Take part in the Battle of Yavin as a member of Rebel Alliance’s Red Squadron, dog fighting with TIE Fighters before aiming for the most poorly-designed exhaust ports in the history of exhaust port design in Star Wars: Trench Run for the iPhone and iPod Touch. While THQ Wireless doesn’t specify which member of the Red Squadron you are, the ability to use Force powers to slow down enemy fighters and increase your agility is a bit of a giveaway, unless of course they’ve secretly revealed that a Red Squadron member other than Luke had the Force that day and just wasn’t telling anyone.

The game features sounds and music from the original films, along with footage to help refresh your memory in case you’d forgotten that bit, and boasts True-Life, accelerator-based flight controls. True-Life space combat physics? I bet that was one expensive research trip.

The game is now available for $5.99 in the App Store. As an added plus, it runs better on the 3GS and 2nd generation iPod Touch, giving owners of those devices something to brag about while the rest of us wait for the upgrade opportunity. Jerks.

By tweaking and tuning the formula that made last year’s entry such a rubber-burnin’ blast, Asphalt 5, despite hitting one major bump in the road, positions itself as the platform’s premier racer.

Loved
Garage Full of Features:A gorgeous, full-featured title, Asphalt 5 nearly rivals even the best PSP racers. Three modes-quick race, career, local and online multi-player-33 cars, 12 tracks, vehicle customisation and unlockable stat-boosting babes — yes, you heard right! — combine for a robust arcade racing experience. Additionally, three intuitive control schemes complement gameplay that blends Burnout’s adrenaline-amping crashes and Ridge Racer’s wind-in-your-hair thrills. Matching the content-brimming package is a pop-off-the-screen presentation encompassing colourful environments and great details such as planes flying overhead, day/night races, and changing weather conditions.

Turn Up the Tunes:While racing to your own soundtrack is nothing new to the genre, it’s damn cool to be able to lap the competition while your iPod library blasts in the background; the slick little Alpine stereo interface is also a very nice touch. My only regret is that I didn’t have the Benny Hill Show theme loaded onto my play-list to accompany my more crash-tastic races. That said, listening to the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa while hurtling towards the finish line at mach speed is super satisfying.

Hated
The Short Arm of the Law:While most of Asphalt 5’s career challenges — Time Trial, Drift, Duel, Escape etc — yield a well-balanced blast, Cop Chase, where you play the boys and blue and “eliminate” opponents by crashing into them at top speed or forcing them off the track, is about as entertaining as a snipped brake line. The event gets easier — and is often skippable — later in your career, but the very first one tasks you with tackling seven eliminations in three laps. I reached “Where is my mind”, the last track on the aforementioned Pixie’s 30+ minute debut album, four times — yup, two hours — before reaching this frustrating goal. Any game, no matter how good it is otherwise, is docked a few points if its gameplay can actually make me dread hearing one of my favourite bands. Hopefully Gameloft will alleviate this headache in a future patch.

Tons of content, fun-as-hell gameplay, great visuals, and the ability to rock your own tunes make this one the iPhone’s top performer on the race circuit. That said, those who lack the patience to complete that very first, brutally difficult Cop Chase won’t get to experience much of what the title offers. If you can get past that hurdle, though, this one’s definitely worth buckling-up for.

Asphalt 5 was developed and published by Gameloft for iPhone on November 2nd. Retails for $US6.99/$AU8.99. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed the game’s campaign and played online modes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies consists, according to the official description, entirely of the ‘Nacht der Untoten’ map that Call of Duty: World At War fans are likely familiar with. For an asking price of $13, that may be asking a lot. We’ll be testing it out shortly to see how much content one gets for 13 bucks.

In addition to single player Nazi zombie extermination, the iPhone version supports four players via Wi-Fi and two players via Bluetooth connection, promising a “silky smooth 3D environment” in which to gun down rotting Nazi officers. Achievements, leaderboard support and downloadable content in the form of new maps are all promised.

Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies [iTunes]

Despite being streamlined and stripped-down for portable play, Command & Conquer: Red Alert for the iPhone still manages to pack in much of the series’ signature style and addictive strategy-driven gameplay.

Loved
Style to Spare:From its live action cutscenes to its crazy-ass battle units, the C&C series is famed for its intentionally cheesy excess. And while the silly cinematics didn’t make it into the iPhone version, the title still retains much of the franchise’s wacky trademark charm. Screen-swallowing Russian zeppelins rain death from the skies, armoured war bears charge enemy strongholds, and the sexy-accented Natasha quips “You like my scope?” and “The pleasure’s all mine.” while laying waste to never-had-a-chance infantry. Impressive explosions also engulf the tiny display, and all units, despite their shrunken presentation, are drenched in eye-pleasing detail. Furthermore, a crunchy guitar score keeps the action-and your adrenaline-appropriately amped.

Tactile Warfare:While the RTS genre still struggles to find its sweet spot in terms of control schemes that match traditional mouse-and-keyboard set-ups, there’s no question the iPhone’s touch screen is a good fit. Like a general positioning pawns on a war map, you’ll delight in the tactile satisfaction of fighting with your fingertips; simply touch units, then their target or destination, and watch them go to work. You can also draw a small box around multiple units to move them together, and save specific groups to tabs to easily access them again. Additionally, a swipe of your finger on a mini-map swings the camera to any desired location. Everything, from commanding and training units, to constructing buildings and navigating the map, is a simple intuitive touch away.

Hated
Minus the Multiplayer:Given the platform’s limitations we can totally forgive the omission of some units and even the Empire of the Rising Sun faction (only Russians and Allies are available.) However, the absence of multi-player is sorely missed considering the competitive nature of the genre. I generally think of any RTS’s solo campaign as a warm-up to the online action, so, while C&C’s handful of solo play chapters and two skirmish maps are a blast, they only feel like half the total package. Thankfully, EA is reporting that a future download will remedy this, adding the much-missed multi-player mode. Despite the shrunken presentation, Command and Conquer: Red Alert retains much of the series signature style and charm. Additionally, the touch controls make for a satisfying tactile RTS experience. Give us some multi-player, and we’ll happily jump back into this fight.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert was developed and published by EA Mobile for iPhone on November 1. Retails for $US9.99/$AU12.99. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed the game’s campaign and played skirmish modes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

“My relationship with Apple has been long standing, but it’s a rollercoaster ride,” he told Kotaku. “I’ll be invited up on stage for a keynote one month and then I’ll say something they don’t like and I can be blacklisted for six months.”

Working with Apple on iPhone games has been no different, Carmack said, but he is happy to see that former collaborator Graeme Devine is now working at Apple in the iPhone Game Technologies division.

Devine worked at id Software from 1999 to 2003, producing and programming on a number of games including Quake III, Doom 3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Devine went on to Ensemble Studios where he worked on Age of Empires 3 and Halo Wars before that studio was shut down.

Earlier this year he moved to Apple.

“Graeme Devine is in a significant position as a game developer at Apple,” Carmack said. “I have a real man on the inside now. We knew each other from way back in the day.

“He’s a real developer and I understand everything he is saying.”

Devine’s role at Apple doesn’t mean that Carmack’s dealings with the company has gotten any less bumpy though. Doom Classic was rejected twice before Apple allowed it to appear in the store with some minor changes.

Carmack thinks the run-ins with Apple are because the company, the highest people in the company, look down on games. But the popularity of gaming on the iPhone has forced Apple to try and come to grips with that, even if they’re not happy about it.

“At the highest level of Apple, in their heart of hearts,” Carmack said, “they’re not proud of the iPhone being a game machine, they wish it was something else.”

With over two billion applications downloaded across 20 categories in 77 countries, Apple is probably right when they call The App Store the “world’s most popular applications store”. Now that they’ve surpassed the 100,000 application mark, perhaps they can get around to making it a bit easier to find something useful.

“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”

I’m not saying there aren’t a bunch of really great apps to be had, especially in the popular games category, but any store housing more than 100,000 titles is bound to be a real bitch to navigate.

So congratulations to Apple for this amazing achievement. We’d break things down by category to see how many of those 100,000 titles are games, but frankly trying to do so gives us a mild headache.

The $9 game designed by John Carmack features customisable control schemes, 36 levels spread across four episodes, a bounty of weapons and multiplayer support.

Here’s the full break-down of game features:
Play the legendary first person shooter, DOOM, with an iPhone or iPod Touch
Fight through 36 missions in four action-packed episodes: Knee-Deep in the Dead, Shores of Hell, Inferno and Thy Flesh Consumed
Experience DOOM multiplayer on your mobile device, including Deathmatch and Cooperative play for up to four players via wireless internet
Choose from three different control types and customise the interface to suit your style
Explore the depths of Mars while utilizing the top down map to help your journey and save your game on the fly
Listen to the original soundtrack or disable it and use your own iPod music

Eliminate is a pretty straight forward online first-person shooter with average graphics. You play the game with twin virtual thumbsticks, using one to aim and the other to move.

We’ll have a full review of the game soon, but it’s worth pointing out the game’s take on pricing.

Eliminate is technically free-to-play, but to earn the money you need to upgrade your character and purchase new skins, armour and weapons, you have to earn credit. To earn credit you need to play matches using energy. While you get a free drip-feed of energy by downloading the game, if you want to excel you’ll likely want to purchase energy packs from the in-app store.

I haven’t worked out all of the details yet, but I believe that winning a match gives you some energy back, although I spent $US1 last night to purchase enough energy to play a half dozen matches or so. Seems a bit pricey. Of course I don’t need to buy energy, I could play and not worry about winning credits or I could just wait to get the free energy which is delivered over time to your account.

Like I said, very interesting.

Oh, anyone who gets the game and wants to play a bit, my username is Crecente.

I mostly-loved Mecho Wars when I reviewed it a few months ago. But one of the big things the game was missing was online multiplayer.

Earlier this week game developers Oyaji released an ad-supported free version of the game that allows players to battle one another over a Wi-Fi connection.

The game, which uses OpenFeint for online support, allows you to select turn time limits ranging from five minutes to 24 hours. There are also four game modes: Conquer, gold differ, assassination and annihilation.

If you’d rather not deal with the ads, which are pretty low-key, and want access to the full game, including several single-player campaigns, you can buy the full version of Mecho Wars for $1.19 which also includes the online play.

I had a chance to play through a a hefty chunk of the Big Blue Bubble developed and Namco published iPhone game recently. You control Marie by moving around a virtual thumbstick in the bottom left corner of the screen. Another virtual thumbstick in the bottom-right controls which direction she is shooting.

The game is a fairly straight-forward isometric shooter with attention paid to the detailed graphics and steampunk weapons. That’s right, you’ll be ridding the world of ghouls, zombies, werewolves with a crossbow, steam-powered machinegun and other nifty non-existent Victorian weapons.

The game is fairly simple, at least the bit I plaid, but it’s also quite a bit of fun and frighteningly addictive.

No word on the price yet, but this iPhone game seems like it will be worth picking up when it hits the App Store in the near future.

Big Blue Bubble