Remember when the word "port" conjured up terrifying visions of developers taking your favorite arcade game and cramming them into cartridges that spat out blurry graphics and fuzzy sound? Twisted Pixel does, and they know it wouldn't be proper to make gamers revisit those dark days, so they put forth a solid effort teaching their Xbox Live platformer, Ms. Splosion Man [$2.99], how to speak mobile. Solid, indeed, except for a bothersome implementation of an IAP pay wall.

(Unfortunately the 'sploding star also speaks teenager, and that just won't do. Immediately open the options menu and disable VOX, her constant "Oh mah GAWD!" jibber-jabber. Done that? You're welcome. Okay, then. Let's continue. )

Unlike ports of 3D games that require more virtual buttons than you have fingers, Ms. Splosion Man keeps things nice and simple. You've got a slider to move around and an invisible "splode" button anywhere your right thumb pleases. You can enable a virtual stick, but as you only need to prance left and right, the slider feels better and more responsive. Exploding pops you into the air. Press it twice and you'll do the Ms. Splosion Man equivalent of a double jump.

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Trauma [$2.99] gives us few concrete facts. There is a hospital, a woman in a bed, a doctor offering an uncertain prognosis. Beyond that, a series of dreams pieced together from photographs and memories, narrated by the woman, a victim of a traumatizing accident.

Taken on its surface merits, there isn't much to it. As with its original desktop release, Trauma is a tiny game, an experience of no more than an hour or so at most. There are a few ways to explore its virtues, but only so much to discover. What's there is, however, interesting to examine in a way that few mobile games manage.

The goal is to work through four dreams, each with a specific challenge: a teddy bear crushed under a large weight, a ghost that cannot be caught, a road that must be followed, and path that must be found.

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There are very few motifs out there that haven't been beaten nearly to death by a deluge of games crafting variations of the same story. Zombies. Pirates. Ninjas. And yet, I've somehow maintained a soft spot for the story of the well-meaning robot caught up in something bigger than itself. Whether it's a brilliant point-and-click adventure like Machinarium [$4.99 (HD)] or the frantic puzzling of Robot Wants Kitty [Free], I can't say no to the task of taking care of something cute and artificially intelligent. So it's no great surprise that when I heard Teotl Studios was bringing their well-received head-scratcher Unmechanical [$2.99] from PC to iOS, I had my download finger at the ready.

Set in a mysterious, subterranean expanse, Unmechanical follows a plucky propellor-equipped robot on a mission to bring life back to a place long-forgotten. Armed with only one ability - the power to emit magnetic rays that allow you to carry objects, lift latches, and power switches - you zip through a series of interconnected rooms and pathways, slowly coming to understand what you're doing, and where you are. What stood out immediately for me was the way the game's vague narrative leant itself to a mobile port.

Scenes are shot in a purposefully limited field of view, forcing you to fly slowly outward to the walls of a cavernous room too understand its scope, take in its many machinations, and gain a sense of your surroundings. Looking down on the scene as it rests between your hands within the confines of a phone or tablet screen helps immerse you in the unknown, giving off the sense that you - like your spinning protagonist - are under the microscope.

This oscillation between a sense of both discovery and ambiguity is maintained in the puzzle structure, where Unmechanical truly shines. What seem at first like tenuous, disconnected elements of a sprawling space soon give way to a clear goal, albeit one that seems massively difficult. Yet by testing, investigating, and probing the scene, you see see a small, simple first step. When you take that first step, suddenly the path forward seems a little clearer, a little less uncertain, and a bigger picture takes shape: one that you couldn't see before. Clever, tangible puzzles based around levers and switches soon take their place in larger, multi-part mind-benders that reveal their scope as you progress. Watch out for a particularly satisfying sequence that seems like it begins with a one-off test of refracting lazers, which comes full circle to deliver a hugely satisfying challenge many screens later.

The whole experience is tied together with controls whose simplicity have me torn. On one hand, the boiling down of the Windows version of the game - complete with its controller control option - to two key gestures, is hugely admirable. Resting your finger on the screen and dragging it where you'd like to go handles movement, while tapping the character turns its magnetic function on and off. The massive diversity that Teotl Studios eeks out of that combination serves as a compliment to the game's overall elegance, and very rarely feels forced. Things do, however, feel occasionally spotty in ways that can frustrate. A demand for precision when it comes to the magnetic field, and some imprecise hit boxing for turning it on and off all result in actions being repeated, or solutions being botched needlessly.

To that end, not all of the game's smaller challenges fall down on the right side of that divide between logic and experimentation. A handful of sequences feel altogether too rote, and the ensuing "puzzling" amounts to a lengthy sequence of carrying and dropping. Meanwhile, a couple roadblocks seem to lack any rhyme or reason, and fall down on the side of tiresome trial and error. Make no mistake: Myst [$6.99 (HD)] junkies will enjoy whipping out a notepad to do some detailed cataloguing, but the sparing nature of these types of puzzles makes them feel out of place and at odds with the game's otherwise consistent tone.

That, ultimately, is what helps Unmechanical rise above the kinks in its own machinery to stand out as a deep, satisfying experience: a tone and game world worth exploring. On a platform focused so misguidedly on "replayability," the game's gorgeous setting, subtle story, and (mostly) wonderful puzzles make it something better - deeply playable. Huge kudos to Teotl for flexing their acrobatic skills with Epic's Unreal Engine here on mobile as well, where even an iPad 1 is able to clunk its way through the entire game without crashes (though it's not advisable given the graphical dip!). Fellow robot sympathizers, players looking for a mental workout, or anyone bitter their iPad still can't play Machinarium: don't let this one pass you by.

It looks like Twisted Pixel avoided being picked up in yesterda's coming tonight post because they decided to pull the "release everywhere at once" lever instead of letting the game drizzle out all over the world. Regardless, Ms. Splosion Man [$2.99] is now out in the wild. I saw it at PAX East and was totally impressed with what I saw.

Ms. Splosion Man got its starts on consoles, so the name of the game here is definitely "console quality."

Our forum members are digging the game too. We'll dive in a little deeper after GDC madness is over, but if you've been waiting for Ms. Splosion Man, mash that download link.

Rovio's latest Angry Birds release took the epic struggle of Birds versus Pigs and mashed it together with the epic struggle of Rebel versus Empire in the Star Wars universe. And it worked, as Angry Birds Star Wars provided a ton of twists on the usual bird-flinging formula while simultaneously doing a great job of implementing the Star Wars universe without feeling forced or tacked on. We thought Angry Birds Star Wars was really great in our review.

More is on the way, too, and GameTrailers has landed the first brief glimpse of an upcoming Angry Birds Star Wars update which will add levels set in Cloud City, the setting of Lando's dirty backstabbing and poor Han getting frozen in a block of carbonite. Good times!

GameTrailers will have more on the Cloud City update on Monday, so keep your eyes peeled for that and it sounds like the update is basically done and should be hitting in the very near future.

If you were around in the early 90's, surely you remember the Dream Team. If not, imagine a time when the sport of basketball was flooded with incredible players, and an Olympic team was assembled of among the best men to ever play the sport playing their respective positions. Unsurprisingly, they took home the gold. If an iOS equivalent exists, it has to be the team of guys behind the recently released Ridiculous Fishing. Vlambeer, responsible for Super Crate Box [$1.99], Zach Gage, the man behind our 2012 Game of the Year Runner-Up, SpellTower [$1.99], Greg Wohlwend who have made too many amazing games to list, and Eirik Suhrke, the maestro behind both Spelunky and Hotline Miami responsible for the soundtrack. Put those guys together in a room, and similarly, they're going to produce gold. What started as the Flash game Radical Fishing has since been endlessly refined into a game that I've been unable to put down.

The premise of Ridiculous Fishing [$2.99] is identical to that of its Radical predecessor: You start the game by casting your line into the water, then you tilt your device to control where your lure is in the water. Ideally, you want to get as deep as possible, avoiding all forms of aquatic life. The first time you collide with something, the music gets reversed and you start reeling in your line.

At this point, the goal is reversed in that you want to collect as many fish as possible, similarly by tilting. Anything that hits your lure gets picked up, and once you break the surface of the water things get really crazy- You actually catch fish by shooting them with whatever firearm you have equipped at the time. Each of them behave a little differently, so you might be tapping or sliding your finger around to kill fish.

On top of the basic mechanic(s) of the game rides a persistent upgrade system where you're earning money from your catches and then spending it on different upgrades ranging from new line to fish deeper, new weapons to kill more effectively and more. Of particular interest is the ability to add both a toaster and a hair dryer to your line to negate two accidental collisions to fish even deeper.

You eventually get a, err, chainsaw-type attachment to add to your lure, allowing you to dash through fish to get even further underwater. The way all of these upgrades build on top of each other feels great, as Ridiculous Fishing totally gives off almost Doodle Jump-like "I could play this forever" vibes while providing the whole "Aww man, I only need $1,000 more for this next item" to keep you playing even more. The combination is incredibly dangerous for your spare time.

I won't spoil it, but the game even has a plot of sorts told through a in-game faux Twitter feed called "Byrdr." There's even an ending to work towards, which then unlocks an endless mode where you can compete for high scores. Ridiculous Fishing is such a complete package that it's an effortless recommendation. It totally captures that gameplay niche of a game you can load up and play for a few minutes while providing a feel of progression that also makes the title suitable for substantially longer play sessions- Especially once you start to discover some of its secrets and other particularly effective techniques for maximizing your score.

There's no IAP to speak of, and the whole game feels like a cohesive whole. You need to download Ridiculous Fishing, that's really all there is to it.

The iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod touch have been out for a while now, and slowly but surely many of my favorite games have since been updated with widescreen support. I still maintain a short list of ones that haven't, though, and a small part of me wakes up each day with a glimmer of hope that I'll be surprised with an update waiting for me in the App Store for one of them. Today was one of those days as Simogo's brilliant Bumpy Road [$2.99] had the red notification badge lit up on my App Store app this morning, and there was much rejoicing.

I guess it's not totally accurate to say this update was a surprise, as Simogo had mentioned recently on Twitter that it was in the works. But I wasn't any less excited. I know, I know, it seems silly making a big deal about such a tiny thing, but owners of the widescreen devices know how frustrating it can be to run unsupported games in the old aspect ratio with borders. It can sometimes mess up your control as your finger moves off the edge of the playable screen, and it just makes a game feel "out of date" with your current device.

That's no longer an issue in Bumpy Road, but actually this goes even beyond simple aesthetics. Bumpy Road itself is now wider, meaning you have a better chance to see what's approaching, or a bit more room in the terrain behind your car to capture a missed item. The game being wider actually makes it an even better playing experience. I've already broken my previous high scores, in fact. Here's a few widescreens of the game for you to check out.

Bumpy Road launched way back in May of 2011, and is arguably the game that really put Simogo on the map in the iOS world. We loved it in our original review and have recently been reminiscing about it with a TA Plays Rewind of the game. It's just flat out one of my favorite video games of all time, so I'm glad to see it refreshed and ready for my iPhone 5. And, not to sound greedy, but I am also holding out hope that Simogo's other previous titles, Kosmo Spin [$0.99] and Beat Sneak Bandit [$2.99], can get a similar treatment at some point down the line, too. (Yes, that is an official not-so-subtle request, Simogo.)

I've got to hand it to Butterscotch Shenanigans, there aren't that many iOS games that can pique my interest on premise alone. However, TowelFight 2: The Monocle of Destiny [$0.99] certainly does, and is a pretty crazy title in most regards. More importantly, TowelFight is an enjoyable game, with only some control issues keeping back an otherwise unique take on the old-school action-adventure genre.

TowelFight follows the story of Hardik, an ordinary monocle-wearing guy that gets sucked into an alternate dimension where infighting amongst gods is causing chaos. Armed with his newly enchanted monocle, Hardik gains the ability to shoot animals from his eye and is charged with a quest to take down opposing gods and save the world. While the story sounds entirely absurd, I thought TowelFight did a great job not only with its overall narrative but also with its dialogue, which is often tongue-in-cheek and filled with a lot of amusing colloquialisms.

From a broad standpoint, TowelFight plays similarly to the original Legend of Zelda. Combat and exploration take place in single-screen environments connected by doors and tracked with a grid-like overworld map. Enemies also drop coins, which can be used to purchase a variety of weapons and items. Health is also measured in hearts, with Hardik losing a percentage of coins and returning to home base if he dies.

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When Table Top Racing [$2.99] hit the new release charts last week, we were pretty stoked not just by the pedigree surrounding the developers, but also its interesting graphical theme. Now that we've had some time to check it out, it's obvious that Table Top's environments and overall visual flair are pretty top notch. Unfortunately, a relatively generic gameplay outing and its emphasis on auto-acceleration controls keep the game from reaching loftier heights.

The first thing you'll notice with Table Top Racing is its unique visual style. Taking a page from classics such as Micro Machines, Table Top has you racing across giant tables filled with every day items. For example, one theme has you on an Asian-themed restaurant table while another might put you in a Hawaiian luau setting. Not everything is food themed, as others simply place you in a kid's room with wooden blocks setting up the racetrack. Maps are nicely done, inventive (at least for iOS) and look great.

In addition to the fun theme, Table Top also excels in simply executing the basics. The graphics simply look great, with the behind-the-back camera angle doing a great job showcasing the visuals. The game even does a great job of making even the static backdrops come alive as you race around the level. Meanwhile, Table Top runs at an incredibly smooth frame rate, a must for frenetic racing games. Finally, I'm also a fan of the music, even if some of the tunes are heavily "inspired" takes on familiar songs.

Otherwise, Table Top Racing is relatively straight-forward from a gameplay perspective. A robust campaign mode challenges racers to participate in a variety of cups that have players taking part in a variety of races that eventually lead to the proper cup. Race objectives range from standard fare (time trials and place matches) to objective (run into your opponent a set time has elapsed) to the dynamic (such as elimination matches). Hitting objectives or placing high enough earns coins that can be used to purchase and outfit your vehicles, which give you a better chance to succeed. Single race modes and multiplayer round out the selections. While there's a lot to see and do in Table Top Racing, the game doesn't really offer much in terms of innovation.

Controls-wise, Table Top offers the choice of tilt-based controls or a simple left/right button scheme with both options using auto acceleration (and no brakes). Auto-acceleration seems to be the control scheme of choice these days for iOS racing titles and while I think the controls work decently, there's still a certain amount of control lost that can be frustrating. It would have been nice to simply offer it as an alternative, even if it's not the "preferred" way to play.

Meanwhile, there's a few facets of the game that don't feel right. Players aren't allowed to upgrade their vehicles in their own way; each vehicle has a set upgrade path and you'll be spending coin on the next upgrade. If you don't like the attribute it's improving, all you can hope for is that the next stat in the queue is your choice. For that matter, the tuning in regards to earning coins, upgrades, and being able to advance in the campaign is a little too heavy on the coins, offering too much of an emphasis on IAPs.

In the crowded iOS racing genre, there's a growing collection of decent racing titles that either focus on killer visuals or innovative gameplay (with the best succeeding in both). Table Top Racing falls in the former category with a fun visual style that does a good job eliciting feelings of nostalgia. Whether that's enough to differentiate itself from the pack is a matter of opinion, but as far as racing titles go you can do a lot worse.

As mobile hardware reaches the point of being comparable to consoles, we're seeing less and less "Game Boy" versions of popular gaming franchises. That is, it's no longer becoming necessary to dumb down or limit a version of a console or PC game just to create a mobile version. In fact we've seen plenty of straight up ports of console and PC games that sacrifice very little technically in order to work on the iOS platform.

That's all well and good, and I love taking carrying games like GTA: Vice City [$4.99] and Bastion [$4.99] around in my pocket wherever I go, but there's almost always some sort of compromise you'll need to be willing to deal with when shoehorning virtual controls onto a game that wasn't meant for it. I'm fine with that for the most part, but it also makes me really appreciate those games that try to reinvent themselves with touchscreens in mind when transitioning to iOS.

One of the more recent and excellent examples of doing just that is Ubisoft's Rayman Jungle Run [$0.99]. It took the assets of Rayman Origins, a fantastic and critically acclaimed platforming game on traditional gaming systems, and repurposed them into an auto-running platformer built specifically for mobile touchscreen devices. We thought it was a hit because of how thoughtfully it was brought to iOS, and I'm pretty sure Apple liked it too. It definitely makes a difference when something is tailored for mobile.

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Hey, it's time for your weekly Angry Birds content update. Ok, so maybe the games are not actually updated ever week, but there's so many different versions of the game and they each receive such frequent updates that sometimes it can feel that way. Today's update is for Angry Birds Space [$0.99 / Free] and Angry Birds Space HD [$2.99 (HD) / Free (HD)], the, uh, fourth main games in the Angry Birds series.

The update includes 30 new levels set in a water galaxy, dubbed the Pig Dipper, with unique water physics and some Bad Piggies patrolling in boats. There's also 3 new power-ups: Flock of Birds, Space Egg, and something called the Pig Puffer. Alrighty then! There's also a new underwater boss level and a few new bonus levels if you can achieve some 3-star scores on this new pack of levels. Also, if you check in with the game everyday you can score a free power-up.

Angry Birds Space is yet another Angry Birds game, but that's not a bad thing. It introduced the gravity slinging mechanic that's also made its way into the latest game Angry Birds Star Wars, and the way that Rovio is constantly updating the whole library of Angry Birds games means that your buck or three should go pretty darn far in terms of providing entertainment. You can check out our original review of the game for some more insight, but if you aren't familiar with Angry Birds by now then I just don't know what to tell you.

The iPhone 5 and the 5th generation iPod touch, with their lovely 4-inch widescreen Retina Displays, have been out for a while now, and we've kind of wound down on covering every single game that gets updated for the larger screen. I mean, the vast majority of new releases are supporting widescreen from the gate, and the newsworthiness of older titles getting updates for it has pretty much faded. Except when it's Mobigame's Edge [$2.99] and follow-up Edge Extended [$2.99]. Why? Because it's freaking Edge, that's why. These games are masterpieces, and have been on my list of games that I really hoped would get widescreen support. As of now, those hopes have turned into reality.

If you're wondering what this "Edge" thing is and perhaps have been living under a rock for the last four years, you can read our 5 star review of Edge Extended which pretty much covers the bases of both games. Also, if you're into legal drama, Edge has a notorious history full of drama because of its chosen name. Spoiler alert: the good guys wind up winning in the end. Anyways, both Edge games are basically required playing for any iOS gamer and now with widescreen support it's an even better experience for those on the newer devices.

Hundreds [$4.99] could almost get away without an explanation. Here's how the first level plays: you put your finger down on a circle. It starts growing, and a number counts up. When it hits 100, you win. You will never need a tutorial--anyone can learn to play.

Audaciously simple, no? Of course, Adam Saltsman and Greg Wohlwend are both old hat at making amazing things from simple beginnings. Canabalt, anyone? Puzzlejuice? Don't go thinking Hundreds is just any old thing. The pair, along with composer Scott Morgan and developer Eric Johnson, have teased out every possible bit of complex fun one can have counting circles up to 100. For a hundred levels and beyond, Hundreds lives up to its pedigree.

The game never lets its players grow complacent. You master counting up with one circle, then more. You learn that if you're pressing on one circle when it hits anything else on screen, you'll fail. You then find variations--circles that need to be pressed in pairs, circles that shrink when you release them, spikes that kill your circles and ice-crystals that freeze them. There is never a time in those hundred levels that Hundreds feels low on ideas.

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Skygoblin's The Journey Down [$2.99] is a classic point and click adventure with a certain visual similarity to Grim Fandango, due in part to the way that many of the characters' faces are modeled on African tribal masks, and a setting and mythology that owes as much to African diasporic culture as Grim Fandango owes to Latin American traditions.

Shoring up this impression is the way that the game opens with jazz and a thug who looks a bit like a chibi version of Baron Samedi - pity he's one of the bad guys. I've always wanted to play a game where the protagonist was a Guede.

The game's actual protagonist, Bwana, comes from a long line of blundering adventure-game protagonists: Roger Wilco, Guybrush Threepwood, Sam & Max, and Liz Allaire, among others. Despite this, it took me a little while to become comfortable with the antics of Bwana and his brother, Kito.

In the gaming culture we have, a game where most of the characters are neither white nor some "stand-in" for Caucasian (pale-skinned elves, for example), is automatically significant in racial terms. At first, Bwana and Kito's cheerful and careless ignorance was uncomfortably reminiscent of a Stepin Fetchit routine, as they are surprised that the power company cut them off over a mere four grand in unpaid bills.

The reference to the old "lazy and ignorant" stereotype, and the fact that Bwana and Kito speak with a distinctive Caribbean accent, seem like the setup for a series of stale Rastafarian stoner jokes. Thankfully, as the game progresses, the characters grow beyond the stereotypes. The truth about Bwana and his brother is that they have lived by clinging to the literal and metaphorical edge of society, and are being not-so-slowly "pushed off." Thus their journey to the fabled Underland is both an escape from desperation and (potentially) a cultural allegory.

I don't want to make The Journey Down sound like something other than what it is: a comedy adventure game. For a comedy adventure game, it does contain some serious elements and broader themes, as well as the usual productive misuse of everyday items that characterizes the genre.

Technically, the game is well-put-together, with a very convenient swipe-to-show-hotspots mechanic and low overhead: it ran well on my old 4th gen Touch, and better on my new Mini. The art is original and fresh, and the reggae-jazz soundtrack is superior.

The puzzles are of middling difficulty and they all make sense, but are run-of-the mill fare overall, with one exception that I won't spoil here. The voice acting is good, and many characters have optional dialogue branches that provide tantalizing clues to the nature and mythology of the world. Unlike, for example, Telltale's The Walking Dead [Free], dialogue isn't used to make key decisions with lasting consequences.

Like The Walking Dead, The Journey Down is serial, and this game is part one of four. Seriality and a black protagonist are just about the only common points between The Journey Down and The Walking Dead, and that's not a bad thing. The combination of lighthearted play and serious themes in this game fits with its world and it's own Bwana-like story: a free retro-styled version of the first chapter (PC only) attracted enough positive attention to drive the commercial development of the series.

I'm looking forward to the forthcoming chapters of the series, but my ultimate judgment of the series will depend on how Skygoblin handles the larger themes in the world and the continued development of the characters, especially Lina, a confident and intellectual woman who is clearly central to the plot, but who spends this game waiting for Bwana and Kito to get their act together.

It looks like we're off to kind of a slow start in 2013 in terms of weekly releases. That's not to say there weren't a few interesting looking games in our weekly Coming Tonight post (and all of those games should be out in the US App Store now, by the way), but I guess it just doesn't have the same impact as the usual onslaught of new games that typically hit in the weeks that aren't so close to the holidays.

However, I think the most notable new release has to be the puzzle game Hundreds [$4.99]. It's notable for one just by being the collaborative effort of Canabalt [$2.99] creator Adam Saltsman of Semi Secret Software and Greg Wohlwend of Solipskier [$0.99] and Gasketball [Free (HD)] developer Mikengreg. Both are well-respected indie developers and basically anything they're a part of is something to be interested in. Beyond just good game developer pedigree though, Hundreds is also fantastic. I spent the better portion of the day playing the original Flash version, and became completely hooked. Adam and Greg have spent the last year improving on that initial version for Hundreds on iOS, adding new mechanics, modes, and more.

It should be a winner, and although I've literally only spent a few minutes with the just-released iOS version of Hundreds I can already tell it's head and shoulders above its Flash counterpart. If you're on the fence though, give that Flash version a go because it should give you a good idea of what you're getting yourself into. It's the kind of game that once it "clicks" there's no turning back. Check it out, and give our forums a look too for more impressions from early adopters of Hundreds.