“Promoting synergy” is a pretty common mantra in today's corporate culture. It encourages all employees to work together in harmony to be stronger and more productive as a unit than they each would have been by working individually. The new game Corporate Fury [$1.99] from developer Swinecrafters is the exact opposite of this type of thinking. Instead, you are encouraged to battle coworkers in violent 3D arena brawls in an attempt to take their jobs away from them. There are a ton of wacky characters, plenty of crude humor, and enough fighting to satisfy any gamers needs in Corporate Fury, and it stands out as one of the more unique offerings for the iPhone.

The game takes place in a semi-open world that acts a large hub connecting the fighting arenas and story-related locations together. You start off as a lowly production worker who awakens after taking a brutal beating from your boss. Your buddy Mike, who also acts as the point man for setting up fights, is there to help you on your feet and explain what is going on since you can't quite remember after being beaten senseless. The first order of business is to visit the in-game shop called Frank's Goods, then head back to Mike to fight in some low-level matches until you are strong enough to defeat your boss and take his job from him. You will continue this process as the storyline unfolds and as you defeat the team of increasingly higher ranked corporate executives, culminating with defeating the top CEO and taking over control of the company.

The overworld in Corporate Fury is fairly large, although not exactly as big as something you would find in a Grand Theft Auto or similar game. In this world the atmosphere has been rendered uninhabitable, so you are left with a large indoor city filled with plenty of areas to explore and crazy characters to talk to. An automap in the pause screen lets you pick from the key areas and set a handy waypoint that guides your character to them so you don't get lost. Graphically the game looks pretty decent, and runs fairly smoothly even on older devices. There are some jagged edges and characters aren't exactly rife with detail, but the overall style of the game works really well and looks good. Most impressive is that the entire game loads quickly upon booting up, and there is no loading at all while playing the game itself.

Fighting in Corporate Fury is fun and totally over the top. An analog stick controls your movement with a button each for jump, punch, kick, and using a weapon. Early in the game it's pretty basic, but as you defeat opponents you earn credits to use at Frank's Goods. Here you can purchase an assortment of weapons, armors, special moves, and increased attributes. Once you've beefed up your fighter a bit, fighting gets more complex and satisfying. It's reminiscent of fighting enemies in the newer Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry games, as you can pull off crazy multi-hit combos on the ground and in the air. The weapons you can use are truly awesome, from hammers and knives to explosives and plasma cannons. The armor and accessories are equally interesting, and change the look of your character when equipped.

While Corporate Fury is a ton of fun to play, there are some issues in the game that really bothered me. Some of the opponents you must face to advance the story can be incredibly powerful, and you're stuck grinding away fighting random opponents until you can level up high enough to compete with them. Luckily the fighting is enjoyable and the assortment of random enemies is varied, so it's not too much of an issue, but it can feel repetitive at times. Also, traveling around the city by foot can feel a bit arduous, and a quick teleport to the main locations in the game would be a welcome addition. Finally, while you can save manually at your apartment and the game saves automatically when exiting with the home button, in my experience this hasn't always been reliable and I've lost progress because of it. It doesn't seem to be a widespread problem, and the developer is already working towards fixing these issues, but it's worth mentioning.

Corporate Fury is an incredibly ambitious title for a mobile platform, and while there are some technical and game design related issues due to this fact, the good far outweighs the bad. With a competent fighting system, dozens of crazy characters, and an interesting world to explore, there is plenty here to keep you busy for quite a while. Just be prepared for the crude humor in the game that is full of sexual tones, foul language, and midget references aplenty. The trailer above will give you a great idea of what you're in store for, and could easily sell the game on its own. Players in our forums are loving the game, and Corporate Fury is one of those titles you just have to see to believe.

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Corporate Fury has just about everything that I could want in a video game. The whole concept is so good, with such potential to be rewarding, that I was really hoping that it would become one of my favorite games. Unfortunately, there are a few things that prevent it from entering that upper echelon.

My first thought after playing Corporate Fury for awhile is that it desperately wants to be on a different platform. Or maybe in its current form on a PC, circa 2000. The graphics are alright, but today’s standards are so much higher, even on the iPhone. The textures are muddy and the edges really aren’t all that smooth, which makes my retina display adapted eyes want to scream. The game flies though, and with the speed of the combat I guess I can live with some graphics flaws; I’m just not sure how much.

The game is basically a 1 vs 1 combat game set in a third person top-down view. Fights are fairly short, and are somewhat simple at a glance, but get pretty complicated once you dig deep. You get a punch, kick, jump, and a weapon attack button along with some extra buttons for different items that you may acquire. There are also a multitude of combo moves that you can perform by hitting different combinations of buttons. More attacks, weapons, and other goodies can be bought at the shot at any time.

The combat itself isn’t too tricky to figure out, but it does get bland after a bit of time. Once you are able to block and defend yourself, the game gets much better, but it still boils down to a certain amount of button mashing after awhile. Fights do get tedious, which is unfortunate because you’ll be fighting a whole bunch of them.

The real problem for me is when you aren’t in a combat situation and have to walk around the world. Navigation via the heads-up-display, or “HUD,” is very simple to use, giving you arrows to follow when you want to go to a specific destination, but things are too far apart to make them very convenient. The arduous trek from the arena to the shop is pretty absurd. Just give me a teleport button or some kind of instant way to get from place to place. For some reason, the game reminds me old PC games that made you walk great lengths to get from place to place. I personally don’t like long distance digital walking.

It’s a shame that the combat and movement are so tedious, because the story is really pretty good. Corporate Fury starts you out as a young boy who watches his father die at the hands of an evil corporate boss. As he stabs your father in the face (trust me, this isn’t the worst thing you’ll see in the game), he tells you that you’ll have a job waiting for you for when you grow up. I’m not really sure why you take the job, but the next scene finds you at the job “fighting” for a promotion. In this alternate world, you actually have to fight your way up the corporate ladder, and killing those ahead of you is something that is expected. I’ll save you the rest, in case you do purchase the game.

One thing of warning for some, the game is fairly vulgar. It makes some pretty crude sexual references and uses some bad language, something that is rarely seen in the app store. If this had come out in the early 90’s it would’ve been pretty raunchy, but over the years I’ve been exposed to games that are as crude as they come, so I’m pretty desensitized.

If you’re looking for a crude and violent fight fest, Corporate Fury just might be your game. The graphics seem a bit outdated and some of the game elements can get pretty tedious, but there is definitely some fun, and a good story to be had. If anything, Corporate Fury is definitely one of the more well thought-out games in the App Store.

[ Corporate Fury Review is a post from 148Apps ]

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New iPad-exclusive offerings have been slim in the App Store lately, but here’s a few notable releases that popped up this week.

Karate Champ XL ($1.99) is an enhanced version of Revolutionary Concepts’ iPhone port of Data East’s classic arcade one-on-one brawler. The iPad version features all the content of the original iPhone version, along with an all-new split-screen multiplayer mode playable on a single iPad.

Color Cross HD ($2.99) from Little Worlds Studio is a Picross-like logic puzzler that adds its own twists on the genre. The game boasts over 200 puzzles across two gameplay modes, and promises more than 100 hours of playtime.

Finally, G5 brings another one of its popular time management franchises to the iPad with Supermarket Management HD ($4.99). Players must successfully stock items, hire employees, and keep customers happy throughout 49 levels and nine minigames.

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Retro game fans — especially those with friends in meatspace — are in for a treat with Revolutionary Concept's latest release, Karate Champ XL. Shortly after Karate Champ for the iPhone hit the App Store we reported that the studio was hard at work on an iPad version that would feature a two-player, split-screen play mode. The wait is over and we're happy to report that Karate Champ XL for the iPad [App Store] has arrived.

Karate Champ, which was rated one of the 10 most influential games of all time by IGN, is a 1984 arcade fighter that was one of the very first 2D, side-perspective, face-to-face fighters to hit the arcades. In Karate Champ, the player controlls a karateka with two joysticks, one for movement and one for attacks, that together allowed for a wide variety of attack combination. It is a match for points as well as a race against the clock; if both fighters are still standing when the timer runs down, he with the most points wins. It's simple by today's fighter standards, but is appealingly so to many, myself included.

Karate Champ XL features everything that the iPhone version has to offer, and then some. There are 12 different environments, two-player Bluetooth and WiFi support, the original '80s sound effects, all original bonus rounds, and a Super Large Chracter option. The onscreen graphics take advantage of the iPad's large, high-res display — well, at least the cabinet fascia graphics do, as the in-game graphics are (happily) as pixellated as ever. The big feature of this version, however, is the split screen mode that allows two players to go literally head-to-head in a martial arts match. This mode looks great and plays like you'd hope; it's a smooth one-on-one fight experience that actually works quite well.

Karate Champ XL should be an instant buy for any fan of the game who's got an iPad and someone to go head to head with. But, even in single play the game looks better, with sharper graphics on the iPad than the scaled-up iPhone version.

A version 1.1 update of the iPhone version of Karate Champ [App Store] (which is priced 50% off at $0.99 for a limited time) is currently under review by Apple. It will allow for iPhone to iPad gameplay.

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For fans of the excellent iPhone port of Street Fighter IV, you'll be happy to know that a new character is making her way to the roster. Capcom has just announced that Crimson Viper, who first made her debut as one of the four brand new characters in the Street Fighter IV franchise rebirth on arcade machines and home consoles, will be the latest addition to the iPhone conversion via a free update. This follows the previous update from Capcom that added Cammy and Zangief as playable characters, which we covered back in June, bringing the roster total to ten combatants.

Here are a couple of shots of C. Viper showing off her special moves (click to enlarge):

If you've been following along since the release of Street Fighter IV for iPhone, then you will remember that Capcom announced the addition of Cammy back in April, and didn't announce Zangief until over a month later. This leads me to believe that another character will be announced in the near future for this forthcoming update. This has not been confirmed in any way and is purely speculation on my part, but as a rabid Street Fighter fan I can only hope. Plus, it just seems to make sense to add two characters at a time, brining the total to a nice even twelve.

In the meantime, enjoy some video of C. Viper in action on the iPhone:

If you have yet to check out Street Fighter IV on the iPhone, take a look at our full review from March. No firm release date has been set for this new update other than “soon”, but we'll keep you posted if Capcom happens to narrow it down (or announce any additional characters).

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For fans of the excellent iPhone port of Street Fighter IV, you'll be happy to know that a new character is making her way to the roster. Capcom has just announced that Crimson Viper, who first made her debut as one of the four brand new characters in the Street Fighter IV franchise rebirth on arcade machines and home consoles, will be the latest addition to the iPhone conversion via a free update. This follows the previous update from Capcom that added Cammy and Zangief as playable characters, which we covered back in June, bringing the roster total to ten combatants.

Here are a couple of shots of C. Viper showing off her special moves (click to enlarge):

If you've been following along since the release of Street Fighter IV for iPhone, then you will remember that Capcom announced the addition of Cammy back in April, and didn't announce Zangief until over a month later. This leads me to believe that another character will be announced in the near future for this forthcoming update. This has not been confirmed in any way and is purely speculation on my part, but as a rabid Street Fighter fan I can only hope. Plus, it just seems to make sense to add two characters at a time, brining the total to a nice even twelve.

In the meantime, enjoy some video of C. Viper in action on the iPhone:

If you have yet to check out Street Fighter IV on the iPhone, take a look at our full review from March. No firm release date has been set for this new update other than “soon”, but we'll keep you posted if Capcom happens to narrow it down (or announce any additional characters).

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App Store first-timer Monad has launched Rhythm Spirit ($1.99), a unique rhythm-based take on the fighting genre.

In Rhythm Spirit, all character movement is mapped to a series of scrolling musical cues. As movement and attack cues reach a marker at the center of the screen, players must tap the appropriate button to dodge incoming attacks or counter with moves of their own.

Rhythm Spirit features an original “zen remix” soundtrack that plays throughout its 10 included levels. A free Lite demo version was released earlier today.

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Fight off your stress for just buck!

Ever get so angry at your someone at work that you just wanted to punch a wall? Well now there is an app for that.

Stress Fighter lets you take all your pent up anger without jeopardizing your job.

It’s a fighting game and stress reliever all rolled up into one.

Just take a picture of the person’s face that’s giving you stress and put it on one of eight pre-rendered 3D bodies.

You can then beat him/her with up to 12 special weapons.

Use a baseball bat to work on your swing, throw stapler to the head, or just tase the son of a gun. All without ever getting in trouble.

You can also take a photo of your work place and use it as a background.

Teach whoever you have issues with that your not going to take it anymore.

It’s all for fun and just for a buck.

?Stress Fighter is available on the app store for the IPhone, Ipod Touch and Ipad.

Plus also check out my other app ANEURYSM. It’s a hand eye coordinating puzzle game that has 3 and a 1/2 stars.

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Click on Stress Fighter. This will take you to the main menu page. If you just want to fight with the installed fighter, just click “Battle Now”

2. If you want to customize, then choose “Pick Your Body”. You can pick between three male and female bodies for your fighter.

3. Then back on the main menu page, click “Get A Face”. You can use a picture from your library or take one with your camera. After which use the edit face function to pick a face. All you have to do is to drag your finger from left to right to select a head. This will make a darker screen covering what you want as a face. The more precise and square you make this darker screen, the better the face will come out. Then click back.

4. Back on the main menu page,click “Background” to change the background from your photo library.

5. Now you can fight the person that’s giving you the most stress in your life.

6. If you want to reset everything to the original installed fighter and background, just click “Reset” on the main menu page. Also on the lower left you can shut the music on or off.

If you have any questions,problems, or concerns. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at stressfighter@gmail.com

Thank you for purchasing Stress Fighter:)

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Fight off your stress for just buck!

Ever get so angry at your someone at work that you just wanted to punch a wall? Well now there is an app for that.

Stress Fighter lets you take all your pent up anger without jeopardizing your job.

It’s a fighting game and stress reliever all rolled up into one.

Just take a picture of the person’s face that’s giving you stress and put it on one of eight pre-rendered 3D bodies.

You can then beat him/her with up to 12 special weapons.

Use a baseball bat to work on your swing, throw stapler to the head, or just tase the son of a gun. All without ever getting in trouble.

You can also take a photo of your work place and use it as a background.

Teach whoever you have issues with that your not going to take it anymore.

It’s all for fun and just for a buck.

?Stress Fighter is available on the app store for the IPhone, Ipod Touch and Ipad.

Plus also check out my other app ANEURYSM. It’s a hand eye coordinating puzzle game that has 3 and a 1/2 stars.

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Click on Stress Fighter. This will take you to the main menu page. If you just want to fight with the installed fighter, just click “Battle Now”

2. If you want to customize, then choose “Pick Your Body”. You can pick between three male and female bodies for your fighter.

3. Then back on the main menu page, click “Get A Face”. You can use a picture from your library or take one with your camera. After which use the edit face function to pick a face. All you have to do is to drag your finger from left to right to select a head. This will make a darker screen covering what you want as a face. The more precise and square you make this darker screen, the better the face will come out. Then click back.

4. Back on the main menu page,click “Background” to change the background from your photo library.

5. Now you can fight the person that’s giving you the most stress in your life.

6. If you want to reset everything to the original installed fighter and background, just click “Reset” on the main menu page. Also on the lower left you can shut the music on or off.

If you have any questions,problems, or concerns. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at stressfighter@gmail.com

Thank you for purchasing Stress Fighter:)

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Back in early March of this year, a port of Street Fighter IV was released for the iPhone to much positive fanfare. The graphics and sounds were incredible, but the biggest doubt on everyone's mind leading up to release was how well the game could work with virtual touch screen controls. In the end, SFIV for iPhone turned out to be a highly playable and fun affair. Rather than the controls, the biggest complaint from gamers regarding this otherwise excellent fighter was the slim roster of characters. Featuring just 8 playable combatants (the same number of the original SFII mind you), many fan favorites from from the Street Fighter universe were notably absent.

A little more than a month later, Capcom took a step to address those complaints by announcing the addition of Cammy to the roster in a forthcoming update. But the weeks passed by with no sign of Cammy, and fans of the series grew increasingly impatient and even skeptical that Capcom would follow through on their promise. Then earlier this month, they announced that another new character – Zangief – would be entering the fray as well. With such a long span of time since their previous announcement, gamers who had been anticipating the arrival of Cammy weren't feeling especially confident that they'd be playing either character anytime soon.

Thankfully those concerns proved erroneous, as earlier this week the update featuring both characters finally arrived on the App Store. And it's pretty much exactly what you would expect – it's the Cammy and Zangief you know and love now playable in Street Fighter IV for iPhone. While not exactly surprising, they are a welcome free addition to arguably the best 2D fighter available. They fit right into the roster and feature just about all of the moves of their console counterparts. Hopefully this leads to more and more characters being added down the line, and were E. Honda to enter the mix then the original cast of characters would finally be complete. Like many others, I'm personally keeping my fingers crossed for an Akuma appearance someday.

This update was free, but it remains to be seen if future updates will be too. If you're a fan of Street Fighter IV for iPhone, then make sure you download this latest update and give Cammy and Zangief a spin for yourself.

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Arena Arcade – Press Release

Without a shield and a sword, a gladiator must find ways to defend himself or even lure numerous enemies to death only for only one reason… SURVIVAL! Simple gameplay and funny action bring an endless excitement with “Oww!” and “Ahh!”

HO CHI MINH CITY, June 11, 2010 – Colorbox today presents Arena Arcade, a new iPhone game featuring tilt control, another mini time-killer. In Arena Arcade, an imprisoned knight is being forced to an un-fair battle against a cruel army and their beasts. Using only one basic skill, AGILITY, you must help him survive the ruthless war!

Features
- Shield item, Invincible item that help you survive longer
- Enemies: homicidal knights, rolling rocks, crazy beasts and an immortal giant
- Light and sensitive tilt control
- Fast pace gameplay helps improve your sensibility and dexterity
- Local & global leader board

Check it out:

Arena Arcade’s Website

http://colorbox.com.vn/games/detail/20

Download and Purchase

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arena-arcade/id376886038?mt=

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbCMcKUnI

Screenshots

Head quarter settled in Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam, Colorbox is a mobile game company founded in 2009 by domestic Vietnamese passionate gamers who love making games by their hearts. Colorbox’s goal is to make creatively exciting games that pleases most mobile users all over the world. Copyright 2009-2010 Colorbox Software. All Rights Reserved.

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The 2D side-scrolling brawler is a fairly popular genre on the App Store, with games like OMG Pirates!, The Simpsons Arcade, and most recently Pride and Prejudice and Zombies bringing arcade-style action to our touch screens. Adding another solid entry to the list is a collaborative effort from developers UltiZen and MoStar called Princess Fury. We previewed the game just a few days ago, and were impressed with the visual style and the idea of adding strategic elements to what is typically a simplistic button-mashing genre. With Princess Fury now available, we're happy to say that it has largely succeeded in bringing a new take to a tried and true formula, but doesn't delve deeply enough into the strategic areas and has a frustratingly imbalanced pace. It remains a graphically appealing experience that's chock full of action, and will reward players who are prepared to endure its faults.

You play as a young purple-haired Princess, wielding a sword larger than your entire body, laying waste to enemies across 20 different stages. Each stage is broken down into multiple sub-stages, and instead of being structured with a beginning and an end like most games of this type the levels in Princess Fury are more along the lines of elongated arenas. The goal of each sub-stage can vary, and this is what really sets it apart from your average brawler. Some challenges are as simple as defeating every enemy, or killing a boss. But others mix things up nicely. You might have to escort a character from one side of the level to the other, while fighting off enemy attacks and keeping that character alive. A similar version of this task gives you a stationary crystal which you must defend and keep alive for a predetermined amount of time.

My favorite of these challenges works similarly to a territories game type. Five crystals are spread evenly across the map. Your group starts on one side, and a group of enemies on the other. Emptying each crystal's life meter “owns” it for your team. The enemies can also control crystals, and it's a fight to see who can own all 5 at the same time. It can become a pretty heated battle as crystals are constantly changing ownership. This game type in particular really is a lot of fun, but all the different game variations work well and add welcome variety to the beat 'em up style genre.

The other big wrinkle in the traditional gameplay is the addition of a leveling system and computer controlled allies that fight alongside the Princess. You gain experience while playing, even if you die and fail a mission. Unfortunately, there's no type of meter letting you know when you'll level up next, it just sort of happens. As you level up, more troops become available to you, up to a total of 8. There's various types of soldiers, like archers or swordsman, that you can configure in your party and are able to earn experience and level up as well. You can decide whether your group sticks with the Princess and protects her, or acts more aggressively and searches out enemies on their own. This is about the extent of the real-time strategy the game boasts about, and while not adding a tremendous impact on the gameplay it's a fun little addition.

The Princess is naturally much stronger than any of her supporting crew, and she is capable of some unique magical attacks in addition to her humongous and powerful sword. New attacks are unlocked as you level up, and you can have up to 3 active at a time while playing. They range from raining down lightning to throwing tornadoes to advanced techniques using your sword. Each one takes time to recharge in between uses. There can be a ton of enemies onscreen at once, which can be good and bad. It's good because there's always a lot of action happening, but can slow the framerate down some on older devices. Also, your character can get lost amongst that huge crowd, and sometimes you don't get a good view of what's going on. These are pretty minor issues though, and in general the combat gameplay is really fun.

Where the road starts to get bumpy is in terms of balance. The game gives you a helpful tip that there's the option of replaying any level for additional XP, but essentially this is required. Even the boss of the very first stage is too hard to defeat without replaying some of the levels you just played in order to level up your characters more. In some instances this can simply be due to you not utilizing the proper strategy for a level. For example, during an escort mission you may want to forge ahead and dispatch of any threats that lay waiting. And sometimes you'll want to stick with the person being escorted, and defeat enemies as they come to you. But the majority of the time if you can't beat a level it's due to an unfair difficulty. The enemies level scales along with yours, making the inconsistent difficulty all the more annoying.

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Last week we took a look at the faithful and highly enjoyable iPhone port of the 1984 arcade fighter Karate Champ [App Store]. We've been having fun with the game since it hit the App Store and are happy to report that the developer, Revolutionary Concepts, will soon be bringing a native iPad version of Karate Champ to the App Store.

Karate Champ HD will take specific advantage of the iPad's larger display and, most interestingly, will feature a split-screen, head-to-head two player mode for tabletop gameplay, as illustrated in the above mock-up provided by the developer.

We'll be sure to pass on additional details on the upcoming iPad title as we get them.

App Store Link (iPhone version): Karate Champ, $1.99

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Bruce Lee: Dragon Warrior [$4.99 - iPhone / iPad] is an officially licensed 3D fighting game featuring the iconic martial arts star Bruce Lee. The game was released on the iPad almost two months ago to some user complaints of serious AI deficiency and control issues. Those issues have been mostly resolved in an update issued for the iPad version in conjunction with the release of the updated game for iPhone and iPod touch. The result is a visually striking fighting game that leans towards the casual side, with a core combat functionality that likely won't appeal to some hardcore players. It still remains a fun affair, and has a wealth of content and a stellar presentation that makes it well worth checking out.

Right off the bat, you'll notice that the graphics are incredible. There are 10 fighters in the game, each one distinct and well designed. The character models are colorful, although not highly detailed or complex. They end up looking marvelous in motion though, thanks to the game's excellent animations. The movements are fluid and lifelike, and each character has a ton of personality with their different facial expressions and fighting styles. There are only 5 different locations to fight in, but they are all richly detailed and beautifully rendered in 3D. There are small details such as leaves blowing in the wind or birds flying about that bring the stages to life, and each one can be played during day or night increasing the variety somewhat. All these elements work together wonderfully to create an experience that is visually top-notch.

The meat of Bruce Lee is the Story mode, although there are Arcade, Survival, Time Attack and Training modes present as well. Strange for a fighting game, there's no sort of multiplayer functionality at all, although there is a Versus mode against the CPU. Unlike most fighters, there's actually a fairly captivating and cohesive plot underlying all the action. The different story segments are told via text and comic book style character art. You'll start out as a young Bruce Lee, trying to make a name for himself partaking in street fights around Hong Kong. You're noticed rather quickly by a member of a local martial arts school, and after proving your worth by beating him in a fight, you are invited to study there. This springboards you into the storyline, and lets you enter Tournaments and compete against rivaling schools in addition to street fighting as you evolve into a martial arts master.

You progress through the game by choosing from a collection of events on an overhead map, one of which is always the next step of the Story mode. The others are various types of challenges, such as survival matches, one-on-one fights, time trials, and more. Experience is earned as you progress, and playing in these non-story related events can net you some extra XP. All kinds of rewards are unlocked as you level up from experience, like new characters, levels, and artwork. But most interesting of all is the ability to unlock the different offensive moves of your opponents. An option called the Style Editor allows you to swap out your default special moves with ones you've unlocked through play. Mixing and matching the different attacks provides a simple but enjoyable level of customization with your own character, and is a really nice aspect of the game.

The actual fighting gameplay mechanics are where Bruce Lee is hit or miss. The controls work well, with either a d-pad or analog stick for movement and single punch and kick buttons. The methods for different moves are simple combinations of directional inputs and/or attack button presses. The system is easy to execute with touch screen controls, but still contains a decent amount of depth. A special Chi meter fills up as you fight which let's you pull off special attacks or finishing moves, some of which zoom in on the action and give you a closer look at the punishment your dealing out. There are plenty of moves and combos to learn, and a decent computer AI to compete with.

It's the makings of a solid portable fighting game, but the one oddity that sticks out is the way the game queues your button presses. Commands that are input will still carry out even after you've been knocked down and get up, or are furiously trying to perform a different move. Many fighting games allow for command queueing, but the way it works in Bruce Lee is funky and can be disorienting. You can learn to work with it, and there's a certain rhythm to the fighting that once learned alleviates the queueing problem to an extent. Based on the impressions in our forums, some players are having more difficulty with it than others. In my experience, it's caused me to lose a match here and there, but never derailed my enjoyment or ability to progress.

Despite these shortcomings, Bruce Lee: Dragon Warrior is a high quality and entertaining (albeit casual) fighting game. There is a lot of content to unlock, a competent AI to play against, and plenty of modes to keep you busy for quite some time. It's not as deep as Street Fighter IV, but is much more so than the similar Blades of Fury. As a result, if you crave a highly precise and complex fighter, this may not satisfy you. It's also really disappointing that there's not any sort of multiplayer present. Still, it works exceptionally well as a single player game and offers a lot of entertainment for the money. The game is available for $4.99 for either the iPhone or iPad versions which, aside from the iPad's upscaled graphics and the iPhones slightly easier to wield form factor, are virtually the same.

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Cobra Command publisher Revolutionary Concepts adds another arcade classic to its App Store lineup with Karate Champ ($1.99), an emulated port of Data East’s landmark 1984 one-on-one fighting game.

Revolutionary Concepts makes a strong case for an iPhone port — Karate Champ’s dual-joystick setup translates easily to a touch screen, and its vertically-oriented interface ensures that player thumbs will not block the on-screen action.

In addition to offering all the stages and options found in the original arcade game, the iPhone version of Karate Champ also features a “large character” mode, a customizable control setup, and an option to enable simulated scanlines.

Karate Champ includes a 12-round single player mode against a CPU opponent, along with a head-to-head multiplayer mode playable over a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection.

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