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Expertly updated from traditional mobile to the iPhone by developer Firemint, Wolfenstein RPG is a clever, involving adventure-oriented riff on the classic PC shooter that’s graced with good graphics and easy-to-use controls. You are an allied soldier named BJ Blazkowcisz, freshly broken out of confinement in an Axis stronghold. You must fight your way to Castle Wolfenstein and put a stop to an occult weapons program. Between here and there are hundreds of enemy soldiers and monsters. Fortunately, you have a wicked right hook, boots of steel, and access to lots of guns. Plus, Axis scientists working on gene-enhancing formulas have left their work everywhere. You can fill syringes with chemical compounds that increase everything from your focus to health and use these temporary boosts to get out of hairy situations.

Although you wouldn’t be able to tell from the look of it this is a classic-style adventure-RPG. The game imagines a grid over each maze-like stage. Every step you take registers as a turn. When an enemy approaches, each attack you unleash counts as a turn. The enemy’s response, whether they return fire or step aside, counts as its turn. Battles have a rhythm to them as you step, shoot, dodge, and heal. When you get the pacing of this system, you can use it to your advantage, knowing when to retreat two or three squares and let an enemy come to you so you can kick it back and then empty a clip into it as it tries to recover and counter-attack.

Wolfenstein RPG’s controls take just a few minutes to learn. You have an on-screen movement pad that advances BJ through the stages. There are a handful of options, but I preferred the classic d-pad. Since I am right-handed, I placed it on the right side of the screen. It felt instantly natural. Tapping forward advances you a square. Taping left or right turns, but does not move forward. (Swiveling BJ does not take up a turn.) To strafe, you swipe left or right on the screen. The rest of the interface is touch-sensitive, such as tapping the current weapon to change it or tapping the health meter to dig into your inventory of health items and special syringes. To fire at an enemy, you simply tap them. Be warned, though. That enemy must be in front of you. You cannot just see it in an adjacent square and then tap to shoot it. Once you have a sniper rifle, though, you do use tilt to aim.

There really is a lot going on in Wolfenstein RPG. There are secrets in every stage, from hidden treasure rooms to medals earned for doing auxiliary tasks, such as reading all of the books in a stage (although reading some will cause you to lose focus for several turns). Almost everything is interactive, from the ability to rip a sink off a wall and throw it at a jackboot or kick down a flag to see if there is a secret behind it. In fact, you want to interact with as much as possible because it’s an easy way to earn experience points and level up BJ.

Wolfenstein RPG has a good sense of humor. The game jettisons all references to the Nazis and goes with a generic Axis enemy, likely to save any consternation with regional sensitivities. But then it puts up portraits of Hitler everywhere, moving that infamous moustache down to his bottom lip. Hitler with a soul patch, folks. Before kicking down a portrait, be sure to punch it and watch soul patch Hitler reel from your barrage of blows. The text and dialog is cheeky. And there are chickens everywhere that demand to be kicked.

If you have the right expectations, mainly, if you are ready for a classic turn-based adventure, Wolfenstein RPG will entertain you greatly and this iPhone update improves on every aspect of the original. The controls are better. There are more secrets. The art style is superior. You will get six or seven hours of play out of this game, and that’s if you just press through it without looking for all of the goodies or experiment with the syringe boosters. I had a great time with Wolfenstein RPG and heartily recommend it even at the $4.99 price tag.

Kicking chickens never really gets old.

One should always avoid being lit on fire.

Nothing beats duel wielding pistols against the Nazi regime.

Recently the developers over at Firemint (better known for their other app “Flight Control” which I also reviewed) released a racing game entitled “Real Racing”.  I must say Real Racing is the real deal when it comes to mobile racing games.  It’s one of the best I have ever played and while the $9.99 price tag may shy some customers away I assure you that if you enjoy racing games you should most definitely pick this one up its well worth your downloading dollars.

Real Racing is a bit more of a racing simulation than what I had originally thought it would be considering that its main competitors would be the Need for Speed series, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart, or Cro-Mag Rally.  But don’t get me wrong this is no Gran Turismo (PlayStation series of games) where you need to fine tune your engine and earn licenses in order to race. No, Real Racing is a happy union of the arcade style racer and the more simulation based genre and while yes it would give you a leg up if you learned the strengths and weaknesses of the cars you’ll drive its not by any means detrimental to the fun factor of just hopping into the game running a few laps and having a blast while doing so.

Controlling your car is great and comes almost intuitively. There are four control methods to choose from the default is Accelerometer steering with auto acceleration and a manual brake (which you apply by touching the center of the screen), there are also schemes for manual brake and acceleration with accelerometer steering or touch to steer arrow keys with manual braking or a virtual steering wheel dial with manual braking. I personally like the default as it just seems so natural.

As with what you would expect from a premium priced game Real Racing comes with several different modes including a quick play mode which allows new comers to get in to a race quickly and effortlessly to try out the different control schemes and cars. After trying out a few quick races and settling on a control scheme, jump into career mode. This is the real meat and potatoes of the game. There are three vehicle classes: hatchback, sedan, and muscle and you start at the bottom of the ladder in the hatchback class with just a couple of cars. As you work your way through the career, taking part in racing events and qualifiers, you unlock more classes and more vehicles in each class, up to 36. Right now, there are 57 different events in career mode to race through, spread across 12 tracks. Completing career mode will take you several hours easily.  There is also a Wi-Fi enabled multiplayer mode and as with all other racing games I can think of it also includes a time trail mode.

Finishing the career mode is not the end of Real Racing, though. Firemint has created a robust set of online features, using their own cloud cell technology, that will keep you playing for quite some time. While, Real Racing features local Wi-Fi multiplayer, it’s the league play that will really catch the eye of racing fans. There are several leagues that you can join and attempt to work your way through. Leagues have timed seasons, different rules and requirements, and can zero in on specific track or vehicle classes. Firemint is maintaining a central league site for tracking all the rankings.

Another aspect that really surprised me (other than the Nintendo DS/Sony PSP quality graphics) was the computer AI.  It was fierce yet respectable and easily the best on the iPhone. Computer controlled racers will bang into your bumper and trade paint off your sides if you allow them to but will also act as aggressively with the other computer controlled opponents making for some tough competition.

Real Racing does an amazing job combining its stunning visuals, smart AI, and excellent community features into one incredibly controlled racing game. If you love racing games, there is almost no reason not to download this game. It is truly worth every penny of its $9.99 price tag.

Pros:

• Unreal graphics and visuals for only 60 mb of game
• Great computer A.I.
• Race to your own music or listen to one of the included indy tracks
• Awesome Online features

Cons:

• Website is slightly confusing
• possible track and car downloads couldn’t come soon enough