However, if you are like me and missed the first version, you have to get this new and improved game Chopper 2. Let’s see why I say that.

The first thing that jumps at you in the game is the 3D effects in the landscapes and instructions. Chopper 2 is built as a Universal app so it works both on the iPhone and iPad. It is an amazing deal at the launch sale price of $2.99 if you have both iPhone & iPad.

The graphics are eye popping and the effects are very cool on the iPad as well as in the iPhone 4’s Retina Display.

Game Play

The game starts out very simple and builds up with weapons and controls. It is essentially a side scrolling game where you tilt up/down to fly/land the helicopter. You tilt sideways to move forward or backward.

You fire your machine gun by just touching the screen anywhere. If you press and hold you will see an onscreen arc which you can trace to change the direction of fire.

You will notice that the landscape itself is kind of in a 3D thanks to the author David Frampton’s Magic Jungle software.

The game has 36 action packed missions over 12 unique and beautiful locations. The firing and 3d engine have totally been rewritten and you will see the difference instantly.

In fact, the instructions in the game are also rendered in kind of a 3D effect with great music to go with the game. It actually features a 17 minute long original soundtrack and with the OpenAL’s spatial sound effects it will be a shame to play this game on mute.

The game is rendered with HD graphics on both iPad and iPhone 4 and it looks absolutely gorgeous on the iPad’s larger screen!

On the iPhone 4, it even utilizes the iPhone 4 gyroscope for increased controls.

iPad Coolness

If you have both an iPhone or iPod Touch and an iPad, you are probably already jumping on this deal of $2.99 for both devices. Wait until you hear this.

You can use the game’s remote control feature and control the chopper wirelessly with your iPhone or iPod Touch over Bluetooth. How cool is that? It includes all iDevices except the first generation iPhone and iPod Touch.

Also, you can TV out this game from the iPad and play it with this Bluetooth remote control on your TV!

If there is one thing that I have nitpick about this game is the missile bomb control. You have to be perfectly still to fire it and aim right. The slightest move sends it off course. Maybe I haven’t figured out how to do it right.

I rarely give a 5 out of 5 for an iPhone game but this is a ground breaking effort from David Frampton and is definitely one of those games that redefines the iDevice gaming landscape forever.

If you are a fan of Coldstone Creamery, Chopper 2 game is a ‘I gotta have it!’

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Availability: App Store

Price: $2.99 (Universal app – launch sale price)

Reviewed at version: 1.0

Today again they have a few more iPhone and iPad games on sale for $0.99. The best value is in 3 $6.99 iPad games that are on sale for just $0.99.

• NFL 2010 ($2.99 –> $0.99)
• Brain Challenge 2: Think again! ($4.99 –> $0.99)
• Iron Man 2 for iPad ($6.99 –> $0.99)
• Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front HD ($6.99 –> $0.99)
• Shrek Cart HD for iPad ($6.99 –> $0.99)

I mentioned the Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front HD sale on our sister iPad blog this morning. There are 2 more games you can snag for real cheap for your iPad.

The accelerometer has changed gaming and iPhone has become such a huge gaming platform with hundreds of thousands of games available for it now.

iPhone 4’s gyroscope adds another dimension. It can be easily explained with an action. With iPhone 4 you can tilt your device to move left or right in a game. And if you turned your body, you will also turn inside a game just like looking around in a room. (see video below)

Ngmoco has released a game called Eliminate:GunRange which uses the iPhone 4 gyroscope brilliantly.

You are in a beautifully crafted gun range with several different weapons and you have to turn a little to see all around the room to shoot down targets.

GunRange features 12 different weapons and 144 target-shooting challenges set in 3 different HD firing ranges.

The controls take a bit of getting used to but once you get the hang of it it gets really addictive to shoot down those targets.

The game is available in a ad-free version for $0.99 and as a free version with ads that popup every couple of levels. I tried the free version and the ads didn’t bother me. Actually it gave my eyes a good respite after a couple of levels.

For those who like to invert the axis setting, it has been added to the options. If you want to take a look at the future of iPhone gaming that is going to make use of the iPhone 4’s gyroscope, Eliminate:GunRange is an excellent start.

You can take a look at this video if you’d rather want to quickly check out how it works before trying.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Availability: App Store

Pricing: Free (ads) and $0.99 (ad-free)

Reviewed at version: 1.1

Words With Friends has found itself as a regularly running app on my iPhone, as I compete with several of my friends – and some strangers – in a friendly, Scrabble-like game. I can’t call this a Scrabble game, probably for some obscure legal reasons, but for reference, that is just what this game is. A two player, word creation game, with mechanics just like that of Scrabble. Sure there are some point differences, and I would bet that the board layout is slightly different than that of Scrabble, but if it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it must be Scrabble.

In my time playing, I have logged around twenty matches, most of them against my friends, but Words offers a great feature – random opponent matches. Rounds are played in a chess-through-the-mail fashion. Each player has nearly unlimited time to make a play, allowing them to think, plan, or just get on with their daily life before they make a play. The system checks to make sure that you have played a valid word, gives you the word score, then sends a push notification to your opponent alerting them it their time to play.
There is integrated chat for the match, allowing you to taunt or congratulate your opponent, however, the chat messages do not get push notifications, and you are left to simply notice there is a message waiting for you on your game board.

Words With Friends is a great way to pass a few minutes of your day, anytime you have a free moment. In an effort to discourage games from stalling out, the publisher has implemented an auto-resign feature that kicks in after more than a week of inactivity.
Some users complain about how long the time-out feature is for inactive players, but really, I have not experienced an issue with players abandoning a game for days at a time, nor do I see a reason to complain. Most of the complaints are from people that want someone to play “live” passing moves back and forth as fast as possible, and don’t seem to understand that one of the big appeals of this game is the ability to put it down, and pick it up at will, and to not be tied down, playing it for minutes or hours at a time.

Like any game, there are those out there who will drop a game if they start loosing. I had one random player resign only three turns in when they went  down 15 points. 15 points is not that hard to come up with, and with no way to block a player you had a bad experience with, or report them for poor conduct, you will likely run into some of these people if you choose to venture outside your friends.
As fun as Words is to play, its not as challenging as playing a live game of Scrabble. Why? Because this one lets you play tiles until it takes your word. So you can try combinations of letters to get the most bang for your buck, and reach for the triple word score tile. Also, you are on the honor system with your opponents to not venture out and utilize some of the many anagram and scrabble applications that live on the web.

There are some technical issues, especially on older 3G phones running iOS4. Its prone to crashing on my 3G, but plays beautifully on newer hardware. Other users report issues with slow word submissions, but this could be attributed to the increasing popularity of the application straining the publishers systems, as I have experienced the slowdown most often at night.
It would be great to have an in-game contact list, and not just refer to your iPhone contact list, so you can keep a quick link to players you enjoy playing with. However, there is a great feature that allows you to challenge your friends on Twitter and Facebook, sending out a link to get the game for their iPhone/iTouch/iPad.
If you are looking for a casual game to take on your friends that does not require both of you to be ready to play at the same time, I highly recommend Words With Friends. And if you are looking for someone to play, hit SmartpigGA up. Just be ready for a tough match.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Availability: App Store

Price: $2.99 (ad free)

Reviewed at version: 3.09

Guest post by: E. Lee Cunningham, MBA, is a small business technology consultant and Apple enthusiast. You can follow him on twitter @smartpig, or check out his other writing at his consulting company’s website – ELCInnovations.com

Modern Combat: Sandstorm features

• 10 missions
• Local multiplayer via WiFi and Bluetooth and online multiplayer upto 4 players
• Wide range of authentic advanced weapons
• Sniper and Ironsight modes for extra precision shooting
• 3D graphics
• Cinematic snippers, military voiceovers.

This is a great game title that will get you hours of game time for $0.99 plus if your friends have it you can play multiplayer locally or online with strangers. Online multiplayer greatly extends the playing time of these games.

Gameloft also has couple of other games on sale. Dungeon Hunter is on sale from $4.99 to $0.99. Skater Nation is on sale from $4.99 to $0.99.

Other Games on sale

Audio Memos 2 – The Voice Recorder $0.99 –> FREE

iQuarters $1.99 -> FREE

Flubby Physics $0.99 –> FREE

Digital Heist $1.99 –> FREE

BomberDove $1.99 –> FREE

Pass Football $0.99 –> FREE

Some of the best selling EA Sports games like Need for Speed Shift, FIFA 10 are on sale for an incredible $0.99.

Some of the EA Sports iPhone games we saw on sale are

• FIFA 10 by EA Sports $0.99 (was $6.99)
• BattleShip $0.99 (was $1.99)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert $0.99 (was $6.99)
• SimCity $0.99 (was $2.99)
• Madden NFL 10 by EA Sports $0.99 (was $6.99)
• NBA Live by EA Sports $0.99 (was $2.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour $0.99 (was $2.99)
• Need for Speed Shift $0.99 (was $6.99)
• Need for Speed Undercover $0.99 (was $4.99)
• Connect 4 $0.99 (was $2.99)
• Trivial Pursuit $0.99 (was $4.99)
• Clue $0.99 (was $1.99)
• YAHTZEE Adventures $0.99 (was $2.99)
• The Game of Life Classic $0.99 (was $1.99)

I spent $5 and got 5 great games!!! Usually 1 game would have cost more than that!

Isn’t this a steal or what? Go go go..

FIFA 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa

There are a ton of apps out there that cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup and we wanted to highlight a few for iPhone and iPod Touch fans.

If you are looking to watch 2010 World Cup Live Online, you could do so at the places listed in the link.

Now, the iPhone and iPod Touch Apps

• Goal.com Mobile (Free)

  Provides a global view of the World Cup event with top news and photos, Live Scores, player ratings, teams with schedule and lineup details, etc.
  

• ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup (Free)

  ESPN’s app provides live scores, tournament stats and tables including a bracket view, full tournament schedule, extensive profiles of all 32 teams, world cup tournament history, profiles of all 10 host venues, fantasy bracket predictor.
  

• South Africa Tracker 2010 (Free)

  This app has seen 1.1 million downloads. You can follow the score from the World Cup matches. Allows you to pick your country and filter the first round so you see only the matches you want to follow. Shake to download the most recent information about the matches. Match times are set to your time zone.
  

• World Football Predictor (Free)

  This app from Work Avoidance allows you to see the outcome of Football games based on your predicted scores. You can find answers to questions like ‘If USA beat England, who will go through to play Germany?. You can even tweet your prediction.
  

• 2010 World Cup South Africa ($0.99)

  App features top stories, push notifications, video gallery, live score and commentary, advanced match details, live details and match data, etc.
  

Soccer iPhone & iPad Games

Some of the soccer iPhone games are on sale celebrating the 2010 World Cup.

• FIFA World Cup – Was $6.99 Now $0.99
• Real Soccer 2010 – Was $4.99 Now $0.99
• Real Soccer 2010 HD (iPad only) – Was $6.99 Now $4.99
• FIFA 10 by EA Sports - Was $6.99 Now $4.99

What other FIFA 2010 iPhone apps have you come across? Share it in the comments.

Gameloft says

For a limited time, this game is available for free as part of Gameloft’s 10th Anniversary Happy Hour! Grab it quickly; this opportunity only lasts for 2 hours!
From May 10th to May 21st, Gameloft will be offering you 10 of our best games for free in celebration of our 10th birthday. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gameloft to know which games will be free and when you can download them. Enjoy our iPhone Happy Hour!

Make sure you are following us on Twitter – @TopiPhone or @TopiPad to get these updates and deals that don’t make it to the blog due to lack of time to post everything here.

Attack of the Titans looks like a cool game and has 3.5 stars in iTunes reviews. You need a WiFi connection to download since it’s over 20MB.

Unless, you have the jailbreak app 3G unrestrictor that lets you trick your iPhone into thinking you are on WiFi.

Another game that is free today is XMB: Extreme Mountain Bussing thanks to FreeAppADay.com.

Oh and Gameloft is giving away a game for free everyday in their iPhone Happy Hour. But, it is open only for 2 hours and at different times of the day.

Make sure you are following us on Twitter – @TopiPhone or @TopiPad to get these updates that don’t make it to the blog.

Today, they have released an excellent game by Com2Us – Heavy Gunner 3D for FREE.

We have talked about Heavy Gunner 3D here and it is an excellent shooter game. It used to sell for $2.99 and is an excellent value to try it for free.

Also, FreeAppCalendar.com is also another site where nice iPhone apps go free everyday.

Remember, it is FREE just today! So get it now.