We promised to report back once we had more time with Blades of Fury [App Store], Gameloft's newly-released fighting game. We're happy to report, that against all odds, the virtual D-Pad and on-screen controls actually do allow you to pull off some pretty impressive combos filled with special attacks and suprisingly don't seem to hamper the gameplay at all.

The Blades of Fury thread on our forums is filled with people echoing the same uncanny impressions regarding the controls. I'm really not sure what kind of new virtual D-Pad technology Gameloft has pulled o ... Read more »

Samurai: Way of the Warrior [$2.99] is simply one of the most original and entertaining iPhone hack-and-slash games to date.

The game has a storyline that is well incorporated throughout presented in comic book style cut scenes that honestly conveys a strong sense of adventure and bloodletting. You control the fate of Daisuke Shimada, the wandering samurai as he ventures through the countryside dealing with the villainous Lord Hattoro and his two henchmen Kumo and Orochi. Of course, they have a significant army to carry out their misdeeds, and let’s just ... Read more »

In the outside chance that you don't find yourself mashing the check for updates button in iTunes as often as you check your email, here are a few game updates that have added some cool new features and fixes that have come out in the past few days. Videos may not reflect the most recent versions of the games.

Touch KO, $4.99 – Along with most of the first impressions on our forums, we also thought the difficulty level included in the initial release was far too easy in our review. Touch KO 1.1 brings some much needed bug fixes, the ability to skip through the slow motion replays, makes combos more powerful, but most importantly added a hard mode with new AI that is mu ... Read more »

Chillingo has been teasing us for a few months now slowly releasing screenshots, interviews, and trailers for Touch KO [App Store].

The game was just released this afternoon and features an impressive control scheme, intense character customization, and a whole slew of upgrades to buy for your boxer.

We've just had a short time with the game (on an iPhone 3GS), but here are some first impressions. Starting the game out, Touch KO treats players to a brief tutorial that explains the controls. Touching the left or right side of the screen punches with tha ... Read more »

At E3 we got a look at Gamevil's upcoming game in where fighting and special moves take precedence over the RPG storytelling elements found in Zenonia [App Store]. Like all Gamevil games, Hybrid: Eternal Whisper is a port of a popular Korean game that they're localizing to English and customizing for the iPhone interface.

From our preview of Hybrid: Eternal Whisper

The game is structured around 150 levels where you must fight off a number of combatants on each level. Backgrounds and environments differ across levels and different skills and actions are both learned and earned over the game. The game does carry ... Read more »

Toy kite software released their first iPhone game at the iPhone Launch Party last night. The game is called iSamurai [$0.99] and offers players the chance to finally swing their iPhones like swords.

iSamurai is an accelerometer-based iPhone game that recognizes certain gestures as specific sword fighting attacks or blocks. The developer's video shows it well:

The game comes with both two player (WiFi) modes and single player modes. The single player mode is surprisingly well implemented and pits you up against a computer opponent who calls out their attacks (like Left strike ... Read more »

The app brings the long running Resident Evil video game franche to the iPhone and iPod Touch. This installation of the game is based on a recently released computer animated movie and drops you into a 3rd person perspective horror shooter. The game lists the following features:

• Explore Harvardville Airport, rescue survivors, unlock puzzles and battle an army of undead.
• Use your in-game PDA to collect intel, manage inventory and access maps.
• “Laser targeting” allows the players to make aimed accurate shots.
• Backgrounds, character models and objects are all rendered in full 3D.
• Tilt device to reload, shake iPhone/iPod ... Read more »