Coming in August to an app store near and dear to you will be a new game in the running genre that gives you an added dimension to previous incarnations of games like this. In Gravity Runner you play a character running for all he’s worth. You control him with a simple tap and collect items as you run. Sounded a bit like other games already out there but there is one unique variation..With an additional tap you can turn the character upside down. From the screen shots and preview video the developers provided below, this looks to be a fun, fast paced game that will be an instant hit. As soon as we get our hands on it, we will give you a full review but here is what we know so far:

Feature Highlights:
* Easy to learn, a lifetime to master,
* Fiendish traps and difficult obstacles,
* 25 widely varying levels + 4 secret levels,
* An Endless mode to challenge even the most veteran of players,
* A variety of pickups,
* OpenFeint Enabled,
* Submit your score worldwide and compete to become the best,
* Post scores over facebook and twitter and challenge your friends,
* A collection of achievements up for grabs,
* Choose to listen to your own music while racing through the levels.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone or iPod touch
* Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later

Pricing and Availability:
Gravity Runner will be priced at only $0.99 (USD) and will be available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Action and Arcade categories. Coming August 2010.

Developer/Publisher: Headcase Games
Genre: Action/Puzzle
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Review Platform: iPhone
Verdict: Simple concept, but expect to spend a lot of time playing this exciting game
Pros: Graphics are polished, easy to learn, and it’s addicting
Cons: Screen space feels small, music is repetitive
If Tetris, Bejeweled and Snood ever had a baby together (yes, all three together…), it would be Headcase Games’ “180″.  This puzzle/action game packs a big punch for such a simple game, and is guaranteed to increase your heartbeat. (So keep an extra phone handy, in case you need to call 9-1-1).

180’s game types and game difficulty are pretty straightforward. There are three different kinds of games that you can play: 1) Endless (“How long will you survive?); 2) Score Attack (you have 90 seconds to get a high score); or 3) Drop Attack (How close you get to the “fail line”, as I will explain). Each game type defines your objective in each game. For example, if you choose “Score Attack,” you will need to score as much possible within 90 seconds. For “Drop Attack,” your score will rely on how close you get to the fail line within 90 seconds—the closer you get without failing, the better.

You can play any of these games as “Easy” or “Hard” depending on your mood. I tend to choose an Easy “Endless” game each time I play—this gives me the most playtime where I can experience the joys of the game without having to worry about time limits.

One really cool thing about this game is that you can choose different mascots, who will represent you as you play, by clicking on the image from the main screen, right above “Tap Me!” You can have Star the Cute Girl, Rex the Rockstar, Ozzie the Alien, or Kane the Tiki. Each of them will dance around when you’re doing really well, freak out when you’re failing, or cry when you do fail. As you play more often, you’ll realize you’re making the same face they are at each stage.

The game shows you how to play in the next couple of screens. What it doesn’t tell you yet is that the group of coins slowly move towards a red line, and that the group progressively moves faster as you go up a level. Lines that are in color are considered playable lines–coins in each line can be flipped or cleared.

Each coin…nugget…node…circle-thingamabob(?)…let’s go with coin, has two unique sides. The downside is that you can’t move coins from one line to a different line. Like Tetris, 180 gives you a heads-up on the next coin, and that you can also flip it to get the side that you want. You’ll need to match at least 3 identical sides to clear them. The more you identical coins you match, the better scores you get, and the better chances you have for surviving the game.

Scores are based on the number of “chains” (matched coins) that you clear per turn. For a simple chain (3 matched coins), you receive 100 points–the more coins, the higher the score. You can also get combo points for clearing 2 or more chains per turn.

Developer/Publisher: GreyHound Games
Genre: Strategy
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review copy provided.
Review Platform: iPod Touch 1^st Generation.
Verdict: One of the best strategy games on the app store.
Pros: Easy controls, addicting gameplay… done just right.
Cons: Enemies seem to always out-rank your allies.

It’s rare to find a game that I would recommend to anyone, but Warlords: Call to Arms is just that. It’s got something to please everyone. You can compare Warlords to many different games out there but it also stands on its own because everything about it is just plain awesome.

Within the campaign’s missions, the game plan is to keep the enemy away from your territory and to try to capture the enemies territories and kill them at the same time. Sounds pretty simple but you really have to plan our your attacks carefully if you want to get anywhere in this game. There are eight unique races to control as you send them down the two lanes that make up the battlefield. Killing enemies and and winning territory gains you money that you can use to purchase better attack power or a new unit.

One of the really cool features is after every twenty kills you get a “charge” attack in which your whole unit goes at it. It really helped even things up for me because even after upgrading my attacks, I didn’t seem to get much stronger throughout the game even though the enemy did. Depending on the units you send out, the missions can be short and sweet or long and terrorizing. That is what makes it so much fun.

Being able to play with a friend is an added bonus as well as one of my favorite features, online leader boards through openfeint. There is also an option to tweet your scores as well as post to Facebook. There’s nothing like some old school taunting to get your friends fired up to beat your score.

The sounds are perfection, the controls straightforward and the graphics are easy on the eyes. Planning and strategizing my attacks were so addicting at one point I had to plug in my iPod to charge and sat down right there to keep playing. I couldn’t put it down. There are a lot of choices within the strategy genre in the app store, but you really can’t beat this one. It has all of the elements to make it a classic and with it’s $1.99 price tag? You aren’t going to find another gem this cheap.

I’m pretty sure if you like strategy games in any form you aren’t going to be disappointed in Warlords. If you are a newcomer, this would make a great start. It was for me.

Developer/Publisher: Icehill Entertainment/Chillingo
Genre: Survival Horror
Price: $6.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Review Platform: iPod Touch 2G
Verdict: Mixed feelings on this portable vampire slayer.
Pros: Really liked the “comic book” cutscenes
Cons: Not sold on any of the control schemes

Grab your silver bullets and your crucifix, kids.  The folks at Chillingo and Icehill Entertainment are leading the latest charge against the virtual undead.  Vampire Origins for the iPhone and iPod Touch puts you in the role of Vincent, Van Helsing’s lesser known, but equally tortured, third cousin on his mother’s side.  I’m having a little fun at the expense of Vampire Origins, but it will likely resonate with hardcore fans of the survival horror genre.

So where is this game likely to sink its teeth into gamers, and what – quite frankly – just bites ?  The game is certainly beautiful.  Vampire Origins is very dark and moody in its setting with all of the appropriate crypts, dilapidated churches, and moonlit catacombs.  The story is also pretty well developed.  We learn early on that Vincent the Vampire Slayer is eager to settle a score after a vamp killed his bride.  The other key thing we need to know is that apparently Vincent isn’t 100% flesh and blood either.

By the way, one thing I loved about Vampire Origins was the way that the story unfolds.  In lieu of the traditional cutscene we are treated to mini-graphic novels between the action sequences.  Again, in the early going, we witness key exchanges, played out panel by panel between Vincent and various players in the story.  This mash-up of comic book and video game kept me curious as to what would happen next.

Let’s talk about the action for a minute.  There are two primary ways to guide Vincent through this macabre adventure.  The first control scheme is the use of a virtual joystick and trigger for the vampire hunter’s sidearm.  I have yet to find a virtual joystick that I’m truly happy with on the various games that I have reviewed for The Portable Gamer.  Vampire Origins falls squarely into this camp.  The alternative is a tap methodology to both move Vincent and to dispatch bad guys.  The thing is, I didn’t find this wholly satisfying either.  More often than not my fingers ended up in the way of critical action.  Not sure what the answer is, but when I find it, I’ll be sure to let you all know.

With regard to opponents, the shadowed landscape is populated with a mix of vampires, ghouls, and other undead.  There is also the random flock of vampire bats that swoop from the sky to take a swipe at Vincent.

Like other Chillingo offerings, Vampire Origins is “Crystal”-ized.  This allows you to track achievements and leaderboards and to share your latest thrills and kills with all of your favorite social networks.

The thing about Vampire Origins is that I found it to be very pretty.  I am duly impressed when a mobile developer pulls off a game that looks like it could be something off of the PSP.  That said, there were times when I felt that this outing was more about flash than substance.  There is a very impressive sword fight early in the game that strays from the established control scheme.  And while it required some interaction on the player’s behalf, it felt like more of a “cutscene with benefits” than it did actual gameplay.

So where does all of this leave me ?  I’m kind of on the fence with Vampire Origins.  I like the looks and am truly engaged by the game’s comic-like storytelling.  But the control scheme leaves me wanting, and my frustration often caused me to just set the game down and walk away for stretches of time.  I’ll be eager to hear what our fans have to say.

Developer/Publisher: Sonic Boom
Genre: Puzzle
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Review Platform: iPod Touch
Verdict: A nice addition to the Match Three genre
Pros: Fun 8-bit soundtrack and easy to learn gameplay.
Cons: Winning some levels just seems like random flipping.

You had me at hello. Some games are just like that. Whatever that little something is, every now and then there’s a game that just has that magical quality. With Tetragon, it was the nostalgic eight-bit soundtrack. The second I heard those Mario-esque tones, I knew that this one was going to be a winner.

Tetragon is a variation on the Match Three genre. Like Tetris and Bejeweled before it, Tetragon challenges you to match three or more colored blocks so that they’ll disappear. Of course, the folks at Sonic Boom had to put their own twist on the genre, and they’ve done just that. In order to line up your colored pals you’ll need to slide them around the playing field.

This is accomplished by tilting, flipping, and swiping your iPhone screen. To be sure, Tetragon is another in a string of recent games that really takes full advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities. Its really kind of clever to swipe back and forth to get your blocks to drop in just so. Then, flip the iPhone 180 degrees, and you’ll get a whole new set of matching options.

Players are challenged to conquer two game modes in Tetragon. The Puzzle mode presents you with a certain number of blocks to be cleared in a limited number of moves. Arcade mode is a bit more open ended with regard to moves. The challenge here is to meet the designated point target for that level before time expires.

In both Puzzle and Arcade modes, each level has stationary blocks to work around. They can be both a help and a hindrance in getting those crucial color combos to come together. But with a little practice you can really use them to your advantage to order your combos. Naturally, as you eliminate some of the on-screen blocks, the game will add a new row, threatening to fill up the playing field faster than you can clear it.

There are other obstacles to overcome as you play. One of the most challenging are the bombs that will drop into play. They won’t do anything at first, but after a second or two, they will begin to spark. If you can get them lined up next to a group of similar colored blocks that you are eliminating, they will disappear along with the cluster.

Of course if you can’t clear it quickly enough, a bomb will explode. Really, it’s what bombs do. If that happens, the adjacent blocks get turned to stone for a few moments. When this happens, a portion of your playing field gets locked up, and that makes clearing the field more difficult. The good news is, after a second or two, the formerly stony blocks disintegrate, effectively clearing themselves.

Tetragon is one of those games that is pretty easy to learn, but rather challenging to master. You can certainly just flip your way through the first couple of levels without much thought or strategy. But as the game progresses there’s more thought required to keep the bombs from stalling forward momentum, and to plan out your combos to pass the next challenge.

In the end, if you’re a fan of Match Three games, Tetragon will be a nice addition to your arsenal. Its certainly worth the purchase at $1.99. That said, the nice folks at Sonic Boom have made a Lite version available for those who might not be convinced that this Match Three Puzzler is worthy.

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Title: Nimp
Developer: Neowiz Entertainment
Price: $2.99
Acquired: Promo Code Supplied by Developer
Written and Recorded by: Michelle Lopez

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Developer/Publisher: Kydos Studio
Genre: Maze
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: Something like this doesn’t come along very often – hit buy!
Pros: unique concept/art/gameplay
Cons: No auto save feature; very steep learning curve

Are you afraid of things that go bump in the night? Have you been waiting for a unique horror game to hit the App Store? Soul is a white-knuckle, tension filled puzzler that will make you get out of your warm cozy bed and turn the light switch back to it’s upright position.

You begin the game on a gurney in the morgue of a hospital, and as it turns out, you aren’t going to be waking up anytime in the near future. Your soul rises up out of your body and you must guide it to the light and keep it out of the darkness. You control your soul by moving and tilting the device in different directions, and let me tell you, these controls aren’t very forgiving. The task is simple, but staying out of the darkness takes not only a steady hand, but a clear mind because you will be scared through every twist and turn. If it weren’t bad enough just trying to navigate in this game, monsters try their hardest to push you into the darkness and claim your life. Sometimes, you are left with only the light from your tiny soul to guide you. Sometimes, you just have to stop and marvel at the hand-drawn graphics and their beauty. It’s an absolutely stunning environment that is worth the price of admission just to check out.

One of the best features that Soul offers is the ability to re-calibrate the settings to adjust the sensitivity. Until I did this, the game was lost on me. One of the worst features is no auto-save feature. I’m frequently getting Facebook updates and Ebay push notifications that require me to exit out quickly and I did this only to lose my game and all of my hard work. That was very frustrating, but not frustrating enough to want to stop playing though. It’s rare to get something so unique and exciting to play and I’m not giving up that experience over one small flaw.

Soul is an amazing journey that will keep you wanting more. It’s scares are real and tangible; nothing short of awesome. The game is available on Xbox LIVE Indie games as well as its offering on the App Store. I will be buying a copy for my Xbox and spreading the word. It’s time to give indie game love when they are making magic like this. You won’t be disappointed.

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Title: Zombie Farm
Developer: The Play Forge
Price: Free
Acquired: Reviewer Downloaded
Written and Recorded by: Michelle Lopez

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

iCasual is a free audio podcast that we deliver to you!
Click HERE to subscribe in iTunes | Click HERE for the RSS Feed.

Title: Word Search Rush
Developer: We Are Colin
Price: $.99
Acquired: Promo Code Supplied by Developer
Written and Recorded by: Michelle Lopez

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Hold on to your eye balls all you Zombie lovers out there. Crawl Space Games will be releasing their newest creation Zombies Ala Mode to an app store near you.

We’ve been told that it’s as adorable as zombies can get, with ice cream mixed in. Everything goes good with ice cream so I’m sure it will be another hit. You can be sure that this reviewer will get her hands on it as soon as she can and let you know if it lives.. (can Zombies live?!?) up to the hype.

Watch for all the gory ice cream goodness to be available next Month with an asking price of only $1.99!