Nintendo has been slowly, but surely, introduced its massive franchise characters to the Nintendo Switch and Kirby is the latest beloved character to make his way over.

Though Kirby Star Allies is brand new to the Kirby franchise, it's the perfect mix of old and new mechanics — enjoyable for experienced players and those who are new to the rotund, pink protagonist.

If you're wondering how the game plays or curious about how all the important mechanics work, here's a rundown of everything you need to get started.

Suck up enemies and absorb their power

Like in most Kirby games, you'll need to absorb the power of your enemies to get through each level.

You'll press and hold the B button to suck up enemies, and once they are in your mouth, flick the joystick down to swallow them and assume their power.

There are a multitude of different creatures, enemies, and objects that Kirby can suck up and lots of different powers you can absorb; however, not everything you put in Kirby's mouth will grant you abilities. Plus, you can also hit the B button without swallowing and launch the enemies back out at other baddies!

Power guides

With a plethora of different powers available in the game, it can be hard to keep track of which each one does; however, Nintendo included a handy guide in the menu.

When Kirby has absorbed an ability, you can head into the game's menu by hitting the + button. This will give you a quick rundown of the current power Kirby is holding as well as a list of moves you can use!

Make friends

Kirby Star Allies really focuses on the "allies" part of its name, giving you the ability to charm various enemies and creatures into helping you!

Press and hold the X button to hold out a heart, then release the button and throw the heart at the enemy you want on your team. Boom! Now you have a new ally with a power that will help you take on the world.

You can only have a max of three allies, but if you come across an enemy that you want on your team, you can always charm them as usual and choose to kick a member of your squad out.

Not only are allies important to progress in the game, this is also how you can play Kirby Star Allies with up to three other players!

Power combos

Probably one of the coolest parts of Kirby Star Allies is the ability to team up with your allies and perform combos.

If you and one of your allies have compatible powers, you can hold up on the joystick to initiate a power combo. This can be a lasting effect — like putting fire on a sword — or a one-shot ability that does a special attack.

Pro tip: While there isn't a list of all the combo powers in the game, if you look in the game menu, you'll get some hint on what types of powers can mix with the one Kirby currently has.

Friend platforms

Throughout the game, you may come across these giant golden platforms, known as friend platforms. They trigger fun and neat special events or abilities that require you have three allies.

Gather your team of buddies on the platform, flick your joystick up, and watch the magic happen. You just might find that the power of friendship can be a powerful thing!

Puzzle pieces

Throughout the game, you'll come across blue puzzle pieces that you can collect. These puzzle pieces combine to make pictures that are just that — photos you can collect.

Food

In tall grass, inside flowers, or in chests, you may come across food and lots of it. All food — whether it's a cherry, banana, or a hot dog — will heal you a little bit! If you're hurting for health, watch out for tasty snacks!

Stars

Another collectible in the game is stars, which are typically yellow, green, or red. These stars allow you to get extra lives pretty easily. Collect a 100 stars and you'll be rewarded with an extra life!

The yellow stars count as one star, the green stars count as five, and the red count as ten stars.

Any questions?

Let me know in the comments below!

While porting older games from console versions to iOS is hardly a new concept, it seems this week we had a plethora of high-quality titles burst onto the App Store. I've already talked about FEZ: Pocket Edition hitting the iPhone and iPad this week, and now it's time to talk about another blast from the past, Oddworld.

The Oddworld series has been around in some incarnation since the late 90s, and the developers at Oddworld Inhabitants Inc have always been able to make their titles enjoyable and fun. While Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty may be a few years old to the market, it's brand new to iOS this week, and if you're a fan of Oddworld games of the past or enjoy mobile games that bring you a console experience, New 'n' Tasty is worth a look.

$7.99 - Download Now

Thank god for MFi Controller support

Let's rip the band-aid off; Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty needs an MFi Controller. I don't use the word "need" lightly either, but just look at the screenshot above; the only other option without an MFi Controller is a convoluted mess of buttons all crammed to one side of the screen. I was playing on the iPhone 8 Plus — which is currently the biggest screen in the iPhone lineup — and I still felt like it was too cramped to be functional.

Personally, I love games that allow for gamepad support, which makes the entire experience feel like a premium console game, but I recognize that it's a barrier for a lot of gamers. You might argue that mobile gaming is meant to be as simple as possible and you shouldn't need a controller to enjoy a game; if that's your point of view, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty isn't for you.

Taking into consideration that this game is a port of a console game, I'm willing to give Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty a pass in this regard. The game was always designed for a controller so it makes sense that a MFi Controller would be so crucial.

Delivers console experience

If you can get past the need for a controller, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty delivers a fantastic gameplay experience that ensures the game looks and feel like a console title.

The graphics are fantastic. The game takes up a decent amount of space — over 3GB — and playing it on my iPhone 8 Plus with all the advanced graphics settings on, it's easy to see why! From when you first load up a new game and you're watching the opening cinematic to the middle of the action when your sneaking past enemies, the textures, colors, lighting, and rendering of the environments is flawless.

Taking advantage of all the advanced graphics will most likely require a newer hardware, but luckily for older iPhone and iPad users, the developers have included options to deactivate some of the games more intensive cosmetic features so that the game will run smoothly on older hardware. I booted up the game on my iPhone 6s Plus to see how it would perform, and to my surprise, it ran quite well with all the settings turned up to the max. That being said, I did have a much smoother experience by turning off the dynamic lightning feature when playing on my older iPhone, so keep that in mind if you don't have the latest and greatest.

On top of the graphics being incredibly well done, the overall flow of the game is exactly what you want to experience in a platformer. Every new element the game throws at you feels fresh and adds a layer to the gameplay which prevents the game from getting stale. The difficulty is adjustable from the beginning — you can pick from easy, normal, or hard — but I found playing through the game on normal gave me the right amount of challenge to make the game enjoyable.

Overall impressions

If you love Oddworld games of the past, New 'n' Tasty will likely check all the boxes for you. The quirky humor, the well-thought out game design, and goofy protagonist all stand out as great features we have seen from Oddworld Inhabitants Inc before.

If you don't have a MFi Controller at the ready, I would suggest not paying for this title; however, if you have a gamepad and are looking for a game that looks and feels like a console platformer, the $7.99 price tag is actually pretty reasonable for a game as well-polished as this.

$7.99 - Download Now

Other games this week

FEZ Pocket Edition: Although it's a few years old and it's a port, FEZ Pocket Edition is a full game and you won't feel like you have been ripped off for spending $4.99. The graphics are gorgeous, the controls are simple and intuitive, and everything I loved about the original remains intact. See on the App Store

Life is Strange: Another console and PC game that's been ported to iOS this week, Life is Strange offers a fantastic story-based narrative that lets you choose the outcome of the game. The visuals are beautiful hand painted and the multiple endings make multiple playthroughs possible. $2.99 on the App Store

Games available for pre-order

Apple you can now pre-order games so you can download them automatically when they launch. Every week I'll give you a quick rundown of the titles you can pre-order!

Bridge Constructor Portal: It's time to start thinking with portals! Expected to launch December 20th, 201. $4.99 on the App Store.

Thumper: Pocket Edition: The "rhythm violence" game that will have you speeding along to the beat! Expected to launch January 24th, 2018. $4.99 on the App Store.

Sonic Runners Adventure: Everyone's favorite hedgehog and his trusty friends will be running on an iPhone screen near you! Expected to launch December 20th, 2017. $2.99 on the App Store.

Anithero — Digital Board Game: Become the ultimate thief by using your stealth, cunning, and the odd murder or two. Expected to launch January 2nd, 2018. $3.99 on the App Store.

If you've been paying attention to the internet lately, you may have noticed an increase in 8-bit GIFs sending characters to a variety of bizarre deaths: This is Stagehand, Matt Comi and Neven Mrgan's new endless runner, and it's delightful.

But unlike your garden-variety endless runner, Stagehand doesn't put you in control of the character; instead, you're controlling the very scenery itself as your buddy runs, jumps, and — yes — occasionally falls feet-first into lava.

These mechanics can throw even seasoned gamers for a loop as they get used to the controls, but lucky for you, dear reader, we've got a few tips on how to conquer Stagehand and work your way through its pixelated days, nights, and weeks to beat your friends.

Stagehand - Download now!

The basics

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of making Stagehand your personal endless runner playground, we've got a few starter tips to keep in mind:

Unlike Mario, Stagehand's terrain is procedurally generated for every new game, which means every run will have its own unique problems and platform shapes. Don't try memorizing the terrain — instead, make like a Jedi and trust your instincts.

Frank (and his compatriots) will automatically run forward and jump across short distances, as well as jump up (1-2 levels) or jump down (until reaching a platform, lava lake, or bottomless pit). Don't worry about them; instead, pay attention to the terrain and the platforms to help them get to where they're going.

Though Frank (and others) can be thrown into bottomless pits and lava lakes or smashed into spike bricks, your primary charge is to keep him centered and running in the middle of the screen — too far to the left, and they risk getting smushed between a stray platform and the left margin of your iOS device. And while they do make various hilarious faces when this happens, it also ends your run.

To keep Frank happy and moving, you'll want to move platforms and banners to keep him running forward. As mentioned above, he can jump over minor obstacles, but every time he jumps up, he'll slow down ever-so-slightly. Keep the platforms level (or better yet, keep him falling downward onto platforms), and you'll keep running at maximum speed.

Stagehand may let you take command of its environs, but physics is still (sort of) in play; as such, there are certain objects you can (and cannot) move.

You can move:

• Wavy-pattern platforms, which will slide up and down to an extreme degree
• Dotted platforms, which have limited up and down movement (usually 3-7 levels up or down)
• Banners, which hang down from the sky, can be dragged up or down (though you generally want to throw them skyward)

You can't move:

• Bricks: Like their real-world counterpart, they're stuck in place
• Treadmills: These speed boosts may keep your character from getting smashed against the side of the screen, but they come at an immovable cost — move platforms next to them to get their full effect
• Spikes: These floating torture bricks provide your character with instant death, and as such, should be avoided at all costs — even by you, the stagehand
• Coins: If you want all that glitters, you're going to have to move a platform to get to it
• Gaps, bottomless pits, and lava lakes: They're just there, waiting to greet you.

This tip may be obvious, but it took me awhile to actually utilize: You don't just have to move platforms up to give your character a place to run; instead, you can move platforms down to their jumping path.

Preemptively fixing the terrain for your character is fun and all, but sometimes you just don't have that luxury. (Alternatively, you might want to move a platform to capture some sweet sweet bonus coins.) Whatever the case, you can always move a platform, even if your character happens to be on it at the time. Better still, you can "bounce" platforms up or down to give your character an extra jump boost. (More on that later.)

Once you get a bit of initial control over Stagehand's platform mania, you can get a little trigger-happy, flinging Frank and co every which way to get them across the map faster. But remember: though your character will automatically jump from platform to platform, when they're falling, they have no control on where they land.

Throw them up too high on a platform or fling them forward towards the edge of the screen, and you may send them straight into a lake of lava or an angry spike brick.

Stagehand takes place over the days of the week, and as time is wont to do, it passes as you run from place to place. This is represented in game by the colors of the sky, background, platforms, treadmills, bricks, and spikes.

Keep this in mind when you're moving your character through the world, especially at night — floating spike bricks are identically colored to the night sky, and will punish you if you're not paying attention.

Why pick up coins on your runs? Contrary to many iOS games, these shiny trinkets won't unlock special in-app purchase characters or power-ups; instead, they're used purely to bribe the game to add more distance to your score. The more coins you pick up on a run before you die, the higher your final top score.

Advanced tips, tricks, and cheats

Okay, got the basics? Let's move on to the good stuff.

Keeping Frank and co from jumping upward will only get you so far in terms of saving your speed; eventually, the ever-encroaching day will sap your running power and bring the left margin of the screen ever-closer. To keep your character away from that dreaded edge, keep an eye out for speed treadmills: The longer the treadmill, the bigger the boost to your running ability.

You'll also want to try and level the platforms before and after the treadmill to get the maximum benefit; landing on a treadmill from a jump or having to jump up after a treadmill will almost negate the benefit.

Remember how I said earlier that you can move a platform while your character is occupying it? It gets better: If you move that platform with any sort of speed, your character will get flung upwards, increasing their jump height and width.

I use this tip all the time to avoid getting trapped behind vertical brick walls, or to skip over scary spike brick-filled sections of the map. Just be wary of flinging your character too high, lest they get dumped in a lava lake.

If you've accidentally flung Frank toward a pit or lava lake, you can save him by dropping the following platform as low as possible to try and catch him, then flinging it upward. Doesn't always work, but I've managed to save my character on more than one occasion from certain bottomless death.

Stagehand is a multi-touch iOS game, which means that, yes, you can move multiple platforms (and banners) at once. Not only does this mean you can multitask to level multiple platforms at once, but it's also helpful to remember that your right hand can work just as well as your left in moving obstacles.

If you're playing on the iPhone, be wary of trying to grab and move extra-skinny platforms — unless you have very good mobility control, you may end up grabbing the wrong platform and creating a wall for Frank and co to smash up against.

As your character runs through Stagehand's environs, you may notice little directional arrows on some of the movable platforms: While more of a visual distraction than anything else, these can often hint at the build of upcoming platforms, or impending treadmills/coin caches.

Sure, Stagehand's terrain changes every game — but there are some recognizable elements you can memorize to get a leg up on the game:

• There will almost always be a dotted platform before a vertical brick wall
• A dotted platform with a directional up arrow will often follow a horizontal brick path with coins
• My least favorite pattern in the game is the banner followed by a floating platform and a lower platform — move the floating platform up to keep from being crushed in between

If you're starting to get the jitters from endless running, remember that you can always hit the Pause button in the upper right corner to take a second, recenter yourself, and head back into the platform-moving fray.

For fun and whimsy

These aren't necessarily tips to beat your friends, but they're still delightful aspects to the game.

When you share your death-gifs in iMessage or other text-based services, you'll get a bevy of customized phrases for your death and high score. They're all hilarious, and discovering each one is almost as fun as dying.

As you unlock Stagehand's various characters (Frank is your default, but you can also play as Spaceman, Brianna, and Doc), you'll find that each have their own animations for jumping, being on the verge of being squashed, being attacked by spikes, and the like.

Other Stagehand tips?

Found any great Stagehand tips you love? Let me know in the comments!

One of the very first iOS games I played religiously was The Incident, a delightful 8-bit "climber" from Panic designer Neven Mrgan and developer Matt Comi, who together make up the indie game company Big Bucket Software. The game blended great mechanics (jump and move to avoid the falling things!) with a flair for the ridiculous (those falling things? They're random objects from all over the world). I loved it so much that I even made a short-lived Tumblr that celebrated the different things that brutally crushed your poor character, Frank.

Well, those jerks have done it again: Big Bucket's new game, Stagehand, blends everything I love about never-ending runners with the pair's unique and wacky tongue-in-cheek commentary on retro pixel-art games — and it has a cheery, banjo-filled soundtrack that will worm into your ears and haunt your dreams. (In a good way, I promise.)

Stagehand Tips and Tricks: Get past Tuesday and more!

What makes Stagehand so delightful? Mechanics, whimsy, and frustration. Yes, like The Incident before it, Big Bucket's latest game rewards you for death: This time, instead of screenshot-friendly trophies, you'll get an animated GIF of your untimely demise — and, if you share said GIF with a friend, you'll also get a social-friendly obituary along with it. Almost makes up for you throwing your character off a cliff with an over-buoyant platform.

That's where the game's other delightful wrinkle — and Stagehand's "reverse platformer" namesake — comes in to play. Unlike every other endless runner in the App Store, you have nothing to do with controlling the characters themselves: Frank (and his eventual cohorts, unlocked via high scores) will run as far as his little pixelated legs will take him, and automatically jump up or down over small ledges and gaps.

Instead, you help Frank and his cohorts (or torture them, if you're feeling particularly sadistic) by controlling the scenery. With the exception of spiky obstacles, brick ledges, and bonus coins, every bit of Stagehand's main background is movable. Bounce your character off a platform by throwing it up into the air. Save them from certain death by fiery lava by lowering a ledge. Swipe a giant purple banner from their path to clear the way forward. But make sure you do so before the left edge of the screen catches up with your character — or they're toast.

After you wrap your head around the initial insanity of the mechanics, it very quickly becomes one of those head-scratching "why did no one ever think to build this before?" moments. Stagehand feels right at home in the 1980s pixel-art game universe, but it's also stunning in its modernity and darkened sense of humor. Though they're very different games, it's hard not to compare Stagehand to Braid in this respect: Both introduce mechanics that seem obvious in retrospect, but at the same time feel right at home in the world they've built.

Big Bucket's whimsy, however, is what truly elevates Stagehand from being a gimmick to a hair-pulling masterpiece: Cabel Sasser's excellent score (A plea: Play this with headphones on for the full experience) jangles around in your brain and helps give the world true character; it also keeps any darkness from surrounding ridiculous cartoon deaths.

Those shareable GIFs, too, are a brilliant stroke on Big Bucket's part: I've been sharing them — and their 140-character "obitiuaries" — since I started beta testing the game back in November, and they never cease to amuse. The game's automatically-generated scenery is constantly changing, ensuring that every one of your character's eventual deaths will come just a bit differently.

Bottom line

It's gorgeous. It's funny. And it will drive you crazy as you try to figure out how to beat your friends. (Or distract you into a lake of lava as you realize you're about to beat one.) What's not to like?

Stagehand is coming to the App Store today, so keep an eye out on Big Bucket's website!

Stagehand - Download now!

Running, jumping, and falling are all critical parts of being successful in the new iOS game Sky Dancer, and with a few simple tips and tricks you can improve your high scores and earn more points!

Play Sky Dancer right now!

Aim for the Precise Jump bonus

At the edge of each platform you will notice a glowing white circle. If you jump from within that circle, you will get bonus points for performing a precise jump. Remember, you'll need both perfect position (center of the platform) and perfect timing to complete a precise jump.

Don't overcompensate while falling

The biggest mistake any newbie is going to make playing Sky Dancer is holding the screen too long while falling from platform to platform. Heck, even the game's tutorial teaches you that way, but I have had way more success by taking the "less is more" approach to falling.

Adjust the direction of your dancer in small increments; don't hold the screen too long. As you fall closer to the platform you'll be able to judge what direction your dancer needs to go to stick the landing.

Strive for the Perfect Landing bonus

If you land in the middle of a platform after falling you'll be rewarded with a perfect landing bonus. This is probably the hardest bonus to achieve, so don't get too frustrated if you miss it. Practice makes perfect!

Complete challenges to increase bonus points

At the beginning of each run you will be presented with a list of three objectives to accomplish. When you complete all of them, you'll increase your challenge level which increases the number of points you get for precise jump and perfect landing bonuses. That means you'll have the potential to earn a higher score in less time. It's the perfect way to smash through your old record.

Do you have any tips and tricks?

Know any tips or tricks for Sky Dancer? Let everybody know in the comments below!

Platformers are practically as old as video games themselves and while some of my favorite games in history have been in the platformer genre, mobile touchscreens have often fallen flat in delivering a proper experience. Star Knight is a pleasant exception as the game accepts the limitations of the mobile gaming experience and tweaks the gameplay to overcome most of the pesky control problems.

• $2.99 - Download Now

Gameplay

The reason I say platformers are a hard sell on the mobile stage is because most platformers are pretty quick, and with the limits in responsiveness of touchscreens controls, platformers can easily become frustrating. Star Knight solves most of these problems by slowing it all down.

The pace of the gameplay is probably best described as "dreamy", which is to say it's slower than your average platformer, but not slow to the point of boredom. By taking this approach, Star Knight manages to make the controls feel much more fluid than your average mobile platformer.

While jumping from place-to-place and defeating enemies throughout the game, I couldn't help but feel that the attack button and jump button were too close together and I would often hit jump when I meant to hit attack and vice versa.

The good news is Star Knight lets you customize where your controls are on the screen, meaning you can put some extra space between those close together buttons. However, I as I was playing on my iPhone 7, I felt the screen was a little too small to accommodate a comfortable distance without interfering with my ability to see my surroundings. I decided to give Star Knight a try on my iPhone 6S Plus and found the experience far more enjoyable with the extra room.

Star Knight is challenging and you will die. The first several levels ease you into the gameplay and the environments at a pretty normal pace, but a little over halfway into the first area the game's difficulty curve takes a steep turn upward and doesn't stop.

A combination of tricky obstacles, enemies with lots of health, and the relatively low damage your character does all contribute to Star Knight's overall challenge level. While I wish it was a tad easier to upgrade your weapon (because you desperately will need to pretty early on) every time you die it forces you to rethink your approach to the situation that killed you. Sometimes it's as simple as just adjusting where or when you jump and other times you need to use the obstacles to your advantage to help you defeat enemies or cross certain terrain. The fact that the game makes you think means you begin to realize each death is really a learning experience and it motivates you to keep trying.

Combat could be better

Combat is by far the biggest fault with Star Knight. The smaller enemies you fight in every level don't offer much of a challenge, but have a lot of health. This means you end up spending more time standing in one place mashing the attack button than you want. In the later levels, there's a little more variety in the types of enemies you face, but they often seem more like a task to dispatch.

The combat isn't all bad, the boss battles are quite entertaining and extremely challenging. It will take you a few times fighting each boss to figure out how to properly defeat them, and each one is significantly different, which provides a well-needed break from the staleness of the other combat.

Design

Vector art dominates Star Knight and looks good doing it. While the background often fades away after a few levels in any given area, the foreground characters and obstacles manage to pop out at you all while still blending in with the overall aesthetic.

Little changes go a long way. For example, when you equip a new sword, your character will change his look ever so slightly, which keeps you more engaged as you progress through the different worlds. Plus, the enemies (especially the area bosses) are unique enough to offer a fresh look every time you come across a new one.

The background music is less of a soundtrack and more of a soundscape. It's subtle and a little on the quiet side, but it really adds to the atmosphere Star Knight creates. I often forgot the background music was even playing and that's not a bad thing as it helped enforce the "dreamy" slower gameplay.

Overall assessment

Star Knight is a mobile platformer that does so many things right in an area where other iOS platformers have failed. The slower pace to the gameplay offers a good solution to the limitations that touchscreen controls provide and yet offers gameplay that is fluid and enjoyable. Combine all that with the fact that you get 60 levels and no ads, makes Star Knight well worth its $2.99 price tag.

• $2.99 - Download Now

What do you think of Star Knight?

Let me know what you think of Star Knight. Will give it a shot? Leave me a comment below!

Six months ago I downloaded a game that I was sure, like most other games I download on my iPhone, in a couple of months would become nothing more than an app taking up storage space; I couldn't have been more wrong. Ancestor has broken the pattern and is a game I return to play time and time again.

• Free with in-app purchase - Download now

Gameplay

Ancestor is best described as a puzzle action runner — although technically you're floating. The controls are simple enough; the hero moves forward automatically and where ever you tap the screen is where your power orb shoots its laser.

The simple gameplay becomes a necessary asset to you as you quickly realize you need your brain to solve the game's puzzles to make any real progress.

Ancestor manages to combine brain teasing puzzles with fast-paced side-scrolling gameplay rather effectively. The game slows down as you encounter puzzles and obstacles in the game, but even with the added time, they come at you fast and frequently, making all nine different types of obstacles a real challenge each time you encounter them. I can't tell you how many times I have died to a simple wall — one of the first obstacles you face — because the more complex puzzles that came right before it take some serious thinking power. It's the powerful combination of memory focused puzzles and simple shoot-and-destroy obstacles that come in quick succession that make Ancestor a thrill ride each time you play.

Each time you die, you have to start back from the very beginning. Normally this is what makes endless runners so frustrating, but the procedurally generated obstacles and puzzles change each time you start playing, meaning no two runs are the same. Plus, the puzzles are the fun kind of challenge that makes repeat runs both entertaining and difficult.

Design

The retro look of Ancestor is what drew me to the side-scroller in the first place. Every pixel in this pixel-art masterpiece combines to create a unique look, all while maintaining an aesthetic that takes you back to when 8-bit graphics were the norm. The hero's sprite — along with their trust orb companion — looks like it was taken right out of an old Super Nintendo RPG, and the explosions and puzzles follow suit beautifully.

My only real complaint about the way the game looks is I wish there were more of it. Every couple of runs you make the backgrounds will switch up, giving you something different to look at and each new puzzle or obstacle you encounter stands out as a unique piece.

If you harken back to the era that Ancestor's art hails from, you can problem think of one or two tunes from those classic games that you still know how to whistle or hum. Ancestor's soundtrack will probably also get stuck in your head and is a small but pleasant addition to the overall enjoyment of the game.

There's something almost poetic about a game that makes you solve memory puzzles while simultaneously looking and sounding like a piece of history.

A few minor problems

With all the puzzles, obstacles, and explosions happening on the screen at once, I have notice that roughly one in thirty runs through the game will experience some minor lag. It usually only lasts a few seconds, and most of the time you can power through it no problem; however, if you're going through a series of rather quick obstacles and puzzles the lag has caused me to die on a couple of occasions.

Ancestor is free-to-play, and because of that there are ads that pop up on occasion; however, they only appear between runs and are very simple to close, so they don't affect gameplay at all.

The game also features in-app purchases that you can either buy with real money (which will kill advertisements) or with the in-game currency known as chips that you collect as you play. Each IAP is only 99 cents and is purely cosmetic, which is a breath of fresh air in an App Store cluttered with pay-to-win model games.

Overall assessment

At its heart, Ancestor is an endless runner, so if you know you hate that genre of mobile game stay clear. That said, if you enjoy a game that gives you a real challenge, Ancestor will deliver in spades by forcing you to think fast and tap swiftly through cool little puzzles and obstacles that will keep you on your feet. Ancestor will keep you occupied in a retro-inspired gaming trance for hours on end.

• Free with in-app purchase - Download now

Endless runner Temple Run 2 is heating up with its latest update, Blazing Sands. The expansion sees you endeavor to avoid the Demon Monkey once again, this time in an arid desert. You'll encounter new challenges, obstacles, and more in this new environment.

Here's what you can expect from Blazing Sands:

You can grab the latest update to Temple Run 2 from the App Store now.

• Free - Download Now

Geometry Dash is like a marriage of two of the most frustrating games you'll ever play: The Impossible Game and Flappy Bird. It's also a lot of fun, so let's dig in!

• $1.99 - Download now

You start out as a hop-happy icon with the goal of making it through each level in one go. You get unlimited attempts to do so, but if you mistime a jump or mess up in any way, it's back to the start for you.

At certain points in each level, you'll enter a warp zone where your icon is suddenly flying a mini spaceship with the controls switching over to Flappy Bird or Helicopter Game-style gameplay. It's the ultimate game of trial and error but if you read this guide, you might just be able to get off to a smoother start.

• Ignore the Secret Coins
• Turn off the music
• Use practise mode as needed
• Take a break
• Don't pay for the game until you really need to
• Slow things down with a cheater app
• Got any tips of your own?

1. Ignore the Secret Coins

Throughout each level, you're going to see some secret coins that you need to go off the standard path to get. If you're struggling just to get through the level, forget about them. They only make things harder. Since you need to finish the level to collect them, they're only worth focusing on it once you know what to expect from the full level.

The secret coins are used to buy new player icons, and unlocking demon difficulty in official levels.

2. Turn off the music

Geometry Dash has a pretty awesome soundtrack, with each level getting it's own sick beat. You might find the music distracting, as there are parts where you'll find yourself tapping along to the beat, only to have a new section pop up that requires you to tap off-beat.

Turning off the music can help you focus in on the visual cues, which are infinitely more important than the music. Plus, as your attempts counter reaches triple digits, music that sounded awesome is going to start getting on your nerves.

3. Use practice mode as needed

Practice mode doesn't count towards you beating the level, but it can help you figure out how to get past a particularly tricky spot and give you a heads-up as to what's up ahead. You're able to drop checkpoints in practice mode, which means you aren't stuck starting from the very beginning each time and can take as many goes at a tricky new part as you want.

The only catch is that none of it counts because we're talking about practice, not a game. You need to switch back to the regular game mode in order to progress further in the game.

4. Take a break

Seriously. It seems counter-intuitive to think you'll improve by putting a game down, but it's absolutely required with games like this that are designed to frustrate you. Watch Rooster Teeth's Rage Quit episode for The Impossible Game for fine (NSFW language) example of how these style of games are designed to frustrate you.

What sets Geometry Dash apart from The Impossible Game is all the strobing colors and lights throughout the levels — pretty at first, but eventually they almost put you into a light, hypnotic trance. After a marathon session of Geometry Dash, looking away from the screen might give you that weird swirling vision you get with some optical illusion videos.

Come back to the game the next day with fresh eyes, and you'll likely find things way easier — and less frustrating.

5. Don't pay for the game until you really need to

Sure, you can buy the full game for $1.99 from the app store. But, before you do that, you should take full advantage of the option to try before you buy. Try Geometry Dash Lite, which gives you access to the first 10 levels of the game or try Geometry Dash Meltdown if you really want to punish yourself. But really, if you fall in love with this game, it's a good idea to support the developers so they can keep doing what they do. Plus, the full game comes with a level editor mode, so you can create your own devilishly challenging courses and watch your friends rage quit.

Warning: Cheater apps

If you're really struggling at Geometry Dash, you may be considering a third-party cheater app. These will slow down the speed that your cube (or ship) moves through the level, which makes it easier to time out your jumps and gives you more time to react when you're treading into uncharted territory.

Here's the thing: you can't trust them. They exist outside the App Store and that means no one has checked them for malware. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Stay away.

Got any tips of your own?

If you're a fan of Geometry Dash, leave a comment below with your best tip, trick, or cheat!

One of the big selling points of the new Apple TV is games—and multiplayer games, to boot. Popular iOS app Crossy Road launched a multiplayer mode alongside the new Apple TV, allowing two players to pit pixel-creature against pixel-creature on the big screen.

If you're scratching your head a bit trying to activate this mode, you're not alone. Luckily, we've put together a quick tutorial on setting up the multiplayer madness so you can pixel-jump your way to freedom—or destruction.

How to turn on Crossy Road multiplayer on the Apple TV

1. Open Crossy Road on your TV.
2. Go to the character picker, then scroll to the far left for multiplayer mode. (You'll need at least one character unlocked to open the character picker; if you don't have any unlocked, just play a solo game or two!)
3. On your iOS device, download and open Crossy Road, and tap the arrow in the bottom right corner.
4. Tap the game controller icon.
5. You should be connected after a few moments; you'll see a P2 or P1 in the top right corner to signify the multiplayer connection.
6. Have fun playing with pixels!

How to Troubleshoot Crossy Road multiplayer

Can't get your iPhone to recognize Crossy Road's multiplayer mode? Try this troubleshooting tip.

1. Go to the Home screen on the Apple TV.
2. Double-press the Home button on the Apple TV to enter the multitasking interface.
3. Scroll to the Crossy Road icon and swipe up to force quit.
4. Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
5. Re-launch Crossy Road and follow the instructions above.

The weekly App Store refresh has arrived, bringing us yet another free app of the week. This week, take a trip to Bikini Bottom in Doodle Jump Spongebob SquarePants.

In Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants, the familiar, addictive platforming gameplay of Doodle Jump meets the wacky world of SpongeBob. Players will be tasked with taking on Plankton and his crew to take back the stolen Krabby Patty secret formula. Here's a bit more of what you can expect out of Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants.

• Four iconic undersea worlds to explore
• Five endless modes - complete worlds to unlock them all
• All-new incredible power-ups
• Exciting and unexpected platforms
• Friendly faces (Patrick, Sandy, etc.) provide a helping hand
• Infamous villains (Man Ray, Dirty Bubble, etc.) to defeat
• Daily rewards
• Daily and weekly challenges
• Leaderboards
• Achievements

If you'd like to check out Doodle Jump SpongeBob SquarePants, the game will be free on the App Store through October 1, and you can snag it from the link below.

• Free - Download Now

Last month, Tic Toc Games released a charming 2D platformer on Mac and Windows called Adventures of Pip. The game stars a tiny pixel which can transform into a full-sized hero and back again in order to deal with enemies and solve puzzles. Now the full-sized Adventures of Pip game has arrived on iOS with controller support. And for the first week, it's on sale for $4.99.

From pixel to hero

Pip's small but lovely world lives by a caste system, not unlike some countries in our own. 32-bit people are the most beautiful, and thus the top of the heap. 16-bit citizens live less luxurious but still comfortable lives. And 8-bit pixelated people have the fewest pixels, making them the lowest of the low – the serfs. Basically, the more pixels you have, the better off you are.

One day, the evil Skeleton Queen kidnaps a princess who can magically create pixels from nothing. With all of the princess's knights defeated, no one is left to rescue her… None except for Pip, a lowly red pixel who makes up for his small size with plenty of bravery.

How can one pixel save a kingdom and its non-democratically elected ruler? Thankfully a sympathetic ghost knight grants Pip the power of the Bitstream. This ability allows him to absorb his enemy's pixels, eventually transforming into a high-resolution hero.

Pip will gain two larger and more detailed forms as he progresses through the adventure. Each form has its own unique abilities, so you'll find that being just a pixel can come in handy! He'll use these abilities to solve puzzles and thwart the Skeleton Queen's minions.

Pip's 16-bit Agile form is not only fast, he can also punch enemies and cling onto ledges and jump off of walls. Switching to him greatly increases your mobility. But being larger than a pixel, he also weighs more. When Pip needs to bounce off of spring-like mushrooms to heights above or to ride a monster who won't move if the load is too heavy, he has to devolve back to Pixel Pip. The pixel form can also squeeze through smaller spaces than Agile Pip.

When Agile Pip evolves, he becomes Strong Pip. As a 32-bit character, Strong Pip is bigger and tougher than his previous forms. He can attack with a sword, greatly increasing his offensive capabilities. His strength also lets him push heavy blocks around, which can help him access new pathways and solve puzzles. Strong Pip can't move as fast or jump as well as his lower-pixel counterparts though.

Players will have to switch back and forth between forms in order to progress through each level.

Pip jumps onto iOS

The iOS version of Adventures of Pip sports multiple control options. Players can choose between virtual d-pad, virtual stick, or use a Bluetooth controller for the ultimate in pixel precision. It also offers Game Center Achievements to keep completionists busy.

Adventures of Pip is on sale for $4.99 this week. After that, it jumps up to $14.99, same as the Mac and Windows versions. Get it now and save the pixel kingdom!

• Download Adventures of Pip for iOS ($4.99 on sale)
• Download Adventures of Pip for Mac and Windows ($14.99)

The popular free-to-play endless runner game Subway Surfers keeps getting new content. The latest update brings Jake and his crew to the party city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Here's what you can expect when you download and play the new 1.41.0 version of the game:

• Travel to Brazil on the Subway Surfers World Tour
• Party with Jake and the crew in the colorful subway of Rio de Janeiro
• Use up to three Score Boosters in one run and take off for even higher scores
• Surf on the new Birdie board and get a flashy Shake Outfit for Carmen
• Search for cute toucans on the tracks to earn prizes in the Weekly Hunts.

Where will the Subway Surfers run next? Let us know your predictions in the comments.

Thanks to everyone who tipped us!

• Free - Download Now

There's no denying that as fun as Mr Jump is, certain levels are incredibly challenging. While some levels just require lots of repetition and do overs in order to learn the lay of the land, others require a little more (unless you want to pay, of course). If you're having a hard time getting past a certain area, here are some tips and hints that can hopefully help you master even the toughest Mr Jump obstacles!

1. Where to tap

Pay attention to where you're tapping on the screen. Never cover the obstacles coming up with your fingers. If you're left handed, you've got it made. Just tap on the left hand side of the screen, preferably in the lower left quadrant.

However, if you're right handed and just can't seem to cope with tapping left-handed, tap in the lower right corner of the screen. I still recommend the left side of the screen as the best place to tap if you can adjust to it since it doesn't obscure obstacles in any way.

2. Play on iPad

The more screen real estate, the better. Mr Jump is no exception. If you have an iPad, try playing on that instead. I've found it makes obstacles coming up a lot more obvious, since you know, BIGGER.

3. Don't get tap happy

It's important to figure out where you should tap and where you should leave well enough alone. In certain areas it's better to let Mr Jump simply walk off a cliff, so to speak. If there's only a small gap to jump across and the other side is lower than the land you're currently on, that's a good indication that you don't need to jump. This only creates more taps and more room for error, so watch for clues like this to make passing levels slightly easier.

4. Cold fingers will fail

If your fingers are cold, there's a higher chance that your iPhone or iPad may not register taps as well. In games like Mr Jump, it can easily make you fail the level. I've had times where I get sucked into a game of Mr Jump for a half an hour or more. When this happens my fingers tend to get cold after a while, especially when it's cold outside.

I then find myself failing sections I normally don't. Blowing warm air on my fingers helps and ensures that the screen is always registering my taps. So if you feel like your screen isn't registering taps like it should, make sure your hands aren't cold.

5. Stick with what works

A lot of Mr Jump involves repetition and remembering what works in different sections of each level. As you find ways to pass obstacles that works, remember those and use them again. For most people this game is a game of progression, not a game that you can simply blow through. Remembering what works for you is a good way to progress faster. As they always say, don't fix what isn't broke!

6. Look ahead

Don't focus on Mr Jump himself while playing. Instead, look a little ahead of him so you know what obstacles stand in your path. This way they're less of a surprise and you have more time to react to unexpected challenges.

7. De-focus your eyes

Try looking slightly right of the center of the screen and de-focusing your eyes, not completely but slightly. I've found this method to work on some levels since you it lets you view more at once. This obviously doesn't work as well on the iPad as it does on the iPhone. But if you don't have an iPad, it's a good trick to try.

8. Short and long, not light and hard

Don't forget that the iPhone and iPad aren't pressure sensitive. That means you don't have to vary how hard you push down on the screen. You only need to concentrate on how long you leave your finger pressed down. Pressing down too hard can result in a longer press than you intended while pressing down too softly can result in your iPhone or iPad not registering anything at all.

9. Don't skip levels

Skipping levels isn't necessarily going to help you. Since Mr Jump is a progressive game, odds are a skill you acquire in one level, you'll need in another. It's best to just work your way through a level, taking breaks in between. This way the next level isn't overwhelming when you get to it, which has been my experience with the two levels I skipped. I actually ended up going back and beating them the real way.

Your tips?

If you're as addicted to Mr Jump as we are, be sure to let us know in the comments what level you've made it to, and of course, any tips and tricks you think can help us all get further, faster!

Looney Tunes Dash! is an endless runner game with a twist. Packed with lots of levels, you can work your way through as your favorite Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Tweety, and more. To do you, you'll need to escape from infamous enemies and complete challenging goals. If you don't, you won't advance, and eventually, you'll run out of lives. That's where iMore comes in! We've got the tips, hints, and cheats you need to get further and even top up your lives for free!

1. How to get unlimited free lives in Looney Tunes Dash

Just like Candy Crush, Looney Tunes Dash! is also susceptible to the same time cheat that lets you get unlimited free lives. When your 5 lives are gone, just jump into the Settings app and change the time forward a few hours. Your lives will automatically recharge, leaving you with no reason to dish out real money on lives and cash.

Just remember when you're done to change the time back, or iMessage will have issues.

2. Play each level twice

I always play each level two times. The first time I play to complete the objective, the second time I play in order to rack up more coins. Coins are important for upgrades and the way the levels are laid out, it's impossible to collect a ton of coins in some cases while completing the objective. It also gives you two chances for higher scores.

3. The more dangerous path offers more rewards

In some courses you will see a side road that lets you take an alternate path of the main road. These are typically marked with warning signs and road blocks. While these paths are always harder to navigate, they almost always offer more rewards, boosts, coins, and items than the regular route. In some cases, you may even have to take them to collect enough items to pass the objective.

4. Time your super stomps well and you'll rack up major points

The very first ability you will unlock is the super stomp. It'll also serve to be one of your most valuable. It recharges on its own and you can continue to upgrade it in order to make recharges take even less time. The key is to save super stomps for areas that contain either tons of barrels and crates, or a lot of other items to smash and rack up points. I also save them for when I see crates and barrels overhead that I can't reach. The super stomp should explode them for you, allowing you to get points on both levels simultaneously.

5. You don't always want launch pad routes

It's tempting to always take the road that launch pads lead you to, but it isn't always the best decision. This is another reason I play levels twice. The first time through, use launch pads while the second time, stray away from them. In some cases you'll find using them rewards you while some are misleading.

6. Don't forget to upgrade your powers regularly

As the levels get more and more challenging, you may find that you have a hard time passing them without having upgraded abilities and power ups. So once you collect a few thousand coins, be sure to head to the shop and upgrade your powers. If you get stuck, you can also replay past levels in order to earn coins for upgrades. Once you've upgraded your powers, try the problem level again.

7. If you're going to spend real money, spend it on coins not cash

Coins are what you use in order to upgrade your power ups and abilities. Cash is only used to renew your lives sooner. Since we've told you in step 1 how to get free lives indefinitely, there really is no reason to ever pay real money for cash and lives. Instead, spring for some coins so you can upgrade faster.

Your Looney Tunes Dash! tips, hints, and cheats?

If you're playing your way through Looney Tunes Dash, be sure to let us know in the comments any tips, hints, or cheats you've got as well as what level you've worked your way up to!

Crossy Road may very well be one of the most addictive games to to ever hit the App Store. Even at iMore we can't seem to put it down. For those not already familiar, Crossy Road brings Frogger-style game play to your iPhone or iPad, but with a twist — you can collect free gifts in the form of coins and new characters. The whole point is to get as far as you can without drowning, getting hit by a car or train, or getting caught by the hawk. Sound easy? Think again! Crossy Road requires timing, concentration, and practice. That's why we've put together a list of our top tips, hints, and cheats to help you get higher scores faster!

1. Look ahead, not at your character

Focusing on your character means you can't see what's coming in front of you. Sometimes I even slightly defocus my eyes so I get a good view of everything in front of me. Getting across one lane of traffic at a time makes for slow movement. And you'll more than likely get hit before you get very far. Instead, think at least 3 steps ahead.

2. Tap behind your character, not in front or too far to either side

While everyone has to find a way to play that's comfortable for them, make sure that you're tapping the screen behind your character in a way that doesn't obscure your view. Not only that, if you tap too far to one side or the other, the game may register it as a side swipe instead. I typically try and tap directly below and towards the bottom of the screen. This ensures that I don't obscure my view and that taps aren't recognized as side steps.

3. Don't be afraid to backtrack

Sometimes you back yourself into a corner or realize that you don't have enough time to cross. Crossy Road allows you to backtrack and turn around. Whether you're stuck around the side of a hedge or you realize after stepping into traffic that you don't have time to cross, just turn around and wait for a better opportunity. Swiping sideways to outrun a truck or a train rarely ever works. Just backtrack instead.

4. Side swipe to save some time with slower lanes of traffic

Sometimes a lane of traffic moves slower than others and you find yourself wasting time waiting on it. Before the hawk comes into view and swoops you up, side swipe the opposite direction of that particular lane so you can cross quicker. This works for slow logs coming down the river as well.

5. Jump as close to the back of cars and trucks as you can

When you start to cross lanes of traffic, jump immediately after the cars pass. This ensures you have the most time between cars to get to the next lane. Essentially, you want to hug as close to the bumpers of passing cars as you can. That way if you need to turn around or make a split decision, you have more time to do so.

6. Don't get fixated on coins

Coins allow you to buy new characters in-game to play with. Other than that, they don't serve much purpose. Not only that, you can always watch short trailers in order to collect coins. Getting fixated on collecting coins is a bad move and normally ends up in disaster. Instead, concentrate on the road in front of you and only go for coins that are attainable easily or in your direct path at the time.

7. Don't miss opportunities for sprints

There are many instances in Crossy Road where you can sprint across many lanes of traffic at a time. This is the easiest way to get to a high score faster. Recognizing these opportunities is key and goes along with my very first tip. Instead of concentrating on what's directly in front of you, look at the entire game play area. When you see an opening in a freeway, tap like crazy. Just be careful that you don't overshoot and end up in oncoming traffic on the other side.

8. Don't enter a river too close to either side

Pay attention to how the rivers flow and where you see a white water break on each side. If your character passes this white break on either side, game over. I try and stay towards the center of the gameplay area whenever crossing a river just to be safe. If you have to cross towards a side, watch for patterns and hop across as quickly as possible. And again, don't be afraid to go backwards if there's no viable route immediately in front of you.

9. Look for patterns when crossing sections

Almost 100% of the time, each section of traffic and each river follows a specific pattern. While taking my first tip into consideration, you'll have to use a little brain power to predict patterns. Watch the way traffic flows, how fast each lane is moving, and what direction things are coming from. Our brains can process data pretty quickly and once you start looking ahead, you'll realize that you can predict where to move better than you thought you could. The hardest thing is just training yourself to not get focused on what's immediately in front of you.

10. There's no need to spend real money

Crossy Road offers up free gifts regularly and you can collect coins during gameplay. Sure can pay 99 cents a pop to get characters faster, but if you wait you'll often have even more fun earning them in-game. So, if you're short on money or just enjoy the challenge, a little patience can save you some cash.

Of course, Crossy Road is a great game and free up-front, so giving the developers 99 cents every once and a while is a great way to show your support and help make sure they keep working on, and improving, the game.

Your top Crossy Road tips, hints, and cheats?

If you're as addicted to Crossy Road as we are, what tips, hints, or cheats do you have to share? And of course, be sure to let us know in the comments what your high score is and what your favorite character is!

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Of all the silly little games I've played in the last month, I keep coming back to Crossy Road. It's not the mechanics: The app plays fast and loose with the Frogger look, but it's essentially the same movement you've played in side-scrollers for years. Step forward. Jump on a moving target. Jump to another moving target. Avoid the giant train. It's not the in-app purchase pleas, which are about on par in their annoyance with every other free-to-play game.

No, Crossy Road is charming. Which is odd, for a game that regularly cries out for ratings and in-app purchases. I usually detest games like this. They annoy me and then I delete them.

But this game doesn't beg you to spend cash on lives or power-ups or score boosts. It wants cash for special avatars — which, I should note, you can also win by playing the game for a certain amount of time — or gold, so that you can pay a tiny little prize machine to get new characters.

It's the characters who make Crossy Road such a strangely delightful experience. The characters change how your avatar moves throughout the randomly-generated wilderness. They change how you interact with certain elements. (If you're a wizard, you randomly set things on fire. Why? Just 'cos. You're a wizard. Don't question it.)

It also helps that the game's pixel-cubed design is gorgeous — even when it's clamoring at you to watch an ad for extra gold or rate the program, it doesn't feel out of place or ugly. And it's easy to bypass, too — you don't have to X out advertisements, just tap the play button to keep running up another score.

Crossy Road's environment is ever-shifting, featuring an array of cars, logs, trees, trains, wildlife, and the occasional elusive coin. You get one point per square forward you move, and, in a brilliant move, you'll see the scrolling epitaphs of friends on your Game Center list who died at that square. (Nothing motivates me further than bragging rights when it comes to playing never-ending scrollers, and Crossy Road does a great job at urging you forward.)

It's stupid fun. But it's fun. The sounds are quirky. The characters are ridiculous. The graphics are cute. The in-app purchase pleading is surprisingly subtle, considering it asks you every time you die. (Hint: That'll be a lot of times.)

And no, I may not play it as much as Threes, but it's earned a spot in my games folder nonetheless.

In RETRY, you take the role of a not so reliable plane. The objective? Navigate your way through many obstacles in order to reach checkpoints. The catch? You'll need to cash in a coin at each checkpoint, so if you don't have any, you'll need to start the level completely over if you crash. Luckily, we can let you in on our top tips, hints, and cheats to help you navigate through difficult obstacles and keep your coin bank up, with no real world cash required!

1. Use short taps more frequently than holds

In most levels, you'll need to fly straight or slightly curved lines. It's very easy to lose control if you hold down for too long, and you'll quickly find yourself in a loop that you may or may not be able to recover from. For most levels, play it safe and use short taps so you can quickly control your elevation at a second's notice.

2. Tap with your left thumb, not the right

If you tap with your right thumb, it's likely that part of your view will be obstructed. Since obstacles always come up from the right side, it's best to leave that area clear. Tapping with your left thumb instead of your right ensures that you can always see what's coming without your thumb or hand getting in the way.

3. Use water to your advantage

You can safely land in any body of water without it counting as a crash. This is a great strategy for times when you need to reposition yourself or find that you're losing control of your plane. Instead, dive into the water so you can get your bearings before continuing on your way.

4. Watch ads for free checkpoint unlocks

If you land on a checkpoint, you'll have to either cash in a coin or watch an ad to unlock it. I'd almost always recommend watching ads if you can so then your coin bank grows. Just remember that you can only watch so many ads in a specific period of time. So if you're on a particularly hard level, if may be a good idea to go back to previous levels and rack up some coins instead, without using checkpoints.

5. Use loops to avoid obstacles

While loops typically cause more trouble than they're worth, they can sometimes be used to bail you out of a tight situation. For instance, if you're facing a low obstacle and then a high one is right in front of you, doing a loop can sometimes give you enough space to get your height up to where it needs to be. A loop can also be a life saver if you need to make a nosedive and realized that just a second too late.

6. Remember to collect coins when you unlock achievements

The trophies tab in RETRY is used to show a summary of all the achievements you've unlocked. But more importantly, make sure you visit this tab often to be sure you don't have any coins to collect. You earn one whenever you unlock an achievement, so be sure you collect what you've got coming to you!

7. Only cash in coins for checkpoints if you have to

I typically never spend coins or watch ads to unlock the first checkpoint in a level. In most instances, it's an extremely easy one to get to and doesn't provide much benefit. Instead, skip checkpoints you have no problem getting to. Once you get past a particularly hard level, land your plane at the next checkpoint, but no sooner if you can help it.

8. If you get stuck, repeat levels to earn 3 stars

If you end up stuck on a particularly hard level, it's a good idea to loop back around to levels you haven't three starred yet. Not only will this typically put more coins in your bank, it'll also hone your skills even further so the odds of you passing the level become greater. If you've already three starred all the levels you've completed, it still doesn't hurt to repeat past levels. Practice makes perfect, right?

9. Watch your map for challenges and sponsored levels

Sometimes after you complete a level, you'll unlock two paths. One of them will go to the next regular level while the other will branch off to either a challenge level or an ad sponsored level. Challenge levels limit you to how many tries you get to complete them in a period of time. If you don't, you'll have to fork over coins for more retries. Ad based levels aren't limited to tries but are more difficult to collect as they typically involve a treasure chest if you complete the level perfectly.

10. Only use coins for more challenge tries if you have some to spare

After you exhaust all of your tries on a particular challenge level, you'll have the option to buy more retries for a coin. You get 10 per each coin. I typically advise against doing this unless you're extremely close to beating the challenge and have the coins to spare. Instead, wait a while and come back later to complete the level, without having to cash in coins.

Your RETRY tips, hints, and cheats?

If you've become addicted to RETRY, be sure and let me know in the comments what level you're on along with any tips, hints, and cheats you think others may find useful. And if they're really great, we'll even add them to our guide!

Swing Copters is an obscenely difficult one-touch action game from the infamous creator of Flappy Bird. Steel your patience, because making it even a few seconds on your first tries without plummeting to your demise is a challenging feat.

See, in Swing Copters, you control a little orange guy with a propellor hat. It will turn on and pull him upwards, but veer off to one side unless you tap the screen quickly enough to switch directions. Given this disorienting dynamic, you have to guide him through gaps in girders that, for some reason, have hammers swinging beneath them.

If you have barely been able to make it past the first girder, check out our top tips, tricks, and cheats for surviving the gauntlet of Swing Copters.

1. Settle into a rhythm

It will take awhile before you find a consistent tapping rhythm for moving straight up with as little lateral deviation as possible, but it's absolutely vital to do before you even start worrying about steering towards the gaps in the platforms. To start, simply tap as quickly as possible, then dial down the speed bit by bit. Make sure to keep the time consistent between taps, even if it means bashing your head against the first platform a few times to get a feel for how fast you need to go.

Once you've found the rhythm established in the video above, you can work on varying the delay between taps to steer. It may help to use two thumbs to keep left and right switches oriented, but maintaining a rhythm that way is more difficult.

2. You have less room than you think

It's easy to focus on the gap between the green girders as your target zone, but realistically, your navigable area is much smaller. Focus primarily on the moving in the gap between the hammers, as there's only a small section of the beams that will potentially make that gap even smaller. Get through the hammers and your odds of making it past the girders are good if you stay steady.

3. Keep calm

It's hard not to feel like whipping your phone against the wall after a few rounds of Swing Copters. Odds are if you have any experience with Flappy Bird, you already know what to expect here in terms of rage, but letting it get out of control will pretty directly affect your ability to play. Even with Flappy Birds under your belt, many consider Swing Copters even more challenging and infuriating. Accept failure as an inevitability. Wax on, wax off. Turning off the audio will aid your sanity immeasurably.

Pic courtesy of the iMore forums

4. You get one swing

There's only enough time between girders to have one solid veer towards the gap. It's possible to squeeze in two shallow veers if the hammers are swinging in your favor, but that's rare enough to not rely on. The vast majority of your taps should be evenly timed to assure consistent assent. There is so little time to course correct before the next girder that you should aim to get the bulk of your transition done in a single swoop.

5. Hack a high score

If you're more interested in bragging rights among your friends than going through all of the toil of the game itself, it's relatively easy to fake a high score.

• Install iFunBox on your computer
• Plug in your iPhone or iPad over USB
• Use iFunBox to find the com.dotgears.swing.plist file in Library/Preferences
• Open and edit it with a basic text editor to change the value under the highscore line near the bottom to whatever you like. Just change the value between the "integer" markers.

Your top tips, hints, and cheats for becoming a Swing Copters legend?

Getting good at Swing Copters requires a tenacity that many don't have. What's your high score? How did you get there without taking a hammer to your iPhone? Sound off in the comments!

• Angry Birds Go!: Top 10 tips, tricks, and cheats!
• Bejeweled Blitz: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats to get your highest scores ever!
• Boom Beach: Top 10 tips and tricks to defeating the Blackguards without spending tons of real cash!
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• 2048: Top 7 tips, hints, and cheats to stack your way to a higher score!

Every day dozens and dozens of new and updated apps and games hit the iOS and Mac App Stores. It's impossible to keep up with them all, but it's not impossible to pick out the very best. Here they are! Today we've got tons of awesome games, a new image editing app, and more!

New and updated iOS apps

• Aerena: Clash of Champions 2.0: Turn-based tactical combat game with multiplayer support. Adds Hammer of INCquisition combat robot, new streamlined UI, skins for Ships and Champions and more. Free - Download now
• Afterlight: Image editing app with 15 adjustment tools, 59 filters and 66 textures. Also includes cropping and transforming tools and frames. $0.99 - Download now
• Pac-Man Friends: Tilt Pac-Man through mazes to rescue his friend and escape from the Ghosts' castle. Gain powers like Invisibility, Wall Crashing, and Illumination by rescuing friends. $4.99 - Download now
• Rules 1.1: Cute puzzle game featuring whales, unicorns, robots and squirrels. Now sports native iPad support, reduces energy use, adds more sound effects, solves Game Center bug, and more. $1.99 - Download now
• Star Walk 2: Stargazing tool. Has new design, 3D models of celestial bodies, and more. $2.99 - Download now
• Swing Copters: Flappy Birds creator Dong Nguyen is back with a new game called Swing Copters. Free - Download now
• Over: Text overlay image editor now offers rotation and new fonts. $1.99 - Download now
• Vine: Now import existing videos and enjoy new editing tools. Free - Download now
• Google Play Music: Now you can remove songs from your cloud library, and enjoy a range of new navigation and accessibility features. Free - Download now

Discounted iOS apps

• Scanbot: A document scanning app that lets you take photos of files which are then converted to searchable PDFs. Scanbot has a great interface and lots of unique features. $1.99 Free for 48 hours - Download Now
• R-TYPE: The classic arcade shooter, reborn as a universal iOS game. Attack the Bydo Empire in this side-scrolling arcade classic. $1.99 $0.99 - Download now
• Star Trek Trexels: Explore space, build your own starship, choose crew, and enjoy narration from George Takei. $2.99 Free - Download now

More apps and updates?

If you try any of the apps or updates, let me know how they work for you. If you got any new or updated apps today that you loved, but don't see here, let us know about them!

Just when you thoughts the world was just starting to get over Flappy Bird, the developer has returned with yet another title, which has just launched on both iOS and Android. Dong Nguyen's latest hit, titled Swing Copters, puts players in charge of controlling a dude with a copter helmet. The object of the game is to avoid the swings and progress as far as possible, much like its predecessor.

We'll not spoil the gameplay for you, so be sure to head into the App Store and download the title. Is it addictive? Absolutely, we've tried it already. Will it be as successful as Flappy Bird? We'll have to see, but we bet Nguyen sure hopes so. Let us know how you get on in the comments.

• Free - Download

Tiny Wings has added a rare update with five new stages in Flight School. You'll need to work your way through the Clown, Koi, and Orcas Islands before you can get to Tuna Island, though. These levels are more challenging than ever, with players needing to beat rival birds to their nests at the end of the stage.

Tiny Wings is a really great, simple physics game. The intuitive one-touch controls of Tiny Wings remain intact: simply tap the screen to speed towards the earth, and catch the slope just right so you can slingshot over the opposing crest with even more velocity. As players earn higher scores in flight school, they're awarded fancier nests and unlock new islands to explore. Besides hills, bodies of water can quickly slow momentum, while inexplicably bouncy sunflowers can send birds skyward. There's also a competitive local multiplayer mode and the classic single player one-day challenge mode to enjoy.

Tiny Wings has a timeless quality to it, even three years after the initial release. Be sure to read up on our top Tiny Wings tips and tricks if you're having trouble getting to the new Tuna Islands.

• $2.99 - Download now

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run is an endless runner by Nickelodeon that lets you play as your favorite turtle characters. You'll have to defeat enemies on rooftops and in the streets in order to make it as far as you can before your energy meter runs out. Along the way you can play mini games, search for pizza, and collect Mutagen, the game's form of premium currency. These are the tips, hints, and cheats we think you need to know to achieve your furthest run ever without having to spend tons of real world cash!

1. Make sure you're collecting green orbs whenever possible

If you run out of energy, game over. As you run you'll have to collect green orbs in order to build back up your energy while you're running. If you have a choice between fighting an enemy or jumping over them to collect orbs, always go for the orbs.

2. Save your Mutagen for defeating enemies

Mutagen is Rooftop Run's premium form of currency and is rather hard to come by. If you run out of energy due to getting hit or from lack of orbs, you'll have to cough up Mutagen to continue on or you'll have to start over. Each time you decide to continue on, the amount of Mutagen you have to cash in gets higher and higher. This is why it's smart to use it wisely and typically save it for when you're battling an enemy.

3. If you're going to buy anything, buy Mutagen

If you decide you want to spend some real money in order to give yourself an edge, coins are easy to collect in-game so pass on them. Instead, buy yourself some Mutagen so you can continue on during runs when and if you need to.

4. Fill your energy meter to activate Turtle Time

If you completely fill your energy bar by collecting enough green orbs, you'll activate Turtle Time which is a sort of bonus game. In the mini game, you'll have the opportunity to rack up tons of coins quickly, so be sure your always aiming to fill that meter.

5. Buy Turtle Power Magnets and other boosts to give yourself an edge

The store offers lots of items for sale. One of my favorite boosts is the Turtle Power Magnet which attracts all green orbs near you so you don't have to go after them. If you find yourself having a hard time making it past rooftop enemies, the laser bot will most likely be your best bet. Regardless what you choose, boosts aren't terribly expensive, you can trigger them whenever you'd like, and you're free to stock up on as many as you'd like.

6. Focus on leveling up a single turtle instead of unlocking them all

Instead of unlocking all 4 turtles, a better strategy, at least in the beginning, is to concentrate on leveling up one. This way all your coins are going to giving you the maximum amount of armor and energy as fast as possible. So pick your favorite in the beginning and stick with them for a while.

7. Increase energy and armor capacity before anything else

Increasing energy and armor means you can take more hits and go longer without having your energy meter fall. For most folks this will mean that you'll have a better chance at getting farther without having to use Mutagen. You'll be thankful you have the extra armor and energy when battling enemies.

8. Don't forget to visit the garage to upgrade the Shellraiser

You'll need to protect and upgrade your vehicle just like you upgrade your character. Increasing armor should be at the top of your todo list followed by adding better launchers. Just choose wisely when it comes to spending money on the Shellraiser and on your character.

Your Rooftop Run tips, hints, and cheats?

If you've been playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run, what tips, hints, and cheats have you found to be helpful? Be sure to let us know in the comments, along with the length of your best run yet!

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• Plants vs. Zombies 2: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to pass levels faster
• Plague Inc.: Top 5 tips, tricks and cheats
• Real Racing 3: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats for better cars and faster upgrades!
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• Slayin: Top 5 tips, tricks, and cheats
• Smash Hit: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to help you achieve your best distance yet!
• Tiny Death Star: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to crush the rebellion faster!
• Tiny Wings: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to help you fly higher and nest up faster!
• 2048: Top 7 tips, hints, and cheats to stack your way to a higher score!

Just in time for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, an official action game has just gone live in the App Store. Players pick one of the four classic turtles, and use specific swipes and taps to lay the beat-down against Shredder's minions in a number of different ways. Tapping the screen when an enemy is about to attack launches a counter, while upward swipes send baddies into the air, and horizontal ones deliver devastating attacks.

Build up your combo multiplier but not getting hit, and once your Turtle Power meter fills up, you can call on your bros to come in and do a little damage themselves with some fast mini-games. If that sounds at all like Combo Crew, that's because it's the same devs behind it. As you progress, you can upgrade your favorite turtles, get them new gear, and work on climbing the leaderboards. There's a story mode and a series of challenges to meet, if you've got the radioactive wherewithal.

It's a little snakey that they're doubling up with a $3.99 pricetag and in-app purchases, but with such a beloved franchise, I'm sure there are going to be plenty who are willing to shell out. In any case, here's the trailer for the movie if you haven't had a chance to check it out.

• $3.99, IAPs - Download now

Subway Surfers has enjoyed a steady stream of updates with new content patches and today we're looking at the addition of São Paulo, Brazil to celebrate the this year's World Cup. In the latest version of Subway Surfers, developer Kiloo has made it possible for players to traverse through São Paulo as Edison, the Brazilian soccer kid and latest member of the Subway Surfers crew.

As well as the new area and character, Kiloo has also added in the Banana board and cool new outfits for Edison and Zoe. Players are able to play against other Subway Surfers to reach the best ranks in the Top Run race and earn some neat prizes too. It's a sizable update and one we're sure fans will thoroughly enjoy.

• Download Subway Surfers - Free

As part of its WWDC 2014 keynote address, Apple introduced Swift, their new programming language. Now one of the company's own programmers has created a clone of the popular mobile game Flappy Bird with Swift to show how easy it is to make a game with the language.

The programmer, Nate Murray, claims he had no prior experience in using Swift before Apple officially announced the language on Monday. He then starting working on the Flappy Bird clone, which he naturally calls FlappySwift, and said he was able to create a working version of the game in just four hours. He's released the source code for the game on the GitHub site.

Apple plans to release the final version of Swift sometime this fall, alongside the launch of OS X 10.10 and iOS 8. Murrary plans to offer an online Swift development course in the near future.

If you are a programmer, are you excited about the prospect of making applications via Swift for Apple's platforms?

Source: Hacker News via TechHive

Leo's Fortune is a cute platforming game for iPhone and iPad that's made a big splash in the App Store recently and for a lot of good reasons. It has finely crafted stages with beautiful graphics and clever puzzles. The story has a whimsical, old-timey charm to it and strong voice acting to boot. But is it one of the best iPhone games or best iPad games?

There are 19 stages across 5 acts all told. Between each you'll learn a little bit more about how a rich mustachioed fuzzball named Leopold lost his riches and what he's doing to get them back. The levels themselves involve split-second timing to get from point A to point B without getting hurt on various pointy obstacles, and also a bit of thinking to move around crates, flip switches, and otherwise figure your way through the path forward. Though stages are completed just by getting to the end, you can earn up to three bonus stars for collecting all of Leo's coins, not getting Leo killed, and beating a certain time record.

The controls are polished, but it's basically a dual-stick set-up that's better suited for a supported hardware controller, like the SteelSeries Stratus. Drag on the left side of the screen to move left or right, and drag on the right side to jump or drop. The gameplay is ultimately very traditional. The only real twist is being able to inflate or condense in order to adjust your airtime or interact with the environment, and even that's not a huge departure from classic platforming games. That's perfectly fine for those that love the genre, and anyone that has put a significant amount of time into Sonic games are likely to appreciate the polish and balance put into the physics here. On the flip side, grizzled platformer players may have trouble finding anything really new and will have to lean on the story and setting to get the most out of Leo's Fortune.

That said, the art style is really great. Fine details, like how Leo's blobby form melts up against the terrain, and how his eyes drift to the front and then to the side of his body as you move him left to right, are definitely appreciated. Background and foreground objects provide a strong sense of perspective as you navigate through a healthy variety of settings. The orchestral soundtrack follows closely in step with the otherworldly theme, inspiring a slight Disney vibe.

Leo's Fortune earns bonus points from bucking the trend of offering in-app purchases for shortcuts, and supporting cloud saves, so you can continue on both iPhone and iPad seamlessly. All in all, Leo's Fortune is a very pretty platforming game with familiar mechanics. It's not pushing any boundaries on either front, but that doesn't stop it from being an altogether fun, charming little game.

• Download Now - $4.99

One of the more popular endless running games out there, Subway Surfers, has had a big update in time for Easter. Players can now run through the subways of Rome, and access a new local racer, Roberto. There are also weekly egg hunts with unique rewards, plus a new unlockable costume for Zoe and a new Kick-off board to earn. To top things off, there’s a fresh series of Spray Can Awards for rising to particularly tricky challenges.

Subway Surfers has had a wide range of new locales added to their roster recently, with new racers to go along with each release, and it’s great to get one more. For those that aren’t familiar, Subway Surfers has players running from the law as some troublesome kid. Swipe left, right, up and down to avoid obstacles and collect coins along the way, but things get pretty tricky the longer you go.

Subway Surfers remains a hugely popular runner, and is worth a gander if you haven’t given it a shot already. How many of you guys play it? What’s your high score?

• Free — Download Now

Now that the absolutely insane Flappy Bird title is gone from the App Store, you may be looking for something to cleanse your gaming palate. For all of its addictiveness (which is the very reason the developer removed it), Flappy Bird presented a ton of frustration, and was ultimately pretty simplistic. So here are some games to help you get away from birds, endless runners, 8-bit graphics, and one-touch controls.

Threes!

Maybe you’d rather mellow out a little bit. Threes! offers easygoing, thoughtful gameplay without ads or in-app purchases. Players slide a board of numbered tiles in four directions in order to get adjacent and identically-numbered tiles to stack on top of one another. Every turn introduces a new tile on the board, which means you’ve got to be diligent in continuing the stack. Once you’re out of moves, the sum total of your tiles are tallied up for a final score, which gets posted on the Game Center leaderboards.

The charming art style and music combine with elegant, simple gameplay to make something really unique.

• $1.99 - Download Now

Republique

A flappy bird bashing his head into soil and pipes isn’t exactly a thrilling narrative. For something with a juicy story, excellent graphics, and, most importantly, has an ending, try out the first episode of Republique. This stealth strategy game puts players in the voyeuristic role of a hacker trying to help a girl named Hope to escape from a compound ruled by a totalitarian regime. It’s unclear just how widespread the dystopia goes, but even just the first couple of hours of gameplay offered by this episode are enough to keep you interested in what comes next.

Republique is beautiful and full of compelling voice acting and gameplay.

• $4.99 - Download Now

Hundreds

If you’re looking for something with a proper sense of achievement and finality, try out Hundreds. This minimalist puzzle game presents players with a series of challenges whereby they have to inflate (or deflate) numbered dots on the screen until the sum of their value adds up to 100. This goal is hampered by the fact that if your inflation or deflation cause the dot to touch anything else, then you lose and have to start over.

Hundreds demands a fine mix of precision timing and strategic thinking in a slickly-designed package.

• $4.99 - Download Now

Octagon

If you just can’t shake the need for speed, Octagon offers great gameplay that’s still challenging, but not nearly as impossible or endless as Flappy Bird. Players navigate a trippy polygonal landscape with a 2D ball by swiping left and right to avoid falling off the edge. Swiping up causes the ball to jump up to whatever platform is above, which can be altogether fun and disorienting. The nice thing here is that each stage’s layout is fixed, which means over time, you can memorize what comes next, and eventually get to the end, ready to take on the next stage.

Octagon’s polished interface and thumping soundtrack make for a runner that won’t have you smashing your device in frustration.

• $1.99 - Download Now

Pathogen

If you want to get really thinky, Pathogen is an interesting biology-themed competitive puzzle game. Players use three different cell types and a virus to grow over an entire map. Being mindful of which cells are touching which are of the utmost importance when determining how to proceed. There are shades of Othello here with the turn-based structure, tile layout, and method of capturing pieces, but this is a decidedly unique experience. The addition of online and local multiplayer plus a level editor provides lots of strategic options.

For something competitive and pensive, give Pathogen a try.

• $0.99 - Download Now

What are your Flappy Bird replacements?

So we've got games that encourage you to think, offer reasonable tests of reflexes, bring high-fidelity graphics to the table, and not a single, stupid bug-eyed bird among them. That should help you through your Flappy Bird detox. How many of you have yet to kick the habit? Are you leaving Flappy Bird installed on your iPhone or iPad?

Flappy Bird is the hottest game on the App Store — at least for the moment — and topmost on every gamer's mind is how to get a higher score than their friends... and without smashing their phone to pieces in the process. A fantastically terrible game, its design is derivative, its mechanics maddening, and its popularity no doubt the result of incredible rage-of-mouth marketing. Yet despite all of that (or maybe because of it)... Can't. Stop. Playing. So how can you get better at Flappy Bird faster? For some games it's simply a matter of finding the right tips, hints, and cheats. Flappy Bird, however, is so simple, that there are few to no ways to hack the system. But that doesn't mean you can't hack yourself...

• Free - Download Flappy Bird now

1. Bigger is better

Flappy Bird might be an iPhone game but that doesn't mean you can't play it on the iPad, if you have one. At 2x on the iPad, Flappy Bird is literally twice as big and that means you not only have a great field of play, but an easier way of discerning details, and less of a chance your own finger will obscure your view and get in your way.

2. Stay out of your own way

If you are playing Flappy Bird on an iPhone, pick a smart place to tap and stick with it. If you're right handed, the bottom right corner works well. It's comfortable but also won't obscure the oncoming pipes so you can see their arrangement as early as possible. If you're left handed, there's little risk of obscuring the pipes, but you'll still want to stick with the bottom corner to make sure the bird stays in focus. (I know some people who use a thin stylus instead of their finger to game for just that reason.)

• Our favorite gaming stylus pens - Pogo Sketch Pro and Adonit Jot Script

3. Do not Disturb is your friend

There's no feeling in the world worse than getting close to your high score only for your phone to ring and take you right out of the game. Or for your iPhone — or iPad! — to pop up a message, sound an alarm, or otherwise shock you into tap-tripping, pipe-smashing doom. Do yourself a favor and turn on Do not Disturb before you start to play.

You might also want to take a moment to force quit all other apps and reboot before you play. Flappy Bird is as glitchy as it is annoying, and a crash is as bad a call or an alert while you're tying to beat your high score.

4. It's all in the timing

The single most important skill in Flappy Bird is timing your taps. The game is entirely about getting the bird through the pipes without touching any part of them. That means you have to learn to keep it as level as possible. Since the bird is always coming up or going down, the trick is to time your taps so that the amplitude of those peaks and dips are as short as possible — short enough to fit through the pipes. Tap quickly, tap regularly.

The next trick is to learn to recover to that rhythm quickly after you rise or fall to the right height for the pipe. You'll need to tap or double-tap up, or pause down, then get stable again really fast. If you're a natural, curse you. If not, you're going to have to practice. A lot.

5. Manage your stress

Your body doesn't know the difference between real stress — look out, car! — and virtual stress — look out, pipe! Games cause a physical reaction. A rush. That's why we play them. But it's also why they can make us crazy. Luckily, because the body doesn't know the difference, the same things that can keep us calm in the real world can keep us calm in the game world too: Slow, steady, breathing. Sounds silly, I know, but there's a reason why the best fighters, the best sharpshooters, and the best surgeons all learn to manage their breathing. It creates calm. It creates focus. It puts you in the zone. And it means that, when you start getting close to your high score — or your friend's high score — you'll be less likely to freak out and fly right into a pipe.

• ZEN & TECH 1: How to breathe your way to lower stress

Bonus tip: Fly low!

From our own Kevin Michaluk in the comments:

Your top Flappy Wing tips, hints, and tricks?

If these Flappy Bird tips, hints, and cheats work for you, be sure to let me know, and if you've come up with other ways to do better, faster at Flappy Bird, absolutely let me know. And, as always, include your high score!

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• Smash Hit: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to help you achieve your best distance yet!
• Tiny Death Star: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to crush the rebellion faster!
• Tiny Wings: Top 10 tips, hints, and cheats to help you fly higher and nest up faster!
• 2048: Top 7 tips, hints, and cheats to stack your way to a higher score!

Flappy Bird seems to have come out of nowhere to become the number one game on the App Store. With graphics that look straight out of Super Nintendo and gameplay that's as simple as it is insanely difficult, it's all anyone seems to be talking about right now, especially if they can get anything over a single-digit high score. Here's how it works — tap to flap and try to avoid the pipes. Touch a pipe and it's game over. No doubt the simplicity and difficulty is what's made Flappy Bird a phenomenon. Nothing spreads by word of mouth faster than the things we love to hate (or hate to love?) I currently max out at 3 (yes, 3!) but I've seen people get double, even triple digit scores. If you've tried Flappy Bird let me know — where does it rate on your love to hate scale? And, most importantly — what's your high score?

(And if you feel the need to improve your high score, don't miss our top 5 Flappy Birds tips, hints, and cheats!

• Free - Download now

In Tiny Wings you play the character of an unfortunate bird whose wings are just too tiny to fly. Luckily, what he lacks in wing span, he makes up for in confidence and energy. With your help, you'll both conquer objectives and soar high into the sky. Whether you're just starting out or find yourself stuck on a particular objective, we've got the tips, tricks, and cheats to help you nest up faster and fly further!

• $0.99 - Tiny Wings for iPhone - Download now
• $2.99 - Tiny Wings HD for iPad - Download now

1. Master your slide

Since Tiny Wings is a physics based game, the most important part is knowing how to control your slide. Touch Teacher shows you through the first parts of the game the ideal spots to place and lift your thumb. Practice on your own by playing the first few islands over and over. After island three the landscapes get a little more random and harder to conquer. Don't be afraid to restart the game several times in order to master slides.

2. Nesting up means higher scores and more achievements

Everytime you complete a set of objectives in Tiny Wings, you will earn a new nest and get a different set of objectives to complete. Nesting up means higher scores too. The multiplier you see on your nest is what your score is multiplied by. So if you're looking for high Game Center rankings, nesting up is a priority.

3. Touch the sky for extra points

Every time you touch the sky you get 20 points times whatever your current multiplier is. If you're trying to complete an objective that requires a high score, this is an easy way to rack up easy points. This also goes back to mastering your slides. Once you do that, sky touches are no big thing.

4. When time and speed matter, stay low to the ground

Whether you've made your way to Flight School or are trying to complete a solo objective that requires you to hustle to a far off island, staying low to the ground gets you there faster. In these instances, there's no time for sky touches and staying in fever mode. Use low jumps and glide as low to the hills as you can. As they always say, the most direct path is typically the quickest. That definitely holds true here.

5. Focus on what's ahead of you

Most people tend to focus too much on their little feathered friend and less on what's directly ahead of them. I know this can be weird at first but in the long run, it's a much better strategy. Especially once you get further into a game and the landscape becomes more and more unpredictable.

That brings me to my next tip...

6. Hills regenerate so if you're having a hard time, wait

Hills in Tiny Wings are randomly regenerated. It's part of what makes the game so fun since the islands are never the same. If you're stuck on a particularly difficult island, set the game down and come back a few hours later. I'm not sure exactly what time interval the game is on but a few hours always does the trick. Just make sure you quit the game completely from your multitasking tray before setting it down.

7. Tilt your iPhone or iPad on the upside down objective

Most people have a hard time with the upside down objective. I've found that tilting the device slightly on it's side after you start tricks it. Cock your head to the other side and you've got pretty much a perfect view. Once you've obtained the correct position, it becomes easy to complete.

8. Power through water and problem hills faster

If you happen to fumble on a landing and are having a hard time getting back into the air, hold your finger down until your facing down a hill. This especially holds true if you're floating on water. It's better to power down to the bottom and back up. You'll lose less time than trying too prematurely to end up back in the air.

9. Stay in Fever Mode as often as possible

Fever Mode racks up a heck of a lot of points, possibly more than any other task you can perform. If you're looking for a high score or can help it, stay in Fever Mode whenever possible. It's sure to put you up there in Game Center rankings if you hold out long enough. The only exception to this is when you want speed as discussed in tip 4.

10. Cheat: Fever mode glitch

When you get to the objective that requires you to be in Fever Mode for 34 seconds, simply have someone call you. When you pop back into the game, the objective should be complete due to a funny glitch. Just make sure you're already in Fever Mode and the clock is racking up time when they call.

Your tips and tricks?

Tiny Wings has been around for a long time so I'm positive there's lots of you that have played it not once, but multiple times through. If you've found any glitches, cheats, or tips you've found that make beating objectives easier, or just plain more fun, let us know in the comments!

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Every week, the editors and writers at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selection is all games! There's a simple flicking game, a superhero fighting game, a strategy game, an arcade game, and a couple casual games.

Puk - Simon Sage

Puk is a, simple, minimalistic flicking game for iPhone. Okay, so it's not so much flicking as it is slingshotting. Players are provided a set number of puks and a number of targets to take out by pulling back on the puks and releasing. You have a limited amount of time to take out all of the targets (many of which need more than one hit to be eliminated). If you can't quite make it, you can shake your phone up to three times to nudge the puk into position, but if you can't do it, game over. If you do wipe them all out, you move on to the next round. Eventually, barriers start popping up and the color scheme starts screwing with you, making it particularly difficult to get your targets in time.

Puk has a ton of polish, and the simple gameplay makes for some really instinctual gameplay. There's no real variation on the force of your slingshots, so it really just boils down to speed and accuracy. Ultimately, it's a really light, fast game that can kill small amounts of time really well.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Gratuitous Space Battles - Joseph Keller

Gratuitous Space Battles is exactly that: a lot starships slugging it out on a top-down battlefield. This isn’t a traditional strategy or tactics game. You don’t command the ships. Rather, the fun in Gratuitous Space Battles is outfitting and deploying your ships on the battlefield, finding the right combinations of weapons, armor, and positioning to make sure your side comes out on top. Choosing from an assortment of fighters, frigates, and cruisers, you carefully make decisions about which role your ships will play, attempting to overcome various hazards and restrictions each battlefield presents. Some, for instance, limit the types of ships available, or nullify defensive shielding. For those of you who have played and loved GSB on your PC or Mac, the version for iPad is every bit as fun as the original. Pick it up on the App Store for $9.99.

• $9.99 - Download Now

Zaxxon Escape - Chris Parsons

Enjoy a new twist on the 80's classic. As Sega describes it: 30 years later, ZAXXON is back and rebuilt for a whole new generation in this fast action arcade game. You're on a mission is to escape ZAXXON’s asteroid city. ZAXXON’s minions have transformed the fortress into a maze of tight corridors and you must fly your ship out safely! In other words, you get to fly in some really cool 3D planes and blow the heck out of stuff. There is pretty much no end to the game but you do have 30 missions to complete. You can do it the hard way, by simply just playing through the whole game numerous times or you can give in and purchase some in-app stuff. I say take the hard road, avoid the IAP's.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Tiny Wings - Ally Kazmucha

There are very few games that stay on my iPhone or iPad longer than a few weeks. One of the games that has stayed on my phone for the better part of 2 years is Tiny Wings. I absolutely love this game and the simplicity of it. It's one of those games that you don't mind unlocking all the achievements for and then going back and doing it again.

For me, this is one of the best games ever created for iOS and ranks up there with the likes of Plants vs. Zombies and Cut the Rope. They're the few that will always remain in my favorite games folder and still get played on a pretty regular basis. If you haven't played Tiny Wings, you're missing out on a classic.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Rene Ritchie

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- there are a lot of great things I don't like, and a lot of dumb things I like quite a bit. Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios, is decidedly in the latter category. I love superheroes, and any chance I have to play as a superhero, even in a game that's fairly horrible, I jump in with glee-filled abandon.

On the positive side, there are a ton of DC Universe characters here, including the entire Justice League lineup like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and more, as well as Batman Family staples like Nightwing, Harley Quinn, Joker, etc. And all of them come in a couple of Else World universe forms, including the standard Earth 1, as well as Insurgency and Regime.

On the negative side, there's a card-like system grafted on that's meant to introduce deeper, experience-based gameplay, but… I just want to crack superheads. Also, on my iPad mini, I constantly had "iOS mem warning" errors in ugly red font defecated across the top right of my screen. That should have caused a rejection and a rethink, because it's horrible UI.

It's also free-to-play, but not onerously so.

The fighting system is workable, given the limits of multitouch, and while there's the usual adolescent dose of testosterone and cheesecake, there's some interesting if muddy at times character design.

All in all, if you love DC characters, and fighting games, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a no-brainer. If not, it's probably a no go.

Since it's my pick of the week, I'm guessing you've guessed which way I've fallen.

• Free with IAP - Download now

Fruit Blast Mania - Leanna Lofte

Fruit Blast Mania is my new little time-killer game. It's a simple puzzle game where you have to blast bunches of fruit with the goal of eliminating as man of them as you can. All the adjacent fruits of the same color will be blasted away when you tap one of them in the bunch. You can't blast singletons, so you have to be strategic and think about how the fruit will fall after you blast away a group. This is just the general game play of Fruit Blast Mania, though. There are other little goals and missions with each level to make it even more interesting.

Fruit Blast Mania is simple, fun, and a great way to kill a few minutes of time when you can.

• Free - Download now

Your choice?

Now that we've chosen our favorites for the week, we want to hear yours! Did you pick up a killer app, accessory, or game this week? Let us know in the comments below!

Every week, the editors and writers at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a fun game, an app that lets you control you Mac with actions, a TV app for those in the UK, an app to help you make healthy choices when eating out, and a fun music app.

Actions - Joseph Keller

I love keyboard hotkeys. I always use keyboard shortcuts to complete tasks whenever I can. Using Alfred on my Mac, I’ve set up several hotkeys to open applications. Actions is an app that takes the principle of keyboard shortcuts to the next level: one button. Connecting to a Mac or Windows PC via the free Actions Server, Actions allows you to press one button to complete an action within an app. For instance, in Tweetbot for Mac, to view a conversation based on the highlighted tweet, I would press Shift-Command-C. With Actions, I simply tap the “View Conversation” button, and I’m done. Actions comes with several presets already installed for a number of Mac applications, but you can create custom actions as well. Actions is a great app, and available on the App Store for $3.99.

• $3.99 - Download Now

TVCatchup - Chris Oldroyd

This week I have selected an app for UK readers which allows you to stream all of the free to air channels on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. TVCatchup is a free app and all you need to do load it up, it will check your location and then deliver a list of channels available to you. Because it uses location services, it will not work outside of the UK.

Once you have it setup, you will then see a long list of channels that are available to watch and that includes all of the BBC TV free to air channels as well as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. There is a huge list of channels and if you are in the UK it is a great app to have on your iPhone to catch a bit of news or stream a football match when you are out and about . The channels can be streamed over WiFi and over the 3G network although you do have to toggle the option for 3G to on in the settings.

If you want to watch free to air TV when you are out and about, the TVCatchup app has you covered and it’s free. Be prepared for a few seconds of adverts before each channel’s stream starts; it’s not too bad though!

• Free - Download Now

Temple Run: Oz - Ally Kazmucha

If you're a fan of Temple Run, the delightfully fun game where you jump, slide, dodge, and avoid obstacles, you'll definitely enjoy Temple Run: Oz. I've been waiting for The Great and Powerful Oz to come out in theaters and this game has kept my attention for the time being until I can get to the theatre. Heck, I'll probably keep playing it after.

Just like the traditional Temple Run game, there's not much to learn and it's one of those pick up and play games that many people search for. Complete with flying baboons, flowers that attack, hot air balloons, and more, Temple Run: Oz is a must-have for any Temple Run or Wizard of Oz fan.

Oh, it's also a universal download for iPhone and iPad, bonus!

• $0.99 - Download Now

Ambify - Rene Ritchie

My family gave me a Phillip's Hue starter pack for Christmas that included the base station and 3 bulbs. I've bout a bunch more bulbs since then. And every day, when I take out my iPhone or iPad, tap on the Hue app, and set my kitchen, living room, or hallway to Tatooine sunset, Arakis dawn, Abyss tranquility, or some other custom combo, I delight a little.

Ambify takes that to the next level. Instead of set-in-and-forget-it, Ambify samples your music and dynamically changes your Hue lighting's color and intensity. It makes your walls dance. It makes your room party.

It's not perfect. Hue's not perfect. But it's another one of those little glimpses at the future, at homes one day controlled entirely by our whims, at our convenience. And I love it.

If you have a set of Hue lights, check out Ambify.

• $2.99 - Download now

HealthyOut - Leanna Lofte

I gave birth to a baby 7 weeks ago and now it's time for me to get serious about losing the weight I lost which means that in addition to fitness, I need to watch what I eat. We don't eat out often, but when we do, I want to make a healthy choice, so I turn to HealthyOut for iPhone. Not only does it list good restaurants, but also actual dishes. With each dish, HealthyOut includes a photo, description, and nutritional information. Since I can't always cook a healthy home at home, I love that HealthyOut gives me some other acceptable options away from home.

• Free - Download now

Year Walk - Simon Sage

You wouldn’t expect the guys that made the light-hearted, rhythm-based platform romp Sneak Beat Bandit to produce a plodding, dark puzzle game, but here we are with Year Walk. Players navigate a forest with full of hidden creatures and mysteries while embarking on a special kind of Nordic pilgrimage. Players walk through a snow-laden forest with simple up and down gestures which create really imaginative transitions between areas. The art style has this watercolored cardboard feel to it, with the occasional 3D object tossed in just to mix things up. If you’re looking for something spooky and slow-paced, definitely pick up Year Walk.

• $3.99 - Download Now

LEGO City Spotlight Robbery - Chris Parsons

Alright, so this is more of a pick from my son rather than myself but given that he is almost 9 yrs old now, I often look to him and what games he plays as suggestions for others. That brings us to LEGO City Spotlight Robbery that tells the story of a daring midnight robbery of the LEGO City Museum. Kids will be entertained by the missions within the game that are mostly of the 'find and collect' nature but done so in the always entertaining LEGO way.

Aside from that, the more kids explore the areas and levels the more they can find and unlock plus, there is a few hidden goodies in the game that help keep it entertaining. If you're looking for a game for kids to enjoy in the living room or a car ride, this is certainly a good one to have them try out. As a sidenote, this isn't the only LEGO game offered either. They've been adding smaller titles more recently and each of them are just as entertaining.

• Free - Download Now

Your choice?

Now that we've chosen our favorites for the week, we want to hear yours! Did you pick up a killer app, accessory, or game this week? Let us know in the comments below!

The sequel to the granddaddy of endless running games, Temple Run, will be hitting the App Store tonight, and is already in the New Zealand App Store. Temple Run 2 features the same great swipe and tilt evasion action that you've come to love with a few new additions.

For one, the graphics have been fully overhauled, and include a bunch of new settings. You'll be running over hills, racing through mines, and sliding down zip lines, just to name a few. Secondly, there's a new ability system where in addition to snagging power-ups between collecting coins on the course, players can also activate abilities such as shields with a double-tap. There are three unlockable runners, if you want to mix things up, as well as the usual purchasable upgrades.

At this point, there have been a ton of high-quality games using the same shtick, such as Agent Dash and Subway Surfers, but Temple Run still maintains a kind of classic appeal that will be hard to replicate. How many of you guys are still playing the first Temple Run regularly?

As the original, Temple Run 2 is going to be free to play, with optional in-app purchases for coins and gems. Expect it to hit the North American App Store here at around 11 PM EST tonight, or you can go ahead and switch app stores to get the New Zealand version, if you're in a real rush. There's no official announcement just yet, but check out the early gameplay video after the jump.

via TouchArcade

Update: It's out, and it's free, so download now.

If you've ever had a hankering for some octogenarian X-Games-style action, look no further than Granny Smith for iPhone and iPad. The premise is simple enough: Granny has has her apples stolen for the last time and she isn't going to stand for it anymore. In fact, cane in hand, armed with baseballs and bananas (just go with it), she's strapped on roller skates and aims to run the thief down.

Granny Smith boasts 36 carefully crafted levels spread out through dozens of 3D, storybook-style worlds. Gameplay is simple and straight forward -- GRANNY SMASH! wouldn't be a bad way to describe it -- and thanks to an advanced physics engine, you can enjoy spectacular crashes with complete particle and debris explosions just to put a point on them. (And the very best moments of chaos and destruction get played right back for you in vintage video format for your viewing pleasure.) Power up Granny with more powerful weapons of mass-destruction, like banana peels, protect her with a helmet, or swap her out entirely for one of two additional characters -- Scruffy or Stanley.

Pity the puny Apple thief.

I've only had time to try it out for a few minutes, but so far, so fun. Or as Jerry Hildrenbrand from Android Central put it: Buying the Granny Smith game is the best buck you'll spend this week. If you've given Granny a go, let me know how you like it.

$0.99 - Download now

The classic endless jumping game Doodle Jump has had a big update that includes a bunch of new unlockables and a big change in its pricing structure. There's now a store built in, where players can buy new outfits with different abilities. For example, a sumo outfit stomps platforms to shake off enemies off the screen, a shadow outfit which hides you from monsters, and another which enables double jumping. Coins are now peppered throughout levels to help you acquire your new items, upgrades to the propellor hat and jetpack, and one-off power-ups.

If you've never played it, Doodle Jump has you perpetually ascend by leaping on an endless series of platforms. The controls are deceptively simple, since all you really have to do is tilt your iPhone or iPad to drift towards your next target, but the challenge of landing on firm ground without falling and avoiding enemies can make things rather challenging. 

Good on Doodle Jump for keeping things fresh after this long, and as a fan of ninjas, this theme gets my personal seal of approval. Are any of you guys still playing Doodle Jump, or have you burned out on that one years ago? Is it a terrible thing that basically every game, paid or otherwise, is drifting towards in-app purchases?

$0.99 - Download Now

Tiny Wings is back with a big update. Now there's local multiplayer in the HD version for the iPad, and a new racing mode called Flight School, which pits you against rival hungry birds. There are 15 hand-crafted stages, all Retina-optimized. There's cloud sync, so you can keep your progress saved across iPhone and iPad. Best of all, the update is free for previous owners of the iPhone version, and Tiny Wings HD is a steal for just $2.99.

Gameplay

The intuitive one-touch controls remain intact in Tiny Wings 2.0 - simply tap the screen to speed towards the earth, and catch the slope just right so you can slingshot over the opposing crest with even more velocity. Flight School is a new chapter which puts a fresh spin on things. Instead of trying to get as far as possible before nightfall, a bunch of inept little birds are racing to their mama for the best fish - the last one gets a distasteful prawn. As players earn higher scores, they're awarded fancier nests and unlock new islands to explore. There are new terrain elements to make things a little more interesting: bodies of water can quickly slow momentum, while inexplicably bouncy sunflowers can send birds skyward.

This racing mechanic is further extended to local multiplayer on the iPad. The screen is split in half in portrait orientation, and opponents are either attempting to be first to 10,000 points or get the highest score out of five islands. The one to nest first gets bonus points depending on how long it takes for the other to catch up, but leaders can also take automatic handycaps in furhter stages to give the losers a bit of a head start. It's a great balance mechanism and helps keep gameplay light and friendly. You can pick any of the available birds to use in multiplayer, and can assign custom names to them in Flight School. 

Despite the simplicity in the game mechanic, it can be quite hard to master, and now with multiplayer available on the iPad, skills can be truly put to the test. Although earning nests and and unlocking new levels is nice, it would be good to have some added sense of progression - maybe custom colors for birds, new birds to unlock, new backgrounds, hidden islands... There are all sorts of rewards that would be great to include fo playing the game, and they wouldn't have to necessarily come with the usual in-app purchase tagged on. Game Center is supported for leaderboards and achievements, but unfortunately there's no online multiplayer - yet.

Graphics and sound

Tiny Wings 2.0 hosts a few new soundtracks to liven things up, and the new birds all have their own distinctive voices. The art style retains the same colorful, slightly washed-out watercolor, and the menus are seamless from the proper gameplay. You can actually download the original version's soundtrack and a great wallpaper over at the Tiny Wings site. It's unclear if the HD version is fully optimized for the new iPad's Retina display, but generally if a dev doesn't say it is, it usually isn't. 

The good

• Gorgeous, unique art style
• Light, whimsical soundtrack

The bad

• No online multiplayer
• Few unlockables

The conclusion 

It is really, really hard to find anything bad to say about this game. The art style is as refreshing as ever, the music is still great, and the new gameplay modes add significant depth to the already excellent gameplay. Even the pricing is humane, as the developer released all of these new features without charging extra. The biggest thing that continues to surprise me about Tiny Wings is that even with its largely kid-friendly angle, it somehow strikes a goofy charm that appeals to all ages. If you haven't already bought Tiny Wings, get it now, and if you've already bought it, get the HD version - quality titles like this are few and far between, and deserve every bit of support.  

$0.99 for iPhone - Download Now

$2.99 for iPad - Download Now

Axon Runners cruised on into the App Store today with some pretty sharp graphics, but does its tired corporate sponsorship from Coke Zero drag it down? Check out our review below to find out.

Axon Runners is a futuristic racing game where you steer a young rebel through various courses on a hoverboard that can latch on to many different surfaces. Your goal is to pick up as many orbs as possible throughout the course while minimizing your number of wipeouts. You control your racer with slow swipes to steer left and right, and jump sideways and vertically with quick flick gestures. Jumping is actually the only way to increase your speed, and you get more points per orb the faster you're going, so be ready to bounce around a lot. You can also discharge some of your velocity in an energy blast which can collect orbs a bit further ahead from you. As you play, you unlock new boards with varying abilities and new outfits, while a few are reserved for in-app purchases. You have attain a certain score on each level in order to continue on to the next stage, and even then, your rating is given on a scale of five stars. There are only 10 levels in the story mode, and another 6 in the hard mode, so five-starring each level will be the main challenge for hardcore players. The developer promises that a second chapter and additional challenge levels are on the way, at least. Here's hoping they don't hold the content hostage with in-app purchases.

The game models and textures are all very sharp, fit the setting, and though the audio is a little more subdued, the soundtrack is solid and appropriately electronic. The achievements are actually kind of clever, and hook into Game Center. Game Center also handles leaderboards, in addition to some pretty decent in-game stat tracking.

The difficulty curve on Axon Runners is pretty steep; you'll end up going pretty fast, and the steering is very sensitive. Crashing into obstacles happens a lot, and the ragdoll physics that follow aren't even that entertaining. Sure, the reset time is instantaneous, and there's no limit on how often you can wipe out, but every once in awhile, you'll spawn directly in front of an obstacle which is pretty much impossible to avoid the first go-around, and occasionally, you'll glitch right through the map and be in one of those classic eternally-falling situations like I did at one point.

My other contention is that there's a long, convoluted plotline involving trying to rescue their friends from some alternate digital reality or something that just doesn't get delivered very well. I'm thinking they were just trying to do too much in only 10 levels. The cutscenes between levels feature some really high-quality art, but the dialog scrolls by too quickly to be able to really catch what's going on. A few more levels to pace the story properly and some better timing controls on the dialog captions would have really gone a long way.

Lastly, the game is pretty much bought and paid for by Coke Zero, which means you'll see at least some kind of in-game poster every time you play. Sure, at least that means you won't have to deal with relatively trashy Google ads, and the Coke Zero mentions are relatively infrequent, but considering the game already costs $3.99, I'd rather not have to deal with any advertising at all.

The good

• Fast action
• Responsive controls
• Sharp futuristic graphics

The bad

• Contrived Coke Zero promotion
• Sharp difficulty curve
• Rushed, confusing plot

The bottom line

If you can get over a few of Axon Runners' consistent roadbumps, the game can provide a fun, fast, and unique racing experience. It has some really great art to it, and a neon future vibe to it. The storyline, though ripe with potential, feels rushed and blows by between levels far too quickly to really catch what's going on. At its current price point, I can't really recommend Axon Runners, but give it some time for a maintenace patch or two and maybe it will be worth hopping on the hoverboard by the time the next chapter is available.

$3.99  - Download Now

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League of Evil 2 launched on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad last week, making a big splash in the top 25. It's a pretty straightforward platform game with some smooth cortoon graphics. You play a government special agent with a few robotic enhancements, and have to navigate through a level full of traps and henchmen to capture briefcases full of classified in intelligence, and deliver a righteous uppercut to the evil scientists in charge of building weapons of mass destruction. You're ultimately rated out of three stars for how quickly you liquify the evil scientist, and if you nab the suitcase in the level. There's full Game Center support, and it's universal, so you can enjoy this one on the iPad too. There are five chapters, each consisting of 20 levels or so. After you finish each one, you unlock a different outfit which you can swap out mid-game.

The original League of Evil game was more or less the same thing with one notable difference - the graphics. The original had a charming 8-bit feel to it, which suited the simple platform gameplay and the old-school Nintendo control scheme. Although it didn't take advantage of the high-res display on the latest iOS devices, the first League of Evil was perfectly playable on older devices, going all the way back to the first-gen iPod touch. Seeing as the gameplay has changed little between the two iterations, the developer, Ravenous Games, has smartly provided their title for every tier of iPhone owner. Beyond graphics, the other major addition to League of Evil 2 is boss fights. This pit you against a particularly large opponent that somehow doesn't explode into a million pieces with the first punch. Unfortunately, the game is hard enough that I didn't even get that far in, so can't comment much on exactly how hard those bosses are.

The controls are dead simple, and amply large. Navigating any given level tends to involve sliding down walls and frantically double jumping to avoid obstacles. I did find that often my finger would slip off one of the directional arrows if I had a particularly long run. If your aim is remotely off on either the jump or attack button, it can easily mean a level restart, but this is mostly nitpicking. Overall, I found the control scheme simple and easy to use.

Although the core inspiration for this brand of platform game is the classic PC, Nintendo, and Sega Genesis titles of the late 80s, the original League of Evil feels very much like Super Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy is a "casual" game that started on PC and Xbox, and is coming to mobile soon, though it will apparently not control anything like the original game. League of Evil stands more on its own thanks to the smoothed-out graphics, and the ability to do more than just jump, but the gib-filled explosions enemies make when you attack them always reminds me of SMB.

I would deign to call League of Evil 2 a casual game, only because it's fairly unforgiving of failure; one small misstep, and you're exploded into a pile of guts. The sense of humour is top-notch, though a little violent if you have an aversion to that sort of thing. The graphic style is fluid and sharp, but I definitely feel that it lacks the charm of the original. Should you pick up League of Evil 2? Only if you're a sucker for over 100 levels of punishment. Right now, it's only $0.99, so it's not a huge investment, but that price is going up to $2.99 soon.

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Apple has removed a number of copy-cat apps from the App Store, specifically plagiaristic titles such as Tiny Birds, Temple Jump and Numbers With Friends created replicated by developer Anton Sinelnikov. Apple has made similar moves against shady developers in the past, taking down 1,000 apps in 2008 after they noticed fake 5-star reviews in the App Store.

However, the problem is greater than just a few scam apps from a few shady developer. Most of us know that these titles copy from the real deal, specifically Tiny Wings, Temple Run and Words With Friends, but new users might have a hard time telling them apart, and get a nasty surprise after they've drop down money only to discover they've been conned into buying a fake app. That creates a bad experience and might make them wary of the App Store in the future.

For legitimate developers, they lose out on the income. It's difficult and expensive enough, especially for independent developers, to get a hit title on the App Store. When and if they finally do have a hit on their hands, they now have to worry about scammers trying to steal their sales, damage their brand, and turn off their customers. Worse yet, according to developer Kode80, scammers rely on the outrage that follows their copy-cat apps to actually gain attention and drive sales.

Should Apple be doing more to prevent copy-cat titles from hitting the App Store in the first place, and should they be making it easier to report when they do? Apple long ago appointed themselves as gate-keepers and curators, but when it comes to copyright issues, they've followed the common practice of waiting for a complaint and then leaving the developers involved to fight it out. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it lets bigger, more established brands bully competitors out of the App Store.

Likewise, Zynga, one of the biggest gaming companies on the planet, has been accused of copying NimbleBit's Tiny Tower with their new game, Dream Heights. Dream Heights doesn't present itself as a copy-cat in the App Store the way Sinelnikov's did, with similar naming and branding intended to cause confusion, but it does duplicate the look, feel, and gameplay of a popular independent game.

Where should the line be drawn, and should Apple be the ones drawing it?

Source: The Guardian, TechCrunch; image via @tapbot_paul

Temple Run is a fun, easy to play 3D “runner” game. You goal – to run…that’s all, run away. Think of it like this – you are Indiana Jones, you have just stolen the idol from the temple, and now, instead of being chased by natives, you are being chased by hairy monkey.

That is the game in a nutshell. Using simple controls, you try to keep your character running as long as possible. You start off on the temple wall, but eventually can move to a stone wall, a swamp walk way, and back and forth between all three areas (I don’t know if anything else comes along, I haven’t made it that far yet).

As you run, you have to dodge obstacles – trees roots, gaps in the wall, fire traps, large trees, etc. To dodge, you either can jump over something (by swiping up), slide under something (by swiping down), or run on the left or right side of the screen (by tilting the iPhone left or right). Simple, right? Eventually you may have to turn a corner, and you do this by swiping either left or right.

It sounds simple, but it is surprisingly difficult. And surprisingly addictive. I have found myself saying “just one more time…I know I can get farther”. The route changes each time, so don’t rely on memorizing the pattern, you just have to take it as it comes. You can pick up coins along the way, and use those coins to buy various power up that will then later appear in future games – such as magnets to attract more coins, invulnerability so you don’t have to jump over chasms, and a free life in case you die. If you are really impatient, you can also purchase coins with an in-app purchase.

But the heart of this game is... running.

As enjoyable and addictive as the game is (and trust me, it is both), I still wanted more. I wished there was a two player mode – maybe racing against each other. It would be sort of funning to occasionally see someone else running in a different direction as you are doing the same! More scenes and locations would be fun as well. I don’t know if there is a final “winning” point in the game (do you make it to a get-away plane or something) but I would like to think I am trying to reach a goal rather than just blindly running.

The good

• Fun game that quickly gets challenging
• Interesting 3rd person perspective
• Easy controls

The bad

• Despite the addictive nature, I wish it had more!

The bottom line

All in all, Temple Run is a completely enjoyable, easy to learn and play, addictive game. I think anyone would have fun playing it – the key would be stopping rather than telling yourself “I can get farther next time!”. The game is free, so I strongly recommend giving it a try.

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If cartoon violence is something you love, then Doodle Army [$0.99 - iTunes Link] might be right up your alley. It provides more comical 2D side-scrolling cartoon action than any other game I've found in the App Store.

The object is simple - keep progressing while disabling all of the attacking stick figures. You start out with four different locations, including Boot Camp, Rice Paddy, Beach Bunker, and Sand Dune. 25 different weapons are at your disposal that will vary by location. Weapons such as a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, machine gun, grenade launcher, and even flame thrower are all included. You are even given a choice of control style with two different options, shooting at tap/drag or use of an onscreen dial.

At the end of the day, Doodle Army is a pretty decent game for the money. It provides you with some nice variability with the included weapons and landscapes which will help keep your interest in playing. If you are a fan of 2D side scrolling games along with a low price price, Doodle Army is worth checking out.

More screenshots after the break!