A genie, a load of balls, and an ancient labyrinth come together to create a frustrating, but fun, puzzler.

One of the big boys in the movie biz, Warner Bros., has been solidly churning out iPhone apps for the past few months. Most of these apps have been global franchises, though, including Terminator Salvation, Watchmen and — the double whammy of brand-names — LEGO Batman.

Without a movie, cartoon series, or line of toys, Stuck Genie is an entirely original game. Containing 73 puzzles, the game challenges you to complete each one and earn the highest score.

You Look Like You’re Stuck

It’s immediately clear that the game is worthy of the Warner Bros. name. It’s bright and colorful, instantly pleasing to the eye and, although it’s not an established brand, the game has an artwork style that is very much its own.

The attention to detail, especially important from such a big publisher, pervades almost every aspect of the game. Even the name-entry screen is fun, finding you spinning an alphabet wheel, and dragging letters around to spell your name.

Musically, the game features a chill-out soundtrack pinched straight from the beaches of Ibiza. It’s absolutely out of character for a puzzle game — especially one featuring a mischievous cartoon genie.

And yet it works: When the puzzles get tougher, the mellow background music makes it feel more like you’re chillaxing, as opposed to seriously flexing your cognitive problem-solving muscles.

Control Your Inner Genie

Before jumping into the first level proper, there’s a tutorial section. The tutorial explains the basics: By tapping and dragging, you control an orange ball moving through a labyrinth.

Your aim, in each level, is to collect the other balls dotted around the maze. The mazes are incredibly simple, and collecting the balls is achieved simply by colliding with them.

The real challenge is that the balls stick to your orange ball as you collect them; your shape grows and changes with each added ball. Maneuvering through the maze becomes tougher as you collect each ball, and forward planning is key to solving each puzzle.

Misadventures in the Maze

My sojourn through the freaky genie’s labyrinth hit a major roadblock, though. Closing the app to take a break, due to a tough level, I returned hours later to be sent back to the start of level one.

Apparently, Stuck Genie features no auto-save functionality. This means that to save, you have to exit the game by first pausing it and then clicking exit (which instigates a save). Simply tapping the iPhone’s Home button will exit, but it won’t save.

Furthermore, after working my way back to the tough level I’d been stuck on, I discovered that there’s no rest or rewind button. This is an all but essential feature for this genre of puzzle game.

To reset the level, you have to open the menu and select rewind; it doesn’t ruin the game, but it’s an oversight nonetheless. Far more preferable would be, say, tapping the genie to use a magical time-reversing crystal, or even just a plain old rewind/reset button.

Summing Up

There’s something about the cartoony yet ornate artwork, which, when melded with the Café del Mar-esque chill-out soundtrack make for a very mellow but challenging puzzler.

This mellow vibe is immensely important in Stuck Genie’s case, because some of the puzzles had me literally roaring with frustration — the good kind of frustration, though, when you know you’re being beat by a devious puzzle and you’ve just got to solve it.

Despite being so much fun from the off, the difficulty curve was unexpectedly steep. Nevertheless, fans of challenging puzzlers should download Stuck Genie and get stuck in immediately.

Just when you thought the weekend couldn’t get any better, along comes a selection of the freshest picks from the App Store.

This week I’ve selected four playful picks for you to toy with over the weekend. It’s not all fun and games, though, as before we get to the apps, I’ve got a roundup of the week’s news.

Another week closer to the release of the iPhone 3.0 update means another leaked addition to the new OS. This time, Apple is bringing video purchasing to the iPhone. All well and good, but I can’t imagine how downloading a 2GB movie is going to work over 3G.

Our own Nick Santilli procured a selection of apps that raise the potential for photos taken with the iPhone’s camera. It’s essential reading for iPhone owners who are disappointed with the device’s awful camera. My pick of the bunch is QuadCamera — it makes shooting with the iPhone fun again.

The iPhone made the front cover of The New Yorker this week, though not in the way you might expect. Using Brushes, a cute little painting app for iPhone, artist Jorge Colombo created the cover illustration for the latest issue. Brushes isn’t exactly a pro-level art package, but it can generate stunning results — budding artists can grab the app for four bucks (it’s currently on offer) and start practicing now.

Tweetie for Mac, the excellent older sibling to the iPhone Twitter client Tweetie, received a fun little upgrade this week. The app now allows video tweeting, via the iSight camera or a quick .mov file drag ‘n’ drop. This article is particularly worth checking out because you get to watch a Twitter video of me, playing Sigur Rós, on the glockenspiel — blog-based musical interludes do not get better than that.

And finally, there could be an Apple game console on the incredibly distant horizon. This is according to the CEO of gaming giant Ubisoft. Frankly, I don’t see it happening, but then who am I to argue with the CEO of the company that brought us Splinter Cell and a refreshed Prince of Persia franchise?

Moving on to the picks, this week I’ve been looking at Space Ace, Light Wars, BeatRider Touch and Drum Tracker.

Space Ace ($4.99)
A quick refresher for readers who may not have come across Space Ace — the game is a gorgeously illustrated animated adventure from the folks behind Dragons Lair. Those who remember the original will be pleased to note that, visually, it’s still as vibrant as ever; however, it’s also just as frustrating in terms of gameplay. The game is essentially one long animation in which you just perform the correct actions at the correct time to keep the story moving forward. Frequently silly, regularly annoying, but it’ll have you coming back time and time again.

Light Wars (99 cents)
One glance at this game and any seasoned gamer will tell you that it’s a direct rip of Geometry Wars — an excellent console mini-game that brings classic messy shoot-em-up Robotron to mind. Light Wars is incredibly fast-paced and frenetic, throwing tron-style nasties at you from all angles as you speed across the vector map, dodging enemy ballistics and racking up insanely high scores. Currently on sale at 99 cents and definitely worth checking out for fans of arcade-style shoot-em-ups.

Beatrider Touch Lite (FREE)
Tap Tap Revenge may be the current king of rhythm-action games on the iPhone, but that shouldn’t stop other titles from trying to topple the game from its well-earned throne. Beatrider Touch incorporates more sliding than tapping, plus it brings something entirely new to the genre — song uploading. Upload your favorite tune and you’re able to play it as a level in Beatrider. The free Lite version supports one song upload, the premium version — retailing at five bucks — lets you upload up to 20.

Drum Tracker ($1.99)
If you’re not in the mood for gaming, but beats are your thing, then Drum Tracker may be the app for you. The developers, a team calling themselves Simple is Beautiful, have squeezed a fully-featured drum machine down into one gorgeous-looking iPhone app. This is a tool that, while it could be tons of fun for anyone looking to toy around with a few beats, could prove useful for electronic music producers on the go. Worth checking out for the more musical readers of TheAppleBlog, especially as it’s priced so competitively for a sound app.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with more news from the week and picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

If we were to liken the iPhone to a Greek hero — all muscle-bound and chiseled man-face — it would surely be Achilles, the guy with the wonky heel.

The iPhone is our modern-day electronic hero, savior of our interconnected lives. Yet it is a hero with one tiny flaw, a weakness that even its fondest admirers are prone to point out: This wonder-device features an awful camera.

Face Fun aims to put your iPhone’s questionable camera to good use, using face-recognition technology to place your face in a variety of amusing situations.

Funny Looking

Upon launch, the app immediately dishes up two options: Select a photo from the iPhone photo album, or take a new photo using the camera. There’s no tutorial, no funny splash screen or amusing introductory animation — just two options to choose from, with no indication of what might happen next.

As such, even before Face Fun has properly started, it feels half-finished. There’s no attempt to build a fun, playful environment and no effort to explain exactly what’s going on.

Once a photo has been loaded, clicking the Detect Face Button starts the magic happening. The app “automagically” detects all the faces in the image you’ve selected. Given such a shaky start, it’s surprising to find that the face recognition really works — never failing to detect faces, despite weird expressions and odd angles.

With the automagical detection done, you’re then able to select one of the faces out of a thumbnail lineup. The face you chose is then superimposed — as if by tiny Photoshop imps inside your iPhone — onto a larger scene.

Funny Ha Ha or Funny Weird

The app presents a selection of 19 varied scenes to choose from, almost all of which are dismal attempts at kooky humor. You can choose from scenes such as the laugh-a-minute “your face on a TV screen while a cat watches,” or the downright giggle-fest that is “your face projected on the screen at a business conference.”

I really do have a sense of humor. I pride myself on taking regular rides in the ROFLcopter; Face Fun though, isn’t much fun and the humorous situations on offer fail to amuse.

Within this disappointing mess of humorless instances are a couple of acceptable attempts — my favorite being creating a jigsaw puzzle out of the face, an imaginative and well-realized scene. It’s worth noting, though, that the jigsaw puzzle isn’t playable; it’s just a static image.

Inter-Face Fun

Besides lacking any sort of scene-setting introductory tutorial, the app also lacks aesthetic flair and, thus, feels somewhat drab in terms of user interface. Face Fun is, in effect, a wonderful example of poor interface design. The app feels cheap and lazy: There’s either been no usability testing or no effective feedback from testers.

For instance, to create a scene with your face in it, you have to physically drag the face thumbnail over, and onto, the scene thumbnail. It’s a smart and literal method interaction, however, there’s nothing to explain this in the app.

I spent a couple of minutes single tapping and double tapping until it dawned on me to try dragging. There’s no other dragging within the app and no indicator that to access this part of the interface I’d need to drag.

The Detect Face Button is another example of drab design — it’s just a plain text-button in the bottom right corner. This button exemplifies the app’s biggest issue — there’s nothing fun or exciting going on, certainly no wacky sounds or kooky user interface. Face Fun is just an expensive, and drab, tech-demo.

Summing Up

It’s not a great app, lacking as it is in both functionality and content. At the core of the app, where there should be a cavalcade of content, there’s just an incredibly limited amount of scenes, many of which just aren’t amusing.

And what’s worse, there’s no way to mail your silly creations to friends or to upload to your favorite social network (apart from saving the image out and doing it manually). It’s interesting technology, though, and so, while I can’t recommend this app, I do hope that the developers invent some much more compelling uses for their face-recognition system.

A bag of metal balls, a rockabilly soundtrack, exploding pegs: Rockchinko is the pachinko machine from hell.

Harking back to the old American parlor game Corinthian Bagatelle, pachinko has captured the imagination, and yen, of Japan. While the game may not have invaded Western casinos, there’s a steady stream of pachinko apps arriving for the iPhone.

Rockchinko gives pachinko an injection of rock ‘n’ roll, featuring physics-defying tilting, plectrum powerups and tons of guitars across more than 40 levels.

Pinball Wizard

Breaking away from the seedy glitz and smokey fog of traditional pachinko parlors, Rockchinko restyles pachinko’s dated look for the rock generation — installing a twisted metal board coated in a neon glow.

The design can be a little inconsistent at times though, one moment shiny metal, the next pixellated skulls — it’s a messy milieu that floats between edgy and geeky.

Of course, there’s a rocking soundtrack too: Each stage is based on a different sub-genre, including blues, rockabilly and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll. Although none of the music seems to be directly licensed from well-known bands, à la Tap Tap Revenge, the music certainly captures the theme of the game.

Scales and Modes

There are three main game modes, two of which are initially locked and unavailable. To unlock the two game modes, you’ll have to complete Normal Mode — a feat that’ll only take a couple of hours at most for a new player.

Once Normal Mode has been beaten, Randomizer and Rock Mode are unlocked. Randomizer allows you to play through the array of stages on offer in Normal mode in a random order — it’s simple and effective, and revisiting even the early levels can still present a challenge to seasoned players.

The third game mode, Rockstar, contains a set list of brand-new stages to launch, tilt and turn through. The Rockstar stages blend together all the previous features and gameplay twists discovered in Normal Mode.

Everyone Can Play Guitar

The aim of each level is to destroy all the red pegs by bouncing your metal ball around the stage. The balls are fired from the funnel at the top of the screen, which can be adjusted by dragging side to side.

Tapping anywhere on the screen launches your shot and, once the ball is in play, the iPhone can be tilted, affecting the ball’s direction. With enough practice it’s possible to move the ball around the playing field, squeezing out each shot’s destructive potential.

There are obstacles, too, unlocked as you progress through Normal Mode. Windmills, moving platforms, and warp holes can prove formidable hindrances or useful tools, depending on your perspective. Also enhancing the puzzle aspect of the game is a range of effective powerups, from the tame Triple Ball to the impressive Flame Thrower and bombastic Mega Ball.

Destroying all but one red peg instantly throws the game into “Matrix”-esque slow-motion. The camera dramatically crash zooms on your ball and you’re given full control, even the ability to turn the iPhone upside down, sending your ball plummeting upwards and defying the laws of physics.

As your metal ball speeds across the screen, combusting any pegs it collides with, you’re thrown in to slow-mo for your coup de grâce. Oddly, this destructive slow-mo finale reminds me of Burn Out (the hyper-destructive crash and burn driving game) as it’s so exciting, needlessly dramatic, and satisfying.

Summing Up

Even with the levels I couldn’t beat on first try, I knew I could adjust my strategy, come back and keep advancing through the game. And that’s where Rockchinko introduces depth. You’ll need to be strategic, planning out your shots and tilts before hand, for each stage.

There’s still work that needs to be done, though. It needs more stages, online scoring, and some kind of competitive element. Plus the load times are abominable. However, the main game is executed almost perfectly. It’s incredibly satisfying, so much fun, and has consistently left me wanting more after every session.

You can’t have pizza without cheese, socks without shoes, a sandwich without bread, or a complete week without hearing about the freshest iPhone apps.

Before I present you with a hand-picked selection of the latest iPhone releases to hit the App Store, as is tradition, we’ll take a moment to review notable news and take stock of the week that was.

For iPhone supporters, the week seemed to start on somewhat of a downer as news broke that RIM’s Blackberry Curve is the belle of the ball, surpassing the iPhone in popularity. Plus, darkening the mood a little more, it seemed that the developers gathered for our Monday App Store Roundtable were, understandably, none to pleased at the App Store’s review system.

By Tuesday, the week began to pick up with speculation that Apple may adjust their app approval policy upon the release of the iPhone 3.0 update this Summer. In short, there’s a possibility that “adult-only” apps will appear in the App Store; perhaps tasteless topless images will become the new novelty fart sound maker?

Also this week,Bento, the personal database application for desktop, was released on iPhone. David Appleyard was on hand to provide an excellent overview of the app. Although I use Evernote for collecting info on the move, users who need to go beyond lists and start making databases will find Bento to be an indispensable tool.

Mid-week mirth was provided courtesy of Apple, when someone on the Cupertino campus inadvertently approved a listing for QuickPWN — the iPhone jailbreaking tool — in the official web app directory.

The other notable rumor of the week concerns a possible feature coming to new MacBooks in the future. Based on a job-posting straight from Apple, it’s looking likely that the next Macbook will have integrated 3G. Although 3G may be the death knell for USB sticks touting the same functionality, on the flip-side it means less peripherals and more connectivity for Macbook-users.

Moving on to the picks, this week I’ve been looking at Offmaps, GadgetTrak, Kids vs. Zombies Lite and Battalion.

Offmaps ($2.99)
Having Maps on your iPhone is all well and good, but when you’re out and about without a data-connection, the app is essentially useless. For frequent travelers (or even iPod touch users) Offmaps compliments Google Maps perfectly. The app allows you to download specific maps directly to the iPhone, even allowing the user to set the zoom level — useful for those looking for a high level of detail. A worthwhile companion to the embedded Maps app and surprisingly cheap given the excellent functionality.

GadgetTrak (Free)
This seems to have been released back in August last year and while I try to feature the latest apps, it’s occasionally worth rewinding a moment if I’ve missed something worthwhile. GadgetTrak is incredibly similar to Caught You! Both of the apps create a dummy icon on your iPhone which, in the event of your device being stolen, a thief will hopefully click. The dummy app then e-mails your iPhone’s GPS coordinates to you. Unfortunately, Caught You! seems to have gone AWOL from the App Store — I’ve checked both U.S. and UK stores and it’s no longer available — as such, it’s worth checking out GadgetTrack as an alternative (and free) tracking tool.

Kids vs. Zombies Lite (Free)
Recommended to me by Larsonian, via the comments section of last week’s App Store Picks, I thought I should take a look at this game. In the midst of a zombie apocalypse, you take control of three kids who happen to be armed to the teeth. In terms of gameplay, it’s a coin-op-esque shooter, wrapped in gorgeous cartoony 3D graphics, with a sprinkling of the undead. Each of the characters have different attack abilities — close combat, long range and explosives — plus, you’re able to visit the Hardware Store and upgrade the weaponry for even more effective zombie devastation. Check out the free Lite version first and, if you enjoy destroying the living dead, upgrade to the full version for only two bucks.

Battalion (Free)
If you’re looking for a 3D shooter with a retro vibe, then check out Battalion. The game was originally developed for the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, aka CAVE (I love a good recursive acronym), and found the player becoming a movie-style giant monster, literally stomping around a town and taking on the might of the military. The controls are incredibly tough to get used to, combining a mixture of tilting, tapping, double-tapping and even dragging, however after an initial learning period, it’s good fun (and a strangely effective stress reliever). While this version is certainly not as immersive as the original virtual reality Battalion, you get to choose from one of four cute but angry B-Movie monsters. Recommended for those looking for a free and fun new game.

We’re all done for the app picks this week. In keeping with our usual schedule, I’ll return next week with more news from the week and picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

All of the thrills, adrenaline and drama of ping pong arrives on the iPhone, courtesy of Skyworks.

I’ve tried many sports — rugby, basketball, hockey, even lacrosse — and discovered that physical exertion is not my bag. I much prefer my Macbook Pro and a bowl of edamame for company any day. As a sport, ping pong is special though: it’s high-speed, it’s intense, it’s got a silly name, and it requires very little movement on my part.

Skyworks Ping Pong aims to capture the energy of the real thing, but requires even less physical exertion. The game features a single-player International tournament mode, polished graphics, online scoring and even single-device multiplayer.

Eye of the Tiger

World Cup Ping Pong has been given a dynamic, sporty design with each game playing out on a 3D table. For such a simple game, it’s incredibly polished. Yet, this polish is more akin to a a high-class video poker game than an iPhone app and, as such, the game feels somewhat lacking in character.

This feeling of emptiness, like there’s something missing, could also be attributed in part to the sound, or lack of. The menu and option screens are eerily silent, save for a few chirps on pressing buttons. In-game, there are two cheap ‘n generic dance tunes to choose from — worse still, they get repetitive quickly.

Aside from the gameplay, the classic ping pong sound is one of the most important components of a great ping pong game: that percussive smack of the ball being slapped across the table with a paddle. World Cup Ping Pong gets it exactly right, and, paired with the rhythm of the ball bouncing back and forth, makes for satisfying matches.

Bat & Ball

There are several different game modes to choose from. Players looking for a traditional competition experience will want to jump straight in to Tournament Mode. There’s a choice of teams, including the USA, Russia, Finland and Germany, and a choice of paddles, too.

Arcade Mode provides a more immediate entry point for jumping in to World Cup Ping Pong. With half the table propped up, Forrest Gump-style, you bash away at various targets, attempting to rack up a high score.

Totally unexpected was the Head to Head gameplay mode — with a birds-eye view of the table, you and a friend can both play simultaneously on one iPhone. It was an absolute treat, utterly at odds with Practice Mode. This final game-type had very little use: no lesson, no guidance, just a dry run of Tournament Mode.

Bat In Hand

Once you’ve selected either a Tournament or Arcade Mode, it’s time to choose your paddle. There are three to choose from, not only differing in color but also impacting your technique, in terms of energy and spin. Once you’ve made your choice and have a tight grip of your paddle, it’s time to start a match.

There are absolutely no buttons to learn and, as such, the controls are incredibly simple. Dragging your finger around the screen controls your paddle; serving is as simple as quickly swiping up. The major issue with this control method is that your finger may occasionally obscure the on-screen action.

Once you’ve grasped the basics, the game begins to have a little more depth. Mastering spinning the ball means matches become much more fun. However, the opponents occasionally feel a little too tough, and rallies become repetitive chores, devoid of the drama and pace of real ping pong.

At the end of a game, you’re invited to submit your score online to the global score board. Unfortunately, you’ll have to register and log-in first. Forced registration to access in-game features are loathsome — frequently a thinly veiled excuse to harvest e-mail addresses and rarely genuinely needed. In the case of World Cup Ping Pong, it’s not clear just why I have to register simply to submit my high-score online.

Summing Up

While World Cup Ping Pong isn’t necessarily awful, it just didn’t blow me away, either. The game is missing character and depth, the graphics and music lack charm, and the gameplay, while effective, just didn’t leave me wanting more.

This game certainly isn’t an outstanding pick from the App Store’s Game section; it’s just a fun little time-waster. Fans of the sport won’t find any depth relating to the real thing, but those looking for a quick-to-learn time-waster will certainly glean a little pleasure from this game.

What’s that on the horizon? Why it’s none other than the latest picks fresh from the App Store, coming to brighten up your weekend!

Though before I run you through my latest selection of newly released apps, it’s time to indulge in a quick refresher of some of this week’s Apple news.

We started the week not with a bang, but with a tweet. In the early hours of Monday morning, Loren Brichter (otherwise known as iPhone developer Atebits), launched Tweetie for Mac, a desktop version of the immensely popular iPhone Twitter client. Those of you who have taken to summarizing your life as a series of hastily written 140 character messages, should check out my in-depth look at Tweetie.

The iPod touch is apparently growing in popularity with the U.S. Army. It was revealed this week that deployed soldiers are able to use the touch for ballistics calculation and translations, among other things. It’s not clear if voice recognition, a rumored feature of the new iPhone 3.0 update, will also be making it to the iPod touch.

On Thursday, Apple held their second-quarter conference call. In terms of finances, total revenue for the period came to $8.33 billion, up almost $1 billion over the same quarter last year. Aside from the colossal amount of revenue generated, Tim Cook — Apple’s acting CEO while Jobs takes a leave of absence — attempted to quash any rumors of an Apple netbook.

But before the celebratory balloons could be inflated and party poppers popped, Apple was duly taken down a notch with a controversial addition to the App Store. The app in question, imaginatively titled “Baby Shaker,” encouraged the user to shake the iPhone, as if it were a crying baby, until said baby died.

This week I’ve been looking at Knee Cap, Silent Scope, and Assassin’s Creed - Altair’s Chronicles.

Knee Cap (99 cents)
Released back in January, so not strictly the freshest of the picks this week, however, it’s certainly the most useful. Knee Cap is a loan tracker, allowing you to stay on top of cash you owe and — perhaps more importantly — cash owed to you. The app also has the sort of prim ‘n’ proper polished look that you’d expect from a financial tool you’ll be using regularly. Notably, Knee Cap integrates fully with the iPhone’s onboard Address Book, making it a cinch to track loans with your contacts.

Silent Scope ($5.99)
A few years back, six bucks would only get you a few minutes of sniper action on Konami’s Silent Scope arcade game. Now for that same six bucks you can dive straight into this intense sniper time-trial whenever you like. The controls have been seriously refined for iPhone, but the game still retains the tension and focus on accuracy of the arcade original. This version also features a tutorial mode, alongside Story, Shooting Range and Time Attack mode. For fans of the original, Silent Scope on iPhone is unmissable.

Assassin’s Creed - Altair’s Chronicles ($3.99)
From one successful video game adaptation to an utter atrocity by comparison. Mobile gaming giant Gameloft’s latest release is an adaptation of the Nintendo DS version of Assassin’s Creed, which in itself was an ineffective re-telling of the original and successful console version released back in 2007. To Gameloft’s credit, they have indeed enhanced the DS-version of Assassin’s Creed, however the game still doesn’t capture the spirit of what was an excellent sandbox stealth adventure.

That’s all the picks we’ve got time for this week. As ever, I’ll return next week with more news from the week and picks from the App Store.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

Don’t let life get you down, put your punchin’ gloves on and show the world you’re a champion in this retro boxing game.

In these economically egregious times, we all need a little release from the fiscal pressures dumped upon on our already strained shoulders. Even I need some respite from the current monetary melee, having just conducted a thoroughly British argument with my thoroughly British bank manager, both of us politely snarling, in a disturbingly reserved manner, down the phone line.

Allowing you to take your troubles to the ring, Fist of Fury is a retro-style boxing game for the iPhone. The game features five muscle-bound walking clichés for you to attempt to beat the pulp out of.

Round One

Before you’ve even set fist to face, or foot in ring, however, you’ll be struck down by the inordinately long load time. For a game that has the technical depth of a caveman dressed as a robot, it’s surprising that Fist of Fury takes so long to load.

Once past the loading screen comes the disappointment of seeing what took so long to load. The graphics on the title screen, like those in the rest of the game, look unfinished, more akin to placeholder graphics in a beta version. Only moments into the game, it’s apparent that very little effort has been spent on its visual design.

In the ring and on level one, my opponent was a beefy, retro-styled juggernaut. And yet this juggernaut, the boxing ring, and even my own character reminded me of something. A quick Google search later and it’s clear that Fist of Fury bares a striking resemblance to Nintendo’s NES classic Punch Out.

The audio in Fist of Fury, however, doesn’t bare any resemblance to Punch Out’s glorious blippy bloppy sound effects, nor is it reminiscent of the NES classic’s oddly jaunty music. Fist of Fury features no musical accompaniment and the sound effects, while satisfyingly 8-bit and tinny, are few and far between.

A Hollow Victory

Fists of Fury pits your character, the imaginatively titled John Doe, against five gargantuan opponents. John stands square in the center of the screen, riveted to the spot, perhaps through sheer fear. The only option open to the player is to keeping throwing punches while attempting to dodge your opponents’ onslaught of fists.

Tapping the left and right punch buttons cause John to flail the appropriate fist in the general direction of his enemy. It feels ineffective and devoid of any strategy. For your defense, by leaning the iPhone left or right, you’re able to dodge your opponents advances.

As there’s no tell, or indication of any sort, for when your opponent may punch, nor is there any strategically effective method to dodging and attacking beyond that of randomly leaning left and right, while bashing each punch button alternately. With the gameplay being so lacking in depth, each win in Fist of Fury feels frustratingly futile.

Note that I’ve not mentioned options or settings because there are none. There’s no way to change the game’s difficulty, no tutorial or control overview (understandable, given Fist of Fury’s strategic simplicity), nor is there the opportunity to change your character’s name or add a profile picture.

Summing Up

While the sound and graphics aren’t necessarily awful, they don’t bring anything new to retro-style gaming and are more of a rushed rip than an outright homage. The control mechanism and general game mechanic — no efficient strategy beyond whacking the punch buttons — is a disgustingly poor attempt at mimicking the depth and effectiveness of 8-bit boxing games.

At this point, my only hope is that this review shames the developers of Fist of Fury into either taking app development and their customers seriously, or throwing the towel in and leaving the industry. To summarize, I’ll be blunt as a punch square in the face: Avoid this awful game.