics that kept me from dwelling on its shortcomings. If you liked the movie Rudy even ironically, you may consider giving this scrappy underdog (underhog?) a try.

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Steampunk-themed programs have done pretty well on the App Store. Games such as Gears [$1.99] have certainly demonstrated the viability of incorporating that sort of fantasy/mechanic aesthetic into a game. ArkanoArena [$1.99 / Lite / HD] is the latest game to incorporate the fantasy/steampunk motif, this time in a brickbreaker. While I think ArkanoArena definitely nails the steampunk visuals, issues with the controls may turn off some folks.

Before we get started, a quick history lesson on ArkanoArena. It was originally released as an iPad-only game back in early January. A “free” version of ArkanoArena then appeared on the App Store for the iPhone in July as a prelude to the full version of the game, which came out last week. This full version of ArkanoArena for iPhone includes more levels (or “Arenas”) as well as a third weapon that wasn’t in the main gameplay mode of the free version.

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If this review had the same layout as Avalon Wars [Free], here’s how you would get a feel for what the game is like. First, you’d go to the reviewer’s home base screen. For now, ignore the individual game-mechanic analysis buildings titled Combat, Resource Management, Base Building, Troop/Hero Development, and MMO Elements; we’ll come back to those later in the tutorial. To start, simply click on the Review Overview Command Center. Once on the Overview Command Center screen, you’ll select the Review Introduction tab. Choose “Two Paragraphs” as your option from the Review Length sub-menu.

Now, exit the Command Center and scroll over to the Reviewers’ Barracks. Enter the Barracks and select my name from the list of recruited reviewers. Drill down into the Writing Skills menu and click the sub-menu tab for Add New Skill. Spend 30 TAPs (TouchArcade Points) to activate the skill “Analogy Synopsis”. If you lack the necessary TAPs to activate the skill, a modest in-browser purchase will get you more to speed up the process. Now, launch the reviewer and see him crank out a brief overview of the experience of playing Avalon Wars in the style of Avalon Wars.

If you’re still reading at this point, you may just be the kind of person who will love the hell out of this game.

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It seems like physics-based puzzlers are always popular with fans of iOS games, but the genre is undoubtedly saturated. Mikrotie's take on it is prettier than most -- in fact, graphics are likely to be the first thing to suck you into Treemaker [$0.99], which has a modern, atmospheric look to it that certainly is easy on the eyes. I admit that I am totally a sucker for extremely pretty games, so I was interested to see if Treemaker could offer great gameplay to accompany its uncommonly good looks.

Some iOS games like to supply a story, but Treemaker doesn't bother, and it's just as well. You play a silent, smiling character who uses frondlike arms to swing from platform to platform in each level, collecting orbs,setting smaller creatures free as you go and planting trees in the process. The levels are very short ( I admit I would have enjoyed it if they were longer), and each gives you the opportunity to score one, two or three stars, depending on how you play the level. You have an unlimited number of connections at your disposal when it comes to casting your branchy arms about, but only certain connections that allow you to score three stars in each level, so there is replay value in figuring out the best way to play each level.

Touch controls are very responsive, but getting the swing of things (yeah, I went there) takes some practice if you don't have a lot of experience with physics-based titles. The movement is pitch perfect, and after you learn to control the treemaker, you'll be swinging him all over the place to land on the platforms you want. You can also pinch the screen to zoom in or out, which makes it easier for you to plan your next move rather than go sailing of finto the abyss.

While Treemaker is a lot of fun to play and really lovely to look at, I have to admit that I was disappointed with the lack of variety when it came to the appearance of the levels. The level design is great as far as gameplay goes, but the look of the levels only changes by way of color, and there are only a total of four platforms in the game to land on. Some new elements are introduced as you progress, such as exploding blocks and spring blocks, but the game feels like it could have benefitted from a wider variety of things to do.

The other letdown in Treemaker is that it has absolutely no online compatibility, so you can't share your scores with friends with GameCenter or any other similar service. Considering the scoring aspect, I think this would have made it more fun. The game itself has a great vibe, and I enjoyed my time with it, but it feels like the ball was dropped when it came to the social elements that people seem to enjoy in iOS titles. Achievements would have been great oto and given the game more of a replay value. In other words, what's there is great, but if you play these types of games often, you can't help but see the missed opportunities that feel as if they should have been fleshed out.

Sometimes with a multiplayer game, simplicity is the best way to go. It makes it so friends and family can pick up a game and play with little explanation and in turn, you can all jump into having fun with little setup. Sandstorm Interactive's iPad-only title, S.U.B. Steampunk Underwater Battles [$1.99] does just that.

For most, all you'll need to know is that you're in control of a submarine and your goal is to kill your friends, who are also in control of submarines. Each of the four different submarines has a different weapons loadout and require different strategies to be successful. You get a good variety of control options to fit your needs, but considering you only control the left and right turns, a tap to shoot and a few buttons for special attacks, most of the options should be just fine for everyone. Which brings us to rule number one of enjoying S.U.B.: find three friends with iPhones.

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Like Tower Defense, one of the genres that saw a resurgence with the advent of iOS gaming is the ‘Sniper’ genre. Typically relegated to the flash games scene, the touch screen, accelerometer and gyroscopic controls of iOS devices seemed like a natural fit for Sniper games. This lead to an explosion of a wide variety of titles that all sought to put you behind the scope of a sniper rifle.

Hired Gun 3D [$0.99], the newest game from Triniti Interactive, is the latest Sniper game to hit the market. Described as a sequel to Triniti’s previous stick-figured sniper title, Hired Gun 3D lookes to up the ante with a revamped graphics engine as well as some improvements to the general gameplay. While it does end up as a marked improvement on its predecessor in an assortment of different ways, Hired Gun 3D fails to differentiate itself from the rest of the Sniper crowd.

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Sometimes it seems as if there’s nothing more ubiquitous than a game of electronic Solitaire. Even a quick glance at the App Store will yield pages upon pages of Solitaire titles of every kind of variation, theme, and quality. With this much competition new players to the field are going to have to distinguish themselves in order to earn the attention of gamers looking for a Solitaire fix. Solitaire by Backflip [Free / HD], one of the latest entries in the overcrowded Solitaire field, doesn’t particularly offer anything that hasn’t already been seen in this sub-genre. However, what it does offer is a solid card experience with incentive to continue playing, provided you aren’t put off by the prevalence of in-game ads.

You won’t find a multitude of different types of Solitaire in this title. Rather, Solitaire by Backflip only has 1 and 3-card draw. In addition, you can either play with ‘Normal’ or ‘Vegas’ rules (the latter only allowing you to run through the whole deck only once before the game ends). Solitaire also has four different themes, two of which must be unlocked by collecting a certain amount of in-game coins that are earned by making successful card moves and completing a whole game. While the coin amounts for unlocking the themes did seem high, by my calculation you’d have to win approximately 10 games on normal rules in order to earn enough coins for a theme unlock, which seems fair enough to me. Of course, additional coins are available as IAP should you decide you don’t want to play the game.

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Cedar Hills Games' Emissary of War [Free] has a lot to live up to. As we've already covered in our preview and our interview with CEO and former BioWare employee Tobyn Manthorpe, the game has a pedigree that's going to be hard to live up.

The core of Emissary of War lies in a simplified isometric hack-and-slash. Control is handled by tapping the screen where you want to go and your character, Ghent, moves there. Simple enough, right? But iOS games never seem to get this modest system right, no matter how hard they try. Thankfully, EoW nails it and it feels natural -- no pathfinding issues to speak of and Ghent moves exactly where you tell him.

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One of my favorite genres is the adventure genre, since I was brought up on games like Shadowgate, Zork and Myst. So I admit that before even starting Cryptic Keep [$1.99], I was already rubbing my hands together in anticipation over the idea of it. A deserted castle? Stubborn puzzles to solve? Mysterious music? Why, maybe there would even be the useless combining of items that make no sense together! Wait, what's the appeal of this genre again?

All jokes aside, though, Cryptic Keep looked like a possibly watered down, but still interesting adventure title. You begin the game at the doors of a great castle which was locked down by a royal old dude named King Telvonus, but of course, the Sword of Ire is inside (why he would leave it there instead of taking it on his journey for protection is anyone's guess), and its up to you to get it. Ah, flimsy iOS stories, how do we love thee? Or rather, how do we ignore thee as we barrel past you in favor of the gameplay.

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