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 that arm, and different gestures like swiping towards the center lets loose a hook, and swiping upwards throws an uppercut. Holding your thumb on the screen blocks, and tilting the iPhone makes you dodge. The controls are responsive and feel extremely natural.

You can choose from a variety of different boxer models and different tattoo overlays for each of them. As you fight opponents, before each match you can choose what areas your character will train in to slowly increase your statistics. Winning matches earns money which can be used to buy different trunks, gloves, and boots, most of which have associated stat boosts that go along with them.

While fighting, when you land the last punch to knock your opponent down the game zooms in and shows a slow motion instant replay, also the boxers seem to use ragdoll physics when falling, so the pose boxers land in can sometimes be pretty hilarious. That said, the graphics are amazing, and it's pretty crazy to be playing a boxing game on my phone that look comparable to 3D boxing games on previous generation consoles.

Here is the Touch KO trailer, released about a month ago:

Something to be aware of is that Touch KO plays like a technical boxing game. Silly characters and special moves are nowhere to be found in Touch KO, so if you're looking for an arcade-style game closer to the new Wii Punch Out, you're going to need to keep waiting. On the other hand, it seems fans of boxing would likely feel right at home with Touch KO.

We have an active discussion taking place about the game on our forums with more first hand impressions. Some of the early players, however, are finding the early fights to be rather easy. We'll try to take a closer look after we've had more time with the game.