It’s pretty easy to judge at first glance that Mage Gauntlet (iPhone) looks like any other 2D-pixelated retro RPG that is on the iTunes App Store. But if you were to afford a closer look or even take your time to play Rocketcat Games’ latest, you’ll find little nuances like how broken items seem to scatter or move when you run through them, or how eye-catching the special effects can be for the spells. Before you know it, you’ll realize that Mage Gauntlet is a 2D-pixelated graphical tour-de-force.

Looking pretty wouldn’t help if the gameplay sucked, but thankfully Mage Gauntlet is backed up by solid controls and easy to grasp gameplay mechanics. There are three control options, but what I like most is the “pro” mode complete with an invisible joystick. Gameplay wise, the game is a fast-paced one, taking cue from older RPGs where fetch quests weren’t the norm and putting enemies through the other end of a sword was the more desired preoccupation.

The storyline is slightly above par, and credit must be given when it’s due as the developers managed to craft out a humorous tale of a feisty girl out to find a cure to her inability to use magic and this brings her to greater things (sure beats the whole breaking out of prison route). Other examples of Rocketcat Games apparent humor would be the Game Center achievements offered up by the game.

I don’t know about you, but Mage Gauntlet’s game world reminds me of 3D Dot Heroes on the PS3. Both games looked amazing and more importantly have plenty of vegetation, bushes and flowers to cut down. One would normally expect items to drop from all this wanton destruction but Mage Gauntlet wouldn’t have any of this, and it has several Achievements dedicated to players who set about their task to destroying stuff in hopes of picking up loot!

Other RPG conventions apply to Mage Gauntlet, such as the ability to use spells and equip your character. Even so, the game remains a fast-paced, amazing looking game which is playable in bite-sized chunks. Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Mage Gauntlet a 4.5 out of 5, it’s a must have!

The game is available on the iTunes App Store for USD 2.99. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mage-gauntlet/id460697573?mt=8. A  review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

The deadly feline with the Antonio Banderas-voice and saucer-like eyes from the Shrek movies, Puss in Boots, has an iOS game to call his own and it happens to be a tie-up between Dreamworks with the popular Fruit Ninja franchise from Halfbrick Studios. Called Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots, the game brings about two game modes.

Fans of the original Fruit Ninja will be no strangers to the first mode, Desperado, which is an enhanced and re-mastered version of the Classic Fruit Ninja gameplay. Here, players slice and dice through waves of fruits while trying their best not to miss any of them and at the same time avoid slashing dynamite. The second mode, Bandito, is a brand new game mode unique to Fruit Ninja: PiB.

This mode is by far my most favourite part of the game. It takes players through a dozen levels consisting of various challenges and obstacles before culminating into a final level taking on (in my case) a giant pinata. Both modes yield a respectable number of achievements (both Game Center and Openfeint are featured in the game) and more importantly, players that do well are rewarded with stash.

Stash in Fruit Ninja:PiB take the form of unlockables and this includes new backgrounds and blades for the feline to use. I spent a caffeinated night playing Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots and this stuff never gets old, in fact for a while there I had to pry myself from playing Desperado in order to play the new Bandito game mode (and that turned out really good). The addition of the Bandito mode, IMHO, simply makes the perfect casual game complete. Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots a 4.5 out of 5. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The game is available on the iTunes App Store for USD 0.99, check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fruit-ninja-puss-in-boots/id469297662?mt=8. A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

You know that magical feeling when you enter an arcade filled with different kinds of games? Well, how about entering one filled with vintage arcade (not necessarily of the video kind) games of yesteryear? I bet any arcade fan worth their salt would salivate at that opportunity. While such opportunities are really rare these days, the folks at Games Lab Apps decided to come up with a game that brings such an experience right onto an iPhone.

Entering Penny Parlor is like walking into a vintage arcade and this is beautifully realized with 3D graphics employed by the team at GLA. From here onwards, you get to choose from 4 authentic coin-operated games. Players can choose to flick touchdowns on America Pro Football, hit the button on cue for a home run in Super Swing Baseball, play some golf in The Amazing Golf Game or experience taking on the greatest bowler of all time in Smack ‘n’ Whack Cricket.

The fact that the game is actually a compilation of 4 games in one should be reason enough for anyone to purchase the game. But like real life arcades there’s something in store for everyone. Competitive gamers can look forward to the list of achievements waiting to be unlocked (I would like to see some Game Center integration though ), while casual gamers can look forward to the bite-size gameplay that any of these 4 arcade games have to offer.

Penny Parlor looks amazing and has plenty of value gameplay wise, Nine Over Ten 9/10 can’t help but rate it at a 4.5 out of 5. Step right up folks, this one’s a keeper. The game is available on the iTunes App Store for USD 1.99. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/penny-parlor/id465259587?mt=8. A review code was provided for the purpose of this review.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Fuse’s latest game on the iPhone is sure to leave me nightmares of the maritime kind, involving a certain kind of fish (it might just even put a stop to my habit of having sharks fin soup at Chinese wedding dinners). The aptly titled Jaws Revenge is a join-venture between Hothead Games and a licensing agreement with Universal Partnerships & Licensing, bringing about the all important IP from the Jaws movie, including the iconic theme song.

iOS gamers who have experienced games such as Super Mega Worm (a favourite of mine) and Death Worm would be immediately familiar with the concept behind Jaws Revenge: the beast is hungry and it’s out to eat everything. The game does differ from the two games whereby there’s little control over the shark’s horizontal movement, it’s always going forward. Tapping and holding on the screen will cause the shark to dive, releasing will cause it to jump instead.

This kind of one-touch gameplay makes the game very easy to pick up and play. The immediate appeal in Jaws Revenge is that you play as the shark, and to complement this, the developers have put in two game modes to suit the two most likely kind of players to play the game. Those that favour level progression can proceed with playing through 30 levels (with different sets of objectives) which are divided into 3 stages, the first one being Amity Island which is the setting of the 1975 classic.

Those who prefer to go on a rampage can go on the Free Swim mode, just to see how far can they go and what they gobble up. In either mode the shark has a health meter that is replenished by eating stuff. The levels are littered with Shark Tooth coins which when accumulated can be used to purchase certain upgrades for the shark.

The game looks great on the iPhone and the sight of the shark jumping out of the water is quite a spectacle, and the sound effects do well to complement the graphics. I’m guessing that the game will do well in bringing the old classic to an entirely new audience, but heaven forbid a remake of the movie . Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Jaws Revenge at 4.5 out of 5. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Jaws Revenge is available on the iTunes App Store for just USD 0.99. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jaws-revenge/id456273368?mt=8. A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

I’ve got a whole bunch of games from Big Blue Bubble (BBB) to review, and you’ve probably seen the first game featured yesterday (Burn The Rope: WORLDS, click here to read all about it). The game that I’m writing about today is one that is totally different gameplay-wise, but occupies the same casual space which has been the in-thing for quite some time now.

If there’s one thing to commend about BBB’s Fling a Thing is that not everyday you get to see a player controlled character in which the design seems to be inspired by Siamese Fighting Fish. But then again, Fling A Thing has more going for it then just inspired character design. Players use the fish-inspired “Thing” in gameplay that seems to channel both Arkanoid and Mega Jump.

Players kick off a level by launching the “Thing” from the bottom of the screen to collect bubbles that can be found floating around in each level. They get to proceed to the next level by collecting ALL the bubbles in the current level. If you think this sounds easy,  then you’ve got it wrong. Players are limited in terms of number of shots from which they can launch the Thing in each level; fortunately there are bonus shots as well as other power-ups floating around waiting to be collected along with the bubbles.

Partially because of this, the gameplay in Fling a Thing makes it a little less frantic than the more run-of-the-mill jumping games. But like those games, Fling a Thing makes it a challenge to see how high players can go up to as this is how  level progression is built into the game. Basically you’ve to climb your way up to the next level.

One thing to note is that if you see a star floating around, do be sure to collect it as it’s the in-game currency. Stars are used to unlock levels and other “Things”, and at this time of writing, these are rather expensive in “Fling a Thing”, so be sure to get all of them stars at every opportunity. The game has a Tamagotchi mini game tacked on to it, whereby you get to feed juvenile Things which will go about collecting stars.

I stand impressed with Fling a Thing and while comparisons with its other BBB stablemate are sure to come by, I’m sure this game will hold an audience of its own. BBB has done well to come up with pretty cool games so far and Fling a Thing is no different. Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Fling a Thing at a 4 out of 5. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fling-a-thing/id453089936?mt=8.

A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

With the number of iOS games on the iTunes App Store these days, and the fact that most are actually cookie-cutter versions of other established games, it’s actually quite a chore to find something that’s worth your time. Well, if you have a buck to spare, why not spend it on Burn The Rope: WORLDS, by Canada-based Big Blue Bubble Inc.

What impressed me about the game was how innovative the gameplay was (and how it appealed to certain pyromanic tendencies, LOL). The premise is pretty simple, you start fires on a rope puzzle, and the fires will always head “upwards”, you’ll need to constantly re-orient the iPhone in order for the flames (there can be multiple fires as the rope branches out), to keep on heading up.

Players are judged by how much of rope they managed to burn off and are awarded medals when they exceed the bare-minimum benchmark set on every level. Now, complicating matters are different coloured ropes, which will only burn when in contact with flames of the same colour. In order to do this, players will need to burn colourful bugs that populate some of these levels. Doing so will cause the flame’s colour to change.

Burn The Rope: WORLDS features a 100 new levels divided into 4 different worlds. The game features several game modes, which include the Classic Burn The Rope gameplay, Endless Burn, Casual Mode and Endless Mode. The Puzzle Mode on the other hand features daily updated puzzles.

Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Burn The Rope: Worlds a 4.5 out of 5, for being such a unique experience on the iPhone, I can’t imagine one who would play this on an iPad, it would CRAZY (in a good way) . The app is available on the iTunes App Store for USD 0.99, check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/burn-the-rope-worlds/id449606608?mt=8

A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

What do you get when you mix turn-based gameplay and dogfighting? You get some really fun and crazy aerial combat in the form of Steambirds: Survival by Spry Fox and Halfbrick. Players get to play as an elite Allied pilot in an alternative, steampunk version of World War II and they’ll be up against the Axis Armada, who are out to bomb the UK to oblivion.

Interesting story aside, the bread and butter of the game are the turn-based controls. You can elect to move your plane, and your allies (if you have any) a certain distance before pressing on the end-turn button to see the game enact the moves along with the enemy planes’. The same goes with powerups and these can range from anything from a 180-degree turn to homing missiles to even extended range of movement.

The added bit of strategy to this whole mess of dogfighting is really cool, and I like the fact that I can direct my wingmen around and they also have access to power-ups. Downed enemy fighters yield power-ups or copper, which is the game’s currency and this is used mainly to purchase wingmen (a.k.a. allies). The missions in Steambirds: Survival have a variety of objectives, from destroying a certain number of planes, to destroying certain TYPES of planes or simply surviving waves of planes.

Completing them mission objectives leaves you with an option to continue destroying enemy planes and to gain more copper! There’s a total of 64 unique missions and 8 unique aircraft. The developer has promised an additional 7 aircraft and 56 missions in future updates. And to top it up, the game is available for free on the iTunes App Store! YARRGHHHHHH! (Get it now!)

Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Steambirds: Survival a 4.5 out of 5 for being such a great turn-based game in an inspired setting. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steambirds-survival/id441192740?mt=8.

What I like about these iOS games, they sure defy normal genre definitions. Take a look at Armor Games’ Siege Hero for the iPhone. It’s quite cool actually, kinda like an on-rails shooter meets physics-based puzzler as players aim to bring fortresses down on the heads of unsuspecting enemy units by going medieval on them, launching rocks, fire, oil, etc at them.

Players are rated by the amount of destruction caused, and the bare-minimum for a successful siege and to proceed to subsequent levels would be to kill off every enemy unit in a level. The 2D graphics work really well with the game and the controls are really easy to grasp. Each level is a puzzle in which players will need to think of the shortest number of moves to destroying the fortress.

Some levels have captured villagers in them, leaving you an additional headache of trying to keep them alive, while wrecking havoc on enemy units.

What I really like about the game is the precision offered. It certainly helps compared to just a superficial level of zoom found in games like Trucks & Skulls or Angry Birds. The levels in Siege Hero are divided into several different “Ages”. The latest update to Siege Hero brings about an additional 75 levels and a new Age, and that’s plenty of gameplay for the price tag of USD 0.99.

Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Siege Hero at a 4.5 out of 5; it’s amazing! The game is available on the iTunes App Store, check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/siege-hero/id431688122?mt=8. A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

Gun Fu is probably the most fun I’ve had on the iPhone for the entire month, but it’s one game that you don’t want to be playing with the volume up sans earphones while sitting in an airplane. The game, from Dobsoft Studios, is probably inspired by the Matrix trilogy of movies, which are in turn, take great heed of John Woo’s action filmography.

The heart of the game is basically a tap-shooter, a variant of the whack-a-mole gameplay. Players are tested in terms of skill and reflexes as they shoot down enemies that appear on the screen while adhering to several simple rules: don’t miss (three times and it’s game over), opponents only start shooting 1.5 seconds after appearing on screen and red opponents need the double tap to dispose of them.

With that in mind, Gun Fu provides 3 game modes, with the first two, The 10 Trials and Practice Mode, available from the start. The third mode is unlocked by completing the 10 Trials mode, no easy task as the higher the level you go, the crazier the opposition becomes. One cool part of the game that I really like (aside from all the shooting that takes place..LOL), is how the game rates player’s performance.

Players are rated by how fast they shoot down an opponent once they appear on the screen. Some shots are categorised as pyschic shots, probably because they are placed just as the opponent is about to appear, hence, the player being “psychic”. The ability to shoot TWO opponents at the same time is something any Gun Fu player should master, and it leads to some crazy poses by the player’s on-screen avatar. LOL.

Anyways, the game is no one to be played by kids, because as fun as it is, hyper-violence is a no-no for kids. Game Center and OpenFeint leaderboards and achievements top up the rest of the game’s feature set. Nine Over Ten 9/10 wholeheartedly recommends this for the above-18 crowd, and rates Gun Fu at 4.5 out of 5. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Gun Fu is available on the iTunes App Store for just USD 0.99. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gun-fu/id442868359?mt=8.

A friend of mine recommended Imangi’s Temple Run for the iPhone and as it turned out, the game has become my most played game during my trip at Hong Kong. The key here lies in the gameplay, which takes traditional 2D endless running games like Chop Chop Ninja and shifts their core mechanics into 3D.

The result is an Indiana Jones-like adventure running through beautifully realized temple ruins. Running away from what exactly? The 3D models don’t tell much but they look to be primates. Players need to slide their finger up or down the screen to cause their intrepid hero to jump over or slide under obstacles.

It’s a pretty cool game and ideal for casual gameplay whether you are commuting on a train (which I’ve done a lot during the past few days) or while waiting for your spouse during on of her shopping sprees (which I’ve done more so than commuting during the same past number of days). The game comes with Game Center achievements and that makes the game a compelling one for those seeking out achievements.

Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Temple Run at a 4.5 out of 5. Highly Recommended. Check out the game over on the iTunes App Store.