The long awaited Astro Ranch from Tag Games is finally going to hit the app stores!

Here are the full list of features:

- A unique game experience – exclusive to iPhone
- Farming game-play mashed up with RPG and mini-games
- Awesome 3D world to explore, with beautiful animation
- Lots of strange alien characters to befriend
- Go fishing, pan for gold, steal fruit from trees and visit aliens!
- Large range of crops, livestock and upgrades to buy
- Message friends, send them gifts and credits and many more social features powered by Scoreloop
- Lots of downloadable content available from the online shop

And a gameplay video:

Launch Details:

- Date – week of the 21st February
- Price – initially discounted to £1.79 / $2.99 / Euro 2.39
- Exclusive golden statue of the mayor available from the shopkeeper for the first 50,000 downloads

We can’t wait to get our hands on this!

Tumbledrop is a physics based puzzle game from Starfruit Games.

Physics based puzzle games are not exactly uncommon, especially among casual game markets like the App Store, so when I first took out my iPod Touch and loaded up Tumbledrop I honestly didn’t expect it to stand out that much.  I also didn’t expect it to become one of my favorite games on the platform.  Damn I was happy to be proven wrong.

Completing a level with only one move is a real challenge, and super satisfying!

You only have one goal throughout the entire game: get the pink star to safety.  On every level you’ll have some sort of arrangement of yellow blocks with the pink star somewhere on top.  You’ll tap on yellow blocks to eliminate them and that’s where the physics come in as the whole structure starts to tumble, hence the name.  In order to pass each level you’ll need to ensure that your pink star lands on solid ground and doesn’t plummet into the pools of water on either side, a task rendered even more challenging by addition of a cooldown period between each block elimination.

I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that until now the game still sounds pretty run-of-the-mill because everything I’ve talked about up till now kind of is, but that’s only because I haven’t mentioned how amazingly charming this game is.  Every piece has a cute little :3 emoticon face on it and when they are about to fall into the water their expression changes to one of absolutely silly terror.  It just adds so much fun to the game when you remove a wrong piece and watch as a whole pile of totally freaked out little block fall slowly to their doom, and it almost makes you want to fail levels on purpose just to get a laugh.  Every level ends with a big smile on your star and a giant screen filling rainbow just so you know you did well.  All in all it just oozes with so much charm and silliness that the only people it wouldn’t make smile are the same kind of people who punch babies.

The main mode in the game simply tasks you with completing various sets of levels that increase in difficulty as you progress.  You can earn medals on each level by either completing if with very few turns or with as many as possible.  It’s actually quite fun to return to a previously completed level and try to figure out how to get these different medals; believe me it’s way harder than it sounds.  Normally I would have to knock Tumbledrop for the fact that its gameplay can start to rely too much on trial and error, however the developers included another game mode called quick play that throws that complaint out the window.  In quick play, you’ll complete randomly selected levels and try to rack up as many points as you can.  The catch is that if your star falls into the water once you have to start back at 0.  This forces you to really think about what you do and try to predict how the physics will react.  Overall I thought it added a great level of replayability and a lot more challenge to an already great game.

Watching the pieces freak out when they're headed for the water is absolutely hilarious

If I were to rate this game on the quality of its rainbows alone I would give it a perfect score.  But light spectrums aside, this is honestly an amazingly fun, charming, and challenging game that everyone should probably buy.  That’s why I give it the only rainbow-filled rating we have, a Golden Tap.

Score

MustTap Score: Golden Tap

The best of the best; everything about this is perfect.

Bottom Line
Tumbledrop is just a perfect package. It's fun, it's got charm, and it's infinitely replayable. This is a must have game for anyone.

Screenshots

Another vampire themed adventure game here for you folks – Vampire Origins from IceHill Games and published by Chillingo is set to be released in the app store real soon.

Here is the description from Chillingo:

Vampire Origins is a hot new 3D shooter, an isometric adventure title coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The game pits Dracula’s arch-rival Van Helsing against legions of underworld creatures. If you fancy Gothic adventures paired with intense fighting, Vampire Origins will boil the blood in your veins.

If you’ve ever played Diablo, you’ll feel right at home with Vampire Origins. A simple battle system ditches complex inventory and weaponry in favor of a point-and-click approach of attacking creatures by tapping them. It may sound boring on paper, but the fast-paced action balances things out. Fast, very agile enemies leave you little time to ponder your next move or marvel Gothic architecture. Although Vampire Origins is an adventure, with some puzzles and lots of exploration, action and killing enemies come before everything else.

And here is a gameplay video:

Looks like a solid game that is action packed. We can’t wait to hear more about it. Here are some screenshots!

Cogs is an incredible machine-type of puzzle game from Lazy 8 Studios and published by Chillingo.

I am a huge fan of Incredible Machines. I played that game non-stop when I was a lot younger, all the way up to just about last week! Well, Cogs isn’t exactly Incredible Machines, but it certainly does bring up quite a few memories of Incredible Machines.

Cogs is a great puzzle game where you are tasked with solving the problem at hand: you need a bell to be chimed, you need to redirect gas from the source to the balloon or output or whatever, or you need to crank the Jack-in-the-box to come out of his damned hidey hole. Regardless of the task at hand, you are judged by your solution, the time it takes to find that solution, as well as the number of moves it took you to find that solution. Just keep shifting those tiles!

This blue gas tastes funny.

To shift a tile, you just tap on it and it moves to the open space. You can also shift multiple tiles (Which counts as one move!) if you have more than one or two in a line that you want to move. There are also little dynamics of moving around gears and possibly other items, where if you move a gear into other gears, you are probably going to cause the other gears you are touching to spin. Usually not a problem, until you find a puzzle where you have to do things in a synchronized fashion – pain in the bum.

The mechanics of this game are fantastic – you are either working on a flat board, or a cube that you can rotate by tapping with two fingers and dragging. It really takes this type of puzzle game to the next level, making you keep tabs of ALL of the sides that you need to solve as well as making sure you do it in a timely and minimalistically as possible. The art is great – completely 3D and very well done graphics which ran smoothly on my 3GS.

I would do this naturally anyway!

If I could complain about anything, it’s the rather unimaginative achievements available on the Crystal platform, but that’s not really a fault to speak of. Speaking of which, and this doesn’t count toward the review, this was my first interaction with the Crystal social gaming platform. I have to say, it is incredibly polished and definitely a contender for OpenFeint and Plus+! Actually, there are only 10 puzzles available to you when you first purchase the game. That seems pretty short for a game like this, and that is a rather silly problem.

Overall, Cogs is a brilliant game – I’m still trying to finish all of the puzzles in Inventor mode, and then I’m going to run through Challenge mode and try to get this brain thinking again. There are no real shortcomings to speak of, it’s a load of fun that works your brain, it looks great, and the game mechanics work brilliantly. Unfortunate that you have to purchase the puzzles outside of the first 10 that they include, but definitely still gotta check it out.

Score

MustTap Score: Silver Tap

Looks great and gives out some quality stuff!

Bottom Line
Brilliant puzzle game through and through, mixing traditional tile sliding action with objects that interact with each other on a 3D grid. Challenging from the start with so many different types of objectives, puzzle fans, definitely grab this game!

Screenshots

A different style of rhythm game is set to be released for the iPhone – B-Boy Beats from Tag Games and Mobile Pie is set to release on February 14, 2010. Here is the description:

Overview
Are you ready to party? B-Boy Beats is a unique, all action, hip hop rhythm game set in 1980’s New York City. As the lead member of a new break-dance crew looking to gain respect, you’ll need to learn the latest moves and battle other crews to claim new turf across various city locations.

Game-play
Place your fingers on the screen and get ready to move! Simply tapping isn’t enough to succeed in B-Boy Beats. Players must hold their fingers on the screen – giving the feel of virtual legs moving across a virtual dance floor!!
Learn the latest dance moves in the fully interactive tutorial before heading out onto the city streets. There are 10 break-dance moves to learn with each one requiring ever greater skill, timing and confidence to pull off. You knew the city was a dangerous place when you left the safety of the suburbs but are you ready to be tested to the limit? There are 7 hardcore crews each breaking on their home turf to take on and ultimately beat down in your quest to be the best in the city.

Underground Hip Hop ft MC Frontalot
B-Boy Beats features 17 dope tracks from the rising stars of underground Hip Hop. Led by Nerdcore and Penny Arcade favourite MC Frontalot the game also includes awesome tracks from Optimus Rhyme, Id Obelus, Ultraklystron, Rai and Magitek.

Features
- The most original music game on iPhone today
- Face off against 7 NYC crews each with their own turf
- Awesome music talent from the hip hop underground
- Rhythm action game-play where your fingers become legs!
- 10 authentic break-dance moves to learn
- Easy and Hard difficulty levels for extra replay value
- Open Feint social network integration

Here is a gameplay video:

Very interesting game indeed – I wonder what sort of difficulty the moves will be. They say 10 authentic moves to learn, so I really doubt air flares, swipes, and windmills are even in the game. But that’s alright, I got a wicked toprock.

Check out the screenshots:

Small Wonders has just recently announced that Battle of Puppets, their really awesome looking strategy game has just been released!

Here is the description:

Battle of Puppets casts its player in the role of a silent puppeteer, who must strategically control his hordes of marionette minions and send them across the show stage. The goal is to perform your act on Broadway, but first, they must travel across the country, taking on opposing puppets at each stop!

Touting a vibrant artistic style, Battle of Puppets combines beautiful graphics, the hallowed art of puppetry, and ruthless combat! Players select and perform their opera in a series of 22 American theatres, each with its own custom backdrop of famous landmarks. Each competition then lets the puppeteer strategically build units, upgrade their castle and outposts, and even cast spells using written gestures to destroy the opposing forces and win the affection of the crowd.

Each of the 5 operas vary significantly in terms of relative strengths and weaknesses, unit types, building speeds, and most interestingly, how they are affected by changing weather conditions. Choosing the best route across the country based on weather patterns is just one of the compelling strategic decisions players make in Battle of Puppets!

There are also 6 professions and an extra race to unlock as the campaigns progress! Professions let players perform magic to sway the course of battle on stage, and are activated by executing unique gestures. Learn to repair your troops, mind control the enemy, boo the opposition, and more! Also, use the unlockable race to take on the hard mode campaign.

Features:

Maps:
• 22 unique locations, each with changing backdrops for day and night.

Armies:
• play as any of the 5 different armies, each representing famous operas.
• 20 distinctive unit types

Modes:
• 3 game-play modes
• Battleground – destroy the enemy castle
• Survival – stay alive!
• Fast Battleground – destroy the enemy fast
• 3 difficulty levels
• 3 distict user profiles

Professions:
• 6 unlockable professions let players cast magic on the enemy

Climate:
• Multiple climates that affect your troops in battle

Languages
• English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese and French.

And a gameplay video:

VERY cool game, I love the concept of it. We’ll try to get a review up as soon as we can get our hands on it!

IUGO Mobile Entertainment recently announced a great puzzle game called ESCAPE: Norm’s World, and we have screenshots and video!

Here is the description:

Zone out on limitless Zen puzzles with ESCAPE. Jump the little guy from stone to stone to eliminate all and solve the puzzle. Escape features:

- Endless levels and gameplay
- 2 additional unlockable difficulty modes introduced through DLC (iPhone only)
- Simple controls for all ages
- Minimalist graphics for maximum appeal
- Unique cerebral game play complimented by relaxing audio and visual effects
- Surprisingly addictive!

Here is a gameplay video:

And here are screenshots:

Looks great! It will be released for both the iPhone and Blackberry devices, stay tuned for more information.

Dracula: The Path of the Dragon is a point-and-click adventure game from Tetraedge Games and published by Chillingo.

Boy, it sure is foggy in ... Transylvania.

Dracula: The Path of the Dragon is the first in a three game series that originated on the PC as a point-and-click adventure game similar to the vein of Jules Verne’s Return to Mystery Island that we have also reviewed. With that said: there isn’t much of a difference.

Sure, there’s a different setting and storyline, but it’s a simple point-and-click adventure game where you go around talking to people, taking objects, and using those objects on those people you have spoken to or on other objects. The storyline itself is pretty gripping though, here’s a sneak peek:

Dracula: The Path of the Dragon is set in 1920, casting you in the role of Father Arno Moriani, who is sent to investigate a potential candidate for sainthood in Transylvania.

A saint! In Transylvania! Oh for sure she’s a vampire. Chillingo sent over a game walkthrough that I didn’t end up using because I didn’t want to spoil the story for anyone – but I’m pretty sure she’s a vampire. The gameplay mechanics are pretty simple – touch and drag to look around, tap to interact, and… well that’s about it. You have a pretty robust inventory full of items (Eventually) that will be able to interact with a lot of different things.

Check out that hot stud... oh wait that's me!

The art of the game is beautiful – beautifully rendered 3D-ish settings with well animated sprites of all of the different characters in the game. The music fits the mood very well and the port over from the PC was done pretty darn flawlessly.

Overall, Dracula: The Path of the Dragon is a pretty average game – nothing blew me away and there wasn’t really much to review other than the storyline and gameplay mechanics. The story will definitely keep you interested if you’re into these sort of games, so definitely check it out!

Score

MustTap Score: Iron Tap

It's technically solid, but what comes out is pretty plain.

Bottom Line
Wonderful port of a great point-and-click adventure game from the PC and has great artwork and story behind it. Other than that however, just an average game.

Screenshots

Hotel Mogul is a hotel-centric time-management game from Alawar Games.

Have you ever wanted to dabble in real estate? Don’t have the cash or knowledge to get licensed and start flipping properties? Well, Hotel Mogul could be a pretty fun alternative that will only cost you pocket change. What’s the situation? Well, you’re working for a woman who quickly gets pushed out of her company for no real reason other than having a real lack of fashion sense. Your goal is to build her an empire so she can feel better about herself. Alright, that really isn’t the story behind it, but what I just made up was a lot more entertaining for me!

Work faster, faster!

In reality, you’re learning the ins and outs of hotel management – on a very high level. You don’t have to worry about the little details of the hotels, just build ‘em, monetize ‘em, sell ‘em, and complete any objectives you may have for the level. You progress through the different levels, unlocking all kinds of different buildings you can buy that have different capacities or values. There are two kinds of buildings: hotels, and decorative. Hotels are pretty self explanatory, and decorative should be too, but they also add specific bonuses to the buildings in the radii specified by the description. For example, building a statue in between two hotels will increase the income for those hotels by 40%, which is a godsend in the long run.

You will have objectives for every level, they can be as simple as “Build a three star hotel” and they are not very difficult to accomplish, but the real challenge is doing them within the “Expert” time frame, which gives you additional points! These points can then be used to purchase additional hotels, decorations, services, and features for your empire. The sheer variety of buildings and whatever else you can build is simply mind boggling, and adds a certain level of depth to the game that I thoroughly enjoyed. I am sure that later in the game, you will have to use a combination of those decorations and buildings to achieve the income goals you will be needing for the objectives.

Don't tell me I'm not an expert, damnit let me try again!

The graphics are simple – sprites that are well drawn and have a great level of detail on them. There isn’t very much animation but what little there is is very smooth and pleasant to the eyes. No complaints whatsoever on the graphics, and there are even little animated shorts in between! The sound is simple as well, little dings and dongs go off every now and then letting you know when certain events are happening – like when you have money, or when you can collect your money.

Overall, the game plays very well – the mechanics are smooth and flow very well together, the concept is great for time-management game lovers like myself, and the game is very well polished. On the flip side, the game didn’t blow me away and there is plenty of room for improvement, better than average I would say.

Score

MustTap Score: Silver Tap

Looks great and gives out some quality stuff!

Bottom Line
Hotel Mogul is a solid game - well designed and executed, and definitely a must have for lovers of time-management games. An above average, quality game, but nothing will blow you away.

Screenshots

Guerrilla Bob, from Angry Mob Games and published by Chillingo, has hit the app stores!

Description from Chillingo:

Guerrilla Bob supersedes the ordinary survival shooter experience by providing elements of depth and complexity never before met with any iPhone games of its genre.
It goes beyond circling endless waves of enemies, and adds structured level designs and various challenges.

Level by level, follow Bob to taste the thrill for the kill! You must help Bob make his way through the dangerous canyons, steep deserts and dreadful towns. To do this, he must not only survive the countless attacks, but also explore the land in search of new arsenal and secret items. To make things even more challenging, Bob gets some epic boss encounters.

Here is the extended gameplay video:

And a whole whack of screenshots of some of the enemies you will find in Guerrilla Bob:

The game looks so fun – we can’t wait to get our hands on it! Review soon.