Konami has released the latest version of Pro Evolution Soccer for the iPhone and strangely enough, the cover for PES 2011 features one half of the stars on the cover of the 2010 version. Lionel Messi stands alone here, without Fernando Torres. In any case, check out the press release below for further details on what this new version holds:

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2011 NOW AVAILABLE ON iPHONE™ AND iPOD® TOUCH: KONAMI’s Acclaimed Football Series Scores on Apple Smart Phones

KONAMI has released a version of its popular PES 2011 football simulation for iPhone™ and iPod® touch users. The new game is the most realistic football title available for the Apple units, and is available from the App Store.

Retaining the key elements of total control and freedom that are at the core of its console counterparts, PES 2011 for iPhone and iPod touch is a stunning football simulation, boasting an incredible level of movement and visual detail. The new game has been designed in consultation with the PES community, and features a number of key advances that add further realism to the acclaimed series.

Advanced realism is offered via all-new AI routines that give the player more control over play. This greater level of control includes moves such as bicycle kicks, diving headers, and more, while the big match feel is enhanced via new graphical touches that include cut scenes detailing refereeing decisions and goal celebrations. PES 2011 also benefits from new stadiums, pitches and weather effects, which bring the game to vivid life.

PES 2011 also offers a new multi-player option, wherein users can challenge friends anywhere and at any time, using local Wi-Fi or Bluetooth options to take each other on. KONAMI has also extended the number of tournaments within the game, with a number of exclusive UEFA club competitions now added, including the UEFA Champions League™ and UEFA Europa League™, while victory in these allows entry to the UEFA Super Cup Final™.

PES 2011 is available now for $6.99 from the App Store on iPhone™ and iPod® touch or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore/

I saw the update for Shady Puzzle (iPhone) (check out my review here) yesterday on the App Store and I promptly downloaded it, with the jack-o-lantern being the new logo for the game during the Halloween period. Check out details on this free update in the Press Release below:

Shady Puzzles: Halloween Pack Now Available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch: Spooky Expansion Pack Free Update for Existing Users; Lite Version Also Offered

(SINGAPORE) – October 25, 2010 – LambdaMu Games today introduced its 6th Puzzle Pack to its popular Shady Puzzles: Super Compilation App for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.  Shady Puzzles: Halloween Pack is now available as a free update for existing users and is on sale until November 1st for $0.99.  A lite version has also been released on all iOS devices.

A cross between Sudoku and Minesweeper, Shady Puzzles is a logic game that is deceptively simple: to correctly shade in blank squares. However, players must follow numerical rules for each row and column, leaving a certain number of spaces between each shaded square, as well as limiting the number of squares they shade in. Quirky doodle-style graphics and additional puzzle modes add to the fun, offering hours of challenging gameplay.

Shady Puzzles: Halloween comes with 36 new puzzles for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The HD version comes with an additional 13 super-sized puzzles to take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen. Additional Game Center Achievements has also been included across all iOS devices. Players can look forward to releases of more puzzle packs in the coming months.

To download Shady Puzzles, please visit http://www.lambdamugames.com/games/shady-puzzle and click on the App Store button.

I’ll be honest here, the first several levels of the tower defense game, 4 Towers: Episode 2 “Evolution”, on the iPhone didn’t really impress me, what with fixed tower placement and seemingly low level number of tower types. The game however started to open up and I’m actually thankful that I played on over the weekend. It turns out that the fixed tower placement allowed for one thing: pairing of the 4 basic tower types with one another to create even more powerful towers.

Players are given four basic tower types, the first one specialising in damage per second (DPS), the second one slows creeps, the third delivers splash damage, and the fourth, amplifies the damage received by the targeted creep. Mixing these towers up into pairs will create long range laser towers, freeze towers, super fast firing towers and even area effect pulse towers that deliver damage to anything within the area. Any combination will have a positive effect but whether you should use a particular pairing at a particular location will be determined mainly by what kind of creeps you are facing.

I was really impressed at this juncture at how the later levels are designed to leverage on pairing towers together. Some allow for quite a number of pairings to happen, and at least one level will have you handicapped at just one pairing, making it necessary to change tower pairings on the fly depending on the creep that approaches. This makes for an exciting gameplay experience IMHO.  The game’s graphics style is somewhat similar to that of GeoDefense but minus the flashy particle effects. The soundtrack is serviceable but really now, the main reason you are gonna get into the game is the gameplay.

Each level has three difficulty modes. As far as I can see, changing the difficult mode determines how much gold you start with. The gold is used to purchase new towers and also to upgrade towers. The difficulty mode also has a direct relation to whether you’ll get swamped in the early mid game. LOL.

Besides the unique tower pairing system, 4Towers is the first time I see a game go on social gaming overkill. This game has BOTH OpenFeint and Game Center support which gets a little weird sometimes in terms of presentation. I’m a Game Center guy so to the developers of 4Towers spare the unnecessary overload here and choose one! On the plus side, the devs are releasing episodic content from time to time. The current update brings Episode 2, with a whole bunch of new levels to play in and as far as I can tell, this episodic content is free!

4Towers is probably one of the better iPhone games that I’ve played in the past couple of months, and it’s just shows that one shouldn’t judge a game by its initial levels, one just needs to dig in a little deeper. Check out the game over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/4towers-episode-2-evolution/id366758940?mt=8. Highly Recommended!

The guys from Miniclip, the ones behind one of the top paid iPhone games, Fragger, dropped by my e-mail to inform me that the game is also the very first iPhone application with Retina Display graphics download-able from within the app itself. Normally what developers will do would be to bundle in Retina Display optimised graphics in game updates, making users re-download entire games. The guys at Miniclip however do it different.

After downloading the game on the iPhone 4 or a fourth generation iPod touch, players will have an option within the game to upgrade the graphics to be Retina Display optimised. This will then trigger a download to update the graphics to HD. The rationale behind this is that the game’s binary, or footprint, will be kept small (19.4 MB) and users of old devices need not spend time or space to download the additional 70 MB of RD optimised graphics that they’ll be not using.

Pretty cool huh? Here’s a little bit more info on the game itself: Fragger is a top selling physics game (kinda reminds me of  Worms if you watch the trailer above) that has been the number 1 paid app in UK and occupied the 2nd place in the paid app chart in the USA. It will be reaching an amazing 1 million paid downloads in the next few weeks having sold 950,000 at the moment. It currently has 130 unique levels, Game Center support, Retina Graphics and a huge followers community.

Check out Fragger over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fragger/id373046496?mt=8

One of the better MMO FPS out there for the iPhone, Archetype‘s latest update not only brings about a new USD 0.99 price point, but also Game Center, a new online story campaign and an option to purchase a DLC, dubbed as Chapter 2 of the online story campaign which also carries 6 new arenas, and the long awaited Capture-the-Flag (CTF) game mode for just USD 2.99. Check out the following press release for further details:

Double the iPwnage, Double the Fun: Explosive New Content for Archetype Adds New Modes, New Arenas, and Game Center. Highly-rated iPhone Online FPS from Villain Gets New $.99 Price, Adds Update with Game Center, Online Story Campaign, and DLC Featuring New Environments, Arenas, and Capture the Flag Mode

San Francisco, CA – October 22, 2010 – Villain™, an independent publisher of fiendishly entertaining portable game titles, announced today the release of major update with new features and explosive new in-app paid downloadable content (DLC) for Archetype, its top-selling and critically acclaimed online first-person shooter game for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The free update for the core game adds full Game Center support with multiplayer matching, Achievements, and Leaderboards, a new online multiplayer story mode, and a new Shotgun Arena among other improvements. In conjunction with the update, Villain announced a new lower price of just $.99 for Archetype, a savings of 66%.

“Players asked for more levels, Capture-the-Flag, and Game Center support, and we listened,” said Dane Baker, Lead Producer at Villain. “Gamers can now experience iPwnage with an unfolding story as they explore new maps located throughout the galaxy, wage war to bring home the flag, and take full advantage of Game Center to join matches, earn Achievements, and follow Leaderboards.”

The update’s multiplayer story mode takes players through the game’s original seven levels that comprise Chapter One of the Archetype adventure. The unfolding story is unlocked through Campaign online play and revealed to the player through logs and messages addressed to the player’s combat tag. After the update is installed, players have the option to purchase the DLC, which comprises a Chapter Two of the online multiplayer story mode as well as delivering six new game arenas, doubling the number available in the core game, and the much-requested new Capture the Flag game mode. The DLC pack, which costs US$2.99 in the US App Store, includes the following new content and features:

Capture the Flag mode: Battle it out with 10 players to capture the other team’s flag in new open arenas. And when you have the flag, you’re not defenseless—bludgeon your enemies with the new flag weapon.

• Three new Environments, including the game’s first outdoor map: Crimson Moon (Outdoor Mining Base of Torim Kafto), Aqua Lock (Derelict Dam on Thata Prime) and Obsidian Skirmish (Military Deep Space Transport)
• Six new Arenas for Team Deathmatch (TDM) and Capture the Flag (CTF) play:
  • Crimson Moon TDM: Open arena perfect for precision sniping
  • Crimson Moon CTF: Avoid the deadly lava
  • Aqua Lock TDM: Multiple elevations, open areas, and water
  • Aqua Lock CTF: Use the waterways to confuse your pursuers
  • Obsidian Skirmish: Fight your way through the Obsidian in traditional TDM
  • Avarice CTF: Defend your flag in this revisited vertical arena

The update and the new pricing make an unbeatable combination both for new players, who can try out Archetype for less than one dollar, and for veteran players, who can re-experience the game in story mode or add a double-size portion of Archetype goodness with new levels and a killer new game mode. Archetype HD for iPad will get a similar content and feature update in the coming weeks.

Archetype was developed by MunkyFun, and published by Villain. For more information, visit villainhq.com/archetype

PlayFirst, the makers behind Diner Dash on the iPhone, as well as Cooking Dash on the Mac and PC are jumping on the Halloween bandwagon with updates to its most popular titles, dubbed “The Monster Dash”. Hehe. Even the PR e-mail announcing these updates that I received this morning had a cheeky Halloween twist to it. Check it out:

To celebrate the holiday, PlayFirst is offering themed updates and all-new content for a few of their favorite frightful titles. Why not order up a spooky serving of Diner Dash on the iPhone, with an all new restaurant, the Spooky Saloon? Also, the recently released (not deceased!) Cooking Dash 3: Thrills & Spills, for PC and Mac, gives Flo the terrifying task of running the silly but sinister Spooky Shack restaurant at DinerLand theme park.

Available in the App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/diner-dash/id289530584?mt=8):

Diner Dash- Monsters need help hosting a Frightening Feast in Dinertown, so they recruit Flo to help them plan the party of the year! 10 new levels with the all-new Spooky Saloon restaurant…and be on the lookout for some new creepy customers!

• Tweenwolves: They like to travel in packs, and their frequent   howling at the moon tends to frighten customers sitting nearby.
• Glampire: He’s one suave guy. Seat people near him and his sparkles will enchant those around him.

Available for download at PlayFirst.com

Cooking Dash 3: Thrills & Spills- Flo’s back to work at the theme park with 10 new levels in a “Spooky Shack” themed restaurant—did something just go “thump?!”

Oceanhouse Media, with their successful series of Dr. Seuss e-books for the iPhone/iPad has announced the release of two new Halloween themed e-books for the iPhone & iPad, one of which is a Dr. Seuss classic. Check out  the following press release for further information:

Oceanhouse Media Announces New Halloween Themed eBooks for iPhone & iPad

The classic Dr. Seuss short-story “What was I Scared of?” is now available on the App Store for only $1.99. And one of the all-time best selling children’s Halloween books, “The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin” by Joe Troiano, is now available as an eBook for only $2.99.

Encinitas, CA (Vocus) October 19, 2010: Oceanhouse Media, Inc. announced the release of two new Halloween themed eBooks for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The classic Dr. Seuss short-story What was I Scared of? (http://www.oceanhousemedia.com/products/scaredof/) is now available on the App Store for only $1.99. And one of the all-time best selling children’s Halloween books, The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano (http://www.oceanhousemedia.com/products/spookleybook/), is now available as an eBook for only $2.99.

Both universal apps can be used on the iPad and iPhone for no additional charge. These apps also include special high-resolution graphics for the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G Retina displays. What was I Scared of? was authored in 1961 by Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss. Delivering a timeless message about fear and acceptance, the tale begins with a character who repeatedly meets up with an empty pair of pale-green pants. He is initially afraid of the pants, which are able to stand on their own despite the lack of a wearer.

However, when he screams for help and the pants also start to cry, he realizes that “They were just as scared as I!” Eventually, the empty pants and the main character choose to no longer be in fear of one another and become good friends. In The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin, where “the only good pumpkins are round pumpkins,” Spookley is shunned until a mighty storm threatens to destroy the entire patch. As the storm rages, Spookley realizes “it’s fine to be round while the weather is fair, but there are times it’s better to be a square.” Sometimes being different can save the day!

Originally published in 2001, The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin has sold over a million copies to date, and has served as the basis for a Spookley the Square Pumpkin movie that has been shown every year since 2004 in movie theaters across the country and on national television networks, including both Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.

“We are delighted with the new, interactive version of Spookley on the App Store,” said Joe Troiano, author of The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin. “And we are impressed with the convenient read-aloud and vocabulary-learning features that Oceanhouse Media’s technology provides.”

Both eBooks combine the beautiful artwork from the original print books with innovative features that promote reading in kids, including highlighted picture / word associations, professional narration and custom background audio. “In anticipation of Halloween, we are excited to bring both of these perennial holiday favorites to life as eBooks for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch,” said Michel Kripalani, President of Oceanhouse Media. “These apps provide both entertainment and educational value to children in the form of fun, interactive experiences for play and learning.”

Oceanhouse Media, creators of the award-winning Dr. Seuss and Hay House apps, have recently seen seven of their Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears eBooks reach the #1 rank for paid books in the App Store.
For more information on these products and direct links to the App store, please visit Oceanhouse Media (http://www.oceanhousemedia.com/products/).

Sometimes the best defense is in the form of a good offence. That kind of adage holds well for Mysterious Hunters for the iPhone; it’s a game that takes classic Tower Defense styled gameplay and turns it on its head, creating some sort of strategy platformer. In this game, you control a tribe of hunters going about hunting on 5 different islands which represent the levels in the game.

In each level, you may put in place up to 4 of your tribesmen, which can be of different types. There are a couple of hunter types that bash creeps with a club or mallet, several range types that will either shoot with a bow, javelin or a machinegun. Support types are limited to a cannon fodder tribesman who will soak up damage with a shield, and a healer type shaman.

Each level takes place like the levels found in a 2D platformer, with your tribesmen moving forward taking on all comers. The creeps are a variety of creatures, ranging from hedgehogs to polar bears. Boss creeps tend to be huge extinct creatures like dinosaurs and the woolly mammoth. So instead of waiting for the creeps to come at you like in a typical tower defense game, Mysterious Hunters will have you taking the fight against them instead.

Like other games in the genre, your towers, in this case, your walking tribesmen are upgradable. The thing is, each time you upgrade a particular type, the price to purchasing one from that type will increase. Upgrades and earnings (each time you kill a creep, you earn meat) from each level however, are thankfully carried forward to the next level, offsetting the increased amount you have to pay as well as the need to re-upgrade.

I like the game with its well animated 2D graphics and also the upgrade system. The only problem is, it’s a little short. It’s easy to actually finish the game within several hours. The most recent update to the game allows for GameCenter leaderboards and achievements, these are basically incentives to re-play the game. From what I can tell, there are plenty of people replaying the game, with 40 million points being the score to beat at the top. Try contrasting this with my 100,000+ points and the fact that I’ve nearly completed the last level.

Mysterious Hunters is a pretty good game to pass the time with and gives a good challenge (and a twist or two) for Tower Defense fans. It’s currently available at the App Store for just USD 0.99. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mysterious-hunters/id389113291?mt=8. Recommended

The guys behind Farm Story and City Story (my girlfriend absolutely loves both of these games) on the iPhone, TeamLava, are back at it again, this time with Restaurant Story, an interesting take on running a restaurant based on their successful social gaming framework. Check out the press release below for further details on the game, and do note that Restaurant Story is available free-of-charge on the App Store:

SAN FRANCISCO – October 18, 2010 Leading social game developer TeamLava today announced the release of its new social diner game, Restaurant Story, for iOS devices. Users are given a persistent restaurant to design and style, with ever-increasing amounts of content to create their ideal theme restaurant.

With non-stop restaurant action, unlimited design options, Facebook integration and gifting, Restaurant Story gives players the best of both social and diner genres with tons of unexpected challenges.

The third game in the popular Story series, this culinary title comes hot on the heels of Farm Story and City Story, both #1 chart-topping free iPhone and iPad social games. Don’t be afraid to get your apron dirty; new content will be released EVERY WEEK so the game continually gets even better!

In Restaurant Story, players design their restaurant’s layout and color scheme to establish an ideal ambiance for their customers. Then the fast action diner gaming kicks in – seat and serve customers, prepare dishes on the stove and modify restaurant design on the fly along with many other time-management jobs in the restaurant.

Like previous chart-topping Story games, Restaurant Story has a persistent user profile, attributes to level-up and tons of new FREE content to discover every week such as new menu items, special equipment, furniture, decorations and recipes.

Restaurant City features:

• Design and build a unique restaurant with stunning variety and creativity.
• FREE updates with new dishes, decorations, themes and more EVERY WEEK!
• Customize and choose a top-class menu to suit your tastes.
• Bright cartoon graphics optimized for Retina Display.
• Showcase your restaurant and earn extra-special tips from friends.
• Invite your Facebook friends to be your neighbors.
• Universal app really pops on the iPad.
• Exchange secret recipes with your friends.
• It’s FREE!

Restaurant Story is designed for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. A network connection is required to play. It’s a free download and is available now on the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/restaurant-story/id394807905?mt=8

Sometimes the simplest games are the ones that are hardest to review. For example, Match-3 type of games are a dime a dozen on the iPhone, so much so you’d know what to expect from such games. It’s a pretty standard template that is pretty much expected of and doesn’t call for much deviation from and when implemented successfully, makes just about anyone happy to play the game. Mighty Fun App’s latest game for the iPhone, Three or More: Monster Match matches (pun not intended) the template somewhat, but there’s still room for improvement.

First up, the good: While similar to Bejeweled, Monster Match replaces the jewels with monsters, typical horror movie staples like skeletons, vampires and even jack-0-lanterns. It’s pretty cool to see that everytime you start a new game (either on the Timed or Endless modes), you get to see at least a new monster type on board. Like all match-3 games, you are supposed to match 3 or more monsters of the same type, horizontally or diagonally in order to obtain points.

The modes are pretty self-explanatory. The Timed mode is basically a race against the clock to get as many points as possible before running out of time. The Endless mode has a strange feature whereby you are given 6 owl icons representing 6 boards. I’m thinking that the game’s board locks-up (in which there’s no possible way to form a match-3) and therefore this is needed to refresh the board everytime this happens.

The soundtrack sounds like it is a variation of the Addams Family theme. Pretty good considering this is game about horror movie monsters. LOL.The game has a nice touch in which you can exit and re-enter the game, continuing where you left of.

Now, about expectations and this is where we get to the bad part of the review. There’s plenty of room for improvement in Monster Match. Match-3 feature staples like combos and power-ups are missing and the game can certainly benefit from having these. I noticed that the points progression can be really slow and with these on-board, it would be a marked improvement. Game Center or OpenFeint integration would be a nice thing to have as well, given the penchant for match-3 players to compare scores.

Three or More: Monster Match is a promising match-3 game on the iPhone/iPod touch. While it’s simple and fun to play (not to mention it has a great Halloween theme), I’m betting that the developer will be rolling out improvements to the core gameplay as well. In the mean time check out the game, it is currently being sold at USD 0.99 on the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/three-or-more-monster-match/id396828256?mt=8