Roughly two weeks ago, J-Squared Software manipulated Lunar Module 3D to gently land at the app store. You are responsible for navigating a module to various landing sites across the surface of the moon; avoiding refueling sites is encouraged. Basically, think of yourself as Neil Armstrong’s chauffeur who is being rewarded with a medal (yes, literally a medal) for saving Uncle Sam some very expensive jet fuel (or whatever lunar modules run on).

A very nice touch by J-Squared Software is that the environments are generated from actual footage of the moon’s surface, and the sound sequence at the beginning of every mission is also an original recording. The menu is nice and simple – only three ways to go there and we will explore each in a minute. As you launch the game you are immersed into outer space tranquility, and if patience is not your virtue you will come to appreciate the meditative melody when you learn that if you wanted a fast-paced game you just wasted your money.

The slow pace is actually a refreshing experience from the usual hustle-and-bustle, which plagues 95% of the games on my device. In the options menu you can either reset your saved game or calibrate the controls. The calibration process is one of the best mplementations I have seen (maybe it’s me or my luck, but calibration is rarely a smooth sailing). The flight plan at the main menu will tell you pretty much everything you need to know. You have unlimited time to land at all the red platforms; avoiding refueling at the blue ones will win better medals. You lose by crashing or running out of fuel (which leads to crashing). Your speed gauges will turn green when you are approaching in acceptable speed; after several crashes at “green” speeds, I learned that old-school piloting skills still trump technology.

The third offering of the main menu is “missions,” surprisingly, that’s where the missions are. J-Squared Software starts you off with four unlocked levels, leaving you an additional five missions to unlock yourself. When you start the game make sure to play around with the camera, it’s really fun. You have absolute control of the view as you can drag the camera 360-degrees around the module, and pinch in/out to zoom. The learning curve of the game is well within the standard deviation – not simple by any means, but not frustrating either. You simply thrust slightly and tilt your phone in the desired direction; you get the hang of it after a crash or twelve. The other gameplay button centers your camera onto the closest landing site; this comes in quite handy especially if you’re lost or messed with the camera too much.

There are a few things I’d like to get off my chest. As I’m typing this review, I had to start the game about fifty times because apparently the game quits when the screen shuts off. While I am a strong believer that graphics are the least important thing in a game, I do feel that the module, the fire of the exhaust, and the landing platforms need to look better and more polished. Even though the lack of gravity feels fine as it stands (especially when you get the hang of it), I would suggest that the developer looks at Retro: Cave Flyer for some pointers. Finally, a bit more depth would not hurt; if not in gameplay then at least some features. For example, a “distance from target” gauge which will help learning to plan your fuel usage instead of just eyeballing it.

Don’t get me wrong, this game fully deserves 4 dimples, simply because it can easily fill the shoes. It does need some work, but with the foundation in place and good will on part of the developer, the expectations are more than reasonable. I have played nothing but LM 3D for about 3 days now and it looks like it’s moving onto my “frequent player” page. Good replay value is often hard to come by, so that alone is well worth your money.

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Touch KO, a terrific new iPhone boxing sim from Chillingo, has finally been released in the app store after much anticipation from mobile gamers. With intuitive controls, beautiful graphics, and enjoyable gameplay, it’s the next best thing to opening up an actual can of whoop….. well, you know where we’re going with this.

Starting the game, you have the option to Quick Play or enter into Career Mode. While Quick Play is fun if you just want to try it out, the real meat and potatoes is in Career Mode. You choose a boxer body, name him, and customize his tattoos (or lack thereof), gloves, trunks, and shoes. As you win matches, you will earn money that allows you to purchase clothing upgrades, though there are several free options for each. Your boxer is ranked in terms of power, stamina, and agility, which can all be improved through training before matches, which is not nearly as fun as it sounds. Prior to each match, you choose which category you’d like to increase by 5% by tapping a button. There is no sparring with a heavy bag or practicing your footwork, which might have actually been cool. You can also improve these stat categories through the purchase of clothing items, as well. Gloves improve Power, trunks improve Stamina, and shoes improve Agility.

After completing your “training,” you can select your opponent. The game presents a decent comparison across certain stats so that you can tailor your match accordingly. This information screen also includes purse size and amount of popularity you stand to win if successful. After confirming your match opponent, it’s fight time. You need not worry about moving around the ring, as the game controls this for you. You simply concentrate on punching (all upperbody) and blocking. Each fighter has a status bar which indicates energy level (green) and permanent damage (red). As you throw and take punches, your energy level decreases. As you get hit, your permanent damage increases. Lose all of your energy and you’ll be eating mat. Hit the canvas three times in any round and you’re TKO’d. Take on too much permanent damage and you’ll be knocked out. We must admit that the boxers look a little goofy when being knocked down, resembling a crumpled ragdoll more than a stunned human. When a fighter gets floored, the game replays the devastating hit in slow-motion. While exciting the first few times, this began to get annoying and detracted from the overall gameplay enjoyment. We’d love to see a tap to skip option or an option to turn it off altogether.

You’ll begin in the amateur league, working your way up to a title fight, which should not take long. Amateur bouts are 3 rounds of 3 minutes each. Professional bouts go 5 rounds. Unfortunately, given the surprisingly weak AI, we never had a match go past the halfway point of the 1st round until our 11th match, long after we had taken the Amateur title. The 11th match was over after 2 minutes. Our boxer was knocked down only once on his way to the Professional title, and that was because we unleashed a flurry of punches that wore down our energy. From about the 14th match, we were going into the 2nd round simply because our opponent spent most of his time blocking. We sort of danced around the ring for a while, trading an occasional punch but not much else. To be honest, it started getting a bit boring.

The graphics are outstanding. It almost feels like you are watching video of last night’s match rather than playing a game. Everything looks crisp. Even the spit spewing from the boxer’s mouth as an uppercut drops him to the mat looks disgustingly realistic. Sounds are good, with decent sound effects, crowd noise, and a pretty cool rap track that fits the game well. The controls utilize both touch and accelerometer. The right side of the screen controls the right arm movements; the left side controls the left arm. Tap either side to jab, swipe inward to cross, and swipe up to uppercut. There are no body shots at this time, though Chillingo is working on this for a future update. If you touch-hold either side of the screen, your boxer blocks. Turning your device left or right triggers the accelerometer and your boxer dodges to either side, though we had little use for this feature.

Despite its initial shortcomings, we are holding out hope that Chillingo will tweak the necessary areas to make this game a bit more challenging. Chllingo is currently working on an update that should bring an Expert level to the game, so we’ll see if that improves the performance of the opponents. As it stands, it remains quite fun, even if it’s mostly a terrific looking way to beat the heck out of someone. No other iPhone boxing title can hold a candle to Touch KO, and the $2.99 price tag is lower than we anticipated. If you crave a boxing title, this is the one to get. Touch KO is a solid 4-Dimple slugfest that has the potential for a 5th Dimple in the near future.

Touch KO gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating:

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Perfect Balance: Inferno, ttursas’ much anticipated follow-up to the wildly popular Perfect Balance: Harmony, recently hit the app store. While maintaining a similar feel to Harmony, Inferno adds some interesting new elements which up the degree of difficulty while providing yet another satisfying experience.

For those unfamiliar with the original, each level contains one or more stationary objects upon which to balance a collection of shapes. These objects sit above a dotted line and include both regular and irregular shapes. You must drag each piece onto the playing area and try to balance all of the pieces at once upon the stationary objects. If any of the pieces falls by the wayside or the finished product cannot find stability, you fail and must try again. To move on to the next level, all pieces must remain motionless and balanced for at least one second.

Perfect Balance: Inferno provides 120 levels of gaming fun, 30 more than are currently provided in Harmony. The newest iteration has a darker, scarier theme, with ominous background music and spookier textures, including yellow peering eyes that blink from behind the game pieces. Stationary objects now include buzzsaws that turn randomly, speeding up, slowing down, and changing direction without warning. The buzzsaws really impact gameplay, at times sending pieces flying or preventing your creation from gaining stability. There are even new types of pieces, such as objects that are five times heavier than other objects. You must really consider how to place your pieces to be successful. The puzzles even seem more difficult. While we blew through the first 25 levels in Harmony, we were given pause within the first five levels of Inferno, to the point where it took nearly 20 minutes to pass a single level. Ttursas has really upped the ante with this offering.

Gameplay was just as smooth and polished as in Harmony. The graphics are very appealing, though not as “spooky” as intended. That being said, there is a nice effect created when the buzzsaws grind against a piece that makes it look like oozing blood rather than flying sparks. Controls remain the same is in Harmony. Touch controls can be calibrated to show the active piece anywhere you like in relation to your finger position on the screen. Simply tap to rotate.

All levels are locked except the current level, so you must complete each in order to move on. Priced at $0.99, this puzzler is hard to pass up. If you enjoyed Harmony, you’ll certainly love Inferno, which, like its predecessor, also receives a 5-Dimple rating.

Perfect Balance: Inferno gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqHBY_pWUcQ

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Minigore, the epic adventure of John Gore, has been released by Chillingo into the app store. Though it is only a single-level 3D survival shooter, Minigore is Maxi-fun!

You are John Gore, a cross between Paul Bunyan and one of Gumby’s blockheads. You are alone in the woods when you hear a noise. Turning around, you come face-to-fur with a hideous black creature with ridiculously sharp teeth. Ka-blam! Another noise. You spin around in time to… Ka-blam! Another one down. Here comes a big one. Ka-blam! What the… Blasting him just spawned a bunch of tiny ones. Ka-blam, ka-blam, ka-blam! They’re everywhere… and they are all headed your way. Keep shooting, John! You must hold off the onslaught as long as you can. There are too many….. ouch…..I can’t shooampphfpsm…… (silence, save for the gentle chomping sound coming from the hairy, black mass deep in the forest). How quickly you die is up to you!

With only your weapon and your wits, your task is simple: shoot all of the attacking Furries. There are regular Furries, Giant Furries, Minifurries, and Firefurries. Eventually, you will die. Shooting a Giant Furry leaves regular Furries to deal with. Shooting the regular Furries leaves a small group of Minifurries. Blasting these guys leaves you safe…. for the moment. On occasion, a deceased Furry will leave behind a four-leaf clover. Collect three to turn John into a flaming beast capable of destroying Furries by simple running into them. The more clovers you collect, the longer you remain in this state. It is temporary, however, so be aware that you will become John again, vulnerabilities and all. Your only defense is your feet and your weapons, which include your default machine gun with unlimited ammo, the double-barreled shotgun, or the exploding booby trap to surprise the Furries. Touch a Furry once and you lose some clothing and show visible signs of attack. Touch a Furry again and it’s all over but the chomping.

The graphics are beautiful and the framerate is super smooth. There is a cool soundtrack playing in the background, though you can play tracks from your own library if you wish. Minigore uses a dual-stick control system. The left stick (blue) moves John in any direction. The right stick (red) aims his weapon and fires. The controls work flawlessly and feel intuitive and natural. The game also supports screen flipping and uses OpenFeint for leaderboards and trashtalking… er, chat. Sound easy? Switch on Expert mode and show us what you’re really made of.

Minigore is considered Episode 1, with much content and user-involved improvements to follow. Chillingo is working on co-op play for a future update, with unlockable characters from some of your other favorite iDevice games. Minigore has drawn comparisons to games like iDracula for its control scheme and survival shooter style, though we preferred the graphical presentation of Minigore over its competitor. At $0.99, it is certainly worth picking up for its enjoyment value and upcoming updates. We give the current installment of Minigore a solid 4-Dimple rating.

Minigore gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating:

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Word Solitaire, a recent word game release by Candywriter, is the perfect marriage of the classic playing card game Klondike with a word creation game. With its thought-provoking gameplay, artwork-infused backdrops, and simple rules, this pick-up-and-play title has quickly risen to the top of our favorite games list.

As in Klondike, you are dealt 7 columns of cards, each with one card more than the previous. The last card in each column is flipped up; all others are face down. Instead of the traditional 7’s, 10’s, and Aces, the cards are now G’s, W’s, and B’s. Each card is represented by a letter of the alphabet. Your task is to build letters on top of each other to create valid words. In order to place a card on another, it must either form a complete word or be in the process of forming a complete word. As long as a word in the game’s dictionary starts with that letter combination, it will be allowed. For example, an “i” can be placed on “fo,” as this is the start of a legal word, such as “foil.” You could not, however, place a “p” on a “d,” as no words start with “dp.” The longer the word, the greater your score. The maximum word length is 10 letters. As you build letters, you will expose the overturned cards. Once all overturned cards are face up and utilized in complete words, you move on to the next round. There are 25 rounds in all, with each slightly more difficult than the previous.

Of course, as in regular Klondike, you may find yourself stuck at times. Word Solitaire offers some help. There is a burn pile, represented by a cauldron of fire. You can toss up to 3 cards per round into this burn pile, effectively eliminating these cards, but reducing your score in the process. There is a grab deck with about a half dozen cards. This might help to give you a necessary vowel to continue play. Going though the deck will not cost you anything, though each time you reset the deck for another pass through, you will be penalized. There is also a surrender button, in the event that both of these tactics fail to produce a completed board. This will end the round and send you back to Level 1. This should be your last resort. Once you have a board containing only completed words and no face-down cards, you will be given a button to advance to the next level.

The graphics are clean and clear, with beautiful backgrounds of famous artwork and customizable colors for the card decks. There is no soundtrack other than some minor sound effects when flipping cards, completing words, burning cards, etc. Controls are touch-based. Simply touch-drag cards to move or tap to flip. The game is fully integrated with Twitter to allow you to post high scores. The game will even auto-save if you exit for any reason.

There are lots of solitaire games and word creation games in the app store, but none that blend the two quite like this. Replayability is endless, as no two games are ever quite the same and the twitter posting will have you competing against other players for top scores. You would expect to pay a hefty price for such terrific, inventive gameplay and gorgeous backdrops, though Candywriter has priced Word Solitaire at a very attractive $0.99. Word Solitaire is a 5-Dimple gem.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2DjporCIOQ

Word Solitare gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:

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