Today I thought I’d review Sonic CD (iOS - Universal, $1.99) because it’s a rare example of an extremely well-made port for the mobile platform.

The story of how this app came into existence is a little interesting. The concept first emerged as a YouTube video by Christian Whitehead, a developer who coded a new engine for the game to operate on.

Instead of the crappy emulator that SEGA had used to port Sonic the Hedgehog 2, we got a glimpse at a full-featured engine that was able to take advantage of the iPhone/Pad’s HD screens. Whitehead went silent after a while, and gamers feared the worst (a Cease & Desist notice has killed many a fan project).

But it turns out that it was for naught, as Whitehead emerged as a developer on this game, which was released yesterday to iOS app stores around the world. At $1.99, the game is a steal, and it is worth every penny of that price. The game’s music, controls and graphics have all been overhauled, and have shown large improvements over similar apps of its kind.

Being able to actually control Sonic has always been a problem for touchscreens, but somehow this game nails it. The on-screen joypad and one button do a great job of providing precise platforming and “no worries” gameplay. I have large ham-thumbs, and even I had an easy time performing accurate jumps and split-second reactions.

The music and graphics set a bar for iOS ports and challenge other games to reach it. While the game itself is a bit on the old side (1993), the sprites and backgrounds don’t look that dated on a Retina display. This continues onto the iPad, where a larger screen doesn’t lower quality one bit.

I think what really solidifies this is the extras that have been added: US & Japanese soundtrack toggles, extra modes and Tails being added as a hidden character once the game is beaten (even though he wasn’t present in the original) take this beyond a lazy port and into the realms of a high-quality classic.

Quality is what we want in our mobile gaming. Instead of feeling like a company has thrown the game’s ROM on an emulator and left it to the wolves, we want to feel that some effort has been expended to give the best possible experience. Ironically, it took a passionate fan to re-write the Sonic engine in order to spark SEGA into action, but hopefully the precedent of quality selling well will carry over to other mobile titles.

I’ve had the chance to play around with a new iOS puzzle game the last couple of days, and I’ve been really satisfied with what I’ve seen. What better way to cap off the summer with sharing it with you?

Fractal: Make Blooms, Not War is creative spin on the “match hexagons” subset of puzzlers, which include classics like Hexic. Instead of rotating tiles to match colours, you use an action called “pushing” to spawn new tiles by tapping on blank spaces. Each adjacent tile to the empty space you tapped will be pushed outward, and a tile will be created behind it. You’re encouraged to create “blooms” (six tiles surrounding one in the center) to clear pieces away, start combos and rack up points.

This game is deceptively difficult, which I believe is paramount to any puzzle game. By adding different power ups, multiple colors per board and a limited amount of pushes, the game turns from a simple “move things until they explode” strategy to one which makes you consider where you are, what you can do and where those actions will take you.

Modes of play are divided into a Campaign, Puzzle and Arcade mode, with the first giving you a number of levels to conquer by score, the second giving you a limited number of moves and the last simply telling you to survive.

Each are well-balanced and encourage a different method of playing, which is the whole point of different modes: Arcade, for example, gives you an infinite amount of pushes, but a one-minute timer to replenish by clearing certain tiles. Campaign, however, mixes it up with tile limitations, quotas to hit and different colours.

What really gets me about this title is the depth of the puzzling, as I’ve failed more than a few levels do to bad push placement. Like Tetris, it’s very easy to access a “basic” level of playing, but eventually you start to recognize patterns of play that yield to better combos; I find that eliminating tiles from the middle, then pushing in from the edges of the arena tend to work wonders.

Perhaps most importantly, this game will only cost you $1.99 in the App Store, which I consider a bargain. However, it’s only available on the iPad device at the moment, which kind of limits its reach. However, with such big playing fields and gorgeous graphics, it’s one of those games that just needs a larger screen in order to show itself off.

Fractal does not use Game Center, instead going with cross-platform OpenFeint support. However, this is currently down at the moment due to some firmware issues causing crashes. Props to the developer for taking a feature out that was causing people problems.

All in all, I can recommend Fractal highly; as a guy who likes puzzle games, I’m happy to report that there are people taking the genre in new directions - not just damned Bejewelled clones.

Fractal: Make Blooms, Not War can be found in the app store for $1.99.

I’ve never been good at “bullet hell” shooters; as my friends have noted while trying to get me into playing Jamestown: Legend Of The Lost Colony, I suck pretty bad.

However, I’m slowly crawling my way out of the recesses of horridness with the aid of a free shooter for the iOS platform titled Phoenix HD. Free to download and play, the game packages many of the trops of bullet hell games into an easy-to-consume meal, which I can definitely get behind.

The story is a bit cliche, but then again, shoot-em-ups aren’t noted for their vast, expansive narratives; you are a space ship, and you must kill, kill, kill. You can choose one of three different types of ships, Phoenix, Corsair or Mirage, and face endless waves of alien enemies.

I like this game because the difficulty level is customizable, and doesn’t just throw you into the deep end of the pool unless you’re feeling particularly ballsy. It only needs one finger to control (and a tap of a second finger to activate stored powerups), so the flying feels fluid, and control is finely-tuned. It should be, as, well, the whole point of the game is to dodge bullets. My only real complaint towards this game is the lack of sensitivity setting, as there were some moments where my finger positioning was my undoing.

The game is free, but is supported by certain micropayments that actually make sense. Instead of trying to gouge players with power-ups or levels that are locked until you shell out cash, the game gives you a choice: you can pay nothing and only be able to play with the default ship (the Phoenix), or you can pay $0.99 to unlock each of the other fighters.

This also extends to playing online: you can keep track of your scores and achievements for free, but if you want to compete on a global leaderboard, you need to pony up another $0.99.

This game is easily worth the $3+ for the “complete” experience, but allowing users to choose how deep they want to go in just scores an endless amount of points for the developer. After spending all summer among a horrible sea of money-wringing Android games, it’s refreshing to see a mobile game do it right.

Keep in mind, this isn’t an “Android sucks, buy iOS” point; it’s more of a “here’s a bunch of mobile developers who don’t get it, and here’s one that does.”

In short, pick up Phoenix HD from iTunes: you literally have nothing to lose.